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THEN LIFE HAPPENED: CONFESSIONS IN A QUARANTINE
âSo Iâll celebrate the truth | His work in me ainât through | Iâm just unfinishedâ ~ Mandisa, âUnfinishedâ Okay, confession number one: this blog post was supposed to be completed and posted last Thursday, April 30. Confession number two: the first draft of my latest novel was also supposed to be completed last Thursday, April 30. Confession number three: neither one of those things happened. đ Iâd like to blame it on the Coronavirus. That would be convenient. After all, thanks to it the life of basically everyone I know has been turned upside down (or right side up, depending on who weâre speaking of) and none of us…
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âWHEN IN DOUBT, LEAVE IT OUTâ
âWhen in doubt, leave it out.â I donât remember my grandfather, but his sage advice (handed down to me by my Mother) has guided me through many complicated decisions. Lately, especially. Iâm currently half-way through the first draft of my newest novel (praise the Lord!) and decided a few days ago to take a look over what Iâd already written, just in case things needed a little fine-tuning before I plunged ahead. Needless to say, they did. đ If youâve never written before or are new to the whole âauthoringâ process, please allow me to be the first to enlighten you: Editing is a good thing. Did you catch that?…
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THE PURPOSE WILL FUEL THE PROCESS
âWhy?â When I was growing up, this was the number one question my father taught me to ask. âIf you donât know the âwhyâ behind something,â he would say, âthen there is no purpose.â I have come to discover he was right. In every arena of life, we must know the âwhyâ behind what is being said or done or else all becomes meaningless, mindless rhetoric and response. Without purpose we have no reason for doing anything, and without a reason we will never have the zeal necessary to persevere and accomplish what we were made to do. And nowhere is this more true than in the field of writing.…
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WHY STORIES?
âBecause when you read a book as a child it becomes part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your whole life does and IâveâIâve gotten carried awayâŚâ ~ Kathleen Kelly (played by Meg Ryan) in the Warner Brother’s film “You’ve Got Mail” Stories have power. I know that. Most of who I am or what I believe can be traced back to a story I loved as a kid or teenager. From warrior courage in âPilgrimâs Progressâ to heroic chivalry in âBambiâ, selfless kindness in âHeidiâ to dogmatic perseverance in âHomeward Boundâ, honorable sacrifice in âThe Chronicles of Narniaâ to supernatural power in âThis Present…
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STAY AUTHENTIC
âBut for my own part, if a book is well written, I always find it too short.â ~ Jane Austen It can be very difficult being a writer. Besides the actual work involved in creating something someone else will actually want to read, there is the seemingly never-ending string of critics and âexpertsâ who always have a better idea of how you should do your job. âCut this, add that, switch those words around, drop that character entirely, shorten that sentence, tighten that paragraph, and, yeah, basically start all over,â is the overall impression I get from most voices in the profession of modern literature. Certainly, they have a point.…
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INSPIRATION FOR 2020: QUOTES EDITION
As the New Year rings in, I always like to be reminded of what it means to be a writerâboth the high and noble ideal of it and the âboots-on-the-groundâ mechanicsâand nothing does the job better than the wisdom of those who have gone before me. A small yet strategic pile of inspirational quotes can see me through a mountain of challenges, especially when combined with Holy Scripture itself. And I want to share them with you. đ What follows is a small compilationâsome whimsical, some practicalâof the quotes fueling my 2020: some of my very favorite thoughts on writing, dreaming, and all things inspiring from⌠SCRIPTURE âAnd whatever you…
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DON’T QUIT!
On midnight of June 28, 2017 I sent my first ever novel, “Sengali: A Cat’s Tale”, off to the printers. It was a lifelong dream come true that also became a profound lesson in grace and perseverance. Self-publishing can be a very challenging, rewarding, grueling, fascinating, exhausting, exhilarating, frustrating and ultimately triumphant process. On that night of June 28 I had been consumed by it for well over a year and, quite frankly, was utterly spent: mentally, physically, and emotionally. I had just pressed through what I thought was the last of more barriers than I could count when yet another one smacked me down. Only a technical problem…but it…
