Inspired Writing

Valerie J. Steimle

It's been a while since I really wrote anything of significance in my personal blog and this one here. It has been a real challenge for me to really dig down deep. I get ideas here and there but never follow through.  I believe it's because of the job I started a year ago next week.

Through a friend, I was able to get hired on for Native American Fatherhood and Families Association (NAFFA). It's home base is in Mesa and we all promote fatherhood and families. This was the dream job I was had waiting for over the last 30 years as I was driven to write. I focused on the strengthen of the family and that is what we promote at NAFFA.

The challenge for me now is to have enough energy, motivation and drive to write at night after I come home from a full day of writing and promoting family. Even writing early in the morning is tough because I end up falling asleep around 3pm at work.  It is a difficult task and after becoming an empty nester, traveling to visit family, married again and a 40-hour work week, I am totally exhausted. 

It takes a lot of brain power and time for me to write well so here I am trying to write to inspire all who read this blog.  Perhaps I can have a little help from fellow writers with inspiring words to help us all get motivated to dig, down, deep for inspired writings.

 “You don’t start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it’s good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it.

That’s why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence.”

― Octavia E. Butler

“You can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.”

― Jodi Picoult

“Every secret of a writer’s soul, every experience of his life, every quality of his mind, is written large in his works.”

— Virginia Woolf

Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any.

- Orson Scott

“I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.”

— Anne Frank

“People say, ‘What advice do you have for people who want to be writers?’ I say, they don’t really need advice, they know they want to be writers, and they’re gonna do it. Those people who know that they really want to do this and are cut out for it, they know it.”

— R.L. Stine

"If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster."
--Isaac Asimov

"The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself."
--Albert Camus

I hope that helps inspire you to write inspiring writing.  It certainly has me.

Christmas Memories

As I look back over the years of my life, I thought I’d present a few random memories of Christmases past:

As a little girl, the extended family gathered at our house. My cousin and I slept in my twin bed, her head at the foot so we had more room. Grandma slept in the extra twin bed in my room. Some relatives slept on the couch or floor in sleeping bags. No air mattresses in those days.

Christmas Eve we gathered around our organ in our pajamas and bathrobes and Grandma Mac played Christmas carols while we sang everything from “Jingle Bells” to “Silent Night.” In the middle of singing, we heard Santa’s bells outside. All of us children pulled off our bathrobes while running down the hall or up the stairs depending on where we were sleeping. We had to get to sleep so Santa would stop. When I grew up, I learned it was usually Uncle Johnny that slipped out to ring those bells.

One Christmas morning, a squirrel came in the open door and ran across the dining room table, and all around the living room. Then he spotted something familiar—a tree, and scrambled up it, breaking decorations on the way. The adults had a hard time chasing him out.

Then there was the year Mom made me something for Christmas, and insisted I had never seen a real one. As a know-it-all teen, I thought to myself, how does she know everything I have ever seen. Ah well, she won that one. She made me a 5-foot tall mermaid for a bed decoration.

Christmas took on a whole new meaning when I had children of my own. From the first Christmas pictures of toddlers crying on Santa’s lap to the first one as empty nesters, all had a joy of their own. What I miss most about having children at home is our tradition of baking cookies and taking them around to friends and neighbors and singing Christmas carols. I could write a whole post about our experiences with that.

With all of the merriment and trappings of the season, the most important thing to me—Jesus Christ is the reason for the season. Without His eternal sacrifice to pay for our sins, the world would be for naught. Words cannot express how grateful I am for Him. 

Motivation for Novelists

Truly have a reason to write or you won’t want to sit down and do it.

The disciple will come from wanting to finish your story.

Compare yourself to yourself.

Look at people you admire and think of it as modeling, not being envious. Do I want a life like theirs?

Appreciate each stage of your journey. Your journey is never linear.

Write what you love, and let the joy of creation come out.

Finding your voice happens when you let down your guard and let your real self through.

