Tag: Faith

2020 and My Magnum Opus: Into a World of Light

Posted on by R.W. Reed

2021 will be in the history books soon, and the current years’ end is typically where people wax eloquent about the previous twelve months. But this post isn’t about 2021. It’s about 2020 – the year of my life that feels like it was lost.

The year in which (what I consider) my best novel was published, and it got absolutely none of my attention. I’ve decided that I will be doing another round of promotion for the book, but, first, here’s an overview of why:

  1. In March of 2020 I started a demanding job as a fabrication technician. I was given the responsibility of learning a very convoluted shipping and receiving system, and then was placed as an assistant on the largest operation the department had. It was more than I had bargained for, but always being open to new challenges, I grit my teeth, held my tongue, and soldiered on in silence. But to make matters worse, I was working with a very unsavory character who seemed to find his joy in life by antagonizing me at every opportunity. This was a daily challenge that I had to bear, but, again, I grit me teeth, held my tongue, and soldiered on in silence. The situation grew worse as time went on. As I dug deeper and deeper into my well of patience, it was seen – outwardly, at least – as an act of weakness or cowardice which seemed to only embolden this coworker to continue his antagonizing. I silently struggled a full year in this environment, the effects taking a serious toll on my emotional and mental well-being. But when things finally reached its zenith and (as a man) I could take no more, I put an end to it in a way that I will not regale you with for it is something that is quite shameful and uncharacteristic of me. But, nonetheless, I was finally moved out of that situation and was able to finally find some peace of mind around other good-natured and easygoing coworkers.
  2. Coincidentally, the exact same month I started this new job, Covid-19 shut the whole world down. My daughter moved to online schooling at home, and my wife had to work from home and simultaneously help my daughter navigate an increasingly complex online learning platform.
  3. When summertime arrived, we welcomed the break from the stress of our daughter’s online school. Then in June, my wife got inexplicably pregnant, something we have not been able to do for 12 years. We had already gone through a terrible “missed miscarriage” and had long ago succumbed to the reality that we would never have any more children. It was the most exciting thing ever and we felt so blessed. Then reality hit us that, oh yeah – we haven’t had a baby in 12 years! We were essentially starting over as new parents. I didn’t remember any of it anymore. Feeding, burping, sleeping, crying, diapers, cribs, bottles, blankets, onesies, swaddles, diaper bags, strollers – it was a lifetime ago. We remembered none of it. We were truly starting over.
  4. While my wife was dealing with the physical, mental, and emotional struggles of being pregnant, she was still working from home. The pregnancy went well, but my wife was having a hard time. The lines had blurred between home and work (mostly due to the fact that workers’ offices were now firmly situated in their living rooms), and the unspoken expectation was for employees to be available at all times, whether it be nighttime or the weekend. Like so many other people across the country, my wife had to endure this added level of stress as well. The difference was that she was also in the throes of growing a new life inside of her. I can hardly remember a time when she was more stressed out and upset as then.

So here is a small snapshot of the wild things that were thrust upon me in 2020. And during that time, the book that I had been working on for five years was finally ready for publication. I had great results after its publication in August of 2020, but not at the level I had hoped. I had a number of advertising and marketing plans up my sleeve, but life continued to get in the way, and no matter how hard I tried to focus my attention on it and get it further out there into the world, it simply became an afterthought while I had to tend to the garden of life.

And before I knew it, my wonderful, healthy (adorable, I’ve heard) baby boy was born and every single one of my priorities drastically shifted again.

I was a “new dad” again, having left all of my experience and knowledge with babies back in 2008. And then, my wife, who was already at the end of herself, had to start working from home and taking care of an infant after her maternity leave ended. Being “burned-out” was now her default mode, something she lived with 24/7. (And yet, she continued to go above and beyond – in our marriage, with our teenage daughter, with our infant son, with our household, and with her job. To say that my wife had become a bona fide superhero is putting it lightly. If I were recruiting my own version of The Avengers, I wouldn’t call upon Iron Man or Captain America or Black Widow or Thor. I would call upon the person who crawls through the mud every single day to make sure everyone else is taken care of and still somehow comes out looking like royalty. She alone had become (at least in my eyes) Earth’s Mightiest Hero.)

And just to take things up another level, while all of this was going on, things began to ramp up at my job at the plant. I was, again, given the responsibilities of the overly complex shipping system in place at our facility, and simultaneously had to run and learn the intricacies of the biggest piece of equipment our department has owned in its entire history (something that I have still not mastered as of this writing). This left me with hardly any time for my family, and definitely no time to promote a novel. Soon, as 2021 began to slip away as well, I went into autopilot and just started going through the motions of life. Work, eat, baby, (occasionally) sleep. Repeat times infinity.

