Meet Addy
An American Girl book

Back in the Civil War there was a mom, dad and their children: Sam, addy and Ester. She was the baby and was only one. They lived in North Carolina. They’ve been slaves their whole lives. One night Addy woke up, she heard her mom talking about running away. The mom thought Addy was sleeping but she was playing possum when her dad checked on her.

The next day Sam and Dad got sold. Addy was whipped because she was holding on to daddy so tight. She almost got whipped again but mom caught her in her arms. That made me sad that they did that.

They ran away but left Ester behind with Aunt Lula and Uncle Solomon.

Will Addy and her mom ever make it? Will they ever be a family again? Find out when you read more American girl books. Bye for now. Caitie.

How would you define success?

Would you define it as getting everything you want? Would you define it as publication? Would you define it as a certain amount of money? A certain readership?

Think about it for a moment.

Once you have that definition I want you to really think about what you’re doing to ensure that success.

Notice my word choice: Ensure!

I’ll tell you the way to ensure your own success…help someone else accomplish what you yourself want to accomplish.

Christians call it sowing and reaping. Society calls it the golden rule. Others call it Karma. But whatever you call it, the meaning is the same.

That is why on my writing career development course I offer a spot for people to scholarship other writers. I encourage people to buy books that will help other writers. I personally mentor writers [for free] to help them move further down the path.

It may seems simplistic to some, even stupid to others, but it is completely true.

Randy Ingermanson became the number one internet teacher of fiction [google fiction writing and you'll see that] by offering FREE content that is more than an infomercial. By reading his blogs, websites, or his e-zines you will learn how to improve.

That is the model I follow. For pepole who don’t have the money to purchase my development course I offer free meaningful content to develop their business.

So what are YOU doing to help other writers? What are you doing for up and coming writers? How are you building the dreams of others?

That is the key to success, no matter how you define it.

Because when you put others before yourself word does get out. And soon you find a sphere of influence that you can lead to the next level. And that is success by ANY definition.

So even if you don’t comment [I know there are GOBS of you out there from now TEN countries] think about this question and answer it for yourself.

But if you’d like to comment, I’d love to hear from you.

So you like to write?

Most people who think of making money as a writer think of best selling novelists making six, or even seven, figures on best-selling books.

In reality there are many ways to make money as a writer. In fact, for many people writing a full-length book pays far less per hour than most other forms of writing. This is double true when you factor in the portion of the cash advance an author spends to buy marketing materials, travel to promotional appearances, etc.

So today we are going to look at other ways to earn money as a writer. The best part of this is that you can do these things to earn steady income as you work your way up to published novelist. [And if you are a published novelist, you can do this to supplement your income.]

I couldn’t possibly list every way to earn money writing but I’d like to point you to two books that do just that. The Well-Fed Writer and Back for Seconds. I have both of these books on my shelf and they are highlighted, dog-eared, and worn.

Not only do they give great ideas of ways to earn a steady income writing, but many of the lessons can be applied to your novel marketing!!

Writing is about marketing, pitching, submitting, getting rejected, improving, and doing it some more. This book helps you do this. The best part is doing this in one area will help you in others.

So I urge you to buy these books. I’ve put the links to the right of the blog.

Go do it!

Here is the contest. Buy the books and email me to tell me you bought them. Then use some of the principles and email me results. The most “Successful” candidate will receive a gift pack from me including: One hour phone consultation with me, help with creating a platform, and a book to help you build your writing business even more.

You have until November 10th to register [you register by emailing me at Tiffany@WritingCareerCoach.com and telling me you bought one or both of the books]

Then you have until January 31st to get results to me [you'll get instructions when you register]

So are you serious about building your writing. It all starts with the decision you make now, today. You can choose to move forward…or stagnate.

For our special Friday edition of the Writing Career Coach we continue with our interview of Kathy Ide, learn what PUGS are and how they can help your writing.

You’ve written some great resources for writers. Tell us about those.

Over the years I’ve been editing, I noticed that writers all tend to struggle with the same mechanical issues. I didn’t want to rely on what seemed right to me, or what I remembered from high school English. And different books had different answers. So when I was working with the commercial publishers, I learned which style guides and dictionaries the publishers use, and I started making a list of the rules and spellings I was looking up on a regular basis. After a while, that list grew to book length!

