The corn harvest is done!
Hubby and I started this morning picking the corn from the garden and cutting down the stalks. We shucked corn and ended up with this:
 |
| The taller container here was raw corn waiting to be cooked. The other pans were the cooling pans. You can also see a couple bags of corn in one of the Rubbermaid containers. |
Edits are progressing very well on Book 20, almost too well. I'll need another round after I finish this current round.
I really like the story of Zaer and Shen and some brief glimpses of their adventures together, but I still had some rewriting that leaves me thinking I need one more editing round before it's ready.
Very soon, though! After this, it'll be back to writing... starting Book 23. I'm getting close to the end.
Thanks for reading!
I think it's time.
Time to announce the BIG project that's been in the works that I couldn't reveal. I was (metaphorically) biting my tongue hard.
I started a new company. This company now has a fully functional website that had a few bugs shaken out in a slow rollout. Prior experience has taught me that websites always need a slow rollout for this reason. And we found some. My website developer for this project has fixed the few issues uncovered and added a spiffy feature I hadn't even considered. I've had some practice with the admin side of things and am getting the hang of managing this.
Readers here shouldn't be surprised to see the St. Benedict medal cross on the bottom of the new site. And if you're not a regular reader, you probably wouldn't even realize what it is or care.
It is finally ready for a full reveal, a passion project that has been waiting years to happen. Now, it's real...
Go to spotlightonindiesff.com to see the finished site with the first books already listed.
I'll be adding books myself of works that I want to promote, but authors can submit their own SFF books to be featured on the site.
ps--I wanted to keep this completely separate from my author site, so I am using a different website developer. We have so much talent in this town! Both of them are great!
The editing on Book 20 slowed a bit with an unexpected early finishing of the big project.
I still can't say what that other special big project is. It's gone into the beta testing and tweaking stage. I've selected a few trusted individuals to provide their feedback.
But now that it's to this point, I can switch gears to focusing on editing again. I have a week and a half to make my goal. I'll be digging in to finish that and get Book 20 published.
It'll be a while yet before the big project is ready for a public announcement, but it's going to be great.
Stay tuned!
I am close to getting sick of fresh garden peas. Yes, even for those of us who love fresh peas, we can reach our saturation point.
Around a year ago, I had a lot of peas put away in our freezer, along with some other frozen foods from our garden... until the door of the upright freezer wasn't shut properly and stayed open overnight. Everything thawed. I discovered that mess the next morning when going into the garage to head to work. We lost a LOT of work and food last year, including all the peas I had picked and shelled and measured and bagged.
I've been waiting to restock that. This year, I planted different peas, but they're good and they are indeed mildew resistant. I had always been losing my 5-6 ft. peas (we give them fences to climb) by this time. I was low on those, so this year, I ordered new peas from Gurney's, and they were sold as mildew-resistant. They are. They're short, however, only 24-30" tall. But, boy, do they produce! Not as much as the other plants, but they haven't stopped, so I've been able to refill what was lost.
We also learned from that loss two things: 1) Don't put the kids' preferred foods in the upright freezer, and 2) put a lock/latch on the door to make sure it can't open. Hubby put a child safety lock on the upright, so it's not a locking lock but a safety lock to keep little kids out of a fridge. When we secure it each time we close the door, we can be sure that door will stay shut.
And, we learned that putting the bagged frozen garden produce into large, stackable Rubbermaid containers help us make a lot better use of the space in the upright freezer. The upright is great for being able to see everything and not have to dig around, but it does have that door-closing issue. Putting bags into bins really helps to keep it organized. AND, if it ever does have a great meltdown again, that will reduce the mess!
When a Starfire shard calls out to Nya in desperation, she immediately transports the Iludrin to a world where they discover game hunters.Afraid that the hunters are there for the Keepers, Nya and L'Ni, with an escort of Altorin, are taken to the surface by Zaer and Shen on the Cartegos. There, they find one of the small hunter vessels, but no one is present. While the hunters are away, Shen has an idea to disable it. However, when one of the local creatures attacks, the ship, with Shen on it, crashes over a cliff into the sea and sinks beneath the surface.The hunters aren't alone, however. Zaer and the others are forced to escape the world with the shard, but what arrives reveals that the creatures of that world were not the only ones being hunted.
Since I haven't done so in a while and was cleaning out pictures, I thought it might be fun to share some of the most recent pics of the cats. I'm also taking a break from editing Book 20 of Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds. The first round of edits is halfway done and different than most first rounds of edits--I'm hitting the ground running as if already in my usual second round of edits.
