Cara C. Putman's Blog, page 74

4 Reasons I Write

Writing can be a lonely journey. So many days it is me and my computer. It can be tough for this extrovert to invest the time day after day alone. Yet I love story.

I really believe I was created to tell stories.

I’ve felt God smile when I do write. I’ve felt like beating my head against a wall or kicking cabinets when I’m in the discovery phase.

Writing is intense. It’s like opening your veins and bleeding on your keyboard. Then you clean up the mess in edits. Then you send your baby to an editor and pray that he or she will see the essence of the story and help you make it sing. Then you edit and send it back. Then you labor over back cover copy. Gasp at the beautiful covers. And then it goes out into the world.

Writing is bleeding on a typewriter, so why do it? @Cara_Putman gives 4 reasons.
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And you wait. And wonder. What will people think of your baby? Will they like it? Will they mock it? Will God speak to them through the wonder of story?

Last week my novel Shadowed by Grace received Christian Retailing’s Best Award for Historical Fiction (you can see the full list of winners here). It was an amazing honor because Francine Rivers and Karen Barnett had written beautiful books that could have easily receive the award.

Awards aren’t the reason I write. If so, I should have packed up my typewriter…errr…laptop long ago. But they are encouraging. They are a signal to writers that their books have impacted readers somewhere. This award is voted on by retailers and those in the industry. So it has different meaning than an equally awesome reader award.

So why do writers do this?

You have to know why or you’ll give up because for most of us accolades are few and far between.

I write because I feel called to do it. Truly. I was born loving story. And the desire to write my own stories has never gone away. The season wasn’t always write, but the desire never died.
I write because I feel an unique partnership with God when I’m in the midst of creating. It’s hard work. Very hard work. Yet there’s nothing like knowing I’m working on something with HIM.
I write because I love a good challenge. Coming up with the next great idea. Developing characters — those pesky heroines give me fits. There’s something to the battle through to a story.
I write because when a story reaches a reader, and the reader connects with the characters, the story, the spiritual thread, it all becomes worth it.

If you are a writer, why do you write? If you’re a reader, what do you love to see in a story?

 

To Dance in the Waves

This week I’m at a conference in Southern California. Last night I walked along the beach, listening to the Pacific Ocean roar as its waves crashing against the beach. As I walked, I was reminded awesome my God is, and yet I stayed on the walkway…not along the sand. Partly this was because by the time I could get to the beach it was already dark. I knew it wasn’t safe to walk on the sand alongside the waves when I couldn’t see. Yet it felt like I was half there — half committed to the experience and half not.

Does anybody else ever feel that way? Like you have committed to the experience but you’re not fully living because you’re walking on the safe path instead of feeling the sand between your toes?

I know God has so much more for us. He wants us to experience everything fully and completely. Sometimes we simply can’t. Maybe we feel like He hasn’t completely opened the door or maybe He’s opened too many doors. Either way we can’t quite commit to the fullness of the experience.

Where do you walk with God? The safety of sidewalk or the wildness of beach?
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Is it fear that holds us back? The fear that if we step into what we can’t see, we will get hurt? Or maybe we will miss God in the dark? Or fill in your favorite fear.

We might get hurt. We might get wet. And we might just experienced the fullness of all God has for us. But we’ll never know as long as we’re halfway in and halfway out.

Ironically, I dictated this post as I walked along the path in the dark. The light of my iPhone pretty effectively destroyed my night vision. All I was left with was the feeling of the sand beneath my tennis shoes and the roar of the waves. And occasionally the sight of the twinkling lights of fire at the hotel — in fire pits — quite safe I’m sure.

Yet as I ended the walk I felt hope that at least once during this week I will have the chance to take off my shoes and walk along the beach. Then I will feel the sand between my toes and dance in the waves. Oh to live like that — not just dream about it.

As I turned back to the hotel as darkness had fallen even more deeply, I noticed something. A man walked the beach swinging a metal detector back-and-forth. Ever on the hunt for more treasure. To live like that. Seeking the treasures and wonders of God — even on the darkest of nights.

