The Story Isn't Over

The moment when 

Your heart stops 

Seeming to drop 

Down inside of you 

And the rotating of the world 

Stops for that second 

It feels like 

Everything's over

The stories done 

Page, chapter, book

Left with a tragic ending 

The world looks different 

Then it did before 

It's hard to keep smiling 

It's hard to get up

You know deep inside 

That God will sustain you

But its hard to believe

When the stories done 

But maybe 

Just maybe 

The story isn't over yet 

Happy Passover everyone

Five Books That Have Impacted Me This Year

Today I wanted to share five books that have impacted me this year. Yeah, I know we're only three months into the year, but I've already read some pretty incredible books! 

#1 

Before Amen by Max Lucado

This amazing book has completely changed the way I pray. It didn't lay out a lot of rules, instead it gave convicting reasons as to why you should pray. Lucado did an amazing job of explaining why we pray.

My full review 

Find it on Amazon || Goodreads

#2

Love Comes Softly by Janette Oke

I don't know why it took me so long to read this book. The whole thing was simply be
autiful. The whole book reminded me of how precious faith in God is, and how gentle that love is. <3

(I would recommend this to readers 15+ due to mature themes)

My full review 

Find it on Amazon || Goodreads

#3 

Beautiful Blue World by Suzanne LaFeur

I almost feel wrong including this book, because I just read it today. Yep. But it was awesome. The strong family theme, and recognizing your worth was amazing. This book surprised me in so many ways.

(Note, this book is not Christian, but is extremely clean)

My full review 

Find it on Amazon || Goodreads

#4 

The Elusive Miss Ellison by Carolyn Miller

I love Jane Austen, so reading this was a treat. I went in expecting a nice light read, and ended up with the beautiful book with deep themes. The message hit home and I found myself loving this book much more then I expected to.  

My full review 

Find it on Amazon || Goodreads

#5 

Your Kingdom Calling by Rachel Starr Thomson

This book was short, but packed full of biblical truth. Rarely have I enjoyed a non-fiction this much. seriously, the whole thing was just amazing. It was very encouraging, and I've got to be honest, I loved how short it was. 

(Just a note, this book is free on Kindle)

My full review 

Find it on Amazon || Goodreads 

So what are some good books you've read this year? 

Got any recommendations for me? I'm always looking for clean Christian reads!

We Could Do Better

We delight

In finding mistakes

We point them out

We triumph over

We say that we

Would never do that

We pick apart books

We bash politicians

We judge musicians

We say they're stupid

For making the mistakes

We say surely

They could have done better

They could have worked harder

They could have given their all

And all the while

We forget

That we weren’t made to judge

Pointing out flaws

Just to triumph over them

Is empty in the end

We could do so much better than this

If only we cared enough to try

I could do better. So, so much better.

What is Going on in My Life

Hello everyone!

I feel like it's been forever since I've just given y'all an update on my life. Long story short: I've been very busy but not accomplishing a lot. Let's go through this by category.

Writing/editing: This week I've been working on editing my story Just Your Ordinary Thief. I was pretty excited when I went into this project, but then I hit a huge section that needs rewriting. That put a damper on my enthusiasm. I've been trying to tackle that, but progress is slow. I've got nearly a fifth of the book to rewrite. But, on the good side, I'm having a lot of fun revisiting these characters. My goal is to get that done before Camp NaNo next month.

Photography: I have been so happy now that spring is here that I get all these nature photography opportunities. One of the goals I've made for this year is to take a photo every day, so that's been kind of interesting to work on. Sometimes the photos are a little on the desperate side (desk, books, phone ext.), but it's also helped me to get out and take more photos.

Social Media: This week I've been working on cutting back on my social media, and it has been great. It is much harder then I expected though. *Cringe* I've started trying to only check my stuff twice a day. It doesn't always work, but it has made me much more aware of how I'm spending my time.





Misc: My brother has been teaching me to drive! I've really been enjoying that. Last night I drove into town for the first time. Since we live out in the country, it was a thirty-minute drive. Stopping smoothly is so much harder then I expected.