Anway, here's a series of cat pics for the animal lovers:
 |
| The old boy has become pretty tolerant of Bilbo. |
 |
| a rare moment of our torbie tolerating being close to one of the boys (torties/torbies are always girls) |
 |
| Bilbo content in daddy's arms |
 |
| The two tuxedos (blue and brown) bird watching |
 |
| They love their catio, which has an opening so they can freely move in and out between the house and the catio. Only the two big boys--the old Siamese and Bilbo--lay in the hammocks. |
 |
| The trio of oldsters. They love the cat cabinet (which was designed for litter boxes but which became their toy box and also their window ledge, with a pet pad added for comfort). |
Bilbo has fully settled in. He's been with us for over eight months and it's like he's always been here. Ironically, the one cat that liked him least--the oldest, our Siamese--is the one usually snuggling next to him, albeit reluctantly. Nevertheless, the Siamese is the most likely to allow Bilbo to lay next to him.
And Bilbo is a daddy's boy (the person holding him in the one pic).
 |
| Spoon theory is a metaphor describing the amount of physical or mental energy that a person has available for daily activities and tasks, and how it can become limited. The term was coined in a 2003 essay by American writer Christine Miserandino. |
Offer it up to God: These issues I've lived with for many years were the best thing to happen to me, and I can imagine the look on your face while you read that because I've seen it when I tell people in person. The health issues transformed my life. They gave me a new perspective on appreciating the life God gave me and forced me to rely on God, where I, in my ignorant hubris, used to think I had control. It was a process, but I now have a much closer relationship to Jesus by aligning my suffering to His. I've learned to more fully trust in God, who has power over everything. I can only work with what He allows me to have.
As a Catholic, I've come to see these as mortifications that He chose for me. I don't have to go looking for them. These health issues are my penance, my offerings for my sins and the sins of others. The best part is knowing that God will transform the offerings of my suffering to pour graces on others, just as Christ's Passion and Crucifixion gave us the grace of redemption. Whether people who receive those graces accept them or not is another matter. All we can do is align our sufferings to that of Our Lord, even the littlest thing. The tiniest inconvenience or suffering is all it takes. It doesn't have to be big health issues.
Whenever something comes up, pray something like "I offer this [suffering] to you, Lord, for [whatever grace you want someone specific or a population in general to receive]." It doesn't have to be a long prayer, although I like to use the Fatima Sacrifice Prayer. If you're unsure about the last part, cut it short: "O My Jesus, I offer this for love of Thee, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for sins." The point is to offer one's sufferings and prayers to God and he will transform those into beautiful graces for others as Christ did for all sinners from the beginning to the end of time. It gives one's suffering purpose, accepts God's will over one's life, and is a way to "pay it forward" spiritually.
I'm finishing up the final details of Book 22. I "finished" the final stinger scene but have a few details that I've thought of adding and just need to figure out how to fit them in so they best fit the story. It's sort of a developmental edit before I put it aside to work on Book 20.
I've also been reading through the earlier books of the series a chapter at a time (while on the treadmill) and am into book 13. SMH... Oy! I hate finding plot holes. I found a big one, sort of. It looks big to me now but I had kind of spackled it over at the time. It doesn't appear so smooth now, though, so I'm working on how to adjust that with as minimal explanation as possible. I think I have the right idea. It doesn't need much, but it needs something. At least it's not a big oops like I found in Book 6.
And for the final three books, I have also been working out those plots. The surprise development that came about at the end of Book 22 gave me a tool for the final book, so I'm keeping that.
Because of the extra attention to details for the final books of this series and wanting to get some of the details down now, I'll be pushing the release of book 20 into August.
It will be worth the wait when I take my time and plug in the details for the series ending.
Plus I will have some exciting news for readers and authors of indie SFF in the upcoming months. 😁 I'm putting something together that I've wanted to do for at least a couple of years, but the idea was never quite right and needed time to mature. That idea finally blossomed this past month (like my new roses) and everything is coming together. Say prayers that this is God's will to happen, because I'll be investing a lot of my own money to get started (can't quit the day job, not that I was going to, but, well... you get the idea). It has the potential to really grow into a nice little side business, hopefully by the time I finish the Forgotten Worlds series.
Thanks for reading!
And stay tuned for more details to come!
Recently, I was sick (writing delays) and then had an idea for something I had been wanting to do for a few years, but now I have a better plan to make it happen--a small side business that could eventually grow into something more. Those have caused some delay in finishing Book 22 by taking my focus off it.
