The Writers' Three Rs by Steph Beth Nickel

Laptop Computer Keyboard - Free photo on Pixabay

Are you sitting in front of your keyboard (or writing notebook) wondering if you have anything more to write? Anything to say that hasn't been said countless times before . . . by you and others? Anything that will truly encourage, entertain, or educate your readers?

Most of us have been there. Possibly, multiple times.

But as this month's theme indicates, there are three Rs that can help us address these issues: reuse, rethink, and recycle.

Our own words can serve as a springboard for new ideas. 

And those new ideas?

A new platform on which to republish our work with little to no changes. And don't be afraid to repost the same piece weeks, months, or years later on the same platform. The algorithms are always changing, and you never know who may be seeing it for the first time or who may need to read it again.

An expanded work with updated info.

A social media post or blog post that inspires a short story, a novella, even a full-length manuscript.

An old manuscript we've tucked away that we might want to revisit. You know the ones, those sitting in a drawer or on our computers gathering dust.

Our Discarded Sentences, Paragraphs, and More file. (You do have one of these, don't you? Sometimes, a line or paragraph doesn't work in our WIP, but that doesn't mean it won't find a home in a future work.)

And speaking of deleting our work . . .

Instead of deleting an old post, why not compare and contrast our thoughts from days gone by with those we have now?

And what about those journals we've squirreled away? Those words that were for no one's eyes but our own? Maybe it's time to pick up one of those journals and see if one or more of the entries inspires a new piece that you do want to share with the world?

There are several R words that apply to our writing: reuse, rethink, recycle, revisit, revise, reshare, etc., etc., etc. Let's give it a try today!

I'd love to know how you've reused, rethought, and recycled your writing. Feel free to leave a comment below or email me at stephbethnickel@gmail.com

Steph Beth Nickel is the former Editor of FellowScript and the current InScribe Contest Coordinator. Steph is an editor and author and plans to relocate to Saskatchewan from Ontario to be close to family in 2026. (Headshot Photo Credit: Jaime Mellor Photography)

Challenge Given by Carol Harrison

When I began writing, I only wrote non-fiction memoir style stories and one book. It became my comfort zone. I had no intention of branching out into other genres. Then one of my grandsons challenged me to try and write fiction – any type. He didn’t give up on checking on me. I decided to accept his challenge and attempt to write a fiction book. I did it.

Now I had two genres to play around with and I thought that would be the end of the story. I would work on the craft, learn what I could, and hopefully continue to improve. Then one of my granddaughters challenged me to attend a poetry writing workshop with her at our local library. I went with her and discovered we wouldn’t just learn about poetry but be expected to write some. I didn’t think I could fulfill this part of the challenge but what do you do but try as a grandchild waits for you to step up and keep trying.

Now maybe my family could be satisfied with the diversity of my writing. I continued to attempt more poetry, write several fiction books, as well as more memoir style stories and devotionals. I thought that should be an acceptable range.

But before my husband passed away he threw out several challenges. One was a memoir style story. Okay. I had written that genre before. But the other one would be new. He challenged me to write a Love Inspired style romance novel.

I enjoy the light reading of this style of books and had read many of them over the years. Now with Brian’s challenge fresh in my mind, I signed out stories from the library and curled up to read for pleasure and for research. I went to the guidelines for writing and submitting these stories and studied them carefully. I joined the Facebook group Write for Harlequin and found feedback from others who were published and those, like me, who might try and one day have a Love Inspired book. The writing guidelines provided the accepted formula they are looking for in each book, the word count, and the types of stories they are seeking.

Could I actually attempt this? Should I accept the challenge thrown out to me? I must admit to wanting to forget the challenge and yet it kept coming up in conversation. I started a story and finished a few chapters before getting stuck. I researched some more and came back to write a little more. It wasn’t as easy as it sounded and I put it away just before my husband passed away. I must admit it sits on my computer, unfinished. I haven’t looked at it in two years. Maybe it’s long enough to see it with fresh eyes. Will it ever get further than sitting on my computer? It depends on what the finished product is like, whether I choose to submit it or not. For now it is a venture into a new genre I had never written in before. Maybe this blog post theme will push me to go back to the waiting story and see where I’m at with it. Challenges can be good for a person. It moves them out of their comfort zone. I know it has me over the years.

