God is not in this

I recently watched an excellent documentary about the tensions between the Jews and the Muslims in Jerusalem. It's called "Promises," and I highly recommend it for intellectual watching.

But it was also very troubling. The children interviewed in the film gave their opinions on their neighbors of the other religion. I was shocked at the hatred and blind judgment that emanated from each side. Both sides claimed the other side had wronged them, kicked them off their land and brutally murdered them. Both sides expressed an angry entitlement that they deserved to live on the land and THEY WOULD NOT SHARE.

This absolutely shocked me. Not that they felt they had the right; but that they insisted that the other side could not live there with them.

The most troubling part is that they claimed this in the name of God. Both religions said God wanted this. One boy said that God wanted the other religion destroyed, and if he saw a [...], he would throw a stone or try to kill him. He said that the more [...] that died, the fewer there would be, and the world would be better.

There was one group of children who disagreed. One group who felt that the checkpoints were invasive and that the other religious group had just as much right to live there as they did. They were interested in meeting kids of the other religion and forming friendships, friendships that might some day change the world.

They also were non-practicing [...]. They did not believe in God.

They fight in the name of God, they hate each other in the name of God, they indoctrinate their children to do the same--in the name of God. But I do not believe this is God's will. This is evil, it is destruction on God's children. God is not in this.

I dream of a world where we all live happy lives to old ages. We are all born with this potential. And it is not God who inhibits us from fulfilling it.

Falling Fat and Fruitful Sundays

I'm not fat.

No, really, I'm not. Not by any sense of the word. But I'll admit that I had some weight issues after this last baby. You know the whole, "It takes nine months to lose it" thing? Well, I never believed that. It never took me more than four months.

Until my sweet little girl.

But anyway, my weightloss woes (and successes) are for another post. Or not.

More importantly, you have to watch what you say around your kids. At some point in the past eight months, I must've said something about not wanting a cookie because it would make me fat. I don't know. Can't recall saying it, but I must have. So two days ago, my 5yo son offered me a bite of his cookie. I said, "No thank you, honey."

At which point, my 2yo said in his sweet little boy voice, "Are you going to get flat?"

Um, no. At least, I hope not.

Oh, which just makes me remember something my 5yo said on Sunday. We were at church, listening to the religious talks, and one of the speakers in a prayer said that he hoped we could all "taste the fruits of the Holy Spirit" or something like that. The prayer ends, and my 5yo says, "Are we going to eat fruit?"

That made me laugh.

Children. They're hilarious.

Elevating Families through Writing and Literature

Let's face it: the family is in trouble. Broken homes are less of a statistic and more of a common occurrence. Here are ten problems families face today (taken from providentliving.org).

1) Parenting Issues
2) Marital Issues
3) Divorce
4) Grieving
5) Out-of-Wedlock Pregnancy
6) Emotional and Mental Problems
7) Substance Abuse and Addictions
8) Eating Disorders
9) Stress
10) Pornography

Granted, writing and literature can't cure all of these problems. But they can help. One of my missions with my writing is to help elevate the family. Here's how I plan to do it.

Parenting Issues. No one is given a manual on how to raise a child. Sometimes the problems we have feel so farfetched and unreal that we're certain nobody could relate to us. That's where the right literature can change a parent's outlook. Just realizing that other people go through what we go through, and worse, and make it through it, might help a parent feel more enabled to tackle the next challenge. Not only that, but when we read, we are put behind the eyes of the character. Parents and teenagers can begin to relate better to each other if they read books that share stories similar to theirs. By reading YA literature, parents will see what life is really like for their teens. As long as they are reading to understand, not to censure.

Marital Issues. Marital issues can stem from so many things, from infidelity to financial ruin to emotional issues. But I think one of the biggest hang ups is SELF ESTEEM. It's a big problem for men as well as women, but as I am female, I want to focus on the woman for a moment. There's a lot of truth to the saying that if "Mom ain't happy, ain't nobody happy." It is hugely important for the woman to take some time to reach her own self-fulfillment. When she feels like a whole person without needing to be codependent on her role as wife and mom, she will be a more willing, happier partner in her marriage. (Men, it's probably very similar for you.) Writing is therapeutic. I bet many women could come to know themselves better and know their needs better if they started writing.

Divorce. In general, divorce comes from marital issues gone bad. Therefore, if writing can help out with the marital issues, hopefully divorce will become less prevalent in those families as well.

