I'm talking about housework, the writer's nemesis. It's a nemesis because it's always there, calling you with its Siren call: "How can you write amidst such chaos? Come away from the computer and put these toys and books away. Can't you at least do these dishes before you write? Look how filthy the bathroom is! Don't write this morning--clean instead. You can always write later."
Writing my dissertation taught me that I will not shrivel up and die if I don't clean my house. In fact, I will be much happier in a dirty house with a finished chapter than in a clean but word-barren domicile.
That being said, I really wanted to do housework yesterday.
My goal is to put the house in some kind of order for the New Year, so I can focus on my other tasks. I need to get some storage for our board games, of all things! In our move two years ago, I got rid of several inexpensive six-foot bookcases because I worried about child-proofing issues. Now that our daughter is old enough to understand the consequences of bookcase-climbing, we can own tall bookcases again. And we need them! It's hard to keep a house uncluttered when you don't have shelving.
And don't even whisper that we may need to get rid of board games. Books, I can ditch. Board games, however, are the sacred cows of our household, grazing unmolested through every room of the house. When little kids come over, I protect only the "good" board games and the Breyer horses.
Anyway, I fell victim to minor illness yesterday, so I couldn't clean and organize. One more day to fix everything before 2009!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Searching for Less
Here are several New Year's resolutions of mine:
Give myself more mental space and time to contemplate and appreciate God.
Write more.
Exercise more.
Engage in more educational and fun activities with my daughter in after-school hours.
Plan meals more efficiently.
Do housework in a more organized and consistent manner that doesn't interfere with my writing time.
Can you see the problem? It's always more, and never less.
It's sometimes possible to meet more than one objective while engaging in certain activities. For example, I can find contemplative time in Holy Yoga while exercising. Writing is also a meditative activity.
Nonetheless (couldn't resist that pun), there will have to be a less somewhere in my life. I look forward to slimming down my priorities and focusing on these things that matter most.
This year, will there be something you resolve to do less?
Give myself more mental space and time to contemplate and appreciate God.
Write more.
Exercise more.
Engage in more educational and fun activities with my daughter in after-school hours.
Plan meals more efficiently.
Do housework in a more organized and consistent manner that doesn't interfere with my writing time.
Can you see the problem? It's always more, and never less.
It's sometimes possible to meet more than one objective while engaging in certain activities. For example, I can find contemplative time in Holy Yoga while exercising. Writing is also a meditative activity.
Nonetheless (couldn't resist that pun), there will have to be a less somewhere in my life. I look forward to slimming down my priorities and focusing on these things that matter most.
This year, will there be something you resolve to do less?
Monday, December 29, 2008
Hola!
We're back! Our trip went smoothly and it's nice to have a little bit of time at home before school starts again.
If any of you want to send me your snail mail address at inkhornblue (at) hotmail (dot) com, I would love to send you one of our late but satisfying holiday cards. The family is all dressed in Victorian garb for a church event.
If any of you want to send me your snail mail address at inkhornblue (at) hotmail (dot) com, I would love to send you one of our late but satisfying holiday cards. The family is all dressed in Victorian garb for a church event.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Wintry Mix
Much of the nation lies under a heavy snowfall or shivers under freezing rain. I always liked the Ohio weatherman's term for freezing rain: "Wintry Mix." We no longer hear that term now that we live in New Mexico.
Christmas is the one time of year when it's fun to be snowed in. Nestled in the warmth of our homes, we appreciate our lights, decorations, hot chocolate and coffee. We play games with our families, or watch movies and munch on pocorn.
We're driving through Wintry Mix right now. How's the weather going to be for Christmas in your town? Will you have snow? Can you ice skate or slide across the ice like characters from the Pickwick Papers? Do you like a White Christmas, or do you prefer something else?
Christmas is the one time of year when it's fun to be snowed in. Nestled in the warmth of our homes, we appreciate our lights, decorations, hot chocolate and coffee. We play games with our families, or watch movies and munch on pocorn.
We're driving through Wintry Mix right now. How's the weather going to be for Christmas in your town? Will you have snow? Can you ice skate or slide across the ice like characters from the Pickwick Papers? Do you like a White Christmas, or do you prefer something else?
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Simple Gifts
My daughter's kindergarten class exchanged Kristkind gifts yesterday.
I found myself wishing that we could sweep away all the other gift-giving at Christmastime and exchange Kristkind gifts as the children did.
Each child drew a name from a hat and received a page containing information about the likes and interests of his Kristkind buddy. The child then made by hand an inexpensive gift designed just for the chosen receipient. The gift often had a spiritual component. One child and his mom made a beautiful sign on canvas painted with the recipient child's name and a verse from Phillippians in tiny letters around the perimeter. Our chosen child loved horses, so we made her a necklace with a horse pendant and alphabet beads that spelled out "The Lord God Made Them All." One of my favorite gifts was a mobile festooned with plastic spiders for one of the boys.
Gift-giving at Christmas probably began much like this Kristkind giving: in less-wealthy times, people had to make gifts by hand, and substitute thoughtfulness for expense.
For me, that gift exchange reflected the true spirit of Christmas more than any other gift-centered occasion I've ever witnessed.
Now I'm thinking about how we might change our own family Christmas traditions to make gift-giving more meaningful and more connected to the spiritual significance of the birth of Christ.
