Inklings

I've Moved!

2008-07-11T20:32:00.002-04:00

"Inklings" can now be found at www.rachelstarrthomson.com/inklings. All of the old posts and your comments are over there, and all new posts will be posted there. Please do come by for a visit!

Blessings,
Rachel

published: Live Out Spring

2008-07-10T07:31:00.001-04:00

How can we live out the goodness of God in our lives? By behaving much like my favourite season--spring. My latest article has been published on Ungrind.org. Check it out here.

published: Living the Past

2008-06-26T11:25:00.002-04:00

"Living the Past," the first of three articles I'm writing on the role of Christians in the arts, has been published on Boundless.org.

I'd love to hear from you on this subject!

time to relax

2008-06-25T07:32:00.003-04:00

Today things are rapidly coming together. In the course of this work day, Seasons should see its final tweaking finished. A ministry newsletter I've been collecting material for should be written, edited, and laid out. My Web site should be ready to launch. And my summer road trip should be fully planned.

Most days are a tangle of work, putting in hours on this project and that one, emailing people, writing hundreds and thousands of words. Every now and then the work culminates. Those moments are beautiful and rewarding.

In this case, I've been working my head off because my cousin, co-author, and co-dance tour coordinator, Carolyn Currey, arrives at the train station tomorrow at noon. We do of course have a lot of work to do once she gets here, but we also have a lot of relaxing to do. Just relaxing. Just being.

Solomon said "There is a time for every purpose under heaven," and he was right. There is a time for work and a time to lay work down--to live Sabbath. The balance is so important. Just as all work and no play sucks the luster out of Jack's life, so all play and no work makes him useless, weak, and unfulfilled.

I'm glad and grateful for the balance in my life--work that won't be ignored, projects worth being passionate about, and rest worth taking wholeheartedly.

ideals

2008-06-23T18:24:00.004-04:00

Last week's to-do lists had several major projects marked for finishing. For finishing, that is, that week. With a performing arts tour coming up in July and various Soli Deo Gloria Ballet matters to focus on, I really wanted to get the biggest writing, editing, publishing, and formatting projects wrapped up and safely tucked away where I no longer need to think about them.

Well. Life is not generally so tidy.

I didn't actually finish any of the major projects I had listed. But that doesn't mean my lists failed! On the contrary, I got so much work done on all of these things that they are now all teetering on the brink of finished. I didn't meet my self-imposed deadlines, but I'm very, very close.

In a funny way this reminds me of the Peculiar post I wrote about the virtuous woman last week. My good friend Alexis read it, and we discussed it a bit one day. We've both heard Christian women who openly resented the Virtuous Woman of Proverbs 31, sometimes even mocking her. That, I think, is sad. It's true that this woman's industry and faithfulness make most of us look bad--they certainly convict me. But if we didn't have ideals--crazy, far-off goals to shoot for--we'd never get anywhere.

If nothing else, at least we will have lived in the light that ideals give. If we shoot for the moon, we may never reach it--but at least we shot for the moon! How much better than to live always in darkness, hiding away from the light?

Ideals are worth holding, and trying to reach, and writing about.

Making To-Do Lists

2008-06-18T10:55:00.004-04:00

I'm not sure how I ever functioned without to-do lists.

On days when I don't make them, I get very little done. On days when I DO, life--and especially writing--moves forward at a healthy pace.

Today's to-do list includes answering email, editing articles for clients, formatting Seasons of an Irish Hermitage, blogging, writing newsletters, researching literary agents, designing a new Web site, planning a road trip, and revising Burning Light. It is broken into bite-sized time chunks: I can easily accomplish all this in a day, provided that I stay focused.

Furthermore, each item on the list is a bite-sized chunk from a bigger list: the list of projects and commitments I need to finish this summer. Each morning, I refer to that list and make sure that every project is moving ahead at the pace needed to finish on time. Of course, a few things will end up cut from the list entirely--I'm not superhuman. But having everything written down helps me prioritize.

A to-do list provides me with direction for the day, a record of what I've accomplished, and peace of mind--I know when I can take a break and when I can't, because I know exactly what needs doing and what can rest for now. As a self-employed writer/editor/writing coach, I know I couldn't function without one.

Lists are one of the major tools in my writer's arsenal. How about you? What tools and techniques keep you on track?

rowing out to the darkness

2008-06-17T14:52:00.002-04:00

It could be that God has not absconded but spread, as our vision and understanding of the universe have spread, to a fabric of spirit and sense so grand and subtle, so powerful in a new way, that we can only feel blindly of its hem. In making the thick darkness a swaddling band for the sea, God "set bars and doors" and said, "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further." But have we even come that far? Have we rowed out to the thick darkness, or are we all playing pinochle in the bottom of the boat?

- Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

it doesn't get better than this!

2008-06-16T16:18:00.005-04:00

Breezy, sunny, 78 degrees, and I've spent my entire day working on the front porch with trees waving overhead and the river cresting in whitecaps at the end of the street. I sip a cup of tea and think, God saw that it was good.

I love being self-employed!

On an entirely other note, I'm making notes for (yet another) redesign of my Web site. I've already revamped the book page format (you can see the only currently-live example for Theodore Pharris Saves the Universe), and I want to add a new page for free stuff--ebooks, the occasional short story, things like that. I'm planning to transform the side bar links, widen the whole site, and maybe do away with the Catalog page (because it's redundant).

The trouble is that I'm such an amateur when it comes to Web site design, a wide-eyed explorer with no real experience, like a kid who figures he's qualified to go on safari because he can catch a lizard in his backyard. So I always redo my Web site with fear, trembling, and probably way too much wasted time.

Ah well. Anybody out there who's a more qualified explorer than I am--care to offer suggestions?

available for pre-orders: Tales of the Heartily Homeschooled!

2008-06-14T12:54:00.001-04:00

The book is out! I sent out the official announcement this morning, as you can read below :).

* * *

Dear friends,

Tales of the Heartily Homeschooled is now available for pre-order! You can purchase your copy of Tales at www.littledozen.com/thh.html. Pre-orders close June 30. As a special thank-you to those who order before June 30, we are offering a free Ebook Edition of Theodore Pharris Saves the Universe, the novel Rachel wrote when she was 13!

Pre-orders help us cover the costs of publishing--and they get the book into your hands early! Your books will be ordered and sent to you in the first week of July, when the book is just becoming available to the world at large.

When we started writing Tales as a series of emails to each other, we didn't really imagine how much you'd share with us! We thank you for your friendship, encouragement, and support as we've worked to bring Tales to print. It's been a marvelous journey!

Blessings,
Rachel and Carolyn

authors, Tales of the Heartily Homeschooled
www.littledozen.com/thh.html

Writing Tips: The Amazing Invisible Word

2008-06-14T07:47:00.000-04:00

"Listen up!" I say, shout, reply, recommend, plead, mutter, adjure, announce, articulate, and vent. "I have some advice for you."

Writers, like everyone else on earth, can get bored doing the same old thing over and over again. Hence the temptation to stop writing the letters s-a-i-d on every page and use other, more colourful words instead. Sometimes abandoning "said" in favour of other dialogue tags is a good thing. Often, though, it is not. When dialogue is dogged by them, descriptive tags quickly become distracting, annoying, or just plain silly.

Don't believe me? Perhaps I'll let a conversation speak for itself:

"Stick to the word 'said' in dialogue tags," the professor crooned.

"Why should we?" the students shouted.

"Because it's invisible," the professor muttered.

"I don't know about that," Tom doubted.

"I also disagree," his girlfriend hissed.

Any minute now, that classroom is going to break into a fistfight over word choice, led by the girl who sounds like a snake--or your readers are going to fall over laughing. But while they're duking it out, we should note that the professor was right. "Said" is invisible. Readers will hardly even notice it as they read. "Asked" will also fail to blip on their radar--and that's good.

In any piece of fiction or narrative writing, your goal is to immerse readers in the scene. You want them to hear the words spoken, to feel the underlying emotion, to be doused in the atmosphere of your setting. "Said" will help you do that because it's so low-key. Readers won't notice it, so their attention stays where it should--on the story itself. Obtrusive dialogue tags, on the other hand, will yank them out. Fancy writing for its own sake is rarely effective.

Make use of the Amazing Invisible Word, I say, and let your story spring to life.

can't see the forest for the apostrophes

2008-06-13T08:03:00.000-04:00

Today (being the day I am writing this post, and not necessarily the day I am posting it) I spent well over an hour formatting Theodore Pharris Saves the Universe, my very first novel, so that I may release it today (being the day I am posting this, June 13) as an ebook on my Web site.

I had less formatting to do than I thought, because I apparently worked on it sometime in the past that I have forgotten all about, but one task demanded most of my attention: I had to go through the manuscript and turn every single straight apostrophe into a curly apostrophe.

I have discovered that continually hitting "Find," then hitting the actual text window, then hitting the apostrophe key, over and over again, is probably the best and fastest way to develop carpal tunnel. Also that I don't care for curly apostrophes in Georgian font.

And yet, I am geeky enough to have found the job somewhat glamourous and exciting purely because it involved a book.

By the way--Theodore Pharris is available on my Web site! You can read more about it or order it here.

thoughts on "Being the Body"

2008-06-12T14:40:00.000-04:00

I just finished reading Being the Body by Charles Colson and Ellen Vaughn. A friend lent it to me months ago, but during the school year I don't get much chance to read.

Anyway, the book's central theme is the Church in its worldwide ("the church universal") and local ("the church particular") incarnations. Colson presents a small host of principles, purpose statements, and stories, all focused on what it means to be the Body of Christ in the world and how we can live that out.

He has some good things to say, but to me, the best part of the book was the stories. I couldn't actually tell you what most of his overall points were, but I can relate most of the stories in detail. They'll stay with me for a long time--the stories of Rusty Woomer, the murderer who became a Christian on death row and shone the light of Jesus till the minute he died, the Christians in Eastern Europe who helped bring down the Soviet empire from within, the priest who volunteered to starve to death in Auschwitz so another could live, the Russian girl who found God in novels, snow, and logic.

These stories are inspiring and powerful and will stay with me. It occurs to me that storytelling is so powerful because it takes us past principle and purpose and says, "Look, here's what love looks like. Now go out there and love." And the stories themselves go so deep into us that we can't not hear them and be changed.

As a writer, I was also challenged (and encouraged) by these words in chapter 26, "Being Salt":

"Being salt demands an understanding of our cultural environment and the use of innovative strategies for infiltration and influence. Writers have been doing this for centuries, with the result that much of the classic literature of the past three hundred years contains Christian truth. The great Russian works of Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and Pushkin, for example,with the Christian message salted in their pages in such a way that the Communists forgot to ban them, were the books that led Irina Ratushinskaya toward Christ.

"In many ways, literature has the most lasting power to shape ideas. Great books are read, reread, passed around, discussed, debated, and then passed on to succeeding generations.

"Today, many writers reveal in their work the incoherence, shattered logic, and relativistic chaos that mark a culture that has lost its understanding of order and truth. So when a writer who is a Christian crafts words and stories that spring from a world-view informed by truth, he or she is salting modern culture."

And that, in large part, is why I write.

sabbatical

2008-06-11T07:12:00.000-04:00

Last week was crazy.

I'm not even sure why it was so bad ... I had a lot to do, yes, but I've had that much to do every day for a long time! The weekend came, the weekend went, Monday was even worse than the previous week. My stress levels were through the roof.

So yesterday I did something unusual: nothing.

I slept in for a very long time. I prayed, I read my Bible, I took a long walk in the sunshine and felt the glorious breeze. I talked to a friend. I prayed some more. I sang hymns while washing the dishes. I sat on the couch and read a book (Being the Body by Charles Colson and Ellen Vaughn, if you're curious.)

I did all of that nothing on purpose, because I felt very strongly that I couldn't take another week like last week. I really needed to refocus, rest, and seek God. Today I am up bright and early, with a to-do list a mile long and my perspective and energy fully restored.

Last Sunday at my wonderful church, Pastor Aaron talked about God's idea of Sabbath, which simply means ceasing to work. Yesterday I knew God wanted me to take one, even if Tuesday isn't exactly the day of traditional observance. He takes good care of me, and I'm grateful :).

Writing Tips: Spice It Up!

2008-06-06T10:13:00.001-04:00

Have you ever read a story that was full of dialogue, but left you feeling like you were floating in white space? Or a book that was so full of description you couldn't remember what was going on? Have you ever wished the action would slow down long enough to let you get to know the characters?

Stories are best when their many ingredients--dialogue, description, action, etc--are held in a delicate balance. You don't want a story that's too airy, too heavy, or too bland. The goal is just the right touch of spice.

For example, let's look at a conversation from my fantasy novel Worlds Unseen. The main character, Maggie, has just discovered that her traveling companion has the unusual ability to hear things no one else can.

