Writing « Christa Allan

June 6, 2013

On the Threshold: A Mom/Daughter Team Novel

Filed under: Books,Guest Post,Issues,Writing — Tags: Christina Tarabochia, Depression, fiction, On the Threshold, Sherrie Ashcraft — Christa Allan @ 1:45 am

FROM CHRISTA: Sherrie and Christina were among my pre-published cheerleaders for Walking on Broken Glass. I met them during Margie Lawson’s workshop, and I’m excited to be able to introduce them to you here.

After fourteen years of hard work, Sherrie Ashcraft and Christina Berry Tarabochia are thrilled to announce the release of their novel, On the Threshold. Interested in how a mother and daughter can write a book together? Want a chance at winning a Kindle and a business card design from a top-notch company? Keep reading!
Why did you ladies begin writing this book?
Both of us had always talked about writing a book, but fourteen years ago Sherrie said if we were ever going to write, maybe we should work on a book together. It would hold us accountable. We lived on different sides of the state of Oregon at the time, so we did a lot of it via e-mail, and once a month Sherrie would make the 250-mile drive to Christina’s house and we’d work on it in person. We wanted to share a real look at depression and trying to be good enough to please God–what that might look like in a family’s life.

Fourteen years? Really?
That’s from the first word penned. The very first contest we entered, we actually talked about how we needed to decide how to fight off all the editors who’d be making offers. Instead, we found out we had a lot to learn! Attending writing conferences and reading craft books brought our writing to a higher level.

Tell us about On the Threshold.
We loved having the chance to tell this story! In fact, we have a few more stories to tell about these characters if readers love this one. Here’s what the book is about.
Suzanne—a mother with a long-held secret. Tony—a police officer with something to prove. Beth—a daughter with a storybook future. When all they love is lost, what’s worth living for?
Suzanne Corbin and her daughter, Beth Harris, live a seemingly easy life. Suzanne has distanced herself from her past, replacing pain with fulfillment as a wife and mother, while Beth savors her husband’s love and anticipates the birth of their child. But all that is about to change.
Like a sandcastle buffeted by ocean waves, Suzanne’s façade crumbles when her perfect life is swept away. Tragedy strikes and police officer Tony Barnett intersects with the lives of both women as he tries to discover the truth. Left adrift and drowning in guilt long ignored, Suzanne spirals downward into paralyzing depression. Beth, dealing with her own grief, must face the challenge of forgiveness. Can these two women learn to trust each other again? Will they find the power of God’s grace in their lives?

And a little about you?
Mother/daughter writing team Sherrie Ashcraft and Christina Berry Tarabochia bring a voice of authenticity to this novel as they have experienced some of the same issues faced by these characters. They like to say they were separated at birth but share one brain, which allows them to write in a seamless stream. Both live in NW Oregon and love spending time together. Many years ago, they were both on a winning Family Feud team!

Sherrie is the Women’s Ministry Director at her church, and loves being the grandma of eight and great-grandma of one. Christina is also the author of The Familiar Stranger, a Christy finalist and Carol Award winner, and runs a thriving editing business.
Please sign up for their Infrequent, Humorous Newsletter at Ashberry Lane for a chance to win cool prizes.

What about this contest?
If you help get the word out, you can earn different points for each thing you do, and every point represents an entry in the contest.
Say, for example, you name your next child “Threshold” in honor of our book. You would earn 100 points (entries), which would greatly increase your likelihood of winning.

Fine print to be read as quickly as those medical side effects are glossed over on TV: A certified copy of the birth certificate must be sent to Ashberry Lane proving the child was born between now and when the contest ends on June 30rd at 10 PM, PDT. Some restrictions apply, such as you must also promise not to change the child’s name to anything else for at least the next fifteen years. You are, however, allowed to use “Thresh” as his or her first name, and “Hold” as the middle.

