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Author Confessions: Are You Seeking God’s Hand or His Heart?

Apr20
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Author Confessions: Are You Seeking God’s Hand or His Heart?

Oliver Maltese/shih tzu mix.

When we got Oliver, he was a six-month-old puppy. I poured love on this dog and he became quite devoted to me. We did obedience training (more for me than him!) and the trainer didn’t think she could work with him because he loved me so much. Oliver understood she had treats though and performed beautifully for her and then quickly returned to me.

Oliver is motivated by praise as well as treats and I rarely give him the treats but lots of praise. His sister, Minnie, however, has been trained more by following Oliver as she hasn’t been motivated much by praise or treats. Two years in and she still will not take a treat from my hand. She will wag when I praise her but her stubborn shih-tzu heart refuses to do anything other than what she desires to do.

Years ago when I was attending a prayer retreat, the leader asked this question. Are you seeking God’s hand or his heart? 

Oliver will jump into my lap because he longs to be close to me. He loves

me. Of course he wants to snuggle and be petted too, but he’s often content to stretch out next to my legs because more than anything he longs to be with me.

He will dance for a treat though, but he doesn’t beg for them. He will go to my husband for the treats because Ben has conditioned the dog to do so. A previous dog of ours would go up to my husband in the kitchen and sneeze. Ben would give him a treat. Our dogs go to Ben for his hand, not his heart.

The dogs come to me more for my heart than my hand.

Of course we are told we are to seek God and pray to Him. Prayes of thankgiving, confession, requests, and even just sharing our lives.

Ultimately, as a believer, I long to hear God say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Yes, God rewards us. The list of all the things I did for God should come after gratitude to Him for all I was able to do because He enabled me to, because I long to please Him.

That doesn’t mean I don’t pray for my children, or the health of friends or others who I know are struggling. I made a chart so I can be more intentional to pray for people outside of when I sense God is leading me to pray, which He often does.

I confess I’m often selfish in my prayers, seeking God’s hand more than His heart. Selfish in asking for His Wisdom, for the Holy Spirit to lead and guide in my conversations and relationships. One of my favorite psalms is Psalm 19 and verse 14 in particular: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.” I find myself in an odd loop of seeking His hand so as to please His heart. A verse before that David prays, “Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults.  Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins; Let them not rule over me;”  I’m not wrong in seeking His hand, His pierced hands that testify to His death for my sins. 

Someone asked me what they could pray for me. If you could ask for just ONE thing to be prayed for, would it be for a specific physical need for yourself or someone else? Ultimately, my prayer would be David’s that by the power of the Holy Spirit, my thoughts and words, my inner dialogue, the depth of my heart where sin likes to wallow, would be acceptable in His sight because I want to honor Him more than anything else.

So how about you? Are you seeking God’s hand or His heart? Seeking God’s heart gives us His hand, because we cannot do it without the help of the Holy Spirit.

Author Confessions: I Can’t Change Myself

Apr13
Reading Time: 5 minutes

Author Confessions: I Can’t Change Myself

For all the talk people will say about making changes to your diet, exercise, goals etc, I find that in reality I can’t change myself. Maybe I don’t want change enough? Or maybe I like the idea of certain changes but lack the gumption to follow through.

Oh, I know about making baby steps and I’ve accomplished goals that way. Making things a game helps too. Or competing against a goal, almost like I try to see if I can beat the arrival time a GPS gives me on Google Maps. (Don’t tell me you haven’t tried!)

The reality is, the biggest and most significant changes have come about when I’ve asked God to direct me. He’s the one who opens a door for that change and it might seem impulsive for me to step through, yet it might be something I’ve prayed about for months. True heart change comes from the inside out–not the outside in with manufactured disciplines. My stubborn heart rebels against that.

Thankfully, God knows my heart, my mind, my personality and all the quirks that make me uniquely–me. I’ve asked Him to help me mature, grow, and change and I’ve also asked that He be gentle with me. Sometimes He uses circumstances to force change in my life that I might have resisted. Or He leads me on a path that I think will logically be a good thing and in the process I struggle with the necessary changes that are a necessary part of the process.

We sold our house and moved to a community I used to live in over 25 years ago. With social media, emails, and texting, I can stay close to people I love, but the reality, I almost feel invisible to them due to the distance and the scarcity of contact. Was the contact more frequent before that? Maybe, maybe not. But I was immersed in a world where people knew me.

Now I’m a stranger in a strange land. (My hubby would be telling right now that strange is the perfect word for me! And he’d be correct!)