Any ideas? I think one family I know only gives three gifts to each family member at Christmastime, to reflect the gifts of the three wise men.
I found myself wishing that we could sweep away all the other gift-giving at Christmastime and exchange Kristkind gifts as the children did.
Each child drew a name from a hat and received a page containing information about the likes and interests of his Kristkind buddy. The child then made by hand an inexpensive gift designed just for the chosen receipient. The gift often had a spiritual component. One child and his mom made a beautiful sign on canvas painted with the recipient child's name and a verse from Phillippians in tiny letters around the perimeter. Our chosen child loved horses, so we made her a necklace with a horse pendant and alphabet beads that spelled out "The Lord God Made Them All." One of my favorite gifts was a mobile festooned with plastic spiders for one of the boys.
Gift-giving at Christmas probably began much like this Kristkind giving: in less-wealthy times, people had to make gifts by hand, and substitute thoughtfulness for expense.
For me, that gift exchange reflected the true spirit of Christmas more than any other gift-centered occasion I've ever witnessed.
Now I'm thinking about how we might change our own family Christmas traditions to make gift-giving more meaningful and more connected to the spiritual significance of the birth of Christ.
Any ideas? I think one family I know only gives three gifts to each family member at Christmastime, to reflect the gifts of the three wise men.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Channels
Last night, our class talked about Joseph and his forgiveness of his brothers. After years of slavery and separation from his parents, Joseph tells the brothers who threw him in the pit: "What you intended for evil, God has used for good."
In those long years, I wonder how many times Joseph wept, alone in prison or in a foreign room. I wonder how often he fantasized about revenging himself on the brothers who had betrayed him so deeply. Many of us never forgive our family members for much lesser wrongs. Yet Joseph was able to forgive them, because even in their evil, he saw the hand of God at work.
Joseph saw past his suffering to a deeper truth.
Sometimes in a period of suffering, all I feel is the invasive presence of pain--the alienness, the not-rightness of it. I fight it and try to get it out by sheer will, but it relentlessly digs its way in like a team of men channelling through solid land.
This is the deeper truth. When pain comes and digs its channels through me, God is there beside me, waiting with uplifted vessel to pour streams of grace and healing into the empty places. All I have to do is let it flow in.
Make me a channel of your peace
Where there is hatred let me bring your love
Where there is injury your pardon, Lord
And where there's doubt, true faith in you
Oh master, grant that I may never seek
So much to be consoled as to console
To be understood, as to understand
To be loved, as to love with all my soul.
In those long years, I wonder how many times Joseph wept, alone in prison or in a foreign room. I wonder how often he fantasized about revenging himself on the brothers who had betrayed him so deeply. Many of us never forgive our family members for much lesser wrongs. Yet Joseph was able to forgive them, because even in their evil, he saw the hand of God at work.
Joseph saw past his suffering to a deeper truth.
Sometimes in a period of suffering, all I feel is the invasive presence of pain--the alienness, the not-rightness of it. I fight it and try to get it out by sheer will, but it relentlessly digs its way in like a team of men channelling through solid land.
This is the deeper truth. When pain comes and digs its channels through me, God is there beside me, waiting with uplifted vessel to pour streams of grace and healing into the empty places. All I have to do is let it flow in.
Make me a channel of your peace
Where there is hatred let me bring your love
Where there is injury your pardon, Lord
And where there's doubt, true faith in you
Oh master, grant that I may never seek
So much to be consoled as to console
To be understood, as to understand
To be loved, as to love with all my soul.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Story Isn't Everything...For Me
After Amy gave some great examples of classic works with weak stories, I happened to watch a film last night with a strong story. It stunk.
The movie reminded me of innumerable historical romances in which the plot dutifully dances along with its required twists (some fairly improbable) to keep the suspense up. Unfortunately, many of these typical romances don't contain believable characters, real human pain, or originality.
The movie is The Inheritance, apparently made for television in 1997. It's based on an 1849 novel by Louisa May Alcott. I haven't read the novel, so I can't say how faithful the movie version remains to the original. I do know that Alcott wrote this novel at the age of seventeen, and she set the story in England. All the cast members in the film version use American accents. I think the film is supposed to be set in England, but the glaring Americanness of the cast had me completely confused.
Had I been reading the novelized version of this film, I would have put the book down after the first fifty pages. Because it was a movie, my husband and I were willing to continue watching.
Yes, it's unfair. Novels must reach a higher standard than films. During films, we watchers can keep one another company and in some cases, laugh at the film together. When I read a novel, however, the characters must keep me company, and if they aren't three-dimensional, they can't do that.
The movie contained several of the flaws that usually make me discard a historical romance. The first is improbable exciting plot twists: in this case, a literal cliffhanger. When the characters go on a picnic, our heroine's friend trips gaily down to the edge of a cliff. "Look at the tiger daffodils," she says, and with a scream, tumbles over the cliff and hangs there, saved only by the amazingly strong arm of our petite heroine.
Which brings me to my second peeve: contemporary behavior from nineteenth-century heroines. Our heroine in this case is a orphan who becomes a companion to a rich girl. Despite her servant status, she goes on a picnic outing and walks ahead of the rich girls, side-by-side in conversation with the handsome hero. This would never happen. She would walk behind the other girls, and she would never, ever engage in one-on-one conversation with a wealthy young society man as if she were his peer.
