My beliefs

     My beliefs affect everything I do.  I'm sure most of you noticed that I don't swear.  I don't write or read sexually explicit things.  My books have a noticeable amount of violence, but I try to tone even that down.  I think that those things are a part of normal life, especially in today's times, but I try not to make them a part of my life.  I don't think I'm in the minority in this either.  Internet, television, literature, and everyday culture seems to be pushing us to accept these undesirable habits as normal, and in some cases, healthy.  I don't believe they are.

     I think most people are uncomfortable around particularly vulgar language.  Even people that swear regularly feel self-conscious about it around children or the elderly.  I think most people are uncomfortable with nudity in movies and tv shows, especially depending on who else is in the room.  I think most people have good values of family and friends.  Most people want to shelter their children from the harsh realities of the world.  Most people want to live good lives.

     I normally wouldn't bring any of this up, but today is a Bio day for my blog; a day for me to share what is going on in my life, and in my personal life it's a special day.  Every 6 months the leaders of my faith give a general conference for all of the members of the church worldwide.  Today, they had the opening session of this general conference (the first of 4 sessions), and I sat and listened to it with my wife and children via the internet.  The last speaker, Elder L. Tom Perry, spoke about a conference held with most of the major religions of the world.  He spoke of the commonality that we all had in the desire to maintain family as a focal point of our existences.  The talk may have offended a lot of the radicals and minorities out there, but the message I heard was that there are a lot of other people out there that want their kids to have values which the media are constantly trying to undermine.  The media wants us to believe that casual sex, vulgarity, violence, and a general sense of irreverence is the norm in today's society.  In reality, that is the voice of the minority yelling so loudly that most of us are left feeling like we are out-dated in our beliefs, and in the minority.  You are in the majority if you want a spouse and kids, and live a normal, happy life.

     I will remain true to my beliefs.  You will never find vulgarity, sex, or any of those things in my writing.  I will always warn others of those things in the books I review.  I will always recommend good books which hold relatively good values and messages.

     For those of you interested, I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Some refer to us as the "Mormons" because we use a set of scriptures called The Book of Mormon along with the Bible.  Some refer to us as L.D.S. (Latter-day Saints).  Either appellation is acceptable.

     We are a Christian faith.  There have been several religions which have broken off from the church who have sullied the name.  Because of these groups, many think we are a cult, or practice weird things.  We don't.  We a Christians.  We believe in, teach, and follow the principles of the Bible.  We also have a set of scriptures from another group of the tribes of Israel; their writings were compiled by a prophet called Mormon, so we call the book The Book of Mormon.  We also believe that God continues to call prophets today to counsel us with problems we face in today's world.  The first prophet he called since the death of Jesus and His disciples was the prophet Joseph Smith.  We don't worship Joseph Smith anymore than we would worship Moses or Abraham.  He was just a prophet called, like those in the Bible times, to teach people about God.  Joseph gave us prophecies just like the old ones in the Bible or Book of Mormon.  These newer scriptures are found in the Doctrine and Covenants.  Joseph also received scriptures lost to time and multiple translations of the Bible, and these restored scriptures are found in The Pearl of Great Price.  There have been 15 prophets since Joseph Smith, and each one of them has passed down messages from God, just like He has done from the beginning of time.  It always amazes me when people think this is weird.  Why would God suddenly stop speaking to us?  Why would he suddenly stop calling prophets?  At any rate, these general conferences are when these prophets address the world formally.  You can listen to them live online through this link here.  Just click the "watch general conference live" link.

     I've  personally read the Bible (both old and new testaments), The Book of Mormon, The Doctrine and Covenants, The Pearl of Great Price, the Torah, and the Qur'an.  I've been to the worship meetings of literally hundreds of different religions and sects.  I love learning about God.  I love teaching what I've learned.  The links I've shared have all the answers, but I'd be glad to answer any questions anyone might have.  I am not, however, interested in fighting with people who want to attack any religion.  I believe that most are good, and I gained that belief through personal study and visits.  Chances are, I've been to your church/religion.  Don't judge mine, or anyone else's until you can say the same.

