Reader Feedback - the not so Good and the Great

Plants bloom after rain falls, bringing color on the journey along the Appalachian Trail

I thought this was a perfect picture to illustrate what happened, and quite unexpectedly. Many weeks back I received some reader feedback cards having to do with my last book for Heartsong Presents - Wasatch Love. I must say it was rather discouraging. I received only negative remarks. One reader basically said the book had no redeeming value whatsoever. As was written - "I HATED IT!! Too much sex junk!! Not Christian!" Inspirational theme - "Where??" 

Another wrote - I would have enjoyed it more if - "Sin and fornication weren't taken so lightly and matter-of-factly. Forgiveness and true repentance should have been clearer."

I was devastated. I wondered if I had missed the mark with regards to this work. In fact, when the editor sent me the galley proofs for the book to be included in the fall re-release of the Utah series, I looked it over, trying to keep an open mind to see where it may have fallen flat. Truthfully, I could not see it. I believed that while the characters were indeed flawed (as we all are!) God provides a pathway to redemption. Through their situation, they were able to grow together in friendship and eventually in love.     

Fast forward. I open the mailbox today to find a fresh batch of feedback forms on my books. Inwardly my spirit groaned. More folks complaining about this godless work. But looking through them, there was not one negative comment. And nestled among the forms was a handwritten letter by a reader. I hope she won't mind me sharing some of her words that she wrote concerning Wasatch Love - 

"This (book) is one of the most comprehensive Heartsong Presents novels I've ever read on rebuilding relationships with God directly involved and doing the work.

"You fill the pages with how to's for love, finding Jesus, healing wounds, fixing relationships, caring for others...

"Thank you for helping to reignite my counseling efforts. You are dear to me."

Wow! Talk about a complete and total reversal. I thought I had blown it with this book. But I realized that this is really God's ministry. God's work. His work through what I can do with my meager means of writing. No, my books won't please everyone. Just so long as I please God with it and pray the story reaches those few to see the message - that with God, all things are possible.  

Under the Weight of It

Okay, so I am not holding up the literal weight of this rock. You might call it instead a tight place. I am on a hike I took with my husband last week. We had to negotiate rocky areas and obstacles to climb an impressive mountain in the Blue Ridge called Old Rag. It also proved a unique illustration of what can go on in our lives. Maybe the crushing weight of rejection or a deadline in writing, or some other trial in our lives is affecting us. We try to hold the weight of it back or make it through in our own strength and find it too heavy and burdensome.

But do you see behind the rock a glimmer of light? An opening one can use to crawl underneath the rock and to a blessed area of relief and freedom as we make our way to the summit? So it was on this hike when I had to lower myself beneath the weight and size of this boulder, scooting underneath it to find a way out. God is faithful to provide ways out of heavy obstacles blocking our way. To help us out from underneath weighty things that come across our path. That is, if we will stop and look for the open door on the other side. To find that shining light to guide and direct us.

Maybe you are in a similar place in your life. Or with your writing, feeling the weight of rejection or writer's block or some other glaring obstacle seeking to block your pathway to glory. Stop and look for the light behind the weight and follow it. Then see your path made clear.

NEXT WEEK I will be joined by talented, multi published fiction author Vickie McDonough who will guest blog and give away a book! Feel free to learn more about her writing at her website.

The Unexpected Dawn of an Orphaned Idea

As a writer, it can sometimes take a long drawn-out night to see the dawn of an idea come to light. As what happened with an idea I had some ten years ago. Back then I was called to write an idea for a biographical series with another historian. Since I dealt in fiction writing, he would do the history, and I would write the storyline. One of the stories for this book was on the life of William Penn and the Quakers. It was contracted by a major publisher. The idea was hashed out and rewritten over and over. For two years I worked on it. The book was done. Then out of the blue the publisher decided they didn't want it anymore. The editor who originally contracted it left the fiction department. That was that. An orphaned book with nowhere to go.

