Truth and Cookies

We've been planning...

Back to the Whiteboard

Did you notice we have updated photos? Mine kinda looks like I'm wearing a feather headdress.  Hmm.  I might have to do something about that. 


In Latayne's last post, she shared her students' responses as to what makes Christian fiction, well, Christian.  This has been a hotly debated topic from time to time, with no definitive consensus reached.  So the debate continues. Here are my whiteboard choices for Christian fiction:

• The story reveals the characteristics of God - love, sacrifice, redemption, grace, for example. These shine more brightly when contrasted with the evil, sin and godlessness in the story world.
• Gratuitive sex, violence and foul language cheapen storytelling and don't have a place in Christian fiction. There are ways to get around these without being explicit or titillating.  The story can still be true and relevant without leaving the reader with a film of ick. 
•  There are no fairytale endings, nor are all the loose ends tied up prettily, but the reader is left with a hopeful, positive resolution.  Despair, if present, is short-lived.
•  Characters are authentic, flawed, unique individuals on spiritual journeys.  They don't have to stop and pray before every move, but they do come to recognize God's hand in their lives and grow in some way.
• The story doesn't force an agenda or try to manipulate the readers' responses. The author trusts that if the story is told the way it was intended, God can be trusted to communicate with the reader. C.S Lewis' Narnia series is an example of great storytelling without preaching.
• If appropriate and not contrived, a character can make a statement of faith as part of the character arc, but a really well-written story handles this with a light touch. Most publishers clearly state their their guidelines in no uncertain terms in regard to the manuscripts they purchase. You should check the guidelines of publishers you have in mind before you get too far along in your story.
• Stories don't have to mention God or Christ by name to be Christian fiction. Aslan in Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a Christ-figure in that he takes the punishment for Edmund and overcomes death. But there is no footnote that says 'Aslan is really Christ.' I have seen other Christ figures in literature written by authors who are not categorized as Christian fiction authors specifically. That does not lessen the impact they made on me. God communicates in whatever way He chooses.

This is my basic but ever expanding, ever changing definition of Christian fiction. What would you leave out, or leave in? What would you add?  We'd love to hear.

Be it resolved . . .

Latayne certainly got us off to a great start this year with her "We suspected it all along" article last Monday, and my writing sisters have kept the pace. Latayne's revelation that novels can actually leave a physical shadow in the brain that stays with the reader for days was an amazing bit of information. As her title suggested, we suspected it all along. And we've always known that about words anyway.

I read another tremendous post about words soon after reading Latayne's post. I quote from Ann Voskamp's A Holy Experience blog post titled: Dear Kids: What you need to know about Duck Dynasty, Justine Sacco and Christmas. I highly recommend you read the entire post. But this is what leapt out at me:

"Words leave your mouth, your keyboard, but words don't ever expire quietly in a void --- they always explode in hearts."

That is absolute truth. Words are not innocuous. Ever. They impact on some level, even if it's just to inform. If you doubt that, consider this: "In the beginning was the Word." That's how the Apostle John, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, chose to define Christ in the opening words of his gospel. There are so many nouns he could have used instead: In the beginning was the Son of God, the Redeemer, the Light of the World, the Morning Star, the Alpha and Omega. And on and on. But in the beginning was the Word --- which spoke into existence all that is --- and that Word has resonated throughout the universe ever since.

Words matter. The ones we speak and the ones we write. If words are our calling, we have an obligation to use them wisely. Ecclesiastes 12:11 says, "The words of the wise prod us to live well.
They’re like nails hammered home, holding life together." On Wednesday, Debbie talked about her need to "stick with books that include some measure of hope." I'm so with Debbie on that. A novel can take me to the inferno, but if it gives me reason to hope I'll stay with it to the very end. That's what I want to accomplish with my writing. To bring hope to my readers, to leave a shadow on their brains that will point them in the right direction if the need arises. I know I fall short, but it's what I strive for.

But I not only want to write things that make a difference, I want to speak them. I've made one New Year's resolution that I've kept as far as I recall. It was 18 years ago, and the resolution was to begin wearing lipstick. You heard me right. I didn't mind the look of lipstick, but I didn't like the feel of it on my lips. My husband, on the other hand, liked me in lipstick. So I resolved to begin wearing it, and I have ever since. Not all day, every day, but certainly when I go outside my front door.

This year I made another New Year's resolution, one a bit more important than lipstick, and that's to be more positive in my attitude. The past few years have been difficult, and they've worn on me. Often, it's been reflected in my words. So I resolved on New Year's morning to keep my language positive, and to better practice the faith I've worked so hard to develop over the years. If my words are going to explode in someone's heart, I want them to bring life, not death; to encourage, not defeat.

 Only a handful of novels I've read in my life have really impacted me, have left an enduring shadow. The first was To Kill a Mockingbird, which I read in high school way back when. Sadly, most novels I've read are forgettable. They entertain for the moment, but that's it. What creates a really distinctive novel for you? Can you share a title?

The Pain of Promotion

I recently read a novel by an author I’d not read before, first name Annette. I selected it late one night from the sale pages of Christianbook.com when I’d run out of things to read. The first thing that caught my attention was that it was published by NavPress, the house that published my first two novels, so I read the opening pages and was intrigued enough to order it. The novel was surprisingly good, a refreshing find, completely out of the box for CBA, which instantly made me turn back to see the publication date. Aha. It was published in 2006. In my opinion, CBA has tightened its net, so to speak, in the intervening years, and I’m not sure this book would find a home in CBA these days. For more on that, you should read Latayne's excellent post from Friday, regarding Christian Fiction.

