by Roseanna White | Mar 7, 2013 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
In our home school reading yesterday, we were reading the continued tale of the life of a Prussian missionary to England, George Müller. In the part of the story we got to, he had just gotten married to the sister of a British missionary, and together they had made a decision to abolish pew rents in their church–which meant their living went from guaranteed to based on the goodwill of their tiny congregation.
One night, all the food in the house was gone. But George and Mary set the table anyway. They sat down at the dinner hour. They held hands, and they prayed. Not asking God for food–but rather, thanking Him for all he had provided. Thanking Him.
Minutes after their prayer had ended, someone showed up at their door with a whole ham.
That story traveled with me throughout the day. When it comes to this life of ours, it’s so easy to focus on what we lack. The things we don’t have. The empty places. Sometimes, that’s all we can see. It surrounds us. It defines us.
Lack can be such a solid thing. Think about it: what’s the absence of light? Darkness. What’s the absence of heat? Cold.
Things that are literally nothing in themselves, yet their counterparts are so crucial to us that we feel their absence as a physical thing. And the same applies to things like wealth, food, clothing, cars, houses…all those other things. It applies too to family, friends, churches, school, education.
Things we, as human beings, crave. Need. And when we don’t have them, we feel it.
But George Müller taught me something today. He taught me that I shouldn’t just pray for the empty places to be filled. I should praise Him for having them. I should praise the Lord my God for taking away what I don’t need. I should praise Him for giving me life enough to want. I should praise him for being bigger than a lack, for being the eternal Being that is never absent.
And I should pray knowing that all those empty places…they’re just potential, waiting for Him. They’re just Him sweeping clean so He can give me what I really need. Because how could He, if I’d filled with junk the places He wanted to fill with promise? If the Müllers had scavenged for moldy bread, why would God have sent a feast?
What plates are we filling today with garbage, just to have something, when we should be waiting for Him to provide the right thing?
Lack will never be easy. It’s not meant to be. Not many people in this world ever seek it. But it finds us, in one form or another, always. There is always something more we want. Some hole we see in our lives. Some empty place.
But let’s try doing it like the Müllers did. Let’s set the table anyway. Let’s sit down together, join hands, and praise Him. Praise Him not just for what He will provide, but for the empty places just waiting for Him.
by Roseanna White | Mar 6, 2013 | Uncategorized
Happy Wednesday, everyone!
I just got home yesterday from my first annual writing retreat with my super-awesome best friend/critique partner, Stephanie Morrill, and we had a totally awesome time. We both logged over 35,000 words in our long weekend of nothing-but-writing!
I got cuddled in at home well before the big snow hit, but now it’s puttin’ it down out there, and I promised my kiddos a snow day. Figure that’s a good way for me to ease back into the home school schedule. 😉
BUT–a few links had to be passed along anyway. =) First of all, the aforementioned super-friend Stephanie’s first book is FREE on Kindle and Nook! Please download and pass along the links! This is the first of her young adult series, which is wonderful. I read and loved them all (several times, LOL), and the timing is perfect, as her next book will be out soon. =)
Also courtesy Stephanie and Jill Williamson is a new writing craft book on turning your first draft into a publishable novel–the only craft book I’ve ever read all the way through, LOL. It’s priced to sell, so check it out too!
Happy snow day! Now back to reality I go. I have a feeling I won’t be writing 10,000 words today, LOL.
by Roseanna White | Mar 4, 2013 | Word of the Week
Very quick one this week, as I’m still on my writing retreat. =) (And have gotten over 20K written in just two days!) In quick research while writing, I learned something interesting about file.
I think I was looking to see if a file folder would have been around in 1865. So in looking up file, I discovered this:
file (n.1)
1520s, “string or wire on which documents are strung,”
Say what? Strings? Wires? Apparently yes. It comes from the notion of documents being strung up like clothes on a clothes line for safekeeping. The verb entry even had this lovely 17th century quote:
File (filacium) is a threed or wyer, whereon writs, or other exhibits in courts, are fastened for the better keeping of them. [Cowel, “The Interpreter,” 1607]
As www.etymonline.com goes on to say, “Methods have become more sophisticated, but the word has stuck.”