So I wrote a book highlighting the most common mistakes writers make. Polishing the PUGS: Punctuation, Usage, Grammar, and Spelling Tips for Writers (UpWrite Books, 2007) contains definitive answers based on the publishing industry’s standard references, including punctuation from The Chicago Manual of Style (for books) and The Associated Press Stylebook (for articles), plus spelling and usage from the dictionaries recommended by both style guides. There are also rules from The Christian Writer’s Manual of Style.

In this book, I point out ten reasons writers need to polish their “PUGS.” One is that simple mechanical errors can change the meaning of a sentence. For example, if you wrote, “My husband Derek and I went camping last week,” without commas around Derek, you’d be implying that the man you vacationed with was only one of your husbands! If you had in your contract “The royalties will be divided equally between Mary, Ruth and Geraldine,” you might figure that each of you would receive a third of the money. But the absence of a comma before and, along with the use of the word between, would indicate that Mary gets one half while Ruth and Geraldine each receive a quarter of the money.

Many of the writers who’ve bought this book have told me that 95% of the questions they have are covered in Polishing the PUGS. Because it’s a small paperback (as opposed to The Chicago Manual of Style, which is a thousand-page hardback), it’s a lot easier to find what you’re looking for. And since it’s written by an average person rather than by a team of university professors, it’s easier to understand the explanations and examples. And, as one person told me, it hurts a lot less when you drop it on your toe!

I’ve also written two other books for authors: Christian Drama Publishing and Typing without Pain: How to Avoid (or Recover from) Computer-Related Injuries.

You teach and speak at writers’ conferences, too, right?

About eight a year. I’ve taught at the ACFW conference, Glorieta, Inspirational Writers Alive in Houston, Christian Writers Fellowship in Kansas, and several local conferences. I’m on the manuscript critique team at Mount Hermon, and last spring I taught a fiction mentoring clinic there. Last summer I taught at the North Texas Christian writers’ conference and have already been invited back for next year. One of my favorite conferences is in Montrose, Pennsylvania, just two miles down the road from my sister-in-law’s house. My husband goes there with me every other year, and he hangs out with his family while I teach. And we always make time to go sight-seeing the weekend before and after.

You sure sound like a busy woman!

I am. And I love it. I can hardly believe I get to make a living doing something I enjoy so much.

But a couple of years ago, I realized I was so busy helping other writers get published, I wasn’t spending much time working on the novel manuscript God had called me to write. When one of my clients saw me passing out business cards at Mount Hermon, she said, “Kathy, if you get more editing work, you’re not going to have time for me!” She asked me if I knew other editors I could pass some of these new jobs off to. I told her I didn’t, but I should.

On the five-hour drive home from Mount Hermon, God poured ideas into my head for a Christian editors’ network. The next day, I asked some of the editors I knew if they were aware of such an organization. They all said, “No, but what a great idea. You should start one.” A few months later, I founded The Christian PEN: Proofreaders and Editors Network (www.TheChristianPEN.com). That was two years ago, and we now have 250 members, a Web site with great tips and articles and tools for editorial freelancers, an e-mail loop (and a prayer subloop), online courses, and a quarterly e-newsletter. I pass jobs on to the network on a regular basis. When authors come to me looking for editing, if I’m too busy or too expensive for their budget or if I don’t specialize in the kind of writing they do, I can match them up with the right editor for them. New editors get job leads they wouldn’t have known about otherwise. And established editorial freelancers can pass jobs on to the network if they get too busy too.

About six months ago I started a second organization called the Christian Editor Network (www.ChristianEditor.com). It’s a “matchmaking service” for putting authors together with screened, professional, qualified editorial freelancers. Publishers and agents can refer authors to this Web site when they get manuscripts that have potential but need polishing.

So in addition to my own editing and speaking, I’ve become an “editor services coordinator.” And I love that too!

Where do you sense God leading you next?

A couple of years ago, my dear friend and prolifically published author Cecil Murphey mentored me, and he suggested I get into ghostwriting. Though I’d collaborated with clients on about a dozen books, I hadn’t thought of focusing on that. However, since then, I’ve had numerous requests for ghostwriting and coauthoring. So, between Cec and God, I’m getting the feeling that this is the next step for me. I have several collaboration projects in various stages right now, and I’m very excited about this venture.

