Updates on my books and other projects

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.

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.

I ran all five days this week! It was 32 degrees this morning. That should count for some kind of physiological bonus point. Here’s the rest of the update- (I hope to have a newsletter out soon. If you’re not already a subscriber, you can sign up in that box at the right. If you’d like to get these posts as they’re written, click on the Subscribe bar.)

What am I writing?     This week I’m finishing up another read thru and proof on Contingency. When it didn’t place in the most recent contest, that was another occasion to back-up and rethink it. I admit, this time it was difficult to get back to writing. So to entertain myself mostly, I wrote out Chuck and Tracy’s first encounter, and sent it to Amanda. She said it needed to be in the book. So we sat down and hashed out a series of ‘flashbacks’ that allowed me to deepen Chuck’s character and give us a greater sense of where Bobbi and Chuck have been, as well as, give some background about how Chuck ended up where he did. You can check a few of them out here. Next week, it’s headed out for a thorough critique. Maybe now I can finally get back to Claire and Mike.

What am I reading?    School stuff. We did the Taming of the Shrew. I think Lauren is more of a nerd than I am (if that is possible). She loves Shakespeare, and we haven’t even read the good ones yet. I am so glad to leave the poetry unit behind. Now we’re on to short stories. Some of these I’ve read before. “The Lottery” is still unsettling and “The Monkey’s Paw” still creeps me out. I got some great books in the mail and hope to get into them over Thanksgiving. *crossing fingers*

What have I learned?    Nerd stuff- I switched all my programs around. I’m using Google Chrome as my browser. (I love Firefox’s add-ins. I do. But my computer is slow when it runs. A new computer has been requested for the 2010 capital budget. We’ll see what management says.) Chrome is fast, but no frills. I also switched to Postbox for my email client. Same reason. I like Outlook a lot, but it is so confounded slow… Postbox is built on Mozilla’s technology, and it is so much faster. The Lightning add-in gives me the Calendar functions like Outlook. The only complaint I have is that I can’t change my “view” fonts, and message formatting is limited. However, leaving Outlook meant I had to leave my Twitter client- TwInbox. Tried TweetDeck. Like it, but uses a ton of resources, and slows my old computer down. This week I’m trying out Twhirl. It’s okay.

What has God taught me?    We had revival this week, great preaching, great music… Here’s a question or two- Would anybody want what I’ve got? Is my salvation infusing my life and bringing the fragrance of life with it? Or like the preacher said, do I look and act like I’ve been soaked in pickle juice? Is my salvation changing my life now and not just my eternity? Am I interfering with God’s working in my life?