I decided to study this year...

This is a post that's been a long time in the coming. I've re-written it, lost the rewrites and then changed it even more.It's a personal post, not much about books, but I felt I needed to write it.

One of the things that has been on my mind a lot since the leadership course I did is my education. You should know that I was home educated and always have been. In the last two years my studies slowly stopped. I didn't graduate as I believe we should always be learning. And I certainly have learned since then. I've been informally studying writing and I've been reading books. But I've been a little lazy with it.

That is going to change. During this course I was encouraged to go study at university by both lecturers and fellow attendees. I was a little surprised and somewhat resistant. I had never seriously considered the university path. I plan to be a mother, not a career woman and my parents have taught me how to learn all I want to know. Besides, I don't know what to study. I'm interested in so many things.

But I promised I would give it serious thought. There were some good reasons given, counters to some of my objections. After much thought, research and prayer, I came to a decision. I should study. Since God has gifted me with a mind with the power of understanding some difficult and abstract concepts and well as the ability to remember random details that seem important (read: sound interesting to me at the time), I really ought to do something more with it. I shouldn't let it stagnate or get too caught up in the imaginary world of my own fancies. So I am going to study. But not at university.

Yes, not at university. I have reasons for this. I did write out a long list of arguments, but it seemed to strong and I  wondering whether I really believed all of them myself. So I've made it shorter.

Firstly, studying at university isn't going to get me closer to having a publishable book. It would sideline my writing for a few years. Also I've heard that an English degree can be one of the worst things for a writer and especially an editor. If there was some kind of in depth Christian fiction writing course I might think differently.

Another factor is that I don't really like the university system and the way it's becoming the default for most young people. Also I don't want to be immersed in an ungodly environment in the way I would in a mainstream university. I want to reach out and help people, but asking the world to fill my mind with their ideas doesn't seem like a good idea. I'd either have to stay silent on some of my convictions, or get into trouble for speaking my mind.

Degrees aren't really worth as much as they used to be anyway. I was taught to teach myself and I'm
not worried too much about my lack of credentials. If I really had to go get myself a job I think there's smarter ways of getting one.

I'm not this crazy though.

I have a streak of non-conformity and wanderlust. Maybe I look normal, but I do write fantasy books and daydream a lot.v Anyway if I could afford university up front, I'd probably do missions work or travel or just help out at a lot of camps and conferences instead.

Lastly, I'm not so desperate to get married that I'd go to university just to meet people. This might not appear to be worth mentioning, but I was given that as one reason to do it so... we'll I'm not so it doesn't matter. Going other places for that purpose however...

Now you're probably all wondering how studying on my own works. Firstly, accountability. I'm sharing my goals here so that I can't be lazy about them. I'll be sharing parts of my work as well. The plan is to have it slightly separated from the rest of the website. I don't want to subject anyone to watching my education if they're not interested.

So here is what I'm going to be studying:

1. Biblical Greek. This is a vague idea I've had for just over a year. It's a couple of months since it became serious and a few weeks since I made a start. I bought the Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar, Workbook, and Flashcards by William D. Mounce. I'll be going through the course on  billmounce.com along with some material from NTGreek in Session. (The basic letters are fascinating, by the way)


2. I will be doing cultural studies. Basically I'll pick a country or people group, study them for a couple of months and write up something about my findings. I'm not sure what the time frame for that will be, but because I have several interruptions coming up in the next few months and this is going to take a little settling into, I'll give myself until the end of May to do my first study which will be on Myanmar/Burma.


3. Music appreciation. I'm not sure that I'll do this much, but I do like listening to most of the great composers and some modern compositions. That won't be stopping.


4. Theology, Philosophy, Apologetics and History. This will be through reading and occasionally writing up my thoughts. It will be wide branching, going into politics and biographies well as the aforementioned subjects.. Basically a lot of nonfiction of various sorts. I've been given a long list of books and some instruction on reading. Also my dad has a large collection of books. I'll be reading some of them. Current books are The Institutes of Biblical Law and The Insanity of God. (In the time I've been writing this, I listened to all of Mere Christianity.)


5. Conferences and Seminars. If there's an opportunity to listen to great speakers and interact with people of like minds, I'll take it.


6. Online Courses. I'm taking the Theme Mastery course by Kingdom Pen and something called User Experience for the Web on Open2Study. The Theme Mastery course has been amazing for the first ten lessons. The other not so much, but it can't hurt.


