Lydia Howe's Blog, page 23
February 5, 2016
Around the World in Fifty-Two Weeks Week Five: Tibet
Happy Friday! Welcome to the fifth week of my fictional story, Around the World in Fifty-Two Weeks. This one is a bit different from the other ones as you'll soon see. I hope y'all enjoy "traveling" around with Annie, I know I have been having fun with her.
Around the World in Fifty-Two WeeksWeek Five: Tibet
I woke up Monday morning with a rhythmically thumping headache and the sensation of a giant, unseen hand squeezing my stomach. I sat up, then flopped back down on my sweat-drenched pillow. It took me a couple of minutes of lying there panting before I felt enough energy seep into my body and I was able to get up and get ready for the day. I had just finished doing my hair when Sophie Skyped me so she could see where the destination for the week was. “Wow, girl, you don’t look like you’re feeling the best.” Her greeting made me roll my eyes, “You think?” “What happened?” “I’m not sure if I got food poisoning or picked up a bug somewhere; either idea is quite plausible.” I grimaced. “Let’s hope your next country is nearby so you don’t need to travel far.” Sophie’s face showed her sympathy. “Yeah, no kidding.” I took several deep breaths. “Okay, let’s get this show on the road.” I put on my perkiest smile then started filming so we could upload the video of me choosing the country onto the blog. I gave the normal intro, hoping I didn’t look as terrible as I felt, then closed my eyes and spun the globe around a couple of times. When I put my finger down and then opened my eyes, I almost started crying. Tibet. I so did not have the energy to travel around the world again. After barely pulling off what looked like an excited good-bye to the camera I threw my hands up at Sophie. “Um, before you start freaking out on me…” Sophie held up a hand to stop my teary monologue that was about to start, “Let me see what I can do. I’ll hook you up with first class or something.” “Okay.” Our planes didn’t have first class, but I understood what she was trying to do. She would find someway to make the trip more comfortable for me. “Now get something to eat and the rest in bed and research what you want to do when you’re on top of the world, sound good?” “Yeah, yeah, thanks.” I heaved a huge sigh, everything was in Sophie’s capable hands. Life would be fine and keep going even though I felt like I’d been attacked by a derailed train. A few minutes later I got a notification from Jake who helped edit the vlogs I made. He said that the video of me choosing Tibet was live on the website, so I clicked over to watch it and see if I looked as horrible as I felt. The video hadn’t had much editing done on it, but to my surprise I didn’t look too shabby. I should become an actress. I found some the food I had bought the day before for the trip and then climbed back into bed and nibbled on the corn tortillas. My plan had been to study about Tibet, but next thing I knew I was awakened by the sound of Sophie skyping me again. I ran my hand across my face and yawned. The sun was pouring through the sheer curtain at the window, proclaiming that the morning was well on it’s way to becoming afternoon. “Soph?” I answered the Skype call. “Good news. For you. Not such great news for us on this end.” “Okay?” My brain couldn’t keeping up with what my co-worker was saying. “So, to get into Tibet you have to get special permission and all that kind of stuff.” “Oh?” “Which means you’re not going anywhere today. Just hang on tight and try to get better. I’m exploring our different options here and I’ll keep you posted.” Relief washed over me. I did not want to travel in the condition I was in. After signing off the call I was able to summon enough strength to head down to the hotel lobby and then across the street to a little cafe. I ordered hot tea and chicken soup that sounded good to my still hurting stomach. The smell made my insides feel like they were churning, though, so I asked for the food to go and slowly made my way back to my hotel room. After resting for a few minutes I pulled up the internet on my computer and began my research. Tibet was gorgeous. It reminded me of Mongolia. As the day progressed I got lost in the history and culture of the people who lived in what is sometimes called the"Water Tower" of Asia. It’s called that because several very major rivers have their source up in the Tibetan Plateau. The beautiful Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon, along the Yarlung Tsangpo River, is among the deepest and longest canyons in the world. After spending a few minutes looking at pictures of the canyon I wished I could visit it; it looked so different from our Grand Canyon. I made a note to see if we could somehow fit a visit into the schedule once I arrived in Tibet.
Tuesday morning found me still in Guatemala and feeling slightly better in body, but a little ruffled in spirit. Much to our chagrin Sophie and I had discovered the day before that some people didn’t even consider Tibet to be it’s own country and our supervisor at Exploration Airlines wasn’t too thrilled with our faux pas. They worked at making sure we didn’t reap any ill effects from China (who we needed to have a good business relationship with) and continued to see if we could somehow work out a visit to tibet. Meanwhile, I rested, researched, and answered several written interviews from various travel blogs and one travel magazine. The news was beginning to get slightly interested in the year of traveling I’d been doing and it felt rewarding to see the page views on the blog and likes on Facebook growing.
When Wednesday morning rolled around I knew I would be spending the rest of the week resting in Guatemala. It would have been pointless to travel to Tibet for only a couple of days. Instead of being disappointed, I enjoyed getting to rest and catch up with comments, emails, and other day-to-day things I’d been putting off. Mom texted multiple times a day to see how I was feeling. There is nothing like being sick to make me wish I was still a little girl and could have Mom there making me chicken noodle soup and soothing me with her graceful and perfect bedside manners. Being sick made me homesick and miss my family. I thought about seeing if I could go home for a few days, but then decided it would be too much of a hassle.
Thursday I complied a list of some of the facts about Tibet that I found especially interesting. Each fact I wrote down made me wish I could visit the country and meet the people who lived there and had such a unique way of life. One day I would go there on my own, if possible.
Tibet Facts:
* Tibetan traditional houses are painted in three colors: white and brown & blue. Each color symbolizes intelligence, courage, and compassion.* Sherpa people ever sleep with there feet facing the mountain.* Tesmba is the daily food of traditional Tibetan people. It’s made up from barley and water. The barley is ground down in water in a mill and once this process is complete it take a paste form or a dough form (like white bread). It’s not cooked in any way and is eaten like this in the raw form along with hot black tea. If you aren’t brought up on this type of bread, you’re stomach will hurt if you try it.* Most of the population of Tibetan people are vegetarian “don’t eat meat”& those that do never eat meat on a Wednesday.* Tibetans practice a wide range of traditional trades, including flour milling, canvas painting, paper making, rope braiding, wool and fiber processing, weaving and textile production, tanning, metalwork, carpentry, and wood carving. * Tibet has some of the world's tallest mountains, with several of them making the top ten list. Mount Everest is the highest mountain on earth. * Tibet is home to a wide range of animal life, including 142 species of mammals, 473 species of birds, 49 species of reptiles, 44 species of amphibians, 64 species of fish and more than 2,300 species of insects.
It made me sad that the people of Tibet didn’t have freedom, but because of the contract I was under with my job I wasn’t able to say anything about it. Instead I decided to pray for them and see if there was any physical way I could help them.
By the time Saturday rolled around I was over my gross sickness and felt my energy return to almost normal. I was thankful for my week of rest and paperwork, but was eager to start off week number six of my exciting travels.
