~ A Writing Update

by Rebekah // February 17, 2012 // 2 Comments

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The last time that I posted a writing update, was in early December I think. I posted about working on 24 Days Before Christmas. My goals of finishing around Christmastime, never materialized. Our family ended up being way busier than I expected and I got much less writing time than needed to complete the goal.

January saw almost no writing activity at all. I did, however, find time to finish my short story. It actually stayed a short story too! My first in several years!! I just need to find a title for it. An interesting title.

Now, it’s February. Christmas is over and while I would still like to finish 24 Days Before Christmas sometime this year, for now, my focus has shifted to Grandmother’s Letters again. I’m in the middle of a rewrite, which should be over very soon and then, LORD willing, I’m working to complete a final draft of this book in the next couple of months. It will most likely, be my longest book yet. Sometime, hopefully soon, I’ll try to come up with a summary of the book, so you all have an idea of what it’s about. Hopefully. I’m not very good at summarizing my own writings. I tend to put more information in them than is needed.

So, that’s about it when it comes to the update. Oh! I have started one other story – and I have no clue how long it’s going to be, how exactly it’s going to end or how long it will take me to write it. I can tell you that the name of the main character is Jack or, if you want it a little more formal, District Attorney Jackson Mellows. I still have some major thinking and possibly some research to do, before this story really takes off. I’m looking forward to writing it. Mysteries are always fun and this one is supposed to be a mystery.

I better go get some housework done, so I can spend some time writing a little later… How is your writing going?
To the KING be all the glory!

~I am crazy!

by Rebekah // December 14, 2011 // 7 Comments

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First, I just thought I would let everyone know that, my CHRISTmas poems, may or may not continue… I’m debating on whether to do them once a week, only a few times a week or give them up altogether. We had a few sudden and unexpected changes coming, and I don’t know where and when I’ll have the time for them so often. I am thinking about putting one up on Saturday… Maybe reviewing the week?

Anyway… back to why I am crazy…

Right now I am supposed to be focusing on writing 24 Days Before Christmas. The goal was supposed to be, that it was finished by the end of the year. You know what instead? I have this song by Gabriel Hudelson playing in my head: The Other Side of Midnight.

Why is that not good? I really like the song but… with that song, I see a story… a story that is begging me to write it down… I even started it, when I joined Perry’s Scribble Fest a week and a half ago. I thought I could leave it alone after that. Instead, while I’m trying to focus on Deputy Trent’s dilemma and two families caroling in the cold, I keep wandering off to a dark forest, following a man racing through the trees. What to do, what to do?? I think this will be a short story, but you just never know when I get writing. I really ought to finish 24 Days Before Christmas too!

So… if 24 Days Before Christmas gets neglected, it will be because I’m off writing a completely different story, that isn’t even remotely related to my current project! :p

I better go do some writing now… I’ll leave you all with the story that began this post:

Leonard raced past the tree, colliding with a prickly bush.The sounds of shouting men and barking dogs pounded in his ears. Pushing himself up from his knees he began running again. He simply had to make it.

He turned on the light on his wristwatch. He had ten minutes. Ten minutes before the borders closed. Ten minutes to get through the forest.

The thoughts of his family flooded Leonard’s mind. His beloved wife, Agatha. Peter, his eldest son, Millicent, James, Annie and the baby,who he hadn’t met yet. The little one had been born, after he had parted with his family. He imagined the child’s face. She would have dark eyes like her mother, as well as her beautiful blond hair. Perhaps she had his own nose, and a few of his expressions.

The man grimaced as he scraped his leg on a low protruding tree branch, but he chose to ignore it and run on. The dogs were howling now.Did that mean anything important? He looked at his watch; eight minutes.

He simply had to run faster! He pushed on. His heart pounded, the thuds in his chest causing a dull pain against his overtaxed lungs. How much longer could he run? Could he make it to the border? The thought of his family, left alone without him, grieving his loss, uncertain of his fate, sped him on. He had to make it!

His thoughts began to wander again. His mother was with his family. His dear mother. He and his family were all she had left. His father was gone, as well as his brother. Poor, dear mother, in these her latter years, so near alone.

