Day: November 17, 2021

NaNoWriMo Day 17

/ Kristi / Leave a comment

The Words: 1592 total words, which were all written in the dark of my car while my daughter was at youth group. Our church is half an hour away from our home, so going home while she’s at youth group is pretty much a waste of time and gas. Because it’s November, I took my Neo with me and wrote for a good portion of the time I was waiting. Of course, it was dark, so I couldn’t see what I was doing. And I make more mistakes on the Neo than on the computer, so…it’ll be a really messy block of words. But at least I made good use of my time! I thought about writing more when I got home to get to my current daily goal of 2000, but decided to let it go. I’ve reached an open section of my outline that may be a bit slower to muddle through, so I’ll worry about that tomorrow.

The Story: Today’s writing was mostly characters discussing the situation at hand. They went over some of the things that had happened recently and tried to make some sense of it. I think they’re realizing things I didn’t expect them to realize, so I tried to make them look in another direction. In revision, I will either have to make sure they don’t get quite as many clues as they’ve gotten or let them understand some things earlier than I expected them to, and see what that does to the story.

Total word count: 35,100

If you want to join me in my journey through the second year of NaNoToons (with a storyline), check out the NaNoToon from November 17, 2011!

Book Review: Return to the Hiding Place

/ Kristi / Leave a comment

Return to the Hiding Place
by Hans Poley

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: Memoir

During the time of Nazi persecution, a Christian Dutch family called the ten Booms welcome into their home various people who were hiding from the Nazis, both Jewish and not. 18-year-old Hans Poley was the first guest, hiding to avoid being sent to Germany to do hard labor in replacement of Germans who’d been sent to fight. Here he tells the story of his time at the ten Booms’ house and his own arrest that took him to a prison, then a concentration camp.

Having read The Hiding Place earlier this year, it was really interesting to see the Beje and the ten Boom family from the perspective of one of their “guests.” Not only does Hans Poley echo Corrie ten Boom’s assertions about the incredible faith of her father and sister, he shows Corrie herself as more open and giving than she portrayed herself in some areas. For example, when her room was chosen as the location for the secret room in her book, she tried to protest it. According to Poley, however, she “readily agreed.” I think we’d all be surprised to find out how others view us, compared to how we view ourselves, and in this case, Corrie ten Boom may have been a little hard on herself. Another small thing I noticed that didn’t match up between the books is that both authors claim to be the one who gave Eusi, one of the most prominent long-term Jewish guests, his fake name, and I wonder if this, and any other possible discrepancy, is simply due to faulty memories.

Yet again I was struck by how incredibly selfless this family was, giving up their own comfort and safety to help so many others. And Casper ten Boom, Corrie’s father, is even more inspirational to me after reading this. He repeatedly expressed a desire to help the Jewish people as if it weren’t even a choice to make. If you’ve read The Hiding Place, you should consider reading this too. Overall, though, I recommend it to anyone interested in true Holocaust accounts, especially those from a Christian worldview.

Find out more about Return to the Hiding Place

See what I’m reading next.

If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!