7. Other reading. I'll be reading a variety of fiction, both modern and classic, as literature and cultural study. It's not going be as big an intake as I've had in the past, but I hope to get more out of it.

And that's about it. Congratulations for making it to the bottom. It might look like a lot and I admit to feeling a little overwhelmed. But if I get my time under better control, it shouldn't take away from my writing and editing much. Especially since I've been a bit lazy about it lately.

I just want to add a special thank you to my fellow CHQ students. I wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't for you. It might not be the effect you expected, but you have been a great help to me. I may have learned a little Greek anyway, but I doubt I would have bought the books that I did. Thank you.

Yes, I Want to Change the World

There, I said I'd have another post this week. I'm hoping it'll be a little different to most of the blog posts I've seen these last couple of days. January is in every second title. If I was doing that it would be late anyway. It's February in Australia. Shortest month in the year. So I had better get onto it.

I'm much better at dreaming about the future than keeping records of the past. But mostly just dreaming, no planning. And I've been learning that to lead people anywhere you need to know where specifically that is and be able to look back to where you came from. I'm not sure I'm a leader, but as I said in the title, I do want to change the world.

Actually, I'll rephrase that. I want the world to be changed. I want it to become more conformed to God and I want to be a tool for him to use. Specifically I want to touch people's hearts and help them to the see the truth. I want to do this through my writing, and with everything else I'm called to.

Maybe it's not a good idea to state outright what I'm trying to do. People might catch on and avoid my writing, but it helps me to write about it. Besides, one author might change the direction of a few people's lives, but not the whole culture. There needs to be many of us. I want to be working alongside others. Alongside you. Writer or not, God can use you to make a difference.

How do we do this? What am I specifically doing? I don't know. The course I did last week strengthened the call I felt to do something. It brought forward some of the issues in our culture that ust be grappled with. I gained a clearer way of thinking about some issues, a completely new understanding of others, and many ideas to incorporate into the worlds of my stories. It gave me a direction for learning more, told me who God was and who I was. But it didn't tell me what to do or even what to think.

About 1% of my handwritten notes from last week.

At the simplest level, I must be faithful to whatever God has placed in front of me, I must be willing to take opportunities he offers, and most of all I must trust in him and keep close to his teachings whatever I do. After that there are the ideas I have been given for stories, the imagination I have been given, the unique circumstances that give me my particular view of the world (as opposed to all the other unique views). I must use those gifts and I must do it to the best of my ability. Our God is not a God of mediocrity. He does everything perfectly.

I do have a basic plan for what I wish to do with my writing though. I am attempting to shed the light of the gospel on certain circumstances, to provide examples of both good and bad actions, to use the grandeur of a made up story to bring clarity to the simple, but difficult issues of life. I want to reflect the way God made this world to work, and to show the goodness of what God has revealed to us.

I am also trying to show the glory of God in his creation, to evoke a beauty we can forget to notice in the world. The life of a forest over the brilliant depths of a gorge, The sweetness of birds singing by a trickling brook, and the devotion of a mother to a child. I can picture them now, a dark haired  woman looking down on a child in her arms. There is a slight expression of weariness in her face, but such a glowing look of joy as well. The baby sleeps, its little face scrunched up in peace and happiness.

I will also have to show the flip side of that. The horrors of destruction, the anguish of the death of one beloved, the remorse of a wrongly made choice. I cannot show the glories of perfection without contrasting the utter darkness we fallen humans can create. I won't focus on it, I might not even get a close look, but I cannot try to lessen it, or shut it out. I must be honest.

And that is my plan for changing lives through my writing. It's probably not the same as yours. You might never write for the public. You might think my ideas are crazy. But please, whatever your thoughts are, always be ready for God to use you. Learn new skills, try to do everything with excellence, be aware of what is going on in the world, most of all keep close to God. And maybe we'll be changing the world together.

Beautiful Books: Goals and Interruptions

Hello readers, writer, friends and- I don't think there are enemies reading my blog. If you are, please say hi.

I was starting to write about what writing I'd planned for this month and what was really happening when I remembered the Beautiful Books link-up was waiting for me. Since it is one on goals I'll try to make it fit together.

What were your writing achievements last year?

I finished the first draft of my first novel, mostly re wrote it, wrote most of a second one, and started brainstorming a sequel. Not entirely in that order. It was a good year.

What’s on your writerly “to-do list” for 2017?

