A Melodious Sonnet

Writing Journal: Day 2

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Day 2: Thursday, 24 February

Current draft: Garland of Praise
Today’s starting word count: 46,304 words
Time worked last session: 1 hour 10 minutes (total time so far: 1 hour 10 minutes)
Today’s goals:

  • Bronze: 1 hour editing
  • Silver: 1 1/2 hours editing
  • Gold: 2 hours editing

Goal level achieved last session: Silver (1 hour spent editing)

I had grand hopes for the last two weeks in the writing sphere. As far as I knew, they were mostly “blank” weeks—some garden work perhaps, but nothing too major. Even though it was the busiest part of summer, I thought I’d be able to squeeze a bit of time in, surely.

Well . . . that didn’t happen. We had company for a while (which I loved), and the tomato harvest started with a bang. Honestly, I’ve had to fight some discouragement over the distractions away from the computer. And the few times when I could have stolen half an hour or an hour to work on it, my brain refused to even try to cooperate. But despite the discouragement, I’m back. It wasn’t the time to be working on it then, but it is now.

On day one, I managed to find all the puzzle pieces of this story and get it compiled into one cohesive whole. I didn’t have time to go beyond that and actually start the editing process, but that will happen today, Lord willing. My plan at first—to ease myself into the editing process—is to read through the entire thing, and take as many notes as I possibly can.

This story is still little more than a short story in my mind, although judging by the word count above, it’s a full-length novella! I’ll be interested to watch that word count over the next few weeks, to get a feel for how much I add or take away from the story. If I were honest, I’d hope that it will go down. I know there’s some fluff in here—not nearly as much as in some of my other stories, thankfully, but still some. 

After I do the full read-through, I’ll probably take some time to go over all my brainstorming notes, and see if there’s anything I missed—anything that needs to be put back in here. But that time will come.

For now, I’ve been given the precious gift of a few hours this afternoon to get some work done on this long-overdue project, and I’m grateful. Two weeks off or no, I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next.

An Entry in my Writing Journal

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A number of years ago, I mentioned following along with Shawn Smucker’s The Making of a Story. I found his encouragement and honesty refreshing, and it inspired me in my own writing journey. This year, he’s doing something similar—but this time in video format. Again, I’m inspired.

Over the years, I’ve written a lot. Starting with short stories in my school years, I soon progressed to novels, and although I haven’t gotten a huge number of those under my belt (I think I’m up around five by now, including a collection of short stories), I feel like I’ve learned some of the necessary rules around how to write. How to take what’s in my head and put it onto paper, how to figure out my stories, and string them together to make some sense, and, perhaps, something about how to plan them. I’ve got heaps to learn there, but as far as writing goes—as far as getting the first draft down—I feel like I’ve made good progress learning the craft.

But editing. Oh, editing is my nemesis. Some people love it, and hate the first draft experience—give me a first draft any day, and I’ll happily plug away at that for months, or years, if need be!

So . . . I’ve decided to try to tackle this enemy of mine. I’m joining the Author Olympics again this year. They’ve been going for several years, and this group of writers is super encouraging and inspiring! My goal for these next two weeks is to try to make a significant dent in one of my first drafts.

Yesterday, I pulled out an old draft to begin working on it. And today, I thought it would be fun to share with you my writing journal entry from yesterday. Welcome to this writer’s life!

This picture was part of my inspiration for the story I’m now working on editing. Photo courtesy of Khanh Steven on Unsplash.

Monday, 8 February – Day 1

Current Draft: Garland of Praise
Starting word count: 46,304 words
Today’s Author Olympics Goals:

  • Bronze: spend 30 min. editing
  • Silver: spend 1 hr. editing (finished with silver)
  • Gold: spend 1 1/2 hr. editing

Up to this point, I have learned how to successfully write stories—what it takes to sit down, chase the muse, and find a way to put what’s in my head onto the page.

Today, and for the next month, I am attempting to do the opposite with God’s help—I will be practicing taking what has already been written, and polishing it up into something worthy of sharing with others.

