Weekend Links - Memorial Day Edition

SOME GOOD READING FOR YOUR SUNDAY AFTERNOON, SET OUT IN MY USUAL CATEGORIES OF FAITH, AND FAMILY, AND FICTION) ...

But first, on this Memorial Day, here is a prayer from the BCP, in remembrance of those who have given their lives for our country:

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, in whose hands are the living and the dead: We give thee thanks for all thy servants who have laid down their lives in the service of our country. Grant to them thy mercy and the light of thy presence; and give us such a lively sense of thy righteous will, that the work which thou hast begun in them may be perfected; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord. Amen.

 

Faith 

-"Gandalf, Job, and the Indignant Love of God":

So what of God’s opening lines? Is he not dealing forcefully with Job? Is he not angry? Even indignant and sarcastic? Yes, but none of this means he’s acting with anything less than merciful lovingkindness.

-"How to Glorify God By Being a Generalist" 

-"A (Very) Brief, Gospel-Centered Defense Against the Problem of Evil"

-"The Phil Vischer Podcast: Religious Liberty with Russell Moore"

-"A Call for Plodding Bloggers"

-"Is Your Pastor Happy to See You?":

To be a Christian is to be a churchman or churchwoman. The New Testament knows of no vibrant discipleship apart from life in the local church, no authentic Christianity divorced from the covenant of life together according to the biblical structure of the local church. And if this is true, it behooves us to be the best churchmen and churchwomen we can be. And good churchfolk love, respect, and submit to their pastors.

Family

-"Keeping the Calendar to One Day" - an inspirational idea from Ann.

-"Don't Dismiss Housework":

This is where, I would argue, the moral imagination comes in. The task of cleaning itself may not require a lot of intellectual prowess—but it does require a great deal of imaginative skill and understanding. The work of maintaining a home is tied up inexplicably in the question of what it means to be human, and the person who cares for the home must adhere to a set of underlying ideas and mores that make his or her work meaningful. After all, why is it that we do not wish to live in squalor? Why do we see cleanliness and order as essential tenets for human flourishing? It must be because these constitute basic understandings of what human life should constitute—ideas that have a moral and spiritual tradition.

-"What I've Learned in Twenty Years of Marriage": I love the difference he articulates between a "merger marriage" and a "start-up marriage".

-"Blue-Collar Contentment"

-"Talking to My Boys After the Transgender Talk at Their Public School" - a helpful article.

Now, onto the links...

Fiction

- "Save the Allegory!"  - allegories: both different and cooler than you might have thought they were.

-"'Gossamer', by Stephen Baxter" - this beautiful short story pictures life (a very different sort of life) way out on the cold plains of Pluto.

-"A Letter to Friends Looking to Break into a Part-Time Writing Career" - not strictly regarding fiction, but good writing advice all the same.

Finally, if you haven't yet, please come and enter the giveaway for a copy of "Not Alone"!  The stories in it of faith during suffering are truly inspiring.

Have a good and meaningful Memorial Day, folks!

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Book Notes: "Show Your Work!", by Austin Kleon

So I'm mostly just going to talk about my favorite part of the book, which makes this really not a full review.  Good thing I call these things "Book Notes" and not "Book Reviews", huh? :)

"Show Your Work!", by Austin Kleon is about, well, doing creative work and sharing it. It feels about half illustration and half text; it was a really quick read.

Here's a quotation that illustrates the idea from it that I really liked:

Once a day, after you’ve done your day’s work, go back to your documentation and find one little piece of your process that you can share. Where you are in your process will determine what that piece is. If you’re in the very early stages, share your influences and what’s inspiring you. If you’re in the middle of executing a project, write about your methods or share works in progress. If you’ve just completed a project, show the final product, share scraps from the cutting-room floor, or write about what you’ve learned. If you have lots of projects out into the world, you can report on how they’re doing—you can tell stories about how people are interacting with your work.

To be honest, I liked this both as a writer (creative person) and as a reader (consumer of creative works). I enjoy following my favorite writers and musicians and such on Twitter, and hearing bits and bobs about what they did at work each day.

