'Eek! Is that how I should have written it?'--by Jo-Anne Berthelsen

In recent weeks, I have spent many hours re-reading various books about writing. A friend had asked me about an issue she had encountered in creating her own novel and I wanted to do my best to help her. In the end, I chose some of my favourites to lend her—Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, Revision and Self-Editing and also The Art of War for Writers by James Scott Bell, as well as Writing 21^st Century Fiction by Donald Maass.

But there was a second reason for my jaunt into reading these books. During the weekend of 24-26 October, I will be presenting a workshop on memoir writing at the Christian Writers’ Conference in Victoria here in Australia. Yes, it is about writing memoir, but I also plan to include several books on novel writing in my suggested reading list. In writing my first memoir, Soul Friend, after having produced six novels, I realised how helpful it was to have already come to grips with the process involved in telling a good story. I already knew to think about such things as the structure of my book and its narrative arc, what aspects I would include in my ‘plot’, how I would portray my characters, how I would keep my readers hopefully turning those pages and so many other matters important for novelists to remember.

And, of course, I have also read or re-read books specifically on memoir writing, not only in preparation for my upcoming workshop but also to help me personally in creating my second memoir, Coming Home to Myself, which I have just completed. I love Australian author Patti Miller’s The Memoir Book, but have also enjoyed Natalie Goldberg’s book Old Friends from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir, as well as Handling the Truth by Beth Kephart.

As a result of all this reading, there is so much excellent information running around in my head. But another less positive result has been that solid dose of self-questioning and self-doubt I have experienced at times about my own ability to write well. Often, I have caught myself thinking along the lines of ‘Oh, I didn’t realise that when writing my novels’ or ‘Goodness me, I’m sure I never did that when I wrote my earlier books at least’ or ‘Eek—is that how I should have gone about my last book? How did I write Soul Friend and not know all that about memoir writing?’

Reading books about writing, I have discovered, can turn out to be informative, enjoyable, interesting, challenging and overwhelming all at the same time.  It is an essential part of the whole process for aspiring and even established authors, I believe. Yet, unless we are careful, the whole process can also be a little hazardous to our emotional health and wellbeing. How blessed we are then, as Christian authors, to know God’s reassuring presence with us, whatever we are reading, and to be able to listen the Spirit’s encouraging voice even as we discover old habits we need to get rid of and new things we need to put in their place! Yes, we might have made those mistakes in our writing—but we are learning and moving forward with God in it all. And that is what matters.

Jo-Anne Berthelsen lives in Sydney, Australia. She holds degrees in Arts and Theology and has worked as a high school teacher, editor and secretary, as well as in local church ministry. Jo-Anne is passionate about touching hearts and lives through both the written and spoken word. She is the author of six published novels and one non-fiction work, Soul Friend: the story of a shared spiritual journey. Jo-Anne is married to a retired minister and has three grown-up children and four grandchildren. For more information, please visit www.jo-anneberthelsen.com.

Which would you recommend?

Picture the following. There I am, standing behind my book table during a conference break at a large church. I am a little tired, not only from being on my feet for some time but also from having to explain to one person after another that I am the author of those books in front of me and then having to answer their questions. Now another lady approaches. Once again, I point out my non-fiction book and briefly talk about my novels. She seems to listen well but then fires a question at me.

‘Which one would you recommend?’

For a moment, I am dumbfounded. Did I hear what I thought I heard? Did she really ask me which of my own books I would recommend? Does that mean she thinks I would waste my time writing and selling books I would not recommend?

I take a deep breath and try to calm down. She didn’t think about what she was asking, I tell myself. But how can I best respond? Perhaps I need to ask her a few questions to see what sort of book she’s looking for. I try that, but the only further light she sheds is that she would like something her eighteen year old daughter might want to read. I decide to recommend my novel featuring my youngest heroine—perhaps that might connect the best. The lady peruses it, then moves on to my other books. In the end, she does buy one, although now I don’t remember which.

How would you have responded? I have been asked before which of my books I like best—and even that’s a hard one to answer. I love them all for different reasons. Granted, my earlier novels are not my best writing. And yes, my memoir Soul Friend holds a special place in my heart because I share my true self in those pages. But I can’t honestly say which one I like best. Perhaps that is the question this lady was actually asking, I realise now.

