The publishing world is difficult to understand. I love to write - rejections will not force me to play dead. Furthermore, I may return to painting and designing artistic items. I love to create even if it is another room in my woodland Mulberry Garden. This is my time to unwind while several manuscripts are out.

It is up to me to enjoy each day.. Miracles do occur. All I have to do is look around me. Last year my husband received a pacemaker, and I am blessed to have him with me.

I have been redesigning and doing spring cleaning in my garden filled with dogwoods, redbuds and spring bulbs in bloom. I feel at peace in my garden surrounded with angels perched on columns. As I labor I block out the negatives, focus on the positives knowing God has blessed me with another day.

Read Breakthrough in the April issue of The Writer magazine under "A writer's success story" by Pat McGrath Avery. Pat has written several military books for adults and children, plus she is an editor for Salute, a military newsletter(It is more like an e-zine).

Author Joyce Faulkner was named the secretary of the Military Writers Society of America. The MWSA, a non-profit organization of 800 members was founded by veteran Bill McDonald. The MWSA will hold their yearly conference this year at Branson, Missouri in November. Watch for updates.

Bev Walton-Porter's book Sun Signs for Writers can be found through the Writers Digest Book Club or your local bookstores.

You can learn more about the above authors and MWSA at www.redenginepress.com

Mountain Home Hastings Entertainment Center kindly donated bags needed for our AR/SCBWI Conference in April. The bags will be stuffed with publishers' catalogs, guidelines, bookmarks and other items of interest to hand out to each attendee. For more information go to http://members.aol.com/ddpattison/scbwi/spring.html

Important websites & conferences: I titled my blog "Life's Beautiful Path" to remind me when I write to try to be optimistic and be thankful God allowed me another day and not to waste it no matter what I do. Busy mornings will be marching with an hour less. I needed that precious hour when my eyes are open. By mid-afternoon they appear to be at half-mast.

There are two websites I will be reading for encouragement and how to be more creative in my writing for the children's market. Jane Yolen at http://www.janeyolen.com/ is one of my favorite authors and I will be re-reading Guide to Writing for Children 1989 and Take Joy 2006.
Cynthia Leitich Smith at http://www.cynthialeitichsmith.com/ website and blog is packed with helpful information and editor interviews. I will stick with them for the next couple of months as I write cover letters and submit manuscripts. Please don't forget to check with updates at CBC The Children's Book Council at http://www.cbcbooks.org/ for the latest books, news and a list of CBC members (publishers) where the list is updated twice a month.

Don't forget April 13-14, is the Arkansas Chapter of the Society of Children's Books Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI). Speakers: Alexandra Cooper an associate editor at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, Lin Oliver, SCBWI Executive Director, CEO of Lin Oliver Productions and co-author of a series of books co-authored with Henry Winkler (Penguin Putnam), Darcy Patterson (Arkansas) author of picture books and novels and Liz Waniewski, editor at Dial Books for Young Readers.

Books in Bloom is Sunday May 6, from noon to 6 pm in Eureka Springs, Arkansas with guest speakers are Velda Brotherton, Pat Carr, Laura Parker Castoro and Katie Estill. You will find the complete list of speakers and schedule at http://www.booksinbloom.org/.

Go to http://www.redenginepress.com/ under newsletters check on March issue of Yarnspinners & Wordweavers page 3 and read my poem - Anxieties of Kite Flying. Thank you

Remember to look up beyond the dark clouds for the sun waits to renew your day.

Hope is hanging on to what you love to do and not allowing it to make you a prisoner. My strength to keep going is provided by my favorite fan at http:lifeiswonderfulandbeautiful.blogspot.com/

NELL THE HEN

Nell is a silly farm hen.

She wants to be a tiny wren,

to sing and dance in the glen.

Nell has only feathers ten.

(c) by Mary Nida Smith

Dream of improving yourself

before dreaming to be someone you are not.

Newspapers, Blogs and Links: My mind was racing this morning of all I wanted to put on my blog. It is late afternoon where I feel my mind has gone on vacation. I wish I could rush to my studio office when my mind is filled with excitement for the world of writing and blogs. Sonny Garrett, Senior Writer for The Baxter Bulletin did a book review of HELLFIRE CANYON by Max McCoy. You can read it on their website. Check out Sonny's blog, also Larry Brody and Linda Masters.

