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Chautona Havig

Chautona Havig

Using story to connect YOU to the Master Storyteller

“I Will Survive!”: Or how my family does, anyway.

by Chautona Havig · 4 Comments

This week’s challenge topic is “How My Family Survives My Writing.”

Survives.  It’s a good choice of words.  I think it’s true of any job. It can take over your life at times.  The real estate agent who needs just “one more showing” to get that sale, the doctor who just makes one more round to check on that one patient, the cop who never lets a case go.  The guy putting in double hours at the office, the homemaker who is more concerned with a Pinterest-ready house and life than the people it’s supposed to serve.

And the author who gets so lost in her imaginary word that she forgets the real one. Oh, yeah.  And the family eats delivery pizza.

I will survive

Again.

When I first started writing, it wasn’t such a big deal.  After all, I was just writing a few words here and there, and they added up.  And then I got sick.   It started with being unable to sleep in bed.  I gave up and rested in a recliner.  Our bathroom was about twelve feet from that recliner.  By the time I walked back and forth to it, I was out of breath, heart racing, woozy.

The doctor sent me to a cardiologist. For months, I sat in that chair under orders not to strain/stress myself.  My husband bought me a tiny sewing machine so I could sew while sitting in the recliner.  I did it, too.

But I also wrote. a lot.

Echocardiograms, take home EKGs. the works. But when they gave me a pharmacological stress test, we discovered my problem. “Asthma with an atypical presentation.”  Apparently, I’ve had it my whole life. Who knew that everyone’s lungs don’t ache for days after going swimming?  Who knew that the reason I passed out on P.E. runs in high school wasn’t the sun but the lungs? Not me!

But with that bizarre episode that seemed to last forever came a sleep cycle that refused to reset to normal.  Ever since then, I’ve been awake while most in my world is asleep.

You’d think I would have adjusted in nine years.

I haven’t.

So remembering to cook dinner?  Well, I would.  Really, I would!  If I was awake more than a couple of hours before time to start!

Clean house?

Clothes?

ahem

So how does the family survive?

It helps if you’re a bit crazy.  When you grow up in a family of half-crazed idiocy, Mom forgetting dinner is the least of their worries.  Don’t believe me?  Well, how many families do you know who “dust the ceiling fan” by throwing lightweight, small stuffed animals and/or balled up socks up into it.  Turns them into projectiles.  And the dust bunnies drop.

How many kids do you know whose fathers “wrote” Christmas parodies about eating Christmas trees and changing Christmas lights… bulbs?  And… um…. well, turned a song about not knowing why someone loves someone… into a domestic abuse ballad.  (Hey, at least the guy is in jail by the end–and the gal didn’t pay bail! GOOD FOR HER!)

How many mothers escape to a hotel when the flu runs through the house?  Yeah.  I’ve been known to do that a time or two. It’s actually a kindness.  I don’t do so well with the vomit stuff, and it actually saves my husband a LOT of mess clean up.  Just hearing, seeing, smelling–even knowing it’s a possibility is often all it takes for my body to revolt.

Like I said. We’re already weird, and that does help one survive this craziness called writing.

But, I think what helps most, is that despite the odd hours, despite the messed up mom, despite it all… my family knows where to find me, and they’re not afraid to do it.  Several times a day someone comes in while I’m working and shares a movie they just saw, asks what I think about climate change, tells me about an issue with a coworker, shares a really bad joke, asks what we’re having for dinner…

Okay, that one EVERYONE asks.  It’s like I’ve become my Aunt Susan and they’re warding off my version of the “Aunt Susan Minute.”

My 1st-grade picture. My cousins and I all looked similarish. big ears, freckles, goofy grins. Picture that face in varying sizes. Then laugh.

It went like this.  I had an Aunt Susan (shocker, I know).  She had three boys.  My cousins, Johnny, Michael, and Scott.  We’d be in one of the bedrooms, and the ritual would begin. Four o’clock would hit and Johnny would stand, stretch his obscenely long legs, and mosey on out to where the adults were chatting.  “Mom, when’s dinner?”

“In a minute.”

Five o’clock came.  Michael would stand, stretch, and shuffle on out to the living room. “Mom, when’s dinner?”

“In a minute.”

Six o’clock came.  Time for the big guns.  The littlest kid with the big ears and adorable smile.  He’d hop up, dash to the door, and race down the hall.  “Mom! When’s dinner!  We’re STARVING.”

He’d get a grin.  And maybe a hug.  “In a minute.”

By seven-thirty or eight, it was time to put an end to this thing. (and this is why we learned to start at four! Originally, we were silly enough to start at six!  EEEP!)  I hated my part.  I guess because I didn’t like feeling …. “demanding.”

But I’d slink out, give my mom an embarrassed grimace, and wait for Aunt Susan to acknowledge me.  “Need something, sweetie?”

By this point, I’d be determined not to annoy, so I’d say, “Um, we were wondering if there was anything we could do to help get dinner going?”

Mom would snicker.  Aunt Susan would get up.  “It’ll be ready in a minute.”

And that time it would.

And for MY kids, “What’s for Dinner?” is the same plan.

It translates, “Don’t forget that most humans eat at regular intervals!”

