Literary Christian

Goodness Doesn't Mean Standing Still

2008-06-25T07:43:00.001-07:00

Something that Katherine Paterson said at April’s Festival of Faith & Writing in April struck me: We have to be careful as Christians NOT to teach our children that goodness means inactivity, means NOT doing bad things.

This thought fits with my personal pet peeve about people (myself included!) not fully using their God-given talents. And it also reminds me of an interaction I witnessed at the Frederik Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids, Michigan: There’s a big rolling hill beside the Trojan Horse sculpture, and one girl, probably about seven years old, climbed to the very top. But it’s steeper than it looks, so when she ran back down to her mother, who was pushing a stroller with her baby brother, the little girl ran faster and faster and faster, and then, rather than fall face-first, she fell to her knees and skidded to a stop on the grass. When she stood up, she was exhilarated and scared all at the same time, and she looked at her mother’s face for confirmation that she was safe, but then the little girl looked down at the knees of her cream-colored pants and saw that the knees were all green and brown.
I expected the mother to say, “Are you OK?” but that didn’t happen. Then the little girl said, “Oh no,” and rubbed her hands on the knees of her pants. Her mother said, “That’s what happens when you’re a bad girl and don’t listen to me.” But I wanted to say, “How blessed you are to have such a healthy, strong daughter who is ambitious enough to climb such a steep hill and then has the wisdom to slide on her knees and stand right back up again when the
momentum of her daring act takes her breath away."

That’s why Katherine Paterson’s words about not mistaking inactivity for wisdom resonate with me. Katherine also told of a young boy who went to Sunday School for the first time, and when his parents asked what he’d learned, he said, “About Jesus, and SIT DOWN, SIT DOWN, SIT DOWN!!!”

So, I’m telling myself to live an active life. At my stage of life, my greatest sins will NOT be sins of commission, but sins of omission. And when my ambition exceeds my current level of talent and experience, I’ll have to remember to fall on my knees!

Other Women Key to Novel Writing

2008-04-04T08:50:00.000-07:00

In my recently published novel, Desert Medicine, the characters shatter Christian stereotypes. They do not remain persistently optimistic and pray all their problems away. Their true-to-life struggles resist simple, quick solutions.

This novel was inspired by my own life struggles and return to church as a single mother. The church I joined was full of other people like myself, who had made big mistakes.

Here’s how it started: Twenty years ago, I was a young woman who had a lot going for her. I had a college education, a husband, a young son, and my own home. My main struggle was my confusion about what to do career-wise, in the wake of a failed attempt to sell securities and then later to run a wholesale bakery which ended up an unintentional nonprofit endeavor. I’d closed the bakery and was in the process of considering a career in writing when my life took an unexpected turn: My marriage ended. Because I’d been raised in an intact Christian family, it had never occurred to me that my marriage wouldn’t last until death.

I felt completely adrift.

Although raised in the church, once on my own, I’d let church attendance lapse. Now I knew that I needed help, for my young son if not for myself. But I was a little nervous about returning to the church. I was afraid that Christians would judge me harshly, now that I was a soon-to-be-divorcee. So, instead of returning to my childhood congregation, I tried a neighborhood store-front church that I’d happened upon one evening while on a walk with my son.

The first time that I attended Orange Coast Community Church, the greeter gave me a big hug and warmly welcomed me. The church was a small, Bible-based church. Apart from spiritual instruction, one wonderful thing that a church offers is access to intergenerational relationships that are often lacking in today’s families that are fragmented by divorce or geography. Almost immediately, two women who’d gone through divorces took me under their wing: Kathy, who’d once been a single mother with three children, and Meg, who’d mothered four. Both had since remarried.

While Kathy and Meg understood what I was experiencing, they weren’t going to allow me to wallow in self-pity. When Kathy saw me sitting in church clutching my son to my chest like a security blanket, she gently, but firmly, suggested that I allow him to go to the nursery and play. When Meg found out that I was phoning my ex-husband, then crying uncontrollably when he responded coolly, she lovingly, but wisely, suggested that I stop putting myself in the position of victim. Neither one ever beat me over the head with Scripture, but I knew that their joy in the wake of personal tragedies came from a close relationship with Jesus.

By words and example, Kathy and Meg taught me to take responsibility for the part I’d played in my divorce, but then to accept God’s forgiveness and consider myself completely clean and new in God’s sight.

I’d been a little afraid that returning to the church meant that I’d have to become a more docile, demure sort of woman, especially if I wanted to marry a Christian man. But both Kathy and Meg defied my stereotype of a Christian woman, because both were strong-willed women with fully used their many interests, gifts, and accomplishments. In addition to being a pastor’s wife, Kathy was a wonderful family counselor. Meg was a tireless musician, singer, and choir director. Both were living examples of the good servant in Matthew 25, who refuses to bury his talents.

Because I could watch Kathy’s and Meg’s relationships with their second husbands, I saw that it was possible to meet a Jesus-loving man who had a strong moral code but also a wonderful sense of humor. Neither man was a stereotypical Christian husband demanding subservience from his wife. Instead, these men had marriages that were true partnerships and in which the wives’ accomplishments were celebrated as warmly as the husbands’.

When I began dating again, Kathy served as a wise, older woman in giving me feedback on my choice in men. Her insight gave me the confidence to continue a relationship with a Christian man who I was strongly attracted to, but who was very different from myself. I was afraid that this new relationship would end up as badly as my first marriage. With her blessing, I married Gene. Both Kathy and Meg provided the post-marriage support I needed when I discovered that even marriage to a good man can have rough patches, especially when trying to blend families. By both words and the example of their own marriages, they taught me to celebrate my husband’s strengths that were so different from my own and to realize that together, Gene and I made a better “whole’ than either of us had been on our own.

