Summer in North Texas

In North Texas, the cicada’s fill the trees and sing all day long. The hotter it gets the louder they sing. From my office, I can hear them. I’ve always thought the triple digit heat made the trees creak. It sounds like all of creation is chanting over and over ‘Itsssssss Soooooo HHHHH-OOOO-TTTT!.‘l

Listen for yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjn-5v6dcA0

The heat and singing make me think about summer camp. It makes me feel safe and peaceful. I went to camp before air conditioning. Our worship center had only a roof, no walls. It was so hot. In the afternoons, at the height of the heat, we would gather at the canteen and get an ice cold coke and a bag of peanuts to pour in our cokes. Camp was the only place I ever put peanuts in my coke, but it was the best treat ever. 

It is strange to have such great memories of triple digit heat, noisy insects, scorpions,  mosquitoes and all four North American poisonous snakes. It was an answer to pray that I never saw one of them.  There was someone special who I got to be better friends  with at camp each other, Jesus.

Entering the property there was a sign with Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God.” From that moment on, Jesus was the center of everything. Some of my most important spiritual decisions were made at camp. 

The cicadas song takes me back there. 

Ich bin ein Berliner June 26, 1963

In 1963, President Kennedy connected with his Berlin audience by saying “Ich bin ein Berliner.”

It still sends shivers through me and inspires me to join with all people of the world who seek freedom.

Presindent Kennedy June 26, 1963

Writing Tips - What I have implemented from the NTCW Conference

Frank Ball of NTCW always encourages us to come home from a writing event with a list of things we’ve learned and want to incorporate into our writing experience. 

This morning I updated my ‘quotes’ data base with 2 new fields. 

Earlier this year, when I decided to start tweeting regularly, I created a ‘quote’ data base. I used Filemaker Pro 12 to create the database. This is a price software package, but I learned in my corporate IT life to get the best database software. My quotes database contained the following fields: date created, date modified, The Quote, Quote Author, and Quote Topics. This was adequate for my uses in twitter. 

This weekend we were reminded of the importance of being able to properly document information. I’m reading, Walking on Water by Madeleine L’Engle in which she admits she often jots down a quote she likes in her journal without the information and the problems it causes when she wants to use the information. 

I added two fields to my database to help with this problem: Book and page number. Since most of my initial collection has come from a couple of sources it has been easy to update the Book fields, pages will be a little harder.  

Writing tips - North Texas Christian Writers Conference June 22-23, 2012

North Texas Christian Writers held their ninth conference this weekend. Frank Ball and his staff, especially Linda Franklin, did their normal excellent work in planning and executing the conference. 

This is not a conference for someone who is looking to promote their work. Writing is the   heart of this conference. Agents and editors are not part of the conference facility. It was agony choosing the class for each session. Knowing the mp3s were available for an affordable price made the choices  acceptable. The faculty was outstanding. I almost hate to say anything about one or staff members, because it would sound like I was outing some. This is absolute not true. 

So let me list the faculty: Frank Ball, LaWanda Bailey, Lori Freeland, Dennis Hensley, Kathy Ide, Curt Iles, Lissa Halls Johnson, Henry McLaughlin, Steve Miller, DiAnn Mills, Marty Norman, John Savell, Vonda Skleton, Thomas Umstattd Jr., and Rusty Wright. 

What a group, you could not make a wrong decision for any hour.

A couple of quick notes - When I grow up I want to be just like Doc Hensley. I will go hear him speak any time I can. Rusty Wright open for me a path to how and the why of writing for secular publications. DiAnn Mills offers an intense Fiction workshop, which I have attended in the past and is an excellent time for fiction writers. 

I was very encouraged. As a regional event, it is a great time for Christian writers in the North Texas area to gather. 

It must be time to start my romance novel

Last night this headline showed up in the ads column on my facebook, 

Bachelor in IT.  

I thought what a bazar matching site. Of course, it was an ad for a university. 

Book Review - Absalom, Absalom

Absalom, Absalom

William Faulkner 

1936, 378 page

ISBN 0075536579

This was one of my bucket list books. I didn’t manage to get around to reading it back during my academic life, but every year when I read 2 Samuel 13-15 I renew my vow to read it. This year I followed through. 

If you are familiar with Faulkner’s work, I don’t have to tell you he would have hated twitter. And he never heard the warnings about not using adjectives and adverbs. And while I sometimes get forget where he is going, I‘m drawn to be lost in his words. 

This is particularly true when the characters do not want to tell the story. So they hem and hah and talk around the story. The first half of the book, told by Aunt or Miss Rosa is painfully slow. The pace picks up in the second half when Quentin and his college roommate tell the story to each other, but still they can barely say the words of the real story. 

