Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Into Seclusion!

My friend, Sasha, is flying to Switzerland next Friday, and she wants to take my sequel with her to “grade.” (Sasha is one of my readers who reads my second drafts and critiques them for me.) That gives me about a week and a few days to get the stupid thing ironed out—at least the Heaven’s Realm part. If I can finish the sequel by then, I can get it to my readers before Christmas, which would give them time to read and critique Out of the Shadows during their vacation. To accomplish this goal, I’m going to have to put myself back into seclusion until December 8th. Therefore, I won’t be blogging until I come out of seclusion next Friday. See you all then!

For more information on my debut novel, A Prophecy Forgotten, check out my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com

A Prophecy Forgotten’s Debut Pushed Back to January

I just found out that A Prophecy Forgotten’s publication date has been pushed back from December to January. All though I was disappointed at first, I have to keep reminding myself that God’s timing is perfect and mine is not. Besides, January is supposed to be a great month for new authors to debut. Anyway, I’m sorry you won’t be able to read A Prophecy Forgotten over your holiday break, but you will be able to enjoy it by the fire during the coldest months of the year—unless you’re in Florida like me, in which case you will be enjoying A Prophecy Forgotten by the fireplace with summer candles still lit in it while your air conditioner runs full blast.

For more information on my debut novel, A Prophecy Forgotten, check out my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com

Friday, November 17, 2006

November 17, 2006 Daily-ish Readings

Readings: II Samuel 8-9, Psalm 137, I Corinthians 4
II Samuel: The calm before the storm. David is doing so well, and God is giving him victory wherever he goes. I so do not want to read my next reading, which includes chapter 11. Why can't David just be a good king and not go to that nasty place?

I Corinthians 4: Verses 1 & 2: "So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful."

One of the kids in my youth group, Michael Campbell, asked me over the summer which character in the Lord of the Rings I wanted to be. I thought for a moment. I wanted, so much, to be Frodo or Aragorn, and I told Michael that. But I also added that I knew that I only wanted to be Aragorn for the power, and therefore should not be Aragorn. I thought some more and said that I guess the person I wish I could emulate (because I often don't) was Samwise Gamgee. Why? Because Sam got it. Sam realized that the story was not about him or his Gaffer. He knew the story was about Frodo and Aragorn. The story was about destroying the ring and restoring the true king to power. Sam never tried to take the ring for himself or become the hero. He did his best to serve his Master Frodo. My favorite line of the movie is when Sam picks Frodo up and says, "I cannot carry the ring for you, but I can carry you!" (I'm getting goose bumps as I write it.)

So often, we tend to look at our lives and view ourselves as the hero of the story. We are our own protagonists--we think. I realize now that we are wrong. God is the protagonist of this story we call life. God is the Hero. Satan is the villain. We are but servants of the Most High, and we should operate as such because this story of life is not about us.

I am Sam. That's what I continue to tell myself. I am Sam, and I will do whatever it takes and go wherever I am asked to go in order to help my master defeat the villain.

I am Sam

I Corinthians 4:1-2: "So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful."

One of the kids in my youth group, Michael Campbell, asked me over the summer which character in the Lord of the Rings I wanted to be. I thought for a moment. I wanted, so much, to be Aragorn, and I told Michael that. But I also added that I knew that I only wanted to be Aragorn for the power, and therefore should not be Aragorn. I thought some more and said that I guess the person I wish I could emulate (because I often don't) was Samwise Gamgee. Why? Because Sam got it. Sam realized that the story was not about him or his Gaffer. He knew the story was about Frodo and Aragorn. The story was about destroying the ring and restoring the true king to power. Sam never tried to take the ring for himself or become the hero. He did his best to serve his Master Frodo. My favorite line of the movie is when Sam picks Frodo up and says, "I cannot carry the ring for you, but I can carry you!" (I'm getting goose bumps as I write it.)

So often, we tend to look at our lives and view ourselves as the hero of the story. We are our own protagonists—we think. I realize now that we are wrong. God is the protagonist of our story. God is the Hero. Satan is the villain. We are but servants of the Most High, and we should operate as such because our story is not about us.

I am Sam. That's what I continue to tell myself. I am Sam, and I will do whatever it takes and go wherever I am asked to go in order to help my master defeat the villain.

For more information on my debut novel, A Prophecy Forgotten, check out my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com

Launch the Grenades!

I have many methods of solving problems. My favorite method to talk about (but my least favorite to use) is what I call the “grenade solution.” When you’ve got a problem that you simply can’t solve without rebuilding the entire dang thing, throw a grenade at it and start over. That, folks, is about to become my solution to the over forty pages problems in Out of the Shadows that I’ve been dealing with for the past two months. Unfortunately, I don’t need any grenades. I’ve got nice little delete key right here, just waiting to be pressed. Modern technology has so taken the fun out of warfare.

