Dear Diary...

I don’t know how this post will end. I’m journaling before your very eyes. One of my favorite writers is tired and discouraged. She announced she's taking a sabbatical on FaceBook today. I won’t give her name. I’m not trying to speak for her. Her announcement just brought my own fears to the surface. Maybe we should talk about this.



Dear Diary:

She receives starred reviews from Publishers Weekly! They say things like, her novel is a “staggering examination of the Christian conscience” and her work rises above the typical with “her portrayal of the soul-desiccating acquisitiveness in which many Christians engage, often in a misguided attempt to numb both their heartache and their awareness of God's potentially life-upending plans.”

I love her writing, even though I don’t know what “soul-desiccating” means. (Note to self: look it up!)

She’s taking a sabbatical, maybe one year, maybe two. She’s tired. She’s discouraged. She needs a break from contractual writing to be refreshed and hear from God, not necessarily in that order. I completely understand.

I saw her at a conference recently, made a point of stalking her until I garnered the courage to introduce myself. She’s lovely. I learned so much from her in just the few minutes we talked. She sure loves her readers.

She also loves her publisher and editor. They are giving her the time, without penalty, to be refreshed. Such support is incredibly encouraging.

What surprised me most about what she said is this: "I'll never be one of 'the popular kids.' I'm finally realizing that and you know what? That's totally okay. But what I have to figure out is how to wear the badge of 'acquired taste' with honor instead of wishing for different badges." That totally bums me out! If this young woman who has reached for excellence and risen to heights I only dream to achieve and still hasn’t found a broad audience, what am I to think about that? Should I give up now?

There are things that aren’t perfect about writing in the CBA. (We aren’t in Heaven yet, you know.) For one, the more books on the shelf by a given author the better. We must develop our brand and stay in front of the reader, they say. Are readers that fickle? Should I be drinking Red Bull? How about a ghost writer? Anyone?

And why don't Christian readers love this woman's writing? She isn't an acquired taste. For me, it was love at first read! She's daring in her plotting. Her writing isn't corralled by fear. She makes me THINK!!! She dares me to consider God as bigger, yet closer and a little on the wild side.

I will pray for this author as she asked. And from my reaction, I definitely need time at His feet. There are questions I have to answer, again: Did I really hear His call to write? Why am I writing? Who am I writing for? Who is my audience? How do I avoid burnout? Can I? Where does Jesus want me?

I’m open!

Am I the only one asking questions or double-checking my calling? What sort of questions are you asking these days? We’re friends. We should talk.

Wielding Words With Wisdom

On Monday Sharon talked about words that rankle - trigger words that can make a reader sit up and take notice (or itch). I'm in the throes of editing my next novel and Sharon's post reminded me how powerful words are.

In that spirit, and considering we are running our second Audience with An Agent contest, I wanted to share with you a list of the top ten things you can do to improve your writing in 2010.

1) Write to the right audience
You have an amazing story - now picture yourself reading it aloud, - to an empty cow pasture. The story is fantastic, but no one is listening. How can you ensure your story will find an audience? By knowing your audience before you write. Part of it is to understand the genre you write in, but it goes beyond that to the actual people who will read (and love) your story. Think of specific people in your life and write to them. Knowing your audience will sharpen your fiction, keep it on track, and help you use the perfect words to express the story.

2) Let go of your inhibitions
A sure-fire line to kill a great story? "Oh no! I could NEVER write that!" I'm not talking porno or profanity, we're all sick to death of being bombarded with those things. I'm talking about holding back from asking the bigger questions, poking evil in the eye, having a character act in a way that you would never act, or think things you would never think. By avoiding difficult conflict, you're killing off the best parts of your fiction, the parts that examine questions we all have. Wrestling with story is wresting with life. I say, "Let 'er rip!"

3) Make space
Grab some real estate in your home and make it your writing space. Guard it. Don't let junk mail pile there, don't let kids toys and other people's cell phones clutter your space. You don't necessarily have to have a whole room, just a space to call your own. By taking your writing seriously, you'll train everyone in your household to take it seriously too. If you're feeling cramped and crowded in, it will show up in your writing.

4) Clear your mind
A writing life can be a cloistered one - all that tip-tapping away on a keyboard, deep in thought, lost in a storyline that doesn't quiet make sense yet. Make a habit of getting out there in the world. My Dad calls it, "Blowing the stink off" and every writer needs to do it. Writing is a reflection of life and it's issues and you need to experience those things in order to write about them. Take breaks, call a friend, get out of the house and clear your mind - it sets the stage for fantastic fiction writing.

5) Read dense books
Like to write zippy cozy mysteries? Got a passion for chick-lit? Great! But you owe it to yourself to get out of the wading pool and swim in deep waters. Get lost in a classic book, or discover a shining new literary talent. Find a book that challenges the assumptions of your life, examines questions you've never asked and boggles your mind. Wrestle with the text, suffer through the passages you don't understand, or care for. Read outside your favorite genre - Your writing will blossom.

