Since Jocelyn hogs up all the publicity with her public blog, I guess I'll just have to sneak on when she's not looking and hack hers so you guys can read my posts. (Heehee!) (You have NO idea how long it took me to figure out her password. Aiee, that girl should consider a future in the FBI!)
Jossie always says that my brain (if it exists - she claims to have heard rumors *stern glare*) runs on a different universe's wavelength, but I tend to disagree. She's just a fuddy-duddy.
Anyway, I've decided to stop letting her make my announcements because she always makes it sound like I'm some sort of morbid hacksaw artist who finds no greater pleasure than in killing off all my innocent characters in violent infernos. (I actually am, but that's beside the point. And it'll go to Jocelyn's head if I say she's right. ERG!) But I'm the one writing all this good stuff, so she'll just have to live with whatever it was that I was going to make her live with.
So now that The Redemption Ring is all spilled out, my brain and fingers have been itching to wrap themselves around my capless black papermate with the toothmark-scarred end to scratch out another mess. The only problem was that I didn't have anything to WRITE ABOUT!
(Yes, I have just consumed two cups of caffeinated tea with cream and sugar, thank you for asking!)
Undeterred by this utter blankness of mind (blankness = mental betrayal), I set forth to garner a story.
It was trickier than usual this time, since The Redemption Ring had taken the best idea from the zillions that are simmering around in the back of my brain. The rest of them - well, let's just say I was going for something new.
Jossie and I have been reading Francine River's A Lineage of Grace (which is a series of five books; each one about the Biblical women in the lineage of Christ - namely Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary. Quite the lineup, I know!) So far, we've read Unveiled (Tamar) and Unashamed (Rahab).
It made me interested in the whole idea of storifying Bible stories. There's nothing wrong with how they're written in the Bible, obviously, but it is generally a little vague on the details (understandably so, too. It's not supposed to be a novel). And I love details.
I also love the story of Joseph.
I've been toying with the idea of storifying it for a long time (ever since I saw Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat for the fiftieth time...) and the little tidbits that Francine Rivers tossed into the story of Tamar sparked my interest enough to actually go and give it a try.
I mean, could you get a better story than this? Hatred, betrayal, being sold into slavery by your own brothers (!), a hero that the Bible (which is usually skimpy on the details of appearance) informs you is "well-built and handsome" (NIV) or, as I like better: "strikingly handsome" (MSG), well, there is that *ahem* lovely bit with Mrs. Potiphar..., and then there's the drama of being tossed into prison, yanked out, elevated, promoted and adored, the storybook-perfect brothers-coming-to-Egypt-to-save-their-starving-families, plus wonderful themes of forgiveness and trust. My word, it's PERFECT!
I've found it terribly exciting to dig into the story (lots of translations give you different perspectives!) and find out the little details that make the story that much clearer. If all I ever get out of this is a stack of scribbled pages and a deeper understanding of Joseph's chapters in the Bible (and maybe another page on my beloved Scribbles), I'll be happy! Extremely so! :D
So, just an update on my most recent escapade; I'll let you know further details when further details come forth and present themselves.
Jocelyn is going to kill me for this already, so I'll sign off before I blunder into a worse fate.
Tata for now!
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