february reads

By Posted in Classics Club Tagged , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

It’s February!! Yay!! I would love to sit and write for a bit but I have bread to bake, laundry to do, fridge and pantry to clean, assignments to go over…but alas, I shan’t bore you to tears.  I seriously need to work on the whole getting up earlier thing :P.

Really quick though, I just want to post about the 2 read-alongs I’ll be participating in this month.

The first is Celebrating Dickens hosted by Fanda at Fanda Classiclit.

celebrating-dickens-button

 

I’m looking forward to this as I have never read anything by Dickens!  I’d love to be adventurous and tackle a couple of his works but seeing as how February is the shortest month of the year…yeah, not happening!!  I will be reading The Old Curiosity Shop, a copy of which has been sitting on my shelve for around a decade!  I finally have an excuse to pick it up and read it!

My second February read-along is the Social Justice Theme Read 2013 hosted by Rachel at Resistance is Futile.

Social Justice Button

Both To Kill a Mockingbird and The Jungle are on the list of book options.  I’ve chosen to reread Harper Lee’s classic. If I have time, I’ll read The Jungle too, but I’m not pushing it!! 

Click the links to find out about both read-alongs!!

That’s all for now!  Gotta run!

What are y’all reading this month?

Have a blessed day =)

you are a writer book review//nerdy non-fiction 2013

By Posted in Writing & Blogging Tagged , , , , , , , 9 Comments

I mentioned in my Betsy-Tacy book review (below) that all I’ve been doing lately is study for school and read.  I haven’t read so much in one month in a very long time and it feels so good!  I just need to crank out the reviews while I can (I may get three done today!!).

So here’s my first completed title for the Nerdy Non-Fiction Challenge 2013 :).

I must say that so far, this book, by Jeff Goins, is probably my favorite!

url

After reading his Writer’s Manifesto (and you can read my thoughts on that here),  I knew I had to check out Jeff’s other books.  This was totally worth more than the $3 I spent in the Kindle bookstore!!  In this book, Jeff addresses the fears that writers have when starting out.  We don’t want to say we’re writers cause we haven’t been published yet or the few posts on our blog haven’t given us permission to assume that title.  We seek perfection and success first before we think ourselves worthy of such a bold statement as, “Hi, my name is Elyssa and I’m a writer.”

Jeff says to quit it.

You’re a writer, he says, you just have to write.

This makes sense when you consider the fact that feelings don’t have to determine one’s mood.  For example, I can choose to be in a good mood by putting a smile on my face and keeping my words positive.  Sooner or later, whatever negative feelings I had begin to dissolve and I begin to feel good and I’m in a positive mood!  The same can be said for writers.  Say you’re a writer.  Now act on it.  The more you act like a writer, the harder you work at your copy, the more intentional you are about making a name for yourself, little by little, the more skilled you become and the more you’ll be taken seriously by yourself and others.  It takes a lot of time but it’s worth it!

If you want to be a writer.  If you are an aspiring writer.  If you are a writer, (old habits!) then YOU NEED TO READ THIS BOOK!  I want to elaborate more but I don’t want to give the whole book away.  Just read it.  Seriously, go to Amazon now and download the ebook.  You won’t regret it.   It’s inspiring and practical.  It offers advice and writing tools as well as the necessary kick in the pants some of us need to get going!!  I loved it and will probably be referring back to it for the rest of my life!!

And If you haven’t yet, you can check out Jeff’s blog at Jeff Goins Writer. Sign up for his email list and you can get a free copy of his Writer’s Manifesto which I also highly recommend!!

Y’all have a blessed day =)

betsy-tacy review//classics club

By Posted in Classics Club Tagged , , , , , , , 10 Comments

bookcover

My mother first read me Betsy-Tacy when I was a very little girl and I followed their story all the way up through their adult years.  I loved every page!  Revisiting Deep Valley and the Big Hill and the simple pleasures of a world gone by was very sweet indeed!  And I must, of course, mention Lois Lenski’s charming illustrations.  I don’t know if any of you have read any of her books but her work is especially nostalgic for me and my mother <3.

