Weekly Links: new blogs, saying "yes" to Lent, and more!

To start, this week I found two wonderful new blogs. The first, Liturgy of Life, is written by a fellow Anglican and lover of the church year. Check it out here.

The second, Pass the Salt Shaker, is a discussion of singleness and marriage in the church, written by a group of great folks, including at least one of the contributors to Mere Fidelity (one of my favorite podcasts). Check out the new blog here.


Now, on to our regular weekend collection of articles:

"Holy Week Meyers-Briggs": This is just hilarious and awesome.

"Giving Up 'Yes' for Lent":

I don’t want to second-guess my last few years nor frame these amazing opportunities in pessimistic terms. But I do want to consider whether it is always courageous to say "yes." 

"Where Demons Fear to Tread: Angels and the Atonement":

As it turns out, the theologians and artists of the church over the centuries have reflected on this question with surprising results, coming up with several ways that the work of Christ had a significant bearing on the unfallen angels.

"Learning From Bodies":

Ability is not what makes death significant. At birth this baby had capacities below that of a healthy fetus at ten weeks. Holding his body, living and then dead, proves to me that it doesn’t matter how early the human heart beats, how early it is possible to feel pain, or when the senses develop. No ability or strength confers human status—not being viable or sentient or undamaged or wanted. Being of human descent is enough; you cannot earn or forfeit your humanity. If this baby’s death does not matter, no death matters.

"Joseph: the faithful carpenter":

Mary is rightly credited as setting the ultimate example of how Christians should respond to God's calling. But likewise, I think that Joseph is exemplar in demonstrating how God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) loves us, his sinful people. As a husband, father, and erstwhile woodworker, I can find no greater earthly example to follow.

And finally, to listen to, The City's podcast this week on "Non-Christian Books" was full of good stuff.


Have a great weekend!

Weekend Links: Advent, Book-Binding, the Name of Jesus, and more!

I'm posting this weekend's links early because, well, it's Thanksgiving! :D  And I intend to spend the rest of the weekend drinking coffee, eating pie, and playing with Legos.  I hope you're doing something similarly relaxing with people you love. Happy Thanksgiving, wonderful people! I'm thankful for you.

And now, links!

"Advent: why it matters (and how to do it sanely)": I was excited to see "Let Us Keep the Feast" mentioned here (thanks, Tsh!), but also excited to see a lot of other awesome-looking resources. If you're looking for ideas for celebrating Advent, this post is a great resource.

"This is How Huge Door-stopper Fantasy Novels Get Made": If you've never seen the process of book printing and book-binding, this is a great photo essay on the subject. I thought it was fascinating!

"Savor the Name":

Most fruit seems like a gift, but a pomegranate is the most extravagant. The seeds burgeon under the skin, and when you tear it open with a tart ripping sound, the byzantine arrangement within tells you that here, there is both order and design, and an unaccountable exuberance. The seeds shine. They glow like rubies, and you crunch them with your teeth and lick the blood of rubies off your lips.

Well, that's how I feel about pomegranates. 

wordy wednesday: because if I had had a camera, it would have been a great picture:
a few weeks ago, I linked to a post by Sandra Taylor, saying, "this is why I love Sandra's blog: because she's always writing stuff like this." Well, the above-linked post is why I love Anne Kennedy's blog: because she's always writing stuff like this. (And this.)

Crossroads Kids' Club: looks like a neat activity-a-day Advent program!

"Let Us Keep the Feast: a Book Recommendation":

. . . because what I really wanted wasn’t an abstract identity, but something that I could touch: I wanted Shabaat meals by candlelight, and long, restful Sabaath days; I wanted mezuzahs and prayer shawls, feasting and fasting; I wanted to dance with the scrolls on Simchat Torah, and eat the bitter herbs of Egypt on Passover.

"What Steven Moffat Doesn’t Understand About Grief, And Why It’s Killing Doctor Who":

Then Moffat, of course, took over the show as show runner. And once again, people just seem to keep… not dying. Part of the problem is that Moffat’s a big fan of the Giant Reset Button — so much so that he literally wrote in a Giant Reset Button into the episode Journey to the Center of the TARDIS. One step above the “It was all a dream” plot, the Giant Reset Button absolves the characters and the writers of any repercussions and they can carry on as they were, even though we, the audience, saw a “major event” that is evidently no longer relevant. You can have your fun and adventure, but you need not learn or grow or change from it.

