A Few Random Things I’ve Learned About Writing and Publishing by Laura Kestner

I haven’t been a published author for long, but it’s been a wonderful ride so far. I know that the readers of this blog include many longtime published authors, but I’m hoping that these observations might be of interest to those who are just getting started. So here goes:

1. It’s never too late to pursue a dream. After talking about it forever, and starting umpteen books in my youth, I was in my mid-50s when I got serious about writing fiction. I will turn 60 this spring, and I’m only two books into an indie career.

But instead of being discouraged by the “only” in that sentence, I’m focusing on the, “two books” part. I’m truly thrilled to be able to say that. At any age. I have to admit, at times it’s difficult. Struggling to learn the latest app/feature/media whatsit, only to find it changed the next day. Struggling to read the small screen/fine print (I have reading glasses stashed in every room, the car, and in my purse). And my memory’s not what it used to be, and…where was I going with this? Oh yes, despite all that, I’m not giving up. I’m going to keep on plugging away at this, until He says stop.

2. At some point, writing/publishing will probably make you cry. And for varied reasons. Sometimes I’ve been brought to the verge of tears due to frustration and stress (scenes not working, characters not speaking to me, emotional scenes, etc.) But there have been happy tears, too.

For instance, the first time a stranger approached me at a book signing event and told me how much they enjoyed my work, and they called my characters by name (like real people!) and then they wanted to know what happened to those characters next, and when the next book would be out. I’m telling you, I choked up. And I wanted to hug that person, but it was a stranger, so I didn’t. Okay, that’s not true. I did hug them. And probably scared the daylights out of them with my happy tears.

3. You can’t always predict or choose your readers. You should have a target audience, no doubt about that, but sometimes those are not the only people reading your work. I always figured that my readers would be women. The first time someone sent me a message saying that her husband started reading my book before she could get to it, I was surprised. Then it happened again. Women were telling me they’d bought a copy for their father, or brother, son, etc. And that they enjoyed the book. As I said, I was surprised by this, and oh so grateful.

4. If you make a mistake, more than likely someone will point it out. Learn to be grateful for that. A multi-published author sent me a very kind email after the publication of my first book, letting me know that I’d made a mistake (referring to one of my characters as a U.S. Marshal, when his title should have been Deputy U.S. Marshal) This author also mentioned how much she enjoyed the book. I was appreciative, not only that she’d actually read my book, but that she cared enough to point out an error. I want to learn. I’ll make other mistakes, I’m sure, but I won’t make that mistake again.

5. Don’t be too specific in character detail on the first book of a series. Such as noting that three brothers bear a striking resemblance to each other. I did that. It can make cover design difficult, as well as future story lines. I loved the cover for my first book, Remember Texas. The designers came up with just what I asked for—a lawman (just a portion of the face showing), a train, and a church. The second cover was much more difficult. Fictional brothers may look alike but cover models usually don’t, and using the same model just wasn’t working out. I liked the final design of A Texas Promise, but getting there wasn’t easy.

6. Make friends with other writers, even if it’s only online. I’ve been blessed beyond measure to have a supportive family, and church family, to cheer me along and pray for me. And I’m grateful. But there’s something about having a few writer friends who know exactly what you’re going through—in the good times and the bad—that can be such a blessing. Praying for each other through looming deadlines, and the sting of rejection. Getting to celebrate when contracts are signed, covers are revealed, and books go live. I’m blessed to have a group of writer friends that understand the challenges and rewards unique to the writing life. It’s a special bond and I treasure it. And them.

Thank you so much for your time and attention, and a special thank you to Terri Weldon for inviting me to guest host. Happy Writing!

Amazon Buy Link

A TEXAS PROMISE

When Sheriff Eli Calhoun first sees Maggie Radford she’s just escaped from a burning insane asylum. The young woman is disoriented, disheveled and dressed in rags. Even after questioning her, Eli’s sure of only two things—she’s lying about something and she’s terrified.

