Going Against the Flow

with guest Virginia Carmichael aka Mary Jane Hathaway.

Hello, everybody! I’ve brought triple chocolate cake and strong coffee, so grab a slice and pour yourself a cup. It’s so wonderful to be back in Seekerville! I always tell people that Seekerville taught me almost everything I know about writing. Aside from two writing books and a few other blogs, every good writing habit and crafty sleight-of-hand came from the good people at Seekerville. Thank you for sharing your knowledge over the years! 

Today I’d like to talk going against the flow. We all like to be part of the crowd and feel like we fit in with our peers. Nobody looks to be the “odd man out”. But every now and then, especially as writers, we’re called to step out of the herd and do something different. I’m not talking about starting a revolution or gathering an army a la Game of Thrones. I’m talking about that “still, small voice” that lets you know that you’re called to a different path. We all have those moments. We’re all called to a unique and powerful purpose. How do we, as Christians who write books for a wide audience, answer that call to take the path less traveled? How do we recognize the call? Who do we ask for advice? How do we know we’re on the right path and not just being pigheaded?  (That last one is my go-to question because I’m so often pig-headed it’s practically my default state. )
        
Step One: Pray. That’s obvious, isn’t it? But we should pray in a way that gives God a chance to answer, and not just listening to us make demands. One of my favorite ways to pray is to simply hold the question in my heart. I don’t make a list and go down the bullet points for God. He already knows more about it than I do. I don’t try to explain why I want to do whatever it is. I just hold the question gently and let the Holy Spirit give me gentle nudges. 

OK, to be fair, sometimes the Holy Spirit has to do more kicking than nudging, but that’s me. I’m sure you all will be better listeners. When God is in charge, going against the flow doesn’t feel like you’re fighting your way upstream. 

  Step Two: Once I think I know which direction to go, I start to look for guides. None of us can walk this world alone, as much as we introverts like to think we can. If we find ourselves surrounded by people who have walked that path and are living out their divine purpose with joy, then it might be a good sign that we’re called to walk that path, also. 

Finding someone who has gone before you isn’t just a survival tactic. It’s a great way to suss out whether you’re completely off base.

For an example, say I decided to open a yarn shop that only used dog hair. I start contacting companies that process fibers for yarn. I find lots of great, reputable companies that process alpaca, sheep, even yak. But no dog. In fact, the processing companies laugh long and hard at my idea of a yarn shop that sells dog hair. Should I give up? Or am I a brilliant entrepreneur that will revolutionize the yarn industry with my red setter, malamute, and husky mittens? 

If I can find one person who has branched out from the usual yarn and that one person is willing to give me advice, I might say I was on the right path. But if I can’t find a single person who thinks it’s a good idea or knows anyone who has done the same thing, maybe it’s not meant to be. Maybe I should take up a more stable profession, like writing, haha. 

Along the Cane River

When I decided to try and get a Bookbub ad for a boxed set of five books in my series, I wasn’t sure whether I was throwing away all my hard work, or if I was being a marketing genius. So I started looking around. I watched the charts. After a while, I approached writers I’d seen do the same thing and all of them were very happy to answer my questions. YAY! Going against the flow wouldn’t leave me swimming in the dark.

I’d found some guides, and that let me know I was on the right path. I certainly didn’t want to be trying to set up that project by myself because I’m not omniscient. I needed help. God provided several people willing to guide me through the process. The ad went smashingly and my boxed set ended up at #42 on the top 100 of all Amazon. Cracking the top 100 paid books had been on my bucket list for years! 

Romance Grows in Arcadia Valley

Step Three: I hold up my idea against the backdrop of my family life. My first calling is as a mother, and I don’t want to let my profession (also a calling, but a lesser one) take over my family life. So when I get an idea for something that is out of the ordinary, I look at how it will impact my homeschooling and my family obligations. 

When Valerie Comer asked me to join her Arcadia Valley Romance Series project with five other authors, I took a little while to think about it. (Okay, about five minutes, but still…) It was a very ambitious project and like nothing I’d done before. One novella in a collection and three full-length novels set in one fictional Idaho valley sounded like so much fun, but could I commit to four books in addition to my own projects? Would the schedule force me to make changes to our homeschooling? Would the marketing get in the way of my family time? 

My oldest is almost seventeen but my youngest is only six. I have great kids and my teens haven’t given me a lick of trouble (besides some eye rolling and chore shirking) but we take our schooling very seriously. We’ve got kids taking college classes and kids just learning to read. We spend a month on the coast studying marine biology and take trips to the geological formations in the next state. Being in charge of a child’s education is a big responsibility and homeschooling is a whole different beast, including the loss of writing time during the day. In a way, I have a day job as a teacher, and my writing can never overshadow that. 

