Comparing

I was participating in a Bible study called "Can We Talk?" by Priscilla Shirer this summer and the topic of comparing came up. It must have been something that God wanted me to hear, because it not only stuck with me, but God kept bringing other Scriptures to mind. There are so many ways that people compare themselves to others and it rarely ends well. Either they begin to think that they are better than the other person and vanity and arrogance surface, or they see themselves as inadequate and their self-esteem plummets. The cure is to see ourselves the way that God sees us.

Physical appearance is a huge area of comparison. I'm not as slender as that woman. I'm not as pretty as another. I wish I had her hair. The list can go on and on. If you talk to just about any woman and ask her to list her physical "faults" she could rattle several off in a heartbeat, but if you ask her to tell you how she's beautiful, she may have to think for a while. Why is that?  In Psalm 139:13-16 it talks about how God formed us before we were born. It says:

For You formed my inward parts;
You wove me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.

I was thinking recently that when God formed me, He didn't step back, gasp and say "I made a mistake!" God created me to look exactly the way I do, so why do I wish His design away? We know that God looks at our heart and not our outward appearance (1 Samuel 16:7) so shouldn't I be more concerned about what my inward beauty looks like? Have you ever met someone who you thought was beautiful, but you got to know them and they were rude, selfish, arrogant, and mean? One day you look at them and wonder what made you think they were beautiful. On the other hand, you meet someone who is "average" looking, but they're sweet, loyal, and kind and one day you realize how beautiful they really are. Our inner beauty shows through and can alter our outer appearance. Besides that, my looks will change as I age, but I can still be beautiful in God's eyes and that's what I long to be.

Talent is another area of comparison. No matter what I'm good at, I can find someone who does it better. I can complain that I don't sing as well as someone else and refuse to sing, or I can realize that God can still use my voice in a variety of capacities and be willing to serve Him where He leads. My writing is okay. Others write much better, but I keep plugging at it and striving to improve. I need to not be concerned about being "the best" and instead be busy to use what God has given me to His glory.

The one that always gets me is when I hear people comparing spiritual gifts. This has been going on since the early church was formed. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul describes the church as a body with many members. He says in verse 21, "And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”' Sometimes I see people who seem to think that other members are unnecessary, because they have great pride in their own gift and feel they can handle everything. More often, I see the opposite though. Verse 15 says, "If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body." There are those who think that they aren't necessary for the working of the body. They wish they had a different gift, but forget that God chose for them to have that particular gift to perform a specific task, service, or ministry. 

A gall bladder can seem like an insignificant part of the body, but I can tell you from experience that when it doesn't perform it's duty, it hurts the entire body! Unlike our human bodies, there are no surgeries to remove organs from the body of Christ. You may think that your gift isn't important, but when you don't use it, the body of Christ suffers and will continue to suffer, because you are an integral part of the working and cannot be removed. God will not remove you, You cannot remove yourself and no one else can remove you either. If you think about how God gave each one of us a specific gift in a specific place at a specific time to be used in a specific way, it's absolutely phenomenal! What would happen if everyone in the body of Christ used their gift in the way that God intended? I think we would see amazing things happen!

We need to stop looking around and look up. See ourselves the way God sees us. Do what God intended for us to do. Let God work through us and give Him the glory!

Dedication: Always a Bridesmaid

This is one of my closest friends in the world, Meghan James. I met her in youth group and we have a lot of interesting stories from youth trips. But Meg is more than my friend. She's my sister - not by blood or by marriage - but by heart. My kids call her "Tia Meghan" (tia is aunt in Spanish) and she is at any of their events that she can possibly make it to. She's been on family vacations with us and when people ask if it was weird, the answer is no, because she's family, too.

We have so much history together. Not only have we been on youth trips together, but we've taken numerous girls trips together and we have lofty ambitions of many more trips that finances and time have made impossible for now. She was my maid of honor when I got married and sang during our ceremony. She was in the waiting room as I gave birth to my first child and was one of the first to see her. We've watched countless movies together and shared books that the other one "has" to read (she stretches me beyond my comfort zone when it comes to reading). We've run through grass in our bare feet, played in the ocean, watched plays, sang duets (one of them so fantastically awful it was wonderful), ridden amusement park rides, been on long road trips, been to sporting events, helped each other move, cooked wonderfully amazing grilled cheese sandwiches (and other foods as well), and channel our "inner child" together (like when we tuck our arms into our shirts so that only our hands stick out and stomp around like a t-rex).

