Hey everyone,
I’m taking a break from posting today. Just returned home after we left due to Irene. I pray everyone who faced the hurricane is safe and well.
🙂
Preslaysa
fiction fridays: guest post by novelist christa allan
Last night we ate one of my pedestrian suppers of spaghetti and meat sauce. Cooking the meat sauce required cutting an onion. Cleaning up after supper(trust me, I promise this is going somewhere), I turned on the garbage disposal and started carefully jamming the onion skins down the rubber mouth of the scary disposal monster.
As I’m listening to the grinding, hoping that the crunches I’m hearing are not one of my rings or a spoon or the sponge, I heard my father, who died almost ten years ago, reminding me about the dangers of onions in the garbage disposal. Then I remembered, no, he didn’t mean white onions; he meant green onions. From there, I faded to my first apartment, a newlywed, cooking one of my first dinners. I plunged my hand in the sink full of soapy water and came up with a bloody thumb, my bloody thumb. Drops of blood rained from my hand, pelting the frothy soap bubbles.
Then, I saw myself in a picture taken the night my father surprised my mother with her first (and only) mink stole. Thirty-three years ago. She was the last in her trio of friends to own a mink. It was, to her, a luxurious article she thought she would never own.
My father was wearing a suit. They were going out to dinner. My mother, so astonished, she’s actually covering her open mouth with both hands. Even though she has been dead now for twenty years, I heard the echo of her saying, “Oh, Johnny. You shouldn’t have.” The unspoken: “…but I am so thrilled you did” conveyed by the lilt in her voice and the delight in her eyes.
I flicked the disposal off. With its stopping, so did the swish of memories, like Ezra Pound’s, “In a Station at the Metro”: The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet black bough. Pound himself said of his “image poem”:
“I dare say it is meaningless unless one has drifted into a certain vein of thought. In a poem of this sort one is trying to record the precise instant when a thing outward and objective transforms itself, or darts into a thing inward and subjective.”
Who knew sending onions down a garbage disposal would bring me to my parents? It was a moment; their petal faces on the wet black bough of memory. And my first thought, as I hurriedly dried my hands, was to look for a pen and my notebook. To capture what I could remember; to not lose my parents and this unexpected gift of them in the ordinary drudgery of dishwasher loading and towel folding and paper grading.
This, I believe, is why I write. It’s what makes me a writer. It’s what leads me to the keyboard, to the journal, to the notebook. God can set in motion the most mysterious workings to lead me to the most precious thoughts, but I have to show up. I have to pay attention.
I have to trust that even onions can lead to joy.
Christa’s latest novel Edge of Grace is available now!
word wednesdays: meditating on His Book
(A repost from April 6, 2011)
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. (Joshua 1:8, KJV)
This is one of my favorite verses in the Bible. The key to success and prosperity is obedience to do everything written in His Word. But, as Janet Pope writes in her awesome book “His Word in My Heart,” there were two things Joshua had to do to ensure obedience.
1) God’s Law should always be in Joshua’s mouth.
2) Joshua should meditate on God’s Law day and night.
God’s law must be on our lips, not on the coffee table!
In addition, Pope writes that: “The outcome of Joshua’s obedience to His Word would be prosperity and success. In today’s culture, prosperity and success equals power and material wealth. But this was not what God was referring to when He spoke to Joshua. The Hebrew word for prosperous indicates “to push forward” (Strong’s Concordance #6743).The Hebrew word for success means “to be circumspect, be prudent” (Zodhiates, Complete Word Study: Old Testament entry # 7919). The outcome of Joshua’s obedience was the advancement of God’s program in a careful and circumspect manner. In other words, Joshua would know what to do in a given situation to further God’s agenda. A pattern of obedience makes us wise in our choice of action” (Pope, 94).
With this in mind, we can’t afford to listen to the world or to those entangled in the world. Constantly talking about and meditating on His Word day and night helps us obey.
So, if God tells us to meditate on His Word, what does it mean to meditate? Our common understanding of meditation involves thinking deeply about something, pondering or contemplating something.
But we have to mine the riches of the Old Testament for an accurate definition. The Hebrew word for meditation is “haghah”. It means to “mumur, mutter, growl, sigh,moan, roar, meditate, muse, speak, whisper.” (Zodhiates, Complete Word Study Old Testament entry # 1897). Meditation involves making vocal utterances, speaking words quietly to yourself.
