Common Pillars We Never Forget by Zoe M. McCarthy

Zoe M. McCarthy

Unknown to them, certain people grabbed a special spot in my long, difficult, and bumpy spiritual journey. I’ll never forget them or what they did for me by simply being the people they were. God plunked them before me when I needed their example to move forward. Their examples spoke louder to me than anything anyone else said to me. They weren’t perfect or extraordinary in a popular way. They were common—in a most beautiful way.

The first was my ninth-grade English teacher. She was skinny and plain. She was strict, prim, and firm. Somehow, I saw that she was strict for our good. She cared about English, grammar, and literature and teaching them to us. The kids made fun of her. I didn’t join in their jokes and snide remarks, because I respected the woman. I learned more from her than any other teacher. I’ll always remember her commitment to doing her job right and having us do what was right in her presence.

The second was a freshman college roommate. She had little desire to partake in the behaviors of most college students. (Later, I had a roommate who aspired to be a Playboy Bunny!) When we’d have life discussions, she’d pull out her Bible to look things up, not to judge me, but to see what God said and to share His wisdom. That bugged me. I once said, “Why do you always have to bring out the Bible? Can’t you think for yourself?” But I secretly respected her convictions and confidence in herself and her God. I’ve never forgotten her gentle and quiet spirit.

The third was an older woman in the Sunday school class my first husband and I decided to attend. In the class, I judged much by my personal beliefs. This older woman, who enjoyed motorcycle trips with her husband, always answered my huffy comments with a smile and gentle explanations. I could actually hear the truths she was speaking.

The fourth was a young Christian woman my age who belonged to our neighborhood club. She loved tennis and played with my tennis group when we needed a fourth. She was honest and friendly, but she kindly begged off when invited to our parties or to join in our gossipy after-tennis conversations. Deep down I wanted to have her strength to make better choices.

The fifth was a woman in the church I attended because my friends went there. She had four children, love the Lord, and liked everyone. When my first husband had just left with our two little boys to show them his apartment after we told them he wouldn’t be living with us anymore, I felt sad. This woman, who’d never called me before, just happened to call me at that moment. I don’t remember her purpose, but, instead of judging what my husband and I were doing, and me, she listened to my hurt and spoke the comforting words I needed. More important, I experienced how a good Christian woman cared for someone no matter what that person did.

The last were five men and women in the Bible study God pressured me to attend in another church in my early forties. I went to the class, but I wasn’t happy about it. I told them I was looking for real Christians. For thirty-four weeks, these five weathered my anger, never calling me on my rants. They were gentle and steady. At the end, I told them I’d come looking for real Christians and had found five. Along the way, I had come to accept Christ.

Have you had one of these common but beautiful people in your life?

Zoe M. McCarthy believes that opposites distract. Thus, she spins Christian contemporary romances entangling extreme opposites. Her tagline is Distraction to Attraction, Magnetic Romances Between Opposites. Her first novel is Calculated Risk. She has two other contemporary romances and a nonfiction book to help writers ready their manuscripts coming out soon. She’s a member of American Christian Fiction Writers. She enjoys leading workshops on the craft of writing; speaking about her faith; planning fun events for her 5 grandchildren; and exploring the Blue Ridge Mountains, where she lives with her husband, John. 

Learn more about Zoe M. McCarthy at her website: http://zoemmccarthy.com

Calculated Risk

What happens when an analytical numbers man meets a mercurial marketing Rep? Romance is a calculated risk…

Jilted by the latest of her father’s choices of “real men,” Cisney Baldwin rashly accepts an invitation to spend Thanksgiving weekend with a sympathetic colleague and his family. Nick LeCrone is a man too much her opposite to interest her and too mild-mannered to make her overbearing father’s “list.” Now, Cisney fears Nick wants to take advantage of her vulnerable state over the holiday. Boy, is she wrong.

Nick wants little to do with Cisney. She drives him crazy with all her sticky notes and quirks. He extended an invitation because he felt sorry for her. Now he’s stuck, and to make matters worse, his family thinks she’s his perfect match. He’ll do what he can to keep his distance, but there’s just one problem—he’s starting to believe Cisney’s magnetism is stronger than he can resist.

Purchase links for Calculated Risk: http://zoemmccarthy.com/books

Sometimes a Great Adversity Affects Us Less Than Its Aftermath by Zoe M. McCarthy

“Mom! What’s going on?”
“I don’t know.”

