WIPpet Wednesday: Withered

Happy Wednesday! I just put my big kid on a plane to Texas (well, technically a shuttle to a nearby airport to get on a plane there). He’s going to the Lutheran Youth Gathering in Houston for most of the next week. It’s not the first time he’s gone away, but it’s the farthest from home and the longest amount of time. I’m not worried about him, but I’ll miss him.

I skipped last week because it was one thing too many. I knew I couldn’t read the other entries, so I decided not to post. But I’m back this week, still working on Shiny New Project. It now has a name, The Tide That Turns the Sea, and a tentative cover.

Some context: This is part of a series of novellas. I’m writing this one, and more are in outline/light planning stages. They’re all YA set in the early 1990s. Here, the MC, Noah, is reflecting on something that’s really common in families who are hardcore evangelical Christian.

WIPmath: 6/27/2018 = 2 x 7 = 14 sentences

When I was around ten, we had these people come in and cut down one of our bushes. It didn’t make sense to me because it was a decent bush, huge with yellowish-green leaves and these big, blue flowers that bloomed every summer. Perfect for hiding under or behind if we were playing in the back yard. I asked Dad why they were taking it out.

Not to miss a teachable moment, he sat me down for one of his famous Bible story examples. He read to me about Jesus making a fig tree wither because it didn’t have any figs on it. He told me that’s what our bush was like—it was rotting from the inside, and one day, it would stop having flowers. Whatever disease it had might spread to other bushes. Then he told me that’s why we have to be careful ourselves so that our souls don’t rot away.

I guess I believed him at the time, but now I think he was full of it. Or maybe I believe him after all. I always say if I get a tattoo someday, it’ll be a skull. Not to be defiant but because a lot of the time, I feel like that bush. Dead inside, with my outside just waiting to catch up.

Like what you read? Be sure to check out the other entries and add your own. Just post a bit of your WIP, connect it to the date, and link up with us. Many thanks to Emily Wrayburn for giving us this space. Happy reading and writing!