“The Undervalued Gift of Laughter” by Paul Regnier (GUEST POST)

AuthorAppleton on April 3, 2017

Hi readers! This month Christian author Paul Regnier asked me to review Space Drifters: The Emerald Enigma, and he agreed to write this month’s article “The Undervalued Gift of Laughter.”
Mash together (in novel form) the Guardians of the Galaxy, a little Indiana Jones, and Disney’s The Black Hole and you’ll have an idea how The Emerald Enigma comes off. Paul Regnier surprised me with this book. I do not normally go for the humorous sort of space opera but he really pulled it off. I found myself laughing aloud on several occasions. The characters are predictable but not in an off-putting way because they are fully fleshed-out, having each their own unique charm. You will love his book.
–Scott Appleton

The Undervalued Gift of Laughter
by Paul Regnier

Don’t we all take ourselves too seriously sometimes? One of my goals as a writer is to bring more humor to stories.

There are certainly times to have serious and dramatic moments in writing and treat spiritual messages with the reverence due the subject matter but I think humor is sometimes neglected. Comedy is often viewed as “light” or “fluff” in stories as if it’s just some throwaway, cheap thrill like candy. I firmly disagree. I think humor can be just as impactful as serious drama.

I know that in my life, humor and laughter have been a huge help in going through tough times. In my darkest of days the value of humor cannot be overstated. Laughter is one of the natural healing tools God has blessed us with.

Proverbs 17:22 “A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones.”

A quick web search will reveal a myriad of health benefits associated with laughter:
-Aids the healing process
-Reduces stress
-Promotes relaxation
-Boosts the immune system
-Produces pain relieving endorphins in the body

“A clown is like an aspirin, only he works twice as fast.” –Groucho Marx

When I get together with friends, laughter is always a part of our interaction. It bonds people together. It eases tension and helps to overcome the stress and worry of life. Plus, it’s a natural way to celebrate the joy of what God has given us.

Psalm 126: 1-2 “When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, ‘The Lord has done great things for them.’”

I view humor and laughter as tremendous gifts from God. When I incorporate them into stories, my hope is that the reader will be lifted up and encouraged the same way God’s gift of humor continues to do so for me.

You can find Paul Regnier on facebook

Find The Emerald Enigma on Amazon

You have different gifts

AuthorAppleton on March 6, 2017

It is a blessing to recognize artistic beauty in all its forms, like the variety of expression. We each can find inspiration in our unique spiritual and life journey.

A spirit of gentle submission to the glory of our created condition. Written words contribute songs, stories, and films.

With Flaming Pen Press there are so many things we can accomplish. I believe in dreaming big. But dreaming doesn’t build reality. Action is necessary to achieve goals.

Hiring people to provide jobs and pool their creativity. I’m starting by outsourcing for help in transcribing the antique books awaiting their inclusion in the Flaming Pen Press library. What an awesome opportunity to be helped and also provide jobs.

It only grows from here.

Managing these endeavors is exciting. It’s taken years for the how behind the vision to become clear. I am done trying to do it all on my own. I cannot. To grow, my business needs me to get out of the way and take opportunity to shift burdens on other gifted individuals.

Setting up the business to free myself to write and direct projects. Fingers in the pie-in-progress, so to speak, yet without disturbing it.

Q: What are your gifts and passions?

News: restoring antique books

AuthorAppleton on February 6, 2017

One of my favorite pastimes when I was growing up was driving around with my mother to book sales. Especially sales at the small libraries housed in old New England buildings. Sorting through rows of books to find the types that excited and educated my young mind. It has always been a dream of mine to restore the “lost” treasures I found and read while growing up, and I am pleased to begin with The Sea Lord.

This year I am pleased to begin the expansion of Flaming Pen Press as my family business. Efforts include publishing Neverqueen2, setting up The Sea Lord for publication, and exploring re-opening Flaming Pen Press to original fantasy submissions.

The Sea Lord tells the life and adventures of Sir Francis Drake, whose boyhood home was a beached ship. Written in a very entertaining manner (but not an embellishing one) this work will particularly appeal to young men. Homeschool students will love the fluidity of the prose, as well as the lack of modern twisting of the history to satisfy current social trends. Instead of delivering opinions on Drake the author stuck to the story as history showed it.

I picked this old book up at a library sale many years ago and have since discovered that it has fallen out of copyright. It is a real gem that I know you will be glad you added to your personal library. The goal is to offer it in paperback and digital form.

