Lisa R. Howeler's Blog, page 98

April 15, 2022

Fiction Friday: Some thoughts about when I know a story is starting to click

The best part of writing a fiction story is when the characters start to come to life in my mind. When that happens, I start to daydream about them— including their interactions, personalities, and conversations they might have with other characters. The magic really happens later on the page as I start to write it all down and the character starts to tell me their story from their point of view.

The daydreaming phase has started with Mercy’s Shore, book four in the Spencer Valley series, when I thought it might never come. This week I started to get to know Ben Oliver, the main character, better Now that we are getting a feel for each other, I’ll be able to tell his story.

It will take me a few more chapters before I really know Ben, obviously, but he’s starting to give me a peek at who he is, which he also did when I started to write a character biography for him a month or so ago.

Only through his actions, conversations, and interactions with those around him will I really find out who he is, though, and that will require me to just write.

As I write scenes begin to piece themselves together, other characters begin to show themselves, and conversations evolve from one piece of dialogue to the next as I imagine what one person would say and what the logical, or more interestingly, the more illogical response will be.

Before I know it, I’ll have Ben’s full story down on the page.

Now I just have to get to know Judi even better than I did in Harvesting Hope and add her story to the mix. Or maybe I’ll just stick with Ben telling the story. I plan to make that decision this weekend, but I have a feeling that Judi is the kind of person who isn’t going to let someone else tell her story. Not again that is. Ellie told it for the most part in Harvesting Hope. Now it’s Judi’s turn to speak out.

Now a little update for my blog readers on future plans for the Spencer Valley Chronicles:

As it stands now, I have (possible) plans for at least one more full-length novel and three novellas.

One novella will focus on the story of Molly’s grandparents Ned and Franny Tanner and will be historical in nature as we go back to when they first met.

Another novella will focus on the origin story of Robert and Annie, Molly’s parents.

A third novella will focus on Ginny and Stan Jefferies’ (you will learn more about them in Beauty From Ashes if you didn’t read the chapters on here) daughter Olivia and . . .well, you’ll have to wait to find out.

The full-length novel will feature Alex from The Farmer’s Daughter as the main character as he works through issues with his father, who, if you remember from The Farmer’s Daughter (spoiler if you have not read that) had been diagnosed with cancer.

I won’t give a time frame for when all these books and novellas will come out since I do have a couple of stand-alone books I am interested in writing in between.

I had considered writing a book about Spencer’s newspaper editor, Liam Finley, and I may still do that but I don’t know if I will include that book as part of the Spencer Valley Chronicles, or make it a separate, stand-alone novel. That story is starting to capture my attention more and more, probably because of my own background in newspapers and my current connection to them as well.

If you’ve been following along with these stories, what storyline most intrigues you? And are there stories of other characters you would like to see expanded on as well?

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Published on April 15, 2022 04:00

April 13, 2022

Book Tour with Celebration Lit: Anything But Simple by Lucinda J. Miller

About the Book

Book: Anything But Simple

Author: Lucinda J. Miller (Last name now Kinsinger)

Genre: Memoir

Release date: July 25, 2017

Plain? Yes. Simple? Well…

If you live in a conservative Mennonite community, edges are sewn shut and questions have answers. So if you’ve got a saucy tongue and a roving curiosity about the world, you’ve got a story to tell.

As a schoolteacher in a small Mennonite school in rural Wisconsin, Lucinda J. Miller wears long dresses and a prayer covering. But she uses a cell phone and posts status updates on Facebook. So why would a young woman with access to all these technologies remain in a sheltered community like the Plain Mennonites? How can someone with an eye for beauty and a sometimes sardonic wit stay within a tradition that values discipline and submission and uniformity?

Anything But Simple is the stirring memoir of a young woman’s rich church tradition, lively family life, and longing for a meaningful future within her Mennonite faith.

Click here to get your copy! ”

Review

As I began to read Anything But Simple I saw so many similarities between the author Lucinda J. Miller and me that I found myself glued to the pages. Our life similarities include her ideas about writing, her experiences with her family, her view of her father, and her many questions and doubts about her faith, though she never left her faith and neither have I. I found those similarities despite the fact I did not grow up as a Mennonite and Lucinda did.

When I was reading this book, I saw another review for it where the reader said they were bothered the book didn’t offer any explanations of what the difference between the Amish and Mennonites was. I was baffled by this review because the book’s subtitle is “My life as a Mennonite.” I bring this up not to criticize the reviewer, who may have sure misunderstood the goal of the book, but to bridge into the issues Miller herself dealt with while writing the book.