Unjustly confined to an asylum, Maggie Radford did what was necessary to escape—and now it haunts her. She asks God for forgiveness, even as she continues to spin a web of lies and deceit. She wants to trust the Moccasin Rock sheriff, but she can’t tell anyone the truth. There are people searching for her, including the man who had her committed.

As Eli works to piece together Maggie’s story, he’s also dealing with his own troubles. As a young boy he witnessed a shooting and is now stunned to discover that the gunman is a powerful business owner with political ambitions. Eli wants to stop him, but the would-be politician has plans of his own.

Complicating matters is an old deputy with a hidden past, an orphan baby, a young boy with a secret, and a midwife with a tragic story of her own.

As the danger escalates for both Maggie and Eli, their faith is tested and their developing relationship is tried. They must work together to solve the mysteries of the past—before their future is cut short.

After 25 years in community journalism, Laura Conner Kestner embarked on a career in inspirational fiction. Laura is a proud seventh-generation Texan. Born in Fort Worth, she now lives in central Texas. She is happily married to the “boy next door” and they have two daughters, two wonderful sons-in-law, six grandchildren, and just welcomed their first great-grandchild. She’s thankful for God’s grace, her family, and an opportunity to do the work she loves. Laura is an ACFW Genesis Award winner, ACFW First Impressions winner, and winner of the RWA/KOD 2017 Daphne du Maurier award for excellence in mystery suspense. Laura is also a three-time GOLDEN HEART® finalist. Her novel Remember Texas was a 2019 Will Rogers Medallion Award finalist, and a 2019 HOLT Medallion finalist for best first book. Her second book, A Texas Promise, released in October of 2019.

Stitching Together Time-Slip Fiction by Melanie Dobson

Twenty years ago I attempted to write my first novel by stitching together the threads from two plots—a past story about a woman who disappeared in Colorado’s mining country and a contemporary one about her great-granddaughter trying to find out what happened.

I mailed my manuscript out to a dozen or so publishers and received back the same number of rejections. The general consensus—I needed to rip out the seams of this story and rewrite, but I didn’t know how to sew the dual timelines back together again.

So I tucked away my idea alongside a stack of rough drafts and kept writing, finally partnering with a publisher for a contemporary novel about an unresolved conflict that happened decades earlier. My first novel came out in 2005, and I followed that with several historical and contemporary stories that featured characters searching for answers from the past.

Then Tatiana de Rosnay published Sarah’s Key, and I was swept up in her story that wove together equally compelling past and present plotlines. Her novel spanned sixty years, and the truth about the past ultimately transformed the contemporary protagonist’s life.

Reading that novel changed my life. It was exactly what I wanted to write!

So I hunkered back down, studied the structure of Tatiana’s brilliant book, and began writing another novel set in both the past and present—this one about a French woman during World War II who hid members of the resistance in tunnels under her family’s chateau. After years of wanting to write a multiple timeline story, Chateau of Secrets was published in 2015. And it’s been such a joy for me to continue pursuing this dream of mine for the past five years.

Many authors have begun to embrace this format of weaving together parallel past and present timelines, typically bridging the gap with a journal or heirloom that passes through generations. According to a recent article in Publishers Weekly, this genre is continuing to grow, and that makes my heart happy because I love reading these novels as much as I enjoy writing them.

The big question, though, seems to be—what do we call this rapidly growing structure?

Publishers, authors, and readers call the multiple timeline format by multiple names. Time slip. Split time. Dual timeline. Twin strand. Time jump. Hybrid.

A reviewer for My Brother’s Crown (Leslie Gould and Mindy Starns Clark) called their past-present novel, “the melding of the two time periods.” What a beautiful way to describe this emerging genre.

In Publishers Weekly, Karen Watson of Tyndale House said, “There seems to be an ongoing interest in storytelling that bridges or twists traditional concepts of time and history. Rather than just straight linear historical fiction, we see a lot of novels that bridge two periods of time—what we call time-slip stories.”

