 "I took your advice," said the man sitting across the table from me.
What advice was that? I inquired. "You told me I should write something everyday." Ah, yes. It's a suggestion I make to anyone working on a book project. Write something everyday even if it's only one sentence. Why? Because it keeps your head in the story or the project. When you work on your book everyday you don't lose your train of thought so easily. When you take time off, whether it is for a couple of days or for a few months you have to then go back and pick up the threads of your work and try to weave together the ragged ends again. I know this from experience. At one point, while writing my novel, Picking up the Pieces, I took over two months where I didn't even open the book's file. I felt swamped with other work and just put the project on hold until I could catch up and concentrate on it in a more focused way. What happened though, was that when I did get back to writing, I had to go back through the entire manuscript, get to know my characters again and figure out what they had been up to before I abandoned them. I spent so much time just getting my head back into that writing space that I wasted a lot of time that could have been used for writing. Now I advise my clients to work on their book projects everyday if even for a few minutes. Write a few words or a paragraph. Flesh out a scene or re-write the last one. Doing this keeps the project alive in your thoughts even when you're doing other things so that when you have time to get back at it in earnest it will be fresh in your mind. Few days are so perfect. My husband and I were on a short vacation, the pace unhurried, the weather divine. I took this photo of the marina at Hadlock Bay, WA around noon. 
Late September 2012, Port Hadlock, Washingon, US
 How do you know when you're doing what you're called to do – when you are in the centre of God's will? For that matter, do you even want that? Do you want God's will or do you just want your own?
Many of us say we want God's will for our lives but live like that's the last thing we'd want. I believe the reason for that is because we don't really know God well enough to trust his judgment. When you know the character of God, you find out that his plan is always the best one. That's because he's the maker. Wouldn't the God who made me know me even better than I know myself? I'd say so. God made me to live in my element. He knows exactly what that is. Other people will try to tell me who I should be, what I should do and I will even try to fit myself into a mould not made for me but if I listen to the Spirit, he will lead me into the best life for me. Will it be easy? Sometimes, sometimes not. That's not really the point. It will, however, be the most satisfying life I could live – a life of peace without striving or anxiety. It will be a life of trust in God who loves me.  This might look like somebody's house with lots of parking but it's not. This is a little restaurant my husband and I discovered a couple of weeks ago while staying in Port Townsend, WA. It's called Scampi's and Halibut's and it's in the little town of Port Hadlock, WA.
I just love it when you find a gem in an out-of-the-way place and this restaurant is one of those. I promised that I would blog about it because the food was so fantastic. The building itself is a double-wide mobile home converted into a restaurant. The interior decor is cozy and tasteful. However, it's the menu that is so astounding. An amazing variety of seafood is offered and salads with ingredients that only a food artist could think up, with paragraph-long descriptions. I had the salad with huge fresh shrimp, goat cheese, candied pecans, dried cranberries and I can't remember what else. It was so good! So, if you're ever in Port Hadlock (Google map it) be sure to eat here. You're going to love it.  While staying in Port Townsend, WA, last week we did a little exploring and found the most delightful little bay called Hadlock Bay.
As you can see, the sun was shining to brightly that I had to squint my eyes nearly shut. I am so thankful for the beautiful fall weather we've had here. Though cool at night - because of the clear air - the days have been brilliant and warm. You see, I'm a lover of summer and summer took a long time to get here this year, which, to be honest, is not unusual. So to have the weather stay nice day after day, week after week is a blessing indeed. This weekend is Thanksgiving here in Canada. This gives us the opportunity to reflect on all the good things we have in our lives and be thankful. Thankfulness is a funny thing; it requires an object or personage to thank. We can be thankful to others for what they contribute to our lives but what about those blessings that are not attached to a specific person? While thankfulness alone is good for our souls, being thankful to God is even more powerful. I am thankful for so many things in life that no human has provided; only God alone. I appreciate the way the sun slides over the mountaintop in the morning and bursts into my living room. I love the way the trees turn multi-colour in the fall and burst into new life each spring. I love the smell of the sea and the cry of the gull. Only God can be thanked for these delights, these blessings that make my life so rich and beautiful. So, thank-you, God.  We all have dreams - that list of things that we hope one day to have or experience. And mostly, we see those desires as being in some far off place in our lives. Always just out of reach, on the next horizon.
But sometimes our dreams do come true, either through planning or even unexpectedly. Sometimes they come true in ways we hadn't anticipated, like bite-sized pieces of the great dream. Often we don't even recognize these little snippets that keep our desires alive. It's like we can't see the leaves because we've decided to be satisfied with nothing less than the whole tree or the entire forest. When we see the leaves, or the little dreams come true, as gifts from God that lead us, like a trail of crumbs, toward the bigger dream, we can experience the joys of dreams coming true. We also have hope for the future for which we long with our hearts. Yes, it is out there. Each step of the way leads us closer. When we appreciate what God puts in our paths each day and live in gratitude and joy, the big dreams come true piece by piece, step by step, day by day. |
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