If content creation is the publicity of the present and future, well, this feels like a really honest way to go about it: just talk a bit about what you did today.

Good stuff.


Peace of Christ to you, 
Jessica Snell




This post contains Amazon affiliate links. If you purchase something through these links, I'll receive a small percentage of the purchase price - for my own shopping! :) (See full disclosure on sidebar of my blog.)

Finding a Focus

photo credit: Betsy Barber

Most advice for bloggers says that you need a focus for your blog. You pick one thing, and do it really, really well. You find your one subject, and you cover it really, really thoroughly.

And I get that. I follow blogs like "Cinnamon-Spice & Everything Nice" because she consistently posts good recipes. I follow blogs like "Query Shark" because I know every post is going to teach me something about selling books.

But I also follow bloggers like Melissa Wiley, and Elizabeth Foss, and Anne Kennedy, and Simcha Fisher, just because I know that whatever they talk about, I'm likely to enjoy hearing them talk about it.

And they each have topics they circle around frequently. Melissa Wiley is likely to talk about books and writing and homeschooling and drawing. Elizabeth Foss is likely to talk about mothering and running and prayer. Anne Kennedy is likely to talk about the Bible and cooking and church. Simcha Fisher is likely to talk about Catholicism and parenting a crowd and current events.

But I don't read Melissa Wiley just because I want to learn about drawing or homeschooling. I want to hear her think through drawing or homeschooling. And it's similar with Elizabeth and Anne and Simcha.


I started thinking about these two different types of blogs - call them "the subject focused" and "the voice focused", maybe? - when I ran across this interview with Nina Badzin. In it she says:

 I’ve had a blogging identity crisis since I started my blog 3.5 years ago so at least that is consistent! I set out to write about parenting at first, but instead ended up writing my first post about how much I love Twitter. Next I wrote about marriage. Then I had some posts about the novel I was working on at the time. I quickly got sick of writing about writing so I blogged about motherhood for a post or two. I mixed in some book reviews, then wrote about a 3-week challenge to eat less sugar. 

You get the idea. I had no focus and still don’t. Sometimes I worry that my blog should be more niche, but in my own way I’ve landed on some themes. I tend to circle around the same seven topics: parenting, marriage, friendship, reading, Judaism, and occasionally health and social media tips. You’ll never find me blogging about a DIY house project, crafting, photography, or design. The visual world is not in my skill set.

I loved her honesty. And I thought: I do the same thing!  There are a few subjects I circle 'round all the time. Mothering, marriage, writing, editing, Christianity, books, liturgy, knitting, homemaking. These are the things I never get tired of thinking about, and so I never get tired of writing about them.

But it's not the focused blogging that the "how-to" articles tell you about. It's not subject-focused blogging, because my blog isn't about any one of those things. My blog is me posting what I'm thinking about, and it's just that I'm probably thinking about one of those eight things, most of the time.

And I'm ready to be honest about that. I don't want to pretend to be a subject-focused blog when I'm really a voice-focused blog.


And not that I'm the blogger I want to be, not yet! I'm not anywhere as good a writer as those four voice-focused bloggers I mentioned above. But the more I think about it, the more I know that that's the kind of blogging I want to do. I want to imitate what I love.

I want to write about the things I enjoy thinking about.

Or rather, that I can't stop thinking about.


As Sayers says, how do we know when something is of overmastering importance? When it has overmastered us.


Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Weekly Links - Self-Discipline, Caring for Others, Mothering, and more!

My weekly round-up of good reading from around the Web:

"Discipline and Adventure":  (congratulations to Anne, for her new blog on Patheos!)

. . . by forcing yourself to do something every day, you can become more interesting than you were the day before. In the discipline, the push, the toil of writing every single solitary day I have discovered first that there are enough words, even for me to have some, and second that I totally love them. Waking up and writing before anything else means that I am set up for the whole day with energy enough for everything else. It’s so amazing. It’s such a pleasure, to have had my mental space transformed by discipline.

