Welcome back folks!

Today is part 2 of Pickin’ An Author’s Knows

with our favorite Texan author-photographer,

miss Jeanne Damoff.

.

If y’all were too busy painting your toenails or trimming the horse’s hooves

and you missed the Q&A for 1-10,

jump up & down like you got ants in your pants

… or just click here.

.

Today’s featured knows pickin’ author, miss Jeanne Damoff, writes at her self-titled blog, Jeanne Damoff. Her writerly and photographic contributions also are found at The High Calling and The Master’s Artist. And I reckon that’s only enough to get you started, so you had better hop-click-jump on over to her website where you can learn more ’bout this Texan-turbo-talent.

Now then, boys and girls (although I don’t rightly know what happened to all the menfolk; heeey youuu guuuuuysss — where in thunderation are you?), anyway, where was I? Okay, there I am. Here I am. Whatever. So, if you want to hold a big bit o’ God’s beauty, as shown and told and breathed through miss Jeanne, you better load onto the wiz-bang-whoosh book mobile machine. Go on and get your leg over the saddle. There ya go. Now hold on tight cause I’m ’bout ready to poke this horse in the hind-parts and blast us off to the nearest bookstore where you can purchase your own copy of Parting the Waters: finding beauty in brokenness. And don’t forget her co-authored gift book entitled, You and Me, Sister (with Dee Appel).

Alrighty then, without further ado, or horse poopoo, here is the continuation of miss Jeanne’s writerly advice. Oh yeah, if you wanna only learn about pen to paper stuff, you better dismount and skedattle right here and now.

Are ya off or on?

Why? Why do I need to be fully off or fully on?

Well, because you’ll get all hung up in the stirrup and that hurts so bad you’ll wet your Wranglers, and mostly because our guest today is gonna give you some learnin’ that’ll apply to your non-writerly life too. Your real-live, Jesus-with-skin-on life, right here on this third rock from the sun. Her answers will stretch you way beyond your story craft skills. It’s just a friendly heads-up, folks.

.

11.    What is the best advice you can give to an aspiring writer today?

Aspire not to be a writer, but to live deeply, fully, and well. Aspire to know God, to see Him in everyone and everything, and to slow down enough to tell yourself what you just saw. Then put that on a page or a blog or in an email to your friend. Because the only writers worth reading are the ones who have something to say.

12.    What is your favorite how-to book on the craft of writing?

Walking on Water by Madeleine L’Engle.

13.    One of mine is “Story Craft” by “Hank the Cowdog” author, John R. Erickson, and in it he says,

“Let artists return to the ancient notion that art and literature should nourish the human spirit, not poison it.” (p.106) Do you agree? Why?

Yes, please! True success boils down to two things: Love the Lord, and love people. If our art fails in these, we fail, no matter how much money or acclaim we receive.

14.    How do you balance, faith, family, work, and writing?

Almost every morning I bow my head and imagine myself in the throne room of the living God. I kneel at His feet and present my body to Him as a living sacrifice — His for worship, for intercession, for the great deed or the small one. And then, after a season of quiet, I enter the day, trying to take what comes as His gifts of grace to me. Of course, I still miss the gifts sometimes. I get cranky when someone cuts me off in traffic or the line at the post office is too long. But I find that, again and again, He woos me back and opens my eyes and turns my complaints to prayer and praise. Life becomes a romance, and this whole world a dance floor. Sometimes I stumble — especially when I think I know best and try to lead — but He holds me with strong arms and sets me back aright. I balance life best when I trust Him enough to follow, holding my agenda loosely.

And I find I have a lot more peace and joy when I rest in His unfolding plan, trust His timing, and believe He is working out plans formed long ago with perfect faithfulness.

15.    Most authors utilize various online social media venues (i.e. websites, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) to promote their books, and essentially themselves. As both a child of God and an author, how do you balance the secular endorsement ideals (that are heavy with pride, vanity, and self-exaltation) with Christ’s traits (that exalt humility, holiness, and surrender)?

Such a great question. I know a lot of Christian writers struggle with this issue, and I do as well. I have a website, blog, twitter, and facebook, and I do have info about my books, speaking, and photography (on the website and a little on the blog), but I really, really, really don’t like self promotion. I don’t like using people any more than I like feeling used. I don’t want to gain “friends” or “followers” merely for the numbers, and I don’t like being reduced to a mere number to boost someone else’s ego. A part of me understands that it’s good to get the word out about books, especially if those books actually do manage to love God and people, and I’ve tried to be a good steward of the message God has given me by making its availability known. But I can’t bring myself to do a lot of promotional stuff. My prayer has always been that God would place my writing in the hands of those who need it, and they would meet Him on the pages. I figure He’s big enough to make that happen.

16.    What image or quote hangs on your office wall that helps orient your internal compass?

I don’t have an office, and this quote doesn’t hang anywhere except in my head, but it definitely helps orient my internal compass. In C.S. Lewis’s Perelandra, the main character, Ransom, travels to Venus, stands in the gap between the woman and the tempter, and successfully prevents that planet’s fall (a la Genesis 3). In one of the final scenes, Ransom is trying to process what this phenomenal victory means in his life, and an angelic being says,

“Be comforted, small one,

in your smallness.

He lays no merit on you.

Receive and be glad.”

I can’t express how much I love that! Chances are pretty good that I’ll never accomplish anything as grand as saving an entire world, but whatever I do accomplish, it is because He has enabled me to do it — given me the ability and opportunity — and all the glory belongs to Him. This quote helps keep me grounded in reality and has essentially become my motto.

