When You Hit the Wall by Peter Leavell

@peterleavell

My grandmother’s cleaning skills are level: freakish.

The patio door was open to let the cool Lake Tahoe air inside to freshen the house. My brothers were out back, and I sprinted through the dining room to the outside patio so I could play.

My grandmother’s elite cleaning skills are especially good with glass.

Face first, I plowed into the closed, glass patio door, leaving a nose print, then forehead smudge, and finally a wide circle that reflected the surprised look formed by my mouth.

As I peered up from the floor, she was already cleaning the marks I’d made, preparing the trap for her next victim.

Many times, as writers, we hit an unseen wall. What happens when we can’t go forward with our writing?

~Have Faith. All things work together for good. Romans 8:28. This isn’t easy, but it’s comforting to know we’re
—not abandoned Hebrews 13:5-6
—have a friend who always looks after us Proverbs 18:24
—always loved 1 John 4:19
—no matter what, we win 1 John 5:4

~Baby steps. Getting through the trial and getting back to writing all at once is impractical, and you will be missing the lessons when you’re supposed to be reflecting.

~Let your characters help you. You’re standing on this side of the wall, and you hear digging. They crawl up from a hole they've burrowed under the wall and they are covered in dirt. They hold out a hand to help you under, around, or over the wall you face. Take their hand and let them lead you back to your story. Go at their pace. You chose them for a reason, and while they're imaginary for others, they’re real to you. Trust them to pull you back into writing.

~Patience. Remind yourself you will prevail, you will learn from your trial, and you will get up so you can run into another patio door. You’ve done it before, and you’ll do it again. Remember, when you learn from these walls, you’re not falling down, you’re falling up. You can’t call it a mistake if you learn from the trouble you caused, and the tragedy in your life will help you be kind to others—but only if you chose. 

~Friends. The writing community around you understands. Don't go this alone. Reach out and talk to someone. 

You're in a marathon, my friends. When you hit that glass wall, it smarts. But get back up, dust yourself off, and next time remember where the wall is, so that, unlike me, you won't hit the glass multiple times. Sigh.

CLICK TO TWEET

You learn from walls: you’re not falling down, you’re falling up.

Trust your characters to pull you back into writing.

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Peter Leavell, a 2007 graduate of Boise State University with a degree in history and currently enrolled in the University's English Lit Graduate program, was the 2011 winner of Christian Writers Guild's Operation First Novel contest, and 2013 Christian Retailing's Best award for First-Time Author. A novelist, blogger, teacher, ghostwriter, jogger, biker, husband and father, Peter and his family live in Boise, Idaho. Learn more about Peter's books, research, and family adventures at www.peterleavell.com.

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Words of Power and Intrigue

by Peter Leavell @peterleavell

Words are our livelihood. Sometimes we manipulate and coerce. At other times, they swirl about us and align in perfect order so we might pluck them like Christmas cards at the department store.

We’re wordsmiths.

We uncover beautiful words as we consider their sounds and meanings. 

Words enjoy a beyond in their expandability, a give and take that sustains our souls and gives us purpose. The beyond of a word is more than a dictionary meaning. The beyond has a gratification and a horror that takes an active role in exploring our hearts and minds for experiences long forgotten and moments yet to come.

A word has its own agency, speaks for itself, defends itself. A word has an identity. A color. A friendship. Or is it an enemy? 

Has the word so mistreated you that you see it lurking around a shadowed corner and you must run?

Because the words are alive. And those who utter them do not know the meaning for others.

C. S. Lewis knew the beyond of a word, knew the friendships they have that sustain life. Comfort. Rest.

Courage, dear heart.

Voyage of the Dawn Treader

T. S. Eliot knew the beyond of a word, knew the understanding of the hard, unforgiving passion of sound. He understood a life wanting hope but finds cold, and so ushers in modernism poetry in three lines.

Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherized upon a table;

The mind screams for relief and finds a glimmer of hope a few moments later.

Photodune

In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.

"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"

Words are locked in your breast. They must be released.

There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.
Maya Angelou

Tell your story. The words hold a beyond you cannot comprehend, a meaning for someone you can’t possibly grasp. 

The adventure is not knowing the beyond of words for others. The adventure is not the journey—is not you on a ship journeying across the sea. Instead, you are the ship carrying the story across the waves to their soul. 