SPOILER ALERT: My comments do contain spoilers! You have been warned ;)

Maud Hart Lovelace (what a romantic name, yeah?) begins her story by stating that it’s difficult to think of a time when Betsy and Tacy had not been friends.

“Hill Street came to regard them almost as one person. Betsy’s brown braids went with Tacy’s curls, Betsy’s plump legs with Tacy’s spindly ones, to school and from school, up hill and down, on errands and in play. So that when Tacy had the mumps and Betsy was obliged to journey alone, saucy boys would tease her: Where’s the cheese apple pie?” Where’s the mush, milk?” As though she didn’t feel lonesome already!”

I think that is too cute!  And to see how much our language has changed over time!  I don’t know any child today who associates cheese with apple pie!  Peanut butter and jelly, yes.  And who eats mush and milk anymore?  Today it’s cereal and milk!

So the story of these two besties begins with 5 year-old Betsy Ray who lives in “a small, yellow cottage”, “the last on her side of Hill Street”.  She reminds me of little Laura Ingalls in Little House in the Big Woods with her brown braids and wide-eyed wonder and vivid imagination.  Across the street, stood a “rambling white house” which was, of course the last house on that side of Hill Street.  To her delight, a new family moves into the white house across the street and they have a little girl just her age!  After a rather humorous meeting cumbered with a bit of a misunderstanding, the two become inseparable!  Betsy, bright-eyed and full of stories and shy Tacy, eager to listen and ready to join in the fun.

Reading about their afternoons with paper dolls cut out of fashion magazines, dressing up in grown up clothes and going calling, coloring white sand with leftover Easter egg dye and selling it, and taking their supper plates to eat together on the bench on top of the hill, makes me wish that I had grown up in another time.  A simpler time.  Granted, I love technology and all the great conveniences it affords but sometimes I get tired of the constant bombardment and long for quiet afternoons, homemade laughter, and the sweet joys that can’t be bought with money or achieved with a smartphone, television or laptop.  But alas, God saw fit to place me in this period so I love it for everything wonderful it has to offer while occasionally slipping in the past to enjoy tea in china cups, buggy rides, and trips to the general store!

I must confess however that reading a book meant for such young readers was a bit of challenge cause I caught myself getting just a tad bored!  Over all, it was a pleasure and I intend to continue re-reading the entire series! =)

Y’all have a blessed day =)

nerdy non-fiction challenge 2013

By Posted in Life Tagged , 1 Comment

I found another reading challenge XD.  Oh yes indeedy, I found a great one!  It’s over at Bookmark to Blog and it’s called the Nerdy Non-Fiction Challenge.  This is perfect for me since my reading list has a plethora of non-fiction titles (a few of which are included in my TBR 2013 list) and more importantly, I’ve got to do a lot of reading (boring reading!) for my classes this semester.  Soooo why not have some fun being a nerd, yeah?

A_Books

Here’s how it works:

Choose a Level:

Geek: 4-6 books in at least 2-3 different categories
Dork: 7-10 books in at least 4-5 different categories
Dweeb: 11- 14 books in at least 6-7 different categories
Nerd: 15+ books in at least 8+ different categories

Pick from these or other categories:

* Health, Medicine, Fitness, Wellness
* History- US, World, European, etc
* Religion, Spirituality, Philosophy
* Technology, Engineering, Computers, etc
* Business, Finance, Management
* Sports, Adventure
* Food- Cookbooks, Cooks, Vegan Vegetarianism, etc
* Autobiography, Biography, Memoir
* Art, Photography, Architecture
* Music, Film, TV
* Self Improvement, Self Help, How To
* Home, Garden
* Science-Nature, Weather, Biology, Geology
* Anthropology, Archaeology
* Animals-Insects, Mammals, Dinosaurs, etc
* Family, Relationships, Parenting, Dating, Love
* Crime, Law
* Poetry, Theatre
* Politics, Government, Current Affairs
* Literary Criticism/Theory
* Cultural Studies
* Travel
* Crafts

The rules are pretty flexible and basic.  For full details and the link up, click here

I’m going to try for Dweeb and read 11-14 books in at least 6-7 categories.  Who knows, I might make Nerd status!!

