Q.    I keep hearing how ebooks are going to replace bound books. Do you think this will really happen? 

A.    I sincerely hope not. I do have a Kindle, but I still read "real books" far more than books on the Kindle. I like the convenience of an ereader. It's handy for carrying to the doctor's office, hairdresser's, and other places when you don't know how long you're going to wait but don't want to lug a lot of reading material with you. (And something in me, especially with the H1N1 all around, rebels at leafing through waiting room magazines.) Ebooks are great when you're traveling. I like having a variety of books and magazines with me if we go away, but I don't want to carry any weight around with me, so the Kindle works out great. I've discovered that I use the Kindle primarily for books I'm fairly sure I won't want to highlight. I find the highlighting feature in an ereader more trouble than it's worth, so I rarely read research material on it. I need a bound book that I can ink my way through for that. It's just faster for me. 

Opinions differ on just what the future of traditional books will be, but I believe enough of us love the feel and tradition--and even the smell--of bound books that they'll always be with us. And I do my share in buying enough of them to guarantee it!

Q.    What's your favorite word processing program?

A.    Well, it was WordPerfect. But several years ago I switched from PC to Mac, and WordPerfect isn't compatible with the Mac, so I now use MS Word. It's not a "favorite"--not by a long shot--but it works for me, and I don't like trying out a lot of different programs, so I've stayed with it.

Q.    What are you reading, right now?

A.    Don't go by my blog list, because it's usually out of date! I'm always reading more than one book at a time. Currently: And the Dead Shall Rise by Steve Oney. It's about the 1913 murder of young Mary Phagan (in Atlanta). Absolutely brilliant writing. Pursuit of Honor by Vince Flynn. Pure escapism, and much-touted by some of our conservative journalists and newscasters. (Yes, there are some.) John Grisham's new short story collection, Ford County. I love short stories, and, not for the first time, Grisham has proven that he's more than a writer of legal thrillers. Just received a copy of friend Angela Hunt's latest, Let Darkness Come. Looking forward to this one, as she's never written anything I don't enjoy. And then there's the research reading. Always with me. Fortunately, I enjoy it. 

Q.    What's your own favorite book that you've ever written?

A.    I get asked that question a lot, and the answer is always the same: it's whatever I'm working on "now." 

Q.    Is there a particular place you'd rather write about more than any other?

A.    Shame on you! If you'd read more of my books you'd know the answer to your own question! Ireland, of course. And Irish-American immigrant communities. And Appalachia, especially Appalachian small towns.

Are you frustrated because there are too many books out there that have already said what you were going to say? Told the story you had hoped to tell? Set on stage characters too similar to the ones who have been trolling about in your mind? Are you about to shove your partially finished or newly begun manuscript in the bottom of your desk because you don't want to be accused of imitating another writer's story?

Don't be in such a hurry to give up. It seems to me that one of the least understood truths in the writing life is that, short of actually copying another writer's work, you'd find it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to tell the same story as another writer. Here's why: the way you see your characters, the way you view a scene, the way you present dialogue, and the way you view the world around you--which greatly affects the way you view your story world--is certain to be different from that of another writer.

For example: Perhaps I'm writing a winter night's scene as viewed from a window by my young, newly widowed character. She's seeing the barren maple trees, branches bereft and grasping toward something that's no longer there. The moon is a lonely sliver, nearly hidden by heavy clouds, and the lake where she and her now deceased husband used to ice skate is as empty and frozen as her heart seems to be. To her grief-numbed eyes the world outside looks bleak and unfriendly and abandoned.

But when writer Sally G. sits down to imagine that scene from the same living room window, her character--also a widow though not as young, whose husband passed on nearly fifteen years ago--sees the child's swing in one of the maple trees where she and her husband used to push their children when they were small. The scarcely visible moon casts shadows over the frozen lake, and she can almost imagine the bonfires the family used to share in mid-winter on the banks of that lake before her husband died and the children grew up and moved away. Even though unshed tears scald her eyes, she's warmed by the memories no one can steal away from her and the anticipation that next week or next month her children and her grandchildren will be home for a nice long visit. She sees the world outside as changed, but ever lovely, and she views it with hope and a warm and special, enduring happiness. 