Max said he would preview a copy of my book, SUBMARINES STORIES OF WORLD WAR II for Red Engine Press. Check out his website http://www.maxmccoy.com/. In his -Links- you will find the U.S. Navy Submarine Force Museum - Home of USS Nautilus. My husband was abroad on TAD as Sonarman July 28, 1958 when they went to the North Pole. On the museum's links you will find the United States Submarine Veterans, Inc that leads to the link mentioned below my book in my last post.

One of my biggest supporters placed my book information on her blog http://lifeiswonderfulandbeautiful.blogspot.com/ She is the one that keeps me going. She has an older brother and a younger sister. All three have special bloodlines to my heart; they keep it filled with love.

Check out the Yarmspinner & Wordweavers and the military e-zine Salute at http://www.redenginepress.com/. This year the Military Writers Society of America will hold their conference in Branson, Missouri.

Today is slowly closing down. I am ready to enjoy a beautiful sunset, take a deep breathe, and be thankful for all this day has supplied.

BOOK RELEASE: I never know what to start my blog with. Today, I believe I will start with a great piece of news. Our book, SUBMARINE STORIES OF WORLD WAR II for ages ten and up will be released by June from Red Engine Press. Red Engine Press is a small independent publisher. It was started by Pat McGrath Avery under the name River Road Press. It merged with Red Engine Press. I will start a blog or create a website to place future information about the book, the submarine veterans who shared their stories, submarine sites, books, all my friends associated with this special organization, HS-7 Helicopter history, and the U-505. I have recieved request for the book. For more information go to http://www.orgsites.com/ar/twin-lakes-base/_pgg5.php3.

Snow, writing and photos - My Arkansas native husband left his snow shovel in Idaho when we returned to the SOUTH. South can mean a lot of different things; south of town, south of the North Pole, facing south, opposite to north, south of the Mason and Dixon's line, south for the winter and south of the border. South doesn't mean warn in the winter. We live twenty miles south of the Missouri border. Family members in the south, I mean in ARkansas, informed me if it snowed it would only last a day or two. But, they forgot to tell me how long their days were - stretching into a day or two. Compared to Idaho and Wisconsin where I have shoveled and shoveled snow, Arkansas had only a dusting. A dusting of snow is better than ice storms, hurricanes, floods and earthquakes.

Weather that keeps this writer home bound allows more quality time to write and reflect. I couldn't find the right voice in writing my non-fiction picture books. I played around with several voices. I believe I found the right one for my fungi book that will entice children to enter, read, and be entertained.

I love to take photos in my Mulberry Garden (a woodland garden) of angel statues, bird houses and birdbaths. The snow creates a clean appearance hiding the fallen leaves and untidiness of a wild winter garden.

A garden of peace is created by cultivating a quiet praying spirit and the wisdom to live in harmony with nature.

Life's Beautiful Path

Writers conference & workshop: Ozarks Writers League meets February 17 at the College of the Ozarks. For more information go to www.ozarkswritersleague.org and click on calendar to learn more about the speakers. Saturday March 10 a free writers conference at Springdale, Ar. You will find more information on the Ozarks Writers League (OWL) website.

Exciting happenings are beginning to surface as the new year slowly
awakes from the old year's holiday celebrations.

Carla Killough McClafferty AR/SCSWI Regional Adviser's book, Something out of Nothing:Marie Currie and Radium (Farrar,Straus and Giroux 2006)has been selected as a 2007 NCSS-CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Book
for Young people, a cooperatie project of the national Council for Social Studies (NCSS)and the Children's Book Council (cbc).

Katy Duffield, author of Farmer McPeeper and His Missing Cows (Rising
Moon Children's Books)will have a new book released May 07, Mysterious Encounters:Poltergeists (Kidshaven Press). Katy has been published in
several children's magazines.

Darcy Pattison (http://darcypattison.livejournal.com) received her Chinese translation of her children's book 19 Girls and Me, including a CD. Darcy's blog has been sharing information on revisions of writing a picture book.

