Erica Vetsch's Blog, page 114

An Unexpected Journey

with guest Sherrinda Ketchersid


I don’t know about you, but life can get complicated. You think you are on a smooth path, and then a storm hits, throwing a huge tree across the road. What do you do? Climb over it? Go around it? Chop your way through the tree branches? There are different ways to get around your obstacles and choosing the right one can seem overwhelming.
You might choose one way around the hardship, only to find another one just around the bend. You wonder if another way would have been easier. Maybe. Maybe not. We can’t know. We pray for direction, then take the path we feel God is leading us toward. We trust that He is leading us toward the best path for us—even if it has another obstacle along the way. And to be honest, there will be more obstacles.
That’s the thing about life. There’s good and bad all the time. It’s a roller coaster. An adventure. A journey of anticipation and expectation. We know to expect difficulty at some point, yet when it hits it sometimes blows us out of the water. We want to keep traveling on the smooth path. The one with untold blessings.
Let me just say, there are blessings on the difficult path too. What??? Yes, you heard me. Blessings! You are blessed when you reach out to God for help and direction. You are blessed when a friend calls or sends a card to encourage you. You are blessed when you learn to praise God during the turmoil. You are blessed when your tough experiences enable you to help someone else. There are multiple blessings for the hard journey.
The same rings true for the characters we create in our stories. We know there is no real story without conflict, so our characters must face hardship during the plot points you have laid out. They must decide how they will handle the conflict and move past it. Will they encounter more hardship because of their decisions? (Of course! It’s a novel!)
But will your characters find unexpected blessing along the way? Will they recognize the good in the midst of the bad? I don’t know. It depends on the character and their journey. It depends on you, the writer. What kinds of journey will your character take? Will the road him lead to self-discovery? Will the road lead him to God? Or will the road lead him to despair? These are choices you and your character must make.
In my debut novel, Lord of Her Heart, both my hero and heroine face twists and turns along their journey. My heroine, Jocelyn, flees the convent where she was receiving an education when she hears she is being forced to take her vows or marry an overbearing man. She disguises as a boy and tries to get home to see why she is being forced into what she feels is bondage. She faces dangers and complications on this journey, but finds a sweet blessing in getting to know the knight who saves her. She finds love. She finds someone she can trust in the end. Best of all, she finds she can trust God throughout her difficult journey.
Nothing in this post is new, but it’s something I like to remind myself every so often. Not only for my journey, but for my characters as well.
What kind of hardship or obstacles have you given your character in your current work-in-progress? Do they ever find the blessing in the midst of the problems?  What books have you read where the characters find blessing in the midst of hardship? Or what book’s character had the most hardships to endure?
Sherrinda is giving away an ecopy of Lord of Her Heart. Leave a comment and check out the WE on Saturday -- maybe it will be yours when it releases on May 14!!

Lord of Her Heart He’s fighting for his future—she’s running for her life.
Lady Jocelyn Ashburne suspects something is amiss at her family’s castle 
because her father ceases to write to her. When she overhears a plot to 
force her into vows—either to the church or a husband—she disguises 
herself and flees the convent in desperation to discover the truth.

Malcolm Castillon of Berkham is determined to win the next tournament 
and be granted a manor of his own. After years of proving his worth on 
the jousting field, he yearns for a life of peace. Rescuing a scrawny 
lad who turns out to be a beautiful woman is not what he bargained for. 
Still, he cannot deny that she stirs his heart like no other, in spite 
of her conniving ways.

Chaos, deception, and treachery threaten their goals, but both are 
determined to succeed. Learning to trust each other might be the only 
way either of them survives.
Sherrinda Ketchersid is a lover of stories with happily-ever-after endings. Whether set in the past or present, romance is what she writes and where her dreams reside. Sherrinda lives in north-central Texas with her preacher husband. With four grown children, three guys and a gal, she has more time and energy to spin tales of faith, fun, and forever love.
Connect with Sherrinda:Website: www.sherrinda.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/SherrindaKetchersidAuthor/Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/sherrindaInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/sherrindaPinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/sherrinda/Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19022507.Sherrinda_KetchersidBook Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/sherrinda-ketchersidAmazon: https://www.amazon.com/Sherrinda-Ketchersid/e/B07Q5Y8QHF/BUY LINK: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Q4R9L8Z/

The Hope of Christian Fiction

Last week, my twelve-year-old granddaughter’s school was placed on lockdown after a man barricaded himself in a nearby house where he, ultimately, killed a woman. And while the kids weren’t in any danger, they heard the gunshots, and many were visibly shaken.

