The Write Words

IS HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF?

2009-04-23T07:24:00.000-07:00

The following is an article I found recently that I believe speaks the truth about our present situation and so I wanted to share it with you here.

by Pam Geller

I am a student of history. Professionally, I have written 15 books in six languages, and have studied history all my life. I think there is something monumentally large afoot, and I do not believe it is just a banking crisis, or a mortgage crisis, or a credit crisis. Yes, these exist but they are merely single facets on a very large gemstone that is only now coming into a sharper focus.

Something of historic proportions is happening. I can sense it because I know how it feels, smells, what it looks like, and how people react to it. Yes, a perfect storm may be brewing, but there is something happening within our country that has been evolving for about 10 - 15 years. The pace has dramatically quickened in the past two.

We demanded and then codified into law the requirement that our banks make massive loans to people whom we knew could never pay back? Why? We learned recently that the Federal Reserve, which has little or no real oversight by anyone, has "loaned" two trillion dollars (that is $2,000,000,000,000) over the past few months, but will not tell us to whom or why or disclose the terms. That is our money. Yours and mine. And that is three times the $700B we all argued about so strenuously just this past September.

Who has this money? Why do they have it? Why are the terms unavailable to us? Who asked for it? Who authorized it? I thought this was a government of "We the People," who loaned our powers to our elected leaders. Apparently not.

We have spent two or more decades intentionally de-industrializing our economy. Why?

We have intentionally dumbed down our schools, ignored our history, and no longer teach our founding documents, why we are exceptional, and why we are worth preserving. Students by and large cannot write, think critically, read, or articulate. Parents are not revolting, teachers are not picketing, school boards continue to back mediocrity. Why?

We have now established the precedent of protesting every close election (now violently in California over a proposition that is so controversial that it wants marriage to remain between one man and one woman. Did you ever think such a thing possible just a decade ago?). We have corrupted our sacred political process by allowing unelected judges to write laws that radically change our way of life, and then mainstream Marxist groups like ACORN and others to turn our voting system into a banana republic. To what purpose?

Now our mortgage industry is collapsing, housing prices are in free fall, major industries are failing, our banking system is on the verge of collapse, Social Security is nearly bankrupt, as is Medicare and our entire government. Our education system is worse than a joke (I teach college and know precisely what I am talking about.) The list is staggering in its length, breadth, and depth. It is potentially 1929 x 10. And we are at war with an enemy we cannot name for fear of offending people of the same religion who cannot wait to slit the throats of your children if they have the opportunity to do so.

And now we have elected a man no one knows anything about, who has never run so much as a Dairy Queen, let alone a town as big as Wasilla , Alaska. All of his associations and alliances are with real radicals in their chosen fields of employment, and everything we learn about him, drip by drip, is unsettling if not downright scary (Surely you have heard him speak about his idea to create and fund a mandatory civilian defense force stronger than our military for use inside our borders? No? Oh, of course. The media would never play that for you over and over and then demand he answer it. Sarah Palin's pregnant daughter and $150,000 wardrobe is more important.)

Mr. Obama's winning platform can be boiled down to one word: Change...radical change. Why?

I have never been so afraid for my country and for my children as I am now. This man campaigned on bringing people together, something he has never, ever done in his professional life. In my assessment, Obama will divide us along philosophical lines, push us apart, and then try to realign the pieces into a new and different power structure. Change is indeed coming. And when it comes, you will never see the same nation again.

And that is only the beginning.

I thought I would never be able to experience what the ordinary, moral German felt in the mid-1930s. In those times, the savior was a former smooth-talking rabble-rouser from the streets, about whom the average German knew next to nothing. What they did know was that he was associated with groups that shouted, shoved, and pushed around people with whom they disagreed; he edged his way onto the political stage through great oratory and promises. Economic times were tough, people were losing jobs, and he was a great speaker. And he smiled and waved a lot. And people, even newspapers, were afraid to speak out for fear that his "brown shirts" would bully them into submission.

