Well… I did it. I sent off my fiction proposal to the ‘powers that be’. (On tax day, no less)  Now I get to tread water hoping the waiting won’t drain me and the doubts won’t drown me.

 But there is a great excitment that came with hitting the send button. A release and a greater reliance on God’s plan for my writing life. I can hope and dream that doors will be opened and my book will maybe hit the shelves in 2009 or 2010, but what is SO great about God is that whether my dreams come true or not I have learned so much about God and my need for him. It’s amazing how a leap of faith reveals the characteristics of God.

 If there’s a leap you’ve been questioning I encourage you to pray, seek guidance, and hold to the promises of God.

“I have a plan for you… Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

Well I am home again, finally. My flight from LAX to Houston was delayed three hours ’cause of some nasty weather in the Houston area, so I didn’t land until 2AM. But I am home, and in awe of what God did in the last five days.  Part of me feels in a stupor, since there are people in the publishing world that want to see my work. It’s like I was explaining to one of my roommate at Hermon. Publishing my work has been this dream, an intangible goal I set on a stick ahead of me, and now I sit here having taken a step forward in making this dream a reality. Granted it is no garuntee of success or publication, but it is one small step for a writer, and one giant leap for my writing. And it was ALL God.

Now it’s time to get back to work. The conference made me aware of a few edits I can do to make my manuscript even better before sending it off to the editors and agents that have an interest in what I pitched.  My excitement is wrapped up in my drive to improve and continue toward the intangible dream of being published. There is a lot to do, and only by God’s grace and provision can those dreams be a reality.

 Blessings and once I get my pictures developed I’ll throw a few up here, so stick around

Well today is the last full day of the Mt. Hermon Conference, and it’s St. Patrick’s day too. In honor of this day, me and my bonnie imagination brought 400 shamrock stickers to pass out before breakfast and lunch. I figured the stress of the conference would decrease the Irish spirit of the cofrencees, and  I was right. There was actually a large handfull of people that forgot. Granted this is a Christian conference and superstition isn’t the first thought on this day. 

However I wasn’t going for the superstitious aspect, but rather the promotion for the gloriful things God is doing in this place. I also wanted to give folks that last bit of encouragement in order to finish the conference strong. And what do you know, it worked! There were so many smiling faces and child-like excitement with the stickers I passed out. Who knew that adults would be as excited about stickers as children. I guess God did when he gave me the idea.

 I also got another agent and a publisher who asked me to send them my stuff. I am breath-taken by what God is doing. You know you hope for things, but when words turn into actions it’s amazing what God surprises us with. It is a great turn at this point in my writing career and I’m looking forward to the things I will learn in the stages ahead.

Today at Mt. Hermon I had two meetings with agents and got SO MANY good responses. One, Steve Laube who I talked to last year, tore my prologue apart, in a good way.  I’m excited to get back home and hone in the first three pages to make them truely explode. His insight is what changed alot of my story twelve months ago, and what he said this year only gave me greater insight and greater drama. Even if he never takes me on as a client, his insight has been and great influence in the growth of my writing. I hope I can bring it to him next year and blow him out of the water. This is a warning Steve, and I hope I can live up to it.

The second meeting was with Rachel Z. from Books & Such agency. It was encouraging to have someone in the biz that is about my age, seeking writers in my age group. She had good things to say, and even wanted to hear about other ideas ruminating in my mind, which was fun. SO…. she wants me to send her a proposal of my main WIP and synopses of my other ideas, which is so encouraging. I am amazed at how God is pushing my writing in the right direction. Cause this is ALL God, and I am looking forward to the next steps in this publishing journey. I in no sence have ‘made it’ but He is moving me forward.

