NaNoWriMo Countdown 3 days

To the High Consul of the Court, the Mage Jennan,

My friend, it is never an easy thing to write to someone about the death of a family member, but I think you will allow me a little joy in telling you that your brother Britten is dead. Captain Phaius has written to tell me that he destroyed the tower while he was still in it, and that only after they had dug him out and destroyed any wards still on his being were they truly satisfied. I fear however, that this magical feud is not over. What a sad beginning to such an amazing blessing.

Jennan, I urge you to bring your family and establish yourself in the court once more.  The time for open experimentation is over. Our naivety has brought this upon ourselves. Let us steward this magic with the best knowledge we have and establish the regulations to keep ourselves away from the trap of madness which Britten has fallen victim to. No more will we allow magic to run rampant through our culture. It must be taught, it must be regulated. 

Jennan, you must agree, something must be done.

Sora sends her best wishes to you and your family and we look forward to uniting our families once more. Let us establish a guild of mages Jennan, let us lead magic where we need it to go, not react to where it has taken us.

His majesty the King,

Tairen

NaNoWriMo Countdown 4 days

Jennan,

After you left your King betrayed us. He has sent his guard to destroy me. You must be next. It’s all a ploy to get our power. You know that. We are the ones that should be in control. We are the ones with the power. Tairen knows that, he’s always known that. I see that he has read enough of your missives to know how magic works. They are taking down my wards one by one and they are sharp-eyed about it. But I am not lacking in supply and I am creating my ballroom Jennan, with our without you I will create it.

I meant to send what I wrote above, but now, it would seem, dear brother that your family loyalty is in question. I guess that I was not meant to send a letter to you until now. The men have received a letter from a certain white winged conjuring that I recognize. You never were the brightest of us children. Mother would be so ashamed, after all the work she put into legitimizing magic, showing the capital that what her and Grandmother did was a gift from God and not a thing to be waved aside. We have turned this into an art-form!

And here, in the midst of an incredible leap forward, you have turned traitor against me! Does not God require sacrifices Jennan? Who are you to demand that I stop making them! Which of us is truly holy? You? With your limestone powder and chamomile leaves or me? Who with a single fingertip can destroy this entire structure?

Britten

NaNoWriMo Countdown 5 days

To the Captain of the King’s Guard, Phaius,

Captain, I hope that this letter finds you prepared for things unimaginable. Britten has certainly gotten worse than I suspected in the short time that I have been away. I hope that he is the only one exploring the use of this blood magic, but our experiments have never been a secret.

Mages fighting each other might seem appropriate to you, but I tell you it is the opposite. If I were to confront my brother magically it would go in his favor. My magic is one of preparation and time, his is impulsive and violent. Magic is meant to help and heal, not for combat. My brother’s perversion is just that and I cannot help you other than to give advice.

Educate all of your men. Do not stand in any patterns on the ground, no matter how innocent looking. Pebbles in a line are likely some sort of magical device. Anything that looks like blood should be scattered from its original position to disrupt the magic it is weaving. Once you see my brother you will need to close in on him. He will likely have a few wards on his person.

I would keep him talking, he loves to rant about his achievements, but don’t allow your men to stop looking for his patterns.

I wish you God-speed and many blessings Captain. He gave us this gift and my brother has turned it into a curse. May the Lord be on your side in all things.

High Consul of the Court,

Jennan

Devotions: Life of Moses Exodus 15:22-18:27

As I read through the passage this week, I was struck by the grumbling of the Israelites and the patience of the Lord. The Israelites, scarce days outside of their captivity, complain about thirst, and then hunger, and then thirst again. I find myself judging them. How could they so quickly forget about the provision of the Lord? Did he not say he would bring them to the promised land? Moses’s reaction is right, he prays and cries out to the Lord and he provides, first turning the water sweet, then bringing quail and manna and finally bringing water out of a rock. The Lord does not chastise them, Moses does not chastise them. Their need is simply provided for as Moses cries out in faith for God to provide.

The Israelites do not even thank God. They seem to just move on. Their needs have been met. No songs are sung, no celebrations or burnt offerings are made. It doesn’t even say that they worshipped Him. In addition to their lack of repentance for their small faith, they take each complaint to the extreme: “and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.’” Exodus 16:3; “But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?’” Exodus 17:3.

