Excuse Me While I Go Scream

 

*screeeeeeeaaaaaaaaammmmmmmmm*

 

IT'S AUGUST. AUGUST. AUGUST!

 

Where did the time go? Last I checked it was still the beginning of summer and I was shocked that the year was five months in.

 

No. Actually, I remember February, and thinking ..."gosh it's February already!"

 

So let me repeat.

 

Where did the time go?

 

Seriously, people, how did we manage to get more than halfway into twenty-thirteen so quickly?

*sigh* Okay, okay, I'll calm down. Just going through ETTS, that's all. What's that? Oh sorry... Extensive traumatic time-lapse syndrome.

 

 

As you've probably noticed, I've not been very faithful in posting on this blog.

 

That's actually very intentional.

 

Okay, now just hear me out for a minute before you get all mad at me.

 

A good friend of mine had mentioned to me that she was going to stop blogging so that she could spend more time with her family and doing the things God had called her to do.

 

This made me think. I was already pondering if I was spending too much time blogging. I mean, my life is insanely busy and my energy is constantly being pulled a gazillion different directions. It's hard enough, WITHOUT four blogs to manage, getting everything done. That's just the truth.

 

It's very hard. I think if I could master time management to a T, then 99% of my stress would be gone.

 

I did this several years ago, I can do it again. It's time to cut stuff from the schedule.

Unnecessary things. Sadly, blogging is one of those.

 

Now don't get me wrong I'm not abandoning it completely. I think there is a great opportunity in blogging to witness and minister to people. I'm just going to do a LOT less of it. Especially here on Apassionata.

 

Please don't hate me. *sniffs* Please.

 

 

I don't know if this will help to distract y'all's attention from the news at hand, but here are two of my most recent drawings.

 

The first is entitled "Archer of the Cabra".

 

 The second is of my character Rosyar from Rehoboam. (Remember that snippet I posted a bit back? Yes, this is that dude.)

 

I like both drawings pretty well. Next up on the sketch agenda, several character portraits for some fellow writing friends. I've just been lazy about getting to them. Oh yeah, and I still have to draw this lilacs picture for my aunt.

 

 Anyway. Life has been good, despite the chaoticness of it. God's mercies never fail. Never.

 

So, what's been new with y'all?

 

 Random question: If you were going to a line dance, would you rather dress in a retro/50's theme/style, or western/country-esque? Yes this is a totally legit question.

 

Life Is A Balance

 

I don't know about y'all, but lately my life has been full of reminders.

 

Reminders of how precious time is, and how little of it there really is. Reminders that my childhood is slipping away; and that soon adulthood shall be at my door, beckoning me into its world.

 

This isn't a bad thing., no not at all. Sometimes however I let it drag me down.

I mean, seriously...the time passes so ridiculously quick, does it not?! If you think on it too much it can get you in a mindset of serious depression.

 

If you think on it too much.

And forget to be thankful for the days you've already been blessed with.

 

 

Something else that's been on my heart lately has been the fact that so easily, things in life can get out of balance.

 

One particular activity takes center stage while more important things slip to the back burner.

 

Priorities get misplaced and suddenly you're wasting time on something completely NOT on the schedule.

Unfortunately, it happens oh-so-easily. Without even thinking about it, I manage to do exactly what I

'preach against', so to speak.

 

Lately, I'll admit that I've struggled with misplaced priorities. I've gotten on Facebook and spent way too long there - whether it be chatting with friends, commenting on other peoples' posts or even just scrolling the newsfeed. I've given it too many of my hours, and for what outcome? How will spending so much time on social networking sites benefit me - or others - in the eternity to come?

 

When I spend too much time "connecting" on Facebook, what better, more fruitful activities could I be doing instead?

 

I've also been considering how much time I spend blogging. I currently own four different blogs, and contribute regularly to at least two of them. This has occupied a good portion of my time as well. At least with blogging, I've told myself, I can see visible end-products. I can hope that my posts have touched y'all's hearts and pointed you to the Savior. I can hope that I was able to pass on useful information which might benefit you readers.

 

Still.

 

Which is more important - blogging about God, or actually spending time with Him?

 

Please note - I aim not to condemn anything or anyone, but only to raise some heartfelt questions.

 

If I were to say nothing else but a few more words, I'd say this: Life is a balance.

Everything we do, every choice we make - it's all about balance. You can upset the balance by misplacing priorities and putting important things on the back burner while more trivial items get center stage; or, you can maintain proper balance by making sure the more vital things are accomplished first. And if these things do get accomplished first, everything else will fall into place.

 

Once, several years ago, I was in a season of almost-too-abundant (wait...who am I kidding? My whole life has been way-too-abundantly blessed!!) blessing and I puzzled over why things were that way. Why had God given me such favor?

My mom gave me an interesting answer. "Because you've been putting Him first in your life". (paraphrased)

 

I still believe that all my years have been blessed incredibly beyond what I deserve. I do not exaggerate when I say incredibly blessed. It's just truth plain as that.

However, some days you feel the presence of God more than others. There were days when I felt His presence so incredibly often. I had joy that was indescribable. Sure, I had days when I fell out of whack and didn't give Him the time He deserved, but overall that joy was immense and oh-so-wonderful.

 

I still experience this joy now, but sometimes I wonder if I am subtly pushing my Creator away by the things I do - or don't do - in my days. The choices I make for how I spend my time affect my relationship with Christ. My choices affect my future.

 

Choices are so important. And it's all the more vital that we make the right ones. ANYTHING can be overdone, or had too much time/energy/thought put into it. Anything can be placed out of balanced, prioritized wrongly. Anything that is, besides God and His Word.

So, I know this was a rambling kind of post. Hopefully it wasn't boring or preachy-sounding to you. I have just had these thoughts on my mind and felt led to share them with y'all.