Just a few days earlier, as I sold my books after speaking at a secular women’s club, I was asked a different and much more heart-warming question. There I was on this occasion, wondering if I would sell any books, when a lady came up to me with tears in her eyes.

‘I need that book of yours you mentioned about forgiveness,’ she told me straight up. ‘Which one would that be?’

Again, I was a little dumbfounded. Several of my novels include something about forgiveness—which one had I mentioned in my talk? Then I suddenly remembered explaining that my latest novel explores the theme of holding onto anger and bitterness and the trouble that can come as a result. She quickly agreed that was the one and bought it. And as I signed her copy with my usual ‘God bless’, I prayed in my heart that she would truly be blessed as she read it and set free from whatever was troubling her.

I know I need to answer any questions thrown at me at my book table with patience and grace—and I continue to ask God to enable me to do that. Still, I’d much rather be asked which of my books talks about forgiveness than which one I would recommend!

How about you? Have you perhaps asked or been asked some interesting questions at book tables too?

Jo-Anne Berthelsen lives in Sydney but grew up in Brisbane. She holds degrees in Arts and Theology and has worked as a high school teacher, editor and secretary, as well as in local church ministry. Jo-Anne is passionate about touching hearts and lives through both the written and spoken word. She is the author of six published novels and one non-fiction work, Soul Friend: the story of a shared spiritual journey. Jo-Anne is married to a retired minister and has three grown-up children and four grandchildren. For more information, please visit www.jo-anneberthelsen.com or www.soulfriend.com.au.

To listen or not to listen?

Recently, during a promotional visit to a bookstore in Melbourne, I received a wonderful surprise. A lady

with whom I had connected only via email in the past made a special effort to drop by and meet me in person. This lady works for an organisation that helps those with visual impairment or ‘print disability'--her role includes acquiring books for possible recording for the audio lending library this organisation runs. A few years ago, an elderly friend badly wanted to read my first two novels but the print was too small for her. She told this organisation about my books and asked if they could record them. After some time, they contacted me and the upshot was that, over the next little while, my first three novels were produced as audio books. I was sent a copy of each in their special DAISY mp3 format—and I thought that was the end of it all.

However, when this lady met me recently, she told me they had now completed my fourth and fifth novels and were about to start on my memoir Soul Friend. As well, she also wanted to purchase my latest novel The Inheritance, with a view to recording it. A few days later, she emailed to say she was forwarding the recordings of my fourth and fifth novels so I would have all my books they had produced so far.

But here is my dilemma. While I love having these copies, I have not as yet been able to bring myself to listen to any of them! I know they are  professionally produced—the person who narrated them is a well known and very gifted actor from stage and screen here in Australia and has a beautiful speaking voice. But I am certain that, because these were my first novels, I would want to change so much of what I would hear, which would definitely dampen my enjoyment of the whole experience. I imagine it is a little like artists might feel when viewing their early efforts at painting. Surely their fingers must itch to alter or touch up this or that!

Perhaps the best way to approach it all is for me to listen to those recordings with an accepting heart and mind, acknowledge the stylistic changes I would now make, and simply be thankful for how far I have come since those earlier writing efforts. We all learn as we go and we all have to begin somewhere. And, stylistic issues aside, the stories they contain still touch readers, I have discovered, who are often not as critical as those of us who write! Then again ... is it better not to listen and instead to keep moving forward, writing the best I can at this point?

What would you decide in this instance? Would you listen or not?

All questions aside, I am honoured and grateful that those recordings have been made—especially my third novel Laura, which is the story of a girl who becomes blind as a child. I love the idea that those for whom most books are inaccessible can choose to hear my books, if they so desire. God has ways of blessing us far beyond what we could ever imagine, don’t you agree?

Jo-Anne Berthelsen lives in Sydney but grew up in Brisbane. She holds degrees in Arts and Theology and has worked as a high school teacher, editor and secretary, as well as in local church ministry. Jo-Anne is passionate about touching hearts and lives through both the written and spoken word. She is the author of six published novels and one non-fiction work, Soul Friend: the story of a shared spiritual journey. Jo-Anne is married to a retired minister and has three grown-up children and three grandchildren. For more information, please visit www.jo-anneberthelsen.com or www.soulfriend.com.au.