If that seems like we’re asking a little too much, there are other ways for you to enter the contest.
~ Post about On the Threshold on Twitter or LinkedIn, or share the cover on Instagram or Pinterest, and you’ve doubled your points to TWO.
~ Refer someone to sign up for the newsletter. If he or she notes you as referrer, guess what? You just earned THREE points.
~ Blog about it and reap FOUR points. (We’re available for more blog interviews.)
~ And for those who buy the book (e-book or print copy), you will gain FIVE points.
~ Leave a review—positive or negative—on a retailing site after reading the book, and TEN points to you!

All you have to do to enter is drop us an email to Christina [at] ashberrylane [dot] net with a description of what you did. We trust you.

Here is a sample email:
Dear Sherrie and Christina,
Fortunately, my last name is Hold, so when my triplets were born yesterday, all I had to do was name them “On,” “The,” and “Thresh.” (Yes, that makes a double “h,” but without it, the name just looks silly and I don’t want a kid with a funny name.) I also got the cover of On the Threshold tattooed on my arm, took a picture of it, and posted it on every possible social media site, including Facebook, though I understand I don’t get points for anything done on there. Next, I forwarded the Infrequent, Humorous Newsletter to a few of my friends and ALL of my enemies. After reading the book in two hours, I posted an honest review on three different retail sites. Please enter my name 349 times.
Love,
Your #1 Fan
Or something like that. :)
Where else can we find you gals online?
Buy the book, e-version or paperback, on Amazon or B&N or iTunes or in any other version on Smashwords. Sign up for the newsletter (all the kids are doing it!). If you want a signed copy mailed anywhere in the United States, email us. (Christina [at] ashberrylane [dot] net)
www.twitter.com/authorchristina
www.facebook.com/sherrie.ashcraft
www.facebook.com/authorchristina
www.christinaberry.net/
www.authorchristinaberry.blogspot.com
Thanks for hosting us!

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March 18, 2013

Where is Christa today?

Filed under: Writing — Tags: fiction, free book, Trish Perry — Christa Allan @ 9:38 am

Please leave a comment on Trish’s blog, and you’ll be entered in a drawing for a FREE book!

Looking forward to chatting with you there.

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March 15, 2013

How to know if you’re ready for publication

Filed under: Writing — Tags: Publication, writing — Christa Allan @ 2:36 am

NOTE: I’m on deadline, and as the line grows shorter, the dead moves closer…So, this is a recycled blog post (I’m saving the internet rainforest), but one I was reminded of just recently when talking to someone who said, “I think I want to write a book.”

Not your manuscript. You.

Here’s the test: Strip down to your pre-fall Garden of Eden nakedness and stand on the fifty-yard line during halftime at the Super Bowl while everyone submits critiques of your body on the JumboTron.

If you can handle that without buckets of drugs and/or a lifetime of therapy, then you’re probably ready. Because here’s what I’ve come to learn:

1. You can’t follow your writing. I’ve been chanting this to my students for years (I teach high school English…on a good day), but this never became so alive to me as it has since my own words hit print. If I could tap a reader on the shoulder as she’s finishing my book, I could explain why I phrased that sentence a certain way or why included that simile. The ending of my novel is most frequently slammed. Might I have ended it differently had I known the sequel wouldn’t have been contracted? Perhaps. But as one reader at a book club stated: “I think how people react to the ending says more about them than it does about the ending itself.” Crazily, that’s been true more often than I would have expected. (Note: When this blog post was written, I was still teaching. I retired in January!)

2. You can’t obsess over ratings. Some days, my Amazon and Goodreads ratings plunge faster than the stock market. When I find myself getting angsty over a drop from 4.2 to 2.25, I look at the front page of the newspaper. It’s called perspective.

3. You are not your writing. Okay, maybe I am in that a writer invests so much of him/herself into a novel. When I read a review like this: “Buying and reading this book was the biggest waste of money and time since buying the magical egg peeler the infomercials. It was horribly written and tedious,” I make a conscious effort to not personalize it as if I’m horrible and tedious. It also helps to envision dropping the reviewer in a vat of crunchy peanut butter.

