Pressing Onward (and an invitation!)

Yes most certainly, and I count all things to be a loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them nothing but refuse, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed to his death; if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on, if it is so that I may take hold of that for which also I was taken hold of by Christ Jesus.

Brothers, I don’t regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do. Forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. ~ Philippians 3:8-14 WEB

2012 was . . . interesting. A lot of really good things happened (we bought a house! I made it into Round 2 of NaNo Virtuosos!), and a lot of really awful things happened (um . . . yeah . . . can’t really tell you a lot of that, because of sensitive family situations. Just keep us in your prayers.), and yet I still don’t understand all of these people I see posting on Facebook saying “good riddance!” to 2012.

I didn’t hate 2012. It was definitely NOT the best year ever, but some of the best things to ever happen in my life happened in 2012. They just also happened to accompanied by some of the worst things.

But if I hadn’t lived through them, I would not be the person I am today. I would not be as strong as I am today. I would not be ready to take 2013 by the . . . okay, I won’t say THAT, because my mother might read this post.

But 2013, I am ready for you. Because this year, I am not going to live my life based on the whims of people or politicians, of political correctness or polite company, or expectations or complications.

This year, I am going to be ME. I’m going to be the best me that I can, and that is a me pursuing God above all else, because God is the One who, when several years ago I laid all of my hopes and dreams before Him on the altar – including my then new-found love of writing – gave writing back to me and said “do this.”

Because even before being an American, a wife/daughter/granddaughter/cousin, or a writer (which is evidently engraved into my very soul), I am a child of God. And God is far higher and far more powerful than politicians, or people, or circumstances.

That is why, even though some terrible things happened in 2012, that I can say it was a good year. Because I have a good God that is still standing with me, and His promises never fail.

Not in the old year, and they will not in the new. Even if I can’t see how something will work out, God does. And He will guide me there.

. . . and that totally went in a tangent I was not expecting, but I think I really needed to say that!

What I really meant to say:

Since one of my New Year’s goals is to read the Bible daily, I want to extend an invitation to you!

Several years ago, my grandmother assembled a Read-The-Bible-Through-In-A-Year plan. It averages out to approximately three chapters per day. (And I have resolved that I will make a PDF version of that plan by the end of the week so that it can be printed out.)

I know of at least a few people who follow this blog that have made “reading the Bible daily” part of their goals for 2013.

So, if you’ve ever wanted to read the Bible from cover-to-cover, whether it was in a year or not, would you like to join me in reading it THIS year?

Ideally, I want to post once a week and give my thoughts, impressions, and opinions on that week’s readings. This is also to motivate myself, though, because even though I’ve read the Bible through three times in my life, I haven’t actively studied it, and that’s what I want (need) to do!

I’ll mostly be reading in the New King James version, but for blog posts I’ll be referring to the World English Bible (WEB) translation, available (completely free and in the public domain!) here.

The WEB does include what is known as the Apocryphal books listed in the books of the Bible (Tobit – 4 Maccabees – these are Jewish books), and those will not be included in this reading-through-the-Bible plan. I do want to read them one day, but since I was raised in Protestant denominations, I haven’t been taught that they were a part of the divinely inspired Word of God (though the Roman Catholic church includes them). (There will be more discussion about this later.)

So, please come along for the ride with me! I promise that I have a very unique perspective on certain things, so this trip through the Bible will not be boring!

Otherwise, I believe you can still sign up through the end of Jan 1 for Health Month, if you want some encouragement for becoming healthy(ier) in the New Year! Don’t forget to join my WriteMeHealthy team!

Exciting End of Year Stats, the giveaway winners, and my 2013 Goals & Aspirations

First, yay for year-end-stats!

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 14,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 3 Film Festivals

Click here to see the complete report.

I know not everyone finds statistics as fascinating as I do, but I thought I’d still share the report .

And the winner from my winter giveaway is:

Shannon McKeever!

Shannon, I will do my utmost to remember to email you tomorrow for your mailing address, but if you see this first, just send it to me at rebekah(dot)loper(at)gmail(dot)com. Also let me know your preference of a box of tea (and what flavor) or if you want hot chocolate instead.

And finally, since 2012 is drawing to a close, my goals and aspirations for 2013:

Writing/Blogging Goals:

1. Finish draft 1 of 2011 NaNo (Gyti universe – Stars for the Dead . . . but not. It’s a long story that will get explained later.)

2. Write book 2 of Undoing.

3. Make major progress on 2-3 books of Gyti.

4. Finish ABCs of Fiction Writing.

5. Participate in no more than 5 major blog events (platform building campaign, bloghops/fests,  etc) spread throughout the year.

