How’d You Get Published?

By Jessica Kate @JessicaKate05 

In the time since I announced my multi-book contract with HarperCollins' Christian fiction imprint, Thomas Nelson, so many people have asked me about the journey leading up to this point.

So here’s the story, in five dot points--the good, the bad, and the oh-so-ugly rewrites:

2013

At 21, I'd started novels as a teen but never finished them. I went from full-time work to part-time, so I decided to try and finish a whole book in the extra hours. Did it. (Did much of it wrong, but still did it. ) Whole process was super hard. I set that book aside. (Where it shall remain.)

2014

Decided to do it again. Wrote the first draft of what became ‘Love and Other Mistakes’. Still had no idea what I was doing. Joined American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and began to learn a lot.

2015

Burned out working full-time and writing. Took 6 months off. Got notification that I was a finalist in My Book Therapy's Frasier Competition. Decided it was a nudge from God to go to ACFW conference in Dallas for the award ceremony. In order to have a completed second draft to pitch to agents, I had to write 60,000 words in 10 weeks.

Chained myself to the laptop. God worked a miracle. Book got done. Met my agent at that conference, Chip MacGregor.

2016

Worked with Chip and a freelance editor to improve ‘Love and Other Mistakes’. I read once that a 20-page editorial letter (where the editor tells you everything you need to fix) is a bad one. Mine was 40. Took me 6 months to fix the book, but it was WAY better afterwards.

2017

Wrote first draft of a new book. Was ecstatic to finally be a finalist in the ACFW Genesis competition. Went to the conference and pitched ‘Love and Other Mistakes’ to publishers.

At the 2017 ACFW Gala: me (centre) with fellow Genesis Award finalists
Rebekah Millet (left) and Jenny Whitehurst Smith (right).

2018

In May (that's right folks, May—seven months after submitting and two months after accepting it wasn't gonna happen), I received an email from Chip saying that he’d spoken to Thomas Nelson again and they were interested. In June, received the formal offer. Made the announcement in July and revealed the title in August. :) :) :)

I'm so excited to be sharing Love and Other Mistakes with you all in 2019! I can't say enough for the people along the way who've taught me about writing, encouraged me and given me perspective on the challenging days.

To anyone thinking about writing a book, here's my top five pieces of advice:

1. Do it with God. Without His strength, joy and the right perspective I'd have given up long ago.
2. Join a writing community for encouragement and teaching. ACFW and My Book Therapy were instrumental in my early writing years, and they still are today. Since then I've also added the 5 Year Plan to Becoming a Bestselling Author to that list.
3. Attend conferences and network like crazy. Both ACFW conferences I attended were instrumental, if not essential, in finding my agent and publisher.
4. Expect to rewrite. A professional writer spends their life rewriting.
5. Know when to press on and when to take a break. Ninety-nine percent of the time when I feel like giving up, I put on my big-girl pants and keep going. But in 2015, I definitely needed that six-month break. Pray for the discernment to know your priorities.

So writers, what were the key points in your writing journeys? Share in the comments!

About Jessica Kate

Australian author Jessica Kate writes inspirational romances that are fun, sassy and real. Jess is a screenwriting groupie, co-host of the StoryNerds podcast, and her favorite place to be--apart from Mum and Dad's back deck--is a theme park.

She's travelled North America and Australia, and samples her favorite pasta wherever she goes--but the best (so far) is still the place around the corner from her corporate day job as a training developer. She loves watching sit-coms with her housemates and being a leader in a new church plant.

Find Jessica online at:

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

Bookish Tuesday | 2018 CAROL Award Finalist | The Long Highway Home

Review by Iola Goulton @iolagoulton

Elizabeth Musser is one of the regular International Christian Fiction Writers bloggers who has been named a finalist in the 2018 CAROL Awards from American Christian Fiction Writers. She is a finalist in the Contemporary category.

Congratulations, Elizabeth!

The three finalists for the Contemporary category are:

• Maybe It’s You by Candace Calvert, Tyndale House, editors Sarah Rische and Jan Stob
• The Long Highway Home by Elizabeth Musser, ACFW Qualified Independently Published, editor LB Norton
• A Fragile Hope by Cynthia Ruchti, Abingdon Press, editors Jamie Chavez and Ramona Richards

Click here to check out the rest of the finalists.

To honour Elizabeth, today we're resharing a review of her fabulous book, The Long Highway Home. This review originally appeared at www.iolagoulton.comhttp://www.iolagoulton.com/tbt-long-highway-home/.

An Outstanding Story of Christian Faith

The Long Highway Home is the story of Bobbie, an ex-missionary who has been diagnosed with inoperable cancer at the age of 39. It’s the story of Tracie, Bobbie’s niece, who accompanies her to Europe, to visit the missionaries she used to serve with before tragedy sent her back to the US. It’s the story of Hamid, a devout Muslim who is forced to flee Iran after a well-meaning missionary gives his six-year-old daughter a New Testament.

But my favourite character is Rasa, the child with a faith that puts mine to shame.

The structure of The Long Highway Home is more like a thriller novel than the women’s fiction and romance I’m more used to reading. There are a lot of viewpoint characters spanning the US, Holland, France, Austria, and Iran. Unlike most thrillers, it’s always obvious who the characters are and how they are related, which kept me turning pages to find out how they’d eventually be brought together.

The author has drawn on her own missionary experiences in writing this excellent novel.

This shines through in both the story of Hamid and his family, and in the advice from some of the minor characters (e.g. Peggy, the elderly prayer warrior who supports Bobbie). These sound like real conversations Ms Musser has had in her years as a missionary—stories of the refugees who survived the refugee highway and made it to The Oasis in Austria.

It’s a story of human courage in the face of adversity, persecution, and possible death.

It’s a story of hope, of perfect love driving out fear. It challenges our views of refugees by introducing us to real refugees—we know Hamid and Rasheed and Rasa and Omid aren’t real people, but at the same time their stories have that ring of truth, of authenticity. They could be real stories. They may well be.