Two writers may see a scene in entirely different ways, shine the light of memories on that scene with altogether different emotions pulsing through their characters, with those characters focusing on and recognizing totally different aspects of the setting to which they belong.

What makes the difference ... and makes a story uniquely yours ... is you. It's all in the way you see it. So rescue that story from the bottom of your desk, take another look, and reclaim it as your own.

BJ

Before I list the winners of the Songs of Grace contest, I want to tell you just how difficult it was to choose from among all the wonderful, heartwarming entries received.

An amazing number of submissions came in, and I'm still marveling over how moving and inspiring each one was.

So many of you shared your hearts: your times of loss and struggle, pain and challenge--and those times when it was all you could do to hang on to your faith and continue on. It was pure joy and blessing to read each and every entry. 

I'm so grateful for your willingness to share your thoughts about the songs and hymns that ministered to you. I've often seen and experienced in my own life how music can be used by our God to heal and strengthen and bless. Reading your entries renewed my conviction that music truly is a gift of God and that He uses it in many ways.

Let me just say that, that whether your entry was chosen for a contest prize or not, you are all winners in your own special ways. I pray that God will richly bless you with His peace and continue to pour His grace out upon you! 

And now for the names of the winners:

GRAND PRIZE: Priscilla Pursell

Priscilla will receive a custom-signed copy of Where Grace Abides, plus a $20 iTunes gift card, so she can listen to more songs like her favorite, “I’ll Fly Away”.

SECOND PRIZES: Thomas Gibson, Debbie Doll, Wanda Gerke, and Debra Clark

Thomas, Debbie, Wanda, and Debra will all receive custom-signed excerpts from Where Grace Abides, including a special note from me.

If you didn’t win this time, don’t worry.  I have more great reader contests planned. Be sure to sign up for my Newsletter, to get advance details.

"It was a dark and stormy night."

"Long ago and far away..."

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again."

You're familiar with those, right? Famous first lines of novels, so overdone they've become cliches. I suppose it's only natural for writers to pay attention to first lines of novels, newspaper or magazine articles, and even blog entries. The ones we know best are usually from the classics. Writers also tend to notice those opening lines that immediately hook our interest, fan our curiosity, and draw us into a story. I got curious about some first lines from other novels, ones that haven't become familiar but did their job well as "hooks."

Here are a few that I thought particularly intriguing:

"Under normal circumstances, Faith and I should not be home when my mother calls and invites us to come see her brand-new coffin." -Jodi Picoult, Keeping Faith

"When the monster finally came through the door, he was wearing a mask." -Jodi Picoult, Perfect Match

"There are only three great puzzles in the world, the puzzle of love, the puzzle of death, and, between each of these and part of both of them, the puzzle of God. God is the greatest puzzle of all." -Niall Williams, As It Is in Heaven

"Until I began to build and launch rockets, I didn't know my hometown was at war with itself over its children and that my parents were locked in a kind of bloodless combat over how my brother and I would live our lives." -Homer Hickam, Jr., October Sky

"At the vulnerable age of thirty, Robert Shannon lost his soul." -Frank Delaney, Shannon

"The world had teeth and it could bite you with them anytime it wanted." -Stephen King, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon

"Come into my cell. Make yourself at home." -Walker Percy, Lancelot

"I seem to have trouble dying." -Lawrence Hill, Someone Knows My Name

"This is a thing I've learned: Even with a gun to my head, I am capable of being convulsed with laughter." -Dean Koontz, Relentless

"The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation." -Donna Tartt, The Secret History

"At precisely zero hours UT, or midnight Universal Time, the image of the tortured man erupted onto the world's most popular Web site." -David Baldacci, The Whole Truth

"Captain Crozier comes up on deck to find his ship under attack by celestial ghosts." -Dan Simmons, The Terror

"I saw Byzantium in a dream, and knew that I would die there." -Stephen R. Lawhead, Byzantium

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None of these are from "classics," but they did their job well. They beckoned me into their story. If you have some favorites of your own, feel free to share.

 BJ