Borrowed from: http://ilovedevotionals.com
The last two weeks have been intense. Violence in the Middle East, the loss of Robin Williams, the madness in Ferguson Missouri, police harming or killing innocents….. I need a laugh.
Here’s a joke that I borrowed from Greatcleanjokes.com
So there was this female business executive who was late for a meeting. She is going 65 on a street where the speed limit is 40. A cop pulls her over and says “ma’am, can I please see your license?” She says “I’m sorry, officer, but I got it revoked two years ago for drunk driving.” His brow furrows and he straightens up. “Well, can I please see the registration of your car?” She says “I stole the car and I killed the driver; he’s in the trunk.” “Ma’am, DON’T MOVE, I’m calling for backup.” He mutters furiously into his walkie-talkie… Five minutes later, half the squad pulls up, the Chief of Police walks over to the woman’s window. “Ma’am, can I see your license?” he asks sternly. “Of course, officer,” she smiles demurely and pulls out a license from her purse. He squints warily at it. “This looks legitimate,” he mumbles. “Can I see the registration to this car?” She pulls it out of the glove compartment and hands it to him. “Ma’am, stand back!” He bangs open the trunk of the car and flinches: but it was completely empty… The woman brandishes a finger at the first cop and says accusingly, “And I’ll bet that liar told you I was speeding too!!”
The fabulous humor author, Carol Wyer has jokes on her blog every Friday. She calls it “Feel Good Friday”. The joke above appeared on her blog along with many other corny but fun jokes. Here’s her frog page from a couple of weeks ago. Feel Good Friday Frog Page
The Oatmeal can be quite funny. Here’s a link to their jokes page: Dumb Jokes That are Funny
Hope you find something that makes you laugh today.
Although I linked to clean jokes, not everything on the Oatmeal page nor Carol Wyer’s page is child friendly. Some of the jokes on the Great Clean Jokes page are a bit offensive. Proceed with caution.
Depression is real. We must do all we can to support those battling with mental health issues #RIP #robinwilliams pic.twitter.com/d2a5yRX3Vq
— Action for Happiness (@actionhappiness) August 12, 2014
When I tell people I am an author, they think wow, how glamorous! You get to sit and make things up all day! In part, this is true. I DO get paid to make things up! However, it’s not the glamour most people would imagine.
There are a lot of other things that go into being an author outside of just writing. In fact, writing is just the beginning! Once you write the book, you then have to go back through and fix things…whether it’s grammar and punctuation or holes in the plot or both! Then you have to find either an agent to represent the book or a publisher to publish it. If you go the self-publishing route, you have to think about cover design and format and all of those details on your own.
Skipping ahead, once you have things set up and you’re ready to move forward with the publishing aspects, you have to think about your audience. It doesn’t matter if you have written the best book ever, if no one knows you, no one will read it. You have to network, get to know other authors, build a public persona and platform. Today, a lot of that can be done online by creating Facebook and other author pages and talking with other authors. Just forming relationships.
Marketing is one of the hardest parts about being an author. If you want to continue to write, you need your books to do well or getting them out there will be a moot point. You’ll need a nice author photograph and bio and any and all ideas you might have in your head on how to get the word out about the book.
While many people who are not authors or who have not made it very far yet think that writing the book is the beginning and the end to the “author story,” they couldn’t be farther off from the truth. The book is the beginning. It might be the most fun, but it’s just the start. There are so many books out there today that authors have to work just as hard, if not harder than they did on the book in order to get word out about the book.
It is also a misconception that if authors sell a book for $15 or whatever the price is that that is what they make. Even a self-published author does not make the full price of the book with every sale. Authors with publishers make even less per sale because the publisher gets a cut for all they have done in the process. It takes lots and lots of sales to make a living. Many authors do it more as a hobby or a small side supplement to their real jobs.