*******************

"What else do you hear?" Maggie asked. "Besides dangerous voices in the dark."

"I hear the grass grow," Nicolas said, "and I hear the stars singing."

"They sing?" Maggie asked.

"Yes," Nicolas said. "I hear other things, too ... sometimes I can hear what Bear is saying."

"Bear talks."

"Well, not exactly talks," Nicolas said. "He feels things, and thinks things, and sometimes I hear what he means."

"Does he speak the language of the Empire?" Maggie asked.

"No, of course not. He just feels things, and sometimes I understand them. That doesn’t make much sense to you, does it?"

"Have you always been able to understand him?" Maggie asked.

"No," he told her. "When I was a child I would listen to rabbits and squirrels and birds, and it was hard to understand them, too. But I kept listening, and trying to understand, and one day I did. I still don’t understand everything."

"What else can you hear?" she asked.

"When babies cry," Nicolas said, "I know what they want before their own mothers do. Sometimes I can hear a baby talking while it's still in its mother’s womb."

"What do they say?" Maggie asked.

"It’s hard to understand them," Nicolas said. "But not so hard as with the animals. Mostly they dream about the world out here. And they wonder why so many of the voices they hear are angry and worried. They dream, and they wonder, and then they go back to sleep. And when they wake up they wonder all the same things over again."

*******************

That's not bad, but it's sparse. We don't get any sense of where these characters are, or of what they're feeling. By adding a few spices to the dialogue, I can bring the scene more fully to life. In this scene, I chose to use facial expressions and thoughts to help my readers understand what these characters were feeling. I added a bit of background history, a campfire and some interesting shadows, and a tiny bit of body language to bring the scene to life. Here's the result:

*******************

Nicolas appeared in the firelight and collapsed into a cross-legged heap. The firelight glinted on the gold in his ear and traced strange shadows on his face.

Maggie rolled over and lifted herself onto her elbows so she could look across the fire at her half-wild friend.

"What else do you hear?" Maggie asked. "Besides dangerous voices in the dark."

"I hear the grass grow," Nicolas said slowly, "and I hear the stars singing."

"They sing?" Maggie asked.

Nicolas nodded. "Yes," he said. "I hear other things, too ... sometimes I can hear what Bear is saying."

Maggie looked up at the hulking form just beyond the glow of the campfire. "Bear talks," she said flatly.

"Well, not exactly talks," Nicolas said. "He feels things, and thinks things, and sometimes I hear what he means."

"Does he speak the language of the Empire?" Maggie asked, feeling ridiculous but unable to stop herself from asking.

"No, of course not," Nicolas said. "He just feels things, and sometimes I understand them." Nicolas laughed a little nervously. "That doesn’t make much sense to you, does it?"

Maggie ignored the question and asked another of her own. "Have you always been able to understand him?"

"No," he told her. "When I was a child I would listen to rabbits and squirrels and birds, and it was hard to understand them, too. But I kept listening, and trying to understand, and one day I did. I still don’t understand everything."

Maggie felt herself drawn to the strange young man across from her. It was fascinating, what he was saying, perhaps absurd. Yet she believed him.

"What else can you hear?" she asked, leaning forward with her chin resting in her hand.

Nicolas’s eyes met hers. How many people had he ever spoken to like this? Who, in all his life, would ever have believed him? Even the Gypsies thought he was mad when he spoke of hearing, although they were not so quick to dismiss it the way others did. They wondered sometimes, if madness was not a gift.

"When babies cry," Nicolas said, "I know what they want before their own mothers do. Sometimes I can hear a baby talking while it's still in its mother’s womb."

"What do they say?" Maggie asked, a smile of wonder beginning to tug at her own face.

"It's hard to understand them," Nicolas said. "But not so hard as with the animals. Mostly they dream about the world out here. And they wonder why so many of the voices they hear are angry and worried. They dream, and they wonder, and then they go back to sleep. And when they wake up they wonder all the same things over again."

*******************

As you can see, a good mix of elements can bring characters, a conversation, or an entire scene to life. I hope you've enjoyed this writing tip! If you'd like to read more of Worlds Unseen, be sure to check out the free Ebook Edition at www.littledozen.com/worlds.html .

people pleasing

2008-06-05T22:26:00.001-04:00

I just wrote a post over on Peculiar about the need, as a Christian, to live life for the purpose of pleasing God only--of being so focused on loving Him that it doesn't matter if people get what you do or totally misconstrue it. I remember being absolutely shaken a few years' back when I read the Gospel of Luke and saw how clearly Jesus set Himself up to be misunderstood--He had to, because He had to follow God even though He knew everyone would see Him as some crazy blasphemer for doing it.

But He was right, after all.

It shook me so badly because I'm a natural people-pleaser. Of all things in life, I hate being misunderstood. Conflict makes me sick, even friendly conflict. And I realized, as I read, that as a follower of Jesus I couldn't just go on living my life to make people like me.

God has spent the last few years toughening me up in this respect. Oh, I still hate it when people misunderstand me! But by His grace, I am learning to focus more on pleasing my Saviour than on making sure His people approve of me. As a writer who has more of a platform now than I did when I first quaked in my boots at those accounts in Luke, I'm realizing the wisdom of God in putting me through some of these situations. I will write, doing my best to write things that are true, pure, and lovely--and some people won't get it. Some people will not like what I have to say or how I say it.

And I can't write for those people.

As a Christian, as someone who has been saved by grace and captured by the love of God, I must write to please Him and Him only. If I do that, He will use my words somewhere, to help someone, to encourage His people in some way. But that can't be the primary goal, or any effectiveness I might have had will drown in a sea of people-pleasing.

That's my lesson for today. Thanks for listening :).

stuff I did today

2008-06-02T20:56:00.000-04:00

Wake up at 5:30. Hit snooze. Hit snooze again. Hit snooze three more times. Sit up, read from Daily Light for the Daily Path, greet God and say thank-You for the day.

Go back to sleep.

Wake up again at 7:00. Get online. My computer finally connected from my bedroom--hurrah! It's been insisting that I carry it all the way downstairs and sit uncomfortably in an armchair that early in the morning, but today it was kind. Talk to Carolyn on GoogleTalk. Answer a bunch of email, including a few business things.

Eat breakfast, study the Bible. Make a list of things to do today.

Stare, bleary-eyed and headachey, at the laptop screen. Do pretty much nothing for an hour while I'm supposedly revising Burning Light. Finally manage to get an hour of actual revision/editing done. Still trying to figure out Nicolas's part of the story--I wrote myself into some funny situations in the original draft, and now I want them all to make sense. Easier said than accomplished.

Write some promotional emails for Tales of the Heartily Homeschooled. Decide that I can't do any more until Carolyn (my co-author) gets back online.

The next part of my day is a mental blank. I was breathing, so presumably I did something.

Carolyn eventually did get back online, at which time she was too sick to think very well and I still had a headache. I messed around with autoresponders, Web pages, and incomprehensible templates until I finally figured out a way to get a free ebook preview of Tales of the Heartily Homeschooled to readers in exchange for an email address--yay! (You can make the Great Exchange here, if you're so inclined. Email addresses will not be used for anything sinister.)

After more than an hour of wishing I was more tech-savvy, I finally gave Carolyn the go-ahead to get to work. She started sending out our promo emails, with near-instant results--rather encouraging. The first result was an email asking us to be featured at a convention in British Columbia this weekend. Heavens! If they'll pay our expenses, we'll be there. Waiting to hear back on that.

Answered more business email.

Wrote a quick draft of an article for the Matthew House newsletter, Windsor branch. I'm serving as editor-in-chief starting this month.

Went over the manuscript of Seasons (I think this title will change), the latest release by the same Nun of Grace who wrote Tales From an Irish Hermitage. I already knew I was happy to be working with her again (I'm doing the formatting, some editing, and a lot of printer-guidance), but now that I've read some of the book I'm even happier.

Took a break. Walked by the river. It's gorgeous outside.

Came home and edited two articles for Boundless. They are driving me crazy (the articles, not Boundless), as articles often do, but I will overcome. Speaking of Boundless, one of the business emails I handled today asked for permission to reprint "20-Something Reasons to Live At Home." This article continues to garner the biggest response I've ever gotten to date, which is exciting for me.

Blogged. As you can see.

And that, my friends, is a wrap.

Writing Tips: Speak to the Senses

2008-05-30T12:31:00.000-04:00

Previously, I wrote about the first rule of good narrative: show, don't tell (read that post here). This week, we'll look at one aspect of effective showing.

Imagine for a moment that you enter a room. What do you see? What do you feel? What do you smell? Can you taste or hear anything? The five senses are our gateway to the world. Without them, we couldn't interact with anything around us.

In writing, you want to speak to your readers' senses so they can interact with YOUR world. If you don't include details that speak to your readers' sense of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch, you leave them essentially blind, deaf, and crippled. They're not likely to enjoy your writing much!

When you write a scene, think about the five senses and how you can speak to them. However, be careful--don't fall into the "fuzzy trap." Vague words are fuzzy. Specific words are sharp. Let's look at this example paragraph:

"The man walked into the room. He could smell food cooking. A picture hung over the fireplace. He made a sound before he took off his coat and hung it up."

The wording in that paragraph is vague. It gives us an idea of the setting, but it doesn't REALLY engage our senses. Let's see what happens if we use specific wording:

"The man walked into his study. From the kitchen, he could smell bacon and eggs frying. A painting of a meadow in early morning hung over the fireplace, its figures of sheep and shepherd lit by the flickering flame below. With a deep sigh, he took off his heavy wool coat and hung it up."

In this new paragraph, our senses are fully engaged. We can imagine the smell of bacon and eggs and perhaps even hear it sizzling. We can see the painting and the firelight, and we can feel the heavy, scratchy wool. We hear the man as he sighs and wonder what inspires him to do so.

When you write, speak to the senses. By doing so, you'll give your readers everything they need to enter your world!

bad handwriting (or how to panic your patients in two words or less)

2008-05-29T10:18:00.000-04:00

Medical professionals are famous for their bad handwriting. Last time I was in for a filling, my dentist handed me a photocopied article on amalgam fillings vs. the tooth-coloured kind, so I was just perusing it. He shouldn't have written notes on it! I could swear he's scrawled "Marginal Carnage" next to a bit on operating technique. I may never go to the dentist again ...

published: A Big Dream

2008-05-27T12:55:00.000-04:00

"A Big Dream," a short piece I wrote for the youth magazine DevoZine, is the featured "devo of the week" over at upperroom.org/devozine.

(I wouldn't have known that had I not Googled my name yesterday. Stalking oneself has never been easier, nor more interesting!)

more about Prince Caspian

2008-05-26T15:35:00.000-04:00

As previously mentioned, I didn't like the new movie version of C.S. Lewis's Prince Caspian. I felt that it missed the spirit of Lewis's book. My musings on the subject have helped me realize how much seemingly little things can affect a story.

Prince Caspian's age, for example. It was obvious from the movie posters that this had been changed. In the books Caspian is a little boy, maybe about 11. In the movie he is a young man, maybe about 19. When I first heard about this change, I shrugged it off as no big deal--how much difference could that actually make?

As it turns out, a lot! After our varying levels of disappointment with the new Prince Caspian, my friends and I gathered to watch the old BBC version we'd grown up on--a version which, while it lacks CGI or any budget to speak of, stays very close to the books. And there was Caspian again, the Caspian I remembered: fresh-faced, starry-eyed, and clinging to faith.

In Lewis's story, Caspian is a child. He thinks like a child. He's bold like a child. He's black and white as children are, resilient, and willing to believe in the impossible. He doesn't know for sure that Aslan, the kings and queens of ancient times, and all the mythical creatures of Narnia exist--but he hopes against hope that they do. Once he discovers two dwarves and a talking badger in the woods, nothing can shake him from his faith. We know Caspian will make a good king, even if he doesn't, because he glories more than anything in Aslan.

The Caspian of the movies is far more adult. He's caught up in political machinations, desires for revenge, deep doubt, and competition for the throne. His story isn't a bad one--but it's not the story C.S. Lewis told.

As I've thought on it, I've come to believe that C.S. Lewis was painting the idea that "a little child shall lead them." He wrote about child-heroes not only because he wrote for children, but because for all of us, the way to the kingdom is by becoming--and believing--like a child.

published: 20-Something Reasons to Live At Home

2008-05-23T12:40:00.000-04:00

My latest article is up at Boundless.org (with a much cooler title than I originally gave it--good job, Boundless). Check out 20-Something Reasons to Live At Home here.

I am 25 and I still live with my parents, and this is not an accident or a regret. I love living here, and I think more young adults should seriously consider foregoing "independence" for things of much greater importance.

I'm impressed by the number of people who've already emailed me (or left blog comments ... thanks, Mark!) to express their appreciation for the article and the counter-cultural ideas therein. Apparently I'm not the only one who's noticed that our culture's ways of doing things can be empty and counterproductive.

where are you, Prince Caspian?

