Like many other Narnia fans, last Tuesday as soon as the Prince Caspian DVD was available I trotted right off to buy it, and watched it again that same night (I saw it twice last May, but that wasn't enough!)
I loved the movie, and I could write pages and pages comparing and contrasting it to the original book which I love even more. Basically, the movie is an adventure: the book was that, but oh so much more. Where it falls short is very subtle. Here is just one example: in the film, Aslan tells Lucy, "Every year you grow, so shall I." In the book, Aslan says, "Every year you grow, you will find me bigger." There is a totally different meaning in these two phrases. A Believer understands that one of the major realizations we make as we grow spiritually is that God becomes ever bigger, greater, holier, awesome... the way the film says it, it's just not the same.
Still, I am eager for the next movie, the Voyage of the Dawn Treader - even though it's not due out until May, 2010. So eager in fact that I re-read the book this weekend. The very best part was Eustace turning into a dragon, and then Aslan turning him back again - a beautiful picture of what Christ does for us not just when we are saved, but each time we realize we are hopelessly lost when we try to do things on our own, instead of through God.
At first I was kind of Hoping that "The Horse and His Boy" would be the next Narnia movie out, since it's my favorite, and also since it's the only other movie where Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy are all present (if briefly). But after re-reading Dawn Treader, I am just as excited to see this one brought to screen. NarniaWeb.com "your complete source for Narnia movie news" confirmed that Dawn Treader is indeed the next movie in the making and I also found this interesting article In what order should the Narnia books be read? which also relates to the order in which the movies are being produced.
Back to Prince Caspian again for a moment: here is an excerpt from a Christianity Today article comparing the movie to the original themes in the book. The whole article is worth reading but this was the point that I thought was so important because it relates to another classic fantasy that I think the film makers meddled too much with:
Because Aslan is so remote from them, the Pevensies are forced to figure things out for themselves, with varying results. Peter's hunger for power and glory leads him to act just as rashly in Narnia as he had been acting in England—but since he is leading armies into battle now, his rashness has lethal, devastating consequences. What's more, he is strongly, strongly tempted to make a deal with the devil, as it were, to achieve his goals. (This may be the biggest, most potentially controversial change to a once-noble character since Faramir felt the lure of the Ring in Peter Jackson's version of The Two Towers.) However, some important and powerful themes do emerge, as Lucy reminds Peter that they need to actually look for Aslan and be faithful to what they already know of him, if they are ever to actually see him.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Dealing with distraction
This was just soooo appropriate for how I am feeling these days: grumpy, burnt-out, too much to do, angry at myself because I am so far from having the "spirit of Christmas" with thankfulness and joy and peace...
From http://www.girltalkhome.com/
Are you distracted this holiday season?
Martha--sister of Mary, friend of Jesus--is famous for being frantic about all she had to do. It says in Luke 10:38 that “Martha was distracted with much serving” (emphasis mine).
You remember what our Lord said to Martha, don’t you? His gentle rebuke is directed at you and me today.
“Martha, Martha,” (Sometimes you have to say a distracted woman’s name twice to get her attention.) “You are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41-42).
What is the “good portion” Mary chose, and that we must choose this Christmas season? She “sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to his teaching” (Luke 10:39).
I know, I know, you have a lot to do and no one to help you. But so did Martha. You may have a crowd for Christmas, but she had the incarnate God in her home. And Jesus told her not to worry about all that. Only one thing is necessary, He said: sit and listen to me.
This doesn’t mean we are to leave the Christmas shopping unfinished and forget about cooking the big meal. We are still called to serve. But, as Charles Spurgeon suggests, “We ought to be Martha and Mary in one: we should do much service, and have much communion at the same time. For this we need great grace. It is easier to serve than to commune.”
Let’s ask God for great grace this holiday season. Let’s take time to sit and listen to Him.
After reading this yesterday, my spirits lifted a little. And I finally, FINALLY, worked up the courage to hand out my church's cards (like a business card, but for a church, with verses) to three of my fellow writers at Writer's Group last night.
From http://www.girltalkhome.com/
Are you distracted this holiday season?
Martha--sister of Mary, friend of Jesus--is famous for being frantic about all she had to do. It says in Luke 10:38 that “Martha was distracted with much serving” (emphasis mine).
