Food For Thought #11

Feeling like a Failure

Sometimes I feel like a failure. This month, for example, I decided to yet again do Camp NaNo where I would be writing 10,000 words in thirty days. Super easy right? Well, I fell behind really fast because of a family event we had going on but I was fine, until I saw how far ahead all my friends were. I mean, I was just barely getting started at the end of the first week and some of them were halfway done. So, last night I spent a long time writing and got caught up. I was so proud, I wouldn’t be in the losers group after all! Then I saw it again, someone was almost done with their goal and all the accomplishment I had had suddenly felt puny. I mean, I was barely caught up and they were almost done. Why was I even bothering if I couldn’t keep up with other people? What if I finished after all of them, then I would look silly.

Then it hit me; why was I doing NaNo?

Was it to beat out everyone else with how fast I could write? No. It was because I had a story to tell and I wanted to challenge myself to write it faster than I had been.

So why was I so upset? Because I felt like being behind everyone else meant I was a failure.

It’s not.

It doesn’t matter what your behind on, school, word count, homework, cleaning, emails, projects, WHATEVER, its okay! Being behind someone does not make you a failure. It means you’re behind them, period.

In this life, there will always be someone ahead of you, pretty much no matter what you’re doing. But its okay, God has got you right where you need to be, and he’ll help you get where you need to be.

Jerimiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares The Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Your amazing no matter where you are.

-Mikayla-

My life (In as many posts as it takes) #39

Ahh Aprail brings back found memory's. It was two years ago this month that I decided I was going to write in my journal every night so that someday I could look back and see how far I had come. I had had some journals in the past but none of them had been kept up very long. What made me decide to start a constant journal all the sudden? We were about to go to Washionton D.C. on a family trip and I knew I wasn't going to go back for the near future so I wanted to be able to read through and re-live the trip. =D

So, for the past two years I have written at least one page in my journal every night and have not missed a day yet.

I’ve changed in my style from basically a time log to a lot more of my feelings, conversations, along with just the basic happening of the day.

Below is my very first journal with what my handwriting looked like back in 2007 when I first wrote in it.

Below this is a photo of my jurnal now and what my handwriting looks like now.

Do any of ya’ll keep journals? 

-Mikaya-

Food For Thought #10

What are we putting into our brains?

Recently I’ve really been soul searching and praying about what I’ve been putting into my brain. I’m a person who can watch a not so great movie and then shrug off the message, but if I keep watching that same kind of movie, the message starts to creep into my thoughts. 

Now I will honestly admit, I watch a lot of secular movies. Why? Because I enjoy them. No other reason under the sun then they give me enjoyment. Is this wrong? No. But recently I got to thinking; to my personal convictions, it’s alright to watch a secular movie, or read a secular book now and then, but of late secular movies have been pretty much all I’ve been watching. 

You can very easily ask “Why should I not?” when going to watch something that doesn’t glorify God but the real question should be “Why should I?”

As Christians we are set apart by God to do something different then the people around us and while watching a couple movies that are not Christian most likely will never hurt you, it’s not really going to help you either. 

I have watched some secular movies that I felt as a Christian I could see a good message in, so please don’t think I’m saying all of them are bad, I just believe we need to think more before we do put things into our brain. You can always put things in, but you can never take them out.

This same principle applies to all kinds of media, books, music, online, along with movies. 

So, this week I’m challenging myself to ask instead of “why should I not?” asking “Why should I?”

-Mikayla-

Writing Wednesday #5

A project finished

Photo Via Pintrest.com

I'm pretty sure most of you have heard the phrase "a picture is worth a thousand words". Well, I proved that one twenty times over. For the past year, I have been working on writing a book called "Just Your Ordinary Girl" you may remember my previous posts on it. 

One night I was really sick of editing so I searched around on Pintrest, looking for inspiration and decided to randomly pick a photo and write a little bit off of it. I chose the above picture and ending up writing for about three hours to David Archuleta's "Something Bout Love", it happened to be the first time I ever wrote to music with words.  

I wrote about a girl who I hoped people could relate to, a girl who was ordinary, who maybe did some extraodinary things, but was still an ordinary girl. After re-writing the first chapter and adding in a few characters I never would have thought would make their way into this book, I wrote. I wrote on and off on this story until 10:37, March 27 2015 and finished with a novella of 20.016 words. 

This picture was worth 20.016 words to me.

Mandy has changed a bit since I started, shes grown more mature, gotten some backstory I never guessed, and also gained two more books. 

This project has taken me awhile so it was a huge victory to finally write those glorious words "The End". 

Heres a little clip  from the book: 

“Is this the girl?” A deep voice said and I jerked a bit, it was the mugger from the night before, Jason!

“Why would I bring her here if she wasn’t?” My captor replied 

“Bring her along, Matt has been waiting.” Jason’s rich voice echoed through the empty sounded room. 

I was pulled along for what seemed like a long time, my heart pounding the whole way, the same question repeating itself over and over in my mind: What did they want with me?

“Ahh, here we are. How are you doing my friend?” Jason’s voice dripped with sarcasm.

“About as well as can be expected in this prison cell.” 

“Come, come Matt, this is my best room.” 

I heard a halfhearted laugh from Matt.

“Don’t be so defiant Matt, see, I've brought you an old associate of yours.” Jason voice sounded of fake sympathy “Take off the blindfold Ryan.” 

Ryan jerked the blindfold up, causing me to squint into the brightness of the room, lite by a large, high window. The room was small, only about fifteen feet long but half of the room was taken up with large, floor to ceiling bars. I was shoved forward and I lost my footing, falling to the ground right in front of the cell.

I pushed myself up and found myself looking up into the deep, greenish blue eyes of the man I had saved the night before. A glimmer of recognition lite in his eyes as I looked up at him and for a fleeting moment I wished I had never met him. 

“How’d you find her?” Matt said, with a look of disbelief. 

Is there anything ya'll would like to know about this project? 

-Mikayla-

 P.S. Oh, and while were on the subject I just wanted to let ya'll know, I'm doing Camp NaNo starting today and I'm writing a 10.000 word short story. If you'd like to join me, or just message me on the site you can view my profile, here.

My life (In as many posts as it takes) #38

Hey everyone, I really want to apologize for my short or unenthusiastic posts, over the past month I've been working hard on writing a book, getting back on track with school, and going to co-op. Next month should be a lot slower so I should be able to spend more time on my posts. Thank you for putting up with me in the meantime!

This was my favorite!! =D

-Mikayla-