2008-05-22T14:10:00.000-04:00

On May 16, opening night, I curled up in a theatre chair in a row of friends and prepared to take in Prince Caspian, the movie adaptation of a children's classic.

I am not one to insist that a movie exactly mirror a book. I studied screenwriting for a little while and even tried penning a couple of screenplays, so I realize that these two radically different art forms take an entirely different approach to storytelling. I wouldn't have complained if the movie had simply approached the story differently.

I am complaining, however, because the movie wrote a whole new story! True, it features the same characters and (sort of) follows the same events. But the heart of Prince Caspian, as C.S. Lewis wrote it, was gone. I realized this but couldn't quite put my finger on the problem. I knew it had to do with faith and the centrality of Aslan to the whole story, but beyond that, I was left trying to figure out why the story I loved had disappeared.

My friend (and author of TorahBytes) Alan Gilman hit the nail on the head in his blog post, "Prince Caspian the Movie Misses the Mark":

"One of the things that make C.S. Lewis' writings as poignant as they are is that they effectively communicate God's truth within a society that has lost its spiritual moorings. As intellectuals redefined reality for the modern world, pushing it away from a biblical understanding of God and life, Lewis calls us back to the old stories.

"The movie version of the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe gave us hope that Lewis' legacy was being preserved for a new generation, that the biblical world view would at least be part of the contemporary discussion. The movie version of Prince Caspian, on the other hand, reminds us that Hollywood cannot be trusted with that legacy."

I encourage you to check out the entire post at torahblog.blogspot.com

Religion BookLine on Creating Culture

2008-05-21T22:14:00.000-04:00

Religion BookLine, a division of Publishers Weekly, published this interview with Andy Crouch, author of Creating Culture, today.

Crouch says,

"As I read the work of academic sociologists like Peter Berger I became really convinced that the only way that cultures change is when people make more culture—which called into question a lot of the strategies that Christians think they ought to use to change culture, such as protest. There's lots that's worth protesting, in our culture and in every culture, but protest alone doesn't change culture, and analysis doesn't change culture, and withdrawal, which has been sometimes a strategy that Christians have adopted, doesn't change it. It only changes when you create something."

It definitely sounds like a book I'd like to read.

Boundless goes to print!

2008-05-20T17:26:00.000-04:00

A few years back, I discovered Boundless.org, a Webzine for 20 and 30-somethings put out by Focus On the Family. I really liked it, so I queried them a few times and got turned down.

Last year, that changed dramatically--I got a yes to a query, and then regular contributor status.

Today, another milestone: for the first time, Boundless has gone to print instead of just the Web. And much to my delight, I'm in the inaugural issue.

You can pick up the first nine pages, including my article, in PDF form at Boundless Line.

the civil rights issue of the 21st century

2008-05-13T15:02:00.000-04:00

Below is the speech given by Dr. Alveda King, niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., at this year's March for Life in Ottawa. I wasn't there to hear it, though some good friends were, and they were kind enough to pass this on to me.

STATEMENT OF DR. ALVEDA KING

Parliamentary Pro-Life Caucus Press Conference

MAY 8, 2008

First, I would like to say that I'm honored to have been invited to participate today by the Parliamentary Pro-Life Caucus. Canada is a great and welcoming country and I want to thank everyone involved for the graciousness and love they've shown to someone from south of the border… way south of the border.

But while I love being in this great nation, the circumstances of my visit today deeply sadden me. We are here to talk about the scourge of abortion.

We've had abortion on demand in the United States for 35 years; here you've had it for 20. In this time, abortion has trampled upon tens of millions to become the civil rights issue of the 21^st Century.

Even though I was born into a pro-life family, I and my uncle, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., fell victim to the lies of the pro-abortion movement, specifically, the largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood.

Planned Parenthood told my uncle, Dr. King, that they wanted to help build strong and healthy Negro families. They didn't tell him of their racist past or what would later amount to their genocidal, eugenic agenda of abortion when they gave him the Margaret Sanger Award in 1966. When Planned Parenthood lied to my uncle, abortion was still illegal in every state in the United States.

When Planned Parenthood lied to me, it was seven years later and Roe v. Wade had torn to shreds any legal protection for unborn babies. Planned Parenthood told me that my baby was just a blob of tissue – a lie; and that abortion would solve my problems – another lie.

I can tell you as a woman who aborted two of her own children, that there is nothing good that comes from abortion. I can tell you as the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the daughter of his brother, Rev. A. D. King, and the granddaughter of Dr. Martin Luther King, Sr., all three men who put God and family first in their lives, that there is no justice in denying the most basic civil right, the right to life itself, to any innocent person.

That's the reality of "choice." Abortion doesn't just destroy a baby's life, which is horrible enough, it traumatizes families and communities. I've seen the disastrous results abortion has brought to my own African American community.

In the US, black women are three times as likely to have abortions as white women. While African Americans are about 12% of the population, we suffer 36% of the abortions. With about 14 million aborted black babies in the last 35 years, it's as devastating as if a plague came into the land and killed one of every four African Americans.

Abortionists in the US locate most of their clinics in minority neighborhoods. The largest abortion provider in the US, Planned Parenthood, was recently caught welcoming donations for the specific purpose of aborting only black babies.

Should we be surprised by any of this? Not when we realize that abortion and racism stem from the same flawed view of mankind – that some people are not fully human.

Many people once believed that the African American was a piece of property for his owner to abuse or discard however he saw fit. This lie cost hundreds of thousands of people their lives, nearly destroyed my nation and left scars that are still felt today.

My Uncle Martin and my father, Rev. A. D. King, died trying to heal those scars by fighting the battle for equal rights. I believe with all my heart that were they alive, they would be standing with me today because abortion is the civil rights issue of this generation.

We now treat unborn babies just like blacks were treated in the years of slavery and discrimination – like non-persons. Discrimination has become socially acceptable again because too many have convinced themselves again that certain people aren't people.

This convincing has taken some doing. We have to constantly tell ourselves that life doesn't begin at the beginning; that unborn babies aren't people, even though DNA and ultrasound tell us without a doubt that they are. Then we have to remind ourselves that the human being whose stem cells science so covets isn't really a human being. We have to believe these lies because the truth will make us uncomfortable and complicate our lives.

Discrimination is the tool we use to get comfortable by getting inconvenient people out of our lives.

Today, when we don't want an unborn baby around, we tell ourselves that it's OK to treat him as a sub-human because he's just a clump of cells. This is a particularly convenient attitude when we really want a boy child, but find out before she's born that we have a girl child. We can hide our discriminatory attitudes toward females behind our discriminatory attitudes toward the unborn. In fact, discrimination against the unborn can and has been used to justify discrimination against black babies, girl babies, and disabled babies.

Sex selection abortion, though, is something especially troubling right now. It gnaws at us. It's common practice in China and India, so much so that whole regions of those countries are experiencing shortages of girls. And it's becoming more and more common in North America.

Sex selection abortion's presence in our own backyards challenges the whole abortion mindset. Obviously, it's the killing of an unborn child on the basis of her gender. Because our societies so strongly believe that gender discrimination is wrong, this type of abortion immediately strikes us as unjust. Yet abortion itself is held by our judicial systems to be completely unobjectionable.

How can sex selection abortion be wrong, then, if all abortions are permissible and right?

The answer is that sex selection abortion is wrong because abortion itself is unjust. Our societies are suffering from a major disconnect in logic, a willful suspension of disbelief. If we thought about why sex selection abortion really bothers us, we'd have to face why abortion itself troubles us. And we don't want to do that because then we'd have to face the fact that we've been supporting a system that has brought death and destruction to a lot of innocent people. That's too painful, and so we maintain the discrimination and the pretense.

In short, we tell ourselves lies to try to justify what we know in our hearts is wrong. The problem is, when we lie about what abortion is, the physical and emotion reality remains. Babies die, mamas cry, and families struggle for ways to deal with grief for the people we're told didn't really exist. I know this and women all across Canada and the US know this.

What I want to say today is that the lies and the anguish have to stop. Our pasts are painful, and I know that the pain of abortion has swept across the Canadian nation for far too long. Now is the time for healing and reconciliation, a reconciliation born of love and respect for each other, especially those little ones we see only through ultrasound. Much wrong has happened, but we don't have to keep repeating the mistakes of the past.

My Uncle Martin said that the time is always ripe to do right. He also said that true peace is the presence of justice. I have a dream. My dream is for peace, in the womb, in our hearts, and in our halls of government. There is only one race, the human race, and we need to start living that reality if that peace is ever going to come.

-----------

Dr. Alveda C. King

Dr. Alveda C. King is the daughter of the late civil rights activist Rev. A. D. King and his wife Naomi Barber King and the niece of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. She is the grateful mother of six children and is a doting grandmother.

Alveda is a former college professor, holding a Masters of Arts degree in Business Management from Central Michigan University. Her undergraduate studies in journalism and sociology helped her to become a published author, the most popular works being her best selling books Sons of Thunder: The King Family Legacy, and I Don't Want Your Man, I want My Own.

Alveda's Doctorate of Laws was conferred by Saint Anslem College. She has served on the boards and committees of numerous organizations including Coalition of African American Pastors and the Judeo-Christian Coalition for Constitutional Restoration. She also served in the Georgia State House of Representatives and is an accomplished actress and songwriter. She is a voice for the Silent No More Awareness Campaign, speaking about her regret for her abortions.

During the years of the Civil Rights Movement, led by her Uncle, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Alveda's family home was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama in the heat of the struggle. "Daddy's house was bombed, then in Louisville, Kentucky his church office was bombed. I was also jailed during the open housing movement," she recalls.

Alveda has continued her long-term work as a civil rights activist, speaking out on issues that face society today. "Perhaps the most compelling issue of all is the life of the unborn," Alveda says.

The epic begins. All over again.

2008-05-12T11:37:00.000-04:00

With the teaching semester behind me, I am really and truly settling in for this summer's work. Chief on my list of projects? Seriously revise Burning Light, the sequel to Worlds Unseen. I want it ready for release in December.

A little history: I wrote Worlds Unseen in 2001. Almost immediately thereafter, I sat down and banged out Burning Light. It took maybe three months. It was a milestone for me: the best thing I'd written to date and my favourite.

I liked it so much that I never really wrote a proper second draft. So while Worlds went through four incarnations before it saw print, Burning Light has never really changed. The time has come.

Over the past few months I've outlined each chapter in Burning Light, summarizing every scene and marking places where changes should be made. I've flagged all the major plot lines that need work. I've made lists (and checked 'em twice).

And what am I doing now? Blogging, obviously. The adventure is about to begin, if only the author will quit procrastinating.

subscriptions for whatever you can afford

2008-05-09T16:14:00.000-04:00

Way back in ... 2001? was it? writing of mine appeared in print for the first time. It was an article on child training entitled "Save the Children," and it was published by the quarterly journal Home School Digest.

Since then, Wisdom's Gate, publisher of HSD and other magazines, has published my articles on a regular basis. Many of the now-chapters in Letters to a Samuel Generation reached a wide audience through them, and they continue to feature articles from Peculiar in Home School Digest and An Encouraging Word.

Early this week I received an email from Israel Wayne, the marketing director at Wisdom's Gate (and the son of the editor-in-chief ... Wisdom's Gate is a largely family-run ministry), about a bold new step they're taking in their subscription policy. I've pasted it below. I encourage you to follow the links and check out what they have to offer!

Dear Rachel,

We have been very concerned about the strain that the poor economy is placing on our readers. Many families are struggling just to make ends meet and have virtually nothing left at the end of the month. We have also experienced the effects of these inflationary costs in the rising expense of printing and shipping of our magazines. However, after much prayer and seeking the Lord, we are taking a step of faith. We do NOT want a lack of funds to keep ANYONE from receiving the spiritual and practical encouragement of our magazines.

If you have been wanting to receive:

An Encouraging Word Magazine (for Christian Women of all ages)
Home School Digest Journal (Family Discipleship magazine)
Brush Arbor Quarterly Magazine (on Revival and Deeper Life)

but have been hindered because of finances, please do not let that stand in your way. We are making these three magazines available to you for literally WHATEVER YOU CAN AFFORD!

Please help us get the word out about this offer to your friends and family members who would benefit from our publications. Prayerfully consider forwarding this email to your email list, posting it on your blog, printing it out for your church bulletin board, or giving it out at your next small group or homeschool meeting.

To subscribe for WHATEVER YOU CAN AFFORD, please visit http://www.WisdomsGate.com or call 1-800-343-1943.

Please pray for us as we embrace this new act of obedience to God's direction for our ministry.