Meanwhile, with the support of this Christian family, I was blossoming in my creative life, too. With my personal life stabilized, I felt free to be more daring in using my talents and I returned to fiction writing.

After attending the church for about a year, I was able to extend the love and acceptance to a neighbor woman. At that time, I walked to church with my son who was a couple of years old. He was always as stubborn as I was, so our walks to church involved me snipping at him and slapping his backside with my Bible to keep him moving. Obviously, this wasn’t the best possible Christian witness to any neighbors who might happen to see me walk by.

One day, after I got home from church, the crazy neighbor lady from across the street appeared at my door. I didn’t really know her, but I’d heard that she used to scare the children on Halloween by standing out in front of her house without her teeth in, and she didn’t even have to wear a costume to impersonate a witch. So I was a little shocked to find her on my front porch. She said that she’d seen me walk by that morning with my little son. I braced myself, because as a single mother I was defensive about my parenting, and I knew that she must have seen me swatting my son with the Bible to keep his legs moving.

Instead, she said something totally unexpected, “I looked out the window this morning, and I seen you and your son go by, the same way I seen you every Sunday, and I thought, Why, she’s got a friend going with her this morning, isn’t that nice, the three of them walking together. But the more I looked, the more certain I become that that was a real special friend, not of this world. And I said to God, Lord, I’ve had my fill of church, all them people so judgmental and all, but I want what that girl has, and I don’t care what kind of church she’s going to, they might all be speaking Spanish or Chinese for all I care, that’s what I’m going.”

Then she asked me, “Was there three of you walking by?”

I told her that it had just been me and my son.

“That’s what I thought,” she said. “I’m not in good health, but I told my husband this is what we’re doing, so he’s behind me. You don’t mind, do you, Honey, if I come to church with you Sunday?”

And that’s what she did. And she didn’t wear her teeth. And most times she came in a muumuu and bedroom slippers, but she won over the entire congregation with her storytelling and humor and honesty.

I felt compelled to take her story and turn it into a work of fiction. That’s how my novel, Desert Medicine, got its start. Desert Medicine, published by Kregel Publications, tells the story of two women, one a young mother of twins going through a divorce who refuses to feel sorry for herself and joins a church full of quirky misfits, and the other an older, tragedy-prone woman who’s struggled her whole life to find a sense of family, beginning in Panhandle Texas and continuing in Calexico, California, where she was sent to live with an aunt who ran a home hospital.

Desert Medicine pays tribute to God’s unexpected use of damaged people. I’m so thankful to know that God can use even me.

To read more about myself and my novel, visit:
www.judyalexander.com

Photo: I recently signed copies of my novel Desert Medicine at a Barnes & Noble bookstore in Costa Mesa, CA.

Preparation Beats Back Fear

2008-02-20T11:34:00.000-08:00

My mantra right now: Step through the doors that the Lord is opening (to write, do public speaking, and take photos). And when I get nervous and rather bury my talent, or completely doubt that I have any talent, then I need to prepare and practice as best I can.

Every new opportunity scares me. For instance, I had a wedding to photograph last weekend. It made me very nervous, even though I’ve shot weddings before. I tried to calm myself by giving myself a pep talk, but I finally realized that instead of positive self-talk, I should prepare, prepare. So, I reviewed the bride’s photo request list, wrote down poses I’d like to take, and looked at others’ photos in the Orange County Bride Magazine. Yes, I hated to spend so very much time prepping for a job, because then my hourly rate went down, down, but the alternative was to break out in a stress rash!

So, I’ve come to realize that for me, the only way to manage my stress is to practice and practice some more, whether the activity is a photo shoot or a speech.

Here are the results of the wedding photo shoot:
http://www.judyalexanderphotography.com/KristaZac/index.html

Always Finish What You Start

2008-02-06T11:56:00.000-08:00

When aspiring writers ask for tips, here are two that I give:

You must be willing to write really terrible first drafts. Put your ego in your back pocket and sit on it while you write.

You must finish what you start, even if the piece of writing turns out to have been a flawed idea from the start. You can only learn about the process of writing by taking it all the way from beginning idea to polished work, over and over again.

My Photography/Writing in the Local Newspaper

2008-01-22T10:59:00.001-08:00

I love both writing and photography. Both made it to the local newspaper when I covered a recent event for the City of Orange Chamber of Commerce. How fun! See the results:

http://www.ocregister.com/news/orange-chamber-city-1963104-members-fire

Book Launch Is Wonderful

2008-01-12T11:43:00.000-08:00

Here's a link to the talk I gave at my December 8 Book Launch Party:

http://www.judyalexander.com/bookweb.wmv

Thank you SO MUCH to all of you who attended!

No Words Needed

2007-11-29T10:37:00.000-08:00

View from Fairmont Orchid Hotel along the Kohala Coast on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Temporary Assignment: Travel Reporter

2007-11-28T07:09:00.000-08:00

Since I don’t currently have a “real job” in a corporate cubicle and my time is somewhat flexible (between scheduled photo shoots), I said “yes” when the last-minute opportunity arose to go on a press trip to Kona, Hawaii as a freelance writer representing Orange County Bride Magazine, in which I advertise my wedding photography services. I’d hoped to take my husband, Gene, but apparently organizers of such trips frown on turning the free trip into a family vacation. Then, just days before leaving, I caught a bad cold, but I decided that unless I broke both legs, I was going, because I’ve never before visited Hawaii and the photo opportunities are wonderful. Besides, I like to travel and imagine living in a completely different place.

My official job is to review the hotels and write about them as propective wedding and honeymoon destinations. Since neither my husband nore I (both of many-siblinged, middle-class families) had never stayed in a motel better than a Motel 6 before going on our own honeymoon up the coast of California, we both felt pampered when we stayed in an upgraded room with a fireplace and a free matchbox-sized sewing kit.

So, it won’t be hard for the hotels’ public relations representatives to impress me.

