Life is Heavy, Let’s Lift Each Other Up by Annette M. Irby

I scroll through Facebook, faster or more slowly, depending on the images and stories. A beachy scene—refreshing. Stop. Study the light, the seascape, imagine walking the sand, inhaling a salty breeze. Consider sharing the post. Keep scrolling. Another political post. Eeks. My stomach gets tight along with my lungs.

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I’ve read hundreds of unpublished bits of work like his, and I've noticed this: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

                                                                          ~~~~~~

Keep Writing by Patricia Lee

Patricia Lee

Can you believe almost an entire month in 2018 has already passed? How are those writing projects coming? Did you submit that query you planned? Finish the synopsis you needed? Write another chapter or two of your work in progress?

No? Why not?

Perhaps you concluded 2017 with nothing to show for your writing efforts. An agent turned you down. An editor rejected your story submission. Family events stole your writing time. As 2018 opened, you asked yourself, “Why am I doing this?”

I’ve been where you are.

I’ve written all my life, but I didn’t try creating a novel until after I’d been married several years and had reared and homeschooled my children. Writing a full-length manuscript was only a fantasy I entertained in my mind—a challenge to myself to see if I could do it—someday. 

Someday came. My children were gone, and I had time without any task to fill it. I attended a few writer meetings, wrote a wonderful manuscript that my critique group assured me was a winner, and proudly toted it to the Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference in California. I was coming home with a contract.  

Reality hit. The agents I met thought the subject had already been exhausted. Editors smiled and nodded but didn’t ask for anything more. Instead of the triumphant, returning writer, I returned home feeling foolish.

By this time, composing stories had entered my blood. Writing had become like an addiction to a favorite food—I only wanted more. I couldn’t stop. I attended five more Mount Hermon conferences, as well as the ones hosted by American Christian Fiction Writers, and wrote three more novels.

Still nothing.

I placed in one sponsored contest and won another. That earned me the attention of an agent. She circulated my manuscripts through various publishing houses and was able to get my work in front of a publishing board, only to come up with no offers. I wondered if I shouldn’t find another way to pass my time.

Once again, I was ready to quit.

I’d always hoped to please God with my creativity, knowing He was the only editor that mattered. He and I had a long talk, and I told Him to remove the desire to create if I was traveling the wrong path. But He didn’t.

In 2016 I was happily writing another novel (are you keeping track of the numbers?) when I received an e-mail from my agent—contract offer! God had answered my prayers. I’d met with this publisher at an Oregon Christian Writers conference earlier that summer, and she liked the book immediately. Not only that, but I had to promise to create two more novels and make this a series. The rest of the story is, as they say, history.

Proverbs 13:12 says: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes it is a tree of life.” Cling to that promise and keep writing.

~~~~~

Love Calls Her Home

Love Calls Her Home by Patricia Lee

Can a hurting boy help two broken people find their way back to love ?

Lissa Frye returns home from the Navy hoping to find a different future—one which includes a husband, marriage, and a family, until news from her sister impacts Lissa’s personal life and derails her plans.

Kurt McKintrick, having lost his best friend to an IED in Afghanistan, has returned to help the man's mother run a horse rescue ranch. Images of war plague him, and thoughts of anyone else he might love falling victim to an untimely end, distance him from the person most likely to help.

Eleven-year-old Jayden Clarke seeks to fill the ache in his heart from his father’s death two years before. But his life is turned upside down when the rancher who befriended him is found dead, the horses neglected, and the dog missing. When authorities arrive to investigate, Lissa and Kurt, estranged after a former relationship, are forced to meet again. Lissa must confront images from her past and Kurt struggles to live with his present truth.

Will Jayden be the catalyst that draws Lissa and Kurt back together for a happily ever after?

~~~~~

About the Author

Patricia Lee is a published author, having written since she first learned what words could do at the age of six. She is a member of the Oregon Christian Writers and of American Christian Fiction Writers. She and her husband have two adult children and live in the Pacific Northwest with two sleepy cats. The first novel in the Mended Hearts series, An Anchor On Her Heart, released in August of 2017. Love Calls Her Home releases in March, 2018.

Connect with Patricia Lee here:

Website: www.authorpatricialee.net

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Patricia-Lee/e/B076DR3FJ8/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17233880

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/patricialeebooks/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/lee_patricia__

Hope Changes Everything by Dawn Kinzer

Hope Changes Everything

Fridays at Seriously Write are devoted to sharing personal journeys to publication and offering encouragement to new and experienced writers. But today, I want to turn the tables and focus on our readers. I’m talking about offering hope.