Thus the importance of memorizing scripture and reviewing the verses you’ve memorized by constant verbal repitition.
Cool stuff huh? When I heard that true prosperity and success means advancing God’s program in a prudent and circumspect manner, it changed my way of thinking. I started turning to His Word to sees His view of things. Today, I’m on a journey of renewing my mind so that I will “push forward prudently and circumspectly” to advance His agenda – not mine.
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. (Joshua 1:8, KJV)
fiction fridays: interview with roger bruner
I’m excited about today’s Fiction Friday Interview with author Roger Bruner. Roger’s latest novel, Lost in Dreams, is available now.
PW: Welcome to The Literary Mama, Roger. Tell our readers a little about yourself.
RB: I’m so pleased to be here for Fiction Friday. Since I could tell you enough about me to bore everyone, I’ll try to stick to your request for a “little bit.” *grin*
At almost sixty-five, I’ve worked as an English teacher, a job counselor/interviewer, and a programmer/analyst. I retired at sixty-two to write full-time. I have a wonderful wife, Kathleen, who’s still ten years away from retirement; a twenty-four-year-old daughter, Kristi, who’s getting married next month and is listed as the co-author of my first two books; and two slightly older stepdaughters, one of whom lives in Las Vegas and the other in NYC. I’m active in the church choir and play guitar in the early service praise team as well as at our weekly nursing home ministry. I’ve been writing my own Christian songs since I was in high school (you do the math! *L*). I like going on mission trips, taking pictures of everything under the sun, doing web design, and—of course—reading.
PW: What is Lost In Dreams about?
RB: Lost in Dreams is a continuation of the first book in the Altered Hearts series, Found in Translation. That book ended with Kim Hartlinger and her friends on the bus returning to San Diego from a two-week mission trip to a tiny Mexican village. Lost in Dreams begins at the San Diego airport as Kim prepares to fly home to Georgia. Almost immediately upon landing, Kim experiences such a severe problem that the guilt she feels about it throws her health and well being into a tailspin. The rest of the book deals with how God freed her from her (unnecessary) guilt and made her whole again.
PW: What sparked your initial idea for Lost In Dreams?
RB: Because the Altered Hearts series is missions-themed, I needed another mission trip. Involving some of the same characters from the first book made sense. I used to do prison ministry, so a mission trip that involved a prison made sense. Kim came home from Mexico so determined to have a closer relationship with her parents (especially her father) that I almost had to do something that would affect that. Kim experiences a problem similar to one my daughter had when she was in the eighth or ninth grade, although hers had nothing to do with guilt. So I guess you might say that my initial ideas came from a number of places.
PW: If this book were made into a movie, who would play the lead characters?
RB: You’ve heard the old song “The Impossible Dream”? Well, you’ve asked me the impossible question. *laughing* My wife and I don’t watch TV at all and don’t go to very many movies. So other people can name dozens of current actors, but I’m at a total loss.
I can describe the ideal actor to play Kim, though. She would be short, have dark eyes, and have long wavy black hair. Her skin tone would be slightly darker than most Caucasians because of her mother’s Vietnamese heritage, although her facial features would reflect her father’s American heritage. Ideally, she would have a slightly Latina look. This actor would be attractive, but trim, and in her late teens or early twenties. An authentic Southern accent would be an asset.
I’ll let the readers of this book suggest an appropriate actor for Kim and the other lead characters. I’d be especially interested in who you come up with for Aleesha, the super-talented African-American who became Kim’s best friend on the trip to Mexico.
PW: How did you get started writing fiction? What was your road to publication like?
RB: I’ve been writing all my life. Poems, short plays, technical articles. Even a short story or two. I always thought I’d write a novel when I retired, but I had no idea what it would be about. I didn’t even think in terms of writing more than one. When the place I’d been working almost nineteen years downsized, I wasn’t old enough to retire, but I was too old to have an easy time finding work. (This was before today’s economy got so horrible.) When I ended up working part-time at a Target store, I had time I hadn’t counted on. Then an idea for a novel struck me, and I was off in a flash.
I self-published the first book because I’d heard so much about how hard it is to get published. For me, that was a definite mistake, because I didn’t want to spend much time marketing; I wanted to get busy writing the next book.