Coincidentally, I had an interesting conversation with a longtime employee of the Christian bookstore in my little town (anyone hear Simon & Garfunkel singing?) when I took more of my books in, which they graciously sell. Lynda is very complimentary of my fiction, because she feels it is real, addresses real issues, isn't neatly tied up in the end, and shows the reader she isn't alone in her struggles. But I haven't been able to get a CBA contract since 2008, so there you are.

 Annette did a remarkable job of writing a male protagonist (we discussed writing opposite-sex characters on this blog in August). She wrote real-world characters you could truly identify with, who had goals beyond getting the girl/guy next door, and problems that look a lot like mine. Problems that don’t always have good solutions. I applauded her guts and her ability, and sent her an email saying how much I’d enjoyed the novel. Her response kind of blew me away. She gave me permission to share some of what was contained therein.

Annette is the author of 13 novels, the first published in 1997. It sold roughly 140,000 copies. The others, combined, sold about the same number. Combined or not, I was struck with Serious Envy when I read her sales numbers. I’ve never come close to that, nowhere near, though I never stop working at it.

But it was her next statement that blew me away. She wrote, “As for why I stopped writing …”

Excuse me?!?

Stopped writing?!?

With that kind of success?!?

Yes. Stopped. She had three main reasons:

First, I absolutely cannot bear promoting. I'm quite private, more so as I've gotten older. (I'm 54). I am the only person I know not on Facebook. When I began writing, promotion meant speaking a bit, doing book signings, giving out bookmarks. I did do a blog for a bit, and didn't mind that. But now...I just can't do all that is expected and needed of an author. When I weighed the pain of promoting vs the joy of writing for publication, writing did not come out on top.  I do not see how someone unwilling to promote can publish today.


Second, writing was never a calling for me. I loved it. It came easily and naturally for me, and I had a talent for it. I read a few how-to books and subscribed to Writer's Digest, but I never took a writing class. I attended my first conference after I'd had 7 books out. It wasn't something I longed for or dreamed about. I was a voracious reader, but really never thought being an author was in the realm of reality. It was an amazing surprise.

But my true calling? Hospice nursing. I've been an RN since age 20. It is what I was born to do. It is where I have served, where I have done my best work. It was easy to let writing slip away when it wasn't my only thing, or even my main thing.

“My only thing, or even my main thing.” That line really struck me. Because aside from my relationship with family and God, writing IS my main thing and has been for 27 years. No, it doesn't begin to compare to hospice nursing or any number of other professions that truly help people, but it is my passion. Aside from unforeseen circumstances, I have no intention of stopping. But I completely get what Annette is saying. Debbie also wrote a great post last week on the truth about introverts. Many writers are introverts – and some are shy, to boot, as Lori Benton pointed out. That certainly describes me. So when Annette said she couldn’t bear self-promotion, I could relate so well. And yet, as she spelled out so clearly, someone unwilling to self-promote these days won’t get far as an author.

The environment we find ourselves in as writers today is somewhat of a dichotomy. On one hand, publishing opportunities are greater---and less costly---than ever before, if one is willing to go the independent route. Now that many authors are choosing to go independent, even those who have been multi-published traditionally, the stigma of self-publication has diminished.

On the other hand, going independent means the full weight of promotion falls to the author. And for those of us---which basically is all of us---who dislike self-promotion, it makes the writing life that much harder. Building a readership is like tossing a stone into water and watching the ripple spread out from the initial splash. Turning that ripple-effect into a tsunami is the goal, but how do you do that?

Bloggers and social media participants have formed an impromptu co-op, if you will, helping promote the work of other writers along with their own, but it still creates only a small ripple in a huge pond. And all that promotional work cuts deeply into the author’s writing time. One or the other is going to suffer.

Have you found a way to balance writing with promotion, and have you found a promotional tool that’s been successful for you? Is the fear of promotional responsibilities enough to give you pause as a writer, or perhaps deter you from going independent? What, if anything, would make you put down your pen for good?

Writing Prompts

Today is my daughter Mindy's 38th birthday. Wow, is that hard to believe. I'll call her at 10:00 a.m., the time she was born. That's been my practice for years. My daughter Deanne was born at 5:30 a.m. That's a little harder to do, but I manage. So, Mindy, happy birthday with all my love.

I loved Debbie's post on Friday. Loved the old photo, which could be such an inspiration for a novel, as several of you pointed out. Imagination is such an amazing thing. There's no end to the things that inspire our imaginations, which are truly a gift from our creative God. A few weeks ago, Katy made the comment that writing is very close to dreaming. While I don't dream a lot -- or if I do, I don't remember the dreams -- that time just before sleep is the time my imagination is most engaged, particularly when I'm in the thick of writing a novel. It's a very creative time for me. I look forward to it as though it's the dessert to the end of my day.

Debbie's post got me thinking about writing exercises, like taking a photo and writing an opening paragraph for the story it inspires. Or perhaps writing an entire synopsis. Warm-up exercises are an important part to any number of endeavors. Athletes do them before they run that big race, or play that big game. Musicians do them to limber their fingers. Singers do them to prepare their vocal chords. And many writers do them as well to get the creative juices flowing.

I admit I often skip the exercises at the end of the chapters in the writing books I read, even my favorite ones, like Jim Scott Bell's Plot & Structure, which is a great resource and has some fine writing exercises to drive home the lessons he teaches. The Scene Book: A Primer for the Fiction Writer by Sandra Scofield is another good resource. It too has good exercises at the end of the chapters. So why do I skip them? True confession: It's a combination of laziness and a desire to move on to the next chapter.