And then he was duly elected to office, with a full-throttled economic crisis at hand [the Great Depression]. Slowly but surely he seized the controls of government power, department by department, person by person, bureaucracy by bureaucracy. The kids joined a Youth Movement in his name, where they were taught what to think. How did he get the people on his side? He did it promising jobs to the jobless, money to the moneyless, and goodies for the military-industrial complex. He did it by indoctrinating the children, advocating gun control, health care for all, better wages, better jobs, and promising to re-instill pride once again in the country, across Europe , and across the world.

He did it with a compliant media - Did you know that? And he did this all in the name of justice and...change. And the people surely got what they voted for. (Look it up if you think I am exaggerating.) Read your history books. Many people objected in 1933 and were shouted down, called names, laughed at, and made fun of. When Winston Churchill pointed out the obvious in the late 1930s while seated in the House of Lords in England (he was not yet Prime Minister), he was booed into his seat and called a crazy troublemaker. He was right, though.

Don't forget that Germany was the most educated, cultured country in Europe . It was full of music, art, museums, hospitals, laboratories, and universities. And in less than six years - a shorter time span than just two terms of the U. S. presidency - it was rounding up its own citizens, killing others, abrogating its laws, turning children against parents, and neighbors against neighbors. All with the best of intentions, of course. The road to Hell is paved with them.

As a practical thinker, one not overly prone to emotional decisions, I have a choice: I can either believe what the objective pieces of evidence tell me (even if they make me cringe with disgust); I can believe what history is shouting to me from across the chasm of seven decades; or I can hope I am wrong, close my eyes, have another latte and ignore what is transpiring around me.

Some people scoff at me; others laugh or think I am foolish, naive, or both. Perhaps I am. But I have never been afraid to look people in the eye and tell them exactly what I believe - and why I believe it. I pray I am wrong. But, I do not think I am.

About the author via Google...

Pamela "Atlas" Geller began her publishing career at The New York Daily News and subsequently took over operation of The New York Observer as Associate Publisher. She left The Observer after the birth of her fourth child, but remained involved in various projects including American Associates, Ben Gurion University and being Senior Vice-President Strategic Planning and Performance Evaluation at The Brandeis School.

After 9/11, Atlas had the veil of oblivion violently lifted from her consciousness and immersed herself in the education and understanding of geopolitics, Islam, terror, foreign affairs and imminent threats the mainstream media and the government wouldn't cover or discuss.

***************************************************************

Since many of you enjoy senior citizen status or will sometime in the not too distant future, I thought you might be interested in this information.

IN GOD WE TRUST

Everybody that is on this mailing list is either a senior citizen, is getting close, or knows somebody that is.

Most of you know by now that the Senate version (at least) of the "stimulus" bill includes provisions for extensive rationing of health care for senior citizens. The author of this part of the bill, former senator and tax evader, Tom Daschle, was credited today by Bloomberg with the following statement.

Bloomberg: "Daschle says health-care reform will not be pain free. Seniors should be more accepting of the conditions that come with age instead of treating them."

If this does not sufficiently raise your ire, just remember that Senators and Congressmen have their own healthcare plan that is first dollar or very low co-pay which they are guaranteed the remainder of their lives and are not subject to this new law if it passes.

Please use the power of the Internet to get this message out. Talk it up at the grassroots level. We have an election coming up in one year and nine months. We have the ability to address and reverse the dangerous direction the Obama administration and its allies have begun and in the interim, we can make our voices heard! Let's do it!

If you disagree, don't do anything.

Stop a Pro-Abortion, anti-parental rights, pornography advocate from going to the Justice Department!

2009-02-07T07:18:00.000-08:00

Any day now, the U.S. Senate is expected to vote on the confirmation of David Ogden to become President Barack Obama's Deputy Attorney General. Mr. Ogden has built a career on representing views and companies that most Americans find repulsive. In his career he has argued against parents being notified that their 14-year old girl had an abortion, saying that "there is no qualitative . . . difference between minors . . . and adults." Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Mr. Ogden has argued that women who have had abortions suffer no detrimental consequences and instead feel "relief and happiness" after aborting their children.Mr. Ogden has also profited from representing pornographers and in attacking legislation designed to ban child pornography. The Department of Justice should not have a porn lawyer as its Deputy Attorney General, a position tasked with making the most important decisions of the department. Now he is nominated to help enforce the very laws he has built a career upon attacking!Please contact your Senator today!Thank you and God bless you

Computer Problems

2008-08-13T08:52:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, sorry I've not posted in a long time but the hard drive on my computer went bad and it is in the shop getting a new hard drive put in. So until I get it back I will not be posting, nor can I check e-mail unless I make a special trip to the library.

