My Writing Nest

If you have borne, adopted or fostered children then you understand “nesting”, the almost insatiable need to organize, clean, secure and make the home ready for a new family member. I remember the nesting instinct hitting me quite strong before I had my third child. I’d been 4 centimeters dilated and uncomfortable for 3 weeks and by week 37.5 my doctor gave the okay to do whatever it was that I was inclined to do. I yielded to recommendations and purchased castor oil and orange juice.

But before drinking my dose, I had to wash baby clothes, clean our small three bedroom apartment and set up the baby bed. Doug still worked roughly 90 hours per week at that time and I praise God for a good friend who would pick up my 2 ½ and 5 year old for a few hours.

I got a phone call a couple of days before I had scheduled myself to induce. It was my mom. “I’m going to paint all of your walls for you so that they are nice and clean by the time you get home from the hospital.”

My ferocious nesting drive turned off and all was right in the world.

Although I am done having children now, I am in a type of nesting season. Our house was unsuccessfully on the market for four years so last January we decided to investigate renovating. We desperately needed an additional bedroom so that our newest two children didn’t have to share a bedroom with us!

As I turn my head and look out of the French doors of our great room, I see the faithful workers finishing up the last stages of a very extensive home renovation: a 2^nd deck. You can read more about this renovation on my personal blog: http://webbwilderness.blogspot.com/

My nesting-like desire was in force last night. I attempted to hang pictures, to paint old trim, to prepare a DIY wall hanging, and to declutter the music room so that my castor oil induced daughter can set her drum set up again. After living in tempered chaos for four months, I want everything to be in place and done as quickly as possible.

Can you guess what I’m looking forward to? Well, besides a wonderful spa-like master bathroom and a larger kitchen, I’m looking forward to sitting outside on our top deck in the cool of the morning and letting the inspiration of God meet my pen.

I look forward to sitting in one of my new UVa orange Adirondack chair, gazing at the stars in the night sky and letting God whisper into my heart. As an introvert, I need these quiet spaces to recharge my soul and invigorate my creativity.

In a few weeks, after our end-of-year basketball team party, the completion of our home renovation and my son’s college graduation, I’ll be able to buckle down again and continue my journey as a writer.

Until then, time to paint my son’s room.

Please visit my page, Ages and Stages, to find out about my current work in progress.

Ages and Stages Part 4 Mommy or Me: Who is 1st?

Mommy or Me: Who is first?

I think I was in my upper-twenties when the dawning occurred. "I" had become lost in the role of “Mommy”. The decision to be a stay-at-home mom cost us financially but rewarded us with the certainty that we could completely oversee our children’s formative years and we could home educate them, teaching each subject according to a Biblical worldview.

Sure, I loved strolling to the playground, attending story-time at the library, and visiting friends 3-4 times per week. But I also loved writing, playing the piano, and learning whatever I could about God.

I never wanted to forsake my "personhood" for the roles that I’ve been blessed with. As much as being a wife and mother delighted me, I knew that I had been endowed by my Creator with certain gifts, talents and missions to accomplish while on this earth.

Some young mothers get caught in the cage of “I have no time for me.” Ladies, whether we work in the marketplace outside the home, from home or not at all, we have to make time for ourselves and I know it isn’t easy. I thank God for the friends that became like family. They encouraged me to nurture my interests even though my husband worked 80-90 hours per week back then.

Opportunities abounded. I joined the church worship band as a substitute pianist and background vocalist. Original bedtimes stories became the inspiration for a fiction series that I started called The Ages of Laus Perennis. My passion for prayer, teaching and personal ministry grew as my husband and I began to attend various East Coast conferences that equipped us for future roles within our local church.

2009

Many times I had to volunteer to host something in order to be a part, especially when there was no money for a babysitter. My kids would play quietly in their rooms or be in bed while a prayer meeting or bible study was going on, or the “baby at the time” would just sit on my lap.

I remember playing piano for a Baptist church, sitting my one year old daughter on my lap and teaching her to keep her hands on her thighs so that I could reach around her to play the piano. Since I had no babysitter I had to make it work.

You know the adage: “where there is a will there is a way.” Really, this is quite true. God wants us to enjoy life. Since He doesn’t want us to shrug off our key roles, He will show us how to juggle the duties of these roles with the wonderful interests, talents and missions that make us come alive. After all, He gave us those interests, talents and missions.

Don't get me wrong. I wouldn’t trade motherhood for the world! I’m a strong advocate of parental rights. I love having so many children and I love their wide age range. It isn’t always easy, but I applaud God for the choice He made for my life.

What opportunities are waiting for you? What doors are open but you haven’t noticed them? Being an author, intercessor, friend, gardener, DIY-er, home chef ( I LOVE to invent recipes), songwriter, worship musician, Castle TV show junkie, and home educator enables me to be fully me.

We are better parents when we give ourselves time and attention, not by neglecting our kids or spouses, but by heeding the wisdom of our Father.

