I think that most of these will be keepers. Maybe.
A Big Question: WHY
Over at FICTION UNIVERSITY, Janice Hardy had a guest post by Shanna Swendson. It showed up on the blog on May 25, but I just saw it.
While I thought I had thoroughly considered this question before, I had only given a few seconds attention to this. This only led to a couple of sentence fragments that didn’t lead anywhere. At best, I had given a token effort and received exactly what that effort merited.
ONE KEY QUESTION TO ASK BEFORE YOU START WRITING invited me to reconsider both the question and the answers.
I realized that an abbreviated form of this would also be useful for short story writing. These tidbits deserve respect, too. Knowing the “WHY” can help me reshape the how into something exquisite.
I also realized that it is never too late to take this step. When I get stuck, I could return to it… If I have it already done. If not, it is a perfect exercise to pull me back into the story and the delight I envisioned.
Nifty tool! I can’t wait to use it.
Goal for the Month
15 minutes per day
6 days per week
I will write a story this month. (By June 22)
Easter Vigil 2021
Yep, today is Good Friday. It is, for human beings, the best thing that could have ever happened, but for Jesus, the Christ… It was sheer torture. One of my favorite Gerhart hymns, “A Lamb Goes Uncomplaining Forth,” verse 3, gets to the point quite well.
“… / O wondrous Love, what have You done! / The Father offers up His Son, / Desiring our salvation. / O Love, how strong You are to save! / You lay the One into the grave / Who built the earth’s foundation.”
Good Friday isn’t the end of the story, either. Pretty much everyone knows that Easter Sunday is coming up pretty quickly. Yes, Easter without Good Friday is pretty meaningless. It is more than a pastoral footnote about seeds growing, caterpillars turning to butterflies, and other “springy” images, though. It is about the cost of forgiveness. Not the cost to us, it cost God more than we can begin to understand.
To help us begin to work our way toward at least appreciating what God has done and continues to do for us, earlier generations of Christians used the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter to hold Easter Vigil services. One of the best explanations of Easter and “light walk-throughs” actually came from my pastor and cantor on the “Coffee Hour” podcast at KFUO. <– If you click that link, it will take you to the page. Scroll down a bit, and you will see the podcast called, “The Coffee Hour – Easter Vigil: From Darkness to Light.” It lasts a little bit under 30 minutes.
In case you don’t have a church nearby that has Easter Vigil services, my church is. It will start at 6:30 PM tomorrow. Zion, Tomball’s website has a link to the YouTube live-stream and bulletin download here. I’m not entirely certain what they are going to do for the opening bonfire and procession into the church, maybe Facebook live? We shall see.
It Is Good to Sleep!
I have been using this bed for a week. It is WONDERFUL to not have to have someone wake up to turn me twice a night, both for my sake and theirs. While it could be “placebo effect,” my feet feel slightly warmer in the morning. My respiratory system hasn’t shown much of a difference, but I’m not surprised – we will see what happens when I’m sick. I have had one small bout with sciatic pain, but it ended quickly.
Putting the night routine together is easier. Instead of being balanced and surrounded by pillows, I only put one small one to protect my tailbone. We move the gastric tube into a position that will not bother anything – especially my face. I get prepared for bed as usual otherwise. Once I sit up a little bit, so I can manage secretions, we can switch like controls.
Slowly and quietly, the bed rotates 30° to the left. 30 minutes later, it rotates 30° to the right. This keeps happening until we turn it off in the morning.
The first night, I startled when some of the turns began. I wasn’t scared or anything. It was just DIFFERENT than what I was used to. I was only awake for a few seconds each time.
Now, I sometimes wake up once or twice a night. It isn’t always connected to turning. (The ice dropping in the refrigerator is noisy, but I don’t think it’s that, either.) Anyhow, I usually fall asleep right away.
If I’m wide awake, I listen to Lutheran Talk Radio or an audiobook for a little while. I’ve been waking up early, sometimes 6 or 6:30 AM. Once again, I listen to something until someone is ready to work with me-usually around 7:30 AM or a little bit before.
More later…
Funding Came through: “Magic Bed” Is Here
My spinal muscular atrophy comes along with several medical issues. I have lousy circulation, to the point that I’m always cold enough to claim to be part lizard. My tracheostomy, etc. further prove that I have respiratory issues.
About 5-10 years ago, I heard about a tool that I was certain would help with both the circulation and the breathing issues. It comes with the added benefit of not needing someone to turn me regularly.
Funding medical equipment is sometimes a cluster of exercises in creativity and networking, but I will go into that some other time.
For now, I’m just going to say that the bed is here. My family and I get to sleep the whole night through. The Probed Medical Freedom Bed will keep me moving all night, making small position changes like everyone else. It will keep the blood moving and keep secretions from “puddling” in my lungs.
Details to come after I use the bed tonight. 🙂
Apparently, I Have a Screw Loose
I tried to email these to Maxmino at NuMotion, but no matter what I did, they didn’t work. I’m trying this method now. Feel free to ignore this post. If you click the thumbnail, you will see the large picture.
Back in the Winter of 21…
This winter, for Texas at least, is another one from the records. Here is the breakdown from the local Channel 13. While we didn’t lose power or water, a lot of people did.
- I don’t deal particularly well with 13°F weather, but we had some. I stayed indoors.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFdFxEHkFso
Bob Ross, J.R.R. Tolkien, and a Theodicy and Me
I just wrote a little review of FAITH IN THE SHADOW OF A PANDEMIC for my church newsletter. (The Reader’s Digest version is that this is an excellent and useful book.)
Pondering that cluster of 14 devotions reminded me of many conversations I’ve had since I was 12. I’m not talking (this time) about the folks in shopping malls who insist on telling me that “if I was REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEALLY a Christian” that God would have healed me by now.
I’m talking about people who are struggling with issues (illness, grief, racism, cruelty, hurricanes, etc.) that bother them, and they want to discuss them with someone who believes in God in spite of it all. There’s a word for that: theodicy.
Most of the time, I have learned that this is the time for me to close my mouth and open my ears. People need the freedom to wrestle with and grieve these sore places in their lives. We don’t live in some sort of cross between Utopia and Candyland. (Well… Maybe it is a little bit like Thomas More’s Utopia, which is actually kind of dark. Come to think of it, most utopian novels are rather bleak, so NEVERMIND!)
While our universe certainly has loveliness, it is also broken. We are broken and corrupted by sin. (That’s a whole different discussion, even when it leaks into what I’m saying here.)
One of my friends told me that they found great consolation in the number of times that Bob Ross (of “Joy of Painting” fame) said, “Every highlight needs its own shadow. Without it, this world we’re painting is flat and lifeless.”
I don’t know that it’s exactly SCRIPTURAL, but it feels useful to me. It also reminds me of one of my favorite J.R.R. Tolkien quotes:
“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.
“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
My pastor and his oldest son had a thorough discussion about that quote. Apparently, it was rather far-ranging. I would’ve loved to eavesdrop!
I forgot where I was going with all of this.
What Do You Do When You Don’t Really Feel like Writing?
I have been going in circles for a week. I start to write, but go off in totally different directions. It seems like I’m doing ANYTHING to avoid writing. (That’s why this blog post is so “nothing.”)
So, what do you do when you are self-sabotaging your own writing?