I am writing a new book because that is what authors do. They write. This one is going rather slowly because life is busy; this week involves a number of doctor and orthodontic appointments. But the key is to keep on keeping on.
I have said before that I am a pantser. I get an idea for a story and I just start writing it and my brain comes up with the next bits as I write. It is really cool, and a gift from God, that I can do this. I am grateful. Our books continue to be very well received which is so sweet. I know I am not writing great literature. My books are fun and mostly mellow. Romance readers tend to read a lot and they like my books, which makes me happy. I will also say here that I am very careful to keep them clean and sweet; no steamy sex scenes in my books!
We have had a minor illness for more than a week now. Yesterday I was tilting my head and pulled something in my neck. Ouch. It isn't terrible but it is annoying.
I read part of an article a couple of days ago which keeps bothering me. A woman wrote an article for the Washington Post describing how she married young (21 or so) and had three kids in a few years and then one day decided she wasn't happy and insisted on divorcing her husband. Her husband was, apparently, a perfectly pleasant man, not abusive, faithful, hard working, etc. She wanted more. So she broke up her family and she had absolutely no shame about it. She "wasn't happy" and didn't give a rip about her small children (the eldest was 5) being thrown into a broken home.
I find it very upsetting because divorce causes long term scars in children. I am NOT saying that divorce is always wrong; there are times when divorce is the best of bad options. In cases of abuse and cheating and abandonment, it may be the right thing to do. But this woman just decided she wasn't happy, and she bailed.
She is still caring for her kids half of the time but still...it is hard on kids when their parents aren't together. There have been studies showing that kids don't just shake it off. It causes permanent effects.
And yet, her viewpoint is perfectly reasonable from the perspective of someone who doesn't believe in a God who reigns and rules. If this life is all there is, than "being happy" is the most important thing. I guess?
So it is sad but not surprising.
I have been thinking too about how parenting is a long haul, and especially when a couple has nine kids and their youngest in their mid 40's!
I am 54 and Rose is 9!
Rose deserves a diligent mother and father, and Kevin and I often pray for wisdom and the ability to do what we should do with our time and energy.
I have a couple of homeschooling books written by a very intelligent woman who was the youngest of six children; she was strong willed, and her parents were tired, and she went off the rails in her 20's.
Now, kids can go off the rails regardless of parenting, that is for sure! However, she says her parents were too tired to discipline her properly and that was NOT good for her.
So yes, I am trying to be as diligent in guiding and loving Rose as I was with Naomi, in spite of being 15 years older now than when Naomi was 9!
Life is way easier in some ways, of course; no babies, no toddlers trying to damage themselves by climbing on the chandeliers.
Well, I should go wake up the children who are still sleeping. This illness makes people tired, but it is 10:30 a.m.
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