Christmas

Merry Christmas

In the hustle and bustle of the season, my hope is that you consider the reason for giving. The babe in the stable, God born to live on this earth, to give himself a ransom for all that we might live again, is the purpose for the joy, the anthems, the love we have for one another and God.

Consider sharing a bit of yourself with others this season. Allow the gifts, the parties, and the rush to slip into the background as you worship the Savior of the World, even Jesus Christ.

My regular blog posts, with interviews of characters in my books, will return in the new year.

Merry Christmas.

Adam and Eve, Challenges

A Conversation with Adam

We have another character from my books who stopped by for a short interview. Welcome to Adam, husband of Eve, our guest last week. As the first man on earth, and the first prophet of Jehovah, you must wonder about what has happened to the world you first settled.

ADAM: I am saddened by all the hatred and violence that pervades the earth. Father showed me what would happen to the earth and its peoples early in my life. I know how the world will end. Because of that, I can accept the challenges of today’s world. Jehovah will win the final battle against the Destroyer. Man will learn to trust and depend on God.

ME: We would love to hear your answers to the same questions we asked Eve last week. Are you ready?

ADAM: I have only a short time. I will do what I can. What is your first question?

ME: A reader asked what it was like to anger God.

ADAM: I thought I had angered him in the beginning. That is why we hid from Him in the garden. God was not angry with Eve and Me. He expected us to eat the fruit. However, not yet. The time was not right. The person who gave it to us was had no right to offer it to us. Father’s anger was for the Destroyer. For us, he felt sorrow and grief. We had to suffer, as do all of our children.
Even though Father knew this would happen, he had to allow us to make the choice on our own. He could not force it on us. It had to come from Eve and me.

ME: A connecting question, for you. What was it like to receive God’s forgiveness?

ADAM: We had to live a time in this world and prove we our obedience before Father forgave us. The day I knew I had received forgiveness came when the Spirit took me to our pond and baptized me. That was a special and sacred day. I still cannot share what happened, except to say that I received Father’s forgiveness on that day.

ME: A reader wants to know: Is God to be loved or feared?

ADAM: In the years since the words “fear God” were written, the meaning has changed. You think of fear as something painful, fearing punishment for sin. I think of fear as an awesome love. I am constantly awed by the love I receive from Father. For that reason, my answer is yes. God, my Father, is to be loved and feared as you would love and respect and hold in awe your earthly father.

ME: I know you must leave us soon. One last question before you go. Do you still like apples?

ADAM: Eve warned me that you would be asking this question. Yes. I still like apples. However, the fruit of good and evil was not an apple. Sometime in the future, when you are ready, you will know what that fruit was. Until then, enjoy your apples.

ME: Thank you for your time, Adam.

ADAM: You are welcome. Remember to obey Jehovah’s commands. I look forward to seeing you at the judgment bar. Farewell for now.

First Matriarch

Does Eve Still Like Apples? A Conversation with Eve, Our First Mother

A visit with Eve:

ME: Eve is our first mother, the mother of all living. Through the ages, men have found reasons to say things about her that may or may not be true. In my book, Eve, First Matriarch, I try to set the record straight about this beautiful woman who is mother to all of us.

We have had some questions submitted for you, Eve. Are you ready to answer them?

EVE: I will be happy to answer your questions. I would like all my daughters and sons to know me better.

ME: Okay. First question for you. What was it like to anger God?

EVE: Let’s start with the hard question and get it out of the way!
We were afraid of God’s anger when we partook of that fruit. God had told us we would die if we ate it. I didn’t want to die. Adam didn’t want to die. But we both wanted to be together and have children. We couldn’t know happiness without sorrow. We couldn’t have children without breaking this one commandment.
I was frightened when I heard Father and Jehovah returning to Eden after we ate the fruit. We hid. We feared seeing or speaking to Him.
But, God wasn’t angry with us. He was filled with overwhelming sorrow because there was a better way for us to have moved forward in our progression. Lucifer stepped forward and interrupted it. I was glad not to be in Lucifer’s place that day. Father’s anger came through, though he used a quiet voice to send him from Father’s presence and from Eden. We were all sorrowful that day.

ME: I’m glad I wasn’t there that day. It would be frightening to upset God.
Another question, that goes along with the first:
What was it like to receive God’s forgiveness?

EVE: Father’s forgiveness didn’t come easily. I spent many days on my knees, praying and asking for His forgiveness. I kept remembering the days we spent in Eden. Those were carefree days, no pain, no sickness, and no hunger. But there wasn’t really joy, either.
After the birth of our first child, who Angelique named _, I better understood the forgiveness of a parent for a child. It wasn’t until many years later that I knew for certain that Father had forgiven me. In those years, I remembered my transgression and grieved that I had been so weak as to allow myself to be tricked.
When Adam convinced me that Father had forgiven me, the weight of my guilt lifted. I felt like the weight of many heavy rocks had been lifted from my shoulders. My soul felt as if it could join the clouds floating high in the sky.

