— 1 —

A reader sent me this picture a week or so ago, and then gave me permission to use it.

Is your family using Welcome Risen Jesus? I’d love to hear how it’s working for you.

As for my family, well. Let’s just say I’m having a lesson in parental humility and big failures this Lent. There’s always next year…

— 2 —

Last week, I came home from a conference and within two hours had a puking kid and a very sick husband.

I had a talk scheduled for Tuesday with a local moms group, but I canceled it, sadly.

I couldn’t leave them in the lurch, though, so I recorded a little intro (which is verrrrry bad, click through at your own risk) and my Mary for Moms talk.

Then after they listened to my talk, we connected via Skype.

It was an awesome work-around, and in November, I’m looking forward to actually meeting this group of ladies in person. Don’t they look sweet?

(My boy was reaching out across the computer screen to a few of those other little guys. It was very sweet.)

— 3 —

On Wednesday last week, I went down with some virus thing.

Turns out maybe it wasn’t food poisoning for the sick kid and the husband.

— 4 —

And, in more delightful news, I have hard and fast proof that Catholic Family Fun: A Guide for the Adventurous, Overwhelmed, Creative, or Clueless is in the publishing house.

See that? That is someone AT Pauline, holding my book in their hot little hands.

(It’s actually Holly in marketing, and she is every bit as much of a cutie patootie as I thought she’d be.)

— 5 —

And check THIS news out…

The book is available on Pauline’s bookstore! Yay!

So let’s have a contest!

Order a copy and leave a comment by next Wednesday, March 28, and I’ll enter you in a drawing for a Snoring Scholar SurPrize Pack.

My kids will draw names out of a basket next Thursday, March 29 and I’ll announce the winners as part of next week’s Quick Takes.

You can enter once for every copy you purchase. Let the FUN begin!

What ‘s in the prize pack? How many winners? Well, that’s a surprise.

— 6 —

So, how about a plug for my other writing, too? It’s not like there’s grass growing under my keyboard.

For one thing, there’s my ongoing series at New Evangelizers. This week, I’m talking about how balance doesn’t always mean giving something (like the internet, say) up. In fact, giving it up would be, in some ways, easier than my current, ongoing struggle with balance.

There’s also my post at Amazing Catechists about calling in sick, something that’s oh-so-hard for a perfectionist-who-loves-her-volunteering to do. Unless there’s puking and passing out involved. Then it gets easier. I simply couldn’t move.

I took the week off from posting at CatholicMom.com and recording a Mary Moment for iPadre, but I’ll be back next week as usual.

I also have a book proposal I promised to get to my editor by March 31. Since she follows this blog (in theory, anyway), I’m going to just smile and keep quiet about the status. (It’s in God’s hands, folks, GOD’S HANDS.)

— 7 —

This week, I’ve been teaching two blogging forums for the first week of the two-week Catholic Writers Conference Online. It’s such fun! More about it next week or the week after, when I have time to gather my thoughts a bit. (The interacting there is keeping me hopping, and I feel like I’m not doing as much as I should.)

It’s great to get together with other writers and encourage each other, even if we can’t do it often in person.

Which brings me to this bit of awesomeness: 30K for Christ!

You’ve heard of National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo), right? Those of us who don’t write fiction watch in wonder as those who do attempt to complete an entire novel in the month of November.

30K for Christ is for the rest of us (and hey, we let fiction writers in, too), and it has a Christian focus. You write 30,000 words during the month of April (any kinds of words–novel, blogging, book, journaling, whatever), but you do it for Christ and with Christ.

If you’re on Twitter, join in with the hashtag #30K4JC.

Visit Conversion Diary for more Quick Takes!