17.    Please tell us about your current project.

My current project is seventy-nine years old and has Alzheimer’s. Or would you rather hear about the one who’s ten months old and recently learned how to clap? As it is, most of my current projects are flesh-and-blood, not paper-and-ink. But I will tell you about my unfinished novel, because I love that story and believe I will one day finish it. It’s based on the life of a missionary I met in Thailand in 2009, and who has given me freedom to fictionalize her life. She asked only that I remain true to the actual timeline and her faith testimony. And, honestly, I couldn’t make her life more interesting or the God stuff more amazing if I made it up. The novel begins as two concurrent story lines — one the life of a troubled British girl no one would have predicted God would call to rescue young women from prostitution in the bars of Phuket. The other story line is the life of a Thai village girl, a beauty-loving soul who finds herself sucked into that dark world. The two women’s stories converge the day they meet in the bar.

I realize that, since I started this book in 2009, several novels with similar themes have been published, and I suppose I could chide myself for not getting it done and out there ahead of the pack. But I’d rather be thankful that these horrors are coming to light, injustice and oppression are being exposed, and people are responding. To God be the glory. Meanwhile, I’m comforted in my smallness. The river flows, and its gifts are many. I choose to receive and be glad.

.

* Thank you, miss Jeanne, for holding the candle close to your knows so we could pick us a winner. Good night, you are so ga-ross, Darlene. Anyway, we know that your whole heart and God-tainted soul was poured into Parting the Waters: finding beauty in brokenness and we’ve learned way more than authorship skills from you over the last few days. Your interviewer gal is humbled and and awed with how you drip God’s love into the thirsty hearts of everyone around you.

* And to my co-knows pickers, thank you for your presence here this week. It’s been a real gift to share miss Jeanne with you all. As keeping with tradition, let’s give her a ginormous Yeehaw! and thank you, ma’am.

Boohoo buckaroos, I don’t have another guest author lined up right now. You’d think that with such a snazzy title like Pickin’ An Author’s Knows that the pen-holders would be lined up by the dozens. But, alas they are ridin’ around in other pastures. Or just out to lunch. Or doing laundry. Or eating jelly donuts. Or somethin’ else. Too bad, so sad. Their loss, huh? Well, actually-factually, our loss, but since we wear our big kid underpants ’round here, we won’t waste any time fretting over it.

.

* Oh, Oh, Oh! I know (well, I think I know), that miss Jeanne would like it

if I mentioned the ministry that her daughter and son-in-love are involved with.

Here is a link to Arts Aftercare.

Also, here is a link to my favorite song by her loves.

Indeed, God-love and talent runs strong in those folks.

.

.

.

Welcome to our Monday edition of Pickin’ An Author’s Knows!

Today’s guest is the beauty full

miss Jeanne Damoff.

(BTW it’s her inner Spirit-led beauty that shines through, time and time again)

.

Before we became co-consipirators, err, weekly contributing writers at a now defunct, but then, full-on, functioning website (All The Church Ladies — hosted by the talented miss Karen Spears Zacharias), on occasion I used to see her images and read her words out here in BlogLand. But once we bumped shoulders as fellow church ladies, I learned more about her, namely her passion for Christ and her heart for Truth. Because of what I found, I started following her around and reading her writerly pieces all about the interwebs. She writes at her self-titled blog, Jeanne Damoff, The High Calling, and The Master’s Artist. In addition, if you want to learn more about this talented woman and even hear her sing, visit her website.

Somewhere along the way I heard of her book, Parting the Waters: finding beauty in brokenness. At the time I couldn’t afford to purchase it, but I had the local librarian order it in. It’s hard to read a book that I don’t own because I don’t know how to read without a pencil, pen, and highlighter in hand. Also, even the nice librarians tend to frown upon brand new books returned with dog-eared, and in this case tear-stained pages.

Parting the Waters is miss Jeanne’s first-hand account of her son’s drowning accident and recovery. Oh my land, my feeble words cannot do her work justice. It’s so much more than a story, it’s a reflection of how God uses ordinary people in extraordinary ways; it’s a washing in His love and mercy; it’s her family’s reality, dipped time and again in God’s strength. Miss Jeanne’s telling is indeed the finding of beauty in brokenness. Ugh.

(Just go to Amazon and read a few of the reviews… and then buy the book and read it for yourself. Actually, it’ll make you wanna be the bestest person God created you to be. So, in fact, a reading of this book will not only influence you, but it will impact those around you for His kingdom.)

In addition, miss Jeanne has also co-authored a gift book entitled You and Me, Sister (with Dee Appel). It is filled with stories, tributes, quotes & photography.

Folks, this is my first non-fiction author on the ole knows pickin’ circuit. And dear reader, be forewarned, her answers to my questions shine. I doubt you’ll need your sunglasses though, just a heart open to God’s great grace lived right out loud by my friend, miss Jeanne. Without further bumbling on my part, here is part one of her interview.

1.    Please tell us a little bit about your writing history.

My writing history is a bit like the rest of my history, an unfolding story, each new chapter filled with surprises. As long as I can remember I’ve always had a love for sound, the way words strung together make music. My junior year in high school I had an English teacher who awoke my imagination to the beauty of literature and writing, and gave me tools to discover the wonders of both. She set me free to sing on the page. Life provides the songs.

2.    What inspires and/or motivates you as a writer?

So many things. Beauty. Grace. People. Truth. The way morning light dances on a blade of grass. I’m most inspired when I’m living aware, truly entering the moments of my life, and not consciously looking for inspiration.

3.   Have you ever been, or are you currently, part of a writer’s critique group?

For several years I attended a weekly critique group, and after that I was part of an online critique group, but right now I’m not involved with one.

4.    Do you write with pen & paper, typewriter, or a computer?

Computer. I love to write with pen & paper, but my hand gets tired and achy. And the computer is so fast. It’s the only way my writing can keep up with my thinking.

5.    If you write via computer, do you use a specific author’s application or writer’s software program?

I use the Pages software on my MacBook Pro.

