First Book? by Lorilee Guenter

 

This month we were asked to consider our first book. The book that I am stalling on sending to an editor immediately came to mind. I have received feedback on it, and I've almost finished reworking the awkward sections. I have read it aloud to myself so I could identify jarring sentences and disjointed thoughts. But then I stopped mere chapters before I finished this revision. In doing so, I have a reason that keeps me from contacting an editor. The novel is not finished.

The more I thought about the question, the more I found myself reconsidering what a first book might be. Indeed there are other "books." None of them are cohesive enough to continue revising, for now. I may return to the ideas and characters at some time in the future. It would require a major rewrite to get them into a polished form. But they are still books, hidden on my shelf. They have structure and character.

I contemplate further and remember my first time participating in NaNoWriMo (national novel writing month). It was November 2014 . I wrote 50,000 words as I followed a main character. Is it a book when the best next step is to chop it into the start of a few short stories? Maybe. Would I want anyone to read it in its current form? Absolutely not! Do I want to reread it for any gems hidden inside? Not at this time.

Then I considered the novels I have in various stages of completion, the reflections I have been encouraged to gather into a book and various short stories hidden on my computer (or on scraps of paper) one of them must be the first book. Then I remembered I started writing an outline for a mystery near the end of grade 8. I was making notes on setting and character. I did not have or take opportunity to put flesh on the story. We moved. It got stored with school papers and other things we didn't have room for in our much smaller home. Mice moved into the storage container, and my story became material for a mouse nest. Perhaps it is for the best. I've learned a lot about crafting a story in the decades since then.

So far my first book is unpublished. If these early attempts count, my first book will never be published. However, I may yet publish something. It might be a novel, or it might be one of the collections I've been encouraged to consider. In the meantime I'll keep writing. I have to. It is one of the ways I process everything I am currently learning. It is one of the ways I process my place in God's larger story. While I may not know what my first book is, there is no uncertainty about God's story.

Lorilee Guenter enjoys gardening, reading and more. During the summer, her and her husband often hit the trails at nearby parks. He carries a camera. She carries a sketchbook. She never thought she'd write a book. 

A Favourite Pastime by Carol Harrison

 

I have enjoyed reading since I first learned how with Dick and Jane. Reading opened a world of possibilities for me. The library and church library became favourite hangout spots in my growing up years. Chores got delayed, much to my mother’s dismay at times, because I got lost in a good story and needed to read just one more chapter.

Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Danny Orlis series, and Grace Livingstone Hill were authors and series I gravitated towards. Yet I also could spend hours browsing through the set of World Book Encyclopedias my parents scrimped and saved to buy by the time I reached Grade four. What a wealth of information for my inquisitive mind.

Long after my light should be off at bedtime, I read by the little lamp beside my bed until I heard my parents’ footsteps of the staircase. Sometimes I would then try and read by the light of the street lamp outside my window. This worked better in winter when the trees no longer had leaves to shade the light from shining inside.

By junior high I loved to read to learn. Teachers assigned essays that required research and I never complained. After all my homework involved reading and writing about it.

I married someone who loved to read as much as I did and books became part of our home. Board books appeared before the little ones could hang on to them or do more than chew on the corners. Chores still became sidelined as I succumbed to the urge to read just one more chapter.

Now reading occupies much of my time over the last couple of years. Research has become easier with Mr. Google at my fingertips. The library is right around the corner from my condo and e books are available with the push of a button arriving on my phone like magic.

I firmly believe the saying the writers need to be readers. It opens up a gathering of ideas about styles and different genres. It sometimes shows me what not to do in my writing and other times gives me ‘ah ha’ moments of what might work better to grab a reader’s attention and hold it through the entire story. Both of these ways help improve my writing. As I while away the hours with my nose in a book.

My bookshelves are stuffed to overflowing. I enjoy collecting and reading books by authors I have met along the journey. I have also enjoyed a variety of series by Janette Oke, Lauraine Snelling, and Robin Jones Gunn. Lately I have been reading some Christian suspense. One author that grabs and holds my attention throughout the story is Lynette Eason.

There are many more authors I have read over the years since that first magical moment with Dick, Jane, Spot, and Sally. It’s a wonderful past time and learning opportunity.

