Christian Fiction for Young Adults
Anyone else feel this way? Anxiety is the worst, it makes you scared, almost as if paralyzed by doubts and fears. I’m tired of fearing everything, it takes a toll on my thoughts and emotions! Having scripture around my home and memorizing it are two ways that I have slowly started to combat anxiety. What are ways that you have found helpful to overcome it?
I’ve expressed a lot lately about taking breaks, and I grasp how fundamental it is to take one every so often. Inspiration is all around us, and we need to look up periodically to observe it! Here are a few things you can do to stimulate that inspiration:
What are ways you keep inspired while taking a break? Leave me a comment below and let me know!
I am excited to introduce you all to my new writing friend Samantha Proctor; she created a fantastic writing course called ‘Write Every Day‘ that encourages you to write more consistently. As writers sometimes, it’s hard for us to find the time to sit down and write, but when we do, the results are noticeable. Every day she will give you a daily quote, encouragement, daily action, writing challenge, and a comment conversation starter. Samantha was very involved and a great motivator, she sends you a personal weekly email and is there to answer any questions you may have, course-related or writing in general. That was probably my favorite part, having a writing buddy to keep me accountable, give advice, encouragement, and a swift kick when needed 😉
Included in the course are printables to help you achieve your goals and a private Facebook group. Honestly, this course came at the right time for me I had started so many novels and never finished them, my writing was sporadic and I could never accomplish my goals. Since finishing this I have a renewed hope and passion for writing, I have actually started writing short stories instead and have taken a break from my Novella. Not because I cannot write a Novella, but sometimes you need to step away from something to gain a new perspective. The daily actions and writing challenges were exactly what I needed to give me that push and get my mind and creative juices working.
Here is what you’ll learn from this course:
There are five parts to this course.
Part one is about getting started. It’s about writing instead of just thinking about writing.
Part two is about setting realistic goals that don’t overwhelm you. It’s also about learning to accomplish those goals once you’ve set them.
Part three is where you learn to stick with your goals even when it’s not exciting anymore. In this part, you’ll learn to be disciplined even when you aren’t motivated.
Part four is all about rediscovering your love for writing. This is the fun part where you get to enjoy the process of spinning words together and creating stories.
Part five is the shortest part. It’s all about celebrating your success and ensuring that you continue to write long after this course is over.
Most importantly, you’re going to learn how to write consistently. If you would like some more info on the course, you can go here, but if you’re ready to jump in and start writing my sweet friend has given my readers a discount code for 20% off the course use, WRITEMORE in the add coupon section to take advantage of this offer.
Scrivener, Scrivener, Scrivener I keep talking about this amazing program, but people, it’s fantastic! I use this app on a daily basis for my novels and sometimes even blog posts. I am going to give you ten reasons why this app is something you need in your life if you do any sort of writing.
1. I am able to keep everything stored in one place! You’re able to put your research, pictures, websites, PDF’s anything pertaining to your novel you can store in the same document your novel is. How cool is that? It’s wonderful to have everything in one place that I can access at any time.
2. Color-Coded. I love to color-code things and this app lets me do just that! It helps when you’re plotting and want to see the different parts of the novel, and you can create your own labels and assign colors to them. I’ve seen people use the labels for protagonist/antagonist chapters, and some will use them to label notes, first draft, revised draft, and final. You can use them however you want to that’s the beauty of this program.
3. Word count: Now this may NOT seem like a big deal, but it is. In Scrivener I am able to put the number of words I’d like to achieve in a certain amount of time and it will calculate how many words a day I need to write to make it to that goal
4. Storyboard: While I do most of my Storyboarding on Pinterest I will import the photos to my moodboards for each of the characters and add things I think they’d wear, what their homes look like, the town they live in, etc. Also, this is where I add all the data about the character and his/her backstory, quirks, motives, and so forth.
5. Folders: When writing normally I have a folder for each chapter of my novel and then subfolders for each scene in that folder. Scrivener also has specific folders for Characters and locations that you can use.
6. Templates: So many creative people have designed templates that you’re able to download for free and use. The one page novel plot formula is my absolute favorite.
7. Compose it to a kindle, Epub ebooks, or ibooks formats: this makes it incredibly easy to write and self-publish your own book to sell on Amazon, Apple, or Nook.
