Salad Recipes to Keep You Cool

By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills Who wants to spend time in a hot kitchen when summer calls for recipes that beat the heat? See below for three of my go-to salad favorites. These are tasty and easy! Easy Broccoli Salad 3 cups fresh broccoli florets 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese 6 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled 1/2 cup toasted sunflower seeds …

Creating the Perfect Reading Spot

By Cathy Baker @DiAnnMills This week Cathy Baker @CathyBaker is my guest blogger. Do you have the perfect reading spot? “The unread story is not a story; it is little black marks on wood pulp. The reader, reading it, makes it live: a live thing, a story.” —Ursula K. Le Guin You’re handed a book by your favorite author and told …

Happy 4th of July!

By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills Happy 4th of July to the greatest country on earth! The ways we celebrate our country’s birthday are varied—parades, picnics, backyard barbecues, firework displays, relaxing with family and friends, or simply spending a day of quiet. No matter how you enjoy the holiday, remember the hard work and sacrifice our founding fathers and so many others …

The ABCs of Summer

By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills Summer is in full swing, and we are loving every sun-kissed day. Who can think about summer without swimming, picnics, fishing, and sunscreen? Describing these warm lazy days can leave us searching for how to fill our hours, but let’s give it a try. A – Adventure B – Baseball C – Camping D – Dance …

13 Ways We Can Make a Difference in Our Communities

By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills Summer has us busy—sometimes too busy. In the middle of fun-filled exhaustion, we hear a speaker or read an article asking how we are making a difference in our community. Ouch. We hadn’t thought about that. We’re busy planning and implementing a vacation which leaves us a bit stressed and needing a rest afterward. Work piles …

June 11 – National Making Life Beautiful Day

By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills National Making Life Beautiful Day is an opportunity to put a smile on someone’s face. Everyone needs a touch of beauty. Indeed, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” by Margaret Wolfe Hungerford shows us the value of an esthetic experience. What makes your life beautiful may be acts of kindness or encouragement while another …

Observing Memorial Day

By Barbara Latta @DiAnnMills This week’s guest blogger is Barbara Latta  @BarbaraLatta Observing Memorial Day is not a contemporary ideal. Remembering those who’ve given their lives for others has given us reason to value the sacrifices of courageous men and women. Twenty-two-year-old Marine Corporal Jason Dunham and some of his military buddies sat around their barracks in Iraq swapping stories. …

Are You Cut Out to Write a Novel?

By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills We’ve all wondered if we’re cut out to write a novel. We experience an unusual or exciting event and ask ourselves, “Could I write a story about this?” Sometimes we dwell on it for days, weeks, months, and even years, still asking ourselves the same question. Why not take a novelist writing quiz to see if …

7 Reasons We Love Stories

By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills Thousands of stories are released each year. So many wonderful and amazing books, and we’ll never be able to read them all. But we try. What’s the fascination for story? Why do we crave the next novel and the next? Here are 7 reasons we love story. Entertainment is the number one reason we love story. …