It's a beautiful, cool morning in the Ozarks, and the cats are getting ready to run outside and enjoy the day before the heat kicks in again. All is right with the world. I have my Bible and study book with me, and am thinking about a chapter I read last week that really opened my eyes to something I had not considered before. I found it in Acts 15, which I have read countless times in the past. Since it's such a long passage, I won't include it here, but the gist of it is that the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem wanted the Gentile Christians to conform to the Jewish lifestyle in order to be Christians. But the Holy Spirit had other ideas, and He made this known as He baptized those Gentiles, Himself, before the council could approve. In the end, the Gentiles were urged to observe a few rules in order to live Godly lives.

Labels: united in faith

YOU KNOW YOU'RE A WRITER WHEN. . .
This is me and my husband Dave at the Christy awards in St. Louis this past weekend. The 2nd one is of Nelson authors with our publisher Allen Arnold and our publicist Katie Bond. I spent the entire weekend with author friends and it was sooo fun! Sitting around the table with Allen and Katie was a real highlight and it drove home to me how authors are, well, different. LOL

And it's rubbed off on Allen. He was telling us about an incident where a man was taking pictures of his neighborhood. He followed the guy to find out what he was doing and my mind immediately thought of a murder mystery. Allen would have been dead in my story and the protagonist would have had to figure out why the guy was taking pictures and how he'd gotten shot. LOL I'm happy to report Allen's incident was totally innocuous but the what ifs are always present in the backs of our minds. Rachel Hauck had a different scenario in mind. Erin Healy, Kim Tate and Lisa Samson had other plots spring to mind, but we all had plots. Even Allen followed the guy because he suspected he was up to no good. I'm telling you, we corrupt everyone we are around! LOL

So let's have fun with this. If you saw a guy taking pictures of houses in your neighborhood, what would you think he was doing?

Labels: Allen Arnold, imagination, Katie Bond, Kim Tate, Lisa Samson, Rachel Hauck, Thomas Nelson

My family and I are on vacation this week. First I had with a writer's retreat in St. Louis where I got to hang out with Colleen, Cheryl, and other great friends. (We missed Diann and Kristin . . . boohooo!) Then my family picked me up and we headed south. We stopped and saw friends in Oklahoma City--those are our boys in the middle, posing with their friends who used to live in Indiana.

Labels: summer, Texas, vacation

Chaos Ensues

Some people are destined to live a life full of chaos. I wish I was not that person, but sadly, I am. I just finished reading "Furious Love" which is the love story of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor and it actually encouraged me. I thought, well, life isn't that chaotic and since I don't plan to get to 8 husbands, i guess they never will be quite that bad. It helps that I'm not the most beautiful woman in the world, or a movie star and I don't own jewelry so big it looks fake. So life is good, huh?

The problem with my life is that priorities always shift when you're a mom. You can PLAN one thing, but it will never happen that way. Something will inevitably come up and you'll do something different -- with four, I think it multiplies by about 2 million. I spent $245 on food at Costco last Thursday and by Tuesday, you couldn't tell I'd been to the store in the last two years. So I planned to go to the grocery store on Wednesday (two days ago Wed), but after I dropped the kids off at VBS (two are teaching, one is going, and one was with me), my editor informed me a file I sent her had been corrupted. ACK! Worked all morning at the coffee shop to get that right.

The devotionals I'm working on needed some tweaking, so then my mind went to that and how to fix it. Finally, my agent contacted me and said they needed a new picture. That was actually yesterday. Today, I got a reminder. I'm working on edits that are actually due on Monday for another project altogether. And I would totally love to be a stay-at-home mom and not work. Except, if I didn't have my money to buy my escapes, I think I might go nuts.


I want to be one of those moms who knows what's for dinner next Tuesday -- who makes a grocery list and sticks to it. I want to be the mom who exudes peace and gently asks their kids would they like pancakes or scrambled eggs for breakfast, but I am not that mom. I see them as I send a BlackBerry text to my editor when I'm supposed to be watching the VBS show.

It's an old story: working moms versus stay-at-home moms, but I fall somewhere in between since I try to do both. It doesn't work incidentally, but I take solace in the fact that I'd be a terrible stay-at-home mom and then I wouldn't have an excuse. I didn't volunteer for VBS this year though, and that's a step in the right direction toward accepting the fact that I am a working Mom. I did raid the nursery at the end of each day to get my baby fix. I try to give moms the benefit of the doubt. I wish we'd all do the same. You say po tay to, I say po tah to, we're all moms. We all want what's best for our kids, right? But that looks different depending on our natural skill set. Personally, I think I've accomplished something if everyone goes to bed fed and clean. What's your skill set? What are you naturally good at? That place where you can find some solace in your abilities?

Labels: chaos, sahm, VBS, working moms

I'm a firm believer in this quote: "Excellence is doing the best you can, with what you have, every chance you get."