I’ve also been getting numerous indications that the time has come for me to get serious about my novel manuscript, which has been sitting on a back burner, mostly, for the past several years while I’ve been establishing and maintaining my editorial services and networks. I’m nearly finished with the manuscript (although, being a rather perfectionistic editor, I’m not sure I will ever feel that it’s truly “done”), and I have serious interest from some of the top Christian publishers and agents. So, Lord willing, I will soon be a published novelist!

What do you do when you’re not writing, editing, or speaking?

I love spending time with my wonderful husband, Richard, who is an avid reader and movie-goer (like me). We enjoy taking road trips together and going house-boating and Jet Ski riding on Lake Powell.

I have two grown sons. The older one, Tom, and his wife, Ronit, live in Austin, so I try to visit them when I can. The younger one, Mike, lives with me . . . technically. He’s so busy with school (automotive college) and work (as a mechanic), he’s not home much. But when he is, I like hanging out with him.

I worship at Richfield Community Church (previously the Evangelical Free Church of Yorba Linda).

Since I live in Southern California, close friends and relatives love to come visit me! When folks stay at the “Ide Hotel,” I sometimes take a day or two off to play “tour guide” at Disneyland, Sea World, the beach, the mountains, San Diego, San Francisco, etc.

How can people order your books or find out more about your services?

They can visit my Web site at www.KathyIde.com. Or e-mail me at Kathy@KathyIde.com.

I’ve known Kathy for years through the American Christian Fiction Writers, and we’ve met in person at ACFW’s annual conferences. After chatting with her at the conference in Dallas last month, I asked her to share a little bit about herself and all the things she does in the Christian publishing industry.

Thanks for joining my blog, Kathy!

My pleasure, Tiff. Thanks for inviting me.

Tell us how you got started as a writer.

I’ve been making up stories my whole life. (Just ask my mom, who caught me in plenty of “fabrications,” bless her heart.) But it never occurred to me that this could be a good thing! (On the contrary, it usually got me in trouble.)

In 1988, a friend of mine told me she was putting together a Christian writers’ conference at Biola University, near where I lived, and she needed some administrative help (stuffing envelopes and binders and such). So I helped her out. She asked if I’d like to attend the conference. I didn’t have anything better to do at the time, so I said, “Sure, why not?”

That conference opened up a whole new world to me. I learned that the names on the covers of the books I loved to read represented real people, normal folks who weren’t all that different from me. They sat on the grass and ate hot dogs and potato chips, just like the rest of us! And they hadn’t all majored in creative writing or journalism in college and went on to work for a publisher 9 to 5, seven days a week. They fit writing into their “free time.” Well, I thought, I could do that.

What was your first published writing?

After that Biola conference, I wrote an article and mailed it to a magazine I’d found on the freebie table. It got accepted by the first publisher I sent it to (little realizing at the time how unusual that was). The next year, I sent out some play scripts I’d written for my church drama teams, and almost every one of them got accepted. I was on a roll! I wrote more, got more acceptances . . . and plenty of rejections, of course.

In addition to play scripts, I wrote magazine articles, devotionals, short stories, and Sunday school curriculum (before work, during lunch, after work, and occasional weekends) and getting them published. I even wrote a screenplay that was optioned by a Hollywood director. I’m now working on a near-future speculative novel and a couple of compilations.

In addition to writing, you’re also a freelance editor. How did that happen?

About ten years ago, I got tendonitis in both thumbs, both wrists, both forefingers, and my right shoulder. My boss decided I couldn’t do my job anymore, so he let me go. My physical therapist told me I had to find work that didn’t require using a computer keyboard or any other type of repetitive motion. Yeah, right!

My workers’ compensation coordinator got me a professional-edition voice-recognition software program. But I couldn’t find an office job that would allow me to sit around and talk to my computer all day.

After a few months of wondering what God had in mind for me, my husband asked me what I would do for a living if I could do anything in the world. I answered without a moment’s hesitation, “Writing!” But we’d just bought our first house, based on my income in a career I’d been pursuing for thirty years. And I knew I couldn’t make that kind of money writing, at least not right away. So he asked what my second choice would be. Well, I’d been in a writers’ critique group for a while, and my crit partners really liked my suggestions. And I’d done a few jobs for a friend’s manuscript critique service and really enjoyed that. So I told my husband that I liked helping other people improve their writing. He encouraged me to see if I could build that into a full-time career.