I like time slip—this idea of melding together two or more stories as the readers slip through time. And I like split time as well, demonstrating how these novels are split into stories from different eras. The problem with dual timeline is that it narrows this format to two plotlines when some authors are branching out to three or more time periods in their novels. Kristy Cambron’s Lost Castle is a tri-timeline story, for example, with parallel plots from the French Revolution, World War II, and present day.

If you enjoy this genre, you can find a listing of inspirational time-slip stories at timeslipfiction.com. No matter what we call this genre, the important thing is that readers continue to be swept away by stories transporting them seamlessly across time!

Memories of Glass

Reminiscent of Diane Ackerman’s The Zookeeper’s Wife, this stunning novel draws from true accounts to shine a light on a period of Holland’s darkest history and bravest heroes.
1942. As war rips through the heart of Holland, childhood friends Josie van Rees and Eliese Linden partner with a few daring citizens to rescue Eliese’s son and hundreds of other Jewish children who await deportation in a converted theater in Amsterdam. But amid their resistance work, Josie and Eliese’s dangerous secrets could derail their friendship and their entire mission. When the enemy finds these women, only one will escape.

Seventy-five years later, Ava Drake begins to suspect that her great-grandfather William Kingston was not the World War II hero he claimed to be. Her work as director of the prestigious Kingston Family Foundation leads her to Landon West’s Ugandan coffee plantation, and Ava and Landon soon discover a connection between their families. As Landon’s great-grandmother shares the broken pieces of her story, Ava must confront the greatest loss in her own life—and powerful members of the Kingston family who will do anything to keep the truth buried.
Illuminating the story and strength of these women, award-winning author Melanie Dobson transports readers through time and place, from World War II Holland to contemporary Uganda, in this rich and inspiring novel.

Memories of Glass is available for review, and Melanie Dobson is available for interviews to discuss:

• • Critically-acclaimed author Melanie Dobson writes a gripping time-slip WWII and contemporary novel, inspired by true accounts.

• • Two friends join a resistance mission to rescue Jewish children from a Nazi deportation center during the Holocaust; seventy-five years later in contemporary Uganda, a woman confronts a chilling truth about her family history.

• • Carol Award -winning author with rigorously researched novels.

Writing fiction is Melanie Dobson's excuse to explore abandoned houses, travel to unique places, and spend hours reading old books and journals. The award-winning author of twenty books, Melanie enjoys stitching together both time-slip and historical fiction including Catching the Wind, Hidden Among the Stars, and her latest novel, Memories of Glass. Melanie’s historical novels have won four Carol Awards, the 2018 Audie Award, and the ForeWord Book of the Year. More information about her and her family’s journey is available at melaniedobson.com

The Day Our House Flooded by Sally Shupe

Welcome to October! This month is the 2-year anniversary of our house being flooded, from the inside, by a dog that wasn’t ours. Sound unbelievable? It really happened.

How do we make our stories believable? We research, we interview, we live through it. When I came home and found water flowing down my steps from the upstairs bathroom to the living room, I put my hands on my face, wandered around, and said over and over, “I don’t know what to do.”, “I don’t know what to do”. It’s what I did when I continued walking through the house and heard a rain forest in the kitchen. The water ran from the ceiling, in lines, dripping off the cabinets, off the door jamb, pouring out of the light socket hanging from the ceiling with water inches deep on the floor. I now know that when the heroine puts her hands up to her face and wanders around in the mess saying over and over again, “I don’t know what to do.”, “I don’t know what to do.”, that is a real reaction. Before, I thought it was over the top acting. Nope.