     People are good.  Don't feel like your beliefs are out-dated.  Don't feel like you are in the minority.  The media represents the minority, but speaks loud enough for everyone to hear, and then shames those who speak out against it.  There are over 7 billion people on the planet, and almost all of them are trying to live good, chaste, virtuous, happy lives.  The horrible things you see on the news, and read in the paper, are the most horrific things the newspapers can find.  They want to shock you so that you'll read/watch.  If those things were truly commonplace, they wouldn't get your attention, and get you to buy the paper/watch the news.

     God has a plan for us.  It is centered around the family.  If you are unhappy, scared, confused, lost, lonely, or just feel like something is missing in your life there are answers.  My life has trials,  everyone's does, but I know where I came from.  I know why I'm here.  I know where I'm going after this life.  I even know why we suffer some of the horrible things we have to pass through in this life.  There is a very simple plan which God has laid out for all of his children.  You have a purpose.  Your life holds meaning.  Your suffering is not in vain, nor does it go unnoticed.   Look around on the church's website and you'll find the answers to most of your questions.  There are also missionaries who can come and talk to you personally, no matter where you live, if you want answers.  I would also be glad to help anyone out who feels like something is missing in life.  My beliefs have carried me through many life-threatening moments.  They've also helped me through challenges I haven't begun to share on this, or any other, forum.  There is great comfort in knowing the "why" in life.

Fantasy Landscapes

I love fantasy landscapes to get the creative juices flowing.  Here's a few from the web

How to beat writer's block

     All writers get stuck.  It's an inevitability in the creative process.  It doesn't matter if you've run out of ideas, the story has gotten out of control, or you have personal issues which are distracting you from doing your job, the end result is the same: no words on the page.  The longer the page stays blank, the worse the writer's block tends to take hold.

     I recently had some health issues, and did not write for almost two months.  Sitting back down in front of my laptop gave me anxiety.  I needed help to get over myself, and get back into the groove, so I looked up how other people get through it.  There are a lot of lists and steps out  there to overcome writer's block.  I thought I'd share some tips which helped me.

1.     Write something!  Don't make a plan, or think about characters or plots.  You need to sit down and start to type/write.  It doesn't even matter what you write.  You can sit down and write a bio for one of your characters.  You can write a plot outline.  You can write your thoughts.  You just need to write.
        For me, when I was trying to start writing in my novel again, I felt anxious.  It was like a big, scary monster was lurking behind the laptop.  I don't know where these feelings come from.  I love writing, it calms me, but when I was trying to get back to work it had the opposite effect.  The feelings of inadequacies and self-doubt seemed to have built a wall between me and my keyboard.  The only way to break that wall was to start typing.  Eventually, the crippling doubt lifted, and my fingers were free to dance around the keyboard.
2.      Keep writing.  You'll finally get over yourself and get a few sentences or paragraphs on the page, but don't stop.  You don't want the block to come back.  You need to spend a good, long time writing to truly get over the block.  Don't make things harder on yourself by stopping for lunch, or anything, because then you give the writer's block monster a chance to slip back in.  
3.      Don't be afraid to write garbage.  Chances are, if you've got writer's block, you aren't going to write your best work.  The words on the page might not even make any sense the next day.  Don't worry about quality at this point, worry about quantity.  I've found, and a lot of the sites I visited agree, that it's easier to edit bad work than to write with writer's block.  If you can break down that wall of whatever is causing the block, and push forward with your story, you will find that you've gotten to a stopping point which you can easily pick up and continue the next time you write.  You can easily edit out any plot holes or mistakes when the work is done.  The work never gets done if you obsess about chapter 5 and never make it to chapter 6.
4.      Free write.  This helped me yesterday.  I didn't read the previous chapter.  I didn't think about where I wanted the story to go.  I just started writing about my character; one of his days.  I may not ever put it in the book, but it got me into the character's head again so that I could continue the story.  I wrote almost 15 pages before I actually attempted to continue the story in my novel.  Last night, I dreamed about my character.  I'm writing this post at 7:00 AM so that I can get it out of the way, and get back to my story.  It's amazing how much just getting back into the swing of things gets the creative juices flowing.
5.      Have fun!  You write because at some point in time you liked it.  I think every artist hates their work at some point through the process.  It becomes... work.   Remember, this is part of who you are.  You have a story to share.  If you've published before, remember that awesome feeling you got the first time you saw your work in print.  If you haven't published before, imagine how great it would be to be able to say, "I'm an author" instead of, "I write", or, "I'm writing a book."  There is power in what you do.  You create dreams for people.  You have the power to inspire others.  I love this job because it gives me satisfaction to know that somewhere out there people are living in my fantasy world.  What we do is AMAZING!  Have fun with your work. 