When she was writing this book, she had a friend suggest she write about how Mennonites are “different from everyone else.” Miller doesn’t feel different from everyone else, other than how her faith shapes how she looks at life. In many ways, her family is the same as every other family, so her goal in this book is not to show how Mennonites are different from others but how they are the same.

This book does a very good job of showing how similar humans are no matter what faith they are a part of. The human condition isn’t something limited by the faith we were brought up in.
Miller tells us her personal story in an entertaining way that delicately balances triumph and heartache. There are times I can’t help but feel heartbreak for the internal struggles she faced during her teen and early adult years, probably because they so closely mirrored mine. These struggles — the feeling she didn’t fit in and how she often felt shy and withdrawn — though tough, was what helped shape her foundation for a fulfilling adulthood.
Seeing her spread her wings and step into a future as a writer, one she wasn’t sure she could have with the background she was brought up in, was very satisfying, again because I could relate so viscerally to what writing represents to her.

“Writers did not have to be pretty,” she writes. “They were very often odd-looking, according to their pictures. And the odder the writer, the better the writing. Reclusiveness, for a writer, was expected. Unhappiness was just a bonus that gave you something to write about and opened up the wells of passion within your being. If you were miserable, ugly, hated, alone, still you were okay. Because you still had the Dream. No one could take it from you.”

Some memoirs turn into a negative look back at their childhood, but Miller’s book doesn’t do that, or at least not often. For the most part, she looks back at her life as a Mennonite as a positive experience, not as something to be spurned or mocked. She writes about her journey through life, and how being a Mennonite affected that journey, but also about Mennonites in general and how they look at life and relate to others.

Miller’s prose is poetic, making what could have been a mundane retelling of a life feel more like a majestic journey into the mind of an intellectualist who has finally allowed herself to be an intellectual and not feel guilty about it.

About the Author

Lucinda J Miller Kinsinger has always viewed herself as a shy little Mennonite girl, but refuses to let that stop her from pursuing what she loves—whether that’s writing with honesty and vulnerability or traveling to a remote village in China. In 2019, she married Ivan, the love of her life, and moved from the flat, tree-lined fields of her childhood home in Wisconsin to the rolling hills of Garrett County, Maryland. The couple has a baby daughter, Annalise. Since the publication of Anything but Simple, Lucinda has published a second memoir, Turtle Heart: Unlikely Friends with a Life-Changing Bond. She is a columnist for Anabaptist World and blogs at lucindajkinsinger.com.

April 12, 2022

Creatively Thinking: Five tips to find your love for writing again

There can be a variety of reasons writers lose their love of writing. Maybe it’s an illness, a critique, or simply the busyness of life, but writers often lose their love of writing and desperately want to find it again.

Writing is therapy for many people, even those who don’t consider themselves professional writess. It’s a way for them to escape from the stresses of life, but also to express their creativity. In many cases, writing is more for the writer than it is for the reader, even though the reader is a very important component of the writing process.

Watch other writers talk about writing

As I mentioned recently here on the blog, I have been struggling with getting back into writing for various reasons, so I’ve found myself watching videos by other writers, of all levels — from amateur to professional.

I enjoy watching writers talk about their projects, their process, their love of other writers, their routines, their love of writing in general.

In the past, and recently, I’ve found myself caught up in watching New York Times Bestselling author Jerry B. Jenkins who writes a lot of Christian fiction, especially end times stories. He is most famous for co-writing The Left Behind series. I watch his videos on Youtube, including this one:

2. Read

It is true what other writers say, if you want to write well then you need to read and read a lot. Read in the genre you are writing, read beyond the genre you are writing in, read fiction or non-fiction. It doesn’t matter what you read, just read. Learn about different styles of writing and how other authors put together their stories.

Yes, you can read books about the act of writing as well, but reading completed works, those celebrated and even those not, can help you learn both how to write and how not to write, or maybe it would be better to say how you want to write and how you personally don’t want to write.

3. Experience life away from the computer or notepad

Sometimes the mere act of going out and experiencing life, whether that be taking a walk in nature or a visit to a busy area of your town or city, can be enough to reignite your desire to write again.

An interaction you witness between two people or an interesting character you meet might inspire a new story or blog post. Going out and taking your mind off writing could also simply clear your mind of all that mental clutter that’s clogging up your creative flow.

4. Turn off the news and social media

Nothing saps my creativity quicker and more completely than losing myself in news sites or social media. Even quick glances at either of these medias can send me mentally spiraling out of control. I’m either mired in a depressive, hopeless state after doom-scrolling through the news or I am overwhelmed with the comparison game or the melancholy tendencies of social media.

