My life at the present and a peek into the future

It has been at least a few weeks since I last posted something so I decided that I should though I have very little to speak of.

Unfortunately I have not been able to do too much writing the past few weeks as we have been busy and after such a crazy month of doing nothing but writing I feel rather burned out...maybe I shall try and start afresh in the new year.

I am quite pleased of my plan to finish this year and I have no doubt that my expectations will be met. On Christmas morning I and my family are traveling up to MI to celebrate Christmas with our family. I am so looking forward to this and can't wait to see everyone and spend the time together. From there a couple of us are traveling up to Canada to be a part of a young people's New Years Celebration. I haven't gone before but some of my cousins have and have enjoyed themselves so when I was invited this year I was happy to accept and even more so when I discovered I could get the time off of my job to go to this.
From there we will probably travel back to MI and my parents will pick us up there. So I am looking forward to my last week or so of 2010, and am looking forward to starting a new year and all the amazing possiblities that come with it.

Speaking of my job though, I have had a great time working there so far. All the people are very nice and patient with me as I learn. I am working a lot this week as Christmas is almost upon us and the store gets a lot busier. But I am really enjoying myself and look forward to continuing.

I have more to write about, no doubt, but I feel this post is quite long enough as it is and I'm afraid it isn't very interesting. But the other things that I will try to write about soon are quite interesting and can take up a post of their own. Mainly maybe some more on my story and on the new Narnia movie, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

Nanowrimo 2010

On November 30th 2010 the Word Document word count of my story read 50,000. I wrote 50,000 words in the month of November through Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month) that takes place annually every November. It was quite a feat but I accomplished it. My story still needs a lot of work even for simply the rough draft. But I hatched a plan. The next time November rolls around I want to have at least the rough draft of my story done. I have paced the story out through the next year and hopefully by at least this time next year I will be done with at least my rough draft... I don't want to promise to much for I cannot boast in tomorrow or what the next year may bring forth.

But next year Nanowrimo, if I participate I want to be able to have a new fresh story with my other one completed. So this time next year I will see how I did. Hey, it could be one of my New Year's Resolutions. =)

A book about Cassie

I have made a decision. I'm going to write a book about Cassie. It will probably only be for my imediate family but I want to write it even for myself. Cassie has been a huge part of our lives for nine years and there are so many things that I want to remember and treasure about her and her life with us. So, I'm hoping to begin writing a book. I don't know when but I do want to write it - write the experience of Cassie in our lives because its something that I always want to keep close personally. I want to write about and remember the great things and all the little things too.

My Sweet Baby Cassie

I just experienced one of the hardest mornings of my life. Our dog Cassie had been sick the past few days and this morning we took her to the vet's office. Cassie had a bad habit of getting into things - like socks and rags, etc. Mom feared that she had eaten something again.



They x-rayed her stomach and sure enough she had eaten something. The only option was surgery. Cassie had already gone through one surgery and she was getting old. We knew that the best thing for her would be to put her down.



Even though we knew that it was best...it was so hard. I love her so much and I know everyone in my family does too. But that was our only option.



So, this morning at the vet's we were with Cassie when she fell asleep. Though it was hard and I'm going to miss her I remember the amazing nine years we had with her.


Isn't she just a beauty!! Love you, Cassie!

My life in a nutshell since last post

It has been too long since I last posted anything on here. But I have the excuse of busyness on my side.

We have moved. We have been in the new house for a few weeks. I have not been able to really settle in yet, most of my boxes are still packed, sitting around my bedroom. We moved into the house and had a week to get ready for our conference. We had the conference and it was lovely. It had great ministry and I was so surprised and happy when my cousin Colleen walked through the door. I had assumed that she couldn't make it and she wanted to surprise me when she found out she could. So that was awesome having her.

And my Grandparents from Ireland came all the way down for our conference and then after the weekend my Mom went with them and my uncle down to Trinidad and Tobago, because Mom had been born there when my grandparents were missionaries.

After that November started. I am a writer and a few years ago I heard about Nanowrimo. This year I was planning on doing it. I have been doing it and I am happy to announce that last night I reached 25,000 words, the half-way point.

I also started a job at a Christian Store that sells books, music, movies, etc. So, I have been pretty busy the past few weeks and haven't been able to write on here. So I thought I should update my blog with what has been happening to me the past few weeks. So there you have it!

