Dancing, bulls and God's tattoo's

A few years ago I wrote a letter to one of my favourite authors. I told him about my writing, never expecting him to respond, but hoping he would.

He did! Now years later his words still haunt me.

"As for your writing, I hope you continue to dance with the bulls."

These words speak of something I've let go, something I need to remember.

In the last month one of my favorite things has fallen into the background, lying under a layer of dust, forgotten.

My love for writing.

Excuses are like cancer

I've let my writing drift to the back burner. I've also stopped working out. I'm frustrated until I remember, it's not hard to see why these things have slipped into the background.

I am currently in the middle of production on an independent feature film. My roles on set so far have included Producer, Casting Director and 1<sup>st Assistant Director.

My plate is pretty full.

However, what I'm realizing is this is becoming an excuse.

When was Excuses invited?

Yes, life is busy. Good busy. I love my life, but I don't want all these wonderful things I'm doing to be shaded with the color of excuses.

If I continue choosing to let the busyness of life become an excuse then I will never get a book published, I will never reach my goal weight & I will never reach any other goal I set for myself.
Why? Because Excuses will rule my life & before I know it, I'll be 50 & wonder what happened.

New goal.

STOP making excuses. There will always be one. "Oh I'm too tired." "I'm sick." "I tried, but it never worked out." "I'll do it later, or tomorrow, or next week."

Excuses are endless and they seek to devour our life, but I don't want to let it anymore.

God has tattooed our hearts

When I read Divergent by Veronica Roth I was inspired to be like the main character Tris, who gets a tattoo of a bird to remind herself of the fears she's choosing to overcome.

I'm not gonna lie, after reading the book I wanted to go out and get a tattoo.

Like now.

Something that would be there for life to remind me of God's call, the one He put deep in my soul & tells me I am created for so much more than this.

That will inspire me when I'm tempted by excuses.

I already know what it will look like. A girl dancing with bulls. Even though those big, ferocious animals scare the crummy out of me, I'm going to choose to dance with them instead of letting my fear get the better of me.

Excuses aren't allowed, only dancing with bulls is welcome.

We can try to silence the call God has placed in us & we can throw every excuse in the book at it, but it'll still be there like a persistent badger, because He's already tattooed it on our hearts.

A forever mark of how we are meant to live.

It's His call to adventure, whispering "I've got bigger plans for you." The moment we let this call to adventure free the more God can show us how limitless we are when He's leading our lives.

With God, nothing is impossible. Especially when we choose to toss Excuses out the door.

New challenge.

Kick Excuses out. Choose the limitless adventure of God's call. Let Him remind me of the dreams & stories he's got me to tell. Put pen to paper. Get my running shoes on & get out the door.

Life is full of tomorrows that will never come.

It's time to run.

The Tall People & Rose

I'm excited about Ethan Renoe's, The Tall People: And Other Collected Stories. Coming from the minds of 14 creatives, this collection of short stories has something for everyone - including a story by yours truly, titled Rose.

Be sure to read Ethan's post to see a list of all the writers.

I want to tell you a bit about my short story - Rose...

... Adora's abducted and forced to work in The Factory where her captors use her blood to entertain the masses and give them the ability to fly, among other things. She soon discovers she's not the only one being forced into this bizarre entertainment, and begins to plot for a way out - not only for herself, but the others too.

Available now on amazon

This was a different story for me to write. Darker and riskier than anything I've told before, but one I found to be full of inner depths.

As the story flowed, I found myself challenged by her situation and wanted to do what I could as a creator to give justice to this character and the bigger - real life - issues it actually explores.

Adora's story became symbolic of both the truth and the lies people believe when they find themselves in domestic violence situations.

It grew from there to also explore the objectifying of women and how much it actually happens around us in every day life and from there explored the similarities between objectifying people and human trafficking.

As I wrote, I was amazed to see how many small little lessons and ideas were coming out on the page and I know it's because I had the ultimate Creator right there writing the story with me.

I hope you'll pick up a copy of The Tall People: And Other Collected Stories and read Rose. I know I learned heaps from Adora's story and I hope it will challenge, inspire and encourage those who read it too.

For now, I will leave you with a small excerpt from Rose.

The room for all it’s warm colors chills me. I blame the bright pain blossoming from my shoulder blade and the embarrassment of being so utterly exposed.

“Don’t move.” The tattooist warns, his eyes on my bare flesh.

Breathe. Keep breathing.

I’ve lost the will to turn away from the sharp needle. It’s agitated gyration skips over my skin, imprinting it with the outline of a vining flower. I thought my flesh would numb from the hours of work, but it only seems to be getting worse with every passing second.

Margaret, who stands above me, squeezes my hand. The gesture turns my focus away from the bright prickling sparks. “You’re doing great, Adora.” she smiles. “It’s almost over now.”

It scares me when she’s nice. It means there will be consequences later. She never does anything to leave a mark, but she hurts me worse than any beating ever could. Tears build at the thought and one escapes down my cheek.

“You’ll ruin your porcelain complexion, Adora.” She squeezes my hand harder. A warning. “Can’t have one of my girls looking emotional now, it’s bad for business.”

I bite the inside of my cheek to stop the tears, and put on what I hope is a brave smile for Margaret and the man who’s wiping navy blood from my shoulder and arm.

“You’ve outdone yourself, Magic. The roses are stunning.” Margaret runs a hand across my puckered flesh. “How long before I can make use of her?”

Tune into the next stop on The Tall People Blog Tour and hear what David Alves has to say about The Tall People and his story - Sub Rosa.