We found a church we love but due to all that’s going on in our lives we haven’t been able to plug into serving yet. I’m an unknown quantity there. Any of my previous ministry expriences do not mean I will serve in the same way here. I’m a small fish in a big pond. The waiting is hard but I realize that God is doing deep work in my soul drawing me into a deeper relationship with Him.

He has restored eager anticipation to go to church for worship, or for our life group, or the women’s study I’m in. They are the highlights of my week. It’s an experience that had been lost over the years for more reasons than I want to go into now.

I used to sing all the time, at home, in the car, everywhere. For years though, I couldn’t sing because I worked supporting the production team in the booth. I couldn’t sing because I needed to be listening for problems. Was the sound mix good? Were there issues with tech that needed to be solved? After years of this, I finally got a chance to join a team on stage for worship. I was going to lead a song with my guitar and I had practiced a lot. I played the instrument fine, but do you think I could find my note to start the singing? Cue deep humiliation and embarrassment when someone else rescued the moment. It was an individual who had derailed my ability to serve at that church in many ways. That was eight years ago and the accumulated trauma surrounding worship ministry, culminating with a moment that no one else realized was painful for me, has kept me from stepping back on a stage to lead worship or to sing even though I have been asked on various occassions. My guitar was packed away. My voice silenced. Shame imprisoned me.

My husband loves to hear me sing and I’m content to have him listen to me worship in church when I am by his side. I realized that I lost more than my voice. I lost much of the joy music gave me because of the pain tied to it. So I’ve been challenging myself to sing more.

I came across a chapter in a book about how the Holy Spirit inhabits our praise and praising God opens up the door for the Holy Spirit to work more in our lives. I’ve been playing music more in my car as I drive and trying to sing at least one song out loud, whether it’s at home or on the road. I don’t really count worshipping at church in that goal. I find that easier than ever to do this with a full heart of gratitude for the Savior Who has graciously brought me back to that joy, leaving the shame behind.

I’m not ready to step back on stage to sing. I’m not that great of a vocalist. I don’t know if God will call me into that ministry in our new-to-us church. I’ve done a  variety of ministries within previous churchs and it’s possible God may have something new lined up for me. Like a kid eager to open gifts at Christmas, I wait, trusting that He has something beautiful in store.

In the meantime, my job is to steep myself in Bible study, memorization, being quiet before Him, singing praises in and out of church, and using the gifts God has given me to encourage others right now, whenever I see something praiseworthy. It’s kind of fun letting God open up doors for those moments to blurt out something to lift another person’s day, simply because I’m blessed to be a witness to the work God is doing in their lives. I can strive to be open to the opportunities to share His love to my neighbors and others I might meet.

So maybe I’m not where I long to be, plugged into my church, but that doesn’t mean I’m being passive. Whether I’m making my husband’s favorite meal, cleaning the house, doing laundry, walking the dogs, ironing shirts, running errands for our house, or chatting with a neighbor as my puppy tries eager to get all the pets possible, God can use me right here and now and I embrace that.

He’s working other changes in me as well and the process hasn’t always been comfortable. At times it has been downright lonely because I haven’t developed close enough relationships where I can get together with someone to talk about life. The key word here is YET. God is enough and I’ve started using an audio journal to help me talk through stuff with Him when I don’t have another human to process with. Yes, I do share things with my hubby but not all the ramblings in my brain! Sometimes God is the only one who gets to hear those.

I can’t change myself, but I know Someone Who can – and I’m doubly grateful for the work the Holy Spirit is doing in me to prepare me for when we are in our home and have even more opportunities to connect with people. Or where He’ll open doors at our church. I recognize it’s a process and leaning into the best change-agent around: Jesus. I can’t change myself–but He can.

 

Author Confessions: Getting To Know You

Apr6
Reading Time: 4 minutes

Author Confessions: Getting To Know You

When we meet people, there is often a process of “getting to know you,” that takes place. For most of us we don’t blurt out our entire life’s history at a first meeting. We share information, bit by bit, as we deem someone is safe to share with. The superficial before the deeper, more intimate secrets, we might carry. That’s true in fiction as well.

I’ve mentioned before that I write by the seat-of-my pants. I will do a back page blurb and have my two main characters and inciting incident where they meet and then I eagerly jump in and write. I can write fast when I put my mind to it. Not as fast as some but it is a matter of discipline. The reality is when I’m excited about something I can’t wait to get back to it!