"Losing Control of the Vehicle": This sounds like something out of a science fiction novel, but it's real:

Here’s a thought for your next road trip: In the Jeep Cherokee (and probably many other cars, too), when the online diagnostic service is activated, the brake pedal is automatically deactivated, so that the mechanic can test the brakes. If a hacker turns on the diagnostic function while you’re merrily speeding down the highway, the effect would be as if he slashed your brakes.

"How Not to Say the Wrong Thing": I've heard this theory before, but I was glad of the reminder, and I thought this was a really good exposition of the idea:

Draw a circle. This is the center ring. In it, put the name of the person at the center of the current trauma ... 

Here are the rules. The person in the center ring can say anything she wants to anyone, anywhere. She can kvetch and complain and whine and moan and curse the heavens and say, "Life is unfair" and "Why me?" That's the one payoff for being in the center ring. 

Everyone else can say those things too, but only to people in larger rings.

"The Everyday Question of Motherhood":

In motherhood, the Everyday Question is answered every time a child’s concern or need must come before my own. (And as every mother knows, this is most of the time.)

What have you been reading this week?  Share your links in the comments!

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Weekly Links: culture, condolences, and more

"The Freakishness of Christianity":

The assumption that evangelicals own American culture and politics has ended. This is good for minority groups, for other Christians, and for those who are still searching. But the radicalness of Moore, who by right of inheritance should be America’s Culture Warrior in Chief, is that he thinks it’s good for evangelicals, too.

"How to Write a Condolence Note": Helpful and kind.



"Ballast":

The first twenty-four hours or so after this potential diagnosis, similar to thelast twenty-four hours after the last lethal diagnosis, I felt like I was on a ship being ferociously tossed by the waves. Rolling this way and that. And all I could do was cling to the side of the boat hoping that it would not go down. Is there enough ballast? Has the truth been buried deep enough within me? Will I survive this storm?

"How to access a million stunning, copyright-free antique illustrations released by the British Library":  wow!


Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Links: Marketing, Blogging Photos, the Psalms, and more!

"The Golden Weenie Award":

. . . but I did get around to see some of the specialty products offered to religious retailers. In the past, I’ve recorded some of the really bad ideas that have come and gone at the show — Gospel Golf Balls, Praise Panties, Pope Soap on a Rope, vials of “genuine ash from Sodom and Gomorrah,” etc. (And before you ask, NO, I’M NOT MAKING ANY OF THIS UP.)

"Blogging Authors Beware! You Can Get Sued":

Well on one random post, I grabbed one random picture off of google and then a few weeks later I got contacted by the photographer who owned that photo. He sent me a takedown notice, which I responded to immediately because I felt awful that I had unknowingly used a copyrighted pic. The pic was down within minutes. But that wasn't going to cut it. He wanted compensation for the pic. A significant chunk of money that I couldn't afford. I'm not going to go into the details but know that it was a lot of stress, lawyers had to get involved, and I had to pay money that I didn't have for a use of a photo I didn't need. 

"What Do We Do with Those?": -a short primer on the oddities in the book of Psalms - I thought his three conclusions at the end especially useful.

"Being a Marketing Trend":

 One of my pet peeves is this idea that exercise should be bimodal: either you should be satisfied with "walking, the best form of exercise," or you should be some kind of an exercise addict who works out like a professional athlete. Not to diss walking or professional athletes, but it seems like for the great majority of healthy adults, shooting for something in the middle -- light, but deliberate, daily exercise or (my pattern) vigorous exercise two to four times a week -- would hit the sweet spot of beneficial and realistic. But we just don't hear much about that.  

 Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica  Snell

Christian Regency Romance Blog

I'm happy to announce the launch of Regency Reflections, a blog about Christian romance novels set in the Regency (think the time of Jane Austen, Napoleon, and Constable). This is a group blog, and I'm honored to be blogging alongside many talented authors, including Ruth Axtell Morren, Laurie Alice Eakes, and Naomi Rawlings.

What can you expect from the blog? Well, if you'll hop over and read Kristi Ann Hunter's exellent kick-off post, you'll see that it's going to be a mix of history, book reviews, author interviews, and devotional thoughts.

