Podcast Ongoing

January Journaling

1.    Happy New Year’s Day! And Happy New Decade! Started with a mimosa, as usual. Our daughter returned to Ottawa. I recorded my third podcast on my Bible Companion Series: One Chapter at a Time. You can find it on podcasts.com Also a pyjama day.

2.    Haircut and writing. My podcasts, which just started have about two dozen downloads each, which makes me happy that anyone is listening, and makes me want to continue.

3.    Feeling kind of low today for some reason. Another pyjama day.

4.    Also feeling sick since yesterday; probably caught it from my grandkids last week. I’m not eating, have body aches, upset stomach, and lethargy.

5.    Not going to church today because I’m sick.

6.    Feeling somewhat better.

7.    Chiro and massage.

8.    Accompanied my husband to a procedure.

9.    Women’s Bible study. Ordering blinds for our patio doors.

10. School day brought to you by the letter Mm, the number 13, the story of baby Moses, and monkeys.

11. Another pyjama day; also cleaned out the freezer, made a budget, and finished my summary of the book of Acts. Called Rogers to decrease our bill. Saved $200 a month!

12. Church, long nap, church. No internet or t.v. today because Rogers turned it off in anticipation of their appointment on Tuesday.

13. Rogers coming today.

14. Rogers coming again today.

15. School day brought to you by the letter Nn, the number 14, Moses and the burning bush, and narwhals. I also went with my grandson to his swimming lesson.

16. I presented the Summary of the Book of Acts to the women this morning, then we went out for lunch. They bought my lunch as a thank you for my hard work.

17. Working on the Bible Companion Series podcasts. Then a long nap, then my husband and I are seeing the movie 1917 at the VIP theatre.

18. The elders and wives dinner at the Mandarin restaurant during a snowstorm.

19. Big snow storm last night. Church today.

20. Baked some banana muffins. Delicious recipe.

21. Pyjama day; writing.

22. School day; brought to you by the letter Oo, the number 15, ostriches, octopuses, owls, ovals, orange, and the ten plagues on Egypt.

23. Women’s Bible study beginning the Pastoral epistles: 1, 2 Timothy and Titus. Then working on podcasts. My husband is starting another course tonight at Toronto Baptist Seminary; this one on apologetics.

24. Writing, nap, bank appointment, dinner out, and a movie at home.

25. Women’s breakfast, nap, and dinner at a friend’s place planning a gala for church next month.

26. Church.

27. Meeting out daughter at Terroni for dinner. She had to come into town from Ottawa to work for a week so she’s at a downtown hotel, close to court.

28. Went to stay overnight at my mom’s to make it easier for her to come by to my grandkids.

29. School day brought to you by the letter Pp, the number 16, crossing the Red Sea, and penguins.

30. Women’s Bible study, errands, new alarm system.

31. Our daughter’s family came by on their way out of town for the weekend. She’s past the halfway point in her pregnancy, and everything looks good this time. We had another planning meeting for our church’s AGAPE gala.

Pool day with Family

May Journaling

1.    Chiro and massage, long nap.

2.    Bible study, nap, dinner, Spanish homework.

3.    Home day, except for Spanish class. My book is on the chapters/indigo  website for pre-order. Seeing it there makes it real.

4.    Our daughters are running in a fund-raising run. Ordered a card reader for book sales.

5.    Church flanking a long nap.

6.    Home day.

7.    School day; field trip to the local Reptile Zoo, again. Back by popular demand. The kids held a snake, a turtle, a chinchilla, a gecko and an armadillo.

8.    Home day, homework, and attempting intermittent fasting, starting with 12 hours. Desperate to lose weight, I gained 40 pounds since I got sick six years ago. Nothing has worked for me. I’d try some plans, but most assume you overeat, and I barely eat my three meals a day, and only because I need food to swallow all my pills. Also, because of my M.E. I can’t exercise.

9.    Bible study, errands, and nap. Dropped our daughter off to take the train to Ottawa for a conference. Also had to buy a replacement fridge for downstairs. Ordered some things for my book launch party.

10. Homework morning, nap, dinner and Spanish classes.

11. Final planning meeting for my book launch party.

12. Church.

13. Homework and school prep. Then driving to Hamilton to watch the kids two days while my daughter does an intensive course at university this week.

14. Childcare. Exhausting. This is for the young and healthy.

15. School day: brought to you by ordinal numbers, simple addition and subtraction, sight word matching, and the story of the lost sheep. My mom and aunt came by.

