Fifith Tuesday Surprise!

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Since Sunday April 5 is Easter, the most holy of all days for Christians, I thought I'd give you a taste of my Easter poetry from An Easter Walk, copyright 2009. Enjoy!
(Both of my devotionals are available as ebooks at Amazon.com.)

Amazon

During His Easter Walk

He found
    No kingdom of men,
        But of Heaven.
    No gold for a crown,
        But thorns.
    No bone was broken,
        But a heart.
    He saved other,
        But not himself.
He gave     Us the solemn sacrifice
    Of Christ,
    Savior of our souls
    Giver of life.

And 

Source

During Your Easter Walk

Have you experienced the Living Lord?
    Seen the Cross?
    Been to the tomb?
    Felt His scars?
    Seen the storm pass?
    Felt the earth tremble?
    Been filled with joy?
    Felt faith take flight?
    Your soul filled with calm assurance?

During your Easter walk,May you come to the Cross
And see for yourself—
He lives!

May your Easter be blessed and your walk always with Him.

Don Maass Workshop, FRIENDLY FIRE Update, and a Reminder

It's a busy week and I'm learning so much! This is the week of WFWA's Don Maass Workshop on Inner vs Outer – Writing with Emotional Power. The description is:

What’s the best balance between inner vs. outer, telling vs. showing, emotions vs. actions? This hands-on writing workshop by master craft instructor and agent Donald Maass will equip you with the techniques that give manuscripts high emotional force.

Mr. Maass has retooled his trademark ideas for Women's Fiction specifically, and I'm going to soak it up and then apply the new craft to FRIENDLY FIRE. Just answering the Introduction Questions helped me fine tune my WIP already. Check them out!

1- What do I want my readers to feel most strongly as they read my novel.
Determination, love, and triumph: My MC must overcome depression, grief, and fear of aging. The determination to accomplish this is key to her growth. Love is the reason she finds the determination to reach out and help an abused foster child. And finally, triumph from making a child's life better and facing the wounds from both of their pasts.
2- What do I like best and least about my MC?
I love my MC's ability to rise up out of depression from losing her husband of 30+ years and the long-time grief of childlessness. Even though she is getting older and slower, she still has the strength to put herself on the line--heart, mind, body, and soul--to help a sexually abused foster child. Though she thinks she no longer has the strength to do much, still she tries. Once she has a plan to help, she isn't easily deterred.
3- Pick a blah scene.
Oh, there are many to choose from! I have narrowed it down to her dark hour when she thinks she must give the child up to her newly released from prison father. It's a tough scene where she tries to come to terms with relinquishing her desire to be a mother yet again.

If I'm a bit absent around the blogosphere, you'll know where I am. Working hard on my assignments for this workshop.

FRIENDLY FIRE Update: I'm nearing the halfway mark in my reread/edit/hole filling mission. Some of the scenes have been good, but others are horrid. ;-) That's the way writing is, isn't it?

Easter Reminder: Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. If you'd like a Lenten devotional, AN EASTER WALK is now available as an ebook.

 Here's the blurb from Amazon:

Need to get ready for Easter? Along with the new spring clothes, candy eggs, and lilies, take a walk with Christ to Jerusalem and the Cross. Join the crowds at the Temple and the Last Supper in the Upper Room, and find His message of peace and hope. Preparing for Easter is the focus of the Season of Lent. Many see it as a time of repentance for sins committed during the year and reflection on Christ’s sacrifice. An Easter Walk from Palm Sunday to the Ascension provides forty devotions and is a great way to contemplate Christ’s purpose and mission and to consider the importance of following Christ’s steps throughout the year. An Easter Walk is a companion volume to A Christmas Walk.

Zan Marie Steadham is the author of An Easter Walk and two books on church history. She is a 2009 Georgia Author of the Year Nominee. She writes fiction, devotions, and poetry and is a member of a member of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association and the CompuServe Books and Writers Forum.

I hope you have a fun and productive week of writing, reading, or just relaxing. ;-)

The Rules of Writing

You know you have to sit and stay to write. But so many things call you away--the clothes dryer buzzer, the timer on the stove, the phone ringing, that annoying beep that sounds when you have another post on Facebook, etc. etc. etc.