There is only fear stopping you. And the fear doesn’t matter. Because God has given you words that hold a beyond. So you are an adventurer.

Life is a great adventure or nothing.

Hellen Keller

Write as if writing is all there is. Give the world meaning, scope, truth, even lies, but always hope. These words have a beyond for others, and you cannot know the vastness they hold. 

Because you will leave your words behind, as Shakespeare said of our end,

Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion;
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

As You Like It, ‘All the World’s a Stage’

Write on, my friends.

Tweetables: click to tweet!

The power of words: "Life is a great adventure or nothing" ~Hellen Keller

Just write. "There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you" ~Maya Angelou

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Peter Leavell, a 2007 graduate of Boise State University with a degree in history and currently enrolled in the University's English Lit Graduate program, was the 2011 winner of Christian Writers Guild's Operation First Novel contest, and 2013 Christian Retailing's Best award for First-Time Author. A novelist, blogger, teacher, ghostwriter, jogger, biker, husband and father, Peter and his family live in Boise, Idaho. Learn more about Peter's books, research, and family adventures at www.peterleavell.com.

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Of Shipwrecks and Romance by Pegg Thomas

Who would start a historical romance with a shipwreck? Oh … that would be me. I love starting my stories with true historical events and using real historical characters if I can. Besides the ship, my story also includes Captain John and Celia Persons, who ran the lifesaving station on Thunder Bay Island in Lake Huron near Alpena, MI. Thanks to the Persons and their crew at the station, all hands were safely brought to shore after the wreck.

 Anna’s Tower, part of The Great Lakes Lighthouse Brides collection, begins with the wreck of the James Davidson. That wreck—rather conveniently if I do say so myself—allowed me to add a fictional stowaway who becomes the hero of Anna’s Tower. I also employ fictional characters to inhabit the lighthouse on Thunder Bay Island, but the tugboats that bring supplies to the island were named after the actual tugboats that worked in that area at that time.

Knitting together real history with my fictional stories is what I love to do. It brings the reader deeper into the story, knowing that some of the characters, places, and even boats once existed. While they were entertained and engrossed in the fictional story, they were also enriched with a bit of the culture of that day.

 

The Great Lakes Lighthouse Brides Collection

 

Lighthouses have long been the symbol of salvation, warning sailors away from dangerous rocks and shallow waters.

 Along the Great Lakes, America’s inland seas, lighthouses played a vital role in the growth of our nation. They shepherded settlers traveling by water to places that had no roads. These beacons of light required constant tending even in remote and often dangerous places. Brave men and women battled the elements and loneliness to keep the lights shining. Their sacrifice kept goods and immigrants moving. Seven romances set between 1883 and 1911 bring hope to these lonely keepers and love to weary hearts.

 

Amazon Buy Link

 

And speaking of knitting … I am giving away one of my signature handspun, handknit shawls to celebrate the release of The Great Lakes Lighthouse Brides. The only way to enter is to subscribe to my newsletter.  One lucky subscriber will win the Beacon on the Bay Shawl on November 30, 2018.

Pegg Thomas lives on a hobby farm in Northern Michigan with Michael, her husband of *mumble* years. They raise sheep and chickens, keep a few barn cats, and Murphy the spoiled rotten dog. A life-long history geek, she writes “History with a Touch of Humor.” Pegg is published in the Barbour historical romance collections. Pegg also works as Managing Editor of Smitten Historical Romance, an imprint of Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas. When not working or writing, Pegg can be found in her barn, her garden, her kitchen, or sitting at her spinning wheel creating yarn to turn into her signature wool shawls.

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Stitches Thru Time

Building Hope

By Peter Leavell @peterleavell

The ground around us rumbled as his anger shook the building. “It’s all against us.” He bemoaned so loudly, people at the writer’s conference dove under tables and ducked under sturdy door frames.

“I don’t understand.” I gripped a nearby support beam.

“Only romance is published!”

“Ah.” I rubbed my ruptured eardrum. “You write action, lots of violence. Right?”

He told me about the attack jet F-15’s new forward cannon that fired silver bullets to tear demons to shreds.

He stomped the ground and the building nearly collapsed. “But the whole industry is sexist. They won’t publish it.”

"No, it's not sexist." I warned him not to throw around false accusations. Then I read the first chapter of his work.