 

Fiction Friday: Love Arrives in Pieces

Betsy St. Amant joined my list of must-read authors with All’s Fair in Love & Cupcakes, a fun (and sweet) romance. With Love Arrives in Pieces, she’s solidified her place as a go-to contemporary romance authors. This story has a depth that will speak to many women. We so often confuse who we are with how we look. We either focus so much on our looks that all we see is what’s in the mirror. Or we can become so damaged by the way we believe all we are is our looks that we avoid them all together. Neither is a healthy response. This book shines a light on the need to see who we really are – and that begins with recognizing our value as daughter’s of the king. 

Love Arrives in Pieces is sweet and unexpected, fraught with pain from the past. The baggage is deep and heavy. Yet the grace that comes forward is rich and filled with light. In learning to see the color in her world, Stella begins to rediscover who she really is. And the process is a gift for readers. Love Arrives in Pieces is a romance rooted in the real world where real hurts and questions grow. And the grace…oh the grace…the grace is a gift for readers.

I have never been prouder of my friend that when I read Love Arrives in Pieces that offers joy and grace to readers — all wrapped in the gauze of a romance. I highly recommend this novel.

Can Stella discover who she really is and find hope and new love in the process? Don’t miss Betsy St. Amant’s new tale of love lost and love rekindled inLove Arrives in Pieces. A near catastrophe, a fire, and a small-town gossip mill finally force both Stella and Chase to realize that they have a choice—to hold on to the shards of their pasts, or surrender their fragmented pieces to the One who makes a beautiful masterpiece from the broken.

For so long, Stella was known for her beauty. Now, with her heart stripped bare, she must discover who she really is.

Former pageant queen Stella Varland doesn’t trust beauty anymore after her divorce. Her appearance betrayed her and led to brokenness, so instead of being beautiful, now she tries to make beautiful things, but she always falls short. So she keeps her passion for art to herself and focuses on her interior design work. But if she doesn’t get another job soon, she’ll be stuck living with her parents.

Contractor Chase Taylor is determined to live a life of no regrets after losing his fiancée. Now he lives life at full speed, striving to see how much he can accomplish. He knows if he slows down, he’ll fall apart. So he returns home to Bayou Bend to renovate the town’s old theater and is shocked to discover that the designer for the project is his old flame, Stella.

Forced to work together, Chase and Stella battle their chemistry and past as they struggle to compromise and work together on a vision for the theater. Their wills clash as they attempt to hide their brokenness—and their unresolved feelings for each other—until Chase discovers the hidden parts of Stella, while losing her trust in the process.

A near catastrophe, a fire, and a small-town gossip mill finally force Stella and Chase to realize that they have a choice—to hold on to the shards of their pasts, or surrender their fragmented pieces to the One who makes a beautiful masterpiece from their brokenness.

Find out more about Betsy at http://www.betsystamant.com/.

Betsy St. Amant lives in Louisiana with her young daughter and has a heart for sharing the amazing news of God’s grace through her novels. A freelance journalist, Betsy is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers. When she’s not reading, writing, or singing along to a Disney soundtrack with her daughter, Betsy enjoys inspirational speaking and teaching on the craft of writing.

Celebrating Shadowed by Grace

Join @Cara_Putman as she celebrates Shadowed by Grace…on sale now!
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Yesterday I received a huge surprise when I learned that Shadowed by Grace received Christian Retailing’s Best Award in Historical Fiction. To say I’m humbled and excited hardly begins to describe it. I think I scared the neighbor boys who were playing here when I got the word. There was a little bit of jumping going on, too.

So I don’t have much to share today other than I’m grateful. I’m grateful to all the retailer’s and publishing folks who voted for Shadowed by Grace. I’m grateful that this story of my heart continues to reach new readers.

And I’m grateful for all of you. This journey has been a crazy ride. Ten years ago God told me now was the time to write. Twenty books later, I’m still hanging on. And this award just seems like a kiss from heaven. Here’s to the next ten years!

Oh, and if you haven’t read Shadowed by Grace yet, it is on ebook sale at most retailers. You can grab it now for 99 cents. And don’t forget you can read the first chapter here and what I call the lost chapters here.

 

 

There are no perfect decisions

Imagine the scene with me.

