Karen Wingate – Write What You Know

Write What You Know

 by Karen Wingate

One of the first pieces of writing advice I ever received was “Write what you know.”  It was good advice, for it gave me confidence that I did have something to write about.

Like any adage, this bit of advice had its limits and left room for misinterpretation.

At first, I thought writing what I know meant I should write personal experience stories and illustrations about myself. To tell the truth, there are parts of my life I don’t want to write about. If a writing ministry means writing nothing but tell-alls, forget it.

Writing what you know is much broader than merely writing about your experiences.  As writers, we have the pleasure of talking about subjects we feel most comfortable with, sharing the lessons we’ve learned in life and compiling information we gather through research and interviews.  Big sigh of relief.

I’ve discovered that writing what you know is only a starting point in becoming a great writer.  After twenty-five years in the writing industry, my best advice is this: learn to reach beyond what you know.

Here’s how you can do that.

1. Determine your starting point.  Draw a coat of arms, then, in each of the quadrants, list your interests, hobbies, passions, and life experiences.  This is your initial deposit in your data bank.  Your job as a writer, is to expand your investment.

2. Learn to write out of your experience, not just about your experience.  What do I mean by that? As I mentioned above, you don’t have to write about the painful events of your life.  Instead, journal or list what life lessons you have learned from those experiences.  Then research illustrations from history, current events or other people’s lives that validate those points.  This will make your writing much stronger and more appealing.  Use your own experience sparingly, just enough to show that you are not merely regurgitating information found on the Internet; you’ve lived it.

A national magazine wanted me to write an article on forgiveness.  To share how I knew about forgiveness would be more private information than I wanted the public to know and would hurt members of my family.  But, because of certain events in my life, I’ve learned some lessons about forgiveness.  I asked myself, what event exemplifies the same principles about forgiveness that I had to learn.  I came up with the story about the Amish schoolhouse shooting in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania.  My readers could identify with the story because they had already heard the story. It became a powerful introduction to my article.

2. Observe. Become a people watcher.  Listen to conversations.  Pay attention to the news.  Watch how people react.  This is especially true if you write fiction.  Increase your knowledge base by watching how other people react to life.

3. Learn to interview.  This is an essential skill for any kind of writing. When I wrote devotions for a national company, I got to choose my topics from a theme list they provided.  Of course, I chose themes with which I was most comfortable.  It wasn’t appropriate to talk about myself all the time so I would think of someone who had a similar experience then ask to interview them.  I discovered people are often more than willing to share their stories with a writer.  I treasure some of those interviews as some of the most profound moments of my life.

4.  Keep your audience in mind  How would someone else react if they had gone through your experience? Would it be the same?

I’m visually impaired.  I’m also a fighter. I quickly forget that not every visually impaired person will have the same stubborn streak that I do.  So, if I write about visual impairment without thinking about my audience, I can quickly become harsh and judgmental, sounding, like I’m telling my reader, “I overcame, why can’t you?”  By rubbing shoulders with other visually impaired people, I learn even more about other coping mechanisms, daily living strategies and humorous moments in the life of a visually impaired person.  Suddenly, I know a lot more and can write with greater credibility.

To be a great writer, you must be willing to be a life-long learner. I think what I enjoy most about writing is the chance I have to learn about the world and the people in it.  Admitting I don’t know enough about a subject propels me to learn and discover. The more I learn, the more I have to draw from and the more I have to write about.

That sounds like a win-win scenario to me.

Meet the Author:

Karen Wingate has written for The Lookout, Christian Standard, Clubhouse, Decision, Christian Home and School, and Children’s Ministry.  She is currently working on her second novel, a historical fiction set in eastern Ohio.  Check out Karen’s speaking topics and blog at www.graceonparade.com.

Carole Brown – Never, Never Give Up!

Never, Never Give Up!

by Carole Brown

2012 started out with my determination to become published.

I was already going through a discouragement period, and I felt little change as the months passed. Tidbits of things should have given me a hint that change was in the air. Or maybe better said, in my heart.

Friends encouraged. One special friend figuratively sat me down (although actually we were standing for most of the conversation) and gave me a “talking to.” What did I take away from that?

Quit beating myself up.

I have talent; use it.

Believe in God.

I’ll have to admit, my faith was weak at this point. Yet I’ll have to admit too: I think I had to get into this “slough of despond” for God to gain my attention. I had to get to the point where all I could say was, “God, I believe. Help my unbelief.”

I put the words on my desktop. Every few days they would catch my attention. Every few days I’d repeat them like a mantra; a prayer from a heart with little faith.

Then a writing conference.
A meeting with an editor.
A manuscript request.
Work. Editing.
A send-in.
Waiting.
Waiting.
More waiting.
Calls from my agent. Emails.
Contact.
BIG News.
I’d been offered a contract.
December 17: date signed.
I became an author!

Elation. Happiness. Satisfaction. Relief.

All this.
And more.

Peace.

Because throughout this year I learned in my own way to let go and let God. My faith might be weak, but God is strong. My faith might be little, but God works through little and weak and deformed and broken.

I couldn’t make it happen, but God did. In his own time.

It’s his book, his novel, and whether he blesses it in a mighty way, or a small one, it is his.

Meet the Author:

Author Carole Brown’s debut novel, The Redemption of Caralynne Hayman, will hopefully be out by the end of 2013. She’s also published four children’s books that are used in Christian schools and VBS. She’s written various magazine articles, served as editor and co-editor of many newsletters, has helped to develop advertising brochures and has received several awards for her poems. She has a Bachelors Degree in Religious Education, an Associate in Computer Software and has completed several courses in fiction writing.

Carole is a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers, Romance Writers of America, Central Ohio Fiction Writers, Sisters In Crime, and the founder of Circle of Pens (a writing group to mentor beginning writers). She is the ACFWOhio coordinator, ACFW Bookclub discussion leader, a Suspense Zone reviewer, a member of the Barn Loft Interview Team, and runs her own blog site at http://sunnebnkwrtr.blogspot.com/ 

Carole lives in Ohio with her husband, and co-labors with her husband in ministry, nationally and internationally.

