Susie Finkbeiner's Blog, page 13

Sneaky Little Weasels

 

They are everywhere. Striking when you least expect it. Sneaky. Damaging. Terrifying.

Weasel Words.

You know you’ve seen them.

You’re reading a book. Suddenly, you realize that the author has used the words “arching brows” on EVERY SINGLE PAGE. Or that characters keep “slouching into” various articles of clothing. Perhaps every bit of dialogue begins with “Well” or “So” or “As I was saying”.

Weasel Words make me nauseous.

Especially when I find them in….GASP….my OWN WORK!

Lately, I’ve noticed the word “just”. “He just couldn’t believe…”, “She just walked on over…”, “Just like her mother, she just couldn’t be just her just self. Even just for a just a minute…”

AAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCKKKKKK!!!

Thank goodness writers get several chances to eradicate the sneaky little weasels.

Tell me, if you’re a writer, what are some of your weasel words? Are you a reader? What weasel words have you encountered in a book? Do you talk? What weasel words pop out of your mouth? 

Feeling The Gunshot

Easter was super, awesome, exciting, exhausting fun. We loaded up the kids and headed home.

The way home is on The Beltline. A LONG stretch of road that cuts through farm land, forest, and city.

By the time we traveled down The Beltline in our mini-van, we were well past bedtime. My kids love staying up late.

One of them pointed out the police car ahead. Its flashing red and blue cut through the dark.

As we passed, I noticed the deer on the shoulder of the road. It lifted up its head.

We felt the police officer’s gunshot after we were passed.

I’m so glad my kids didn’t see the deer or know what they felt. The end of life. Right there on the side of the road.

But I heard that gunshot. Instantly reminded of the popping sounds at the rifle range at summer camp. The echo of a hunter’s gun in the woods. The bang from my neighbor’s house when he shot my brother in the leg over 20 years ago.

Felt the pop of air pressure. Memory of panic and isolation and loss.

“So sad.” It was all I could say.

“He had to do it, Sweetheart,” my husband said to me. “He put it out of its misery.”

I know.

Compassion doesn’t always come easy.

It seldom looks the way we wish it would.

In the van. Feeling the gunshot.

Knowing that, sometimes, mercy is all at once painful and beautiful.

As One.

Now, I don’t fancy myself a theologian. I’ll leave that up to somebody else. But I do love the Word of God. Maybe that makes me sound like a good-two-shoes. Perhaps I’m exactly that.

A lot of that Word confuses me. All the stoning of sinners and wrath and grace mixed in. Don’t get mad. Sometimes, I don’t know how it all works together. The Bible is full of mysteries and I pity the person who claims to understand it all.

It’s good to wonder. It’s good to question and doubt and turn to God and say, “I don’t get it”. Because if we 100% got it, would we really be in need of Jesus?

But what I do understand is that Jesus prayed for us. Those of us who would believe in Him because of the witness of the ancient apostles.

He didn’t pray that we’d win the debate.

Or that we’d split up into millions of congregations.

He didn’t pray that His followers would make themselves a “brand”.

Or that we’d be really good at convicting others of their sins while hiding our own behind a veil of self-righteousness.

He prayed for us. Us. And hours before His temporary death. He prayed that WE would be AS ONE. Like He is ONE with the Father.

We’ve blown it.

That’s how I feel on this Good Friday.

We have failed. We hate each other. Fight. Try to be right (not righteous…right). We kick each other when we’re down. We don’t turn the other cheek or walk the extra mile to serve our enemy. We ignore the least of these. Even say that they deserve their suffering.

We put more hope in our government than it deserves. More hope in our government than we put in God.

We put so much energy into fighting against something which is out of our control and forget to do what is most important. Feeding the hungry. Loving the unloved. Keeping our eyes on our marriages.

We are hated. Not because of our devotion to Jesus. No. We are hated for how very unlike Him we are.

Jesus prayed for us to be as one. He died for us. Our sins are covered.

And we keep messing it all up.

But the tomb is empty. He is not dead. He has risen.

And our messed up body of Christ can be resurrected. Healed. Brought back to life.

You know what we need to do?

Stop fighting to stay in the tomb. Stop pushing the stone back over the entrance. Stop whitewashing over the outside and start thinking about the inside.