   

The Undecideds Chapt. 4

Chapter 4

The principal had a cat spirit beast.  Rachel thought it was a funny beast for a Principal to have, but she didn’t say anything.  It was a glossy, longhaired gray and black striped cat.  It sat regally on the Principal’s desk; head held high and proud, just like the Principal.  The Principal, herself, was a beautiful woman, though she had a stern look which only a Principal can possess.  Her dark black hair had wisps of gray, so the two looked to be perfectly matched.  Rachel had seen this beautiful woman before under much more pleasant conditions.  Principal Winehart warmly welcomed her at parent’s night, and beamed like a giddy school-girl at the opportunity to meet her famous parents.  That smile was now gone.

“Miss Rachel Sie, when you walked into our beloved school did you happened to see our motto painted in twenty-foot letters over the reception hall,” she asked, looking down her nose at the young girl.

 Rachel looked down at her hands. “Achieve greatness by acting upon it?”

The principal gave a small nod. “And what greatness were you trying to achieve by fighting with those two boys?”  Rachel had no answers.  “I had such high hopes for you this year, young lady,” the Principal said with a sad sigh.  “You know I had to call your parents?  Do you know how embarrassing it is to call the Chamber of Guild Representatives, The Angel Guild’s branch no less, and tell the head of the council that their child has been misbehaving at school?”  Principal Winehart sighed again as she removed her glasses, letting them dangle by the chain which wrapped around her neck, she pinched the bridge of her nose.  “The very first day of school,” she said into her hand, shaking her head.

                Rachel squirmed uneasily at the rebuke, but she felt a little indignant at the same time.  “I was only trying to save that poor boy from getting beat up any more,” she said weakly.

                “Well, we’ll see just how much weight that argument holds when your…”

                Just then the door burst open behind Rachel.  A great male angel came charging through the door.  Rachel was surprised the door stayed on its hinges.  Her mother’s angel was afire.  He only got this way while in battle or when greatly angered.  Rachel had only seen him this way on one other occasion, and that was the day her brother was kicked out of the family.  Fire danced all around the angel beast, but didn’t consume anything it touched.  A fiercer fire burned in the angel’s eyes.  Rachel was instantly sick. 

                Behind her angel, Rachel’s mother followed.  No flames surrounded the elegant woman, at least none which could be seen by the human eye.  Her face was stone cold, like a statue.  She showed no emotion, though Rachel knew she was furious.  She strode over to the Principal’s desk without even looking at Rachel.  Her angel beast floated around to stand right next to the Principal, who was still gawking in shock.

                Then, something Rachel didn’t expect happened.  Her father’s beautiful angel beast floated through the door.  She was also ablaze, but with a blue flame instead of an orange one.  Rachel had never seen her father’s angel like this.  She had never seen her without a smile on her face.  The expression on the female angel’s face would, from that day on, forever haunt her.

                The female angel floated right past Rachel and stood on the other side of the Principal, sandwiching her effectively between the two imposing spirit beasts.  Rachel’s Father came in the door.  He was a little less stoic.  His face was etched in concern, but there was also anger in his eyes.

                The Principal, surrounded on both sides by two of the most powerful spirit beasts alive, slowly stood and forced a wary smile.  “Mr. and Mrs. Sei,” she said as she extended her hand to Rachel’s mother.

                Rachel’s mother looked at the hand, then back into the Principal’s eyes.  Principal Winehart slowly lowered her hand, and then smoothed down her skirt in an attempt to hide the gesture.  No longer able to bear the scrutiny of Rachel’s mother, the Principal looked down at her desk.  Won’t you please have a se…”

                “I want to know exactly what happened,” Rachel’s mother said sternly.

                The Principal jerked back as if she’d been struck, and then quickly regained her composure.  She smoothed down her skirt again and extended her neck into the regal pose of a Principal, once again.  “Your daughter was involved in a fight this morning,” she said, confidently. 

                “Be precise,” Rachel’s mother said, repeating one of the hundreds of “Be dictates”.

                The Principal seemed suddenly flustered again.  She was being deposed from her own throne.  Rachel’s mother was the law, and even in the Principal’s own school, in her own office, she was way outranked.  And what was worse was she hadn’t even gotten the whole story before Rachel’s parents arrived.  She had nothing to add to her statement.