I tell you this not to debate gun control (please, no), but to demonstrate how desperately this world needs Christian fiction. People are hurting. They need to know they’re loved. That Jesus loves them. Yet while many of these people may never read a bible or darken the door of a church, they might pick up a book. And what if that book offers them hope by pointing them to The One who can truly save them from their struggles? Whether we realize it or not, our words can and do impact others. That’s a rather sobering thought, isn’t it? That we could possibly affect another person’s life. Makes me want to stay prayed up.
Unfortunately, some people have a misconception of what Christian fiction really is. So, let’s set a few things straight.
Christian fiction isn’t preachy. Yes, there may be scripture references or people thinking/talking about their faith, but don’t expect to be hit over the head with a sermon.
Christian fiction is real people facing real problems. Things may not be graphic, but they shouldn’t be sugar-coated either. Life’s issues affect everyone. Including Christians. Christian fiction offers hope. If it doesn’t, then it’s not Christian fiction.
Christian fiction isn’t boring. What kind of stories to you like to read? Mystery? Romance? History? Thrillers? You can find them all within Christian fiction.
Now granted, there are many things these hurting people need or could benefit from. But the bottom line is that they need Jesus. For many people, reading is an escape. Christian fiction offers a look at life through the lens of faith, allowing the reader an escape that speaks truth. And for someone who’s feeling hopeless, that can be not only eye-opening, it can change their life.
Now I’d like to hear from you. What are your thoughts on Christian fiction? What is it that draws you to it? Have you ever found hope in a book?
Writers, why do you write Christian fiction? Are you thinking of those who might be impacted by your words? 


Three-time Carol Award nominee, Mindy Obenhaus, writes contemporary romance for Love Inspired Books. She’s passionate about touching readers with Biblical truths in an entertaining, and sometimes adventurous, manner. When she’s not writing, she enjoys cooking and spending time with her grandchildren at her Texas ranch. Learn more at www.MindyObenhaus.com

Writing the Hard Stuff

Guest Amy R. Anguish





Around sixth grade, all the kids in my class were required to read a book. I think the title was Grass & Sky, but don’t hold me to that since I seem to have gotten rid of my copy since then. The author was coming to our area, and we were all going to hear him. I liked the book until the very end. Then, a character died. At the end of the author’s talk, we were permitted to ask questions. I asked him why he had let that character die. He informed me that he had to. I couldn’t understand it, and I swore that if I were ever an author, I would never write something like that.As I have gained maturity, I’ve changed my mind a bit on letting characters die. After all, Little Women and Anne of Green Gables wouldn’t be the amazing books they are without the deaths. There wouldn’t be that character growth in Jo and Anne. And we wouldn’t remember them as strongly as we do. Image credit: Pixabay/Fifaliana-joyI never thought I would write a story based on infertility. For a long while, I didn’t even want to talk about it. When you’re in the middle of something like that, raw and aching in a way that it seems no one else understands, it’s impossible to express to others why it’s so hard for you to be happy. My husband and I struggled with that battle for six and a half years before being blessed with our first pregnancy ... our now four-year-old daughter. We added a son not quite two years later.As I went through the motions of surviving the day-to-day grief of not being able to have what I wanted most in the world, one thing helped the most. Finding others who had been there before me. As they shared their stories, it was like a light came on in my head. I wasn’t alone. Others understood. Some never even got their “happy endings” like I did. But you know what? Because they had been there before me, they could use what they learned and help me through my own battle.
And the more I thought about that, the more I realized that’s what I needed to do, too. Faith & Hope, my newest book, is one of the most personal stories I have ever written. As the title indicates, it’s about two sisters, named Faith and Hope. Faith is the older, and has been struggling with infertility for several years. A lot, though not all, of what she thinks and feels in regards to that is based on myself and a blog I kept back then. It’s not always pretty, but it’s real.Since going through this myself, I have discovered so many others who also are fighting similar battles. I hope I can be to them what my friends were to me. And I hope that my story can help them fight their battles for a stronger faith even in the darkest valleys.I reneged on my promise to not write about the hard stuff. I didn’t realize my character would suffer a miscarriage when I started plotting this story, but as I typed the words and bled the emotions onto the page, I knew it needed to happen. Because it’s real. And even though a lot of people read to escape (myself included), we also read to feel and to grow and to learn and to empathize. And if we never see characters going through what we’re going through, then we can’t empathize with them or learn with them or even relate to them sometimes.
Especially as authors who are Christians, it’s our job to not just give our readers fluff. There’s enough mindless entertainment out there already. If we can give people some meat, something that shows the characters struggling and overcoming, able to get through whatever comes their way because God helps them through it, then we’re doing something amazing. We were never promised an easy life, but we were promised that God would walk it with us. Shouldn’t our characters show the same?The other character in my story, Hope, is dealing with her own struggles and worries. When the two of them are forced to spend a summer together, it’s a toss-up whether or not they can find a way to get along.  Through all the ups and downs of the hottest months in Austin, Texas, the sisters not only have to learn how to tackle their personal battles, but how to help each other with hers as well.I won’t give away any more of my story. You’ll just have to read it for yourself to find out about the romance and fun.Today, Amy will be giving away a copy of her new release, Faith and Hope ! Please let us know in the comments if you'd like to be entered.

