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Subplots and Storylines – February 2016

Tracey Dyck 29 Comments

This month was a whirlwind from start to finish! I hardly know where to begin.

Life happenings

Well, for starters, I have an absolutely wonderful family . . . a family that takes every opportunity to celebrate each other and enjoy holidays together. So Valentine’s Day is actually a thing in our house.

We all make or buy cards for each other, my mom does her magic in the kitchen, and we enjoy said magic by candle-light. This year, dessert was candle-lit rather than supper, simply because the supper table was so full of food that attempting to eat in semi-darkness would’ve been unwise. We had one of my grandmas over for the special dinner, and afterwards we exchanged cards.

Okay, I don’t normally do this, but I feel inclined to give you a peek into the Valentine’s evening at the Dyck household:

[from Mom to me] . . . God rejoices over you with singing! He carries you close to His heart! He has a picture of you tattooed on the palm of His hand. You are not forgotten!

[from Dad to me] . . . Look back to see how far you have come. Now look forward to see how far you will go. Now look at the present and see who walks with you. He has always been with you, He will always be with you, and He is with you.

[my brother Josiah is not into crafts–nevertheless, he made one card to give to all of us. sweet guy.] 

[from Miss C to me] . . . You have a great writing voice; you are caring and helpful; you still know how to have fun even if you’re an adult . . .

[from Miss K to me] . . . Thanks for hanging out with me. I love how goofy and sweet you are.

And then a few words between other family members:

[from Miss C to Dad] . . . Some of the things I love about you are . . . your warm chuckles . . . your wisdom; your courage; and your wonderfully safe hugs . . .

[from Miss K to Dad] . . . Thanks for being there for me and being my hero. You are awesome!

[from Miss C to Mom] . . . Here’s a few things I love about you . . . your wonderful little quirks; your gentle touch; your caring personality; your encouraging words; and your prayers . . .

[from Miss K to Mom] . . . You always have a hug for me, right words for me, and you always are ready to help me . . . You are the GREATEST mom ever!! 

[from me to Mom and Dad] . . . Thank you for living out the meaning of love, for treating it as a verb and not just a noun . . . Home is still–and will always be–a safe harbor. Thank you for teaching me both how to trim the sails and venture forth, and how to sail home again . . .

[from Dad to Josiah] . . . You remind me of a superhero, an all-around nice guy who comes to the defense of those who can’t defend themselves, who does good to others even when he isn’t noticed . . .

[from Miss K to Josiah] . . . I love hanging out with you and laughing with you. Thanks for playing Wii with me, which is very fun! 

[from Mom to Miss C] . . . You are such a beautiful young lady–inside and out! You have eyes that shine with the love of Jesus! God has great plans for you and your future . . . Thanks for adding such sweetness to my life!

[from me to Miss C] . . . Keep discovering the immeasurable height, depth, and width of God’s love for you! It will blow your mind.

[from Miss C to Miss K] . . . I love the way you smile and laugh; your beautiful big brown eyes . . . the way you encourage me with kind words and hugs when I’m sad . . .

 [from Dad to Miss K] . . . When God made the world, He knew that one thing was missing–joy and laughter. It took Him many years to perfect it, and when He did, He made you!

See what I mean? Families like this are rare, and I absolutely don’t say that in any haughty way. But I am proud of these special people and the bonds we’ve forged. We’re not perfect. Far from it. I hope I don’t present us in a cleaned-up light, because the truth of the matter is, we’re messy humans who sometimes snap at each other or say unkind things. But we love each other fiercely.

My sisters went all out this Valentine’s–they spent hours holed up in their room, making art for all of us. On a whim, I decided to present my siblings with sketches too.

Miss K’s drawings–aren’t they completely adorable? The otter on the left was for me.
Miss C’s drawings, which are so very lovely. Especially *cough* the Captain America she drew for me.
I drew pop star Ross Lynch for Miss K.
And Once Upon a Time’s Peter Pan for Miss C.
(Though the more I look at it, the less convinced I am that
he turned out right.)
And lastly, I drew Ultron for my brother.

A bridal shower!

A very dear friend of mine is getting married next month, and I’m one of her bridesmaids, which is incredibly exciting! So for about two weeks this month, my brain has been in bridal shower mode, with little room for anything else. From invitations to food, activities, decor, and supplies, the four of us bridesmaids brainstormed and made it all happen on a short deadline. It turned out beautifully, and I couldn’t be happier for my friend.

Miscellaneous life stuff:

  • The long weekend (February 15) was a welcome breather in the middle of the month. We went sledding with friends and had a lovely day.
  • My mom slipped on the ice while running errands, but thankfully she’s fine now!
  • Inventory happened at the store. Lots of work involved. And counting. So much counting . . .
  • There have been some health issues with a relative, but she seems to be doing better. We continue to pray for her.

