Invite Me to Your Book Club

Do you belong to a book club? If you discuss Informed Consent, I can join you one evening by phone. Click here to learn how.

Hey, Dallas Writers!

If you're in the Dallas area and want to learn how to write a fiction proposal for publishers from a pro, Mary DeMuth is teaching "how to writefiction proposals" on Monday night at the Dallas Guild. Here's the website: http://www.dallaschristianwritersguild.com/. Check it out!

Calling All Teens and Those Who Love Them

Not long ago, I ran an interview with Tricia Goyer about her historical novel, A Valley of Betrayal. But Tricia also writes non-fiction. Her latest, My Life, Unscripted: Who's Writing Your Life?, uses the metaphor of screen writing to explore relationships in every teen girl's life--with herself, her friends and foes, her parents, guys, and with God. By reading Goyer's book, teens consider "scripting" their own responses before they find themselves in the middle of compromising situations. Pre-deciding how they want to respond allows them to think about, pray about, and consider how to face such situations before the scenes begin.

I'll hold a drawing for this book on Wednesday morning. If you want to win it for yourself or a teen you love, just leave a comment in which you tell about a teen whose actions you respect. The one that comes to mind for me? One of my nieces (I have very cool nieces!) who went to Panama for a week this summer to help with a construction project.

Wordless Wednesday

Human Egg Shortage

Today's New York Times had this interesting article on yet another obstacle to embryonic stem cell research. Meanwhile the more ethical option, adult stem cell research, continues to thrive. What do you suppose it'll take for researchers to wake up and smell the Starbucks?

Author Profile: Camy Tang

In the past year my non-reading sis has discovered she loves a good book, after all--as long as it's chick-lit. Enter Camy Tang, a new voice in "lits" with a novel out and another on the way. Camy is loads of fun, describing herself as that "loud Asian chick." At Camy's blog you can always find cool giveaways, including--in the past--some of my stuff. For this stop on Camy's blog tour (the virtual equivalent to a book tour) for her first novel, Sushi for One?, we explore her more serious side:

How did you become a Christian?
I accepted Christ in the summer between 8th and 9th grade, but I didn't start to actually walk with God until I got to college. I met Christians my own age who really, earnestly loved God and showed it in every aspect of their lives, and it completely changed my thinking and attitude about Christ. I rededicated my life to God and my life has never been the same since.

How did you get involved in Christian publishing?
I've always wanted to be a writer, but I didn't even consider writing Christian fiction until I read Linda Windsor's novel, Hi Honey I'm Home. Up until that point, I thought all Christian fiction books were prairie romances or rather bland contemporary romances--they were entertaining, but not what I wanted to write. Linda Windsor's novel opened my eyes to how real-life Christians can be portrayed in fiction as both entertaining and encouraging. I knew I wanted to write for people like me--very flawed, wanting to read about other Christians who are just as flawed, but who manage to overcome and deepen their relationships with each other and with God. From that moment, I started targeting the CBA.

What for you is the most difficult part of the publishing journey?
I think the most difficult is in trusting God to be in complete control of my publishing career. I keep thinking I have to keep doing things to make things happen, that I have to worry and keep on top of things, that I have to toughen my skin and make myself into a certain type of personality to make it in this business. In reality, it's all in God's hands. The rejections, the bad reviews, the marketing things I do, my success or failure as a novelist--it's all in His control. I have to trust that it's all in His control, and to stop worrying and ranting.

Any parting words of advice on writing or anything else?
Any writer needs to keep his/her career in constant prayer. It's too easy to lose your focus on Christ--I do it often enough. I need to keep remembering that my writing--the manuscripts, the marketing, the sales numbers, the reviews--are entirely in God's control, and that if I submit to whatever He wants me to be or do, that it's all good.

To read the first chapter of Camy's book click here.

Perfect Timing

My former student Lesa Engelthaler contributes to the Dallas Morning News, and she interviewed me a few weeks ago about Informed Consent. And ya know what's cool? Though neither of us planned it this way (nor could we have done so if we'd tried), the piece ran today. And it included the info on the group book signing in which I participated this afternoon.

