Hundreds of thousands of writers join the challenge each year of drafting a 50,000 word novel in the month of November.
This year I’m joining the NaNoWriMo challenge. I’m looking forward to letting my imagination fly as I attempt to write 50,000 more words for the novel I’m drafting.
I’ve got to forget the delete button. Forget perfectionism. Forget laziness.
And just write. Write. Write.
I’m excited.
How about you?Do you have any goals for this upcoming month?
Earlier this month I spent a week and a half at Fall Creek Falls in Tennessee, camping with friends and family. Each night as the cold blanketed our campsites, we gathered around the campfire.
I’ve always liked campfires, but this past camping trip gave me a new appreciation for them.
The campfire was for comfort. It not only warmed us, it warmed the atmosphere too, creating a peaceful setting.
The campfire was for memories. Between cracking jokes, telling stories, and singing praise, the campfire was a place of fellowship–a place for new life to glow like the flames.
The campfire was for relaxing. Staring into that fire helped me slow down and think. Think about life. Think about faith. Think about what had brought me to that moment.
But as amazing as the campfire was, it wasn’t truly the campfire that brought us together. Faith is what brought us together. As we celebrated the Festival of Booths that week, sitting around the campfire under the starlit sky, we were family–brothers and sisters in Messiah. Our voices rose in praise as the sparks flitted from the fire and our prayers billowed like the smoke.
There are certain songs that settle in your heart and stay there for a while, convicting and encouraging you. Jimmy Needham’s song “Clear the Stage” is one of them.
The chorus holds the premise–worship is more than singing. It’s a lifestyle, and it requires complete devotion:
You can sing all you want to
And still get it wrong;
worship is more than a song
The second verse comes along and draws me in even more:
Take a break from all the plans that you have made
And sit at home alone and wait for God to whisper
Beg Him please to open up His mouth and speak
And pray for real upon your knees until they blister
Shine the light on every corner of your life
Until the pride and lust and lies are in the open
Then read the Word and put to test the things you’ve heard
Until your heart and soul are stirred and rocked and broken
Then comes the bridge of the song when Needham sings about a subject I don’t hear often in Christian music:
Any thing I put before my God is an idol
Any thing I want with all my heart is an idol
Any thing I can’t stop thinking of is an idol
Any thing that I give all my love is an idol
We might mock the idolatry of ancient days–how men carved the images they worshiped. But idols aren’t just tangible things. Most of the time they’re not so blatant.
An idol can be anything. Even a good thing that we cherish too much.
We must not worship something that’s not even worth it
Clear the stage, make some space for the One who deserves it
Hard words, Jimmy. But I need them. We all do.
What’s a worship song that’s spoken to you lately?
Fall Weather–For the past few days the weather has been gorgeous. The windows are open. Birds tweet. The wind blows, and the leaves are starting to change colors. Fall just might be my favorite season.
“Run” by Josh Garrels—This song goes along perfectly with fall weather and life in general. I’m so excited about his new album due to be released this fall.
Pistachios–I used to not like them, but for some reason I love salted pistachios now.
Kisses From Katie–I’m only to the sixth chapter of this book, but I fully envision a blog post after I’ve finished it. Simply incredible!
Teaching Piano–For the past few months I’ve had the pleasure of teaching my three youngest siblings piano. Hearing their songs lilting through the house and seeing their excitement to learn makes me excited too.
I’ve started another rough draft of my novel (the third one, to be exact). For the past two months I haven’t had the discipline and initiative to work on it consistently. I’ve only written about 10,000 words on this new draft, but I could have written so much more by now. There’s always something else to get done. I’m a high school senior, and as much as I want to write this book, school is still more important (at least that’s what I keep telling myself).
But blaming my busy schedule is a sorry excuse. In the seventeen years that I’ve spent on this earth, I’ve learned that if I want to have time for something, I usually find time for it. Most of my excuses are just excuses for laziness. And as a writer, laziness is my archenemy. It produces nothing. It benefits no one. It kills art.
So I pray a quick prayer before I sit down reluctantly to type out another chapter in the book. I pray for inspiration and help, because most of the time it just isn’t there. Even though I wholeheartedly want to write this book, most of the time I don’t feel like putting in the effort that it requires.
Which leads me to a big question:
Why am I writing this novel?
If I’m writing this novel because I feel like it, then I better stop right now. This book isn’t about me feeling fulfilled or accomplished. It’s not about seeing my name on the front cover (even though that will be amazing). It’s not about me; and sometimes that’s a hard thing for us writers to grasp. I’m writing for a higher cause–something beyond myself. There’s a voice in my head that tells me to keep writing. It tells me that this story has purpose, that it’s important somehow, and that it would be wrong for me to abandon the narrative.
