Guest Writer

Today's post is a copied and pasted from my daughter's blog. I will take the liberty of splitting hairs on two things.
1. The longest it took me to write a book was 7 years.
2. Pecking away at my typewriter was not always for the pleasure of honing my craft but because I had a deadline hanging over my head. I had to produce regardless of other things that needed to be done.
The rest tells it like it is.

 7 Things That Might Surprise You About Growing Up With An Author

   1. It’s not glamorous. We are very normal people. If you meet my mom and exude hero worship because “this is a real, live author!” [flutter, flutter], I will roll my eyes. Do you know why? Guess who got to do mundane, real-life things like cooking, laundry and cleaning so mom could peck away at a typewriter, honing her craft? Who made it possible for her to write? Yup, yours truly. Know what else? It’s a thankless job. No one thanks the writer’s assistant aka kid. (Well, ok, I do have a book dedicated to me. That’s something.)   

   2.  I hated being asked “So is your mom working on any new books right now?” I [still] hate this question because there is a high probability that A. she is, B. I know what it is, and C. I’m not allowed to say. Why can’t I say? Primarily because the general public has no idea how long it takes to write a book. If mom says she is writing one, people expect to see it on the shelf in roughly 6 months. Not gonna happen. News flash, folks, it can take up to 10 years to write a [well-written] book. No one wants to be pestered while they work. So it’s our family’s policy to not say what the latest project is until it is almost ready to be sent to the printer. So do me a favor and don’t ask. Even if you are my BFF, I’m probably not going to tell you. Seriously, it’s not my news to tell.  

*And while we’re on the subject of how long it takes to write a book… you know those bestselling authors that crank out a book every year? I hate to break it to you but either they have a ghost writer doing some of their writing for them, or the quality of their work goes down in direct proportion to their increasing production. I could start naming names but I won’t. Trust me, it’s just not humanly possible to manufacture that volume of pages in that short amount of time. Authors are not robots, and publishers shouldn’t treat their success like a cash cow.  

   3. Just because I am the offspring of an author does not make me genetically predisposed to be an author, too. Thanks for asking, but I don’t have any plans of writing a novel. Ever. Some of my siblings & I have been told we inherited mom’s way with words, but frankly, I’m happier about inheriting my dad’s metabolism.    

   4. You were subjected to startling announcements at the dinner table at times. Your totally nonresistant Mennonite mom might randomly announce “I killed someone today.” True story. A character in the latest fiction project was no longer relevant to the story, so he gets tragically killed in an accident. Problem solved. (Bonus points for you if you know which book this is.)

   5. Writing books does not make an author rich. Fact is, if you tally up the time invested and divide it by the profit that trickles down to the author, he/she is “working for peanuts”. (Yes, if they self-publish they keep more of the profit, but then they also have to pay for their own advertising and marketing. They have cases & cases of books stashed in the basement they are responsible to either sell or lose money on.) Either way, they do it because they love working with words, not for the money. So we didn’t grow up with any luxuries because mom was a writer.  

  6. I don’t memorize the titles of all my mom’s books, so don’t ask me to name them off.  I’ve read every single one, but I don’t like to be put on the spot naming them. Just google it. (Refer back to #1) 

    7.  No one ever reads you your Miranda rights, but anything you say or do can be used against you. Not in a court of law, but in a story. About that… You know the PKs that cringe about being used for sermon illustrations? They don’t have anything on AKs! The published word reaches a much, much wider audience than a single congregation. Just saying.   

Family Matters

I was asked to proofread an appendix of genealogy for a book that is being reprinted. I ignorantly said I would do it, not realizing what I was getting in for. 

Q:How do you proofread genealogy? 

A: By looking up every name and date to be sure it is correct. 

It is slow tedious work and has consumed the last six weeks of my life. I am currently in the Weavers so there is a faint light at the end of the tunnel. I have made some interesting observations in the process. 

1. There was a high rate of infant mortality in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Very few families did not have at least one infant death and often more than one. There were also many deaths of children under the age of ten. Because of the advance in medical science, infants and children that once would have had no chance are now able to survive. 

2. The practice of using the mother's maiden name for a middle name makes tracking people easier. If a man had children with two wives, the middle initial helps confirm which children belonged to which wife. That practice has not totally disappeared but began to fade out with my generation as children were given two names. 

3. What a blessing the belief in the permanence of marriage has been to our families! I have come across one or two divorces so far. Otherwise, a second marriage was always after the death of the first partner. Tracing genealogy is much easier when there is only one father and mother per family, even if they had fifteen children. 

In the mixed up society around us today, I wonder how people will begin to trace their genealogy a hundred years from now. There are families with children who all have different fathers, and worse still are children who were born to same sex couples by unnatural methods. Their father was a sperm donor and they will never know who he was or where they came from.

God designed marriage to provide order in society. When we violate His rule of marriage being one man and one woman for life, we create chaos that worsens with every generation. How did  we get to the place where LGBT voices are even being heard? How did things which were once shameful and hidden become open and even considered normal? I believe it began with divorce and remarriage being accepted as normal. Jesus said point blank that remarriage after divorce is adultery. When churches disregarded that and allowed divorced members to remarry, the breakdown of society spiraled down rapidly. 

God's plan for marriage and families is for our good and blessing. It gives security to children and structure to society. I was blessed to be born into a family and church that follows God's standards in family matters. May we never compromise those standards!

Lyrica Sacra

The musical traditions of the conservative Anabaptist Christian churches are focused on four-part, acappella singing. Children are taught hymns early and master four-part harmony in their teens. For this community, musical instruments might be played in the home, if at all. 

“More assimilated Anabaptists, some Mennonites and Brethren, have used music instruments in Sunday worship for some time,” says Steven Nolt of Elizabethtown College’s Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies,

Yuri Kravets, a conservative Christian who immigrated from the Ukraine, has brought together a chorus with string, woodwind, and brass orchestra instruments. The group is called Lyrica Sacra and is giving conservative Anabaptist musicians an outlet to use their talent in a God-honoring way.

Although Kravets would like to expand Lyrica Sacra’s outreach, the logistics make it difficult. The group now includes 110 members, with 80 in the chorus and 30 musicians, and there are few stages in Lancaster County that can accommodate the full group. Also, some members live two hours or more away from rehearsals and concerts, and others come from out of state. If Lyrica performs at retirement communities or other venues, they do so with a smaller group.

Lyrica Sacra’s 2017 performances drew more than 2,000 spectators. This year, Lyrica Sacra’s free concert was held April 14 and 15 at 7 p.m at the Lancaster Mennonite School, 2176 Lincoln Highway East, Lancaster. We were privileged to attend Sunday evening and the music was excellent. It was the first time I saw a woman wearing a head covering playing the drums.

The program was live streamed and can be seen here. The music begins at 18 minutes.

https://livestream.com/lancastermennonite/BeforeJehovahGod-Saturday/videos/173373197?t=1523882832410

If that doesn't work, here is a selection from last year's program.