Thorn and Petal

Hi everyone, Sandra Orchard here, since I am happily filling my days with "grandchildren time" (our new grandson arrived 2 weeks ago), I invited fellow Canadian author and winner of the prestigious Grace Irwin award for her 2012 debut novel, Deb Elkink, to share a bit about her writing journey.

Of course, first, I can't resist including a gratuitous pic of the newest addition to our family. <big grin>  (This would be the petal...to borrow Deb's illustration. As a grandparent, I get to avoid most of the thorns--sleepless nights, dirty diapers <wink>)

Am I blessed or what?! 

And yes, I'm worse than those Grandmas with the brag books, 

I take every opportunity to show off my adorable little ones to the entire cyber world!

Take it away, Deb

A novel is like a bunch of fresh roses: You don’t get the perfume without the prickles. Excellent fiction demands rigorous research and exacting composition.

Twenty years ago, I attended a writers’ conference with the manuscript of what I naively conceptualized to be my first novel. Confidence wilted beneath the blast of a brutal blue-pencil session, and the plenary speaker didn’t revive hope of timely publication when saying we must earn the right to be read by “paying our dues”: taking courses, inviting criticism, writing obituaries and church bulletins and letters to the editor, reading everything, expecting rejection . . .

Now, I’d wanted to be a novelist since my preteen love affair with Nancy Drew. I wrote innocent poetry in grade school and angsty romance in junior high. Throughout high school I eschewed math and science for arts-based electives. Even my first degree in communications (though resulting in personal devotionals printed in Sunday school papers) depended more on imagination and expression than knowledge and interpretation. To this day I find fantasizing more natural than factualizing, creative yarn spinning more satisfying than dry researching. After all, it’s easier to let my imagination fly than to plow the earth for proofs. Emotions don’t require footnotes.

But native creativity takes me only so far before I hit the wall of ignorance. Artistry is essential for God’s people; the Tabernacle and Temple might never have been built without it (Exodus 25-28; 1 Kings 6-8). But exercising imagination is a concept tied, also, to an evil heart (Gen. 6:5; Luke 1:51). Proverbs 2:3-11 instructs me to seek knowledge, insight, understanding, common sense, and wisdom.

So I decided, after finishing my fifteen-year tenure as home-educating mom, to develop my mind by returning to school myself. I enrolled in seminary to ensure theological coherence before I set whimsical pen to paper—and I learned the first rule of scholarly writing: Consistency and clarity are king. The thorny strictures of academic study protected my budding imagination so it could bloom within the orthodoxy of right thinking.

Under an exacting advisor, my master’s thesis combined biography with literary criticism to explore how British author G.K. Chesterton imbued his fiction with symbolism. This demanded wide reading in English classics as well as biblical studies, and (along with several years of my academic editing and of writing for a national professional quarterly) it prepared me, finally, to draft my first novel, The Third Grace. 

The thesis itself has just been published for general readership (Roots and Branches: The Symbol of the Tree in the Imagination of G.K. Chesterton). My second novel (working title, The Red Journal) is almost completed and comes directly from my examination of the book of Hebrews.

I’m still “paying my dues.” The thorns of fiction writing don’t need to include graduate studies or editing nonfiction or writing professional articles, but all learning is, by definition, challenging. For me, the pleasure of the blooming novel comes with the reality of the thorns. 

Sandra again: Thanks so much for sharing Deb. I love hearing about the widely diverse paths we've each walked to get to where we are in our writing today. 

 

Deb Elkink writes from her cottage on a creek in the rolling hills of southern Alberta. She holds an M.A. in historical theology (Briercrest, 2001) and loves retelling the timeless truths of Scripture. Deb won the 2012 Grace Irwin Award for her debut novel, The Third Grace. Visit her: www.debelkink.com.

Sandra Orchard is a multi-award-winning author of mysteries and romantic suspense with Revell Publishing and Harlequin’s Love Inspired Suspense imprint. A mother of three grown children, she lives in Niagara, Canada with her real-life-hero husband and writes full time…when not doting on her young grandchildren. Subscribe to Sandra’s newsletter to receive a subscriber-exclusive mini-novella. Learn more about Sandra’s books and bonus features, as well as writer helps, at www.SandraOrchard.com or connect at www.Facebook.com/SandraOrchard

Yukon - The Perfect Setting

The beginning of my first novel, One Smooth Stone takes place on the Yukon River near Dawson City. It's the perfect setting for the story, which has  characters with rough edges and hard noses, characters tough enough to live in the north.