I'll be blogging there about twice a month, starting this Friday, when I'm going to share a bit about love, romance, and John Donne. (Because what's a good marriage without a bit of poetry?)  I hope you'll check it out!  And if it's intriguing to you, go ahead and add it to your feedreader, so you can enjoy some fun chatter about books, beaux, and blessings as we explore this fascinating era and all the fun stories that spring from it.

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

on recommending non-Christian books

This is a long blog post. The short version is: I read secular books when I think they have more good than ill in them. And I avoid books that I think will tempt me to sin. But what I should read and what you should read are not necessarily the same thing, so I'm wondering what and how much I ought to say about the potentially objectionable parts of books when I review them, and I'm interested in what other people think on the subject.

I've been thinking of my review of "After the Golden Age" since I posted it. I really did like the book and I know my review reflected that. But it was certainly written from a worldview that differs from mine, and I've been wondering how much I ought to comment on that when I review books.

I regularly read both Christian and non-Christian books. I'm careful about what I read insofar as I avoid reading anything that I think will tempt me to sin, but I often read authors I disagree with. I know that's not unusual, especially when it comes to non-fiction books - what good Christian thinker, after all, would shy away from learning from Plato or Aristotle? But I wonder if it's less common when it comes to fiction.

There are a couple of potential problems when it comes to reading secular fiction - I'd separate them into the problem of character and the problem of author.

The problem of character is that you're going to have characters in the story doing things you disagree with. They're going to sin in all kinds of creative ways. This, actually, isn't so much of a problem. Everyone you meet in real life sins in all kinds of ways too - and that probably goes for the person you see in the mirror too. And while I'd expect a Christian to repent and make good, I don't expect non-Christian characters to conform to my ethics any more than I expect real non-Christians too. People who disagree with me are just a part of life and it doesn't bother me overmuch that they're a part of my reading life too.

The problem of author is a little harder, because there is telling and there is persuasion. Take adultery: you can write about it well and you can write about it poorly. Adultery could be the subject of the greatest Christian masterpiece (try something like Graham Green's "The End of the Affair") or the filthiest piece of trash ever to be set into type. It's not what you write about, it's how you write about it. I mean, think about it: every time you see a crucifix, you're seeing a piece of art on - among other things - the subject of torture. Is torture something you're normally willing to read about? I'm not, not usually. But my love of Lars Walker's "The Year of the Warrior" and Stephen Lawhead's "Byzantium" tells me that I'm willing to entertain the subject when it's really, really, really well-presented, and that by Christian artists.

When you read books by non-Christians, you're going to basically be allowing someone to try to persuade you to think about ethical issues in a way that disagrees with your faith.

At least, you might be. You might, if that's what the book is about. You might not be though: there are plenty of secular works that have large areas of agreement with the Christian faith. As far as I know, Lois McMaster Bujold is not a Christian. But her book "Memory" taught me yards and miles and ells about what integrity is and means and looks like. Are there parts of her work I disagree with? Certainly. Am I a better Christian for having read her work? On the whole, I think I am. Her idea of courage, for instance, largely accords with the Christian ideal, especially in books like "The Curse of Chalion".

St. Augustine talked about "stealing the treasures of Egypt", or, how all truth is God's truth, and it's ours to take wherever we find it. This is true, and I think there's a lot of truth to be found in works that aren't overtly Christian. The universe was ordered by an intelligent Creator, and any creature of His who approaches it thoughtfully and makes art out of what he finds will inevitably showcase some of that inherent order and beauty put there by God, whether that artist himself believes in God or not.

On the other hand, Augustine pointed out that the real treasure isn't in any of these secular works, but in God's own word. And we can certainly get so caught up in the art of the creature that we forget to turn our eyes towards our Creator. And that is disaster.

So, that's what goes through my mind - or that should - when I pick up a book. I still don't know how much of a disclaimer I should add to my reviews of non-Christian books. I've assumed that most people who read my blog have their own rule for what they will and won't read, and know their own individual weaknesses and watch out for them. For example, I know some people I admire that can handle art that's a lot more terrifying or depressing than I can handle. They can learn from it and be edified by it, but I'd just be a weeping puddle of goo if I watched what they watch or read what they read. And I know that, so I avoid those works of art. They might be good, but they're not good for me.