After all, significant elements of the story are real.

The Oasis is a real place, and welcomes volunteers and short-term missionaries (and long-term missionaries!) to support its outreach to refugees in Austria. Elizabeth Musser is a missionary with International Teams, an organisation dedicated to helping those who survive the refugee highway. World Wide Radio was inspired by the real-life work of Trans World Radio, which broadcasts in 230 languages to reach listeners in 160 countries.

It’s inspiring and humbling to read about people like this—missionaries who are risking their lives to bring the gospel to others. Refugees who are risking their lives to escape a government that wants them dead. Normal, everyday people who are doing extraordinary things every day.

Recommended.

Thanks to Elizabeth Musser for providing a free ebook for review.

About Elizabeth Musser

Elizabeth Musser writes ‘entertainment with a soul’ from her writing chalet—tool shed—outside Lyon, France. Elizabeth’s highly acclaimed, best-selling novel, The Swan House, was named one of Amazon’s Top Christian Books of the Year and one of Georgia’s Top Ten Novels of the Past 100 Years (Georgia Backroads, 2009). All of Elizabeth’s novels have been translated into multiple languages.

From an interview with Publisher’s Weekly, “Elizabeth Musser likes to say she has two part-time jobs. Not only is she an award-winning novelist, but she and her husband serve as missionaries at a small Protestant church in Lyon, France. In both lines of work, she avoids preaching and simplistic answers, choosing instead to portray a God who cares in the midst of life's complexity...”

Elizabeth adds, “My desire is to offer the best literature I can write, drawing the reader into a story that is compelling, believable and sprinkled with historical detail. I seek to give a realistic picture of what faith lived out in this world looks like, and, as always, I hope that my stories can be appreciated by all audiences, not just those readers who hold my same religious beliefs. It is a delight to receive confirmation of this through reader letters.”

For over twenty-five years, Elizabeth and her husband, Paul, have been involved in missions’ work in Europe with International Teams. The Mussers have two sons, a daughter-in-law and three grandchildren who all live way too far away in America.

You can find Elizabeth online at:

Website | Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter

About The Long Highway Home

When the doctor pronounces "incurable cancer" and gives Bobbie Blake one year to live, she agrees to accompany her niece, Tracie, on a trip back to Austria, back to The Oasis, a ministry center for refugees that Bobbie helped start twenty years earlier. Back to where there are so many memories of love and loss.

Bobbie and Tracie are moved by the plight of the refugees and in particular, the story of the Iranian Hamid, whose young daughter was caught with a New Testament in her possession back in Iran, causing Hamid to flee along the refugee Highway and putting the whole family in danger. Can a network of helpers bring the family to safety in time? And at what cost?

Filled with action, danger, heartache and romance, The Long Highway Home is a hymn to freedom in life's darkest moments.

Find The Long Highway Home online at:

Amazon | Goodreads

You can read the introduction to The Long Highway Home below:

A Short History of ICFW ... and The Future

By Iola Goulton

One of the many hats I wear is Zone Director for the American Christian Fiction Writers Beyond the Borders group, which is for ACFW members living outside the United States of America. We have around 100 members, from over a dozen countries. Most are from Canada, but we also have members from Australia, France, Hong Kong, Japan, Mozambique, New Zealand, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, the Virgin Islands, and the United Kingdom.

Part of my role includes contributing to and helping organise the International Christian Fiction Writers blog, along with Narelle Atkins and Jenny Blake.

ICFW was started in 2009 by twenty-one members of the Beyond the Borders group, most of whom were writing for (or aspiring to write for) one of the main US-based Christian publishers. Author websites and group blogs were a fairly new innovation, and it made sense for this group of international authors to band together to try and reach readers interested in novels by international authors or featuring international settings (or both).

Many of those early posts have had single-digit views, as is common for new blogs. But some have been read hundreds and thousands of times over the years. For example, The Battle of Blood River by Shirley Corder has been viewed over 5,000 times. Many other posts have been viewed over 1,000 times.

There are now almost 2,500 posts on the blog. 

The blog has evolved over the years as contributors have joined and left, but the premise is the same: Christian authors writing stories in international settings. But what started as a blog focused on reaching readers has slowly turned into a blog that’s a little more writer-focused than intended.

And, if we’re being honest, the blog branding is tired. The main brand image has been updated to include new bloggers (including yours truly), but the essential look hasn’t changed in eight years. That’s about eight decades in internet time.

It’s time for a refresh.

We are going to be rolling out some changes here at ICFW. We’re not changing everything. We’ll still be right here, at http://internationalchristianfictionwriters.blogspot.com. We’ll still be posting every weekday. And we’ll still have a devotional post each Friday.

But we won’t be having the weekly Sunday Edition post any more. It doesn’t get many views—I suspect people want to see what’s on the blog today, not what’s coming up tomorrow. I know I do.

We’ve introduced a tagline: Connecting Readers and Writers Around the World.

That’s what we want to do: talk about books. And reading. And topics related to books and reading. Because we love books. And reading. We love talking about and introducing people to our favourite books and authors.

We want to introduce US readers to international authors and settings. We want to introduce non-US readers to books set in their home country. Okay, some of the books we feature will be set in the US, but that’s because the US is an international setting to most of us. We want to connect readers and writers from around the world over our love of reading. Because the best writers love to read.

We will be having themed posts Tuesday and Wednesday: Bookish Tuesday and Wandering Wednesday. We’ll also have a monthly New Releases post (and maybe even some giveaways).

The most noticeable change will be the look—we’re currently testing new colours, fonts, and images, and will be rolling out the new look across the blog over the next week or so (we've already updated Facebook and Twitter, and we even have a group board on Pinterest). Meanwhile, here’s a taster:

What do you think? What would you like to see more of here at International Christian Fiction Writers?

About Iola Goulton

Iola Goulton is a New Zealand book reviewer, freelance editor, and author, writing contemporary Christian romance with a Kiwi twist. She is a member of the Sisterhood of Unpronounceable Names (Iola is pronounced yo-la, not eye-ola and definitely not Lola).