Since I’m taking the place of a reporter who had to cancel because of a sick relative, the optional activities are the ones she chose. I consider this a good thing, because I’m a land person who would have gone horseback riding and hiking (activities I already do at home), while she chose water-based activities that sound much more Hawaiian: snorkeling, encountering dophins, more snorkeling, and visiting the the water recycling plant.

In fact, I’m such a hiking-boots sort of girl that I when I pulled my most-likely-to-still-fit bathing suit from the drawer, I discovered that the elastic had given up on me, so that wearing the suit would likely have made the “discover the dolphin” experience one where the dolphins do the discovering. Into the trash can went the bright orange suit. My second choice was a navy-blue suit I bought a few years back when I’d started thinking of myself as middle-aged. This number features bottoms that camouflage a woman’s thighs in gym-short fashion. Unfortunately, the full-coverage-for-the-modest-woman effect only works on shore. Once in the water, the pant legs turn the wearer into an exhibitionist. They inflate, then magically remain inflated like a thick second belly. I packed this suit anyway, as a backup, much like the spare tire it resembles. Then I dug around my drawer until I found my oldest suit, a traditional cut with less coverage but no air-retention problems. Its only defects are straps that slide off the shoulder, but I plan to tie them tightly together behind my head with a shoe lace.

Despite my lack of recent water experience and faulty swim gear, I’ve enjoyed swimming in the past and intend to literally immerse myself in the Kona, Hawaii experience. Within two hours of leaving the plane, I’m scheduled to don snorkeling gear! Kona, Hawaii, here I come!

Photo: View of lava beds alongside the highway leading north from the Kona airport.

The Books Are Here!

2007-11-16T07:28:00.000-08:00

I’m holding in my hand a book with my name on it! Desert Medicine is finally here! About 20 years ago I decided that I’d be a novelist, and 13 years ago I began writing the first draft of Desert Medicine, so this book is a long time in the making. I can hardly believe it’s finally here!

Last night I had my first official “book signing” at a small group, the Lovely Literary Ladies book club, which I’ve belonged to for about five years. They were gracious enough to read the story in manuscript form several years ago, at a time when it still seemed probable that the book would never make it to publication. How wonderful to celebrate success with women who remember how hard I’ve worked. I even sold copies of my book!

My official book launch party will be December 8, 7 p.m. in Orange, CA. Everyone’s invited:

What: Book Launch Party (music, talk about the creative process, book signing)
Where: Orange Coast Community Church, 632 N. Eckhoff (near Orangewood), Orange, CA 92868
When: December 8, 7 p.m.
To Do: Bring your friends!

Photo:
“Author” Judy Alexander with a stack of boxes full of copies of her novel Desert Medicine.

What’s It Feel Like to Face Impending Publication?

2007-09-16T15:31:00.000-07:00

What have I been doing since visiting the Christian Retail Show in Atlanta in July? I’ve edited my novel Desert Medicine for what seems the zillionth time: a few more edits to adjust the structure, edits based on the fact finder’s concerns, and edits to correct grammar and style. I’m very grateful to Kregel Publications for such devotion to detail, most recently under the guidance of Editor Miranda Gardner.

People ask me, What does if feel like to be a published author? Well, it was really exciting a year ago when I heard that a publisher might be interested in buying Desert Medicine (after six years of trying to sell the book!), and then shortly afterwards I was finally able to sign with a literary agent. But now that I’ve been working with the publisher to prepare the manuscript for publication, it feels like any other job. This disappoints people if I tell them this, and it’s not entirely true. Of course there are some days when post-acceptance life feels incredible. I felt gratified to the point of tears when I saw the most recent layout, which includes 16 of my own black and white photos. The graphic artist did such a great job (thanks, Nick Richardson), placing them in an oval, feathered frame that makes them look antique. I love seeing my manuscript looking like a “real” book. My manuscript is no longer an orphan; she’s now a well-groomed, clean-faced child with a bow in her hair, looking loved and appreciated. She’s grown into the type of child you’re proud to take out in public.

Now, it’s time to arrange for author appearances. I read recently that author Jodi Picoult approaches book readings and signings NOT as a time for self-aggrandizement, but rather as an opportunity to give back to her readers. What a wonderful and generous way of viewing this stage of book publishing. I hope to adopt her attitude for myself.

I’m practicing this be-of-service attitude by teaching a college class at Concordia University in Irvine where it’s my job to pass on whatever knowledge about writing I’ve gained over the past 20 years. I’m thoroughly enjoying the experience, as I remember so clearly how hungry I was earlier in my career to receive encouragement and guidance from an older writer.

So, yes, the life of a “published author” is full and interesting!

Photo: Neighborhood girls after a slumber party in August 2007.

Atlanta Visit Makes Me Feel Like a Real Author

2007-07-27T12:11:00.000-07:00

At the International Christian Retail Show in Atlanta, my publisher's booth had banners with their new titles, and mine was up there! Even though I’d just recently turned in another round of edits, I spotted a copy of my novel Desert Medicine and ran up to grab it, amazed at the quick turnaround. But the book was just for show: A wrapper with my artwork was pasted onto someone else's book!

I got to meet, again, the wonderful folks at Kregel Publications. The highlight of my visit was meeting with the sales representatives and talking to them about my novel. This is the advice they gave me:

Connect with “frontliners” (the people working the bookstore counter) and get them to read my novel. Bookstore customers don’t just buy what’s new: They buy what’s good, based on recommendations from a person they trust, such as the frontliner at their favorite bookstores.

Create a readership via the Internet.
So, my next steps in marketing Desert Medicine (which will be released in November) are to start sending out a newsletter to my email list (create a readership via the Internet) and to visit local bookstores (connect with frontliners).

Photo: I hold the mock-up copy of my novel, Desert Medicine, at Kregel's trade show booth, on July 10, 2007 in Atlanta.

