Projects

Glimpses of what I’m working on and what I dream of doing

All my ink-stained fingers, crumpled papers, bleary eyes, and kinky neck muscles ought to produce something worthwhile. What projects are going on currently at various stages, veiled behind computer passwords and binder covers? Here’s a look behind the scenes.

Northern Lights Storytime I am working towards publishing a compilation of children’s stories I’ve written for Shining for Jesus. In this magazine, I’ve had my own column (Northern Lights Storytime) for a few years. With all stories combined, it could be a book up to 60 chapters, but I might end up doing two separate books. Right now, I’m revising it before submitting the manuscript for evaluation by the publisher.
True-to-life Fictional Work This is a story I’m writing about a fictional character who learns a lot of the same lessons I did one year. I started it as a brief, personal essay, but couldn’t stop there. It has ended up with a 16,000 word count. Under the tentative title, Hope and a Future, it’s being critiqued by my writers’ group. I hope to have the revisions completed by the end of the year. Since it’s such a short manuscript, I might simply print it as booklets to hand out to a few interested readers, unless I find a simple self-publishing option. A sequel is simmering in my brain as well.
Grandparent’s Project In the past few years, I felt the need to write my Penner grandparents’ story. With relatives encouraging it, I held a few interviews over the course of a couple months. Then life whirled away into a busy summer, so I paused the project. Grandma passed away unexpectedly in fall, leaving the story far from finished. I had wanted to ask her much more yet. What I have now is about four pages of hand-written notes and a paragraph typed in the computer. I haven’t tackled the project since, but still hope to continue sometime with Grandpa.
Death For Life This has been a long, slow project beginning as a writing assignment in ninth grade. I don’t know what will become of this story, but I have spent time with it over the years. It follows the life of a fictional character during the time of the Roman rule in Israel. She tragically loses her baby brother in the Bethlehem massacre. For much of her life, she seeks justice and freedom from the bitterness that engulfs her, not realizing that the answer lies within the very One who initially caused King Herod’s fury. This project is also being critiqued. I’ll see if it’s publish-worthy after they’re done.

Those are a few projects. It’s hard to know which are worth naming. I have far more dreams and ideas than I have time to fulfill, especially in writing. Hence, I shy away from putting these unfinished projects out for you to see. But putting them on here makes me take them more seriously even though they’ll take a long time and may never see a printer. I’m still new to publishing and even writing, so patience is vital! Only God can make anything beautiful out of my scribbles. And His ways of doing that may be different from what I expect.