All that being said, if you’re thinking of becoming an author, all you need to have is a passion for writing. If you have that passion and nothing else satisfies it, you don’t have a choice! You have to become an author. That’s what happened to me! I spent 12 years in radio and I enjoyed some aspects of it. But when my first daughter was born and I left my full time job to stay home I realized that there was something else out there that I’d rather do…write! My only regret about my past career was that I did not leave it sooner to pursue writing. I am grateful to my daughter for forcing me to consider my options!
“Someone Always Loves You” is the first book I ever wrote. I wrote it because the characters that formed in my head bugged me to get them out onto paper. They wouldn’t leave me alone! The story is emotional and has more twists and turns than even I can describe. My goal with this book is that readers enjoy it even half as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you want to be an author, read this book and see where it takes you. If you enjoy reading family dramas with tinges of romance and plenty of questions and answers, this book might be for you as well.
I hope you learned a little bit about what it takes to be an author. It’s not a job anyone could, or at least should do, without a huge level of love for writing. If you have that, keep at it!
Brooke Williams is an award-winning author and freelance writer. She began her career in radio, both on the air and behind the scenes. She did a brief stint in TV news and then took on her most challenging job as a stay at home mom. During the few quiet hours in her day, Brooke writes articles for a number of clients as well as fiction creations such as “Someone Always Loved You.” Brooke has also written “Beyond the Bars,” a thriller, “God in the Kitchen,” a Christian novel, and “Taxi Delivery,” a Christian Romance. Brooke looks forward to the December 9th release of “Wrong Place, Right Time,” a romantic comedy and the February 2015 release of “Accept this Dandelion” inspired by the Bachelor TV show. Brooke has been married to her husband Sean since 2002 and has two daughters, Kaelyn and Sadie.
If you’d like to learn more about Brooke you can find her on:
Website:
http://www.authorbrookewilliams.com/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/AuthorBrookeWilliams
Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/151184.Brooke_Williams
Someone Always Loved You Amazon link:
The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it. –Psalm 24.1
Let me point out the obvious. No doubt we are living in a time in which violence around our globe is escalating. In addition, it seems that our political and religious leaders are determined to stand on opposite sides of any issue simply to “win” the day. They see no value in learning to listen to each other or finding other ways, other solutions, or as some suggest, “a third way” that recognizes and honors the positions of each.
Every now and then you get to see something that really makes you stop and think. That’s what happened to me this morning as I stopped for a moment in going through my inbox and watched this video someone sent me. I invite you to watch it and see if it doesn’t impact you in the same way, causing you to stop and think about this island earth on which we live.
https://www.youtube.com/v/923jxZY2NPI
Perhaps one of the ways we can see through all the violence, fighting, and political and religious posturing would be to consider that this earth, the only place where all people for all time have ever lived, belongs to God. Moreover, perhaps it would equally benefit us to consider that all people who have ever lived, are living, and will live on this island earth are children of God.
Maybe if we pondered these two thoughts for a while we might discover a passage through to a new way of living, one in which people love their neighbors as themselves. What a concept. We ought to try it, don’t you think?
Holy One, as I look at the stars help me to remember that we live on a small blue dot, and it is the only home we and all who have come before and all who will come after will ever have. Help me to honor this miracle of your creation and live peacefully with all. Amen.
The constant reports of war, children being killed, and women kidnapped from several different countries leaves me near tears. While I am grateful I don’t live in a place where those things are a constant concern, my heart breaks for those who deal with this every single day. Continuing to pray for peace in Israel, Palestine, Iraq, Syria, Nigeria, and other nations where violence is so devastating (including some communities in our own country).
Today I share this version of St. Francis’ prayer for peace from a website that offers this prayer in several different languages. Perhaps you can take a moment to join me in praying for peace in our world today.
Click here or on the photo to view this prayer in other languages.
This is a very cool place to find free and low-priced Kindle books. It’s also an inexpensive place to promote your books. They are very attentive and responsive.
Click the link below to visit their site:
or visit their Facebook page:
By the way, if you visit their page today, my first book is there. Show me some love by clicking the link. 🙂