first fire of fall

We're back to making a fire in the woodstove this morning after a long summer hiatus. The trees are starting to turn yellow outside my window and it feels like fall. Good writing weather!

I am working on the final chapter of book 2 and trying to think of a good working title. Recently I reread the 70 plus pages that make up book 3 - The Scrivener's Daughter - and when I put it down I wondered who had written it! It's so different for me, maybe because I'm using 2 points of view - his and hers. I really like the shift of perspective.

You may wonder if the Kentucky frontier starts getting stale after 3 books. Not at all! I'm already thinking of book 4! Recently I read something fascinating about 18th-century Kentucky gunsmiths and I would love to tell you but I think that's called a spoiler so better not. I promise not to title it The Gunsmith's Daughter (though I am tempted). Maybe I'll be called the Queen of Frontier Fiction. Hmmm. I have no such aspirations, believe me.

The truth is that a writer is always thinking about the next book. I know of authors who have several books going with several different publishers at the same time. I'm sure I'm not one of those prolific type writers. I write s-l-o-w-l-y. Maybe if I drank more coffee I could speed up but I doubt even Starbucks is that good. Wyatt and Paul tell me I need "Rock Star" - those horrible energy drinks that are all the rage with kids right now. Like they need extra energy!? No, they haven't had one. Wyatt has had one sip. He thought it was great. But they are taboo at our house.

Hope you are accumulating good books for winter reading. I am:)

the real world

Since I spend so much time in another world - mainly my imagination - where you control the temperature of everything and everyone, and nothing unpleasant intrudes without your permission, it is sometimes easy to forget about the real world.

But since I read these facts from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, I can't keep them out of my mind, even after going to brunch with a dear friend this morning and shopping for a wedding shower gift and then hearing from my wonderful new author friend, Cheryl St. John, via this blog. It's so easy for me to get so comfortable with my world that I forget about what really matters and why we're here in the first place and why I even write.

Did you know (I didn't)?

*40.6% of the world's population has never heard the Gospel.

*Each day, 350,000 people are born and nearly 150,000 (about the population of Eugene, Oregon) die.

*Only 10,000 missionaries are currently working among the unreached. At least 35,000 missionaries are needed to accomplish the task.

Chances are you know of a missionary or are related to one or help support one or have been on a mission trip. The least we can do is pray for these unreached people and those who seek to reach them in His name. I'm so ashamed that I pray for my brother and his family as they minister in Ecuador (soon to be Spain) but I forget to pray for all the others who do the same. I wonder if their work, and His work, wouldn't be far more effective if we remembered them daily - all of them.

Turn to me and be saved, all the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.
Isaiah 45:22

title taken!

Something interesting happened this morning and I thought I'd relate it here. I've been calling my second book "The Preacher's Daughter" as it fits the story so well and seemed a good working title after The Frontiersman's Daughter. This morning I heard from another author who has a book out entitled The Preacher's Daughter and another upcoming one entitled The Preacher's Wife. I was a bit embarrassed to hear that my own publisher has already put out yet another The Preacher's Daughter by Beverly Lewis, the bestselling suthor of Amish fiction.

Anyway, Cheryl St. John wrote and told me of her book by that name (it has a beautiful cover) and invited me to be a guest on one of her writing blogs. This particular blog also has a terrific title: http://petticoatsandpistols.com. Unfortunately, my book is set in the colonial period and isn't a western or I'd love to! I enjoyed looking at her sites. She's a very prolific, popular author and probably doesn't need the extra exposure but she was so gracious I wanted to mention her here. Thanks, Cheryl!