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

Links: Single Motherhood, Sex, Star Trek, and more

"The Kids Are Not Really Alright":

Take two contemporary social problems: teenage pregnancy and the incarceration of young males. Research by Sara McLanahan at Princeton University suggests that boys are significantly more likely to end up in jail or prison by the time they turn 30 if they are raised by a single mother. Specifically, McLanahan and a colleague found that boys raised in a single-parent household were more than twice as likely to be incarcerated, compared with boys raised in an intact, married home, even after controlling for differences in parental income, education, race, and ethnicity.

"Sex, Submission, and Evangelicals":

Weirdly, Evans’s admission seems to suggest that the language of violence does more harm than the actual practice of violence within the home, even if such violence is itself consensual. But while reforming a culture’s attitudes toward sex is all sorts of difficult, it seems like beginning at home is a pretty decent start. Allowing couples to play at domination simply because they both like it strikes me as incommensurate with decrying the practice elsewhere. Our playing, simply put, matters and we get our ideas for it somewhere. The bedroom is not so self-contained and isolated from the rest of our lives as Evans seems to imply, and if looking at porn implicates us in a culture of hostility toward women, than certainly playing with sadomasochism must do the same.

"Where Are the Cast of Voyager Now?": Fun trip down memory lane for those of us who were teenage nerds (and maybe had a poster of the cast on their walls back in the day).

"Created to be his Helpmeet" (a review):

Pearl seeks to be the Titus 2 woman, sharing with her readers wisdom that she has accumulated in many years of being a Christian, of being a wife, of raising a family. But there is a serious problem. Throughout the book, Pearl shows that she is a poor and unwise mentor. In place of the wisdom and the fruit of the Spirit that ought to mark a mentor, she displays a harsh and critical spirit, she offers foolish counsel, she teaches poor theology, she misuses Scripture, and she utterly misses the centrality of the gospel.

Second part of the review is here.

"Top 5 First Lines" - Matt listed his. I listed mine in the comments. Go add yours!

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

In My Feedreader, Part VI: Book Blogs

Last one in the series: the blogs that are mainly about books. Because books are good. At least, good books are good. And your chances of reading good books (or avoiding bad ones) may very well go up if you read these blogs.

Supratentorial - my favorite place to get recommendations for kids' picture books.

Regency Reflections - all about Christian Regency romance

ACFW - the blog of the American Christian Fiction Writers Association - tends to highlight newly-released titles

If You Liked That - reviews of YA novels

Reasoning With Vampires - a close read of Stephanie Meyer's books. Yes, I know, but trust me, you want to read this. It's hilarious and educational.

Girl Detective - I started reading her for the 15 books in 15 days challenge, I stayed for the good book reviews.

Mental Multivitamin - all about books and education and thinking well.

Semicolon - more books and good thinking.

Again, I'd love to know about any I've missed. Feel free to go back through the whole series of posts if you're in search of a few good blogs, or just take the easy route and find all the blogs I've referenced over on your right in my blog's sidebar. Happy reading!

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

In My Feedreader, Part V: Author Blogs

The next category of blogs in my feedreader are the author blogs. These are the ones that are hard to categorize any other way because of the variety of subjects they all tackle. But the one thing they have in common is that they all write books. So:

Sharon Lee - writes, along with Steve Miller, some of the best sci-fi out there.

Robin McKinley - writes fantasy, and blogs about English change-ringing, knitting, gardening, singing, and other misc. subjects.

Shannon Hale - writes both YA and romance.

Laurie Alice Eakes - writes Christian historical romance.

Ruth Axtell Morren - also writes Christian historical romance.

Naomi Rawlings - so does she! Naomi's blog also has a lot on being a working mom.

Kristi Ann Hunter - another Christian historical romance author.

Kaye Dacus - writes both historical and contemporary Christian romance (she's one of my career heroines).

Wil Wheaton - writes memoir and other interesting things.

John Scalzi  - writes sci-fi and has one of the best author blogs I've ever read. Always interesting.

Melissa Wiley - writes books for children, and has one of the most calm, humorous, fascinated-with-the-world blogger voices - she's a delight.

Linore Rose Burkard - another Christian historical romance author, who blogs about books and faith.

So, any good ones I missed?

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

In My Feedreader, Part III: Christian Moms

Yesterday, it was a list of good blogs about the writing business. Today, I present a list of blogs written by other Christian moms.

