It's Time For The Frasier!

If you’ve read my blog for any amount of time, you know I don’t do a lot of promotion. But I’m willing to make exceptions when I believe in something's worth. That’s why I jumped at the chance to talk about My Book Therapy’s amazing contest, The Frasier.

As a sometimes struggling, often uncertain, hungry-to-learn, but yet still unpublished writer, I know the importance of a good contest. And The Frasier is at the very top of my list.

I’d heard great things about the Frasier last year, so I decided to enter. A few months later I received a call from Susan May Warren (eek!) telling me my manuscript was a finalist in the contest. The best part was all the tremendous feedback I received. The judges clearly took care and time in handling my story in a respectful manner and giving me plenty of ideas to keep me moving forward.

All writers need to get comfortable with our work being in front of others. If you’re unsure which contest to enter, choose the Frasier. You can be confident your manuscript is in compassionate, experienced hands.

Entries for the 2013 MBT Frasier Contest for unpublished novelists will be accepted through Sunday, March 31, at 11:59 p.m. The contest is open to Voices members. The winner will receive a scholarship to a My Book Therapy coaching retreat ($500 value). Final round judges are award-winning author Susan May Warren; literary agent Steve Laube; and Shannon Marchese, senior fiction editor for WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group. For more information, FAQs and to enter, visit www.mybooktherapy.com.

 

Pardon My Absence, I've Been Busy Wrestling With....

~a new job. Going back to work—even part-time—is a big adjustment after being a Stay-At-Home-Mom for the last seven years.

~my family’s new puppy, Howie. He’s a Standard Poodle and I’m completely surprised how quickly I’ve fallen in love with him.

~a broken computer. But by God’s grace and a very generous brother-in-law, I have a nearly new laptop. J

~the tragedies of life. Namely, those that happened in Newtown, CT. This was my biggest wrestling match yet. For some time, I let the sadness and despair for those families take me away into a black hole of nothingness. I let anxiety rule my life, questioned whether to send my kids to school ever again or set up homeschool headquarters birthed out of fear. I questioned God and His sovereignty.

But His grace is new every morning and He reminded me of His truths, of His ultimate control over every aspect of our life, of His promise to work things out for our good and His glory, no matter if we understand or not. I chose trust and faith and drank in God’s grace once again.

~my blog and other social media presences. I wrestled with my motivation for blogging, for posting on facebook and twitter. Why had I started all these things in the first place? What was the point? Well, the answer was obvious, to work toward my ultimate goal: becoming a published author. But is that good enough? Is pushing myself out of the writer slushpile with social media what God wants for me? Am I worried about me and my agenda, or God’s agenda? I can’t ignore the many friends I’ve made and wonderful people I’ve met, but can I ignore my impure motivations? I’m still wrestling with these things, and praying about them.

Meanwhile…I’d love to hear your thoughts. Do you ever wrestle with any of these issues? If not, what have you been wrestling with lately? I’d be honored to pray for you!

Homemade Storybooks

Today I'm guest blogging over at my dear friend, Melanie Brasher's blog, talking about homemade storybooks for my children. Come stop by!

NaNo (National Novel Writing Month) Musings

Wow, what a month. With November now history, I can sit back and evaluate how NaNo went.

~The first two weeks of November were full steam ahead. I received a job offer that included full time training for half the month of November. Add to that all the responsibilities of a family, and serious doubts about writing 50,000 words in a month clouded my inspired brain.

…I realized the only way I would finish the story is if I took myself, and my WIP, super seriously. I decided to wake up by 4:30 every day—even most Sundays—in order to have the quiet I needed to write. Except for being tired at night, this worked out fairly well. I wrote almost the entire book without taking time away from my family.

…That said, NaNo really did feel like a marathon. And I know a thing or two about marathons from experience. The middle is tough, and I thought about giving up several times.

…but perseverance is key and I rounded the homestretch, victory tingling in my limbs. I finished the story on November 28, at about 51,000 words.

…which left me a bit stumped. I’ve always written books that were too lengthy, not too short! This one will require some beefing up and major edits. I’ve always been a take-your-time type of writer, choose-the-right-word-and-sentence-structure type of writer. Not during NaNo. I just wrote. It was refreshing, freeing.

…I’m definitely going to do it again. But for December, I think I’m going to take a big, well-deserved writing break. J

If you participated in NaNo, what are your final thoughts? Did you like the race? Will you participate next year? 

50,000 Words (and other Random Things)

I’ve never done writing quite like this, but I’ve decided to give it a go. 

