Author Archive

Posted on May 11, 2012 - by Dawn Ford

Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff

When I realized the next subject for our blog was about keeping it simple I had to chuckle. I’m the epitome of a pantster. I wait until the last minute for most everything in life. Anything that I’ve tried to get ahead of and planned out, the plans have gotten thwarted, it’s rained on my parade (case in point every Friend’s Day I’ve ever planned outside has been rained on), or it has altered in some way to make whatever plans I’ve made moot.

Hence the sardonic, maniacal cackling that resonated around me when I recalled this blog subject.

How does a leave-it-to-the-last-minute person make things simpler? Probably by learning not to sweat the small stuff.

I can just imagine the stink-eyes the computer screens are getting right about now.

Don’t sweat the small stuff, she says. Huh! Fat lot she knows.

Well, I kind of do. Last year held many challenges for me in handling crisis. My husband’s grandfather Leo, who we helped to take care of for years, passed away. The day we were to sign papers to purchase Leo’s farm we were told the Missouri River was going to exit its banks and flood the area with epic amounts of winter snow run-off and that property was smack dab in the thick of it. After putting off the purchase, we had to move several truck loads of stuff back and forth to be sure our storage, as well as several family members stuff was safe from the impending doom. When I had just had time to take a breath my brother suffered a massive heart attack and it was nothing short of a miracle when he survived and returned to us almost as whole as he was before. Then Mom died unexpectedly. To round it all off my oldest son moved back home.

Give me a moment to catch my breath here. Whew! It would have been a good investment for me to own stock in an antiperspirant company. And I have to tell you, I sweat a lot last year. But after it was all said and done I have realized one thing. All the little things that drive us crazy and make us sweat on a daily basis? It’s all small stuff. Life and death, yeah that’s pretty major. Everything else, not so much.

I forgot to wash Colton’s soccer uniform a couple of weeks ago. Since he’s on two teams and has one day free of soccer a week, it can be hard to keep up. However, there were grass stains on the white part of the sleeves and I knew it would be noticed. I took a little soap, scrubbed it under the faucet and threw it in the dryer. Thankfully the uniforms are made of fabric which is easy to clean. It wasn’t perfect, possibly a bit damp, but it was not noticeable. A couple of years ago that would have driven me crazy and put a damper on my day. I refused to let it get to me.

I do try to plan ahead as much as I can manage. Being organized is not a talent of mine. But I get by with just not sweating the small stuff. It makes life a whole lot simpler for me.

 

Posted on April 27, 2012 - by Dawn Ford

Survival Lists

As I prepared for today’s blog, I flipped through pages and pages of my research notes. The first subject I came across was How To Survive A Missouri River Flood, jotted down last year after miles of excess snows coursed down the Midwest causing widespread panic along the Missouri River border. I might’ve needed the inflatable raft last year to write from, but this year I’m fairly certain to be safe.

The second survival list I reached was my What To Do In Case Of Zombies. This list allows you access to the essentials of fighting the undead. Since there is no threat of impending brain parasites, neurotoxins, bioterrorism, errant neurogenesis, or mad cyborg scientists attacking the world, I’m confident I can set that list aside.

Next is my survival guide of a nuclear bomb or terrorist attack. On the list, and essential to any survival, is a how-to for building a bomb shelter. This is one of my longest lists, having found much information from Popular Mechanics and Popular Science on what kind of water system is necessary, which generators are the best and quietest, air purifiers, and what to stock your shelves with for three months. I’m building up the books for my library so I won’t be lonely or bored. However, some day you may get to visit my shelter, but it is not today.

I quickly shuffle through a Surviving Parenthood piece, a fault line map (for earthquake readiness), Wilderness Tips (they actually eat that to survive?), and finally my What to do in case of a Tornado sheet (wait, I need that), and I come to the actual papers I’m looking for.

It’s my list to help me navigate the highs and lows of being a writer.

1.)    Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.” God has placed this awe and love of words within me for a reason. I can be assured He gave me the ability and the means with which to bring this calling into fruition.

2.)    Psalms 45:1 “My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the King; my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer. I’m so thankful for David and his words. They give me hope for my own.

3.)    Proverbs 18:4 “The words of a (discreet and wise) man’s mouth are like deep waters (plenteous and difficult to fathom), and the fountain of skillful and Godly wisdom is like a gushing stream (sparkling, fresh, pure, and life-giving).” The amplified version used here is my preferred one. I see the words as a flowing stream as they come out of me. Many are deeper than I can imagine my own understanding to be. I know it is not my own wisdom that forms them.

