Eek! I’m Becoming My Characters!!!

I used to have bone-straight hair. Really! I’d curl it with every kind of apparatus available to vain young women, but the hair just wanted to point down like it had weights attached to the ends.

What happened? First Chris, then Tiffany—my characters—that’s what.

I don’t know about you, but when I write people I find myself making their faces, striking their poses and musing their thoughts as they flow through my fingers to the page. This is particularly disconcerting when I take on the characteristics of those least like me. In fact, I have a tendency to carry those traits throughout the day—as if I needed to be with them more to get to know them better.

When I started writing Chris (see his inspiration on my Pinterest page), a southern-rock musician with shoulder-length, wavy, blond hair, I began to push my hand in my back pocket and dress a little differently. I had been used to wearing yoga pants, but now my style is what my daughter calls “rock-n-roll Mom.” My husband even wondered about the funny little crooked smile I seemed to develop. I knew it was Chris’s, but I wondered if I should tell him that. My hair took on waves.

Then I started book two and Tiffany was the one I least resembled—exotically beautiful, wears tight, above-knee skirts, and is something of a flirt (see her inspiration on my Pinterest page). Okay, I haven’t yet become exotically beautiful, and I wouldn’t be caught dead in a short skirt—I don’t have the knees for it. However, I have developed a few of her traits. My once, introverted self, gave way to a social, people needing addict. No, I don’t flirt—except with my hubby—but I did catch myself winking at some guy once.

Yikes! Rein it in Tiffany!!!

All of this happened so slowly I didn’t recognize it until the day I noticed my hair was no longer straight. Not only did I develop Chris’s waves on the top, I acquired Tiffany’s spiral curls below. Really! Check it out:

 

So be careful as you create these wonderful beings. They might just rub off on you.

*******

Connie is a 2012 Genesis semi-finalist for Women’s Fiction. She was awarded an Honorable Mention in the Winter 2012 WOW Flash Fiction Contest for her entry, Why Not to Kiss on a Park Bench (aka. Harold and Violet). Come visit her on one of her other blogs:

 

Living the Body of Christ

InfiniteCharacters.com

Nothing Good Comes Easy

Being a writer is the life … isn’t it?

Two and a half years ago, after working with my daughter on a story project for school, I got the bug. I wanted to write. I came up with some ideas for a story and laid them out on paper. Oh, was it fun! I hadn’t been that creative in years.

Did people really get paid to do this?

Then, the Lord spoke to my heart. I can almost envision Him shaking His head, warily as He imparted the message. “This won’t be an easy journey. Prepare yourself for a long and bumpy road. But don’t give up.”

Long and bumpy? How?

Um. Well. I know now. After writing, re-writing, critiquing, being critiqued and re-writing some more—only to start the process over again—Oh, do I know. So, seeing His word to me was true, I do as He instructed. I don’t give up.

It’s hard work. Harder than I’ve ever encountered. And yet—though I’m still not “published”—the most rewarding work I’ve ever engaged in. My manuscript has brought my sister and I closer as it allowed me to communicate, through my characters, things I had never been able to say. I’ve been told about families who have found great success using vision therapy for their once struggling readers after reading about it on my blog. Yes, the Holy Spirit has shown me the fruits of this labor. Labor I might have given up over a year ago had He not spoken that warning to me.

But the Holy Spirit, in His infinite wisdom, didn’t stop there. A year and a half ago, I went to a Third Day concert and heard Trevor Morgan sing for the first time. He played the song, Easy, which reminded me of the message God gave me above (click here to listen to that song), so I bought his CD. Thank you, Jesus, I can be reminded on a daily basis, after a long, weary day of hard critiques and brutal re-writes. And it encourages me to keep plugging away. Because, after all …

Nothing good comes easy … easy.

Connie is a 2012 Genesis semi-finalist for Women’s Fiction. She was awarded an Honorable Mention in the Winter 2012 WOW Flash Fiction Contest for her entry, Why Not to Kiss on a Park Bench (aka. Harold and Violet). She also writes the What’s Your Story column, interviewing debut fiction authors for the My Book Therapy Ezine. Come visit her on one of her other blogs:

Living the Body of Christ

InfiniteCharacters.com

Good Jesus Cardio

We get up early every morning so we can exercise before we start our day. A five-mile run will do the trick. Get the blood pumping and the synapses firing. Well … maybe. But a good cup o’ coffee works fine for me.

