Allie Pleiter on Happy Moments

That’s me, 24 years ago today, dancing smitten with my new husband.  It’s my very favorite photo from our wedding, and I’m sure you can see why.  Even now, so many years later, it brings a smile to my face every time I look at it.

It’s good to mark the happy moments, to keep them alive in our memories.  It helps us balance out the bad recollections life is all too eager to hand us.   Too often, I’ve found, we devote lots of energy to “making the bad go away,” when that’s not really possible.  Better to spend our time and attention capturing all the good we find to serve as a counterbalance.

I’ve also found that frequently the good we seek hides inside what feels like tragedy.  It’s definitely been true in our lives--our son’s cancer was a devastating experience, but there have been so many blessings in that journey and his recovery that it’s “balanced out.”  I don’t think it’s an accident that his diagnosis date was March 10 and my wedding anniversary is March 11--both were launching dates of incredible journeys.  We acknowledge both.  I once had a character say, “that’s why God gives us two hands...one to hold the good and the other to hold the bad so we can balance them out.”  I believe it to be true.  It is one of the deepest lessons Holly and Mason learn in my new book “Family Lessons.”

Where’s the good in your life today to balance out the bad?  Finding good, hunting it down wherever you are, is a habit that can be learned.  Adopt my daily practice and find four good things in every day.  It will train your brain to find the good (even the tiniest good) in the life you have now, not the one you wish for.

One of my good things today?  Looking at that photograph and feeling myself smile.

Allie Pleiter on getting s-t-r-e-t-c-h-y

Someone recently asked me if I thought there was a theme to all my writing.  A common message that runs through all my books.  Now, I try hard not to overanalyze my work for fear that the Talent Fairy will come snatch all my muse away once I’m on to her (not exactly true, but I do try not to analyze).  Still, when I took a look at my books, the through line is precisely what my tagline says:  “The adventure starts right where you are.”

I believe this to be true.  I believe each of us is capable of far more than we realize.  I believe God places great--and small--adventures in our paths every day if we would only choose to launch them.  As the saying goes, God needs neither strength nor skill, only will.

My next book Family Lessons is no different.  In April you’ll meet the tiny, tenacious town of Evans Grove Nebraska, and the orphans stranded there who change the town forever.  You’ll meet a short, spunky teacher named Holly who steps up to the challenge God lays before her.  And you’ll meet Mason, the lonely lawman who lets Holly into his life.  Of course, Holly and Mason have to go through a whole lot of strife and drama.  I love my characters to get their happy endings, but I sure make them work hard to get there.

Even though I make my living in “happy endings,” the raging optimist in me loves beginnings.  January, Monday, casting on a new knitting project, Chapter 1--all those starts and launches get my juices going.  I have big plans for 2013, including some goals that make me more than a little bit nervous.   I’ll be writing more books than ever in 2013, starting college plans for my son, launching my daughter into her senior year in college, accepting the Presidency of my local American Christian Fiction Writers chapter, and a bunch of other s-t-r-e-t-c-h-y challenges. Those, after all, are some of the best kind you can have.  The kind where God has to show up or you’re sunk--those are the growing places for our faith.

So what about you? What adventures is God laying at your feet?  Where do you think you’ll stretch this year?