Novel Rocket

Inexpensive Research Travels by Henry Biernacki

2012-01-27T00:51:00.002-05:00

Henry Biernacki has traveled to more than 120 countries and continues to travel as a pilot for Virgin American Airlines. A four-sport letterman in high school and a two-sport letterman in college, Biernacki holds a Bachelor of Arts in romance languages and international affairs. He lived in France, Germany, Taiwan, the West Indies and Mexico before settling in his current home in San Jose, California.“Global Henry” (Traveler to over 120 plus countries)

You are not eating local unless flies are eating with you! It was a grass hut fully equipped with generous mosquitoes, willing to suck the life out of any exhausted traveler. The room was unfurnished with nonexistent grand necessities, except the broken lamp in the corner, sitting on the floor next to an empty toilet roll left by the last traveler who probably gazed out the small window all night at the one big palm tree, leading to the beach on Penang Island. The ceiling was the ceiling for the entire guesthouse with only a piece of green synthetic material separating each room, a convenient way to hear people snoring. The curtains were old lungis.1 Ideally, by traveling away from the luxurious comforts of common basics, a traveler realizes the process is the destination and continuously redefining the destination is what feeds the journal when writing a story and ultimately pulls off inexpensive research trips. Most importantly, while traveling do not fall back on the pseudo comfort of money.

Airline tickets are set, that fee expected, and no way to dismiss that. Beyond the ticket, the rest of the journey is up to the traveler on how much is spent each day. When traveling without the reassurances of home, you immediately slash costs, while being on the road. Are you willing to stay in a guesthouse like this or even sleep on the streets to grab a story? This is the sort of traveling where you are going to question several times, “Why for the love of God do I travel?” Hotels, restaurants, cafes, and taxis know people will pay for the closeness, even for the slightest recollection of home. However, from those tension-free-easy-to-map-out-experiences you never draw an image, with words, that inevitably make you hunger to write and the reader is certainly never going to feel what you are attempting to create.

Extend yourself and learn by taking public transit anywhere you go, ask everyone questions, get lost in the confusion of a new city, and ultimately most of your day is consumed without spending money, but modestly gathering experiences. That is the reason why we travel: to grasp hold of the newness in a nation where people are going to offer you to sit, visit, and finally may request you to meet their entire family. The only important part of any trip to a destination is the entire process of going through a country.

Carry more books than clothes, which is admirable, since you are going to be in need of words, describing a situation, then you can sell the books to the guesthouse. Travel with things you do not mind getting stolen. Assume anything you have will be stolen. You are going to be distracted, lost, and trying to find your way around a capital. You are going to be asking a lot of questions and touts 2 can sense who is lost. Travel with a medium size rucksack. You will not be tempted to buy anything. Be sure to take a few Ziploc bags to keep your things dry.

Many people arrive at a destination to research their topic when research is in the travel itself. Tourists have a destination. That is why there is always somewhere to go for a tourist always paying for something else. A traveler knows that the somewhere does not matter and somewhere can catch up anytime, knowing a story is being cultivated.

The test of ones character is not doing something, an action, which you know you can perform; but rather having the sureness of undertaking something of which you are wholly naïve and still making it all work in your favor.

The flies circling dinner and the seedy mosquito-infested rooms reveal a classy charmed guesthouse. Do not mind the bloodstained synthetic walls marked by once living bloated mosquitoes. Blood skillfully runs down the walls as if an artist stayed in the room to paint his masterpiece only to leave it half completed with his blood smeared. Just before the light goes out, make sure you give one good smack to kill the last bloated mosquito buzzing around your head. You did save money.

When words make sense, time is in the hands of humans.

1 Bright colored cloth worn around the waists, as a piece of clothing, by men in the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia.

2 Touts are local people who solicit business for hotels, bars, or markets, receiving a payment for the tourists who come to purchase items.

The winners of Tricia Goyer's book are

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KC Frantzen and Henry McLaughlin.

Playing With Words

2012-01-26T01:00:00.002-05:00

A child “can develop fully by means of experience in his environment. We call such experiences ‘work’. Such experiences are not play… . It is work he must do in order to grow up.” – Maria Montessori, Italian physician and educator

“Play is a child’s work.” – Jean Piaget, Swiss early childhood theorist

I had to write a new bio for myself recently to promote the upcoming ACFW Journal magazine. As I struggled to make the bio more than just a recapping of my activities in the world of publishing—yawn—I fell upon describing what I do as “playing with words.”

No, this is not a new thought, nor is it original to me. But it is attractive, is it not?

Since coming to work for the Christian Writers Guild just over a year ago, I have frequently felt that what I get to do is closer to play than to work. But, as Montessori and Piaget suggest, even play is a vital learning tool. I know I am learning more about writing and editing as I work.

So, let’s play together—and see what we can learn. I’m going to provide the beginning of a story and I want you to carry it forward. A couple rules, because every playground has them:

Write no more than two paragraphs or 2-3 lines of dialogue.
Do not lead those who will follow you into an abyss of extreme silliness—only mild silliness allowed.
You can make more than one comment, but you have to let another commenter carry the story forward before you contribute again.
No editing.

Ready? Go! And thanks to CWG mentor Christy Scannell for the seed to this story, which I played with and expanded:

If Everett Sloan has to preach one more sermon, he’s going to hit someone—probably Bertha McVie, his “EGR” (Extra Grace Required) board chair, who just plopped her overstuffed self into the metal folding chair across the table from him. The metal protested louder than Everett, but he meant it more.

“Pastor Sloan,” the ooze in her voice made him hate his own name. “Some of the ladies from the auxiliary—” no doubt she meant herself—“have been wondering something.”

OK, play!

"Let's Play" image (c) Jennifer Marr, stock.xchang.com

Michael Ehret loves to play with words and as editor for the ACFW Journal, he is enjoying his new playground. As anyone who has watched children play knows, play is how humans learn. By planning each issue of ACFW Journal and editing its articles, Michael is constantly learning. He also plays with words as the editor-in-chief of the Jerry B. Jenkins Christian Writers Guild and as a contributor to the blogsite, NovelRocket.com. He has edited several nonfiction books, played with words as a corporate communicator, and was a reporter for The Indianapolis Star.

When Listening to Others' Advice, Don't Forget the Fun

2012-01-25T04:00:00.000-05:00

Tricia Goyer is an acclaimed and prolific writer, publishing hundreds of articles in national magazines including Thriving Family and MomSense while authoring more than thirty-one fiction and nonfiction books combined. Among those are 3:16 Teen Edition with Max Lucado and the American Christian Fiction Writers’ Book of the Year Award winners Night Song and Dawn of a Thousand Nights. She has also written books on marriage and parenting and contributed notes to the Women of Faith Study Bible. Tricia hosts a weekly radio program Living Inspired and lives with her husband and children in Arkansas. You can find out more about Tricia at www.triciagoyer.com or www.facebook.com/authortriciagoyer

NR: Tricia will give away 2 books, so leave a comment to be entered in the drawing. Continental U.S. only, please.

When Listening to Others' Advice, Don't Forget the Fun

Often when people find out you want to be a novelist they give you the following advice:

Don't quit your day job.
Don't be disappointed by rejection, because it will happen.
Prepare for a long journey to publication.
Expect hurdles along the way.

Good advice, except that if you focus on all the warnings you're going to lose part of the fun of the process.

And why do you want to follow this dream if you aren't going to have any fun?

I remember going to my second Mt. Hermon Writer's Conference in 1995. I'd submitted a novel I'd JUST started working on and I had a big worry. What IF more than one publisher wanted it? How would I choose!! Oh my!

I laugh now because I was such a newbie. I had nothing publishable to offer, and I didn't realize that...but writing to me was fun. In the last 17 years I still have the same joy. Yes, writing is work but everyday I want to pinch myself. I really get to write books for people from around the world to read??? How cool is that!

So, as for that advice. Let's turn it on it's head.

Don't quit your day job. Of course you can't quit your full-time work (with full-time pay) and expect that you can support yourself with your writing income right off the bat.

But…treat your writing as if you will be doing it as a career for the next 20, 30, 40 years. Focus on what you enjoy doing the most—historical, contemporary, young adult, sci-fi. Don't let others tell you what you should write. Write what a book you'd love to read, and make a 5-year plan of where you want to go. Give yourself performance reviews and bonuses for a job well done. Build relationships with others in the business.

Don't be disappointed by rejection, because it will happen. Yes, rejection will happen but don't feel you have to shrug it off right away. Give yourself time to pout. Rejection hurts because writing matters.

I remember the day after my first novel went to committee and I received a “no.” I fed my children cereal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and I spent the whole day moping on the couch. I used a whole box of Kleenex on my tears, but you know what? The next day I got up, squared my shoulders and got back to work. That novel never did get published...but the next proposal that went to committee got a “yes.” And you can bet I celebrated then!

