Our lives hum with an intensity I haven't felt since our first year of marriage. Back then, my husband was working fulltime for another company and building his manufacturing business. I was teaching ninth graders for the first time and commuting 45 minutes each way every day. We ran, it seemed, from home to work and back home again for more work. In May of that year, I remember walking around our neighborhood, fulfilled and maybe a little tired, rejoicing in our happy marriage.
Now, dismantling one life and trying to rebuild a new one, the crucible comes not so much from incessant busyness but from answering the question, "What's next?" An upcoming meeting (that I both anticipate and dread), will give us insight and finally close the door on my husband's former business. But in the meantime ...?
David Wilkerson, the preacher who was called to minister in inner city New York, writes, "We learn God's faithfulness by answering our calling to stay in fellowship with Jesus."
How do we stay in fellowship? Through prayer and reading the Word and communing with others, of course, but also through walking the path he's laid for us, whether it's corraling a class of miscreats or making cool stuff or writing a story.
"Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it." (Isaiah 30:21)
It occurred to me this morning that as we move farther down the path, we must leave behind the loss of what was or of what might have been, even a dream carried since childhood.
Perhaps the Lord brings us to these places in order to establish his dream for us. I come back, over and over, to that much-quoted and beloved verse from Jeremiah: "For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans to prosper you, and not to harm you, to bring you a future and a hope." (Jer. 29:11)
Ten years later, do I still rejoice? Yes. And not just in my happy marriage, but in the foundational work the Lord is doing to keep it that way.
Now, I'm off to write Chapter 12.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Put the Spurs to It!
No, I'm not referring to my own butt, though maybe I should be. I still have a chapter to write today. But first, the spurring ...
"Continue to spur one another on to love and good works." It's the theme verse for my critique group, a fantastic group of gals who gather, about once a month, to point out what works and what doesn't work in each other's writing.
But it's also so much more. The dramas we witness are not just in our stories. We pray together, emote together, and walk together through some real life stuff that, at times, makes our character's lives seem rather boring. We also laugh together. A lot.
Writing is hard, lonely work. The solidarity and encouragement of a critique group is a beautiful thing. If you're a writer and you don't have a team of your own, I spur you on to find one.
Gigi Rosenthal gives a good picture of what she looks for in a constructive critique group at http://www.writersdigest.com/article/how-to-choose-a-critique-club/. For the method-to-the-madness, see Allen Cox's http://www.ehow.com/how_2091080_start-writers-critique-group.html. We spend a great deal more on each other's writing the five-minute overview he mentions, but each group will find its own personality.
In the interest of spurring-on, here's my team, the Redeemed Writer's Critique Group.
Christina Berry http://authorchristinaberry.blogspot.com/
Recently released her first novel, The Familiar Stranger, to rave reviews. She'll be stopping in here on her blog tour next month.
Kristen Johnson http://adventuresofhistorygirl.blogspot.com/
The youngest member of our group, but by no means the least. She writes historical fiction ... "grift," "clink," and "tares." Can you guess her era?
Sherrie Ashcraft http://www.sherrieashcraft.blogspot.com/
She co-wrote a novel with her daughter, Christina. It's sitting on a very-interested editor's desk as we speak. A funny lady with a gift for devotional-style writing. Read her blog and see.
Angella Foret Diehl http://angellaforet.com/
Oregonian writer, teacher, speaker, webmaster, novelist. I could go on and on ...
Debbie McMillan Blog under construction.
Debbie and I were the founding members of this God-inspired group that has grown and changed so much the past seven years. She is working on a series of young adult fiction set in the Deaf culture.
Keep writing, ladies. The journey has only just begun.
"Continue to spur one another on to love and good works." It's the theme verse for my critique group, a fantastic group of gals who gather, about once a month, to point out what works and what doesn't work in each other's writing.
But it's also so much more. The dramas we witness are not just in our stories. We pray together, emote together, and walk together through some real life stuff that, at times, makes our character's lives seem rather boring. We also laugh together. A lot.
Writing is hard, lonely work. The solidarity and encouragement of a critique group is a beautiful thing. If you're a writer and you don't have a team of your own, I spur you on to find one.
Gigi Rosenthal gives a good picture of what she looks for in a constructive critique group at http://www.writersdigest.com/article/how-to-choose-a-critique-club/. For the method-to-the-madness, see Allen Cox's http://www.ehow.com/how_2091080_start-writers-critique-group.html. We spend a great deal more on each other's writing the five-minute overview he mentions, but each group will find its own personality.
In the interest of spurring-on, here's my team, the Redeemed Writer's Critique Group.