A woman has been asked to help with something that is worthwhile. Maybe it’s a ministry. Maybe it’s one of her kids’ activities. Maybe it’s at her job. Maybe it’s to take a job.

This woman loves God with everything in her. Her heart’s sole desire is to chase Him and do His will in her life as best she can determine it. Her heart’s cry is to reach heaven and hear Him say “well done, thou good and faithful servant.” (Sidenote: when did we decide God speaks in King James English?)

There are no #perfect decisions? Is that liberating or scary? @cara_putman shares #BestYes thoughts.
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This is a great opportunity…but then she’s approached about doing something else. She knows she doesn’t have the margin or ability to do both. But both are good choices. Excellent opportunities. What is a woman to do?

So she wrestles with decision. Over and over she takes it to God. She begs Him for a sign, an indication of which way to go. Why? Because she doesn’t want to mess this up. See her heart’s desire above. So what happens? She doesn’t make a decision.

What if she realized: There are no perfect decisions.

What if she could embrace the reality that every decision will contain imperfections. Even good decision have the opportunity for life to invade. Sin to happen. Discomfort to occur.

I can’t be the only one who’s ever wrestled with this. In The Best Yes , chapters 7, 8 and, 9, Lysa explores how trapped we can get in our decisions to the point we can’t make any decision. We land in the mire of analysis paralysis. In our desperation for perfect decisions, we make no decisions. We need to realize that

Each of the choices will have just enough imperfections to make them some combination of good and not so good. Even if you are following God and He clearly directs you to make a certain decision, that choice will not be perfect.

And this fear of making decisions — this analysis paralysis — leads to an inability to trust God. When I read that…my heart stopped. If I don’t trust God with my decisions, how I can trust Him with my future? How can I move forward with confidence into God’s future, when I’m so afraid to fail that I can make a single misstep? I have to trust that He loves me, and He can take even the most imperfect decision and pull good from it.

I also have to realize there is an exchange or trade that has to occur with each decision. I only have so much time and other resources. So I have to make a trade if I’m not going to become overloaded or overstressed. Over-served even. For someone like me, this is hard. I am competent. I am able. But I still only have a limited number of hours in a week. I can work, harder, faster, smarter, but at some point I will still run out of time and other resources.

So I can be like the tree that is burdened by snow before it’s dropped its leaves. In those moments I will break, not bend. I can be like the overstuffed closet that isn’t useful because there is too much in it. Or I can trade my leaves for the snow in this season of my life. I can trade out the orange shirt for something new that I will love, too.

It’s all about trades and seasons. If you’d been in the class, you would know that’s become a mantra or theme of mine. What’s right in this season of my life? What’s right in this season of your life?

It’s not a forever decision. It’s a in this season decision.

Have you learned you have to make trades or that there aren’t perfect decisions? Were these freeing realizations or scary (or maybe both?)?

 

Fiction Friday: Now & Forever

It’s Fiction Friday, and sometimes a gal just wants to laugh, maybe swoon a bit. When that’s the case, Mary Connealy is a go to author for me. Her books make me laugh out loud while also making me think deeply on spiritual journeys.

Her books are just plain fun to read and Now & Forever is a perfect addition to her list of books. The characters are so memorable and I just love the depth she puts into them. What seem like surface quirks are always deep rooted.Now & Forever starts at high octane and ends at the same speed. In between, the book has romance, mystery and a touch of suspense. The mystery keeps you guessing and the romance keeps you swooning. Add in memorable characters, and this book is perfect for readers who love a historical, cowboys, and heroines you want to call friend.

Summer Plans? 4 low-cost ideas to try with your kids

Summer is officially upon us. The calendar is well into June and that means school is out. It also means we need to fill the suddenly empty days. Whether you homeschool or not, here are a few ideas to get you started. Then let me know what ideas you can pass on to the rest of us!

Become a tourist in your own back yard. With just a little digging, I bet you’ll find some museums that you’ve never explored. I can think of an art museum in our hometown that the kids and I haven’t visited. Then we’ve got the local university which I just learned has an Amelia Earhart collection. I’m sure there are lots of other resources like that in your hometown, too. With just a little searching we can created lots of inexpensive outing and day trips for our families.