The continuing saga of choosing those names


Choosing just the right name, whether it be for a real child or a ‘book child’, can certainly be a torturous journey. A couple of weeks ago, Marion Ueckermann posted her blog ‘What’s in a Name?’ here where she shared the journey of choosing her new grandson Liam’s name and also that of her novelette, Helsinki Sunrise. I was so interested to read her blog, as our daughter was then days away from having her second child and still struggling with choosing a name. Now it is all over and she and her husband are the proud parents of a new baby girl, but watching their journey reminded me of my own struggles in choosing the titles of some of my books.

Maxine and her proud Nanna!

Because our son-in-law Kofi is from Ghana, there are added complications when choosing a baby’s name. Often, Ghanaians are named after the day of the week on which they were born—and these differ according to whether the baby is a boy or a girl. ‘Kofi’ means ‘Friday’, the day our grandson was also born. However, to avoid confusion, Kofi and Tina opted to call their son Zain Kofi. Already they have various friends called Kofi as well, except one is called ‘Kofi Plumber’ and another ‘Kofi Junior’ and so on! So when it came to their daughter, they chose not to use the Twi word for Tuesday. Instead, along with the names Maxine Marie, they decided to include Kofi’s mother’s surname—which is different from Kofi’s because, in Ghana, you can choose a different surname for your children!

Phew—so you thought choosing book titles was complicated?! Compared with that, naming my books was nothing really. My first novel had to be Heléna, the name of the Czech migrant we had known years earlier who inspired the book. I then decided I would use another girl’s name ending in ‘a’ for my next novel and chose Laura, soon to be followed by yet another, Jenna. But then it was decided my first novel needed to be divided into two, which put paid to my little plan! Eventually, I called this second half of my first novel All the Days of My Life, from Psalm 23:6, since I felt this verse encapsulated the attitude of my lovely heroine Heléna.

Having messed up my run of names ending in ‘a’, I decided to abandon that idea entirely. I called my fifth novel Heléna’s Legacy and my sixth The Inheritance—despite the fact that there are umpteen books out there already entitled The Inheritance! I still felt it summed up key issues in the book—the ungodly inheritance of anger and bitterness passed down to the main male character from his family, along with his material inheritance, with all this contrasting to our heavenly inheritance. With my memoir Soul Friend, I was well aware another book with that title already existed but went ahead anyway. The ancient Celtic term ‘soul friend’ describes my lovely spiritual mentor Joy to a tee and seems to have captured the hearts and minds of many of my readers, for which I am very grateful.

How have you fared in your own book titling journey? Maybe your publisher has the final say—and I did listen to my publisher with my last two at least—but I’m glad I had the final choice. They are my babies, after all! 

Jo-Anne Berthelsen lives in Sydney but grew up in Brisbane. She holds degrees in Arts and Theology and has worked as a high school teacher, editor and secretary, as well as in local church ministry. Jo-Anne is passionate about touching hearts and lives through both the written and spoken word. She is the author of six published novels and one non-fiction work, Soul Friend: the story of a shared spiritual journey. Jo-Anne is married to a retired minister and has three grown-up children and three grandchildren. For more information, please visit www.jo-anneberthelsen.com or www.soulfriend.com.au.

An unexpected outcome

Early last year, I received a friend request on Facebook from someone whose name had been mentioned to me by a mutual friend. This mutual friend had given my new Facebook friend Jo a copy of my memoir Soul Friend for Christmas and she had apparently loved it. Jo and I conversed briefly via Facebook from time to time as she began sending me little comments about my weekly blogs and I soon saw we were on the same wavelength in so many ways. At one stage, she told me how, after reading Soul Friend, she decided to check out some of the books I had quoted or referred to there. Then from time to time, she would post little snippets she particularly liked from these on Facebook and I would always click the ‘Like’ button! It was uncanny how many of the passages she chose were my favourites too!

Recently, I read on Facebook that she and her husband had purchased a beautiful property in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney be used for holidays and retreats and had named it ‘Dadirri’. From the photos, I could see it was a large, tastefully furnished house, surrounded by trees and close to excellent bushwalks. Then just yesterday, Jo messaged me to tell me the story of how this beautiful home had become theirs and why they had chosen the name ‘Dadirri’.