I even wrote two blog posts about this in the past:

Creatively Thinking: Social Media Kills My Creative Buzz, Man

and

Creatively Thinking: Too Much Social Media Kills Creativity

5. Just Write

For me, one of the best ways to find my love of writing again is to simply start to write. I don’t necessarily go back to writing what I was writing when I lost my passion for writing, of course. Sometimes I do, simply to try to break through the wall I’ve hit in a piece.

When an artist feels stunted in their creative endeavors, they sometimes walk away from the medium they are most familiar with in an effort to recapture the creative spark. It can be the same for writers. If a writer is more familiar with fiction, they might try their hand at writing non-fiction or a blog post, or even journaling to try to break the creative dam open again.

Bonus Tip: Journaling

Journaling can give a writer who worries too much about making their writing perfect the freedom to express themselves in private. Journaling allows them to write, knowing they never have to share what is in their journal if they don’t want to.

Whatever it is that has squashed your love of writing, don’t let it stay squashed. If it brought you joy to write, to string words together and see how they sound rolling off your tongue, then continue to write. Find your way back not only to your writing but to your joy.

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Published on April 12, 2022 07:27

April 10, 2022

Sunday Bookends: Winter Will Never Go Away! And other ramblings about this past week

Welcome to Sunday Bookends where I ramble about what I’ve been reading, doing, watching, writing, and listening to.

What’s Been Occurring

We enjoyed some warmer weather last week, which was followed by rain that led to some cold symptoms for Little Miss and me. That lasted three days and was not fun but at this point, we are used to it. The weather changes have been doing this to us every time and we’ve had these drastic weather changes about four times in the last couple of months.

It is very frustrating as we end up trying to figure out if we are actually sick or if our bodies are just trying to adjust to the temperature drop. Then, once we figure out it is the temp drop, the temperature rises and then we feel better — then the next week it drops again and we are back to feeling miserable. We just need some weather stability.

The kids were able to get outside at least one day during the week to have some fun in the yard before the cold and rain came back.

Honestly, I’m completely over the winter weather and my body is as well. The up and down in the temps and barometric pressure are affecting me both mentally and physically and I’m really looking forward to actual spring coming this year.

At the end of the week, we traveled an hour north to where we used to live to get our dog groomed at a new groomer and I stopped by to visit our former neighbor.

My husband and the kids also went to a local playground that has been torn down and remodeled from when we used to live there.

Last week wasn’t much to write home about, to be honest, so not sure why I am writing about it here. *wink*

What I’m Reading

I’ve been reading Miss Julia Rocks the Cradle by Ann Ross in the evening and it’s finally picking up a bit.

I got distracted by Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain one night this week when I saw it in my Kindle and have been enjoying reading that before I fall asleep at night.

Alas, I do have a book to finish for a book tour next week, but luckily I only have a couple of chapters of Anything But Simple by Lucinda Miller left to read.

After that I am reading through a book for an indie author to catch any typos and then I have an advanced reader’s copy of her upcoming book to read.

I will probably finish the Miss Julia book before I start the novella so I’m not reading a bunch of books at the same time yet again.

Little Miss and I are reading On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder again, which is fine with me because this is the book where they meet Nellie Olson. I love the stories about Laura and Nellie.

The Boy is reading a collection of short stories by Neil Gaiman called Smoke and Mirrors.

I’m not sure which book my husband is reading right now. He reads much faster than me and it’s hard to keep up with which book he is on sometimes. Plus, I couldn’t ask him because he had taken our daughter to an Easter egg hunt while I was writing this.

What We’re Watching

I’ve been watching a lot of The Mary Tyler Moore Show this past week (again) and that is pretty much all I’ve been watching, except for sermons. I’ve been putting sermons on and listening to them throughout the day to try to keep myself focused on things other than the craziness of life and health concerns.

We also watched a couple Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes. One of them was a premiere of a new episode thanks to a Christmas gift from my brother and sister-in-law. We receive new episodes ever two weeks on the Gizmoplex, a app on our Roku, or a site online.

If you don’t know what MST3K is about, it is essentially where the characters from the show watch a horrible movie and mock it while the viewer watches them mock it and then usually mocks the movie along with them.

Last weekend my husband, son, and I watched one that was truly horrible and had a blast making fun of it along with the MST3K group.

What I’m Writing

I have not been writing a ton, fiction or otherwise, but I hope to rectify that this week. I have been planning the next book by jotting down an actual — gasp! — outline but felt something was off as I started to write it. I hit on the reason for the off feeling and have changed the start of the book to reflect the plot and main characters better so hopefully, I can get going on it this week. I had my main characters becoming involved way too late and was also still struggling with getting to know my main character.

I’m not stressing about the delay in my fiction writing, but I do notice that when I get into a book, I feel less stressed because I am having fun focusing on something other than my health or whatever else is making me anxious.

