Ever heard of BERT?

Lee Roddy created this acrostic for writers:

Do my words really Benefit my readers?

Do they Enrich them?

Are they Relevant

And Timely?


"He went around doing good" Paul writes of Jesus in Acts 10:38


As writers, an instrument through which God can do great things, do we follow Jesus' example: "[going] around doing good"?

Do we take care that the articles, novels, and non-fiction works we painstakingly craft for Him are Beneficial, Enriching, Relevant, and Timely for our prospective readers?

To me, BERT is a powerful acrostic test to administer to all my works. Am I staying focused enough?

Gracious thanks to Marlene Bagnull, author of Write His Answer A Bible Study for Christian Writers for today's blog topic and pertinent material.


Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

One-Thousand Gifts

Ann Voskamp, a beautiful blog owner and writer, mother, farmer's wife, and humble servant to God's abundant grace, continues to add to her All's Grace list regularly. I've decided to join Ann in this very rewarding, eye-opening endeavor.

All too often I take for granted, even ignore, the bounty of gifts God has graciously provided me. There's an old adage that goes something like this: "What is one man's garbage is another man's treasure." Though I believe many of my treasures (gifts from God) would be valuable to all, there are numerous, I'm sure, that I alone hold close to my heart. So here I start on my One-Thousand Gifts, All's Grace list.

God, my Creator

Jesus, my Saviour

Hubby, my best friend

Daughter, my challenger

Daughter, my affirmer

Daughter, my pleaser

Family, those who helped shape me and mold me

Pets, loyal and endearing, who live on in my heart long past their earthly years

Scripture, more than a life's worth of true learning

Devotionals, a source of needed focus


For today, I will stop here and lift praise for all that is graciously given to me through Him.

If you feel so inclined, please join Ann Voskamp, like I have, in starting your own All's Grace list. See Ann's Gratitude Community for others acknowledging God's abundant grace in their lives.

Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

Something to listen to...

Music that touches the soul.

One of my sisters passed me this link. She happened by this video as she searched for songs to download on her MP3 player. Thanks, Jillian, for thinking of me.

Get ready for a tug on the heart strings before you click on the following link.

Jimmy Wayne - I Love You This Much


So much to be grateful for.

Empathy abounds.

Always remember to love first and refrain from judging, for the history that shapes a human is all powerful, and rarely revealed in passing.


Synopsis Update:

I'm done! Doing the happy dance here. Not only am I done with my one-page synopsis, I gained a great deal of direction for this story in doing the exercises Pam McCutcheon presents in her book Writing the Fiction Synosis. Now I know where my story is heading and I'm eager to get to writing it!

But first, I need to draft my article for the Christian Fiction Online Magazine.


Blessings to All!

Eileen

After School Snack

Starting last fall, I made the decision to ease out of writing mode each day by preparing an after school snack for my girls upon their arrival home each afternoon. This guarantees that they have my full attention from the moment the bus rolls away from the curb, and they start their time with me a little happier, too.

So far, the snacks have ranged from prepared fruits, to hot apple crisp, mini pizzas, cookies, squares, to even old-fashioned homemade breads hot out of the oven to be smothered with butter or jelly. Whatever their tummy's desire. It's fun for me to create these "surprises" for them, and the girls have come to really look forward to the "treat of the day" that awaits them.

If you're story lingers with you into family time, and you're looking for a way to manage this needed transition, then perhaps After School Snack preparation time will work for you, too. It's fun to do, allows for further story pondering and weening, and your children will most likely thank you for it, too.

Two-Bite Brownies happened to be one of this week's Watson creations. If you're interested, the recipe follows the pics.










Homemade Two-Bite Brownies

Mix: 1/2 cup melted butter, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 egg

Add: 3 Tbsp. Cocoa, 3/4 cup flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp vanilla

Grease mini muffin tins. Fill about 1/2 way. Bake at 350 F for about 15 minutes. Makes about 24 yummy morsels. Makes enough for tomorrows lunch pail snacks as well.


Synopsis Update:
I've worked through most of the exercises and have begun on the actual write up. Wow, I learned a lot about my story from those work sheets. Can't wait to see the finished synopsis now.