Well my time is limited here so I need to make this short. I just wanted to let you all know what was up and that I will be back soon.

Independence Day Greeting

2008-07-03T08:35:00.000-07:00

Happy Independence Day!

I'm off to the campground for a long week-end

Writer's Conference Recap #2

2008-06-23T10:02:00.001-07:00

I’m going to jump from class one to class five for, this my next installment of the conference recap. I have no real reason for doing this, I just thought I’d mix things up a bit.

The title of this class was “From Idea to Story: the care and feeding of an idea (workshop)” with Alton Gansky. The discussion in class covered 17 areas. I’m not going to go into detail on each area but will just list them so you have an idea of what was covered.

1. The greatest moments in a writer’s life.
2. The most common question asked of novelist.
3. Where do ideas come from?
4. Turning “What ifs” into plots.
5. Settings
6. Maturing the “What if”. Let it grow and expand.
7. Develop real characters.
8. What your protagonist must be.
9. What your antagonist must be/have.
10. Supporting and minor characters.
11. Complicate their lives.
12. Lead to a strong climax.
13. Resolve all issues.
14. The Plot.
15-16. Outlining
17. Intuitive writing.

As you can see a lot of information was discussed in this class that was short on time and because time ran out before the information did I had to miss from points 15 through 17 because of another appointment on the too crammed schedule I couldn’t be late for. However, it was a good class and I enjoyed what parts I didn’t miss.

Points two and three listed here are the same question and are actually the topic that prompted my start of this blog in the first place and to see my answer to these you can go back to my very first blog entry. Alton had a different take on this question however, that I found very interesting, he didn’t actually answer the question of where you get ideas but rather answers by saying that “ideas aren’t the problem, time is”. Now I may be a little confused here but I don’t really see where this answer has anything to do with the question. Then he gives another answer and it is another question, “what if?” In other words he is saying that ideas come from this question, “what if” _____ (fill in the blank), happened, and the story is the answer to this question. That leads me to ask yet another question, where does the idea for the “what if” come from?

Anyway, overall I enjoyed the class and got a lot of useful information out of it.

Father's Day Funny

2008-06-14T06:53:00.000-07:00

"My father didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it." - Clarence Budington Kelland (1881-1964), American writer.

I did not write this funny piece but I thought you would enjoy it since this weekend is Father’s Day. Michelle

- Author unknown

Since many families give power tools and other workshop items as Father's Day gifts, yet are unfamiliar with them, we provide this brief guide to common tools and their uses.

ELECTRIC HAND DRILL: Normally used for spinning pop rivets in their holes until you die of old age.

TABLE SAW: A large, stationary power tool commonly used to launch wood projectiles to test for wall integrity.

BAND SAW: Another large stationary power saw, primarily used to cut wood into smaller pieces that fit more easily into the trash can.

SKILL SAW: A portable cutting tool used to make studs too short.

HOSE CUTTER: A tool used to make hoses too short.

PLIERS: Used to round off bolt heads. Sometimes used in the creation of blood-blisters.

VISE-GRIPS: Generally used after pliers to completely round off bolt heads. If nothing else is available, they can also be used to transfer intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.

BELT SANDER: An electric sanding tool commonly used to convert minor touch-up jobs into major refinishing jobs.

PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER: Normally used to stab the vacuum seals under lids and for opening old-style paper-and-tin oil cans and splashing oil on your shirt. Can also be used, as the name implies, to strip out Phillips screw heads.

STRAIGHT SCREWDRIVER: A tool for opening paint cans. Sometimes used to convert common slotted screws into non-removable screws.

