The Seed of a Story by Andy Scheer

This past weekend I found another reference book for my work-in-progress. For nearly a year I've been deliberately adding to my collection of historical resources. But I didn't suspect how long I'd been collecting.

In my latest acquisition – a book about U.S. Army Aviation during the First World War – a photo of one aircraft reminded me how long this story has been percolating.

In September 1970, my father took me to the Bryan, Ohio, airport to see a De Havilland DH4 that was re-enacting the fiftieth anniversary of transcontinental airmail service. The next day the Bryan Times was filled with accounts of the town's place in aviation history. In a shoebox of old photos, I'm sure I still have black-and-white snapshots of that biplane.

That event was far from my conscious memory when I began crafting my novel. Somehow it just seemed right for my hero to be a pilot in the Upper Midwest, who in 1925 was flying a DH4 powered by a V-12 Liberty engine.

Maybe it's true what they say about writing what you know – even if at first you don't remember it.

Hope for Christmas from Linda S. Glaz

 'Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro' the land,
Writers were stirring with hope in their hands;
The keyboards were clacking, the fingers with care,
In hopes that a contract soon would be there;
The similes and metaphors were snug on the lines,
While writers created plots that were fine,
And characters danced across pages like crazy,
Some happy, some silly, and some downright lazy.
When suddenly the author changed directions and then,
The ending turned round and started over again.
Away to the next scene, the characters flew,
A boy and a girl, for a romance needs two.
The killers they lurked from page to page,
Some young, some old, and showing their age.
When, what to the wonderment, a mystery appears,
Filling the reader with tension and fear.
Then appeared an old man, so lively and quick,
Everyone knew in a moment he really had wit.
More rapid than eagles, his ninja skills grew,
Until he had helpers to find who had killed who.
"Now! Sherlock, now! Columbo, now! Poirot, and Kojak,
"On! Clouseau, on! Marple, on! Fletcher and Spade;
"To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!

Now catch the crooks, catch the crooks, catch the crooks all!
As weapons before the wild killers fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
So up to the house-top the antagonists run,
With bags full of stolen items each one:
And then in a twinkling, they dashed to the roof
Where detectives were waiting to shackle each hoof.
Then the writer his story was turning around,
The seat of his pants changing gears with a bound:
The guy that he’d dress'd all in fur, to his foot,
He suddenly didn’t know where he would put;
Would he bundle the man with a weight on his back,
Oh, how his fingers continued to clack.
A love story soon become the right thing,
So the characters laughed, and they danced and could sing.
Yes this was the story the writer should tell,
Of a handsome young prince, and his lovely girl, Belle.
The arms of Belle’s love were held tight about her,
And the kiss, well it caused her stomach to flutter.
He had a fine face, and eyes that were dashing
That took her all in till their hearts were both crashing:
Yes, this was the story the author should tell,
And she knew it would be the one that would sell;
A spark in her eye and a shake of his head
Cleared all the writer’s block, she had nothing to dread.
She spoke not a word, but went straight to her work,
And finished the chapters; then turn'd with a jerk,
And opening her email, she attached a query,
Then sent it out without being wary,
She opened it daily, her hopes way on high,
And waited to hear “Yes, yes. We will buy!:
Then she heard them exclaim, as they gave her the call-
Happy writing career, to one and to all!

Jane Friedman's Article - 4 Ways to Find Readers

I thought this post was truthful, appropriate, practical and a MUST read for all authors. Since I couldn't have written or said it any better myself, here is the link on Jane Friedman's 4 Ways to Find Readers Who Love Your Work.

How much faith content? by Terry Burns

Interesting question, and one that I proposed to my clients. I wanted each of them to rate the amount of faith content in each individual work on a scale from one to ten.

One told me their book was overtly Christian but she was unsure what that meant in a ranking on such a scale. To me the words overtly Christian puts a book in the upper half. The way I look at the scale, a ranking of “one” is little or no faith. A “five” means moderate faith content, and a “ten” means really in-your-face faith content. Those points are more-or-less black and white. For most of us we are deciding where we fall in between one and five, more toward one or toward the other or between five and ten, more toward one or the other. I believe taking the time to actually evaluate this is an important understanding for a Christian author to come to.

It is also helpful me in knowing how to represent their work. It’s no secret that Christian publishers are interested in faith content. Many mainstream publishers don’t want such content at all. Then there are publishers who fall at various points along the scale.