I told my workers’ comp coordinator the idea, and she asked if I had a degree in writing or editing. When I told her I didn’t, she told me my plan was “impossible.” When I heard her say that word, I heard God say, “Impossible is My specialty!”

So I pursued it. I started working at home, editing and critiquing and proofreading manuscripts, and I loved it! My clients consistently told me they liked my suggestions and appreciated my corrections. And with a little research on my own, I figured out how to type without exacerbating my tendon injuries.

Over the past ten years, I’ve worked for new writers, established authors, commercial book publishers (including Moody, Thomas Nelson, and Barbour), subsidy publishers (including WinePress and VMI), magazines, and organizations such as CLASServices. I edit both fiction and nonfiction book-length manuscripts, short stories, articles, devotionals, and play scripts. I mentor aspiring writers, taking them from “I’ve never had anything published, so I don’t even know if I have what it takes” to winning literary awards, landing agents, getting book contracts, seeing their work in print, and becoming best-selling authors. What a treat! (And I’m actually making a better income with my editing business than I ever made at my full-time day job. So much for “impossible”!)

Writing is my passion, and helping others improve their writing is my delight.

Thanks Kathy, and come back tomorrow for a special Friday edition of Writing Career Coach to learn about resources for writer’s Kathy has created to help us all write better!

Walking in Jesse’s Shoes

By Beverly Lewis

Illustrated by Laura Nikiel

ISBN 978-0-7642-0313-8

Help your child understand those with special needs

What parent hasn’t urged son or daughter not to stare at or tease a child who is “different” or disabled in some way?

In this sensitive yet realistic story, Jesse’s sister struggles to understand her brother—and the kids who make fun of him. This endearing book will encourage families everywhere to appreciate and befriend children with special needs.

There was a little girl named Allie. Every time her and her brother go to school he wanders around so they always miss the school bus. One day when Allie came home she says “I’ll never understand you.” and her father says “Of course you don’t because you’ve never walked in Jesse’s shoes.”

The next day Jesse took off his shoes and Allie put them on. But you’ll have to read the book to know what happens next.

I liked this book because it taught me that when you learn about somebody you get to know them really well. Then you’ll understand why they do weird stuff.

The pictures are very great. [Tiff's note: We are a family with a special needs child. I loved this book and think it is a great way to help parents of special needs kids talk with their non-special needs kids]

Bye for now, Caitie.

Books for kids, reviewed by a kid every Wednesday

www.WritingCareerCoach.blogspot.com

As I said yesterday the only way to write a book is to start writing.

My first full length book was born when I was in the 8th grade. At that time it was 22 typed pages [quite a feat for someone in Jr. high] and had a cast of characters who still talk to me. It would be 14 years later when I’d pick that story back up and expand it to an over 55k manuscript. It took me just over 7 weeks to finish the first draft and a full year to get it to the full 55k. I entered it in a contest and was in the top 20 of a national, full-length novel writing contest.

My second book was written in 21 days, my third-which was much longer at 76,500 words, took two months to write and three weeks to edit. The second was requested by two publishing houses [although it is yet, unpublished] and the third won the Daphne du Maurier Award in the inspy unpubbed division. It is also being read by two agents right now.

Now I’m gearing up with NaNoWriMo to start work on my fourth. It is by far the most intense story I’ve written to date. To call the plot twisty is an understatement. And I can tell you five years ago I would never have attempted this book. Too much depth, too many balls to keep in the air, too many red herrings, to fast-paced.

But writing is a process and the only way you’re going to get on your way is by starting. The only way you get there is by moving. The only way you’ll ever get closer to your dreams is by doing.

So go out, start with the first chapter, write the first draft, get the words on paper.

Then keep coming back here. In November I will post every day. Friday-Sunday will be committed to helping you develop your writing as I move through NaNo.

So if you’re NaNoing add me to your friends list. My screen name in NaNo is WritingCareerCoach you can watch my progress and I can watch yours. Together we’ll do something most people dream of but few do…write a novel.

Many of you would like to write a book. In fact, most people who say they’d like to write, even if they study journalism, say they’d like to eventually write a book.

So where do you start?