There's so much more than our shared fun together though. Meghan is the person that I can call at any moment of the day when my world begins to collapse and she will drop everything and come running. We've had deep conversations and we've vented our frustrations to each other and somehow after spending some time in her company everything starts to look better. Meg will text me as soon as she sees something on Facebook that may cause distress in the family and let me know that she's praying for us and that if I even need anything she's there. The thing is, it's not an empty promise either. If I were to call her because I needed to talk, she would sit and talk with me for as long as I needed her. If I needed her with me, she'd be over as soon as she could - probably with a pint of ice cream or some chocolate as well.

On top of that, Meghan is probably one of the smartest people I know. When Elizabeth Ludwig looked over my first book to give me some advice, one of the things she mentioned was how good my grammar was. I credit Meghan with that. Mom and Ashley tend to find my contextual errors and tell me when things aren't clear. Meghan finds where I use commas inappropriately (all the time) and where my wording is wrong. It amazes me how all three of these women can edit the same book and they all find different errors. Beyond her incredible knowledge of grammar and the English language, she is also well versed in literature, has traveled to many different countries, learned other languages, can sing, knows history, art, science, and math.

I feel like I could go on and on about how amazing this woman is! She's such a wonderful friend, and it's just who she is. She's a wonderful friend to me, but there are countless people who will read this and nod their head in agreement, because she's been there for them at the drop of a hat as well. She is just so immensely sweet and always willing to help. I'm so thankful that God brought her into my life and that I get to call her my sister and my friend. Thank you, Meghan, for all of your help and encouragement! I love you dearly, my friend!

The Missing Verse

In my excitement and hurry to get Always a Bridesmaid published, I forgot something. I forgot to put in the Bible verse in the front matter of the book. I always include a verse, something that I feel goes along with the story somehow, but when I was building the front matter for this book, I missed it. The funny thing was that I had a verse all picked out, I just somehow missed putting it in. Since I realized that I had forgotten it, I was able to update the manuscript and get it up on Kindle so anyone who bought the book recently will find it included. If you bought the book the first day or two, here is the verse that is missing. "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life." (Proverbs 13:12)

Each book in the series has a different focus. Best Laid Plans was about how God has plans for our lives and sometimes they're not what we expected. Kate had planned to be with Jeff when she was in high school, but that wasn't the plan for her life. She developed a new plan, only to find out that God had different ideas once again. I know that sometimes it's hard to let go of the plans that I've arranged for my life and let God take control, but after He pries my fingers off my plan, I can usually see how it was better for me to go the way He wanted me to.

Smell the Roses was about slowing down from the busyness of life. I honestly still have trouble with this. My calendar is so packed full it's ridiculous, but we weren't created to be constantly on the go and eventually it catches up with us. God didn't rest on the seventh day after creation because He was worn out. He was giving us an example. Yes, work is good - even in the Garden of Eden, God gave Adam work to do - but rest is important, too. You can also see it in the commands that He gave to Israel. We need time to rest and recharge and it's not weakness to need to relax. It's necessary. Georgia had to learn that if you don't slow down on occasion, you're heading for problems.

Dress for Success was about where true beauty lies. Brooke was beautiful on the outside, but it was her internal beauty that made her so attractive. There have certainly been people I've known who I thought were so good looking, but then I got to know them and they were arrogant, rude, mean-spirited, selfish and suddenly I realized that they weren't as good looking as I had thought. Then I've known others who I thought were only average looking, nothing special, but I got to know them and they were so sweet, kind, wonderful, loyal, giving, that one day I looked at them and wondered why I ever thought they were average, because now I thought they were beautiful! Our internal beauty (or lack of it) eventually shows on the exterior.

Finally, Always a Bridesmaid focuses on waiting for God's timing. I don't know how many times I've heard, "I know I need to wait for God's timing, but . . . "  I've certainly said it myself on occasion. Waiting is so hard. For me, I think it's the fear that the answer might not be 'wait', but 'no' that makes it so hard. In this world of instant gratification, I think it's only getting harder to have to wait until the time is right. When that time comes, though, it's a wonderful, beautiful thing!