Carol Harrison loves to do the reading more than writing in a different genre. Yet the research aspect of the reading is great fun. Her favourite chair at her home in Saskatoon begs for someone to curl up with a good book, a fun story, or something to make a person think. 
 

Write What You Love by Steph Beth Nickel

 

Write What You Know

We've all heard the advice to "write what you know." However, that is only the jumping off point. As writers, we are also researchers, whether formally or informally. Every day we're discovering and observing new things that find their way into our writing.

Should we write what we know? Yes.

Should we always be learning new things and incorporating them into our writing? Absolutely.

Write What You Love

If you're a journalist or a content creator, this may not be an option—at least not during your "working hours."

However, this is just one reason why those who write for a living often make time in the morning or evening to write what gets their mojo flowing, what's on their heart, what they love.

While there are countless factors that determine what we write, there is a sense of joy and expectation when the topic is near and dear to our heart.

When Love is the Motivator

Imagine your ideal writing life.

Writing about a topic we're passionate about and getting our work into the hands of those who are equally passionate (or become so) can fill the proverbial well. (We all know that writing, even about things we love, can be draining.)

Further, writing about a topic we love in an environment that inspires and energizes us and earning a living from that writing . . . Does it get better than that?

Practically speaking, the ideal is rarely our reality, but love can still be our motivator.

As believers, the Lord is to be our First Love. Has He laid a message on our heart and provided a way to share that message with others? When we do so, we express our love for Him.

Are we able to provide for ourselves and our family doing what we love even if what we write about isn't our #1 passion? Creating our best work is a way to express love to our family and others who benefit from our efforts. It's also a way to obey Colossians 3:23-24, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving" (ESV), thereby expressing our love for the Lord as well.

Do we entertain, encourage, and/or educate others with our words? This is a way of expressing love.

The Power of Our Words

We should never underestimate the power of our words.

When life becomes too overwhelming, our fiction can provide a temporary reprieve.

When our readers are weighed down by life's challenges and heartaches, our encouraging words can lighten their load.

When they're seeking direction, our nonfiction can point them to the truth—as can our fiction.

As Christians, we know our readers need to know the One who is the Truth more than anything else. And we can share this Truth no matter what we write.

Is there anything more powerful, anything more loving, than sharing our words with others?

Photo Credit: Heart Hearts Cord Hung - Free photo on Pixabay

Steph Beth Nickel is the former Editor of FellowScript and the current InScribe Contest Coordinator. Steph is an editor and author and plans to relocate to Saskatchewan from Ontario to be close to family sometime after her husband retires in the spring of 2025. (Headshot Photo Credit: Jaime Mellor Photography)

Honesty in Writing by Steph Beth Nickel

But I’m writing fiction. It isn’t true. So, how can it be honest?

I’m writing a memoir but can’t remember every detail. How can I write it honestly?

How vulnerable do I have to be on the page to be considered honest?

 

We can be honest in our writing—even if we’re not writing objective journalistic pieces.

 

What makes fiction honest?

There’s much truth to be found in fiction—even fiction that is set in a fantasy world or in space.

How many times have you felt connected to a character that is very different from yourself? Maybe you see your less-than-desirable traits in them or feel as if you would respond as they do. And hopefully, you recognize yourself in their emotional journey—maybe even in their personal growth.

Real. Believable. Authentic. Whether the reviewer is referring to the characters and/or the storyline, these are adjectives many (most?) of us want to hear applied to our own writing or to the novels we choose to read.

There is a lot of honesty in well-written fiction. We must remember honesty isn’t always synonymous with factual.

 

How can a memoir be honest—even if some of the facts have been lost over time?