Zoe M. McCarthy

I located my mother in her bedroom, where she furiously packed a suitcase. 

The date was October 22, 1962. The principal’s grave voice had come over William T Sampson High School’s PA system. “Go directly home.” 

We always rode the gray Naval buses home for the lunchtime break on the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba Naval Base. But that day, I saw suitcases in the yards along the route home.

Completely bewildered, and my heart thumping, I exited the bus two stops early and, under the hot tropical sun, raced to our standard wooden house in officers’ housing. 

Mom knew only that we were being evacuated. She told me to quickly pack a few things. In my room, I grabbed my curlers, some underwear, and a blouse. 

Daddy detoured from making sure all American civilians were evacuated from an enlisted men’s housing area for a brief goodbye.

Within two hours, my mother, my eleven-year-old brother, and I boarded the military transport, the Upshur, a ship then used to convey transferred military families to their new assignments.

Among the crowd on deck, a woman still wore horseback riding clothes; another older woman claimed this was her second evacuation, the first being Pearl Harbor.

Directed into the ship’s hold, where troops were normally billeted, Mom and I were ushered to the left and my brother, sporting a cast on his broken arm, was steered to the right. My tow-headed brother looked so vulnerable. Later, I saw him once. He begged for clean socks.

Mom and I claimed bunk beds, then I went up to find my friends. During the three-day trip at sea, Mom stayed mostly below deck. I checked on her occasionally. 

We teens pooled together the best we could, singing our rendition of Neil Sedaka’s “Breakin’ Up Is Hard to Do:”

“They say leaving GITMO is hard to do,
now we know, we know that it’s true,
don’t say this is the end,
instead of leaving GITMO,
we wish we were going back again.”

A bull of a Marine sergeant policed the decks, commanding teen boys to “Get aft!” Young enlisted women were issued MP armbands, and in their new power, barked assignments to teens. My girlfriends and I sidestepped being sent to clean the toilets plugged with soiled baby diapers. The teen guys served food to the endless lines of hungry evacuees until the boys’ eyes were bloodshot.

Mid trip, the ship quieted to hear President Kennedy apologize over ship's speakers for uprooting us from our homes. I recalled days earlier when Upshur passengers told me the captain’s ruse that the ship had a broken boiler and was stuck in GITMO for repairs. So, days before we sailed, the U.S. government prepared to evacuate civilians.

When we docked in Norfolk, Virginia, it was snowing. A nearby hangar contained miles of racks of donated coats. Dressed in coats over our short-sleeved cotton shirts, we entered processing. Mom was overwhelmed, so I made all the decisions. Her parents lived in frigid Ohio; Daddy’s lived in sunny Florida, where my older sister attended college. We’d go to Florida.


I was immediately enrolled in a sophisticated high school where madras attire was the rage. But I had only one skirt and two blouses. On the first day, the English teacher looked at the form indicating I came from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. She didn’t look at me, but asked if I could speak English. Until that moment, as a typical self-centered teen, I’d viewed the Cuban missile crisis evacuation as an adventure. Now reality struck. Her question offended and sobered me. The next three months in that school, before we returned to GITMO, became the real crisis for me.

Do you have such a story?

About the Author

Zoe M. McCarthy believes that opposites distract. Thus, she spins Christian contemporary romances entangling extreme opposites. Her tagline is Distraction to Attraction, Magnetic Romances Between Opposites. Her first novel is Calculated Risk. She has two other contemporary romances and a nonfiction book to help writers ready their manuscripts coming out soon. She’s a member of American Christian Fiction Writers. She enjoys leading workshops on the craft of writing; speaking about her faith; planning fun events for her 5 grandchildren; and exploring the Blue Ridge Mountains, where she lives with her husband, John. 

Calculated Risk
by Zoe M. McCarty

Learn more about Zoe M. McCarthy at her website: http://zoemmccarthy.com

Calculated Risk

What happens when an analytical numbers man meets a mercurial marketing Rep? Romance is a calculated risk…

Jilted by the latest of her father’s choices of “real men,” Cisney Baldwin rashly accepts an invitation to spend Thanksgiving weekend with a sympathetic colleague and his family. Nick LeCrone is a man too much her opposite to interest her and too mild-mannered to make her overbearing father’s “list.” Now, Cisney fears Nick wants to take advantage of her vulnerable state over the holiday. Boy, is she wrong.