As a result, a couple that my hubby and I used to know from a previous church (sang in choir together) read about it and showed up. We had not seen them in at least 12 years. Maybe 15. Great fun!

A posse of my former students showed up, too. Loved that! (I once got seated at a book signing next to Charles Stanley, and his line was 1/10 of a mile long while I had...one person. I prayed that would not happen again today!)

One piece of irony: If you followed the Dove Commercial link (prior post) and have kept up with the comments (especially Heather J's post about it from Africa), you know the whole subject of beauty has been a topic here of late. Well, when I opened the newspaper, I found my photo staring back at me. But do you think they used the current one? (The one I sent them a few days ago?) Course not! They somehow found the old Glamour Shot they ran ten years ago when I contributed as a guest columnist. Musta hadta dig deep in the archives for that one! Sheesh.

Last Great Speech

I'm back at ACFW today. But, thanks to my friend Carol (who sent me the link), you can check out this speech from a father who looks fantastically healthy but who is near death. I caught a clip of the speech and then an interview with him on Good Morning America yesterday. Then his story/video showed up in the Wall Street Journal. Your thoughts? Anything you'd say that he didn't say?

Live from the Conference

I spent half a day today (and plan to spend the next two days) at the American Christian Fiction Writers Conference (ACFW), which is in Dallas this year. About five hundred folks have gathered together to explore the craft.

So...are you ready for the silly stuff? During a panel discussion with authors and editors this evening, I found my mind wandering, so I jotted down some book proposal ideas that they told us would never make it here:

Into the Abyss - Romance
Sexy Death - Zombie Erotica
Othello in Tights - Drama Script
Camp Deep-Well - Young Adult (about a grandfather who falls in a well during youth camp)
Obediah's Cliff - Biblical Fiction
Oragami Dinosaurs - Sci Fi

(Ya think?)

If you happen to be in the Dallas area, stop by on Saturday for a public book signing. It's at 1:30­–2:30 at the Dallas/Addison Marriott Quorum by the Galleria, 14901 Dallas Parkway, Dallas, Texas 75254. Books available for purchase at 1:15. Hope to see you there!

Beauty is in the ... Software

Have you seen the Dove Commercial that has folks talking? Tell me what you think.

Happy Birthday to You and You and You and...

My friend Karen sent me this link to a story about a family with sextuplets. Can you imagine?

A different kind of book review

R. Marie Griffith. God’s Daughters: Evangelical Women and the Power of Submission. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1997. 275 pages.

Often feminists and non-feminists portray each other using vitriolic rhetoric, each side accusing the other of undermining true womanhood. Marie Griffith, then lecturer (now professor) of religion at Princeton, steps into this world of polarized forces and seeks to act as a bridge. Her goal: to explain the thinking and actions of a narrow slice of the evangelical pie in terms non-evangelicals can understand. She wants feminists to reconsider their assumptions about evangelical women and ultimately to help both sides “expand and refine feminism’s possibilities” (12). The process and conclusions of her work form the basis for her book, God’s Daughters: Evangelical Women and the Power of Submission.

Rather than studying a specific denomination, Griffith examines an international parachurch organization, Aglow, which serves a segment of conservative, evangelical, charismatic Christian women. Her exploration includes a look at how religious practices operate in the everyday lives of Aglow members and relate to the broader social picture.

Beginning with full disclosure about her own place in the world of religion and a confession that, however affronted or dismayed by Aglow members’ beliefs or assumptions, Griffith says she found much to admire in their courage and love for one another. She then proceeds to explore Aglow members’ approaches to prayer, healing and transformation, secrecy and openness, various understandings of “submission,” and finally their metaphors of empowerment that include images such as “daughter” and “soldier.” In reaching her conclusions she draws on extensive private interviews and observations from public meetings complemented by rigorous research of Aglow literature, history, practices, and narratives.

The mostly middle-aged women Griffin observes have rejected mainstream feminism in favor of a theology that embraces female submission to male authority. This comes as no surprise. Where the author covers new ground, however, is in showing how these same women simultaneously denounce male abuses of power and find liberation through prayer. The result, she says, is the exposure of “radical renegotiations of power in these networks of praying women and the reshaping of personal identity that results from such shifts” (13).

