Susie Finkbeiner's Blog, page 14

In The Water

CONGRATULATIONS to my three lovely necklace winners! Wendy V, Aubrey M, and Kelley L! I’ll be in touch to get addresses and what letter you’d like on your necklace!

There’s just something about water. How it refreshes. That first touch of the lake on your toes after a long winter. The way a hot shower feels after a stressful day.

Something about water has the power to inspire.

This weekend, at my church, I had the blessing to witness four baptisms. They climbed into the mini-pool like baptismal as a lady read the testimony they’d written ahead of them. Then, after a few words from Jeff Manion (our teaching pastor), they were lowered into the water and brought back up. New.

This is the power of water.

I was moved by the stories of restored faith. Of redemption. Of excitement. Their baptisms brought tears to my eyes because they reminded me of my own. And they reminded me of the grace we have been freely given.

But then, something different happened. Someone else got in the water.

I don’t remember her name. But I do remember how scared she looked when she walked on that stage. And I remember a few words from her testimony…

“Mental Illness.”

“Alone.”

“I feel like I belong.”

She struggled to climb up the steps and over the edge of the baptismal. When she got in the water, she sat on the built in seat and trained her eyes away from the congregation.

Jeff Manion took her hand. And looked right into her eyes.

“We love you…we’re so glad you’re part of us…”

I wept. Right there in my seat. I’m crying now, at home in front of my computer.

Because she was alone. Now she’s loved. She’s part of us. Not because of her decision to be baptized. Not because Jeff Manion said so.

But because Jesus. Because Jesus.

Jeff lowered her into the water. He lifted her back out. She climbed awkwardly back out of the tub.

She was different.

Not because of the water. Or the words. But because Jesus.

She inspires me.

Because of her courage.

You see, I believe that the change in her began before she every stepped on that stage. Before her testimony was read. Before she stuck her toe in that baptismal.

The change happened the minute she decided to get in the water.

Tell me. Wha t has inspired you lately? It can be anything. Let’s encourage each other with inspiration we’ve allowed to warm our hearts and minds. I love to hear from each of you!

Ask Susie – What Writers’ Spouses Must Know

Hey, howdy! Make sure you watch the video to find out how to enter to win a cool necklace (it’s customizable!!!)! Have a great weekend!

Beauty

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I’ve messed up. Many, many times.

I suspect that you have, too. At least once.

Sometimes, when I think about what I’ve done, said, thought, felt,

I begin to think of myself as unworthy.

That I don’t deserve good.

That I don’t deserve happy.

That I don’t deserve beauty.

Some might say that’s the depravity of flesh.

The inability to do a good thing.

An acute case of unrighteousness.

I wonder, though, how the image of God fits in that depraved flesh.

Because I know I’m fearfully and wonderfully made,

I know that I’m not a lost cause. Neither are you.

I get a gift. And it’s free.

No strings.

Just grace and love and more chances.

I don’t deserve beauty. Maybe not.

But I get it.

He’s just good like that.

Never Again

photo courtesy of Jennifer Gusey

Never again.

Have you said those words? Thought them? Hoped them?

Never again. I won’t let that happen again.

Won’t allow that person into my life.

Can’t let myself dwell on it.

Never again.

And have you turned from that person/place/thing that you promised would never again be? Have you let yourself forget it/him/her?

Stuffed down the memories/emotions/pain.

Then, one day, the barrier you think you’ve built up…well…it fails. And it all rushes at you.

Has that ever happened to you?

And, in that moment, you almost give in. Let that memory or pain or person destroy your joy. Stomp it. Twisting its foot to grind your joy into the cement like a cigarette butt. To extinguish it.

But then you remember. That one thing. The most important thing.

My grace is sufficient for you. 

In your weakness, my power is made complete.

Toss this pain to Me. I’ll carry it for you.

You remember that God sees you.

That one thing. That most important thing is God.

You remember that He loves you.

That He isn’t insulted by your doubt.

Or faithlessness.

Or your inability to call out to Him.

You remember that, even in the pain. The fear. The weakness.

He IS.

And you know that it might not make sense. Why did that person/place/thing come back? Why now? Why didn’t God stop it the first time? Why do you feel He is so far off now?

