Twice this week I’ve heard the expression, “So many books, so little time!” All the more reason to be selective, wouldn’t you say? Life is too short to fill our minds with junk.
“That is a good book which is opened with expectation and closed in profit.”
~ Amos Bronson Alcott“I suggest that the only books that influence us are those for which we are ready, and which have gone a little farther down our particular path than we have yet got ourselves.” ~ E. M. Forster
“Choose an author as you choose a friend.”
~ Sir Christopher Wren“Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.”
~ Henry David Thoreau
What books come to mind as you recall those that deeply impacted your life? Care to share?
“When you embark upon creative work, it will push your personal boundaries. It will open up parts of yourself with which you have been unfamiliar. It will cause you to ask questions of your life. It will insist that you come up with names for things that until now you haven’t examined carefully at all.” ~ Vinita Hamptom Wright, The Soul Tells a Story
Just received this from Carla Gade:
“April’s Carnival of Christian Writers is just around the corner and I just know that you all have some great posts to share! The sun is shining and the Son is shining in your writing experiences. Let’s hear all about it!
Just send along your link with a short blurb about the post. The carnival will be held at Writer Interrupted next Monday, April 27th.”
Carnival of Christian Writers Guidelines
Submission Guidelines:
Christian writers share in the craft of writing fiction, non-fiction, publishing, and anything else related to writing, including their faith. Post must address the craft, call, process, struggle, etc. of writing. Please email the coordinator a blurb about your post.
Email Carla:
carnivalcw@gmail.com
Carnival Coordinator
Recuperating from surgery this week, but haven’t forgotten about you. Got this from a friend today:
“I feel like my body has gotten totally out of shape, so I got my doctor’s permission to join a fitness club and start exercising. I decided to take an aerobics class for seniors. I bent, twisted, gyrated, jumped up and down, and perspired for an hour. But, by the time I got my leotards on, the class was over.”
I’m still laughing…
“”If you’re a singer, you lose your voice. A baseball player loses his arm. A writer gets more knowledge, and if he’s good, the older he gets, the better he writes.”~ Mickey Spillane
“I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite.”
~ G. K. Chesterton
“If you don’t have the time to read, you don’t have the time or the tools to write.” ~ Stephen King
“The first chapter sells the book. The last chapter sells the next book.” ~ Mickey Spillane
“A popular writer writes about what people think. A wise writer offers them something to think about.” ~ Ambrose Bierce
I’m at my other place today, if you care to visit. Also, I’m scheduled for thyroid surgery tomorrow so posting will be delayed a few days. Keep me in your prayers. I’ll see you soon, Lord willing!
If you’ve read the blog So You Wanna Be Published you’ve discovered the tender heart of Mary DeMuth towards writers. Her excellent blog addresses vital topics, near and dear to our writerly hearts.
And if you’ve yet to be published, don’t despair. Mary shares:
“I have to admit before I was published, I thought that if I reached that nirvana called “published author,” I’d have sweet validation. Every day would be smiles and dancing. You know what? I was wrong. Being published is terrific, mind you, but it doesn’t bring happiness or validation. Instead, it adds more stress to your life.”
Mary doesn’t stop there. Please, go read the rest of this wonderful post where Mary explains the difference between “blocked” goals and attainable goals, and where our true validation lies.
Publishing Doesn’t Validate Your Life
“God hides himself in creation. Unbelievers seldom see him in it, but believers are given eyes to see, so they can glorify God through it. ~ Bill Walsh
This quote from a John Piper message moved me late this evening:
God means for us to be stunned and awed by his work of creation. But not for its own sake. He means for us always to look at his creation and say: If the work of his hands is so full of wisdom and power and grandeur and majesty and beauty, what must this God be like in himself!
These are but the backside of his glory seen through a glass darkly. What will it be to see the Creator himself! Not his works! Not even a billion galaxies will satisfy the human soul. God and God alone is the soul’s end.
“Cultural and artistic expressions are gifts from God which we should not neglect.” ~ Bill Walsh
On the Desiring God blog, Bill Walsh writes an interesting piece called, 9 Reasons I’m a Photographer. These surely serve as good defense for any Christian’s artistic endeavor, he says.
Read here.
Erma Bombeck didn’t just make me smile, she kept me in stitches. She nudged me to step out in faith, even when others thought writing was foolish. Today’s Quote Attic:
“It takes a lot of courage to show your dreams to someone else.” ~ Erma Bombeck
“There are people who put their dreams in a little box and say, ‘Yes, I’ve got dreams, of course I’ve got dreams.’ Then they put the box away and bring it out once in awhile to look in it, and yep, they’re still there.” ~ Erma Bombeck
“When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, ‘I used everything you gave me.’”