If you’re a pre-published writer who feels compelled to vehemently defend or sarcastically retort to someone who has critiqued your writing…fasten your seatbelt. Dealing with an assessment of your writing that might suggest it needs more work pales in comparison to some reviews you may receive. When my publisher generously offered free Kindle downloads of my novel, I read several lovely reviews. Others…not so much. Just a few of the top vitriolic ones:

~the ending was so terrible I could barely justify this 3 (rating)

~this book was unrealistic and a waste of my time

~confusing and in my humble opinion, pointless

But to quote Joyce Magnin of the amazing Bright’s Pond and Cake books, “here’s the thing”: If now and forever, all I ever have is that one response from that one reader who said she saw herself in Leah (my protagonist) and changed her life because of that…the emotional nakedness was worth the price.

So, if your response to this is, “Bring it on!” then you are R-E-A-D-Y.

(Image: Wikipedia)

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January 30, 2013

THE NEXT BIG THING BLOG HOP

Filed under: Books,Writing — Tags: Abingdon Press, AIDS Memorial Quilt, Blog Hop, Brenda Janowitz, Kellie Coates Gilbert, Pamela Binnings Ewen, Threads of Hope — Christa Allan @ 8:41 am

Welcome to the NEXT BIG THING Blog Hop.

A blog hop is like a giant game of tag to help readers discover authors who are new to them. For this hop, authors are answering 10 questions about what we’re working on now. This week, I’m it.

I was tagged by Brenda Janowitz. Visit her blog to see who else she tagged. At the end of this post, I’ll tag more authors who will be joining the hop next week. Follow the hop long enough and you’re bound to find books you’ll love!
Here is my Next Big Thing!

1: What is the working title of your book?

The title of my upcoming March release is Threads of Hope; one of the novels in Quilts of Love, a series from Abingdon Press.

2: Where did the idea come from for the book?

My second novel, The Edge of Grace, explored a woman’s discovery and response to her brother disclosing he is gay. Not exactly a cutting edge topic, but for the Christian market, this was/is a difficult subject. When Abingdon announced its Quilt Series, my first thought was to create a story that incorporated the AIDS Memorial Quilt.

3: What genre does your book come under?

Women’s fiction with elements of romance.

4: Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Hmm…this is always a tough question because I’m generally NOT thinking of “brand name” faces when writing! Carla Gugino would be my pick to play Nina; Bradley Cooper would be perfect as Greg. But then, he’s perfect for just about anything!

5: What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Passed over for promotion and dumped by her boyfriend, Nina O’Malley is assigned to cover a gala benefit supporting the AIDS Memorial Quilt, but when she runs headlong into her high school nemesis, she finds herself facing two paths for her life, but which one will ultimately lead to her dream?

6: Is your book self-published, published by an independent publisher, or represented by an agency?

Abingdon Press is the publisher of the series; my novel is the fifth to release

7: How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

Months and months and months!

8: What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Another great question!

9: Who or what inspired you to write this book?

See #2! The research into the AIDS Memorial Quilt, its beginnings, and learning the far-reaching influence of those whose lives will forever be stitched together became my inspiration.

10: What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

There’s a free trip to Hawaii buried in one of the books? No…but I hope readers enjoy Nina’s journey!

Below you will find the authors who will be joining the blog hop next Wednesday. Do be sure to bookmark them and add them to your calendars for updates on WIPs and New Releases! Happy Writing and Reading!

Kellie Coates Gilbert

Pamela Binnings Ewen

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November 18, 2012

WHAT I WISH I KNEW THEN: HOW RELENTLESS IT ALL IS by Lauren Baratz-Logsted

Filed under: Writing — Tags: Books, guest post, Lauren Baratz-Logsted, marketing, novels, publishing, writing — Christa Allan @ 1:07 pm

There’s a great line at the end of the steamy early-‘80s film, Body Heat. Speaking of the character played by Kathleen Turner, the character played by William Hurt says, “She was…relentless.”