It wasn’t going to sell. The tone was angry and bitter, and a quick glance at the end showed no difference. 

I’ve read hundreds of unpublished bits of work like his, and I've noticed this:

A writer's attitude and emotions are reflected in the characters.

What message is the fundamental takeaway that not only sells, but that will best serve this world? 

Hope

Your work must have hope. A hope of a future, a hope of happiness, a hope of an absence of pain. Donald Maass said in his must-read The Emotional Craft of Fiction, “Hope is the current running through fiction that we love…It’s experienced through a need not to avoid what’s bad, but to seek what’s good. It’s felt not in a series of setbacks, but in a rising curve of yearning.”

If a writer's emotions are reflected in our characters, and our characters should have hope, then how do we fill our hearts with hope?

—We are spiritual. Don’t suppress your curiosity about God. Spend time in meditation and prayer, reading about the Creator, and learning His character. There's hope for today and tomorrow in God's character.

—Cultivate thankfulness. Science and history say, yes, things can be worse. Don’t close your eyes to the glorious freedom of perpetual gratefulness that's akin to hope.

—Challenge yourself. You’re more resilient and smarter than you think. Read books that are hard to understand, listen to lectures that you have to think long and hard about, make friends with a philosopher. Knowledge is experience the easy way, and experience shows there is hope.

Instead of frustrated or angry, be that person who is hopeful, who takes their hope out on the people around them.

                                                                            ~~~~~~

Peter Leavell, a 2007 graduate of Boise State University with a degree in history and currently enrolled in the University's English Lit Graduate program, was the 2011 winner of Christian Writers Guild's Operation First Novel contest, and 2013 Christian Retailing's Best award for First-Time Author. A novelist, blogger, teacher, ghostwriter, jogger, biker, husband and father, Peter and his family live in Boise, Idaho. Learn more about Peter's books, research, and family adventures at www.peterleavell.com.

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The Bottom End of a Publishing Career

by Peter Leavell @peterleavell

I labored to create a writing career.

As I climbed the ladder of writing success, the view above was surprisingly uninspiring—someone’s backside.

I let go of the rungs and found another ladder. After climbing a few steps, I found another posterior—different, but still another fleshy part a person uses to sit.

Hmmm.

I tried an author's ladder whom I admire, and while I climbed rather high, the view before reaching my dream was still the same—the tail end of another writer.

While I was getting good at climbing ladders and following others, I was getting tired of rumps.

I took a step back and viewed the writing world from a distance.

The ladder of success wasn’t a ladder at all. It was a jungle gym with a different way to the top for every person.

For everyone who has left an impression on the publishing industry or will contribute, there is a path designed specifically for them. And you have one, too. One you must discover and climb. 

—Every person’s publishing story is different.

—There is difference between learning from another person’s path and following another person’s path.

—Know thyself. Know what success is for you. Know your strengths. Know your weaknesses. Know the market. Know where you might fit in by using your strengths.

—The map for your writing career is yours alone. Share your knowledge, but if you see someone staring at your hinder, encourage them to find their own way. They will have their own work to do, their own conversations with agents and acquisition editors, their own way of seeing the world.

You are unique with a voice that’s only yours. Your book will be inimitable, as will your story to publication. Don’t look for and climb ladders. Find the bars that best fit you, climb onto the first rung, and hold on for dear life!

What is your publishing journey? Where are you at on your ladder?

Tweetable! The path to writing success isn't a ladder~It's a jungle gym! 