Around the World in Fifty-Two WeeksWeek Five: Tibet
I woke up Monday morning with a rhythmically thumping headache and the sensation of a giant, unseen hand squeezing my stomach. I sat up, then flopped back down on my sweat-drenched pillow. It took me a couple of minutes of lying there panting before I felt enough energy seep into my body and I was able to get up and get ready for the day. I had just finished doing my hair when Sophie Skyped me so she could see where the destination for the week was. “Wow, girl, you don’t look like you’re feeling the best.” Her greeting made me roll my eyes, “You think?” “What happened?” “I’m not sure if I got food poisoning or picked up a bug somewhere; either idea is quite plausible.” I grimaced. “Let’s hope your next country is nearby so you don’t need to travel far.” Sophie’s face showed her sympathy. “Yeah, no kidding.” I took several deep breaths. “Okay, let’s get this show on the road.” I put on my perkiest smile then started filming so we could upload the video of me choosing the country onto the blog. I gave the normal intro, hoping I didn’t look as terrible as I felt, then closed my eyes and spun the globe around a couple of times. When I put my finger down and then opened my eyes, I almost started crying. Tibet. I so did not have the energy to travel around the world again. After barely pulling off what looked like an excited good-bye to the camera I threw my hands up at Sophie. “Um, before you start freaking out on me…” Sophie held up a hand to stop my teary monologue that was about to start, “Let me see what I can do. I’ll hook you up with first class or something.” “Okay.” Our planes didn’t have first class, but I understood what she was trying to do. She would find someway to make the trip more comfortable for me. “Now get something to eat and the rest in bed and research what you want to do when you’re on top of the world, sound good?” “Yeah, yeah, thanks.” I heaved a huge sigh, everything was in Sophie’s capable hands. Life would be fine and keep going even though I felt like I’d been attacked by a derailed train. A few minutes later I got a notification from Jake who helped edit the vlogs I made. He said that the video of me choosing Tibet was live on the website, so I clicked over to watch it and see if I looked as horrible as I felt. The video hadn’t had much editing done on it, but to my surprise I didn’t look too shabby. I should become an actress. I found some the food I had bought the day before for the trip and then climbed back into bed and nibbled on the corn tortillas. My plan had been to study about Tibet, but next thing I knew I was awakened by the sound of Sophie skyping me again. I ran my hand across my face and yawned. The sun was pouring through the sheer curtain at the window, proclaiming that the morning was well on it’s way to becoming afternoon. “Soph?” I answered the Skype call. “Good news. For you. Not such great news for us on this end.” “Okay?” My brain couldn’t keeping up with what my co-worker was saying. “So, to get into Tibet you have to get special permission and all that kind of stuff.” “Oh?” “Which means you’re not going anywhere today. Just hang on tight and try to get better. I’m exploring our different options here and I’ll keep you posted.” Relief washed over me. I did not want to travel in the condition I was in. After signing off the call I was able to summon enough strength to head down to the hotel lobby and then across the street to a little cafe. I ordered hot tea and chicken soup that sounded good to my still hurting stomach. The smell made my insides feel like they were churning, though, so I asked for the food to go and slowly made my way back to my hotel room. After resting for a few minutes I pulled up the internet on my computer and began my research. Tibet was gorgeous. It reminded me of Mongolia. As the day progressed I got lost in the history and culture of the people who lived in what is sometimes called the"Water Tower" of Asia. It’s called that because several very major rivers have their source up in the Tibetan Plateau. The beautiful Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon, along the Yarlung Tsangpo River, is among the deepest and longest canyons in the world. After spending a few minutes looking at pictures of the canyon I wished I could visit it; it looked so different from our Grand Canyon. I made a note to see if we could somehow fit a visit into the schedule once I arrived in Tibet.
Tuesday morning found me still in Guatemala and feeling slightly better in body, but a little ruffled in spirit. Much to our chagrin Sophie and I had discovered the day before that some people didn’t even consider Tibet to be it’s own country and our supervisor at Exploration Airlines wasn’t too thrilled with our faux pas. They worked at making sure we didn’t reap any ill effects from China (who we needed to have a good business relationship with) and continued to see if we could somehow work out a visit to tibet. Meanwhile, I rested, researched, and answered several written interviews from various travel blogs and one travel magazine. The news was beginning to get slightly interested in the year of traveling I’d been doing and it felt rewarding to see the page views on the blog and likes on Facebook growing.
When Wednesday morning rolled around I knew I would be spending the rest of the week resting in Guatemala. It would have been pointless to travel to Tibet for only a couple of days. Instead of being disappointed, I enjoyed getting to rest and catch up with comments, emails, and other day-to-day things I’d been putting off. Mom texted multiple times a day to see how I was feeling. There is nothing like being sick to make me wish I was still a little girl and could have Mom there making me chicken noodle soup and soothing me with her graceful and perfect bedside manners. Being sick made me homesick and miss my family. I thought about seeing if I could go home for a few days, but then decided it would be too much of a hassle.
Thursday I complied a list of some of the facts about Tibet that I found especially interesting. Each fact I wrote down made me wish I could visit the country and meet the people who lived there and had such a unique way of life. One day I would go there on my own, if possible.
Tibet Facts:
* Tibetan traditional houses are painted in three colors: white and brown & blue. Each color symbolizes intelligence, courage, and compassion.* Sherpa people ever sleep with there feet facing the mountain.* Tesmba is the daily food of traditional Tibetan people. It’s made up from barley and water. The barley is ground down in water in a mill and once this process is complete it take a paste form or a dough form (like white bread). It’s not cooked in any way and is eaten like this in the raw form along with hot black tea. If you aren’t brought up on this type of bread, you’re stomach will hurt if you try it.* Most of the population of Tibetan people are vegetarian “don’t eat meat”& those that do never eat meat on a Wednesday.* Tibetans practice a wide range of traditional trades, including flour milling, canvas painting, paper making, rope braiding, wool and fiber processing, weaving and textile production, tanning, metalwork, carpentry, and wood carving. * Tibet has some of the world's tallest mountains, with several of them making the top ten list. Mount Everest is the highest mountain on earth. * Tibet is home to a wide range of animal life, including 142 species of mammals, 473 species of birds, 49 species of reptiles, 44 species of amphibians, 64 species of fish and more than 2,300 species of insects.
It made me sad that the people of Tibet didn’t have freedom, but because of the contract I was under with my job I wasn’t able to say anything about it. Instead I decided to pray for them and see if there was any physical way I could help them.
By the time Saturday rolled around I was over my gross sickness and felt my energy return to almost normal. I was thankful for my week of rest and paperwork, but was eager to start off week number six of my exciting travels.
February 4, 2016
The Swans
It was almost a fairy tale... The warm winter day, perfect lighting, shimmering lake, content and carefree children, and beautiful and friendly water fowl.
Our Grandma had told us about a town nearby where the swans lived in close proximity to the humans. My pet-loving nieces and nephews were eager to see them so on the first sunny day we loaded into our vehicles and made the trip. Until we arrived I hadn't realized we would actually be so very close to the beautiful creatures.
The sun was pouring down, sending the lake into a sparkling dance and creating a glorious backdrop to the almost magical experience of watching the graceful birds glide by.
Then someone gave one of the children a few loafs of bread and a beautiful symphony of chaos exploded around us as dozens upon dozens of sea gulls flew over us and dozens more birds, wood storks and ducks and egrets and ibis and swans competed for the food on land and in the water.
Hand feeding the swans was amazing, yet also a bit scary because of the reasonable fear that a couple of fingers might end up missing by the end of the day. Thankfully we arrived home that night with just as many fingers as we left with (and a few additional snail shells), so the day was considered to be very successful.
My four-year-old niece was fearless and not only fed the swans, but then proceeded to try and feed the extremely long-beaked birds surrounding us on land. (That might have freaked me out a small amount.)
The Sounds: The squeals of delight from children, flapping of wings from the birds, and the chatter of people walking past.
The Sights: Brilliantly bright sunshine, majestic birds, smiling faces, memories being made, green grass, and water lapping slightly under the wake of the swimming swans and ducks.
Some people would probably consider our time at the lake to be just a small thing, but I've discovered that small things really aren't that small after all. It was only one afternoon, but the memories that were made will last for years, possibly an entire life time.
Our Grandma had told us about a town nearby where the swans lived in close proximity to the humans. My pet-loving nieces and nephews were eager to see them so on the first sunny day we loaded into our vehicles and made the trip. Until we arrived I hadn't realized we would actually be so very close to the beautiful creatures.
The sun was pouring down, sending the lake into a sparkling dance and creating a glorious backdrop to the almost magical experience of watching the graceful birds glide by.
Then someone gave one of the children a few loafs of bread and a beautiful symphony of chaos exploded around us as dozens upon dozens of sea gulls flew over us and dozens more birds, wood storks and ducks and egrets and ibis and swans competed for the food on land and in the water.
Hand feeding the swans was amazing, yet also a bit scary because of the reasonable fear that a couple of fingers might end up missing by the end of the day. Thankfully we arrived home that night with just as many fingers as we left with (and a few additional snail shells), so the day was considered to be very successful.
My four-year-old niece was fearless and not only fed the swans, but then proceeded to try and feed the extremely long-beaked birds surrounding us on land. (That might have freaked me out a small amount.)
The Sounds: The squeals of delight from children, flapping of wings from the birds, and the chatter of people walking past.
The Sights: Brilliantly bright sunshine, majestic birds, smiling faces, memories being made, green grass, and water lapping slightly under the wake of the swimming swans and ducks.
Some people would probably consider our time at the lake to be just a small thing, but I've discovered that small things really aren't that small after all. It was only one afternoon, but the memories that were made will last for years, possibly an entire life time.
February 3, 2016
January 2016 in Review
What I Focused on in January
1. My non-writing job. I started taking on some extra responsibilities and enjoyed doing so.2. My writing work. I kept track of the hours that I spent on writing (the first time I've done that for an entire month), and logged in a little over 70 hours. Not quite what I was hoping for, but still good.3. Eating and being healthy. 4. Family time with extended family.
