NovelSisters

watching, reading, and writing stories

Sep 15

Hinds’ Feet on High Places

by lydiamhill

Image Source: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BZQ461C/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?ie=UTF8&btkr=1

I’ve been doing more reading recently, and one book that I finally got around to reading that I really enjoyed is Hinds’ Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard. I’ve heard that it was a really good book, but reading it now has made it more significant to me.

The book is an allegory, it follows the tale of Much-Afraid as she journeys to the High Places and tells of all the sacrifices and suffering she must go through to finally get what she desires and become the person she longs to be. But it also reflects what many people go through in life, including the author. I read the autobiography at the end of this book about how Hannah had her own journey to the High Places. It really resonated with me.

In my own life, times have been hard recently. There have been deaths in the family, funerals, memorials, and a lot of emotions swirling around. But as I’ve seen in my own past, and also clearly in this book, God doesn’t leave us alone in the hard times. And He ends up using them to shape us and make us more like Himself. It is still hard to go through those valleys, those lonely places, the storms, deserts, and wastelands of life. But I have a hope and I know that God is still good, still in control and still at work, even in my own heart.

So I don’t know what’s going on in your life today, if everything is running smoothly, or if it’s just been one of those days. But I want to encourage you that whatever you face, put your hope in Jesus. And if you’ve never read Hinds’ Feet on High Places, check it out.

Well that’s it for now.

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Aug 6

Speaking of Jesus

by lydiamhill

So on this blog I often write about movies, or the novel I wrote, and occasionally other things that are on my mind. But I also read books. Now I’m not one to recommend books very often. I’ll tell you what I like about a book, but usually just stop at that. I mean I don’t know what kind of books you like, maybe you’re not into youth fiction or historical fiction or whatever. But today, I would like to recommend a book. Because it really made me think, and got me excited and well I just want to share it!

11333401

Image Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11333401-speaking-of-jesus

The book is Speaking of Jesus by Carl Medearis. I received it for my birthday about a month ago, and finally got it off the bookshelf a couple days ago. From the minute I started reading, I was hooked. Carl does a great job of engaging his audience with short stories from his life and giving real life examples of what he’s talking about. He’s also quite funny.

But the biggest reason I liked this book, is because what Carl talked about is something I’ve struggled with all my life. I grew up Christian, went to church, learned about God and Jesus and read my Bible. But I always felt awkward trying to share my faith, or share the gospel, or ‘evangelize.’ It wasn’t comfortable, wasn’t easy, and just never felt natural to me. I kept thinking, well God is just going to have to help me grow in this area, because it is not where I’m gifted.

But almost ironically, I loved talking about Jesus, at least with other Christians. I would get so excited that I’d start shaking when the subject came up. I love hearing stories of how Jesus is working, what He’s doing for people, how He provides, brings love and hope to dark and scary circumstances and just does what He does.

Well, in his book, Carl suggests that ‘evangelizing’ really isn’t what Jesus did, or wants us to do. We’re not supposed to go around telling people you’re wrong, I’m right. Now believe what I believe, repeat this prayer and become a ‘Christian.’ Instead Carl just talks about Jesus, tells people about what Jesus is doing, who Jesus loves, what He cares about and he avoids the word “Christian.” Instead Carl says he’s just trying to follow Jesus.

It seems so simple, yet it’s so freeing. I don’t have to explain all of the problems with Christianity, or make excuses for all the messed up people who called themselves Christians but didn’t live like Jesus at all. Instead I should just point people to Jesus and what He did and said, and try to do likewise.

Carl does a much better job of explaining it than I do, so I highly recommend reading his book, and I hope whoever reads it enjoys it as much as I did.

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Jul 29

The history of my love for history

by lydiamhill

I know I haven’t posted in awhile, and I finally have a bit of free time, so I decided to dedicate a post to something I care a lot about, but haven’t ever written about on this blog. By looking at the title, I’m sure you have a pretty good guess as to what I’m writing about.

