The Canvas of God

“This happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life” (John 9:3).

Forty years of darkness was the experience of one man. I surmise that during this time he often prayed and pleaded and pressed the God of heaven to bring healing into his life – to give him sight – and all that time he heard nothing.

Okay, perhaps he did hear something. He might have heard, even as the disciples had asked, “Who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind?” It is a rather presumptuous question, but there’s little doubt that it was a common one. Eventually he might have even begun to believe that some sin, harbored long ago, led to his condition.

Then Jesus arrives. His words are like music to the blind man’s ears, like the sweet taste of honey after a lifetime of gall. “This happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” His blindness had a purpose – and that purpose was from God.

I have often wondered why. Why does God not fix the “situation?” Why does God wait when I need Him right now? Why is this pain in my life, and it seems like it will never dissipate? Why do others seem to find success and I linger like a blind man on the side of the road?

I’ve heard from some that it’s because of my sin. The doors of opportunity have closed for me and now it’s just the blind passage of time until I arrive in humiliating defeat at heaven’s gate. I’ve heard from others that it’s due to someone else’s sin. I suffer the indomitable pain of failure because there are those who were critical to my success and they have faltered.

Then Jesus says, “This happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.”

Like treasured gold, these words of Christ remind me that God still has a purpose for me. Despite the delay, and though it linger, I know that God’s work is set to be displayed, and the canvas of His choosing is my very life.

Don’t listen to the crowd when they tell you that there’s no hope. It might seem that your life is forever marred, but despite the current condition, remember the words of Jesus: “This happened so that the work of God might be displayed in [your] life.”

©2011
Rev. Michael Duncan

Know Yourself

After a week of keeping track of my evening eating habits, I am able to see a set of behavior patterns that keep it in place. The first step in replacing a habit is recording the behaviors already in place to establish a base line that includes time, consistency and self-talk. Recording every day enables us to track without a biased memory. Then overall patterns, triggers and payoffs can be observed. These are some of the things I discovered this week:

1. When I am finished with work and chores at the end of the day, I treat myself by sitting down with my laptop and food while watching the news or other TV. Food and predictable routines offer comfort as I relax.

2. When I am out for the evening and then return, the pattern kicks in again with the same set of thoughts and behavior. I find that even if I am not hungry before I come home, the thought of relaxing from the day’s work, triggers the urge to want something to eat.

3. So, my triggers are: what I say to myself (rationalization), food being a reward, and the usual routine of special chair, laptop and TV.

I know that behaviors grouped together feed upon each other. I also know that to change any behavior, whether it is thoughts or action, the cycle can be broken by making a change to any part of the link. Thoughts occur at lightning speed and usually are unconscious until we purposely uncover them. Those powerful thoughts for me included: “I’m tired; it will feel good to sit down and relax”, “I accomplished a lot today; the rest can wait until tomorrow.” “I can have some nuts and cheese because these food are all good for me.” You get the picture.

I know we can stop behaviors for awhile with just will power. I also know that will power is a short term strategy and like a stretched rubber band, will result in returning to is starting position. Resisting anything requires continual focus on what you cannot have and do, so energy is consumed in resistance vs. generating energy to replace behaviors.

Knowing myself, I know that large sweeping goals do not work; but small incremental steps form a solid habit. I also know how powerful self talk is, and how easy it is to sabotage my actions with rationalization. Here are the strategies that I will put in motion to replace my habit.

1. Break up the routine. Don’t do the same thing every night. Watch a movie on the laptop versus a computer game, read a book for a while, listen to music, etc. Change the pattern.
2. If I feel hungry, redirect my attention to something else for at least 15 min. If I am really hungry, I give myself permission to get something to eat, but will eat it in the kitchen rather than relaxing with it in my chair. Remembering that it takes about 20 minutes before the brain registers the effect of food, I can regulate amounts.
3. Removing my favorite foods from the house for a while will keep me from automatically turning to them. I can replace the habit of food and relaxation with a glass of club soda.
4. Replace self-talk with affirmations I can repeat throughout the day. Here are a few of the ones I have selected: “I really enjoy being physically fit.” “I love this energetic feeling.” “I love taking charge of my life and being in control of all my decisions.” “I enjoy sitting down and relaxing in the evening with good music and a book.”

