Erica Vetsch's Blog, page 48

One Thing That Works For Me with guest Jevon Bolden: Maintaining the Author’s Voice

 

 

  Good Monday morning, Seekerville! I (Carrie) am here to introduce today's guest for this month's 'One Thing That Works For Me' series. Please join me in welcoming author, editor, literary agent, ghostwriter, and CEO of Embolden Media, Jevon Bolden, as she shares about 'maintaining the author's voice'! Whether in written or verbal communication, we each have our own word bank and speech patterns within which we relay our thoughts and ideas. Some of our vocabularies and patterns are expansive while others are a bit more limited. In addition to the setting, purpose, and audience, our cultures, education, and various other life experiences contribute to how we put our words together. As a ghost or collaborative writer for authors of diverse ages, genders, ethnicities, and backgrounds, it is imperative for me to capture the essence of the author’s unique way of communicating so that their audience feels and knows they are reading that author’s ideas. The writing must authentically reflect them—a little polished for print versus a live speaking event or the like—but them, nonetheless. One thing that works for me is to get a feel for those patterns by gathering samples of the author speaking and/or writing in variety of contexts. I listen to how they speak to me, how they speak to different audiences, if I’m privileged, how they speak to family or close friends, and to those who are older or younger. This is what I appreciate about writing for authors over the course of many years. I attend their events and work with them closely behind the scenes, interviewing them and brainstorming how the content should be delivered. Through every interaction, I am taking lots of mental notes of the words and expressions they use.
Even when an author has supplied me with written notes, transcribed sermon or presentations, and other writings, I am most likely going to see how I can gain access to audio or video recordings of their speaking to a live audience. It helps so much to listen to or watch the author engaging with real people. In doing this, I get to hear how the audience responds to things they say, and I can grab phrases and concepts that seem to resonate the most. And boom—target audience and felt need knocked out in one shot.
Often the authors I work with also have active social media platforms that they themselves maintain. This is another way I get a peek into their word choices and patterns, which I can then duplicate when writing for them or use as a guideline when editing.
Ghostwriting, collaborative writing, and editing are services centered on bringing the author’s ideas to life on the page not my own. Having this much raw data and context keeps me in line and helps me to avoid overstepping the author’s communication style and patterns by imposing how I would say something. This can easily happen if I try to rush through and just get something done. Wanting the author to feel like they are reading themselves when I write for them, I know I must take my time and resist the easy way out of leaning on my own default language patterns.
If I were asked, I would also highly recommend these practices to writers or editors who may be assigned to work with authors with backgrounds different from their own. While there are efforts to diversify publishing, we are currently working within the reality that many times white writers or editors are working with BIPOC authors. Assigning the work to a BIPOC freelance editor or collaborative writer of color would be ideal. When this is not an option and white writers and editors are solely handling content developed by creators of color, employing some of the ideas I’ve shared here will help them maintain the author’s voice and truest meaning or intent.
~*~*~*~*~
Jevon Bolden is a book editor, writer, literary agent, and CEO of Embolden Media Group, a boutique publishing consulting firm in sunny Florida. Jevon is also the founder of a newly formed group called Christian Publishing Professionals of Color that seeks to provide support, career opportunities, and community for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color) in Christian publishing. She also serves as a consultant to the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) and serves on their committee for increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in Christian publishing. The books she has written as other people have appeared on ECPA and CBA best-sellers' lists and have sold hundreds of thousands of copies around the world. As a conference speaker, workshop facilitator, writing coach, and mentor, Jevon shares the best of what she knows with passionate, creative, and influential individuals and groups who desire to publish great books that make a difference.
What questions do you have for Jevon about ghostwriting or collaborative writing?

Sunday Scripture & Prayer Requests

The Widow's Mite, James Tissot, 1886-1894, Brooklyn Museum. [PD-US]

In the course of his teaching Jesus said to the crowds,
"Beware of the scribes, who like to go around in long robes
and accept greetings in the marketplaces,
seats of honor in synagogues, 
and places of honor at banquets.
They devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext
recite lengthy prayers. 
They will receive a very severe condemnation."

He sat down opposite the treasury
and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury. 
Many rich people put in large sums.
A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents. 
Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them,
"Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more
than all the other contributors to the treasury. 
For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth,
but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had,
her whole livelihood."

Mark 12:38-44 

 The Seekerville bloggers are praying for YOU and for our entire blog community. If you have any special intentions that need additional prayer coverage, leave a request for prayer in the comment section below. 

