Unexpected Oomph

I usually don’t talk about my personal life here on the blog, but I will tell you that my family has moved twice in the last ten months. We’ve been staying with friends while we house hunt. And right now, I am actually sitting in my grandparents’ living room in Texas. Yes, it was a long trip — and we don’t even know how long we’ll be here. Think maybe God’s trying to teach me how to be flexible? Hmm, maybe. ;)

Somewhere in the middle of all of this I have found an unexpected bit of oomph (inspiration+brainpower) and have been working on a story. I’m not going to say what it is or what it’s about, but I can hint that it’s really cool. No, spiffen! Heh, I love that word.

So my life has been crazy. I’m trying to keep my head up and my eyes on God. Oh, and take every twist and turn as a writing experience.

Picking up the pen again

Yes, I am, at long last, getting back to writing (well, I’ve done some writing, just not much)! It is, I fear, long overdue — and for that I apologize. Though I do have valid excuses for why I have not written more in the last few months, they matter little and therefore will not be brought up. So rather than listing them, each with its own bullet for tidiness’ sake, I shall tell you that despite a myriad of other things trying to steal my time, I am returning to the world of Sterling McKinde in an endeavor to finish the story and get it into your hands as quickly as possible. And yes, I realize that is a rather long sentence. But I’m a writer, so I’m entitled to writing long sentences.

Now that I have updated this, my sadly neglected author blog, I shall open Scrivener and see what I can do about the beginning of The Portal. It’s all written and has been edited already, but I’m just not happy with it. So I think I shall see what I can do to take it up a few notches.

Oh, the woes of a writer…

Well, that’s relative. I deem it a woe, but you may not. Here ’tis: too many ideas, not enough hours in the day to chase each one and conquer it. I have a collection of more than thirty novel plots begging to be penned, three half-written novels collecting dust, I’m just over 10k into a new series, I’ve got a sequel to edit and publish, and — WHAM! a new idea pops into my head from looking at a visual dictionary of animals with my sister. It’s a series, of course. And it’s really, really, really spiffen.

But what about my WIPs? Ah. So there you see, the woes of a writer.

A Twist in the plot

Isn’t it cool how there are sometimes twists in the plots of our lives? We think we’re going to go a certain way, but then God puts a twist in there that totally surprises us. That’s what happened to me today. I was geared up to work on editing The Portal, and all of a sudden, *POOF* I started getting ideas for a series I’ve been plotting for a long time. And now I’ve written around 3,000 words today.

Now before those of you who have read TS freak out and wonder if I’ve forgotten about the major cliff-hanger at the end (oops, spoiler), I want to assure you that I have not forgotten. I’m simply going with the inspiration that the Lord has given me. He’ll direct me back to working on The Portal when it’s time.

I’m not going to say a whole lot about the new series yet, but I will say that it’s going to be a very hard series for me to write. I’ll be writing more of myself, my heart, my life, into this series than I have ever written into any story I’ve ever penned (or typed). But God has told me that it’s time for healing in my heart, and that as I write the first book in this series, He will use it in a healing process. Already, as I wrote today, I was on the verge of tears more than once. It’s also going to be hard for others to read it. I’ll be opening up my heart to those who read it, and it’s scary. But it’s in God’s hands, in His will.

So as I work on this new story and work on editing The Portal, please keep me in your prayers. And check back here, as I’ll probably update more often now that I’m working on stuff again. Oh, and leave me comments. Please. :o)

EDIT: I ended up writing almost 6,000 words today. Thank the Lord!