"Dat is Pun!"

Following written by Mum yesterday:

It’s been a long time since my oldest child at home was three years old! Right now, however, our oldest five are working for our landlord, pulling wild turnips out of a paddock he has planted in Bok Choy for seed. The turnips are blooming right now, but the Bok Choy hasn’t started bolting yet, so it’s very easy to see what to take out. He doesn’t have time to do the job himself, so he stopped by last evening and asked if we could do it. The children were glad to have a paying job, so I took them over just after lunch. That leaves me with only two here–it is quiet in this house! We worked on the bananas I got on special at the supermarket a couple of days ago–the three-year-old cut them and filled a dehydrator tray for me. He was quite excited about that, exclaiming over and over, “Dat is pun! Dis is pun!” (fun). Baby played outside for awhile, and came in with a dirty face, laughing at me as he tugged at my dress. After I tried to get a picture of him (he wouldn’t laugh for the camera), the older one wanted me to take a picture of his face “to see if it was clean” after he washed the chocolate off! And now, I got a message that the children are done for the day and I need to go get them!

INSERTED BY ME: Don't you love his expression?! :)

> > > > READ THE REST HERE... < < < <

When Writing Fails…

…a Proverbs 17:17 friend doesn’t.

I wrote the following yesterday—didn’t have time to post until today.
Read Tiffany’s version here.

Something I do quite a bit is chat (online, not through the telephone) with one of my best friends, Tiffany. We always seem to come up with things to talk about! Well, today we were talking, and after a while we both needed to go (I to my writing, she to her brainstorming [? not positive on that]). She said, ‘turning chat off.......bye’.

Fine, I thought, I need to write, anyway…though I have no idea what to write. After staring at a blank sheet of paper (with one small scribble at the top corner) for several minutes, I wrote this down (please, do not notice spelling errors; I was writing fast!):

          HISTORY:

1. King arriving 
2. delivers speech 
3. helps rebuild temple
4. leaves
5. temple meeting (CLIMAX [for the day’s writing, not for the whole story])

Great, I thought as I looked at the page. This will help me a lot! After thinking and praying for several minutes, I still had not come up with any more ‘filler’ for the story. What should I do, Lord? I cried silently. Show me what to write! I gave this story to You, and told You that You’re the One writing this! I can’t do it; You’ll have to give the inspiration! After more thinking and praying, the idea burst upon me. Of course! Why hadn’t I thought of it sooner? I need to have a plot—inside of the main plot! A story—a conflict, inside the main conflict! I need a problem for my Main Character (MC) to solve!

After fruitless searching of the WWW (World Wide Web) for ten minutes or so, I was ready to give up. I can’t do it. I can’t find a conflict. I stared out the dirty window, not noticing that it had been about a year since I had washed it (it still needs washed). What kind of a conflict would be good for me [I learn through my character’s experiences], and good for my character? How would it add interest to the story? How would it tell the history, but from a point of view that I find gripping, and that the readers won’t just throw the book down in disgust over? These questions haunted me, and I had no idea what to do or where to go to find the answers.

There’s only one chance I have, I thought. I’ll send a quick chat to Tiffany asking her for help, and then I’ll go outside with my Bible, a notebook, and a pen. (I’ve always found being outside is the best place for a story to be written—my ideas seem to flow best there. It especially helps to have my Bible handy for quick encouragement, and I can easily flip through the pages reading precious jewels of the Word while balancing a notebook on one hand.)

I settled back down in the creaky chair (that especially sounds loud when you’re sitting on it at night!) to send my “chat”. Here’s what I said, thirty-one minutes after she said ‘bye’ (usually, after she says ‘bye’, it’s bye. She’s gone for the day.):

{4:20 PM}  Me: You still on? I need to ask a question.
*impatiently* In a BAD WAY!!!

{4:21 PM} Hmmm....you’re not responding.
You must be gone.