Tweetable! The map for your writing career is yours alone.

~~~~~

Peter Leavell, a 2007 graduate of Boise State University with a degree in history and currently enrolled in the University's English Lit Graduate program, was the 2011 winner of Christian Writers Guild's Operation First Novel contest, and 2013 Christian Retailing's Best award for First-Time Author. A novelist, blogger, teacher, ghostwriter, jogger, biker, husband and father, Peter and his family live in Boise, Idaho. Learn more about Peter's books, research, and family adventures at www.peterleavell.com.

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When an Incident Pauses Your Writing

By Peter Leavell @peterleavell

I’m typing this blog with one hand. Because of an incident.

The incident involved a 41-year-old active male, a city-league softball game, a pop fly to left field, a mitt on a left hand, a fence to mark the boundaries of a homerun, a leftfielder with a tendency to forget fence locations, and a glove bouncing off the hand. The story also includes a pinky, a rush to the emergency room, a specialist, surgery, and finally, a writer typing with one working hand.

For least five weeks, I’m short a digit, and a cast that binds my fingers closer than my family.

I’ve had to let my fiction slide and the ghostwriting projects pass to others. Not only is it financially trying, I can’t express myself through my work quite as easily as I used to. I’ve had to adjust.

Here’s a few tips to overcome incidents when they happen.

—Eat chocolate on the first day. Life changes mean emotional frustration. Take time to grieve your new reality.

—Sort advice. I received two bits of advice: If you were a stronger Christian, you wouldn’t be upset. And the second, read Psalms and you’ll see King David’s pattern—Anger, then brokenness, then reliance on God, then restoration as the new normal begins. I prefer the grieving process of the second. So, I took some time to grieve, then restored my strength by working on self-care. That involved chocolate and contemplation.

—Perspective, my friend. I’ve a cousin who has no arms and she’s raising a family. I’ve a younger brother who died of cancer. Not to belittle my fractured finger, but my cousin would probably love to have a hand that feels pain. This helps me from making the incident more than it is. There's hope because I’m still breathing.

—Gather strengths if this is long term. Take stock of your strengths still left to you. Enhance them. 

Peter's pain in the hand.

—Make a way, if all possible. Text to speak is one option I have. If I want to write badly enough, I will make a way. My wife has disabling fibromyalgia. She's found ways to return to college and to start a teaching career. She's done this by thinking outside the box and making a way that fits her life. You can, too.

—Writing isn’t the sole activity to writing career. Reading is vital. Research is key. Marketing is elemental. Do the things you can that support your writing until you can write again.

—Plan for your big return. I’ve thought through how I structure my days, and when I'm better, will start a new plan. I needed the time to think. And work on my planner. I'm now a professional bullet journaler.

Not all is lost when you have an incident and you have to set your goals aside for a time. You’ll be restored, but until then, remember, you have hope. You're valuable and loved, and you're more than the sum of your injuries and pains. Do what you can, and you'll be all right.

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Peter Leavell, a 2007 graduate of Boise State University with a degree in history and currently enrolled in the University's English Lit Graduate program, was the 2011 winner of Christian Writers Guild's Operation First Novel contest, and 2013 Christian Retailing's Best award for First-Time Author. A novelist, blogger, teacher, ghostwriter, jogger, biker, husband and father, Peter and his family live in Boise, Idaho. Learn more about Peter's books, research, and family adventures at www.peterleavell.com.

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What is Historical Fiction?

By Peter Leavell @peterleavell

Before you dip your feather quill into ink and press the tip against the parchment, know the definition of Historical Fiction.

Why?

If you don’t, you’ve no mission statement to give shape to the entire work. For example, if you’re writing an epic that takes place in ancient Rome and a time traveler pulls out his cell phone to record the murder of Julius Caesar, you can unroll the scroll that contains the definition and see if the time traveler belongs there.

So, what is Historical Fiction? Geoffrey Trease, who wrote 113 novels about a century ago, claimed HF is a subject written ‘outside the time of living memory.’

Historic Novel Society tries to keep it simple—written “in the past, before the author’s lifetime and experience.” Or, more definitive, any novel written at least fifty years after the events described (which is 1968—yowza), or by an individualwho was not alive at the time of those events, writing from a research perspective. Alternate histories, time-slip novels, historical fantasies, and multiple-period novels are all accepted by HNS.

Still others maintain that HF is a label of incredible distinction and should be used with great dignity. The tag Historical Fiction should be applied to those books where a deliberate attempt has been made to recreate the past.

What does this mean for you? You are not answerable to anyone but your conscience. Why? Because HF itself is the embodiment of disagreement. The term Historical Fiction is a contradiction. Historical. Fiction. HF Seeks accuracy and illusion.