I rediscovered my Beauty and the Beast Broadway music, so I've been listening to that a lot lately. <3

So there you go, that's whats been going on in my life. What's up with you? Anyone else working on editing?

Cover Reveal || Tricia Mingerink

Hello everyone! I'm here to help reveal the cover of Tricia Mingerink's new book. Are you ready?

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About the book: 

A prince cursed to sleep.

A princess destined to wake him.

A kingdom determined to stop them.

 High Prince Alexander has been cursed to a sleep like unto death, a curse that will end the line of the high kings and send the Seven Kingdoms of Tallahatchia into chaos. With his manservant to carry his luggage and his own superior intelligence to aid him, Alex sets off to find one of the Fae and end his curse one way or another.

A hundred years later, Princess Rosanna learns she is the princess destined by the Highest King to wake the legendary sleeping prince. With the help of the mysterious Daemyn Rand, can she find the courage to finish the quest as Tallahatchia wavers on the edge of war?

One curse connects them. A hundred years separate them. From the rushing rivers of Tallahatchia’s mountains to the hall of the Highest king himself, their quests will demand greater sacrifice than either of them could imagine. 

Release Date: May 28, 2018

About the author: 

Tricia Mingerink is a twenty-something, book-loving, horse-riding country girl. She lives in Michigan with her family and their pack of pets. When she isn’t writing, she can be found pursuing backwoods adventures across the country.

You can connect with her on Facebook, Pinterest, Goodreads, Twitter, Instagram, and her blog.

Dear Fighters

Hello everyone! I feel like I owe y'all a lot more then just a piece of my writing, but I've been sick all weekend and just don't feel up to much more. Hopefully on Friday I will be able to give y'all an update on what's been going on with my life.

Dear fixers 

Dear doers 

Dear fighters

Work is endless

You may finish something today

But tomorrow it will be back 

You may be accomplished 

But you will never do it all 

You will be working endlessly 

You cannot dig yourself out

Of this endless pit 

You cannot do it all 

Please stop trying to

Please take a break 

Take the world off your shoulders 

And let yourself stop

You may think that’s impossible 

But I know it’s not 

You’re a fighter 

You’ve fought to get the world there 

You’ve fought to keep it spinning 

Now please 

Please 

Give it a break 

Just set the world down 

And rest

You will never fix it all 

You will never accomplish everything 

You will never be perfect 

So please stop trying 

Do what you can 

Do your best 

And leave the rest to God

Please

I Am Ivy

This is a piece of flash fiction I wrote on a plane back in August and I just now brought out of my files.  

I leveled my gun and fired. I didn’t care where my bullet went. No one did. We were all just trying to win this war. The screaming had started at dawn that morning when we started fighting. It hadn’t stopped yet and we were coming up on nighttime. I felt like screaming myself just from having to hear it. 

I took a deep breath and tried to steel myself as I fired again. 

There was a yell directly following my shot. 

Maybe they were right, maybe girls weren't really meant for war. Because at that moment, I was shaken to the core. I wanted to shout or cry. But instead, I did the unthinkable. I jumped over our barricade.  

I could see who I had hit right away. There was a young man lying on the ground right in front of me. 

I didn’t look around me, I didn’t see if anyone was shooting at me. All I could think was that this young man was going to die if I didn’t get him out. 

Why he was different then all the people I shot that day, I didn’t know. But I couldn’t stop myself.

He groaned as I pulled him into a standing position. But he was able to stand with his arm around my neck. He could barely drag himself through the fight with my help . 

I couldn’t go to his army or mine, so we shuffled along until we reached a group of trees, just past the battle. 

I let him down so he was leaning against a tree and then ripped off my jacket. Blood already coated it from where he had bled onto it while I helped him. Now I wadded it up and pressed it against the wound in his side.

His dirty blond hair fell down onto his forehead as he pinched his eyes closed for a moment in pain.

I started trembling as the weight of what I had done came to rest on me. I had just helped the enemy.

