Many things have simmered in my mind this week – but boiling at high heat on the front burner is my novel, which consumes massive amounts of my mental energy every day! This is fantastic for me; any time when I’m inspired to write is a good time for me. I’m scrapping the current draft and starting over, because I realized that some elements I brought into the new draft were complicating the story and weighing it down. My idea was for this draft to be a leaner, meaner version of the previous one, so what I have isn’t working for me. Time for a do-over!
Because I’m pouring so much thought into the book, I haven’t had much time to think about a blog post this week. Instead of serving up some half-baked, thrown-together post, I decided to simply share a few of the things I’ve been thinking about, and the links that prompted them. Obviously these articles were not written by me and don’t represent my opinions on the topics, but they are things that got my mind to simmering. I’d love to hear your thoughts on any or all of them if you check them out! Some of my thoughts may become full posts here, once fully-fleshed out.
Writing – Do You Know the Answer to Your Story’s Most Important Question? – How can I make the main question of my book clear from the get-go and rivet readers from the beginning to the end?
Parenting – I am Ryland – the story of a male-identifying girl who didn’t transition – In what ways can I encourage my children to appreciate and rejoice in the gender God made them, and at the same time eschew silly gender stereotypes (like “trucks are for boys” or “purple is a girl color”) and give them freedom to enjoy the things they like?
Theology – The Case for Annihilationism – Is Hell eternal, or does God utterly destroy the wicked, until they are gone entirely? I’ve always been taught Hell’s suffering is as eternal as Heaven’s joy, but this interesting article really challenged that for me and I’m eager to study more about this topic from both viewpoints. I don’t wish to be contentious or start theological arguments, and I considered leaving this topic out of my list here, but it’s something I have thought about a lot this week and I felt it would be most honest to include it here.
Womanhood – Before and after shots of a young woman who beat anorexia (pardon her language in spots) – When will we stop idolizing ultra-thin figures as the ultimate standard and bottom line for beauty? Why do so many women hate (and hurt!) their perfectly normal, healthy, and beautiful bodies, only because they are not as thin as someone else? Body image issues are something I think about a lot, because I have dear friends who have struggled with hating their bodies, and I thought this photo comparison was bold and holds an important message.
FREE Fiction! – Okay, this isn’t a musing…it’s a shameless plug for some free e-books that were written by my friend and crit partner! K.M. Carroll’s urban fantasy novel, Storm Chase, and her werewolf novella, Turned, are currently free on Smashwords (click the links) when you use the coupon code “SW100”. Turned is a sweet romance story that reminds me of both Harry Potter and Jane Austen at the same time; it’s a quick read and I enjoyed it very much. Storm Chase is up there with my favorite books – awesome character relationships, gripping story, laugh out loud funny moments, epic magical battles, and such a fascinating, multi-layered, creative story-world. Check it out! 😀
I’m sorry I don’t have more “crafted” thoughts to share this week. I know there are many of you who check this blog and I’m so thankful to you for following regularly and joining me in my musings! Hopefully next week I’ll be back with something more substantial.
Now, please pardon me as my story whisks me away again…wheeeeee!
Do you have opinions or advice on any of these topics? Which one would you find most interesting for me to explore in a future post?
Oh my… The annihilationism is a brand new thought. I… I… don’t know what to make of it.
All of these metaphors – seem to me like it could just be talking about earth, not how they’ll be blotted out from hell or eternity.
And what about the rich man who was in hell suffering from the extreme heat? Or the “weeping and gnashing of teeth” in hell?
They want to take the passage “tormented day and night forever and ever” and wave that away as “symbolism,” but then they take the highly symbolic Psalms and say that they’re fact.
This seems to be the argument of a very loving, compassionate person, who can’t seem to contemplate hell. But I’m going to think on it some more.
It was a brand new thought for me too, at least in this form. I’d heard the idea that God just instantly puts the wicked out of existence, and clearly that’s not the case from the Scriptures, but that’s different from what is posited in the article. Notice that the author DOES say that Hell probably lasts a long time before (as the theory goes) the wicked are annihilated. That could explain the weeping and gnashing of teeth, etc. But, I agree, it could just be a lack of understanding of what hell is and a compassionate human idea of what could be “better”, without fully understanding God’s holiness and justice.
Like I said on Facebook, whatever God does with the wicked, it WILL be just and right, whether or not it pleases our current, fallen, human sensibilities. But I think there’s some merit to this argument and I’m interested to learn more.
Thanks for the shout out! 🙂
About the annhiliationism thing, the flaw in the argument comes in the word “duration”. Hell is outside of time, same as heaven. Nobody is in hell for any length of time because there is no time.
Nobody thinks about that, though.
Aha, great point, Kessie!
Great post! Thanks so much for linking to my article. I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
You’re welcome! An editor recently told me my opening didn’t work, and after reading your post I realized it’s because there is no big question apparent for the first 20 pages or so! I’m working on making the opening more “hooking”. 🙂