Pamela Q. Fernandes's Blog, page 27

How You Risk Over-exposure on Social Media!

Over-Exposure? On Social Media? Nah, you must be kidding. In fact, whatever I do, it doesn’t seem to be enough.

Haven’t we all heard this and felt this way? Most marketing books today suggest you should be doing more. Tweet twice an hour every hour, schedule your posts on Instagram, get more people to like your facebook page, sign onto snapchat and tumblr because that’s where your YA crowd hangs out (YA authors I hear ya), and so on and so forth.  It’s a vicious circle that sucks the time and energy that you could divert into writing.

But is all this over-exposure worth it? Here I talk about how you need to size up your risk on social media.

Over-exposure on Social Media

Curated Content

I’ve now reached saturation point with what I glean from social media. A year ago I was looking at it for entertainment. Now with all the self promotion, buy me culture, constant whining from some, and oversharing I don’t even bother going through those tweets. I hate seeing vindictive people shaming other people and the cyber-bullying that it has become.

I prefer seeing curated content, that can help people, build a better society, offer hope and educate the community at large. Social media is such a big platform. Ask yourself? Am I oversharing; about my work life, my family, my relationships, my pals, my medical history, my history in general. I see people who’re posting continuously and don’t realize that business partners, readers, potential employers are simultaneously building a profile of you as you share on social media. I used to share a lot on Twitter, when I got caught in the marketing scheme to make the whole world know about my book. Be careful people will find out less about your book and more about you than necessary. So curate content. Send what will build you and the people you serve up. I do share silly stuff too like huskies and Catholic feasts, but I have started to weigh quality versus quantity.

Pick One Social Media

It’s very easy to sign up for everything and be visible everywhere. But are you really visible? Over-exposure to me is when you’re everywhere but nowhere significant. I can’t seem to do Facebook at all. I don’t get it and probably never will. It’s got too many bells and whistles for my liking. But I do Twitter really well. I’m not into gaining a million followers. I like my author community and I like to learn and pick up advice from other writers, doctors and hosts. So I picked the one social media that I liked and decided to get good with it.

Don’ stretch yourself out. Social Media takes time. You can’t do everything everyday. Especially since social media requires a few posts to target audiences in different time zones, pick the one you do well. For me Twitter, made sense because it was the least time consuming. I could come up with 140 characters and a few times a day without busting my schedule. Others may find Instagram easier if they’re big on images. So pick one social media and do it well.

Long Term Thinking

Things long term. Five years from now can you still fit Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, Facebook, and whatever new social media comes along? Over-exposure will probably not leave you with much time for the next big thing. You’re too busy building a profile and then kabaam, something happens and it’s not popular anymore, then what? I have a three year plan and I think Twitter will survive, maybe evolve into something that I won’t like, so I’m looking at other social media. I see Pinterest growing and I’m considering that, but there are so many new things happening out there. LinkedIn is doing its best to keep intellectuals glued to it’s growing site and so social media is evolving. You need to think long term. Since Facebook is too unpredictable I don’t see myself building a platform there, and I don’t know what it will be in the near future let alone distant future.

Marketing is Not a Department

I recently read “Rework” and this is what I picked up. I loved Jason’s statement that marketing is not a department. Every time you answer the phone, you’re marketing, or emailing you’re marketing, every time you add a connection on LinkedIn you’re marketing, it’s all you.

I see so many people say they believe in teamwork, but I see them one-upping a colleague on social media. They think they’re giving themselves a pat on the back, but what others are thinking, my goodness this person’s a backstabber. I’m guilty of this myself. I may resent my current government but that doesn’t give the right to demean someone on social media and say things that I probably wouldn’t say to someone’s face. It’s hard but think twice. Think about marketing.

