Weekend Worship—Exceeding Abundance

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen Ephesians 3:20-21

I stared at the letter in my hand, almost unable to comprehend what I read. It was two days before Christmas, 1999. I’d been so sure God had called me to write, specifically to write Bible studies. This particular manuscript had been at the publishers over a year and, until now, I’d only received encouragement about the progress toward my first book contract.

Dear Mrs. Melson, We’re sorry but this manuscript doesn’t fit

 our needs at this time. While it’s a good manuscript, you just 

don’t have the platform needed.

First came the tears, then anger and frustration. Why had God planted this seed of hope within me only to deny me the opportunity?

Fast forward to Christmas 2007, the first year our family celebrated Christmas apart. Our oldest was serving as an infantry marine in Iraq. To say it was a tough year is almost a laughable understatement, but we made it through. God brought our son home safe.

Last night was the launch of my book, Fighting Fear: Winning the War atHome When Your Soldier Leaves for Battle. It’s a book that was birthed during the struggles of living with a son at war. God orchestrated an unusual venue for the book launch. It was at a professional hockey game, GreenvilleRoad Warriors. This team has an annual Tribute to the Military and had invited me to be a part of it this year.

For a writer, this was truly a dream come true. During the first intermission, I sat in the darkened convention center with the other fans, while the trailer to my book played on the huge video screens hanging above the ice. And as I was interviewed rink side, I heard the roar of the cheering of the crowd as she announced my son was in the audience.

Without that seed of hope, planted so many years earlier, I’d never have been ready to write this book. Was it worth the wait? You bet it was.

Thursday Review—Don’t Get Blogged Down

This may seem like a odd topic for a review, but I’ve gotten a lot of questions lately about how some of you are following so many blogs you don’t have time to write. Of course I’m also hearing from some who haven’t committed to following any blogs because of a fear that there won’t be any time to write.

Either extreme will blog…er…bog down your career.

All kidding aside, as a writer it’s vitally important to continue your education. And blogs can be an extremely efficient way to do this. I can hear the chorus of complaints now.

• There are millions of blogs out there—how do I find one that’s worthwhile?
• How do I narrow down my choices—do I have to read hundreds to find one that fits what I need?
• Where do I start looking—it’s gonna be like finding a needle in a haystack!

Enough already.

Finding high quality blogs, that pertain to your situation are just not that hard to find. You find a good blog the same way you find a good book. Think about it, we’ve been shopping for books for years, choosing from millions of titles, and finding success. 

• First, look for recommendations from people you trust.
• Second, most blogs have blog lists as a part of their layout. If you like blogger A and he likes blogger D, chances are you ought to give it a try.
• Third, look for blogs from familiar people. Now days, most bloggers have or are at least affiliated with more than one blog. 

So how do you manage following blogs and keep from eating into valuable writing time?

I have a plan for that too. I like to use a three tiered approach.

• I start with three to five blogs that I follow regularly. These are blogs I almost always read.
• Then I have a second level of six to eight blogs that I watch closely. I read these about one half of the time and I decide when by paying close attention to the subject lines and titles of the posts.
• Finally I have a third level of about twelve to fifteen blogs that I watch the subject lines and titles and read when they sound interesting. 

This is the method that works for me. I’d love to hear how you manage your blog life.

Don’t forget to join the conversation!

Blessings,

Edie

When Should I Throw in the Towel?

In my humble opinion—never!

My writing buddy, Vonda Skelton, is fond of reminding me it only took me 13 years to become an overnight success.

Now I use the word success as a term of comparison, not ultimate destination. But yesterday was a major milestone for me, it was the day my first print book hit the shelves.

Fighting Fear: Winning the War at Home When Your Soldier Leaves forBattle

This book is the book of my heart—and one I never dreamed I’d write.

When I began my writing career, my youngest son was three and my oldest still in grade school. As a responsible parent, I had their future at least partially planned.

