Tag: surrender

When Giving Up is a Good Thing

I have given up writing my latest Kringle Christmas romance. I don’t like giving things up, but the premise of the book became untenable upon writing.

I had given up writing it once before, feeling that the timing was all wrong. Then I got an idea to expand the time period of the book so that I had more time to develop the relationship. It turns out it wasn’t enough; I don’t have enough time left in the story to develop the downturn of the relationship, where the couple starts second-guessing the relationship and their own fitness for it.

Let me explain: My Christmas romances generally run from a few days before Thanksgiving through mid-December. The relationship develops fast, but I have about three weeks of plot-time to develop the relationship. That’s enough to take them from developing relationship to devolving relationship and through the reconciliation. With Kringle All the Way (the book I just abandoned), the couple had from the 17th through the 25th to get through all those stages. Try as I may, I didn’t have enough time in which to develop the relationship. In a Christmas romance, the happy ending has to happen by Christmas. What’s more depressing than a breakup over Christmas? That’s why the timing is so important.

This is the first story I’ve given up! I have a story that I’ve set aside for a while with a promise to get back to it eventually, but that’s not the same. I don’t enjoy giving up, but this story is fatally flawed. To spend any more time on it is to waste that time. That’s why giving up is sometimes a good thing.

Day 32 Lenten Meditation: Surrender




This is a difficult column for me to write, because I am the sort of person who wants to fix things, to do things, to make things happen. I don’t like getting into situations where I can’t make things happen.

I don’t surrender easily. I am convinced that if I beat my head against something long enough, I will accomplish it.

Some things, however, don’t lend themselves to beating one’s head against something long enough. A pandemic, for example. I sit here, helpless. I can do nothing. I can’t even sew well enough to make masks.  

This is the point where I have to surrender. I’ll be honest, I don’t believe that God will take away the pandemic, or that it’s His will that millions of people will get this disease. My God, when I believe in him, gives comfort and strength and the clarity for us to use our minds to solve things. So I don’t surrender to God’s will. I surrender to my own imperfect humanity.