And so I did. My third manuscript won a contest at the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference, and I thought publication would surely be forthcoming. But it took probably another three years to get an agent, and it took him a year to sell Found in Translation to Barbour Publishing. Getting Terry Burns of Hartline was the key, though, and it happened because an editor at a publishing house that couldn’t use Found in Translation loved my writing so much that she actually went out and found Terry for me.
That was a definite God-thing.
PW: Do you have any other novels we can look forward to reading?
RB: Absolutely! And they’re not all young adults novels, either. Of course, it’s up to God working through publishers to determine which of my manuscripts will ultimately see the light of day. Although I hope Barbour will contract at least two more books in the Altered Hearts series, they’re also potentially interested in an incomplete manuscript about two teen preachers’ kids. I’m trying to appeal to teen boys with that one. But I also have manuscripts aimed at middle-aged adults.
PW: How can readers get in touch with you?
RB: I’m always happy to have visitors at my website, RogerBruner.com. But I’d also love to have you join me on Facebook. My author page is listed under “Roger Bruner (Author).”
PW: Thanks for stopping by, Roger!
RB: My pleasure, Preslaysa. You’re a very gracious hostess.
word wednesdays: recording our actions, pt 4
Here’s our continuation on the Wednesday series “Recording Our Actions” Since January, I’ve been researching every instance of the word ‘book’ in the Bible. In these Old Testament passages, I’ve found the lives of many kings were recorded. Some of the rulers were godly, others were…eh.
Here are more passages for you to ponder:
“And Jehoash king of Judah took all the hallowed things that Jehoshaphat, and Jehoram, and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own hallowed things, and all the gold that was found in the treasures of the house of the LORD, and in the king’s house, and sent it to Hazael king of Syria: and he went away from Jerusalem. And the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?” ( 2 Kings 12:18-19, KJV)
“Neither did he leave of the people to Jehoahaz but fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen; for the king of Syria had destroyed them, and had made them like the dust by threshing. Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, and all that he did, and his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?” (2 Kings 13:7-8, KJV)
“And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD; he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin: but he walked therein. And the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, and his might wherewith he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?” (2Kings 13:11-12, KJV)
“And he took all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king’s house, and hostages, and returned to Samaria. Now the rest of the acts of Jehoash which he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?” (2 Kings 14:14-15, KJV)
Question for You: If you died and a book were written about your life, what would it say? How were you as a spouse, a parent, a friend or a co-worker?
guest post by suzanne woods fisher
Hey everyone, it’s Preslaysa!
I’m happy to have author Suzanne Woods Fisher as today’s guest blogger for Marriage and Motherhood Mondays. Suzanne’s latest non-fiction release Amish Values for Your Family
Also, there are two contests going on right now to celebrate the release. See details at the end of this post.
Here’s Suzanne…
Five Things I’ve Learned from the Amish that Have Nothing to Do with being Amish and Have Everything to Do with being a Christian:
Being Amish is not a lifestyle. Life among the Amish has to do with faith. Faith can’t be squeezed to an hour or two on Sunday morning; it infuses their entire life like a teabag in hot water. What they do and how they do it is rooted in the spiritual question: What is pleasing to God?
Amish proverb: “Letting go of earthly possessions enables us to take hold of heavenly treasures.”The Lesson: To pray about my day’s activities and offer them to God, first, for His purposes. And then trusting interruptions (seeing a friend in the grocery store, for example) or de-railings (those days when everything goes wrong!) to be God-managed.
Cherish your family. A family that works together, grows together. Amish families spend a lot of time together and try to keep their work close to home. Children are valued as gifts from God, wanted and enjoyed. They’re included in all of Amish life—from barn raisings to three-hour church services. An Amish bishop once said, “We don’t prepare our children for the future, we prepare our children for eternity.”
Amish proverb: “Tomorrow’s world will be shaped by what we teach our children today.”
The Lesson: Involving children in chores and activities may not be the most convenient or efficient way to accomplish a task, but the benefits are long lasting. Look for ways to get everybody involved—cook together, sweep out the garage together, set the table together. And have fun while you’re doing it!
Draw a land in the sand. The Amish want to be good stewards of God’s resources—time, money, material goods. They know that convenience comes with a cost. They don’t want to be dependent on outside sources (such as electricity or gas!). Convenience means loss of something valuable. For example, fast food means less nutrition. More stuff means more maintenance. They’re willing to say no.
