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Posts Tagged ‘Messy MInistry’

My Book! Being (Pre-)Sold!

Posted in Books, tagged , , , , , , , , on 5 July, 2013| 7 Comments »

I came back from a day off trip to look at pianos to a bit of a surprise today. Our ancient piano was condemned by the tuner the other week because a bunch of keys have stopped playing and are only fixable at the cost of more than a replacement instrument. And the Engineer is just starting some new pieces and is finding the absence of random notes rather tiresome. So off we went to inexpertly chose one.

When we got home there were a few posts on my social media to tell me that the ever-enterprising Jonathan Carswell at 10ofthose has started to offer my book on pre-order. And my publisher IVP, are also offering it from their bookshop. I’m still needing to finish my approval of copy edits but there it is, on proper websites, with Ian Mitchell’s great illustration on the front. Ian’s never seen my kitchen but seems to know it surprisingly well, including the design of the chairs, the countless piles of clutter (tax files this week) and the iron left out optimistically in case I am suddenly overcome with a spurt of domesticity.

When I saw this I wondered if IVP had organised it to give me the jolt I need to finish the editing tasks that are waiting in my email inbox. Since I finished all the tax forms this morning, I really have no excuse now. Apart from the lovely sunshine. Have you seen how gorgeous it is out there? I promise I’ll do those edits next week. Honest.

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Book News

Posted in Books, tagged , , , , , , , on 29 April, 2013| 2 Comments »

Still a mess

Still a mess

A few updates on the book which has been occupying me pretty well for the past four months. And looks like taking up my time for a few weeks longer…

1. The title has changed! It’s now

The Ministry of a Messy House:

Grace in place of guilt

My favourite other option was ‘Another Fine Mess’ but we thought that we might miss those who were’t Laurel and Hardy fans.

2. The book is going to have illustrations by the wonderful Ian Mitchell. I’ve seen a couple of rough drafts and am pretty sure he’s set up a surveillance camera in the Vicarage.

3. I wrote over 36,000 words for the first draft and flabbergasted myself by submitting it pretty much on the deadline. Now I’m editing and writing an introduction and a few other bits to go with the main manuscript.

4. I am writing this blogpost as a distraction activity from the editing and writing I should be doing. Of course.

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Some Monday Morning Stuff

Posted in Faith, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 18 March, 2013| 3 Comments »

Still bogged down in book writing, so just a few things that have been on my mind this week:

  1. It’s about time to fetch the Resurrection eggs out. Don’t worry about doing the dozen. If you manage half of that you’ll doubtless do better than the Vicarage. Do some – it’s fun, a great way to prepare for Easter and an excuse for early Easter chocolate, unless you’re Lentenly fasting, of course.
  2. I’m loving the music from Ordinary Time – folky acoustic adaptions of traditional hymns. Mellow and lovely.
  3. I ordered a bunch of copies of The Mystery of the Empty Tomb for our toddler group for Easter – it has lovely pics and a really clear story. 10ofthose do very fast delivery if you want some too. And give you a one hour delivery time slot. Magic. I clubbed together with some other clergy wives on the conference to get a good price. on a bulk order. Perhaps you could do a joint order with other local churches. You could make a couple of calls and save everyone money.
  4. I have about 3 weeks to finish 2 chapters, edit everything to some sort of coherence, write a final chapter and send to my editor. Messy Meals and Messy Celebrations are next week’s challenge. Am currently wondering how many easy peasy meals I can plan for the coming weeks to allow more writing time. Macaroni cheese again anyone?

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A Lent List

Posted in Church, Faith, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 12 February, 2013| 7 Comments »

coollogo_com-105672830I’ve been thinking about what to do for Lent this year. Although, theoretically, I could start something new at any time of year, I find that seasons in the church year are good opportunity to review spiritual disciplines. Last year I managed to produce a blogpost every weekday throughout Lent and the Vicar and I had a no-screens-after-8pm fast. We found the screen ban very helpful – and did a lot of talking and reading. We did have Sunday nights off for Dr Who after the Evening Service though. And I enjoyed the more frequent blogging, but I don’t think that is on the cards in 2013.

So here is a little list of what I’m planning to do throughout Lent this year, to draw closer to God and reset my life compass:

  1. Continue reading my encouraging devotional,Taste and See: Savouring the Supremacy of God in All of Life by John Piper.
  2. No screens after 8pm again, although I may have to make an exception for writing if I’m to finish Messy Ministry by my deadline just after Easter.
  3. Write the book – I’m finding the thinking I’m doing quite challenging so far, and the self-discipline involved in setting time aside to write is very good for me. And I have that deadline to meet.
  4. Increase family devotion frequency to at least 3 times a week. At the moment we’re only managing once a week, although we’re enjoying the format, which includes reading from Sally Lloyd-Jones’ lovely devotional book ‘Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing‘ and praying from prayer diaries from The Leprosy Mission, CMS and the Barnabas Fund, all of whom are supported by our church.
  5. Did I mention finish the book? And not faff about on the internet being distracted.

sCome nearer Easter, we’ll dig out our Resurrection Eggs too. But other than that I think we’re set. I want to be realistic in the challenges I set but also stretch myself. The screen fast will be the hardest. But I’m also looking forward to the space it will bring into our lives. I’m wondering whether the Vicar and I might use this devotional book together in the time that is freed up. How about you?

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An Excuse, But An Exciting One

Posted in Church, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on 29 January, 2013| 10 Comments »

Only two blogposts this year. But my excuse isn’t the normal one of parish busyness and personal incompetence, although those things are obviously a factor in the emptiness of this site so far in 2013. But the main reason, I think, for bloglessness is some other writing I’ve been doing. And so far nearly 4,000 words of writing (of approximately 40,000 I’ve agreed to) for the BOOK I’ve just signed a contract for!

After my three minutes of fame talking about blogging in a seminar at the Midlands Women’s Convention last October, I was approached by an editor from IVP who asked me if I’d consider writing for them. So I thought about it, put a few ideas together, and suddenly I have a deadline at the end of March and a very tidy kitchen. Of course, housework becomes much more attractive when I have something more pressing and important to do…

Vicarage messThe working title of the book is Messy Ministry – mess being just about my top specialist subject, though ministry rather less so. So do please pray for me as I write to my deadline. Pray for my kind editor who will have to wrestle with the words I write and make them coherent (I’m already discovering that writing chapters is not entirely the same as a whole bunch of random blogposts strung together). And pray that I’ll be able to encourage everyone who wants to do ministry but finds that mess keeps on getting in the way. It’s a scary but exciting project and is proving a challenge for all of us in the Vicarage.

And if anyone would like to suggest helpful ideas for the book I’d be extra specially keen on that too…

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