The Ride of Your Life by Loree Lough

I’m happy to welcome guest author Loree Lough to this week’s Fortifying Friday. She’s here to share encouraging words with us – and you’re in for a treat! Enjoy!

The Ride of Your Life

As a kid, few things excited me more than hearing my parents say, “We’re going to the amusement park!” Back then, I was an adventure junkie. The bigger and more scary the roller coaster, the better I liked it. I didn’t mind waiting to belt myself into a rickety car. After (perhaps) one minute of giggling and screaming, the ride ended, and I got right back into line, and kept it up until my folks waved the flag of parental surrender. I’m still not sure exactly when (or why) it happened, but one day, the thrill turned into fear. These days, I can’t even hang curtains unless the chair I’m standing on has a sturdy back and arms to give the illusion of security!

Dreaming about becoming a published author is a lot like a roller coaster ride. The “light bulb” idea? That’s us, belting ourselves into the car. Each tick-tick-tick as it climbs to the top of the first hill? One stage of story development. Tick: Setting/time period. Tick: Character development/motivation. Tick: Point of view/dialog. Tick: Conflict/conflict resolution. Eventually, the ticking stops because we’ve reached the top…and we bullet toward the next valley. Then it’s tick-tick-tick as we deepen every story element and heighten the emotion. After all the ups and downs called Edits and Rewrites and Second-guessing Ourselves, we reach the final hill—the steepest of them all—and type THE END. During that last plummet, we’re holding our breath and our hearts are pounding as we hit SEND.

Now we’re back in line, waiting, waiting as editors and agents sift through hefty slush piles. We stare at the phone, but it doesn’t ring. We watch the mailbox, but the letter carrier doesn’t arrive. We read email, but “We’d like to offer you a contract!” isn’t among the messages. So we belt ourselves back into that car and start our next stories, praying as we make another trip around the coaster that good news will soon be delivered.

Meanwhile, author friends share “war stories” about books painstakingly written that haven’t sold. About publishers that go belly-up. About editors who move from Company A to Company B…and whose replacements don’t ‘get us’. Bookstores fold, the tally of distributors shrinks, agents cull their client lists, and the few editors still accepting proposals are doing double- and triple duty. And we can’t help but ask “Is my dream worth all this agony?”

Yes. It’s worth it. It’s worth every in-line, in-car, up-and-downhill tick-tick-tick moment. Because at the end of the ride—whether one or a thousand of our books reach bookstore shelves—we’ve accomplished what so many dream of and never experience: Our names on the spine of a book.

Funny, but the thrill of this ride has never become fear, and something tells me it never will.

At last count, best-selling author Loree Lough had 74 books, 63 short stories, and over 2,500 articles in print. Dubbed by reviewers “the writer whose stories touch hearts and change lives”, she has earned dozens of “Readers’ Choice” and industry awards.

Be Still…and Let Your Nail Polish Dry! has been joined by Prevailing Love and Tales of the Heart (Whitaker House). Also from Whitaker, Beautiful Bandit (#1 in Loree’s “Lone Star Legends” series) will be released this June. From Ashes to Honor (#1 in her “First Responders” series from Abingdon) is expected to hit the shelves summer, 2011, along with her third Love Finds You title, LFY in Folly Beach, South Carolina (Summerside).

Loree and her husband split their time between a little house in the Baltimore suburbs and a really little cabin in the Allegheny Mountains, where they cater to a formerly-abused Pointer whose numerous vet visits inspired the nickname ‘Cash’.

To find out more about Loree and her novels, please visit this sites:
Web site: http://www.loreelough.com
Blog: www.theloughdown.blogspot.com

Be a Light

Thursdays - Devotions for Writers

"You are the light of the world.” (Matthew 5:14 NIV)

Are you someone who is affected by the amount of light you receive?

Annette and I live in the Seattle area. If you’ve never been here, it might be easy to assume that it rains ALL the time. Well, that’s just not true. Although it does rain a lot, we don’t have the snow and frigid temperatures that both Annette and I dealt with while growing up in the Midwest. And the sun does frequently show up – well usually . . .

This spring, the western side of this state has experienced unending rain and cloudy weather - for weeks. In the past, rainy days have never bothered me. You get used to throwing on a coat with a hood. During winter months, you snuggle up to the fireplace. In the spring, you curl up with a book or watch a movie.

But after non-ending gloom, I began to feel tired and unmotivated to do anything. I had to force myself to get out of bed and push through the day. That’s unusual for me. I’m pretty driven to accomplish an extensive list of “to-dos” each day. My husband and friends noticed the same thing about themselves. We weren’t depressed. But we did feel closed in and a little down. There just didn’t seem to be any reprieve in sight. One weather forecast after the other dispelled hope that warmer temperatures and clearer skies were in our future.

Then that changed. Summer arrived! Energy levels went up. Attitudes got better. The world became a better and brighter place!

It made me think . . . Many people live under clouds of gloom. They live bogged down, wondering if anything will ever get any better. What they deal with has nothing to do with the weather. It has to do with the struggles of daily life, and the voids they feel in their hearts and souls. Even if the sun is shining, the world can look pretty dreary if you don’t have hope.

We are each called to be a light in the darkness.

One way we can do that is through our writing. Our stories, articles, and devotions can help those who feel like they’re stumbling around in the dark.

We have the responsibility to share God’s love and forgiveness.