Iola holds a degree in marketing, has a background in human resource consulting, and currently works as a freelance editor. When she’s not working, Iola is usually reading or writing her next book review. Iola lives in the beautiful Bay of Plenty in New Zealand (not far from Hobbiton) with her husband, two teenagers and one cat. She is currently working on her first novel.

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | Twitter

Five Obstacles to Successful Writing

Today we'd like to welcome John Peters, a new member of American Christian Fiction Writers and first-time contributor to International Christian Fiction Writers. Welcome, John!

By John S Peters

Self-doubt, writers block, typing skills, grammar, and finding my voice.

These are the major obstacles that I needed to have God’s help to find my way past. The result is that God has repositioned me for success. Worship Leader, Singer/Song writer, Author/Publisher, Pastor/Evangelist.

 Growing up in White Rock BC, (a small town on the west coast of Canada, pictured above) it seemed that the words which were spoken most into my young ears were, ‘you can’t,’ and ’you’ll never’. Does that sort of thing sound familiar to anyone out there? I’m sure you can imagine the impact these words had on my sense of self – worth. In the course of my walk with God, I have found that I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me. Now I am hearing ‘You can, and you will.’

It took me almost fifteen years of false starts to find my voice, but the word of God encouraged me to persevere and to press on toward the mark. Today I have published three non-fiction titles, three fiction, and one autobiography which could fit either of the above. Love what you write, and write what you love. That is what the Holy Spirit has impressed upon me as a rule of thumb for whatever I write.

The next obstacle would for me, be the dreaded writers block, perhaps known more affectionately as ‘some timers’. We get excited about writing something, but when we are ready to start typing, the page remains embarrassingly blank. To remedy this ailment, the Lord has encouraged me just to type anything that comes to mind, and go from there. It has been said that every picture tells a story. As a young man, I realized that I could see an image, and would automatically begin to work it into a story. A hawk sitting on a fence post, a worn gate hanging by a single hinge. This is something that I have begun to incorporate into my writing.

At the age of sixteen, I could type sixty words per minute. By the time I began to take an interest in writing, I was down to a sad eight to ten words. Then someone told me about voice recognition software, and my world got suddenly brighter! I typed only ten words per minute, but with this new software, I could talk eighty to one hundred words every minute. Woohoo!

Some folk save the most important points for the closing statement, or argument if you prefer, and I guess that for today at least, I fall into this category. Grammar. With a grade twelve vocabulary it is understandable that my grammar could use a lot of help. More software to the rescue! Grammarly and White Smoke take care of everything from spellcheck to plagiarism, and whatever might lie in-between.

Rather than jumping straight into novel writing, I chose to begin with short stories, and have developed to the point of writing Novelettes. In becoming a member of ACFW, I hope to quickly develop into a full-fledged novelist, which has been my goal since I discovered the world of books.

About John S Peters

As a semi-retired Pastor, I finally have time to polish and perfect various inter-related hobbies including pastel painting, digital photography, song-writing, and writing both fiction and non-fiction. I'm self-published on CreateSpace and Kindle Direct Publishing. My fictional Short stories include The Champion, The Raven, and a novella titled ‘Thomas Vale, out of the shadows’.

Find John online:

Website
Amazon

Chawna Schroeder and The Writer's Code

By Iola Goulton

Like many of the bloggers here at International Christian Fiction Writers, I'm a member of American Christian Fiction writers. I'm not sure if it's the biggest organisation for Christian writers, but it's certainly one of the biggest. And it's not just Americans, despite the name.

Anyway, one of the benefits of ACFW membership is a free monthly online training course covering some aspect of writing, publishing, or marketing. September's course was run by Chawna Schroeder, and it was called "The Writer's Code."

I wasn't sure what to expect from the title, but it turned out to be one of the most interesting and thought-provoking courses I've taken (or lurked in). Chawna started by saying:

This is especially true for us as Christian writers, as Chawna went on to demonstrate using the standard set in Philippians 4:8:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

This is what Chawna has dubbed The Writer's Code: the eight qualities of Philippians 4:8. I think it also provides a solid basis for considering what is Christian fiction ... and what isn't.

Now, I was too busy in September to read all the lessons and do all the homework, so this post is an amalgam of Chawna's idea, and my reactions.

Whatever is True

Our writing needs to reflect truth—a conformance to reality. This includes the truths of historical fact, scientific principle, moral law, and human nature. As writers, we can bend historical fact or scientific principle if it benefits the story and depending on the genre (e.g. science fiction or fantasy). What we can't or shouldn't do is bend the truth to deceive readers. But bending the truths of human nature can mean we're writing unrealistic situations.

Whatever is Noble

We need to write about noble heroes and heroines (the vilians don't have to be noble). Characters who know right from wrong and live accordingly, who treat others with respect, and who don't manipulate or deceive others. I would agree this is where our main character needs to be at the end of the novel, but great fiction shows a change in character—such as becoming a more noble person.

She also points out that we should handle difficult situations in a noble manner: we don't need to graphically show everything. Sometimes the noble choice is to fade to black.

Whatever is Right(eous)

This means writing stories which conform to the Bible and reflect the standards of God, the character of God, and the will of God. For me, this is what sets true Christian fiction apart from fiction written by Christians—the Godly themes and messages. This doesn't mean only showing characters doing right: that's going to become boring and preachy. And it goes against the first rule, writing what is true. People are not perfect, so our characters shouldn't be either.

Whatever is Pure

Purity is freedom from contamination—we should show good as praiseworthy, and evil as something to be avoided or overcome. Chawna also addresses the nature of "clean" fiction, and points out that human standards of what is "clean" change, but God's standards of what is pure do not. Guess which one we should be aiming for?

Chawna also points out, rightly, that a pure book which reflects God's truth may have some less-than-savoury elements, while many "clean" books reject the existence of God.

Whatever is Lovely

Yes, we need to pursue loveliness in writing! People appreciate beautiful writing, so add vivid description, use rhetorical devices, add cadence, add variety—anything to engage our reader's emotions, evoke sympathy and compassion, and perhaps even inspire our readers to change and become better people.

