A Few Housekeeping Comments by Joyce Hart

I’m trying to decide how to write what I want to say without sounding like a cranky lady.  And then probably the ones who need to see what I have to say won’t see this blog. I’m talking about queries and proposals I get via e-mail.  Probably 70% of the queries we receive are not suitable for our agency.   I write back and say “have you looked at our web site?” or “did you know that we are a Christian agency?”  Most would answer no to both those questions.

On our web site we have listed our proposal guidelines and the genres’ we represent and the ones we do not want to see.  Yet many inappropriate proposals come to us. Others come without headers and without the pages numbered.  I even write back and request those two items be added; explaining for them to use the insert tab to place the page numbers and put the name of the book/author’s name on every page.  And I get them back without either the header or the pages numbered.  Am I the only agent who wants these on the proposal pages?  

Maybe it’s because today so many people read on the computer, their iPad or another reader, but sometimes I still like to read from hard copies and if the proposal pages get mixed up, it’s hard to find my place.  I have to admit I’m doing more reading online than I used to.  I ordered an Ink Toner yesterday from HP - $149.00.  I probably should not take the time to read any unsolicited queries or proposals, but it’s hard for me to hit that delete button.

It really helps when writers go to conferences and learn how to put their work together so it’s easy for the agents & editors to read them and made a good decision.  There are many good conferences coming up.  Check out the Christian Readers Market Guide for dates & places.  The more professional your work looks, the more apt we are to take it seriously. Writing is a business and the competition is stiff.  

We’re here to help you get published and we love doing that.  We’ll look forward to hearing from you, just please do your homework before hitting that send button.

God bless you abundantly,

Joyce

P.S. check out this interview with one of our authors, Jane Kirkpatrick.  It’s terrific!        www.c-span.org/LocalContent/Bend 

Moved with Compassion by Diana L. Flegal

All of us are drawn back to our favorite authors. We like their particular voice, how they build their suspense or weave the happy ending to their love story, place us into an historical event, or construct a world we could never imagine ourselves but enjoy all the same.

My favorite authors, fiction and nonfiction, are skilled at putting into words my thoughts I couldn’t have expressed. They also teach me something of myself, providing me A-hah moments. Yes, I do feel that way or stoop that low at times. A light is shown in a corner of me and I am usually the better for it if I allow the words to do what words can do.

Well said/placed words can convict and set free the reader/listener.

One of the best examples of a convicting word is found in 2 Samuel 12. “Thou art the man.” Powerful.

In Sundays message my pastor, Nick Honerkamp, shared a picture of Jesus that I knew I appreciated but he boiled it down to three things.

He saw

He was moved with compassion

And He prayed.

Not everyone sees us. We scurry about, pass our neighbors, our coworkers, and fail to see the heartbreak in their eyes, the questions they desperately seek answers for. Maybe we avoid them on purpose. Our lives already overwhelmed with personal troubles. Our light hid under a bushel basket.

Sunday, after that message, I pulled onto my lap Christa Parrish’s recent release, Stones for Bread.  And I realized why I love her writing and anticipate her next books release. She helps me see, moves me with compassion and I pray- for those around me, in a fresh way. These are the stories I am drawn to.

A reviewer of this book of Christa’s said…’this book is not an easy read, I struggled through it…

I agree, It pained me reading of her protagonists painful childhood, yet I celebrated each baby step forward, fell in love with the various members of the community that enfolded her, and the unexpected love that broke through her defenses. I saw, I was moved and I was prayerful, even brought to worship as I closed the book at her stories end. God is good. He sees us and waits to meet us.

I encourage you to write thoughtfully.

Spring Cleaning by Andy Scheer

Lately my little computer has been showing its age. Files have taken longer to open and to save, and more often I've gotten a “not responding” message.

I'd started to look at laptops in the weekend ads from big box stores.

But I don't want to learn Windows 8, and what use is a touch screen? Besides, our household is still digesting the expense of a new water heater.

So this past weekend as snow and fog kept me inside, I decided my computer needed a spring cleaning.

I deleted the download cache, transferred little-used video and audio files to my backup hard drive, and ran some overdue diagnostics. I discarded in-progress versions of long-completed projects. And I emptied the recycle bin.

Now the C and D drives show significantly more free space. And this past hour, each function again seems normal.

Looks like the next few assignment checks can instead go toward the water heater.

Wonderful Time with Like-Minded Folks by Linda S. Glaz

I had so much fun this weekend, talking and sharing with folks who all had one thing in common: writing.

We had a Great Lakes workshop and, of course, plenty of wonderful food…thanks Kathy Rouser for organizing, but most important was being in a room full of writers.

We can all appreciate our spouses at home eating leftovers again when a deadline is looming, or missing an evening out with friends because we’re behind—again—and have to catch up. Or watching Dancing With the Stars all the way to the end and then having to miss the confetti-filled finale because of a contest you’re expected to judge at the last minute.

Bouncing ideas off spouses is wonderful if you’re prepared for the answer you might get, “Stilted!” My husband must have been told that in college on a paper, because it’s his fave expression when I ask. And while they try to help and make suggestions, it isn’t the same as asking someone who also writes. Why?