Now back my book on Organizational Behavior (which is first on my nerdy book list ^.^)!

Happy Reading y’all!!

read along tuesdays, wednesday edition

By Posted in Bible, Spiritual Growth Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Read: Exodus 1:22 – 21:29

I’m late again, I know.  And I’m also behind.  I was trying to decide whether I should catch up and then blog or just reflect on what I’ve read.  I decided on the latter.  So here goes!

This week’s reading began the long history of the Israelites and their adventures, misadventures, victories and utter failures and disappointments.  I hesitate to admit that I struggled (am struggling) with this book in a way that I didn’t struggle with Genesis.  I know I’m going to deal with this as I work my way through the Scriptures, but, being as familiar with the narrative of Moses and the Israelites as I am, I’m not sure why.  Perhaps it’s because it’s been one of those weeks.  It’s that cognitive dissonance again.  Ugh, horrid feeling.

I wonder if the Israelites suffered from cognitive dissonance.  Here is this great mass of people, escaping from their bondage in a foreign country and traveling to a land promised them by God.  They have just witnessed terrific, horrible plagues and have crossed the Red Sea on dry land!  God has preserved and prospered them in the midst of slavery, chaos, and destruction.  And now they’re in the middle of the wilderness.  Wishing they were back in Egypt.

Whaaa?  How do you go from being a slave to being set free, and then wishing you were a slave again?  It wasn’t until I studied American Reconstruction that I sorta’ kinda’ understood where they were coming from.  After the Civil War ended and slaves left their masters to begin new lives as free men and women, some found themselves wishing that they could go back to the plantation.  They may have been freed, but America, as yet, didn’t know what that meant politically or socially.  Freedom for blacks didn’t hold the same meaning it held for whites.  The question of what equality means in America wouldn’t be answered for many years and only after much suffering, chaos, and heartache.  As a result, some would have rather returned to the old way of life where, at least they had a place to stay and food to eat, rather than have no certain place in society at all.

That train of thought makes sense for the black ex-slave of 19th century America, but not for descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  How do you question your place in the world when you have a pillar of cloud keeping you cool and guiding you through the day and a pillar of fire keeping you warm and protected at night?  How do you experience the miracle of living in the only part of a country that has light when the rest it is shrouded in heavy, suffocating darkness?  How do you question God’s will for your life when all around you are the bloodcurdling screams of those who’ve lost their eldest sons and your sweet child is still alive and well?  How do you cross the Red Sea on dry land and look back to see that the waters have swallowed up your enemies and then question whether or not you should have left Egypt after all?  I don’t get it!  I will never understand what was going through the minds of these stubborn people!

On one hand, they know that God has saved them from bondage.  They know this is the same God who gave Abraham a son in his old age, who wrestled with Jacob and renamed him Israel, who brought Joseph to Egypt and made him second in command to Pharaoh and saved the world from a seven year famine.  They knew all the stories that had been passed down from generation to generation.  These were their stories.  This was their family.  But they also knew that traveling in the wilderness, the scarcity of water, the cries of tired children, the uncertainty of the great unknown was not what they bargained for when they dreamed of freedom.  And as these two beliefs swam around in their travel weary brains, I can only imagine their discomfort.

That is cognitive dissonance.  When two or more conflicting cognitions try to set up shop in your mind, you can’t help but feel uncomfortable.

Perhaps I struggled (am struggling) in Exodus because I got bored.  I know this stuff backwards and forwards after all, must I read this again? Can I just skim this so I can type up something intelligible for Read Along Tuesday?  But when I stop long enough to pay attention, I know that this frame of mind is utterly ridiculous because this is my story!  The dissatisfied child of God who is facing the great unknown and would rather go back to what she knows and is comfortable with.  Yeah, that’s me.  I know the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  I know that He is King of kings and Lord of lords.  I know that He’s the Beginning and the End.  How can I stand at the start of 2013 and look back at all the battles He has fought for me thus far and question my worth?  How can I read journal entries and look through and not know that God takes care of me despite of all the stupid things I’ve said and done?  How can I look back at all the wonderful memories of the past twenty-something years and not know that my heavenly Father has a specific place in this world for me?  This is my God who brought me out of the land of my enemy, out of the house of captivity.  I am free indeed.