They’d all excel in school. Then they’d choose a major and spend four years in college, where they’d each meet the girl of their dreams, get married and start a family.

God had another path…

Our oldest son chose the Marine Corps instead of college and the journey began.

The writing years between grade school and today held plenty of ups and down (Vonda, quit laughing, sometimes understatement is appropriate). And many times I was close to throwing in the towel. So why didn’t I? I have to admit, a lot of it had to do with just plain ole hard headedness. But it was also made up of other things. Here are just a few that kept me going. 

• When I got discouraged, I always returned to the last thing I felt like God had told me. I camped out there until I had clear direction.
• I stayed active in the industry. By staying visible, I inadvertently created a situation of accountability. I really didn’t want to face telling all those people I was quitting.
• I developed a small group of friends who wanted to become full-time writers as much as I did. Our group provided each other the support and commiseration successful writers so desperately need. 

Today, with the perspective of time and distance, I can state unequivocally that sticking with it was well worth the effort. I challenge you to stay the course, find a band of fellow travelers and get ready for the ride of your life!

So what’s your story? How do you keep going when quitting seems like an option?

Don’t forget to join the conversation!

Blessings,

Edie

Tournament of Champions: Week Four

Week FOUR of COTT's Tournament of Champions saw four more authors compete and three more scavenger hunts played. 

Here's a recap:

Becky R went to Gail Pallotta's Blog on Monday to find out when Love Turns theTide's Cammie sees a different side of Vic. She got the correct answer and walks away with a $10 Starbucks card from Lisa Lickel. Pumpkin Latte, anyone?
Megan D visited Marianne Evans' blog Tuesday to discover which of Marianne's books was a Christian Small Publisher's Book of the Year nominee. She won a $10 Amazon gift card from Amanda Stephan. Awesome!
Theresa M stopped by Margaret Brownley's Blog on Wednesday and found the name of the Christmas anthology which Margaret contributed to. She also received a $10 Amazon gift card donated by Raquel Byrnes.
Congrats ladies! Clash of the Titles has awarded over $125 worth of game prizes, thanks to its generous sponsors. Thanks, COTT--and another round of applause for all those game winners!

This was the last week of reader games, but fear not! There's still a chance to win the Grand Prize! I'll share how in a minute. But first...

Which Books Won the Clashes?

Rosslyn Elliot's "Fairer Than Morning" and Delia Latham's "Destiny's Dream" clashed last Monday. "Fairer Than Morning" came out the winner.
Shellie Neumeier's, Driven and Ann O'Barr's Singing in Babylon struck swords on Wednesday. Driven took the top spot. 
These two victorious titles competed together on Friday to determine which would move on to the finals for a chance to win the Laurel Award. And that finalist is...

Rosslyn Elliot's "Fairer Than Morning"

She joins Marianne Evans' Hearts Crossing, Elaine Cooper's The Road To Deer Run, and Karen Witemeyer's A Tailor-Made Bride. We now have all four finalists vying for the ultimate COTT honor.
Voting for the Big Winner is going on RIGHT NOW, and continues all week long. The big announcement will be made on November 12th. Public vote determines the outcome, and one reader will receive a Grand Prize of 15 books!!!  Want a shot at it? Enter by sharing links, putting up buttons and banners on your blog, becoming a follower of COTT (just make sure you tell them you've done so--they aren't psychics!) Details on the prize basket and full instructions on how to enter can be found here. To make it easy to grab n go, here are the banner and button codes.

<a border="0" href=http://www.clashofthetitles.com/p/tournament-of-champs.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r38/DeliaLatham/TourneyBanner2.png"/></a>

OR

Here's the button code:

<br /> <center><p><a href="http://www.clashofthetitles.com/" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="Clash of The Titles" src="http://i1111.photobucket.com/albums/h468/Mochashello/BUTTON_-_3FRAMED.jpg" /></a></p></center><br />

Find me on twitter @MLMassaro, and Facebook.

