Free Time Guilt

 By Kelly Bridgewater

 Do you have tons of projects that you think to yourself . . . If I had a week off, I could do this or if I was retired, I could do that . . .

 My husband is a master at using that sentence. During Covid, he had weeks where his boss would only make him come into work Tuesday through Thursday and had four day weekends. When the pandemic hit, he was all on board to remodeling our laundry room. We finished it about two weeks with the four days off.

But then as the weeks moved by, he just wanted to lay around the house and watch YouTube during the day, then whine when I suggested cooking dinner.

See I still had to go to work outside the home five days a week, so I thought he could make dinner on Monday and Friday and the boys could worry about the middle of the week.

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I also, feel guilty if I tried to do some of my hobbies because I know another hobby that needs attention.

I enjoy cross-stitching. For the past couple of birthdays and Christmas, my mother-in-law has purchased me a number of kits that I have asked for, but I feel guilty if I picked these up.

I need to be working on my World War II historical suspense novels, so I don’t do those either. Even though I do enjoy writing and cross-stitching, I feel guilty if I spend time on these when I know that I should be doing something else.

 So I read another book. And another book. And another book. Sometimes I get tired of reading and reviewing all the time.

How about you? Ever feel guilty about spending time doing your hobbies when you could be doing something else?

 

I Can Do This On My Own

By Kelly Bridgewater

A couple of months ago, our church had a meeting with the parents of little children. Our church was thinking of starting Awana's. Currently, our church does have Wednesday night service for our elementary kids, but it is only about four months out of the year. I didn't go to the meeting; my husband did. But we discussed it when he came home. He wanted to see what I thought. I believed Awana's would be good for our young children.

The church I grew up in, Eagle Creek Grace Brethern Church, in Indianapolis, Indiana had a program for young girls called Little Sister (K-2 grade) and Amigos ( 3-5 grade). We had these books with verses, Romans road, and the books of the Bible. Every time we could cite something to the leader, it was marked off. In May, there was an award ceremony where we earned pins that correlated with our accomplishments. I put all my pins on a pillow. I still have that pillow with all the pins on them.

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Not only did that time give my parents a break, but it also gave me a firm foundation in my faith. I believe accountability is good for younger kids. My husband and I have tried a lot of churches in our hometown, and most of them aren't teaching the children the basics anymore. They want to be cool and hip.

But how is that going to make them strong enough to stand up to the world?

I think Awana's would be a great way to give my boys some accountability and disciple with their faith. I watched the show The American Bible Challenge with my boys. I knew majority of the answers, and my oldest son was in awe. He asked how I knew so much about the Bible.  I replied with telling him that I spent every day reading something in my Bible. I know, as a family, we talk about what we learned in church, and I bring the Bible up everyday in my boys life, but I don't force them to memorize scripture everyday like I do.

Why not?

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In writing, it is my passion, but do I really spend a lot of time reading craft books by authors I respect? Do I study the master's who are published? Do I spend time every day at the computer, typing away at another creative piece?

Right now, I don't have an accountability partner. Maybe that is why some mornings I wake up and decide not to do any writing, so I don't. When I join NaNoWriMo for November and Speedbo for March, I am held accountable for how much writing I get done. It is nice to have that sense of someone caring how much writing I actually get done. Or if I'm writing at all.

So I am more productive then.


We all need someone to make sure we're on the straight and narrow whether it is writing or studying God's Word.

Do you have an accountability partner? Any suggestions on how to find one? If you have one, what is your favorite or least favorite part of their involvement in your success?

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WINNER!!!

Last week, I had a giveaway for one copy of two books to one lucky person. The books were In Perfect Time and Through Waters Deep by Sarah Sundin. 

The Winner is . . .

RAECHEL KELLY

Congratulations!!!!

I will get in touch and ship both of those books!

Thanks for everyone who entered!

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Writing is a Burden . . .

By Kelly Bridgewater

Have you had those days, weeks, or even, months where the troubles just keep piling up and you don't know what to do? Come on, be honest! I'm raising my flag wide and high in the back corner.

www.christart.com

In 2015, I lost three people who were near and dear to me. I still find myself glancing at the picture of my Daddy and me when I graduated with my Bachelor's degree and talking to it. (Strange. I know.) My Daddy was my biggest supporter, and the person who I would call about all my writing ideas or a new book I read (I dedicated a post to him back in April. Feel free to read myheart about this issue.)

My husband and I don't want our kids to remain in the school district that our house sits in. We don't like the city of Terre Haute, Indiana, so we want to move. Our house has been on the market for the past nine months. We have had a lot of people come to look at the house. 

Many are impressed with how nice it is, but they say it is too big for them. Frustrating to say the least. We NEED to move. It isn't even an option to stay past August.

I don't have a job, even though staying at home and taking care of the kids and the house while working on improving my writing is a HUGE job, I don't have an outside job. I have wanted to work in book publishing or be a published author. Publishing companies want experience, which I don't have. Working at the local bank or grocery store, I have too much education, so they don't hire me.

My husband and I have spent a lot of time praying for God's direction for our life. Right now, we have no debt to anyone, but our house. If that sells, we can move anywhere we want, but where?

But another burden that only bothers me is my writing. I know, you're saying, how is that a burden? Well . . . let me tell you. I joined ACFW to get better. I am active in the Indiana chapter of ACFW. I have read and own practically every writing book others have suggested. I still don't understand how to write in Deep POV, so I doubt my writing ability ALL THE TIME. I tons of ideas, and I love sitting down and writing those ideas, but I know my writing is not where it should be to be published. I keep praying for God to either bring a mentor into my writing life or take this desire away, but he hasn't done either, so I keep writing and sinking into bouts of depression.

