August 2005

Two and a half weeks until the ACFW Conference in Nashville! I can’t wait to see my author friends again, to fellowship in the Lord, and to share in our like passion of writing. But there is so much to do beforehand!

This past week I’ve been fighting what I think is allergies/cold symptoms and they are almost gone, but still hanging on a bit. I’m hoping they are completely gone before we leave. It would be hard to concentrate if I’m sick.

But in the meantime, I’ve been perfecting my proposal, working on promo sentences and back cover copy and tightening the synopsis. I knew the story before the writer’s retreat, but afte the retreat – after I truly thought through the characters’ motivations, I know it so much better now. This is a good story, a story of surprises and surrender and a subtle reminder of some of God’s attributes.

Comments on the synpsis have been positive so far, even got “wow!” out of one author friend. Now I’m excited to see what God might have in mind for it – for both of my projects.

I’ve come up with a “brand” for my writing, though I write in two genres, both are historical and inspirational, with a thick thread of romance. The brand came to me the other night, and I like it, though perhaps it is more of a tag line for my writing than a brand. In any case, it’s what I love to do –

Illuminating History One Tale at a Time

I suppose I should get back to doing just that! :)

I have a cat sitting on my lap, licking my arm and resting his head against me. I’m the only one around right now as three of my guys are at work and my youngest is in bed. So I’m the designated cat lover at the moment. :) Shadow does this every now and then where he snuggles up tight in my lap and purrs contentedly, just happy to have someone to hold, I guess.

Most of the time he is asleep in the beanbag chair that he stole from Ryan several Christmases ago. (See the gallery for pictures of him.) He lays in the goofiest positions and normally has an aloof attitude – unless no one else is home to bother and especially if I’m trying to get some work done!

On our trip to Branson, we went into a little dog and cat shop and they had a sign that I think fits the natures of cats to a “T”. It says, “The cat and his household staff live here.” Isn’t that the truth?

I wonder if there are any other cat owners out there – or rather people whose cat owns them that read this blog? How many writers are cat lovers?

I mean really now – I know there are some dogs that might be adorable – but who can resist a cat? Even when they’re bad, they have this look about them that is just so cute that it’s hard to imagine ever getting rid of them. Cuteness saves Shadow from plenty of tongue lashings!

If you have a cute cat story to share, I’d love to hear from you. Email it to me (see my contact page) and maybe I’ll post it on my blog – with your permission of course.

Off to work…if I can get the cat off my lap, that is!

We arrived safely home last night around nine o’clock after about eleven hours in the car. We had driven three hours the day before cutting the all-in-one-day driving time from fifteen hours on the way down to a more managable eleven on the way back.

What a wonderful time we had! I finally got to visit the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum in Mansfield, Missouri. I’ve loved Laura’s Little House books for years and have read her biography and other books about her life. I love touring old homes and always wanted to see Rocky Ridge, her home with Almanzo, but it never worked into any other vacation plans. This time, however, we had a day and a half to ourselves before my fellow writers arrived for the retreat, so we drove from the condo in Branson where we were staying to Mansfield. It was great!

Then that evening, we took a ride on the Branson Belle – a showboat with live variety shows. That was fun! The next day we shopped in downtown Branson and then I spent the next two days brainstorming with other authors while my husband and son saw more of Branson’s sites. What an enjoyable time to fellowship with like-minded people who share my writing passion! God touched my heart in that place and also on the ride home where I finally had a chance to listen to tapes from last year’s ACRW Conference. Now I think I’m nearly ready to take up the challenge of this year’s conference, and I think I have a better perspective on this writing journey as well.

But in the meantime, I caught cold the last day in Branson and today it is worse than it was on the drive home. I’m downing lots of vitamins and homeopathic remedies along with a few convential treatments. I hope this goes away quick because I’ve got too much to do in the next three weeks to be sick. Ah well, God knows my needs. It is so nice to know that I can sit back and rest in Him for whatever comes.

At Silver Dollar City on our last day in Branson, I tried on a mood ring just for fun. I was sick and it was nearly 100 degrees outside, but my mood showed me relaxed, which is exactly how I felt about this whole week. Relaxed and resting in Jesus. He holds my writing future, and my life is in His hands. Maybe I’m finally learning what trust is all about.

It sure is good to sleep in my own bed again though. :)

I’m leaving Monday for a week’s vacation, and I won’t have Internet access. (Perish the thought! What does one do without email?). So my blog will sit silent for a week. But there’s a lot here in the archives to wade through so I hope you will kick off your shoes and tiptoe through the waters of my assorted musings. :)

In the meantime, I’ll be off at a combination writer’s retreat and family vacation in Missouri. This will be my first time to brainstorm with other authors, and I’m really looking forward to it. Some of my family will see the sites while I’m doing writerly stuff, while some of them will be at home working.

