Getting to Know You by JoAnn Durgin

Getting to Know You

As a little girl, the velvety smooth crooning of Johnny Mathis often lulled me to sleep. Let me explain. My mother relaxed in the evenings by playing her favorite record albums in the living room, and the music drifted into my nearby bedroom. Considering I was serenaded into dreamland by beautiful love ballads (many from musicals of the fifties and sixties), is it any wonder I grew up to write Christian romance?

One of the songs I remember most vividly was Johnny’s version of “Getting to Know You” from The King and I, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s legendary musical. One of my favorite aspects of the writing process is conducting research. While writing this blog post, I discovered the melody for “Getting to Know You” was originally written for another musical, South Pacific, but it was replaced by another song, “I’m in Love With A Wonderful Guy.” Eventually, lyricist Oscar Hammerstein wrote entirely new lyrics for “Getting to Know You,” and the sweet, upbeat tune found a forever home with Anna and the King of Siam.

Music has played an important role in my life as a way to praise, worship, and fellowship with the Lord. When I’m writing, my headphones or earbuds are never far away. The genre of music I listen to ranges anywhere from classical to contemporary Christian and depends on the scene and level of concentration needed. Drafting? Anything goes. When editing or finalizing a book, however, I prefer silence or quiet background music. Michael W. Smith’s instrumental albums, Freedom and Glory are personal favorites.

Perhaps it was inevitable that music has a strong influence in the lives of many of my fictional characters. Whisper to My Heart features a concert pianist heroine and her guitar-playing, songwriting construction worker hero. Pursuit is the story of a NASA shuttle commander who falls in love with the girl next door, an up-and-coming Christian singer and songwriter. In both of those books, I tried my hand at penning lyrics. Although a different creative stretch, I enjoyed it immensely! In Prelude, the tragic circumstances which inspired Horatio Spafford to pen “It Is Well With My Soul” are recounted. Likewise, in Let Your Light Shine, the children of the main characters act out the dramatic story of John Newton, who wrote “Amazing Grace.”

As you read this, my husband and I will be spending the day in Asheville, North Carolina, the setting of my most recent novel, If You Believe. We will be visiting locations noted in the book and following the downtown Urban Trail with markers depicting famous people and events in Asheville’s history. Kind of a “walking where my characters walked” exercise. As an author, it’s one of my absolute favorite things to do! The song I highlighted in If You Believe is “What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life?” A precious and tender song, the tune and lyrics speak to my heart and make me sigh.

Whether a soul-uplifting and convicting hymn, or a beloved classic love song, music fills my heart with joy. It soothes and encourages me, especially as I’ve grown older and face new challenges. Do you listen to music as you write? Have you incorporated music as part of your books? I’d love to hear about your experiences. Please feel free to share!

Until His Nets Are Full,
JoAnn

How music can inspire our souls and inspire our novels!
#seriouslywrite #encouragementforwriters via @Gr8tReads

Do YOU listen to music when you write?
#seriouslywrite #encouragementforwriters via @Gr8tReads

Whisper to My Heart

Whisper to My Heart

The unlikely romance between a concert pianist and a construction worker.
After a decade of touring the globe, Manhattan-based classical concert pianist Annalise Redmond needs a break. What’s a Juilliard-trained musician to do when she wants to live a “normal” life for six weeks?

Weston Galloway, a former firefighter and member of an Atlanta-based construction crew, is as much into soul-winning as building the new bank in little Darling, Georgia.

Anna’s barely been kissed. Weston’s not looking for love. When these two souls collide in small-town Americana, is their time together destined only to be a precious memory or will they listen to the whispers in their hearts and dare to dream of a future together?

Throw in Anna’s quirky sister and brother-in-law, Weston’s challenging coworker, spirited employees at The Darling Diner, and a cast of lively townsfolk, and you won’t want to miss this journey to Darling!

JoAnn Durgin

JoAnn Durgin is a USA Today bestselling author of more than thirty contemporary Christian romance novels, including her signature Lewis Legacy Series. A native of southern Indiana, JoAnn likes to say she’s “been around in the nicest sense of the word” after living in four states across the country before returning to her hometown with her husband and three children. When she’s not writing, JoAnn loves to travel and spend time with their first grandchild, Amelia Grace. Feel free to connect with her at https://www.facebook.com/authorjoanndurgin or via her website at https://joanndurgin.com.

Time to Cut Loose the Anchors by Sandy Kirby Quandt

Relentless attacks, hijacks, and a temporary shutdown by the host of my blog this past spring, coupled with the rejection of two manuscripts under consideration for nine months, and losing a writing contest by 0.5 points caused me to re-evaluate whether I had what it took to continue writing. Fear and discouragement pushed out trust and hope.

I told God I quit. I couldn’t do it anymore. I was done writing. I threw out my anchor and refused to type one more word. For a time at least.

