Readings: II Samuel 10-11, Psalm 138, I Corinthians 5
II Samuel 10-11: I hate II Samuel 11. It's one of the most depressing chapters in the Bible. Shakespeare had nothing on tragedies. This is the chapter where the great and powerful King David, a man after God's own heart, sleeps with another man's wife, has the other man killed by commanding Joab to send him to the front lines after she becomes pregnant, and marries the girl. I kept reading the chapter over and over again trying to figure out a way that David might have been innocent, but I can't find anything. The guy is an adulterous murderer.
And David went to heaven. So many times, we think we are righteous--or made righteous--by our works, i.e. the good things we do. That's not how God works, however. Paul, in Hebrews and in Galatians, tells us that we are made righteous by our faith in him. (That's what "justified" means: made righteous.) David the adulterer and murderer was made righteous by his faith in God and was forgiven by God. So tragic as this chapter may seem, it really does have a happy ending.
Monday, December 11, 2006
Out of Seclusion & Writing!
Well, I’ve finally taken myself out of seclusion. I timed the whole thing just right, as I came down with some really bad bronchitis/pneumonia thing and had to take these massive antibiotics. The side effects of these were scary. I think the pharmacy’s instructions said, “If you have bad dreams and wake up in the middle of the night, call you doctor immediately.” As someone who suffers from night terrors where I wake up in the middle of the night screaming anyway…. On top of coughing up chunks of green phlegm, my computer couldn’t access the internet for a week. My husband and I finally got it up and running today.
I see light at the end of this accursed sequel writing tunnel. I’m so excited. Hopefully, I’ll be done with it before the end of the year. Cheers!
For more information on my debut novel, A Prophecy Forgotten, check out my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com.
I see light at the end of this accursed sequel writing tunnel. I’m so excited. Hopefully, I’ll be done with it before the end of the year. Cheers!
For more information on my debut novel, A Prophecy Forgotten, check out my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com.
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Into Seclusion!
My friend, Sasha, is flying to Switzerland next Friday, and she wants to take my sequel with her to “grade.” (Sasha is one of my readers who reads my second drafts and critiques them for me.) That gives me about a week and a few days to get the stupid thing ironed out—at least the Heaven’s Realm part. If I can finish the sequel by then, I can get it to my readers before Christmas, which would give them time to read and critique Out of the Shadows during their vacation. To accomplish this goal, I’m going to have to put myself back into seclusion until December 8th. Therefore, I won’t be blogging until I come out of seclusion next Friday. See you all then!
For more information on my debut novel, A Prophecy Forgotten, check out my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com
For more information on my debut novel, A Prophecy Forgotten, check out my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com
A Prophecy Forgotten’s Debut Pushed Back to January
I just found out that A Prophecy Forgotten’s publication date has been pushed back from December to January. All though I was disappointed at first, I have to keep reminding myself that God’s timing is perfect and mine is not. Besides, January is supposed to be a great month for new authors to debut. Anyway, I’m sorry you won’t be able to read A Prophecy Forgotten over your holiday break, but you will be able to enjoy it by the fire during the coldest months of the year—unless you’re in Florida like me, in which case you will be enjoying A Prophecy Forgotten by the fireplace with summer candles still lit in it while your air conditioner runs full blast.
For more information on my debut novel, A Prophecy Forgotten, check out my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com
For more information on my debut novel, A Prophecy Forgotten, check out my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com
Friday, November 17, 2006
November 17, 2006 Daily-ish Readings
Readings: II Samuel 8-9, Psalm 137, I Corinthians 4
II Samuel: The calm before the storm. David is doing so well, and God is giving him victory wherever he goes. I so do not want to read my next reading, which includes chapter 11. Why can't David just be a good king and not go to that nasty place?
I Corinthians 4: Verses 1 & 2: "So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful."