Prepare for a long journey to publication. The truth is that it takes an average of ten years for someone to start writing fiction until they have a novel accepted and published. For me it was eight years—pretty close! How did I not get discouraged and give up? Instead of focusing my getting a novel published, I worked on other things. I wrote articles. I did some word-for-hire projects. I even wrote study notes for a Bible. This wasn't the “publishing” I was dreaming of, but I learned some good skills along the way. I also build some great relationships that continue today!

Expect hurdles along the way. There are always bumps in the road. Problems we don't expect. Family situations that keep us away from the computer. Health problems that throw us for a loop. But on every journey there are unexpected surprises. Along the way to having your novel published you'll meet amazing people. You'll discover things about yourself you never knew. You'll grow closer to God as you lean on Him. The hurdles will come, but so will the triumphs and joys. Look forward to these, too.

(And finally, above all, do take at least a few minutes to worry IF more than one publisher wants to buy your work. It could happen...and it's a fun way to brighten your day!)

Chasing Mona Lisa

One enigmatic smile. Two passionate protectors. And a relentlessly ticking clock.

August 1944. Paris is on the cusp of liberation. As the soldiers of the Third Reich flee the Allied advance, they ravage the country and steal countless pieces of irreplaceable art. In fact, Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring will stop at nothing to claim the most valuable one of all--the Mona Lisa--as a postwar bargaining chip.

But the woman with the mysterious smile has some very determined protectors. Can Swiss OSS agents Gabi Mueller and Eric Hofstadler rescue Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece before it falls into German hands?

With nonstop action and intrigue, Chasing Mona Lisa is sure to get your adrenaline pumping as you join the chase to save the most famous painting in the world. From war-ravaged Paris to a posh Swiss chateau, the race is on--and the runners are playing for keeps.

The Open Hand Theory

2012-01-24T07:03:00.002-05:00

www.christianphotos.net

After years of attending writers conferences, I was shocked to have an editor of a large publishing house ask to meet with me. She had my manuscript in hand and had offered up some editorial suggestions to make the manuscript stronger. Before I agreed to take a look, I felt it my duty to divulge the fact that I was likely going to be going with another publishing house.

She blinked at me a few times, then got to work explaining why she thought the changes she suggested would make the book better. At the end of the conversation, I told her that the other publisher was interested in buying the book on a partial, something she wasn’t willing to do. She then went on to say, “Gina, it doesn’t matter if we’re the ones who publish you, we just want to see you published. You’ve done so much for other writers over the years that we’re all rooting for your success.”

That’s the law of reciprocity at work, or as we prefer to call it, the open hand theory.

"One of the most potent of the weapons of influence around us is the rule for reciprocation. The rule says that we should try to repay, in kind, what another person has provided us." Robert B. Cialdini, author of The Psychology of Persuasion (William Morrow, 2006)

You can read books like How to Win Friends and Influence People (Dale Carnegie), The above mentioned, Psychology of Persuasion, The Tap (Frank McKinney), and others, but I think it comes down to a pretty simple concept: By keeping an open hand, you’re allowing blessings to flow both in and out.

We’ve all read the story of the monkey trap. Folklore suggests that if you put a tasty treat inside a container with a hole just big enough for the money to slide its hand into, but not big enough for it to get it out once his fist is clenched, the monkey will allow itself to be killed or captured before he will let go of the treat. We writers can be a lot like monkeys.

So often we have ideas, talents or resources that would benefit others, but our natural inclination seems to be hiding these away for ourselves. Great phrases, marketing ideas, you name it. Our selfish self whispers, “Don’t share that, it’s valuable information. Do you want everyone doing it? It will lose its originality, it’s value.”

Christians, Jews and other faiths adhere to the principle of tithing. The Bible says in Malachi 3:10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do," says the LORD of Heaven's Armies, "I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!” New Living Translation

When you don’t tighten your fist around the prize, you leave it open for others to take, and for others to give. If you want to be a successful author, heck, a successful anything, you’re going to need some help from others. In return, you’re going to need to help others.

Gina Holmes is the President and founder of Novel Rocket and the bestselling and award-winning author of Crossing Oceans and Dry as Rain. She holds degrees in science and nursing and currently resides with her husband and children in southern Virginia. To learn more about her, visit www.ginaholmes.com.

From the bestselling author of Crossing Oceans comes a powerfully moving story that tests the limits of love’s forgiveness. Like many marriages, Eric and Kyra Yoshida’s has fallen apart slowly, one lost dream and misunderstanding at a time, until the ultimate betrayal finally pushes them beyond reconciliation. Just when it looks like forgive and forget is no longer an option, a car accident gives Eric the second chance of a lifetime. A concussion causes his wife to forget details of her life, including the chasm between them. No one knows when—or if—Kyra’s memory will return, but Eric seizes the opportunity to win back the woman he’s never stopped loving.

In the Virginia Area and Looking for a Good, Inexpensive Writers Conference?

2012-01-23T08:01:00.001-05:00

UPDATE: ThIs event is SOLD OUT.

Roanoke Regional Writers Conference V:
a Strong Lineup

January 27-28, 2012

The fifth edition of the Roanoke Regional Writers Conference at Hollins University, scheduled January 27-28, features what founding director Dan Smith calls "probably our strongest and most varied lineup."

Two dozen classes, taught by over 25 professionals, a round-table discussion, a Friday evening reception with two speakers and Saturday lunch are all included in the $60 tuition. The conference will feature a number of successful authors, journalists, designers, marketers and academics, as well as an accountant and a lawyer to help students with the practical end of their profession. This year, for the first time, science fiction will be featured with two classes taught by Mike Allen and Rod Belcher. Allen and Belcher have found considerable success in the genre and each has a day job to supplement the passion. Allen is a newspaper reporter and Belcher owns Cosmic Castle, a gaming store.

For the second straight year, the conference will have talks by literary agents, this year a married couple from New York, Nat Sobel and Judith Weber. The Jackson Center for Creative Writing at Hollins is sponsoring the appearance of Sobel Weber Associates.

Among those teaching who have new books are Belcher, Mollie Cox Bryan (a cookbook writer whose first mystery novel is due out in February), Doug Cumming, Cathryn Hankla, Gina Holmes, Roland Lazenby, Jim Minnick and Matthew Vollmer. Dan Smith and Darrell Laurent have new novels in the final phases of completion.

Details:

Questions?

Contact Dan Smith at (540) 556-8510 or e-mail editrdan@msn.com.

All That and Toilet Paper?

2012-01-22T04:00:00.000-05:00

All That and Toilet Paper?

Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened. Mark 6:51-52

Like many newlyweds, when we were first married, we struggled financially. Six months into wedded bliss, we found ourselves needing groceries. Being young and full of faith, we decided we would tell no one…but God.

Several days into this, as our stomachs growled and the food cabinet grew bare, I got a call from a friend wanting to know if I would go shopping with her. The last thing I wanted to do was go shopping. We barely had enough to put a meal together; shoes were the last thing on my mind. Yet, not wanting to spoil her enthusiasm and not wanting to let on that there was a problem, I quickly agreed.

Once I hung up the phone, I asked God for strength and grace to go shopping with my friend, and for help to keep our need from her. We wanted to rely totally upon God for this need.

So I got dressed and ready to go. My spirits perked as I thought about spending some time with my friend and enjoying our day.

When she showed up at the front door, she had a paper sack filled with groceries in her hands. I opened the door and she walked inside, heading straight for my table. She plunked the groceries on the table and turned to me. “I know this seems crazy, but during my quiet time this morning, the Lord told me you needed this.” Then she marched back to her car and brought in several more bags of groceries—right down to paper towels and toilet paper!

God had thought of everything.

I’ll never forget that day. We hadn’t told a soul of our need. We were careful to not let on to anyone that we had a need. I don’t know if we were putting God to the test or just plain trusting, but He came through for us. The thing that I hadn’t expected was how surprised we were. We say we trust Him, so why is it when He comes through for us we are surprised?

God met our need that day—and every day since then.

Do you have a need? Have you given it over to Him? God uses His people to reach out to others. It doesn’t hurt to share your need—unless He tells you to do otherwise. But no matter how you handle it, He is there for you. Trust Him. He’s a BIG God.

Today’s Prayer: Father, thank You that You are so much bigger than any need we have. Thank You for understanding our fears and for the strength You provide in times of challenge. Help us also to be an extension of Your hands to others in need.

Diann Hunt admits to seeing the world from a slightly different angle than most, and she will do just about anything (within reason) for chocolate. Since 2001, Diann has 20+ books, including Love Letters in the Sand. Diann has won the American Christian Fiction Writer's prestigious Book of the Year award in her genre. Diann and her real-life hero-husband make their home in Indiana. Visit her website at www.DiannHunt.com

E-Books...One Woman's POV

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K. Dawn Byrd is an author of inspirational romance and romantic suspense with five books published to date...all in e-book versions. Here’s her take on the e-book phenomenon.

My first book published in e-format with Desert Breeze Publishing was in 2010. At the time, I felt like I was getting in on the ground floor of something great. I'd just learned how to download e-books to my BlackBerry and found that I loved reading them on the go. It was, and still is, wonderful to have dozens of books in one lightweight device that I always have with me. I've grown to love e-books so much that if a book doesn't come in E, I simply don't purchase it.

