I totally live in Anelthalien. Since I was little, I've lived in Anelthalien. At times I spend just a bit of my day in Anelthalien, but usually I'm a pretty well-established resident. While Anelthalien really solidified when life became too hard (for that story read my blog "A Choice To Go Somewhere Different" and watch my YouTube video "When Life Becomes Too Hard"), it still is that place I go to whenever I want to listen to the stories God wants to tell me. I'm almost alway

Missi is . . . unique. She stands out not just because her syntax is scrambled but because she believes in something that no one else seems to believe and is delighted by that something. Even though those around Missi tell her that she's talking nonsense and babbling about fantasy stories, she insists her delight is true. Ever feel like a weirdo because you believe something and take joy in that something? Specifically, do you ever feel a little "out there" because of your be

The song Ella sings at the Lighthouse comes from a distant memory. It doesn't describe her life at the Lighthouse, but it does ring true for Barnes as well as many others who are not just characters in a book. Many people feel as if they have nothing except a fate of living at a distance from everyone else. For some reason--illness, past choices, addiction, disabilities, unusual qualities, etc.--many feel like it is just better to hide away and not even try to overcome the st

Most people who have encountered Anelthalien have asked about the name. They wonder what it is, where it came from, what it means, and how to say it. Those same questions have arisen when readers encounter the names and places in Anelthalien. No concrete rule guides the process of how each character or place receives its name. Some names mean something, others don't exist outside of Anelthalien. The naming process (if I have to call it something) really was as unplanned and

Apparently when you write a book, you must weave it around the core of what is known as a "felt need". This ambiguous "felt need" is something inside people that drives them to do whatever they do. If people feel the need for cake, they buy cake (or books about how to make cake). If people feel the need to be better at parenting, they buy parenting books (or books about how to make cake). Implanting a felt need in your book is crucial for people to feel a need to buy your boo

I can't teach you how to pray--no one can--but I can tell you a story.

God will hand you the tools you need whether you noticed them or not and whether you want them or not.

During the times I just focused on God's guidance and not my mistakes or inability, I made smooth forward progress

It is easy to forget God is working with all people to accomplish His plan. Although I don't intentionally forget that other people are just as much part of God's plan is I am, I do forget. Often I don't recognize others as part of what God is doing in my life because, well, it's my life. I know my friends and family are part of my life and God's plan for me, but I just don't know of the people that I've never heard of three states away. All I can know is what is within my pe

I'm not a talker. Growing up I preferred to play alone. In school some people thought I was snobby because I didn't talk. Now when people introduce themselves, I'm doing well to remember to say my name. It's just so much easier to listen while other people talk. Spoken, on the spot words are hard. So when God gave me the task of talking to someone I didn't know about something I knew nothing about, I wanted and tried to replace me with someone else. It was very much like when

The adventure with God was meant for just that: experiencing God. God wanted you to go with Him so you would be with Him and grow closer to

Seconds, weeks, years slide by. All that time you keep your eyes shut to the bleak, hopeless reality. All that time you keep your mind open to God. He tells you that it's okay you see no way forward and to not focus on that. He tells you that it's okay you see no way back and to not focus on that. God says, "Just be here with Me." It's hard to just "be here", to not do or know anything about what you thought would happen. It is very hard to know so surely that God brought you

When in your hopelessness you turn to God for hope, He provides. Everything may be shattered, but when you ask God for help, He starts picking up the pieces. If you weren't so hopeless and so desperate for any ounce of light, you probably wouldn't notice because God doesn't magically fix everything in one big blazing bang. Instead God lets a refraction bounce off one of the shards surrounding you. You notice it, hungry for light in your darkness, and stoop to pick it up. As y

Sometimes when you're running with God--and you just start to run well--life steps from the shadows and punches you in the gut. You lay on the ground trying to reclaim the air that has been knocked out of you. When you finally find oxygen, you sit up and lose it again. Life didn't just knock you down, it shattered everything. You're sitting in a dark field full of brokenness, hopelessness, death, and defeat that stretches beyond your range of comprehension. Seeing it, you sud

I had heard God tell me to just start and go wherever He led. We started a run together. Our run through the countryside was easy, eye-opening, and lovely. When I first set eyes on the mountains, I temporarily panicked and forgot to follow God's lead. God calmed me and returned me to His side. Our run continued through the mountains. I wondered where we would end up but kept my eyes on God. The run through the mountains just started to feel natural, when suddenly, I froze. I

Jesus and His disciples faced a huge crowd. The disciples knew that the crowd was hungry and that they could not possibly feed the crowd. So the disciples suggested to Jesus that they hand off the enormous responsibility to numerous others actually equipped for such a task. Jesus, though, told His twelve disciples, "You give them something to eat." In my mind the disciples gawked open-mouthed at Jesus. They may have thought, "Why did Jesus answer like that? He knows there's a

When we follow God and just focus on His guiding voice, we don't worry about what is happening beyond His voice. We all are human, though, and do end up distracted by the immense plan God is submerging us in. The moment our eyes slide off God and see the towering cliffs ahead, we remember that we have no idea what we're doing. That leads to a scramble to figure out what to do. As unable humans that desire to be capable, we determine that we will tackle those on coming obstacl

When I first started writing Anelthalien, it was the first time I stopped trying to write Anelthalien. I had been trying to compose a story, but it never meshed together. When I had been doing something else and God told me to start writing, I began a journey I never had nor could have imagined on my own. When God says go and we start running according to His moment-by-moment direction, we fly. We not only speed through beautiful scenery we've never seen before, we also get t

It's natural to think of something we want to do and to do it. We think something is necessary or sounds like a good idea and then go for it. We go about doing that endeavor however we know best. Nothing seems wrong with that. Everything ends up wrong with that, though. Most of the time we are not experts on what we are trying to do. All of the time we do not know what the future will bring if we decide to tackle that goal. Often we discover that diving into a project ends up

God wants us to never forget what drew us into His love. God wants us to always hold on to what taught us that He loves us dearly. Often we try to forget. We don't try to forget God but the circumstances that compelled us to go to God because often those were not good circumstances at all. We want to push those dark circumstances into the depths of our minds so that we never see them again and unconsciously end up stifling that spark that started our love for God. God doesn't