Another extremely unlikely plot twist involves the heroine riding astride in public in a horse race. I wonder if this horse race even appeared in the original, or if it's a contemporary addition to make the heroine more "active." If it's in Alcott's novel, I'm sure that the heroine did not wear trousers and ride astride. That would have been a criminal offense that would cause everyone to ostracize her, including the hero.
I'm confused as to the exact time period in which the movie takes place. Alcott's novel can't take place after 1849, and yet the costuming of the film looks more like the 1880s or even 1890s to me. Perhaps the filmmakers decided to move the setting forward 50 years to try to include the astride-riding. But even in the 1890s, the horse race scene is still anachronistic and basically impossible. One more note about arbitrarily moving a nineteenth-century novel's time period forward fifty years: if we moved a novel from 1950 to 2000, everyone would know that something was wrong with characters saying "peachy-keen" and going on dates to get a malt in 2004. Similarly, 1850 and 1890 were vastly different. The characters in the movie (and, I assume, in Alcott's novel) are speaking and acting like they belong to the more stratified, rural, and inward-turned society of the early-to-mid nineteenth century. You can't just pluck up those behaviors wholesale and transport them to 1890, when the issues of the day were completely different, behavior more decadent, and women far more "liberated."
Even if the movie takes place in the 1890s, the female antagonist is too sexually aggressive with the hero and the villain. This behavior is quite improbable from a very young society girl of the nineteenth century. No calculating young girl would ever risk her social status by throwing herself at men and bluntly stating her sexual availability. The few society girls who displayed such behavior were often institionalized to avoid scandal for their families, a practice that continued into the twentieth century.
Here's the funny thing: if you look at the reviews of this movie on Amazon, you will find that many women loved it. Not just liked it--loved it passionately. I don't understand their love for stock romance with stereotypical characters, but that ongoing mystery serves to remind me of one truth. Pure story may not be enough for me, but it's enough for many people. And it's a free country--they can read whatever they like. I'll always think of it the way I think of people who love Brussel sprouts: there's some hard-wired difference between my palate and the palates of others who enjoy them.
The movie reminded me of innumerable historical romances in which the plot dutifully dances along with its required twists (some fairly improbable) to keep the suspense up. Unfortunately, many of these typical romances don't contain believable characters, real human pain, or originality.
The movie is The Inheritance, apparently made for television in 1997. It's based on an 1849 novel by Louisa May Alcott. I haven't read the novel, so I can't say how faithful the movie version remains to the original. I do know that Alcott wrote this novel at the age of seventeen, and she set the story in England. All the cast members in the film version use American accents. I think the film is supposed to be set in England, but the glaring Americanness of the cast had me completely confused.
Had I been reading the novelized version of this film, I would have put the book down after the first fifty pages. Because it was a movie, my husband and I were willing to continue watching.
Yes, it's unfair. Novels must reach a higher standard than films. During films, we watchers can keep one another company and in some cases, laugh at the film together. When I read a novel, however, the characters must keep me company, and if they aren't three-dimensional, they can't do that.
The movie contained several of the flaws that usually make me discard a historical romance. The first is improbable exciting plot twists: in this case, a literal cliffhanger. When the characters go on a picnic, our heroine's friend trips gaily down to the edge of a cliff. "Look at the tiger daffodils," she says, and with a scream, tumbles over the cliff and hangs there, saved only by the amazingly strong arm of our petite heroine.
Which brings me to my second peeve: contemporary behavior from nineteenth-century heroines. Our heroine in this case is a orphan who becomes a companion to a rich girl. Despite her servant status, she goes on a picnic outing and walks ahead of the rich girls, side-by-side in conversation with the handsome hero. This would never happen. She would walk behind the other girls, and she would never, ever engage in one-on-one conversation with a wealthy young society man as if she were his peer.
Another extremely unlikely plot twist involves the heroine riding astride in public in a horse race. I wonder if this horse race even appeared in the original, or if it's a contemporary addition to make the heroine more "active." If it's in Alcott's novel, I'm sure that the heroine did not wear trousers and ride astride. That would have been a criminal offense that would cause everyone to ostracize her, including the hero.
I'm confused as to the exact time period in which the movie takes place. Alcott's novel can't take place after 1849, and yet the costuming of the film looks more like the 1880s or even 1890s to me. Perhaps the filmmakers decided to move the setting forward 50 years to try to include the astride-riding. But even in the 1890s, the horse race scene is still anachronistic and basically impossible. One more note about arbitrarily moving a nineteenth-century novel's time period forward fifty years: if we moved a novel from 1950 to 2000, everyone would know that something was wrong with characters saying "peachy-keen" and going on dates to get a malt in 2004. Similarly, 1850 and 1890 were vastly different. The characters in the movie (and, I assume, in Alcott's novel) are speaking and acting like they belong to the more stratified, rural, and inward-turned society of the early-to-mid nineteenth century. You can't just pluck up those behaviors wholesale and transport them to 1890, when the issues of the day were completely different, behavior more decadent, and women far more "liberated."
Even if the movie takes place in the 1890s, the female antagonist is too sexually aggressive with the hero and the villain. This behavior is quite improbable from a very young society girl of the nineteenth century. No calculating young girl would ever risk her social status by throwing herself at men and bluntly stating her sexual availability. The few society girls who displayed such behavior were often institionalized to avoid scandal for their families, a practice that continued into the twentieth century.
