Journals, Poetry, and Pens
So today I put the last post in my journal, which I've used since last December. I normally fill up a journal in about three months, so either I didn't write as much in the first part of 06 or this journal is just bigger than other ones I get. It's always a mixed bag to finish a journal. In a way, it is gratifying because it reminds me that I am writing regularly, and adding to my journal ideas for stories, along with the thoughts of everyday life. It's also a little sad because once I set aside a journal, I sometimes forget some of the ideas and move on to other things--but the great thing is I can always go back and use the ideas some other day.

I encourage everyone to keep a journal--even if you don't consider yourself a writer. I always find that writing out things I'm thinking for my eyes only really helps me to think through decisions, solidify ideas, etc. My agent gave me this beautiful journal and bookmark from Italy, and that's the next one I'm going to start tonight.

While I'm at it, I might as well give a plug for the best journal-writing pen on the planet. It is a Pilot Precise V5, extra fine in black. The best! I read that Pres. Bush really likes Sharpie pens. I like those too, but not for journal writing.

Yesterday I found at our local library a new book called Writing Metrical Poetry by William Baer. It is awesome. He goes through the opening chapter discussing how language is the greatest tool of human beings, pointing us to the Biblical story of the Tower of Babel and reminding us that little in life can be achieved without language. My husband, who just returned from Russia, made the observation to me yesterday that he felt really out of place when he was sitting in a lunchroom with only Russian-speakers all around him. He noticed several deaf girls sitting together in the room also and reflected that they maybe felt as left out of the conversation as he was, since he spoke no Russian. Language binds people together in a way we sometimes take for granted.

Baer reflects further that literature is a wonderful use of language, giving expression to any and every human condition. Then he conclues:

"Thus, great literature can be described as the most sophisticated use of man's greatest tool to consider the most important human subjects with the purpose of moving the reader to serious thought while also affecting the emotions of the heart" (2).

Cool, eh?

A Room with a View
Last week, I had the chance to go to Fallingwater, one of the homes Frank Lloyd Wright designed here in Western Pennsylvania. It's a lovely place that fits organically into the landscape. I remember the first time I saw the countryside surrounding Fallingwater. I had seen many photos of the home in the past, but it was along the road leading to the house that I saw the large, rectangular boulders jutting out from the hillside and realized that they must have been Wright's inspiration for the design of the house.

We toured the house, which is actually situated over the creek and a small waterfall. Everywhere in the home, Wright designed the rooms to be close to nature, and the views are spectacular. He also created all these fabulous nooks and crannies and writing corners where I could definitely see myself writing lots of books!

And it got me to thinking about the creative process and the environment. Could I write a better book--or have more creative ideas for books--if I lived in a place like Fallingwater? Not very many people have that type of opportunity to be so close to nature, and have the absolute ideal, picturesque setting in which to create. But that's my latest question: does it matter where I write? Would it change the writing itself?

I'm due to read The Right to Write by Julia Cameron, which I re-read every summer. In that book, as in some of her other writings, she emphasizes writing in the midst of life. Many people hope to take that sabbatical to write their great American novel. But most people can't take a year off their lives. So, the key is to write in the midst of all the busy-ness, the activities, the long work days. So, my gut tells me that no, where I write doesn't matter.

But then I look at a place like Fallingwater, and I am just dying to get to my journal, and sit at one of those fabulous desks overlooking the creek. And it's maybe that response--that longing to write--which a closeness to nature helps.

Uh-Oh
Pittsburgh Steelers fans are beside themselves after Ben Roethlisberger's motorcycle accident yesterday. Many are downright selfish, disappointed that his performance as a football player could be jeopardized--and their own hopes for a second Steelers superbowl victory could be dashed.

I've heard many a pastor say that anything (even football) can become a god, and thus we break the1st commandment. Of course, we can enjoy a good game and not "worship" the sport, but I have witnessed many people here in Pittsburgh who love their Steelers so much that the performance of a team in a game actually affects their emotional outlook for days on end--for good or bad. That's when we are in danger of breaking the 1st Commandment. Now, I'm not saying that people who are concerned about Big Ben now are breaking the 1st Commandment. I'm simply saying that holding anything in our hearts as more important than God would be wrong.

I hope Ben recovers. Even with a full recovery, however, I can't imagine that getting beat up during football games would actually help him this fall.

I'm 37 years old, and really it wasn't until I became a mother 10 years ago that I started realizing that I have limitations--and that I'd better be responsible. That's not to say that I went around hang gliding and riding motorcycles without a helmet before then. But it was all the responsibilities of being a mom that made me change my attitude. It's the folly of youth to think that they are immortal, and yet that's what often gives young soldiers the courage to face death everyday. Anyway, here's the latest on Ben. Sounds like he may not even have had a motorcycle license.