Author Plans to Keep Cool in Atlanta

2007-07-04T06:19:00.000-07:00

I leave Sunday for Atlanta, for the International Christian Retail Show. I’m attending as an “author,” so that’s exciting. Actually, I’ve invited myself, so the trip’s not something I should flatter myself about. But isn’t a big percentage of success just a matter of showing up? So, I’m showing up in Atlanta, with author cards in hand to pass out to anyone who gets within ten feet of me.

And I’m bringing my camera with me. I’ve discovered that I’m much less introverted if I have a camera around my neck. Yes, I’m resorting to using a security blanket when doing self-promotion, but having observed many other authors’ book signings, I know that writers don’t lack personal tics and dependencies. What about the author who brings her lap dog with her, and even gives speeches with the puppy tucked under her chin? What about the author who clutches a Sharpie pen like a dagger to keep fans from hugging her? What about the author who plays the piano on stage instead of reading from his book?

Actually, my novel Desert Medicine hasn’t even been released, so I’ll have it easy. I’ll just introduce myself to Christian booksellers and tell them that my novel is coming out in November.

And I’ll try to keep my cool, literally. July might not be the mildest month for an Atlanta trip.

Photo:
My last trip to meet booksellers was to New York in June. I visited Ground Zero and the nearby St. Paul’s Chapel, where the firefighters napped and ate between recovery efforts after September 11, 2001. Visiting this landmark was a very sobering, yet inspirational, experience.

New York, New York

2007-06-04T12:10:00.001-07:00

I just returned from the Book Expo in New York City, a giant convention for booksellers and others associated with the industry. I attended in order to get some marketing ideas for my soon-to-be-published novel, Desert Medicine.

My friend and freelance publicist, Sandra D. Brown from Paris, Arkansas, came to New York with me, which greatly helped me gather the courage to be a self-promoter. My security blanket was my camera, which I carried continually. For some reason, this automatically made me a bolder person than I otherwise would be.

I handed out postcards for my novel Desert Medicine while attendees waited in long lines to receive free, autographed book from a variety of authors. Fortunately most folks were really gracious, and a surprising number of them said “Congratulations” when they found out that this is my first publishing success.

The three key seminars I attended were Meet TV and Radio Producers, Christian Fiction, and Amazon 101.

Radio and TV producers are much more down-to-earth and accessible than I would have expected, and all members of the panel were female! Even though it’s difficult for fiction writers to get on TV or radio, I can see that it’s not impossible. In preparation, I’ve prepared a mock interview, with great help from friends Donovan Helminiak, Sandra D. Brown, and Kelly Harmon. Click here to view.

The Christian fiction panel was very encouraging. Apparently, “spiritual fiction” is a growth area with even mainstream publishers taking an interest in it. I handed out my postcards to fellow attendees, and I was surprised by the big names in the audience (the buyer spiritual fiction for Barnes & Noble, the spiritual fiction reviewer for Publishers Weekly).

At the Amazon 101 seminar, I learned about many ways that authors can work with amazon.com to promote their books. I’ll have to look back through my notes and then begin implementing some of these strategies.

The next step: Get review copies into the hands for reviewers by July. If you’d like an electronic review copy of Desert Medicine (due for publication in November), simply send an email to judy@judyalexander.com.

Photo: For the first time, I got to meet my New York agent (left), Michelle Andelman of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, in person.

I’m an Editing Tortoise

2007-04-10T11:08:00.000-07:00

Where do I stand with my soon-to-be-published novel, Desert Medicine? I’m back in the editing stage. Actually, I’ve edited this novel over and over again, and finding out that those edits were just the precursor to the master edit is intimidating.

This is who I am as an unpublished writer:
I’m a kitchen-sink writer who includes every remotely related thought and feeling into the first draft of a book, then I go back and try to find a plot and theme and bring those to the surface. My disorganized (I prefer the word “creative”) method of writing is a symptom of my personality, and is paralleled in my wildflower garden (as many weeds as flowers) and my sons’ baby books (two large boxes holding stacks of report cards, drawings, and photos).

This is who I need to be in order to be a published writer:
The most prolific, successful fiction writers say that they love editing because that’s when the “magic” happens and their writing becomes a cohesive novel with foreshadowing and strong motivation. Even though I can’t imagine loving editing my own writing (I find editing is much more enjoyable when I’m editing someone else’s work!), I realize that learning to be a better self-editor is an imperative step in fiction writing, at least if I want to make a career out of writing novels.

But the creative side of me is rebellious. I don’t want to have to go back and pick apart my “art” and then reassemble it again.

To get past my procrastination impulse, I tell myself to review the editor’s suggestions for just a few minutes at a time, then journal about some possible solutions to the problems she’s found. Even if the “magic” doesn’t happen, I tell myself to trudge on.

I’ve heard fiction writing compared to marathon writing. Just when you think the finish line is close, you realize that you’ve still got five more miles to go. No one said that running a marathon would feel good during those last five miles. But how satisfied the runner feels when she finally finishes the race, all the way to the very end.

And if all else fails, I can temporarily take a break from the novel-writing marathon and instead sort through my sons’ baby-book boxes or do some weeding.

Photo: My cousin’s pet tortoise.

A Curve in the Road of Life

2007-03-28T08:45:00.000-07:00

March 15 I got laid off from my day job, along with about 3,000 other employees. This was not unexpected, as the subprime mortgage industry has been in the news for months and many of our competitors had large layoffs or completely shut down operations. As much as I’d complained that I needed time to write fiction and promote my novel Desert Medicine (due out November 2007), it’s still a shock to my system to have my daily schedule change so dramatically. And then of course, there’s the loss of income and health insurance. Fortunately, I’ll have both for two more months.