Here's the funny thing: if you look at the reviews of this movie on Amazon, you will find that many women loved it. Not just liked it--loved it passionately. I don't understand their love for stock romance with stereotypical characters, but that ongoing mystery serves to remind me of one truth. Pure story may not be enough for me, but it's enough for many people. And it's a free country--they can read whatever they like. I'll always think of it the way I think of people who love Brussel sprouts: there's some hard-wired difference between my palate and the palates of others who enjoy them.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Music and Children
Directing the children's music program this Christmas has helped me to appreciate my church even more than I did before. When my spirit began to weaken towards the end of our long preparation process, many people stepped in and encouraged me. I'm grateful to belong to a church with such kind people.
I've spent the last few months rehearsing with the children. Though the children are fantastic and it's an easy teaching job, I grew tired and discouraged last week, mostly from trying to do too much this Christmas season.
I have two goals for every musical performance that I do with the children:
That the children will enjoy it.
That the performance will bless the congregation and point their attention to God, not just to the children themselves.
Because I'm the only person who knows what I'm trying to do with each performance, it can sometimes be lonely work. In the rehearsal process, there comes a time just before the performance when the music doesn't feel fresh to the singers, especially if they are children. It's easy to lose enthusiasm at that point, and adult assistants also get tired of hearing the same pieces again and again.
I say all of this to explain why it was such a blessing that the children's program went beautifully and was everything I had hoped it might be.
For over a year, I've wanted to hear the children sing "Some Children See Him," which is one of my favorite carols. I had some difficulty arranging the song for 3-part choir, because I'm not a brilliant arranger and it has some difficult chords. I persevered, and it was worth it. During the song, we ran a slide show featuring images of children from around the world, and it was pretty moving. I couldn't watch the slide show while I led the music; kids don't want to see their leader weeping. :-)
Some children see him lily-white
The baby Jesus born this night
Some children see him lily-white
With tresses soft and fair
Some children see him bronzed and brown
The Lord of heaven to earth come down
Some children see him bronzed and brown
With dark and heavy hair
Some children see him almond-eyed
The Savior whom we kneel beside
Some children see him almond-eyed
With skin of yellow hue
Some children see him dark as they
Sweet Mary’s Son to who we pray
Some children see him dark as they
And ah they love him too
The children in each different place
Will see the baby Jesus’ face
Like theirs, but bright with heav’nly grace
And filled with holy light
Oh lay aside each earthly thing
And with thy heart as offering
Come worship now the infant king
Tis love that’s born tonight.
Here are some of my favorite images from the slide show:
Friday, December 12, 2008
The Storytelling Instinct
On the way to school today, my five-year-old daughter said to me: "Mom, I saw three real bats in Ohio once."
"Really? Where?" I asked.
"You know that playground we used to go to when I was three? Well, I was playing and I rubbed my nose... and when I looked up, there were three bats in the sky."
"Wow."
"I had one named... Susie... and one named... Cheddar... and one named Ben. The one named Ben was a vampire bat."
I loved to hear the little pauses in her speech as she created the story in her head. But I wasn't quite sure how to handle the departure from truth. Recently, I've heard her tell a couple of tall tales as if they were real.
I said: "You are wonderful at telling stories. I don't think that one is true, but I think you should be writing down more of your stories. You have a great imagination, and the things you think up would make great books."
She tried to insist that it was true, so I reiterated my point. After I dropped her off, I questioned whether I had done the right thing. She was a little downcast, though she cheered up quickly. Should I have kept quiet and allowed her to go through a phase of telling stories as if they were true? If you were her parent, what would you have said in response to her tale?
"Really? Where?" I asked.
"You know that playground we used to go to when I was three? Well, I was playing and I rubbed my nose... and when I looked up, there were three bats in the sky."
"Wow."
"I had one named... Susie... and one named... Cheddar... and one named Ben. The one named Ben was a vampire bat."
I loved to hear the little pauses in her speech as she created the story in her head. But I wasn't quite sure how to handle the departure from truth. Recently, I've heard her tell a couple of tall tales as if they were real.
I said: "You are wonderful at telling stories. I don't think that one is true, but I think you should be writing down more of your stories. You have a great imagination, and the things you think up would make great books."
She tried to insist that it was true, so I reiterated my point. After I dropped her off, I questioned whether I had done the right thing. She was a little downcast, though she cheered up quickly. Should I have kept quiet and allowed her to go through a phase of telling stories as if they were true? If you were her parent, what would you have said in response to her tale?
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Wrestling 'Til Daybreak
So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was out of joint as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak." But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." The man asked him, "What is your name?" "Jacob," he answered. Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome." Jacob said, "Please tell me your name." But he replied, "Why do you ask my name?" Then he blessed him there. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared." The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip.
It has been a hard couple of weeks. I've been having some trouble with my novel, and only other writers know how that can mess with your emotional state. I've also been facing some discouragement on another front that is affecting me more than it should.
Today, I wrestled with my novel and I refused to let it go until it blessed me.
There are times when I need to give my problems to God and stop trying so hard.
There are other times when I need to grab the angel, wrestle for all I'm worth, and refuse to let go.
