I got my permit several years ago, as a nineteen- or twenty-year-old (really, those years seem light ages away now, thanks to everything that’s happened since…). Of course, that wasn’t my idea. My parents signed me up for the classes, knowing otherwise I’d never take the plunge, because I never do unless someone shoves me off the diving-board. (I really need a full-time ‘shover,’ y’all.) And since I wasn’t crazy about driving (it calls for lashings of confidence and I don’t have even a smidgen of the feeling), after I got my license I promptly quit driving for the next two or three years.

Until this summer, where I finally grew clearheaded and realized 1. it was silly; 2. it was problematic; and 3. unless I hurried up and relearned now, I’d have to relearn at a much less desirable time and in a very undesirable place. So I decided when we moved I’d start driving there.

Except we didn’t move. So I waited. And waited…

Something I have a tendency to do is to wait for the most desirable/“perfect” time to do things. It’s been a crippling issue of mine all my life, but it’s glaringly obvious now as an adult. And this year, God's been working hard to get it through to me that sometimes (maybe most times…) it’s better to do things now than wait for an illusive perfect time.

I stumbled across this some time ago and it accurately summed the lesson up:

All those days that came and went,

little did I know that they were life.

—Stig Johansson

I was waiting for “real” life to start. For a season more quiet. For a time more convenient. For a better routine, more inspiring surroundings, stronger understanding.

But I’ve realized that I won’t get any of those unless I work towards getting them. Such things are gained progressively through trial and error, not by waiting.

Life is not some magical period I will enter into in one, five, ten years if I wait long enough. Instead, I’ll wake up and realize life began all that long time ago and I wasted it doing nothing.

So I started living. I started building my business and actually am on track to launch it soon. I had conversations and started tutoring. I started writing again. I started doing the things I wanted to do, the things I had to do to create the life I wanna live. I realized that never doing anything that might hurt isn’t going to protect me. If I try and fail, I’ll lose; but if I never try and never get what I aimed for, I’ll be just as empty-handed. If I try, at least I get the experience to try again, better, and catch something in the end. And sometimes that calls for risks and pain points, like making phone calls to people I can’t understand well, or writing newsletters when I have no idea what I’m doing, or almost crashing my grandparents’ new car relearning how to navigate curves. But through those, I’m learning. Phone calls aren’t as bad as I made out to myself. I’ll learn how to write newsletters if I keep pressing through and doing them. And I will slow down in curves now.

I may be waiting for some things I can’t control to happen, but in the waiting, I can’t put everything on hold. I’m living life as it is right now, so that if and when my dreams come true, I can look back on happy, useful days or years.

Stop waiting for Friday, for summer, for someone to fall in love with you, for life. Happiness is achieved when you stop waiting for it and make the most of the moment you are in now!

—Unknown

{ Recent Blog Posts }

|| Who Should Write Every Day & Who Shouldn’t // A Guest Post by Allyson Jamison

|| July 2022 Wrap-Up

|| The World is Still Worth Saving

|| The Liebster Award

|| August 2022 Wrap-Up

|| Losing to Win

|| Rose-Coloured Glasses

|| End of Summer Recap Book Tag

|| Dinners I Have Eaten // Five Fall Favourites Day 1

|| Staying in Reality // Five Fall Favourites Day 2

|| Crime is Common, Logic is Rare // Five Fall Favourites Day 3

|| Trust & Honour With My Whole Heart // Five Fall Favourites Day 4

|| To Know & Understand Past & Present // Five Fall Favourites Day 5

|| Dangerous Best // Five Fall Favourites Day 6

|| A Thanksgiving Song

|| September 2022 Wrap-Up

|| KDWC: A Christian Writing Camp

|| 22 Blogging Tips ( + How to Create One)

Also, I had some of my writing tips featured over at Penlightenment.

Tips by Katja - part one

Tips by Katja - part two!

And since she mentioned she loved a certain one of my quotes and wanted it on a graphic, I created one and decided to share it with you all before I showed it to anyone else. Feel free to download for personal use. :)

{ Recent Reviews }

That’s right, we have a new section now, folks!

|| “World of Silence” by Kaytlin Phillips

|| “Falling for the Farmer” by Hannah Foster

|| “25 DIY Non-Toxic Household Products” by Faith Blum

|| “Questless: In Which the Dwimmervale is Crossed” by Amanda Kastner

|| “T.I.M.E.” by P.D. Atkerson

|| “With Fear & Trembling” by Grace A. Johnson

|| “Unfortunate Events” by Kaytlin, Marisa, & Jaiden Phillips

|| “Kate’s Dilemma” by Sarah Holman

|| “Kate’s Conundrum” by Sarah Holman

|| “Dìlseachd – A Stolen Crown” by Cheyenne van Langevelde

|| “Souls Astray” by Kellyn Roth

|| “Untold” by Vanessa Hall

|| “IRON” by Madisyn Carlin

|| “Wetherholt” by Marissa Adams

|| “The Bridge of Little Jeremy” by Indrajit Garai

|| “The Man Without Shelter” by Indrajit Garai

|| “After Our Castle” by Kellyn Roth

|| “Wondering” by Marissa Adams

|| “Silent Suffering” by Lauren Murphree

|| “All the King’s Horses” by Faith R. Mathewson

|| “A Homewood Christmas” by Courtenay Burden, Erika Mathews, Hannah Gridley, Angie Thompson, Rebekah A. Morris, & Hannah Foster

+ many others to be found at Old-Fashioned Book Love.