On a lighter note, I fell into the behavior of the stereotypical, clueless-about-cars kind of girl. I’ve had my license for over two years now, okay, and I’ve been a working woman for about a year. And yet until recently, I’d never filled up with gas by myself. So I pull up to the pump and ask the guy to fill it with mid-grade. “Can you open your gas cap, please?” he asks.

I freeze. Because oh my goodness, where is the switch for that?! I shoot my sister a panicky look. She smirks. (Thank you, C.) I flutter my hands over the dashboard and steering wheel area. I pop the trunk. Then the hood. Finally I call out, “Um, this is embarrassing, but I’m having a blonde moment and forget where the switch for that is.” The guy didn’t know, either. Or wouldn’t tell me. I asked him to hold on, then called my dad.

“Tracey, we’ve been over this,” he says.

“I know!” I wail. “But I forgot!”

So he tells me where it is–it’s a silly little switch down on the floor, on the left side; and I’ll probably never forget that again. When I climbed out to go pay, I apologized again to the guy, who said, “No problem. Happens all the time . . .” Except his voice trailed off uncertainly, telling me that no, it doesn’t actually happen all the time, I’m just trying to make you feel better.

Screen happenings

  • Finished Once Upon a Time Season 2 and started Season 3. My sisters and I adore Peter Pan, in case you didn’t catch that with my portrait. All this Neverland stuff is quite fun, and I am ever so conflicted over certain things!
  • I SAW THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME. Oh stars, it was amazing. I can’t believe I went this long without watching it! Being the extended edition, my brother and I watched it in three sittings over the long weekend (in between family activities, you understand). We were blown away. It was perfect. Soon after the final credits, I was ready to watch the movie all over again. I went from feeling cozy and comfortable to laughing uproariously at the four hobbits, to feeling chilled (Black Riders!!), to being gripped with the excitement of the quest, to– Oh, I don’t even know. It’s glorious. That’s all I can say. (Also, Aragorn.) And the Shire musical theme makes me stop and smile wistfully into the distance every single time I hear it.

Book happenings

The Invaders by John Flanagan

I love the Ranger’s Apprentice series, so of course I’m reading his newer series, Brotherband Chronicles. In this second Brotherband book, I found myself enjoying all the usual Flanagan trademarks: smart protagonist, clever battle/weaponry tactics, and wry humor. Plus lots of sailing stuff. A good read, for sure.

A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd

If you’ve been reading Adventure Awaits for a while now, you might remember way back in summer when my siblings and I picked out library books for each other to read. It gets us out of our usual ruts and gives us something new to try. We just did it again this month, and A Snicker of Magic was Miss K’s pick for me. And this book is now one of my all-time favorite middle-grade novels! Seriously, Natalie Lloyd’s voice is just crackling with magic. The story has a Southern, small town, whimsical, hilarious, heartwarming, spindiddly flavor to it. Felicity, the protagonist, catches the words she sees hovering over people and places. Along with her mom and little sister, she arrives in the little mysterious town of Midnight Gulch. What ensues are new friendships, old legends about the Brothers Threadbare, an upcoming talent show that scares Felicity right out of her word-covered sneakers, and buckets of ice cream. The supporting cast is delightfully quirky, and my heart ached for poor Felicity as her mom longs to uproot and move the family for the hundred-millionth time.

The Romeo and Juliet Code by Phoebe Stone

Miss C picked this middle-grade book for me. It took me a little while to get into it, but I soon realized how great the author is at setting the mood. The book starts off feeling kind of hollow and gloomy as the main character (another Felicity) leaves England at the beginning of WWII to stay with her relatives in Maine. Without her parents, so far from home, the poor girl is without an anchor. Her uncle receives strange letters written in code from her parents, and refuses to let Felicity read them. But things begin to look up when she meets Derek, a boy with a paralyzed arm. Together they strive to crack the code, and in the process, begin infusing the gloomy old house with a little bit of life.

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

Josiah’s pick. It’s a very unusual sort of book, I must say. Artemis himself is a veritable villain, so you’re left to cheer for a handful of exceedingly strange fairy creatures. There’s Holly Short, a rebellious LEP-Recon officer (haha, get it?) . . . Captain Root, her boss, a guy with anger issues . . . Foaly, a technologically brilliant centaur who’s paranoid that the humans (disdainfully referred to as Mud People) can read his mind, and thus wears a tinfoil hat at all times . . . and Mulch, a dwarf who, ah . . . Well. Let’s just say that these dwarves can unhinge their jaws and chew through dirt at a rapid pace. And their metabolism is extremely fast. Hence, their digging pants are equipped with a back flap. Yeah. You see where this is going. This book is written with young guys in mind, but nevertheless, I found much to snicker at, and I give Mr. Colfer points for the unusual fairy elements. I’ll likely keep going with this series.

