Colleen Wait's Blog: Hello readers!, page 10

Recipes

The following is a compilation of the recipes I have on my blog: 

Cookies
Pumpkin Bread
Banana Bread
Cookie Cake
Bread  - I have several versions of this.

Granola Bars

Coming soon to an Amazon near you.....

My tenth book, Jacob's Well should be on bookshelves in the very near future.  Beta readers, final editing, publishing.  The little tedious details writers don't particularly care for, especially me.  I prefer to write, the wave a magic wand, BAM, it's perfect and on the bookshelf.  I'll be patient if you can.

Challenges of writing Christian Fiction

Book number ten is well underway.  I didn't begin my writing career as a "Christian writer".  Rather I began as a struggling Christian who writes.  My first two books, Freedom Race and Captured, are not specifically Christian. I don't market them as Christian.  As I grew as a woman and as a Christian my books evolved and the themes naturally gravitated towards Christianity.  My characters are strong women with real problems, issues, imperfect lives.  I think I sometimes have difficulty marketing my books as Christian because they are not squeaky clean.  Some, like Angel in Lessons Learned, have lived extremely sinful lives.  Some Christians will argue that my characters are inappropriate and should not be read by Christians.  Okay, so be it.  Christians who cannot handle people who have lived less than perfect lives should not read my books - or maybe they should.

I want non-Christians, struggling Christians, baby Christians to read my books and connect with the characters. See how they handle struggles and life and how they grew and gave their lives to God.  Remnant actually started out as a "non-Christian" story.   Being a Christian, the book naturally took a turn and looked for a higher power.  Some may be pleasantly surprised by the ending.  I know for a fact, some people were miffed at the ending.  That's okay, too.

My challenge right now is, how do I teach the Good News of Jesus Christ in fiction?  I played with that in Man in the Mirror.  This book, I want to take it a step further.  However, it needs to not sound "preachy".  I'm about to write a Bible study scene.  Should I write the entire study?  Should I write parts of it and narrate the rest?  Christians are instructed to "go into the world" and take the Good News.  I feel led to do this through fiction.  I have readers of this blog and of my books from all over the world. If God gives me the words to write in this book I believe I can plant seeds that God can grow.  Challenge accepted.

To God be the Glory.

I would love to hear from you.  How do you feel when you read about Jesus in fiction?  How have you seen it done well?  Poorly?  I've read a lot so I can give my own examples but I want to hear from you!

Looking for books in all the right places.

Are you looking for a good book to read?  Look no further
Remnant, Colleen Wait

Remanant is free today, 3/7/2013 on Amazaon.comIn addition, Man in the Mirror is free tomorrow, 3/8/2013 on Amazon.com
Man in the Mirror, Colleen Wait

Jesus Saves the Day

This morning I awoke at 5 am to drive to my usual trail to do my usual long run.  I dressed, ate, did a light warm up, got in the car, backed out of the driveway and began my usual routine with - "Good morning Jesus, thank you for...."   

Several minutes later I noticed a car behind me.  I was doing the speed limit and minding my own business so I didn't think much of it. A half mile later the tailing car flashed its lights at me.  That worried me a bit.  I was still doing the speed limit, thought maybe he wanted to pass, so I moved over just a bit.  The car didn't pass.  In fact, he got a little closer.  My heart began to pound.  I was being followed! Keeping my eyes on the road, I reached for my phone.

"911, what's your emergency?"

"Hello, my name is Colleen Wait.  I'm driving a blue Ford sedan South on Main Street towards Vine.  There is a car behind me.  He flashed his headlights.  I don't think it is a police car because no lights or sirens. If it is a police car, I want you to know I am not going to pull over unless you tell me it is safe."

"Ma'am, do not pull over.  Let me check."

Silence for what seemed like forever.  I looked up at the rear-view mirror.  My heart hit my stomach when blue and red lights began flashing.  I turned on my emergency flashers to acknowledge him. 

"Operator!  There are now police lights.  No siren, just lights."

"Ma'am, please continue to drive. There is not an officer in pursuit in your area.      Please continue to drive cautiously until I tell you otherwise."

"Yes.  Okay."  I'm shaking.  The guy behind me is obviously not a cop.  He flashed his lights at me again and I continue to pray.  Turning a bend I saw an intersection.  "Ma'am I'm about to come to an intersection.  If the light turns red do I run it?"

"No. If you are able to turn right, do so.  What is the name of the street?"

"Central.  Light just turned yellow."  

I slowed down, looked left.  No cars were coming so I knew I could simply slow down enough to turn.  But then I saw lights.  I would have to stop.   As soon as I stopped, I looked up at my rear-view mirror.  The man jumped out of his car.  I hit the gas and turned, ignoring the headlights approaching me.  He jumped back into his car.  

Suddenly, the streets lit up with red and blue lights.   A police car raced in front of me and stopped, two more pulled up behind me and even more surrounded the car that had been tailing me.   

"The calvary has arrived,"  I said to the 911 operator.  I let out a huge sigh of relief.  "Can I hang up now?  I need to call my husband."

