Monthly Archives: May 2011
Lessons from the Lawn
| Posted by Sarah Elisabeth under Heart Thoughts |
With the luscious spring comes my least favorite task: mowing grass. I hate it. But when my attempt to use the lawn mower to scalp it to the roots fails, I resign myself to the fact that I’ll have to cut grass all through the hot Texas summer.
The trademark I leave behind is the wiggle rows of tire tracks. I can’t hold to a straight line. Not in cutting grass, not in drawing on paper. Not in life.
Before each week begins, I detail my schedule hour by hour. Regardless of the number of years I’ve done this, it turns out the same–only half the list gets marked off (maybe). Why do I keep up a practice that sets me up for failure? Simple. Half the list gets done. It keeps me on course for my annual goals.
My fictional characters’ lives are the same. They have things planned on how life should be, when poof! it’s gone before they can blink. Sometimes it’s gone before I can blink. A character will say or do something that disrupts what I had planned for them. At those times, I’m tempted to highlight and delete where things went wrong in the plot.
But not even God does that. I make a bad choice. He stays with me until I get my line straight. In the end, the destination is the same–not perfect, but still filled with hope.
And the whole yard gets mowed.
***
For Him,
Sarah Elisabeth
I Didn’t Know You Were…
| Posted by Sarah Elisabeth under Inspirational Fiction |
In honor of Armed Forces Day (May 21), I hope you enjoy this flash fiction story.
I Didn’t Know You Were…
By Sarah Elisabeth
My fingers raced over the keyboard, drumming out my Facebook login info. I only had a few minutes to check notifications…
Bleep. A chat box with Darren Henderson popped up.
Darren: hey candace! what’s up?
Wow, hadn’t heard anything on that kid since our good ol’ days in 4-H. I didn’t have time to chat, but how rude was it to ignore? I should’ve put my chat offline first.
Candace: Just getting ready for a meeting. What are you up to these days?
Darren: i’m in iraq
His words were like pressing the shutter button of a camera. I was the picture for five seconds. (more…)
Not So Alarming
| Posted by Sarah Elisabeth under Book Reviews |
Book Review: The Alarmists by Don Hoesel
Sociologist Brent Michaels finds himself in a mixed world of military order and strange phenomena. Called in by a special Pentagon unit team, Michaels’s is thrust in what becomes a race against time—to uncover the plotter behind a doomsday event.
In the opening chapter, I felt lulled into the first few pages—until the first gun battle so vividly drawn I could watched the expert military unit do their thing.
I felt the supporting cast were characterized well. Abby, Brent’s office assistant back home, never made an appearance, only phone conversations. Yet she was one of my favorites.
As a writer, it’s hard for me to critiqued another’s work, because I know the crushing effort put into a novel like this. But I have to be honest. This story didn’t live up to my expectations. For one, the threat is not about the end of the world, but mass chaos and deaths. Not to undermine that, but it’s not the end of the world. I have to say the end disappointed me. Oddly, most disappointing turned out to be Spike. It was mentioned twice, so I expected the bad boy to play a major role in the end. I kinda liked the guy—machine. Whatever he was.
Again, great wording, descriptions, and action scenes. But for me, the story lacked the real feeling of doom I think was intended.
For Him,
Sarah Elisabeth
***
Note: Bethany House provided my review copy.
P.I.C.N.I.C. Problems
| Posted by Sarah Elisabeth under Heart Thoughts, Wednesday's Good Word |
In case you missed my post on the Jewels of Encouragement blog, here it is:
I encountered a P.I.C.N.I.C problem—again. 
I first learned that term during a Toastmaster’s roast speech given by “Joe” who had spent the last twenty-eight years working on computers. Joe said the problems he’d dealt with fell into two categories, the most common being P.I.C.N.I.C. He explained the techie term:
Problem
In
Chair
Not
In
Computer
And the winner is…
| Posted by Sarah Elisabeth under Movie Reviews |
Congrats to Chely R.! She’ll receive a copy of the DVD unPlanned.
I hope everyone has the opportunity to watch this documentary or read the book (same title) by Abby Johnson. Also, don’t forget to register for the Unite for Life webcast with Abby Johnson: http://uniteforlifewebcast.org/