In the darkness of the night, when it's just me and the unwritten words, I face the most painful test of myself. There's no human enemy between me and what I want to do. The greatest and most personal failure I can imagine is to stand before God and abandon my writing, saying: "I can't do it. I can't write it. It's too hard. I'm not good enough." And yet those words have floated in the back of my mind many times over the last couple of weeks.
And that's why I refuse to let go. I refuse to be beaten by my own mind.
There is a sacrifice involved, when you refuse to let go until the blessing comes. Wrestling is stubborn. It's an audacious way to relate to God. And, like Jacob, you come out of those wrestling matches marked. You can't always hide the fact that you've been wrestling with God. You may develop a noticeable spiritual limp. Like Jo March, the writer in Little Women, you may feel that you're "awkward" and you "say the wrong things."
But if you can just hold on, day breaks. And the blessing comes.
It has been a hard couple of weeks. I've been having some trouble with my novel, and only other writers know how that can mess with your emotional state. I've also been facing some discouragement on another front that is affecting me more than it should.
Today, I wrestled with my novel and I refused to let it go until it blessed me.
There are times when I need to give my problems to God and stop trying so hard.
There are other times when I need to grab the angel, wrestle for all I'm worth, and refuse to let go.
In the darkness of the night, when it's just me and the unwritten words, I face the most painful test of myself. There's no human enemy between me and what I want to do. The greatest and most personal failure I can imagine is to stand before God and abandon my writing, saying: "I can't do it. I can't write it. It's too hard. I'm not good enough." And yet those words have floated in the back of my mind many times over the last couple of weeks.
And that's why I refuse to let go. I refuse to be beaten by my own mind.
There is a sacrifice involved, when you refuse to let go until the blessing comes. Wrestling is stubborn. It's an audacious way to relate to God. And, like Jacob, you come out of those wrestling matches marked. You can't always hide the fact that you've been wrestling with God. You may develop a noticeable spiritual limp. Like Jo March, the writer in Little Women, you may feel that you're "awkward" and you "say the wrong things."
But if you can just hold on, day breaks. And the blessing comes.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Tagged
Kat Harris tagged me, and now I have to share seven random things about myself.
1. I love good Thai food.
2. I partly overcame a flying phobia this summer when I flew for the first time in ten years. (I say "partly" because I did it with the help of Valium.)
3. I was agnostic for ten years. (Most of you know that, but hey, it's important!)
4. I love to dance, though I don't find much opportunity for it these days.
5. As a teenager, I slept on the street in New Haven, Connecticut, and lived to tell the tale.
6. I was a pretty good equestrienne and show jumper when I was a kid. I rode borrowed ponies and learned how to jump correctly from an old one-eyed veteran pony with buckteeth.
7. I deleted three of the most interesting items from this list because they were a bit dark for casual reference. Some other time and post. :-)
Now I'm going to tag some friends, and I will get them before Sheri does!! Heh heh.
Gwen Stewart
Amy Deardon
Barbara
Alison Bryant
Travis Inman
Kristi
I'm only going to tag six, so if you want to play, link back to me and then tag some more of your own victims. :-)
1. I love good Thai food.
2. I partly overcame a flying phobia this summer when I flew for the first time in ten years. (I say "partly" because I did it with the help of Valium.)
3. I was agnostic for ten years. (Most of you know that, but hey, it's important!)
4. I love to dance, though I don't find much opportunity for it these days.
5. As a teenager, I slept on the street in New Haven, Connecticut, and lived to tell the tale.
6. I was a pretty good equestrienne and show jumper when I was a kid. I rode borrowed ponies and learned how to jump correctly from an old one-eyed veteran pony with buckteeth.
7. I deleted three of the most interesting items from this list because they were a bit dark for casual reference. Some other time and post. :-)
Now I'm going to tag some friends, and I will get them before Sheri does!! Heh heh.
Gwen Stewart
Amy Deardon
Barbara
Alison Bryant
Travis Inman
Kristi
I'm only going to tag six, so if you want to play, link back to me and then tag some more of your own victims. :-)
Monday, December 8, 2008
Don't You Wish Your Snacktime Looked a Lot Like Me?
I don't know how it was for you, but when I was growing up in the seventies and early eighties, snacktime was always a graham cracker and a cupful of Hawaiian Punch.
This is the twenty-first century. Now we do World Heritage Month in kindergarten, and we eat World Heritage snacks. Our assigned snack day was "England." I just spent two hours making trifle and wassail according to the recipes distributed by my daughter's kindergarten teacher. The trifle will get its almond and cherry topping tomorrow morning.
Life is good for these kindergarteners! :-)
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Oliver Twist
If you love literary classics, I have a movie recommendation.
Roman Polanski's Oliver Twist is absolutely fantastic. I watched it recently and I have to say, I was blown away. The beauty of the cinematography, the costuming, the acting--everything is extraordinary. You will not be bored!
I even watched the "making of Oliver Twist" documentary at the end. In it, Polanski says that his ambition was to make the definitive film version of Oliver Twist. I think he succeeded.
I found this movie very spiritually-nourishing because of its focus on economic hardship: it's a great example of how films and books can sustain people in tough times, as Amy mentioned in the comments section yesterday.
Roman Polanski's Oliver Twist is absolutely fantastic. I watched it recently and I have to say, I was blown away. The beauty of the cinematography, the costuming, the acting--everything is extraordinary. You will not be bored!