And what of the dog? His name is George. He’s a beagle. (If you have one, please make sure you have accidental water damage coverage on your home owner’s insurance!) All I remember of him from that day is his eye and ear from where he sat in the bathroom window after he’d jumped on the sink, turned the water on, knocked stuff off the sink into the sink, clogging the hole, causing the water to run over, flood the bathroom, out into the hallway and down the steps to the living room, to going through the floor to the kitchen underneath, and through that floor into the basement. Where that dog went after I saw him in the window, I have no idea. My daughter tells me he was downstairs when she came home, running around beside me. I now know that sometimes you only remember certain things, even when you’ve experienced the whole event.

I have put my notes together of this time and want to put it into a book. Unbelievable things happened. The day after the flood, God showed me this scripture: Deuteronomy 4:32-40. During this process, God gave me songs and signs to show me it was going to be okay. For instance, I love snow. I love woolly worms. Especially the black ones, because they indicate a snowy winter. I usually only see a handful a season. After this happened, I saw so many black woolly worms, a handful a day. Our apple tree fell after Service Master dried the house out. The tree took down our power line to the house. In the midst of all our chaos, we had to upgrade the power. We had been thinking about getting someone to cut the tree down. Now we didn’t have to, and it was free. After the power was turned off, it took about a week to get it upgraded. We went to stay at a motel. I love the red leaves. Every morning, the parking lot would be covered with them. Would any of this be believable? And there’s so much more.

Have any of your experiences made it into a book? Did readers think they were unbelievable, but you knew for a fact they were real because you lived them? Have you read unbelievable scenes in a story and wondered how that could possibly have happened? Please share!

Sally Shupe lives in southwest Virginia with her husband, two grown kids-a daughter still at home and a son nearby, and a whole bunch of pets: five dogs, three cats, a rabbit, and birds at the birdfeeder (and the mandatory snowman when the snow cooperates). She writes contemporary Christian romance, with two completed manuscripts and three more in progress. They are part of a series located in small town Virginia.

When Sally’s not writing or working full-time, she is a freelance editor for several authors who write fiction and nonfiction; students working on dissertation papers; a copy editor for Desert Breeze; a content editor for Prism (became part of Pelican); performs beta reading for various authors; publishes book reviews on her blog and with Valley Business FRONT’s monthly magazine; is a member of ACFW and a PRO member of RWA; loves genealogy, running, and crocheting.

Sally uses her love of words to write about God’s amazing love.

Connect with Sally:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sallyshupewritings/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SallyShupe1
Blog: http://sallyshupe.blogspot.com/
Email: sallyshupe1@gmail.com
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/sallyshupe1/
Website: http://sallyshupeseditingservice.weebly.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sally-schreiner-shupe-8217a639?trk=hp-identity-name

How Do You Write a Book by Sally Shupe

Are you strapped for time? See no way clear to write a few hundred words, much less a whole book? Does the thought of sitting down and writing just a few words seem daunting beyond belief?

My niece is getting married in a few weeks and I helped with the bridal shower. From carrying the supplies in, to setting everything up, to taking everything down and carrying it back out to the car, there were so many tasks to complete in a short amount of time. I learned quickly to delegate, break the tasks down into manageable parts. All the heavy cases of Coke, Mt. Dew, water, were much easier to carry when you only carried them a short distance and handed them off to someone else, instead of having to carry them the whole way inside and then to the back of the room.

How does this relate to writing? I’m glad you asked! If you write better during a certain part of the day, guard that spot and write. Do you write better knowing how many words you’ve written per day? Keep a tab of how many words you’ve written and reach your goal each day. If writing in scenes makes more sense to you, write and finish scenes each time you sit down to write. Just make sure you sit down and write.

You don’t have to pen a whole book at one time. Writing a book is an enormous task. Break it up into manageable parts. Need to do some research for your book? Do the research. Need to know what the market would be for your book, or how old the characters should be for the publisher you are targeting, or not quite sure how to tie in that pesky cat down the street to your story? Take time to do the research. And sit down and write. Which is the most important part, because if you don’t write, you have no story. Just like the old joke How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. so you write a book. One word at a time. You can do this!

