3 exciting things to do with words

Those five weeks of school holidays I mentioned a while back? Vanished, in the mythical puff of smoke. I don't know what happened to them -- or to the half million things I was going to do during them -- but nevertheless, after this weekend it's back to school for me. I wish I could have achieved more during my break, but I'm excited about starting back to work, too. So many delightful things to learn!

I may have completely failed to do any writing work during my holidays, but that doesn't mean exciting word-related things aren't afoot -- because they are!

one:
For starters, my smart, talented, creative, and cute sister Lauren features in the latest issue of the charming publication, Peppermint. As part of a special feature on the world of DIY craft, Lauren shares about our little etsy store, Love JanieLou, and how it all works. Peppermint is a quality publication focussed on looking after the resources we have and being ultra-creative with what we've got, so it's an honour to be a part of it. Excitement! PS. I should have done something about my chipped nailpolish before I took those pictures but... alas.

two:
Yet again, I have fallen in love with my local shire's council. Last night, Lauren and I attended the launch for a new program called Authors in Action. The program, sponsored by the council to encourage the development of local writing and creativity, introduces a series of workshops and author talks available to the public (and usually for free) regularly over the next few months. The concept is a fantastic one and I applaud the council and the local libraries for coordinating such a brilliant project. And I can't wait to learn from all the braininess that'll be on offer.

three:
Last night after Bible study at my church, a bunch of us gathered to discuss the beginnings of a brand new book club. It's all very random and organic but at this stage it looks like we'll be meeting three-weekly to chat through the chapters we've read in the interim, and the book we're starting with is Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper. I'm thrilled because I've wanted to read this book for so long, and I love the accountability and meatiness of getting together with a group of friends to talk over what we're learning. Book clubs YAY!

History in the making?

Meeting in Jerusalem overnight, a group of Anglican bishops - including the Archbishop of Sydney Peter Jensen - agreed to form a rival global fellowship that will take a conservative line on issues such as the ordination of gay clergy.

This could be an amazing season of change for the Anglican church.

(HT: Joe)

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conversations:

Meaghan -- Love you bigger! Thanks so much for your comment. You might just get to read it; how does a chapter a week sound? :)

Caitlin -- your lovely comment made my day! So we are anti-driving and anti-speech-making buddies? Yay! Love you, too! xox

You nailed it, Don

Reading through Donald Miller's Blue Like Jazz with a bunch of very lovely girls at the moment. I came across this hard-hitting nugget of truth today:

A friend of mine, a young pastor who recently started a church, talks to me from time to time about the new face of church in America -- about the postmodern church. He says the new church will be different from the old one, that we will be relevant to culture and the human struggle. I don't think any church has ever been relevant to culture, to the human struggle, unless it believed in Jesus and the power of His gospel. If the supposed new church believes in trendy music and cool web pages, then it is not relevant to culture, either. It is just another tool of Satan to get people to be passionate about nothing.

Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz

Chapter ten: Belief

Wow.

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conversations:

Caitlin -- thanks so much for sharing my excitement! The publishing process is really a pretty unsure thing. Before it gets published, the book needs to somehow impress either an agent or a publisher, and that is the hardest part of the job. We'll see what God does!

Abbie -- you're so right; I don't think Jane Austen would've had one of her "elegant females" racing around the street for an hour or more. However, I do think the older version had a run in it if I'm right... I just can't remember if it was in the book! (I'm going to have to check that now or I'll keep thinking about it!) And thank you for your kind congratulations!

Elizabeth -- Thanks, lovely! You can read it soon if you like (ooh, now I'm nervous). I'll have to get the huge wad of papers down to you somehow. :)

Weekend IV

Another waterlogged weekend that wasn't quite able to make up its mind whether to be truly wintry or not. Saturday was a pottering kind of day that included dawdling through work left over from the week, and all those other little thingy kind of jobs that you tend to save for Saturdays. In the afternoon, we made a belated effort to actually do something weekendish and headed into hitherto unknown parts of the city for an Expotition (as Pooh would have put it). It was late in the day and that part of the city was quiet, making it one of those lovely times when you feel as though you have stepped out of your own world and into someone else's.
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My sister and I found a store which is like what we dream of owning if we actually had our own shop again. It was actually two businesses which shared a two-storey building. The bottom one was a collection of boutique new and very cool vintage clothes (oh, plus this amazing jewellery made by a Vietnam vet from melted-down bullet casings). The top floor (only accessible by a tiny, creaking staircase) was filled with gorgeous textiles (crocheted donuts and cupcakes, oh my!), gifts, and home decor. Plus, it was white-painted brick and had giant windows letting in the soft afternoon light, making it incredibly cosy.

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We browsed through delightful antique places, too, one of which is getting my award for Tidiest Antique Store ever. The neat lines and rows of silver jewellery and snuff boxes and all manner of other things -- labelled with immaculately-lettered little cards -- were a delight to my obsessive-compulsive little heart. We also came across a boxy little store which turned out to be a violin-maker's workshop. Oh my. Can we all shout 'Dickens character!' in unison? We pressed our noses to the window and looked in awe over the amazing array of finished and half-made instruments. Little pieces of curled-wood and half-formed pieces littered the work bench and it was so cool.
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Afterwards, we headed down to Southbank where the action at the markets was slowing down towards day's end, and finished up by having an earlyish dinner of fish and chips at The Deck Cafe. Home again and no washing up (yay!) so we sat to watch a very thrilling, very thought-provoking M. Night Shyamalan movie.
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Sunday everyone rose early for a trip northwards for a motorbike swapmeet. I stayed home with the little bro who wasn't too well, and we listened to music and read and had a slow breakfast. Too many late nights caught up with me and I had a nap before church, waking with that horrendous zombie feeling that always makes you wonder if it was worth it. Apparently it was, because the energy kicked in and church was a huge blessing. Not many turned up last night (combination of State Youth Games and the rain, maybe) but they missed a great sermon -- the final in The Grace Effect series. Jens shared an amazing quote from Spurgeon which I'll share with you all if I can hunt it out. It sort of takes the Gospel and pins it on you for right now and every moment to follow. Very good stuff.

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And Lauren and I were delighted because the new version of Persuasion was on the ABC last night. We'd been waiting eagerly for its release ever since we first heard of its making. The book has been special to us since we read it as part of an informal book club with a friend and I discovered Anne Elliot to be the Austen heroine I could most relate to (owing to an unfortunate penchant for too much introspection, probably). We celebrated the completion of the reading by watching the seventies mini-series of the story. Unfortunately though, it was, well, rather boring. Persuasion is quite an analytical story with not a lot of action; to drag it out over many hours didn't quite do it justice (it did make the highlights of the story seem Very Exciting Indeed, however). So we were thrilled to see the BBC tackle this new version -- and it lived up to expectations. There were a few tweaks with the storyline here and there and a few modern touches, but they didn't spoil it for me. If you're a fan of Austen and period dramas, I'm pretty sure you'll love Persuasion. The DVD is due for release in Australia the first of July. I'm thinking this'll be one to add to the collection.
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