By the way, I love the new house and I love my new job...so I'm a pretty happy girl right now. =)

I wish I could say that I have been so busy writing that I haven't been able to post. Well, that isn't true. In fact, I haven't done very much writing at all unfortunately.

You see, not long after my last post we had put our house on the market and what do you know, it sold in a little over a week. Yeah...

So, we have been pretty busy with the start of school, purging and packing, and looking for somewhere to move. Oh yes, I forgot to mention that we have to get out of the house by October 22 so the buyers can move in...if the inspection that happened yesterday comes back with good results.

As far as my writing though I have postponed it till the beginning of November, where I will probably be taking part in NaNoWriMo and get a good launch from there toward getting done with the book.

I have also been looking into a writers program called The Christian Writers Guild, run by Jerry B. Jenkins. I have recently looked at the classes they are offering and I'm thinking that it would be very good to try it for a year. So starting in January hopefully, I will sign up for the online program. I'm really looking forward to it.

Well, I just thought I should check back in here and write something and since this is a very big thing happening in our lives I figured it was worth sharing. =)

Hoping to post again soon!!

SeedSowers and Writing Update

Well, just got back from SeedSowers Saturday night and haven't had time to post until now. I loved having my company over and it was very nice to visit with them all again. Not too long later however I saw them again at SeedSowers. Ottawa SeedSowers was amazing fun. There was a very large group, about 160 people, a hundred or more being young people that would be distributing 10,000 texts and gospel invitations across the city of Ottawa. Though the campground we stayed at was on the scanky side, the mornings and nights were a little chilly, and there was one night of unrelenting rain the christian company more than made up for it. I met a lot of new friends and got in touch with some old ones and overall had a very great time.

Update of my writing, hopefully today I will get started on development and outlines and work on them for about two weeks till I start after Labor Day on my 'Write my Novel in a Year' project. So I'm looking forward to it and I hope my critics are too.

Introducing my life in the 21st Century

Late last night I discovered something. I had just watched a movie where the main character was a writer and the entire movie her main character followed her around and only she could see him. I could relate to the fact that I can only completely understand my characters and that most people might think I'm crazy. But in that movie...he was really in her world. That's when I discovered...

I discovered that I had never introduced Kalid, my hero, to my world. So this morning I brought him into my world for him to discover me as I had discovered him in Lamora-Valkon. As I showed him around I discovered how little I knew about the 21st Century. I think I explained everything well enough...though he still has some trouble understanding electricity, computers, iPods, cars, and the like. And since I haven't yet brought any other characters to life in the pages of my novel, poor Kalid is all alone with me as of now. But I'm hoping to bring others out soon.

I don't think he minds it just being me though. He likes being visible to only me especially since we are both so alike. I do like having him around and being able to show him parallels in my life that are in his, though in different context.

Being a slave in Lamora-Valkon isn't going well for him so I hope that soon he will break out of that soon and that I will be nearby to write it all out when he does.

Until then...and until my next post...I will say goodbye.

The U.S.S.1 is Complete

Today I finally finished the uneditted section 1 of my story for my critics. They still have to wait till I edit the whole thing but that shouldn't take too long...and its only 11 pages or so. Although it may take longer because....

Tomorrow three friends are coming for a visit and are staying for a few days. I'm really looking forward to their visit but I might not write as much when they're here...rather anti-social. =)

And then the following week I'll be gone to Ottawa for Seed Sowers...so I probably won't be blogging during that week. But I think I have a few days in between and I will try to squeeze some of my editing into those days.

Anyway, I have to get going....got a work session tonight at our meeting and I have to get ready.

Hoping to post again soon!!

British Chocolate and Torture

My sister Erin just returned from her visit to Ireland and with her she brought some sweets. British chocolate is so amazing. It is a pure, delicious delight.

So I'm sitting at home enjoying this beautiful British chocolate as I'm torturing my main character by making him a slave in a foreign, hostile country. I feel so cruel!

See, Kalid Fania, my main character, is a slave in Lamora-Valkon, the evil country trying to conquer the land of Glenreden. He was captured in a raid as a young boy and has been enduring forced labor for seven years now. But things are about to change for Kalid Fania...so I must put down my Flake bar and follow my character as his real journey is about to begin.

Click and Unfold

I love when aspects of your story, say characters, click and unfold.

