Purposeful Pages: September

The time has come for another Purposeful Pages post. (I know, lovely alliteration right? Comes of having one of the hosts being a PK...alliteration is sort of ingrained in us...since our dads use it so often in sermons. ;P)

This link-up is something I look forward to doing each month, as I hope you look forward to reading it. Each set of questions makes me dig deeper into my faith (why I believe what I believe) and some of them are just for your entertainment (*bows* Yes, thank you, thank you) and others have to do with the crazy awesome world of authors and book dragons (yes that's totally a thing. Don't you dare question my judgment).

So dive right in and try to survive my somewhat longwinded answers to what you MAY think are simple questions. ;)

1: How have you been growing spiritually this month? What has God been teaching you?

Ooo...this question is hard to answer. I've experienced most of my spiritual growth developing over longer periods of time. However, I would definitely say that I have been growing closer to God throughout my teen years especially. Does that count as an answer? Not really? Well, OK. Let me try again. 

I've been growing spiritually this month, but in small ways. No blinding lights on the way to Tacoma. ;) 

God has been teaching me that no matter how bad this world is, He is still in control. He holds us all in the palm of His hand. I need to trust in His sovereignty. 

2: When you’re under stress, what actions do you take that help calm you and keep you sane?

There's a couple things I do to stay calm. Some of them are a little quirky, but then, so am I. So.
>Pray

>Write a scene in my story where the heroine takes out pent up frustration on a handy sibling (then, after reading it later, I delete the scene because I feel sorry for the sibling ;)

>Go outside, nice and far away from the house so I don't freak out 

my family, (one of the pluses of living on ten acres) and give a nice, long scream

>Bury myself beneath my blankets and listen to music on my iPod until I fall asleep

>Banish myself to my room and read until my eyes cross

>Pretend nothing is the matter and talk like an idiot to anyone within hearing range (I'm sorry ma friends)
>Sit at my mom's feet until she feels obligated to massage my shoulders

Uh...not sure how much those things HELP, but it's what I do when stressed. 

3: Who are some people that inspire you, and in what ways do they do that?

Corrie Ten Boom has been a heroine of mine ever since reading her story in "The Hiding Place" when I was ten. (I know how old was because the whole reason I read the book was because it had the word 'ten' on the cover XD) Her steadfast faith, and honesty when her faith wasn't as strong as it should have been, have been a huge example to me throughout the years.

Then of course, there's Ester from the Bible, and Ruth...and Mary, the mother of Jesus. 

This is going to sound really cliche, but I've always found my mom to be a source of inspiration. After all, not only does she have to put up with ten crazy kids and a husband who is a pastor, but as a pastor's wife, she has to be kind and understanding to everyone in our church and people in the homeschooling circles we run in. And, on top of all that, she manages to educate her own kids and help us grow into a future generation of godly leaders. People have called her "Super Mom" and have asked her too many times to count "HOW DO YOU DO IT?" You know what she says? "I don't, God does. Only by His grace am I the mother I am." 

I mean it with my whole heart when I say that I want to be a mom just like her. Seriously.

4: Have you learned any tricks this past month that have helped you in your blogging journey?

I CAN CHANGE THE HTML ON MY BLOG'S TEMPLATE! How did I not know how to do this?

5: What is it about a book that makes you keep on reading? If you’re a writer, how can you  incorporate that into your own books?

 Action and emotion. Trust me, I'm working on it. Also, good characters and their development is always important to me when I'm reading a book for the first time. Don't ask my betas how the action and emotion are coming. Just don't. 

6: What’s a book cover (or album, movie, etc.) that describes your life right now, and why?

Are there any book covers about weddings and editing? What about the crazy hectic life of a pastor's daughter who writes on the side? No? Ok, obviously the media has a huge hole in it somewhere. Somebody fix that please.

7: Do you have a song in mind that you’d consider your current theme song? (Or a book, movie, TV show, etc.)

"At Your Feet" by Casting Crowns and "Lead Me, Lord" by Yours Truly. 

8: If you’re a writer, how do you see yourself incorporated (most of the time unknowingly) inside your stories?

Usually as the main character. *sheepish smile* Yep, even the guy main characters. Don't laugh. Every character I make have at least two things in common with me. Even the villains. 

9: How have you seen aspects of God’s character through other people recently?
 

A lot of people have been gracious to me last month. Those at church who have volunteered to help with wedding stuff, my crew of awesome editors who not only give me advice on stuff to change, but aren't afraid to give me a thumbs up and encouragement on the parts they like. 

Having an older sister in love, (an older sister who rarely shows any affection whatsoever that now hugs her guy) is a little weird, although a lot of the relationship has been long-distance, so it hasn't been TOO awkward. Thank goodness Christ isn't awkward about His love for us. ;) 

There's been a few friends who have been very forgiving about all  my crazy, sleep deprived behavior for the last couple weeks as the wedding gets closer, but that kind of goes with gracious, so.

10: How long, on average, does it take you to put together a blog post? Are you the morning person working at 5 am, the afternoon blogger, or the night owl up until midnight trying to throw things together?

It really all depends on what my blog post is about. Tags usually take the longest, because not only am I answering a ton of questions which can be a task all in itself, but I also have to find pictures to sprinkle throughout and other blogs to tag and links to copy and paste. Those posts usually take over half an hour. 

If it's just a rant, or copying and pasting story chapters or poemsI have already written in my documents, posts can take as little as five minutes. 

DEFINITELY NOT A MORNING BLOGGER. 

Usually, I write posts in the afternoon or evening, but schedule them for nine in the morning. So if you see a post of mine  *cough*likethisone*cough* published at nine in the morning... it was scheduled. :) 

Did you make it all the way through? Congratulations!! *applauds loudly* You ought to get a prize or something. *shoves cookies, donuts, and cups of coffee/tea/lemonade at you all* There, that should cover everybody. Oh, hold on *adds sour patch and waffles* THAT should cover every one. ;) You're welcome. Have a great day!