But some exercises can be fun, even turned into a game if you approach it the right way. For example, Dragon Writing Prompts, a blog for fantasy and science fiction writers, has this prompt: "...drop a letter from a book, movie, play song, TV show to come up with a new title. Then add on a short plot summary that is, preferably, related in a twisted way to the original." They give some examples: "The Velveteen Rabbi, Huckleberry Inn, Little Omen, Planet of the Aps." You get the idea.

Another terrific resource for writing prompts is found at writersdigest.com. There are exercises like The Tooth Fairy is a Thief, The Ghost of Your Grandmother, Note Behind the Picture. Are you up for the challenge? Can you give us a creative title by dropping or adding a letter to an existing title, then writing a brief plot for the story? Or will you go so far as to write an opening sentence/paragraph for one of the Writers Digest prompts? How do you feel about writing exercises? Do you skip them, or do you enjoy the opportunity to stretch your brain? Where do your best ideas for your creative writing come from?

Name That Author Contest--Winners!

It's been an interesting and challenging contest on Novel Matters. Thanks to everyone who participated! We had fun. We had to hold our tongues. It was difficult not to blurt out the answers as the contest went on. But enough blabbing! One with the winners and the answers to who wrote what:

Our grand prize winner of a $50.00 gift certificate for George Popa Sculptures is: Karen Schravemade!! Karen, email us at novelmatters@gmail.com to claim your prize!

Our second and third place winners who will receive a copy of Novel Matters on Rice (and they are sooooooo pretty!) are: Henrietta Frankensee, and Cynthia Ruchti!!

Ladies, please email us to claim your prizes.

One last winner to announce. We are soft hearted women at Novel Matters, and were so

impressed by one woman who guessed the correct writer most of the time. We have to send out

a copy of Novel Matter on Rice to the lovely (and very correct) Megan Sayer! Email us!

Congratulations to all the winners, and a big thank you to all who played along.

Now for the reveal of who wrote what!

Day one. We began with this excerpt:

My keepers won’t let me out of their sight. If they think I’m going to fill my pockets with seashells like a wannabe Virginia Woolf and walk into the Pacific as if it were the River Ouse, they needn’t worry. That isn’t how I have it planned. Though they’ve pretty much crashed my site when it comes to the logistics of just how I’m going to pull this off now.

This gorgeous bit of writing was produced by Sharon Souza. It's from her completed novel The Color of Sorrow Isn't Blue.

Day two. The excerpt began with this paragraph:

I carry the wrapped child in front of me, in the crook of my aching arm, his head above his curled feet, as if he were alive. As if he had ever been born, or named, or

drew breath, or saw his dying mother’s eyes. As if she had ever seen his.

This is the haunting beginning to Latayne Scott's completed manuscript A Conspiracy of Breath.

Day Three. The excerpt began:

After Mother’s funeral I sat on her bed, fingered the peaks and valleys of her chenille spread and plumped her pillow to lean against the headboard. This was her world. A globe. A jelly glass of sharpened pencils. Bottles and bottles of pills. A tattered tower of crossword puzzles and a dictionary with a broken spine. A tub of

Ponds Beauty Cream. Three library books, one with a bookmark only pages from the end. A picture of Papa, me, and the twins. And a Bible swollen with use.

The rich and dreamy excerpt belongs in Patti Hill's completed novel titled Goodness and Mercy.

Day four. The excerpt began:

“Miz Branch?” a voice called. “It’s Eric Russo. There’s something I think you need to see.”

I opened the door and said hello to him through the screen. Eric was one of those polite boys with the acne and hair that needed washing and shoulders rounded like he was shielding himself from a blow. He held a paper in his hand.

This writing started an interesting conversation about voice and how a writer sounds like the place she comes from. Debbie Fuller Thomas is the author of this engaging writing, it is from her work-in-process, Crossing the Breakheart.

Day five. The excerpt read:

These are words of my lost hope. Lost or taken, I can’t be certain, although I once was sure about the order of my life, of the people who came and went, what things occurred and what did not. Does it seem strange to speak about the things that did not happen? As if absence can be marked by the fact of it. How can a person catalogue the life that did not take place?

This writing comes from Bonnie Grove's completed novel, A Girl Named Fish.

Day six. The excerpt began:

Christina tried to warn me about my boss.

"He's not the antichrist - I'm not saying that. Because everybody's going tolove the antichrist, and nobody likes Chuck. It's his one saving grace. But you watch him."

This last but not least excerpt belongs, of course, to the wonderful Kathleen Popa from her work-in-progress The Wonders of America.

We hope you enjoyed our Christmas contest as much as we did. On Monday, we will post a roundtable discussion about these novels, and explain the context of the excerpts. We invite you to join us on Monday to share your writing and reading insights and ideas.

For now: Did you guess correctly? Is there any author reveals that surprised you?

Name That Author Contest--Day Six!

This is it, the last chance to win a $50 gift certificate toward a George Popa sculpture. It's proving a bit more challenging to tell our writing apart than we thought, but we're thrilled that each of us has been mistaken for the other. Such a compliment!

You'll find an unpublished excerpt from one of our six Novel Matters authors below. Consider this sneak peak a Christmas present for your faithful following. We worry all the time that you are giving us so much more than we can hope to offer. We treasure your friendship and pray that the presence of Christ is staggering in your celebration of Christmas. And after you've read the excerpt, guess which one of us wrote it in the comments section.

