My List of Failures

I took an un-announced break from blogging because I was basically feeling sorry for myself. 

Here's my list of failures. 

In 2005 I signed up to sell BeautiControl, which if you know me and my lack of makeup-applying skills, you may find hard to believe. You will no doubt find it easier to believe that after five or so parties, I hung up on that dream of getting rich. 

Next I got this cleaver idea to sew pillows with pockets (the next best thing after blankets with sleeves, right?). I sold a few to people I know, but the Etsy store and the craft shows went nowhere. 

I returned to my childhood dream of writing, wrote my memoir, then found a publisher in 2012. They even published two more of my books the following two years. As is the tread in publishing right now, marketing of my books was quite a bit on my own. Again, I feel that I have failed there.  

A fourth endeavor, which this time I am not in alone, is the nonprofit organization which my daughter Val started in 2013. The two of us have tried promoting Tumaini Volunteers through various venues, but yet again, I feel that we haven't gotten anywhere. 

I can trace all of this failure to my fourth year of college. I was majoring in mass communications, with - of all things - a concentration in marketing and public relations! Can you just even believe it? 

Hopefully you will believe what happened next. God sent me a clear and distinct sign that I should drop out of college. Seriously. So I did. Good thing, I think. Years later, God sent me to a community college with a medical assisting program and that's how I ended up where I am today. Without any marketing expertise, and some statistics to support that. 

So, where do I go from here? I still use BeautiControl products for my own personal use, coz I like the stuff. I still sew and am working on quilt squares for a quilt for my own personal use. I've got three books for sale on Amazon.com (and a box of each of them in my closet). Someday I may have to read again all those words I wrote. And lastly my daughter and I are still plugging away on Tumaini, trying to finish writing our business plan, trying to raise some money, and trying to scare up some more volunteers for both here at home and to go to Kenya. 

I kinda want to leave it all on God's plate to deal with, but He has enough stuff on His plate already. But I've heard His plate is pretty big...  

If you want to help God out, here are the websites you can go to: 

http://www.tumainivolunteers.org/

http://www.amazon.com/Chris-Loehmer-Kincaid/e/B00FOC3WAY/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1425951043&sr=1-2-ent

https://www.facebook.com/tumainivolunteers/timeline

https://www.facebook.com/ChrisLoehmerKincaid

https://www.etsy.com/listing/216789576/unique-kenyan-necklace?ref=shop_home_active_3

http://www.tumainivolunteers.org/donate.html

Like them, share them, comment on them, open your wallet. Or not. 

Where do the ideas come from? Part 2

Jesus wept. (John 11:35)

This verse is reportedly the shortest verse in the Bible. Some versions of the Bible add a few words, but basically these two words are the gist of it. But how much power do these two words have. Why would Jesus weep? Was He in physical pain? Was He in emotional pain? Why would Jesus, the Son of God, be in any sort of pain? And he wasn’t just crying; he was weeping. Do you think there is a different between crying and weeping? What is that difference? What does it take to make you cry or weep? See what thoughts two simple little words can conjure up?

Many, many years ago several co-workers and their pastor started a Bible study group at my clinic. I became one of the inaugural members. We have studied several books of the Bible over the years. We kid each other about how long it takes us to get through some of the chapters. Some Tuesday mornings we might spend our entire one hour session on a single verse. Or even on a single word.

To me, that doesn’t mean we are a group of nit-pickers, obsessing over tiny little details. It means that the Bible has that much power that each word in it was chosen for a specific reason. Nothing in the Bible is random. (People who teach writing will tell you that each word you write needs to have significance; maybe more writers should study the Bible.)

When I started writing “The Christmas Story in 40 Days” a lot of those same thoughts came into my head. Not so much about my writing, but more about my reading.

How many times do we skim through chapters of the Bible thinking they are just background information or even filler? Do we ever think that instead of reading the whole Bible, we should just read the “important” parts? Thanks to my Tuesday morning Bible study, I decided that each and every word in the Bible is equally important. That is why I went through each and every verse in the first chapter of Luke to flesh out the entire story of the first Christmas. Not just Joseph and Mary, not just the angels and the manger, and certainly not the inn and the innkeeper (neither of which are in the book).

To me, most of the Bible stories are intricate stories woven in the rich fabric of the lives of the people of the time. Nothing in the Bible happened by coincidence; it was all part of God’s wonderful plan for us.

And so, “The Christmas Story in 40 Days” evolved. If you missed the previous post, go back and read it to see how the book really got its start.

Short Track

Last winter, when I was trying to decide if I wanted to go to Kenya with my daughter or not, my husband offered me this option. I could either go to Kenya or the Green Lake Christian Writers Conference. It didn't seem like a very reasonable deal, but I could see his point. If I went to Kenya we had to cut corners somewhere and I also had to ration my time off of work.

I decided to go to Africa.

Then two wonderful things happened. The Writers Conference offered what is called a "short-track", for people who couldn't make the full conference, but wanted to attend for two days. These two days would be packed with seminars. The rest of the week would allow for "full-track" attendees to work more in depth with their workshop leaders.