For the first time, I can post the links to all four books for the KW Consulting series! If you haven't read them all, just click on the link to purchase them through Amazon. 
Best Laid Plans (Book 1)
Smell the Roses (Book 2)
Dress for Success (Book 3)
Always a Bridesmaid (Book 4)

New Book Cover

I love it when I get the new book cover! It's so exciting to see a book getting to the point of being ready for purchase. I think I'll actually have this one out before September!

Ordering a book cover is pretty easy. I've always used killercovers.com and they've done a wonderful job for me and listen to the recommendations I have. I usually get a cover within a week of ordering it and then have an opportunity to ask for changes to be made or sometimes I have to decide between two covers. After that the changes are made pretty quickly and I have my cover back that I can download and use. I only had a couple of changes on this cover and I love the result.

Isabelle's story is called . . .

My mom gave me her final edits this weekend and she says there isn't much. I need to finish those and then format the book to make it ready to publish. Then I'll upload it onto Amazon and it will be available to purchase! I expect it to be available by the end of the week.

If you haven't read the rest of the series, they are also available on Amazon to read on Kindle. (And Kindle has a free app for any smart phone, tablet or even a computer.) You can find the other three books by clicking the links below. I can't wait until I can share Always a Bridesmaid with you, too.

Best Laid Plans (Book 1)
Smell the Roses (Book 2)
Dress for Success (Book 3)

A Mind of Their Own

My mom finished her first read through of book four and we were sitting around talking about it. She was telling me about how frustrating some of the characters were this time. I agreed and said that as I was writing I was thinking, "Oh man! He's going to do that and it's going to be so bad!"

My dad laughed and said, "They're your characters! Can't you control them?"

To which I very honestly replied, "No! They have a mind of their own. I didn't even realize that Isabelle's sisters were twins until halfway through."

My dad found this very amusing. It seems strange that it could come from my mind and yet sometimes I feel like I have very little control over the story, Sometimes as I write I almost gasp and think, "I did not see that coming!" It's very weird.

I don't know if this happens to every author or if I'm just strange. I wouldn't be surprised if it's the latter. The thing is that my characters almost have a life of their own in my head. Sometimes I sit there and shake my head at their actions and sometimes they make me smile. But they always keep me on my toes.

I honestly wasn't sure how I would do writing Isabelle's story. She's probably the character that least resembles me. She's bold and confident and extremely creative! I have to say that I really enjoyed developing her more. I don't know that I have a favorite character - it's sort of like choosing a favorite child - but Isabelle is such a positive person that she was a joy to write about. And I know she's just a make believe character from my imagination, but it's still true. I hope that my readers enjoy getting to know her better.

While Mom and I were talking about the book, my mom said that she was reading about the bridal shower that Isabelle plans for Brooke and she thought, "Isabelle is so creative!" Then she thought for a moment and realized that Isabelle was fictional and really it was out of my imagination that the idea for the shower came! I'm not sure I could have come up with it though, if I hadn't been looking at the world through Isabelle's eyes. That bridal shower has been talked about by all three of my editors who all think it was such a fun idea!

My mom has finished her first read through and I've made the edits she gave me. My sister has finished, but I haven't received her edits yet. I know that Meghan was close to finishing the last I heard from her. She told me that she had been reading before work and hadn't wanted to stop! I'm always happy to hear things like that.

And . . .  I've ordered the book cover! In about a week I should get the first drafts to go through. Sometimes they send me a couple to choose from and sometimes I give them some requests to change their initial design (usually it's slight things, they do such a wonderful job!) As soon as we get the finalized cover, I will share it and the title with you all!

In the meantime, I have been continuing to write the next series. With my kids in school, I am getting some nice, long, uninterrupted segments of writing in and I'm very much enjoying how quickly it's coming along! I can't wait to share Isabelle's story with you and then for you to join me on my next journey! Writing is such a fun adventure!

Starting Again

Every ending is a new beginning. That's certainly not an original thought, but it's true. The end of KW Consulting isn't the end of my journey. I've loved writing about Kate, Georgia, Brooke and now Isabelle. They've each had their own joys and challenges. I believe that they've each helped me progress as a writer as well.They'll always have a special place as my first characters. But it's time to end their stories and move on.