Nick wants little to do with Cisney. She drives him crazy with all her sticky notes and quirks. He extended an invitation because he felt sorry for her. Now he’s stuck, and to make matters worse, his family thinks she’s his perfect match. He’ll do what he can to keep his distance, but there’s just one problem—he’s starting to believe Cisney’s magnetism is stronger than he can resist.

Purchase links for Calculated Risk: http://zoemmccarthy.com/books

You Pray for Someone and Horrible Things Happen by Zoe M. McCarthy

My friend has been dealing with an ailment that I can only imagine how difficult it is. Her disorder adversely affects her life minute by minute. I told her I would pray for her, and I have. Daily and fervently.

Zoe M. McCarthy

No doctor of any kind could pinpoint her problem. Physicians would have her try various regimens, but nothing worked. Or they misdiagnosed the problem, and her health got worse. I prayed harder. My hope that God would heal her remained high, but I worried her faith would wane.

Then she was diagnosed with a condition that was promising, and she had a good couple of weeks. I was praising God.

In her next email, she said she’d contracted an ailment that exacerbated her illness and took three miserable weeks to heal from. I had to tamp down over and over my “Why God?” thoughts. I asked God whether He was worried, as I was, that she’d give up Him. My husband and I prayed for her healing.

The next day she sent me a quick email that she was in the hospital with an attack from a third illness! I was shocked. And disappointed. I didn’t know what was going on. I told God I knew He loved her, and I knew He was working in her, but was she able to hold on to this? I asked God to bind Satan.

In a Bible study, we sang Horatio Spafford’s “It Is Well With My Soul.” My friend popped into my mind in the way that God often speaks to me. “When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul.”

I sent my friend Spafford’s hymn and the story of his losing an investment, his son to Scarlet fever, and his four daughters in a sinking ship.

In her next email, she said that in the end the hospital stay was a good thing. She found the right doctor who was ordering tests that should have been done long ago. They’d already ruled out scary diseases. She told me she felt blessed and was ready to handle whatever ailment she had to deal with.

What an example for me!

I was so humbled. God knows what He’s doing with people’s faith through their trials. He knows their strengths. He’s taught me much about trusting others’ faith and God’s work in them. I don’t know if the tests and the right doctor will be able to treat my friend’s ailment successfully, but I’m simply called to pray and care. I know she’s in God’s hands and is willing to trust the Lord.

When have you recognized blessings among your trials?

Sometimes when you pray hard for someone else, God is working a lesson in you. Click to Tweet.

About the Author

Zoe M. McCarthy believes that opposites distract. Thus, she spins Christian contemporary romances entangling extreme opposites. Her tagline is Distraction to Attraction, Magnetic Romances Between Opposites. Her first novel is Calculated Risk. She has two more contemporary romances and a nonfiction book to help writers ready their manuscripts coming out soon. She’s a member of American Christian Fiction Writers. She enjoys leading workshops on the craft of writing; speaking about her faith; planning fun events for her 5 grandchildren; and exploring the Blue Ridge Mountains, where she lives with her husband, John.
Learn more about Zoe M. McCarthy at her website: http://zoemmccarthy.com

Calculated Risk

What happens when an analytical numbers man meets a mercurial marketing Rep? Romance is a calculated risk…

Calculated Risk
by Zoe M. McCarthy

Jilted by the latest of her father’s choices of “real men,” Cisney Baldwin rashly accepts an invitation to spend Thanksgiving weekend with a sympathetic colleague and his family. Nick LeCrone is a man too much her opposite to interest her and too mild-mannered to make her overbearing father’s “list.” Now, Cisney fears Nick wants to take advantage of her vulnerable state over the holiday. Boy, is she wrong.

Nick wants little to do with Cisney. She drives him crazy with all her sticky notes and quirks. He extended an invitation because he felt sorry for her. Now he’s stuck, and to make matters worse, his family thinks she’s his perfect match. He’ll do what he can to keep his distance, but there’s just one problem—he’s starting to believe Cisney’s magnetism is stronger than he can resist.