To connect with her, go here:

Blog: http://sunnebnkwrtr.blogspot.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carole.brown.7315

Twitter: https://twitter.com/browncarole212

Soon to be Released:

The Redemption of Caralynne Hayman

• Can Dayne’s prayers and love straddle the gulf of anger and bitterness Cara harbors before she goes too far to experience redemption?
• A contemporary women’s fiction with strong elements of suspense and romance
• Good for anyone who has been abused or for those dealing with abusive situations
• A passionate book, not for the weak hearted, but for those who want to be reminded, touched, and stirred.

Contests:

I’m also holding at least one contest a month to promote the upcoming release of my book, The Redemption of Caralynne Hayman. Details can be seen at my blog if you’d like to join in the fun! http://sunnebnkwrtr.blogspot.com/ or on Facebook. January had THREE books as prizes; February had SIX different prizes; March’s had FIVE books.  

Kathleen L. Maher – How to Encourage an Author – One Bite at a Time

How to Encourage an Author

One Bite at a Time

by Kathleen L. Maher

In the Civil War, untried troops had an expression about going off to war. They called it going to see the elephant.  A writer confronts the elephant of story with her puny pen, mincing it down to bite sized tasks. It might take a month of Sundays, but if I focus on one task at a time, I can write! And so can you.

I have yet to stare down deadlines, multitask one story in plotting stage whilst market a new release whilst writing yet another. But I fear not this wild herd, because the process is the same. You tackle one elephantine story at a time, cutting each pachyderm into the following steps: Brainstorm. Plot. Outline. Rough draft.  Edit. Critique. Edit again. Bite sized chunks.

Brainstorm: In my earliest days of writing, I found forums on agentquery.com where I could submit an idea or two and get really good, honest feedback. Later I discovered ACFW.com, and met my brilliant and invaluable partner Debbie Lynne Costello (sorry, fellow elephant hunters, she’s taken) through their critique groups. Scribes is a terrific resource for a brainstorming and critique partner. As you brainstorm, you must think GMC—goal, motivation, conflict. There is something your character wants more than anything, a reason why he wants it, and a conflict preventing him from getting it. (see http://www.debradixon.com/books/gmc.html)

Plot: Your characters have a journey to take. There are five legs of this journey: Introduction, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, Resolution. If you have this, you have a basic skeleton of a story. There will be a dark moment when all seems lost, like in Lady and the Tramp where Trusty recovers his sense of smell and races after the dog catcher’s wagon. That awful howl , and him laying in the muddy road. And then there is that heartwarming ending, watching Lady’s puppies frolic and cavort around Jock and Jim Dear and Darling and Tramp and. . . yes, a mellow and doting Trusty, who keeps up with the whippersnappers despite a cast on his leg.

Outline is tying all of this hard work into a cohesive shape, and writing the rough draft adds sensory flesh to the bones. Sight, sound, taste, smell and touch.  Edits involve taking out weasel words, (http://www.examiner.com/article/weasel-words-1 )and adverbs, or adding in a subplot  and power verbs. You correct spelling, grammar, watch for homophones. Read it aloud for flow. This is where your critique partner becomes pure gold to you, because everyone has a blind spot. Maybe you have a pet word or phrase.  Do a global search to find every usage and cut!

None of these steps sounds hard by themselves, right? That’s because they’re not. It can be done. The most gargantuan task can be accomplished by picking it apart into smaller units. Now go. Eat an elephant.

Meet the Author:

Kathleen L. Maher writes historical romance and is represented by Terry Burns of Hartline Literary. She has a novella Bachelor
Buttons coming out in May through Helping Hands Press, part of a Civil War novella collection. A repeat finalist in several writing contests, she won the 2012 ACFW Genesis with her Civil War historical, Closer than a Brother. Kathleen lives in upstate New York with her husband, three kids and two Newfoundland dogs.

A Cry to Freedom

A Civil War Series, Volume 3

Bachelor Buttons

A Civil War Romance

The daughter of immigrants who fled the Irish Potato Famine, Rose Meehan longs for a better life than the tenements of New York City. Courted by two men–a young doctor who represents material security, and a poor violin instructor who has captured her heart–she must choose between a life of advantage-grabbing or a life of faith. When Manhattan explodes in mob rule following Lincoln’s unpopular draft, the heroic action of one suitor brings provision for those she loves, and reveals God’s plan.

Michelle Levigne – It’s Like… Organic, Dude! and SF Book Giveaway

It’s Like… Organic, Dude!

by Michelle Levigne

When people ask where I get story ideas, sometimes I say I buy them from a shop in the French Quarter in New Orleans. My other stock answer is to tell them about a book I read in junior high, about a guy who discovers that every bit of fiction in our world is rooted in a real world somewhere “out there.”

That illustration holds up only so far, because let’s face it, revisions are a fact of life for writers. How can we be writing about a “real place” if we’re changing details up until two minutes before we have to send it to our publisher?

Honestly? My stories kind of grow themselves. Bits and pieces of things catch my interest or my attention; ideas and images stick in my head. And if I’m lucky, I write them down in One Note before I forget them. Then, as I flesh out a story, I’ll remember those bits and pieces and insert where necessary.

For instance, a co-worker told about this obnoxious guy who worked out of a satellite office. He got fired, and she had to help clean out the small office. The place was, quite frankly, disgusting. Trash and layers of grease and dust and the smell … That story stayed in my head, and when I needed an opening for my humorous romantic suspense, How to Bury a Millionaire, the heroine uncovers a kiddie porn ring in that filthy office. The first word in the book is “Ewwwwwww!”

The same for book rough drafts that SEEM to be stand-alones. As I revise, I realize, “Hey, if I change this person’s name, and set his story in the same town I created in this other book,” and borrow characters from a third book and someone’s history from a fourth book, I can tie them all together. And suddenly I have this three-dimensional place — a town or a science fiction universe — with not only geography and big cast of characters whose lives overlap, but a history. It becomes “real.” And feels like it happened without any conscious intent on my part. Suddenly.

Only it didn’t happen “suddenly,” but over years of writing and rewriting, ad infinitum.

Example: I wrote Sunsinger, about a boy growing up on a small starship. I wrote True Caderi, an SF story exploring the idea of gaining the universe and losing your soul. Then I wrote the story of an ordinary Earth girl who discovers that she’s the survivor of an alien shuttle crash. Borrowing details from all three books, I created the Leapers — a race of female pilots who take their ships from one dimension of reality to another. The Leaper fleet shows up often in my Commonwealth Universe SF stories, including Sunsinger, True Caderi, and thirty-plus titles.