If you’re planning to run a marathon, each time you run, your end goal is in mind. I’m doing this kind of training on this day so at a later point, I can run 26.2 miles. The same with a book. You have your end goal in mind each day you get up early, or stay up late, or squeeze time in to get that completed manuscript that you then have to edit. Each word, sentence, paragraph, scene, chapter gets you closer to your goal. Having your end goal in mind gives you perspective for each part that you need to complete before it all comes together.

God didn’t do it all in one day. So, you don’t either. If a few words at a time work for you, do that. If you prefer writing by scenes, do that. Whatever process works for you, do that. But do it consistently. Write consistently. Just do it. And before you know it, you’ll have that finished book that you always wanted. Go for it!

Sally Shupe lives in southwest Virginia with her husband, two grown kids-a daughter still at home and a son nearby, and a whole bunch of pets: five dogs, three cats, a rabbit, and birds at the birdfeeder (and the mandatory snowman when the snow cooperates). She writes contemporary Christian romance, with two completed manuscripts and three more in progress. They are part of a series located in small town Virginia.

When Sally’s not writing or working full-time, she is a freelance editor for several authors who write fiction and nonfiction; students working on dissertation papers; a copy editor for Desert Breeze; a content editor for Prism (became part of Pelican); performs beta reading for various authors; publishes book reviews on her blog and with Valley Business FRONT’s monthly magazine; is a member of ACFW and a PRO member of RWA; loves genealogy, running, and crocheting.

Sally uses her love of words to write about God’s amazing love.

Connect with Sally:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sallyshupewritings/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SallyShupe1
Blog: http://sallyshupe.blogspot.com/
Email: sallyshupe1@gmail.com
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/sallyshupe1/
Website: http://sallyshupeseditingservice.weebly.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sally-schreiner-shupe-8217a639?trk=hp-identity-name

A Fun Take on Research! by Laura Conner Kestner

Like most authors, my days are filled with writing, rewriting, research, rewriting, more research, and lots of prayers. But unlike some writers, I really enjoy the research. 

I’m not talking about Google searches, YouTube videos and library collections, although I do enjoy all those as well. I’m talking about the equivalent of a school field trip. 

My favorite such destinations are small museum. Those facilities don’t just provide the answers to my research questions—sometimes they inspire a new character, a new scene, or a new book. And since I write in multiple genres, none of it is wasted. I jot it all down in my research/inspiration notebook (or more truthfully, on an envelope, receipt, or fast food napkin) for future use.

Even though I live in a tiny town in a rural area of Texas, there are a surprisingly large number of historical museums within an hour or two of my home—and several really good ones closer than that.

Since these are mostly history museums, the exhibits are varied. Some of my favorite finds include a late-1800s spinning wheel, an 1800s printing press, a hand-crafted miniature three-ring circus, log cabins (real ones), jail cells (including a steel cage that was created to fit on a wagon so the sheriff could haul prisoners to the state capitol), weapons, clothing, wood cook stoves, rope beds, barbed-wire collections, branding irons, a stuffed and mounted panther (also known as a mountain lion) that was shot many years ago by a rancher during a fierce battle near the Brazos River (I was able to talk to the man’s now-elderly daughter for details), medical equipment, blacksmith equipment…well, I could go on and on. 

There are also several old military forts close enough for occasional research expeditions, as well as regularly scheduled “living history” events nearby.  

I often write about these finds for my Facebook author page, and enjoy sharing the photos and information with others. But it’s a bit more complicated when writing fiction. I don’t want to use the real story—that belongs to someone else. So when something sparks my imagination, I ask myself two questions: What if? and What now?

What if a man who occupied that cage was innocent? What if he managed to escape but injured the sheriff in the process? Now he’s alone, on foot, with no food…and he’s no longer innocent. So then I try to answer the “What now?” question. That’s harder. And it often takes the story in a direction I didn’t anticipate. That’s where the fun really begins.