Carol Harrison loves to curl up in her big chair in the reading corner of her home in Saskatoon. Here she reads, journals, and just takes time to daydream as well.
 

Books, Books, Books! by Susan Barclay

I’ve been a reader ever since I can remember. Even when I couldn’t read yet, I was being read to, either by my mother or one of my grandparents. At three, I was trundled off to the library where I spent many happy hours selecting books, participating in programs, and eventually working my way into a career as a librarian, starting as a page. As a child, I couldn’t imagine a time when I’d graduate from the children’s section of the library, but I did, migrating to teen and adult collections as I grew up. My mother never censored or really paid attention to my reading and I know there were things I read at times that were inappropriate for my age. But I always appreciated the freedom to read whatever I wanted.

My favourite genres today are cozy mysteries, historical fiction, and clean contemporary. I also enjoy reading memoir, biography, and books about Christian living. I don’t follow any particular reading program but belong to a couple of book clubs, one focusing on Christian reads and the other more diverse. I read throughout the day whenever I’m alone or time permits. According to Goodreads, I’ve read just under 2200 books and I have 776 books on my to-read list. Looking at my personal shelves, I’d say some of my favourite authors are Rhys Bowen, Sharon Garlough Brown, Genevieve Graham, Joanna Goodman, L.M. Montgomery (I have all of the Anne books), Janet Sketchley; Francis Chan, Jim Cymbala, Anne Graham Lotz, and Charles Stanley. That’s certain to be a very incomplete list. As the saying goes, so many books, so little time!

Some people look to awards or bestseller lists for titles; I tend to find books through my book clubs, word of mouth, featured library lists, and emails from Indigo Chapters. I read both print and digital books, and like to have eBooks on my phone for those times I have to wait somewhere. Book bub is a great source of free and deeply discounted e-reads.

For me, it’s hard to separate the reader from the writer. How does my reading life influence my writing life? Well, I’d call myself an eclectic writer. I don’t write for only one age group or in only one genre. Reading a LOT has helped me to distinguish good writing from bad, and to aim for excellence in my work. When I ask myself whether I’d rather be writing or reading, the honest answer is reading. It’s easier, after all. But God has given me the talent and ability to write, and he’s given me an audience. That’s you, dear reader. And so I keep on writing as much as life and time permit. I trust that God will use my words to bless, edify, encourage, and perhaps even entertain others, just as he uses others’ words to do the same for me.

__________________

c. Susan Barclay, 2025. For more about Susan and her writing, please visit www.susan-barclay.blogspot.com

A Door Between ~ Valerie Ronald

 This is a reprint of an article I had published in ICWF's FellowScript magazine in November 2019. It best conveys the essence of my writing journey, not in facts but through my inner progression from word-struck child to seasoned writer -- still word-struck.

 

 An Indian princess opened the door for me. I found her waiting on a shelf between the faded red cloth covers of my first chapter book. She crouched behind a tree on page one, her black braids and fringed buckskin dress sketched above the opening paragraph. With a raised hand she pointed into the belly of the book, so I followed her.  

This first trip to a library marked my graduation from picture to chapter books, a momentous event not to be hurried. My mother waited patiently while I drew down volume after volume. Each cover was judged on its appeal, illustrations perused, and pages thumbed through. When the Indian princess beckoned me into her world, I knew this was the perfect choice. She rode home proudly on my lap, my fidgety fingers on the cover itching to let her out.  

So began construction of the revolving door between my two worlds. In my exterior world I contentedly lived an ordinary life. But my interior world whispered at the door for any opportunity to grab my imagination by the hand and run. It teased my waking hours with daydreams and at night it held sway, filling my mind’s eye with fantastic scenes and stories until I sank reluctantly into sleep. Discovering chapter books threw the door wide for a myriad of tales to march in, populating my world with rich characters and scenes often more real to me than my own life. 

Stepping through the wardrobe door into C.S. Lewis’ Narnia, I encountered the great lion, Aslan, who evoked a childish reverence foreshadowing a future faith in his prototype. The miniature world of The Borrowers found me prone on the floor acting out their story with dollhouse furniture. J.R.R. Tolkien’s wizard, Gandalf, took on the bushy gray brows and twinkling eyes of my teacher, Mr. Smith, who read The Hobbit aloud while doing all the voices. 

