Charade

(This image is from Amazon.com.)

I read a Christian book by prolific writer, Gilbert Morris called Charade last week. It was copyrighted in 2005, published by Zondervan Publishing, Grand Rapids, MI. Once I started, it seemed this wasn’t the first time I perused this fictional tome.

Maybe because it wasn’t new to me, I found myself getting into the mindset of the morbidly obese main character, Ollie Benson. He weighed over 400 pounds and most people treated him like a freak. An intelligent, sensitive man about to become a millionaire.

I don’t want to spoil the story, but I began to notice some health tips interspersed where it made sense to the plot. With COVID 19, I’ve heard many individuals gained 35 pounds as the norm.

I’ve not put on much, but after finishing a diet competition ending in July of this year, my weight’s set point went up a few pounds a month or so afterwards. I’m trying to find my way back to a previous lower weight where I felt better.

I liked Charade because of the interesting characters and because I know Gilbert Morris researches the factional information. The twists in the action kept me turning the pages.

Gilbert Morris doesn’t usually write this kind of book. It’s more suspenseful than his historical novels with sweet romance included.

If you’re reading more than usual during this pandemic and in America, during the political processes going on, perhaps you’ll discover Charade, and enter a world outside of the ordinary.

May God bless you!

Northanger Abbey

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51FWZHBC37L._AC_US218_.jpg

I am about to read Chapter VI in Jane Austen’s novel, Northanger Abbey, with the Introduction, Bibliography, and Chronology copyrighted in 1991 by Everyman’s Library. It was published by Alfred A. Knopf, New York, NY and elsewhere around the world.

 

It seems that I pick up a book or begin a chore more easily than I read the Bible lately, and my disposition suffers from the lack of the Word. So, I read some of the book of Joshua today, but in addition, the quiet sitting and thinking of the meaning of the passages has been avoided.

 

Another habit that’s slipped by the wayside- a regular writing of this blog!

 

So, tonight, I decided to just write a little and to say hello.

 

I wrote about Easter the second week in March because a lady did a devotional on the Crucifixion and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. I will type it out this week rather than go into detail tonight, although it is a very short blog.

 

One of my children, with our grandchildren in tow arrived at our house on Thursday and stayed until Monday morning. Making pancakes, and Easter bread, which came out well, (yay!) kept me busy, in the midst of hide and go seek, and monster tag, etc.

 

Since I bought a soft cast for my leg to support my sore foot, I decided to chase the kids with the big black velcroed boot on, which stiffens the whole leg. Extending arms and making scary noises started a new game a little while ago. That event caused them to beg for the chase again this week.

 

When we moved to the back yard, which is not flat and smooth, it made it awkward for me. My granddaughter stood before me to guard against the boy monsters getting me. When I told her she didn’t have to always be the monster, she said, “I’ll just be your apprentice monster.”

 

Kids grow up so fast!

 

I wonder what Jane Austen would think of modern day England and America. She mentions in Chapter V, “As soon as divine service was over, the Thorpes and Allens eagerly joined each other;”

 

The Christian world was commonplace to her in the novels I’ve already read, but she didn’t mention “divine service,” as far as I can recall. I liked that phrase, “divine service.”

 

Before the story begins, there are pages of narration in the Introduction and then there are a few pages of her history, and other author’s names and works, and the history of the world all in corresponding rows set up according to the years. The events of war and major political happenings concerned Europe and Russia and occasionally the United States. Napoleon was alive and engaged in taking over much of the world during her lifetime.

 

Today, I heard in the news that Chinese diplomats are talking to Russian diplomats and possibly America and South Korea will join the conversation. As I read the Bible, it makes me think of the alliances of nations that it talks about at the end of the ages. China and Russia are mentioned. The United States is not mentioned, as far as I can tell, unless we are included with Great Britain. It’s a little complicated.

 

I hope this finds you well. May God bless you and keep you in the palm of His outstretched hand.

 

 

 

To Be Amish or an Englischer

 

My sister and I drove to a town about an hour away that sold Keen boots, which my doctor recommended. While there, we stopped into a library.