Almost everything we do in our lives stems from hope.

There wouldn’t be any point to starting a diet if we didn’t have hope it would work and we’d lose weight.

Would we make a trip to the mall to shop for a new outfit if we had no hope of finding something we’d like?

Without any hope of getting a certain job, would we spend time and energy sending a resume and pursuing an interview?

However, it goes much deeper than those things, doesn’t it?

People who have hope have a reason to get up in the morning. They believe during challenging times, painful circumstances will change. Their finances will turn around, the sick will feel better, and broken relationships will be healed.

Most recently, thousands had their lives turned upside down by Hurricane Harvey. The devastation we witnessed on the news from our comfortable living rooms was difficult to watch. The number of people who were reaching out to help, risking their own safety, humbled me. It also made me feel guilty for having grumbled about the ongoing hot temperatures and draught that Seattle experienced over the summer.

When people have hope, they expect a rainbow to someday follow the storm.

But what happens when no matter how hard they try, things still don’t go right? When they’re hit with one horrible blow after another, and there just doesn’t seem to be a way out of their hurtful or messy situation?

They lose heart. They give up. Without hope, people die. If not physically, they die inside.

As Christians, we know all about hope. It’s what helps us deal with dark days, insurmountable obstacles, and heartbreak. We have hope because we know what we experience on earth is temporary. We know there is more beyond our life here.

It may not take much to restore a desire in someone to keep going, to try again. But who’s going to light that spark?

Perhaps it means providing physical needs—funds, items for survival, shelter, or even opportunities that will help them move forward. But, hope can even be ignited by something as simple as an encouraging note, an offered prayer, or a shared cup of coffee and a listening ear.

As Christian writers, I believe we have the ability—and maybe even the responsibility—to inspire hope with our written words.

Will you be someone who kindles hope in those around you?

Remember . . . hope changes everything.

How can you offer hope to someone this week?

Hope’s Design

Hope's Design

In 1904, Hope Andrews, an aspiring fashion designer, struggles with leaving New York City. But with no job, her parents leaving the country, and an abusive ex-fiancé refusing to accept their broken engagement, Hope doesn’t have much choice but to give in to her parents’ wishes that she move far away and live with her cousin indefinitely.

Talented Benjamin Greene can’t deny his passion for painting, but guilt over a painful incident in his past keeps him from sharing his gift. Instead, he devotes much of his days to helping his younger sibling rebuild a farm inherited from a great-uncle. Only his brother is aware that Ben spends his spare time in a studio on their property.

In the small rural town of Riverton, Wisconsin, Hope and Ben can’t help but be thrown together. But as feelings for each other deepen, tension thickens over how talent should be used. Their mutual passion for art brings them together, but will it also drive them apart?

Dawn Kinzer is a freelance editor, and her own work has been published in various devotionals and magazines. She co-hosts and writes for Seriously Write. Her personal blog, The Garden of Dreams, focuses on encouraging women to find purpose and pursue their dreams in the different seasons of their lives. Sarah’s Smile is the first book in her historical romance series The Daughters of Riverton, and Hope’s Design is the second. Rebecca’s Song will be released in 2018.

A mother and grandmother, Dawn lives with her husband in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. Favorite things include dark chocolate, good wine, strong coffee, the mountains, family time, and Masterpiece Theatre.

You can connect and learn more about Dawn and her work by visiting these online sites: Author Website, Dawn’s Blog, Goodreads, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram.

Sign up on her website to receive her newsletter, and you’ll receive Dawn’s short story, Maggie’s Miracle (PDF format) as a gift.

Finding Hope in the Land of Fiction by Annette M. Irby

First crocus of spring at the base of a birch tree*

 

I’m not much of a talk-show watcher. Increasingly I feel distanced from the celebrities who are interviewed and the projects they’re working on. But the other day, I turned on an interview where the guest spoke of family hardships before he landed his first movie deal. He mentioned how God had gotten his family through, and the fact that after the blessing he could give back to his family. You know what surprised me? The audience’s response. Am I the only one who doesn’t expect the crowd to cheer for words like that? I half-expected his segment to be edited down. I mean, he mentioned God after all. But when he gave glory to God, and the audience cheered, I felt something—hope.

