At the Writing Desk

~It’s Coming Along…

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Grandmother’s Letters is coming along. I’m on a deadline now… so I’m working on it like a crazy person. Here’s an excerpt from somewhere around where I’ve been typing. (Oh… and Andy is Louise’s younger brother, incase anyone is wondering.)

Wandering with complete aimlessness around the house, Andy noticed Louise’s door open. Why her desk attracted his attention, he didn’t know, but he wandered in to look at it nonetheless. Her laptop was closed, looking rather lonely despite its surroundings. Papers lay to the left of it, scribbles and various notes on them about the treasure, the Hadding’s street address in Halcer, and the name of Harrison Wilman. The young man found little interest in that and looked at the rest of the desk. A Bible lay on the other side of the computer open to the book of James, more papers this time an essay on something or other, and another book. Andy picked it up, read the title, and set it down. Louise might enjoy reading A Tale of Two Cities, but he always had a hard time focusing on Mr. Dickens.

To the KING be all the glory!

~How Do I Know?

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Louise’s thoughts were broken by her father’s voice, “It is wrong to be angry at God, Louise. You should know that too.”
 
“Why is it wrong?” Louise pursued.
 
“Sometimes we just have to do the things we know are right and avoid those which are wrong.” Mr. Whitmore answered.
 
“But how do I know what is right and what is wrong?” Louise questioned, watching her father’s face a moment. He didn’t reply and the rest of the drive was silent… until the next phone call.

I’m working on Grandmother’s Letters right now. I don’t think I ever realized how much work this book would entail! I love it – I love the characters, the storyline, everything – but wow! LORD willing, this will be my longest book to date (which, really, isn’t all that long, compared to other people) and it’s definitely my most complicated. With much work and prayer, I hope to finish the rest of the draft by the first week of February or so… We’ll see.

 

To the KING be all the glory!

~Illustration Sneak Peak

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When I first decided to self-publish A Year with the Potters, there was one thing I was decided on: I didn’t want any illustrations. This was probably the only part of the book that I thought I was absolutely set on. Until now. Now, that concrete decision has been blasted to smithereens and my younger sister, Bethany, has been working for the last few weeks on drawing me 13 illustrations to go with my 13 chapter children’s book. She draws them and I format them on the computer. At this point, I believe she has nine of them drawn. Here are just two of them. Isn’t she doing a good job? I think she is.

 

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To the KING be all the glory!

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~I’m Still Here…

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Though I wouldn’t blame anyone if they had been speculating otherwise. One minute I say that I’m done with an editing project and back to blogging. The next, I seem to disappear. I suppose an explanation might be in order.

My excitement about the completion of A Year with the Potters was short lived. During my final read-through with my sisters, I wouldn’t help noticing that I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the finished product. There were a few things that kept nagging at me. After time spent praying and thinking about it, I’ve realized that I’m not finished like I thought I was. A Year with the Potters needs more work.

I originally wrote this book when I was about seventeen or eighteen. Since then, though I’ve edited, my writing style was still developing and was heavily influenced by the old books I was reading. While I still read those old books, I have a better idea now, how to write with a “modern flavor”. (Though I’m probably still a little old-fashioned too. No reason to get rid of that entirely!) I also used a passive voice rather too often.

In short, my book needs an update and I’m swimming through a whirlpool trying to accomplish it. It’s much more difficult than I imaged. I’ve had to cute, trim, and modify more than I ever thought possible. I am, however, making progress with much prayer, a good pen and plenty of new paper.

So if I seem a bit scarce over the next few weeks, you’ll know where I’ll be at in my free time. I’ll do my best to keep posting, but we’ll see how I do. At least once a week is my goal…

To the KING be all the glory!

~I’ve Been Missing…

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I’ve been sort of missing for the last week. I had posts planned and everything, but not written, when my editor unexpectedly handed over the last of her notes on one of my books. Instead of posting, I spent nearly all of my computer time last week, editing… constantly editing. Now, I’m basically done! I have a final draft sitting in my computer, on the laptop and backed up for safety. I am in the process of a final read through, but it’s only pages away from being complete.

For those of you who keep track of word counts, this is one of my shorter books. It’s a children’s book titled A Year with the Potters. It’s about 27,000 words. I’ve been working on it for several years now, and much of it comes from real life occurrences. My goal with this story is to have a good book for children, that also teaches them as they read. The book follows a Christ-following, homeschool family as they explore nature, learn lessons of character and study history (such as learning about Martin Luther), always bringing everything back to the word of God. It’s pretty light-hearted, more so than my other books. I’m so excited to have it completed, that I can’t seem to stop telling how excited I am! It’s my first book to come this far!

On a random note, I’m reading The Phantom of the Opera right now. Trying to see why I’ve seen so many people say how much they like it. I’m about an eighth of the way through it, and I’m reserving judgment until I’ve read more.

I plan to begin posting again. My review for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde should be up by the end of the week, LORD willing, and I’m already planning some posts for next week. It will be nice to get my blog going again… until the next project claims my attention.

To the KING be all the glory!