Deep down, it pained me to see what I consider my Magnum Opus just sitting there idle. It was probably the greatest thing I have ever, or will ever, write. And it was published and forgotten about when it was the one book that I had poured every fiber of my being into. That novel contains all of me – heart, soul, body, mind, and spirit. It’s the one book that I’ve written that I tell people, if you ever want to know the real Richard Reed, read my book Into a World of Light. (The people who have reached out to me after finishing the book know what I’m talking about.) My whole being is in that book and most people don’t even know it exists.

When I finally took stock of my life and realized all of this had happened and why it all happened, I decided to do another round of promotion for it to give it some added attention. I realize how strange it is to suddenly start marketing and advertising for a book that was published in August of 2020 while we’re all here on the cusp of 2022, but if you’ve read this far, you know why.

So what I’d like to ask from you, dear reader, is:

1) If you haven’t already purchased your own copy of Into a World of Light, please consider giving it a try (you can find the book HERE).

2) If you have already purchased the novel in the past, if you would be so kind as to leave a rating and a review on Amazon. Leaving reviews on Amazon is one of the most effective ways to increase a book’s visibility and attract new readers. And as I continue to promote the book through other avenues, when potential readers are trafficked back to the novel’s landing page on Amazon, they’ll be much more inclined to make a purchase if they’ve seen others have already enjoyed it in the past.

So that is all I’m asking of you: to leave a rating and a review to help me with spreading the word about it. Just those few minutes will help more than you’ll ever know.

And lastly, as a little incentive, for those who do leave a rating and a review: I will send you the title, synopsis, and first FIVE chapters of the next novel from the mind of R. W. Reed that I’m hoping will be published sometime in 2022.

Yes. Seriously. Early access to my next completed novel. You’ll be one of the first people to not only know what my next novel is about, but actually get to read an excerpt from it. The only person who has read this novel so far is my daughter (she’s become the greatest beta reader I ever could have asked for!), so you will be in very elite company. So don’t miss out on a chance to get ahead of a everyone else and see behind the curtain of my creativity!

Thanks for reading, and hopefully I’ll be reading your reviews and sending your documents out soon! 😊

– R.W.R.

#7 Amazon Bestseller

Posted on by R.W. Reed

It’s been two weeks since the release of my latest novel Into a World of Light, and I’m very happy to report that I’ve made the #7 spot on the Best Sellers list for my genre, and was also the #1 New Release for a few days.

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I know Christian Fantasy isn’t exactly a crowded market, so maybe I shouldn’t be too excited, but anytime my work sits only two spots behind John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress (one of the best-selling books of all time), it’s one for the books! (yes, intended). I’m taking the W 🙂

I wanted to thank every one of you who have purchased the book, and another thank you to those who have completed it and reached out to me about it. It truly has made me so happy to hear the feedback.

If you feel so inclined to leave a positive review of the book on Amazon, I’d be extremely grateful.

And if you haven’t already gotten your copy and think you would be interested, here is the link to purchase:

INTO A WORLD OF LIGHT

Thanks again everybody, and happy reading!

– R. W. Reed

“Into a World of Light” Now Available

Posted on by R.W. Reed

A hopeless young lady who has lost all faith.

A man from another planet seeking a rescuer from Earth.

An organization intent on colonizing the utopian world hidden on Mars.

Can she save their world from destruction?

Can she even save herself?

Eighteen-year-old college student, Aurora Pierce, is devastated over the untimely death of her parents. After several difficult months of grieving, she has finally reached the point of giving up.

But just as she succumbs to the debilitating depression, she is sent to Eversong – the planet we know as Mars – by the rulers of Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter to stop her University professor, Murdoch, from colonizing the utopian world with the help of a secret Institute he works for known as F.I.R.E.

When Aurora enters this perfect society hidden inside the Red Planet’s outer barrier of protection, she discovers a strange and magical place, where – unlike back on earth – she finally feels at home.

But the day of the Institute’s martial takeover is fast approaching, and Aurora must overcome insurmountable odds and find the strength within her to save this new world. And along the way, she learns deep truths about life, death, and eternity that just might bring her the greatest healing she could have ever hoped for.

*PURCHASE HERE*

I’m happy to announce my Inspirational (Christian) Fantasy/Sci-Fi novel Into a World of Light is now available on Amazon (paperback and ebook).

It’s been four (LONG!) years in the making, and I’m very happy to finally share it with the world.

This novel is…different, to say the least. (And let’s face it: I’m a different kind of guy.) I know this novel won’t be for everybody. I knew that when I was writing it. But it will be for somebody. And whoever that somebody is, this is for you. I hope you enjoy it.

