Creative Authenticity

Last weekend my husband Stan and I had the joy of attending the 9^th triennial “Crow Cousins Reunion,” getting together with the descendants of Stan’s grandparents George and Vesta Crow. Family reunions are great places for writers to hang out because most of the weekend was taken up with sharing stories. People of past generations take on flesh and blood and the importance of their deeds carry on to inspire new generations. Accomplishments of the present generation give us all a sense of shared experience and the value of family.

This year, however, we were particularly blessed with the presence of Stan’s second cousin Stephen Cornelius Roberts and his lovely wife Anne. 

 In 1990 Steve, a full-time Nebraska artist, won a mural competition to paint eight panels in the Nebraska State Capitol's Memorial Chamber. Steve very kindly gave our family a personally guided tour of the building and his mural installation. It was a profound experience to stand in the top of the tower in this magnificent building and have the artist point out the theme and meaning of his paintings and the numerous family members and other people depicted in each scene.

The Ideal of Self-Determination mural depicts “settlers crossing the plains of Nebraska on the Great Platte River Road near Chimney Rock. This mural reminds us of the hardships and struggles the settlers had to endure in establishing their new lives.” A descendant of pioneers himself, Roberts pointed out himself, his wife and their son and daughter on the right side of the canvas.

The Scourge of Poverty honors volunteers who are committed to serving those in need of food, shelter and clothing, including his own mother in the pink dress on the right and his wife’s mother in the white, who both volunteered in soup kitchens.

As we studied each mural, the artist told the historic story behind it and explained how he selected every detail, insisting on historic accuracy in clothing and props and how every face (except those in the food kitchen) are real individuals. I was impressed that landmark Chimney Rock is depicted from the exact perspective one would see it if a line were drawn from the position of the mural to the rock.

As I heard him speak about the care taken over every detail, the research, the demand for authenticity, I realized that is the same process I use in writing my novels in my desire to give my readers a you-are-there experience in the scenes I create.

That is much of what lies at the heart of being a creative artist whether one works with words, paint, stone, melody, movement or whatever one’s medium may be. Thomas Carlyle said, “Genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains.” Few of us can claim genius, but, as creatures of The Creator we can all take pains to do the very best we possibly can with our craft, demanding of ourselves that our creations carry the ring of authenticity.

Donna Fletcher Crow is the author of some 50 novels of British history, including 3 mystery series. She tries never to set a scene in a place she hasn't actually visited which she hopes gives her stories a ring of authenticity and provides an excuse for some great travel opportunities. You can read more about her and all her books here.

Lessons in an Art Gallery by Marcia Lee Laycock

Untitled by Emily Carr

There was a hush on the fourth floor of the Vancouver Art Gallery as we entered, almost a reverence, I thought. People meandered quietly through the halls and rooms, taking time to study the paintings on the walls and read the commentaries and quotes from the artist’s journals. As I joined them I was aware of my own sense of awe. Emily Carr was an artist I had admired since I was a child. Her work always made me pause, drew me in, made me aware of something beyond myself.

The quotes on the walls captured my attention as well. This woman, who is famous in my own country and beyond for her depiction of the west coast region of Canada, was a woman of faith, struggling to comprehend the greatest mystery there is - the deep, deep love of an all-encompassing God.

Emily Carr’s work depicts that struggle, that striving to faith, that longing to comprehend that which is unknown yet deeply sensed. The first quote visitors to the Vancouver Art Gallery see as they enter the exhibit is “Art is Worship.” Ms. Carr worshipped with every stroke of her brush, the swirling movement in her work drawing the eye up toward the heavens. A painting labelled Untitled, one of my favourites, is especially strong. The artist’s love of creation and its creator shouts from the canvass.

Emily Carr saw the divine in the deep dark forests of British Columbia and in the work of others, especially some members of the Group of Seven who welcomed her as one of their own. She was dumbfounded, while at an exhibit of their work, to see one of Lawren Harris’s paintings, Mountain Forms, ignored even by a priest. “Surely he would understand,” Ms. Carr wrote in her journal, “Wouldn’t the spirituality of the thing appeal to one whose life was supposed to be given up to these things? He passed right by …”

I understand Ms. Carr’s frustration. So much that is redemptive in this world goes unnoticed at best, scorned and ridiculed, at worst. Yet those things that draw us all closer to our creator are enduring. Mountain Forms will soon be auctioned and is expected to sell for between three and five million dollars.