Publishing is changing at rapid rates. I've watched the market as publisher after publisher jumped on the e-book wagon. Some publishers publish only in E format. Kindles, Nooks, and every other e-book reader imaginable flew off the shelves in alarming rates this last December.

For those who love going green, e-books are the answer to conserving resources. Can you imagine how many trees have been saved? In addition, I hate to think of books ever ending up in the landfill, but it does happen. Since gasoline is so expensive, everyone is trying to conserve. It's nice to have access to millions of books with just the simple push of a button.

E-books are so convenient. I enjoy reading in bed and can now do so without turning on a lamp. I don't have to worry about disturbing my husband while I read and it's nice to pack light on vacation because all my books are in my Blackberry. When the power was off at my house for over thirty hours last winter due to a snowstorm, I was able to occupy myself by reading on my Blackberry.

I can't imagine the world without e-books and I'm so glad they're here to stay.

K. Dawn Byrd is an avid blogger and gives away several books per week on her blog... most of which are signed by the authors. She's also the moderator of the popular facebook Christian Fiction Gathering group.

When not reading or writing, K. Dawn Byrd enjoys spending time with her husband of 16 years while walking their dogs beside a gorgeous lake near her home and plotting the next story waiting to be told. Her latest releases in the Zoe Mack Mystery Series are due out in January, June and December 2012.

When Zoe Mack moves in with her grandparents to start college, she's thrown into more mystery than she bargained for. Her cousin, Emma, is terrorized by a stalker who breaks into her house and leaves a photo-shopped image of Emma hanging from a tree. Nothing is as it seems and Emma soon learns that even the man she thinks she can trust is suspect.

Zoe can't wait to reunite with Nate, the bad boy who doesn't talk about his feelings much, but the passionate kiss he gave her last summer had to have meant something. When she discovers he's in trouble with the law, she takes matters into her own hands to clear his name. She has her hands full with a needy Emma, a cop who gives her the creeps, and Nate, the guy she desperately wants to call her own. Can Zoe solve the mystery, clear Nate's name, and make him fall in love with her?

Did You Hear?

2012-01-20T23:59:00.004-05:00

In case you missed it, we’ve officially launched the 2012 edition of Novel Rocket’s LAUNCH PAD Contest: Boosting You Out of the Slush Pile.

This is an opportunity for unpublished novelists to move into the next stage of their writing journey.
Every entrant receives a critique. If you win a genre category, you’ll have your first chapter published here on Novel Rocket and will be in the finals.

If you win the Grand Prize, your story will bypass the slush pile and get onto the desk of a hand-picked publishing professional (to be determined by your genre, intended audience, and submission history.)

For more details and the official rules, click on our Launch Pad Contest tab.

Questions? We love questions! We even answer them! Email us at NovelRocketContest@gmail.com, and a real human will provide a prompt, personal reply.

Hoping to see YOUR submission soon!

Besides writing fiction that takes you out of this world, Yvonne Anderson has been our contest administrator since the event’s inception in 2010. The first novel in her Gateway to Gannah series, The Story in the Stars, debuted last summer, and the next in the series is planned for release this year. Read more of her wisdom at YsWords.com.

NoTime, No Privacy, No Self-Discipline ~ The Literary Ladies Blast Through Excuses ~ Nava Atlas

2012-01-20T00:31:00.025-05:00

Though Nava Atlas is best known as the author of many books on vegan vegetarian cooking, she also produces visual books on women’s issues, most recently The Literary Ladies’ Guide to the Writing Life (2011). This lavishly illustrated book explores the writing lives of twelve classic women authors in their own words, with commentary on the relevance of their experiences to all women who love to write.

by Nava Atlas

Too much to do and too little time, no room of one’s own, and no willpower to simply sit down and write—those are the Big Three of “why I’m not writing” excuses. Those obstacles were as true for women writers in earlier generations as they are for today’s writers, as I discovered in researching the writing lives of classic authors of the past for The Literary Ladies’ Guide to the Writing Life.

Sure, you’re busy, but you may feel less overwhelmed when you learn that Harriet Beecher Stowe had seven children, and was in charge of all the household duties, aside from being responsible for bringing in at least half of its income. Still, she somehow found the wherewithal to complete Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a book that’s been credited with shifting public attitude about slavery when it was published in 1853.

In times past, a writer was truly alone with the blank piece of paper. Now, with most of us working on computers, fully wired, a new daily battle is fought against the constant distraction of the Internet, that sneaky demon lurking behind the blank page on the screen. How did writers past, the ones who ultimately succeeded gloriously, find time, privacy, and the will to write? Here are some nuggets of wisdom from several Literary Ladies:

Don’t take an all or nothing attitude. Some of the authors in this book, including Willa Cather (author of My Antonia, O Pioneers!, and many other works), worked a mere few hours a day: “I work from two and a half to three hours a day. I don’t hold myself to longer hours; if I did, I wouldn’t gain by it,” she said in a 1921 interview.

Don’t wait until you have the perfect private, quiet place. L.M. Montgomery (best known for her Anne of Green Gables series) got nothing done in her silent room before or after work as a working girl in 1920. But when she snatched odd moments in the bustle of the newsroom where she was employed, “The impossible happened ... Every morning here I write, and not bad stuff either.” Similarly, Madeleine L’Engle wrote, “I must seize opportunities,” and found that she got good work done on planes, as well as in airports and hotels.

To get work done, think of small chunks. Some authors of the past found their will to stay put and write was aided by just focusing on that day’s work. Edna Ferber (hugely successful in her time for cinematic novels like Cimmaron and Giant), thought it better to think of “any long piece of work as a day to day task,” and not become overwhelmed by the big picture, otherwise, “one can drown in a morass of apprehension.”

So, while today’s writing women might battle the temptations of Facebook and Twitter, it was little different for George Sand, who complained in 1869, “I let myself be distracted by guilty fancies.” No doubt, those were her myriad of lovers, but that didn’t stop her from writing more than seventy novels. See excuses for what they are, and don’t let them get the best of you. The Literary Ladies all found strategies to overcome the very same issues, and you can, too.

Are You in the Nose Bleed Section?

2012-01-19T08:18:00.005-05:00

Years ago, a very educated and prestigious writer recommended a novel to me. During our time together, he sounded so intelligent that I hung on every word, even though I didn't understand half of what he was telling me. I did a lot of nodding as my brain tried to decipher what the the heck he just said.

When the conversation ended, I went right out and bought the book and began reading it with much anticipation. After several hours of squinting, I finally had to admit to myself that the thing was over my head.

I'm sure it's a wonderful novel. I'm sure all the literati's would agree, but for me, I'll never know because I was so consumed with looking up words I'd never seen and rereading sentences, paragraphs and entire chapters again and again to make sense of them, that I was pulled out of the story, and ultimately decided it was a little more work than I was willing to put in.

As writers, we can mistake the use of complicated sentences and large snooty words as being synonymous with good writing. There are some literati elitists who think if a piece of work doesn’t make them crack open their dictionary at least a half dozen times a chapter, it’s simply not well done.

Let me try to put it into perspective.

Back in my previous life as a registered nurse, I would listen to doctors explain to patients a new diagnosis. Some of the docs would talk so far above their patient’s heads that when the MD would leave, the patient would ask me for a translation. It always amazed me. How could someone smart enough to have a medical degree not know that they weren’t speaking in a way that others understood?

I’ve seen many a distressed patient shocked to learn that the mumbo jumbo the doctor had just rattled to them actually meant that they had cancer, or that all those scary words she used actually meant that they had nothing but a mild infection that would go away on its own. Writing can be a lot like that.

On the contrary, there were other doctors who would size up the patient, and speak to them in lay language, on their level. I learned pretty quickly that these were usually the smartest of the two groups of professionals.

Yes, we writers naturally have large vocabularies. Save it for Scrabble.

This isn't to say we dumb down our writing or only include words under five letters. I think most readers are intelligent people. Readers by nature, often are, but the more you strive to sound smart, the dumber it can come across.

In my humble opinion, good writing starts with being understandable. What’s the point in having something to say if no one understands you?

Gina Holmes is the President and founder of Novel Rocket and the bestselling and award-winning author of Crossing Oceans and Dry as Rain. She holds degrees in science and nursing and currently resides with her husband and children in southern Virginia. To learn more about her, visit www.ginaholmes.com.

Twist on a Familiar Tale By Christy Award Winning Author Cathy Gohlke

2012-01-18T00:05:00.002-05:00

Cathy Gohlke is the two-time Christy Award–winning author of William Henry is a Fine Name and I Have Seen Him in the Watchfires, which also won the American Christian Fiction Writers' Book of the Year Award and was listed by Library Journal as one of the Best Books of 2008.

Cathy has worked as a school librarian, drama director, and director of children's and education ministries. When not traipsing the hills and dales of historic sites, she, her husband, and their dog, Reilly, make their home on the banks of the Laurel Run in Elkton, Maryland.