It amazes me how unique every library set up can be. This building didn’t seem handicap accessible, as I remember it, and the main floor has lots of empty space to maneuver around in. I took a large number of steps to get to the “stacks” down cellar and most of the lights needed to be switched on at the end of every second row.

I couldn’t find many Christian authors so I went back upstairs and asked the librarian. She said that they were mostly in the romance section and gestured to the general area. “We’re about to close,” she said.

So, I grabbed two by Marta Perry; I read one of her paperback novels years ago. She wrote one in a series of four and I liked her style. These two were Amish novels and I used to read that genre but gave it up years ago.

The first novel in the Pleasant Valley series was Leah’s Choice, and the second was Rachel’s Garden. I ordered book three and book four on Thursday and picked up Anna’s Return  that afternoon. Book four, Sarah’s Gift is coming from a city library instead of from our local one, so I’ll have to wait until next week.

The first four are published by The Berkley Group, New York, NY and are copyrighted by Martha Johnson in 2009, 2010, 2010, and 2011 respectively.

            If I have to sit to heal my feet, it’s nice to read books with the heroine’s thinking, using courage, and sometimes making self-sacrificial choices that those outside the Amish community may not consider. One such thought: Is it better to work long hours to provide for my child, or should I live near family and cut back on material things so I can be home more before the youngster grows up and leaves?

I fought resistance from my dad to go to college, but the whole community didn’t frown on that ambition. One of the main characters didn’t like having to fit into the perfect “Amish lady’s” role, so she left.

Marta Perry handled the pros and cons of Amish life and Englischer life-anyone outside of the Amish faith is an Englischer-with clarity and no condemnation.

Whenever I read Amish romance novels, I long for a simpler life to a small degree. I’m so thoroughly entrenched in the Englischer world, I’d suffer from culture shock if I got forced into an Amish lifestyle, I’m sure. Which is an impossibility, Amish don’t force people to join them.

Last year, I blogged about transcribing Amish journals for a writing customer. I learned a ton about their particular Amish community, and it seems as if much depends on the people and their Bishop for some of the rules that they adopt.

Marta Perry grapples with how the culture and the relationships of the Amish effect the heroines and the ones they love so well, that when I finish one, I’m more than ready to get to the next one.

Whether in an Amish environment or an Englischer world, it’s more than apparent that “People Need the Lord” as the song says. https://youtu.be/1uZcGaixMhg?t=5

And we need each other. May God bless you.

 

Writing Books

 

I like reference books. When I buy a writers’ book, I often begin working the examples. One of James Scott Bell’s pieces of advice suggested to read through the book once and highlight what grabs you. Then, read through it again and underline the thoughts that really stand out in red. I’ve done that. I began with his book, Plot & Structure: Techniques and exercises for crafting a plot that grips readers from start to finish.

 

It was copyrighted in 2004, and published by Writer’s Digest Books, Cincinnati, Ohio. The photo is from: https://books.google.com/books/about/Write_Great_Fiction_Plot_Structure.html?id=0arFsgEACAAJ&sorce=kp_cover

 

 

 

Another of his books I like is The Art of War for Writers: fiction writing strategies, tactics and exercises.   

This photo is from: https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Art_of_War_for_Writers.html?id=9vwzOJFKtc8C&source=kp_cover

 

 

He copyrighted it in 2009, and Writer’s Digest Books, Cincinnati, OH published it.

 

Yesterday. I mentioned that we are made in the image and likeness of God and therefore, we are creative beings. I read and implement strategies from a variety of published authors that move from fiction to writing non-fiction about what helped them in the craft. Each book is unique because we are all individuals.

 

I’ve enjoyed learning from so many writers over the years, whether in person at writer’s conferences or through their expertise on the written page via paper or electronic devices. What a privilege. After the learning comes the doing, putting words on paper or screen.

 

Where we differ from God: He creates and it’s perfect. We attempt artistry and if we leave it alone for a few days, when we read it, our masterpiece doesn’t make sense or present the image we pictured in our mind. Then the editing begins.

 

Also, we may face fear of ridicule or rejection. God’s Word tells us that perfect love casts out fear. God’s love is perfect because He is love. 1 John 4 talks about His love.

 

Apostle Paul wrote the Colossian believers and in the following verses he talks about Jesus:

Col 2:6  As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,

Col 2:7  rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.

