On the Making of Books by Lorrie Orr

 

Welcome to July's new prompt: Tell us about your first book. Was it a childhood project like Madeleine L’Engle’s? Was it a book you published, and if so, what success did it bring you? On the other hand, maybe your first book is in folders in your computer. Or sitting in a closet under a pile of other items. Or in a landfill. Perhaps your first book is still a dream. Or maybe you haven’t dared to dream—yet.

Whatever your story, tell us about it. (Prompt taken from July 2018 InScribe blog)

My first book is a co-writing project, still unfinished. It will never be published in full, and is read unconsciously by those I interact with as I move through my days. This book is my heart and my life, literally, for as Solomon urged his son to write his father's teachings on the "tablet of your heart," so I am collecting wisdom and words from my heavenly father. I gather them when I read and listen and observe, and store them deep within my mind and soul. Some of this wisdom emerges in other forms of writing more visible to the human eye, but everything I produce springs from the experiences of the life God has given me. He is my co-author, encouraging and inspiring me with his faithful presence in my life.

I have written many other books, physical ones, including a small book of children's Christmas crafts, photocopied and stapled for a women's event many years ago, a children's story illustrated by my 3- or 4-year-old daughter, numerous journals, and several commonplace books. On my computer sit 50,000 words of an unfinished mystery novel, a small collection of poems, a Christmas devotional book, and numerous story starts. I can't not write.

For many years, including lack of knowledge and confidence, I didn't move forward with publishing my writing beyond a few articles and short stories. Any queries to publishers were ignored or rejected, not an uncommon experience for many authors. I began to wonder why I should even bother. I didn't have a blockbuster novel or an important name or a large social media following that would impress any publisher.

In a casual e-mail exchange with Brenda Leyland, our lovely blog co-moderator, she mentioned Siretona Creative, a publishing company founded by another InScribe member, Colleen McCubbin. Well. I was introduced to the ins and outs of various ways to publish a book. Colleen shared her great knowledge of the industry and also gave me the confidence to move forward. To make a long story short, my first fully published book was released just over a month ago.

Life is Short but Wide was built on the many letters I wrote to my husband's parents during our 21 years in Ecuador - wonderful source documents! Mum had saved each one and stored them in boxes for me. It was my eldest daughter who said, "Mom, you should write a book with these" that gave me the impetus to begin writing a memoir about those formative and eventful years. I am so glad that I persevered and now have my words able to reach many people. I hope readers are encouraged as they read the stories of someone who experienced different events in a unique setting, but who felt the same emotions, learned much about God's love and faithfulness, and who found beauty in the life given to her.

Now I feel like a floodgate of possibility has opened with the publication of this book. Ideas swirl continually in my brain. What to write next? I nod in agreement when I read Solomon's words "Of making many books there is no end."

Lorrie Orr writes from Vancouver Island.

Her first book, Life is Short but Wide, a memoir of 21 years

in Ecuador, was recently published.

More of her writing can be found at

Substack

her slice of life blog

The Birth of a Book - Ruth L. Snyder

This anthology sprang to life in the spring of 2014 at an executive meeting where someone voiced the thought, “What if . . .?” A motion transformed the dream into a plan. A small band of volunteers (Kimberley Payne, Stephanie Nickel, Sandi Somers and I) agreed to work together on the project, with the goal of having the book ready to launch at Fall Conference 2015. Our team grew to include Ellen Hooge, Beverley Nippard, and Carolyn Wilker. During conference 2014, the official call for submissions went out. One by one submissions trickled in until the deadline.

We decided to use 99designs for the cover to get better exposure for our organization. This resulted in an amazing selection of covers, which we narrowed down to one.

            

Making selections for the anthology was a challenge. A team of four prayerfully read and marked the submissions, then had a candid discussion. Pieces were chosen based on content, quality, and how well they fit the applicable theme. Some pieces, which were well written, did not fit with the rest of the submissions, so were rejected. Editing, layout, obtaining ISBNs, writing front and back matter, asking for endorsements, formatting, and more editing followed. Hundreds of volunteer hours were donated for the glory of God. 

The anthology features 28 Canadian authors who come from all walks of life and write in various genres for a range of audiences. Through fiction, poetry, and non-fiction such as devotionals, essays, and articles, they generously share their own discoveries, success stories, and hard-won lessons to encourage and support other Christian writers.