Your servant,

Israel Wayne
Marketing Director
(for all of us here at Wisdom's Gate)

www.HomeSchoolDigest.com
www.AnEncouragingWord.net
www.BrushArborQuarterly.net
www.WisdomsGate.org

so endeth a worthy semester

2008-05-08T13:19:00.001-04:00

Today, the WriteAtHome Spring Semester officially ends. With the exception of a few late papers, I finished marking, commenting, and scoring yesterday. I have said goodbye to my second batch of sixty students this school year. It's been a good one!

Nearly four months of summer now stretch ahead of me. I know that if I'm not disciplined, I will crumple into a heap of lazy unproductivity. Thankfully (?), there's too much to do to allow that. Sequels to revise, novels to market, ebooks to write, tours to tour, road trips to trip ... I love my ridiculously busy life!

more Boundless on writing

2008-05-05T16:23:00.000-04:00

And the series continues. I would have been more on-the-date with these, but I just spent a weekend in Chattanooga, Tennessee, far from home and my handy wireless connection!

"Writing Without Inspiration" shares one of the great secrets of productive writers, who can't exactly wait for the miraculous muse to hit before cranking out work on deadline: the practice of thinking through your fingers. I can attest that this works, because I do it all the time. (In fact, I'm doing it right now.) The author is Susie Shellenberger, the editor behind Brio, Focus on the Family's magazine for teen girls. The article is also an interesting behind-the-scenes look at a magazine.

In "A Moment to Write," Jenny Schroedel shares advice and anecdotes from professional writers who helped her reach her own dream of becoming a writer. Advice is given in four areas: Begin Where You Are, Set the Stage, Invest in Tools, and Find a Friend With Gentle Eyes. She closes with a lovely section on why we write, encouraging us to write in a "simpler, childlike way" through a story about Vincent Van Gogh.

P.S.

Chattanooga was warm, green, and beautiful, thank you; although I can't believe it's muggy down there and it's only the first week of May!

Boundless on writing

2008-04-30T19:24:00.000-04:00

Boundless Webzine, regular home to my own articles, is featuring a series on writing this week. I've enjoyed both articles so far and thought I'd share them with you.

Yesterday's article was "On writing" by Andree Seu. Though her "reach out and throttle you" writing style took me a minute to get used to, her rapid-fire advice is excellent, pithy, and an entertaining read.

Today's article, Thomas Jeffries' "Writing by the Book," examines many of the literary devices used by the Bible writers, from the prophets to David to Paul. Not only can writers learn a few techniques and principles by studying the unique style guide we call scripture, they might stumble across a few truths, too. This article is for anyone whose interest is piqued by writing or literary studies.

Father Poster

2008-04-28T10:50:00.001-04:00

published: Praying Like Paul

2008-04-25T08:09:00.000-04:00

After I wrote Heart to Heart: Meeting With God in the Lord's Prayer, I found myself wanting to know more about prayer as it was practiced in the Bible. For a few weeks I read and studied every one of Paul's written prayers. This article, published on Boundless.org, is the partial fruit of that study.

It was an amazing study! I learned a lot about cutting to the heart of things when I pray for others, for the church as a whole, and for myself. I hope you enjoy the article :).

Here's the link.

sick days

2008-04-23T13:30:00.001-04:00

Several years ago, I worked at a daycare. When I got sick (which wasn't often), I called my boss and told her that I couldn't come in. She wasn't interested in contracting whatever plague I had and spreading it through the ranks anyway, so she invariably said "ok" and found someone to cover for me.

That done, I got to lay around home, doing absolutely nothing and having not a care in the world.

Now that I work at home, I have a different sort of boss: the Almighty Deadline. And the thing about deadlines is that they do not go away, nor can anyone cover them for you, nor do they listen to my bronchially-maladjusted pleadings and decide they don't want to catch my cold. They are inexorable.

I am sick (rather very) this week, as my overflowing Kleenex-laden waste basket will testify, but deadlines still loom. The nice thing, though, is that even though I have to go to work, "work" can mean laying in bed all day, typing from a prostrate position. It means nice breezes coming through my window, sage tea simmering on the stove, and a sister who brings me cookies every now and then.

Things could be worse :).

we have contact

2008-04-21T12:05:00.000-04:00

I have now been home for officially one week. The two and a half weeks prior to that, I was in the Niagara Falls region with my cousin and Tales of the Heartily Homeschooled co-author, Carolyn Currey (and her wonderful family). Carolyn and I went for long walks, rambled around the woods as they came slowly to April life, made plans for our Christmas dance tour, and did hours and hours and hours' worth of author stuff.

No, we didn't write. We emailed.

Marketing is not my favourite part of being a writer! However, I am pleased to say that in two and a half weeks, Carolyn and I managed to contact local, state, and provincial homeschool support groups in all ten Canadian provinces and all fifty U.S. states. The point of all this emailing was to let people know about our Family Fun Story Contest and our upcoming book.

We've made a lot of great contacts who have passed the information out to hundreds of families. It was a lot of work, and not very fun except when we amused ourselves by comparing support group acronyms, but I'm amazed by the internet and very grateful to all the folks who are helping us spread the word.

The Beautiful Piano: new CD from a friend

2008-04-05T17:18:00.001-04:00

Debbie Fortnum, a wonderful indie singer/songwriter who has worked with our fledgling ballet company, Soli Deo Gloria, has just released her CD The Beautiful Piano to WalMarts across Canada! This is beautiful music with a heart of worship. I encourage you to check it out! The next few weeks will determine whether WalMart sees this as a viable CD or not. You can hear clips from The Beautiful Piano here.

Amazon's Terrible, Horrible, No-Good Idea

2008-04-04T18:09:00.001-04:00

The small and self-publishing industries are all agog lately over Amazon's latest--and in my opinion, very bad--business decision.

First, a little background. Many publishers have moved away from the traditional book production method of printing thousands of books at once. Instead, they use POD--Print On Demand--technology to print their books in varying sized batches, even printing one at a time to be shipped directly to customers.

Very many small presses (including mine, Little Dozen Press), vanity presses, university presses, self-publishers, and even large publishers who want to keep their backlists in print use POD. I use Lighting Source Inc, one of the best POD printers in existence, to print and ship my books. This is a very cost effective way for me to get my work in print and to readers, and also for me to offer publication to others.

In the past, Amazon has always listed and offered POD books for sale through their Web site, just as they do traditionally printed books. However, in the past week, they have revealed that this shall all change. You see, several years ago, Amazon acquired their own POD printer--BookSurge. And now, they have informed publishers who use POD that they can either use BookSurge to print their books or lose their ability to be sold directly from Amazon.

What does that mean for a small press like me? It means that if I want to be sold through Amazon, I must reformat my books, enter a publishing agreement with BookSurge that may cost upwards of $1000, and use an inferior printer--BookSurge does not have the quality or track record of LSI). The other option is joining Amazon's Advantage Program, which involves a huge wholesale discount and enough fees to cost me far more than it's worth.)

What do I think of that? Frankly, I think Amazon's making a big mistake. Their decision smacks of bullying. It puts severe financial pressure on publishers who use POD technology--enough pressure to potentially put some of them out of business. Amazon's stated reasons for their decision don't make a lot of sense, and they're not making themselves especially popular with the people--publishers, writers, and readers--who have made them successful.

The Amazon story was originally broken by Angela Hoy of WritersWeekly, who's doing an excellent job of tracking the whole thing here: http://www.writersweekly.com/amazon.php.

I'll be removing my Amazon affiliate links from this blog and from my Web site, although as of this moment Little Dozen's books are still available from Amazon. A week ago I was a big fan of Amazon--not anymore.

published: Weak

2008-03-31T12:45:00.001-04:00

This article was conceived one night while I sat waiting for my computer to upload files--a night remarkable in my own mind because I was in one of the worst, most petty moods I can ever recall being in! It was written at Starbucks the next evening. The horrible mood taught me something about God's love for me that's very, very powerful, and I tried to get it down on paper.

"Weak" was published by Boundless.org last week, but I'm out of the home office at the moment and thus am late posting this.

Here's the link.

gifted

2008-03-19T19:34:00.000-04:00

"The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the LORD hath made even both of them."

Proverbs 20:9

I wrote the fantasy novel Worlds Unseen six years ago. At the time, I had some loose ideas about what it could say--besides telling a good story, which was my first priority! It touched on some of my beliefs about life: the spiritual realities behind the physical world, nature's allegiance to its Creator, and the way most of us live our lives ignorant of the world's true history and what it means to us today.

Worlds is primarily about Maggie Sheffield, a very normal young woman who stumbles into the spiritual realities of her world by accident and must learn to deal with them. However, equally important to the story are the two Gifted: a wanderer named Nicolas Fisher, who hears things no one else can, and Virginia Ramsey, a blind girl who sees visions.

Proverbs 20:9 made me think of these two immediately: "The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the LORD hath made even both of them." In Worlds Unseen, Virginia and Nicolas are not only Gifted, they are gifts--gifts to the world. Those who believe what the Gifted tell them will arrive at the truth about life, and with it, real freedom.

In the story, though, Nicolas and Virginia are both outcasts. One wrestles to accept his own gift and thus refuses to live among people; the other is feared and ultimately betrayed because of the truth she sees. It's not easy to be the only people in all the world who understand what life really is--especially when the truth shatters everything we have believed.

Nicolas and Virginia aren't without parallel in our own world. They are my fantasy version of the Old Testament prophets, of the New Testament apostles and saints, of everyone to whom God has given clarity of vision and ears that understand. Often, these real-world Gifted were despised and rejected, driven out and even crucified. Isaiah was one such Gifted man. David, king and psalmist, was another. Mary; Anna; the Apostle Paul. John the Beloved, witnessing the Revelation while in exile on the Isle of Patmos, was one. And ever since their days, God has not ceased to send to us people who see and hear, and who will open our own understanding if we let them.

Perhaps you can think of someone who has filled this role in your life. A parent; a sister; a friend; a teacher. A singer or poet. Such people do not create or renew truth. They simply show us, through scripture and by the Spirit of God, what has always been there.

Perhaps, in the darkness of the world around, the one who sees and hears is you.

Like my fictional Seventh World, the people around us live in darkness and deception. We who have the Word of God at our fingertips and the Spirit of God in our hearts are in this world, not just as passers-by, but as gifts. In prayer, Jesus said of His disciples, "As thou [Father] hath sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world" (John 17:18).

You, believer in Jesus, are in this world not as an accident and not as a judge. You are here as a gift, bearing the gifts of sight, hearing, and true reality.

May we use these gifts well: to bring into the darkness a burning, holy light.

* * *

Worlds Unseen is available for purchase or as a free ebook from www.LittleDozen.com. It's sequel, Burning Light, is due out December 2008.

* * *

This post is cross-posted from Peculiar, where I blog each week on scripture and walking with God.

first THH newsletter

2008-03-15T17:01:00.000-04:00

Herein is a copy of our first "Tales of the Heartily Homeschooled" newsletter :). I won't be pasting it here every time, so if you'd like to subscribe, use the subscription box on the right!

Tales of the Heartily Homeschooled: The Newsletter!

Issue #1, March 14, 2008

Newsletter Contents:

1. Publishing Update

2. Chapter Previews!

3. The Family Fun Story Contest

4. Recipe: German Pancake with Homemade Buttermilk Syrup

5. Writer's Corner: To Be Or Not To Be

A Note from Rachel:

This, our first newsletter, comes to you a day late because I spent seven years hours in emergency yesterday with my little sister Anna, waiting for them to take her in and stitch up her hand. Our parents are out of town, hence it fell on me to make the hospital trip. Despite the obvious frustration of waiting seven hours, the chance to step in and take care of her reminded me again how much I appreciate life in our big family.

I hope you enjoy this newsletter!

Rachel

Publishing Update

Tales of the Heartily Homeschooled is marching along ahead of schedule! The cover, featuring Deborah Thomson's original, classic cartoon style artwork, is finished. It's very funny! Have a look at www.LittleDozen.com/thh.html .

This week, we've finished the final line edit. We'll now send the book off to our wonderful volunteer proofreaders. We've only made simple changes, but we're excited by how much stronger each chapter sounds! In this issue's Writer's Corner, we've included one of our chief revising strategies.

Chapter Previews!

The first three chapters of Tales are online at www.LittleDozen.com/thhchapters.html . "Ontario: The Journey Begins," "We Wish You a Currey Christmas," and "Freezing at 85 Degrees" follow both our families through the perils of packing, Christmas trees that won't stay standing, and sisters whose internal thermostats wildly conflict. We had fun writing these, and we hope you enjoy reading them!

Starting next week, we'll introduce a new sneak peek chapter in every newsletter.

The Family Fun Story Contest

If you haven't yet heard, we're holding a contest for homeschooled kids ages 8-18. We're looking for your favourite family memories, be they funny, dramatic, touching, or thoughtful. The contest deadline is May 1, and winners will receive an autographed copy of Tales of the Heartily Homeschooled and publication in this newsletter and on our Web site.

