Putting It Aside, Moving On by Robin Caroll

Robin Caroll

I remember the first manuscript I hacked out on a typewriter. (Showing my age, aren’t I?) It was bad, and I mean, bad. That was back in the 90s. Thank goodness I lost that manuscript in one of my moves. Yes, it was THAT BAD. Then I wrote a story I just loved. Wrote it, rewrote it, polished it until it was “ready.” Submitted it to a publisher. Um, it wasn’t ready. It now sits happily UNDER my desk. That was early in 2000.

Between then and now, there have been many a manuscript on my computer in various stages. Some completed, some not. Some I really love, some, not so much anymore. But there is a story on my system that I love. It’s one that comes straight from my heart. It is ready for submission. Matter-of-fact, it’s been submitted to many places. Oh, I’ve gotten the personal, nice rejections, but not a contract. Again, let me reiterate, I LOVE this story. My writing buddies love this story. But for some reason, editors don’t. Or it’s not right for them. Or it’s too similar to something they’ve already contracted. Or . . .

Know what I’m talking about? There comes a time in every writer’s career when they have a story that means so much to them, is so personal to them, that it’s almost obsessive in the way we write. And when it’s done and edited and ready to go out, we just KNOW it’s going to be snapped right up. But it doesn’t. We get rejection letters. We get depressed. We pull the story out again and revise. We resubmitted until our story has seen every editor’s desk in the business. We’ve revised until we can’t revise anymore. And still it’s not contracted. We can spend months, years even, on this one story to no avail. No contract. No interest.

Each writer will come to this crossroads sometime in their career. Each writer will have to cross the hurdle, much like overcoming writer’s block. Each writer will have to make that painful decision to put the story aside and move on. Yep, you heard me—put the story of our heart aside and move on to something else.

Ouch, that hurts. For me, it was several months of pouting. Kicking the couch. (Would never kick my dog.) Pouting again. Stomping around the house until the hubby and kids were cowering in closets. Depressed. Angry. Depressed again. Pouting. Watching others getting their stories of their hearts published. Pouting. Depressed again.

And then I grew as a writer.

I saved the story of my heart onto a disk. (Ok, two different ones—I’m obsessive, what can I say?) Then I did the hardest thing, I deleted it off my desktop. My heart pounded, I felt nauseous. But I knew I had to. And then I did the unthinkable—I started a new story. I’d learned there’s a time to put away a story and move on to something else. I’d grown. I’d become a “professional” in my career thinking because I would write something else, something that might have a chance of being published. One story does not a writer make.

I still miss that story of my heart sometimes. Every six or seven months, I pull out the disk and read through it. I don’t save it to my computer though. I read it, then put it away. I’ve moved on to something else, and doing so got me published.

One story does not a writer make.

One day . . . one day it’ll be that story’s time. It’ll be its turn. And I’ll take it out, probably revise it for the millionth time, and send it out again. Who knows? It might be snapped up in a minute.

But until that time, I’ll keep pressing forward. Keep writing what I can. Keep giving each current story all my attention. I’ll keep doing so because I want to be an author, because I DO have more than one story in my heart.

One story does not a writer make.

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One story does not a writer make. Click to Tweet
We just KNOW our story will be snapped right up. But it isn't and it hurts. Click to Tweet
Sometimes we must put the story of our heart aside and move on. Click to Tweet

About the Author

“I love boxing. I love Hallmark movies. I love fishing. I love scrapbooking. Nope, I've never fit into the boxes people have wanted to put me in.” ~Robin Caroll is definitely a contradiction, but one that beckons you to get to know her better.

Robin’s passion has always been to tell stories to entertain others and come alongside them on their faith journey—aspects Robin weaves into each of her 24 published novels.

When she isn’t writing, Robin spends quality time with her husband of twenty-plus years, her three beautiful daughters and two handsome grandsons, and their character-filled pets at home.

Robin gives back to the writing community by serving as Executive Director for ACFW. Her books have finaled/placed in such contests as the Carol Award, Holt Medallion, Daphne du Maurier, RT Reviewer's Choice Award, Bookseller's Best, and Book of the Year.

Samantha Sanderson At the Movies
by Robin Caroll

Samantha Sanderson At the Movies
Sam Sanderson is an independent, resourceful, high-tech cheerleader. She dreams of becoming an award-winning journalist like her mother, and so she’s always looking for articles she can publish in her middle-school paper (where she secretly hopes to become editor). And with a police officer for a father, Sam is in no short supply for writing material.

It seemed like the perfect opportunity.

When an explosive device is found in the local theater, Sam gets the lead on this developing and controversial story---controversial because the movie theater has recently come under attack by a renowned, outspoken atheist for allowing a local church to show Christian movies. Sam’s police-officer father happens to be heading the investigation, and Sam can’t resist doing some sleuthing of her own with the help of her best friend Makayla’s techno-genius. But when Sam’s theories end up being printed in the school paper, she lands in big trouble---and danger!

Samantha Sanderson On the Scene
by Robin Caroll

Samantha Sanderson On the Scene

What if getting to the bottom of a mystery means learning how to love your enemy?

As Samantha and the rest of the middle schoolers prepare for the upcoming Spring Fest, “mean girl” Nikki faces the reality that her parents are getting divorced. Samantha has a hard time sympathizing---Nikki has never been very nice to anyone, let alone Samantha.

But when Nikki becomes victim of a string of attacks, Sam takes it upon herself and uses her super sleuth abilities to get to the bottom of the bullying. After all, articles on bullying are just what the school paper needs instead of all that silly fluff like popularity tips. Samantha enlists the help of her tech-savvy BFF, Makayla, but while the two track down clues, they leave a trail of trouble behind---and may even be directly responsible for the break-in of their very own school’s computer lab!

Samantha Sanderson is a resourceful seventh grader with the extraordinary dream to become an aspiring award-winning journalist. Sam and her best friend, Makayla, are always sniffing out the next big mystery to report in the school paper---that is, when they aren’t busy navigating the crazy world of middle school, faith, and friends.

Looking Back and Looking Ahead by Anya Novikov

I'm happy to host Anya Novikov, a YA writer and enthusiastic supporter of this blog. Have you ever thought that this world's gone crazy? Young people acting worse than ever and it's all going to you-know-where in a handbasket? Well, Anya has done some research on another period in history and found that folks are not all that different. Here's her take on what history really teaches us. - Angie

After I read Little Women for the first time at age eight, I knew someday I’d be a writer.

Indeed, I got by-lines and awards writing for the high school newspaper. I co-edited the senior yearbook. Got excellent grades on college term papers but . . . I can confess it now:

Only when I took on a position teaching Freshmen English did I really understand how to write. Breaking it down, stripping it to the bone for fourteen-year olds finally brought me comprehension. Honed my own understanding, and resurrected my own skills. I mean, I knew how to get it right. I just hadn’t understood why.

Along with the students, I drew spider diagrams for pre-writing. Helped them with their rough drafts--required to be handwritten. Yapped endlessly about the No-No List. (“Do not use second person; its/it’s are not the same thing, nor are there/their/they’re. Use semi-colons sparing if at all. Don’t use ‘the end’ because your conclusion statement should BE the end. Bleh bleh bleh.)

Oh, and we had a dictionary unit. They learned how to check spelling and definitions in the grubby class set of thirty Merriam-Websters.

Most of all, we worked on uncovering their “voice.”

Then the big kahuna: a typed final copy. Oh, yes, I started out in the days of the dinosaur: the typewriter.

Technology hit us all over the heads quick, though, and I can’t deny embracing The Computer and Word Processing myself. No more messy white-outs. No more re-typing a whole page because another phrase or word would work better.

No more endless drafts because you could firm up the rough draft in Word. Save it. Fix it...

No more...shall I admit it? Yes, I use Merriam-Webster online. I fix it with a fast click when little red squiggles dance underneath a glob of letters . . .

Yet I rather yearned for the Old Days when Raymond, a dear, C-plus/B-minus student turned in a wondrous paper I had to fail. I knew him, his skills. His voice. It just wasn’t his work.
Tearfully, he vowed the work was his own.

To impress me, he’d hit “Synonyms” to find bigger, fancier words whenever he could. (Such explained his use of magnanimous.) And yes, I accepted his re-write.

And technology bit in other ways. Later on, I double-checked a boy’s college-admission personal statement. He gushed about his eagerness to attend Pepperoni University.

(Spell Check doesn’t know Pepperdine.)

One last area I hoped I hammered home to those legions of rapt students: The comma. “Of course there are rules, but when in doubt, leave it out. Put one in if you read your sentence out loud and naturally pause. Always use a comma after an introductory clause or phrase.”

Bleh bleh bleh.

Anyway, in the recent past, working with editors now and reading voraciously, I’m finding the comma is leading a different life. Why is it now so acceptable to smush introductory clauses and phrases into the main sentence without the comma?

Why is the final comma in a series so ignored? Grrr. I guess I’m just too old school.

Just today, I read an article on an animal shelter fund-raiser where “the food will be prepared by professional chefs, and dogs and cats from the shelter.”

Obviously not written by one of my former students. ☺

Anyway, those days I spent back in “high school” also inspired my first-ever Young Adult romance, The Circle Girls: Once Upon a Witch, recently released and part of the launch of a brand-new line, Watershed Books.

You see, in addition to freshman, I also taught American Literature to Juniors, and the Salem Witch Trial unit was always their favorite. Somehow, someday, I knew that grim time in history would gel into a story suitable both for teens and their parents. It isn’t about witchcraft at all — nor were the trials in 1692. It’s about finger-pointing, bullying, refusing to take personal responsibility. And I loved writing every word of it, used SpellCheck and synonyms . . . and made certain I got those commas right!

Since I write Western romance both inspirational and secular under another name, I must admit I wonder what the future holds for Anya (my pen name). Will my love of American history and literature continue to worm its way onto the page?

Will those good and evil prep-school kids have more adventures? Learn more lessons? Do I retain enough of my high school “voice” to write another?

I don’t know. But so far, it’s been a good ride. Or should I say, write?

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It’s about finger-pointing, bullying, refusing to take personal responsibility. Click to Tweet
"Pepperoni University," because Spell Check doesn't know Pepperdine. Click to Tweet
Most of all, we worked on uncovering their “voice.” Click to Tweet

Anya Novikov lives on California’s Central Coast with her firefighter husband. They thank the Lord every day for their sweet family, good health and many travels. Although Anya writes full time, she finds she misses “high school” because, she always learned much more from her students than she taught! She’s got a Contest Page so check it out . . . and keep in touch.
Connect with Anya:
anyanovikov.blogspot.com
anya.novikov@aol.com

The Circle Girls: Once Upon a Witch 
God will give you blood to drink . . . An ordinary teenager finds out what witch-hunting is all about—in her own everyday world.

When Deliverance “Delli” Willis, an ordinary, almost-sixteen-year-old, finds herself dreaming wild dreams, she’s amazed when some of the stuff appears during her classroom unit on the Salem Witch Trials: When a dream girl of 1692, who shares Deliverance’s name, finds herself entranced by a mysterious man in the woods, Delli finds a new neighbor walking through her family avocado grove.

Eager to share the handsome newcomer with her circle of friends, she doesn’t realize the danger of someone unique entering the closed loop. Fingers point, jealousies surge, lies are cast, sides taken—and people are out for blood. It’s a modern-day witch-hunt that collides with 1692 in ways Delli never dreamed.

It will take lessons from her dreamscape and a stand against bullies to tighten Delli’s faith in our omnipresent God.

For more information about The Circle Girls, click here. Or check out my review of her book here.

Because Jesus’ Love is Better Than a Vampire’s…

by Krista McGee
How did I get started writing? It was 2008 and my high school English students were so engrossed in the popular vampire novels that they were completely ignoring my lectures on dangling participles and misplaced modifiers (shocking, I know!). So I read the books, and I immediately recognized why these students – the females especially – loved them so much: This was what we all crave. We want to be loved, cherished, treasured so much that someone is willing to give up everything for us, sacrifice himself for us, tell us and show us every day in many ways that we are his beloved. But these books – and the romance within their pages – fell short. No man will ever meet all our needs. No earthly romance will ever fully satisfy us. We are the Bride of Christ, and until we fully embrace that relationship, we will never be truly fulfilled.

So I thought to myself, “Someone ought to write books for teens where Jesus is the main character, wooing the girl to Himself…” That thought got stuck in my mind, wouldn’t leave. And from that thought, the idea for my first novel, First Date, was born.

First Date, loosely based on the book of Esther, is the story of a teenage girl thrown into a situation she doesn’t want to be in, surrounded by people very different from those she is used to because God wants to use her in ways she never expected to be used.

I wrote the book in the summer of 2009 with no assurance it would ever get published, and no confidence that I could even finish it. I left home with my laptop in the mornings, going to the public library, Panera, or anywhere I could find some quiet space to write. God gave me just what I needed each day. I’d wake up to repeat that process again the next day. And the day after that. And the day after that. By the end of the summer, the book was written.

God directed the next steps in ways only He could. He opened up the door for me to get an agent and, with her help, to find a publisher willing to take a chance on me. In the fall of 2010, I signed a three-book contract with Thomas Nelson.

Each of the three books in that series is loosely based on a biblical woman, and each of them has Jesus as the main character, wooing the girls to himself – in different ways, to different girls, in different circumstances. Starring Me is based on the story of Isaac and Rebekah, and Right Where I Belong is based on the book of Ruth.

Last spring, I signed another contract with Thomas Nelson for a young adult dystopian trilogy. The first book in that series, Anomaly, will be out in July. For more information on that or any of my other books, please visit me at www.kristamcgeebooks.com on Facebook at Krista Abney McGee or Twitter @KristaMcGeeYA

When Krista McGee isn't living in fictional worlds of her own creation, she lives in Tampa and spends her days as a wife, mom, teacher, and coffee snob. 

Dora here. What about you?

What inspired you to write in your chosen genre?

Right Where I Belong
by Krista McGee

Natalia’s about to discover her place in the world . . . and it’s not following in her father’s footsteps.

After watching her father jump from one marriage to the next, Natalia has completely written off love. And when her father divorces his third wife—the only one who has been a mother to her—Natalia is ready to write him off too.

Needing a change of scenery, Natalia leaves her home in Spain and relocates with her stepmother to sun-soaked Florida. But she didn’t realize just how far a new school, a new culture, and a new lifestyle would push her out of her comfort zone.

One of her biggest surprises comes from Brian, a pastor’s son with an adorable smile, who loves God with a sincerity that astounds Natalia. She doesn’t want to fall for him, but she can’t seem to avoid him long enough to get him out of her mind.

Love is the last thing Natalia wants. Even so, God has her right where she belongs.