While working on Paralympian Deb Willows’ first memoir, Living Beyond My Circumstances, we did our best to relay situations and dialogue as they happened.

Of course, none of us can remember our conversations verbatim—especially those that occurred years ago. However, if the conversation reflects the speaker’s voice and is something they would have said in that particular circumstance, it can still be considered honest.

When writing memoir, it’s important to stay in the memoirist’s POV. In this way, the author relays events as they remember them—even though others may remember the same events differently.

When is a memoir dishonest? When the author deliberately slants the story to deliberately lead readers to a conclusion that is not true.

 

Just how much of ourselves should we share?

It’s important to open our hearts and share elements of ourselves on the page. At its core, this is where our author voice comes from. Whether we’re writing fiction or nonfiction, each of us has a unique way of expressing ourselves. This is often what draws our readers back to our work time and time again.

But just how vulnerable do we have to be as writers to be labelled honest?

Whether on the page or in our dealings with others online, we have the right to decide how much of our personal life to share.

In my mind, honesty in writing includes integrity and authenticity. Are we proud to say, “I wrote that” or would we be embarrassed if someone found out?

Even in the fiction we write, do we see ourselves in our work? Are we expressing our worldview, whether overtly or as the underlying current? Is our work superficial or have we dug deep to make it real?

When writing nonfiction, does our voice ring through loud and clear?

 

How do you remain honest in your writing—even when your work is not strictly factual?

Steph Beth Nickel is an editor, writer, and author. She is eclectically interested and eclectically involved. Steph is currently working on her coauthor's second memoir. Much has happened since Steph and Paralympian Deb Willows wrote Deb's first memoir, Living Beyond My Circumstances. Steph has a YA speculative fiction novel, hopefully, the first in a series; a devotional book on the gospel of John; and  the first in what she is tentatively calling the Hard Choices Series swirling around in her brain.

Writing That Makes My Heart Sing by Steph Beth Nickel

It was far easier to think of works by other authors that make my heart sing, some of which I share below, than it was to think of my own writing that qualifies. Still, I wanted to share a few aspects of the writing process that I enjoy.

SURPRISE! When I sit down at my computer with the seed of a new idea and start to write and things come together more quickly and more surprisingly than I thought they would, I'm reminded of the adventure that writing can be.

And at the other end of the process...When God uses something I've written to encourage, instruct, or entertain a reader, I am absolutely, positively over the moon. Is there a better feeling than that?

Sidenote: Revising my work to make it better is necessary and can be very rewarding—when the work is done—but the song that comes to mind during this process is “The Song That Never Ends” by puppeteer Sherry Lewis. <grin>

And now a few notes about works by other authors...

Memoir that draws me in can make my heart sing, although, at times, the tune and lyrics are sombre and heart wrenching. Punching the Air, a memoir by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam, is written in verse and goes straight to the heart. Warning: language.

And speaking of poetry...

Whether it's thought-provoking, such as Punching the Air, or a lighthearted children's book by an author such as P.D. Eastman or Dr. Seuss, verse can make my heart sing and, sometimes, a smile spread across my face. Even at 61, I love a well-written picture book.

After reading No Wonder They Call Him the Savior, I dubbed Max Lucado a poet who writes in prose. Lucado has a way of taking the simple yet profound truths of God's Word and painting a mental picture that allows these truths to sink deep into my spirit.

Devotionals that the Lord uses to give me fresh perspective on familiar passages and remind me of the awesomeness of Truth are the most life-changing nonfiction works I have the privilege of reading. Bonus: I know many of the authors, and that gives me an even greater sense of connectedness.

I enjoy a wide variety of fiction genres: suspense, cozy mysteries, sweet romances, clean romcoms, fantasies…

Fiction that grabs me by the throat and won't let go is my favourite. Frank Peretti's This Present Darkness is the first book I can remember taking with me wherever I went—although, I pretty much always had a Nancy Drew Mystery close at hand for much of my youth. I even tried to wash the dishes while reading Peretti’s book. (I'm definitely thankful for the advent of audiobooks, which makes consuming content so much easier while doing other tasks.)

