more books for you

I can't think of a better way to end a week that to tell you about more books. If you have a minute please hop over to Janna Ryan's great book blog and check out her top ten list for historical fiction in 2009. In celebration of that list, Janna and some authors are giving away some wonderful books. If you leave a comment you'll be entered in the drawing which doesn't end till January 24th. I haven't read all the books on Janna's list but they look so interesting and I wanted to tell you.

http://cornhuskeracademy.blogspot.com

If anyone more computer savvy than I would like to leave the direct link in the comment section below I'd sure appreciate it! The Top Ten Historical Books post is from Sunday, January 10, 2010. You may see a few dear to your heart - and mine:)

anxious hearts

I love this painting by John Buxton* of 18th-century frontier women. It captures the anxiety of the times so beautifully. Even the women's clothing is very authentic. You can almost reach out and feel the homespun and linen. The baby is so well drawn she looks real - I'm convinced that she's a she:) I'm wondering what it is they're looking at so intently. Their men are away, maybe in the fields, but most likely doing something far more worrisome by the expression on their faces.

What about you? Have you been beset by anxiety lately? Wondering what the new year will bring? I'm guilty of having an anxious heart at times. More times than I care to count, actually. There are a number of great unknowns in my life right now. Yours too, I'm sure. Just yesterday I found this wonderful passage from the old devotional, Springs in the Valley:

When a man is living on God's plan he has no need to worry himself about his trade, or about his house, or about anything that belongs to him. The only thing a man may be anxious about in this life is whether he is working on God's plan, doing God's work; and if that is so, all the care of everything else is back on God.

Did you notice the unusual wording above? I said that the painting "captures the anxiety of the times so beautifully." Anxiety is not beautiful, doesn't feel beautiful, but it can be beautiful if we give our worries to Him.

If the Lord careth for thee, be thyself at rest. -Archbishop Leighton

*John Buxton.com

pick a title

A big thank you to all who participated in the book giveaway! It was fun mailing books to Kentucky, Oregon, South Carolina, Virginia, and even Canada:) I can hardly wait to do it again come July when I'll be sending out quite a few copies of Courting Morrow Little. So please stay tuned. I might even host another giveaway between now and then.

I'm happily working on my third book and have my first ever critique partner who shall remain a mystery because that's the way I think she'd like it:) I can see the value in having someone else read your writing. Even when you try to be very careful with edits you do overlook things. She's also something of an 18th-century historian in her own right so that doesn't hurt:) When I pen something decidedly 19th-century she calls me on it...or will.

So now that I'm back in Roxanna's world, I need some help coming up with a winning title. If you don't remember I once called her book, The Scrivener's Daughter. Most people probably don't know what a scrivener is (or care). And it sounds a bit dull. Like it might gather dust. And I don't want that! Because a locket figures so prominently in the story, I changed the title to The Locket. That sounds a bit better. Kind of intriguing and old-fashioned. But lately I've been wondering if I shouldn't rename it once again. Third time's a charm, as they say. So I'm now calling it, or at least thinking of it as, The Colonel's Lady.

So if you were to wander into a bookstore and saw two books spine-shelved, which would you pick up based on the title?

The Locket
The Colonel's Lady

Maybe neither? Come on now and be honest and tell me. I'd love to know what's rolling around in that reader brain of yours:)

things kept, things left behind

I've finished with the galleys for Courting Morrow Little and returned them to my editor. Hope she doesn't gasp at all that red markup! Since I was away from the manuscript for 4 months, I could see a number of changes to make once it was in my lap again. Because I love narrative and readers don't always appreciate it, I added dialogue in crucial places and was always searching for the better word or phrase. Some breeze through the galleys. But I seem to be a galley's slave:)

Now that we've turned the corner on the new year, I've been prayerfully evaluating what worked and didn't in 2009. I have to confess I'm a Twitter, Shoutlife, and Goodreads dropout. But I do manage to keep up with this blog, Facebook, and have just joined a great bunch of reading friends over at Christian Fiction Challenge (http://christianhistoricalfiction.ning.com/).

Margaret, the site's founder, has provided a great list of fiction titles coming out this year. One of my favorite reviewers and reading friends, Becky, read over 600 books last year! She reads across the spectrum in both secular and inspirational markets. TFD made her top five list for the latter and her review of it won the award for best blog tour review in Christian Fiction Online Magazine. Thanks, Becky!