That’s true of writing and publishing too.

In November 1994, I left my day job of 11 years as a bookseller to take a chance on myself as a writer. Over the next two months, I spent every day working on my first novel, Waiting for Dead Men’s Shoes, which will soon be published as an ebook 18 years later. It was a comedic mystery set in a bookstore. I can still remember the day I finished the first draft. It was the middle of January, there was a blizzard going on outside, my husband was off skiing, and in a mad sprint of writing I completed the last 15 pages – more than I’d ever written in a single day in my life. I was so excited, but with no one around to share that excitement, I decided to go for a walk. I used to walk for an hour each day, still do. That particular walk went like this: For the first 30 minutes, I was all elation, completely thrilled with my accomplishment. All my life, I’d dreamed of being a writer, of completing a novel. And now, finally, I’d achieved that dream. How wonderful was this? How wonderful was I? But as the timing of that walk reached 30 minutes and I turned for home, as the 31^st minute began, a different voice began talking in my brain, and that insidious voice said: “Sure, you did it once…but can you do it again?”

That voice, that relentless voice…

Writers always have to do it again. There’s never a moment, or at least not a very long moment, when you get to rest on your laurels, declaring your work done. There is always another mountain to climb. If you’ve finished writing a book, you need to revise that book; finish writing, you need to hunt for an agent; finish your agent search successfully, that agent needs to find a publisher; book published, you need to promote it; while promoting it, you better be working on that next book – better yet, have it already completed – so you can have a follow-up before the world forgets who you are. The ebook revolution has changed some of that – in that it’s not necessary, depending on your preference, to go the agent/publisher route – but the relentlessness remains; in some ways even more so, for if you don’t get people to buy your book, who will?

So how to combat that endless relentlessness?

Resilience.

The greatest tool any writer has – outside of writing talent! – is resilience. You need to be able to, when confronted with the relentlessness of it all, simply power through. When you’re a writer, in some form or another, people say no to you all the time. “No, I don’t want to represent you.” “No, I don’t want to publish your book.” “No, I’m not interested in reviewing your book.” No, no, no. So what? No matter how many people said no to you yesterday, no matter how bad yesterday was, today you get up and you write and you do whatever you need to do to keep your dream moving forward.

Since my first book was published over nine years ago, hardly a day has gone by when I wasn’t promoting a book, revising a book or writing a new book – often all three in the same day! Two days ago, I finished the first draft of a new book. Does that mean I’m done with my work? No, I’m never done with my work. Today I’m revising that book, promoting the last book, and planning the next book.

I will never be done with my work.

And that’s OK.

This business may be relentless, but I am resilient.

Lauren Baratz-Logsted is the author of 26 books – and counting! – for adults, teens and children. You can read more about her life and work at www.laurenbaratzlogsted.com or follow her on Twitter at @LaurenBaratzL

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August 27, 2012

THE STORY BEHIND PURSUING THE TIMES (and how it came out of the closet)

Filed under: Blog,Books,Writing — Tags: Chick Lit, Lauren Baratz-Logsted, Pursing the Times, romantic comedy — Christa Allan @ 7:28 pm

by Lauren Baratz-Logsted

I first got the idea for a romantic comedy about a successful author of Chick Lit who’s obsessed with getting reviewed in the New York Times Book Review several years ago. At the time, my working title for it was Chick Lit: A Love Story. In fact, I actually wrote the book. It was supposed to be the fifth and final book in my contract with Red Dress Ink. Of course, by the time I delivered it, Chick Lit had become the label version of persona non grata, so the publisher was no longer interested in publishing a book that literally celebrated the much-maligned label in its very title.

So the book went in a drawer – or, more accurately, it simply stayed on my hard drive – and instead I wrote a different final book for RDI.

