Ten Things I Hate About the Electronic Age*

| Amy

1– reading my Nook until it’s dead (NOW what am I supposed to do?)

2–searching for hours for a book I know I have but still can’t find.

3–KNOWING something is on YouTube but I still can’t find it.

4–My ‘smart’ phone dies more often than Mario.

5–power failure means complete and utter boredom

6–I can never find the charger when I need it

7–leaving my charger odd places–like at work or at a friend’s

8–having to have a charger for everything

9–kaput zip drives which contain very valuable story line ideas and/or irretrievable chapters (I’m still upset about this one <frowny face>)

10–The flashing yellow light on my laptop

And I guess that means it’s time to go (since I don’t know where my charger is this time). What’s your ‘hate’ about the Electronic Age?

*And just so no one thinks I’m being negative, next week let’s talk about what we like about the Electronic Age. ;)

Until then… <>< Amy

Swartzentruber Amish

| Amy

Most people believe that the Amish are the Amish are the Amish. There’s one kind–Amish. But this is not the case. I guess it’s a naive thought at best, but understandable since the Amish do their best to stay among themselves and keep their business private.

But in truth there are many divisions within the Amish church. These divisions happened over the years as members disagreed over one thing or another from shunning to gas powered motors. Because of this, most of the differences boil down to conservatism.

This is a picture of a Swartzentruber Amish farm in Ohio.  To find out more about the Swartzentruber Amish click here

The Amish in Ethridge, Tennessee, are very conservative–very conservative–and are considered Swartzentruber Amish.

Here are some of the determining factors that make up the Swartzentruber Amish:

♦ No indoor plumbing or hot water

♦ They use outhouses

♦ Automobile travel is forbidden unless there is an emergency

♦ A more conservative dress, especially with the women. Darker clothing even on children.

♦ Church services are longer–can last up to 4 hours

♦ Their houses have a rougher appearance and they do not have flower beds like other Amish

♦ They have no DMV safety triangles on the back of their buggies or windshields on the front

Fun Fact: There are 3 distinct, practicing groups of Swartzentruber Amish in Ohio. Swartzentruber Amish are in 13 states and Ontario.

Have you been to visit an Amish community? Do you know where they fall  on the Amish spectrum? Leave me a comment and tell me about your experience. I’d love to hear from you! <>< Amy

A Math Lesson or The Importance of a Decimal Point

| Amy

I admit it. I’m something of an over-protective mom. But I love my boy and would do anything in the world to protect him. He’s growing up, getting bigger everyday. He’s in that preteen stage right now. He’s knows he’s getting bigger and he stretches his wings everyday. I’m doing my best to let him have the freedom he needs while being right there to help should the need arise.

“Mom.” he said, “there’s a duel disc for sale on eBay and I want to bid on it.” It was $20.50. Not a bad price.

“Sure,” I said. So I go over and tell him how eBay works and the bidding system. How to place a bid, then I go back to my projects keeping a watchful ear out for any cries of distress.

He placed a bid for a dollar more than the current one. Then a few minutes later told me that he’d been out bid. He placed another bid for two dollars more. I told him the best thing to do was to leave the bids alone until the day the auction ends. Then try to win it then.

He said he understood and went about his way.

The last day of the auction came and went. Frankly I had forgotten all about the Duel Disc (It’s a Yu-Gi Oh thing, don’t quite understand it myself.). Then I get the email–congratulations you’ve won the Duel Disc for $61.

Wait. What? How much? I never made a bid for $61.

Holy-Guacamole! Where am I going to find the money for this?

I resigned myself to paying for it but emailed the seller. We never intended to bid $61. But somehow we did.

Thankfully we had a very understanding seller. She let us out of the contract to buy and I breathed a sigh of relief. But just how did we get a bid that high under our name?

Well, I did a little investigation and this is what I found out. Instead of making a bid for $24.50 we made a bid for $2450.

Holy Schmoley Guacamole! I’m sure glad no one got into a bidding war with us. LOL

But let this be a lesson to us all. Decimal points are really, really important.

Staying Home

| Amy

Well, it’s been almost six months and I still haven’t mastered the art of staying home. For those who don’t know, this spring, I decided to take a medical leave from work. My RA has gotten bad enough that I needed time to pull myself together. Medications aren’t helping like I’d hoped. And I take so many of them that I decided a break was in order.

So here I am, trying to find my place in my own home. When to write, when to clean, And just how does one muster the drive to take a shower, put on half-way decent clothes and make up to just stare at the same walls that were there the day before?

That sounds like depression, but it’s not. I was actually trying to be funny and failed miserably. I’m not unhappy at home or bored. It’s just that I haven’t quite figured out the rhythm. I had a plan for my week. Get up with my husband each day. Didn’t happen. Cook myself breakfast after I get the boy to school, nope. Well, I got the boy to school, but then I came home and grabbed a bowl of cereal and started to work on my WIPs.

And then the summer hit. Yow-sa!

I got some writing done, but not near enough for my schedule. I did manage to edit three books (actually 2 but one of those I had to do twice. :D) Lovely, lovely edits.  I also managed to start a new project–this one contemporary. Yes, a new venture for me.