Well here it goes, I love Civil War History. It all started with my older brother and my dad. They both love exploring old battle sites, quizzing each other on odd facts, and just reading about times long gone. They love most of American History, but what got me hooked was the Civil War.

You see this PBS special came on when I was little, you’ve probably heard of it, the Ken Burns one. Well some of it really caught my attention, and the music was very memorable to me. It wasn’t something I got excited about watching, but once I started, I found it was hard to stop.

Image Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Civil_War_(TV_series)

Well, when I got a bit older, I was introduced to Gettysburg, the three-hour-long spectacle made in the 90s. At first I didn’t see the appeal, but as my brother and father watched and rewatched the movie, I started to get it. The characters were hilarious, all their banter and wit drew my affection and I found myself cheering for my favorites as they went into battle.

Image Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettysburg_(1993_film)

Then the final straw happened; my family went on vacation and while we were exploring, we came across the battle site of Gettysburg. Before we left the on site gift shop, I purchased a book that would change my reading life forever: Michael Shaara’s The Killer Angels. It was the book that spurred the Gettysburg movie. I was thrilled to find all my favorite characters from the movie, along with new dialogue and inner thoughts that the movie had no time to include.

Image Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/682804.The_Killer_Angels

And once I finished that book, I found that Jeff Shaara had continued the legacy by writing a prequel and sequel to the Killer Angels. From that time on I couldn’t stop reading about generals and foot soldiers. Every book Jeff Shaara wrote, was soon in my hands. And I was thrilled when in the past couple of years he decided to return to the Civil War age and write another series about the major battles in the West.

So if there’s anyone out there who needs a good book to read, I would happily suggest any Shaara book. I myself will be starting his newest book “The Smoke at Dawn” shortly.

Image Source: http://wutc.org/post/shaara-s-smoke-dawn-novel-civil-war-dramatizes-chattanooga-battles#stream/0

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Mar 11

The Rest of the Story

by lydiamhill

Cover

A while back I posted a section from my novel Finding Home: The Orphan’s Journey. I wanted to post another section from the book, so people could see what happened.

As always, if you like what you read, check out the full book at: http://www.amazon.com/Finding-Home-The-Orphans-Journey/dp/1490556427/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1394553842&sr=8-1&keywords=finding+home+Lydia+Hill

Enjoy!

      “So the young lad awakens” one of the men said with a laugh. “All alone tonight are we?”

      Yeah, sure feels like it. “Who are you?” Ben managed to say as he sat up.

      “That’s not important,” the biggest of the three said in a gruff voice.

      “What do you want?”

      “Oh it’s not what I want, it’s what you want.” The big man smiled, revealing his crooked teeth. “See, if you want to live, you’ll give me anything you have, and if you don’t… well….” The man put his hand gingerly on his sword hilt.

      Ben gulped. I don’t have anything to give them. Oh I hope the captain acts soon.

      “What are you numbskulls doing?” a voice said from behind the three men.

      “Sorry sir. We were just trying to find out if he was worth taking captive.”

      Ben watched in horror as the big man stepped aside to reveal another man. This man was definitely in command. Although he was smaller than the others, his body was sleek with muscle and his steal gray eyes had the silent stare of one in authority. This doesn’t sound good. Oh hurry up captain.

      The commander stepped forward and glanced over Ben. “He’s of no importance,” he said indifferently. “Kill him.”

      Ben grabbed his sword and stood up in one motion.

      The other men soon had drawn their swords as well.

      “Why didn’t you check him for weapons?” the commander asked angrily.

      “Don’t worry sir, this won’t take long,” the big man said arrogantly as he stepped forward.

      Ben saw his opportunity. He ducked the man’s blow and thrust his sword forward catching the man in a break in his armor.

      The massive man screamed in pain and fell to his knees.

      Ben pulled back and noticed more men beyond the group coming closer to see what was going on. Where are you captain? I can’t keep this up for long.

      “Why you little…” one of the other men said as he stepped towards Ben.

