Yarnalong: baby blanket and "The Winner's Crime"

Today I'm linking up with Ginny, over at Small Things, who says, "Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading . . . I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading?"

I'm reading "The Winner's Crime", by Marie Rutkoski. It's the second in a trilogy, and you can read my review of the first one here. I think my favorite thing about this book is that while it gives you all the angsty emotions you'd expect from a YA, it doesn't let its protagonists be idiots about their emotions. Yes, they're in love and they're young and they'd like to Romeo-and-Juliet all the consequences . . . but they don't. They keep the broader picture in mind, they temper their emotions with reason - maybe not well, maybe not perfectly, but wow, I just like that they're teenagers who are trying.  

(And yes, I think the angsty emotions and gorgeous setting and quickly-moving plot are awesome, too.)

Now, the knitting!  This is a heavily modified version of the "Hip To Be Square" pattern in "60 Quick Baby Blankets", using some of the oldest yarn in my stash: Universal Yarns Classic Shades. Some friends just had their first baby and I wanted to make her something snuggly!  I love how the subtle color changes work with the mitered squares in this pattern.

Thank you for stopping by! For more yarny goodness, head on over to the link-up at Ginny's!

Peace of Christ to you,

Jessica Snell

This post contains an Amazon affiliate link; if you purchase a book from this link, I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.  (See full disclosure on sidebar of my blog.)

Welcome!

If you're here from Daily Sci Fi, hello!

I blog about a variety of things, but here are the tags for my reviews, links, etc. on:
-sci fi
-fantasy

My favorite of my archives is, I think, this post about Lois McMaster Bujold's "Borders of Infinity" and (glory be!) Bujold's own response to the same.


Hope you enjoy poking around the site and hope - even more - that you enjoyed the story "Expensive" over at Daily Science Fiction. I surely enjoyed writing it!

-Jessica Snell

so here's some excitement

My short story "Expensive" went live tonight over at Daily Science Fiction. I'm so pleased to have a story up at a site I enjoy so much as a reader!  Please head on over and read, rate, and enjoy.

(And subscribe to their email list: it's free, and you get great short fiction in your mailbox every week day. Not a bad deal!)

-Jessica Snell

Come and say hi! (plus, a giveaway!)

I'm honored to be the Friday Featured Guest over at June Foster's blog today. Come on over and say hi in the comments!


Also, have you been curious about "Not Alone", but not quite sure you wanted to buy? Jennifer Hallmark has your solution! She's hosting a giveaway of "Not Alone" over at Elaine Stock's blog. Head on over in order to enter!

-Jessica Snell

Diligence and Anxiety

The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute.  

-Proverbs 12:24 

I think Proverbs 12:24 might end up being my verse for the year. I’ve been in Psalm 28 for the last two years, but . . . but now, this is probably it.

I keep trying to explain why, to write about why, and talk about it, and I feel like I keep losing my words. I think it’s because I keep trying to talk about it while I’m slightly anxious. That’s never the best time to do anything (but, me being me, that's sometimes the only time I have).

Speaking of which . . . maybe that’s how I can explain it: diligence saves me when I’m anxious.  Because diligence doesn’t submit to anxious questions. When my emotions and mind are spinning with, “what if? what if? what if?” diligence answers, “Now do this. Okay, good. Now, do this. Okay, good. Now . . .” and is not flustered.

Diligence calms me, if only by forcing me to work. Not franticly, but properly.

Diligence knows what is next and commands me to keep walking.

And the walking itself brings me to a place of peacefulness inside. Because if I am doing (not hurrying! not scrambling! just steadily doing), then I am seeing progress. And eventually, I am seeing completion: that floor is clean, that chapter is edited, that email is sent, that batch of dishes is done.

For a long time, my housekeeping motto has been: Not Perfect, But Better.

Diligence improves that. Diligence makes it: Not Perfect, But Better . . . And Now Better Again. And Now Better Again.

Diligence is refocusing every time my anxiety causes me to careen off into the wild blue. 

Diligence says, “Don’t worry about what might happen; do what you already know is your duty.”

