Is This Real Life?

So, a LOT has happened since I last blogged (clearly, blogging is not on my short list of things to do).

Long story short: My prayer for 2014 was that God would give me a breakthrough in my writing. Well, He showed up in ways I never expected, and He answered BIG!

• I got to be a finalist in the ACFW Genesis Contest.

• I signed a contract for my first book with a brand-new company that I am over-the-top excited about.

• My book is mentioned here and here alongside fantastic authors I have adored for years.

• My book cover is super cute!

This is such a gift of His grace and I'm so thankful! 

If you're chasing a dream, please keep pressing in. I know how loud the discouragement can be, but God put that dream in your heart because the world needs it. Tell the voices to shut up, and chase on! I'm praying for your breakthrough.

Guest Post at Writer...Interrupted

I'm over at Writer...Interrupted this week talking about discouragement. I'd love for you to stop by. While you're there, be sure to check out all the great articles for writers.

Click here to read more.

NaNoWriMo Prayer Guide

November 1st is fast approaching and writers from all across the world are preparing to head into their writing caves for NaNoWriMo. The goal: crank out 50,000 words in 30 days.

We're fleshing out our characters, finalizing our plots, and cooking meals ahead of time to store in the freezer so our families don't go hungry (okay, that last one's a lie, but it's a good idea). But the most important thing we can do to prepare for a whole month of head-down writing is to pray.

I have a group of five friends who are my prayer warriors. They didn't really sign up for the job, but they got appointed whether they like it or not, and they'll be getting way too many messages from me over the next month. I can't possibly do NaNo without their prayers.

Here are the things I'm asking them to pray for:

• God to release the story He wants me to tell and breathe life into it

• Clarity in my plot - that I'll know how every aspect of the story fits together and where things should go

• My characters to come to life on the page

• Grace to fit this into my already busy life without my family feeling any negative effects

• A supernatural ability to write powerful and effective words

• At least 50,000 words (good words!) in the next 30 days

• An extra super-duper overflowing dose of creativity

• The voices of doubt and discouragement to be silenced

• My internal editor/perfectionist to shut off completely

• Rest in the midst of it all

• Anything else the Lord tells them 

How about you? How do you prepare for an intense time of work (writing or otherwise)? What prayers would you add to the list? 

A Newbie Goes To Conference

Last week, I attended the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) Conference for the first time. It was flat out amazing. I could talk about it for hours, but I'll spare you and just give you the highlights.

I arrived on Wednesday and jumped straight into the My Book Therapy Pitch and Promotion workshop, which really helped to ease my nerves and prepared me for my agent & editor appointments. My coach for the day was Lisa Jordan, who is quite possibly the world's greatest encourager. She's also a Carol Award winner. That's just how she rolls.

The very best table at the MBT Scrimmage.
Jeanne Takenaka, Mindy Obenhaus, Lisa Jordan, and me. We're missing
Lindsay Harrel, who was probably roaming about the room spreading Lindsay cheer.

Thursday morning, I went to the Early Bird session taught by Nancy Kress and took page after page of notes on writing scenes. That session was packed with helpful lessons. 

Later on Thursday, I volunteered to help set up the dining room for that evening's dinner. I really didn't know what we would be setting up before I went, so imagine my happy surprise when I found out that we were placing a free book on every chair! This is my kind of place! By the end of the weekend, I had a stack of books to bring home from all the lunch and dinner gifts.

About to head into the first main session with some of my OKC writer friends.
Me, Janet Lee Barton, Terri Weldon, Julie Jarnagin, and Lacy Williams.

Thursday afternoon, the conference officially started with worship led by Rachel Hauck and a keynote from Michael Hyatt. Both of those things were awesome. I tried to take a picture, but this was all I got.

You'll just have to trust me. That's Michael Hyatt.

Friday morning, I had my first appointment with an editor, and I didn't throw up or pass out. Win! I actually enjoyed meeting her and had a nice conversation. Friday afternoon, I met with an agent and was really encouraged by what she had to say. In between all that were loads of amazing classes on writing.

Friday night was the My Book Therapy Pizza Party. They put on a writer's version of the musical Oklahoma and it was hilarious. 

