Lost posts: Reading????

This is very discouraging! I've been trying to list books that I've read over the past few years, and twice now the post has vanished before I was able to finish. To make matters worse, each time I've been careful about how to go about inserting links. At least half a dozen links. Obviously, my posts are too long. Grrrrr! Well, not this one!

more on the new blog

I guess I should figure out how to add my new blog link to this page.  Meanwhile, this will have to do: DCB Jones Psalms.  Let's hope this works. :)

grieving

I'm looking again at Ken's obituary.  My daughter wrote it, and it's quite beautiful.  I can put the link to the memory book, too.  It's four weeks ago today.  It'll take a while before I stop doing this.  Everyone grieves differently, and there is no right way or wrong way.  That's what I'm told, anyway.

book reviewing Matilda cont'd

I finally finished my book review of Matilda, and got it published in Suite 101 after a few technical glitches with their new system up uploading images.  Got it done, though.  And so, here it is: Matilda, by Roald Dahl.

another suite 101 article

Lately I've been writing book reviews for Suite 101.  So far I've reviewed these:  St. Francis and the Nativity, Honey Cake, Compost Stew, Nannycatch, & The Tree Suitcase.  All are children's books, of course.  I wrote the last one yesterday.  

suite 101

I'm still writing articles and publishing them on Suite 101.  I've earned almost $4 so far.  Don't scoff.  This is apparently par for the course, with only 14 articles up and about 700 or so page views.  Things don't get profitable until you have about 50 articles and over 1000 PVs. But, for those of you who are interested, I'll post the link to my current article (published today), and you can seek out the other articles by clicking on my name at the top of the article.  That will take you to my profile, and there you'll find a list of all fourteen of my articles.  So, click away and I hope you'll enjoy them. http://www.suite101.com/content/a-bethlehem-pilgrimage-a311463
This article, by the way, has pictures of my visit to Bethlehem, one of which you've already seen in this blog.

New Facebook Page

I've just started a facebook page, and I'm afraid it'll be lost in space forever if I don't record for myself the URL that connects me with it.  I never go on "regular" facebook unless I get an email saying someone has posted something.  I just don't think about it much.  This page, however, is about my writing, and I'll have to maintain it more professionally.  So, here's the link: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Diane-CB-Jones/104536816283964 
Check it out.  A "like" click would be appreciated, too. :) 
Any suggestios as to what should be added? 

suite 101 again

I've got three articles on suite 101 now.  It isn't surprising that my articles are all on language learning--and then next several will be, too.  After all, my undergraduate degree is in linguistics, and I've studied all manner of languages (French, Russian, Spanish, Esperanto, Greek & Hebrew--oh, and German and Italian.  And Ukrainian.  A little bit of Cantonese.  Latin, a bit.  Welsh, less than that.  Anyway, you get the idea.)  And after 30 years plus of teaching English as a Second Language, even tutoring still, I have a pretty good grasp of how to learn languages.  So, do check out http://www.suite101.com/ and look for my name.  You'll find all three articles, and maybe any new ones I get a chance to write in the next little while.  If you like to write articles, and you have some pet subjects, give it a try. 

writing contest

I'm working on an entry myself, but ICL is encouraging folks to spread the word about this historical fiction children's short story contest.  Check it out.  Try it.  And good luck!  I hope I'll get my entry in, too.  Here's the link:  http://www.thechildrenswriter.com/ad192/ .  Hope it works for you.

writing articles online

A few years ago, I heard or read something about Suite 101, looked into it and then went on to other things.  Last October, at the Surrey International Writers' Conference, I came across a table display about it and talked to the woman about what it was all about. I must have signed something and then forgotten all about it, because yesterday when I came across a link online, it rang some bells.  I clicked and signed in using my email address and a password I often use.  Lo & behold, they knew all about me--my name & address, etc., just popped up on their page.  But, I was signed in as a reader only.  So, I clicked on the button that invited me to apply to be a writer for Suite 101.  The name and address boxes were already filled in for me, with only three boxes left: one for my brief bio paragraph, one for a writing sample (suggested I just use "one of my articles"), and one to say I'd read the terms and conditions.  Then I could submit it for approval.  Amazingly, I was able to find an article in my MS Word documents, so it wasn't quite as daunting an exercise as it might otherwise have been.  Wait 24 hours, they say, for their response.  So, this morning there it was: I was "approved". Okay--maybe they approve everyone.  No, apparently not. On their facebook page I found one poor soul who said she'd been rejected three times and wanted to know what she was doing wrong.  So, maybe I was lucky.  Now all I have to do is write an article (400-1000 words) that fits their extensive submission guidelines and have it approved by their editors for publication, and then I can write some more for them.  They even pay!  Worth a try.

new era

I'm entering a new era in my life.  Since 1971, our family's spiritual home has been St. James Anglican Church, at the corner of Cordova and Gore, in Vancouver.  This morning, my husband and I went to Christ Church Cathedral (Anglican) for the first time.  Changing churches is an emotional jolt, especially after almost forty years in the same place.  It's personal and very painful, but briefly the reason for our departure from St. James is financial.  We can't afford the parking charges!  Can you imagine?  We can't afford to go to our home church.  I never thought I'd ever have to say that!  Our children went to Sunday School, married and had their children baptized at St. James.  My husband and I reaffirmed our wedding vows there on our silver anniversary.  Our eldest son and his wife reaffirmed their vows on their twentieth anniversary, because they doubted he would live to his twenty-fifth.  He did, but a couple of months before their 25th, their son drowned and three months after the anniversary, my son died (of cancer).  Their funerals were at St. James.  We always expected that our funerals would be there, too.  But I guess not, now.  This is the saddest and most personal note I've published here.  I hope I never have another like it.
I've added the cathedral's link on this site.

another link

I hope you'll look at the links: Under "Writing for Kids" look at the ICL link, that's the school where I took two courses. I found them extremely useful. The other link in that section is the SCBWI link. I was regional advisor for Western Canada for five years, and resigned just last September. Ken Kilback took over from me. I'm sure he'll make our chapter bigger and better. Under the religious heading, I have links to St. James Anglican Church, where I attend, and to TSSF, the Order in which I am a novice.