They Believe in Me!!!

I didn't know for certain whether I would qualify for the Romance Writers of America's PRO program, but friends encouraged me to try. Since I had been asked for a synopsis and five chapters, apparently it counted, because this came in the mail this week! I'm so excited! This is one of the nicest things that has happened to me as a writer lately!

Sometimes it can be hard to persevere in the face of rejections, power outages, computer programs that eat our words and misfile our files, people who don't understand us, time constraints, distractions, other things that "have to be done right this minute!", etc., ad infinitum, ad nauseum... It's all too easy to get discouraged, to forget why we do this in the first place. When that happens, we have to remind ourselves: we are WRITERS. Writers write. No matter how hard it gets, somehow, there will always be a story out there waiting for us to tell it.

When you feel as though you've written the last paragraph you can possibly ever write, stop and rest a while. Then start again. You are Writer. Write.

I know I will. Thank you, RWA, for your confidence in me!

Book Review: THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO WRITING AND SELLING THE CHRISTIAN NOVEL by Penelope J. Stokes, Ph.D.

Since writing Christian fiction is a goal of mine, having passed up the dreaming stage to the point where I'm actually working on it, finding this book at the library was like finding a handhold on a rock face when you're halfway up the mountain.

Dr. Stokes not only edits Christian fiction, she writes it as well, so she gives the reader both viewpoints. She begins with a definition of Christian fiction as accepted by the CBA, i.e., evangelical fiction, mentioning notable authors of fiction whose viewpoint is Christian but may not be evangelical, such as Madeline L'Engle, Richard Kienzle, C. S. Lewis, and others. She continues with an ennumeration of the types of Christian fiction, including romance, prophetic action/adventure (I don't think she labeled it that, exactly!) such as the Left Behind series of Dr. Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins and the truly scary and wonderful books of Frank Peretti, Christian fantasy, etc. (It would be easier to write this review if I hadn't had to turn the book in yesterday!)

This book has a nuts and bolts approach to writing. Dr. Stokes dissects the writing process, and shows you how it's done for today's market. She gives the reader insightful techniques to polish and perfect their writing. This book would be useful even for writers of non-Christian fiction.

One extra plus: at the end of the book is a checklist with chapter headings, reiterating the points she made in that chapter, where the reader can analyze his or her motivation for writing, check off plot points, work on characterization, and make sure the book is moving in the direction it started. On a scale of one to ten for useful tools for writers, I'd give this one a ten!