Do You Take this Quest - Chapter 1

Okay, all of you clamoring after the sequel to Sew, It's a Quest. I am practically done with the rough draft of it, which is entitled Do You Take this Quest. I plan to publish this in November in time for Christmas - no date yet though! However, to tide you over - here's the first chapter!

For those of you have not read Sew, It's a Quest, there are no spoilers in Chapter one, so you can read this without ruining your read of Sew, It's a Quest. And to those of you who have read Sew, don't worry, I have not abandoned the characters of Sew, they just aren't in Chapter one.

And now, Enjoy!

1: The Lonely Prince

 

  Once upon a time, in a land called Bookania, there lived the Prince of Briton. He was a lonely young man, for his mother had died soon after his birth, and his father had been long since lost at sea. His regent was a miserly man, keeping him away from all his princely peers. Indeed, all the friends he had were his two servants and an old, old man he knew only by the name of Grandfather.
   The old man lived in the forest just outside of the prince’s castle. He was the prince’s best friend, his tutor and chief confidant. Every day, the young prince would retreat to the woods and spend hours with the old man, talking about anything, and everything.
   And so he was doing at the start of my story.
   “There you are, my lad,” said the old man, glancing up from the rock he was looking at, as the prince entered the clearing one morning just after breakfast. “How are you doing today?”
   “Well enough, grandfather,” said the prince.
   “My, but you’re getting tall,” said the old man, his piercing eyes that seemed to have not dimmed with age sizing the young man up. “How old are you these days?”
   “Eighteen, grandfather,” said the young man sitting down on a rock opposite the old man. “Even though Mordreth is still refusing to admit that I passed my eighteenth birthday six months ago.”
   “Mordreth, eh?” said Grandfather. “Why do you let him do this to you, you’re the crown prince, you know, he is just the brother of the late Queen’s husband, uncle to the crown prince.”
   “Because he’s got the army behind him,” said the prince. “All I have is you and a few servant boys. That won’t get me far.”
   “Agreed, agreed,” said the old man. “What you need, my boy, are allies.”
   “Allies, Grandfather?” questioned the prince, with a discouraged shake of his head. “And just where am I supposed to find them? I’ve never been further from my castle than I am now in my whole life, and am probably never going to go further.”
   “True,” said the old man. “I guess we’ll just have to come up with something.”
   “And it’s not as though I’m not invited to things,” continued the prince, in a frustrated rant. “I mean, just a few months ago, I received an invitation to a prince’s wedding – and it’s not far away, either, just three kingdoms over – but Mordreth still won’t let me go.”
   “Whose wedding?” interrupted the old man.
   “The younger of the Winthrop princes,” explained the prince, with little enthusiasm. “Eric’s. The bride was called the Sleeping Beauty, but there was nothing else on it other than that.”
   The old man was silent for a while, lost in thought. The prince watched him. It wasn’t as though the prince wanted to be king, he didn’t. He was so scared that’d he’d botch the whole job and be a horrible king, but he didn’t want Mordreth as king, either. It was better to have a king who was horrible by accident than a king who was horrible on purpose.
   “We’re just going to have to get you to that wedding,” said the old man. “I’ve a feeling you’ll find some allies there.”
   “How are you going to get me there? Mordreth would never allow it,” said the young man.
   "Oh,” said the old man. “I think we can figure out a way to talk him into it. Come on, no time like the present.” He stood up, and, entering the lean-to shelter he lived in, began going through his scant possessions. “Well, run ahead boy,” he said. “Don’t wait for me. I’ll catch up soon, don’t worry.” Then, after the prince still hadn’t moved, “Well, what are you waiting for, go on.”
   The prince decided that the old man was serious and went. He wondered what the old man was up to. He was a bit of an odd person, and sometimes did inexplicable things … but it always later made sense. But how would he talk Mordreth into letting the prince go? He didn’t know. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t missed the company of other princes … he had, but he’d gotten used to it.
   He got back to the castle and snuck in, the way he had come out – through the old, forgotten tunnels that led from the castle to the mountain, in the shadow of which the castle lay.. No one ever noticed his daily disappearances, but he still snuck out. They would notice if he didn’t, because then the drawbridge would have to be lowered – and that was nothing simple. No one ever paid much attention to him, except his two friends here and the old man. And Kew, Mordreth’s son, but that was only to torment.
   “Arthur!” said one of his two servants, “back already?”
   “Yes, Leo,” said Arthur, for thus was the prince’s name, “I’m back already.” Neither of his two friends knew of the old man. They knew only that Arthur disappeared for long hours each day  – they had no idea where to.
   Arthur was apprehensive for the next few hours, waiting for the old man to show up. He went to the library to read, but couldn’t concentrate on the words. He exchanged books frequently for a while, finally settling for the one he had found years ago behind a loose brick in the wall.
   It was a journal of a young boy, who it was, though, Arthur had no idea. It was an amusing book, however, as the boy was always finding himself in all sorts of strange troubles, particularly at the hand of his sister, Gwenasheer.