Please join us in praying for our country!God Bless the USA!
We are so grateful for all of you—for your friendship and your support! 

May the Lord bless you and keep you safe.    

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.  Please send to Seekerville2@gmail.com. If the winner does not contact us within two weeks, another winner may be selected.


Monday: Mary shared her insight on character development. The winner of a $25 Amazon Gift Card is...Tonya
Wednesday: Mindy gave us some tips for polishing our manuscripts. The winner of her upcoming release, Their Yuletide Healing, is... Terri Lynn Schump!!!!
Friday: Jill Kemerer stopped by with her new release and some suggestions on how to dive back into writing when the euphoria of a book launch begins to fade. The winner of her new release, The Prodigal's Holiday Hope, is... Lucy Reynolds!


Monday:  Carrie hosts author/agent/editor Jevon Bolden to talk about one thing that works for her!

Wednesday:  Ruthy rolls into town with crazy typical RUTHY EXCITEMENT because she's only two weeks away from seeing "Embracing Light in Wishing Bridge" release! To celebrate this wonderful auspicious moment (I had to use a big word, I just had to!!!) she's giving away a fifteen dollar Amazon gift card... now you can use that to preorder "Embracing Light in Wishing Bridge" (paperback will follow in later November) or for anything else. YOU GET TO CHOOSE!!! See you on Wednesday, my friends!  Friday:  Beth will be here to share in the fun!









 An Amish Spring Anthology and Debby Giusti is one of the authors.

To learn more join the FB Reader Group

 Amish Spring Romance | Facebook

Available now at your favorite bookstores!

The countdown is on for the November 30th release of Their Yuletide Healing, the fourth and final installment of Mindy Obenhaus's Bliss, Texas series. Preorder your copy HERE. And if you haven't seen the book trailer, you can check it out HERE! 
As her plans unravel, can she give her children what they truly need?
Foster mom Rae Girard’s determined to make her children’s first Christmas with her the best they’ve ever had—and she’s shocked when the town scrooge, attorney Cole Heinsohn, offers to pitch in. Rae’s young charges have melted Cole’s heart, and he wants them to experience the special day he never had. But when disaster strikes, an imperfect holiday might bring them something better: a family…
Just released and with 24 reviews already... and a 5 STAR rating...Book 2 of Ruthy's heart-stirring "Kendrick Creek" series.Set in the shadow of the Great Smokies, lives and loves show endurance, faith, hope and love in three beautifully-woven stories...
ON SHELVES NATIONWIDE NOW!!!!

And available through our friends at Amazon.com BUY THIS BOOK HERE!


LOVE ON THE RANGE MADE THE ECPA BESTSELLER LIST!

CLICK TO BUY  LOVE ON THE RANGE



Can You Fool the Polygraph by Garry Rodgers at Kill Zone Blog
Humanizing the Bad Guy by Usvaldo de Leon, Jr at Helping Writers Become Authors
The Fun Way to Learn How to "Show, Don't Tell" by CS Lakin at Live Write Thrive
A Premise Isn't a Plot. But It's a Good Start. by Janice Hardy at Writers In The Storm
How a Weirdo Copes With Criticism by Bethany Turner at Learn How To Write A Novel
Why You Should Write a Skeleton Draft by Lewis Jorstad at The Novel Smithy
Free Expressions Webinars Feature Amazing Writing Gurus by LA Sartor at An Indie Adventure
Can You Plagiarize Yourself? by Steve Laube
Different Types of Editing Your Novel Needs by Hannah Bauman at Between The Lines Editing
How To Build a Music Playlist for Writers by Paige Riddiford at Writer's Edit

You Survived Your Book Launch. Now What?

 

by Jill Kemerer

It’s been five weeks since your book released. The months leading up to it were exciting and, yes, chaotic. You did whatever you could to get the word about that bad boy out there. You poured time and energy into making the launch as impactful as possible, and yet, you wonder was it enough? Reviews trickle in—some good, some not-so-good. You can’t seem to shake this deflated feeling.

Everyone’s moved on from your book. Everyone except you.

Now you’re sitting on your couch, sipping tea, trying to figure out what to do next. You mentally tick through what you should be doing.

Writing, duh. But the thought of getting back into that manuscript sends a cold shiver down your spine. You have forty-three pages written.

They are not good pages.