As I wandered in that gallery that day I was not only stirred by how Emily Carr drew us to the Divine through her work but by the recognition that we can all do the same, whatever our field of endeavour. We have all been created to express praise and adoration through everything we do, whether we work in oils or with words, whether we sweep floors or design buildings, whether our work is recognized or ridiculed. “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters … It is the Lord Christ you are serving” (Colossians 3:23,24).

I was also struck by the reality that Ms. Carr caused me to praise and worship without saying a word. There was no banner declaring “Jesus saves” scrawled across her paintings yet we are able to stand in the midst of those deep dark forests and worship with her. It made me wonder, does my art cause people to worship? Does it cause them to ponder the depth of God’s greatness and goodness? Does it glorify Him? Walking among Emily Carr’s paintings made me pray it may be so.
****

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. The sequel, A Tumbled Stone was short listed for a Word Award at Write Canada. Marcia also has four devotional books in print and has contributed to several anthologies. Her work has been endorsed by Sigmund Brouwer, Janette Oke, Phil Callaway and Mark Buchanan.

Her most recent release is Christmas, a collection of short stories that takes the reader from the far reaches of the galaxy to Arctic Circle and the streets of an inner city. In every unusual setting the Christmas spirit blazes with light. 

Visit Marcia’s Website

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Should You Be Writing? by David Rawlings

For the past few months, I’ve had a thought at the back of my mind, casting a long shadow of doubt over my confidence. You see, seven weeks ago, I entered my manuscript into the Genesis competition at American Christian Fiction Writers.

I’ve been through seven-week waits before – everything from bank approvals to finance a family home to hoping my football team would finally win another game. But this one has been far more intense. From the moment I clicked “send” on my entry to now, that long shadow of doubt has stretched across my thinking. Should I have changed that first line? Should I have given my character another name or tried to shoehorn in some kind of romance/fantasy/sci-fi/young adult angle, just in case? (My book is contemporary fiction.)

So why is the wait so difficult? Surely it’s just a competition, whereby someone wins and countless others don’t. I’ve entered competitions since I was a kid, cutting out coupons from cereal boxes or carefully coloring in between the lines. I know how it works. But none of those competitions came with this kind of . . . what?

Then God revealed a word to me: Validation. This was important to me because it seemed if I could be deemed a Finalist, then I could confidently call myself a writer. Validation is a current that runs through our world. People seek to be validated about their looks, their careers, their possessions, their opinions, and their connections. The media is crammed with it; social media drips with it.

I’ve come to realize this is especially the case in the creative field. Writers, painters, artists, and dancers, we all need acceptance, not just for what we do, but for who we are, which is often defined by what we do.

This is strange for me. I’m ALREADY a writer. I’ve mentioned in previous blog posts that I’ve been writing for 25 years as a copywriter for businesses, government departments, and not-for-profits. My work with words puts food on my family’s table. But these words have always been someone else’s story, copy that bares someone else’s soul for the marketplace. Now it’s my soul that’s been bared.

Maybe it’s because until I'm published I won’t feel like a writer. Maybe until someone recognizes my talent or calling, I'll doubt whether or not I can - or should - do this. Or maybe it’s even deeper; this isn't validation that I can write but that I’ve got something to say.

Then God challenged me with this verse from Jeremiah: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

That’s been my challenge for these seven weeks.  God knows me.  Sure, it’s important to connect with the right publisher or agent, or to have my work recognized as a step to being published, but the God who created me, knows me.

I am ALREADY validated.

Maybe that’s your challenge, as well. If you’re awaiting feedback from competition judges or a publisher, or even if you get a rejection letter from an agent, I would encourage you to look past the moment and realize this: we don’t need validation. The One who created us knows us.

Isn’t that enough validation for those of us who feel called to write?

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/ or on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DavidJRawlings.

What On Earth Takes So Long? Behind the Scenes from Book Contract to (not quite) Publication

Since I signed my publishing contract with Howard in February I've been asked a few variations on the question of "Why is it taking so long for your book to come out?" So today, for all of those who wonder why on earth it takes fourteen months (in my case) to go from contract signing to book publication, I thought I'd share a little bit about what had been going on behind the scenes :)

February: signed contract - hurrah!