Birthday Challenge and Dream List Update Birthday Challenge:
2. Pray the "prayer of Jebez" every day for three months {Another Month}
3. Read the whole Bible {Jeremiah and Lamentations}
4. Go to Wednesday night church 24 times {2 or 3 times}
6. Read 12 non-fiction "spiritual" books {1}
7. Read the Proverb of the day every day for six months {1 month}
12. Go to bed at 10:30 or before 24 nights (not in a row) {8}
13. Write a monthly review on my blog within 5 days of the end of the month whenever internet is available {Yes}
14. Blog my 3 (or more) top goals for each month within 5 days of the beginning of each month whenever internet is available {Yes}
15. Write 24 book reviews {1}
20. Track all the money I spend for 24 days {Yes}
Dream List: None
Reading Update
Fiction: 0Non-Fiction: 1Reviews: 1
Back in December I took a break from reading fiction. I'm not sure how long this break is going to last, but it's the longest time I've gone without reading fiction in fifteen years... Craziness. Note: I am continuing to read my own writings as I work on editing them.
Traveling
8 Night GoneNew countries or states: None
November Goal Updates My goals for January 2016:
If the Lord wills and I live I will...
1. Begin my Friday Series {Yes!}
2. Keep track in my Really Living book {Yes... Most of the time.}
3. Eat extremely healthily the whole month {YES!}
4. Spend 80 hours on my writing stuff {Nope.}
5. Spend 80 hours on my non-writing job {Haha. This is cute. Um, no.}
6. Read only non-fiction books {Yes!}
What I've Been Learning
Thanks to my Around the World in Fifty-Two Weeks series, I got to spend a fair amount of time studying Portugal, Mongolia, China, and Guatemala... As well as the art of traveling and airport times and traveling routes and all that good stuff. It was amazing to me how involved I got in the research and how it really did feel as if I were actually visiting the different countries.
This month I also began trying to get my blog posts up between 7:00-8:30 each morning. That didn't happen every single day, but I managed to squeak through most mornings. This, along with keeping track of the time I spent on writing related ventures and having a new system of tracking my non-writing job, taught me to be a lot more aware of how I spent my time and to plan my day better than I used to. And that, my friends, is a very good thing.
I learned a lot this month about what WLHYL really looks like from an outside perspective and flaws it has that I'd never even thought of. I worked on learning to respond graciously even when I didn't agree with what beta readers were saying and to really think about what they were saying, even when my initial reaction was that they were totally wrong. I also worked on articulating what I really was trying to say in the book so it would be more concise.
To be content with what I can and can't do (still really working on this one). My thyroid has been being a bit hard to get along with recently and learning to deal with all that entails instead of freaking out is something I've been working on.
I enjoyed looking up and highlighting verses about Love, Joy, and Peace and really trying to focus on what God has to say about them. It was helpful and overall helped make the month better.
Other
Overall I'm excited and happy for how Twenty-Sixteen started out. It wasn't all smooth sailing, but the good far outweighed the bad and I am joyfully satisfied and thankful with how the first twelfth of the year went by.
During the first week of the month my dad and I spent a lot of time working on an overwhelming project I'd been trying to get done for the past five years. I was so relieved when we finally accomplished it that I could have slept for the next two days straight (and possibly did).
The weather was wonderful for part of the month with gloriously beautiful snow and crisp, cold air. I enjoyed it immensely and was so thankful to experience some real winterish weather before coming down to Florida.
During January I got to play an amazing amount of games - most of them with my little brother as we traveled together and hung out when the rest of my family was gone doing other things. It was fantastic. We also had one of our really good family friend back from college for a couple weeks of break and he popped over a lot of evenings to play Ticket to Ride, 7 Wonders, and Dutch Blitz. Happy times.
* * *What about your January? I'd be delighted to hear what you focused on.
1. My non-writing job. I started taking on some extra responsibilities and enjoyed doing so.2. My writing work. I kept track of the hours that I spent on writing (the first time I've done that for an entire month), and logged in a little over 70 hours. Not quite what I was hoping for, but still good.3. Eating and being healthy. 4. Family time with extended family.
Birthday Challenge and Dream List Update Birthday Challenge:
2. Pray the "prayer of Jebez" every day for three months {Another Month}
3. Read the whole Bible {Jeremiah and Lamentations}
4. Go to Wednesday night church 24 times {2 or 3 times}
6. Read 12 non-fiction "spiritual" books {1}
7. Read the Proverb of the day every day for six months {1 month}
12. Go to bed at 10:30 or before 24 nights (not in a row) {8}
13. Write a monthly review on my blog within 5 days of the end of the month whenever internet is available {Yes}
14. Blog my 3 (or more) top goals for each month within 5 days of the beginning of each month whenever internet is available {Yes}
15. Write 24 book reviews {1}
20. Track all the money I spend for 24 days {Yes}
Dream List: None
Reading Update
Fiction: 0Non-Fiction: 1Reviews: 1
Back in December I took a break from reading fiction. I'm not sure how long this break is going to last, but it's the longest time I've gone without reading fiction in fifteen years... Craziness. Note: I am continuing to read my own writings as I work on editing them.
Traveling
8 Night GoneNew countries or states: None
November Goal Updates My goals for January 2016:
If the Lord wills and I live I will...
1. Begin my Friday Series {Yes!}
2. Keep track in my Really Living book {Yes... Most of the time.}
3. Eat extremely healthily the whole month {YES!}
4. Spend 80 hours on my writing stuff {Nope.}
5. Spend 80 hours on my non-writing job {Haha. This is cute. Um, no.}
6. Read only non-fiction books {Yes!}
What I've Been Learning
Thanks to my Around the World in Fifty-Two Weeks series, I got to spend a fair amount of time studying Portugal, Mongolia, China, and Guatemala... As well as the art of traveling and airport times and traveling routes and all that good stuff. It was amazing to me how involved I got in the research and how it really did feel as if I were actually visiting the different countries.
This month I also began trying to get my blog posts up between 7:00-8:30 each morning. That didn't happen every single day, but I managed to squeak through most mornings. This, along with keeping track of the time I spent on writing related ventures and having a new system of tracking my non-writing job, taught me to be a lot more aware of how I spent my time and to plan my day better than I used to. And that, my friends, is a very good thing.
I learned a lot this month about what WLHYL really looks like from an outside perspective and flaws it has that I'd never even thought of. I worked on learning to respond graciously even when I didn't agree with what beta readers were saying and to really think about what they were saying, even when my initial reaction was that they were totally wrong. I also worked on articulating what I really was trying to say in the book so it would be more concise.
To be content with what I can and can't do (still really working on this one). My thyroid has been being a bit hard to get along with recently and learning to deal with all that entails instead of freaking out is something I've been working on.
I enjoyed looking up and highlighting verses about Love, Joy, and Peace and really trying to focus on what God has to say about them. It was helpful and overall helped make the month better.
Other
Overall I'm excited and happy for how Twenty-Sixteen started out. It wasn't all smooth sailing, but the good far outweighed the bad and I am joyfully satisfied and thankful with how the first twelfth of the year went by.
During the first week of the month my dad and I spent a lot of time working on an overwhelming project I'd been trying to get done for the past five years. I was so relieved when we finally accomplished it that I could have slept for the next two days straight (and possibly did).
The weather was wonderful for part of the month with gloriously beautiful snow and crisp, cold air. I enjoyed it immensely and was so thankful to experience some real winterish weather before coming down to Florida.
During January I got to play an amazing amount of games - most of them with my little brother as we traveled together and hung out when the rest of my family was gone doing other things. It was fantastic. We also had one of our really good family friend back from college for a couple weeks of break and he popped over a lot of evenings to play Ticket to Ride, 7 Wonders, and Dutch Blitz. Happy times.
* * *What about your January? I'd be delighted to hear what you focused on.
February 2, 2016
Susanna Don't You Cry Book Review and Giveaway
Susanna Don't You Cryby Zachary McIntire
Find it on: Amazon Goodreads
Third person; OmnipresentFiction180 Pages
About the Book Back cover Blurb
"I'll never forgive him - never!"Chuck Kincaid made a vow of hate the day his father walked out, and he still keeps it ten years later. His sister’s bad choices, his mother’s drug addiction - he knows who to blame for all of it.But when Susanna and Kelly get their lives turned around by Jesus, Chuck doesn’t know what to think. And why is the rich stranger with the scarred face so interested in being his benefactor?Failure and restoration. Hate and forgiveness. What is broken can be put back together, one small piece at a time.
Why I Choose this Book
A year and a half ago I had the privilege of hosting an Elisha Press author on Noveltea to celebrate the release of his first book, and I’ve also reviewed a couple of their books in the past six months. So when Elisha Press contacted me in December to see if I wanted to be part of the fun and festivities of the release of their newest book I jumped sat the chance. (Book releases are so special, and I always feel honored to be a part of one.)