Now, thankfully, we live in new and exciting times. We have the ebook revolution going on and, with it, we’ve all come to realize that Chick lit is not dead. On the contrary, readers are eager to find the kinds of books that traditional publishing has shied away from these past years. I, for one, am not surprised. After all, what is Chick Lit, if not humorous fiction, written primarily for and by and about women dealing with contemporary problems? And what in the world ever made traditional publishing think that women would ever get tired of reading or stop needing books that make them laugh?

So Chick Lit: A Love Story is finally coming out of the closet – or at least off my hard drive – only now it’s called PURSUING THE TIMES. Here’s the official description:

All that popular Chick-Lit author Mercury Lauren wants is to have one of her books reviewed by the New York Times Book Review – just one – and she’ll do almost anything to get it. In this contemporary romantic comedy, with a nod toward Pride and Prejudice she crosses swords and hearts with the Editor-in-Chief of the NYTBR in a madcap adventure that takes her from her home in Westport to a yoga retreat to a golf course in Florida. Will she get what she wants and will she finally be happy if she does? Only one thing’s for certain: nothing will stop her from Pursuing the Times.

If you’d like to read a 30-page sample for free, simply click on this link and then click on the book cover image: PURSUING THE TIMES

Thanks for listening! I hope you’ll give PURSUING THE TIMES a shot. And remember, if you read it and don’t like it…you know who to blame!

Cheers!

Lauren

Lauren Baratz-Logsted is the author of 26 books for adults, teens and children. You can read more about her work at www.laurenbaratzlogsted.com or follow her on Twitter @LaurenBaratzL

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July 16, 2012

Writing saves my life

Filed under: Blog,Writing — Tags: Books, writing — Christa Allan @ 1:39 am

Books and writing have saved my life.

Not literally, of course, like being protected by a bulletproof vest of hardbacks and Anna Karenina-sized paperbacks. But they’ve been, figuratively, life preservers when I’m drowning in a sea of chaos, frustration, anger, grief or all of the above. What they’ve provided for me is a haven; a place to retreat when all the other doors are slamming.

Writing isn’t always an art I can fully share. It’s not like a painting propped on an easel or a tune coaxed from the strings of a violin. But to be able to pull a thought through my brain like so many scarves out of a magician’s sleeve and watch my hand glide across the barren whiteness of paper and create something from nothing is amazing.

Certainly, not all I write is amazing. Often it’s a mess of emotional brain urp. But the process fascinates me. In the same way that I’m still fascinated waves travel through the air, find their way to my car, and convert themselves into music that comes back out of my speakers as waves again. I mean, how WOW is that? Invisible stuff. Floating through people and places and things and producing stuff.

So, too, writing is that act of creation. A garden of safety…before the Fall.

What do books and/or writing mean to you?

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June 20, 2012

Hanging out at the GBC today

Filed under: Writing — Tags: Girlfrien, Girlfriends Book Club, writing — Christa Allan @ 7:10 am

So far, I’ve managed to avoid answering THE QUESTION at every conference, workshop, panel or random gathering of writers I’ve been a part of for the past four years. Inevitably, the conversation becomes a swap meet of pre-publication battle wounds, the Purple Heart of Persistency awarded to the writer with the most rejected manuscripts before getting “the call.”

Read the rest of TALES OF THE (EMPTY) TRUNK at GIRLFRIENDS BOOK CLUB

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June 3, 2012

MEET ANN LEE MILLER and KICKING ETERNITY

Filed under: Guest Post,Interview,Writing — Tags: Ann Miller, ebooks, fiction, Jenny B. Jones, Kicking Eternity — Christa Allan @ 12:18 am

Anyone who leaves a comment with an e-mail address (JaneReader[at]msn[dot]com) will receive a free e-book copy of Kicking Eternity. Those who don’t want to leave an e-mail may contact Ann for their free book at AnnLeeMiller.com.

Tell us about your book.

Kicking Eternity, First Place Long Contemporary winner of the 2009 Romance Writers of America Faith, Hope, and Love Contest, is all about chasing dreams—our dreams, God’s dreams, and the mixed-up tangle of both.

