For those of you who have been with me on this writing journey, we took a very significant step forward. I got the critique back on Contingency and the comments were extremely encouraging. (Thanks to J.J. Hebert of Mindstir Media for his help. He gave me page-by-page comments and a summary report, plus he was extremely easy to work with.) The issues raised are straightforward and most of them will be relatively easy to fix. That said, I’m targeting a formal submission in about a month.

If you haven’t read the first chapter of Contingency, you can here.

In geeky news, I tweaked my Zemanta plug-in so it will cross-reference the blogs I read. That way, anytime my blogging friends have a post that connects with what I’ve written, a link will pop up at the end of the post. I encourage you to check them out.

I started reading Doubting by Alister McGrath. It’s gonna be a great book. He views doubt as an invitation to grow. Unbelief and skepticism, however, are willful decisions NOT to believe.

This verse caught my eye this week- “She has done what she could…” Mark 14:8. Jesus said these words about Mary after she anointed Him with her precious oil. Whatever my limitations, situations or opportunities, I want to do what I can to honor Jesus Christ. Amen.

Beginning next week, I am participating in a two-week Authenticity Challenge at the invitation of Kelly Langston.

Let me get an early start on authenticity… When I began reading the details, [I didn't finish reading, either] my first reaction was “I don’t blog every day. I don’t WANT to blog every day… I’m not gonna do it.” So I went back to Facebook to TweetDeck or whatever. Then I got that little push, the down deep in my spirit one. So I sighed, and hopped back to Kelly’s post, and continued reading. She writes:

This project has come to my heart because I believe the world is desperate to see what real Christianity looks like… True Christianity is a faith of daily experiences, daily progress, daily introspection and adjustment, and most of all, daily validation that we are, indeed, vastly loved by the Father.

The second purpose: By spending two weeks of intensely focusing on God’s presence in the everyday events around me, I know that I will learn to view life in a different way: God’s way.  The process of seeking God all around me will seep deep into my soul so that it becomes entirely natural way to view the daily events of my life.  In the process I want to allow God to wring out any hypocrisy from my own life so I can live out my faith authentically, just as Jesus did.  I am expecting God to show up and teach each committed blogger some amazing truths about Who He is, Where He is working around us, and How our lives can be fulfilled by living within His purpose.

That’s exactly what I want in my life. How could I not participate? I guarantee you up front, this is not going to be the logbook of a super-Christian, but I know from what He said in His word that His goal for me is Christlikeness.

So starting Monday, for 14 days we’ll look at what really goes on in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Pray for us. Join us.  Try journaling for the weeks. If you’re not a blogger and have some thoughts, email me and I’ll post them for you.

After each revision of Contingency, I have worked on drafting a new story. That gives me a break from the intensity of editing and gets me back to the rush of creating something new. That said, this latest draft has been the toughest one yet. The thing doesn’t want to go together at all. It’s like trying to reason with a left-handed Southern woman *ahem*. It proves what I’ve suspected- writing books is like raising children. No two are exactly alike. Some are easy to write/raise and some are problem children. There won’t be any tried and true system for cranking out books in my future.

I am trying to read the backlog of blog emails that accumulated over Christmas. That still counts as reading, right?

I’ve added a host of new Facebook friends- yay!

I downloaded Amazon’s Kindle for PC app (They have one for phones, too!) Check it out. My daughter tried to install it. I grow less impressed with Vista all the time.

Sometimes, I type along, and God stops me and says, “Excuse me, but did you read what you just wrote?” Last Thursday, I was writing about my husband and our first date. I finished the post with this-

God’s plans aren’t always packaged the way we expect, nor do they proceed in a typical fashion. An early disaster isn’t always an indication of future ones. Hang in there. “The end of a thing is better than its beginning.” Ecclesiastes 7:8

God said, “Did you get that? Keep writing!”

Reading: During school, I’m not getting much read except what I have to. Most recently, I finished T.A. Barron’s The Lost Years of Merlin. It’s a great example of the Hero’s Journey story structure. We’ll be examining it from that angle.

Writing: I submitted a short piece after Christmas. Contingency is off getting critiqued, and I’m fighting with Claire’s book. It’s not wanting to proceed in a neat orderly fashion. She’s a great character, strong but not “perfect”. I expected the book to unfold as her struggle to deal with her bitterness toward her ex. As it began to take shape, though, her relationship with her daughter is becoming sharper and is demanding attention. Brooke is trying to steal the book! At this point I don’t want her to, but that could change. I let Cass steal a book once and it worked out.

Learning: Sometimes God wants me to read what I write. Sometimes, it’s for me.

Some of you have prayed for my nephew, Scott, as he wrestles with a leukemia diagnosis. He’s been in and out of the hospital again after running a fever. They expected this after the chemo. Hopefully, with that ‘checked off the list’ he can make a full recovery and head back to work soon. Thank you for your prayers.