Finish Lady of Courage, get Girl of the Rumours reading to critique partners or maybe even beta readers. Probably write its sequel, though that depends on whether it is ready to be written when I have time.

As for this month, I had big goals: I was going to be writing 40,000 words, mostly on Lady of Courage. Anything else including blog post would be counted too. Otherwise my blog won't happen with a high word count goal. I thought I might do a little bit of outlining on A Brigand, No Longer, but nothing else was expected.

The Secret Story

Then two things happened. First I was given a shiny new idea that get's better the more I think about it. It's a secret project I can't talk about much, but I'm doing world building. And I'm not just mashing up bits from our world though there is a bit of that. I've finally veered off into what couldn't be in our world.

It's amazing how starting with nothing allows for more consideration of ideals. I'm not making a utopia, but I can put in more of my ideals for life, work education and government. I can actually make a clearer reflection of the truths of our world I believe to be important. I knew that stories allow one to do that before now, but I hadn't experienced it so fully.

So because of that I haven't gotten much work done on Lady of Courage. This week I'm forcing myself to get back to work on it.

The second interruption is one that actually has an impact of my word count. I'm going away for a week.  It's an intensive course on planning one's life to impact the world. I'll be writing, but it's not the stuff I count. So my goal has shrunk.

Tell us about your top-priority writing projects for this year!

I think this means add more details. Girl of the Rumours is still in a fairly rough state, but the only big changes are content added to the middle and  the climax. The rest needs some continuity checking, some serious evaluation and a little polish.

I'm hoping doing that will help me sort out what happens in  A Brigand, No Longer. For it I've just got a bunch of ideas that  I'm not sure how they fit in. It's likely there will be a third book, but the ideas aren't clear enough.

How do you hope to improve as a writer? Where do you see yourself at the end of 2017? 

I haven't gotten much feedback on my writing so far. I'm hoping the critique process will really help me figure out my weaknesses and strengths. From there I'll be in a much better place to write.

Describe your general editing process. 

I've hardly done enough editing to turn it into a process. For my first book the first edit was when I copied it from note book to computer. There were subtle changes I added as I copied. There were bigger things that happen though out it. When I actually begun that I'd just figured out the main line of the story and had to change the whole beginning to fit it. Then I go back over and tidy things up. I refine my characters.

For my other books it'll be a little different, because it is already on the computer. But I'll still be re writing things I've thought better of and making other big changes.

On a scale of 1-10, how do you think this draft turned out? 

Well it's not quite finished yet. But I'll put it at 6 overall.

What aspect of your draft needs the most work?

The complex threads. A lot of them were dropped and the subtlety was lost. I'll need to add them in and tie it all together. Also the political scenes could really do with smoother intrigue.

What do you like the most about your draft? 

The themes of friendship and communication that are coming though. And the sacrificial themes. That's something I didn't fully realize until I wrote this.There's a lot of love and mostly not the romantic kind. I'm also loving the teenaged brother inventor. He's fun.

What are your plans for this novel once you finish editing? More edits? Finding beta readers? Querying? Self-publishing? Hiding it in a dark hole forever? 

More editing. Then some critiquing will have to come, then more edits. Rise and repeat several times. Then I'll think about querying.

What’s your top piece of advice for those just finished writing a first draft?

Let is sit for a month or two. Then read it over. Don't think about it too much in between. Work on something else. But do come back. It's worth it. Also write yourself an ridiculous. encouraging letter that will help you keep on when the editing seems hopeless.

And that's that. Except I haven't shared the new name I have for the larger country Girl of the Rumours takes place in. Verlis is the main setting, but it's just a province. The whole land is called NéaElefthéri. Ne-a el-ef-THAIR-ree. NéaElefthéri. There is a chance you can talk me into explaining it.

So do you have any excitng new writing developments? Or just a stubborn unmoving goal to move towards? Tell me about it.

6 Non-Writing Things I did in November

Hello friends, This is going to be a short post because I've been busy lately and I'm out of practice. Besides you would all rather I wrote my stories than my blog posts anyway, right?

1. Work

Yes, boring and not even something that takes a lot of time, but I did make sure it happens. That's actually why I finished NaNo early. The last day of the month, or in this case the last two days are the busiest for me work wise.

2. Scripture in Schools

This is the reason two days at the end of the month were busy. On the 30th I helped with Christian Education in schools for the first time ever. It's a great thing to do. These kids have so many questions about God and the Bible and a surprising number of answers too. Here's an example of what kind of conversations I've been in:

Boy 1: How do you draw God?Me: God is really too big and complex to draw, etc.
Boy 1: Is he really that big?
Boy 2: Yes. He made the whole world in seven days.
Boy 1: Okay, that's big.