I already know what my next series is going to be and I've even started writing the first book of the next series. Already I'm in love with the new characters, new places, and new stories. My mind is flooded by images of what's going to happen next and I'm so excited about where I know it's going that I have to force myself to slow down. I'm hoping to have the first book completed by the end of this year. I hope that I'm not setting my sights too high and making an unattainable goal, but I think it's doable.

Another change in my life right now is that my youngest child has begun preschool. I'm hoping that this will give me some uninterrupted writing time and help me make my goal. Right now we're still in the "settling in" phase of a life change. My two older children begin school on Thursday and I'm confident that we'll settle into a routine quickly. Once we've all adjusted, I'm sure that I'll be getting some quality writing time in and I'm excited to see how much I can get done in that time.

Although I'm sad to be through with KW Consulting, I'm excited about my new series and I can't wait to share it and see if you guys like it as much as I do! In the meantime, the last book of KW Consulting hasn't been completed quite yet. My sister has finished her edits, but I'm waiting on my mom and Meghan's edits as well. As soon as they're finished, I can complete the last book and get it published on Amazon. I'm still anticipating a September release and it won't be long before I'm revealing the new cover art and the title! By the way, my sister has said that this fourth book was definitely her favorite. I can't wait to hear if others agree with her!

Advice from an Author

A few months ago, my sister-in-law, Coren, found out that a lady at her church who she always talked to was a published author. She asked me if I would want her to approach her for me and I jumped at the opportunity! The author was Elizabeth Ludwig who has written The Edge of Freedom series as well as other novels. She very graciously allowed me to contact her, but warned me that since she had a deadline coming up that she wouldn't be getting back to me right away.

About a month later, I heard back from her. She pointed out several areas that I need to work on in my writing. It was humbling in a good way to discover how much I still have left to learn. As I looked at the terminology she used I remembered once again that I'm still very much an amateur. I felt completely overwhelmed because it hit me that I really should invest in some creative writing classes or seminars, but I don't know what time I would devote to that since I already feel like I'm overbooked. I realized that it may not be possible now, but in the near future, I may have the time and should research those options.

Fortunately for me, she also critiqued my first chapter of my first book. I have to admit that I was embarrassed that she had read the first book. I love Best Laid Plans because it was the first one, but I also know it has serious flaws in it. As I looked at her critique though, I saw that she had explained the terminology that I hadn't understood from her email and pointed out places where I needed work and they were issues that I knew still needed fixing. It helped clear several issues up for me and just in time, too. I got her email just as I finished writing book four and was about to do my read through. With her critique fresh in my mind, I was able to edit my book and specifically focus on the issues that she had brought to my attention. I focused primarily on two as I edited. One was keeping the point of view from drifting from character to character within the same section. If I needed to switch point of view, I either started a new chapter or a separate section. It was amazing how often I broke this rule of writing. I'd hate to look back through my previous books and see how many times I did this wrong. The other was focusing on adding action to my dialogue to prevent my characters from becoming "talking heads". There are definitely a lot more things I need to work on, but I felt like those two were pretty glaring faults that needed immediate attention.

Elizabeth also suggested that I join an online critique group. I had never heard of this before. Apparently these groups are writers providing critique for other writers and it's free. The understanding is that you will also provide feedback in exchange for other writers giving you help on your work. She specifically recommended The American Christian Fiction Writers and The Bayou Writers Group, but she said that there are several you can find just by doing a search on Google. She did caution me to find a group that specifically wrote the same genre as I write and like to read since I'll be expected to read other authors' works as well. Can I tell you that at this point I very much welcome feedback from other writers, but feel like I have absolutely nothing to offer in return? It's kind of intimidating. However, I know that this would be a great opportunity for me to learn.

I just have to mention here that this whole experience has been incredible. Even though at times it felt daunting to realize just how much I have left to learn, it was good for me to actually see the places I need to work on, not just know deep down that there were things that needed work. Besides that, Elizabeth was always very encouraging even as she pointed out the areas that I was doing things wrong. She not only pointed out where I need work, but also things that I was doing right. I very much appreciated her willingness to come alongside and help a new writer. She could have said that she was too busy, but she took time out of her schedule to give me feedback that I really needed to hear.

I'm very excited about book four! Being able to edit with specific areas to focus on was so helpful and I think it's helped make the book even better! I've sent the book out for the final editing and am waiting for their notes to finish up the book. I expect it to be published in September.