“The worst that can happen is that everyone says, ‘Well, that was dreadful’.” – J.K. Rowling

– R. W. Reed

*PURCHASE HERE*

P.S. Just a quick note – this is not the next book in the Twin Star Chronicles. The sequel to A Word Fitly Spoken is still “in development”, as they say.

After the Virus Has Passed

Posted on by R.W. Reed

“We have always lived on the edge of a precipice ready to crumble beneath our feet. The destruction caused by the coronavirus is merely a preview of what will one day happen to us and all we hold dear. Nations and economies, health and relationships will succumb eventually to the ravages of time. Moth and rust will destroy the treasure we thought secure. Life itself, which sprouts green in the morning, will wilt by evening.”

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/after-the-virus-has-passed

– R.W. Reed

Learning in Coronavirus Time

Posted on by R.W. Reed

C.S. Lewis fought (and was injured) in WW1 and lived through the The Blitz of WW2 in the UK. During the terrible days of WW2, he gave a sermon titled “Learning in War Time”. If anyone could speak with an air of authority on the world seemingly coming to an end right before our eyes, it is Lewis. In this sermon, Lewis lays out the way we humans should respond to our present situation dealing with our current worldwide crises. And while he is speaking specifically about war, his words can also be applied to the many troubles we see today.

“I think it important to try to see the present calamity in a true perspective, The war creates no absolutely new situation: it simply aggravates the permanent human situation so that we can no longer ignore it.

Human life has always been lived on the edge of a precipice. Human culture has always had to exist under the shadow of something infinitely more important than itself. If men had postponed the search for knowledge and beauty until they were secure the search would never have begun. We are mistaken when we compare war with “normal life”. Life has never been normal. Even those periods which we think most tranquil, like the nineteenth century, turn out, on closer inspection, to be full of cries, alarms, difficulties, emergencies.

Plausible reasons have never been lacking for putting off all merely cultural activities until some imminent danger has been averted or some crying injustice put right. But humanity long ago chose to neglect those plausible reasons. They wanted knowledge and beauty now, and would not wait for the suitable moment that never come.”

(Read the full sermon here: https://bradleyggreen.com/attachments/Lewis.Learning%20in%20War-Time.pdf)

This darkness that has come for the world in 2020 isn’t new. The world has always been dark. There has always been injustice and sickness and disease and death and starving and crying and murder and pain. This year, that darkness didn’t just suddenly materialize, it was simply exacerbated.

And, for this reason, I believe this is why Scripture tells us over and over again to let not our hearts be troubled, do not worry, guard your heart, let the peace of Christ dwell in you, and on and on and on. When our hope is in this world, we will always be disappointed. When our hope is in the only One who can save us, and in a greater world to come, then the peace of Christ will dwell in us.

– R.W. Reed

(P.S. This is not to take away from how serious the virus is and the lives that have been affected by it. All necessary precautions should still be taken. This is simply a reminder to not let this dominate our minds to the point that we live in a constant state of fear and anxiety about what will happen next.)

C. S. Lewis on the Coronavirus

Posted on by R.W. Reed

“In one way we think a great deal too much of the atomic bomb. “How are we to live in an atomic age?” I am tempted to reply: “Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat any night; or indeed, as you are already living in an age of cancer, an age of syphilis, an age of paralysis, an age of air raids, an age of railway accidents, an age of motor accidents.”

In other words, do not let us begin by exaggerating the novelty of our situation. Believe me, dear sir or madam, you and all whom you love were already sentenced to death before the atomic bomb was invented: and quite a high percentage of us were going to die in unpleasant ways. We had, indeed, one very great advantage over our ancestors—anesthetics; but we have that still. It is perfectly ridiculous to go about whimpering and drawing long faces because the scientists have added one more chance of painful and premature death to a world which already bristled with such chances and in which death itself was not a chance at all, but a certainty.

This is the first point to be made: and the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.” – C.S. Lewis, “On Living in an Atomic Age”

C. S. Lewis on the Coronavirus

– R.W. Reed

Why I Believe the Bible

Posted on by R.W. Reed

“I choose to believe the Bible because it’s a reliable collection of historical documents written down by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses. They report to supernatural events that took place in fulfillment of specific prophecies, and claim that their writings are divine, rather than human, in origin.” – Voddie Baucham, “Why I Believe the Bible”

I have read many books, heard many sermons, and watched many videos that plainly lay out the historicity of the scriptures. This one is possibly one of the best, and definitely one of my favorites. A VERY worthwhile 30 minutes.

– R.W. Reed