Whatever is Admirable (of good repute)

This quality is about us as authors (and people) as well as about the content we create. Chawna points out that we gain our reputations through association, consistency, and by being memorable. What she calls reputation by association I call author branding. We all have a brand, and we manage and develop that brand by carefully considering how we are seen online and in the marketplace, and through acting that way consistently (we don't need to share everything, and we certainly shouldn't overshare). She also encourages us to be memorable by seeking excellence, not settling for mediocrity ... which leads us nicely onto the next point.

If Anything is Excellent

Chawna challenges us not to write with a "good enough" attitude:

Rather than striving to make every word count, rather than polishing our stories to our fullest ability, rather than digging deeper, we settle for the minimum to gain what we desire. We make our novels good enough to snag an agent, good enough to publish, good enough to win that coveted award ... Excellence is never satisfied with "good enough".

She also uses this commandment to address the spiritual aspects of our writing:

How often do we stop with just proclaiming the simple truth rather than delving into its rich depths in a way that helps our readers not merely know the truth but understand it and even experience it through the lives of our characters?

Yes. Pursue excellence.

If Anything is Praiseworthy

Praiseworthy has two meanings: earning praise from God, and earning praise for God. Chawna suggests writing with God as co-creator rather than writing for him. And seek to glorify God with our writing. I think this goes back to the previous point of seeking excellence. We do not glorify God by publishing a "good enough" novel. The readers will see it, and the reviews will reflect it.

Chawna finishes with a Writer's Pledge, which she has given me permission to share:

I, ______________________________________, hereby pledge I will learn more and more to create stories which are worth thinking about, conforming to the qualities listed in Philippians 4:8, stories which:

• Conform to reality in historical fact, scientific principle, moral law and human nature (true);
• Offer noble characters, handle serious matters with respect, and deal with ignoble characters/matters appropriately (noble);
• Reflect the standards of God, the character of God, and the will of God (right);
• Offer characters worth imitating, portray sin/evil for what they are, portray God for who He is, show the consequences of actions (positive & negative), and employ the power of suggestion when appropriate (pure);
• Please the senses and move the reader’s heart toward love (lovely);
• Promote a good reputation through appropriate associations, consistency, and being memorable (admirable);
• Go beyond the status quo and pure entertainment and are the very best I can produce with the time and ability God gives at any point (excellent);
• Earn commendation from God, and most of all, glorify Him (praiseworthy).

What do you think?

I'm looking forward to reading more from Chawna Schroeder. You can find her online at her website (www.chawnaschroeder.com), blog (www.chawanschroeder.blogspot.com), and on Facebook.

On Timing ...

By David Rawlings

I’m an efficiency nut; always have been, always will be. I’ve spent my career in public relations and the media where timing is everything. I’m not impatient; I haven’t got time for that.

One issue I’ve always struggled with in my walk is the issue of God’s timing. The whole “be still and know that I am God” goes against my grain and is probably my biggest faith challenge. I’m a person of action who is driven by deadlines, so I’m uncomfortable when I’m not at least aware of what’s happening two steps further down the process. In my career that’s been a necessity; now I’ve moved into fiction and the hope of publishing and I’ve been learning lessons about timing ever since.

The timing of development

I entered ACFW’s Genesis competition in 2015, hopeful with the novel with which I was happy. I’d spent years in crafting it and put my heart and soul into it.

I didn’t get anywhere. I was devastated. I thought the novel was ready. It wasn’t.

So I took the feedback and tightened the novel completely. I deepened characters, percolated conflict between them and condensed their dialogue. God used that time to boil my story down, simmer it and concentrate it. Twelve months later, I entered Genesis again and was a finalist.

Bear in mind, in 2015 I was devastated. I didn’t want to know anything about working on it any more. According to my timeframe, it was done. But God’s hand was in that rejection process. The ultimate creator knows the creation process – go figure – and without the extra time, the book wouldn’t have the characteristics it now has. Now it’s being considered for publication. Which leads me to the next waiting period …

The timing of publication

In an ideal world, you write, you edit, you type “The End” polish up your acknowledgements page and then you start printing your novel.

But, as we know, that’s not how it happens.

This is where I am at the moment. I’ve pitched the book to two publishers and I’m waiting to hear back from a couple of agents as well.

And I wait. Uncomfortably … impatiently …wondering why there is no movement and fluctuating between hope and rejection because, in my timeframe, the book is ready to go now.

But now, with the experience of the 12 months’ waiting in writing the book, I’m learning (slowly) to trust Him in the whole publishing process as well. It will happen in His timing.

I was chatting about this waiting process with Ian Acheson (author of Angelguard), and one comment stuck with me. “But the Lord's got it in His big capable hands. Waiting helps us lean on Him more, I reckon.”

Amen, brother. Another lesson.

I’ve had a number of conversations with other writers about this process and found that the endless wait and the investment of time and I’m not alone.

Is this an issue for you?

About David Rawlings

Based in Adelaide, South Australia, I am a sports-mad, married father-of-three with my own copywriting/communication business who reads everything within an arm’s reach. I can see a typo from across the room and always – always – make sure my text messages are grammatically correct. Oh, and I love cooking, comedy and surfing. Over 25 years, I’ve made writing my career and paid the bills with words. It’s not a big leap from the six-year-old writing short stories instead of doing homework.

When God Makes You Custodian, by David Rawlings

I’ve just learned that I’m a custodian. Not in the usual way, where I’d be stunned to find I’m responsible for another mouth to feed or daunted by having to look after someone else’s property or estate.

I’m actually a custodian of an idea.

God has challenged me over the past few months to rethink the story I’m writing. Not in a structural sense, or by introducing a new character, or even by revealing to me a plot twist of which M. Night Shyamalan would be proud (although that would be nice.)

What He did was remind me of how the story started; that is, where it came from. When people ask me about my recently-completed manuscript (called “The God of Reality TV”, where reality TV clashes with church), I used to find myself telling them that the story “just came to me.” But is that the truth?

