What Are You Passionate About? - Laura J. Davis

Opportunities abound for writers, but where do you thrive? Do you like to write short stories? Are you an expert at something that could benefit someone else? What are your interests? What do you read? These are just some of the questions you need to ask yourself before you start sending out samples of your writing to every agent/publisher in the country. It's always a good idea to write what you know and what you love.

For example, the very first story I ever wrote, while I was still singing, (for those of you who don't know my story, visit my website and click on About the Author for the details) was science fiction. At the time, I was heavily into Star Trek (still am, I can't help myself - deep down I'm a nerd, only now it's Dr. Who) and anything to do with end-times theories. When you put the two of those together you can get a great story. Unfortunately, when I put them together I got a convoluted mess. Why? Because I loved everything about Star Trek, but I didn't know an atom from a nanite. Descriptions and technical jargon were not my style. Science Fiction for me was not something I liked to read either. Tracking starships through space and describing in detail how a transporter worked was too tedious for me and I quickly got bored. If I was bored, my readers would be too. So, I gave up writing stories and stuck to songwriting. It was a good decision. I soon had my songs recorded by not only myself, but other artists. They received TV and radio time and when I received my first royalty cheque I knew I was doing the right thing. So, I put away my stories, concentrated on my songs, something I loved to do.

Jump ahead years later to the present. Taking a page from my past I now write about those things that I am passionate about and I take joy in. Mainly, biblical fiction and bible studies. I have two fiction books in the works right now and about four different bible studies. I am not bored and I absolutely love researching history, archaeological finds and most of all my bible. So if I enjoy all that and can take what I find, put it into a good story or a bible study I am satisfied. Hopefully, my audience will be too.

How about you? Do you write what you are passionate about or what you think everyone wants to read? If it is the latter, are you enjoying yourself? 

 


www.laurajdavis.com
www.interviewsandreviews.com
www.learningfromthemaster.com

Staying Alert Ruth Smith Meyer

The news so far this year has been full of tragedy—natural or that precipitated by human error or depravity.  The list is long—tornados, floods, wildfires, mass shootings, terrorist bombings, kidnappings and captivities.

 Just this past week, as I write, after one of the hottest, most humid weeks in a while, the approach of a cold front presented the possibility of violent, destructive weather on a long weather front that stretched out across much of our fair land. It seemed that reporters, because of all that has happened so recently, were sensitized to the disastrous possibilities this could present .  Their voices were full of concern and if not fear, then a definite trepidation of what they may have to convey in a short while.  

In our area during the early seventies, there were a few years in a row that brought heavy snowstorms with whiteouts that came up suddenly and lasted for several days. During the first such storm the bus drivers were called in to one local school at noon  .  Before they could get away, the storm got too bad, so the school had not only most of their pupils, but teachers and bus drivers for two days and two nights before they could safely go home.  Close neighbours,  facing some danger of losing their way by even being out for a short distance, brought in food on snowmobiles, and the children slept on coats and whatever they could find to make themselves as comfortable as possible.  Several other places, school buses and their loads got stranded at farm houses along the way.  One farmer lost his way going from barn to house and expired in the snowdrifts not far from shelter. 

The next year, the storm came unexpectedly during the morning rush hour and many were stranded in their cars along the roads.  Again, there were some deaths. 

As always when such things happen, there were also many stories of miracles, near tragedies and the kindness of people as they reached out to help. That has occurred again in the recent happenings in the news. That is the encouraging thing about such crises. It brings out the best in people, selfishness self-interest is laid aside in order to alleviate the need of the victims. It also makes us all aware of how quickly things can change, how dear life is and how fragile. 

For years after those storms, when the weather looked in the least threatening, schools were closed and children were sent home early.  But gradually, people got tired of it all and accused school authorities and bus companies of crying wolf too easily.  They forgot the possibilities of tragedies and resented the disruption of regular routines.

We settle so soon into taking things for granted, going on with daily life and expecting it to go on like this forever.  We forget the serious snow storms and go driving in the winter without emergency kits or even proper clothing, we forget about floods and begin building in flood plains, or forget about rock slides and drive along highways without a thought.  We forget about the earth’s faults and build where earthquakes can have devastating results. 