                Rachel’s mother sighed impatiently, and turned to Rachel.  “What happened?  Be precise.”

                Rachel explained that she’d heard the kids chanting and ran to help.  When she saw the boy getting beat up by the older boy, she jumped in to help him.  She had to tell the whole story, but felt her face flush red with shame when she recounted how she had lost her temper and struck the older boy.

                Her mother smiled at her warmly, and then turned to face the Principal again.  “Mrs. Winehart,” she started, in a tone that Rachel was oh so familiar with.  “Saul and I oversee the entire affairs of every guild in every community in every part of the civilized world.”  She paused to let her words sink in.  “It is no minor task.”  Principal Winehart was nodding earnestly.  “Now, I understand that you have a school to run, and in so doing you cannot play favorites.  Rules are rules, after all.  My children are to be punished the same as any other child, and are to receive no special treatment because of our positions.  However, we simply cannot be pulled from our duties for every little thing that happens to Rachel.  If she stands up to a bully, she should be rewarded, and I would like to know about it in the form of a note or something.  If she is the bully, she should be punished, and I would like to know about it so that I can correct her behavior, as well.”  Her mother leaned in over the desk causing the Principal to shrink back.  “But if I am ever called away from the council again for a simple matter which could have easily been resolved by you or one of your staff, I’ll see to it that you never work in education again.  Do I make myself clear?”

                “Yes, ma’am,” the principal said, as a tear scrolled down her cheek.

                Her spirit beast was not as easily backed down, and the little cat hissed at Rachel’s mother.  In the blink of an eye her father’s angel had the little beast by the nap of the neck with a flaming sword dancing inches from its throat.  Rachel didn’t even see the beautiful angel draw her sword.  The cat spirit beast was just as surprised, and a little puddle formed on the desk beneath it.

                Now, the Principal was visibly sweating.  If her cat died, so would she.  Rachel was helpless to intervene.  Sometimes spirit beasts acted on their own, and sometimes on the will of their human counter-part.  It was difficult to tell when one was acting on its own accord, or on the will of their master.  Beast killing a beast was rarely punished, even in the Angel Guild.  Their hierarchy worked differently than the human’s and was largely a mystery, so the guilds had an agreement not to get involved when it came to beasts fighting beasts.  The whole society of Qualia Duo was structured to avoid such occurrences, and Rachel’s parents oversaw the structure of that society.

                Rachel’s mother was unconcerned with the show, though, and never took her eyes off the Principal.  When the cat was secured, and the room fell silent she continued, “The only reason my daughter is in this school is to give her a wider range of understanding of the other types of spirit beasts.  This is training for her to understand the other guilds.  Today, I think she did that quite well, and I’m proud of how she conducted herself.  Standing up for the helpless is a trait most desired among my guild.  You should be rewarding her, not lecturing her.  Next time, I expect you to get the whole story before you jump to conclusion.”  The Principal was nodding vigorously before she even finished the sentence.  “And that goes for any student.  Not just my daughter.  You might do well to re-educate yourself on the dictates of school administrators, Principal Winehart, before your neglect of them costs you your job.”  She looked at the cat being held by the powerful angel spirit beast.  “Or even worse.”

                With that, the female angel dropped the cat, and the two angel beasts exited the room.  Rachel’s mother took her hand and led her out of the room, followed by her father.  The boy was waiting wide-eyed in the lobby, holding his little ball of fur as if he were afraid Rachel’s parents might call down lightning to strike it dead at any moment.  Rachel couldn’t even bear to look the young boy in the eyes.

                The two angel beasts’ fire didn’t extinguish in the halls, and everyone backed far away from the pair as they escorted Rachel and her parents towards the front of the school.  Mr. Sharp stepped out into the hall to see what all the commotion was about, but quickly ducked out of sight when he saw the two flaming angels.  Everybody came to look, but nobody dared to make eye contact with the beast or their masters.  Rachel didn’t notice.  She stared at the floor the whole way, fighting back the tears of embarrassment.

                When they reached the front of the school, they stopped.  Before she knew it, Rachel was scooped up by her father’s angel.  She hugged her so tight that Rachel thought she might have broken a rib.

                “She says she’s so proud of you,” her father said.  “And so am I.”

