Anna Tan's Blog, page 23

#musicmonday: Love Moved First | Casting Crowns

Teenage keepsakes: a strange badge of honour

During the saga of the Strange Smell that turned out to be a Dead Rat Under The Staircase (a story I have not yet told and may probably never bother to tell), my mother cleared out all the stuff that had piled up in the storage area under the stairs. Most of this stuff is junk: old stationery, various wires from various appliances (and eras), decorative knick-knacks--the kind of stuff that you keep "just in case" and then find out that you'll never use again.

And then there was my woodwork projec...

#bookreview: Feathertide | Beth Cartwright

Feathertide by Beth Cartwright
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Marea was born with feathers and raised as a secret. When she turns eighteen, she sets out on a journey to find her father--only to find that it's also a journey of discovering and accepting herself.

Feathertide is a slow burn. A very, very slow burn. So slow in fact that the middle gets a bit boring, but the beginning and the end make up for it. They make up for almost everything. The trick, I think, is to read it all in one sitting. Once you...

#musicmonday: The Curse of the Faithful | Justin McRoberts

But the curse of the faithful
Is watching the ones they love go away.

Im here. Im always here



Im here
Im always here
Im here because I choose to be
Despite all thats been done to me
I dont have much left that I could lose
So Im here
And Ill be here tomorrow, too.

(I've forgotten
Just how sweet Your
Mercies are Lord)

#bookreview: Sorrowfish | Anne C. Miles

Sorrowfish by Anne C. Miles

Where do I start with this?

Let's start with the star-rating. There is no star rating here because I do not know how to star it, but also inline with my updated rating system. For Amazon, I think I'll settle for a 3.5, pushing towards a 4. (Okay, I went to read through the guidelines for the review programme I got this book from, and realised I had to put a star for this on Goodreads as well. So that's now starred there.

It's really hard to define why.

Sorrowfish is...

#musicmonday: Goodness of God | Bethel

This has been replaying in my head for a few days now.

All my life You have been faithful All my life You have been so, so good With every breath that I am able I will sing of the goodness of God
---

I have lived in the goodness of God

#bookreview: Getting Naked Later: Making Sense of the Unexpected Single Life | Kate Hurley

Getting Naked Later: Making Sense of the Unexpected Single Life by Kate Hurley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In Kate Hurley's bare-it-all memoir...

Not really. But Hurley has written the handbook of my life, the one where you run up against expectations about what your life was supposed to look like and try to make sense of how it actually does. Reading this book is like being known, which is no something that happens often to thirty-year-old singles in church.

My favourite chapter (obviously) is the...

So how long does it take to write a book?

Alright, while I'm busy procrastinating on Labour Day, here's a quick look at how long it actually took to write the first draft of The Weight of Secrets, or as I call it, "Hostage".

Why? Because I like stats and I like numbers and playing around with data is fun. LOL.
Also, it helps me figure out what works and doesn't work for me, so that the next time I start a project, I can uh, plan. appropriately. Or something.

So how did it go overall?


Look at that! My original target was to quick...

X Marks the Spot #AtoZChallenge

X marks the spot.

Here you'll find buried treasure.

Buried--
so deep you'll never find it again.
Dreams and visions
longings and yearnings all
dead and buried.
Gone up in flames,
ashes.
Ashes and dust,
from dust you came, to dust you return.
Ashes on your tongue from the dreams you've given up,
Dead,
--buried.

Treasure--
once sought after but now forgotten.
All that glitters isn't gold,
but this gold dust you scattered on what you once loved
is gone.
Leaving nothing
but a mirage of
baubles that were gems,
gilded...

#musicmonday: W is for Waymaker #AtoZChallenge

I'm not quite back, but here's a half-hearted attempt to get one more entry in. lol.

Phil Wickham makes everything better.