Spiritual Sunday!

Lectio Divina: Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe."

Featured Book Friday! A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore Part 2

Okay, at first, I thought the whole “Beta Male” thing at the beginning of the book was just a one off thing. But I swear, the author references the “Beta Male” thing every chapter, or at least, every other chapter. It’s getting annoying. I feel like the author read a pop psychology article about alpha and beta males and he was like, “I need to center my whole book around this!” There is even a “Are you a beta male?” quiz at the back of the book. All it’s missing is the quiz, “Are you a cuck, too?”  I swear, I was waiting for it. At first, I just thought it was a way to describe Charlie. But instead of giving him an actual character, he feels like a caricature. All I know about Charlie is that he’s a beta male and tries to be funny.

Every time the author writes “Beta Male,” all I can think of is Jesse Lee Peterson saying, “BETA!” If you don’t know who Jesse Lee Peterson is, check out his YouTube Channel. They’re amazing, “AMAZING!”

Featured Book Friday! A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore Part 1

First impressions on A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore

During the first chapter, I was waiting for the reaper to show up. I mean, if you read the synopsis, it tells you flat out that Charlie becomes Death. I figured it would be similar to the 1994 The Santa Clause with Tim Allen, where Santa dies and Tim Allen has to take over to be Santa. Except, instead of Santa dying, it’s the reaper, and Charlie becomes the new Death Helper. 

Writing Prompt Wednesday! No Garlic

[WP] No italian restaurant is safe. The vampire activist group is going after hate food served at restaurants.

New Post Schedule

I need to change my posting schedule again. I feel like I keep changing it, but I need to do what works for me. When I wasn't doing anything else, I could write on my blog everyday. Now that I'm taking writing more seriously and working on my novel, I feel like my blog gets in my way. Don't get me wrong; I still like blogging, but it does take time. Between work and home life and while trying to find a new job, all while reading, writing, and blogging, I only have so much time in the day. I figured that I would drop the days that I don't like that much.

Meme Monday - I won't force it if I don't have a meme for the day.

No Tweet Tuesday - Eh, I'm done. It is hard to really make a story out of tweets and it feels generic because I don't have any time to elaborate on anything.

Writing Prompt Wednesday - I'll keep. It takes a lot out of me to do these. But I feel like my writing is getting stronger by doing this every week. 

Thoughtful Thursday - I'll keep. But if I don't have any thoughts, then I won't write. I won't force it.

Featured (Favorite) Book Fridays - These will keep alternating between Featured and Favorite Book posts. I have an idea that sometimes I might break up my review/critique of the book into two parts. I want the first section to really dissect the first few chapters, and the second post will focus on the overall impressions and a more general critique.

No Saturdays - I can't think of anything for this day and Saturdays are hard to get a lot of time to write.

Spiritual Sundays - I'm definitely keeping this day!

Really, I'm just dropping Tuesdays and Saturdays. But on the other days, I don't want to feel like I HAVE to post. I don't want to force it or then I just start to resent it and it feels like a chore. I mean, it never was required of me, but when I first started this blog, I was afraid if I didn't keep on it, then I would just stop altogether. I think that fear is unfounded and now it's getting in my way of progressing as a writer. 

Spiritual Sunday! Excited to receive the Eucharist next Saturday

Lectio Divina: Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and said, "Take this and share it among yourselves; for I tell you that from now on I shall not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." Then he took the bread, and said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me." And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup  is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you."

My time in RCIA is quickly coming to an end. Next Saturday, I will be confirmed into the Catholic Church and will be able to take communion for the first time. (Well, not exactly the first time, but when I took it once when I was younger, I didn't understand the importance of it; then my dad said I would go to Hell because I wasn't Catholic and shouldn't have taken communion.Yeah, that messed me up for awhile.)

Anyway, I am excited to be able to fully appreciate the holiness of the Eucharist. In other christian denominations, the bread and wine is just a symbol of the last supper; however, in the Catholic faith, the Eucharist is literally the blood and body of Jesus Christ. 

Featured Book Friday! Hostel by the Sea by Luanne M. Lusic

So far, the books that I have chosen are mainstream books. Books you may know or at least recognize the author. In this case, I'm reviewing Hostel by the Sea because I know the author, and now I'm finally reading it. She self-published this book in 2012 on Amazon, and through the course of writing and editing it, she would talk to me about it. During these conversations, we had another silent one where she never asked me to read it and I never offered. Until now, I never read even a paragraph of her book. There were petty reasons for it. So petty that I won't even go into it. However, I decided that I need to get over those petty reasons and went to go take down the book from off of my bookshelf. She had given the book to me as a Christmas present a long time ago and it still sat there with a bow on it, never touched.