                When her father’s angel finally let her go, Rachel crumpled to the floor gasping for air.  Her mother knelt down next to her.  “That was brave of you,” she said, as she laid a hand on Rachel’s shoulder.  “Are you hurt?”

                Rachel finally caught her breath, and the tears filled her eyes again.

                “Why,” she asked.  “Why would you do that?  You always have to ruin everything.  Why?”

                Rachel’s mother was a bit surprised.  “I don’t see how I…”

                “Why,” Rachel repeated.

                “Rachel, I was doing my job.  I can’t just…”

                “Why,” Rachel screamed.  Both the angels jumped back in surprise. 

                Rachel’s mother was flabbergasted, but she quickly recovered, and her momentary lapse of control was quickly replaced by a bit of ire of her own.  “Now, you listen here young lady…”

                “No,” Rachel screamed.  “You ruined my whole life!  Now the Principal hates me.  The kids at school all saw you two, and now I’ll never make any friends.  I already have one teacher that hates me because of you, but now I’m sure the Principal will warn the others.  They’re all going to be afraid of me!”

                “I’ll just talk to th...”

                “No!  You’ll just make it worse,” Rachel insisted.  She lost it and started to cry.

                Her parents let her cry for a long while.  None of the other students wanted to appear that they were paying the family any attention, so they deliberately avoided the scene.  Rachel’s father’s angel was the first to console her.  The beautiful angel knelt on the ground next to the young girl and ran her fingers lovingly through Rachel’s hair.  After a while Rachel regained control, and the tears stopped.

                “Be respectful,” her mother said, weakly. 

                Rachel almost laughed at the absurdity of the remark, but she didn’t.  She dried her tears and looked around feeling very self conscious.  Luckily, the bell had rung, and all of the other students were in their classes.  Rachel picked herself off the ground, and wiped her nose which had begun to bleed again.  Her mother’s angel put his massive hand over her face, and with a flash of light, the bleeding was gone, and so was the blood trail.

                “Thank you,” Rachel muttered.

                Her mother took her by the shoulders and looked her in the eyes.  “We’re all proud of you for standing up for that boy,” she said.  “I’m sorry we embarrassed you.  That wasn’t our intention.  I know that having council members for parents isn’t easy.  My father was on the council when I was a child.  Heaven knows I had a difficult time in school because of it, but I can guarantee you that you will be stronger for all the difficulty you will have to pass through.”  Rachel dropped her eyes to the ground and nodded.  “I promise,” her mother said with a squeeze.  “Besides, I don’t think you’ll have any bullies of your own after today.”  That drew a laugh from Rachel.  “There’s my smile.”

                Rachel looked back up at her mother.  She couldn’t remember doing anything that made her mother proud before.  Even though she was convinced she’d be a social outcast for the rest of the year because of it, she was happy she’d made her mother proud. 

                “Do you want to finish out the day, or come back with us to the council,” her mother asked.

                Rachel didn’t want to face the other students after all that had happened, but a day in the council was even worse.  “I’ll stay,” she said.  “I can’t miss the first day of school.  The teachers will all think I’m a slacker.”

                Her mother laughed and gave her another hug.  “Okay, call us if you change your mind.  I don’t mind being interrupted at work for my kids.  I only wanted to make the Principal think twice before calling us next time.”  She laughed again.  “After that, I doubt I will ever hear from her again.”  Rachel laughed at that.  Her mother winked at her father’s angel, then turned back to Rachel.  “But seriously, the council, my job, all of Qualia Duo is not as important to me as my kids.  Don’t ever hesitate to call me if you need me, okay?”

                “Okay, mom,” Rachel said. 

                Her mother gave her another hug, followed by her mother’s angel, and then her father.  “I’m proud of you, baby,” he said as he squeezed her tight.  She nodded into his shoulder as she hugged him back.

                No sooner had she let go then she found herself up in the air, hurled by her father’s angel.  The female angel caught her as if she were a small child and hugged her tightly.  “Thank you,” Rachel whispered.  “You always make me feel better.”  The statuesque angel only smiled and hugged her again.

                The four rushed out of the school, leaving Rachel to face the rest of the day emotionally exhausted, and even more nervous than she had been that morning.  She had missed her third and fourth classes, and was now late for her fifth.  Rachel knew it was improper to be late, but thought it was forgivable considering the circumstances.