Mrs. Johnston by Arlene James

Arlene James

You may have a teacher who stands out in your memory as someone who made learning fun, made you feel special, or was particularly hard on you. Author Arlene James had such a person in her life, and today she shares how that teacher helped her embrace her calling as a writer and begin her journey to publication. ~ Dawn

Mrs. Johnston

Trust me on this, if you are not called by God to write, then writing is nothing short of cruel and inhumane punishment.

Those of us called to write are compelled to write.

Even as a girl I knew that I would write. Indeed, I wrote as a child and even published as a child. God blessed me with an ogre of a teacher who made it her goal to prove to me that I could write if I chose to do so. Her name was Bernice Johnston, and she was my seventh grade English and Literature teacher.

I didn’t like her much, and frankly, I thought she was picking on me at first. She would assign a theme subject on Mondays. We handed in 500 words on the subject on Wednesdays and were supposed to receive them back, heavily marked up (edited) on Thursday, to be revised and turned in again on Friday. I routinely dashed off mine and turned them in at the end of the period that same day. So, Mrs. Johnston soon began giving me special assignments.

The rest of the class got 500 words on what it meant to respect one’s elders. I was told to write a short story about respecting an elder. And so it went throughout the semester. Oh, was I resentful. Short stories––that is, fiction––is much more difficult to craft than a simple theme. I complained to my father, who listened then refused to intervene. Wise man.

The day came when Mrs. Johnston provided me with a check. For five whole dollars. My first payment for publication, in this case for a short story that she had sent to a children’s magazine. She had been sending my work to every publication she could find, as well as entering my stories in contests, several of which I actually won. By the time I entered high school, I knew what I wanted to do for a living and didn’t doubt that I could do it.

Life, as it always does, intervened. I was 26 and a mom when I sold my first book, but I had lived for a long time under the firm conviction that I was called to write. A Christian from the age of nine, I was blessed with wise grandparents who taught me that God calls all of His children to something (and often to more than one thing). Mrs. Johnston helped me find God’s career calling in my life. Eighty-plus books and more than three decades of steady publication later, I don’t think I missed my calling.

Do you have a Mrs. Johnston in your life? Has God placed someone to nudge you toward a calling? Pay attention, whatever you stage in life, and trust God. Let Him direct you. If you just aren’t sure yet, then pray for your Mrs. Johnston. My prayer for you is that you’ll recognize your Mrs. Johnston when you bump into her.

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God blessed Arlene James with a teacher who set out to prove that Arlene could write. Click to tweet.

A teacher helped author Arlene James find God’s career calling in her life. Click to tweet.

Has God placed someone in your life to nudge you toward a calling? Click to tweet.

 Love in Bloom

Love in Bloom

LOVE IN BLOOM is Book 1 in the Heart of Main Street continuity series from Love Inspired. Set in Kansas, the series involves six businesses that receive matching grants to locate in a small town trying to save their beloved city from economic death after the main employer closes its doors. When Lily Farnsworth opens her floral shop there, she is escaping the expectations of her family and a disappointing love life back in Boston. The last thing she expects is to fall for widower Tate Bronson and his matchmaking 8-year-old daughter, but Tate will have to forgive God for the death of his wife before he can open his heart to Lily. Can planting a rose bush and giving a little girl a birthday wish really help him do that?

ARLENE JAMES is the author of more than 80 novels. Publishing steadily for more than three decades, she has concentrated on Inspirational Romance for the past several years. She loves providing her readers with uplifting stories of true love as God has ordained it. She and her husband, the artist James Rather, have traveled extensively and now live in northwest Arkansas, near the two brightest granddaughters in the world.