Col 2:8  Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.

Col 2:9  For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;

Col 2:10  and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.

 

From these verses and others in the Old Testament, I believe Jesus is God, the Son. I can’t say that He didn’t fear when He took off all His godly attributes and took on the form of man. Before the crucifixion, it says in the Gospels that He sweat blood because of the anguish He experienced in the Garden of Gethsemane during prayer.

 

In the book of Hebrews, it tells us that Jesus understands us completely because He became a man, but He was completely filled with the Spirit of God. As humans, we can experience an infilling of the Holy Spirit at times, but we have to seek God for more of the Spirit. It takes work because we’re in a spiritual battle and our flesh wants to do what the body wants to do.

 

It’s the same with writing as a career. I find that I can’t give up trying to learn more and trying to face down a tired mind and a weary body when I need to get something done for a client or a deadline. Also, keeping up with technological changes and industry standards and marketing takes stamina and using more brain cells.

 

To me, staying the course in Christianity and keeping on track for writing are worth the effort and bring me joy. The latter is a lesser joy, but if I give up there’s something within me that urges me back to the creative endeavor.

 

For a while in college and then for another seven years, I pushed God aside and lived as I saw fit. As a newlywed and a new mom, it should have been the happiest years of my life. Things and people satisfied for a short amount of time; selfishness caused discontentment and frustration and sorrow.

 

When we moved to another town, God allowed me to run into Christian neighbors and at first, I resented them. Then, they were so stinking nice. One said to me after I started to argue about a Christian public figure whom I knew nothing about, but I’d been hearing newscasters bashing him, “I thought you said you were a Christian? Can’t we agree to disagree?”

 

What could I say to that?

 

More than thirty years later, I’m still following Jesus and even in the hard times, I’d never turn back.  That’s my fervent prayer and hope. I don’t trust myself, but I’ve prayed, “God keep me.”

 

When I first read the Scriptures where Jesus said if they persecuted Him they’ll persecute His followers, I stopped and pondered that a while. I’d rather be persecuted here on earth for a short time than to be in hell, tormented forever.

 

Christians are persecuted more now than ever before in history.

 

I heard the stars and planets are lined up exactly as they were when Jesus came to earth. Some folks believe Jesus is coming back for His church on Saturday. My daughter said when they start saying the day and time, then we know that won’t be the day or time, because Jesus said we won’t know the day or hour.

 

With all the earthquakes and hurricanes and tumult in the world, it seems closer than ever. I guess we’ll wait and see.

 

May God bless you. I’m grateful for the opportunity to write. Thanks for reading this if you stuck around for the whole thing. I didn’t expect to say so much.

Comfort in the Storm

Today started out kind of weird for me. My mind began dealing with sad news I’ve heard lately, plus a miscommunication I had with an author at a writers’ conference years ago. I recently bought one of her books and it reminded me that we never got to talk after our first conversation.

I wanted to clarify my reaction, but she stiffened up and ignored me. Her friend got her to soften her demeanor but all I asked for then was her autograph on a fiction book of hers.

So, I read Psalm 27 on a paper on the side of my refrigerator this morning. I do not consider her my enemy, but rather a sister-in-Christ. I took comfort from the rest of the verses concerning God’s presence and His faithfulness and His protection when we find ourselves in a storm.

Speaking of storms, I’ve been praying for Texas with their unprecedented amount of rain. We used to live near Houston many years ago. We made friends and enjoyed the optimism of the people in Texas.

Our local Christian radio has played the song of a woman thanking Almighty God for the safety of her family. The car is flooded, the downstairs is under water, but they are high above the danger zone.

This photo is from: https://www.christianbook.com/page/bibles/translations/nkjv?navcat=Bibles|Translations|NKJV

Psalm 37 is also great and I thought that was the Scripture on my refrigerator. As it says in verse 23, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and He delights in his way.”

If I’m good at all it’s because of Jesus.

May God bless you!