Here are the rules, again:

1. One guess per post day. (You may play all six days. That's six chances to win a sculpture!)

2. Guesses will be accepted until 9:00 PM Pacific Time the day of the post.

3. Each correct guess wins you one chance in the drawing.

4. The winner will be announced on December 17, 2011.

There are second and third prizes, too, hard copies of our cookbook, Novel Matters on Rice: What to Cook When You'd Rather Be Writing. They're beautiful and full of easy recipes for writers and others, plus quotes about writing and faith from each of us.

And here's our--ta-dah!--final reading:

Christina tried to warn me about my boss.

"He's not the antichrist - I'm not saying that. Because everybody's going to love the antichrist, and nobody likes Chuck. It's his one saving grace. But you watch him."

I don’t pretend to understand much of what she said, but I knew Chuck, and I did watch him.

Just not near close enough.

The day it began was pleasant, at first - just that. The birds were singing their usual amount. The sky was blue, with a haze on the edges from a recent forest fire someplace to the south.

My friends had dropped by for coffee before I left for work. I called them “the Eena's,” Christina Alvarez and Serena Ortega, sisters who raised their families in adjoining halves of a duplex across the street.

I stood at the kitchen counter, browsing through the stuff my daughter had brought home from school.

The paper I held in my hand informed me that Claire Danes was my great-grandmother. Well - not Claire, but Yvaine, the fallen star she played in Stardust.

Her mother - my great-great-grandmother - was Pocahontas, and her mother was Cleopatra. On the other side of the family tree, a bit further back, was Mary Poppins.

"She got a 'D.' Minus." Christina pointed. "So stop smirking. It's not funny."

"Her teacher's got no sense of heritage."

"No, you know who doesn't have a sense of heritage? You! You have no sense of heritage. No sense of family. Lily, you have no family."

"Ouch."

"Did you even offer to help with her homework?" She punched a finger to the inkjet paper Sierra had been given as a history assignment.

I held my hands up. "What could I do? She never even told me about this."

"And why didn't she tell you? She didn't know she could."

"Not listening." I covered my ears. "You can't make me feel guilty for working and supporting my - "

"I work. And my kids know their family."

Of course they did. Every Thanksgiving and Christmas, Easter and Memorial Day the street was lined with the cars of the Ortegas and Alvarezes.

"That's because you have a family,” I said. “You said yourself - "

"Sierra has a family. And so do you."

Wonderful, isn't it? Give it your best shot. Leave your guess in the comments section. Return on Monday for our Christmas Roundtable. The conversation continues!

Name That Author Contest--Day Five!

Welcome back for day five of the Name That Author Contest. Do the days go by faster in December? Of course, they do! Take this moment to breathe deeply and do yourself a favor. Our contest is a way to treat yourself this Christmas. Read the excerpt below from one of our six authors. This is from her work in progress, never published, never seen by the public. What a treat! If you think you have a guess, go to comments and leave your guess.

We have a wonderful, beautiful, marvelous prize for our contest--a $50 gift certificate toward a George Popa sculpture. Second and third places will win a hard copy of our cookbook, Novel Tips on Rice: What to Cook When You'd Rather be Writing. The recipes are grand and the graphic artwork is done by our own Katy Popa, an artist in her own right.

Just so we're clear, here are the rules again:

1. One guess per post day. (You may play all six days. That's six chances to win a sculpture!)

2. Guesses will be accepted until 9:00 PM Pacific Time the day of the post.

3. Each correct guess wins you one chance in the drawing.

4. The winner will be announced on December 17, 2011.

And here's excerpt #5:

These are words of my lost hope. Lost or taken, I can’t be certain, although I once was sure about the order of my life, of the people who came and went, what things occurred and what did not. Does it seem strange to speak about the things that did not happen? As if absence can be marked by the fact of it. How can a person catalogue the life that did not take place? The cancelled meeting, the person who did not come, the blister that never raised on my foot. I can do this because everything is always happening, all at once inside each of us. I carry in me the same primordial instinct as did my ancestors and the ancestors before them. The footprint of time is stamped deeply into my DNA and my body tells me of the things that never happened to it, but could have. Should have. And in another time, did.

I’m not crazy. I don’t need to be told what is real. These are the days I live with my eyes closed. The days of absence.

This place within these pages is the only place where no one can touch us. No one can approach, encroach, or rip away. We are safe here in the pages of this book. My journal of the other life I lead. This is the journal of my fondest hope, the place where I have found my truest feeling, my deepest emotion, my most real self. The true life I found lying within the husk of an empty future.

I’m not crazy. None of this is real. Yet it is more real than my hands, which write it.

Now it begins.

A life takes up residence so deep within me its existence can’t be detected on earth.

A secret that is buried weightless inside of my flesh. A heart not yet beating, yet it complies with steady contractions of my own heart. In time, it will take on flesh that is forged by will—constructed—life that is sprung from God’s imagination.

From the beginning, the two of us together extend and contract, one begins and one ends, each contained by the other. My body’s darkness possesses his body, and inside of his forming body he possesses our now shared soul.

It is a boy. I know this in the way women know things. He has a name, it’s the one that has dwelt in the back of my mind from the time I was old enough to have my thoughts turn to such things. A name I don’t speak or allow myself to think. Not yet.