4.)    Galatians 6:9 “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” I honestly have to recite this in one form or another to myself every day.

5.)    Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin that so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” God pulled the trigger on the race of my life and He holds the tape at the finish. I remind myself not to brush off the words of encouragement sent my way, but embrace them, and keep going whether the finish line is in sight or not yet. I’m on my way, I’m on my way.

Who needs to fear zombies, rejections, and writer’s block? I have the words of life within my reach. They are essential to my surviving this writer’s path.

 

Posted on April 13, 2012 - by Dawn Ford

Making The Middle Grade

Middle grade. One of the most difficult times in life. It seems everything changes-you’re neither a child nor a teenager. You’re kind of stuck there, right in the middle.

Currently, my youngest son has taken hold of the second in the Hunger Games books by Suzanne Collins and is reading Catching Fire. For a boy who loves non-fiction, this is a thrill for his Hunger loving mother. So, in honor of DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) day, I am going to share some middle grade novels that have definitely made the grade.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. Grade level 4 and up. Not only did this book make the grade, it also was made into a the movie Hugo. This is the story of an orphan boy who lives inside a clock in a Paris train station. A hidden message from Hugo’s father leads him on a journey to uncover a mystery.

Breadcrumbs by Erin McGuire. Grade level 3 and
up. This is a Hans Christian Andersen’s Snow Queen inspired tale. Once upon a time Hazel and Jack were friends, until Jack became lost in the forest with a mysterious woman made of ice. Now Hazel must go in after him. Breadcrumbs is rated by Amazon as one of the Best Books of 2011.

Wonder by R.J. Palacio. Grade level 3 and up. “I won’t describe what I look like. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s probably worse.” August Pullman was born with a facial deformity that prevented him from going to mainstream school, until the 5^th grade. Not just faced with being being the new kid, Auggie has to find a way to show his classmates he’s just like them.

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer. Grade level 5 and up. Twelve year old Artemis Fowl is a millionaire, a genius and above all, a criminal mastermind. But even Artemis doesn’t know what he’s taken on when he kidnaps a fairy, Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon Unit. These aren’t the fairies of bedtime stories—they’re dangerous! This book is a classic and one my middle son encouraged me to read.

Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes by Jonathan Auxier. Grade level 5 and up. Peter Nimble, a ten year old blind orphan has been schooled in the art of thievery. When he steals a box of magical eyes from a haberdasher, he is taken on an unforgettable, swashbuckler adventure to discover his true destiny.

Grab a book, curl up with a tweener, and have a wonderful DEAR session.

 

Posted on March 30, 2012 - by Dawn Ford

Jehovah Rapha: The Great and Mighty Healer

I love the names of God. When I saw we were doing them, it made me more than a little excited but also a little afraid I wouldn’t do Him justice.

I scoured the scriptures trying to find the right words to give glory to God’s healing. Many ideas came to mind. But He has put something on my heart and I hope you will understand what I am trying to convey when you finish reading.

My dad was a Vet Technician and his favorite saying whenever one of us kids got hurt was “It’s a long way from your heart”. I guess patching up animals had given him a finer understanding of what was considered lethal and what was not. Luckily none of my three brothers or I ever had a broken bone, or anything too serious or we would’ve had to put that saying to the test.

I have grown up with many troubles with my teeth, causing me a lot of pain and problems. At certain ages children begin to notice you are different and begin treating you as such and I faced a certain rejection from my peers and adults which in turn made me a little jaded and bitter. I thought if only this thing disappeared I would be normal like everyone else and life would be grand.

By the time I was fourteen the problems became too bad and I tearfully begged my father to help me get it taken care of. He then did something completely out of character and agreed to pay for months worth of appointments by a local dentist who then did as much as he could to fix my teeth. The only hitch was that the discoloration would never go away. He couldn’t say why my teeth were the way they were, but I was going to have to learn to live with it.

However, I was ecstatic. The way I saw it, I was now ‘normal’. You’ll understand my disillusionment when none of my classmates even noticed or treated me differently. Later that same year I was involved in a different confrontation with some girls in my class which led to a bigger fallout and I sank into a pit of self-pity and self-loathing.

