FOLLOW YOUR DREAM

I'm thrilled to have as our guest in our little cyber cafe our friend Cara Putman. Cara is an overachiever like no one I've ever known. Would you believe she just had her third child three weeks ago?? And here she is, hard at it again! Cara let no grass grow under her feet once she made the decision to write. She's an attorney as well as a homeschooling mom and author. She's a fellow Hoosier and the sweetest little thing you'll ever meet. But sharp. Very sharp! LOL So here's Cara:


Like some of you I’ve always wanted to be a writer. I literally have a shelf of journals at home – the earliest goes back to when I was in third grade and contains short stories I wrote for school. I even started a couple novels while I was in high school.

But somewhere along my journey in life, the dream got placed on the back burner.

First, college interfered. Then I started my career and got married. Next it was law school and starting a family. Yet the dream never died.

Every couple years the desire to write would bubble to the surface. Eric and I would talk about it, I might check out a couple books on writing from the library, and then I’d pray about it. You know the kind of prayers. “God, please kill this dream if it’s not from You or help me place it back on the shelf.”

Then in 2005, everything changed.

I went to a booksigning at my local Parables store that happened to feature three of the authors from this blog. I was determined to go because I had recently discovered Colleen Coble’s books. Eric kept wondering why I was so committed to attending – I couldn’t really explain. I just knew I had to go.

At that signing, Colleen and I chatted about books until Eric came up and asked if I’d told her I wanted to be a writer. That little comment launched my current course. I’ve since learned that Colleen doesn’t do anything halfway. That’s certainly been true with the help and friendship she’s extended to me. Diann and Denise have also been incredibly encouraging – for reasons completely unknown to me!

It was because of Colleen that I joined ACFW and attended that first conference in 2005. It was because of Colleen that I actually finished that first book – I don’t know how many emails she got from me with status updates on word counts. And how many emails I got from her encouraging my early efforts.

This month Deadly Exposure, that first book I wrote, released from Love Inspired Suspense. It’s joined by Sandhill Dreams, the second in my Nebraska World War Two series from Heartsong Presents.

So if you’re wondering why the dream of writing won’t die, pray about it and then settle into your chair with fingers poised over the keyboard and write. Maybe you too will see your stories in print.

Details, Details...
(I hated the texture on the wall, so I retextured, painted and added different molding.)

Sometimes, I wish I wasn't the kind of person who noticed the details. I went to my friend's house the other day, and her husband had painted the living room a warm peach/brown hue and it looked so good with their fireplace -- I ran right into the room and started fawning. His wife said she didn't even notice. Or care. She doesn't notice things like that. But she is freaky about her diet.

There are people who see a handbag as something to put their stuff in; a car is something to get them from point A to point B; shoes just need to be comfortable; their surroundings warm & safe. Honestly, I wish I was one of those people. I could tell any car by its headlights when I was twelve years' old. And it's not about image; I couldn't care less about having a Porsche or a Mercedes or a status car.

I want really soft T shirts (Rebecca Beeson), jeans that fit right (Joe's), a car that has a seat warmer and a sunroof for light (lots in my case, I have a Nissan Quest). I really look like a slob most days, so it's not about appearance either. I'm just picky. Like OCD picky about surroundings. I am that guy on "Flipping Out" with comfort. I will search forever to get the right shade of yellow (Benjamin Moore's Weston Flax) or red (Benjamin Moore's Confederate Red), because it makes me feel a certain way. My mom just moved into our old house and she said, "I can't believe how great these colors make you feel!" I felt a redemption of sorts. My mom is a beige-wall kind of person. (Behr's Brown Teepee is a great one, if you are too!)

All this was fine when I had money, but now I have to be picky and poor, which means a lot of do-it-yourself!

And just to keep me humble, God gave me a daughter, who though she has great clothes and shoes, she is determined to leave here every day not matching. It's my thorn...

One thing I don't notice at ALL is weight. My college roommate went from a size 16 to a 7 before I noticed. So what are you too picky about? A perfectionist about? What won't God let you be a perfectionist about?