We’ve blown it. But He will redeem it.

And one of these days we’ll realize how beautiful it is to be as one.

This Good Friday, I despair. Sunday morning, hope.

Ask Susie…HELP!

Introducing Christy Barritt!

My friends, today I am excited to introduce you to Christy Barritt. You might already know of her. She is a multi-published author whose most recent release The Good Girl hit the ebook world just a few weeks ago with WhiteFire Publishing. Christy agreed to hang out with us today. I’m very pleased to welcome her here!

I wrote The Good Girl ten years ago as Hurricane Isabel was ravaging Virginia, the state I call home. My brother and his wife were going out of town and had asked me to come to Minnesota to dog sit. I didn’t have any kids back then, so I said yes, looking forward to the chance to get away and explore a new place.

Their house wasn’t what I expected. It was older, had squeaky floors, and no curtains on the windows. One night, I heard the gate outside my bedroom window mysteriously open. Another night, someone rang the doorbell past midnight. Just a few little quirky things like that had happened during my stay and got my brain whirling.

That’s when I got my idea for The Good Girl. In The Good Girl, superstar Christian Tara Lancaster comes to dog sit for her sister, who’s traveling Europe with her flavor-of-the-month boyfriend. Tara, a preacher’s kid, has always followed all of the rules, and life in return seemed especially blessed. Then everything came crashing down—her marriage, her career, her reputation. Her sister, on the other hand, followed none of the rules and her life seems seamless and blissful. Every idea Tara had for how her life would turn out is wrong. The story goes from there.

I really had a great time writing this book. As I said earlier, I wrote it several years ago. It made the rounds at several publishers, one of the editors even writing, “Someone is going to snatch up this book. I wish it was us.” I could never give up on this novel, though. Something about it just gripped me.

Of all the books I’ve written, this one has the strongest faith thread. Tara is really struggling to understand if God really loves her not. She’s struggling to know if God is even real or if her whole life has been build on a false premise. Add a ghost, fame-hungry friend, and hunky neighbor to the mix, and you’ve got of my favorite stories I’ve ever written.

People have asked me, “Are you Tara?” The answer is no, I’m not Tara, but I have drawn on parts of my own experiences. I definitely put too much weight into what people think of me at times. I can also be a perfectionist. I’ve been wounded by my brothers and sisters in Christ, deeply at times. God is working on me, though, and my goal every day is to become just a little more like Him.

I hope people will read The Good Girl and walk away examining themselves, and their faith, and how they treat other Christians. The early feedback on the book has been positive. People have said that the book was not only entertaining, but it caused them to think and reevaluate their own thought patterns and actions.

To find out more information about the book, visit my website at: www.christybarritt.com.

The book is available at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.

Thanks so much for having me here!

Bio:

Christy Barritt is an author, freelance writer and speaker who lives in Virginia. She’s married to her Prince Charming, a man who thinks she’s hilarious–but only when she’s not trying to be. Christy’s a self-proclaimed klutz, an avid music lover who’s known for spontaneously bursting into song, and a road trip aficionado. She’s only won one contest in her life–and her prize was kissing a pig (okay, okay… actually she did win the Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Suspense and Mystery for her book Suspicious Minds also). Her current claim to fame is showing off her mother, who looks just like former First Lady Barbara Bush.

When she’s not working or spending time with her family, she enjoys singing, playing the guitar, and exploring small, unsuspecting towns where people have no idea how accident prone she is.

The Good Girl:

Tara Lancaster can sing Amazing Grace in three harmonies, two languages, and interpret it for the hearing impaired. She can list the Bible canon backward, forward, and alphabetized. And the only time she ever missed church was at seventeen because she had pneumonia and her mom made her stay home.

But when her life shatters around her and her reputation is left in ruins, Tara decides escape is the only option. She flees halfway across the country to dog-sit, but the quiet anonymity she needs isn’t waiting in her sister s house. Instead she finds a knife with a threatening message, a fame-hungry friend, a too-hunky neighbor, and evidence of…a ghost?

Following all the rules has gotten her nowhere. And nothing she learned in Sunday School can tell her where to go from there.