Get more information here: www.LittleDozen.com/thh.html .

German Pancake with Homemade Buttermilk Syrup: The Perfect Breakfast for a Snowy Morning!

As March continues to roar like a lion, we want to share one of our favourite recipes with you. This one has been a joy in delight in the Currey kitchen for years, and it's recently become a favourite of the Thomsons as well. Don't be fooled by the name--this is nothing like any pancake you've had before! It's heavy on the eggs, baked, puffy, and marvelous. For our large families, we make two or three pans. The syrup is worth checking out on its own. It's inexpensive, delicious, and simple to make, and you can use it with this recipe or with traditional pancakes.

The recipe comes courtesy of Taste of Home and can be found here: http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/German-Pancake

Writer's Corner: To Be Or Not To Be

by Rachel Starr Thomson

Of all the questions a writer must ask, one that comes up over and oft is: to be or not to be?

The verb "be" has eight forms, some of which look nothing like "be." They are be, being, been, is, am, are, was, and were. These are often called state-of-being verbs.

"Be," in all of its forms, has its place. Most of the time, though, it acts like the common cold. It makes your sentences weak, runny, and stuffed up. Every time you write a form of "be," see if you can use a stronger verb instead.

For example, a weak sentence:

"The ramshackle mansion was on the hilltop."

A stronger verb strengthens it: "The ramshackle mansion sprawled on the hilltop" or "The ramshackle mansion towered on the hilltop." Suddenly, this sentence is more lively and descriptive.

Now, a runny sentence. "Be" is the culprit again:

"It was in the trees that birds were singing and the leaves were rustling under a sky that was sunny and clouds that were puffy and white."

Go after those "be" verbs, and see what happens:

"In the trees, birds sang and leaves rustled under a sunny sky festooned with puffy white clouds."

Finally, a sentence that's all stuffed up:

"I am a person who is happy to be of help whenever there is an opportunity."

Edited, it reads:

"I am happy to help whenever I can."

Not every instance of "to be" needs cutting, hacking, or replacing. Many, however, do. When you revise your own writing, keep a sharp eye out for "be" verbs. Don't let your writing catch cold!

***

For more writer's reflections, tips, and updates, check out Rachel's writing blog at http://rachelstarrthomson.blogspot.com

***

We hope you enjoyed this week's Tales of the Heartily Homeschooled Newsletter! Please feel free to forward this to your homeschooling friends!

Tales of the Heartily Homeschooled: The Cover

2008-02-27T20:09:00.001-05:00

Isn't it grand? (Click to make it larger; there's a good bit of detail.)

Being related to a very good artist (my sister, Deborah, who also did the cover art for Worlds Unseen) can be a very great blessing sometimes :).

The scene depicted comes from a chapter in Part 4: According to Plan (B), entitled "Mama Was a Gypsy, Papa Was a Rock." We really did drive into a dry creek bed once.

You can read the annotated Table of Contents, chapter excerpts, and more here: www.LittleDozen.com/thh.html.

Tales from an Irish Hermitage

2008-02-18T10:43:00.000-05:00

A few months ago, I was contacted by a nun in Ireland. She was trying to self-publish a book and wondered if I could give her any advice on formatting.

I already knew her through an online community and had enjoyed her writing very much, so since I had a few weeks of vacation ahead of me, I offered to format the book for her. She sent me the manuscript soon thereafter: Tales from an Irish Hermitage.

This little collection of stories from a tiny hermitage brought me more joy than I anticipated. The author's style is poetic and flowing, meant to be read aloud. Her tales center around the rag-tag animals who come to the hermitage, including an aging ewe named Oonagh, an affectionate gander called Gozzle, and the otherwordly star of "Seal Magic." The stories bring together the poignancy of life, the beauty of Ireland, and the understated humour of a unique servant of God.

This is a book for those who love simple, old-fashioned tales. I am privileged to own the first copy that ever came off the presses, for the Sisters asked me to approve the print work before the book was officially released. It has an honoured place on my shelf, where I will reach for it when my heart wants to be soothed or uplifted.

I encourage you to purchase a copy as well. All of the proceeds from this book go to help care for homeless children in Sri Lanka, where the Sisters are working in the aftermath of tsunami devastation.

Heartily Homeschooled, and Finally Coming to Print

2008-02-14T17:19:00.000-05:00

The newest venture of Little Dozen Press hath been unveiled: Tales of the Heartily Homeschooled, by Rachel Starr Thomson and Carolyn Joy Currey.

A new Web page devoted to Tales has gone up on Little Dozen today. You can sign up for our newsletter, enter a contest, read sneak peeks, and more. Check it out!

Every book has a history, and this one's history encompasses much of my life. I am the oldest of twelve children (Carolyn, my cousin, is the oldest of eight), homeschooled most of my life, and the privileged participant in quite a wild and crazy life! People have always told me I should write a book. Tales of the Heartily Homeschooled is my answer to their urging. People have often told Carolyn the same thing, so she joined me. Tales is a collection of essays and stories from our lives: a celebration of family and the strange things that bring us together.

EDIT:

I forgot to mention our publication date! July 1, 2008. Mark your calendars, lads and lassies!

The Creative Art of Conflict

2008-02-07T18:08:00.000-05:00

I'm cleaning up superfluous blogs from my past and so am about to delete the "Little Dozen Press" blog. There are a couple of posts I want to keep, so I'm moving them here. This was originally posted December 2005.

Writers and readers all, weigh in on the discussion... leave comments!

The dragon pulled itself up to its full scaly height as the knight tightened his grip on his sword; the homesteaders barred their doors as the sound of war whoops filled the air; the little boy looked defiantly into the face of the bully. The mother prayed for her child as she fought the ravages of smallpox, and the family hid the Jews away while the Nazis pounded on their door.

Cliched? Probably. But if you're a reader, you know what moments like the above can do to you. They make your heart pound and your palms sweat. They keep you up reading until two in the morning. They make you skip your dinner.

They make or break a story, because conflict is central to every enduring piece of fiction. Think about it--have you ever read a story that didn't make use of conflict? If you have, you've probably forgotten it. Frodo had his black riders. Anne of Green Gables had red hair, freckles, and a desperate need to belong. The Greatest Story of All (that of Jesus and His followers throughout the ages) is riddled with persecution, hardship, and the struggle to keep truth alive.

I used to think that conflict appealed to readers simply because it gives us an adrenaline rush. We thrive on thrills. But nowadays I lean toward another theory. We love to read about conflict because, just as it makes or breaks a story, conflict makes or breaks us. It's the hard times that cement our character, drive us to God, open our eyes. Without the fight, the victory means nothing.

Good stories have the power to encourage those who are struggling, to give hope and remind readers that happy endings really do exist. The use of conflict is not only a literary device, it's a commentary on life and the amazing truths that lurk within every circumstance.

Love is stronger than hate.
Happily ever after is real.
In the end, there is no night so dark that it won't see the sunrise.

Leave a comment. What think you?

Narnian Tears

2008-02-07T18:06:00.000-05:00

I'm cleaning up superfluous blogs from my past and so am about to delete the "Little Dozen Press" blog. There are a couple of posts I want to keep, though, so I'm moving them here.

This was one was originally published in December 2005, just after The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe hit theatres.

First off, let it be known that I never cry at the movies. (That "never" is, of course, not meant to be taken literally. I shall now proceed to tell you about a movie I cried at.)

I've seen Narnia twice now, and both times I've cried. The first time I sniffled and blinked back tears; the second time I let tears stream down my face, and I just wiped them away now and again. No, I did not cry when they killed Aslan. I did not cry at the various reunitings among the siblings. I did not cry when everyone else cried.

I cried during the opening scenes. The bombings in London. Farewell at the station. Riding the train through unfamiliar places. The reality of World War II and all that it meant for so many hit me hard, and I couldn't hold back the tears.

Something else hit me, from a writer's standpoint: we write stories like Narnia because we've lived stories like the World Wars. In the previous post, I said that we're drawn to conflict in stories because conflict in real life is so significant; because it makes us who we are. In much the same way, we read and write stories like The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe because they help us understand life. They help us come to grips with Hitler and the Holocaust. They help us understand crucifixion. And if they can't give us peace and total understanding, they have the power to give us something just as important--

Hope.

Shipping Rates Are Down - Finally!

2008-02-05T17:17:00.000-05:00

As anyone who's ordered from LittleDozen.com (aka me) knows, the shipping rates on my books have been exorbitant. (That's not hyerbole... more than half the price of the book is exorbitant!) Many kind readers have ordered directly from me anyway, which I appreciate more than I can say. However, as of this afternoon I'm pleased to say that the rates have come way down.

The change? We're now drop-shipping from the States instead of shipping books across the Canadian border!

I can't do autographed copies this way, so if anyone's still interested in those, you'll have to contact me directly and pay the old high shipping.

I'm very pleased about this :).

the love factor

2008-01-31T14:52:00.000-05:00

If your life is anything like mine, you have a hard time managing time! I want to live a creative, productive life while bringing in enough money to live on, eating and sleeping on a regular basis, and pursuing the Lord actively.

Easier said than done.

I thought about showing you my to-do list so you can see what I mean, but I won't. Instead, I'll say that I could write a book based on the last few years called 101 Ways to Burn Yourself Out. (Another book! Add it to the to-do list!)

As I strive for a schedule that mixes pursuit of excellence with sleep, I'm learning to pay attention to The Love Factor.

Do I love this topic? Do I really want to write about it? Do I really want to hunt down editors and magazines that will publish it, knowing that I'll likely face rejection before acceptance?

Do I love this book? So much that I'll write it, rewrite it, publish (or pursue publication through someone else) and market it?

Do I love this project/idea/Web site/hobby/cup of tea enough to make it worth the time I could spend on it?

Obviously, every love-worthy thing in life will have loads of little components that you don't love, but you have to do anyway. I don't love putting the kettle on, half-climbing into the cupboard to get the tea bags off the really high shelf where they reside, and waiting for the kettle to whistle. I DO love tea, so it's worth it.

For me, the key is whether the overall project is something I really, truly, whole-heartedly want to do. If not, my attention is probably better focused elsewhere.

published: Broken Embrace

2008-01-30T17:41:00.000-05:00

On what it takes to forgive--and what the results can be, in us and in others. I wrote the precursor of this article almost two years ago, so it's lovely to see it up on Boundless.org at last :).

Here's the link.

a new year

2008-01-28T21:31:00.000-05:00

I like new years. I like the sense of beginning again, even though I'm in the middle of so many things. I have projects to finish and others to follow up; dreams to pursue and relationships to keep up. None of these things are really new. But they deserve to be treated as though they are. They deserve to be treated as though they're full of promise and yet-to-be-revealed secrets. They deserve my attention and excitement.

It's true of all my writing projects, of my spiritual walk, my family and friendships.

Has it ever struck you as funny that the new year comes in January--in the dead of winter? Here we are, during the darkest, coldest, most dreary days of the year. Yet we're asked to celebrate "newness." And we can do it honestly. After all, spring is coming... it's coming soon!

So too do all the worthy things in our lives have surprises and new growth waiting to shoot out and make our lives green when we least expect it.

why?

2008-01-24T07:39:00.000-05:00

Despite the title, this isn't a post of rhetorical questions.

At the moment, my writing plate is full. Angel in the Woods is in revision before I contact agents. Worlds Unseen is still selling, which means that its sequel, Burning Light, needs my attention soon! And events have kicked into gear which mean I'll be publishing Tales of the Heartily Homeschooled, a collection of humourous big family/homeschooling essays, this year.

I'm busy with many other things as well, so sometimes I have to wonder: Why do I do this?

Certainly not for the money. Yes, I'd love it if my writing (specifically my novels) could support me. I'm working toward that end. But as my financial review of the past few days has showed, self-publishing is unlikely to get me there--and traditional publishing may take a while :).

The acceptable Christian answer is something like "I'm doing it to change lives" or "I'm doing it to spread the gospel." Those sound good, and of course I'm thrilled if either of those results flow from my writing. But if those were really my sole reasons, I probably wouldn't write fiction. I'd stick to devotional writing--or at least I'd make my fiction more blatantly evangelistic.

Which brings me back to the original question: Why?

Well, why do birds sing?

Song helps them communicate, yes; it aids them in mating, yes; it serves various functions in their lives--but ultimately, why do they sing? Because it's in them to do it. Because God Himself put it there.

Ultimately, why do I write? Because it's in me to write. Because writing--writing anything--is for me an act of praise.

Will my fiction change lives? Will it spread the gospel? I hope so. I hope my writing will bring a breath of heaven into the very worldly world of publishing. But I can't really control the effect my writing has on others. All I can do is write, in praise of the God who made me.

