Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Feeling overwhelmed :(

Sometimes I get overwhelmed with writing a novel.  Will it all come together?  Do I have enough description of scenes?  Enough Dialogue?  Are my characters interesting enough?
     Some days I approach the keyboard of my computer with total confidence.  I CAN do this...this is something that I love to do.  I have read enough books, that I should know how it's done.  My family is very supportive.
     Then there are the days where I drag myself to the computer and I feel so inadequate.  My self esteem is at an all time low.  I feel there is no way that I will be good enough...after all this is a very competitive business.  No one will want to read my book. 
     Today is one of those days where I am overwhelmed.  I am spending each day writing my manuscript and several hours devoted to learning the craft.  Will I ever make it??? 
     Don't get me wrong ....I LOVE writing and even learning the craft of writing, but I want to be a published writer...that is my goal.  But then again, isn't that every writers goal?  I don't write because I want to be famous....actually that is the part that is least appealing to me.  I hate the thought of being on national television promoting my book.  I see myself as a very private author...who just enjoys the art of WRITING!  I do realize that book signings and promotions are part of the package of being an author, but that is not why I want to be successful.
     I have a real passion to write books that are very clean.  I know that in this day and time I need to  clarify what I mean by clean.  Clean= no profanity and no explicit scenes (if you know what I mean).  I become so frustrated with all the wonderful authors out there that write beautifully (and who I use to read, before the Lord convicted me to set higher standards of what I should allow my eyes to take in) but they have incorporated so much profanity and graphic scenes that it ruins the story.
     Don't authors realize that if they cleaned up their books that they could sell more of them.  There are Christians out there that have set high standards and refuse to read such books.  Could it be that they are feeling pressure from the publishers to put certain things in to sell the book?  I don't know the answers but my plan (Lord willing) is to write top quality suspense novels that you can read without worrying about what is in it.  My goal is to write in the secular market, and hopefully have an impact on other authors to "clean" up the books that are being published.
     I have not decided exactly how my suspense will play out as far as being a Cozy, Mystery, or Thriller type book.  I am very interested in forensics and murders and how crimes are solved so my books would not be suitable for children.
    I do picture my books having humor in them as a balance with the suspense....I do not like gory, novels that are on the "dark" side....my books will be "edge of your seat" with some funny stuff thrown in here and there.
    Well I guess I have rambled on enough.....now back to writing. :)
   

Saturday, March 6, 2010

How will the Lord find you?


Be dressed, ready for service, and have your lamps shinning.  Be like servants who are waiting for their master to come home from a wedding party.  When he comes and knocks, the servants immediately open the door for him.  They will be blessed when their master comes home, because he sees that they were watching for him.  I tell you the truth, the master will dress himself to serve and tell the servants to sit at the table, and he will serve them. (Luke 12:35-37)

The day of the Lord will come like a thief.  The earth will be destroyed by fire and everything in it will be burned up.  Peter tells us what kind of people we should be.  "You should live holy lives and serve God, as you wait for and look forward to the coming of the day of God." 2 Peter 3:11-12

Hope of the future is not a license for irresponsibility in the present.  We need to not just wait, but wait forwardly.  We sometimes forget to look.

It is those of us who are strong in waiting and weak in watching that our Lord was speaking when he said, "No one knows when that day or time will be, not the angels in heaven, not even the Son.  Only the Father knows.  We must always be ready.....be looking, because you don't know the day your Lord will come.....The son of Man will come at a time you don't expect him" (Matt. 24:36, 42, 44)

We are to wait "forwardly" or be patiently vigilant.  Not so patient that we lose our vigilance or the other way around ...so vigilant that we lose our patience. 

Lord may I always be waiting patiently but vigilant for your coming and in great anticipation. 
God Bless!