Heart-songs

So, I've done this things since I was younger, (or maybe I should say God's been doing this thing) where I'll be listening to a song, and here what He has to say on it, sort of elaborated. Like you can say, to re-hear it from His point of view.

Anyways, I recently thought it'd be cool to begin to share it with everyone. So without further ado, here are a few songs. Each video will be followed by my little God's heart excerpt on it, so click play and listen as you read. Hope it blesses you!

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Finally Found You

(Enrique Iglesias ft. Sammy Adams)

"The sheep that are My own hear and are listening to My voice; and I know them, and they follow Me." John 10:27

God looked down on us, and said the main lines of this song. In this crazy world of people, there are only two choices for Me and My sheep, the people I have made. My first choice is that they come with Me, where I am going, and be like me. I gave them rules to follow in the garden--of peace!--they disobeyed. I gave them laws to follow in the desert--of rest!--they disobeyed. I gave them a land of promise, and blessing--my land!--they defiled it. This covenant plan failed because it depended on their behavior.

The second choice for God and His sheep? Either you’re coming with me, or I’m coming with You. He sent His son. He sent his Son, his Son came down, to this mess we’re in with a perfect light. Do you think it some drudgerous march? That is not the hope and glory Jesus kept. John says He walked with truth and grace (John 1:14) There was grace in His eyes, none had ever seen before. He had a light of fiery love burning inside of Him. He knew His Father, He understood love, He WAS love.

He’s come down for His sheep. Those that our His, will follow. If we try and run off, He’s coming with. That’s just the way it is. This is God’s new covenant. And it is wondrous to our eyes. 

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There Goes a Fighter

(Gym Class Heroes)

 

"When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!" Hebrews 12:3

Marvel ye that the world persecutes you? Oh, how far our thoughts are from His thoughts; how much lower the line of them. We think that success is marked by prosperity. We choose originally to follow God’s plan, but don’t seem to consider thoughtfully the evidence placed before us in the lives of the faithful. A few lines before the verse above, Hebrews 12:1, says: “since we have so great a cloud of witnesses… let us push on in the race.” The witnesses are those that have lived out a life of faith. The previous chapter quotes they never received what they were after, the hope their eyes were set on; they knew that this world wasn’t their home.

So what should we do, choosing to do what’s right? How do we define it, when we cannot mark our efforts by success, or even receive the comfort which comes by that?

Marvel not that the world persecutes you. What’s the cure? Stop looking at resistance, as opposition, as any sort of sign of inaccuracy. In fact: it can generally mark the opposite. That’s what Jesus says. Stop looking at the effect of your efforts on others, or even yourself. Instead, focus your attention on fighting and racing for God. Start performing for His approval. Wait and expect and hope for Him to look down from heaven and say: there goes a fighter. This ones a fighter. And then the world, also, will undoubtedly look on (if not in this lifetime, then in others to come, and certainly in our eternal life): there goes a fighter. This one’s a fighter. Even the Apostle Paul, who was so opposed, did they not look on him, and say: This one’s a fighter. There goes a fighter.

Stick out like that, fighting for God after the pattern of Jesus; instead of trying to measure your every step by the world’s every reaction. 

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If I Lose Myself

(One Republic)

"Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to be My disciple, let him deny himself [disregard, lose sight of, and forget himself and his own interests] and take up his cross and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying, also]." Matthew 16:24

We see a good man, a heroic man, and maybe we would sacrifice our lives for them, but who ever put their own life on the line for an evil man? But God shows His love for us, in this: that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And we ought also to put our lives on the line for our brothers and sisters.

This world is wild! It’s cruel; it’ll kill you. Who will you die for? You’ve got to serve someone; you’re not going to live forever. Self? Another person, perhaps one you see as good? A cause?

Think about it: honestly. You’re standing on judgment day. Say, you don’t even believe in a judgment day, but at least, you must admit, there is someone, at least one person on this wide earth that looks on you. Can you make a life? Can you form a person? Than why not be honest and admit that even a single one is a wonder--no matter what type or class they might be. So that one person, miraculous human, is looking upon you. Who would you will for them to see you standing beside, losing yourself to??? You’ve got to lose yourself to someone. You will die eventually in this world. When others look (when God looks) do you want them to see you losing yourself to self, standing alone and proudly? Beside…. yourself? Don’t you know yourself? Are you really that great? Should you really be so proud of that?

