A Little Leaven

photo by paurian

Two weeks ago our Sunday lesson included a mention of the problem of leaven. Our pastor was speaking of the connections between the Passover and the Communion ritual that has replaced it -- how in the Passover the bread had to be unleavened and furthermore that the Jews had to first clean out their houses so that there should be no leaven in them when the ritual was observed.

Leaven in the Bible always refers to forms of evil, either the leaven of the Pharisees, which is the evil of religion and legalism, or the leaven of Herod, which is the evil of materialism, hedonism, worldly thinking, etc. (Mark 8:15) "A little leaven," says 1 Co 5:6, "leavens the whole lump..." It's a little thing, a little bit of anti-grace thinking, a little bit of human thinking. A little area that is taking you away from fellowship with God or from the calling He's placed on your life. It's like the little foxes of Song of Solomon 2:15 -- they are ruining the vineyard. They are cute little things, babies even. They seem benign, playing about, having fun, but they are ruining the vineyards while they are in blossom.

We have to step back and ask ourselves, "Are there areas of our lives where we've still got bits of leaven that are hindering us from being dedicated and devoted to carrying out God's plan for our lives?" If so we must get rid of them.

That lesson resonated with me and I think the Holy Spirit was telling me even then that my problem was greater than just too much involvement in groups, magazines and so forth. He dredged up the whole marketing issue again... suggesting that perhaps this was some of my leaven. I balked, but the next day with a passage in Joshua (5- 8) He nailed it down solidly. I have often said I do no marketing and am relying on the Lord for that. But that day He made me see I wasn't being entirely truthful with myself: I was still holding on to bits of it. Little areas of marketing that I thought I had to do. Things that not only ate up my time, but that I believe have stood in the way of the Lord doing His work. He's a gentleman, after all. If we insist upon doing a thing, He'll step back and let us...

Things like sending out postcards (which I'd been in the process of designing), like increasing the subscription numbers on my newsletter. Like the local booksigning I was in the process of setting up -- which had already started out badly. The contest. My blog and the blog tours. All, when taken together, ate up inordinate amounts of time, not to mention mental, creative and emotional energy. But when I considered backing out of all that, I found myself facing the fear that if I did, everything would fail -- and already it wasn't doing so great. If I did that, why ... readers would forget my books! New readers would not be found. Everything would only get worse. How could I do that?

But the Spirit nagged at me. "Are you going down to Egypt for help?" He asked. I went to the Bible to look up that passage in Isaiah. But as I took it up, the book slid out of my hands, and opened itself to a passage in Joshua that I had previously boxed: the conquest of Ai in Josh 8:24 - 26. That gave me a chill for I recalled at once that the stories in the OT were written for our instruction and example, and that the fortresses the Israelites had to conquer and subdue are physical illustrations of thought fortresses we have to subdue as church age Believers. Everything physical in the Old Testament is a type of the mental and spiritual battles we face in the New.

When the Lord gave the Jews instructions for taking Jericho, He was very clear that the people were to take from it nothing for themselves. All in it must die -- men and women, young and old, ox and sheep and donkey. Everything in the city represented our old ways of thinking. Human thinking. The old things we relied upon -- human assets, human ways. Human help. Those were not to be taken. They were to be destroyed.

But of course one of the Jews did take something and so when they next attacked Ai, they were chased off. When Joshua went to the Lord in chapter 9:13, he was told, "There are things under the ban in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you have removed the things under the ban from your midst."

The words leapt off the page at me. I had not removed the forbidden things from my life. I was still, in my thinking, relying on human help. On my efforts and those of other people. He'd told me from the start that I was to write and He would see about the distribution of it. I've always wanted that, but the world has told me that writers cannot do that. We must market and network and get out there. There are a million things we have to do and if we don't, why we're unprofessional! We're flakes! We're dreamers! We're unrealistic. We're doomed to fail.

Maybe. But if we do all that, some of us cannot write as we ought. I can't write the way I want to write. The kind of books I want to write. In the face of that, the concern of no one finding my books fades to unimportance. What good is a bunch of people finding my books, if I haven't done the best I can as unto the Lord who called me to it? And it only makes sense that the thing I know I am gifted in, the thing I know I am called to do, the thing I want to do, and carry out as compulsively as I breathe, should be the thing that I do with all my heart and mind and soul and strength. If God has called me to do that, and given me the desire and the ability to do so, shouldn't I do the best that I can and not eat up my time trying to assure success? Especially when promise after promise tells me not to?

Proverbs 23:4,5 Do not weary yourself to gain wealth (success?). Cease from your consideration of it. When you set your eyes on it, it is gone. For wealth certainly makes itself wings, like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.

I want to write. I don't want to do any of the marketing. I think there's a reason I don't want to: because I'm not supposed to.

And I'm going to act on that belief. One by one I've cut myself off from all the tasks still awaiting my attention. I'm not going to send out postcards and I'm even thinking of deleting my snail mail address file. This month will be the last contest on my website. I will do no more about the booksigning. I went into the store and left my card. If the woman calls me back, I might say yes. I'll see how the Lord leads. But I no longer believe I HAVE to do any of it.

Perhaps some of you are wondering about the upcoming blog tour. Since it's already in place and I know that Bethany House is sending out the books and such, I will certainly go along with that, because that's not really something I initiated or have to orchestrate and maintain. The newsletter and this blog remain in question. For awhile I argued back and forth on them, but then I wearied of it, and put them in the Lord's hands.

He's not made those issues clear to me, yet, so I'll make no decision on them for now. I'll simply trust Him to work it out as the days pass. If things fell into place, I'll do them. If not. I won't. I think this is where I've been supposed to be since the day Steve Laube called me with the news of the Publisher's Weekly review of Arena and the marketing department's sudden, unbelievable interest in "how soon they might see something new from Karen Hancock."

It's been a week now since I dropped it all. I cannot believe the peace that I have enjoyed in that time. The increasing clarity of my thinking. The work I've gotten done around the house, the time spent with friends, going to a rubber stamping class, reading (slowly and taking notes so that I'm learning as I go). The heavy, wooden-headedness that gripped me at the end of the writing of Return of the Guardian-King has lifted. I'm thinking more and more of the next book now. In a playful way. A fun way. I feel set free, actually.

Until next week,
Karen

Pulling Back

After all the craziness of that last book, I've been brought to a place where I want to know if there was something I could have done to have avoided it. I've taken it to the Lord, and while I had asked that question all along, my focus had always been on my writing methods. Should I let the scenes come slowly as they were wont to do? Or should I force them, writing things I had outlined even if I found it excruciatingly boring to do? (Dean Koontz advised never to write what bores you, because it will surely bore the reader and I've abided by that advice; but that is why I can't just crank the story out)

Well, the Lord has answered and there have been a number of threads to consider. None had anything to do with my writing methods.

The first has to do with me letting way too much into my life. I suppose that could be clarified into too many people and issues and things to do. Not only do they all take time, but they also fill up my mind with things. All these thoughts swirling around, or maybe jammed and packed in, things to think about, to mull, to carry around... if you look at the things you have to think about as objects you carry around... I would probably appear like one of those old time traveling tinkers with a huge pack on my back, pots and pans dangling, falling in front of my face, tripping me...

(There's actually a study that's been done on this, about the number of people one person can effectively have in their circle. It's called the Dunbar number if you want to read more about it. It's heavy on the evolutionary slant, but I thought the conclusions were interesting.)

Anyway, I had my finger in way too many things. And the only way I can cut back is to get away entirely. I'm like an alcoholic or an ex-smoker. If I don't get entirely away, pretty soon I'll be back at it. I guess I'm just naturally curious, and can rationalize way too easily. But I'm not the butterfly sort that flits from flower to flower sipping a bit of nectar and moving on. My personality is more the type that finds a flower and then wants to tear it apart, to see what it's made of, to look into its structure, to find the pistil and the stamen and the little bugs that are always inside there... That's a lot of information to fill up your mind with. If you're going to do that, you aren't going to be able to do it with very many flowers...

So. I've pulled out of virtually every group of which I was a member, canceled magazine subscriptions and unsubscribed from various ezines. It's a bit scary, but that connects to the second reason for all this, which I'll continue in the next post.