Another example: Book #1 is about a shattered college romance, where the couple reunites twenty years later. Book #2 is about a family running a community theater. Book #3 deals with three college students, sharing an apartment for a year. I made the man from Book #1 and the father from Book #2 drama professors in the same university — and the three girls in Book #3 are their students. And many of them go to the same church. “Suddenly” I had a town, Tabor Heights, and overlapping characters. I found other books, either ideas or rough drafts, and realized with some tweaking, they all fit in the same town, where their lives overlap. And “suddenly” I had twelve books, “Year One” of my Tabor Heights, inspirational romance series.

Only this doesn’t happen “suddenly.” It grows. Like a vine. But even healthy vines need pruning and reshaping to tame them and get something useful out of them.

Sometimes you have to sit back and let this organic “thing” grow where it will. You can’t rush it. You have to let the connections come in their own time. Put it away for a few months, a year, ten years, simmering in the back of your mind while you’re working on other projects. Sometimes you “test drive” your characters in fan fiction, or launch a whole series based on a story you wrote for fan fiction, playing on someone else’s “playground.”

Check out these fan fiction pieces I wrote years ago to see what I mean:

www.mlevigne.com/dayforaknight.pdf

www.mlevigne.com/darknesspast.pdf

“Darkness Past” was fan fiction for the Stephen J. Cannell TV show “Stingray.” Stingray teams up with Joan Archer, a visitor in the Tabor Heights books. Joan and her tough chick friends are stars in the women’s fiction series Quarry Hall, from Desert Breeze Publishing, which also handles the Tabor Heights books: www.DesertBreezePublishing.com.

“Day for a Knight” is Fantasy Island fan fiction. This was the base for an unpublished Arthurian fantasy novel, Athrar’s Heir. In the process of creating a history for this book, I discovered other stories waiting to be told. The result? A five-book series of Arthurian fantasy, called the Zygradon Chronicles, published by Uncial Press — http://www.UncialPress.com — Zygradon, Braenlicach, Three Drops of Blood, Lady Warhawk, and The Rift War.

You never know where fan fiction can take you, so go ahead and experiment.

In the final analysis, it’s all organic for me. I don’t throw anything out, no matter how lousy a story it was in the first incarnation. You never know where a hole will appear in a story, and that useless, disconnected scene or bit of history will exactly fit.

Free reads:

http://www.Mlevigne.com/tabor-onesmallchild.pdf

www.Mlevigne.com/SilverHearts.pdf

http://www.Mlevigne.com/Homespun.pdf

Meet the Author:

Michelle has been a story addict for as long as she can remember, starting with The Cat in the Hat and Weekly Reader Book Club. She discovered Narnia and Star Trek in elementary school, and was a familiar face in the school library, especially when she became addicted to Greek mythology. She fell into fandom in college, and published many short stories and poems in various universes, all while sending out original stories to magazines and publishing houses, eventually receiving rejections that weren’t the standard photocopied photocopy of a form letter.

She has a BA in theater/English from Northwestern College and a MA in communication, focused on film and writing from Regent University. In 1990, her writing career finally broke into the public market when she won 1^st place in the 4^th quarter of the Writers of the Future contest, which included publication in that year’s winners anthology. Her first published novel Heir of Faxinor came out in 2000. Since then, Michelle has published 50+ books and novellas with multiple e-publishers and small presses, in SF and fantasy, YA, women’s fiction, and many sub-genres of romance. She makes her living as a freelance editor and proofreader.

Web address: http://www.Mlevigne.com

Blogs: http://www.MichelleLevigne.blogspot.com

http://www.Tabor-Heights-Today.blogspot.com

Click on the pics or here for info about buying Michelle’s books.

Most recent releases:

Coming Soon:

Los Cielos — historical/paranormal romance from Uncial Press: http://www.UncialPress.com

Cooking up Trouble — Tabor Heights Year Two, Book #2 — http://www.DesertBreezePublishing.com

Virtually Dead — a series of novellas based in the Commonwealth Universe, coming from Writers Exchange: http://www.Writers-Exchange.com

By Fire and Stars – the 3rd book in the Chorillan Cycle, part of the Commonwealth Universe, coming from OakTara: http://www.OakTara.com

Cindy Thomson – What I’ve Learned About Publishing

What I’ve Learned About Publishing

by Cindy Thomson

One day when I was five I told my three-year-old buddies that the rocks we were playing with in the alley had come down from the moon. “Look at them. They are full of craters, just like the moon!”

(It was one of those clear days when the moon was up during the day and you could see it.)

“There are aliens up there on the moon,” I told them. “And they are throwing down the rocks and trying to hit us! Better watch out!”

The next morning my mother began getting phone calls. “Cindy told my Johnny some story about aliens on the moon and he had nightmares about it all night!”

When my mother told me this I remember thinking, “Gee whiz. Didn’t they know it was just a story?”

Just a story? Not if you tell it right, and that’s been my goal ever since—to lead readers into a world that they believe could be real. (And of course to inspire them and entertain them while they’re there.) I bet that is your goal too, isn’t it? Or is your goal to get a book published? Nothing wrong with that, but I’ve learned to never lose sight of that first goal. Ever.

I began my publishing journey thirteen years ago. My first two books were published seven years ago. I’ve had a couple of non-fiction titles since, the last released in 2009. Two years ago I actually pleaded with God to take away my desire to write, even as I knew he would not. It’s just so hard sometimes. I was in a valley, a desert even, but God was not going to keep me there, and my first novel with Tyndale is releasing this summer.

But that’s not the end. Writing is hard work, and I’m still working hard, harder actually than I ever have. And the doubts keep coming and I keep pushing them away.

If you’re just embarking on a writing career, you might not realize that you are headed down a path with lots of twists and turns, valleys and peaks. If you’ve been writing for a while, you no doubt do know this, but what I’ve been learning is that with each challenge comes growth and change, and, after much prayer and sometimes agony, progress. Even if what happens a long the way is not expected or even welcomed, I’m growing and discovering things.

I used to teach pre-school. (Don’t worry, I changed my storytelling tactics!) If you’ve ever seen a three-year-old’s art project, you probably wondered what it was supposed to be. I used to tell parents to remember that it’s the process that is important, not the product. And it’s true. The child had a ball creating it, and then walked away, usually not caring if he took his finger painting home or not.

If you think about it, there are parallels you can draw between the writing life and the faith journey. It’s that journey where I am learning things about myself, about God, and about God’s plan for me, that is most important.