You remember what our Lord said to Martha, don’t you? His gentle rebuke is directed at you and me today.
“Martha, Martha,” (Sometimes you have to say a distracted woman’s name twice to get her attention.) “You are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41-42).
What is the “good portion” Mary chose, and that we must choose this Christmas season? She “sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to his teaching” (Luke 10:39).
I know, I know, you have a lot to do and no one to help you. But so did Martha. You may have a crowd for Christmas, but she had the incarnate God in her home. And Jesus told her not to worry about all that. Only one thing is necessary, He said: sit and listen to me.
This doesn’t mean we are to leave the Christmas shopping unfinished and forget about cooking the big meal. We are still called to serve. But, as Charles Spurgeon suggests, “We ought to be Martha and Mary in one: we should do much service, and have much communion at the same time. For this we need great grace. It is easier to serve than to commune.”
Let’s ask God for great grace this holiday season. Let’s take time to sit and listen to Him.
After reading this yesterday, my spirits lifted a little. And I finally, FINALLY, worked up the courage to hand out my church's cards (like a business card, but for a church, with verses) to three of my fellow writers at Writer's Group last night.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
fist deep in cake
I was looking at how many entries appear for each of my categories. Apparently books are most important in my life because they have the most entries; then writing; somewhere way down the list appear family events, twins, and marriage. Well, to be honest, my family does rank more important than books and writing but perhaps I feel my family, in particular, is of less interest to the larger world than topics about books and writing.
However, it is highly suspect that the larger world is aware of my little blog, (which I'm perfectly happy with... no expectations! I can write drivel and no one will cruelly comment!) So I am pledging to myself to start writing a little more about my family.
So the twins are two years old now, and still pretty much clueless about birthdays: when presented with gifts, they grabbed the bows off the presents and stalked off to play (perhaps they had intuition that it was just clothes in the boxes anyway, not toys!) However, they weren't clueless about the cake. After dinner we decided to relax for a bit in front of the TV, with the intention of presenting the birthday cake with candles a little later in the evening.
Well after a while I notice that the twins aren't down in the living room with us. There is a suspicious lack of noise. I head to the kitchen and discover Serious and Starlet (their nicknames) up on the kitchen counter, fist deep in their chocolate cake, chocolate smeared everywhere, neither one of them looking one bit guilty. I took a deep breath and managed to restrain my initial horror! I ended up just giggling and letting them go at it for a few more minutes before cleaning up. It was their birthday, after all. (I managed to salvage two pieces of cake to put the candles in)
Apparently it is impossible for me write a blog focused entirely on my family. I can't resist sticking in a link about writing... some advice about using/not using emotional exposition in writing.
http://edittorrent.blogspot.com/2008/12/emotional-exposition.html
Writing progress: 541 words last week, so far this week 0
However, it is highly suspect that the larger world is aware of my little blog, (which I'm perfectly happy with... no expectations! I can write drivel and no one will cruelly comment!) So I am pledging to myself to start writing a little more about my family.
So the twins are two years old now, and still pretty much clueless about birthdays: when presented with gifts, they grabbed the bows off the presents and stalked off to play (perhaps they had intuition that it was just clothes in the boxes anyway, not toys!) However, they weren't clueless about the cake. After dinner we decided to relax for a bit in front of the TV, with the intention of presenting the birthday cake with candles a little later in the evening.
Well after a while I notice that the twins aren't down in the living room with us. There is a suspicious lack of noise. I head to the kitchen and discover Serious and Starlet (their nicknames) up on the kitchen counter, fist deep in their chocolate cake, chocolate smeared everywhere, neither one of them looking one bit guilty. I took a deep breath and managed to restrain my initial horror! I ended up just giggling and letting them go at it for a few more minutes before cleaning up. It was their birthday, after all. (I managed to salvage two pieces of cake to put the candles in)
Apparently it is impossible for me write a blog focused entirely on my family. I can't resist sticking in a link about writing... some advice about using/not using emotional exposition in writing.
http://edittorrent.blogspot.com/2008/12/emotional-exposition.html
Writing progress: 541 words last week, so far this week 0
Monday, December 1, 2008
I WON!
Last night at 9:30 pm I pushed past the 50,000 word goal for the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) challenge.
That's the good news.