Karen

The Majority is Almost Never Right

I think the Bible teaches this pretty clearly...

Mat 7:13,14 Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction and many are those who enter by it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it.

Obviously the majority here is not right.

How about Rev 12:9? And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world.

Since he's said to be in the process of deceiving the whole world, then again, the majority must be deceived... and not right.

Jesus told his disciples on the night before His death, "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." (John 15: 18,19) World would refer to the majority, and the system of thinking held to by that majority...

Although our system of government is based to a degree on majority rule, it didn't really start out that way. The founding fathers limited to the voting franchise to men with property, and thus to people with a vested interest in taking that right seriously, especially as it relates to taxation. The Greeks demonstrated that when you go with a simple majority and let everyone vote, all you end up with is a bunch of irresponsible have-nots trying to take from the haves. It's human nature. We have sick heads and deceitful hearts (Isaiah 1:5,6 ; Jeremiah 17:9). We are filled with insanity and evil (Eccl 9:3)

If you add up the sick heads, the deceitful hearts, the fact that there are ways that seem right to us that end in death, that we don't even know our own motives half the time. That we are easily deceived and led about by our emotions and lusts, that there is a deceiver at work, with schemes and plans to lead us astray... how could you ever think the majority was right? How could you ever think that consensus is the way to go?

Because, I suppose, it's hard for human nature to go against consensus...

Karen

IS Global Warming a "crock"?

Okay, I'm continuing to winnow in terms of the things I've let into my life, but in the meantime I've discovered some very interesting articles about all this global warming stuff which really does seem to be heating up -- on the media, in any case. Yes, the weather is acting weird. But I remember when we didn't think there would be enough air to breathe before the year 2000. I remember when everyone was hysterical about the next ice age in 1976 or something. The earth was supposed to be totally overpopulated by, I don't know. Was it some time in the 80s? There was a time in my life when I fervently believed all this stuff (before I was saved, before I knew anything about the Bible. When I was in high school.)

So all that stuff is passe and now it's global warming. I just... can't believe anyone would believe in this. That our cars and our factory emissions could seriously cause this? Do you have any idea how this compares with the emissions of a volcanic eruption? Is there any actual proof? (oh, hey, I remember when there were all those oil spills and everyone was predicting gloom and doom for the environment -- I was actually part of a team that rescued oil-slicked seabirds -- only to find out there are these bacteria in the ocean that actually eat the oil and transform it into something benign) I digress. I was talking about proof, which never seems to be put forth in any kind of objective terms. It's always "everyone agrees Global warming is true." Why, they did a poll of the American people (expert climatologists, all of them, I'm sure) and yup. The majority of them believe it's real. So it must be real, then.

It's always, look at how hot it is. The east coast hasn't had a winter. Oh, but then I think it got really cold for them, too. And if it was warm there, we had snow in Tucson. Denver's having a mini ice age, avalanches on the highways and such. And remember how global warming was supposed to have produced ever worsening hurricane seasons, so that last summer should have been worse than the Katrina summer before? Did we even have a hurricane last summer? I can't recall. Certainly nothing like the one the summer before.

Okay, enough of me. I'm no climatologist either. That speech by Michael Crichton I cited yesterday is long, but excellent in laying out how we got to global warming using all these calculations involving variables for which we have no hard data. (Which is also how they calculate the probability that there is life on other planets). If every variable is something someone arbitrarily assigns... what use is it?

Here's another article that I found interesting, on American Thinker. It's called Why Global Warming is Probably a Crock, by James Lewis and starts out...

As a scientist I've learned never to say "never." So human-caused global warming is always a hypothesis to hold, at least until climate science becomes mature. (Climate science is very immature right now: Physicists just don't know how to deal with hypercomplex systems like the earth weather. That's why a recent NASA scientist was wildly wrong when he called anthropogenic warming "just basic physics." Basic physics is what you do in the laboratory. If hypercomplex systems were predictable, NASA would have foolproof space shuttles --- because they are a lot simpler than the climate. So this is just pseudoscientific twaddle from NASA's vaunted Politically Correct Division. It makes me despair when even scientists conveniently forget that little word "hypothesis.")

You can read the rest here.

Karen

Consensus & Global Warming

So, last Thursday, on my second trip across town to see about my glasses (they've ordered some new lenses) I passed the time by listening to Rush Limbaugh who was talking again about global warming and consensus. That reminded me of these quotes I came across a month or so about regarding consensus, which I happen to think is something the kingdom of darkness promotes more than the Bible does.

Margaret Thatcher in a lecture at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York in the early nineties said, "To me, consensus seems to be the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values, and policies. So it's something in which no one believes and to which no one objects."

It is, as it were, the absence of leadership.

Then Michael Crichton said in a lecture entitled "Aliens Cause Global Warming" given at the California Institute of TechnologyPasadena, CA on January 17, 2003:

"Historically, the claim of consensus has been the first refuge of scoundrels; it is a way to avoid debate by claiming that the matter is already settled. Whenever you hear the consensus of scientists agrees on something or other, reach for your wallet, because you're being had.

"Let's be clear: the work of science has nothing whatever to do with consensus. Consensus is the business of politics. Science, on the contrary, requires only one investigator who happens to be right, which means that he or she has results that are verifiable by reference to the real world. In science consensus is irrelevant. What is relevant is reproducible results. The greatest scientists in history are great precisely because they broke with the consensus.

"...Finally, I would remind you to notice where the claim of consensus is invoked. Consensus is invoked only in situations where the science is not solid enough. Nobody says the consensus of scientists agrees that E=mc2. Nobody says the consensus is that the sun is 93 million miles away. It would never occur to anyone to speak that way."

What I love about this quote is that so often the defense of evolution is ... consensus! "The majority of scientists today agree that this is not a theory, but a fact." In fact, I think that Crichton himself used that exact justification in Prey, the novel I read a few months ago. And, in an additional failure of his criterion for true science, I don't believe that evolution has ever been "reproduced," observed in progress or anything else "scientific" beyond a cataloguing of the similarities of phenoypes among organisms.

The Bible doesn't have much support for consensus as a concept either ... Caleb and Joshua said they could take the land, while the other ten spies and all the Jews disagreed, screaming all night in fear of the giants at Kadesh Barnea; later, the majority of the Jews rejected the Lord as their king and asked for a human king like other nations (so the Lord gave them Saul); then, later still, the Jewish army was freaking out over Goliath and the consensus was that no one could stand against him. Elijah was definitely outnumbered by a consensus of the 400 prophets of Ba'al. And of course, it was consensus that sent Jesus to the cross...

Just some food for thought...

Karen

The Illusionist

We watched The Illusionist over the weekend, with Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti. I am dangerously close to raving and burbling. I LOVED it! I want to see it again. I might even want to own it. And I don't like magicians. I don't watch David Copperfield or any of the others. But this one is cool.

The movie is a mystery, a love story, and an adventure. I've never seen Edward Norton before (my son says he's often in quirky movies I wouldn't like -- and this is the first time he's seen him as the good guy) but he was fantastic. Mesmerizing. Mysterious. Powerful. I am amazed at how I just wanted to watch him walk down the street (in character in the movie, that is).

Then there is the story itself and the way it's presented. I am fascinated by illusions, the ones people have about themselves, the ones people have about each other and the world in general, the ones the world foists off on all of us. The cosmic system is constantly dealing in illusion, and it is our need as Christians to learn to see through it all, so I suppose that's why it fascinates me.

This movie has layers upon layers of illusion. It is complex, it's thought provoking -- We are still talking about it. And because of that, I don't want to say too much, since it would destroy the effects of the illusions. Besides that, it was visually intriguing, elegant, mysterious, delightful. Even the magic performances...

It's rated PG 13, for sensuality (though the sex scene is done in such a way that it only gives the illusion of what's going on, not the down and dirty details) and violence (which is really minimal). Those aside, I'm not sure how much children would like it. You have to pay attention, you have to think and while I found it riveting, I like movies that aren't in-your-face obvious. Kids might not follow the story line easily.

