Strangers Dressed as Angels

Dear friend, you are faithful 
in what you are doing for the brothers,

even though they are strangers to you. 1 John 1:5 NIV

Saturday morning I took the elevator to the second floor and headed for bed #5 in the ICU. My mom had a complete overhaul on her heart. Seeing the wires, tubes and monitors didn't bother me. Seeing my mom in pain and vulnerable cut me to the core. I stared at the ceiling numerous times to help the welling tears subside. I prayed and asked for God's strength because mine was shaky.

After leaving her room, I had a meltdown in the family lounge. I called my sister, begging her to come out because I couldn't handle being there by myself. I ended the call, dropped my phone on the chair next to me and sobbed into my tissues.

A woman knelt in front of me and asked if she could give me a hug. I launched myself into her arms and cried as she spoke soothing tones into my hair. I needed someone to comfort me at that very moment.

God provided an angel in a pink breast cancer awareness t-shirt and navy track pants.

Once I pulled myself together, I thanked her profusely for the comfort she gave me. I learned she had been there a week as her husband spent the past six days in ICU. My heart ached as she shared her story. As my friends and sister arrived, she sat next to us and said, "You have all of them. I have no one."

We swept her into our circle, offering prayers, hugs and chocolate.

My weekend in the ICU taught me valuable lessons in God's Divine Providence, empathy for my hurting friends and we are never so strong that we can't ask for someone to help us.

As we tear down those walls and expose our aching hearts, we are allowing others to bless us with words of encouragement and hugs of comfort. In turn, we are providing blessings for them.

Please pray for my friend Renee who so generously comforted me in my time of need on Saturday. She received devastating news this evening that will change her life forever as she makes a very tough decision. I had the opportunity to be a comfort to her. I told her I had my network praying for her and that God provides miracles. 

Please pray for my mama as she is in the toughest fight of her life. As of today, she's having a hard time maintaining her oxygen levels without a breathing mask. When her oxygen levels drop, her heart rate and blood pressure rise. I prayed over her as I left for the evening and when I peeked in on her one last time, she was in a peaceful deep sleep and her oxygen was at 92 without her breathing mask!

Your turn: Have you been blessed by a stranger? Have you had the opportunity to bless someone you didn't know? How did it change you?

What is Christian romance?

Christian romance--some people believe that to be an oxymoron because they equate romance with unbridled passion. Not necessarily.

Source

Christian romance is one genre of the Christian fiction realm. Christian romances tell the story of a hero and heroine overcoming obstacles to fall in love and making a lifelong commitment by the book's end. Sometimes those endings will lead to marriage, and sometimes the reader is left with the happy couple newly engaged.

Quality Christian romances include:

• Hero and heroine
• Character journeys 
• A believable plot
• Conflict
• Happily ever after resolution
• An element of faith in Jesus Christ woven through the plot

Quality Christian romances do not include:

• Strong language
• Bedroom scenes
• Same sex partners as main characters
• Graphic violence
• Intimate relationships between unmarried couples
• Preachiness

Source

In the past I've mentioned I write romance, and many people ask, "Are you writing one of those smut books?"

I resist rolling my eyes and reply, "My books are Christian romances."

"Oh."

Sometimes the person will ask for an explanation, and other times that person will walk away before I stand behind my pulpit and give them a sermon. Of course, I don't preach to them, but some people hear 'Christian' and assume a sermon is right around the corner.

Writers of quality Christian fiction do weave in a thread of faith, but we try not to preach to our readers. Instead we strive to show our characters' faith in Jesus through their actions--you know, show not tell. We show our characters' longings from emotional tenderness than physical desire. There is a time and a place for those steamy scenes. In Christian romance, it's usually after the couple is married and happens behind closed doors. I say usually because a character may have a past, but once she commits herself to Christ, she should be depicted as wanting to honor God with the way she lives her life. 

Publishing houses offer their own set of guidelines about the levels of violence, language and sensuality that may be included in a novel. My parent publisher Harlequin sells books to the ABA and CBA, so their Love Inspired Christian fiction novels must fit CBA guidelines. 

Love Inspired's mission statement states, "The Love Inspired fiction program features wholesome Christian romance that will help women to better guide themselves, their families and their communities toward purposeful, faith-driven lives." 

So when you think of Christian romance, think wholesome or sweet. Some people grumble about the stricter guidelines, but I believe publishers want their novels to glorify God. After all, isn't that what Christians are called to do?

Your turn: How would you define Christian romance? Do you find them sweet and wholesome or too restrictive for 'real life?' 

Writing by Heart

Credit: Michael Pohl

**I'm blogging at WordServe Water Cooler today. Stop by and see what I have to say about Learning to Let Go.

There's nothing to writing.  

All you do is sit down at a typewriter
and open a vein.  

~Walter Wellesley "Red" Smith

Last Wednesday morning after I hit snooze about three times, I came awake with a revelation—I have become my character.

When I began my current work-in-progress (WIP), my character struggled with financial hardships. About that time, my husband lost his job.

My character discovered a maintenance issue in her place of business. We had a major leak in our bedroom. Then we found another one in our back entry area.

