God is an Earworm?

Going in a different direction this time. Over this past year of this writing curse…er…course, no, um…journey. Yeah, “journey.” That’s the right word. Anyway, it’s been quite a challenge.

If you’ve read The Accident or seen the video I posted on Instagram and Facebook, I have these creatures called “The Nameless.” They are the lowest form of devil. I imagine them as amorphic blobs with bat-like wings which flit around or attach themselves to people and whisper temptations into people’s ears. Each Nameless focuses on a specific sin or negative emotion. In my case, Doubt.

“You’re not doing it right. You’ll fail.”

“You’re not good enough for this business.”

“God’s given up on you. Give it up.”

All three of the above have pestered me at different times. That last one right around Easter of all times. It wasn’t pleasant. I couldn’t figure out why. What did I do wrong? So, of course, I prayed. Am I okay with You? This went on for a week or two.

You’ve heard the phrase “God works in mysterious ways.” Right? Well one day, I woke up and the chorus of an old hymn ran through my head.

He lives! He lives! Christ Jesus lives today…

That’s all I heard. It ran on repeat for fifteen-twenty minutes until I got going for the day and pushed it out of my head. Granted, it’s a great hymn, but to hear just that phrase over and over. It was an earworm.

Then it happened again the next day. And the next. And the next. I bet you’re saying “Um, Ken. God’s talking to you.” Yes, He was. God was playing the part of the earworm. It took nine days in a row for me to finally catch on and listen to the rest of the words…

He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way!

He lives! He lives! Salvation to impart!

You ask me how I know He lives…He lives…within…my heart.

Yeah, I started crying when I figured out what had happened. And joy filled my soul to realize I had been lied to by the Nameless and the LORD was still with me.

The second time of doubt, it only took a couple days of a song chorus before I figured it out.

Lately, I’ve been having doubts about what I’m doing to get people to read, well, these newsletters. The dreaded e-mail list. I’ve been at it for almost two months now and I’m not seeing much of an increase in the numbers. I wondered if God wasn’t happy with what I’m doing. Sure enough, the next morning, God appeared with another earworm. I only needed one morning. It was the chorus to For King and Country’s Never Give up. Heh, just the title was enough, but I heard:

Never ever, ever, ever, ever give up

Never ever, ever give up, no.

Never ever, ever, ever, ever give up

Never ever, ever give up

Never give up!

Yeah, I didn’t need a second chorus to figure that one out. So, I won’t give up. I’ll keep working on the socials and posts. I may have to set up more than what I have been currently doing.

So, stay tuned to what you hear in the morning. God may be using an earworm to tell you something you need to know.

What else is going on?

I’ve been monitoring the stats on my posts/videos on Instagram and Facebook. The reviews appear to be getting some attention but not necessarily translating to followers here. The character spotlights have died. They get some views on Facebook, but not on Instagram. I’ll drop those videos on Instagram and keep them on Facebook for now. I will probably switch the character spotlight videos to the characters from The Accident and see how that goes.

I am working on a book trailer for The Accident. My personal “book review” video of my own book tanked. It received the second fewest number of views. (Hashomer had the fewest.)

If you’ve been out to my site…wait…you haven’t checked out my site? Shame on you! Anyway, I’m making a lot of changes to the Worlds portions. The Cast of Characters won’t be generic. I realized with multiple books possible, these pages will be cumbersome to tell which characters are in which book. I’m rearranging these pages to be tailored to each book instead. There will be a “dossier” format to their descriptions which will eventually include character stats and abilities drawn from the Psionicist Class/Archetypes I’m slowing building. This will be an ongoing process.

Writing Progress Report

I’ve decided to work on the beginning of the Canthany world. It will be tentatively titled Canthany: Genesis. The plan is to have a novelette length story. I’ve somewhat plotted it out. Just a basic set of plot points I want to hit. But with my writing, what I start with may not be what I end up with. Sometimes, my characters go “off script” and wander off on their own.

Sort of like some role-playing game parties I’ve been in…

God Bless you all!