   A commotion at the gate put an end to his attempts at reading. Arthur shoved the book back into the hiding place he had later found for it and ran to investigate and discovered the old man banging at the gates with a oaken staff that he used as a walking stick. He was dressed for traveling.
   “Who are you, old man?” the guard was shouting down.
   “I am a man who desires to speak with Mordreth,” said the old man, “on matters of great import.”
   “The great High Vizier Mordreth,” said the guard, for such was what Mordreth liked to be called, “does not have time to waste on dotty old men.”
   “And where, pray tell,” said the old man, “are these dotty old men? I don’t see any.” His eyes twinkled under his bushy eyebrows. He was amused – thought this a game, apparently.
   The guard laughed at the old man’s apparent foolishness. “What is your name, old man?” they asked.
Arthur listening with curiosity, he had known the old man for years, and still didn’t know his name.
   “My name?” questioned the old man. “I gave up my name many years ago, and haven’t used it since. Perhaps, soon, I shall reclaim it again, but I know not yet. No, I have no name – but when I did, it was a great name, though little joy it brought me.”
   The guard laughed again. “Dotty old fool.”
   “Guard,” said Arthur, having had enough of this. “Let the man in.”
   The guard turned and looked at Arthur with surprise.
   “Let him in, good guard,” said Arthur. “He will be my responsibility. And I am the crown prince; it is your duty to obey.”
    Reluctantly, the guard ordered the drawbridge down, and let in the old man.
   “Now,” said the old man, “Prince Arthur, will you effect me an audience with Mordreth? There is something I wish to speak with him about.”
    “I shall try,” said Arthur. “Follow me.” Once out of hearing of the guard, he asked the old man, “What was your name, Grandfather? And why did you give it up?”
    “What my name was, I cannot say as yet,” said the old man. “But, should we find the allies I hope to find thee, then I shall tell thee.”
    “And who are the allies?” asked Arthur.
“I cannot tell thee as yet,” said the old man. “When I am able, then I shall tell thee. They will be good allies though – if my suspicions be correct and they be there.”
    Arthur asked no more, as they were nearing the doors of the throne room. While Mordreth didn’t sit in the throne, he did not occupy a seat far from it, and from that seat, he passed out all of his cruel laws. “Guard,” he said to the guard outside the doors, “tell Mordreth that there is a man who desires to speak with him of important matters.”
    The guard went into the throne room and came back. “The High Vizier doesn’t have time.”
   “Then give him this,” said the old man, drawing a strange plant from one of his pockets.
   “And what, may I ask is this?” asked the guard.
    The old man blinked, as if surprised that the guard should ask such a question. “Why it’s thyme, of course, since you said he didn’t have any, and I have plenty to spare, I thought I’d share.”
   The guard took the “thyme” and tapped his head at the “crazy” old man as he returned to the throne room. Even Arthur thought this a bit odd … even for the old man.
   “Should give him about 30 extra minutes to talk to me,” said the old man. “Unfortunately …” He didn’t finish what was so unfortunate. Arthur wondered what he had been about to say, and why he had stopped.
   The guard reappeared. “The High Vizier wants to know how, exactly, he is supposed to use this ‘thyme.’”
   “Oh,” said the old man, “that is simple. Just have him put it on the nearest clock in about thirty minutes, and he’ll go back in time to about now.”
    “What if he does it now?” asked the guard.
   “Then he would go back in time thirty minutes, but that would defeat the whole purpose of sending him back, since I wasn’t here thirty minutes ago,” explained the old man.
   “I see,” said the guard. Then he retreated back into the throne room.
   The old man turned to Arthur. “Why don’t you go back to whatever it was you were doing. I think I’ll be able to handle myself from here.”
   Arthur shrugged, and left, wandering back to the library.
   Some time later, Gavin, Arthur’s other servant, appeared in the doorway. “Prince Arthur,” he said, “the Vizier has summoned you to the throne room.”
   “Very well,” said Arthur, and followed his servant.
    It would have been close to impossible for Arthur to have gotten two servants less similar than Leo and Gavin. Gavin had been his servant for as long as Arthur could remember, and his parents had been servants to Arthur’s parents before them. He was trustworthy, if a tad bit dull at times.
   Leo, on the other hand, had only been Arthur’s servant for a few years. Leo had run away from the neighboring kingdom of Fronce, though why, no one could get out of him. He tended to be far more flamboyant in his manners than his fellow servant, and more flighty.
   Nevertheless, Arthur valued both of his servants, and wouldn’t trade them for any others in the castle. They were both loyal, and neither questioned him about his daily disappearances, they especially did not mention these daily disappearances to anyone else. Really, could you ask for anything better in a servant?
   They got back to the throne room, and Arthur entered, Gavin staying outside.
   “I have decided,” said Mordreth, “that you have been isolated from your peers for far too long. Such would be detrimental to the kingdom, when you finally become king, because you would have no allies, and, should you be attacked, the consequences could be serious. Therefore, you must overcome your shyness and go to the wedding that you have been invited to. There will be no arguing. You leave tomorrow.”
   “Yes, sir,” said Arthur, surprised. How had the old man managed to talk Mordreth into letting him go? It was most unlike Mordreth.