The e-book version of 7 Essential Habits of Christian Writers is now available on Kindle. The paperback version will be released during our InScribe Fall Conference in September. Share the news with your family and friends and come celebrate with us in Edmonton by registering for conference today!

Endorsements

“I love seven things about this book: It is practical. It is affordable. It is encouraging. It is worth highlighting, underlining and dog-earing. Plus it made me forget about my toothache. Whether you’re a newbie or a veteran writer, you’ll discover 7 Essential Habits of Christian Writers to be jammed with instantly actionable advice that will make you a better writer. Dig in.”
—Phil Callaway (www.philcallaway.com) is the best-selling author of more than 25 books, a popular speaker, the host of Laugh Again Radio, and a grandpa.

“7 Essential Habits of Christian Writers is an absolute gem! I love that it covers all the basics a writer needs to know, making them simple and practical. I also love that the book has many authors, giving us ideas and suggestions from their own writing journey. I highly recommend this book to anyone seriously considering writing as a vocation or even an avocation, particularly those writers who see their work as a ministry—which it certainly is!”
—Kathi Macias (www.kathimacias.com) is an award-winning author of more than 50 books. A wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, Kathi lives in Southern California with her husband, Al.

“7 Essential Habits of Christian Writers is loaded with actionable advice that will make you a better writer. Whether you are a multi-published author or a beginning writer, this book will benefit you.”
—Shelley Hitz, author coach and best-selling author
www.ShelleyHitz.com 

“This book is a beautiful blend of faithfulness and craft. It will help you answer the practical questions of what it means to be a writer while honoring what you believe. I wish I’d read this when I got started.”
—Jeff Goins, Best-selling author, The Art of Work

“There are hundreds of how-to-write books on the market, but none that I know of touches BOTH of the vital aspects of writing as a Christian better than this anthology from InScribe. The practical AND the spiritual are woven into a whole by a remarkably creative group of writers who are in the trenches as we speak. I intend to snack on this fare again and again.”
—Nancy Rue, best-selling Christian author and creator of Shadow to Shelf, a mentoring program for writers.

For more details, check out the media page at http://inscribe.org/media-page-7-essential-habits-of-christian-writers/

Duke's Big Oops! - Donna Fawcett

 
We're pleased to have Donna Fawcett, with Duke the Chihuahua, as our Guest Blogger today on InScribe Writers Online.


It started out as a simple writing contract. Duke would put his words to someone else’s idea. He thought it was a win-win situation. He would get paid and get a bit more exposure as a writer. He didn’t count on the kind of exposure that ended up in the story.

See, it all goes back to contracts. Duke signed one—and he didn’t clarify some of the key points because in his puritan puppy mind, he didn’t think that he would be called upon to write what wasn’t exactly his bowl of kibble. The writing began. The plot summary arrived and Duke formed his scenes and characters. All was going well until Duke’s hero, Curtis the Corgi fell in love with his counterpart, Andrea Afghan. What followed was a somewhat descriptive and steamy scene in outline format.

Duke swallowed hard and dove into the writing, all the while asking himself how far he could carry this scene without revealing all and marring his reputation. Words jockeyed back and forth between contractor and contractee. A compromise was made. Duke wrote the scene without setting his scruples aside. Somewhere between the writing of and the publishing of this particular story, a stage of editing took place and Duke is reading the final product with an expression of mortification plastered on his mug.

It appears that the contract allowed for one final edit by the contractor. Duke took this to mean that any spelling and grammar mistakes would be cleaned up. The contractor took it to mean that she had poetic license. Her poetry and Duke’s poetry don’t quite line up. So now, there is a story drifting through literary circles with Duke’s name below the contractor’s name and this particular story is more than a little spicy.

I have received a copy of the story, the contract and a plea for help. Unfortunately there is nothing I can do but cool my blushing cheeks and pray that the story will disappear into the literary fog. Duke is upset to say the least, especially since he just finished writing a blog post about the importance of integrity in writing.