March/April
Macro edits (also known as developmental edits). This was the point where I got a twelve page memo from my editor with overarching comments like "your heroine's character arc needs strengthening" and "I'd like you to think about changing X part of the plot to Y" and "I think you should consider removing X characters and replacing them with Y type of characters". I got four weeks to pull Close To You apart, apply her comments, and put them back together again :)

May
Line edits. This was where my editor went through the whole book line by line and made specific comments about each scene. And I did more rewrites :)

May/June
Cover and title development. We started with over thirty potential cover options and quickly narrowed it down to a short list and then the preferred option.

July
Line edits round #2: After I'd gone through my editor's line edits and submitted my changes an associate editor then went through the book again and made her comments line by line and I got to do it all over again :)

July
Cover and title finalised. It starts getting real...

August
Copy edits: In this edit a new editor went through at a very detailed level. She specifically looked at sentence structure, spelling, continuity issues, grammar, and fact checked everything. I went through and answered a whole lot of questions, okayed most of her changes and explained why I didn't want to accept others.

September/October
In the US sales teams sell into retail six months in advance. At this point Close To You went into the Howard/Simon and Schuster sales catalogue for the sales team as one of they Spring 2016 books to talk to retailers about.

October
First proof edits: this is the first time I got to see what Close To You will look like typeset as a book. Hurrah! After so many edits you'd think there wouldn't be much left to find? Wrong! I flagged up almost 200 changes that needed to be made.

October
Galleys sent to potential endorsers: Last week my publisher sent copies of Close To You to five authors who we are hoping will read it and, if they like it, write an endorsement to go inside the front cover. This is particularly important when you're a debut author so some readers will take a chance on you based on if another author they like recommends your book.

At the same time as all of this I've been writing Book #2 that is due in this month, getting my website designed, growing my social media presence, doing my "real" day job and chasing after my two pre-schoolers, among a range of other things :) Oh, and eating quite a few of these...

Over the next couple of month there will be a final set of proofs which will be signed off to go to print. Then, early next year the publisher will send copies to book reviewers in the hope that some will review Close To You in April when it comes out.

In February-April there will be a whole range of marketing activity to try and generate interest in the book and encourage pre-orders (which are really important but that's a whole different conversation!). And then FINALLY on April 26, Close To You will officially be released!

So that's the process (as I've experienced it!). Every publisher is different but would love to answer any questions and chat about the last eight months and what is still to come!

Kara Isaac lives in Wellington, New Zealand. Her debut romantic comedy, Close To You, is about a disillusioned academic-turned-tour-guide and an entrepreneur who knows nothing about Tolkien who fall in love on a Tolkien themed tour of New Zealand. It will be an April 2016 release from Howard Books. When she's not working her day job as a public servant, chasing around a ninja preschooler and his feisty toddler sister, she spends her time writing horribly bad first drafts and wishing you could get Double Stuf Oreos in New Zealand. She loves to connnect on Facebook at Kara Isaac - Writer and Twitter @KaraIsaac

Happy Writing Zone

I told my daughter that I had to write and she immediately lit up. A smile on her face as she passionately enthused all kinds of story ideas.

Her exhilaration was contagious. And I eagerly listened to her excited narration.

However, I unfortunately did have to tell her that I couldn’t use her tales since I was actually writing a blog.

Nevertheless, she did spark an idea for this post because it made me think…

Is this how electrified we are whenever we sit down to write?

And if not, why?

How do we capture and then release that thrill with every new scene?

Would looking at pictures help? Listening to music? Imagining how good it will feel to write, “The End”?

What do you do to get into your happy writing zone?

Eva Maria Hamilton is the author of Highland Hearts, a Love Inspired Historical novel published by Harlequin. Her novel, Highland Hearts, won 2^nd Place in the Historical Romance, as well as the Traditional/Inspirational Romance Categories in the Heart of Excellence Reader’s Choice Awards, and was an Inspirational Series Finalist in the 2013 Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence.

Highland Hearts

Scotland 1748
The Battle of Culloden is over, but one Highlander’s fight has just begun…
Logan McAllister survived years of indentured servitude in the Americas to reach this moment. Now he’s returned to Scotland, ready to redeem the secret promise from Sheena Montgomery’s father – that his years as an indentured servant would earn him Sheena’s hand in marriage. But when he arrives home, he learns that Sheena’s father has died, his contract has been lost… and Sheena is engaged to another man.