While I wrestled with God over the future of my writing, I re-read the story in Acts 27 of the Apostle Paul’s shipwreck. While on his way to Rome as a prisoner, Paul’s ship ran into a life-threatening storm. Fear consumed the passengers but it didn’t consume Paul. Knowing there was little they could do about the storm, he encouraged his fellow shipmates to put their trust in the ability of the One who created the wind and the waves to keep them safe.

During the storm’s worst, the men threw out the ship’s anchors. They tied ropes around the rudders to keep the ship immobile. They lowered the sail, and stayed put to wait out the storm.

Two weeks later, daylight came. With land in sight, the men cut loose the anchors which kept them from moving forward and abandoned them in the sea. They untied the ropes which held the rudders in place. They hoisted the foresail to the wind, hung on, and headed to shore.

How many times in the middle of our storms have we thrown out the anchor, tied down the rudder, lowered the sail, and refused to move forward? We see the storm before us, whatever our storm might be, look at our inability to control it, and throw our hands in the air. We forget the one who created the storm placed it in front of us for a reason. To grow our trust and prove he is able.
When we reach the point where we allow our faith to beat out our fears, and hope to defeat discouragement then we’re willing to cut loose the anchors, untie the rudders, hoist the sail, and hang on for the ride. We’re committed. We've released our life into the All-Powerful hand of the One who controls the winds and the seas to carry us safely to shore.
In the midst of my struggle I forgot something important. I believed in my inability more than I believed in God’s ability. I’m not sure if my refusal-to-write storm lasted two weeks like the storm in Acts 27, but after I pouted a while, I knew it was time to cut loose the anchors and get back to writing.

In the midst of my struggle I forgot something important. I believed in my inability more than I believed in God’s ability. - Time to Cut Loose the Anchors by @SandyKQuandt #seriouslywrite #writetip

Sandy Kirby Quandt is a freelance writer and follower of Jesus with a passion for history and travel. Passions that often weave their way into her stories and articles. She writes numerous articles, devotions, and stories for adult and children publications both print and online including Christian Devotions and Inspire a Fire. Her devotions appear in two Worthy Publishing compilation books; So God Made a Dog and Let the Earth Rejoice. Sandy won several awards for writing including the 85th and 86th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition in the Young Adult category, First Place in the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference Children’s Literature 2016 Foundation Awards, First Place in the 2017 Foundation Awards in the Young Adult, Middle Grade, and Flash Fiction categories. Looking for words of encouragement or gluten-free recipes? Then check out her blog, Woven and Spun.
twitter.com/SandyKQuandt

Only One More Week! by Patty Smith Hall

One of my favorite times of the entire year is coming up, and it has nothing to do with Halloween or the coming holidays. Because next week is my yearly writing retreat to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and I’m totally pumped! Eight days of focused concentration on my writing uninterrupted! And the best part? Being with seven other people who get that! If you’ve never had the opportunity to go on a writing retreat, let me tell you—you’re missing out on a chance to grow your writing in ways you’ve never imagined. 

What’s so great about a writing retreat? For me, it’s a chance to be selfish, to focus solely on my writing without having to worry about daily responsibilities that get in the way of long stretches of time. On the particular retreat I take part in, we rent a large house with lots of great writing space, so each participant has their own little nook. We make house rules that include long period of quiet time to give everyone time to write. You can write for as long (or as little) as you like. I usually work around 6-8 hours with short breaks in between, but we have one housemate who is at her computer by seven and doesn’t come up for air until dinnertime. (Talk about commitment!)

Another fantastic thing about a retreat is having several writer-friends ready to brainstorm with me if I run into a problem plot point or character.

To make the most of a writer’s retreat, you need to work out a plan of action beforehand. What do you hope to accomplish? Do you have a daily word count you’d like to achieve? Having a plan cuts down on wasting precious retreat time. For example, I had two goals at a recent mini-retreat I attended. First, I wanted to hammer out the last half of a novella I’ve been working on. Secondly, I wanted to talk through a problem I’ve had with a series I’ve been working on for the last year. The retreat only lasted two days, but I was able to accomplish both. For my Outer Banks retreat, I hope to finish writing the novella and start edits on another project.

So how do you organize a writing retreat? Start with a small group of writing friends who would benefit from such a project. Pick a location that is convenient for everyone(near to an airport, driving distance.) With Airbnb, you can find a place that fits your price range as well as your needs. Consider a retreat during the off-season—you can rent a beach house on the beach in Florida for a 1/3 of the cost if you go the last week of September. Once you’ve secured a location, decided on the particulars—length of retreat, eating in or going out(we have a friend who cooks for us! Hey Laura!), who gets what room, house rules and quiet zones.

Also, don’t be nervous if you don’t know everyone in the house. Last weekend, I knew two out of the eight people at the retreat, but by the time it ended, I had made five new friends who knew my Doctor Quinn, Medicine Woman story!

Because that’s what a writing retreat does—it draws us closer together.

