Writer's Block

Books Began But Not Finished

I love to write and have started many books. It may not be obvious from my simple words written in this blog, but I have always wished to one day be a published author. Below are some of the manuscripts I have begun, but never finished:

1) Many years ago when Emily was in Kindergarten in Boise and dreaded riding the bus, I wrote a children's book that I actually did finish, but was lost in one of our many moves. The plot was about a little girl named Emily Elizabeth who hated to ride the bus, but started having magical experiences as needed to help other riders. One day on the way home she took them by a tree that would grow any item of food they wanted for them to pick when one of the students was hungry. There were a whole week of stops and adventures on the ride home. Finally her mother worked out other arrangements and Emily no longer needed to ride the bus home, but she chooses to continue riding because "the other kids need her now" as she makes the bus ride better for everyone. It was really a charming little tale and I am sad it went missing. 

2) I wrote 10 different chapter headings or beginnings to 10 different chapters of a book called "Hamburgers in Heaven". They were not actually part of the book I was going to write, but a separate little book itself to start the focus of each chapter. I took each different part of the hamburger at the beginning of each chapter and compared it to each of my children, husband, in-laws, etc. with the grandkids being the condiments. I thought it was pretty clever, but never could get the book to go along with the idea...yet anyway.

3) In the temple I had the impression to write a book called "525,600" as that is how many minutes there are in a year. It was going to be about an evaluation of one year in my life and see if it was a life worth living. Hoping to inspire other people that their lives were lives worth living as well. I started this book twice and actually each time wrote many chapters about the events in my life at that time and things I learned as I lived. Maybe I can still finish it, but I started to feel like I was moralizing and wondered who would really want to read about my life and observations. I need to be better about taking a risk before I leave this earth without finishing a book of some kind!

4) In Hood River I had the idea to have a grade school class write letters to Santa as a class assignment (and even contacted a school and left letters for teachers asking if they would help me). I wanted to take some of those letters with deeper requests and answer each one in a chapter of the book from heaven's perspective using the scriptures and other inspired works. My goal was to give the world and the next generation a bit of hope stemming from a child's perspective of concerns they have here. I think it might have been powerful, but I could not get a teacher interested. Maybe I can use my grandkids and children one day instead?

5) Then I decided to write a simple straightforward novel, which was actually the hardest. I started from the perspective of a woman in a catatonic state where her body was frozen or not functioning, she would just sit and stare, but her mind still worked inside her head trapped in this broken body. The book was from her observations or point of view. She had witnessed a grandchild drown in her pond and could not get past the fog or shock of it. Her children were deciding whether or not to institutionalize her. I only got about 3 chapters and felt it was a little dark and perhaps not inspiring and that is the kind of message I want to leave. Perhaps I could have turned the story around to a more uplifting place, but I stopped before I got there. Quitter I guess.

So now I have to decide if I continue with one of these themes, find a new idea or inspiration to pursue or give up on my dream realizing I do not have the talent....hopefully I do not choose the third option.

3 months later: I have actually started a new book. "Angels Shelved" that I plan to finish whether it is bad or not. I just at least need to have one book completed before I leave this earth. I am posting part of it on angelsshelved.blogspot.com. I am enjoying the journey of the writing process....creating new characters and friends. It is about a teenaged girl not sure her existence is of any value and giving it one year to decide if she should continue on or not. The chapters switch back and forth between heaven and earth. There are a team of her ancestors assigned in heaven to help her on her earthly journey. I believe our ancestors do help us here. Hope I finish and it is decent!

Autumn 2016...continuing the tale

AUTUMN 2016 (Mtn. Green)

After wrapping up my first 57 years in a little history of my life (184 pages), I thought it would be awhile before I had much more to share. But life rushes on with so many experiences and I do not want to forget, so here we go again...

Not even four months after we moved to Mtn. Green a request went out in our area for a home to house the missionaries. The boundaries of the companionship covered 25 wards over two Stakes. After seeing the need, I asked Roger if he felt we should offer. He said we would be willing at some point, but since we had recently moved in and still had much to do for the home, including getting a range/stove for the basement, he wanted to wait a year. I said that would be fine and sent a prayer heavenward that we would be willing at some point to house the missionaries, but had decided to wait a year, so if we were needed before that time He needed to let us know in some way we would recognize. 

The next week I got an email from our Bishop saying that they had prayed about it and felt our home would be the right place for the missionaries to live. Not much clearer message than that I suppose. Many people, including our two former-missionary sons, said they felt we should just say no, but that did not feel right. We have plenty of room and all of our children live out of state, besides how could I deny that it was definitely a clear answer to my prayer. So Brother Hancock over mission housing for the Utah Ogden Mission came out to inspect and said he really felt the spirit in our home and answered all of our concerns in a manner that we were willing to give it a try. 

On Labor Day we purchased a stove for the basement and on September 7th two darling sister missionaries moved in...Sister Swain from New Hampshire and Sister Richens from Indiana. We may have Elders in the future and we have the option to have them move out before the 2 years if any of our children need to move in, but we are off on another adventure!

The night before the sisters were set to move in I received a phone call from Catholic Community Services. I had filled out paperwork to help with the refugee program and a mother and her three young children (2,4 and 7) were arriving at the Salt Lake airport at midnight September 6th and had no one to welcome them to America from the Congo. So I was on another late night adventure to welcome Vumilia, Moses, Joshua and Deborah who only spoke Swahili to America:

Deborah tied to Vumilia's back at the airport.

Moses loved taking picture with my phone (in their new apartment).

With so much going on at home, I hesitated to leave, but we had a trip to New York planned for some time to see the city with the Sowbys and spend a few days at the Hales' cabin on Loon Lake in the Adirondacks, so in September off we went on another adventure! We were in NYC on 9/11 exactly 15 years after the original bombing. It was both powerful and humbling to be there. We saw Times Square, Phantom of the Opera, Chinatown, Little Italy, took the ferry by the Statue of Liberty, went to the New York stock exchange, saw the 9/11 Memorial, the Trinity Church and many many Deli's while experiencing city life before taking the train to Upper State New York and enjoying all the beauty and history there. We are extremely blessed to be able to experience all we have.

NYC on 9/11 2016

Hiked to vistas of Loon Lake and Lake George with Sowbys and Hales.