Source


So how do you stay put and do the job, the words, the edits, that writing requires? Is it a to-do list, accountability partner, a critique partner who demands to see what you're working on now, or is it just sheer determination?

What motivates you to write? The story? The characters? The theme? I'll admit to all of these. My Cherry Hill books are about family, pain, loss, abuse, wounds, and how people cope with them. Without the people of Cherry Hill, I wouldn't have a story. Once I learned who they were, the themes jumped out and grabbed me. Research has expanded my compassion for those in the same situations. Writing has made me a better person.

So back to you. What makes you Sit! and Stay! for the job? How do you keep working on your WIP?

Besides if all else fails, try this option
How I Stopped Procrastinating
LOL! I'll try the rules, thank you. ;-)

Announcement! My buddy Elle Druskin got me on Twitter. Check out the neat message for AN EASTER WALK she posted HERE. You can follow me on Twitter @ZanMarieS.

Happy New Year and...

...Happy Birthday to me! 

Yep, today is my birthday. As the years pile up, gifts become less and less important to me, but this year, I have two that take the cake.

• My dearest John bought me a Kindle Paperwhite to replace my Kindle 3. He did buy it in November, but I knew it was my birthday gift. ;-)
• My good blogging buddy, Charlotte Rains Dixon, writing teacher, coach, and author, gifted me with a 25 page critique. It's due to her today. And I'm excited to get her feedback.

BTW, if you haven't read Charlotte's EMMA JEAN'S BAD BEHAVIOR, you should check it out.  Also check out my interview of Charlotte HERE.

January is a busy month. Not only am I trying to fill in all the last holes in FRIENDLY FIRE, but I'm also a co-Program Coordinator for the Write-A-Thin at Women's Fiction Writers Association.

I hope your new year is going well. May all your resolutions be achieved and may you be happy, healthy, and rested. ;-)

And brrrrr! It's only 5 this morning here in Georgia--the coldest it's been in decades. Bundle up, folks!

Announcement!!!!

 

A CHRISTMAS WALK, DEVOTIONS FOR ADVENT and AN EASTER WALK are now available as ebooks at Amazon
Check this out. And this.
Needless to say, I'm excited. ;-)

Celebrate the Winners!

~~Sadly, all celebrations must come to an end. Today is the day to reveal the winners of my Celebration Blogfest in honor of my 100th post and 200th follower. I'm thrilled to say that Random.org worked its magic. The winners are:
First Place
L. of Notes from the Jovian Frontier

Second Place
J. L. Campbell of The Character Depot

Third Place
S. P. Bowers of S. P. Bowers

L. let me know which book is you choice--Stephen King's On Writing, Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird, Steven Pressfield's The War of Art, or signed copies of my An Easter Walk  and A Christmas Walk. I'll leave a comment with instructions for collecting your prizes on your blogs with my email address and email you if I have your address.

~~Thanks to you all for commenting and helping me celebrate!

All Sold Out!

~~Imagine my surprise this morning when Diane Quimby, the owner of Wiley's Book Exchange and a local author, called to tell me that the store had sold out of both A Christmas Walk and An Easter Walk, and people were asking for them by name. Needless to say, I quickly went to Carrollton to take more of both for the shelves. The article in the Times-Georgian is working wonders. If you haven't read it yet, HERE it is. People are buying last minute Christmas gifts and my books are finishing their lists. If you can't get to the store, you can buy my books online at my website HERE.
~~I'm walking on air as you can imagine. This is so exciting. Next time, I won't be as shocked when the store calls and says, "We need more copies, please." ; )

MeccaFest

It's coming this weekend--October 9 and 10, from 10-5, MeccaFest 2010. If you like good books, come by the CCWC tents near the steps for children's books, devotionals, and novels. Throw in a little women's humor and you have a great selection. My devotionals--An Easter Walk and A Christmas Walk will be on sale both days. Members of the Carrollton Creative Writers Club will be presenting "Local Voices" in the Mabry Theatre of both days. Saturday is 10:30 AM to 3:00 PM and Sunday's readings will be 11:00 AM to 3:30 PM. We will read excerpts from novels and memoirs, poetry, and children's stories. I'm reading at 11:30 on Saturday and at 1:00 on Sunday. Both days will be excerpts from my novel in progress, Mother's Day. Be sure and stop by and say hello.