Fans or Readers don’t need Everything

When I first started reading Ree Drummond online way back, the pioneer woman was just a blog with wonderful home cooked recipes and Ree shared only what was necessary in relation to her kitchen. When I saw her show, I realized by the end of each episode I knew just as much about her as I did from reading her blog. Nothing more. Plenty of authors today share their every living, breathing moment online. How they have the time is beyond me, but the overexposure is overkill. I don’t want to know how many wine glasses you had to write a scene as much as it doesn’t matter to me if Jane Austen drank wine while she wrote as long as I read the best version of Emma.

Social Media is Saturated

Over-exposure has saturated social media. Why will weary people, share your link or post or books if their fed up with the millions of posts you’ve already shared with them? Better image? Better colour? Better discount?

Over-exposure is saturating our senses. Are you guilty of it? Ask yourself if over-exposure has led to measurable sales of your books or products. If it hasn’t how can you justify sharing so much online? If you’re being paid as an influencer kudos to you, but there’s a cost to that. (Point 1)

If not, what is the reason you’ve decided to be a social media jack of all trades? I’d like to know.

 

 

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17 Struggling with Christian Life? Learn from St. Augustine!

 “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”  St. Augustine of Hippo’s Confessions.

Struggling? Ask. St Augustine

Charles Johnston is a father and husband in Phoenix, Arizona. His conversion journey has taken years, as he felt God pulling him toward His Church but he resisted until he couldn’t take it anymore. He gave in and fell in love with His Church.  He blogs for ‘Now that I’m catholic.wordpress.com’. In this episode, I talk to Charles, about the Apostle Peter, his ministry and transformation from a fisherman to fisher of men.

In this episode, Pamela talks to Charles about St. Augustine of Hippo.

He speaks about:

-How St. Augustine had his Damascus moment?

-How we shouldn’t judge people coming back to the Church.

-How prayer matters for conversion.

-How only God can fill the God sized vacuum in our hearts!

Here’s the podcast. We don’t have a transcript this week. Let me know if you’d prefer reading.

Some of St. Augustine’s famous quotes:

The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.
 You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.
Give me chastity and continence, but not yet.
Hope has two beautiful daughters. Their names are anger and courage; anger at the way things are, and courage to see that they do not remain the way they are.
Faith is to believe what you do not yet see; the reward for this faith is to see what you believe.
God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.
Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we know about nature.
Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul.
Complete abstinence is easier than perfect moderation.
God is always trying to give good things to us, but our hands are too full to receive them.
He that becomes protector of sin shall surely become its prisoner.

If you enjoyed this podcast, like us, leave us a comment and share our episodes on social media with those who may benefit from it. We are on Stitcher, Itunes and tunein.com. We’d love to hear from you. Please rate us so that our podcast reaches out to the people who need to hear it.

 

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How Playing the Piano helped me Write Better!

Piano? Yes. Today I share some thing that has in a weird way helped me write better. Playing the piano.

Why a Yearly Calendar For Authors is Good!

A Yearly Calendar? You must be joking. That’s what some people will say.

Calendar for Authors

Q 20 Listing my Private Practice on Google; Good or Bad?

Listing my private practice on Google: Good or Bad?

Listing Doctor’s Practice on Google

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

16 With God All Spiritual Resolutions are Possible!

We should actually anticipate, when we first make our spiritual resolutions, we should anticipate that we’re going to have challenges and temptations, and that we’re going to fail at some point, but that we’ll grow in our commitment to get back on the horse, so to speak. Adele M Gill on Spiritual Resolutions

Spiritual Resolutions

Adele M. Gill is a retired RN and a charter member of the American Board of Disability Analysts, pioneer of ‘The Mind-Body-Faith Phenomenon,’ and author of 3 books including her new book, ‘From Broken to Blest: Embracing the Healing that Awaits You.’

Adele M Gill

In this New Year episode, I talk to Chaplain Adele about fulfilling our spiritual resolutions with God’s help. She speaks about:

-Whether it’s normal to repeatedly fail

-How can we keep persisting?