"Yes ma'am.  Are you alright?"

"Yes. Thank you. Looks like Jesus saved the day.  God bless you and keep you and all the real police officers."  I hung up and dialed home.

"Hello?  About to run?"

"Not yet." An officer walked up and stood next to my window.  I flashed him the thumbs up.  "I was being tailed," I said as calmly as I could.  "The police are here and I'm fine." The officer knocked on my window. "Hold on. Yes?"

"Are you Colleen Wait?" asked the officer.

"Yes.  I called 911. The man is not a police officer, right?"

"No ma'am, he is not."

"What's going on?" asked my husband.

"A man was tailing me, posed as a cop.  I'm fine."

"Coming back home?"

"No.  I have my run. I'm not going to let him ruin my day.  I'll call you when I get to the trail."

"Are you sure?  Is it safe?"

"I'm sure.  Call you in a bit.  Love you." I hung up the phone then asked the officer, "So, who is he?"

"We're checking now."

I looked in the rear view mirror and saw the man being placed in handcuffs and into a patrol car.  "I'd like to speak to him."

"Excuse me?"

I took off my seatbelt and opened the door.  "I want to say something to him."

"That's not a good idea."

I strolled past the officer, who followed right behind me.  He told the officer standing next to the patrol car what I wanted to do.  He shook his head then opened the car door.

"What the **&^%)  do you want?"  The man spit at me.  

"I simply wanted to tell you that I forgive you," I said, leaning in to get a look at him.

"Go to hell."

"You are a child of God.  However, you only did what you did because Satan holds your heart in his hands."

"You're crazy."

"Maybe.  But its a good kind of crazy.  I forgive you.  If you ever want Satan to let go, simply ask Jesus.  He'll guide you home."

"Go to hell, lady!"

"No, thank you.  I'm never going there and I will pray for you constantly that you won't either."  I turned and walked back towards my car. 

"I need you to sign some papers," stated the officer who escorted me to my car. 

I read over the paper, gave the information that was requested, then got back in my car.  "Can I go now?"

"Yes ma'am. Would you like an escort home?"

"No, I"m not going home.  I'm going running."

"Then I'll escort you there."

The officer followed me to my favorite trail head, shook my hand, then left.  I strapped on my water belt, walked over to the small, enclosed garden, walked up to a bench and dropped to my knees.

"Father," I prayed, "thank you for saving my life."  I continued to pray for the man who wanted to do me harm and for those who were sent to prevent that from happening. 

I then stood up, wiped my tears, walked over to the trail and began my run the way I usually do -  "Good morning, Jesus, thank you......




(Note:  This is not a true story.  It could be, might be to someone.  However, today it was simply one of the random thoughts that ran through my head in between prayers while I was out running. PS, Jesus always saves the day, spiritually even if not physically if you will let him.)

GPS free = freedom

Before my last race I told my husband I was going to take a month off and get fat and lazy.  Well....that lasted about three days.  I was on the treadmill after a week.  Today, two weeks later, I went for a nice brisk run OUTSIDE!  It was beautiful.   

The best part?  Well, it was a GPS-free day.  That meant I didn't know how fast or how far.  That also meant I was free to enjoy the day, 



enjoy the scenery,


and my talk with God. 
Oh, how I missed my talks with God.  I know, it's only been two weeks, and it's not like I haven't prayed in two week because I have.  It's just, well, I was praising God for the day and suddenly it hit me, I missed my quiet time with Abba Father.  When you have that, a personal, intimate relationship with the Father you miss it when it's gone. I didn't realize that until today. 
That made me think of my family. My son's on the other side of the world (until May and then he's a tiny bit closer), my mom and grandmother are 13-hours away, and then there's my sister.  I haven't seen her in years. I miss her.  She lives near my mother, however, there is tension there.  I'm very angry with my sister right now because she didn't come to Thanksgiving.  I drove 13 hours to see her, however, she did not drive 10 minutes to come see me or the rest of the family.  I forgive her though, because as I was praying for her, these thoughts came to my mind,  "whoever forgives little is forgiven little."   This is a paraphrase of several of Jesus' parables.  Matthew 18 and Luke 7.
So, sister, I forgive you.  I miss you and I love you.  
Why is GPS-free = freedom?   Because running GPS-free reminded me of how much I love my time with God, my time with God reminded me of forgiveness, forgiveness reminded me of freedom with Christ.  
Galatians 5:1  It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Be blessed.Run Free.

Women's Running Recipe

For those who asked.  Here is my dairy-free, Peanut Butter, Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.  I keep meaning to figure out the nutrition value in these.  I will eventually. These cookies are not overly sweet.  More like a yummy energy bar.  