Proverbs 4:23 Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flows the springs of life.

John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

Father, Your desire is to continually guide us, for our desire to be satisfied in scorched places, and for our bones to be strong; so that we will be like a watered garden. (Isaiah 58:11) As we faithfully fulfill our family roles and spend time with You, show us how to use every deposit that You’ve given us, that You may be glorified and we may be satisfied.

Never Alone

I am compelled, out of gratitude, to write a brief blog about the subject of community. Have you ever felt like you were thrown into an abyss of the "unknown" all by your lonesome?  I can relate. I'm thankful for the people God has put in my path to help me navigate through.

In my Christian circles, community has become a "coin" word as of late. The question that dictates that discussion is what does community in God's Kingdom on earth look like?

I'm learning the answer every day. As a new author, my answer is different than it used to be when I was caught up in my small home schooling and local church worlds. Now I'm navigating this previously unknown world of professional writing. I've watched it from afar for awhile. Author Lauralee Bliss and I have attended church together for decades. As I watched her write book after book, my own dream became more achievable for that "one day" when the time was right. New graphic novelist Matt McDowell who released Nephilites, is a few steps ahead of me in his exciting journey. We attended church together for awhile. Although he writes in a different genre, our plots both involve angels. Nope, I'm not alone. A local church is also where I met Author Precarious Yates, whom I knew as Sarah Rogers then Sarah Smith. At the time, I didn't realize how serious she was about writing! Our brief conversations were mostly about parenting, her past ministry work in Ireland and perhaps that Sunday's sermon. Years later, she's graciously begun to mentor me as a new author. I'm so grateful. My first introduction to the online community of Christian authors was through CrossReads, a site that connects readers and authors. Then social media opened the door to direct advice from fellow authors. This advice gave me my new marketing handbook, "Book Marketing For Beginners by Heather Hart. Hart encourages networking and forming relationships with other authors. I learned that seasoned authors regularly mentor new authors! Thank You God! I'm not in this alone. 

Although I'd never recommend forsaking the local for the virtual, both can provide encouragement, mentoring, accountability, and advice. Here's a shout-out to the helpful folks on CrossReads Authors FB page like Annie Douglass Lima, who pointed out that the all important comma needed to be inserted in the title of my husband's future non-fiction release! I also thank Kelly Hagin, who gave me the opportunity to do my first interview. When I was late in submitting interview information, due to my mommy duties, she quickly assured me that she too, was a mother, and understood. Nope, I'm not alone.

Despite my introverted personality, I'm learning that I can have a sense of community with people I'll likely never meet in person. This is a different type of community, but one just as God-given and necessary as my local community of friends. I guess it only makes sense with the new, but now normal, world of cyberspace.

I thought professional writing would be a dog-eat-dog world. But it's not. There are some good people out there. I thank God for them. 

The book's beginnings...

All was cozy and serene, one cool March night in 2012 as five of us sat on our L-shaped sofa in the great room.  My husband Doug had begun a family bible study to help our teens learn how to thoroughly unpack the treasure of the Holy Scriptures.  This night, however, we would delve into a tangent that would birth the idea for my first published book.

The scripture that started it was, 1 Peter 1:12.  It reads It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look. (NASV)

"....things into which angels long to look ."  Wow!  We had to take a "selah" moment.  What are these things? Enter the tangent.  The implication of this verse brought out our inner detective.  After we poured through other verses, we found ourselves at Ezekiel 28.  The teens were amazed that this verse recorded God's response to Lucifer's demise.  "When did this happen?" was the next question.  My husband and I told them about the Gap Theory and my mind began to wonder.  Gap Theory or not, clearly Ezekiel 28 referred to a time before the beginning as we knew it.

I love words.  I love the power of words and I try to respect that power and use it wisely.  Words form phrases and for me, phrases are like the primary colors.  You can take a phrase, mix up the word order, and get a new phrase that gives a new thought, one with hues of the first.  Couples learn early in their relationship that the same phrase can mean two different things.

The biggest challenge in writing, Before The Beginning, was to give definition to a word-less concept.  Let me explain.  Rebellion, fear, mischief, anger, insubordination were new concepts in heaven.  Even my character Helel Ben Shachar, which is Hebrew for Lucifer, had no words to name what he was feeling until God gave the feeling a name.  I wanted to stay true to the dilemma that Helel and the tenants (angels) must have dealt with.

The second biggest challenge was to stay true to the nature of God as revealed in the Bible and consider what the Father's initial response would have been.  I knew, as a human being trying to portray the God of the universe, that I was probably opening a can of worms that as an author, I would have to suck up and deal with.

Despite the challenges, writing fantasy fiction and trying to stay true to the Bible has been fun.  I love action movies and writing an action scene, although daunting, was exciting.  So I hope you'll get the opportunity to read the book and have some of your own "selah" moments.  C'mon back and share them with me.  I'd love to hear your thoughts.