8. Ability to split the screen: This little feature comes in handy when I need to look at the plot points while I am writing a scene, or have a characters outline up to remember a certain quirk or specific quality they possess.
9. Distraction free writing: Wonderful tool when you really need to buckle down and focus on your writing without the distractions of everything else. The things you really need to know will pop up on the bottom of the screen when you move your cursor.
10. Sync: I am able to start writing on my computer, save it, and then work on it more from my phone or iPad. Now, this one may cost you a little bit more money but, for me, it was totally worth it. I love to pull my phone out and type up a scene when I have a spare moment of time; no writing time is wasted!
**BONUS**
11. Revision Mode: I actually just discovered this one not too long ago! Revision mode let’s you go back and revise your novel with different colored text so you can easily see what you’ve changed and when. Such a handy little tool for editing 🙂
Try a FREE 30 day trial of Scrivener and see how you like it! If you’re ready to buy it you can do so here: BUY NOW!
I love to make storyboards on Pinterest when I get an idea for a Novel. It helps me to organize my ideas and thoughts into one place. My storyboards are private to keep the contents and ideas a secret, but I will show you bits and pieces of different ones to give you a good idea of the things I pin in them. So the first thing I do is set up a new board which I name Storyboard: {Name of Novel} or the other way around sometimes; then I hunt for pictures of people that meet the description of my character. I love having a visual of my character to be able to better describe them.
I have another private board on Pinterest called Characters where I pin different pictures of people that I may, or may not use as a character. It makes it simple for me then to go to that board and pin the characters to my storyboards. Clothes that the characters would wear was another thing I added to the storyboard, and how they wore their hair. Also, if you have ever taken the Myers Briggs test to find out your personality (I’m INFP if you were curious ;)) I like to give my characters each a personality type and then use that to find their strengths and weaknesses.
Scenes are another thing I will pin about, so take for example my Storyboard for “Life Unplanned” I have a hospital scene so I pinned different pictures of hospital rooms, the story takes place in Massachusetts so I have tons of pictures of Massachusetts!
Law school was a big part of the novel so I pinned some different Law school things that were relevant like when is admission due, how much does it cost, classes, and so forth to make things as realistic as I possibly can. The characters met for coffee at a sweet little coffee shop that overlooked the town, so what did I do? I found cute little coffee shops in Massachusetts and pinned them, of course 😉 Anything that I could think of that was relevant to my novel I pinned it even quotes that fit the storyline.
A few handy Pinterest boards that I love to keep adding to for when I am stuck and need inspiration are my writing prompts board, Character names, and Inspiration board, and lastly, my plot board which has various information about the most random things.
I’ve seen people doing videos regarding what’s in their backpack, so I thought I would do a blog post instead. These are the essential items I bring with me when I go out to write:
What’s in YOUR backpack?
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We have had an influx of art going on at our house over the last few years, and I am constantly running out of room to put their beautiful drawings. The fridge was getting full and I had to resort to throwing out pieces that had been there for weeks, but, of course, they found them in the garbage and couldn’t believe that I threw away their precious art. We had to find some sort of compromise because hanging pictures on the wall with tape was not an option for me, nor would it even stick to our walls in the first place (we have such odd walls.)
I was able to purchase everything (except the buckets) off of amazon. It was nice to have everything delivered to the house instead of running store to store to get items; especially in the winter! You can buy the buckets off of amazon, but I found them $10 cheaper at oriental trading. The wire and clips that the pictures are hanging off of came from Ikea but I was able to find them on amazon. We are also using the wire and clips in the homeschool room for our alphabet cards!
Our chalkboards took a little time to find because we had a certain amount of space and I needed exact measurements to be able to fit three of them. My original plan was to get a big piece of plywood and a can of chalkboard paint and make it a “fun” DIY project. Well, if there is one thing you should know about me it’s that I am the least crafty person ever. In all honesty, though I am really happy with how it turned out!