Purchase links for Calculated Risk: http://zoemmccarthy.com/books

Is Your Life Like a One-Ingredient Cake? by Zoe M. McCarthy

Zoe M. McCarthy

Do you feel like flour or baking powder—sifted?
Do you taste like vanilla or cocoa–bitter?
Do you act like pure sugar—sickly sweet?
Do you come across like oil—too slick?
Do you bear up like salt—preserved?
Do you feel like udder milk—squeezed?
Do you feel like an egg—born yesterday?

When my sister gives her testimony, she brings a story basket with all the above ingredients. She quotes Romans 8:28. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Then based on Randy Alcorn’s article “There Is No Pointless Suffering,” she says:

“Almost everything that goes into a cake tastes terrible. But a delicious metamorphosis takes place when these ingredients are skillfully measured and mixed then baked at the perfect temperature. The final product is good!

“Our trials and apparent tragedies taste bitter to us. However, no translation of Romans 8:28 says ‘each thing by itself is good,’ but ‘all things work together for good,’ and not on their own, but under God’s sovereign hand. Every experience God gives us is the perfect preparation for the future only He can see.”

Then my sister relates how God orchestrated her life from abuse to the other side where God gave her a new name. From victim to survivor.

Ultimately, the big question for my sister was Jesus’ question to the invalid of 38 years that He approached beside the pool at Bethesda, “Do you want to get well?” (NIV) Or, “Wilt thou be made whole?” (KJV)

Was my sister’s journey under God’s orchestration easy? No.

At three and a half, she was abused. She felt abandoned, she screamed inside, and she “exploded.” Then she felt God say, “You’ll always have a Father in heaven.”

Undergoing the abuse by a different perpetrator much of her young life, she stuffed the memories. In her twenties, she slogged through a period of depression.

Later, she began to realize the life she had lived was not the life she had believed it to be. “Denial. Self-brainwashing.”

She was in therapy for ten years. The betrayal of her perpetrator was the hardest to deal with. “One minute I’d want to explode and shatter every piece of glass to communicate what I felt, and the next I’d want to implode until there was not one cell left of me.”

God never let go of her, even when she didn’t like Him, obeyed Him only because He was more powerful than she was, and struggled to study the Bible when she didn’t want to because it brought horrifying flashbacks. God stayed with her. He spoke to her in dreams and once appeared in a powerful show of light when she was awake.

Besides the abuse, my sister had three miscarriages, and her youngest daughter is a special-needs child. In spite of her trials, she has enjoyed much success in her life, before and after therapy. She has also served in a long-term children’s ministry and ministered to other women.

My sister ends her testimony, relating her ability to forgive and making these statements:

“God didn’t just make the best of a bad situation. Rather, he intended all along to use evil for ultimate good.”

“God has a plan, the ability to carry it out, and the loving kindness to do it not only for His glory but our good.”

If you are feeling like a one-ingredient cake, listen to Jesus’ question to you. “Do you want to get well?” If yes, let Him make you whole.

Is Your Life Like a One-Ingredient Cake? Click to Tweet.

About the Author

Zoe M. McCarthy believes the little-known fact that opposites distract. Thus, she spins Christian contemporary romances entangling extreme opposites. Her tagline is: Distraction to Attraction, Magnetic Romances Between Opposites. Her first novel is Calculated Risk. She has two more contemporary romances and a nonfiction book to help writers ready their manuscripts coming out soon. She’s a member of American Christian Fiction Writers. She enjoys leading workshops on the craft of writing; speaking about her faith; planning fun events for her 5 grandchildren; and exploring the Blue Ridge Mountains, where she lives with her husband, John.
Learn more about Zoe M. McCarthy at her website: http://zoemmccarthy.com

Calculated Risk

What happens when an analytical numbers man meets a mercurial marketing Rep? Romance is a calculated risk…

Jilted by the latest of her father’s choices of “real men,” Cisney Baldwin rashly accepts an invitation to spend Thanksgiving weekend with a sympathetic colleague and his family. Nick LeCrone is a man too much her opposite to interest her and too mild-mannered to make her overbearing father’s “list.” Now, Cisney fears Nick wants to take advantage of her vulnerable state over the holiday. Boy, is she wrong.

Nick wants little to do with Cisney. She drives him crazy with all her sticky notes and quirks. He extended an invitation because he felt sorry for her. Now he’s stuck, and to make matters worse, his family thinks she’s his perfect match. He’ll do what he can to keep his distance, but there’s just one problem—he’s starting to believe Cisney’s magnetism is stronger than he can resist.