It turned out that she and her husband had long wanted to buy such a property and make it available for retreats for those seeking to be quiet and be refreshed by God. Then one day last year, after stumbling across this house and noting it was for sale, Jo sat down to continue reading the book Lost in Wonder by Esther de Waal—one of those I had quoted in my own book Soul Friend. There she discovered the word ‘dadirri’, an Australian Aboriginal word for deep silence or ‘the open-eyedness of someone who explores where he or she has always belonged’ (p 43) and read how the Christian aboriginal artist, Miriam-Rose Ungummer, describes it ‘tapping into a deep spring that is within us all’. This confirmed to Jo and her husband that God intended them to have that particular property and that its name was to be ‘Dadirri’.

They immediately made an offer and the owners asked to meet them. Jo and her husband discovered this elderly couple were Christians and were having a hard time letting their beautiful property go. But on hearing that Jo and her husband were also Christians, the owners were overjoyed and the deal was soon done.

Jo purposely shared this story with me to show me how my little book had played such a vital part in her family’s dream of seeing a retreat house become reality. Through Soul Friend, she discovered Lost in Wonder. And from that book came the wonderful, meaningful name they chose—‘Dadirri’. A further lovely aside to this story is that my own dear ‘soul friend’ Joy, who inspired my book, lives in the Blue Mountains herself, not far from where ‘Dadirri’ is located!

May this story encourage and inspire you all, as you begin another writing year. When we commit our books to the Lord, be they fiction or non-fiction, God can certainly use them in wonderful and unique ways we could never ever have dreamt up in any plot!

Jo-Anne Berthelsen lives in Sydney but grew up in Brisbane. She holds degrees in Arts and Theology and has worked as a high school teacher, editor and secretary, as well as in local church ministry. Jo-Anne is passionate about touching hearts and lives through both the written and spoken word. She is the author of six published novels and one non-fiction work, Soul Friend: the story of a shared spiritual journey. Jo-Anne is married to a retired minister and has three grown-up children and three grandchildren. For more information, please visit www.jo-anneberthelsen.com or www.soulfriend.com.au.

Those launching emotions

 

This past week, my sixth novel The Inheritance was officially released (see my book trailer here)—and yet again, the emotions involved have taken me a little by surprise. It was only last October that my first non-fiction book Soul Friend was released, so one would think I would remember how it all felt. Granted, launching another novel is different. The Inheritance is, after all, fiction, while releasing my memoir Soul Friend like personally serving myself up on a platter! But again, I have felt those nervous flutters inside as I have posted off those advance copies already purchased. Will this novel of mine be well received? Will those readers who have stuck by me through all seven of my books enjoy this one as much?

The Inheritance is, in essence, a story of family secrets, forgiveness and faith. It explores one man’s struggle to come to grips with the past, be reconciled with himself, his family and ultimately God, and face the future with courage and integrity. At the same time, it also explores a woman’s struggle to stay true to her faith in God and pursue God’s purposes for her life. In writing this novel, I attempted to focus equally on each main protagonist much more than I did in my earlier novels. And this brought with it new challenges such as being careful to stay in in one character’s point of view for a whole scene or chapter and balancing how often I changed from one to the other. I was very aware of the importance of point of view prior to this, but the approach I chose with this novel has meant I had to be particularly careful in this regard. The Inheritance is my first work of fiction with my new publisher, Even Before Publishing, and I am grateful for the assistance I was given to see the mistakes I was making with point of view and to learn so much more in the process.

But will my faithful readers—and hopefully some new ones—like the somewhat different style I have employed in The Inheritance? Will they relate to my initially very angry and aggressive hero Michael Trevelyan and my equally determined heroine Alexandra Hope? Will they track with these two people I have grown to love as they experience so many ups and downs in their personal lives and in their ongoing relationship? What if they feel one character is not quite believable—or, worse still, both? What if they decide Alexandra is just too ‘good’ a heroine, an opinion some expressed about my main female protagonists in my earlier novels?

Yet, while I still have doubts and questions like these, the counterbalance to it all is that I do believe it is my best novel so far! Please understand I don’t say that in any boastful way, however, but rather with thankfulness to God for enabling me to keep on writing and learning and also with gratitude to my publisher who challenged me to grow.