You Have a Brain: A Teen’s Guide to T.H.I.N.K. B.I.G. by Ben Carson, MD

The first half of the book tells how Dr. Carson was born into poverty, and through his mother’s guidance, God’s help, and his desire to learn, became a neurosurgeon. There are some amazing anecdotes from his career, such as the time he removed half of a little girl’s brain in order to stop the hundreds of seizures she was having every day. And she survived. And went on to graduate from college and live a fulfilling life.

The second half goes over some principles for thinking big, specifically in regards to the future. He covers Talent, Honesty, Insight, Niceness, Knowledge, Books, In-Depth Learning, and God (T.H.I.N.K. B.I.G.).

Blog Happenings

On a whim, I started a month-long linkup called Lovely Books, in which we discussed:

I have had such a great time celebrating books and characters with all of you! Many thanks to all who have participated–you’ve made my first linkup a success. And it’s been so fun to hear about your favorite bookish things! There’s still time to join, if you so desire. You have until March 5th.

Oh, and you may have noticed my embarrassing mistake . . . Whilst drafting the quotes post in the middle of last week, I accidentally hit publish. I noticed it less than half an hour later, and hurried to revert the post to draft form before anybody could read my half-formed jumble of words. To my dismay, however, the post remained on my dashboard–and the dashboards of everyone else who follow me. Clicking the link led to nowhere, of course, but still! It looked as if I had posted it half a week early. Of all the times to do such a thing, it had to be for something I’d hoped to keep secret until Saturday! And then when I did publish the post, it didn’t appear at the top of the dashboard like normal new posts–it remained waaaaay down with the other ‘four days ago’ posts on my feed.

Ah, well. Lesson learned. Keep the cursor far, far away from the publish button until ready.

Anyway, thanks again, all you lovely bookworms! We’ll have to do something like this again someday.

Written Happenings

I made a game plan for my 2016 writing goals, if you’ll remember from January’s Beautiful People post. I planned for February to be my research month, so it’s harder to gauge whether I reached those goals.

I started out by taking a deep breath and diving into the murky waters of . . . gasp . . . querying agents. No, I haven’t actually sent out any queries yet. But I did begin researching, looking online for agents who represent my kind of work, reading some articles on how to query and what agents look for, etc. The amount of information, ambiguity, and general unknown-ness of it all is daunting, but I’m excited to rise to the challenge.

After reading Jenelle Schmidt’s comment on Christine’s BP post, I spontaneously chose to purchase a book Jenelle recommended: Guide to Literary Agents 2016! The things I’ve learned from even just the beginning articles are so, so helpful. I haven’t yet delved into the listings of a thousand agents, but I know it will be an invaluable tool in the coming months. Thanks, Jenelle!

I did a little bit of research on different locations featured in my fantasy book 2, which I plan to start redrafting next month. This is where I didn’t get far at all, so I foresee much more Googling and librarying in the future. I want to look into British Columbia, Ireland, Greenland or Iceland, Russia, and Australia. Yes indeed, this book includes a fair bit of globe trotting on our world, followed by daring escapades in the other world!

And I felt rather officially author-ish this month, questers, because I actually interviewed someone for book research. A certain character in book 2 gets diagnosed with a mental illness–which is a complete error, because the wild tales he tells are 100% true–so I needed to know how this process would work. What would he be labelled as? What would treatment look like? How would others respond? How would the family be advised to act around him? Would he be medicated, counselled, taken out of school?

All these questions and more were answered by a fellow my dad knows through work. As a Christian working in the field of mental health, and as someone with a big enough imagination to accommodate my fictional situation, he was the perfect person to talk to. So we chatted over coffee one Saturday, and I scribbled three pages of notes and wound up borrowing four books from his office. Armed with all this information to make my character’s life miserable (and believable), I am most excited to start writing next month.

And that, my friends, was February.

Like I said, it was a whirlwind! There was so much happening, at least in my brain, that I found myself identifying with this amazing song:

March looks like it will be full speed ahead as well, but I hope to catch up on your Lovely Books posts–and blogging in general.

So many things to look forward to in the next thirty-one days! My friend’s wedding, delving into book 2, more agent research, and who knows what else? Actually, there is one thing pressing rather insistently at my mind tonight, and that is . . .

THE FIVE MAGIC SPINDLES WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT TOMORROW MORNING. Ack! The suspense!