Two sisters. One summer. Multiple problems. 

Younger sister Hope has lost her job, her car, and her boyfriend all in one day. Her well-laid plans for life have gone sideways, as has her hope in God. 

Older sister Faith is finally getting her dream-come-true after years of struggles and prayers. But when her mom talks her into letting Hope move in for the summer, will the stress turn her dream into a nightmare? Is her faith in God strong enough to handle everything? 

For two sisters who haven't gotten along in years, this summer together could be a disaster ... or it could lead them to a closer relationship with each other and God. Can they overcome all life is throwing at them? Or is this going to destroy their relationship for good?

Amy R Anguish grew up a preacher's kid, and in spite of having lived in seven different states that are all south of the Mason Dixon line, she is not a football fan. Currently, she resides in Tennessee with her husband, daughter, and son, and usually a bossy cat or two. Amy has an English degree from Freed-Hardeman University that she intends to use to glorify God, and she wants her stories to show that while Christians face real struggles, it can still work out for good.
Follow her at http://abitofanguish.weebly.com or http://www.facebook.com/amyanguishauthor

Weekend Edition

  



If you are not familiar with our giveaway rules, take a minute to read them here. It keeps us all happy! All winners should send their name, address, and phone number to claim prizes.  Note our new email address and please send your emails to Seekerville2@gmail.com







Monday: Erica Vetsch shared with you the advice of rugby great Richie McCaw...and applied that advice to writing.
Wednesday: Melanie Dickerson was in the house talking about hidden identity stories. Winner of a hardcover copy of her Mulan/hidden identity story, The Warrior Maiden, is Hannah Johnson! 
Friday: Pam Hillman asks the question "Who are you? No, really...who are you?" She's hosting a giveaway at her website and invites you to click on the link and join the fun!


Monday:  Guest Amy R Anguish will be joining us! She'll bring us "Writing the Hard Stuff" and will be giving away a copy of her new release, Faith and Hope !
Wednesday:  Mindy Obenhaus can't wait to discuss The Hope of Christian Fiction.  Friday: Guest Sherrinda Ketchersid shares curiosities along An Unexpected Journey.






In anticipation of the release of The Crossing at Cypress Creek, book #3
in Pam Hillman's Natchez Trace Novel series,
the first two ebooks are on sale for the entire month of April!
Click here to get The Promise of Breeze Hill!
Click here to get The Road to Magnolia Glen!

Mindy Obenhaus turned in the final manuscript in her Rocky Mountain Heroes series. The yet untitled release is tentatively scheduled for February 2020 release. But first, book four, Reunited in the Rockies, will be on store shelves August 19th. 


Missy Tippens has signed a new contract for more devotionals with Guideposts! The current volume, All God's Creatures, is still available. It's a year long devotional book starting in May 2019, so get yours now! 




In anticipation of the release of The Crossing at Cypress Creek,
Pam Hillman is hosting a giveaway.
Click Here To Enter!

Winnie Griggs is excited to announce the upcoming release of her book The Unexpected Bride. It's a revised version of Something More, the second book she published way back in 2001. It's been out of print for a looooonngg time and was never made into an eBook. So now readers will have a chance to read Caleb and Elthia's story again. (It's available for pre-order now - just click on the image to check it out)


And Ruth Logan Herne is featured in this current BookSweeps contest/giveaway featuring her award-winning "Refuge of the Heart" and 29 other Women's Fiction stories... Follow the link, no purchase necessary, just follow your favorite authors on BookBub and you're in to get updates on the authors you love... and entered in the drawing for 30 great books and an e-reader! 

LINK IS HERE!!!!





The Secret to Getting Reviews BEFORE Your Book Launch . From Ricardo in the Reedsy newsletter.

If Your Room Has a View but also Wifi, Will You Ever Notice More Than a Screen? A Challenge for Today's Writer by Julianna Baggott at Writer Unboxed.

Writing to Heal: The Benefits of a Cathartic Novel by at Fiction University

6 Destructive thoughts That Stop You From Writing - And How To Slay Them by Dan Brotzel at Live Write Thrive.

Helping Writers Become Artists by K.M. Weiland at Helping Writers Become Authors


Write FAST and Furious! Learning to Outrun "The Spock Brain" by Kristen Lamb

Who Are You? No, Really... Who.Are.You?

by Pam Hillman

Have you ever noticed how some people act like one person online and seem to be a totally different in person? I daresay most of us are a different person at our day job, and even another one at church, shopping, or at conferences and/or on a business trip.