When my character needed hope, God provided me with a book contract.

I’m editing the Black Moment where the character’s daughter is rushed to the ER. Three weeks ago my mother was taken to the ER by ambulance. Last week she was admitted to the hospital again for more testing for her heart. Next Friday, she will have a triple bypass.

The waiting, the worrying that Josie is feeling—I get that.

Writing is about creating relationships with your readers, allowing them to feel the same character emotions as they turn the pages.

In order to create those emotions, you have to sacrifice a part of yourself—become vulnerable on the page.

Before you write a scene, think about the emotion you want the character to feel, then think back to a time when you had a similar experience or emotion. Now bleed how you felt onto the page.

Tuesday night when I visited my mom in the hospital, I smiled and laughed because I didn’t want to stress her out by the worry bouncing around inside my head. When I came home, I channeled those emotions into my scene and wrote this:

Birthdays were supposed to be celebrations, not spent fighting to breathe in a hospital room painted the color of chicken soup.


Children’s laughter should be bouncing off the walls instead of beeping monitors and hissing tubes. The scent of sulphur from extinguished birthday candles and the sweetness of frosting should be lingering in the air. Not the stench of antiseptic that had become as familiar as Josie’s own shampoo.


Her gaze fixated on Hannah’s closed eyes, memorizing every curve and line of her face. Her chest rose and fell in a peaceful rhythm. Too peaceful. Too final.


Please, God, one more birthday . . .  


She’d pray that prayer every day for the rest of her life if necessary.


Losing her only child would surely shred her heart beyond repair. Hannah was a piece of her. A small representation of the good in Josie’s life. She’d lost so many people already. Couldn’t He spare her daughter?


She swiped at the tears crowding her eyes, swallowing back the boulder-sized lump that seemed to be a constant part of her anatomy. Hope appeared to be the large tanker in the middle of the ocean and she resided on the island of despair with rescue being a stranger.


When Nick walked away, he took another piece of her heart with him. Would he return? The voice inside her head screamed for him to stay. She couldn’t bear to be alone anymore, to lose someone else she loved. Instead, she told him not to bother coming back.

Your turn: How do you write emotion? Do you find it a challenge? What suggestions do you have to offer?

Repost: What Makes You Smile?

A cheerful look brings joy to the heart, and good news gives health to the bones.
Proverbs 15:30 (NIV)

One of the highlights of my day is logging into my instant message accounts and chatting with friends I've made all around the world. I have several friends in the U.S., three in various provinces in Canada, one in the U.K., and one in India. I met most of these friends through shared interests. I've been chatting with four specific friends for seven years.

Sara, one of my U.S. friends, started asking me, "What makes you smile?" Right away, I rattle off two or three things like the sound of baby giggles, hugs from my boys, having hubby home for dinner, and chatting with good friends make me happy.

A positive attitude invites people to be around you. No one wants to hang out with someone is always a downer. Having a positive attitude helps you to stay healthy. A positive attitude builds self-confidence. It is infectious.

Your turn: So, what makes you smile?

Who is in your driver's seat?

Credit: Mexikids

Sunday afternoon, I spent over an hour in the passenger's seat while teaching my son how to drive in the high school parking lot. He drove uphill, made left hand turns, learned to stop without giving his passenger whiplash, pulled into parking spaces and backed out.

Honestly I was impressed with his first lesson with him. And funny thing is, he was impressed with how cool and collected I stayed. "Mom, you didn't freak out like I thought you would."

I'll admit there were a couple of dicey moments when he took a curve a little too sharply or picked up more downhill speed than I would've liked. Overall, though, we both walked away from that experience with a little more confidence--he with his driving skills and me with my teaching skills.

That same evening, my younger son needed to be taken into town for Ultimate Frisbee. I recommended that my older son drive. After all, it was a Sunday evening and traffic would be minimal. He wasn't crazy about the idea, but relented. So the three of us buckled into the car and set off down the road, going a different route than our usual one because when DS1 backed out of the driveway, he turned his wheels the wrong way. No problem.

We live in a township just over the city limits. So close, in fact, that it takes me less than three minutes to hit the business district. It's a matter of driving over an overpass and crossing railroad tracks.

So we made it to the field to drop off DS2. Again, the drive over had a few shaky moments with speed and balanced steering, but we survived. I do believe some grays sprouted on my head, and I believe I pulled a muscle in my hand from gripping the door handle so tightly while repeating STOP!STOP!STOP! when a white van came to a quick stop in front of us.

At the field, we had to drive down into the middle school parking lot to turn around. It's a little tricky, but before DS1 did it, I talked him through it. Well, he managed to get stressed and couldn't focus on what I was telling him. I became frustrated when a car came up behind us and we were in the middle of the exit. DS1 ended up getting mad, slammed out of the driver's seat for me to crawl over the shifter to drive and hurled himself into the passenger seat. A silent ride home.

Carrie Underwood sings, "Jesus, take the wheel,"which is about a girl driving in the snow on her way to see her family. When she is in a potential accident, she cries out for Jesus to take the wheel because she can't do it in her own.