That’s the definition of an ideal job, right?

I wish I could say that every part of writing and editing is pure, unadulterated joy. It’s not. It can be grueling and hard. Grit your teeth and git-‘er-done type of work. However, the initial excitment of starting a story, especially when it flows and the characters are engaging, can be so much fun to write.

I’m often too impulsive to do a basic character interview with my main characters so I jump right in and let them surprise me when they reveal parts of their past that I didn’t know. Sounds mysterious, right? It’s a creative process. I pray that I’m following where the Holy Spirit leads as I write stories that I hope and pray will give glory to God.

This year I do not have a Christmas gnome novella releasing as I focused on one I co-authored with DeeDee Lake called Mission: Matrimony, the last of our military romance series. I also finished, with great joy, writing Sealed With a Kiss, a contemporary Christmas romance based on letters from WWII that had been germinating for years. With planning a house, there wasn’t time to produce another novella. Both of those should release this November, 2026.

Space opened up in my schedule and I’ve longed to write a romance for Quincia Bellpepper. Puck’s twin sister in Gnomebody But You, needed her own story and perhaps I should start writing it. This time I decided to do a character interview with Quincia and her love interest, Jinx Jingleheimer. That takes prayer and time. Real life people don’t give up all  their secrets at once and neither do fictional ones. I should always do this and my writing would be better for it.

When I wrote Sir Micheal’s Mayhem, it was probably the first time I’d done a character interview. Something as simple as the answer to the question, “Do they have any scars and how did they get them?”, resulted in a focal point in the story that revealed secrets and brought the couple back to the spot. I won’t give anything else away, you’ll have to read it to find out, but Sir Michael and Katrina are one of my favorite couples, maybe because I got to know them so well during that interview process.

There was another reason to do an interview for the gnome novella. Gnomes have unique names and I needed to map out family and friends with their requisite names! Picking names is always part of the fun for any story, but the names in the gnome novellas adds whimsy to the tale. It is no different with this one! And even though I’m the one who comes up with their backstories, they still reveal themselves to me in a deeper way through this process. Not everything in that interview will show up on the page but it might influence their actions and choices. Eventually the reader might be privy to the why they behaved as they did. The slow unveiling of a characters past makes the story more enjoyable instead of dumping their individual backstories in the first chapter. A reader wants to experience the adventure, not read their biographies.

If you are an author or aspiring author who would like to write a character interview and acquainted with your characters before you write, there are likely some examples on line. Or you can email me at silygoos@gmail.com and ask me to send my blank chart that I developed for couples (I might have a single one as well). Since it’s a Word doc file you can modify it to your heart’s desire. I’ve taken what others have done and made my own but I don’t proclaim to own rights to it. You might find other questions you’d like answers to.

If you’re a reader, I hope you enjoyed getting a peek behind-the-scenes of an author’s “Getting to know you,” process. I hope the characters that spring from that will bring you a few hours of enjoyment, and inspiration.

Author Confessions: Why I Don’t Write “THE END.”

Mar30
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Author Confessions: Why I Don’t Write “THE END.”

I happily finished and submitted a Christmas novella to my publisher. I confess that when I’m writing a story I struggle as I get to the end because it means my journey with these characters who have become dear to me, is over. It takes discipline to finally get to the end of the story and when I do, it is bittersweet.

A lot of authors celebrate finishing a story and proudly write, “THE END” on the page. I stop when I am convinced that I have come to a satisfactory conclusion to the story. My happily-ever-after ending as it were. And there are no more words to write at that point.

The beauty of writing a series as the characters in the preceding ones can go on with their fictional lives and the reader can get glimpses.

No one gets a happily-ever-after in this life unless we are believers in Jesus. Even when He said “It is finished,” on the cross, it wasn’t the end of the story. What seemed like a horrific tragedy was for our benefit. And yet while we may experience periods of happiness, that sweet kiss of promise at the end of a romance, life doesn’t go on with neverending bliss.

Life is full of hardships and suffering and our happily-ever-after ending comes when we are reunited with the holy Triune God and revel in His glorious presence.

For all those reasons, I won’t write THE END on any of the 36 stories I’ve written to date. And it is a practice I never intend to abandon because even though my characters are fictional, they represent real-life people whose lives face tragedies and joys, love and loss, and deep griefs which in the moment might feel like they will never end. But they do.

