Go Placidly Amidst the Noise of Christmas . . .

Every year after Christmas Eve dinner and before we unwrapped presents from the family, Grandpa read the story in Luke about the birth of Christ. This old man with chiseled features from years of manual labor; hands gnarled from sculpting in wood and steel became himself filled with wonderment. The image of him holding the Bible with such tenderness made me imagine him cradling the holy infant in his hands as well as his heart. At that moment, I understood how this child who changed the world could bring the rich and powerful, the poor and needy, the young, the old, the strong and frail to their knees.

There is nothing selfish or haughty or hateful or cynical in the message of Christmas and when hearts do become burdened by flicks of id (produced and scattered by a godless society), individually, we silently yearn for the peace that comes from love. The message of Christmas is an invitation delivered in the form of a child. What is more needy or trusting than a baby? What fills the human heart with more unconditional love than a head-bobbing snuggle from a newborn? Humanity, now more than ever, needs this type of intimacy.

Christmas, if we let it, brings nourishment to strengthen the soul and humble the spirit. With that thought in mind, I wish you and your loved ones a very, MERRY CHRISTMAS

To all the men and women serving our country, to those who are grieving the loss of a loved one during this holiday season, to those who are searching for meaning in their lives, to those suffering from addictions, and to all my friends, family and loved ones, I wish you all peace, love, safety, and the blessings of Christmas throughout the new year.

IMPORTANT - I received this notice and wanted to pass it on to you. I am so grateful to have you as a friend and hope you feel the same. There are changes coming and the following notice will explain what they are. I hope you'll take the time to update so we will still be friends in the new year.

An update on Google Friend Connect

16 hours ago by A Googler

In 2011, we announced the retirement of Google Friend Connect for all non-Blogger sites. We made an exception for Blogger to give readers an easy way to follow blogs using a variety of accounts. Yet over time, we’ve seen that most people sign into Friend Connect with a Google Account. So, in an effort to streamline, in the next few weeks we’ll be making some changes that will eventually require readers to have a Google Account to sign into Friend Connect and follow blogs.

As part of this plan, starting the week of January 11, we’ll remove the ability for people with Twitter, Yahoo, Orkut or other OpenId providers to sign in to Google Friend Connect and follow blogs. At the same time, we’ll remove non-Google Account profiles so you may see a decrease in your blog follower count.

We encourage you to tell affected readers (perhaps via a blog post), that if they use a non-Google Account to follow your blog, they need to sign up for a Google Account, and re-follow your blog. With a Google Account, they’ll get blogs added to their Reading List, making it easier for them to see the latest posts and activity of the blogs they follow.

We know how important followers are to all bloggers, but we believe this change will improve the experience for both you and your readers.

Posted by Michael Goddard, Software Engineer

A CHRISTMAS BLESSING

May this year's celebration be filled with wonder and joy.
May love surround the family table and nourish the heart as well as the belly.
May cherished memories of Christmases past bring comfort and laughter.
And may we experience the gifts of the Christ Child tonight and always.

Merry Christmas!
From my family to yours . . .
Jo Ann V. Glim

                                

What's In A Name?

Thank you for stopping by! I've been sitting in front of this computer screen for the last 6 hours trying to come up with a clever BLOG name. I thought I had it but here I am, 2 days later. . . revising! I wanted something reflective of who I am and why I write in the first place. So, the new name came down to this: I write for the love and passion of the topic and for the ability to tell the truth as I see it based on research and observation. To sum it up, there's "Only One Way to Write."

Seeing as this is the first blog, it seemed appropriate to introduce myself.  I'm a published, freelance writer. My writing skills have brushed a vast landscape of styles from commercials and one-liners to in-depth articles and two award-winning, columns: one weekly, one monthly.

I've also worked in  business management: human resources to be exact. It was my job to hire staff for temporary employment and coordinate a "lunch and learn" educational series for non-management employees interested in advancing their careers at a company where the division I was attached to employed over 11,000 employees worldwide.

Now, after thirty years of research that took me all over our nation and to Sweden, Author Review Copies of my book, "BEGOTTEN With Love" rolled off the presses in February.  This was a lifetime dream and a gift for my children and grandchildren who knew so little about their ancestry.

Many of the people I had asked to review "BWL," encouraged me to publish it for the general public. It took a lot of thought and deliberation and prayer, and with my hubby's blessing (yes, we work as a team), we decided to go for it.

Two exciting things have happened to date: "BEGOTTEN: With Love" is receiving 5-Star reviews on Goodreads.com; and a Judge from Writer's Digest, after I submitted the book for the 21st Annual Self-Published Book Awards, sent me a commentary I am going to frame!  Did I win? No. . . but you've gotta read this:

"Begotten: With Love takes a creative premise for telling a family's story and succeeds beautifully. The fictionalization of ancestral history works well and makes this family history read more like an interesting novel. It also makes it a universal story - readers who had grandparents or great-grandparents who came to America through Ellis Island, or immigrated from other countries, can see themselves and their families in this narrative.

The author does a great job of capturing time, place and character, with enough history thrown in to help readers place themselves in time.  The book is nicely written, and the hard work the author did both with her research and getting the book just right shows.

The cover is professional and eye-catching, making a reader want to pick the book up and find out more about these interesting people. While she should deservedly be proud of her achievement, the book can stand on its own and readers only need to know what a good job she did with it.  It's about what the author says in the end, after all, not about who she is."

The one critique the Judge had was that the book could stand a professional edit because of punctuation. Editors are our best friends and I cannot tell you how grateful I am for the feedback. I want to make sure I offer readers the best product possible. The edits are being done right now so the finished book (both print and eBook format) will be available in December.

Well, 'nuf about me. I'm glad you stopped by to visit.  Please feel free to leave a comment. I'd love to get to know you too. Hope to see you next Tuesday.


Jo Ann V. Glim, Author
"BEGOTTEN: With Love"
WEB:  www.BEGOTTENtheBook.com
LIKE/FOLLOW on www.facebook.com/JVGlim.author
BLOG:  only1way2write.blogspot.com
JGlim@tampabay.rr.com
P.O. Box 174
Bradenton, FL 34206