I love Moses’s response as he cries out to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people?” Exodus 17:4. I can relate with this as I read this. How can this people complain, Moses is thinking, didn’t you show them your power Lord? How can they still doubt?

But Moses, oh Moses, he isn’t that far from his own complaints. He himself complained about his “faltering lips” quite a few times. Now the man who complained in his own doubts, is dealing with the people’s lack of faith.

This turns my attention to myself and my faith and trust in God’s promises. Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time that I have had this type of epiphany. Last year, studying Matthew, I was struck by how the disciples were told over and over about Christ’s death, three days in the tomb and resurrection, and yet they didn’t expect it. Here Moses and the Israelites have been shown the power of God, and yet when God makes a promise, the Israelites find it hard to trust in Him.

My life is a series of these pitfalls. I have never seen the Lord turn water into blood, or make an entire land covered in darkness, but I have seen his miracles in my own life and those of other believers. I have seen his provision, his protection, I have felt his presence. So why do I doubt? There are moments in which my stress levels are unreasonable for a follower of Christ. He never promised an easy life, but he did promise the outcome. I should have faith that he will bring me there in his will and his timing. My grumbling, my complaints, my exasperated cries of “why did you bring me to this place!” need to stop. My faith needs to be in my eternal savior, the creator of the world who loved me enough to call me child.

How have you grumbled in your circumstances against God? How will you lean on him and trust him today? 

NaNoWriMo Countdown 7 days

To the High Consul of the Court, the Mage Jennan,

My friend, I am afraid that I have upset the balance in your brother’s mind and made myself an enemy. Your brother’s letter to you was very revealing and I dispatched the King’s guard to put a stop to this experimentation at once. I should have listened to your advice when you said you should be the one to go back. I hope that by now you have safely rejoined your family.

The staff in your tower has been decimated. My guard reports that he has killed all of them, and hired out for new. Most of the local villagers are too afraid to resist, and according to my captain, he is using magic to trap them and then draining them for more material. This cycle is madness and he has turned away from being your brother or my friend. As you instructed before you left I have equipped each of my guards with a way to destroy the patterns, but the tower itself seems to shake when they encounter a new one.

If Britten is as powerful as you say then we may have a battle on our hands. A battle fueled by magic, my fingers tremble just writing it. So few of us can even practice this new art, and we are still figuring out how it works! What am I supposed to do with a rogue mage? Arrows seem useless and my soldiers are terrified that their deaths will only provide him with more material.

I plead only for your advice. I do not want to involve you in destroying your brother, but I desperately need your help. Others in the kingdom are starting to take notice and it will not be long, I think, before this magic becomes a plague of uncertainty across the land.

I await your response.

His majesty the King,

Tairen

NaNoWriMo Countdown 8 days

Jennan,

This is not the time to abandon our pursuit of knowledge just because the King has a whim. I demand that you come back here! There is a pattern that I cannot hope to achieve on my own and I need your deft hand. I think if we cover the ballroom, starting simultaneously in the North and the South corner and work our way through warding patterns and into building patterns we can create a room that is impregnable. Of course, the pattern will have to be made permanent, but if we rough up the stone and then use blood we should be able to make it a part of the stone.

Human blood, Jennan, human blood makes the power unstoppable! I created a small trapping ward, and it nearly made it impossible for me to leave my own room! I hope you won’t mind that we need to hire a new chamber maid; she was only so willing to donate her veins to my cause. I have only about a pint left, but I am thinking we can use it to start our ballroom pattern.

Have you thought about causing destruction with magic? I think some of these wards could be turned, twisted, and then they would not promote protection but destruction? What if something designed to protect a being actually ended up making them vulnerable? The possibilities, Jennan, are endless and we are just starting to understand.

Come back here quickly brother. The King may need an update but does he really need your presence?

Britten

NaNoWriMo Countdown 9 days

To His Majesty, the King Tairen,

Tairen, it is always good to hear from you. I was sorry to miss the coronation, but you were the one who sent me away. I hope that my monthly reports have been sufficient to inform you of our progress here. I will be on my way to court within the week. I will bring a few written patterns, I have been experimenting with protection magic and have come up with some interesting results. The ward I have been crafting has come out properly the last three of five times and I am close to perfecting it. It is a tedious and time consuming process but the results could guarantee the safety of your person as well as anyone you bring within its warding power.