{ Book Spotlight }

Come home to a small-town Christmas through the ages…

The close-knit community of Homewood, Minnesota might not even be a dot on most maps. But from its earliest settlement to the present day, a warm Christmas welcome and a shining Moravian star have been its hallmarks of the holiday.

Step into the bustle of preparations as a young orphan travels an unexpected path to the Christmas he’s longed for and a boisterous flock of cousins learns the eternal secrets of the Christmas fruit bowl. Follow a wintery road with a widowed mother in the shadow of war and a generous aunt trying her best for her family as they search for a place where they truly belong. Slip into the fire glow next to a lonely stranger with a terrible secret and a hometown girl trying to escape past hurts, and watch Christmas light and love warm even the coldest places.

With so many ways to celebrate the season, one reason undergirds them all—and the Christmas stars of Homewood never tire of telling His story!

This book was written by the KDWC aunties! You can connect with them here: Erika @ Resting Life, Hannah @ Hannah Gridley, Rebekah @ Read Another Page, Courtenay @ S.A.W. Publishing, Angie @ Quiet Waters Press, and Hannah @ Hannah Foster.

My review + more info

{ Movie/TV Show Spotlight }

And another new section ;)

(Also known as Alias Bulldog Drummond)

Bulldog Drummond (Atholl Fleming) is injured when his car that has been sabotaged is involved in a crash. When Jack Pennington (Jack Hulbert) agrees to masquerade as the sleuth, he is enlisted to help Ann Manders (Fay Wray) find her jeweller grandfather who has been kidnapped...

(from Wikipedia)

I accidentally discovered the Bulldog Drummond films and became slightly obsessed. They’re full of adventure, high stakes, plenty of British humour, and awesome actors. They were made by various different people, and I have my favourites (nobody is a better Tenny than E.E. Clive, okay?). I watched this movie and loved it, and then buddy-watched this movie with a good friend and we had such a blast. This film is not very suspenseful; it’s really pure comedy—honestly pretty ridiculous, but so pleasantly so! It really cheered us up on a hard day. The dialogue is THE BEST ("I shall be forgetting my own name next") and well carried out with all the physical comedy (I tell you, there’s a scene where Jack talks through the window to his sidekick and they try to understand each other through exaggerated speaking and gestures… and meanwhile the villain is sitting there watching wondering how dumb a man can be… it’s a sidesplitting scene). Highly recommended for about an hour of cheering up. ;)

Content: some parts are filmed in a museum so there are a few inappropriate statues that might be noticed. One use of ‘dammit.’ At the very end of the movie the hero says ‘give me that tongue’ and moves in to kiss his fiancée, but it’s the very last seconds of the movie so you can just end it before that.

{ Fun Links }

~ The King’s Daughters’ Writing Camp now open!! It’s a free, online writing camp for Christian ladies of all ages—super encouraging and helpful! For more info + to sign up, go here:  Writing Camp now open!! It’s a free, online writing camp for Christian ladies of all ages—super encouraging and helpful! For more info + to sign up, go here: http://kingsdaughterswritingcamp.com.

~ Angie Thompson has a free serial story that launched October 7th! Check it out here, and sign up to get new chapters sent to your email: https://chronicwarriorchronicles.substack.com/.

~ AUTHORS OF CLEAN OR CHRISTIAN FICTION: join the Fifth Annual Black Friday Sale!! This is a great way to have new readers discover you and hook them onto your writing (or get them to buy the next book in your series!). Check it out + sign up here: https://sale.perrykirkpatrick.com/author-sign-up.

~ If you’re looking for cute and/or bookish merch, check out Kylie @ the Film Director’s Wife. Stickers, mugs, hoodies, etc… and she puts together book-inspired outfits and links to all the items so you can purchase them and recreate the outfit (totally wanna do that someday soon! And I want that ‘read more books’ hoodie XD).

~ Along the same lines, check out The Bookery Boutique by Abigail Harris. You’ll find “bookish merch, tee shirts, prints, mugs, bags, and of course, books that’ll take you on a blind date along with a wide selection of swag”—and notebooks!

~ Here are two cool lists of specific book recs—one for books all about horseback librarians and one for books all about the Great Chicago Fire.

{ QOTD }

If you had to pick your #1 wildest dream you have, what would it be?

I’d have to echo Meg’s castle in the air—“I should like a lovely house, full of all sorts of luxurious things—nice food, pretty clothes, handsome furniture, pleasant people, and heaps of money.” But I would take a leaf from Anne Blythe’s book and do the work with a good Susan to help me.

And of course, as Jo pointed out, I’d “have a splendid, wise, good husband, and some angelic little children” because my castle “wouldn’t be perfect without.” ;)