Wednesday, October 31, 2012

NaNoWriMo: Eleven Hours and Counting!

Dateline: Wednesday, 31October 2012; my writer's nest.

  • Got idea? Check!
  • Completed a healthy chunk of research? Check!
  • Lined out characters? Check!
  • Laid out town? Check!
  • Interviewed MC? Check!
  • Printed off character and place pictures? Check!
  • Compiled Pandora.com 1930s radio station for inspiration? Check!
  • Nailed down some Great Depression dates? To do today!
  • Complete plot/subplot braid? To do today!
  • Bought coffee? Check!
  • Planned for quick meals? Check!
  • Proclaimed participation through social networks? Check!
  • Reviewed NaNo site? To do today!
  • Warned family and friends? Check!
  • Prayed? To do DAILY!
  • Sent my internal editorial staff on a month-long, well-deserved hiatus to the moon! To do at 6 a.m. November 1!
Gentle reader, if you compare this list to yesterday's, you'll note that I'm on schedule. I've also added a few items, so I'll have references at my fingertips. Are you participating in NaNo? Have you in the past? Any advice? How do you prepare in advance? Leave comments and help your fellow WriMos!

Write on!
Because of Christ,
Sharon

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

NaNoWriMo! Two Days and Counting!


Dateline: Tuesday, 30 October 2012; my writer's nest.
  • Got idea? Check!
  • Completed a healthy chunk of research? Check!
  • Lined out characters? Check!
  • Laid out town? Check!
  • Interviewed characters? To do today!
  • Complete plot/subplot braid? To do tomorrow!
  • Bought coffee? Check!
  • Planned for quick meals? In progress...!
  • Proclaimed participation through social networks? Check!
  • Reviewed NaNo site? To do tomorrow!
  • Warned family and friends? Check!
  • Prayed? To do DAILY!
  • Sent my internal editorial staff on a month-long, well-deserved hiatus to the moon! To do at 6 a.m. November 1!
ANNOUNCEMENT TO ALL MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS: I love you very, very much. However, through the month of November--National Novel Writing Month--I will be participating in NaNoWriMo, which means I must write at least 2,084 words a day for 24 of the month's 30 days to meet my goal. If I miss a day or fail to make the count, I must compensate by writing more on other days. Therefore, I cannot engage in social activities or long, delightful phone conversations. I believe in the book I'm working on. Prayers and encouragement will be gratefully accepted. This is a first for me. Please feel free to ask me how things are going, as that will hold me accountable.

Comments, including seasoned advice, welcome. Be brief. Don't expect an answer until 1 December 2012 (exception: agents and editors).

Write on!
Because of Christ,
Sharon

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Reclaiming All Hallows Eve

Gentle readers, I highly recommend Dr. Albert Mohler's blog article on this subject, also.


[Note: Whenever I refer to the Church, I mean the regenerated followers of Jesus Christ, not some brick-and-mortar structure.]

The Church has allowed Satan, the ancient enemy of Creator God, to steal, or at least taint, many of our celebrations. The man Saint Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, who gave his all to follow the Savior, has morphed into a jolly, rotund, caricature we call Santa Claus, and the Easter Bunny continues to try to usurp the position of the resurrected Savior. Children are taught erroneously that Thanksgiving was a time when the Pilgrims thanked the Indians for helping them to survive in the wilderness.

All Hallows' Eve also has suffered at the hands of the enemy, though not as much as the afore-mentioned, since it was never purely Christian and has clearly pagan origins. Most agrarian cultures celebrate significant events in the seasonal growing cycle: harvest time, solstices and equinoxes, and planting time, for example.

The origins of All Hallows' Eve--Hallowe'en (don't forget the apostrophe)--go back 2,000 years to the Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). The word means "end of summer." Pumpkins, apples, and various gourds were a significant part of that event. The Celtic new year began on November 1. Make no mistake. Samhain was not an innocent harvest celebration. Blood sacrifices--both animal and human--were offered to Druid gods.

By 43 A.D., the Romans had conquered the Celts, and within the following 400 years, had integrated their own pagan festivals into Samhain, including Feralia, occurring in late October. Feralia was a day to commemorate the dead.

