New Habits and Stained Glass-Windows
Hi everyone!
It’s a long time since I last blogged. In fact, when I checked my website, my last blog post was two and a half years ago. Scary how time flies!
The main reason for it being so long since I last blogged is that since 2024, I’ve had a part-time job doing admin for my church. Not long after that, I made the decision to have writing as more of a hobby rather than trying to have a full-time career as an author. For years, I tried to be an author full-time. Although I loved writing and still do, I found it a real struggle to market. I felt like I threw everything and the kitchen sink into marketing – social media, a newsletter, various advertising, etc.
It was liberating to stop all of that. For the last couple of years I’ve focussed on my part-time job, volunteering at church and writing whatever I felt like writing about.
Recently, though, I’ve felt convicted to use some of my free times in the week to start blogging again, but not necessarily predominantly about the world of my book series.
I’ve often shared that I’m a Christian. One thing I try to do as a Christian is a daily ‘Quiet Time’ – a devotional time with God. Over the years, this has been quite sporadic.
Part of the reason was I’d never really found a programme or app that I was really quite happy with. One day I started Googling apps for quiet time. I stumbled on a Reddit thread, where an artist, Ross Boone (he also goes by the artist username Raw Spoon) had designed a devotional app. Out of curiosity, I gave it a try.
The app, called ‘Creature Habits’, has a lovely arty feel. The idea is that it has several spiritual disciplines, or habits, all in one place. Not only does it track Bible reading and prayer, but it also has a section for art and community and a section for worship, where there is a song every day. Some days this is a Christian hymn, or some days it is a secular song that makes you think.
A couple of weeks ago, the song of the day was ‘I still haven’t found what I’m looking for by U2, that classic song about searching, which culminates in talking about the cross and following Jesus.
It’s a brilliant song, but the thing that stuck out for me was Bono speaking to the crowd before the song even began. It was a live video of U2 singing in Italy, while they were making a movie there. Bono thanked the crowd for being there for part of the movie, then said the following:
“He kind of invented the movies though, didn’t He? The stained-glass windows, they were the first movies. Stories told through colour, projected by sunlight.”
This phrase really grabbed me. Stained-glass windows often illuminate Bible stories or Christian themes. It was one of the ways Christians who may not know how to read could understand and/or remember Bible stories.
I found the idea that these stained-glass windows are cinema invented by God really provocative. It’s also true. Even in darkness you can see the images, but it’s by sunlight we really see them come to life.
The imagery really inspired me. A few years ago, as well as writing, I started trying to do art as well as writing – mainly sketching and watercolour pencils.
Well, both what Bono said about stained glass windows and the aesthetics of the Creature Habits App have inspired me to get back into art (thanks so much, Ross!).
Ross actively encourages sharing art and building a community around the app. In fact, I had a great virtual meeting with Ross earlier this week. I shared my stained-glass window sketch on there first, but since I’ve felt the pull to blog again, I thought I’d share it here and post on Instagram too.
I hope to update my website soon and post a bit more regularly – starting new habits, as it were! As mentioned, it might be more about sharing life, faith, art and writing generally rather than specifically about my books. Of course, I think the links still work if you do fancy checking out my books!
Do you find stained-glass windows inspirational? Or, if you’re a Christian, have you found a method or app that works well for you?
PS – a note that my newsletter is still stalled, so please ignore the popup. If you’d like to read ‘The Oak Tree Calls’, please get in touch and I’ll email you a copy.
Thanks for reading, it’s been lovely to blog again and I’d love to connect with you! Hopefully it won’t be another 2+ years before my next post.
Till next time,
Maria 😊