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Month: June 2020

How Political Should a Writer Be?

Published June 26, 2020 by h. renell

Going through my Twitter feed yesterday, I saw a retweet of an article about writers staying in their lanes, i.e., separating or not even making public their thoughts on politics. It was a well written article, giving advice to those who wished to engage. I was on the side of separation before the stay-at-home orders hit. Not knowing what was coming afterwards.

What has been coming afterwards I am sure is scaring most Americans. Utter lawlessness. It won’t be confined just to the bigger cities.

I wish I could keep my political life and writing life separate, but the days call for a demarcation. In the movie The Patriot, Benjamin Martin votes no in the South Carolina General Assembly to prevent war with Great Britain, until the war comes to his front door.

Now is the time to pray – to do spiritual warfare in the heavenlies. All parts are important, be they small or large. For the writers who want to engage, write. Speak artistically in a poem or short story or novel or essay. God can and will get your writing to whomever He pleases. Just write.

FaithWriting

ArtistsConstitution

Callings Big and Small

Published June 22, 2020 by h. renell

Baruch is not noticed today nearly as much as Jeremiah. Yet they were a team, and Jeremiah could not have prophesied as much without his scribe sidekick.

The lot assigned to them by God was not an easy one. Baruch’s complaining reached God’s ears to which He replied:

You said, ‘Woe to me! The Lord has added sorrow to my pain; I am worn out with groaning and find no rest.’ But the Lord has told me to say to you, ‘This is what the Lord says: I will overthrow what I have built and uproot what I have planted, throughout the earth. Should you then seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them….’”1

Fast forward to the New Testament. The widow gave her two mites-pennies. Not much for her to give, but it was all she had. 2

Both played their parts and are a part of the biblical canon. We are given a specific temperament to carry out our callings, be it big or small. For in God’s eyes it is all a part of His plan.

1 Jeremiah 45:3-5a NIV
2 Mark 12:41-43 NIV

Faith

BibleVerses

Family Ties

Published June 19, 2020 by h. renell

You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

2 Corinthians 3:3 NIV

Many years ago, I had made business-sized cards with this bible verse.

After my mother passed away and I was going through her things, I found the one I had given her in her wallet. This simple act reaffirmed her love for me beyond the grave.

Cherish those that you love, no matter what circumstances you are in right now.

Faith

BibleVerses

Dreams and Visions

Published June 19, 2020 by h. renell

When I started this blog during the beginning stages of the stay-at-home days, I determined to not follow conventional advice on writing blog posts. I am unconventional and spontaneous, and I wanted my blog to be authentic. And as a result, I have the most joy on this one than the others I have had since the mid 1990s.

So here goes a new turn…

I believe that God speaks to us in dreams and visions. Most all of them are for me alone, but the last one I had several days ago I think is for those that have ears to hear.

That is key…ears to hear. The Holy Spirit will tell you if it is for you. I read a lot of prophecies and know most of them are not for me.

In my dream, I saw a hand offer me a cup of hot chocolate.

I pray for wisdom to interpret, and then do research, then let it sit for a while – kind of like when writer’s let their drafts sit for awhile to get perspective. (Make sure to record them right after you wake up, or at least some keywords to jog your memory.)

The hand is a metaphorical representation of God giving me the hot chocolate. My dream symbol book, The Divinity Code, says that hot chocolate means anointing. And the scripture that they use for this is Psalms 23:5 NASB – You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. The last several years have been full of joy, but also full of difficulty. I know this already to be true.

I believe that for those who walk with God in faith, that the best days are ahead. It looks dark and dire, but after the storm comes new beginnings. Before God created the universe, it was chaos. Then He brought in order.

Faith

BibleVersesSolitudeWords

Writers’ Alternatives and the Coming 230 Backlash

Published June 18, 2020 by h. renell

Lately, I have been reading that Twitter may be on its last legs, legally. The government is looking at its 230 immunities of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 being taken away. It could be sued into oblivion. Social media is for some their livelihoods, and when the censorship started, their livelihoods stopped.

Out of all the social media platforms I have used, Twitter is my second choice (WordPress is first – it has a robust follower aspect, if you so choose). I like the fact that you can read other feeds without having to have an account: it is an open platform, unlike FaceBook. You can follow someone and not have to ask, unlike FaceBook. I also have been on Twitter because it is a very popular place for writers to congregate. It is the reason I will stay on Twitter until it is gone.

The concern I have is if it goes the way of the dinosaur – where will the writers congregate? And this applies to FaceBook too because they are also censoring speech. I don’t have a large following, but I do enjoy the people I follow and that follow me. I could live without my social media accounts, but my writing life would be diminished.

Back before social media became popular, most relied on RSS feeds, search engines, and ranking sites. Some still do. Twitter used to have RSS capabilities.

I have tried Parler, Gab, Tumblr, Minds, Pinterst. As far as writing goes, I had the most success on Minds. Writers come with diverse political beliefs. Being part of a site with preaching- to-the-choir tendencies is not something I desire, and I think I am not alone in this. In civil discourse, we can learn from each other.

All this to say, writers need to be seriously considering an alternative plan for social media. From my reading of the conservatives on Twitter, they are for the most part fixing to jump ship.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this in the comments section.

Writing

Computers

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