Christina Berry http://authorchristinaberry.blogspot.com/
Recently released her first novel, The Familiar Stranger, to rave reviews. She'll be stopping in here on her blog tour next month.
Kristen Johnson http://adventuresofhistorygirl.blogspot.com/
The youngest member of our group, but by no means the least. She writes historical fiction ... "grift," "clink," and "tares." Can you guess her era?
Sherrie Ashcraft http://www.sherrieashcraft.blogspot.com/
She co-wrote a novel with her daughter, Christina. It's sitting on a very-interested editor's desk as we speak. A funny lady with a gift for devotional-style writing. Read her blog and see.
Angella Foret Diehl http://angellaforet.com/
Oregonian writer, teacher, speaker, webmaster, novelist. I could go on and on ...
Debbie McMillan Blog under construction.
Debbie and I were the founding members of this God-inspired group that has grown and changed so much the past seven years. She is working on a series of young adult fiction set in the Deaf culture.
Keep writing, ladies. The journey has only just begun.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow ...
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day ...
Alack and alas! Apparently, blogging is yet one more thing to procrastinate. "I'll get to that ... tomorrow. " What's that old saying about tomorrow never arriving? hmmm ...
In happy news, our wonderful five-year-old has been chosen by her Kindergarten teacher to be the one representative from her class for the school government. Needless to say, her daddy and I are so proud.
And I have a detailed character sketch, two new scenes, and some light on the path for my story's direction. Originally, the idea came to me as a father-daughter story, with the father as the main-point-of-view protagonist. At a writer's conference this summer, I had wonderful feedback from agents and a few editors, but the general consensus: women read the great majority of fiction, and women want to read about women. So I fretted and picked and poked and tried, so hard, to turn it into the female protagonist's story (the romantic counterpart, not the daughter). After all, the professionals said, women want to read about women.
Then I went to a retreat with the wonderful women of Gig Harbor's Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church (shout out to those amazing, gracious ladies and my dear friend who gave me her spot), and the Lord spoke right to my heart. "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted about many things ..."
You remember that story. Mary sat at Jesus's feet and basked in his presence while Martha bustled about the kitchen, cooking up a feast. When she complained to Jesus about Mary's lack of help, Jesus gave her that word of correction--"You are worried and bothered by so many things; but only a few things are necessary, really only one, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her." Luke 10: 41-42.
Writing, for me, is co-laboring with the Lord, sitting at his feet, learning from him. It is a walk of faith. I was so distracted by whether or not the story the Lord laid on my heart was marketable, that I couldn't make any headway with it. Finally, I gave up and went back to my original version with my male protagonist, and the details are falling into place. Marketable or not, it's the story I have to write.
What about you? Is the Lord leading you in a way that seems "counter-culture," yet is the only path that gives you peace and joy? Trust him. Remember, it's more about the journey than the destination.
Alack and alas! Apparently, blogging is yet one more thing to procrastinate. "I'll get to that ... tomorrow. " What's that old saying about tomorrow never arriving? hmmm ...
In happy news, our wonderful five-year-old has been chosen by her Kindergarten teacher to be the one representative from her class for the school government. Needless to say, her daddy and I are so proud.
And I have a detailed character sketch, two new scenes, and some light on the path for my story's direction. Originally, the idea came to me as a father-daughter story, with the father as the main-point-of-view protagonist. At a writer's conference this summer, I had wonderful feedback from agents and a few editors, but the general consensus: women read the great majority of fiction, and women want to read about women. So I fretted and picked and poked and tried, so hard, to turn it into the female protagonist's story (the romantic counterpart, not the daughter). After all, the professionals said, women want to read about women.
Then I went to a retreat with the wonderful women of Gig Harbor's Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church (shout out to those amazing, gracious ladies and my dear friend who gave me her spot), and the Lord spoke right to my heart. "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted about many things ..."
You remember that story. Mary sat at Jesus's feet and basked in his presence while Martha bustled about the kitchen, cooking up a feast. When she complained to Jesus about Mary's lack of help, Jesus gave her that word of correction--"You are worried and bothered by so many things; but only a few things are necessary, really only one, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her." Luke 10: 41-42.
Writing, for me, is co-laboring with the Lord, sitting at his feet, learning from him. It is a walk of faith. I was so distracted by whether or not the story the Lord laid on my heart was marketable, that I couldn't make any headway with it. Finally, I gave up and went back to my original version with my male protagonist, and the details are falling into place. Marketable or not, it's the story I have to write.
What about you? Is the Lord leading you in a way that seems "counter-culture," yet is the only path that gives you peace and joy? Trust him. Remember, it's more about the journey than the destination.
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