Like their feminist sisters, these evangelicals do challenge status quo standards, and in this way both groups are subversive. But the Aglow women’s pro-woman emphasis is not as much on male abuses of power as on elevating what they view as women’s innate strengths. Both secular feminists and these evangelicals espouse the need for personal freedom, but the evangelicals—Griffith demonstrates—find freedom in submission to authority. Rather than pushing for a change of circumstances, they generally espouse, instead, the acceptance of circumstances. Readers should not, however, view this as being synonymous with powerlessness. Aglow members find empowerment not in challenging social structures but in their belief that God hears and answers their prayers.

The word “submission” itself carries a rich variety of meanings often unacknowledged in traditional feminist works critical of the concept. And in showing how the word’s meaning has changed within Aglow in the decades following second-wave feminism Griffith also shows how greater cultural forces have influenced how the women think about themselves and their marriages.

Though Griffith’s work is not always complimentary of the women she portrays she does them a great service in challenging stereotypes about them. Her thorough work offers empathy for her subjects without falling into step with them, allowing the reader a sympathetic and respectful look that has the potential to open dialogue in a conversation that sometimes ranges from shrill to non-existent.

Meet Lisa Bergren

Lisa Tawn Bergren is the author of twenty-eight books with more than a million sold. Her recent books The Begotten and The Betrayed will soon be featured at Target stores nationwide in the "Breakout Books" section.

To sign up for her monthly email go to http://www.lisatawnbergren.com/ and join her newsletter list.

Here's what she says about her latest series:

I loved getting lost in the mystery and adventure of these characters’ lives. I came up with the series concept after reading The Da Vinci Code, and thinking long and hard about the things I both loved (pacing, mystery, suspense) and hated (heresy that made me want to throw it against a wall). I also was heavily influenced by the Lord of the Rings trilogy on film—the grandeur of an epic story, with a cast of characters, deeper symbolism, adventure. So I started talking to my friends who know Scripture, and I asked them about a good biblical mystery. Two mentioned the “previous letters” mentioned by Paul in 1 Corinthians, and I was off and running.

Considering that Paul talks a lot about spiritual gifts in his letters to the Corinthians, I gave my characters all the unique and powerful spiritual gifts he mentioned in the Scriptures—healing, prophecy, wisdom, faith, miraculous powers—and placed them in perilous times, the 14th century, pre-Reformation, pre-Renaissance. My Gifted are hunted both by the Church, who seeks to control them, and forces of evil, who wish to kill them. All in all, I think it makes for a classic Good vs. Evil read—with inspiration and application for us in the 21st century.

The Begotten was a finalist for this year’s Christy Award, one of three finalists for the Best Suspense of the Year award. Here's a Q and A I had recently with Lisa:

How and when did you come to faith?
I say I've always been a Christian--raised in the Church, solid foundation, etc--but I had a profound come-to-my-knees reformation at the age of 21. I left my job (okay, brace yourself--I was bartending), and went to Israel and Egypt for a month to see where God wanted me to go. I traveled with my cousin, who was studying the path of Saint Paul, and came home knowing I wanted to work in an industry that had helped call me back to the fold. I started writing, found a job with a Christian music company, and God kept opening doors. He's faithful!

What has your writing journey been like?
Always a new adventure, something new to explore, a fresh challenge. I make my publishers tear their hair out because I won't settle into a genre (I don't recommend it--it's hard for them to market you and therefore it makes it hard to make living money.) But I'm happy. I like going wherever God leads me. If he chooses to bless, he will bless. A good example is that I spend a good 6-18 months writing a novel. I pour my heart and soul into them. But you know what my best-selling book is? God Gave Us You. A children's book that God gave me in the middle of the night years ago, and that I wrote in three hours. It's sold over 750,000 copies. Amazing. And it has God's fingerprints all over it. We can have our plans, but when he calls, GO!