That voice is hope.
Hope is my motivation, even when completing the novel seems almost impossible. Hope assures me that all these countless hours and crazy ideas and thousands of words will someday blossom into a novel, and that novel will in turn blossom the hearts of readers.
It’s this hope that propels us all into the future. We don’t all write novels, but we all face challenges. We all have to fight against laziness. We all have to push through the resistance in our heads telling us to quit.
We all need hope.
That hope comes from above, from our loving Father who gives us the courage to do great things. All we have to do is accept it, allow it to fill our hearts and minds, and let it guide us through the struggles. It’s not always easy. But it is simple.
“In the future, everyone will be word-famous for fifteen minutes.”
Andy Warhol made this statement in 1968. Perhaps it’s already becoming true.
We live in an age where people become world-famous so quickly and then disappear just as fast. Attention spans are shrinking. We want everything fast and we want it now. The culture around us rushes, pushes, and then screams at us to go faster. Grow up. Experience love sooner. Move out now.
But what if we slow down the tempo a bit? What if we enjoy being young? What if we wait for love? What if we stay where we belong? What if we embrace life instead of rushing it?
What if we sit under a tree and gaze at the big blue sky just because it’s a beautiful day? What if we write a letter to a friend because it means more than a text message? What if we say “hello” to our neighbors because they’re just as important as famous people?
In the future…
What if we forget world-famous and spend fifteen minutes enjoying the real world around us–this broken yet beautiful world?
What if we spend more than fifteen minutes? What if we spend a lifetime savoring this thing called life? Real life. Abundant life.
After referencing homeschool jokes in a draft I was writing, I did some “necessary research” on the subject. A quick Google search led me to this hilarious list of homeschool jokes. Here are some of my favorites from the list:
You must be homeschooled if…
You are unaware of the current fads, fashions, and slang terms. (Yup. Pretty much.)
Someone asks what grade you’re in and you’re not sure. (You mean I can only pick one? Gasp!)
Your school bus is a nine-passenger van. (Don’t forget the Bible verse on the back window!)
Your favorite place to study is outside, under a tree. (Where else?)
Of course these are just stereotyped jokes, but they still crack me up. What’s funny is how many of the jokes I actually relate to. I’m not even afraid to admit that. Ah! I love being homeschooled.
It’s been a full year since I attended Summit, but it still comes to mind so often. It’s influenced my life more than I think I’ll ever know. This past year I probably wouldn’t have applied myself to studying as much as I did. I wouldn’t have enjoyed the friendships I made with fellow students and my inspiring group leader (who blogs over here). And I most definitely would not be as confident in my faith.
I believe that Summit has changed the course of my life. It’s hard to talk about something so dynamic, but the other day I tried to capture a bit of the Summit experience in this short bit of prose:
Summit
We go to bed early. We get up too soon. We crowd into breakout sessions and sit through two weeks of lectures. Why? Because we are young. Because we are searching. Because we want answers.
We fill our workbooks with notes and doodles. We form friendships. We pray together. Why? Because we love God. Because we love people. Because we love ideas.
We want to reach life’s summit. We want to face the tough questions. We want to change the world. Why? Because we’ve found a glimpse of truth. Because we’ve caught a spark of hope.
Summit isn’t a memory to us. It’s a monument. We will never forget it.
I know there are many that share my sentiments for Summit. The sheer joy of knowing that each summer hundreds of young people attend these conferences makes me feel hope for the future.
I’m a girl that loves variety, especially when it comes to music. If you scroll through my iPod you’ll find many different genres.
Folk. Christian. Pop. Alternative. Indie rock. Even a little worshipful rap music.
I like music that’s different (like this perfectly unusual love song).
I like artists that are different. Artists that share their music freely. Artists that sing truth. To me, good music means authentic sound and creative lyrics that are also clean and inspiring (i.e. Josh Garrels).
I’m going to refrain myself from acclaiming Josh Garrels’ music once again, and this time share another band with impressive artistry and message.
This sweet husband and wife duo don’t just sing love songs. They also sing about cultural problems, such as poverty and slavery, calling others to let go of their “neatly arranged lives” and reach out to a broken world that needs healing. They sing about mortality and faith. They sing about commitment and self-sacrifice. Their message isn’t an easy message, but it’s a message that needs to be sung.
We need good music–music that challenges us to be better people–that disturbs the comfortable and comforts the disturbed.
We need artists like Jenny & Tyler.
We need different.
P.S. Jenny & Tyler stream all their music free on Bandcamp. They also have a free album for download on NoiseTrade (Check it out. It’s awesome).