When I feel depleted on ideas and turn to God for direction or inspiration, I'm reminded that my story didn’t “just come to me,” it was sent, by Him. He entrusted me with the idea and expects me to carry it to fruition, with His help, of course.

Why did He send me my story? Because one day it might be the one thing that inspires people, comforts people, makes them laugh, or makes them think a little more deeply about life.

I now feel challenged to change my thinking; to resist the urge to charge off in my own direction because this is “my story.” Now that I’ve acknowledged I’m the custodian of an idea from God, it completely changes how I approach my writing.

Suddenly I’m accountable:

– For time. I hear a lot of writers talk about squeezing their writing into very busy schedules.  That was me, but I now view this differently. I’ve had to shuffle around my workload and clients, but I’m trying to invest more in my craft. After all, I’m looking after someone else’s property!

– For quality. I’m a copywriter by trade, writing for clients every day of every week. When my words are portraying people’s business or their livelihood, I am responsible for how I describe their work, their passion in life. So, now I'm more aware of the quality of my own writing, portraying God’s love, patience, and humor. It's no longer about fulfilling a word count so I can get the certificate from NaNoWriMo.

– For what I recognize as success. I’ve moved through that early writing phase of 'just knowing' I’ve got a best-seller on my hands and not understanding why people wouldn’t love it. But here’s where I’ve been challenged; if only five people buy my book and three of them turn their lives around or are inspired to repair a relationship, would I consider my book a success? I’ll put up my hand and admit that some days no, I wouldn’t. That thinking is slowly changing, as well.

I’m now writing as a custodian of God’s plan; nurturing His idea and writing for Him. When you’re writing for God, what do you feel accountable for? What is your greatest challenge?

Based in Adelaide, South Australia, David Rawlings is a father-of-three with his own copywriting business who reads everything within an arm’s reach.

He is published in the non-fiction arena and is now focused on writing contemporary Christian fiction. These stories explore God, people, 21st century church and our modern society with humor and a satirical eye. And, in order to have more time to write, he is currently trying to find an extra day in the week . . . without much success. You can follow David on his blog: http://davidrawlings.com.au/.

Be still, by Iola Goulton

It's 2016, a new year, and over the last few weeks I've seen my social media news feeds full of people announcing their New Year's Resolutions (or plans. Or anti-resolutions.)

I've also seen many Christians announcing their word for the year. These words are typically encouraging, words like grace, peace, strong, challenge, balance, flourish. In fact, the “one word” movement is so popular it has its own website: www.myoneword.org. Their tagline: Change Your Life with Just One Word.

The My One Word movement comes from Pastor Mike Ashcraft, who uses the process in his church, both at an organizational and individual level. The idea is resolutions often centre on the negative: things we don’t like about ourselves, things we’d like to change. A long list of negatives that makes us feel bad about ourselves before we’ve even started. A long list that reduces our ability to focus.

In contrast, the My One Word challenge is about looking at who God wants us to become, and to pick one word on which to focus that positive change over the year.

My first thought in looking at the My One Word website was skepticism. I wasn’t convinced that one word can change a life. One person can: Jesus. But one word?

But then I got thinking . . .

Too many people have grown up with a wrong image of themselves, an image based on the words other people have used to describe them. Us. Words like stupid, fat, slow. Or twisting positive words so they come out sounding like a negative. Pretty. Intelligent. Sporty.

Sometimes we speak the negative words to ourselves. I’m too busy. I’m too sick. I’m too poor. I could never do that. Is that the truth? Or is it the lie we tell ourselves so we can avoid trying, avoid failing?

Words have power.

The words we think, the words we say, the words we write. The words we read. The words we hear.

Too many of us have spent our lives listening to the negative words from ourselves and others, allowing those negative words to rule in our lives. Instead, we should be listening to God. Some of us are simply too busy, too sick, too poor, to take time to listen to God.

Too busy is certainly one of my problems—when I first started thinking about this One Word idea, the word which came to me was overwhelmed. Hardly the stuff of inspiration.

But it made me step back, think about all I’d like to achieve this year, and how I’m going to do it. Feeling overwhelmed isn’t going to help. That’s the feeling that keeps me awake at night, wondering if I’ll be able to cram an extra few hours into the next day.

But then a verse popped into my mind. As they do.

Be still, and know that I am God (Ps 46:10, NIV)

Be still. Be still, and allow God to work in me, to plan for me, prepare the way ahead of me.

Be still.

It’s more aspirational than any list of resolutions I could have dreamed up. And more challenging. Yet there is a peace in the word that confirms God is in it.

Be still.

Be still, and know that I am God.

Do you have a word for 2016?

IOLA GOULTON lives with her husband, two teenagers and cat in the sunny Bay of Plenty in New Zealand, between Hobbiton and the Kiwifruit Capital of the World. She holds a degree in marketing, has a background in human resource consulting and freelance editing, is active in her local church and plays in a brass band.

Iola is a reader, reviewer and freelance editor who is currently writing her first novel, contemporary Christian romance with a Kiwi twist, and her first non-fiction book, which aims to help first-time authors navigate the changing world of Christian publishing.

Connect with Iola at www.iolagoulton.com (a work in progress she’s trying not to be overwhelmed by!) and www.christianreads.blogspot.com.

MY ONE AND ONLY CRITIQUE PARTNER--by Christine Lindsay

Today, I’m showing off my dear friend and writing critique partner, the Award-winning Author, Rachel Phifer. Rachel & I work with only one critique partner on all our individual books. As you read the following , you'll understand why I rejoice in such a wonderful writing partner. And also I might add a bit of bragging rights---her Carol Nominated novel below The Language of Sparrows---ta...da...I was Rachel's critique partner on that book. Can you blame me for feeling proud? 

First Fruits of Time by Rachel Phifer

MORE TIME has been the cry of my adult life. My days are a mad rush through work, dinner, chores, raising my kids and writing. I search out empty spaces around those things to meet with God. Sure, I have faith, but too often, it’s a limping, scrawny faith.