I must admit, some of the reason that I have chosen to focus on protection or wards as I am calling them is because of what my brother is doing. Britten has discovered that in death there is power, and that power makes me wary. I have tried it, this power that he has found so alluring, and it is alluring. It is fascinating and opens up a realm of possibilities that Britten is trying to explore. That lure, however, is what is keeping me from it. I have stepped back and contented myself in observation and what I have seen is disturbing. The use of blood in magic is like universal ingredient and things that previously required much preparation can be done with a simple pattern. But the cost is great and the potential repercussions are dire. The greater the creature the greater the power and Britten has started mixing his own blood and those of some of the more willing servants in with his cow’s blood.

I am afraid for him, in a way I did not understand at first. I will bring his research along with my own when I travel to the capital, but I must warn you, his notes are not altogether sane. This blood magic is taking something from him, and I almost do not recognize him as my brother. These experiments with magic, this attempt to harness this new power, it has costs and my brother is paying them.

I must admit, I am loath to leave Britten. He is teetering on madness in this pursuit of his and I am frightened of what sort of power he might abuse while I am gone. My old friend, I urge you to be wary of this magic. I do not trust it.

Tell Sora that the children will have to meet another time, my family is at their summer retreat and it is far too long a distance for the short time I will be in court.

High Consul of the Court,

Jennan

NaNoWriMo Countdown 10 days

In honor of NaNoWriMo being 10 days away, I am going to post part of a short history story I am writing as background to my NaNo Novel. There are seven parts to this story and I will post one letter a day for the next seven days. Then with three days to go, maybe we'll learn a little more about my main character? 

To the High Consul of the Court, 

The Mage Jennan,

I hope that this letter finds you well, and is not entirely unexpected. It’s been sixth months since I have had the pleasure of your presence in court and I miss your sharp wit and unexpected insight. I did not think that our friendship would suffer from my move from crown prince to King, but my free time has only become more restricted.  I have heard that you and Britten have discovered some remarkable things. You will have to bring them with you so that we can add them to the library. I need you in court Jennan, so that we can discuss this magic and what it will do to our kingdom.

I am surrounded by men grasping at power, and the shifting trade routes are causing some frustration. Many would have me take what you are doing and use it as leverage. From what you have written, it does not seem like that kind of power. The power to strengthen buildings or heal the sick is power that will help grow our kingdom, not tear another apart. I grow weary of the war-mongers but I must admit that they have a point, the kingdom’s around us are concerning and we can use all the help we can get.

Despite these issues, I am more concerned about the disturbing rumors about what Britten has been doing, and what you have denounced. What could put such a rift between the two of you? Practically inseparable, you were always equals as you experimented. What is this kind of magic that you would spurn its knowledge while your brother experiments freely? I have heard only that it is violent, but what in our world isn’t? If there is merit in this magic, I would know of it. Bring as much of your experiments and your brother’s with you when you come. It may be that even unsavory power is power worth having. Leave Britten behind however, he does not have your poise in court and has never been one to garner favor with my advisors.

Sora sends her love, and reminds me to ask you to bring your family. Your son must be close to five now. Last we saw of him he was barely toddling around! Bring him so that our children can learn to know each other just as we did.  

His Majesty the King,

Tairen

Devotions: Life of Moses Exodus 11:1-15:21

Welcome onto the scene the final plague. It is interesting that the majority of the passage speaks not of the importance of the death of the firstborn, but on the redemption of those that the Lord passed over. There is an overwhelming majority of verses dedicated to the way that Passover will work in the future, how they are going to keep the feast and how they will worship the Lord by remembering what he has done for them.

The parallels between the Passover feast and what will become Holy Communion jump off of the pages. The entire point of the feast is to celebrate the redemption of the Israelites out of Egypt. Redemption from a life of slavery and brought into the household of God as the firstborn, consecrated to him and inheriting the promised land.

“You shall tell your son on that day, ‘It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt’ and it shall be to you as a sign on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes.” Exodus 13:8-9a

Our salvation comes through the blood of Jesus, shed on the last day of the Passover and sealed with a new covenant meal on the Passover feast night. Our act of celebration through Communion is just like that of the ancient Israelites, a celebration of what the Lord did for us, bringing us up out of slavery to sin and brought into the household of God as his child, consecrated to him and inheriting the Kingdom.

Next time I take communion, I am not only going to think about the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for my sins, but I will also remember and thank God for his incredible plan, and his faithfulness through the ages. His plan has always been the same, from the time of Moses to now. So let us tell our children, “it is because of what the Lord did for me when I was saved from sin.” And let us keep it as a sign on our hand and as a memorial between our eyes. Amen. 