It makes me think of 2 Peter 3:4—They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” 

And Matthew 25:5 “The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.” 

Let’s stay alert!

Getting Unplugged - Eleanor Shepherd

We just spent two days in Detroit, on our way through to Chicago where my husband, Glen and I will be leading several sessions at a conference with The Salvation Army.  We left our home in Montreal on Thursday, and took the opportunity to visit family in the Toronto area Thursday and Friday.
Then on Friday evening we went to Niagara Falls, where we stayed with friends and managed to take in two plays at the Shaw Festival.  One was Major Barbara and the other Guys and Dolls.  We also visited the Falls.  On Sunday morning we worshipped with them in their house church.
On Monday, it was back to Toronto where I was able to have coffee with a long time friend and then on to Detroit, via Windsor.
In Detroit we spent one day at Greenfield Village, a huge reconstructed heritage village created by Henry Ford and half a day at the Henry Ford Museum.  It was all fascinating.
Leaving Detroit this afternoon, we arrived at South Haven on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, in time to enjoy a magnificent sunset over the lake.
So what it the point of this travelogue.  There is something that I have noted that is a result of our electronic attachment to our daily routine.  While we have been able to enjoy all of these things, that are not a part of our daily routine, at the same time, we have also not been able to leave our responsibilities behind.
When we stopped in Toronto on Thursday, we did not only spend time visiting with family, Glen also had a business meeting that he had to attend, so we were only partly relaxed, as this was on his mind.  As a result, I had to adapt my schedule to accommodate to his needs.  Then we were able to meet up with our relatives.
         In the midst of this, Glen also had a teleconference, so more time was spent with his ear to the telephone, while I was half focusing on our leisure activity. The reason we had to go back into Toronto on Monday, was for another business meeting that he had.

Lest you think it was only Glen who could not unplug, I also kept following the string of emails about some important events linked to my new position, and had a hard time keeping myself from becoming embroiled in the discussions.  However, I remembered that I had said to my colleague that I would leave him to make the decisions in my absence and I did not want to second guess him for the sake of our ongoing working relationship.
Not only are our iPhones keeping us anchored to our desks, even on vacation, we also have both brought our iPads and laptops.  Theoretically the reason for bringing these is to have them for the conference if we need them.  However, there is not a day that I have not been on my iPad.  Where do you think I am writing this?  That is right.  On my iPad.
The other excuse that I use for daily turning on my iPad, is that I keep the records for my daily intercession on it.  That is true.  However, when I have completed my intercession time in the morning, it is rare that I turn the iPad off right away.  I just check on a few things, and once again I am plunged into the concerns of my daily life.
While my laptop may be useful for the power point presentations for the workshops I will do at the conference, I have also found that when I turn it on, I realize that I need to delete files, to make room for additional information on it, and once again my mind become preoccupied with work.
Today, an interesting thing happened.  I did not have time to do anything on my iPad this morning after my prayer time.  I forgot to charge my iPhone last night and was afraid there would not be enough charge to look at my emails today.  Then my computer was in the trunk all day, so I could not open that either.  You know what happened?  I had a lovely day.  I was able to enjoy the company of my husband, who did not make any calls related to work. We sat by the lake this evening and watched the sun setting and only used the iPhone to capture the moment on the camera.  We both feel so much more refreshed this evening.  Now, as soon as I post this, I will try and unplug for the next few days.  I think I could even like it!

Word Guild Award
2011

Word Guild Award
2009

Life Lessons are Often Steps of Faith/MANN

Recently, while returning to Ontario from Alberta, I listened to an audio book by Richard Paul Evans, entitled, A Step of Faith. Evans has a skill of introducing his reader to the main characters various experiences as he walked across the United States, encountering and reflecting on lessons in life. In many ways, I identified with this book, as I thought about the past two weeks, renewing acquaintances, meeting new people, and enjoying more than one surprise of unexpected emotions. Each day offered life-lessons in some way.

Situations such as driving too late, making it difficult to find accommodations; eating too much late in the day risking loss of sleep; failing to keep the cooler stocked causing lack of healthy snacks continued to test our choices. These may seem like trite cause-and-effect situations, but they were vital to the peace and harmony of two people in the enclosed space of a van. In addition, I was often reminded of Dr. Phil’s repetitive question, “How’s that working for you?” after we’d made particular decisions or choices.