I did share a fiction update on Friday and a Faithfully Thinking about depression earlier in the week. Earlier today I also shared a book review of Every Star in the Sky as part of a book tour.

Faithfully Thinking: Dear Fellow Depression Sufferers, extend grace to those who simply don’t understand Fiction Friday: Some writing updates.Book Recommendation/Review: Every Star in the Sky by Sara Davison

What I’m Listening To

The Husband introduced me to a new band this week called The Shires:

He also introduced me to Aaron Watson, a singer who sings more classic country than the pop stuff that is on Country radio today.

Then I fell into some worship music including this one:

https://youtu.be/AwgWbIOt0ko

And this one:

And this awesome relaxation video for when I take my bp.

Now It’s Your Turn

Now it’s your turn. What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.

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Published on April 10, 2022 10:07

Book Recommendation/Review: Every Star in the Sky by Sara Davison

Every Star in the Sky is a tough read in many ways. It is tough to read about the life of the main character, but it is also necessary to understand that while this book is fiction, it is based on situations that are actually happening around the world. There may be some of us who don’t believe that sex trafficking is happening in Canada or the United States or the UK. That’s something that happens in other countries, not ours, right?

Wrong.

Sex trafficking is much more prevalent in our countries than we even know and this book will open many eyes to that.

While I very much liked the effort of the book to open our eyes to the horrors of sex/human trafficking, I found some of it to be unbelievable. The way the story transformed into a love story was not what I expected and I found it more like wishful thinking than reality part of the time. I feel it would have taken the main character a lot longer to overcome the trauma of what she went through. I could, however, be completely wrong and that does not mean I did not enjoy the book. I very much enjoyed the book, as much as you can enjoy such a heartbreaking story based in reality.

I enjoy the author’s writing and how she weaves a story and makes the characters very real. I absolutely loved the main characters and the side characters also charmed me (the grandmother just stole my heart. Seriously).

Even though I had some reservations about how a couple of parts of this book unfolded, I hope it doesn’t sound like I do not recommend it. I wholeheartedly do. My concerns about some of the plot (very, very minor issues really) does not take away from the impact of this story. More than once it had me cringing because I had to face the darkness. It had me wishing I could close my eyes against the words. It had tears in my eyes because I know this life is all too real for some woman out there right now.

I encourage you to get a copy of this book and be prepared to not only be exposed to a world you might wish you didn’t know about but also to a world where there is hope, where there is beauty from ashes, where there is redemption and physical, emotional, and spiritual healing.

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Published on April 10, 2022 01:33

April 8, 2022

Fiction Friday: Some writing updates.

Fiction Friday April 8

No, I don’t have a new fiction story to share with you yet but I do have some news about my fiction that is already out there in the world.

First, all of my books are again available on Kindle Unlimited or for purchase on Amazon.

You can find them HERE:

Paperbacks are available on Amazon, but they will also be available through my site for $10 starting this summer and they will also be on Barnes and Noble. The ebook copies will be available through Amazon only for the time being.

Also, Beauty From Ashes is up for pre-order on Amazon for 99 cents until May 1 when the price will go up. The book, the third in The Spencer Valley Chronicles, releases May 10.

Also, Amazon has placed the paperback of A New Beginning on sale for $5 for some reason.

A social media tour for The Farmer’s Daughter is going to be held by JustRead Blog Tours at the end of June. If you are interested in signing up for that tour you can sign up here:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfp4qHPoDiw3vvbCrmPpoZe56s1sqH0Mq17sScoA7hy1_R3tw/viewform

In closing, I could use a couple of people to read through Beauty From Ashes sometime in mid-April to find typos. This isn’t a paid gig, sadly, because I am a poor lady (I’m just a poor girl, from a poor family….) but you will get to read the book in full before it releases and I may have a couple other perks lined up for anyone who can help.

So that is all for my fiction updates.

I’m working on a new book so maybe I’ll have some chapters from it to share in the next few weeks so that there is actually some fiction on Fiction Friday.

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Published on April 08, 2022 04:06

April 4, 2022

Faithfully Thinking: Dear Fellow Depression Sufferers, extend grace to those who simply don’t understand

When you wake up in the morning you feel it. A dark cloud hanging over you that you did not place there. There is a sense of foreboding that something bad is about to happen. You find yourself on edge, constantly in a state of “waiting for the other shoe to drop.” The phone rings and you jump. There it is. The bad news you were dreading.

Only it isn’t bad news. It’s simply a family member calling to say “hey” and you don’t have to worry. Whew. You breathe a sigh of relief. Calm settles over you.

