January 2007 Newsletter
BLUE MOUNTAIN BACKROADS
Well, it's January and the beginning of a brand new year. Like previous years, it will be a mixture of joy and sorrow, happiness and disappointment, a time of climbing high peaks and swooping down into deep valleys, like riding a never ending roller coaster. Christmas is behind us with the decorations packed away until another year. We're past the first day of winter, so the days will gradually get longer, which is fine with me. The leaves are gone from the trees and the grass is bleached and dry. Dark cedar and the bare, white bones of the sycamore trees provide beauty now. Rosicat sleeps on top of my monitor, refusing to go out in the cold. And I have become addicted to my recliner and the dancing flames of the open fire in my fireplace.
I hope you all remembered to eat your black-eyed peas and pork on New Years Day. We writers need all the luck we can get, and everyone knows black-eyed peas and pork are topnotch luck providers. Of course you should never eat chicken, or any other kind of poultry on New Years Day. After all, pigs root forward. Chickens scratch backward.
Now which direction do you want to go in the coming year? Forward? Of course. That's why you eat pork on New Years Day. Now aren't you glad I explained that to you?
I hope 2007 is good to every one of you and that you each get a contract (or more) that you make the bestseller list, and that you keep every one of your New Year resolutions. I haven't made any resolutions myself, as there is no way to improve on perfection.
WRITING NEWS OF THE MONTH
Kathie Nolasco would love for you all to check out her new blog. http://strollingthroughthemist.blogspot.com. This one is not about the ministry Crafts4Christ, but is personal: family, writing, and adventures.
Brandt Dotson's Root Of All Evil will be released this month. If you haven't read Brandt's Colton Parker series, you're missing a treat. Root Of All Evil is one of the review books this month and it's good.
Cathey Pavlikianidis has a new blog at: www.ghostwriterarticles.blogspot.com. Stop and check it out
Cathey's books are: When God Says: Bring It On! the keys to having the faith to hold on. by Mary Catherine Pavlikianidis; Published by PublishAmerica.com ISBN: 1-4241-0954-X available at amazon.com by search. and Forty Days Hath September by Mary Catherine Aucoin (my maiden name since no one can pronounce the other, lol) self published by CatPav Publishing www.catpavpublishing.com ISBN: 979-0-9792039-0-9
Jan Warren, no relation, but I'm proud of her anyway, took first place in the 2006 Where The Magic Begins Contest. See below. Congratulations to Jan and to all of the others winners. That's good news.
Romance Writers Ink proudly announces:
2006 Where The Magic Begins Contest Winner
INSPIRATIONAL - Final round judge: Krista Stroever, Steeple Hill
1st Place - Rescued - Jan Warren
2nd Place -
Approaching Storm - Diana J. Cosby
3rd Place - Scars - Celesta
Hoffman
Linda Rondeau had another contribution in A Cup of
Comfort for Weddings, released in December. Her article is "A Blonde and A
Boy Scout", a true account of how she met her husband doing
community theater.
Barbara says: I love that title. Congratulations, Linda
Vickie Sweatman is happy to announce her recent sale of Biker Sunday to Triskelion (December 2007) by her agent Scott Eagan (Greyhaus Literary Agency).
Congratulations, Vickie. Way to go. You
can check it out at her website at: http://vickisweatman.com
Angela Breidenbach has a new website. She says "I'm so excited to say that my website is up (tweaking through the next week or two, but it's up and running:-) Also, I have a blog. The two are connected. Both are in my signature line. I finished my first book and am now starting to send it out. It's called When She Wasn't Looking. Angie www.angelabreidenbach.com
Everything we experience can
be used to help someone else, even harsh reality. Angie's blog: http://godusesbrokenvessels.blogspot.com
Tracie Peterson (best selling author of over 70 books) and Michael Landon Jr. (director of the Love Come Softly series) have signed a contract for two books. The first will be released in the summer of 2007 and is titled One More Sunrise. Book two is yet to be determined.
That's great, Tracie. Congratulations and I'm looking forward to reading them
And Mulligan has a new blog. www.anemulligan.blogspot.com Also, Novel Journey is doing critiques. The author can submit 1,000 words for crit by Gina, Jessica and Ane. The crits will be posted on Novel Journey.
If you're not familiar with Novel Journey, these ladies do reviews, interviews, and critiques. Check them out. They're great.