Talk about major disillusionment. It took a while after that for me to pick up the pieces and write again. I really thought, why bother? All that research; all that work I did. Hours and hours, and for nothing, in my finite mind.

And so the book sat. I left it along with all my other hard work to lie in a computer file gathering whatever dust computers gather.

Fast forward to this past summer of 2010. I am on the Appalachian Trail hiking in New York (yes, hiking). I get a frantic cell call from my agent. My long time editor who I have worked with for nearly fifteen years needs a fourth author for a novella collection. She thought of me and wondered if I could come up with an idea.

What is the collection? A Quaker Christmas.

Wow!

After so many years, I could use the research I once did and put some of it into this tiny story. No, it doesn't compare to the work I originally did. But I was still able to bring out a bit of William Penn's life and compare it to the life of my hero. Most importantly, God did not forget all that work. That when we are faithful to sow, He will cause it to grow if we are patient. Granted I didn't think it would take 10 years. But to God, its just a day.

So if you are waiting for your seeds, be patient. In God's timing, they will grow. And usually when you least expect it.

In the Crossroads

I am officially in a crossroad of my life right now. Since returning from my journey on the Appalachian Trail in '07, I have been blessed with five book contracts and the joy of sharing my gift of writing. I have written and published many books. I have participated in numerous book signings, blog and radio interviews. Things were looking up in the publishing world, to be sure. I was even looking at entering the big leagues with a proposal making it twice to a major publisher's committee. Things were looking very good.

But then everything dried up. After this month there are no more contracts. The proposal at the major house fell through unexpectedly. I am looking at several months now with nothing happening. Not that there aren't new books in me or that will come forth eventually. I still have a few proposals in house under consideration. But I am looking at the summer and fall ahead of me and essentially a wide open area. Clearly I am at a crossroad.

I have always wanted to return and hike the Appalachian Trail again. Starting in Maine this time and heading south to Georgia (in '07 I did the opposite). I thought perhaps I might try it in 2011. But with the doors closing in certain areas, especially in writing, I am seeing an open door to perhaps go for it this year instead. Of course that has put me in a bit of a tailspin. And planning. And wondering if this is right. First came my husband, and he seemed on board. I have spoken to my editor and my other book projects in need of editing will fit into the timeframe I would be away. I have the equipment and some money. If my health hangs in there and my parents are all right, it looks possible.

Wow, this is NOT something I had planned to do this year. It makes me think of an old song by Nancy Honeytree that I have been listening to. About being ready to give our hearts to God.
She sings:
"Be ready when you give your life to God,
For He will surely change it,
Just when you thought you had it planned,
He is apt to rearrange it.
But your peace will be unmeasured as His plan unfolds from above,
You'll be glad you gave your life to the Lord of life-changing love.

So this where I am right now. Stay tuned as this plan continues to unfold before me. And I see which direction I do take.

Never Give Up...

For some reason tonight I was reminded of this. It is so easy to get discouraged by what we see instead of looking at things eternal. I have been through a lot these many months and have tended to look down below instead of on high where glory dwells and difficulties disappear.

I took a trip recently and experienced an illustration of this. I climbed to a rocky point that looked out over the scenery displayed before me. High above where I sat, enjoying the scenery, the problems below looked quite tiny. Insignificant, really. But where I was on that mountaintop, I indeed felt above them. Superior to them, actually. Able to rise up and keep going, no matter what lies ahead or how difficult it all seems.

You may be at that point right now with your writing or in any of life's journey with work, family, etc. Feeling as though you cannot rise up above the barricades or the circumstances. But be of good cheer... the difficulties really are small. After all, He has overcome the world and its barriers. You will reap (its His promise)...IF you do not lose heart.

The World of Rejections

Rejection. What writer has not gone through the unpleasant phenomenon of having your life's work rejected by an editor as I did just today.

I have had all kinds of rejections concerning my writing. Some better than others, to be honest. I have received the printed form letter with no signature (before the advent of e-mail, that is). I have received the form letter with a one line written comment (which is priceless from the hand of a busy editor). I have had five rejections via e-mail sent in one day. I have also had a book contracted, the ms written, and still had it rejected and the contract nullified. And I have had my ms make it all the way to the publishing committee only to have one person out of the group say forget it and thus, the story rejected.

