I think words are really, really powerful.

(If I didn’t, I should probably get a different type of work, no?)

I constantly remind my kids of this fact when they use words in a careless way.

So when I started to hear my classic tank top being referred to as a “Wife Beater”, I started to boil.  But here it wasn’t my kids who were calling it that – it was fashion designers.

When I started to see the term show up on store websites and in fashion spreads in my favorite magazines, I couldn’t believe it. How did this become a phrase that we don’t even think about the meaning behind it anymore.

I know I’m just one person, but from now on when I see the phrase in a store, a magazine or a website, I’m going to start speaking up.

I’m speaking up for my friend who I don’t get to see anymore because she was so afraid that her abusive husband would follow her when she left that she doesn’t have contact with any of her old friends.

I’m speaking up for my daughters who need to understand and believe deeply that there is nothing acceptable or flip about any words related to a man beating a woman.

I’m speaking up for my sons who are some of the good guys and would never mistreat a woman – and won’t use the language that degrades any woman.

And stores are listening – they are so desperate for shoppers, they are paying close attention to the feedback their customers are giving them.

So, my question for you is: What’s your rant? What makes you crazy when you see it. Here is your soapbox.

Doc Martin
We have cut back on everything around here. No more cable, no more Tivo, no more ways to distract the brain while folding mountains of towels and underwear.

The one thing we have kept is a very basic subscription to Netflix. I love getting a DVD in the mail, but my favorite part is all the old TV shows you can watch instantly.

Oh the Joy.

I love this BBC series Doc Martin is OK for my entire family, funny when I can understand what their saying, and a better version of the American version Northern Exposure (which I loved as well.)

Philip Yancy’s Prayer

For a woman who spends a lot of time worrying about whether I’m praying “right” Phillip Yancy’s book is a get out of guilt free card. This is one of those books, like Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline book that I will read every year.

You

Yes – you! You all have been so much fun over the past few weeks. I love that you get cranky with me

on Facebook, hate waiting as much as I do, and can come up with 101 ways to use tomatoes.

Q4U: Tell me what you are thankful for and I will give one of my favorite readers (randomly chosen) Philip Yancy’s Prayer. Come on – share the gratitude.

I
get questions every single week from y’all about how to be a writer. My very first piece of advice is : Go to a writers conference. (I know that my very first piece of advice should be “Pray about it,” but after so many potential authors telling me, “God told me to write a book,” I’ve decided to skip that step.)

So here is one of my favorite conferneces, and bonus – I’m teaching at it, so you know we’ll have a good time.

Here is the official announcment (to make it official…):

CLASSEMINARS, Inc. announces a special conference book project for its annual CLASS Christian Writers Conference. The conference will be held in Abiquiu, New Mexico, November 10-14, 2010.

The unique opportunity for new and advanced writers to be published in a book is a first among Christian writers conferences. All attendees will work with a professional mentor to develop a story, article, or poem to be included in the book to be titled Out of the Overflow. WinePress Publishers, Enumclaw, Washington, will publish the book which will be available shortly after the conference.

Bruce Wilkinson, bestselling author of You Were Born for This and the fastest selling book of all time, The Prayer of Jabez, and one of America’s foremost Christian teachers, will be a featured keynoter at the conference which focuses on training writers in the craft of writing and connects writers with publishers and agents. The conference also features a spiritual formation emphasis to help attendees develop a deeper Christian walk and write more deeply.
For registration and other information, go to www.classeminars.org.

The conference will be held at the Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, New Mexico, located near Santa Fe.

Here is why I love summer:

This -

becomes this-

if you do this:

(The world’s easiest, best tasting bruchetta recipe.)

Bruschetta

1 loaf Italian bread, cut into 1/2-inch slices
4 cloves garlic sliced in half length-wise
1/3 cup olive oil
3 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1/8 cup chopped fresh basil
4-5 medium, ripe tomatoes, peeled, coarsely chopped and drained in a strainer for 20 minutes
pinch of freshly ground black pepper

Add together your basil, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and pepper. Stir together to make dressing.

Toss with tomatoes and let sit for at least 15 minutes (can marinade overnight in the fridge.)

While marinading, toast bread and let cool. Rub the tops of the bread with the garlic. Place the tomato mixture on top of the bread slices.

I hate waiting so much.

I hate it.  I hate it.  I hate it.

And I’m waiting a lot right now.

I’m waiting to hear back on a lot of projects, a lot of queries and a lot of programs.

I’m waiting to hear back from editors and publishers and event planners and teachers and a whole host of other people.

And I hate it.

I swore I would never pray for patience, (I’ve seen what happens when friends pray for patience – I don’t want none of that.)

But here’s the thing – when you start refreshing your incoming e-mail every 60 seconds to see if anyone – anywhere – has sent you an e-mail, t’s time to take a different approach.

So, I’ve actually started to pray for patience. I’m praying boldly for what I think is in God’s will in each of these areas, but I’m also trying to leave it at His feet and not sneak back and snatch it up.

I’m working on remembering this:
Romans 12:12
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

My job is to keep joyful, be patient and faithfully pray. That’s all I’ve got.

I’m in the middle of writing a food book and am loving reading about other food adventures. Here are my top five foodie books. Nothing better in the summer than reading about other people cooking – except eating other people’s cooking.

1. Animal Vegetable Miracle – A Year of Food Live by Barbara Kingsolver

Barbara Kingsolver is one of the most well-respected fiction writers in the US. (Being a writer I’m suppose to swoon at her books but after reading The Poisonwood Bible, I decided I like my fiction a little more peppy…) However, it is this, her non-fiction turn, sharing her year of eating locally, that has really changed my life.

From turkey husbandry to her disgruntled children begging for fresh fruit, I love their commitment to supporting local farmers and creating a life they want to live.  If it weren’t for this book, our back patio would not look like a miniature version of green acres.

One of my favorite parts of this book is the recipes that family members have contributed using their local foods. You can check out the recipes here.

2. Plenty: Eating Locally on the 100-Mile Diet by Alisa Smith

OK – so I may be slightly addicted to books about local eating. This time, it’s a pair of Canadian writers who, let’s just say, are a little bit more on the fringe of the local eating movement.

It’s been about a year and a half since I read the book, but I loved the aspect of having to to work with your partner in changing the way you eat – inevitably, one person is going to be more reluctant about the changes than the other – and that’s where the drama begins.

3. The $64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden by William Alexander

The best way to describe this book is how The New Your Times Book Reviewed summed it up : “Gardening as extreme sport. . . . ”

Since Roger and I have become almost full-time gardeners this year I can identify with the authors trials and tribulations when it comes to having a crop of tomatoes that gets completely out of hand.

4. Tender at the Bone : Growing Up at the Table  by Ruth Reichl

I am a sucker for anything by Ruth Reichl. She has held every possible position in the book industry. (Line cook to food reviewer for The New York Time, to editor of Gourmet.) Here is the memoir of her growing up and her food adventures with a mom who had a more that liberal use of the term “good” when it came to iffy looking/smelling food.

5.  Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise by Ruth Reichl

Ruth is all grown up and is now the food reviewer for The New York Times. Because Ruth wants to review the way that a resturaunt would treat you or me going in (not the most famous reviewer in the world) she works with a New York costumer to disguise herself. Her cast of characters – and her handling of the sometimes overworked NY food scene, make for some hilarious reading.

Now it’s your turn – tell me the food memoirs you love – I need to refresh my summer book bag!