Enough with the cognitive dissonance.  I know in whom I believe and He holds me in His care :)

There’s an old Sara Groves song called ‘Painting Pictures of Egypt’ that captures perfectly the sentiments in Exodus.  It started playing in my head halfway through this post!  Enjoy!

On to Leviticus!!

2013 Audio Book Challenge

By Posted in Life Tagged , , , 1 Comment

I stuck the button on my sidebar last week but never posted about the 2013 Audio Book challenge! I’ve mentioned before that I’ve been an avid audio book listener since young childhood. When I saw this challenge, I absolutely had to join ;).

2013-Audio-Book-Challenge-300x202

It’s quite simple really.  Participants choose a level and listen their way through the year!  Here are the different levels:

  • Flirting-Listen to 6 Audio Books
  • Going Steady- Listen to 12 Audio Books
  • Lover- Listen to 25 Audio Books
  • Married-Listen to more than 25 Audio Books
  • You Define the Relationship- Create your own challenge (choose your own name and level starting as low or going as high as you’d like)

I have chosen Lover, level 3.  I wouldn’t be surprised if I end up listening to more than 25 books but we shall see!

If you’re an audio bookworm and would like to join in the fun, click here for full details!!

read along tuesdays – week 2

By Posted in Bible, Spiritual Growth Tagged , , , 4 Comments

Read: Genesis 21:1 – 50:26

Whew! Finished the book of Genesis!  I’m going to attempt a few comments on what I read this past week.  How readable they’ll be remains to be seen.  It’s late, my brain is fried but I’m determined to finish this before I go to sleep!! So here goes!

I don’t think I’ve ever gone through the entire book, at least, not all in order.  It was fascinating to say the least.  There were a few verses that surprised me, stuff that I’d either forgotten was there or had never read before.  Then I began wondering what would the headlines look like in the morning papers back then…

90 Year-Old Woman Gives Birth to Her First Child

Rich Man’s Servant Sent to Far Away Country to Find a Wife for His Master’s Son

Hunter Sells His Birthright to His Twin Brother for a Bowl of Pottage

Cheating Twin Cheated on Out of His Beloved on His Wedding Night 

Woman Uses Her Son’s Narcotics to Hire Her Husband for a Night

Two Brothers Avenge Their Sister’s Innocence and Wipe Out a City’s Male Population

Jealous Brothers Sell Father’s Favorite Son to Slave Traders

Hebrew Slave Becomes Second in Command to the Pharaoh of Egypt and Saves the World from a Seven Year Famine

Of course, those are only a few possibilities.  I may have made similar comments last week but, I mean, for crying out loud, these stories just magnify the fact that these were real people who had real struggles, real problems, real joys, real sorrows, real challenges, and did really stupid things.

I don’t have the time to comment on everything I read about this week, but here are some thoughts on the major stories:

ABRAHAM & SARAH

Here is a couple that is uprooted from their hometown and commanded by God to go.  And it’s not like God took a map and said, “Okay, I want you guys to travel this road for several hundred miles, make stops here, here, and here and in about, oh several months or so, you’ll end up here, where I’ve marked with a star.”  No.  God just said go and that’s it.  They knew just enough to get them through the day.  Talk about walking in complete faith!

A lot of fuss is made about Abraham and how much faith he had and he did, no doubt, but his wife was there too.  She had to pick up and follow God just as her husband did.  Abraham was to be the father of great nation and that meant she was to be the mother of that nation.  Her story is just as important as Abraham’s which is why she has a place in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11.

What amazes me is even when Abraham lied about the fact that Sarah was his wife, even when Sarah gave up and determined to help God out by giving her maid, Hagar, to Abraham to bear his promised child, even when Abraham lied AGAIN about Sarah being his wife, even when Sarah laughed when the Lord said He still intended to keep his promise and give her a son, even though Abraham questioned and had to be reminded again and again, GOD KEPT HIS WORD.  And Isaac was born.

