The Ripple is Spreading

Got my latest royalty check. Not big, but big enough to treat my family to dinner. Each time I actually get a royalty check, letting me know people are seeking out and buying my books, makes all the frustration and hard work worth it all. If only one person should be touched by God while reading a story I've written, it will all have been worth it. Thank you, Lord, for this opportunity.

Showing vs. Telling

Finally...I think it clicks. One of the lovely ladies in my critique group put it this way; Whenever you say she saw or she heard, you're telling. You don't need this because you are in her POV. Would she say to herself...I heard or I saw? Pretend you are she and show it.

Yep, folks, I'm still growing and learning. Thank God for wonderful friends willing to continue to correct you when you're wrong, support you until you get it right, then congratulate you when you do!

Doing It Again

Yesterday, I sent the first three chapters of my latest wip to a well-established author who had the grace to read them. Well...needless to say, I've got some re-writing to do. Most of the book in fact. I felt discouraged a bit after I received the e-mail. I was told I had great things to work with, story flowed and POV was good, but...that old human nature, you know? Today, I'm excited. Fired up. I know I've got a great story going. Now I've got the tools to make it better!

I really mean to, but...

Really. I mean to be more consistent with my blog writing. Would love to use it like an actual journal, but time seems so limited. It occurred to me the other day, something I'd read, that Jesus and the disciples also had only 24 hours in a day and look at what all they accomplished! It's discipline folks. How do you do it?

Blogging-Is it worth it?

There is an awful lot of controversy over blogging. Some say for blogging to be effective, you must write everyday. Others say--only when you have something to say. Some writers use it as a journal, others as a teaching tool and still others, like me, to post a thought, or comment. Is blogging writing, as in creative? Is it something intended primarily for the writer to post their thoughts? Input, readers. What say you?

Writing Withdrawal

I'm ill with the flu and want to write, really, but my brain won't work. My fingers are poised over the keyboard, my eyes are focused on the monitor and...nothing. My head aches and no thoughts come. I should be writing or critiquing someone else's work. What do you do when the ole' grey matter ain't spinning?

Hero vs. Heroine

I realize that we live in a world where women are/and are allowed to, strong. In a writing group I belong to, we are learning that the heroine should come out strong by the end of the story. Is there no one out there who still loves the books where the Hero comes riding in on his white horse to save the day?

In my first novel, Pursued By Evil, this is what happens, yet readers clamored for a sequel. I came up with one and it is at the publisher's now. Look for Haunted By Evil by the end of 2005.

New Year/New Book

2005 appeared along with the publication of my second novel "A Dream Fulfilled". I doubt the excitement of holding the finished project in my hand will ever diminish. I have submitted the sequel to "Pursued By Evil" and am writing my fourth novel. I thank God that I am capable of being more than a one book author.

A Dream Fulfilled

A Dream Fulfilled will be released January 29, 2005. It's as wonderful a feeling as the first time! Although writing is work, a lot actually, I hope to write until the day I die. I love it that much! Words have always been an important part of me. Now I can take those words I love, the imagination God has given me, and turn a blank page into a creation! Oh, the power of words!

Goodbye, Felicia and Dylan!

I have just completed the first draft of the sequel to Pursued By Evil. The sequel will be titled Haunted By Evil. Although I am excited to have finished, it is sad to say goodbye to the characters I have spent so many years with. It's time to move on to new friends and, possibly, sequels to other novels. I will miss them!

Inspiration for writing

Where can you get your inspiration? Look around you! There is inspiration in the face of a child, the way the sun shines through the branches of a tree. There is inspiration in a crowd of strangers. In the misbehavior of school students. In the tears of a teenage girl. Where can you find your inspiration for a story?

Character Come to Life

Just watched the movie "The Secret Window". The one where Johnny Depp is an author. How absolutely frightening it would be to have your main "bad" guy come to life, or even worse, find out that the bad guy is really you! Being an author, you find that you are close to your characters anyway. But to turn around one day and see that the villain in your book was standing beside you...scarey!

Why write?

Why do authors write? Writing is hard. It requires discipline. Often there are readers who thoroughly enjoy what you have written...yet there will be a few who will critique what you have written to pieces. Should we authors let this discourage us? No. We write because we have something to say. We write because God has given us a story. We write because there are readers out there who will want to read what we have written.

Christian Fiction

I have recently read an article in World Magazine, worldmag.com, about the changes in Christian literature. I have read recent postings on message boards about how the secular world, and Christians, view Christian fiction. Some are saying that the differences between Christian Fiction and Secular Fiction are becoming less and less. Others are saying that they don't read Christian Romance because the relationship between the hero and heroine is boring. Not enough tension between the two. What do you think?

Books

Books are the food of youth, the delight of old age; the ornament of prosperity, the refuge and comfort of adversity; a delight at home, and no hindrance abroad; companions by night, in traveling, in the country. - Marcus Tillius Cicero

Love of Books

The Love of Books, the Golden Key
That opens the Enchanted Door
-Andrew Lang