But I’m also looking forward to writing during the long drive and then spending some time on a dinner cruise and visiting a theme park. It should be fun!

In any case, I hope you all enjoy these hot days of August. :) School starts soon after we return with lesson plans for our homeschool – our last year. And the ACFW Conference is only a month away!

Where has the summer gone?

Most learning has always come easy for me. In school (too many years ago to count), I got straight “A’s” and graduated at the top of my class – co-valedictorian – there were eight of us.

In Bible studies, I’ve always grasped Biblical concepts with relative ease, and have to remember that not everyone understands things as quickly. I hate repetition, most of the time, because I usually “got it” the first time around.

Not so with writing. Well, let me rephrase that. In my younger years writing came easily to me – especially poetry. But I went through a period of burying the gift, and I wonder if that’s why it’s taken me so much longer to grasp all the little nuances of the craft.

Or maybe I just picked a tough career.

I’ve heard it said that crafting a novel (and doing it well) is as difficult as learning to be a surgeon. Most people wouldn’t see it that way because many people view writing as something that anyone can do. Like what’s so hard about it anyway?

Well, the hardest thing is the subjectivity of it all. That became clear to me after receiving my scores and critiques back from a contest I recently entered. After reading them all over, I realized something. Add these four critiques to the four that I had before the contest from my published critique partners and then a critique I paid for by an author in the field I’m writing in, and I’ve had these chapters looked at by nine published authors!

And everyone had a different take on them. The comments were different, many positive, few negative. Only one had more bad than good to say. But it’s funny how the negatives are the ones we focus on.

And I do focus on them because I’m alwasys trying to improve. The goal, after all, is to find a publisher that will love my work. So I take criticism seriously.

But today, after some of the negative comments I’ve received, and the confusion I’ve felt over so many diverse comments from so many published friends and acquaintances, I’ve felt like a “C” student in a world where only “A+” authors make it. That isn’t easy for someone who has always been in the top of her class at school or at church. Especially when I long to excel at this. I don’t think I’ve worked harder at anything else in my life.

Some authors tell me I’m closer than I think. Maybe I only feel like a “C” student. Maybe I’m more like a “B” going on an “A”. Wouldn’t that be nice?

In any case, I’ve learned something.

1. Don’t take every criticism to heart. They are only opinions after all.
2. Subjective means just that – everyone has different tastes in books.
3. Pray. God’s opinion matters most.

It sure would be nice to be an “A” student though. Maybe one of these days.

Sometimes waiting on God is a hard thing to do. My engineer husband cannot understand how I can subject myself to a profession that is so subjective! :) But at least it has taught me patience, which was never my strongest virtue.

However, that patience has been wearing thin of late. There are times when I cry out with the Psalmists, “How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever?” It feels like forever when I’m waiting to hear something. It feels like even longer than forever when the news I’m waiting for is less than comforting.

Yesterday was one of those days. I’d been hoping to place in the top three of a contest I’d entered. I’d made it to the top ten two years in a row, but for some reason, despite the fact that my entry was critiqued by four published authors ahead of time, I still didn’t make that final cut. Not that I expected to, but I did hold out hope.

But that is the nature of writing. Like any art form, it is so subjective! That’s why my dear husband, with the bright engineering mind, cannot fathom why anyone would put themselves in a situation to be continually rejected by other people’s opinions. Because when all is said and done, writing styles are a matter of taste. Some people have told me I’m a great writer and they love my work. In fact today, I was told I’m an excellent writer, one of the best that person had seen.

I don’t hear those kind of compliments every day, (and I truly value them – they keep me going!) and yet I still was not good enough in the eyes of the judges to make it to the top. This is another example of why breaking into print is so hard. Every editor has their personal preferences on what they like to read. I have been told by a couple of editors that they love my writing, but it has yet to end in a published book. That’s because it’s not just up to the editor. And everyone has a different opinion.

Which brings me back to that patience thing. Sometimes it’s really just a matter of being in the right place with the right editor at the right time with the right story. Actually, that’s how it always is! :)

I had the privilege of selling some things on Ebay this week – my first ever attempt at selling. Imagine my surprise when the bidders got into price wars over all four of my items! In one day the selling prices jumped higher than I ever expected.

That’s what I’d love to see happen with my books. :) Actually, I’d be happy just to find a publishing house that would partner with me to share what I have to say with the world. I’ve got lots of projects I’d love to complete, some are already well on their way. One book is ready to go with a series begging to be written. The next book is coming along and I’m having fun writing it. Now if I can just win over an employer (publisher) to see me as an asset to their house, I might get some where. But of course, it all takes time.

That ever elusive patience…