An Open Letter to Winter

Winter;

No, I’m not even going to open this letter by calling you “dear”. Because you are not dear. Not by the end of March.

You’re hanging on too long. You need to learn how to let go. Land the plane, Winter.

You, my not-friend, are like a novel that I just wish would end. You started out okay with Christmas. Gave us a drama filled middle with all the arctic blasts and snow days. But then, you gave us way too many false endings. Too many unfulfilled teasers.

The problem? At this point, with a novel, I can skim to the end. Or donate the stinking thing to the library.

It’s time to wrap it up. Take your gloomy skies and frigid air (they weren’t likable characters, anyway). Give us a little resolution with the return of warmth and sunshine (they really should have been given larger parts).

Nobody’s impressed by how you’re going on and on, here. So. Just end it.

Love Sincerely

Susie…And most everybody else.

What about you? Are you sick of winter? Ready to get on with Spring? Ever read a novel that just would NOT END?

Life Trumps Blog

I fully intended to write a blog post last night.

But, instead, I sat on the couch with my hubby.

I planned to write one this morning.

But my in-laws are visiting from a couple thousand miles away. We sat at the table and worked puzzles with the kids. Then had lunch.

This afternoon seemed a good time.

But I collected documents and dropped them off at the school my kids will attend this fall.

Then, I got home. And emailed a few friends, a few editors, gave my kids some carrots.

And this. This post is short.

Because I need to work on my novel. Make dinner. Find the bottom of my sink.

Life trumps blog. Every time.

Do you ever have to put off a task so that you are able to live life? What are you glad to “back-burner” for the sake life?

Novel Matters

Today, I am so excited to be featured on the blog of 6 of my mentors. The ladies at Novel Matters have taught me so much about writing and life and family…I truly cannot thank them enough for it all.

I hope you’ll head on over to Novel Matters and read the interview (click HERE). Then, wander around the archives of their blog. They’ve got some really great posts. If you’re a writer, you need to hang out at Novel Matters. These ladies are skilled writer gardeners. They will water you with their wisdom and cheer you on as you grow.

 

Teen Writers and Sasquatch — Ask Susie

Tool Belt of a Stressed Writer/Mama/Marketer

I’m just going to be real honest here today. I’m stressed out.

Big. Time.

I’m writing my second novel. I love the process, the words, the characters, the story. But even great jobs are stressful.

I’m 6 months into my first (and last) year home schooling. I love my kids. I wouldn’t trade them for all of Scrooge McDuck’s gold coins. But sometimes it’s stressful.

I’m marketing Paint Chips (pre-order the paperback! It’s only $10.11 on Barnes and Noble right now!!!). Marketing is VERY stressful.

I know. I know. We all have stress. And it’s all about how we deal with it, right?

Well, I have a De-Stress Tool Box. It’s full of different things this writer/mama/marketer uses to ease the stress. You wanna see what’s in it?

*GOOD MUSIC: Nothing sets my mood quite like music. When I’m stressed, Nirvana isn’t going to help. When I’m stressed, I need something soothing. Last week, I downloaded Ryan Apple’s album “Go”. It’s all beautiful classical guitar. It’s so good for unwinding my high-strung self. AND I know that what I paid for the music is doing good in the world. Ryan is giving away all the money he makes on this album to support G.O. Ministries, a mission in the Dominican Republic and Haiti (it happens to be the organization I did my internship with).

Give Ryan’s music a listen. Download it. You will LOVE it.

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*EXERCISE: My daughter and I spend 15-30 minutes doing our little workout. I do squats while holding my boys (one at a time…I’m not Andre the Giant). Dance with all three of them. Get myself moving. It really works the nervous energy away. Even a few minutes throughout the day helps me!

*SUPPORT: I have good friends. Great family. A SUPERB hubby. They let me talk. That sure takes the burden off a bit.

*PRAYER: Yesterday, I was in the middle of writing a tough scene in my novel in progress. I asked God to help me through it. The prayer wasn’t an effort to get him to make the writing easy. It wasn’t to say, “Hey! Remember me? I’m right here!”. No. The prayer was a way to be reminded that I’m doing this for His glory. I relaxed, knowing that my writing/mama-duties/marketing is for Him.

So, tell me. What helps you de-stress? I’m always open to new suggestions!