For those of you writers puckering your lips, holding your breath going, “No! No! For the love of God no! Don’t do it!” bear in mind that I won’t actually delete it. I’ll cut it and paste it to a separate word file and save it in my “deleted scenes” folder. You should see how many files are already in that folder. It’s currently bigger than my novel.

And now it is time for me to go on a little rant about outlines and those who use them. Yes, I realize that you outliners out there believe that your way is better than anyone else’s way, and that since outlining has helped you soooooo much, obviously outlining must be the one and only perfect way to do anything and those of us non-outliners (such as Steven King, by the way) are just ignoramuses who don’t really know how to write a novel. Well, “Bovine excrement to you!” I say. Go ahead, write your outlines, but don’t force your writing style on me. I’m joining Steven King and going back to the non-outline, feeling my way through, letting the characters go where they may style, which worked quite fine at my last attempt at novel writing.

And now I’m fishing for a box of grenades. We’re really going to do this one up well. Tune in on Sunday to see if I actually went through with it.

Oh, and I’m on the radio tonight: 89.5 @ 5:00! (For those of you in the Naples/Ft. Myers area.)

For more information on my debut novel, A Prophecy Forgotten, check out my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com

Thursday, November 16, 2006

November 16, 2006 Daily-ish Readings

Readings: II Samuel 6-7, Psalm 136, I Corinthians 3
II Samuel: Wow! I can only stand in awe of this one. In II Samuel 7, David wants to build a house for the Ark of the Covenant--for the spirit of God. God comes to Nathan the prophet and tells him to deliver this message: He lets David know that one of David's own kin will establish a house for God. This prophecy was fulfilled when Solomon built the temple. But we should read on in verses 11-16:

"'The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you. When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with the floggings inflicted by men. But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.'"

Now on the surface, it looks as though God might have screwed up this prophecy. After all, Solomon never was beaten with a rod or flogged with a whip, and the line of David is no longer sitting on Israel's throne. Or did God screw up? I suggest, along with Peter, Paul, and all major Bible scholars, that this a prophecy about the coming Messiah. Those who have studied Messianic prophecies know that this particular passage is also referring to Jesus, who was of the line of David both through Joseph and Mary. It was Jesus who was flogged and beaten with a rod before His crucifixion--but wait. Jesus didn't do wrong--or did He? Remember when God turned away from Jesus during the crucifixion, and Jesus yelled, "My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?" Jesus had taken on the sins of the world and therefore had, in God's eyes, done wrong. Again, this is a common understanding among those who've studied Messianic prophecy.

But here's the kicker--the thing that just popped out at me today because I read this prophecy within the context in which it was written in. Solomon established a resting place for the spirit of God--God's temple. And it was only after Jesus' death--after Jesus completed the work He came to do--that the Holy Spirit began to permanently reside in men & women. Jesus, one of David's line, established the true temple for God's Spirit--us. Whoa! Doesn't that just hit you with a, "God is sooo awesome!" kind of moment.

Even more amazing is how this relates to A Prophecy Forgotten. I can't tell you any of the details because it would ruin the sequel, Out of the Shadows, and the third book. I will just say this: Davian's ring is important, and the implications of the ring and what it stands for mirror this prophecy, kind of. Those of you who have already read A Prophecy Forgotten are probably thinking, "What ring?" Well, I had to create the ring a month ago because Davian needs something of extreme value to willingly give up to redeem something. I won't say anything else....

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Florida Writers Association Conference

I just returned from the Florida Writers Association annual writer’s conference at Disney World where I gave a presentation on The Three Rules of Great Writing: Use Strong Verbs, Eliminate Passive Voice, and Show, Don’t Tell. My audience really responded to my presentation, and I had a great time giving it. I enjoyed being surrounded by so many people who were writers just like me. We’re a strange, group, we writers, and sometimes it so good to meet other people like us. I also played hooky a couple times and met my family at Animal Kingdom. The conference refreshed me, and I’m able to concentrate on the sequel to my novel now.

Click the following link for pictures of the conference:

http://www.elysianchronicles.com/FWA_Confrence_2006.htm

Also, if you like horror novels—especially YA Horror Novels, check out Dan Strohschein’s blog at www.yahorror.blogspot.com.

For more information on my debut novel, A Prophecy Forgotten, check out my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

November 8, 2006 Daily-ish Readings

Readings: II Samuel 2-3, Psalm 134, I Corinthians 1
II Samuel 2: Saul is dead, so David, who was anointed king by Samuel ages earlier, should be king, right? Wrong. It appears that David was only the King of the tribe of Judah after Saul's death and had to wait about seven more years until God finally gave him the promised throne. That's almost 20 years after Samuel anointed David. Sometimes, God's promises take a while to ripen.