16. Bible study, then we’re taking our moms and my aunt from Finland out for high tea for Mother’s Day at The Tartan House Bed and Breakfast. I’ll post pictures. It was delicious. I made a facebook event page for my book launch, which is in a month.

17. Pain clinic, then my daughter took my car for a camping trip this long weekend. Fish and chips for dinner, then Spanish class.

18. The new fridge is coming for the basement apartment.

19. Church. Beautiful day, 25 C. Barbecued sausages.

20. Victoria Day.

21. My stand up banner is ready.

22.Just heard bad news today, related to our earlier good news.

23. Final Bible study regular lesson. Next week we do the summary and lunch. At least I am done, since I did it as I went along.

24. No Spanish this week.

25. Headed to London today, to have a pool day with family since my aunt is here from Finland. Great food. I’ll post some pics.

26. The grandkids were living their best life: going from sauna to pool to hot tub, to trampoline, and repeat.

27. Chiro appointment. I missed my massage because I marked the wrong time.

28. Spent the day with the grandkids. No school today, because my daughter has a long appointment. More on that later.

29. Bank appointment. I hate bank appointments. Eating smelts my cousin brought from up north. My aunt is going back to Finland tomorrow.

30. Watching the Raptors in their first game of the finals.

31. Spanish class. I’ll soon be quitting. I only took it to get a little bit of conversational knowledge. Not a fan of conjugating verbs. Also bought a copy of my book on kindle to hear how it sounds. Makes it real to see it there and on amazon. Benaiah: Mighty Man of God by P.H. Thompson 

Is a Mid-Life Crisis Real?

If you were to ask the average North American what a mid-life crisis was, they would tell you it’s that time of your life, usually in your 50’s, when you re-evaluate where you are in your career, finances and relationships. If you’re a man, you may buy a new ‘toy’ like a sports car or a big screen t.v.

But ask someone in the developing world, or the ‘real world’ as some would call it, and they would have no clue what you’re talking about. It’s debateable whether such a thing even really exists or if it is merely a ‘first-world social construct’.

Only we in the west have the privilege, or should I say, the audacity, to be discontent with our wealth. To question whether we are as happy as we had hoped to be, or whether our house is as big as we dreamed of, or our children as well-behaved, our jobs as satisfying, and our relationships as fulfilling as we dreamed of as children is rooted in a false sense of entitlement.

The underlying premise, whether spoken or not, is that we deserve to be happy. A singer of Christian contemporary music left her husband for another man because she said, “I wasn’t happy, and God doesn’t want us to be unhappy.” But God’s ‘goal’, if we can put it that way, is not our happiness, but our holiness.

So is a mid-life crisis real? Not in the sense that we use it to justify extravagant purchases or be discontent with our lives. It’s just a coincidence that many major life events occur in the fifth decade of our lives; that taken together, can feel like a crisis. During that time we may have a change or loss of a job, experience an empty nest, the death of our parents, a health crisis, or marriage breakup, for some.

These crises would lead us to reflect on our lives. At that age, we realize we may have only 20-30 productive years left before our bodies or minds begin to fail us. We hear that clock ticking. We are on this conveyer belt of life and we know it’s not slowing down because we want it to.

That can be good or bad. Bad, if we compare ourselves to others. There’s the myth of the greener grass in our neighbour’s yard. We play, ‘if only’, and inwardly spurn the gifts God has given us. We may have regrets, remembering our early dreams and goals, feeling we have not accomplished them.

We can be discontent and look for a change in circumstances or relationships to improve our situation. We can turn to ‘retail therapy’ to fill a void. That void cannot be filled with ‘things’. Our satisfaction must be in Christ.

So how can a mid-life crisis, if we’ll call it that, be good. Only if we use the time of reflection on past blessings, and even trials, as well as a recognition that we are mortal, to consider how we can use the blessings God has given us, not for our own satisfaction, but for God’s glory and the benefit of others.