Of course, you don’t have to go to museums to find inspiration. Story ideas are everywhere. 

I once discovered an old shopping list tucked away in a pocket of a vintage handbag I purchased at an estate sale. 

I immediately started speculating on what event this woman—the purse’s owner from a bygone era—had been planning. It was mostly food items she’d jotted down. But some of it was pretty fancy. Was she planning a holiday party? 

There was no date on the penciled list but judging from the purse itself, I could imagine her dressed in her mid-century best—high heels, navy blue dress with a pleated skirt and white collar, pearls, and a bouffant hairdo—strolling the aisles of a grocery store where a freckled-faced boy with a crew cut would bag her groceries when she finished, and then carry them to the car. 

Of course, this first scene is just a beginning. You can’t just build her wardrobe—you have to build her world. 

What about her car? A nice sedan, I think. No, wait. A cherry red convertible. Because no one should be entirely predictable.       

Later, in the kitchen of a modern brick home with colorful appliances, she empties the bag, humming a little tune as she works. I recognize that song. Frank Sinatra? Dean Martin? No, it’s Bing Crosby. White Christmas. So it is a holiday party. 

But so much depends on the genre. If it’s a romance book, she might be making this special meal in hopes of impressing Mr. Right. If it’s women’s fiction, she may have found Mr. Right years ago and is now wondering how she can get rid of him (haha).     

What about suspense? Maybe the list was a clue. Perhaps there was one item on the list that didn’t go with the others. 

But, wait. What’s that last item she’s taking from the shopping bag? Rat poison. Well, that wasn’t on the list. Oh, my. It seems we have a murder mystery on our hands. I did not see that coming. Better start researching poisons.   

So, do any of you ever look at an old house, classic car, or vintage anything, and wonder about the people who’ve gone before? Do you enjoy visiting museums? I would love to hear about it. 

REMEMBER TEXAS

Abigail Horton’s life is turned upside down during the last night of a week-long revival when her father—believed dead—shows up in the custody of a Texas Ranger. Abby is thrilled to see him, and equally devastated to learn he’s been living the life of an outlaw.           

Texas Ranger Caleb Calhoun stops in Moccasin Rock to let his prisoner, Bob Horton, visit briefly with family before transporting him to Austin for trial. Caleb takes a room at the family’s boarding house, planning to be in and out of the small town by morning. But within hours he’s kissed Abby Horton, made an enemy of her naïve suitor, and let his prisoner escape. 

As Caleb searches for the missing outlaw, and Abby struggles to keep the man’s whereabouts a secret, they also battle a growing attraction to each other.

Throw in a Calhoun family mystery, an elderly preacher on a mission, an old flame of Caleb’s, a secretive spinster, a team of surveyors, and Abby’s mother and brother—and you have a compelling story of faith, family and forgiveness.

Amazon Buy Link

 

After 25 years in community journalism, Laura Conner Kestner embarked on a career in inspirational fiction. Laura is a proud seventh-generation Texan. Born in Fort Worth, she now lives in central Texas. She is happily married to the “boy next door” and they have two daughters, two wonderful sons-in-law, and five grandchildren. She’s thankful for God’s grace, her family, and an opportunity to do the work she loves.  Laura is a 2016 ACFW Genesis Award winner, 2016 ACFW First Impressions winner, 2016 SWFRW/RWA Joyce Henderson Contest winner, a 2016 NWH/RWA Lone Star Writer’s Contest finalist (second place), a 2016 SARA Emma Merritt contest winner, a winner in the RWA/KOD 2017 Daphne du Maurier award for excellence in mystery suspense, a 2017 Maggie finalist, and winner in the inspirational category of the 2017 RWA Southern Magic Linda Howard contest.  Laura was also a 2017 GOLDEN HEART® finalist, and a double finalist in 2018. Her novel Remember Texas was published in October.