Author Appleton

Writing. Fantasy. Sci-fi. Mystery

vision

The Necessity of Vision

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The existence we know is not the world we reach for
We see things above and beyond ourselves
We grasp at a vision of things to learn
And worlds yet to be explored.

The world around us is bound in the present
Yet we reach into our God-given creativity
Nothing unattainable or insurmountable
And our vision extends to the future.

Vision to see beyond the present curcumstances
Imagination to improve and grow
We will let nothing deter us from achieving our dreams
And the dreamers become the doers.

Vision must be tempered by humility
Without it we choose unwisely
Only with it can we attain our dreams
Our learning is empowered by this path.

The existence we know is only a first step
We see into the future and dream
We begin building the vision in the present
And over time we explore those new worlds.

Holding our Creator’s hand
We are people of vision
Undaunted by setbacks and discouragement
And the future is ours to fearlessly face.

Following in our Creator’s steps
We are people of conscience
Looking beyond this world of sin
And our vision is to stand in good conscience.

Q: Who is guiding your vision?

The Benefits of Uprooting

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Gardening was not my favorite thing when I was growing up, though my mom doggedly persisted in making my siblings and I a large part of it. She was great at teaching us to discipline our time for worthwhile pursuits. One thing about gardening that stuck in my memory: If the conditions for a plant in one location were not ideal, you uproot it to give it its best chance at a healthy life.

Are you willing to give up everything in order to achieve your God-given dreams? Or have you become comfortable, unwilling to uproot even though change may lead to greater things later on? Change is hard but necessary to success.

Being now in the process of uprooting my family from Connecticut to South Carolina, we are somewhat like those plants. Our roots are deep here. Family and friends, places we frequent, connections we’ve made. We grew up in this state. But my wife and I both feel strongly that God wants us to relocate our family into the south. A more conservative environment to raise our family, greater opportunity to connect with active Christian churches, a lower cost of living, and a more centralized geographical location.

Uprooting is hard, and this came about very swiftly. We’ve been planning it for years really, yet nothing is easy about this. I am encouraged in this because the best times are when we step out in faith.

God has always opened the right doors, and slammed shut the others. He has opened every door in its proper time for this event to take place in our lives.

Beside my sadness He fills me with peace
Beside my uncertainty He provides the keys
In place of my fear He builds a mountain of dreams
Before my feet He makes the path a highway.

To grow beyond the present circumstance change is necessary, and I firmly believe that without transplanting God cannot fulfil His dream for us. Providing for my family in a manner that allows me to bless the kids with my experience and be hands-on with their education is something I work on and long to fully explore. To do this my writing and publishing business must grow and in South Carolina is where we are going to grow those roots.

Let nothing stand between you and your dreams. Recognize that staying inside your comfort zone limits you. You must grow, you must strive to achieve, you must listen the voice that speaks to your soul. The heart is deceitful and easily drawn back to the comfort zone, so guide your heart with your God-given dreams.

Q: Are you willing to leave behind everything to accomplish everything?

The Challenge of Writing Part-time

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There have been a few seasons in my writing life when I could devote one hundred percent of my working time to writing. The challenge for me now has been that I have various commitments that vastly limit my creative and writing time. Here is a glimpse into the challenge I face.

This is not a challenge that I take lightly. Time to devote to writing equals greater productivity because my mind is not under the same pressure that it is now. When I get up in the morning I want to give attention to my three wonderful children and to my wife. I want to sit down with them for breakfast, read the Bible with them, pray with them, go over the kids letters, help teach the kids to read. Then I head off to my day job. I work full-time in sales for one of the largest furniture store chains in the country. It is a good job. It pays well. I work under a good management team, and with some great colleagues. This job requires different disciplines than my home life. I must maintain a working list of potential and past clients, and generate new business. This job puts food on the table and the roof over our heads, and more. But it also requires working every weekend and most holidays and is straight commission, which equals higher stress because every week I must put the same drive into it that I have done in the weeks previous.

When I get home I am usually a bit tired. Not physically, for the most part, but mentally. I want to devote evening time again to family (though a few evenings per week I don’t get home until late).

I do not say this to complain, but rather to show you the challenge of being a writer. It requires commitment and vision. For now I chip away at big writing projects that before would have taken me a mere matter of months to complete. Often my writing time is after everyone is in bed. I should be sleeping now because I am tired, but if I don’t write, the books will never be written… and I love to write them. The stories are always building in my mind, urging me to share them.

For now I write part-time, out of necessity. But I am scheming to return to writing fulltime. It will happen again. I have faith that God has given me this drive for a reason and when the time is right He will open the necessary doors. For now my energies are divided in several directions… and it slows the process. The primary thing is to not lose sight of the dream, never give up on the goal, and always take the writing commitment seriously.

Question: What are your challenges in pursuing your dream?