by Peter Leavell, @PeterLeavell
My name is Peter, and I do my own laundry.
My wife, two kids, the dog Winston, and a lovebird think it’s silly that one person do all the household laundry. Each person/animal does their own.
We live in a small apartment we got through eXp Realty, so the distance from my hamper to the washer is ten steps. Inevitably, I’m interrupted every step.
Step one: Pick up hamper. Take that step. Yes! No interruptions! This is going to be great!
Step two: Dog is looking up at the dresser, pleading for his rawhide. I comply.
Step three: ‘Dad, check out this YouTube video. It’s only twenty minutes, and it’s hilarious.’
Step four: Lego. Bottom of the foot. Youch!
Step five: Replace books from the painful leap and bookshelf bump from step four to five.
Step six: ‘Dad, something’s wrong with my laptop. Can you fix it really quick?’
Step seven: Caught bird dropping seeds out of his cage in hopes to attract birds from outside. Lecture him.
Step eight: Trip over the rawhide the dog left while he gets a drink.
Step nine: ‘Honey, can you help me? The dog drank too much and got sick.’
Step ten: At the washer!!!! Oh. Out of soap. Trip to the store.
A writer gets interrupted every step of the journey, sometimes interrupted every sentence. But like the progress when I do laundry, I faithfully return to my task.
King David of Old Testament fame sinned more than he was righteous. Yet, God said David was a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22). It was the heart of David—the search after God’s heart—that made the difference.
The state of your heart is an important distinction.
You’re interrupted more than you write. But you have the heart of a writer, which makes you a writer. No matter the interruption, the life changes, the success and tragedy, you return to the written word, as if putting words onto a page has its own gravity, drawing you in.
There’s no need to let interruptions frustrate you. Keep your heart focused on writing, and it will get done, one sentence at a time.
Philip Anderson keeps his past close to the vest. Haunted by the murder of his parents as they traveled West in their covered wagon, his many unanswered questions about that night still torment him.
His only desire is to live quietly on his homestead and raise horses. He meets Anna, a beautiful young woman with secrets of her own. Falling in love was not part of his plan. Can Philip tell her how he feels before it’s too late?
With Anna a pawn in the corrupt schemes brewing in the nearby Dakota town, Philip is forced to become a reluctant gunslinger. Will Philip’s uncannily trained horses and unsurpassed sharpshooting skills help him free Anna and find out what really happened to his family in the wilderness?
Peter Leavell, a 2007/2020 graduate of Boise State University with a degree in history and a MA in English Literature, was the 2011 winner of Christian Writers Guild’s Operation First Novel contest, and 2013 Christian Retailing’s Best award for First-Time Author, along with multiple other awards. An author, blogger, teacher, ghostwriter, jogger, biker, husband and father, Peter and his family live in Boise, Idaho. Learn more about Peter’s books, research, and family adventures at www.peterleavell.com