Lindsay "Curly" Harrel, Jeanne, and I having a yeehaw good time.

Saturday was the day of unexpected God moments. It started at breakfast when I met Connie Mann and continued later when I met Allison Pittman. Everyone I met at the conference was so wonderful, but these two ladies went out of their way to connect me with industry professionals. They didn't have to do that. Nobody even asked them to, but they did it anyway. I walked away from my conversations with them so encouraged, and was inspired to be as thoughtful of other people as they were to me. And for some reason, I didn't take a picture with either of them. Next year!

Saturday night was the big Awards Gala, which was SO fun! I was so happy for all the winners, and got teary during nearly every acceptance speech. It's just so exciting to watch people living their dreams.

Me and Julie (aka the best roommate ever!) on our way to the Gala.

Cheering for our friend the Genesis finalist, Erin Taylor Young.

Erin! Your face is on the big screen! How cool is that?!

Sunday, the conference ended with worship and lots of hugging and saying goodbye.

Worshipping with 700 other writers was awesome.

My prayer going into the conference was that I'd get just a bit of encouragement to keep going on my writing journey. God was faithful and gave me the encouragement I needed by the bucketful. And as an added bonus, He connected me with tons of people who will be my lifelong friends. As an introvert, I was nervous that I'd be overwhelmed with all the people, but I truly enjoyed being with everyone, especially my OKC writer friends. 

I'm already counting down the days until next year!

OCFW Blog

My lovely friends at OKC Christian Fiction Writers let me post a book review on the group blog today. I know it's a small thing, but it feels like kind of a big deal to me. I really love the people of OCFW and this makes me feel like I'm really a part of them (as opposed to a stalkerish writer wannabe). :-)

You can check it out here.

Ted, Tosca, and the Vein of Gold

Last week, our local writers group hosted a dinner with authors Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee. There was so much about the evening that impacted and encouraged me that I'm still processing it all a week later.

Ted and Tosca both said things that I've heard before in one form or another, but for some reason, when they said it, it stuck. I'm sure it has something to do with the season I'm in and what God is trying to say to me at this particular moment in my life. It felt like He sent them to speak truth into the deep places of my heart.

The thing that struck me as profoundly beautiful about these two amazing, successful authors is that they know who they are. I hear the phrase "comfortable in their own skin" thrown around a lot, but that really does perfectly describe Ted and Tosca. They have their own style (which involves tattoos and wearing black) that was different from the rest of us at the table, but they didn't make us feel like we weren't cool enough or hip enough to be with them. And they easily could've, because they're very cool people.

See how cool they are? I may have worn my black shirt in honor of them.

Instead of being too cool, they intentionally engaged with every single one of us. They wanted to hear our stories, and they loved and encouraged us to the point that we walked away wanting to be more like them in all the ways that matter. (And I may or may not have had daydreams about getting a tattoo) :-) The weird thing about it, though, is that by being true to who they are, they encouraged me to fully embrace who I am. I can't really explain it, but I've felt utterly trapped by the need to meet certain expectations and follow the rules and, if I'm honest, gain approval from people. It's time for me to break free from all that.

Along those lines, the thing Ted said that impacted me the most was this (paraphrased)...

Just put your heart on the page. Find that vein of gold--that place where all the stuff in your heart just flows and tears are streaming down your face because you've found a way to put truth into words. Tell the story of your heart and don't worry about getting published or following the rules.

And Tosca said something along the lines of...

When I write, I have to pretend like no one is ever going to read it. If I worried about what people will think, I'd never get anything written. (I think she actually used the term "literary constipation," which is hilarious).


The whole experience swirled together to create some serious self-evaluation for me. I walked away asking questions like:

Why am I struggling so much with my current story?
What are the deep and true reasons I'm writing?
Why do I want to be published? For real.
How can I figure out how to put my heart on the page?