One of the kids in my youth group, Michael Campbell, asked me over the summer which character in the Lord of the Rings I wanted to be. I thought for a moment. I wanted, so much, to be Frodo or Aragorn, and I told Michael that. But I also added that I knew that I only wanted to be Aragorn for the power, and therefore should not be Aragorn. I thought some more and said that I guess the person I wish I could emulate (because I often don't) was Samwise Gamgee. Why? Because Sam got it. Sam realized that the story was not about him or his Gaffer. He knew the story was about Frodo and Aragorn. The story was about destroying the ring and restoring the true king to power. Sam never tried to take the ring for himself or become the hero. He did his best to serve his Master Frodo. My favorite line of the movie is when Sam picks Frodo up and says, "I cannot carry the ring for you, but I can carry you!" (I'm getting goose bumps as I write it.)
So often, we tend to look at our lives and view ourselves as the hero of the story. We are our own protagonists--we think. I realize now that we are wrong. God is the protagonist of this story we call life. God is the Hero. Satan is the villain. We are but servants of the Most High, and we should operate as such because this story of life is not about us.
I am Sam. That's what I continue to tell myself. I am Sam, and I will do whatever it takes and go wherever I am asked to go in order to help my master defeat the villain.
II Samuel: The calm before the storm. David is doing so well, and God is giving him victory wherever he goes. I so do not want to read my next reading, which includes chapter 11. Why can't David just be a good king and not go to that nasty place?
I Corinthians 4: Verses 1 & 2: "So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful."
One of the kids in my youth group, Michael Campbell, asked me over the summer which character in the Lord of the Rings I wanted to be. I thought for a moment. I wanted, so much, to be Frodo or Aragorn, and I told Michael that. But I also added that I knew that I only wanted to be Aragorn for the power, and therefore should not be Aragorn. I thought some more and said that I guess the person I wish I could emulate (because I often don't) was Samwise Gamgee. Why? Because Sam got it. Sam realized that the story was not about him or his Gaffer. He knew the story was about Frodo and Aragorn. The story was about destroying the ring and restoring the true king to power. Sam never tried to take the ring for himself or become the hero. He did his best to serve his Master Frodo. My favorite line of the movie is when Sam picks Frodo up and says, "I cannot carry the ring for you, but I can carry you!" (I'm getting goose bumps as I write it.)
So often, we tend to look at our lives and view ourselves as the hero of the story. We are our own protagonists--we think. I realize now that we are wrong. God is the protagonist of this story we call life. God is the Hero. Satan is the villain. We are but servants of the Most High, and we should operate as such because this story of life is not about us.
I am Sam. That's what I continue to tell myself. I am Sam, and I will do whatever it takes and go wherever I am asked to go in order to help my master defeat the villain.
I am Sam
I Corinthians 4:1-2: "So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful."
One of the kids in my youth group, Michael Campbell, asked me over the summer which character in the Lord of the Rings I wanted to be. I thought for a moment. I wanted, so much, to be Aragorn, and I told Michael that. But I also added that I knew that I only wanted to be Aragorn for the power, and therefore should not be Aragorn. I thought some more and said that I guess the person I wish I could emulate (because I often don't) was Samwise Gamgee. Why? Because Sam got it. Sam realized that the story was not about him or his Gaffer. He knew the story was about Frodo and Aragorn. The story was about destroying the ring and restoring the true king to power. Sam never tried to take the ring for himself or become the hero. He did his best to serve his Master Frodo. My favorite line of the movie is when Sam picks Frodo up and says, "I cannot carry the ring for you, but I can carry you!" (I'm getting goose bumps as I write it.)
So often, we tend to look at our lives and view ourselves as the hero of the story. We are our own protagonists—we think. I realize now that we are wrong. God is the protagonist of our story. God is the Hero. Satan is the villain. We are but servants of the Most High, and we should operate as such because our story is not about us.
I am Sam. That's what I continue to tell myself. I am Sam, and I will do whatever it takes and go wherever I am asked to go in order to help my master defeat the villain.