To be honest, it’s a daunting process. I’m planning on only giving myself one day at a time to look at it—one moment at a time, if need be, otherwise I will get too bogged down in details and fear of what might happen if I don’t get it right. “There’s always a third and fourth draft,” I tell myself frequently. “You don’t have to get it absolutely perfect the first time.”

I think one thing I dread is getting to the point where I’ve seen other writers—ones who have not published much—get mired in drafts 16 or 17 layers deep. That seems like the worst of all possibilities to me. I don’t want to go there.

But I also dread not doing enough. Lord, give me wisdom.

Today, I’m going to be pulling all the old writings out of my folders, and compiling them into a new file dedicated to the project. Once done, I’ll update the current word count number at the top of this entry. While that isn’t a direct indication of what’s going on in the draft, in the longrung, I think it will be a helpful metric to see how I’m doing overall.

This story was written over a longer period than I remembered initially. I started writing in September 2018 and finished in July 2019. My impression of the work was that it took 3-4 months to complete, but obviously, I was wrong. I also believe this is one of the most-brainstormed stories I have ever written. Aside from perhaps my most recent novel, this short story had several weeks of preparation before I ever started writing the first draft. Due to the length of time from start to finish, and the fact that I typically wrote only 1-200 words per day on the project, I’m sure I’ll find plenty of loopholes, missing information, and scenes that don’t need to be there.

After collating all the different bits of this story, I’m planning to read through it in its entirety, taking notes as I go as to what I think needs to be done to it. If I have any ideas for how to improve or tighten the story, I’ll jot those down too. I’m expecting this process to take several days in and of itself.

So far, I’m feeling optimistic. From my memory, this is one of the better stories I’ve written—keeping my attention up until I got to the end—and it’s also one of the tighter ones I’ve done. We’ll see if memory holds true! If it does, this may not require as much work as some of the other drafts!

Well, we’ll see how it goes from here. I was hoping to get to editing today—and expected I would yesterday—but several unexpected things happened today, so that didn’t happen. And tomorrow, I’ve got work, with company coming in the evening, so we’ll see if I can squeeze any time in.

What creative pursuits are you trying to incorporate more into your life? What could you deliberately be working on practicing now, even if it’s hard?

January’s Book List + 2022 Reading Goals

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I thought it would be fun to share with you the books I’m planning to read this month! Unfortunately, the month is already partially over, so I guess I should probably name this post “January and February’s Book List”, but anyway. . . .

So far this year, I’ve finished reading two books (one shorter, one longer) and while that can often be the extent of my month’s reading, I’m expecting I’ll get another two or maybe even three in by the end of the month if I keep up my current pace. I’m delighted! I’m loving the extra time I’ve had to read lately!

My goals for the year are similar to last year’s, although I’ve tried to dream a little bigger this year. Last year at this time, I was worn out—physically and emotionally—and my reading suffered because of that, I believe. Still, the Lord was gracious, and I’m so thankful for the progress I saw last year!

This year’s reading goals:

  1. Read and review 50 books
  2. Read 20 physical books (I default to Kindle books FAR too easily!)
  3. Read 10 nonfiction books (this is a hard one for me, but I think audiobooks may be the way to go)
  4. Read 3 classical books

I think that the last one has me the most excited. There are so many excellent old books out there that I’d love to read, and it’s hard to know which one to pick first! Currently, my mental list includes Parnassus on Wheels (Anne Bogel recommended it, and it sounds fun), Gulliver’s Travels, and Persuasion (I’ve listened to the audiobook before, but want to read it again—it’s one of my favorite Austen titles!). I’d also love to read more Dickens, George MacDonald, and have always dreamed of reading more by Tolstoy. We’ll see. I’m only going to focus on getting in three books for now, and we’ll see how that goes!

My January Book List:

Focusing on my second goal, I gathered together the books I’d love to read in this next month plus. In no particular order. . . .

Fire in the Sky by Shirley Corlett: Mom read this to us years ago, and I found it to be a fascinating historical fiction retelling of a tragedy that struck the North Island in 1886, when a volcano erupted.

The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis: I started reading this series over a year ago, but didn’t get past the first two books. I’m hoping to finish this year.

Lifting up the Downcast by Patrick Sookhdeo: A friend gave me this book, and I thought I should try to get through it. I’ve found it quite encouraging, and a surprisingly quick read!

Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift: Since we have a copy in-print, I thought this would be a great one to start my classics list with. I’ve heard dramatized audio versions of it before, but have always wanted to actually read it.

Barefoot by Sharon Garlough Brown: This has been on my TBR list for almost a year now. I greatly appreciated the first two books, and just got her next release, which will be coming out in April. Before I read that, though, I want to get this one and the next one in the series read—so this will be a priority book for me.

The Authenticity of the Book of Genesis by Bill Cooper: A friend loaned me this book several years ago (gulp), and every time I’ve tried reading it, I’ve found myself bogged down taking notes because it’s just so interesting. This time, I’m planning to try to streamline the note-taking process, and hopefully, I will actually get through it! This will likely take longer than a month and a half to get through, but it is one I plan on starting to read soon.

And that’s what I have so far! If I get books coming in for review in the meantime, this list will likely change, but this is what I’m looking at at the moment. I know that at some stage, I’ll be working with an author on some of her books, but I don’t know when that will start. For the meanwhile, I’m enjoying being surrounded by good words.

What are you currently reading? What are you looking forward to reading?

Banana Passionfruit Jelly/Jam

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Last weekend, we had the delight of going over to the east coast to visit friends in Cheviot and Kaikoura—the areas I spent my eight most formulative years. It was so good to be back, to see all the familiar landscape that still feels like home even though it hasn’t been for nearly four years now.

I didn’t manage to take a single picture while we were there—just soaked up the time with friends who are almost family. But it was wonderful. God is so good!

We didn’t bring a lot back with us, aside from lovely memories and several chilly bins (coolers) of wild cherries that we picked one afternoon. But one thing my brothers did pick up while we were there was several bags of banana passionfruit!

Like most other passionfruit, I assume, banana passionfruit is a vine, and in this country, it tends to be something of an invasive weed, taking over large blocks of forestland where it grows wild. It’s illegal to distribute the plants, but if you happen to know where to go to get the fruits, they are quite a delight—as long as you don’t mind crunching on seeds with every bite!

By the time they got home, some were starting to spoil, but most were still in good enough condition to do something with them. And since we weren’t likely to eat them all raw, I decided to try my hand at making jelly! I’ve never made any before, so I thought this was a good thing to experiment on.

And since I may want to make it again, I thought I’d post the recipe here—perhaps it will inspire you to do something similar. It is fun to experiment in the kitchen, isn’t it?

Note: I used this recipe as my starting point, although some steps and ingredients were altered.

Banana Passionfruit Jelly/Jam

20 – 30 banana passionfruit, washed and trimmed*
6 – 8 Tbsp. lemon juice (~ the juice of 2 lemons)
1.1 kg sugar (can do less**)

Slice the banana passionfruit in half and scrape out the seeds (I used my thumbs) into a pot. Drop the skins in with the pulp. Put water in to just cover everything—I used 4 – 6 cups total, although that meant I had to reduce the juice afterward by quite a bit. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 30 – 45 min., stirring occasionally. Drain, reserving the juice, and press the pulp together to squeeze out as much juice as possible. Throw the skins and remaining seeds away.

Return the juice to a pot and add the lemon juice and sugar, boil until you get to the setting point (this was where it took me a while . . . maybe another 30 min. to reduce enough). Pour into clean jars, and water bath for 15 min. to seal them.

*I didn’t count how many passionfruits there were when I started, so this is the closest estimate I can do.

**My end product was quite sweet, so the amount of sugar can be reduced. However, you do need a certain amount of sugar to activate the pectin, so I don’t know how much you can reduce it while still getting a strong setting-point.

I left the skins with the pulp in the hopes that it would release pectin into the juice. Pectin, of course, is what makes jelly and jam set up, and according to the research I’ve done, it lives in the skins of fruit. If you don’t have organic fruit, you might not want to do that . . . but it worked for me this time! Apparently the lemon juice has something to do with helping with the pectin, but I think it’s also a nice addition on the flavor side.