God was merciful, though. After that school year ended, my parents found a new house, we moved, and I changed schools. I had a chance to start over and I took it. With a renewed attitude I found friends and acceptance among my new classmates. God was there even before I knew I needed Him. I am so thankful He was.

Looking back later in life I realized that though my “wounds were healed” my spirit hadn’t been. It took me years to get past the resentment and bitterness I felt growing up, and to be truthful I still struggle with it. I’m a broken vessel that He put back together, not perfect in myself, but transformed to a renewed wholeness by His grace.

I think often of the blind and lame who were healed by Jesus’ hand. How did their lives change after they were healed? Did they struggle with it as I had thinking life would miraculously be changed if this thing went away or did they have to work on healing the wounds buried deep in their souls?

I know my God is a great and mighty healer. And even if the answers to our healing aren’t exactly as we think they should be, He is at work in our lives. Sometimes before we even know He’s there.

 

Posted on March 16, 2012 - by Dawn Ford

Cover Mishmash

I am a visual person, therefore the cover art needs to help me connect with the story on some level. I don’t think there’s been a book where I haven’t stopped in the middle somewhere and flipped to the cover for a quick peek. Since I have some pretty eclectic tastes, the books I chose were a good mishmash of choices for your exploration. Please click on the titles to travel to Amazon’s website for more information on each book.

The first book that called to me from the shelves of bookstores everywhere this past year was Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare. It wasn’t until the second in the series, Clockwork Prince, came out that I finally gave in and actually bought the first book so I could read the second. Talk about an author’s dream reader, huh? It’s a steampunk story where angellic Shadowhunters battle it out with faeries, vampires, werewolves, and demons along with the added bonus of a race of machines created to get the girl and eradicate the Shadowhunters. A love triangle between the shape-changing protagonist and the two opposite Shadowhunters had me choosing sides. If you’ve read Clare’s Mortal Instruments series which begins with City of Bones, this series, the Infernal Devices, is gentler to the senses. I loved it, but beware, the third in the series doesn’t come out until next year. (I hear the collective groans.)

Next is one I came across from a blog I read the other day, Alice I Have Been and The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb by Melanie Benjamin. Now although the covers aren’t calling my name from the bookshelves, the pictures intrigued me enough to read the blurb and together it has drawn my interest. These are real life stories from interviews from the women who were Alice (Alice Liddell Hargreaves) from Alice in Wonderland and the real-life wife of Tom Thumb (Mercy Lavinia “Vinnie” Bump). I can’t wait to read them.

I searched the Christian Book website for YA covers and found many from Lisa T. Bergren that I liked. Her Waterfall book is about two sisters on a boring family trip to Italy who actually time travel back to the 14^th Century and into the midst of a battle. There’s dashing knights, castles, and of course, the allure of time travel. My heart is already aquiver.

The dress on this last one drew me in, and the story sealed the deal. The Dressmaker by Kate Alcott takes on the Titanic from a dressmaker’s POV. The seamstress believes it’s luck that she lands a job with a wealthy employer which includes a trip aboard the Titanic. She survives the tragic sinking, only to be thrown into a media scandal afterwards. If you’ve ever wondered what happened to the survivors of the Titanic, this book gives you a peek into a small window history. Go to this Amazon page for the author’s research about the employer, Lucile Duff Gordon. You’ll find it as intriguing as any work of fiction.

P.S. I found this link to the ACFW Speculative loop library and thought it would be great to share with those who aren’t on the loop, but like to read speculative fiction. There are some great books highlighted. Please click here for it. Special thanks to Rebecca Luella Miller for this list!

Posted on March 2, 2012 - by Dawn Ford

Free Flow Fridays

Writer’s block. This condition affects many writers. Sometimes it occurs for days at a time. Therefore I submit, for your approval, Fridays to be Free Flow Fridays. A day when the right words just ooze out of you like melted butter.

This will enable you to turn your drivel into a dream. Sagging middles? No more. With Free Flow Fridays you will have the pleasure of swinging through those middles with savvy. Ends will tie together neatly with a bow.

Have a hard time breaking into your Monday, never fear Free Flow Friday is near. Hump day too daunting to get over? Don’t give throw in the plate, Free Flow Friday is great.  Weekends don’t come soon enough, don’t be gruff, Free Flow Fridays happens once a week.

You’ll never have to suffer for long. Every Friday gives you new purpose and power.

Vote for Free Flow Fridays. You’ll be glad you did.