It is possible to have enough faith content that we rule out a number of the mainstream publishers but not enough content to interest the Christian publishers. That’s sort of a “no man’s land” in between. It doesn’t mean there is no place for a particular project, but it does mean that we have reduced the number of possibilities to a large degree.

I am looking at submissions constantly, have a large number of projects that I represent, and when you add in my senior memory it means every time I start to work on a project I have to spend a little time reminding myself what it is so I don’t confuse it with anything else. I don’t have to read the whole thing to accomplish that, just enough to be sure I’m thinking of the right manuscript. But if I have to decide how much faith content a particular work contains, that takes a lot of reading. I can save myself a huge amount of work by establishing that rating at some point and marking the work with it.

My clients seem to be learning a lot about themselves and about each other as they are going through this process and going through it on my client online group.

Tis the Season to be... by Diana Flegal

Tis the season to be Jolly. But instead many are sad, discouraged, wounded, lonely, hopeful yet pessimistic or grieving the loss of a loved one. And this is just a glimpse of what my writer friends are going through. Imagine the emotional roller-coaster of emotions the rest of the world is experiencing, especially the un-saved who have no hope.

When I was young, my mother and dad made every Christmas wonderful. Lots of cookie baking, present wrapping and closets temporarily off limits as gifts stacked up. There were many family gatherings, youth group sled rides and bonfires.

Then we had to grow up. The responsibilities of adulthood became our norm and visions of bills due and end of year wrap-ups replaced visions of sugarplums, wishes and dreams.

Recently Joyce Meyer and several other men of God reminded me how to escape the pond of despond at this time of the year. Yes, even this optimist is prone to sink into doom and gloom.  I thought I would take this post to share this timely reminder as an encouragement to you.

Be stable. Show the world your ultimate hope is in God and you will continue to trust him despite your present circumstances. Be good to others. Be the bearer of good news. Focus on the positive. And keep doing what is right.

Acts 10:38  tells us Christ went about doing good.

Give yourself permission to keep things simple this year. Pray about what small thing you can do for others. I have found the solution to my heartache is doing for others. Takes the focus off myself and helps to put things in perspective.

Count your blessings, name them one by one...

Remember the things God has done for you. List them off and realize, He is still able to deliver you. The old testament saints practiced this by telling and re-telling themselves and their families their spiritual history. Sit your family down and do the same.

If you or someone you know and love is standing in the need of prayer, let us know in the comments and we will be glad to pray for you. We can get through this time with the aid of one another. And perhaps we might exhibit to the world what is the real reason for the season.

...and they will know we are Christians by our love one for another.

Your Best-Known Work by Andy Scheer

Something you create may cast a long shadow. I hope it's a work you like.

Burl Ives had an amazing voice and a career that spanned many decades. I'm sure he never suspected that of all his performances, the one that would become most popular would stem from a little gig doing the narration and a few songs for a made-for-TV production of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

This Christmas season, like every one for decades, you can't escape Ives singing “Have a Holly Jolly Christmas.”

A friend who has getting published for decades says her most-reprinted article remains one of her first. A marriage magazine held the manuscript for years before finally printing the piece. Today it remains one of the most popular on the magazine's website.

Those thoughts motivated me as I completed a week's worth of devotions. The assignment included the daily Scripture readings, so I only needed to provide some personal reflection. Just another writing job – but potentially much more. A year from now, thousands of strangers will read my words.

Will one of those themes cast a long shadow? Perhaps. All the more reason to treat everything I write as though it will.

Things are Slooooowing Down! By Linda S. Glaz

It’s the start of the holiday season and thing are slowing down. For the next month, there won’t be a lot of offers, folks getting ‘the call’, or a lot of decisions being made on submissions even from agents. What can a writer do to stay busy and avoid worrying about whether or not their baby is about to win the diamond tiara?

Write! Take this time to start a new work, edit the WIP, or proofread for a friend. Enjoy the season! Stash your work on a disk and take a mini-vacation from writing. Meet a deadline early. Get together with other writers and talk about the dismal state of the industry…just kidding. Enough of that negativity takes place accidentally. Get together and enjoy the opportunity of sharing with other folks who ‘get it’.

Head on over to Amazon or another book outlet, and pick a Christmas read from an emerging author. Someone you haven’t read before. Let this be the year that you discover a wonderful new talent and then go back and leave a review

Give away a copy of your book! Give away a copy of a friend’s.

Whatever you do, enjoy every day from St. Nick’s to Christmas to Three Kings. Let the entire month have special meaning for you. Let Christ slide into your heart in places you’ve never allowed Him before.

Things are sloooowing down, but you can enjoy this time in very special ways!