Because other writers get us. They understand all of the crazy! And let’s be honest, there’s plenty of crazy in a writer in spite of protestations to the contrary. It is that very crazy that translates to the page, making a writer who he or she is. The voices in one’s head that will not be quieted until their story is told. The looks a writer gets when walking down the street for exercise, but who is talking to themselves working out dialogue for a scene. (Hint: always have a contraption on your ear so others think you’re talking to someone on the phone when you scream, “Kill him! Grab a knife. Whatever you have and kill him, now!!!”) See what I mean about someone who gets you?

It is so important to meet with folks who understand you, at least occasionally, because writing, in spite of the crazy folks milling about in your head, can be a very singular experience. Lonely for some, a joyous celebration for others. But whichever category you fall into, you need to be with those folks who, once in a while, sit behind a computer and let the crazies out. Let a world be created which only seconds before didn’t exist.

Yes, times with other writers are special, to be celebrated, because only with other writers can you truly find a place called home.

Profile of Terry's Client Tim Champlin

Client Tim Champlin’s “Cross of Gold” released March 2014 from Five Star publications imprint of Cengage Publishing . It had been out since November 2013 in hard cover from Five Star. 

Tim has over 40 books in print and his “The Secret of Lodestar” released March 2012 from Berkley Publishing and is now out in large print from Wheeler Publishing (Gale Publications) and out as an audiobook as well. THE SECRET OF LODESTAR, was selected as a Finalist in the original paperback category for the 2012 Spur Awards. He has published two books with Pill Hill Press, “Annie and the Ripper”, and “Tom Sawyer and the Ghosts of Summer” plus wrote a six short story series for Echelon Press, which came out in 2011. He was included in “Christmas Campfire Companion” from Port Yonder Press.

 

Tim was born John Michael Champlin in Fargo, North Dakota. The son of a large animal veterinarian, he

grew up in Nebraska, Missouri and Arizona. He graduated from Middle Tennessee State College and Summer of the Sioux” in 1981. His stories of the American West feature striking historical details, vivid characterization and spectacular scenes. His subjects include lumber schooners sailing the West Coast, early-day wet plate photography, daredevils who thrill crowds with gas balloons and the first parachutes, tong wars in San Francisco’s Chinatown, Basque sheepherders and the Penitentes of the Southwest. He is married and the father of three grown children. His hobbies include sailing, tennis and shooting.

earned a Masters degree in English from Peabody College, Nashville. Two dozen of his articles and short stories were published in regional and national periodicals before he began his career as a Western author with his novel, “

Some of his other titles include:

Dakota Gold (1982)

Summer of the Sioux (1982)

Staghorn (1984)

Shadow Catcher (1985)

Great Timber Race (1986)

Iron Trail (1987)

Colt Lightning (1989)

King of the Highbinders (1989)

Flying Eagle (1990)

The Last Campaign (1996)

The Survivor (1996)

Deadly Season (1997)

Swift Thunder (1998)

The Tombstone Conspiracy (1999)

Lincoln's Ransom (1999)

Treasure of the Templars: A Western Story (2000)

Wayfaring Strangers: A Frontier Story (2000)

By Flare of Northern Lights: A North-Western Story (2001)

A Trail to Wounded Knee: A Western Story (2001)

Raiders of the Western & Atlantic: A Western Story (2002)

It's Friday but Sunday is Coming! by Diana Flegal

#Eastermeditation #writing help


In anticipation of the upcoming Easter season, I would like to reprint a past blog of mine. The message remains relevant to me and I imagine it will be for you.  

A few years back- ahmm, I don't want to say how many, I attended a Jesus event where Tony Campolo preached a sermon titled, It's Friday but Sunday’s Comin’! He brought us to our feet, and in our hearts, to our knees.

At the Philadelphia Writers Conference, I shared it with a few authors and editors while taking a break midst our 15 min appointments. The message turned into church right there and we were struck once more with the power that Christ provided for our lives by going to the cross on our behalf, suffering as he did to take upon himself our sins and triumphing over the grave to rise and now reign on high. Here is the gist of it:


When they laid him in the tomb it looked like the enemy had won; but it was only Friday... and Sunday was comin’. Glorious Sunday!

The bills are piling up and you have no idea where the money is going to come from, but I would like you to consider; it's only Friday, and Sunday is coming...

Your son or daughter has strayed far from home and God, But you need to remember, it's Friday, dark and lonely Friday BUT Sunday is Coming...

You just lost your job, and your interviews are not bearing fruit, but I want you to know, it's only Friday and Sunday is coming...

You just buried your loved one and your heart is broken. Will you ever feel joy again? I'm here to tell you brother and sister, it is Friday, but Sunday is coming...

You have attended the right workshops, paid for the business courses you were told you needed, yet no contract offers have been made, but it’s just Fri-d-a-y and SUNDAY IS coming...

I encourage you to look at your present circumstances with this perspective.

May your life be empowered as you celebrate and meditate on Christ’s sacrifice and victory he secured on your behalf. 

It may be Friday but Sunday IS comin'! Halleluiah!