Anyway, aside from the fact that Book 22 is around 51,500 words and very close to being done, it's not getting quite done. There are some scenes I want to write before finishing this stinger scene. (Yes, the final scene in the works, so VERY close to the end!) I can't quite get myself to finish the stinger scene until I write out some of the other scenes, not all of which will be in Book 22.
Rather, I want to write these scenes related to Book 22 to insert into Book 23 or 24, likely as flashbacks. Book 22 is at the point that there are important details that don't fit into the main plot but would be good to include somewhere. I had an idea like this earlier in the series and by the time I would have implemented it, I no longer had the interest, although the replacement turned out for the better. This is different, however, so I'm not making that mistake again.
I've also been considering the final three books and how I want to set up the action that needs to take place. The final book will be the culmination of all of the series in facing off against the bad guys with some huge revelations and major action. Of course, some revelations about the Paxons and Issan will finally come to light in these last books for the conclusion to be a satisfying ending.
There are some changes yet to come that may or may not be expected, depending on how discerning of a reader one may be, although something in Book 22's ending did surprise me. It fits and is consistent with the canon established in the original Starfire Angels series, although I could just as well cut it out and it never happened. It adds a certain full-circle-ness to one aspect of the series, though.
Anyway, that's where things are. What I write now to use in the last three books is less writing to do then, although that doesn't mean they wouldn't be rewritten. It just means I have something ready to use.
Essentially Book 22 is done, but I'm pre-writing some scenes for the last three books before getting into editing Book 20. I want to get the ending just right.
Thanks for reading.
 |
| My first rose blossom of the three rose bushes I planted less than a month ago! |
I've had a lot on my mind lately, and it's a mixed bag of emotions.
Family matters:
It's been rough for us since Friday evening. My father-in-law (and I love him and my mother-in-law dearly) is dying. Since he was checked into the hospital Friday, he's lasted longer than originally expected, but we know there will be a funeral very soon. I get teary thinking of the situation. I've known my in-laws for nearly twenty-five years; although at that early stage they were only potential in-laws since hubby and I weren't yet even engaged at that point. They accepted me readily and have always been welcoming. FIL was a farmer most of his life and always had a lot of advice about any construction projects for the home or for gardening issues. He loved to woodwork, and we have some of his handy and/or decorative projects, including a paper towel dispenser attached under the kitchen cabinets and stained to match the color perfectly.
It's been difficult and I try to stay busy or I get choked up like the sisters-in-law. It must be a woman thing. Hubby and his brother are keeping it together, although so is my mother-in-law, but she's had a long time to prepare for this. It wasn't unexpected, but it did progress suddenly quite fast.
Writing:
I have been getting writing done and am down to the final two scenes now of the story. Yay! The story came together perfectly with an ending that ties into the opening fun scene but is very serious by the end incident. There's a discovery that will add to understanding the Issan a bit more, and the Inari get more involved, especially since one of the discoveries is an abandoned, hidden Inari outpost similar to Kurtuz but set up so that it has remained undisturbed. It wasn't intended to be abandoned and bears a grim reason.
The book is currently 47K words, so past the point I thought I'd finish. Now, I'm guessing it'll be closer to 50K words in the first draft. The writing is somewhat keeping my mind off of FIL.
Progress is being made towards the final series ending.
Roses:
And just as my FIL is dying, my first rosebud is opening. I don't doubt he would have enjoyed seeing this, being the gardener that he was. I planted three bushes in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Holy Trinity (She is the child of the Father, spouse of the Holy Spirit, and mother of God the Son).
The first plant with buds developed three buds, which is perfect. All three buds are developing and all three plants are taking off with leaves; two plants actually have buds, including the one now blooming. The first one started budding within a week of being transplanted, which is miraculous, but I don't doubt Our Lady of the Rosary had something to do with that.
That's my life right now. I am writing, and it's helping me to take my mind off the death of someone special.
God bless you and your loved ones! Treasure every moment.
Thanks for reading.
This is my single favorite Bible quote. It encompasses everything about the faith and true freedom--from sin, from corruption, from worry about this world. In the Spirit of the Lord is a true sense of freedom like nothing else you can imagine, but it requires obedience to God. The best part is that, when you love God fully, you want to obey every edict He has set-- to please Him--and all of that is upheld in the fullness of the truth. You will only find true freedom by strict obedience and humility to God.