And, as I mentioned earlier...

When a portion of scripture seems to jump off the page, whether to convict or encourage me, my heart sings, knowing the God of the Universe speaks to His children through words penned hundreds, some thousands, of years ago.

Writing Is Like A Puppy by Alan Anderson

I love dogs. I love holding a puppy and even smelling puppy breath. My writing is like a puppy. You ask, “What do you mean?” That’s a good question. Here is why I liken my writing to a puppy.

As a dog lover it is wonderful to see a puppy grow into a healthy mature adult dog. It’s fun to watch puppies gain their confidence in walking and running. They also have little “accidents” as they are growing up. You may know what I mean.

I’m still growing as a writer. Like a growing pup I can have a writer’s “accidents.” These are things like too many “ly” or using “ing” words too often in my writing.

A puppy need not be a pure bred for me to love it. The sweetest dog I ever had in my life was a Border Collie Spaniel cross. She was one of my best friends. She had the personality of a working dog as well as a companion dog. She would embrace life with gusto during the day and snuggle on my easy chair with me in the evening.

I don’t worry about my writing being a pure bred either. What I mean is, I don’t class myself as a fiction or non-fiction writer, I just write. I love to write about real life that may appear dark or somber with a gleam of hope ahead. That is what my blog Scarred Joy is all about. Scarred joy is like my working dog writing so to speak.

I also love to write stories based on real life experiences. Right now I’m working on a story of a young boy with a rare illness. In addition I have another story of a boy and his grandfather. It is about their relationship as grandfather lives in the fog of Alzheimer’s disease. I want to write this story as one suitable for children. Both these stories may be like a companion dog writing.

It’s fun to play with a puppy and see her or him run after a ball and catch it. One of the dogs I loved became skilled at catching Frisbees. As she became older she had more injuries and we had to stop playing Frisbee. My pup had grown old. She lived a long life for a dog. I was with her during all the chapters of her life right to the final sentence.

If God grants me more years and to experience old age here is what I hope and pray for. If the day comes I can no longer hold a pen I pray I can look back on words I have written and know they brought comfort to broken hearts.

I also pray I will have crossed the paths of other writers and played with them. In other words, I like to have a writing buddy. I like to know other writers. My present writing buddy and I have never met in person. We exchange emails and send each other pieces of our writing to critique. It is a lot of fun. My writing buddy is precious to me.

When my days are done I pray my writing will have matured and been noticed by those who hurt yet see hope ahead. Just like an old faithful dog I pray I will have made a difference in the lives of people. That’s what a good dog does.

Blog: scarredjoy.wordpress.com

Thankful to Write Poetically by Connie Inglis

To be honest, I have not yet had many experiences in my writing life. I still feel like a newbie in all this. It was only just over a year ago when I actually said these words: "I am a poet." I am becoming more and more comfortable with that and get so exhilarated when I write poetry. And I am so thankful God has opened that creative side of me and that I always find Him there.
That being said, I have realized just in the last couple of months that I am not a fiction novelist and I don't think I ever will be one. This revelation surprised me--at first I didn't want to even acknowledge it. You see, ever since I was a little girl, I have dreamed of writing a novel and have always carried a few plot ideas in my head. But I am taking an Advanced Fiction course right now and am already struggling with my first assignment: to write the first chapter of a fiction novel. I've started but none of it comes easy. Last week I heard my inner voice say, "I'd much rather be writing a poem." Where did THAT come from? And what do I do with it? So, I started pondering what that was all about.

At first, I was bummed. Did my dream of being a novelist just take a major fall out the window? I was somewhat confused...but then God affirmed that voice through a different window. I've been reading Sage Cohen's book, The Productive Writer. She is the voice of an author who wondered about her writing as a poet and so I listened. Early in the book she talks about finding your platform, that she had never considered that "poetry was platform worthy. Poetry was poetry, and I loved it and I read it and I wrote it -- but what was I going to say to the world about it?" A light came on when I realized that this was me and that this was God showing up with the right book from the right author at the right time to give me the right perspective. After that, I read the book through fresh eyes--through the eyes of a poet.