      Ben swung at the man, but this Ungul was quicker than the last one and deflected the blow easily. Out of the corner of his eye, Ben noticed more men starting to gather in a circle around him as he continued to fight. Come on captain, your bait’s about to get eaten.

      Ben stepped backwards as another man joined in the fight. Ben blocked again and again, barely deflecting one swing before the next came. The swords got close enough to tear part of Ben’s shirt and scratch his arm, but Ben was able to avoid any major injuries. He was so focused on staying alive that he didn’t notice that the taunts of the men around him were slowly turning into gasps of horror.

      It wasn’t until one very loud scream broke through the noise of the fight that Ben and the now three men he was fighting stopped to see what was going on. As soon as Ben realized that the surprise attack was finally happening, he took advantage of his opponents’ confusion and attacked.

      Soon there were other soldiers around Ben, fighting the Unguls. “About time you got here,” Ben called to the captain as he jumped into the fight.

      The captain took on one of the Unguls fighting Ben. “Sorry about that, but your distraction was too perfect. Thanks to your little sword fight, we were able to take out half the troop before they even noticed we were here.”

      Ben pulled back towards a big bolder as the lone Ungul he was fighting took another swing at him. “You’re welcome.”

      The captain, noticing that Ben was pinned against the bolder, deftly spun away from the Ungul he was fighting to help Ben. After a few quick moves both of the Unguls’ swords were on the ground. The captain smiled as he watched the two Unguls turn and run for their lives. “You’re welcome.”

      “Thanks.” Ben sat down exhausted.

      The captain removed his helmet and watched silently as his troops finished off the few Unguls left in the camp.

      One of the soldiers yelled after a fleeing Ungul. “Yeah get out of here ya yellabelly! Stay in your own country!”

      “You think they’ll just leave?” Ben asked the captain.

      The captain ran his hand through his matted dark hair speckled with gray hairs, “Sure hope so.” He smiled down at Ben then held out his hand. “Need some help?”

      Ben took the captain’s hand and stood up. “You know, I still don’t know your name.”

      “Yes, well I suppose I’ve gotten used to just ‘Captain,’” he said with a chuckle.

      “Alright Captain.”

      The captain smiled. “But you aren’t one of my soldiers. The name’s Martin.”

      “Martin then.”

      “Just don’t use it around the troops, might throw them off a bit.”

      Ben nodded.

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Feb 6

A Sneak Peek

by lydiamhill

This past year, I published my first novel “Finding Home: The Orphan’s Journey.”

Cover

It is a youth adventure story revolving around Ben and his search for his lost family. He meets many people along his journey, some are kind and helpful, others are not. Anyway, I wanted to give my blog followers a bit of a sneak peak into the book. I’ve found other authors’ blogs that also feature sections of their books, and I would like to do the same. So, occasionally, I’ll post a little section of my book. If it interests you, feel free to buy the whole story on Amazon. You can follow this link: http://www.amazon.com/Finding-Home-The-Orphans-Journey/dp/1490556427/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1391725148&sr=8-1&keywords=Finding+Home+the+orphan%27s+journey

And without further ado, here’s a sneak peak at Ben’s adventure.

      “Ben, wake up.”

      Ben felt a poke in his chest. He opened his eyes to see the captain leaning over him. Ben rubbed his eyes. “Hmm what’s going on?”

      “We seem to have a bit of a problem.”

      “Oh?”

      “Yes, well our lookout has spotted a band of Unguls coming our way.”

      Ben sat straight up. “What!?!”

      “Yes, I know it’s hard to believe, but the rumors are true. So get up, we’re going to need your help.”

      Ben stood up quickly and grabbed his sword. “Where do you want me?” he tried to ask bravely but there was a slight squeak to his voice that betrayed his true feelings.

      “Actually, I have something special planned for you. Come with me.” The captain led Ben away from where he had bedded down for the night and towards the campfire.

      Ben looked at the solitary campfire sitting next to a rocky hill. “Where is everybody?”

      “Hiding.”

      Ben gulped. “So why aren’t we?”