PRY BAR: A tool used to crumple the metal surrounding that clip or bracket you needed to remove in order to replace a 50-cent part.

WIRE WHEEL: Cleans paint off bolts and then throws them somewhere under the workbench with the speed of light. Also removes fingerprints and hard-earned calluses from fingers in about the time it takes you to scream, "Aaaaaaa!"

HAMMER: Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a kind of sensing device to locate the most expensive parts adjacent to the object we are trying to hit.

MECHANIC'S KNIFE: Used to open and slice through the contents of cardboard cartons delivered to your front door; works particularly well on contents such as seats, vinyl records, liquids in plastic bottles, collector magazines, refund checks, and rubber or plastic parts. Especially useful for slicing work clothes, but only while wearing them.
- Author unknown

Conference Recap From Class One, Vonda Skelton

2008-06-03T10:50:00.000-07:00

Well, its been about a week now since I’ve been back from the conference and I am still mulling over all the information I received while there but here is some more recaps of the event. Since I took five classes, what I’ll do is recap one class each week for the next five weeks; I may toss in a few pictures too.

So class one was with Vonda Skelton and was entitled “How to Develop a Speaking Ministry to Women”. I have to be honest and admit that this was not my first choice for this time period of classes; it was in fact my third choice. I won’t discuss my first two choices because I believe this one was the best of the three and deserves all the praise. I will say though that because I went to my first choice, decided that one wasn’t for me, then moved to my second, decided that one wasn’t for me either, that I missed the entire first day of Vonda’s class which I truly regret. Now, they were recording her classes and offered those recordings for purchase, which I did buy, but it’s not the same as being there. Not to mention that the conference paperwork said the recordings would be CD’s and when I picked them up they were cassette tapes, I have no way to play tapes anymore so I have to find someone who can convert the tapes to CD’s in order to listen to them. Anyway…

Vonda is truly an amazing woman and it was an honor to be able to sit on spit row in her class. Not that I was spit on but I was so close I could have touched the hem of her pants. The reason this was not my first choice is simply that it is not my dream to get up in front of people and speak, especially to women. Just the thought of doing that terrifies me because women, based on my personal experience, are way more judgmental than men are, but by the time the conference was over I was encouraged to step out of my comfort zone, not be so shy, and try something new.

Vonda is extremely funny yet serious about presenting a true biblical message from the word of God. She discussed the best way to mix these two elements together to deliver a powerful message in such a way that it gets your attention and keeps it till the end and then leaves you thinking about the changes you need to make in your life long after the message is over. She also discussed some basics like, how to dress and how not to dress, along with hair and make up tips, as well as blogs, web sites, and marketing.

If you have never heard of Vonda I encourage you to look her up at her web site which I have listed on the right in the link bar and likewise, if you haven’t seen her hilarious video on You Tube, I have provided the link here for you
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEmhI8FL_ZI

Also, if you have never seen her in person and you see on her schedule, listed on her website that she is planning on being in your area, do yourself a big favor and go out of your way to see her, I promise you won’t regret it.

Home From Conference

2008-05-23T19:45:00.000-07:00

I am back from the writer’s conference and all I can say is WOW! I had a really great time, met lots of new friends, and learned a lot. The classes that I took were:

1) How to Develop a Speaking Ministry to Women with Vonda Skelton

2) How to Write Thrillers, Action and Suspense with Steven James

3) How to Make an Editor Sit Up and Beg for More with Dan Penwell

4) Gotcha! With Cindy Kenney

5) From Idea to Story with Al Gansky

In addition to these classes I had a private appointment with Dr. Donn Taylor, poet and novelist. In this session I got the biggest surprise. He looked over some poetry I’d brought with me. I was very nervous, I mean, here I was sitting in front of a poet with a PhD in Renaissance literature and 20 years of experience teaching poetry and I was, well, I have never taken one class specific to poetry in all my college years and I was presenting some things that popped into my head during my quiet times that I just happened to write down, type up and bring with me. To be honest, I was expecting the worst. While he was reading my work, I sat there in silence trying to read the expressions on his face for a clue as to what he might say, and preparing myself for the let down I was sure would follow. He looked up at me and told me that he liked my work, not only that but, that he felt they were ready to publish WITHOUT any editing! I was speechless, really, I don’t remember how much time went by before I realized I had been sitting there with my mouth and eyes wide open in utter shock. It must have been a while because he said “your next question is what do I do next?” He then went on to give me information for places I should send them. WOW

Look for more conference recaps in my next post. Thanks for reading!

