The Keener Way

     A blog post about writing? Yes. I've really not done any of these yet. Namely because my blog has been terribly neglected for a long time. But I want to get into a better habit with time. And I want it to be multi-functional. Life lessons from Abba, plus personality psychology, plus writing advice, plus sharing some of my own writing. So, here's some writing advice. For all y'all fiction writers particularly. One of the biggest struggles people tend to have is character development. And there are many ways to develop a character, to which point I hope to cover many of these in the future. But today, I want to talk about a unique aspect that many people never even consider. Everyday Carry, or EDC. As defined by wikipedia: "Everyday carry ( EDC ) or every-day carry is a collection of useful items that are consistently carried on person every day. The main reasons for having EDC are utility (usefulness), self-sufficiency , and preparedness : to help individuals i

Its been way too long since I've worked on any of my main writing projects. I kinda missed them. But today I randomly started working on a small piece that I initially started writing three years ago and haven't touched in eight months. Valkyrie Misadventures is a collection of short stories about a young introverted "PK" (aka preacher's kid) named Valerie Clarke, as she learns to make friends and they navigate life together, having adventures, getting into mischief, learning valuable life lessons, and getting to know their Heavenly Abba better. And this is one of the first stories, where Valerie, in first grade, makes her first friend. Some helpful things to note: The church is non-denominational, but Valerie's parents come from a Quaker lineage, and so when her dad first took the pulpit, he encouraged the use of numbers for the days of the week instead of the names of Roman deities. As such, Sunday is "First Day", Sunday School is "Church Scho

  Sometimes a moment comes in your life where you realize you're not as mentally healthy and put together as you thought you were. I've been going through a lot of that in the past couple weeks. Thinking back over a sizeable chunk of my childhood. Events that my brain classified as trauma, my personal experience with depression, as well as many decisions I've made that I'm not proud of, and how all these things have been affecting me even up to the present times. Guilt, shame, fear, and a hesitancy to take action on things, in a strange combination with a mild savior complex and an urge to try and control things that its not my place to control. Afraid to exist and take up space, yet constantly taking up space that isn't mine because of a paranoia that if I don't do it, bad things will happen. And it is a work in progress to figure out what "healthy" actually looks like. But in Abba's grace, I'll get there. But in light of this, I wanna share a

 Today is July 7, 2022. In my main project, The Arayot Chronicles , my MC, Benjamin, is turning 25 today. And this is a big day for him, because its the day he saves the life of a man who once tried to kill him. Little did I know that when I actually reached this date, I would be taking some big steps of my own. Today I turned in my two week notice and I accepted an offer to return to my first place of employment. The thought of moving back brings up a lot of memories. Some good, some not. That was the job I was working when I questioned my competence. Where I battled anxiety and depression. Where those two forces of evil nearly convinced me to take my life into my own hands. In short, I'm returning to the job where the devil tried to kill me. Kinda like Ben saved the life of a man who tried to kill him. There's a lot of growing that's been happening. A lot of healing, a lot of moving forward into something new. Its scary. There are a lot of unknowns. I'm gonna have to