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Hey everybody (who cares)!

Today starts NaNoWriMo! (For those who don't know, it is National Novel Writing Month. Check it out here at http://www.nanowrimo.org/ ) So.... this basically means that I will have no more free time for the next month. But not only am I writing a novel, I have assignments I have to--I mean, "get to" do.

I love writing! I just never take the time to do it. But now, I am forced to--in a good way. I have four papers to write this semester, each of them a minimum of 12 pages each. I thought I would take you through the topics to see if they were interesting:

Flow: Thoughts of Mihaly Csikszentmihali
          "Flow" is the state of being when you are so wrapped up in an activity that you totally lose sense of reality around you. You forget where you are, what time it is, and what you are doing because you are so wrapped up in a certain activity. For some it is running, some people read, others knit, while some other people paint or play music. Some people play video games and others observe nature. Everyone has their unique state of flow, and this paper explains the process and methods for discovering flow.

The Messiah of the Hebrew Scriptures: Why Jesus is not the Jewish Messiah 
         At first, this paper seems highly controversial (I know, I purposely made it that way). But, where I plan on going is describing why the Jews rejected (and still reject) Jesus as Messiah. The Jewish view of Messiah is very different than who Jesus was/is. I am making a point that the Jesus is the true interpretation of the Messiah, not the Davidic King the Hebrews were expecting.

What the Bible Really Says About Creation: A Jewish Perspective on Creationism versus Evolution
          Another hot topic of debate: Creation and Evolution. I plan on looking at the Creation story from a Jewish perspective and see how they interpret the Creation account and see if we, as Christians today, are trying to pull anything out of it that is not there. I will end the paper on a positive note, indicating the importance of separating cosmology from actual science.

Emergent Versus Emerging: The Next Great Revival or Cult Movement?
          This is probably my favorite topic of all the topics listed above. The Emergent and Emerging churches are VASTLY different! In this paper, I will make the case for the Emerging church as the next revival movement in America and the Emergent church as a break from traditional Christianity and forming its own cult movement, similar to the Mormon movement and Jehovah Witness movement before it.

Finally, I will fill you all in on what my topic will be for my make-shift novel. I don't know really what to call it yet, but my friends and I were talking about zombies the other night (mostly because of the new mini-series airing on AMC and the game of Humans Vs. Zombies starting this week on my campus--I'm so excited!!!!) and I noticed that every Zombie movie starts off in the middle of the action. I mean, there is no movie that shows people following the breakout from case zero to everyone getting infected. Some movies have made flashbacks or started off with an outbreak, then flash ahead a few days/week (like the recent mini-series) but none of them explore the process and spread of the contagion.

In addition, they never talk about rural areas; the settings of the movies or books are always in suburban or urban environments, not rural. I plan on writing a book about a group of friends in a rural college who just heard about this outbreak of a deadly virus and their reactions to the virus and the sudden appearance of the walking dead. I won't give away all the spoilers, but I have a few twists and turns that will take the book in directions not expected.

Considering this is my first novel, I don't expect it to be amazing or whatever, but it is a start. If you want to follow me, feel free to: akeeton2008 on NaNoWriMo. Happy writing and I will keep you posted! God bless!

Following His Call,
Adam Keeton
(Philippians 4:8)