Showing posts with label words. Show all posts
Showing posts with label words. Show all posts

Thursday, November 23, 2017

Blessings, not Curses ♦ Carol Kinsey ♦ Giveaway

Blessings, Not Curses

“But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father; and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Neither can salt water produce fresh.” James 3:8-12 (NASB).

            “You’ll never amount to anything.”
            “You’re fat.”
            “You’ll never find a husband the way you are.”
            “You can’t keep your room clean.”
            “You’re a liar.”
            “You never listen.”
            “You’re stupid!”

They’re words. But they do much more than communicate frustration and anger from the sender to the receiver. They curse.

It’s easy in moments of anger to spew out words like those. They reflect the frustration of the sender of the message. The sender might not even mean them. But no matter how you look at them, the receiver of such a message feels those words deeply. Especially, when communicated by a parent, spouse, or sibling.

Think about this: If every time a person spewed a negative word (a curse) on you, a sign was suddenly hung on you saying that word, how would you feel? Stupid. Liar. Dumb. Fat. Messy…. Often times when curses, like the ones listed above, are thrown at a person, they wear that curse like a sign. Sometimes they believe it deep in their hearts. Long after the sender forgot they even sent it, the person is allowing the curse to sink into their hearts.

You’ve probably heard it many times. “My dad said I’m dumb.” - “My husband said I’m fat.” - “My wife said I never do anything nice for her like her friend’s husbands do.”  

The Bible tells us to bless and not curse. “From the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.”

We are encouraged in the word of God to be a blessing. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Romans 12:14 (NASB).            

As James 3 says, the tongue is not always easy to tame, but as followers of Christ, we can look to Him to help us guard it. He tells us in Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” As He develops those fruits in us, our tongue can be tamed. Not in the flesh, but in the Spirit.

We are to encourage one another and build one another up. “Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.” 1 Thess. 5:11 (NASB).

As a writer, I take my words seriously. I want my words to honor God—both what I write and what I speak. What are some ways we can bless others with our words?

·       Kind words: “You did a lovely job on this.” “You look very nice today.” 
·       Words of affirmation and encouragement: “I’m impressed!” “I’m proud of you!” “Great job!”

·    Words of thanks or a thank you card – even for the little things.

·     Praying for one another: Pray that they would be saved, pray for their families, pray for healing.

·     Forgiving those who have hurt you – and letting them know that you’ve forgiven them.

Ephesians 4:29 says, “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.” (NASB).

Let your words encourage. Let your words bring hope. Let your words edify. Let your words reflect the grace and love God has shown you. Let your words bless.
  

Carol Kinsey lives with her husband and their two daughters on a farm in rural Ohio. She and her husband have been involved in youth ministry for over twenty years and currently serve at a small country church, which inspired her first published novel, Under the Shadow of a Steeple in 2013. She has also published Witness Protection (2017), Greater Love (2015), and Until Proven Innocent (2014). Carol is also a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW). Along with her fiction, Carol is published in several nonfiction venues. In 2016, she launched a homeschool writing curriculum, Creative Writing Through Literature. She is also a contributing author for Relationships Under Construction, an internationally used abstinence curriculum, and has written for Heartbeats. She has a passion for writing exciting, Christ-centered literature that uplifts, encourages, and gives glory to God. For more information, visit carolkinsey.net.
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Witness Protection back cover:
“There is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed.” Ty Westgate is an ex-lawyer living under witness protection. Brooke Dunbar is a young nurse, struggling to find hope and healing from her past. After four years in hiding, Ty puts his faith in Christ and realizes his moral duty to tell his unsaved parents about Jesus. While this step of faith holds eternal significance for Ty’s parents, it also puts Ty’s life in jeopardy. Together, in this fast paced novel, Ty and Brooke work to unravel the truth behind Ty’s adversaries. Will Ty’s decision to share his faith cost him his life? Will Brooke learn to trust the One Who can heal her past? The price of freedom may be too high.