6.    What is your favorite part of a writing project? And least favorite part?

Hmmm. I kind of like all of it. I enjoy research if the topic is dear to my heart (and I only write about topics dear to my heart). Sometimes I plot, and sometimes I sit down and let the words come, and I like both. I love that moment when an idea drops fully formed into my head, like the story has already written itself and is waiting for me to give it form. (Wasn’t it Michelangelo who could look at a hunk of marble and see a finished sculpture?) Then other times, I find a story in pieces, and it’s like a treasure hunt. I love that, too. I guess if there’s anything I don’t love (or at least I don’t seem to be very good at), it’s the discipline of sitting down and plowing when the going is slow.

7.    Does your story unfold daily or do you write from a strict outline?

Oops. See above.

8.    Do you share your in-progress work with others (i.e. friends, family, etc.) or do you wait until you’ve completed an entire book before anyone else reads it? Why?

These questions are making me realize that I’m rather inconsistent in my methods. I’ve never written a whole book without extensive sharing before it’s finished, but not always with the same people or for the same reasons. (Of course, I’ve only completed two whole books and part of a third, so it’s not like I have a long track record to consult.) I think so many of these answers goes back to that first one. My writing history all the way up to this very minute, stretched out on our den sofa, answering these questions, has been an organic thing — like a river that changes moods with the terrain. I don’t know if that’s good or bad, but it is what it is. I do think it’s generally a good thing to get feedback on a work-in-progress for many reasons. A great editor is a gift from God. But I also believe every writer needs to find her own style and voice, and then severely ignore anyone who tries to change it. I mean, who wants to hear Dolly Parton perform opera?

9.    Please give us a glimpse of a day in your life, especially of your writing routine.

Truth be known, a glimpse of a day in my life (as the river now runs) includes a lot of “routine” but very little of it involves writing. The novel I started a few years ago sits untouched in a file, and I feel like I’m doing good if I publish a blog post now and then. But I have a sense that this season we’re living will one day find itself wrapped in words, placed in the hands of those for whom it is intended. I don’t know why other writers write, but personal ambition isn’t my driving force. I write to process life and to better understand God’s purposes, and I always pray my words will find their way to the intended reader. So, for now, I feel no urgency to be writing and submitting and building a career. These are quiet days, sitting with my mother in her dementia, comforting my father in this long good-bye, relishing time with my son, his wife, and their baby. These are days when the river runs so deep, its flow is almost imperceptible. I would be a fool to rush ahead and miss the gifts hidden beneath the surface.

10.    If you could step back in time, what would you tell yourself as a beginning writer?

Keep your eyes open, and enjoy the ride.

* Miss Jeanne, thank you oodles and oodles for sharing your knows with us today. I am so excited to post the continuation of your answers. I reckon we all have a lot to learn from your humility, strength, reliance on God, and how you drink deep and share His water with those around you.

* Friends, please give miss JD a grande Texas-sized Yeehaw! for her contribution here today.

Go here for the Parting the Waters book trailer video.

.

.

.

.

Welcome back to the program!

This is the continuation of my Pickin’ An Author’s Knows interview with the talented,

 multi-book author,who hails from a small town in Virginia,

mister Billy Coffey!

.

If’n you were out running bases or coaching the little league team

and you missed the Q&A for 1-10, please click your heals twice,

oh, no, wait a sec, wrong place-n-time, just click here.

.

Today’s featured knows pickin’ author, Billy Coffey, lives with his wife and two kiddos in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. If you have trouble finding him there, go knock at his online home, Billy Coffey, for his bi-weekly pieces; you can also find him scattered around the ole interwebs at places like The High Calling and The Master’s Artist. Once upon a time, he also wrote a weekly piece for miss Kathy, at her place, Katdish. And by doggies, don’t forget about his two published novels, Snow Day and Paper Angels.

Speaking of book shopping, boys and girls, it is time for yet another spin on the wiz-bang-whoosh book mobile machine!  Click on the book jackets below and you will be rocketed to an online retailer near you. Skip breakfast because it doesn’t feel very good once my turbo blaster takes hold and you’ve got a whirling belly full o’ FruitLoops. And if, by some small chance in all of your excitement and dizziness, you get the titles mixed up and ask the sales clerk for Snow Angels and Paper Days instead, uh, they will sit you down in the corner, give you an aspirin and a blankie, and let you recover before you make your purchase. Don’t ask how I know…

Here’s a taste of his words:

“I would have raised an eyebrow at that if I’d had one. “Still seems strange that someone like you could be pegged as a believer.”

She sat in her chair and regarded me, measuring her words before she dared to speak. I knew I’d asked Elizabeth before what she believed and what she didn’t as far as mater of the spirit, but she had deflected my questions and I had allowed it.

~ Paper Angels; chapter 23, p. 159

All right, let’s dismantle, no, dissemble, no, that’s not right either. Let’s dis-get off the wiz-bang-whoosh machine and have a seat right here for the continuation of our Pickin’ An Author’s Knows with mister Billy Coffey.

 11.    What is the best advice you can give to an aspiring writer today?

You have to be exposed on the page. Hold nothing back. Write without fences. Do your best work, read it over, tear it up, and then write it better. When the time comes to send that query, be patient. And when that query comes back with a form letter attached, always try one more time.

12.    What is your favorite how-to book on the craft of writing?

Stephen King’s On Writing. Because he is the best. Ever.

13.   One of mine is “Story Craft” by “Hank the Cowdog” author, John R. Erickson, and in it he says,

“Let artists return to the ancient notion that art and literature should nourish the human spirit, not poison it.” (p.106)

Do you agree? Why?

Yes and YES. I don’t get the notion that art and literature has to shock. To me, it has to uplift. It has to inspire. It has to show the reality of the world in all its darkness and despair, and it has to put a light shining in the middle of it.

14.    How do you balance, faith, family, work, and writing?

Prayer and coffee.