Thankful Thursday - Cousins

I have a LOT of cousins. I have over twenty biological cousins, and quite a few unofficial "adopted" cousins. I'm not sure how many of the last category I have, because I'm always getting more!

I love my cousins. While some of them I haven't seen in nearly three years, and some I've never seen, I have others that live just across the yard. I enjoy the time I spend with all of them. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I always get along with them perfectly, because I ... don't. We're all human, and I've gotten into an arguement with almost every single one of them, with the exception of most of the ones I rarely see, the ones I've never seen, and the babies. It's very hard to fight with a baby. Even the "adopted" cousins I've had disagreements with, although the newer ones not so much.

But that doesn't mean that I never get along with them! Far from it! One of the ones I fight with the most, at other times I get along with the best. He's my playpartner! (and also seven years younger than me).

So I'm thankful God gave me as many cousins as he did. I'm also thankful that he gave me the sort of family that just absorbs people. I love all of my cousins, and I'm glad I have them.

Tips From a Young Writer - Inspiration

Since, last week, I told you you can't steal someone else's story, I'm going to talk about other places you can get a story. Now, I can't tell you that these work 100% of the time, and I can't tell you that they are all the ways you can get story ideas, because neither is true. These are just some methods that have worked for me.

1. Books you've read.
Now you're looking at me like I'm crazy. Last week I told you that you can't take ideas from books you've read ... and now I'm telling you that ...
Relax.
You CAN get ideas from books you've read. You see "There is nothing new under the sun." Suppose you're reading a book about people who ride eagles, and you really like the idea, and you want to write a book about people who ride eagles. Now, there are hundreds and hundreds of books about people who ride eagles, so if you write a book about people who ride eagles, it would not be plagiarism, AS LONG AS you do not copy the book you like almost word for word verbatim. Come up with your own plot, characters, setting, and all that. The genius of a good writer is not writing something new, it's writing something old a new way.

2. Dreams
I'm not talking about daydreams here (although daydreams can be good story ideas), I'm talking about good-old, bonafied, when you're having RPM sleep dreams. Now, not all dreams are book worthy. In fact, of all the dreams I've had in my 17 years of life, I've only come up with one book out of my dreams, and even there, the book has only two things in common with the dream.
My sister, V. Kathie, on the other hand, often has book-worthy dreams, but even then, she has to do major editing to them to give them plots and such.
So, getting story ideas out of dreams all depends on the person who's dreaming the dream.

3. Playacting
Gather some friends around and assign each of you a name and personality (just make sure they are okay with the name and personality. In fact, let them choose their name and personality), and let the story roll. I do this a LOT, mostly with my "play-partner," younger cousin. We come up with some of the wildest stories together. Sometimes I also do this with V. and sometimes with some other friends of ours.
Now, just as with dreams, a story you playact doesn't always make good book material. And you'll have to get your friends' permissions before you publish the story, but it's still a great place for ideas, nevertheless.

4. Asking little kids questions.
I'm honest here. One day, my brain had gone SPLAT. I was trying to figure out how to kidnap this one character, but I could not come up with a way.
So I turn to my not-yet-two little sister. "Little Miss FoI, (Full of It)" I said, "how should I kidnap this character?"
She turned to me, and with all solemnity, answered, "Abbida," and after a few seconds, added, "Abbido."
I blinked, and realized, that a "big doll," and a "big dog," were the perfect plan for kidnapping the character.
Little kids have the strangest ideas, and they are still untainted by everything they've read, so it's usually quite original!