Stuck in sleepy New Smyrna Beach one last summer, Raine socks away her camp pay checks, worries about her druggy brother, and ignores trouble: Cal Koomer. She’s a plane ticket away from teaching orphans in Africa, and not even Cal’s surfer six-pack and the chinks she spies in his rebel armor will derail her.

The artist in Cal begs to paint Raine’s ivory skin, high cheek bones, and internal sparklers behind her eyes, but falling for her would caterwaul him into his parents’ live. No thanks. The girl was self-righteous waiting to happen. Mom served sanctimony like vegetables, three servings a day, and he had a gut full.

Rec Director Drew taunts her with “Rainey” and calls her an enabler. He is so infernally there like a horsefly—till he buzzes back to his ex.

Can you give us a sneak peek at your new release?

Cal looked up from the easel and caught her staring.

Her gaze darted toward the window, her cheeks burning. When she looked back at Cal, she saw a small smile playing at the edges of his mouth and eyes. It reminded her of one she’d seen and dismissed earlier.

“Why are you quizzing me on prayer?”

“You think I have an ulterior motive?”

“You tell me.”

He sat on the table top behind him. “You were sitting there like you were afraid of your own skin. I wanted to paint your fire. Pretty much a no-brainer to get you going on a topic that lights your passion.” He shrugged and grinned at her.

Raine turned her face toward the bulletin board covered with crosses her elementary students had colored. Stupidity for having fallen for Cal’s manipulation warred against something entirely different. Cal saw something she didn’t see in herself—passion.

A board creaked nearby, and Cal squatted down in front of her. His hand cupped her face. “You moved.” He brought her head back into position. His palm stayed on her cheek a heartbeat too long, his fingers trailing down to her chin almost in a caress before he broke the contact.

She met his steady gaze. “What button are you trying to push now?”

Cal stood. “The one that turns your cheeks pink like they were a few minutes ago.”

Cal wasn’t the only one who could manipulate. “Let’s talk about obeying God.”

“Talk about whatever you want. I’m going to work on your shirt now.”

What inspired this book?

My daughter has had a passion to become a foreign missionary since she was in first grade. She just completed her junior year of college and is still headed for missions, probably to an orphanage in Peru. Also a close family friend fell in love with a young man and felt strongly that God told her to marry him. When the guy broke off the engagement, she was devastated on multiple levels. In Kicking Eternity the hero has to come to terms with the same dilemma.

Are you a panster or do you outline?

I detest plotting, but consider it a necessary evil. I plot every scene for the whole book before I actually write the book. It takes… forever. My first two books were written without plotting. Going back through whole books to fix plot lines felt counterproductive. I tried Randy Ingermanson’s Snowflake method of plotting for my third book and Karen Wiesner’s First Draft In 30 Days for my most recent book. I also use Jack Bickham’s Scene and Structure as I build scenes. To me, it feels so much easier to make changes to the book’s skeleton than to rewrite large portions.

How long have you been writing?

I always say I became a writer the year I discovered Sister Sheila had hair. I was in fifth grade at St. Hugh’s Catholic School in Miami, knee deep in nouns and verbs, when Sister Sheila walked through the door in a new habit that showed two inches of mouse brown hair threaded with silver. Thanks to Sister’s encouragement, I went on to earn a BA in creative writing from Ashland (OH) University. I’ve been writing novels for the past fifteen years.

Tell us something about you that would surprise your readers.

My father spent several years building a forty-foot sailboat in our backyard. We launched it in the Miami River and lived aboard at Dinner Key Marina when I was eleven until I turned thirteen. At the time I didn’t realize how unusual it was to live on a boat and ride my bicycle down the dock each morning to attend school. All my friends at the marina did the same. After school every day, I tossed my books onto my bunk, shimmied into a swim suit, and jumped overboard. Sailboats show up in all my books thus far.

What do you hope readers will take away from this book?

I especially want to reach people with unhappy, dysfunctional families like the family I grew up in. I want to give them hope that God will provide love and healing for them.

Tell us about the journey to getting published.