Message paid for by the (FFFF) Fellowship For Free Flow Friday.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

This is Dawn Ford and I approve of this message.

 

Posted on February 17, 2012 - by Dawn Ford

Oh, The Horror

Horror films have a long history with the Oscars going back to the 1932 when Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde won for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Ahead of its time for visual effects, it has set the bar for movies of all kinds ever since.

Although not all of the below represent my actual favorite scary movies, I dug through the lists of Oscar nominations and come up with what I feel are the top ten scary movies, some that won and some that were only nominated.  Can you identify them by their loglines? (all courtesy of IMDb, the Internet Movie Database)

1. A disfigured musical genius, hidden away in a Paris Opera house, terrorizes the opera company for the unwitting benefit of a young protégé whom he trains and loves.
2. A boy can communicate with spirits that don’t know they’re dead (and) seeks the help of a disheartened child psychiatrist.
3. A young FBI cadet must confide in an incarcerated manipulative killer to receive his help on catching another serial killer who skins his victims. (Hello, Clarice.)
4. Three unemployed parapsychology professors set up shop as a unique ghost removal service.
5. An American serving in the French Foreign Legion on an archeological dig at the ancient city of Hamunaptra accidently awakens a mummy.
6. A wealthy San Francisco socialite pursues a potential boyfriend to a small Northern California town that slowly takes a turn for the bizarre when birds of all kinds suddenly begin to attack people there in increasing numbers and with increasing viciousness.
7. A young woman steals $40,000 from her employer’s client, and subsequently encounters a young hotel proprietor too long under the domination of his mother.
8. Three teens discover that their neighbor’s house is really a living, breathing, scary monster.
9. A team of Commandos, on a mission in a Central American jungle, find themselves hunted by an extra-terrestrial warrior.

10.  When a child is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two priests to save her daughter.

Other nominees respectfully include Jaws, Fatal Attraction, The Fly, and Se7en. Notice none of Stephen King’s movies made the list.

Most of these flicks will make the hair stand up on your arm and your skin crawl. Others will make you smile. All have left their marks on our psyche. Mwahahahahaha.

Okay, how well did you do? Here’s the answers:

1. Phantom of the Opera                                     6. The Birds
2. The Sixth Sense                                              7. Psycho
3. The Silence of the Lambs                                  8. Monster House
4. Ghostbusters                                                  9. Predator
5. The Mummy                                                    10. Exorcist

 

Posted on February 3, 2012 - by Dawn Ford

How Rude!

One of my biggest pet peeves is rude people. If I were to be honest I could write a book on those little things about others that drive me nuts that I think are so unconscionably rude.

For instance, what about those crazy drivers who tailgate you or cut you off? Or the person in line at the store who takes forever to check out? I know, the waitress who complains about her job and co-workers to you while you’re out on a special date? How about the loud person whose use of profanity and off-color comments dominate their conversation?

Yeah, those people. The really rude people. You know, the ones you’re nothing like. There ought to be a law.

At least that’s what I was telling God awhile back. I was having a bad day. One of those bad days. Everyone seemed to be in a bad mood (stay home!), they were all in my way (slow drivers!), and nothing went right (should’ve stayed in bed!). So I complained in prayer.

During the next week I about backed into someone by accident (that was close!), had it shown to me I had walked in front of several other people who were in a long line at the store (whoops!), and a friend mentioned to me how she hated when other people talk over her and it made her feel like what she had to say wasn’t important enough to listen to (Ouch!).

How rude I had been, and I hadn’t realized it before it got pointed out to me. Thank the Lord for gentle reminders.

Webster’s defines rude as “offensive in manner or action”. Some versions of the Bible use the phrase “behave unseemly”.

It’s easy to see the rude in someone else’s behavior because it offends us and our sensibilities. It’s not always so easy to stop and see the rude in ourselves.

We need to ask ourselves the questions: do we allow others to have their opinions without shutting them down and having to be right about our own positions? Do we give others the respect of gentleness that we would like afforded ourselves? Can we be tolerant of others no matter their disposition? Is what we say or do hurtful even if we are right?

Love is not rude. It seeks not to be offensive and works to be encouraging in all matters. I’ve quit complaining to God about others behaviors and focused more on my own. Because more than I dislike other people being rude, I really hate it when I’m rude.

What about you? Has anyone else had a rude epiphany?