What about you other authors out there? How have you felt when your own new novel has been released? Is it a huge mixture of emotions such as it has been for me? For those not yet published, how do you plan to tackle this whole book launch experience?

Jo-Anne Berthelsen lives in Sydney but grew up in Brisbane. She holds degrees in Arts and Theology and has worked as a high school teacher, editor and secretary, as well as in local church ministry. Jo-Anne is passionate about touching hearts and lives through both the written and spoken word. She is the author of six published novels and one non-fiction work, Soul Friend: the story of a shared spiritual journey. Jo-Anne is married to a retired minister and has three grown-up children and three grandchildren. For more information, please visit www.jo-anneberthelsen.com or www.soulfriend.com.au.

Supporting one another in the writing community

The life of an author is never dull, is it? Our writing might take some interesting turn or other we perhaps did not quite foresee, for example, or some new challenge pops up that stretches our current knowledge and abilities and keeps us on our toes. At least, that’s what I’ve found lately—particularly on the promotional side of things.

My latest challenge was to be a part of my very first ‘blog tour’ ever. It was organised by the Australian Christian Readers’ Blog Alliance, under the auspices of our own Narelle Atkins and also Jenny Blake (see http://acrba.blogspot.com.au/). I was a little tentative about this at first, to be honest. I had read about such tours in the USA, but couldn’t seem to wrap my brain about what they were all about. Now here was our very own ‘home-grown’ one, inviting me to be part of it, as an author or as a reader and reviewer.

In the end, I took the plunge and chose to have my non-fiction book Soul Friend: The story of a shared spiritual journey included in a tour last month. What an interesting experience that was! Some reviewers in this alliance chose not to review my book, since they prefer to stick to fiction, which is fine. But those who did choose to read and feature it, either with a review or some thoughtful response to the book, did a wonderful job, for which I am truly grateful. One alliance member who reviewed the book even went to the length of buying another copy via Amazon and posting her review there, which I found amazing—especially since it was such a positive review! As well, some interviewed me with interesting questions or suggested a topic about which I might write a guest blog for them.

I enjoyed all the liaising involved in being part of the tour. Yes, it took some time on my part to write those interview responses and guest blogs, as well as the various emails necessary to expedite matters. But these readers and other authors were doing me a favour, when all is said and done. They were providing me with an opportunity to promote my book amongst their own friends and blog contacts that might never come my way otherwise. It cost me nothing, except my time—my publisher, Even Before Publishing, very generously provided the necessary copies of my book for the reviewers involved. On top of that, I feel I have got to know some of these authors and readers just that little bit more as I have read their feedback and emailed them back and forth.

All this has opened my eyes more to the vital role supporting each other in our writing journeys can play and caused me to be very thankful for such help. Blog tour or no blog tour, we can encourage one another so easily these days through a brief email, blog comment, Facebook post or the like. And this International Christian Fiction Writers group itself is an obvious way we have to share our journeys as well as let the world know what we write.

So today as you read this, may you be encouraged to keep on persevering, not only in your writing but in exploring new promotional opportunities that may come your way. And may God bless and encourage you even more in the process.

Jo-Anne Berthelsen lives in Sydney but grew up in Brisbane. She holds degrees in Arts and Theology and has worked as a high school teacher, editor and secretary, as well as in local church ministry. Jo-Anne is passionate about touching hearts and lives through both the written and spoken word. She is the author of five published novels – Heléna, All the Days of My Life, Laura, Jenna and Heléna’s Legacy—and one non-fiction work, Soul Friend: the story of a shared spiritual journey. Her sixth novel, The Inheritance, will be released in 2013. Jo-Anne is married to a retired minister and has three grown-up children and three grandchildren. For more information, please visit www.jo-anneberthelsen.com or www.soulfriend.com.au.

Enjoying the editing process

Just last week, I completed checking the edits of my latest novel, which the publisher had sent to me well over two months ago. Prior to this, I had not had time—or the space in my brain—to do a careful enough job of it all. However, in these quieter January days, I finally tackled those edits so patiently waiting for me.