Blessings to all, and may your transition from writing to family time bring you much peace.

Eileen

A day of synopsis writing

Today I continue with the challenge of writing a one-page synopsis. By working my way through Pam McCutcheon's Writing the Fiction Synopsis exercises, I hope to have a completed not-too-shabby synopsis by the end of today. I'll let you know how it went in tomorrow's post.



If you've written any synopsis before, what words of wisdom do you have to share? I could use all the help I can get.

May God have His hand in my daily work, as I traverse this monstrous hill.

Blessings prayed for you all,

Eileen.

Restrained protectiveness

Watching my black Labrador lunge outside to protect our property from an approaching feline, "restrained protectiveness" popped into my mind.

Tippy was being anything but restrained while pounding on the patio door, begging for release. I watched the grey and white cat saunter across the winter barren field behind our property. As she reached the bottom of our hill, she must have heard Tippy's attempted release because she began bounding toward the neighbour's hill. I released the protective hound, who leaped full-speed ahead to investigate her land. Sniffing the property line, her spine slowly softened. Satisfied, she returned to the door for reentry.

Isn't that what most heroines want from their hero? Only, more subtly.



Do you weave an element of protectiveness into your hero's character?

How can you use your hero's protective nature (or lack there of) to create conflict without losing integrity?

As you write or edit today, if romance is your genre, see if you can incorporate some manner of protectiveness within your crafted scenes. Does it add a layer? Does it achieve empathy from the reader?


Blessings,

Eileen

Guiding the dream...

We recently inherited a large estate which includes a marvelous country mansion, and along with it a very capable, professional butler, coattails and all.

The family is still adjusting to such a drastic change, so we haven't moved in yet. Just visited on occasion while coattails, Mr. Lucid, tends to the daily upkeep of the mansion and grounds. The girls are so excited, as we are making plans to build a paddock and brand new barn. Soon we'll be able to get them the horses they've been dreaming of loving as their very own for nearly eight years now.

Sharing our good fortune, hubby and I invited some family and friends over for a viewing and a time of movie entertainment in the expansive media room. A room full of plush leather, tapestry, cherry wood, grand stone fireplace, and beautiful fixtures. Posh, yet just as our dear passed Aunt, it's comfortably cozy and most inviting.

Mr. Lucid, the aforementioned butler, in true fashion offers refreshments to the guests, and us, the Watson family, his new masters. He made his way around the room, being sure that all were satisfied. He's a pleasant man. A blessing for sure.

Then someone, and I have no idea who, as many were gathered around me at the time, spilled a beverage.

"Oh, don't worry," I say, "the help will take care of that." I guide my adoring family and friends away from the mess, thinking Mr. Lucid is taking far too long to deal with the spill.

If he's this incapable, I think over my shoulder, then perhaps hubby and I should find new help.

I look to one of my sisters who appears to be watching me. "Good help is so difficult to find." I sneer.

And this, my friends, is where the guiding began.

Chastising myself, I lifted prayers for forgiveness to my Heavenly Father. How could I act so spoiled, so ungrateful, so nasty and impatient, in this, just a dream?

During the remainder of my nearly five hours of continuous dreaming I felt myself overseeing my actions and reactions within this unknown world that my subconscious was creating. It was a dream of situations and activities that weren't driven by my conscious mind, so I can't really call it a lucid dream, but yet, my actions and mindset within the dream were being controlled by me--even guided. Guiding myself to be more holy, more mindful of how Jesus would have acted and responded, and I found myself purposely trying to emulate His ways within the fictional world that my subconscious unveiled from that moment on.

Have you ever done that? Partially controlling your dreams, knowing you are, but yet powerless to snap yourself out of the dream state.

It's almost like it's a heaven-sent exercise.

"See what you'd become if you had all the earthly pleasures possible to you." The Angel asks. "Would the comfort, beauty, excessiveness be worth the cost of your soul?"

"NEVER!" I answer most truthfully, without pause.

Where I am. Who I am. What I am to be. And, what I am to do. I give to thee, Dear Lord.