15.    Most authors utilize various online social media venues (i.e. websites, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) to promote their books, and essentially themselves. As both a child of God and an author, how do you balance the secular endorsement ideals (that are heavy with pride, vanity, and self-exaltation) with Christ’s traits (that exalt humility, holiness, and surrender)?

I’m the guy who really doesn’t care for promotion. I’m an introvert, so the very last thing I want is attention. Unfortunately, I need quite a bit of attention in order to keep publishing books, so there’s the conundrum. I think in the end, social media should be about saying hello rather than Buy my book! or Look how smart I am! or Let me see how much controversy I can create! I figure I’d rather have people buy into me and not just what I write.

16.    What image or quote hangs on your office wall that helps orient your internal compass?

I have written on an index card this quote by Elmore Leonard: “If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.” Elmore Leonard is one cool dude.

17.    Please tell us about your current project.

My third novel will be handed over to Thomas Nelson on May 1 and is about a little girl and her imaginary friend (and also a tornado, because tornadoes scare the heck outta me). In the meantime, I’m working on my fourth novel, which is about a boy’s death and the remorse that follows (because remorse scares the heck outta me, too).

.

* Thank you mister Billy, for letting us peer right up into your knows. It wasn’t gross at all. And I greatly appreciate your time and sharing.

* And to my fellow knows pickers, you don’t even have to wash your hands. Now, ain’t that grande? You betcha. Let’s give our guest a big ole Yeehaw!

.

Oh yes, let me see, you wanna a teaser for our next Pickin’ An Author’s Knows guest?

I dunno if she snaps beans, but she snaps photos.

And like ole JR, she lives in the lone star state;

her initials are even sorta similar.

Her book brings tears to eyes,

Hope to hearts,

and Truth

in Christ.

.

Lord willing and the creeks don’t rise, see you here next time.

Blessings.

.

.

.

Welcome back, folks!

Today is the third installment of

Pickin’ An Author’s Knows

My guest on the program is the grande talented

mister Billy Coffey.

If memory serves me right, I found and read Billy’s blog around the same time that my own had just became a Twinkie in my eye. Er, a tinkle. I mean, a twinkle, people. Anyway, this whole BlogLand  scene had barely become a twinkle for me and one fine day I followed a link from here to there and ended up at his place. Boy howdy, a girl could really get lost traveling like that. I think his profile image back then involved a lot of trees and maybe the back o’ his noggin. And he talked about whatever he had learned that day.

Do you remember?

Before we wander too far down memory lane, I’m gonna rally the team and stay focused so we can get on with Pickin’ An Author Knows. In addition to finding this small-town Virginia man at his namesake site, Billy Coffey, he writes contributing articles for The High Calling and The Master’s Artist. Once upon a time, he also wrote a weekly piece for his Barnabas of writerly encouragement, miss Kathy, at her place, Katdish.

Even though we started online writing around the same time, I am not even on deck in the published batter’s box of novel authorship. And mister Billy? Well, he’s connected a few times and has just rounded third. (Translation: Mister Billy Coffey has authored two published novels, Snow Day and Paper Angels, and has recently signed a book deal with Thomas Nelson for his third novel.) Well, I reckon it’s a tremendous plus that he actually-factually finishes his manuscripts, instead of just rambling down the bumpy wannabe-writerly road like some country folk I know.

So, have you read his books? Somehow he brings the reader along, it’s as if he tucks us into the main character’s pocket and sorta forgets they are there. Through his attention to detail, old-timer-esque wisdom, and everyday, small-town realism, he tells stories that bring hope to life right smack-dab in midst of great angst. And that’s no small task, boys-n-girls.

I reckon it’s high time I stop talking and let mister Billy Coffey shed some light into his own knows.

1.    Please tell us a little bit about your writing history?

I think I was always writing stories. Even before I could spell, I would find notebooks laying around the house and just write letters in groups I thought were words. That led to a column in the local newspaper when I was in high school, which led to about four manuscripts that will never see the light of day, which finally led to my first novel. I’m on my fourth now.

2.    What inspires and/or motivates you as a writer?

I wish I could say I’m trying to peel back the universe to touch the face of God, but I’m not. What really inspires me is anger. There’s a lot about the world that doesn’t make much sense to me, and I spend a lot of time asking Why. Why does this have to happen? Why do things have to be this way? Eventually, all of those Whys turn into What if’s, and that’s where a story is born.

3.    Have you ever been, or are you currently, part of a writer’s critique group?

Unfortunately, no. I think writer’s critique groups are a valuable commodity, but that commodity is hard to find here in Backwater, USA.

4.    Do you write with pen & paper, typewriter, or a computer?

Pen and paper. I tend to ramble on a computer and detach myself from the story I’m trying to tell. For me, using a pen is more organic (how’s that for a fancy word?).

5.    If you write via computer, do you use a specific author’s application or writer’s software program?

I’ve tried a few of those fancy software programs. All they did was confuse me. I’m not a very bright fella

6.    What is your favorite part of a writing project? And least favorite part?

That part when the story is just a seed in your mind and you’re tossing it over and over and everything seems shiny and possible? That’s my favorite. Sitting down every day until you have your 2,000 words? That’s my next favorite. Getting a third of the way into the story and realizing that it’s just not working? That’s my least favorite. And it seems to happen a lot.

7.    Does your story unfold daily or do you write from a strict outline?

I wish I was an outline guy. I really want to be an outline guy. I’m not an outline guy. I’ll have an idea in my head as to where I want to be at the end of each act. Other than that, I just sit down and start scribbling. It’s a scary thing, doing that. I would imagine Outline Guy doesn’t have that problem so much.

8.    Do you share your in-progress work with others (i.e. friends, family, etc.) or do you wait until you’ve completed an entire book before anyone else reads it? Why?

I share. Mostly because I’m always afraid I’m not doing it right. Yeah, I said that. That’s me being vulnerable.