(And that's no statement on the relativity of eternal principles. Eternal principles are eternal principles. But I am mortal, mutable, and small, and so it's about the application of eternal principles to such a one as me.)

I hope that anyone reading my book reviews will take it as given that I'm assuming you'll do your own assessment of whether or not the book I'm reviewing is something you should read. For example, "After the Golden Age" has a heroine who has (off-stage/off-page) sex before marriage. I liked the romance in the book regardless, because, given who the character was (a non-Christian I wasn't expecting to act like a Christian), she did a great job of discerning which man was good for her and which wasn't and why. That's what I liked about the romance in the story. And I felt able to say, "this part is good" and "this part isn't" without being tempted to change my mind about Christian sexual ethics. Did I agree with all the heroine's choices? No. But did I think there was something good to learn from the good choices she did make? Yes.

But should every person read the book? I don't know. How can I? Maybe someday, as I grow and mature, I'll come to the realization that I shouldn't have read it. Or maybe not. Maybe I'll always think it was a good decision.

The point is, though, that I think we all have to take responsibility for our own choices in regard to the art we consume.

The other point is that I don't want to lead anyone into temptation - I don't want to highlight pieces of art that will hinder anyone in their walk with God.

But if I only talk about absolutely perfect books, I am left talking about only one Book.

(Some people in some places at some times might tell me this is not a bad thing.)

Anyway, I suppose I haven't quite reached a conclusion here, so let me open it up to discussion. How do you decide what you're going to review? If it's a worthy piece of art with a few problematical elements, how do you present it to your readers? Do you present it to your readers? Are there things you absolutely won't read or recommend (I know I have some very solid lines myself)? If you like the book reviews I do here, would you prefer a heads-up on anything, content-wise, and if so, what? Also, what about heads-up on method (i.e., not the "what" of the book but the "how" the author handles it)?

This is one I'm still thinking about. I'm sure about some of it, but there's a lot of it, especially the new-media aspects, that I'm still pondering, and would really love to hear your thoughts about.

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Links! Violence, Death, Pain, and More

Another links post, because we've all (well, 5 of the 6 of us) been sick here, and I'm down for the count for a second time, and so I've had way too much time to just poke around the internet, reading.  Here are some of the cool things I've stumbled across:

-I actually caught this interview when it aired on NPR, and it was so good. Interview with the author of "Don't Shoot: One Man, a Street Fellowship, and the End of Violence in Inner-City America." I know that sounds dull and perhaps depressing, but it's actually one of the most riveting and hopeful things I've heard in a long time. Highly recommended.

-In "Steve Jobs and Death In Medias Res", John Mark Reynolds argues that the saints never die in the middle of their stories, but always at the end.

-Shannon Hale's giving away some ARCs of her new book "Midnight in Austenland" if you like her on Facebook. I do like her and her writing, so I'm passing this one on! :)

-Willa, over at Quotidian Moments, is going to be hosting a slow, thoughtful read-through and blog-through of Margaret Peterson's "Keeping House: the Litany of Everyday Life". I'm joining in and I'd encourage you to join in too; if you go look at Willa's post, you'll see that the schedule she's proposing is really leisurely and doable - and the book isn't very long to begin with. To encourage you further, here's a link to my review of the book from a year ago. As you can see from the quoted sections, it's very lovely, rich, and rewarding reading.

-Jeanne over at At A Hen's Pace has a beautiful and profound post on pain up on her blog.

-Fictional Places You Can Visit in Real Life. Anyone up for a visit to Hobbiton?