Well, look across the world then, look at all men, of all nations, look across the ages, through all time. Find the man or woman you would proudly stand beside, lose yourself to, die for. Think, honestly. Name a name. Pick a person. Be honest (people, if not God, are watching; miraculous, people). Think of the person. Now you take your person, or your self, and I will stand beside Jesus Christ; I will show myself losing my life for Him, I will bank on His words, and design my life after them. When I fail, I will call for forgiveness to Him (who is it that you would prostrate yourself like that before? Who else has the grace mixed with authority, to keep both your person and soul intact?)

Think of any person, as a dare, that YOU would lose your life for.

None compare to Jesus Christ, no, none compare to Jesus Christ.

Only He will allow you to quote these words throughout life and the hereafter:

Take us down, and we keep trying. Forty-thousand feet keep flying.

Take us down, and we keep trying. Forty-thousand feet keep flying.

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Marching On

(One Republic)

*This last one is pretty much just some verses from the Bible that fit well to the song. Click this link below to read them on Bible gateway

Weight, Playlist, and Release

It's been a while since any updates. I thought I'd start off this post with something that's been on my heart.

People are hearing (and seeing) things everywhere about weight/health. The weight of women, and men, and where it should be, etc. In fact, I probably shouldn't even combine the two issues, weight and health, since the second part doesn't seem to be the main focus anyways.

I'm sure everyone has read a lot concerning these issues. I'd just like to share a couple verses, and pictures, to offer a different perspective than what you might be used to.

"But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."" -1 Samuel 16:7

This is a verse pertaining to God's choice for King. (it ended up being David, the boy who fought Goliath, though this was before that. I guess God was good at seeing into the heart in that case!) Point: outward appearance... not so important. Not even for a King. If it's not important to God for the king who is LEADING His people, then who does need it.

On the other hand, we all long to be beautiful. Men also long to have a heroic appearance. God isn't against that! Consider these words by Jesus:

"And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." -Matthew 6:28-34

This paints a better picture, doesn't it? It is not that we shouldn't long to be attractive. God Himself is gloriously beautiful, and we are made in His image. There is an entire book in the Bible, Song of Solomon, devoted to beauty, love, and desirability--even down to exact descriptions of the human form. 
But God longs that we seek His righteousness (aka: Jesus) then He'll take care of making us beautiful. He did that at the start, didn't He! He made us after all. 

Lastly I would like to show a few pictures of the ideals of beauty that have been set in the past (perhaps when people were less self-controlling, and more humble in the sight of greater powers*).

 Note: these images are pulled from the wikipedia page on Ancient Greek Sculptures, to give a fair and varied selection. 

 Please click on the last image for a larger size. It is especially pointed since these women are the "muses" of the culture. Believed to be daughters of Zeus and inspiration for all the arts, they would also be considered highly desirable. Perhaps you've heard of Nymphs? That is their other name. 

Now, I am not saying that people long ago had it any more right than we do now. And I'm certainly not saying that gods exist! I'm trying to point out that humans are wavering, and as strong the push is for you to look a certain way now, let's just rest and be ourselves, and chase God's righteousness instead. In this way, we can be sure that God will make us as lovely as He makes the flowers; as glorious as He is Himself. 

We all come in different shapes and sizes. For anyone who has read my books, you'll know about Ellia, Adelle, and Evelyn. They are all beautiful and seen that way by their respective loves, but they are certainly not the same size, height, or shape. I have noted in my book, that Evelyn is softer, shorter, and "not able to be held up by vines for climbing". :) Cyric's pretty good at picking Ellia up (er... because he's like a lieutenant wearing metal armor all day...) but she's no light-weight! She is tall, and strong enough to fight with two swords. Luffie, her hyppo-sized chimera couldn't carry two of her, so that should be a clue. Adelle's, never really even spoken of (aka, doesn't matter, Dmitri thinks she's pretty cause he loves her).

For anyone who is wondering about the nature of these sculptures, take a look at some of the dudes. It's clear we're in the "idealistic" realm. 

 I hope this has been uplifting. I really don't think that weight is something we should concern ourselves with (in fact, I know it isn't, since Jesus said it). But there is a lot of stuff out there saying: you're bad if you're fat. I'm saying: they don't even know what fat is. God made us; seek Him and let Him make you perfect. 


There is a beauty in a woman, the devil envies
A smile to her lips, he can't divine
A sway within her walk, he can't distract from 
a softness to her touch, he can't prescribe

Of all things made, girl is the loveliest to stare at 
As God made mountains, oceans, he has pieced her fair as well 
So walk knowing your body is of God's perfection
Revealed for man to see their want for Christ


Second Topic!

