A Melodious Sonnet

Midweek Mix-Up #13: Romania, Adoniram Judson, and Tools for Writers

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Well, midweek mix-up is a bit late this week. I’ve had a full schedule lately uploading new book reviews, enjoying spring time, and writing the September newsletter. Here I am now, with a few more books for you to peruse!

Reading this week:

Tortured for Christ by Richard Wurmbrand

Tortured for Christ by Richard Wurmbrand
Progress: Finished!

Oh, this book. I love it, and at the same time I hate it. It’s…powerful. Through Richard’s eyes, we see the harsh reality of what it means for many Christians in restricted nations to never be able to know—from one day to the next—what their future is going to look like. What it’s like to always hide—even from your own pastor at times!—that you’re a believer. Richard suffered much under the Communists—when the USSR had control of Romania—and while he doesn’t go into a lot of detail, he shares enough that you can understand where he’s coming from.

This book was great for me to hear, although I hated hearing it the whole way through—the picture it showed me was not pretty at all. It showed me the ugly apathy in my own life, and challenged me more than I ever remember being challenged before. Even though I may never read or listen to a recording of this book again, it’s given me a lot of food for thought—I’ll not be forgetting its message any time soon.

A Different Kind of Courage, by Sarah Holman

A Different Kind of Courage by Sarah Holman
Progress: Finished!

I loved this story! Being both a bit of a history nut (thanks, Mom), and a lover of good historical fiction, I was really looking forward to reading this story. I’ve read other books by Sarah before—and loved every single one of them—and this one didn’t disappoint me at all.

Through the eyes of William, we are shown the conflict that would have arisen between families and friends when the American Revolution got underway. I loved seeing that the historical facts didn’t override the story—especially considering how much research went into this book to make it what it is today. William’s story is very relatable—trying to follow God’s will and yet stay in the good graces of everyone else is a struggle I can understand all too well. I also loved the slight romance through the story—it was there, but not overdone. If you want a fascinating perspective of the American Revolution, this is a great resource. (I’ll be writing a full review of A Different Kind of Courage soon, to post on the website.)

Adoniram Judson, Bound for Burma by Janet and Geoff Benge

Adoniram Judson: Bound for Burma by Janet & Geoff Benge
Progress: 95%

This is another great book in the Christian Heroes: Then and Now series. I love how it shows the early life of Adoniram—how he struggled to please his preacher father at times, how he became a Deist for a while (until he heard his Deist friend dying and realized this wasn’t what he thought it was!), and much more. The last part is very sad—because of the poor living conditions in Burma, many of his friends died, and he lost both his first and second wives to sickness and bad diets. Overall, this is a great story, one that would to go along well with any Church history or missionary course. (I’ll be writing a review of this to go on the website soon, too.)

The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare

The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare
Progress: Chapter 10 of 25

While uploading books this week, I noticed that Mom mentioned this book in a review—but she hadn’t reviewed it yet! So since it’s really good, I’m re-reading it with the goal of reviewing it when I’m done. Not a hard job!

Twelve-year-old Matt is in charge of keeping the cabin tidy and ready for his father to bring his mother and siblings out to their new land. Then his gun is stolen, a bear destroys all food supplies when he forgets to properly bar the door, and he is attacked by some swarming bees. How is he going to survive long enough for his father to get back? This is quite the fun adventure story!

New reviews this week:

Granny Han’s Breakfast by Sheila Groves — Wonderful book about faith in God.
When all her money is stolen, Granny must trust God to supply her needs, which He does abundantly.

There’s an Owl in the Shower by Jean Craighead George
While Borden’s dad is out of work because logging has been halted, Borden finds a baby owl in need of help and they raise it.

Kate Shelley and the Midnight Express by Margaret K. Wetterer
When a storm causes a train to crash into a creek, Kate must go for help for the men who were on it.

Flame Over Tara by Madeleine Polland — Great story about St. Patrick.
When Patrick brings the gospel to Ireland, he must win the approval of the High King, Leary, in order for his mission to succeed.

Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey — Favorite childhood story!
Sal and her mother go picking blueberries, and Little Bear and his mother go eating blueberries, on the same hill.

This week’s blog post roundup:

15 Productivity Hacks For Procrastinators (Lifehack) — Good, solid tips. Very helpful article!

Conventions and Obligatory Scenes (Steven Pressfield Online) — This post is writer’s gold. Seriously. It’s a bit on the long side, but worth while reading. (You can see a video version here, if you wish.)