There’s a game show (again, I’m not usually a fan, but I happened to catch an episode) on TV where contestants play to win large amounts of money—nothing new about that, right? This show was developed (as stated by the creator) to help people who have helped others. So the contestants are those who are making a difference in their own communities. As they play to win, the audience is invested in their success. Collectively, the audience (and the home viewer) wants to see them win so that they can be blessed like they’ve blessed others. There’s something wired into people that wants to see goodness (selfless people doing selfless acts) rewarded. This is especially satisfying because we’re used to goodness going unrewarded so often. 

 
I think this goes back to the verse: “I would have lost heart unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” (Psalm 27:13 NKJV) People are encouraged by seeing a positive outcome, by seeing God’s goodness here on earth. 

That’s why I love reading Christian fiction. I picked up a book the other day that I thought was from a Christian publisher, because I knew the author from my Christian writing friends’ circles. But from the opening pages, I could tell something was different. The story didn’t have the Christian tone I was used to. The words were harsher; the images, darker; the world more bleak and hopeless and violent. Because I had a different expectation, I was nonplussed. Reading a grim book because I choose to is different than picking up what I thought was a CBA novel and finding bleak, harsh elements. 

So, what makes a novel fitting for the CBA? That’s a question left up to each publisher, though most follow a certain, biblical-based list. I’ll tell you why I love reading Christian fiction—hope. Light. Redemption. Healing. Life. Those are elements I love to see in the books I pick up and include in the novels I write down. 

What about you? What do you like to see in the books you read, and write into the books you pen? What are the elements that, if missing, will cause you to give up on a novel and move on, or rework until those elements are included?

Write on, friends!

~~~~~ 

Husband Material by Annette M. Irby

Wyatt Hansen has no fears about commitment, but only three years have passed since his beloved wife died, and he can't bring himself to break their annual dinner date—that is until he meets restaurant owner, Lara Farr. Lara doesn't have time for romance; she has a business to run. At least that's what she tells herself so she doesn't have to admit that commitment scares her. But Lara's business is failing, and it just may take a miracle—or marketing analyst, Wyatt Hansen—to save it. Can Wyatt rescue Lara’s restaurant, help her overcome her fears, and prove he is good husband material?

~~~~~

Annette M. Irby

Annette M. Irby is a freelance editor and Christian fiction author who dabbles in gardening and photography. She has completely fallen in love with her grandson. She enjoys spending time with her family and husband of over twenty-five years. You can learn more about Annette by visiting her website or her page here on Seriously Write. 

 *Photo credit: the awesome folks at Pixabay

 

Journaling Hope by Annette M. Irby

Happy New Year 2017 banner on blue with stars and ornaments*

Happy New Year, dear friends! 

The new year can bring so much hope, can’t it? My personality tends to vacillate between glass half-full and glass half-empty, but at the new year, I’m a glass half-full thinker all the way! 

Like many of you, no doubt, I’ve seen that some years are much harder than others. If you’re coming out of a challenging year, I pray you’ll grab on to hope that God is at work on your behalf. Recently, during a supremely challenging season, I held on to the following truths about God. I journaled about them, writing them out. Reminding myself. They seem simple, but the following phrases were a lifeline for me. If you need encouragement right now, I pray these encourage you. 

1. God sees. 
2. God knows. 
3. God cares. 
4. God is working on my behalf. 

First, God sees. Maybe you’ve suffered injustice. God saw that. Maybe you’re patiently waiting for your breakthrough. God has seen your patience. Perhaps you’ve prayed unceasing about your situation. God saw that too. What’s more—He honors those prayers and your patience. 

Second, God knows. Not only does He witness what happens in our lives, He understands how those situations relate to us. He knows us. Intimately. He knows our situations. He is not unaware or uninformed. We don’t even have to express it—all that pain or anger—though we can put it into words, if we want. (Raise your hand if you journal like I do. Writing is cathartic, isn’t it?) 

Third, not only does God see and know, He cares. Deeply. Because He can see the impact of those hurtful things in our lives, and He knows how those hardships hit us personally, He has compassion. In fact, in my experience (both at salvation and so many times since) He is moved by that compassion. He can’t help Himself. He rescues. If you write out the list on this blog in your journal, feel free to add: God rescues. He loves to rescue. And whether our pride likes it or not, we all need rescuing at times. Jesus is the Redeemer. He is satisfied (His work is His food—see John 4) in rescuing, redeeming, saving. This truth—God cares—got me through that aforementioned season. I kept telling myself: God sees; He knows. He cares. And… 

Fourth, God is working on my behalf. Oh, if I didn’t believe this I’d be lost. The tricky part is we can’t always see Him working, so we feel we aren’t seen. That God doesn’t care. That God doesn’t know. We have to remind ourselves of our list. You know what… I need to amend my list. Here’s my new list: 