Of course you need an idea, but then what? I suggest jumping in to NaNoWriMo [National Novel Writing Month] in November. Once a year people try to write a 50,000 word novel during NaNo.

It may seem like a huge undertaking, and it is, but anytime you set out to write a book it is huge. The thing that makes NaNoWriMo so special is you have the support and comradery to help push you forward. You have accountability to others and you have a date certain.

This is my second year of NaNo. I’m going to be accountable to all of you by posting my progress up on my blog. I’ll update it a couple of times a week starting on November 1st.

You can sign up for NaNo at www.NaNoWriMo.org

And if you are either going to try it this month or have before leave a comment. Let us know how you are doing and stop back on Fridays-Sundays for my ALL NANO blog starting November 1st.

This will be a time for all of you to brag, build community, and talk about what you’re writing. I hope to see you there.

Andrea was kind enough to answer a few of Caitlin’s questions about “Fiona Finds the Son”. Thank you so much Andrea. We’re looking forward to your upcoming books!

What gave you the idea for the story?

On a Thursday morning in March of 2006, I was brushing my teeth and for some reason I thought about my artist friend, Linda, and then the idea of a tiny girl coming to life in a garden setting popped into my head. The girl resembled a Bleeding Heart blossom, and left her plant to explore a nearby garden world, and also experienced being in the sunshine for the very first time. All of it sprung itself into my head at once. I love to garden and I love Bleeding Heart plants, which thrive in shady places. But to ‘live in a plant’ seemed boring, and so I knew all the plants the tiny Kingdom children lived in should be named like real human structures instead of just called ‘plants’ i.e. hotels, condominiums, homes, castles, etc. And what little boy or girl doesn’t love to stay in a hotel? It seemed obvious to me, that a girl staying in a shady Bleeding Heart hotel may have never experienced being in the sunshine

I cannot really describe that moment, as the magical Flower Kingdom world and it’s tiny characters was a very visual scene in my head. And also, the idea of this tiny blonde haired, blue-eyed, girl finding the sunshine and then hearing the message of salvation and the use of the homonym Son/sun throughout the story was also ‘just there’ in my head in that moment (while brushing my teeth) as well as the premise for the next stories in the series. I believe God placed those ideas there (in my head). He’s the one with the great imagination, my fingers were just the pencil He used to share it with others I also believed that since Linda came into my head at the same time the initial story, and character, did — that that meant she was supposed to illustrate it. I knew I couldn’t tell Linda the idea until after I’d written it out. I was so eager to share it that I wrote a very basic story later that very morning and emailed it to Linda. Then I called her and explained that I had had a stellar idea for a series of books all based on flower and plant creatures, and that I’d written out the first one and she should read it and let me know if she wanted to illustrate it.

Linda was hesitant.When Linda was in college, her teacher took her class to a nursery/greenhouse to paint flowers, and while every other student painted a plant or flower, Linda was inspired to paint one of the cats which were roaming the nursery! Linda told me that I knew good and well that she hated to draw flowers. (I did know this fact, we were already good friends!). I insisted she should read the story and see if she changed her mind. She read it, and a few weeks later agreed to illustrate it. We worked side by side for eight months. I oversaw the development of the characters as from the beginning I had visual images of the characters in my head, and Linda knew little about flowers/plants/gardens while I know a great deal. This was the first book Linda had ever illustrated, and the only one she will illustrate in the Flower Kingdom series. After she finished Fiona Finds the Son, Linda began to write and create a series of children’s books all on her own. And Linda is now getting offers from publishers for more illustration work. We never know the full extent of God’s plans, even when we think we do, which was a lesson both Linda and I learned as a result of this book. Another artist, Anthony Letourneau is illustrating the future books in the series.

You should know that many ideas for material to write about come to me in the mornings while brushing my teeth. Take note of this and be sure to brush your teeth every day! HA!

What gave you the idea for the title?