And don’t even get me started about vacations where nobody knows your name? You know, taking that old saying, “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas," literally.

Seriously, I’m not talking about people with hidden agendas, being two-faced, or some dark and sinister secret that would shock our socks off. Nothing that dramatic. I’m just thinking about how many of us only show readers the fancy photoshopped headshot instead of the real us.

Social media—Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, blogging, etc.—is changing us. We’re more apt to be open about who we really are. Good thing? Yes, if you have nothing to hide. :)

I’ve always been a fairly private person. I’ve never liked sharing my thoughts, my dreams, my passions, my likes and dislikes overmuch. I don’t know if I’m more confident in being me as I age or if the need to be accessible to readers has made me more relaxed.

Readers love authors to be authentic. But what does that look like?

It starts with being confident in who you are and what you like. Pick five things you’re passionate about. Five things that you enjoy doing. Five things that given time, money, and/or energy, you would do every day. If you could drop everything RIGHT NOW, what passion or project would you pursue? I’m not talking about impossible things, or traveling the world necessarily, I’m talking about real, every day things that make you smile.

So, to get this train rolling, I'll start. Here’s my list.

Health (Food, Exercise, Being Active) - I never thought I’d be that person sharing pictures of my food on the internet. Seriously, who wants to see what I eat? But about three months ago, I started sharing my plated meals on Instagram because I was coaching a friend who was following the same eating plan I was, and she was having trouble coming up with ideas. Amazingly, other friends, family, and readers seemed to embrace the idea. Lately my active posts have been walking with grandkids, but it’s real, down to the messy hair and sweaty clothes. But even my outdoor activities dovetail with some of my other interests.



Grandkids - Yes, I’m of that age where cute grands get a lot of airtime online. Some people choose not to post photos of kids/grandkids online. My children share photos, and they're okay with me doing it as well.



Books (Reading, Writing, Research, Promotions, etc.) - This section is a huge part of my online presence. I post quotes and reviews from my books, my research, sales, new releases, my friends’ books, writerly quotes. I blog about historical tidbits I’ve researched, share photos that I’ve snapped. Again, many of these stem from my life in the country.




Memes - I put this in its own category because memes, photos, staging, inspirational quotes all interest me. Some of those cover a lot of ground, but if we’re being real and honest and showing readers all kinds of fun things that interest us, they'll feel a kinship with us.



Farming, Ranching, Rural Life - I’m a country girl. Farm life is all I’ve ever known. So when I post photos of our cows, the deer or turkeys in our front yard, or helping my husband bale hay, then that’s authentic and real.



Now, share your list in the comments and then let’s get real about sharing those with your readers on social media. And, remember what I said about impossible dreams? Seriously, if being a world traveller is a passion of yours but hasn't happened yet, there's nothing to stop you from sharing photos, research, and tidbits about the places you long to visit.

Keep it real, keep it fun, and keep it YOU. Your readers will love you for it.



In anticipation of the release of The Crossing at Cypress Creek,
I'm hosting a giveaway at my website.

Click Here To Enter!

Hidden Identity Stories – What Do I Need to Know?

Melanie Dickerson here, talking about one of my favorite story devices – main characters with hidden identities.

I don’t think I’ll ever forget how much I loved reading The Scarlet Pimpernel as a young teenager. Here was this courageous hero, risking his life to save innocent people from the guillotine, a British aristocrat in love with a woman who might actually be his enemy. So he kept up his disguise even in front of his own wife, pretending to be a silly, empty-headed fop when he was actually the heroic Scarlet Pimpernel.
And then there was the old black-and-white TV show about Zorro that I loved as a kid. It was a similar story, about a young man who pretended to be a coward by day, but by night he was the courageous crusader against the unjust and corrupt authorities in Spanish California. This character directly inspired my hero in Magnolia Summer , my historical romance set in 1880 Alabama.
One of my favorite movies is the version of The Count of Monte Cristo with Jim Caviezel. The sweet and innocent hero is treated so cruelly by his friend-turned-enemy, locked up in a brutal prison for 13 years, so that when he gets out he is determined to get revenge. He becomes the wealthy and clever Count of Monte Cristo, fooling everyone who knew him, except for the woman who loved him and still loves him. In the end, he realizes that love is so much more important than revenge, and God may have seemed to have abandoned him, but He was there all along, believing in him when he had stopped believing in God.
And this story device shows up in fairy tales all the time. 
Snow White is forced to suffer abuse at the hands of a wicked queen/stepmother, treated like a servant when she’s actually a princess. And The Goose Girl is actually a princess who was forced to work as a lowly servant while her handmaiden marries the prince. And of course, there’s the Beast in Beauty and the Beast, who’s actually a young, handsome prince under a spell. In The Frog Prince, the prince has been turned into a frog. All of these hidden identity stories were fun for me to turn into my own medieval versions, as I love the hidden identity device.
So is it only possible for historical writers? Not necessarily. Nicholas Sparks did it in his contemporary novel, Safe Haven. The heroine was running from her evil abusive husband. She changed her name, took a deceased person’s social security number, dyed her hair, and ran away, settling in a town where she knew no one.So what do you need to keep in mind if you want to do a hidden identity story?
Make sure it’s plausible.
This is important with any story, but pay particular attention to making the hidden identity plausible. In my Little Mermaid story, I needed a plausible reason that a pampered, privileged ward of the king would run away and live as a poor, lowly servant girl, lying about her identity. So I made the heroine in TheSilent Songbird desperate to escape an arranged marriage to a disgusting man who had the king fooled but not my heroine. 
I allowed her to fall in love quickly, or at least become infatuated quickly, with a handsome young man who was traveling back to his home village. Who would care about a comfortable, privileged life if she was in love with a poor man? Not my Evangeline.