To learn more about Arlene and her work, please visit:

www.arlenejames.com

www.chatamhouseseries.com

Using Marketing Hooks to Your Advantage

A few months ago I had the pleasure of listening to author Missy Tippens speak to the Carolina Christian Writers about creating a proposal for Love Inspired. One of the things that struck me was her reference to using "marketing hooks" in a proposal. I've asked her to explain here the importance of these marketing hooks.--Sandy

Missy: When I was trying to sell my third book—the first I’d sold on proposal, I struggled to find just the right proposal idea. While brainstorming with my editor on the phone, she told me something that caused a light bulb moment. She said, “I think you’re trying to force these two characters together. Just start fresh and come up with a one-sentence idea. Send me that first, and then we’ll go from there.”

A one sentence idea.

Immediately I started thinking of one-liners, of marketing hooks. Of back cover blurbs.

And that’s exactly what we need to think about as we come up with new book ideas. Because no matter how much an editor loves a story, she may still have to get the idea approved by the marketing department before she can buy it. Everyone in the publishing house needs to be on board for a project to succeed.

So I started thinking of my book, thinking what are my hooks? In that book that became A Forever Christmas, I had (hooks in bold print): a single dad with full custody of two little boys. I had a Christmas story. I had a reunion story—the heroine dumped the hero in high school, then he turned around and broke her heart by getting someone else pregnant and marrying her. Plus, I already knew how the book ended—those two boys ask for the heroine to be their mom for Christmas.

All those thoughts were stewing in my mind, and it just so happened that at the time, I was working on a blog post for a group blog where we were doing fun posts for the 12 Days of Christmas. And a sentence hit me:

A woman with a mission. Twelve days till Christmas. Will this single dad grasp the true meaning of Christmas in time to nab the one gift his boys really want: a new mom?

Being the insecure writer that I am, I emailed a group of writer friends and asked what they thought. They gave me the thumbs up and said I had found my hook. The 12 Days of Christmas thing.

So I expanded that one liner and started thinking more about who my heroine could be and how I could throw her together with the hero. I came up with a long blurb that included my original hooks and ended with:

So she decides to put her own feelings aside and sets out on mission: force him to spend quality time with his boys over the 12 days before Christmas.

Will Gregory grasp the true meaning of Christmas in time to nab the one gift the boys really want: Miss Radcliffe for a mom?

Now, I had my one-liner and my blurb and emailed that to my editor. She responded that it had several good hooks (she noticed!) and gave me the go-ahead to come up with a new synopsis.

Are you beyond the idea brainstorming stage? You can also work in the reverse. Take a story you’re already working on or have finished and try to boil it down to a one-liner. If you can’t do that, then maybe you need to try to focus your story and consider adding something that’ll make it more marketable. It’ll help you have a fabulous pitch when you’re ready to sell your story!

I learned a valuable lesson while trying to sell the proposal that became A Forever Christmas. I still tend to jump in plotting and have to back up, to remind myself to focus and use this method.

Give it a try next time you’re brainstorming. It’s always helpful to start with a kernel of an idea that contains hooks readers love, something exciting an editor can take to the marketing department. I hope my experience has helped you.

Have you used this form of developing your story and one-sentence pitch? Feel free to share with us some marketing hooks from your current story, and/or your pitch.

~~~

Georgia Sweethearts (from Love Inspired, April 2013)

A Pattern For Love...

After inheriting her great-aunt's failing yarn shop, Lilly Barnes is determined to make it a success. All she wants is stability, something she doesn't think possible in the small town of Corinthia, Georgia. Then Pastor Daniel Foreman rents space in her store to hold meetings for his growing congregation, and this proves to be her lifeline. At first Lilly wants nothing to do with Daniel's big dreams, but she soon finds herself starting to share his goals. Yet trouble between her customers and his congregation make them both doubt the path they're on. That is, until practical Lilly shows him that love is a risk worth taking.

~~~

Missy Tippens, a pastor’s wife and mom of three from near Atlanta, Georgia, made her first sale to Love Inspired in 2007. Her books have since been nominated for the Booksellers Best, ACFW Carol Award, Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence, Beacon Contest and a 2013 RT Reviewer’s Choice Award. A House Full of Hope has recently been named a Romance Writers of America RITA^® Finalist. New from Love Inspired, Georgia Sweethearts is an April 2013 release.