 

Posted on January 20, 2012 - by Dawn Ford

Author Interview With Jill Williamson

It is my distinct honor to talk with one of my new favorite Christian Science Fiction writers, Jill Williamson and share her with my inksper friends.

Jill, tell me a little about yourself and how you came to be a writer.

I grew up in Alaska with no electricity. My biggest dream was to get to the lower 38 and experience “real life.” Thankfully I found God in college before I got into too much trouble. I was very talented at making my own clothes and my dream was to be a fashion designer, so I eventually went to New York City for a year to finish that degree. We moved to Los Angeles because my husband wanted to work in the movie industry. It didn’t take long for our hearts to change. Those industries just didn’t fit our personalities. Plus we wanted to start a family and both Hollywood and the fashion industry aren’t the most family-friendly industries.

So my husband went back to school to become a youth pastor. I stayed home with the kids. After reading some of the teen novels the girls in my youth group were reading, I decided to write a teen novel for Christian teens. I got hooked on writing my spy kids story. So hooked that I had to put the dreaded thing down and write something different. So I did. Then I wrote something else. Then something else.

 

In your Darkness Series you created a whole different reality.  Is it harder to create your own world or is it harder to have to keep within the confines of a reality where you could get the details wrong at some point in the story?

It depends on the genre. But usually for me, it’s much harder to write within the confines of reality because of all those necessary details. The science part, especially. If I’m writing science fiction, or dealing with an element of science in a contemporary fantasy story, it’s really hard for me to research all that. I’d much rather draw a map and create my own world and its own rules. *grin*

 

What inspired you for your current novel, “Replication: The Jason Experiment”, to write about clones?

I was riding in a car through upstate New York with my sister. We were going to pick apples. We passed endless amounts of ranches, orchards, and farms. It got me thinking. What if there was a farm where they grew people? Clones. It could be called Jason Farms. And that’s where the idea for the story came from. I wanted to explore how the world might treat cloned humans. Would they have the same rights as the rest of us? And what would their existence say about a creator God?

 

Did you consider cloning to be a hot-button topic and one that may not be accepted by your religious audience?

Not at all. I just thought it was a fun story idea. And many of my critique partners—and my husband too—said it was their favorite of the books I’d written to date. And it was the easiest sale I’d ever had. But as the book neared its release date, I heard from some of my Blood of Kings fans who were a bit worried about this cloning story. The phrases “creeps me out” and “I don’t think I’ll like a story about clones” were mentioned more than once. And then I got a couple almost-offended reviews from magazines, and it suddenly occurred to me that some people might see this as a political story, which I never intended it to be.

 

You write Christian Science Fiction. How do you set out to put a message in your story that touches readers but that doesn’t preach to them in a way to turn them off to the message?

I never set out to put any message in my books. I just write the stories as they come and try to be true to the characters’ journeys. In the Blood of Kings trilogy, Achan needed to have an encounter with the One God, so I showed that the best way I could. And in Replication, Abby was a strong Christian—the kind of kid who actually tries to live out what she believes. So, I felt that the faith issues that arose between Martyr and Abby were naturally the things that would have come up in real life, the way they might in youth group one Wednesday night.

I can understand why non-Christians don’t understand that and that some might think I put those scenes in on purpose to meet some secret agenda, but I didn’t. It’s always been one of my pet peeves when a character gets saved in a book one because it never seems very realistic to me. In my own life, I was around Christians for eight years before I made the decision to follow Christ. But Martyr was different. So, I guess the answer to this question is that I try to be true to who my characters are, the story they are living through, and where they story needs to go to reach an ending.

 

We writer’s seem to get inspired by the strangest details. What was one of the strangest things that you experienced which brought forth an idea for a novel?

I distinctly remember where I got the idea for every story I’ve written, and most of those ideas were inspired by pretty ordinary things. I suppose that seeing the partially burned tree when I was on a walk with my son was a pretty small detail that inspired an entire trilogy. Luke and I had stopped our walk to look at a house that had burned down. And there was a tree in the yard that was partially charred and mostly still alive and leafy green. I remember running home (pushing the stroller ahead of me) and Photoshopping that tree. Once I had the image of a half-dead/half-living tree, I started brainstorming a story to go with it, which became the Blood of Kings trilogy.

 

What do you have next on your drawing board that you can share with us today?

