Robin Lee Hatcher's Write Thinking

apple thinking

I am now 18 days into my new life in the land of Macintosh. While there have been a few stumbles (anyone know how I can open a Microsoft Publisher document on an iMac?), all in all I have to say I'm loving my new baby.

• I love that I can press the On button and be using my computer in about 25 seconds.
• I love that I can drag and drop album covers into my iTunes with no added steps.
• I love how easy it is to remove programs if I change my mind.
• I love that I don't need to buy lots of new programs because just about everything I need comes bundled and built into the Mac.
• And those widgets in the Dashboard are just about the cutest things ever put on a computer.

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I spent much of Saturday redoing the time line for RTM. Hours and hours messing with calendars and birth dates and character charts and so forth. Tomorrow, I'm making one more pass through the manuscript, making sure that I've made all the changes that are required with the reworked time line. More than once, I've felt like my head could explode with all the minute details. I hope to be done with this soon so I can start writing new pages again.

And, hey, I'll be writing those new pages on my new iMac. They should be even better than before, right?

-rlh-

eight below

I went to the movies after church today. I saw Eight Below. I'm a dog lover ("mom" to Misty, Tiko, and Poppet), so as soon as I saw the first ads for this movie, I knew I had to see it. I loved it. It was exciting, scary, and occasionally sad. Not to spoil anything, but I about had a heart attack in the middle of the scene with the whale. I won't say anything more than that. Just be careful and don't eat popcorn or anything else once you see that whale. Okay?

I give Eight Below a 4 out of 5. Good family fare, although really young children (or grown-ups like me) might be frightened in a few places.

-rlh-

trust your heart?

How often do we hear someone use that phrase, "Trust your heart"? Lots. When someone isn't sure what to do, some good intentioned friend says to them, "Well, just trust your heart." Except, that isn't such good advice.

But blessed are those who trust in the LORD and have made the LORD their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they go right on producing delicious fruit.

The human heart is most deceitful and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I know! I, the LORD, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve. (Jeremiah 17:7-10)

My human heart wants what it wants, and often what it wants isn't what the Lord wants for me. I have to bring myself back again and again to listening to His voice. Too often I'm guilty of doing what my heart wants and then afterward checking to see what the Lord thought of it. This is particularly true in my spending habits. I fall victim to the "wants" in life. Technology is a real weakness for me. I love it. Hey, it keeps my mind active which is supposed to keep my brain working well into old age. Right? (Oh, man. Can I justify or what!?)

My goal is to get to the place where I remember to pray about the tiniest things and/or the mundane things in my life first. Lord, I think I need a new water heater. Please guide me. Amen. No, that isn't exciting, but it should still be prayed about. I don't want to be deceived by my willful human heart. I want to know my Lord's heart for me and follow it.

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For those of you doing the 90 Day Bible challenge, tomorrow (Saturday) we will complete our 8th week. Can you believe it? In 13 days, we will be in the New Testament. Wow! This is going by fast. I am so thankful for this experience.

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And finally, for anyone wondering, I wasn't surprised by the gals or guys who left in last night's American Idol results show. Things won't get really tough, IMHO, for another couple of weeks.

-rlh-

american idol - the boys

Just call me Simon. I was tough to please tonight. Am I becoming a Simon curmudgeon? There were only four singers who impressed me tonight. Taylor (the gray-haired guy) almost made it into my top three picks, and I am very surprised by that (as was Simon).

Here are my top picks from tonight's show, in alphabetical order. Congrats, guys, and good luck.

Ace | Chris | Elliott

american idol - the girls

If you're a fan of AI, you already know this. Tuesday night belonged to the teenagers. There were some good performances from the other ten contestants, but the blow outs were Paris Bennett (age 17) and Lisa Tucker (age 16). Well, okay. I'll have to say that Katharine McPhee (age 21) was awesome, and she isn't a teenager.

So here are my top picks for the night (in alphabetical order). Congrats and good luck, ladies.

Katharine | Lisa | Paris

ta-da

Well, after several intense days, I am delighted to say that TIP has been dropped into the FedEx box about half a mile from my home, to be delivered to my editor at Steeple Hill on Friday. Man, it feels good to be done with it. Not that I get any time off. I'm too far behind, so tomorrow I begin reading through RTM to get myself back into the story, then write, write, write.

Deadlines are a necessary part of this business, especially if you are a self-supporting writer who depends on advances (and with luck, royalties) for your livelihood. Many writers, myself included, need deadlines to help kick us in the creative behind every now and then. But deadlines can also make a writer feel dead, physically and mentally.