Free Music & Background Sound Resources for Writers (Raychel Rose) — Great sites listed here. Good resource to bookmark and go back to later.

The Next Chapter: I’m No Longer Writing Twice Per Week. Here’s Why (James Clear) — Interesting. I’m enjoying a twice-per-week rhythm, but I enjoy seeing others’ thoughts on how they do their blogging, too.

5 Criteria for Selecting Read-Aloud Books for Children (Year Round Homeschooling) — Good tips for homeschool mothers here!

This week’s resource:

The Story Grid: A Five Part Video Series on the Craft of Story Editing

This is a superb resource for writers! In five fairly short episodes, Shawn Coyne shares his methods for editing. He shows you how to break your story up into bite-sized chunks, see the big picture of where your story is headed, and figure out the loop-holes without feeling overwhelmed at the size of your story.

This series was so good I stopped teaching writing to my brother for a little bit, so he could have the chance to go through this as well.

Note: There are some words used that I don’t consider appropriate, and the story they use as an example isn’t one I’d normally read. Be warned!

What have you been reading lately?

On Why We Like a Good Villain

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Every story needs a good villain. At least, that’s the recommendation I’ve seen everywhere I look when I’m trying to find solid writing advice. However, I’ve often wondered why this is something that’s so accepted as a needed element in a story. Surely you can have a good story without a villain?

Good-Villain

Photo courtesy of Pixabay/raincarnation40 | License: CC0 1.0

Recently, I received a link to a free video series on editing. Shawn Coyne taught the series, and had a great overview of genre conventions (what people expect when they see a certain genre applied to a book), organizing tips, and much more. One convention he mentioned was the “hero at the mercy of the villain” scene. Then it clicked.

Several years ago, while writing a novel, I realized my ending felt flat. I couldn’t think of a way to fix it, until one evening I had a horrible idea for working climax in such a way that the main character was eventually caught by the man she was running from, and sent to her death . . . .

When Shawn mentioned the “hero at the mercy of the villain” scene, I almost shouted! No wonder it felt right—I had given my villain the perfect way to show his true evilness, and that made the story work! (Admittedly, there’s some fixing up that I need to do to make that scene shine, but at least that part is figured out!)

Then tonight, I was listening to a song by Josh Wilson about God judging Satan, and I suddenly had an illumination on why the “hero/heroine with archenemy who is eventually beaten” story is so popular—indeed, in some context or another that’s the backbone of almost every story! If it’s not external, it will be an internal villain, and either way you (normally) have an excellent story.

So why is this story type so popular? I propose that it’s an inbuilt thing—we all know (to some extent) of the great battle God has fought against the devil—the epitome of sin—ever since not long after the beginning of time. That is the greatest adventure story of all time. Since it is, we are naturally drawn to enjoy and want to write stories along those lines. No wonder there are so many emotional aspects to love about the scenes where hero trumps villain!

Question: How did your villain finally lose in your latest story?

Midweek Mix-Up #12: World War II, Pessimism, and Free History Videos

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Hello! How has your last week treated you? In today’s midweek mix-up, I’m sharing some of the interesting and slightly mismatched things I’ve come across this week.

Reading this week:

I’ve had a very interesting week when it comes to books. Part of my work right now has been on the computer, so I’ve been listening to an audio book while I did that. Also, I got sucked into a historical novel, and I had a fantasy going for school . . . and somehow I ended up reading all three simultaneously!

The Hiding Place, by Corrie Ten Boom

The Hiding Place, by Corrie Ten Boom
Progress: Finished.

The Hiding Place never fails to challenge and encourage me. Through faith, hope, and perseverance, Corrie shares snapshots of her early life, the events leading up to their family taking in Jews to hide them from the Germans, and eventually her arrest and imprisonment. This book was written to remember her father and sister Betsy, but it is so much more. Her faith in God brought her through many trials, and over and over God is shown faithful through her life. This is also a powerful picture of what life was like under the Nazi regime, and how people lived and worked in their concentration camps. I’ll be writing a review of this soon, which will be on the website after a while.

The Gammage Cup, by Carol Kendall

The Gammage Cup, by Carol Kendall
Progress: Finished.