Exploring potential lessons of life through various encounters, relationships, weather conditions, even road-construction made the trip interesting in the midst of what might seem at times, tedious or mundane. Husband Doug, is an excellent driver and never shares this responsibly with me—probably easier for both of us.

A statement from A Step of faith resonated with me: “The strength of a friendship can be measured by the weight of the burden it is willing to share. To test it, just ask someone to help you move.” This short quote works in a variety of circumstances—you could change the last word “to travel across Canada, wallpaper a room together or give your wife driving lessons.” A valuable life-lesson in caring and supportive ways is being conscious of one another’s needs while traveling.

I was amazed at the similarities that I experienced in comparison to Richard Paul Evans’ character: travelling outside a group, staying with people or on our own, accepting assistance, acknowledging challenges, allowing surprises, and accepting the unknown and the unexpected. The routine of asking God for travelling mercies and God’s blessing at meal times was important in the midst of making choices on the walk without the usual familiarity of technology, favourite chair and the expected resources we have our fingertips. As the days and the miles disappeared behind us, our feelings of becoming a nomad increased and the familiarity of home faded as a new dependency of God’s care developed.

My purpose in going west was to introduce and promote a book set in this town where we had once lived. Life-lessons wove through my every day experiences as I renewed friendships, explored the prairie town, walked in the cemetery, talked to the people and sat on the church steps. Put together, it helped me to reflect on the many life-lessons these folks had initiated while encouraging and contributing to the book.

Acknowledging a lesson and unpacking it to carry us through the rest of the journey . . . is holy ground.

Blessings,

Donna 
A Rare Find: Ethel Ayres Bullymore - Legend of an Epic Canadian Midwife coming in mid fall
Aggie's Voice: The Victory Year coming in early fall

Stewards of the Earth—Carolyn R. Wilker

At Huron Natural Park

In our local newspaper, the Waterloo Region Record, on Wednesday, July 17, a columnist’s headline read, “We’re not big green bin users.” Jeff Outhit reported that our twin cities of Kitchener-Waterloo were #10 on a list of fourteen cities that run the green bin composting program. I wondered why that rate should be so low.

Our daughter, Laura, lived in Guelph, Ontario, after graduating from college. In Guelph, it’s compulsory to sort the disposables. I’d seen this program going in Nova Scotia when we went to visit our friends. I couldn’t remember which item went in which bin, but our friends had it figured out.

When we first got the blue bin—for recycling glass, metal and paper—we had been putting out a bag or more of garbage each week. When we added the blue bin, our garbage quantity went down consistently to one bag or a bit less.

 We already had a backyard composter and there were limitations on what we could put in it. With the green bin program, we could compost even more waste, things like crackers, bread, meat scraps and chicken bones. With all the other recycling options, our garbage output each week was now only part of a bag.

In a conversation on facebook this week friends said that people didn’t want to deal with the mess of a green bin and that few neighbours put out their green bins on garbage day. Another said she feared flies and other crawly creatures that might make the compost their home, but that has never been a problem for us.

Family members who live in an apartment building say they are not allowed to compost where they live, but they want to be responsible citizens. So we acquired an extra bin and once a week they drop off a bag of compostable material and we put it out at our curb. I learned this week that it’s not necessarily the apartment building owners or even their caretakers who don’t buy into the program, as I thought, but that the region must still develop a plan to include apartment buildings.

If you put compostable materials in the garbage, it can smell there too. Why not use the bin and contain the smelly stuff there, then put it out on garbage day? The bonus is a cleaner world and compost for gardeners to haul away for their gardens and flowerbeds.

This discussion led me to write a letter to the editor of our local newspaper, the Waterloo Region Record. I received a call the same day to verify that I had written the letter, and upon confirmation, learned that my letter would be published.

My letter, published on Saturday, July 20^th, is less finger pointing than it is encouragement to give the green bin a try, like developing any new habit.

Children are being taught in school about recycling. There are signs in public places and on the bins on how to handle the varying types of waste. If the children can learn it, surely adults can take it seriously too. 

Garbage and landfill sites are filling up. What then? Truck our garbage somewhere else? Then we pay for fuel to haul it there. It might be that the region can still make the operations more environmentally efficient, such as doing all the recycling nearby.