The amount I made yielded around 6 half-pints, one of which has already disappeared. 🙂

If you aren’t familiar with banana passionfruit, here’s a picture I posted on my first-ever blog post on my first blog, when I was 12 years old and just learning to love writing. I was amused to find it today . . . out-of-focus picture, misspelled words, Comic Sans font, and all! These banana passionfruits aren’t quite ripe; when they are ripe, they turn a beautiful orangy-yellow color.

What was your last cooking adventure?

My Top 10 Books in 2021

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I’m fairly certain I intended to write a “book-year-in-review” list last year, but never got around to it . . . last Christmas season was very busy for me, and by the time I got back to things in January, it had slipped my mind. But here we are today with the list for this year! I’m excited to share these books with you.

First, some statistics, because those are always fun, right?

Total books read: 47
Total nonfiction: 13 (28% of total)
Total audiobooks: 9 (19% of total)
New-to-me authors: 17

This year’s reading goals:
Read at least 50 books —NO
Read 50% physical books — NO (only got to 26%)
Read 25% nonfiction — YES! (read 28% nonfiction)

And now, for the top 10 list! I’ll start at #10 and work up to my most favorite one, just for fun, and then share several that didn’t quite make the list, but which I greatly enjoyed, regardless.

Some links in this post are affiliate links.

#10: The Nature of Small Birds by Susie Finkbeiner

Ever since reading a Christmas Carol Kauffman book years ago, stories of adoptees have gripped my heart. Add to that my fascination with split-time novels, and the Vietnam Baby Lift, and yeah . . . I was definitely sucked into this story. It isn’t an easy one, in all respects, but I enjoyed this read. I’m hoping there will be a sequel at some stage, although I won’t hold my breath for it. I’ll be looking for more by this author, though!

#9: If I Were You by Lynn Austin

I read the sequel to this book before I realized it was a sequel, but that didn’t end up lessening my enjoyment! World War II, women trying to find their way in the world after disappointments and heartbreak . . . there was a lot to love here, and a lot more depth than I expected. One of the characters fell into sin, and I loved the way that was shown. It wasn’t glorified; instead, the guilt brought them back to Christ. A great story overall.

#8: Hinds’ Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard

This is one of those books that I’ve intended to read for years, but never got around to until just recently. I see a lot of myself in Much-Afraid. She tried to do what was right, but failed often, and yet the Shepherd was so gentle and loving toward her. And the way she learned to give things up . . . what a beautiful example of love. It’s a splendid allegory, one I’m sure I’ll be reading again.

#7: To Dwell among Cedars by Connilyn Cossette

I think what struck me about this one was the main character’s desire to go after what was right, even when she didn’t feel like she deserved the blessings that accompanied those choices. I also loved her devotion to and care for her brother, even when he rebelled against it again and again. A great picture of life in Israel at the time of the prophet Samuel, and a great mystery. I wouldn’t mind having this book in print! Read my review here.

#6: The Finder of Forgotten Things by Sarah Loudin Thomas

I just finished reading this book. It kept my attention the entire way through, made me laugh, and made me want to cry. This is based on a true-life tragedy, but the way Thomas wove that in with a story of hope was truly incredible. Parts of the book reminded me of Lark Rise to Candleford, although I would argue that this had a happier ending. For its historical content and story of redemption, this is one worth reading. (Note: It does contain a character who does water-and-other-witching throughout the story.)

#5: Painted Memories by A.M. Heath

I read this book near the beginning of the year, but it’s still stuck with me. While being a mystery, it’s also much more . . . it’s the story of two people who thought they’d lost everything, but then found it again, only to face impossible decisions. The kind of love these two characters showed each other was deeply moving. Heath took a somewhat typical scenario and did something that shocked me, and I love her the more for it. This is another book I’d love to have on my shelf one day! Read my review here.

#4: The Secret Keepers of Old Depot Grocery by Amanda Cox

Cox is a new-to-me author, but I found her work inspiring. Not only does she write extraordinarily well, but she also made me think about my own life while I read about her characters’ lives. This is another split-time novel, about three different women in three generations, and how secrets can be devastating if life isn’t handled properly. Deeply redemptive, I’m sure this story will stay with me for a long time. Oh, and did I mention? It’s also highly amusing at times! I had a hard time keeping the laughter from waking people up a time or two!