Twist on a Familiar Tale

We’ve been mesmerized by James Cameron’s Titanic love story of Jack Dawson and Rose Dewitt Bukater, about to be re-released in 3-D. We grew up with Walter Lord’s “A Night to Remember.” We’ve been inspired by stories of Mrs. Strauss, who chose to die with her husband, and uncomfortably plagued by the decision of Bruce Ismay, president of Titanic’s White Star Line, to save himself while hundreds of innocents drowned. The opulence, the sometimes arrogance of first class, and the plight of men, women, and children in third class, who for reasons real and imagined, never stood a chance, have been recounted and debated ever since the magnificent ship went down.

This year marks Titanic’s 100^th Anniversary, and a plethora of new novels, dramas, documentaries and musicals are setting sail to commemorate the occasion. But what more could there possibly be to say about one of the best known tragedies of history?

Perhaps, the opportunity to present, in picture form, the greatest story ever told—a story that captures not only the romance of the era and the drama of the tragedy, but a picture of the life Christ demonstrated for us, and through His sacrifice and charge, His love for the world. His is the true story that changed our history, our present, and our future.

The drama surrounding Titanic presented the perfect opportunity for that story in novel form—an Edwardian era painting of Christ in the character of a strong and wise man whose concern was for the good of others, to the point of saving them and securing their future, even as he sacrificed himself. Add the tale of a young man, desperate for love and family, for hope and a future—the very picture of “us.” And at last there’s the heroine, who must learn to love and forgive as she’s been loved and forgiven, who must learn that the purest form of love we can demonstrate to others is like that which Christ freely offers us—our response to His charge, to “love one another.”

As I wrote Promise Me This, parallel after parallel presented itself, lesson after lesson. But it had to be true to Titanic’s tragedy. I could not bend history. I didn’t need to.

The first time I saw a copy of the ship’s manifest I found details of a young man, Owen George Allum, a gardener who’d sailed third class from Southampton, England—a gardener who reminded me enough of an emigrating family member’s story to charge my imagination and make me dig deeper into history.

Later, in a Titanic exhibit, I saw Owen’s name again and learned that he’d drowned. A little research led me to his family, his intended destination, even the items found in his pockets once his body was recovered and sent to Halifax. From all of this I wove a fictional short story, The Legacy of Owen Allen, which eventually grew into the full length manuscript, Promise Me This.

I traveled to London and Southampton, England, to trace the last days and hours of some of Titanic’s vendors and crew before they set sail. I investigated the economic and societal history of the locals, and learned that because of a six-week coal strike (resulting in no work or pay for crewmen or dock workers for weeks) before Titanic sailed, nearly every Southampton family lost a member or friend newly/thankfully employed on the great ship, most often the breadwinner of a large family or aged parents. Devastation for the people of Southampton and surrounding areas lasted years beyond the ship’s foundering.

In two years the populace was hit again by the ravages of WWI—horrific bombing, severe rationing, and a war that crippled and claimed through hideous new weaponry young men labeled as “the lost generation,” changing forever all they and the world had known.

Finally, laying aside my stack of research books, and with the companionship of my wonderful chauffer-husband and grown children, I researched through museums, historic sites, and individuals the histories of WWI in England, France and Germany—everything from healed trenches to still-scarred families.

Walking the land and talking with natives helped me flesh out the stories of each of my characters in ways I could not from this side of the Atlantic. And it helped me better understand the seeds of bitterness and discontent sown in Germany after the war, seeds that would produce a harvest ripe for Hitler’s regime years later—all fodder for another book.

But at last, like my war weary characters, I turned toward home and hope, to write. What better place to set the home and hope of my characters than in a garden in our own Garden State—for weren’t we created to inhabit a garden? And when we failed, didn’t Jesus fulfill the law and break open a garden tomb on our behalf?

My story fell into place, simply because the real story, the Greatest Story, of which this is only a faint echo, had already been told.

Is it any wonder I loved writing this more than anything I’ve written?

When you can, take a stroll through the winding gardens of Leaming’s Run Gardens, in Swainton, just outside Cape May Courthouse, New Jersey, and think of Annie and Michael from Promise Me This. Think what we are meant to be, and of the One who made it possible.

Some sacrifices affect others for a lifetime

One afternoon, young Michael Dunnagan steals away from his job to see the Titanic off. Through a sudden turn of events, he meets Owen Allen, a young man off to America to help his uncle in a gardening business. After a series of deceptions, Michael, who is not supposed to be on the ship, boards the Titanic, hoping to follow Owen to America and join him in this new business venture. Owen has left behind his sister, Annie, promising her that he will call for her once he is settled in America.

When the Titanic sinks, Owen dies and asks Michael to take care of his sister. Annie and Michael begin a correspondence that at first is friendly, but soon turns romantic. When WWI intervenes, it appears that the two may have lost each other because of various circumstances on both sides of the Atlantic, but love and grace prevail in the end.

Available for pre-order at Barnes & Noble and Amazon

A Series of Fortunate Events

2012-01-17T08:35:00.001-05:00

It's not everyday that a debut novel becomes a bestseller, which is perhaps why people are curious as to why and how Crossing Oceans made its way on to the CBA, ECPA, Amazon, and PW Religion lists.

Anyone who regularly follows the bestseller lists for a few months will notice that while the book titles change, the authors rarely do. People like Ted Dekker, Francine Rivers, Karen Kingsbury, etc show up there over and over—making it difficult for a new name to squeeze in. (This is true in the CBA as well as the general market).

There is, of course, no single way to turn a book into a bestseller. If there were, everyone would be doing it with every book. I can’t speak for the rest of debut novelist’s who were lucky enough to break in, but this is how it went for me: Read the rest HERE on Chip MacGregor's Blog.

Sorry to Brag, But These Lines I Wrote Are Brilliant

2012-01-17T05:00:00.000-05:00

If the brilliance of prose can be judged on the effect it has on people, then a number of sentences I’ve written recently are of Pulitzer quality. They certainly made a significant impact on me.

Here are three of them:

• “Relax. You can play Words With Friends for a few more minutes before you start writing, Jim.”

• “Just watch one more set of downs, Jim, before diving in. Heck, it’s the playoffs, and that whole Tebow thing is going on. You need to know what’s happening in culture.”

• “Start tomorrow in the morning. You’ll be fresh and the words will flow much easier. Besides, Kung Fu Panda 2 looks really, really good.”

I’m guessing more than a few of you have written prose even more compelling. Words that have inspired you to put off your writing once again.

Does it help to know you’re not alone? It helps me. A little. To confess I procrastinate and know others are saying, “Me too,” is an assist.

But to get a strangle hold around the throat of procrastination I think we have to go deeper and ask why we put off our writing. What’s the core reason those excuses resonate with so much truth we often embrace them and put off getting to—what for many of us—our life's deepest purpose?

For me it’s fear. Fear it won’t be good enough. Fear what I write won't be as compelling as last time. That people will discover I don’t know what I’m doing. That the bottom of the well has turned to dust.

Acknowledging the fear is the first step. Expose it to light.

The second? Realize action cures fear. Confidence (positive emotion toward our writing) usually comes after action, not before. In other words, start. Even if we don’t feel like it, we begin.

Step three. Do it again the next day, and the next, and the next.

Stop reading this. Start writing.

Who knows, we might write a few words that change a life.

James L. Rubart is the best-selling author of ROOMS, BOOK OF DAYS, and THE CHAIR. During the day he runs Barefoot Marketing which helps businesses and authors make more coin of the realm. In his free time he dirt bikes, hikes, golfs, takes photos, and occasionally does sleight of hand. No, he doesn’t sleep much. He lives with his amazing wife and teenage sons in the Pacific Northwest and still thinks he’s young enough to water ski like a madman. More at www.jameslrubart.com

7 Hours ... What Will You Choose?

2012-01-16T04:00:00.000-05:00

James Andrew Wilson was inspired by the magic of good storytelling from a young age, and started writing his first novel when he was sixteen. He married at seventeen, became a father at twenty-one, and lives now in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and their three boys. James enjoys hiking, Italian food, board games, and celebrating the joys of a simple life. When he grows up, he hopes to be a respectable hobbit and not have any more adventures, thank you very much.

Tell us about your new project:

7 Hours is a collection of seven novellas written by seven different authors. Each story is based on the same “what if” question—which is a secret that I can’t reveal to you yet. But I think I speak for everyone when I say that we’re thrilled with the idea and can’t wait to share it with the world.

Though each story is based on the same initial concept, the collection as a whole features seven very different stories, representing each writer’s style and imagination. Think of it as seven condensed novels, each one giving you a complete story that you can consume in one evening, and that will give you a sample of an author that you may not be familiar with.

Was there a specific 'what if' moment to spark this idea? Did it originate with you or with an editor at Tyndale?

The idea grew out my own personal frustration at not having as much time to read fiction as I wanted to. Being a father of three boys, maintaining a work-at-home business, and pursuing a career in writing, I just couldn’t find much time to read.

I thought about weekly television shows such as Lost and 24, and how they delivered a story every week, but in one-hour chunks. Why couldn’t novels be like that?