Every time a deadline is met, I feel like dancing in celebration. So here is my Snoopy dance for TIP.

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I love to watch Figure Skating, especially during the Olympics. It's the only sport I enjoy watching on TV. Until this year, the Ice Dancing was my least favorite. The scoring was so whacked, the winner decided long before the couples ever performed. It seemed crooked to me.

I remember the brouhaha over the lift that Torvill and Dean did about 20 years ago. Had he lifted her above his shoulders even slightly? If so, that was a huge no-no. They could have been disqualified. Well, now the women skaters are being lifted above shoulders and spun furiously. And the scoring has been greatly improved. What counts is the actual performance in question. It was great to see the US win the silver.

Tonight begins the women's competition. With Michelle Kwan gone, I'm rooting for Sasha Cohen. That girl has so much elegance, beauty, and talent. I pray that she won't get hit with Olympic nerves and will come home with the gold.

My DVR is set to record both the Olympics and American Idol tonight.

-rlh-

the manuscript bleeds red

I'm almost done with my rewrites on TIP. Reached 85% completed this afternoon before leaving to run errands. I'm hacking and slashing at the old passive verbs, the lazy writing (adverbs in particular), and more than a fair number of unnecessary speaker tags. I'm ready to scream, "Who wrote this junk?!?"

Oh, yeah. Me.

One thing a writer learns while revising, rewriting, editing is that her words are not golden. Less is often more. Simple is often stronger.

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Yesterday's sermon in our journey through the 90 Day Bible reading challenge was on Proverbs, Song of Solomon, and Ecclesiastes. The essence came down to this: What a tragedy it is when a person knows what is right and yet doesn't do it.

Solomon knew what the right and godly things were. His "journals" are full of that knowledge. And yet he didn't do what was right. He started well but finished badly. In the end, his writings had gone from words of joy to words of sorrow, saying that his life had been nothing more than chasing the wind.

I love to read Proverbs. The Song of Solomon is joyous and earthy. But by the time I'm finished with Ecclesiastes, I feel a bit depressed. It reminds me of the importance of continuing to run the race, continuing to press in close to God, to never let down my guard. Lord, help me finish well.

In the grip of His grace,
Robin

oops

If you tried to follow my link to Kristin Billereck's blog post yesterday, I apologize. I pasted the link to Terry Whalin's blog into both of my recommendations. Sorry! Some of you already have these two blogs linked, so I know you made it there despite my oops. The error has now been corrected.

-rlh-

back to the book

Wonder of wonders! I am finally back to the w-i-p. Like I told a friend, buying the new computer seemed like a good idea at the time. I was, after all, doing rewrites on TIP and making all the changes in my work environment would be convenient if finished before I started writing on the next book (title reference: RTM). I never imagined that it would take me this long to get back up to speed.

Yesterday and today I've done some catching up on missed blog posts, and here are a couple I think aspiring writers shouldn't miss, both of them on the topic of "edgy" fiction written for the Christian market:

Terry Whalin (writer and Howard Publishing fiction editor) at The Writing Life has a post called Come a Long Way.

Kristin Billerbeck, popular author of Christian chick lit, shares her thoughts in I Write Edgy at Girls Write Out.

I can't think of anything that I could add to either of these two posts to improve upon them so I'll just let my fingers stop hitting the keyboard.

The w-i-p calls.

-rlh-

thoughts on friendship from proverbs

I finished the book of Proverbs today in my 90 days through the Bible. (Note: I was four days ahead of schedule, but I lost ground during the computer change stuff, so now I am right on the same schedule as my church.) Man, I about wore my GlideStik (a fluorescent yellow Hi-Liter that is dry, not wet, so doesn't bleed through) to a stub while reading this book. So much wisdom, so many pearls to choose from in Proverbs. But there were two about "friends" that I wanted to write about in my blog today.

Prov 18:24 There are "friends" who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother. Prov 24:24-25 Keep away from angry, short-tempered people, or you will learn to be like them and endanger your soul. (NLT)

Have you heard the term "toxic friends" or "toxic people"? I'm sure you have. The term has been around for many, many years, and "toxic people" have been around since the beginning of time. I believe that's who/what Solomon was writing about in the verses quoted above.