3. Sewing

This was only when I needed a break from writing but I started sewing a dress. finished it on the 2nd of December.

4. Baking

Mostly bread as usual. We did have to buy a few loaves, but that was mostly lack of planning, not lack of time. Sourdough takes time. And I helped with the shopping several times, another normal activity.

5. Building and Garden

I don't remember any details, but I certainly did some. We're renovating our bathrooms at the moment, so there's plenty to do. (and when they're done that'll be the end of about 13 years of renovations. Which means we can work on the roof, the carport and the extension.)

6. Celebrations

These are weekend things, so probably didn't have a lot of impact on my writing time, but they did happen, A dear friend got married and one of my brothers had a birthday. Just simple things. Except that the wedding was outdoors and I didn't use sunscreen.


And now I'll go onto talking about this month. I'm still working on Lady of Courage, doing a bit of outlining to figure out what else needs to be written. I also did another exciting thing I won't get to mention elsewhere. Another brother had a birthday and we went on an overnight hiking trip. Exhausting, but doable. I enjoy physically challenging myself occasionally and it was fun.

August Wrap-up and Future Plans

I've never actually done a wrap up post except for when I've done Camp NaNo. I may never do one again. But this time I am.

My writing has been quite slow this month, but I've made a bit of progress. Girl of the Rumours is now sitting on 42,000 and has somewhere around a third to go. I'm not quite sure about the pacing yet. so that could change things. My goal is to roughly finish this draft by the end of the month, so that I can prepare for NaNoWriMo the next month. As for how that will go, I really have no idea.

This month I took the bold step of giving my first chapter to a couple of writer friends for feedback. It was mostly encouraging. One person found my main character a bit annoying and immature, which I was afraid of, so I know I need to do some fixing there. The other reader seemed to connect with her fairly well though. And I now know a few other ways I need to tweak my characters to make them across right.

The marking are hardly visible to the camera.

One of the best parts was actually getting mailed  a printed copy of the chapter covered with red pen marks. Calling that good might sound strange, but it really was. Firstly, some of the marking were really positive. Secondly, I knew it was far from perfect and I got to see what improvements another pair of eyes can make. I'm less worried about it being badly written, editing will improve it. And there wasn't really a huge number of marks. Just looking at it again I can see other improvements.

There's a chance I'll be looking for beta readers in February. But that really depends on how much time I spend on other projects. I had hoped to have Lady of Courage at least half written by now, but I hadn't planned on doing all these rewrites. And my NaNoWriMo project could flow on into December if it goes well, but isn't short.

Now that come to the question of what I'm doing for NaNoWriMo. Joane, from Girl of the Rumours, had caught my attention so much I decided I needed a sequel to continue her story. Once I got that idea into my head, I came up with other reasons a sequel is needed. So that's what I'm hoping to do and that's why I've had to do these rewrites. It's hard to write a sequel if the first book hasn't got a certain ending.

Another thing that might slow my writing down is my sewing. I'm making a fancy dress which I'll be wearing to a couple of weddings. It's been really fun so far. Over the last couple of weeks I drafted a pattern and sewed up a test in cheap fabric. (Though both it and the dress fabric were actually gifts.) Then on Friday I dyed my fabric to change the dreadful salmony pink, to a pretty lavender. That was fun and a bit smelly. And yesterday I cut it all out and did the same from a purple sheet for a underlining. And that's enough because this isn't a sewing blog.

Lastly I'm participating in a challenge all September. Read no fiction. That should give me more writing time, and more time to read the kind of serious books I get a lot of ideas from. I'll let you know how that goes. It might help me refocus on what's really important.

God bless you all and you have an amazing week

10 Amazing Things About Camp

I mentioned two weeks ago that I went to a camp and it was amazing. Anyway I thought I'd tell you just why it was amazing and what exactly I got out of it.

1. I got to spend time with great people

I don't really get out a lot, so seeing people is always good. And these weren't just any people, they were fun, encouraging people. About half were people I'd met before, but not seen for a long time. And despite it being a small camp we had people from all over the world.


2. I got to observe people interacting

This one's a writer thing. Watching real people inspires characters sometimes. I'm not necessarily directly basing any characters off real people, but I pick up little things that I use. And I get to observe more than I would with random strangers, but the people are still new to me so I notice things.


