C.S. Wachter's Blog: Hope, Hearts, and Heroes, page 12
June 25, 2021
Remembering to find the good in the purpose God has set for me
June 23, 2021
For the Love of History
June 21, 2021
“Businessman”!?
June 18, 2021
I AM A TURTLE
Photo by Aynaz shahtale on Unsplash
I AM A TURTLEI am a turtle. Curiosity prompts me and, in time, my little, green head will inch out from its protective shell, and I will sense my surroundings. If all is fair, forward momentum is called for; if not, the safety of my shell is sought once again. You see, I suffer from phobias. In many cases, doing something that would be simple for another person is hard for me. And I don’t think I am alone. Everyone fears something. At times the fear is rational but at other times, like in my case, it is irrational.
Now, you might be asking yourself, what is she talking about? And what could this possibly have to do with writing or reading—or Hope, Hearts, or Heroes for that matter? As an author, everything. As a reader … everything.
Please allow me to explain. I will start with a question. Why do you read? Reading nonfiction is usually done to gain information, knowledge. But fiction, why read fiction? Why do we enjoy fables, romances, historical fiction … fantasy? Well, let me ask you another question. Why did Jesus teach in parables? The answer to both questions is the same. Because we humans are wired for story; that’s how God made us. From the time we are toddlers, we seek out and enjoy stories. Even the creation itself came about through God’s Word. Speaking life into lifeless emptiness, God spoke the first story, a marvelous, fantastical love story made real.
So, what does this have to do with me being a turtle? I will admit the truth with blunt words. I am a coward. Yes, it’s true. Writing is fun, fulfilling, and creative. Reading reviews, not so much. Oh, don’t get me wrong, most of the reviews for my books have been uplifting and positive. But not all. And, of course, those few negatives are the ones I dwell on. I moan, cringe, and retreat into my protective shell while bruising my already deflated ego with harshest words of a negative nature. I vow to pull all my books from Amazon and to never expose anyone to my horrid writing again. (Delusional negative self-talk be gone!)
The ability to write is a gift. Writing well, however, requires one make efforts to improve her craft. Learning things like “showing” rather than “telling,” POV, Deep POV, avoiding head hopping and a host of other topics provide fodder for the beginning author. Books, conferences, and classes abound. And when other authors review a piece of work, they can be brutal in pointing out every failure to follow the “rules” and the “pseudo-rules.”
The turtle inside me is learning, however, not to retreat. Not everyone will like what I write. And that is okay. We have different tastes for what we read. Like what we eat. Can you believe some people don’t like chocolate? But I digress…
Back to the point: why do I write said novels, short stories, and flash fictions even if my inner turtle is afraid? Let’s revisit my original question, why read fiction—and for me, specifically, fantasy? And here is the core of the apple. Despite my cowardice in real life, I long to be a hero. Deep down, I think most of us do. I love stories where I can feel one with a character who faces overwhelming odds, stands up to his fears, and prevails.
I write what I want to read. My hope is there are others out there, like me, who want to read the same kinds of stories. Novels that honor God, pit light against dark, good against evil, truth against lies. I write novels without unnecessary sex or foul language, and most especially where the Lord’s name is NOT dishonored; novels where romance is worked into the larger story and love is the deep and everlasting kind.
In The Seven Words series there is darkness. Demonic evil is real—just read the Bible—and there is demonic evil in that series, but there is light as well. Like a candle calling a traveler home, light shines in the darkness. The deeper and darker the well, the brighter the light.
Writing and reading touch my heart and give me hope. More than just entertain us, fiction can lead us into truth and hope and faith. I pray my heroes will touch your hearts with hope as well.
Blessings. C.S. Wachter
C. S. Wachter lives in rural Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, with her husband Joe, a German Shepherd named Rin, and two cats, Shadow and Auggie. She and Joe have been married for more than forty years and have three sons, one grandson and one granddaughter.