Summer boredom setting in? @cara_putman has 4 low-cost ideas. #parenting
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Don’t be afraid to keep a little school in the schedule. Math flashcards or workbooks can be a great way to keep the math skills sharp over the summer or focus on weaker areas. Summer is also a great time to enhance areas your kids enjoy but may not have time to focus on during the school year. For example, my older two children have had private art lessons in the summer the last few years. It’s a subject they love, but slips to the side during the school year.
Scour garage sales or thrift shops for things that will let their imaginations play. Everything from dress-up clothes to books and games can be found very inexpensively. And no matter how many plans you make, rainy days will come. On those days your kids will be thrilled to have some new to them items to play with or read. And any time we can encourage them to tap into their imaginations it’s a good thing.
Does your child have friends they don’t want to lose touch with over the summer? Then try something like an interest club. Last year, my daughter had a once a month bookclub for her friends. They had a lot of fun. We added things like pool parties and sleepovers, and it became a great way for her to spend time with her friends and mix her friends across groups. Other moms graciously sent snacks so it wasn’t even a drain for me.

What do you do with your kids or plan to do when you have kids?

When the Way of Wisdom Means Trust

This week I’ve continued to think about wisdom and how we acquire it for the decisions in our lives. Maybe it’s not about how to schedule our time. Maybe instead our decision is about a job, where to live, whether to sell a house, how to parent a child, etc. There are so many areas in our lives that demand wisdom. 

As I’ve thought and prayed about it this week, I wonder if the key to Godly wisdom is trust in God.

Do I truly trust that He wants my best even if it looks different than I imagined? If I trust Him, then I can rely on His wisdom, because I know Him.

Dictionary.com lists seven definitions for hope. The first two really caught my attention:

1. reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety,etc., of a person or thing; confidence.

2. confident expectation of something; hope.
 

Are wisdom and trust related? @Cara_Putman says yes.
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Right now we’re in the middle of selling our home. It hasn’t gone the way I’d imagined it would. At all. Things have changed, and all of my careful research and attention to the market are really worthless. For this careful, conservative planner, that’s been really hard to accept. I want reality to match my expectations — pretty simple when reality exceeds my expectations so much of the time.

What has surprised me is how much this has rocked me. As I’ve been praying about it again this week, begging God for wisdom and grace, I’ve sensed Him asking me if I trust Him. The answer seems so immediate and certain.


“Of course I trust You, Lord.”

“Then why don’t you relax into My care? Why do you carry the burden on your shoulders? I’ve always cared for you. This is not a big deal for Me. If I care for the birds of the air and the flowers in the field — creatures and flowers that are fleeting delights — then won’t I do more for you? Don’t I value you more?”

“Yes, Yes Lord. I know You do.”

“Then trust Me.”

Do I rely on the surety of the Lord? Do I believe He will come through this time? Or do I believe His provision, favor, and care for me ended? Do I have confidence and hope in what He will do?

Yes. A thousand times He has shown Himself faithful. Over and over without a doubt, even when I don’t understand the whys, I know He is faithful. I can trust Him. I can rely on Him. I can trust that what concerns me concerns Him. I can rest in the knowledge that He can handle this.

Even if I have to remind myself a million times a day, I can rest in the truth that He sees, He know, He cares.

Fiction Friday: Fatal Trauma

It’s Fiction Friday and time to introduce you to another novel. Fortunately, there is no shortage of great Christian fiction being written. Today I’m excited to tell you about Dr. Richard Mabry’s latest work.

In Fatal Trauma , the reader is set up for a thrill filled ride. From the first pages, the action pulsates. There’s also a complicated romance and strong faith element. What I liked most were the intense medical scenes coupled with the question of how the complex mystery would be resolved. The characters were interesting and at varied stages in their personal lives and faith journeys. It was a world I enjoyed entering through the pages of this book.

Love Medical #Suspense? @richardmabry new book Fatal Trauma is for you!
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Fatal Trauma (Abingdon Press, May 2015)

A gunman who has nothing to lose faces a doctor who could lose it all to prove his innocence.