The Gammage Cup is one of the most fun fantasy books I’ve ever read. One morning, Muggles wakes up and sees a fire on the mountain. There shouldn’t be fire on the mountain, but there is and soon it becomes apparent that the whole countryside is in great danger of the Hairless Ones—their enemies of the past—even though there is hardly anyone who believes in the old stories anymore. I love this story, not only for its depth of characters and well-planned plot, but because of the humor and ingenuity presented through the story. I’ll be writing a review of this, as well.

Elsie’s Girlhood, by Martha Finley

Elsie’s Girlhood (the Elsie Dinsmore series, book 3), by Martha Finley
Progress: Finished.

I finished Elsie’s Holidays at Roselands quite a while ago now, and had this one on my Kindle waiting to be read, but for some reason I never started it until the end of last week. I had figured this was going to be one of the more boring books—after she gets married it’s more interesting for a book or so—but I had forgotten about the plot twist half-way through this book! So Tuesday, while waiting for internet pages to load, I read bits and snatches—and then couldn’t wait any longer, so I finished the remaining three chapters that night.

Elsie’s Girlhood is basically the story of her late teenage years, when everyone wanted to marry her. It also contains the story of Mr. Dinsmore marrying one of Elsie’s best friends. I loved the ending of the story—it was very sweet. My review of this story will be on the website eventually.

A Different Kind of Courage, by Sarah Holman

A Different Kind of Courage, by Sarah Holman
Progress: 18% (last week: 16%)

I’m not quite sure how I managed to forget about this one until now—maybe all those other books were too distracting—but I’m back to it now, and still really enjoying it.

New books this week:

Ian and the Gigantic Leafy Obstacle, by Sheila Miller — One of my favorite childhood stories.
When Ian finds a tree across his road, he prays and God answers his prayer in a surprising way.

Sojourner Truth: American Abolitionist, by W. Terry Whalin
A biography of the famous anti-slavery, women’s rights speaker who was herself born in slavery.

The Lantern Bearers, by Rosemary Sutcliff
After escaping from the Saxons who took him as a slave, Aquila joins Ambrosius, king of Britain, and battles not only the Saxons but his own anger and hatred.

Dolphin Adventure, by Wayne Grover — Great early reader story!
As Wayne was diving, he was approached by a family of dolphins who needed a fishhook removed from the baby’s tail.

You Are There Bible Adventures, by Paul J. Loth and Rick Incrocci — Bible stories in a truly fun setting!
Choose-your-own-adventure books about Bible stories.

Looks like we’re sharing quite a few books for young children this week! Here are more great preschooler books to check out.

This week’s blog post roundup:

When Your Well is Dry…Building Your Creativity Muscles from the Source (Writer’s Alley) — This is a highly inspiring post! The Lord had great plans for Bezalel, and He definitely equipped him with the tools to complete that—and if He can do that for Bezalel, can’t He also do that for us? Definitely worth a read.

Why I Choose to Be Public About My Faith (Michele Cushatt) — This is a question I, too, have struggled with, but I believe I agree with Michele. I hate hiding, and don’t want to put up a false front. On the other hand, I do not want to be offensive to other people. For myself, I’ve decided that I’m going to talk about Jesus because He is such a big part of my life and identity. If you do not agree with me, feel free to leave. It’s your choice.

Season 5, Episode 1: Escape the Overwhelm [Podcast] (Michael Hyatt) — Great podcast on momentum and how to focus on the things that matter most.

Season 5, Episode 2: Nature’s Calling [Podcast] (Michael Hyatt) — Fascinating statistics! Maybe this is why I took a thirty-minute bike ride last Sunday? And why my mind feels clearer after a walk? (Not that I do it much!) Good tips; I’ll be thinking about this for a while.

Season 5, Episode 3: How to Wreck Your Future [Podcast] (Michael Hyatt) — The thoughts here hit home for me in some respects. If you want to hear a good talk on pessimism, and what it does to you as a person and your chances at success, listen to this. It’s worth every minute.

Nurturing Your Creativity by Norma Gail (Seriously Write) — Wonderful, wonderful tips. Turning “what-if” into something helpful.

Sneaky Ways to Write More Each Day (Seekerville) — Fun, fun, fun. Even though it’s titled “sneaky”, it isn’t—but it does have some sound tried-and-true suggestions and ideas.

Summer Reading List for Preteen Girls (Hip Homeschool Moms) — I’ve read a good number of the books here, and can highly recommend them.

You Don’t Learn to Write… (Just the Write Escape) — Chautona’s posts are always such fun. She also shares some valuable thoughts on occasion.