You know that the answers aren’t easy.

But that never again will you be alone.

Never again will you be without hope.

Never again will you be unloved.

And that when our never again’s meet HIS never again’s. We are healed.

Ask Susie: Naming Characters

Don’t miss last week’s “Ask Susie” about finding time to write. Click HERE to watch it!

Meet Sharon K. Souza

I would like you to meet Sharon K. Souza.

Sharon is one of the lovely Novel Matters bloggers. She is also one of my writing mentors. I have to tell  you, Sharon is fabulous.

Well, I’ll let you see that for yourselves. I had the opportunity to interview Sharon. Enjoy!

Susie Finkbeiner (SF): Sharon, I’m so glad you’re here today. Can you please tell us a little about your writing life? How did you get started? What has kept you going, even when it got tough?

Sharon Souza (SS): Like many writers, I’d had a desire to write long before I actually started writing. Then, the summer of 1986, I was facing my usual 3-month summer break from my job as a T.A. at a Christian high school, and decided to see how far I could get on a novel. By the end of the summer I had hand written 100 pages, and I haven’t stopped writing since. There have been a lot of years of disappointment and frustration between then and now, but two things have kept me going: encouragement from peers and other industry professionals; and a conviction that writing inspirational fiction is my calling.

SF: I, for one, am so glad that you kept on going! It’s obvious that you love to write. Can you share what your favorite thing about writing is?

SS: I love beginning a new novel and watching my characters come to life; and I love writing dialogue. I also love when inspiration strikes, usually at night as I’m falling asleep. I’ve learned to write in the dark if need be, but I also have a notebook that Debbie Thomas (also from Novel Matters) told me about that lights up when you remove the pen from its holder. What a great device!

SF: We will have to chat later about that light up notebook. That’s genius! Now, just recently you have become an Indie (independent) author. You are blazing trails, Lady! I would love to know more about that experience for you. What’s been different between Indie Publishing and Traditional (with a publishing house)? What’s better? What’s worse?

SS: As an indie author this time around I bear the full responsibility of producing and promoting the product. It’s been a LOT of work, but I’ve enjoyed most of it. It’s better in that I call the shots. It’s worse in that I’m completely responsible for the success or lack thereof. That was true to a large degree with traditional publishing, but I didn’t feel like I was out there on my own. This is a bit frightening, but it’s also very empowering. Hear me roar!

SF: I hear you roar! And I’m impressed! I’m also pretty excited about this special deal you have going on. Will you pretty please enlighten us about that?

SS: When I re-released Every Good & Perfect Gift and Lying on Sunday, making them available on Kindle for the first time, I wanted to offer them on Kindle at an appealingly low intro price, and decided to include Unraveled in the special. My goal is to garner new readers for my novels, particularly in anticipation of my next release, coming July 1.

{NOTE! These three novels are only $2.99 for the Kindle…get them TODAY (February 28)…it’s the last day for that awesome price}

SF: I have to tell you, Sharon, I love your novels. Particularly UNRAVELED. It was as if you looked right into a certain period of my life and wrote about it.

I’m so glad to have had you here on the blog today. Could  you please leave us with a Fun Fact about you? What is something interesting that makes you the one and only Sharon Souza?

SS: I’d rather fish than shop. I’d rather spend a day in, say, Montana, than a day in the city.

SF: I’d love to go fishing with you sometime. I’ll let  you put the worm on the hook, though! That’s a little beyond this city girl’s ability.

Friends, how about you show Sharon a little love today. Go on over and download one/all of her books. $2.99 is a fantastic price. Also, tell your friends!

 

 

History, Romance, and SPIES! A Guest Post With Roseanna M. White!

Friends, I want to introduce you to Roseanna M. White. She is one talented lady. Publisher, Writer, Editor, Home Schooling Mama, Friend, Blogger…She does everything. Enjoy this guest post!




Yes, okay, I’m one of those. The people who just love stories of intrigue. I’ve read Robert Ludlum. I’ve watched all the Bourne movies, all the James Bond movies. I move books from my “read someday” pile to my “read NOW!” pile if I spot the word “spy” or “espionage” in the back cover copy. What can I say? They’re just so stinkin’ cool!