-When a motif starts showing up over and over in popular culture, it's smart to wonder why. With that principle in mind, here's another thoughtful analysis on the current popularity of zombies in today's entertainment offerings.  An excerpt:

David has grasped a breathtakingly essential point about zombie fiction: if human beings really were merely animated meat suits, then there would be no moral difference between killing zombies and killing human beings--and, as a corollary, we could kill human beings without remorse or pity simply because they were in the way. The history of the atheistic regimes of the twentieth century shows us what that looks like--what it looks like when a society arises to whom human beings are merely interchangeable animated future corpses, and which treats people as if they have no intrinsic human worth.

But if humans have intrinsic worth--if they are not mere walking bodies, if they are more than merely well-evolved animals--where does that worth come from? If the people we once loved who have died are not merely decomposing flesh, if they, the essential selves, still exist, then where and what are they, and why are they still alive? For Christians who believe in the soul, these questions can be pondered with placidity, gratitude, even joy. For anyone who does not believe in an immaterial and immortal human soul which makes us look like our Creator, though, these questions can only be rather grim to think about.

-And, the best news for last, Lois McMaster Bujold, my favorite living novelist, has finished a new book! Better yet? It's the one about Ivan. w00T!

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

addendum to the last post

Emily and Ingrid's comments made me realize that I should add: now that Adam's read the book, I'm glad to send it to anyone else who wants to read it, provided I actually know who you are. Just shoot me an email or a comment. Skip it if you don't like sci-fi or (clean) romance, as it's both.

Peace of Christ to you,

Jessica Snell

Advent

First, I offer a candy-making tip: if you're making (say) toffee with (let's just pretend) a dark-chocolate, almond-studded crust, you do not have to go buy the ridiculously-expensive teeny-tiny bottles of Karo in order to get your couple tablespoons of corn syrup. Just use a bit of that huge jug of fake maple syrup because it, after all, is just corn syrup with artificial flavoring.

(And yes, I like real maple syrup better, and we get it upon occasion, but you should see our kids go through pancakes. Real maple syrup all the time is really not a realistic prospect.)

(Also, does anyone else think it's silly that teeny-tiny bottles of corn syrup for baking are so costly per ounce when that same corn syrup can be had super-cheap in, say, ketchup? Or cereal? Or soup?)

But, to the real subject: please forgive the blog silence. I've had a severe case of introversion, and it's extended to blogging.

That's not quite the right way to put it though. I've always been an introvert, but not a very extreme one, and usually my life has included enough quiet time that my introversion wasn't a problem. I expended energy in social situations, sure, but I always had the chance to recharge - usually while alone, reading or writing.

But recently our kids have all been at really demanding stages - not bad, just demanding - and taking care of the four of them all day has taken every ounce of energy that I had. Then, when in the evenings I was supposed to go and interact with other people, I felt resentful, because it felt like those social interactions were beating me up, stealing what I needed in order to take care of my kids the next day. I got to the point where I actually wanted to weep every time I thought about going out anywhere. I was simply exhausted.

Somewhere in my head, I thought that I wasn't allowed to be exhausted anymore because, after all, our twin daughters were not twin newborns anymore. It was fair to be exhausted when I had two babies, I thought, but now that they were toddlers, I ought to be doing as well as any other mom. I didn't want to believe everything I'd read about how twin toddlers can be harder than twin newborns - after all, most of the twin toddlers in those articles were holy terrors, and our girls are actually pretty sweet and agreeable little people.

But I'm not exempt. Having two one-year-olds just IS hard. Even if they're sweet. And I am allowed to be this tired. And if I am this tired, I need to rest. Not to be proud and say I can do it all without help. It's the same old lesson again: I am not God. And I am glad.

So, even though I think this will all be better in six months (two two-year-olds, a four-year-old, and a five-and-a-half-year-old sounds better than two one-year-olds, a three-year-old and a five-year-old), I've been working on learning how to live well now in the situation I'm in. I was tempted to just say, "Keep going, push through, get it done," but that is the exact same attitude that led me to breaking both of my arms five years ago, and I'm extremely wary of it. Better to stop, observe, think, and pray.

So I have been, and that's included stopping blogging for a while. I'm picking it up again, but slowly. I love Advent though, and want to write a little about it, and this is the place to do it. I just felt like I had to apologize (in the older sense of the word) for my absence first.

peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell