Below are the 14 most recent journal entries recorded in reallifemom's LiveJournal:

Wednesday, July 25th, 2007
6:54 pm	MISSISSIPPI It has been a week since we returned from Moss Point Miss. where we were at Collision, our mission trip-camp with the youth group. 160 kids plus 40 chaperones made up our team -- we were greeted to southern hospitality by New Covenant Christian Ministries and Forward Edge, among other groups. ACL and Pastor Jerry and crew for starters met us at the New Orleans airport at midnight to accompany us on our 2 hour commute to Moss Point --and the hospitality never ceased. The lovely folks from the church made dinner for our large group every night, and we are talking HUGE meals -- fried chicken, mac and cheese, ribs, hand dipped fried catfish, sweet tea. We so enjoyed the people there and it was not just the church that reached out to us. It was the entire community. On our first day working at the local school, the principal, the superintendant, the bishop of the churches, the mayor of Moss Point, for starters, greeted us in an old fashioned celebration-parade-assembly, complete with band and the media. They were so grateful we were there and the next day, Rolling Hills was the cover story of the Mississippi Press!! Here, we were there to serve them, and they were blessing us more than we could have imagined. The highlight was -- without a doubt -- the people -- and the 4 and a half hour church service on Sunday morning. When thinking of my Real-Life Mom column (www.oregonlive.com) for this month, this might become my topic - southern hospitality, their humility, their servanthood, their sweetness -- if not a column for Real Life Mom, for sure a story for the End Page of The Oregonian's SW Weekly. - Cornelia www.writermom.net (Comment on this)
Thursday, May 31st, 2007
8:26 pm	End of May! Can it be that it is the end of May! I have cut back on my pitching of story ideas to The Oregonian so I can focus on my book this month, but now it is almost June and I have a Real Life Mom column due and still not much progress on my book. I do tend to work best when I have a deadline, like for a newspaper. I need to make my own deadlines for my personal projects, my long term book projects. My dreams. My first two pieces were published in Travel Oregon Kids Guide - what fun. I see book potential in those ideas, esp. one. . . I have been dealing with health issues lately, so that has been on my mind a lot. My skin, my hip, my side (still from my accident). do me a favor- never get rear-ended. Okay, got to go wear my Mom-hat. it is time to get 5  kids to bed!    (Comment on this)
Saturday, March 31st, 2007
6:34 pm	Travel Oregon! I just do not use this live blog very often. I forgot my password. So much has been going on writing wise - I have completed two pieces for Travel Oregon which has been a lot of fun. One was on traveling in Oregon with children and the other feature was on a teen Oregon dreamer, a zoo volunteer. Each month (week) I say I will get going on my longer term projects (my books), but then something comes up to write about for The Oregonian or Travel Oregon. I do enjoy getting published quickly. I have to think long term. . . .Rachel gets home tonight so I must go and finish cleaning the house. I have missed my sweet daughter. I know she has had an amazing time on her spring break mission trip.    (Comment on this)
Friday, February 2nd, 2007
8:00 am	On Waking Up Early I was never an early bird growing up, instead considering myself a night owl, but things have changed in my adult mom life. I now enjoy the morning quiet, where I can read and write and pray and go for a power walk in the dark street-light, moon-lit neighborhoods. I read about the late Oregon poet William Stafford rising at 4:30 to write daily, so I am in good company. I feel so much better about my day when I am up early, setting my alarm for 4:30, unless I go to bed after midnight, and then I re-evaluate. But because I meet my walking partners at 5:30, there is not a lot of room for flexibility. It is so peaceful during the calm morning moments. I brew some strong coffee when I rise, sipping it while I read and write before my power stroll. And the sunrise was absolutely stunning this morning. How many sunrises have I missed in my past due to sleeping in? (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, February 1st, 2007
11:18 pm	OREGONIAN COLUMN DUE My Real-Life Mom column (topic this month is on children and airlines and discipline) is due Friday and I just need to get it finished. Why do I wait until the last minute on this one? It is hard work writing and until I get it to the first draft stage, I procrastinate, and continue researching it and reworking it and then starting other projects or pitching story ideas to editors. . .I told myself that I could not go to the movies with Rachel tonight until I finished my column, that first draft, and I did it. Now I need to sleep on it until the morning when I will tidy it up, cut a little, spice it up a bit, and file it with my editor Amy. It is only a monthly column, yet it comes down to this every time. I wonder what it would be like to do a weekly column, which has been my dream for a long time. I think I could do it; I would be up for the challenge and God would give me the strength to be able to accomplish it. Like in everything, you just do it. I seem to need goals, new things to try. I like to pray the prayer of Jabez - Enlarge my borders. For now though, I better get to the borders of my bed so I am awake enough in the morning to take a last look at my column. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
