Wordless Wednesday: So Much Beauty

Devotional: Learning To Be Content

It's easy to fall into envy. We look at what someone else has and immediately turn green. Yes, green. Green with envy, isn't that how the saying goes? In envy, we may wish we were them or had that thing we think we're lacking. Whatever it is, it causes unsatisfaction in our lives. The other problem with it, is that if we allow envy to grow within our hearts, it'll only get worse. We'll soon be envious of everything. And we won't be able to distinguish our own blessings apart from everyone else's. It can really get that bad in our hearts.

I've fallen into the pit of envy myself. It mainly had to do with when I wasn't doing well. I was distraught and immediately would feel envy when I saw someone doing great. But I soon realized that just because a person looks like they have it all, doesn't mean they don't struggle. Sure. They might be doing well on social media, but that's hardly ever realistic. We usually want to post our best, don't we? We don't want people to see us suffering. We want to put up a good image of ourselves. And I get that. I've done the same thing.

Once I learned that envy only eats away peace, tranquility, and contentment, I learned to let it go. I plucked that green, messy stuff from my heart and gave it to God. I might not be exactly where I want to be, and I wish things were a little different, but I'm content right now. And it's okay to hope for things to be nice in our lives, but we can't allow envy to grow, too. I've since found that contentment comes from accepting the way our lives are. I know that God has placed me on this path for a reason, and I'm going to trust Him.

There have been many verses tied to our health from the Bible, and I found Proverbs 14:30 to be interesting. It's been studied that "a joyful heart" (Proverbs 17:22) does truly affect the body. So, when you're thinking about envy, just remember that it can rot your bones (Proverbs 14:30). Yuck. I don't know about you, but I certainly don't want my bones to rot. If you can, like I'm trying to, put envy aside. You don't need it to impact your health for the worse. Just remember that tranquility is the answer, and you'll be on the right path.

Learn to be content with what you have.

"A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot." - Proverbs 14:30 ESV

Do you need prayer? Leave a comment, and I'll pray for you.

Many blessings,
- Grace Thorson

Photo Quests: Stepping Back

Intro: I simply didn't have any time to take photos this week, so I had to take a step back. Instead of posting more present photos for today's quest, I included ones from the past. My quest was to find fitting photos to share with you, my readers. Hope they inspire. 💙

Quest Ending: I enjoyed finding various photos for today's quest, so maybe I'll do more of these in the future. I liked the feeling of choosing which photos I'd share with you. It was fun to try something different. Did you have a favorite photo from this list? Let me know.

Guest Writer: Author Carmen Peone

Guest Writer: Author Carmen Peone
Subject: 10 Ways To Take Your Reader On An Emotional Journey

Our number one job as writers is to take our readers on an emotional journey. Yes, it's great to have a technically pure manuscript, but it we don't touch the reader's hearts, they close the book, put it aside, and replace it.

So, if you don't want to be replaced by someone else, follow these tips.

1. Show, don't tell. I love this quote by Henry Matisse. "I do not literally paint the table, but the emotion it produces upon me." We can do this by showing what our characters do on the page in action and dialogue, and not by telling the reader about it in the narrative.

2. Use active verbs. Would you rather read She roped the calf, or "You dirty bugger, git over here!" Henry, the red-and-white calf Rita Runninghorse had secretly named, darted sideways as she winced at the pain in her sides, gathered her lariat, and tried for another loop. (Broken Bondage, Seven Tine Ranch Romance, Carmen Peone)

3. Use specific nouns. There's a huge difference between a shack, adobe, cabin, and mansion. Or a weathered metal and a glossy oak desk.

4. Incorporate the 5 senses. Have your readers hear the blast of a car horn or the cry of a newborn, see the brilliant rose, feel its soft petals, taste the cinnamon and creamy vanilla in the rolls, and smell the autumn's crisp air.

5. Use metaphors. And use them sparingly. A few examples include:

A picnic on a dock on a quiet, secluded night with only the crickets singing love songs to the couple where they can share their hearts for Romance.

Drop your character in a tornado, hurricane, or wildfire, using action verbs like careen and thundered for Chaos and panic.

You can use the beauty outside to accentuate frustration by placing someone in an office doing paperwork when she'd rather be outside horseback with the other cowhands but can't because she's the CEO of the ranch, making her feel trapped.

6. Use symbols. Your story only needs one. Symbolism can show, the strength of the land or who the character is. It can be a recipe, a wedding dress, a ring, the sun, cowboy boots, or spurs. Here's one from my book Renewed Hope, Seven tine Ranch Romance.

Her eyes lifted to a charcoal sketch that hung on a wall over the bed. An eagle feather, its base a woman with long hair, a red palm painted over her mouth. The fingers ran up one side of her face, the thumb on the other side-the symbol used for Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women.

7. Snappy dialog and subtext are some of the best tools an author can have. Here's a fun excerpt from Captured Secrets, Sevent Tine Ranch Romance, Carmen Peone.