3. My room-mate was a writer

Of all the people I could have been put with I was with the lovely Jess of Jessie Grace blogs. I think God's hand was in it because I do have a bad tendency to judge by appearances and I might not have really talked to her if this hadn't happened. Since I have been wondering a little if I am even supposed to be a writer this encouraged me a lot. What other reason would God have for sticking me with a fellow writer?


4. The teaching was amazing

We had a whole lot of good solid Bible teaching. Sometime I get caught up in studying complex controversial things. This wasn't that. It was about how we live in Christ, and came straight from 2 Timothy. We were encouraged to get up early and read our bibles and given tips on how to make it more worthwhile. I felt as if I got my focus and enthusiasm back.
.


5. I was inspired to be adventurous and trust God

Though it wasn't actually the main focus of the camp the thing that hit me hardest was the fact that we need to and can fully trust God in anything. There was a hypothetical question that we had as an icebreaker: If you had unlimited money, where would you go and what would you do? One person gave the answer that God doesn't have limits and if he wants us to do something he will supply the means. That along with other things about trusting God had made me want to do more than just sitting at home writing. But it has also made me realize that I don't need to worry about doing enough. I do intend to do some new things, which will in turn give me more life experience to draw on in my writing.


6. The weather and scenery were amazing

It's the beginning of winter in Australia, but it wasn't quite too cold. Also though it almost rained one day it never quite did. And just look at the view we had: beautiful mountains and a bright blue sky.





7. There was some dancing

I had wanted to write a scene with dancing in Girl of the rumours, but despite watching many videos of renaissance dances I really didn't feel up to the task. Then we had some dancing at camp and I got it written. Besides it was fun despite the fact I mostly watched.


8. There were enough people to play games requiring large groups

We played a bunch of different games, mostly indoors, but we also had a soccer game. I'm not a huge sport person, but I do enjoy joining in a game of soccer. (despite the fact I'm not very good and stay in deep defence) I hadn't gotten to play any since this same camp the year before. And this time I was on the winning side. Also I won a game of Cluedo.


9. I came home with more energy than I went

I had fully expected to be exhausted after camp since that's what happened last year. But I wasn't. I felt invigorated. Maybe I didn't stay up so late as last time or maybe I'm in better health. Or perhaps 'the joy of the Lord was my strength'. Anyway I wasn't tired out and that's a good thing.


10. I finally shared Samara's Peril with my brother

I made him wait and actually managed to keep from spoiling it for him. But I decided the wait had been long enough. While I drove he borrowed my phone and read. When my other brother drove, I read aloud. Sharing books is fun.

Speaking of camps, I'm doing Camp NaNoWriMo again. This time with a goal of 25,000, my biggest yet. But I realized recently that writing really shouldn't take up that much time. I can sometimes write 300 words in 15 minutes. That mean my total writing time per day only needs to be an hour for my goal.

Who else is doing Camp NaNo? Does anyone need a cabin to join? If so tell me and I'll get you an invite.

Liebster Award

I got nominated for the Liebster award by my friend Annie Twitchell. Go check out her blog at: http://annie-louise-twitchell.blogspot.com.au/

Here are the rules:
- Thank the blog who nominated you and link back to them.
- Nominate up to 11 other bloggers to receive the award. To be eligible, they need to have 200 followers or less.
- Answer 11 questions from the blogger who nominated you.
- Tell your readers 11 random facts about yourself.- Give your nominees 11 questions to answer on their blog when they post their nomination.


My Nominees:
Kendra E. Ardnek
Amanda Beguerie
Alea Harper
Sierra Joane
Hannah Heath
Daniel Thompson
Morgan Huneke

My Eleven Questions from Annie:

#1 - What's the 'outdated' phrase that you use the most?

I really have no idea. I can't think of any phrases that I particularly favour.

#2 - What was the name of your first character you created?

There was a princess named Grace, but she wasn't really a character. It was really about three princes who never had names since I didn't write more than a sentence or two on that story. Other than that I really don't know.

#3 - About how many books do you read a week?

About one or two. Plus books like A History of Venice that I try to read every week and take forever.

#4 - If you were a dragon rider, what colour would your dragon be?

I am actually a dragon rider, at least in this forum. My dragon is blue and cream.

#5 - You're in a fight. What's your weapon of choice?

Staff, it's less likely to injure people permanently.

#6 - How many times a week do you use sticky notes?

Less that once.

