Always In Shadow Available

Guess what you can go buy now????

Always In Shadow!! :)

It will be a couple days before it is available on Amazon. I will put the Amazon link on my book page as soon as it is ready. :) However, you can already purchase it at CreateSpace. So do so! :)

Always In Shadow on CreateSpace

There's your link, folks! :)

I am super duper happy about this. :) I was getting very impatient. (Imagine that...me? Impatient?) I was also beginning to worry that I was not going to get it out in August, which was my self-set deadline.

But it is out and I'm super happy. :)

More Meaning

School is back in full swing! Consequently writing is on the back-burner. However, that does not mean I won't be writing....because you know me. I can't get away from it. :)

Writing is even more of a joy now than it ever was before (I didn't think that possible...but it is!). Pursuing Jesus has given everything else in life so much more meaning. Yet at the same time, it has made everything else matter not a whit. If everything was taken away from me, life would still be the best thing ever because I have Jesus. But while I am living among all these other blessings, they mean more because of Jesus. If that makes sense.

I promise you will see Always in Shadow published before August has completely gone away....I am working hard to make sure it's perfect, or at least has less mistakes than Lucy's Legend did. So it will be a few days more at least.

Always In Shadow (is very nearly here)

Guess what came in the mail today??

That's right! Always In Shadow!!!! :)

I will put up a link as soon as it is available for purchase! :)

Dusty and Jesus

Well, we've set off on the adventure of finishing Robin Hood book 3!!! :)

Yes, I've been "writing" this book for a while. That is, I began it a long time ago and intermittently wrote in it since then. Now, however, it has become my sole object and aim. I will finish Dusty's story.

I now have more motivation to do so, and it's coming easier. But this is rather a long story, so let's start at the beginning, shall we?

First of all, I have always wanted to be a mother and have a family and all that good stuff. Recently I have become more interested in finding a husband and being a good wife. Then, randomly I thought at the time (although it turned out not so random later), I was reading an article a little over a week ago about things that Christian guys look for in women. The top one, and the one that happened to catch my eye and prick my heart, was a woman who pursues God.

I began to think about my own relationship with Jesus. I have, for a long time now, been a believer and follower of Christ. But it was passive, or it seemed so to me. I read my Bible, sure. I prayed too. And yes, I did want to follow Jesus and do His will. But somehow, it wasn't enough. What stood out to me most was the phrase "a woman who pursues God." Pursues. I had never in my life pursued God. I loved Him but I wasn't pursuing Him.

So, right then and there, I prayed for a change of heart. I wanted to pursue Him. I wanted to have a desire for Him, and hunger for His word.

Changes began to take place before I even realized it. I am now reading my Bible way more, and LOVING it. Oh I enjoyed my Bible before. But now I just can't get enough of it! :) And my prayer life, though nowhere near stagnant before, has exploded. :)

And then there are the little things. When I am asked to do things around the house I get up with a smile. I really do feel so willing and cheerful inside that it still takes me by surprise. I am more motivated to do chores and the like, I have a sudden passion for being healthy and fit (I do a little work out every day now with my sister) and I seriously cannot get enough of Jesus.

Now, what does all that have to do with Robin Hood book 3? Well, Dusty is the spiritual person among the gang. She knew and loved Jesus long before the others. Now that I have a true passion for God and unquenchable desire to know Him better, I relate to Dusty more. It has also become increasingly easier and more fun to write the "spiritual side" of this story.

For a long time I was stuck. I'd started Dusty's book, but I couldn't seem to get it moving along. It was caught in the mud it seemed like. But now it has taken off. Dusty has wings, and it's all because of Jesus. The closer I come to Him the easier everything else seems to be. And the more my relationship with God mirrors Dusty's, the easier it is to write her character and her life.

I am getting more excitement and fun out of life than I ever have before. It's strange too, that though I still love to write...it seems to have lessened and yet at the same time grown. Oh I LOVE writing still....but writing doesn't matter anymore. Not that it doesn't matter though, it just isn't everything. Because Jesus is everything. It's hard to explain. But if I never wrote another word I would still be so, so happy. It's like I don't care anymore, because I have Jesus in a way I never have before.

That's not to say I won't be writing, because I still love it. But more than that, I believe God has given me a gift that He wants to use for His purposes. So yes, I will still be writing and I will still love it.

On another note altogether...

Always In Shadow is getting closer and closer!! :) Be excited, people. :) You'll see it published before the month is out. :)

Charlotte Bronte and Jane Eyre (Inspiration and Similarities)

I have recently commenced re-reading one of my favorite novels of all time: Jane Eyre. :)

I forget, every time there is a pause between reading the novel or watching one of the many film adaptions how much I adore this story. And then I pick it up to read once more, or sit down to watch a movie....and I am overwhelmed by the magnitude of my admiration and affection for this story. I LOVE it! I love the story itself, and the characters and all that. I cannot deny that Mr. Rochester rates about ten thousand times higher than Mr. Darcy to me (Although I do love Darcy too).

But it's more than just enjoying the story.

I love Charlotte Bronte and her work. It's brilliant. It also reaches deeper into human emotions than most novels I read and I am so drawn by that. She inspires me. If I could write a story that would evoke half the emotions in readers that she does with this masterpiece I should be very well pleased. :)

Seriously though, every time I read Jane Eyre, besides being wrapped up in the story I love so well, I feel a longing to write like that. It is a deeply rooted desire that I often forget about and it smolders quietly unnoticed until I come across something like Jane Eyre for the upteenth time and it awakens and bursts into full flame.

On another note....I have no idea why I never noticed this before, but Jane Eyre's imagination works like mine and her spirit mirrors my own (or perhaps mine mirrors hers). She's so similar! I was astonished and took great pleasure in discovering this fact this morning. :) I read a passage and thought...that's totally me. And then I went into some silly emotions that I like to dub "fan-girl reactions." But on a slightly more serious note, I really did feel it, deep inside me, that this particular passage spoke directly to me. I related, in more ways than one.

This was the passage that made me immediately think of myself:

"Who blames me? Many, no doubt; and I shall be called discontented. I could not help it; the restlessness was in my nature; it agitated me to pain sometimes. Then my sole relief was to walk along the corridor of the third story, backwards and forwards, safe in the silence and the solitude of the spot, and allow my mind's eye to dwell on whatever bright visions rose before it-and, certainly, they were many and glowing; to let my heart be heaved by the exultant movement, which, while it swelled it in trouble, expanded it with life; and, best of all, to open my inward ear to a tale that was never ended-a tale my imagination created, and narrated continuously; quickened with all of incident, life, fire, feeling, that I desired and had not in my actual existence."

Robin Hood and Finding Hope

My computer is back! Yay! :)

So...back to serious writing, people. :) Always in Shadow is stuck in the process of editing...I promise you will see it before the month is out....

BUT...while that's going on, I'm diving back into another project...Isolated!!! :) I love this story. I am going to get Cassy Wilmark out of the mire if it kills me. I shouldn't say things like that when talking about this book though, because there's already too much death and dying going on.

Anyway, Isolated is slowly moving towards completion (Yay!) so you may get to see that one published come Spring. That's not a promise; don't hold me to that. Also, book two of the Finding Hope series is already in the works, so after Isolated there will be more! :)

So, this book begins with a poor girl that doesn't remember who she is...and it just goes downhill from there. I'm not sure where all this violence and intrigue and stuff came from. I'm beginning to believe that Isolated is my nightmares come to life on paper. Possibly. Maybe it's not quite that creepy.

Anyway, keep your eyes peeled for any updates. :) Always in Shadow should be coming along soon and hopefully Isolated won't be far behind. :)