We have the privilege of bringing hope to someone who may desperately need it.

Use your God-given gift of writing and be a light.

Dawn

Tips for Writers: Taking Your Setting From Static to Fantastic

Author Carla Capshaw is here this week on Writer’s Journey Wednesday to share how a setting can enhance a story. Dawn here. Authors have talked about giving personality to a character’s environment, but Carla’s explanation and examples helped make it click for me. Enjoy!

Tips for Writers: Taking Your Setting
From Static to Fantastic

If I were a betting girl, I’d wager we’ve all read at least one book that could be considered a “wallpaper” book. You know, the kind of story that if it weren’t for the time stamp at the beginning of chapter one or the occasional reference to ball gowns instead of bell bottoms, you’d be hard pressed to remember if the book took place in 1875 or 1975. Regardless of its other redeeming qualities, a “wallpaper” lacks color and pizzazz. There’s a reason jewelers display diamonds on blue velvet. The light may be what makes them sparkle, but it’s the rich background that makes them most noticeable.

As writers, we want every facet of our story to shine. We obsess about plot and characters. We spend hours weaving elaborate back stories, imagining every detail from the flecks of gold in our hero’s eyes to the height of our heroine’s shoe heels. We dream up conflicts we hope seem impossible to overcome and do our best to make certain we have a “because” for every “why.”

Depending on the genre, most of us have spent hours researching historical accuracies, legal proceedings, or devising the rules of our own Paranormal world. So, how is possible, then, that our settings are often relegated to background static instead of being used as a full-fledged orchestra?

In my books, I get to visit a wide range of times and places, but in my opinion a great setting is more than just a certain year or country. To me, it’s what makes the word pictures we write high definition instead of fuzzy black and white.

Here are a few ways I like to use setting to best advantage:

• Use weather or seasons to emphasis your character’s story arc. For example, in my latest release, The Protector, I used the cold, damp days of a Roman winter to magnify the loneliness of my heroine’s life. As the story progresses, she and the hero travel to the Amalfi coast where the warmth and color of their surroundings mirrors the happiness they’re experiencing together.

• Use setting as a metaphor for your character’s inner emotions. In my book, The Duke’s Redemption, a storm outside is like the tempest of pain raging in my hero after he receives the news of his brother’s death.

• Use a contrasting setting to magnify a character’s personality. Ex: Nothing escaped Agnes’s dreary disposition. Even the daisies lining the garden path seemed to wilt when she walked by.

• Use setting to highlight a character’s circumstances. Ex: Before the war, the Smiths had known every luxury. Now, the parlor’s curtains and threadbare rugs were as faded as the family’s glory.

• Remember to engage not only the characters’ senses, but the readers, too. Whatever the scene, include as much sound, taste, touch, etc. as possible.

I hope these ideas have helped to get your creative juices flowing. What are some of the techniques you use to make the most of your settings?

Florida native Carla Capshaw always dreamed of being a writer and world traveler, she followed her wanderlust around the globe before beginning work on her first novel. A two-time Rita nominee, Carla loves passionate stories with compelling, nearly impossible conflicts. She's found inspirational historical romance is the perfect vehicle to combine lush settings, vivid characters and a Christian worldview. Currently at work on her next novel, she still lives in Florida, but is always planning her next trip…and plotting her next story. Carla loves to hear from readers.

You can learn more at http://www.carlacapshaw.com/

To contact her, visit her Web site or write: Carla@carlacapshaw.com.

God's Promises to Writers Series: Help!

Help!
God's Promises to Writers Series
Net's Notations Tuesdays

If you don't know what you're doing, pray to the Father.
He loves to help. You'll get his help, and won't be
condescended to when you ask for it.
Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought.
People who "worry their prayers" are like
wind-whipped waves.
Don't think you're going to get anything
from the Master that way,
adrift at sea, keeping all your options open. (James 1:5, MSG)

This same verse, in another translations, speaks of wisdom, which was last week’s promise. “If any lacks wisdom . . .” But I love how it warmly refers to God as our Father, ready and willing to help.

When was the last time you needed help in your writing? My answer: today. I spent the early part of the day editing a chapter of my WIP (work in progress) for critique group Dawn and I attend. I wanted to bring them something they wouldn’t expect and I needed God to inspire me. He did! I was surprised as I rewrote the scene. That’s key. Surprises in the writer lead to surprises for the reader. Yay!

How about you, when was the last time you needed help? Maybe you had writer’s block, or needed answers to some research questions. Maybe you were praying for a mentor and God brought one just in time to help guide you. Maybe you received a rejection on a dear project and needed help carrying on. Or perhaps got back some contest scores you hadn’t anticipated and the responses stung.

Aren’t you glad the same God who called you will help you when you need it? I’m convinced, though, that He wants us to humbly come ask Him for that help. It’s good for helping us keep 1 Corinthians 4:17 in mind.

For who makes you differ from another?
And what do you have that you did not receive?
Now if you did indeed receive it,
why do you boast as if you had not received it? (1 Cor. 4:7)

Here’s an invitation from our Affectionate Father:

“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace,
that we may obtain mercy and find grace
to help in time of need.”
(Heb 4:16, NKJV)

I want to avail myself to that offer of help. God’s called us to write, and He won’t leave us without assistance. Rely on Him. He’s got this—exactly what you need. It’s one more of His promises to writers.