Ms. Wachter earned her degree in Performing Arts and English Education from Rowan University in 1975. She compares developing a character’s perspective to preparing for an acting role. As a life-long lover of books, she has read and enjoyed a variety of genres. However, after reading J. R. R. Tolkien in middle school her favorite has been, and remains to this day, Fantasy with a Christian perspective.
Published Works
2018
The Seven Words Epic Fantasy series
The Sorcerer’s Bane (Indies Today 2020 award winner in Religion)
The Light Arises
The Deceit of Darkness
The Light Unbound
2019
Demon’s Legacy: A Worlds of Ochen Short Story (based on The Seven Words series)
A Weight of Reckoning (sequel to The Seven Words series)
2020
Stone Sovereigns YA Fantasy duology
Lander’s Legacy
Lander’s Choice.
Various Flash Fiction pieces for Havok and in their anthology Stories That Sing
Website: https://cswachter.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cswachter/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17719497.C_S_Wachter
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ch.ris8443
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CSWachter1
MeWe: : https://mewe.com/i/chriswachte
MeWe:
June 15, 2021
New Christian Fantasy Author – Max B. Sternberg
Hello everyone!
Max B. Sternberg here! Never thought to do a blog before, never thought to do a lot of things. So where to begin?
I suppose I could start with how I got here.
It was when we were house sitting for family, after I accepted Christ. We had just had a pretty critical moment in my spiritual growth and development. My wife and I were asleep and I woke up to a terrifying experience.
I couldn’t move. I was quite literally, paralyzed. You see, normally I could see in the faint light from the alarm clock. Normally, there was enough dim light that I would just reposition and fall back asleep. Instead, there was something else in the room. A dark cloud hovering above the bed. It wasn’t moving, and what’s worse, there were two red eyes emanating in the middle of the cloud staring right at me.
Yeah, so not a normal night at all.
So there I was, paralyzed in fear. Having never seen anything like this before, I couldn’t think of what to do. All I could feel was malevolence, the sheer hatred coming from it. I wanted to turn my head or reach out to my wife to shake her awake. She was a Christian longer than I was, maybe she knew what to do. My arms couldn’t work either. All I could do was stare.
Then the thing spoke. I am talking deep rumbling, lower timbre than James Earl Jones voice grating at me that said one simple sentence that I will remember for the rest of my life.
“I am not done with you yet.”
It was all I could do to stutter and sputter the name of Jesus Christ out loud. Saying something, anything to the cloud of darkness above me. After the third or fourth attempt it escaped my lips, and the dark cloud with the eyes growled and dissolved away. The dark bedroom was illuminated by the blue digits from the nearby alarm clock.
I could move again, and immediately noticed that for the first time in my life, I had broken out into a full body sweat and the sheets were soaked around me. I shook my wife awake, and explained what happened. Then I showered, and bless her she changed the sheets at three in the morning.
Back then, almost eight years ago, all I could think was that this being sought to petrify me in fear. Yet it was the name of my savior that saved me. His name is power over darkness, and at it, every knee will bow. What sought to destroy me early in my walk with God, only solidified my faith in that I was on the right path.
In a sense it was right, it was not done with me yet. I struggled with a lifelong issue that few get freedom from. It did not want to let go of me in the slightest. It wanted to enslave me, and my family, and ruin the good thing that God had blessed me with. I’ve experienced my hills and valleys since then, and the road has not been easy, but it led me here.
Now, many years later, I know what it was. Even further, I know in hindsight what it was trying to do. Because in Romans 8:28, we know that all things work towards the good of those who love God and are called to his purposes. Not just some things, ALL things. Not good for any application, but for being called to HIS purposes.
Since starting to write, I’ve found my purpose. I love sharing this world I’ve imagined with others. I love the characters, both named and unnamed. I love the plot and intrigue, and knew that I would incorporate several themes into the series. Above all, I knew before I even finished the story who the main antagonist was going to be.
So yes, I am the author of the Darkness Overcome series. It is a series that is self published, that I hope that you thoroughly enjoy. I hope you share it with your family and friends, and that lives are saved. I hope people are positively changed through the many truths woven through into the story.