Ingredients:
2 cups all-natural peanut butter
1 cup Agave syrup
2 eggs
1/4 cup + 2 Tbs all natural applesauce
2-1/2 cups oats
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 to 3/4 bag dairy-free chocolate chips
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla

Process
Melt the peanut butter in the microwave (melt but don't cook).  Add the remainder of the ingredients in order listed, one at a time, mixing well. Let ingredients sit for 15-20 minutes.  This allows the oats to soften and lets all the ingredients get happy.  If the mix is drier than bread dough, add a few more Tbs of water or applesauce.  Spoon onto parchment-lined cookie sheet.  Press down to shape.  Bake at 350 until brown, 8-10 minutes.  Makes 44.  

Diary free cooking

So, what are you going to do now?

This was the question my husband asked me as I hobbled up the stairs yesterday.  My answer was, "Take a shower and then a nap."  That wasn't exactly what he meant, however, I was too brain dead to comprehend.

You see, I had just completed a marathon. My second, in fact.  This was the RunDisney marathon at Walt Disney World in Florida.  I had been training pretty much since the disastrous race in Melbourne eleven months ago, but I won't rehash that.  

If you've been a follower of my blog for any length of time, you know my story.  I love to run. I have had shoulder injuries, knee injuries, hip injuries, stomach flu, food allergies, and lost many toe nails.  Yet, I still run, still persevere.  Why?  I'm not really sure.  I like the competition but I'm not overly competitive.  I like to stay in shape, be healthy, but I'm not obsessive.  (My family may argue otherwise).  

I believe I run for the following reasons:
1.  Health.   I'm 47 years old and I want to stay active and enjoy a healthy life, live long enough to be able to play with my yet unborn grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
2. Prayer.  I began praying on my runs just to get me through the next mile.  As time went on and my runs became longer I incorporated prayer into my routine.  It became habit.  Two steps into my run my thoughts immediately start with, "Good morning God, beautiful day." I can pray for hours now.  In fact, 4 hours and 38 minutes.  
3. Thrill of the chase.  I'm a bit claustrophobic in crowds.  I always line up as far to the front as I can and often to one side or the other.  When the gun goes off, I go as fast as I can to get away from the crowd.  In doing this, I found it was kinda fun to pass people and zip in and out of traffic like a gazelle running through a herd of zebra.   My favorite races are those in which I am able to pick a person to pass and do so.
4.  Satisfaction and feeling of accomplishment.   My goal in a race is to a) beat my last time and b) be satisfied with the time.   B is really hard to attain because I always look back and think about what I could have done differently, should I have stopped at that water stop, tried to speed up even more at the finish, etc.   I start my running prayer with Good morning and finish each race with "Thank you Jesus!"  

 Deep down, I know God doesn't really care about who wins the race, however, as it says in Corinthians, he cares about winning the final race, the one that lasts forever.  This past week on my computer screen has been 1 Corinthians 9: 24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.

On my wrist during the race were bands that read, "Can do through Christ."   This is a verse from Phillipians 4:13  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.  

I suppose I run to be closer to God, to strengthen not only my physical body but my spiritual one as well.  When I'm in pain, whether from running or life in general, I turn to Him for strength.  When I succeed, it is God whom I thank.  When I fail, I still give him thanks and ask for strength and for lessons learned.  

So, what am I going to do now?  I'm going to turn to God and ask Him.  We'll let you know. 

I love great reviews...

Here's the newest review of "Remnant":


5.0 out of 5 stars  A Must Read! Two Thumbs Up!  January 3, 2013By CK3Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified PurchaseWhile looking for interesting reads, I downloaded this book to my kindle. After reading the write-up I was afraid it would be a girls/teen book. Wow Was I Wrong! Excellent premise, great characters, excitement, adventure, suspense, and yes sadness but no spoilers. The main character goes on a quest to find anyone who may have survived a catastrophic event that has wiped the Earth clean. Along the way, she meets some others who have survived. This character grows up fast in this new world and you grow with her. Anyone in this position has to have faith and she does!

Remnants took me 2 evenings to read and I was sad that it ended! My daughter is now starting to read it. I anxiously await the next book. I will also be looking for other books from this author!


Okay, so maybe I will write a sequel....  After the marathon I'll have some time on my hands.  Look for it late Spring, early Summer. 

An endorsement for "Remnant"

Below is a repost of a blog endorsing my book:

Do you make New Year's resolutions? Plan to write more? Submit more? Self publish?
Make a resolution to support fellow writers with endorsements.
Buy on AmazonI highly endorse Remnant by Colleen Wait. Remnant is Colleen's ninth inspirational novel. She self publishes and has a large readership following on her blog and on Amazon were many positive reviews have been posted.

Colleen's latest book, Remnant, explores the character of several young adults (teens) who have survived a catastrophic event that forced them underground. Her main character's quest to survive and learn what remains of the earth and the "why" of her survival is crucial to her maturity.

Topics of contemporary concern are dealt with in a sensitive manner so that the book is appropriate for mature 13-14 year-olds. I highly recommend Remnant as a book club choice for young adults as well as adult readers.

I must insert a disclaimer. Colleen is my daughter and I'm very proud of her and her writing. As a writer, I would not endorse her books just because....
I designed her cover.

http://carol-weishampel.blogspot.com/2013/01/whats-new.html

Thanks Mom (and a fan)!!