We must remember to keep focus on what we write and why we write it. That is the only way to avoid crossing boundaries we have set down for ourselves. If we don't feel comfortable writing that graphic murder scene then we need to remind ourselves of that before committing to doing so. If we are writing for the Christian market, we must always consider that Christianity will be our central theme and compromise has no place in our writing. If we write gentle romance we need to make certain that we remember our readers who expect to read gentle romance and we keep delicate issues vague in their description. It is too easy to conform to writing which overlaps into other writing markets and shouldn’t.

So now Duke thinks he looks like a hypocrite. I have tried my best to soothe his ruffled soul with platitudes to the effect that we all blunder from time to time and for the most part the human—and canine—race is forgiving. I suggested he follow up with a blog post about making certain you understand the parameters of jobs for which you hire yourself out. He could include the pitfalls of not asking enough questions. He could finish with the suggestion that a writer leave themselves a way to ease out of a contract if it is pushing boundaries.

From there, I suggested Duke just sit tight and hope time will ease the humiliation.

© Donna Fawcett

www.donnafawcett.com
www.dukeandbeewrite.com

Duke and Donna have recently published their fun, new book entitled Duke the Chihuahua Writes! A Tutorial for Beginning Writers.

It's available on smashwords.com and can be purchased for $.99 US.

Writer, Promote Thyself - Ramona Heikel

For a long time I’ve been reading that writers should have a website and/or blog, in order to present their writing credits and updates on current projects. Check. One website, one blog. No problem.

Build a portfolio, even if you need to contribute your writing to non-paying markets. Check. Read writer’s guidelines. Check. This all fits well with my behind-the-scenes personality.

Submit your manuscript with one-inch margins and a maximum of 50,000 words, along with a plan to market your book.

Whoa! Just a minute there. What?

Back up. Did you say market? Promote myself? Brag? Annoy people, try to twist their arm? Sorry, not me!

There is a reason I avoided learning anything about marketing, and it’s because it’s dangerously close to advertising, which brings up repulsive visions of slick used-car salesmen and tree-killing flyers packed into mailboxes. When I was considering a career as an artist, the idea that only a “commercial artist” could make a living (designing advertising) settled that decision once and for all.

Secondly, I am mostly an introvert and don’t like drawing attention to myself unless there is a good reason (like a book). Luckily, I don’t have a book to market (yet), so I don’t have to worry about marketing for a while. Phew!

NOT! We writers apparently need to start marketing, building a platform, creating a following, before we have a published book. Aargh!

Oh, come on, do I have to?

I guess so, but listen here: I refuse to start using my dear Facebook friends and family to increase my blog traffic. That’s like leaving unwanted flyers in their mailboxes. I feel the same way about that as I did when networking first came about, telling us to use our friends and family to help get a job.

Oh, and here’s another suggestion we writers get: browse other people’s websites and blogs and follow our favorites. What, and feel even more like a failure when I see all their gorgeous graphics and read about all their amazing success stories? Now that sounds like a smart idea.

And yet, much as we sometimes do something unusual or uncomfortable for the sake of our kids (being open-minded to some of the inspirational lyrics of Metallica comes to mind), I now find myself willing to do what’s best for my writing vocation. Oh, all right. I guess I can at least learn about these things. It wouldn’t be so bad to add my weblink to my email signature, would it?

So, if there is anyone else left who is dragging their feet like me, here are a few resources that are starting me off in the right direction and even inspiring me with enthusiasm:

Get Known Before the Book Deal: Use your Personal Strengths to Grow an Author Platform by Christina Katz (who originally wrote at WriterMama.com, now at ChristinaKatz.com) (delightful—and a very thorough and useful review on Amazon)

“50 Simple Ways to Build Your Platform”, Writer’s Digest, March/April 2011 (I only just found this issue at the library, and it is also by Christina Katz)

Susan Toy of Alberta Books Canada spoke at the recent Calgary Public Library Writer’s Weekend, and "specializes in promotion and sales of books that are written by Albertans, published by Alberta companies, or on topics of interest to readers in Alberta". Her website is here: http://www.susanmtoy.com/home/alberta-books-canada

Times change. The used-car staff at Your New Car Calgary last fall turned out to be more like kind family and helpful friends than salesmen. So, wading into the unfamiliar territory of marketing my writing is probably not as bad as I think.


Posted by Ramona
www.happilywriting.com