Heart to Heart: Like You've Never Danced It Before

2008-01-12T08:19:00.000-05:00

Heart to Heart: Meeting With God in the Lord's Prayer is taking on a whole new life as the basis for a dance production called Father, which will tour parts of southern Ontario this summer. It is being produced by Soli Deo Gloria Ballet, a new company starting up in the Niagara Region.

... which is a formal way of saying "I'm really excited" :). The break between semesters with WriteAtHome has meant, not a break from work (that never happens), but a chance to focus on my newest venture: a ballet company. No, I don't personally dance. So far, I do a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff. I also get a lot of creative input.

For Father, we've taken select, poetic readings out of Heart to Heart that really get to the center of our day-to-day relationship with God. We've put them together with contemporary music like "Small Enough," a duet between Nichole Nordeman and Fernando Ortega, and Rebecca St. James's "Come Quickly Lord." All of this is brought to life by gorgeous choreography and talented dancers.

Our goal for Father mirrors our goal for Soli Deo Gloria as a whole. We want to take the timeless truths of the gospel and present them in a way that makes people sit up and pay attention and go, "Wow, I've never thought about it that way before." We want to use all this art and beauty to show people how beautiful God is.

If you're in southern Ontario, we hope to see you this summer!

Check out our related Web sites:

www.littledozen.com/h2h.html - The Heart to Heart page, including chapter excerpts.

www.lordsprayerdance.com - The Web site for Father.

www.solideoballet.com - The Web site for Soli Deo Gloria Ballet. (Christian dancers, we need you! Check out our Auditions page.)

* * *

I've got a heap of writing-related news coming, too, so stay tuned!

whatever happened to NaNoWriMo?

2008-01-07T16:02:00.000-05:00

As reported, I did attempt to write 50,000 words in 30 days. The result? I did it, and I didn't even half kill myself in the process. Fifty thousand and change, actually.

I created a story I like and a handful of characters who kept me hugely entertained. I think I can whip it into shape for submission... eventually.

Therein lies the rub. I have never finished a book in such bad shape (and I've finished 15 since the fateful day I started writing at the age of twelve or so, so that's saying something). Will I ever do NaNoWriMo again? Quite possibly not. It's a lot easier to pour 50,000 words onto a screen than it is to mop up the spills later.

Heart to Heart news and a published article

2007-12-29T20:40:00.000-05:00

My book Heart to Heart: Meeting With God in the Lord's Prayer is currently a featured resource on Ungrind.org!

Ungrind also recently published an article of mine, entitled While You Wait, Rebekah. Follow the link to read it. It uses the life of the matriarch Rebekah as an example of "making the most of the meantime"--the waiting periods in our lives.

My thanks to Ashleigh Slater, editor of Ungrind, for creating a great webzine and allowing me to contribute to it :).

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-25T11:19:00.000-05:00

And Zacharias, father to John the Baptist, "was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying,

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people...

That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.

And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;

To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,

Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us,

To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."

The King has come! Praise God and Merry Christmas!

(Luke 1:67-68, 74-79)

Pre-Orders Are Closed

2007-12-01T08:34:00.000-05:00

Pre-orders for autographed copies of Worlds Unseen are now closed! My thanks to everyone who ordered! I've never taken so many orders for one book in such a short period of time. You're the best.

If you didn't get a chance to order a copy, you can still get one through my Web site. The books will be shipped directly to you, so they won't come through me to be autographed. If you'd still like an autographed copy, contact me directly.

Alternatively, Worlds should be available from Amazon.com before long!

Worlds pre-orders about to close!

2007-11-28T23:41:00.000-05:00

The proof copy of Worlds Unseen arrived today, and it's gorgeous! It needed a little tweaking, but that's now done and the finished product will be ready-to-order before this month is out. In the interest of getting this book on Amazon in time for Christmas, I will only be taking pre-orders until November 30. If you'd like an early, autographed copy of my first fantasy novel, place your order on LittleDozen.com today!

Shameless though it is, I'm going to mention that Worlds would make a great Christmas gift for the pre-teen/teen/young adult in your life who enjoys Narnia, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, et al. This is clean fantasy with a backbone of truth and a lot of heart. Copies are $15.00, and like I said, they're beautiful! Deborah's cover art and design are gorgeous.

published: Vocabulary of Grace

2007-11-27T23:47:00.000-05:00

A piece I wrote on why we should watch our words, especially those of us who are followers of Christ. Check it out here on Boundless.org.

Who Do I Write Like?

2007-11-15T13:06:00.000-05:00

I'm doing research of sorts and I have a question for those of you who have read any amount of my work--especially fiction, but I don't mind comparisons in nonfiction either.

If you had to compare me to another author, who would it be?

Email me or leave a comment if you're so inclined :). Thanks!

NaNoWriMo Update

2007-11-15T12:30:00.000-05:00

Yes indeedy, I decided to take the plunge and participate in National Novel Writing Month this year. Every November, thousands of people all over the world feverishly attempt to finish a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. Now, that's not many words for a novel--it's somewhere between 125 and 200 pages--but it is a lot of words for a month.

Did I have the time for this endeavour? No, not really. Which is why I've been writing until midnight-ish many nights. Which may be why I have a sore throat now :).

That said, I'm having fun. I have never written with quite so much abandon. I know it's sloppy. I'm just hoping I'll discover the middle of my plot in time to keep my word count up. (I typically know how my stories will begin and roughly how they'll end, but that middle part gets me every time.)

The story is one I started while traveling cross-country with my cousins two summers ago. It's called Lady Moon and it is a fairly madcap fantasy with magical creatures and many coincidences and characters that run amuck. I'm pleased to announce that I reached 23,000 words last night, which makes today's halfway goal of 25,000 words seem very much within reach.

Worlds Unseen: The Cover

2007-11-06T14:11:00.000-05:00

It's finished :).

update: Peculiar - The Law is Light

2007-10-19T16:13:00.000-04:00

I've updated Peculiar with a meditation on Proverbs 6:20-23, on the importance of morality. It seems like a no-brainer that Christians should strive to uphold high morals, but these days many have lost sight of that. Here's the link.

Worlds Unseen pre-orders

2007-10-17T18:05:00.000-04:00

Well, Worlds production is in high gear. The book should be ready to ship in two weeks or so. In celebration, I'm taking pre-orders :). Each pre-ordered book will be autographed and shipped at the earliest possible moment.

To order, visit the Worlds Unseen page on LittleDozen.com.

You can still get your free ebook version of Worlds from the same page.

update: Peculiar - The Beauty of Fidelity

2007-10-10T16:47:00.000-04:00

This week's installment of Peculiar is a meditation on Proverbs 5, a chapter that speaks eloquently of the beauty of fidelity and the destructiveness of playing around. This message is so relevant to our culture. Chastity and fidelity are much maligned in our world, and I could cry for the pain that's resulted in so many lives.

agent hunting

2007-10-09T22:02:00.000-04:00

I'm looking for an agent for Angel in the Woods. Likely this shall take me a while--I have a couple of agents in mind, but I'd like to do a lot more research and come up with a much longer list.

I finished writing my synopsis for Angel today. Synopses, I have decided, are not fun. My rough draft is six double-spaced pages long. I plan to boil that down to three- and one-page versions as well, for those industry pros who prefer something shorter. It's a challenge. I have to say, though, that I enjoyed revisiting Angel. Between writing Taerith and producing Worlds Unseen (the cover is still being painted but it's coming soon, I promise!), I haven't had much time for Angel, but I still think it's my best work, and I love its story. I really do.

published: The Face of Love

2007-10-04T15:13:00.000-04:00

Ungrind is a new ezine for women. As one of their first articles, they reprinted "The Face of Love" from Letters to a Samuel Generation. You can read it here. I love the whole look and feel of the ezine. They're all about encouraging Christian women--a cause I can certainly support!

update: Peculiar - ponder the path

2007-10-03T15:53:00.001-04:00

I've updated Peculiar with a post on watching where we're going.

Web site revisions

2007-10-02T17:22:00.000-04:00

I've been revising the Little Dozen Press site, yes, again :). I was trying to do a lot of fancy interactive stuff with it but have decided I don't like that approach. From now on it's all about the books. Check it out and let me know what you think. Various things are still in progress, including the graphics on the home page.

Worlds Unseen cover sneak peek

2007-10-01T16:37:00.000-04:00

The cover for Worlds Unseen is finally underway. My sister Deborah is painting it in acrylics. I got a look at it last night and it's pretty cool. I intended to blog about it today, and before I got a chance, she posted on her work blog about it... so I filched a picture.

Here it is:

Kudos if you've read the book and you know what scene this depicts, and also what still needs to be added :).

You can get a free Ebook Edition of Worlds here.

Onward and upward to publication...

update: Peculiar - In All Thy Ways

2007-09-26T14:53:00.000-04:00

My meditation on Proverbs 3:5-6 is posted here. Thanks for reading :).

update: Taerith - Chapter Twenty-Nine, aka The End

2007-09-22T11:10:00.000-04:00

I've posted the final chapter of Taerith, bringing one more journey to a close.

The four-inch stack of paper on my shelf indicates that I wrote a lot of words.

It brings another journey to a close, too. Taerith is the second novel I've blogged while writing, and I think the last. After this it's back to the old-fashioned method of writing feverishly and alone, without a whisper in the darkness to indicate that anyone else is listening until it's finished.

Time to break my comment addiction.

update: Peculiar - Turned Away

2007-09-19T19:32:00.000-04:00

I've updated Peculiar at long last. The new post is based on Proverbs 2:10-14 and can be found here.

update: Taerith - Chapter Twenty-Eight

2007-09-19T14:58:00.001-04:00

The penultimate chapter of Taerith is up; please do read and don't forget to leave a comment.

I finished writing this particular novel two Wednesdays ago. At the time I was ready to stuff the whole thing into a time capsule and dig it up again in two hundred years, at which point I would have calmed down enough to read it again. (It is not tremendously easy to push oneself through the finishing of a novel on a self-imposed but necessary deadline.) I'm happy to report that I'm feeling much better about the whole thing now, and will probably be ready to start second draft revisions in a month or two.

update: Taerith - Chapter Twenty-Seven

2007-09-14T12:14:00.000-04:00

Chapter Twenty-Seven of Taerith has been posted. I haven't been very consistent in announcing that here... oops. It is a chapter of encounters, the One That Begins the End.

Earlier I mentioned my desire to finish Taerith in a week. The goal was to write the last words before teaching started last Thursday. Accordingly, the Wednesday afternoon before found me seated on a plywood floor in Twin's ballet studio in Fort Erie, looking up blinkingly and proclaiming, "I did it." I did indeed. The book is done. I have a bit of tweaking to do before the last two chapters go up, but overall it's finished.

I'm going to put it down for at least a month before starting revisions. Sweet freedom :).

long sigh

2007-09-13T17:57:00.000-04:00

I sigh a sigh of... settling in, I suppose :). Summer is over. I've begun teaching (62 students) and am settling into the work year. I'm home from travels and visits. I spent half an hour on a railway platform yesterday morning, noting the chill in the air and the slanty way the sun shines in Fall. Time: it passes.

I'm not sure if I announced this already: my "Hero Hunting" article for Boundless.org (a Focus On the Family webzine) has turned into a contract for quite a few more over the coming year. The second, "Four Habits of a Pulpit Critic," was published last Thursday. You can read it here--and please let me know what you think.

Worlds Unseen: The Ebook Edition

2007-09-01T16:48:00.000-04:00

... is here :).

If you'd like to help get the ball rolling, feel free to copy the below announcement and post it on your blog, email it to all your friends, skywrite it from an aeroplane...

Worlds Unseen

Book 1 in The Seventh World Trilogy by Rachel Starr Thomson

Click to Download the Free eBook Now!

The Council for Exploration Into Worlds Unseen believed there was more to the world and its history than the empire had taught them. Treating ancient legends as history, they came a little too close to the truth. Betrayed by one of their own, the Council was torn apart before they could finish their work.

Forty years later, Maggie Sheffield just wants to leave the past behind. Memories of the Orphan House where she grew up are fading; memories of her guardians' murder are harder to shake. When a dying friend shows up on her doorstep bearing the truth about the Seventh World--in the form of a written covenant with evil--Maggie is sent on a journey that will change her forever. Along with the Gifted gypsy Nicolas Fisher, who hears things no one else can, Maggie joins with the last surviving members of the Council and a group of eastern rebels led by a ploughman and a princess to discover the truth.

It won't be easy. The Seventh World has long been controlled by the Blackness, and its monstrous forces are already on Maggie's trail.

Readers Weigh In

"Wow, Rachel, oh my goodness.... wow. I fell in love with Worlds Unseen. I finished it a few moments ago, with tears in my eyes. It was really touching...and brilliant, and beautiful. The whole thing reminded me of a mix between C.S. Lewis, Ted Dekker, and Diana Wynne Jones, while being wholly different."