I cannot explain how emotional this epiphany was for me--my soul was soaring and free, liberated to follow its true passion. I am not sure what's going to happen with my writing course, (I wish the university offered upper-level poetry courses but they don't) but I'm not fretting. God will help me with it I know, because He has proven to be faithful. So I trust.

And today, of all days, I am thankful: Thankful for a family that supports me in my writing; Thankful for InScribe and my writers' group that are always so encouraging; Thankful for God's guidance and direction in the past and in the future; Thankful for a country where I can write and share freely through the written word.

God reminds me daily that He is and will be with me as I pursue this passion. Every time I am inspired to write a poem, I know this to be true. Just a few mornings ago, an unusually warm fall morning, I was sitting outside on my deck with my morning coffee and heard a chickadee singing beautifully in my plum tree. I couldn't see it. It was hiding. But I could hear it and could feel the joy of its song. And then an old nursery rhyme came to mind:

"I'm hiding, I'm hiding
And no one knows where;
For all they can see is my
Toes and my hair..."

And then I thought about hiding and that I too was hiding, but not in the same sense as that bird. I am hiding in Jesus. So, I changed the words and even put it to a tune but for now, I'll just share the poem.

I'm Hiding, I'm Hiding

I'm hiding, I'm hiding and I'll tell you where,
In the sweet arms of Jesus, you'll find me there;
Come seek and hide with me, under His care,
I'm hiding, I'm hiding, I'll tell you where.

I'm hiding, I'm hiding, under His care,
With storms all around me, Jesus is there;
He holds me gently, He hears my prayer,
I'm hiding, I'm hiding, under His care.

I'm hiding, I'm hiding, come hide with me there,
For Jesus He loves you, He'll hear your prayer,
In trials and troubles, Your burden He'll bear,
We'll be hiding, sweet hiding, under His care.

Year of Freedom Writing by Pamela Mytroen

If I could write for a full year without financial or time restraint what would I write?

The first thing that comes to mind is that I would probably squander the year away saying, “Oh well, I have all day tomorrow to write, or all next week, so today I will just do this or that . . . .” When I am working full-time I finish more writing projects because I know I have to get it done now or it won’t happen. With my bad habit in mind, the first step on my year of writing would be to set up an accountability partner to ensure that I would write regularly. Come to think of it, that would be a great idea for my present life!

The second step to my wonderful writing year would be to travel to countries such as Indonesia, where Christians, unfortunately, are being persecuted. I would interview a few select people and write their true stories. These are amazing stories of surrender. While we struggle over deciding which pattern of granite to select for our kitchen countertops, they are deciding whether or not to make their faith known to their family, for which they could drown in their backyard swimming pool, or be stoned outside their city. These are stories of how sometimes the Lord intervenes miraculously and saves them from certain death, or starvation, or from physical harm. And yet even when the Lord is silent, still these dear Christians persevere and give their lives for Him. Christians in our affluent and soft-life society need to get a perspective on what is happening to their own family just a plane-ride away. These stories need to be told!

When I thought about having no financial worries, I realized that I would still do a lot of the same writing I’m doing today. Though they do not pay richly, the lessons learned and the friendships created are worth the effort. I would still write human interest stories because they yank me away from my comfy slippers-and-desk routine and drop me into new worlds where I’m forced to speak, negotiate, and relate with others, and even provide opportunities to express grace and love. I would still write devotionals because of the depth of relationship I find with Jesus, and the profound joy in sharing raw discovery with others. I would still write letters, encouraging notes, and especially little blog-type posts of daily life because they help us all remember that there is humour and beauty in every day. And I would still write short fiction because it’s an amazing ride and the vehicle drives home truth in a creative way.

This was a good topic because it helped me to realize contentment in all my current writing projects, but also helped me dream and focus on what I have yet to achieve.