*mind blown*

That gives me hope for my pathetic, puny faith.  If God was that long suffering with Abraham and Sarah, He won’t give up on me.

ISAAC & REBEKAH 

For some reason, after all these years, I haven’t made up my mind about how I feel about these two.  Their story begins with a rather sweet romance.  God arranges their marriage and they’re happy at first but then it feels like they change as they age and not for the better.  I don’t know why but I feel like the tone of their lives shifts after the births of Esau and Jacob.  Perhaps it’s because each parent chooses a favorite son and that’s never a good situation.  Maybe it’s cause Isaac, chip off the old block, lies to the men of Gerar and tells them Rebekah is his sister!  Nevertheless, Isaac is blessed by God and his wealth grows!  My opinion of Rebekah certainly changes drastically when she convinces Jacob to trick Isaac into giving him Esau’s blessing.  How did such a sweet girl turn into such a conniving woman?  But then again, it’s not a matter of virtuous woman gone bad but rather a daughter of God losing faith.  God told her that her younger son would serve her older son.  Like Sarah, Rebekah saw an opportunity to ‘help God out’ and took it!

Nothing good ever comes when we think we know best and try to help God out.  Oh that I would learn to stay in step with Jesus and quit trying to run ahead of Him all the time!

JACOB

I know I’m jumping ahead but I have always wondered how a man doesn’t know that the woman he’s in bed with is not the same woman he worked 7 years for!!  There’s a headline for you!  How was that even possible?  Okay, I just needed to get that out of the way cause that has always boggled my mind.  There is so much to the story of Jacob, I don’t even know where to begin so I’ll say two things:

1. To love a woman so much that you’ll work a total of 14 years to win and keep her is incredible.  I think, as twisted as it does ends up, Jacob and Rachel’s love story is beautiful.

 2. It blows my mind how Jacob fought all night with the angel and refused to let go until God blessed him.  I hear people talk about how they pray and pray and plead and plead with the Lord for days, weeks, months, even years to answer their prayers.  They refuse to let up until God answers them.  And it’s not like God waits around til He feels like granting wishes.  He’s listening.  But sometimes the answer is ‘wait’.  Even if what we’re praying for is in line with God’s will for our lives, our timing may not be God’s timing.  That’s how faith is strengthened.  Waiting upon the Lord is intense stuff.  That’s how it was with Abraham and Sarah.  That’s how it was with Jacob that night before he faced his brother Esau.  The Lord didn’t answer him right away and Jacob struggled, but he held on.

Like Jacob, we could be in the midst of our darkest night, not knowing what the morning will bring but we cannot lose hope until God gives us the strength and the peace we need to face another day.

Whew!  My fuzzy, exhausted brain is blown again!

JOSEPH

Joseph is one of my favorite Bible heroes!  I love his story!  This guy does not move.  He is unwavering.  He does not give in.  He does not falter.  He does not complain, despair or distrust.  He knows the God he serves and will not back down.  Unlike his forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, there is not one negative word written about this young man.  He passes every test of character and as a result, receives the highest promotion a guy in a foreign country could ever dream of!  Being sold as a slave by his own flesh and blood, then later framed by his master’s disgruntled wife and thrown in jail doesn’t hold him back.  In both cases, he allows God to use him and faithfully waits on the Lord perfect timing.

Yes, Joseph is a keeper!  I pray I can develop a noble character he did.

It’s after midnight and I’m wiped out.  I hope my comments are readable!! Technically it’s Wednesday but I’m saying it’s still Tuesday night and I made the deadline!

On to the book of Exodus and week number 3!!

But for now, good night, y’all :)

king of the wind review//classics club

By Posted in Classics Club, Life Tagged , , , , , , 3 Comments

20130105_194430_zps75e7714aI’m not usually a huge fan of animal stories but King of the Wind is one of my childhood favorites.  As with many of the books I devoured as a little girl, I listened to this on tape before I ever picked up a hard copy.  I read it once or twice after that and thoroughly enjoyed it every time!  A couple months ago, I bought this beautiful red hardcover copy at a used book store since I no longer had my old paperback copy.  When I decided to participate in the Children’s Classics Event this month, I knew this book had to be on my list :).

