For Christ's Glory, I Dream Devotions, advice, and book reviews from science fiction and fantasy author Andrea Graham

Gentle readers,

The following is my notes, as taken down, from a workshop I attended at the 2010 Booktoberfest here in Idaho.

Love in Christ,

Andrea Graham

Getting it Done Workshop

by Todd Bennett (90% right can be 100% wrong)

Getting anything done that you think is important. An author may write different books different ways.

Sprinter

Plodder (take two years)

Secluders, lock themselves away for a week.

We don’t get things done because we don’t define why we are doing this. If we don’t attach a greater value to something, it will get deprioritized.

What is the reason this is important? Increase platform? Reach kids? Develop new message our culture needs to hear? A story that needs told? If you don’t have that, you will set goals without the vision to back it up.

Vision is an emotional umbrella.

Big mistake—placing the how before the why. If you do, you’ll never achieve the results you are looking for because the how will never show itself. It’s the pursuit of the vision that will open the doors to the how. You won’t fully understand how the how will come about from your starting place. Opportunities unfold for us as we are moving.

Some opportunities come only as we take up other opportunities.

Vision is the most important part of the goal process. Must know why you are doing it. After you establish the vision, you start setting your goals.

Goals are definable. Make it measurable and a time line. Define the vision, and add a time line, and it has become a goal. Dreams without follow through is what has a negative connotation of “dreamer.”

Emotional roller coaster of doing what we feel like doing only, writing when we feel like it. If you only write when you feel like it, you will never get done. Goals without vision lack the emotional energy to get done. To complete any project, you have to have your vision and set goals for how you are going to complete it.

One of the biggest mistakes people make when they start setting goals for themselves is they set goals on things they don’t have control over. “I am going to finish a chapter by the end of November.” You can’t necessarily control your creative process or if that information will flow out.

You can control the amount of time you spend writing.

A goal of a pound a week sets you up for failure. A goal of lifting weights two times a week is in your control.

It has to be more important than your other projects. Know your tendency to get distracted on other things. Make a commitment to write something every day. Discipline yourself though the difficult times. Push yourself to do the things you don’t want to do so when the spirit is there, the habit will back that up and allow it to come out.

Took 5 1/2 months to finish his book.

Discipline will teach you to write regardless of your emotional state.

It must be a priority and you must discipline yourself to do it even when you don’t feel like it.

Derailments:

Fear, Insecurity, Negativity.

Fear and belief are the same, just one is negative and the other positive. We will come most closer to the reality of the situation of things we believe to be true. Self-fulling prophecy—we bring upon ourselves what we believe will happen. Brain is resourceful in bringing about the results it thinks it is going to get. When the belief is negative, we call that fear.

Our avoidance of what we fear often ultimately brings it upon ourselves.

Example: Kung fu panda. The person sent to keep the bad guy in jail loses a feather that the bad guy uses to pick the lock and become free.

If you become afraid you aren’t good enough, you will find all kinds of evidence to support that fear—you will find evidence in your work, negative comments stick with you, article in the newspaper, etc. And that fear will distract you from your goals.

Vision is not meaningless, it is there for a purpose. It has been given to you for a reason. It is not a mistake, a temptation, or a false prophet. Your vision for why you need to write is legitimate. Do not discount it as a lie. It is the message that it is a lie that is the actual lie. All of the negative, the fear, plays a part to derail you from finishing your task (the devil.)

Lies about self. “I’m not good enough, talented enough. I can’t do it. I haven’t done anything that proves I can be successful.” We buy into this and it chips away at our vision until we become naturally self-protective. We are given an inate ability to want to keep ourselves from harm. If we get to the point where we believe we do not have what it takes, we want to abandon that thing so we don’t get hurt.

If you apply that to your vision, it is a lie. Not everyone is equally talented. There are clearly gifted people. But skills can be learned. Everyone has something important that can impact other people.

Imposter syndrome—you are doing something, but don’t feel qualified and go along hoping no one notices.

Cast doubts aside. They are only there to throw you off track from your vision. You don’t have to be the best. What you do have is valuable somehow. You might not know how yet. So don’t let fear take you away from your goals. You get to choose to what components you listen to—things related to your vision and belief or things related to you fears.

Facing rejection can devour your desire. Stacks of rejection cause disillusionment. Reject what is inconsistent with your vision.

Trying to protect yourself destroys vision. Unmet goals cause pain. We avoid setting goals to avoid the let down of not achieving them.

Dear Andrea,

What’s the difference between Christianity and Christendom? I thought they were synonyms.

Signed,

Arthur Author

Dear Author,

Let’s consult merriam-webster.com:

Christianity–1 : the religion derived from Jesus Christ, based on the Bible as
sacred scripture, and professed by Eastern, Roman Catholic, and Protestant
bodies
2 : conformity to the Christian religion
3 : the practice of Christianity

Christendom:

1 : Christianity
2 : the part of the world in which Christianity prevails

So, unless the person was using the word Christendom geographically, if they
made a distinction between Christianity and Christendom, it is one they made up, most likely to distinguish between their concept of a “good” Christian and
Christians they consider it acceptable to hate. Mind you, anyone who calls
himself a Christian and hates a Christian brother is a liar according to the
apostle John’s first epistle.