Ane Mulligan ane@anemulligan.com ; www.anemulligan.com Blog: www.anemulligan.blogspot.com
Author Interviews
www.noveljourney.blogspot.com
Reviews www.novelreviews.blogspot.com
Sharon Hinck says:
"I just got my two early author copies today hot-off-the-press of Renovating Becky Miller (Bethany House Publishers, 2/2007). Fans of The Secret Life of Becky Miller are invited to follow the Miller family as they buy a run-down farmhouse to remodel in an attempt to simplify their lives. Ha! As usual, things don't go according to plan. Becky continues to daydream (each inspired by movies from her date nights with Kevin) while caring for her mother-in-law, her new career, and her young children. She discovers that sometimes renovation is an inside job.
It official releases February 1st, and I'll be hosting a Book Launch party on February 3rd, but folks can preorder the book NOW by visiting my website: www.sharonhinck.com
Thanks for spreading the word! I'm SOOO excited!"
The Secret Life of Becky Miller (Bethany House, June, 2006)
Renovating Becky Miller (Bethany House, February, 2007)
The Restorer (NavPress, May 2007)
website: www.sharonhinck.com
blog: http://www.sharonswriting.blogspot.com/
Lisa Harris says: "I'm happy to announce that the Keep Me In Suspense
site's library is
finally up and running! We've also been working behind
the scenes to make the site even more informative both for suspense
writers and readers, including interviews with suspense writers, series that
include an in-depth look into police procedure, book reviews, writing
tips, and much more.
What we need from you: Do you have a suspense or mystery coming out in the next few months? Please feel free to contact me with new books for the library as they are released. There's also a place for readers to leave their comments and reviews. If you're willing to donate one of your books to our contest winners, (both,new and old releases) contact me to learn how you can have your book featured on our contest page. Have a great holiday season!"
Lisa Harris-- for the Keep
Me In Suspense Hosts
http://keepmeinsuspenselibrary.blogspot.com
http://keepmeinsuspenselibrary.blogspot.com/
Check
out my blog at <http://myblogintheheartofafrica.blogspot.com
The Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy Blog Tour is as follows:
January 22, 23, and 24 the Christian Science Fiction and
Fantasy Blog Tour will feature the Door Within Trilogy by Wayne Thomas
Batson; (Tommy Nelson). To learn more about the CSFF Blog Tour or to
visit any of the bloggers posting reviews, interviews, or discussion
of these popular stories stop by this month's tour coordinator,
Rebecca LuElla Miller's site, A Christian Worldview of Fiction, Rebecca
LuElla Miller, Christian Fantasy, http://rebeccaluellamiller.wordpress.com
http://specfaith.ritersbloc.com
http://csffblogtour.com
Lena Nelson Dooley's schedule for January is shown below:
January Interviews on my blog: http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com Dorothy Clark, Lessons from the Heart; Phil Little Hell in a Briefcase; Max Elliot Anderson, Legend of the White Wolf; Allison Strobel Morrow Violette Between.
We give away a free copy of the featured book each week. Readers must leave a comment to sign up for the book giveaway. I also give away one of my own books monthly to one of the people who signs my guest book on my web site. A new feature on my web site is the slide show showing all the events of the recent events. www.lenanelsondooley.com
Someone wins these books. It might as well be you.
Lena Nelson Dooley - Characters who grip your heart
Author/Editor/Speaker/Reviewer (Soon to be greatgrandmother!!!!!)
Author's Interview this week is with Richard Mabry and his non-fiction book The Tender Scar. Rachel Hauck won a copy of A Rose From the Ashes by J. N. Graham.
There's still time to leave a comment on Terry Burns' interview for a chance to win Shepherd's Son.Upcoming Interviews --Janet Spaeth, Tricia Goyer, Shelley Bates, Dorothy Clark
Linda Fulkerson announces her blog has moved from TypePad and is now hosted directly on her newly designed web site: www.lindafulkerson.com
"My blog, Lines from Linda, begins a new series titled "Design Your Own Luck,"
a unique method to help us get off to the right start for the new year by
utilizing the principles and elements of graphic design as goal-attainment
tools. The introduction to this series is already posted--just click on
the Design Your Own Luck logo to check out how we can work together
to achieve success in 2007."
Wayne Thomas Batson has a very neat website. You can check it out at: www.thedoorwithin.com His blog is: http://enterthedoorwithin.blogspot.com The first two books of Wayne's The Door Within Trilogy are reviewed in this month's book review section. They're terrific.
Jacqueline McGuyer has a new book out. See below:
Blood Secrets: With God's grace, after many years of molestation and betrayal, twin sisters find each other and become a family again.
Jacqueline McGuyer-Christian Fiction
Author
Member--American Christian Fiction
Writers
www.jackimcguyer.com
Blood Secrets-January 2007
www.wings-Press.com
Java Pump -May 2007 www.wings-press.com
Midnight Muse
www.authorjacki-mcguyer.blogspot.com
Ramona Cecil has a new contract. tentative date of release is March, 2008. That's good news, Ramona, congratulations.
