Finished Crochet Project

I finally finished my crochet project and have given myself permission to start writing book #5, #4 in the Bayou Beni series, "Blessings in Disguise".

Here are pictures from the project:

Excited to get back to writing!

Always working on my stories

I'm still dedicated to finishing the craft project I'm working on before I start writing my next book.  That doesn't mean I'm not working on it though.

The craft project keeps my hands busy, but my mind has plenty of time to work on my stories.  In the upcoming books I have some difficult decisions to make.

Each of my books there have been societal issues that have been part of the story lines.  Domestic violence, family estrangement, puppy mills, animals needing foster care, food insecurity, veterans issues, and in my historical novel, slavery.

So far, the focus has been on what ordinary people can do to make the problems in society better.  The characters that we got to know always found solutions to their problems.

Because my world view is pretty much defined by redemption, the only character that I have introduced so far that was not redeemed was a character who died before my stories take place.

In my next two books, there will be characters who will have a long path to redemption.  In those books, I'll be tackling two really difficult issues, hate, and drug addiction.  I already know that the drug addict will be rehabilitated, but the truth is that the recovery for an addict lasts the rest of the addict's life.

I'm not sure how to rehabilitate someone who has embraced hate.  I'm praying about it, and I trust that God will show me the path this character will take to open his heart to love and turn away from hate.  In the meantime, while I think and pray about it, any ideas from you all are welcome.

Traveling at the speed of life

I think that I understand how long it takes me to write a book now.  From start to publication, it seems like it will always be at least a year.

That is really funny to me because in most of my books, the time covered in the book is weeks to months.  It can take me an eight hour day to relate a thirty minute sequence of events.

The next two books in my Bayou Beni series are roughly outlined in my head.  Very roughly.  As the stories are recorded and the books take shape, they will change from what I am currently imagining.

For me, writing is very much like life.  You have a plan, and you work your plan, but things never go quite the way you planned them.

There is a character that will have a large role in the next Bayou Beni book.  I had planned a totally different role for her, but as I developed her character more fully, I saw that I had misjudged her development. It isn't the first time a character has redirected me.

My characters continue to teach me about life, about forgiveness, about hope and about brokenness.  They are not born fully formed in my head, but grow and develop as events shape them.

My characters have helped me grow.  When they mess up and forgive themselves, they help me to forgive myself.  When they encourage each other, they help me to remember to encourage the people in my world.

What I hope to achieve from my writing is that the people that read my books are inspired to be kinder, gentler and more understanding of their neighbors.

A naive, innocent hope, but one that keeps me writing.

When I'm not writing

I'm trying to finish a project not related to writing prior to starting my next book.  Life is hard for me when I am not writing. 

Writing is a solitary process, but it is not lonely.  Because of what I write, and the characters and place I have created, when I am writing I am much happier.

In Bayou Beni, problems aren't argued over, they are solved.  People make mistakes, and their friends and family help them recover from those mistakes.

Bad and sad things happen, but there is always a community of helpers.

I so want to live in a world like that.  My fervent hope is that by reading about a place like Bayou Beni,  people who read my books want to make the world they live in look more like that.

The person inside

As I read and re-read and correct and edit my books, I noticed something.  The descriptions of the characters in my books are very sparse.  I usually give a sketch as the character is introduced initially, and then move on.  For some characters, there is no physical description at all.

That got me to thinking about how my writing reflects who I am.  As a rule, the package, the physical presence, of a person is not really important to me.  The person inside is who I relate to and have a relationship with.

I'm human, so I notice very physically beautiful people, I think most of us do.  But the person that I see after time has less to do with the appearance they present, and more to do with their heart and their mind.

It can be so easy to get fixated on our physical appearance.  To find ourselves too fat or too thin, too tall or too short.  To wish we had prettier skin or hair or eyes.

To everyone reading this, I want you to know that when I see you, I am looking deeper than that.  I want to know you, no matter what the package you come in looks like.

In my mind, I'm still a young woman.  In the mirror, I'm definitely middle-aged.  But inside, my heart is the same, and always will be.  So even when an old woman looks back at me from the mirror, the child in me will still be exclaiming at a flower, a rainbow, or a butterfly.

And the heart beating in me will still reach out to those open hearts who love freely and try to make the world a better place with their actions.

Third time is a charm

I just love these Marshall triplets.  I hope you do to.

The triplets came into the room just in time to hear Bee say she was stuck.

“Nanny Bee, I’ll help you, how are you stuck?”  said Gracie.

“Thanks, Gracie, but I’m not stuck on the couch, I’m stuck inside my head.”

“Like I was stuck taking a spelling test when I wasn’t sure if leaf was l-e-a-f or l-a-e-f?”  asked Grace.

“Leaf is l-e-a-f,” said Lou.

“I know that now, Lou, I was just trying to help Nanny Bee understand that I knew what she meant.”  Grace rolled her eyes at Bee as she answered Lou.

“Yes, Gracie, that kind of stuck in my head.”  Bee couldn’t help but smile through her tears at Grace.

Rosie climbed up on the couch and sat next to Bee.  “I hate to see you crying, Nanny Bee. Can we do anything to help you feel better?”

Bee put her arm around Rosie and hugged her.  “You all are making me feel better already, just by being yourselves.  Tell me all about what is happening in your world, that will surely cheer me up.”

Lou and Grace climbed up on the couch with Rosadel and Bee, making things crowded enough that Holly jumped down and curled up next to Roscoe.

“I think this is the best summer I ever had,” said Lou.  “They are doing lots of fun things at camp, and we are getting ready for Uncle Pete and Ms. Cassidy’s wedding, and Michelle is getting ready for her NeeTee’s wedding, so no one has to feel left out of the wedding stuff.”

“And everything is more fun since Michelle is our friend,” said Rosie.  “Four is better than three for lots of things.”

“Really?” said Bee, “Tell me more about that.”

“Well, you can make two teams when you have four,” said Grace, “And when you play a game like tag where someone is ‘it’ when there’s four of you it doesn’t feel like two against one.  Even though it could feel like three against one, it doesn’t, it just feels like everyone gets a turn to be ‘it’.

“And we have to say everything out loud when we play with Michelle, ‘cause she can’t hear inside our heads like we hear each other,” said Lou.

Rosadel and Bee exchanged a look over the girls’ heads.  “So it is not my imagination that you girls communicate without words sometimes,” said Rosadel.

“Not your imagination, Mommy.  We don’t do it on purpose. It is just a thing.  We thought everyone could do it, but we talked a lot about it to Michelle, and it is just us.” said Lou.

Bee reached over and ruffled Lou’s hair.  “I’ve heard and read that lots of twins and triplets are like you all.  It is a lucky thing to have. Mommy and I have been friends for so long that sometimes we can communicate without words, but you all were born this way.”

From "Blessings from the Past" Bayou Beni series Book 3.