I can't help but mention my reading/writing friends who've started 2010 off with a bang:

Lori Benton won the prestigious Novel Matter's Audience With an Agent contest and her manuscript, Kindred, a Genesis winner, is in the hands of Books&Such agent Wendy Lawton!

Carla Gade was asked by two established authors to submit a group proposal for a book contract!

Linda Thomas is finishing galleys and anxiously awaiting the release of her book, Grandmother's Letter's from Africa: Quaint I Ain't!

Lorna Seilstad, fellow Revell author, just received her first ever book cover for Making Waves, due to release October, 2010!

Keli Gwyn received her best Christmas gift ever as she's now represented by top-notch agent Rachelle Gardner for her manuscript, Violets and Violins. This book-to-be has won too many contests to count!

My dear friend and fellow Kentuckian, Ann Gabhart, has finished galleys for The Seeker, due to release July 1!

Do you have any news to celebrate? Make a new year's resolution that is somewhat of an epiphany to you? I'd love to share it here. Let's pledge to pray for one another in the new year. Looks like it's going to be a blessed one.

reader appreciation week!

Our winners of this week's book giveaway are:

1. Monday: Edna - Paper Roses by Amanda Cabot
2. Tuesday: Lori B. - Sarah, My Beloved by Sharlene MacLaren
3. Wednesday: Kav - Love Finds You In Liberty, Indiana by Melanie Dobson
4. Thursday: Dana B. - The Choice by Suzanne Fischer
5. Friday: Virginia - Stand-In Groom by Kaye Dacus

If you'll pick a book (see the previous post) and then send me your mailing address at laurafrantz61@yahoo.com, I'll be happy to send your package out:) Blessings on all who entered!

A well-composed book is a magic carpet on which we are wafted to a world we cannot enter in any other way. -Caroline Gordon

He that loveth a good book will never want for a faithful friend, a wholesome counselor, a cheerful companion, an effectual comforter. -Isaac Barrow

My test of a good novel is dreading to begin the last chapter. -Thomas Helm

Books are for people who wish they were somewhere else. -Mark Twain

celebrating books!

I wouldn't be writing if it weren't for my readers and so to celebrate you I'd love to send you one of these titles:) Beginning this coming Monday, January 4, I'll be drawing a name every day for 5 days. The winner each of those days will get to pick their book, though it's better to win on Monday than Friday, as there will only be one book left by week's end! Here are the books:

The Choice by Suzanne Woods Fisher
Love Finds You in Liberty, Indiana by Melanie Dobson
Paper Roses by Amanda Cabot
Sarah, My Beloved by Sharlene MacLaren
Stand-In Groom by Kaye Dacus

I must admit I haven't read all these books - only one! But they're new 2009 Christian fiction releases and I hope you'll enjoy them. If you'd like to be entered please leave a comment and I'll add you to the hat. Thus far I have these names:

Virginia C, Mary B, Lori B, Kathleen, destrella, Patti, Carla, Nancy Huggins, Adge, Kav, Ashli, Stacey, and Kristen. If you've been entered by accident, please let me know and I'll up the odds of winning for other readers:) On the other hand, if I've overlooked someone, please tell me and I'll be happy to add you!

2010 is upon us with many new releases to choose from. Looking back, which books (other than mine!) did you enjoy most in 2009? Inspirational or otherwise? Fiction or non-fiction? It's a privilege to share and celebrate books!

Miss a meal if you have to, but don't miss a book. -Jim Rohn

You can't get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me. -CS Lewis

practice makes perfect

I've almost finished with the galleys and am thankful to have spent more time with Morrow and her menagerie of friends and enemies on the Red River in Kentucke. There are certain scenes I love and never get tired of rereading. They come alive for me and I feel I'm right there in the midst of it all. And then there are some spots where I am ho...hum. Some parts sing and some don't. Some need a bit more work and don't shine as brightly as I like. But I do think we improve in this writing game.