Or maybe, I will start with the third... just to be difficult. :P

The release of Fallen Warrior is SET. It will come out July 4th. As many of you know, it has been finished for a while. I am actually recording it for AUDIO BOOK just now, that is how I am editing through it for a final. I'm hoping this will help me spot all the tiniest of spelling errors, and I have also heard it helps with phrasing. Either way, the written form of FALLEN WARRIOR will definitely be out the 4th. And with it at least a sampling of the audio, until we figure out how to sell it. I hope that everyone is excited about this. Fallen Warrior is my favorite book that I have written, and that is not easy for me to say. It is MASSIVE. 250,000 words. Think Harry Potter seven, lol.

Now lastly. 

Here is the promised playlist. Did I already post this here? I am not sure, but please listen to prepare for the July 4th release. It will help you to guess what will happen! 

FALLEN WARRIOR PLAYLIST

 That's all for now. Everyone have a God-blessed week/month/year. Jesus is coming soon!!!

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*This is not to say that greek gods exist; and certainly not to say that God isn't the One and Only True God. It's just the point of logic, that in the past, societies were based more on higher governing powers, outside of their control. 

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Fallen Warrior

So I thought I'd announce to everyone that I'm beginning edits of Fallen Warrior. FALLEN WARRIOR is the third and last book in the FALLEN trilogy.
Compared to Ember and Obsidian, the Fallen Trilogy hasn't had as much attention, but I hope that with the third book coming out, people will really give it a chance. To encourage that, here's some artwork that has inspired the books. Be prepared for pictures galore.

*Click one of the pictures, if you want to see them all big. 

 This is similar to how I imagine Uldin Keep.

This is part of the metal-works processing that Akadia does. You could think of this as Akadian-red, when I'm always describing the soldier's or city colors.

 I found this after I wrote in Tosch. The black one REALLY looks like him! For those of you that have read the first two books, you'll know Tosch. But he plays an even bigger role in the third book!

This is not really how I imagine chimera for my book to look (not at all, hehe) but I still like the picture. Evil chimera, ftw!

This is Luffie nearly exactly. So lovely.

 Tosch again.

 And again.

 Well, I wonder who this is.

 And perhaps you don't know who this is going to be...

 This is an actually photo from the Island of Yanartas in Turkey. It has FIRE inside of it, just like in the book.

 Lapis Lazuli, the stone Cyric sees in book two.

White Tigers! Byakoans! Haven't met them yet...

 Inspiring a place called Genbu. Won't go there until book three...

 This is a secret. :)

Uldin Keep again.


This is literally nearly every picture that inspired the books. Much of the artwork is from deviantart. Just message me if you would like the name of the artists. The four silver medallions are an important element to the Fallen books that I might write about in a future. But I don't want to give too much away, until everyone's read the third book!

Hope you like the pictures. We'll be announcing the release date soon! Get reading the first two.
And p.s. here's Cyric and Ellia:

They are the two blondes. I assume you can deduce sex... :)

Have a blessed week!

Dust and Ember $2.99

So, wow. In the last post I told everyone how I hadn't started a word of the third book in the EMBER series, (tentatively named "Dust"). But now a week or two later, I'm pleased to let you all know I'm 30,000 words in! It's very exciting; the story is just taking off! Thank you all for support and prayers. I hope that you all had a wonderful Easter.

For anyone interested to know a little about Dust, here is the setting...

EMBER UNDERWATER!

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....

...

Lol. Not really, I'm just kidding! April Fools!

Heh, heh, heh.

But the picture IS nice right? It's drawn by fallencrypt on deviantart. Check him out.

This is really the place (as any of you who have read Obsidian might have guessed):

 

But maybe looking a little bit more like this:

If you catch my drift.

I should probably warn anyone uber-interested in ancient history, that this book won't focus on names and dates, so much as feel and environment. I did get a chance to go to "this place" when I was younger, so I hope that the story is true to the country.


And lets see. On top of that, has anyone ever read The Mark of the Lion Trilogy?
It is written by Francine Rivers, she was a well-known romance author at the time she began the story. She wrote it because she had recently become a Christian, and she wanted to share her faith with others. So she told a story about it. Anyways, it's VERY good, and REALLY romantic. I read it when I was 15 and it had a big impact on my life. If you like ancient history, or pretty much if you like just plain reading. Check it out. The set has just gotten new covers:



Finally, I thought for music-lovers, everyone might enjoy the playlist I'm listening to while writing Dust. It's not THE playlist, final, or anything; it's just the songs inspiring me right now while I write.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLH686HQQmBR5K53kIiD5mDxDfQ7lbWZ1X

I hope that you all have a blessed day, whenever it is that you read this.