Summer's Glory

When I sat down and looked at home I could write those four stories and submit them to be released over the next two years, I saw that my family life wouldn’t suffer.oing against the flow wouldn’t make big waves for my kids. I would have to be on a stricter schedule than I had been (I do love watching the British Baking Show or Poldark instead of writing) but the plan fit into my homeschooling schedule. And it’s been smooth sailing so far. We’ve released out novella collection and my first full-length book set in Arcadia Valley, Summer’s Glory, releases February 14th, St. Valentine’s Day! 

So, how have you had to go against the flow? When you realized you were being called to a different path, how did you find your way? Was there someone who walked with you as you stepped out in faith? I would love to hear about the times you embraced your unique purpose in life!

Comment to put your name in the hat for prizes! I’m giving away my boxed set of the first five books of the Cane River Series, AND the awesome cookbook River Road Recipes, a collection of classic creole and Cajun cuisine from the Cane River community near Natchitoches, Louisiana, where my series is set. 

My newest release is the 6th book in the Cane River Romance series.

 Until Winter Comes Again

One magical bookstore, two best friends, and a whole cast of 

interfering busybodies determined to help true love happen!

Mary Jane Hathaway is an award-nominated writer of Christian fiction and a homeschooling mom of six young children who rarely wear shoes. She holds degrees in linguistics and religious studies from the University of Oregon and lives with her habanero-eating husband, Crusberto, who is her polar opposite in all things except faith. They've learned to speak in short-hand code and look forward to the day they can actually finish a sentence. In the meantime, Mary Jane thanks God for the laughter and abundance of hugs that fill her day as she plots her next book. She also writes under the pen name of Virginia Carmichael and loves to meet readers on her facebook page of Mary Jane Hathaway, on the weekends at the cooking blog Yankee Belle Café, or on her personal blog The Things That Last. 

Breaking All the Rules with Guest Debby Mayne

I’ve heard everything from, “First person doesn’t sell,” to, “More than two POVs, and you’re looking at the kiss of death from editors.” Oh, and there’s the dreaded present tense that is too immediate and intimate, and no one will ever read it because it’s too uncomfortable.

Well, guess what! All three books in my Class Reunion series with Abingdon Press – Pretty Is as Pretty Does (June 2013), Bless Her Heart (August 2013), and Tickled Pink (September 2013)- are written in multiple first person present tense. What was I thinking? 

  Do I want people to read these books? You bet I do. 




Then why did I write this series using devices that so many people dislike so intensely? Because they work for these stories.

I was originally going to write this series in the traditional third person past tense, but it felt too distant for the characters in these books. They needed to be more up-close and personal, and they practically demanded to have readers right there in the scenes with them.

Most of my writing life I’ve gone by the rules. I would go to writing workshops and take judicious notes, and then I’d go back home and write my stories using all the things I’d learned from editors and more advanced writers. It obviously worked for me because I’ve sold more than 30 books while following conventional rules.

And then Priscilla, Laura, Tim, Trudy, and Celeste came along and showed me how these rules don’t work for them. In fact, most rules don’t work for any of these characters, so it seemed fitting to do things in an unorthodox manner.

Priscilla’s valedictorian and “Most Likely to Succeed” titles in high school seem to conflict with her desire to drop out of college to become a hairdresser. Laura’s teetotaler lifestyle makes her an odd match for her lush of a husband who always has a beer in his hand. Beauty supply salesman Tim discovers that an extensive vocabulary doesn’t necessarily show a person’s IQ. Former beauty queen Trudy has to learn to value herself beneath her creamy complexion and once-perfect figure. Celeste’s bony elbows, bushy eyebrows, and stringy hair aren’t quite so bad after she gets a decent haircut, stands up straight, and learns to pluck and groom.

The weight of all the changes in these stories would have snapped the rules right in half. By doing things a bit differently, I was able to maneuver the framework to fit the stories and people in them.

That said, I still think think rules are good because they give us a structure for most of our stories. Without guidelines, we’d wind up with messy works that go nowhere and a bunch of frustrated editors who would have to make sense of our confusing submissions. New writers, in particular, need to learn what works for most readers so they have an advantage out of the starting gate. Even if they choose not to follow these rules, even in the beginning, knowing them makes breaking them more intentional. The rules should only be broken when that’s the only way to tell the story in the most believable way.