For five minutes that is because you suddenly start to think about how maybe that news isn’t bad but worse news could come soon. Then you begin to list off all the bad things that could happen.

And your heart rate? Now it’s really picking up.

“Is that normal?” you think. “Should my heart be doing that?

“Good grief. Stop it,” you tell yourself. “Everything is fine.”

And it is fine.

For five minutes before the cycle starts all over again and continues until the end of the day when you collapse in mental exhaustion.

Such is the life of someone who lives with anxiety and depression. I am someone who lives with anxiety and depression. Is every day of my life like this? No, thank God and because of God, it is not. Does my mind switch to worry after worry every day, all day? Again no. Some days are like that, though, and it’s a very scary and out-of-control feeling.

It has taken a lot of prayer and a lot of lifestyle changes to help me deal with anxiety and depression and for a short time, I also took medicine. For now, I am taking CBD oil and it is helping (even if the one I have right now is a little too concentrated so I need one that won’t make me so sleepy). I am also practicing mindfulness and positive thinking, telling myself as many times as I need to do in a day that I am fine and that whatever I am anxious about is something I can handle with God’s help.

I just want to give a heads up to those of you dealing with anxiety and depression.

Inevitably some well-meaning person, usually at church, will say to you, “What are you so down about? You have a wonderful life! Wonderful children/grandchildren, a roof over your head, food on the table. You have nothing to be depressed about! Jesus is your Lord, be glad and rejoice!”

If they haven’t yet, don’t worry. They will.

It can be hard not to be angry with the people who seem so flippant about your mental health. It can be hard not to scream “But you don’t understand! I don’t even understand. The sadness and dark clouds are just there even when I know they shouldn’t be!”

Oh, how I have wanted to scream that so many times. I have wanted to tell them how clueless they are and how hurtful it is to tell me to simply “cheer up” when I am trying so hard to do just that. And if I hear them recite Philippians 4:6 (Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God) one more time like it is an admonishment and not an encouragement, my head might just explode right off my neck.

This week I had to remind myself of something and I want to offer it as advice from one depression sufferer to another — extend grace to those people who encourage you to not be anxious.

They don’t mean to hurt us with their comments. They don’t mean to be rude (most of them don’t anyhow). They don’t mean to dismiss our feelings. They mean well. They really want to help but they simply don’t know how. They think they are being encouraging and kind. They think you simply need to watch a comedy, walk in nature and listen to worship music and the depression will be gone. Why? Because that’s how it’s worked for them.

They don’t have a clinical depression they can’t explain.

They have a slump in their mood and for them what works is journaling and yoga and “centering” themselves.

Sometimes that even works for us hardcore sufferers, but most of the time we need much more. We may need medicine, we may need counseling, or we just might need to stop being told “to perk up”, “shake it off,” “get into nature,” “sing a song,” or “read your Bible.”

However, all of those things can help, and the Bible is needed so when someone says one of those things to you, thank them.

Thank them for their attempt and move on. If they condemn you for not cheering up the way they think you should, then maybe you can offer them a comment about how their advice is no longer needed, but otherwise, simply thank them because most of the time they mean well and some of the time their suggestions might at least take the edge off it all.

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Published on April 04, 2022 04:00

April 3, 2022

Sunday Bookends: Cold weather continues and good books lined up and finished

Welcome to Sunday Bookends where I ramble about what I’ve been reading, doing, watching, writing and listening to.

What I/we’ve been Reading

I finished Call Me A Cab by Donald Westlake this week and really enjoyed it. It was more of a romance than anything else, without the ridiculous tropes that some romances offer.

I did have a mistake last week when I said the book was released in February of 2021. It was actually released this February.

A couple of different versions of the book were found after Westlake died and an editor who had worked with him in the past combined them to create the final draft of the previously unpublished work. A portion of the story had been published in Redbook Magazine in the 70s, but not the entire novel.

This week I will be continuing Miss Julia Rocks the Cradle by Ann B. Ross, which is moving slower than molasses in January at this point. The previous book I read from this series moved much faster and while I like quirky characters, this book features chapters full of blow-by-blow descriptions of fairly mundane events. Hopefully it will pick up soon, but even if it doesn’t, I’ll probably still read it because I love the characters.

I also need to read at least some of a book I agreed to read for a book tour later in April this week. It is a non-fiction book called Anything But Simple by Lucinda Miller and is about a woman who grew up in the Mennonite community. It is the fifth book in as. I have series about members of the Mennonite and Amish community. I started it a couple of weeks ago and I am enjoying it, but got distracted by a couple of other books after starting it. Plus, I knew I had most of March to read it. Oops. March is gone, isn’t it? So yesterday I read more of it and realized Lucinda and I are very similar. I am looking forward to offering a review of this book the week after next.