Next week, I will summarize replacing habits and evaluate my progress.

©2011 Marlene Anderson, MA, LMHC, NCC

Novel Craft Workshop ~ Creating: Your Inner Artist Versus Your Inner Editor

I do things all wrong, according to popular notions about how to write. For one thing, I'm at peace with my inner editor and don't feel the need to turn her off while writing. On the contrary, she has saved me more than once from rewriting scenes that without her guidance would have gone astray. The idea of turning my inner artist loose like a kid in a candy shop would produce for me the equivalent of a literary stomach ache. Frankly, I don't want to clean up the mess that would make.  

Don't think my inner editor stands over me like a martinet slapping a whip against her leg. She's more a concerned friend willing to look away when I let a misspelling stand for now or gloss over an under-researched point. She picks her battles. When changes won't impede my progress, she lets me go on without remark but intervenes when I take a serious left turn.

I write more slowly because I include my inner editor in the process, but I edit more quickly. This works for me because I prefer creating a fresh draft to editing any day. I work in the early morning and afternoon and usually turn out three drafts of a book, with my inner editor increasingly more involved. I've heard of writers who spew out words without thought and afterwards cut thousands of them. Other writers create in the morning and edit the days work in the afternoon.

Despite popular opinion and sometimes-heated debate, none of the methods I've described is wrong. We are all different. It would be foolish to expect what works for me to work for you, and vice versa. Live and let live, but do (if you don't already know) figure out what works best for you. That comes by a process of trial-and-error. Here are my tips to aid your self-discovery.

• What time of the day are you most alert? Create during these times.
• When do you fidget and need to get away from the computer? Don't schedule long writing sessions for these times.
• Do you get a creepy, messy feeling when you start one chapter without editing what you've already written? Then I suggest you edit as you go.
• Do you hang up on editing and never get past the first pages of your book? In this case, I suggest you push yourself to finish a chapter at a time, and then possibly go back and edit once through only before moving to the next chapter. Or try to fly through the first draft completely before returning to edit. It may drive you crazy, but you'll move past your own mental barrier.
• Do you need to feel "done" at the end of the day? I suggest you write and edit in the same day.

What about you? I'd love to know what works for you.



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Establishing Habits that work

When I look at habits that aren’t working or are resistant to change, I need to revisit how behaviors are put in place and what keeps them in place.

Behaviors, the things we consistently do that form habits, are kept in place because we get rewarded in some way. Over time, that payoff keeps the behavior firmly in place. Behaviors and habits can also be put and kept in place through the reward of removal; the removal of something we don’t want. For example, when we give a child who is yelling and screaming in the store a treat of some kind (positive reward) he stops crying. We are rewarded (a negative reward) because the yelling and screaming stops.

Since eating at nighttime when I am not hungry is one of the habits I want to change, I need to know when it occurs, what put it in place, and what rewards I am receiving. Food habits are difficult to change because food gives us instant gratification – we are instantly rewarded. Since food can be both pleasurable and nutritious, we get in trouble when we eat for the wrong reasons; either eating for pleasure alone or for the sense of comfort it gives us. The second habit I want to work on is putting the habit of exercise into place. This can also be difficult because it takes time before I will begin to experience the payoff; so I need to find a way to keep the motivation in place until that happens.

Mentally, I know what I want and why all the reasons for good habits of food and exercise are imperative for overall health both to the body and the brain. These two goals are important to the accomplishment of all my other goals, including writing. But mental motivation usually doesn’t last beyond the first couple of days of good intention. So, how do I move from good intention to a habit?