My unfettered imagination refused to be reined in, spilling words onto paper at every opportunity. Gypsies, haunted forests, princesses, and magic spells pushed their way through my pen, seeking form and voice in my amateur compositions. My vocabulary and writing skills developed simultaneously with the countless books I devoured to feed my appetite for stories. I could not ingest words quick enough to satisfy the ravenous hunger of one who saw the world as a continuous tale begging to be transcribed. 

Behind the exterior world of a shy, awkward girl a parallel world teemed with all that I did not possess. Like infants learning to walk, adventure, beauty, and virtue stumbled for expression in my writing. At first I hugged my novice attempts to myself. The exercise of writing brought a satisfaction wholly my own ˗˗ a solitary catharsis not dependent on affirmation from others. But what good was a story written if not shared? If one day mine was to be the book drawn from a shelf then I needed to let others into my interior world. The door revolved both ways. 

So I released some of my literary offspring and to my wonder they were affirmed as showing promise. This changed everything. Books were places in which I could be lost, but now they became where I could be found. Reading for pleasure evolved into exploring literature to learn from successful authors. Could I subtly comment on the social mores of the day like Jane Austen, create and populate whole worlds like Tolkien, craft an endearing heroine like Lucy Maud Montgomery? Could I spread my own heart across a page for others to peruse? 

Years later, the door to my interior world still stands open. Being vulnerable is the risk I take as a writer chronicling from the heart. Numerous books are welcomed in to refresh, stimulate, and feed that world. I leave the door revolving in the wind. Perhaps an Indian princess will pass through. 

More of Valerie's work can be read on her blog.

https://wordpress.scriptordeus.com/

Let's Talk Books (The Accidental Memoir) by Brenda Leyland

The Accidental Memoir

The Remarkable Way to Write Your Life Story

____________________

Authors: Eve Makis & Anthony Cropper

Publisher: 4th Estate, Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, London, UK, 2018 edition

Length: 128 pages

Hardcover Only: $20.47 Cdn | Shipped from UK via Amazon

Subject: writing guide | memoir writing | self-discovery

"That’s the beauty of writing about personal experiences:

With the right encouragement, everyone can do it.

Everyone is an expert of their own life."

Eve Makis, from her article on Lithub.com, May 6, 2019

Here's an interesting book you might want for your memoir writing tool kit. Whether you are thinking about gathering your own memories or know someone who needs to tell his or her story but doesn't know where to begin, The Accidental Memoir might be the tool to get you started. I was drawn to the book when I read Eve Makis's heartwarming story of how she encouraged her aging dad, a reserved and non-talkative man, to write down some of his stories—she knew little of his life. One Christmas she created a simple notebook with 'bespoke' prompts she hoped would trigger his memories and motivate him to write them down. At first, Eve says, he was underwhelmed by her gift (that probably would have been my dad, too), but from his eyes she knew he liked it. A month later he came to her house with notebook in hand; pages had been filled in; memories were flowing.

Eve's notebook idea was later developed "as an Arts Council project to help people tap into their own lives. Working with diverse groups from refugees to the elderly and prisoners, it has been a resounding success in unearthing stories that otherwise may never have been told." So says the online product description.

The book provides a great way to capture bits and pieces of your history. The prompts and accompanying illustrations are imaginative, with space to jot down a few thoughts. Filled in, the book itself can be a keepsake. Or it can be used as a reference when fleshing out more in-depth essays and memoir pieces. With dozens of engaging prompts, who knows what powerful insights you will capture once you begin.

To give you an idea, here are two samples I filled in:

"Write about a time when someone left home. A sibling, child, a parent or partner. What effect did it have on you?"  I was the oldest and it was me who left home first. At the time, I didn't realize the impact it had on my family. Then my mom told me how much she missed me when I went away to college and how she'd go to the post office, sometimes a couple times a day, during a mail strike, hoping against hope that maybe mail still got through. I'll never forget how homesick I was but, in truth, I hadn't really considered how much she missed me or how odd the empty chair at the table must have felt to my little family. This prompt gave me pause to reflect on their perspective as well.