The bad news is that I'm severely sleep deprived, my poor family had to suffer through several extremely grumpy episodes in the past two weeks, and I think I'm probably only just barely half-way through my novel: it's gonna be another long one.
My next challenge: to see if, now that November is over, I will continue to keep writing on a regular basis. I would like to write a minimum of 300 words each day (should be a piece of cake after averaging 1667 words a day for November!). Another really good reason for continuing to write every day (other than the fact that it means I'll actually get Novel #2 finished within a year) is that I am holding true to my promise to always read the Bible and pray before writing - something I need in order to keep my life together (in other words, only through God's strength can I possibly keep my life together!)
That's the good news.
The bad news is that I'm severely sleep deprived, my poor family had to suffer through several extremely grumpy episodes in the past two weeks, and I think I'm probably only just barely half-way through my novel: it's gonna be another long one.
My next challenge: to see if, now that November is over, I will continue to keep writing on a regular basis. I would like to write a minimum of 300 words each day (should be a piece of cake after averaging 1667 words a day for November!). Another really good reason for continuing to write every day (other than the fact that it means I'll actually get Novel #2 finished within a year) is that I am holding true to my promise to always read the Bible and pray before writing - something I need in order to keep my life together (in other words, only through God's strength can I possibly keep my life together!)
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
the final countdown
Three days left to November. Last minute preparations. NaNoWriMo is approaching, and for geek writers like me (over 100,000 of us signed up at the www.nanowrimo.org website), this is the MONTH. The challenge: write 50,000 words, or a short novel, in 30 days (about 5 pages a day). Last year I stormed through the first 3 weeks with amazing success, considering that I had 11 month old twin girls to complicate my life; the last week I got sick and fell about 10,000 words short of my goal. So this year I am determined to finish the challenge.
The twins are now 23 months old, does that make the challenge any easier? Not really. They are still pretty demanding. Another disadvantage: this year I'm starting a new book. I will be starting on Chapter 1, with a blank page, and only a few pages of notes to help guide my way. I had hoped to have a scene-by-scene outline by now, and completed character charts for at least 4 of my major characters. I've only finished one chart so far, and I only have the first 4 or 5 scenes roughly outlined. Last year I was starting about half-way through a second version of a novel that I'd already written once, had the new version completely outlined scene-by-scene to the last page, and had spent the last 20 years dreaming about - I knew my characters really well and I knew exactly where I was going.
So, I'm not nearly as prepared this year. In addition I have commitments at work that will surely be obstacles, and a family that I don't want to lose touch with (though I have already warned all my friends). But I am preparing spiritually, which is, for me, a very important step. I attribute my success for three weeks last November (and to ultimately finishing the novel on October 6 of this year) to taking the time each day before writing to spend time with God first. (Give Him your first-fruits, and He will give you the rest). Sometimes I couldn't get started until 9 pm at night, and I was already tired; it was tempting to skip that fiften or thirty minutes with God and just jump right into writing. But I knew if I did that, the words wouldn't come, or the RIGHT words wouldn't come. Or I'd find out later that nothing I wrote that night would work in the story and I'd eventually have to throw it out anyway. I truly believe that sometimes God just gave me the words, simply because I asked Him for them. After my husband and my kids, I believe God has given writing to me as my ministry. He must want me to write, because no matter how busy my life gets that urge to write is still there. That desire to write a story that maybe, someday, someone will read and learn about the personal relationship with God, through Jesus, that is open to everyone.
Have found a link on the NanoWriMo website to David Niall Nelson's "tips for NanoWriMo" http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vdmludGFnZXNvdWwubWFjYWJyZWluay5jb20vY2F0ZWdvcnkvbmFub3dyaW1v that I had fun reading today, and will hopefully motivate me to work more on my outline, tonight!
The twins are now 23 months old, does that make the challenge any easier? Not really. They are still pretty demanding. Another disadvantage: this year I'm starting a new book. I will be starting on Chapter 1, with a blank page, and only a few pages of notes to help guide my way. I had hoped to have a scene-by-scene outline by now, and completed character charts for at least 4 of my major characters. I've only finished one chart so far, and I only have the first 4 or 5 scenes roughly outlined. Last year I was starting about half-way through a second version of a novel that I'd already written once, had the new version completely outlined scene-by-scene to the last page, and had spent the last 20 years dreaming about - I knew my characters really well and I knew exactly where I was going.