Push through and get the words on the page.

Break things down into little chunks.

GOALS

Decide what your real goals are.

Why do I want to write?

What are my dreams for my writing career?

What kind of success do I want to see?

How much am I willing to adjust in order to reach that success?

What do I envision my writing career will look like in 3-5 years?

WHO AM I?

Who am I choosing to be? A writer, a creator, a novelist!

What would my life look like if I were the best-selling version of myself? If I were a successful author, what would be true for me now? Act as if you are that person that you want to be.

What would the pro writer version of myself do if I don’t feel like writing?

What is the mentality of who I want to be? Go all in.

Best-selling novelists have a writing practice they do every single day. Figure out your own version of who you want to be and how you want to do it.

DAILY MIND-SET PRACTICE

Set a daily mind-set practice about who you want to be. Just five minutes for mind-set practice. Write your reality. Write your intention. What is the energy I want? Write where you want to go and what you want to achieve.

Do your soul work first before you start your writing day, and then take action.

With your mind-set practice, do something that triggers writing mode, like lighting a candle, diffusing essential oils, saying a mantra—some sort of ritual.

MAKE A COMMITMENT TO WRITING

Writing is a commitment, just like brushing your teeth every day.

What does a fit person do? What do they do every day? Apply that to you as a novelist.

You just have to take action, and it will eventually get you where you want to go.

YOUR PEP TALK

Tell yourself, “I am a bestselling author and bestselling authors write books!”

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

            How would US history change if Indians and Europeans across the board had cooperated like the tribes of the Wampanoag people and the pilgrims. Would Indian tribes exist today? Would they intermingle taking the good of each civilization?

We can ponder forever the “what if’s” of this life, but we can’t live in them.  There’s no way to know. It’s far better to look around us and find things to be thankful for. Even the smallest of blessings we have in our lives. Setting aside electronic devices, we have much to be grateful for in these times.

Transportation of produce for example. Today we have fresh fruits and vegetables available year around.

Eyeglasses and contacts shape our world. Hearing aids also.

Transportation shapes our lives. What would take days is now covered in hours. Minutes if air transportation comes into play.

Running water in our homes.

Indoor temperature control.

Scriptures and other books readily available.

TP and other disposable conveniences.

The list goes on and on endlessly. My challenge to you is to put a paper somewhere listing the small things you are grateful for and add to it as you hurry by. 

Halloween in Years Gone By

“What was Halloween like when you were a little girl in the 1950’s?” My grandchildren may ask. Many of the traditions were the same as today, but several have changed, some a lot.

When I was growing up, many of our neighbors made homemade treats like popcorn balls and cookies which we ate without fear. There wasn’t such a thing as mini candy bars. However, not everyone gave out the big ones. Taffy, small Tootsie Rolls, and sticks of gum were popular. I remember peanut butter flavored taffy with a bit of dried out peanut butter inside was at the bottom of my desirable list. Do they still make that stuff? They did when my children trick or treated. I traded that away 2, 3, or more to one, so did my children.

I used paper grocery bags to put my candy in. Greedy children sometimes used a pillow case. I went with friends in their neighborhoods. We only had one old lady about a block away. The rest of the neighborhood had summer cabins or empty lots except one couple that came up for summers only.

My mom made me fantastic costumes, some of which had another purpose. My Alice in Wonderland dress was suitable for school without the apron, of course. Then there was the year I had panda pajamas, but I didn’t wear the hat with ears to bed. My children scrounged whatever they could find in our costume bag. Trick or Treating is still the same when children go house to house. No such thing as Trunk or Treat back then.

Tricks were still done on occasion like soaping windows or other mischief, nothing damaging. Some of the older boys in our small mountain village found an outhouse to put in the middle of the main cross roads every year. I’m sure my brothers took part in that tradition when they were teens. The one that was 5 years older complained about how hard it was to find abandoned outhouses.