A while back I began to take a closer look at the Christian biographies on my shelf. These people who made an impact for Christ didn’t fit God into their day. They gave him the first-fruits of their

day, and their to-do list fit around that. 

Martin Luther said the busier his day the more time he needed to spend in prayer. Mother Teresa required her nuns to spend a solitary hour in prayer and another hour together in prayer before heading out to the streets of Calcutta. 

George Müller, the man who provided for 10,000 orphans without ever asking for a shilling spent at least an hour in prayer, and David Wilkerson gave up his news hour to pray shortly before heading to New York to work with gang members. The Ten Booms, who sheltered Jews during WWII had morning and evening prayer as a family. Every Christian I read about mentioned spending hours each day in prayer. Hours. 

No limping, scrawny faith for them.

I looked around for people I knew in real life and noticed an older couple at my church. They prayed together for an hour in the morning before going to work and for an hour together after dinner. The man prayed during his lunch hour too. My first thought was: what do they pray about for so long? And day after day? But my second thought was I want what they have. Because love and peace shone out of their faces.

What’s the point of short prayers and small faith? It’s mundane and totally uninspiring. I want God to fill my life to bursting with whatever He wants to fill it with. I want Him to fill my day with Himself most of all.

As a new year rolls in, I’ve decided to give prayer as the first fruit of my day. If that means hour-long prayers at 4 a.m., good. If that means the have-to list takes a backseat, excellent. Because I want a large, God-here-and-present-life. I want a life-lit-by-the-flames-of-His-Spirit-life.

About Rachel's Award-Winning Novel inspired by her search for the spirit-filled life.

The Language of Sparrows:

Brilliant and fluent in too many languages to count, 15-year-old Sierra Wright can't seem to communicate what is important to her in any language. Though April Wright stubbornly keeps an upbeat attitude about her daughter's future, she has let her own dreams slip away. Just across the bridge lives old Luca, scarred from his time in a Romanian gulag years before. Though he has seemingly given up on people, Sierra is drawn to him despite his prickly edges.

No one else is comfortable with the unpredictable old man spending time alone with Sierra, not even Luca's son. Yet it is this unconventional relationship that will bring two families together to form friendships and unearth their family stories, stories that just might give them all the courage to soar on wings toward a new future.

ABOUT RACHEL PHIFER:

As the daughter of missionaries, Rachel Phifer grew up in Malawi, South Africa and Kenya, and managed to attend eleven schools by the time she graduated from high school. Books, empty notebooks and cool pens were her most reliable friends as she moved from one place to another. She holds a B.A. in English and psychology, and lives in Houston with her family.

Website: www.rachelphifer.com

Book link: http://www.amazon.com/The-Language-Sparrows-Rachel-Phifer/dp/0781410487

ABOUT CHRISTINE LINDSAY

Website www.christinelindsay.com

The Consummate Traitor: A Long Journey With a Purpose, by Bonnie Toews

The idea for my novel THE CONSUMMATE TRAITOR began when I read the biography of William Stephenson – INTREPID, CHURCHILL’S MASTER SPY – by the Canadian author William Stevenson. In it, he wrote about an agent code-named Trudi, who was a cousin of King George VI. She volunteered to persuade the atomic physicist Niels Bohr, who was working on atomic bomb experiments in Copenhagen, to defect to London. The Danish Resistance did succeed in helping him escape to England but “Trudi” was arrested by the Gestapo, interrogated and tortured. No one knows what happened to her. She was declared missing in action and presumed dead. Reading this, I wondered. “What if she survived? What would her story be?” The only possibility was to create another woman to replace her on the mission.

First, I needed to create a believable royal lineage and hope I didn’t pinpoint her actual connection. To do this, I studied the pedigrees of the British, Danish and Norwegian royal families. The result: Lady Grace Radcliffe. Then I needed to create her counterpart – a woman who could look like her, but be opposite in nature and upbringing. The result: Lee Talbot. Only through their friendship, do they become more like each other as time goes on. With these names and broad character traits, I then started detailed research on their back stories, the men in their lives, and how they would fit into a plot I loosely based on the real “Trudi” mission.

Research in the 1980s was not as easy as it is today. I spent months in the Toronto Main Library photocopying sections of historic books and maps. I read the diaries of Basques who endured the bombing of Guernica. I read William Shirer’s journals about Germany through the 1930s, and Churchill’s memoirs, as well. The more I read, the more the Holocaust haunted me. One day I broke down and wept because I could hear their silent screams.

I interviewed a former Nazi aeronautical engineer who sat on Hitler’s inner circle as a designer of Germany’s first jets. He described Berlin and the effect Kristallnacht had on him in 1938. To trace all the backgrounds and invent the details necessary to build the story for THE CONSUMMATE TRAITOR took me ten years before I was ready to start writing my novel. The writing of the novel took another ten years plus two revisions that evolved over the next eight years. As wartime records were released new information surfaced, and I had to change portions of the book because I wanted the details to be as authentic as possible. The traitor’s story, for instance, evolved in greater detail. Britain’s civilian spy agency – SOE – recruited so many homosexuals that this led to the later British scandal of double Soviet agents, such as Anthony Blunt, a confidante of Queen Elizabeth II.

When I was nearly two-thirds finished, two things happened. Both times I awoke at 3 a.m. The first revelation identified the traitor – I believe not knowing kept driving me to write, but then I had to go back through the story and drop hints so the reader wouldn’t be as shocked as I was! The second burst of inspiration led me to write a chapter I have always believed came directly from God. It shows the spiritual charge working in the characters. It was never a part of my outline, and yet it absolutely belongs in the story. I never rewrote it, and I’m convinced it’s the reason why writing this story has always felt like a mission I had to complete. Curiously, no reviewer or reader has ever commented on that chapter. If it was God’s purpose to include it, the reason is entirely His.

Rather than reveal that special chapter, I feel guided to leave it as the private message it seems to be for individual readers.

