As we came to a close yesterday with the chapter of ground(ed) and Awareness, we open our next chapter to Hope and Renewal. Have you already felt this shift, or are you still working toward it? It’s ok if you are still working towards it. We all come to these chapters at different times. Some of us are on a similar path and others are on a different path. Some are not there yet, others are on a similar or same path, and yet others have already passed this path and are ahead of us. No matter where you are on your journey, God has you right where He has placed you. As I spent time with the Lord, He opened my eyes to seeing things from a new perspective, just as we are opening a new chapter today: Hope and Renewal. I know God has healed me completely of the Tremors that I have had since I was a baby. I would only shake when I would cry. However, as I grew up I have had some physical pain. I remember on this one occasion that I was roller skating and fell landing right smack dab on my tailbone. I didn’t scream or anything. I held the pain inside instead of releasing it. Until the pain stopped hurting, the inside of my body would shake til the pain had subsided. Then I would go on as nothing happened. I didn’t scream or make a noise. There was a point I think I may have broken or bruised my tailbone. It hurt so bad when I would go to touch it. Then on one incident I fell and hit the base of my skull on a corner. Thank the Lord he had me quiz myself on multiplication. When I was a little girl I fell off a swing and hit my head. As I dove into the pool I hit the top of my head on the bottom of the pool. As I spent time with the Lord, He opened my eyes to seeing things from a new perspective, just as we are opening a new chapter today: Hope and Renewal. When we get hurt and we hold that pain in, just as I did when I fell on my tailbone, there is no place for it to release. When we continually hold pain inside instead of bringing it into the presence of God, that pain can affect the way we think, respond, trust, and live.

Hello everyone, Now that August is here, it's time to hit the ground running with preparing our novels for November. I'm so excited to see all of the support here for the campaign, so let's get right into it. During the month of August, I'll be uploading a question every single day that you can answer. You can find the questions updated daily in #Creating a Main Character, but I will also update this post regularly with new questions. As a result, we're using this post as the megathread where you can answer those character questions. I'll also be sharing my own answers here. Question 1: What is your character's name? Answer 1: Iasus (pronounced EE-AY-SUS). I'm not sure if I want to give him a last name or not yet. Question 2: What is your character’s current profession/occupation? Answer 2: Iasus is a pilot. He was initially one of a handful of test pilots for the Trans-Galactic Council, but was drafted into their elite squadron of fighter pilots shortly after the first Titan appeared. Question 3: Describe your character in 3 words. Answer 3: Iasus is talented, perceptive, and cocky. Question 4: What is your character’s greatest strength? Answer 4: Iasus is a very technically skilled pilot. He’s able to perform a lot of maneuvers that other pilots cannot, and he has a great sense of observation and battle intelligence, allowing him to make important decisions quickly and accurately. Question 5: What is your character’s greatest weakness? Answer 5: Because of his skill, Iasus can be quite rude and insubordinate to those he deems foolish or unintelligent. If he thinks that he knows better than someone, he’s going to be overly cocky and arrogant towards the person, and that will get him in trouble. Question 6: What does your character look like? Answer 6: Iasus is about 6 feet tall. He has cropped black hair that barely complies with military regulations. He has a narrow, triangular face with high cheekbones, and piercing blue eyes. There’s a small scar on the bridge of his nose.

Hello everyone, November may still a few months away, but it'll be here before you realize it. And with it comes the National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, event. I want to do it. And since this is a writing community, I want to encourage others in the community to do it too. The challenge is relatively straightforward: write 50,000 words over the course of the month. It evens out to about 1,667 words per day. I understand that it may look like an intimidating challenge, but that's why we're looking at it now and not on October 31. Starting August 1, I'm going to begin a series on novel prep. During this series, we're going to spend a month developing a main character, a month developing an antagonist and central conflict, with the last month being about novel mapping and planning. I assure you, this won't be as intimidating as it may sound. It's going to take the form of daily questions. It may be a spoiler, but expect the day 1 question to simply be, "what is your protagonist's name?" I'm not sure if I'm going to make a new classroom section or discussion channel or just make daily posts for this preparation event, but I'll figure it out over the next week or so. So that leads to the question asked by the title: who wants to write a novel this November? I haven't completed a NaNoWriMo yet, but I'm hoping this year will be different. Join me on this journey. I think it's going to be fun.