But alas, all my books were just historical or historical romance. I had wars, I had betrayal, but something as awesome as spies? Sigh. Nope, not me. And as I prepared for the release of Love Finds You in Annapolis, Maryland, I decided that was just a cryin’ shame. As I was putting away laundry one day (a rare feat in my house, I assure you), I was noodling ideas for another book with a similar setting to Annapolis (which is 1783) and called to mind something my husband had been watching on TV a few days before.

Notice I said he had been watching it. I’d caught the first few minutes of Brad Meltzer’s Decoded and then gotten called away by one of the kiddos. But he had to tell me all about it, because he knew I’d be a sucker for that one, as it combined my love of intrigue with my love of history and told the story of the Culper Ring, America’s first organized network of spies.




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Benedict Arnold – Boo, hiss!



So there I was, trying to shove a sweater into an over-full drawer, going, “Revolutionary spies. Now that had to be cool. Didn’t he say something about invisible ink or something? And Benedict Arnold? Maybe I could write a sequel to Annapolis and somehow have a character who was a…a…what were they called? Started with a ‘p’ didn’t it? Pepper? Pulitzer–ha! Hmm…honey!! What were those spies called?”

Honey, from downstairs. “Whaaaattttt?”

“What were those spies called? During the Revolution?”

“Oh. Culper Ring.”

“Right. Culper Ring. Culper Ring. Culper R—what in the world is Xoe’s sock doing in my pocket?”

Two days later, while I was doing dishes (a prime brainstorming time, though that rarely induces me to seek it out): “Now, spies. Spies in Annapolis. Or Williamsburg. Or–I wonder where they were based? I should look them up. The…um…started with a ‘p,’ right? Honey? What was that spy ring again?”

Hubby dearest, from downstairs. {sigh} “Culper Ring.”

“Right.”

“You wanna maybe write it down this time?”

“Can’t. Hands in dishwater. You wanna do the dishes for me?”

“That’s okay. I can just keep reminding you.”

I did eventually remember what they were called, but it took me a while. My ever-indulgent (and dishwashing-phobic) husband faithfully reminded me until I’d bookmarked a website about them. I read a little about them, kept trying to come up with a way to weave it into an existing plot…and then, after a couple weeks, said, “You know what? They’re too cool to be a subplot. They deserve their own book.”

So I read a little more. And thought they were so cool. I mean, secret signals! Drop locations! Invisible ink! Code names!! They even brought down Benedict Arnold, that website said!!! They’re like…like…like Colonial Bournes. Revolutionary Bonds. Total low-tech action heroes.

Fully in love with the idea of giving them their own story, I started working on the how and why and who. It went without saying (in my mind at least) that my heroine had to be a Culper. Only, an invisible, unknown one. One with some connection to the agents history has recorded for us…maybe from the same town as one of the primary agents? And now she could be in some Loyalist stronghold. Long Island, maybe, since it was all NY based. Some rich neighborhood. Or no, maybe NYC itself…I’d have to do some research. And my hero–well, he needs to be at cross-purposes with her, right? Some nice tension. Only this is me, so we need a major twist…




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A scan of a page from the Culper code book



I eventually bought a really awesome book about the Ring, and received quite an education through it. Namely, that they weren’t exactly as “cool” as I thought. No action heroes. Terrible codes. Nervous dispositions. As many failures as victories–and Benedict Arnold? Yeah…not exactly their handiwork. Still. As the disillusion faded, inspiration replaced it. Because you know what–these people were just like me. Farmers and merchants and sailors and soldiers. Not Jason Bourne or James Bond. Normal. Everyday. Awesome.

Yeah, I was pretty glad I decided to give them their own story, and I had so much fun weaving the recorded history around my fictional characters. It was a challenging book to write for quite a while, with the most complicated heroine I’d ever tried to pull off. And I consider it one of my best strokes of genius that I decided my hero should be a socially bumbling chemistry nerd. The result? A book I so love. And so, I was so thrilled when Harvest House shared my enthusiasm. Ring of Secrets just released, and the rest of the series will speculate on what might have happened to the Culper Ring during the War of 1812 and Civil War–fun stuff!

