by Roseanna White | Sep 13, 2012 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
At the beginning of August,
I blogged about the trip we took to Texas and how it opened the door for us to start teaching our kids about volunteering and helping others wherever they see a need. Well, when we got home we talked to our church about starting a monthly day of service in our area, and now we’re happy to see that coming to fruition.
We’re going to start small, with trash pick-up at a local park. Also planned are things like caroling at the local assisted living facilities in December and helping at the food pantry in November. All things we can bring the kids along for, and hopefully brighten a few days.
To make it all official, my hubby dearest is making
t-shirts for the occasion, and so we started trolling the web for some great quotes on helping others. We ended up with this one:
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| Quote, obviously, from Einstein. Design by Roseanna. Blinding t-shirt color that I didn’t quite capture here chosen by my hubby 😉 |
But we found so many great quotes, that I just wanted to share the ones that most struck me. My favorite was the MLK one, but it was just too long:
“Everybody can be great. Because anybody can
serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t
have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve…. You don’t
have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve.
You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love. ” ~Martin Luther King, Jr.
And some other great ones . . .
“Service is the rent we pay for being.” ~ Marian Wright Edelman
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” ~ Anne Frank
“Do all the good you can, and make as little fuss about it as possible.” ~ Dickens
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” ~ Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.” ~ Dickens
“Many small people, in many small places, do many small things, that can alter the face of the world.” ~ Anonymous
“To do more for the world than the world does for you – that is success.” ~ Henry Ford
Personally, I think these are some great things to be keeping in mind as I prepare for the ACFW conference next week. This year, my prayer for the conference is that I might be a blessing. I don’t know how better to start on that goal than to put aside thoughts of me. And think of you instead.
by Roseanna White | Sep 12, 2012 | Remember When Wednesdays, Uncategorized
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| The Apothecary by Pietro Longhi, 1752 |
One of the things I’ve always enjoyed reading in historical novels, and now weaving into my own, is when the author describes a condition that we know the name for, but which hadn’t been a recognized diagnosis at the time.
For example, in the awesomely fantabulous and breathtaking Love’s Reckoning by Laura Franz that I just finished, one of the characters falls and smacks her head and is then plagued by debilitating headaches for months afterward. We know that she had a concussion. They just knew she was pained again and needed headache powders.
Similarly, I have a character in
Ring of Secrets who history describes as having “black moods” and “bouts of anxiousness.” He was aware of this within himself and tried to offset it, but he couldn’t control it. Today, we know this would be some form of depression, perhaps even bipolar disease. I obviously took a few liberties with describing these bouts of this historical figure, since he didn’t exactly document his day-by-day life with his condition–and as I read through my galleys of
Ring of Secrets for the first time the last two days, I had to smile at this guy. My best friend/critique partner commented when she first read his chapters, “Wow. That kind of nerves seem like a bad idea for a spy…”
So very true. And therefore a trait I wouldn’t have thought to give him, I think. But that one was all truth, and it was just up to me to explore how he may have balanced that with the espionage “business” to which he was called.
And, go figure, I’m doing something similar in
Whispers from the Shadows. I’ve talked before, I think, about how my heroine is experiencing extreme sleep deprivation in the first half of the book. Studies have been done on insomnia now, of course, but the extremes are still shrouded in mystery because it’s too dangerous to mess around with. Still, we have words like “panic attack” and “night terror” to describe some of the side effects. Words not around in 1814. So obviously, I get to find other words to expound on her experiences.
But you know, though the vocabulary hadn’t been developed yet, the observations were still there. Plenty of people had talked about “black moods,” though they had no treatment for it. And my hero in book 2, a brig’s captain, thinks how he’s seen plenty of terrible consequences of sleeplessness during his days on the open water, has heard tales of the trauma it can produce.
And always, discovering what they knew at certain points of the past, how they would have treated it, and what they would have called what are everyday conditions now remains a challenge to learn and a lot of fun to include. =)
Now back I go to galleys! I need to try to squeeze two more reads in before I send this baby back. =)
by Roseanna White | Sep 7, 2012 | Uncategorized
I wanted to share with y’all a fun writing challenge hosted by my best friend over on Go Teen Writers. But unlike all her other contests, this one is open for all ages! Yay!