To connect with Eva Maria Hamilton online, please visit her at www.evamariahamilton.com

The Land of Sprinkles, Fairy Dust and Happily Ever After - Kara Isaac

I'll be honest. Most of the time when I'm writing a new story I feel like I'm stumbling around in the dark. Characters that don't do what I want them to, scenes that don't fit, subplots that end up going nowhere, random snippets of dialogue that just show up in my head, having no clue what to put in the middle to get my characters from the beginning to the end, the days (okay, weeks) when it's all just too hard, that's pretty much what the first six months looks like.

It's ugly. I always have to get talked off the ledge a few times. I have been known to yell at my characters. Because, you know, they can hear me out there in imaginary land.

But once I (and my family!) survives all that. The magic starts to happen. Scenes get moved around. Characters tell me why they're being so stubborn. The random snippets bouncing around in my head find their home. Occasionally you break out into song (that's probably just me).

I started my current manuscript last October and so that happy magical place is where I am now residing. There are sparkles and fairy dust and, after months of wanting to throttle my main characters, I love them again. I read parts of their story that make me laugh and I'm all "Hey, I wrote that!"

Nine months, 89,000 words, one real baby, seven rounds of edits (with one more to go) five rewrites (with another to go), four amazing critique partners, two beta readers and a whole lot of chocolate later, the light is blazing at the end of the tunnel.

This will be my third complete manuscript in under three years (the first one took six - three years to write and another three to let go and start something else!) and, I have to admit, as much as I love writing, I'm ready for a break.

It's time to catch up on my ridiculous "to read" pile, to enjoy watching TV without the nagging sense that I'm a slacker who should be writing and to not have Jackson and Allie taking up way more mind space than fictional characters should be allowed to!

This story has been a new adventure for me, in that the starting premise wasn't my idea. It came from a conversation I had with an editor when I was at a writer's conference last September and is the first time I've tried to write on "spec" as it were. I didn't even know if I could do it. Turns out I can :)

Whether my own idea or someone else's, there are a few things I've learnt over the course of the last few years as I've pursued publication seriously:

• I will always worry that I won't love my new characters as much as my old ones. But I always do (though sometimes it takes longer than others!);
• There will always be many points in the process where I'm convinced the whole thing is terrible, rubbish, duller than the phone directory and doesn't deserve to see the light of day but;
• It's never as bad as I think;
• There will also be many points where I will think "I can't actually do this. I don't have another book in me.";
• But I can and I do;
• At some point I will want to kill one (or both) or my main characters;
• Critique partners are worth more than their weight in gold and I couldn't do this without them. They cheer you on, they talk you off the ledge(s) when you want to throw it all in, they make you smile by writing things like "Squeeeeeeee!" in the margins of your manuscript when they love something.
• The feeling when you finish and really like it is one of the best things in the world :)

So tell me, since I'm taking recommendations for my reading break. What have you read recently that you enjoyed? What's on your TBR pile?

Kara Isaac lives in Wellington, New Zealand. When she's not being trying to coerce non-existent people to fall in love, she spends her days being double-teamed by her ninja toddler and his baby sister. You can also find her in Twitter @KaraIsaac and Facebook at Kara Isaac - Writer.

This is her TBR shelf that she is very much looking forward to spending some quality time with in July.

Living in the Waiting

There’s a lot of waiting in this writing life. Waiting for inspiration, waiting for a new story idea, waiting for the words to show up on the page, waiting for contest results, waiting for feedback from critique partners, waiting to hear back from agents and editors, waiting for contracts and edits and book releases. Waiting to open your inbox one day and find THAT email you’ve been hoping for.

Someone asked me this week what I did with all that waiting time. The answer is pretty simple. I live.

Since I’ve started writing I’ve gone from single to married, renter to homeowner, from the person whose Saturdays involved a leisurely brunch and reading the morning paper to having a toddler jumping on the bed and being able to belt out the Thomas the Tank Engine theme song on command. Five jobs. Four house moves. More flights than I can even remember. A nephew and a niece and two more on the way. Grandparents moving into heaven.

I look back at my early years a writer. Unbridled enthusiasm with very little knowledge. Of the craft, of the industry, of anything writing related. I look back at other times when my craft had strengthened and the contest finals were starting to pile up but there were other things in my life that needed a lot of care and attention. Being exhausted as a new mum and barely able to put one foot in front of the other. Then there were the times when everything seemed to be lining up – until they weren’t.