The trickiest part of the process will be preserving the original illustrations, which brings you the mood and authenticity that I value in this work. Besides that it is a lot of time that I am spending to transcribe the text into a Word document. Some companies choose to scan the pages of old books and release them in that manner, but in doing so they risk loss of text and lack of an editorial eye.

The Sea Lord is merely the first in a large collection of antique books that I will be restoring over the years.

Q: Do you know of any old books that you wish were again available in print form?

Why not buying a new iPad set me up for a better 2017

AuthorAppleton on January 2, 2017

It was one of those moments. A struggle. For a few months I’ve debated whether or not to upgrade my iPad 2 (which I’ve had for over five years) to the new and impressive iPad Pro. A little more than a week before Christmas a retailer offered a great price on exactly the iPad I want. I thought it over hard and caved, running into the store after work to make my purchase… The very next day I returned it and my reasons for doing so will help you understand my vision for 2017.

Returning the iPad Pro was hard. I really was excited about my purchase. It is an excellent machine and I’d really like to get handy at creating original digital artwork with the Apple Pencil. But it all came down to one thing for me: Priorities!

While it is true that my iPad 2 runs slow and can’t effectively update anymore, it is still serving the limited purposes to which I use it. Checking email, researching on the web, streaming videos, and keeping tabs on my book sales. I have found it to be a lot easier to use my iPad for many applications that I used to use my laptop for. It is my intention to get an iPad Pro at some point in the near future with the intention of using it to replace both my old iPad and my laptop computer. My current devices are fully capable of taking care of the work I now do with my writing, publishing, and other creative endeavors.

In 2016 I accomplished a few of my goals but not as many as I wanted to. So for 2017 I have come up with a resolution statement that I hope will help you, as well, to keep proper focus as you set your goals.

I have all of the resources that I need in order to achieve the quality of life that I desire for myself and my family. This year will be a focus on creative endeavors and appreciating life without the need for new “things.” Things cannot bring happiness or success and coveting only leads to discontent and a non-productive life.

Why are we always looking for the next best thing? All that we need is right here at our fingertips. God, family, ambition to succeed. The greatest visionaries do not consider the limits of their assets, but they rather grow despite those limitations.

A child who is given everything will grow up with an appreciation for nothing. In the same way a man who has everything will have appreciation for nothing.

If we can approach this new year with contentment and a strong work ethic, imagine how our souls will feel renewed!

Q: Do you recognize the correlation in developing good character in one’s self through adversity?

Wildfires and Thanksgiving

AuthorAppleton on December 5, 2016

Thanksgiving is the start of the holiday season for me. A reminder of closeness in dependable friends and dear family. This year the wildfires raging in the mountains of North Carolina and South Carolina have given my family new perspective on gratitude as the clean air we take for granted filled with smoke.

Is it not incredible how delicate the balance of God’s creation is? After a severe drought the land combusted like a match, while the coast was hit with some of the worst flooding in decades. Two extremes. One point to make:

We humans are not as powerful or in-control as we believe ourselves to be.

A structure that took a lifetime to build will collapse in a moment when its foundation suffers from an earthquake. A people can be at the peak of power but a famine will put them at the mercy of their enemies. And anyone who has suffered through a home fire can attest to nature’s humbling might.

During times of prosperity we forget to thank God that we are not suffering. In times of blessing it is easy to rise in pride, forgetting Who brings the rain.

This holiday season is a time of reset. Thanksgiving reminds us of God’s physical provision for us. Christmas remembers the love of the Father. And when the New Year comes I remember God’s hope for my future.

Too many times I have been dragged out of spiritual focus by the world around me. But God reaches out with continual grace, forgiving and drawing me to Himself. Each new year the commitment to be more faithful must be renewed, for it is only in walking humbly in light of our flesh’s weaknesses that we gain victory.

Wildfires. They rage without and within.

Eyes to the future, the new year. What do we want our lives to look like in a year? I hope we can say that we lived out of humility and gratitude. My own sins and shortcomings are the Devil’s sharpest darts.  This year has seen its share. Fortunately God is faithful even when we are not.

What have you placed confidence in for the New Year?

Advantages of freeware for writers

AuthorAppleton on November 7, 2016

For over a decade I’ve been a dedicated and happy user of Adobe Photoshop for all my photo manipulation needs. From book cover creation to blog post headers the program has been invaluable. But now everything shifted to a subscription service. The result? I am moving over to Gimp, a freeware software. Zero cost and excellent tools for the same projects.