I even watched the "making of Oliver Twist" documentary at the end. In it, Polanski says that his ambition was to make the definitive film version of Oliver Twist. I think he succeeded.
I found this movie very spiritually-nourishing because of its focus on economic hardship: it's a great example of how films and books can sustain people in tough times, as Amy mentioned in the comments section yesterday.
Friday, December 5, 2008
All in This Together
The publishing industry is quaking from this week's rounds of layoffs.
Most of the layoffs have been at giants like Random House and Simon and Schuster, but a well-known CBA publisher laid off fifty people too.
Anyway, the ripples of economic downturn are now beginning to affect a large number of writers on a professional level. I accept the fact that my novel may not go under contract for a while--that it will almost certainly have a longer journey ahead of it than if my agent had submitted it to editors a year ago.
I don't find the potential delay of a publishing career depressing.
I'm grateful that we live in a country in which hard times mean more difficulty in pursuing our dreams, not the starvation of our families. I'm even grateful that the recession may help us care for one another with more compassion.
When I lived in New York City, I weathered a huge snowstorm one year in Brooklyn. It was one of the few times in which I saw people come out into the streets and behave like a united community. Adversity helps many people to realize that we aren't islands; we need spiritual and physical support. The relative comfort of our daily lives has weakened our community ties in the sixty years since WW II ended. Perhaps the recession will correct some of our twenty-first century illusions.
We're all in this together. I love America and my fellow citizens, and we'll be better for having survived this shake-up.
Most of the layoffs have been at giants like Random House and Simon and Schuster, but a well-known CBA publisher laid off fifty people too.
Anyway, the ripples of economic downturn are now beginning to affect a large number of writers on a professional level. I accept the fact that my novel may not go under contract for a while--that it will almost certainly have a longer journey ahead of it than if my agent had submitted it to editors a year ago.
I don't find the potential delay of a publishing career depressing.
I'm grateful that we live in a country in which hard times mean more difficulty in pursuing our dreams, not the starvation of our families. I'm even grateful that the recession may help us care for one another with more compassion.
When I lived in New York City, I weathered a huge snowstorm one year in Brooklyn. It was one of the few times in which I saw people come out into the streets and behave like a united community. Adversity helps many people to realize that we aren't islands; we need spiritual and physical support. The relative comfort of our daily lives has weakened our community ties in the sixty years since WW II ended. Perhaps the recession will correct some of our twenty-first century illusions.
We're all in this together. I love America and my fellow citizens, and we'll be better for having survived this shake-up.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
An Unprejudiced Heart
This is the chapter review I put together for last night's "Ending Gossip and Criticism Class." I found the topic to be a useful meditation for me, so I thought I would offer it up for anyone else who might find it relevant.
Prejudice is not strictly a racial problem.
Racial prejudice has been so vilified in our society (and rightly so) that we recognize it pretty easily. It’s much more challenging to understand the everyday operations of ordinary, non-racial prejudice in our daily lives.
Some issues on which people base prejudice:
Intellect – he thinks he’s so smart; she’s so stupid he won’t understand my innovation
Education – he has nothing to contribute to theological discussion because he only has a high school education
Specific Areas of Behavior—flirtation or crude language, or prudery or refraining from crude language
Domesticity – for women: do you dress your children well enough? Do you brush their hair often enough? Do you cook at home, or use microwave meals?
Politics – he’s a selfish conservative who doesn’t care about the poor; she’s an air headed liberal who thinks we can all sit around singing “Kumbaya”
Boundaries – he’s really repressed and cold; she’s really emotional and weak; he shares too much personal information; she walls out everyone but her best friend
Money – they overspend; they’re too rich to be good Christians; that family is so poor they must be bad with their money
Group Affiliation—stereotypes—he’s a lawyer; she’s a former sorority girl; he’s on the praise team; she’s an elder’s wife
Most troublesome of all is the prejudice that results from our interactions with others. In these cases, someone may very well do something that has a negative effect on you. You don’t like it; you think it’s wrong or crazy or unjust. It becomes very hard to avoid future prejudice against that person. We may sometimes observe that someone else has a spiritual problem, and that observation in itself is not prejudice. It becomes prejudice when we start to feel animosity or condescension towards that person rather than love. For me, I think there is no tougher spiritual challenge than to recognize that any emotion I feel that is not respectful or loving is not fundamentally someone else’s problem, but my own shortcoming in failing to see with the eyes of Jesus.
The ability to pre-judge is a survival mechanism. God built us so that once we have been burned, we can pre-judge a similar dangerous situation and avoid being burned again. But our fallen condition has pushed this prejudging-system into overdrive, making us quick to dislike and slow to love. The teachings of Jesus urge us to learn the correct, merciful use of our pre-judging system—-avoiding prejudice at all times in favor of love.
What are some instances in our own lives in which we have pre-judged others in our hearts and behaved accordingly? If we’re really honest with ourselves, we have to acknowledge that this is an ongoing battle that we must fight every day.
Prejudice is not strictly a racial problem.
Racial prejudice has been so vilified in our society (and rightly so) that we recognize it pretty easily. It’s much more challenging to understand the everyday operations of ordinary, non-racial prejudice in our daily lives.
