On Writing

I've been invited to write my bio for a writer's association newsletter and submit a blog to the Tallahassee Democrat Newspaper. Self promotion is very difficult for me as it is for most writers. So  here goes...

First am I a writer? Yes, I suppose because I write. Yet twelve published books later, with seven in the works, I still wonder.

I do know why I began to write - because I can’t stand to be bored. My mind is packed with thoughts that bubble and burst, and somehow they’re clearer when written because alphabet letters catch the ideas and give order to them.

Writers need imagination and I lay claim to one. How to create an imagination? Take a young girl and give her a secluded childhood, place her near a forest to breathe in the wonder of nature, alcoholic parents so she’s largely ignored and a hungry mind.

Most of my writing has a spiritual component to it, I can’t stop that, nor do I wish to. I was a façade church person throughout my childhood; God was like the wallpaper in the kitchen, just part of the family experience. After the birth of the first two of my four children I questioned His existence. I was an atheist for a brief time, an agnostic for several years, and in my late twenties after a serious searching asked God for experiences to show me He was real.

Zow, bam, on and on, some by joy, many by sorrow, I came to experience the Presence that is permanent in this wild and wonderful, ever-changing world. My God is the Jewish God of Abraham, Yahweh, God the Father, the God Jesus and the Holy Spirit present and gifting me and all who will receive Him with love and peace and power to fulfill the purpose for which we’ve been created.

So I write edgy, contemporary devotionals, children’s fantasy adventure books to develop imagination and creativity like kids have never known before, a women’s mystery series although more of my amazon reviews have been written by men for my latest novel Directive 99. Oh, and I write books on marriage and family and parenting and grandparenting because I’m a professional marriage and family counselor and think the family is the most wonderful idea God ever had!

I've never before listed my books on this blog although I've mentioned several at one time or another.  They are:

Parent’s Treasurebox of Ideas, Tyndale House

52 Ways To Keep Your Promises As A Husband and Father, Kregel Publications

 A Woman’s Guide, 52 Ways To Choose Happiness and Fulfillment, Kregel Publications

Love Always, Mom, NJ Publications

The Adventures of Tommy Smurlee Series, Iuniverse Publishers

Tommy Smurlee and the Missing Statue, Iuniverse Publishers

Triumphing Over Cancer, NJ Publications

Hey, I’ve Got ADHD, Here’s How You Can Help, NJ Publications.

Hey, I’ve Got Cancer, Here’s How You Can Help, NJ Publications

Directive 99, IUniverse Publications

Breathless Minute Meditations E-book, Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas

Grandma and Grandpa’s Special Stories, Fantastic Family Publications

Each book is available at amazon or my website: www.judithrolfs.com.

My blog, Thoughts on Fun, Faith and Family, has family tips and dabs of inspiration for focusing on the joy in every day. www.judithrolfs.blogspot.com

[The top two pictures are of my writing buddy Alex waiting to go for a walk then giving up while I work at my desk. The bottom one is a book signing at BooksAMillion in Tallahassee for my contemporary mystery Directive 99.]

Gratitude and Loss

Thoughts of God, thoughts of gratitude go together. Every day a roof to shelter me, central heat, physical warmth - a reminder to seek the Center for soul warmth as well, for teeth to chew the delightful texture of food, for shoes, always something to find, pause and consider with awe and simple thanks.

Coldness and ingratitude, each a terrible thing. A cold soul seems as if it must shrivel the organs, distort one’s being. I’ve seen serenity on the face of homeless people and seen frigidity and yes even fear on the faces of the rich.

Faces say a lot, happy clown, sad clown. I know from counseling people with depression that gratitude brings a sweetness that shows and stirs deep.

My first thought this day wasn’t of gratitude but of loss, fear I left my treasured little red Bible at the last resort I stayed at. Before I started writing I searched everywhere in my new lodgings. Losses disturb me, pieces of something that touched me, my life, left behind never to be enjoyed again.

I finally stopped searching, soul-seared, after all it’s only a thing I object to mislaying and forgetting, I have Scripture of value in my heart and another book can be purchased, thank God for the means – and now someone else may be blessed I pray with this pretty little Bible.

I consider the greater loss, will there be a soul shown into hell today and how sad the loss to God and to the community of faith.

What might be said to a frigid face I meet this day to point them to gratitude, to God, to their place in heaven?

 

Micah 6:8

“…what is good and what the Lord requires of you:

Only to act justly,

To love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God.”

Breathless Devotionals published by Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas - more thoughts about God. Be blessed.