This may seem small in comparison to the above, but the gift shop here sells disposable cameras… YAY! I forgot my camera and the books I wanted to get signed by the authors that are here. So praise God for disposable cameras. Now I can take pictures to have some proof of the amazing people that are at this conference. I’ll post a few of them once I get them developed… SMILE

I don’t know how it works but it often ends up this way that Day Two of Conference is better than day one. I don’t know if the doubt monster was just waiting for me yeterday, but it was just one of those days I question this passion of writing. It didn’t help that there’s not much to do on day one of a conference, the devil has a way of trapping your thoughts to hinder the work God has to do in the conference environment. But as of Day Two, I have three appointments with agents, and have recieved a good critique of my proposal. There’s not much more to ask of a day surrounded by like minded people.

I am pumped and excited to see what God is up to, and definatly not listening to the lies that often attack the writer. This is my place and my passion, and sometimes we need to doubt for a moment to truly understand how much we want something.

May God encourage you in yourpath whatever it might be so that you  can combat the lies and continue your ministry.

 Blessings!

Well after a four hour flight, a lunch at the speed of light, and a bus ride over two California fault lines I have arrived at Mt. Hermon Writer’s Conference. It was encouraging to sit and chat with my firend Diann Mills, and see familiar faces. But now it’s time to gather the confidence and listen to God’s leading in my search for a publisher. God has moved in so many ways as my manuscript has come together that I know he will be present and lead me through this experience.

The first night in a camp bed was good but my joints and missing my matress at home. And I am so blessed to have a great and enthusiastic roommate. Our second roommate might make her appearence today, and I hope she is just as much as an encrouagement as Anesia.

 Well we’ll see what today holds, and what God ahs planned.

 Happy Writing

I just got done reading Michael Crichton’s State of Fear, which is just as intellectual as it is roller coaster ride. I won’t give any spoilers if you haven’t read it, but on thing absolutely amazed me when I got to the end of the book… there was a bibliography.

Not only that there were footnotes and references throughout Crichton’s work of fiction (Yes, Fiction not Non-fiction), he goes on to say his take on the global warming subject that is addressed in State of Fear. And then Crichton writes that he spent three years researching before starting State of Fear. THREE YEARS! That is Amazing, and a little daunting if I think through how much research I’ve put into my own WIP.

It makes me question the amount of time I spend researching before I place my characters in the first scene. Would you count your research time in hours, weeks, months, or years?

I think this is an important thing to think about, when joining in the insanity and fun of writing a manuscript. If Michael Crichton didn’t do his years of research would we believe: Dinosaurs can be brought back from the Jurassic Age(Jurassic Park, The Lost World), Time travel is possible (Timeline), or Global warming doesn’t exist (State of Fear). The amount of time he puts into researching his novels is what makes them bestsellers time and time again. His story worlds are so in depth and you can’t help but see them as truth on some levels.

This should be the goal of all writers.

To present a story world that makes us think about our own place in this universe. That is the joy of Fiction, and what I hope to be the goal of all my manuscripts.

Happy Writing!

Just about everyone in the CBA knows the Snowflake Guy, Randy Ingermanson. So when his blogs said he takes his marketing advice from James Brausch. You have to take notice. I jumped over to James Brausch’s blog and found that he is taking questions from us mere mortals and to quote Randy Ingermanson,

“Brausch has built an extremely successful business around his blog, and the information he sells is based on hard empirical data. When he tells you to do something, he’s basing his advice on real experiments he’s done. Ya gotta respect that.”

So my question is…..

If you’re a beginner in world of marketing yourself and your products would you recommend building trust aka establishing crediblity, or pushing your products and building crediblity over time?

If you want to ask James Brausch a question, here’s how it works:
You ask a question related to generating an internet business, and he will answer all questions on Monday.

You ask your question by posting to your own blog and linking back to this blog entry. He’ll see the link or trackback and therefore see your question. He will answer questions in a post on his blog.

Good Luck!

(Wow that’s kind of weird to say during the week of Easter- think about that…)

It was amazing to see him work in my heart and in the conference every day! I almost got sick while I was there, but through the power of prayer God did not let that hinder all he did this week. I have so many resources to go through and so much to remember/ put in practice that I don’t want to go to work tomorrow. (besides the fact that I will probably crash with exhaustion)