Here is a small description of the book:

Like her grandmother, Lucinda J. Miller wears long dresses and a prayer covering. But she uses a cellphone and posts status updates on Facebook, too. Anything but Simple is the riveting memoir of a young woman’s rich church tradition, lively family life, and longings for a meaningful future within her Mennonite faith. With a roving curiosity and a sometimes saucy tongue, Miller ushers us into her busy life as a young schoolteacher.

Book 5 in the Plainspoken series. Hear straight from Amish and Mennonite people themselves as they write about their daily lives and deeply rooted faith in the Plainspoken series from Herald Press. Each book includes “A Day in the Life of the Author” and the author’s answers to FAQs about the Amish and Mennonites.

What’s Been Occurring

Not a lot has been occurring recently. It’s been pretty routine around here. Our adventure last week was a trip 45 minutes to a new doctor for my son to ask him about the smell and taste distortions my son has been dealing with since we had the dreaded virus in November. Bottom line? The doctor can’t do anything and pretty much no one can. The general consensus seems to be, “Wait it out.” So, we are waiting it out and hope it will get better. Some days the situation is better, and we hope we don’t have the issue as long as some of this other doctor’s patients have had it.

After our doctor’s visit, we stopped at the house of a butcher to pick up a quarter of a cow my dad had ordered. That was an interesting situation — at face value anyhow. This was a very simple home with a simple sign of the butcher’s name and business out front at the end of the driveway near some cow head skeletons. I couldn’t see where I was supposed to go to tell the gentleman I was there, but my dad had said there was a door under a meat hook at the end of a ramp. I thought he meant the ramp led to the house, but alas, the ramp led to the basement of the home. This sent some alarms off for The Boy who announced it was starting to feel like the start of a horror movie.

He waited in the car while I made my way to the basement, knocked on the door and heard a voice invite me inside. I had nothing to worry about because the basement had been converted into a very professional, clean, and modern butcher space. Even though I had nothing to worry about, it did make me a little nervous when he asked me to close the door behind me. Again, though, I had nothing to worry about as he is a very kind man who butchered a cow for a friend of us. She sold it to our family for $3 a pound and his butcher fees.

By the end of the day, we had a freezer full of meat, which made up for not having any answers from the doctor.

Later that day our area was nailed with crazy storms, which luckily didn’t bring the flooding they thought it would bring.

I thought the storms might mean a break to the cold weather that has been gripping our area and maybe bring some actual spring weather. Sadly, the temperatures are apparently going to be below 60 again this upcoming week. Yeah. That “yeah” was very unenthusiastic, by the way.

Yesterday the temperatures were only in the 40s but we still enjoyed some time outside with Little Miss and her friends and, of course, the youngest cat who is still slipping out:

What We watched/are Watching

I hate to sound like a broken record but we watched more Brokenwood Mysteries this week.

Then I watched a bunch of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, which someone put up on YouTube. I hadn’t watched the show before because I always thought I’d think of Mary as Laura from The Dick VanDyke Show, but I didn’t. She’s definitely a different character on her own show and so far I love it. I’m going to watch as many seasons as I can on YouTube because I really don’t want to add another streaming service to our list.

What I’m Writing

Last week I worked a bit on Mercy’s Shore but shared on Friday why I am struggling with writing fiction at the moment.

Fiction Friday: Why I’ve been struggling to write fiction lately

Other posts I shared this week included:

I like movies and books about quirky smalltown characters Five uplifting, sing-along worship songs you need to listen to today

What I’m Listening To

I’ve been listening to Matthew West a lot this week. I’ve needed his uplifting music. Some of my medical issues have reared their ugly heads and I’m tired. I’m tired and I don’t know if it is my medical issues or left over from the dreaded virus. Either way, I’m drained from it all.

Now it’s your turn

Now it is your turn. What have you been doing this week? Watching, reading, listening to?

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Published on April 03, 2022 04:00

April 1, 2022

Fiction Friday: Why I’ve been struggling to write fiction lately

Several times in the last couple of weeks, I’ve started a blog post about why I have been struggling to write fiction recently.

Each time I’ve started the post, I’ve stopped because no matter how write out my feelings, it comes out accusatory and whiny, with me alternating between defense and offense.

I know it’s not wise to try to explain something while a hurt is still raw, but my blog readers have been with me through many ups and downs, in my writing and in my personal life, so I feel like I need to share a little with all of you about what has been weighing me down lately. If it comes out as over dramatic to you readers, I totally understand.

A few weeks ago, I somehow got tossed into a situation where a last minute topic was needed for a writing group I was in. Long story short, my writing was tossed up in front of a bunch of people and critiqued as a “learning moment” for other writers.

