7 Quick Takes Friday (vol. 80)
I have new reading suggestion for anyone who’s ever considered writing a book: Chapter After Chapter by Heather Sellers. Whether you’re a seasoned author or just starting out, you’ve got to read this. It’s not a technical how-to book like the other one I was raving about in #1 here, but rather offers advice and encouragement about the process itself.
It’s like if you could sit down and have a cup of coffee with a friend who knows all about writing books, and have her give you just the right mix of tough love, practical suggestions and shouts of “you can do it!” All aspiring authors need this on their bookshelves.
After this week’s post about churches as places of help, a reader sent me this fascinating article from National Geographic about people who have endured harrowing escapes from North Korea. Evidently among the defectors there’s a saying: when you get to the other side, “head for a cross.” (On page 5 of the article.) In the brutal world of North Korean refugees, who are often exploited by drug dealers and underground prostitution rings, Christian churches are havens of safety. The whole article is a must-read.
I had to change one of my passwords last week, and I realized that it was kind of a symbolic moment. It’s one of those passwords that I’d started using years ago, and had had so long that I’d forgotten who or what had originally inspired it. When I changed it last week I remembered that it’s the name of a famous atheist, and I’d originally chosen it because I’d loved his work. Funny how sometimes remnants of old ways of life hang on in the strangest places.
On another conversion-related note, I went to a wedding last week and had a delayed ah-hah! moment. Like most of the weddings I’ve ever attended it was completely secular, and it followed the typical format of people standing when the bride walked down the aisle, some readings, the vows, etc. Something seemed familiar about it, and I realized: this is like the Mass! Everyone stands at the beginning of the service, there are three readings, then a homily, then the vows (at a wedding Mass), then everyone stands at the end. I’d always thought that people just randomly came up with that format, so it was neat to recognize the roots of wedding ceremonies.
An email I sent to my husband last week, about ten minutes after my mother-in-law, Yaya, arrived (“D.” is our five-year-old son):
I can tell this is going to be a good visit. I’m laughing so hard right now I can barely type. Yaya wanted to watch Fox News, so she turned on the TV. It came on to the International Rosary on EWTN (which, admittedly, probably does look a little strange with all the soft-focus shots of people gazing at the sky and chanting something in a foreign language while holding beads) and it’s stuck at a really loud volume. D. really wants to change the channel himself but is overtired and having trouble with the new remote. She’s trying to be patient but just cannot stand for it to be on this boring and weird show. So what I’m hearing from the living room is the droning sound of the Hail Mary in Japanese punctuated by Yaya yelling “WHAT IS THIS SHOW?! TURN THE CHANNEL! PUT IT ON FOX NEWS! FOX NEWS!” over a soundtrack of D. screaming and canned angel music.
I keep thinking about these custom coffee stencils that Cheeseslave was talking about a while back. I don’t even drink coffee these days, but I feel like I need them. For something. Anyway, they’d make a great gift idea for anyone looking for gifts for graduation, teachers, Father’s Day, etc.
For those of you who are doing the Novena to the Holy Spirit, I just realized that someone has put all the prayers on Youtube. Cool idea. I know a lot of people prefer audio-visual stuff to reading, so I thought I’d collect them all in one place. Here are the links: Day 1 (Spirit); Day 2 (Fear of Sin); Day 3 (Piety); Day 4 (Fortitude); Day 5 (Knowledge); Day 6 (Understanding); Day 7 (Counsel); Day 8 (Wisdom); Day 9 (Fruits of the Holy Spirit).
Have a great weekend, everyone!
I look forward to reading your posts!
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Thanks for hosting, Jen. I haven't done a 7QTF in a long time!
I use a password that is from my college days. It is weird and my husband teases me for it.
Those custom coffee messages are so neat. Thanks for sharing! Have a nice weekend.
Just finished my first 7 Quick Takes!
It was actually fun! Got me to post some stuff I might not otherwise post!
Hi Jen! Looking forward to the North Korea article.
