Leaping

 

Normally, I don’t have a blog post in February, not even when it’s a Leap Year. Stepping in for a wonderful fellow writer made me think of Leap Years and how much leaping around we get to do.

My thoughts don’t run along a single track, so simply thinking of a blog post made me think of all kinds of things. It made me remember a teacher’s nephew whose birthday was on February 29, something that intrigued us as children. Do you only celebrate once every four years, or simply do it on the 1^st of March?

Our first, initial visit to the adoption agency was on the 29^th of February. We were seen by the manager, as other social workers hadn’t been scheduled to work that day as the person filling in the office diary hadn’t realised it was a Leap Year!

Diaries are interesting; how many times do we make mistakes because of a diary failure? I then thought of my characters, who are stuck in a jungle village at the moment. Do they have a plan to get away, and will it be tied to a certain day? They’re figuring out what to do about Downstream, where Elabi sends their old, frail and rejected people. I knew they had to stay in the village at the top of the hill for nearly a year, but it was tricky to make the rest of the year and seasons work.

I don’t think people in the jungle village work with diaries much, as their lives are not really going anywhere, so will this start to clash with my characters? Will there be a diary failure at some stage, where their agendas clash because of timings? Will there be something that looks like a disaster, but turns out to be a God appointment?

My mind leaps away and thinks of communication issues around words. In Dutch, the word for diary is agenda. I can see someone in a meeting vehemently denying not having an agenda... which is probably true, as surely we all have an agenda of some kind.

I write for fun, because I enjoy it, and because I feel blessed when I write a story that helps me to think about faith. I occasionally have timelines, which mostly go wrong. Book 3 has been worked on sporadically since April, and is nearly done. Then I think of other things that will need to be added or changed, and it can be days before I look at my manuscript again, as my mind is trying to figure out where this new idea has to fit in.

God has an agenda for us as well, and it’s good to know His Diary never fails or misses days or appointments. As writers, we can be under so much pressure to write well, write fast, and write a particular way, but all our times are in God’s hands. Isn’t it amazing to know that we have the Holy Spirit living in us, helping us and encouraging us? He will steady our hearts and minds as well, and give us the wisdom we need. Although it doesn’t mean my mind stays on a single track, my heart can still be focused and fixed on Jesus.

Enjoy your writing, with or without an agenda, diary or even a planner!