Somewhere between the long sentence structures and the outdated vocabulary, you sense the power of the story as characters realize small familial attributes and watch the death of dreams as the people, land and their ways are devastated by the Civil War. In the end it seems the only way to honor the story. 

More than anything, we are reminded the most important thing for a son is to be recognized by his father. 

the Slavery issue has to be resolved...

AP Highlight in History: 

On June 16, 1858, Accepting the Illinois Republican Party's nomination for the U.S. Senate, Abraham Lincoln said the slavery issue had to be resolved, declaring, "A house divided against itself cannot stand."

In so many ways slavery still lingers, still as devastating

Slavery to preconceived notions, 

Slavery from human trafficking, 

Slavery to the dollar, 

Slavery to sin 

Jesus Christ is still the resolution.. 

Favored by Grace

One of the recurring themes at Aunt Faye’s service was our family being favored by grace. It was a message spoken by the pastor and in their own way each family member who spoke. 

The pastor used the 2 Timothy scripture to talk from his immediate knowledge of Faye and Ewing, ‘your honest faith—and what a rich faith it is, handed down from your grandmother Lois to your mother Eunice, and now to you.’ He spoke of how Aunt Faye would wake Rick, with the words of Isaiah 60:1, “Arise, shine; for thy light is come.”

I thought how he only knew half of the heritage story, did he know that Mrs. Graves woke Aunt Faye with the same verse every morning? 

People are drawn to us. Sometimes it is uncomfortable for us, because we know what flawed people we are, both as individuals and corporately. We can recognize a ‘Paris’ characteristic in the blink of an eye, and most of those are the best of life. 

There is one thing we have that many families don’t. We have Jesus in our midst. Not just for the Paris’, but for most extending families that have been added to our number. 

There is no explanation for why we have been favored with such a rich heritage of faith except the lavish mercy of God. 

After the service, while the family was still in the church, for a moment Rick and Karen stood at the casket, it was a tender memory I will never forget. 

I’m hard-wired to look for God everywhere.I’m never surprised when a breeze shows up at the gravesite. Not only did we have a breeze, this beautiful bird serenaded us. 

We have this wonderful heritage surrounding us. Are we continuing it? 

Longhorn Caverns

My next goal on my research trip was to visit Longhorn Caverns in Burnet County. What a great resource of story treasure it is. There is a very rich history of use in the caverns, from the Comanche using it as a place to hang and hold prisoners for ransom. Three Texas Rangers rescued a white girl prisoner from about 200 comanche, a wonderful story. It was a speakeasy in the 1920’s serving cedar berry type gin. It became a state park and attraction during the 30’s as one of Roosevelt’s projects for getting men work. In the 60’s it was set up as a fallout shelter and the home for LBJ in emergencies when he was at the ranch. 

If my last name was Michener, I’d have to start the cavern’s story eons ago, when the underground river flowed through the rock and form the caverns. There is only 1 other cavern in the U. S. not created the drip through the rock method. 

Longhorn Cavern 

One of my favorite features of the Cavern is the face of Abe Lincoln in one of the rock formations. Unlike Mt. Rushmore, this sculpture was carved by the river. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to get a photo of it to share with you. 

E. Faye Paris 1927-2012

My 80+ year old emailing Aunt Faye Paris passed away this week. In the last decade, I’ve bragged on her emailing so often. 

Her passing reminded me of the special gift aunts are to us. They are a silent promise of hope. 

Even if the most unimaginable happened, our parents lost, there would be someone special who would care, someone who would take care of us. 

Aunt Faye will be missed by all.

Seeking Sage

Last week I went on a trip seeking Sage. 

In the process of building my platform, my vision of Sage, Texas began was conceived. When my first couple of internet searches came back empty, I let Sage develop. Then, the worst happened, a search came back with a real Sage. The post office was established in 1874, but the railroad bypassed Sage and the community disbanded. By 1980, all evidences of Sage had disappeared from maps. 

Sage was 8 miles northeast of Burnet, Texas on the North Fork of the San Gabriel River  at the corner of County Road 202 and 203. Now there is one sign with ‘Sage City Limits’ on one side and ‘Leaving Sage‘ on the other side. 

That was the information I had to work with last week. County Roads don’t show up on the Rand McNally Atlas for Texas. While they do show up on my iPad, I have not conquered driving and navigating with it. 

After filling the car, I popped into the connecting convenience store. When I asked the clerk if they had maps, she was so kind. 

Where do you need to go? 

I stood there for a few seconds considering if I could ask for directions for somewhere more imaginary than real. 