All this just goes to show that the publishing world is actually very small and good titles can be hard to come by. And so now you know I am green as corn about all this. An editor once told me to "enjoy the learning process" in the world of publishing. I guess this is all a part of it. So back to imagining a fitting but original title for book 2. I haven't done a google search yet but can almost bet there's not a book out there called The Scrivener's Daughter. So I might be safe with book 3! Nothing dull about the publishing world:)

simplify

Recently I had a wild notion to hang up a little sign in my kitchen that says "simplify." It's dangling from my one and only glass cupboard right over the coffee pot so I'm sure not to miss it. About a week ago I decided to take everything out of my kitchen (at least what was on the countertops) in hopes of having a new, simpler look. So now there are just a few things out and I like it much better. Randy always gets woried when I do this for some reason. Men don't seem to have the need to make all things new (or at least different) every few months. In face, he says it if wasn't for me he'd be fine in a little old shack somewhere. I'm sure it would be somewhere very near here and not in Appalachia!

Speaking of shacks, I just finished reading "The Shack" and if you haven't read it yet, please run to your nearest bookseller and buy it, then give it to a friend! My opinion of my own creativity got flushed when I read this amazing book!

I've nearly finished this last edit on book 2 - The Preacher's Daughter. I really have become "a writer overstaying her welcome at the reader's expense" with this one. That just means that the story should have ended several chapters ago but I couldn't bear to say goodbye so kept right on writing. I know that must sound strange to you non-writers out there. Just think of hating having to read the last chapter of that great book you have - it's sort of the same.

Hope you're collecting great books to curl up by the fire with this winter. I have a few I could loan you! Bless those books and for the Master Author for inventing reading in the first place:)

an audience of one

A story is told about French author Victor Hugo anxiously asking his publisher about sales for his new book Les Miserables. Hugo sent a telegram that said simply, "?". His publisher sent this response, "!".

I'm not sure if this story is true but my brother and I got a good chuckle out of it. Then I remembered that I'll be doing the same thing this time next year and hope I get a "!" back myself. But other than send you a bookmark and beg you to read my book, what control do I really have over sales figures?

Back in the dark ages of that very dismal year, 2007, I remember praying at one nail-biting point, "Lord, I'm willing to work as hard as you want me to, but you'll have to do all the rest." I think the same applies to the success of The Frontiersman's Daughter or any book. I write my heart out and then He sells it. But what if it still sinks instead of swims? Sigh.

Reading tastes are such a strange thing. My folks like to read spy-thriller type books. My brother's tastes are more eclectic/broad. Randy likes to read magazines mostly. Wyatt loves the Hardy Boys. Paul has graduated to Captain Underpants. I hate science fiction. Sorry, trekkies! You could give me the finest science fiction book on the planet and I would have a hard time making it past page 1. I really prefer to read historical works. So I'm just saying book sales, like individual reading tastes, are a mystery to me. I look at the NY Times bestseller lists occasionally and shake my head. Vampires, anyone? Huh?

Recently I highlighted this verse: For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. Ephesians 2:10

And then beside it in the margin, I scribbled this quote by Kay Arthur, "Our responsibility is to carry out the work God gives us. He'll be responsible for its impact."

Really, when all is said and done, I am writing for an audience of one. And that has little to do with sales figures. And I'm so thankful.

baptism

Yesterday our Paul was baptized in Lake Crescent, like his brother and Dad before him. We'd waited a year or so to make sure he really understood what it meant since he just turned 9. Our little church is Christian and Missionary Alliance and on a good Sunday has about 130 folks at a service. There must have been about 100 at the baptism to celebrate as one man, a teenager, and five children were baptized in that very beautiful but cold lake.

Lake Crescent is in Olympic National Park here in Washington and is almost 700 feet deep in places. The baptisms were at the shallow end of the lake in a little cove with several ducks and one goose swimming around. The sun was out but it was cool - sometimes we have to build a campfire to keep those baptized folks warm - but yesterday we didn't. I like the lake setting as it is more akin to what Jesus experienced at his baptism.

Sometimes I wish I'd been baptized like that instead of in a choir robe in a warm Baptist baptistery in Kentucky years ago. But it doesn't matter where it's done - only what it means. And our pastor said one very interesting thing. The only time in scripture when the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit appeared together was at the baptism of Jesus.

