Christian Writers' Market Guide by Sally E. Stuart

Almost time for the newest edition of Christian Writers' Market Guide. Since many changes occured this last year, I can hardely wait until January, 2010.
At the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writer's conference in May, I met and visited with Ms. Stuart. She's a pleasant lady who's a wealth of market information. Twenty-five years ago, she set out to compile information whereby writers could search in one place to find a list of possible markets. She tapped into as her sub title says "the essential reference tool for the Christian writer."
I write Christian short stories for adults and teens. Before I start a story, I research this book for newsletters and magazines that accept fiction, then determine what length they require, what rights are wanted, and what payment is involved. Ms. Stuart's book brings out information I often do not find on websites and displays markets that I've not yet discovered. I can safely choose a market listed in Ms. Stuart's book because I know they're all Christian-based.
I also write contemporary romance and women's fiction. In the Christian Writer's Market Guide, I can locate possible book publishers, know whether they accept unsolicited fiction, know word count wanted, and the current year's need for topics.
Along with these two major purposes, the book offers other useful helps for Christian writers such as places for research, groups for Christian writers, freelance jobs, upcoming conferences, and even a list of agents who accept Christian writing and what they accept or even prefer that year.
Every year, in January, this resource becomes available. I've asked to be put on the list where I automatically receive the book upon publication. I'm not charged until I receive it. During the year, Ms. Stuart notifies her readers of changes since the last book through her blog. For writers, it's a win-win purchase.

Guest Blogger, Stephanie Gallentine

Greetings! This is Debra and I'm stepping in today to introduce our guest blogger.

This week is our current blogger Shirley Harkins week, but our critique partner, Stephanie Gallentine will blog in her place today. I've uploaded a picture of us together at Stephanie's recent booksigning. From left to right, Stephanie, myself, Sue, and Shirley (not pictured Janet Brown).

So, without further ado, let me present our guest blogger, Stephanie Gallentine...

Raised in North Texas, Stephanie spent much of her childhood making up stories filled with action, adventure, and angst. From the time she was a young teenager, she started scribbling those adventures down on paper.

Years later, she met and married her husband, Robert. They have two fabulous children, Heather and Andy. Now, by day, Stephanie serves up lunches in her local school cafeteria. By night, she enjoys serving up stories filled with mystery, mayhem, and salted with the often mysterious yet always miraculous hand of God in the lives of teenagers.

Her first story, Refuge, is due out this August from Word Aflame Press.

Stephanie:

Being a plot-first writer, I often find myself struggling with character depth. This week my friend sent me a CD of almost five hours of lessons from the 2009 ACFW conference called Pinpoint, Diagnose, and Heal the Broken Places in Your Novel presented by Susan May Warren and Rachel Hauck.

All I can say is wow! I couldn’t take notes fast enough as she went through common diagnoses from critique partners, editors, or agents. Topics dealing with character goals and the lies they tell themselves suddenly became clear, whereas before I struggled to really grasp the concept enough for it to benefit my own writing.

Other topics covered included discovering your characters noble cause, their goals, how to write an imperfect yet believable Christian character, plot problems, the heroes journey, the writer’s voice, and writing dialogue that ‘snaps’.

They also have a website called Mybooktherapy.com where you can look up topics like these in their archives. If you are ready to inject life into your novel, the doctor is in the house and ready to help your novel be the best it can be.

Love Untamed by JoAnn Chartier and Chris Enss

I've been reading several books on what life was like in the 19th Century. I wish I could read them faster and retain everything I've read. I have so many ideas for book reviews, but just can't seem to keep up to date on my reading.

My current favorite book is, Love Untamed, Romances of the Old West, by JoAnn Chartier and Chris Enss.

Some of the real life love stories in this book are tragic with no happily-ever-after-ending, however there are several that end on a happy note and these stories are my favorite.

Backcover Blurb:

In these pages you'll meet a soiled dove who longed for a fairy-tale romance but instead fell for an ailing miner; a quiet schoolmarm who risked life and limb for her adventuresome husband; a spinster who refused to reveal the secrets of her heart despite a proposal from a dashing, prominent rancher; an actress who found her true love when she needed him most; and a rich couple who lost everything except their intense dedication to each other.

The romances of thirteen couples are explored in this book and represent the variety of relationships and love affairs that added color, controversy, and commitment to the unmatched days of the Old West.

Since HEA are my favorite endings, I want to tell you about two of the romances which I adore. The first one is about a couple madly in love with one another and leave their families and friends after their wedding with all their wedding gifts and all their clothes and set off on a ship to Honeymoon on the east coast.

However, as they near the southeastern coast of the U.S.A, a hurricane pops up. The storm takes their ship. Row boats are lowered into the water and women and children are the first to board. As the new wife boards another boat, she watches as the lights from the boat her husband is on sinks deep into the blackness of the ocean during the darkness of the night. Heartbroken, she sails to their destination point a new wife turned grieved wife.

When her ships docks, she disembarks. News at the harbor suggests that another rescue boat boarded all the men from the sinking ship she and her husband had sailed on. Trying not to get her hopes too high, she begins looking for her husband. In the distance, she discovers her husband is looking for her. Together at last, they embrace grateful God had spared their lives. Together, they owned not a stitch of clothing nor any of their gifts had survived. But together they cherished the greatest gift of God...love. The couple went on to live their life to the fullest, which included a home of their and children they adored.