In this life we will never reach the prize, but it’s the process that is key. You might think when you’re a writer that publication is the prize, or publishing with a particular publisher is the prize—and certainly that’s a wonderful accomplishment. But there’s always something else you’ll be striving for: awards, sales numbers, recognition, bestseller lists, even the next contract—and you might not reach them all. But you certainly will learn a lot along the way.

Of course you want to create quality books, but that’s not the real prize in publishing. The real prize is when you realize that you can tell stories that move people and then you do it. And you do it again. And again. And you’re never finished. And you love it.

Happy writing!

Meet the Author:

Cindy Thomson is a writer and an avid genealogy enthusiast. Her love of history and her Scots-Irish heritage have inspired much of her writing, including her new Ellis Island series. Cindy is also the author of Brigid of Ireland and Celtic Wisdom: Treasures from Ireland. She combined her love of history and baseball to co-author the biography Three Finger: The Mordecai Brown Story, which was a finalist for the Society for American Baseball Research’s Larry Ritter Book Award. In addition to books, Cindy has written on a regular basis for numerous online and print publications and is a mentor for the Jerry B. Jenkins Christian Writers Guild. She is also a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and the Historical Novel Society. Cindy and her husband have three grown sons and live in central Ohio. Visit her online at www.cindyswriting.com.

Grace’s Pictures, releasing from Tyndale House, June 2013.

Grace McCaffery hopes that the bustling streets of New York hold all the promise that the lush hills of Ireland did not. As her efforts to earn enough money to bring her mother to America fail, she wonders if her new Brownie camera could be the answer. But a casual stroll through a beautiful New York City park turns into a hostile run-in with local gangsters, who are convinced her camera holds the first and only photos of their elusive leader. A policeman with a personal commitment to help those less fortunate finds Grace attractive and longs to help her, but Grace believes such men cannot be trusted. Spread thin between her quest to rescue her mother, do well in a new nanny job, and avoid the gang intent on intimidating her, Grace must put her faith in unlikely sources to learn the true meaning of courage and forgiveness.

Jocelyn Green – Ten Tips for Time-Starved Writers

Ten Tips for Time-Starved Writers

by Jocelyn Green

I should have known better. But when the local reporter came to interview me about my novel, Wedded to War, I told her that my kids, ages 3 and 6, would be home with us, but that they “knew how to stay quiet.”

Can you guess how that interview went? Let’s just say that by the end of it, the reporter shifted her line of questioning from the Civil War inspiration to: “This is your fifth book since I was here last time. How do you write with two little kids running around?”

Great question! I’m practically starved for writing time most of the year, and if you have a family or a job or some desire to do anything other than write, I know you can relate.

I do have one writer friend who, when a book deadline approaches, packs up and heads to her cabin in the mountains for weeks at a time to just get ‘er done. How nice for her.

But since we can’t all have the cabins of our dreams, and the time to use them, what’s a writer to do?

The only answer is to maximize the time that we do have. Here are ten tips I’ve picked up over the past several years.

1) Write without editing yourself. (Yet.)

I was an editor before I wrote any books. But when I let my editor’s brain take over my writer’s brain, I played a mental tug-of-war on the page, rewriting a scene (or even—dare I say it?—a single paragraph) several times and not making any actual progress on the word count in a given day.

Since then I learned that we write with one side of our brain, and we edit with the other side. So don’t try to do both at once. Just write the thing first. You can edit later.

In Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott says:

“Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere. Start by getting something—anything—down on paper. A friend of mine says that the first draft is the down draft—you just get it down. The second draft is the up draft—you fix it up. You try to say what you have to say more accurately. And the third draft is the dental draft, where you check every tooth, to see if it’s loose or cramped or decayed, or even, God help us, healthy.”

I have gone through more than three drafts, I’m sure, but that’s beside the point. The point is—get it down. Editing slows the process in the initial stage.

2) Don’t do the laundry.

At least, not during your writing time. Writing from home, it’s so tempting to “just throw in one load.” But if you put a load in the washer, you’ll probably want to put it into the dryer. And if you put it in the dryer, chances are, you’ll want to fold the clothes before they wrinkle. The interruptions pile up faster than the laundry.

The same concept goes for washing the dishes, dusting, etc. It might seem like just a few quick minutes to straighten up, but if it’s taking away from your writing time—and more importantly, from your focus—it’s not allowed. I read somewhere that after every interruption, it takes about 20 minutes to get fully back into the groove of your previous momentum. I can’t cite this source, and I’m not sure how they did this study, but it feels true enough, or close enough to the truth, for me to ruthlessly squelch the urge to do just a tiny chore during writing time.

3) Set goals.

And make them just beyond what you think you can achieve. Whether you try to hit a word count or write a certain number of scenes per day, aim for something. If you’re at a loss in this area, the book 90 Days to Your Novel spells out all the daily goals for you. You can adjust the timeframe as you see fit.

4) Write “as the bullets fly.”

I’m stealing this phrase from Pamela Redmond Satran in a recent article she wrote in this month’s Writer’s Digest. She shares how after she had a baby, she waited until the quiet moments of nap time or after bedtime to write, but it was never enough. Then, she had an epiphany. She says:

“Forget about waiting for the quiet moment alone in the pristine room: I was never going to get that again, at least not for a long time. And so rather than stealing writing time in my office, I moved my laptop to the living room. Instead of writing late at night or early in the morning before my child woke up, I started doing it while she was right there. I wrote while I watched the 802^nd viewing of Cinderella. . . ”

And the pages added up.

This is something I am learning to do right now. My “office” (aka laptop) now travels with me to the playroom, the family room, and the backyard. I use www.logmein.com to access the files and email on my desktop computer.

5) Be anti-social.

When you’re up against a deadline, shut down your email, turn off Facebook, Twitter, etc. One writer I know deactivates her Facebook profile when she’s writing, and reactivates it once she’s done. If you really can’t go totally dark, tell yourself you will only do social media during one (or two) designated small slots of time a day.

6) Write when you’re fresh.

If you do your best writing in the morning, don’t whittle away that time responding to emails. Write first. The emails can usually wait. I used to tell myself I could write in the evenings, but I’m so exhausted by the end of the day, one hour in the morning is worth three hours at night!

7) Get up earlier.