Changing behavior involves:

1. Observing the problem behavior to define it
2. Developing a plan of action to change the behavior
3. Evaluating your plan's effectiveness
4. Changing your plan if necessary to make it more effective

I will focus on changing my eating habits first. To do that, I need to know what I am doing, why I am doing it (what precipitates or triggers the behavior), the habit itself (what is happening, when it happens, how often, duration) and the consequence.

For one week, I will keep a notepad in my kitchen and will write down when I eat in the evening, what I eat, what I say to myself and my emotional response. Then, I will develop a plan of action that takes into account my own personality, what has worked in the past, new strategies and changes in my thinking. If you want to replace a habit, follow the same steps. For one week, take a target habit and write down what you do, when it happens, and what thoughts are associated with that behavior. For one week, don’t change anything – just observe and record.

©2011 Marlene Anderson, MA, LMHC, NCC

How to Find Your Life's Purpose

We completed another segment of Author Haven's Novel Craft Writing Workshop last week. Time for a treat, in the form of a funny and inspirational podcast by Stever Robbins. Enjoy!

http://getitdone.quickanddirtytips.com/finding-life-purpose.aspx

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Tune in next week as begin the next section of Author Haven's Novel Craft Writing Workshop on writing your novel.

What is Working - What is Not

January is a good time to review the habits I live by. Some of them help me reach my goals and others simply create more problems. Reflecting on both habits that propel me forward or keep me locked in unhealthy cycles will require ruthless examination of my procrastination as well as my motivations.

Changing habits through force or will power alone does not work. It may take will power and a determined decision to get started, but it takes a plan of action to put and keep a new habit in its place. Habits resist change. We rationalize their ineffectiveness and then sabotage our efforts to change them.

We establish habits so we don’t have to expend energy thinking about every motion we make; the habit automatically does it for us, like walking or driving a car. Habits become the routines we put in place to accomplish our goals. But some habits, driven by pleasure rather than need and necessity, can become problematic.

One such habit for me is eating when I sit down to relax in the evening. Behaviors paired with something pleasurable soon become well established and resistant to change. Like Pavlov’s dogs, which were trained to salivate for food when they heard the ringing of a bell, sitting down to relax after a long day has become paired with a strong desire to eat. My brain no longer requires the necessity of food to trigger a hunger response – the thought of relaxing automatically triggers a desire to eat. When the area of the brain related to pleasure is activated, it becomes hard to resist. Habits that continually trigger the pleasure area of the brain can become addictions.

For long lasting results, a habit needs to be replaced versus simply stopped. Stopping and restricting requires will power and eventually will power gets tired. That is why diets do not work. But replacing “diets” with an alternative way of eating will enable long lasting results. It is also important to know why the original habit was put in place.

One of the habits that I want to replace is that of eating when I sit down to relax in the evening. Another is the habit of inactivity, replacing it with an appropriate exercise program. One will require an equivalent replacement. The other will require a daily reward of some kind to keep me going until the habit itself drives my motivation.

Since I am taking these two health issues seriously, I am making an active decision to do something. If I don’t have appropriate goals in all areas of life, it will impact all my other important goals such as writing.

Perhaps there are some habits you wish you could replace. I invite you to join me as I put together plans of action to replace the two habits I mentioned. Next week, I will examine my motivation and past procrastination for each area along with a plan of action.

©2011 Marlene Anderson, MA, LMHC, NCC

Novel Craft Workshop: How to Create Scenes

Once you outline a plot from your novel's theme and break it into chapters, you're ready to determine the scenes you'll include in those chapters. The process is easier than it might seem:

Use your chapter outlines to help you envision scenes to introduce the setting and unveil aspects of your character's personalities, all while moving the story along. To do this, brainstorm scenes from the things you should include in each chapter, drawn from it's brief outline.

Here's the one-sentence outline of the first chapter of my novel, DawnSinger: 
Shae (my main character) receives an invitation to adventure in the form of a summons from the High Queen.