After lots of prayer and processing, I feel like God gave me a very simple answer. I can't put my heart on the page because I'm not writing the story of my heart. My heart's story for this season is a freedom story, but I abandoned it at the beginning of the year. I had gotten lots of feedback that the concept was too controversial, that it probably wouldn't ever sell. So, I put it away and started on a new, less controversial project. I still like that new story, but I've had to fight through every step along the way. It felt like I was trying to write my way through a brick wall and couldn't for the life of me figure out why it was so difficult. Now, I think it's just not the time for that story. God put a freedom story in my heart, and it's time for me to go back and tell that story with everything I've got, without worrying about if it'll ever sell.

So that's what I'm going to do.

Thanks, Ted and Tosca for being true to who God made you and for speaking life into this writer's heart.

More Baby Steps

So, I'm really good at consistent blogging (sarcasm).

Since my last post, I've had some really encouraging things happen in my writing journey...

• I got some great feedback from several contest judges, and even finaled in a contest.
• I joined ACFW.
• I attended my first mini-conference and learned a TON, and I met some awesome writers.
• I've continued learning online as part of the My Book Therapy community.
• I joined my local writing chapter (OCFW) and have absolutely loved it. I just feel like I've found the perfect place to belong, and I've been given a mentor (she's amazing!) to help me along in my journey.
• I started a new story and I've set a goal of writing 20,000 words by the end of this month.
• I entered the first scene of my new story in the Frasier Contest.

As you can see, I'm continuing to take baby steps. It's so tempting to try to rush ahead and get farther, faster. But I have bathed this journey in prayer from the beginning, and I know that God is leading me at the perfect pace. I trust Him to open the right doors at the right time, so I'm going to close my eyes, hang on to His hand, and enjoy the ride. At least, I'm going to try. :-)

Staying Focused

I haven't done much blogging here or on my personal blog in the last few months because I'm desperately trying to stay focused and finish my book.

Like everyone else in the world, I have a day job and a super-busy family that I'm supposed to love and nurture and feed three times a day (or in the case of my teenage son, seventy-two times a day), so I have very little concentrated writing time. The time I do have, I spend on my work-in-progress. And yes, it's the same WIP I've been working on since last November. I told you how rough that rough draft was, right?

My goal is to have it completed by the end of November and enter it in another contest. I've found that contest entry deadlines are really great targets for me and help me to keep pushing through even when it's hard (which is most of the time). I like having something to shoot for and I think it's good practice at meeting real deadlines, which I hope to have someday.

Anyway, I just wanted to check in. Now back to writing rewriting. :-)

The Silver Lining of Loserville

I recently got my scoresheets back from the first writing contest I entered. Surprise...I didn't win. :-)

Let me just say, I have a whole new appreciation for anyone who creates something, then has the guts to release it into the world. It is a horrifying experience, but one I'm thankful for.

My entry was judged by two anonymous authors. Judge #1 gave me very high marks (we love her!). Judge #2 gave me very low marks (haters gonna hate). I've had some time to process, have an emotional breakdown, then come back to rational center. Now I can see how incredibly valuable each judge's feedback was.

I opened Judge #1's sheet first and it's a good thing I did. She made positive comments all over the place and gave me the kind of encouragement I really needed at this point in my journey. She also gave constructive feedback about specific areas she thought could be improved. Overall, Judge #1's comments helped me believe in myself and quiet that voice of doubt that had been whispering things like...  

The judges are going to laugh at how awful your entry is. 

They'll probably save your piece to use at conferences when they need a hilarious example of how not to write.

You're like one of those people on American Idol who says "My mama thinks I sing better than anybody else on the whole planet!" And then Simon tells them it was rubbish and that their mama's a tone-deaf idiot. (this one was honestly my biggest fear in entering the contest)

Thank you Judge #1 for helping me quiet those voices.

Then I opened Judge #2's sheet. She had nothing good to say about anything until the very end when the scoresheet specifically asked for her favorite part of the entry. And even then, she only mentioned one little sentence and said "Good detail." Meh. I had two solid pages of feedback consisting of comments like boring, not buying it, cliche, needs more grit, just commit and paint the picture, make me care about these characters. Okaaay then.

After I yelled at Judge #2 for a while, I went through and tried to look at every remark objectively. Even though it was painful at first, I had to admit that while I needed the emotional encouragement of Judge #1, following Judge #2's suggestions would make my story stronger which is ultimately what I want. I mean, if I can rewrite that thing and make Judge #2 love it, then there's a much better chance that other people would love it, too. Right?