What about you? If you had a full year to write and no financial worries, would your writing change dramatically or not?

 ~ Pamela Mytroen

The 'What-Ifs' Gone Wild by Nicola Frankensee

 

 

 

We are pleased to welcome InScribe member Nicola (Henrietta) Frankensee as our Guest Blogger today.

Ever since God what-iffed the dimensions into being with a Word and gave His people the privilege of intimacy with Him in the use of their own words we have been what-iffing worlds into literature. I think He revels in our imaginations, though they can never do more than reflect His Greater reality.

The ancients imagined Valhalla and Olympia and Nirvana. They created characters--Gilgemesh, Bathsett, Hercules and Ah Bolom Tzacab to populate these worlds and stretch themselves beyond the earth-bound human story.

In western civilisation, using a Christian worldview, Shakespeare the Grimm Brothers and Hans Christian Andersen wrote about elves and fairies and talking animals. In modern times we look to C.S. Lewis and Tolkien as the fathers of modern Christian fantasy. We have The Gospel According to Star Wars. Speculative Fiction is alive and well among Christian authors and publishers.

So what is Speculative Fiction? It is 'what-ifs' gone wild!

• What if Jesus doesn’t come before the year 3000?
• What if He does and it’s before the tribulation? What if He comes after the tribulation?
• What if Time is set in stone and a traveler couldn’t disturb or influence events in the past or future?
• What if the traveler could and did, by design or accident?
• What if a well seasoned Christian met a stranger with suggestively elongated upper canines?
• What if aliens or robots or elves or clones or any assortment of them ruled the earth?
• What if alien police sought to research/experiment with human law by kidnapping a super sleuth to solve their unsolvable crimes?
• What if we could survive a trip through a Black Hole?
• What if animals were better at remembering and worshiping God than humans?

These questions collect and are published under titles like Fantasy, Science Fiction, End Times Fiction, Steam Punk, Time Travel, Ghost Stories and Paranormal Fiction. I find new subcategories all the time.

Friend Google cheerfully lists 5 710 000 hits to the 'Speculative Fiction' query and 670 000 hits for Christian Speculative Fiction, though this changes every day. One of the first links I followed has proven my favourite, Speculativefaith.com. I’ll leave it up to you to follow other links. Be prepared for the bizarre!

There are 114 publishers of Christian Speculative Fiction presently listed on the speculative faith website and more coming up all the time. Though in its infancy and generally published by independent houses, the fan base is hearty and loyal and always hungry for new reading. And even by the short list of what-ifs in this article it is easy to see there are more stories to be written.

Since a blog acquaintance suggested my story came within these parameters, I have reveled in the discussions, controversies, stories and generous companionship of this genre. Bravely going where no Christian Writer has gone before, much joy has been added to my writing life with heretofore undescribed species and situations, and I look forward to where the elves and dwarves and pixies might lead me. I will personally leave the horror and paranormal genres to braver souls!

At the last God gave one man, John, a peek at the what-ifs He has in store for our future, proving again that no author can out-create the Alpha and Omega of Imagination. To His praise and glory He is not threatened by our attempts to use the gift of language and imagination that He so generously shares.

Nicola Frankensee (aka Henrietta) was born in South Africa and has lived in England and Canada. She has told stories all her life and hopes one day to share her Magnum Opus, which is called Leoshine with a wider audience. 

Engaging A New Genre by Bryan Norford

I generally focus on non-fiction, and, if I’m honest, I’ve always been sceptical of fiction as “telling stories” rather than “telling the truth.” You can interpret that anyway you wish! That, despite the fact that Jesus was perhaps the greatest recorded “story-teller” of history.

Jesus’ genius was finding spiritual application from the everyday things that surrounded him: sheep, seeding, and so on, and the endless variety of human foibles. In contrast, an inadequate imagination has always been my handicap.

