It's 1:23a 12/25 and Santa's tired

Santa's almost ready to call it a nite and head to bed. The stockings still need to be filled yet, so his job is not quite done.

We went to late Christmas Eve service, the kids were so excited when we got home at 11:45p and it was almost CHRISTMAS!!! LOL, we read 3 Christmas Books including the Night before Christmas. The Cookies and milk were placed and stockings hung. The dogs and cats are nestled all snug in the kids beds too. Hopefully those visions of sugarplums won't wake anyone!

Our advent wreath made such a warm and inviting glow as the candles burned so brightly. The first purple candle was burning quite low, it's a good thing we won't need to light it much more. The Christ candle in the center burned the brightest. The wreath has been the center of our celebration this year. We read from Matthew each Sunday Night during advent and sang holiday hymns as we lit the candles.

I was glad to hear my youngest beg to go to Christmas Eve service despite being in church this morning. It is nice to know that my children have not been too commercialized towards the holidays and they remember the Christ child is the reason for the season.

Tonite as I ready for bed my thoughts turn to the many servicemen and women who are serving their country and not home with their families. I pray that they will be safe and that they and their families know just how much we appreciate their sacrifices. God bless them everyone!

Happy Holidays Everyone; may your days be filled with family, laughter, much food and safe travels. May your nights find you warm, safe and with loved ones.

Internet Marketing and The Learning Curve

The last few days I have been learning a great deal about Internet Marketing (IM) and various techniques including viral marketing, publishing an e-newsletter and how to build a list. I have been reading, studying, and asking a lot of questions. Once very valuable forum that I am now a member of can be found at http://www.warriorforum.com/forum/ it boasts being the #1 Internet Marketing Forum since 1997. I have been amazed at the volumne of very valuable information that is being shared on this forum. I intend to learn all I can and to report in this blog my results, so stay tuned.

Ebay - Is there a place for Writers ?

I have been a buyer and a seller on Ebay under the ID MomandChild since July 10, 2001. I have enjoyed 100% positive feedback from those I have purchased from and those who have purchased from me. Ebay has been a popular marketplace for some time now. Even large corporations are now setting up shop on Ebay. What a place, Ebay has become, when small sellers can rub elbows with large corporations competing against each other for the same buyers. I have sold in several catagories on Ebay including clothing, electronics and recently books. Lately I have been exploring the idea of putting my ebooks on Ebay. I have been researching completed auctions for similar ebooks to see how well they do on Ebay. I wonder if people actually search for ebooks on Ebay?

A search for "ebooks" on the Ebay search engine revealed 11331 items found. Information products being the largest catagory of ebook with 6640 items. I have learned through experience that sellers will be successful if the catagory they are selling in has fewer than 10,000 items. So according to my research today, selling my ebooks on Ebay could be promising.

Associated Content

I write articles for a Website called: Associated Content. This is a wonderful way to make some extra money for the holidays, to pay the unexpected bill, or if you are very good at the craft of writing, you can even earn enough to pay all of your monthly bills, provided of course you are not a big spender.

I write most of my articles on topics I am knowledgeable about. Topics like parenting, homeschooling, housework, baking, pets. I write about what I am interested in, what fastinates me and about topics that I feel are important to my readers.

One of the forums I visit wahm.com has a folder for those who write from home and I found information about Associated Content one day while I was reading posts. I was intriqued that there existed a place where I could write about any topic I desired to write about and someone would pay me to do this. I average $8 to $10 per article.

If you would like to be paid to write articles follow this link:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/join.html?refer=11861

Please use the link just as I have it pasted here. I earn a referral fee for every one I send to Associated Content who joins and publishes articles. It is not much, but every little bit helps. Once you join, you will have a referral link also to send all of your readers to.

If you would like to read the articles I wrote and have published on Associated Content, please click on the link below, thank you. (do not use this link to join Associated Content, use the above link to do that please).

http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/11861/laura_quintile.html

Out Of The Depths Of Misery Comes Grace

Have you ever felt like Job, from the bible, full of despair and deep in the throes of Misery? It is Sunday today, and I am on day 4 of a miserable cold. Today, I am reading from Job 18: 1-11. The Word speaks of Job being in the depths of misery because of his afflictions, he was physically, mentally and emotionally distraught and brought to his knees by illness, suffering and loss. He was so buried in his misery that God had to come to him in a whirlwind so that Job would take notice of God's presence. We have all from time to time been there, in the depths of misery because of illness, loss or through suffering, feel the total desolation of despair. It feels isolating and lonely to be in such a black hole by ourself. God reaches us and grabs our attention to remind us that He is above all things, and nothing happens to us without first going thru God's filter.

As horrible as I feel in the depths of my cold, there has been a reason for my affliction, a sense of purpose to my suffering. I have been forced to rest, something I normally do not do on my own. As a fulltime mom, fulltime college student and online business owner, rest is not normally a part of my days and a stranger who visits for just part of my nights. God has to sometimes grab our attention and bring us to our knees to listen to His wisdom and remember that He is Sovereign. He alone is the filter in our lives. Through our suffering, we are brought to our knees, where we remember to be with our Father in Heaven and to stay close to Him who guides us and protects us, because He created us and loves us dearly.