“Only one life, ‘twill soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last.” C.T. Studd

Pia Thompson

First Published in Summer 2013 issue of Barnabas magazine

Fiction vs. Non-Fiction

As much as I enjoy writing fiction, I think my easiest writing is non-fiction. I especially like writing devotionals or Bible study materials, book reviews, memoirs and journalling.
I have so many ideas, my problem seems to be completing a project. That's the discouraging part. If I can't ever complete a story, whether fiction or non-fiction, I'll never move beyond writing for the sake of writing. I know that very few get published, and that I would still write regardless, but I have to admit that being a published author is a dream I've had since childhood. I just have to pick a project and finish it.
Of my fiction W.I.P's (works-in-progress), I feel most connected to the story set in WW2 Finland. My problem is plot, which is kind of the point of fiction, isn't it? You're supposed to have a story to tell. That setting has so much potential material and I have so many scenes already in my head. Finland's story needs to be told. I just need compelling characters and a plot for it to go somewhere. I could probably use a brainstorming session with a friend.
For non-fiction, I would like to work on my memoirs. Stop laughing. I know I'm not famous, and I haven't done much that's noteworthy, but I would like to put my memories on paper while I still remember them. Perhaps some future descendant will find them interesting. I wish I had something like that from my late father, but I digress.
The other non-fiction W.I.P. that I feel has some promise is the one I started two weeks ago, called Jesus Christ: the Scarlet Thread of the Bible. I have always loved those songs or recitations of all the books of the Bible, showing how Christ is represented in each one. But I see He's represented in more than one way in several books. I've started a devotional series looking at some of the ways Christ is hidden or hinted at in the books of the Bible. It's a huge project, and as I researched, I saw it wasn't an original thought. However, I'm not trying to do a scholarly work, although because I enjoy Theology, I would like to go in-depth. I think, though, that I'll keep it to a brief overview of each; say one or two pages, and just do a devotional style on all the types and shadows I find.
I think my unique voice comes out in my writing, even in non-fiction. I'm also finding such a blessing in the process. As much fun as writing inspirational romance is, I'm loving this series of Bible studies even more. So, a decision needs to be made. To hunker down and complete one of my writing projects this year was one of my goals. Now I have to decide whether it will be fiction or non-fiction.
Okay, I think I'm leaning to the Scarlet Thread project. Thanks for listening. You've helped me come to a decision.

Am I In Your Book?

I saw an interesting show on t.v. the other day called Writers' Confessions. Nothing steamy, in spite of the name, just a bunch of authors talking about the writing life. They brought up an interesting topic: when authors are portrayed on t.v., what is their book about? Usually just an autobiography in thin disguise. See the t.v. show, Castle, and NCIS as examples.

While it's true that writers often 'write what they know' in regards to places and cultures, and to a certain extent, they can't help that sometimes their voice and opinions and favourite sayings come through in their work, everything that happens in their book is not something that really happened to them. It is fiction, after all.

I try to stay away from describing any of my characters so that they sound like someone I know. While some may want to be included in a book, they may not like my impression of them. I'd rather keep my friends.

I know that if a book is researched well, people will say, "You must have worked in a lumber camp, because you describe it perfectly." I've told writers when I thought they "got it" perfectly. They take it as a great compliment, because that's their goal. They want you to get so into the story, that you believe these are real people and you care about them.

I think I 'show up' in some of my characters. But I also like to explore what a person who is completely different from me would think or say. That's the beauty of fiction, and the fun a writer has in creating a character and then stepping back and seeing what they have to say. Some characters take me by surprise.

What about you? How much of yourself and those you know shows up in your writing?

The Ups and Downs of Writing

Date: March 8, 2010

Outside my window...a beautiful spring day. So beautiful that I had the patio doors open for a few hours this morning. Yay! Spring is here (I hope).
I am thinking...I had a freak out this past weekend. I was frantic because I couldn't find my main story's paper copy, which is the majority of it, since I've only typed three chapters into the computer. I searched and searched, knowing there were only a few places it could be. I started to wonder if when I sorted through my papers, I had accidentally placed it in the throw away pile. I prayed and prayed. My eyes were filling up. It represented hours of work and creativity. Then I found it tucked in between the books my husband has for his course. How it got there, I have no idea. I was never more relieved to find something. One benefit: I'm determined to get my hand-written stories onto the computer. Time is an issue, but I probably have to do it myself as a previous arrangement with someone else did not end well.
I am thankful for...our south facing deck. This morning I had the house to myself, so I sat out on the deck and wrote for two hours. I got a thousand words written, and a sense of well-being from the sunshine.
From the kitchen...linguine and shrimp (see recipe under Main Courses).
I am wearing...jeans, my SUOMI shift, a cardigan, and my beige leather jacket. Yeah, I'm feeling springy.
I am reading...The Daily Writer by Fred White. He calls it a daily devotional, although there's nothing Christian about it, but it does have an idea for every day of the year to help you cultivate the habit of writing daily, i.e. keeping a journal, writing out your dreams, blogging, describing people on a train, etc.
I am hoping...we can draw up a floor plan for the basement layout. I'd like to get the sauna built first.
I am hearing...the sound of the train. I love the gentle rocking. I'm surprised I stay awake.
Around the house...we had a great weekend, both girls were home. We used the hot tub. My husband and I had a great date Friday night. He really appreciated the 101 things I loved about him. Men need to hear those things. Then we had a family from church over for dinner on Sunday. Roast beef and good fellowship are always a good combination. I also was contacted by a producer from the CBC, asking me about an article I wrote two years ago. Funny, eh?
One of my favourite things...sunshine.
Some plans for the week...Another long week, four twelves. I have a student with me for three of the nights. It's good because they help with some of the work, like vital signs and medications. It's bad because I have to stop and explain everything I'm doing. Overall, though I enjoy training new staff or students. Then my youngest daughter's friend is visiting for the weekend. We have a dinner party on Saturday night, and a church luncheon on Sunday.

