I've been meaning to do this for some time. Back in mid-spring
I could tell I was approaching a fork in the road, so to speak. Normally I
dawdle, hem and haw, and drag my feet when it comes to decisions. Except for
this time. As I saw the fork approaching, and I made the decision before I got
there. The result? Ever since then my priority has been doing what God would
rather have me do. Thus I've been busy doing everything else first, with negligible
time for my writing, and thats ok. Of the two main projects, and the two side
projects, three were just for me, and one was for God.
You may be asking yourself, How could my God be so selfish
as to demand that a writer put aside her craft and do anything else?
First off, because he gave up his only Son to die,
specifically because of the things I've done, for the off-chance that I'd not
only recognize his gift for me, but that I'd accept said gift.
Secondly, because he didn't ask me to put aside something I
enjoy for something I hate. I put aside my writing, which I didn't do 8 hrs a
day, to do other things I enjoy. My church has been through a rough patch
during the past 4 years. One of the symptoms of the problem, we no longer had
the funds nor ability to put together a VBS. This year we were once again able
to do so. Mid spring a good friend of mine asked her if I'd help her out with
the small area she was responsible. I'd helped in years past, was familiar with
what was required, was able, and wiling. So I dug in, knowing I'd be handling
the lion share, under her direction. Why was I handling most of the work,
because my friend is getting married in Oct, secretary of our church, helping
with translation work for some French Missionaries, helping her brother with
his website, helping her other brother with more translation work, helping with
the typesetting of the Samoan Bible, the Tagalog Bible, and consulting on a
handful of other small projects. In other words, chika muy busy. Eventually,
she handed the rings over to me, which I didn't mind one bit. Oh, also forgot
to mention, she'll be teaching typesetting1 and 2, starting in September.
Thirdly, as I previously mentioned, I didn't spend all day,
everyday writing to begin with. One of my side projects is in collaboration with
another individual who is going through college. Understandably, he's got other
things on his mind. Project # 3 was spurred by a series of short writing
prompts that just fell into place as a story about alien invasion. I do absolutely
no prep work on it. An image shows up, then characters, plot, locations, and dialogue
seem to appear in my word doc. This venture comes in flashes, and is over and
done in under an hour; frequently in a matter of minutes. My second writing
passion is my part in the Niners Shared Universe, aka the Ninerverse. A few
writers from the io9 observationdeck got together and put together this scifi
epic, it has time travel, space travel, cyberspies, military security types,
generation ships, teraforming, and space pirates. My part, The Adventures of
the Scarlet Slash involve the life of a young woman who finds herself between a
plethora of plots to take over the known, and unknown universe. When the
antagonist uses the rules to tilt the balance of power in his direction, she
breaks them with every trick in her bag. I have fun with this story, My protagonist
is a character who's personal motto is "Cut me and I'll cut you back. I'll
also do something else, but where's the fun in telling you what?" Her
story flows like water from a spring. If I took the time to sit down and knock
it out, I could probably get 3 or 4 more chapters in a day or two. However, her
story is only part of a larger plot, and I don't want to steal others thunder
by saving the day in her arc, before you know just who it is she is saving. So
I set it aside, and will probably get back to it soon enough. The last project,
the one that gets the majority of my time, effort, and thoughts, is City of
Walls. This one is my pride and joy, yet while Scarlet flows quickly like water,
this story has by very blood, sweat and tears. For all that I love this story,
it treats me like a red-headed step-child. We come to blows, and I feel like I'm
flailing against a wall. I stumble against writers block, and when I ask for
help or feedback, I get responses for the Scarlet Slash. I know the Ninerverse
tale is the most exciting, but the account of Tara Harris is one that I've been
working on slowly for almost 15 years. Critical moments, characters, the
ending, and beginning is what I started out with. Currently I have fleshed out
the beginning, introduced all the characters, except for two, and hit one of
the five major moments of the story. I try to make this one as hard on the
science as I can. Interestingly, a few of the concepts that I figured were near
future breakthroughs have been achieved, or are on the edge of accomplishment.
Now I find myself in a bit of a conundrum. There is no fork
in the road, nor a spoon, yet all the other tasks that have been taking my time
seem to be complete. VBS is done. I'm not needed to help with many of the ministries
at church any more. My yard is now presentable, since my garden is complete. I
have time again.
So, should I then prepare myself to do battle with my worthy
opponent? I consider this essay, which sits just above 1000 words, a warm up.
Yes Virginia, there will be stories.