 

Joy in Writing

 

Monday night I searched files to see what I would bring to a new writers group I got invited to earlier this year. I chose a devotional I sent out in 2016. I’d been tracking it for quite a while and then I got busy with other things and let it go. I thought: if I bring a devotional that is already published, it probably won’t need much critiquing. So, I got online to check e-mail and sure enough, an announcement from the publisher said they’d accepted the devotional and the tentative date was for September 25, 2016. If you want to check it out I’ve included the link here: http://www.christiandevotions.us/viewblogentry/833

It’s called “For the Love of a Daughter.”

That made my night and then when I found the tucked away home of the writer who invited me, I prayed that it would go well. The last critique group I attended had a writer who criticized my Bible study, Chapter One so harshly, I left wondering if I was delusional and if any talent I thought I had really belonged in the land of dreams. I looked to the leader of the group for a suggestion to lighten up or to be kind, but she remained mute. As I headed home, I thought God said in His still small voice, “I didn’t call you to this group.”

This past year I ran into the leader of the group at a library gathering to hear a poet, and she invited me to attend the writers meeting they host there. I told her “Thank you for asking me,” as I pocketed the slip of paper with the time and day they meet. A Christian friend saw the exchange and encouraged me to join them; she had recently started to attend. I told her I’d pray about it, and I did. I didn’t sense any leading to be a part of their meetings and then this opportunity arose.(photo from http://www.goodsearch.com/search-web?utf8=%E2%9C%93&keywords=writers+group+photos&button=)

The members of the home town gathering may be different by now. Maybe that particular author didn’t feel well that day and so she got cranky over my offering. I don’t know. What I do know is that the group on Monday night was gracious and did line-by-line critiquing where necessary, grammatical editing and gave suggestions on the flow of the work. One lady is beginning a novel and I told her I wanted more description, less telling and more showing without actually using those words. What I did tell her was that I wanted to see what her interaction with her grandmother was like. I wanted her to set the scene.

One of the writers asked me what type of article was I writing, where did I picture it being published? I wrote an essay on health for mature readers, but the market I thought I’d send it to seems to be out of business now.

Then the published author thanked me for making it out and for the contributions I added. She and the others blessed me and I hoped I could bless them. Now that I’ve met them, I’m going to bring a more substantial project. We each had fifteen minutes for the reading of the piece and then the comments from the other wordsmiths. I hope we’re able to continue for a long while. We’ll see what the Lord has in mind for us. I’ve wanted a writer’s group for a number of months. I’ve learned that God’s timing is best. Isaiah_40:31, (KJV) says:  “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

May God bless you.

Words Easily Spoken

I called my introvert daughter by accident today and she called me back. I got talking to her about writing to build up marriages and mentioned a friend, Elaine Miller who writes for that purpose and she got asked to speak in Russia where the divorce rate at that time was 90%. What a shame.

Then talked about some people I know that are battling sicknesses. She sounded upbeat when I first called and then she got quiet.

I got thinking that what I’ve heard about and prayed about is news to others and they may leave the conversation feeling down when we’re done. Rats! I know that introverts process things deeply.

Wednesday morning at our Ladies’ Bible Study a woman spoke up about hearing some teachers on television admonishing people to be careful of their words. Don’t speak negatively about others and about yourself. Don’t gossip. Don’t put other people down as you’re talking to them.

I agreed with her wholeheartedly, yet I did caution her that if a person is kind of obsessive-compulsive, they may get so wrapped up in being careful that it could play with their brain. “Is this okay, is that okay? Did I speak something that is calling a negative consequence into being?”

My husband had to remind me that I don’t have to carry it to extremes. God has more power than I do and if I say something that He doesn’t want to happen it won’t happen. I breathed a sigh of relief.

Tonight I went to a writers’ group for critiquing and I decided to be careful as I exchanged ideas. I hoped to be helpful and not too critical. I was blessed by the feedback I got back. The hostess thanked me for coming.

After all, King Solomon wrote in Eccl 3:7, (KJV) that there is “A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;”

When my daughter called me later, she sounded like her day went well. Phew. 🙂

May God bless your day!

 

Writing of God

 

I went to the library despite the biting cold wind. I ran into a friend and we got talking about writing. She’s beginning to attend a local writer’s group and invited me to attend. She purchased “Writer’s Digest Magazine,” which is a good idea and some DVD’s on writing from a group proclaiming themselves as experts.