That’s the key to what I’ve done. I wrote Pretty Is as Pretty Does, Bless Her Heart, and Tickled Pink with intentional devices designed to provide immediacy and pull the reader uncomfortably close to the characters’ lives. I wanted readers to feel every little pain, including Laura’s annoyance when she caught her son trying to scoop his sister’s goldfish out of the toilet and later having to deal with her husband’s drinking. Knowing what Trudy goes through in spite of her beauty lets readers in on the secret of what really motivates her. And readers need to have that closeness to understand the relationship between Priscilla and her mom…and Priscilla and Tim…and Priscilla and her business.

We writers have created quite a few rules that editors may or may not agree with. In addition to the POV and past vs. present tense issue, we talk about floating or flying body parts, overuse of dialogue tags, never turning off a light at the end of a chapter, etc. In most cases, these rules provide a better read and give the writer the tools to keep readers turning pages and buying future books.

In my Class Reunion series, you’ll see all of the above. However, I do think that when I mention someone rolling her eyes, you’ll know that they’re not literally rolling across the floor based on the context of the phrase. And when I have someone throwing up her hands in frustration, you’ll assume that these hands are still attached to her arms. I think most readers are intelligent people who understand that the act of eyes popping out of a character’s head indicates surprise rather than a medical condition.

Even though I broke a few of the conventional rules for the commercial fiction market, I still recommend knowing them and following as many as possible when starting out to prevent an editor from tossing your submission into the “reject” pile. Go to workshops, take notes, and follow the advice from editors and skilled authors who have proven themselves in the industry. Once you establish yourself, gain a few readers, show editors you know the difference between first and third person, and find creative ways to show scenes and emotions through a single POV, you can stretch and try new things. Intentionally.

Oh, another thing you’ll want is the blessing of your editor who needs to be on board with your lack of convention. Fortunately, I was blessed with an editor who not only accepted it she encouraged it. Thanks, Ramona Richards!

Bio: Debby Mayne has published more than 30 books and novellas, 400 print short stories and articles, 1,000 web articles, and dozens of devotions for women. She has worked as managing editor of a national health magazine, product information writer for HSN, and creative writing instructor for Long Ridge Writers Group. She also judges the Writers Digest Annual Competition, Short-Short Contest, and Self-Published Book Competition. Three of Debby’s books have been top ten favorites by the Heartsong Presents book club. Love Finds You in Treasure Island, Florida received 4-1/2 stars and a Top Pick from Romantic Times Magazine in July 2009.

Pretty is as Pretty Does

Class Reunion Series Book 1


Priscilla Slater goes to her ten-year high school reunion with equal parts dread and eager anticipation. Even though she's a successful owner of a chain of hair salons and no longer has the mousy brown hair, crooked teeth, and discount-store wardrobe, she still feels like the ugly duckling. But when she arrives at the reunion, Priscilla soon realizes that her old classmates aren't exactly as she remembers them. With humor and a just a touch of sassiness, Priscilla finds herself facing her own truth-and she may be surprised at what she discovers.




 If you had a reunion coming up next month, what would you do to get ready for it?


Debby has generously offered to giveaway a copy of her latest release. If you would like to be entered in a drawing for Pretty Is as Pretty Does, please mention it in the comments. Winner announced in the Weekend Edition. And be sure to check out the book trailer here.

I Broke The Rules Again...

Hello Seekerville, and thanks to Audra for this wonderful opportunity to come visit again.  I always feel at home at Seekerville because the readers and bloggers here possess something that I have an abundance of.  It’s called “Faith.”

I was raised Catholic, so imagine my surprise when I suggested to my then agent that I write a Catholic inspirational.  She quickly nixed the idea, saying Catholicism isn’t recognized in the mainstream of Evangelical Christianity.  At a conference someone said to me, “There are Christians and then there are Catholics.”  So For years, I veered far from writing something so absolutely intrinsic to me.  After all the industry professionals know best, right?

All right.  No one would let me play in their sandbox, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t put the tenements of my beliefs into my secular novels.  In The Past Came Hunting, from Bell Bridge Books, the theme of redemption is huge in that story. 

Still, I was raised in New Mexico, in the Four Corners area, and I am nothing if not influenced by that state’s rich Hispanic and Indian culture.  To leave Catholicism out of a potential story set in New Mexico was like leaving the fish out of the ocean.  I also LOVED stories like The Trouble with Angels, or the stage production of “Patent Leather Shoes Reflect Up.”  Those stories summed up my Catholic education.  And I’m hardly a political or a “tell all” writer.  I simply write romantic suspense and mystery, and the more people that told me no, the more DEADLY RECALL called to me.   (Kind of like those check marks I received in parochial school for failure to conform.)