Purchase links for Calculated Risk: http://zoemmccarthy.com/books

Oh Lord, I Need Your Grace Today by Zoe M. McCarthy

Zoe M. McCarthy

If I’d only known those words: “Oh Lord, I need your grace today.” But I didn’t know the Lord.

At the time, I wished I hadn’t known what had been said about me behind closed doors in the company of three people. One person, I’ll call Power, disparaged my abilities to Lesser Power. The third, Peer, came to me and told me what had been said.

I carried a bowling ball around in my stomach for the rest of the day. I had no one to run to for comfort. My rock, my husband, was out of town on business, a rare occurrence back then.

That evening, I struggled to hide my misery around my sons. I suddenly understood how people with depression felt. I was in a deep, deep hole, and there was no way to climb the slippery walls out. I knew people dealt with this awful feeling 365 days a year. How did they survive?

I went through a gamut of thoughts and feelings during the sleepless night:

• How cruel Power and Lesser Power were to gossip about me.
• Was I really that incompetent? 
• How unkind it was for Peer to warn me about the hurtful words said. If I didn’t know them, I’d not be suffering.
• Why did this happen on the one day and night John was away?

For a while, I was nervous around Power and knocked heads over business issues with Lesser Power. They were not my favorite people.

With hindsight, I can see how God was orchestrating amazing things in my spirit.

First, I became a Christian. God showed me how to give grace to those who had belittled my worth.

After Power moved on to another job, her son died. At the funeral, with genuine sorrow in my heart, I was able to hug her and tell her I was praying for her.

When Lesser Power was in the process of quitting smoking, I sent her a card with a whale bursting from ocean waters. She came to me with tears in her eyes, thanking me for my encouragement. After she stayed home to be with her husband, who had a rare terminal disease, and then suffered a terminal disease herself, I prayed daily for her and sent her letters and cards.

And as far as my competence? I became a manager, and when I retired, the director whom my area supported entreated me to come back as a consultant.

That’s not the end of the story.

Years later, I was blindsided by an email with disturbing news. The Sender asked me to be involved, but in The Sender’s way, not the Lord’s. This time, I dropped to my knees. Only God’s comfort kept me going for months. He helped me to keep responding to The Sender in love and forgiveness until God answered my prayers and orchestrated a good outcome.

Over the years, I had learned powerful lessons. When I heard the critical words during John’s absence, I needed to learn to seek God, not my husband. A human rock might not always be beside me like God is. And he may not give the best advice. I also learned that ongoing forgiveness gives me peace.

How have you had to depend on God’s grace?

A story of God’s grace during adversity. Click to tweet.

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About the Author

Zoe M. McCarthy believes the little known fact that opposites distract. Thus, she spins Christian contemporary romances entangling extreme opposites. Her tagline is: Distraction to Attraction, Magnetic Romances Between Opposites. Christian Fiction Online Magazine published two of her short stories. Zoe self-published two books of contemporary Christian short stories. She’s a member of American Christian Fiction Writers. She enjoys leading workshops on the craft of writing; speaking about her faith; planning fun events for her 5 grandchildren; and exploring the Blue Ridge Mountains, where she lives with her husband, John. 

Learn more about Zoe M. McCarthy at her website: http://zoemmccarthy.com

Calculated Risk

What happens when an analytical numbers man meets a mercurial marketing Rep? Romance is a calculated risk…

Jilted by the latest of her father’s choices of “real men,” Cisney Baldwin rashly accepts an invitation to spend Thanksgiving weekend with a sympathetic colleague and his family. Nick LeCrone is a man too much her opposite to interest her and too mild-mannered to make her overbearing father’s “list.” Now, Cisney fears Nick wants to take advantage of her vulnerable state over the holiday. Boy, is she wrong.

Nick wants little to do with Cisney. She drives him crazy with all her sticky notes and quirks. He extended an invitation because he felt sorry for her. Now he’s stuck, and to make matters worse, his family thinks she’s his perfect match. He’ll do what he can to keep his distance, but there’s just one problem—he’s starting to believe Cisney’s magnetism is stronger than he can resist.

Purchase links for Calculated Risk: http://zoemmccarthy.com/books

*Image by Baruska

Stay Calm: Use Your Spiritual Preparedness Kit by Zoe M. McCarthy

Zoe M. McCarthy

A spiritual preparedness kit can help us stay mentally and spiritually calm during adversity. I read about such a kit in Dr. David Jeremiah’s article, “Calm,” in “Turning Points” (July 2016). Here’s my take on what I learned.