Amish proverb: “Things that steal our time are usually the easiest to do.”
The Lesson: Technology has its limits. And technology isn’t all good. Evaluate purchases more thoughtfully. Think of where a purchase or an added expense will lead your family. More time together or less? More stress or less? Reframe your view of time and money and goods as God’s resources.
Watch Your Words. The Amish continually stress the importance of filtering their speech.
Amish proverb: “Words break no bones, but they can break hearts” and “Mincing your words makes it easier if you have to eat them later.”
The Lesson: Say less. Prayer more.
Nothing replaces face-to-face visits. Back in the day when telephones emerged on the scene, the Amish bishops made a deliberate decision to keep the telephone out of the house. They didn’t want to interrupt family life. But they drop everything for a face-to-face visit.
Amish proverb: “Use friendship as a drawing account, but don’t forget to make a deposit.”
The Lesson: Nurture relationships by investing face-to-face time in them. No technology can substitute for the real thing.
Honor the Sabbath. An Amish person would never think of working on a Sunday. But it’s more than that—they truly cherish their Sabbath. They spend time on Saturday to make Sunday a smooth and easy day.
Amish proverb: “Many things I have tried to grasp and have lost. That which I have placed in God’s hands I still have.”
The Lesson: Strive to make Sunday a different day than other days. A day of rest is important on so many levels—time to worship, time to reflect, time to re-energize. A re-charge your battery day.
Suzanne Woods Fisher is a bestselling author of Amish fiction and non-fiction and the host of a weekly radio program called Amish Wisdom. Her most recent book, Amish Values for Your Family
Contest Number One!
I’m giving away two copies of Amish Values for Your Family
Leave a comment in this post with your email address for a chance to win. Winner announced on September 1st.
Contest Number Two!
Suzanne Woods Fisher is thrilled to announce the release of Amish Values for Your Family
To celebrate the release of Amish Values for Your Family, Suzanne has teamed up her publisher Revell Books to giveaway a Kindle, and with Bill Coleman (the amazing photographer used on Suzanne’s book covers) to give away a signed Bill Coleman original.
One Grand Prize winner will receive an Amish Values Prize Package (valued at over $200) and includes:
* A brand new KINDLE
* A Signed Bill Coleman original
* Amish Values for Your Family (for KINDLE)
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Click on one of the icons to enter. Winner will be announced on 9/2 at Suzanne’s blog. Be sure to stop by the blogs on Suzanne’s blog tour – many have copies of Amish Values for Your Family to give away.
But, wait there’s more! Suzanne is running a Bill Coleman caption contest during the month of August on her blog. Title one of Bill’s gorgeous photos for a chance to win a print from Bill’s Amish Photo site and/or a copy of Amish Values for Your Family.
fiction fridays: interview with april lee turner
I’m excited today to have children’s author April Lee Turner on The Literary Mama today. April’s children’s book Sidney Saidso The Miss Know-It- All Girl is available now on Amazon!
PW: Welcome April, tell our readers a little about yourself.
AT: Hello! Thank you for having me on your blog today. I am very excited to share my work with your readers because I think this is a great story for young minds. I am a graduate of University of Maryland College Park and received a Masters Degree in Teaching from John Hopkins University. Currently, I am an educator in the Baltimore City public School system and literacy is my focus. All of my years of teaching have been in Early Childhood Education. My desire to write children’s literature was sparked by the need to have stories that are geared toward my student’s everyday experiences in school. I wanted them to be able to travel into a story and make text to life connections while learning a valuable lesson at the same time.
PW: What is Sidney Saidso about?
AT: In the first book of the Sidney Saidso series, you meet a young girl who thinks she knows it all. Sidney is constantly being bossy, taking other students things, and correcting everyone’s mistakes. When her friends are finally tired of her ways, Sidney learns the true meaning of being the Miss-Know-It All Girl.
PW: Where did you get the idea for Sidney Saidso?