What I Thought about this Book What I Liked:
1. How the brother and sister interact when they are younger. I grew up being really close to my next-older brother, so books with that element in it make me happy. 2. The book contains good foreshadowing. One of my big pet peeves in books is when something happens very conveniently, yet not very realistically. This book was delightfully void of those occurrences to the best of my memory. 3. Not only is there good foreshadowing, but there is also good set-up for why the choices that were made, were chosen.4. There were a couple of times that I was like, “Oh, such and such a thing is about to happen” and then it did. It was nice getting to “know” the characters enough to predict their actions a little.5. The author doesn’t go into needless details about the “issues” the book deals with (divorce, drugs, etc…), yet they weren’t glossed over either, I thought he hit a good balance.6. There was good character development. All of the main characters ended the book very different from how they were in the beginning, and that is something that can be hard for an author to succeed with.
What I Didn’t Particularly Like:
1. There was a relationship that did not feel “right” to me; not that there was anything morally wrong with it, because there wasn’t, but it lacked depth and therefore believability.2. Throughout the book I felt like the subject of money, success, and drive were not handled well (or, I at least didn't agree with the conclusions). I ended up emailing with the author about the book as a whole and when we talked about the problems I had with these parts, I realized we saw more eye-to eye on this matter than I had thought. So that means I probably just misinterpreted what he was trying to say, but it still raised a red flag for me.
Rating
I'm giving Susanna Don't You Cry Three Stars.
Conclusion
Susanna Don't You Cry wasn’t exactly my cup of tea, although I did find it interesting and an easy and enjoyable read. Elisha Press recommends the book for ages 12 and up due to themes such as divorce and drug addiction. Giveaway! Giveaway! Giveaway!
I'm happy to announce that as part of the celebration of a new book coming out Elisha Press is hosting a giveaway that will run for the whole month of February. Enter it for your chance to win one of the three copies of Susanna Don't You Cry that they are giving away.
About the Author
Zachary McIntire is a homeschool graduate, entrepreneur, and history lover. He lives in the Missouri Ozarks, where, in between business and ministry activities, he occasionally finds time to write.
* * *
Congratulations, Zachary! I'm excited for you and your new book today. *cue happy smile*
Noveltea readers, good news for us! Zachary has kindly agreed to take part in the first Author Interview of 2016 (yay!), so keep an eye out for that.
* * *This book was given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions were my own.
Find it on: Amazon Goodreads
Third person; OmnipresentFiction180 Pages
About the Book Back cover Blurb
"I'll never forgive him - never!"Chuck Kincaid made a vow of hate the day his father walked out, and he still keeps it ten years later. His sister’s bad choices, his mother’s drug addiction - he knows who to blame for all of it.But when Susanna and Kelly get their lives turned around by Jesus, Chuck doesn’t know what to think. And why is the rich stranger with the scarred face so interested in being his benefactor?Failure and restoration. Hate and forgiveness. What is broken can be put back together, one small piece at a time.
Why I Choose this Book
A year and a half ago I had the privilege of hosting an Elisha Press author on Noveltea to celebrate the release of his first book, and I’ve also reviewed a couple of their books in the past six months. So when Elisha Press contacted me in December to see if I wanted to be part of the fun and festivities of the release of their newest book I jumped sat the chance. (Book releases are so special, and I always feel honored to be a part of one.)
What I Thought about this Book What I Liked:
1. How the brother and sister interact when they are younger. I grew up being really close to my next-older brother, so books with that element in it make me happy. 2. The book contains good foreshadowing. One of my big pet peeves in books is when something happens very conveniently, yet not very realistically. This book was delightfully void of those occurrences to the best of my memory. 3. Not only is there good foreshadowing, but there is also good set-up for why the choices that were made, were chosen.4. There were a couple of times that I was like, “Oh, such and such a thing is about to happen” and then it did. It was nice getting to “know” the characters enough to predict their actions a little.5. The author doesn’t go into needless details about the “issues” the book deals with (divorce, drugs, etc…), yet they weren’t glossed over either, I thought he hit a good balance.6. There was good character development. All of the main characters ended the book very different from how they were in the beginning, and that is something that can be hard for an author to succeed with.
What I Didn’t Particularly Like:
1. There was a relationship that did not feel “right” to me; not that there was anything morally wrong with it, because there wasn’t, but it lacked depth and therefore believability.2. Throughout the book I felt like the subject of money, success, and drive were not handled well (or, I at least didn't agree with the conclusions). I ended up emailing with the author about the book as a whole and when we talked about the problems I had with these parts, I realized we saw more eye-to eye on this matter than I had thought. So that means I probably just misinterpreted what he was trying to say, but it still raised a red flag for me.
Rating
I'm giving Susanna Don't You Cry Three Stars.
Conclusion
Susanna Don't You Cry wasn’t exactly my cup of tea, although I did find it interesting and an easy and enjoyable read. Elisha Press recommends the book for ages 12 and up due to themes such as divorce and drug addiction. Giveaway! Giveaway! Giveaway!
I'm happy to announce that as part of the celebration of a new book coming out Elisha Press is hosting a giveaway that will run for the whole month of February. Enter it for your chance to win one of the three copies of Susanna Don't You Cry that they are giving away.
About the Author
Zachary McIntire is a homeschool graduate, entrepreneur, and history lover. He lives in the Missouri Ozarks, where, in between business and ministry activities, he occasionally finds time to write.* * *
Congratulations, Zachary! I'm excited for you and your new book today. *cue happy smile*
Noveltea readers, good news for us! Zachary has kindly agreed to take part in the first Author Interview of 2016 (yay!), so keep an eye out for that.
* * *This book was given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions were my own.
February 1, 2016
Reading *Echoes* for the First Time
Late Saturday night I finally figured out how to email my books in a format I can open in iBooks on my phone. Who knows how in the world I never figured it out before, but I'm quite happy to know how to now. And when I say "quite happy" that means very extremely happy with a tad bit of thrilled-ness mixed in there.
I proceeded to immediately send and download When Life Hands You Lymes and Echoes. Seeing my WIPs (work in progress) actually looking like books was so deliciously beautiful and I'm still savoring the feeling. Look at them, sitting there in the library looking all professional and kinda-sorta like real published books.
Yesterday I began reading Echoes for the very first time ever. I wrote Echoes back during the first week of November for NaNoWriMo and didn't allow myself to go back and re-read any of it during the writing process. After the book was finished I skimmed a little and found a few snippets for my blog, but other than that have not even opened the document since November 7th.
That means I had an entire book sitting there that had thousands of little parts that I had totally forgotten about. Plus, when I write in a rapid flurry of high word-count days, then sometimes I'm not too sure about the quality... But at the same time my brain sometimes works best when I just set aside almost everything else and take a running leap and immerse myself in the story. (During NaNoWriMo I wrote 50,000 words in 5 days, including one 20,000 word day.) That meant I was very eager to read Echoes for the first time.
In a very non-bragging way, I was quite pleasantly surprised yesterday when I started reading. Despite the many typos (some of which were so bad I'm not even sure what I was trying to say), an extreme amount of repeat words, several almost-funny plot holes, and various other problems, I really like the story.
After spending a good portion of the last 760 days working on When Life Hands You Lymes, I was rather amazed at how different Echoes was. From the cadence and rhythm and placement of words in the dialogue, to the descriptions of the world the story takes place in, to the main character's love languages, it was all unique and beautifully, wonderfully different.
* * *What about you? Have you ever re-read something you've written and been utterly delighted? I think one reason I like Echoes so much is because I've actually been writing down ideas for the story and marinating it in my mind for around five years now. That's a fair amount of time, I would say...
* * * Yay! It's time for us to choose the country Annie will go to this week in our Friday Series, Around the World in Fifty-Two Weeks. And the destination is... Tibet! (Yikes!)
I proceeded to immediately send and download When Life Hands You Lymes and Echoes. Seeing my WIPs (work in progress) actually looking like books was so deliciously beautiful and I'm still savoring the feeling. Look at them, sitting there in the library looking all professional and kinda-sorta like real published books.
Yesterday I began reading Echoes for the very first time ever. I wrote Echoes back during the first week of November for NaNoWriMo and didn't allow myself to go back and re-read any of it during the writing process. After the book was finished I skimmed a little and found a few snippets for my blog, but other than that have not even opened the document since November 7th.
That means I had an entire book sitting there that had thousands of little parts that I had totally forgotten about. Plus, when I write in a rapid flurry of high word-count days, then sometimes I'm not too sure about the quality... But at the same time my brain sometimes works best when I just set aside almost everything else and take a running leap and immerse myself in the story. (During NaNoWriMo I wrote 50,000 words in 5 days, including one 20,000 word day.) That meant I was very eager to read Echoes for the first time.