Good Search
Recently, we discovered a new search engine, which you can use like Google, which helps raise money for charity. It's called Good Search. You can enter the name of our church, Concordia Lutheran Church, in Pittsburgh, PA, and for every search you do, the church gets a penny. It seems like it would take awhile to earn any significant amount of money, but it could add up if enough people do it. So, it would be awesome if a bunch of people make that their homepage and then do all their searches through that site.

A Note on Cheep! Cheep!
A few people in Pittsburgh have asked me where they can find my book. Well...you can always order it from Amazon or someplace like that (and for more info, you can go to my website: juliestiegemeyer.com). There are also a number of copies available at the Barnes & Noble at the Waterfront, FYI. Thanks for asking!!

Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen is one of my all-time favorite authors. We watched "Pride and Prejudice" about a week ago, and I just re-read the book over the weekend. The movie is a great adaptation of the book, although as is often the case with book-to-movie screenplays, scenes were compressed or multiple scenes lumped into one, etc. However, there were some places in the book that read just like the screenplay.

After finishing the book yesterday, I realized a couple of things. First, compared to the manners of Austen's day, most Americans are basically cave men or apes or something when it comes to how we treat one another. In Victorian England, the standards of decorum were very high. And Austen's writing captures that aspect of her society, while at the same time using words that are exactly right and ring true emotionally. That's at least in part why her books have endured.

I've also decided I'm going to have an all-Austen movie week (or two) this summer and watch "Sense and Sensibility," "Emma," and I may even look for "Mansfield Park." And I'll at least re-read one of those books--maybe all of them.

Kinda Cool
Yesterday I got a surprise at my doorstep (and no, it wasn't a stork). It was a box from Concordia Publishing House full of copies of my Thanksgiving book in a paperback version. That was cool! I didn't even realize it was going to be a paperback, so it was a nice surprise. This is the link to CPH for the hardback edition. I don't see the paperback version on the CPH Web site yet, but I'm sure it'll be there soon.

Cool!

Emeril and Me
Last night I was flipping channels for a few minutes after another freezing-cold baseball game (in which my son got 3 singles--way to go, Jacob!), and came across the food network's Emeril Live show. It was hot dog night on the show (whatever that means). When my remote landed on the channel, he had just diced a bunch of onions, put them in some olive oil to saute, and was getting some scattered oohs and aahs from the crowd. Then he diced some tomatoes, cutting them into large-ish hunks and added them to the pan with the onions.

And then, I couldn't believe what happened next.

The crowd started clapping and cheering, as if he had accomplished some great feat. They were hooting and hollaring because he had thrown some cut-up tomatoes in a stinking frying pan!!

And it occurred to me that I would be a much happier cook if only people would clap and cheer every time I, say, tear up some lettuce leaves and toss them in a salad bowl, or drain some spaghetti noodles, or perhaps--gasp--dump some applesauce into a bowl! Then I'd toss away my writing pen and be in the kitchen all day long, right?

So, I guess what my kitchen needs is a cheering, oohing and aahing studio audience. But, until I get that, I guess I'll just keep my sharpened pencils close by.

The Book of Lists and other miscellaneous thoughts
How much I post on my blog is in direct relation to the amount of time I have to write, so I have been cranky lately without much writing time. However, I thought I'd post something about a book I found at the library called, The Reading Teacher's Book of Lists. It's produced by Jossey-Bass Teacher and edited/compiled by Edward Fry and Jacqueline Kress. It's got some really interesting info, such as vocabulary builders, teaching ideas, plus lots of other tidbits. Here was a list I thought was kind of cool:

The Most Common Books in Libraries (I'm leaving off the names of the authors as a little quiz. Any you can't remember?)

1. Census
2. Bible
3. Mother Goose
4. The Divine Comedy
5. The Odyssey
6. The Iliad
7. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
8. Hamlet
9. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
10. The Lord of the Rings
11. Beowulf
12. Don Quixote
13. Koran
14. Aesop's Fables
15. The Night Before Christmas
16. Arabian Nights
17. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
18. Garfield by Jim Davis
19. Macbeth
20. Gulliver's Travels
etc.

Now, all of these (and the other five I didn't feel like typing in the top 25) seemed completely obvious, except for GARFIELD BY JIM DAVIS??? That's right up there with Beowulf and Hamlet and the Bible? I thought that was sort of amusing.

P.S. Those multiple question marks in my last paragraph are dedicated to Pastor Petersen. Enjoy!!!