Here are some reviews:

"Fascinating parable about art, religion and politics, and the misty boundaries between them. If The Illusionist approaches the realm of art, its spell is heightened by a subtly mesmerizing Philip Glass score and cinematographer Dick Pope's flickering, sepia tinted visuals, evoking early motion pictures and 19th century daguerreotypes." Jim Emerson - CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

"Riveting from start to finish. "The Illusionist" is true movie magic. A beautifully crafted and mysteriously fascinating dramatic experience. Stand out performances from Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti." Pete Hammond - MAXIM

For more check out the official movie site.

Karen

The Day After

What does a writer do once she's finished a book? Well, yesterday my royal family friends came over for our regular Wednesday lunch and I had a wonderful, stimulating/relaxing time of fellowship. After that, I did the blog post, did Bible class, went for a walk and got caught up on my TV shows. Well, except for 24 which somehow didn't get recorded after all. (We have more trouble with the DVD recorder! Come to think of it we had trouble with the VCR as well..)

Today I went across town to pick up my new glasses, which it turns out I can't wear, though I tried for a couple of hours, had to take them off, tried again for a few more hours and finally my head was hurting so much, my eyes were aching, and I felt so sick and dizzy I had to take them off again and call the eye doctor. So tomorrow I have to drive across town again. When you have a mountain of things facing you (clean the bathroom before plants begin to take root in the dust, pay the credit card bill... uh... find the credit card bill, get groceries, vacuum, etc, etc) two hours of driving doesn't really fit into the schedule. But I've learned nothing last year if not the fact that I do not rule the schedule. Flexibility is the word of the day. Every day. At least when I go I can drop off some bookmarks at the Christian bookstore on that side of town. If I can remember to bring them...

Anyway, once home, while trying to wear those glasses, I started in on getting my contest winners notified and the books readied -- I'll have to get some mailers before I can go any further, though. After that I started looking for printing companies to print up the post cards that I want to send out for Return of the Guardian-King (henceforth, RotGK). I could use the online printer I've used for the bookmarks, but it occurred to me that if I stay with a local business I won't have to pay shipping. I think. That's what I'm looking into.

I also want to change newsletter services, so that means I'll have to look into that. The prospect of moving my mailing list to a new service is scary, but at the same time the service I have is very annoying. It's a pain to use and I keep having subscribers who are getting only a paragraph of the newsletter. Did I mention that I'm going to have to write up another newsletter for February? Soon? That's just at the head of the very long list of "book promotion" things I want to do. As I'm contemplating all this, I'm realizing it's very likely more than I can hope to do. It might help to approach the mountain with that in mind... I tend to think things will take, oh, maybe half an hour at the most. I have no idea why I have this delusion. It never turns out that way. Well, rarely.

This is the part of the writing life that I think I'm still trying to deny. I'm a writer. I should spend my time writing. When I finish a book, I should get some time to relax and fill the well with reading and puttering around, get caught up on housework and home projects. Reaquaint myself with friends and relatives. Yeah, yeah, there's a bit of the promotional stuff to do -- the post cards, the giveaways, email. But that stuff, that's minor. That should only take a half an hour. Max. So why am I here in this chair again? And why have I spent an awful lot of hours today sitting in it, when I haven't really been writing?

I definitely need to rethink all this... It probably has something to do with the human mind's capacity to hold two completely antithetical thoughts at the same time. That is, at one point in in time you can absolutely believe that "A" is true, and three hours later, in a different contest, absolutely believe that "Anti-A" is true, even though you would still adhere to A if asked. You just never think of A and Anti-A at the same time, so you don't realize what you're doing.

Or maybe that's just a long, wordy way to describe denial.

Grace,
Karen

Return of the Guardian-King...

... is officially done.

Er... I hope. I think. I had a lot of changes. Deletions, replacements, additions... This morning I had one transition I actually had to write from scratch and not get all freaked out about the time running out. I did it and finished at 11:45 am, then brought the galleys to the UPS store at 12:10... So it's out of my hands now, though my editor said we only have three pages of wiggle room in terms of getting everything to fit in what they've set up. So if I exceed that.... Well, I have no idea what happens then. It will be "scary," she said.

But I will NOT worry about that now. I know the Lord was in this thing every step of the way. I don't know exactly what I've turned out, but I know it's what He intended. Anyway, after all the gazillions of times He's come through on this book, day after day, I know He can handle the matter of the three pages.

Pray the editors and typesetting people will be able to deal with all the changes error free because the way I understand it, there won't be any more proofreading. Or only one if there is...

I decided as I was running through these galleys that I was really working through the manuscript at what should have been called the "final draft" stage, and that when I was working through what we called the final draft that should really have been called the "first draft," and that thing we called the first draft was really "the pile of dreck you wouldn't show your dog" stage. I had a LOT of changes on these galleys. More than I've ever had on any manuscript, which I became especially aware of when I started getting carpal tunnel symptoms a few nights ago (and then what seemed like tendonitis, also in the wrist) from changing my penciled in corrections to permanent red ink -- but again, the Lord came through and even though a couple of nights my arm and wrist ached and throbbed as I was trying to go to sleep, every morning all was working fine again. So thanks to all of you who were praying for me. I really appreciate it and saw its effects time and again.

When I first read through the galleys I was overwhelmed by the number of things I found just flat out wrong with the manuscript and other things that needed fixing because they just didn't work. I feel a lot better about it now, happy with a lot of the changes that I made. You always wonder if what you've done has really made it better, because it's so hard to see clearly. I think most of the changes, though, were a definite improvement. I was able to clarify some things, to work some still murky concepts out, jettison others that didn't belong and, I think -- I hope -- tie some of the scenes and developments together much better.

So I'm done. I'm thrilled to be done. Thrilled and amazed to have finished my fifth book! Thrilled to be able to get back to normal life again.

Speaking of, it's time to go eat dinner, then watch last week's Smallville and this week's 24. Yeeee-HAW!!!! I really am DONE this time!

Karen

More Snow Pics & Cancellations

Last post I showed the picture I took of the snow the night it was falling. The next morning we awoke to a wonderland. It was amazing. I had to go to a doctor's appointment and so was driving all about in it. By then it was warm enough the streets weren't icy, but they were still relatively empty, and snow was everywhere. I took the camera and was taking pictures all over the place. So I thought I'd share some pics of snow on things that almost never have snow on them. Like the palm tree here.



Like these paloverde trees:








And how about this cholla cactus:

Okay, I'm tempted to put up more but I have two chapters left to go through tonight and Bible class to do. I've cancelled all my regular activities and am ready now for the final run. Today I asked for and got a one day deadline extension so I'll be pulling up the drawbridge for the next few days. I'll be back, hopefully, (Oh please, Lord, let there be no more deadline extensions!) January 31. At which time this book should finally be done....

Grace,
Karen

SNOW in Tucson!!! and a Blog Tour

I have 461 pages of galleys before me marked with almost that many flags of issues to deal with, and today it started SNOWING!!! Snow in Tucson! Last time it happened was in April of '95, I think. Talk about a big time distraction. But I'm using it. Do a little work, then go back and look out the window again. When I saw the snow on the palm trees tonight, though, I just had to take a picture...

As the title alludes to, it's also time for another blog tour, this one featuring the young adult fantasy trilogy of Wayne Thomas Batson: The Door Within, Rise of the Wyrm Lord, and The Final Storm, which released last September. I'm sure regular readers of this blog will not be surprised to learn I haven't read them, but others on the tour are quite excited about the series and it's apparently been doing very well on Amazon. Tina Kulesa was eagerly looking forward to putting up her comments on the series for this tour, as was Rebecca Miller , and Sharon Hinck has already posted a very nice interview with Mr. Batson. (One I could totally relate to, by the way.)

For straight from the horse's mouth material, check out The Door Within web site and Wayne Thomas Batson's blog as well. Wayne, a middle school English and Reading teacher, has some nifty artwork he's done himself using a digital art program called Bryce 3D (Daz Studios) to promote the series. Pretty cool.

While others are busy touring I'll have my nose to the grindstone, going through my pile of 461 pieces of paper and their accompanying post-it flags. Some of the the glitches are minor, but others are major, head-banging issues that send me to the Lord screaming "HELP!!!" And I have only ten days to get it done. But don't mind me...