I wrote my first novel fifteen years ago and have been writing full-time for ten years while trying to break in to traditional publishing. Last summer my agent let all her unpublished authors, including me, go. In the midst of my despair, God nudged me to indie e-publish. So, I swallowed a hairball of pride and walked down the self-publishing road. I feel a surge of joy and gratitude that my books are finally being read. The part of me that clamors for validation still hopes for a traditional publishing contract. But how can I go wrong obeying God?

What project are you currently working on?

In addition to Kicking Eternity, The Art of My Life debuts in September, Avra’s God in December, and Tattered Innocence next March.

What is your writing schedule like? Do you write only when inspired?

Since I started my writing career in my forties, I feel fairly obsessed to accomplish what God created me to do. Think about how the hero in Sweet Home Alabama jammed lightning rods into the sand to make his beautiful glass. He did his work before the lightning struck. I jam a lot of words onto the page before lightning strikes and makes it beautiful.

What is a fond childhood memory?

As a kid, I adored stories about girls who went to boarding school and imagined their lives as oh-so-much-better than my own. Our Lady of the Hills Camp in Hendersonville, North Carolina, the closest I got to attending boarding school, turned out to be the “happy” in my childhood, spawned a lifelong affection for camp, and inspired the setting for Kicking Eternity.

What book are you currently reading?

I’m reading Ann Brashares’ (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) The Last Summer, one of her adult novels. I enjoy reading her because I think we have similar writing styles and grasp on the early twenties.

What are your hobbies (besides writing)?

Wedged in between my writing I manage to hike in the mountains with my husband, do Zumba, and go garage saleing every Saturday morning with a friend. This year I mentored three teens from my youth group. I’ve guest lectured on plotting in Phoenix colleges for the past few years. Every summer you’ll find me at teen church camp.

Where readers can find Ann:

AnnLeeMiller.com

Twitter @AnnLeeMiller

Facebook Author Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ann-Lee-Miller/356653761022022

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Kicking-Eternity-ebook/dp/B0082GF8CE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1337363292&sr=8-2

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/kicking-eternity-ann-lee-miller/1110908265?ean=2940014441759

Bio: Ann Lee Miller earned a BA in creative writing from Ashland (OH) University and writes full-time in Phoenix, but left her heart in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, where she grew up. She loves speaking to young adults and guest lectures on writing at several Arizona colleges. When she isn’t writing or muddling through some crisis—real or imagined—you’ll find her hiking in the Superstition Mountains with her husband or meddling in her kids’ lives.

Book Blurb:

Fresh from college, Raine scores a teaching job at New Smyrna Beach Surf and Sailing Camp. A crush on the camp rebel/art teacher threatens to derail her plans to teach orphans in Africa. The broody recreation director spots her brother’s meth addiction and Raine’s enabling. Raine believes she is helping her brother–until lives are threatened.

Endorsements:

“Ann Lee Miller writes stories straight from the heart with characters who’ll become friends, remaining with you long after you turn that final page. You won’t want to miss Kicking Eternity!”

Jenny B. Jones, Author of the Katie Parker Production Series from Think and The Charmed Life Series, and other single titles from Thomas Nelson

“In Kicking Eternity, Ann Lee Miller masterfully weaves the delicate web of emotions experienced in that turbulent ‘twenty-something’ stage of life. Powerful family dynamics, intense loyalty challenges, and tender new loves find their niche in your heart as this story unfolds layer by lovely layer.”