What tips do you have for aspiring suspense writers?
A tip I learned this last summer from Donald Maass--make sure there's tension on every page of your manuscript. You want your readers crazed, they're so anxious to find out what happens--on either a plot level, character level or both. And when things are getting slack or slow, throw those characters up against a wall. Ask yourself, "What is the worst possible (but feasible) thing that could happen right now to them?" Then do it. Now you have all kinds of tension to work through!

True vs. Truth

Here's a link to the acceptance speech by Madeleine L'Engle when she won The Margaret Edwards Award (American Library Association Lifetime Achievement Award For Writing in The Field Of Young Adult Literature), June 27, 1998. Great stuff!

Wordless Wednesday

Writing Changes Me

A few months ago I wrote an article about how it's not so much that my Christianity affects my writing but rather my writing affects my Christianity. It got published today in Cook Partners magazine. (You can read it online by following the link.) Little did I know when I talked so much about Madeleine L'Engle that she would be no longer with us...

Review of Informed Consent

The book reviews are starting to come in. Check out what this reader had to say.

Remembering Madeleine

Madeleine L'Engle passed away on Thursday. If you are one of the fortunate souls who (like me in the sixth grade) have read A Wrinkle in Time, you've encountered her formidable talent. (I also loved A Severed Wasp.)

I still remember where I was standing when the concept in Wrinkle that "perfect love casts out fear" blew me away. Only years later did I learn Ms. L'Engle was making reference to a quote from an ancient and enduring source.

The interview she did that appears in the video, Creativity: Touching the Divine, is among my all-time favorites.

Here are some choice quotes from Walking on Water:

As Emmanuel, Cardinal Suhard says, “To be a witness does not consist in engaging in propaganda, nor even in stirring people up, but in being a living mystery. It means to live in such a way that one’s life would not make sense if God did not exist.”

There is nothing so secular that it cannot be sacred, and that is one of the deepest messages of the Incarnation.

I was deeply grieved about something, and I kept telling [my friend] how woefully I had failed someone I loved, failed totally, otherwise that person couldn’t have done the wrong that was so destructive. Finally he looked at me and said calmly, “Who are you to think you are better than our Lord? After all, he was singularly unsuccessful with a great many people.” That remark, made to me many years ago, has stood me in good stead, time and again. I have to try, but I do not have to succeed. Following Christ has nothing to do with success as the world sees success. It has to do with love.

In a very real sense not one of us is qualified, but it seems that God continually chooses the most unqualified to do his work, to bear his glory. If we are qualified, we tend to think that we have done the job ourselves. If we are forced to accept our evident lack of qualification, then there’s no danger that we will
confuse God’s work with our own, or God’s glory with our own.

I am not an isolated, chronological numerical statistic. I am sixty-one, but I am also four, and twelve, and fifteen, and twenty-three, and thirty-one, and forty-five, and … and … and…

From Aristotle I learned that a story must have a beginning, a middle and an end…. Let me return to Aristotle’s “that which is probable and impossible is better than that which is possible and improbable.” I’ve been chewing on that one since college, and it’s all tied in with Coleridge’s “willing suspension of disbelief.” If the artist can make it probable, we can accept the impossible—impossible in man’s terms, that is. Aristotle, not knowing the New Testament, could not add, “With man it is impossible; with God nothing is impossible.”

In literal terms the Annunciation can only confound us. But the whole story of Jesus is confounding to the literal-minded. It might be a good idea if, like the White Queen, we practiced believing six impossible things every morning before breakfast, for we are called on to believe what to many people is impossible.

It is one of the greatest triumphs of Lucifer that he has managed to make Christians (Christians!) believe that a story is a lie, that a myth should be outgrown with puberty, that to act in a play is inconsistent with true religion.

I had yet to learn the faithfulness of doubt. This is often assumed by the judgmental to be faithlessness, but it is not; it is a prerequisite for a living faith.

Francis Bacon writes in De Augmentis, “If we begin with certainties, we will end in doubt. But if we begin with doubts and bear them patiently, we may end in certainty.”

[About a family member who was a burn victim:] Story was painkiller, quite literally. When her brain was focused on story, then it was not on the pain center. Story was a more effective painkiller than any chemical medication.

As William Temple remarked, “It is a great mistake to think that God is chiefly interested in religion.”