The Art of Romance Writing

The Art of Romance Writing: Practical Advice from an International Bestselling Romance Writer
By Valerie Parv

This book has much practical advice about writing a romance novel, from choosing a name for your character, to making sure you keep your characters behaving according to the nature you've given them, to creating conflict, to choosing the right viewpoint.
It explains what sets romance apart from other genres: the required happy ending; characters that aren't perfect, but are perfect for each other; conflict arising from within the relationship itself, or the hero or heroine, rather than from an outside factor, like "the other woman".
The main task is to reinforce the message that love is possible at any age, in any circumstance. Apart from how to craft the story itself, Parv gives practical advice about waiting a few weeks after finishing your manuscript before sending it to a publisher; how to write a synopsis and a query letter; and how to find the right publisher for your sub-genre, inspirational, chick-lit, paranormal, single-title, etc.
She reminds writers to complete the manuscript at hand, as there is "nothing quite as seductive as the next idea. Jot it down and file it away. Return to the work at hand. There is nothing so vital to a new writer as finishing what you start."

Wife or Author?

Just Jane: A Novel of Jane Austen's Life
By Nancy Moser

I loved this fictional account of the life of Jane Austen, told as if by Jane, herself. The author does a great job with the language and manners of the times, as well as in bringing out the wit and sarcasm of Austen.
It shows the various stages of her life and loves. Although she never married, she was surely in love, and was proposed to at least twice. She chose not to marry, as she was a romantic, and did not wish to marry someone she did not love. (What a concept!)
Most of the books' scenes are taken from biographies of her life, as well as any letters that may have remained. Her sister, Cassandra, destroyed the most personal letters after Jane's death at age 41.
I especially liked how the author described Austen's feelings about writing, her characters, and ultimately her books. She describes her books as her children, and when she first received them, she counted their fingers and toes.
Once, her chest filled with her completed manuscripts and current writing projects was inadvertantly placed on a coach heading to the coast and then to the West Indies. She was frantic. They represented years of work. They were her children. Her mother didn't understand why she was so upset. She was able to retrieve them and was sure never to be without them nearby.
She didn't seek fame, This was evident by the fact that originally her books did not even bear her name, but were published anonymously. Also, she refused to have her brother negotiate a better contract for Pride and Prejudice, as his wife had just died. She saw that publication was vindication that her work had merit. One man remarked that the writing was so clever that he couldn't believe it had been written by a woman. She was thrilled with the independence that came with earning an income, especially as her family was in a difficult financial situation at the time. She loved praise and was bothered by criticism, but more than anything she just wanted to write, to be free to be who she was, to use her gifts, and to create her own Mr. Darcy, since she was unable to find him for herself.
Undoubtedly, if she had married, she would have had a very different life and would probably not been free to pursue her writing career and the world would not be reading her works two hundred years later.
By letting the mating game go on without her, she was free to write and be, Just Jane.

Epiphany! Writers Write.

Feb. 18, 2010

This is the beginning of my attempt at implementing the things I'm learning in the book, A Novel Idea. It's like being at a Writers' Conference, specifically for writers of inspirational fiction, of which I am one. It's written by many of my favourite authors. One day I would love to attend a real conference on writing, and meet some of these authors. But for now, I'll learn on the cheap, and try to improve.

So, one of the lessons I've learned was to get some routine into my fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants writing. I tend to wait until the muses strike. I need to be "intentional" (how's that for a buzz word?) about my writing. How much of what I write ends up here depends on content. I just moved and my commute to work is much longer. It includes 45 minutes each way on a commuter train. It's at off hours (one of the benefits of shift work), so there's not usually anyone looking over my shoulder. To give you an example, from where I'm sitting, I can see only four other people. I like the privacy factor when I'm writing, not that I have great secrets to tell, but because my writing is MY writing at this point.