Over time, I came up with the concept of shorter novels (about a quarter the length of full-size novel), but something with enough meat to encompass a full story. I think this length is perfect for the busy modern reader—you can really sit down and read one of these stories all the way through in a single evening.

How did you bring together the team of writers?

I first approached author Travis Thrasher with my idea. He was generous enough to offer his involvement. That gave me a huge boost in confidence. Together the two of us ironed out the details, then I started sending out emails to the authors we thought would work well with this project.

Everyone I wrote to was intrigued by the project, but some of them simply didn’t feel that they had the time to commit to it. Finally we had our team of seven, and now that we’re all together, it feels right. This is a diverse, creative, fantastic group of authors, and I’m deeply honored to be in their company.

Tell us who they are.

Mike Dellosso, Rene Gutteridge, Ronie Kendig (writing as Veronica Kendig), Robin Parrish, Tom Pawlik, Travis Thrasher, and me: James Andrew Wilson.

These are all amazing writers, and if you haven’t already, then I highly encourage you to go out and buy all of their novels. Right now!

Is it a true anthology in the sense that the stories all connect somehow, or a collection of short stories with a central theme?

Both, actually. There is a very important and mysterious character that connects all of the stories. Again, I can’t give away much at this point, but I can tell you that with these stories we are exploring the big questions. Life. Death. Time as we know it.

How has the process worked?

After the team was assembled, we discussed the details of our story. Then I gave everyone one month to put together a synopsis and some sample pages. I gathered everything, put together a proposal, and my agent started shopping it around. About two months later, we had an offer.

I’m a writer, not a juggler, but this project has forced me to become both. The inbox fills up pretty quickly when we’re all discussing details, asking questions, answering questions, making jokes.

But really, all of the authors have been incredibly generous and wonderful to work with. It’s been a lot of fun.

Did anything strange or funny happen during the research or writing of this book?

We found a publisher! Considering the unique nature of this project, and many publisher’s wariness to try something new in this market, it was strange, exciting, funny, and thrilling that we sold the series so quickly.

Tyndale showed early interest, and when they ultimately made an offer, it was clear that they were very excited about the project and like us, they recognized the huge potential.

Also, I think I got my first gray hair somewhere along the line.

What’s the best advice you can offer for anyone else looking to do a project like this?

Don’t start sending out cold emails to authors asking them to join your project until you’ve spent some serious time honing your craft. When I sent that first email to Travis, I’d already written four complete novels and spent literally thousands of hours at the keyboard. If you expect amazing authors like those I’m working with to respect you, you have to have some idea about how to craft a good story.

Once you have that, take your time to plan out your project as clearly as possible. Keep it simple. Everyone needs their own space to craft their story in their own way. The less guidelines you impose, the more it allows for creativity to flourish.

The final stories that we have in 7 Hours are suspenseful, thrilling, beautiful and complex—but they are all the result of an initial, simple concept.

So once you have everything in order, go for it! Expect to be surprised, delighted, frustrated, confused, and humbled by the process. Things like this are a lot of work, but for us at least, it was all worth it in the end.

Where do you see 7 Hours and projects like this going in the future?

I honestly think this type of project is the wave of the future for the writing and publishing world. People have less and less time to read—with a shorter novel, it’s easier to commit. I don’t think full-length novels will go away, and I hope they don’t, but if we as writers are going to remain a competitive force in the entertainment world, then we need to be ready to adapt and embrace the lightning-fast changes that we see happening around us. People’s attention span is diminishing to 140 words—we have to figure out new ways to convince them that our stories are worth their time.

NR: We asked Rene Gutteridge to answer a few questions

Rene Gutteridge is the author of seventeen novels. She is also known as a comedy writer. Her latest comedic novel is NEVER THE BRIDE, winner of the 2010 Carol Award for best women’s fiction. She also has extensive experience writing comedy sketches, and worked for five years as the director of drama for a church. She has a degree specializing in Screenwriting, for which she earned the Excellence in Mass Communication Award, and graduated magna cum laude. She is married to Sean, a musician and worship leader, and has two children. They reside in Oklahoma, where Rene writes full time and enjoys instructing in college classrooms and writers conferences.

How did you find out about the project?

James Wilson contacted me out of the blue. Had never heard of him and didn’t know a thing about him, but his enthusiasm for the project totally whet my appetite. My curiosity was definitely piqued. I asked around about him and got some great feedback, so I joined the gang. At first I thought, “Well, I’m taking a big risk here, but that’s okay.” The more I got into it, the more I knew that I was exactly where I was supposed to be.

What intrigued you and made you say yes?

A couple of things intrigued me. First, obviously, the concept grabbed me. I’d thought often about how fun it would be to tell one story from several POVs of different writers, so that, in and of itself, got me.

Plus, it’s just a really cool idea, with a very mysterious central character. But ultimately what made me say yes was James’s obvious enthusiasm and what appeared to me to be total commitment to making this work. Wrangling seven professional writers/agents/schedules etc. is no easy task. He did it perfectly.

Have you all worked autonomously or have you collaborated on any aspects?

We have all worked autonomously. It’s been very fun. I’m dying to know what the others are writing. I seriously cannot wait to read theirs. That is going to be the most fun of it all, to see where everyone went at the fork in the road.

Were you given some parameters or "let loose" to create?

James really let us go where we wanted. There were just a couple of parameters. The rest was up to us. But those few parameters are going to be what makes all of these stories so interesting to the readers. He’s brilliantly put this together. It’s a draw for writers because we get to play. It’s a draw for readers because they get to be thoroughly entertained.

NR: Be watching for more about 7 Hours ... What Will You Choose?
Connect with the 7 Hours Facebook page

Here, Wear My Armor!

2012-01-15T04:00:00.000-05:00

Here, Wear My Armor!

“Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.” 1 Samuel 17:33

It took a lot of talking for David to convince King Saul that he could slay the giant. Even then, nervous Saul placed his tunic around the boy, and added a suit of armor and a bronze helmet. But David tried to walk around in it and kept falling over from the weight of it. He tossed it all off and went after Goliath armed with just a sling and a stone.

How many times have we faced down challenges that look as big as that giant? We stand there, with our sling and stone, wishing we had a king to stand behind us, some armor or a helmet to protect us.

As a cancer survivor, I often equate David’s story to my own battle against the disease; although, when that phone call came to identify ovarian cancer as the Goliath now standing before me, my attitude was far more Saul than David. I yearned for dependable armor, or a big old helmet! When I pulled back the band of my sling, I realized I had no little stone to load into it.

Then God’s grace sent Dr. Alison Calkins; beautiful, smart, compassionate. She looked me straight in the eye and answered every one of my six thousand questions. She let me cry without judgment and, when my weight was more than the radiation machine would allow, she even figured out how to build a support. Through her and her team, God fashioned the little stone I needed to take one brazen shot at cancer.

I’ll never forget the day Dr. Calkins told me, many weeks later, that the giant wasn’t getting back up again. “You and I are going to be together for the rest of your life,” she said with a smile as she explained how she envisioned my post-cancer care. “And I’m happy to tell you…that will be a very long time.”

Even now, more than six years later, I still feel queasy while I wait at the light at Martin Luther King Boulevard to turn into St. Joseph’s Hospital for my annual check-up. At first, I remember the loneliness of those treatments, the fear and anxiety and desperation. But as I park in a spot marked for Radiation Therapy Patients Only, and the glass door slides open and I spot Connie or Alex or Ann Marie, my heart starts to beat again. Excitedly, I anticipate getting my first look at Dr. Calkins, knowing she’ll be the reminder God brings that the giant has been slain.

I’ll bet, every now and then, David spotted a small stone at the side of the road, and couldn’t help but smile, remembering what he and God had done. If only I could tuck Dr. Calkins into my pocket and carry her with me as a reminder: By the grace of God, giants are slain!

Today’s Prayer: Father God, I’m humbled by Your grace as I face the towering giants in my life. You are always prepared for them, and You always provide just what I need for the fight, whether that be a stone or a doctor with a sweet, promising smile. Amen.

Sandra D. Bricker is an award-winning best seller in the inspirational market with laugh-out-loud novels such as Love Finds You in Snowball, Arkansas and Always the Baker, Never the Bride from the Emma Rae Creation series. She spent 15+ years in Los Angeles as an entertainment publicist while studying screenwriting. However, when her mother became ill in Florida, she left all that behind to take on a couple of new roles: Caregiver and Novelist. Visit her website at www.SandraDBricker.com

What Do You Read

2012-01-14T09:38:00.002-05:00

I thought this might be a fun poll for Saturday. We know the majority of our Novel Rocket readers hang out in the CBA, but I'm curious if most of what you read comes from the CBA. So, for this poll, we're asking:

Your Most Anticipated Books of 2012?

2012-01-14T07:56:00.000-05:00

What books are you most anxious to get your hands on this year? This book by Chris Fabry looks right up my alley, so it's definitely on my list. How about you? What books or authors are you chomping at the bit to get your hot little hands on?