And for my most recent published novel, The Warrior Maiden , I did something I didn’t think I would ever want to do, which was to have my heroine disguise herself as a man. I generally thought those stories, where the heroine fooled everyone into thinking she was a man, weren’t very believable. But when I took on the Mulan story in my newest retelling, I dived in and wrestled with all the things that make it difficult to disguise a post-adolescent girl as a boy.

First, I had to give her a believable reason for wanting to be a man and go to battle. So I made it necessary in order for her mother to be taken care of. (There’s more to it than that, but you get the gist.) Second, for the problem of the fact that a young woman’s body just does not look like a man’s, I had my Mulan wear her father’s baggy clothes. I also had her cut her hair and smear mud on her face so it would be less obvious that she didn’t have facial hair. Third, I had her disguise her voice and her walk. I think it also helped that she had a friend with her, her armor bearer, who basically treated her like a man, which would make it more believable to the other soldiers.
Next, I had to consider how she and the hero would interact with each other while the hero thought she was a boy. I didn’t want him to be attracted to her as a boy, but I wanted him to like her, to be drawn to her as a friend, almost as a younger brother. I did want the heroine to be attracted to him, but of course she could not show how she felt about him. I didn’t think I could sustain this deception, however, for very long, so I had the hero discover she was a woman about one-third of the way through the story. So then there was the conflict and story question of how and when her other fellow soldiers would discover her identity and how they would react, and how and when the hero would cease to think of her as a brother and fall in love with her as a woman. She was already pretty much in love with him. Which brings me to another point.
Decide who will know the secret and how the secret will be kept. 
This is pretty self-explanatory. In Magnolia Summer , no one knows Truett’s secret except one friend, who leaves after the first chapter. It’s less complicated that way. In The Golden Braid ,  the only person who knows the true identity of Rapunzel is the evil villainess, Gothel. The truth is revealed by a scar and a woman who knew her as a little child and who recognizes the scar. In my Snow White story, 
The Fairest Beauty , the truth is proven by a birthmark on the heroine’s neck. 

Have fun with the reveal.
This is the most fun part. You can make it as dramatic as you can dream up. Mulan’s identity as a woman is revealed when she gets shot and she begs the hero not to look at her wound. The only way she can persuade him is to tell him her secret. My Southern Zorro, in Magnolia Summer , is revealed to the heroine when she finds his hiding place for his cape and hood disguise in a cave. Her suspicions are confirmed when she holds the cape to her face and breathes in the hero’s scent.
It’s a romance, after all.

Beware the lying and deception problem.
It can be a bit tricky for us when we write for a Christian audience. We don’t want our heroes and heroines to lie and deceive other people for their own gain. And even in the general market you probably don’t want an unlikable, deceptive main character. Which is why we have to give them a really good reason for disguising themselves and basically deceiving everyone around them. And that can make the reveal all the more dramatic, because the hero or heroine may feel guilty for deceiving the other, as Evangeline did in TheSilent Songbird . Westley wondered how she could have deceived him, not only into believing that she was servant girl when she was actually a king’s ward, but also because she pretended to be mute and unable to speak, when in actuality, she was famed for her beautiful singing voice. Drama drama drama. I love it.
So now it’s your turn. Tell me if you love hidden identity stories and which is your favorite. Have you ever tried to write one? Let me know in the comments, and one lucky commenter will receive a signed hardcover copy of The Warrior Maiden , my Mulan story just released in February.

Melanie Dickerson is the author of fairy tale retellings and other historical romances, many of which have hidden identities. She's in love with drama of the fictional variety while enjoying sunsets and peace and quiet at her new house on a hill in the country in Alabama where she can hear geese, sheep, cows, and donkeys while she dreams up lots of angst and drama for her characters and stories.