But... Happy U.S. Independence Day! It is still a great worldly cause to be independent of corrupt governments like what America suffered under British rule when it was founded. Many of our country's founders were Christians (read this tidbit about George Washington) and even stated that our Constitution only works in a society based on faith in God. It only fails when we kick God out of society. Those who are disappointed in this country need God more than anyone, which fits perfectly with 2 Corinthians 3:17.
 |
Writing:
In writing updates, I had some setbacks. I really need to quit posting when I get close to finishing. It never fails that something comes up and I can't get into writing the way I should. My stage of life and chronic illnesses love to pull the rug out from my plans, along with other distractions.
Writing slowed right after my last update but in a good spot. I'm at 43K words on Book 22, but the climax got a bit more complicated than I had anticipated. I also wanted to be sure no plot holes or inconsistencies existed, so that meant a bit different action than I was expecting. I'm hoping that only about three or four more scenes are left, and those will be somewhat short as events are wrapping up. Maybe this weekend I can finish so I can go on to editing Book 20 so that can be published soon.
Horse time:
If you think writing is bad, that's nothing compared to my horse. Either we have heat, smoke, or rain for weather OR the weather is perfect but I don't have the time or don't feel good. I made it out to see Buddy recently, after three weeks away. But after nearly ten years together, I called his name and his head lifted and he looked; no other horse looked. He knows the sound of my voice. That makes me think of the gospel quote of Jesus - “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me" The way Buddy responds in hearing my voice, even after some time away, gives me a different perspective of what Our Lord said. That's a discussion for another time, though.
The good thing is that Buddy is at a boarding facility in a pasture with other geldings. He doesn't have any special supplement, health, or training needs. He can be a pasture pet. Besides, someone would say something if he had a problem, but he's a pretty durable, stocky guy with very little athletic ability, which is what I love best about him.
Buddy is perfect for my age. He doesn't buck or rear. At worst, he spooks, but I've learned how to minimize that risk. I give him a calming supplement first thing before I do anything else, so it has time to work into his system. I've learned that a pad that doesn't press on his withers alleviates some tension for him (by giving him more comfort). And I found a sort of horse Tums from Chewy that sooths any stomach issues like ulcers, at least temporarily. Pain will make any horse more sensitive, especially ulcers.
When I was out this past Saturday, I rode him. I hadn't ridden in about two months, but with him, it doesn't matter. He's still just as good as the last time. It had stormed the night before (quite a night with major natural fireworks show, hail, and something like 13 tornadoes that mostly hit in fields and pastures or didn't touch down; we had rotating clouds above our house, but I was praying the Rosary the whole time and nothing hit us or the boarding facility). What rain fell at the boarding facility left the outdoor arenas wet, so I rode in the grass, not going too far down the road. Buddy is most comfortable when he can see his herd or at least horses he knows, and I didn't have anyone else to ride with. It was fun and light.
Hopefully the gaps between don't go as long from this point on, but we'll see how summer goes.
That's it for now.
Have a wonderful July 4 holiday, U.S.A.!
The below fits with the above quite well:
Book 22 of Forgotten Worlds is nearly finished.
I am at the climax and have just a couple of chapters to go, maybe 5K words max. It's currently at 40K, the minimum for novel length, so this is perfect. It will be right in the target length that I set for these books. Some have grown longer, but most are around 45-50K words in length.
I've had some issues with writing Book 22, but those were resolved with amazing insights. It turned into another great addition to this series, although I notice L'NI kind of taking over. It makes sense, given his involvement with Nya and his past as one of the enemy, but Nya kind of took a side seat to his presence. She still gets her main story, however.
After I finish this book, the work will only get more difficult--putting it all together for a series finale that makes the wait and dedication to reading it all completely satisfying. The final three books will be the toughest to plan out and write. I know the ending. I just am not quite sure of the details to get there, but that's not unusual. I'll figure it out.
It's been quite a journey writing this series and even more fun re-reading it all, but in another year or a bit more (depending on the lengths of the final three books and the planning and issues that might come up in the first drafts), I'll be done with writing Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds. The final few books will see plenty of editing before they're ready. With Book 25, it's done, and I have the title for that. The two before that, I don't know yet.
I can't believe I'm so close to finishing. This has been a HUGE project for me. When I started writing, I never planned a series, and certainly never one like this; but readers asked for more in the Starfire Angels universe, and I loved what I had created, so I continued with it. It has become something I never would have thought possible but a project that I've loved for over seventeen years so far, since the first spark hit me for an angel story like none other at the time. By the time I'm done, it'll be a good chunk of my life devoted to this universe.
