Michelle Lynn Brown's Blog, page 14
July 14, 2011
$50,000 per Tweet!
Social media banned…tweets, status updates, and all blog posts are punishable up to a year in prison with a $50,000 fine. Can you picture it? Does it scare you, or not even phase you?
This was today’s writing prompt: Social media is outlawed in your town.
My first thought was, how did they get the word out…a tweet, perhaps.
Would you be a renegade, hunkering under blankets in the closet of your house, Tweeting: “I’m scared they are going to catch me” from untraceable, disposable phones just to get your fix? Would you defiantly update your blog, protesting about the injustice of the law? Or would you sign up for the task force that is determined to eradicate social media from existence?
Just thought I’d put that crazy thought out there in social media land. Leave your thoughts below…if you dare.
July 10, 2011
Zumba for the Imagination
Lately, I’ve felt like my blog and my writing was getting a little blah. I’d sit down to write and my imagination would strain to lift a basic idea off the screen. My fingers and wrists would be sore after a 15 minute free-write session. Hans and Franz would say my imagination was flabby and weak! So I downloaded this new app, Writing Prompts from Writing.Com. It is not your average, throw some random words together generator writing prompt. It is Zumba for you flabby imagination.
It gets you shaking and twisting right from the start! You begin by shaking or swiping for a new prompt. You can start out with your basic stretches, the standard five random word prompt, but they put a little twist – you can move them around to make different connections between the words. Next, start gyrating those wrists, as you choose a detailed kick-starter text, such as “An office worker finds out that the president of the company took kickbacks and committed other crimes.” Now that you are really getting into it, and your hands are all warmed up, you can choose a scene prompt, which gives you a place, character, object, and either weather, or time/date. Finally, stretch those fingers out and let them dance across the keyboard as you choose a sketch style prompt, pictured here. It provides a genre, style of writing, and three sketches to launch your imagination.
So, as the Zumba fitness experts say, ditch your old, boring, mental workout, and come join the Zumba imagination party!
July 5, 2011
Memories of Mercy
God is a god of second chances; this is something we know all too well as Christians. Once upon a time, we were in need of a second chance. A sinner, stained with the filth of our sin, we reached out our hands to the Savior, and He gave us grace and mercy.
But somewhere between our tears at the altar and our current state, we forget. The grace and mercy we didn’t deserve, but so desperately desired, is forgotten. We forget that the person sitting next to you in the pew needs that mercy. Instead we look at them with condemnation, forgetting where we once came from. Whatever the sin they are stuck in, we shake our heads and say something along the lines of
“I’ve tried, but they just won’t listen!”
“I’ve wasted my last breath on that person! They don’t want to be saved!”
“When they are ready, they can come to me. Until then I’m not going to waste my time on them!”
I’ve said/thought these things before…but I am eternally thankful that God never said them about me. The problem with these statements is that they are focused on the speaker’s feelings, not the subject’s needs. If a person is stuck in sin and your previous efforts aren’t working, ask God to bring to light what can help dig them out of sin.
Jesus told his disciples,
You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate. (Luke 6:36 NLT)
We all need to listen to the heart of this verse. As we strive to be Holy as God is Holy, let us remember to offer the same grace and mercy that we once received.
June 21, 2011
Inspiration Station
Photo by Stephan Fleet, stock.xchng
During our move my desk (among many other things) was broken. The movers disassembled everything they could, one of those things being my desk. It wasn’t a fancy desk, just one of those particle board DIY assembly desks that you’d find at Wal-Mart. So you can imagine that taking it apart might not bode well for the desk – and it didn’t. It was delivered in pieces with the screws wrapped in plastic and tape.
It looked hopeless.
Despite my husband’s arched eyebrows, I was determined to assemble it, even if just part of it. I could have just bought another desk (as my husband pointed out). Maybe it was because we had lost so many things during the move that I was determined not to spend another dime replacing something, or maybe it was just because I am hard-headed and stubborn. With a little bit of determination, and a whole lot of Gorilla Glue, I was able to reconstruct the bottom part (but the hutch was beyond help).
I’ve placed the desk so that I can write while watching my children play in the backyard. Their boundless energy, expansive imagination, and infectious laughter are inspiration enough. But now my desk has become an inspiration. In my computer I have files, abandoned story lines never completed because I faced a wall and moved onto another. I have a completed manuscript that has become so broken and mangled from excessive editing that I can barely recognize it. But maybe with a little determination (and a whole lot of Gorilla Glue), I can reconstruct it.
June 6, 2011
Who is your Favorite Author?
I could answer this simple, often asked question with many amazing writers. But my answer is God. I’m not just talking about the Bible. Though this book alone could be cause for God to be #1 on my top ten authors list. The Bible is studied in many colleges as literature for a great reason. The wealth of literary elements woven within the pages of the Bible is enough to make a person cry out in amazement. But when you add the spiritual element, for me at least, is awe-inspiring.
However, this is not the only reason He is my favorite author. He told Jeremiah that He knew Jeremiah before he was formed in the womb. Just as I know my characters before they are even placed on the page, they have a purpose and were created (with all of their quirks, strengths and weaknesses) for this purpose. They are placed in environments and circumstances that will help guide them to and through their purpose.
I juggle a handful of characters who have bio sheets a mile long. But God expertly handles how many of us zany characters…and over how long a period of time? I often have to rewrite scenes because of my mishandling, yet God has perfectly laid out time from beginning to end…no editing needed.
And yet we question Him. I can picture any of my characters looking up at me when I am writing and asking, “You want me to do what?” They have cause to be concerned. I am no expert; I’m not even published. But God has a proven track record of creating characters, scenes and lives that work. He is always number one on the Heavenly Times Bestseller List.
So next time life seems to have hit you upside the head, and you are wondering which way to go, remember who is spinning this yarn.
May 25, 2011
Preparing for Your Spiritual Move
Photo by Rachel Spauldilng, Stock.Xchng
Yesterday, I was going through our medicine cabinet in preparation for our move. I found five boxes of Band-Aids, including the one I had just bought because we were “out”. I also found several bottles of calamine lotion, which I apparently bought in bulk so I would be prepared for the invasion of the killer poison ivy plants.
This has been the scene throughout my house lately as we purge our lives of accumulated junk. “I forgot I had this…” has fallen from our lips a time or two this past week. Sometimes it is good, as we recover a lost treasure, and sometimes it is not so good. Like my husband’s 80’s cell phone which he had been holding on to for years. “You never know…” was his response to my raised eyebrows. True, you never know. But I can’t see customers around the world ridding themselves of their iPhones in favor of shoe sized phones.
I love the Army, because it forces me to reevaluate what I hold onto every couple of years. And with the weight limit on our household goods, I am also reminded of the value of keeping things simple.
Spiritually, this should be true as well. Often we let habits or sins, which have grown old and accumulated dust, sit in the far reaches of our life. They got hidden behind other things in our life, and we aren’t dealing with them. We also let spiritual garbage cover some of our lost treasures. Instead of embracing the blessings of joy and peace, we let our junk crowd them out.
It is not wise to attempt to move forward in our spiritual walk, when we are holding onto all that surplus stuff. It weighs us down, clutters our hearts, and keeps us from our treasures. So get out the trashcan, and start throwing away the mess that pulls you down.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. (Heb 12:1 NLT)