Yukon. The word conjures images of winter, of dog teams and ice fog, of high mountains and glacier fed lakes and fast flowing rivers. It is all that, but much more. It is a place of 24 hour daylight that produces massive cabbages and broccoli, a place where gold is traded in the stores, a place where people work three jobs in the summertime and still manage to make time for each other. 

But the true magic of the Yukon can only be experienced in the winter. It is in those long winter months that bonds of deep friendship are forged. It is while sitting by a roaring wood stove that stories are shared and copious amounts of coffee and tea are drunk. And it is on days when a stranger arrives at your door in the morning and becomes a best friend by that night that you realize living there is worth it.

The Yukon teaches you to be flexible. Someone may drop by for coffee at ten in the morning and still be there for supper two days later. When it’s sixty-five below there’s not much incentive to leave a warm house. Daily routines are important but when a neighbour needs help to winterize his house or get enough wood cut to last through till spring, that becomes priority number one. When he shows up with a canoe in the back of his truck and says, “the swans are back,” there’s no discussion - you drop what you're doing and head to the lake. Nature takes precedence over almost everything.

And nature always wins. We learned that the day my husband’s boss knocked on our door to ask if our truck would start so they could go to work. It was colder than sixty-five below. We knew that because we couldn’t see the mercury in our thermometer, which read that far down. The guys dug out a coffee can, stuffed it with toilet paper and diesel fuel and lit it on fire before putting it under the oil pan of the truck. Then they covered the hood with a tarp and came back inside, had another cup of coffee and waited.

They tried to start that old Chevy three times. Three times they came back in for more coffee. The fourth time the motor started and I shook my head as they got into the vehicle and pulled out of the driveway. Then they pulled back in. And pulled out again, and back, in and out, in and out. They were laughing as they came back into the cabin. The drive train was frozen solid. They could go back and forth but could not get out of the driveway. Winter won that day, and would win on many more.

Like the day I watched as the sun traveled across the valley toward our cabin. I’d been watching it make that slow trek for weeks and thought that day, finally, it would beam through our windows. But no. It stopped at the edge of our front yard. I almost cried. But a true Yukoner isn’t beaten down by a little darkness. She goes out and finds the sun. The next day I strapped on my cross-country skis and made my way across the valley, meeting the sun half way. I stood for a long time with my face lifted toward it, my eyes closed, my skin soaking it in. When I opened my eyes again I shivered, not with the cold, but with the thrill of the vast wilderness I was part of.

Yukon. It conjures up many images, each one whispering, “North. It’s where you belong.”

****

Marcia Lee Laycock is the author of three novels and three devotional books. Find her on the web:Website, Amazon , twitter, Pinterest

and Smashwords

On Leaving the Country.

By Marcia Lee Laycock

I was called an ex-patriot.  The phrase still makes my back hump like a cat's, in belligerent defence. The word screams of desertion, a pointing finger, whispers behind the back, a negativity that makes people stare. It makes me want to scream, "No!" I was leaving the country, but not "ex-ing" it! The thought of being called an "ex" brought out a zealous nationalism I didn’t realize I had. 

I was determined not to leave with negative thoughts of this country, though some  wondered at the time if there would be a Canada, as we know it, when I returned. I didn't spout criticisms from afar, nor shout expletives across the ocean. I was and am grateful for my nationality, for a home often rated " one of the best." I did not leave because of what I didn't like, but because it was time for a broader view, time to see from a different perspective, through a lens opened to panorama. It was time to live beyond, with the hope that when I returned the enrichment of the experience would return with me to enrich others.

They told me it would be "a wonderful experience" and they were right, but wonderful experiences don't come cheap. They cost. This one cost that comfortable Canadian feeling of knowing the seasons follow one on another, the trees always turn to gold, the rolling Alberta fields always ripen into harvest, there is always snow for Christmas and the garbage is always collected Thursday mornings. Such commonplace certainties were no more. They were replaced by a tropical sun, from which I had to hide, by rain that was not gentle, by a land that quivered with earthquakes every other day, by fly-ridden markets instead of IGA. 

These bits of foreign reality were, to some extent, anticipated. Those I did not expect were those which stirred me most profoundly - facing my own prejudices and sometimes a callousness I didn't think I had, and dealing with the callousness and prejudice of others. Truth often becomes glaringly obvious, once all that is familiar has been left behind. It was hard to anticipate, let alone welcome, such possibilities. But I prayed for the grace to receive them and found it was there, as well as the wisdom to learn from them.

They told me I would never be the same, and again, they were right. I was changed by living in a strange and foreign land. My view of myself, of Canada, of the world, and even of my God, did not remain the same, but I was determined, and I did not, live as an "ex-patriot." 