Award-winning business journalist Bonnie Toews covered the delivery of aid to Rwanda following the genocide in 1994 and observed first-hand why Harry Belafonte, then ambassador for UNICEF, called Canada’s peacekeepers “the best in the world.” Today, Bonnie lends her voice to the Canadian Veterans Advocacy on her Homecoming Vets blog. Her novel THE CONSUMMATE TRAITOR is in its second edition with Whistler House Publishing.

Bonnie has also embarked with her life partner John Christiansen on producing the BIBI &  BABU TRAVEL SERIES. These books are armchair adventures that adults or grandparents can enjoy reading and sharing with their children. Ten percent of the series’ royalties goes to the Kilimanjaro Orphanage Centre in Moshi, Tanzania.

What Takes Eight Flights, Six Airports and an Almost Naked Man?

Eight flights, forty flying hours, six stopovers, an empty bank account and one middle-aged overweight  "gentleman" who decided that "night flight" gave him the green light to strip to his underwear to sleep is what got me to the ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers') Conference in Indianapolis.

It was worth all of it, plus some more. Yes, even the almost naked sleeper across the aisle. It was even worth redefining the term "red-eye" and catching a flight that left San Francisco at half past midnight in order to get to Indianapolis. I didn't even know planes flew at that time! Though I probably wouldn't recommend catching one if you're planning to get off at the other end and walk straight into a four hour workshop that requires you to be able to think coherently!

It was an amazing time. Being a writer can be a very lonely solitary path. Especially in a country that isn't big enough for its own publishers, ACFW Chapters or even really critique groups. All of my writer friends are virtual and exist through Skype, Twitter, Facebook and email. So getting to actually spend time with people in person who understand the huge ups and downs and general insanity associated with this endeavor is kind of like having your first glass bottle of Diet Coke after a life spent on that nasty postmix/fountain stuff that is nowhere close to the real thing!

I got to have lunch with my incredible agent, room with three amazing writers, spend time in workshops learning soaking up wisdom from the experts, spend quality time with some great friends and cheer them on in their successes and even meet some of my favourite authors. And of course ribs. No trip to America is complete without a rack of ribs. And this trip came with a bonus - an introduction to the potato awesomeness of what I'm informed are "waffle fries".

But the most exciting thing about the trip? International settings are, well trendy would be a very big overstatement, but they are no longer a death knell for your pitch for your book before you've even started your second sentence. When I attended ACFW Colorado 2009 I was told by a number of people that (1) no one was interested in contemporary, they all wanted either historical or Amish and (2) 99% of publishers would never consider a contemporary story set outside of the U.S.

And they were right. I had a number of editors tell me that if I wanted my story to have a chance it needed to be rewritten to be set to be in the U.S. Four years later, praise the Lord, when I said that my manuscript was set in Australia not a single editor said they weren't interested. Admittedly, no one threw themselves over the table and begged me to sign on the dotted line straight away, but they were open to having the conversation about a book in that setting. Even open to having a look at it. One even said she'd be interested in a story set in New Zealand. Which is pretty much a miracle compared to a few years ago!

So this is my post to say thank you :) Thank you to all of you readers who have bought books in international settings and shown publishers that there is an audience for them out there. Thank you to all of the writers who have gone before me and convinced publishers to take chances. Thank you to the editors and publishers who have taken chances on books that aren't set in America and championing them through the long and arduous publishing process to make them happen. Thank you.

Kara Isaac lives in Wellington, New Zealand with her worship pastor husband, ninja toddler and a "Cloudberry" who is due for release in February 2014. She loves to read what she writes (contemporary romance), a really good fudge sundae and is counting down the days until Downton Abbey returns.

You can find her on Facebook at Kara Isaac - Writer and on Twitter @KaraIsaac

When Good Plans Go Bad - Kara Isaac

At the moment I’m currently working madly on my current work in progress, hoping to have it ready to pitch to agents and editors at a big writing conference in Dallas in September.

After my very unexpected semi-final in the Genesis Contest, I set off on a mission to go from blank page to 95,000 word completed manuscript in under nine months.

My first manuscript took two years. And that was pre husband, mortgage, or baby. So this time there was a plan. Five thousand words a week would see me finish a first draft by August, giving me two months to rewrite, edit and polish.

The plan had one flaw. Knowing that the real word has a way of taking over and there were destined to be a number of weeks when 5,000 words didn’t happen, I had a Plan B. This revolved around the fact that I was going overseas for work for two weeks in late June and would be shut in speeding tin cans for sixty plus hours. Sure enough real life happened, I feel behind and I set myself the task of 25,000 words to be written while I was away to make up on lost time.

I mean I had four flights over ten hours each. If one couldn’t manage to get some decent writing done trapped in a tin can with no meals to prepare, job to show up for or husband or child to worry about, all was lost.

I didn’t count on one thing. Food poisoning. The day before we left for Russia, I was plastered to my bathroom floor only able to lift my head when it was strictly necessary. The day we left I crawled onto the plane and survived the following five flights and two days in transit thanks to the wonder of some seriously powerful modern pharmaceuticals. Not a single word got typed.

I spent the first few days of the trip still unwell and when that finally passed, the jetlag kicked in. The free nights I had set aside to write while the boss graced various functions with his presence? Disappeared into an ether of bad room service and sleep.

Finally, on the first flight home, I finally managed to dust off the laptop, reacquaint myself with my long lost manuscript and start writing. By the time I landed, I’d managed to make up 6,000 words.

So blog world here’s the situation. I have 38,000 words written and need to come up with another 60,000 in the next two months. Preferably less, so I have some time to rewrite, edit etc. before jumping in a plane to the USA mid-September!

What is your advice for someone with a full-time job, a husband and a nine month old ninja on how to carve out time to write at least 1,000 words a day without being an absentee wife, mother or employee?

My limitations are:

• Can’t write during lunch hour due to system security precautions at my workplace;

• Solely responsible for my son on Sundays as my husband is in ministry so a work day for him;

• I already do the bare minimum of housework required!