My next favorite story is about teenage love. A young man took a fancy to a young woman. He escorted her to a town social. At the party, he became jealous of his best friend's attentions toward this young woman. The young men challenged each other to a pistol duel. Our young man shoots and kills his best friend. He runs away leaving the young woman heartbroken, yearning for his love.

As the years pass, the young woman had many men interested in her, but refused their attentions. She determined if she couldn't have her young man than she wouldn't marry at all.

The young man left the east coast and headed for the mountains in the mid-west. He learned how to survive on nature alone...becoming a sort of mountain man.

The woman heard stories of a wild man whose personality resembled her one true love, but as she made inquiries she soon discovered that this man had died.

Fifteen years had passed and the young woman's father loads up the family and travels west. As they near Colorado they are watched by angry Indians.

Miles away the young man turned wild man hears of some travelers who are being stalked by Indians. When one of the witnesses remarks about the traveler's last name the man assumes his one true love is one of them. He and his friends rides to save the family.

As they arrive, the Indians attack, killing the father. The wild man chases off the Indians and returns to the wagon. There he finds the girl of his dreams, the love of his youth, the reason he never could allow himself to marry. The woman who held his heart.

Together, they took the family to their destination and then they married, living happily-ever-after.

I think what really amazes me about that story is how ironic it is for a man who loses himself in the woods in middle America to pop up in the nick of time to save the woman he left behind on the east coast.

Sometimes real life is better than fiction.

The Facts on File Dictionary of Cliches

Cliches cause writers problems. The debate on whether a cliche is ever appropriate in a manuscript often appears on various writer's sites. The conclusion of the debate weighs heavily on not using them except in character dialogue. The writer then faces the task of identifying less common ones.

Our local library conducts a sale each Spring of books removed from their collection and ones donated by community members. As a Friends of the Library volunteer, I help set up the display and see the books that are available.

I was delighted to spot The Facts on File Dictionary of Cliches. The alphabetical arrangement of cliches along with a definition provides 534 pages of useful information for the writer.

An extra bonus was a recipe for "Coffee Steak Marinade" tucked inside. All for the "awesome" price of one dollar. "awesome: Slang for "wonderful," "terrific," originating in the second half of the twentieth century and used widely by youngsters. It transferred the original meaning of awe-inspiring, dating from the seventeenth century. A New Yorker cartoon caption had it (Dec. 19, 1983): "Third Grade? Third grade is awesome!"

Visit your local library book sale. I've purchased several writing reference books there.

The Fire in Fiction by Donald Maass

If you've read Donald Maass' book "Writing the Breakout Novel,"you were probably, like me, anxious to get his next writing book. In May, my mentor, DiAnn Mills' suggested this book to take our fiction to the next level. When Writer's Digest books offered it, I ordered it. The name of it is "The Fire in Fiction." I recommend this book for advanced writers. Beginners would find it confusing and not a litte daunting.
True to Maass' companion workbook for the breakout novel, the author gives projects and learning assignments. In fact, a quick read would be to turn to the practical tools highlighted at the end of each chapter. Maass breaks down the parts of a novel--the characters, scenes, plots, tension--and shows ways to bump each item up a notch. Not only heros, but villians get a second look. I love the way he suggests picking someone in your own life that's memorable, then asks you why. Maass makes you think, really concentrate on each aspect of your manuscript. Following this book's direction, you examine the goal for each scene. One of my favorite techniques to strengthen my book Maass calls "the tornado effect."
Nearer the end of the book, the reader learns to make the impossible plausible and create reality out of terrible situations. Maass' own quote says it all. "Effective storytelling doesn't minimize problems, it exaggerates them."
Again, Donald Maass proves to be an excellent writing teacher or coach. If we must dig and study to grasp what he has to say, the rewards will belong to those who put forth the effort.

Note of Apology

For two weeks, we've had an absence on our blog. Some of our contributors have been terribly ill plus as in the case of my household we've been fighting the flu.

I just wanted to apologize for the lack of posts and say we should be up and running again next week.

Thank you for your patience!
Debra Calloway

Danger in the Shadows by Dee Henderson

Danger in the Shadows by Dee Henderson, © 1999, 2002 Dee Henderson, Published by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

My reading appetite goes through phases. There are seasons when I will read nothing but non-fiction titles. Recently, I drifted into an almost insatiable craving for good fiction. I wanted plots that I could lose myself in; characters so distinct that I would recognize them on the street.

One of the books meeting this criterion was Danger in the Shadows by prolific author, Dee Henderson. This title is the prequel for her famous O’Malley Series and won the coveted Rita Award, the highest national honor given for excellence in romantic fiction.

Sara Walsh, the heroine of the story, is the daughter of a wealthy British diplomat. When Sara is six, she and her twin sister are kidnapped. During the nine-day ordeal, her sister, Kim, dies from dehydration. Sara continues to battle the demons of trauma on top of survivor guilt.

The story doesn’t end when Sara is found and freed. One of the kidnappers escapes apprehension and goes on to stalk Sara for the next twenty-five years. Sara is forced to live under tight security, led by her brother, Dave, an FBI agent. Limitations on her freedom preclude Sara from leading a normal life.

By chance, she meets ex-NFL star, Adam Black who persists on getting to know her. His efforts compromise her cover, and the stalker resurfaces in her life, placing Adam in the crosshairs as well.

I won’t tell you what happens next. This book is a page turner that will keep you on the edge of your seat, while whetting your romantic predilections at the same time. I highly recommend Danger in the Shadows to satisfy your yearnings for good fiction.