I told her she’s starting to sound like a writer because she loves the way a great sentence flows. She’s hungry to express ideas well.

I told her I’d taken a book out of the library written by a humorous author I thought I’d enjoy. I said I’d like to create like she does.

Then I read more and the person incorporated dialogue by “God” saying he wasn’t perfect! Then she has “God” asking questions of a character as if he didn’t know. The more she described her god, I thought, Why am I wasting my time with this book?

One time one of our librarian clerks gushed over an author famous for her expertise of the Pilgrims. She highly recommended her book to me. Quite a bit of the book was an explanation of why she couldn’t believe in the faith of the Pilgrims. We didn’t get to talk about it, but I’m sure the clerk knows I didn’t appreciate it once I saw her again. She looked at me and then ducked her head.

When I read the book, I thought it was all the same inane thinking the media and the education system uses to try and debunk faith in people. Did she honestly think I’m not aware of opposing viewpoints? I went to a secular college with a course in Satanism available, plus all the other philosophies that were acceptable. The only faith not pushed for us to consider, back in the day was the faith our parents taught us, which was primarily the Judeo-Christian faith. If Judeo-Christianity has no power or truth, why are Jews being persecuted more in America lately? Why are Christians being killed for their faith at over 800/day according to statistics given by an executive pastor from our denomination’s state headquarters?

To return to the book by the humorous author, she never said she was a Christian on the back cover or on the inner flap. I thought she was from a previous book she’d written that got made into a movie. I just wish I hadn’t recommended it in a library that echoes.

I do like the way she writes and her sense of humor, but I can’t help thinking if I were God and she’s misrepresenting God that I would not be happy about it and she’s in trouble. (I’m so glad that I’m not God since I’m incapable of being God.)

Anyway, I read Isaiah chapters 6-12 today and God is not always a jolly fellow. We’re made in His image and if we get mad, it makes sense to me that He gets mad.

If you believe the Bible, God is holy and when the angels proclaimed it, the sound was enough to shake the foundations. Isaiah saw this and he cried out, “Woe is me, I am undone. I am a man of unclean lips.”

I’ve heard it preached that Isaiah was probably a more righteous man than most of us, but somehow he got to have a vision of God, high and lifted up and God’s train filled the temple. That’s where he saw the angels crying out, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.”

I’ve read Isaiah chapter six many times and I never noticed that their loud voices shook the door posts in heaven, (KJV).

God is merciful and kind and loving, but He’s also truthful. He never says mankind is basically good. The good news of the Gospel is that mankind is evil but God made a plan. He wants to change us from behaving like the devil sometimes and becoming more like His Son, Jesus if we’re willing to. Believing in Jesus Christ as God the Son is the work we have to do to enter heaven:

John 6:28, (KJV):  Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?

Joh 6:29  Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

 

Once we believe, then we repent of our sins, ask God to forgive us – which He does, (1 John 1:9, King James Version:  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1Jn 1:10  If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us),

and then allow Him to make changes in our character.

We cooperate with His plan for our life, which is not easy at times, plus Satan then hates us because he hates God. So we engage in spiritual warfare with God’s help and He tells us how in the Bible: [Ephesians 6:10, (KJV):  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

Eph 6:11  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Eph 6:13  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Eph 6:14  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

Eph 6:15  And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

Eph 6:16  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

Eph 6:17  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

Eph 6:18  Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; ]

and then we end up in an amazing unimaginable paradise with God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit at the end of our lives. One God made up of three persons. Deuteronomy 6:4, (KJV) says, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:”

I’ve heard that some Jewish teachers don’t allow Isaiah 53, because that’s the suffering Messiah chapter. But in Isaiah 6-12 I read descriptions of Jesus that He fulfilled as the Messiah.

There are many mysteries in the Bible and the Apostle Paul said that God was allowing people to understand them now if they were willing to be teachable and to seek God for the answers:

Ephesians 3:2, (KJV):  If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:

Eph 3:3  How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,

Eph 3:4  Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)

Eph 3:5  Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;

Eph 3:6  That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:

Eph 3:7  Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.