Visit Missy at www.missytippens.com,

http://www.facebook.com/missy.tippens.readers and @MissyTippens on Twitter.

Make 'em Laugh by Charlotte Carter

I can’t help myself. Humor slips into my books. It’s just there even in my most emotional stories. So can I teach you to write humor? Assuming you have a sense of humor, I can give you some tools that will help you give your readers a smile and maybe a laugh.

Humor starts with a Premise ~  you add surprise and exaggeration and keep asking yourself how you can make it funnier.

Humor comes from the sense of reality, exaggerated and distorted. Humor begins with what if . . . .

In my book Courting Cupid, (a Love & Laughter written as Charlotte Maclay) a female apprentice Cupid accidentally shoots an arrow into her own foot. Instead of her “target” falling in love with the intended woman, he falls in love with her.

Humor keys into something we can all relate to ~ the heroine who desperately wants the hero to notice her and makes a mess of things trying to get his attention; the unease of being in an unfamiliar situation and making a fool of yourself; the agony of having our children misbehave at the absolute worst possible time.

There are 3 basic types of humor:

·       Character

·       Situational

·       Physical

In a humorous story that is character driven, the protagonist has a strong comic perspective. This is the ‘dumb blonde’ in Susan Elizabeth’s book who knows darn well she’s as smart as any of the men, but she’s going to let them figure that out for themselves.

Please note: while the character is funny to the reader, she is totally serious about her goals.

Situational comedy relies on a bizarre circumstance, often the familiar ‘fish-out-of-water’ situation.

Physical comedy is pretty obvious ~ it’s the pie in the face, Pratt fall or the guy that walks around a banana peel and drops down manhole.

Chances are good, however, you don’t want to write a funny book. You simply want to add some humor.

Try setting up you story with Contrasting Characters 

·       The hero who never smiles vs. the effervescent heroine

·       The playboy hero vs. the prim heroine

·       The tough guy vs. the naive heroine

·       The sexually experienced male vs. the innocent heroine

Or let your Secondary Characters carry the humor. 

We don’t want to risk our lead characters looking foolish by having them do really dumb things. To avoid this you can add humor (and insight) via a secondary character. Siblings, best friends, grocery store clerk, in-laws, parents, and ne’re-do-well relatives. Because I most often write family stories, my favorite source of humor is children. They can be so much fun....and thoroughly embarrass their parents.

Dialogue can create humor by the use of 

·       Rapid fire speech

·       Clever one liners

·       Unusual curses

·       Witty dialogue

Dialogue in contrast to thoughts 

Often it’s what the characters are thinking, not what they say, that adds humor. Here is where you can use deep Point of View to reveal character and give your readers a laugh or a smile.

Julie Lessman identifies some of the ways she brings humor to her stories. 

·       Analogy/Metaphor/Simile

·       Facial Features

·       Sibling Rivalry

·       Sarcasm (use care here not to make your character too snarky)

If you’d like more details and examples about writing humor, check out the Articles at my Website www.CharlotteCarter.com

Purchase Link

Happy writing......Char

Books that leave you smiling . . .

Home to Montana, Love Inspired, 3/2012

Montana Wrangler, Love Inspired, 7/2012

Dora here. Now it’s your turn.

Do you enjoy reading books that make you laugh?

How do you inject humor into your writing?

Charlotte Carter has authored more than 50 romance and cozy mysteries for various Harlequin lines, Dorchester and Guideposts Books. She is currently writing for the Harlequin Love Inspired romance line. Her books have won the National Readers’ Choice Award, the Orange Rose Contest and various awards from Romantic Times.

An active member of Orange County and Faith, Hope and Love chapters of Romance Writers of America, she is a frequent speaker for community groups and workshop presented for writers’ organizations.

Charlotte lives in Southern California with her husband of 50 years; they have two married daughters and five grandchildren. In her spare time, Charlotte performs standup comedy.