It is good for me to be reminded that I do not have to do it all on my own. I do not have to be "Super-Mom", or "Perfect Straight A College Student", or even the "tycoon of the internet". I certainly do not need to be all three at once or even one at a time. I simply need to be me, the wonderful being that God created. Life is easier when we take the time to be in God's Word, early each morning to drink in the wisdom God has written there for us. Spending time with God in His Word, and in prayer, gives direction to our lives, His direction. Direction that steers us to the many blessings that God prepares for us.

My forced days of rest has given me plenty of time to heal, not only from my cold, but from my need to be "Super" at all I do, I have remembered how important it is to rest when needed, and to be happy with the me that God created, rather than the "me" that I created.

What is a writer to do?

It started with a sore throat, then a fever of 100.8, then a persistant and hacking cough - I was sick! How could I be sick? I have two kids and 7 pets dependent on me for thier care, there simply is no time for mom to be sick, right?

Apparently, colds are rude and have no sence of fair play! Thank goodness, my youngest has acquired a knack for meal preparation and with the help of her 12 y/o sister they managed to survive my illness. Thank goodness for microwave hotdogs!

It amazes me how when your head feels like cotton, your creative juices seem to evaporate. I am afraid I did nothing for the past few days in regards to earning a living online. I will need to kick some serious creative butt next week when I return to the land of the living. In the meantime, I will lay back, sip my hot tea and try to feel more human again.

I did manage to add adsense to my blog, my one and only accomplishment this week.

Thank goodness my daughters have so far managed to stay away from my cold germs. I pray they remain healthy.

Submitting to Blog Directories

One of the things I have been doing is submitting my blog to blog directories.

This is my list of blog directories so far.....

http://www.daypop.com - this one was offline when I tried to submit
http://www.blogwise.com
http://www.popdex.com
http://www.blogarama.com
http://www.syndic8.com
http://www.blogdigger.com/add.jsp
http://www.weblogalot.com

those of you who are blogging too and would like to submit your blog too, have fun!

My New Writing Project

This is exciting! I have finally learned how to create PDF files. I am now able to express my thoughts in ebook format. I have listed a few of my original ebooks on my website Joyfulwraps.com

Now to find some good topics to write about that my readers are interested in. I have discovered some good tools and am learning how to use these tools.

One tool is great for finding niche markets based on keyword popularity.

The tool can be found at: http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion

Well, I am off to discover more about writing ebooks and creating new ebooks.

The Season of Autumn is Upon Us

It is October 5th and I have resigned myself to the fact that sunny, warm days are over for this year....sigh.

I do love the season of Fall. I love walking through crispy leaves and the colorful trees in Ohio are just awesome. We love trees so much that we planted two new Maple babies this year. Now we have 4 Maple trees in our backyard. Imagine all the colorful leaves we will be raking for years to come LOL.

The above picture is the back portion of our backyard where the two original Maples stand. We planted the two new Maples a little further up. I will take a new picture of the backyard so that the two new trees can be seen in the picture and post it here, soon, I hope. I have to get my digital camera to cooperate first. At the present time it refuses to work unless connected to the computer, despite putting in fresh batteries. Hauling the computer outside to take the pic is not an option LOL. I just may have to buy a new digital camera in order to take a pic of the newly planted trees.

The season of Autumn for me, at least, has always been a time of reflection. I love to take walks around our neighborhood, usually with at least one of our 3 dogs alongside me. On these walks I take some deep breaths of cool air and try to clear my mind of any worries. I like to enjoy the colorful leaves and flowers without the clutter of heavy thoughts. On my walks, it becomes clear to me just how wonderful our God is to provide us with such a tremendous tapestry of rich color for us to enjoy. It brings me such peace to walk among such artistry. His power and presence along my walk fills me with a peace that is difficult to miss or to describe. It must be experienced. Once I have enjoyed God's handiwork and have found that peaceful spot in my soul; I allow my mind to reflect upon my life's journey so far and I see in my mind's eye a sort of slideshow of what has transpired so far in 2006. I acknowledge how much I have learned as a college student and the sacrifices my family has made so that I could embark on this quest to achieve my bachelor degree. The past few months I have survived College Algebra and am now in thr throes of Statistics. My daughters have been amazingly understanding of my hair pulling, rantings and my declarations of giving up LOL. Statistics especially has been a trying class and my daughters can attest to the level of difficulty I have endured over the past two months. I have 3 weeks of torture yet to suffer through and then we are going to have a party to celebrate the end of the term. Funny that it will fall on Halloween!

I also reflect upon my freelance work. My website Joyfulwraps.com is progressing. I would love to have more clients find my website, though, so I will need to step up my marketing machine. Basically for the most part, I am really satisfied with my journey as a writer. I love capturing words, putting them to paper and having them create something that inspires, informs or evokes passion in someone else.

As I finish my walk I reflect with joy upon how my daughters have grown over the summer and how they are turning into such wonderful pre-teens. I can already tell that our house will be quite lively during the teen years and I look forward to all the challenges and all the joys.

