Gifts: Good News

Hi folks!  This is the last post on my series called Gifts. This is also my last post of the year. This week I'm celebrating the idea of good news. I've always been moved by a prophesy in the book of Isaiah that declares good news to the poor. The people are longing for for good news and the prophet tells them that is coming. 

Writers for children are really about sharing the uplift of good news. Stories for children tend to be uplifting -- good news.  It's something inherent in our work.  

Here's a word to creative folk inspired by the words of Isaiah.  

Good news is for everyone!  Proclaim it whenever and wherever you can!   

Do you see the brokenhearted? Bandage their wounds. Stop the bleeding. Do you see someone in prison? Throw open the doors. No more bars for you. No more dark cells. Anyone in darkness? Bring them into the light. 

Listen. If you do this, everyone will throw a party. Every broken down house will be fixed up. Every forgotten town will be remembered. 

Things will stop sucking.  Forever. 

If you spent this year creating books, thank you!  I hope that you will find a place for that story! I will be back next year with a new series. 

Here is a doodle. Blue Boy

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, Isaiah 61:1

Gifts: Hope and a Future

Hi folks,

I'm continuing my series called Gifts.  In the Bible, in the book of Jeremiah, there is a startling prophesy that so resonates with me. A holy people have been sent into exile for seventy years, and they really need to know what is coming to put up with this long exile.

The Lord spoke to his people through Jeremiah.  He sent encouragement. I don't know if you have ever read something that you felt was speaking to your situation and your life.  I feel that about these words in Jeremiah.  This is what I hear.

Your writing life isn't where you want it to be right now, but I am the one who brought you to this place. Don't despair. I want you to keep writing and keep helping other writers. Enjoy any small success that comes your way. And also, the things you learned back when you were in the thick of it, I want you to think about those things. Let your creative self prosper and don't complain that you don't have a place to share a voice, that you don't even know how to get there. That's a waste of your time.

Don't keep on taking on projects that aren't your vision. Those things are just wasting your time. You have to keep waiting and that might be for a very long time.  But I've got a plan and I'm going to put your writing life back together. I have plans for you, plans to help you write brilliant stories, plans to give you a hope and a future. Be patient. Wait for it. The good days are ahead. 

Hope this stirs you up like it does me. I hope that these words speak to your situation and your life. I hope those words help you stay on the path. I am so glad we are journeying together. 

Here is the doodle. 

Here is a quote for your pocket. 

It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves. William Shakespeare. 

Gifts: Prophesy to these dry bones

Hi folks, ah, the holidays, and of course, I'm running a little behind. This month I'm offering a little series I called Gifts. This will be short and sweet. There is a story in the Bible in the book of Ezekiel. This my retelling. Here how it starts. The Lord takes Ezekiel to valley of dry bones and asks him if the bones can live.

Ezekiel answers, "Lord only knows."

The Lord tells Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones.

(We don't prophesy in these days, and I sure do feel left out. The idea of a prophesy is to let someone know what is coming in the future. If you are a writer, you might understand this more than most.)

Back to the story. Ezekiel shouted to those bones."You dead bones, this is the Lord talking and not me -- I'm sending breath in you. And you will come alive. I'll put tendons, and flesh, and skin on you. I'll say it again, I'm putting breath in you, and will be alive. And the whole world will know I am the Lord!"

After that there was a noise. Bones rattled! They snapped together. Then came the tendons, and flesh and the skin. But instead of folks, there was a pile of dead bodies.

The Lord told Ezekiel to prophesy again. "Wind from the four corner of the Earth come into these dead bodies and make them live." And the wind came and a mighty army sprung up, rearing for a fight.

Then the Lord told Ezekiel what it all meant. "Those bones are my people.They have lost hope. They think they are dead.  I'm going to make them alive and I'm going to give them the little corner they are hankering for. Let them know I'm doing this because that's the way I am."

To wrap this up, if you feel like an old pile of dead bones, and you are wondering if you will ever get a chance to snap together and march out there and take your corner.  Remember this story. Wait for the wind.

I will be back next week with another of the Gifts series.

Here is a doodle.  "The sun, Moon, and the stars"

Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less. Marie Curie

Gifts: Keep the faith

Hi, folks,

I try to be honest on my blog and also keep things upbeat.  Here at the year end, I know this to be one of my most challenging years as a writer. I've tried things and found many that don't work. I haven't found many that do. I yearn with the depths of  myself to say something that useful that will be of great help to many. I haven't found success. I wonder if this is what is like to wander in the desert? I hope that I find an oasis soon. I'm keeping the faith. 

I have been grateful for my routine during this season of wandering. I cling to it. Write every day. Read every day. Take a walk every day. Do your chores. Do the shopping. Answer the emails. Cuddle the cats. Look for the moon. Watch the weather. There is something so beautiful and comforting to me about routine of my days. The sum of these moments are my life. 

I think that routine is what I love about writing. Writing is walking an ancient path. I'm searching for the touchstones of story. There is magic in this journey. I rejoice when I find a touchstone. The first touchstone is the moment everything changes.  My hands shake and my stomach does flip flops when I find this moment. It doesn't matter if I wrote the story or if someone else did. 

Finding the touchstones of story is like skipping across a creek from stone to stone. I looking for the call to adventure, the turning point, the darkest moment and the climax and all the wonderful touchstone in between. These are the defining stones of who we are and what we want. It is my desire to find a pathway that connects with readers.  So much so I cry when I think about it.  I don't know how to describe this ache within me. Many believe that I will find my way. I have no words for my gratefulness for the support. 

As I journey on, I keep in mind that each sucky moment is what leads to lovely ones.  Wherever you are on your creative journey, keep going.  This unseen place that you feel is ahead, you will find it. This story that is brewing within, it will appear. Just don't stop. 

I will be back next week with more Gifts. 

Here is the doodle. Tossing out my Star Wars: "Patience, you must have." 

Life is like an onion. You peel it off one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep. Carl Sandburg