AT: I noticed a lack of literature with African American’s as the main character and I wanted to create a character with whom my students could relate. The demographic of Baltimore City Schools is predominately African American, and I saw a need for students to find themselves in literature. Sidney is a common character that you will find in any school all over the world. She engages in many activities and reacts to situations just as most children would. Through her and her classmates in the story, children will be able to see realistic experiences that mimic their daily struggles. Additionally, they will be able to learn from Sidney’s mistakes and apply this knowledge to their own life.
PW: What do you hope readers learn from this story?
AT: The main themes of this story are bullying, learning from your mistakes, and taking responsibility for ones actions. I hope readers can relate to Sidney’s character and make connections to their own life. At the end of the story, I have Extension Questions for parents, teachers, and students to use for an enhancement of critical thinking skills. There are many inferences made in the illustrations and the text that will provide the opportunity for children to think about, beyond, and within the text. Not only is this book great for pleasurable reading, but it is a tool for reading comprehension.
PW: What is one thing readers may be surprised to know about you?
AT: Hmmmm… I think readers may be surprised to know that prior to my teaching career I worked at a fashion design company in New York City. My goal at the time was to be the next big songwriter! Instead, I joined the Baltimore City Teaching Residency and began a new career as an educator, with the overall goal of becoming a music teacher. Although my aspirations of songwriting and teaching music never came to fruition, I fell in love with Early Learning and channeled my lyrical talents into book writing. I continue to write poetry and maybe I will get back to music one day!
PW: You also started a publishing company. Tell us about that.
AT: A.Lee Publishing, LLC is an independent publishing company that was formed in 2009. We are most widely known for our Sidney Saidso series, which connects children to their everyday life at school and provides them with solutions to their daily struggles. A.Lee Publishing is dedicated to promoting literacy and education for youth through developing, marketing, and selling products that will enhance their understanding of history, community, and the world. Our goal is to become the primary source for children’s entertainment with a concentration on diversity and disadvantaged communities. The vision of A.Lee Publishing is to encourage, empower, and develop youth through literature.
I decided to self publish because I wanted total creative control over my work. I really wanted to have a sense of ownership in my product and it needed to feel very authentic. Additionally, I wanted to develop a safe space for other new authors, specifically those who have a strong connection to education.
PW: Do you have any other books coming out soon? (You can provide a brief blurb about them).
AT: Yes I do! Currently in the illustration phase, my next installment of the Sidney Saidso series is titled, Sidney Saidso and the Cheating Disaster. This story is about the affects of peer pressure and how Sidney gets pressured into cheating on a quiz and is the only one caught by the teacher. Here children will learn how to make good choices even when their friends may pressure them to do the opposite. Also, they will gain an understanding of the consequences of cheating and the moral value of being honest and living a life of integrity. My goal is to have this ready for purchase by June 2012.
PW: How can readers get in touch with you?
AT: My website is www.aleepublishing.com. You can purchase the book online at www.amazon.com. You can email me at april.terrell@aleepublishing.com. Also, become a fan of Sidney Saidso on Facebook and follow me @SidneySaidso on twitter!
Sightings!!!
I will be at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center on September 23 in Washington DC, and I will be at the Baltimore Book Festival on September 25. If you are in the area, please stop by!
PW: Thanks for chatting with us today, April!
AT: You are so welcome! Thank you for having me!
word wednesdays: recording our actions, pt 3
Here’s our continuation on the Wednesday series “Recording Our Actions” Since January, I’ve been researching every instance of the word ‘book’ in the Bible. In these Old Testament passages, I’ve found the lives of many kings were recorded. Some of the rulers were godly, others were…eh.
Here are more passages for you to ponder:
“And Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel. Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, and his might that he shewed, and how he warred, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And the remnant of the sodomites, which remained in the days of his father Asa, he took out of the land.” (I Kings 22:44-46, KJV)
“So he died according to the word of the LORD which Elijah had spoken. And Jehoram reigned in his stead in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah; because he had no son. Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?” (2 Kings 1:17-18, KJV)
“Yet Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah unto this day. Then Libnah revolted at the same time. And the rest of the acts of Joram, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?And Joram slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead.” (2Kings 8:22-24, KJV)
“From Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan. Now the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all that he did, and all his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? And Jehu slept with his fathers: and they buried him in Samaria. And Jehoahaz his son reigned in his stead.” (2 Kings 10:33-35, KJV)
Question for You: If you died and a book were written about your life, what would it say? How were you as a spouse, a parent, a friend or a co-worker?