For more information on my debut novel, A Prophecy Forgotten, check out my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com
One of the kids in my youth group, Michael Campbell, asked me over the summer which character in the Lord of the Rings I wanted to be. I thought for a moment. I wanted, so much, to be Aragorn, and I told Michael that. But I also added that I knew that I only wanted to be Aragorn for the power, and therefore should not be Aragorn. I thought some more and said that I guess the person I wish I could emulate (because I often don't) was Samwise Gamgee. Why? Because Sam got it. Sam realized that the story was not about him or his Gaffer. He knew the story was about Frodo and Aragorn. The story was about destroying the ring and restoring the true king to power. Sam never tried to take the ring for himself or become the hero. He did his best to serve his Master Frodo. My favorite line of the movie is when Sam picks Frodo up and says, "I cannot carry the ring for you, but I can carry you!" (I'm getting goose bumps as I write it.)
So often, we tend to look at our lives and view ourselves as the hero of the story. We are our own protagonists—we think. I realize now that we are wrong. God is the protagonist of our story. God is the Hero. Satan is the villain. We are but servants of the Most High, and we should operate as such because our story is not about us.
I am Sam. That's what I continue to tell myself. I am Sam, and I will do whatever it takes and go wherever I am asked to go in order to help my master defeat the villain.
For more information on my debut novel, A Prophecy Forgotten, check out my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com
Launch the Grenades!
I have many methods of solving problems. My favorite method to talk about (but my least favorite to use) is what I call the “grenade solution.” When you’ve got a problem that you simply can’t solve without rebuilding the entire dang thing, throw a grenade at it and start over. That, folks, is about to become my solution to the over forty pages problems in Out of the Shadows that I’ve been dealing with for the past two months. Unfortunately, I don’t need any grenades. I’ve got nice little delete key right here, just waiting to be pressed. Modern technology has so taken the fun out of warfare.
For those of you writers puckering your lips, holding your breath going, “No! No! For the love of God no! Don’t do it!” bear in mind that I won’t actually delete it. I’ll cut it and paste it to a separate word file and save it in my “deleted scenes” folder. You should see how many files are already in that folder. It’s currently bigger than my novel.
And now it is time for me to go on a little rant about outlines and those who use them. Yes, I realize that you outliners out there believe that your way is better than anyone else’s way, and that since outlining has helped you soooooo much, obviously outlining must be the one and only perfect way to do anything and those of us non-outliners (such as Steven King, by the way) are just ignoramuses who don’t really know how to write a novel. Well, “Bovine excrement to you!” I say. Go ahead, write your outlines, but don’t force your writing style on me. I’m joining Steven King and going back to the non-outline, feeling my way through, letting the characters go where they may style, which worked quite fine at my last attempt at novel writing.
And now I’m fishing for a box of grenades. We’re really going to do this one up well. Tune in on Sunday to see if I actually went through with it.
Oh, and I’m on the radio tonight: 89.5 @ 5:00! (For those of you in the Naples/Ft. Myers area.)
For more information on my debut novel, A Prophecy Forgotten, check out my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com
For those of you writers puckering your lips, holding your breath going, “No! No! For the love of God no! Don’t do it!” bear in mind that I won’t actually delete it. I’ll cut it and paste it to a separate word file and save it in my “deleted scenes” folder. You should see how many files are already in that folder. It’s currently bigger than my novel.
And now it is time for me to go on a little rant about outlines and those who use them. Yes, I realize that you outliners out there believe that your way is better than anyone else’s way, and that since outlining has helped you soooooo much, obviously outlining must be the one and only perfect way to do anything and those of us non-outliners (such as Steven King, by the way) are just ignoramuses who don’t really know how to write a novel. Well, “Bovine excrement to you!” I say. Go ahead, write your outlines, but don’t force your writing style on me. I’m joining Steven King and going back to the non-outline, feeling my way through, letting the characters go where they may style, which worked quite fine at my last attempt at novel writing.
And now I’m fishing for a box of grenades. We’re really going to do this one up well. Tune in on Sunday to see if I actually went through with it.
Oh, and I’m on the radio tonight: 89.5 @ 5:00! (For those of you in the Naples/Ft. Myers area.)
For more information on my debut novel, A Prophecy Forgotten, check out my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com
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