As Easter nears we will feel the weight of Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross but we endure that momentry discomfort because we know what comes three days later when Christ emerged victorious from the grave. Life is still filled with ups and downs, however, we, as believers, hold on to the hope of His calling us home or His triumphant return. We hold on to that hope. Hebrews 10:23 says, “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.”

This is meant as an encouragement to you, dear reader. No matter what difficulties you are facing, God is faithful and will never leave or abandon you. During dark days in my past a wise woman told me I needed hope. She was correct. I was living with a hopeless mentality. The story God was writing in my life wasn’t over. That was a turning point for me. When I worry about my grown children, I remember their stories aren’t over yet either and God can do marvelous works in His perfect timing.

So I cling to hope. And never write “THE END”. Jesus didn’t.

Author Confessions: The Power of Hope

Mar23
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Author Confessions: The Power of Hope

I’ve been feeling more hopeful lately. Part of me thinks it has something to do with impending spring. Yes, the calender says spring is already here but that’s not always what we experience, at least in Wiscsonsin where I live. We’ve had a wet winter. Some snow but the ground hasn’t really frozen and it can create a muddy mess.

It’s still March and the weather can be horribly fickle so we might still get a massive snowstorm. We have Indian Summer in late fall and False Spring late winter. I remember a few Easter Sundays where winter raged it’s head making travel difficult. When my kids were little we went out and blew bubbles watching them freeze in the air. A fun memory.

Still I have hope. I even dug my sandles out of storage.

While lent is a time for repentance there is also an anticipation that is different from Christmas time.  The pretty lights and decorations as we celebrate the birth of Christ. But Christmas doesn’t have much meaning without the forshadowing of the cross He would later hang on as a sacrifice for our sins. Darkeness before light. Winter before spring.

This was a one time only event and was the salvation for all. Weather might be fickle but Jesus’s work on the cross was final. We remember and refect year after year. Jesus never retracts His promises to those who submit to His lordship over their lives.

Notice I didn’t say believe? Many believe, even the demons, and they shudder! Yet they won’t be saved.

We are also in the process of building a house that has had all kinds of setbacks but I’m starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel even as I struggle with learning so many new things and making a dozen choices. I spent hours measuring my kitchen and drawing lines on the floor where everything will be. My body is definitely complaining about that abuse especially after an injury over a week ago helping get a heavy one piece shower into the building, with help of course. I strained a muscle that is taking its sweet time in healing.

Soon, however, the walls will have insulation and be drywalled and we’ll get flooring laid. Eventually the outside stuff will be done and I am eager to plant seeds and bulbs. Maybe I won’t have pretty flowers this year, but I have hope for some of them.

Hope is powerful. Sunny, warm days, even if a snowstorm still might visit, helps me stay the course.

Here’s a silly look at the seasons from Wisconsin comic, Charlie Berens. Enjoy, Spring is coming!

Author Confessions: Rocks as Treasure

Mar2
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Author Confessions: Rocks as Treasure

Now when I talked about rocks a few weeks ago here, I was looking perhaps at a more spiritual dimension of the idea of rocks. The reality is we often highly value rocks!

For instance, I wear a lovely diamond ring that my husband bought for me. It didn’t have to fancy and they are lab-made diamonds but they are still rocks. It it is beautiful and I treasure it because of what it symbolizes in my marriage. He’s frugal and managed to purchase it off Craigslist. The man who sold it scrimped and saved to use to propose to his girlfriend but before he could do so, she cheated on him. The ring is worth far more than he paid for it because of that. It doesn’t matter. It was a gift from him. I’ve known some women whose husband designed their wedding rings without their soon-to-be-wife’s input. While the rings is unique and lovely, it isn’t what they would have prefered, but they don’t say anything because of the thought, time, and effort that the husband put into the design. Even if it wasn’t what they wanted, they wear them proudly and treasure them.

I’m not one for fancy jewelry. I’m not a fancy-pants kind of gal. Sure I can dress up nice, but I’m not about glitter and glammer. Most of my jewelry contains synthetic versions of stones I wanted to have to wear from a ruby, pink star sapphire, blue start stapphire, among other stones. Yet when my daughter had significant birthdates, I purchased for her jewelry with her real birthstone: ring, earrings, necklace. I don’t know if she appreciates them at this time, but they are hers. My birthday has two birthstones and one is quite pricey. I bought a synthetic one. Alexandrite is cool because it changes colors depending on the light. A real one is normally red and green. My fake one is green and purple. It’s still a cool rock.

