Easter Sunday 2024: When Lent changes everything.

Do I ramble here? You betcha.

Will I rant a bit, possibly vent? Probably.

Has consistency ever been my game? There was a time, yes. But we’ll see about now.

Who am I now? A Catholic Woman, working toward sainthood by following a vocation, called by God—wife and mother first, creative soul second—in a world that seems to have turned topsy-turvy.


But now to the real meat of the story. Why am I back here, blogging again? Because I believe God wants me to use my skills as a writer. I’ve known for a while that the direction of my writing wasn’t where I wanted to go, so I’ve floundered quite a bit over the last 3 years. Then a couple weeks ago, a company I’m familiar with called out for writers—Gospel reflections on Sundays. I thought, ‘throw your hat in Bethanne’, why not? If they like it, it’s a sure sign of a good direction to move. Now, as is with all things writing, I wait and see…

I spent this Lent staying off Facebook—for the most part, managing a few groups on Sundays. But I did realize by the time I’d decided to write the Gospel reflection, that social media was pissing me off, on the regular! And I didn’t like being there even though I love to be able to share my life with my family and friends from the past. And then this past week has been one harrowing escapade after another of false FB allegations of copyright infringement of accounts that don’t even belong to me…until finally Facebook disabled my accounts—both my personal and my writing. Done. (wipinghands) The funniest part is that they didn’t bother with the IG account, also a META company, so I don’t know what they will do when they finally realize they’ve made a mistake on FB. But I won’t go back now. It’s like a burden that’s been lifted. Yes, I’ll hold onto the IG, because I do like the contact (I’m an introvert. We LOVE behind the screen connections!). But Facebook can pretty much kiss mine…

And, I was able to tweak my IG account to represent the better Me.

Here’s the thing about my name; it’s Bethanne. Sometimes, on the phone in the south, I let Beth slide, because…you have NO IDEA how hard it is to get people to understand ‘bethanne’ in the somewhat northern accent I have. On the second or third, “What?” I usually say, Beth.

But names are important, and I like mine. So, even when it was suggested the I should find something simpler for my domain—in the end—I just couldn’t not use Bethanne on this round. I’ve had too many years trying to be something that didn’t fit like a glove.

From Bread and Stories to Sewing and Target Practice to growing in Faith, you’ll find all sorts of things to talk about here, and I hope if you find me, you’ll stick around or come back often to visit.

My Manuscript is running away without me.

In other words, How to keep it Simple.

I don't know how to do this well. This morning my secondary opened his mouth and said, "I have a problem with my radios."

I was like, What? What the hell are you talking about? No! No problems with radios!!! Stop it. Just stop it.

Then a friend of mine Inez Kelley said something to me that really helped!

Make the story about One Thing. [not those exact words, but that's what I got from it]

Okay, I can do that. My story is about one thing. Each thread doesn't have to be another story, it just needs to add to the ONE THING.

So I took out my pencil and started writing down all the things that would affect ONE THING. Let me give you an example. I have this ww2 setting...and spies. BUT, my main characters are actually part of a civilian unit that is working to extract refugees from occupied Europe, France, Belgium, Germany, Poland...

So, the point is...

Everything that is highlighted in this story must somehow affect that objective. I'm doing okay... I haven't completely lost my focus. Most of the revision changes will be minor... *cough* of course, i'll probably adding a scene here or there.

OMGosh. this is totally why I'm going to plot my next story.
Also, when do you quit?
I mean, the revisions just keep happening! When do I step away from the keyboard and say, this is a good story, but you're still learning to plot your craft... you might want to take what you've learned and start new, start fresh?