The Colorado theater shooting

I am taking a break away from blogging about my book to put in my two cents’ worth on the latest senseless act of carnage to take place in the US. By now you must have all heard that 12 people were killed and around 50 treated at local hospitals in Colorado. A young sportscaster, Jessica Ghawi, better known as Jessica Redfield in the sporting world, was among the fatalities. A young woman with a promising career cut down in the prime of her life. My prayers are with everyone associated with this tragedy.

It was April 20, 1999 when two high school students killed 12 of their school mates and one teacher in another senseless massacre. Today, history repeats itself, not in a school, but in a theater. When will they ever learn? What could motivate a young Phd student to do something like this? Was it stress? We may or may never know the answers, but tragedies such as this one ought to shake us to our core and remind us how vulnerable we are.

Orangeberry Summer Splash

This is a mini book tour marathon organized by Pandora Pikolos of Orangeberry Book Tours. The marathon features blog hosting and posts by authors of 100 books. My book Women For All Seasons will be among the 100 books featured. There will be links to author interviews and other posts, plus Twitter and Facebook blasts. The marathon runs (pun intended) from August 1 – August 31. I will post other updates as the time draws closer. This is a good opportunity to learn more about my book and a lot of other wonderful books out there.

Stephen Covey’s passing

The author of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People passed away this week at the age of 79. This book has influenced a lot of people, including me, when I studied it in college some years ago. One piece of advice Covey gives in his book is, “To live a more balanced existence, you have to recognize that not doing everything that comes along is okay. There’s no need to overextend yourself. All it takes is realizing that it’s all right to say no when necessary and then focus on your highest priorities.” I think this book is worth a reread.

Leave a comment and let me know your thoughts on any of the items above.

This week as promised, I’m bringing you the first blog post about my book Coming Out of Egypt. My protagonist, Cicely, is an attractive Christian young woman who has a lot of skeletons in her closet, which she has managed to keep hidden. Cicely thinks her life is well ordered, but when she meets the handsome detective, David, she instinctively knows that the carefully-woven threads of her life are about to become undone. Which they do, despite Cicely’s best efforts to keep them intact.

In the story, I make use of the extended metaphor, meaning that the metaphor appears throughout the story. In fact, the title Coming Out of Egypt is itself a metaphor for the tortuous journey of the major characters out of their separate places of bondage. However, Egypt is more than that. It is an actual place in the story where Cicely first meets one of her pupils whose life is similar to what Cicely once experienced. And even though Cicely literally leaves Egypt, her path and the girl’s converge once more in a startling and unexpected way that disrupts the harmony of Cicely’s life. She is still stuck in Egypt.

But why use metaphors? I believe metaphors are an excellent way to:

1. Enrich the language by providing imagery which may not be as vivid without them . For example, in my book I refer to Cicely’s Egypt closet, which is not a real closet, but a storehouse of memories relating to her troubled past. The title Coming Out of Egypt is based on the story of the Exodus of the children of Israel out of their bondage in Egypt. It is a story I have loved ever since I was a child, and being a Christian, I’m still blown away by the way God delivered His people from the heavy hand of Pharaoh, the emperor of Egypt. This is the main theme that runs throughout the book.
2. Leave room for interpretation. Readers can explore which of the characters made a transition out of Egypt, i.e. which character(s) showed the most improvement by the end of the story, and which ones did not make it.
3. Express thoughts, feelings, experiences etc. When Cicely finally lets go of her inhibitions and allows herself to fall in love with David, she sees God parting the Red Sea so she can walk to freedom. Later, when her fears become a reality, she thinks that Pharaoh and his armies have won.
4. Prepare the reader for what is to come. In some parts of the story, I use metaphors as a foreshadowing. When Cicely suspects that David may find out about her past, she hears the pounding of Pharaoh’s armies drawing closer.

Metaphors, when correctly used, can add depth and meaning to your story, but according to the experts, writers should be careful not to use metaphors too extensively so that your work sounds like a huge cliché. Neither should you use metaphors employed by other writers, but use your own imagination to create metaphors that will flow seamlessly throughout your work. If you have used metaphors, or have an interest in them, please leave a comment and tell us about it.