They say you should wait until after the first three months—the first trimester—that it’s within this fragile time so many babies slip from the womb. But he is solidly inside of me. I know this, too in that same female knowing way. He is a stone set in the sediment of a tranquil river. A resident, and not just a stranger passing through. The certainty of him seeps in. But still, I wait to speak his name. I know he doesn’t blame me.

I lie in my bed, and together he and I rest in our shared secret knowledge of one another. I sing him songs that until now I didn’t know I knew the words to. As if his presence has brought the memory of music back to me. This sits right and good. Like another miracle being dragged. That is what this is: a cluster of miracles one following on the other’s heels.

You want to read more, don't you? I know, it's wonderful. Which one of us is this? Make your guess in comments.

Name That Author Contest--Day Four!

It's another week of Name That Author here at Novel Matters, our way of partying with you this Christmas holiday. We're glad you're here to play along. Read the passage from one of our works in progress below and guess which of us wrote it in a comment. If you guess correctly, your name will be entered into a drawing for a $50 gift certificate toward a George Popa sculpture. They're beautiful! And just so you know, the gift certificate will cover the cost of one of his sculptures. Amazing. Second and third places will win a hard copy of our cookbook, Novel Tips on Rice: What to Cook When You'd Rather be Writing.

Here are the contest rules:

1. One guess per post day. (You may play all six days. That's six chances to win a sculpture!)

2. Guesses will be accepted until 9:00 PM Pacific Time the day of the post.

3. Each correct guess wins you one chance in the drawing.

4. The winner will be announced on December 17, 2011.

Here is excerpt #4:

“Miz Branch?” a voice called. “It’s Eric Russo. There’s something I think you need to see.”

I opened the door and said hello to him through the screen. Eric was one of those polite boys with the acne and hair that needed washing and shoulders rounded like he was shielding himself from a blow. He held a paper in his hand.

“I think this might be yours.”

He briefly met my eyes and looked away, rubbing the back of his neck with his other hand. I unlocked the screen and took the paper from him.

…and Sophie was not the type of woman to ‘go gentle into that good night’ without raging…

My name rested at the top left corner.

The page wasn’t even wet.

My voice came out pinched and accusing. “Just where did you get this, young man?”

He cleared his throat. “On the riverbank. There’s more, too. Thought you’d wanna know.”

“On the riverbank?” I asked, not comprehending.

“Yes, ma’am. All up and down both sides. I saw it on my way home from delivering the paper to the Jolleys.”

More pages. Not in the river. On the riverbank. On…The growing roar in my ears made it difficult to hear what he was saying, and it alarmed me when he opened the screen and reached out, but in the end he kept me from hitting the floor by carefully lowering me onto the rug where I sat with my head between my knees.

Hey, wait a minute! I want to read more! I'm sure you do, too. Okay, make your best guess and come back on Wednesday for another chance to guess and enter.

Touching Beauty

Debbie's post on Wednesday got me thinking about devastation. She rightly noted that it is an overwrought phrase found on too many jacket flaps. I haven't used the word in my proposals, but I still had the feeling of getting my hand smacked on the way to the cookie jar. I mean, if Talking to the Dead wasn't a story about personal devastation, then Bob's my auntie. Somehow I managed to wade through without using the word. Skin of my teeth.


I believe that all fiction is spiritual because all fiction (even the cheesy paperbacks we hide under our beds) is the exploration of what it means to be human. The human experience is the spiritual experience. And fiction is the human experience under duress. It asks, what is your mettle? What does it matter if you and I were born and grew and cried and wandered and settled and died?


Life asks more of us then we are wont to part with sometimes. We go through seasons of sorrow, loss, ill health, depression, bad bosses, divorce, abuse, or self-hatred and long for them to end - or better to have never happened at all. We turn to fiction to assure us, in a way only fiction can, that we will rise again. That in the midst of the gut wrench, there is lasting meaning. We ask, what worth is suffering? And fiction replies, come close and I'll show you.


When I read impossibly great stories such as Let The Great World Spin, History of Love, Latayne's upcoming novel A Conspiracy of Breath, I'm pulled into the levels of loss, the degrees of suffering common to the human experience. And inside these stories I find I am stretching my hand in front of me, working hard with the story to reach the goal. What is the goal? I suspect there are many ways to say it, many forms it takes, but for me, the goal it to touch beauty.


I can survive the ripping away as long as you can help me see the beauty in the pain. And I'll need help seeing it. Fiction is our helper. It reaches into our untapped reserves and helps us practice living within the safe confines of imagination. It's a stage on which we can rehearse our truth by examining the truths presented to us in story. And the whole time it whispers, Look for what lasts. Don't look away when it hurts. Find meaning. Picture yourself as a rising Phoenix. Touch beauty.


In the end, we all want to trade our ashes for beauty.


What purposes have you found for fiction? Has it shored you? Been a lasting example of hope? A warning? Has it helped you touch beauty?

Novel Matters and She Reads Partner to Create a Wonderful Reader/Writer Community

We're ringing in the 12 Days of Christmas on Novel Matters. (for full contest rules, click the link.)

"On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me...
four calling birds

I'll send a signed copy of Raising Rain to the person who can find an author's last name in the phrase: FOUR CALLING BIRDS and name a title by that author OR submit a book title with one of the words from the phrase and the author. Submit your entry using the "Contact" button above. See complete details for the contest on the November 23rd post. Good Luck! The winner will be announced on Wednesday, December 2nd.

She Reads and Novel Matters – Bringing Writers and Readers Together

Proverbs 15:22 says, “Without consultation, plans are frustrated,

but with many counselors they succeed.”

That’s collective wisdom.