The second thing that helped get me to the Conference this year is that they asked me to speak. Lisa Klarner and I gave a presentation on the pros and cons of different publishing options.

I kind of had to go for at least the short-track after that.

Earlier this afternoon, I returned home from Green Lake, feeling rather melancholy and little cheated. I still had the chance to bond with my writer friends, to gain new insights into my writing career and to get lots of helpful advice.

Also, for me, just soaking up the positive energy of the Conference Center grounds is re-energizing.

Lisa and I getting ready for our presentation.  

Listening to Marshall Cook on Monday evening.  

Two of the new friends I met on my run Monday morning. 

Two years ago I started taking a yearly picture of my feet on the shores of Green Lake. I call the series of photos "Writer's Feet", but I haven't figured out what it means.  

The full moon over Green Lake on Monday night. Not too bad for the basic camera that I have. 

Wow! Big News

I’ve been really trying hard to get some good solid goals established for writing in 2013. I even submitted a piece to a magazine last night. I keep telling myself that I have to get back to my novel. I tell myself I need to get going on all these other projects.

Then this afternoon I got a message on my cell phone from my publisher. He was so excited. He said something like, “Great news. I was just checking the best sellers’ lists and your book is number two on one of the lists. This is cause to celebrate. We don’t know how long it will be there, but this is definitely something to watch.”

I should not check my voice mail or my e-mail while I am at work. Sure, it is a company policy, but everyone does it – not that that makes it right. I won’t go there. But for me, getting a message that exciting, when I still have to work for another two hours, well, it makes it hard to focus.

So that’s really all I have right now. My brain is fried. No, not really. Actually my brain is bouncing all over the place. The marketer in me is saying that I really have to jump on this and use this little fact to publicize my book like crazy right now while I can. The rest of me says, can’t we just go to bed early for a change?

(And as I post this, the book has already slipped to number three. I am sure not cut out for this kind of stress. Good thing Dino will love me no matter how the book does.)

The Last Thank You

If you have been reading my blog faithfully the last few weeks, you noticed that I have been dedicating each post to one of the people or groups who helped in any way to get my book to where it is. And where is that book? It will be released tomorrow! Yeah! And I couldn't have done it without all the support from so many of you.

Last night, I was going to write about the last person on my list. Well, that blog post didn't happen because I spent the night on the couch catching up on TV with that person.

To my husband, Himey, I wouldn't be where I am today without you, and I wouldn't even be the proud Momma of Dino the Wonder Dog. You are the wind beneath my wings.

All in God's Time

A few weeks ago, I fell into this pattern of thanking everyone who is listed in the acknowledgements section of my book. Time is running out. The book will be released very soon. Who do I have left to thank?

Last week I wrote about the Green Lake Christian Writers Conference. I arrived at the conference this past August feeling the usual excitement. Five days to rejoin old friends, delve into better writing, experience speakers bring tears to our eyes from both joy and sorrow.

Sunday afternoon, I checked in at the desk and was informed that my reservation was in order but that there wasn’t a registration folder in my name. I told the woman not worry, I knew where I was going and what I was doing (for a change). A while later, when I ran into Jan, the conference chairman, I asked if she had an extra folder for me. She said they were all out and she apologized profusely, promising she would have one made up for me. I again said, don’t worry about it.

Sometime that evening, Jan presented me with my freshly stocked folder. Being the obedient conference attendee that I always am, I scanned through the papers. Nothing new, it appeared the schedule would be the same as the one I had been emailed earlier in the week and I didn’t pay any more attention to it.

Until Tuesday.

During our evening session, Jan reminded everyone of the speaker at 1:30 the following afternoon. Jeremiah Zeiset, from LifeSentence Publishing, was going to be speaking on effectively publishing and marketing your heart’s work. She said that his bio was on a separate sheet of paper in our packets. Hmm? I thought, I hadn’t seen anything on him in my folder. I rifled through my papers again. Nothing.

I leaned over and asked the woman next to me if I could read her bio on Jeremiah. With great trepidation, I read the information on the young man and his publishing company. I looked up at the ceiling and asked, “God, why did you keep this from me until now?”

God smiled down and simply said, “In My time”. And so, even though my book was already written, that was the beginning of the journey which “A Time for Every Purpose Under Heaven” had to travel to publication.

When I met Jeremiah the next day, I was pretty sure I saw God looking through the window, nodding His head. The rest, as they say, is history.

Jeremiah has been absolutely wonderful to work with. I wish I would have met the rest of his staff. Sheila Wilkinson, my editor, did a terrific job shaping my random words into sentences. So many times when I was reading her edits, I said to myself, “duh, why didn’t I catch that mistake? I know better grammar than that. I can’t believe I wrote that sentence that way.” Ruth, who did the final proofread, must have taken out or put in a million commas. Who can keep track of all that punctuation! And all the other little things that we never notice when things are written correctly, but which jump off the page when they are wrong. And Amber, whoever you are, you took my one random picture and turned it into a beautiful cover. I have had more people remark on what an awesome cover it is. 