Hey, I’m not a morning person either, but I found that by getting up at 5am instead of when my kids get up at 7, I can double the amount of writing time I usually get in a day. Amazing!

8)  Skip writer’s block.

If you have trouble writing a certain scene, skip it and move on to something else you can get into. You can always go back to that trouble spot later and fill it in. Just keep writing.

9) Create time.

What can you delegate to others to free up more writing time for yourself? Would it be worth it to have a maid service come in so you can use that time to write?

Child care is always a dilemma when they are young. I hired a babysitter (make that seven babysitters—long story) two summers ago. Last summer I bribed them. If they were good in the morning, we went bowling or to the water park in the afternoon. I’m also learning to write as the bullets fly! If your kids are too young for this to work, you might want to find another mom and swap kids a couple times a week.

The other relentless time-consuming issue is meal preparation. I don’t want to spend hours in the kitchen before and after we eat dinner, but I also don’t want to resort to fast food or take-out. So I make meals ahead of time and stock the freezer with them. Check out the book Don’t Panic! Dinner’s In the Freezer for plenty of recipes.

10) Pray.

This is the easiest thing to do, and so important. Before your fingers touch the keyboard, pray. Pray that God will give you focus, clarity, creativity, whatever it is you most need on that day. And ask others to join you! Many writers, myself included, have a prayer team supporting them throughout their writing project. Or just ask a few trusted friends for prayer on a more spontaneous basis. I cannot even count the number of times I have asked friends to pray, and then within days (sometimes within hours) that specific request was answered above and beyond my expectations and hopes.

Stories are powerful. Jesus used them (parables) to communicate profound truths. Why not pray that God will help us tell the story He wants us to tell, the way He wants us to tell it, and that He would help us do it before our deadline? If he could feed the five thousand from two loaves of bread and five fish, He can help us make the most of our writing time.

Meet the Author:

Jocelyn Green is an award-winning author of multiple books, including Faith Deployed: Daily Encouragement for Military Wives, and Stories of Faith and Courage from the Home Front, which inspired her Civil War novels Wedded to War and Widow of Gettysburg. She is an active member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Military Writers Society of America, Christian Authors Network, and the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association. She lives in Cedar Falls, Iowa, with her incredibly supportive husband and two adorable children. Visit her at www.jocelyngreen.com. Connect on Facebook: www.facebook.com/jocelyngreenauthor

Her Heroines Behind the Lines series is inspired by real women who played important roles during the Civil War. For more about the series, visit www.heroinesbehindthelines.com. For information about purchasing the novels, click on the book covers below.

Maureen Lang – What’s the Best Teacher? Success or Failure?

What’s the Best Teacher? Success or Failure?

by Maureen Lang

If failure is the best teacher, does that somehow make success the worst?

I’ve been involved in the writing community off and on for most of my adult life, and I can claim with some authority that writers learn from both failure and success. Here’s how:

Success:

This is the old Pavlov’s dog theory: Want a dog to come to you when you call him? Consistently offer a treat and he’ll come every time, not just to please you but for that treat he’s been conditioned to expect. In any relationship, if we do something positive for a loved one, we not only enjoy doing it, but we hope they’ll react in a positive way. They’re pleased, grateful, perhaps even more loving in return. As a writer, when we subject our work to critique we tend to respond to the positive feedback with confidence. If someone says: “Your dialogue is great!” we have more confidence and will likely never shy away from books using plenty of our strengths.

Failure:

If a child touches a hot stove they quickly learn not to do that again. In a relationship, if a wife serves a new recipe for meatloaf and her husband doesn’t like it, that’s a failure she can learn from. Never use that recipe again! For a writer, if our work is rejected and we’re fortunate enough to get feedback as to why, we take that feedback to heart and try to improve whatever is lacking. Or if we get a number of reviews that mention the same thing, we strive to improve those areas in future work. So we learn by our failures.

In engineering circles like the ones my husband belongs to, you might hear someone say: “Fail early, fail often.” Failing early allows you more time to improve, to innovate, make changes—adjust. In writer’s circles, we would say our early failures lead us to stronger stories, deeper characters, a more emotional exchange between page and reader.

In short, failures in any venue make our product stronger.

My Pastor recently talked about the passage from Matthew 14 where Jesus walks on water. The text says Jesus had stayed behind to pray while the disciples took the boat out on the lake. So the disciples are in the boat without Him, and the sea suddenly rages. I’ve heard about how suddenly such storms can rise on the Sea of Galilee if the wind is from the east. One storm I read about had 10 ft. waves! Do you have any doubt the disciples feared for their lives?

Then Jesus appears, walking over the stormy waters, and they think He’s a ghost. So Peter calls out: “If it’s really You, let me come to You!” Christ says yes, he should come, and Peter starts out so confidently. As he leaves that boat, his eyes are on Christ. How exhilarated he must have felt to actually walk on that wind-swept water! But then Peter looks away. He suddenly lets the storm define his environment; he’s fearful and asks Jesus to save him. After the exhilaration of walking on water, did Peter feel like a failure when he felt himself sinking?

Failure certainly seems to be a universal human experience. And if failure is a teacher, then it might even be good for us. My pastor’s lesson was that it’s most important to follow failure with the right reaction. What did Peter do? He looked to Christ. And Christ was there. Christ didn’t look at Peter and call him a failure. He observed that his faith had faltered, but isn’t it also obvious that when Peter climbed out of that boat, for the moments that followed when he actually did walk on the water, that Christ was exhilarated right along with Peter? Peter tasted God’s power; that wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t stepped out of the boat.

Our pastor reminded us that God sometimes allows storms (and failures) into our life to get us to release our grip on everything around us—and cling to Him instead. Peter might have learned about God’s power from his moment of success, but his moment of failure led him to depend more on God.

Perhaps failure really is a better teacher than success.

Meet the Author:

Maureen Lang has been writing stories since the age of ten, when she figured out a way to write the stories she feels like reading. Since then she’s become the award-winning author of over a dozen published novels. In the last ten years her faith has directed her to write stories that reflect Christian hope and traditional values. She’s also been an active member of the disability community since her oldest son was diagnosed with Fragile X Syndrome, a genetic form of mental retardation. Maureen loves going on research trips to get a feel for the settings of her novels, and lives in the Chicago area with her husband, children, and lovable Labrador Retriever. Visit her on the web at www.maureenlang.com

Click on the pic below for information about ordering Maureen’s novels.