I will always carry with me the stamp of the place from whence I came and I will sing my country's praises - albeit with a polite Canadian voice.  And perhaps, after being away, the voice has become just a bit more zealous.

****

Marcia Lee Laycock writes from central Alberta Canada where she is a pastor's wife and mother of three adult daughters. She was the winner of The Best New Canadian Christian Author Award for her novel, One Smooth Stone. Her second novel, A Tumbled Stone was recently short listed in the contemporary fiction category of The Word Awards. Marcia also has two devotional books in print. Her work has been endorsed by Sigmund Brouwer, Janette Oke, Phil Callaway and Mark Buchanan. 

Abundant Rain, an ebook devotional for writers can be downloaded here. 

Visit Marcia’s Website

A Celebration of the Penny

A penny cannot buy what it once used to, but the little coin added meaning to everyday language and living. 

A penny for a wish, a lucky penny on the ground, or a penny for your thoughts.

With the Canadian penny's phasing out, the penny may be out-of-sight but should not be out of mind because pennies are special.

That is the blurb for a delightful picture book I recently picked up for my grandchildren, from Canadian author, Susan Harris. I invited Susan here today to answer a few questions.

What inspired you to write a book about the penny?

When I heard the Canadian penny was being retired, I wondered what the penny would say of its life over 155 years if it could speak? What did it hear? See? How did foreigners respond to it? I started making up stories for my family over supper, and joked that I should write about the penny. My husband encouraged me, and the book for adults, "Little Copper Pennies: Celebrating the life of the Canadian one-cent piece" was created.

What was your favorite part about researching this book?

This book (Little Copper Pennies for Kids) was an afterthought, thanks to a teacher-librarian friend’s suggestion, when the adult reader was in production.

Interviews were my favourite part of my research. I started with our experiences as a family, then expanded to others by phone, in person, and by email.  People had stories dating back to the 1920s when they were children, and many remembered family anecdotes from the 1800s.

The Picture book is meant to be a keepsake, intended for a child to grow up with, hence the different reading levels. If it is written for kindergarten, then by age 10 the children would have forgotten the penny. My intention was for the book to be read to children until they can read more words each year, and reading it on their own by grade 5-6:

I'd describe it as a layered book - with 5 layers

·       the storyline of the grandfather and child in the present, depicted in fall rich colours

·       the past in the pictures on white background using headings

·       the rhyming scheme on pastel background to cover the language

·       the blue bubbles to identify activities (carried on in blue letters at the end)

·       the history pages and my note in regular font

Where can people buy the book?

From my website http://www.susanharris.ca

at Chapters/Indigo/Coles stores Canadawide

McNally Robinson Book stores

Amazon

I’ve heard that a number of schools have enthusiastically bought up the book. Could you share a story about that?

I was a former teacher so I believe my credibility was already established, and I found it easy to approach principals and superintendents.  The books are in every province, and in many public libraries and in schools across the nation (except in QC, but individual customers from that province have purchased copies.) The books sell themselves - teachers love the colours, the story, the History Page, the Facts, the Fun activities. Children love penny magic, fun and pictures. I've done presentations at dozens of schools to thousands of students.

Picture books are often difficult to market. What can you tell us about the sales?

I'm pleased to say that sales have exceeded the quota that major bookstores require in order to keep a book on the shelf.

It is my hope that the memories of this iconic Canadian symbol will remain alive for generations to come.

Well done!

Thanks Sandra, for the interview and for sharing my book with your granddaughter.

Thanks for joining us today. Here is a little more about Susan:

 Susan Harris lives with her family in Melville, Saskatchewan. She is a former teacher and the author of Little Copper Pennies: Celebrating the Life of the Canadian one-cent piece, Golden Apples in Silver Settings, and Little Copper Pennies for Kids. She loves taking pictures and playing with kittens.

Connect with Susan via:

http://susanharris.ca  

https://www.facebook.com/SusanHarrisCanadianAuthor

https://twitter.com/SusanHarris20

Sandra Orchard is a best-selling, award-winning author of inspirational romantic suspense/mysteries with Harlequin’s Love Inspired Suspense imprint, and Revell Publishing. She is an active member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Romance Writers of America and The Word Guild (Canada). A mother of three grown children, she lives in Niagara, Canada with her real-life-hero husband and now writes full time…when not doting on her young grandchildren. You can learn more about Sandra’s books and bonus features at www.SandraOrchard.com or connect at www.Facebook.com/SandraOrchard