Grieving. It's fairly obvious how literature and writing help with grieving. Even if it's a fiction book that helps someone laugh or cry or get in touch with their emotions, of if it's taking the time to remember and put those memories somewhere lasting. I think grieving becomes a problem when we refuse to deal with it. We wallow in it, allowing it to take control of our lives. Writing can help us stay in touch with reality and what really matters as we work through our emotions. It can also help us channel our negative feelings into a positive reservoir.

Out-of-Wedlock Pregnancy. This is one I hope to target simply by reaching out to teenagers through my novels. Kids know what is what and don't need to be preached to. We need to recognize that children are their own people, and they are independent, breathing entities that are going to make their own decisions. But I want to influence them. I want them to be so touched by my characters and to resonate so much with their lives and decisions that they change their lives. That they reach for something bigger. I want to motivate them to accomplish something greater. My novels are full with what I hope are very subliminal, uplifting messages.

The last five, I don't really have any specific ideas on. But I do know that great literature can inspire anyone, no matter what the issue is. Writing is not a catch-all that will cure every problem. But I do believe it can be targeted to help resolve many of the issues families face today.

Here's to hoping!

Dirty Dishes

Forgive me for not posting today. The maid that I hired in my dreams last year has failed to show up, again. So I must get to the stack of dishes that have been waiting and waiting for her. It seems I am constantly trying to compensate for her inadequacies.

Maybe next time I'll try including a pay scale in the hiring process. And maybe find a person that exists in the real world. After Perilous sales a million copies, which it did in my dreams last night.

Copy-editor on the Prowl

I just accepted my first job as a copy-editor.

It's quite exciting! When I took my first editing class in college, I HATED it. I thought it was so meticulous and mind-numbing! And yet, I did quite well. My professor was also a member of FARMS, (Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies), and he offered me an internship. I turned it down. I could not imagine doing editing for a job.

And then I graduated college, and one couldn't be picky about jobs. There was an editing position available for the BYU-Television magazine, and I needed money. So I applied and got the job. I felt like a total liar for even applying.

Low and behold, I LOVED it.

I don't know what was different between learning about editing and actually doing editing. But it suddenly made me realize an entire different career option. In fact, I didn't even think about writing; I wanted to be an editor.

As I reflect on this, I realize how lucky it is to be able to do both. The perfect set of jobs.

And I am now open for business. I guess I'm a freelance copy-editor. I'm doing line-edits for a small press (yippee!), and I'll post some rates on a tab on the blog, in case anyone else is interested. (If you compare my rates to the going rates, you'll see I'm not very expensive. But that will probably change over the next few months!)

Better luck next year!

My husband ran in a half-marathon today.

I was so excited for him. He came home for his two-day leave, and I had all his stuff ready for him (since he couldn't pick up the registration packet--don't tell anyone I forged his signature on the waiver!). He confessed to having not trained in two weeks, which made me giggle, but he ran track in college. Some things you're just good at.

He told me he wasn't going to try to be competitive. (Right.) The race started at 8am, and he said it would probably take him two hours. I made a plan to leave the house at 9am so we'd have plenty of time to find a place to park and walk over to the finish line.

Well, we barely made it in time. Mark came smoking across that finish line at 9:28am, placing in the top 15. (Exact scores haven't been released yet.) If he was aiming to take two hours, he'll have to try again next year. Because this year he rocked it.

The sweetest thing? We were standing about 200 feet from the finish line. When my 5yo saw Mark, he started cheering and waving. Mark stopped, grabbed his hand, and together they ran across the finish line.

Brought tears to my eyes.

I'm riding high on a borrowed adrenaline rush today, because I didn't run. But my husband and several friends did, and I think you are all AMAZING.

ABNA

So, I'm doing the April A-Z challenge. At least today I am. We'll see if I manage to be consistent about it through the month.

But it's pretty perfect because today my ABNA rank in the Kindle store is 738. Which is pretty good, and I'm pretty proud of it, even though it means pretty much nothing.

Okay, let me back up. I assume that most of you know what ABNA is, right? Amazon Breakthough Novel Award? Well, this is Amazon's 4th year to have the contest that is also sponsored by Penguin, who will award two publishing contracts to two lucky contestants.

I entered my young adult fantasy novel, White as Snow. Let's just say I haven't been eliminated yet. My pitch got me through round one, and my excerpt got me through round two. Now we're in round three. The excerpts are posted on Amazon.com for free download, so it's cool to see how many people are downloading and reading my excerpt. It doesn't increase my chances to move on to round four, but it helps me feel a bit validated.

If you're curious, feel free to download the excerpt here. And while you're at it, I don't mind if you download the Perilous ebook also. If you feel so inclined. (Hint: the link is on my right sidebar.)

Anyone else in ABNA?