31 Days of Word Weaving

31:24 – A List

~ Teresa ~ 1 Comment

I’m very, very, very, late posting today due to the following list:  (note to self: find a better adverb to replace very)

To Do Wednesday

1.  Drive to Grayson, KY to the Kentucky Christian University Library so Mr. Piano can check out a book for his dissertation. Check.

2.  Drive to Lexington, Kentcky – stop at Red Robin for lunch and eat the limited time Oktoberfest Burger (minus the ham). Yummy. check.

3.  Stop in at Panera Bread for Raisin Bread and Orange Cranberry Muffins (need to use up some gift cards).  Check.

4.  Travel on to Hobby Lobby (love this store) for Letters to go with my coat hooks – for a project that I may post pictures of when finished.  Also. buy Christmas lights and a Christmas Door hanger. Check

5.  Stop in at Lifeway Christian Book Store for a book for Mr. Piano.  Check.  They don’t have the book. Uncheck.  Will have to order off Amazon. (Note to self:  Since the book was the main reason for going to Lexington, make sure Mr. Piano calls ahead next time.)

6. Go to Trader Joes!  Love me some Trader Joe’s.  Buy some favorite items.  Check.

7.  Take the long way home (from Lexington to Flemingsburg) to see fall color. Check.

Whew! That was a long Day.  I think I’ll have a Chicken Salad on Raisin Bread sandwich.

Traveling in Grace,

Sadie

31:23 – Or, in other news 40:26

~ Teresa ~ 1 Comment

Today is Day 26 of the 40 Days of Prayer for our Nation.  It is also Day 23 of the 31 Day Challenge hosted by the Nester.  I felt it was more important today to encourage you to pray than it was to write about writing.

He holds your heart in his hands.

Mere man cannot control the tides of time or take the weight of the whole world on his shoulders. But we serve a God who can and does. Our job is to let him be in control and pray for his guidance and protection for our great nation and the nations of the world. He needs our humility, submission and faithfulness.

“If my people, which are called by my name,

shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face,

and turn from their wicked ways;

then will I hear from heaven,

and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

2 Chronicles 7:14

Praying by Grace,

Sadie

31:22 The Danger of Beautiful Words

~ Teresa ~ 3 Comments

I don’t consider words dangerous in theory.  I love words.  I do however think that in practice words can be dangerous.  And not just in those situations where you dash off a quick reply to someone and say something you shouldn’t before you think.

I’m talking about a more subtle danger.  The danger of hiding behind beautiful words.  Sometimes as writers we have something to say but we are afraid of how it will be perceived so we manipulate the words until they sound acceptable and in the process we lose the message.

I love those lyrical, roll off the tongue phrases that seep into your bones and become part of you.  A well placed phrase can stir just the right emotion. There can be something quite poetic in our writing, even when writing about something as mundane as doing dishes or as serious as our relationship with God.

We just need to be careful that the beautiful writing is a vehicle for the message not a mask to hide the truth.

writing in grace,

sadie

You can find other 31 Day writers here.  Go check them out, you may find some new friends.

31:20,21 – the Weekend is for Reading

~ Teresa ~ 1 Comment

“A room without books is like a body without a soul.” 
― Marcus Tullius Cicero

I believe that rooms are helped by a good book.  Readers are helped even more. Below is the Book Hutch that found me and so beautifully houses many of my books.

I love books.  I  have lots of books.  They have been moved several times, which is how I know I have lots of books. The hutch in the above picture is now crammed full of books and I have one other cupboard and three shelves that all house mostly books.  I have a table in my living room that holds books and magazines and there are usually a few books laying on the ottoman.  These are the one’s that have been most recently picked up.

 I tend to read several books at a time.  Some I finish in a day or two, others I read over a period of time.  I may spend an evening reading most of a book, then when I’m down to the last chapter or section, it may rest for a while before I finish it.  Some books I will read off and on over a period of several months or even years, depending on the type of book.  The bottom line is I love to read, but I don’t read enough.  And I always am reading multiple books.

I am currently in a relationship with at least 13-15 books and am considering a couple more.  Does this make me fickle?  I think not.  Actually, it makes me faithful.  A faithful reader.  Reading feeds the mind and the soul, and it inspires me.  As a writer, I need to read what others have written.  I need to explore and grow.  Writers should be reading.  Always.

I think I will find some quiet time this weekend to read a book or two.  Currently, there are, in addition to my Bible and Sunday School book, One magazine, five books in progress and one in waiting on my ottoman. (I’ll save the table for later) These represent the most recent, or ongoing reads.  I will share those with you:

1.  Mere Christianity by CS Lewis – I was interrupted on page 164, of 227, so need to get this one finished.  This book was on my shelf for several years and I recently decided I should read it.  A powerful book.

2.  Writing Down The Bones by Natalie Goldberg – I’ve been reading this one for awhile – it is a great book for writers and a book that can be read in short spurts.

3.  Grace For The Good Girl by Emily Freeman – recently bought this book on Amazon and am loving it.

4.  Where Two Ways Met by Grace Livingston Hill – GLH wrote several Christian based romance novels.  I grew up reading her novels, as they were pretty much the only one’s approved by my mother.  I always wanted to be a GLH girl.

5.  Jesus Calling by Sarah Young – I found this book in July and have been reading it (not every day).  I find that the days I read from this book, the topic is exactly what I need for that day.

6.  Grace by Max Lucado – I have not started this one yet, but am going to soon.  I purchased it at the same time I purchased Grace For The Good Girl – I’m sensing a theme here.

7.  The magazine is HGTV magazine – the October / November 2012 issue.  I love decor magazines and books.

I also have a kindle (gift from an office Christmas party – I actually prefer the book in my hand).  On my kindle I am reading Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. I also read The Writers Manifesto by Jeff Goins on my kindle.

As you can see I read on a variety of topics and all at once.  It is messy but oh so rewarding.  I really must go now and answer the call of the read!

Reading in Grace,

Sadie

31:19 – Hard Writing

~ Teresa ~ 4 Comments

“This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until its done. It’s that easy, and that hard.”   –Neil Gaiman

Writing for me at times comes easy, but mostly it comes hard. Which is why for the past several months, until this 31 Day challenge, I had only written about once a month.  And most of that was not even my best writing.  On a day when the writing flowed it was easy to dash off some words and post.  Other days, words were lurking, but they were harder to corral and the motivation was low, so they hid beneath the surface begging to be brought to life in ordered chaos.  They would have been hard, but they would have been good. And probably worth it.

The good writing is harder to let go of because it is the writing that tears your soul apart.  The writing you’re not sure you want to share with the world.  So, if you write it at all, you tuck it away in crates and journals to read again in two or ten years and you go on living on the surface writing the easy stuff when it breezes by and hoping that you have enough “fans” (I use this term loosely) to keep up the facade that you actually are a writer.

When you are willing to face the hard stuff and put your good writing out there it won’t matter to you if it’s read by one or one million all that will matter is that you wrote the good.

writing in grace,

Sadie