1. God sees. 
2. God knows. 
3. God cares. 
4. God is working on my behalf. 
5. God rescues. 

I can say that because He rescued me and others from that situation I mentioned. In fact, He did the impossible in order do so. Just ask. Like the characters we write about, sometimes we need to get through a situation. Sometimes we need rescuing out of a situation. What do you need? When Jesus walked the earth, He asked a certain question as recorded in the gospels a few times: What do you want Me to do for you? Try journaling your answer to that question. God likes to both place desires in our hearts and then answer them, fulfill them. (see Ps. 37:4) 

Do you need hope today? Try pondering this list. Perhaps write it out. Pray through it. See what God shows you. I’m thinking a year from now, you may see how He has shown up in your situation. My journaling review showed a stark contrast between the depths of that situation and following His rescue. 

Until God manifests His work, hang on to hope. Don’t let go, even if the cord frays. The more you entertain hope, the stronger that cord that’s holding you will become, until it’s strong enough to pull you up and out of your situation. 

God is the God of hope. He will help. 

Have a blessed and hopeful new year, friends. 

Your turn: Have you journaled through a difficult situation? Do you treat your journal as a prayer tool? Do you write out God’s answers? How has a journaling review shown you changes from one season to another? 

~~~~~ 

Annette M. Irby

Annette M. Irby is a freelance editor and Christian fiction author who dabbles in gardening and photography. She has recently fallen in love with her grandson. She enjoys spending time with her family and husband of over twenty-five years. You can learn more about Annette by visiting her website or her page here on Seriously Write. 











* photo credit: the awesome people at Pixabay. 

Writing from Your Pressure Cooker Life by Zoe M. McCarthy

Zoe M. McCarthy

I read Stephanie Rische’s interview “Beth Moore’s Novel Approach to Loving People” published in Today’s Christian Living (November 2016).

In the article, Moore talked about how she’d like to write like Jan Karon, but nothing in her life was like Karon’s books. She had to be true to being someone who’d been victimized.

Many of us have come from what I call pressure cookers. That’s a home or family like a pressure cooker. People inside are abusers and victims. Abusers pressure the victims with verbal, physical, or sexual abuse. Depending on how high the pressure setting is, victims have their gumption and identity cooked to some level of vulnerability.

Moore gave an encouraging statement about victims who feel like they’re up against something that can’t be fixed: “The truth is, sometimes there isn’t a way back. But with Jesus, there is a way forward.” After her pressure cooker past, Moore wants her writing to let others know how wonderful the Lord is.

One stride forward for Bible study writer Beth Moore is a novel she has written. She believes God prompted her to step out of her comfort zone, but even in writing fiction, she had to be true to her vulnerability.

This made me think about how my past has affected my writing.

I enjoy romantic suspense, so it seemed natural to write it. In the three inspirational romantic suspense novels I wrote, I couldn’t seem to get the balance right. In one, the romance and the suspense were good, but the inspiration was lacking. In another the suspense and inspiration were good, but the romance was bland. In the third … You get my drift.

Also, in those novels, my writer’s voice never showed up.

Writing from the Pressure Cooker’s Steam

I think often writers are called to write with God from the vulnerabilities in our lives—either from how we learned to manage the pressure or how we traveled through it and came out of the cooker.

Besides other pressures I grew up under, we moved about every two years, inside and outside of the US. I let out the steam from my pressure cooker by being witty and funny around others. (I had to make friends fast before we moved again!) I used humor to entice people to accept me.

In writing my fifth book, which was published, I let go of my preconceived notions about what I was to write. The words poured out in my writer’s voice. The book was an inspirational contemporary romance full of humor, sass, and tenderness.

In hindsight, I believe God first wanted me to learn about Him, then He wanted me to learn to write through the four rejected novels, and finally He wanted me to write with Him from what my pressure cooker past gave me.

Maybe you have been called to write from how you handled what was inside your pressure cooker. Maybe you write comedy, fairytales, or fantasy.

Writing from the Pressure Cooker’s Process

I think some writers are guided to write with God directly from their tumbled lives. Through non-fiction or fiction, they stay true and show others how to find hope.

Perhaps God has called you to write from your vulnerable state like Moore, because that’s what will help your readers most. You may write women’s fiction or devotionals giving hope.

How has God directed you to use your pressure cooker life in your writing?

God can release the lid on your pressure cooker so, through writing, you can help others. 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

Calculated Risk
by Zoe M. McCarthy

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