Thank You Dialogue

I started writing stories when I was about ten. In my teen years, I had two poems and ten short stories published in magazines. Nine of those short stories were published in DIALOGUE Magazine.

DIALOGUE has been running for 57 years. On the front cover, it says, “A world of ideas for visually impaired people of all ages.”

It contains personal stories from blind and visually impaired people, special equipment which might interest them, career information, news tips, recipes, and more and more.

In the 70s, they published fiction short stories, and that’s where I first was published.

Forty years later, I still remember one lesson I learned about writing from DIALOGUE.

When they returned one of my short stories, they told me that other people solved the main character’s problems, instead of her figuring out any of it on her own. That is a story technique I have always remembered and tried to use.

As I’ve said before, for 30 years, I almost never wrote, because of work, school and family. I also stopped reading braille magazines.

Seven years ago, since I stopped working for health reasons, I started reading and writing again, thank God.

I read Dialogue again, and they published eleven articles from me, about being a blind Mom and wife and employee; about being a more mature blind person than I used to be; about braille; about writing; about dealing with new disabilities after brain injury.

As of June of this year, DIALOGUE Magazine is suspending publication due to financial reasons. I will miss them. I thank God for them.

Three Smiles

One.

God has given me another precious gift. I’ve been enjoying new memories with my kids as adults. Now my prayer is that god will help me remember to bite my tongue on advice unless I’m asked. And maybe even then. I’ll share some of those new memories in the upcoming weeks.

Next.

In June of this year, my friend Nina in Arizona sent me this lovely message. With her permission, I am sharing it:

“Hi Kathy, It's quiet here. We are waiting for the monsoons to come and the days are hot and dry.

“Ravens built a nest on an electrical power line scaffold and we watched them from afar as they tended to the chicks. And then one day, they were out of the nest and two of the youngsters spent their first day as grownups hopping around on our back porch.

“Big as chickens they were. The poor things looked confused, hot and thirsty with their bills wide open and their wings trailing on the ground. I tossed some cooked chicken bits outside and they ate a few but mostly they hopped awkwardly on and around chairs, a table and two loungers.

“Evening came and we could hear the parents calling with their raspy croaks to come home for the evening. The two youngsters tried to fly- one took off and sailed across the wash and up again into the scaffolding to join mom and dad. The other one appeared completely lost and he banged against the windows, only getting aloft for a few seconds.

“He tried again and again and finally, he managed to glide off and away but never managed to get up to the top of the scaffolding in the evening gloom.

“I thought about how much raven children are like human children, wanting to leave, unsure of their independence and how good parents try and keep a watchful eye. The day the two ravens were in our tiny yard, the parents could see and hear them. Perhaps they considered our place to be a safe spot, much like parents dropping off young teens at the mall for the first time.”

And the third smile?

I’ve received the book cover for my children’s story, “Millie’s Christmas,” which will be released by Mantle Rock Publishing on October 22.

I will share more about that soon also.

A LOST MELODY: A Book I Will Definitely Read Again

A LOST MELODY by Lori Copeland and Virginia Smith.

I thank God for the gifts he gives me each day, including books which touch me in new and wondrous ways. As I’ve said before, God still has many surprises for me.

Jill is dealing with her lost career as a concert pianist because of an injury. Her fiancé, Greg, is trying to start his lifelong dream of serving in politics.

Then, to save hundreds of lives, Jill follows her instincts and changes both hers and Greg’s futures.

Jill wonders if she’s going insane. Greg’s supporters tell him to distance himself from Jill, that she’s ruining his career.

Both have to stretch their faith in God, pray to Him, and ask for his wisdom and will in their lives in a way they’ve never done before.

Well-written; excellent story pace, fun characters. Amazing ending.

Pop My bubble

At church last Sunday we discussed humility. Our pastor Todd passed out bubblegum as a little prop and invited us to pop bubbles during the rest of the service if we liked. I tried to pop one at Murray, but I’ve never been good at that.

Humility is like popping our bubble that the world is all about me; the world revolves around me. How many times have I heard that before? But it popped my bubble in a new way this week.

Why does my family talk to me while I’m working? Why did someone leave the door half open? Didn’t they know I might run into it? Why won’t my family come closer to me when they speak? Don’t they know I can’t hear well enough to understand them otherwise? Why isn’t everybody’s first thought always about what I need or want?

Todd said C.S. Lewis said that pride is a spiritual cancer. Wow. Isn’t that true? Pride in myself, centering my thoughts on me, keeps me from being the wife and mother and daughter and sister and friend I need to be to the people I love. It halts my ability to give them the attention they deserve and need. Thinking about myself first keeps me from being the daughter God has created me to be.

And our greatest example is Jesus. He did think the world revolved around us instead of him, so he came down to take our punishment.

Philippians 2: 5-8: In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!