After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased."
Matthew 3:16-17

americana

Sometimes the simplest things give you the most pleasure. I think the Lord delights our hearts unexpectedly to get us over the potholes of life. This morning we woke up to heavy fog - summer is over - and a cool day. Randy decided to take the boys to a barn sale down the road and I went along which I rarely do. The weather this time of year makes me kind of melancholy. Actually, pensive is a better word. It means musingly or dreamily thoughtful. Or a sad thoughtfulness. Writers are supposed to be that way, aren't they?

Anyway, we wandered past farm implements and old trucks and lots of junk in the fog and didn't see anything that shouldn't have had a for sale tag on it. UNTIL I walked into an old cobwebby shed. There, on this dilapidated table, sat a box of English Ironstone China. Now, this might not mean anything to you, but I was absolutely delighted at first sight. Over the years I've managed to find a saucer and a little dish of this in antique stores but nothing else.

The delightful thing is that this china was only made for one year - in 1976 - to commemorate America's bicentennial celebration. I was a girl back then and dressed up in a pioneer costume and marched in a Kentucky parade like lots of other local yokels.

These wonderful dishes are a glossy cream and deep brown and have Colonial scenes on them - Betsey Ross sewing the flag and Paul Revere riding around in the salad bowls, George Washington and Mt. Vernon on the dinner plates, the Boston Tea Party on the dessert plates, Martha Washington on the creamer, etc. About a hundred pieces in perfect condition! And all for only $40.00. Sold!

Only He knew how much finding that would mean to me. The Colonial era is my era and the only one I really care to write about. And everytime I use these Americana Style House Ironstone Everlasting Colour J. and G. Meekin England dishes I'll be reminded of how He delighted my heart on a grey, foggy day in the middle of nowhere.

Randy thinks it's ironic that England would make these quaint dishes that celebrate America's radical rebellion against them but I think it makes the find even more delightful still.

spiritual food for thought

Get to the end of yourself where you can do nothing, but where He does everything.
Oswald Chambers

Victory always begins with a cry for help. When we come to the end of ourselves and cry out for help, amazing things happen.
Beth Moore

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart ...
Psalm 51:17

the big one

Today begins the annual American Christian Fiction Writer's conference in Minneapolis. It's a 4 day event where 500 or so writers, editors, and agents meet to talk books. I'd like to go for two reasons - my NY editor, whom I've never met in person, will be there and Minneapolis is also home to my publisher. I've heard it's very well done with a decidedly spiritual focus. There's also a huge book signing at the Mall of America where 100 or more authors gather to sign their books and meet readers.

But there's a reason I'm still sitting in my chair outside of Port Angeles, Washington this morning. I think all that hype would scare me to death! Even thinking about it makes me kind of queasy. I'm one of those people who believe if I was meant to be there I'd be there. And since I'm not there ...

The neat thing about this conference is that unpublished authors can attend and make appointments with agents and editors who look at their work. Many times this is how a new writer gets in the door. So if you can attend, attend! Although Seattle hosts a lot of writer's conferences, I've never been to one. This is another oddity about my publishing journey. No writer's conferences, no agent, no contacts, nothing! I was literally sitting in the woods writing my heart out for years and years and nobody knew it.

This just shows that He can use anyone at any time for His purposes. If you just do what He's called you to do, He'll take care of the rest. So rest in that. I'm living proof:)

14 and counting

This was a foe wedding performed by a group of Pioneer-era re-enactors.

I love weddings. I had one of my own 14 years ago on this date in our little church a mile down the road. It was small - just one attendant each - but lots of pretty flowers and a dotted-swiss cake with raspberry filling. A football game was going on next door at the rural school and when we said our vows it sounded like the crowd was cheering for us!

We had a 2 day honeymoon in Olympic National Park where we'd both worked at one time - Randy at Log Cabin Resort and Lake Crescent Lodge for me. Both are historic places and just across the lake from each other. Randy has lived here all his life but I flew out to waitress in the lodge dining room in the summers while in college. And that is how a southerner gets stuck!

So today besides writing I'll make him a chocolate cream pie and wish for another 14. He is just the man for me and I knew this when I met him 24 years ago, though I had to wait 10 before it happened. And the Lord gets all the credit:)