In Scripture, pearls were highly valued. We are not to toss them before swine and a man sold everything to buy a field where he found buried pearls. Pearls themselves are interesting because they are dirt that has been encapsulated over time as a defense against an intruder. An oyster’s refuse becomes a person’s treasure.

In Scripture the pearl is a metaphor for faith in Jesus. Sacrificial, and a treasure to be protected. The solid rock that is Christ is a gem of great beauty and we won’t get to fully see that until we get to heaven.

There are many other things we can treasure, obviously rocks are not my main desire in life. Anything I might hold as more important than the treasure of Jesus Christ and His extravagant gift of salvation through death on the cross, and His miraculous resurrection, is trash. Sometimes, I’m my own biggest stumbling block to my faith.

Scripture talks about precious stones, silver, and gold, lining the roads or walkways of heaven. As gorgeaous as they are they will be trod upon but those who find their salvation in Him. When the time comes I’ll appreciate the beauty of all those rocks even more as I worship the Savior I treasure above all else.

How about you? We vare currently in a season of lent. What treasures do you need to loosen your grip on to focus on the treasure of Jesus Christ?

Author Confessions: Stumbling Blocks in Fiction, Part II

Feb23
Reading Time: 5 minutes

Author Confessions: Stumbling Blocks in Fiction, Part II

In my last post I wrote about the generic issue of stumbling blocks in fiction, but there are more that are specific to the Christian genre. For some, writing with these restrictions can be challenging, but for a devoted follower of Christ they should be easier to avoid.

Denomination bias

This one could be the most challenging for some. We all love our individual “tribes” of denominations and some believe they are superior to others. Of course, there are some that border on cultish. There is a branch of Amish fiction which deals more with the culture of the Amish than the religion itself although the strict rules often come into play and those are religious. With Amish fiction, it would be hard to not mention that they were Amish as no other people group operates quite the way they do. I’ve refused to write Amish fiction even though when I had an agent, she urged me to because they sell well. I told her I thought they bordered on cultish and I didn’t want to glorify that kind of religious belief system. Maybe someday I will write one about how abusive they are to dogs they are breeding since I have two Amish puppy mill rescues.

Demoninations can be specific about some things. There’s a meme that goes around about other things but could apply to church denominations: Tell me your denomination without telling me your denomination. We need to focus more on Jesus than a specific church denomination. This way we don’t alienate readers.

I will confess, I broke this rule in my book Fragile Blessings because as a historical novella, there were times when denominations had conflict and that was highlighted, but neither denomination was condemned or elevated.

Gratitous Sin

Sin is going to infiltrate our stories because we can’t escape sin and it’s impact on our lives in this world. Sin brings about conflict and navigating that conflict makes a story insteresting. Having said that an author needs to avoid elevating any kind of behavior that might be construed as more destructive. For instance, in my Regency romancees, I have a disclaimer about drinking. It was a cultural thing for that time period and culture, and when someone became intoxicated it had disasterous results. I never would want any thing I write to be taken as permission, for someone who struggles with alcohol, for instance, to take that as permission to give in to that addiction. As my husband says, “No one starts out having a drink of alcohol intending on becoming an alcoholic.” Do I believe drinking is a sin? No. However, because some do struggle with it I will never put that as a common practice in my books.

When it comes to sex, that also is not a sin within marriage. I don’t want to deny the desire and physical attraction characters may have for each other but it will only ever be between a man and woman and consumation will not happen until after marriage. I do not want anyone to read my books and find them tittiltating. I used to do some proofreading for another publishing house I was originally contracted with, and one story had just one line in it that I thought went too far with its suggestiveness. I did tell the publisher but I have no awareness of whether that was deleted or changed in the story as it was about to go to print. I hope it was. When my children were younger, I wanted my books to be safe for even my children to read. A former pastor used to read my books as well and enjoyed them. I will stand before God someday for what I write.

Normalizing destructive behaviors

I’ve already mentioned alcohol but the same would be true with murder, cheating, lying, abuse. Anything that can be destructive to another person whould never be promoted in a clean or Christian novel as acceptable. Those behaviors might be part of a story, but not promoted as good. Pesto and Potholes starts out with domestic abuse. In Salsa and Speed Bumps my character deals with the aftermath of a date rape and the consequences of Christians making wrong assumptions about her condition to disasterous effect. Truffles and Traffic deals with the aftermath of a divorce. In all those stories there is redemption as the people lean on God to get them through the pain and trauma they experienced. I could cite many other stories as well. A Christian author never wants to promote sinful behavior as acceptable or permissable for the believer in Jesus.

Foul language

This can be difficult. Funny thing is, as much as people love to swear or tell dirty jokes, it’s amazing how they can change their behavior when they need to. When I worked in the field of mental health, my clients, without me asking, refused to swear or use other foul language in front of me. They understood by my actions that I was a Christian. In fiction, we have unredeemed people who are doing bad things, and while using foul langage is the norm for some authors, the Christian author has to be more creative in the use of their words and descriptions to give a foul character realism. We might even say someone “cursed under their breath,” not promoting that but also not using any words they might use.

An author must be careful of the words even our characters use, even if in real like someone might be swearing, we can’t put that on the page.

Twisted Theology or Unique Theological Differences 

There are so many theological differences that could be at issue. I had an author whose main character was a female pastor. I’m not going to debate whether women can be pastors or not, that’s not the point. It is, however, a bone of contention for many believers. I told her I could not publish her book. We spoke with an agent who was sitting nearby. He said that it would limit the reach of the book and certain bookstores would refuse to carry a book with that as a main component. For those with more controversial issues that they want central to a plot line in a story, that doesn’t mean they can never publish their story, self-publishing is more popular than ever. Authors just need to be aware that some publishing houses won’t accept that.

I’ve had to help authors make minor corrections to descriptions describing the crux of the gospel in their stories. If the gospel is being presented in some way it needs to be clear and avoid any add-ons or misunderstandings. We never want a book to be preachy, but if a character comes to Christ we need to handle that with excellence even as we are creative in our story telling.

Life is complicated but stumbling blocks in fiction are not only for purposes of publication. Stumbling blocks in fiction can upset a Christian reader and cause them to stop reading or write a negative review. Stumbling blocks in fiction could also tempt someone to sin, or keep them from taking the next step of faith. None of these things are good, so a wise author will be careful to avoid them. Can you think of any other stumbling blocks you might have come across in Christian fiction?

Author Confessions: Stumbling Blocks in Fiction Part 1

Feb16
Reading Time: 5 minutes

Author Confessions: Stumbling Blocks in Fiction Part 1

After writing last weeks post which you can find here, I started thinking of stumbling blocks in fiction. I’m going to focus mostly on Christian fiction as there are differences between that and the secular marketplace.

I used to be a reader that if I read the back page and liked the concept and checked out the book–I would read it to the end. It wasn’t too many years into adulthood that I decided it wasn’t worth my time if I wasn’t enjoying the story. Readers now are being more particular.

Here are some examples of stumbling blocks that authors sometimes overlook but will possibly cause a less interested reader to move past and finish a book. These are also things that as an editor might cause me to reject submisson.

Slow start

Sometimes an author can get caught up in writing very descriptive scenes with eloquent words that really say nothing but they sound nice. And this can go on for more than a paragraph where as a reader, I’m left wondering, “What is this story about? Who is it about? When does this take place?” Now having said that, in older literature this was the norm. Creative writing and beautifully crafted scenese before you ever truly understand what is going on in the story. That doesn’t work as well now.

Annoying characters

Characters should be likable. Thus says the author who has enjoyed quirky and sometimes annoying characters as Sherlock, Doc Martin, and House. Characters should have some relatable qualities that make them likable, or at least tolerable. Quirky isn’t necessarily annoying but that depends upon the person. A character might have some personalilty defect but if the reader doesn’t sense that they might change as the story progresses, they are not likely to stick with the story.

Too many people or complicated names

I’ve read science fiction and that genre is spectacular for the made up and sometimes difficult to pronounce names. I had a character in Truffles and Traffic initially called Benedict and one of the editors told me that was too harsh sounding so I changed it to Benjamin, which wasn’t a painful decision as it’s one of my favorite names, and that was before I met my husband. When I wrote the book Pesto and Potholes, Antonio has a large family and I actually had a genogram of all the relations in the order in which they were related to help me keep the story straight. Thankfully, only a few made significant enough appearances that it was easier for the reader to not worry about how all the rest were connected. I wanted the family tree in the book but was told I  couldn’t do that. :-(.  Stumbling over names or having names too similar even, can make it hard for the reader to navigate the story, and anything that pulls the reader out of the story, even to look back to see who is connected to who, is frowned upon.