My plan right now: Keep writing fiction and working on promoting Desert Medicine, but also set up a photography business so that I’ll have some income (first-time fiction writers are not usually paid nearly enough to quit their day jobs, and I’m no exception.) I love photography because it taps into the same need to be creative that my fiction writing does, but it also delivers something that fiction writing can’t: almost immediate gratification.

I owe a big thanks to my recently ended corporate job. Although hired as a writer, I asked for, and was given, the opportunity to take lots of photos, and was also introduced to a professional photographer, Bleu Cotton, tops in the industry, who I was able to observe. That’s when I decided that I’d like to make a career of photography, if given the opportunity. Now that opportunity has arrived.

I’m putting my money behind this new business, having ordered a professional-level camera and lens (Canon EOS 5D and 70-200 IS lens). This will supplement the Nikon D50 with both wide and long lenses that I’ve been using for the past year and a half. I’ll have to drum up some business just to pay for the equipment!

To see my photography portfolio, go to judyalexanderphotography.com

Photo: A Joshua tree stands tall in the fire-burned area just outside Pioneer Town near Yucca Valley, CA, taken at Thanksgiving 2006.

Fishing for Readers

2007-03-22T10:14:00.000-07:00

My trip March 6-8 to Grand Rapids, Michigan went really well. I met the team at Kregel Publications. I was impressed with their operations (they are larger than I expected, with at least 25 folks). They all have a Midwestern sense of understated humor, which I really like. I easily see us working together on the next book. I almost cried when I arrived and saw that the receptionist had put out a sign: Kregel Publications Welcomes Judy Alexander.

I also visited local bookstores, a book club, a writing group, a large women’s ministry at Calvary Church, a Calvin College professor who assists with the Festival of Faith & Writing, and I spoke at a retirement home about the importance of telling or writing your life story, which is what one older woman did with me, thereby inspiring the writing of Desert Medicine. That talk went well, and the activities director told me in an email that I’d inspired several residents to begin writing their memoirs.

I gave most people I met a flower bulb tied with a bow in netting, to which was attached a business card mentioning my website and suggesting they read chapter 6 of Desert Medicine to learn how to plant the bulb. The trip reinforced my concept of myself as an “author,” which was very flattering and fun.

Photo: Fishing in Grand Rapids in early March.

A Young Person Keeps Me Dancing

2007-03-02T12:39:00.000-08:00

With the impending publication of my novel Desert Medicine, I've asked a family friend's talented teenage daughter, Kelly, to help me keep on top of the details of juggling a family, day job, fiction writing, photography, church volunteerism, and book promotion. Because she's on the yearbook committee at school, she perfect for this job. As a writer/photographer, my life is the equivalent of being a life-long member of a yearbook committee.

Right now, Kelly is helping to remind me to:

Send thank you notes, or at least thank-you emails. I know saying thanks is common courtesy, but it's amazingly easy to let common courtesies slide when life is hectic. Carolyn See's book about a career as a writer, "Making a Literary Life," is very adamant about thank-yous. She's right, of course: In an industry that, like most, is built on relationships, only a fool neglects to thank those along the way who offer encouragement, advice, or a listening ear.
Maintain and add to my personal email list. Since the best advertising for books is word-of-mouth, then anyone who has ever had the slightest contact with me should beware: I plan to let you know that I have a novel coming out in the fall. Kelly and I are using a really wonderful online program to manage out lists and to layout e-newsletters: constantcontact.com. This program was also endorsed by Tom Britt at the January writers' conference in San Diego, who gave a seminar about web-based book publicity.
Design an e-newsletter to send to my email list. This is where Kelly's yearbook skills are really coming in handy. We're still trying to decide what to include in the newsletter. Columns in the voice of the two main characters in Desert Medicine? The story of how I got published? A how-to article on starting book groups? Articles written by writer friends?

What's it like to work with a teenager who's not your own child? Wonderful! Unlike my own two sons, she's not the least bit resentful about working for me, and in fact, considers this a great opportunity.

My pastor, Rick Rzeszewski, once said (only half jokingly) that parents of teenagers should trade children from age 13 on, and then only return them at age 21. I can see the wisdom in this.

Thank God for the Kellys of the world!

Photo: Dancer students in Tustin, CA.

Self Promotion Takes a Mechanic

2007-02-20T15:12:00.000-08:00

In my day job, I do “marketing communications” writing at a large company, and I’ve twice taught a college course about public relations, so you’d think that I’d be an excellent at self-promotion. Wrong! It’s one thing to try to promote a product or someone else’s story, and it’s quite another thing to try to package and sell yourself! What’s my “issue” or “message”? Who is my “audience”? Do I have a “platform”?

To help me sell my novel, Desert Medicine, I’ve hired a good friend to be my freelance publicist. She’s originally from my church in Orange Country, but she’s now living in (and loving!) Arkansas. She’s got all the traits of a great publicist: She is intelligent and witty and persistent and has a great phone voice and doesn’t at all mind maintaining Excel sheets of media contacts. So, Sandra D. Brown is giving me the confidence to apply my marketing skills to myself and my novel, Desert Medicine.

I was introduced to the idea of paying for a freelance publicist years ago, when a guest speaker came to the writing class I was taking. Barbara Seranella was a wonderful guest, so straight-speaking and encouraging to other writers. She had a pragmatism about her that was refreshing, reminding us writers (who tend to be thin-skinned and idealistic and unrealistic about the prospects of our “art” being magically “discovered”) that publishing is a business and that we should be willing to invest in our own business and to do the hard work necessary to sell the products (novels) that our business produces. This wonderful woman, who had to overcome an early life of wildly dangerous decisions, beginning with running away from home at age 14o join the hippies in San Francisco, recently died at the too-young age of 50. The world lost a good writer, a kind-hearted but pragmatic mentor, and a fascinating human – a writer’s soul in the body of an auto mechanic.