5. Random thoughts.
Your brain can be quite creative at times, you just have to listen to it. That's how I came up with Robin, the MC of Sew, It's a Quest. I was folding laundry, and this random idea occurred to me. What if there was a girl who, due to a Fairy Godmother mistake, was the best swordsman in the world - without trying really! The second I came up with this idea, I had a name and mental image of her. She was Robin, and she had brown hair, brown eyes and an olive complexion. I also knew that she was on a mission to find her Fairy Godmother to get this gift straightened out. I also knew that she belonged to my Sleeping Beauty retelling (for which at the time had no plot) and that she was the missing element it needed. Robert didn't present himself to my mind for weeks after!
So have an open mind, and watch out for your brain to throw weird stuff like that at you.

6. History, Science, and Math.
Yep, you heard me right, school is a great place to find ideas for your books. In fact, it's one of the best places. Nothing, you see, is copyrighted in the three subjects mentioned above, and it's all free for the taking. Not only that, if your book is educational as well as entertaining, it will have a cutting edge over other books. A good book that tells a great story can be wow!, but a good book that tells a great story, and teaches you algebra! That's WOW!!!! PLUS, you'll have teachers and parents RECOMMENDING your book.

7. Phone Book.
This is actually a good place if you're stuck on a name. There are lots of great names, first and last, in the phone book. Another place you can look for names is a baby name book (I actually own two, and can easily get my hands on a third!). A baby name book also tells meanings and possible nicknames, so you can pick out the EXACT name you need for a particular character.

8. Art and photographs.
Every picture has a story, and they say that a picture is worth a thousand words, so can you come up with the thousand words that form the story of say, a painting of a mother reading a book to her daughter, or perhaps a photograph of slaves picking cotton in South Carolina. If you're looking for an idea, you can also start doodling a picture. Perhaps the picture that comes out will give you the best idea in the world! You don't have to be a great artist, and no one ever has to see what you drew. Just draw, and see what happens.

9. Your Life.
Oh, don't tell me you have a boring life. I'm sure you have some glimmers of excitement and humor now and again! I use events from my own life all the time. For example, in the sequel to Sew, It's a Quest, there will be a scene based on something that happened at our Family Thanksgiving a few years ago. I can't tell you what it is, but if you want to watch out for it, it will involve pie crusts. I won't say anything more.

Now, I haven't even scratched the surface of places you can find ideas for stories. If you know of a great place, leave a comment! I'd love to hear how you get ideas for your stories! Also, if you have any requests for me to give my humble advise on, leave a comment with that, too, and, if I have enough of an opinion on it, I may just answer it on another Tips from a Young Writer.

Wordless Wednesday - Too Many Shoes

Tasty Tuesday - Pumpkin Cookies.

1 cup shortning
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 can (15 oz) solid-pack pumpkin
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
(When I made these I had a larger can of pumpkin, so I also added some oats to thicken it up. Mom also said that they needed cloves)

In a large bowl, cream shortening and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in pumpkin. Combine flour, peaking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a separate bowl. Gradually add the dry mixture to the pumpkin mixture and mix well. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 375 degrees for 13-15 min or until firm.

Memory Monday - Just tryin' to help!

There was a little girl,

            Who had a little curl,

Right in the middle of her forehead.

            When she was good,

            She was very good indeed,

But when she was bad, she was horrid.

Well, one day, she was trying to be good, and help her mommy around the house ... so she decided to clean the floors.

So she went to the cupboard to find something to clean the floors with. Well, there weren't any of the things that her mother usually cleaned the floor with in there ... but there was some crisco! The girl knew that they often rubbed cake pans with crisco, and she really liked the way crisco felt on her fingers, so she decided that crisco would be as good as anything to clean the floor

Unfortunately, when her mother found her some time later, she did not agree. They had to clean the floor all over again to get the crisco off the floor - after her mommy took a picture!

So the little girl decided to that she needed to find another way to help her mommy. It was late, however, and she had to go to bed before she could come up with something. While falling asleep, she came up with a perfect idea! She could fix breakfast! Now, what to fix ... oh, she knew.  She could fix pancakes!

So the next morning, she tiptoed downstairs to the kitchen. Luckily there was a perfect pan on the stove (there was only a little bit of mushroom grease on the bottom), and she could reach the pancake mix and a spatula. She carefully poured the pancake mix in the pan, and started stirring it with the spatula.