Advice from the Greatest of All Time

Erica here,



If you know me at all, you know I am OBSESSED with rugby. Not just any rugby, but Rugby Union...the game they play in heaven. :)  And not just any Rugby Union, but the New Zealand All Blacks, the greatest sports team in history.  (They have a winning record against every team they have ever played, beginning in 1903.)

My All Blacks performing the haka at Twickenham Stadium before
the 2018 match against the Barbarians. (Barbarians are a side made up of
international all stars invited to participate. A fun spectacle for fans!)
The most capped (a cap is an appearance in an official test match between national teams) All Black is the great Richie McCaw (148 test caps, 110 as captain of the side.) Three times named World Rugby Player of the Year, two time world champion, most capped test rugby player of all time, and destined for the Rugby Hall of Fame, Richie McCaw rose to the top of his field and stayed there for an unequaled length of time.

Photo by James Coleman on Unsplash

So, when he spoke of his three tips for achieving excellence, I certainly was interested...and I saw the parallels between becoming an excellent rugby player and becoming an excellent writer.

Here are Richie's tips, with my own thoughts after each one:



Tip 1:


"The first one that I really live by is that you can't go past hard work, if you think it's going to be easy, if you achieve it when it's easy you're probably not going to get the satisfaction of what it's all about."

Writing is hard work. Writing well is harder work. Even if you LOVE writing, (and who doesn't?) at least part of the time, it is going to be difficult. You're not going to feel like it. You are going to be rejected, criticized, and told your work isn't good enough.

Are you willing to work? Not dabble, not daydream about writing, but actually buckle down and do the work of writing? Are you willing to study and try and fail? Are you willing to invest your time, your heart, and your money? As Richie says, you can't go past hard work.

Tip 2:


"Attention to detail, understanding of what it takes as not everyone knows, asking for advice or asking for help from people around you who can see things from a different way."

Great writers aren't born, they're made. You can have raw talent, but perfecting and maturing that talent takes time and attention to detail. It takes learning from those who have gone before you and those who are on the journey with you. Nobody has all the answers, but everyone who has achieved what you want to achieve has experience and information.

That's one (of about a bazillion or so) reason that I love Seekerville. For more than a decade, women who have been there and done that freely share their experiences and viewpoints and celebrate the successes of those who reach for their dreams.

Tip 3:


"You got to have that drive. It's not someone telling you that you've got to work hard, you've got to really want to do it yourself and I think the people who have that are the most successful."

The motivation to be great at anything, to stick with it through the less-than-glamorous times, has to come from within. You cannot hope to achieve your dreams without desire and ambition to do so. You can't want to climb this mountain for someone else. You have to want it for yourself, and you have to be driven to do it.


Writing well, like doing anything else well takes hard work, a humble spirit willing to learn, and an inner drive to reach for your dreams. What are you doing this week to implement these tips to move you closer to your goals?


You can watch Richie's interview here:





Best-selling, award-winning author Erica Vetsch loves Jesus, history, romance, and sports. She’s a transplanted Kansan now living in Minnesota, and she is married to her total opposite and soul mate! When she’s not writing fiction, she’s planning her next trip to a history museum and cheering on her Kansas Jayhawks and New Zealand All Blacks. You can connect with her at her website, www.ericavetsch.com where you can read about her books and sign up for her newsletter, and you can find her online at https://www.facebook.com/EricaVetschAuthor/ where she spends way too much time!


Available May 1st!!!! Order your copy now!!!
Dreams of Finding Mr. Right Go Wrong in the Old West

Erica's story:
The Galway Girl by Erica Vetsch
Kansas, 1875
A mail-order mix-up sends Irish lass Maeve O’Reilly to the Swedish community of Lindsborg, Kansas. Will Kaspar Sandberg consider it a happy accident or a disaster to be rectified as soon as possible?
 You can order your copy HERE. 

Weekend Edition

  



If you are not familiar with our giveaway rules, take a minute to read them here. It keeps us all happy! All winners should send their name, address, and phone number to claim prizes.  Note our new email address and please send your emails to Seekerville2@gmail.com







Monday: Jan Drexler brought us a great post, Help Your Readers Fall in Love with Your Characters.
Wednesday: Debby Giusti shared a beautiful post, Sacrificial Love... A Holy Week Reflection. The winner of a copy of Amish Safe House is Sarah Taylor! Congrats, Sarah!
Friday: Winnie Griggs shared tips and pointers on The Black Moment.


Monday:  Erica Vetsch will share some tips she gleaned from The Greatest of All Time. (Tune in on Monday to find out who and what this person was the greatest at, and what the link to writing is.)
Wednesday:  Melanie Dickerson is in the house to talk about secret identities in stories and how to pull that off. She's giving away a copy of her latest release, The Warrior Maiden!  Friday: Pam Hillman will be bringing our post today. We're going to talk about who YOU are and how you relay that to your readers.






