Faithchick

Smoky Moumtaim Majesty

I just returned from a long weekend in the Smoky Mountains, and ahhhhh! What a rejuvenating few days! The cabin where I stayed with my friend Lynn clings to the side of a mountain at the top of a curvy, steep, one-lane road that sent apprehensive chills up my spine the first time I saw it. Lynn zooms up the road without a qualm, because she’s done it so often. A dense forest crowds the cabin on all sides, so close that you can reach out and pluck a leaf from any of the spacious wooden decks.

 

We spent the early mornings sitting on one of those decks, sipping coffee and watching the rising sun’s rays filter through the leaves to paint the landscape with deep hues of green. After our morning coffee, we worked. Lynn is a psychologist and college professor, and she had important-sounding stuff to do that I can’t even begin to understand. I’m working on a book, so I claimed a space on one of the cabin’s screened porches where every time I looked up from my computer I could soak in the inspiration of God’s handiwork. I admit I became easily distracted watching leaves perform their graceful dance with the wind, but I managed to get a lot written in spite of that. The afternoons were devoted to hiking. 

 

Evenings were spent back on the deck, watching the sun set over the tree-covered ridge on the other side of the holler. There’s a special kind of peace that comes from being surrounded by nature on all sides, from breathing air that has been filtered clean through thousands of trees before it enters your lungs. Best of all, there’s a peace the slips into your soul with every breath.

 

I thought it was entirely fitting that my Bible reading Saturday morning was Psalm 95. It’s pretty awesome to look out across a stunning mountain ridge and read this:

“For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him.” (Psalm 95:3-4)

I’m so grateful to my friend and to my God for an inspiring retreat weekend!  

 

 

------

Virginia Smith is the author of fourteen Christian novels including Third Time's a Charm and her latest,  Into the Deep. Find out more about Ginny and her books at www.VirginiaSmith.org

 

So you want to be a writer

This October marks the one year anniversary of me quitting my part time day job that I did for 18 years. I didn't quit because I was going to live every writer's fantasy and write full time. I quit because the job that I had once loved, for a number reasons, I now dreaded going to. I had no  book contracts when I quit. I decided to push the writing a little harder than I had in the past and ended up with three contracts by the end of the year. From a books published to the amount of money I made, it turned out to be my best year yet as a writer. If the writing hadn't worked out, I would have found a different day job and continued to pick away at the writing dream with whatever time God provided. Just because I couldn't write full time, doesn't mean I would give up on writing.

I have learned a lot in the last 18 years that I have been writing. Here are a few of my discoveries.

Thinking that quitting a day job in order to succeed as a writer is one of the myths of writing. Most writers either have a spouse who brings in the bread and butter income or they continue to work themselves even after they are published.

I've heard different stats, but the percent of published writers who support themselves soley from writing is somewhere between 1 and 5 percent. The point is most people not only don't get rich doing this, they barely eek out an living.

So why do it?

If I had any advice for anyone who was thinking about being a novelist or any kind of writer, it would be this.

You cannot be in the writing biz because you want to make money or because you thrive on the accolades and attention. Those are few and far between. What you must live about writing is sitting alone in a room, listening to the keys tap as you make sentence sing and metaphors work. That must be what gets you out of bed in the morning.

One of the biggest things that has helped me keep writing for 18 years is the fellowship and support I get from other writers. I never felt like I quite found my place in the larger church body, but when I hang out with other Christian writers, online, at conference and with the small local group I attend, I feel like I have found my people group. In other words, you can't do this without support and nobody understand a writer like  another writer. 

The final thing I would tell an aspiring writer is not to make excuses...not to think that you will start writing someday when the condition are to your liking.  Writing is about having your butt in a chair. Treat it like a job. If you get overwhelmed, break things down into smaller pieces. One of the most encouraging articles I ever read on getting started writing pointed out that if you wrote a page a day of your book at the end of the year, you would have a 365 page book.  

Those are the things that I discovered on my writing journey that have been the difference between success and giving up.

Let's review:

Don't quit your day job...or think you can't start writing until you can quit your day job.

Seek the support of other writers

It can't be about the money...it has to be about making it work on the page and loving the solitude

Don't make excuse...just write

That about covers it. I'd love to hear from other aspiring writers out there. Where are you at in your journey? What discoveries have you made?

Sharon Dunn's seventh book will be released in December 2010. She is currently writing for Love Inspired Suspense. You can read of Sharon's writing advice in the "for writers" section of her website at www.sharondunnbooks.com.     

   

Storms at Sea

My husband and I were on a cruise a few years ago when there was a storm at sea. The ship's captain navigated around the storm, so while we experienced some fairly rough waters (which is quite interesting on a ship where over 2000 people stuff themselves four times a day with more rich, heavy food than they normally eat in a week), we were never in danger from the fury of the storm.

 

But we saw it. I remember sitting in a plushly cushioned chair by a window on the Promenade Deck and watching the storm out at sea. The skies all around were white, like a canvas had been drawn over the blue, except for one gigantic dark mound on the horizon that looked like a black cave. The storm raged inside that cave. Lightning crackled in that yawning darkness, spreading across the sky in stunning patterns. Every now and then, a thick shaft of electricity would shoot downward toward the water. The sea responded by rising up to meet it. Huge, powerful waves would lift up into the air as though inviting the lightning's touch. Water and lightning would meet with an explosive spray. Witnessing the pure power in that meeting left us open-mouthed with awe.

 

That scene came back to me vividly this morning when I read Psalm 93.

 

"The seas have lifted up, O LORD, the seas have lifted up their voice; the seas have lifted up their pounding waves. Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea -- the LORD on high is mighty." (Psalm 93: 3-4)

 

Awesome, don't you think?

 

------

Virginia Smith is the author of fourteen Christian novels including Third Time's a Charm and Into the Deep, available in October 2010. Find out more about Ginny and her books at www.VirginiaSmith.org