The urge to post on your social media sites hits you strong. You need to stay relevant, right? But what would you even post about? You’ve spent so much time and effort promoting the book, it feels weird to go back to normal.

Maybe that’s the problem. You don’t want to go back to normal. Can’t every day be launch day? Can’t every day be special and exciting and full of celebrating a book you wrote?

Unfortunately, no.

You wish there was some way to check your numbers. Or, if you self-published the book, you check your numbers. All. The. Time.

Are my sales good? Bad? How do they compare to other authors in my genre?

You don’t know. You won’t know. You will never truly know how your sales compare to your peers.

Did I earn out my advance? What happens if I didn’t? Will this contract be my last?

Frowning, you take another sip of tea. And lunge for the nearby muffin.

Slowly it hits you that this is it. You’re back to the same you before you had a book launch to plan. You splashed in the happy waters of a book-release summer, then slid into the autumn of ongoing promotion, and now you’re staring down the writer’s winter.

Work lies ahead, and this winter is cold.

As you sit there, you force yourself to block all those pesky thoughts about sales. You ignore Facebook. And you breathe. A sense of relief tickles the edges of your funk. For it is a funk.

But it’s one that can end at any time.

After brushing off the muffin crumbs from your fingers, you finish your tea and turn on your laptop. You open a file containing that dreadful draft, all forty-three pages of it. For a moment, you close your eyes and say a prayer. Then you start to read.

It’s bad.

But ten pages in, you’re kind of digging it. You clean up a few paragraphs. Jot down some notes.

And there you have it. You’re writing again.

You start thinking ahead to when this book will release. Then you chuckle and shake your head. You have to write it first. And it hits you. This is the fun part, too.

Do you struggle with the feeling of letdown after a book release? How do you deal with it?

Leave a comment to be entered to win a copy of Jill's new release, The Prodigal's Holiday Hope (paperback for US, ebook for international)

He’s learned from his mistakes…

But can he prove he’s changed?

 

When Sawyer Roth is hired to work on his childhood ranch, he knows he has a damaged reputation to repair. Tess Malone, the new ranch owner’s daughter, is the hardest to win over. But as Christmas approaches, Tess and her toddler son find a way into Sawyer’s heart. He lost everything the last time he put his trust in love. Can he risk it all again?

 

Click HERE for Purchase Links and More

 

Jill Kemerer is a Publishers Weekly bestselling author of heartwarming, emotional, small-town romance novels often featuring cowboys. Over half a million of her books have sold worldwide. Jill's essentials include coffee, caramels, a stack of books, her mini-doxie, and long walks outdoors. She resides in Ohio with her husband and two almost-grown children. For more information, visit her website,jillkemerer.com.

 

Facebook  |  Pinterest  |  Instagram  |  Amazon  | Bookbub |  Newsletter

 

 

Polishing Your Manuscript

by Mindy Obenhaus

Congratulations! You’ve labored for months (maybe years) and, finally, your manuscript is complete. It’s out of your head and on the page. You can’t wait for your editor to read it. But, slow down. Before you hit Send, have you made sure your shiny new manuscript truly shines? Or could it use a little polishing?

This is where I currently find myself in the writing process. I’m almost ready to send off another manuscript, but not until it undergoes a little polishing. This means I have to read the story in its entirety with a few specific things in mind.

Flow. Does the story move smoothly, or does it feel disjointed? Sometimes I’ve got the right stuff, it’s just in the wrong order. By shifting around a couple of scenes or even approaching the scene from a different POV, things feel more organic, like they were meant to be that way. Sometimes I have to delete things. Flow is important. If something trips you up or doesn’t feel right, then some tweaking might be in order.

Continuity. Things sometimes change as I’m writing.

Character names. Like when my heroine’s mother’s boyfriend was named Jerry and I soon discovered that reading “Mom and Jerry” in a sentence had my mind conjuring up images of a certain cat and mouse. So, Jerry became Bill. However, the Replace function doesn’t always catch everything, so it’s good to double check.Descriptions. Everything from hair color to eye color needs to be consistent. Unless, of course, your character colors their hair midway through the story or is wearing colored contact lens. This also applies to…Setting. If I don’t have a clear vision of a setting in my head from the onset of the story, it’s apt to change. As someone who’s used both real and fictitious settings in my books, I can honestly say this is where a real setting is an advantage. Still, the places in which your scenes take place can evolve during the writing process. What I thought I wanted at the beginning isn’t necessarily how they remain, so I need to make sure I’m consistent throughout the story.

