Busy, Busy, Busy

What a day!

It seems I get one thing done and two or three more things appear. Between snowflakes, first drafts, second drafts, final drafts, online course work, oil paintings, colored pencil paintings, drawing classes and chicken noodle soup dinners, there doesn’t seem to be a spare moment!

Whew!

Writing has been moving forward briskly in several areas, including finalizing finished manuscripts, developing new ideas and studying genre requirements. Last night, for example, I wrote up premises for handling the same basic idea in three different genres: mystery, suspense and contemporary. That certainly was an eye opener. Had I had the time and the inclination, I could have done a historical, too, since I have plans for a series of historical stories.

The coursework is keeping me motivated and moving forward with craft building and workshop lessons on such varied things as personalizing characters and writing query letters increases the tools in my writer’s toolbox.

Then there are a number of writing ideas to nurture and projects to consider. I even encountered one early this evening and spent a few minutes jotting it down, then looking up old material on the same subject. It may even be time to return to Saving Grace. That has set idle for nearly three weeks, now.

As if that’s not enough, things are happening in the studio, too. Three portraits and one large colored pencil are in progress and I’m rotating through each of them as they dry (the colored pencil doesn’t have to dry, but it’s not a paid portrait, either, so it gets worked on when I have the time).

The choirs (young ringers, adult bell choir and regular choir) are combining forces to host a fund raiser chicken noodle soup & mashed potato luncheon after services this coming Sunday and Neal is making the soup. Ten gallons of it! Needless to say, the house is fragrant with the smells of chicken stock. Wonderful!

I’m not sure what I’ll do with the extra time when some of these things get done, but I’m not worried about it. I took care of one obligation early this afternoon and late this afternoon, another opportunity arrived in my inbox.

Isn’t life wonderful!

I’ve often heard retired people say they’re busier now than when they were working. A lot of those people also say they have no idea how they got everything done when they did have a j-o-b.

Now I know what they’re talking about. I’ve retired (sort of) from what most people would call a ‘real job’ only to discover that the real work is only just beginning. And it keeps coming and coming and coming.

Praise the LORD and give me the strength to keep up!

Written by

I've been an avid looker-at of books since I was old enough to sit on Mom's lap and listen to the stories she read. Once I learned to read and discovered the school library, I read every horse story I could find. I must have read Walter Farley's Black Stallion series a dozen times during grade school. I still enjoy reading the adventures of the Black Stallion and Flame and all the rest. But Marguerite Henry, C. W. Anderson, Thomas Hinkle and anyone else who wrote a story about a horse was also on my to-read list. I couldn't get enough of them. Then I found Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and discovered another world; the world of mysteries! More recently Dick Francis has combined my love of horse stories with my love of mysteries with his series of books. Frank E. Peretti, Joel C. Rosenberg and other writers now fire my writing and story telling imagination. I am, as yet, unpublished. I write every day, maintain painting and writing blogs, painting journals, writing journals and a number of other writing endeavors. Along with other members of my church family, I've written devotions for Advent and Lenten devotional booklets. For a time, I wrote a monthly column for the Newton Kansan newspaper. I still enjoy a good horse story but I also enjoy a good mystery or cozy mystery, suspense and a little bit of action here and there, as well as literary works. I hope, Lord willing, to try my hand at each of those genres, but if you pressed me to tell you what my stories are about, I'm most likely to tell you they're usually a mix of political thriller and Old Testament prophecy. The Old Testament prophets had a lot to say to the people of their day. They have a lot to say to us, too. It's impossible to follow the news and read Old Testament prophecies and not make connections. Once a connection is made, a story is likely to take shape. The never ending wellspring of ideas is often delightful, frequently overwhelming and sometimes frightening. After all, I know what followed the prophecies of the Old Testament prophecies. Can we be far behind...?

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