The authors of Novel Matters (Sharon K. Souza, Debbie Fuller Thomas, Latayne C. Scott, Patti Hill, Kathleen Popa, and Bonnie Grove), together with the authors and brilliant minds behind She Reads (Ariel Allison and Marybeth Whalen) announce a partnership designed to bring writers and readers together in a new, dynamic way.

She Reads blog is all about “Discovering Great Fiction Together.” Their motto is "The proper care and feeding of readers." Since their inception, She Reads has reached out to the reading community and provided a place for discussion, book clubs, events, contests, and arranged ‘close encounters’ for readers and writers to connect. Each quarter, She Reads chooses three “picks” to share with their readership. They are part of Proverbs 31 Ministries – an important and dynamic ministry to and for women.

Novel Matters blog is a community that celebrates the creative process of writing. We explore what matters in novels. We are six published authors – our combined books number 27. We have teamed to build a community populated by authors, writers, hopeful writers, readers, and people interested in the different ways of expressing creativity, language, and ideas.

The partnership between these two groups opens new opportunities for readers and for authors. To paraphrase author Kevin Crossley-Holland, we hope to create a "room with big windows" where readers can come into the lives of published authors who struggle daily with words and authors can partake of the privilege of meeting and sharing with readers.

What the partnership will look like:

Each site of course will maintain its own identity, as a readers' community and a writers' community.

Twice a month, an author from Novel Matters will post on the She Reads blog, giving insight to the creative process, answering reader questions, and revelling in our shared love of books and reading. Yes, Novel Matters is populated with authors, but each author is also an avid reader. We devour books and love to talk about our reading experiences.

Once a month, an author from She Reads will post on Novel Matters – bringing a wealth of insight on how authors can reach readers. This goes beyond marketing tips. The instruction they bring will help authors build trust with readers, and touch their hearts.

She Reads and Novel Matters are dreaming big dreams -- of glimpses into each others' worlds -- a place of community where you Read Novels -- where the She of each of you truly Matters to authors who care about their craft and their readers.

Please welcome Ariel and Marybeth!

~She Reads, Of Course!~

It’s funny how the best friendships are often started over a cup of coffee and a great conversation. Or, in the case of the She Reads Directors, Ariel Allison and Marybeth Whalen, an e-mail that basically said, “Hi, you don’t know me, but we will be friends!” (Ariel’s fault – she’s long been in the habit of plucking her friends at random with a gut feeling and a bold invitation).

Yet even in friendship, there must be commonality and for these two women it boiled down to books (and children – they have ten between the two of them). They love to read, they love to write, and they love to recommend books to others. Over the course of countless sessions of Gmail chat they came to the conclusion that book clubs are rather elusive entities. They are scattered, independent, and numerous. Yet book clubs are the heart of the publishing industry, and the key to reaching readers on a large scale. Thus the idea for an umbrella organization, specifically designed to meet the needs of book clubs and individual readers, was formed.

As a long time member of the Proverbs 31 Ministries speaker team, Marybeth suggested the idea to the organization as a way to expand the reach of their ministry. There are countless women who would never darken the door of a church or attend a Bible study but would go to a book club and discuss a Christian novel. It was only a matter of weeks before Proverbs warmly pulled She Reads into the fold. And here they are, just four months later reaching thousands of readers each month. Dozens of She Reads book clubs have formed, and many existing clubs have come under the She Reads umbrella. Women hunger for novels that matter and for authors that are approachable. She Reads exists to bridge the gap between the two.

So who are these two crazy women who’ve shouldered such a massive undertaking? Just two mommies, befriended by words, and a passion to help the world understand the power of story:

Marybeth Whalen is the wife of Curt and mom of six children. The family lives outside Charlotte, NC. Marybeth is a member of the Proverbs 31 Ministries speaker team and a regular contributor to their daily devotions. She served as general editor of For The Write Reason and The Reason We Speak. She and her husband Curt co-authored Learning To Live Financially Free and her first novel, The Mailbox will be released in June 2010. Marybeth speaks regularly to women's groups and enjoys sharing stories from her daily adventures as a wife, mom, writer, and, most importantly, a follower of God.

You can find her online at www.marybethwhalen.com.

Ariel Allison is first and foremost the wife of Ashley, and mother of London, Parker, Marshall, and Colby. She has a penchant for adrenaline-infused madness such as rock climbing, running marathons, and jumping off bridges – as if raising four pre-school boys were not adventure enough. Her first novel, Eye of the God, released in October 2009, from Abingdon Press. She is the co-author of Daddy Do You Love Me: a Daughter’s Journey of Faith and Restoration, and Jesus: Dead or Alive. When not immersed in a book, changing a diaper, or rescuing her dog from the death-grip of a toddler, you can find Ariel loitering in her little corner of cyberspace at www.arielallison.com. She and her family make their home in Texas, which is, according to her husband, the greatest state in the union.

Making Friends, Building Community at Mount Hermon

Our Novel Matters group went to Mount Hermon Christian Writers' Conference, and it was incredible. For all of us it was a wonderful chance to sit with people we didn't know at mealtimes and serve and minister to those who are not as far along in the publishing journey as we are blessed to be.  We attended eye-opening classes about the intricacies of this brave new world of publishing --  a world that has changed radically just in the past year. 

Then, in the evenings, we reveled in each others' company -- what a unique group of women I am privileged to know.  One of the greatest treasures of my life are the women whose writing talent takes my breath away.  And since Katy and Sharon won the Mount Hermon Writer of the Year awards, four of the six of us are award-winning authors now!