In a very non-bragging way, I was quite pleasantly surprised yesterday when I started reading. Despite the many typos (some of which were so bad I'm not even sure what I was trying to say), an extreme amount of repeat words, several almost-funny plot holes, and various other problems, I really like the story.
After spending a good portion of the last 760 days working on When Life Hands You Lymes, I was rather amazed at how different Echoes was. From the cadence and rhythm and placement of words in the dialogue, to the descriptions of the world the story takes place in, to the main character's love languages, it was all unique and beautifully, wonderfully different.
* * *What about you? Have you ever re-read something you've written and been utterly delighted? I think one reason I like Echoes so much is because I've actually been writing down ideas for the story and marinating it in my mind for around five years now. That's a fair amount of time, I would say...
* * * Yay! It's time for us to choose the country Annie will go to this week in our Friday Series, Around the World in Fifty-Two Weeks. And the destination is... Tibet! (Yikes!)
January 29, 2016
Around the World in Fifty-Two Weeks Week Four: Guatemala
Good morning, y'all! Today we get to explore Guatemala in our fictional story, Around the World in Fifty-Two Weeks. I hope you enjoy it and maybe grab some coffee to drink or a chocolate bar to munch on while you read.
Around the World in Fifty-Two WeeksWeek Four: Guatemala
After telling Sophie I didn’t care what I did and to book my week however she wanted to, I spent more than half of the twenty-one hour long trip from Beijing to Guatemala City, Guatemala watching documentaries on the Mayan civilization. I was therefore thrilled to receive an email from Sophie when I landed letting me know she had booked a short flight for the next afternoon to the Santa Elena airport. From there it was only a twenty-eight mile drive to Tikal, some of the most impressive Mayan ruins in the world. Sophie ended the email with, Visiting Tikal has always been top of my bucket list, so I thought you could do it for me and I’d live virtually through your blogs and vlogs. Have fun, be safe, and let me know if you have any questions. Since I had a little over twenty-four hours in the capital, I got my luggage than headed toward the doors to find a taxi. Thankfully I spoke a decent amount of Spanish from high school so it was a lot easier finding my way around than it had been during the last few weeks. Warm air and a cantata of noises hit me when I stepped out of the airport. A flood of memories brought happy tears to my travel-wearied eyes and a huge smile stretched across my face. I had visited South America once when I was a teenager, and even though this was Central America, the sights, sounds, and smells brought a rush of memories back. All of a sudden I was ready and rearing to go. I wanted to explore. To walk down the streets. To breathe in the smells and sounds and experience everything. Hailing a taxi, I gave the address of the hotel Sophie had booked for me, then leaned against the back seat and held on tightly to the door handle. Drivers in the city were crazy. The signs and painted lines on the road seemed to be more for decoration than anything else as we jostled and jolted to stops and cut corners way too close to the sidewalks and nearly missed hitting other vehicles and numerous people. I arrived at the hotel in one piece which I didn’t take for granted, and hurried to check in. It wasn’t long though until my hurrying was replaced with a placid attitude. Life in Guatemala was set to a whole different pace than China and after waiting for several minutes to talk to the hotel clerk, I decided to embrace the slower wheel of life and soak it in. After settling into my hotel room and taking a couple of minutes to wash up, I put on the small backpack an Exploration Airlines worker had packed for me and then headed down the street to find somewhere to eat. The backpack included a travel guide, some quetzal (which is the currency of Guatemala), an itinerary of when I was flying to Santa Elena and when I was flying back to Guatemala City, and several other helpful items. Sophie had told me during China, where I spent a fair amount of time doing menial yet time-eating tasks like finding travel guides and exchanging money, that she would take care of that for the rest of the year. That would certainly make life a lot easier. Sophie was a gem to work with. After wandering around on the streets for about a half an hour enjoying the bright colors and happy smiles of the people around me, I ducked into a promising looking cafe and found a seat. It wasn’t long before I had a plate of beans and rice and tamales in front of me. As I bowed my head to thank God for the food the delicious aroma of it wafted up and filled my senses. I forced myself to eat slowly and savor each bite, even though it was so yummy I wanted to gobble it all up at once. The tamales had a spicy bite to them and made my mouth water, but they were oh, so delicious. Everything was seasoned just right and even though the food wasn’t fancy, it was some of the best food I had eaten in several weeks. I watched out the window as I ate. The narrow street was incredibly full of people carrying large bundles tied to their backs, vehicles rumbling along at a slow pace, and animals being chased. Feeling something under the table I looked down and felt my eyes widen at the mangy dog that nosed around, eating scrapes that a previous diner must of dropped. I sat there for a moment, watching it, wondering why no one was shooing it away. Then it hit me that this was normal. No one noticed because no one cared. Dogs entering a restaurant were just life. After lunch I took a taxi to Museo Popol Vuh, a museum I had read about in the guide book. It wasn’t a large museum, but I relaxed and took my time walking through and reading the different plaques. Museo Popol Vuh had all sorts of artifacts from the Mayan Civilization, and seeing everything made me excited about going to the ruins the next day. The fight and subsequent drive to Tikal was beautiful. The name Guatemala means ‘Land of the Trees’ in Maya-Toltec language and it was easy to see where the moniker came from. Guatemala was a very mountainous and highly wooded. It’s the 107th largest country in the world and has the highest Jade production of anywhere. During the flight I sat next to a Tikal tour guide who was just getting back from visiting his brother in Florida. The flight time flew by all to fast as he told me about his beloved country. At one point he said the top export of Guatemala was coffee. Then he stopped talking for a moment and held up his hand, pausing the conversation, “You have got to try our coffee while you're here.” “Thank you, I’ll keep that in mind.” “But no!” Carlos shook his head. “I did not say you should keep it in mind. This is a must for anyone visiting our land; especially if you are writing abut it for other people like you are. No visit to Guatemala is complete without tasting our coffee.” Laughing at his seriousness, I jotted a reminder for myself on my phone where I had been taking notes, “There, is that better?” I smiled as I held my phone out for him to see. “Ah yes, much better, much better.” Then, with a grin he continued telling me about the people and customs and life that he was such a part of.
The next day I went on a Carlos-guided tour to Tikal. The ruins were impressive, far more so because of all the studying I had done in the previous forty-eight hours. Our group did a lot of hiking and gasping in wonder and snapping pictures. I shot some footage for a vlog and Carlos even let me interview him in front of the Tikal Temple which is an impressive 154 feet tall and was built somewhere around the 4th century BC. Listening to Carlos, my mind could hardly comprehend all the work that had taken place on the piece of ground where I was standing. Not only had the Mayans of ancient times worked diligently to build the city and then keep it up, but since the “Lost City” had been rediscovered by explorers in1848, innumerable man hours have been dedicated to the project. All around the ruins were towering ceiba trees, the national tree of Guatemala. They were different from what I was used to and after our vigorous hiking I enjoyed sitting next to one of the towering trunk, munching on a delicious chocolate bar, the first of which was invented in Guatemala during the Mayan times. Between the coffee, claim to fame regarding chocolate bars, beauty of the landscape, wonder of the ruins, and friendliness of the people, it was not hard to imagine why 1.2 million people visit the country each year.
After a delightful few days of exploring and meeting new people, I spent Saturday in the Market Place, looking for a gift to send home to Sophie. I ended up buying her some of the most delicious coffee I had ever tasted. Sunday morning I was pleased to find a local church to attend, then early Monday morning I was back at the globe, my adventure in Guatemala over and a new adventure about to begin.