Investing in my Creativity

My creative streak has been on strike. You know that feeling when you think “I’m a writer! I should have great ideas!” Well, it’s been fleeting the past few years, drifting in and out in fits of brilliance (which are really quite mediocre) and making me long for the days when I dreamt about my characters and day dreamed plot lines.

In an attempt to kindle my creative genius, I have made myself some goals at the beginning of the summer. I have been listening to some creative writing podcasts since the beginning of the year and was ready to make myself buckle down and write. Goals went like this:

1. Using the writing prompt from my podcast write something every week.
2. Starting in September, outline a novel for Nanowrimo
3. Starting in October, research my novel for Nanowrimo
4. In November, write my novel
5. Starting in December, revise and rewrite my novel

So far, so good. I have been writing twice a week and started using this blog to keep me accountable. It’s hard to track progress if you can’t have a timeline. In September, I started a huge spreadsheet that has the plan for my novel and did a basic plot outline. Now, I am in the middle of fleshing it out, filling in details and crafting my characters.

By far, this is the most pre-prep work I have EVER done writing anything. I have my characters and setting almost fully fleshed, I have a detailed plot outline with every scene beginning middle and end, it looks like I will have 26 decently long chapters in first draft. I like my character, I am beginning to crave putting fingers to keyboard and diving into this thing! Only 16 days left!

Finally I feel like my brain is starting to think like a writer again. This novel is not the most ingenious plot line ever, no it doesn’t have any crazy twists or something so completely out there. This is me, sitting down and just dropping something back into my bank of creativity. I need to invest in my writing ability and work on crafting a great story. I can always revise in the crazy twists and strange attractors. Right now, I’m starting to feel like I’m getting in the groove of writing, I’ve been focused and determined.

I think, I am willing once more to call myself a writer. 

Devotions: Life of Moses Exodus 6:28-10:29

The Lord is the almighty creator of the universe who wants to be in relationship with his people. In this passage, the Lord spends the entire time talking first to Moses, through Moses to Aaron, through Aaron to Pharaoh, and through his actions, to the people of Egypt and Israel. The Lord is proving not only his power and glory, but also his love for his people. Not only does the Lord punish Pharaoh, he uses the opportunity to prove to the god-king that he is not, in fact, a god. He humbles not only Pharaoh, but the entire Egyptian population, proving over and over that their gods are powerless in the face of the Lord. The Israelites are separated out in impossible ways, flies avoiding their land, death avoiding their livestock, darkness avoiding Goshen. The Lord is clearly distinguishing between his people and the rest of the world and Pharaoh sees it, he just doesn’t want to acknowledge it. If he acknowledges it, he acknowledges that the God of his slaves is greater than the god he thinks he is.  

But that is who God is. He is the almighty creator of the universe, controller of life and death, water, flies and locusts, darkness and light. What the plagues demonstrates is the power of the creator of the universe and the lengths he will go to for the love of his children.

Now that, is awesome.

Brain - meet procedure manuals

I.                    Creating numbered lists is sometimes a formatting nightmare.

A.      Microsoft Word alternately:

i.                     Decides it will cooperate, making everything align perfectly

ii.                   Decides it doesn’t know what you are talking about and things come out looking like they don’t match

iii.                  Decides it knows what you want even though it is not what you want and it won’t listen to you when you tell it its wrong

II.                  Trying to outline what you do in a way that tells others what to do is hard

A.      Translating your personal procedures into simple steps requires a lot of forethought about:

i.                     What you need to talk about

ii.                   What comes first and what follows (you can’t just start writing stuff down, you won’t remember something)

B.      Translating your personal procedures into simple steps requires a lot of thought about:

i.                     Common terminology, you can’t always use the jargon terms

ii.                   Screen shots of what you can’t explain but just need to show

iii.                  Not relying solely on screen shots

iv.                 Not relying solely on words

C.      Translating your personal procedures into simple steps requires other people to:

i.                     Read through your steps for clarity

ii.                   Follow your steps and let you know what is missing

III.                Creativity taking a back seat to numbered lists leaves you thinking that your brain is tapped out

A.      Creativity seems to fall flat when you have been crafting words for work all day long

i.                     Your brain fails to think of interesting vocabulary when you have spent all day in one corner of your language skills

ii.                   Fatigue emanates from that area of your brain that relishes the blinking black cursor as a challenge

B.      Fifteen pages of procedures leaves you dreaming of bullet points not plot lines

i.                     Waking up thinking about how to make B follow A kind of kills the attempt to figure out what happens to your character next

ii.                   Your plot and scenes start reading like a list rather than a descriptive experience.