Carol Kinsey


Buy Link for Witness Protection:
About the Giveaway:
Carol is offering a free copy of Witness Protection to one of the readers of this blog post. To enter, just leave a comment below with your contact information. Easy-peasy. Giveaway ends: One in one week, on Thursday, November 30, 2017, at Midnight CST. 
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Monday, January 9, 2017

Writing Prompts & Hints


by Peggy Blann Phifer @pegphifer

As I sat at my computer yesterday afternoon, staring at the last lines of my current WIP (work in progress) trying to figure out where I wanted to go next, I happened to glance to the left of my desk where I have some of my oft-used writing 'how-to' books and spotted the book (pictured below).
Note: As far as I can tell, this book is out of print, but it seems to be available through other sellers, if you want to check it out.

Writer's Digest Books ©2002, ISBN: 1-58297-142-0
I thumbed through the first few pages, looking for inspiration. While the pages are not numbered, about 20 pages in, I found one I'd highlighted and it caught my attention again. On that page, the author, Monica Wood, wrote about a smallish spiral notebook with lined pages she called her 'word notebook.' In that little notebook she kept lists of words. Not phrases, not quotations, just . . . words.

She wrote that that notebook accompanied her while reading, and whenever she stumbled upon a word she liked, she'd write/add it to the notebook. She also keeps that notebook beside her while writing. "I use it on days when words come hard," she wrote. "Some days I check that notebook for a zesty word that can replace a dull one."

I remembered being intrigued by that idea and acting on it, so I went in search of the notebook I'd started at that time. I found it, though it is a bit battered, it's pages stained about two-thirds of the way up from a day when one of my cats had jumped up on my desk and knocked over a full cup of hot coffee. 

Sigh.

But the word list I'd started was still readable, and I want to share some of them with you.

  • engender
  • ingraining
  • fractious
  • egress
  • denouement
  • thwart
  • declarative
  • puny
  • imbue
  • penurious
  • saturnine
There are quite a few more on my list, but I think that's enough for starters. Aren't they great?

So, having re-discovered this neat idea, I will now have a new, blank notebook with me as I read, and keep that list of new words I've found beside me as I write.


Now here's a challenge: We're only nine days into a brand new year. What if you were to adopt this idea for yourselves and start your own list of words?

Are you with me?

Would love to have you join the conversation in the comment section!

 TWEETABLE:

Use words to spark your writing creativity http://bit.ly/2isyQQz @pegphifer #writing #ideas - (Click to Tweet)



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Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Meet Author Donn Taylor, Guest Blogger

Donn Taylor portraits 12/7/07Donn Taylor led an Infantry rifle platoon in the Korean War, served with Army aviation in Vietnam, and worked with air reconnaissance in Europe and Asia. Afterwards, he earned a PhD in English literature (Renaissance) and for eighteen years taught literature at two liberal arts colleges. He was chosen by faculty as "Scholar of the Year" at one and by students as "Professor of the Year" at the other. His poetry is collected in his book Dust and Diamond: Poems of Earth and Beyond. In addition to his historical novel Lightning on a Quiet Night, he has published two suspense novels and a light-hearted mystery. He is a frequent speaker at writers’ conferences and groups. He lives near Houston, TX, where he writes fiction and poetry, as well as essays on writing, ethical issues, and U.S. foreign policy.

I am so happy to welcome author Donn Taylor to Whispers in Purple today. Donn has written a special article—along with some tongue-in-cheek chuckles—to share with us.

So, take it away, Donn!

 

Avoiding Misuse of Words


by


    Donn Taylor


One of the frustrations of being a writer of fiction or essays is the fact that we have only words to communicate with our readers. Novels and essays have no pictures or diagrams to clarify relationships, and gesturing with our hands or counting on our fingers does not help. The poet W.H. Auden went so far as to describe a poem as a "verbal contraption," a machine made out of words, to convey the poet's vision to the reader. Consequently, it behooves us as writers to respect words and their meanings, and to use them both correctly and appropriately. Here I will list some that are frequently misused in published writing, and then I will mention some that have become trite through overuse.

Let's begin with a heavy error (pardon the pun): The past tense of the verb to lead is led, not lead. This one slips through the proofreading to appear in quite a few novels. I am not immune to this kind of error: In a recent novel I wrote that a character's complexion was "unusually pail." (No, that didn't mean she would kick the bucket.) Fortunately, a proofreader caught my error before publication.