Around the World in Fifty-Two WeeksWeek Four: Guatemala
After telling Sophie I didn’t care what I did and to book my week however she wanted to, I spent more than half of the twenty-one hour long trip from Beijing to Guatemala City, Guatemala watching documentaries on the Mayan civilization. I was therefore thrilled to receive an email from Sophie when I landed letting me know she had booked a short flight for the next afternoon to the Santa Elena airport. From there it was only a twenty-eight mile drive to Tikal, some of the most impressive Mayan ruins in the world. Sophie ended the email with, Visiting Tikal has always been top of my bucket list, so I thought you could do it for me and I’d live virtually through your blogs and vlogs. Have fun, be safe, and let me know if you have any questions. Since I had a little over twenty-four hours in the capital, I got my luggage than headed toward the doors to find a taxi. Thankfully I spoke a decent amount of Spanish from high school so it was a lot easier finding my way around than it had been during the last few weeks. Warm air and a cantata of noises hit me when I stepped out of the airport. A flood of memories brought happy tears to my travel-wearied eyes and a huge smile stretched across my face. I had visited South America once when I was a teenager, and even though this was Central America, the sights, sounds, and smells brought a rush of memories back. All of a sudden I was ready and rearing to go. I wanted to explore. To walk down the streets. To breathe in the smells and sounds and experience everything. Hailing a taxi, I gave the address of the hotel Sophie had booked for me, then leaned against the back seat and held on tightly to the door handle. Drivers in the city were crazy. The signs and painted lines on the road seemed to be more for decoration than anything else as we jostled and jolted to stops and cut corners way too close to the sidewalks and nearly missed hitting other vehicles and numerous people. I arrived at the hotel in one piece which I didn’t take for granted, and hurried to check in. It wasn’t long though until my hurrying was replaced with a placid attitude. Life in Guatemala was set to a whole different pace than China and after waiting for several minutes to talk to the hotel clerk, I decided to embrace the slower wheel of life and soak it in. After settling into my hotel room and taking a couple of minutes to wash up, I put on the small backpack an Exploration Airlines worker had packed for me and then headed down the street to find somewhere to eat. The backpack included a travel guide, some quetzal (which is the currency of Guatemala), an itinerary of when I was flying to Santa Elena and when I was flying back to Guatemala City, and several other helpful items. Sophie had told me during China, where I spent a fair amount of time doing menial yet time-eating tasks like finding travel guides and exchanging money, that she would take care of that for the rest of the year. That would certainly make life a lot easier. Sophie was a gem to work with. After wandering around on the streets for about a half an hour enjoying the bright colors and happy smiles of the people around me, I ducked into a promising looking cafe and found a seat. It wasn’t long before I had a plate of beans and rice and tamales in front of me. As I bowed my head to thank God for the food the delicious aroma of it wafted up and filled my senses. I forced myself to eat slowly and savor each bite, even though it was so yummy I wanted to gobble it all up at once. The tamales had a spicy bite to them and made my mouth water, but they were oh, so delicious. Everything was seasoned just right and even though the food wasn’t fancy, it was some of the best food I had eaten in several weeks. I watched out the window as I ate. The narrow street was incredibly full of people carrying large bundles tied to their backs, vehicles rumbling along at a slow pace, and animals being chased. Feeling something under the table I looked down and felt my eyes widen at the mangy dog that nosed around, eating scrapes that a previous diner must of dropped. I sat there for a moment, watching it, wondering why no one was shooing it away. Then it hit me that this was normal. No one noticed because no one cared. Dogs entering a restaurant were just life. After lunch I took a taxi to Museo Popol Vuh, a museum I had read about in the guide book. It wasn’t a large museum, but I relaxed and took my time walking through and reading the different plaques. Museo Popol Vuh had all sorts of artifacts from the Mayan Civilization, and seeing everything made me excited about going to the ruins the next day. The fight and subsequent drive to Tikal was beautiful. The name Guatemala means ‘Land of the Trees’ in Maya-Toltec language and it was easy to see where the moniker came from. Guatemala was a very mountainous and highly wooded. It’s the 107th largest country in the world and has the highest Jade production of anywhere. During the flight I sat next to a Tikal tour guide who was just getting back from visiting his brother in Florida. The flight time flew by all to fast as he told me about his beloved country. At one point he said the top export of Guatemala was coffee. Then he stopped talking for a moment and held up his hand, pausing the conversation, “You have got to try our coffee while you're here.” “Thank you, I’ll keep that in mind.” “But no!” Carlos shook his head. “I did not say you should keep it in mind. This is a must for anyone visiting our land; especially if you are writing abut it for other people like you are. No visit to Guatemala is complete without tasting our coffee.” Laughing at his seriousness, I jotted a reminder for myself on my phone where I had been taking notes, “There, is that better?” I smiled as I held my phone out for him to see. “Ah yes, much better, much better.” Then, with a grin he continued telling me about the people and customs and life that he was such a part of.
The next day I went on a Carlos-guided tour to Tikal. The ruins were impressive, far more so because of all the studying I had done in the previous forty-eight hours. Our group did a lot of hiking and gasping in wonder and snapping pictures. I shot some footage for a vlog and Carlos even let me interview him in front of the Tikal Temple which is an impressive 154 feet tall and was built somewhere around the 4th century BC. Listening to Carlos, my mind could hardly comprehend all the work that had taken place on the piece of ground where I was standing. Not only had the Mayans of ancient times worked diligently to build the city and then keep it up, but since the “Lost City” had been rediscovered by explorers in1848, innumerable man hours have been dedicated to the project. All around the ruins were towering ceiba trees, the national tree of Guatemala. They were different from what I was used to and after our vigorous hiking I enjoyed sitting next to one of the towering trunk, munching on a delicious chocolate bar, the first of which was invented in Guatemala during the Mayan times. Between the coffee, claim to fame regarding chocolate bars, beauty of the landscape, wonder of the ruins, and friendliness of the people, it was not hard to imagine why 1.2 million people visit the country each year.
After a delightful few days of exploring and meeting new people, I spent Saturday in the Market Place, looking for a gift to send home to Sophie. I ended up buying her some of the most delicious coffee I had ever tasted. Sunday morning I was pleased to find a local church to attend, then early Monday morning I was back at the globe, my adventure in Guatemala over and a new adventure about to begin.
January 28, 2016
Auntie Joys
Yesterday morning I took a break from writing work to spend some time with my oldest sister, Betsie, and her family.
Betsie is probably the first person to inspire me to write, thanks to the amazing stories she would weave for us siblings during my early childhood years. I remember sitting on the edge of the seat as I folded laundry or matched baskets of socks and listened to her enthralling tales. I would always beg for more and time seemed to fly by, no matter what work we were doing, when Betsie read or told us stories.
Now my sister has her own little bundle of children whom I've spent many hours reading and telling stories to as we work together. Her children have fantastic vocabularies and sometimes tell sparklingly unrealistic tales that glimmer and glow with the shine of active imaginations. They love having an auntie who writes books and one of my nieces often enjoys showing me short stories that she's written.
This year I was quite excited when Betsie had her seventh child, because I'm the seventh child as well. Every so often when I'm cuddling baby Roy I inform him that we have a special bond and he was practically named after me since my middle name is Joy (although that is simply wishful thinking on my part). I'm not sure he understands yet the significance of sharing the same birth order with me (not too many people realize how special it is), but one day he will. Maybe.
Last night I worked from about 8:00 until almost 12:30 so I could accomplish all my writing tasks that I had on my plate for yesterday after spending the day with my sister and her family. The day before had pretty much followed the same schedule and I wouldn't be surprised if today was another repeat.
I'm thrilled that on some days I'm able to mix and match and rearrange so I can spend extra time with out-of-state family. I'm also so very thankful to have such a happy handful of extremely imaginative nieces and nephews. They really do make life more interesting and exciting.
* * *
What about you, do you have any nieces or nephews? And if so, do they enjoy using huge words that they spin into bright and happy stories?
Betsie is probably the first person to inspire me to write, thanks to the amazing stories she would weave for us siblings during my early childhood years. I remember sitting on the edge of the seat as I folded laundry or matched baskets of socks and listened to her enthralling tales. I would always beg for more and time seemed to fly by, no matter what work we were doing, when Betsie read or told us stories.
Now my sister has her own little bundle of children whom I've spent many hours reading and telling stories to as we work together. Her children have fantastic vocabularies and sometimes tell sparklingly unrealistic tales that glimmer and glow with the shine of active imaginations. They love having an auntie who writes books and one of my nieces often enjoys showing me short stories that she's written.
This year I was quite excited when Betsie had her seventh child, because I'm the seventh child as well. Every so often when I'm cuddling baby Roy I inform him that we have a special bond and he was practically named after me since my middle name is Joy (although that is simply wishful thinking on my part). I'm not sure he understands yet the significance of sharing the same birth order with me (not too many people realize how special it is), but one day he will. Maybe.
Last night I worked from about 8:00 until almost 12:30 so I could accomplish all my writing tasks that I had on my plate for yesterday after spending the day with my sister and her family. The day before had pretty much followed the same schedule and I wouldn't be surprised if today was another repeat.
I'm thrilled that on some days I'm able to mix and match and rearrange so I can spend extra time with out-of-state family. I'm also so very thankful to have such a happy handful of extremely imaginative nieces and nephews. They really do make life more interesting and exciting.
* * *
What about you, do you have any nieces or nephews? And if so, do they enjoy using huge words that they spin into bright and happy stories?
January 27, 2016
Board Games:
I like games. And when I say "I like games" people who know me laugh at the extreme understatement that sentence is. Board and card games have got to be some of the most wonderful inventions known to mankind. I'd like to be able to play it off as me being such a people person that getting to hang out with everyone over a round of The Farming Game is inciting, but in reality I'm quite content playing the game for hours by myself if no one else wants to.