Mesu Andrews, Author of Revell titles Love’s Sacred Song, and Love Amid the Ashes, which won the 2012 CBA Book of the Year, New Author Category

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May 22, 2012

Staci Stallings Guest Post: The woman with 34 lives

Filed under: Guest Post,Writing — Tags: characters, courage, Staci Stallings, To Protect & Serve, writing — Christa Allan @ 1:32 am

Staci Stallings, the author of this article, is a Contemporary Christian author and the founder of Grace & Faith Author Connection. Check out Staci’s brand new release…

Houston firefighter, Jeff Taylor is a fireman’s fireman. No situation is too dangerous to keep him sidelined if lives are on the line. However, when control freak Lisa Matheson falls for him, she quickly realizes she can’t control Jeff or the death wish he seems to have…

To Protect & Serve

The Courage Series, Book 1

To save other’s lives, they will risk their own

Buy it on Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Protect-Serve-Courage-Series-ebook/dp/B008391QB2/ref=sr_1_22?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1337091378&sr=1-22

Buy it on Barnes & Noble Nook:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/to-protect-serve-staci-stallings/1110805844?ean=2940014423410

“To Protect and Serve will hold you prisoner to its pages until the final one is turned. Prepare to cry, laugh, wish, love and maybe even cry again as you become enveloped in the hopes and feelings of Lisa and Jeff.”

-Cindy Reiger

Don’t freak out. It’s not what you think, but I have to this point on earth lived 34 lives. Let me explain. In general, there are two ways to write a novel.

The first way is to plot everything, to research, outline and plan every plot twist and event from page one to the final page before you ever write the first word.
The other way is sometimes called Seat of the Pants—meaning you don’t know much about the story, you just start writing and let the book come to life as you write.

I use a lot of both ways, but I tend to think of it as doing what the Holy Spirit wants when He wants it done. Most of the time I start knowing at least a scene or two of what happens. Sometimes all I know is who the characters are, sometimes I know bits and pieces of the story. No matter how they start, each and every story has stretched me and forced me to grow. I see these as Holy Spirit lessons in many ways.

The first way is I’ve learned I have to let go of “how I did it last time.” However I did it last time is never how I will do it this time—that much I have learned. This time will always be different. This time will always have its own lesson to teach me.

The second way these stories have taught me is to give me the chance to live many lives—not just this experience I myself call life. In some ways my characters are pieces of me. In some ways I’m pieces of them. When I write, for that time I “become” them. I often take on various characteristics of them as I’m writing their story. I’ve dressed new-age for a time because that’s how one character often dressed. I’ve worn leather wristbands because that’s what a character wore. When I’m in character mode, I listen to the world in a different way. I listen to it the way they would.

I listen for the lessons they need to learn in the way they need to learn it, and in the process, I learn. It’s a cool way to learn because as heart-wrenching as a circumstance in a book is, I have the option of turning off the computer and processing for awhile. In real life, you can’t do that.

Through my characters I have experienced poverty and riches far beyond what I will ever have. I have worried about where my next meal will come from and about how to save a youth center from being closed. I have jumped off the edge of sanity into alcoholism and relived a drug addiction. I have seen the loneliness of getting the dream you thought you wanted but missing the things that are truly important along the way. And with every experience, I have learned in a way I couldn’t have from my own experience.

To date I have completed 17 novels. (I wrote this in 2005. I have now completed 31 novels, so I’ve now “lived” 62 lives!) Since I write from the point of view of the hero and that of the heroine in each book, I guess that means I have now lived 34 lives. This unique life experience—both my life and getting to marinate in others’ souls for a time—has taught me many things about this life that I couldn’t have learned had I only lived my own life experience.

I firmly believe that being able to walk in each of my characters’ shoes for a time has given me knowledge and understanding that I would not have otherwise been privy to gaining in any other way. It has opened my eyes to how a single situation can be interpreted in radically different ways depending on the particular perspective of the individuals involved. Because of this, I now understand that no matter how firmly you believe your experience is definitive, the other person is probably as adamant that their interpretation is the only valid one as well.

This knowledge has saved me on more than one occasion from assuming that because my interpretation of events was X that everyone else’s was too. I am more willing to listen to other perspectives. I am more willing to dig for what’s really going on rather than assuming I know and going on faulty personal interpretation.

It’s a lesson I greatly value, and one I will forever be glad that God allowed me to have. How else could you live 34 lives and not be counted insane? Unless of course you were to read other’s experiences… hmm…. There’s an idea.

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