#7 - When was the last time you hand-wrote a letter to someone?

Probably in 2014, maybe longer.

#8 - How many story ideas have you come up with in the two and a half minutes before falling asleep?

Not very many, unless ways to improve my current story count. Then it's a larger unspecified number.

#9 - Text or phone call?

If an email counts as text, then certainly that. Otherwise it would have to be phone call and very rarely. I do not use a phone for communication.

#10 - Do your characters have conversations with you?

Not really.

#11 - Stars or hearts?

Stars

Eleven Random Facts About Me:

#1 I am a bit of a heath fanatic sometimes. I don't take it too seriously though and I'm sceptical of most of the ideas out there.

#2 - Almost everyone I know in person calls me by my full name.

#3 - I haven't read any of the books that live on my shelf this year and I might not.

#4 - I do not own physical copies any of my most favourite books.

#5 - I hate wearing pants.

#6 - I love sewing.

#7 - I once owned a pair of hand-sewn pant and loved them. That was then, though.

#8 - The only tea I like is ginger. However tea and I have had a very limited acquaintance.

#9 - I live in the country and love it, but I'm not a farm girl.

#10 - I bought a pair of hiking shoes. They're brown with pale pink, but cost half the price of a pair that didn't quite fit which were cheaper in turn than a pair that did fit.

#11 - I don't have any sisters. (So why do I keep trying to write about characters who do?)

Eleven Questions for My Nominees:

#1 - What is your favourite book of the Bible?
#2 - Do you like maths?
#3 - What is your favourite thing to do outside?
#4 - What is your dream house?
#5 - Who do you look up to most?
#6 - What is your favourite word?
#7 - What are your five most prized possessions?
#8 - Is there a question you really wish someone would ask you?
#9 - What would you do if you had one month to live?
#10 - If you could live under water, would you?
#11 - Light or dark blue?

And that's that. Any blogger reading this may consider them-self nominated too. I'm sorry for missing you.

I hope everyone found that interesting and I may have another post on Friday.

Beautiful People: Arthen and Leisa, and sailing

It's this time of the month again. The time when I tell you about my characters. Or rather the Beautiful People linkup. Because it's February It's romance themed.

The two characters I'm doing are are Leisa Rosir, and Arthen Stute. Both of them are secondary characters and their relationship isn't a very important part of the story but it is there nonetheless. I was going to let them speak for themselves, but they are both rather quiet people and would just freeze up and not say anything in front of each other.

How did they first meet?

They knew each other as children, but they met again more recently when her father, Captain Rosir sent him with a letter for her mother. And also to stick around and be helpful in his spare time.

 What were their first impressions of each other? 

Arthen was surprised by how much Leisa had grown up since he'd last seen her. Also he noticed that she was much more dignified and restrained than her sister. She saw why her father had praised him for his steadiness, and that there was strength under his quietness.

How long have they been a couple? 

Well technically they're not quite a couple, but they've been spending time together for a few months.

How committed/loyal are they to each other? Would they break up over a secret or a disagreement? Could stress drive them apart? Would they die for each other? 

They're pretty committed. Her father is behind their relationship, so that's a good sticking force. Besides, they do like each other. I think they'd get through secrets and disagreements and they're pretty stressed at the moment. It's bringing them together not pushing them apart. Arthen would die for Leisa and though Leisa doesn't seem very brave, she surprises even me sometimes. So I think she would.

 List 5 “food quirks” they know about each other. (Ex: how they take their coffee, if they’re allergic to something, etc….and feel free to mention other non-food quirks!)

This is a tricky one, but he knows she likes inventing new twists on dishes and hates wasting anything. She thinks his habit of sprinkling cinnamon into his drinks is really odd. (Yes, I did just make that all up on the spot.)

Does anyone disapprove of their relationship?  

Not really. Leisa's mother is a little uncomfortable with any young man hanging around her daughters, but she doesn't have anything against him. Aydel(her sister) doesn't completely like him and think he's making Leisa insufferably good at first, but she isn't around for long and later she is quite happy about it.

What would be an ideal date? 

If things are ever peaceful again, they would love to just do some simple things together, go for a walk in a safe part of the forest, walk through a village and talk to the children. Those kinds of things.

 
What are their personality dynamics? Similar? Contrasting? Do they fight a lot or mesh perfectly? 

Arthen is stronger and wiser then Leisa and she looks up to him. Her desire to learn fits well with his knowledge. On the other hand He is a bit of a wanderer, while she is very domestic. When he goes off into danger, she worries. Or she would worry if she knew what he was doing.