9.    Please give us a glimpse of a day in your life, especially of your writing routine.

I get up at 5:30 and go to work, get home around 4:30. What happens in between is really too meaningless to share. I’ll carry a notebook with me and try to get as many words in as possible. Sometimes it’s quite a bit, other times not. What I don’t get done during the day has to get done at night. Two thousand words a day is my quota, and I am a hard taskmaster. My weekends are a little more structured, because then I can work in my office and pretend I’m a real writer.

10. If you could step back in time, what would you tell yourself as a beginning writer?

I would tell myself that the road to being published is a long one, a twisty one, one that will take a long time and involve an incredible amount of pain. But it won’t hurt nearly as bad as not writing at all.

.

* Thank you for your time here today, mister Billy. This is where I touch my hat rim and give you a cyber nod. And oh yeah, and a big ole Yeehaw! too.

Who knew that a little bit o’ nose pickin’ could yield such fine results? 

* Blog-reader folks, it’s your turn to holler out a Yeehaw! to our guest today. Go on. Get ‘er done.

Do we need a word o’ the day today? How’s about conundrum? Because that’s what you’ll face if’n you only have enough money to buy one book and both of mister Billy’s books are looking at you with big puppy-dog eyes from the bookshelf.

Conundrum:

The word is a noun. 

1. a confusing & difficult problem or question.

2. A question asked for amusement,

typically one with a pun in it’s answer; a riddle.

.

.

.

Lord willing and the creeks don’t rise, and I don’t get tossed in the clink for driving with my studded snow tires still on, I will meet you here again Wednesday.

.

.

Welcome back to the program, folks!

.

This is the continuation of my Pickin’ An Author’s Knows interview

with the multi-talented man in black

mister Glynn Young!

If you were out cuttin’ the rug at the local dance hall and missed the Q&A for 1-10,

please step back to Monday’s installment.

.

Our featured know’s pickin’ author, mister Glynn Young, is an award-winning speechwriter. We also find him around the interwebs at The High Calling,  The Master’s Artist, and at his personal blog, Faith, Fiction, Friends. In addition, he is a public relations professional and has penned lots o’ communication-related articles in journals and magazines.

.

Boys and girls, if’n you wanna take another spin on the wiz-bang-whoosh! book mobile machine, click on the book jacket below and you will be transported to a retailer near you where you can buy yourself a copy (or two) of his debut novel, Dancing Priest. Go on and trade some greenbacks for a couple of copies to leave on the pews at your local church. Now wouldn’t that be fun? Pen a little anonymous note inside the cover and ask the next reader to do the same and then keep giving the book away. Thinking aloud folks, thinking aloud. But it’s a good idea. If I do say so myself.

Do you wanna small bite of his fiction writerly skills? Sure ya do. It tastes good, I promise.

Michael looked expectantly at Sarah and held out his hand. She took it. He put his arm around her waist; she placed her hand on his shoulder. They began to dance.

Other dancers soon stopped to watch them.

She moves in every way like I move, Michael thought. It’s as if we’ve benn dancing forever. And perhaps we have.

The crowd remained silent, watching.

~ chapter 4, p.19

.

I”ve lit the turbo booster rocket engines and we’re ’bout ready for the remaining Q&A liftoff, but before we jettison outta here, please note that I have posed another question, specific to mister Glynn’s novel; he will answer it as a Special Feature Question at the bottom of the page. Folks, did you securely buckle your three-point harness? Did you pack a little snack? And maybe a root-beer? Here we goooooooooooooo:

11.    What is the best advice you can give to an aspiring writer today?

If you want to be a writer to be famous, don’t. If you want to be a writer because you have a gift to give, then do.

.

12.    What is your favorite how-to book on the craft of writing?

I like John Gardner’s The Art of Fiction and Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art.  I’m slightly embarrassed to say I have never read Stephen King’s On Writing.

.

13.   One of mine is “Story Craft” by “Hank the Cowdog” author, John R. Erickson, and in it he says,

“Let artists return to the ancient notion that art and literature should nourish the human spirit, not poison it.” (p.106)

Do you agree? Why?

Art and literature are acts of creation – and like the original act of creation, we should be able to look at it and say, “It is good.” If they don’t nourish the spirit, if they don’t inspire to be better than we are and to reach for something good and true, then why do them? (Yeah, I know: make money.)

.

14.    How do you balance, faith, family, work, and writing?

It’s difficult. Really difficult. It helps that our sons are grown, although I have a two-year-old grandson and another grandson due in about a month. I have a rather intense job, and I also write for The High Calling, The Master’s Artist and TweetSpeak Poetry. It’s a lot but the writing parts keep me disciplined.

What has also helped tremendously is to have the entire trajectory of the Dancing Priest story essentially written out, from Michael Kent as a young seminary student to old age. I know what’s going to happen – the major events and characters. Almost all of this was written between 2005 and 2010, when I set the entire Michael Kent saga aside. I had gone the usual try-to-find-an-agent-publisher route – but no one was interested. So I turned to another writing project. Then, in 2011, the publisher found me.

.

15.    Most authors utilize various online social media venues (i.e. websites, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) to promote their books, and essentially themselves. As both a child of God and an author, how do you balance the secular endorsement ideals (that are heavy with pride, vanity, and self-exaltation) with Christ’s traits (that exalt humility, holiness, and surrender)?

I have a blog, a web site and Facebook page for Dancing Priest, three Twitter accounts (including one for work), and a LinkedIn site. As I said before, you have to be always “on” for marketing your book. I try to keep that in perspective – it’s not about me. Writing is a very self-centered occupation, and it’s easy to make it all about me.  What helps is how I use social media like Twitter – my goal is to make 99 percent of what I tweet about other people.