SPOILER ALERT: If you have not yet read this book and plan to in the future, do NOT read further!! You have been warned ;)

King of the Wind is a story of Agba, a horseboy in the stables of Moroccan Sultan, Mulai Ismael, and Sham, his beloved bay stallion.  I suppose, since the title is King of the Wind, it would be more correct to say the story is one about a bay stallion named Sham and his devoted horseboy Agba.  It could go either way, so deep is their friendship, so strong is their reliance upon each other, so intertwined are their lives.  It really is a sweet story of keeping promises, staying true to one’s duty, and becoming who you were born to be.

423156As I was reading, I was constantly amused at the fact that I kept hearing the story narrated in the voice from the audiobook I listened to so many years ago!  It’s funny the things your brain recollects!  The language Henry uses is absolutely delightful!

“There was no sound anywhere, not from the palace walls beyond, nor from the quarters over the stables where the horseboys lived. The whole world seemed to be holding its breath, waiting for dusk to fall. Small voices of insects and birds were beginning to pierce the quiet. Twilight toads piping on their bassoons. Crickets chirping. Wood doves cooing. And afar off in the Atlas Mountains a hyena began to laugh. These were forerunners of the darkness. It would be only a short time now.”

My favorite bit is her description of the Sultan.  Upon hearing that he is to go before Sultan Mulai Ismael, Agba is terrified that his life will come to an abrupt and untimely end.  His fears lessen considerably when he sees the great man himself.

“The Sultan held the boy transfixed. He wore a towering white turban and a dazzling white robe with a golden sash. But what struck Agba was that in spite of the fine mantle and a beard whiter than driven snow, the old man reminded him of a camel. His eyes were hidden by heavy folds of eyelids, like a camel’s, and his lips were thick and slit in two, and there was a big hump on his back. Even his feet were like those of a camel, spongy and broad and shapeless…

Agba would not have been surprised in the least to see him rise up and swing along through the garden, stopping to feed on the leaves of the orange trees and the jasmine bushes….

…Agba wanted to laugh out, for even the Sultan’s voice was high and shrill, like a camel that objects to being mounted.”

I don’t know why but that has always tickled me!  Perhaps it was the way the narrator on the audiobook read it, I don’t know!

In any case, the misadventures that Agba and Sham continually face in their travels are, at times, heartbreaking but in the end make their success that much sweeter.  I sometimes wonder how the story would have gone if Agba could speak but it’s foolish to consider because that’s a huge part of why the story is so poignant.  Here’s a boy who, handicapped though he may be, will fulfill his promise to Sham and carry out the Sultan’s orders, come what may.

It made me think of how much I want to use my weaknesses as a crutch and excuse as to why I can’t do what know I was meant to do.  It’s stupid.  It’s stupid to give room to negativity.  When you know you’ve got a job to complete, a mission to accomplish, a dream to fulfill, a promise to keep, you don’t listen to the naysayers, you fight for success.  You pray that you don’t miss opportunities and open doors.  You wait patiently for your next big chance.  You learn from your mistakes and pick yourself up when you fall flat on your face.  It’s one of the great things about life.  You try again and again and again until you get it right. And you will get it right.

I got all that from a story about a horse and his boy?  Yes.

That’s why I love the simplicity of childhood.  If you let it, it’ll continue to speak to your adult heart <3.

Y’all have a blessed day!

read along tuesdays, thursday edition

By Posted in Bible, Spiritual Growth Tagged , , , , , , , 2 Comments

I’ve been trying to write this post for the past couple of days and I’m determined to get through it today!  Here’s the Thursday edition of Read Along Tuesdays :P.

I figured that since the year began on a Tuesday, I’d do weekly post every Tuesday and talk a little bit about what I’ve read in the Bible that week.  Yeeeeeeah.  As one might imagine, commenting on scripture is a whole different ball game than commenting on any other book!  Where do I begin to talk about Adam & Eve and Cain & Abel and Methuselah and Noah and Abraham & Sarah and Lot and Isaac and Ishmael and Hagar…?  So much is covered in these 27 pages!  So many lessons to be learned.  So much to absorb and  ponder over.