So, I picked out a few things to keep from my original entry, then scrapped the rest and completely rewrote it.

And guess what. It's soooo much better.

Thank you Judge #2.


So the upside of being a big, fat writing contest loser is...

      1. Actual people read my work, criticized it and I didn't die.

      2. The criticism pushed me to become a better writer. Go figure.

Baby Steps

I'm taking baby steps on this journey.

When I first started thinking about writing a novel, I couldn't really imagine how little ol' me could start with a blank page and end up with an engaging story 100k words later. So my first year of dream chasing was spent testing the waters, seeking answers to "Can I really do this?"

I immersed myself in studying the craft and story ideas began to bubble up until one took hold and stoked me enough that I thought I could spend the next year(s) of my life laboring over it.  I created characters and outlined a plot, something I never imagined could be so life-giving for me.

I started following several writing blogs and joined My Book Therapy, an online community for aspiring writers of Christian fiction, a community that was invaluable to me when I took my biggest baby step yet. In November 2010, I decided to participate in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo for short). During NaNo, people all over the world sign up to write a novel (at least 50,000 words) in one month. I don't know if it was a great idea for someone who has never written fiction to jump right in and try to write a whole book in 30 days, but guess what...I DID IT! I wrote my first-ever first draft of a novel and I got the little "NaNo winner" badge to prove it. (Note to self: slap that badge up on this blog)

That first draft was rough. Oh man, was it rough. But for the first time in as long as I can remember, I felt like I had actually accomplished something. I set a huge goal for myself and I reached it! And at the end of November, I decided I really can do this.

2011 rolled around and I set some more goals, mostly involving a complete rewrite of that rough draft, then fighting through all my fears & insecurities to submit my work to a contest where actual people who know what they're doing read it. Nauseating.

Baby steps, for sure. But with each step, I feel more alive. I feel like I'm finally becoming who I was made to be. My heart says this is it for me. I'm on the right path. 


Baby steps. It's really the only way to get anywhere, don't you think?


"Who dares despise the day of small things?" Zechariah 4:10

Chasing A Dream and Hearing Voices

It's been a whole year since a new dream hit me upside the head.

One night last May, I was overcome with the need to write, which in itself isn't all that unusual for me. But the kind of writing I wanted to do surprised me. I suddenly found myself wanting to write fiction. Like, really wanting to write fiction.

I've always had a little seed of a dream of writing a book in the way back of my mind, but I always thought it would be nonfiction. For one thing, I don't consider myself a very creative person, so it never occurred to me that I could create engaging stories. But in that moment, I just knew I had to try.

Why?

1. I love fiction. I love to read and get lost in a story.

2. Stories change people. In my day job, we say we measure success by stories of transformation. I want to tell those kinds of stories.

One phrase kept running through my mind that night and has continued every day since. I want to tell a compelling Kingdom story.


So, I decided to learn how to do it. I went to the library, checked out a stack of writing craft books and started studying. Some concepts were easy for me to grasp, but for the most part I felt like I was in waaaaay over my head. And the voices of doubt began to whisper. Or shout.

Who do you think you are? 


You'll never be able to write a novel.


You're too old to start chasing this dream. You should've started 20 years ago.


There's already a writer in your family. You'll never be as good as her. (It's she! "You'll never be as good as she." See?! You're not even good at grammar!)


The voices kept talking, but I also began to hear whispers of encouragement that kept me going. I had to choose which voices to listen to and which to shut up, which, as it turns out, is a full-time job! The voices never stop.

Learning how to write fiction has unearthed a whole new set of insecurities and fears for me. I have a feeling I'll be posting about those a lot as I continue to battle them on this journey.

But I'm pressing on.

My dream is worth it because God put it in my heart. He intended for me to chase it -- why else would He put it there? When I fully believe that, chasing my dream becomes an act of worship, an offering to the Creator of the universe. And worship is never wasted.

Whether this dream turns out like I want it to or not.


Are you chasing your dream?