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!