The kids love to pull up a chair and draw during the day and it is also beneficial for homeschooling. Somehow making shapes and letters on the chalkboard is WAY more fun to them than on paper; I’ll take it! I love that it’s right by the kitchen so they can draw while I am making dinner in the evenings 🙂
(This picture was before we put the hooks and buckets up the kids were REALLY excited)
Here is a list of exactly what we bought for this project:
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My word this year is brave, I want to be brave and courageous not be fearful of what man can do to me. I want to only fear the Lord. Martin Luther described two different types of fear; FILIAL fear of the Lord means to have respect and reverence to the Lord and have a healthy fear of the consequences of disobeying Him. Think of the respect that a child has for his/her parents. That child fears disobeying their parents, not just because they are scared of punishment, but because they have such respect for them and the thought of hurting them by disobedience is disheartening. SERVILE fear is the fear that martyrs have or those who are tortured and jailed. It’s the fear and anxiety of the harm that they are going to thrust upon you.
Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.”
The Gospel message should be the most beautiful and terrifying message. It is beautiful the undeserved grace and mercy that the Lord shown upon us, but terrifying in the sense of the depth of our sins and the punishment that we deserve for them. Our faith in the Lord will show if we do, or do not, have a healthy relationship with the Lord. How do we respond when things go wrong? Do we whine and complain, or do we turn to the Lord? I struggle with anxiety and know that it is worse when I am not diving into the Word and surrounding myself with the Truth of God’s Word. I worry the most when I listen to the world!
George Muller said The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety.
Obedience will be another evidence of a healthy fear of the Lord. When we are obedient and following the Lord instead of the ways of the world we show our fear of the Lord through that. How do we respond when we sin? Do we go directly to the one who forgives us of our sins or try and hide hoping that we can get away with it? We are silly and foolish to think that God doesn’t see our sins… That alone should strike some sort of fear in us!
I have been told many times that I give up too quickly, and while that is true, I don’t like to admit it. So when I realized that my novella was not making any sense, I gave up. I called it quits and decided that I was no good at this writing thing anymore. So many writers are where they are because they keep pressing forward and not giving up, and I have to realize that I cannot compare my beginning to their middle.
So tonight, after a small break away from my novella, I am looking at it once again with fresh eyes and a new vision. Writing is my passion; something that I love to do. For some, writing comes easy; and for others, like me, it takes some time to develop and conquer those hurdles of self-doubt, frustration, and being overtly cynical. I was so angry at myself for wasting all that time on this completely useless novel when I should have been proud of the accomplishment of actually sticking with it and writing from start to finish!
If you have been following me for any amount of time you would know that I like to change things often (i.e., domain names, and interests). I will stick with something for maybe a year or two and then change it. But, one thing has remained consistent through all those changes… writing. My love of writing has never once dwindled! Once you find that thing that you are passionate about, stick with it and work on improving and polishing your skill. I started taking courses about writing, listening to audio books, and reading blog posts. This is something I enjoy doing and I want to see where I can go with it, but I need to stop telling myself I can’t do it.
Do you feel like your plot has been way overdone and people are sick and tired of reading the same storyline over and over again? That’s exactly how I was feeling the first time around. But, if you take any TV show, movie or book and look at the bare bones of the plot you will realize that most of them are the same they just executed the scheme differently. Think of TV shows that take place in New York with 20-30 something-year-olds, movies where the nerdy girl gets a makeover or the one that I absolutely cannot stand… when they make the father an incompetent moron.
The difference between the story lines in these various plots is a simple question, What if? Let’s look at The Princess Diaries. What if an average girl finds out she’s a princess? Or in My Fair Lady, what if a pompous phonetics professor transforms a Cockney working-class girl into someone who can pass for an experienced member of high society. See how they both are the same, but very different?
What if a husband vanishes and leaves his wife and children behind. This is one example that I have been mulling over the last few days. What if he didn’t leave on purpose? What if he was forced to leave but couldn’t tell his family? What if she gave up hope for ever finding him? What if he did leave on purpose?
Asking myself those what if questions got me thinking, and pondering what would happen if this happened? How would I react in this situation? I even threw questions by Ruben to see how he would respond in a similar situation. I so appreciate my husband’s willingness to listen to my ideas and help me out. He’s given me some great ideas for plots, told me when something seemed not realistic, and helped me out with different conversations between characters.
I have a much clearer picture this time around of how I want this to end up and I am excited to start working on it again. Just need to get over the hurdles of criticism and self-doubt that I face and I am certain many others face. It’s scary to put yourself out there because you are going to get judged once you do. Everyone has an opinion, some good, others not so good.