Monday, October 28, 2013

Stuff I Was Too Lazy to Post About

1| (way back in September) Aunt Jennifer came to visit.
We went to City Walk and Bubba Gump's Shrimp Shack, then wandered around IKEA, spent a good deal of time sitting on the couch laughing and chatting, and cried a lot when she left. (moveheremaybe?)

2| (two weeks ago) we celebrated Dad's 50th...
...as a family. Because we're bums and didn't feel like planning anything. Dad said he was okay with it. But we went to Disney (first time without Ben, really weird) and saw the new Fantasy Land and all that good stuff.

3| (yesterday) Church Fall Picnic.
Got a football to the gut and sweet tea all over my pants, but it was fun. Even when we played volleyball. (read as: everyone else played volleyball while I stood in the corner and prayed the ball would never come to me.)

4| assorted random things.
Ben's coming home in seven weeks. I plan on finishing my book before Christmas. There's a ton of sewing that I should be doing instead of messing around on my 'puter. Alyx is testing for her yellow belt in taikwando today. And I am totally lacking the creativity to make this interesting. (Sorry Aunt Jen, Dad, everyone else, for not doing you justice.)

~Charli Rae |Job 39:19-25|

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Starting a New Chapter is Hard.

No, this isn't anything philosophical or thought-provoking; I meant it literally, as a writer. I'm not taking it so far as to apply it to life. I'm too tired for that right now.

I've always struggled with finishing things - stuff I mean to bless other people with, artsy projects, lesson assignments, stories. Every word that I write in A Maiden's Touch - the current work-in-progress - beats the record for most-words-Charli-has-written-in-a-single-story. I've never been this close to finishing, or even over half-way, really. So when the story arc finally reached the point where the major foreshadowing is done and I have to keep the ball rolling with some action, not just intriguing hints, I...

...did what I do best. Took a break.

Sometimes God uses breaks to rejuvenate people and get their gumption back. Sometimes He uses truth to combat the laziness and inspire them. And sometimes He lets them sit on their rears until they realize that they're not living according to His calling, waits while they kick themselves, and then none-too-gently pushes them off their rears and says, "Get moving!"

In the span of a few hours, I wrote what I call the EIKAMS (nicknamed 'eek'): Everything I Know About My Story. (Again, there could be real-life applications here that I'm too tired for.) Picking up from where I left off in the book, I typed out every single little detail that was foreshadowed and then some, finishing it on paper so that the ideas took residence somewhere other than my scatterbrained mind. I know exactly what to write now. I have no excuse.

But it's hard. I'm three chapters into fleshing out the eek and already I'm bored. Gah. But no more breaks!

~Charli Rae |Job 39:19-25|