Many years ago, some "toxic friends" treated me — and others — in a destructive way (which included anger and short-tempers and some truly bizarre, vindictive behavior), and I remember asking myself while it was happening, Who are these people and why did I even want to be their friend? I came to realize that I had little in common with them, other than one shared interest. Certainly our core values were different. And once these "toxic" people were gone from my life, I was amazed by how much happier I was, how much lighter my heart. I'd been a round peg trying to fit into a square hole. Although painful, it was a learning experience for me.

From that moment on, I've been more discerning about those whom I call "friends." For me, the starting point for any deep friendship is a shared faith in Jesus Christ, a deep relationship with the Lord. And God has brought some real, intimate friendships into my life in the years that followed the aforementioned learning experience. I have friends who stick closer to me than a brother or sister, friends who I can bare my soul to and never fear betrayal. I'm so thankful for them. (I've even asked the Lord if we could please have neighboring mansions when we get to heaven.)

Of course, I'm not saying that a Christian cuts off relationship with anyone who doesn't share the same faith or even the same depth of faith. But I look to Jesus for an example in relationships. He had His inner circle of three and then He had the slightly larger circle of twelve and then He had an even larger circle of followers/disciples. He reached out in love to taxpayers and fallen women and lepers and Roman centurions, etc., but He shared many things only with His most intimate earthly friends.

Thank You, Lord, for the friends You have brought into my life. Thank You for the smallest circle of intimate friends who share the deepest part of my life, who love me when I'm at my very worst. Thank You for that slightly larger circle of friends who have been with me in laughter and tears. Thank You for the much wider circle of friends who are examples to me by how they walk out their life of faith. Thank You for the many friendly acquaintances You've allowed me to meet, through my writing, through this blog, through the organizations I'm part of. Thank You for the strangers who never contact me but when I meet them in heaven, they'll say, "I prayed for you, Robin." My life is richly blessed because of them all. Amen.

In the grip of His grace,
Robin

 

if this is wednesday . . .

I cannot believe how many days have slipped away while I messed with computer software and hardware. I apologize. Today I just plain melted down over the awful QuickBooks for Mac. I have been a QuickBooks user for more than a decade and love it. So I assumed the QuickBooks for Mac would be equally wonderful. NOT! In order to cut a paycheck, I would have to subscribe to an on-line service at the rate of $20 to $25 per month. To pay myself? I think not! So after an hour on the phone with three different techs, I boxed up the software and manual and prepared it to ship back to SC.

But other favorites have joined me on the Mac without a glitch. All in all, I'm very happy with my new system. When I dropped off the tax paperwork yesterday, I told my CPA I was changing to the Mac. She said that almost all of her clients who are artists use the Mac. It made me feel very creative.

Hmm, what else can I write about in this blog? I know: American Idol. I wish they'd given those twins the boot, but I just heard on TV that one of them is in trouble with the law and they won't be back. Simon said last night that he was tired of their "hissy fits." Oh, too true. Am not sorry to see them go. Idol starts here in about 4 minutes.

And how about the Oscars? They are coming up soon, and does anybody really care? Not me. I used to love watching the various award shows, but no more. Part of the reason this year is that they nominated movies that I couldn't care less about. The other reason is that these shows have become a place for entertainers to spout off in the most ridiculous ways about whatever their "platform" is. Usually it is political, but sometimes it's something else. Hey, you're an actor! Say thank you for your award, acknowledge your mom/dad/spouse/friends, and then get off the stage.

Well, American Idol has begun. Time to find out about the 24 who will go on. Later...

-rlh-

the transition continues

My, oh my. This transition to the Mac has been eventful. Loading software. Making my Pocket PC sync with my Entourage. Signing up for .Mac. Cleaning up my old address book that I have let get way out of hand. Checking out other software that I'll need to replace eventually.

Rebecca asked how I could leave my (and her) beloved WordPerfect. What could the Mac offer me that would make that change worthwhile? No time to get really technical, but there is the security from the viruses for one, the speed of the platform, the ease of use, the built in programs. But as for Word vs. WordPerfect, I have been forced into the Word world by the publishing industry. I had to use Word in the Track Changes editing stage with most of my editors. (Love that feature, BTW. Track Changes is far superior to the similar feature in WordPerfect.) Anyway, all the publishers I work with use Word, so I always had to Save as a Word document anyway. I will never become proficient in Word unless I go for it whole hog. Now I'm forced to.

By the way, the .Mac mentioned above is another wonderful reason for this switch. I can now sync my address book between desktop and laptop and access it anywhere. And my calendar, too. I shall love this when I'm traveling.

Now it is time to get back to work. By Monday, I must be totally immersed in my rewrites again.

