http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/au_contraire Over the years here you've read my commentary and disagreements with some of the ritualistic conduct of Christian publishing. Professional writing/publishing blogs have presented their guidelines for prospective writers/authors, citing key phrases such as "We're always looking for fresh voices" while continuing to publish exactly the same type of literature previously presented for…

                        http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/c%27est_la_vie   "That's life." How many times have you heard that expression in reference to a bad thing, an unfair occurrence, or after registering a complaint to a parent, employer, or friend? If you're a parent, how many times have you found yourself saying it to your offspring? It's a non-committal phrase which tries to…

          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laissez-faire Bing Dictionary lais·sez-faire [ lè say fér ] principle of no regulation of industry: the principle that the economy works best if private industry is not regulated and markets are free refusal to interfere: refusal to interfere in other people's affairs, or the practice of letting people do as they wish synonyms: noninterventionist…

                                http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joie_de_vivre Many years ago I worked for a year in retail after a freshman stint at the U of W to save enough money to travel to Great Britain and Europe. Having talked a friend into making the exciting trip with me, we flew away to Heathrow in London after a brief…

  Will evildoers never learn –   those who devour my people as men eat bread   and who do not call on the Lord? There they are, overwhelmed with dread,   for God is present in the company of the righteous. You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor,   but the Lord is…

                             As I said one person's fun is another person's not so much. Here are five fun things I either once did or still do enjoy.                                                                                                                            The simplicity of plain fun.               Lord, thank you for it all. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.  

                                   You know those people. The ones who organize "fun" things like game nights, Super Bowl parties, concerts, weekend trips to exciting places. Fun is number one to them, and they're darn sure going to be doing or finding something fun to do most of their down time. Accompanying those fun activities are lots of…

  I know I'm dating myself with this graphic of Jefferson Airplane before they became Jefferson Starship, but let's talk about fun. A three letter word that will collect an assembly of responses no one could possibly catalogue. One person's fun is another person's anathema. We have expressions that have surfaced to apply to types…

   Writing is fun. Except when it's not of course. What's definitely not so fun is the process of getting published. Of getting rejections. Of writing query letters and synopses. Of creating blurbs. Of soliciting your work. Which is why e-publishing has its selling points for serious writers. Yes, it can be an opportunity for the wannabe…

   Sometimes when the words don't form, the plot doesn't thicken, the blanks are shot in place of loaded prose, writing isn't much fun. But when the pictures are painted with perfect metaphors or similes or sassy repartee, writing is as fun as fun can get. How to get from blanks to bluster is the…