My word for the year is COMFORT. Comfort in God's arms. Comfort that God has a plan for my life instead of sitting in a house that we don't want, in a school district we need to leave, and a writing career that I want to see blossom.

www.rpmministries.org

As I was reading verses in 2 Corinthians, Paul's words jumped out at me, "The troubles we faced were nearly more than we could handle. The burdens we bore nearly crushed us. Our strength dwindle to nothing. For a while, we weren't sure we would make it through the whole ordeal" (verse 8).  This verse brought tears to my eyes, a smile to my face, and lifted my spirit. Even Paul struggled. I wasn't alone. But his advice to solve his burdens is priceless and a lesson we all need to seek more often, "We realized we could no longer rely on ourselves and we must trust solely in God" (9). I know God has a purpose in life. I just need to keep trusting, even through my dark days, which appear to be a lot lately.

Paul asked,"Lend us a hand through prayer "(11). I'm asking the same thing. Would you mind praying for direction for my family and me? We have asked our fellow members of our Sunday School class, but where two or more are gathered . . .

Do you ever feel like this desire to write that God has gifted us with is a burden? Why or Why not?

*Bible verses come from the The Voice: New Testament Bible.*

How Do You Write During Christmas?

By Kelly Bridgewater

Christmas is my favorite time of year. There are many moments for making memories such as tree decorating with lights, garland, and bringing out the homemade ornaments from Christmas pasts. I even get a little misty eyed when I bring out my boys’ Precious Moments Baby’s First Christmas Ornaments.  My oldest son Elijah’s has been dropped a couple of times and super glued back together. Poor guy.

I love baking from sugar cookies to peanut butter fudge and brittle. I really liked watching my boys as they spend over ten minutes making the perfect snowman or reindeer cookie. My favorite part is making all these goodies and then taking my boys to deliver them to some of the widowed and bachelors in the neighborhood. The joy on their face reminds me of the real reason we celebrate Christmas in the first place.

My family loads up in the Suburban and visits the Christmas lights around town after dark with the carols blaring from the radio station. One street in our city has every house lit up. They put Chevy Chase’s house to shame. I can’t imagine the light bill for those houses, but we always make a trek to see their brilliance.

We enjoy attending live nativity especially the one that gives out bags of cookies and hot cocoa to everyone before watching the theatrical piece.  

We gather as a father and watch tons of Christmas movies in the evening while eating homemade Carmel popcorn. There are a number of them that we look forward to such as Elf, Christmas Vacation, Christmas with the Kranks, and Holiday Inn.

But with all this fun stuff occupying the majority of my free moment, I wonder if I actually work in time to do what I have been called to do? Do I actually write in the month of December? Do you?

It doesn’t have to be a complete manuscript like in November for the NaNoWriMo, but do you write 500 words or less. Honestly, I don’t think I do. I need to make it more of a priority during the holidays. Even if I only write blog entries for next year, then that will be less to have to worry about when I start editing my 90,000 word manuscript.

Maybe if we all wrote a little every day then our writing would improve just a little bit more.

I’m going to try to write a little every day to keep my skills sharp and in use.

How do you include writing among all the festivities? Comment below to give me some suggestions to use.

Why I Write?

By K. L. Bridgewater

Why do I write? I have been asked this question by a lot of people. Even students that can't tolerate writing and reading. Today, it is hard to get students to pick up a book or less write anything besides a text. I'm part of the generation that doesn't text. Hard to believe, I know, but the parents with teenagers who graduate from high school, older generations and teenagers are the ones who text. My husband, me, and a whole bunch of others are age don't text. We don't see the purpose in it. I won't even allow my twelve-year-old son to text or have a cell phone. I don't want him to be tied to a phone all the time. (Enough ranting. I'll go back to my original question).

I have enjoyed writing since I was little. My father handed me a journal when I was nine and told me to record my feelings and quotes from writers. I already loved to read, but writing was something different. I filled that journal with hateful words when I was mad at my parents for something I thought was wrong. But as a I grew up, I started making up stories in those journals. My first "finished" book was written when I was fourteen. I still have it. It is titled Christmas Wish. I have scanned that book a couple of times. It was poorly written with no real action. But I won't throw it away. I have written short stories and a couple of other novels, which I still own.

I wrote a creative thesis in graduate school. It is a collection of six short stories all centered around the theme of growing up. Life doesn't turn out the way we imagined it when we were younger. My stories feature six different women and their difficult paths as they become mothers, wives, and a daughter returning home for the holidays. The only nerve-racking part of the whole process was having to sit before a committee and defend my choices of why I created my characters and plot to do certain things. I survived. My A proved that.

Recently, I have joined the ACFW, and I have been working on more mature novels. I have two complete 90,000 word novels sitting on my bookshelf. Currently, I'm working on a three-book series, which feature Devin Sanders and Chloe Walker. There is a number of twists with an ending I hope the readers don't see coming.

I have tried to give up writing a couple of times, but God keeps urging me to write. Either through blog posts or guest blog posts or writing contests coming up. God keeps popping story ideas or twists to my three-book stories, so I feel the urge to write at all times. I wanted to leave writing behind, but God must have a reason to give me this gift. I just hope I will see it before I die. I want to use my gift to encourage and draw others to Christ.

Why do you write? Have you tried to quit writing, but God pulls you back in?