Other folks on the tour this time are listed below. Enjoy!

Jim Black; Jackie Castle; Valerie Comer; Karri Compton; Frank Creed; CSFF Blog Tour; Gene Curtis; Chris Deanne; Janey DeMeo; Tessa Edwards; April Erwin; Linda Gilmore; Beth Goddard; Marcus Goodyear; Todd Michael Greene; Leathel Grody ; Karen Hancock; Katie Hart; Sherrie Hibbs; Sharon Hinck; Joleen Howell; Kait; Karen; K. D. Kragen; Tina Kulesa; Lost Genre Guild; Kevin Lucia and The Bookshelf Reviews 2.0 - The Compendium; Rachel Marks; Shannon McNear; Rebecca LuElla Miller; Caleb Newell; Eve Nielsen; John Otte; Robin Parrish; Cheryl Russel; Hannah Sandvig; Mirtika Schultz ; James Somers; Stuart Stockton; Steve Trower; Speculative Faith; Daniel I. Weaver

Karen

Vitalogy

In line with my comments the other day about science being a self-correcting discipline, and the continual change in so-called scientific "facts," I direct you to this new entry by Ed Willett on "self-corrections" in the medical profession. Vitalogy was a book published in 1899 that "attempted to contain within its 1000-plus pages 'the wisdom and experience, the best results of years of practical observation, of prominent and enlightened physicians, upon the simplest and most effectual methods of promoting health, overcoming disease and prolonging life.'" Weird and fairly amusing. Here's Ed's entry. Enjoy.

Karen

Arizona Bible Conference part 2

After the teaching on the fact that Jesus Christ controls everything, Pastor McLaughlin turned to an examination of the Synagogue of Satan, mentioned in Rev 3:9... A synagogue is a place of learning, and refers not to a literal synagogue, but to a system of thinking. Satan's system of thinking, with which he has decieved the whole world, is constantly teaching us whether we want it to or not, through the media, education, books, music, other people, Internet, etc. It's a multi-faceted system, holding something to appeal to almost everyone, and can be broken down into two major approaches.

The first represents the way Satan thought at the time of his own fall, prior to the creation of man, and cited in Isaiah 14. It's a system of living for self, with no interest in God whatsoever. ("I will make myself like the most high. I will ascend to the mount of the north. I will do what I want.")

For those who want to live for something beyond themselves, he has a second approach, offering them the various religious systems like Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, cults, etc. If people do manage to believe in Jesus and become Christians, he has counterfeits for them as well. This second approach accepts a belief in God or even in Jesus, but subtly attacks His character, his nature and His word. Satan does this by bringing in counterfeits that seem right, but are just enough off to lead his victims astray.

Wanting to be like God, He has counterfeited everything that God has done or commands. The Bible teachs of another Jesus, another Spirit, another gospel, another communion table... He presents himself as an angel of light and has ministers of righteousness sent out to teach people how to be righteous his way. These are the people who think they are serving God and aren't, mentioned in Matthew, and Romans, and Timothy and Corinthians. We must be alert to them and turn away from.

This second approach represents Satan's thinking after the creation of man, when he went into the garden and questioned the woman regarding what God had said. Satan knew very well what God had said, ("From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat") but pretended ignorance to trip her up. "Has God really said you shall not eat from any tree of the garden?"

He used this approach again when he tempted Jesus in the desert in Matthew 4, quoting scripture to our Lord in the second and third temptations. Which brings up the startling point that Satan knows the Bible. In fact, few have mastered it as much as Satan -- he's had thousands of years to work at it, after all -- though without the filling of the Holy Spirit he'll never be able to really understand it.

The point is, he can and does use even the Bible to trip up God's people. If we are not solid in what the word of God teaches we will be vulnerable to his schemes, Bible based and otherwise. For they are everywhere.

Karen

Arizona Bible Conference

Photo: Doubletree Hotel in Tucson

This last weekend we held our third annual Arizona Bible Conference for Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries here in Tucson. After temps in the high seventies for a week, clouds and a cold front moved in just in time for the conference. Not exactly what we would have hoped for to welcome attendees from the northeast and northwest, who had had their fill of cold and clouds. But so what! It was a great conference no matter what the weather.

Pastor McLaughlin continued his teaching on the seven churches in Revelation, taking up again the Church at Philadelphia mentioned in Rev 3:7 - 13 where he left off at the California conference in November.

He started with a brief reference to the doctrine of the open and shut doors, reminding us that God opens and shuts doors in our lives because He loves us and has a definite direction in which He desires each of us to go. When he shuts a door, we should be humble enough to accept it. If we push the door open -- and often we will be allowed to, if we insist -- we will not end up where He wants us to be.

After that he took up the concept that Jesus Christ controls everything, as referenced in Colossians 1:15-17, and many other passages. "The continuation of the universe and creatures and the stabilized atmosphere of our earth depends not on the devil or people or so-called scientific laws, but on the omnipotence and perfect integrity of our Lord Jesus Christ." He upholds all things by the word of His power, even when he was a baby coming forth from the womb, even when he was on the Cross. In fact, when He was on the cross he could have called on the angels to deliver him from the lies, the mocking, the people who had put Him up there, but he did not, because He chose to stay until all our sins were paid for.

So-called scientific laws were not created by science, nor can science uphold them. Science simply observes, investigates and plays with them. (A point that reminded me of something I'd read recently in an interview with Michael Crichton, that "Science is a self-correcting discipline." Meaning that whatever is believed to be true about things today, will most likely be "corrected" as men continue to observe and investigate the environment in which God has placed us.)

Pastor McLaughlin listed some items that supported this concept of "self-correction," starting with Erastosthene's 3rd century BC tally of "all" the stars: 675. This was presented as scientific fact at the time. In 200AD, Ptolemy counted 1028 stars. Flamsteed in the 18th Century counted 3000. In 1862, as telescopes continued to improve, 300,000 stars were counted and today, of course, the count is over 200 billion in the Milky Way alone. The stars didn't change number in all that time, only our ability to see them. Which is, of course, the obvious and major limiting factor in science: our ability to perceive all the necessary information and then to correctly put together what we've perceived. It confounds me how men and societies continually conclude that they've finally gotten all the relevant facts, only to discover later that... they did not.

So it's not science that made the laws or governs them, and it's not science who put us here, and really, it's not science or scientific advancement/invention that will destroy us or preserve us. That power belongs only to our Lord. Science can only observe His brilliance and His faithfulness and His power. And if science contradicts what His word says, then I'll take His word, and wait for those scientists to correct themselves!

More important though, the upshot of examining the fact that it is Jesus who controls everything, who made everything and maintains everything... that He contols the storms, the winds, the thunder and lightning, the rain, the sea... that there is nothing outside of His reach -- the conclusion you come to is that there is not a single problem in your life He can't handle. And yet how often do we get distracted by and focused on the details of our lives and all we can see is the problem. How silly to let ourselves get all flustered and frenzied when we know the one who numbers the very hairs on our heads, and yet holds the planets in their paths and hangs the earth on nothing! It's an awesome study to meditate on.

And that was only a snippet of what was taught the first morning.

Karen

Vulnerable to Distraction

Over the vacation, my friend Ed Willett's science column noted an article on how older adults are more vulnerable to distraction from irrelevant information. Well, being an older adult, that caught my eye at once, though I don't think it was irrelevant information!

Aha! So there is a reason why I'm so distractable these days. The study, conduced by Canadian scienties at the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest and the University of Toronto, "has identified changes in brain activity that begin gradually in middle age – and which may explain why older adults find it difficult to concentrate in busy environments and filter out irrelevant information."

So it really is age that allows my son to concentrate with music blaring, and me to be totally distracted by it. I used to be able to write with music, but only if there were no words. In the last few words I've had to go to total silence, because even the notes distract me. Or worse, sometimes the music generates "scenes", which seems like it would be a good thing, but isn't because it's usually not a scene anywhere near to what I'm currently writing, and it's always the same scene. So even if I write it down, everytime I hear the music, I go back to the same scene and whatever I was doing breaks off.