How Editors Make a Difference ~ Tess Gerritsen

2012-01-13T01:04:00.025-05:00

Tess Gerritsen left a successful practice as an internist to raise her children and concentrate on her writing. She gained nationwide acclaim for her first novel of medical suspense, the New York Times bestseller Harvest. She is also the author of the bestsellers Life Support, Bloodstream, Gravity, and The Surgeon. Tess lives with her family in Maine. (PHOTO CREDIT: Paul D'Innocenzo)

How Editors Make a Difference

Tess Gerritsen (reprinted from Murderati)

It's called a death spiral, and I was in one. The year was 2000, and I had just turned in my fifth thriller, The Surgeon. In the U.S., my first four books had hit bestseller lists. In the UK my career was, if not dead, barely twitching. In publishing, "death spiral" describes the steady decline in an author's sales over time, a decline that's almost impossible to reverse. With each new release, the orders are smaller. With smaller orders there's less visibility and poorer distribution, leading inevitably to even poorer sales.

Eventually, no bookstores will order your books. And no publisher wants you as their author.

That's the position I was in back in 2000. My sales had all but crashed and burned in the UK. I'd already failed with two different publishers, and now no one there wanted to touch me. The Surgeon, it appeared, would not be released in the UK at all.

Then a plucky new editor at Transworld Publishers picked up The Surgeon and decided she had to acquire the book. The author's track record was dreadful, getting the book into stores would be a battle, but she was damn well going to do it. She forced (that's the description I heard!) all her colleagues to read the manuscript, and now they were getting excited too. She was the cheerleader, the taskmaster, the evangelist for The Surgeon. I was only vaguely aware of her efforts at the time; after all, I'd failed miserably in the UK before, and my hopes were no higher this time. She sent me the cover design that she was so excited about: a sink drain with splashes of blood.

I just didn't get it. She assured me it would work in the UK market. Anyway, what did I know about the UK market? I was already deemed a failure there, and I was sure to be a failure again. When the book was released in hardcover in the UK, I paid little attention because it was just too depressing to think about.

But this editor wouldn't leave me alone. She kept sending me cheery emails and sales figures. While The Surgeon wasn't hitting any bestseller lists, it wasn't a complete flop. The corpse of my UK career actually took a breath -- if only a shallow one.

The following year, with the publication of The Apprentice in hardcover and The Surgeon in paperback, Transworld invited me for a UK book tour. It was the first time I'd been asked overseas, and I still have one vividly depressing memory of a group booksigning I did in London.

I was sitting next to a bestselling crime author who had a line of fans to buy her book. One man came with a whole box of books for that author to sign. Then he looked at me, shrugged, and said: "I have no idea who you are." He bought one of my paperbacks, but I could see it was only out of sheer pity.

The Surgeon, in paperback, miraculously made it to the top-ten bestseller list.

In the years that followed, as my UK sales continued to climb, this editor and the entire Transworld team never stopped flogging my books. They continually re-packaged the series. They brought me over again and again for tours. They invested in publicity and promotions.

In 2006, I finally hit #1 on the London Times paperback bestseller list with Vanish. And last year, I hit #1 on the hardcover list with The Killing Place.

Transworld not only breathed life back into this old corpse, they got it up and walking and then sprinting ahead of the pack. It demonstrates that even a career that looks dead can be reanimated -- given the right team with the right book. It's a lesson that authors and publishers need to take to heart. If an author writes great books, even if his sales are moribund, he deserves a second look, a second chance. Because he just might be your next #1 bestseller.

Lately, there's been a lot of talk about how authors don't really need publishers anymore because we can self-publish with e-books. Hey, we can do it all ourselves, make more money in the long run, and have complete control over our destinies. To some extent it's true; we can publish our own books. The question is, can we publish our own books well?

(Even in the world of self-publishing, publishers will still play a vital role as gatekeepers. Spam now clogs online booksellers with 99 cent e-books that are either junk or blatantly plagiarized. A publisher's seal of approval can help separate the worthwhile books from the fake ones.)

Over my twenty-five career, I've worked with some truly gifted editors. Every single one has been a pleasure to work with, and my books are all the better because of their input. True, a self-published author could hire a private editor to help polish a manuscript, but the fact is, editors do a lot more than edit. They advocate. They strategize. They even harangue, all on your behalf.

And sometimes, they become your dear friends. This is something we don't talk enough about: how important friendships are in the publishing business. It's not all about sales figures and bean counting. Long after our business associations end, long after we stop needing each other for deals, the friendships remain.

Last month, it was announced that my wonderful UK editor, Selina Walker, is leaving Transworld to take an impressive new job as publisher for Century and Arrow Books. I guess that's what happens when you do a smashing job -- you get promoted. I'm thrilled for her, of course, but I'm also sad that she's leaving. She was the one who pulled me out of my UK death spiral. And that, I will never forget.

What does it mean to write uncaged?

2012-01-12T01:36:00.024-05:00

It's a question worth considering. This week I launched my new website for aspiring writers called Write Uncaged. It's chock full of information and (hopefully) inspiration.

I wonder how many of us write uncaged. How many of us give ourselves permission to say it all, to bleed onto the page, to be genuinely free when we write.

As novelists, you may think that this isn't even a valid discussion. Because everything you write is fiction, or untrue. And yet, story is the truest medium I know to dispense truth. And to be honest, I feel more naked when a novel releases, even more than when my memoir Thin Places released. Why? Because so much of me is splayed in the pages of my fiction.

Unfortunately, I've read several novels that fell flat to me, where I felt the author simply told a story, devoid of himself, his angst, his stress. I believe the best fiction comes from that deep place inside us that wells up when we see injustice, or emits from those parts of us we'd rather hide.

It's pure bravery to write a novel from the deepest parts of us, but in so doing, we write uncaged. And our readers experience a deeper more satisfying reading experience as a result.

Great writing flows from withing, from great hearts willing to be naked on the page. May it be that we dare to write uncaged this week, this month, this year.

Question for you: What authors, in your opinion, typify writing uncaged? Why?

Slow ... But Never Late

2012-01-11T04:00:00.000-05:00

Suzanne Woods Fisher is the bestselling author of The Choice, The Waiting, The Search, and A Lancaster County Christmas, as well as nonfiction books about the Amish, including Amish Peace. She is fascinated by faith-based communities. Her interest in the Anabaptist cultures can be directly traced to her grandfather, W.D. Benedict, who was raised in the Old order German Baptist Brethren Church in Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Suzanne is the host of Amish Wisdom, a weekly radio program, and a columnist for Christian Post. She lives with her family in the San Francisco Bay Area. You can find Suzanne on-line at www.suzannewoodsfisher.com. She loves to hear from readers!

Slow but Never Late

“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him, do not fret” (Psalm 37:7, niv).

I’m 52 years old. Sometimes, I feel like I’m late to this author gig and trying to catch up fast.

While my children were growing up, I free-lanced for magazines. My four kids have been a source of constant material—I would focus on whatever puzzling part of child raising I was facing at the time (oh so many!) and try to figure it out by talking to experts, reading books, then spin it all into an article. Always, always with takeaway value (the bulls-eye for magazine work.)

As my kids headed off to college and started their young adult lives, I took a deep breath, tried to silence all of that self-doubt that buzzed around me like a restless mosquito, and wrote a novel. Just a little one. Published it with just a little small press. No big deal. But that little book won some awards, which caught the eye of an agent, who opened the door to an editor at Revell.

As of this very morning, over the course of three years, I will have signed twenty-one contracts with Revell. Amazing! Just amazing. Only God could open those doors, just in time. God is often slow, but never late.

Of course, four years ago, I had no clue that any of this would unfold. I kept plugging along [in my "office,"] working on my craft, writing proposals, tweaking work-in-progress. If you had asked me, I would have said that I fully expected my writing future to be pretty bleak. Filled with long, long, long waits.

But if you asked me now, I would say that God’s timing was ideal. Not only was the timing spot-on for the right connections to occur with editor and agent, but the timing was right for me. I was getting ready to handle these obligations, but I wasn’t ready yet. Not four years ago, not ten years. Or twenty. I needed seasoning. A lot of it.

Does God ever seem slow to you?

I do. I call Him the “just-in-time God.”

What other career, besides writing, does waiting play such a leading role? Waiting for a response to a query. Then waiting to hear back about a requested manuscript. Waiting to find out if a publisher shows a spark of interest. Finally, waiting for a contract to follow.

Waiting, waiting, and more waiting. Waiting feels like inactivity.

Three thousand years ago, the Israelites had the same restless anxiety as they waited for God. If they didn’t see action, they assumed it was because there was no action.

During the forty days in which Moses was up on Mount Sinai with God, the Israelites lost patient and were filled with doubts. “When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, ‘Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him’” (Exodus 32:1).

You know the rest. Aaron complied and made a golden calf for the Israelites to worship. God gave Moses the heads-up to get down the mountain but fast. “When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them into pieces at the foot of the mountain” (Exodus 32:19).

The wait overwhelmed them. Those foolish Israelites assumed that apparent inactivity on God’s part meant impotence. But here’s the thing: the exact opposite was true. God was delivering the Law to Moses. He was handcrafting the stone tablets to provide structure and peace within their society. He was teaching Moses how to worship. He was tenderly caring and providing for the Israelites’ future.