…10 minutes later (after more fruitless internet searching)…

{4:32 PM} Me: Okay, you probably won’t get this until tomorrow, but anyway—my problem is this:
I know what the history is, and how it’s going to work, but I don’t have a ‘problem’ for my MC [main character—writer’s lingo]. You know how it’s good to have a plot-inside-a-plot? That’s what I’m talking about. I don’t have anything “small” for her to resolve while I tell the real story along side. Nothing for her to fix. I’m stuck. HELP!!!! I’ve prayed about it, but nothing has come…yet. In a moment I’m going to go to a secret hidey-hole with my Bible and try to think…

{4:33 PM} your prayers would be very much appreciated (and I’m praying for you, too [she had mentioned yesterday that she was having trouble]).

…12 minutes later (after I was long gone)…

{4:46 PM} Tiffany: hello?
hellooooooooo?

{4:47 PM} I have a please please please please answer question, I will like have to ring you if you don’t answer
I think I might do that anyway

———————————————————

She must have gotten bored waiting for me to respond, so before I knew it (and before I knew she had replied), Mum came out on the porch with the phone.

“ESTHER! PHONE FOR YOU!” A phone call? For me? Maybe it’s my piano teacher saying she has to cancel this week… I hurried to the porch, got the phone, and was pleasantly surprised to hear Tiffany talking. She asked what my problem was, listened through my story, then I listened through her problem. We ended up talking for 1 hour, 31 minutes, and 4 seconds. (That’s what the phone said, anyway—I still wonder if it didn’t decide to use a little deceit and make it look like we talked a lot longer than we actually did. All I know is that it was about 6:00 PM when we finally got done.)

The good thing was that we both went away from that talk with (I believe!) a clearer idea in our heads as to where our novels were and are going. I did, at least. I didn’t get anything written today, but at least I have all my tangled thoughts straightened out again. I hope Tiffany feels the same way! I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s writing session. It will really be interesting to see where this story ends up!

I’m really blessed to have such a good friend as Tiffany. I could not ask for a better writer, editor (for all my crazy, dis-jointed stories!), or sister. Even though we are almost opposite in everything (totally different backgrounds, genres of writing, ways of writing [she writes for older people, I for younger], and even in our relationships with family and friends we’re different—everything, almost!), we’re still good friends. And sisters in Jesus. And that’s what counts. Thank you, Lord for giving me such an understanding friend and sister! I’m really privileged to be able to have such a friend.

And to imagine…I would have never met her if we hadn’t moved half-way around the world…. Amazing are the ways of God!

“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!”

(Romans 11:33)

Thank you for calling, Tiffy!

You know it's Christmas when...

...you hear the song “The First Noel” (below) on the radio, and then you go around humming it for quite a while. ☺ Love that song!

The First Noel

The First Noel, the Angels did say

Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay

In fields where they lay keeping their sheep

On a cold winter's night that was so deep.

Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel

Born is the King of Israel!

They looked up and saw a star

Shining in the East beyond them far

And to the earth it gave great light

And so it continued both day and night.

Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel

Born is the King of Israel!

And by the light of that same star

Three Wise men came from country far

To seek for a King was their intent

And to follow the star wherever it went.

Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel

Born is the King of Israel!

This star drew nigh to the northwest

O'er Bethlehem it took its rest

And there it did both Pause and stay

Right o'er the place where Jesus lay.

Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel

Born is the King of Israel!

Then entered in those Wise men three

Full reverently upon their knee

And offered there in His presence

Their gold and myrrh and frankincense.

Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel

Born is the King of Israel!

Then let us all with one accord

Sing praises to our heavenly Lord

That hath made Heaven and earth of nought

And with his blood mankind has bought.

Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel

Born is the King of Israel!

...and here's the music:

P.S. this was my 203rd post...I've come a long way since January when I started this blog! ☺

Will You Please Help Us? {New post on the JOJ blog}

Well, I’ve just had a sudden inspiration. Tiffany and I would like to have more things from other people in our magazine (and I’m sure that anyone who has ever written a magazine, blog, or other such-like stuff could identify!). So, I was thinking…what about an article-writing day? Both Tiffany and I would write an article, and if you would like to participate (which I REALLY hope you want to!☺) that would be great. So, here’s what we would do:

Please read the rest here...

(Should I beg? ;))

Hopefully,