But truth be told, I also wrote this series for myself. It is therapeutic in a way, to write about overcoming your demons, your darkness. This series is also me saying, “I am done with you!” I will drag you into the light. I will expose you for what you are. And in the mighty name of Jesus, you will see that the evil you tried to accomplish will just be used to further Christ’s kingdom! I will NOT be shaken!
This is the part of my blog post where I would tell you to buy my book. I would appreciate your support and patronage. If you go to MaxBSternberg.com, you can see a couple free chapters to gauge your interest, look at media and reviews, or submit fanart on the series to be posted on the site.
Regardless, I would also encourage you to face your demons. Stand against them, and in Jesus’ mighty name say, “I am done with you!”
June 14, 2021
HOW MISTY DREAMS CAME TO BE
HOW MISTY DREAMS CAME TO BEby Josephine StrandPeople some...
HOW MISTY DREAMS CAME TO BE
by Josephine Strand
People sometimes ask me what inspired me to write Misty Dreams. My response is always: my characters. Richard and Clare came to life long before the plot was even conceived. The story evolved around them as I wrote it. It was my first attempt at a full-sized novel, and I had no concept of how to plot a story. The writing process was one long exercise in perseverance, as well as a learning experience.
Through my teens I wrote short stories that invariably ended up in the waste basket, such was the level of my self-confidence. I began writing longer fiction in my late twenties when I was living in Italy, after my daughter was born. Whether motherhood sprouted an extra creative gene in me or made me more focused, I don’t know, but I started writing with more purpose, often well into the night hours when baby and father were asleep. In between caring for my daughter, housework and helping my husband in his business, I wrote a series of novellas based in a vacation resort in the Southeast of the United States. It was superficial, frivolous stuff, unfit for publication, with just my little Olivetti typewriter and zero editing skills. I wrote because I loved inventing stories.
I may have been on my twelfth book of the series when I realized I had the perfect set of characters for a standalone novel, Richard and Clare. Nobody told me Clare was more commonly spelled Claire in American English. Changing it, alas, was out of the question. I might as well be writing about a different person. Strange how, when you’ve spent so much time with your characters, they assume a life of their own, becoming almost a part of you. What laid the groundwork for Clare’s and Richard’s story was probably my deep-seated regret for not having been blessed with a sister. Lucky Clare has a sister, albeit not a very nice one (but enough with the spoilers).
Having the perfect characters and a seedling of a plot, I got to writing. I worked on it on and off for a number of years. By then I had a demanding full-time job, spent four hours a day commuting to and from work, and had little time for writing. Still, I persevered. I amassed draft upon draft, shaped and reshaped the plot with the same purpose with which a child remodels the same piece of Play-Doh over and over again until he gets it right. I just couldn’t let it go. What’s more, I enjoyed every moment of it. Nothing gave me more pleasure than editing and seeing my work improve. Something better-sounding or more appropriate would pop into my head and I’d be back at the keyboard. Luckily, computers and word-processing apps had been around for a while by that time. When I was finally somewhat satisfied with the results, I woke up to the realization that the publishing world had changed. The rise of digital content and the self-publishing boom had changed the landscape of the industry. E-books had opened a whole new door of opportunity for writers. Having my book published, was not a utopian dream anymore. Misty Dreams was a long time coming but I enjoyed every moment of the ride and can’t wait to begin my next.
June 9, 2021
Welcome to Hope, Hearts, & Heroes
We are six writers who will share with you about their writing experiences, their published books and upcoming releases, and maybe, some of their short writing pieces. Some of us write Fantasy and some of us write in one of the Romance genres (not all the same). All of our work has a positive message. We hope you will enjoy your visit here and visit again.
June 8, 2021
Welcome to a New Blog — A Collaboration of Six Writers
This blog will officially begin on Monday, June 14th with the first official post. It will be a good one you won’t want to miss, so please come back on June 14th. There will be nine posts a month for you to enjoy.