#3: Becoming Elizabeth Elliot by Ellen Vaughn

Elliot’s story has been somewhat at the forefront of my reading and thinking life this year, and I suppose not for a bad reason. Though I was familiar with Jim’s story, many parts of Elizabeth’s story took me by surprise. Hers was a life fraught with trials, yet she faced them with courage and determination, and an eye on the Lord’s will. She wasn’t perfect—Vaughn did a good job bringing that out—but she was a woman who loved the Lord, and for that, I’m thankful to have gotten to know her better. Her story inspires me, and unlike some biographies, I found this well-written and gripping all the way through. Read my review here.

#2: Sensible Shoes by Sharon Garlough Brown

This was my favorite Christian fiction for the year. It closely tied with several others, but I chose Sensible Shoes because of the way Brown helped me to see myself. This is more than just a story of four women trying to follow the Lord; it’s the story of all of us—us, with our buried hurts and insecurities, our longing to know and love God, and the sometimes good, but often difficult, process of learning to accept ourselves and our identity in Jesus. This book was deep, sometimes lighthearted, and one I wanted to savor. Read my review here.

#1: Devotedly by Valerie Shepard

I’m delighted that one of my nonfiction titles made it to the top place for me this year! Several usually prominently figure in the list (why is it that the ones I find hardest to read are often the ones I look back on and appreciate the most?), but this one, in particular, grabbed my heart. This is Jim and Elizabeth Elliot’s love story told from their letters and journal entries. It’s raw, honest, painful, yet full of that peculiar love of the Lord that sets His children apart from all others. They were determined to follow Him first, foremost, and always—and that meant many years of patient waiting for His timing. It’s a beautiful story. Every single person who has ever even slightly struggled with their singleness should read this—and I believe everyone else, in whatever season they’re in, would also find it encouraging. This is a portrait of what God can do with two lives sold out to Him, and it’s a masterpiece.

Honorable Mentions:

A Waltz for Matilda by Jackie French

This book is Australian history at its finest. There were some things I didn’t appreciate in it so much (see my review), but French does an excellent job bringing the people and their times to life here. I loved how this put parts of history I’ve heard about into perspective and delivered a solid story at the same time.

All Saints by Michael Spurlock and Jeanette Windle

This is a truly incredible story, made even more beautiful by the fact that it’s true. I found parts of it a bit dry, but overall I loved seeing how God can work through us if we’re willing to let Him have a free hand in our lives. I’m also hoping I can get to see the movie someday!

Penelope’s Pursuit by Chautona Havig

By rights, I suppose this should probably have ended up in the top ten list because it was so good. But . . . it’s hard to make the cut sometimes. This is a beautiful picture of love and self-sacrifice, as well as showing a sobering reminder that history isn’t always what we’d like it to be. I really appreciated this read, even though it was hard in places.

Whew! And there you go. I hope you’ve found one or two that piques your interest—I always love looking over what other people have to say about their favorites for the year!

As for next year, I haven’t decided yet what my reading goals will be. I’m getting there . . . it just takes time. I’m thinking I’ll aim for 40-50 books again, but I also want something to challenge myself with. This year, it was to deliberately try to include more physical books and nonfiction, because I tend to read a LOT from my kindle and avoid the nonfiction side of the shelves. That worked to an extent, although I didn’t hit my goals for either of those, but I read a lot more with those two goals in mind than I would have otherwise, so I’m still counting it as a win.

Next year, I think I’ll continue on with the physical books goal (but instead of a percentage, I’ll aim for a certain number), and I also want to include at least two classics. There are so many out there that I’ve heard of, but never read, and I find those just as difficult to get into as nonfiction titles. I’m dreaming of reading War and Peace one day (but I feel like that would be jumping into the deep end a little too far!), but I may try something a bit easier like Gulliver’s Travels or a George McDonald book to get me started (he counts, right? he wrote in the 1800s!). We’ll see.

For now . . . if you wrote a top 10 book list for 2021, what would yours include? I’m always looking for suggestions for more good books! And if you’ve written a blog post about your favorite reads this past year, please share in the comments below—I’d love to read it.