For all of you who entered along with me, I hope your hearts are prepared for whatever the results may be. Know that you accomplished something crazy awesome with your novella(s). You crafted a story, a living, breathing tale of wonder. You finished it; you got all the way to the end and most probably edited it many times over. And no words written are ever a waste. You learned something with this novella. Maybe how to retell a fairytale, or how to write a better plot twist, or how to be concise (looking at myself over here!). Maybe you refined your dialogue skills, or fell in love with a genre you’ve never written before. Maybe you discovered the camaraderie of fellow writers through this contest. Maybe you conquered the fear of letting others see your work. Well done, I say! Well done!

How were your February quests? Was your month a hurricane too, or more like a quiet breeze? What do you think of the Lord of the Rings movies? Have you ever sought people out for research purposes? And do you think you’ll survive till tomorrow morning?!

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Subplots and Storylines – January 2016

Tracey Dyck 21 Comments

Well, my friends, the first month of 2016 is almost behind us. I hope yours was a good one! Mine was. It started with a belated Christmas gathering, was sprinkled with various social doings, and ended up being a productive writing month in the midst of all that.

I stepped out of my comfort zone by driving to my friend’s place an hour away, in a part of the city where I’ve never driven by myself before. I was going to take the GPS, but it went on the fritz, leaving me to check some maps, punch the address into my phone, and tape written directions to my dashboard. It sounds ridiculous, but I wanted to be prepared. Getting lost is not my idea of fun. Anyway, I’m proud to report that I made it there and back just fine, and had a great time with my friend to boot! I hadn’t seen her in several months, so it was awesome to catch up.

City driving happened again when I spent an afternoon in the city with another friend, discussing the details of her upcoming March wedding. (I’m going to be one of her bridesmaids!) A few days later, we met up again to find bridesmaid dresses. They’re going to be gorgeous: wine-colored, floor length . . .

Life at work has definitely been different than usual lately, as we’ve had a crew renovating certain parts of the store. Funny anecdote . . .

I met possibly the strangest customer yet–a young man (wearing rainbow socks) who thought he could take a pair of boots out of the store . . . without paying . . . in order to compare them to something in another store. Um, no. “What if I jezt take one boot?” he asked.

“Sorry, I can’t let you leave the store with unpaid merchandise,” I replied.

“What am I going to do wiz only one boot?”

I shrugged and reiterated the policy.

“Well, what eef I leave you my wallet? It has one hundred dollars een eet!”

Apparently there are people who think we still use a medieval bartering system . . .

On another note, Old Man Winter has been a capricious beast this month, first dropping the temperatures down to minus thirty degrees (Celsius), then warming up to near-melting weather. None of us are fooled, of course: a month or two of winter still lies ahead.

Between the bitter cold and yucky slush, I went ice skating twice and had so much fun.

Oh, and guess what came in the mail?? Just kidding, don’t guess. I’ll tell you. The Raising Dragons graphic novel! I was so excited. As a Kickstarter backer, I’d pledged enough to get a copy, so I’ve been following James Art Ville’s journey of adapting a book into a graphic novel. He has worked so hard, and by the looks of these beautiful illustrations, it’s really paid off!


January Films & Shows

  • Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation – I didn’t realize how much I loved spy/heist movies until watching this one. (My first MI, actually.) Seriously. I LOVED IT SO MUCH. The plot, the humor (Benji’s lines were the best), the suspense . . . So good! Now I want to watch all the ones that came before. Also the Bourne movies. Really need to see those.
  • About a dozen Once Upon a Time Season 2 episodes – My sisters and I are almost finished the season. One of my favorite episodes was Manhattan. All the relational conflict! All the secrets revealed! The family relationships are seriously messed up, though.
  • Everest – I can sit back and calmly watch entire fantasy armies run at each other, or superheroes fight to defend a city, or teenage girls overthrow their government. But watching human beings attempt to scale Mount Everest–and not only try to make it to the summit, but to make it back down again safely–that is intense on an entirely different level. I literally gasped aloud numerous times. My forehead hurt from being scrunched into a frown of apprehension for so long. One character had it right: “This is suffering.” People walk across ladders set up over impossibly deep crevasses. They endure the buffeting winds and freezing temperatures and freak storms. Some freeze to death. Some succumb to frostbite. Some, their brains swelling from the high altitudes, go crazy and do things that could (and do) kill them. Brave people on the way down to safety turn back to help their fellow climbers. And how do I feel about all this? Let’s just say I won’t be looking to climb any major mountains anytime soon!
  • Hotel Transylvania 2: 89 minutes of nothing. This was a sequel that needn’t have been made.