6. Attend 2-4 writing conferences and pitch to an agent at least once (currently planning for OWFI, OCW, and Nimrod, and possibly the Muse Online conference).

7. Draft 1-2 short stories per month.

8. Have outlines for at least 2-3 novels completed at the end of the year.

9. Completely organize writing things.

10. Continue blogging 2-3 times a week.

11. Write every day except Monday (there are related goals in Health & Lifestyle below).

12. Read at least one “craft” book per month. (You know, books about writing!)

Health/Lifestyle Goals – I’ve decided to revive #WriteMeHealthy (both as a twitter hashtag, and as a “challenge”, but with a little twist. A long time ago, I used to use an online app known as Health Month, and it’s still going strong! I’ve set up a team for #WriteMeHealthy, so go check out Health Month and see if it’s something you might be interested in! It’s free to use when you only have three or less “rules”, which is really where you’ll want to start your first time anyway.)

1. Get a spring garden in.

2. Work out at least 3 times a week.

3. Read Bible daily.

4. Take Mondays off from writing, chores, exercise basically make it my “Sabbath rest”.

5. Stay off the computer until 9 am Tues-Sat.

6. Take at least one day per month completely off the computer.

7. Start making and using more home remedies.

Me

1. Attempt Project 365 (again).

2. Have plan in place for finishing household and outdoor projects (even if it’s going to take years).

3. Get a tattoo (I’ve actually figured out what I want for my first one for certain, lol).

4. Take advantage of the free foreign language and continuing education courses available through my local library.

5. Make most/all of my “new” clothes this year.

What are your goals for the coming year?

Where did July go? #writemotivation and #writemehealthy updates.

 

Like I said in the title . . . where did July go?  I can’t believe that it’s already passed, and that we’ve been in our new house for a month now!  I also can’t believe the shambles the house is still in >_<.

I have not made the progress I hoped for in any of my goals this month, and I’ve been doing a lot of thinking because of it.

When I started this blog, it was because I had a personal blog (that has since fallen by the wayside) but I had so many writing things I wanted to talk about!  And I still do – I mean, seriously, I’ve been blogging for a little over a year here and I’ve done over 400 posts.  That’s almost a post per day.  Most of them writing related.

My pitfall is this – I talk a lot about writing.  So much so, that i actually forget to write a lot.

Of course, there are other things going on – I also got caught up in the platform building side of things, and I would set writing aside to do that instead.  And reading.  I’ve done so little reading compared to what I used to do all the time . . .

And then there’s . . . the family stuff.

I can’t go into a lot, to respect the privacy that they’ve requested, so I’ll just say this – there is someone in the family who has not been a very supportive (or even nice) person who is facing a life and death situation, and is not willing to do what needs to be done to live a good-quality life.  This person is also in a position to make the lives of people I love dearly miserable, and is placing the family in a financially straining situation.

There’s another person who isn’t facing the health-situation, but is only making the situation worse by trying to be controlling and manipulative.

I am the one holding people together when everything falls apart – which has been happening on at least a weekly, sometimes daily, basis.

The clincher?

I am an introvert.  A severe introvert.  When we had a blizzard (yes, an actual blizzard – as in 3 ft of snow in 24 hours) a few years back and were snowed in for 4 days because the city of Tulsa couldn’t figure out that no, the construction crews couldn’t keep fixing the actual pavement, but they could be moving snow, I was HAPPY.  I loved the fact that I didn’t have to leave the house for 4 days!  I had my husband, my cat, plenty of food, internet access, and a snow shovel if I really needed to get anywhere.  It was like a vacation!

So when I have to reach inside and find the strength to hold my family together, it leaves me exhausted.

It’s very hard for me to write when I’m exhausted.  I can write during any other time (just ask my Wrimo’s – during our six-hour marathon write-in last November, I was juggling rude and hurtful phone calls from one of the said problem people above and STILL managed to write 10,000 words through some very intense frustration and anger) – angry, sad, bored.  But complete and utter exhaustion . . .

And complete and utter exhaustion is what I’m living in right now.  I’m getting done what I have to for survival and the minimum of sanity.

That said, I’m realizing that I have to make some changes.  Somehow, I have to be able to do my writing and still be there for my family.

I’ve completed a year of my Sunday Devotionals now.  And I’m going to take a break from them.  Between writing the devotionals, and my Sunday responsibilities at church (I am a pastor, too, for those of you who don’t know that yet), I’ve been wearing myself thin on the spiritual side too.  I need some time to recharge.  So, there will be no more devotionals through at least November, and only at Christmas time if I feel like it, because I absolutely love Christmas.  After that, I’ll re-evaluate and see where I feel God is leading in that area.

