Happy Labor Day weekend to all! I was tempted to take today off, but I didn’t finish my word count yesterday, so today was partially a work day for me. But Randy is grilling a big steak (we’re going to share) and I plan to play the rest of the weekend! I will say I had fun writing today. I’ve been working on Naamah’s story, Solomon’s first wife, and already started over once. I caught up to that 4-5K word count when I was again struggling to keep going. I would have worked through it anyway, and still may go back and keep it the way I had it, but I really wanted to try my hand at first person point of view. I had written a suspense novel in 2006 in first person and won the Genesis Award with the first chapter that year. But I ended up changing it to third person so that I could incorporate the guy’s POV. I haven’t written first person since. (But I loved the chance to write that way back then!)
Well, that first person desire has been working at me lately, and I thought today, “Why not?” It’s a short story, so even if it doesn’t work, at least I won’t be redoing a 90K word novel! Rather than go back to the beginning, however, I decided to just start where I was in 1st person. What fun! I don’t know whether I will keep it or not, but I do love the way it allows me to get deeper inside Naamah’s thinking. I have seven months to finish before the book is due, so I think I can do this, even if I have to write it twice. Writing works faster when you find the voice that lets you really dive into the story!
In the process of working on Naamah today, I got thinking about sneak peeks and first chapters, and I remembered that I had not yet written the book club or Bible study questions for Rebekah. Fortunately, I will be getting Page Proofs on that book soon, so I will get to reread it all and write the questions as I go. That leads me to ask – do you take advantage of the Book Club or Bible Study questions for the other stories? They are available, along with the first chapters of each story on the books page. I hope you find them useful!
Our local Peach Festival is this weekend, and I’m hoping to get out there to get some fresh-from-the-tree peaches. We have an orchard not far from us that carries some of the best peaches anywhere! And they sell peach baked goods (though not likely gluten-free!), but then again, I can cheat now and then, as my diet changes are by choice, not necessity.
I made the best sweet potato dish the other day. I think it beats any sweet potato dish I’ve made, even the kind with marshmallows for Thanksgiving! It’s very simple. I don’t even have a name for it, but here is what I did.
Peel and cut sweet potatoes into small pieces Peel and slice Granny Smith apples Arrange both in a 9×13 pan Dot with dollops of organic raw honey (about 4 T) and about 3 T of coconut oil
Bake for about 30 minutes or so at 350 until potatoes and apples are tender. Stir and enjoy! Yum!
Well, the steak is about ready and I’m hungry!
Happy Labor Day – whether you labor or not!