All In Good Time

Dessa Caldwell has a dream:

to open Pierson House, a refuge for former prostitutes in Denver’s roughest neighborhood. But after exhausting all charitable donations, Dessa still needs a loan. Her last hope hinges on the owner of Hawkins National Bank.

Henry Hawkins has a secret:

he owns the most successful bank in town, but his initial capital came from three successful stage coach robberies. Though he’s Denver’s most eligible bachelor, to protect his past, he’s built a fortress around his heart that no one can penetrate . . . until the day Dessa Caldwell strolls into his bank requesting a loan.

Though he’s certain her proposal is a bad investment, Henry is drawn to Dessa’s passion. But that same passion drives her to make rash decisions about Pierson House . . . and about whom she can trust. One man might hold the key to the future of her mission—but he also threatens to bring Henry’s darkest secrets to light. As the walls around their hearts begin to crumble, Henry and Dessa must choose between their plans and God’s, between safety and love.

Linda Glaz – Advice from an Agent and Giveaway

Advice from a Literary Agent

by Linda Glaz

I can’t stress enough how important it is, from an agent or editor’s point of view, for an author to do his or her homework before submitting material. A little side not—anytime I offer advice, it means it’s something I did wrong on my own journey and don’t want you to do the same. Spending years not paying attention is lost time when you might be getting published.

If you just blanket all agents with your work and get nowhere (and you’ll get nowhere), then the opportunity to actually make contact is gone. Most of us keep a record of who submits and when. So, if you try to sneak it in the door a second time, I’ll know and will send you a “friendly” reminder that I already said no.

But if you do the research of each agent, ask yourself these questions: Does Agent Smith handle my genre or type of work? Does he take nonfiction, fiction, literary, sci-fi, fantasy, romance, and on and on? Does editor Jones work with new authors or has she said specifically that she will only take a look at work from published authors? If she said it, chances are very good—she means it. Should I try and be sneaky and say I met with Agent Geezer at Such and Such Writers’ Conference? This can really backfire when you are approaching an agent with an amazing memory (Just cuz I’m old doesn’t mean I’m a dope). Does Agent Doozy charge a fee for looking at my work? NEVER pay an agent a cent. They work for you! The most you should ever encounter is copying costs if they have to send your work by snail mail which doesn’t happen often anymore. Have I gone to the agency site to see EXACTLY what the agent wants submitted? So very important; if you haven’t, you will probably get a “not for me” response. No agent wants to work with someone who isn’t going to follow directions. Would the agent be interested in going to my website to see my work? This happens more often than not, and I’ll be very honest, if you’re too lazy to put together the proposal we want, I’m not going to have a read, and I’m certainly not going to drop what I’m doing (unless you’ve already caught my interest with an amazing proposal) and go to your website to look up what you think I’ll be blown away by. And lastly (though the list could on and on), have I formatted my proposal in the correct manner? 1” margins, 12 pt. New Times Roman, widows and orphans turned off, first line set at .5, and finally, no fancy fonts, colors, lines, clip art, pics, etc.; need I say more?

If you HAVE done all you are supposed to, contact the agent or pitch to him or her at a conference and just be yourself. Your work, as well, will speak for itself. Send a couple, wait for responses, and even if you’re rejected, you might glean some wonderful advice that will help your next submission be even better.

Good luck, and good writing!

Meet the Agent and Author:

Linda, married with three grown children and three grandchildren, is a complete triple-A personality. How else would she find time to write as well as be an agent for Hartline Literary Agency? She loves any and every thing about the written word and loves when families pass stories along through the generations. If she isn’t writing or putting together a contract, you’ll find her taking a relaxing bath with her e-reader in hand. Her background in karate, soccer and the Air Force has allowed her to meet a lot of “characters” along the way. If you find a strange and weird character in one of her books, watch it! It might be you!!!

Hartline Literary Agency

Click on the pictures below for information about buying her novels.

Book 1: With Eyes of Love

Barbara (Bunny) Richardson lives a perfect life. Wonderful family, amazing voice, and very handsome, very wealthy fiancé. But it doesn’t take long for her to realize he will always make decisions that benefit only him and his business. Barbara will never know the desires of her heart, only that she will be the beautiful woman on his arm. Then, when traveling with her family, Barbara is stranded in a flood in Tennessee, and the handsome man who comes to her rescue turns her perfect life into chaos. Two years later, when they find their paths have crossed again, Jackson, holed up in his room, refuses to meet with her. How could she love a burned and scarred freak, a remnant of Pearl Harbor’s destruction? A man who didn’t save a seventeen-year-old seaman who was counting on him? But Barbara has other ideas. She intends to shame the pity party out of Jackson and when that doesn’t work, she tries a dangerous game of making him jealous at his sister’s wedding. How deep is beauty? And do we get the chance to see real beauty with eyes of love?

Book 2: Always Abby

When Abigail Richardson visits the Judge family in Tennessee, the war is winding down, and Abby hopes to catch a peek of their youngest son and her pen pal for the last six years since they were stranded in the flood, William Judge. As he steps from the train and walks right toward her, her heart flutters in her chest. Yet, Will keeps on walking, all the way to the redhead beyond her. Jeannine. As he introduces the small orphan, Henryk, that he’s brought back from the concentration camp in Germany, Jeannine makes it clear she doesn’t plan to be a readymade mother. Abby, on the other hand, takes “Hank” directly to her heart, and it’s Will who sees more than just a freckle-faced pen pal. Abby’s all grown up. But what of his promise of marriage to Jeannine?

I love that these are part of a story of a family, and are based around the actual, though fictionalized, friendship of two women. My mom and my aunt. And while some things are VERY loosely based on their friendship, it’s the friendship itself that I wanted to bring to light. Two women who shared more than most close sisters do. The kind of friendship that anyone would give anything they had to possess.

Pearl Harbor is explored in book one to show the true horrors of war. As a veteran who served during Vietnam, I don’t have any firsthand experience of war, but male friends coming back gave me enough grist to help me understand just what our men and women go through. The surprise at Pearl left so many not only wounded, but scarred emotionally in a way that they never recovered completely. I wanted to show that aspect in the story and how a person could turn from God because of it. But also, how love can reach into the soul and help a person find their way back home, both emotionally and spiritually.