So, there’s a few steps I’m going to take:

1. Less blogging, including putting the devotionals on hiatus, and go through my list to see who I’m following blogs for, because I’m overwhelmed on that front.  I’m going to try for 2-3 blog posts a week, rather than 4-5.  I’m also going to get rid of blogs that I find myself skipping over repeatedly.

2. Get a writing schedule in place – where I sit down at the computer and write.  Not read fanfiction (yes, it’s my guilty pleasure) instead of writing, not blog instead of writing, and not talk on the phone instead of writing.  Just an hour or two a day where I turn off my phone, put on headphones, and WRITE.  There’s another Camp NaNoWriMo session in August, and my goal is to remember why writing is fun.

3. Take time to read – both my Bible, and FUN reading.  I love reading as much as I love writing, and it helps me stay excited about writing, so it’s no wonder I’ve been burned out.  And fun reading means ones I’m not being pressured to review, unless it’s a book that I really want to read anyway.

I’m still going to keep up with #writemehealthy, because that’s good for me.  We’ll see how I’m doing when the next round of #writemotivation is up.  It’s not that I don’t want to do it . . . but I think I just need a break.

So, on to my #writemotivation goal wrap-up for July . . .

1 Get devotional book drafted, start polishing.
Still pretty much at the same point that I was before, except I did find a public-domain Bible translation in modern-day English that I can use for commercial purposes.  So we’re one step closer!

2. Work on Blood of Trees, to be ready to pitch in October.
hm, yeah.  This is why I need a schedule.

3. Write at least 500 words a day on Undoing.
I’ve just decided to save this for NaNo this year.

Now, for my own #writemehealthy goals:

Spirit

1. To help my grandmother get a good back-up supply of the foods she needs to stay healthy (she’s on a pretty strict diet), since grandpa is proving unreliable in keeping up with it.
Getting this one under control!

Soul

1. To get at least one massage before the end of this round.
I need to call my friend Sarah and see if she’s still willing to come to my house and give me a massage.

2. To read at least one book about time management.
Any one have any good recommendations?

Body

1. Get in the habit of drinking 8 glasses of water a day (again).  I was very good about this, until a couple of months ago.
Yeah, still working on this.  Thank you to everyone for your helpful comments last time!  I will be attempting to implement some as soon as I find my coupon for a free box of True Lemon.  And as long as walmart has one of the other flavors.  Because I don’t like lemon in my water.

2. Do a full body cleanse at some point in this experience.

3. Get in the habit of working out at least twice a week.
but . . . . but . . . it’s so stinkin’ HOT! I don’ wanna workout . . .

 

Updates once more . . . #writemotivation, #writemehealthy

Well, it seems the only things I’m able to handle right now are my weekly updates >_<.  My apologies to everyone who normally reads my Sunday Devotionals, but yesterday was just so . . . strange.  My routine ws completely off-kilter, and before I knew it, it was bedtime.

So, on to #writemotivation goals . . .

1 Get devotional book drafted, start polishing.
Haven’t made it any further than where I was last week, unfortunately.

2. Work on Blood of Trees, to be ready to pitch in October.
um, yeah . . . still haven’t started this one.

3. Write at least 500 words a day on Undoing.
well . . . I’m doing about 300 words week currently, lol, if you average it out.  I wrote 630 words on Saturday.

 

Now, for my own #writemehealthy goals:

Spirit

1. To help my grandmother get a good back-up supply of the foods she needs to stay healthy (she’s on a pretty strict diet), since grandpa is proving unreliable in keeping up with it.
Working on this one, the next phase is to just take the initiative to call Grandma before I go grocery shopping and see what she needs.

Soul

1. To get at least one massage before the end of this round.

2. To read at least one book about time management.

Body

1. Get in the habit of drinking 8 glasses of water a day (again).  I was very good about this, until a couple of months ago.
Yeah, working on this, but not succeeding yet.

2. Do a full body cleanse at some point in this experience.

3. Get in the habit of working out at least twice a week.
I’ve decided that mowing the lawn counts toward this.

 

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• Updates on Life and #writemotivation (blackanddarknight.wordpress.com)
• Kicking off July with a bang – #writemotivation & #writemehealthy (blackanddarknight.wordpress.com)

Kicking off July with a bang – #writemotivation & #writemehealthy

Hi everyone, long time no see (or read?)!

I’ve got two big things going on this month – the July round of #WriteMotivation, and my own kick-off of #WriteMeHealthy.

Header image and thumbnail photograph by Hugh Lee and licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. http://www.flickr.com/photos/sahlgoode/

First up, my #writemotivation goals for July:

1. Get devotional book drafted, start polishing.
This is really just a matter of copy/pasting all of the previous year’s devotionals (and a few still yet to post) into WriteWay starting to revise them.  I’m hoping to self-publish this come Oct/Nov.  Tentative title is “Writing With God”.