No, but thanks. I think I know where I going. 

County road 202 is one lane, but it is at least black topped. I cross over two cattle guards and through a herd of goats who were grazing across the road.The Sage city limits sign is about 400 feet south of the intersection of County roads 202  and 203. 

I drove up and dow both roads and took lots of photos of the landscape.  

And aren't we all seeking a place of comfort and wisdom? 

Review - Platform:Getting Noticed in a Noisy World

Platform: Getting Noticed in a Noisy World

Michael Hyatt

Thomas Nelson 2012

9781595555038

I’ve followed Michael Hyatt’s blog for several years, so I looked forward to this book with great anticipation, but also knowing the most of the information would be coming from his blog. 

I don’t know about you, but I’m not retaining information about platforms, branding and blogging. And though I have some of this material copied from Michael’s blog into Evernote, I appreciate having it collected in one place and easily found. 

In the years I’ve followed his blog, I’ve found his advice to be solid and helpful. I bought the ebook to be able to read it immediately, but I’ve also ordered a hard copy to have as a ready desk reference.     

While Michael doesn’t spend much time on Facebook in this book, he does make it clear that this is not on of his favorite areas. Personally, I believe the highly changing world of Facebook is going to make it hard to document tips for Facebook.

Michael makes a strong case for hard work and personal creativity being the keys to making your platform work. People looking for concrete, magic steps might be disappointed with this book. 

Writing for the soul conference

Writing for the Soul Conference.

Several people asked me what I thought about this conference. I’m behind getting my thoughts after, the pesky shoulder surgery took top priority for a while.

Oh, please don’t ask me which is my favorite Christian writing conference to attend. It is a question I can’t answer. You know the reason, too. Jesus is at every conference. The spiritual atmosphere and being with like minded Christians for a few days triumphs all other teaching, and sends you out more encouraged than ever to accomplish God’s will. 

This conference fulfilled all my expectations. The spiritual aspects were over the top, the teaching and networking were outstanding. I went with one plan, but in the end, I couldn’t resist spending my days with Doc. Hensley. Every element from check-in to book signings to appointments was handled in a professional and efficient manner. 

And, then there is Jerry B. Jenkins. I found the ruby red slippers salt and pepper shakers in Kansas on the drive to the conference. I thought they were a great visual reminder of my journey to see the ‘wizard’. His success, not just monetary, but in  expressing God though fiction requires our attention.     

All, in all it was a great experience. 

Review - 50+ Best Books on Texas

The 50+ Best Books on Texas

1. C. Greene

University of North Texas Press

9781574410433

A. C. Greene’s list of the 50 best books on Texas was first published in 1981 in Texas Monthly. It created an overwhelming response. A. C. Greene’s unique background as a book store owner, academician, author, and book reviewer for a Dallas newspaper gives him the skills to identify these books.    

He provides a brief review and the reason for inclusion for each book. This  is a must have resource for anyone interested in Texas.

Review - Liberty Belle

As Patricia PacJac Carroll’s debut novel, Liberty Belle, provides an action packed tale of twenty year old Libby Longstreet’s search for independence and freedom in 1850. Left at the altar by a childhood friend, Libby runs from the church and stumbles into the arms of Wade Calder, who saves her from falling. Wade, running from his own past, restores Libby and gallops off dropping his sheriffs badge at her feet. Their brief encounter is a moment where they both return to dream in the dark of night.   

To escape her dominating Mother and the humiliation of being left at the altar, she leaves in the middle of the night to take the stage from Missouri to Denver, Colorado. She is accompanied by her thirty year old ‘spinster’ Aunt Flora Longstreet, who learns of Libby’s plans and decides this could be her last chance to have a life as well. Neither are prepared, from the weather to the dangers, for the results of their rather impulsive decision to go into the frontier. 

If you like stories of independent women making their way in the world, you will enjoy this book. As Libby moves closer to her the world she dreamed of, her journey becomes filled with danger, conflicts and problems until it seems no one, not even Wade, will be able to save her. 

I must have been influenced by the characters in the book. After finishing it, I took off on a 3 day trip without a plan or a map. There are few slower paces in the beginning of the book, but once the action begins, it is hard to put down. 

Patricia Carroll is in my writing critique group. 

Liberty Belle 

Patricia PacJac Carroll

May 2012

Pacjac Publishing 

Historical Fiction  

978-098-20673-5-2 Ebook 

978-098-20673-4-5 Print 

Link to view book at Amazon

The cost of independence

Jun 7, 1776 Richard Henry Lee of Virginia proposed to the Continental Congress a resolution calling for a Declaration of Independence.


I can hardly imagine the courage it took to propose Independence.