So I purposed that I would use the commute on my way TO work in the evening as my uninterrupted writing time, and use my return trip in the morning a my uninterrupted reading time. That way, I'm more alert for my writing, and the reading in the morning keeps me from missing my stop. Plus, I love reading. So now I can experience both of my 'loves' each day.

Another lesson I learned was to write fast. My tendency as a perfectionist is to write maybe one scene and edit and edit and then edit some more. I need to learn to turn off my internal/infernal editor and just get my words on paper. It's hard to come back to edit nothing, so I need to keep writing, even if it's no good, so I'll have something to edit. Can I do it? Time will tell. Have I already become so set in my ways that I can't change? I hope not.

Another suggestion that I'm hoping to implement with each of my stories is the plot skeleton suggested by Angela Hunt. I need to establish the framework of each of my stories, so that I can add flesh to those bones later on. As it stands, I have vague ideas of where each story is going but with few exceptions, I'm making it up as I go along. After I've answered those questions about inner and outer conflict, etc. I can put it in paragraph form. This will then be the synopsis of each of my stories. I say stories because, yes, I have more than one. I have seven babies, at various stages of gestation. I haven't experienced writer's block. I have no shortage of ideas for books, I just need to set six of them aside for now and focus on only one. I need to birth one of them, just to know I can do it.

I always did like the freedom of taking any one of my 'babies' that interested me more than others at a given moment, and writing a scene as the inspiration hit. But if I'm ever going to move my writing hobby into something more, it seems I have to discipline myself.

What is the goal of my writing overall? I want to use my writing to glorify God, and tell the stories He puts in my heart to share. In my wildest dreams, I'd love to be able to write full time and make enough money to give up nursing. Secondarily, I'd be happy, no, ecstatic to have at least one book published. I know that I'll continue to write even if none of those things happen, because I am a writer. It's who I am. It's what I do. I have to write. Those words have to come out or I'll burst.

I still refer to what I write as my stories because to me, it'll only be a book when it's published. Am I an author? Not yet. But I am a writer. How do I know? Because writers write.

Writers Read

"Just as composers go to concerts and artists visit galleries, writers read. You will learn, in the most enjoyable way, more about style and language from reading good literature than you will ever acquire from workshops and how-to books."

JUDITH BARRINGTON

What to Write About

"Don't write what you know. Write what you care about."
Carolyn See

No Vacation

"A writer never has a vacation. For a writer life consists of either writing or thinking about writing."
Eugene Ionesco

Poetry

"At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet."
PLATO

Work or Play?

"Just remember, writers are the only adults who get to spend all day in their pajamas playing with imaginary friends."
-Paul Bishop-

What do Writers Do?

"What no wife of a writer can ever understand is that a writer is working when he's staring out of the window."
-Burton Rascoe-

Why Write Memoir?

"Every life has its defining moments."
"Writing memoir is, in some ways, a work of wholeness."
"I still have a need to create a narrative of my life. To keep writing until I see how it turns out."
Sue Monk Kidd, interview with the author, in The Secret Life of Bees.

"A memoir is an act not just of preservation, but of invention. The memoir is a narrative construct: literary shape that you give to the past. Much is left out, much is subsumed, much is demanded."
"It aspires to be the truth. It claims to be the truth. But it's the truth seen through a particular prism. Time is the prism that all things must pass through. And in so doing, they change. The past is never the same. It always changes according to the present."
"...alteration is inevitable. As a result, truth belongs to the teller."
"The experience described in the memoir is not fresh. Not raw. The grit of daily life has been expunged, polished, washed away. The memoir has always the advantage of hindsight. It recognizes the significance of people and events. It pulls the past into a pattern. It gives the past shape and meaning that it did not have when it was the present."
"In a memoir, the author and the narrator have an uneasy relationship. What does the reader know of the author? That the author lived to tell the tale. What does the reader know of the narrator? That the tale needed to be told."
"The memoir presupposes a first-person narrator, and a structure. It cannot be formless or amorphous. Only you can put the structure on your experience. Your experience becomes your material. Your narrative voice must be compatible with your structure."
"The author's need to write the memoir is implied in the form itself."
Penny Taylor, in Laura Kalpakian's The Memoir Club

Writing

"The only reason for being a professional writer is that you can't help it."
Leo Rosten