In anticipation of the release of The Crossing at Cypress Creek, book #3
in Pam Hillman's Natchez Trace Novel series,
the first two ebooks are on sale for the entire month of April!
Click here to get The Promise of Breeze Hill!
Click here to get The Road to Magnolia Glen!


Releasing May 1st. Order your copy today to have it delivered by release day! Four stories of mail-order plans that go sideways, including Erica's story, The Galway Girl.

Order your PRINT copy HERE. (To be shipped soon!)



Dreams of Finding Mr. Right Go Wrong in the Old West

The Galway Girl by Erica Vetsch
Kansas, 1875
A mail-order mix-up sends Irish lass Maeve O’Reilly to the Swedish community of Lindsborg, Kansas. Will Kaspar Sandberg consider it a happy accident or a disaster to be rectified as soon as possible?





Open to writers of all genres and levels, the spring conference of Oregon Christian Writers is Saturday, May 18, from 8:30–4:30 at First Baptist Church, 3550 Fox Meadow Road, Eugene, Oregon. Chris Fabry, award-winning author and radio personality, will keynote on the theme “Unwrapping Your Bigger Story.” Afternoon workshops cover fiction, nonfiction, essays, self-editing, marketing, critique, and public speaking. To view the day’s schedule and register, visit: http://oregonchristianwriters.org/spring-2019/.

The Flip Side by Kathleen McCleary at Writer Unboxed.

How to Marie Kondo Your Manuscript by Erica Vetsch at Learn How To Write a Novel

The Character Arc In Six Specific Stages by C.S. Lakin at Live Write Thrive


Five Tips For Writing Tears That Carry Power by Margie Lawson at Writers In The Storm

How I Wrote An Extended Series by Michelle Cox at The Writer's Dig

Saying No To Twitter: What Authors Need To Know by Daniel Berkowitz at Jane Friedman

What Does Your Online Activity Say About You? by Rachelle Gardener at Rachelle Gardener

Dark Friday by Steve Laube at Steve Laube Agency

The Black Moment

Hi everyone, Winnie Griggs here. Most of the articles I write for this blog don't come from an area of expertise per se, but rather from a desire to learn how to do something better. And that is absolutely true of today’s blog post. 
Lately I’ve been researching how to deepen and improve on the black moment scenes in my books. I do this by reading books by writers I admire to see how they pull it off, reading craft books and articles on the topic, and studying my own work to see what I’ve done well and where I’ve fallen short. So today I’m going to share with you some of my lessons learned.




First, let's make sure we're all on the same page on what a black moment actually is. My personal definition of a black moment in a romance is that moment in your book when the hero and heroine have worked through their conflicts to the point where they admit they love one another but, just when they are ready to grasp the brass ring, something happens to brutally snatch away their hope for a happily ever after – it’s that moment when the characters, and the readers, think all is lost.
The black moment is arguably the most important part of your novel. It is the moment where your characters face their ultimate test, it provides the catalyst for their greatest growth and gives them the opportunity to move to a place where they can finally overcome whatever emotional wound or lie has held them back to this point.  It is the fire that tempers your protagonists and that, once they make it through to the other side, convinces the reader that not only have they earned their happily ever after, but that it will ‘stick’.


So based on what I’ve learned from my research, here are five things to keep in mind when crafting your black moment.


Make sure you have an effective set-up. The protagonists, despite their conflicts, should have been moving forward in their romantic relationship. And they should have been making strides toward working through their issues, perhaps have even convinced themselves that they can put those issues/conflicts behind them and grasp for a HEA. But in the black moment scene this forward momentum must appear to be a mistake to your protagonist, that they were wrong to open themselves up in whatever way they did.
Many writers explain that you can figure out your black moment in one of two ways. Either:Ask what would your character NEVER do and then put them in a position to have to do it. This one always confused me because there are lots of things my characters would never do – murder someone for instance.or Ask what is the worst that can happen. Again, this is way too broad for me.So instead I ask myself, based on the character arc I’ve set up for this character, what trial does he need to face to test his growth. This way I know exactly what kind of issue will trigger the black moment. Is his arc to go from craving isolation to wanting to become part of a community – have the black moment be triggered by a perceived betrayal by his community. Is her arc based on moving from refusing to trust anyone to opening herself up to trusting the hero? Then have her face some so-called evidence that he has betrayed her trust.
Along those same lines, your black moment should always be individual to your protagonists. Generic just won’t cut it if you want this to have the impact all authors strive for. It should flow directly from your character arcs, from the very personal emotional wounds or lies they are living with, the internal conflict that is at the very heart of your story.
Don’t skimp on this scene. Take the time to make sure your reader feels every bit of the agony and despair your character is enduring. Show both the outward and inward turmoil both the hero and heroine are experiencing.
Don’t pull your punches. I know we love our characters, but the black moment is the time to put them under extreme pressure, to strip away the illusion that they’ve overcome their deep-seated issues, bring them to their knees and make them face the fact that they could lose any hope of an HEA. Think of it this way – the darker and more crippling the black moment, the sweeter the eventual payoff of the resolution and happy ending.So there you have it - my 5 tips for crafting a great Black Moment. What do you think? Do you agree with these? Do you have other tips to offer? Please share your thoughts.
PS: When I penned this post I didn't think about it going up on Good Friday, but it does seem oddly appropriate, since this day represents the ultimate black moment and is the lead in to the ultimate happily forever after.