 

On a lighter note, summer is here and I can't wait to go to the beach in a few weeks. Above is a collage of photos from 4-5 years ago at our beach hotel we visit every year for our annual family reunion.

 

This one (yes, I edited it and put a filter on it *grins sheepishly*) was from 3 years ago.

 

Am I the only one who is loving this jumping-in-photos thing? My brothers and I did the whole shebang before it even got popular, as evident above. ^_^ I hope we can take some more fun jumping pictures this year too.

 

What are you looking forward to about summer?

 

Soli Deo gloria,

Ambition Is My Middle Name {15 goals for 2013}

Some people tell me I am too ambitious.

. Some people have told me I was adventurous because of that ambitious nature, and I think they meant it as a compliment.

Either way, I'll agree with them, I am ambitious and that's just how I have always been. It's what makes me me. It's how I work and operate. And even though it may cause me to be in a constant scramble 24/7 to get everything done, I couldn't imagine living any other way.

One part of being ambitious is setting goals...and lots of them. Every new year's, I tend to do this. Dozens of goals which you end up not really covering completely, but ones you set with high hopes, thinking, "Oh yeah. Of course I'll get this done by the end of the year." Anybody relate?

Well, I thought I'd share with you people some of my goals for this year. I won't go into exhaustive detail, to spare you, because...well.. I'm still guilty of that creating-dozens-of-goals syndrome. *bites lip*

1. Become a stronger Christian, fall ever more in love with my Savior.
2. Spend more time with my family, get to know them better.
3. Hand out more tracts/witness to people more.
4. Run 20 miles.
5. Get a six-pack. (Okayy, you were probably snickering as you read that, but hey. With work, it can be done.)
6. Finish "The Rebels of Florida". I MUST.
7. Become the strongest and fittest physically I have ever been in my life.
8. Finish my Creation Worldview course.
9. Write in my journal every day.
10. Memorize a Bible verse a week.
11. Spend less time on Facebook and Pinterest. (the latter, especially xP)
12. Get up earlier, go to bed earlier.
13. Become proficient in archery and knife throwing.
14. Develop my herbalism/natural healing knowledge and skills
15. Make 2013 the best year of my life!

What are some of the goals you've set for this year?

Blessings,

Immersed in Disaster, Drowing in Calamity {WriterlyWednesday}

  --

Sometimes I wonder, will I ever see you again

Can't even remember how long it's been

My head is spinning, my heart broke long ago

And where you are, if only I could know

If only I could know, if only I could know

We've been immersed in disaster, drowning in calamity,

And sometimes I wonder, if this is all a dream

We've been through the fire, the darkness has come

What I wanna know is, can this battle be won?

Can this battle be won, can this battle be won

(From a song I'm currently writing for Fugitive)

---

Well, Wednesday is once again upon us! Can you believe it's already mid-December? It's mind blowing how times flies these days.

Speaking of time, who doesn't like ways to help manage time better, and get more done in your day?

In writing, time can be very important. Especially if you're partaking in a contest or have set an ambitious goal to complete. Last month, dozens of young authors competed in NaNoWriMo, a contest that most of you reading this probably already know about, and maybe were in, yourselves. (For those of you who don't know what NaNo is- Basically, you have one month to write a 50,000 word novel. Now, that's real ambition, no?)  Obviously, only so much can be done in 24 hours, 30 days, 12 months. And time only seems to be picking up its pace, so we often feel left in the dust.

Time management is invaluable, and something I'm still trying to learn and master. It's hard. Another thing that is invaluable, is productivity in what you do. To complete your goals, productivity and time management go hand in hand are are absolutely vital.

I tend to get side-tracked when I'm on the computer and trying to write. Of course, it doesn't help that I am very scatterbrained, either. With Facebook, Pinterest, Youtube and all the many, many distractions on the web, being productive while trying to write can be very difficult. You can force yourself to ignore the distractions, which is really what it all comes down to. And an awesome way to do this is something I just discovered the other day.

What is it? *drum roll please* Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr......

www.WriteorDie.com

This program is pretty amazing. You can get it for iPad or desktop, but both options require forking over $10 so I opted for the free, online version which suits my purposes equally well.

What exactly is Write or Die and how does it help with productivity in writing?

So you have this screen which you type in.You can set either a word goal, time goal, or both, and the program lasts until you meet either goal. As long as you keep writing/typing, everything is fine. Butttt...as soon as you stop, that changes. Depending on what level you have Write or Die set at, different consequences occur. For example, on "Normal", when you stop typing, after a number of seconds a highly annoying, obnoxious sound starts playing, and does so until you start typing again.

On "Easy", if you remain inactive after a couple seconds, a little box pops up, reminding you to keep writing.

On "Kamikaze", (probably my favorite level) things can a little crazier. If you fail to keep typing/writing, you are only given a mere few seconds before the screen turns red and your writing actually starts unwriting itself. Yes, that can be pretty scary to observe. Your words methodically disappearing on the screen, one by one.

On all 3 levels, during inactivity, and building up to the 'consequences', the screen will turn a light pink and gradually progress into a deep red.

I find this program useful for keeping me focused 100% on the project I'm working on. If you don't devote 100% attention, you get the consequences. If you are like me, an extremely easily distracted writer, you need to try this. It may very easily help change that problem.

Not to forget, it's also extremely good for writing quickly, either for word wars, or just to get the words out swiftly in a specified amount of time. I will point out that I do not use Write or Die for finalized writing. Because of the constant time prompts, it forces you to write with no breaks for thinking long and hard on your sentences and word choices. So I would recommend this for creating rough drafts from which you then copy to your word processor and expound upon.

Hope y'all are having a blessed week so far!

In Christ,