And about weddings–you have been to a Catholic wedding Mass, right? Funny how 2000-year-old Mass liturgy remains an influence in our culture even in the most secular formats.
God bless–Kim D.
Your email had me, literally, laughing out loud. Thanks!
Thanks for promoting the Holy Spirit Novena.
Love the Yaya story, as usual. 🙂
Awesome links to the novena videos! I will be posting them at F&F Live for all nine days. Thanks, Jen, for a great resource.
I always look forward to Friday's quick takes and love it when I can post. Peace.
Thanks for the book suggestion!
And thanks for the inspiration to do the Novena this week…I had never heard of it and am very blessed to have found your suggestion yesterday.
have a terrific weekend!
Giggling at number 5. My husband always has a strange look on his face if he turns on the TV and EWTN is on!
Regarding number two, last year I had the privilege of of sitting next to Tim Peters on a flight. He heads Helping hands Korea. A very nice, unassuming man. After I returned home I found this article about him and his organization: http://www.time.com/time/asia/covers/501060501/story.html
I had a stopover in Seoul on my way to Japan. We drove to the hotel along elevated highways. The city below was dotted with little red neon crosses – a church on virtually every corner. It remains one of the most moving things I've ever seen. Looking forward to reading the Nat Geo article (it's my next tab in the browser…) Thanks as always for the post 🙂
Even though I'm not Catholic (belong to a very orthodox UMC church presently) I am still interested in trying the Holy Spirit novena this week. Thanks for the links.
I still use a password from college and I graduated in 1997. I don't forget it, though, and these days, that's important. 🙂
Thank you so much for the "Chapter by Chapter" recommendation. Also the coffee stencils. I think I'll get one for my dad for his birthday.
There is always something good on this blog! 🙂
Thanks for hosting Jen … this is my first 7 quick takes! Also, I am intrigued by the coffee text thing . . . I wonder if it works well?
I have a crazy old college password as well! Good to know that I'm not the only one.
I will have to look into the Holy Spirit Novena. Would that begin tonight and end on Pentecost? I'll have to look it up!
This is my first, but I have definitely been following yours and the others! TGIF!
My "almost-everything" password is the (very unusual) name of a character in a science fiction novel my husband wrote but which has never been published, plus some digits. If he ever finds a publisher I'm going to need to make some drastic changes, because it's a main character, but for now it's easy to remember and impossible to guess. ;-D
Thanks for number 1! And your note to your hubs had me laughing!
Yeah. It's somehow strange changing passwords that are the names of those now deceased. It seems almost like an insult to their memory…
Also, there's a rosary station?
Jen, I laughed at the email you sent to your husband when Yaya arrived. That's priceless! I can truly imagine it all going down. And thanks for the title of the writing book. I've kind of gotten away from reading about the writing process, but this one sounds like a title I can't ignore. Thanks…and have a blessed weekend. Oh, I haven't read the NG article yet but love the idea of heading straight for the cross. Don't we all need this advice, like, every day? 🙂 Powerful!
I think I should win a prize for having the longest "quick" takes in the history of 7 Quick Takes Friday. I was quite the overachiever this week. Thanks for hosting, Jen!
Wait 'til I tell my friend Ann Marie ("Cheeseslave") that she got a mention on your blog before I did, and I don't even think she's one of your readers, whereas I'm a DIE HARD and read every word! LOL! 🙂
Thanks for hosting. I have enjoyed posting a Quick Takes each week.
Oh, I think my husband need a coffee message. What fun, especially when you spend as much time staring into a coffee mug as he does. 🙂
Great YaYa story! I EWTN & my husband & I watch it everyday but I have wondered why in the world they don't replace that International Rosary in the middle of the afternoon with something more timely…not that the Rosary's not timely but the format…well, you know what I mean!
Just had to tell you – the ad on your side bar is for Sex and the City 2. Goes perfectly with your blog, don't you think? 😉
Thanks for #1, I went out and bought it right away. It is really good.