Anna Tan's Blog, page 78

#AtoZChallenge: Discipline

A series on worship leading isn’t complete without a note on discipline. Discipline is sometimes a “bad” word in modern circles, being equated to punishment. But we’re not talking about that kind of discipline, fortunately.

Discipline is defined in Wikipedia as: “The suppression of base desires, and is usually understood to be synonymous with restraint and self-control. Self-discipline is to some extent a substitution for motivation.”

Dictionary.com explains it as (amongst others) an "activity,...

#AtoZchallenge: Capacity

Capacity is an individual thing. It's hard to compare from one person to another. Some have small capacities - serving in one ministry is enough for them; they are drained and tired at the end of it. Some can serve in two or more before they feel the strain. Others do not seem to tire no matter how many ministries they serve in.

It is a difficult thing to understand. Those with large capacities look at those with small and wonder, "why do these people do so little and complain so much? Do they...

Things I have learnt about self-publishing as a non-American (aka Amazon hates me)

I'm grabbing a spot on my own blog today (since it's an off-day for A to Z) to talk about publishing Coexist.

Publishing in Malaysia, especially for English books, is a nascent industry. There are relatively few publishers, especially genre publishers, that I know of. Fixi Novo has been doing well in publishing pulp fiction but has since chosen to focus more on short story anthologies. ITBM apparently publishes some English books - but I haven't exactly seen many of them. MPH, Silver...

#AtoZchallenge: Beauty

Psalm 29:2 and Psalm 96:6 both mention worshipping God in the beauty of holiness. This can mean many things - it's been talked about as "holy garments" or that God's holiness is beautiful, or there is beauty in holiness. Gill's exposition says:

“... in true holiness, in which there is a real beauty: holiness is the beauty of God Himself, He is glorious in it; it is the beauty of angels, it makes them so glorious as they are; and it is the beauty of saints, it is what makes them like unto...

#AtoZchallenge: Adoration

The easiest 'A' words that come to mind when it comes to worship leading are ability and availability. Leading worship requires some level of ability - you should be able to carry a tune and have at least a nice voice, even if it's not, you know, record label great. You probably should have some sort of background in music, though music theory and knowing how to play an instrument are bonuses, rather than prerequisites. Availability is also a must - because you need to have enough time to cho...

COEXIST LAUNCHES TODAY!

Coexist has finally been released! Woohoo! *flings confetti everywhere*

So I've been setting up a tour to celebrate the launch. Here's where you'll find Coexist over the next seven days:

April 1: LuAnn Braley's review at @ Back Porchevations
April 2: Fantasia Hearth
April 3: Right here!
April 4: Patricia Lynne
April 5: Live reading at The Big Fat Hen
April 6: Rebekah Loper's review @ Fantasia Hearth
April 7: Madeline Dyer

I'll be updating these links as they go live, but for now, here's...

#bookreview: Without Anchovies, Tiger's Adventure and The Terracotta Bride

Without Anchovies by Chua Kok Yee
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Without Anchovies starts with the title story, Sambal Without Anchovies, a bittersweet story about Hanif's ongoing spat with his father regarding improving his nasi lemak stall. It ends with a strange little Twilight-like story, Vampire and Werewolf where an unnamed protagonist recounts her love for Joe, whom she suspects is a murderer. In between, you find robberies, murders, ghosts, cats, abusive Datuks, kiasu strangers, strange feng s...

#musicmonday: You are my hiding place

Wasn't thinking of posting a Music Monday post, but this came up on the random youtube playlist!

#bookreview: Dissolution by Lee S Hawke

Dissolution is supposed to be launched today! (I think - but I haven't seen it anywhere yet.)
At any rate, I thought I'd just post my review here before April gets crazy.

If you want to help fund her crowdsourcing for science in Australia, head over here!

Dissolution - A Dystopian Novella by Lee S. Hawke
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Taking the concept of selling your souls to work literally, Hawke builds a city where at 18, you sell yourself to the highest bidder. Madeline has known all her life that M...

#bookreview: The Untold Tale by @scifrey

The Untold Tale by J.M. Frey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If I could mark this as 10/5 stars, I would, but that's impossible, so 5/5 it is, with much hearts and swoons.

Forsyth Turn, our adorable narrator of this story, has always been the secondary character in life as the younger brother of the Great Hero, Kintyre Turn. The bookish, sensitive man who stutters, is prone to fat and is at serious risk of growing old alone and forgotten, will never be the Main Character. It doesn't matter that he's als...