She knew her mommy and daddy would be so pleased when they came downstairs and found pancakes all fixed for them. And when they did come down, they were! They were so pleased they took a picture!

And then they put the pancake mix back into the box, then poured up the right amount and made pancakes in a clean pan.

Thankful Thursday - Words

I am thankful for words. I don't care if it's a written word or a spoken words - as long as it's a good word and not taking the LORD's name in vain, or talking disrespectfully of where we'll spend eternity.

I love words. You see, without words, we'd be stupid, we'd be just like animals. Without words, we can't communicate higher thoughts, we can't reason. We might, as some animals can, be able to communicate, "Snake! Snake! Snake! Run!" But we wouldn't be able to talk about what we had for dinner the night before, how our lives are going, comfort each other when we're having a hard time. We wouldn't be able to pray.

I am thankful that, when God put Adam into the garden, Adam already had a complete vocabulary - and it was probably far more complete than anyone's today. I am thankful that it was so complete, so advanced, that he could name all of the animals in one afternoon.

In The Magician's Nephew, by C.S. Lewis, Aslan, the great Lion, who was a personification of Jesus, gave speech to some of the animals. One of these animals happened to be Strawberry, a cabby horse that had fallen into Narnia with a group of humans, including the cabby driver. When asked what his life was like before he had received words, he said that it was all a hazy blur, that he hadn't been truly aware of anything.

If we didn't have words, I believe we would be like that. We wouldn't be truly aware - and definitely not self-aware. But as it is, we DO have words, and nothing, apart from the power of God, can take these words away from us. Even deaf children, who have never heard a spoken word, will develop some sort of sign language - even if they themselves had never been exposed to any other sort of sign language.

And so, I am thankful for words - I am thankful that God loved us enough to give them to us.

Tips from a Young Writer: Plagiarism

As a young writer, I am a firm supporter of other young writers. However, there are many young writers out there that haven't a clue as to how to go about writing their books. I have decided to write tips that I have learned from my own experience, and show some pitfalls that young writers (and any writer at that) should avoid.

Today, I am going to talk about plagiarism. Plagiarism is taking another persons work without their permission and writing it as if it were your own. It is against the law, and doing so can make you end up getting sued or worse.

Now, I understand, plagiarizing is very tempting. It is so much easier to use someone else's predefined characters, and someone else's predefined plot, and someone else's predefined world. I myself have done so. I once had a play I was writing that was basically a rewrite of a book I absolutely loved. Sure I had my own characters, but it was still the same plot, and it was still plagiarizing.

Hey, cheer up, there is plenty of stuff that you can write about without plagiarizing. Even if you can't come up with a good idea without something someone else had written, you can use something that is in the Public Domain. What is the Public Domain? The Public Domain is anything that is not copyrighted. Something is copyrighted if there is only one person or group that holds the rights to writing something. What's in the Public Domain? All sorts of stuff. Fairy Tales, Greek myths, Chinese Legends, Robin Hood, King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table, American Tall Tales ... the list can go on and on.

A word of warning on books that are based on Public Domain works. While it is okay to write about Sleeping Beauty, I would be very upset if I found a book that had a Sleeping Beauty that was EXACTLY like the Sleeping Beauty I put in my book. In other words - the Fairy Tale is fine to use, just don't use the same twists your favorite author gave it.

What if I really like this one name another author used? That is also a delicate topic. If it is a unique name to the author, make a spelling change. If you really like the name Kinkay, make it Clinkay. If it is a first and last name, switch it up with some other character. Kinkay in the book was a guy, you could make your Kinkay a girl. Above all, do not make your Kinkay an exact repeat of the book's Kinkay, no matter how fixed Kinkay is in your mind as a master bowsman elven princess, you can make him a swordsmithing dwarf!

What about Fanfiction? Well, as long as you don't publish it, and you regard it as practice writing and your way of satisfying your curiosity as to what happened to the characters, it's somewhat okay. However, it is a very delicate topic, and I will say no more.

What can you do if you realize the book you're writing is plagiarizing? First of all, go cold turkey on what you're writing. Second, go cold turkey on the what the book is plagiarizing. Don't look at either for six months AT LEAST. During this time read other good books and watch other great movies and work on other great stories. When the six months are up, start over. Start writing the book from scratch. You will find that the story is now very different from what it was before, and very different from the story that it had been plagiarizing.

Now, that's all I have to say on that topic. If you have any requests as to what you would like me to write on, leave a comment, and I will try to answer your question. I have the next two weeks planned, but after that I am willing to take requests.