Now, I know there are those of you who love your cardio. You’re that person who could run a marathon. Maybe not a sprint, but if it’s got length and requires endurance, it’s yours. However, today, I want to talk about another kind of endurance. We’ll just call it good Jesus cardio.

A few months ago I heard a great sermon at my sister’s church. The pastor, who stated he had no particular talent, praised God that he was at least given perseverance. He said he may not be able to do anything well, but he would complete the job no matter how long it took. He also added that the road to failure is littered with talented people who couldn’t hack it. And though I must disagree with the pastor on his assessment of his own skills—I always enjoy his down-to-earth, though poignant sermons—I loved what he said about perseverance. Perseverance is the heart of the Body of Christ. It’s that part we need to exercise so we can run the marathon of life … and it is a marathon. So good spiritual cardio work is imperative to running, what the Apostle Paul called “The Race.”

The story of Joseph in Genesis is one of the best examples of perseverance in the Good Book. Joseph spent years being mocked by his brothers, more years as a slave and then even more in jail. Every time, he worked diligently and prospered, yet something always seemed to ruin his efforts. And yet, he maintained a strong faith in God and His purposes. God used all of those experiences to make Joseph the man he became and to place this Hebrew in a position of power in Egypt. Only an act of our Creator could do such a thing.

This is the kind of endurance we need through trial. We need to trust that God is still there even when life seems to block Him from view. Second Peter, verse nine tells us that if we are missing this quality (among others), we are nearsighted and blind, and have forgotten that we are cleansed from our past sins.

As writers, we need lots of this stuff, especially if traversing the world of the pre-published. It is a journey. I’ve heard estimates stating the average time for an author to become published from the time they start writing is between six and ten years. I’ve ONLY been at it, seriously, for two—sigh! Those who listened as I began the journey and excitedly asked, “How’s the book coming,” no longer ask. I wonder if they are afraid to bring up my “failure,” not realizing, it’s early yet. I haven’t failed. If I quit, then yes. But I don’t plan to do that any time soon.

So, every now and then, I go back to Joseph, read how at every turn, no matter how diligent his efforts, he was thwarted. Yet he remained faithful to the call and the Lord who gave it to him. I meditate on that a while and continue on.

Persevere!

Connie is a trained counselor, who likes to lace a little fun into the serious stuff of life. Visit her at: LivingtheBodyofChrist, and InfiniteCharacters.com.

It's My Profound Pleasure...

to introduce you to my lovely and talented critique partner and friend, Jenness Walker!

See, told ya she was lovely!
Jenness and I have been friends for oh, about four years now. We met in the strangest of places. If you know us, you'll guess pretty easily, but I'll go ahead and tell you - it was through an online forum. Yep, we were both going to be attending the American Christian Fiction Writers conference for the first time, we were on the boards talking about our writing and how to pitch (neither one of us knew how and we were terrified) and we started shooting pitches back and forth. Next thing we knew, we were meeting up in Dallas. We became critique partners shortly after the conference, and the rest, as they say, is history. She still can't get rid of me.
We both became agented authors in the same year. We used to dream about publication together. Now I'm happy to say, I'm the only one who's still dreaming. Jenness has realized her dream with her debut novel, Double Take, published through Love Inspired Suspense.

I had the pleasure of critiquing this novel in all its various stages, and I have to say the finished product is pretty darn good. I won't give a review here, because I'm biased, but here's the blurb, and when you're done reading, go on Amazon and order Double Take! You won't regret it!
Cole Leighton can barely believe his eyes. A woman on his bus has just been abducted—in an exact reflection of a scene from the bestselling novel he's reading. Someone is bringing the book to life…and isn't above forcing an innocent woman to follow the story to its tragic end. Using the novel as his playbook, Cole catches up with the beautiful victim—but rescuing Kenzie Jacobs doesn't keep her safe for long. The killer is writing his own ending, and none of the twists and turns lead to happily ever after.

Jenness Walker fell in love with books before she could even read them. Growing up, she read while she walked in line, ate lunch, played the clarinet, showered and brushed her teeth. Unfortunately she still hasn’t figured out how to clean the house with a book in hand. Blessed with a vivid imagination—sometimes too vivid—Jenness loves to create her own stories as well. Her writing journey has spanned over twenty years so far, from the contest she lost in first grade to the creative writing correspondence course she took through high school and the first novel she penned in college. Now Jenness lives in Florida with her beloved Web site–designer husband and almost-equally-beloved laptop.