Resolution 2018: Resolve Nothing. By Patricia Beal.

Because why bother?

Let me tell you about 2017. It was completely bonkers. All my plans fell apart and all the gains came out of nowhere—God's perfect gifts.

I planned a smooth debut launch. Instead, on the night before my first novel came out, we had a family situation so intense and scary that the novel was the last thing in my mind.

I had hotel reservations and booked flights to attend two writers conferences and one readers retreat in 2017. I had to cancel everything to be with family. That was the right and the wise thing to do.

The plan was to stay in El Paso now that my husband is retired. But the old North Carolina house didn't sell, so we moved into it. Yep. Back to where it all started. Fort Bragg.

The plan was to transition the kids from their Texas public school to a Christian academy in North Carolina. Within a month it was clear that they couldn't accommodate my son's unique needs, and in late September I got a license to homeschool. 

The plan was for my daughter to stay at the academy, but she now wants to come home too. So my home school is about to double in size. After the Christmas break, she will begin receiving her education at home too. 

I expected Les Stobbe to continue being my agent. Instead, he decided to retire from agenting and sold his agency to The Steve Laube Agency, so I'm with them now.

I didn't plan to have an audiobook. But looks like one will happen soon. 

A Season to Dance is now available in Portuguese (an old dream, since I have a lot of Brazilian followers and since my family is there and no one speaks English). But the paperback travels from here, and it takes time. The book is expensive too. Brazilians are not into e-readers, so the ebook is not much of a solution. The result? We're not selling as well as we had hoped. Can we sell? Yes. But it will take a big effort. It will be time consuming. Right now I can't do all I would like to do. I'm editing a manuscript that has to be finished by January 3.

Bonkers. Just bonkers.

Am I hopeful? Absolutely. A lot of these unexpected changes seemed scary at first, but have become a blessing. 

The problem? I'm exhausted. I can't keep this up.

So I hereby resolve to resolve nothing. If I don't have resolutions and let God drive in peace, maybe I can be less tired, and I can enjoy the journey more. I want to take this trip one stop at a time. Now it's manuscript work. Later it will be...

Wait. Nope. That's planning.

I don't know what the next stop is. I'm at the manuscript-work stop. When God shows me the next stop, I will take that in and go from there. 

How about that? Can you live that way? Do you do that already? What are your end-of-year rituals and/or evaluation processes?

Love,
Patricia

Patricia Beal writes contemporary fiction and is represented by Bob Hostetler of The Steve Laube Agency.

Her debut novel, A Season to Dance, came out in May (Bling! / Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas 2017).

She’s a 2015 Genesis semi-finalist and First Impressions finalist. She graduated magna cum laude from the University of Cincinnati in 1998 with a B.A. in English Literature and then worked as a public affairs officer for the U.S. Army for seven years. She and her husband live in North Carolina with their two children.

Goodreads - www.goodreads.com/bealpat

Facebook - www.facebook.com/patricia.beal.author

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Not All Writing Books Are Created Equal – by Patricia Beal

There are so many writing books out there. How can we know what to buy?

How about I tell you about my favorites and you tell me about yours?

Here goes.

For writing for the right reasons and for doing it with God: The Story of With by Allen Arnold. What's the fuss all about? For me, this book gives me permission to be sane when the whole world screams, "do more." I'm sure it's many things to many people. It addresses our addiction to approval, the toxicity of expectations, and the uselessness of pursuing control and even balance. Revolutionary. A must read. 

Favorite craft book: The First 50 Pages by Jeff Gerke. Why? I love his voice (you'll think he's next to you sharing cool tips over a cup of coffee), the material is fantastic, and he uses movies to illustrate writing/plotting technique. If you're not familiar with a movie, you can become familiar in two hours. If you're not familiar with a novel, it takes longer. A lot longer, if you read like I do. Slowpoke. Yep. That's me.

For deep POV: Rivet Your Readers with Deep Point of View by Jill Elizabeth Nelson. Oh my goodness, I love this book. Most of us have figured out deep POV by now, but if you haven't, do yourself a favor and don't write another word until you get this. The best part of Jill's book is that it's about 50 pages long and has all it has to have. The reasoning behind deep POV, a breakdown of different aspects with multiple examples of shallow vs. deep side by side, and several exercises. It's wonderful. Did I mention I'm a slow reader? Yes, short books are my friends.

Encouragement for the writing journey: Victim of Grace by Robin Jones Gunn. Robin shares her path to publication, the many times she wanted to quit, the blessings in disguise, and the many troubles of the early stages of the writing/publishing life. She bares her heart and makes us stronger. A wonderful and encouraging read for the frustrated, rejected, tired, and everything in between.

For writing book proposals: Step by Step Pitches & Proposals, by Chip MacGregor with Holly Lorincz. They share several real proposals that landed real book deals (as opposed to unreal ones? what am I writing?). The proposal for our Kara Isaac's debut is part of the book! What they share is fresh, will shorten your proposals' front matter, and get agents/editors attention. Different? Yes. Effective? Absolutely.

Pitch strategy: How to Pitch and Sell your Novel – a chat with James L. Rubart. Not a book, obviously, but a video seminar. This thing is fantastic. It's very unusual, but highly effective. I was scared to try but I did and it paid off. The link is acting funny, but I'm checking with Jim and should soon have something that works. Hold tight. Thanks!

Intro: http://learnhowtowriteanovel.com/blog/2013/05/13/how-to-pitch-and-sell-your-novel-a-chat-with-james-l-rubart/

Video seminar: http://www.mybooktherapy.com/product/how-to-pitch-and-sell-your-novel/

Your turn! What are your favorite resources and why?

Patricia Beal writes contemporary Christian fiction and is represented by Leslie Stobbe of the Leslie H. Stobbe Literary Agency. Her debut novel, A Season to Dance, comes out on May 9, 2017 (Bling! / Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas). The pre-order link is up!

She’s a 2015 Genesis semi-finalist and First Impressions finalist. She graduated magna cum laude from the University of Cincinnati in 1998 with a B.A. in English Literature and then worked as a public affairs officer for the U.S. Army for seven years. Now, after a 10-year break in service, she is an Army editor. She and her husband live in El Paso, Texas, with their two children.

Goodreads - www.goodreads.com/bealpat

Facebook - www.facebook.com/patricia.beal.author

Pinterest - www.pinterest.com/patriciasbeal

Twitter - www.twitter.com/bealpat

Web - www.patriciabeal.com