The second example, well, take a look at the page above. The prompt says, "On the opposite page draw a map of where you lived as a child. Annotate. Add street names, neighbours, play areas, local shops...". I wrote a few lines about growing up on our small farm in northerly Alberta. As I penciled in my little map, how the memories floated up. Our farm, and our neighbours' farms, one to the south and one adjoining to the west, made it easy to meet up with playmates our age. The whole farm became our playground, and what fun we used to have—roaming fields and meadows, testing creek depths, climbing old rock piles, picking Saskatoon berries, whiling away long summer afternoons.

The book is co-authored by Eve Makis and Anthony Cropper. Both are successful authors in the UK. Eve worked as a journalist and radio presenter before becoming an award-winning novelist. Anthony writes novels, short stories, and his play won an award for Radio Drama. He teaches creative writing in the UK and abroad.

"When you've finished all the assignments, pull the

printed part of the book away and you'll be left with

a well-structured, evocative memoir."

Alexander Masters, Foreword, The Accidental Memoir

The Accidental Memoir can be used for anyone desiring to document their lives, leave a legacy, or relive some of those magic moments of the past.

Inspired by the beauty of God's world around her, Brenda Leyland happily writes from her home in northerly Alberta, Canada. She shares on her blog It's A Beautiful Life and Facebook page.

Influence and Ideas by Lorilee Guenter

 

Charlotte's Web, Winnie-The-Pooh, Anne of Green Gables. Louisa may Alcott, J. R. R. Tolkien, Janette Oke. Mystery, biography, science fiction. The list of books, authors and genres I have and do read is immense. My summertime reading list grows each day. I do not read horror and I usually shy away from romance because I do not like the explicit scenes but otherwise it is probably fair game. Reading opens new words and introduces ideas. it has since I sounded out my first words. I learned words have the power to captivate, to inform and to transform. They have power to report and transport, to encourage or discourage. Words have power and why should this surprise any of us since The Word created the world and has enabled writer's to create worlds of imagination.

I did not and do not hesitate to call myself a reader. Books, essays, magazines, they surround me as my to be read pile and my have finished reading lists vie for first place in size and scope (but can the to be read pile ever be depleted?). I have and do hesitate to call myself a writer even though my to type and to edit piles grow. To be a writer requires I acknowledge that my words when put together as essays, stories and poems have the power to build up or tear down. A misplaced word can change the context and cause a reader to stumble and tumble away from The Truth or to reach and to cling to The One who informs and infuses our words when we let Him. It is a huge responsibility. Thankfully it is not ours alone. Each time I pick up a new book to read I immerse myself in the words and worlds of another writer's imagination and influences. 

If the Holy Spirit is prompting and empowering, do I not stumble along in rebellion if I refuse? Do I let fear overwhelm faith when I put down my pen and pick up distraction? I wonder how many books could have been but aren't because other writer's have done as I do and questioned the need to, and their ability to share their words. So with hesitation and interruption I continue to return to this label. I am a writer. Through my words the Holy Spirit, with The Word can teach or challenge as I encourage or entertain those who read them. As the knights in stories I've read do, I pick up mu ink filled sword to slay the dragon of fear in hopes others will follow my lead and pick up their swords (in whatever form they have been given them). 

2 Timothy 1:7 For God did not give you a spirit of fear (timidity), but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline.

After a bit of editing, I will pick up that next book on my pile to read because I am not alone and I still like to get lost in the imagination of others. I am thankful for the many authors who I have reading and am reading. Their influences are many. Their numbers (including the ones just this summer) are numerous.

Some Books to Spark Your Interest by Joylene M Bailey

~~~~~

"There's nothing like a good murder mystery to settle my stress."

Those words came out of my mouth recently, in the midst of post-pandemic plans and preparation for Babe's wedding. (At this writing, it is two weeks away!)

It's true, I love a cozy murder mystery to calm my nerves. Maybe because, despite the tension in the moment, I know there will be a solid explainable resolution in the last pages. Rhys Bowen, Frances Brody, Louise Penny, Caroline Graham are some of my favourite authors in this genre.

I usually have several books on the go, in different genres, including children's books. Some make me think. Some make me laugh. My favourites are the ones that suspend me in time with their beautiful words. 