Now hang on a second. I don't just sit there playing the game without doing anything else. Instead I listen to audio that I need to hear anyway, so I'm totally multitasking. Back in August when we came to Florida on semi vacation, several of us kids played games each evening and then after everyone else went to bed I would set up the game on my own and play again. (At that time I really did have a fair amount of audio I was trying to work through.)
On our way to Florida this week I even figured out a way to play 7 Wonders while sitting in the car. It as a bit of a challenge, but a very fun one. (My sister might of heaved a sigh at me when I informed her that I lost, but hey! I won the next game. And besides, I think that just shows that I have skills in really doing what's best for each team involved.)
I know it sounds a bit crazy to talk about playing board games with myself, but in reality I think it's a little bit of my writerly-imagination and world-building-skills coming through. I'm a writer and invent families, countries, cities, and plot lines regularly. Therefore, it makes sense that building a world I can actually touch (7 Wonders) would amuse me and be right up my ally.
All in all though, I do enjoy playing games with other people more than by myself. My little bro and I played around forty games of Uno on the second day we were traveling here to Florida, and we would have played more, too, if we had the time.
What about you? Are you a board/card time type of person? Here's a list of games I really liked when I was growing up. I've bolded the ones that are my favorite now. Y'all should give me a list of your favorite games, too, because really, what's more fun than family time with games? :)
Rook Uno (We play a fast version where you can do a bunch of cool stuff) Phase 10 Some card games we made up
7 Wonders Ticket to Ride Monopoly The Farming Game Blurt! Qwirkle Settlers of Catan LifePayday
Now hang on a second. I don't just sit there playing the game without doing anything else. Instead I listen to audio that I need to hear anyway, so I'm totally multitasking. Back in August when we came to Florida on semi vacation, several of us kids played games each evening and then after everyone else went to bed I would set up the game on my own and play again. (At that time I really did have a fair amount of audio I was trying to work through.)
On our way to Florida this week I even figured out a way to play 7 Wonders while sitting in the car. It as a bit of a challenge, but a very fun one. (My sister might of heaved a sigh at me when I informed her that I lost, but hey! I won the next game. And besides, I think that just shows that I have skills in really doing what's best for each team involved.)
I know it sounds a bit crazy to talk about playing board games with myself, but in reality I think it's a little bit of my writerly-imagination and world-building-skills coming through. I'm a writer and invent families, countries, cities, and plot lines regularly. Therefore, it makes sense that building a world I can actually touch (7 Wonders) would amuse me and be right up my ally.
All in all though, I do enjoy playing games with other people more than by myself. My little bro and I played around forty games of Uno on the second day we were traveling here to Florida, and we would have played more, too, if we had the time.
What about you? Are you a board/card time type of person? Here's a list of games I really liked when I was growing up. I've bolded the ones that are my favorite now. Y'all should give me a list of your favorite games, too, because really, what's more fun than family time with games? :)
Rook Uno (We play a fast version where you can do a bunch of cool stuff) Phase 10 Some card games we made up
7 Wonders Ticket to Ride Monopoly The Farming Game Blurt! Qwirkle Settlers of Catan LifePayday
January 26, 2016
Those Happy Authorish Moments
I had the strangest sensation hit me this past week.
My uncle has asked several times why I hadn't sent him When Life Hands You Lymes to read and I've replied each time that it isn't ready yet, but I hope to send it soon. My uncle and I have a great relationship (he's also our neighbor and a co-worker of mine so we're around each other daily), and I really did want him to read the book and give me feedback. So, when he asked again on Saturday the 16th, I told him "I'll send it to you next week."
Those words prompted a flurry of activity and I worked steadily on edits all week, getting far more than normal done. It was a little after 9:00 p.m. on Saturday night when I sent my uncle the first half of the book, complete with all the corrections made from various beta readers.
I continued working on the book and even sent it out to a few more beta readers. It was almost midnight when I hurriedly sent out the next section to the last beta reader on my list and finished up stuff on my computer for the day. (For those of you who don't know, I have a challenge with myself to not use the computer or internet on Sundays.)
It was 2:20 when I went to bed that night (I was getting ready to go to Florida with my family), yet to my surprise I could hardly get my mind to shut off. I kept thinking about WLHYL and going over the list of characters in my head and thoroughly enjoying it.
I'd always heard of writers talking about their books as if they're friends, or feelings of sadness when a project is over because they don't get to work with the same characters any more, yet I'd never quite related.
Sure, when I'm working on a project I'm all gung-ho about it and could chatter on about it incessantly if someone gave me the opportunity... Yet I'm all about completing projects and starting new ones as fast as possible.
Sitting in the car on Sunday though, I kept thinking about WHLYL and how much I was enjoying it. I literally thought, "I hope I get a lot more edits I need to work on because then I can continue hanging out with the characters." And then I was like "Wait! What?!?" As far as I can remember, I've never felt that way about a book. In fact, it was only three months ago that I finished the fifth draft of WLHYL and never wanted to see the book again.
It was a strange sensation, yet so very rewarding, for me to realize how much I've begun enjoying WLHYL and to know that I could barely wait for Monday morning so I could jump back into editing.
It's still overwhelming at times, yet the book is improving and really beginning to have that polished feeling that is so rewarding. And the characters. Ah, they're probably my favorite cast ever. When I stopped to think about it, though, I realized I only have the most roughest draft of the second book written, so that gives me at least two more years with the same characters. That means in reality I'll be quite happy whenever I finish all the drafts of this first book. (Which means: If you're one of my beta readers, then please, don't just come up with random things to keep me busy longer. *winky face*)
* * *
What about you? Have you ever gotten really attached to any of your characters?
Also: If you're interested in beta reading When Life Hands You Lymes, just let me know and you can join in the fun. I had another person sign up yesterday.
My uncle has asked several times why I hadn't sent him When Life Hands You Lymes to read and I've replied each time that it isn't ready yet, but I hope to send it soon. My uncle and I have a great relationship (he's also our neighbor and a co-worker of mine so we're around each other daily), and I really did want him to read the book and give me feedback. So, when he asked again on Saturday the 16th, I told him "I'll send it to you next week."
Those words prompted a flurry of activity and I worked steadily on edits all week, getting far more than normal done. It was a little after 9:00 p.m. on Saturday night when I sent my uncle the first half of the book, complete with all the corrections made from various beta readers.
I continued working on the book and even sent it out to a few more beta readers. It was almost midnight when I hurriedly sent out the next section to the last beta reader on my list and finished up stuff on my computer for the day. (For those of you who don't know, I have a challenge with myself to not use the computer or internet on Sundays.)
It was 2:20 when I went to bed that night (I was getting ready to go to Florida with my family), yet to my surprise I could hardly get my mind to shut off. I kept thinking about WLHYL and going over the list of characters in my head and thoroughly enjoying it.
I'd always heard of writers talking about their books as if they're friends, or feelings of sadness when a project is over because they don't get to work with the same characters any more, yet I'd never quite related.
Sure, when I'm working on a project I'm all gung-ho about it and could chatter on about it incessantly if someone gave me the opportunity... Yet I'm all about completing projects and starting new ones as fast as possible.
Sitting in the car on Sunday though, I kept thinking about WHLYL and how much I was enjoying it. I literally thought, "I hope I get a lot more edits I need to work on because then I can continue hanging out with the characters." And then I was like "Wait! What?!?" As far as I can remember, I've never felt that way about a book. In fact, it was only three months ago that I finished the fifth draft of WLHYL and never wanted to see the book again.
It was a strange sensation, yet so very rewarding, for me to realize how much I've begun enjoying WLHYL and to know that I could barely wait for Monday morning so I could jump back into editing.
It's still overwhelming at times, yet the book is improving and really beginning to have that polished feeling that is so rewarding. And the characters. Ah, they're probably my favorite cast ever. When I stopped to think about it, though, I realized I only have the most roughest draft of the second book written, so that gives me at least two more years with the same characters. That means in reality I'll be quite happy whenever I finish all the drafts of this first book. (Which means: If you're one of my beta readers, then please, don't just come up with random things to keep me busy longer. *winky face*)
* * *
What about you? Have you ever gotten really attached to any of your characters?
Also: If you're interested in beta reading When Life Hands You Lymes, just let me know and you can join in the fun. I had another person sign up yesterday.