This type of critique was something I had been avoiding for a while now, but especially recently because of the health issues and personal issues I’ve been going through. The author who conducts the critiques is very good at what she does but she’s also pretty hard on writers and I wasn’t in a good place emotionally for that.

I had explained that to one of the leaders of the group (a very sweet woman with stresses of her own) that I could not currently handle one of her critiques. I can only guess this leader was not fully listening when I expressed the desire to not be critiqued since, much to my horror, my work appeared on the screen during the weekly meeting/presentation. This weekly presentation is held with somewhere around fifty other women in attendance. Lines and red marks were scratched through most of the chapter being shared, with several comments off to the side listing of all my writing sins.

I didn’t ask for this critique. What I had actually suggested for the session was for the author to answer advice on how to handle what critiques on our writing. I had recently received what I felt was a critique, but it was sent privately so that made it easier to digest.

I wanted to know how to choose what to keep and what to dismiss from a critique, especially when it comes from someone who is not a professional author. I thought that my situation would be used to teach others how to handle a critique, not that my work would be critiqued again in a much more public setting. Even though the critique was anonymous, I knew many of the women watching knew the work was mine because I had mentioned my difficulty in processing part of the original critique.

I ended up turning off the second critique before it really got underway after it was launched by several minutes of mocking comments about my choice of metaphors. I did not feel these comments were constructive. Instead they seemed to be setting up what I gathered would be several more minutes of unhelpful comments. The unhelpful remarks continued until I felt like I was openly being mocked by the two women, one with 20 years of experience and another with a few. I knew I was in a poor place emotionally to handle any more mocking.

I turned off the session and tried instead to mentally prepare myself for a doctor’s appointment I had the next day that I hoped would help me with some of my longstanding health issues.

It’s one thing to know that your work is cliché and rather silly but it is entirely different to be told that in front of a group of fellow writers on a live feed while two women cackle and laugh at the absurdity of your writing, while not actually calling it absurd. (Clarification here: it felt like cackling and laughing at me but I’m sure they don’t feel that’s what they were doing. They most likely thought they were being lighthearted and trying to make light of a situation because they were preparing to eviscerate my writing for “educational purposes”.) I had watched this happened the month before to another writer and knew I didn’t want it to happen to me. It was extremely disheartening to see her on a video chat a week later looking completely downtrodden about her writing and like the joy of writing had been completely sucked out of her.

I was told later that I shouldn’t feel bad about my writing flaws because MANY writers do the same thing I did. I felt like I was being told that not only was I an idiot, but I was an idiot among many other idiots.

“You are cliché and silly but so are many authors,” is how I read a “somewhat apology” sent by one of the women in the group after I canceled my subscription. I say somewhat because the apology was more along the lines of “sorry if the critique of your work displeased you.” Yes, the word displeased was actually used. To be honest, it was not the critique that “displeased” me. I never had the chance to hear the critique. It was the fact I was critiqued when I never asked for the critique and that the so-called critique seemed more mocking than instructional.

I received the replay of it all a few days later, hoping to watch it again and see if I had over reacted. I was sure I had because many people have told me over the years that my feelings are wrong, my reactions are wrong, I’m too sensitive, too easily offended, too…whatever I am too much of that day. And sometimes they are right.

Unfortunately, the replay had been edited to remove the critique, as if it had never happened. I would hope that this was out of kindness, knowing I was upset, but I would instead guess it was for self-protection to make sure this author and her writing business didn’t look bad. I really hope my second theory is wrong because I do believe these women truly believe they are writing and serving in the name of Christ.

I would not disparage these women or the writing group based on this situation. Even if they were careless with their words, the program is a good one, offered at an amazing price and it is filled with wonderful Christian women who truly mean well and support each other. This is why I am not naming the group here. I would recommend the group to other writers with one caveat — make sure you communicate better than I did and if you ask for a critique be prepared to be absolutely shredded. That’s okay. The shredding can help you improve after your wounds heal.

In the end, the proof I needed to show myself that I had been overly sensitive was gone. So, there I sat in a weird kind of limbo of wanting to be wrong (because, hey, maybe I really was way too sensitive this time. I can totally own up to that and even now I feel I probably was.) but really not sure since I had no way to confirm what I had actually heard and what else was said after I logged out of the meeting.

Needless to say, all of this has taken a mental toll on me in relation to my fiction writing and why that may not be positive, what has been a positive is that it has brought me back to the path God originally set me on.

Even though the writing group was wonderful in many ways, part of me wonders if by joining it, I overstepped God’s desire for what role writing would fill in my life.