Rather than a see-how-many-words-you-can-write challenge, or a finish-a-book-in-a-month deal, this one’s goal is simply to get your rear in your writing chair EVERY day. The goal? 100 words. For how long? 100 days. Hence…
It doesn’t sound like much–you can write 100 words in about 10 minutes. But at the end of the 100 days, that’s a guaranteed 10,000 words in the manuscript you’re working on! Plus, that rear-in-chair thing can just get you rolling toward more.
For the full set of rules, visit Go Teen Writers. I’ll just take the time here to let you in on the prizes you’re entered to win if you complete the challenge.
First, a 10,000 critique of your manuscript. And second, this awesome necklace from Inspired Novelties, made especially for writers–the “What’s Your Story” necklace. (Critique is open to any English-writing author. Necklace to US addresses only.)
Most importantly, you have to sign up my Monday, September 10–so no dawdling! Hie thee over to Go Teen Writers and fill out the form!
by Roseanna White | Sep 6, 2012 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
7 But we were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children. 8 So,
affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you
not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had
become dear to us.
~ I Thessalonians 2:7-8
I read these verses the other day as part of my daily reading, and they hit me pretty forcefully. Paul here is talking about how they as sharers of the gospel behaved among the Thessalonians. And as a young mom, this analogy rings so, so true.
“As a nursing mother cherishes her own children.” I nursed two kids in the past almost-seven years, and let me just tell you that when you’re doing so, absolutely everything you do revolves around that. I chose my clothes based on my kids. Dresses? Too difficult to manage. Delicate necklaces? Ha! No way, no how. Chunky belts? Forget it–they would dig into the little one. I chose my food based on my kids. Too much caffeine? No, that could make its way into the milk supply. Certain foods that I ate could give them gas. Go out to lunch without the baby? It had better be carefully scheduled in those 2-3 hours I had between feedings.
But you know, it wasn’t a difficulty. It was just the way things were. It was what I did because I love my kids and had made that decision for them. Because I love them so much I would give them my life if they needed it, so what was a dress or a favorite necklace or a third cup of coffee?
What nursing a child comes down to is your life not being your own. It revolves around them. We think not for ourselves, but for our baby. And that’s the way we’re supposed to behave toward those we’re nurturing in the Lord too?
Ouch.
I do try to consider such things as my witness, my appearance, whether my faith is shining through my words and deeds. But to that extent? I don’t know that I have. And that really makes me pause and consider.
You know when my hubby and I get into fights? When we’re both focused on our own wants and desires rather than the other’s. You know when the kiddos frustrate me most? When they wrap both hands around their wills and cling. You know when I bet the Lord shakes his head at us? Yep. When our thoughts are filled with me, me, me instead of Him.
Instead of them.
He calls us to a beautiful thing. He calls us to nurturing His other children. He calls us to a love that is selfless and pure. More, a love that is natural. All He’s asking us is to let our transformed hearts guide us in our ministerial relationships. To not let that be overpowered by our selfish sides.
But you know, it can also be painful. It can tax the body, the mind. And if they push you away? Oh yeah, the pain can get pretty bad. We see that in some of Paul’s letters, don’t we? His agony when these young Christians he helped convert, who he is trying so hard to nurture in faith, reject his teaching.
That’s the way we ought to feel. Not just shrugging it off, but seeking after them. Drawing them close again.
I always love when I discover a facet of God revealed through the way He built families, and this is definitely one of those. He loves us…and calls us to love in return. Such a simple command in its essence–but far too often overlooked in this world that tells us to focus on ourselves.
by Roseanna White | Sep 5, 2012 | Remember When Wednesdays, Uncategorized
Last week my editor emailed me to say, “Don’t scream, but we need a description for Book 3 of your Culper Ring series. Nothing that will be set in stone, just for planning purposes. I know it’s really early, but can you get that to us in the next month?”
Well, as it happens, I had Book 3 tentatively planned out before I had Book 2. 😉 And now that I’ve nailed it down a little more, I’ve turned to giving some thought to names. As always, I need help! LOL.
So here’s my hero. My original thought was Shade, which is, believe it or not, a perfectly normal name for a guy during the Civil War era (when the book takes place). But I got a lot of comments on Facebook about how people would question that, sooo… I’m considering other possibilities, and I would love more input.