So, I'm not nearly as prepared this year. In addition I have commitments at work that will surely be obstacles, and a family that I don't want to lose touch with (though I have already warned all my friends). But I am preparing spiritually, which is, for me, a very important step. I attribute my success for three weeks last November (and to ultimately finishing the novel on October 6 of this year) to taking the time each day before writing to spend time with God first. (Give Him your first-fruits, and He will give you the rest). Sometimes I couldn't get started until 9 pm at night, and I was already tired; it was tempting to skip that fiften or thirty minutes with God and just jump right into writing. But I knew if I did that, the words wouldn't come, or the RIGHT words wouldn't come. Or I'd find out later that nothing I wrote that night would work in the story and I'd eventually have to throw it out anyway. I truly believe that sometimes God just gave me the words, simply because I asked Him for them. After my husband and my kids, I believe God has given writing to me as my ministry. He must want me to write, because no matter how busy my life gets that urge to write is still there. That desire to write a story that maybe, someday, someone will read and learn about the personal relationship with God, through Jesus, that is open to everyone.
Have found a link on the NanoWriMo website to David Niall Nelson's "tips for NanoWriMo" http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vdmludGFnZXNvdWwubWFjYWJyZWluay5jb20vY2F0ZWdvcnkvbmFub3dyaW1v that I had fun reading today, and will hopefully motivate me to work more on my outline, tonight!
Monday, October 13, 2008
whip lashes
Skip to the last paragraph if you want to see what why I titled this 'whip lashes'.
So, it's official, I finished the last chapter of my children's novel Last Monday night at 11:30 pm. For the first couple days I fell kind giddy. I kept re-reading the last page of my book and sighing with delight, wow – I really got there! But I also felt kind of lost, like how in the world will I ever be able to switch over to another novel?
With National Novel Writing Month (see nanowrimo.org: this writing challenge is largely the reason why I was finally able to finish my first novel!) coming up in November, I knew I had to decide which book to start next. I have ideas for two sequels but these are still mostly in the “dream” stage and anyway I’d like to get away from writing for children/youth and try something adult.
I have one book completely plotted out and ready to go, but that one is another fantasy. Also, since I have spent the last two dozen years working on fantasy genre, I really want to try something in the real world, and I really want to write something purposefully Christian, where I don't have to disguise my faith in symbols or allegory. So that leaves one option, an idea I’ve been kicking around for 4 of 5 years that's loosely based on my experience of my first year of marriage and being a step mom. But I have an awful lot of development to do on this book. I have a very basic plot and a couple character sketches, but nothing like the scene-by-scene outline that I had for my first story. It’s awfully nice when you turn on your computer to not be confronted with a blank page, but to have a little paragraph summarizing just what you are supposed to work on for the next two hours. Prevents writer’s block.
So I spent last week really thinking (and a little praying) about which novel to tackle. During break times at a training class down in Boulder, I mulled over the plot and two primary characters (for now, they are Rowen and Sam) then finally, on Friday, took a stab at the first three scenes. And I felt pretty good about them. Okay, so it seems like the word is “go” for this new idea. However I need to outline quite a bit more than just the first three scenes in order to be able to keep up my writing momentum during November. My writing friend, NL, recommended that instead of going off an outline I should just write “out of the mist” and see what happens. I suppose that’s what I’ll have to do if I don’t get much more of an outline done in the next 3 weeks.
At least the beautiful Indian Summer weather will no longer be competing for my attention. It has turned cold and this weekend we got such a vicious wind that it blew almost every leaf off the trees in my neighborhood, turning our beautiful golden autumn into drab brown overnight. But the weekend before I was able to go for another wonderful trail ride with my mom through the autumn hills, so at least fall didn’t get away from me this year, I’ve been blessed with lots of time to soak it all up. Too bad one can’t soak it all up and save it to savor again later, mid-winter!
Last night at church our assistant pastor gave another illustration that I just have to share (see my last blog about speeding tickets for another example). This one was about a mighty King who was known thoughout the land as a King of justice. He was determined to bring justice to every situation in his kingdom and would not tolerate any sort of crime. In fact he would usually administer the punishment – 40 lashes with a whip – himself, and since he was a very strong, powerful man these lashes were a terrible punishment indeed. One day it came to his attention that someone was stealing from his palace. He set his police to find out who the perpetrator was, but for a long time they could not catch the thief. And when they finally did, it came as a terrible shock because the thief was the King’s own mother. All the kingdom began to speculate what the King would do. He was known for His unrelenting justice; but how could he have his own mother whipped? But when the time came, the King did tell his men to tie the old woman to the whipping post. Everyone was horrified. Instead of picking up his whip, the King handed it to someone else and told them to go ahead and administer the 40 lashes. But first, he took of his shirt and wrapped his body around his mother’s so that he would take the brunt of the lashes for her.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Indian summer and speeding tickets
No, I didn't get a speeding ticket. The reference is from our assistant pastor at Laramie Valley Chapel. He gave a great spiritual illustration that I know I'm going to butcher in my attempt to restate it, but here goes anyway:
Suppose you have several speeding tickets in your glove compartment. You’re driving down the street and you pass another cop, but this time you’re actually driving slower than the posted speed limit, so you don’t get pulled over. However, no matter how many times you drive by a police car under the speed limit, it doesn’t take away those speeding tickets from earlier. You don’t accumulate enough “points” by driving responsibly to make those tickets go away; you still have to pay them. Sin is like that. Every time you sin, you have to pay the ticket; being good other times doesn’t make the bad magically go away. The wages of sin is death – the only way to pay those sin tickets is paying them with death. Unless there is someone else who pays for you. Which is exactly what Jesus did for us, by dying for our sins.
Why do they call it Indian summer, anyway? Oh, who cares - it's sunny and in the 70's, and for once we haven't gotten any snow in September. The last two weekends we B. and I have gone on long trail rides up in the hills, when aspens turn golden is absolutely my favorite time of year. I can't get enough of it. It makes me giddy and dreamy at the same time.
The giddy/dreamy part is also because I'm so close to the end of my book (I can't say close to finishing it, because I know I have to go back and fill in some gaps, make lots of revisions, add more voice). Working on the last chapter is almost as hard as working on the first chapter, though. There's all these sub plots that need to get wrapped up, and it's much harder than I thought it would be. One night I finally gave up because what I was writing just wasn't coming out right. Then as soon as I laid down in bed (and it was midnight already, I really needed to get to sleep), my mind kicked in, and I started figuring out how to get everything into the ending in the right order. So then I started to worry that if I fell asleep I'd forget it all, so at 1 am I got up, wrote down some quick notes, and managed to settle my mind down so I could sleep.
Suppose you have several speeding tickets in your glove compartment. You’re driving down the street and you pass another cop, but this time you’re actually driving slower than the posted speed limit, so you don’t get pulled over. However, no matter how many times you drive by a police car under the speed limit, it doesn’t take away those speeding tickets from earlier. You don’t accumulate enough “points” by driving responsibly to make those tickets go away; you still have to pay them. Sin is like that. Every time you sin, you have to pay the ticket; being good other times doesn’t make the bad magically go away. The wages of sin is death – the only way to pay those sin tickets is paying them with death. Unless there is someone else who pays for you. Which is exactly what Jesus did for us, by dying for our sins.
Why do they call it Indian summer, anyway? Oh, who cares - it's sunny and in the 70's, and for once we haven't gotten any snow in September. The last two weekends we B. and I have gone on long trail rides up in the hills, when aspens turn golden is absolutely my favorite time of year. I can't get enough of it. It makes me giddy and dreamy at the same time.
The giddy/dreamy part is also because I'm so close to the end of my book (I can't say close to finishing it, because I know I have to go back and fill in some gaps, make lots of revisions, add more voice). Working on the last chapter is almost as hard as working on the first chapter, though. There's all these sub plots that need to get wrapped up, and it's much harder than I thought it would be. One night I finally gave up because what I was writing just wasn't coming out right. Then as soon as I laid down in bed (and it was midnight already, I really needed to get to sleep), my mind kicked in, and I started figuring out how to get everything into the ending in the right order. So then I started to worry that if I fell asleep I'd forget it all, so at 1 am I got up, wrote down some quick notes, and managed to settle my mind down so I could sleep.
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