“I never told you to do this,” is the sentence kept popping up in my head when I first joined the group.

I promptly ignored it every time.

After the forth of fifth time this sentence popped into my head, I decided that maybe God was trying to get a message across to me. If he was, what was his message? He never told me to do what? Try to improve my writing? Try to make what I enjoy also something I could make money from – even if it was only a little?

It isn’t that I think God doesn’t want us to improve and get better at what we enjoy doing. What I do think is that for me, God was, and is, saying he never told me to push this writing journey to the point where I hate it as much as I ended up hating photography years ago.

I’ve said before that when it comes to writing I hold on to the words “just have fun.” It’s what drove my writing when I first started sharing it on the blog. I wanted to have fun sharing and connecting with my blog readers, focusing on something other than my medical issues or my loneliness. It served that purpose but then I began to believe that it needed to be something more if it was going to take up so much of my time. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be better at the activity you enjoy but God didn’t ask me to ruin my love of writing while trying to improve.

A lot of Christian authors would say they feel God has called them to write fiction because has called them to change and grow his kingdom with their writing. This may be true — for them.

However, I don’t feel that way about my writing, or at least my fiction. For me writing fiction is about having fun and entertaining a little. Do I want to share messages of hope, redemption and forgiveness in my fiction? Yes. Do I feel like maybe God wants me to do that? I think so, but I also have never looked at my fiction as some grand ordination from God that makes me something special and my writing a gift to humanity. My writing is fun, silly, probably cliché and childish and that’s fine with me.

I think a lot of Christian fiction authors feel their stories and books are going to change the world and maybe they will. I have never felt that way about my writing, though. Could my writing change a few hearts and minds here and there? Yes, I hope so, but like I told a friend this week, part of me feels like God didn’t give me the passion for writing so I can change the world. He gave it to me to help change me first and foremost.

I need to change in many ways, I am the first to admit that. I need to change my attitude and my tendency to be offended, and the way I feel hurt so easily. I don’t think that’s all that needs to be changed in me, though. The change I believe God has wanted me to make is in how I think about life.

He doesn’t want me to see life as something where rules are followed and others are appeased at the sacrifice of my own mental well being. He doesn’t want me to see it as a place where I don’t fit in and I am never good enough. He wants me to see the world as somewhere where we all have our place, even if it isn’t at the front of the crowd or the same place as others. God wants me, and you, to know that he placed us where he placed us for a reason and sometimes that reason may not be as somber or as serious as we think.

Sometimes God places us where he placed us because he simply wants us to have fun, to have joy, to look beyond the challenges and realize that not everything has to be perfect or polished.

Sometimes life and what we do in it simply needs to be fun.

All this being said, I hate that this post sounds like I don’t welcome critiques of my work, especially when I ask for it. I wholeheartedly appreciate the written critique I was given. I was merely trying to process it and how it should lead to changes in my work when the second, more public critique, slammed into me. I will definitely be asking for critiques of my work again in the future and I am open to them, even if they are harsh. Harsh can help me improve. I simply don’t know if I think public harsh criticisms are all that helpful to writers who aren’t career-driven but are instead fun-driven when it comes to their fiction.

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Published on April 01, 2022 15:26

March 30, 2022

I like movies and books about quirky smalltown characters

I love stories about small town or rural folk (as some might say instead of people) and maybe that is because I grew up in a small town and have interacted with so many interesting real life, small-town characters over the years.

Books or movies that feature interesting or “down home” characters with a bit of a quirk are my kinds of books and movies.

A few movies that scratch this itch for me include The Quiet Man, Fisherman’s Friends, The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill and Came Down a Mountain (that’s a mouthful), Road Less Traveled, Steel Magnolias, Pure Country, Forever My Girl (an overused trope is in this plot, but it was handled better than most) and a little known movie called Sweetland. Some of these movies were, of course, books before they were movies.

What I don’t like, however, is how Hollywood often portrays people who live in small towns as “backward”, weird, uneducated, stupid, close-minded, or like they are “yokels” or “hillbillies.”

What they don’t seem to get is that when they do that, they are the close-minded ones and maybe even a bit backward themselves. I actually think people who live in small towns are a little bit more grounded and normal than those who live in cities.

Books that fill this love of smalltown characters for me include the series of books by James Herriot (All Creatures Great and Small, etc.), the Mitford series by Jan Karon, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the Miss Julia series by Ann B. Ross, the Home to Harmony series, The Cat Who series by Lilian Jackson Braun, and the Anne of Green Gables series.

Are you a fan of books and movies about small towns or do books about larger cities interest you more? Which movies or books featuring each location are your favorites?

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Published on March 30, 2022 11:04

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