-How to face obstacles and overcome discouragement?

 

 

For our listeners who’d prefer to read, here’s the transcript :

Adele: My name is Chaplain Adele Gill, and I am a lifelong Catholic. I’m a wife and mother. I’m a retired registered nurse living in Maryland, and I am the author of three books. The latest book is called, “From Broken to Blessed: Embracing the Healing that Awaits You”, and that’s available on Amazon.

Pamela: In ministry work like writing, as a nurse, you’ve been in ministry for a long time, right? And you’re probably familiar with making spiritual resolutions, are you?

Adele: Oh, my goodness, yes. One of my spiritual resolutions is to be sure and write even more articles for Catholic Online. I’m a contributing writer with them and yes, spiritual resolutions are very, very important for all of us.

Pamela: And how successful have you been you know, over all these years? Just give us a breakdown, 50/50, 60/40? I mean, how successful have you been with keeping them?

Adele: I would say 50/50.

Pamela: Okay, great. Okay, that’s a lot more than most of us, but yeah, okay. Have you fallen off the bandwagon then, in some cases?

Adele: Certainly, certainly have. You know, I look at spiritual resolutions through the eye of the first…the fruit of the Spirit. You know, very often, and you know, scripture is beautiful in telling us what those fruit are. I wanna grow in love and joy and peace and forbearance and kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Those are the nine fruit of the Spirit, and I think whenever I make a resolution, a spiritual resolution, I base it on that criteria.

Pamela: Is it normal to fail in our spiritual resolutions, or is it abnormal that we fail so often, and we fail such a lot when it comes to making them?

Adele: I think that we should actually anticipate, when we first make our spiritual resolutions, we should anticipate that we’re going to have challenges and temptations, and that we’re going to fail at some point, but that we’ll grow in our commitment to get back on the horse, so to speak. To ask God for His help to get back on track.

Pamela: Some people who are worried…like, I’ve done this every single year. Like, I decided that I’m gonna go to Mass every Sunday or you know, I’m gonna pray X amount every day, it’s normal to me, like, to fall off that thing, right? And what are the [crosstalk 00:02:35] reasons why some of the times why people actually fail? I mean, there are some common reasons and then there are some things that are really difficult to do. So, why do people fail when it comes to their spiritual resolutions, not as much as weight loss, or, you know, other things that they commit to?

Adele: I think, frankly, sometimes you forget. You forget your goal. Yes, I think that part of it is, it’s when you’re tempted by something, whether it’s to be unkind, or to gossip, or you know, any number of things that you would try to resolve not to do, or to do. Sometimes you resolve that you’re going to join a ministry, or you’re gonna help other people more, or be kinder or gentler. It’s in our humanness. We forget, and we need to remind ourselves, we need to…sometimes you need to write yourself a little note and put it in your office to remember, or on the refrigerator. And you know, I know that weight loss is a very common one. That’s actually one of mine, but…resolutions, although, generally, it’s not a spiritual resolution, gluttony is something that would be a spiritual resolution to resolve.

Pamela: Yeah, you talk about all these…you know, “with God all things are possible.” That was one of your posts that I read online, you know, so how would you say, how should people partner with God when it comes to their spiritual resolutions, and is everything possible with God when you make spiritual resolutions?

Adele: Absolutely, but you need to bring Him in. You need to invite Him in, through the power of the Holy Spirit. You need to…I believe that you need to commit your goal, your spiritual resolution goal, to God before you even start. In the very beginning, when you say to yourself or to your spouse or to a friend, “I want to do…”, whatever it is you want to do. Even before you talk to them, I think it’s best if you pray and ask God for His help, because that’s where your help is gonna come from, when it gets really tough.

Pamela: What exactly would…I know this is not part of what we agreed on, on our questions, but what exactly can people do? I mean, when you say commit before you think of, you know, X, Y and Z, how would you commit? I mean, is it a prayer, or is it a lamentation, or is it thinking about it?

