Personal

New Proverbs Memorization Workbook

I’ve put together a workbook to help your child memorize 15 different Proverbs. In the form of a daily journal, it adds a bit of writing each day, and at the end of the week, they should have a fresh Proverb engraved on their mind.

The series title is taken from Proverbs 8:6: “Hear, for I will speak noble things, and from my lips will come what is right…”

Perfect for homeschoolers!

You can buy the ebook to print out yourself here. Unlimited copies, limited only by your paper and ink supply.

If you would like a week’s sample of the workbook, you can fill out this form.

Eventually, I will have physical copies you can buy that I can then mail to you in real life, but I am still working out some details.

Anyway, check out the sample. If you like it and want to wait for the printed copies, let me know in the comments below.

If this is helpful for enough people, I’ll put some more of these together.

Focus Tip: Learn to Draw

How do you get into the “flow” state, where time seems to both stand still and rush by. A state of focus that allows you to do deep work and be productive beyond your normal capabilities?

First, you need to know what it feels like, and get more practice in creating that bubble for yourself, and in my experience, learning to draw is one of the best ways to accomplish this.

Just Shut Up…and Say Thanks

Just say thanks. This is one exercise in the Dale Carnegie Training seminar that has stuck with me for nearly two decades. Each person in the group took a turn to just sit there. Everyone else then gave them a compliment. After each one, all you had to do was say “thank you.” That’s it.

It’s harder than it sounds, and that’s why it was a full exercise. People need the practice.

NaNoWriMo 32,006 Word Update

I’m over half-way done. After more than two weeks, I’ve found myself getting into a nice rhythm, the feeling of a habit slithering into my bones to find a place of rest.

There have been a few nights I have dreaded writing 1,667 words, not sure if I could even come up with 300. But I almost always do.

The trick? It’s obvious. And it’s not new.

Just write.

That’s it. Don’t care what it might sound like or look like or what plot holes it might lead you to. Just write.

Who cares if it’s bad? It can be ripped out later. And you can always write something else tomorrow, maybe using some of the ideas you discovered the previous day while meandering. Those ideas might be drab in one circumstance, but shine like the sun if given different scenery.

Here’s another excerpt, without context:

Continue reading NaNoWriMo 32,006 Word Update

NaNoWriMo 15,059 Word Update

I’ve been doing NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) this year, attempting to write down a horrible, no-good first draft of an idea that’s been bouncing around in my head for years. 50,000 words in 30 days. Right now I’m at 15,059 words after 8 days, which puts me about one day ahead of the pace.

And yes, it is horrible. But I’m forcing myself to write. And in forcing myself to write, I discover things about my characters I hadn’t known, and I uncover some gems that I didn’t know existed. These gems will take some polishing in the future. For now, however, they let me know I’m at least on some sort of track, and maybe I accidentally wander onto the right one every once and a while.

Below is a rough excerpt from what I’m working on, the end of the first chapter of a book entitled Inheritance of the 6th Day.

Continue reading NaNoWriMo 15,059 Word Update