Creativity on the Horizon...

After taking a break from writing, I'm going to start back at it again.  I want to start off by editing "The Shepherdess Princess," and then go to work on another story idea I have for a poetry devotional book based on scriptures taken from the Bible.  The poetry devotional will be a short 30 or 31-day pocket devotional I will talk to my pastor, or the church office about printing up copies to hand out to my local church congregation.

I already have the first verse picked out for it, but have yet to write a poem to go along with it.

I don't know when I'll be able to get back into the swing of things because the next couple of months are already filling up with appointments.  It may be April or May before I can take a breather.

Also, my mom is not doing well.  I am waiting for a phone call from my sister to let me know when to come see her one final time.  We hope she will last through the winter because the roads are impassable where she lives right now.

Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

It has been quite the year!

I ended up in the hospital on Labor Day, and had to have surgery for an abscess on my caboose.  I have been in the local rehab center since September 10th recovering, and receiving wound care.  I won't go home until I'm completely healed.

Today the activity director asked me what I want for Christmas in the event that I am still here.  I replied that I want to be home for Christmas.  I have a lot of friends and family anxious for me to get home, and I am too.  If I am home by Christmas, someone else will get the gift I picked out.

The only reason I am not already completely healed is because we were under quarantine for several weeks, and I was confined to my room for the duration.

I have a couple months worth of appointments I had to cancel while I have been recovering.  I'm looking forward to be able to get them arranged when I get home.

Update November 28, 2018:

I was discharged yesterday, and glad to be home.  I'm taking things slow, and adjusting to being back.

Faith-Based Book Topics in Progress!

I can't seem to stick to one manuscript these days.  I have so many ideas flowing all at once, but they all center around God.  I start one writing project, get a new idea, flesh it out, and have been getting immersed in another topic of interest.

Ideas for novels based on:

• Faith-definition, and my Biblical interpretation of it.
• Trusting God-What the Bible shows me about it, and how God is trustworthy.
• The Holy Spirit-God's connection to His children, and the personalization of the Spirit.

I've recently been given a challenge from a friend at church to write about God's love specifically.  God's love, however, shines through all that I am working on.  Another interest book idea started last year, and put on the back-burner-

• From Beginning to End-How God's Word is lived from Genesis to Revelation.

I've been working on the book about the Holy Spirit mostly lately.  I started a manuscript file on my USB device for it when I first started the project 6 months ago, but most of my notes are in a spiral notebook at this stage, and Bible verses to be spliced in later.  I want to figure out the order, and do some editing/rewriting before I go back to adding it to my computer.


I also have an idea for a book of faith-based short stories that I have written out 4-5 stories so far.

A Change!

So the faith book I started writing, I am now redoing.  I felt like I was taking too many quotes from the book I was using during my faith journey.  I have started writing my own, with my own words and several Bible references.  I called it "Untitled Faith Book #1" for now.  I am keeping the other manuscript on file in reserve because there are things that I wrote in response to another book quote that I may still use in my new one without using any direct quotes from "Believing God" by Beth Moore.


I have several new book ideas I'm going to be fleshing out when I'm done.  They are all a sort of hodgepodge at the moment.  I'm used to working on stories that I outline ahead of time.  This "flying by the seat of my pants" thing is uncomfortable for me, and makes me feel so disorganized.


I deleted the four posts I had on my faith blog pertaining to the book I was writing.  Wish me luck on this new endeavor!

Several New Developments!

I am no longer editing The Shepherdess Princess to get it prepared to send off to an agent.  I will get back to it someday, but it won't be the novel that will get picked up right away.  I am starting work on another project now that will be the one I send off once it's spruced up.  The new novel is called A Personal Journey Through Faith.  I have been sharing some of the chapters in my other blog.  It consists of my Believing God posts, but that will be changed around in the novel itself. 


Some Other Changes...


The Shepherdess Princess is no longer going to be a six-novel historical romance series.  I have narrowed it down to two because I realized the other four novels I planned on was just retelling the original story from different character viewpoints.  The duology will now only be made up of The Shepherdess Princess, and Noble Beginnings.  Those are the only two novels in the series that could stand on their own without being redundant.


I have a file on my computer just for my story ideas.  That list consisted mainly of sci-fi/fantasy type novels along with several romance novels I thought up.  The entire list consisted of fifteen books....It is now down to seven books.  Aside from The Shepherdess Princess and Noble Beginnings, the other five books are faith based. 

Two New Poems!!

I just finished adding to The Trifecta: A Collection of Poetry two new poems.  The first one I'm going to share I started writing on February 17th, and didn't finish until last night.  The second one I wrote on St. Patrick's Day, 2017.  Both are the first poems I have written in almost two years!!!  Here they are:

The Master’s Plan

There is a time for believing,

And a time for receiving

God’s love

Raining down on you from above.

The Master’s plan is not for me to understand.

I know there is safety in the palm of His hands.

The Holy Spirit, He gives as a guide

To all believers worldwide.

Why waste the time I have

With living a life that is drab?

God renews me day by day,

And waits on me to show me the way.

All I have to do is ask,

And in His love I will bask.

I know He wants to bless me more

Than He has ever done in my life before.

A Cross to Bear

There is One person who never gives up

When things get tough.

Jesus is more than enough,

And has also had it rough.

He never wallowed in despair

Too long because he cares

For all who live a life of sin,

And the Father adopts all who believe in Him.

I too have a cross to bear,

But my load I can share

With the One who gave his life,

So I could one day be his wife.

He has been through it all,

And is waiting for my long-distance call

To ask God for His help

When I want to yelp!

The situation is not as bad

When I have my Heavenly Dad

To help me through

Because we are stuck together like glue.

He is worthy of my trust

When I feel like things are bust.

I dwell on the past

While He’s trying to prepare me for a love that lasts.

I keep fighting when I need to give in

Because God is supposed to win.

Faith and trust turns me into us.

God is enough! 

I hope you enjoyed them.  As for other writing, I have new ideas brewing about how I can bulk up The Shepherdess Princess before it is ready to send off to more agents.  I have a couple of months before the next grant application I have to work on comes around, so I think I may have to start filling my time with working on my novel some more.  Stay tuned!

I have been having some health problems lately, so that's been taking up a lot of my time the last couple of weeks,  I still have another week full of appointments to sort some things out.

I thought I should update my readers before 2016 ends...

My writing has gone by the wayside where The Shepherdess Princess is concerned.  I want to revise it some more before I send it off to the final three possible agents on my list.  I have been wanting to go back to working on my manuscript, but other stuff takes priority first.

I am still writing, of sorts...

I'm looking for grants for a family friend to start a homeless shelter in my hometown.  The grant applications I've applied for on her behalf have been misses, so I'm still searching for grants coming out in 2017. She hasn't raised any money towards opening the shelter through grant funds yet, but there is a donation jar that she put out at her place of business for anybody who wants to donate to the shelter project.

I have one potential grant application to turn in come July 2017 that could give her all the funding she needs to open up.  It is so far off that in the meantime I will be looking for grant applications due earlier in the year.  February or March is the earliest I'm pushing for because that will give me all the time I need to get all the additional paperwork that gets included in the grant applications attachments.

Not much new has been going on since my last update.  I can't believe Christmas is just a few days away, and the year is ending so soon.

Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year to all!