Through all of those years, I wasn’t ready for that elusive contract for different reasons. Some of the time I knew that, sometimes I heard it the hard way via rejection but a lot of the time I thought I was ready but doors remained firmly closed despite my best efforts to force them to open. Through it all, God knew exactly what I needed and when. In the moments when I want to give up, he provides the exact encouragement I need to keep going.

Am I ready now? I don’t know. But He does. He holds in his hand whether I open my inbox to that magical email this year, this decade or not on this side of eternity. And he has never failed me yet.

Is it easy? Never. Obsessively checking emails, climbing the walls when you’re waiting on news and the days drag by, never knowing if all your hard work, time, money and dreaming will ultimately prove not to be. Watching people who started writing after you pass and then lap you as you try to remind yourself that it’s okay, your journey is not theirs. Holding on to that if this is what God has called you to do then he will make it happen and there is no amount of worry or fretting or effort to make things happen on your part that will speed up the process.

And so, in the meantime, I’ll keep on living in the waiting. How about you? How do you cope with times in life spent in the waiting room?

New Zealand and Idaho Connect

One of the best things about the writing life is the connections one makes with writers and readers around the world. Alex Reece Abbot at a writer’s day out in York more than a year ago. (pictured above: Jane Finnis, Dolores Gordon-Smith, Donna, Rebecca Jenkins, Alex) Since Alex is from New Zealand, lives in England, and is thinking of moving to Australia she qualifies as a one-woman International Christian Fiction Writer.

Alex and I connected on such diverse subjects as love of apple butter and mustard (not together), and love of books and history. Alex’s pre-published novel The Maori House has already garnered an impressive list of prizes: last year it reached quarterfinals of the ABNA Awards in the US, this month, it has been selected for the long-list of the International Proverse Prize for unpublished writing and the long-list of the Lightship First Chapter Prize. I have already booked Alex for an ICFW interview when The Maori House is published.


Because Alex was writing about pioneer days in her native New Zealand, I suggested she might find my family saga of Idaho pioneers interesting. She responded with a review which I am thrilled to share:

Donna Fletcher Crow’s love of history shines out in this epic tale, centered on (in her words)
"valiant women, who pioneered in Idaho's desert before irrigation was available and still managed to keep journals."

The novel opens with Kathryn arriving from Nebraska to settle in Kuna, Idaho, at the age of seventeen— and from there, the pace doesn’t stop. This well-plotted story is hard to categorize— it has the elements of mystery, romance and historical saga, all skillfully interwoven. A diverse cast of well developed characters create plenty of tension and conflict, right down to the last pages.

Idaho is not a part of the world I know, but I had the good fortune to catch Ken Burn’s documentary series The West while I was reading this, which brought another dimension to the politics of this era of settlement of America, when competing dreams transformed the land.
Those competing dreams are central to this story and the author’s research— drawing on her own family history as a native of the Boise area and fictionalized events based on original pioneer manuscripts— is deftly handled and brings authenticity and insight to the lives she writes about.

Since this is published by Moody Press (and Greenbrier as an ebook), you’d expect to find some scripture references. Again, as events test Kathryn’s resilience— and her faith— these form an integral and natural part of her sense-making and motivation as the daughter of a preacher.

And having left her friends and family, how she is tested! Kathryn finds herself lonely in an alien, untamed land, where the nearest fresh water is some fifteen miles away; "a wilderness so hot and dry that the only growing thing is endless miles of rattlesnake-infested sagebrush."

If that’s not enough, the early farmer-settlers grapple with the challenges of irrigating a desert and face swarms of flying ants, packs of coyotes and hungry jackrabbits— and encounter their share of human pests too, in the form of gamblers, opportunists and shysters.

Well-written and consistently enjoyable, this is a deceptively easy read— you find yourself learning and reflecting along the way— and the story has a special resonance today, as so many parts of the world, including America, are suffering drought.

                                                            http://ning.it/16s3FqZ

The next in the series picks up Kathryn’s daughter Elizabeth, and her experiences as a teacher in a country school during the Great Depression.
Thank you, Alex, my around-the-world writer friend. I can’t wait for the opportunity to review The Maori House.

Visit Alex at:
http://alexreeceabbott.info/wp/

Posted by Donna Fletcher Crow whose most recent releases are An Unholy Communion, The Monastery Murders; A Tincture of Murder, The Lord Danvers Series; and A Jane Austen Encounter, The Elizabeth and Richard Mysteries. See them at
http://www.donnafletchercrow.com/