CITY MOUSE/TOWN MOUSE?
We've been discussing whether we are city or town mice on a writer's loop this week. It made me think about conflict and how who we are can cause some inherent conflict. You ever watch the old TV show Green Acres? Oliver loved all the country life but his wife Lisa longed for shopping and nice clothes and dinner with friends. It made for some great inherent conflict. When we get into a relationship--either friends or spouses--we're often either very different (which can cause conflict) or very much alike (and we see and dislike our own faults in the other person).

Take us girls. Kristin is the city mouse all the way. The flighty one who changes her mind every five minutes. Denise is the calm, organized one. She keeps us all in line. Diann is the one strange men tell not to wear black and red together because it's evil. LOL I'm the take charge, get 'er done girl.

Dave and I fall into the very different mode. I'm the people person, he's the quiet one who doesn't say much until he gets to know you. I'm the hand flapper and he's the calm fixer of all problems. LOL I'm the lover of babies, he likes them when they get a little older. He wants to move to Arizona, and I'm going but not happily. LOL

I'm a country mouse. How is this country girl going to adapt to the city life? I doubt it will be an easy move for me. For one thing, I will NOT lock stuff up. I hate wallowing in that fear. Let them steal it if they want it that badly. And I hate traffic. I'll stay off the interstate and stay on surface roads for sure. Plus the people aren't as friendly as here in Indiana. I like to strike up a conversation with people in the store. And I'll miss my family. My parents, Dave's parents, and especially my son and his family--including my baby granddaughter. I'm coming home to see her once a month but that just isn't the same.

So do you have any inherent words of wisdom? How about ways you're different from your best friend or spouse and how do you handle it? Come on, spill your guts!

A Time to Remember . . . .

DEBUNKING MYTHS
Anathema is in bookstores, friends! Let me know if you see it.

There's been some talk floating around lately about what sells novels. A few agents and editors are saying that even fiction writers need to have a "platform" before they're published. It's the biggest load of nonsense I've never heard. I've never once bought a novel written by a celebrity. NON FICTION I'd buy by a celebrity on a topic I thought they were experienced in, but for STORY I want someone who will carry me away to a land far, far away and immerse me in a story world.

Word of mouth is the only buzz that sells novels. I read a great story and tell my friends who tell their friends and so on. The only platform that helps is when the pubs team a top non fiction author with a fiction one and the TOPIC feeds back into the top non fiction author's expertise. Like an author known for marriage counseling teaming up to write novels that illustrate his teaching. But if I heard Oprah had written a novel, I'd just shake my head and turn away.

For anyone to recommend an unpublished writer build a platform is just insane. If they don't have a huge platform already, what kind of platform could they even build that would matter? Starting from scratch with blogging or whatever, how big of an audience could they possibly build that would even make a blip in possible sales? Even speaking only reaches a few thousand a year and only a fraction of them will buy the book. What I've discovered in speaking is that if I'm speaking ABOUT writing and my books, I'll sell a lot of books, percentage-wise. If I'm just speaking on other topics at church gatherings, etc. and mention that I'm a writer, not so many. So just being a speaker is not a sure fire way to sell books.

When I go browsing for a novel, I'm first attracted to the title, then the cover, then the backcover copy. I flip it open and read a bit of it sometimes too. The story has to hook me. There are certain authors who are automatic buys like Stephen King or Dean Koontz, but I'm always looking to discover a new author to love. We avid readers WANT to find someone new we can talk about. I want to find someone whose prose encourages me to do better myself, who makes me forget I'm reading a book.

So how do you pick which novels to buy if you're not buying a favorite author already?

I've never had pretty fingernails. When I'm around women with beautiful nails, I bend my fingers at the middle knuckle so my nails won't show. Then I look like I have ten stubs. That's not a real great look either, in case you wondered.

I am drowning!! Oh my gosh, Denise's post on her clean pantry just made me feel worse about how out of control life is! My desk is a disaster, covered in paperwork, homework for the kids, Friday folders, things to do, bills to pay. And the mess isn't just in front of me, it's all over because I do not have eight hands and I'm cleaning after 12 hands!

So I'm showing my pantry, which is a mess and yet, the kids say there's nothing in the house to eat! Grocery shopping trips are getting the bare minimum amount of time while I try to write, pick up kids, get them to soccer, the tutor, friend's houses for projects, playtime, and worse than any of this...school is getting out next month, so they'll be here all day unless I take the time to plan some summer camps. There's not enough coffee in Sumatra for what's coming!