To make the most of a writer’s retreat, you need to work out a plan of action beforehand. via @pattywrites #SeriouslyWrite #amwriting

~~~~~~

Patty Smith Hall lives in North Georgia with her husband of 36+ years, Danny. Her passion is
to write tender romances based in little-known historical moments. The winner of the 2008 ACFW Genesis award in historical romance, she is published with Love Inspired Historical, Barbour and Winged Publishing, and is a contributor to the Seriously Writing blog as well as Journey magazine. Patty is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency. 

5 Things to Consider When Writing Medical Scenes by: Shannon Moore Redmon

How many times have educated medical professionals watched a television show, read a book or viewed a movie only to find cringe-worthy, inaccurate medical scenes? For those of us who want to make sure our trauma scenarios are true to real life then below are some steps to follow.

1) Research!

Few people, even medical professionals, understand how everything works in a hospital. There are so many protocols, procedures and departments that we can’t understand every aspect. Researching treatments, symptoms and tests are important when getting a scene correct.

We want to use websites offering up-to-date true medical knowledge from healthcare professionals to conduct our probe. Be careful when perusing medical sites not backed by a known healthcare facility. They sometimes offer inaccurate information. Below are some trusted places to conduct your searches.

www.mayoclinic.org
www.hopkinsmedicine.org
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases

One of the best ways to research a medical procedure or trauma protocol is to interview a nurse, paramedic, EMT, or physician. If we don’t have anyone like that in our circle of experts, then we can go to the allied health building at our local community colleges and easily find someone in the field of interest.

2) Update Medical Jargon

The language we use in medicine can be overwhelming, difficult to understand and often misrepresented in books, TV shows and movies.

When writing a medical scene, make sure to keep the medical jargon to a minimum. Readers don’t want to read every detail of a cholecystectomy (removal of the gallbladder) or other types of exams and procedures. Too much advanced terminology will take the reader out of the story and give them a reason to close the book. Not what we want. So, keep it simple, to a minimum and accurate.

Extra tip: Make sure all medical terms and titles are up to date. Words and titles change all the time. X-Ray technicians are now referred as Radiographers. Orderlies are called Medical Assistants. Gurneys are now called stretchers, etc.

3) Doctors, doctors, everywhere

Something fascinates readers about doctors. They love to read about them. However, remember, many advanced professionals work with doctors to help them diagnose a patient’s condition. Medicine is a team effort, not a one-person show. Nurses, paramedics, imaging and medical assistants all work together to care for patients. Most doctors do not perform their own ultrasounds, MRIs or complicated lab tests. They order them and let those specialized in those areas work the results out for them, providing them with a final report in the computer system.

4) Love in Scrubs

Even though many dream of a medical romance, most healthcare professionals are not meeting up in supply closets to get a little loving. A hospital is filled with germs, body fluids, blood, vomit anything else that grosses a person out. Yes, we have people who clean, but those who work in these environments understand the nature of staph infections and communicable diseases.

5) Attitudes

As we all know, when working in a large environment of people, everyone has different ideas and attitudes toward their work. A hospital is probably one of the most diverse places one can work, and drama is bound to happen. Instead of creating false scenarios, focus the issues on the characters in the medical environment. Coworkers argue, patients code or die, some doctors get frustrated and lash out at staff while others remain calm under all circumstances.

With a little digging, we can make our medical scenes reflect a true to life experience. For those of us who work in the healthcare field, we still need to do our homework when writing a medical scene. Sometimes things change in medicine.

Remember, many advanced professionals work with doctors to help them diagnose a patient’s condition. @shannon_redmon @MaryAFelkins #amwriting #writerwisdom #writingmedical #SeriouslyWrite

Medicine is a team effort, not a one-person show.@shannon_redmon @MaryAFelkins #amwriting #writerwisdom #writingmedical #SeriouslyWrite

Shannon Redmon remembers the first grown up book she checked out from the neighborhood book mobile. A Victoria Holt novel with romance, intrigue, dashing gentlemen and ballroom parties captivated her attention. For her mother, the silence must have been a pleasant break from non-stop teenage chatter, but for Shannon, those stories whipped up a desire and passion for writing.
There’s nothing better than the power of a captivating novel, a moving song or zeal for a performance that punches souls with awe. A rainbow displayed after a horrific storm or expansive views on a mountaintop bring nuggets of joy into our lives. Shannon hopes her stories immerse readers into that same kind of amazement, encouraging faith, hope and love, guiding our hearts to the One who created us all.

Shannon’s writing has been published in Spark magazine, Splickety magazine, the Lightning Blog, The Horse of My Dreams compilation book, and the Seriously Write blog. Her stories have been selected as a semi-finalist and finalist of the ACFW Genesis Contest and won first place in the Foundation’s Awards. She is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency. The StoryMoore Blog is named in memory of her father, Donald Eugene Moore.

Connect with Shannon:
www.shannonredmon.com
The StoryMoore Blog
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