Now, I don't read a lot of autobiographies (besides accidentally reading Stephen King's autobiography in On Writing), and this book is autobiography during the time that she stayed in a hostel in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and her life during this time. So I am a bit out of my element because I normally only read and write fiction. I will try my best with this critique.

Thoughtful Thursday! Looking at the views

Creating this blog showed me one thing that I wasn't expecting: You really never know what is going to get people's interest. My highest view count is on the Oxford Comma of all things. I honestly feel embarrassed that I didn't write better on that post. It was such a one off thing that I didn't think much about it. I have currently 154 views on it and it keeps going up. It may not seem much to you, but in comparison to my other views, it's out of the ball park!

Writing Prompt Wednesday! Just make one person smile

Just make one person smile. That’s your motto for life. Not even the war stops you from making sure you live up to your motto.

Tweet Tuesday! A Story in Tweets

These tweets are a part of the same story. I had an idea to tell a story a little bit of a time like pieces of a puzzle. Except this puzzle is all jumbled up and there is no picture on the box. We'll see how it goes.

Meme Monday! Just shower thoughts

 In writing, the adage is "Write what you know." Which is understandable because how can you convey thoughts and emotions if you never experienced something like that? And then dreams happen and pull the rug out from under you.

There are a few universal dreams that we all experience and one of them is falling, especially from a high altitude. Everyone has fallen in their lives. Slipped on a patch of ice or on a puddle of water on the floor. But not many people have fallen from a high altitude and lived to tell about it. So why is falling such a shared experience? And a very specific experience of falling for a long time? I usually have enough time of falling in my dream to have the fear growing and building inside of me: the dread of anticipation of hitting the ground, the remorse of getting myself into this predicament, the flash of my life before my eyes. All this and then I quickly sit up in bed, panting, praying, and thanking God that wasn't real.

Dreams seem to hint at something greater. Something we all experience, some universal truth that's there and we don't know why. But we all can relate.

Sorry, I didn't mean to get into such deep thoughts on a Monday morning. I didn't even take a shower yet.

Spiritual Sunday! Words make us think and reflect

I think Jesus was very aware that they were trying to test him. I'm sure they were frothing at the bit at the thought of finally tricking into Jesus messing up. I can almost hear the jeering crowd of scribes and Pharisees pushing in to get to Jesus, excited as little kids to tattle-tale on others doing wrong. They didn't really care about the woman's sin; they were just using her as an excuse. I'm sure the frenzied and excited mood of the crowd was palpable. 

Understanding all this. Jesus de-escalates the situation by staying calm. Before he says anything, he writes on the ground. I think that is an important distinction. Not drawing or doodling, but writing specifically. I wondered what he wrote. Maybe he wrote what he said. Maybe he referenced something from the Old Testament that made them stop and think. 

Song Saturday! Marble Machine by Wintergatan

Featured Book Friday! On Writing by Stephen King

So it finally happened. I skipped a day. I didn't forget; I tried writing my Thoughtful Thursday all day. But it kept falling flat. My mind wasn't on it, and neither was my heart. I did progress a bit on my novel, but that was all. Yesterday wasn't a good day. I decided not to write anything at all to spare you the poor writing at best and cringey, emo stuff at worst. 

Anyway, did you notice that I sneakily changed the prompt for today? This book is not my favorite, but I've been reading writing subreddits and they act like this book is gospel. I got it used because I didn't anticipate getting much of it. I just wanted to see what the fuss was about. Besides, I have read a handful of his books and I was curious what a successful author like Stephen King had to say.

Writing Prompt Wednesday! The Bubble Burst

[Writing Prompt] In a world where the 1st thing you touch becomes your skillset, you were born and raised in a bubble; today the bubble pops.

Tweet Tuesday! Puzzle Piece Story

These tweets are a part of the same story. I had an idea to tell a story a little bit of a time like pieces of a puzzle. Except this puzzle is all jumbled up and there is no picture on the box. We'll see how it goes.

Meme Monday!

Oh, boy, I feel like I'm getting more accomplished with my novel, but I have definitely added more complexity to it! I just added a new main character today because I realized that I needed to flesh out the story more, adding more nuances and thus a whole other side story. I know my story needs it, but I really feel like I'm getting over my head. It will be good though. Just don't ask me what my book is about; I'm not ready to do that much math!