Adele: I think it’s, you think about it and then you pray. You think about what would make you a better person? What would enhance your relationship with God? How will you serve Him better, I think is what the process is, that I use. And when you pray, you just ask Him, you lay it in His hands and you ask for His help. And then you have to trust and that’s the tough part. I don’t know about you, Pamela, but I give it to God, and then sometimes I take it back. And that, you know, sometimes we have to get out of God’s way, so He can do His finest work.

Pamela: Yeah, that’s true, that’s true. So, how can we keep going at it when the going gets really tough? You know, especially when we’re seeing that, suppose we’re battling with addiction, or battling problems with relationships and then we spiritually resolve to do something and then we fail. So how can we keep at it when there’s confusion and there are problems and there are obstacles?

Adele: There are several things, and the first thing that I have noted is that, as I said, before you start, you need to recognize that all things are possible with God. If you start out trying to help a relationship and you don’t believe that God can help you, you are not going to succeed. You’re just not. And the scripture that goes with that, that we’re talking about is Matthew 19:26 in the New International Version. “Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible.'” And I think that speaks to our humanness. We need to understand that we are fully human, and He is not. When Jesus was here, he was human but he was not. And we want to emulate Jesus, but we’re not him. We have our failings.

The second thing that I would suggest is that understand ahead of time that you will meet challenges in your spiritual resolve. They’re simply unwelcome obstacles along your journey. They’re just a part of life.

The third thing is that we need to remember that we all fall short of God, of God’s way. However, we serve a loving, forgiving God. You know, you can promise Him, saying, “I am going to treat so-and-so better. I am going to read the Bible every day, no matter what. I’m gonna pray to You every day, regardless of how busy I am.” But because of our humanness, we do fall short at times, and when we believe that He’s a loving God and a forgiving God, it helps us get back on track, just by asking Him to help us get back on track sometimes.

We also need…the fourth thing is we need to trust that God will help us, that He is present to us in a very personal way. We don’t serve a God who’s way out there in the galaxy. He’s right here with us, helping us every step of the way, and I have a scripture, two scriptures, that really speak to that. Psalm 28:7, “The Lord is my strength and shield. My heart trusts in Him and He helps me.” The other one is Psalm 37:5, “Commit your way to the Lord, and trust that He will act.” When you pray and trust in God, He will show up, over and over and over again.

Pamela: It sounds simple, doesn’t it?

Adele: It does. It sounds so simple. I think a lot of it, Pamela, is trust.

Pamela: Yeah, yeah. Which is why…

Adele: We do walk by faith, not by sight. I think sometimes if you tell someone who’s close to you, your husband, your closest friends, tell them what your spiritual resolution is. It helps keep you accountable.

Pamela: It does, yeah.

Adele: So, when they hear you gossip, or they hear you be unkind, or you’re not doing ministry, they’ll tell you.

Pamela: How is this different from discouragement? Like, when you have…of course, you have people holding you accountable but then what about discouragement, especially from other people and mostly from family?

Adele: Yes, yes, “You’re eating that sweet roll again?” You know, I think that when you invite people in and you’re accountable, you try…you don’t want to look badly in front of them. I hate to say that, but it is an extra safeguard for your preventing discouragement. But I keep going back to our humanness because we are fallen people, you know? You can have the best intentions and just not quite be able to do it. With God’s help, it’s not impossible, but on your own, when you stray from God and from His ways, you know, when you turn your back on the fruit of the Holy Spirit, that’s when discouragement can set in. And for some people that are prone to depression, it can become despair. And for them, I think the best thing is…like, if you have a friend who is moving into despair, beyond discouragement, you need to…we need to encourage each other always. We need to encourage each other in the way that we’re going and encourage each other… You know, when you have Christian friends, it’s not uncommon for them to say, “I’ll pray for you.” And you can believe that they will. So, there’s faith in numbers, and it’s very helpful to have people praying for you as you’re embarking on your journey.