Who knows when adversity will strike? I could:
• Lose my manuscript
• Receive a rejection
• Be diagnosed with a disease
• Receive a horrible review
• Lose my house to a fire, hurricane, or tornado

Being prepared is scriptural.

• A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself (Proverbs 22:3).
• The wise store up choice food and oil (Proverbs 21:20 NIV).
• [Joseph] laid up in every city the food of the fields which surrounded them (Genesis 41:48).
• And [King Rehoboam] fortified the strongholds, and put captains in them, and stores of food, oil, and wine. Also in every city he put shields and spears, and made them very strong (2 Chronicles 11:11-12).

“What’s the worst that could happen?”

I think adversities are easier to handle when I put the adversity in perspective.

To be ready for any hardship, I need a spiritual preparedness kit.

image by ClkerFreeVectorImages

Creating a spiritual preparedness kit to remain calm.

1. Gather scriptural promises.

Wise people store up knowledge (Proverbs 10:14). What could be wiser than gathering scriptural promises I can claim when difficulties arise? Dr. Jeremiah speaks of taking five-minute time-outs. When adversities occur, I’m to repeat my chosen promises for five minutes to bolster me and receive a calm spirit.

• He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we may boldly say: “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. … What can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:5-6).
• For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7).
• As long as he sought the Lord, God gave him success. (2 Chronicles 26:5 NIV)

2. Collect Scriptural Blessings

Dr. Jeremiah suggests cultivating a habit of spontaneous gratitude throughout the day—also, finding and thanking God for the good in every situation. He suggests psalms in which David, who was continually in crisis, expresses his gratitude to God. He suggests Psalm 103.

I keep a list of God’s answers to my prayers. Besides strengthening my habit of gratitude, I chose three to remind me of his faithfulness in adversity.

• God told me to pray continually for my grandson, and ten days later he survived a car-rolling crash. 
• A pastor prophesied my 92-year-old mother’s salvation, and it happened exactly as she’d revealed.
• God orchestrated all I needed to attend Bible Study Fellowship’s weekly study on Revelation that required 4 hours on the road. And He gave me a ministry at home to share what I learned.

3. Collect Scriptural Attitudes

• Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart (Isaiah 7:4).
• He who has knowledge spares his words, and a man of understanding is of a calm spirit (Proverbs 17:27). 
• Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him. (Psalm 128:1 NIV)

What I find helpful when difficulties come is to stop everything and say: “God knows this.” Then it’s easier for me to think, “If God knows it and allowed it, I expect Him to guide and help me through it.”

It’s also easier because I believe God works all things for my good; I can come boldly to His throne of grace in my time of need; and God is my very present help in trouble.

With scriptures, attitudes, habits, and blessings in my kit, which is always with me, I’ll be better prepared to receive calmness.

What Bible verse do you carry with you that helps you in time of need?

Create a spiritual preparedness kit. Click to tweet.

(Scriptures are from the NKJV unless noted)

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About the Author

Zoe M. McCarthy believes the little-known fact that opposites distract. Thus, she spins Christian contemporary romances entangling extreme opposites. Her tagline is: Distraction to Attraction, Magnetic Romances Between Opposites. Christian Fiction Online Magazine published two of her short stories. Zoe self-published two books of contemporary Christian short stories. She’s a member of American Christian Fiction Writers. She enjoys leading workshops on the craft of writing; speaking about her faith; planning fun events for her 5 grandchildren; and exploring the Blue Ridge Mountains, where she lives with her husband, John. 

Calculated Risk
by Zoe M. McCarthy

Learn more about Zoe M. McCarthy at her website: http://zoemmccarthy.com

Calculated Risk

What happens when an analytical numbers man meets a mercurial marketing Rep? Romance is a calculated risk…

Jilted by the latest of her father’s choices of “real men,” Cisney Baldwin rashly accepts an invitation to spend Thanksgiving weekend with a sympathetic colleague and his family. Nick LeCrone is a man too much her opposite to interest her and too mild-mannered to make her overbearing father’s “list.” Now, Cisney fears Nick wants to take advantage of her vulnerable state over the holiday. Boy, is she wrong.