I felt my editor had done her part with thought and care. She had picked up things I had totally missed and I was grateful for that. Around six months ago, I was asked to re-write some sections of this same book because I had swapped point of view too often. That was a good lesson for me to learn. I duly did this re-writing and returned the manuscript. Yet now, I discovered I had still missed a couple of spots where the main protagonist could not possibly have known some things I had her saying or thinking. Also, I had fallen into an all too familiar trap for me, which was that I kept repeating myself in the earlier chapters, just to make sure my readers understood exactly what was happening! Little by little, I am learning to trust my readers more, but it is something of a long process for someone who has been a school teacher in the past and also speaks often! I want to be sure people are ‘with’ me when I speak. Yet, in a novel, this merely becomes unnecessary repetition.

Am I striking any chords with other authors out there? Do you ever find your editor has marked things in your manuscript you wonder why you didn’t see yourself? Or am I the only one who is a slow learner at times?

Yet inevitably, I also found points on which we differed, particularly in the punctuation area. I tend to use quite a few dashes in my sentences, especially in direct speech. For some reason, I like them better than commas—and definitely more than semi-colons! Somehow, they seem to make the dialogue flow better and feel more relaxed, whereas the commas make for a much jerkier, choppier ride. Or is that merely my imagination? Also, while I understand the grammatical rules for using commas, it seems fewer and fewer of those little, curly things are being used these days. So, not wanting to appear old-fashioned in my writing style, I now tend not to use so many myself. Do any of you face this dilemma as well?

Along with all this, however, I experienced some wonderful moments of joy and fulfilment during my editing. It is a while since I wrote this novel—I finished the first version over two years ago. Yes, I had another bite at it around six months ago, but so much has happened in my life since then. How enjoyable it was, I discovered, to be caught up with my characters again and be drawn into their stories! How satisfying it was to be able to say to myself as I read. ‘Yes, I do love these characters! Yes, I agree with what they’re saying. And yes, I still think this book will be a jolly good read!’

Do you ever find yourself doing such weird things? Or am I the only one?

May you, too, not only survive all your editing journeys ahead in 2013 but enjoy them as well!

Jo-Anne Berthelsen lives in Sydney but grew up in Brisbane. She holds degrees in Arts and Theology and has worked as a high school teacher, editor and secretary, as well as in local church ministry. Jo-Anne is passionate about touching hearts and lives through both the written and spoken word. She is the author of five published novels – Heléna, All the Days of My Life, Laura, Jenna and Heléna’s Legacy—and one non-fiction work, Soul Friend: the story of a shared spiritual journey. Her sixth novel, The Inheritance, will be released in 2013. Jo-Anne is married to a retired minister and has three grown-up children and three grandchildren. For more information, please visit www.jo-anneberthelsen.com or www.soulfriend.com.au.

Letting another child loose

I well remember how I felt in April 2007, when my first novel Heléna was released. What had I done, I wondered. My baby that I had laboured long and hard to bring to birth was now being put out there on show for all to see and perhaps criticise. How vulnerable I felt! What if no one liked it? What if those copies stayed on the shelves in the bookstores and ended up on ‘clearance’ tables?

This past month, my sixth book was released—and I have discovered I am still not used to the whole process of launching a new baby into the world. Besides, there is an extra dose of uncertainty for me in it all this time around, for two reasons. Firstly, it is my first published work of non-fiction. So will those who have read any of my previous five novels be prepared to follow me into the world of non-fiction? And for that matter, will any of those people who don’t read novels be prepared to try my non-fiction offering?

But secondly, I wonder if some readers will find my new book a little too personal and subjective for their tastes. You see, it is entitled Soul Friend: The story of a shared spiritual journey and is an honest and intimate portrayal of my own journey with my wise, spiritual mentor and the warm, life-giving relationship that developed between us during our fifteen years of meeting together. Just as I did in my novels, I am still telling a story—but this time it is all true! And that makes me feel very vulnerable indeed.