11:02 pm	FREEDOM WRITERS Rachel and I went to see the movie Freedom Writers tonight about a high school teacher who inspired students to write about their rough lives. These students were all but abandoned by the establishment school system until this fresh, bright, new teacher (played by Hillary Swank)came along. She believed in them, she taught them how to think, she gave them journals to write about their lives. Telling students that their lives are significant, that their lives are important, that their story is worth telling is a gift - something I love to do for kids as well. (Comment on this)
4:33 pm	Home-school Kids Writing Class I was asked this school year to teach a writing class through the Rolling Hills Community Church Home-school connection, which I began last September. When I first started, they were so quiet in the class - it was hard to get them to open up -- but over the course of a few weeks, they have become outgoing and we laugh a lot as we read our work out loud. It is fun to see kids develop in their writing ability, to see details emerge in their written work and to watch them find their voice. During the first term, we learned basic journalism skills, such as how to write the lead, nutgraph and body of a story; this included developing interview skills to incorporate interesting quotes in their writing. We talked about reading newspapers as writers. This term, our emphasis is on personal opinion pieces. What are kids' thoughts on home-school, the environment, children screaming on airplanes, the war, light subjects like that. (7 Comments |Comment on this)
12:37 pm	Kids screaming and airplane flights I saw Good Morning America recently that featured a family that was asked to leave a commercial airline flight because their screaming 3-year-old would not get buckled into her seat. The child already caused a 15 minute delay of the flight, as FAA regulations require everyone, including 3-year-olds with tempers, to fasten their seat-belts (as the signs on highways say for cars, Buckle up - it's the law). But when after 15 minutes of delay, the flight crew had to make the decision to ask the family to de-board the plane as the child was just not listening to the parents or the flight crew. Parents having children act up in public is nothing new to our modern world, but in this case, there was a safety issue involved --and a law. The only thing they could do was to ask the family to leave and catch another flight. I feel for the family - it is embarrassing when your child acts up in public (people stare), yet I also feel for the over 100 passengers on that flight who needed to get from Point A to Point B, but could not due to an undisciplined child. As a mom of five children, including strong willed boys, I have my struggles, yet there comes a time when you just need to put your foot down and be the parent. We cannot always be our child's best friend, not at age 3. Besides, children need to learn there are other people in this world. Parents need to teach their children to take others into consideration, that the world does not revolve around them, though they might want it to. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, January 30th, 2007
10:03 pm	Writers Group at Rolling Hills Community Church On Sunday, I organized a writer's group at Rolling Hills Community Church and was excited to see the numbers of people who showed up. I had it listed in the bulletin for three weeks with my e-mail address in there, but because only four people e-mailed me, I expected perhaps a handful to show up Sunday. Instead, we had about 20. So much enthusiasm, so much talent, so much anticipation for the journey ahead of us. I truly enjoy connecting with fellow writers, as we all learn from one another and are inspired by where the pen is taking us. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, January 16th, 2007
8:05 am	SNOW DAY and KIDS HOME and WRITING School is closed here in West Linn! I love having my kids home for the day, to play in the snow, make hot chocolate, take it easy with them. It makes for an easier day - no having to hurry to make lunches and rush them out the door. But as a writer mom, I also have an article due and need to get the first draft completed today. So, while I wait for my youngest to wake up - he had no nap yesterday so is still sleeping - I am going to try hard to get this article done. I am allowing the twins to play X-box, to be able to just let them enjoy that electronic game while I work. The article I am writing is about some high school boys from Westside Christian who organized a campaign to collect athletic balls to be sent to African children. . .while I pen these words, it is snowing even harder. The snow flakes are larger than they were an hour ago. I better get writing so I can go enjoy the snow with the kids later. I also want to challenge them in a game of Risk and other board games. (Comment on this)