Faith without works is dead.

Throughout this entire book production process, worried thoughts have flooded my mind. Will people buy A Prophecy Forgotten once it comes out, or will it become the ultimate failure, keeping any respectable publisher from looking at my other manuscripts? Will my book cover look okay? Will I be able to schedule any book signings? Then I start dealing with the everyday life questions. Will my husband be able to find another job once his boss sells the company? Will we sell our house and become cash positive? Can we get through this month without getting into anymore debt? Should I just quit writing and get a real job so I can help the family become cash positive? The list questions keeps lengthening, and it’s frying my brain. I know that these thoughts are indicative of my lack of faith in God. I know He wants me to publish A Prophecy Forgotten, and I have seen Him do so many things throughout this process, yet I still worry and doubt. I’m like the toy dinosaur in Toy Story who said, “Now I have guilt!” Now my thoughts are full of worry and guilt that I’m not trusting God enough. I don’t think this is how God wants me to live, is it? He doesn’t want me to feel the acid twisting in my stomach or the constant ache in my shoulders and back. His burden is light. I’m the one who’s so darn insistent on making it heavy.

As I was praying today, I asked God to increase my faith, mainly because I can’t live like this much longer. A startling revelation came to me: Faith is not shown by what you feel, but by what you do. James put it better when he said, “Faith without works is dead.” I can believe as hard as I want that God is going to bless this stupid book, but if my actions don’t show that I believe it, what good is my faith? I, of course, am doing the exact opposite. I’m scared about what might happen in the next to months. I worry that every book reviewer in the country will scorn A Prophecy Forgotten in their critiques and that everyone I call and ask for a book signing or a speech will turn me down. But I have decided that despite my fear, I will continue pressing ahead—believing that God will bless my efforts and do something marvelous. Maybe not now, maybe later, but I will do what I believe God has called me to do. Scared though I am, I will show my faith through my deeds.

There. I no longer have guilt for feeling worried. That’s one down. Now if I could just tackle the worry….

For more information on my debut novel, A Prophecy Forgotten, check out my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

November 7, 2006 Daily-ish Readings

Readings: I Samuel 31, II Samuel 1, Psalm 133, Romans 16
I Samuel 31: This chapter details Saul's death and the Philistines' victory over Israel. As I read this chapter, I began to wonder how I would have felt if I were an Israelite. Israel's king--jerk, though he was--was dead, and it had just lost a battle. I would probably wonder why God had allowed the Philistines a victory and why he had allowed Saul to die. If I were an Israelite back then, I would have no idea that God was about to raise up David as king--the king who would free Israel from the Philistines--and that everything was going according to His plan. I think sometimes, we all encounter things like this in our own lives. We look up at God and wonder why He has allowed horrible things to happen in our lives. I guess we just have to remember to look at the big picture and to realize that God might have to allow us to lose a little battle so we can win a big one later.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

November 2, 2006 Some What Daily Readings

Readings: I Samuel 29-30, Psalm 132, Romans 15
Psalm 132: This psalm talks about the David's desire to build God a temple, and about David's descendents always sitting on the throne. I find it interesting that: 1) ever since Jesus' death, God had no need for a temple since he resides inside the hearts of Christians. Isn't it interesting that the temple of Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD. It was no longer needed. 2) Jesus, a descendent of David, will sit on the throne again and reign--after the temple has been rebuilt.

November 1, 2006 NO TIME!

I have had absolutely no time this week to even begin working on my sequel. Between fixing up the presentation I'm making next weekend at the FWA writers conference, doing accounting so I can actually make money while I wait for my book to come out, and working on developing contacts with people, etc, writing has been put on the back burner. ARGH! Still, I'm getting closer. I see Friday as my day to start back on my sequel when everything is caught up. I'm very bitter about this.

For more information on my debut novel, A Prophecy Forgotten, check out my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com

10/28/06 The waiting game begins

October 28, 2006

Please excuse me while I yell in excitement. WHOO-HOO! There, that felt good. I just found out that someone in Hollywood is interested in my book. He only had time to read the first chapter, but he said it was "fascinating" and wants me to send him a one page synopsis of the novel. Of course, he could hate the thing, but hey, interest is interest. I'm on air, but I'm also nervous because a synopsis is basically the skeleton of the story with all the fun stuff removed. Now, I just have to wait until he decides if he wants to option the story or not. ARGH! I hate waiting!

For more information on my debut novel, A Prophecy Forgotten, check out my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com