It reminds me of what Corrie Ten Boom said (and I’m quoting from memory here, so forgive any lack of accuracy): “Don’t worry about the parts of the Bible you don’t understand. Worry about the parts you understand but don’t obey.”

Diligence is the obeying. It is the action.

Not in a scurrying rush to be found acceptable or to prove my worth. But in simple gratitude that I have good work to do.

Huh. Diligence is gratitude.

I like that.


Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Weekly Links: Ice, Oxy, Red Letters, and More!

Wow, I'm posting my weekend links while it's actually still the weekend! This is progress indeed.

Let's start with things that are either funny or pretty:

-This Icy Hair-Freezing Contest definitely falls under the "funny" category. I love it because it reminds me of my childhood in the Northwest Territories, and how my ponytail would freeze into a sharp spike while I walked back to school from the (indoor) swimming pool.

-"Mesmerizing Space Photos of 2015" - This one falls into the "pretty" category or, maybe more properly yet, into the jaw-droppingly gorgeous and awe-inspiring category.

-"Home Soil - 1:18" - aaaaaaand, back to funny. A particularly enjoyable recap from "Fashion It So" - that fake novel cover!

And, on to our more General Interest Links:

-"Standford Professor Who Pioneered Praising Effort Sees False Praise Everywhere": The "growth mindset" described here is a really helpful concept.

-"Oxy Epidemic Shows What Happens When Addictive Drugs Are Easily Available": so, yeah, maybe don't legalize everything?

And, the links specifically for my fellow writers:

-"We Regret to Inform You": Maybe this should have gone under the "funny" category, but, no. No, it's just too real.

-"Writing Your Manuscript a Third at a Time": I'll admit that I'm just linking to this one for my own sake - because it's something that I think I might want to try!

Finally, the specifically Christian links:

- "Burning and Yearning" - I appreciate the distinction the author draws in this article.

-"The Spirit of the Red Letters and 'Progressive Evangelicalism'" - There's some very useful clarity in this piece. (Pitting Jesus against Jesus is not a good idea.)

-"Before the Birds and the Bees" - And finally, this goes in the "sad but necessary" category. Fellow parents, take heed.



I hope you all have a great weekend!

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Book Notes: "Dear Committee Members", by Julie Schumacher

So this was the book I had to refrain from reviewing till now, even though I finished reading it in the fall. Why?  Because I wanted to give it for Christmas presents! And some of the people I love have the bad habit* of purchasing books I recommend.

This book . . . oh my friends, this book. This book made me laugh so hard.

It's also rather melancholy at the end, so: fair warning. This book might not make you feel, in meme-speech, all the things, but it might come close.

"Dear Committee Members", by Julie Schumacher, is an epistolatory novel, wherein all the letters are written by an English professor. More specifically, by a writing professor.  And yes, both the fact that it's epistolatory and the fact that it's about writing made it almost inevitable that I would pick it up once I heard about it.

But it lived up to my hopes.

If you know anyone in academia, you'll be familiar with the exquisite pain of the procurement of letters of recommendation. Painful from the point-of-view of both professor and student, I am given to understand.

In this book, our protagonist, Prof. Fitger, has written letters of recommendation. Oh, has he written letters of recommendation. So many letters of recommendation.

So many, in fact, that he has begun to go a bit mad.

Not really mad, not crazy, but mad enough to write them now in the driest of sarcastic voices, with the withering, biting humor than only a very, very, very annoyed professor can muster.

And not just sarcastic letters of recommendation, but plaintive letters of complaint to the dean, self-deprecating letters to his ex-wife, and (most heartbreakingly) pleading letters on behalf of his students, who he knows very well might find themselves without home or means once they're out of the half-hearted embrace of their home university.


I loved this book. It's been a long time since a book has made me laugh like this, and I shook my head in recognition of the erudite, dysfunctional rhythms of academia. For the purposes of this blog, I can't recommend it as Christian or hopeful or anything like that, but all the same, I can't imagine an avid fiction reader who wouldn't enjoy this one. It's just really good.


Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell


*errr, that is, lovely! I mean, they have this lovely habit.


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.)