SJ Terra

Tag: writing

  • Can a book really change the world?

    Only if you can find it…

    Simple answer, no. A book doesn’t change the world, the people who read it change the world. Kind of like that gun reference. In the same way though, the availability of the book is a big factor in who is holding that book. Gutenberg proved that a very long time ago with a book that still helps a lot of people change the world. My book is less important but I hope it helps someone.

    So when I was publishing my book there were so many questions that I needed to think about in terms of getting it into people’s hands. Does that specific book catch the eye when it is on the shelf? Is it easy enough to read? Does it hold your attention, keep your interest, challenge you? Do you want to read more? And even more basic-is the book in your local library, neighbourhood store or on the platform you normally use? Can you get the book you want read?

    In order to help my book be available I have put in an application to the Winnipeg Public Library, a school library as well as Hull’s bookstore. They are currently reviewing it and will let me know. The best way to get a book into either a library or a bookstore is to get lots of people to request it. So if you know someone who might like to read my book or anything else specific that isn’t listed than please request it, fill out the little form and ask. Encourage your friends to as well. So now I wait. Maybe I should read someone else’s books for a bit.

    At the beginning of summer I was looking to boost my summer reading pile. Looking forward to lazy afternoons and early unrushed mornings. I ordered six books off of Thriftbooks.com. I had a specific list of authors and books I wanted so I started looking locally. I looked on the Winnipeg Public Library and couldn’t find these specific books, there were others in the series or by the same authors but not the first book in six series. I looked online at local stores websites but only found one or two. Again more from those authors and even more in those series. Big named e-books didn’t have all of them either. So I ordered all of the books I wanted from one place -Thriftbooks.com and paid almost the same amount in shipping as I did for the books. They arrived in only a couple weeks.

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    1. Piers Anthony – On a Pale Horse

    This one because a few months ago my husband tried to find every book in the series Incantations of Morality. All the rest were found at used book stores around Winnipeg except this one. I read this book when I was in high school but I might still give it another read. I haven’t decided yet.

    2. Cornelia Funk – InkHeart

    I need my daughter to read this one. She has her own writings and drawings and I think she would love this concept. It really intrigued me when I read it shortly after it first came out. Unfortunately/fortunately when I started talking it up and showed her the book she said, “Yeah I have that one on my shelf, I just haven’t got to it yet.” So I got an extra copy now. Books seldom go to waste, they make very good birthday gifts too.

    3. Mary Doria Russell – The Sparrow

    This was a completely blind purchase. When I put several hashtags in for my book including Christian and science fiction, this was one of the books that came up as comparable (or Comp Title). This was a strange and difficult journey. Worth it in so many ways and yet I was disappointed by the ending. It went in a way that I couldn’t follow. I wrote more about this book in a previous newsletter (Be careful little Eyes).

    4. Ted Dekker – Black

    Again a blind purchase because it was also in the Comp Title list but I do not feel like this is what I am writing at all. I was curious about what other Christian Science fiction writers had done and this is certainly that and I am looking forward to reading the rest of the Circle series in the future (they are available locally). It taught me what my book is not.

    5. Mercedes Lackey – Arrows of the Queen

    I had heard the name in mid-grade fantasy listings and found a audiobook preview. I listened while crocheting and very much wanted to finish the story. I found the writing style to be a similar story telling style to my own. I should not have been surprised that the story was not finished at the end of the first book as it is the first in a very long series spanning several decades of writing. Way to reel me in.

    6. Martha Wells – The Cloud Roads – Volume 1 of the Books of the Raksura

    Her name came up in every search I did for comp titles, and was that search engine correct! I found a sample, the first couple chapters and began reading. I devoured it, read 69 pages with only getting up to pee and grab sustenance once that whole time. When the actual book arrived it was the first I continued to read. I read all through the night and finished it in a couple of days. The characters, the world, even the style of writing – all comparable to Rocky Rulers. Then a few weeks later one of my adult kids decided to stock up on their own reading list – The MurderBot Diaries. She bought the series having no idea that I had already read a book by the same author so she is now intrigued to try something new.

    And isn’t that the entire point of comparable titles. Its not to find an exact copy in another format of the story you just read. It is to make the next book approachable, relatable and just different enough to make you reach and challenge you in a new direction. Reading one more book gives you one more perspective and all of this leads to you, the reader, making little changes to your thoughts, actions, words and therefore, changing the world. For you and hopefully others but only if you can find the book you are going to read.

    So submit a request to your local library to see mine or other books. Send me book suggestions for what to read this fall and if you see my book somewhere, send me a picture. One of my main goals was to see my book in libraries, even if its your own personal library. Or show me what books have helped you change the world.

  • Coincidences that Aren’t

    Coincidences that Aren’t

    And other truths I chose to ignore

    I have been struggling with my stories lately, most of the last month or maybe longer. I wasn’t really worrying about it because well, the first book was written over two years and then edited over another. Why should the TWO books I have been working on suddenly appear in the last eight months?

    a cube with a hole in it
    Photo by Eran Menashri on Unsplash

    I don’t push myself to write everyday. I am fully aware that that is the number one things writers are told is to make time to write everyday. For me though, there are some days when I can’t look at a screen without feeling a headache and some days when typing actually hurts so I write when I can. I am blessed that I don’t rely on my writing income to buy groceries or pay the mortgage, I have a hard working husband for that. Thank you Theo. So writing and the stories that come out of it are on my time, when I feel well, and can focus and actually have something to say.

    The problem is that I have had time and good days and the writing that happens is what my grandmothers might have called pap, a flavourless slurry of water and grain that always reminded me of papermache, not the nutritious baby food that it was intended to be. So how had I lost the flavour and texture and nutrition from my writing? My characters had goals, the endings were already written, but I couldn’t seem to move forward.

    Actually, that’s exactly where I was stuck with the stories. The characters were traveling in both stories. Traveling, talking, moving from one place to another and never arriving, anywhere. Yes they needed to change locations but I couldn’t seem to write what would happen next. They were stuck in this endless loop of movement without growth.

    Sometimes I feel like I am in that same loop. Marking time, we called it in the military. Its the action of marching in spot while waiting for the next command. I get up everyday, do stuff that is necessary and then go to bed at night without anything meaningful being said or done. There is no growth, no change, no climax in my story and therefore no glorious ending.

    I was up a little early today, but not moving well at first. This means I sit on the couch until medication kicks in and I read if I can. I reread one of my stories, another big no-no in the writing community. As I read I realized exactly what had gone wrong. It was so simple and obvious that I know that I missed it in the other story as well AND it was also true in my life too.

    I don’t write Christian books that preach salvation. That is not my gift. I do write stories that encourage discussion about beliefs and activities like going to church and celebrating religious holidays and praying. The stories don’t make a big deal about it, it is just apart of people’s lives and for some people it isn’t, but it might be.

    I have a religious curious character who is kind of out there on his own without a family or home, though he has good friends they aren’t always nearby or available. He has asked for help in the dark when he is scared and help has been there for him. He keeps meeting more and more people who also know a God or at least know about a God. They sometimes have different names like Creator or Lord and usually interact in different ways with their beliefs but he is beginning to think that maybe they are all the same God.

    Churchoftherock.ca

    Before I had a chance to do any repairing of my stories it was time to go to church. Not the church I grew up with, not the church that I raised my children in or got married in. Its just a church. They preach the bible and the love of God and a mighty group of believers sing God’s praises, or in this morning’s service they sang ‘What a beautiful name it is, the name of Jesus’. The sermon was about the presence of the Holy Spirit. Accepting the invitation, being involved in the interaction and the experiencing the amazing impact of the Holy Spirit.

    The pastor there uses the phrase regularly that every time you pray-something happens. Sometimes your prayer is answered, sometimes it changes the situation, and sometimes it changes you. I had forgot to pray. I forgot to accept the invitation. My God is always holding out His hands waiting for me to accept the help He is offering, I don’t have to ask for Him to come, He’s already here, just waiting on me. So I prayed. I reached for His hand and grew and moved forward again.

    The characters in my stories had set out on their journeys, the lead up to a climax and the awaited endings. But they forgot to pray. Or really I had forgot to write that they prayed or talked or begged the Creator to make things happen. They wanted to end this situation and have it work out better than when they started. Just like I did but neither of us could move forward and grow and change without God. I went back and wrote in the prayers and discussions for my characters and now the journey is almost over. The end is in sight.

    So pray and see what happens.

    (I know I talk about my characters as if they are doing things I don’t have control over, but it is true. I put my fingers to the keyboard and some very surprising things happen that I have to write my way out of. Just trust me. This is what the creative process looks like for me. I am not actually crazy. Ask any writer.)

    purchased at Dollartree on Pembina

    Challenge this week is to keep track of your prayers, exactly what did you ask for. Then keep track of what happens. Are they answered, changed or are you changed to suit God’s purpose? Note that this may take longer than a week. As that old Sunday school song goes, “Sometimes God answers wait when I pray”. But pray anyway, and grow a little more while you wait.