I haven’t yet determined how brief or in-depth my comments will be in the future, but for today, I’ll keep it short and sweet. First of all, WOW. When I tried to read the Bible last year, I don’t think I even made it this far. Now that I’m actually taking the time to sit and read and not just pick off passages for reference purposes or hearing a verse during morning and evening devotions, but actually reading through and building on context and the various happenings, it’s such a rewarding experience. The Bible is just a super cool book! There are no two ways about it, God’s Word is awesome!! And because it’s His word, there’s something wonderful that happens to your soul when you’re reading it. It’s a calm and an inspiration you don’t get from any other reading, that you’re not meant to get from any other reading! As inspiring as other great writing can be, these words, inspired by the very Creator of the universe, capture human heart in a way that can only be realized in the reading of them. It’s truly a beautiful thing!

As a Christian, to me the Bible isn’t just a great work of ancient literature (cause it is that), it’s not just a collection of interesting, sometimes heartbreaking or humorous, stories (cause it is that), it’s not just a great text on history (cause it is that), it’s not just an authority on the sciences (cause it is that), it’s not just philosophy, psychology, sociology or even religion, (cause it’s all of those too).  The Bible is the living, breathing, ever relevant Word of God.  From “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” in Genesis to “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.” in Revelation, God reveals His heart.  How can I deny myself the pleasure of drawing nearer to the heart of God?  The very idea that God even cares that much about me to condescend to give my this letter of His love brings tears to my eyes.

That’s why I’m going to make it through this year in His word.  I’m finally committing to this way of getting to know my loving heavenly Father.  And I’m relishing every moment of it!

Okay, so I didn’t comment on anything I read.  I was just basking the utter coolness of the Bible.

I’ll pick it up next Tuesday :)

Y’all have a blessed day!

the virginia woolf writer’s workshop//book review

By Posted in Writing & Blogging Tagged , , , , , 4 Comments

266205027945822409_ZJyljIao_bLast month I read this delightful little book by Danell Jones called The Virginia Woolf Writer’s Workshop: Seven Lessons to Inspire Great Writers. In it the author creates an imaginary writing class conducted by Virginia Woolf.  She uses lines directly from Woolf’s diaries, essays, and letters to teach seven lessons to, as the title says, inspire great writing.

Through conversation between Woolf and her students, Jones teaches the following lessons:

  1. Practicing
  2. Working
  3. Creating
  4. Walking
  5. Reading
  6. Publishing
  7. Doubting

My favorite lesson was the first where Woolf tells her students to keep a diary or journal.  She explains that in her diary to practice her scales and experiment with creating different effects. When a student questions what Woolf means by practicing scales, Woolf replies,

“I mean, she says her voice rising with enthusiasm, just write. Write “nonsense by the ream. Be silly, be sentimental, imitate Shelley; give the rein to every impulse; commit every fault of style, grammar, taste, and sytax; pour out; tumble over; loose anger, love, satire, in whatever words you can catch coerce or create, in whatever metre, prose, poetry, or gibberish that comes to hand. Thus you will learn to write.”…”The habit of writing thus for my eye only,” she says was “good practice””

While I didn’t agree with all of Woolf’s ideology or even methodology, I did take her advice and decided to take the writer’s notebook more seriously.  When I finally decided to quit editing myself, I was able to write freely, something that I’ve struggled with for years.  It’s hard to keep from making sure every ‘i’ is dotted and every ‘t’ crossed but it’s completely necessary when getting your thoughts and ideas on paper.  When I made the conscious effort to just let myself write, I was able to crank out twenty pages in one day, something I hadn’t done in a long time!  It felt wonderful!!

The rest of the book was amusing and well put together.  Again, I didn’t agree with everything Woolf writes but I was able to reap great bits of advice.  If you’re a writer and need a pick-me-up, this book is worth a read.

What books have you read to inspire great writing?  I’d love to read your thoughts!

Y’all have a blessed day =)