"Your story is wonderful! You are such an artist and you paint such beautiful metaphors. I am in awe."

"You have a gorgeous poetic way of putting things that's incredible and enviable. I love the huge grand scale of things that your world runs on, yet your characters make it personal in such an amazing way."

"I thought all of your characters were great! They were real, which is what I've always loved about your writing."

Coming Soon: Worlds Unseen in hard copy!

It's still in production, but Worlds will be available as a "real" book in the next few months, with beautiful cover artwork by Deborah Thomson and availability on Amazon.com and special order from bookstores across the continent. Watch for it!

goals

2007-08-31T13:26:00.001-04:00

I want to finish Taerith in a week.

I'm crazy.

I'd say "wish me luck," but I don't believe in luck, so...

Wish me discipline, creativity, and success!

EDIT: One chapter finished! Yes! A whole bunch more to go...

Taerith updated: Chapter Twenty-Four

2007-08-30T11:33:00.000-04:00

The current WIP slogs along :). For those who don't know, Taerith is my contribution to the The Romany Epistles, a nine-author fantasy project. In simpler terms, it's the story of a banished young man with the heart of a true hero and the family of outcasts he takes under his wings.

I do love the story, and I love the characters, but writing is hard work at the moment! I feel like I'm fighting for every sentence, and then I don't like them when they're written. Ach weel. On we go.

The chapter is here, along with links to the rest of the book. Comments are always welcome.

P.S.

If you noticed the silence around here, be it known that I was away for three weeks. Ottawa, Toronto, Fort Erie. I love this country. I'm home now.

alpha seeks beta

2007-08-07T20:13:00.000-04:00

I read this article on critique group dependency at the Charis Connection and thought, "Yeah, that's one reason I haven't joined one," even though these days most writers are encouraged to do so.

I do belong to a wonderful little writer's group called The Wayside Inn Writer's Society; we're currently writing The Romany Epistles together. But we're not really a critique group. We're a bunch of friends who love to write and enjoy reading each other's stuff. We encourage and sometimes pitch in with brainstorming and advice, but we don't really critique.

However, lately I've been thinking about asking a small handful of people to be my regular beta readers--people who will read through a manuscript when I finish it and give me their impressions, critiques, etc. I'd like to step outside of my writer's group for that, because even in our merry little circle, it's easy to fall prey to some of the weird ideas and acronyms that plague critters.

I need people who are, above all, honest.

This should be interesting!

update: Taerith

2007-08-03T10:49:00.000-04:00

Chapter Twenty of Taerith has been posted. I'm going to start making a note here everytime a new chapter goes up--since Inklings is turning into my writing hub, I might as well.

This is one of those chapters that ran off with itself in terms of atmosphere. I had a big scene to do and wasn't sure how to do it, but I knew that atmosphere would be the key to the whole thing. So I threw in a lot of stars, and standing stones, and allusions to wolves--I think it worked.

Lo, the Blogzine Breathes!

2007-08-02T23:36:00.001-04:00

I've started moving some of the old family-related posts from this blog over to The Big Family Blogzine, which I'm still going to explain in greater detail... one of these days...

In the meantime, stop by and leave me a comment.

congratulations to us

2007-08-02T23:14:00.000-04:00

Fellowship With Jesus: A 365 Day Devotional by Kris Thayer won a bronze Ippy Award (that's Independent Publishers award) in the Inspirational/Spiritual category this year. I couldn't be more thrilled, as I helped develop and edit the book, as well as writing the follow-up questions after each devotional.

The press release had this to say:

"In her new book, Fellowship with Jesus: A 365 Day Devotional, author Kris Thayer lays out a daily how-to for asking Him into our hearts and confessing our sin.

"The gorgeous, easy-to-read devotional touches on topics ranging from healing, Satan, the purpose of God, living graciously, and the power of prayer. Each devotional follows with a “Ponder, Pray, and Pursue” section that has meaningful, pointed questions to help reflect on our purpose in God’s world.

"Originally a journal that paraphrased her pastor’s scripturally-based sermons, Thayer has collected a veritable treasure trove of spiritual wisdom gleaned from the visionary missionary, the Apostle Paul."

Congratulations, Kris, and all the other Ippy winners this year.

updated: Peculiar

2007-07-31T22:16:00.001-04:00

Unto the Lord, a quick look at work and what it means to a believer.

Flashpoint: A Review

2007-07-31T14:33:00.000-04:00

Review of Flashpoint by Frank Creed

Review by Rachel Starr Thomson

The year is 2036. The place, Chicago—under control of a worldwide government called the One State. A father drives his children through the rain and drops them off under a bridge before fleeing the “Peacekeepers” on his trail.

Little do Dave and Jen know that they are about to lose everything they’ve ever known—and gain more than they ever suspected.

Flashpoint is Frank Creed’s first novel, a cyberpunk story with a Christian twist. The heroes are “Fundamentalists,” Christians pegged as terrorists by the One State. Don’t confuse this with Left Behind, though—the future may be apocalyptic, but Creed’s vision of it has more in common with Marvel Comics than it does with Tim LaHaye.

Creed’s style is fast paced and action-packed. Dave, aka Calamity Kid, goes from zero to superhero in about twenty seconds through a technical upgrade called “reformation,” a la Matrix. A caveat here: while reformation gives Dave and Jen superpowers, it also shortcuts their spiritual growth. Suddenly they can see angels and demons, hear the voice of God, and do something called “walking in the Spirit” that seems more like a superpower surge than a truly spiritual experience. Flashpoint makes liberal use of scripture verses—the entire text of the Bible is included in the “mindware” our heroes upload—but the messages can be confusing. In one scene, Calamity Kid obeys the Spirit’s injunction to “resist not an evil person” so that he can come out of his faked stupor minutes later and take out his captors using tranquilizer guns and electric shock.

Creed’s greatest asset in Flashpoint is the gritty, polluted, slangy, techno-drenched world of the future. The book opens with a timeline beginning in the 1980’s that makes this future look not only plausible, but probable. Everything in the underground is real, from the slums to the showers. Frank Creed writes like a man who loves words. He’s invented future slang that’s fun and immerses us in his world, but at times his way of putting things is awkward enough to pull readers out of the action and leave them momentarily puzzled: “I nipped my tongue’s tip,” Calamity says, “to mug a wicked grin.”

This is a fun read with adrenaline-pumped moments and lots of attitude, refreshingly creative and artistic. Believers looking for encouragement in their own walk with God may leave this book wishing they could go through a reformation of their own, but Flashpoint can’t help there. Though it touches on some heavy themes, this is still light reading.

published: Hero Hunting

2007-07-26T18:31:00.000-04:00

Boundless.org published Hero Hunting, my essay on finding true heroes in literature, last week. Sorry I'm so late getting it linked!

update

2007-07-17T20:56:00.000-04:00

Posted a quote from Elisabeth Elliot on Peculiar. I also added a subscription box to the site, so you can sign up to be notified whenever I update there. Like I said, all of my devotional stuff will be going up there, so if you enjoy reading that, be sure to subscribe.

At the moment, Peculiar looks exactly like Inklings except for the title and the lack of posts. I really need to learn a little more HTML!

dismantling

2007-07-03T20:20:00.000-04:00

I am.

No, not myself... I like myself the way I am. I'm dismantling this blog. Splitting it into three, actually.

It has occurred to me that, like so many things in life, a blog is best when it's focused. This blog is fairly UNfocused, since I regularly write on three or four themes. Ergo, I am splitting Inklings in three.

Posts related to writing and publishing, as well as links to my posts on other sites, will remain here on Inklings.

Posts related to family life, homeschooling, etc will go on The Big Family Blogzine, which is a whole project unto itself. I'll explain more later.

Posts on my favourite topic, God, will go on Peculiar: On Christ and Believing.

And yes, I will be posting again. Life exploded, but it's calmed down a little again :).

* * *

P.S. The Little Dozen Press blog will be deleted and the Web site linked here instead... too much crossover.

snort

2007-07-03T19:47:00.000-04:00

Why do I find it so vastly entertaining that there's a blog called Unplugged Living?

small ones

2007-05-17T22:40:00.000-04:00

Four years ago, on a beautiful night in late June, my sister Tabithah was born. (I assume it was a beautiful night. Chances are it was humid and very warm, but I know it was green, and it wasn't raining. In any case, the event made it beautiful.) I was twenty years old.

Taba and I will always have lockstep birthdays. She's four; I'm twenty-four. When she's twenty, I'll be forty. Recently she was playing at getting married. She wedding-walked into the living room, humming a wedding march to herself. Suddenly she stopped, turned, and with a twinkly-eyed little smile waved at me.

"Who are you getting married to?" I asked.

She named some fellow from a video she likes.

"And who are you waving at?"

She laughed at me. Little ones never bother to pretend they're not laughing at you. "You-oo!" she said.

I hope, when she does get married, that she waves at me on the way down the aisle.

Twenty years is a big spread between siblings, even if there are ten others to fill in the gap. Not many girls my age have a baby sister who's still well under four feet tall. It's a privilege--a gladsome joy--to have a small one in my life.

As I was working yesterday she came in and looked up at me with earnest blue eyes.

"Rachel, you know that song you teached me? Can you teach me again?"

So I did. Picked her up, set her on my lap, and sang the old spiritual "Down to the River to Pray" with her. My favourite verse is the one that highlights her lisp: "Oh sisters, let's go down/Down to the river to pray."

Sometimes I overlook the privilege I have--the chance to be a part of small ones' lives, to pick them up, to teach them, to be their "big girl." God give me grace to make the most of these years. Someday I hope we'll go down to the river of God's grace together, that we'll drink of His overflowing Spirit in a sisterhood that's deeper than any we can experience in purely earthly places. When we go, I want our quiver of memories to be already full. I want our attachment to be deep and real. I know I'm weaving the future now.

God honours small ones. God help me do the same.

I feel that this should count for something

2007-05-16T16:05:00.000-04:00

Every Wednesday I have a giddy rush of excitement as I realize that Debbie Ridpath Ohi has updated my favourite Web comic, Will Write For Chocolate. This week it was giddy rush compounded. Go read the comic and note the thank-you note at the top ;).

Carnival of the Redeemed

2007-05-16T11:27:00.000-04:00

As you know if you read this regularly, I've been participating in a lot of carnivals lately. I thought I'd give this one a try. It's much smaller than the other carnivals I've contributed to, but I enjoyed it.

changes

2007-05-15T21:06:00.000-04:00

I had several epiphanies last night. One of them was that the sales/introduction page for Heart to Heart: Meeting With God in the Lord's Prayer on my Web site was a boner. I've rewritten it entirely. Stop by and let me know what you think :).

saintly service

2007-05-15T17:54:00.000-04:00

Then came he to Derbe and Lystra: and, behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess, and believed; but his father was a Greek: Which was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium. Him would Paul have to go forth with him."

Acts 16:1-3

Oh, Timothy: eternal ideal of the Christian youth. Is there a young believer on Earth who has never shared in Paul's admonition to you to "Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers"? History reports that Timothy made a good job of it. From his first mention in the Book of Acts he is "well-reported of." The Catholic Church venerates him as saint and martyr; church history calls him "the bishop of Ephesus"; the Greek Orthodox recognize him as an apostle.

Timothy's adventure began when Paul all but shanghaied him on his second missionary journey. But what did this shining example of discipleship actually do with his life?

He may have preached. We don't have a single recorded sermon to prove it.

Perhaps he founded churches. Again, we have no record of it.

Two pieces of Scripture bear his name, but Paul wrote them--not Timothy.

My favourite memoir of Timothy's life is found in Acts 19:22:

"So Paul sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him, Timotheus and Erastus; but he himself stayed in Asia for a season."

Did you catch that? Timothy was "one of those"--he doesn't even get a special, separate mention--"that ministered unto Paul."

The glory of it.

Don't be fooled by the word "ministered." Modern English usage has spoiled it. "Minister" is not something you do from a pulpit. "Minister" is service. It's lugging Paul's bags around. It's making sure he gets his porridge in the morning. It's holding up a candle so Paul can get his letters written. It's trotting around the Roman Empire at the heels of an apostle, always in his shadow, just serving. Timothy did this for years.

Bishop of Ephesus, Orthodox apostle--here Timothy is something simpler and sweeter. Did I say he walked in Paul's shadow? No...the truth is he walked in Christ's pure light. Jesus Himself said, "He that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve."

If you desire to serve God, you who are young and searching for meaning, I encourage you to find a servant of God to serve. Receive a prophet; give a cup of cold water to a weary disciple. Hold up the candle. Cook the porridge. Love someone.

Paul's words are a beautiful benediction on the life of this young man who served him so faithfully for so many years.

"To Timothy, my dearly beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God, whom I serve... that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day; Greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy."