6) Be passionate
Find the things in life that move you, thrill you, anger you, enthrall you. Then chase them for awhile. Rub up against people who aren't like you. Find that gutsy, lusty, go-for-the-gusto part of you and embrace it. Great fiction is filled with passion for living, for people, and for stories. Throw open the doors of your heart and embrace your red-hot joy for living.

7) Stop trying to explain
Fiction must be about human experience. Many writers, in an earnest attempt to convey a meaningful message, resort to heavy-handed, neatly wrapped packages (especially endings) and hollowed out characters who only exist to serve the message. Give your characters depth and let them live out the story instead of trying to live up to your message. Remember, life is messy - therefore fiction needs to be messy.

8) Be Unique
Every writer looks to other writing for inspiration - each of us stands on the shoulders of writers before us. But there comes a time when you must leave the road others have travelled and forge your own path. You must tell your story your way - not the way your favorite author would, not the way your Pastor's wife would, not the way your Great Aunt Bea would. Fling your own words around the page. Dig deep, and trust your instincts.

9) Try something new that scares you
It's been said, "Fiction is conflict". Writers love to dream up characters and then throw them into all sorts of harrowing circumstances. But when was the last time you had a heart-pounding adventure? How can you recreate the feelings, sensations, and inner dialogue of someone in peril if you haven't left your house for ten years? Find something that makes your pulse jump and go experience it!

10) Admit life isn't simple
Okay, you have a great story, wonderful characters, a theme, an outline - everything is ducky! But check again - have you tied too neat a bow on the whole package? Have you let your characters get sloppy, make mistakes, and put their foot in their mouth? Is your story a journey with pit-stops? Life isn't a simple tale, and your fiction shouldn't be either. We all like happy endings, but it's so much more interesting to leave a few threads loose.

You Mean I Have to Cook Dinner Too?

We at Novel Matters are wildly proud that two of our bloggers, Patti and Debbie, have new novels making their debut this month. The only dilemma is, which do we offer first as a prize to one of our readers? Turns out, this month the prize will be Raising Rain by Debbie Fuller Thomas. (Next month's prize will be Seeing Things by Patti Hill.) All you have to do to be eligible to win is leave a comment on one of our posts during the month.

Is there a writer on earth who hasn't, in one way or other, compared the production of a book to childbirth? Can we not see how cliche it's become to refer to a novel as "my baby," or to say we are sending our children out into the world when we really mean we are submitting our manuscripts for publication?

Maybe we see it, but the cliche persists for the reason all cliches persist: it's true, so very, very true.

For instance, one way writing a novel is like having children is that it is all-absorbing. You go to sleep thinking about your characters and wake up the same way. Day after day they disrupt your life, demand attention, wear your patience, and yet you love them, and the proof is that daily you submit yourself to their abuse.

The other way writing a novel is like having a baby is that you gain weight - at least if you're not careful.

My first time, I was not careful. For six months, we ate Hot Pockets for dinner. That's only a slight exaggeration. Sometimes my husband brought home hamburgers.

I am not a person who ought to gain weight on purpose, so when I began to write a second novel - on purpose - I figured I needed a better plan.

It turned out to be chicken breasts. Where I live, you can buy skinless, boneless chicken breasts in what they call "Family Packs." Someone at the store has assumed we all have enormous families, because there are about seven or eight big-enough-for-two chunks o' meat in there.

So the idea was, at the beginning of the week, to put all of those breasts into a Pyrex baking dish, dump a can of broth or onion soup on top, and bake. Then, throughout the week, we would have:

• Chicken tacos
• Chicken and veggie stir-fry
• Chicken wraps
• Chicken and bean soup
• Chicken Caesar salad
• Chicken over pasta
• Chicken surprise (Bet you've already guessed what the surprise is.)

It was worlds better than Hot Pockets, which I'd learned to dislike. And I didn't gain weight.

However, a couple of recent events have me rethinking my plan once again:

1) I watched Julie & Julia, a wonderful film. Now I have Meryl Streep on my desktop wallpaper, I've got the soundtrack playing on iTunes, and I have a new desire to cook sensually and joyfully. But not lobster - this girl doesn't drop living creatures into boiling water, though she's happy enough to eat the results when someone else does. And not boef bourguignon - I do want to get my writing done as well.

2) In simultaneously cooking dinner for friends and finding a use for a gigantic zucchini I'd been given, I rediscovered the recipe for ratatouille. I'd forgotten how much I loved chopping fresh vegetables and herbs, simmering a big pot on the stove, tasting, adjusting seasonings, and tasting again. And to think that it was all vegetables! A person like me needs a lot of recipes for fabulous vegetables.

So I thought I'd put the question to you. No, I'm not asking for recipes (though I'd be loath to refuse them), but for your thoughts and best ideas for surviving well this life of writing stories. What difficulties have you faced and conquered - or not conquered? How do you keep your house decent, your family loved, your boss happy? Or maybe just: how do you keep your health?

Please, do tell.