I love the beauty of the song because driving is just the overt message in the lyrics. No matter what we have going on in our lives--marriage, parenting, family issues, work issues, education problems, emotional stress--we can't do things on our own. God allows trials to come in our lives to serve as wake up calls and to encourage us to lean on Him.

Just as my son had a basic idea of driving, he couldn't do it alone. He needed my encouragement, knowledge and support. He's far from ready to take his test, but by sliding behind that wheel, he conquered the jitters from his very first driving experience that almost landed him in a snowbank--no, I was not in the passenger seat when that happened. He proved to himself that he could do it. Now he simply has to keep practicing and lean on those with more knowledge.

We can do things alone in life, but we may come face to face with mountains that seem too unbearable to attempt. With Jesus in our lives, He goes before us and forges a way with hope and grace. Ask Jesus to take the wheel, and He will steer you through life's challenges.

Your turn: What was your first driving experience like? Other than the obvious increased skills, what did you take away from learning how to drive? Who is in your driver's seat now?

Marketing Strategies for New Authors

Signing my first contract!

Any editor or agent will tell you story is key in getting a writer's career started. Once a writer signs that contract, she is thrust into a world that sometimes leaves her wondering if she just slipped down Alice's rabbit hole. Or was that just me?

In today’s economy, publishing houses are expecting writers to step up their marketing game. So how is a debut author supposed to market a book that isn’t even on the shelves yet? 

When I learned my debut novel, Lakeside Reunion, would be published by Love Inspired and released in November 2011, my brain shifted into gear to figure out how I could reach out to my future readers. Love Inspired novels are category romances, which means they are on store shelves for only a month, although they can still be ordered online until the print run ends. 

I really didn’t know much about marketing and had no idea what would work, but I had to focus on what I thought would work for me. The first thing I did is ramp up my website. When readers find an author they love, one of the first things they do is search for the author’s website. I wanted my site to by my online home where readers would feel welcomed and want to learn more about my books. Jim Rubart spoke at the 2009 My Book Therapy pizza party and talked about making your website stand out from the rest. One thing he mentioned was to go beyond the "Welcome to my site" home page. Taking his advice, my homepage introduces visitors to my Romance With the Written Word. 

www.lisajordanbooks.com

I designed my site using iWeb software on my Mac. I chose colors based on my author photo taken by the very talented and uber friendly The Clik Chick's Amber Zimmerman, daughter of one of my favorite authors, Diann Hunt. Amber did my author photos at the 2010 ACFW conference. I loved working with her and was pleased with the result. A professional author photo tells the world that writing is your business, not just a hobby. 

Another way unpublished writers can get their names out to the public is by getting involved in writing organizations—volunteering at conferences and writing for newsletters. I’m actively involved in My Book Therapy as the forum coordinator and Voices e-zine editor. I’m a member of American Christian Fiction Writers where I volunteer at the conferences and participate as a bi-monthly columnist for Afictionado, ACFW’s e-zine. 

Additionally I blog on my personal blog and my writing support group’s collaborative blog—MBT Ponderers. Plus, the WordServe authors have gotten together to collaborate on the WordServe Water Cooler blog--publishing, marketing and industry information for writers. Our blog debuts on Tuesday, August 2. Be sure to check us out! We look forward to getting to know you! 

With the explosion of social media as the latest avenue for marketing, I opened Twitter and Facebook accounts. I'm still trying to work those two media opportunities into my schedule. Since I work full-time in my home and write in the evenings, there isn't a lot of time hang out on Twitter or Facebook. Edie Melson's new e-book, Social Marketing for Writers, is a great resource to help writers balance an online presence with their busy schedules. 

Amazon has my novel available on October 18. To raise interest, I put together a blog hop that will go from October 18 to November 30. I say blog hop instead of a blog tour because readers will be participating in a virtual scavenger hunt for an opportunity to win the grand prize at the end of the blog hop. I hope to raise interest about my book while taking the traditional blog tour and giving it a little twist. 

Once my cover is available, I will be ordering my new business cards, bookmarks and postcards. I'm not sure about other promotional items like pens or sticky note pads because they're pricey. I created an advertising budget and need to stay within those guidelines. 

On November 5^th, I will host a public book launch party for Lakeside Reunion. I plan to send a bulletin-sized announcement to all of the churches in my area, contact my local papers and library to generate more publicity about my book. 

Lakeside Reunion is set in the fictional town of Shelby Lake and hopefully, the first of several novels in my planned series. To give readers an inside glimpse into Shelby Lake and its residents, I’m working on a Welcome to Shelby Lake website. The site will offer character insights, facts about the town and recipes. 

Thankfully, Harlequin--Love Inspired's parent company--provides some marketing for their authors. I'm not sure if my marketing strategies will generate buzz for my book or not, but at least they show my publishing house I'm willing to partner with them to help make my book a success. 

Be sure to visit Rachelle Gardner's blog tomorrow for information about the WordServe Parade of Blogs on MARKETING to learn how other WordServe clients are marketing their books. 

Your turn: What marketing strategies are you using to help create buzz for your books? If you're not published yet, what are you doing to help build your platform?