The concentration camps in Germany didn’t play favorites, they were horrible to everyone, Jews, Gentiles, minorities, it didn’t matter. If you were on the Third Reich’s hit list, you ended up in a camp, and children didn’t fare much better than adults. Again in book two is a sobering account of WWII, but also a wonderful romance of young love found, love lost, and love found again. And the trust and love of a child who has been through more than most adults have faced in their entire lives, but the innocence that reminds those around him of God’s love.

The Substitute Bride

What happens when a young woman traveling west is aboard a train that derails? Hit on the head and unsure of who she is, she is greeted at the next station by a handsome rancher who tells her they are supposed to get married. That day!

Book Giveaway:

Leave a comment on this blog post by next Tuesday for a chance to win an e-book copy of With Eyes of Love.

Susan F. Craft – Writing Requires Planting Yourself in the Chair

Writing Requires Planting Yourself in the Chair

by Susan F. Craft

I’m always hesitant when asked to talk about the process of writing, because each author has his or her own way of going about it.

I’ve been writing professionally for over 40 years. Granted, some of it was, I told myself at the time, not what I really wanted to be writing—articles for agency publications, informational materials, speeches for the agency director. It was “my day job” that I couldn’t quit because I couldn’t get anyone interested in my novels.

Over the years, I have come to the realization that any writing hones your craft—the thought processes required to come up with an idea; the utilization of resources to research thoroughly; the time to learn correct grammar and spelling; the willingness to learn from the masters; the discipline to sit in the chair and work; the development of thick skin in order to learn from, and not resent, criticism; the humility that comes with rejection; and the absolute joy that comes when someone really likes what you’ve written and says those magic words, “I couldn’t put it down.”

With that realization came the “light bulb moment” when I understood that employees and their families were honored by my articles published in our agency newsletter; mental health patients and their families deeply appreciated the information about their or their loved one’s illness written in such a way that they could understand what was happening to them; and the audiences hearing the speeches gained insight into what our agency was trying to accomplish and were inspired to partner with us to achieve those goals. My writing actually helped some people. How rewarding is that.

I still work full time and continue to plug away at novel writing. The speaker at a writers’ workshop I attended this past week made the statement, “Persistence trumps talent.” Well, brothers and sisters, I’m here to tell you that I know a little bit about persistence.  Over the past 30 years I’ve attended more writers’ workshops and conferences than I can remember. Sometimes the information would contradict something I had just heard in a previous conference. This happened mostly in the area of marketing—what genres were selling, what houses were looking for, what agents wanted to see, the acquisitions editor who threw manuscripts into her sludge pile because she had had a lousy breakfast.  I listened and I learned to sift through the “old hat” information and glean the good stuff, which I incorporated into my writing.

My persistence was rewarded when in November 2011, the Ingalls Publishing Group, released my inspirational Revolutionary War romantic suspense, The Chamomile. Life hasn’t been the same since. I’ve travelled, mostly regionally, to talk to groups, as many as 100 once and as few as four another. I talk about my research that went into my novel, how I found what I call my research “treasures,” and how I wove them into the story.  Our state Book Festival invited me to be a guest panelist. Over 6,000 people attended that event. When the wonderful reviews started showing up on places like Amazon and Goodreads, I was truly amazed and so excited.  When The Chamomile won the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance Okra Pick award, I was over the moon.

So, here’s my advice boiled down into the format I like best – a list:

• Write every day, preferably in the same place and at the same time. (I don’t follow my own advice about the same place, same time, but I write every day.)
• Participate in NaNoWriMo, which challenges you to write a 50,000 word novel in a month.
• Get up early one morning and start writing without stopping; especially don’t stop to edit. Try switching off your monitor when you’re typing. You can’t edit what you can’t see.
• After editing on the screen or in print, read your work aloud. You’ll be amazed at how many awkward sentences you can fix this way.
• Join a critique group, preferably with people who write in your genre. (Or find a critique partner.)
• Attend as many writers’ conference and workshops as you can. These things can get very expensive, so thoroughly check them out for those that sound helpful to you and your level of writing. The networking is invaluable.
• Read – a lot, especially the great writers. You’ll soon come to recognize what excellent writing is.
• Keep notebooks describing the interesting people you meet and the places that give you “vibes” (sorry, I’m a 60s girl).
• Enter writing contests; sometimes you get tremendous feedback from judges and you get name recognition, awards, and rewards if you win.
• Volunteer to work at your local Book Festivals.  They are the ones who will invite you to speak once you’ve been published. You’ll meet some fine people and network with published authors who usually have good advice.
• If you write historical fiction, PLEASE, make every effort to assure that your facts are correct and your history is good.
• Self-publishing is separate from writing. Not every writer has the time, the talent, or the interest. Both writing and publishing take work. Self-publishing demands the work of both. Even if you land a contract with a traditional publisher, you must still work at self-promotion.
• Get an agent. Some writers complain that it is unnecessary and ask why they should give another person a piece of the royalties. My agent, Linda Glaz, with Hartline Literary Agency, is fabulous. She is my best ally, she knows where my book should be, and she knows the people to send it to, and they respect her opinions. While she’s out there promoting my novel, I’m free to write the sequel. I’m the first to admit, though, that finding an agent is just as difficult as finding a publisher.
• This last one is for Christian writers. Pray about and for what you are writing. Ask yourself, will this glorify his name? Will it lift up your readers? Will they be a better person for having read what you’ve written? Have you done your absolute best to honor the absolute sacrifice that was made for you? Will you handle rejection with grace and accolades with humility?

Here’s a list of quotes from famous authors I thought would interest you:

• Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass. Anton Chekhov
• Cut out all those exclamation marks.  An exclamation mark is like laughing at your own joke. F. Scott Fitzgerald
• If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it. I try to leave out the parts that people skip. Elmore Leonard
• Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print. Never use a long word when a short one will do. George Orwell
• I’m always pretending that I’m sitting across from somebody. I’m telling them a story, and I don’t want them to get up until it’s finished. James Patterson
• Abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish. Lose track of the 400 pages and write just one page for each day, it helps. Then when it gets finished, you are always surprised. John Steinbeck
• Substitute “damn” every time you’re inclined to write “very”; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. Mart Twain
• Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action. Kurt Vonnegut

Meet the Author:

Susan F. Craft, author of The Chamomile, a Revolutionary War romantic suspense, has a degree in Broadcast Journalism from the University of South Carolina. Her 40-year career includes working for SC Educational Television, the SC Department of Mental Health, the SC College of Pharmacy, and currently for the SC Senate.