I digress. Apparently there are two regions in the brain's frontal lobes that shift into a "seesaw imbalance" (not sure what that is) -- causing older adults to become less efficient in inhibiting distracting information." Instead of focusing on the task at hand -- reading, for example, or, writing one's book -- we are unable to resist the sudden thought that we need to go check the mail, or we should see what is on so and so's blog today, or how dare such and such reviewer make those comments about my books last year.

As younger people concentrate on a task, activity in the region that is associated with concentration increases while activity in the region associated with thoughts about yourself, what happened yesterday, or what's going on around you decreases. As people age, the activity in the second region doesn't turn off so easily, and the activity in the region that governs concentration decreases.

By the time we reach 65, it gets really pronounced. So the researchers recommend that "Older adults should try to reduce distractions in their environment and concentrate on one key attentional task at a time. It may be as easy as turning down the radio when reading, or staying off the cell phone when driving a car."

A cell phone would be a disaster. I can't even talk to my passengers when driving a car, because I get way too engrossed and who knows where I'll end up. On more than one occasion I've found myself driving home when I'm supposed to be driving somewhere else.

But this does affirm the importance of reducing external distractions and internal ones as well, since it's not just external monitoring that happens in the region that won't turn off. Which fits right in with my decisions to start simplifying my life again.

You can read the full article about the study here.

Galleys Are Coming

So this morning I spent several hours with the HP tech figuring out my printer is shot and I need to get a new one. Then I left for Wednesday lunch and returned to a message from my editor: the galleys are done! They may be on their way even now. If not they'll be sent out tomorrow and arrive Friday. Whew! I barely got my newsletter out today, and haven't even started getting caught up on email. Since we're hosting our third annual Arizona Bible Conference this weekend, so I won't be able to work on anything until Monday. I have about two weeks to go through the galleys...

But I've learned nothing if not that the Lord has everything under control, so I won't sweat it. We are all really looking forward to the conference here in Tucson. So many friends, old and new will be flying in. It should be great, even though, after all our months of dry weather and blue sky and mild temperatures, it's supposed to rain this weekend. And drop into the 50's as daytime highs. Yes, it's raining right now, but I don't always believe the weathermen, and everything could be cleared up by the tomorrow. In any case, as I said, the Lord has everything under control.

Grace,
Karen

Where the Map Ends Interview

Where the Map Ends is a new website started up by Jeff Gerke, formerly editor for the Realms speculative fiction imprint at Strang Publications, and a speculative fiction novelist in his own right, with six published novels to his credit.

The site was designed to be a place for Christians who love speculative fiction to hang out. There are interviews of the top Christian speculative novelists writing today, lists of books currently available in the market place, writing and publishing information artwork, worldbuilding tools and a rank of other features in the making.

Jeff recently honored me with a request to do an interview, and that interview is now up as this month's featured Interview. You can find it here. (And just to offer you additional incentive, I believe this interview includes the first public snippet of information on what Black Box is about.)

After you read the interview, I encourage you to look around a bit. There's a lot to discover and much more to come. It's a site you'll no doubt want to visit often.

Karen

Course correction - Part 2

In yesterday's post I spoke of the need of making course corrections, periodically -- of recalling one's objective, then looking at the fabric of one's life to see how much it is focused toward that objective. My primary objective is to fulfill God's plan for my life, which means to stay consistent with the perception and application of God's word, and to function in my spiritual gift and talents to proclaim who He is and what He's done. I think I have a talent for writing fiction and a gift for communicating spiritual truths. I don't know exactly what that gift is called. Teaching? Encouragement? Ministering? I only know I'm supposed to be writing novels, so that has got to be a major focus of my life.

My eternal distraction seems to be marketing and networking. There is always something new to do, and many people telling me, either directly or indirectly that I MUST do it. The implied threat is that if I don't, I will fail. My books will fail. Readers won't like me and then my books will really fail.

Besides the negative pressure, there is also positive pressure. Some of the things I need to do are fun and appeal to my approbation lust, and my desire to communicate. These things are rarely intrinsically wrong, like, say robbing a bank. They make a certain amount of sense and from the perspective of sight, the success of my books in the market place, while not a total disaster, could certainly use some help.

But God keeps telling me over and over, "I will do it, you will not." I keep trying to take it back after I've given it over, arguing and fretting and rationalizing until finally I reach the point of leaving it alone again. Then something new comes along and I start it all over again. I think I've reached the end of one such cycle now.

The conclusions that I've come to, again, are that I write long books. And with a market that wants an author's books to release at relatively short intervals, I know I can't write the books I write in the time given if I'm doing all kinds of other things. Particularly things related to writing. Like blogging, for example.

I decided last fall to join two team blogs because I thought it would be fun. I remember reading several different team blogs and wistfully wanting to be part of one. When an opportunity came up, I believe it was the Lord's answer to my request -- not necessarily because He intended for me to do it on an extended basis, but so I could see what it was like. Not long after that, a second opportunity came up. I said yes to that one, too. Because after all, I find that sort of writing easy, and being on different blogs is a way of gaining "exposure" for my books.

But then everything got hard in the writing of Return of the Guardian King's final draft. Suddenly the words were incredibly slow to come. It was like pulling old labels off a box -- only tiny scraps at a time would come out. In between I felt blank and drained. The deadline stretched on and on and my ailment spread from writing fiction to writing blog entries -- at least for the team blogs. I managed to write several entries for one of the groups but for the other, not a one. I thought once the book was turned in and I'd had a rest, the ideas would return. It's not happened.

For one thing, there's been little rest. As soon as I stopped writing the book it seemed a hundred other tasks presented themselves: update my website, write a long overdue newsletter, interviews, email, update my blog's format, back cover copy of the book, the christmas letter, tour the lab, Christmas, leave town to visit relatives, go arrange for a spring booksigning... And the drought of blog ideas continued. Finally it dawned on me that maybe I'm not supposed to be doing them. That perhaps I've gotten in over my head, and am drawing water from a well that has been depleted by my real calling, which is writing novels. That in doing all this other stuff I am not letting that well refill, stealing creative waters what should be saved for the next book.

Blogging also takes time. Already I've spent a couple of hours on this post. I may spend another hour by the time it's all over. And when I post on the team blogs, I'm even fussier. Afterwards there may be comments and I get distracted going back to look for them; the comments may spark thoughts or, worse, angst, and then I've used up more hours on something that really hasn't contributed to the writing that I KNOW I'm supposed to be doing.

Furthermore, since I'm part of a team, I think I should read what other members post and that takes even more time, in the reading, in the thinking about what was read, and maybe in following various links. This is an especially insidious temptation when I don't want to work on what I'm supposed to be working on. And sometimes the reading draws me off into places that don't help me with my work in progress at all, but disrupt my thinking and mood.

Finally, the more tasks you add to your regular list of things to do, the more stuff you have on your mind. I'm a firm believer in simplifying your life, though I seem to have to keep on doing it. Maybe everyone does. Especially in this time when there are so many, many things available to do.

In any case, as a result of my yearly reflection and evaluation, I see that once again, I've spread myself too thin, and have compromised the amount and quality of the time and effort I can devote to my true calling. No matter how fun or even useful an activity is, if it draws you off course from the central calling, it has to go. So I'm turning the wheel back toward that calling now... I've already resigned from one of the teams. The other only asks that I post when the Lord lays something on my heart to post, so I'll give it a little more time and see if He does...

Meanwhile I want to look for ways to streamline other things and work more actively on refilling my creative well...

Karen

Course Correction -- Part 1

I don't make New Year's resolutions, but I do like to look back on the year, and on where I am today and make some corrections to the course I'm following if needed. The world is such that there are always new things that come into your life, exciting things, fun things... exciting fun things at first that gradually lose their luster. Many of these things are distractions. I guess that's the issue. You set an objective and chart your course, more or less. You set out. Then things begin to come in to distract you from your focus.

And it's no accident. I believe there are unseen forces that deliberately bring them in. Things to clutter your mind with false concepts or issues that are irrelevant to your true objective. Things to pull you off, to get you occupied and distracted from the goal that you are supposed to be heading for. Now you are spending all your time and thoughts and energy -- or at least a good measure of it -- on things that really aren't part of your calling.