The story doesn’t move along

Stories that drag from the start or start out gang-busters and then fizzle will challenge the most ardent reader. I find this even when we are watching movies or television series that if they start out slow and the pace plods along, my husband will tell me to find something else. Maybe it gets better by episode three but they lost us in the first fifteen minutes. The same is true for a piece of fiction. The first sentence, paragraph, five pages, might determine whether a reader keeps going. As an editor, I’m often generus enough to read through chapter 3. When editing a book its possible that the real story starts there and I’ll need to tell the author to revise and delete the first two chapters. When I started out writing, I had to do this myself when I realized my error and a kind mentor pointed it out to me. Nothing wasted, but it would have been if it had gone to print that way.

I also read story submissions to the end. I don’t rely on the author’s synopsis. I’ve had books cross my laptop that started out strong but fell apart quickly. Huge disappointment but I’m glad I didn’t offer a contract to them. It would have meant a lot more work for me and the author because the book wasn’t ready.

Time and place are ambiguous

Who, what, where, when, and why, are not only key words for a journalist, but for an author as well. If I can’t tell if the book is historical, sci-fi, fantasy, or contemporary, right away, it is a red-flag and annoys me to no end. Where is it taking place? Is it in America, Africa, Germany, Cuba, Mars, a space-station? Is it during the civil war, WWII, the 80’s, or 2278? If the author can’t tell me that in plain words or by their description, I get incredibly frustrated.  Thankfully, that’s only crossed my desk a handful of times and they were a quick rejection but I did give them my complaint so they could do better. It’s not something I’m required to do but when it’s stuff like that and I’m irritated enough, I will, and hopefully save some other poor reader that frustration.

Main character does foolish things

Now we all do foolish things at times. Maybe I should say stupid things? These have to be pretty big or perhaps dangerous and perhaps even triggering. Not every story is for every reader but no reader wants to spend the six or more hours reading a book, yelling at the character “No!” time and time again. It gets exhausting.

Lack of change or growth in the main character

Characters should change through the story, whether it’s an emotional growth, relationship choices, spiritual, or simply gaining in wisdom that provides a benefit for themselves and others. If the character ends the story in the same state he or she started out, it will leave a bad taste in the mind of the reader.

I realize I’ve talked about some of these things over the years and this is a different, if not negative, approach to the stumbling blocks in fiction. It’s not a conclusive list by any means. But even as a reader I bet you’ll be more aware when you pick up the next book and either you’ll be cheering for the author because they got it right and you’ll enjoy the story, or you’ll find yourself as frustrated as I do when these things happen.

Reminder, I’m not perfect and I’ve made these mistakes in the past. And I might make them in the future. I hope I’ve grown enough as an author that these stumbling blocks in fiction don’t show up in my stories, and if you find them there (because this can be subjective) then I humbly apologize.

 

Author Confessions: Stumbling Block

Feb9
Reading Time: 4 minutes

Author Confessions: Stumbling Block

We dug a large hole on our property to build a home. We knew we would hit bedrock, even at the higher elevation of the land there. The excavator was told this but wasn’t prepared to dig bedrock. We spent a few weeks with machines that helped break it up so we could get a decent level down a few feet from the surrounding ground.

Bedrock is difficult to break up and the pieces were large and heavy. While down in what would eventually become our basement, I was helping my hubby, and on my way to get something over a broken rock surface, I ended up running head first into a back hoe. Unfortunately my head is not made of rock so it rang my bell.

It reminded me of this:

For this is contained in Scripture:

“Behold, I am laying in Zion a choice stone, a precious cornerstone,
And the one who believes in Him will not be put to shame.”

 This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for unbelievers,

“A stone which the builders rejected,
This became the chief cornerstone,”

and,

“A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense”;

for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this they were also appointed.

2 Peter 2:6-8 NASB

We have a firm foundation in Jesus Christ. He is the solid rock, the foundation upon which His followers base their faith. But like me stumbling over blocks of broken bedrock, it is easy for even a believer to stumble on parts of His teaching. None of us wil be perfect to be sure, but some stumble over even basic things. For instance: Jesus is the Word of God. I heard someone proclaim that she only followed Jesus and didn’t need the Bible. That shocked me since Jesus relied heavily on Scripture as did His followers and he is the WORD made flesh.

The Bible had become a stumbling block so she tossed it aside.

Scripture encourages us to be in community with each other, worshipping God, teaching, and encouraging one another. This provides prayer and support, but also accountability as we travel on our journey of faith. For some, church has become a stumbling block. Maybe it was a toxic or abusive person in the church, or they are avoiding facing the truth about their sin, but church becomes a stumbling block.