January Reads



Illusionarium by Heather Dixon: Remember me buying this last summer whilst on holidays in the States? I bought it solely based off Deborah’s glowing recommendation, which is really saying something. [I almost never purchase a book that I a) have never read, or b) have never read anything by its author. If a UBO–unidentified bookish object–looks interesting, I’m much more inclined to get it from the library first. Anyway. Deb convinced me so thoroughly of this book’s awesomeness, and the cover is gorgeous, and HELLO, STEAMPUNK, that I actually did buy it.]

And I don’t regret a single nickel spent. This book is fabulous! The steampunk settings range from an aerial city to the Tower of London to airships to an alternate-reality-London that’s all crumbling and decrepit.

The characters are just–gah, I don’t even have the words. The first-person narrator, Jonathan, is so lovable and ordinary, with a dry wit and a smart, science-y brain. I love his family too. And then there’s Lieutenant Lockwood, a cocky, eye-patch-wearing firebrand brimming with snark and mad fighting skills. I’d mention other characters, but it could be spoilery, so let’s just say some of them are maddening and some are evil and some are both with a  dash of sympathy thrown in.

This book definitely has a creepy factor, which I loved in a wide-eyed, horrified way. There’s a disease that turns the victims’ veins black. Later on, we meet people who are splitting . . . they have multiple eyes and noses and mouths and fingers and blegh, it’s gross. But also fascinating. The whole concept of the book actually contains some great symbolism regarding moral choices and our sin nature. I loved it immensely.

Oh, and there are footnotes! Footnotes in a fictional book! Sarcastic footnotes! It’s delightful. Go read it this instant, I command you.

Shadowmancer by G.P. Taylor: Atrocious. I started my reading year off so wonderfully with Illusionarium, only to find in myself the desire to throw Shadowmancer across the room. See, I read book 2 (Wormwood) years and years ago, and liked it. But I hadn’t realized there was a book that came before. So I picked up both books at second-hand book fairs some time ago, and finally got around to reading the first one this month.

Where do I even start?

The writing was . . . passable, I guess. It had its moments. The comma splices were annoying, though. The POV was so distant that it floated around from head to head, never settling anywhere. We’d be with Character A knocking on the door, then suddenly we’re observing Character B waking from a drunken slumber inside the building. I wouldn’t even call this omniscient; it’s just poor writing. And let’s not get started on the all the botched sensory details! He could see, she knew, they could hear, he felt angry, she was sad, they were all THIS EMOTION THAT MUST BE SHOVED IN MY FACE BECAUSE I’M TOO DUMB TO PICK UP SUBTLER CUES. Ahem. Sorry for the rant.

Moving along. This is a Christian fantasy. I wish that were a good thing. In this case, it meant watered down Scripture references, weird (and inaccurate) supernatural dealings with angels and demons and a mystical object of power, and unrealistic stuff everywhere. Instant conversions. Instant turnarounds in beliefs and feelings and thoughts. People being good just because, or bad for the sake of being bad.

A character doesn’t know which door to take when sneaking through the bad guy’s house, so he prays. Fine, that’s good. But then dust swirls up around the door to the right, and he just knows this is where God is leading him. The narrative even says something to the effect of: “He didn’t stop to think that Demurral [the villain] could be behind the door.” I’m all for praying for direction, don’t get me wrong. And I totally believe that God guides us. But it’s not usually with swirling dust, and it’s usually guidance given in conjunction with the usage of our brains. You have a brain. Use it.

The book’s pacing was off. The main characters were passive. Thomas, the Main-main character, hardly ever thinks about his dying mother, whom he supposedly loves very much. Kate, another main character, spends far too much time crying when she’s supposed to be a rough-and-tumble tomgirl.

Demurral, the villain, blabbers his plans to just about anyone who’ll listen. His backstory reveals a moment in which, surveying the land and its resources, he suddenly and instantaneously turns evil. (Because that is so realistic, and the path of evil is a sudden drop off a cliff, mm-hmm.) Every trace of goodness flees him. He is overcome by greed. He goes on to trick the current vicar out of his position (by getting him drunk and then racing cockroaches across a table–um, what?) and seizes the vicarage.

I could go on, but that rant is long enough. I normally don’t like to bash books because I feel bad for the author, knowing how much work and heart goes into a novel . . . but in this case, it was a real slog to reach the final page. My family heard of my distaste, and asked why I didn’t just quit the story. Problem is, I hate quitting.

Moving along! Those are the only two books I finished this month, though I’m well into a couple others. Apparently I had a lot to say about both January reads. Eheheh.

January Writings

I’m a rather happy dragon, because I reached my January writing goals a week early! Woot!