I received a newsletter the other day that mentioned having a mission statement. Frankly, the phrase sets my teeth on edge, but this time the author's take on it made me sit up and take notice: "A mission statement gives you a reason to say no."

Why, I thought, that's just like knowing what God's calling on your life is. And when you know what it is, you should be focusing on it and saying no to everything else that comes along to take you away from it. Things that are really not part of it, that eat up time and energy and don't contribute to your God-given objective.

To be effective, we must be selective.

Karen

Yellow30 Sci Fi

Last summer the folks over Yellow30 Sci-Fi , "an independent forum for science fiction, fantasy and alternate history," asked me to do an interview for their site and I agreed, telling them I thought I was going to finish RotGK by October 1. Of course that didn't happen, nor did I finish by November 1. Not until December did I finally get the chance to answer the questions they'd sent me back in September, though my contact there was very gracious and patient throughout. I'm happy to report the Interview is now up, and I'm their featured author for the January-March volume. They've redesigned their home page and Return of the Guardian-King is right there on the front page alongside some very nice fantasy artwork. I invite you to give it a look at Yellow30 Sci-Fi . (Scroll down for the link to the interview)

While you're there, take a look around. The site features small press and self-published works (not specifically Christian, though it is open to Christian works) and offers reviews (including one of The Light of Eidon), interviews, SF Links (conventions, clubs, webzines and some just for writers) and finally a section inviting new and established writers of SF, Fantasy and Alternate History to submit their works for review. See "Guidelines" for what they will and will not look at. There is even a blog which has the amusing report that a "celebrity author will be the feature for the first issue" of 2007. [That would be me, in case the "celebrity" part threw you. ;-) ]

The blog also mentions plans for starting a printed version of the website that will include all reviews and author interviews. (Small Press, by the way, includes virtually all Christian Publishers. When I looked into joining the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America as a professional, I learned that Bethany House was not one of the designated publishers conferring "professional" status. Hence I've not yet joined.)

Though I continue to try to stay away from the computer, I don't think I did very well today. But the back cover copy is coming along nicely.

Grace,
Karen

Dragons at Spec Faith

I have my January post up at Speculative Faith, Here Be Dragons. It will give you some glimpses of my writing process, some elements that will -- and will not -- appear in Return of the Guardian King and a lot of interesting stuff I learned about dragons as they relate to Satan.

Now it's on to a cover copy draft for the back of the book.

Karen

A New Year

Happy New Year!

Another year has passed, and 2007 is upon us. I find it cool that seven in Biblical numerology is the number of completion, and this is the year that my Legends of the Guardian King series will be completed!

I hope you all had a great Christmas celebration and are looking forward to the new year. I know I am. What will God do this year? Wonders, I'm sure.

We spent the last week in southern California, visiting relatives and walking on the beach. I got online only late at night, on dialup, to download my Bible lessons from Grace Bible Church. What takes 3 minutes on high speed at home took an hour or more on dialup. The last night the little progress box said it was going to take an hour and 22 minutes so I decided to wait until I got home to do my lesson. I love my cable Internet access! (and how easily have I become spoiled!)

I am staying away from writing as much as I can, and also trying to keep from letting all the things that are lining up on my To Do List rattle me. I know I need to fill my creative well, and part of that means to stay relaxed, trusting the Lord to see that I get done what He wants done and not worrying about the other stuff. In some ways it's an exercise in the discipline of concentration.

I've divided the list into sections: one for catchup on housework, appointments & errands, one for daily to do's, and one for things to do for the book -- the little bit of marketing that I actually do. Which means blog posts, interviews, updating the website, answering emails (I'm embarrassed at how far behind I've gotten on those!), writing my newsletter, setting up a booksigning for the spring, getting postcards made for the new book, changing newsletter services, spiffing up the blog... there are so many things, and here I am claiming I do no marketing. Yet, from the time I finished the book, there was a list of things I could do to the point that if I let myself, I'd do nothing but those sorts of things. Or I could do nothing but catch up things. Or... really... I could easily fill my days with the regular, daily tasks of keeping house and Bible study and so forth.

For that matter, I could fill my days filling my well, because one of the main ways I do that is by reading. I started rereading Robin Hobb's Assassin's Quest over the trip (preparatory to reading Fool's Errand) and didn't get very far before I decided I needed to study it in more depth. Perhaps I'll blog some of my notes on it here. Or on Speculative Faith. I've got a blog post coming up there tomorrow (Wednesday) and am waiting for that to come together right now.

I also have some new interviews to point you to, so look for those, too, in the coming days.

Grace,

Karen

Wise Men Still Seek Him

Over two thousand years ago, the God of the universe, He who is sovereign over all and Lord of the armies, stepped down from his exalted position, deliberately and voluntarily depriving himself of all the privileges due Him, to take on the form of a man. And not just a man full grown, but a helpless babe, unable to speak, unable to feed himself, unable even to roll over. The one who in his deity held everything together, voluntarily took on the form of a baby, utterly, totally dependent on human parents who were poor, homeless at the time, and fallible -- ordinary people with sin natures and clouded vision. He humbled himself in a way we cannot even comprehend, all so that he could Himself pay the penalty Justice demanded for our sins. It is an incredible, incomprehensible act, exceeded only by what he did next, some thirty three years later on the cross outside of Jerusalem.

At this busy time of year, let us all take time to reflect on what was done on our behalf and be grateful. Wise men sought Him even then. They still do...

May you have a blessed Christmas and a joyous New Year.

See you all in 2007!
Karen

a lab tour, a conversation & links

Well, I thought I would not work on my next book for at least two months. But I guess the Lord had other ideas because over the weekend, the opportunity presented itself for me to tour a genetics lab at the UA (above). A friend of my son's works there, and was available to show me around, so this morning at 9am I went over. It was the perfect time what with school being out and the campus relatively empty. No parking problems, no getting in the way of people trying to get to class or do their work. I learned a lot. Learned even more of what I don't know... and am very pleased with the experience. I love the difference between real labs and the ones on TV. Real labs look more like my office, for one!

And then today, as part of an interview I'm completing for Where The Map Ends, I had to come up with a little blurb that tells about this next book, working title Black Box. (They've already told me that title won't do, since some airplane book out a couple of years ago had that title. I thought Black Box was a clever title for a number of reasons, but in light of this -- ie, that most people think of airplanes when they hear "black box"-- I suspect it's a bit too clever.)

On another note, over the weekend, I also had a conversation with another friend of my son's who works at Barnes and Noble. What she told me about her process of keeping shelves stocked was a little different than that article I linked to the other day. For one, if she notes that books in her department are selling, she will ignore what the computer says and increase the amount of books she orders. She also hand sells books she likes. And, something that really surprised me, she told me that the store very rarely initiates a return of books. Returns are almost always initiated by the publisher. I suppose so they can have more shelf space for their new releases...

And finally... the epilog is now in place at the end of Return of the Guardian-King. My editor loved it and thought it was just what the book needed. I'll reserve final judgment until I go over the galleys in a few weeks...

Grace,

Karen

PS. Check out Becky Miller's blogpost An Open Letter to Christian Fantasy Readers for some thoughts about why Christian fantasy isn't selling as we'd like and what she thinks people can do about it. Also, she's got an interview with Nick Harrison up on Speculative Faith concerning the new fantasy trilogy Harvest House will be putting out next year.

Two Economies

A concept I like to ponder frequently, especially in times after I've read something like that link I posted yesterday about How the Business Operates, is the fact there are in fact, two economies (which, out of the blue, just "happened" to be the subject of last night's Bible class.) There is the worldly economy, which says, Work! Write the absolute best book possible! Be better than all the others! Strive for success! Save! keep!

And then there is the heavenly economy which says, Seek first the Kingdom of God, submit to your pastor in learning God's word, live in what you've learned, and all these things will be added to you. It says, don't strive for success, strive to know God. It says, don't keep and hoard, give it away, and "it will be given to you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will pour into your lap..." (And how cool that there are 5 different ways of measuring what is given -- five being the number of grace).