Halloween is a fun holiday that brings fond memories as long as things don’t get out of hand. 

"I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints"

Valerie J. Steimle

The title of this blog post is quoted from the Primary Song Book of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints.  Sing along if you know the song:

The Church of Jesus Christ

35395, Children’s Songbook, 

The Church of Jesus Christ, 77

I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
I know who I am.
I know God’s plan.
I’ll follow him in faith.
I believe in the Savior, Jesus Christ.
I’ll honor his name.
I’ll do what is right;
I’ll follow his light.
His truth I will proclaim.

Words and music by Janice Kapp Perry

 Today and also a few weeks ago, the president and prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, Russel M. Nelson, reiterated that the name of our church is not the Mormon Church nor is it the LDS Church but The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints and that we should try to use the name of Jesus Christ (since He is the Head of our church) as much as possible.

So in that light, I have updated our blog to reflect that name.

As writers for this blog, we haven't been very faithful in keeping posts very current.  We need to improve ourselves.  We need more contributors but everyone is so busy, they don't have time to contribute...including me.

We need more women to stand up for their standard in womanhood and Christianity to write to the world. Our Relief Society Declaration says it best.

If anyone is interested in writing uplifting and inspiring Christian blog posts, following the above declaration, then email me at valeriesteimle@yahoo.com with the subject title of Blog Post writers.

I hope to hear from you...

Make the Protagonist Choose the Ultimate Sacrifice

by Lisa Rector

I don’t know about you, but when the protagonist makes the ultimate sacrifice, that grabs me as a reader. That cements me to the character and into the story. As the character wrestles with making the choice, depth is added to the story and the character. And in the end, the sacrifice is what makes the protagonist a hero.

How can we make our protagonist choose the ultimate sacrifice in our writing?

One example of sacrifice a character has to make is in the TV series Moonlight. Vampire private eye Mick St. John has finally become human, and he no longer has his supernatural strength. He’s mortal. He could die. His beloved Beth, a human, is kidnapped. Her life is in danger, and Mick cares about her more than anything in the world. The only way he can save her is by becoming a vampire again, the one thing he despises most. Mick would give anything to stay human, but Beth is more important to him than his humanity. He makes the choice to become a vampire again, and we see that emotion when, in anguish, he slams his friend against the wall and shouts, “They’ve got my Beth!”

Mick convinces his vampire bud Joseph to bite him. As the camera zooms in on Mick as Joseph comes in for the bite, the look on Mick’s face says it all—he just made the ultimate sacrifice—to save someone else. Fans love this! It’s heartbreaking. And it makes a gripping scene.

As a writer, ask yourself—What ultimate sacrifice might the protagonist make to save someone else? What is the biggest deal, the worst thing he could do to himself for the sake of another? Who or what is so important that the protagonist would make this sacrifice? Now set up your story so the protagonist will have a choice to make. And the options aren’t good. The character is in a tough spot—stuck between a bad option and a worse option. Now ask—What series of events will bring your protagonist to the decision that will have to be made? Figuring this out will take some plotting, but the results will be worth the time.

Going back to the sacrifice. What are some things the protagonist might sacrifice? It might be his humanity. The trust of someone he loves so he can be honest with them. Maybe his sacrifice pulls him into a dark place, making him a person he loathes, or his dark side emerges because of his actions, but for the character, the sacrifice would be worth it as long as the loved one is safe. (Think Anikan in Star Wars.) The protagonist might give his life for another, (but death isn’t always the worst fate.)

Whatever the sacrifice, make the choice agonizing. Make the stakes high. Make repercussions follow. The choice has to be so tortured and life changing that the reader will feel it too, especially if the setup in the beginning of the novel is done right and the character is someone the reader is invested in.

My Vampire

Vampires, creatures of darkness.
Their favorite treats… storm sprites.