16.    What image or quote hangs on your office wall that helps orient your internal compass?

I have two metal sculptures in my office at home – one of Christ on the Cross and one of the Last Supper. I have a small metal cross on my desk at work. I also have a ton of family pictures at both my work and home offices. And pictures of my grandson. Wait! I haven’t told you about my grandson!

17.    Please tell us about your current project.

Well, there are three of them.

One is the editing of the manuscript for the sequel to Dancing Priest. It’s currently without a title but the manuscript has been done for quite some time – it was originally part of Dancing Priest but was separated out when I had to cut for length. It’s very different from its predecessor – Michael Kent and Sarah Hughes are still the main characters, but they will face enormous challenges, including death, and then everything changes.

Second is the novella I mentioned. The draft is almost done, and then we’ll probably list it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble as an ebook. It’s about music, and where the creative spirit comes from.

Third is a novel about a terrible and deliberate miscarriage of justice, and the role redemption plays.  I have a title for it that I really like but I’m holding off saying too much about it.

There’s also this other idea I have, about a football player, that I’ve written notes for and actually worked a bit on, but it’s going to have to wait. It’s got a working title, too.

..

.Special Features Question:

Dunrobin Publishing appears to be a small, tight-knit company, please explain how they came to be the publisher of your novel, Dancing Priest.

I’ve known Mark Sutherland, the publisher, as a friend for almost five years. He had published two books previously — a children’s book and a meditation on the book of Malachi — but no fiction. He was looking to expand, and he knew I had been working on a novel for quite some time. He kept after me to let him read the manuscript, and I finally did. And then he asked me if I wanted to publish it. And my answer was — I don’t know. So he kept asking and I kept answering “I don’t know.”

.

This went on for about a year. And then last summer he said, “Are you going to let me publish your book or not?” And I surprised him and myself when I said OK. My reluctance stemmed from how personal this book had become — I had lived with it so long and had rewritten it so many times.

.

We worked out the contract — and we both felt a contract was critical to make sure we would anticipate everything we could think of to avoid anything that might damage our friendship. We’ve made only one amendment — and that had to do with screenplay rights. Mark has shown the novel to a screenwriter in Hollywood, who liked it as a novel but said “It’s not a film script.” Which was true. Mark is working himself on a possible film adaptation. But I’m not holding my breath — there are eight zillion film scripts floating around at any given time.

.

Mark, by the way, is a native Scot. I think he took Dancing Priest personally.

.

* Simply Darlene’s personal note: Good night Gertrude! What a blessing to have a publishing company hound an author. I think most would fancy being at that end of that rabbit trail. And me? Well, I reckon since the story came quite alive in my noggin’, I easily can picture it on the big screen. Of course I’d have to get off my keister and go to the theatre, but it could be arranged.  ;-)

 .

  Thanks you so very much mister Glynn! Your insight has been nothing short of insightful; it’s even been rather delightful. And to pay ya back, if you were in my neck o’ the woods, I’d take you for a spin around the ole dance floor. Maybe a tango? Or a cha-cha? Or some country-fried two-stepping? You pick. (Get it? Ha. You pick. Pick. Pick. Pick.) Then I reckon we’ll square it up when I take a bike ride with you, under a couple o’ conditions that is… one, we ride a tandem bike (because you really should do most of the pedaling) and two, you drive, steer, maneuver, whatever it’s called (because the last time I did, I crashed my friend and I into the side of a parked car).

Folks, thank you for cycling along with us. It’s been a rip-roarin, rootin-tootin time, aye?

Yeeeeehhhhhaaaaaaw! Till next time folks.

Oh, you wanna clue for who’s next on the Pickin’ An Author’s Knows circuit?

It’s a mister and I dunno if he’s got a sister.

But he’s sorta related to a morning brew

and has written a couple o’ books

one about winter

and another about someone

skilled with scissors.

.

* family photo: Taken at the college graduation of Glynn’s youngest son, Andrew, in May 2010. His wife, Janet; their eldest son, Travis, holding grandson, Cameron. I don’t know who snapped the photo, but I didn’t.

* cycling photo: Travis and Glynn. I didn’t take this one either.

.

 .

Howdy folks!

Today is our second installment of

Pickin’ An Author’s Knows

.

My  guest on the program today is the super duper talented

mister Glynn Young!

.

I stumbled upon this award-winning writer a few years ago; actually, I think it was back in the day of Random Acts of Poetry Friday prompts. “Hey, who is the guy in black? He really knows how to sling-n-string his words together. Wowzer,” was pretty much my fist reaction to meeting mister Glynn out here in CyberLand. And of course today I still toss plenty o’ oooohs & aaaahs & HowdHeDoThat’s? parade candy whenever I read his poetical pieces, book reviews, book club inputs, short stories and the like. Needless to say, he sets the writerly bar pretty dang high. I’m quite certain I can crouch low, stick my hind leg out , and roller skate underneath the bar in my slightly awkward, yet highly sought after Limbo technique, but  to make a successful high jump outta that bar? Well, I reckon there’s a reason it’s easier to skooch one’s hind parts under the bar than to sail over the top of it.

Right on girl, you don’t wanna hurt yourself.

Yeah, that’s what I thought. So, let’s get back to our knows pickin’ scene, shall we? Mister Glynn Young’s writerly achievements, involvements, titles and assorted what-nots include: award-winning speechwriting, oodles of communication-related articles in journals and magazines; he also is a contributing editor for The High Calling and a contributing writer for The Master’s Artist. Our man in black can be found almost daily at his place, Faith, Fiction, Friends where he tickles, or maybe he tackles, I just can’t be sure, our fancies with his pen-weilding skills. In addition, he has tangoed his way into many of our hearts with is debut novel Dancing Priest.

.

Dudes and Dudettes, have you read it? If not, get off the ole keister* and get yourself a copy. I’m currently on my second spin ’round the ole hardwood with it. Incidentally, this second read of mine is supposed to be a how-to lesson on grammar and dialogue, as well as a general figure-out-how-to-write-a-novel example, but by page two, I done gone and forgot what I was doing and merely got sucked into the story. Again.

