When I realize that it is not God who is in my debt but I who am in His great debt, then doesn’t all become gift?
Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts
Tag: Quick Quotes (Page 1 of 8)
After trying all sorts of approaches to writing and failing miserably and therefore being miserable (a daily word goal of 1000 words; sitting at the desk for two hours morning and afternoon; writing a page of gibberish before writing “the novel”), I decided that my only obligation was to type one word per day. Just one. The beauty of this goal is two-fold. First, the requirement is so insignificant that it is not worthy of the procrastination monkey. Secondly, it is hard to fall short. All I have to do is open my laptop and type one word. It will take a minute, maybe two, and then I am permitted to close my laptop and watch Netflix. But it’s like telling someone who is avoiding exercise that all they are required to do is put on their runners and take one step out the door. Once your runners are on and the door is open, walking is easy. Similarly, once the laptop is open and you’ve typed that first word, the next two or three just tumble out and before you know it you’ve written 100 words, maybe 200 words, sometimes 300 words – at that point you are as good as Virginia Woolf and any more words would be an overachievement.
Pip Williams in an interview with Daryl Maxwell for the LAPL Blog and printed in the endnotes of The dictionary of Lost Words
A lifetime of sermons on “thanks in all things” and the shelves sagging with books on these things and I testify: life-changing gratitude does not fasten to a life unless nailed through with one very specific nail at a time.
Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts
Joy is the realest reality, the fullest life, and joy is always given, never grasped. God gives gifts and I give thanks and I unwrap the gift given: joy.
Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts
“When she locked the door to her compartment, she could feel that for the first time in two days, her adrenaline levels had returned to normal. She opened the compartment window and defied the no-smoking regulations. She stood there sipping at her coffee as the train rolled out of Oslo.”
Steig Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Let me tell you why this quote is so cool. But first, personal context:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was the first novel I read after I finished writing my novel’s first draft. The problem with first drafts is that they are rudimentary and sorely underdeveloped. They say the first draft is for the writer, meaning it is the story the writer wants to tell. The following drafts are for the readers, shaping the story into the complete book it will eventually be.
The quote above is from the end of the second-to-last chapter of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It caught me and gripped me. As soon as I read it, I had to reread it and breathe out a sigh. “That’s so cool!”
Watch this.
Stieg Larsson could have said, “She picked up a cigarette” or “She took a drag from her cigarette.” Both would have been equally as effective at describing what She was doing. And both are equally as boring.
Instead, Larsson used words to paint a picture. We know exactly what she is doing, even though he never even mentioned a cigarette. “She defied the no-smoking regulations.”
Why did this phrase make me so excited? Because it was a clear example to an amateur what a master can do with words alone. Now I can begin editing my novel with this phrase in the back of my mind, and I will look for ways to incorporate this kind of storytelling. Storytelling that shows the picture instead of talking about it.
Can you think of some cool ways to describe things or actions without naming them? Put your imagination to the test in the comments below.
Is that why the Israelites kept recounting their past – to trust God for their future? Remembering is an act of thanksgiving, a way of thanksgiving, this turn of the heart over time’s shoulder to see all the long way His arms have carried… but gratitude is not only the memories of our heart; gratitude is a memory of God’s heart and to thank is to remember God.
Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts
In memory, the shape of God’s yesterday-heart emerges and assures of God’s now-heart and reassures of His sure beat tomorrow. And for the first time, I see why the Israelites are covenanted with God to be a people who remember with thanks. It is thanksgiving that shapes a theology of trust and the Israelites bear witness and I see.
“Words are like stories, don’t you think, Mr. Sweatman? They change as they are passed from mouth to mouth; their meanings stretch or truncate to fit what needs to be said. The Dictionary can’t possibly capture every variation, especially since so many have never been written down -”
Esme to Mr. Sweatman, in The Dictionary of Lost Words, by Pip Williams
“Words change over time, you see. The way they look, the way they sound; sometimes even their meaning changes. They have their own history.”
Da to Esme, in The Dictionary of Lost Words, by Pip Williams
“Never forget that, Esme. Words are our tools of resurrection.”
Aunt Ditte to Esme, in The Dictionary of Lost Words, BY Pip Williams
“And, as she looked around, she saw how Death, the consoler,
Laying his hand upon many a heart, had healed it forever.”
Henry Waldsworth Longfellow, Evangeline