I hope that I got your names right. And I am sure that there are more people on the Life Sentence staff who have worked on my baby. Thank you all. Like I already said, I’m sorry that I didn’t get to meet you all. But maybe someday we will, in God’s time.  

Why we need to bond with other writers

In the spring of 2010, my co-worker Ron told me about a writer’s conference he was going to in California that fall. He knew that I liked to write as he had been following this blog. He said that I should think about going to a writer’s conference and he shared the information on the one he was going to.

I knew that a plane ticket to California was not in my budget, but it did start me thinking. Back in the early 1990’s I had belonged to a local writers group and remembered that at one time someone there had mentioned a writers conference in Green Lake. I could drive to Green Lake. I went on line and checked it out.

Who would have ever guessed where that would lead? I’ve attended the Green Lake Christian Writers Conference for the past three years. Not only have I acquired a myriad of skills, I’ve made wonderful new friends and rediscovered the beautiful Green Lake Conference Center. GLCWC has opened so many doors for me. I’ve made so many connections, grown so much in my faith, taken way too many pictures.

Had I not attended the conference this past August, I never would have discovered my publisher, Life Sentence Publishing.

It never fails to amaze me the plans that God has in each of our lives. Who knew? Who could have imagined that one simple conversation with a co-worker would lead me to having my book published? Only God can orchestrate those kinds of things.

So, to all of my fantastic friends from GLCWC, who are too numerous to mention here, thank you so much for bringing me to where I am right (write) now. 

My first year, 2010, I was part of Mary Pierce's class. We were always serious. It was here that I wrote one of the final scenes of my book. The woman on the far right, Lisa Klarner, has just published her book.


 I was in Cynthia Ruchti's class on writing longer fiction in 2011. Cynthia is such a dear woman. She holds God so close to her heart.

This year I was back in Mary Pierce's class. Yes, and once again we stuck to business and hardly had any fun. Until the night of the banquet that is. You truly had to be there. 

My Baby's Feet: A Book Review

I don’t usually post on Saturdays. I also don’t usually write book reviews. No matter how much I like a book, I never know how to describe it in more than a few lines without repeating the whole story. But I am going to give this a shot, and maybe down the road, I’ll review a few more books. There are a lot of good books out there which aren’t getting much recognition. We will just have to see how this goes.

“My Baby’s Feet”, written by Shelia M. Luck, is published by Life SentencePublishing, the same place which is doing my book. The description of the book sounded pretty good and I wanted to see how the books put out by Life Sentence Publishing look, so I ordered it.

In 1975, Sheila had an abortion. At the time it seemed the only option for the seventeen- year-old. Abortion was, and still is, legal and it was, and still is, the choice many teen-age girls and young women make to deal with a difficult situation. It took Sheila many years to come to terms with what she had done. At first she had herself convinced that it was no big deal; that she hadn’t aborted a baby, that it had just been a lump of tissue. But she couldn’t erase the feelings she carried around. She couldn’t put it behind her.

(And this is where I get stuck writing a book review. How much more should I tell you and if I don’t tell you anymore, how do I wrap this thing up? Maybe I need to find an on-line book review class.)

Anyway, I do want to tell you that Sheila shares all of her emotional pain. I ached for her as I read the pages. This book would be so helpful to anyone struggling with abortion and would be just as helpful for anyone who has made any difficult decision which they now regret.  

“My Baby’s Feet” is available on the Life Sentence Publishing website as well as Amazon.com.   

Go after your dream

"Don't forget - no one else sees the world the way you do, so no one else can tell the stories that you have to tell." Charles de Lint

One of the many, many things that God has blessed me with is the wonderful caring people I work with. I know I maybe never show it, but hopefully they realize what they mean to me.

One of those people isn't just a co-worker, he is my next door neighbor. The other day he gave me a pile of inspiring writer's quotations. Out of everyone at work, I think he best understands what my writing means to me. I think it is because he understands the importance of having a dream and going after that dream with all of the passion you can muster. A big club helps too.

Ron, this book never would have happened without you. The rest of you can pre-order by clicking here, but Ron, your free copy will be autographed and hand-delivered just as soon as I have one in my hands.

Everything Has Its Time

3 To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:

² A time to be born,
    And a time to die;
A time to plant,
    And a time to pluck what is planted;
³ A time to kill,
    And a time to heal;
A time to break down,
    And a time to build up;
⁴ A time to weep,
    And a time to laugh;
A time to mourn,
    And a time to dance;
⁵ A time to cast away stones,
    And a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace,
    And a time to refrain from embracing;
⁶ A time to gain,
    And a time to lose;
A time to keep,
    And a time to throw away;
⁷ A time to tear,
    And a time to sew;
A time to keep silence,
    And a time to speak;
⁸ A time to love,
    And a time to hate;
A time of war,
    And a time of peace.

Ecclesiastes 3, New King James Version

What has happened to you this week which could only be done in God's time? 

(And yes, I know this post looks funny, once again - thank you, Blogger - but I don't have the time to fix it. God has other things for me to doing today.)