The blood of a storm sprite makes an intoxicating elixir for most supernatural beings, including vampires. After Killian, a reclusive vampire, comes across Sasha, a rare storm sprite, and saves her life, they develop an unlikely friendship. Because of his constant cravings for her blood, Killian keeps his distance while protecting Sasha from the supernaturals hungering for her. But as his behaviors change and he draws closer, Sasha’s no longer sure of his motivations. One day his cravings will become too much.

When a woman’s brutal murder spirals a hunt for an amulet that has demonic powers, Sasha and Killian are stuck between the feuding demons and vampires who are determined to possess the amulet’s secrets. Sasha must find the amulet for her protection—before she ends up on the wrong end of a demon’s blade, or worse, has her throat ripped out by the vampire she calls hers.

Eliminating Distance by Cutting Out the Filters

by Lisa Rector

I recently read about eliminating distance in writing by cutting out filter words and was able to create an analogy to answer a spiritual question.

Try to follow me.

Filter words create distance between the reader and the story and pull the reader out of a deep emotional experience. By cutting filter words, the reader is drawn into the story and holds on to a meaningful connection with the character.

So, jumping back to the spiritual. Here’s the question. How can we repair the breach between God and us?

How did I use eliminating distance by cutting out filter words as an example to answer this question?

I’ll start by saying, “Don’t put distance between yourself and God. Cut out all the filters.”

How do we do that?

In literature, I often see writers use modals. For instance.

I could hear God.

Usually, the sentence is written this way when a character is in a hazy state or is about to pass out. They can hear but can’t see, and writers like to make sure the readers know it.

But the modal can or could is not necessary.

Let’s go a step farther.

I heard God.

You still might not be able to see God, but you definitely hear Him. But why use the filter word? Heard is passive, creating distance once again between the reader and the story.

So what’s next?

Try writing it this way.

God speaks to me.

The writer has cut out the filter word. The sentence is active. God speaking to the character is a sure thing. It’s written in a powerful way.

So we go from hazily hearing God to hearing Him to acknowledging the He speaks to us.

Let’s pretend the filter words are a metaphor for something in our lives that creates distance between God and us. What can we cut out to restore or strengthen the relationship? What in our lives bogs us down, only letting us vaguely hear promptings? What blocks the connection between Deity and us? What keeps us from drawing closer to God and having a deep abiding trust in Him? How can we have an active relationship with God?

The first step is acknowledging the things we need to do to repair the breach, whatever it may be. And then act. If we do these things and ponder the above questions, we can have a greater relationship with our Father in Heaven.

Potato Chip Rock

I had a grand adventure a couple of weeks ago with my son.

Have you ever heard of Potato Chip Rock? Didn’t think so unless you live near Poway, CA. One more bucket list item checked off. I hadn’t even heard of it until I moved away from that city. The hike is a 2 mile trek up Mt. Woodson.

My son Brian was my guide. It’s the toughest 4 mile hike I’ve ever gone on. 

We hiked through beautiful terrain.

I made myself notice the beauty every few minutes when I stopped and gasped for breath.

We climbed 1,300 feet in elevation in the 2 miles up.

Potato Chip Rock deserves its name, and I wish I could have had my picture taken on top, but I couldn’t climb up the crack in the rock necessary to reach it.

I waited my turn in line, but when I needed to raise my knee to about waist height especially in that small space, my back said, “Don’t do it.” I didn’t. Still worth the hike.

The descent was easier, but by then my body was telling me “enough!” Brian made sure I drank enough water all along the way, and gave me a granola bar for calories before starting down.

I was surprised I didn’t have sore muscles the next day. My calves were burning on the way up, and the top of my thighs on the way down.

Was I disappointed that I couldn’t go to the top of Potato Chip Rock? Yes! But not devastated. At my age I’m thankful I could take the journey with my son. 

One on one time with any of my children is always special. 

It’s an adventure I’ll always remember.

I can do hard things, but I still have to be smart, and know when to let it go.