One final, I guess sort of important, but less exciting note is that EMBER is going to be going up in price. From its current 99 cents to $2.99 like OBSIDIAN. The main reason for this is written about in a prior post. With e-books, 99 cents equals 33 cents. and 2.99 equals 2 bucks, so it's a really big percentage change. I hope you can all still enjoy Ember. It's like 600 pages, so you're still getting a lot of bang for your dollar. If there is a big drop in buyers, I will probably set it back to 99 cents, though. Because I would rather more people got a chance to read it. And please, always let me know if you can't afford the price, and I'll look into getting you a free copy.

EMBER will be available at 99 cents, for the NEXT THREE DAYS, so get it while cheap-er if you're reading this!

Peace be with everyone as we enter into spring, and just remember this is how HE feels about you:

My Little Obsidian

So lately, my niece is very fond of My Little Pony. Anyone else a fan? I guess adults are called bronies or something. I don't understand why. But the release of Obsidian since February has been a Great Success! We have sold over 1,ooo copies already. Ember is selling over 2,000 each month. I am so happy and grateful for the all the feedback! I wish I could ask everyone personally who their favorite character is. That is my favorite question to ask.
I wish I could post each review, and thank every person that has commented, because I am so grateful to them. (even the bad ones!)
But that would fill this blog post very long, and everyone can go to amazon and goodreads to read those.
I thought, to celebrate Obsidian's success, in honor of my niece, I will show you all my sister's (aka, my agent, website runner, and editor specialist) my sister's self-made EMBER Series My Little Ponies.

So without further ado...

My little Obsidian:



You can probably guess, this is Evelyn. Isn't she pretty? I love the forest in the back. I want to live there.



Dum-dum-da-dah! Ikovos! He is so cute as a pony. Don't worry if you think he looks too clean-cut. All he needs to do is shake off those glasses and get his hair a little wet and he'll be a model of pearl and silver excitement!

 Now comes the funny part...

This is Jaden.

And this is what Jaden THINKS he looks like... 

Yup, that's our Jaden. I think particularly with all the success of Obsidian, all your wonderful feedback and support, he is feeling especially awesome. I'd say he considers Ember's success 90% percent the cause of his great hair, but that's for another story... 

I'll try to write a new post soon about what's coming in the future. Of course the Fallen Trilogy has the last to come out. And it is all finished! And it is amazing, if I do say so myself. The characters really pulled through in the last book. I love them. Fallen Warrior will be out soon I hope. 

As for those of you wondering about the THIRD TO THE EMBER SERIES, I have to tell you honestly that I haven't penned a single word. But I do know the story! It's going to be great (and a LOT happier than Obsidian, for those of you that have read it). It'll be full of magic, and light. It is tentatively called, "Dust" and likely that is what I'll refer to it as in future posts. 

I hope you all are having a good new year. Grace to you in 2013. You will be in my prayers. And I'd be remiss not to say that I hope you all think of Jesus this year, if you haven't before, and find a church to visit and celebrate His love for you. There isn't anything good that comes to you that isn't from Him. If you love stories, especially love stories, as I do, then I hope you will always remember that they are telling the secret of His love for you. Jaden, Evelyn, and Ikovos, all learned love from the one who loves us the most. So praise Him this Easter, because He is alive, and He loves you. 

Thank you everyone again. Happy Easter!

OBSIDIAN Release: Cover, Playlist, & Date

Okay, so if you read my last post, you know that Obsidian is releasing it about 10 days, Valentine's Day to be exact. I just wanted to give everyone an update that things are looking good, and all the final preparations are underway. I, for one, am all done, fully and completely.
Of course, there are always improvements that can be made to a book, but there is also a point where you just have to say you did your best, and trust the audience to fill in all the all the mess-ups with grace and understanding. I hope all of you can see the heart of Obsidian, and be touched by it, inspired, and motivated to live and love well, by it.

Now, with that said, here are some cool little tid-bits.

First... the CoVeR:

What do you think? As always, I would love to hear your oppinions. Please leave a comment whether you like it, or not, or suggestions, whatever. I for one, am excited about this one, since purple & blue (very much so, like Evelyn) are my favorite colors.

Second... the PLaYLiST:

OBSIDIAN YouTube Playlist

Yes, you have to click the link. No, I can't put all the videos inside of this post; there are over 50. It would get crazy. Just click the link; youtube is your friend (so long as you never scroll down to read comments o_O ). But here is one song that is especially Obsidian-iffic! Enjoy it playing in the background whilst you read the finishing of this post.