What have been their best and worst moments together as a couple? 

The best times would be when he was repairing the roof and answering her questions about God's word. And later praying together. The worst would be when there was a conflict between his duties and her needs. Details would spoil the story.

Where do they see themselves and their relationship in the next few years? 

Possibly married with children. Neither of them is quite sure how they think of the the other though, not yet at least. What they really need is a bit of danger to make them realize it though. Or time of course, but that's not likely to happen.

I wanted to find a picture for each of them, but after much searching I still failed to find anyone who looks like Arthen, so I'll just give descriptions instead.

Arthen, or Stute as I often call him, has mid-brown skin and dark hair and eyes. He has a small neatly trimmed beard, smiles when he is relaxed.He is of ordinary height, whatever that is and almost always where a broad-brimmed hat and dark green and brown clothes.

Leisa is fair and blond and often wear blue along with natural linen coloured clothing. He eyes are a fairly nondescript grey. She is not particularly tall.

I hope you enjoyed hearing about them. How do you manage romance in your writing? Front and centre? Hidden away in the back? Hate it entirely?

P.S. This post is late because I went sailing this morning. And because I didn't write it ahead of time. Anyway, as I was saying, I got  to sail a boat, a catamaran to be exact. After drifting around in the bay for an hour and getting nervously close to some moored boats, Dad (who was in a different cat) came back and told us we needed to pull the sheet(sail) in close. After that we actually started getting somewhere on the odd moment when there was a breeze. Remember that, if you ever are sailing into the wind, pull the sheet in.

Beautiful People - Writers edition

Well, after being away for over a week and basically spending the beginning of the year strangely, I feel a bit disoriented. Because conferences with full catering are nothing like normal life. It's like being in another world that operates under completely different rules. Except that rain still makes you wet and it's still hard to talk to strangers.

Because of that, I can't come up with anything wonderful and I'm just going to do the beautiful people linkup. I have already answered some of these questions partially, so I hope you won't mind me repeating myself.

What were your writing achievements last year?
I actually started writing.  I proved to myself that I can meet goals sometimes.

Tell us about your top priority writing project for this year?
Finishing my first book, which is going to involve a lot of work.

List 5 areas you’d like to work the hardest to improve this year.
Dialogue. I have a tendency to let my character ramble all over the subject. I need to work on being more concise.
Scene structure. I really don't know much about that at all.
Simplicity. My ideas always seem to become huge and complicated in order to support a whole plot. Writing faster. Everything is going really slowly at the moment. If I want to get three books drafted this years I need to speed up.
Being more organized with my writing time.

Are you participating in any writing challenges?
I intend to do both Camp Nanowrimos and maybe even full NaNoWriMo.

What’s your critique partner/beta reader situation like and do you have plans to expand this year?
I do have a writing partner. I haven't actually sent her anything though. Soon I hope to be at a stage where I will want to do that.

Do you have plans to read any writer-related books this year?
Yes. I have a stack of four on the floor near me and I actually am going to buy a couple.
Or are there specific books you want to read for research? 
The History of Venice is partly story research and I'm sure I'll pick up a few more things.

Pick one character you want to get to know better, and how are you going to achieve this? 
The unnamed protagonist of my second story. I know next to nothing about her. I'll have to start by fleshing the story idea out a bit more and figuring out what I need her to be like. Then I'll have to be creative.

Do you plan to edit or query, and what’s your plan of attack? 
I will be either editing or completely rewriting. I'll do the first edit when I type my hand written draft into the computer.

Toni Morrison once said, “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” What are the books that you want to see more of, and what “holes” do you think need filling in the literary world? 
More books that actually teach you the truth about reality. Subtly and in fun ways of course.

What do you hope to have achieved by the end of 2016?
One book ready for beta readers and a couple more roughly drafted.

What do you all think I should try to write this year? Even give me your crazy ideas.

It's the end of the year.

My last post of the year. This year has been exciting. I started writing. I started a blog. I made friends with a bunch of really wonderful authors online. Thank you Hope Schmidt, Faith Blum, Kendra E. Ardnek, Rachel Steele, Shantelle Mary Hannu and others. I really appreciate your friendship and encouragement.

I went to my first youth camp and made a bunch of great acquaintances there. Our family started fellowship with a new church. That has been a great experience. We had to look deep into what we actually believe, which has made my faith grow.