Yes, I felt like the cartoon - that I, along with my hard work, were cast into file 13. And I have had my interesting reactions too - from throwing away proposals in the garbage to refusing to write for three months, to sucking it in and getting back to work the same day the rejection came through. But this is really the time when I need to take stock in what has happened and ask God what to do and how to proceed. That His wisdom in infinitely better than anything I can come up with. On the outside it can look pretty hopeless when your ms has come back time and time again with the words NO on it. But with God there is always hope. And I have found that ms can be resurrected - perhaps in a different story idea or years later in a different form. God is the God of impossibility. What looks impossible on the outside is possible with Him and usually in ways we never anticipated.

Suffering the sting of rejection as I am today? Look up, not down! Though it may be dark now, the sun will still rise. And God is still in control of your writing destiny.

April 23rd is Chocolate Day!

Last day to post a note about a rejection you've had to get in on a drawing for a box of chocolate covered cashews. Scroll to the last post for information and to post your comment. Maybe next time I will do a drawing for white chocolate for those that are allergic to the dark stuff!

Also, feel free to vote on a book you'd like to see written in the future. Check the left hand column.

The Cure for Rejection - A Chocolate Contest!

Hey, I thought up a really great idea for us writers facing rejection and the pain it can bring. Believe me, I have been there when I have felt my writing world has fallen apart and I have no one to confide it (save God, and I know He is certainly enough, isn't He?). But I thought it might be nice if we can share our rejection woes we have as writers. Maybe you have had a particularly brutal one (I've had that kind too). Or even that simple form rejection slip is enough to hurt.

I'd like to help soothe that hurt by giving away a box of chocolate covered cashews.

To enter the Chocolate Rejection Contest, simply leave a comment about a past rejection and I will put your name in a hat. Be sure to leave information on where you can be contacted (like an e-mail on your Blogger account or simply put it in your comment). I will draw a winner next week.

I know it can feel like the end of the world, but it really isn't. So have some chocolate on me and then go forth in your writing ministry!

Good-bye, Dear Ice Cream Cone...

Our writing. So like a flavorful ice cream cone that we want others to enjoy. But then suddenly, our beautiful, creamy creation falls flat when the editor sends us that note we dread. The rejection letter. Oh, the disappointment. It's hard to even describe. You really feel as if you, yourself, have been rejected. But of course that isn't so. It's just the words you have written, words that you have sweated over, that you have worked hard to create into an interesting and unique story everyone is sure to read. Maybe you even sunk more than the usual effort into it. You went ahead and researched it. Revised it numerous times, using study helps and other guides. Talked to other writers and had the idea critiqued. Or like once happened to me, took a three week vacation out west to research the project after an agent expressed great enthusiasm.

Only to have the the project fall flat on the ground.

I could share many, many stories of rejection over the past twelve years. Some were undoubtedly worse than others. One was a book I had written and rewritten for an editor of a major publishing house. Work on the book covered a span of two years, only to have the whole project rejected when the editor left the house That one probably stung the worse.

But every rejection hurts. So what do you do? Can't really scrape the ice cream off the floor again and put it back into the cone. It's all melted. Many times the rejection means something is wrong with the project. Maybe you need to look at the work with fresh eyes. Give it a new face lift, so to speak. Let others critique it. Or maybe even set it aside for a season and work on another idea you have.

I just heard recently of a project an author allowed her agent to market eight years ago when she was a newly signed author. It had not sold but another project did. The original story sat there while other ideas were sold. Now, suddenly, this year, the first story idea has been accepted for publication. Yes, eight years after being initially rejected by every publishing house.

So you never know.

Rejection doesn't meant the end of the world, even if it seems like it right now. So treat yourself to an ice cream cone with chocolate chunks and then get back to work. God has a way of working all things together for good, and in His perfect timing.