Prompted Writer

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Our Art Gallery

We have had an influx of art going on at our house over the last few years, and I am constantly running out of room to put their beautiful drawings. The fridge was getting full and I had to resort to throwing out pieces that had been there for weeks, but, of course, they found them in the garbage and couldn’t believe that I threw away their precious art. We had to find some sort of compromise because hanging pictures on the wall with tape was not an option for me, nor would it even stick to our walls in the first place (we have such odd walls.)

I was able to purchase everything (except the buckets) off of amazon. It was nice to have everything delivered to the house instead of running store to store to get items; especially in the winter! You can buy the buckets off of amazon, but I found them $10 cheaper at oriental trading. The wire and clips that the pictures are hanging off of came from Ikea but I was able to find them on amazon. We are also using the wire and clips in the homeschool room for our alphabet cards!

Our chalkboards took a little time to find because we had a certain amount of space and I needed exact measurements to be able to fit three of them. My original plan was to get a big piece of plywood and a can of chalkboard paint and make it a “fun” DIY project. Well, if there is one thing you should know about me it’s that I am the least crafty person ever. In all honesty, though I am really happy with how it turned out!

The kids love to pull up a chair and draw during the day and it is also beneficial for homeschooling. Somehow making shapes and letters on the chalkboard is WAY more fun to them than on paper; I’ll take it! I love that it’s right by the kitchen so they can draw while I am making dinner in the evenings 🙂

(This picture was before we put the hooks and buckets up the kids were REALLY excited)

Here is a list of exactly what we bought for this project:

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What Does It Mean To Fear The Lord?

My word this year is brave, I want to be brave and courageous not be fearful of what man can do to me. I want to only fear the Lord. Martin Luther described two different types of fear;  FILIAL fear of the Lord means to have respect and reverence to the Lord and have a healthy fear of the consequences of disobeying Him. Think of the respect that a child has for his/her parents. That child fears disobeying their parents, not just because they are scared of punishment, but because they have such respect for them and the thought of hurting them by disobedience is disheartening. SERVILE fear is the fear that martyrs have or those who are tortured and jailed. It’s the fear and anxiety of the harm that they are going to thrust upon you.

Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
    and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.”

The Gospel message should be the most beautiful and terrifying message. It is beautiful the undeserved grace and mercy that the Lord shown upon us, but terrifying in the sense of the depth of our sins and the punishment that we deserve for them. Our faith in the Lord will show if we do, or do not, have a healthy relationship with the Lord. How do we respond when things go wrong? Do we whine and complain, or do we turn to the Lord? I struggle with anxiety and know that it is worse when I am not diving into the Word and surrounding myself with the Truth of God’s Word. I worry the most when I listen to the world!

George Muller said The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety.

Obedience will be another evidence of a healthy fear of the Lord. When we are obedient and following the Lord instead of the ways of the world we show our fear of the Lord through that. How do we respond when we sin? Do we go directly to the one who forgives us of our sins or try and hide hoping that we can get away with it? We are silly and foolish to think that God doesn’t see our sins… That alone should strike some sort of fear in us!

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Encouragement For When You Want To Quit Writing

I have been told many times that I give up too quickly, and while that is true, I don’t like to admit it. So when I realized that my novella was not making any sense, I gave up. I called it quits and decided that I was no good at this writing thing anymore. So many writers are where they are because they keep pressing forward and not giving up, and I have to realize that I cannot compare my beginning to their middle.

So tonight, after a small break away from my novella, I am looking at it once again with fresh eyes and a new vision. Writing is my passion; something that I love to do. For some, writing comes easy; and for others, like me, it takes some time to develop and conquer those hurdles of self-doubt, frustration, and being overtly cynical. I was so angry at myself for wasting all that time on this completely useless novel when I should have been proud of the accomplishment of actually sticking with it and writing from start to finish!

If you have been following me for any amount of time you would know that I like to change things often (i.e., domain names, and interests). I will stick with something for maybe a year or two and then change it. But, one thing has remained consistent through all those changes… writing. My love of writing has never once dwindled! Once you find that thing that you are passionate about, stick with it and work on improving and polishing your skill. I started taking courses about writing, listening to audio books, and reading blog posts. This is something I enjoy doing and I want to see where I can go with it, but I need to stop telling myself I can’t do it.

Sign up for my email list to receive access to my private discord server, where we talk about all things writing. Also, be the first to hear news about my current work in progress! [mc4wp_form id=”6600″]

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What if?

Do you feel like your plot has been way overdone and people are sick and tired of reading the same storyline over and over again? That’s exactly how I was feeling the first time around. But, if you take any TV show, movie or book and look at the bare bones of the plot you will realize that most of them are the same they just executed the scheme differently. Think of TV shows that take place in New York with 20-30 something-year-olds, movies where the nerdy girl gets a makeover or the one that I absolutely cannot stand… when they make the father an incompetent moron.

The difference between the story lines in these various plots is a simple question, What if? Let’s look at The Princess Diaries. What if an average girl finds out she’s a princess? Or in My Fair Lady, what if a pompous phonetics professor transforms a Cockney working-class girl into someone who can pass for an experienced member of high society. See how they both are the same, but very different?

What if a husband vanishes and leaves his wife and children behind. This is one example that I have been mulling over the last few days. What if he didn’t leave on purpose? What if he was forced to leave but couldn’t tell his family? What if she gave up hope for ever finding him? What if he did leave on purpose?

Asking myself those what if questions got me thinking, and pondering what would happen if this happened? How would I react in this situation? I even threw questions by Ruben to see how he would respond in a similar situation. I so appreciate my husband’s willingness to listen to my ideas and help me out. He’s given me some great ideas for plots, told me when something seemed not realistic, and helped me out with different conversations between characters.

I have a much clearer picture this time around of how I want this to end up and I am excited to start working on it again. Just need to get over the hurdles of criticism and self-doubt that I face and I am certain many others face. It’s scary to put yourself out there because you are going to get judged once you do. Everyone has an opinion, some good, others not so good.

Sign up for my email list to receive access to my private discord server, where we talk about all things writing. Also, be the first to hear news about my current work in progress! [mc4wp_form id=”6600″]

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Finding Writing Inspiration in Everyday Life

Finding Writing Inspiration in Everyday Life

There is a guy on our street who likes to walk his dog in a nice dress shirt and pants. Why doesn’t he change before he walks his dog? I find it oddly fascinating. Or the guy that I stood behind today who had a tattoo on his arm that said, “Reward.” Even the quirky ladies that I talked to in the long line at Walmart. Those people are my inspiration! I pull characters, emotions, settings and appearance from them.

I like to keep a small notebook in my purse at all times so whenever I see something, hear something, or just need to make a quick note I can jot it down so I won’t forget. Other places to look for inspiration would be quotes, music, books, and movies. Trust me, I am not saying that I never get writers block, or that I never get low on inspiration, but during those times I don’t give up. Something on a commercial even gave me an idea once!

So, if you’re struggling for inspiration, look up. Look up from the glow of your cell phone to the world around you. There is tons of inspiration right there in front of your face. Everyone has a backstory!