My favorite is the Cattleya, the classical orchid with a huge lip. The plant itself doesn’t excite me. It has a slender bulb with several leaves. The blooms, however, make me euphoric.  As I work around the house, I get to watch them unfurl. I’m always amazed how God packages all those frills into a bud.  Several types fill the room with a delicate fragrance once they open. Other strains have a shimmery texture. Fascinating!

When I gaze at a flowering orchid, I ponder my creator. How lovely he must be. It reminds me of John 1:16 “From his (Jesus’s) fullness we have received grace upon grace.” Fullness means profusion or riches.  He came to earth to die for us so he could pour out that abundance and lavish his grace on us. Grace means granting favor, or giving something that delights us. And he didn’t parcel out a tiny bit. Instead, that verse said he piled delight on top of delight. He offers us forgiveness and calls us his children. Here on earth he “…has given us all that pertains to life and godliness…” (2 Peter 1: 4) Believers have an inheritance that won’t ever fade. Wow! When I look at an orchid, I know heaven’s going to be incredible. I love God who created orchids. He is truly beautiful to give so much.

About Struggles and Triumphs Study Guide: 

What’s wrong with our world? Shouldn’t a God who claims to be all powerful and flawless prevent suffering? How can we continue to believe when storms rage on in our lives? If you’ve ever had tough questions like these Struggles and Triumphs Study Guide is the book for you. Author Cynthia L. Simmons will guide you toward answers with her unique and enlightening approach. Her twelve-week Bible study for ladies comes from stories of real women as told in Struggles and Triumphs: Women in History Who Overcame. As you study, you’ll come to understand God’s perspective on timeless issues that impact your life. The carefully chosen Scriptures combined with interesting historical information will challenge and encourage you.

Watch the trailer at: http://youtu.be/HOP9HY7xTXU

I’m not sure what causes it.  Sometimes the scene is emotional. Other times the characters seem to take on a life of their own and no matter how *I* want things to turn out it seems they have their own ideas of what should happen.  And then I start to stumble. I’ll write a sentence and delete a sentence and half.

It’s a frustrating process.  And there have been times that I’ve just walked away.  I hate doing that, though, because I lose valuable writing time.  And these days, writing time seems to be a premium.

I finally found a solution, though.  I got frustrated one day and thought that maybe going outside to work would be helpful.  Of course, the problem with working outside is that the computer (and the iPad) are pretty well worthless since I don’t have a covered patio to work on.  My outside table doesn’t sit directly in the sunlight, but it’s still bright enough to make the glare on the screen too much.

Instead, I took a table and a pen outside with me.  I know, it’s old-fashioned, but before computers and typewriters, that how authors did it.  They wrote everything by hand.  Can you imagine?  It’s not an easy process.

When I first started writing outside, I still struggled a little, but then something happened.  It was as if thinking through the words more slowly allowed a dam to open up and all of the sudden the writing came more smoothly.  I still had moments of frustration, but overall, the flow was back.

Lately, that’s how I’ve been writing a lot. I’m struggling through some tough scene of Biloxi Blue, but writing them long-hand has worked well for me.  It also has the added benefit that when I do finally type everything into the computer, I can edit as I go.  (Not a final edit, but it makes the final edit easier.)

I wonder if that’s why I like the revising process more than the writing process?  I do. I love to edit.  And if I could find a way to skip the writing and go straight to the editing, I would do it.  Because I do all of my editing by hand.  And it flows well.

So, which is better for you?  Typing or long-hand?  Or even your own form of short-hand?

I learned a long time ago that I really shouldn’t let reviews bug me too much.  I’ve seen both the good and the bad, and all that really tells me is that readers have read the book.  Some liked it. Some did not.  And everyone knows that you can’t please all of the people all of the time. But some reviews contain valuable information that can help me, as an author, do a better job.

However, I do have a pet peeve when it comes to reviews.  It annoys me to no end when someone posts a one word review, whether it’s good or bad. In this case, I’m speaking specifically of a one word review of my novel, Biloxi Sunrise. It was awful. And I can’t help but think that the person who posted it did it with malicious intent.

The review was a one star review, titled “Worst Book Ever Written” and the review read, “Awful!!!” Okay.  I understand the reader didn’t like the book.  I’m okay with that.  I’ve actually had some longer reviews that were much more hurtful than this single word review.  I’m okay with that.  While I would love to please everyone and have every person that ever picks up my book think it’s the best piece of fiction ever written, I know that’s not going to happen.

What really bugs me about these kind of reviews, though, is that they are not helpful.  This review does nothing but blast the book.  It doesn’t tell review-readers WHY the reviewer thinks the book is awful. It doesn’t offer any information other than general nastiness.  So, why would a person write a review like this? Even worse, the review was written by “Anonymous,” so the mystery poster isn’t even willing to put their own name on their opinion.

I don’t know why people would write reviews like this.  But I also don’t know why someone would write a review titles “Best Book Ever Written” with the review “Amazing!!!” It doesn’t make sense to me.  I much prefer (and try to write) reviews that have reasoning behind them.

It’s true. Not everyone is going to like or dislike any given book.  But if you’re so inclined to write a review, it would be a nice touch if you would include some information in the review on why you hold that opinion.  As an author, it helps me to know what I should do differently, if anything. Both good and bad reviews can provide valuable information that will help an author improve their craft.

So, for me, I love book reviews.  But I love them even more if they contain some information that will give me an idea of what I might (or might not) need to do differently in my writing.