Arkansas Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators(SCBWI) annual Spring Conference is April 13-14. Speakers are Alexandra Cooper Associated editor at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, Liz Waniewski, editor at Dail and Lin Oliver, SCBWI Executive Director,author and producer. The Conference will be held at UCA, Conway.

I have volunteered my service for the second year as "bag lady." Publishers send me requested catalogs that I place in bags to give to each attendee. Audrey B. Baird, Editor of Once Upon a Time magazine sent over 100 back issues. I sent her a thank you note and a short article for possible publication. It was published in the January 07 issue.

The excitement of what this new year will bring inspires us to continue working toward our goals.

Life is not perfect, therefore I am not perfect. If I don't
give up - take the easy way out I must swallow my pride and
continue to chip away. Like the sculptor chipping away
and smoothing the rough edges until she perfects
the best piece of art she can provide for public view.

Writing- is difficult. I love it, but there isn't a day I don't think of giving it up to spent more time gardening. No matter how hard I try, I make way too many mistakes. I will have a special day for every day is precious.

Life is a continuous struggle. If I didn't continue to struggle to do what I love to do, I wouldn't be rewarded the small and sometimes large rewards hidden in the struggles of life. I received an e-mail from a friend yesterday who has published two children's stories in Spider magazine. Now for the first time an article for a regional magazine: The Ozarks Mountaineer. To me it was one of my rewards. She was so excited and so was I. When friends share I feel happy - life is good. We both will have our articles in May issues. My garden article, MARIGOLDS: A diversified annual with many facets will be published in Ozarks Magazine. This is my fourth or fifth garden piece not all this magazine. I am known as a wild gardener. Allowing the moss and native plants to grow while wildlife visits for a day or more - to drink,eat,chew,dug and most of all have fun. My stress release is watching them out the window of my studio office. The hardest part of writing is not to write as I speak.

Remember to exchange the negative thoughts to positive thoughts. If you think you are not contributing to the world or any person - try sharing a smile, it takes little time, cost nothing and it will turn your life, a friend or a stranger into wearing an everlasting smile filled with good feeling.

Diverted plans, are they created by a higher calling or is it a cop-out to do something else-something easier? Many of my daily plans change as I head out to my studio office before the rooster crows. I am requested to practice the role of one of my many characters - labeled the housewife or better known as house slave. I do remember signing some kind of contract when I got married to love and honor. I have done so with a soft spot in my heart, but I don't remember or was informed I was signing a commitment to be anyone's house slave.

It could be my fault for some of the roles I place myself because I enjoy doing everything. But, I need a break to get to play my favorite role of a writer. No matter what I do, I still write and rewrite in my thoughts and I talk way too much to myself and our little 18 year old dachshund. Oh, by the way she is writing her life stories. The first story is how she came to live with us just a day before the people she was staying with was to sent her to "that place." She finished that one and it has been with a publisher for about four months.

By the time I sit at the computer I am rearing up like an unbridled horse. Yet, I can take a detour with all my plans to work on my children's manuscripts when my mind deverts me to my adult writing. No, no, not that kind of adult writing. Maybe, it is because I started writing for newspapers and regional magazines. So far it has been easier to be published there. Sometimes I think I write too tight in my children's story books and poems. It is so totally different style of writing.

I have written lots of children's material; poems, short stories, picture books and non-fiction. But, I have not been published in this market except in a couple of SCBWI newsletters. I have recieved words of encouragements and suggestions from editors when they have rejected what I had written. I guess my biggest problem is I am not consistent in submitting.

Keep on, keeping on with the mind open to new beginnings.

Time is flying. I relaxed Sunday and Monday in-between mopping up blowing rain below the garage door and the windows of the summer porch. We had about about 6 inches to add to the 2006 total of 58.15 inches.