So, Sandy and I are applying auto mechanics to the business of being a novelist. What are we doing now, eight months before publication of Desert Medicine? We’re putting together:

Lists of newspaper, radio and TV media contacts
Lists of book reviewers on amazon.com, bn.com, and booksamillion.com
Planning to do a mock video interview to post on my website to showcase for prospective TV and event planning specialists my ability to be both informative and entertaining as an interviewee (I’ll have to work hard on this!!).

In the meantime, I’m still working on my “issue.” At the San Diego State University Writer’s Conference that I attended at the end of January, super-publicist Milton Kahn said that a novelist can’t just talk about her novel. For one client, he discovered an “issue”: She’d once picked up a hitchhiker who turned out to be a mass murder. Wow! The lengths authors will go to publicize their books!!

Photo: A man who isn’t afraid of hard work. I rode past on bicycle, and he agreed to let me take his photo.

Publishing Teamwork Begins

2007-02-09T04:17:00.000-08:00

I’ve heard it said that writing and editing your novel, and then finding a publisher, may take years (as it did in my case), but that’s still just step one. The next step is encouraging people to buy the book.

Towards that end, the teamwork of book publishing has begun in earnest. I’m working closely with Kregel’s marketing manager. I’ve filled out the forms that she sent me, that will help the team market my novel, asking questions about me and about my novel Desert Medicine (25-, 50-, and 200-word summaries of the book, how did I meet my husband, where would I like to travel.)

My husband Gene took “author” photos of me, using the local Starbucks as a backdrop, because that’s where I spend a lot of time writing.

Now I’m working on:

Questions for a readers guide for book clubs
A list of possible endorsers – people, often published authors, who might read my book before it’s published and write something nice and quotable about the book, to be printed on the book cover. One wonderful writer, Paula Huston, has already agreed to read the manuscript!!
A list of influencers – readers who are likely to tell their friends about my book if given a free copy

Yes, if I think too long about my lack of experience and the thought of all the public speaking ahead of me, I can hardly breathe. But then, life’s not boring!

Photo: Chapman University tower as seen from downtown Orange, California

A Publishing Dream Comes True!

2007-01-30T11:56:00.000-08:00

It's official: Sixteen year after beginning to seriously write novels, and after a near-lifetime of stories running through my head, I have an agent and publisher! I'm represented by Michelle Andelman of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency. My publicists are Amy Stephansen, marketing manager at Kregel Publications, and Sandy Brown (my friend), freelance publicist of Paris, Arkansas.

How did it happen? In the summer of 2005, I took my Desert Medicine manuscript to the Nebraska Summer Writing Conference in Lincoln, Nebraska. I had completed the manuscript in late 2000, after five years of research and writing, but had been unable to sell it. At the conference, writer Brent Spencer persuaded me not to give up on the novel, and gave me valuable advice on how to strengthen the story. In April 2006, I submitted sample pages of the rewritten novel along with a marketing plan to the Festival of Faith & Writing in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where the editor for a small publishing house, Kregel Publications, expressed an interest in seeing the entire manuscript.

A week ago, I signed the contract! Desert Medicine will be released in the fall!

Jesus as Pack Leader

2006-12-28T08:19:00.000-08:00

Our family has been renting video recordings of the TV show “The Dog Whisperer.” Cesar Milan trains dog owners to be the pack leader, with the result that formerly high-strung animals become calm and happy, secure in the knowledge that they have a strong leader.

Isn’t there a parallel with humans? Once we accept Jesus as our pack leader, we no longer have to be nervous and angry, because we’re freed from having to depend on ourselves to control everything in our lives. Once we trust that Jesus is concerned about our safety and happiness, we can relax and enjoy this life.

Photo: Santas on motorcycles in Orange, California

Climb Your Mountain

2006-11-27T07:38:00.000-08:00

Someone once came up to me to ask for writing advice. Or at least I thought that’s what the person was asking for. I was flattered to be considered an expert, and threw myself into an encouraging lecture about bravery and technique. I was like a mountain climber, explaining how it’s possible to transform yourself from a couch potato to an outdoorsman.

After feeling that I’d shared many pearls of wisdom, empowering the aspiring writer to draft her book about foster parenting, she ended the conversation with, “I think you should write this book.”

I was flabbergasted. She hadn’t wanted me to point the way up the mountain. She’d been trying to hand me her backpack.

Here’s my advice to myself and others who sometimes am tempted to hand our hiking gear to others and ask them to make the trek through life for us: If you spend your life trying to get out of work, you spend almost as much energy as you would if you did the work, and you end up with nothing to show for that energy.

When I’m feeling lazy or discouraged, I remind myself that the journey isn’t supposed to be easy:

John the Baptist devoted his whole life to being God’s spokesman, only to languish in prison and then be brought out and beheaded.
Joseph resisted the Pharaoh’s wife’s advances, but his reward was to be thrown into prison for years and years. Even after he translated the baker’s dream and the baker promised to get him out of prison, the baker forgot to help him.
Abraham was told that his descendants would number the stars, and then his wife was barren for years and years.

Do NOT wait for someone to rescue you. Do NOT try to hire sherpas to do your climbing for you. Do NOT sit in your tent only a few feet from base camp, bemoaning the fact that no one gives you any praise for making it part way up the hill. If you’ve chosen to climb mountains, then CLIMB.

Photo: Panda at the Beijing Zoo, China, July 2006

Trying the Impossible

2006-09-08T07:14:00.000-07:00

At work, I was asked to take a photo to accompany an article. Later, my boss asked me how it went, and it was only then, after I'd already successfully and uneventfully taken the photo, that I realized my boss had expected the subject to strongly object to the photo taking, and that's why I'd been given the job.