      The captain turned toward Ben and looked him square in the eye. “Ben, I need you to do something for me.” He took a deep breath. “The Unguls have us outnumbered. The only way we stand a chance is if we take them by surprise…. They know someone is here because of the fire, but if they think it’s only a lonely traveler, they’ll let their guard down.”

      “So I’m the bait?” Ben said quietly, his voice beginning to shake.

      “Afraid so. But you can keep your sword, and once the Unguls get close enough, we’ll close in and surround them. You won’t be alone long.”

      Ben nodded slowly as his heart began to beat faster.

      “Alright, well they’re getting close, so just lay down here and pretend you’re asleep.” The captain turned to go find a hiding place.

      “Wait!” Ben said in a higher pitch than he had intended. “I don’t think I can do this.”

      The captain put his hand on Ben’s shoulder. “It’ll be alright. I promise. Just wait until they get close and keep them distracted as long as you can.”

      “How?”

      “Just go with your instincts. If they’re looking for information, keep them talking, if they’re out for blood, well use that.” The captain pointed to Ben’s sword. “Although… I would keep that hidden until the opportune moment if I were you.”

      Ben nodded and tried his best to put on a brave face.

      “Thank you Ben.” The captain gave Ben’s shoulder a squeeze then hurried up the hill and disappeared from view.

      Ben took a deep breath then sat down on the hard ground. He carefully hid his sword behind his back and then lay down trying to make his body relax. Ben forced his eyes shut. He strained to detect any noise but his heart was pounding so hard he could barely hear. Alright, just calm down. It needs to look like I just woke up. Ben forced himself to take a few long, deep breaths. His heart began to slow. Ben could now hear the wind in the trees.

      A few minutes passed then a twig broke. Ben immediately tensed up. What should I do? What should I do? Ben tried to make himself relax again. I’m supposed to keep them distracted for as long as possible. He waited.

       Soft footsteps approached slowly until Ben was sure they were right next to him. What if they’re going to kill me in my sleep? Ben could hardly breathe. He couldn’t stand it any longer and opened his eyes. Three enormous men with strange armor were staring down at him. Ben gasped.


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Nov 25

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

by lydiamhill

THE HUNGER GAMES CATCHING FIRE

This past weekend I went to see the new Hunger Games movie in theaters. A couple of years ago I started hearing about the Hunger Games series and when the movie came out I was very excited to see it. I really enjoyed the first movie and the sacrifice Katniss was willing to make for her younger sister Prim. At the end of the movie I was very intrigued by what would happen in the capital now that the Games were over. I had a feeling this corrupt system was heading towards destruction and our heroine had a part to play in the outcome.

I couldn’t wait for the next movie, so I read the books. And I’m happy to say this next movie follows the book really well. Now it didn’t include every single detail of the book, and a few parts felt rushed, but that tends to happen when you turn a full length novel into a 2 hour movie. Some things just don’t fit.

I was very intrigued with the view into President Snow’s life that we are given in the movie. Since the book is written form Katniss’s perspective, we are only given little tidbits about the President’s life. But the movie takes this a bit further; revealing his relationship with a granddaughter at home, and his reasoning behind the actions that he takes.

The only thing I have to complain about was a scene in Quarter Quell Hunger Games. At one point the group of victors that we are following gets attacked by some savage monkeys and the camera effects and lighting goes a little over the top. There are so many cuts and different angles that I lost track of which character I was watching and because everything was so dimly lighted, I could barely tell what was going on. The filmmaker might have intended this “shaky” cam filming to make the danger and confusion more real to the audience, but it had the opposite affect on me. I found myself thrown out of the movie and realizing that I was in a theater after all. I remained “outside” the movie experience until the action calmed down and the fight was over. Then I was able to reenter the story.

Other than that, I can’t complain too much. The storyline followed the book very well and all of the characters seemed appropriate to me. Of course I haven’t read the books in over a year, so that probably helped. See my other post about not watching movies in close proximity to reading the book: https://lydiamhill.wordpress.com/2013/09/24/the-hobbit-and-movie-adaptations-2/

In conclusion, if you are a fan of the first movie, or the book series, I’d say you’ll most likely be satisfied with this movie’s performance.