Pamela: And I’d like to add to that, because I think it’s important to be surrounded by community when you have spiritual resolutions because other people might not understand the value of the meaning of a Christian resolution or a spiritual resolution. I mean, they might understand a physical and maybe wealth or financial, but not spiritual. I mean, they won’t even encourage you in that respect. So, I agree with you, when you have Christian friends, it makes a big difference to your resolutions.

Adele: It really does. It really does. And it’s…part of the beauty of being a Christian is that you do this for each other. You do this for each other and there is such…I did a radio show once on prayer. There is so much power in prayer. So much power in prayer. I have seen things happen. I know you don’t know me, but I have some medical issues and my hands had contractures in them. For six years I could hardly use my hands. Well, I started making rosaries and prayer shawls and if you saw my hands today, you would say, “What happened?” The doctors don’t know what to think about it. My hands are normal.

Pamela: Wow, praise God.

Adele: It is praise God. I have had more miracles than anybody I know but that’s just one example. But I had so many people praying for me, so many people.

Pamela: What other examples did you share with the radio show about the power of prayer?

Adele: We talked about how I used to lead a prayer network, and we would use the telephone. When people needed prayer, we would call each other and pray. We had a man that came who came to our attention who had a brain tumor. And there were about 20 of us, maybe 30 that were praying for him. When he went back for them to map out how they were gonna do his surgery, the brain tumor was gone.

Pamela: Oh, that is amazing.

Adele: That’s amazing, and the Lord does this over and over and over again. I think the belief in the person that prays and the person that’s being prayed for is so important, so important. But we…the power of prayer, I think that it is something that is really underestimated. You know, how often Pamela, how often have we said, all of us, “There’s nothing that we can do.”?

Pamela: Yeah.

Adele: But we can pray. We can pray. And it doesn’t need to be eloquent speech. It can be as simple as, “Heaven help me.”

Pamela: Do you have any final words to say to anybody who’s making or starting on the first day of their spiritual resolutions?

Adele: Yes, I do. Yes, I do. I think that, first of all, we need to be proactive, as I said. We need to be sure and pray and invite God in before we embark on our journey. To keep our eyes on our goals, our spiritual resolutions, we need to have Him involved. He can’t be an afterthought. He needs to be the first thought. We also need to hand control over to Him. He is a loving God. He can handle anything that we bring Him. Anything. His strength is beyond anything we know. And there’s a scripture, Nehemiah 8:10, “The joy of the Lord is my strength.” And I think that really says it. We’re strong because we put God first. The last thing is, Romans 8:28, “God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” When you believe in God, you also believe that He works all things for good. And it’s very comforting on your journey.

Pamela: Can you tell everybody a little bit about your book as well, so that, you know, they know…

Adele: Certainly. Certainly. The name of my book, our book, is “From Broken to Blessed: Embracing the Healing that Awaits You.” It’s my own story, my life story, so it’s a memoir. It’s an inspirational self-help book. It has a healing workshop in the back, and it’s about my journey going from broken to blessed. It’s available on Amazon.com, and it’s been out since September.

Pamela: So, if there’s one lesson that you could give people that you could share from your book, what would it be?

Adele: It would be that God has healing for all of us. He has healing for all of us. It might be as small as an attitude adjustment, how you look at your circumstance. But it could be as great as having a full healing. I am on a respirator 14 hours a day, and I walk with a walker and have a neuro-muscular condition. The Lord has healed me so many times with remissions over and over. I’ve had this condition for 35 years. But I have a really full life.

Pamela: You’re definitely a living testament.

Adele: But it’s just God. It’s all about Him.

Pamela: Where can people find you online via social media?

Adele: Yes, I have a website…actually, they can find me on Facebook under Adele M. Gill. They can find me on Goodreads or Amazon and, also, I have a website and that would be www. silverliningcommunications.net. And I have a blog called the inspirationcafeblog.net.