"Christianity" spread through the Celtic lands by the 800s. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III established that November 1 would be All Hallows' Day. According to Roman Catholic belief, All Hallows' Day was when souls were released from Purgatory and allowed to wander the Earth for 48 hours. Apparently, Pope Gregory was attempting to supplant Samhain with a Christianized version. That was Pope Gregory's M.O. He often claimed pagan celebrations and buildings and imposed a "Christian" significance on them. For example, he claimed the Pantheon (which was dedicated by the Romans to "all gods") for a Christian purpose. His All Saints' Eve was celebrated much as Samhain had been, with bonfires, parades, and people wearing costumes of saints, angels, and devils.

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Why would any Christ-follower want to celebrate a day that represents everything for which Jesus Christ gave His life to destroy?  

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Today, many people claim that Hallowe'en is an innocent harvest festival, but a quick trot through the costume section of the local Wal-Mart tells a different story. With a glance backward to Samhain, Feralia, and, yes, All Hallows' Eve, one can see that the culture of death lives and thrives in today's celebration. The holiday is no holy day!

It amazes me that many Christian parents continue to celebrate this time of ghosts, ghouls, goblins, and witches, labeling it "innocent fun." What is innocent about rubber masks that portray people who have been maimed, disfigured, frightened out of their minds, or murdered? Parents who encourage such "innocent fun" are opening the creaking door on the occult and nudging their wee ones over the threshold. Hallowe'en always has flirted with the macabre.

Why would any Christ-follower want to celebrate a day that represents everything for which Jesus Christ gave His life to destroy? Hallowe'en's origins are completely occultic. But children follow the leadership of their parents. May our all-wise LORD grant to those children the wisdom that their parents and grandparents lack. (Consider Deuteronomy 18:14 and Galatians 5:19-21).

Some parents think to avoid the dark side of Hallowe'en by dressing their children as Disney character, vegetables, or historical figures. After all, children love to role-play and dress up. (So do many of us who are adults, in fact.) If it's done at Hallowe'en, it's in celebration of Hallowe'en, even if Snow White doesn't have blood dripping from enlarged eyeteeth. Kids can play dress-up throughout the year. No one day of the year has a corner on that.

Jesus says that He Is the Light of the World (John 8:12). As His followers, we are commissioned to reflect that light in today's dark world (Matthew 5:14), to be imitators of our Lord (Ephesians 5:1).

As for Hallowe'en, we need not reclaim it; we never owned it. Nor should we want to.

Because of Christ,
Sharon

Monday, October 1, 2012

Dining Like a Character

When we writerly sisters gather, we bring along a few delicacies to nibble while we ruminate on plots and protagonists. This month I suggested that we bring a food our main character would eat. Mine was easy. Since my WIP is set in the Great Depression on a small east-central Indiana farm, I made chicken 'n' dumplings from scratch. Knowing that my MC's fifteen-year-old brother takes off to ride the rails, Kathi baked Hobo Bread in a tin can. Delicious! And since she's working on a children's story about a dog, she also baked another bread that she makes for her own dogs: Spinach Peanut Butter Bread. Sounds strange but it wasn't bad.

Kathy, a multi-pubbed writer of historical romances, brought a delicious Apple Crumb Pie, something many of her characters surely would  bake to entice their love interests.

Lori, who contributed a platter of tasty toasted sandwiches filled with fried bananas and peanut butter, is crafting a tale about a character who is a loyal fan of Elvis Presley.

Finally, I come to Natalie. Frankly, I was a bit anxious about her offering. I warned her in advance, "If it tries to crawl off the plate, I'm not eating it." You see, Natalie writes high fantasy. I needn't have worried. Her presentation was exotic enough for a fantastic repast, but familiar enough to arrest anxiety. Each plate was lined with red lettuce leaves topped with roasted mushrooms, toasted piñons, steamed asparagus spears, chive blades, steamed artichoke leaves, lemon-pepper tilapia, and "grubs" (sculpted from string cheese). Since her MC lives in a desert, Natalie served a luscious layered dessert bar made of figs and dates atop a graham cracker crust and spread with a sweet cream-cheese layer.

This delicious idea provided one more way we each connected with our characters, and we won't soon forget what our cohorts are writing.

Your turn: Have you had an interesting writers' meeting? Do you ever utilize themes for your meetings? Share the fun by leaving a comment. Thanks!

Write on!
Because of Christ,
Sharon