And, because I am a total technoidiot and cannot put my picture and post at the end of this blogpost, I have moved myself to the top.  I certainly don't deserve to be here other than to demonstrate that I have not yet learned to post last.  

Greetings from not-so-sunny California. Brr! I'm exhausted and exhilarated at the same time. You'll understand after you read the following round table blog. The six Novel Matters gals just spent five days together for the very first time. Here are our reactions.

So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing. I Thessalonians 5:11

Women get to know each other by telling stories.

Stories about home, hearth, and vocation.
Stories that send us running to empty our bladders.
Stories that crush our hearts.
Stories that tell us we are not alone.

We sacrifice sleep, but not chocolate, to tell our stories, sometimes with threads that weave together and some that embellish with startling clarity.

For the last five days, the Novel Matters girls--all six of us!--have been together at Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference, talking, talking, and more talking. Even though I was assigned to the early-to-bed cabin of the two we occupied, getting to know these ladies proved irresistible. Sleep will happen when I arrive home today. Sitting here with bags under my eyes as big as duffel bags, I don't regret a moment.

Before spending this time together, from my point of view, a newcomer, we were a collection of writers working for a common cause--the growth of upmarket and/or literary fiction in the CBA market. Each woman had become dear for what they offered and the talents they so graciously shared.

Now I have sisters.

They know things about me. I know things about them. And I love them. I ache for their company. I can't wait to be with them again.

We are a community.

~

Sharon here, and Patti's absolutely right. We had the most amazing, amazing time at Mount Hermon this year. There aren't enough superlatives to describe how much fun we had. Since October, when we came together to discuss the possibility of a doing a blog together -- even though some of us had never met -- a friendship has developed, first at the Books & Such retreat in the fall, then through conference calls putting together our ideas for the blog, and then through the fellowship of writing our posts.

~

But nothing, nothing, could top the 5 days we just spent together. I didn't know it was possible to laugh as much as we laughed -- truly, until it hurt -- and to go from acquaintances to close friends in such a short period of time. Most of us got by on about 5-6 hours sleep a night in order to spend as much time together as possible. There were many highlights at the conference, but nothing topped the sheer pleasure the 6 of us packed into our time together. My favorite part was the evening we spent reading our works in progress to each other. My cohorts are incredibly talented women and I'm honored to be associated with them, no longer just as a colleague, but as a sister-friend. I can't wait till we're together again!

This past week has been pure joy. I've known for some time what great company I've happened into, what intelligent, talented women I've found to be my friends and partners on this blog. But now I know so much more.

Such as:

If we ever get in serious trouble, it will be Bonnie's fault.

If we ever get in serious trouble, Latayne is smart enough to get us out.

Patti can make anybody laugh any time without saying a word.

If you ever want to keep a secret, Debbie is the one to tell. Because she was the only one of us who knew ahead of time that Sharon and I would be co-winners of the Steve Laube Agency Writer of the Year Award at Mount Hermon.

That was my favorite moment.
~
They say it takes great intelligence to play the clown. If this is true, then the Novel Matters women must be geniuses. Yes we laughed until we nearly lost consciousness. I might have blacked out once or twice - it's hard to say.
Several things hit home for me this week: Writing is not a competition, but a complication. None of us, not one, should believe that writing must be a solitary pursuit. And, when allowed to soar untethered, the imagination has no boundary.

This past week, I've looked into the eyes of my sister writers and saw there the same creative energy burning unhindered that I feel inside of me. And none of us expresses it in the same way. Katy meanders, unhurried, refusing to bend to the madding crowd - she teaches us to insist on the contemplative, to embrace its fragile arms. Sharon sings songs to our souls, offering healing and truth without reservation - she holds our bruised hands and hums the anthems of hope. Latayne pulls us out of time and space and surrounds us with vivid worlds inspiring us toward knowledge while simultaneously enthralling. Debbie weaves the stories of relationships, leads us into a deeper understanding of ourselves and our place in the world because of who we are and how we treat each other. Patti plants seeds of joy, contemplation and restoration in our minds, nudging us toward embracing our whole lives and all it brings - even when we don't understand it all.

And me? Well, I hope to be an arm around the shoulder, a voice that says, "I understand". A friend for a stretch of your journey.

When all six of us gathered together - in unision with all the others who attended Mount Hermon, we found our strengths made stronger, and our weaknesses diminished in light of true community.

It's a joy to know that this wonderful community not only continues on Novel Matters, but expands daily to include you.


All I can say is "Wow!" What a great time at Mount Hermon. If you've never been, I strongly urge you to make it a priority next year and do everything you can to make it happen. I'm a bit sleep deprived, but filled to the brim and sloshing with renewed energy and inspiration. Not only did I get to deepen relationships with my fellow Novel Matters bloggers, I reconnected with other writers and extended my circle of friends and acquaintances within the writing community. It's wonderful to be able to sit down in a casual environment with an author, editor or agent and see who they are when their author/editor/agent hats sit askewed. We all share the same hopes, fears and dreams, and trust the same Savior to work out His perfect plans in us.

Congratulations to Sharon and Katy for winning the "Writer of the Year" award! It was only fitting that these two friends who met at the same Mount Hermon writing clinic and spurred each other toward excellence should win it together.

The Christy Awards - Good news for readers

The Christy Awards
The Christy Award was named in honor of Catherine Marshall’s novel and of her contribution to growth of the fiction Christians love to read.