II Timothy 1:2-4

Even so may you and I, as a community of servants, fill one another with joy.

memories of a weekend

2007-05-12T12:54:00.000-04:00

Behold! I have returned. Last weekend was an extraordinarily full one, and so I shall blog it--for, in this modern world, what else is to be done?

It began on Friday the 4th, when I packed up a few books and headed over the border to Lansing, Michigan, where I helped represent Write At Home at the INCH Homeschool Convention. I was surprised and thrilled to see these ladies two tables from me!

Sony and Mercy were there representing Wisdom's Gate, a publishing enterprise owned by their family. They have been publishing my devotional work in two of their magazines for years--in fact, Home School Digest was the first magazine ever to print my byline. Despite this long relationship, I had never met them in person before.

(In a strange coincidence, the small boy smiling cutely on the middle cover is the youngest Arndt child. The Arndts have fourteen children and have also been friends of ours for years.)

Jennifer Beck, marketing director and writing coach for WAH, allowed me to put a few copies of Heart to Heart: Meeting With God in the Lord's Prayer on the table. Imagine my surprise when the books were recognized and exclaimed over by these ladies! I didn't recognize them, but we were in fact acquaintances...

Some of you may recognize Karen Braun--a.k.a. SpunkyHomeschool--and her daughters :). It was enormous fun meeting them, and not only because having someone recognize my name on a book is a Twilight Zone experience!

Here are Spunky and I :). I am ashamed to admit that I didn't get any pictures of the Write At Home booth or of Jennifer, who made my day a really wonderful experience all the way around. At least, I THOUGHT I didn't get any, until I realized that they're in the background of this one! Jennifer is on the right, waiting to help interested customers while I was off hobnobbing.

When the show was over, Jennifer took my dad and I out for dinner at Smoky Bones, a barbecue restaurant that made me realize, upon stepping through the door, just how hungry a convention can make me. We had a great time and got home late. Early the next morning, I was up and packing for Toronto, where a large pack of siblings, cousins, and friends were headed to see our cousin Carolyn take the prestigious Solo Seal ballet exam.

We stayed with my dear friend Sheri in her apartment at York University. Here's Sheri with my sister Naomi, who cooked for us all weekend and kept our food bills down to about $6.00 each. Cheapest road trip ever :).

My other sisters kept themselves entertained, as usual. Deborah is a photographer and does manage to get some daring shots.

The exam itself took place on my birthday. Carolyn was beautiful, and after I nearly had a heart attack when she first appeared on stage, I enjoyed the performance immensely.

Family Business: Cons to Beware

2007-05-03T09:12:00.000-04:00

Read "Family Business: Pros to Embrace" first.

These days, family business is the new homeschooling. More and more families are realizing that a business of their own can be a tremendous asset. I've been involved in family businesses for most of my life, and I'm all in favour of them.

However, family business has a way of eating people alive if it's not kept under control. A 9-5 job can be left at the office, but a home-based business, like death and taxes, is with us always. Here are some ideas for combating this.

1. Set limits and be realistic. Crunch times happen, in which you must abandon all semblance of sanity and work your hardest and longest to make a thing happen. That's okay, but try to plan in such a way that tasks stay manageable. For example, Mom and my sisters try to space our fudge-making over three days before we hit craft shows on the weekend, rather than doing it all at the last minute.

2. Take a break. Sabbath is important. Most of our business happens on weekend craft shows, so many of us work Sundays. When this happens, we try to take Monday as a day to relax. Burning yourself out may feel responsible, but it will cripple you eventually... don't do it.

3. Give rewards. Another way to avoid burn-out--especially in young people who work with their parents--is to make sure that work is rewarded. When we're on the road, Dad will stretch our budget in order to take the family out for dinner somewhere nice. It's more than worth it. We always enjoy eating out together, and these times are both great motivation and great memories. Morale doesn't have to expensive, but it must be maintained.

4. Fit round pegs into round holes. As much as possible, involve your family members in ways that mesh with their natural gifts. In our family, my artistic sister Deborah has created many of the lovely designs you'll see on our candy; Becky, who has mad skills with the computer and graphic design, built our Web site and designs signs and labels.

Like most things, a family business should be a flexible endeavour. See what works for you; take note of things that are not working. Work hard, have fun, and God bless you!

Writing Tip: What's the Point?

2007-05-02T12:03:00.000-04:00

It's the final week of the Spring Semester, and I'm marking essays. My students are given a choice of topics and 30 minutes to wax brilliant. I thought I'd address one of the common problems I see in this column.*

An essay should leave the reader with one strong impression. If he reads and then asks, "What's the point?", the essay has failed. If you know this, you'll find it much easier to put an essay together quickly. You needn't address every aspect of a topic or fill your essay with lots of inconsequential facts and anecdotes. You simply need to make a point.

Start by making a quick outline, either mentally or on paper. (Paper is better. Always.) Try for five paragraphs:

Par. 1. What's the point? Use this paragraph to introduce your topic and make a strong point about it. For example, if my topic is winter, I can make the point that winter is inhospitable to life. I can't just ramble on about winter in this paragraph. It needs to get to the point quickly.

Par. 2-4. These paragraphs should support my point. They should not give facts about winter that don't pertain to my point, nor should they ask lots of rhetorical questions or detail my childhood relationship with winter. Rather, each paragraph should look at one aspect of winter that supports my point.

Winter is inhospitable because it's too cold for most creatures. (Look at the way birds fly south and rodents hibernate.) Winter is inhospitable because nothing grows, so there is no natural food source. (This is why people have canned, dried, and salted food since time immemorial.) Winter is inhospitable because it's dark. (People fall into depression.)

Par.5. Here I make my point again, phrased slightly differently, and sum up my argument. I want readers to leave with a strong impression: WINTER IS INHOSPITABLE!

An essay with a clear point will feel solid and unified, and accomplish the purposes for which it was sent.

Incidentally, aren't you glad it's SPRING?

* It's my blog, so I'll call it a column if I want to :).

Comforting Miracles

2007-05-01T17:15:00.000-04:00

And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead. And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him. When he therefore was come up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed.

And they brought the young man alive, and were not a little comforted.

Acts 20:6-12

Many people in the church today have a sort of mania when it comes to miracles and spiritual experiences. We see them as signs of God's presence, of spiritual health, of something big happening. Conversely, if they're not present, we think there's a problem.

This is unfortunate. Miracles aren't the point. The point is salvation--the point is the great truth we've been caught up in, that God loves us and has sent His Son to die in our place; that we are reconciled to the Father and have access to Him.

In Troas, Paul raised a boy from the dead. It was the single greatest miracle of his life. And when he had done it, he went back upstairs, ate, finished his sermon, and left.

No revival meetings. No setting up camp; no building an altar. No worldwide announcements that the Spirit had broken out in Asia.

Instead, Acts tells us, the disciples in Troas were "not a little comforted" by the event.

In the KJV, "comfort" is a powerful word. To be comforted is to be reminded of the truth. It's assurance that the things you have believed really are true; that you're not going to wake up from this fairy tale. It's to be touched by the Spirit of God, just enough so that we can press on.

When Paul raised Eutychus from the dead, the miracle did not bring new truth, new spirituality, or a new dawn to Troas. It was just a reminder: a word from God saying "This is real." The Holy Spirit has been given, in part, to remind us of this. Jesus said, "The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you" (John 14:26).

My life has been full of comfort: little reminders, little miracles. The list of them grows with every passing year. No one will ever build a theology of revival around my comforts; I won't be canonized for them. But they're enough. Their message continually speaks to me.

This is real.

CoH #70: The Yes, No, Yes! Edition

2007-05-01T17:02:00.000-04:00

Mama Squirrel of Dewey's Treehouse has posted this week's edition of the Carnival of Homeschooling. She's focusing on the many positive attitude submissions received this time around, and chose to use quotes from my Yes and Amen article to tie the whole thing together! I'm honoured... and she did a marvelous job. Have a look!

Carnival of Family Life

2007-05-01T17:00:00.000-04:00

Jennifer of Parenting Toddlers has posted this week's Carnival of Family Life. She did a great job, splitting the carnival into four sections that make it easy to find articles of interest: Kids - Glorious Kids, Family Finances, Relationships, and Parenting Tips.

Check it out!

Inescapable God

2007-04-27T15:57:00.000-04:00

"Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee."

Psalm 139:7-12

Throughout history, people who came to disbelieve in gods or spirits they had once venerated have literally torn down their idols... defaced the "images of the gods"... cut themselves loose from the relics of the past.

Today, many people in our postmodern world would like to escape the God of the Bible.

But how can we?

We could perhaps burn all of the Bibles in the world, remove every trace of Scriptural influence from Western speech and thought, and rewrite history.

But then there would be relationships. Father and son. Husband and wife. These things which so eloquently speak of Him. Still, this too we could destroy. We could blur gender lines. We could cheapen marriage. We could turn parents and children against each other.

We would walk outside, free of God in our homes, and be confronted with seas and stars and trees and wind and glorious nature.

Easy enough to deal with. We can level it. Poison it. Pollute it.

But then, having killed our life source to get away from its Creator, we might accidentally look in a mirror. And behind the guilty, sin-marred expression that looks back at us, there is a soul. An eternal spirit. A spark of imagination; the power of reason; the power to create or destroy.

We are the greatest evidence of God. No matter how we unravel ourselves, we can't be rid of Him.

If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

Inescapable God.

Family Business: Pros to Embrace

2007-04-26T10:07:00.000-04:00

"Sweet Somethings is a family affair—in the beginning, fudge making was the hobby of one of our ten daughters. At the time, our family was traveling with another product to craft and trade shows around the country, and she decided to try her hand at peddling a particularly good fudge recipe she liked to make. We decided to give it a try, so in March of 2003, we set up shop at our first show with only three flavors of fudge and a lot of fresh cut flowers. We did pretty well, and our imaginations immediately went into overdrive."

Four years ago, my family started Sweet Somethings, a traveling chocolate company that has been a financial staple for us ever since. The above words were written by my sister Becky on the Web site she recently designed for us.

My father has ever been an entrepreneur. He is what Debi Pearl calls "a Visionary." In fact, when I first read her "Three Kinds of Men" chapter in No Greater Joy's monthly newsletter, I ran into our kitchen (where Mom and three of the older girls were busy preparing fudge for an upcoming trade show) to read it out loud. We laughed so hard that fudge production ground to a momentary halt. Surely, we thought, Debi had been following us all these years and taking notes. Dad's visionary nature has driven our family into many ventures with varying levels of stability, normality, and success.

If you're starting a family business of your own, here are some of the pros you can look forward to:

1. Time together. Sweet Somethings has meant long hours working--and joking, talking, even complaining--in the kitchen. It's meant hours in the van, packed in amidst boxes of fudge, collapsible tables and fake flowers for decoration, swigging Coke from a two-liter bottle and seeing the world together. It's meant long work days that are a treasure-trove of memories now. The family that works together spends time together--and in a world where it's increasingly hard to do so, that is high praise for a family business.

2. Experience! Families are ever in search of ways to give their children experiences that will benefit them in life. Business is an excellent way to do this. In a business that involves sales, as ours does, our kids have had umpteen opportunities to interact with people from all walks of life, to learn graciousness and salesmanship, to get over their shy tendencies, to work with money, to make chocolate (an invaluable skill, I assure you) and to see the world. Business brings us all face to face with reality in a way that few other things do.

3. Hardship. Yes, this is a good thing. We're not talking desperate privation here, just a good working knowledge of life when it isn't comfortable. I'm extremely grateful for the presence of some hardship in my life. Its salt has heightened the flavour of everything else.

4. Personal growth. This ties into each area above, but I want to highlight it here. Sweet Somethings has developed confidence in the shyest of us; savviness in the dreamiest of us; persistence in those of us most likely to quit. We have learned to sacrifice for each other and to work together as a team.

Our chocolate company has been reasonably successful, so it's helped us financially. Greater than the financial benefits, though, have been the rewards reaped in family solidarity. As you launch your own family business, keep these things before you.

* * *

Wild tales of the Thomsons' adventures in trade shows shall be shared in the unnamed book-to-be-published next year, an entertaining collection of stories and essays that examine life in a big, homeschooled family. Subscribe or check back at this blog for updates!

* * *

Coming soon: "Family Business: Cons to Beware."

Carnival of Homeschooling: The Bee Edition

2007-04-24T18:13:00.000-04:00

... is up. Heather of Sprittibee has done a marvelous job. Says she:

"So, what's a carnival?" you ask. A carnival is a place where bloggers of a like-mind or a similar group can showcase their most important, funny, interesting, or otherwise groovy posts so that YOU will go seek them out and read them. Each link is a teaser to lead you on your merry way through the internet to the blog where it originated.

As usual, there's a fine collection of reading material... and all interspersed with pictures and lessons on Heather's favourite pollen-collectors. Enjoy!