The goal is to write 50,000 words in the month of November and I’m up for the challenge! I’ve been busy planning out my story and I’m excited to dive into writing.

Follow the links below to find out more!

http://www.nanowrimo.org

http://www.mybooktherapy.com/mbt-wrimo-2012/

In order to focus my attention on this challenge, I’ll be taking a blogging break (except for an occasional progress check) for the month of November.

Other random and crazy things happening in my house:

Bracing for Hurricane Sandy (no school today for the kiddos), Cub Scouts, basketball, make-your-own football uniforms, search for the perfect Poodle Pup for a surprise Christmas present for the boys, search for a part-time job, parties, praying, and hikes in the leaves.

What’s some random and crazy things going on in your house lately?

Have you ever tried a writing challenge? Do you have any helpful hints?

Gospel Math

I’ve never been much of a math fan, but this kind of math…well this I can get excited about. Gospel math. Basic addition and subtraction. And it goes something like this.

Jesus + Nothing = Everything

Or why not switch it around?

Everything – Jesus = Nothing

I read Tullian Tchividijian’s book, Jesus + Nothing = Everything, this past summer and although I was already familiar with some of his teachings thanks to my amazing Bible Study teacher, reading the book gave me even more to think about.

In this study of Colossians, Tullian dives into grace. He points out that sometimes we try to temper grace, put a harness on it, dish it out in little convenient spoonfuls…just enough to goad us to improve a little more. Just enough so we feel guilty about not doing the right thing. Sometimes we might even view grace as something that happened long ago at that single moment of salvation.

But grace is a living, breathing, alive phenomenon that God has for each of us every day. We will never move beyond the gospel. We need it every day. God’s goal for us is to move us deeper into the gospel, not beyond it.

In his book, Tullians says, “Preach the gospel to ourselves every day—here it is, If God has saved you—if he’s given you the faith to believe, and you’re now a Christian, if you’ve transferred trust from your own accomplishments and abilities to Christ’s accomplishment on behalf of sinners—then here’s the good news. In the phraseology of Colossians 1, it’s simply this: you’ve already been qualified, you’ve already been delivered, you’ve already been transferred, you’ve already been redeemed, and you’ve already been forgiven. Day by day, what God wants us to experience practically only happens as we come to a deeper understanding of what’s already ours in Christ.”

The gospel truly is freedom. Freedom to not only allow Jesus to remove our chains of bondage, but to keep them broken at our feet. Freedom to not add anything—even those good things we cling to (church, behavior, etc.)—to Jesus. And freedom to stop obsessing over conquering our sin but instead, soak in the conquest of our Savior.

If our focus is Christ, our behavior will follow. Our life will be filled with good fruit.

I’m just beginning to learn that salvation isn’t a one-time thing, it’s an ongoing process, one I need to seek God for every minute of every day. My dependence can’t be on anything else. I can’t add anything to my Savior. He’s paid it all.

I love this song by Kristian Stanfill called “One Thing Remains.” I think it says it all. Enjoy! 

The Right To Write

As writers, we can be confident of our protection under the First Amendment, a wonderful thing. But are there times when the right to our words blurs, are there times when the line isn’t clear, when our words could do more harm than good? What do we do in these situations?

I was recently talking to a close writing friend who struggled with such issues. She’d been writing a fictitious story surrounding a real-life event from her past, involving one of her parents. The event was painful, but my friend had forgiven her parent and was twisting it into something good. Her story of redemption was born of a desire to help young girls who had gone through similar circumstances.

Nearing the end of the writing process, my friend was assailed by doubts. Of course she wanted to help others, but would she be hurting her parent in the process? No matter that the parent had been completely at fault, that the sin was theirs to own, my friend wanted to forge a relationship, not break it apart.

After a talk with her parent, she became even more discouraged. Said parent was against her writing such a story.

What to do?

When my friend came to me with her problem, I could see the passion she held for her story, the desire to make beauty out of the bleak ashes of her past. But could such beauty come to light beneath the disapproving heavy hand of her history?

When I’d last left my friend, I felt some of the old anger at her parent churning. She would write the story, and that was that.

Part of me cheers her on. Her past is her story, and she could do what she pleases with it—particularly in the fictional world.

Another part of me doesn’t want to see her relationship with her parent further bruised.

So sure, we do have a right to use our words however we want, but my question to you, my blog-readers, is this: are there times we should opt not to use such rights? How do we decide between the costs? Should we dare stop the opportunity of good overcoming evil?