Yet in another way, I am so excited that this baby of mine has been launched. Apart from wanting to honour my mentor, who is now almost eighty-two, I hope by writing my story to inspire those who read it to seek out a spiritual friendship for themselves or perhaps to provide such a friendship for another. And I also hope to encourage any who are facing similar issues in their own lives not to give up but to find the support they need to pursue their God-given dreams. For any of you who might care to here this spelt out a little more, here is a brief interview style book trailer for Soul Friend:

 

So now the challenge for me is to let this book stand on its own two feet, just as we need to do with any child as it grows up! The book is out there now—what’s done is done. And, since I strongly believe God was behind and in my whole journey of writing Soul Friend, I need to trust God will now use it to bless and encourage others and to bring about all the purposes for which the book was written. And I also believe that, as in the past, God will give me the grace to deal with any comments or feedback I might receive about my new baby, either positive or negative, to take on board what I need to hear and to let the rest go.

How have you found the whole experience of letting one of your ‘book children’ loose? Has it been a mixture of joy and trepidation for you as well?

Jo-Anne Berthelsen lives in Sydney but grew up in Brisbane. She holds degrees in Arts and Theology and has worked as a high school teacher, editor and secretary, as well as in local church ministry. Jo-Anne is passionate about touching hearts and lives through both the written and spoken word. She is the author of five published novels – Heléna, All the Days of My Life, Laura, Jenna and Heléna’s Legacy—and one non-fiction work, Soul Friend: the story of a shared spiritual journey. Her sixth novel, The Inheritance, will be released in 2013. Jo-Anne is married to a retired minister and has three grown-up children and three grandchildren. For more information, please visit www.jo-anneberthelsen.com or www.soulfriend.com.au.

Persevering with point of view!

These past few weeks have been quite tumultuous in my writing journey, as I have tried to edit two manuscripts at once – my first non-fiction work, entitled Soul Friend: the story of a shared spiritual journey, and my sixth novel, The Inheritance. With my non-fiction book, my new publisher wanted a few things changed – and rightly so. While it took some time to do, it was nevertheless reasonably straightforward. However, it was another matter altogether with my sixth novel. You see, I had decided I would try something new. I would have two main characters and would write from both points of view, according to what fitted best. But I would also write from the points of view of several minor characters, where necessary. In other words, I was venturing into ‘multiple point of view’ territory.

Now being a rookie at such things, I was bound to make mistakes. With my first two novels, I had stuck to omniscient point of view. In fact, back then, I didn’t even know what that term meant! I simply wrote in the same style in which many of the older books I loved were written. Over my next three novels, I gradually refined my style and wrote from the point of view of my main protagonist, although I’m sure I often strayed into omniscient point of view out of habit. But now, in trying to be clever, it soon became clear, from my publisher’s comments, that I had skipped from one point of view to another far too often. Sometimes this was intentional – I felt it worked that way. But mostly, I have to admit, it was unintentional – I had happily hopped into someone else’s head for a few lines, before proceeding to hop to another one – and then to another again! It was as if all my characters were joining in the conversation, each with their own little agendas.

So ... now I had quite a rewrite on my hands. I sighed – I did not need such a large job at that point. However, once I had begun, I soon discovered how much I was learning. In fact, it became an interesting challenge to see how the various scenes could in many cases happen just as easily from the point of view of one of the main characters and not one of those minor characters who kept wanting to get in on the act!

Now I am on the other side of that rewrite – and I hope I have succeeded in vastly improving my manuscript. But all this has served to show me yet again that there is always so much more to learn in this writing business – so many new things to come to grips with and new ways to refine our writing style. Will I ever ‘arrive’ as an author? I don’t know. But I do know I’m going to keep on trying. I want to write the best fiction – and non-fiction – I can for God. As Paul writes in Philippians 3:13, I want to forget what is behind and strain towards what is ahead. I may never write that best seller, but I sure know I can improve from where I am now.

Somehow I don’t think God has finished with me yet, moulding me into the author I am meant to be. How about you? Is that how you feel too?

Jo-Anne Berthelsen grew up in Brisbane and holds an Arts degree from Queensland University. She has also studied Education and Theology and has worked as a high school teacher and editor, as well as in local church ministry. Jo-Anne loves communicating through both the written and spoken word and currently has five published novels – ‘Heléna’, ‘All the Days of My Life’, ‘Laura’, ‘Jenna’ and ‘Heléna’s Legacy’.  She is married to a retired minister and has three grown-up children and three grandchildren. For more information, please visit her website, www.jo-anneberthelsen.com.