Leave a comment below if you want.

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Nov 19

The Novel’s Journey

by lydiamhill

I know I don’t mention it on this blog a lot, but I am a writer. Specifically I’ve been working on publishing my first novel for the past several years. Writing a novel is a long process. Not only does it take perseverance to actually finish, it also takes serious thought and editing skills. On top of that pile on the whole mess of trying to self publish and you can start to see why it takes so long to actually finish.

But I’m proud to announce that my novel “Finding Home; The Orphan’s Journey” is now finished! It is available on Amazon today!

Cover

http://www.amazon.com/Finding-Home-The-Orphans-Journey/dp/1490556427/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384877071&sr=8-1&keywords=Lydia+Hill+Finding+Home

I’d like to share a little about how this story came to be, and perhaps in the future I’ll post some small sections from the text itself. But if you want to go ahead and purchase a print copy, feel free.

This novel began as an sketchy idea. Oftentimes as I’m going to sleep I think up some story in my head. Usually I’ve forgotten it by the next morning and most of them aren’t worth remembering, but this time, I liked the idea. I decided the next morning to write out a generalized plot line. It wasn’t a super long plot, and most of it was the big picture. In essence I knew I wanted to write a story about an orphan who goes on a quest to find his long lost family, in hopes that they are still alive. I had a few ideas of what should happen to him on this quest, like running into a Princess and saving her life. But there were lots of gaps and holes, and I had no idea how to end the story. Also, the big picture was very different from actually writing a book, putting in dialogue and description and organizing the whole thing into chapters. All of this actual writing was a big job that I had never attempted before.

The writing process started out slow, I started with a grand back story explaining what had actually happened to this orphan, but eventually realized that this was not a great way to start a book. It was good to write so I knew what had happened, but it wasn’t needed for the reader.

As years continued, I still dreamed about one day actually finishing my book, but high school was nearing it’s end and my busy college days lay before me. I thought that taking Writing classes in college would help motivate me to finish, but instead of writing my novel, I wrote other papers, and learned more about what it takes to write well. In addition, during my college years I was able to secure a job at a local middle school where I was supposed to read with students. As I saw examples of good and bad literature in the school library, I began to think again about my novel, and giving younger kids an exciting book that was also clean and safe. I was really tired of kids coming across crude language and telling me “I’m not allowed to say this.” Of course you’re not, I was thinking, this stuff shouldn’t be in a kid’s book. There’s got to be better stuff out there. And so I decided that my novel could be one of these ‘better’ books, at least in the sense of crudeness.

By the time I had graduated from college, it had been a long time since I’d actually tried to write anything connected to this novel. When I finally looked back at it, I realized how simple the language was and how difficult it would be to “fix” what I’d already written. But I decided to try. Now that there was no homework to do, I had time to write.

So I recruited a few friends to give me feedback on my early chapters, then I started writing furiously. By writing very long research papers in college, I had learned that writing was not such a big challenge after all, I just had to do it. Another contributing factor was the National Novel Writing Month. My sister had won the contest my senior year of college, and I began developing a plan of finishing my novel before November, and then trying to write a sequel during the contest month. With this goal in mind, I worked much more diligently. By November 1st I was done with my rough draft and ready to write more.

After the busy NaNoWriMo season, I entered a new phase: editing. Some of it was fun; developing chapters, making artwork, or adding descriptive details. But editing also meant scrolling for typos multiple times, and having a few friends read the whole draft for errors. As you can imagine, this was a long process that took several months, but finally I was nearing the end. Figuring out the cover and description was actually not as hard as I thought it would be, thanks to Create Space’s program. And now I’ve come to the end of my journey, at least for this novel.

So if you’re interested in starting a journey for yourself, buy the book. Or if you’ve already started out on your own book, leave me a comment and let me know where you are in the writing process.

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