It’s a good thing that our beloved mister Glynn has agreed to shed some light on my writerly nosiness (not to be confused with nosey noisiness) with his answers to my queries. And I reckon by the end of his two visits that we will be able to add a step or two to our own writerly fortes, or at least pretend like we know what we are doing a little better than before. So without any further ado, here is Part One of my interview with mister Glynn Young.

If’n ya like, please post your own question in the comment section below. If the answer is not covered in Wednesday’s conclusion, we may draw your query outta the ole hat as a Special Feature Question.

1.    Please tell us a little bit about your writing history.

My first attempt at a novel was at age 10. My father owned a printing business, and bound together a blank book with a paper cover for me to write in. I wrote a mystery story, something about children finding a secret passage through a grandfather clock.  In college, after a short flirtation with pre-med (too much chemistry!) I went into journalism. After a short stint on a newspaper, I went into public relations and got discovered by speechwriting (no one chooses to be a speechwriter; it finds you instead). That shaped my career for the next 30 years, and eventually helped lead to the writing of my novel Dancing Priest.

2.    What inspires and/or motivates you as a writer?

Just about anything. I’m serious. My novel started with meeting a young pastor in Germany in 2002 and six months later hearing a song on an airplane on my way to San Francisco.  I am almost finished a novella inspired by a YouTube video – one look and a story began to create itself. About four years ago, a terrible case of child kidnapping – the kidnapper lived right my town, and I biked past his apartment every day for years – inspired another novel, which is still (at this point) a manuscript.

I’ve learned that music can be a huge inspiration for me – classical, popular, ballads, just about anything.

3.    Have you ever been, or are you currently, part of a writer’s critique group?

For several months, I was part of an online critique group sponsored by the American Christian Fiction Writers. It was me and Dancing Priest with four ladies writing romances. I actually enjoyed the experience, and stayed with it until the group disbanded.

4.    Do you write with pen & paper, typewriter, or a computer?

I write primarily with a computer – desktop and laptop. For the scenes requiring emotion, I write with ink and paper. I learned a long time ago that I write more emotional stuff in longhand.

5.    If you write via computer, do you use a specific author’s application or writer’s software program?

I use Microsoft Word. I’ve used it at work since it was first introduced, and kept using it for my own writing.

6.    What is your favorite part of a writing project? And least favorite part?

My favorite part is the thinking through of characters, plot, action, everything. The story that became Dancing Priest was in my head for three years – completely thought through – before I typed the first word. Once I started putting it down on paper, it changed, but stayed remarkably close to the “thought” version. My least favorite part is likely what is every writer’s least favorite part – the marketing of what you do. It’s a full-time job in and of itself. And you have to treat it that way.

7.   Does your story unfold daily or do you write from a strict outline?

I wrote Dancing Priest from the story in my head. Other things – like the sequel currently in editing/rewrite mode – and the novella I mentioned were written from a general outline. Outlines are good, but not if I stick to them too closely.

8.    Do you share your in-progress work with others (i.e. friends, family, etc.) or do you wait until you’ve completed an entire book before anyone else reads it? Why?

No one, including my wife, saw Dancing Priest before the first completed draft manuscript was done. The story needs to be as complete as possible, I think. My wife is a great editor (we met in journalism school), but I told her I didn’t want her to edit it as she read it – I just wanted her to read it and tell me what she thought of the story. My publisher had to hound it out of me to read, and then hound me again for quite some time before I agreed to publish it. Weird, I know.  Dancing Priest is not autobiographical, but it had become a very real part of my life, and it took some time before I was ready to share it.

9.    Please give us a glimpse of a day in your life, especially of your writing routine.

I would love to have a routine. What I have is grabbing every free moment I can manage – early in the morning, at night, at lunchtime. The manuscript for Dancing Priest traveled with us on many vacations, and I could write and edit while my wife got ready in the morning (she’s a native Southerner, which means getting ready takes a while, and she’s not a morning person).

A typical day: up by 5, sometimes before, spend an hour or so writing, eat breakfast and then get ready for work, squeeze in some writing time occasionally at lunch (but my schedule is such that I can’t do that very often). Then it’s work, then home, dinner and perhaps a little time squeezed in at night.

Personally, I don’t think it’s much time. My wife would disagree.

10.   If you could step back in time, what would you tell yourself as a beginning writer?

Believe in yourself and what you’re doing. The entire world conspires to discourage you, so just keep at it.

.

.

* Mister Glynn Young, thank you for sharing your knows with us today. I’ve learned a lot and look forward to the conclusion.

* Folks, thank you for reading along. As per our tradition, let us give our guest a collective Yeehaw! See ya ’round these parts again Wednesday. (Lord willing, the creeks don’t rise, and my internet connection gremlins stop swinging wilding from my satellite dish.) 

Pssst. If’n you are having problems leaving a comment, please leave it a my old site or email it to me and I will post it for ya — well, that is, if those smartypants satellite messer-uppers lay low and leave me alone. Naughtly little fellers. Someone needs a spankin’ around here.

* Keister: word of the day; Noun.

It means “a person’s buttocks”

&/or “a suitcase, bag, or box.”

Go on and see

how many times 

you can use it in your

 everyday conversations.

.

.

.Welcome back to the program, folks!

This is the continuation of my Pickin’ An Author’s Knows interview

with the lovely-n-talented

miss Laura J. Boggess!

.

If’n ya missed the Q&A for 1-10, please

 click hereabouts.

.

.

Let us recap a bit o’ bio about our featured author, Miss Laura Boggess. She is a content editor at The High Calling where she frequently leads in-depth book discussions and sometimes writes articles. And when her heart overflows with the good stuff of God, she posts words and photos at The Wellspring. Miss Laura Boggess has authored two young adult fiction books in a series called Wings of Klaio: Brody’s Story and Derek’s Story.