This one I'm presenting without commentary, because time would fail me to explain what I love about all these women and their words. Suffice it to say that these are blogs that lift my heart and remind me that I'm not alone in my daily work.

Learning As We Go

Torgusborg

Elizabeth Foss

Simcha Fisher

An Undercurrent of Hostility

A Ten O'Clock Scholar

Laundry and Lullabies

At A Hen's Pace

The Joy and the Care

Quotidian Moments

Amy's Humble Musings

bearing blog

Like Mother, Like Daughter

The Liturgical Year for Little Ones

Smithical

And Sometimes Tea

Splendor in the Ordinary

Take the Poor With You

Team Ewan

Elizabeth Esther

Snowflake Family

On A Joyful Journey


Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

In My Feedreader, Part II: Writing

Yesterday I posted a list of the blogs of Christians thinkers whose work I enjoy reading regularly.

Today it's a list of blogs about writing and the publishing industry. If you're an author, or someone who hopes to become an author, or even just a reader who's curious about how the business that produces all those stories you love works, these are all blogs that make profitable reading.

(btw, these are specifically about writing and the writing business, as opposed to blogs that are either primarily about books and book reviews or that are just the personal blogs of various authors. Those lists are coming later. :D )

Chip MacGregor - a literary agent who has lots of posts on how to write, sell, and market your book.

Rachelle Gardner - another literary agent with  many helpful posts.

Jennifer Represents - more good advice from yet another literary agent.

Steve Laube - more of the same. Seriously, these days, there's no good reason to be uninformed about the publication process - not with all of these fountains of information out there.

Janet Reid, Literary Agent - and, again.

Book Ends, LLC - A Literary Agency - and once more, for good measure.

Shrinking Violet Promotions - This one's a little different: it's book marketing for introverts. Brilliant!

Query Shark - real critiques of real book queries.

Pub Rants - another publishing industry blog, written by a literary agent - always interesting stuff here.

Patricia Wrede - an author whose blog is dedicated to (excellent) writing advice.

Novel Matters - a group blog on the writing life.

Novel Rocket - another group blog on the writing life.

Seekerville - and, one more!


There you have it. Did I miss one of your favorites? Let me know in the comments.

Coming up next: it's the mommy bloggers!

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

In My Feedreader, Part I: Christian Thinkers

I'm starting a new blog series, occasioned by the realization that the sidebars on my blog were in serious need of an update. As I update them, I thought I'd do some posts highlighting the places on the web that I enjoy visiting. These posts aren't going to be exhaustive - for instance, I'll probably not include sites that I've just started reading (because I don't know enough to recommend them yet) or that don't post too frequently or friends' sites when I'm not sure the friends want lots of public traffic.

But there's so much good writing being done on the Web and I think it's worthwhile, every now and then, to put up a big flashing arrow and a "GO HERE" sign pointing the way towards the more excellent sites.

So, to start, some Christian thinkers I enjoy reading:

Mere Orthodoxy - helmed by Matthew Anderson (whose recent book "Earthen Vessels" an evangelical, theological look at the role of the body in our faith, is well worth a look), this site is full of thoughtful essays on current events, politics, the arts, and more.

Mere Comments - the blog of Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity. Similar to "Mere Orthodoxy", but ecumenical, not just Protestant evangelical.

Brandywine Books - Lars Walker's blog. Walker is an author I thoroughly enjoy, and he posts notes on current events, great book reviews, and other interesting tidbits.

Stand Firm - notes on the Anglican world, sometimes with side trips into politics.

Frederica Mathewes-Green: the site of one of my favorite authors, Mathewes-Green frequently posts thoughtful essays and good reviews of books and movies.

Tim Challies - a reformed blogger (should that be a capital "R" in "reformed"? I'm never sure), Challies takes on current events in the Protestant world, writes good book reviews, and regularly posts great lists of links to other interesting goings-on around the 'Net.

Conversion Diary - Jennifer Fulwiler's blog. A Catholic convert from atheism, I don't think Jennifer's written a boring post in her life.

Daily Reflections - Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon's commentary on the daily readings.

The Scriptorium - the blog of the professors of the Torrey Honors Institute, the great books program at Biola University.

2nd Floor, Looking West - a pastoral blog of an Anglican rector in Long Beach, CA.

Ed Eubanks - the blog of a Presbyterian writer and pastor, it includes thoughts on Christian ethics, book reviews, and more.


Next up, my favorite writing blogs!

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell