The Agent I Never Asked For! by Susan Tuttle

Susan Tuttle

We often think we know what we want, don’t we? Aren’t we glad God doesn’t often give it to us? Once I decided to take some serious steps in my writing career I knew I wanted an agent. And I set my sights on one alone.

That agent was up for Agent of the Year with ACFW that year. After looking up her bio, I decided she was who I wanted. I ran the idea by God, but didn’t fully listen to his answer. I was rather sure it was a “yes” anyway.

And you know, that agent was good. What I wanted was good. But I’d forgotten that God’s plans are best.

I won’t bore you with all the details, but bottom line is I never pursued my current agent  (I was too busy pursuing another). My work landed on her desk because of God and God alone. He arranged that we’d just “happen” to be at a small conference at the same time. And when she offered me representation, God challenged me to write out what exactly I wanted in an agent. My list included someone who believed in writing as a ministry. Who knew the market but also had faith that God gives stories and we better write the story he gives; we write for Him first and foremost. Someone who would challenge me to become a better writer, who’d be my biggest encourager, and who would have faith in me but an even bigger faith in God.

I could go on and on, but what you need to know is when I took her phone call and went over my list, her answers mirrored the answers I’d written down as I’d prayed with God. With peace and excitement in my heart, I accepted her offer of representation. God had provided the perfect agent for me even though I’d never asked for her. I’d asked for someone else. (I’ve since had the opportunity to find out the agent I’d thought I’d wanted approaches writing differently than my heart does. The fit never would have worked.)

I am so blessed that God doesn’t always give us what we ask for. Linda S. Glaz has blessed me over and over with her belief in God’s call on my life. With her prayer. With her knowledge and expertise. And this year she’s up for Agent of the Year. I cannot think of one person who deserves it more, and that’s not slighting the rest of the nominees, but I really do have the best agent around.

So for those of you getting ready to attend conference or querying agents right now. Put it in God’s hands. Prayerfully consider what you need in an agent. What is your heart’s desire? Have that discussion with God before you ever have it with an agent because he’s the author of your career. Take your eyes off what you think you want and ask him who he has for you. Then follow it, because trust me, his plans are always best.

Dora here. If you are represented by a literary agent, was your initial experience similar to Susan's? If not, would you care to share? 
Did you target a particular agent? What questions would be on your list before choosing to partner with an agent? What advice would you add?

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Susan Tuttle is a homeschooling mom of three who is crazy about coffee, dark chocolate, and words—both reading and writing them. Combine that love of words with her passion for leading women to a life-changing encounter with Christ, and you’ll find her crafting Inspirational Contemporary Romance stories laced with humor, love, and healing transformations. When not cheering on her Ironman hubby, chasing the family dog, or tackling complex math problems to teach her kids (yes, even the third grader), you can catch Susan at her blog, Steps.

How a Dutch Author Writes American Civil War Stories by Marian Baay

When I discovered that Marian Baay had a story about the Civil War published, I was curious. How did someone who lives in the Netherlands write about an American war that took place 150 years ago? -- Sandy

Marian: Early 2013, author Murray Pura asked me to join his new Civil War series. I seriously doubted his wisdom in asking me – a Dutchie who hardly knows anything about the American Civil War – to write a story about this very same war. So, I declined.

Until then, I simply thought it was impossible to write about a place I had never visited.

However, the idea to write did not leave my mind. Several months later, I finally decided to give it a try. And so it happened that my research began about a place I had never visited and about a war I hardly knew anything about. A story idea had begun to form in my mind, and now I only needed to find the right city or town in the United States where the story was going to take place. After googling on ‘Dutch in the Civil War’ I was led to Michigan and I started reading everything I could find online about this state. So, for my debut story, Heaven Is Not Far, the internet was the main source of my research.

For my second story, The Officer’s Daughter, I downloaded several free Kindle books. I found most info about the war background that I needed in Union General Sherman’s memoir. Although Sherman was not in Nashville during the battle of Nashville, he did write about his correspondence with General Thomas who was in command of the Union army in the city. An eyewitness account of someone who lived in the hills around Nashville gave me the info I needed about the weather and how the area looked back then.

U.S. Army veterans have helped me understand the military ranks and terms and other info about the army I didn’t know.

During my research, I also use Google Earth and Street View Maps to visit the places I am writing about. Of course, everything looks different 150 years later, but it gives me a good idea of hills and woods and streams in the area.

It was—and still is—lots of fun to write about this period in the American history. However, it can be hard to read about all the horrible things that happened back then. Therefore, I try to add a touch of romance and hope to my stories. Even during the time that the states were at war, people did fall in love and hoped for a better future with their loved ones.

Have you ever tackled writing a story (historical or contemporary) set in a foreign country? What did you find most difficult? 

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The Captain’s Wife by Marian Baay

After being rescued from Confederate captivity, Olivia Burns has married her handsome rescuer—Union Captain Andrew Burns. A few days after their marriage, Andrew takes off to fight in the battle of Nashville and Olivia stays behind, waiting on word from her husband about where they will meet again.

When Andrew sends word that he hopes to meet her in Eastport, Mississippi, she travels down south. Their reunion is sweet and they spend a wonderful night together in a barn, but in the early morning of New Year’s Eve, they are abruptly disturbed by sounds of battle. Andrew must go back to the men of his company and leaves an anxious Olivia alone. Terrified to get captured again, she must learn to deal with her fear and emotions. When someone enters the barn where she is hiding, will her greatest nightmare come true?

You can find The Captain’s Wife and Marian’s previous stories at her Amazon author page: http://www.amazon.com/Marian-Baay/e/B00G51X9QA/

Marian Baay lives in the Netherlands, together with her husband and dog, near the North Sea. She enjoys reading a good book, hiking in the woods, dunes, or nature reserves. As a lover of animals, she has always had various pets to brighten her world. In the outdoors, her imagination runs wild and seeds for stories are planted there.

Marian likes to read and write in various genres, but romance is an important ingredient in her stories. The love between a man and woman is such a wonderful gift from God that she likes to add a touch of that heavenly delight into all her stories.

Visit Marian’s blog to learn more about her: http://marianbaay.blogspot.nl/

Home For Holidays by Gail Gaymer Martin

Gail Gaymer Martin

We're so happy to have award-winning author Gail Gaymer Martin back with us! Today the topic is Christmas stories. Because of family members I've lost around the holidays, it takes a bit longer each year to prepare my heart for Christmas. Today Gail shares how to take tough situations and turn them into uplifting Christmas stories. Enjoy! ~ Angie

Holidays are a time when most everyone wants to be home with their family and friends. Whether birthdays, Easter, Thanksgiving or Christmas, home is where the heart is. But when my mom was a little girl, her mother had a stroke shortly before Christmas. Since she was the youngest child and needed care, she was sent to spend Christmas with affluent relatives living in Grand Rapids, Michigan, hours away from her home and family. While the experience frightened and saddened my mom, later in life she talked about her visit with a few warm memories.

Most of the remembrances revolved around the family’s Christmas traditions—the gifts she received, the Christmas décor and music. But the memory that stood out in her mind happened on Christmas Eve. Mom said the main parlor doors remained closed during her stay, but on Christmas Eve, the doors were opened and she gasped at the huge Christmas tree decorated in a multitude of ornaments and lighted with real candles. Buckets of water sat nearby to put out a possible fire.

Yet a child wants to be with family at Christmas time, and the poignant situation settled in my mind and became a Christmas novella called Yuletide Treasure, a romance with a thread of mystery involving a package Livy, the heroine, is asked to deliver in secret. Instead of a young girl as my mother was, I wrote about a young boy named Davy. Though the story is fictional, the basic idea came from my mother’s situation and the Christmas memories of that experience.

These types of occurrences make great fodder for story ideas, but they are also touching and sad. I have never been away from family at Christmas, except one time by choice, and I’m grateful. I’m sure some of you may have had that experience and can remember how you longed to be home with loved ones.

If you would like to read Yuletide Treasures, it is included in An Old-Fashioned Christmas Collection from Barbour Publishing along with nine other Christmas novellas by various novelists.

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Preparing for Christmas: Christmas memories with @GailGMartin.
Using poignant situations for uplifting stories.

About the Author

An Old-Fashioned Christmas Collection,
anthology by various Christian authors
including Gail Gaymer Martin

An Old-Fashioned Christmas Collection
Many of us have a secret picture of Christmases past—a time when windows shimmered with lacy
frost and candlelight, fireplaces kept a home warm and snug, ladies’ skirts swirled and gracefully skimmed the floor, and gentlemen were gallant and true. Experience Christmases spanning over one hundred years through nine inspiring historical romances, beautifully and economically packaged for you and all your gift-giving needs.

Gail Gaymer Martin
Award-winning novelist, Gail Gaymer Martin is the author of contemporary romance, romantic suspense, and women’s fiction with 52 novels published and nearly 4 million books in print. Her novels have received many national awards, including: the ACFW Carol Award and RT Reviewer’s Choice Award. Gail is the author of Writer Digest’s Writing The Christian Romance. CBS local news listed Gail as one of the four best writers in the Detroit area. She is a cofounder of American Christian Fiction Writers and serves on their Executive Board. She is also a member of Advanced Speakers and Writers and the Christian Authors Network. Gail is a keynote speaker at churches, civic and business organizations and a workshop presenter at conferences across the U.S. She lives in Michigan with her husband Bob.

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The Road to Creating Great Characters by Kathryn Springer

Kathryn Springer

The Road to Creating Great Characters

By Kathryn Springer

Recently I had the absolute privilege to attend the Country Memories Farm Writing Conference in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, as a workshop leader. A beautiful setting, sweet fellowship with other writers, words that blessed and encouraged and. . . alpacas! Speaking anywhere is a gigantic leap out of my comfort zone, but for a girl who loves God’s creation, it was better than a day at the spa. :)

My topic was creating great characters because, well, because I love great characters! The books that line my “keeper” shelf (okay, shelves!) all have something in common. The characters became so real it was like making a new friend. And you keep your friends close, right?

The more you get to know a person, the more they reveal about themselves, which results in an emotional connection. It’s the same thing when it comes to our characters. We want the reader to get to know them. To bond with them. To remember them.

During the workshop, I shared some of my favorite ways to bring characters to life—habits and hang-ups (we all have them!) and the use of props.

Inward thoughts and feelings are usually expressed in outward behavior, so when it comes to your characters, make them count. Tie a habit to something in your character’s past. One of my heroines kept butterscotch candies in her pocket. When she was a little girl, her dad knew she struggled to control her temper so he doled these out to her with the rule that she couldn’t speak until it was gone—and she couldn’t chew it! It was a habit she carried into adulthood. She even knew how long it took for one to dissolve (6 minutes and 38 seconds!). When she and the hero clashed, she went through a lot of candy. In one humorous scene, she handed him a piece and by the end of the book, he was carrying his own private stash!

I brought a life-size, cardboard cut-out of Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz to use as a visual aide for the workshop. She’s holding a basket and her dog, Toto, and wearing the ruby slippers. They’re her standard “props,” aren’t they? But think about props in terms of character.

When the story opens, Dorothy is running away from Miss Gulch, who wants to do away with Toto. That basket is more than just a cute accessory—it reveals Dorothy’s heart. It symbolizes her desire to protect those she loves, even if it means putting herself in danger. On her way to Oz, you see that quality again when the Cowardly Lion bullies the Scarecrow. Dorothy puts her own fears aside and stands up to him.

Consider some of the props in great epic stories. Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber, King Arthur’s Excalibur, Frodo’s ring. Props can reveal a character’s dreams and goals and values. Their God-given gifts or abilities. Sometimes even their greatest fear.

Now think about props as they relate to your characters. Props can also represent a specific career. A musical instrument, a paintbrush, or a laptop computer. A gun if you’re writing suspense. A diary, a piece of jewelry, even a stray dog can be a prop.

Ask yourself what would happen if they lost it. What if it were taken away? Maybe the prop is holding them back from becoming the person God wants them to be. Maybe it’s going to save the world. . . or someone they love.

I hope some of these things got you thinking about your characters in a new way! Now, off to the kitchen to grab some chocolate. . . not that it’s a habit of mine. :) 

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Annette here: I love this advice! So, how about your characters? What kind of props have you given your characters, or could you give them?  

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USA Today bestselling author Kathryn Springer grew up in a small town in northern Wisconsin, where her parents published a weekly newspaper. As a child she spent hours at her mother’s typewriter, plunking out stories about horses that her older brother “published” (he had the stapler) for a nominal fee. Kathryn loves writing about imperfect people, small towns and a great big God.

When she isn’t at the computer, you’ll find her curled up (in the sun!) with a good book, spending time with her family and friends or walking the trails near her country home. 

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A September Bride

All Annie Price has ever wanted is a place to call home. So when an online friend offers her a fresh start managing a little bookstore in Red Leaf, Wisconsin, Annie packs her suitcase and says good-bye to her former lonely life.

Deputy Jesse Kent can't believe his mother has handed the keys to her bookshop to a woman she met on the internet. Annie might be vivacious, smart as a whip and beautiful—but what do they really know about her? Jesse has seen his mother taken advantage of before, and he decides to keep a close eye on Annie.

But when a close eye turns into a historical wedding reenactment with Jesse and Annie as the couple, make-believe nuptials quickly give way to real-life emotions. As the wedding approaches and Annie and Jesse's secrets some to light, the deputy has to face the truth: this wedding was just a ploy, but he might want Annie to be his September bride. . . for real.