Awesome Kids! Awesome God!

The youth of Woodforest Presbyterian Church led the worship service last Sunday. That's right. The kids led the service and it was fantastic, from the Call to Worship to the Benediction and everything in between.

Many in the congregation congratulated the kids, and "good job" was heard often as people left the sanctuary. I know the kids did a good job, but what's more, it was also a great learning experience. The youth led service provided the kids an opportunity to better understand the order of worship, self-confidence in speaking in front of a crowd, and a better understanding of the work and preparation that goes into a service.

Here's one of the songs that the kids picked out and that the congregation sang! They are awesome kids that praise an awesome God!

Lost Subscribers - Feedburner to Google/Feedburner Transition

Due to Google's acquisition of Feedburner, I recently had to change my RSS feed to the new merged site. I'm not technical and am not sure the why, but suffice it to say it was a required move. In the switch, it appears I lost subscribed readers. My apologies if you were dropped in the switch. Please feel free to re-subscribe if you want to be sure to continue receiving these posts. And as always, your comments are welcome.

Insomnia

Last night, I tossed and turned fitfully before succumbing to insomnia. Even though the rain typically produces a lulling melody that makes sleep come easy, I was too excited and in a state of agitation and worry. Finally, I got up and headed for the word processor.

First, the excitement. Recently Dorlana Vann of Humble Fiction Café gave an informative presentation on pacing and tension, and I am delighted to be reading a book that vividly reflects those teachings. More on the book in a review once it's finished.

Through Dorlana's lesson, I realized how important constant tension is to the overall enjoyment of a book. The writer not only has to make the reader care about the character and what happens to him or her, but be concerned about what happens next. When the character has overcome one challenge, the next adversity must already be set up. The presentation was very insightful.

As far as the agitation and worry, I love to blog, but of recent, my blog postings have fallen off in frequency. Partly due to my incredibly busy life, but I also wonder where to go with the blog. I feel like it's time to notch it up a bit, take it to the next level, but how and what is that?

And if it isn't enough that I've let my blogging posts fall off, I have been equally remiss in setting aside sufficient writing time for my novel. Oh, I'm working on it. Slowly. I complain about not having the time to work on the novel, yet I realize we all have the same amount of time – 24 hours each day. What we do with that time is what counts. My fault is in not making writing a higher priority.

In a nutshell, my worries stem around writing and the goals I've set for myself for this year.

I may or may not do a facelift on the blog. It hasn't been so long ago that I gave the blog a new look, but I am thinking about exploring a three-column layout. The reason is so that I can post my 2009 writing goals in plain view as a continual reminder of the things I hope to accomplish this year, and for my readers to hold me accountable. I want people to ask how the novel is progressing and keep me to task.

How are you doing with your goals for this year?
Do you think it is helpful to have your goals in front of you on a constant basis?
Is it helpful for others to know your goals?

Book Review - Remember Me by Trezza Azzopardi

Remember Me by Trezza Azzopardi

rating: 1 of 5 stars

Warning: Contains Spoilers

Remember Me by Trezza Azzopardi was a struggle, at best, to read. Several times I almost put the book away thinking why bother, but somehow I managed to get through. It was not worth the effort to me.

The book is about the life of an older woman who is half-loony. It starts with her living the streets and getting her small amount of belongings stolen by a girl. The story then recounts the woman’s childhood, and how everyone that had ever meant anything to her left or abandoned her at some point. She isn’t quite right in the head throughout. In the end, we learn that this crazy lady stole a baby for a day during her lifetime, and shaved the baby’s head. That baby grows into the girl who steals the woman’s possessions. They meet, discuss why it all happened, and then the loony-lady burns everything she owns in an abandoned building with her in it.

That's the gist in a nutshell. It's a difficult story to follow, not to mention the lack of quotations and strange formatting, as well as shifts in time and place. I would not recommend this book.

View all my reviews.