Something similar happened years ago when I was an exchange student in Finland, and my host-family sister and her friends went to a neighbor's house to ride a horse. The girls-who all knew so much more about horses than I did and only brought me along because my host-family mother had insisted that they invite me-suddenly became very generous to me. They asked me if I'd like the honor of going into the stall and putting the halter on the horse. I was flattered and quickly agreed. I didn't know what I was doing, and the stall was really dark, and the horse was big, but somehow, after several false starts, and with encouragement from the other girls who stood firmly outside the walls of the stall, I got the halter on and led the horse out of the stall. That's when the girls took over. Only later did I find out that they'd allowed me to put on the halter because they were scared to be in the stall with the horse: It was bad-tempered and usually bit whoever tried to work near its head. My incompetence had apparently distracted the horse from its normal bad behavior.

My point: Good things can happen when you're too naïve to know the task is impossible.

Photo: A local man in the Guogeli section of Harbin, China, July 2006.

Growing Up

2006-08-09T07:33:00.000-07:00

At La Jolla cove, near the university in San Diego where my older son attended college, I once saw a mother harbor seal nudge her pup into the waves. I'd thought that seals took naturally to the ocean, but that little cream-colored pup, only 24 hours old, screamed as the cold salt water hit his body.

Now that my older son has graduated from college and moved to Europe, I've been thinking about the process of "launching" children into the wide world. Although this son, born of a European father and American mother, was born to swim in international waters, and he threw himself into the deep long before I had a chance to nudge him, I suspect the cold and the salt and the penetrating wet are sometimes a shock.

Photo: Harbor seals at La Jolla, California, in June 2006.

Juggling Personal Ambition and the Needs of Others

2006-07-31T07:25:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago, I attended a lecture delivered by a successful corporate woman turned corporate consultant. Afterwards, I was haunted by her talk, not because it had inspired me to advance my corporate career, as the speaker had intended, but because it had seemed to me a cautionary tale. She'd told about her climb up the corporate ladder, reaching the level of director before age 35, while giving birth to two children (her husband raised them) and traveling the globe. She'd explained the networking that she'd had to do in order to climb the corporate ladder, including going out drinking with the guys. And when someone in the audience suggested that being mentored by men in the office might lead to sexual tension or misunderstandings, she completely dismissed the question: "We're all professionals." At that point, I began to suspect that she was not completely honest about her life, and about the price that she'd paid for her personal success.

Days later, I was still obsessing about the decisions that this woman had made. And I kept imagining the regrets she must hide, about being so absent from the early years of her children's lives. There must be some reason that she'd decided to go into consulting, which gave her a more flexible schedule, instead of continuing in the corporate world - maybe now that she saw that her kids would soon leave the nest, she finally wanted to have a relationship with them. She'd made the same mistake that many corporate fathers make: She'd let her unbridled personal ambition rule her life, at the expense of her family's needs.

After hearing her talk, I wanted to leave the corporate world completely behind. But I finally calmed down and reminded myself that to avoid making the same cold-hearted decisions that this woman had made didn't mean that I had to swing completely in the other direction and become a fulltime homemaker. Maybe, instead, there was a middle road that would give me a balance between personal ambition and the needs of loved ones. Maybe corporate life could be part of my life without my having to turn into a woman willing to sacrifice my family in order to climb the corporate ladder.

I reminded myself that the corporate world isn't the only place where personal ambition can run amok. I could leave the corporate world behind and still not be a good mother, wife and community member. I know writers, living far from the corporate environment, whose personal ambition has so narrowed their lives, they live alone and isolated with only their books and a computer screen. I suspect that for me, balancing personal ambition with the needs of others will be a lifelong juggling act, even if I someday leave the corporate world behind.

(Photo taken July 6 in Harbin, China. Two little boys play outside a former Russian Orthodox Church near Gougeli street.)

Writing Despite a Full Life

2006-07-28T07:16:00.000-07:00

I once watched a TV movie about Churchill's later years, right before he assumed leadership of England during WWII. He was a great writer who set a goal of 2,000 words every day. He usually met that goal despite a full life that didn't allow him to devote himself exclusively to writing. Shouldn't I be able to write a fraction of that amount on a regular basis?

Photo: Men along the Songhua River in Harbin, China, not far from my hotel room.

Pragmatism About Creative Writing

2006-07-26T08:15:00.000-07:00

I think that I'm finally, finally, getting to a point in my own writing when I'm realizing that not everything I write is priceless. That whatever I write, no matter how "creative," isn't really worthwhile unless a reader can follow along. That of the many, many words that I'll write in this lifetime, only a fraction will reach an audience, and probably only a fraction should - just as we speak millions of words every year that are not interesting enough to repeat, so we writers write many, many words that are just not all that interesting.

What I'm trying to say is that I'm finally, finally becoming more pragmatic about the act of writing. Yes, wonderfully creative, divine moments happen during the writing process. But even the writing that results from those magical moments has to be edited into a format that is consumable by readers. Unless, of course, I just want all my writing to be journal entries to myself.

Photo: Harbin, China in July, outside the window of the hotel where my baby brother was married.

Family Ties Strengthened in China

2006-07-24T07:27:00.000-07:00

My dad died two years ago of a sudden heart attack. I think he would have been proud of us during our summer vacation. Almost the entire extended family took a trip to Harbin, China, to attend the wedding of my youngest brother to a Russian girl. Everyday, all 20 of got on a bus and toured various parts of the city. My mother says that the best part of the trip for her was listening to all of us laugh and enjoy each other's company, far away from our daily responsibilities. Here's a picture from the bus, with some of my family, some of the bride's family and friends, some of the groom's friends, and the American pastor and his wife who spoke Russian and Chinese.