And I was given lots of great Christmas presents. I got money to buy writing books, I've just got to decide which ones. Recommendations are welcome. Also I got new sandals, camping crockery, a file box, a pair of Dutch clog slippers, some brightly coloured socks, though they were actually a birthday present, and a nice little head lamp, in our gift swap. I took it from one of my cousins, but he got something just as good, so I didn't spoil anything. It's all part of the fun anyway. And I got two lovely new purple plastic cups. My previous one was over 10 year old and I was used to it but it's nice to have a new one.



Writing goals for next year:

• Finish the first draft of The Weaver and the Brigand.
• Work on revising/rewriting it. That's going to be a really big job.
• World-building for my second story.(and many more) It'll be fun.
• Outline second story
• Writing second story, hopefully in time to:
• Outline sequel to Weaver and Brigand before November.
• Write that for NaNoWriMo
• Generally improve the quality and speed of my writing

That is probably way too ambitious. I'm stuck at the moment, because my plot seems to be broken.

I am also going to start some kind of serial story. Adel and Leisa used to make up stories together when they were younger and I thought it would be fun to write some of that down. They won't be terribly original, but I hope you will enjoy it.

Other Goals:

• Write reviews for the books I read in 2015
• Finish my projects for LibriVox
• Find someone local who really needs a friend
• Be a better friend
• Find creative business skills
• Find some way to bless my community or neighbours.

This has been a year of discovering the world of Christian indie authors and free ebooks so I think I've read more books than usual this year.

Great books I read in 2015:

• All the published Ilyon Chronicles, by Jaye L. Knight 
• All the Makilien books, by Molly Evangeline 
• All books by Kendra E. Ardnek, especially Water Princess, Fire Prince
• 4 Hymns of the West books, by Faith Blum
• Virtues and Valor, by Hallee Bridgeman
• The Five Unnecessaries, by Laura Campbell
• The Eyes of Everia series, by Serena Chase
• Annabeth's War, by Jessica Greyson
• A Dream Not Imagined, Shantelle Mary Hannu
• Brothers and Betrayal, The Destiny of One, and Waltz into the Waves, by Sarah Holman
• Creighton Hill, by Morgan Elizabeth Huneke
• Dreamlander, K. M. Weiland
• The Forest at Edge series, by Trish Mercer
• By Darkness Hid and To Darkness Fled, by Jill Williamson

I've also read stacks of books on diet and nutrition, listened to The History of England from the Accession of James II, The History of Holland, Early Kings of Norway, Emma, Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility, and many other books. There are some other books I've read that aren't worth mentioning.

Next year I hope to read a whole lot more history, a little bit of fiction, and do a lot more Bible study.

I'll be away next week so there won't be any post for you. You all have a great new year and I'll be back in a bit over a week with exciting stories. I'm going to the Creation Super Camp. 

To end the year, I'll be finishing a 3000 piece puzzle with my family

(yes they do actually make them that big),  eating brie cheese and watching a new movie. What do you all do to finish off the year? Has anyone got any interesting goals for the coming year?

Living Joyfully

Hello readers,

I decided to do my posts out of order. I had planned to talk about reading, but sometimes, you just want to talk about life. (There I go talking about myself in the second person again)

Even when life is hard, we should still be able to find some joy. Christ has rescued us from death and sin and that ought to be enough. And then there are so many simples joys in life. Things like lovely weather, cooking, or gardening.

A little while ago I harvested the first garlic for the year. I like growing garlic. It's so simple. Just stick the cloves in the ground and seven or eight months later you pull out whole heads. One on them was a little early and there's lots more coming. I harvested another head today in fact. I am very glad I planted as much as I did, because we probably aren't going to get much else this season. We have a problem. Our plants are being eaten.

By mice we thought. Because we knew we had mice. But we weren't catching any. Even with a get-the-peanut-butter-and-fall-into-a-bucket-of-water trap. something was getting the peanut butter though. And now we know what it is. Rats. So we got the rabbit trap set up and we are waiting for night to come. But at least rats don't like garlic.


The same day I harvested the garlic I was also making bread, and I took some photos. So here they are. I make bread because then I can know exactly what's in it. Or not in it. It doesn't have a lot of things in it. But it's really good.

Anyway this post doesn't seem to have a great point to it, but life is like that sometimes. Not everything seems to be hugely important. But we do it anyway and we find joy in it. Not because of what we are doing, but because of who we are, children of the living God. May you find joy in him.