The World’s Most Expensive Book (AbeBooks) — Who knew that a psalm book would one day be one of the world’s most expensive books?

Resource of the week:

Free History Videos for Kids (Brookdale House)

This is almost an exhaustive list. There are video galleries for Ancient, Medieval, Early Modern, and Modern history, all totaling to almost 400 videos total. That’s a lot! These cover a lot of ground, too—check out the lists here.

Reading, Art, and Guilt — a Guest Post

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Twice in the past two months I have had an “ah-ha!” moment. Both times, I suddenly had an answer to something that I had been feeling guilty about for years.

I was reading by the time I was three years old. When I was a baby, someone gave my mom a book, something about “Teach Your Baby to Read.” I was the first baby, so she had time, and she made flashcards to put on objects all over the house. I can’t remember not being able to read, and I’m guessing maybe she eventually regretted teaching me that young, as I quickly developed an addiction to reading! I remember being excited to start first grade, but then being very disappointed because the first day of first grade the reading lesson was simply, “God.” I was reading whole books by then! I spent hours and hours reading thousands of books as I grew up, and put that love of books to good use when I started a bookstore in my late teens. However, after I got married, little by little I started feeling guilty for loving to read, and guilty for taking time to read when there were other things to do, as there always are. Comments some people made such as, “I only ever read the Bible and ___________(church paper),” or, “Reading is a waste of time for me,” added to that feeling of guilt. I still read, because I can’t make myself stop reading, but always with a slight feeling of guilt.

Reading, Art, and Guilt

One of my son’s art projects.

Last year, my daughter came in from her bedroom one morning saying that she felt like the Lord had given her an idea. She wondered what I thought of a website devoted to book reviews. She would include warnings with the reviews of anything that parents might want to know about the book before giving it to their child, and build a search function to help parents find books about a particular area they were studying. After we all prayed about it, she built the website, and soon I started writing some reviews for her of books I read to myself or aloud to the other children. Still, I felt somewhat guilty about loving to read!

A couple of months ago, a couple of my children and I went to a book fair. As usual, we came away with a large stack of books, including a few that we already owned. We had to stop at a friend’s house to drop something off on our way home, and offered her the duplicate books. She was happy to take them, thanking me for the recommendations for her children, since she has a hard time knowing if a book will be worth reading or not. I was thinking about that little exchange after we left her house, and suddenly the thought came to me that part of my ministry to other people is to be able to recommend books for them and their children! God gave me the gift of being able to read exceptionally fast, and therefore I am able to read a lot more books than most people, which means I can help people by pointing them to the books they need! What a revelation. I still have to be careful not to let myself read when there are other jobs that really need doing (after all, I have a husband and eight children who like to eat three meals a day), but I no longer feel guilty about reading while I rock the baby.

My other revelation came just a few weeks ago. I have been homeschooling our children for 11 or 12 years now. Somewhere around 10 years ago, I picked up an art course at a book fair, and decided that we would do art classes—doesn’t everyone do art classes? Don’t children need to learn art? I decided that once a week, while the youngest two (I think) napped, I would do an art lessons with the three oldest children. We did—a grand total of three lessons! After that, until I ended up selling the art course when we moved overseas six years ago, I kept intending to get back to it, but life was constantly in the way. Anyway, I have very little interest in art or crafts of any kind. There was always a guilty feeling in the back of my mind, though, that my children were missing out because I was not making time to teach them any drawing or modeling or any kind of crafts.

A few weeks ago, my middle sons spent two days holed up in their workshop every spare minute, building something. When I finally got to see it, I was astounded. Those boys had cut a large circle out of a piece of plywood, and painted a railroad track around the edge. They painted roads and fields on the board, and built tiny houses. They unwrapped copper wire from the motor of a defunct washing machine, and built fences by drilling holes through twigs that they glued into holes they drilled in the board. They strung telegraph wires around the track the same way. They glued tiny trees into place, and made stick figures out of copper wire to put in various places. They even made little wooden cars and a train engine. What is all that, but art? And I had nothing to do with it! I don’t have to teach art to my children! If they are interested, they will learn by themselves. All I have to do is give them free time and allow them to use the materials and tools they find and want to use.