So I wrote Deadly Recall, against expert advice, knowing I was taking a risk, and the outcome of its success or failure remains to be seen. (This is not a Dan Brown, Davinci Code novel, mind you).  It simply a mystery that takes place in a Catholic Church setting.  I found out quickly what I was up against.  In the Linda Howard Award of Excellence, I received two perfect scores, one of the judges, a multi-published author wrote, “I can’t wait to see this in print.” I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I confess I was hugely disappointed when it came back from the final round judge/editor as an Honorable Mention.   

I could have stashed it in the drawer at that time, (maybe I should have) but there’s that check mark thing again, and I’m stubborn.)  I entered the Golden Heart, and Deadly Recall went on to become a 2010 Golden Heart® finalist.  What this was telling me was that readers liked the story, but industry professionals weren’t sure what to do with it.

I admit I had severe doubt when writing the story.  My mother who is exceedingly Catholic and my first reader said of the opening, “You can’t do this.  Flipping more pages, she said, “You can’t do this.”  Eventually, though, she said, “All right.  You can do this.”  Good.  I had my mother’s blessing ;)

For me, this story has been an emotional rollercoaster and so far, a month after its release I have 15 five and four star reviews.  Two in particular make me smile, one because I wondered myself and the other because the author clearly understood what I was trying to do in this story:

~~ I loved Bell's first novel, and feared that she might be a one-hit wonder. I found Deadly Recall edged out The Past Came Hunting by a nose. Now I can't wait for her next work.  ~ Bill Abell

~~ I enjoyed Deadly Recall. Having a detective fight an attraction to someone on the "dark side", a cute public defender, made for great dialogue exchange and character interaction. Having the mystery in the Catholic Church, without pulling too many PC punches, was nice as well. The plot was realistic and kept my attention. For mystery fans, this is lightweight on the blood and gore, with a reasonable taste of violence, so you can kick back and enjoy watching things play out without too much "shock" factor. Nice solid story I definitely recommend.  ~ C. Hope Clark

As I mentioned, I’m big on writing redemption stories as part of my happily ever after and the theme of forgiveness lives on in this book.  Amazingly, I felt lighter at the story’s end so for that I’ve already been paid in full in writing it.  I’m happy I wrote Deadly Recall, and delighted that Bell Bridge Books saw fit to publish this mystery.  And about those rules I always seem to break . . .

Pablo Picasso wrote, “Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.” 

So I ask you Seekerville readers, have you ever been told no but stubbornly persisted?   What were the results?  Success or failure?  I’d love it if you’d share your stories.  I’ll give one commenter in North America a paperback or digital copy of DEADLY RECALL.  

Thanks for having me, my Colorado buddy and Seekerville.  Always a pleasure.

A terrifying memory is locked deep inside her.  A killer wants to keep it that way.

Nine-year-old Eden Moran thought she was saying good-bye to her mentor that fateful day in St. Patrick’s.  She had no idea she’d witness the nun’s demise, or that her child’s mind would compensate.  Now seventeen years later, Albuquerque cops have unearthed human remains, and the evidence points to Eden as being the key to solving Sister Beatrice’s murder.  When a hell-bent cop applies pressure, Eden stands firm.  She doesn’t remember the woman.  Unfortunately for Eden, Sister Beatrice’s killer will do whatever it takes to keep it that way.

News Flash! Amazon has just selected Deadly Recall as its Kindle Deal of the Day (tomorrow) Friday, April 5 at a deeply discounted rate!! Don't miss this opportunity! 

Donnell Ann Bell is the author of The Past Came Hunting and newly released Deadly Recall from Bell Bridge Books.  Both books were nominated for the prestigious Golden Heart from Romance Writers of America.  Her website is www.donnellannbell.com  

Hi Everyone, Audra here. As always, I love having Donnell as my guest in Seekerville. And isn't that a great Amazon promotion tomorrow? Don't miss out! Of course, leave a comment and look for the Weekend Edition on Saturday to see if you're the lucky winner of a copy of Deadly Recall. Thanks, Donnell for playing with us today!! To start off the morning, I've brought my special recipe Cherry-Almond Oatmeal to share. It took all night in the slow cooker to blend the flavors to perfection. Pour some milk over the top and enjoy!!