Some Thoughts on Logan, Amongst my Tears.

"There are many reasons to write that have nothing to do with being published. It allows us to work through some of life's hardest knocks - loss, grief, illness, addiction, disappointment, failure - and to find understanding and solace in it," -William Zinsser

*LOGAN SPOILERS, duh*

I haven't cried this hard over fictional characters in YEARS. Last time was when I finished Lost for the second time. 

If you don't believe me, you should have checked my Snapchat story that night. 

 sc: hootowltree

All great things must come to an end, and I think that's why I'm so sad. 

But, truly, this movie is a masterpiece. I don't see how anyone couldn't have sobbed when this movie ended. This movie was an absolute masterpiece, a perfect closer to an epic anti-hero.

My only gripe is that they didn't spend enough time on Charles's death. He is the title character of the X-Men series. If they had slipped only five minutes more of emotional tenderness concerning his death, then I would have been fine. His death was so sudden, that there wasn't enough time for the audience to process this. 

The only reason it took me out of the movie is because we see how much Logan cares for Charles, and when there's not enough time to see him mourn, it feels disrespectful and inappropriate. 


Logan develops character and has tender, nuanced, emotional moments without being sappy or deterring the plot. Everything germinates organically, and, like Logan himself, we don't realize how attached we are until the end, until it's too late, until it's over. 

Logan's death was . . . it had me speechless. Everything in the X-Men series, his three movies, had been building to was this. The emotional journey Logan takes is phenomenal. He's forced to face his mortality, his past, and his future with subtle clarity. 

I found it akin to Charlie Pace's death in Lost. The reason it was so touching and heartbreaking is because truthfully, we all saw it coming, and it completed his character arc. Logan finally made peace with himself, was redeemed, and found his purpose. Through Laura, Logan finds himself again, sees life through her eyes, finds love and tenderness in his hardened heart, and does what all parents are supposed to do: forge a better life for their children. It harkens back to the whole series and brings it to a close in the most Wolverine way possible. 

His death was perfect. Laura breaking down, crying, burying him, was even more perfect. It was just perfect.

I can't bear to even describe it to you. You just have to go and see it for yourself. 

This movie is a masterpiece not only because it is beautiful, flawlessly executed, masterfully directed, perfectly acted, and marvelously scored, but because it made me feel something. I cried for a solid 20 minutes during and after the movie. Now, as I'm writing this, I am numb because it was just that good. 

This was truly a fantastic story. Not a fantastic superhero movie, not a fantastic action story, but a great story in its own right, following a character we've come to adore. 

After the last shot closed, after the credits rolled, after everyone left, I just sat in my seat in the theater, sobbing. This story reached me in ways I will never be able to voice in the trillions of combinations of the English letters.

Because everything it was building to, was over.  I love the character of Wolverine - he's my favorite superhero. And to see it all end like this breaks my heart and fills it at the same time. The emotions I was feeling, the way it connected with me, is what it's all about.

~

I truly aspire to be as great as this. I aspire to tell stories that change people, that tug at their heartstrings. That make them think and feel and understand themselves and the world around them. 

I aspire to teach others these stories, and to teach them how to create ones like these, of their own. 

Because stories reach us in ways that nothing else can. 

And that's a fact, Jack.

~The WordShaker

Our Personal and Christian Identity

"A writer's goal is to weave the ordinary into fine silk ad the truly extraordinary into diaphanous clarity," -C.J. Heck

Without our identity, we are nothing. 

Not even the summation of our broken parts, because not even that defines us. Without our identity - our identity in Christ, within ourselves - we are easily tossed by the seas of life. 

Our identity - as children of God, and also as individuals - is the foundation of everything else in our lives. 

If you foundation is in another person, they'll fail. If it is in yourself, your sin nature will always prevail. If it is in your talents, you'll fail, or someone won't appreciate them. 

The only anchor that draws me back from my feelings, from my failures, is the knowledge of who I am. And some days, when the wind screams, the rain is a torrential downpour, and I am just a sailboat caught in a hurricane, I hold steadfast to the unshakable iron of who I am. 

Not what I think I am, not what anyone else says I am. But who God says I am. 

Find your identity. And then never let it go. 

~The WordShaker

Chapters of Our Lives | How Writers Handle Life

"Blessed are the weird people: poets, misfits, writers, mystics, painters, troubadours, for they teach us to see the world through different eyes," -Jacob Nordby

My last novel was about surviving. But this one is about living.

My last novel, titled A Cactus In the Valley was about two teenagers working through their issues while surviving in the desert. It was to show that no matter how bad life is or how bad life has been, that we can always overcome. That there is always hope to conquer anything. That no matter how bad life can get, that it can always get better.

This novel, which has yet to have a title, is about six teenagers, each struggling with a different aspect in their lives. While it does deal with them struggling, it has more emphasis on them living - experiencing, loving, just being, appreciating the good and where they are in life. That no matter how bad life can get, or how bad life already is - that it can always be good. Something about life is always good, even when the hurricane rages on and the whole world is crashing down around you.

My point in this is that each "segment"of my life is a story. Everything I am, everything I learn, goes into all of my novels. And, I think, as writers, this is how we deal with things, how we tie everything in life into a nice little bow and send it off. A culmination of our lives, of a season. 

The past six months, maybe even year, have been a novel in the making. But when I was going through it, I hated it. I didn't understand why I couldn't write. 

And now, to send off this season of my life, I need to write about it. As painful and as raw as it might be.

~The WordShaker

Grace > Judgement | Olivia J

"To write something, you have to risk making a fool of yourself," -Anne Rice

Grace is far more powerful than judgement. It's also more positive. 

Lately, I've been forced - or rather, I've chosen - to look at people and situations in the light of grace, rather than judgement. Realizing that everyone  is the way they are because of their past, because of certain aspects of their life has been transformative in the way that I view people. 

Instead of reacting with judgement, with "Screw them, they're just an awful person!" I take a step back and consider the person and the context. 

Not that this excuses a person's toxic or harmful actions, but rather, that I humanize them, show empathy, and give rationale to their seemingly dumb, cruel, and stupid actions. 

I suppose it's just a kinder, less harmful use of my over-analyzing skills, eh?

But what I wish what my readers can take away is to choose grace over judgement. Choose understanding over anger. Choose to see things for what they are, and not through a negative lens. 

It will have an impact on not only your emotional state, but your actions as well. Trust me, I'd know. 

~TheWordShaker