If you like our podcast then please share it with your friends or with those who you think might find it useful.

Happy New Year everyone!

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2017 in Review

2017! Phew! A year has gone by and I have to say it was a bittersweet year. A year marked with grief and toil. Through the blinding haze that settled after my father’s death so much happened; my ministry was  born, I’ve been furiously writing and that led to a slew of book sales that will continue into 2018. Did I announce I have a three book deal with Touchpoint Press? Yippeee!

2017

In 2017, Cinders of Castlerea, Under A Scottish Sky and Where the Stars Rise were released by independent presses. I also self published Ten Reminders for the Single Christian Woman and it led to so many success stories from all over the world. My fifth work is out with Amazon Publishing for consideration. (I need your vote for publication)

With 4 books out this year, it’s been a busy time and it’s going to get even busier as The Milanese Stars comes out along with two short stories for Greywolfe Publishing and another for Backyard Earth’s Journal. So the first quarter of 2018 is going to be hectic. Watch out for my new releases.

Ministries are sometimes born out of extreme pain and my podcast started in a similar vein. Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined The Christian Circle Podcast would top 1000 plays with just 15 podcasts and simple software. This has reached listeners far and wide as we spread the news about Christ and how we fare on our own Christian journey.  I know it’s hard to be a good Christian especially when you realize how cruel people can be, how they mistreat widows, how corporate greed can blind people and how justice is subverted. It reminds me of Robert Frost’s lines, “The woods are lovely, dark and deep.”

Yet, my listeners have proved that Christ’s light shines in that darkness and there is no fear, because He has overcome the world. Then there have been queries from the medical community created to help those in family or corporate practice. A series that is loved and I wish I could dedicate a separate web-space for it alone.

Ring out 2017!

2017 marked a renaissance of sorts. In fact, it sparked new books and stories, that I can’t wait to share with you.  There’s a lot to do though and I’ve hit the ground running. After prayers, the podcast for next year has been planned, so are our blog posts! I’m still going through all the mails I’ve received for QMC, just so we have a very interesting series of answers and insights next year.

On a personal note, I’ve shifted from the keyboard to the grand piano, will share a post on how I’m doing with this transition. I’m not quite used to the grandeur of a piano. But I love the rich sound and elegance of my teacher’s baby grand.

Needles to say, I couldn’t have done this without you, my readers and the writing community. Whether it was raising over 1000 CAD for the Edmonton Food Bank or to spread the word about my books/ campaigns, you helped me achieve so much. And so as I review 2017, I ask for your continued support next year and rest assured you are in my prayers.

I wish all of you a very warm Christmas and a blessed New Year 2018!

Cheers!

Pam

 

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Thank You Patrons! 1089$

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! We raised 1089$ for this year’s Giftmas tour 2017. It was such a blessing to see so many generous donors for the Edmonton Food Bank. Christmas will be brighter for all those who will receive aid from the Edmonton Food Bank. This year with all the support they will provide over 1200 meals. Phew!

Thank you!

I have no words to convey my thanks and I am truly humbled by this experience. If you want to check out all the posts and the raffle prizes you’ll have to hop over to our dear editor Rhonda’s website.

This year has surpassed our goals and I can’t believe how it happened. To all our donors, whoever you are thank you, a million times over. Here’s a look at our fundraiser page. Thanks also to all the authors who were on the blog tour:

Stephanie A. Cain
Beth Cato
Eileen Bell
J.S. Watts
Doug Blakesly
Barbara Tomporowski
A.J. Wells
Laura VanArendonk Baugh
Jennifer Lee Rossman
Alexandra Seidel

Without you guys and our patrons none of this would have been possible. If you have donated through the rafflecopter or are waiting for your prize, tomorrow all the winners will be announced on Rhonda’s page. She’s also promised to make one of her books free next year since we doubled the target. I have to say, I did a happy dance, when I saw the final amount. It brought a wide grin to my face that has been hard to wipe put despite all the rain and snow.
I wish I could write a poem or say something philosophical but like I said, I’m dumbstruck.
So all I’ll say, is that YOU are appreciated.