The problem arose that my budget for my writing endeavors is limited and limited funds need to be set aside wisely in order to produce quality products for my readers. I am not a fan of the whole  subscription-based idea. At $20 per month Photoshop now costs $240 per year. I’m not short-sighted… so I see the math of spending that money over the next five years. Yep, the same program that could have been purchased and installed on any desired machine for a few hundred dollars is now running over $1,000. To me that seems like Adobe greed and a foolish purchase on the part of a small business owner (such as myself).

You will notice that my recent blog posts have not featured header images (which I love to do). Windows 10 blocked my installation of Photoshop 7, which I’d used for many years, and even blocked the install of CS2.

The choice seemed clear now. I would need to downgrade to Windows 7 and buy one of the last versions of Photoshop that is available on disc. Discs can be used again and again… digital copies limit my options.

Another choice is one that I am currently exploring and achieving success with: Disposing with Photoshop entirely in favor of freeware version Gimp. My problem with Gimp has been the learning curve. At first I found it difficult to migrate to it from Photoshop. It does not feel as intuitive, more like it was designed for code experts. This could be due in large part to the fact that what I had is what I am familiar with, but Gimp does seem more confusing than any other software I’ve attempted to learn in a long time. And the learning curve requires precious time. I’ve been tempted to renew my subscription to Photoshop but then I think, “Get off your lazy butt and learn Gimp… and save yourself a hefty chunk of change in the process.”

Thanks to some youtube videos Gimp is growing on me. Initial challenges are being overcome and I am finding it simpler than I had thought to learn it.

Freeware is a powerful asset. One I am becoming more inclined to focus on. The products cost nothing but are often user-focused instead of created by companies looking first to their own profit. Freeware is created by those who do it for the love of it, not the profit in it. As a creative this is attractive to me.

We will see which wins out. My familiarity with Photoshop, or my frugal nature and the desire to conquer a new challenge. So far I see Gimp winning out in a big way.

Q: Do you have frustrations or celebrations of subscription-based software?

 

Dealing with immorality when writing fiction

AuthorAppleton on October 3, 2016

During contract negotiations some years ago my fantasy novel Swords of the Six went before a Christian publishing house’s committee and a couple of editors raised objection with the violence in the story. I remember the acquisitions editor asked for a good response to their concerns. Back then I felt in my soul what I wanted to say, but it was difficult to put it into words. Fortunately another editor had foreseen this and I was able to satisfy their questions by showing them why I believed violence was a necessary element in that novel.

In my books and my short fiction I deal with tough subjects, darker themes. Being a Christian empowers the clarity of good versus evil, yet it presents its own set of challenges when well-meaning parents or readers object to elements of my stories’ content. Violence and romance are a couple of examples.

As a guideline I like to look at what God left us: the Bible. And what is the Bible full of? Along with good deeds it is full of violence, theft, incest, rape, murder, and all kinds of wickedness. But what the Scripture does not do is glorify the sin or the sinner.

Some have argued that those sins are shown only because they are part of history, but it’s important to note that these things are not glossed over. Rather, they are often told in great detail. As to historical context, a simple summary of an evil act or an act of violence would suffice but instead we are often given the details.

A prime example is Ehud who slew King Eglon (Judges 3:12-30). Some would consider the details of Eglon’s death gross and gratuitous. Who wants to picture stabbing someone who was fat enough that his body fat prevented Ehud from pulling the blade back out?

But because of the details we experience disgust, and those who are inclined toward wicked deeds find themselves horrified at the consequences of God’s retribution.

In past ages children were not sheltered as much as conservative Christian American children are from tales of violence and cruelty. Well-meaning parents often miss the point of showing the good along with the bad. The law is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, and without a fear of God no one flees into His arms for salvation.

Christianity has the advantage in fiction because it demonstrates love and fear, wonder and evil and horrors. Without the darkness we cannot see how bright the light is.

When fiction is written to be “safe” it creates unrealistic expectations for relationships and our lives. It paints a picture in our mind of ideal people in ideal or easier circumstances.

It is my conviction that we need less “sanitized” fiction and more honest fiction. We need to stop avoiding evil in story in order that the light can reveal the darkness for what it really is. Too often conservative Christian youths enter the world and find that “Surprise! Sin is pleasurable.” But if they are taught to discern instead of avoid, they will have greater defense against temptation because they know that the pleasures of sin only last for a season.

“Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for  a whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For  the one who sows to his own flesh  will from the flesh reap corruption, but  the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” (Galatians 6:7,8 ESV)

Instead of interpreting what is good by how we were culturally raised, let’s learn it from how it is demonstrated in Biblical and historical narratives. Instead of worrying how culture will respond to our writing, let’s be excited to share through stories that are true to our earthly existence, even if that means we have to drag readers through darker events and wickedness.

Show the good, but show the bad too. The Biblical cannon demonstrates this repeatedly. Writing is only powerful as long as we are willing to let it take us through the muck as well as the green fields.

Q: Which subjects do you avoid when reading fiction?

Nothing like a stormy sea in fiction

AuthorAppleton on September 5, 2016

Nothing is so chilling to the mind as being marooned at sea, or shipwrecked, or worse yet to be drowned in the depths of the sea. The sea has always fascinated me and in my writing I have sometimes alluded to this fascination… and this fear. There are many mysteries still to be solved in its depths, and fascinating histories and myths to which we can set our minds. Whether reading about it or writing about it, the sea offers a humbling reminder of how powerless we truly are in the face of God’s creation.

In my second novel I found opportunity to write a short, albeit fun glimpse of the mysteries of the sea. In Offspring Ilfedo is dragged into the Sea of Serpents, battling the creatures for which the sea is named. But beneath the surface lies a strange sort of city, filled with sentient creatures. They are only seen briefly before Ilfedo is returned to the surface to finish his battle with the serpents, yet it was a nod in my writing to my passion for stories of the sea.

When I was a boy I loved reading about pirates and privateers. I remember one particular true story (and I wish I could remember from which book). This American was engaged to this beautiful young woman and had a close friendship with her Puritan-type father, who was a respected merchantman. This American was in the fledgling U.S. Navy at the time and he had been tasked with hunting a notorious pirate. During his hunt he happened upon his soon-to-be father-in-law and boarded the merchant ship for a pleasant conversation and dinner. Suddenly everything transformed into chaos around him. Barrels that appeared to be filled with legally-traded goods were discovered hide stores of weapons and pirate loot. The merchant’s crew attacked the navy crew and the merchant himself attempted to kill his would-be son-in-law. That American returned home having slain his beloved’s father and–as the story goes–he never revealed the truth of it to either his wife or his mother-in-law. So far as she was concerned her father died tragically at sea at the hands of the dread pirate. If she had only known that her saintly father had been living a dark double-life.

That story and so many others stuck with me.

The creatures of the sea can be terrifying and the lore of large octopus, giant squid, and sharks gives this deep dread of the ocean depths. The loss of such ships as the Titanic and the subsequent discoveries and explorations of it and so many ships that are vastly older make the sea seem to be a time-capsule. Things that are lost there may remain lost for centuries and upon rediscovery their contents can be profoundly fascinating.

If there is any creature on this planet that is as old as the planet, it would have to be contained in the sea. For the land and the mountains were flooded so that for a time the entire world was covered in water until the waters “subsided” that Noah could repopulate the earth. What a thought!

There are depths of the sea that have not yet been explored. It is in constant change, the life beneath it growing even as the ships it wrecks are overgrown with coral. I have an old book simply titled Buried Treasure that documents with text and photos the sea escapades of a treasure hunter. It is fascinating. One account was of a sunken portion of a medieval town. It was reported by the people living along that coast that the bell from the old church could still be heard to toll. Of course everyone else thought they were just making the story up, cast in superstition. The treasure hunter made a dive into the old town and found that entire buildings were still standing, in particular the old church. What everyone had thought to be a myth ended up as being proven right, for it turned out that when the ocean current changed the old bell would bong once again.

Another book I read related the facts and the fiction of old stories of giant sea serpents. There were sightings of those creatures and even one that was caught… and that was the inspiration behind the sea serpents in my fantasy novels.

In exploring the facts of the sea, one is able to expand upon the myths of the sea. In understanding what it is one fears about the sea, one is able to write more honestly about the power of the sea. In understanding how small we are in comparison to nature, one is humbled into acknowledging the power of the Creator. We are the created ones and when we acknowledge that insignificance our writing creativity is empowered.

Q: What aspect of nature both compels your imagination and terrifies you?