Conference Countdown

2008-05-13T10:00:00.000-07:00

The conference begins this weekend so I am busy packing everything I plan to take along. I’ve made a list and I’m checking it twice to make sure I don’t forget anything important. I won’t be able to take my computer with me on this trip but I will have my camera and will journal about the event in old fashioned pen and paper and translate what I can to the blog with pictures when I return. I have all my classes picked and my schedule typed out so I can look at it in a hurry and know just where I’m supposed to be and when. Sleep is not on the schedule, I figured I can catch up on that when I get back.

Have a great week everybody and I’ll see you in a week, after I’ve had some sleep.

Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference

2008-04-17T07:01:00.000-07:00

My first writers conference

I was jumping for joy after receiving an email from Sandy Brooks at Christian Writers fellowship International (CWFI), informing me that I had won 1 of the 10 scholarship awards to the attend the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference this May. To see the list of winners just go to www.cwfi-online.org/ .

I cannot begin to describe how thrilled I am to have received this scholarship; in fact I’m quite speechless. There is so much to do to prepare for this my head is spinning. There are so many good classes to choose from but I can’t take them all so I have to be very careful with my choices to make sure I choose the right ones for me at this time in my writing career, this is not as easy as one might think.

The conference offers both continuing classes that are taken everyday and workshops in the afternoon. The workshop category is offering a total of 58 different classes of those 58 there are 15 I am very interested in taking, however I can only choose 3. The continuing classes have morning and afternoon sessions and both sessions have different offerings. The morning session has 9 choices to choose from all of which are very good and the afternoon session has 7 choices. I have selected 4 choices from each session that I am interested in taking but I have to narrow that down to 1 choice for each session.

In addition to the classes throughout the day we break for meals, music, devotionals, and announcements. There is also an opportunity to meet with agents, publishers, and editors but you have to do that during one of the continuing class sessions.

This is going to be a fantastic week and I am looking forward to journaling about my experience here when I get back.

Some Questions Answered

2008-02-19T06:57:00.000-08:00

I belong to a writers group on Yahoo and once a month they send out questions to the group about our goals for our writing. To be perfectly honest I don't usually participate in answering them but this month I did, so I have posted below the questions that were asked and my responses to those questions. I hope you enjoy it.

1. How often do you get daily time in the word? (It's totally okay to be honest about this one!)

I am in the word everyday on a regular basis, seems like all day, not because I'm that disciplined mind you but because my husband and I are in college learning missions. We are retired military, (Navy), and they are paying for us to go to school to learn a different vocation and we choose to work for God this time so his major is pastoral and mine is cross cultural missions and this requires a lot of Bible work, and writing papers. You pastors in the group know what I mean. And to clarify, I was not Navy but as a spouse I qualify for the school benefits.
In addition to that we homeschool 3 boys, they have a Bible class and that work is different from our college stuff.

2. Does it affect what you write? Do you pray over your writing?

It most certainly does affect what I write and yes I do pray over it, that it will be pleasing to God, that the reader will see Him through the writing clearly and that it will do none other than glorify Him. If these goals are not met then there would be no right purpose for my writing it.

3. Right now, how much time do you feel called to spend writing?

I feel called to write every waking moment but that doesn't mean I do.

4. Any thoughts or outside influences side-tracking you from meeting that goal?

Life! I am very frustrated right now in not being able to work on my novel and I have two other stories yet to get on paper that are still roaming about in my head. Then the other day my oldest son Ryan (15) came to me with story board pictures he drew and a whole novel in his head he was rattling off to me while I was cooking dinner, asking me if I could help him write it with him. So my side-tracks are: My school, the kids school, housework, my work at the church.. the list goes on, that is why you don't see me post much to the group, If breathing weren't automatic I think I'd suffocate.