But back to my non-fiction fixation. I wanted to write a book detailing the reasons I’m a Christian. I’d have no difficulty in filling many chapters. And if I did, I’d eventually have one book in ten thousand that no-one wanted to read, and perhaps exalted me well above my rank.

But slowly the ideas of fiction began to gel in my mind, partly as Ann and I started writing our war stories. It was necessary to include some fiction categories to complete the stories and make them readable. Something towards, but, I hoped, short of full dramatization

The idea of combining the virtues of the faith with a novel began to take root and make sense; something centuries of fiction writers already knew. First, I wrote a short story—about 6000 words, perhaps not so short—in response to a competition, for which I received a polite “thankyou.” Damned by faint praise!

Then I wrote a novel—about 70,000 words—incorporating my ideas. It was an enjoyable experience; with the characters and the plot often taking on a life of their own. A good writer friend read it and suggested it “wasn’t a page turner,” and I should “reduce it by a third”!

However, I was already beginning to see major problems with it, and a few fiction workshops confirmed my concerns and added a few more. I was finding out, by the writing itself, and what I learned since, fiction has a lot more constraints surrounding it that at first thought.

Surprising, for surely, here is a genre where even the sky isn’t the limit; it gives freedom to go beyond imagination, and liberty (license?) to say whatever I want. Yet even fiction must follow guidelines if its intended audience will pick it up and read. And those guidelines change constantly, decade by decade.

However, the idea of a novel lives on in my bucket list, but next time with far more wisdom and appreciation of the art. And with the numerous recognized fiction writers as mentors in InScribe and The Word Guild, it could become a meaningful creation.

Utopia? by Carol Ferguson

 

 

 

We are pleased to have Carol Ferguson, author and InScribe member, join us as our Guest Blogger today.

I was challenged recently to write in a new genre. Here’s my attempt at Sci Fi set in the year 2065.

STEPPING UP to the security check at the airport, Jan placed her chin on the Eye-dentity scanner bar, then lifted two-year-old, Livvy, until her chin rested on the bar for the two-second scan. The iris had proved to be the most basic source of identity and unalterable. They had not even been allowed to leave the hospital after Livvy’s birth until a tiny DNA chip was imbedded between her wee eyebrows. It was the equivalent of the old fashioned birth certificate. Every person on earth had one and it eliminated all need for tangible identification. Jan was pleased with the advances in society. She didn’t have to carry an old fashioned purse like her great grandma did.

Jan remembered hearing horror stories about the number 666; Satan’s number, being tattooed on people’s foreheads and Jews with identity numbers tattooed on their arms. Those stories died off after that generation died and now no parent questioned the chip. If your child went missing a satellite would pick up their exact location in seconds.

When Eye-dentity scanned Jan’s eyes it also scanned her ID chip and gave her an update. Great grandma had laughed too about a cashless society when coins in Canada were phased out and paper currency replaced with polymer bills. Now all finances were only recorded on a person’s chip, Livvy’s too. After the World Monetary Fund took control, finances worldwide, had slowly been equally distributed and no one could access another’s finances. With everyone on an equal economic basis, crime had been virtually wiped out. Great Grandma would be amazed.

Free universal health care became available when the World Health Organization took total charge and quickly eliminated all infectious diseases and eliminated huge pharmaceutical companies that once used health to create personal wealth.

The Bible was used to finally get a handle on world overpopulation and, at the time, it seemed so logical. God promised man three score years and ten, so now, on a person’s seventieth birthday, they celebrate their life and are put to ‘sleep’ and no one grieved about the process. It was now an accepted concept.

No one on earth went hungry since The World Food Bank took control the world's food supply. Everyone on earth works the same amount of time, has the same amount of vacation and everything needed for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is free, shared worldwide.

Pollution and energy problems disappeared with the total switch to solar and wind power. Stored solar power is used to start a vehicle and once it is moving a small wind turbine under the hood recharges the battery.

Jan breathed a satisfied sigh. She finally understands Utopia. Only once in a great while does she recall hearing a voice from the past asking, “When He returns will He find faith on the earth?” Who is returning and from where?