Think how differently this situation could have turned out had the Israelites waited patiently, expectantly, faithfully. Odd to think that in their anxiety, they had a desire to connect with...something greater than themselves. What if they had had taken the “wait” and substituted it with “worship?” Imagine if their attitude had been the same as the writer of Lamentations: “In this stillness, I wait, Sovereign God. It is good to wait quietly for you.” (Lamentations 3:26, tlb).

Think how differently situations could turn out in our own life if we could only wait quietly for God. If we used times of waiting—for a query letter to be answered or for an editor to respond—as reminders to worship God?

Do you ever feel as if inactivity on God’s part equals impotence? During periods of apparent inactivity God may be preparing a wonderful opportunity for you in your writing career. Who knows what is going on behind the scenes? All that we really know is that our work is committed to Him and that includes its outcome. Never forget that God is working on your behalf. He might be slow, but He is never late.

“With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” (2 Peter 3:8, niv).

The Keeper

Life on Windmill Farm hasn’t been the same since Julia Lapp’s father has had trouble with his heart. But that doesn’t stop Julia from hoping for a bright future. She has planned on marrying Paul Fisher since she was a girl. Now twenty-one, she looks forward to their wedding with giddy anticipation. But when Paul tells her he wants to postpone the wedding—again—she is determined to change his mind. She knows who is to blame for Paul’s sudden reluctance to wed: the Bee Man.

Roman Troyer, the Bee man, travels through the Amish communities of Ohio and Pennsylvania with his hives full of bees, renting them out to farmers in need of pollinators. A mysterious man who relishes his nomadic life, Roman especially enjoys bringing his bees to Stoney Ridge each year. But with Julia seriously at odds with him, Windmill Farm is looking decidedly less appealing.

Can Julia secure the future she’s always dreamed of? Or does God have something else in mind?

Author Interview ~ Carol Anshaw

2012-01-10T07:58:00.001-05:00

Carol Anshaw is the author of Aquamarine, Seven Moves, and Lucky in the Corner. She has received the Ferro-Grumley Award, the Carl Sandburg Literary Arts Award for Fiction, and a National Book Critics’ Circle Citation for Excellence in Reviewing. She lives in Chicago.

Author Photo Credit: John Reilly

Tell us a little about yourself.

I grew up in a deeply conventional suburb of Detroit. Reading novels made me aware of a world beyond those regulation lawns. From the time I could read, my father drove me to the library every Saturday and I took out the maximum number of books allowed. My parents were not educated and had no way to guide me in my reading. When we moved into our new house, they filled the family room shelves with books from a place that sold them by the pound. I read all those books.

My fantasy was being kidnapped by a motorcycle gang, then dropped off in a city where I would live in a boarding house with colorful characters. [I’d scoped out both the gang and the boarding house in movies.] Unfortunately, none of this happened, but after college, I was able to get as far as Chicago. I found a newspaper job, then a few years later, quit to start writing fiction seriously.

To support myself I did a ton of freelance journalism, mostly movie reviews [at the Sun-Times, where I backed up Roger Ebert for several years]. Later I began writing essays on books for the Village Voice. I won an award for these [see above]. I published a regrettable first novel, then went 14 years before Aquamarine was published. I was in the tunnel that whole time, teaching myself to write.

I was married for several years. Then, in my thirties, when evidence started mounting that my sexual orientation was shifting [this time it wasn’t movies that provided the clues], I got out of my marriage and started life again from scratch. I got a cheap apartment. The first morning I woke up with a roach crawling across my mouth. The people above me fought through the night, throwing furniture out the windows, threatening to burn down the building. None of this really mattered; I knew I was moving in the general direction of authenticity, and this was thrilling.

Now single, I needed more money to live, and started writing paperback novels for young adults. I think I wrote over 20 of these, all under pseudonyms. I could write one in 5-6 weeks. This was better money than reviewing, but still, I was broke most of the time. I was using everything I made to buy myself time to write. At one point my savings totaled $72. I had a dinner for four I could make for $10. I wrote Aquamarine by maxing out a credit card.

Belatedly, I went back to school for an MFA as a teaching credential, but the experience turned out to be much bigger than that. For the first time I had a community of fellow fiction writers. I also found a great teacher and mentor, Sharon Stark, who still works with me. Later I returned to the program [at Vermont College], this time on the faculty. I also taught part-time at local schools and in community fiction workshops. I taught in Vermont and Missouri [for a short stretch simultaneously]. I was bouncing among too many different places. Finally I found my way to SAIC. Fifteen years later, I am still there, still happy to be part of its sparky, clangy, pinball energy. One of my great rewards there has been helping my students with their novels, seeing those books through to being born.

After Aquamarine, I wrote two more novels—Seven Moves and Lucky in the Corner. These won some awards. I wrote a handful of stories. Two made it into Best American Short Stories. Then I began Carry the One and worked on it very hard for a long time.

We understand you’re a painter?

All my life, but more intensely for the past 10 years or so, I’ve been painting as well as writing. My partner says it’s like I’m having an affair, slipping up to the studio at 11pm and painting into the night. I think it helps me with my writing by providing a counterbalance to working with words. With painting I’m making narratives in a different language that’s all about color and light.

How did you come to write Carry the One?

I wanted to make a story that has sweep but feels concentrated. I wanted to make a book that is recognizably a novel, but also something a little new.

Someone once said that in terms of narrative, what follows violence is always interesting. Setting up the violence in the book as a death, an accident, but one that could probably have been avoided was a layer I applied to the story, to give it moral shading. The characters feel greater and lesser degrees of responsibility, and have very different responses to what happened, but none of them can outrun its shadow.

I also wanted to write a story that covers a significant span of years, to examine the part time plays in love and obsession, in relationships among siblings, in political convictions and the struggles of an artist. And in the case of one character, the way addiction can trump everything else. I see a lot in literature about addiction, but very little about what it’s like for the family of an addict, how one member can create a centrifuge, pulling the others into the spin, how much energy is spent trying to retrieve the person hurtling downward.

Alice, one of the main characters in Carry the One, is also gay and a painter. Do you see a lot of yourself in her character?

A little, maybe, but Alice is really her own bad girl. She was enormously fun to write.

Tell us about the title.

This is a book about so many things, with so many characters and storylines and time frames that coming up with a title was tough. Carry the Onehas several shades of meaning for readers to discover.

What are you up to these days, in addition to writing and painting?

I read all the time. I’m still catching up on all the books I should have been reading instead of those books that came by the pound. I’ve been in the same relationship for 15 years now. This has been just a really lucky break, finding this extraordinary person and being able to hold her interest for so long. We live most of the time in Chicago, some of the time in Amsterdam. We have a dog who is a fabulous maniac. Among other mischief, he enjoys chewing quite a bit. I no longer have any hairbrushes. I have hairbrush stubs and a few bristles. I volunteer at a food pantry. I take French lessons. I am trying to master crow position in yoga. I like to have friends over, and I can now afford to serve dinners that cost more than $10. I can even put flowers on the table.

Are you still hoping to be kidnapped by that motorcycle gang?

At that point in my life, I desperately needed transportation out of where I was. Now I can be who I am while standing exactly here.

(Interview courtesy of Simon & Schuster)

Launching This Year's Writing Contest for Unpublished Novelists

2012-01-09T00:05:00.012-05:00

We’re excited to announce the 2012 edition of our contest for unpublished novelists – LAUNCH PAD: Boosting You Out of the Slush Pile.

Though we haven't varied much from the previous format, there are a few changes. Most notably, we’re now charging a modest entry fee of $35. Every entrant receives a professional critique of their chapters, so even those who don’t win should find it a good investment.

Here's how the contest works:

1 - As before, we'll have seven rounds: one genre per month for six months, June through November (see schedule below), plus the final round for the Grand Prize.

2 - The winning entry in each category will be published on Novel Rocket, and the writer will be entered for the Grand Prize.

3 - Each finalist will be asked to provide the complete manuscript and a book proposal for the final round. (Note: This is a change from previous years.)

4 - You may enter more than one story, and more than one category; however, you may enter the same novel only once.

5 – The Grand Prize is a nifty hand-blown glass rocket award, inscribed and personalized, much like the one pictured at the top of this post, [subject to change] But here's the best part: the winner will have the opportunity to circumvent the slush pile and get his or her submission into the hands of an agent and/or editor. (Our first winner was signed by a literary agent within a day!)

You’ll find the Official Rules on the Launch Pad Contest page (click the tab above by that name), but here’s a synopsis:

Starting today, you can enter your story in any category. The deadline for each is 11:59 PM EST on the dates listed in the schedule below.

Historical Fiction (WWII era and before). This includes all historicals, including romance –Submission Deadline May 10, 2012; winner announced June 11, 2012.

Suspense/Crime/Mystery/Thriller–Submission Deadline June 10, 2012; winner announced July 9, 2012.

Contemporary Fiction/Women’s Fiction–Submission Deadline July 10, 2012; Winner announced August 13, 2012.