When Dr. Mark Baker and Nurse Kelly Atkinson are held at the mercy of a dangerous gunman, the lives of every emergency room patient are at stake. At the end of the evening three men are dead. One of them is a police officer who couldn’t be saved despite Mark’s best efforts. The other two are members of the feared Zeta drug cartel.

Though the standoff is over, the killing is not, because when the drug cartel loses its members, revenge is not far behind. Facing an adversary whose desires are dark and efforts are ruthless, Mark finds himself under suspicion as a killer, yet still a potential victim. When he turns to his high school sweetheart, attorney Gwen Woodruff, for help, Kelly helplessly looks on, as she hides her own feelings for the good doctor.

At the height of the conflict, three questions remain: Who is the shooter? Who will the next victim be? And can Mark prove his innocence before the gun turns on him?

Learn more and purchase a copy.

{MORE ABOUT RICHARD MABRY}

A retired physician, Dr. Richard Mabry is the author of seven critically acclaimed novels of medical suspense. His previous works have been finalists for the Carol Award and Romantic Times Reader’s Choice Award, and have won the Selah Award. He is a past Vice-President of American Christian Fiction Writers and a member of the International Thriller Writers. He and his wife live in North Texas.

Find out more about Richard at http://www.rmabry.com/.

Can Mark find out who the shooter is before he becomes the next victim? You won’t want to miss the suspense in Richard Mabry’s new book, Fatal Trauma. Facing an adversary whose desires are dark and efforts are ruthless, Mark finds himself under suspicion as a killer, yet still a potential victim. When he turns to his high school sweetheart, attorney Gwen Woodruff, for help, Kelly helplessly looks on, as she hides her own feelings for the good doctor.

Richard is celebrating the release of Fatal Trauma by giving away The Perfect Prescription Prize Pack!

One grand prize winner will receive:

A $25 cash card
A copy of Fatal Trauma
A bag of coffee (because caffeine can cure a lot)
A medical-inspired coffee mug
Syringe pens
A box of medical-inspired cookies (because sugar can cure what caffeine doesn’t)

Enter today by clicking the icon below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on June 20th. The winner will be announced June 22nd onRichard’s blog.

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Take That Step! 4 Steps to starting the journey

This week, we talked about chapters 4 and 5 in our study of The Best Yes. There’s so much meat in those chapters. When I originally typed meat, it was meet. That seems so appropriate as I think about it.

Finding wisdom is about the process of meeting with God, meeting with the Holy Spirit, and meeting with those who embrace and walk out wisdom.

Finding #wisdom is about meeting with God… @cara_putman gives 4 steps to starting. #theBestYes
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That’s why I focused on this particular quote:

We have to put our hearts and our minds in places where wisdom gathers, not scatters.

Where do I invest my time? Who do I spend time with? What do I watch and read? Listen to? All of these either attract me to wisdom or foolishness.  The small choices we make on a day to day basis add up to a lifetime of practicing one or the other. There’s something scary and profound about realizing that each small decision compounds. As one of the ladies in the study put it, somedays we feel like the verse that sums up 40 years of Moses’ life with one sentence. For us that might be that we raised kids for 20 years. We took care of someone for 10 years. For Moses, he tended sheep for 40 years. A segment of time compressed into one, oh-so-small sentence.

Yet the daily consistency developed over time led to the character he needed for the next assignment. As I thought about it, it reminded me of Zechariah 4:10:

Do not despise the day of small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begun…

I have lived that. I’ve had God sit me down and explain to me that I was doing exactly that.

Ouch!

It’s in those daily decision to develop a process that repeats into an ingrained way of thinking that I develop the patterns of wisdom (and any other character trait). How do we live this?

1. Be consistent in the little decisions. As we’re faithful with small things, we can be trusted with more.

2. Repeat the process, even when it seems it’s not working. I often wonder if we stop praying and asking right before the breakthrough occurs.

3. Believe we can do anything through Christ who strengthens us. Apply this truth to the situations in our lives. Take it from the page into practice.

4. Take a step. We remain mired in our hopes and fears until we take a step. Write 300 words a day. Pray 5 minutes a day. The step may seem small, but it can launch you on a journey.

What would you add to the process?