A very "random" accident, Allison. Glad she's not seriously injured.
Honestly, Rachel, I haven't looked into too many online writing courses, but Jan's Writing Basics are a huge help to really boost your skills. You can still look over the old lessons, and she's got a document that she can send with even older lessons back when it was called "Jan's Master Class" because everyone wanted to know how to write like the master EC writer Jan.

It was a major victory if your EC could be ranked higher than Jan's back in the day.

After her big reveal this week that she had been submitting under a pseudonym, I went back and looked at my EC's from last year, and sure enough, my 2nd place EC (Pinteresting) had beat hers at 4th place. I know pride is a sin, but let's just say I was happy to have placed higher, even if it is a fraction of a point.

But seriously, if you practice her suggestions, it will improve your writing for sure.
I submitted to the Challenge just under the wire this week last minute on my phone (literally at 10:59am NY), and then I checked it this evening and I had hastily written the title and it was not the word I wanted to use.

Now the title doesn't make sense with the piece so I've probably blown it.
Lesley and I had a good time hanging out and encouraged each other in our writing. I also have some more specific opportunities to pray for her. She's definitely near the end of her rope so may be more open to the gospel, though time will tell. I enjoy spending time with her as a friend, and we may not share the same faith, she is not atheist by any means, and we have mutual respect for each other's beliefs. It's hard to relate, though, or communicate why I have such deep friendships with others who share my faith. There's a depth to a friendship built on mutual love for Christ that really can't be comprehended by those on the outside. Believing that friendship will continue in eternity with those who are believers makes the pain of separation somehow less acute, and magnifies the joy when you're able to spend time together. It also explains why we can have such amazing friendships and deep love for those we've never met in person, and why the FW conference was more than just some instruction in writing - it was a family reunion. I know she wants that kind of friendship and unconditional love, and though I can give her the unconditional love, without that shared faith, I'm not sure I can ever be someone who understands her completely. Nor can I personally make her understand God's love. Only the Holy Spirit can open her heart. My old pastor once said, "I wish I could inject with a needle in your heart the Father's love." That phrase has stuck with me; it really does come down to a personal revelation that only God can create in a person's soul - we are only messengers. My goal in my friendship with her is not to convert her, though. It's to be a real friend, no matter what - to show her that unconditional love that won't give up, even if she rejects me. And it's great that we share so much in common besides writing. Intellectually we are very well matched, and it's great to have someone with whom to discuss philosophy, religion, and politics, since most people are afraid of those topics.
Shann, you are NOT boring. Must have been an autocorrect gone wrong.

I think you are very interesting, and we should write a book together! Women are still having babies the same way they've always had babies, and it doesn't change much even with technology. I don't think we've had any real breakthroughs in technology for labor/delivery in the last 20 years. The equipment may be new, but it's the same basic technology. I've also just learned to rely on my gut a lot more now, and to read a woman's progress by how she behaves, rather than by exams and monitors. There's a level of experience one reaches when you can intuitively know what to do next. I'm not 100% there yet, and I'm still learning, but I'm catching glimpses of it here and there.
Well, I was supposed to work extra tonight, but I'm on standby, and I turned down extra shifts both last and this week in anticipation of working today, which sucks. I should have never agreed to it. Maybe my body needs the rest, and God knew it. I do know that they called in the other person already, so it's possible if they get busier that I'll be called in. We could use the extra money.
Off to make myself do something productive.