Middle Grade/Young Adult Fiction–Submission Deadline August 10, 2012; Winner announced September 10, 2012.

Contemporary Romance–Submission Deadline September 10, 2012; Winner announced October 8, 2012.

Speculative Fiction (SciFi/Fantasy/Horror)–Submission Deadline October 10, 2012; Winner announced November 12, 2012.

Download the entry form, fill it out, and email it, along with the first chapter (or 3,000 – 4,000 words) and a one- or two-page synopsis, to NovelRocketContest at gmail.com.

Submit your entry fee using the PayPal button on the bottom of the Launch Pad contest page.

Once the entry and fee are both received, you’ll receive notification that your submission is complete and you’re good to go.

So there you have it in a nutshell. Make sure to dig out all the meat in the Official Rules on the Launch Pad Contest page.

If you have any questions, don’t be afraid to ask. Emails sent to NovelRocketContest at gmail.com (typed in the usual email-address format, of course) will be answered promptly.

We look forward to another year of helping you boost your stories out of the slush pile and launch your careers in the publishing world.

http://www.novelrocket.com/p/launch-pad-contest.html

Besides writing fiction that takes you out of this world, Yvonne Anderson has been our contest administrator since the event’s inception in 2010. The first novel in her Gateway to Gannah series, The Story in the Stars, debuted last summer, and the next in the series is planned for release this year. Read more of her wisdom on www.YsWords.com.

Broken Things

2012-01-08T04:00:00.000-05:00

Broken Things

For God did not send His son into the world

to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.

John 3:17

I have watched with a saddened heart as several Christians gave up on their faith. They stumbled in their walks, got lost in the darkness, and figured there was no way back to Jesus. Worse, they believed that God didn’t want them back because of their blemished pasts. After all, friends and family – even former church family members – didn’t want them back.

But the truth is, God will take us and our hurtful pasts and use them all together for His good (Romans 8:28). Of course, repentance is involved with restoration. But if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). Once restored, our hearts can’t even condemn us, because God is greater than our guilt-ridden, broken hearts.

This magnificent truth in no way gives us a license to sin, but I have seen God take the pieces of a broken life, put them back together, and create a thing of extraordinary beauty – and one that’s of great service to Him.

God really does use broken things.

Today’s Prayer: Father God, so many people stand in condemnation of us and others, but that’s not what You stand for. You’re the Giver of Life, You are Love, and You came so that we can live more abundantly. We thank You, we praise and worship You, and we rejoice in the miracles You’re about to do in our lives. In Jesus’ precious name. Amen.

Andrea Boeshaar has been writing stories and poems since she was a little girl; however, it wasn't until 1994 that her first novel was published. Since then she's written numerous articles and devotionals and more than 25 novels and novellas, and she was chosen as the author to launch the popular Love Finds You line for Summerside Press with Love Finds You in Miracle, Kentucky. Andrea is co-founder of the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) organization and, for many years, she served on both its Advisory Board and as its CEO. Visit her website at www.AndreaBoeshaar.com

Deb Elkink...Debut Author and So Much More

2012-01-07T01:00:00.002-05:00

A licensed pilot, speaker, cattle herder, academic editor…Deb Elkink is all these and more—such as a debut author.

So Deb…why writing? Why now?

Actually I’ve been writing since I was a child, and all my growing-up dreams centered on becoming a novelist (from the time I penned my first story in elementary school through college communication classes). But I see life in itself as an adventure to be lived, with fiction writing just a result. So when I fell in love, when I birthed babies, when I’ve been presented with opportunities to fly or speak or round up cattle—well, how can I say no? Living heartily and writing at the same time hasn’t always been a possibility for me, as I’m not a great multi-tasker; there have been years during which I’ve written very little publishable material. So going to grad school was a turning point, a way to kick-start serious writing from a firm theological base. I guess you could say I’ve been paying my dues and feel I now might have something of substance to offer the reading public, with the time to do it.

What’s your favorite part about the writing game? Least favorite?

I love daydreaming; I love plotting a piece and developing its characters, researching and anticipating its effect, and chatting about it and going to sleep with that story on my mind. My least favorite part of the process is self-promotion, especially as a new author in the current atmosphere, where marketing is no longer solely the job of the publisher.

In your debut novel, The Third Grace, the heroine is torn between her rural upbringing and her search for self. How much of you is there in the heroine?

There’s a great deal of Deb in Aglaia. For starters, like Aglaia, I fell madly in love at a young age and have a tendency to romanticize circumstances. Like her, I’ve lived the tension of rural versus urban life and learned my own place in it geographically as it shaped my attitudes about myself and the world. (For example, when I relocated from city to ranch—in the opposite direction of Aglaia’s move—I adapted by changing my wardrobe like a costume, wearing Levis and checkered shirts for a while, and even tried to like Willy Nelson’s singing!) But, as with Aglaia, my basic self wasn’t ever annihilated and has had to be addressed—especially as it pertains to my relationship with a living God. Aglaia rebels; my rebellion has been slightly more subtle but just as condemning. Aglaia mourns; I’ve had my own brand of sorrow that elicits grief. Aglaia turns to the arts, imagination, and professional avarice for satisfaction of her soulish thirst; I, too, have been tempted to fall into idolatry of creation rather than Creator. Is there really anything new under the sun?

Where did you get the idea for the story?

When I first visited the Louvre museum in Paris several years ago and stood transfixed before James Pradier’s marble statue grouping, The Three Graces, I knew I’d found the icon for my novel. The three figures immediately suggested to me a trinity of womanhood, triplets in a way, all made of the same “stuff” yet each looking at something different—each with her own focal point or perspective or philosophy. In Pradier’s rendition of the Graces, one looks downward at the earth, another upward at the sky, the third outward at others. They came to represent to me humanity as a whole and, in effect, the personalities of the three lead characters in my novel.

What surprises you most now that you’re a published author?

My appetite. Have you ever tasted pan-seared foie gras on a toasted baguette? One bite of that incredibly rich bit of heaven is just not enough! As deeply satisfying as I find publication of my first novel, I’m surprised at how insufficient it is (and how quickly!) to quell the hankering for the next mouthful—to write my next novel and see it published, too. How can I stop at just a taste?

Got any writing advice for aspiring authors?

Yes—I’d like to pass along the words of an early mentor in college, who said: "Don't fret about not writing if you're too busy living; it will all come out in the end." There’s no way of knowing who we or others really are unless we enter into our lives with zest and observation—a necessary preparation for writing, I think.

What question didn’t I ask that you wished I would’ve?

I wish you’d asked, “What kind of reader did you have in mind as you wrote this book?” I’d have answered:

Well, first of all, my intended audience for this novel was not readers of prairie romance, or those who are squeamish over sensual writing, or those who are confident of their position before God. All the while that I plotted and drafted, Psalm 61:2 sang through my mind: “From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” In other words, I wasn’t writing to those who already know where they stand in Christ, but rather to those who—having left their past behind—are still yearning for a destination beyond their view.

In my novel’s epigraph I quote G. K. Chesterton: “Man has always lost his way. He has been a tramp ever since Eden; but he always knew, or thought he knew, what he was looking for.” I wrote The Third Grace for all the Aglaias out there—for women who, in pursuit of their own success and self-definition, have left their “Mary Grace” behind and are beginning to wonder if their background might after all hold some clue as to what it is they’re really seeking. On the first page, I dedicate my novel thus: “To all my lost sisters wandering alone out of earshot—His voice still calls.”

About the Book:

The past casts a long shadow, especially when it points to a woman’s first love.

As a teen, Mary Grace fell in love with a French exchange student visiting her family’s Nebraska farm. François renamed her “Aglaia”—after one of the beautiful Three Graces of Greek mythology—and set her heart longing for something more than her parents’ simplistic life and faith. Now, fifteen years later, Aglaia’s budding success as a costume designer in Denver’s arts scene convinces her that she’s left the naïve country girl far behind—but “Mary Grace” has deep roots, as Aglaia learns during a business trip to Paris. Her discovery of sensual notes François jotted into the margins of a Bible during that long-ago fling, a silly errand imposed by her mother, and the scheming of her sophisticated mentor all conspire to create a thirst in her soul that neither evocative daydreams nor professional success can quench.

About the Author:

I was raised, along with four siblings, in Winnipeg (Manitoba, Canada) by an entrepreneurial father and an artistic mother, both of whom encouraged creative expression. My first dozen articles and short stories appeared in paying Christian magazines after college, in my early years as a ranch wife (during which time I also learned to cook for huge branding crews, herd cattle, and fly a small plane). In 2001, when our three homeschooling kids were all back in the classroom, I returned to school myself to earn an M.A. in theological studies and then began academic editing of doctoral dissertations and journal articles. For about six years I wrote for a national professional quarterly, and other nonfiction work of mine appeared in various publications (one I’m especially proud of is Christian History). But my love has always been fiction, and so now I reside with my husband in an empty nest on the banks of a babbling brook in southern Alberta—just a stone’s throw north of the Montana border—and write to my heart’s content.