August again and time for the boy to go back to school. More time to write and get those household projects complete. Right?

I just wonder how long it’s going to take to get me used to him not being here and having the house to myself. Man, am I going to miss him!

Amish Baskets

| Amy

Ethridge, TN — Part 3

As you know, all I wanted when we went to see the Amish in Ethridge, TN, was an Amish doll. But they also had a lot of really great baskets for sale. One of the ladies on the wagon tour with us had been there before, I’m guessing several times, for she knew which houses had what merchandise for sale.

At the last house we pulled into on our tour, she told us, “This is the house with the baskets.”

This house belonged to Levi Hershberger. Levi was a handsome man. With a dark beard hardly streaked with gray just touching his chest. He had clear skin, little round glasses and unlike the other men we encountered on our tour, he wore black lace shoes. If I had to guess I’d say he was in his late fifties to early sixties. Our guide told us that he had 17 children and 123 grandchildren. Keep in mind that the average number in a church district is 200. Mr. Levi’s immediate family was nearly a church district in itself!

Mr. Levi was kind enough to let us go into his workshop where he makes his baskets. All the materials are hand dyed, but the color is so even and perfect you’d think it had been commercially done. There was of course no electricity in his shop, the only light filtering in from the many windows.

The baskets were beautiful and had I had a little more pocket money I would have bought many more to bring home with me. As it was, I bought one (even though I swore I wasn’t buying anything else for my house. I’m doing my best this year to de-junk!). But next year I’ll be sure to stock up.

Blame it on Testosterone?

| Amy

This weekend I watched (part of) Rob Roy with my husband. I say part of, because I find the movie disturbing. Anyone who knows me well knows that I’m too sensitive. But anyway…we were watching the movie and we came to the part where the  servant girl hangs herself after she finds out that she’s carrying Archibald’s child and he won’t honor her.

My hubs says to  me, “It’s not that bad. She shouldn’t have done that.”

What? Did he not understand the position she found herself in? She’s unemployed (having lost her job when her employers found out that she was pregnant), carrying what would have been called a bastard child, and the year is circa 1730.

That in turn made me think about the differences between women and men. I know what you’re thinking, and I’ve read Mars and Venus. But I’m talking about what makes us *different*. Is it truly a matter of nature that causes men and women react differently when faced with the same situations?

Nature or nurture? According to some studies it doesn’t matter how you raise a boy, he’s a boy. In the case of a circumcision gone wrong concerning a set of identical twin boys, one of the children was raised as a girl. (Click here for more info) The ‘experiment’ worked for a while, but ultimately failed.

So maybe there is something about boys, something that makes them different, makes them think differently than women. And that something keeps them from understanding the plight of a woman in the 18th century who finds herself pregnant and unwed.

What do you think? Is nature stronger than nurture? does it color how we react, women versus men?

The Writing Process

| Amy

Maybe I should have called this the publishing process. So many times I’m asked “How long did it take you to write this book?”  Well, I have to tell you that the answer isn’t cut and dried.

I started Saving Gideon in October of 2010. I wrote the series idea, a working synopsis, and a submission synopsis. I wrote the first 50 pages and sent it  to my agent. July of the next year (that would make it 2011) We had a publishing house very interested. My agent said it was time to finish the book. So  I did, but it topped out at only 65 thousand words. I wasn’t worried. Until I got the contract in mid-September and the publishing house wanted the novel to be at least 80K. I  had a little over two weeks to write 15 thousand words. At the time I was working a full time job (44+ hours a week). YIKES!

By some miracle I finished the book, got it to word count and submitted on time. Yay, me!

Then the marketing pages arrived. The forms I had to fill out with pertinent information so that the cover artist could create a realistic and accurate cover. The first pass at a back cover blurb. The discussion questions for the book and interviews.

And then there’s the little matter of the next book in the series. I start it and the  ‘macro-edits’ arrive.

Macro edits–the first time I saw that phrase my heart hit the floor. Macro means big, right? Big changes. Holy cow. What had I  gotten myself into?

Whew! They weren’t as bad as I thought. I had a month to get them ready and sent in. I made it with days to spare.

And I  was finally done, right? Nope. Next came line edits. Line edits are hard. even harder than macro  edits. Why? Because line edits are proof that every word I’ve written is not golden. It’s the stuff that tears down a writer’s fragile ego  and makes us second guess any talent that we may have. It’s hard to see through the changes and know that the book is going to be better for the effort. All I can see is the many marks of “track changes blue”. Anyone who is a veteran of the line edit knows how tough this time is. But it’s almost over. A polished diamond of a book is almost ready.

Almost.

Almost? How much more can there be? There’s the copy edits. Then the final read, the author’s last chance to make  any changes to the manuscript before it goes to the printer.

And I  take a deep breath. I  sent this last batch of changes in last month. That’s July 2012.

So did it take me two years to write Saving Gideon? Not really. But I worked on it for two years. All the while, working on the second book in the series.

I’m through the line edits with Katie’s Choice. And soon I’ll begin writing text for Gabriel’s Bride. I’m sure while I’m working on Gabriel, I’ll be working on Katie as well. And such is the writing process.