Tightening. Do I have repeated words? Can sentences be rephrased to be more succinct? Do I really need all that description of something in chapter six after I’ve already talked about it in chapter two?

Hooks and chapter endings.This is important. We don’t want a reader to sigh with contentment as they close the book at the end of chapter seven, set the book aside and go to sleep. No, we want to leave them hanging so they can’t wait to move onto chapter eight. Some of the greatest compliments a writer can hear are things like, “I couldn’t put it down,” or “You kept me up late because I couldn’t stop reading.” Save the satisfying ending for the end of the book. But hook the reader at the end of each scene so they want to keep reading.

Completing your manuscript is always something to be celebrated. But don’t be so eager to send it off that you overlook that all important polishing process. Remember, the hard work is already done. So you may as well take just a little more time to make sure it shines.

Writers, what tips do you have for polishing your manuscripts? Readers, what makes a book one you can’t put down? Leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of my upcoming release, Their Yuletide Healing (print US only, digital for international). And check out the book trailer HERE!

As her plans unravel, can she give her children what they truly need?

Foster mom Rae Girard’s determined to make her children’s first Christmas with her the best they’ve ever had—and she’s shocked when the town scrooge, attorney Cole Heinsohn, offers to pitch in. Rae’s young charges have melted Cole’s heart, and he wants them to experience the special day he never had. But when disaster strikes, an imperfect holiday might bring them something better: a family…

Award-winning author Mindy Obenhaus is passionate about touching readers with Biblical truths in an entertaining, and sometimes adventurous, manner. She lives on a ranch in Texas with her husband, two sassy pups, countless cattle, deer and the occasional coyote, mountain lion or snake. When she's not writing, she enjoys spending time with her grandchildren, cooking and watching copious amounts of the Hallmark Channel. Learn more at www.MindyObenhaus.com

Character Development! Not that easy!

 

I'm right now starting a new book in a new series.

And I love my heroine. She's a blacksmith. She worked with her father and brother, both blacksmiths, but wasn't in charge.

Now they're dead.

She's grieving.

And she lives in a small frontier town with one and only one blacksmith. The town needs her.

And she witnessed her family's murders in a stage coach robbery, was left for dead, survived, can't remember a thing and is targeted for death.

All that. Grief. Weird manly career. And targeted for death...and I don't feel like I've made her a three dimensional character yet, somehow.

It's annoying.

So I'm asking myself WHAT makes a character seem real. Yeah, that's right, after 68 books, I'm trying to figure it out.

I know this: To make someone likeable, make someone like them.

That's like Character Development 101.

But she has people who like her.

And give her a quirk.

Um, a pretty young woman being the town blacksmith isn't quirky?

Give her a conflict to prevent her falling in love. Maybe I haven't done that yet. Maybe being in mourning isn't enough. 

As I type, as I unfold the story, as I unload action and danger on my heroine, how do I make her come alive. 

Or maybe I already did it make her come alive? I just don't know.

It's common for me to just start writing and to finally get to the bottom of a character through that. But I'm getting close to twenty thousand words. It's TIME Mary. C'mon. 

Oh, her mother died when she was a child, guiding her to spend time with her father and have no real interest in womanly things.

Oh, we're in Wyoming in 1870, so women have the right to vote, make her enamored of the suffraget movement to, possibly, a degree the hero finds off-putting.

Why oh why doesn't this woman come to life for me?

What do you do, in your writing to make a character alive? To make her three-dimensional? I'd love to talk about that in the comments. Maybe it'll wake something up in me.

Leave a comment to get your name in a drawing for a $25 Amazon gift card. 

Just in time for Christmas shopping. (Or book buying!) 

http://www.maryconnealy.com

Brothers in Arms series is complete!

Sunday Scripture & Prayer Requests

Moses and the Ten Commandments, anonymous,
1600-1624, the Netherlands. [PD-US]

One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him,
"Which is the first of all the commandments?" 
Jesus replied, "The first is this:
Hear, O Israel!
The Lord our God is Lord alone!
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, 
with all your mind,
and with all your strength.
The second is this:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these." 
The scribe said to him, "Well said, teacher.
You are right in saying,
'He is One and there is no other than he.'
And 'to love him with all your heart,
with all your understanding,
with all your strength,
and to love your neighbor as yourself'
is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."
And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding,
he said to him,
"You are not far from the kingdom of God." 
And no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Mark 12: 28b-34

 The Seekerville bloggers are praying for YOU and for our entire blog community. If you have any special intentions that need additional prayer coverage, leave a request for prayer in the comment section below. 