In Christ,
Andrea Graham

Dear Gentle Reader,

Wanted to extend a warm thank you to Dark Glass Ponderings for awarding me the Versatile Blogger Award and the Bodacious Blogging Book Reviewers Award. It’s always encouraging when someone recognizes you in some small way, and greatly appreciated.

In Christ,

Andrea Graham

Grace Bridges of Splashdown Books is seeking Advanced Readers for possible endorsement for Andrea and Adam Graham’s first novel, Tales of the Dim Knight, a superhero spoof. The book is tentatively set for release September 1. Electronic reader copies will available August 1.

“I’m excited to acquire this laugh-a-minute adventure by a phenomenal husband-and-wife team,” says Grace Bridges, Publisher of Splashdown Books.

In Tales of the Dim Knight, Dave Johnson is a mild mannered janitor by night, ultimate superhero fanboy by day until an alien symbiot enhances all his human abilities, including his imagination, giving him the power to create anything he envisions. The opportunities for comedy are plentiful and the authors pay humorous tribute to every superhero known to man, from Batman to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Adam Graham is a regular political columnist for Pajamas Media whose commentaries also appear at http://adamsweb.us/blog. He has short stories included in the anthology Light at the Edge of Darkness, and in Laser & Sword, of which he is editor in chief. He is also host of the Truth and Hope Report podcast, as well as the Old Time Dragnet Radio Show, and the Old Time Superman Radio Show. He holds a general studies Associate of Arts degree from Flathead Valley Community College with a concentration in Journalism.

Andrea Graham has two short stories featured in Light at the Edge of Darkness (2007, the Writer’s Cafe Press.)“Chosen of God” (co-authored with Adam Graham) and her solo “Frozen Generation.” Andrea studied creative writing and religion for three years at Ashland University. She is Assistant Editor of her husband’s magazine, an active member of her local American Christian Fiction Writers chapter, and a founding member of the Lost Genre Guild.

Adam and Andrea live in Boise, ID with their cat, Joybell, and enjoy Frisbee golf, walks in the park, and of course, superheroes.

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Spring’s Renewal from Avon Inspire (April 2010) by Shelley Shepherd Gray

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Since 2000, Shelley Sabga has sold twenty-six novels to numerous publishers. She has written a seven book contemporary series for Avalon books. She also published The Love Letter, a western for Avalon. Five Star Expressions published Suddenly, You in February of 2007. This novel is a historical western set in the mountains of Colorado.

Shelley has written nine novels for Harlequin American Romance. Cinderella Christmas, her first novel with them, reached number six on the Waldenbooks Bestseller list. Her second book with them, Simple Gifts won RT Magazine’s Reviewer’s Choice award for best Harlequin American Romance of 2006. The Mommy Bride, was chosen by Romantic Times Magazine as one of their TOP PICKS for May, 2008.

Under the name Shelley Shepard Gray, Shelley writes Amish romances for Harper Collins’ inspirational line, Avon Inspire. HIDDEN and WANTED the first two novels of her ‘Sisters of the Heart’ series, were chosen to be Alternate Selections for the Doubleday/ Literary Guild Book Club. FORGIVEN, book 3, has received glowing reviews. Avon Inspire will release four novels by Shelley in 2010.

Before writing romances, Shelley lived in Texas and Colorado, where she taught school and earned both her bachelors and masters degrees in education. She now lives in southern Ohio and writes full time. Shelley is married, the mother of two teenagers, and is an active member of her church.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Tim Graber arrives in Sugarcreek to help his aunt and uncle with spring planting. At first, Tim doesn’t fit in with his many cousins and their crowded lifestyle. But when he meets Clara Slabaugh, the local school teacher, he understands why the Lord brought him to Sugarcreek.

Clara is shy and quiet. Scarred from a fire when she was small, Clara has resigned herself to living alone and caring for her mother, who tells her that no man will ever see past her scars, and that Clara needs to keep teaching in order to make ends meet.

Her father passed away years ago, and her mother depends on her. But the scars mean nothing to Tim. He appreciates her quiet nature and her wonderful, loving way with children. Yet Tim has a sweetheart back home in Indiana. As these two hearts struggle to determine their path, tragedy strikes, and every other worry seems insignificant in comparison.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Spring’s Renewal, go HERE.

Andrea’s Comments: Though I am a bit frustrated by another publisher who skimped on the editing, that is not the author’s fault. Fans of Amish Romances will love her simple, down-to earth style that suits the subject matter perfectly. Readers who have suffered emotional abuse may find the realistic, but unhealthy notions planted in the protagonist by her mother feeding into their own wounds and may be bothered by the mother’s sudden repentance, since that likely hasn’t happened in their own families. The rest will appreciate it, I’m quite sure.

One question I did have going away. When collecting post cards from all fifty states as a school project, Nevada sends a post card with half-naked show girls on it, which of course was an entirely inappropriate thing to send to Amish school children. Rather than defending their beliefs, the teacher gives a lesson on not judging by appearances. This is a more important lesson from our perspective, and it even makes sense for the character given her scars, but it seemed very odd for the rest of the Amish community to back this. But I’m not an expert on their doctrines, I am only wondering if this was realistic.

Overall, the tenor somehow reminded me of cozying up with a friend over hot chocolate on a rainy spring day.