Happy Friday Everyone
This has been a busy week for me. I am about to finish work on the history book, Reflections of Winnsboro, that I am compiling for the Winnsboro Historian, Bill Jones. It has been a joy to work with him again, and hopefully, the book will be out by the end of March. It needs to go to another editor for copy editing, then to a layout professional to get it all set up properly for paperback and digital release.
I’m also working with the folks at S&H Publishing to get my online workshop on editing ready. It is slated for June, but the prep takes time. This project has nudged me toward learning how to use Power Point. I like it.
How has your week been? Do you take stock at the end of the week to pat yourself on the back for what you accomplished? Or slap your forehead for wasting a lot of time?
Sometimes I spend far too long looking at old pictures of my cats. I’d forgotten about this meme I made of Orca. He was our Miracle Cat, for reasons I wrote about HERE, and he loved to sprawl in front of my monitor.
![](http://test.maryannwrites.com/itsnotallgravy/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2014/08/Kitty-porn-300x225.jpg)
IN THE NEWS
Earlier this week, Trump replaced the acting head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a holdover from Barack Obama’s administration, as he battled mounting fallout over his controversial immigration orders.
No reason was given for the decision to replace Daniel Ragsdale, announced barely an hour after Trump fired another Obama appointee, acting attorney general Sally Yates, for breaking ranks over the ban on travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations.
Ragsdale’s replacement, Thomas Homan, will help “ensure that we enforce our immigration laws in the interior of the United States consistent with the national interest,” Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said in a statement.
Perhaps advisers should advise Trump that this is not Celebrity Apprentice.
FRIDAY FUNNIES
“Do you believe in life after death?” The boss asked one of his employees.
“Yes, sir,” the new employee responded.
“Well that makes everything just fine,” the boss went on. “After you left early yesterday to go to your grandmother’s funeral, she stopped in to see you.”
It was Palm Sunday, and, because of a sore throat, five-year-old Johnny stayed home from church with a sitter. When the family returned home, they were carrying several palm branches.
The boy asked what they were for, and his mother said, “People held them over Jesus’ head as he walked by.”
“Wouldn’t you know it,” the boy fumed. “The one Sunday I don’t go, He shows up!”
One Easter Sunday morning as the minister was preaching the children’s sermon, he reached into his bag of props and pulled out an egg, He pointed at the egg and asked the children, “What’s in here?”
“I know!” a little boy cried out. “Pantyhose.”
The prospective father-in-law asked the groom-to-be, “Young man, can you support a family?”
The surprised young man said, “Well, no. I was just planning to support your daughter. The rest of you will have to fend for yourselves.”
A little boy in church for the first time, watched as the ushers passed around the offering plates. When they came near his pew, the boy said loudly, “Don’t pay for me, Daddy. I’m under five.”
“Oh, I’m so happy to see you,” the little boy said to his grandmother on his mother’s side. “Now maybe Daddy will do the trick he’s been promising us.”
“What trick is that?” Grandma asked.
“I heard him tell Mommy that he’d climb the walls if you came to visit,” the boy said.
Little Johnny asked his grandmother how old she was.
Grandma answered, “Thirty-nine and holding.”
Johnny thought for a moment, and then said, “How old would you be if you let go?”
WRITING WISDOM
Over at Writer Unboxed, Allie Larkin wrote about the writing life before we got so caught up with all the distractions from the Internet. I particularly liked:
Social media wasn’t a big deal yet. Streaming video wasn’t a thing. My phone only made phone calls. There was much blank headspace to be had. Even when I had a full calendar, I still got stuck in line at the post office, and we did not yet have the technology to tweet about it. My writing time felt like downloading. I’d write eight pages for writing group in a few hours on a Sunday night, because I’d spent all week thinking about it.
Her post made me stop and think about how productive I used to be before I could so easily be pulled away from my best-laid plans to increase my daily writing time.
The post also looked at ways that we can feed our creative spirits, and there were some great comments from authors on what they do that feeds their writing. I shared some of the things I do; drawing, coloring, and playing on stage.
What are the things you do that help empty your mind, so story ideas can flood in?