"SHOULD I BE A CHAPLAIN FOR CHRISTIAN ROCK BANDS WHEN I RETIRE?" AND OTHER NON-ROCKING-CHAIR THOUGHTS.

Map hanging on our dining room wall, a gift from a missionary friend. The white circles (on North America and Russia) comprise of L X II, shorthand for Luke 10:2 - "The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore, pray the Lord of the Harvest to send laborers into His harvest."

A good friend of mine (who's a Pastor) tells people that if they're able to retire, then retire while they're able to enjoy it.

I may not look it, and I'm sure I don't act it, but I'm getting to that age. For me, there's an additional factor - I'm a few years younger than Becky, so I not only want to retire while I can enjoy my retirement, but so she  can enjoy my retirement.

So the next question is what should I do when I retire? There are better things to do than sit around and watch TV; in fact, no TV station I know of has earned my viewing. Or I can find some fellow retirees and sit at the coffee shop and solve the world's problems (sorry, but our Government doesn't seem up to the task). And as I'm typing this, I'm listening to an ad suggesting a new career - can you picture me as a truck driver? I can't.

So, leaving the Twilight Zone, there are a few other options. Becky and I have thought about doing a short-term mission trip (up to a couple of years). Or I can get involved with a refugee ministry, something I've had off and on interest since I was in college. Maybe I can get back to writing and see about getting some books published. Far less likely, I can get revive my dormant musical/lyrical talents and start a symphonic rock band or a Southern Gospel quartet. Far less likely, and besides, there are enough good musical groups out there.

Which leads me to something Becky mentioned a couple of times - a chaplain for musicians. After all, I've liked hanging around and encouraging musicians all my life, especially those who are using their skills for the Kingdom. Am I already practicing filling that role?

Currently, I am praying for a list of musicians at least once a week. Some are Southern Gospel vocalists. Some are rockers. Some are favorites for a decade or four. Some are young enough to be my kids. (Should I be their Godfather? I could make them a deal they can't refuse. And yes, I've heard of that movie but haven't watched it).

Of course, I should finish this blog and get to bed so I can be ready for an exciting day at work tomorrow - the number of years I'll continue working may be in the single digits, but it still is years in the plural.
 

 

BOOK REVIEW - WHEN GOD CALLS A WRITER: MOVING PAST INSECURITY TO WRITE WITH CONFIDENCE BY DEANNE WELSH

 Are you questioning whether God might be calling you to write? Are you needing some encouragement and guidance? If so, check out this book.

This is a nice short book. It is less than a hundred pages, consisting of four chapters divided into segments of 2-3 pages. If that's not enough, it's written where there's no first line indent, with a double space between paragraphs, and said paragraphs have the max of three sentences (often being one sentence and one line).

The above format makes the thoughts seem a little choppy, which is a good thing. The result is you have a short thought easy to focus on.

You'll want a pen - Welsh gives you questions. You might want to have a separate notebook to write those answers.

If you're a Christian considering writing (either fiction or non-fiction), you'll want this book.

Final comment - I've about given up on writing. After reading this, am I still there? Good question. I'm still trying to discern if writing is a good ministry keeping me from a better ministry or if I'm abandoning something I'm called to.

BOOK REVIEWING CLASS - AND I'M ONE OF THE STUDENTS!

 

 HELP!!!

Yes, I know. I've been writing book reviews for years. But am I doing a good job? Your feedback is desired and valued. I have some questions at the bottom.

Allow me to start with some rationale for my reviews, and permit me to start with fiction. I've noticed many reviewers give a brief synopsis that is about the size of a back cover blurb. It's rare for me to give any description of the plot, and if so, it's usually only 2-3 lines. Two reasons why:

1. The less I write, the less I spoil. I've read some novels that I don't see how I can describe the plot without spoiling a plot twist (which is a compliment to the story). On the other hand, I've read back cover descriptions that tell about items that don't happen till at least halfway through the novel. (One back cover revealed a plot twist that wasn't mentioned until the next to the last page of the book!) 
2. I also make the assumption that whoever reads my review is already interested in the book, and probably has already read the back cover. Thus, I don't want to repeat information that was already covered.