-rlh-

i'm moving

Yes, I'm in the process of moving, but not from one house to another. From one platform to another. I have joined that Mac "cult." After 22 years of using PCs, I am now learning to think and compute in a new way. I've been considering this change for more than two years. Probably closer to four. What's stopped me is WordPerfect. It is the best word processor out there. But WP stopped making software for the Mac. Now I shall be forced to use Word all the time instead of just for the Track Changes during editing. Sigh...

Still, for a number of reasons, I decided now was the time to make this move. I'll be quiet for a number of days as I move files and get everything working the way I want it. But never fear. I'm alive and kicking and also getting very close to finishing my rewrites.

Oh, I finished my Scripture memorization class. I came away with a lot of ideas and tips. My first goal: Romans 12. I'll let you know how it goes.

-rlh-

what a compliment!

Okay, I confess. I loved seeing this post! Very nice way to start my work week and a shot in my guilt-ridden, I-should-have-written-yesterday-instead-of-watching-two-DVDs ego.

Robin, who believes the Super Bowl is one that cleans itself

saturday sundries

Been a few days since I was here. I changed my high speed Internet provider, and that ate up a lot of time as I got everything working correctly. Catching up from being away also kept me in high gear. I am officially a week behind where I should be in my writing projects, and I'm not sure I'll get much work done on it today.

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90 DAY BIBLE UPDATE (or as I have seen it called in other blogs, the "Overachiever's Bible Reading Plan":

I am now on Day 40 and am in the Psalms. I am listening as well as reading, and I have been once again overwhelmed by the beauty of the words of praise and sometimes surprised by the gut-wrenching honesty of the psalmists. There is something about hearing them as well as reading that makes the Psalms all the more powerful. Psalm 19 really blessed me as I reread it this morning, particularly the following verses:

The instructions of the Lord are perfect,
reviving the soul.
The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy,
making wise the simple.
The commandments of the Lord are right,
bringing joy to the heart.
The commands of the Lord are clear,
giving insight for living.
Reverence for the Lord is pure,
lasting forever.
The laws of the Lord are true;
each one is fair.
They are more desirable than gold,
even the finest gold.
They are sweeter than honey,
even honey dripping from the comb.
They are a warning to your servant,
a great reward for those who obey them.
How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart?
Cleanse me from these hidden faults.
Keep your servant from deliberate sins!
Don't let them control me.
Then I will be free of guilt
and innocent of great sin.
May the words of my mouth
and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing to you,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
(Psalms 19:7-14, NLT)

HIS WORD IN MY HEART

On Wednesday, I attended the first of two classes on memorizing the Scriptures. Years ago, I used to quote the Bible without hesitation. I knew the words and the chapter and verses. Over the years, I seem to have lost that ability. Of course, I'm sure age has something to do with it, but I also think the practice of multi-tasking has had a huge affect. The brain doesn't stay focused in one area for long before it darts off, out of habit, to something else. I love technology, but I think it has contributed to the multi-tasking habit and is detrimental in many ways. Another thing that I believe has hurt me in the memorizing department is that I've been using multiple versions in my read-throughs of the Bible. Wonderful for reading and getting deeper meaning. Bad for memorizing because I'm not sure how verses go. The pastor teaching the class (who can recite many of the books of the Bible from memory) agreed, saying that we should decide on a version for memorization and stick with it while working on this discipline. For the class, we are memorizing Psalm 1 this week, but I plan to work on Psalm 19 (above) next.

If you're interested in working on your own memorization of Scripture, the book we were given in the class, His Word in My Heart by Janet Pope, is very helpful. There is also a web site for those who want to work on this discipline.

COOL GADGET!

I loaded my audio Bible (purchased through Audible.com) onto my iPod because burning the CDs would take forever. I have one of those hookups that turns the radio in my car into the speakers for my iPod, but I had troubles with it causing my iPod to jump forward to the next section (each section is about an hour long). I think it was the power surge when I started the car. For music it doesn't matter, but it does matter on any audio book. So I was listening in my car with one ear bud (since two is illegal!).

Last night I was in the Brookstone store at the mall, and I saw the "ishell," an MP3 sound case that is a mobile speaker for an MP3 player. It is so cool. I popped in a 9 volt battery, plugged it into my iPod, and I had instant sound while driving my car. Oh, and it is pretty too. I bought the bright blue but there is hot pink and fluorescent green and black and white.

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Well, it really is time I got to work. Happy Saturday, everyone.

-rlh-