I explained how the idea of the tiny girl landed itself in my head. Well, so too did part of the title. I knew the title would be _______ Finds the Son. And I knew I wanted the name to begin with an F so that the title flowed well. But, girl’s names beginning with F are hard to think up! I was sitting at my desk at work (my husband and I own our own business). But, I was unable to do my work, as my head was swimming with the idea for a story. Yet, I couldn’t begin to write it until I had a name for it’s main character. I was stuck, and the phone rang. It was another friend of mine, Kristia. Before she could tell me why she had called, I said, ‘Help me! I have to write a story that’s in my head, but I need a girl’s name that starts with F.’ Kristia got quiet. And I began to feel bad, as I sensed perhaps she had called me because she really needed to share something with me. Since she was my friend she had grown used to my ‘writer’ mode, i.e. when I get a story in my head I tune out everyone trying to converse with me. I will never forget her very irritated tone of voice as she flatly blurted out, ‘Fiona’. And I screamed, ‘Yes, that’s perfect! Okay, goodbye!’ Then I hung up on her and within a few hours had the story completed and was ecstatic with it. Whoops, looking back I see that I was quite rude to my friend Kristia!

The fact that the name Fiona came from that particular friend of mine (Kristia) proved to be quite helpful as I further developed the story. Let me explain. As a gardener, I had long known about ‘Bleeding Heart fairies’, if you gently open up a Bleeding Heart blossom, it appears like a tiny fairy pops up, wearing a pink skirt. It is much fun to share this secret with children, and even my two boys enjoyed making Bleeding Heart fairies with the blossoms of our Bleeding Heart plants. For that reason, in the very initial story I wrote, Fiona was actually a fairy. However, as Linda began the illustration work, something held her back from adding wings to Fiona’s character, she said it didn’t ‘seem right’. Something about Fiona being a fairy didn’t set well with me either. I think because of the good/evil connotation with fairies, and the fact that this book shared the message of salvation, I didn’t want to compromise it’s integrity with a fairy character. Also, none of the other characters were fairies, they were just ‘plant people/kids’. As I began to add things to the text and further develop the initial story, it dawned on me that when you opened up a tiny Bleeding Heart blossom, it also could resemble a tiny ballerina, in a pink tutu, and the flap parts of the blossom could very easily be ballet slippers buttoned onto the hem of the skirt, and perhaps Fiona could run around barefoot some of the time, and only wear those slippers when practicising ballet and walking around, but that a rule could be that she must NOT wear them when climbing around on the plant stalks which reached out of the hotel’s roof — something Fiona loved to do as she couldn’t sit still… See, my friend Kristia is somewhat of a tomboy, and the thought of my friend Kristia being a ballerina was so funny to me, and to Linda (we were all three friends), that after this ballerina thought came into my head, Linda and I decided that Fiona would most definitely be a ballerina in training, staying the season at the Bleeding Heart hotel where she was taking classes under the famous ballerina — Miss Willa. Also, my friend Kristia is very warm blooded (gets warm very easily), while I am very cold blooded and whenever we travel together one of us is miserable. Purely for humor, and to tease my friend Kristia, I added the fact that the warm blooded ballerina, Fiona, found the sunshine to be awful, as she preferred the cool shade much like my friend Kristia prefers cold weather to warm!

Did this story remind you of something that happened to you as a kid?

As a child it confused me when I heard adults, or ministers, speak of Jesus Christ as ‘the Son’. I often thought people meant its homonym, sun, until I grew older and fully understood that words sometimes sounded the same but meant different things. And so, it seemed like a good thing to explain in a children’s book – i.e. what exactly adults mean when they say ‘the Son’. Also, as a child there were many times where I ran off and hid somewhere, on the farm I grew up on, because I had either done something wrong, or felt like my mom and dad were being too strict and mean and I would be happier living by myself. I always came back home before the end of the day (usually after just an hour or two, HA) when I grew cold or hungry and realized that my parents weren’t so bad after all, and that if I had done something or other wrong, chances are they would forgive me and all would be well again.

Today I am going to talk about Fiona finds the Son by Andrea Beyers.

Fiona is a little girl that’s a flower and is only two inches tall. She has a nice bedroom and has a teacher. One day she climbed up a stem with her ballet shoes which she’s not supposed to do and she goes in the dew pool by accident.

On the way to find a new home she meets some very nice friends. A cricket, flower and a tigerlily. And someone with purple hair and pink hair. They tell her God will forgive your sins.

I liked this book. I thought the pictures were pretty cool. I think my little sisters would like to read this book too.

Tomorrow the author, Andrea Beyers, is going to be on the blog. I asked her some questions. I hope you’ll come read the interview.

That’s all for now. Bye, Caitie.