But mostly, I think that my family survives because I am on such a weird sleep schedule. Now and then, while on trips, I get onto normal people sleeping habits.  I can keep it up for about a week. Then I crash.  I think I’m stuck with these hours.  And really, that works for me.  Because I get to be my most productive while my family is “unconscious.”  😉

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Comments

  1. Lucinda Culp says

    January 13, 2017 at 8:50 pm

    No such thing as cookie cutter families and that’s a really good thing. Mine is a ladder and swiffer-y thing to dust the fan, and by golly if we HAD pizza delivery out here, I would be in for sure! I think the important part is learning what works for your family, then embracing it with everything you’ve got.

    Reply
  2. Deb Jones says

    January 13, 2017 at 8:16 am

    You are too funny. Be glad you sleep. That’s what matters most.

    Reply
  3. Karin says

    January 13, 2017 at 7:57 am

    I love this! Throwing socks at the fan… I wondered how much of Aggie’s story reflected yours 🙂

    Reply
  4. Lydia says

    January 13, 2017 at 2:59 am

    When you told me this, I so rudely didn’t reply! It is always fascinating to learn how different families cope and schedule things. It’s awesome that you all have found what works for you, and that it benefits us so much! 😉 Keep on writing! I’ll keep recommending you!

    Reply

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Episode 163: A Chat with Naomi Craig about Ezekiel's Song
byChautona Havig

Before I began the interview with Naomi Craig about Ezekiel’s Song, I kind of went crazy and left it in to give you a chuckle. But Naomi and I chat about her upcoming release, why she chose to write about Ezekiel, and what areas she focused on. Listen in and hear her heart for the Word and for stimulating readers to love it and live it.

Oh, and that song I couldn’t remember? Well, I found it after a BUNCH of hunting on YouTube. Here you go!

Note: links may be affiliate links that provide me with a small commission at no extra expense to you.

Has Ezekiel Always Confused You? How about a Little Fictional Clarity?

There’s SO much to write about in Ezekiel, but after talking to Naomi Craig, I feel like I got a pretty good grasp of where she’s taking this book without feeling like I don’t need to read it now that we chatted, and that’s always great. Naomi shows service in the temple, how Ezekiel could have had a mentorish relationship under Jeremiah, and even what kind of woman his wife might have been.

Personally, I love the “Darcy-ish” meeting where he totally insults her and accuses her of being an idolatress. Let me tell you something. I cannot wait to read that! Seriously!

God had Ezekiel do a lot of weird things, and I always wondered how he managed some of it, but Naomi brings out possibilities by focusing on this wife that we don’t know much (anything) about. How cool is that?

Naomi also gave us a couple of glimpses into what’s coming next!

She’s #TeamBlue in the Keeping Christmas novella collections, writing about Herod’s palace and the wise men’s appearance looking for “the King of the Jews.”  And… from a scribe’s perspective!  How cool is that?

Also… next up is a book about a woman in Ephriam’s lineage who built three cities. A woman credited with the building of these cities!  I cannot wait! I love how Naomi focuses on how strong Biblical women were. So often we think of them as downtrodden and little more than cattle, but God shows how much He loves His daughters in the Word, and He definitely allows them to shine. We saw that in Naomi’s debut novel Rahab’s Courage.

Ezekiel’s Song by Naomi Craig

A prophet’s heart broken, a woman’s joy gone. What does Yahweh have planned for His people?

On the brink of Jerusalem’s demise, devoted priest, Ezekiel, sees the insincerity of Judah’s worship. Despite his efforts to call the people back to true worship of Yahweh, priests, artisans, valiant warriors, and royals are exiled to Babylon. When God gives him messages of continued judgment for the people in his homeland, his heart breaks. How can he minister to the people from so far away?

The presence of the Lord is tangible when Shiriel sings in the temple, and her voice prepares the hearts of many to worship. When she is exiled to Babylon, her faith is shaken. Does the Lord’s presence extend beyond Jerusalem and His holy temple?

Ezekiel is struck mute and paralyzed as he begins his prophetic ministry, and Shiriel devises a plan to get the Lord’s message back to the unfaithful people of Judah. Shiriel struggles with discontentment as serving the Lord looks nothing like she’d imagined. Can she provide for her family and carry out her husband’s ministry when her joy is gone, and her own dreams are placed on hold?

How will Yahweh save His people from themselves? Find out in Ezekiel’s Song!

Ezekiel’s Song is available at 30% off paperback and at a discount for Kindle, too through release week, so visit Naomi’s WEBSITE for more information.

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Episode 163: A Chat with Naomi Craig about Ezekiel's Song
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July 22, 2022
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July 19, 2022
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July 12, 2022
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Harper Brevig has two skills—picking out snarky bookish t-shirts and alienating customers. 
Oh, and racking up bills out of thin air. Make that three skills. She loves the elderly and the very 
young—except the ones who destroy her beloved books. You could say she doesn’t have a very nice 
“book-side manner.” 
Milton Coleridge and his parrotlet Atticus (not Finch) come to the rescue… but is it too late to 
save this bookstore?
Twice Sold Tales: the first full-length novel in the Bookstrings Series releases on November 2, 
2022. Link to more information is in my bio! 
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