Just the other day I realized in my writing that I needed something more for a certain character. Little by little ideas came to me. Suddenly, as the last idea came to my mind, that character's story unfolded. It clicked and unfolded. It now gives that character so much more depth, as well as adding to the surrounding characters and the plot.

I didn't realize that this normally happens until now. The other most recent one and the one that's still fresh on my mind was the one I just wrote on. When I finally accepted the fact that my main characters needed to switch, the story clicked and unfolded. It was incredible! And it happened again...and I hope will happen again soon as I continue to write and develop the story and characters.

I love when you experience something incredible and don't realize how incredible it was until it happened again. My story wasn't the only aspect of my life to be affected by this phenomenon...but that is another story all together.

"I am hidden with Christ in God." - Colossians 3:3

Story Writing

I've been working on my story recently and I am thrilled to find the evidence of the Writer's Conference.

At the conference I had a revelation about my story. I had been struggling with a character issue. I had a main character but there was another character I cared about more and who developed more than the main character. I knew I needed to fix it but still hadn't. And now I'm glad I didn't.

I was hammered with character related teachings at the conference. The main character should be the one who changes the most, the one we end up caring more about. The one whose story we become most interested in. Well, with me, there was no hesitation knowing who, in my mind, my favorite character was.

My main teacher said that your main character isn't really your main character. I agreed with her and still saw the problem with my story and characters. And I tried to think how I could change that. The next morning, getting ready for the new day of teaching, I had my revelation.

My main character wasn't really my main character. The two characters needed to switch! After changing the main character, the story flowed and worked more than I could have imagined. And one of my critics told me that she was really glad that I had changed the main character because the new one had so much more potential for depth. I was so thrilled to get such feedback!

That brings me to another point. After the writers conference I saw what having a critique group could do. So soon after, I, for the first time, opened up my story and now have my sisters and some of my cousins all reading and critiquing my story. And already I know its going to be so much better with their help.

I also found that my writing in general has improved drastically since being there. I'm really looking forward to continuing my story and making it excellent...then hopefully I'll share it with the world. Dream Big, right?

Finally, I feel so blessed and am so blessed to be the one God has given this story to. He has given me His creative spirit and I have no doubt that He has given me this story to write. My deepest desire is to honor Him by writing it and making it excellent for Him. I just pray that He gives me help to do so and praise Him for His gift.

"Consider what great things He has done for you." - 1 Samuel 12:24

My first post on the writers conference

I need to write something on here. =) So this is my new post.
Only question is what do I write about??

Well, one thing that happened recently was that I drove with my Mom to Chicago to go to a writers conference that I was given a scholarship to. I enjoyed it so much and I can't possibly describe the experience. They said there that when you got home, no one would really understand your passion for wanting to write and how much you enjoyed the conference. I know that's true. I feel a little bad for my Mom now since she went a few years ago and it must have been the same feeling for her.

But I'll tell a little about the conference...
My main class was on Hollywood Storytelling Tools and it was my favorite! Every day for four days we had a class on another subject: character, plot, dialogue, etc. and how Hollywood does it in movies.
And I met a lot of amazing people that luckily I am able to stay in contact with.
I met Dr. Dennis Hensley, a professor at Taylor University in Fort Wayne, Indiana who teaches a Proffesional Writing Program and I was very interested in everything I learned from him. I'm really hoping to visit the college this fall.

The classes were great and the teachers were great. I really enjoyed myself and since the whole conference was so incredible its too much to simply put in one post. So this is the first of hopefully many of the stories from the writers conference and maybe I'll share some of what I learned and how they have effected my story.

A quote for Thursday

"The chief danger in life is that you may take too many precautions." - Alfred Adler

The Love My Savior had for Me

See from His head, His hands, His feet

Sorrow and love flow mingled down

Did e'er such love and sorrow meet

Or thorns compose so rich a crown

Were the whole realm of nature mine

That were an offering far too small

Love so amazing, so divine

Demands my heart, my life, my all

"And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground." Luke 22:44

"My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death." - Matthew 26:38

I have recently been enjoying the Lord's great love to me that He proved on the Cross of Calvary.

First post

This is my first post on here. I've created this blog for a number of reasons. One, I thought it could be really fun. Second, to write on it obviously. And another reason is because I'm a writer and I thought it would be neat to have a blog that I can post some of my writings on and just write about writing and life in general. So I guess I'll see where this blog goes.