Imprinting the Culture, as God has Imprinted Himself on Us

2006-05-07T21:13:00.000-07:00

I received yet another agent rejection on Friday. This agent said I'm a lovely writer and my prose is high quality...but she just didn't feel passionate enough about my novel Desert Medicine. I've received so many rejections for my completed novel (more than 65?), but I tell myself that this is only the second rejection of this most recent rewrite. After so much rejection, it's hard to find comfort in stories of perseverance. I keep writing, no longer out of a sense of faith in my talent or belief in hard work or trust in God's timing, but simply, as writer Leslie Leyland Fields says, "For me, writing is like breathing. If I don't write, I feel like I'll die."

Here's what Luci Shaw, poet, had to say about writing at the Festival of Faith & Writing in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on April 20:

She really likes her new publisher, WordFarm.
We should imprint the culture like God has imprinted Himself on us.
Beauty is redemptive, and so surprising.
An aesthetic sense is God-given.
She admires other writers Annie Dillard and Mary Oliver.
The arts give us a chance to notice things and seek truth.
We need to continue to seek and find; need to trust the search.
We are clay pots, per 2 Corinthians 4:7.
Because we are just clay pots, we know that the light does not come from us.
People of faith can imprint, impact, and influence their society.
We are here to make a mark on our culture.
We are the body of Christ.
God uses imagery to teach us. One third of the Bible is poetry, with metaphor and simile.
Our art may sometimes need to be harsh and startling.
Do I bear the imprint of the Creator?
She traveled to Romania, where she learned that the goal of artists of faith is to make an imprint on the culture with poetry, novels, and plays. In Romania, the people need to poetry of hope.
What might God do with each one of us?

So, despite all the rejection, writing gives me an excuse to be a more acute observer, to cultivate a love of beauty, and to practice being an instrument of God. Amen.

Photo: Luci Shaw

Role Models Found at Festival of Faith & Writing

2006-04-28T07:28:00.000-07:00

When attending writers' conferences, I'm looking for inspiration and publishers and agents. But I'm also looking for role models. And unfortunately, so many writers turn out to be just as flawed as the general population, and sometimes even more so: crankily antisocial or wide-hipped or militantly anti-attractive.
So, this year I was so pleased to find not just one pleasant, attractive, talented female writer, but four. These four are all intelligent, humorous, dark-haired, slender literary women writers who also happen to be Christian:

Leslie Leyland Fields, raising five boys with a fisherman husband on an Alaskan
island, writes nonfiction and memoir, such as her book about female commercial
fishermen, "The Entangled Net."

Lauren Winner, a recent convert from Judiasm to Christianity, wrote the memoir "Girl
Meets God."

Alice McDermott, a lapsed Catholic who returned to her faith, is author of the
novel Charming Billy.

Mary Karr, a recent convert to Catholicism, is a poet/memoirist known for her
memoir The Liars' Club.

At reading from her most recent book, Surprise Child, which tells about her
emotional struggles when finding out that she was pregnant with her fifth son
at age 45, Leslie Leyland Fields says that the child was a surprise to her,
but not to God. "My pregnancy became a constant lesson in relinquishment."

What Lauren Winner misses most about Orthodox Judiasm, besides the people,
is the daily-life sense that we're living in a sacred universe. She recaptures
some of that sense by belonging to a church which reveres the sacrament of Holy
Communion.

Alice McDermott believes that the artist reveals how something in our nature
rebels against our destiny. We are hopeful despite impending death. In the face
of our suffering, there is the hope of redemption. Every creative act is an
act of faith.

Mary Karr was a literary community member-in-good-standing before she became
a Christian. When she converted to Catholicism, her literary friends acted like
she'd admitted to something kinkier than a perverted sex act.

How do Leslie, Lauren, Alice, and Mary integrate their spiritual and artistic
lives, in a culture that tends to separate the two? Alice sees her job as a
novelist to lead her characters to the point where they realize that they need
redemption, but doesn't try to wrap up their stories with tidy solutions.

Leslie, Lauren, Alice, and Mary all have a great sense of humor and are pragmatic
about hard work. "You have to be willing to fail," Mary says, noting
that even if God directs her to write a book, that doesn't mean that that particular
book will be successful. "Maybe God wants me to learn about failure and
perseverance."

Photo: Lesley Leyland Fields

Novelist Wannabe to Work for Food

2006-04-20T07:12:00.000-07:00

I’ve arrived in Grand Rapids to attend the 2006 Festival of Faith & Writing at Calvin College. I almost didn’t attend, because I’m a failed novelist. There’s something a little sad about a woman who has never made a cent from her fiction writing still spending hundreds of dollars on writing conferences.

But, the biennial Festival of Faith & Writing is an inspirational event, even for writers who have to keep their day job. And that’s why I’ve returned, for the fifth time.

Fortunately, given the fact that attending yet another writing conference is in some ways a brutal reminder that I’ve never published a novel, my ego was saved by a last-minute invitation to host a lunch discussion. This fits my new mantra: If you can’t dazzle people, at least make yourself useful. I still don’t even know why I was invited to spearhead the discussion – Good, Bad, and Ugly Blogs – since I’m not a writing conference insider, and http://literarychristian.blogspot.com/ is my first-ever attempt at blogging. Therefore, any insights from more experienced bloggers are most welcome.

In the meantime, I’m happy to report that for playing hostess, I not only get bragging rights, but also a free box lunch. Maybe my writing IS feeding me!

(Photo: A view from my hotel window in Grand Rapids, Michigan. No leaves on the trees yet!)

Grand Rapids Tulips

2006-04-17T07:58:00.000-07:00

I'm looking forward to seeing the tulips in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Passport Photo

2006-04-16T15:22:00.000-07:00

I don't need a passport to attend the Festival of Faith & Writing in Grand Rapids, Michigan. But nevertheless, here's my passport photo.

Going to Festival of Faith & Writing

2006-04-12T18:27:00.000-07:00

This is my first attempt to use a blog. I'm getting ready for my trip to Grand Rapids, for the 2006 Festival of Faith & Writing at Calvin College.