Lastly, and back to the update, I want to see if I can do something better for the cover image of Book 22. The more I look at it, the less happy I am with how that image turned out. The general theme is good, but the overall style of the ruins, not so much.
So, that's what's coming up. I'm excited to finish this and present Book 20 to you when it's ready.
Thanks for reading!
I was stuck, stuck, STUCK! As if I'd fallen into quicksand and was only sinking further. The more I tried to walk through it, the deeper I sank.
I could not do a thing of what I had expected... for a week! My mind was completely at a halt. And I had been doing so well with the writing on Book 22 up to that point.
A couple of days ago, I finally escaped.
I realized I needed a different POV scene. I kind of knew, but I didn't know how.
The answer only came after lots of prayer and my scheduled adoration time. I had been so completely blocked in writing that I said to the Lord (interiorly) in front of the Blessed Sacrament--paraphrasing--if you want me to write this to serve you, I need you to make it clear that it's your will, not just mine. (I know that anything promoting sin (i.e. deeply romantic or sexy scenes or gratuitous violence, occult, etc.) does not come from the Lord, so I do exercise discernment.)
He came through and showed me a glimpse at that time of the way out of the mire into which I had fallen. The next time I sat to write, the scene I needed just flowed out onto the document effortlessly, by the grace of God. It was an antagonist POV that added a layer to the story that I hadn't even considered!
Eucharistic adoration isn't where I go for writing ideas. It's where I've had wonderful encounters with Jesus, my guardian angel, and the Holy Spirit; but I'll take writing inspiration, if that's what He wants to give me. Generally, I'm there just to be with Jesus Christ, our Lord, in the Holy Eucharist exposed in a monstrance, and I pray for others; and sometimes He provides insights that completely blow me away. And when I bring a trouble like this to Him, and it's the right time, He gives me something I want.
Anyway, I'm happy to report that the 35K I have written on Book 22 is moving along again after a week of a complete block.
Since I managed that, I chose my next challenge (after watching a talk by Monsignor Rossetti, whose mention of the Blessed Virgin Mary being shown with roses (hence, the Rosary) inspired me).... ROSES! In my devotion to Our Lady of the Rosary and because it's perfect for an area near the house that gets lots of sun and has been an eyesore of nothing, I decided to try growing roses as my next project.
Now, we live in zone 4 for growing, so finding the right plants can sometimes limit us, but I found a beautiful variety from Heirloom Roses called Prairie Harvest. It's a faintly yellow color that would look perfect next to our green siding. This shrub rose is supposed to endure winter, so I hope the money I spent and the time that we'll put into establishing them will be worth it.
This is a new challenge, but I'm up to it. I only hope the plants are too, because a full bloom of rose bushes would look beautiful near the house where there is nothing else to see on that side, which faces the road when you approach our house. So, it needed something more than the trellis with the grapes, which is about twenty feet away.
I'll post a separate update on the writing.
God bless!
Summer is here. It came pretty fast, but everything goes faster as you get older.
Life and weather, and dangerous smoke from Canadian wildfires (last weekend was awful!)... combined to keep me from seeing my horse for longer than I would have liked. Yesterday, I finally went to see him again. He's in a pasture at the boarding facility, has fresh water and friends and gets checked on, so I don't have to worry. He's a tough boy and knows how to cope.
I trimmed his hooves, which were just starting to get long but not terrible and had no chipping or cracking yet. The big issue was a bunch of ticks under his anus (and, I suspect, the same with other pasture horses who were rubbing and rubbing to no relief). My poor guy was miserably irritated by a cluster of ticks. They are terrible this year! I doused them and the rest of him in a strong bug repellant before trimming his hooves and managed to find someone who wasn't squeamish about ticks to pull them all off. Buddy was so relieved afterwards and almost fell asleep with no more flies or ticks irritating him. He enjoyed the process of having the ticks removed too; his expressions through it were hilarious. 🤣
I didn't ride him. I knew I'd be sore after trimming hooves, and riding after that long would only compound my soreness. I started feeling it last night and still feel achy today. I gave Buddy treats, love, and a hoof trimming. He enjoyed that. No work. He's a pasture pet, but he enjoys it and is good when I do get on. Since I'm not competing, we can take it easy. I hope to get out more regularly, but then stuff happens, some of it the same stuff that interferes with my writing.