Believe it or not, a great weight has lifted from my mind since I realized these two simple things. Guilt has a way of dragging us down, and other people’s expectations can make moms feel very guilty. At least, that is the effect on me. When I don’t do or believe the same as the people I am around, I tend to feel guilty about that, as if I am wrong—but guess what! God didn’t make us all the same! I have a unique ministry—and so do you. It would have been nice not to have to wait so long to find mine, but I am thankful to not feel guilty anymore about reading and art!

Emma-BioEmma Filbrun is a stay-at-home homeschooling mother of eight children, and in between chasing toddlers and keeping the tribe fed you can usually find her reading a story to several of the children or directing operations from her rocking chair (where her baby puts mommy time high on the agenda). She shares the mishaps and adventures of a large family on her blog, Lots of Helpers.

Midweek Mix-Up #11: A Great Revolution-Era Book, and Productivity Printables

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This week, as I was adding some books to Goodreads (follow me here if you’re interested!), I realized that I had forgotten to update this year’s reading goal for the past couple months! I was thankful that I had the record on here of past midweek mix-up posts—that made remembering what I’ve been reading much easier. So besides the fact that I enjoy putting these posts together, I was thankful I had taken the time to keep a record of what I’ve been reading!

Reading this week:

The Destiny of One, by Sarah Holman

The Destiny of One, by Sarah Holman
Progress: Finished

I finished this book Saturday. What an adventure! I’m thrilled to know I have the second book in the series, too, but I’m slightly hesitant to start it because I don’t want to get to the end and not have the third book ready to start! I found the first half of this book pretty slow going, but after the 60% mark things really picked up and I finished the whole thing one afternoon. This book isn’t quite as good as some of Sarah Holman’s later books—but considering it was her debut, I can understand. Overall, I really enjoyed the story, and plan on writing a review of it for the website.

>> My review of The Sound of Diamonds is up! You can read it on my personal blog here.

A Different Kind of Courage, by Sarah Holman

A Different Kind of Courage, by Sarah Holman
Progress: 16%

Looks like I’m on a streak right now reading Sarah’s books! A Different Kind of Courage is about the revolutionary war, and I’ve found this book to be very interesting. I really like how dedicated Sarah is to keeping the historical facts accurate, and the different characters—both fictional and those who actually lived at that time—are well developed. I’m looking forward to finding out what side William ends up on—and what happens to Matthew, his black free man who wants everyone to believe he can’t hear or talk!

New books on the website:

Thanks to Mom’s fast reading and reviewing, this is the tenth week straight that we’ve posted at least five new reviews a week! We now have well over 100 books up, and this week’s job for me is to work on uploading all the most recent reviews.

Ten Boys Who Made History by Irene Howat
Stories are told from the lives of 10 boys who became great men of God, showing how God worked in their lives.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer by Janet & Geoff Benge — Fascinating family read-aloud!
As a Christian theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was faced with a dilemma: Was it right to kill Hitler to save the lives of millions of other people?

Gladys Aylward: No Mountain Too High by Myrna Grant
Gladys Aylward, an English maid, bought a ticket and went to China to teach people about Jesus.

The Silver Branch by Rosemary Sutcliff — Great introduction to British history!
Justin, a surgeon in the Roman Army, and his kinsman Flavius, a centurion, become involved in the resistance effort when a usurper takes command of Roman Britain.

The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner — Fun read-aloud for the young children!
Four children whose parents have died are trying to hide from a grandfather they think dislikes them, and make a home in an abandoned boxcar in the woods.

Want to see other recent reviews? Discover more great reads here!

Helpful blog posts this week:

  • 5 Fun Writing Exercises for Teens to Spark Creativity and Develop Writing Voice (Almost an Author) — Great ideas. And as to her last point on daydreaming during math class, I’ve found doing math especially helpful in coming up with story ideas—I’ve had several while struggling to complete a lesson!
  • How to Typeset a Novel in Microsoft Word (Go Teen Writers) — Incredibly detailed, almost exhaustive, list of things to do when typesetting a novel. Greatly helpful, though. I’ll be using this next time I’m formatting a novel!
  • How Outlining Can Bring Out Voice (Jane Friedman) — Great tips here. This makes outlining seem a little bit more doable.

Resource of the week:

Printable productivity tools at DavidSeah.com

Productivity Tools Screenshot

David Seah’s Productivity Tools (screenshot)

David Seah has a lot of different productivity tools here—task management, goal tracking, a NaNoWriMo tracking calendar (used this the second year I did NaNo, and loved it! it was my lifesaver!), and much more.