Sacrificial Love…A Holy Week Reflection!

By Debby Giusti
The days roll by one after another and sometimes we forget to stop and savor the special moments God provides. This week – Holy Week – is one of those special times that call for prayerful reflection.
For Christians, Holy Week is a time to retreat from the world of today and remember what happened more than 2,000 years ago. We remember in a scriptural way, not with the recalling of events, but with anamnesis, a Greek term that means to make present something from the past so that what was and what is are brought together in the present moment. Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, Ph.D., in his blog post, “9/11: Remembering How We Remembered,” explains: “It is as if we are able to inhabit two separate points in time simultaneously. Time stops momentarily (and momentously), as ‘then’ and ‘now’ become the same.”
The Last Supper, Carl Bloch, 19th C. [PD-US]
This Holy Week, we are invited to enter into the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the long awaited Messiah, who suffered, died and was resurrected so that we might have eternal life.    Christ in Gethsemane, Heinrich Hofmann,
1886, Riverside Church, NY. [PD-US]
Adam’s sin that drove us from the Garden of Eden is redeemed through the blood of Christ, freely given for the salvation of the world. John 15:13 tells us, “There is no greater love than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
Ecce homo (Behold the Man), Antonio Ciseri, c. 1860-1880,
Museo Cantonale d'Arte. [PD-US]
In our writing, we focus on various forms of love. The Greek word Storge is used for parental love. Philia refers to the love between close friends, Philautiais self-love, and Eros is romantic love. We incorporate all these forms of love into our stories.
The Crowning with Thorns, Titian, c 1542-1543,
Louvre, Paris. [PD-US]The Greeks recognize another type of love, called Agape, as the highest form of love. Wikipedia defines it as “the love of God for man and of man for God.” It is the way Christ loves each of us. It is total, complete, and sacrificial.  Flagellation of Christ, Peter Paul Rubens,
17th C, Antwerp, Church of St Paul. [GNU Free]
Christ gave his life willingly so we might have everlasting life. As we reflect on Christ’s sacrificial love and his total giving of self, let us also think of our own stories and find ways to elevate the romantic love between the hero and heroine into sacrificial love, that total giving of self for the good of the other.   Jesus Carrying the Cross, Sebastiano del Piombo, 1512-1514,
Prado Museum, Madrid. [PS-US]
Sacrificial love is what O. Henry wrote about in his famous short story, “The Gift of the Magi.” It's also represents Michael Hosea’s relationship with Angel in Francine Rivers’ Redeeming Love. We recognize sacrificial love when police officers run toward the sound of gunfire, when our military deploy to war zones and when firefighters run into burning buildings. In my suspense stories, I often incorporate that sacrificial willingness for the characters to lay down their lives for the one they love.   Christ Crucified, Diego Velázquez, c. 1632,
 Museo del Prado, Madrid. [PD-US]Share ways you’ve used sacrificial love in your own stories or mention books you’ve read that include sacrificial love. Leave a comment to be entered in a drawing for a copy of my Publishers Weekly bestseller, Amish Safe House.
The Entombment of Christ, Caravaggio, c 1602-1603,
Pinacoteca Vaticana. [PD-US]
I hope the Sacred Art shared today will enrich your Holy Week as you walk the Via Dolorosa—the way of the cross that leads to Calvary—with the Lord.
Wishing you a prayerful Holy Week and a joyous Easter as we celebrate Christ’s glorious resurrection from the dead. 
Wishing you abundant blessings,Debby Giusti www.DebbyGiusti.com
AMISH SAFE HOUSEHiding in Plain Sight The second thrilling Amish Witness Protection novel
After Julia Bradford’s son witnesses a gang shooting, hiding in witness protection on Abraham King’s Amish farm is the only hope the Englischer and her children have. Even as danger closes in, Julia is drawn to the community’s peaceful ways—and the ex-cop turned Amish protector. But when their location is discovered, can Abraham protect her family…and possibly have a future by her side?Order HERE!