Family is Important- guest post by Faith Blum

Hello everyone!

I’m so excited that Faith Blum is guest posting today as part of her blog tour for Sing the Wondrous Story.

So without further ado, here is Faith!

Family is Important

Family has always been important to me. I grew up in a wonderful family and know I was blessed to do so. When I started figuring out what kind of books to publish, I knew I wanted to write books that were family oriented. What I didn’t know at the time was that I would eventually come up with a more expansive idea.

I published my first book in November 2013. That series followed two different families as the main characters. As I started planning my next series, I realized something. A book I had written, but not published, many years before could be adapted to fit into this whole thing. The only problem? It was set in 2004.

Then my expansive idea came. What if I followed the families I had already introduced throughout the centuries? First comes Hymns of the West set in the 1870s and 1880s, then Orphans of the West in the 1880s and 1890s. My next series following these families will be set in WWI and WWII and that series is titled Soldiers of the West. At the moment, I don’t have plans for anything set between 1950 and 2004, but that may change by the time I finish the Soldiers of the West series.

After Soldiers of the West, my plan is a contemporary/futuristic trilogy following one young man’s journey and then moving on to his family. None of my families are perfect. In fact, I will quite likely have some very dysfunctional families especially as I move forward in time.

However, through it all, these families are, and will be, learning from their mistakes as often as can be made realistic. No matter how dysfunctional the family, I will always strive to show just how important family is, but more than that, I show how important God is. Without Him, nothing is possible.

Autumn Creativity

It’s autumn. The season for kids going back to school. The season for the leaves to turn orange and for harvest festivals to occur.

But what is so special about autumn for writers?

It’s NaNoWriMo season!

Even if you don’t write something in November, autumn is a great season to collect and store writing ideas for the rest of the year.

Here are 3 ways to unleash your creativity in autumn:

1. Keep it visual. One of the best ways to stimulate creativity is to see something. And of course, you see loads of things everyday. How will you be able to keep those ideas?

• Pinterest boards. I absolutely love Pinterest boards as you can save anything on the go. Not only are they so much fun and inspiring, but they are also really cute too😊

• Take photos. Almost everyone has a phone or a device that can take pictures. Did you lay out sheets of paper in a cool way at work? Take a picture. Do you like seeing your shadow? Take a picture. If you can take it, snap it.

• Watch movies. Let’s face it, when we read a book, it sometimes feels like you have a movie inside your head. Well, why not watch some actual movies? Not only will you have awesome ideas of how characters should look like, but it will also give you some inspiration for story ideas.

2. The Sounds Of Music. Ah, music. The heart of inspiration, in my opinion anyway 😊, . But there are so many songs to choose from! Where do you even start?

• The right stations. Radio stations are great, especially when you’re in the car on your way to school or work. But not every station is suitable for everyone, so make sure that you find the right station for you. For me, you can find me enjoying tunes to Classic FM. For some of my friends, they’ll be listening to a station that I don’t even know of!

• Play that Playlist. Playlists are a great way to choose songs for any mood. You can have a playlist for romance, a playlist for a fight scene, or simply just for encouragement to get you going through the day. Whatever mood you’re in, make that playlist. I highly recommend using Spotify for playlist creating.

• Go to concerts. What better to view creative vibes than going to a concert! There are so many kinds of concerts, each with different atmospheres and feelings. Think about how you feel, and lock it somewhere for you to create something out of it later.

3. Write. That’s right. Just write. Draw. Compose. Whatever you do! How else are you going to place your creativity into action without doing anything?

But what if I don’t feel like it? What if I don’t know where to start? I have too many ideas in my head!

Here are 3 ways to deal with that.

• Creativity sprint. Just set that timer and write as many words as you can. Create a melody as long as you can. Draw a picture for as long as you can. Then when the timer is finished, stop, look at your work, edit your work, and make a goal for your next creativity sprint.

• Get in the mood ! Use the pictures that you found, listen to the music that you love. Just get in the mood! Abbiee Emmons has an amazing video on this which you can click here( you may recognise some of my tips in this video, because she inspired me to make this post 😊): https://youtu.be/dS9xh6Css3Y

• Pray. Seriously. If you are struggling with motivation, just ask God to give it to you. He’s the Ultimate creator, and He loves it when we are creating 😊

How about you?

How are you going to be creative this season?

August 2018 Reflections and September 2018 Resolutions

Hello everyone!

Happy September!

August was quite busy with camp and meeting up with people.

Let’s have a look at August goals

1. Write and submit an article to Project Inspired

I wrote an article… but I’ve been editing it. I’m hoping to submit it this month though.

2. Continue studying for GCSEs

Yes, it was hard work, but I think it will pay off 😊

3. Find some Christian French and Spanish singers to listen to

Sadly, I wasn’t very successful, but I will keep trying!

4. Start learning Romanian for my mission trip to Romania in October!

I have started a little bit, but I need to do more and practice with someone.

5. Compose a song

Yes! It’s really cute, too😊

Now I’m in September!

So here are my goals:

1. Submit an article to Project Inspired

2. Start speaking some Romanian

3. Do exam papers on my GCSE subjects each week.

4. Edit When Martha Rests, my devotional book,.

5. Plan a blog event for October/ November for this blog’s one year birthday( 1 year, guys!)

6. Compose a song

6 goals! Eeep! Hopefully, I can get them all done.

How about you?

How was your August?

How are your goals coming along?