Another common error is confusion of the two verbs lie and lay. (They were separate verbs as far back as Middle English.) The forms of lie are lie, lay, lain, while the forms of lay are lay, laid, laid. Forms of lie never take a direct object: "I will lie down." Forms of lay always do: "I will lay the book on the desk." Confusion arises because the past tense of lie and the present tense of lay appear identical. The solution is to select the correct word in present tense and then convert to the appropriate tense. When all else fails, remember that we can only lay down if we are carrying duck feathers.

One frequently misused (and overused) word is incredible. Its first meaning describes something that can't be believed. The second describes something so unusual as to be beyond belief. A problem arises when the writer intends the second meaning when the first meaning is also possible. One writer recently wrote that she belonged to "an incredible church." Who would want to belong to a church that can't be believed?

Certain modifying words are "absolute," meaning that they cannot be modified as to degree. The most misused of these is unique, which means one of a kind. Something cannot be very one-of-a-kind or somewhat one-of-a-kind, yet one often hears the expression very unique or somewhat unique. Examples of other absolute words are equal, impossible, eternal, unanimous, square, round and perfect. (Yes, the US Constitution speaks of "a more perfect union." When we write a Constitution of the United States, we're entitled to use the same expression. Meanwhile, we must refrain from modifying absolute words.)

Some irritating usages occur when the writer attempts to sound sophisticated rather than write for plain meanings. One is using the term escalate for the more direct increase. (That is a cliché held over from the intellectuals of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations.)

Next comes the attempt to sound sophisticated by using exacerbate when one means simply make worse. When we’re tempted to preen our sophistication, we should not rise to the exacer-bait.

Other words to avoid are those that have become clichéd through being overused. One such offender is Excuse me. In using it, the writer sarcastically feigns politeness while pretending to be victimized by a powerful but wrongheaded opposition. So many writers use this crutch that the victims apparently outnumber the oppressors.

Then there is using the word sure to introduce a sentence. (“Sure, some people still think the world is flat, but….”)

And there’s using the word Hey! as an attention-getter. (“Hey! Why do you want to use a cliché?”)

I suggest the following rules: 1. There is no excuse for excuse me. 2. Sure should be consigned to the sewer. 3. Hey should be fed to livestock. (They’ll never notice the difference in spelling.)

Ultimately, however, attempts to stamp out trite expressions are doomed to failure. One fundamental rule always applies: Whenever a writer can’t find his Pegasus, he’ll hitch old Dobbin to the cliché.

To summarize: For clarity, we writers should make it our business to know the meanings and accepted usages of words. For originality, we should avoid expressions that have become clichéd through overuse. As Auden said, each of our writings is a verbal contraption, our only means of conveying our vision to our readers.

♦♦♦


Lightning Cover - 300dpiBook Title: Lightning on a Quiet Night


Author: Donn Taylor


Publisher: Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas


Release Date: November 2014


Genre: Historical Romance/Mystery


Overview:  In the years following World War II, a town too proud of its own virtues has to deal with its first murder. Despite the implications of this crime, the town of Beneficent, MS, population 479, tries desperately to hold onto its vain self-image. The young veteran Jack Davis holds that idyllic vision of the town and tries to share it with Lisa Kemper, newly arrived from Indiana. But she is repelled by everything in town. While the sheriff tries to find the murderer, Jack and Lisa’s contentious courtship reveals the town’s strange combination of astute perceptions and surprising blind spots. Then they stumble onto shocking discoveries about the true nature of the town. But where will these discoveries lead? To repentance? Or to denial and continuation in vanity?


♦♦♦


Here’s what Publishers Weekly said about Lightning: “Taylor’s powerful historical romance is filled with passion and heart, spiced with mystery and a keen understanding of the human condition.”

♦♦♦


Where to find Donn:




 

Where to Buy Lightning on a Quiet Night:

♦Peg here: I hope you enjoyed Donn’s article as much as I did. I love his dry sense of humor. We would love to hear from you. Please leave your thoughts, or feel free to ask Donn some questions, in the Comments section below. Join the conversation!
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