Thank you

I’ll see you again soon before the holidays. Till then stay safe and happy.
Cheers,
Pam

 

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Guest Post: Fantasy Author Stephanie A. Cain

Drum Roll Please. Fantasy author Stephanie Cain is here. I promised a special someone for our blog tour and here she is.

Fantasy Author Stephanie Cain

Stephanie A. Cain writes epic & urban fantasy novels. She grew up in Indiana, where much of her urban fantasy is set, but dreams of living somewhere without winter. She works at a museum where the best-selling novel of the 19th century was written. A proud crazy cat lady, she is happily owned by Strider, Eowyn, and Eustace Clarence Scrubb. Her website is www.stephaniecainonline.com and she can also be found on Twitter as @stephanie_cain and Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/stephaniecainfiction/.

Stephanie and I have swapped posts. So she’s going to talk about “Shining A Light” this Christmas season. Remember we’re doing this as part of our Giftmas 2017 Tour to help the Edmonton Food Bank.  Help us with just a dollar and you can still win a prize, see here.

Over to Stephanie!

Belief and Fantasy

I’m a fantasy author. My dad read to me almost every night, taking me through the Chronicles of Narnia, the Westmark trilogy, the Prydain Chronicles, The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, and many other wonderful books. Because he gave me this love of reading, and reading fantasy in particular, I grew up with an identity grounded in that literary tradition.

I was also raised a Christian—in the evangelical church, specifically. Over the years I have rejected the political identity that goes with the evangelical church, but I have never stopped being a fan of Jesus Christ. These days I tend to refer to myself as a red-letter Christian (someone who believes Christianity should be defined by the words of Jesus, which many Bibles print in red ink) or a follower of the Jesus Way (a term used by the Boston Declaration signers here: https://thebostondeclaration.com/ ).

My two heroes of fantasy were J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. Tolkien was a Catholic, as many people know, and dear friends with Lewis, who became one of the foremost theologians of the 20th century and—more importantly to many people—the creator of Narnia.

For me, it was never a secret that the great lion Aslan was Jesus…but I always felt as if I loved Aslan more than Jesus. In that, I was like Laurence, whose mother wrote a letter to Lewis in 1955. Lewis replied, “When Laurence thinks he is loving Aslan, he is really loving Jesus: and perhaps loving Him more than he ever did before.” (Letters to Children, p 52)

Fantasy and Hope

Almost two years ago I wrote a blog post about hope in fantasy literature (http://www.stephaniecainonline.com/hope-in-fantasy/), and I highlighted what I feel is one of the most beautiful passages every written—it’s a passage I return to when I’m in need of encouragement, and, perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s about light.

In J.R.R. Tolkien’s Return of the King, Book 6, Chapter 2, “The Land of the Shadow,” Samwise and Frodo are deep in enemy territory, hungry, thirsty, and exhausted, and Frodo is growing weaker under the burden of the ring. And yet…

“Far above the Ephel Duath in the West the night-sky was still dim and pale. There, peeking among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”

Isn’t that wonderful? The world is dark and grim, we are battered and sore and weary, and it seems like we’re creeping—or even racing—closer to a moment when everything is going to fall apart. But there’s still light and high beauty that the darkness can never touch.

Belief & Fantasy

Hope and Real Life

That passage reminds me of one in the Bible—1 John 2:8. “…the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.” Just a couple sentences later, John adds, “Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.” There’s another important passage in the Bible that talks about loving someone else. In Matthew 22:39, Jesus says, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Taken together, that means if I want to live in the light, I need to love my brother, my neighbor, as I love myself.