ME: I’m glad you were able to feel Father’s forgiveness. It gives me hope that I, too, can be forgiven.
Next question: Is God to be loved or feared? Why or why not?

EVE: That is an easy question. I love Father. He is kind and generous. He is all we can hope for as an example for papas on this earth. He loves His children. He wants what is best for us — all of the time.
We hear Father tell us He is a jealous God. He jealously seeks for us, His children, to find the joy that can only be found in obedience to His commandments. Sadly, people aren’t always willing to obey Him. Father allows those who choose to be disobedient to pay all the consequences of their choices.
Father allows the Destroyer to tempt women and men. When they follow the Destroyer, they are no longer protected by Father. The Destroyer will not support them forever. When they lose the purpose, he allows them to fall into despair.
Those women and men fear Father, for they know they must meet Him in the end and pay the consequences of their actions.

ME: So, God is a loving Father?

EVE: He is. He loves us.

ME: Our time is nearly up. I know you have things to do. A reader wants to know if you still like apples.

EVE: Apples? I have always loved apples. Why would your reader want to know about apples?

ME: Men have taught that the forbidden fruit was an apple. Was it?

EVE: (laughing) No. But I am forbidden to tell you which fruit it was. I have to go. I’ll see you again sometime. Maybe I can answer more of your reader’s questions.

ME: Thank you, Eve.

Next week we will have a chat with Adam, our ancient father.

Author, creating

Win a Signed Copy of my Book

I need help!

I’m willing to give you a signed copy of my book if I use your ideas.

I’m writing a new book and need ideas.

Here are the basics of the book:

  • This is a historical romance set in the world before the flood.
  • Anica is brave, a lioness woman.
  • She’s from a wealthy family.
  • She meets the owner of the fabric shop where her family works.
  • .His family is not as wealthy as hers.
  • He knows nothing of her family’s belief system, which is required if they are to marry

What are some challenges these two will face before they can get together? What could happen to them to bring them together?

Best ideas will receive a signed copy of the new book in about 3 months when it is written and published.

I am willing to give more than one book away. If don’t live in the US, I’ll send you an eBook.

Your Entry

Author, Challenges, creating, First Matriarch

What I Learned About Writing

Yesterday I was privileged to share my author journey with a group of home-schooled children who wanted to know how I started writing. We had a good time talking about what books they would write. Some of those will be authors to watch for in the near future.

I share some of our discussion with you today.

I am a reader. I have been all my life. I inhale books, often several at a time. In my early days as a reader, I learned to recognize a good book, although not how to write one.

I don’t remember having a drive to be an author. I wanted to write, but other things were more important then. I loved writing poetry. I tried to write a short story in high school. I failed. Later in college, I took a fiction class from an author and wrote the first chapter of a book. Between then and 2013, I wrote several first chapters, but never managed to get the second chapter written.

In all my years as a reader, I somehow missed the important elements of a good story. It wasn’t until I co-taught a kindergarten class in a private school that had every child write a book that I figured out why I couldn’t finish a story. I forgot the basic elements of story!

What are the elements? Character, setting, problem, and solution.

It seems easy. Now I know. Before I didn’t understand how to do it.

Then I received a challenge to participate in National Novel Writing Month in November of 2013. The challenge is to write 50,000 words in the month. To do that, you have to write like mad without editing.

I took a story I’d tried to put down before, changed the point of view, and remembered the basic elements. I’d think, “What problems would she face?” Then I’d try to come up with a solution to the problem.

I may write differently from many other authors. I don’t outline my books. I’ve never been able to do that even for big research projects in school. Instead, I write into the dark. I decide who my characters will be, where and when they are living, then think of problems they may face. As they try to solve the problems, the characters have other challenges to solve, until they finally solve the major problems of the story.

I write to discover what happened to the people I learn to care about as I write about them. I started Lost Children of the Prophet because children went missing and I needed to know where they went and why. I know now what my end story will be in that series, though I haven’t determined how many more books it will take me to get there.

After that? I have no idea. I’m sure some other character will want me to learn about her and want me to tell her story.

I write books about women because they have been forgotten through time and their stories need to be shared. If you have a suggestion of women whose story has been forgotten, I’d love to hear it.

Author, Challenges, choice and accountability

How Will You Change the Country?

“What are you going to do to change the country?” my friend asked me the other day.

This has had me thinking for several days. “What can I do? I’m a lonely author, who has little impact on politicians and others who make laws for our land. I can vote, complain to others, respond to social media, and write letters to my Congresspeople. It has little impact on the country or the world.

My response to my friend was, “Nothing. Except live the best life I can, obeying God’s laws and the country’s laws to the best of my ability.”

Later consideration brought a few more ideas. I can be a friend to others, and do all I can to make my part of the country, and thus the world, better. I can offer assistance to others. I can do my best to be kind. And, I can write more books.