Some issues on which people base prejudice:
Intellect – he thinks he’s so smart; she’s so stupid he won’t understand my innovation
Education – he has nothing to contribute to theological discussion because he only has a high school education
Specific Areas of Behavior—flirtation or crude language, or prudery or refraining from crude language
Domesticity – for women: do you dress your children well enough? Do you brush their hair often enough? Do you cook at home, or use microwave meals?
Politics – he’s a selfish conservative who doesn’t care about the poor; she’s an air headed liberal who thinks we can all sit around singing “Kumbaya”
Boundaries – he’s really repressed and cold; she’s really emotional and weak; he shares too much personal information; she walls out everyone but her best friend
Money – they overspend; they’re too rich to be good Christians; that family is so poor they must be bad with their money
Group Affiliation—stereotypes—he’s a lawyer; she’s a former sorority girl; he’s on the praise team; she’s an elder’s wife
Most troublesome of all is the prejudice that results from our interactions with others. In these cases, someone may very well do something that has a negative effect on you. You don’t like it; you think it’s wrong or crazy or unjust. It becomes very hard to avoid future prejudice against that person. We may sometimes observe that someone else has a spiritual problem, and that observation in itself is not prejudice. It becomes prejudice when we start to feel animosity or condescension towards that person rather than love. For me, I think there is no tougher spiritual challenge than to recognize that any emotion I feel that is not respectful or loving is not fundamentally someone else’s problem, but my own shortcoming in failing to see with the eyes of Jesus.
The ability to pre-judge is a survival mechanism. God built us so that once we have been burned, we can pre-judge a similar dangerous situation and avoid being burned again. But our fallen condition has pushed this prejudging-system into overdrive, making us quick to dislike and slow to love. The teachings of Jesus urge us to learn the correct, merciful use of our pre-judging system—-avoiding prejudice at all times in favor of love.
What are some instances in our own lives in which we have pre-judged others in our hearts and behaved accordingly? If we’re really honest with ourselves, we have to acknowledge that this is an ongoing battle that we must fight every day.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Writing Your Truth
A few days ago, my agent posted her thoughts about writing for an audience. She reminded us that while you must write for your audience by structuring and pacing correctly, it is a mistake to start writing purely on the basis of what you think the audience wants. That second-guessing cramps the transmission of your own authorial truth. The writer's truth, she said, is what will eventually find an audience.
Her words were particularly poignant for me because I had just sent her a message the week before in which I told her that I was trying to do a couple of things in my second novel to please certain editors.
I lost something in attempting to construct my first draft by someone else's hypothetical taste. I was not taking the joy in writing the second novel that I found in writing the first.
No novel is going to be a joy to write at all times, but in this case, I think my diminished joy and my agent's words were an answer to prayer. I've been praying for help with this novel, and that help came in the form of redirection. I need to fine-tune the personalities of my lead characters in order to really love them with a passion, the way I love my characters from novel #1. I also need to always remember that while my novels are historical romances, what really lights my fire is heroism. My muses are ordinary people who fight the good fight against overwhelming odds. If I have a mission, it's to encourage others to feel that we are not helpless, despite how dark the world may seem at times--that our choices matter, and sometimes matter far more than we know.
I love a good romance, when there are heroes involved. I like other kinds of romance too, as a reader. But as a writer, I'm passionate about heroic romance. So, once again, it's back to the old outline for another refurbishment. Better to do it now than to get halfway through the first draft and have to throw it all out.
I owe you one, agent of mine. That was an inspired post.
Her words were particularly poignant for me because I had just sent her a message the week before in which I told her that I was trying to do a couple of things in my second novel to please certain editors.
I lost something in attempting to construct my first draft by someone else's hypothetical taste. I was not taking the joy in writing the second novel that I found in writing the first.
No novel is going to be a joy to write at all times, but in this case, I think my diminished joy and my agent's words were an answer to prayer. I've been praying for help with this novel, and that help came in the form of redirection. I need to fine-tune the personalities of my lead characters in order to really love them with a passion, the way I love my characters from novel #1. I also need to always remember that while my novels are historical romances, what really lights my fire is heroism. My muses are ordinary people who fight the good fight against overwhelming odds. If I have a mission, it's to encourage others to feel that we are not helpless, despite how dark the world may seem at times--that our choices matter, and sometimes matter far more than we know.
I love a good romance, when there are heroes involved. I like other kinds of romance too, as a reader. But as a writer, I'm passionate about heroic romance. So, once again, it's back to the old outline for another refurbishment. Better to do it now than to get halfway through the first draft and have to throw it all out.
I owe you one, agent of mine. That was an inspired post.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Adding to Your Christmas List: The Chronological Study Bible
I'm a reviewer for Thomas Nelson Publishing. They send me one book at a time from their limited to-be-reviewed list, and I post a review here. They do not require that my reviews be positive, but I would rather not answer their free gift with a negative review. Therefore, I plan to select the books most likely to earn a positive review on their own merit. My first selection, the Chronological Study Bible, is a winner from first page to last.
Fair Warning: My review of Thomas Nelson's Chronological Study Bible may add to your Christmas list, if you're at all interested in history or Bible study.
The concept is deceptively simple: a group of scholars takes the canonical, New King James Bible and re-orders the books so that they fall in chronological order, making it easier for the non-academic reader to absorb the history behind the Old Testament and the sequence of events in the New Testament.