EXTRA CREDIT:5. Do any of your characters remind you of, or represent Christ? (Tell us!)

Actually my characters are ordinary people that we all can relate too who are either searching for Christ, struggling with God, or who find Him through a circumstance.

I will be done with school after this semester so I will have time, starting this summer to get back to my novel. I also plan on going to the Blue Ridge Mountain conference in mid May so hopefully that will jump start me a bit.

The Hummingbird Guard

2008-01-07T08:02:00.000-08:00

I was sitting on my mother’s front porch and noticed that several hummingbirds were visiting her feeder. This one, that I happened to get a shot of, would come down to the feeder and then fly off to perch himself on the very top branch of a nearby hemlock tree. He was guarding the feeder. I was watching his behavior for what seemed like an hour and he was watching me too. Every time another hummingbird would come to the feeder he would swoop down and chase it off, “that’s my feeder” he’d say, and “don’t come back” while he was chasing after it through the woods. Within minutes he would be back on his branch at the top of that same hemlock just waiting for another intruder.

What was comical is that while he was busy chasing one off, another would swoop down and have his fill of nectar and be gone before he returned. So I discovered that the one being chased off was a decoy to keep the “guarder of the feeder” busy so everyone else could have a chance at the sweet nectar. I also noticed that they each took turns being the decoy. There were several males and females involved in this elaborate plot to trick the “guard”.

So I got to thinking, maybe if I walked up to the feeder with my camera he would swoop down and try to chase me off too. So I went inside, got my camera and stood just 6 inches away from the feeder. I could see him watching me from his tall branch and sure enough he came down. He made one pass quickly and then back up to his branch he went. He kept watching me, puzzled as to why I wasn’t scared off. I stood motionless and patient with the camera ready for his second attempt to show me who was boss of that feeder. I saw him leave the branch so I started the camera clicking pictures just as quick as it would take them. The time span of this flight was only but a few seconds and I was not hopeful that I had any shots that were decent. But when I went back inside to see what I had captured I was pleasantly surprised.

