Chipped Nails – Day 9: What’s in your Bag?

I love purses, and bags, and just about anything you can sling on your shoulder and back and put stuff in. They follow me home like lost puppies.

What I carry will depend on each bag. But what I have listed here is what follows me everywhere.

Tada!  For starters, I always have my inhaler. Yay asthma!

Second, I typically have a snack. I’ve been carrying around my favorite candy bar, saving it for a really bad day for a while now. (Ever want to make me immeasurably happy? Buy me one of these, we’ll be friends for life.)

Obviously I carry my wallet with my id and some cash, along with lip balm and hand lotion.

Something a little bit more odd, might be the super glue. My hands are constantly cracking open because of the type of work that I do, and I can usually dab a bit of glue on the cracks before it gets deep enough to bleed. Not the best method, but nonetheless effective.

Finally, I always carry my Bible, two journals, along with my “journaling survival kit.” These items go with me everywhere large bags are allowed. My two journals each serve a purpose. The little brown one is a prayer journal, it’s designed to write short prayers and requests in along with a place to record the date you started praying, and the day you saw God answer that request. My green journal is for sermon notes, longer prayers and personal letters that will never be sent and rambling thoughts.

And what good is carrying around this much weight if you can’t actually dig into it? So I’m the person that carries a small bag, within my larger bag. The little “cosmetic” type bags contain pens, sticky notes, flags, highlighters, etc. Anything I could possibly need to record my thoughts about a passage and be able to easily come back to it later.

At first, the Bible and all of the journals felt like added weight, but the more I carried them around, the more comforting it was to have them. Yeah, I could access the Bible App on my phone, but it just isn’t the same. I still use that app daily for devotionals, but it doesn’t replace the time and mental space it takes for me to read from my physical copy of the Bible.

Sorry about the delay in getting this post up, I’ll see you all tomorrow!

Chipped Nails – Day 8: 5 Current Goals

Annnnd we’re back!

I hope everyone had a joyfilled and safe Christmas!

 

Today I’m supposed to write about 5 current goals I have, and this is really tricky for me. I’m currently working a job that seems to get worse by the day, and right now my only really goal is to find a job that will allow me to wake up and not be physically ill that I have to go to work that day.

So I’m not really aiming for much more than that right now. But I guess you could count that as my #1 goal at the moment.

I suppose my second goal would be to become more satisfied with where my life is at. Job aside, I’m very happy with myself and I’m very thankful for the over flowing blessing in my life. But I’m still human, I still screw up more than I would like to ever admit. I criticize my body and the way clothing fits on it, I judge others, I get angry, I let my words fly before the weight of them sinks in. I know God’s working on me, but this goal could be summed up in saying that I want to see the ways God is working on me, on my sin patterns and how I interact with the world.

Goal number 3 is to keep writing. I find myself falling into lazy habits, and even though we aren’t even 1/3 of the way into this challenge and I’m already finding myself slacking on the days when I’m not in love with the prompt. I love writing, but writing everyday like this can be taxing, but when I start falling behind it becomes even harder to get back into the groove of it.

Goal number 4 is a pipe dream. I want to own my own business someday. Whether that be an Etsy store, or branding my blog. I want to be able to support myself with something I built. Heaven only knows if this will happen, but it’s something I’m looking for opportunities in and want to pursue.

My fifth and final goal for this post is to become woman that God wants me to be. I love the CS Lewis quote: “My prayer is that when I die, all of hell rejoices that I am out of the fight.” This is the kind of woman I want to become. I know I’m not there now, but God is working on and in me and it is something I strive for everyday.

See you all tomorrow!

Chipped Nails – Day 3: My Favorite Quote

It’s day three! And today is about my favorite quote:

I grew up reading fiction. Particularly the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling and The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis.

These are the authors that originally inspired me to write. I wanted to find magic in words and show it to others, just as these authors had done for me. That is the reason I love this quote from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. It highlights the allegory of Aslan, and how Lewis’ character helped me initially understand some basic concepts about Christ. But this particular quote holds a special place in my heart because of how it encompasses both the magic I find in literature and an amazing illustration of the love of my Savior and his willingness to make himself accessible to humanity.

I have a multitude of quotes I love, and they’re compiled here. Enjoy!