When I am writing, it's like my mind takes up all my admin skills to keep the story straight, and the house starts to become what my brain feels like! So tonight I started Kristin Boot Camp. I'm training the kids to pick up after themselves WITHOUT me telling them, and I'm getting tough. For every one minute I waste picking up socks, chip bags, etc., left in the family room, they're going to give me five full minutes of scrubbing!

There is nothing like a messy house to make you feel like a failure.

Congratulations to the Free Book Winners from my newsletter! Your copies will be arriving shortly.


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Does this dog make my butt look fat?

I hike with my neighbors one day a week. One of them is a professional dog walker, and so we go with about 6 to 11 dogs. All of them huge, except mine, and my friend Keiko sent me this picture and my first thought was, I totally need a bigger dog. Now everyone who walks with me is no bigger than an inch. I am NOT a big woman and I feel Amazonian next to them all. But I'm the only American and aren't we supposed to be the fattest country?

Speaking of which, as you know, much of my pondering in life takes place in the coffee shop. I'm there every morning, and I have noticed something. People who order fat-free, sugar-free lattes and mochas, the Americanos? They're usually bigger. First off, I think that fake sugar makes you hungry, not to mention it's terrible for you and your body can't digest it. But I also think real sugar fills you up more, and so you're happy with your 350 calorie mocha. You don't need to cram down a muffin.

This does not count for the six-pack girls who come from the gym and order an iced coffee. They're just sick and I can't identify at all. I think they could drink sawdust and be equally happy -- they were born without taste buds don't you know?

I gained weight lately, can you tell? But I'll exercise, I will not be drinking a sugar-free/fat-free anything. Blech! In case you're wondering, I drink a small soy mocha with whip every day. On Fridays and Sundays, I get a large. : )

Doesn't Fiona look cute in her little Italia jacket?

WHAT'S IN A NAME?
JULIET:
'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all myself.

Anyone else out there a huge Romeo and Juliet fan? The version with Olivia Hussey? LOL I about drove my parents crazy listening to the LP of that movie over and over. I can still quote it in huge chunks. LOL But I digress. I'm actually here to talk about names. I've been thinking about names a lot since my granddaughter will be coming in a few months. What will be her name? My editor Ami McConnell also taught me to think hard about names when writing a new book. So I'm very name focused.

I'll tell you the one piece of advice I give pregnant women then I'd love you to tell me YOUR suggestions about dos and don'ts when it comes to names. My number one DON'T is not to call your child by his/her MIDDLE name. It was the style back in the day and my parents called me and my brother Randy by our middle names. I love my name Colleen because it's different. I have only run into a handful of other Colleens in my life so I like unique names. But I wish it had been my first name. Calling a kid something other than their first name seriously messes with their sense of identity. People can call me Peggy until the cows come home and I won't look. They had to tap me on the shoulder.

Some people think it's fine because the teachers ask what to call the child. Um, no. School is a TINY part of the name disconnect. I'm 56 years old and it's still a huge annoyance. I go to a doctor's office and they call me Peggy. I sit there for fifteen minutes before they call me again and I get it. LOL Any legal documents are in the name of Peggy. It's something that carries through a child's whole life. So don't do it!

Peggy is my mother's name and it's wonderful on her. I can't imagine her as any other name. But it's not ME. I'm Colleen. LOL

So what's your name advice?

I'm sitting here this morning sipping on my INSTANT coffee with cocoa and whipped cream, feeling a bit ornery and not having a clue as to what I should write about today. :-)

Yesterday, I watched a "Dr. Phil" while folding laundry -- and of all things, it was a reunion show of this French Mama's boy. Since he'd been on, his mother had managed to break up his marriage, and his big show of independence was to tell Mama (on the show, cuz he was skerd, that he was friends with his ex-wife behind his Mama's back.)

Are you kidding me?? But this brings me to my point, why would any woman date this loser? Fixer-uppers are fine for a house, but girls, really, if he's a fixer-upper, you have to set yourself a time limit and see if any renovations actually take place. I mean, if the foundation is shaky, you don't have a fixer-upper, you have a LOSER!