For the last couple of years, I’ve had a great corporate contract writing technology training. It was interesting and fun, and best of all, it was regular income. But like all good things, that contract came to an end early this year.  And now I’m searching for work again.

Finding writing work isn’t always easy, especially when you work in a pretty specialized field, like I do.  I write about HOW to use technology like devices and software.  There are a couple handfuls of people like me in the world, and that’s about all the room there is for that kind of writing. So, when it comes time to find something new, it’s just not always there.

When that happens, I sometimes have to take on a “real” job to fill in the gaps until the next great contract comes along.  It’s just something that happens.  But it comes with a lot of frustration and questions about whether I’m doing all I can do as a writer to find work.  Could I be doing more? Should I be doing more? And what if I take just another week or two to pound the pavement before I go back into the workforce.  Ugh!

It’s also a little embarrassing.  Especially if you have a sweet “real” gig like I do where you know the people and have worked there a few different times over the years.  Yeah, it’s nice to have that fallback, but it’s also like eating a whole humble pie the first day when you walk back into the office.  What are those people thinking?  Do they think less of me because suddenly I’m not working?  I doubt it, but the being the emotional creature that I am, I sometimes can’t help thinking that way.

So…I’m going back to work.  Just for a few hours a day. Just until something else comes along.  But I’m also mourning the loss of my “work at home” status and the freedom to write whenever I want.  I’m going to be six hours short on my workday for the next few weeks.  That’s means writing faster and staying more focused during the hours that I have to write.  Because I still want Biloxi Blue to come out at the end of April, and it’s still not finished.

This is the moment where dedication really becomes obvious.  Despite all of the frustrations and doubt, do I continue to write or do I throw my hands up and decide I’m done?  From past experience, I can tell that I can’t be done.  I’m just not built that way.  I’ll focus, I’ll moan and groan a little.  But at the end of the day, I am and will always be a writer – an author – and no part-time, fill-in-the-blanks job is going to take that away from me.

I’ll be talking to the Southern Sisters in Crime group tomorrow night at the Homewood Library, in Homewood, Alabama.  I thought I might share my journey through publishing and how I got to the point of self publishing.  If you’re in the area, come join us!  I plan to open the floor up to plenty of questions, too.

You can learn more about the Southern Sisters in Crime on their web site, including the time and location of the meeting tomorrow night.

Author Friday: Barry Eisler

Last night, I finally threw my hands up in frustration and decided to do something that I really shouldn’t have done! I sat down with a bowl of microwave caramel popcorn and ate the whole thing.  I was trying to sooth a worried soul, I guess.

My soul is worried about a lot of things lately, but this scene has been at the top of that worry list for a while. It’s a scene where Kate gives up on Jack. She doesn’t believe that he feels anything for her, she has another (very good looking) option in front of her, and she finally just lets go, goes with the moment, and finds that this new guy is pretty interesting guy with whom she can have a good time.

Problem is, despite all the newness of the feelings that are coursing through her, she still wants Jack. And her heart is still a little bruised over the fact that it looks like they’re not going to be able to work things out.

It’s emotional for Kate and Jack.  But it’s also emotional for me. And I think that’s why I’m having such a tough time with it. As the author, I want to stop Kate from making mistakes that can affect the rest of her life.  But I can’t. I have to let her go through whatever she needs to to change and become the person she’s meant to be.  But that makes it no easier to do.

So, what does it all mean?  Your guess is as good as mine.  The scene is too close to my heart? The characters are too autobiographical? The situation is too “real”?  I can’t tell you because I really don’t know.  But I can tell you that writing this scene is twisting me in knots.  And that, in turn, is slowing down the writing!

So, I did what people do.  I started playing with the marketing that I’m doing.  I have an ad posted at GoodReads.  I’m not sure it’s doing me much good.  But I’m going to leave it alone for now. I also signed my book to be showcased at a few different places that are specific to Kindle readers.

One of those places was Kindle Nation Daily.  (Click the link to see the ad.) I chose KND because they are willing to share their advertising results, and those results looked pretty impressive. So, I paid $139 for a one day advertisement with the intention of just seeing how much it would help.

I’m pleased. The ad ran yesterday, and before the sale started the book was ranking between about 120,000 and 220,000 on Amazon.  After the ad, my ranking is in the 2800 range.  Nice improvement.  And I’m hoping it will continue to climb.  But we’ll just have to see what happens.

Meanwhile, My Barnes and Noble sales are plodding along, and I’m slowly climbing the ranks.  Current, the book is ranking in the 9,000 range.  Not great, not terrible. But it IS making a slow, steady climb higher.

Keep you posted….

My novel, Biloxi Sunrise, has a review coming out in the March issue of Sense magazine!  It’s an amazing review!  And it’s on page 5. (Which is the third page facing the front cover – AWESOME placement!)

The review, in part:

The first few lines of any novel should captivate a reader, and Ledford does not disappoint…The chapters end in suspenseful plot points that Ledford reveals in her unique style. Indeed, she crafts a hard-boiled case that has us “tapping” the pages at an illegal rate. The story is so gripping that after seven chapters of non-stop reading, you will forget the weighted absence of a paper-filled book and be completely immersed into Ledford’s thrilling tale.

I can’t tell you how excited I am to have this review out in a glossy (and beautiful!) magazine. I’ll let you know how it helps to bump sales as soon as I have some numbers.

And on one other note, tomorrow Biloxi Sunrise will be featured on Kindle Nation Daily.  I’m excited to see how that turns out as well.  I’m sure I’ll have lots to report later this month, and maybe later this week.