I thought only male cats had issues with bladder crystals.
Nope.
We noticed our old girl (13 years) had bloody urine. Our oldest cat (male) as a kitten did that and had to be put on a special diet for a while, then grew out of it before developing other issues that required him to be on an even more restrictive diet. Boy cats have narrow urethras and are more prone to crystal issues. But female cats can have urinary crystal problems too. I didn't expect that. They just don't have the same trouble with blocked urethras that boys do. A blocked urethra happened to the other old boy (third oldest) several years ago, and he would yowl while in the litterbox and continually lick his sheath area. That clued us in then that he also had crystal issues, but he was already in later maturity when it became an issue for him.
Now, we have three cats who have to be on special food. Only the newest is free to eat anything... so far.
The good news is that our girl, for as old as she is, has healthy kidneys and no infection. None of our kitties are diabetic. They may not like the special foods for their issues, but they're healthier and happier than the alternative. A day after switching to the special foods given to the old boys, she was already getting back to being her chipper self (*sarcastically speaking* - she has tortitude in full!). She was playing again, instead of grumping around in pain. I expect this will clear up quickly for her.
We only knew she was having issues because of a couple of times that she urinated outside the litterbox and it was bloody. It was difficult to confirm which cat it was initially because we have four, but the boys have never gone outside the litterbox. Still, we had to wait until we could observe it so we wouldn't be paying for multiple cats to unnecessarily be taken to the vet.
We caught it and only had to change her diet. She's already doing better, so yay!
That is the title I'm sticking with on Book 22 of Forgotten Worlds. The word count is around 30K now and I'm hoping to finish by the end of the month, but that only holds up if life doesn't get in the way.
I still need to figure out a cover, but I know what would work. I just have to find the right image, or multiple images and compile it. It may take some Photoshop work to get something more representative of this story.
Since I read through Forgotten Worlds books 1-10, I fixed some things that I couldn't leave alone. (Book 6 was a mess, like the final edits didn't save or got overwritten until this update. I'm still beside myself since discovering that in the read-through this past year because the bad version was the one that had been available for a few years.)
I love reading my books, but I always see something to tweak. I started reading as a refresher and knew there would be some fixes. Updates have been uploaded for the individual ebooks. I just need to update the print files. I have the print collections for this series unavailable until the updates are ready. It hasn't been a big priority, since print doesn't usually sell for me, and I hate formatting those.
It's something I do plan to finish this summer, at least for Collections 1 and 2 of Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds. I'm still working my way through books 11-15 when I have time. Once those are done, I'll re-release Collection 3 as well.
--------------
That's all for now. I'll post more when I have updates, like a book cover.
Thanks for reading!
Two for two. That's a pretty amazing statement as a mom.
Two kids. Two Valedictorians. (Although one of many in each of their respective classes, anyone with a 4.0+ GPA.)
The youngest graduates tomorrow. Technically, she's already done. She's also 2/3 done with an associates degree from the local college, because of her many dual-credit courses during high school, and she has a free year coming up thanks to scholarships. She'll be completing her associates degree in the next year. After that, she'll go on to her bachelor's degree, which is a 2-3 year remaining educational journey. Kids have so many opportunities these days that my generation and those before me didn't have.
When hubby and I were dating, my youngest sister, knowing my school record (honor roll but not valedictorian, back when there was only one per class), blessed us by saying, "You two are going to have smart kids!" How very prescient of her, over twenty-four years ago.
A week ago, we held the grad party in our garage. Tomorrow, all three public high schools in town have graduation.
So, I had been pretty busy getting things together while trying to write over this past month, and the prep work also stole some of my attention from writing. Some of the stuff (buying decorations, designing the banner, designing announcements and then sending them out) had been done for a while, but the stress of the week or two before the grad party was wearing on me. I'm used to organizing events, but this was my own child, so I didn't want to forget anything, despite the simplicity of it.
After tomorrow, it's all done.
But aside from the proud mom moment, I want to say that it's not natural intelligence that is the reason for such achievements. It came down to hard work and dedication by each of my kids. I wasn't a perfect A student when I was in high school, but I wanted to be; I had to work for it, and I made sure my kids knew how to work hard and have the self-discipline to do well. You can have all the intelligence in the world, but if you don't have the discipline to do the work required, it all means nothing. Sacrifice and hard work contribute as much as intelligence and can even make up for a lack in that area.