Seriously? Yes.

So, how do I approach HF? What is my definition when I start penning a work of genius? Here’s what I tell myself.

Peter, cut through the fog of perception and come as close to the historic truth as possible. If you deviate, deviate with a purpose in mind. Because historians ask what happened and why did it happen that way? You ask, what was it like?

Your definition of HF will determine the kind of HF you write, and thus produce a work that will help us not learn history, but live it. Take great pains to confirm your definition of HF in your mind as you work, and you’ll help solidify the past in your reader’s mind.

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Peter Leavell, a 2007 graduate of Boise State University with a degree in history and currently enrolled in the University's English Lit Graduate program, was the 2011 winner of Christian Writers Guild's Operation First Novel contest, and 2013 Christian Retailing's Best award for First-Time Author. A novelist, blogger, teacher, ghostwriter, jogger, biker, husband and father, Peter and his family live in Boise, Idaho. Learn more about Peter's books, research, and family adventures at www.peterleavell.com.

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Seasons of Writing by Terri Weldon

April has been a tricky month this year. Early on I had beautiful tulips in pink, red, and orange blooming in my yard. The slow growing redbud trees put on their prettiest show since they’d been planted. Then the freeze came. The purple blooms on the redbuds shriveled up and the tulip blooms leaned over as if their necks had been broken. Where was spring? 

The weather warmed up again and surprisingly the tulips fared better than expected and their blooms perked back up for the most part. Then it froze again. 

This time I had a little more hope, I knew some of the tulips would wither, but others would make it. Plus I had a crop of late bloomers waiting to burst out. Even through the chill I knew spring was coming. 

So what does this have to do with writing and why am I rambling about my flowers? Because when I started thinking about what to write for this post the seasons of writing popped into my mind and I realized writing, much like the weather, has seasons. 

When I first began writing it felt like spring. Story ideas abounded. Excitement sprang up much like the tulips in my yard. Writing was fresh and new. I wrote fast and furiously. 

Now admittedly I had a long spring season, but finally summer arrived. I sold a book. Nothing seemed impossible. I had a request from an editor at my dream publisher. Like my garden in the summer, everything was in bloom. 

But have you ever designed a flowerbed and it didn’t quite turn out like you expected? Or planted a flower just to have it die? Yeah, well now you know how my book at my dream publisher fared. Fall had arrived. Most blooms were stripped away. Still there were snippets of hope. While the publisher rejected my book they did welcome other submissions from me.  Plus I had a request from a small publisher for a novella I had written. So just like fall, things were changing, but there was still beauty. 

I guess we all know what comes after fall. Winter. You guessed it, the novella…it was rejected. My writing, my creativity had taken some hard hits. And just like winter everything seemed frozen. Should I keep on writing? Was I spinning my wheels or was there hope? That’s a question each author has to answer for themselves. There is no wrong choice as long as you are doing what God wants you to do. 

Thankfully winter isn’t the end. There is always another spring coming. I made the decision to keep writing and while I wish I could say I’m enjoying an endless summer I’d be lying. The seasons have come and gone. I’m still here and thankfully have a novella coming out this July. After that, well I’m looking forward to whatever comes next.  

I think Solomon said it best:

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven

Ecclesiastes 3:1 (KJV)

I hope you’ll share a little bit about your writing seasons and where you are in your writing journey now.

The Matchmakers Anthology
A Match Made in Sheffield (Book Two by Terri Weldon)

Nalie Benton bounced from one foster home to another until she landed on Ellie Alexander’s doorstep. Natalie’s vagabond childhood caused her to yearn for a secure life, which led to Natalie’s five-year plan: complete her law degree, marry the perfect man, become a partner at Montgomery, Haynes, and Preston, and produce one child. Getting arrested wasn’t in Natalie’s plan. Needing a public defender wasn’t in her plan. Falling for Grady Hunter, her public defender, definitely wasn’t in her plan. Can Grady convince Natalie there is more to life than her five-year plan? Is Ellie the only one who sees a future for Natalie and Grady?

Terri Weldon is a lead analyst by day and an award winning author by night. Her novella The Christmas Bride Wore Boots won the best novella category in the 2016 Lyra Awards. She enjoys traveling, gardening, reading, spending time with her family, and shopping for shoes. One of her favorite pastimes is volunteering as the librarian at her church. It allows her to shop for books and spend someone else’s money! Plus, she has the great joy of introducing people to Christian fiction. She lives with her family in the Heartland of the United States. Terri has two adorable Westies – Crosby and Nolly Grace. Terri is a member of ACFW and RWA. She is a member of the Seriously Write Team (www.seriouslywrite.blogspot.com). Readers can connect with Terri at www.terriweldon.com