Contingency Free for Kindle Feb 1-5

 

For the next 5 days you can download a copy of Contingency for your Kindle for free. Pass the word! Thanks!contingency cover

If you don't have a Kindle, Amazon has free apps so you can read Kindle books on your tablets, smartphones, laptops or desktops. (And they sync, so you can pick up where you left off when you change devices.)

Indemnity Releases Today

Indemnity Cover‘You will not succeed by your own strength or power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD All-Powerful. Zechariah 4:6 (New Century Version)

Yesterday afternoon sitting in my office, thinking about (stressing about) the book's release, I closed my eyes for a moment, and this is the verse that I thought of. Not in the New Century Version. I never read the New Century. I'm NKJV, almost as old school as you get. But in thinking about sales and reviews, the word "succeed" really struck me.

Indemnity's success doesn't depend on my abilities as a writer. I did my best on it, don't get me wrong. I edited, cut, trimmed, deepened, strengthened and polished, and then some. And I would be mare than pleased to sell hundreds and hundreds of copies. But still, the success, and how that success is defined, depends on the God who gave the story.

Regardless of how many copies it sells, it is a rare privilege to be able to offer it back to God for His glory, and not mine. My name is on it because I typed it, but God is in it. I am humbled.

 

 

Enhanced by Zemanta

What Job Taught My Characters

 

Comforting touch(I'm working on the edits for Indemnity, so I really appreciate your patience and understanding as I offer a repost. Thank you!)
 
Over the course of my books, I put my characters in some difficult spots. That's good for them and good for the readers. However, then I have to come along and put some wise resolution for that character to discover, drawn on or hear from someone else. I strive for a fresh insight, for practical wisdom, something useful, not just holy-sounding. This is always when the writing gets very humbling because this is where God takes over.
 
In one situation, I had a character go back to Job. (I had just finished reading Job myself, so it was fresh in my mind.) The character said although the Lord restored all that Job had, God never took the pain of the loss away. Yesterday, it also occurred to me that the restoration took years. Job didn't wake up the next morning *poof* with his seven new sons and three new daughters.
 
So here are two things I learned-
Pain fades to the point where it doesn't consume our lives, but it doesn't necessarily ever go away. At least not in this life. Sometimes we put unrealistic expectations on ourselves or others about how and when we should be 'over' something. Each situation is unique and intensely personal. Grant yourself (or someone else) the grace to walk through it rather than adding the pressure of 'should'. Truth is, God may doing things through the loss that we are completely unaware of, as was Job's case. Job never knew the full story behind all his suffering.
 
Second, restoration takes time and it may mean traveling over some ground we've already covered. Job had already done diapers and toddlers and loose teeth and adolescence but he had to go through it all again. It's worth it. The last chapter of Job says, "The Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than the beginning."
 
What have you learned from Job?
 
 

 

Enhanced by Zemanta

Announcing: My First Book

Confetti and noisemakers

THIS WEEK – I signed a contract with Mindstir Media for my novel Contingency. Here's a teaser- 

Where was God?

Bobbi Molinsky’s comfortable life is shattered when a forwarded email from her husband’s account lands in her inbox. The email teases, “My whole evening is free again.” After an angry confrontation with Chuck, she is left with the broken remains of an eighteen year marriage.

Where is God?

Bobbi agrees forgiving Chuck is the right thing, the God-honoring thing to do, but it leaves her empty and isolated. Teaching her second-graders is a burden. Taking care of her boys saps all her energy. It seems God Himself has walked away, leaving her to struggle alone.

Is God faithful?

Bobbi can’t deny the transformation in Chuck, but genuine forgiveness requires trust, and trust is a risk she’s not willing to take. Can she let go of her deepest, most primal fears and save her marriage?

 

The book will be available online in trade paperback, Kindle and audiobook formats, and we will be contacting bookstores as well. Check the blog on Fridays for updates. My monthly newsletter will have info as well. (Sign up in that blue box on the right.)

To my blogging buddies- I'd love to get you an advance copy. Just send me a message.

Enhanced by Zemanta

Keep Writing

After each revision of Contingency, I have worked on drafting a new story. That gives me a break from the intensity of editing and gets me back to the rush of creating something new. That said, this latest draft has been the toughest one yet. The thing doesn’t want to go together at all. It’s like trying to reason with a left-handed Southern woman *ahem*.
It proves what I’ve suspected- writing books is like raising children. No two are exactly alike. Some are easy to write/raise and some are problem children. There won’t be any tried and true system for cranking out books in my future.
I am trying to read the backlog of blog emails that accumulated over Christmas. That still counts as reading, right?
I’ve added a host of new Facebook friends- yay!
I downloaded Amazon’s Kindle for PC app (They have one for phones, too!) Check it out.
My daughter tried to install it. I grow less impressed with Vista all the time.
Sometimes, I type along, and God stops me and says, “Excuse me, but did you read what you just wrote?” Last Thursday, I was writing about my husband and our first date. I finished the post with this-
God’s plans aren’t always packaged the way we expect, nor do they proceed in a typical fashion. An early disaster isn’t always an indication of future ones. Hang in there.
“The end of a thing is better than its beginning.” Ecclesiastes 7:8
God said, “Did you get that? Keep writing!”

CB054586After each revision of Contingency, I have worked on drafting a new story. That gives me a break from the intensity of editing and gets me back to the rush of creating something new. That said, this latest draft has been the toughest one yet. The thing doesn’t want to go together at all. It’s like trying to reason with a left-handed Southern woman *ahem*. It proves what I’ve suspected- writing books is like raising children. No two are exactly alike. Some are easy to write/raise and some are problem children. There won’t be any tried and true system for cranking out books in my future.

I am trying to read the backlog of blog emails that accumulated over Christmas. That still counts as reading, right?

I’ve added a host of new Facebook friends- yay!

I downloaded Amazon’s Kindle for PC app (They have one for phones, too!) Check it out. My daughter tried to install it. I grow less impressed with Vista all the time.

Sometimes, I type along, and God stops me and says, “Excuse me, but did you read what you just wrote?” Last Thursday, I was writing about my husband and our first date. I finished the post with this-

God’s plans aren’t always packaged the way we expect, nor do they proceed in a typical fashion. An early disaster isn’t always an indication of future ones. Hang in there. “The end of a thing is better than its beginning.” Ecclesiastes 7:8

God said, “Did you get that? Keep writing!”

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]