I’ve no clue where this gif comes
from, but isn’t it cute?

To jog your memory, the goal was to finish the final read-through/edit of book 1. There was very little to do, but still. I did deal with a couple issues that had been hanging over my head the last few months as I worked on The Brightest Thread, so it felt good to clear them up for good.

My brain can hardly comprehend the fact that I’m actually . . . done editing this book. I’ve been working on it for years. In fact, this March will mark eight years since I first started writing it! As I was telling a friend this week, it feels like I’m lying to say, “I’m done.” It can’t be true, can it? Surely there’s more for me to tweak and fiddle and completely overhaul? But no. This is pretty much it.

Maybe it will sink in when I start researching the querying process next month, something I’m super stoked about. Mind you, once this book lands on the desk of an agent or editor, I suspect there’ll be a whole new round of editing to complete.

In other writerly doings, I wrote a guest post (it goes up in March–I’ll announce it here when that happens), and got clonked over the head with an idea for Welcome to Absurdity. I’ve mentioned that little seedling in passing here, but haven’t elaborated much. That’s because I know next to nothing about the actual plot. But now I have a few very fun ideas. It’s still percolating, of course, and I don’t foresee having an opportunity to write this thing anytime soon, but I’m excited for when that day comes!

So that was January.

I stepped out of my comfort zone, watched some great (and not so great) movies, read a couple of polar opposite books, and finished editing book 1. I’d say it was a good month.

Next month promises to be an exciting leg of the journey. I’ll dip my toes in the waters of querying, for one thing. For another, I have some fun stuff planned for the blog! Stay tuned for a brand-new series of posts.

What did your month look like? What sort of dangerous quests did you undertake? Any dragons slain? (I hope you left the good ones alive. Kill all the Smaugs and keep all the Clefspeares, okay?)

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miscellany

Tracey Dyck 26 Comments

There are a handful of knick-knacks I wanted to share with you that are too small to merit an entire post, and too random to be grafted into any other topic. So I’ve cobbled them together and now dump it on the table for your perusal.

Blog updates

I’ve been meaning to pretty up this little corner of the internet for a couple months now. Nothing massive, no huge overhaul. Just a few little odds and ends to make this place a bit more solid and a bit nicer to look at. I can’t say when I’ll get around to it (one thing in particular is a proper about me page, and a proper about me page needs a proper photo . . . so I’m waiting for an opportune time to snag the skills of a photographer friend), but it is coming. Just so you know.

Canadian winter

Some of you who read my Christmas tag mentioned snow (and how you hadn’t had any for five years or were jealous of the bit you could see through my window), and Emily in particular wanted to see what a Canadian winter looks like. So while this season still has us wrapped in its icy clutches, I thought I’d show you my backyard.

I accidentally left my flash on and look! I captured snowflakes!

Randomness (because I am acutely feeling the leanness of this post and want to throw some stuff at you)

-A few months ago, an online friend introduced me to a YouTube channel called Studio C, and now I am addicted. They have tons of clean comedy sketches, like this one. (Watch it, and there is no going back. If you spend an hour of your time clicking on video after video and laughing maniacally at your screen, I refuse to apologize.)

-This week, I suddenly remembered the movie Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, and now very badly want to watch it again.

-I am in the midst of reading an atrocious book. I can’t reach the final page fast enough. More later, in this month’s Subplots and Storylines.

-My brother is reading Hamlet for school, which led to him reading quotable lines to me, which led to us looking up Shakespeare quotes online, which led to a weird desire to pick up a Shakespeare play and . . . actually read it?

Posts I’m loving lately

There have been so many wonderful blog posts recently, so I’m spreading the love.

  • What if? – Annie lists some thought-provoking questions daring to ask, “What would life look like if I was brave?”
  • 7 Reasons Why Every Aspiring Writer Should Work in a Bookstore – Cassia makes me intrigued (and maybe jealous) about the valuable experience of working in a bookstore. I would love a job like that.
  • One Day at a Time – Sarah offers a great perspective on worrying less while still reaching for your goals.
  • //coffee and connections – Mirriam presents the staggeringly simple power of just connecting with people.
  • Dear You – Christine basically wrote a hug personified in her post reminding us of our beauty and worth.
  • Writing vs. Editing: The Different Mindsets – Tori compares the drafting to the gruelling process of editing, and explains how one must take a different approach to the different stages of writing.
  • The Nature of Goodness – Mary just started a blog! Eeep! In this post she writes about the goodness of God . . . how needed, and how very great, it is.

Stay tuned . . .