The Day After

~~It's the day after the 46th Georgia Author of the Year Awards and I didn't win. And that's okay. I have learned so much and I still get warm fuzzies from seeing my book on the table with the other nominees. Check out the photos. My book is the third from the left on the top row. It's a funny thing how something so simple as seeing the cover you designed standing out and shining can be. Simple and moving. An Easter Walk was nominated in the Creative Nonficiton Inspirational category.
~~I'm thankful to John for taking me to the ceremony. We met Joann Dunn, and Frank and Mary Rogers for supper then went to the KSU Center. Joann was nominated in poetry for The Implied Now and Frank's book, Upon a Crazy Horse, netted him a nomination in First Novel. That's a fine sampling of the creative output of the Carrollton Creative Writing Club. Here's to all of you for the lovely words you spin. ; )

It's Been a Good Week...So Far

~~How's this for a good week? On Sunday night I gave the long awaited talk at church and sold eight more books and on Monday night I was interviewed for a TV show. Tuesday I got to see the DVD of the show and WOW! It's good!
~~The talk Sunday night was titled "Devotional Worship" and related my ideas for active reading of scripture. It is the process that led to An Easter Walk. Since my active reading takes the form of writing, the rest, as they say, is history. I also have learned the connection of devotion and worship. We usually think that the two words have very different meanings--one is private and the other a group activity--but actually, the two words are defined by each other. So, my talk revolved around both and how to create active, productive quiet time. The group who heard it was very complementary. When I asked John if he thought the program went well, he said, "Of course!" like he couldn't imagine me thinking otherwise. ; ) My mother agreed.
~~The interview was for the program, "Reach Out and Touch" that is produced by my friends, Faye and Gene Agan. Their program is part of the line up on the Unity Broadcasting Network. UBN is based in Boonesville, Mississippi and has several affiliates in Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Missouri. Along with their standard broadcast, UBN is an online entity as well. My interview will air online and on the network on Tuesday March 30 at 2 PM. Check out http://www.ubntv.org/ on that date if you have a chance. Unfortunately, the program is not archived, but the Agans kindly gave me a DVD of the finished product. If I say so myself, it's good. John agrees. I also have permission to copy the DVD for sell at book signings if I wish. Faye and Gene are good friends, don't you think? By the way, we plan to do other programs in the future. Can Christmas be far away? Not if I get A Christmas Walk is ready in time. ; )
~~So it's Wednesday and I'm waiting. Just what other good things can happen this week? Your guess is as good as mine. ; )

You Want Me to Talk!?

~~Okay, I asked for it, but preparing to do a presentation is different than writing. ; ) I'm speaking at my church on Sunday March 21 about An Easter Walk. The program will also include how to make Bible reading more fulfilling. It's the very process that created my Easter devotions to begin with.
~~I started this as a challenge from my pastor Steve Davis. He challenged us to prepare for Easter and Lent for as long as we prepared for Christmas and Advent. My answer to the challenge was to read all the scriptures about Holy Week. As I read, I began to slow down and really respond to the words. Writing my responses became short devotions. I then researched the traditions of Lent and found the length of forty days. I had no clue if I would find forty topics to write about. Guess what? I did. As I wrote, I realized I was being led to share the devotions with others. And that's how An Easter Walk came to be written and published.
~~I'm currently writing a companion volume, A Christmas Walk. I need twenty-nine devotions for a full-length Advent season plus Christmas Day. At the moment, I have no clue what will be in the last four or five. Somehow I think the source of the forty Easter devotions will provide. Isn't God good?
~~If you are interested in a copy of An Easter Walk, click on the picture of the cover to the right. The link will take you to my website. Happy Easter!

It's Official!

~~It's official! The first printing of An Easter Walk has sold out--in 35 days! How's that for a brisk selling title? John and I are thrilled and amazed. I have already placed the order for the next printing and expect the new copies to be here Christmas week. If you didn't get your copy yet, there will be more soon. I've got several plans to sell the next order. Who knows? Maybe I'll learn to "think big" like my Uncle Ralph admonished today at the family party in Rock Springs. Of course, the family bought the every last copy I had. ; )

~~To order a copy when the next shipment comes in, email me at zanmariess@gmail.com