The Chamomile, winner of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance Okra Pick, is the fourth book she has authored. The first two were SC State Library award-winning professional works in the field of mental health, and the third, published in 2006, was A Perfect Tempest, a historical fiction set in Columbia during the Civil War.

Craft is a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers, the Palmetto Christian Writers Network, the Historical Novel Society, the SC Writers Workshop, the SC Historical Society, the Robert Burns Society, the Colonial American Christian Writers, John 316 Marketing Network, She Writes, Goodreads, Facebook, and Pinterest. Her website address is http://www.susanfcraft.com and her blogs are http://historicalfictionalightintime.blogspot.com and http://colonialquills.blogspot.com.

Craft wrote A Writer’s Guide to Horses, which is available on the website of the Long Riders’ Guild Academic Foundation, http://www.lrgaf.org.  The Guide provides authors comprehensive information about horses to assist them to accurately portray horses in their works.

Craft says, “Researching for my novels brings me the same excitement Alan Quartermain must have felt hunting for King Solomon’s Mines. I’ve been known to spend an entire day in a library scribbling notes from someone’s diary, spending a wallet of quarters making copies of maps and old newspapers, and trekking from one book or document to the next with a perseverance Lewis and Clark would have applauded. I enjoy the chase when one clue leads me from one historical treasure to the next.”

“I cannot remember a time when I did not want to write. Somewhere in my attic I have a book, The Mystery of the Whistling Cave, which I wrote and bound myself when I was eight and enthralled with Nancy Drew.”

“I married Rick, who was my high school sweetheart and now husband of 43 years. We live in South Carolina and have two adult children whom we adore and one grandchild who is my bestest buddy. I gave my heart to Christ as a teenager and am an active member of my church, singing in the choir since I was ten.”

Click the picture below for information about buying Susan’s novel.

The Chamomile

Lilyan Cameron joins patriot spies in British-occupied Charlestown, SC, to rescue her brother from a notorious prison ship.  She’ll lie, steal, kill, or be killed she promises Nicholas Xanthakos, a scout with Francis Marion’s partisans, who leads the mission.  In Nicholas’ arms she discovers enduring love … a home.  But that home is a long time coming.  Her journey requires she save the life of one British officer but kill another to protect her Cherokee friend, Elizabeth. In escaping bounty hunters, she treks miles of wilderness and very nearly loses everything before finally reuniting with her true love.

Lisa Lickel – Process of Writing

Process of Writing

by Lisa Lickel

 

 

 

Process of Writing:

Have an idea

Write

Press “send”

Happy dance

ALL RIGHT – you want details, you ask? You seat-of-the-pants writer?

Just be aware: I can tell you, but then I’d have to kill you. (I’m an oft-times mystery writer—I just had to say that.)

I teach a workshop on “Where Do Ideas Come From?” I once had oodles of students roaming through a book store, checking titles, reading shelves, people-watching, studying headlines, listening to conversations…where do your ideas come from? A lot of mine are ripped from the headlines. What really happened to that missing person? What would it take to save the family farm? How hard is it to get a weapon across the country when you can’t fly with it or drive? There is a company trying to create hypoallergenic pets. What would it be like to move everything and start over at the request of your friend the mayor of a small town and then find his body?

So that last sentence was really the premise of my latest novel. Here’s where it started: small towns across America are dying as the younger generation generally prefers to live where life is faster and more exciting. Not everyone, of course, but it’s hard to keep small business afloat in communities where the nearest big box department store is only a twenty-minute or less drive. I like coffee. I like books. I like chocolate. I know a little about local small family newspapers; one of my neighbors uses a live answering service to keep in touch with his clients when he’s away from home. It’s personal. It’s nice. It really happens. I like cats, and researched unusual ones: voila – Egyptian Mau.

Put those elements together – out pops a book.

Oh, you want to know the “writing” part, do you? It involves research, for me a sharp pencil and notebook, a working computer, Internet, libraries, human beings to interview and partner with in the word-smithing. A lot of chair time.

Never trust a single source for research. I may have heard that a few times as a journalist. I generally use at least three resources for fact-finding: Internet, books, people. How do you make cat food? Research companies who manufacture it, interview cat owners, read about the nutrition values in books. I like to plot on paper. Genre. Audience. Those things lead me to a word length: mysteries run 60-80,000 words, although that’s becoming a little shorter these days. I like to write terse, round up or down later. I like my chapters certain lengths. For mysteries I need major players and minor ones. I chart characters. I need a big problem and lots of little crises to overcome. Some of these are going to become clues and some are “red herrings,” those mis-cues to lead my readers in a merry chase. Include a little excitement, a little romance.

Once I’m at the computer I develop character sheets and scene and setting sheets to keep my facts straight. I create a synopsis and work my chapters from those major goals. I try to write out the draft in a few weeks so I don’t forget where I’m headed, using my flexible chapter goals to keep me on task. I like to write with a critique partner ready to bounce off ideas and keep my p’s and q’s dotted and scored. I’ve learned to avoid the “write by committee” process.

Press “send.” Sometime along the way, even at the start, you’ll want to decide your target publisher. If you have an agent, cool, run the idea past him or her first. If you plan to cold-send to agents or publishers, pick out a half-dozen places first, check their guidelines and write accordingly. If you’re going to self-publish, line up good editors and designers. Make sure your manuscript is revised and polished before you hit the button. And no, reading a few times is not enough.

Happy dance when you reach milestones, like when the clues fall into place, you get that first rough draft done, you’ve polished, you’ve sent. Be brave when you hear back, no matter the news. Sometimes the “go” from a publisher or agent makes you quiver as much as hearing “no.” “Go” really means you have a lot of work ahead of you. “No” means you buckle up and keep processing.

Don’t give up! Just like surviving a game show, the one who reaches the goal is the one who learns and networks along the way, although in this business, making friends is a better way of making future readers. Remember, your goal is not to be published, but to be READ.

Meet the Author:

Lisa Lickel is a Wisconsin author of romance and mystery. Visit http://www.lisalickel.com

Click on the picture for information about Lisa’s novels.

Meow Mayhem is her latest book, from Whimsical Publications, now available in e-book and print.

When Ivy Preston and True Thompson move to quaint little Apple Grove at the bequest of their friend the mayor, they uncover the rotten side of town.