~~~~~

In no particular order, here are a few books I'm reading/have read this year that might spark your interest:

If you cannot speak truth at a beheading, when can you speak it? 

The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel, third in her series following the life of Thomas Cromwell, was quite an undertaking at just under 900 pages. It begins in May 1536 at Anne Boleyn's demise and ends with Cromwell's own death. I am in awe of this author, who manages to take the reader back in time to the tastes, smells, sights, and sounds of 16th century England. 

~~~~~

God may choose places for us, but he invites us to participate in the making of them, and this participation requires the kind of faith and courage that can look a great deal like foolishness. 

Placemaker by Christie Purifoy

Beautiful, encouraging words on every page. This book is in my top ten of all time favourites.

~~~~~

In Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler, Ira and Maggie are on a road trip to the funeral of an old friend. The entire book takes place in one day, and their conversations are typical of people who have known each other for a long time. It made me laugh out loud so many times. In this excerpt, Maggie's trying to convince Ira to stop at the small town of Cartwheel on the way to the funeral so they can drop in on their ex-daughter-in-law and see their granddaughter. This particular chapter is from Ira's point of view, and he's in the middle of daydreaming about how he always wanted to be a doctor: 

At one point he had figured he might be an orthopedist, because bonesetting was so immediate. Like furniture repair, he had thought. He had imagined that the bone would make a clicking sound as it returned to its rightful place, and the patient's pain would vanish utterly in that very instant.

"Hoosegow," Maggie said.

"Pardon?"

She scooped up her belongings and poured them back in her purse. She set the purse on the floor at her feet.

"The cutoff to Cartwheel," she told him. "Wasn't it something like Hoosegow?"

"I wouldn't have the faintest idea."

"Moose Cow. Moose Lump."

"I'm not going there, whatever it's called," Ira told her.

"Goose Bump."

"I would just like to remind you," he said, "about those other visits. Remember how they turned out?" 

~~~~~

"What is the bravest thing you've ever said?" asked the boy.

"Help," said the horse.  

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy

The timeless illustrations draw you in, and the beautiful words will bring you back again and again.

~~~~~

To believe the truth that beauty tells: this is our great
struggle from the depths of our grief. 

To trust the hope it teaches us to hunger toward: this is our fierce battle. 

To craft the world it helps us to imagine: this is our creative, death-defying work. 

Beauty and brokenness told me two different stories about the world. 

I believe Beauty told true. 

This Beautiful Truth by Sarah Clarkson

~~~~~

A Diary of Private Prayer by John Baillie is a classic I'd never heard of until this year. First published in 1936, the prayers are organized by morning and evening for thirty days, with special prayers for Sundays. This updated and revised edition by Susanna Wright is composed in a more contemporary style. I'm finding it a beautiful reflective way to begin and end my days.

First Day, Morning: 

Eternal Father of my soul, let my first thought today be of you, let my first impulse be to worship you, let my first word be your Name, let my first action be to kneel before you in prayer. 

~~~~~

Every day you have less reason not to give yourself away.

This Day: Collected and New Sabbath Poems by Wendell Berry

These poems date from 1979 to 2012, and include the poems Wendell Berry wrote on Sundays. In the preface he writes, These poems were written in silence, in solitude, mainly out of doors. A reader will like them best, I think, who reads them in similar circumstances-at least in a quiet room.

~~~~~

Well, there's a rather eclectic mix for you. I have enjoyed all of them and I hope one or two have made you curious to read. 

But right now I think I'll take a break from wedding day table-centres, seating plans, and time charts, and find out who locked Kate Shackleton in the basement. Was it because she's on to the murderer? Could this be the time when the butler actually did it?  

~~~~~

Joy reads and writes and plans weddings from her home in Alberta, where she is living with her husband, aka The Cowboy, very-soon-to-be-married Babe, and 

a dining table full of wedding decor. 

Find more of her words at Scraps of Joy.

