A Thousand Years

I have two things to tell today. The first is that I've been reading this book about Astronaut Rick Husband who died on the Columbia when it was returning to earth. In the book it said that he decided to let God lead his life and he would only pursue being an astronaut if it was what God wanted. Well I got to thinking about my life, and how the world tells me I have to be this and that and do this and that to be accepted, even loved. I was really struggling with doubts that this story was really what God wanted me to focus on right now. For days, maybe weeks, I've been asking Him to show me where He wants me to go and everything comes back to the story or my songwriting. It's hard for even me to believe it, but this must be what He wants. It's so easy to say that God wouldn't want someone to sit at home writing a story that will never be published officially. It seems so contradictory to all the voices around me that yell "Get a job!" or "Go to school!", usually both. Then I read the devotion for today from "Jesus Calling": "Stop judging and evaluating yourself, for this is not your role. Above all, stop comparing yourself with other people. This produces feelings of pride or inferiority; sometimes, a mixture of both. I lead each of My children along a path that is uniquely tailor-made for him or her. Comparing is not only wrong; it is also meaningless. Don't look for affirmation in the wrong places: your own evaluations, or those of other people. The only source of real affirmation is My unconditional Love..." I guess the point that I am making is that God knows better than anyone what He can do with my life and many times where He leads is the exact opposite of where everyone else wants you to go. That is part of the challenge of following Him. We already know He thinks opposite to us, so why is it so shocking that He is leading me in the opposite direction from where everyone else is telling me to go?

The second thing I want to share is how God is secretly writing this story. I am the conduit through which His beauty can flow. On the way home from our church's Ash Wednesday service I heard this song on the radio called "A Thousand Years". It made me think of Jesus and how He loved us long before we existed. It's been in my heart ever since then and just this morning I sat back with a cup of tea and listened to it. I had just prayed that God would impart His words into my story because I knew He could write something much more beautiful than I could. As I listened to the song a scene for the story came into my mind that was so beautiful and perfect and I wished that I was a filmmaker so I could share this visually with everyone. I won't go into detail, but let's just say I believe He answered my prayer. =)

Majoris Panis en de Arsus

This was such a great idea I had, but now it requires me to actually know stuff about stuff. Um...that may be a problem. Fortunately, we live in the Age of Information! With Wikipedia at hand and anything I want to know accessible via Google, I shouldn't have a problem putting this into motion. I just have to do the mental grunt work.

Um

Yesterday I had a great idea for how to improve my story goal. It doesn't really change it, it just makes it a bit more specific and should help me to write a more engaging plot. Yay!

Summary

I found a guide to help me form a plot outline and make a summary so things are definitely looking up now! I still have tons of brainstorming to do, but one thing at a time. I had a great idea for how to choose a character name for Part 2 in the middle of the night last night so I'm excited about that. By the way, what is it with Part 2 butting in all the time?!

Not There Yet

Still not happy with the story goal. It's still so...boring. -_-

Understanding God

Over the last four days I've been taking tons of notes on all the aspects of forming a plot and here's what I have figured out so far.

Down One Main Character
I was going to have two main characters, a boy and a girl. I wanted to tell both their stories equally so readers of both genders would be able to identify with it. However, as I started looking into it, I realized that may not be possible. A lot of the scenes are depicted with Marie alone. She's typically the one being followed because her life is in some parts derived from mine. Alex lives in Georgia and is only interacted with through letters. So it's not possible for me to make their "screen time" even. I am also considering calling the book "Marie", as least as a working title, and I clearly can't just leave out the other main character from the title. That brings up the issue of titles.

Choosing a Title
Because I'm already planning to do a series, I need to have titles that go with each other. Naming the book "Marie" would work well if, say, the second book was titled "Sarah" and the third "Alex", but that is far from the direction I want to go. I have never been good at choosing titles, so this may prove difficult.

Developing the Plot
My biggest issue so far has been the plot. The articles I've found have been unbelievably helpful, yet I can't seem to get past setting a goal for the protagonist. This is because a Christian lives life differently from most people. There are several goals that a Christian has that are not tangible, but spiritual. These are:

• Surrender to God's will 
• Sharing the Good News
• Shrugging off sin

In essence, God leads our steps, yet we still have choices to make that determine some of those steps. This comes down to understanding freewill and God's ability to turn bad choices into good.

In some ways I can relax and just go by whatever a Christian is supposed to do. I live it, or try to, so that shouldn't be too hard. Or is it? You see I have to determine what God would choose for Marie and I am a far cry from God! Here is my greatest challenge and I haven't even gotten to the book describing heaven or the new earth. #Headache

My Plan
I'm going to look up some testimonials and read stories in the Bible and try to get a sense of how God works in people's lives. He's still such a mystery to me, but I know there is a method to His ma--um...majesty? ;-)

Stop the Presses!

I'm going to suspend the actual writing of my story until I can figure out exactly where I want to go with this. The plot needs to be much, much better--as in I actually need to have one. I know where I want the characters to end up, but it's something that happens to them, not something they can chase after. So I have to give them some sort of mission, something that compels them to action, to give the book a reason for being told. Otherwise it's just a series of daily events that have no real significance. I have a lot of thinking to do.

I'm starting with this website called Daily Writing Tips that has a lot of great information and resources to help writers understand what makes a book worth reading. We know when we love a book, but why? What are the mechanics of a good story?

Things to think about.