As believers we are not of this world. We have a heavenly citizenship. And if I am not a citizen of this world, then any attempt to function in the world's system, ie, according to the world's system will never lead to any real success or happiness in it.

Proverbs 4 commands us to "Acquire wisdom! Acquire understanding! Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her (wisdom) and she will guard you. Love her and she will watch over you. The beginning of wisdom is: Acquire wisdom; And with all your acquiring, get understanding. Prize her and she will exalt you; she will honor you if you embrace her. She will place on your head a garland of grace; she will present you with a crown of beauty."

"I (wisdom) love those who love me," says Proverbs 8:17. "And those who diligently seek me will find me. Riches and honor are with me, enduring wealth and righteousness."

God's system is grace. We follow Him, we learn of Him, we live in what we've learned, allow Him to change our thinking into His and then we have capacity to receive.

The world's system is works and striving all the way, and includes things like that horrible computerized buying procedure outlined in Holly Lisle's article. Where you get discouraged before you even start. But God has overcome the world. He is not bound by it and I, of all people, know that.

When I first went to Mt. Hermon with Arena, no one wanted fantasy. Most of you know that. There were no fantasies being published except Tolkien or Lewis. I was told that fantasy was a death word. The dreaded seven letter word. (Hmm. And seven is the number of perfection, if I'm not mistaken.) If you weren't Tolkien or Lewis your books wouldn't sell. No one would touch you with a ten foot pole. When Steve Laube took my manuscript, he held it for nearly two years before he thought he had even a prayer of getting the buying committee at Bethany House to accept it. And that after fighting and wrangling his way to seeing Kathy Tyers' Firebird books and then Ingermanson/Olson's Oxygen bought. Everywhere the word was gloom and doom.

Even after BHP bought Arena another year+ passed, during which time the word came that Kathy's Crown of Fire had already gone out of print. Weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth. I remember Steve saying, "They're great books! We just can't get people to read them." (come to think of it, he and others have said the same thing about mine.) The future was dismal. And what in the world was I going to do to change anything? I am not a marketer. In fact, even then, my first efforts at going into the bookstores to meet the buyers and salespeople were complete fiascos.

And then the Lord just blew the doors off everything. Somehow Arena got reviewed favorably at Publisher's Weekly and Library Journal. Those two things, which I had absolutely nothing to do with, opened all the doors. It was unbelievable. PW does not review first novels of unknown authors especially not in the dreaded genre of Christian SF/Allegory. But it happened and it moved Bethany House to contract the four books of the Guardian King series-- in the straight down the road, no way to avoid calling it fantasy genre. Within two weeks I went from no discernible possibilities of every really having Arena do well enough to convince someone to buy LoGK to awestruck. That's how fast it happened. How out of the blue. Completely unexpected and totally not my doing.

And lest you say, "Well you just wrote a good book in Arena," my response is... I don't think that the books I've written since Arena are any less than it is. I actually like them better, though some readers, I'm sure, disagree. The point is, I don't think that Legends of the Guardian King is this huge step down from Arena. But it didn't get reviewed by either of those publications. Furthermore, I've seen books reviewed that I thought were very poorly done and others ignored that I thought very well done. We can go on down to the minutiae of cause and effect in the attempt to root out why certain books are reviewed and others not, but the truth is, mostly we'll never know why. The truth is, "What do you have that you have not received?" The truth is, as Deuteronomy 6 says, He gives us "great and splendid cities which we did not build, and houses full of good things which we did not fill and hewn cisterns which we did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which we did not plant..."

So yes, things may look dark and grim, now. But dark and grim is when the Light's advent always shines the brightest.

Karen

How Chain Stores kill Midlist Writers' Careers

As part of the CSFF blog tour held this week, talk came out about the rumor that Kathryn Mackel's Birthrighter's Project was originally intended as a trilogy, but was cut back to a two book series on account of sales not being what the publisher hoped for. Shannon McNear has posted a piece on the age old problem of Christian publishers' claims that SF/F doesn't sell in their market and so they don't publish SF/F or don't publicize the few books they do publish with the result that readers never know they're out there.

I can relate to all of this. As I believe I mentioned in a previous post, Legends of the Guardian-King was originally contracted with a descending advance rate so that the publishers wouldn't lose any more money than they had to if the series tanked and they had to cut it off before the end. To their credit, though the books have not sold as well as they had hoped, they have stuck with it, and for that I am deeply grateful and even a little awestruck after having read this account (and the one by Holly Lisle cited below). Writing and book publishing is a brutal business, made moreso by changes in bookselling methods over the last few decades.

As an illustration of just how brutal, Tina Kulesa, one of the tour partipants put up a link to a fascinating article by SF writer Holly Lisle on the "midlist writer's career death spiral" called Selling to the Net . In it she describes how books are ordered and sold by the chain bookstores, and what that does to a writer's career. This is not new information -- Donald Maas also outlined it in his book, The Career Novelist -- but it's sobering to be reminded of it, and also in some ways heartening because, in my case anyway, it reminds me of how God has kept things alive when by other considerations they might not have been.

Karen

More of Mackel's Birthrighter's Project

Wednesday is the last day of the CSFF blog tour highlighting Kathryn Mackel and her newest release in the Birthrighter's Project, Trackers. Yesterday I mentioned that Beth Goddard was doing an interview and today I read part one of it (part two should be up Wednesday -- which may or may not be today, depending on when you read this!). I'm glad I read it.

I'll be honest -- when I read the setup about the new Ark built under the polar ice cap, my picky, whiny, critical mode kicked in. I'm trying to keep that one in its cage, or at least ignore it for the most part, especially when I have almost no facts. And this is a good case of the need for it to stay in the cage. My thoughts on the new Ark ran along the lines of, (whiny voice) "Well why would God need to do that? He already did it once, and people deciding to build an ark to preserve the species... yada yada blah blah... doesn't really work for me..." But then I read the chapter and decided maybe that didn't matter. See, if the writing, the pacing, the world, the action and the characters are appealing enough, I can set my theological quibbles aside and just enjoy the story, and this definitely seemed to be one where I could do that (not that you can always tell if your theological quibbles are even valid from ad copy -- of all people I should know that!)

Anyway, then I read the interview and Kathy said that her intent wasn't to create a new ark as such but to present a "metaphor for the church or the Christian home. The world of the strongholds is what we face every time we step outside our sanctuaries. Just as the Birthrighters collect specimens to honor God’s creation, we share the Gospel to honor Christ’s sacrifice. In the books, the kingdom of Traxx is sheltered by a wall of thorns. How many hardened hearts are there behind spiritual walls of thorns that the Spirit is calling us to dare to approach?" How cool is that? I'm hooked. In fact, I ordered both books today and you can too. In fact if you go to the Trackers page on Amazon you can order them together for less.

Or you could go on over to Shannon McNear's blog or Beth Goddard's both of whom are offering the chance to win copies of the two book set of the Birthrighter's Project. Mirtika Shulz is giving away a copy of Trackers and also pointed me to a fun test on the Birthrighter's site that you can take to determine what type of hero you are. I took the test, but as with all these kinds of tests they never give me the right options. What kind of canine would I be? A hound! Not one of the choices. What would I do if I had a craving for chili? I don't like chili. Yuck. But I know lots of ways to make it... Sometimes the answer is "all of the above." More often it's "none of the above..." in any case, it came out that I'm a scout:

"Your independence and perseverance fit you to serve as in this role. Your job is to wander this fallen world as the eyes and ears of the Birthrighter camps. Your reports allow trackers to ride, hike, climb, or even swim the ends of the earth in search of original (non-mutated) species for the Ark. You also warn of troop movements that threaten camps or missions, going undercover as needed to spy on strongholds.

"Your mild appearance and shoddy clothes mask the quick strength and iron-clad determination that allow you to move through peril almost at will. Your strong spirit allows you to endure the solitude and lack of physical comforts that your duty requires. While trackers, teachers, and outriders live in Birthrighter camps, you cannot—your duty requires that your identity be kept secret and that you always be on the move.