Weekend Worship—Time for a Reboot

My computer is becoming a serious source of irritation in my life. Not just the ordinary, I hate technology moments we all have, but I’m going to have to wipe the hard drive and start over sort of drama.

To be fair, it’s not even a real computer, it’s a netbook. I’ve had it for just over two years and I have used this little machine hard. Its logged as many travel miles as I have and, for a PC, has been a truly trouble free machine. And up until the past few months, I’ve been thrilled with its performance. It’s always booted up quickly and gone from application to application with lightening speed. It’s definitely been the favorite out of all computers I’ve ever had.

As I said, a few months ago that all began to change. At first I thought it probably had something to do with a virus or spyware or even cookies. But I’ve run every diagnostic in the book and it’s free from digital disease.

One thing all my diagnostic digging did reveal was a very full machine. Its open memory space is rapidly disappearing. Where once it had room to perform, now its life is cramped and overloaded. Its performance has dramatically decreased and if it were a person I’d even go so far as to say it’s chronically cranky. Its bad tempered disposition is due to the fact that I’m expecting it to do things it was never designed to do.

Because it was originally so efficient, I kept piling more and more on it. Moving all my work life to its hard drive because it performed so well. And, until it became overloaded, it just quietly processed my requests. Now, my only option is to wipe its hard drive and start over. And, to be totally honest, I really don’t have the time to spare.

Why? Well it seems I suffer from the same sort of malady as my darling digital offspring. While I considered what to do with this machine, God began to draw some obvious parallels within my own life. This has been a banner year for me, but with my successes have come a dump truck full of opportunities. 

For some, that would be a good thing. For me, the queen of I-can’t-say-no, it’s developed into a nightmare. My own life has become overloaded and my performance has begun to suffer. Where once I finished projects early, now I struggle to complete them on time. I’m suddenly driven by deadlines and distracted by details. And the only answer is take a little time this upcoming holiday season and do a serious reboot to my life.

I’m in the process of plugging back in to my Creator and letting Him remind me of the special things He designed me to do. I'm looking forward to wiping my life free of everything I wasn't designed to do. So where do you stand coming into this holiday season? I encourage you to use the time to readjust your life back in line as we all spend the season celebrating God's love.

Thursday Review—The 11 Secrets of Getting Published

A Guest Post by Lynn Huggins Blackburn

I was first introduced to Mary DeMuth when I read her book Watching the Tree Limbs a couple of years ago. But it wasn't until I noticed friends re-tweeting her tweets (@MaryDemuth) and liking posts on Facebook that I discovered what a friend Mary DeMuth is, to both the new and not-so-new writer.

She has taken a variety of posts from her blog and compiled them into an e-book, The 11 Secrets of Getting Published.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, so I today I give you 11 Reasons to Download 11 Secrets. 

1. It's cheap. Most writers I know wouldn't pass up a penny on the sidewalk. At the same time, most writers I know aren't above plunking down $4.99 for a peppermint mocha either. Um. Okay. So maybe that's just me. Regardless, this is no twenty-page e-book. There's a hefty quantity of quality content. And it won't add an inch to your waistline.
2. It's an e-book. Yes, I'm the queen of the obvious, but this is a key point. I don't own a Kindle, Nook, or iPad. I read e-books on my little iTouch while feeding babies and waiting in carlines. E-books are a great way to stuff your brain with writing knowledge whenever you have a spare second.
3. Mary was an English teacher. She dispenses some gentle English teacher love and a grammar lesson or two. You might not enjoy it, but you need it.
4. She recommends writing “nekkid.”
5. She writes fiction. This book hits a variety of topics including purple prose, killing adverbs, cliches, sentence structure, weak verbs, and head hopping.
6. She writes non-fiction. You'll find wisdom on querying and writing proposals for everything from newspaper and magazine articles to full-length books.
7. She uses the word “wonky.”
8. She's passionate. It shines through on every page.
9. She's honest. This is not a “follow these 11 steps and you will be published” book. She doesn't gloss over how tough the industry is.
10. She wasn't an overnight success. As much as we would all love to have our first book fought over by the major houses and spend three years on the bestseller's list, the reality is that most successful writers spent years honing their craft. She did. It gives me hope.
11. Her advice is for both unpublished and published writers. If you've already landed an agent and held your book in your hands, you still need to read this book. There's great advice for the mid-list author peppered throughout. 