 By myself, I can do only so much, but together, we can make a difference. We are the stewards of creation, given the responsibility to take care of this planet we call earth. If we work on taking better care of it, perhaps we can leave it in better shape for our next generations.Until then, be good earthkeepers.

A response to Sal’s “Creationist support of eugenics and genocide in the past” - Denyse O'Leary

I posted this this morning at Uncommon Descent, and it features the work of another Canadian  Christian writer, Jane Harris Zsovan:

Thanks, Sal, for excellent sleuthing of creationist who supported eugenics.

It’s surprising, on the face of it, that any creationist would adopt eugenics; that amounts to saying that God regularly makes mistakes about the sort of people he creates.

That’s entirely different from saying that God regularly creates people we wish he hadn’t. His choice doesn’t make them a mistake because the world is not organized mainly to please us. J.R.R. Tolkien touches on this theme with the character Gollum in The Lord of the Rings. Everyone hates Gollum for good reason, even himself probably. But …

Frodo: It's a pity Bilbo didn't kill him when he had the chance.

Gandalf: Pity? It was pity that stayed Bilbo's hand. Many that live deserve death. Some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo? Do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends. My heart tells me that Gollum has some part to play yet, for good or ill before this is over. The pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many.

And so it proved.

The same would apply to dealing out sterilization. Not all creationists got the memo, it seems.

This area was actually documented here at UD a couple of years ago, in our interview series (links appended below) with Jane Harris, author of Eugenics and the Firewall, about the eugenics-based compulsory sterilization program in the Canadian province of Alberta, a program that was not actually abolished until the early 1970s:

Eugenics was widely accepted by the business, academic, medical and political establishment. Preachers – in evangelical and mainline churches – even preached it from the pulpit. One exception: Roman Catholics. And they were ridiculed for their ‘backwardness’ in not endorsing eugenic theory. Also, the Conservative Party in Alberta was the only party to consistently refuse to support eugenics legislation in Alberta after it was introduced.

Most of the lay folk who spearheaded such programs across North America were probably, in some conventional sense, creationists. It is fortunate that most creationists were far more concerned with improving sanitation and medical care, which did far more for the health of the population than eugenics ever could.

Eugenics and the Firewall: Interview with Jane Harris Zsovan I
Eugenics and the Firewall: Interview with Jane Harris Zsovan II
Eugenics and the Firewall: Interview with Jane Harris Zsovan III

Shadows -- Kathleen Gibson

We all have one, uniquely our own. They move, but don’t live. They respond instantly, but can’t see, hear, or communicate. They touch us but we feel nothing. The tiniest can’t be picked up and the largest take up no space.

Strange things, shadows. Since they were tiny, my grandbeans and I have played with them.

It took awhile for the children to recognize their own shadows. Something so ephemeral doesn’t fit well into the concrete world of a child. But then came shadow puppets at bedtime; shadow companions, cheering company on long walks; shadow duncecaps on each pebble at our feet. And one day they knew shadows. They recognized shadows. But they still don’t understand shadows.

Two of my grandbeans have named their shadows. Butterfly is cross at hers this week. I grinned as I read her mother’s Facebook status: “Tamika keeps following her around! AND has the indecency to wear the same clothes as her. She's tried stepping on her, but it won't make her go away. She's tried turning around fast - same problem.”

Ever been mad at your shadow? How do you fix that? The child knows: Since Tamika only appears when the sun is bright, she has decided to stay out of the sun.

I have another answer for that little girl, one I learned a long time ago: Forget the shadows. Keep your face to the sun, and they’ll always stay behind you.

“There won’t be any shadows in heaven,” a pastor friend commented the other day, while several of us lingered over a late breakfast. His words startled me. I’d never considered heaven from that perspective, and it delighted me. The Bible does say heaven will have no need of ‘sun to shine by day, or moon to shine by night.’ That no darkness will enter that eternal space; that it will be suffused with clear, pure light. Non-glaring, non-extinguishable. Nothing can block it—the eternal Light of the World, Jesus Christ…the Son of God.

“But I will miss Lucy in heaven,” said the other shadow-naming grandbean, when I told them their would be no shadows in heaven. “NOT me,” said her sister, she who finds hers distressing (this week at least). “I won’t miss Tamika. She is my WORST best friend.”