Chipped Nails – Day 2: 20 Facts about Me

Hello again!

Day 2 is dedicated to me taking some time to give you 20 facts about myself, so without further ado:

1.) I was born in the summer

2.) According to Pottermore, I am a Hufflepuff. And I’m incredibly proud of it.

3.) I absolutely love hedgehogs and hope to own one someday.

4.) I collect tea cups

5.) I’m things that need extra attention or love. Ask me about my mentally challenged cat, or my overly aggressive fish sometime.

6.) My favorite book is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, my favorite author is Louisa May Alcott, and my favorite poet is Emily Dickinson

7.) I have a purse/bag addiction

8.) Thrift shopping is my favorite pass time.

9.) Because of thrift shopping, I own WAY too many fashion scarves

10.) My favorite fictional character from a book is Jo March from Little Women, my favorite character from a television show is Kaylee Fry from Firefly, and my favorite (unofficial) Disney Princess is Vanellope VonSweetz from Wreck it Ralph.

11.) If I had to pick a favorite Disney princess, I would have to say Anna from Frozen.

12.)I love musicals, but rarely go to see them.

13.) My greatest dream is to be a wife and mother. That hasn’t changed from when I was little, and while I want to do other things with my life, this is something I’ve wanted ever since I can remember.

14.) I struggle with anxiety in a variety of forms.

15.) God the best thing in my life.

16.) My favorite bird is a Chickadee

17.) I hate chickens. (Long story for another blog post)

18.) My second favorite color is teal.

19.) Poor Man’s Mocha is my favorite way to drink coffee. (Hot chocolate mix made with coffee instead of water or milk)

20.) My fourth favorite animal is Red Panda.

#AmWriting – Inspiration

As I mentioned last week I’ve been working on my novel. Since my last #amwriting post, I’ve reached chapter 5, and my characters finally have some direction.

Right now my story feels new and fresh and like I’m skipping through a field of wild flowers not worrying about my pollen allergy and asthma. But I know this feeling rarely lasts for the duration of the writing project.

This is why I’ve been keeping a writing journal.

As a writer you obviously love forming words into sentences to paint a picture, so why not paint your own picture of why you love the project you’re working on?

In my journal I record word counts with a date, and paragraphs that explains where I drew inspiration from for any given element of the story. This is what I turn to when I’m beginning to hate my characters and want to swoop in like Super Nanny and tell them to straighten up and fly right. Or if I’m losing sight of why I started writing this story in the first place.

No matter how ridiculous the story idea feels while you’re in the middle of writing it, something made you want to start it to begin with. I believe that no story idea is a complete waste – there has to be a nugget of something awesome in there somewhere! This journal can be compiled of pictures of what you think your characters look like, drawing of what your settings look likes, or little excerpts of your latest chapter. Personally, I like to include quotes from my favorite authors to keep me inspired and humble. (No one likes a puffed up writer)

I also use the journal for reminding myself of issues I’m trying to work through. Like my struggle to keep my male lead’s dialog sounding masculine.

Best of all, I set goals for myself here. Usually they’re tiny, but extremely do able. For example, last week my goal was to hit chapter 5. Are chapters 3 and 4 flawless, and should be framed in the Library of Congress? Heavens no. But I reached my goal.

So go out this week, write unafraid, and remind yourself why your story has value. Keep track of your success, let yourself know when you’re moving forward, and don’t stop that momentum. 🙂

 

#AmWriting – New Series Every Wednesday

 

Hello!!

Welcome to my new writing series: #AmWriting!

This series will focus on what it means to be a writer, some writing tips, and writer’s block help.

Some upcoming articles include:

• The Seven Deadly Sins of Writing:
  • Pride: Kill it with Fire
  • Envy: We can’t all be Rowling or King
  • Wrath: Why Writers need community
  • Gluttony: Yes, there can be too much writing
  • Lust: Goals are a Good Thing
  • Sloth: JUST WRITING
  • Greed: Never Make Money and Fame the Goal
• Writer’s Block and Why it isn’t a Bad Thing
• When Your Characters say No
• When Passions Die
• Dialogue is Key
• Finding your Genre

And this is just the first few months!

Next Wednesday we’ll tackle Pride – see ya then!

Kaylee