RichieWriMo hymnwriting committment post

I know what you're probably thinking: What's RichieWriMo?

RichieWriMo is my take on NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month

I have a number of friends--you know who you are--do this challenge of writing a 50,000 word novel draft entirely in November. Some of my friends have successfully completed this multiple times.

I, however, am not going to write a 50,000 word novel. I am going to use this as an opportunity to write hymn texts.  Over half of my hymn texts finished to date have been finished in my previous two November RichieWriMo campaigns, so this will keep the tradition going into its third year. Like last year, I'm setting my goal at 5 finished hymn texts. I wrote 5 the first year and failed to reach my goal of matching it last year, but 5 is a good number. I should be able to do 5......yes.

This blog entry may be a mistake because it creates some accountability and invites your ridicule if I slack off. So, please take advantage of this potential opportunity to ridicule my laziness and help motivate me to write some hymns!

Let them eat Cheesecake [Factory]

This post isn't really about tennis necessarily, but this has been a good week to be a tennis fan. The WTA Finals--an invitation tournament featuring the top 8 players from the year--is this week, and many of the matches have been fantastic!

Anyway, this post is about Agnieszka Radwańska, who lost today in the semifinals. She usually wears a visor while she plays, and her visor says The Cheesecake Factory on the side. That's right, a Polish professional tennis player is sponsored by an American chain restaurant that had never sponsored an athlete and is known for, along with cheesecake, massive portions and calorie counts.

It is an unlikely pairing. Another illustration of its unlikeliness: I saw Polish tennis fans react to the announcement by expressing surprise that The Cheesecake Factory was a real chain and not something invented for The Big Bang Theory.

How did this pairing happen? Radwańska likes cheesecake, is a frequent eater at The Cheesecake Factory during tournaments in the United States, had already recommended it to other tennis players, and had freely promoted The Cheesecake Factory on social media for a long period of time. Even though some criticize her for eating there, she made her own decision that she liked the restaurant. And the sponsorship deal dictates very little she has to do in addition to what she was already doing: she has to put the name on her visor and do a small number of promotional events during the year.

So many athletes and celebrities make decisions on sponsorships based  only on money, even if they really don't care about the product they are endorsing. But I appreciate sponsorship deals like this where there is a real endorsement. Radwańska doesn't make the most money from endorsements, but she can say she was respected enough by the Cheesecake Factory that they decided to give her their first endorsement deal and pay her to do what she was already doing....which is eat cheesecake. That's a good deal.

214 Days

Way back on Ash Wednesday, I wrote 42 words of a new hymn text idea I had. These 42 words formed one complete stanza and half of another stanza. Then a combination of lack of insight and busyness kept me from writing more.

Until yesterday.