Because of today’s brevity, I aim to join a link-up this week, a rather new one that looks like scrumptious fun. (Figuratively scrumptious, I mean. Nothing to do with food. Everything to do with Words and Story, but some of us devour those very much the way we scarf down strawberry cheesecake, am I right?)

P.S. I apologize for the lateness-in-the-day of this post. I meant to have it up by mid-afternoon, and then my shift got extended. At least it’s still Saturday! Or it is in my part of the world, anyway.

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Suplots and Storylines – December (and 2015 summary)

Tracey Dyck 16 Comments

How is it the end of December already? I feel like I just wrote November’s S&S post.

This month opened with my brother’s birthday. He did not just become a legal adult. No, he did not. I refuse to believe it.

The store I work at was positively buzzing with activity this month, and I was shocked (though I shouldn’t have been) over how many people procrastinate with their Christmas shopping. Seriously, people. Christmas is on the same day every year. You know it’s coming. And you know your size 4XL father-in-law is hard to find clothes for. Yet you expect to find something in his size two days before the 25th?!

Speaking of work, early in the month we had a Pajama Day. A day on which I wore PJs. To work. It felt completely weird to leave the house in pajama pants instead of jeans, drive to work, and actually . . . work . . . dressed like that. Customers gave me odd looks until I explained the reason for my unprofessional attire (and, like a good employee, took the opportunity to talk up the PJ sales).

We babysat my cousin’s four children, ages 3-9 one evening. I adore those kids.

A stunningly beautiful piano/violin duet visited my church and played along during praise and worship, then performed a few carols on their own. Swoon.

I spent an evening with my mom, littlest sister, and aunt browsing a cutesy little shop in town, then having chai white hot chocolates together.

Christmas festivities sprinkled the entire month in good cheer, from decorating the tree, to two family gatherings (with another yet to come), to shopping for my parents’ stocking stuffers, wrapping gifts, listening to Christmas music, etc. I worked Christmas Eve, which meant that I got the following four days off! Hallelujah! It was so good to have a little break. To spend time with my family, no interruptions or calls or places to be. My homebody, hobbit-y side rejoiced.

As per request, I have a few pictures of our traditional Lego building on Boxing Day!



I realized later that we don’t look particularly happy here.
Forgive us. We’re all concentrating.



my “Battle of the Five Armies” set
(an eagle and Bard and Legolas and Azog and awesomeness!)



my “Attack on Lake-town” set
(yay Tauriel! and Bain!)

You know those minifigure series that come in individual packages, and you never know which one is inside? We’ve been finding those little packages tucked into our usual Christmas presents the past few years, hidden in sweater pockets, DVD cases, socks, etc. Below are some of my favorites this Christmas.



from left to right: a king, a fire wizard, a phantom thing, a stone
gargoyle, and a banshee

Since my dad was not featured in the first Lego picture (he was my photographer), here’s what he built last year. He hasn’t started this year’s set just yet . . . it’s rather large, and from the Technic series (meaning it’s complicated and intricate and not quite my cup of tea). He’ll build it later on, when he can have the whole kitchen table to himself. Anyway. As I said: last year’s epic build . . .


Metalbeard’s ship

December’s movies

Last month I only watched one; this month I saw four (plus TV episodes).

Maleficent (rewatch): I loooove this one! It had been a really long time since I’d first seen it, so watching it for the second time ’twas fun. I hold a deep dislike for Stefan, and a deep fondness for Diaval.

Rise of the Guardians (rewatch): Again, I hadn’t seen it in quite a while. Rewatching it reminded me why I love it so much. The characters are awesome, and the film itself helped put me in the Christmas spirit this year.

The Song: Starring Alan Powell of the band Anthem Lights! I watched this just with my parents, as it’s not a family-friendly flick. (I would recommend checking reviews like the one on Plugged In before watching.) The story is a modern day retelling of King Solomon, so as you can probably imagine, it’s not pleasant. The main character, Jed King (Powell), is not a likable man for much of the story. Perhaps that’s why I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as expected? As a cautionary tale, it’s great. But if you’re wanting a character to love and root for, side with his wife.

Ant-Man: I didn’t know what to expect going into it, but it was definitely a worthy addition to the Marvel library! The humor was great, the visual effects of Ant-Man’s shrinking were awesome, and the pacing was different from your typical superhero movie. I really enjoyed it.

Minions: While it offered some funny moments, this movie ultimately fell flat. Despicable Me (1 and 2) were much better.

7 episodes of Once Upon a Time, season 2: Guess what entered the house on Christmas day? Once Upon a Time seasons 2-4! So of course my sisters and I dove right into it. You need only know this: Hook is awesome. Mulan is awesome. Everyone is awesome. And I have already flailed and shrieked and analyzed the storylines more than my sisters think is necessary.