C.      Writing prompts start looking like chores rather than exercises to keep your brain sharp. A number list sounds like an easier exercise then trying to create a story or idea out of your benumbed brain.

IV.                Time to put down the procedures and attempt to do something more creative…

But tonight… that is not going to be a writing prompt. It’s going to be planning characters and scenes for my novel. So, brain meets procedures and insists on thinking in terms of bullet points? Why not put that super organized brain to creative work. Let’s outline!

Devotions: Life of Moses Exodus 5-6:27

In chapter 5 of Exodus, Moses does exactly what God told him to do. He is flying high from the confirmation of the Israelite leaders and goes and asks Pharaoh, to let his people go worship for 3 days. And then the unthinkable happens, Pharaoh says no. Moses must have reeled, maybe even asked again, wait, what did you say? I thought I heard, no? No! Oh you really did say no! And then, to top it all off, Pharaoh makes life even harder for the Israelites that Moses is trying to deliver – again! This is Moses second attempt in his life to be the leader that delivers his people. And understandably, both he and the Israelites hit rock bottom. They cry out first to Pharaoh and then to Moses, who cries out to God. (This order is a little backwards so I think the children of God still have some learning to do!)

They are discouraged, and frustrated! Moses asks God why did he do this? Why did he bring him out here only to fail? The circumstances of his calling had changed dramatically. He went from being called on the mountain of God to deliver his people to being told no and causing more hardship. Moses must have felt like God needed to revise his plan. It wasn’t working! Something was wrong, either him, or the Pharaoh or maybe even God’s plan in the first place.

In chapter 6 God answers Moses. (For being such a whiner, Moses sure gets some pretty compassionate responses back from God, revealing God’s character.) In this chapter, God outlines who he is, what he will do and that Moses will do it. Almost an exact repetition of what he told Moses on the mountain.

To Moses – the change in circumstances demanded a change in the plan.

To God – the plan never changed.

How many times do I get discouraged about my circumstances? God calls me to something, and when I move to obey him my life changes, the people around me change, my support structure shrinks or my personality seems to do back-flips on my ability to do what I am called to do. But even though I think it’s time to go back to the drawing board, is God asking me to continue? He sees all, I have limited vision. Maybe, as with Moses, the set-back that I feel requires a complete plan overhaul was part of the plan the whole time. God’s plans are infallible, and he will make a way, because he is faithful to see it through.

If God has shown you a plan, and you think that circumstances have now made that plan void, be quiet and listen. Is God still saying the same things? Maybe your change in circumstance doesn’t require a change in God’s divine plan for your life, and for the world. 

Writing Prompt: Support Group

                “He just won’t listen.” Cassie says to the three people sitting around the table with her, her fingers wrapped around a chai latte. “He walks away when I want him to fight, he speaks like a pacifist when I want him to get angry. I try to make him angry and he just gets sad! I don’t know what to do with him anymore!”

                “I understand completely!” A small blonde woman on her right says, taking a sip of her tea with a grimace, “My Taisly says one thing, does another and is different from home to school! I don’t know whether she is two people in one or if I’m just incompetent!”

                “You aren’t incompetent!” The man across from Cassie says, “Darla, your Taisly has just got to be split into two people. Maybe she has a younger sibling?”

                “That could work.” Darla says, her eyes going glazed and looking across and over the shoulder of the man on Cassie’s left.

                “Whatever you do.” Cassie says, “Just don’t make it cliché.” They all shudder, and Roger leans across the table to take Darla’s hand.

                “Write through it. It’ll come out. Same for you Cass. Get through the first draft. They’ll fall into place eventually. Maybe your M.C. doesn’t like being the war-causing rabble-rouser you need him to be, but that can give him depth can’t it?” Tom nods at Roger’s words.

                “Yes.” He says, “Focus on the positive. You are at the halfway point. Don’t give up now!”

                Cassie sips at her chai, and looks around the circle. “Well, that covers characters, how are your plot outlines going?” Everyone groans and Roger stands up.

                “I’m going to need another latte for this conversation!”