• From 24 July – 1 August I’ll be overseas again and unlikely to be able to manage 1,000 words a day for most of that time

Help!!

Kara Isaac is a public servant, terrible non-laundry-doing wife and bewildered mum to a ninja by day and contemporary romance writer by crack or dawn / late night. She aspires to one day rediscover what it's like to have more than five hours sleep in a row. You can find her (usually) very random tweets at https://twitter.com/KaraIsaac

A helping hand

A few days ago, I received a brief email from a young friend who has written a book based on her experiences working with the Kurds in northern Iraq. It is the story of a brave Kurdish widow who survived Saddam Hussein’s terrible attacks and went on to forge a life for herself and her children.

Now this is her first book, so she turned to me for some advice. I was happy to help and in the end, edited it for her as well. This was a difficult journey, as our writing styles are almost opposite in many ways. In particular, she writes clearly and sparsely, using many short, simple sentences. I, on the other hand, often write long, convoluted ones that are probably quite daunting for some readers! So I tried to preserve her own writing style, but still help her towards preparing her book as best she could before submitting it for publication.

I suggested to her that she submit it first of all via the special ‘Manuscript Mondays’ and ‘Friday Pitches’ run by two large publishing houses here in Australia. But in her email, she told me a little sadly that her book had been unsuccessful in these.

‘So ... what’s the next step?’ she asked me bluntly in her email.

At first, I heaved a big sigh. I was busy editing my own first non-fiction work. I was tired. And I had other things to do. Perhaps I could get away with simply sending her some notes from a workshop I had presented on ‘Getting Published’ and leave it at that. But then I began to feel a little guilty. Some things in these notes would not apply in her case, I knew. She really needed a personal response from me, tailor-made to her situation. But was I prepared to put the time aside to do this?

Then as I sat trying to allow the more gracious side of me to come to the fore, I remembered clearly how I had felt when I was in the same place as my friend now is. I was so new to everything. I read books on publishing and on writing book proposals. I checked out articles on the net. I joined the New South Wales Writers’ Centre and attended various seminars there. I even joined American Christian Fiction Writers! I bought a copy of ‘The Australian Writers’ Marketplace’ and painstakingly went through every publisher listed to see if they would accept unsolicited and ‘unagented’ manuscripts from a first-time author. I engaged the services of a manuscript assessor—and so on and so on. And I remembered the feeling I had had when I had done all this and finally was offered a publishing contract. I decided I did not want another Australian Christian author to waste time unnecessarily as I had often done in seeking out all this information about publishing when I could easily pass my discoveries onto him or her.

I was duly chastened—and I suspect God had a hand in that. Over the next hour or so, I responded to her email, suggesting various steps she might take. And I sought to encourage her yet again not to give up. I believe she has written an important and moving story that deserves to be told and I hope and pray a publisher somewhere soon thinks likewise.

And today I will send her another email, because this morning I read the following in Isaiah 50:7-8:

Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame. He who vindicates me is near. ...

How privileged we are to have the Almighty, Sovereign Lord on our side, fighting our battles and reaching out to help us! Surely then, as God’s child and in the light of the amazing grace I have received, I can help out another author without grumbling?

I hope I have learnt my lesson well.  

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 in Sydney. Jo-Anne loves communicating through both the written and spoken word and currently has four 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 or to contact Jo-Anne, please visit her website, www.jo-anneberthelsen.com.

THE DRATTED DAY-JOB--by Christine Lindsay

Is there anyone out there like me who gets stressed going to a day-job? Anyone who gets that nervous swirl in the pit your stomach as you drive to work, dreading confrontations with unhappy customers, or that you won’t be able to complete your assigned tasks to the quality expected?

A few weeks ago I started a new day-job. I call it the day-job because it's not my career. My day-job is the work that financially supports the real labor of my heart. Not many writers of Christian fiction make enough money to support themselves full-time. But then none of us are in it for the money anyway.

But I need a regular pay-check to pay the bills.

The week I started my new job in a department store doing product demonstrations, I was praying hard that the Lord would meet me at work and smooth things out so that I wouldn’t be totally stressed. At the same time the book of Ruth was next in my Bible to read for my daily devotions.

I’ve read the book of Ruth numerous times. Always thought of it as one of the sweetest love stories ever told, a love story between Boaz and Ruth, but also between Ruth and her mother-in-law, Naomi.

But as I read this love story my eyes gleaned something I’d never seen before. Having to support herself and Naomi, the only work Ruth could find was the physical labor of gleaning barley in a field that belonged to Boaz. I’d known for a long time that Boaz was inspired by God to notice Ruth because God had plans for their romance and the offspring of that love. But this was the first time I noticed how God smoothed the stresses out of Naomi’s work day.

Boaz instructed his work-hands to ensure that Ruth was not stressed by others. His female servants were to take Ruth under their wing and keep her day peaceful. Not only was Ruth's workday made as easy as possible, Boaz arranged for her to receive bonus product to take home at the end of the day.

At a time I needed it most, the Lord opened my eyes to an element in this love story that gave me peace as I drove to my new job. I asked Him in prayer to do for me what He’d instructed Boaz to do for Ruth.

And, just like Ruth, the Lord saw that other workers in the department store were around when I needed help. There were smiles of encouragement, and no one to stress me out. People were just there when I needed help me put up my awkward sign at the start of my day, and at the end of the day to take it down.

God really does care about every aspect of our life. We just have to open our eyes to see the intimacies of God's love for us, as I've written into the fictional story of my characters.

But most of all He cares about the real day-job of a Christian writer so that I can pay my bills and keep going with the ministry of my heart---writing Christian fiction to encourage others in the faith.

I hope you'll drop by my website www.ChristineLindsay.com and visit with me. I'm so grateful to the Lord for providing in so many ways to allow me to see my debut novel, Shadowed in Silk, be released this year. Shadowed in Silk was the Gold winner of the 2009 ACFW Genesis for historical novel. And thanks to Him, He's providing so I can continue to write. Next book is on it's way.