Art - Coloring State Birds and Flowers

This is South Carolina's State bird and flower. The bird is a Carolina Wren and the flower is Yellow Jessamine. My neighbors have some Yellow Jessamine in their front yard right up next to the road. It smells so good. However, it is poisonous.

Maryland: The state bird is the Baltimore Oriole, and the flower is the Black-eyed Susan. I've always found the name Black-eyed Susan amusing. The name "Susan" means "Graceful Lily". So, despite Susan being graceful, she has a black eye!

Wordless Wednesday - My Sanity Stash

Saffron's Big Plan - Sneak Peeks!

Heads up, guys, I just completed the rough draft of my next book, Saffron's Big Plan and Other Stories. It is a collection of four short stories I have co-written with my mom. One of the stories tells the story of one of the minor characters of Sew, It's a Quest. I plan to publish it on June 12, so, watch out! Since it is a collection of short stories, I cannot post the first chapter. However, here is the introduction for each.

Saffron's Big Plan

 Once upon a time there was a princess named Magnolia who was the youngest of 7 sisters. She lived in a land of enchantment that could only be reached by flying there on Eagle's Wings.

 Meanwhile, in another enchanted land, not far from Magnolia's, there lived another princess, also the youngest of seven sisters, named Dandylion. She lived in a land filled with horses.

  However, there was yet another princess, Princess Saffron. Saffron had no sisters, and, as far as anyone knew, no parents, either. Not many people knew that she existed. She lived in a land that was between the horse-lovers and the eagle-lovers, in the Wild Lands.

Tears, Laughter, and Frogs

 Once upon a time, and a very good time it was, though it wasn't in my time or your time, or anyone else's time, there lived a princess who cried all day – but laughed all night! Some said she was enchanted, and while this was probably the case, no one knew for sure.

The Derao

 Lukas stood on the on the rocky Cliff of Steep. The Lake of Deep glistened beautifully in the Valley of Low beneath him. He wished he could still live down there, but he was charged with a serious offense.

The Prior Quest

 Once upon a time, in a land called Bookania, there was a soldier, who was, by trade, a miller. He fought for the Halbrets against the people called the Chin.

 Now, he had been fighting for over ten years, and left behind a wife with a young child of five. He missed them always, and longed for the day that the war would be over and he could return home.

 One night the man was on guard duty when he caught one of the Chins sneaking into the camp.

And, don't forget, if you want a chance for a free print copy of this book, I have a contest! 

Oh, and a hearty thank-you to the 126 people who downloaded Sew, It's a Quest yesterday. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it, and please remember to leave a review.

Your Lucky Day!

It be yer lucky day today! Sew, It's a Quest be free again, so get yer copy now! Please remember to leave an ole review on me Amazon page.

An' how do ye like me ole Irish Accent?

Refining Gold

When gold is first mined, it is impure. There are other, undesirable things mixed in. In order for it to become pure, it has to go through some very painful stuff. If it is in solid chunks, it first has to be melted over a very hot fire, and the impurities skimmed off. If it is in the form of gold dust, it must be bathed in strong acid.

When we first become Christians, we are impure. We have undesirable sin mixed in. In order for us to be pure, God often has to put us through some very painful stuff. Perhaps we'll have to go through the fire of war. Perhaps the acid bath of loss.

But in the end, it's worth it.

Guess What!!!

In honor of Daylight Savings Time beginning, the Kindle Version of Sew, It's a Quest will be free all day today, tomorrow, and Sunday too! That means you have 71 hours to get your own free copy!

Hurry and get your copy while you can!

Thankful Thursday - Dirt

I am thankful for dirt. You know, the type that's in the yard and you can make dirt castles out of. I also like the sort of dirt that you grow plants with in the garden. I've even written a haiku about dirt.

I Love to plant seeds.

Dirt between my fingers

And between my toes.

I like mud, too, especially the sort of mud that's so wet that you can make drip castles out of it. Drip castles are fun.

Wordless Wednesday - Lettuce Take Heart

I found this in a bag of pre-chopped collard greens, and just had to share!

Thankful Thursday - Books

I am thankful for Books. You see, I love to read. I have this insatiable drive to devour words. If we didn't have books, wherever would I find enough words to devour? I have lots of books that I own, and I would spend every day of the week at the library if it were possible.

Okay, I admit it, I can also read books that I download on the computer - and I do! I've read lots of great classics that way.

But there's something about those good, old-fashioned books. I just can't get enough of them.