Here are the considerations, that helped me extract scenes from that brief description:

• I need to introduce Shae.
• I need to introduce the hero, Kai (who delivers the summons).
• Since wingabeasts (winged horses) figure prominently in the story, I should introduce them right away. 
• To understand her actions, the reader needs a glimpse of Shae's position in her family.
• I should show Shae as given to prayer and prone to visions.
• I should establish a subplot involving Kai.   

With a little brainstorming, I came up with the following scenes (I've left some plot elements out to avoid spoilers):

1. Kai flies through the night on the back of a wingabeast in an electrical storm at great risk. We are not sure what mission he's on, but we know it comes from the High Queen. (This scene contains action, a sympathetic problem, and a hook.)
2. Shae escapes from the constraints of duty to slip into the garden the next morning. She has a startling vision. (I put her outdoors so she can see the wingabeast land. I want to introduce the creatures in the flesh rather than tell the reader they exist. Shae sneaks out so the reader will guess her slightly outcast position in her family and her rebellious response.)
3. An exhausted Kai lands the wingabeast in the garden and accompanies Shae to Whellein Hold, their ancestral home. (We learn he is Shae's beloved brother. The subplot begins.)
4. Kai parts with Shae and visits his mother. (This scene reveals more about the summons and further develops the subplot. It ends with a hook meant to draw the reader into the next chapter.)

Although this chapter has four scenes, several are brief to keep the action moving. You usually want to keep the opening scenes on the shorter side and save longer ones for when your reader is fully committed. Chapter One of DawnSinger is still just over 3,000 words.

Action Step

Now it's your turn. List the things you should include in each chapter, brainstorm, and then outline the scenes you will write in as few sentences as possible. Hold back here. This is not the place to go into descriptions and dialogue. Get through your scene outlines as fast as you can and save the actual writing for later. 

© 2011 Janalyn Voigt
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Did this post help you? Do you have a different method of outlining scenes? 

Are You Ready for Your Goals?

The first of the year excites new possibilities – new beginnings – yet the year passes with good intentions that never turn into accomplishments. Why?

I read motivational blogs and articles that give step by step instructions to doing things: from dieting, to getting more exercise, to setting writing goals. We start out with excitement and good intentions but somehow our good intentions get derailed. Then we feel guilty, find reasons and excuses for why we didn’t accomplish what we set out to accomplish and either give up or apply more will power.

What happens? Here are some things to consider:

· Outside motivation can jump start you – it’s like priming the well – it gets the water flowing. But unless you continue pumping, the water no longer comes up. Priming only gets the process started. Other things are needed to keep it going.

· What do you say to yourself: “I’m going to make this happen, no matter what! I will do this.” These also are jump starters – they rely on will power in the moment, but do not carry momentum on their own. They are based on force.

· We treat our goals as “to do” lists. They only last a day. There is no staying power.

· We use fear to motivate ourselves: “If I don’t do this, then. . . . .” or “This is my last chance.” Fear gets the adrenalin pumping, but at some point your body needs to function without high levels of it.

These all prime the well. However, success requires staying power that lasts over time. It is taking those desires and putting them into motion that lasts over time. Intellectually, we may be ready for our goals, but motivationally and behaviorally we are not. On-going habits driven by internal motivation takes us through the dry periods. It becomes a way of life.

Success really only comes from internal motivation – an on-going desire. It is a “want to” versus a “have to”. It is a decision that moves beyond the dream and together becomes a powerful on-going force. That desire becomes a passion. Time stops when you are involved in it and you feel satisfied and happy. It is something you want to do; what you were created to do and it gives your life value and meaning.

Are you ready for your goals? Is your motivation internal or external?

· Is this something I really want to do?
· Once I start, do I lose track of time?
· Do I get a sense of excitement when I think about doing this?
· Do I have an internal vision of it? Can I see myself doing this?
· Do I hear myself say, “I can do this!”

