Relief Writers Network

Not a new struggle by any means but one that's faced by writers anew each time they come upon a scene/story that demands it. There's a tension between what's organic and what's gratuitious, and a legitimate issue to wrestle with. Here I am in finishing up my first attempt at full length Christian fiction, a cyberpunk style piece, and I'm confronted by the profane, fallen nature of the unsavory, unsaved characters. Do I 'tidy up' the reality for the next draft? Does my urban sprawl ghetto drug dealer say "Oh shucks!" - or my mega-corporation infiltrator refuse to kill innocent bystanders in the course of following orders? I have Christian characters in the story who are unapologetically, even explicitly, Christian. Do I have to tone them down as well for fear off offending someone?

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Are you curious about hell? Wonder whether it's a real place, and where and what and how..? For an interesting take on the subject see here:
http://graceandreacchi.blogspot.com/2008/11/welcome-to-hell.html

Technorati Tags: hell graceandreacchi Christianity Francis Bacon T.S Eliot art poetry

This is my poem. Please read it and tell me what you think. Note: it's really long.

Reign of Oil

There is no color
The world is dark
Black skies linger on and on till they become earth
To the edge all I see are mountains of coal
A sulfur haze blurs all sight
The only light, a red glow, floats up from deep valleys below
Sounds are immediately consumed by shadow
Black storms forever litter the earth with oil and ash
The earth constantly groans and quakes in anger

I sit chained atop the highest peak—alone to my thoughts
Arms and legs bound, I am forever in darkness
From the crimson depths I hear cries of slander
There is no water for even the clouds mock me
Oil rains down on me
I drink—it is bitter to my tongue and anxious in my stomach

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I've been absent on the RWN blog sphere, I figure Relief has some great regular bloggers now, and I've been writing less and managing more... so less writing quirks to blog about.

That said - check out www.silhouettewords.com. We got some great stuff up there: fiction, CNF, poetry.

Also - support the Relief fund... they are a publication incarnation, trying to merge the divine with the human.

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Hey! I am looking for feedback on these sonnets I wrote. Thanks!

The Foolishness of God

The foolishness of God is wiser than man’s
Wisdom. For who has silly, salvific plans
from death? What other plans extend to this length?
The weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength
For he has been raised from the dead.
(So crazy, this makes me ache in my head!)
Pillars of learning bow before the Lord;
Body builder--God’s flab over your washboard!
For none like the Lord has there ever been,
Though weak, he crushes impurity and sin
making wise men foolish in all our lands!
No body builder ’gainst his weakness stands!

A Sonnet

You are ever more; You are ever more!
Lifting these weak arms up from the floor!
A love which lasts forever, a bread so rich

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For a challenging Christian take on the so-called financial crisis you can't do better than this:
http://graceandreacchi.blogspot.com/2008/10/lady-poverty.html

Technorati Tags: poverty spiritual Christian values St. Francis of Assisi money greed Grace Andreacchi

Hey everyone!

Travis here wanting to let you know that I also have a blog at Wordpress.com. Check it out at travisdoig.wordpress.com

Have an awesome day! Hope to have an actual update soon!

God bless!
Travis Doig

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It's been awhile since I've posted... summer has been crazy and I haven't been writing [or philosophizing about writing] as much as I would have liked.

Recently [past few months] I got my first non-internet piece of work published in Relevant magazine. Two friends and my wife wrote about their experiences living in China... I assembled the piece, adding some reflective content of my own and some info about the then upcoming Olympics. It turned out well with only a few edits that I wish would have been [not] changed. And we got paid for it... maybe something normal for you veterans, but uber-exciting for rookies.

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