He pulled up his watch again. Six minutes. Was he sure he was going in the right direction? What if he had swerved. No. Dark as it was,he was certain that he was still going North. He had to be. The border was to the North – he had to make it! How much farther was it?

A raindrop splashed against his cheek. Rain would cool him down, but would serve to make his path more difficult if it came down in torrents. He began to pray. The rain came down harder, drowning out the voices of the dogs and the men. How close were they, anyway? He wasn’t a very good judge when it was quiet, now with the pouring water, he was even more bewildered as to their distance.

To the KING be all the glory!

~Join the Scribble Fest!

by Rebekah // December 3, 2011 // 2 Comments

Perry is having a ten minute writing challenge over at her site today! Basically, you set a ten minute timer, and see how much you can write for the opening of a story, before the timer goes off. Go on over to her blog, at any time today, and join in the fun! It will be great to see what everyone comes up with!

To the KING be all the glory!

~The Poet’s Dilemma

by Rebekah // November 12, 2011 // 10 Comments

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This applies to writing prose too, so I suppose it could be called The Author’s Dilemma.

The Poet’s Dilemma

I sat down to write a ballad,
Full of depth and rhyme,
But instead the words eluded me
And committed mutinous crime.

They twisted themselves together,
In an order, unknown to man,
Insisting that they knew better
Than my previously thought-out plan.

When I tried to form a quatrain
My rhyming word would flee
And no matter how hard I followed,
It always eluded me!

My synonyms were ornery,
Never revealing what I wanted.
With repetitious words and phrases
My entire work was haunted.

I tried to make them listen,
Make them humble, then obey.
But always they insisted,
That they knew a better way.

So instead of fighting with them,
I tried a little plan;
Instead of chasing them around,
From them I quickly ran!

So shocked were they at this change,
The words were very still.
Then suddenly raced after me,
And jumped upon my quill.

My words are listening again,
Obeying my beck and call.
They’ll try again though, I’m sure of it,
Let’s just see how long I can stall!

To the KING be all the glory!

~Of Writing and Reading

by Rebekah // November 8, 2011 // 4 Comments

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My family just got back from a vacation. We drove several hours to a neighboring state and stayed a few days with my Uncle and Aunt. We had a pleasant trip.

When I was planning for the trip, I imagined that I would spend most of my many hours riding in the car, writing on 24 Days Before Christmas. I imagined that I could have my book at least half way done by the time we returned home. In reality? I wrote a full two pages in the car. Two pages. Hardly anything compared to what I had hoped to accomplish. I did get some writing done though. We had some down time at the house and I was able to spend it productively where my writing was concerned. Altogether I wrote close to two chapters on vacation. Still not nearly as much as I planned, but still good. My mystery is coming along pretty well, though I need to start lining up my suspects. At this point you don’t really know who to suspect and you almost don’t even know if you should suspect anyone in the first place! (If that didn’t sound like a confusing sentence!)

I am having a problem with one of my characters though. His name is Harry. Harry’s biggest problem is that he’s kind of wooden and boring. I haven’t been able to make him “spring to life”! I’m trying to work on it, but for some reason, I can’t seem to do it. I’ve even considered getting rid of the character altogether, but it isn’t likely that I’ll succeed at doing that. I’m rarely successful at deleting any of my characters. That being the case, I need to somehow, bring more life to this character. We’ll see how it goes…

My other goal for our trip, was to read when I wasn’t writing in the car. Not only did I not read very much, I didn’t touch any of my books, except my Bible, during the entire trip. I’m trying to read Davy Crockett’s autobiography. Mr. Crockett had an interesting life, from what I’ve read so far. While the book is interesting, I am finding the grammar a bit difficult to follow and parts of the story lacking in relevance. LORD willing, I will post a review after I finish. Oh yes, and did I mention that Mr. Crockett had an obvious desire to become the president of the United States? He makes it very clear in this book that he wants to move higher politically and that being the president was his goal. I’m only a quarter of the way through the book so far too. I am enjoying it overall though and I hope to finish the book during the next week or two.

I need to go work on reorganizing some bookshelves now…

To the KING be all the glory!