Oh—you thought we were done? Well, when you get to the end of the book, you'll discover—oh, never mind. I think I'll keep that a secret!

Have you read The 11 Secrets of Getting Published? What was your favorite piece of advice?

Don't forget to join the conversation!
Blessings,
Lynn

Lynn Huggins Blackburn has been telling herself stories since she was five and finally started writing them down. On her blog Out of the Boat she writes about faith and family while her blog Perpetual Motion documents the joys and challenges of loving and rearing a child with special needs. A graduate of Clemson University, Lynn lives in South Carolina where she writes, reads, knits, takes care of three amazing children, one fabulous man and one spoiled rotten Boston Terrier.

Follow Lynn on Twitter @lynnhblackburn

Google Plus, Part Three—Privacy Settings

Today we’ll continue with our exploration of Google+. If you’ve missed the either of the first two posts, you can click here or here and catch up.

One of the biggest complaints I hear about Social Networks is confusion about privacy settings. Frequently this confusion can leave users exposed without even knowing it. Google+ gives the user the opportunity to customize many settings in a straight forward manner and bypass the confusion.

To begin, go to your Google+ home page (click on the HOME icon).

Now, click on your name. It’s in the upper right of the screen – on the black menu bar. This will activate a drop-down menu. The bottom choice on the menu is PRIVACY. Click on this.

Now you’re in the privacy settings page.

The first tab you want to consider is your visibility to search engines. On the right side of the screen you’ll see a light gray box with EDIT VISIBILITY ON PROFILE written in it. Click on this and it will take you to your profile page.

At the bottom of the page you’ll see, PROFILE DISCOVERY, after that, you’ll see one of two things:

PROFILE VISIBLE IN SEARCH

Or PROFILE NOT VISIBLE IN SEARCH

For writers, I recommend you make certain your profile is visible in search.

Privacy and Circles

With the circles in Google+ you have the option of different circles, family, friends, acquaintances, etc. There may be times when it’s appropriate to share things with family or close friends, that you don’t want shared with business associates or acquaintances. You manage that setting every time you post information (a picture, link, post, etc). This may seem like a lot of work, but it’s actually a really good fail safe for your privacy. Each time you post, you can decide who you want to see what you’ve written.

SPECIAL NOTE: There is an automatic default with this setting. When you post something to your stream (your feed) and you designate who can see the post, Google+ will remember this setting and default to it when you post again unless you change it.

It is possible to set your privacy settings to let the friends in your circles be visible only to other friends or to the entire web. To do this, click on the gray box that says, EDIT NETWORK VISIBILITY.

This will take you to your profile page. Once there, the entire screen will gray out and an active box will pop up on the left hand side of your screen.

The first option on the box is IN YOUR CIRCLES.

You’ll see the heading, SHOW PEOPLE IN, and you can check this box and decide which (or all) circles to show.

Below that is WHO CAN SEE THIS.

You have the option to either check,

ANYONE ON THE WEB

Or YOUR CIRCLES

I recommend you only choose YOUR CIRCLES.

Below that is the option to make yourself invisible in someone else’s profile. Unless you’re a celebrity, I recommend you do NOT make yourself invisible. Showing up in someone else’s profile is a great way to network and make new contacts.

SPECIAL NOTE: Remember, with Google+ only you know the specific names of your circles and who you’ve added to each one.  

There are other settings you can tweak on this page, but these are the major settings you need to be concerned with. Now it’s your turn, what questions do you have?

And don’t forget to join the conversation!

Blessings

Edie