And to make the release extra fun, I put together a page where you can figure out YOUR Culper Code Name! Feel free to drop by–and while you’re there, don’t forget to take a gander at my Box of Secrets giveaway, featuring, among other things, a necklace that Susie made, one of a kind!

Saggy Middle

Just about four and a half years ago, I was large and round and splitting pregnant with twin boys. I was literally a big mama.

After delivering them (c-section, no less), I had very little left to my abdominal muscles. Going from flat on my back to sitting was nearly impossible.

I had a saggy middle.

Nobody wants a saggy middle.

Now, I’m going to be honest, if I may, my middle isn’t toned. Let’s just say, you can’t scrub your laundry on these abs. But, I have regained mobility. I’m not hard-pressed to sit up anymore.

Had I given up, after the c-section, and decided it was too much work to sit up, I would still have a saggy, useless middle. However, I didn’t let that happen…after all, I had 3 kiddos under the age of 2 at the time. I got up. Moved around. Made my middle work again.

You know, it’s the same for writing.

It is really tempting to put all of the effort into the beginning of the book. A real good invitation for the reader to enter into the story. And it’s equally tempting to put everything into the end. To leave them satisfied or changed or moved.

And it is so very easy to forget how important the middle is.

And, so, the middle gets saggy. Flabby. Immobile. Icky.

Many readers abandon the saggy story. They never get to that FLASH BOOM BANG ending because the middle was too gooshy.

When writing Paint Chips, I was very aware of that potential. My first draft sagged in the middle. Lifeless and lumpy. I had to tone it up. Give it definition. It took hard work. A lot of days refining and cutting and shaping. I had to learn pacing and rhythm and suspense in order to achieve a good form.

And, I have to say, the hard work proved well worth it.

I suspect that saggy middles aren’t unique to post baby mamas or novels.

50% is the hardest place to be on a journey.

Half way is where we are tempted to give up.

Have you experienced a difficult mid-point at some time in your life? A saggy middle? How did you overcome it? Who helped you through? Are you at a saggy middle right now? How are you dealing with it?

I absolutely love to hear what you have to say. Your words are valuable to me.

Have a lovely day!

I’ve Been Everywhere, Man…

This month, I’ve been so honored to be the guest on a whole bunch of blogs. Just in case you missed any of them, I thought I’d give you the links.

First, Amelia Rhodes interviewed me on her blog. Click HERE.

Next, my editor, Dina Sleiman, hosted me (TWICE!). She talked me up (and made me blush) HERE and let me write a post about my issue with anxiety HERE.

Megan Sayer added to the blushing on her blog. Click HERE.

Fellow WhiteFire author, Christine Lindsay let me write about how a friend prayed for me. Click HERE.

The super sweet Jessie Heninger wrote a review on her blog. Click HERE. She also interviewed me HERE.

Peter DeHaan interviewed me from a male perspective. Click HERE.

My publisher and editor, Roseanna White wrote more Susie-blushing words HERE.

The lovely, Ashlin Jakobson posted a video reading from Paint Chips. Click HERE.

And, most recently, Julie Hartley (who lives in my hometown of Lansing), posted an excerpt from Paint Chips which was inspired by a Lansing restaurant (her’s is a restaurant review blog). Click HERE.

Also, Kelly Haven is RIGHT NOW hosting a give away of a super cool necklace (made by me, of course). She’s talking about me, Paint Chips, and our friend Ryan Apple (who is a wicked awesome guitarist). Check that out and enter the give away HERE.

WHEW! I sure hope I didn’t miss anybody. It has been a whirlwind with more posts to come.

My point in sharing this is two-fold. First, to thank all these lovely people who have been so supportive! I could not market this book alone. It is not possible. But with the help of others, it is a joy. Second, so that you can check out their blogs. To give them a little exposure and blog love! Go on and follow them if they’re your “flavor”

Stay tuned. I’ve got a whole lot of people posting in the near future!

Ask Susie — Finding Time

Welcome to the first edition of “Ask Susie”. Have a question you want me to answer, go ahead and ask it! You can email me at susiefink[at]gmail[dot]com or just leave your question in the comments of this post. Ask about writing, Paint Chips, silly stuff…whatever! Be creative! I hope to do this each week. Thanks!

LOOK at those crazy eyes!!!

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