Anita Higman has a HeartSong coming out in February 2007 along with coauthor, Janice Thompson. It's Larkspur Dreams and will come out through Barbour Publishing. That's great, Anita, congratulations to you and to Janice.
WHACKY NEWS OF THE MONTH.
(News too weird to make up)
Dry Cleaners find all kinds of things left in clothes. Some of those things we'd rather not share. Take the one in Ann Arbor, Michigan, when an employee was going through a customer's jacket and found a note that read:
"You have committed a murder, but no one believes it. All I can do is kill myself, then everyone will see what you have done. Your wife, Alice."
After the employee took a good look around to make sure the customer wasn't lurking in a corner somewhere, she called the cops, who took a great deal of interest in the note, figuring it might be part of a murder-suicide plot.
After getting the name of the customer and checking it out, they learned the owner of the jacket was an actor and the note was a prop in a play, and no, he hadn't killed anyone and his wife wasn't named Alice. Still, it took a bit of time to convince the cops, but finally they let him go.
We creative types can get a little careless sometimes, forgetting the world isn't always tuned to our wavelength. I remember once when Cheryl Hodde and I were researching a book at The Great Passion Play Theater in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. She had just backed me up to the railing and said, "Let's see, if I push you over. . ." when we heard a gasp. An employee had walked up on our little drama, convinced she was witnessing a murder in progress.
So be careful with those props and research projects, or you may end up with a whole new chapter for your book, the one about how you had to explain to a very skeptical police officer that no, you really weren't trying to kill someone, you were just doing research. They know a dozen different ways to say, "Yeah, right."
WRITING TIP OF THE MONTH
Listen carefully. I'm going to tell you one of the secrets of writing good fiction; create good characters.
Are the characters in your story people you'd like to spend time with? If they're not, why would you expect your readers to spend time with them? Your characters should be likable, flawed, far from perfect, but likable. They need to be consistent and predictable, in that your reader will expect them to behave in a manner consistent with their nature. And they must be believable.
Nothing is harder than trying to identify with a character who is so outrageous they are nothing like anyone you've ever encountered in this life. They should be interesting, not in a far out, over the top manner, which will only irritate your reader, but like the ordinary, interesting people who live in your community.
I can make a list of colorful characters I know. I go to church with them, meet them on the streets, in the grocery store. They are my neighbors, my friends, my family. Sometimes they show up in my books. However, don't pattern your characters completely after real people, take a bit here, a smidgeon there, and create a new character, but one that seems real.
Writers should be people watchers. We should also be listeners. Listen for snippets of conversation, one liners, colorful phrases. Write them down, collect them, keep them in a file. Use them in your books. A few times I've run across something I've said or done in a friend's book and laugh. I've done the same thing to them in mine. Listen for an entertaining turn of phrase, a unique way of describing something, a new word.
I have a talent for making a complete fool of myself. After I get over being embarrassed, that little incident goes in my file. Several of those red-faced goof-up's show up in my books.
If your characters are likable, believable, and consistent, if they talk like real people talk, if they behave like real people behave, then your reader will identify with them. You can put that character in a wild situation, create enormous problems, dump her in an historical setting, or in a fantastic other world, and your reader will suspend belief and come along for the ride because she believes in your character.
And never, never, make your main character a victim. Bad things should happen to him, of course, but never let him give up. Keep him struggling to win, striving to overcome, and give him a set of standards to live by. Your reader will stand in line to buy your next book.
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
Grin. God loves you and everyone else will wonder what you've been up to.
RECIPE OF THE MONTH
I'm passing along two of my favorite snack spreads.
SMOKED OYSTER
SPREAD
1 8 oz package of cream cheese
1 ½ c. mayonnaise
4 dashes of
hot sauce
1 can chopped black olives (get the small can already chopped)
1
can smoked oysters, drained. (while still in can, run a sharp knife
through
several times to chop)
Combine first three ingredients. Mix well, stir in
olives and
oysters. Serve with crackers.
OLIVE NUT SPREAD
Mash
8 ounces of cream cheese with a fork. Add ½ cup mayonnaise. Mix
well. Stir in
½ cup chopped pecans, 1 cup of chopped salad olives and
2 tablespoons of
olive juice. Do not add salt. Filling will be mushy
at first, but after a few
hours in refrigerator it will be of
spreading consistency.
Barbara
Blue Mountain Editorial Service
www.barbarawarrenbluemountainedit.com
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But they that wait upon the
lord shall renew their strength: they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they
shall run, and not be weary: and they shall walk, and not faint.
- Isaiah 40:31 KJV
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