If my religion is true, it will stand up to all my questioning; there is no need to fear. But if it is not true, if it is man imposing strictures on God (as did the men of the Christian establishment in Galileo’s day), then I want to be open to God, not to what man says about God.

A help to me in working things out has been to keep an honest—as honest as the human being can be—unpublishable journal.

Fiction, in a less direct way, will teach me, teach me things I would never learn had I not opened myself to them in story

The words of John of the Cross: “One act of thanksgiving made when things go wrong is worth a thousand when things go well.”

All shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well. No matter what. That, I think is the affirmation behind all art which can be called Christian. That is what brings cosmos out of chaos.

The journey homewards. Coming home. That’s what it’s all about. The journey to the coming of the kingdom. That’s probably the chief difference between the Christian and the secular artist—the purpose of the work, be it story or music or painting, is to further the coming of the kingdom, to make us aware of our status as children of God, and to turn our feet toward home.

I love; therefore I am vulnerable.

Sometimes the very impetus of overcoming obstacles results in a surge of creativity

For the Easterner the goal is nirvana, which means “where there is no wind,” and for us the wind of the Spirit is vital, even when it blows harshly.

Visit Ms. L'Engle's web site at http://www.madeleinelengle.com/for a full bibliography, recent biography, audio interviews, and a photo gallery.

Home Extras

I keep thinking we’ve exhausted the subject of women’s roles and the decision of a local seminary to add a major in homemaking. But then I keep getting stuff like this:

“What is so disappointing to me in the Southwestern Domesticity Revival is what used to irk me so badly about the [student wives’] events at [another evangelical seminary]. Here we had these amazing professors, resources, etc., to teach us, but instead we planned our retreats to watch chick flicks and make doilies—neither of which I am against, but that's not what seems of value to me in that situation. It’s a stewardship issue. If I had three years where I was supporting my husband in seminary, what would I really want to get out of the time, to soak in, to get that I couldn't get anywhere else? It ain't cooking, that's for sure… When will women (and men, too) be valued for /all /of the gifts they can bring to the offering table, not just the ones 'we' have decided are most appropriate and valuable?”

And this…

“My soapbox for fifty-five years has been the promotion of homemaking, to the extent that I refused to be called a ‘housewife.’ It was worrisome to me that the responses were so strongly her vs. him.

“First, community colleges/high schools in [my part of the country] no longer provide a home economics major or even classes. It isn't happening. So don't pass this off to someone else.

“Second, a pastor is one of the most important of community figures. He is called on all hours of the day and night. A pastor's wife provides needed balance in the home, is a very important figure in the church body, and is usually pressed to do more than housework! (e.g., Bible studies, the women's organizations, music, be in the kitchen at church, church secretary when the church cannot afford one, etc.). A pastor's home is often more a public building than private. Though these aspects were not given as the reason behind offering the major, they are real-life. It seems reasonable that a major in Home Economics (is more than cooking and sewing; it is home management) might be helpful to the wife of a seminary student or a young woman hoping to find her husband there.

“Finally, given the crisis in the home of today I am interested in what today's woman, even today's Christian woman, has to suggest as possible solutions. How do we help woman today become the nurturers they need to be?"

Lots to consider, eh?

I ponder these as I read for my U. S. Women’s/Gender History class in a required text: Sex, Gender and Culture in Old California. It says:

“Washing for three adults and three children—at least two of whom were still in diapers—would have been downright harrowing. To do the job right, the women would have collected rainwater when it was available. Then they boiled it and shaved cakes of soap into it. Clothes sorted into whites, colored, work clothes, and rags were scrubbed on a board, rinsed, and hung out to dry. Whites required starching with a flour preparation and blueing” [118].

After reading this, I threw a load of clothes in the washing machine, tossed dinner in the crockpot, started the dishwasher and the breadmaker, and ran off to teach a class.

Men and Women Working Together

My friends Kelley Mathews, Sue Edwards and Henry Rogers have a new book coming out about men and women working together in ministry. Click here to read a Crosswalk.com excerpt about "ethos."