A Squirel of a Christmas

2007-12-26T09:07:00.000-08:00

This Christmas has been by far the most memorable Christmas ever. Six adults, six children, three large dogs, and a family of nine flying squirrels, all under one roof!
The adventure began with us loading, no correct that, stuffing our four kids, luggage, and Christmas presents into our van for a nine hour drive to PA that should have only taken six. We arrive safe and sound and very late for dinner. Over dinner my mother explains that there is a critter living in the house somewhere. She thought it was a mouse at first because of the droppings she was finding on the floor and so, set a trap, but the trap never sprung. She began to notice that the droppings were always in the same place so she looked up and noticed some more evidence. Based on the new evidence running down her wall she now thought she had a bat and promptly called the exterminator.
My mother and her husband live in a log home and ever since they built it they have been having problems with the wildlife thinking that these new heated horizontal trees make a much better home than the unheated vertical trees they are used to living in.
When the exterminator came and looked at the evidence he knew right away that he was dealing with a flying squirrel. Well, I have never seen a flying squirrel before so after I heard that I followed him around like a shadow hoping to see one and see one I did! He went out on the roof to see where they got in and when he bumped his ladder against the roof two of them popped out and glided to a near by tree. He found three holes in the side of the house and plugged them so they couldn't get back in but told my mom that there may be more in there that didn't come out and it may cause them to come down into her bedroom.
That night my brother arrived with his wife and two children making 12 people now in the house, at night the three dogs come up to spend the night in my mom's bedroom. She has two Rhodesian Ridgebacks, natural born hunters, and one Standard Poodle, so these dogs are big. All was quite till about 10:00 pm when the dogs started barking, the squirrels were out on the roof trying to get back in. We shooed them off and all was quiet after that, we thought they were gone.
The next morning we went out to investigate the roof plugs that the exterminator placed in the holes and found that the squirrels were successful in removing the plugs which meant the squirrels were back in the house. So we went for a ladder to re-plug the holes and again when the ladder made noise on the roof the two squirrels came out but this time they were mad and wouldn't get off the roof. My step-father slowly climbed the ladder and one of the squirrels lunged at him to try to keep him away from "their front door" but as he got closer they decided to glide off. Now that the two squirrels were gone again we could plug the hole better this time. My husband Nathan joined my step father Jim on the roof while my brother Larry, the photographer, was down below taking pictures of the event and the rest of us were on the deck watching. We noticed two hawks hovering over the house; they must have seen the squirrels fly off the roof that were now on a close by tree watching us. The one hawk tucked his wings and made a dive right for us on the deck, just then two other squirrels ran out of the hole onto the roof and quickly flew off with the hawk in hot pursuit, he missed them. Thinking that there couldn't possibly be any more squirrels in there my husband tries to approach the hole again and one more ran out, down the roof past him and Jim, then hid behind a window frame instead of flying off. After catching their breath Nathan and Jim tried again to approach the hole and two more rushed out of the hole and off the roof for a total of 7 squirrels that came out of one hole. Finally they got the hole plugged and amazingly enough no one fell off the roof and the rest of the day was quiet, squirrel wise, until.........
It was the night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring not even a, SQUIRREL! The dogs started pacing back and forth and their whining got louder until finally a loud WOOF! The whole family got up to see what was the matter, we all looked up to see that two squirrels were the clatter. One squirrel was captured and put back outside but the other got scared and decided to hide. The squirrel remained hidden until the following night, that is until the dog had him in her sights. Around and around the bed they went until Jim said I've had enough and went for the pellet gun in the basement. He didn't want to do it but it had to be done, chasing a squirrel just wasn't much fun.
Now all the squirrels are gone and Christmas is done and I hope next Christmas brings just as much fun.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everybody!

Where Does My Inspiration Come From?

2007-06-04T14:01:00.000-07:00

The most common question I am asked as a writer is where do you get your inspiration from?

Now you might expect an author to say something like dreams, nature, news, and just living and observing everyday life or a menagerie of other sources. Though all of these things are usual sources of inspiration for a writer, they too have a source.

Sometimes I find myself in a quiet moment and then all of a sudden BAM! It hits me like a ton of bricks, an idea that is, the idea for a great story, title, or character to build a story around. But where did this idea suddenly come from? Other times I am awakened from a vivid dream where a story was just played out right in front of me and then I have to get out of bed and run to the computer and get it all down as fast as I can before I forget it. (Twilight Zone music playing here)

Everything that just pops into an author’s head has to come from someplace, so here is my theory. There are two forces at work in this world and they are good and evil. You see these two forces at work in nearly every movie you see or in the books you read and even these forces have an origin. To explore this theory I turned to the greatest book ever written, the Holy Bible.

Even if you are not a believer in God you can not argue the fact that this was, is and always will be the best written and most read book of all times. Don’t believe me? You can check the statistics yourself and you will find it at the top of the best sellers list every year since it was first published. Where did the inspiration come from to write this book?

There were many different authors and some of them didn’t even know each other and lived in different parts of the world and in different generations, yet all the books in the Bible fit perfectly together. The only logical explanation for this is found in 2 Timothy 3:16 “ all Scripture is given by inspiration of God...” (NKJV)

Now this covers the “good” force but what about the “evil? Well, that is simple and the answer to that can once again be found in the Bible. When one hears the word “evil” the next word that comes to mind is Satan, the evil one. Where did Satan come from? That’s easy too, God. Satan was once an angel called Lucifer and Isaiah 14:12 describes the fallen angel. So the origin of the evil one is God but be careful here I did NOT say that God was the origin of evil, God left that to Satan.

So there you have it in a nut shell, the inspiration for all things is God. What an author chooses to write about from this inspiration is his/her own choice of course but I choose to take this inspiration and write about things that are good, uplifting and encouraging to others.

I pray from Psalm 90:17 that the beauty, pleasantness, sweetness and delight of the Lord be upon me and be evident in the work of my hands.