Reading Enjoyment by Carol Harrison

 

I made new friends when I started school, some closer than others. One friendship has remained and grown stronger with each passing year, if that is even possible. I can hold this friend in my hands, hear the crinkle of the pages as I flip them, and lose myself in the words within. Books, from the first Dick and Jane primer onward, opened new worlds for me. I no longer had to rely on my mom or grandfather to read to me or tell me stories. I could do it myself, although I often curled up by grandpa and listened as he read serialized stories from the Western Producer or Mennonite Brethren Herald magazine.

It took a few more years until I could venture to the library closest to our home because of crossing busy streets but it instantly became a favourite spot to connect with these new friends I held so dear. Shelf after shelf of books beckoned me to explore. Reading levels grew more difficult and begged me to attain these heights of enjoyment. Choosing the ones to take home at each visit took much time. I wanted them all. By grade four I even enjoyed the reference books so I could learn about far away places that were not imaginary. It sparked a desire to continue learning that hasn’t diminished with the passing years and varied circumstances of life.

Were you ever excited by encyclopedias? I remember the day my mom and dad splurged to buy a set of World Book encyclopedias, the two-volume dictionary, and the set of Childcraft books as well. Looking back, I’m sure this expenditure must have proved a stretch for my parents’ budget but I loved those cream and forest green covers all lined up on the shelf with their gold embossed titles. Many hours of reading them, researching for school papers, or just checking something out occupied the remaining years of schooling and inspired my love of researching things even today. Google offers expansive research opportunities without needing shelves and shelves of reference material, but a part of me misses those well-loved and used stately old friends.

Reading has remained an enjoyment and at times an obsession. As a young girl, I hated to quit in the middle of a good book just because the clock announced bedtime and Mom enforced it. I remember trying to read by the light of the street lamp outside my window. It didn’t work as well in the summer when the tree canopy on our street filled with leaves and blocked some of the light. I learned to distinguish every footstep coming up the staircase so I could have the bedside lamp off before Mom would see it's tell-tale glow under the door. Now I tell myself when it’s bedtime and yet like those long-ago days, I often read way too late because I need to find out what happens next in the current book. It's worth the consequence of sleepiness the next morning.

Yet I also remember times when lessons popped out from the least expected piece of writing. One time, my asthma flared so badly that concentrating on anything proved almost impossible. I longed to read my Bible but a verse or two was all I could manage. Not enough breath meant no focus or ability to think. My daughter brought home a series of books from the church library – light, Christian fiction. Nothing that required intense concentration nor did I expect to learn much. They would keep me company as I wheezed my way through days of imposed rest. Yet, God had other plans. Nuggets of truth and encouragement dropped into my mind and heart as I read. The title and author are long forgotten and yet the lessons etched themselves into my life and were followed up by Bible study when the ability to do so returned. It has happened at other times since then. Gems to teach and encourage come in the least expected form and time from these old friends of mine.

When life gets busy and I don’t take time to pick up a book, a bereft feeling appears and lingers. At times, I attribute it to the hectic pace, the deadlines set by others or myself to complete projects, or life events. Yet deep down I know it is missing time with books, reading for enjoyment and educating myself. But once I begin reading, chores get put on hold or relegated to others. The pleasure of a good book in hand outweighs the mundane necessities.

My reading list is never set in stone or even written down. I have a pile of to-be-read books waiting their turn. This summer, I’ve been challenged to read a book outside my preferred genre, one written like letters or diary entries, and one that uses math or numbers within the story. A friend lent me several true stories and a book of short stories. Then there is the excitement of being a Beta reader or reading to review for friends who have books coming out soon. What a joy to be able to get a sneak peak and help another writer at the same time.

So many books to read. So many hours to hang out with these old friends in newer, updated versions of themselves. So many writers to learn about and read their offerings. Some will entertain me. Others will encourage. Some will educate as I research a topic, a Bible study, or even check out more about the author. Hidden gems will continue to sparkle their way into my life. But one thing stays the same – my love of reading.

 

Carol Harrison is a speaker and writer as well as an avid reader who makes her home in Saskatoon. She has a passion to help others of all ages and abilities find their voice, reach their fullest potential and be encouraged to find a glimmer of hope no matter what the circumstances.