I love most the accusation that all Christians are hypocrites. We all have our blind spots and we all fail but as we seek Jesus we are hopefully becomeing more and more conformed to His image. However, no matter how faithful we can be, someone might see us as a stumbling block.

What is the key part of all that? What did they really stumble over? It wasn’t really just a pebble or even a boulder, it was Jesus Christ Himself. Scripture says that clearly. When we stumble over the Rock of Jesus Christ, we are in sin. Avoiding Scripture, church, and other believers, is a way to avoid being confronted with the truth of our sinfulness.

And that is when a person can walk into a back hoe. A back hoe can be used to dig graves and that is exactly what those people are doing by choosing to listen only Jesus speaking to their hearts (which can be deceived), avoiding church, and and ignoring Scripture, even if what their actions violate the tenants of the faith. Or avoiding church if one claims to be a follower of Christ. Oh, the riches we miss out on when not living in community with one another. And then avoiding Christians all together. We are to be known by love but sometimes we are known more by a list of dos and don’ts.

People are messy and even Jesus had to face the people around him being greedy, prideful, arguing, betraying, but also listening, learning, and growing to the degree that they were able to go out and change the world with the gospel.They taught that He had come to die for our sins, and rose again, ascended ot heaven and is our Savior and Lord. In a world of shifting sand, and opinions being touted as facts, Jesus Christ is the Rock we all need to stand on and cling to. Only in Him can we find stability.

So what has become a stumbling block in your life? Social media? News? Political opinions? Church? A part of Scripture that is convicting you? A fellow Christian who fails to live up to what you think a Christian should be, or has failed you in some way due to where they are at on their own sanctification journey?

I don’t want to be a stumbling block to anyone, but sometimes what causes people to stumble is beyond my control. Sometimes, what causes me to stumble is initially beyond my control but that doesn’t mean it’s irredeemable. We change course, with the help of the Holy Spirit and get on firmer footing with Jesus. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this!

 

Author Confessions: Groundhog Day

Feb2
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Author Confessions: Groundhog Day

Today is the anniversary of when my first baby was supposed to be born. He was much like a groundhog in that he didn’t want to come out until a week later and even then it was against his will (C-section).

Around the Nothern Hemisphere, poor little groundhogs will be hauled out of their cozy burrows so humans can see if there’s a shadow. It’s a funny tradition and other nations around the world have different ways to predict the end of winter. The reality is, the idea that winter will end immediately is ridiculous. It’s usually six weeks more before we can see the light at the end of the tunnel with winter. Groundhog Day is a nice way to pause and give a little hope to each other that spring will come.

Emotionally, many of us hibernate in other ways. We don’t share ourselves with others, afraid to speak out or afraid to be known. Or perhaps we have an ability or gift but we’re afraid to share that. Matthew 5:16 states: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in Heaven.” (KJV). A person may be shy or introverted, or perhaps even wounded by previous experiences. Finding a safe place to share all that God has given us can be tricky. Even in the church.

1 Corinthians 1:3-4 says: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. (NASB)

God has designed us to be in community. If a church is not healthy or toxic, and you can’t resolve that, it is better to go find another one where you can safely use your gifts and experiences to help others. That is not a leave one week – start serving somewhere else the next, kind of timeline. Sometimes we need help to recover from those wounds suffered, yes, even by those in the church, including church leadership.

Perhaps we need a season of healing in there. That doesn’t mean we still can’t be engaged in community and be a blessing to those we interact with in and out of the church. We don’t get to be a groundhog and hide away from the world. You and others will miss out on so many blessings if one chooses to be a groundhog.

It might feel as though God drags us out of our little burrow before we feel ready. I think He often delights in showing off His power in and through us when we are weak and believe we have nothing to offer. We’re wrong about that. We all have something to offer in some way shape or form and it might not be a specific role that you’re in. The phrase “one another” appears at least 269 times in the Bible. Our presence is sometimes the gift.

Covid taught us the dangers of hibernation. Kids suffered, loneliness exploded, and people died. In and out of the church we are called, as Christians, to serve one another, love, care for, minister, encourage…. one another. That goes beyond the church, because loving actions and a sweet spirit as we interact with people can be a blessing to any and all we meet as we go about our lives.

This is all very simplistic but I think the principles generally hold. Even if others don’t reciprocate, our willingness to stick our necks out, honors God and He’s the One who really matters.

Do you have any Groundhog Day tendencies? Why do you want to hide? What are you hiding? Ask God to show you how you can be a blessing to someone else this week.