I’m an author. I try to change the world with my books. My imagination takes me to places I can never go. I share things I’ve learned as I tell my stories. I learn more things in the things I write. A long time ago, as a teacher, I discovered you don’t know what you know until you write it down. Writing my books helps me understand what I know about a few things, as I explore a time no one knows about.

The human experience doesn’t change, only the leaders and the things people gather around them. They walked, rode horses, or rode in carriages. We walk, ride in cars, airplanes, and soon spaceships. We all eat, dress, have children, or die. We love, hate, argue, solve problems, and search for happiness. It has been so from the beginning.

I’ve considered challenges in my life in my books. Some of the results I don’t like and hope my children never suffer the consequences I write about. Others of my stories I love. I hope more of my family receive these results in their lives.

So, I finished the editing of my next book, Betrayed Trust. I will release it in about a month. I still need a cover and a description for the back. More to come when it is closer. It, too, explores a different part of the human condition.

What will you do to change the world or the bit of the world in which you live? How will you make the lives of those around you better? (I’m hoping you will choose to read more of my books and review them.)

What would you suggest I write about in my next book? The one I’m working on now was recommended by a reader, one of you. I do listen.

First Matriarch

It’s in the Eye of the Beholder

Today is Beautiful Day

Yesterday I shared my bad day. I hope to hear from you about your last bad day.
Today is Something Beautiful.
There are lots of things I could choose for my favorite beautiful thing, flowers, children, trees, clouds, the ocean, mountains, my son’s smile the day he adopted his babies, or many others. Instead, I thought of something entirely different: My Parents.

My mom and dad are healthy, happy people, and they are older than most. Dad is 90 and Mom is 86, for a few more months. They spend the summer growing a garden and canning everything so they can share with their children and grandchildren. They live in a warm part of the country and grow from early spring until late fall.
Besides all the garden vegetables: peas to tomatoes, cabbages to squash, and many more, they have pecan and almond trees, peach and apple trees, grape vines, and pomegranate bushes that keep them busy all year long.
Besides all that, Mom crochets and embroiders and sews. Dad reads and proofreads my books, mows the lawn every week, and helps mom keep the house spotless.
Yep. I’d say my parents are beautiful.

What would you choose as something beautiful to you?

Challenges

I’ll tell you mine, please tell me yours

Today is Have a Bad Day.

This is a picture of my last bad day.

This is a picture of my last bad day after the nurses wiped some of the blood away. Yep. Broken nose, split lip, bruised elbow, sprained wrist, banged up knees, and a bruised heel. Not fun.
How did this happen, you ask? Easy if you’ve been diagnosed as a Klutz.
As I hurried back across our apartment parking lot, thinking of five things I needed to do, and trying not to bump into the pyracantha bush on one side and the car parked on the other, I slipped off the curb and fell. I landed so fast I smacked my face on the curb. I heard a crunch and knew I had broken the nose. I jumped up, holding the blood and rushed home. My husband took one look at me and went for his shoes. I grabbed a towel (it happened to be red and didn’t show all the blood) and put it to my face. My husband drove me to a local hospital.
I spent five hours in the Emergency Room. They x-rayed my knee and wrist, not broken, and did a ct scan on my head and neck, no concussion. Eventually, the nurse put a stitch in my lip and glue on my nose to hold it together and sent me home.
I’m healing quickly, thank you. The scabs on my face are gone, though I still hurt.
I’d love to hear about your last bad day. Share in the comments below here.

Author

Ready to Win a Prize?

Abandoned Hope is published and available for your reading pleasure. It is available on Amazon here.

I have an offer for my readers. If you send me a screenshot of your receipt, your name will go into the “hat” for a chance for a $5 Amazon gift certificate. That isn’t all. If you leave a review and let me know about it, your name will go into the “hat” again.

Easy, peasy, as we said when we taught Kindergarten. Where do you send the screenshots?

 

[email protected].

I look forward to your entries!

 

 

Author

A New Book to Crow About!!

2 Comments

As an author, most of my day is spent in writing. Imagine that! Anyway, last week, amid the other things I do for my family and friends, I managed to do two things worth crowing about.

First, my latest book, Abandoned Hope, is available for pre-sale on Amazon. You can order it now, or you can wait until Saturday, September 1st and download it and start reading! I’m excited to share this book with you!

I don’t usually even read a romance book. But, my husband loves chick flicks, and turns them on regularly. Some days we spend the evening with romance movies. What can I say? I have a romantic husband.

Abandoned Hope is a romance, telling the story of a visitor to Nod, Daphne, and Ziva’s son, David. I never expected it to be a romance. Half way through, I announced to my husband that I had written a romance. He read it, and liked it.Hope to see some of you have chosen to download Abandoned Hope this weekend. You may even find it on sale. The regular price for the eBook is $4.99. Saturday and Sunday, it may be less. *shrug* Check it out.

The next thing I did that I’m happy about is that I finished the first draft on the next book in the series, Brotherly Havoc. It is a totally different story. With a name like Brotherly Havoc, what do you think will be the focus of it?

Blogs and Ancient Historical Fiction