You have to do some work that you may not like in order to succeed in life. We taught our kids that lesson when they were young, starting with assigning chores to earn privileges and rewards. That carried over throughout their young lives at home and in school and hopefully will continue into adulthood. It was the best thing we could have done for our kids. We know what we did right, the same things many parents do right for their kids.
I wish the best for all graduates...
 |
| ID 370078026 | Congratulations ©
Natalia Sintsova | Dreamstime.com |
While working on some tedious tasks at the day job, I regularly listen to YouTube videos.
However, the ads on the app have been filthy and disgusting. I didn't know what to do (I have custom ads off--I loathe tracking and don't trust this company). They've only been showing me sexual images (massively immodest images of women and drugs for men--you get the idea).
This morning, I got fed up while scrolling content and seeing these ads in my feed, which has become mostly Catholic videos. In that moment of annoyance, I silently prayed to not see the sexual ads, a prayer to banish the demons of lust and sexual perversion (as suggested by exorcists).
I should have done that sooner.
Voila!
No more sexually perverse ads. Suddenly it was all real estate and household products. I didn't change any setting. (edit: I forgot to mention that one of the ads changed right in front of me on the screen. How's that for amazing?!)
All glory to God! He made everything and controls everything. He can do whatever He wants. When we seek to grow in the virtues and avoid sin and vice, He loves that from us because it is how we show we love Him.
(According to exorcists, we have authority over our belongings, so demons have to listen (they are literally lawyers from hell!); however, if one is in a state of mortal sin, the demons have ownership over the soul, so such prayers may not be effective in ridding demons of lust, greed, gluttony, envy, etc. After the initial baptism, detaching of demons and forgiveness of mortal sins only comes from the confessional, which reconciles one with God through the priest in persona Christi. It is the hardest, most humiliating sacrament to present yourself before Christ in the earthly presence of the priest with true contrition, but such a great cleansing of the soul! Once we're out of mortal sin, all those demons are detached from us and we then have full authority to banish them from ourselves and our belongings.)
Every morning, I pray the little prayer suggested by Fr. Dan Reehil, which he learned from another priest, and it's the neatest thing, producing incidents like this. It's the Permission Prayer and is simply this:
Lord, I give you permission today to use me in any way you desire, and I ask you to give me the grace to see your hand in action so I can give you all the glory.
God did. I saw it. I shared it. I give God glory for these amazing graces and demonstrations of His power (like the previous story about spiritual warfare and the cell phone in the confessional), which leave me in awe and wonder. It doesn't happen every day, but it has been happening a LOT since I started offering that little prayer every morning.
Incredible stuff!
God bless!
-----------------------
5/20/25 Edit: adding these to emphasize the point on confession:
Book 22 had some delays from me stumbling to figure out some pieces of the plot, but that has been a good thing. As I'm trying to finish the reveals of some details I want in the series before the big finale, it's getting a bit more complicated to work those into the plots I wanted to use. I no longer get to make up new stuff to set as cannon as I did early in the series; although I had some established cannon from the previous series of the Starfire Angels universe, that was fairly easy to remember. In this case, it's a new setting and situation, so I was having fun discovering new worldbuilding (cultures, technologies, economic systems, etc.) and now have to worry about not breaking cannon. So, more complicated. It's not the end of the world, though.
Reading through the series has been helping (and I found a few things that required corrections). Generally, however, my system of writing two books ahead of what will be published has been a great system for avoiding issues.
Still, I occasionally deal with writer's block, which really just means the subconscious is aware of a problem that the conscious mind hasn't yet identified. Something wasn't working in this, but I didn't have the plot fully outlined. I knew what I wanted to reveal in Book 22 and a general situation idea, but wasn't sure how that was going to happen. So, writer's block set in. I wasn't totally not writing, but it was slow, and had me tweaking what I had written, until things started to take shape. The last few days, the writing has been taking off again as ideas have been coming. The big issues was that I had to let go of thinking things had to be one way in order to let them go the way they needed to go.
Writer's block isn't bad if you give yourself time to analyze the situation in the story and see it from a new angle. My stumbling around a bit on this gave the right idea a chance to come out when the time was right. Instead of forcing a square peg in a round hole, the square peg gets reshaped to fit into the round hole.
The word count on Book 22 is at 16K, or a bit over a third of my final goal. I'm behind where I'd like to be, but I won't force the word count on a bad idea.
Thanks for reading and for your patience!
Spiritual warfare comes in different forms and comes and goes to different degrees, but for me recently, it took an interesting twist. But I'm not afraid. In fact, I'm glad it happened. Keep reading to learn why...