2. Work on Blood of Trees, to be ready to pitch it in October.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAhhhhhhhhh! So much to do!

3. Write at least 500 words a day on Undoing.
Well, considering that I should have started this one yesterday . . . I’m already behind :/.

If you’d like to keep up with the other #writemotivation participants, the roll call for July is up on KT Hanna’s blog.

Now, on to #WriteMeHealthy!

The info & sign-up post is here.  So far, I’ve only got one person signed up besides me, but sign-ups are open until July 5th.  Either way, the show will go on, because #writemehealthy is just as much for me as it is for anyone else .  Please use the new logo above, without the misspelled “excercise” in it, haha.

So, my 3-month (July – Sep) #WriteMeHealthy goals are:

Spirit

1. To help my grandmother get a good back-up supply of the foods she needs to stay healthy (she’s on a pretty strict diet), since grandpa is proving unreliable in keeping up with it.

Soul

1. To get at least one massage before the end of this round.

2. To read at least one book about time management.

Body

1. Get in the habit of drinking 8 glasses of water a day (again).  I was very good about this, until a couple of months ago.

2. Do a full body cleanse at some point in this experience.

3. Get in the habit of working out at least twice a week.

Good luck to the rest of you, whatever you have on your plate this month!

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The Super-Top-Secret-Project Debuts! Introducing #WriteMeHealthy

Hi everyone!

I’m taking a break from all the moving craziness to get the Super-Top-Secret-Project rolling!

I’ve been brainstorming this thing for a while.

See, once upon a time, I lived a very healthy lifestyle.  My mom raised us all on real food – as in we bought wheat, ground our own flour, and made our own bread, and ate-very-little-refined-foods kind of real food.

I used to ride my bike all the time.  Now, I can’t even remember the last time I was on a bicycle.

I want to feel energetic again.  I want my throat to not be scratchy all the time.  I want to not feel squishy in certain . . . areas.

And I want to be healthy enough to actually sit down and do my writing without out random aches and pains that I know are being affected by my lack of movement and not getting enough water.

So . . . taking after KT Hanna & #writemotivation here, I realized that I just need people with similar goals to encourage each other.

And it’s also incredibly easy to “create” your own Twitter hashtag.

And so, I would like to introduce you to . . .

#WriteMeHealthy

How’s this going to work?

At the bottom of this post, there is a link list.  Just add your blog.  Obviously, this is going to be geared toward writers, but anyone else who wants to join up is welcome to.  Sign ups will be open until July 5th.

The challenge starts on July 1st, but there’s some overlap time between the start and when sign-ups end.

This round will last for three (3) months (from July through September).  Yes, three months.  Why?  Because you need time to implement a lifestyle change and to start seeing a difference.  For that same reason, check-ins will only be every two (2) weeks.

So here is my challenge for myself, and for everyone else:

Give yourself at least one, but no more than three, moderate goals in these areas (to be completed over a three month time-period):

Spirit – Soul – Body

Spirit themed goals are need to benefit someone else more than yourself.  This could be helping a neighbor or a friend out with a task that’s over their head, but perfectly suited for what you know how to do, or something that you have to give up for someone else.

Soul goals are things to help you, and you alone, on this journey to a healthy lifestyle.  Taking time to read for fun, for example.  Or to get a massage.

Body goals are your actual, physical goals to become healthier.  Gaining or losing weight, whichever fits your situation.  Drinking more water.  Eating more fruits and vegetables, etc.

Share your goals with everyone on or around July 1st.

In addition to these goals, there will be a couple of special tasks.

Each month, share a new healthy recipe that you’ve tried along with your goals.

During the month, get to know your fellow participants by reading their blogs and encouraging each other on Twitter with the #writemehealthy hashtag.  If you don’t have Twitter, you can still participate, but you’ll get more out of it if you do participate there.

When each month starts to come to a close, pick one of the other participants to highlight on your blog (during the last two weeks or so).  Choose someone who needs a little extra encouragement and/or helped you learn something during #WriteMeHealthy.

There’s no prizes involved, though.  This is all about YOU.  Learning to treat yourself right, in every of your life, and making a commitment to be healthy.  Isn’t that reward enough?

Also, if you’re signing up, would you be willing to do a blog post about #WriteMeHealthy to help spread the word?  I’d greatly appreciate it!

You can snag this nifty little icon, just make sure you link it back to http://blackanddarknight.wordpress.com/2012/06/15/writemehealthy

Click below to sign up:

(note: links will only show up when you actually click on the Master Linky button.)