Okay, last: some information about the release.

As you already read, the date is VALENTINE'S. That's the 14th of this month, 2o13. OBSIDIAN will be released in all the regular youngadult-books channels. This includes: Barnes&Noble, Amazon, and Smashwords. The links to all of these are in the top-right corner; they'll take you straight to my books. Or you could just search Tess Williams in any of these sites, and come up with my stuff (plus a few books about a little girl named Tess, who likes snowmen, which I, for the record, did not write, but plan to one day read).

As for pricing, Obsidian will be the same as all my books have been: 99 cents. BUT (and this is an important "but") only for the FIRST MONTH. As in, only for February. That means that you have two weeks or so (or exactly), to get Obsidian in Nook, Kindle, or web format for 99 cents. After that, it will be $2.99. I know, I know, you might be thinking: that's really lame. But here's a big reason, if you can bear with me. Ember is selling really well right now (about 200 books a month), but even so, I only make about $50 from that, because books priced at 99 cents at Amazon, etc., only give the author 30% (pretty lame, I know). But, if the price is raised to $2.99 at least, I will get 60%. That's a big difference. I'm not really greedy for money (I'd much rather people read!) But it would be nice to save up some future book publishing funds. (Hard or paperback of Ember/Obsidian anyone?) Please bear with me with the price increase. And like I said, don't forget, the FIRST MONTH OF FEBRUARY is 99 CENTS ONLY.

Well, that's about all. If you have been listening to the SW* song since it appeared, then you are well-past the bit that will make me cry. Has anyone played The Old Republic by the way? I am so behind in games, tell me if it is good.

I hope to hear from you all about the cover. And apart from that, happy Valentine's Day. I hope you have a great week leading up to it, and beyond!!!

*SW = Star Wars... always.

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In Blogs to come...

SUBJECT: Sly Cooper 4 Thieves in Time

DISCUSSION: "Who will lend out their playstation 3 so that I may play?... o_O"

New Release Date for OBSIDIAN

Hello all! 

Wow, everyone has been so kind about Obsidian's postponed release date. You guys have also made me feel very motivated to get it done. Your comments and encouragements have really kept me going on the final edits. Now, they are done, and Obsidian is in the progress of being prepared for online reading.

So, without further ado, the offical release is... VALENTINE'S DAY. That's February the 14th, which is like... two weeks from now. For those of you that have waited, thank you so much for being patient with me. I hope that you love OBSIDIAN. It is very long. I feel I should warn everyone about the word count, which happens to be near 240,000. To give you an idea of what that means, EMBER was 130,000, which isn't small to beginwith. But it's fun! I am confident that if you loved Ember, you are going to love every bit of OBSIDIAN.

Now... for something exciting. Here are some teaser FAQS about Obsidian that you might find interesting:


-The prologue and epilogue of Obsidian are very similar, but with a few twists. Since a prologue comes at the beginning of a book, and an epilogue comes at the end, I guess you'll just have to wait a while to find out what's the same and what's different.

-Two of the main characters of Obsidian, will have aged nearly a year before the book begins--while one will have aged only 5 months.

-Very few characters from Ember appear in Obsidian. In fact, they could all be counted on your 10 fingers.

-Jaden looks like Enrique Iglesias   

-Ikovos looks like Nicholas Nickleby



-If this is your first time reading this blog, please don't be driven off by these questionable photos, they are meant in jest. I promise that Ikovos and Jaden really are very handsome.... and cool.... o_O

-Evelyn will have a severe lying problem.

*** And finally, the big, big, big, REALLY BIG, one. In Obsidian, you will finally discover Jaden and Ikovos's last names. You hadn't even realized I'd never told you, had you? That's because in EMBER, Evelyn is the only one with a last name. Well, that's all about to change. I'll give you two hints: Ikovos's is really weird. Jaden's is really normal.

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Alright, I think that's about it. I hope that everyone had a good New Year. If you are looking for a good book, read this:

 

 

I know it's an old one, and maybe you've read it, but it doesn't get much better than Charles Wallace and Calvin O'Keefe.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. This is a pic by reginaroff on deviantart by the way.

Thanks all for reading, and again for waiting. Jaden, Ikovos, and Evelyn Avest, all look forward to your reading the next chapter of their story.

-Tess Williams

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**In blogs to come...

SUBJECT: BBC'S Merlin

DISCUSSION: Arthur, and why this is so funny?