But I held the cloth to his side. He needed me. 

I glanced up at his face just as he opened his icy blue eyes. Pain didn’t diminish the brightness of those eyes. 

“Why are you helping me?” He whispered. 

I stared at him, unable to tear my eyes away. 

“I don’t know.” My voice almost broke trying to talk. 

He studied me for a minute. He knew I was from the other side. We both knew. 

I expected him to say something along the lines of how much he hated me for my loyalty. 

But he did the unthinkable. He held out his hand in a gesture of friendship.

“I’m Rome.”

“I am Ivy.”

So, what did you think?

February Highlights

February was pretty awesome, here are my highlights!

I finally finished writing Andrea's Star, which I started writing for NaNoWriMo!! It came out a lot higher word count then I thought it would, which I was happy about. When I sat down to write the ending I got really tired and fell asleep without meaning to. I ended up plotting the ending in my sleep. What's even more cool was that it was actually a pretty good ending!

I enjoyed getting to watch the Olympics, though I only watched the opening ceremony and two events one night. But I did get to see Shawn White win gold, which was cool.

On Valentines day my sister and I were in a hurry, so she dropped me off at the grocery store while she filled the gas tank. I grabbed my flowers and got up to the checkout.... only to discover I was short of the price. I got really discouraged, but was ready to just walk out, when the cashier whipped out her card and covered the rest of it, saying she was glad to do it. It wasn't much, but it was amazing to me.

My mom took me and my sister to the zoo. I hope I never feel to old for that, because it was amazing.

I raked a lot of leaves this month. 

(Why is something this little in my highlights? Well, now that I've carted so many leaves away that I've begun to groan anytime I see leaves, I thought it was worth mentioning. Seriously though, I never want to see dead leafs again.)

I've become the queen of finishing things the night before the deadline. I had two months for one project, and a month for another, and both were finished by pulling late nighters right before they were due.

My family worked our last day at the food pantry we've volunteered at for six years now. 

Spring started to show its self all over the place with flowers, and new leafs! Of coarse, we also have had 80+ degree whether, which has been awesome.

I finished editing my story Autumns Dance, which I wrote for NaNo. I loved that story so much it was fun to go back and revisit it!

Sometimes... Chosen Vessels 

The Journey Begins Tracey Dyck

I Hope You Dance Totally Graced 

Sharing About First Novels A Writers Faith

You Have No Idea and Basic Burning Youth

Dry Soul /Living Water A Purpose and a Promise 

Christian, Lets Start Thinking About Our Actions Elizabeth Anne

So my February was pretty awesome, how was yours?

Bursting With Dreams || Blog Launch

Are you bursting with a dream? Do you long for a place where you can connect with other creatives like you? Well Hailey Hudson has created just such a place. 

The Hardworking Creative launches today, and here is the mission statement: 

My name is Hailey Hudson, and I’m a hardworking creative who inspires other creatives to put in the legwork that’s necessary to make their dreams become their reality.

This is a place where creatives are celebrated. Whether you’re a writer, painter, filmmaker, graphic designer, violinist, dancer, actor, you name it—if you pride yourself on both your creativity and your work ethic, then you are welcome here. If you’re looking for your people, you’ve found them.

At the age of eighteen, I became an author and a freelance writer. As I looked around, I realized I had many friends who were incredibly talented in various creative pursuits and who hoped to make it big—but they weren’t actually doing any work towards their dreams. Creativity is a fantastic thing to have, but if you want to be successful, hard work as equally as important, and that’s the premise that this website was founded on.

Here at The Hardworking Creative, you’ll find monthly success stories from young creatives just like you, plus more exciting content explaining what the lifestyle of a hardworking creative really looks like—tips on marketing, branding, and social media, and more.

This website is the launching pad for your success. So stick around. I can’t wait to watch you succeed.

“To anyone who’s bursting with a dream—come one, come all.” –The Greatest Showman

Head on over and check it out at The Hardworking Creative! This is a site that you will not want to miss!