Once the motivation is ours alone, we can start putting lifestyle habits in place that will allow us to achieve what we want to achieve.

©2011 Marlene Anderson, MA, LMHC, NCC

Novel Craft Workshop: Outlining Chapters

If you're like me, the sight of leafless branches standing in relief against a winter sky stirs your creativity. I often gaze in awe at these patterns, which are as delicate and cohesive as lace.

The plot for a novel is a lot like the structure of a tree. It all starts with the main idea. From this "trunk," main branches (or chapters) arch into a network of smaller branches (scenes).

Let's start with the branches. An average chapter is about 3,000 words, but chapter length will vary by genre. Your preferences and writing style also impact chapter length. As a rule of thumb, books with a lot of action (such as suspense novels) take shorter chapters, whereas a book that delves into deep characterizations might have longer chapters. You should also mix up chapter length to suit what takes place at specific points of your book. Let the pace of your book and/or chapter guide you. It helps to know your average chapter length in order to gauge the number of chapters to include in your book. If you're new at this, use a 3,000-word chapter length for plotting purposes.

I suggest you adhere to the expected manuscript lengths within your chosen genre. Agent Terry Burns explains why this is important in this post: "Word Count -- How Important is It?" Consult guidelines to determine a specific publisher's preferred manuscript lengths, but this post by suite101.com gives general parameters: "Standard Genre Novel Requirements."

Once you know the expected length for your manuscript, it's simply a matter of math to determine how many chapters to include. My novel, DawnSinger, for example, is about 80,000 words and has 26 Chapters. That puts my count after editing at right around 3,000 words per chapter. Did I plan this? Yes and no. I do have a feel for chapter length, gained from experience. While I tried to hit the 3,000 mark, I didn't have to think about it a whole lot as I wrote since I'd already broken my outline into manageable chunks per chapter.

Action Step

Break your own story outline into chapters. Think about practical ways to illustrate your story points, highlight your characters' conflicts and move your story to its logical conclusion. Next week we'll take a look at the network of smaller branches, or scenes.


©2010 Janalyn Voigt

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The Making of a Diamond

While in the grip of life, I’ve often wondered why things have to be so difficult. Challenges, pressures and strife promulgate until my very soul is vexed beyond rational thought. Eventually I find myself hunkered down with only one word of prayer on my lips: “Why?”

God’s answer: “I am making a diamond.”

There are several circumstances, real and painful, that go into making a diamond. To take a lump of coal and transform it into the hardest, most precious and lustrous gem in the entire world, to go from fodder for the fire to a scintillating stone takes work. Four elements are needed to transform a lump of coal into a precious diamond: time, pressure, heat and the unwavering hand of the master cutter.

Time:

You cannot cut the process short. The transformation cannot be quickened like some microwave method of dinner preparation. God will take His time with you as He transforms your life into the precious gem He desires. “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).

Pressure:

The crushing weight of the world is required to press the carbon into crystalline form. The external experiences of life are set to press us into the mold that God has created. “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us… for we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal bodies” (2 Corinthians 4:8-11).

Heat:

The only thing that burns away dross is fire. When steel has fire on the inside, it is ready to be made into a tempered sword. The refining fire of God, that burns so fiercely, is ignited in our hearts and purges our lives from the impurities of sin. “Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin” (1 Peter 4:1).

The Master Cutter:

With an eye to the hidden beauty within, and precision tools in his grasp, the master cutter will strike against the stone until the precious gem is finally revealed. God will carve and shape us by the razor-sharp knife of His word. “I am the vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean [pruned] because of the word I have spoken to you” (John 15:1-3)

The forging process that God takes you through is hard, sometimes harsh, but God has one goal in mind—to refine your soul. If you ever find yourself asking God “why,” listen close.

You might hear Him say, “I am making a diamond.”

©2010
Rev. Michael Duncan