The Land that Inspired Narnia
I read an article last week in our AAA newsletter with some interesting info on the land that possibly inspired some of the setting C.S. Lewis' beloved Narnia books.

This is a photo of Dunluce Castle in Ireland, near where Lewis spent his childhood in the rolling hills of the Antrim Coast. This castle is said to have inspired Lewis' Cair Paravel from the Narnia books. Travelers can also visit St. Mark's Church in Dundea where Lewis was baptized as well as his childhood school Campbell College.

Although he was born in Ireland and spent much of his childhood there, Lewis spent most of his adult life in southern England, in Oxford where he studied and later taught. Here's a quote from the article: "Lewis' former home, The Kilns, is also located in Oxfordshire. The wild ground, lake and wooded hills of the once isolated home provided inspiration for Lewis as he wrote." (sigh--does that not sound like a writer's paradise???)

Anyway, so that's another trip I'll take someday. We actually have seen the Eagle and Child in Oxford, the pub where the inklings (Lewis and his buddies) gathered frequently. That was cool. And then we went to that huge bookstore. Blackwells, is it? I just love England.

Google Earth & Stuff
I've been sort of on a hiatus from my blog because I'm having problems getting all my info to show up correctly for people who use Internet Explorer. From what I've learned, it's a problem with Blogger. If you view it from another browser, like Mozilla Firefox, all appears to be fine. Anyhoo...please ignore the weird look of the blog. I'll keep trying to figure it out.

Yesterday I went to Google earth and downloaded this free program so that I can zoom in on a satellite photo of ANYWHERE ON EARTH! Most of you have probably heard of this before, and I had too, but I'd never taken the time to download the program. I found our neighborhood, and we were looking at interesting places all over the earth. We figured out that some of the photos were probably quite old (at least a year or so in our neighborhood), but still, it's kinda cool.

Peeky Eggs Update
Today I:
- revised a picture book manuscript that will be published next year;
- finished up some game instructions for the Sunday school curriculum I'm working on;
- went to pick up my son's baseball uniform;
- made pancakes (it is Saturday after all);
- did other various and sundry things around the house.
Now that I'm finishing up these other writing projects, I'm feeling ready to move onto something new. Will be pondering that...

In the meantime, I decided to add some photos of the peeky eggs production from last week. Thanks again to Doodles and Noodles for her the recipe. Anyway, here's the first picture:

The first step in making the peeky eggs is to make the egg shells. The only ingredients are sugar and egg whites. I used a substitute for egg whites, called meringue powder (a Wilton product). Using an egg-shaped mold, I pressed the sugar mixture into the mold, and then turned it over onto a piece of waxed paper. After a couple of hours, the outer part of the shell is dried, so I scraped the "innards" out to make these hollow shells. These then dried overnight.


Next, I made the frosting, which serves as the "glue" inside the egg to stick the decorations to. It also used as the piping along the edges of each half and the front which holds the two halves together. This was the toughest step, mostly because a) I am completely inept at cake decorating (just ask my son--his cake from his 7th birthday is still a scary memory for me); and b) I don't have the proper tools. So, what you see here is the frosting mess.


Here I am almost finished with the project. This is not a terrific picture of the finished product, but you can see on the right my finished eggs, which--even in spite of my piping fiasco--still look pretty impressive. That's the cool thing about this project. You can pretty much mess it up entirely and the eggs still look awesome in the end.

Inside my peeky eggs I put little birds and eggs. I think I found a couple of small butterflies to put in a couple too.

Back Home from Gettysburg
After church on Easter Sunday, we left for a 3- day hiatus in Gettysburg. It was a good choice. The drive wasn't bad--only 3-4 hours and just enough to do to a) not be bored, and b) not be overwhelmed with sightseeing. A perfect post-Easter trip. The weather was fantastic--the trees are leafing out, the tulips were blooming, the grass was Ireland-green. We took an auto tour with a CD (thanks, Debbie!) and drove around the battlefields, trying with all our might to imagine how this beautiful and peaceful place could be the sight where a terribly bloody battle took place in 1863. Bulletholes in old buildings attested to the fact that yes, this really was the place where the Confederate and Union soldiers met in terrible conflict which raged over three days. We noted that at least two chaplains were killed. I'm sure many more than that died, but we saw markers for at least two.

We really enjoyed the Dobbin House (here's some cool history on the building) and Farnsworth House, both old homes that have been turned into charming restaurants that serve delicious food where it felt like we were transported back to colonial America. All in all, a great brief getaway.

Now...back to the laundry.