Please join us in praying for our country!God Bless the USA!
We are so grateful for all of you—for your friendship and your support! 

May the Lord bless you and keep you safe.    

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.  Please send to Seekerville2@gmail.com. If the winner does not contact us within two weeks, another winner may be selected.


Monday:  Erica explained how writing is a team sport.
Wednesday:  Cate continued her series on her favorite craft books.
Friday: Ruthy chatted about Halloween and if it has a place in Christian fiction.


Monday:  Mary shares her wit and wisdom. There will be prizes!!!
Wednesday:  Mindy will be in the house talking about polishing your manuscript.  Friday: Jill Kemerer will be visiting with us so get your sleigh bells on as we celebrate her new release, The Prodigal's Holiday Hope.






JUST RELEASED! AVAILABLE NATIONWIDE wherever Love Inspired books are sold!  Book Two of Ruth Logan Herne's "Kendrick Creek" series from Love Inspired Books. THE PATH NOT TAKEN Join Ruthy by celebrating another wonderful book release. And no... it never gets old! 




It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas. Pam Hillman's
DESTINATION CHRISTMAS (A Calico Trails Romance)
is on sale for 99 cents.
Buy Now!

If you haven't seen the book trailer for Mindy Obenhaus's upcoming release, Their Yuletide Healing, you can check it out HERE!




 An Amish Spring Anthology and Debby Giusti is one of the authors.

To learn more join the FB Reader Group

 Amish Spring Romance | Facebook

Available now at your favorite bookstores!

4 Ways to Gamify Your Writing Habits by Lewis Jorstad at The Novel Smithy

6 Questions to Help You Avoid Repetitive Scenes by KM Weiland at Helping Writers Become Authors

The Spouse's Guide to NaNoWriMo: Juggling Life and Writing in November by Thomas Hardy at Fiction University

5 Ways to Make Animated Templates Work for You by LA Sartor at Book Brush Blog

The Purpose of Christian Books by Dan Balow at Steve Laube Agency

The Traveling Writer by Terry Odell at Kill Zone Blog

Inspiration for Your November Newsletters by Meg at MailerLite Blog

From a Reformed Pantser by Hallee Bridgeman at Learn How To Write A Novel
How to Promote a Book by Ali Luke at The Self Publisher

POV: How Deep Should You Go? by Laurie Schnebly Campbell at Writers In The Storm

Why Novlr is the Perfect NaNoWriMo Writing Companion by Pamela Koehne-Drube at NaNoWriMo Blog

Halloween In Christian Fiction

WE LOVE FALL DECORATIONS.... We focus on harvest, but we've added in some fun Halloween-style things to our hand-crafted decor..... This antique box was from a Clematis Nursery 45 minutes away and when Mandy and I went to sort through these boxes, there was rodent poop... and some kitty smell.... but we found 80 boxes that will work for fun projects. We saved 80 from a landfill and look what Mandy did with them! A power washer is a wonderful thing! :)

In the interest of full disclosure, my kids went trick-or-treating every single year and we had a ball... so there's that!

TWO WORDS: FREE CANDY!!!!!

Why wouldn't we chase down the rainy, dark country road and laugh with neighbors, gather treats, and come home to sort the bounty. Very pirate-friendly and no one walked a plank. 

I've never taken the history of Halloween into consideration. To me it's a fun night of pretend, dressing up, finding old capes and sheets and make-up and letting the kids have fun.

And I never tricked anyone, LOL! Ever.... I was in it for the treats. Totally.

But you don't see Halloween in Christian fiction. You see it in inspirational movies, but not books, and that's an interesting divide possibly driven by shelf-space, reader reaction. If Christian readers don't like or participate in Halloween parties, trunk-or-treats, neighborhood stuff, etc. why would a publisher risk offending them? For a while, authors were rarely allowed to let people dance in their stories... so if you couldn't dance, dressing up as a ghost was clearly verboten!  Cate Nolan shared some "Fall in Brooklyn" images she featured on a blog a few years ago, so I'm sprinkling them in here.

One of these days I'm going to write a book with some fantasy attached just because it's fun. Not because I don't love God. I do. But I do like a vivid imagination, too. So there's the rub.... 

So what about you? 