LONESTAR ANGEL
Well, I'm already plunging into a new book. I usually take this time waiting for Ami and Erin to get back to me to mull the story over and try to decide where I'm going but I had this idea come to me so fast that I had to at least writing the first few scenes. The scene was a woman about to be married when her ex arrives at the church to let her know that she can't remarry because he never signed the papers. And furthermore, the baby that they thought they lost to kidnapeprs is still alive. If you were me, wouldn't you want to know how that turned out? :-)

I've spoken at several libraries lately and people always want to know if I know the story all the way through when I start. And no, I don't. I've tried plotting it out. Really I have! But it's not any fun to write it if I know what's going to happen. I much prefer to start with an intriguing first scene and see where the characters take me. I get a much richer story that way. Now it might drive Ami and Erin crazy because there is probably more to fix that way. :-) But I get fun layers and unexpected twists that way.

So this is Angela in my head. The hero calls her Angel which she hates. But I THINK she's going to start liking it. Want to brainstorm with me? I'm still figuring out why someone would kidnap their child then come back to taunt them 5 years later. Clay is special ops so it might have something to do with his job. And Angela's family is wealthy so it might have something to with her. I'm open to ideas! Denise and I are going to have 6 hours in the car to brainstorm on Thursday as we travel to St Louis so any suggestions you give me now will be super helpful!

Labels: brainstorming, Lonestar Angel, plotting

We all have our little secret shame. Mine affects my purchases, my comfort, shoot, sometimes it even controls my very movements.

Labels: exercise, summer

Father's Day!

I'm very lucky to have grown up with great parents and all of my grandparents. In fact, my first grandparent died when I was 37, so I've got some longevity in my genes. My maternal grandfather was crucial in my life. He bought me my first purse (YAY, a lifelong fetish!), he learned that I would not back down easily when he purchased me a dress for kindergarten and I wanted the purple one, not the green one. But we have an ease of nature with each other. Always have.

Once when I was in high school, he took me to a fancy restaurant at the harbor in Half Moon Bay. We got a big dish of Strawberries (big, juicy ones from Watsonville up the coast) and it had dipping sauce of chocolate, brown sugar, etc. Apparently, I had written him a thank you note, and drawn pictures of the strawberries. He told my mom yesterday, it's one of his favorite memories and he keeps the card by his bed because it makes him happy to look at. Isn't that the sweetest story?

IT's one of my favorite memories too, but I had no idea I'd written a card. Why do I tell you this story? Because it's almost Father's Day and have you told your loved one your special memory? Maybe you should. Here's a collection of my grandfather's great grandchildren. We've been blessed no doubt, and this year, my Grandpa will be 95!

We're headed back to the Treatment Center for hopefully my LAST treatment!!! Whoohooo!! I have to go back in July where they will do a CT and see if I need anymore, but if everything goes well, this is it! God is so good!!

I didn't blog last Wednesday because I was spending the day surrounded by family, celebrating a life well lived, and my wonderful, gregarious, life-loving Aunt Betty's promotion to heaven. Over the years, I have become somewhat of an expert at funerals. I started attending them when I was eight, when my Uncle Ivan died. Ironically, when I attended Aunt Betty's funeral last week and stayed with one of my fifty-five first cousins, I bunked in a bedroom with my cousin, Charlene--who was Uncle Ivan's daughter. How precious family becomes at times like this.

Labels: family funeral, Gone to glory, life after death

COUCH POTATO
My name is Colleen and I'm a couch potato. There, I said it. Exercise is supposed to be good for you so why do I hate it? Okay, I do't exactly hate all exercise. I actually LIKE natural exercise. I like to go snorkeling and swimming. I don't mind hiking if I get to see something pretty. I like roller skating, though you never see rinks anymore. But the forced exercise thing--the treadmill, the gym with the machines, all that stuff--that's a different matter. I just can't seem to make myself go though I know I should. Since I've lost weight, it's easier to do things so I thought I would actually enjoy them now, but not so much.

I'd like to tone up my arms and legs but well, I'd have to move from this comfy chair to do it. And Tuesday I'm getting fiber optics high speed internet installed, my new Cinergy MetroNet service. Whoohoo! But there's a downside. I may be tempted to spend even more time in this chair when I'm not tempted to go to the office and hit the router with a baseball bat. Hey, wait, that would be considered exercise, wouldn't it? Maybe I should do that! :-)

So any tips for me? What do you actually LIKE doing for exercise? Anything natural that might actually be fun?

Labels: Cinergy MetroNet, exercise

SUMMER'S HERE!

CONFERENCE REGISTRATION IS OPEN!
Did you hear the roar last night? Registration opened for the American Christian Fiction Writers Conference http://www.acfw.com/conference/. I have to admit I was excited myself. If you're on the fence about whether to go or not, hop down on the side of going right this minute. Most of you love checking in here to join in the friendship and fun we share. Those friendships began at conference. When I look back on my life and career, the defining moment that changed everything is when we girls became friends. There is something about sharing common misery that knits us together. LOL In the early days we would rush to get our feedback from an editor then try to glean every bit of positive out of the few scrawled comments. We'd bolster each other up when we saw the dreaded, not for our house comment. We drank too much coffee and ate too many DeBrand truffles to bury our woes.