See, you learn something new every day. 😉
by Roseanna White | Feb 28, 2013 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
Well, it is nearly time for the event I’ve been counting down to since last June–a writing retreat with my best friend/critique partner! We’re renting a cabin, settling down with our laptops, and taking three whole days (and two partial ones) to do nothing but WRITE! Heaven!!
That’s tomorrow. Today I need to get everything ready, LOL. Kinda short on time!
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Peek of just a corner of the
cover for the free novella! |
Which, of course, is when a new project comes along. =) A fun one, but one that can’t be put off. I’m working with Harvest House on a free novella that takes place between
Ring of Secrets and
Whispers from the Shadows. We’re all very excited about it, and it needs to be turned in (cover, edits, etc) by tomorrow–and included in it we need a title for a
second free story that was just brought up yesterday. So I’m scrambling to come up with a plot so that I can title it, LOL.
Any ideas? Anyone? 😉 I know the setting is 1835 and who the characters are, a basic plot. Title still eluding me…
So I’d better spend my few free minutes working on that. I know you’ll understand. 😉
But don’t forget to check out the
Colonial Quill, where I took my spy-name game yesterday! And also up today is a post I put together for
Go Teen Writers asking some of the CBA’s top editors how they got into their jobs and what they love/hate about it. It’s a fun one!
by Roseanna White | Feb 27, 2013 | 17th-19th Centuries, Remember When Wednesdays
My totally awesome fashion book sadly doesn’t have much on men for the 1860s, so I’ve been trolling the internet while writing Circle of Spies. And you know what I’ve found? That the variety of fashions for men in 1865 gives me some awesome freedom. =)
My first choice was in figuring out what kind of hat my hero wears. I know this seems small, but his opening scene is him getting off the train and waiting for the villain to arrive, and he’s all brooding and silent and stuff, and I didn’t to visualize him just so. So what hat did he wear? Top hat? Bowler? Straw boater thingy? Just look at these choices!
I decided that Slade Osborne wears a bowler. I at first had him in a top hat, but…nope. Just can’t do it. He’s a bowler man, for sure and certain.
Men’s coats came in a variety of lengths and styles too, with differing collar widths. Sometimes gents would only button the top button of their coat, so as to show off their waistcoat (vest). Cravats had some variation too. Notice in the picture below the man is wearing trousers, shirt, vest, frock coat, and over coat. The outermost coat would come off inside, leaving frock coat on.
Slade wears a knee-length frock coat, quite fashionable, but only because someone else commissioned his clothes for him. I kind of wonder what he would have chosen for himself… 😉
Then, goodness, I had to decide on facial hair! I’ve never really had many heroines with facial hair at all (except for Xerxes, who had a full beard because, well, he did, LOL. Historically, that is. But for Slade, the image of Collin Ferrell I’d based him on featured a goatee. So in my mind, that’s what he had. In trying to ascertain if this was time-accurate, I looked up the word–check. Fine for the time. But did that mean it was popular? Well, what I love about 1865 is that there are pictures everywhere! I just opened one of my books on Baltimore during the Civil War, found a photo of a huge group of men, and studied their moustaches and beards, LOL. And, yep, I found several goatees!
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| Not that this is precisely a goatee, but I’m looking online now instead of in my book, LOL |
So there we have it. Slade Osborne wears a bowler, a knee-length frock coat, carries a pocket watch, has a goatee. But my favorite part about him is his demeanor. Where Bennet in
Ring of Secrets is a social bumbler who far prefers his chemistry laboratory…where Thad in
Whispers from the Shadows is amiable, personable, and adventurous, with a keen intuition about what people most need…well, Slade is brooding, silent, and has learned firsthand the price of betrayal. But oh, the things he can say with his mouth firmly shut! Yep, he’s a fun one. =)
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.