How do you feel about this as a reader or writer? And as an author, we do need to follow our publishers' rules... they pay us to follow their rules and I'm okay with that so my fall books focus on harvest, on gleaning, on gathering, on thankfulness. And that's an easy segue to gratitude. That's how we run our amazingly growing-by-leaps-and-bounds pumpkin farm, too. We start September 1st with a celebration of harvest, of color, of wonder... but we have fairies and gnomes and make-believe ideas ALL OVER THE PLACE because I love a vivid imagination! 

I haven't personally had a hard time glossing over Halloween in my work... because to me the beauty of harvest (especially here in Northeast Woodlands, so many colors) is the glory of fall color!

So tell us what you think!

I brought hot cider and cold cider and fresh cider fried cakes.

And apple fritters!

LET'S TALK!

Multi-published, bestselling author Ruth Logan Herne loves running her own businesses and bossing people around. (Put on your shocked face!!!) and while her pumpkin farm keeps her spinning plates 5 months of the year, her first love (after Jesus and family) is writing stories!  And this new one is on sale nationwide right now, at Walmarts and select grocery stores... and I'm going to give one copy away today to some wonderful commenter!  Or grab it from the AMAZON LINK HERE! 

Cate's Favorite Craft Books #7 - All about Story

 Last March I posted about Lisa Cron's Wired for Story and Story Genius. You can check that out here.

I mention that post again because last week I had the opportunity to attend a virtual workshop that Lisa Cron did for the FHL Writer's group.

If you weren't fortunate enough to catch that workshop, there are several versions online.

Joanna Penn with Lisa Cron

This presentation for the School of Visual Arts covers essentially the same things as the FHL workshop.

Lisa focuses on how to write better based on brain science. 

The key is her focus on STORY.

Lisa talks about how we use story to make sense of things. She posits that "story was more crucial to our evolution than our much touted and genuinely beloved opposable thumbs, because all  opposable thumbs do is let us hang on. Story tells us what to hang on to!"

Lisa goes on to talk about the importance of story in helping us to prepare for the unknown. More on that in a minute.

Don't you love how sometimes life just throws you things that are meant to go together? That happened to me with the Story workshop and a book I was reading called Once Upon a Wardrobe.

Perhaps you are familiar with Patti Callahan's Christy-winning novel Becoming Mrs. Lewis: The Improbably Love Story of  Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis.

This week I was reading her luminous new novel called Once Upon a Wardrobe.

Once Upon a Wardrobe tells the tale of a young invalid named George who is fascinated/obsessed with The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. George was born with a heart condition, and at 8 he has already exceeded predictions on how long he will live. His sister attends Oxford, and George wants her to find out where Narnia came from. Megs will do anything for her beloved brother, so she approaches C.S. Lewis to ask that crucial question. Rather than give a simple answer to her question, Mr. Lewis shares a series of stories from his life.

One of the things I loved about this book is that Megs is a mathematics student at Oxford. She is not a reader and has no clue about how stories can grip you. She thinks they are useless, unlike math and physics which provide all the answers. Her growing understanding and awe of story help us to also deepen out understanding of their power.

I don't want to give away too much of the story, but I want to point out how Patti, in pulling out C.S. Lewis's thoughts gives us so much to think about with regard to our stories and what we are trying to accomplish. In her own way, the message she shares is very similar to what Lisa Cron is saying - stories matter. They help make us who we are. They help us make sense of things. 

There is a line in Once Upon a Wardrobe - 

I can't really understand my life without stories. They offer me...they offer all of us the truth in their myths, mysteries and archetypes" (144).

There is so much discussion in the book of the power and worth of story, and there is magic in the way Megs comes to understand. As I learned about story through her eyes (and her brother's), I couldn't help but reflect on the awesome power we hold when we create our stories. And of course the responsibility that goes hand-in-hand. 

And that ties in so well with Lisa Cron's work, because her study of brain science teaches us how to tell those stories in a way that captivates readers.

I love when something really makes me think, makes me evaluate what I know and what I'm doing. The workshop and novel left me so inspired to go out and create great stories.

What about you?

I should also ask about you as a reader. Have you read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe? Somehow I never read it as a child, but I read it with a class last year and I was every bit as enchanted with the story as my students were. That experience of reading it with them was magical, so I completely understood George being so captivated.  I have to admit to being slightly envious of Megs getting to sit and sip tea and chat with C. S. Lewis about his story. 

So lets talk about story.