Thursday, January 11th, 2007
12:30 am	WRITERMOM Finally Getting My Website Up So much time has passed and I am just not an on-line journal person yet. . . But now, that I finally have my website www.writermom.net up and running, I thought I better update my web log. After several years of talking about it and going to writing conferences where speakers say, "You just have to have a website," and trying to create my own, I finally hired Zac to design the website of my dreams, which it is, yet I am such a perfectionist and still find things to change. . . Sometimes though, I just need to be satisfied, at least for tonight - It is getting late. On another note, the vice president of Oregon Press Women asked me to speak at their upcoming seminar on April 21. She would like me to offer budding freelance writers tips for their professional journey, and added that discussion of my website and Real-Life Mom column would be beneficial. Penning Real-Life Mom is a joy and I look forward to seeing it in the paper in the morning. In fact, I just checked, it is already on-line at www.oregonlive.com, sans photo or byline at the top. Got to see the hard copy for that. Current Mood: awake (Comment on this)
Friday, May 5th, 2006
2:28 pm	Talking to 8th graders about WRITING Today I was asked to be a part of Rosemont Ridge Middle School's Career day where I spoke to 8th graders about writing and a career in journalism. I met some wonderful kids and was able to answer questions. I had a presentation board set up with my Real Life Mom columns posted (which are published the SECOND THURSDAY OF THE MONTH IN THE OREGONIAN'S METRO SW SECTION) as well as other stories and basic information about the history of newspapers. I also brought my two notebooks filled with many of the stories I have written over the past 10 years of being a freelance journalist. Some of the questions kids asked me were: When did you decide to become a writer (I have kept journals since 5th grade and began taking journalism classes in high school, joining my school newspaper staff and continued into college), How do you become a journalist, how much time do you get off, where do you get your story ideas from, what types of stories do you write, what is your favorite part and what challenges do you face? When I think of being a writer, you never have time off really. Your mind is always at work, creating, thinking, dreaming up new ideas. As the guy who designs shoes for Nike said today: It is a 24 hour a day job. When you are in a creative field, you are always thinking, brainstorming, creating. I told all of the students I met today to try to get published in small local newspapers as soon as they can, and I encouraged them to keep in touch. Here's to all the young writers out there. Keep on writing! (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, May 4th, 2006
11:15 pm	ROSEMONT RIDGE MIDDLE SCHOOL CAREER DAY I am getting ready to speak at the Rosemont Ridge Middle School career day tomorrow for 8th graders. It will be fun to inspire those future writers to become journalists, authors, writers, etc. I have been working on my poster board and other presentation items so that when kids come by my booth they will enjoy what they see. My Oregonian pencils as favors to give to kids did not arrive in the mail today, but I will still try to get them at the Post Office before I head up to the school at 9 a.m. Although I am excited to talk about all areas in the field of communication studies, I am most passionate about my REAL LIFE MOM column which I pen for The Oregonian's SW Weekly section of the paper. On my presentation board, I have posted a few columns for kids to see. It is published the second Tuesday of the month, and I am hoping for more often, and in all sections of the paper, not just SW Weekly [which only appears in West Linn, Wilsonville and Lake Oswego. I have got to get to bed. My 5:30 a.m. looms. (Comment on this)
6:54 pm	NEW YORK! I just returned from New York where I attended the ASJA conference. What a blast and a shot in the arm as far as freelance writing is concerned. It is great to share ideas and to meet editors from large magazines. Also took in two Broadway plays, one called Three Days of Rain with Julia Roberts. And, I got to be on Good Morning America and meet Diane Sawyer and Charles Gibson. What fun. I have been watching that show since I was in high school! Now it's back home to kids and chaos and laundry and putting into practice all that I learned. (Comment on this)