December’s books

You’ve already seen the list in my Books of 2015 post, but here are some brief thoughts.

The Choosing – Rachelle Dekker

I tried not to compare her to her dad, Ted Dekker, but I needn’t have worried. This gal can hold her own in the realm of storytelling. The intensity and deep nature of her themes are like a feminine slant of her father’s, yet the dystopian flavor is very much her own. Carrington is a relatable main character, and Remko–a CityWatch guard with an endearing stutter–is just AMAZING. Can’t forget about Aaron. He was one of the best Jesus figures I’ve read about.
Rachelle used a lot of sensory ‘showing’ phrases (she saw, she heard, she felt, etc.), which rubbed me the wrong way a little bit. But the characters were special enough that I really enjoyed this book, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the series!



A.D. 30 – Ted Dekker

One Dekker book after another! This one took me a while to get through, which is little fault of the book itself. I was simply busy at the time. It is a meatier, somewhat slower, read; involving political subplots and historical depth. The story follows Maviah, a Bedu woman born into the most dishonorable circumstances, as she sets out to save her people . . . and meets Yeshua along the way. Some powerful scenes in this novel, that’s for sure.


Angels Walking – Karen Kingsbury

So I’m technically not quite done yet, and probably won’t be before midnight either. (Nevertheless, I’m cheating by counting it a December 2015 read.) Anyway, it fulfills all the usual Kingsbury requirements: touching messages, heartwarming character arcs, and an easy, faith-filled, feel-good aspect. The story involves a supernatural element–angels are sent to earth to aid the characters. It’s not 100% accurate in that regard (but then, how should I know?), but the human side of the drama gets a lot more page-time and is definitely engaging.


Life Is ___ – Judah Smith

Again, I’m a chapter away from finishing, but this one I plan to complete tonight. Judah Smith has such a great voice. Humorous, simple, engaging. It’s like reading a book-length blog post, or chatting in the living room over coffee. The book is divided into four parts. Life is: to be loved and to love; to trust God in every moment; to be at peace with God and yourself; and to enjoy God. I found those reminders to be rather timely.

December’s writing

Due to the social nature of the Christmas season, I didn’t accomplish much in the writing department. Most of what I did do was in the first half of the month, too, so I feel like I’ve done very little writing lately. (January, I have high hopes for you!)

  • Read over The Brightest Thread one last time, and sent it off to the judges on December 7th! Now we wait . . .
  • Read over and edited five chapters of book 1. I was able to cross off one or two things on my editing list. And a discussion with my brother relieved my mind over a really Big Thing further down that list, leaving me feeling a lot better about the whole matter.
  • Spontaneously decided to line edit for a friend whose story I was beta reading. I thought I was crazy to even volunteer during such a busy month, but it actually didn’t take long at all, and I had so much fun doing it!

Well, that was December! It was an overflowing sort of month, as one day spilled into the next, and as life plunged headlong toward Christmas . . . and then kind of sat back, sighed happily, and continued on as normal.

As for 2015 in general?

I went from unemployed to working a temporary job at a jewelry store for a month, to unemployed again (oh, the dreaded job hunt), to working part-time at a clothing retailer. I’ve been there eight months now, two and a half of which were full-time. I started out coming home exhausted after each shift, tired of people in general. Since then, my capacity has grown so much, and talking to strangers on a regular basis is becoming much more natural.

I cleaned up a number of editing issues in book 1, including a stylistic edit. I engaged in ‘masterminding’ for the series’ storyworld and fleshed out a number of previously vague elements. I started this blog and discovered how much I love it. I read over the horrid old draft of book 2 and laughed at my younger self, then proceeded to outline the new and improved book 2. Progress on this series halted when the Five Magic Spindles contest was announced. This led to the writing of The Brightest Thread . . . and the subsequent squishing down of a 30,000 word novella into a 20,000 word novella. I assisted my brother in editing his entry, edited book 1 some more, and then concluded my year of writing with the aforementioned line edit for a friend.

Far more important than the writing and the working, though, are the signs of growth I’ve seen in myself. Painful growth, but important. And all of it is still very much a work in progress. I feel as if I’ve made few forward strides–but at least the truth is working roots into my heart. Truth about my identity, and how it’s not linked to my performance. Truth about God’s faithfulness. Truth about the unpraised glory of the little moments of life and the importance of sandpaper days.

The tension between my dreams and my reality has perhaps never been stronger. But this season of life is a training ground. A chapter of preparation for, I believe, great things. 2016, no matter what you hold, I’m deciding that you’re going to be the best year yet.

Now that I’ve blabbed on about myself, tell me something about your year!

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