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| Colin Farrell is pretty close to how I’m envisioning this guy |
First, a little about this guy. He’s a tough dude. Where my first hero in the Culper Series is socially awkward and best known for his intelligence, where the second hero is a people person in the extreme with an innate ability to know what people most need, this third hero is going to be my brooder. He’ll be able to put on an affable face–which he’ll have to do a lot–in company, but he’s a man haunted by all that went wrong in life. A twin, he was always the bad brother. The one in trouble, the mean one. The one that superstitious folk would have dubbed “the evil twin” in previous generations. But right around the time the South starts succeeding, he comes to the Lord and turns his life around. Joins the Pinkertons as a tribute to the man who mentored him (yeah, just totally pulled that part out of my hat this very moment), and makes his family proud. His brother, however, infuriates them by claiming the South had every reason to do what they had done. Always at odds, these two are now outright hostile…which eventually, toward the end of the war, culminates in the “good” brother trying to assume our hero’s personality and join a secret Southern society, the Knights of the Golden Circle. (Brother thinks that the bad boy persona of his twin will better suit his purposes…and he hopes that if there’s any fallout, it lands squarely on hero’s shoulder.)
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| What he’d be wearing |
Long story short, the brother ends up dead somehow or another before the book starts, and the hero, as part of a Pinkerton investigation, picks up where bro left off with the KGC. Which means he’s assuming his brother’s assumed identity–his own name. (Confusing enough? LOL. And that’s all the backstory, the stuff we’ll learn in chapter 1!) Now to figure out what that name should be. I want something a little hard, with a bit of a bite to it. Hence why I liked that long “a” and hard “d” in Shade. But other options:
Helmsey
Simeon
Slade
Slader
Matthias
Derius
Solomon
Josiah
Marsellus
(All those are pulled from 1860 Maryland Census records, so no fears of accuracy) From that list, I think my favorite is Slade, which obviously has a similar sound to my original name, but is an old old English surname that could logically be given to a son whose mother had been a Slade.
Preferences? Other suggestions?
by Roseanna White | Aug 30, 2012 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), 10 finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. 11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. 13 But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. 14 Therefore He says:
“Awake, you who sleep,
Arise from the dead,
And Christ will give you light.”
15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
I read this section of Ephesians 5 over a week ago, for the umpteenth time. Before, it was those first verses I quote that always struck me. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light…
Walk as children of light. What a command! I love the constant imagery in the New Testament of light versus darkness, of being the light, reflecting the light, living the light. (Y’all might remember my post on how we should shine…). It’s something I’ve thought about and talked about a lot because, well, it’s just so powerful. So deep. So thought-provoking. It’s always struck a chord.
But this last time when I read this chapter, it was verses 15 and 16 that slammed me. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Did you catch that? That bit about redeeming the time? I never had. When I pondered redemption before, it was always as something we received, that beautiful gift of Christ. He redeemed us. That means he saved us from death. Literally purchased our life with his own. According to dictionary.com, this is the technical definition of “redeem”:
1. to buy or pay off; clear by payment: to redeem a mortgage.
2. to buy back, as after a tax sale or a mortgage foreclosure.
3. to recover (something pledged or mortgaged) by payment or other satisfaction: to redeem a pawned watch.
4. to exchange (bonds, trading stamps, etc.) for money or goods.
5. to convert (paper money) into specie.
Understanding how that applies to our souls is big. Huge. But it’s used differently here. Here we are not the redeemed…we are the redeemer.
Yikes. I don’t think I ever paused to realize before the sheer responsibility Paul is showing us here. That we are the redemption of our time, of our age. Though surrounded by evil, we are to buy our neighbors more time to learn the Good News. We’re to be those ten righteous men in Sodom that would have stayed judgment. We’re to be the David for the sake of whom the nation isn’t forsaken.
We’re to be the light that staves off the darkness.
Of course it comes back to that. 😉 That is, after all, the instruction on how to redeem the times. On what it looks like when we walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise. But I’ll no longer read that as a simple command to do–now I also see the inherent why.
Because we don’t shine into the darkness to light our own way. We shine in the darkness to draw others to Him. We shine to show the Truth to those trapped in the dim, dim cave (thank you, Plato). We shine because without us the days would be night, and there would be no reason for God to withhold His judgment from the world.
But the world isn’t ready to be destroyed. And it’s up to us to buy it a little more time. To pay with ourselves, just as Jesus did for us. To give our lives to this walk, this Way, this fight, so that just one more souls can see the path. Can be bought and forgiven. Can be redeemed.
Can then join the ranks of those redeeming. It’s a call to action, that charge. A purpose. One that changes the way I see that dark, evil world around me. Not just as something deserving destruction–but as something that needs to be saved from it.
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.