“My worst best friend.” How like a child to unwittingly snare the truth we adults learn only by difficult experience. For in the deepest, blackest shadows of life; in griefs and losses and midnight wakings—the dark patches we try so valiantly to push away—we begin to comprehend God’s nearness.

Got shadows? Keep your face to Heaven’s bright Son…Jesus Christ. 

 *****

Sunny Side Up has been published weekly in various newspapers and elsewhere since 2001.

Read more in Kathleen's book, Practice by Practice. 

How is Your Bookshelf? - Laura J. Davis

Writers usually have a plethora of books of all types and genres. We are avid readers (or we should be), who are so insecure that we often look at someone else's writing and say, "I wish I could write like that",  or we critique it while we are reading it, trying to find anything at all that the author screwed up on, just to make ourselves feel better. Oh, c'mon! You know you do it!

As writers it is important that we practice our craft daily and that we don't close our minds off to instruction from others. Advice and guidance from a well-seasoned writer can go a long way. Blogs on writing can give you helpful hints, but an arsenal of books on writing are also good to have on hand. The following are books that I have read or have been recommended to me. I invite you to check them out on Amazon.

Echoes of Latent Capacity by Ruth Smith Meyer

Recently I was reading through my past blogs.  My thoughts in the past months have often been drawn to the need for prayer and I have had several occasions where I have seen quite dramatic and obvious answers to prayer. When I read this one, I thought it was worth repeating.   

In our adult Sunday school class we talked about the value of prayer.  Someone asked “What exactly happens when we pray?”  Saturday, I had been reading over the scripture I was to read for the service and it included Jesus’ promise that if we ask anything in his name, he would do it, so I already had been thinking about prayer and the great resource that can be to us as we face the difficulties and quandaries of life.  The thoughts had been percolating in my mind even while I slept. 

          What exactly happens when we pray?  Many answers to that question come from past experience.  When we pray we connect to a power greater than we possess. When we pray, we take the focus off of our anxiety and frustration and we zero in on the one who loves us more than we can ever understand.  When we pray we learn to trust. Sometimes, we are able let go of the urgency and are content to wait for the answer. That in its self can be a difficult but freeing step for one who wants to do something about it now!

          Guess, though, what I found myself saying in reply to that question yesterday morning.  I hadn’t even formulated it in my own mind, and I’m not sure that I have done so yet.  I expect I am going to be mulling it over in my mind for some time to come. But here it is, if not in the exact words, it is the idea. 

          “God made me in the beginning, and he made me more complex then I have discovered even in all the years I have lived.  Sometimes when I pray for strength, or wisdom, or guidance, I think in that quiet prayer-time, God just leads me in an archaeological “dig” to find what he already placed inside me.  Together we find the strength, the wisdom the understanding that fits the moment—the answer to my prayer.  He gently brushes off the dirt in which it has been buried, hands it to me and with a pat on my back says ‘There you go!’”

          Far from putting me on an ego trip, leaving me saying, “So I have all I need within me, I don’t need God.”   I am humbled to know a bit more about how God made me.  That knowledge makes me even more aware of how closely I should work with my maker. Who would know better how to make something work right, how to fully utilize the inner workings and possibilities than the maker himself?   To try on my own to use all that I have been given is like trying to figure out all that can be done with my computer by trial and error only.  I most certainly will never find that out on my own.  But if I could work closely with the maker of my Dell Laptop and with Bill Gates, for instance, I would find within its 12”x15”x 2” makeup, many applications of which I now know nothing. 

          Writing has been a revelation in that area.  Often as I sit writing, ideas come to me and they’re formed into words as my hands operate the keyboard. Sometimes I am amazed when I read them over again.  Did I really write that? 

          This morning, I am conscious of the need to stay in close contact with my Master so that the possibilities he placed in me can be found and released.

Through the past year’s challenges, I sometimes felt as though I’ve reached the “bottom of the barrel,”  I know too, the stories in the bible where what seemed the last of the flour and oil, where the meager loaves and fishes were multiplied to sustain and nourish.

Could it be that I haven’t given prayer enough time for the archaeological “digs”  to produce what I need?