January 25, 2016
Beta Reading: Do's and Don'ts
*I'm on my way to Florida and was a bit late getting on the road this morning, hence the later-than-usual blog post. Happy Monday, Everyone!*
Last week I sent WLHYL out to beta readers again, and I'm getting ready to send it out a couple more times this week. Presenting a work in progress (WIP) to be read by someone can be a bit of a nerve wracking experience, even (especially?) if it is already on it's sixth draft. Therefore, I decided to make a list of things to do and not to do when you're beta reading.
See, before I ever had someone beta read for me, I jumped into a book someone from my on-line writing group wrote and happily picked it apart. I was in a hurry, so I mentioned that to her and offered that for the reason why I didn't sandwich (more about this later on) the comments. I thought I did a good job of covering the bases. Then I learned better.
As a writer, I see beta reading from a totally different perspective now, and I thought I could share some of the things I've learned with y'all.
Beta Reading Do's:
* Do follow the guidelines the author gives you and if she doesn't give any, ask for them. I make sure to include a list of things I'm looking for when I give my book to beta readers. (Does it flow well? Are the characters consistent? Do the characters feel conducive to the plot? Etc...)
* Do keep in contact with the author. This is something I'm really working on getting better at because I know it means a lot. I generally spend a year or two on a book before I'm ready for beta readers. That's a lot of time invested in a project. Therefore it means a ton when I send the book out in an email and receive a reply saying "I got it, thanks" or something along those lines.
* Do discuss a time line. As a beta reader, you need to have a time frame to work within, so make sure you know what the author is expecting and what you can commit to. If you are going to be late, that's ok, just let the author know.
* Do sandwich your comments. That means take a couple extra minutes to point out things you do like, not just things you don't like. Now I'm not saying you should have a "positive" comment for every "negative" comment (ha!), but it does help when you sprinkle those positive ones in there. As an author it can be quite overwhelming to have a huge list of things that someone thinks should be changed in your WIP, even if you agree with them. Finding a gem in the comments where they say "Nice line!" or "That's a cool description" or "I like such-in-such a thing about this character" can go a long way. My editor is extremely good at this and often times instead of feeling overwhelmed by everything I have to change, I finish the email feeling as if I could walk on air for the rest of the day because of the things he liked.
* Do be detailed. A beta reader recently pointed out that my main character sounded very materialistic because she used the word my a lot. I stated paying attention and sure enough, the word my was extremely overused.
* Do remember it isn't your book. There are times I have a problem with something, but it's just a matter of perspective. At times it's helpful to point out the issue, but in that case, say something like "I know this is just a matter of opinion, but what would you think of Jack responding better to that situation?".
Beta Reading Don'ts:
* Don't do all the work. Most of the time I send my WIP out in segments and wait until I've made the corrections from the first segment before sending out the second one. That means if a beta reader says "You're using the word that too much" then I can watch throughout the rest of the WIP and (hopefully) take out all the extra that's before sending the second section to the beta reader. As a beta reader, you shouldn't have to point out every single instance an issue occurs. (Although doing it several times can be helpful.) Note: This doesn't necessarily go for punctuation since some people are just plain not good at that.
* Don't feel locked into the book if something comes up. Yes, do honor your commitments, but if the book turns out to be something you're really uncomfortable reading, nicely discuss that with the author, along with the concerns you have. This alone can help the author have a better gauge on how readers will view her book.
* Don't say absolutes. "You're never supposed to head hop!" might be a true statement, but it's not very good in the people skills arena. Try and phrase the sentence in a more "we" sort of way, like you're learning along with them. "An article I was reading recently pointed out that head-hoping used to be popular, but is no longer accetable. In this paragraph we hop between Blake's and Charity's thoughts."
* Don't use strong negative words. Even if the WIP is the worst thing you've ever read, there's no need to let the author know that. As a beta reader, you have a unique opportunity to help a writer grow. A while back I beta read a book that was filled with plot holes and unrealistic situations and underdeveloped characters. In a case like that I decided to not point out every single problem, and instead focused on the main things and did so gently.
* Don't be unkind. Even if you strongly disagree, can't stand what the author did, or faint because of the excessive telling instead of showing, still be polite and kind about it. The author is most likely deeply attached to her work and is often times blinded to the many flaws it has.
* * *
This isn't a complete list, just the ones from off the top of my head. What are some more Do's and Don'ts you would add? And, I hope to do a "Do's and Don'ts for authors in relating to beta readers" sometime soon, so stay tuned for that.
* * *
And now the destination for this week's Around the World in Fifty-Two Weeks : Guatemala!
Last week I sent WLHYL out to beta readers again, and I'm getting ready to send it out a couple more times this week. Presenting a work in progress (WIP) to be read by someone can be a bit of a nerve wracking experience, even (especially?) if it is already on it's sixth draft. Therefore, I decided to make a list of things to do and not to do when you're beta reading.
See, before I ever had someone beta read for me, I jumped into a book someone from my on-line writing group wrote and happily picked it apart. I was in a hurry, so I mentioned that to her and offered that for the reason why I didn't sandwich (more about this later on) the comments. I thought I did a good job of covering the bases. Then I learned better.
As a writer, I see beta reading from a totally different perspective now, and I thought I could share some of the things I've learned with y'all.
Beta Reading Do's:
* Do follow the guidelines the author gives you and if she doesn't give any, ask for them. I make sure to include a list of things I'm looking for when I give my book to beta readers. (Does it flow well? Are the characters consistent? Do the characters feel conducive to the plot? Etc...)
* Do keep in contact with the author. This is something I'm really working on getting better at because I know it means a lot. I generally spend a year or two on a book before I'm ready for beta readers. That's a lot of time invested in a project. Therefore it means a ton when I send the book out in an email and receive a reply saying "I got it, thanks" or something along those lines.
* Do discuss a time line. As a beta reader, you need to have a time frame to work within, so make sure you know what the author is expecting and what you can commit to. If you are going to be late, that's ok, just let the author know.
* Do sandwich your comments. That means take a couple extra minutes to point out things you do like, not just things you don't like. Now I'm not saying you should have a "positive" comment for every "negative" comment (ha!), but it does help when you sprinkle those positive ones in there. As an author it can be quite overwhelming to have a huge list of things that someone thinks should be changed in your WIP, even if you agree with them. Finding a gem in the comments where they say "Nice line!" or "That's a cool description" or "I like such-in-such a thing about this character" can go a long way. My editor is extremely good at this and often times instead of feeling overwhelmed by everything I have to change, I finish the email feeling as if I could walk on air for the rest of the day because of the things he liked.
* Do be detailed. A beta reader recently pointed out that my main character sounded very materialistic because she used the word my a lot. I stated paying attention and sure enough, the word my was extremely overused.
* Do remember it isn't your book. There are times I have a problem with something, but it's just a matter of perspective. At times it's helpful to point out the issue, but in that case, say something like "I know this is just a matter of opinion, but what would you think of Jack responding better to that situation?".
Beta Reading Don'ts:
* Don't do all the work. Most of the time I send my WIP out in segments and wait until I've made the corrections from the first segment before sending out the second one. That means if a beta reader says "You're using the word that too much" then I can watch throughout the rest of the WIP and (hopefully) take out all the extra that's before sending the second section to the beta reader. As a beta reader, you shouldn't have to point out every single instance an issue occurs. (Although doing it several times can be helpful.) Note: This doesn't necessarily go for punctuation since some people are just plain not good at that.
* Don't feel locked into the book if something comes up. Yes, do honor your commitments, but if the book turns out to be something you're really uncomfortable reading, nicely discuss that with the author, along with the concerns you have. This alone can help the author have a better gauge on how readers will view her book.
* Don't say absolutes. "You're never supposed to head hop!" might be a true statement, but it's not very good in the people skills arena. Try and phrase the sentence in a more "we" sort of way, like you're learning along with them. "An article I was reading recently pointed out that head-hoping used to be popular, but is no longer accetable. In this paragraph we hop between Blake's and Charity's thoughts."
* Don't use strong negative words. Even if the WIP is the worst thing you've ever read, there's no need to let the author know that. As a beta reader, you have a unique opportunity to help a writer grow. A while back I beta read a book that was filled with plot holes and unrealistic situations and underdeveloped characters. In a case like that I decided to not point out every single problem, and instead focused on the main things and did so gently.
* Don't be unkind. Even if you strongly disagree, can't stand what the author did, or faint because of the excessive telling instead of showing, still be polite and kind about it. The author is most likely deeply attached to her work and is often times blinded to the many flaws it has.
* * *
This isn't a complete list, just the ones from off the top of my head. What are some more Do's and Don'ts you would add? And, I hope to do a "Do's and Don'ts for authors in relating to beta readers" sometime soon, so stay tuned for that.
* * *
And now the destination for this week's Around the World in Fifty-Two Weeks : Guatemala!