I highly recommend cramming four women into a room. There is something about the experience that leaves you never the same again, and it has nothing to do with four women sharing a bathroom. LOL You stay up late sharing your deepest, darkest secrets. You leave that place knowing you have some lifelong friends.

Going to conference is the single best thing you can do for your career and you life. You will make lifelong friends and learn so much about the publishing world. If it feels overwhelming to you, let us encourage you right here on the blog. Tell us what scares you. Ask what publisher you should target. Ask about agents or workshops. We are here to help you.

You know we became such great friends at a conference but where did you meet YOUR best friend? How did it happen? What magic thing bound you together? What do you think makes a friendship last a lifetime?

Labels: ACFW Conference, lifelong friendship

Writing Lessons from The Help (By Kathryn Stockett)

Labels: characters, novels, The Help

Love at First Sight!

I'm a hard person to get to know. I think it comes from being raised with a mentally disabled brother. I only pick "safe" friends, "loyal" friends and it takes me a long time to get close to people. That's why, so many years ago, when Colleen brought Diann Hunt with her to the Mount Hermon Writers' Conference, she was worried that I wouldn't accept Diann as "one of us". Now, I'm not cliquish -- I don't like anyone to feel left out and I will be nice to everyone. Really, you only know I love you when I'm mean to you. When I will say what I really think.

So when Diann moved into our room, no one was more surprised than me how INSTANTLY we hit it off. I loved her from the very start, trusted her immediately and most importantly, cracked up like a teenager with her. Part of the reason I'm so careful about who I "invest" in as friends, is that I'm an emotionally overloaded person. I feel other people's pain immensely, so I have to keep that crew to a minimum. And you know, if I knew that Diann was going to have MY luck, I might have rethought that. (Totally kidding!)

Isn't it amazing how sometimes you just have this great chemistry with people and can't explain it? I just listened to a Nobel Laureate in neurobiology talk about how the brain is largely a guessing machine and sometimes it makes mistakes, but it takes your memories stored up and binds them together in the hippocampus, so that you learn to make decisions based on what's worked before.


Now my best friend was raised with me. We've known each other since we were four and we were sort of mean girls at four. But we improved. But she is EXACTLY like me. I mean, I can't imagine what it's like for her to read my books because she has to know exactly what I'm going to say. The friends I've picked up along the way are nothing like me. So I wonder what it is in them that attracted me so naturally.

There are friends who last seasons in your life, and then there are those who endure through it all. And for me, that's been a love at first sight kind of meeting. How about you? Do you rely on your "feelings" to make friends? Is it natural or developed slowly over time?

Recently, I received the most amazing gift. My friend called it an "Ebenezer". It is a large glass vase filled with a large candle and flat river rocks at the bottom. A raffia bow is tied on the outside with a Sharpie pen hanging on the bow, along with the following Scripture:

Labels: candle, meaningful gifts, remembrance, stones

Here's my hero looking out to sea. When Mel and I first started dating, and especially after he started reading all my manuscripts, I realized he had the qualities I thought were most important in the romances I wrote, so I changed all the characteristics of my male leads to fit Mel's qualities of intelligence, tenderness, kindness and sense of fun.

Labels: Heros, Inspirational Romance, male leads

OFF TO AMI AND ERIN!
Ah, it's always a great feeling to push SEND when a book is done! I just sent off The Lightkeeper's Ball to my editors. Thanks to all of you for helping me think through my hero's name! I settled on Harrison and it really seems to fit him. i really like the story, and it's almost sad this time to see it all wrapping up. Well, not TOO sad! :-) it's always a relief that I managed to get through the entire thing. And this isn't the cover of this book but of the next book out of the gate. I just love it though so I take every opportunity to show it off!

On some other good news, Diann just had her next-to-the-last chemo treatment! So far, no vomiting this time. Last round was really bad so we've been praying hard for an easier time of it. So keep praying!

Now it's time to start thinking about the next story. I had planned to start a new historical series but I've had so many readers requesting another Lonestar book that I'm going to listen to them and write one. See, we authors DO care what you want! :-)
If you've read the Lonestar books, what would you like to see? Any particular character you'd like to catch up with? I'd also love suggestions on the personal challenge my heroine is to face. Allie had Irlen Syndrome. Shannon had MS. Gracie had synesthesia. So I need an interesting challenge for condition for my character. I'd love to hear your thoughts! I've been toying with the title Lonestar Angel. My heroine's name would be Angel. Any other suggestions?

I love to hear from you!

Labels: Lonestar series, The Lightkeeper's Ball