He dropped his saddle and pad on the floor and slammed the door shut. "You crazy-stubborn-determined-irrational woman! You said you were going on a short ride." She wanted to hurt him or hold him. Anything to calm the terror clawing at her insides. "Stubborn? Irrational? With everything I've been through, the length of my ride is all you're concerned about? You arrogant-cocky-egotistical-" He reached her in two strides, tossed the knife aside, and pulled her into his grasp. "You scared me half to death."

8. Action, action, action! If you want your reader to keep turning pages, drop your characters on the page ten minutes late and have them exit the scene ten minutes early to leave the reader wanting more. It's best to vary the intensity, both the characters and the readers need a break. But keep the tension on every page, even if it's micro.

9. Make sure your character has strong motives and stakes. Stakes drive emotion because they are the WHY behind the main character's motives. What's at stake anyway? A job, love, health, one's reputation? Whatever you choose, make it matter.

10. When in doubt, interview your character. Ask:

What do you think about what just happened?
What are your choices?
What will you do next and why? (Always ask why.)
What is the worst thing that could happen to you right now?

Remember...

"Strong emotion-so often ducked in real life-must be at the center of your story." - Jack M Bickham, The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)

Guest Writer: Author Carmen Peone

About the Guest Writer: Carmen Peone is an award-winning author. She has won the Willa Literary Award, a Will Rogers Medallion Award, and the LAURA Short Fiction Award. When she isn't writing, she can be found on her horse, on the water, or in the woods shooting nature photos for her daily haiku poems. You can find all of her books on Amazon, her website here, or at ...And Books, Too! (andbookstooonline.com)

Her Books: 

Connect with Carmen:

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Thank you for being a guest writer, Carmen. Look forward to having you on again.

Many blessings,
- Grace Thorson

Wordless Wednesday: Admiring The Leaves

Get A Book For Free, Leave A Review

Butterfly Wings is the first book that I've ever written. Because I need more reviews for it, I have a special today concerning it. If you would like to read Butterfly Wings, but don't have a copy, I can change that for you. I'm giving away five copies of my book to whoever would like to review it. If you're at all interested, just leave a comment here with a way for me to contact you. Or you can send me an e-mail using the contact form in the right sidebar of this blog. If you're on a phone, you can switch it to a browser setting. It'll show up then. Or you can contact me here on Facebook. Either way works. If you don't know how to contact me still, just leave a comment, and I'll get back with you soon about the book.

I have one Amazon review I'd like to share, written by Erin:

"I was gifted this book and it is beautiful. I am going through a hard time and the daily devotions, poems and prayer are so calming and welcome to my heart right now. The author understands what it is like to feel alone in a dark place. This book comes with a daily poem, devotional, reflection section, and prayer. I highly recommend this book to anyone who needs a little love and hope from our God and from someone who has been there." 

You can view my book here on Amazon.

If you'd like to leave an Amazon review, too, I'll send you a free copy of my book to read. Just follow the instructions listed above on how to contact me, and I'll get one sent out to you. It's all free. The only thing you have to do is leave an Amazon review (if you need help with this, let me know!) Thank you so much! Book reviews really do help! 💓

Did you like my post today? Be sure to like or follow my Facebook page here for more.

Many blessings,
- Grace Thorson

Blog/Life Update: 15,000 Words, My Health, and This Christmas

November - it's one of my favorite months of the year. Actually, any of the ber months are. This November is different in that I chose to decorate for Christmas early. Christmas just makes me happy, and I love to put up my lights, or really, any decoration. I'm just excited about this holiday season. It's special for a couple of reasons. My family survived a really horrible summer, so this season is comforting for us. We can fully celebrate what we got through and be thankful to God for keeping us up above all of those many struggles.

My health is fine right now. It could be better, though. As for losing weight, I haven't done the best. It's been incredibly difficult to exercise when I don't feel well. I sometimes don't have the energy for it. I know that you can lose weight without exercising, but I also want to have better stamina. To combat this, I've recently started a new exercise where I use a step that I found on Amazon. It's easy in that I can just pull the step out and do 15 minutes of stepping on and off of it. I wind up sweating quite a bit with the step. I don't know if I'll be successful during the holidays with my eating, but I'm going to try to improve with this.

Today, I reached 15,000 words on the first draft of my book - Wandering With Grace. I'm so happy that it's coming along. I should have 60,000 words finished before Christmas (this is the first draft). I didn't mention it in my earlier posts, but I have a subtitle for this book. It's called A Journey of Faith. I'm also going to create the book cover myself like I did with my other book, Butterfly Wings. The book I'm writing right now will have some of my favorite photos in it. There will even be a "photo gallery." I can't wait to share it all with you so that I can take you on God's journey with me. (should be self-published next year.)

For Christmas, it's going to be quiet for the family - which will be nice. The only big thing I have planned is to have a post each day on my blog for advent. That's right. There will be a blog post up each day for December until Christmas Day. For fun, I'll also have two separate giveaways to enter during December, so watch out for both of them. But I'll probably take a short break after Christmas day, however. Then, be back to blogging on the 31st. I'll have a post up for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Those are my plans, anyways. 💓

Did you like my post today? If you'd like to keep up with my posts and updates, be sure to like or follow my Facebook page here. Thank you so much!

Many blessings,
- Grace Thorson