Eph 3:8  Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;

Eph 3:9  And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:

Eph 3:10  To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,

Eph 3:11  According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:

 

One of the reasons I want to write is because people in the world give their opinions of God  or their philosophies without a second thought. As a Christian, I want to write what the Bible says. Why should a Christian’s voice be silenced when all others have the right to speak?

This beginning writer asked why I would bother blogging? “Isn’t it just talking about yourself?”

I told her that lately I wrote about marriage, it’s not all about me. I hope to give something of value to people.

If readers don’t want to read about Christianity when that is my topic, they can always stop reading, as I chose to do with the humorist’s novel.

May God bless you!

 

 

Changes on the Way

 

I don’t get afraid to face a blank page as a writer, but I do have moments when I wonder what I can say that I haven’t said before in this blog. 🙂

My husband had a headache yesterday so he didn’t feel like talking. I tried to keep quiet but when we watched television, if I had a question I’d bring it up. He said, “You like to talk.”

Not mean-spirited, not jesting, just clarifying. I smiled at him; “Yes, I do.”

I like to talk and I like to write. There are times when I don’t get to write and it’s like the times when I don’t get into the Scriptures, I get grumpy. God wired me to write, I suppose.

I’ve been going through The Productive Writer to set up a notebook filled with categories. I read the book through a while ago and began reading it again to underscore in red the highlighted sections that really stood out- a tip I read from one of James Scott Bell’s books on the craft of writing.

This image is from: https://sagecohen.com/books/the-productive-writer/ 

Sage Cohen wrote the book, The Productive Writer and copyrighted it in 2010. Writer’s Digest Books, Cincinnati, OH published it.

On page 189, she talks about social media: “A daily rhythm of just fifteen minutes a day can create a momentum of communication that grows your visibility and reputation.”

I’ve heard that said before, “just 15 minutes a day…” at writers’ conferences.

I need to go back to her Chapter 13 so I can understand the balance between social media and writing time. It almost looks unread. By the way, I recommend her book.

May God bless you.

Bits and Pieces

Today, I needed to wait for my husband at an appointment, so I decided to read the Bible. As I was reading, I thought the Lord was directing me to Ephesians 4 & 5. Then I read chapter 6 while I was at it. In chapter 4 it reminds Christians to walk worthy of the calling that God has given them.

After that, we went to a large grocery store to buy our lunch and then I’ve been busy doing this or that. I want to ponder the writing path God has for me. I have such a broad interest range and I’ve heard for years that a writer should have a niche. Possibly ten years back I felt sure that God wanted me to purchase a book at a bookstore in a mall by Peter Bowerman entitled, The Well-Fed Writer: Financial Self-Sufficiency as a Freelance Writer in Six Months or Less, copyrighted in 2000 and published by Fanove Publishing, Atlanta, GA.

The image is from http://www.wellfedwriter.com/ordertwfw.shtml  

I read about 75 pages and then gave it to my daughter for a while. I began an online course a couple of years ago on copywriting, again at God’s leading. I may need it someday, and I do work professionally as a writer and the things I’ve learned have come in handy. The niche writing that I’m contemplating is for magazines or novels or non-fiction books or writing for the internet.

So, the reason I entitled this blog as “Bits and Pieces” is because that’s where my thoughts and my actions have been today:

• Driving to a city I rarely get to early in the day
• Reading Proverbs and then in Ephesians
• Stopping for one item at a large store – a rarity for me
• Stopping at another grocery store and getting one item again
• Stopping at church to hand off copies I made of sheets of goal steps in the morning to some ladies and hardly staying at all – another rarity
• Cleaning dishes
• Watching television
• Going to the library and mostly working the new puzzle
• Getting home so I could ponder the writing path
• Watching more television
• Reading two teenage magazines that I’ve been considering to write for, and then
• Moving to a different room so I could blog
• Yelling at my computer and then admitting that that was not helping and to repeatedly do the same thing was not helping either.
• I tried a different thing and it worked. Yay!

I’ve been wanting to take time to be quiet and to think and to jot down any insights that hopefully alight in my brain, but I’ve been procrastinating. So, I think I have about ten minutes before my husband notes the time and asks the inevitable question – “What time are you going to bed, anyway?”

I hope your day has not been as filled with a scattering of responsibilities and stress and leisure and procrastination as my day has been.

May God bless you.