How They Work
Every year publishers are invited to submit novels written from a Christian worldview and copyrighted in the year preceding the awards. Each category of novels are read and evaluated against a ten-point criteria by a panel of seven judges composed of librarians, reviewers, academicians, literary critics, and other qualified readers, none of whom have a direct affiliation with a publishing company.

The nominees:

Contemporary Romance Category
Beyond the Night by Marlo Schalesky (WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group)
Finding Stefanie by Susan May Warren (Tyndale House Publishers)
Zora and Nicky: A Novel in Black and White by Claudia Mair Burney (David C. Cook)

Contemporary Series, Sequels & Novellas Category
Sisterchicks Go Brit! by Robin Jones Gunn (WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group)
Summer Snow by Nicole Baart (Tyndale House Publishers)
You Had Me at Good-bye by Tracey Bateman (FaithWords)

Contemporary Standalone Category
Dogwood by Chris Fabry (Tyndale House Publishers)
Embrace Me by Lisa Samson (Thomas Nelson)
Tuesday Night at the Blue Moon by Debbie Fuller Thomas (Moody Publishers)

First Novel Category
Blue Hole Back Home by Joy Jordan-Lake (David C. Cook)
Ran Song by Alice J. Wisler (Bethany House Publishers)
Safe at Home by Richard Doster (David C. Cook)

Historical Category
Shadow of Colossus by T.L. Higley (B&H Publishing Group)
Until We Reach Home by Lynn Austin (Bethany House Publishers)
Washington’s Lady by Nancy Moser (Bethany House Publishers)

Historical Romance Category
Calico Canyon by Mary Connealy (Barbour Publishers)
From a Distance by Tamera Alexander (Bethany House Publishers)
The Moon in the Mango Tree by Pamela Binnings Ewen (B&H Publishing Group)

Suspense Category
By Reason of Insanity by Randy Singer (Tyndale House Publishers)
The Rook by Steven James (Revell)
Winter Haven by Athol Dickson (Bethany House Publishers)

Visionary Category
The Battle for Vast Dominion by George Bryan Polivka (Harvest House Publishers)
Shade by John B. Olson (B&H Publishing Group)
Vanish by Tom Pawlik (Tyndale House Publishers)

Young Adult Category
The Fruit of My Lipstick by Shelley Adina (FaithWords)
I Have Seen Him in the Watchfires by Cathy Gohlke (Moody Publishers)
On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness by Andrew Peterson (WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group)
*****
Our warmest congratualtions to our own Debbie Fuller Thomas for this amazing (and well deserved) honor. All of us at Novel Matters are doing the happy dance with you!

Ha-cha-cha!

Introducing Debbie Fuller Thomas

Gentle writers and readers, this site is for you! We want to give a shout-out to some of our followers: Lady Catherina, Miss Daisy Anne, Melinda Patton, Jimmy Davis, C D, Karen, Lilac Grandma, Hope Wilbanks, Jan Parrish, and Nichole Osborn. More welcomes to come on Monday!

Conflict is central to fiction, but how do you create a work of fiction that is tense, difficult, and sometimes even frightening, yet make it a place readers want to go to, spend time in, and get to know well?
I think when readers fall in love with characters, they will follow them anywhere. When a connection is made, when the reader knows what the character wants and how impossible it is to get, they don't want the character to go in alone. Those of us who loved The Lord of the Rings followed Frodo right into Mordor. The fear, physical exhaustion and despair were palpable, but we climbed Mount Doom right beside him, and were left yearning for more when the story was over.

Where is the strangest place that you had a brainstorm and had to stop and write down an idea or snippet of dialogue?

My daughter used to accuse me of not paying attention to her Little League games because she could see from the outfield that I was writing in my notebook. My husband accused me of writing most of my first novel during his sermons, and he's probably right. But when I started Tuesday Night at the Blue Moon, it was on the way down to Disneyland with my family after my last radiation treatment for breast cancer. I had purchased a magazine to read on the road, and an article gave me a great idea. I think I felt like I had permission to resume my life at that point. I wrote in the car for seven hours, and finally had to stop when my family insisted that we go into the park.

Of your favorite books, what one do you wish you had written, and why?

I wish I had written Leif Enger's book "Peace Like a River" because of the beautiful prose, but more importantly, because he wrote about faith and miracles in such a way that they unfolded from the character's life, as one reviewer said, 'without a hidden agenda.'

What are your favorite things to do to take a break during a long writing session?
I really enjoy cooking comfort food. I'll put on a pot of soup, roast a chicken or make a pot pie (I always make my own pie crust). It makes the house smell so good. Then I might enjoy an older classic comedy like "The Philadelphia Story" or "Holiday Inn," or a newer classic like "What's Up Doc?"

How do you know that you have achieved what you're aiming for in a particular passage you're writing? (That is, before showing it to someone else - what rings your internal chime?
I think of Robert Frost's quote, "No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader." If I dig deeply and draw from my own desires and failures, and can transfer that to my characters and their situations, I feel successful. If they are flawed but they don't quit believing or striving to change, I know I'm on the right track. They can make me cry, but they can also make me laugh.

Tell us about the relationship between your writing and your spiritual life
When one suffers, so does the other. When I depend on God to be my 'muse' and ask him for the words and the story, He always provides. But if I get busy, or try to write on my own, it's worthless junk. Likewise, writing helps me to ask some hard questions of God. Why do kids die? Why do marriages go bad? How do we recognize truth when we see it? I think it's helped me to be a little more authentic in my relationship with God, and He's been graciously tolerant!