I’m very blessed to be working on a few things. Marcher Lord Press bought my teen spy kids series (the first book I wrote!). The Mission League is a series of four books that follow one young man’s experiences with a spy organization that fights evil. The first book, The New Recruit, is scheduled to release in the fall of 2012. I’m so excited!

And I am writing a new series for Zonderkidz that is scheduled to release in 2013 with the first book tentatively titled Captives. Here is the gist of that story: In a dystopian future, most the population is infected with a plague. The only exceptions are those who live outside the city walls. A mutation in the plague sends city enforcers looking for uninfected nationals in an effort to purge the disease from future generations. When enforcers raid Levi’s village, they take his fiancé into the city and hold her captive in the Highland Harem. Levi launches a one-man war against the city in an attempt to free his loved ones from his village before it’s too late.

 

How do you view the future of the Christian Speculative Genre?

I see a bright future for the genre. There are a lot of houses looking for Christian speculative fiction. So I think that there is a huge market out there and publishers are willing to give it a try. I also see many writers getting caught up in ebooks and self-publishing. And while I’m not opposed to self-publishing on a case-by-case basis, most writers are not born marketers or businessmen. Being a self-published author is really tough, and many who go this route may get discouraged.

And one other thing I’ve noticed: critics can be hard on Christian spec fiction. It’s not politically correct to write books with Christian themes, and some reviewers get downright angry when they encounter them. As a result, I’ve seen a few authors tempted to write their next spec fiction books with allegories that can cross over into the general market. It’s difficult to continually create books you know some people will despise. So in that regard, the Christian speculative fiction may continually be a challenge to the author’s heart. Christian authors need to arm themselves with a Galatians 1:10 mentality. “Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

Jill’s newest release, Replication, is an amazing speculative story about a secret cloning laboratory and the one clone, Martyr, who simply wants to see the sky before he fulfills his life’s purpose before he expires and the girl helps save him. Jill’s refreshing tale of an innocent mind opening up to the knowledge of God and what  real purpose and sacrifice looks like will touch your hearts. I highly recommend it for teens and adults alike.

Thank you, Jill for a wonderful interview and a great read!

Posted on January 6, 2012 - by Dawn Ford

Don’t Stop Believing

My first actual finished writing project was a women’s study I put together to help women begin to believe in themselves and live a fuller life. It goes step by step in the process of breaking bad habits while putting better ones in their place, learning to listen beyond the spoken word, and recognizing the labels we put on ourselves or others place on us does not make us who we are but that we can become that which we aspire to be.

What makes me such an expert? Who do I think I am that I can tell others how to live a better life, when clearly I have no degree, no pedigree for which to show? If others only knew the personal struggles I had, they would see me as the hypocrite that I am and never listen to a word I had to say.

These, among others, are the words that play through my head whenever I even think about the study I put together. I used it with a women’s group once, to some degree of success, and has since gathered dust in my basement. I’m just a bit insecure when it comes to this study. Why? Because I know how imperfect I am and how deep inside me I know I am not a completely shining example for others to go by.

But, I do believe completely in the words I put together for that study. I’ve watched people live in a cycle of misery desiring a way to move beyond that into a prosperous life. Often times it’s just that we don’t see the forest because of the trees. We can’t see beyond our day because we are living just to survive. It starts first with a change of mind and attitude and works its way into a changed life. You just have to believe you can do it.

What does this have to do with writing advice? Everything. When I first put words together it was a jumbled up mess. I had stories in my heart that wanted to work their way out, but I had a lifetime of trouble and sorrow that I had to work through to get to the good stuff. I’m still working my way through some of my past demons.

But I believe. Probably stronger about this than I have anything else I have done in my life, I believe. I believe in me.

To many of you this may seem like a given thing. But it’s not for me. You see it took several years to stop seeing myself as more than a victim of circumstance. Daughter of alcoholic parents-victim. Didn’t go to college-victim. Troubled marriage-victim. But I’ve always felt there was something bigger, something more I was destined to do.

That’s where the writing comes in. I believe I am meant to write and reach out to other women through the written word. It’s been one of the strongest feelings I have ever had and it comes from a place deeper than the heart. It comes from my soul.

So the best advice I ever got was from a Journey’s song. Don’t stop believing. I didn’t realize when I put together the study but the theme was the same thing. Don’t stop believing in yourself. Even if that’s all we have is the belief in ourselves and the God who put that belief there. We don’t stop believing. We know some day that belief will be realized.