So here is my fool-proof test for whether a man is worthy of you or not. Okay, I just made it up, so it's not really fool-proof. LOL It's probably not even worthy of a Cosmo quiz, but I am a student of people.

1. He takes responsibilities for his actions! (If he's late to pick you up, he has a legitimate reason. He does not blame someone else.) The guy on Dr. Phil had an excuse for everything! He couldn't find a job because...insert long excuse. He had to live in his Mommy's house because part time work only paid a little, and he'd have to drive a scooter if his Mommy didn't give him the Mercedes.

Now, you all may see this as obvious, but it didn't start out obvious, so you have to look for the small excuses of his behavior. Everyone makes mistakes. Just make sure he owns up to them!

2. He does not think of you as the "good for now" girl until someone prettier/thinner/smarter comes along. Is he always looking around the room in a crowd? Make sure he's capable of focus -- if he's not, he's not capable of commitment. This is also called delusional thinking. When you are unemployed and living with your mama, if you have a girlfriend, dude, that's the best you can get.

3. He loves not with word and tongue, but in deed and in action. Oh my gosh, the smooth talkers are everywhere. Does he open your door? Does he know your favorite flower? Music? Do you know his? If he can name his mama's, but not yours, RUN!

4. He wants to be with you as much as you want to be with him -- you don't have to chase him, you don't have to leave him fourteen texts before he texts back. This is never a good sign. If his phone rings with, "You are so Beautiful" for his mother, again, RUN!

5. He knows the map on his video game verbatim, but needs GPS to find your house. If he has one too many hobbies, it can make for a lonely life. Don't think that will change after marriage. Make sure you do some of them together!

I watched "The Bachelor" this week, and I'm still trying to figure out why any of these women consider these men candidates. They need my test. They really do. Feel free to add your tidbit and maybe we can help the women of America!

COFFEE TIDBITS
I'm in Arizona visiting my baby girl. One of the perks of the area is that I get to visit the place where I buy my coffee--Echo Espresso (http://www.echoespresso.com) and I can get high just walking in and smelling the roasting beans. i got to meet the new owners for the first time, and Cindy showed me a fabulous new coffee blend they'd created. It's called World Blend and it's a mixture of dark and light roasted beans from every country in the world that grows coffee. I'm guessing this means my wonderful Kona coffee is in that blend somewhere. But I digress. Just looking at the mixture of dark and light beans is a delight and I was about to rush to Kara's and try it.

That's where I learned something new about coffee that I've get to pass on to you. Did you know that coffee off-gasses? Dave would say it off-gasses every time I brew it since he doesn't even like the smell of coffee, but there's something wrong with that boy. LOL Anyway, when I said I was rushing home to try the new blend, she said, "Oh no, don't drink it today. Let it finish off-gassing. Coffee is at its best freshly ground and used from day 2 to day 14."

There's something that's supposed to be so great about anticipation, but I've got to tell you it's all I could do NOT to brew some of that coffee this afternoon. I always thought I had developed my patience pretty well since starting writing, but today showed me that when it comes to my coffee, I have none. I may dream about that coffee tonight. In fact, I'm pretty sure I will. LOL

I bought some Folger's premium blend the other day when I was about out of coffee because I knew I wanted to get some fresh stuff from Echo Espresso, and it was so stale tasting I could barely drink it. You may tell me I'm crazy to buy fresh roasted coffee when you can buy a pound of grocery store coffee for $3 but you get what you pay for. I challenge you to try truly fresh coffee for two weeks. Find an actual coffee roaster (I highly recommend Echo) and drink coffee that is totally fresh (Starbucks isn't that fresh). You will never go back. Make sure you get a good grinder. I just bought a Capresso Infinity and I swear the coffee tastes better than the one I had before. And THE best coffee maker is a Cuisinart. Bar none. It makes home coffee even better than Starbucks.

Then report back to me. Yes, this means you, Diann. No INSTANT coffee. I shudder just to think of what you drink every morning.

Oh my gosh, I saw this on the news today. Babies dropped in a good luck ritual. They said in 500 years no babies have been hurt, but I'm telling you, it's the scariest thing to watch. I can't imagine handing my baby over for this:

http://www.breitbart.tv/html/87943.html