Let me go back and start with a little explanation... Right after Divine Mercy Sunday the spiritual attacks hit at their worst and continued so that I questioned if it would ever quit.
I had a difficult week battling this latest round. It shortened my temper, caused massive depression, and battered my resistance. It was so bad at times that I would completely surrender to God and find some relief just when I thought I would completely succumb. It's an amazing feeling when God does that. Jesus gives us a respite from the burden, but I was also offering up the suffering as my cross.
God never gives us more than we can handle. It's how we handle things that matter. Lean on Him. When you really can't take the beating any more, give the suffering completely to Jesus. It is incredible to have that faith--He always gives more back to us when we completely trust in Him.
But this attack continued after I'd had some temporary relief. The demons kept trying to make me hate God and give up prayer and going to mass to receive the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist. It was so hard to fight that discouragement they dumped on me.
Then I had the thought to pray the St. Michael* chaplet. I barely started the chaplet and the burden lifted. I finished the full chaplet feeling peace again.
The next day, I had a slip of the tongue that sent me to confession. I also had a couple of little defects, or maybe venial sins at the worst, that I mentioned but had accredited those to the spiritual attack I had been dealing with. No sooner did I say this than my phone rang in the confessional.
It's not supposed to do that. It has never done that. Since I bought my iPhone 16 Pro six months earlier, I set Do Not Disturb to automatically come on at the locations of the churches I attend. It's always worked. In fact, even tonight, the setting was confirmed to be working--I had a call during mass and the phone never rang, just like normal on the DND setting.
Back to the confesion... Puzzled and embarrassed in the confessional, I said to the priest, "I'm sorry. It's supposed to be off." (I meant DND but was too flustered to think clearly and thought only that the ringer should have been off while I was there.) I said this while hurrying to hit the down volume button to silence the phone, but it took more than once. (I found out why later.) I barely looked at the phone. I wanted to finish so others could take advantage of the half hour that's available for weekday confessions at that church. I finished and received what I needed from the priest, thanked him, and left. I checked my phone outside the confessional, and it was on Do Not Disturb, which comes on as far out as the parking lot as soon as I leave my vehicle to walk across the lot (even the far end of the lot) to the church (switching from "Driving", which doesn't allow text or call notifications, to regular DND, which does the same thing when not driving). It has a wide radius.
Later that evening, when I was home after mass, I looked more closely at my phone and realized I had the confirmation that I was right about the spiritual attacks. That's no coincidence, and it tells me why my first press of the volume button didn't immediately stop the ringing. There were two back-to-back calls from the same number with 666 as the prefix and I had to turn off the phone twice, so it wasn't a case of the setting of allowing repeat calls when both calls rang my phone. No other spammer has ever done that to me.No call should have rung my phone at the church. On top of that, add the particular number while I was at the church, of all places, and, most notably, in the confessional AND that it happened as I mentioned feeling that I had been under spiritual attack... Yeah, no. To all the Catholic haters out there, even you have to admit that's suspicious. iPhones don't fail like that.
God can do anything, and this was actually a grace of confirming that what I experienced was true. Demons can affect electronics. Exorcists tell stories of things like this happening. In fact, the producers or directors (I can't remember their role) of Nefarious, had an exorcist perform a location exorcism and blessing before their equipment would work right during filming. Exorcists I listen to have told stories about vulgar texts or calls after sessions, usually from a triple six number.
So, now I have my own story to tell. I'm not afraid. In fact, I'm grateful, because I have evidence and experience and because these struggles strengthen my faith and my prayer life. I'm also grateful, because spiritual attacks are a way of testing us to help us grow in faith and devotion to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As some of my favorite online priests have said, if you're not being tested, that's not necessarily a good thing. Our faith stagnates if it's never tested. Like muscles, it needs resistance to strengthen. I'm grateful God gives me these, so I can grow stronger in my faith.
ps--I blocked the number before taking a screenshot. (A free phone lookup tracked the number to a real person, but I suspect a spammer spoofed it like all the other spam calls I get regularly. Still, the timing is uncanny, as is the fact that it went through when it should not have. There are no coincidences. It is divine providence that things like this happen. God uses whatever He wants to deliver his messages.)
God bless!
------------------
* Note that St. Michael was the archangel tasked by God with sending Satan into hell. The chaplet of St. Michael invokes the nine choirs of angels to help us. St. Michael is one of our greatest allies in heaven.
Edited to add this video: