So, yeah, I had another post planned that was supposed to go up the day after the last one. Didn’t happen. Life got in the way. Then I was busy working on the next chapters of Yours, Mine, & Forever. Which kept me rather busy.
Not that I found that particular problem troubling at all. I enjoy writing and enjoy seeing what my characters get up to. In this case, there was a problem, one character went all ninja on another character, and now I’m working on the aftermath of the problem and trying to figure out what lesson my characters are going to have to learn because I changed things. Big time.
I didn’t like the problem they faced in the original book. It had an icky feel to it so I changed it because…I can. Now I’m dealing with the aftermath of that, because when you change the problem, the issues the characters have to deal with are going to change, which means the story has to change, and…I’m just rambling so I’ll stop there.
Suffice it to say, I didn’t set aside any time to write a blog post and time got away from me. Monday was a bust too—because of family obligations. Tuesday was spent helping hubby get the cover for Yours, Mine, & Forever finalized (it’s super cute and I can’t decide which I like more!). Wednesday I wrote this and forgot to hit publish…you get the point. 🙂
For a couple of days, it almost felt like the time to talk about Dreaming was over. Here I am, focused on the next book, starting to put together a plan for marketing for it, and Dreaming is already published, so I don’t need to worry about it anymore…right?
Wrong.
We’re not going to go into why abandoning a book is a bad decision when it comes to marketing. It just is. From a reader/writer standpoint, what could be wrong with talking about a book, even if it’s already been read? I mean, for those still waiting to read it, you’ll know a little more about the story behind the story. For those who’ve read it, the same. How could that ever be a bad thing?
Someone suggested I come up with a list of discussion questions for bookclubs and whatnot. Of course, my mind instantly reset itself so it resembled a desert wasteland with not a shred of rational thought anywhere in sight, so I had exactly zero intelligent questions to consider, but I’m a writer, I should be able to write about something. Right? Maybe not, but I’ll try.
So…here’s my meager attempt at intelligent conversation material.
1. When is confrontation ever a good thing? Norah doesn’t tend to stand up for herself much. She makes a half-hearted try a couple of times, but she’s not getting in anyone’s face, telling them to back off. Is that a bad thing, or is there a time for conflict?
Personally, I don’t like confrontation so I try to avoid any kind of argument at all. If one pops up somewhere and I’m around, I’ll go out of my way to…stay out of the way…until the air clears. Except with my kids. That’s when I get to be the adult and wade into the fray to separate the 3 and 5 year olds bent on duking things out.
2. How do you feel about seeking the Lord’s guidance in major or minor issues? Is it wrong to ask for specific answers so you know what to do in a certain situation? Norah does, when she doesn’t know which choice she should make, and the answer comes pretty quickly.
I can think of two instances where I’ve physically and metaphorically gotten down on my knees begging God to show me what course I needed to take. The first was my marriage. In that case, I really wanted to be certain he was THE one. So I prayed about it. Every time I prayed, seeking direction and guidance, something happened to provide me with the exact answer I’d been asking for. It wasn’t hard at all to leap to the conclusion that yeah, he was the one after the umpteenth time my specific prayers were answered. And then over the course of our entirely-long-distance relationship, I had those answers to prayer to fall back on whenever the doubts crept in. And they did.
Because it’s easy to start to wonder if things happened exactly how you remember them happening when you never get to see the look in his eye, or the smile on his face. Back then, we had phone calls on the weekends, snail mail, and sporadic emails. No video chat capabilities at all. So from the day we got engaged until a week before the wedding we didn’t see each other at all. And that gave me plenty of time to think too much. But, I had this long list of answered prayer that I couldn’t ignore. How could I say, “Well…I don’t know…” when deep down I did know, you know?
The other instance I can think of where I prayed for specific guidance was something I mentioned the other day in one of my other posts. The day I knew we needed to take Bear to the hospital for x-rays. I had no way to get there, and I didn’t want her to have to suffer any longer than necessary. So I sat down at the table and prayed that if we needed to take her, the way would open up for that to happen. And Josh walked in the door. I had no idea he was on his way home, he had no idea I needed him home. But it all worked out and he was able to take us to town.
And that’s it. Like I said up there a ways, I stink at coming up with discussion questions, so I’m going to stop there. I need to go work on the next chapter of Yours, Mine, & Forever and see what damage I can do today.