Sunday night enjoyed the night with PBS-Live from Lincoln Center with the New york Philharmonic and Audra McDonald for two hours and three hours of Great Performances with Garrison Keiller and his guest Vince Gill, Rhonda Vincent, Emmylou Harris, Old Crow Medicine Show (A new bluegrass group)and several other guests. It was a break from Dick Clark and all that New York roaring sound effects. New Year's Day watched the Rose Parade on HGTV no commercials and both of my favorite college teams played each other, so when one lost, I still had a winner. In-between everything I read the Daddy Goose Treasury and Monster Goose books - the old nursery rhymes will never be the same. It is a great writing exercise to loosen up the silly bones.

Back to work writing cover letters.

Santa Snoopy. I can't believe it another Santa arrived last night his gifts were filled with laughter. This time Santa Snoopy and his Woodstock reindeers arrived delivering the largest Christmas card we had ever seen. Of course Santa Snoopy was in the inside and outside -what a jolly good fellow. Santa Snoopy and his beloved reindeers decided to stay. They know we need company and a reminder to laugh for it is still a wonderful world, no matter what the news reports. When we travel down the road we listen to our Snoopy CD music. I am telling you Snoopy is everywhere in our house. Happy, Happy New Year to all - Laugh and the world laughs with you.

I am re-organizing clutter as I prepare for the New Year.The house slave work will be caught up and the top layer in my creative space cleared, so when the ball drops at midnight on the old year, I will be dropping off to a peaceful sleep while
characters dance throughout the night. My built in alarm will go off between 5 and 6 am on the morning of 2007 and I want to be prepared to start work in my studio office. I don't believe November through January is a good time to submit, items get lost in the mail and editors do have some time for holidays (I would hope).

I was so excited when Santa surprised me with a visit and he was loaded down with gifts. What really surprised me, he forgot he had been here and made a return trip. It was a squealing surprise. I thought maybe he returned for the chocolate milk and roasted marshmallows I forgot to put out.

I squeezed in some interesting TV watching. On CMT I watched scenes from the movie Charlotte's Web, how it was created and met the actors. I have to see the movie. I have always enjoyed the story and I still have the book. I had a little pig that looked like Wilbur. Wiggles was also the runt of the litter. He was raised
in the house, moved to the woodshed and as he grew I sent him to the barn. Wiggles became huge and fat-too big for the barn so he was sent on a very, long trip. Tears of sadness caused pains deep in my chest. I know he is not forgotten for he supplies wonderful memories today.

I watched Secondhand Lions with Robert Duvall and Michael Caine. The story reminds me to look on the bright side each day, maybe the hurts in life can lead to an exciting adventure.

"When once the itch of literature comes over a man, nothing can cure it but the scratching of the pen." -Samuel Lover

Life's Beautiful Path
Have a Merry Happy CHRISTmas and a Healthy New Year. This morning I listen to the words of poet Mattie Stepanek who passed away in 2004. His poems and words of wisdom for hope and peace is so important for people to listen to over and over-then maybe the world would be happier and peaceful. Mattie believed we are on earth for a short time and heaven is forever. While on earth don't waste a day, use it, fill it with joy and peace. I have been blessed with many mircles, love ones and most of all parents that taught me about God's love. I am blessed.

Writing non-fiction books for 2007. My walk in the woods yesterday with my camera in hand I found more material/photos to insert in my fungi and oddities folder. When my granddaughter was visiting she wanted to know what that large thing was among the trees. I thought if she is curious, so would other children. I have gathered a lot of interesting oddities on my everyday walks. I was walking along the shores of the White River taking pictures of the ghost trees and I wanted one filled with vultures. But, they flew away before I got a picture. There is one where the eagles hang out when they arrive in January. Mr. Gaston was there looking for creatures to photography for his website. He said he gets his photos of vultures from the new vistors center. His camera was more powerful than mine. Gaston's White River Resort has nature trails that I hope to walk this spring when it is warm and streamy.

I am disappointed each year as the State and Federal Parks continue to up-grade by cutting down trees and bushes with it comes lots of burning of underbrush and leaves. We move or come to visit to see nature at its best. Every year there is less wild flowers, birds and small animals. If I wanted to see a manicured park, I would have visited the city parks.

Now, I will get off my high horse or soap box to finish my books that kids and adults will be able to see pictures of what was. I love people who set out to create oddites for all of us to enjoy. The book, Eccentric America is filled with wonderful surprises.