.

Click on the book jackets below and wiz-bang-whoosh! you will be airlifted to a retailer near you where you can buy the books. Buy ‘em for your own self, for some teens in your life, for your church youth group, and/or for your local library.

..

We are about ready to launch into the remaining Q&A, but please note that Miss Diana asked a very important, multi-faceted question in the comments yesterday. Miss Laura will address it as a Special Feature Question at the bottom of my string of queries. Alrighty then boys-n-girls, grip the edges of your collective seats because we are good to go for some more Pickin’ An Author’s Knows. Let ‘er rip, sister! Er, let’s carry on, shall we, my sweet little dear. (Nope, you’re right, Let ‘er rip sounds way better.)

.

11.    What is the best advice you can give to an aspiring writer today?

Make sure you are filling yourself. If you don’t seek that deeper well then it will be very easy to forget the reason you began writing in the first place. Let love lead. When the writing becomes a burden…listen to that voice and find the place where it is joy again. Good writing requires living well. There are endless opportunities to be inspired. Don’t stay sequestered on the page and forget there is a world of wonder out there.

 .

12.    What is your favorite how-to book on the craft of writing?

I love The Right to Write by Julia Cameron. But, honestly? I haven’t read a lot of these types of books.

.

13.   One of mine is “Story Craft” by “Hank the Cowdog” author, John R. Erickson, and in it he says, “Let artists return to the ancient notion that art and literature should nourish the human spirit, not poison it.” (p.106) Do you agree? Why?

Definitely agree. I believe that when we create, we are taking part in bringing the Kingdom of God here. It’s what Amy Sherman (I’m reading her book right now—Kingdom Calling) calls foretastes of the Kingdom. She says that whenever we foster the qualities of the Kingdom of God right here, right now (things like beauty and justice and peace and wholeness and reconciliation…)—that this is Jesus pressing into the world and we are participating in making the Kingdom a reality.

.–

14.    How do you balance, faith, family, work, and writing?

Balance? What’s that?  I struggle with this every day. I try to live my life by Matthew 6:33. Sometimes it’s easier than others.

15.    Most authors utilize various online social media venues (i.e. websites, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) to promote their books, and essentially themselves. As both a child of God and an author, how do you balance the secular endorsement ideals (that are heavy with pride, vanity, and self-exaltation) with Christ’s traits (that exalt humility, holiness, and surrender)?

See my previous answer. It is a very real struggle. But it can be a beautiful thing too. Think of how these social media venues are being used for God’s glory in such a time as this. Who knew? We are entrusted with much and it is our responsibility—our privilege—to use it well.

.

16.    What image or quote hangs on your office wall that helps orient your internal compass?

Ha! My writing office is my couch. I try to fill my home with many quotes to inspire. My favorite is the verse I have painted around the top of the ceiling in my laundry room:  Do everything without complaining or arguing…(Philippians 2:14—can you tell how much I struggle with laundryJ). In my office at the hospital where I work, I have pinned the words of “Do it Anyway”, often attributed to Mother Teresa. http://prayerfoundation.org/mother_teresa_do_it_anyway.htm

The wisdom of those words helps me to focus on the bigger picture in that particular environment.

.

17.    Please tell us about your current project.

I am currently fleshing out a book idea with a friend who also happens to be my agent now. (that sounds weird to my ears, since we have been friends for a while). He is encouraging me to look deeper into my Playdates with God (which is a recurrent post I do at my blog on Mondays) and explore the joy I have found there. It’s been fun and exciting and I don’t know where God will take it but I’m just going to enjoy the process. It’s such a gift to have others to encourage along this journey!

.

.Special Feature Q&A: 

* How much of what you write comes out of your own personal story, most particularly the painful and difficult parts?

* And how much from the lighter, more joyful parts?

* I wrestle with finding the right balance between the two and wonder if anyone else does, too.

Diana,

That’s a good question and one I think we all struggle with. I would have to say that a lot of what I write comes from the more painful parts of life. Writing helps me process through  grief and hard places. In fact, both of my books were written from the place of struggling with some of the dysfunction in my own family of origin. Brody’s Story especially was inspired by my growing up life.

At one of the concerts we went to last weekend, Alison Krauss joked about how all her songs are “so sad”. I’ve heard her speak before about how she knows she has to record a song if it makes her cry. I think this is one way we–as writers–join in God’s work: the way we name, put words to a thing. It’s one way the Holy Spirit in us can reach out and touch the holy in others. I have found that it’s usually the essays that I write from the pain that seem to touch others deeply. We long to be named…to give word to the ways our days are filled.

As I grow in my writing, I have learned to write from where I am, gently restraining the painful stuff and letting joy spill over in ways that I hope speaks to my readers. I think that when we are transparent (without being overly self-indulgent) people receive that with gratitude.

.

Let’s give a big ole Yeehaw! for miss Laura. Thank you for letting us pick a bit o’ your writerly knows this week. I had a grand time, and as a bonus, I didn’t even need my hand sanitizer. Whew. That’s good because I don’t like it when it gets my keyboard all gooey. Ga-ross. Anyway, I’ve learned a lot and I am ever so grateful that God brought us together all those years ago in the comment box. Your kindness and passion and encouragement come across in every single thing you write.

.

May God continue to bless you as you wield your pen in His mighty name!

.

Folks, my second guest author on Pickin’ An Author’s Knows will  a.) ride  b.) tango  c.) write  d.) a, b & c   his way onto the screen whilst we pick at his knows sometime early next week.

Do you have a guess? I just gave you a clue. Or two.

.

Please pray for our brothers and sisters in Texas,

I reckon many are in need of comfort, peace, grace,

and God’s mighty hand in their lives.

.