It's a pleasure to read the introductory material, which is humble and fair-minded. The scholars aknowledge that some sections of the Bible are much harder to date than others. Their solution is to annotate those sections and offer the reader alternative explanations for where the sections *might* have appeared.
The scholars have included readable explanatory sidebars throughout the biblical text to help a modern reader understand aspects of ancient culture. For example, one double-page spread includes a summary of the Code of Hammurabi, a comparative history of ox-goring laws, and an explanation of legal codes based on retaliation. While some of you may have begun to snooze, I can only say AWESOME! Hey, if you're going to fork out forty dollars for a Bible, why not make it one that contains all this extra material? For me, these explanations make even the driest sections of the OT come to life in the context of culture. It helps to understand that ox-goring was not just some once-gored Hebrew scholar's petty obsession, but a widespread phenomenon that did require legal oversight. Goring oxen were the neighborhood pit bulls of Mosaic law.
Another nice touch: the Chronological Study Bible is full of color illustrations and photographs of places, buildings, crafts, and artwork depicting historical figures from the Bible. I'm glad that scholars and teachers finally acknowledge that even adults benefit from visual aids to learning.
As if all these teaching and study capsules weren't cool enough, there's more great stuff at the end of the volume. First, there's an index to cultural and historical topics like "Great Flood Accounts," "Chariots," "Women," and even "Baal-Zebub." Then there's a glossary, and finally a pretty good condensed concordance.
These scholars knew what they were doing. If I had to get rid of every Bible in my house but one, this would definitely be the one I would keep. It has a huge number of study tools packed into one fairly portable volume.
Friends in town: you are welcome to take a look at this valuable book. In the safe confines of my house. ;-)
Fair Warning: My review of Thomas Nelson's Chronological Study Bible may add to your Christmas list, if you're at all interested in history or Bible study.
The concept is deceptively simple: a group of scholars takes the canonical, New King James Bible and re-orders the books so that they fall in chronological order, making it easier for the non-academic reader to absorb the history behind the Old Testament and the sequence of events in the New Testament.
It's a pleasure to read the introductory material, which is humble and fair-minded. The scholars aknowledge that some sections of the Bible are much harder to date than others. Their solution is to annotate those sections and offer the reader alternative explanations for where the sections *might* have appeared.
The scholars have included readable explanatory sidebars throughout the biblical text to help a modern reader understand aspects of ancient culture. For example, one double-page spread includes a summary of the Code of Hammurabi, a comparative history of ox-goring laws, and an explanation of legal codes based on retaliation. While some of you may have begun to snooze, I can only say AWESOME! Hey, if you're going to fork out forty dollars for a Bible, why not make it one that contains all this extra material? For me, these explanations make even the driest sections of the OT come to life in the context of culture. It helps to understand that ox-goring was not just some once-gored Hebrew scholar's petty obsession, but a widespread phenomenon that did require legal oversight. Goring oxen were the neighborhood pit bulls of Mosaic law.
Another nice touch: the Chronological Study Bible is full of color illustrations and photographs of places, buildings, crafts, and artwork depicting historical figures from the Bible. I'm glad that scholars and teachers finally acknowledge that even adults benefit from visual aids to learning.
As if all these teaching and study capsules weren't cool enough, there's more great stuff at the end of the volume. First, there's an index to cultural and historical topics like "Great Flood Accounts," "Chariots," "Women," and even "Baal-Zebub." Then there's a glossary, and finally a pretty good condensed concordance.
These scholars knew what they were doing. If I had to get rid of every Bible in my house but one, this would definitely be the one I would keep. It has a huge number of study tools packed into one fairly portable volume.
Friends in town: you are welcome to take a look at this valuable book. In the safe confines of my house. ;-)
Who's Minding the Temple?
When I woke up from my post-church nap yesterday, I didn't feel good. I was both sluggish and a little despondent--just out of sorts.
I put on my Holy Yoga DVD, and my daughter and I worked out and stretched together. I admit that Holy Yoga is less relaxing when you take the "cobra" position and your daughter-cobra bites you on the arm. ;-) Nonetheless, it's still an amazing way to settle the mind and live in the moment.
After our yoga session, I felt so cleansed and freed from the negativity that had been shadowing me. It's true that our bodies are temples, and caring for our bodies is a spiritual act. Like many other people, I have several less-healthy habits that I could choose to fall back on when I feel out of sorts. I could try to quick-fix my mood without truly becoming serene. I'm glad that at least yesterday, I listened to what my body was telling me, and understood that I needed exercise, not sugar, caffeine, or adrenaline.
I put on my Holy Yoga DVD, and my daughter and I worked out and stretched together. I admit that Holy Yoga is less relaxing when you take the "cobra" position and your daughter-cobra bites you on the arm. ;-) Nonetheless, it's still an amazing way to settle the mind and live in the moment.
After our yoga session, I felt so cleansed and freed from the negativity that had been shadowing me. It's true that our bodies are temples, and caring for our bodies is a spiritual act. Like many other people, I have several less-healthy habits that I could choose to fall back on when I feel out of sorts. I could try to quick-fix my mood without truly becoming serene. I'm glad that at least yesterday, I listened to what my body was telling me, and understood that I needed exercise, not sugar, caffeine, or adrenaline.
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