As I near my home, I reflect on just how good it is to have a home, and all those whom I love so dearly that wait just inside the door to welcome me back from my walk. I am truelly blessed. I thank God every day for my loved ones, for my pets, for my writting skill and for his son, my savior, Jesus.

Writers Link Exchange Created

On August 10, 2006 I created a Writers Link Exchange on the remaining page of my Joyfulwraps site. One of the work at home moms forums I participate in, had been discussing how to link to each other's articles on Associated Content (where some of our articles are published online). I have seen link exchange pages and have participated in many over the years. Creating one was simple and the idea to help each other draw traffic to our writing efforts a good one.

I will be fine-tuning the page, as I do all of my site pages LOL. My need to constantly improve my art is bordering on psychotic. Yes, I have some traits of a type A personality. Should you, the reader care to follow the link exchange as it progresses; the link is:

Writers Link Exchange

I bet you are glad this is a short post, compared to my first one :)

Getting to know me, the writer

You already know my name :) and that I am a writer. What you do not know about me can pretty much be summed up by saying: I am a MOM and I love our pets, but the most passionate part of me is this insatiable need to absorb knowledge LOL. I love to learn new things about everything that touches my life. I think that knowledge is powerful stuff. Becoming an educated person is an ongoing, never-ending process. This need to know stuff, allows me to enjoy the research part of being a writer. It does not bore me in the least to find out about something I know little about, in order to write a requested article on the subject. I think my family background and my experiences in my younger years (20's and 30's) have made for a well to draw from when writing about certain topics. An example would be my entrance into the United States Navy, the summer I graduated from high school. I was very young, and naive, I grew up during my four-year enlistment. The education I received was top notch. Discipline, respect for authority, adherence to the law, and pride in my country were all values I witnessed and they became imbedded into my personality. I also became exposed to the male species during those four years and although I dated a little during my senior year; the males that were a part of my naval career were an entirely different animal. I experienced a lot of trauma at the hands of males during those years. My first sexual experience beyond kissing was when I was raped right after my 20th birthday, that event and the resultant physical, emotional and mental assault left scars that still haunt me today, to a lesser degree, but they are still there. At the end of my time in service, my boyfriend got me drunk with wine he used in spaghetti sauce (unknown to me) and served with dinner (I sipped one glass). He took advantage of me and I became pregnant with my eldest daughter. That experience embittered me towards any kind of alcoholic beverage and further convinced me that males were pretty much scum. He choose not to see me anymore after I broke the news to him. He has never been a part of our daughter's life, even after she located him and wrote to him. She wanted to connect with him; he wanted to stay out of her life. I say she is better off without him in her life. Pain, grief, sadness, and loneliness; these emotions are powerful and can shape our lives in positive or negative ways. We choose how to react when bad things happen to us. I hope my experiences and how I overcame the terrible impact of them may have a positive impression on someone's life. Maybe my words can comfort, guide or heal someone, or perhaps even keep someone from having to go through what I did. My experiences have meaning, if my words can encourage, heal or educate someone, in a way that creates a positive influence on their life. There were many wonderful events in my 20's and 30's. I became a mom 3 times; each time giving birth to a girl. I longed for a son, but came to love and cherish each of my daughters. The man I fell in love with and married in my 30's was a very deceptive man and my marriage endured more lies and deceptions from him than I can or wish to count. Several years into our marriage he was diagnosed as having Chronic Depression and being Bipolar in thought and in emotion, and as being a Chronic Liar (yes that is a diagnosis). He has taken himself off his medications 6 times to date. Each time he came off his meds he would go into extreme rages, uncontrolled bouts of depression and mania episodes of extreme agitation and anger. The girls and I were not safe during these times. He abused me physically once. Our family endured 9 separations. This last separation at the time of this writing has been a little over a year and is a permanent one. You cannot force someone to want to stay on medications or to seek professional help. I have learned this valuable insight the difficult way. If I could I would make him take his medications faithfully, for he is an entirely different man when he consistently takes them. If I could, I would make him see his mental health physician often and make him find a good doctor. The one he has seen for years encourages him to repeat his habit of going off his meds; because she takes him back each time despite a office policy of not doing so for any of her patients. She does his therapy herself instead of sending him to a more qualified therapist and only sees him once a month even when he is in serious trouble and is suicidal or cycling rapidly through one manic episode after another. He could have searched for a better doctor, but did not because she feeds his ego. She enjoys their talks and he has always had a deep need for people to like him. He stays with her, and our marriage has suffered. Our daughters have suffered because he cannot be a father to them, because he is so wrapped up in himself. I write about being a mom, about being a woman, and about what it is like to have a loved one destroy his life; because he refuses to control his disease, but allows it to control him. I write about education and in particular what I have learned in our almost thirteen years of homeschooling. I am presently attending Kaplan University Online. I should complete my Advanced Start Bachelor of Science in Business Degree in 2007.

At the present all of my articles are published on a site called Associated Content. I have finally started to write a novel, that I have been taking notes for, for years.

Future blog entries will detail how my writing career progresses. I hope to use this blog as a journal of my writing career. Perhaps those reading this blog will be my future clients, or fans of my novels :) Only time will tell.