"The stronghold princes don’t even guess at your existence. But should you fall into their hands, you would be far more valuable than an outrider or tracker because you know the location of all the camps and the pick-up sites from the Ark. Your inner strength keeps you on course and your faith sustains you, even though your duty is harsh and lonely."

Which isn't as off as I'd expected...

Scroll on down to yesterday's post to check out the other tour participants' blogs today. The way this works is we're supposed to post on the subject at least once during the three days, and preferably on all three. Many only get around to one entry, though, so if you tried yesterday and found nothing, give it another shot. Of course, some put up multiple posts, as mentioned above, and you'll want to see the continuations.

Karen

Kathryn Mackel & Trackers

It's time for the December Christian SFF blog tour, this time highlighting Kathryn Mackel's most recent release, Trackers, part of her Birthrighter's Trilogy. Since I don't seem to be able to read anything anymore (I just found out I'll be getting the galleys for Return of the Guardian King in a little over a month -- if the Lord is gracious and holds them off that long!) I haven't read Trackers or the first book in the series, Outriders, but I plan to. You can read the first chapter of Outriders here. In fact, Kathy has set up an entire website devoted to the Birthrighter's Project and I encourage you to check it out for more info.

The chapter that I read was well done and undeniably intriguing. An ark below the surface of the ice in the arctic, an earth corrupted almost to extintion by genetic manipulation gone wild, whales, sled dogs, blacksmiths, swords... many things to get my attention. I recommend you read that chapter!

If you want to read some reviews, too, check out the blogs of Sharon Hinck, Rebecca LuElla Miller, and Shannon McNear. Shannon is having a contest for those who leave comments on her blog Monday through Wednesday for an autographed two book set of Outriders and Trackers. Beth Goddard is doing an interview Tuesday.

And check the other tour participants this month -- part of a growing list! -- for more reviews, comments, contests, etc:

Jim Black; Jackie Castle; Valerie Comer; Frank Creed; Gene Curtis; Chris Deanne; Janey DeMeo; April Erwin; Beth Goddard; Todd Michael Greene; Karen Hancock; Elliot Hanowski; Katie Hart; Sherrie Hibbs; Sharon Hinck; Joleen Howell; Jason Joyner; Karen and at Karen¹s myspace; Oliver King; Tina Kulesa; Lost Genre Guild; Kevin Lucia and The Bookshelf Reviews 2.0 - The Compendium; Terri Main; Rachel Marks; Shannon McNear; Rebecca LuElla Miller; Caleb Newell; Eve Nielsen; John Otte; Cheryl Russel; Hannah Sandvig; Mirtika Schultz ; James Somers; Stuart Stockton; Steve Trower; Speculative Faith; Chris Walley; Daniel I. Weaver

Karen

Hallelujah!

I Am FINISHED!!!

Hooray! Hooray! Today I turned in the final draft of my fifth book, Return of the Guardian-King! Last night I felt only cautious relief. Today, I'm bouncing off the walls. Set free! Whee!

Finally I can get caught up on my email, interviews, my very late newsletter, blog posts, reading, Smallville (Of which I've not seen a single episode this season), doctors appointments, bank statements... Oh, and Christmas, too.

Now, I'm reeling with amazement that this book is done. When I signed the contract for Legends of the Guardian-King, they gave me a contract that has descending advances. That means when you sign the contract you get, all at once, half the advance for the first book, 40% 0f the advance for the second, 30% for the third and a whopping 10% for the fourth. That's so if publisher decides to cancel the series somewhere along the way, they won't have lost too much money in the advance. I was already uncomfortable enough with taking any money at all for books I hadn't written yet, that I was happy to accept that. But it does show the concern they had for the books not doing very well. So I am jazzed and thankful that the Lord has seen fit to see it through. All the way to the end.

I think I'll be even more amazed to actually hold the book in my hands. But first I have to finish fielding the detail questions my editor is still sending me, then I'll have to do the galleys... so right now I think I'll just savor this Impossible thing that's turned out to be Reality: I've finished! It's a book!

Karen

Writing to a Deadline

Well I want to thank those who commented on my last post. I appreciated your kind and encouraging words .

I do want to clarify, though, what I meant by acknowledging that I am hack. I meant that in some people's eyes I will be regarded that way. That compared to some writers, what I do will be found, in some people's eyes, to be lacking. (Maybe even in my eyes!) When I worry about that, and think about how what I'm doing will be criticized, it's paralyzing. When I let go of it, acknowledge that, like all people, really, I write stuff that's flawed, it's freeing. Yes, there will always be those who will be annoyed by those flaws and feel compelled to point them out, but recognizing that, and realizing it doesn't matter, takes away its power to sting me. Some day I'm going to post about the thoughts I've been having on this entire issue -- that the world is way too caught up in comparisons and rankings and nebulous "official" standards when God could care less about stuff like that.

But that's for another time. For now, I'm posting over at Speculative Faith tomorrow (Wednesday) on Writing to a Deadline. I can't imagine why this should have been the only topic I could manage to muster any words to write about today. Must have something to do with what is going on in my life. And if it's not specifically on Speculative Christian fiction, well, it's is on what it's like to write Speculative Christian fiction. Though in this case, I think deadlines get to writers of all types of fiction.

Karen

Marathons & Hackwork

Another photo from the Rose Garden on Thanksgiving Day.

Well, I've been unexpectedly quiet, because I'm slogging along through the last couple of miles of this writing marathon I inadvertantly got involved in. I remember when my husband ran Boston last spring, my son and I went down to cheer him on at the end and he neither saw us nor heard us... too focused on just getting to the end.

I sort of feel like that right now. Just getting to the end. Bible class has been on thought testing and mental attitude and how there will be people, things, fiery darts sent in to screw it up. I've experienced it. For one thing, we've had four social engagements in the last week. Dinner parties and the like. We never go to dinner parties, and granted it's the holiday season, but it's not even December yet! Anyway, I thought it was funny.

I also stupidly googled my name late Wednesday night, just to see what would come up (I never do that; I know better than to do that), promising myself I would read no reviews... and ended up doing it anyway. Whoa! Did I get a boatload of fiery darts from that mistake. The reviewer didn't seem to think I'd done much of anything right in my books, and, in fact, spent the bulk of the words in the piece discussing all the things I'd done wrong, or at least not according to the reviewer's standards. Fortunately, immediately thereafter I did Bible class, which brought up the aforementioned fiery darts sent to destroy your mental attitude, and the part that zinged me was,

"'Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but only that which ministers grace to the hearer.' When's the last time you listened to some corrupt communication out of someone's mouth that didn't minister grace to you? It ministered judging to you. It ministered negativity to you. It ministered insecurity to you. Why? Because you listened to the garbage. You did it to yourself. You disobeyed God's commands to be careful what you listen to and how you listen and you said yes to the kingdom of darkness: 'Oh, do you have some more hits for me so as to corrupt my mental attitude?'"

Exactly what happened. All those things -- judging, negativity, insecurity -- were ministered to me. Even after that class, the next day when I had to keep on slogging through the book, the words from the review kept plaguing me until finally I just stopped, looked at it all and said, "Okay, yes, I'm a hack. I can't write. My secondary characters are poorly developed, my worldbuilding stinks, my dialog is mediocre, my characters don't seem real, I preach at unbelievers, and really, I'm just a hack. Fine. God uses the foolish to shame the wise, and even being a hack, even not having everything be wonderfully wrought and exquisitely rendered and blah, blah, He can still use what I do. He called me to do it, and gave me whatever hackish sort of gift I have, and so... who cares if that's what I am? I am what I am by the grace of God. Besides, I like what I do and there are others who like it, too. So, what's the big deal then? I think I'm actually quite comfortable with being a hack because then you have nothing to live up to!

Anyway, after that, well, I was still plagued with the negative voices, but I just kept on writing. Doesn't matter, you negative, accusing voices. You can accuse all day long. I know I'm not a terribly good writer, so it doesn't matter. God will use it anyway!

As of tonight I've sent in to my editor the weekend's worth of work: chapters 34, 36 and 37 (having already sent 35 last week). All that remains to go through are 38 and 39, then 40 to write. Maybe I'll get that done tomorrow. But even if not, I think the finish line is near.

Karen