Good Friday - It's All About Jesus
...Uplifted for the world to see He hangs in strangest victory,
For in His body on the tree He carries all our ill.
(HS98 824)

His life, His all He gave When He was crucified;
Our burdened souls to save, What fearful death He died!
But each of us, though dead in sin,
Through Him eternal life may win.
(HS98 821)

Here are some wonderful thoughts about Good Friday.

And the lilies at church have arrived, so Easter is coming...

Peeky Eggs
Here's a link to my illustrator's blog, Doodles and Noodles. Carol is a terrific illustrator as well as my good friend, and she's going to be putting up her darling sketches on her blog. So, take a look. In this post, she shows an adorable chick looking into what she calls a "peeky egg." (Love that name!) She shared with me the recipe for how to make them (and I think the links on her post may have some of that info). So, right now my countertop is filled with sugary eggshells drying.

Radio Interviews and Spelling Bees
Today I have a radio interview with KFUO in St. Louis on their Issues, Etc. program on my new book Mommy Promises. Hopefully, I won't sound too idiotic. Public speaking is not exactly my strong suit--not that this is public speaking per se, but still. It's close enough to make me a nervous wreck. But it's nice they're having me on the program and also nice that they made the book their book of the month. And I will say that these radio interviews have definitely gotten easier over time.

And we found out last night that our Jacob will be in the 4th grade spelling bee next week. I've been asking him about it for weeks, and finally he announced last night he would be in the bee. I asked him how long he's known. "Oh, for a few days," he said. I just roll my eyes.

I was a judge for the spelling bee the last two years since it's supported by the PTA. It's an exciting event for the 4th and 5th graders in the school.

So, back to my public speaking angst. Jacob can spell effortlessly, just like me. But I can't spell the words out loud. I can write down any word and spell it correctly probably 99% of the time. But saying the actual letters out loud?? No way. I stammer, I hesitate, I go brain-dead. But Jacob can spell aloud. And he also--as much as he hates being up in front of people--doesn't get nervous, at least not as much as many kids I hear about.

Here's kudos to those of you who are quick-witted and articulate (like my husband) and can spell out loud (like my son). I'll stick to my pen and paper.

Walk the Line
So, we finally watched Walk the Line last night, the movie about Johnny Cash. First of all, let me just say how glad I am that I am not rich and famous, which leads to all sorts of problems.

The movie reminded me of Ray in some ways. Obviously, they're both about very successful musicians. And both were acted superbly. But Ray Charles and Johnny Cash were similar in other ways. They both were raised in poor, southern families, both experienced tragedy when they were young, both became successful musicians, both had drug addictions and difficulty in relationships.

Another striking feature of this film is how it portrays Johnny Cash's father. If it's at all accurate, he was extremely cruel. He didn't appear to be physically abusive, but the emotional scars he left on his son were with him his whole life. It reminds me how powerful parents are in the lives of their children. And reminds me to pray a lot more.

Joaquin Phoenix is one of my favorite actors. He is extremely versatile. He can be scary and tyranical (as in Gladiator), simple and yet heroic (as in Signs), and fabulous in every way (as in The Village). In this movie, he embodies Johnny Cash so convincingly. Cash has a very distinctive voice and Phoenix nailed it. Reese Witherspoon was also stunning. The fact that they both sang their parts shows just how versatile both of them are.

Here's an interesting website called Rotten Tomatoes. This is the link to the Walk the Line review. Apparently, the site looks at lots of reviews and then figures out which ones are "rotten" and which are "fresh."

Cool Photography Web site
Smithsonian's 3rd annual photo contest has its finalists on its web site. These are some spectacular pictures. Go here to check them out.

Cheep, cheep indeed!!
Check out this adorable picture. Real cheeping!! My illustrator and I are doing book signings this book for Cheep! Cheep! Fun!

Our Favorite Local Band
Scott and I have both written about Good Brother Earl before, but now they have a new CD, which I'm really enjoying (thank you, John!). Here's a link that will take you to their updated website, and directly get you to the info about their new CD, "Perfect Tragedy." I particularly like the song "Fighting Gravity," which you can hear in its entirety from this link. They are having a CD release party at the Rex on the South Side here in Pittsburgh this Sat. night. Cool!

Growing in Christ Sunday School Materials
Just got my author copy of the Fall 2006 Growing in Christ Sunday school materials for the middle grades from Concordia Publishing House. They look awesome! It's so great to see how all our ideas, brainstorming, and writing turned into these cool lesson leaflets, games, and posters. I was only one of the writers for the middle grade level (which is roughly 3rd/4th grades). This was the first quarter we wrote, which was the hardest for me. Writing curriculum is in a way very technical writing, which is somewhat different than what I normally do. But the project has been a joy in many ways.