Yahoo Group to Discuss the Book of Ruth

Interested in participating in an online book discussion group? The artists at SoulPerSuit (SPS) have hosted several, and the next one will use Premium Roast with Ruth. We'll have Shuffle the Deck, Group Discussion questions and Play Your Hand questions all on the SPS web site.

You will need to purchase the book from Amazon (scroll down to link from picture of the book cover; or from CBD) to do the study because it will not be posted on the SPS web site like Esther was. You'll need to get your books by Sept 23 to get started with the on-line group but, of course, you can jump in "whenever."

Sept 9 Registration begins for Yahoo Groups. Sign-up links will be posted then.

Sept 19 Registration closes for the Yahoo Groups.

Sept 23 Discussion begins on Yahoo Groups.

The SoulPerSuit web site will also be updated with the schedule for the study. Don't forget to order your book!

For Writers

My friend Cyndy has a new blog for writers. Follow this link to to find out what I used to want to be when I grew up. Or make that who I wanted to be. Ha!

Let's Meet Up!

Below is a listing of some of the places I've been asked to appear or speak in the next few months. I'd love to meet up with you if I'll be in your vacinity:

September 21-23, I plan to attend the American Christian Fiction Writers Conference here in Dallas. It's not too late to register for a fab conference: www.acfw.com.

As part of that event, on September 22 from 1:30­–2:30, I plan to take part in a multi-author public book signing at the Dallas/Addison Marriott Quorum by the Galleria, 14901 Dallas Parkway, Dallas, Texas 75254. That's the one where if you show up with a book for me to sign (bring one or buy one there), you'll get your name in the hat for a digital camera drawing. If you've ever been to a book signing, you know that means your chances of winning are actually pretty good.

On September 24 at 7 p.m. I'm talking with some women's ministry leaders at Dallas Seminary on the role of women--what does the Bible really say?

On October 2, I'm slated to talk about my new novel, Informed Consent, on Deeper Living (Cable TV), in Atlanta. For more info go to http://www.deeperliving.com/.

That's a fast trip because on October 3, it's on to Brookfield, Wisconsin, to do two workshops at the Woman2Day biannual women's "Synergy" summit. The workshops are Rx for the Highly Caffeinated, Tech-Savvy, Overcommitted Woman: Trendwatch and Response (presented twice) and Write to Expand Your Ministry. The Women2Day summit is sponsored by Elmbrook Church. If you have two X chromosomes, you should come!

The morning of October 16, I'm scheduled to talk to a DTS anthropology class about bioethics.

Do you live near Memphis? If so, join me three days later for a women's retreat on October 19–21. We'll be staying at Pickwick Inn in Counce. The event is sponsored by First Evangelical Church of Memphis, Tennessee. Contact the church for registration info.

During October 26–29, I'm at board meetings for the Evangelical Press Association in Portland, Oregon. I'm going a day early to eat chocolate with Heethar, to visit my folks, and hang with some of my siblings.

November 9–10, I'm one of several speakers at my own church's (Rowlett Bible Fellowship's) mini-women's retreat. (That's mini retreat, not mini women.) They've asked me to talk about “Praying the Lament Psalms.” Join us!

Then our family plans to take a ministry team down to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, after Christmas--December 28-31. Our "sister church" requests that a team bring Christmas boxes full of stuff for needy kids, so I get to play Sandi Clause. The more the merrier.

On February 9, I've agreed to talk at the Dallas/Fort Worth Ready Writers group meeting about writing fiction.

And then over April 11­-13, I head to Florida with my friend Lesa to talk about writing for publication at the Whitby Forum's Synergy Conference in Orlando. The Whitby Forum is for women preparing for vocational ministry. You can check it out here: http://www.whitbyforum.com/.

Finally, May 6-10, I'm back in Portland for more board meetings and EPA's national conference.

If you belong to a book club or study group that's using one of my books, let me know and I'd be happy to arrange to have a speaker phone/conference call for one of your meeting nights. If you belong to a book club that reads fiction, let me know and I'll send you a copy of Informed Consent. Sam's Clubs nationwide are carrying it and we've already had sightings in Indiana, Kentucky and Texas. Join the fun!