What does it mean to love my neighbor as myself? In my mind, it means I want for my neighbor all the things I want for myself—health, happiness, fulfillment, to not be hungry, to not be in need, to have people who care about me. It means I want my neighbor to have the same light I do. It means I want all of my neighbor’s needs to be filled.

So for me the goal, not just of Christmas or Giftmas but of the entire year, is to shine a light on the people I come into contact with, whether I do that by giving money to a food bank, donating to the ACLU, sponsoring a refugee family—or even by writing fantasy novels that are filled with moments of hope when my characters are striving to do what is best for their world.

And isn’t that really what both the Bible and Frodo’s quest to destroy Sauron are about? Doing what’s best for the world and shining a light—even when it’s hard.

-Stephanie A. Cain

Giftmas 2017

So that was Stephanie for you, as part of our Giftmas Tour. We’ve already raised 300$ so we have a very short distance to go. If you can,  help us spread the word on social media #Giftmas2017 is our hashtag!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The post Guest Post: Fantasy Author Stephanie A. Cain appeared first on PAMELA Q. FERNANDES.

Giftmas 2017 Tour Edmonton Food Bank

Giftmas! Yes, I’m back this year with a Christmas Tour with lots of goodies! Last year I participated in the 2016 Giftmas Tour arranged by renowned Canadian editor Rhonda Parrish. WE raised 500$ back then for those affected by the fires in Canada and it made me feel so happy. Last year there were few gifts, some crochet work done by Rhonda herself, yet we had so many donors.

This year Rhonda and all the participating authors have banded together to give away signed and unsigned copies of free books and other wonderful gifts for the winning donors. There are lots of gifts to be won this year and we hope the Edmonton Food Bank can provide many more meals this Christmas with the proceeds from our Giftmas Tour.

Giftmas 2017 

So what are the prizes?

Tuckerization in Circle City Magic (Stephanie A. Cain)
Stickers (Stephanie A. Cain)
Paperback copies of the first four books in Amethir series (Stephanie A. Cain)
Signed copy of Chicken Soup for the Soul books (x2) (Beth Cato)
Two signed paperback copies of Vacui Magia (L.S. Johnson)
Signed paperback copy of Three Way Dance (Brian Rosenberger)
Sensitivity Read or poetry critique (Lisa Bradley)
Themed packet of jounaling/scrapbooking ephemera (Lisa Bradley)
Paperback copy of The Stars in My Eyes (Doug Blakesly)
Signed copy of Monsters in my Mind (Ada Hoffmann)
Paperback copy of  Heavy Metal  (Andrew Bourelle)
Ebook copy of  Faegotten  (x 10) (Jude Tulli)
Small piece of art (Lynn Hardaker)
Mini hand-bound leather journal (Lynn Hardaker)
Ebook copy of the  Witches of Doyle  three book set (Kirsten Weiss)
Paperback copy of  The Songweaver’s Vow  (Laura VAB)
Ebook copy of  Bait  (Laura VAB)
Tuckerization — conditions apply (Laura VAB)
Custom cross stitch 6″ square or smaller (Jennifer Lee Rossman)

Phew! Those are a lot of Giftmas goodies! Have I interested you in our Christmas Tour yet? Hop over to our Fundraiser Page and check out who the money will go to. Remember all proceeds go directly to the Edmonton Food Bank. While Rhonda has set a goal of 522$ we’d really like to surpass ourselves this year and do more!

Take a look at why all of us have come together for this project this year in this post! 

We all also explain “What we celebrate” in a blog post during the holiday season, since many of the participating authors come from diverse backgrounds and celebrate the season in different ways.

So check it out. I will be sharing links to all the author posts during this tour tomorrow and then welcoming a special someone here on friday, so watch out!

If you would like to participate here’s our rafflecopter link. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Have a Wonderful Advent Season All!

Cheers!

Pam

The post Giftmas 2017 Tour Edmonton Food Bank appeared first on PAMELA Q. FERNANDES.