Encouragement to the Believing Writer

"This is my life work: helping people understand and respond to this Message. It came as a sheer gift to me, a real surprise, God handling all the details. When it came to presenting the Message to people who had no background in God's way, I was the least qualified of any of the available Christians. God saw to it that I was equipped, but you can be sure that it had nothing to do with my natural abilities.

And so here I am, preaching and writing about things that are way over my head, the inexhaustible riches and generosity of Christ. My task is to bring out in the open and make plain what God, who created all this in the first place, has been doing in secret and behind the scenes all along. Through followers of Jesus like yourselves gathered in churches, this extraordinary plan of God is becoming known and talked about even among the angels!"

-Ephesians 3:7-10 (The Message)

This reminds me of what C.S. Lewis called "baptizing the imagination," which he and Rowling and Madeleine L'Engle have done wonderfully. This is the kind of story I want to write.

A Little Nighttime Saga

For two nights running, I've had dreams that lasted through the night - bits and pieces of stories, cameos by movie stars, and strange turn-of-events...I think I need to start taking melatonin again.

Last night was a long dream involving helping shoot the final episode of The Office (with John Krasinski & Jenna Fischer) during the golden hour in a suburb, which involved John getting down on one knee and offering Jenna a jewelry box full of money, which I think she needed to give to her father because he was sick and needed money to pay hospital bills, which then turned into driving a convoy with James Marsters (as Spike) and a couple of demons for Christian Bale (who wanted to ride in a van all by himself so we had to crowd into James' van), which then turned into a Buffy episode (where I was a human disguised as a demon) at the beach where I was almost detected by a really evil dude, which then turned into a chase scene up and down the boardwalk and under piers (where some of the demons were helping and some were chasing - much like the Buffyverse), which is where I finally decided to quit sleeping.

None of it was scary, it was just...weird.

Anyway. I ate two gyros yesterday, as well as Greek fries, Chicken tenders, and a banana and a Clementine. For anyone wondering what causes these ridiculous night-long sagas.

Now to spend the day crocheting and cooking and laundering, with the help of music and TV episodes.

Children's Stories

The reason I love animated movies and children's stories so much is that truth isn't forced down your windpipe.

They lead you toward the truth, but you get to discover it for yourself.

There's still room for wonder.

And that's why I'm so passionate about great children's literature/film.

...and why I just finished watching Tangled for the several dozenth time.

Process

Here is a summation of my weekend:

Friday night: Due West, S.C. - Dinner with the family (Pop, Mimi, Nanna & Andrew)

Saturday: Greenville, S.C. & Due West, S.C. - Went to Greenville early in the morning to be extras in our friend Destry's movie - spent the morning there and celebrated our Godfather's birthday (after filming was over). Drove back to Due West and walked through Erskine's campus (...sometimes, I think I should have gone to Erskine...), practiced music, played cards, etc.

Sunday: Gastonia, N.C. and Greenville, S.C. - played music with my sister at church, then ate at the potluck luncheon (delicious). Drove toward Greenville and stopped at an outlet mall to shop (Mimi bought Stu two awesome collared shirts), and then made a stop at Steak 'N Shake to get Orange Freezes and some chili. Then went to Devenger Road Presbyterian to play (with Nanna) for their evening service. Granny, Grandpa, Great Uncle Jodi and Great Aunt Beverly were there, along with one of the directors for my parents' mission board (Mr. Hopkins). Said goodbye to Nanna (she is spending part of the week with grandparents and then part of the week with Godparents and then spending the end of the week in Due West) as she is leaving for Spain on Monday and I won't see her again until December 2012 (IF we get to fly over for Christmas). ...I think it hit me for the first time that we're all growing up and going our separate ways. :/

Then we headed back to Due West.

Monday: Due West, S.C. to Columbia, S.C. - woke up and learned to crochet while Andrew did school, and then packed up our stuff and headed to Columbia.

If you think that schedule is nuts - welcome to my world. That's basically how I lived from age 10-19. And of course, when you're on furlough, everything's even CRAZIER. Mimi and Pops are going non-stop for the next three weeks...they've got church meetings every Sunday, including some in New York, and then they'll be in Florida for three weeks right before Thanksgiving visiting their supporting churches down there.

I am exhausted and over-stimulated, with no time to process. But really, it was a fun weekend. Interactions with my family are getting steadily better, and even though I'm still struggling with how I should feel toward them (how do I reconcile what happened with how things are now? Was I making all/some of it up? Was I taking it too hard? Am I just too sensitive? Why/how did they/I change? How do I react now?), I am grateful that we have moved past the awkward stage and can (for the most part) just enjoy being together.

But I really need to sit down and process. At some point.

Question

Alright, you two - I have a question.

I need some input about the story I'm working on.

I'm not quite sure how to explain it, because I don't want to give the whole story away, but I'll do my best. Here goes:

Which is more emotionally powerful/interesting:

1. Knowing what happened to a main character and seeing how much they've sacrificed, OR

2. Slowly figuring out what happened to the main character and then realizing how much they've sacrificed?

I'll try to explain it like this:

I'm thinking I should write the second book of Violet's Monster FIRST, partially because I have a tiny suspicion that the drama would be heightened and that it would be much more emotionally involving. BUT I don't know if it actually WILL be if the reader doesn't know any of the backstory at the beginning...what I'm thinking is, they'll be reading the 2nd story FIRST and then WHAM, they realize just how much this one character has given up/has to keep secret, instead of knowing what all happened before (if they had read the 1st story first) and just being sad with the character...

Thoughts?!

Come Thou Fount

I dreamed last night that I was helping my friend Daniel and his fiancee, Sunshine (Yes, I do have a friend whose fiancee is named Sunshine) record an album. I went to their house and they showed me all the instruments (I think Daniel was on drums and Sunshine was singing) they had picked out for me - a folk harp, a cello, and an electric bass. I swung the bow over the cello and said, "Well, I don't play cello very well..." and decided to try the harp. It was old, and the strings needed some work. I plucked a few notes and as the dust settled, I decided to try the bass, which was unlike any bass I've seen, but I knew it was a bass. I swung it up into my arms and played a note...

...and it was like I'd found my long-lost twin. I instantly started reading the music and playing 'Come Thou Fount' and really...it sounded pretty good. I mean, I was rocking that hymn OUT.

It was nice to be able to pick something up and just play it and have it sound that good and edgy from the get go. It was an awesome grey, too...so dark it looked black, but when the light hit it, you could see the grey shining and it was gorgeous. Like a dark pewter.

...maybe I should find myself a bass.