Nick wants little to do with Cisney. She drives him crazy with all her sticky notes and quirks. He extended an invitation because he felt sorry for her. Now he’s stuck, and to make matters worse, his family thinks she’s his perfect match. He’ll do what he can to keep his distance, but there’s just one problem—he’s starting to believe Cisney’s magnetism is stronger than he can resist.

Purchase links for Calculated Risk: http://zoemmccarthy.com/books

Know How to Handle Adversity for Your Reader’s Sake by Zoe M. McCarthy

Zoe M. McCarthy

We writers are told to write what we know. I think most writers understand adversity within the writing profession. We find ourselves:

• learning a difficult craft,
• bearing rejections from publishers after months of work,
• swallowing criticism from critique partners, beta readers, and reviewers,
• trying to build a platform when we barely know what it is,
• marketing books when all we want to do is write,
• feeling helpless when we lose sales because of online snafus,
• fearing synopses and pitches of our stories…

And the list goes on.

Many writers also know personal adversities, such as illnesses. Our experience in hardships can add genuineness to our characters’ reactions and feelings in their disasters.

The other side to understanding our adversities is knowing how to handle our tough times. I think most of us would like to bring a healthy genuineness to the overcoming side of our characters’ journeys.

image by johnhain

Knowing positive ways to handle adversity helps writers offer readers something beneficial through characters’ journeys.
By the end of our stories, we can show how our characters have learned to handle adversity in ways they couldn’t in the beginning.

Here are possible questions we writers can ask ourselves to help us learn to deal with adversity in the best way—for the sake of our readers.

Our characters won’t do all these things, but they could learn to do the ones that have helped us — the ones we know and understand.

1. Do I seek God daily in all things?
2. Do I ask for forgiveness as soon as God convicts me of a sinful attitude?
3. Do I praise, thank, and worship the Lord often during my day?
4. Do I study God’s Word, believe it, and follow the Lord’s commands?
5. Do I trust God and wait patiently for what He deems best for me?
6. Do I look for the oportunites, changes, and relationships God is orchestrating in my life?
7. Do I use my suffering for my personal growth and to help others?
8. Do I refuse to listen to Satan’s temptations and discouragements?
9. Do I recognize when I’m causing my own problems?
10. Do I access the power God awards me through the Holy Spirit? 
11. Do I stop what I’m doing and ask God to help me with specific problems?
12. Do I welcome criticism for what can help me grow, and ignore what is unhelpful?
13. Do I embrace God as my co-author, seeking him as I brainstorm, write, and deal with the business end of the industry?
14. Do I pay forward the help given me from more experienced authors?

What are other questions we could ask ourselves in developing positive, godly attitudes in dealing with adversities?

To write genuine character growth, ask yourself these personal questions. Click to tweet.

Zoe M. McCarthy believes the little known fact that opposites distract. Thus, she spins Christian contemporary romances entangling extreme opposites. Her tagline is: Distraction to Attraction, Magnetic Romances Between Opposites. Christian Fiction Online Magazine published two of her short stories. Zoe self-published two books of contemporary Christian short stories. She’s a member of American Christian Fiction Writers. She enjoys leading workshops on the craft of writing; speaking about her faith; planning fun events for her 5 grandchildren; and exploring the Blue Ridge Mountains, where she lives with her husband, John.

Learn more about Zoe M. McCarthy at her website: http://zoemmccarthy.com

Calculated Risk
by Zoe M. McCarthy

Calculated Risk

What happens when an analytical numbers man meets a mercurial marketing Rep? Romance is a calculated risk…

Jilted by the latest of her father’s choices of “real men,” Cisney Baldwin rashly accepts an invitation to spend Thanksgiving weekend with a sympathetic colleague and his family. Nick LeCrone is a man too much her opposite to interest her and too mild-mannered to make her overbearing father’s “list.” Now, Cisney fears Nick wants to take advantage of her vulnerable state over the holiday. Boy, is she wrong.

Nick wants little to do with Cisney. She drives him crazy with all her sticky notes and quirks. He extended an invitation because he felt sorry for her. Now he’s stuck, and to make matters worse, his family thinks she’s his perfect match. He’ll do what he can to keep his distance, but there’s just one problem—he’s starting to believe Cisney’s magnetism is stronger than he can resist.

Purchase links for Calculated Risk: http://zoemmccarthy.com/books