Since I wrote The Frontiersman's Daughter over a 10 year period (with a hiatus of 5 years smack in the middle, something I don't recommend), there are parts of the book that seem like they're written by 2 different people. The "before" and "after" Laura, so to speak. To be honest, the book's end is better than its beginning. But I was a different person at the end of that 10 year period than I was at the beginning. Neither the book or I are perfect, that's for sure, but improved:)

So I guess this just shows that the longer we write or do anything we grow. I've heard it said that it takes 10,000 hours to master something. Think about it! But I'm not sure I believe that about writing. I've whiled away more hours than that since childhood with pen and paper and I'm still not satisfied with what tumbles out of my head and heart. Even Francine Rivers (author of Redeeming Love, etc.) has said she still feels like an apprentice.

So...are you a perfectionist with anything? Cooking? Cleaning? Being holy? Writing? How do you handle the desire to be better than you are? I like to remember that there's only one perfect book. And only one Perfect Being. And He, thankfully, helps make us better than we are.

The Rock! His work is perfect... Deuteronomy 32:4

when

When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flocks,
Then the work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among all the people,
To make music in the heart...
And to radiate the Light of Christ every day.

-Howard Thurman

things i'm thankful for this christmas

Here's a short, personal list of things I'm thankful for this year:

*Honeybaked ham and cranberry bliss bars! I've been asked to make garlic-cheese grits for Christmas Day brunch at Grandma's house. No complaining about that:)

*Christmas Cards! I wasn't able to send many this year but it's such a joy to go to the mailbox and receive them - and some of them have been from you!

*A new book coming out next year! I never thought my writing dream would be fulfilled so I'm still pinching myself. Hallelujah and thank you, Jesus!

*Music! Listening to my son play Christmas music on his violin, even with squeaks, puts me in the Christmas spirit.

*Books beneath the tree! They may be my favorite Christmas gift to give and receive.

*Reading and writing friends! I've never had any before now and feel doubly blessed as I've prayed for that and so many of you have opened your hearts to me. I am so very thankful!

*The gift of salvation. Everything I have flows from His love for me. Everything. My wonderful husband, my boys, books, and each and every one of you.

*Yankee Candles. Actually, any candle will do.

*Snow. This time last year we had two feet on the ground and it even snowed Christmas morning. Now it's just very wet but what a sweet memory it made.

*Children who can't wait for Christmas Day. No wonder Jesus loves children so much and included them in His book. I'm sure He feels great joy when His earthly children get excited about His birthday. I know I get excited when my boys are excited:)

What about you? Can you lengthen my list? I'd love for you to!

characters and other novelties (a previous post from 2008)

When writing a novel a writer should create living people;

people, not characters. A character is a caricature.

--Ernest Hemingway

Ernest and I don't agree on many things but I do like this quote. A good book should be filled with people who are so real that you feel joy when they feel joy and sadness when they feel sadness, among other things. I'm not sure how a writer makes the leap from coming up with a name and then a body and then the soul of a person. But I think good writing captures the soul of a character and somehow puts that on paper.

In The Frontiersman's Daughter the main character, or protagonist, is Lael (pronounced LAY-el). Bet you don't know one - it's an old-fashioned name and I'm not even sure where I came up with it. But I've been carrying Lael around in my head and heart for a long time. She is simply a composite of my childhood - all my old daydreams of those early Kentucky settlers.

When Lael's story was making the round of publishers last year, I finished the sequel to The Frontiersman's Daughter, thinking it would prove I wasn't a one book wonder. But something interesting happened as I worked on this story. I took Lael out of Kentucky and set her in Scotland, a place I've never been. This is always a danger if you haven't been there but if you research well enough you can get away with it. I really liked this story and felt it had high drama and passion and all the rest. But half-way through writing the book I started missing Lael. I had lost her voice. That's the only way to describe it. Lael in book 2 was someone else entirely and no matter what I did to make her Lael, she just wasn't. I concluded that Lael's story had been told and there would be no retelling it.

Thankfully, my publisher never asked to see it. If they had, I'm sure they would have told me I had lost Lael somewhere. Instead, the editors asked that I stay in Kentucky and write two more 18th-century novels there. Whew! So this non-Lael like book went into the drawer. Maybe at some point I'll get it out, blow the dust off, and find a name for this other character. I really like the story.

I guess this points to the mystery of writing fiction. You may think a writer is in control of eveything from the pen to the paper to what goes down on paper, but it's my experience that characters, if they're really real, have a life of their own. And that is one of the joys of writing fiction.