For every book, I consider my primary audience to be the prospective reader. Normally, I'm presupposing that I and my review reader share an interest in the book. Thus, if I'm disappointed, I usually mention what I thought might be done better so the reader knows what to expect.

However, I also realize that the author might be reading it, in spite of people warning them not to read their reviews lest they be puffed up by positive reviews or devastated by negative reviews. Some reviewers only write 5 star reviews to avoid the latter, because they don't want to discourage the writer. I won't guarantee a 5 star review - if they didn't do the best job they could, I'm not going to act like they did. That being said, with fiction my percentage of reviews being 5 star is between 95 and 99; they have to "earn" a poorer review. 

One item I bring up is Christian content. I've read many one or two star reviews for the reason that the author dared to have a strong faith message. To me, those reviewers have bigotry that needs to be called out. 

For me, the hardest reviews to write are music reviews, which is ironic for a songwriter. I find it awkward reviewing each track, and likewise I don't like giving a general review without giving enough details.

So if you want to make my day, could you answer the below questions in a comment to this blog? (I get so few comments, any comment makes my month.)

• Do you read any of my reviews on this blog or other platforms I write reviews on (Amazon, Goodreads, Indianapolis Public Library)? If so, have they ever either created or quenched interest in a product?
• What do you want to know when you read a fiction/movie review? Non-fiction? Music?
• If you're an author/musician, what do you find helpful in reviews of your books/music?
• Any suggestions that you have for me to improve my reviews?

INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR NANCY MEHL

 

JR: I've had the honor of interviewing you back in the day when I read my first Nancy Mehl novel in 2014 (Gathering Shadows, book one of the Finding Sanctuary series). I'm currently reading #16. (For the record, that ties you at second with Donna Fletcher Crow, and only seven behind Agatha Christie.) So if I asked you way back then how you got into writing, I had forgotten. So would you refresh my failing memory?

NM: It was a combination of two different things. First of all, I used to love “Murder, She Wrote.” One day I said to myself, “I know what I want to be. I want to be Jessica Fletcher!” Up until then, I’d tried all kinds of things, but nothing was the perfect fit. Then I heard someone teach that if you wanted to know what you were called to do, sometimes you could go back to your childhood and look at what you did naturally. Well, I was a voracious reader. I loved books! And I wrote “things.” First of all, I wrote a small book (pieces of paper stapled together) titled “Danny Goes to the Circus.” (Danny was my younger brother.) Then I wrote poetry in high school. I also recalled an assignment by my high school English teacher to write three poems. She would then read them to the class. She read mine and accused me of plagiarism in front of everyone. I never challenged her. (I wish I had.) But it got me to thinking. Had she believed I’d stolen those poems because they were good? Was it possible I was a writer? Maybe I really could be Jessica Fletcher Junior! So I decided to give it a try. After a very clear confirmation from God, I started writing and never looked back.

JR: My short term memory tells me that you have won a Carol award this year. My long term memory is saying it may not be your first award. Could you tell us about your award winning books? Did winning the awards in any way feel different from each other?

NM: The first award I won was in 2009. It was called the ACFW Book of the Year Award for mystery/suspense. The book was For Whom the Wedding Bell Tolls. It was a cozy mystery which was part of my Ivy Towers series. That same award became the Carol Award shortly after that. Last year I won the Daphne Du Maurier Award for Excellence in Inspirational Mystery and Suspense for my book, Dead End, book three in my Kailey Quinn Profiler series. This series was about a behavioral analyst for the FBI. The same book won the Carol Award as well. I’ve been nominated for the Carol Award two other times. I was also nominated for the Reviewers Choice Award twice from RT Book Reviews. And I was thrilled to be nominated for the prestigious Christy Award for my book, Mind Games, book one in the Kailey Quinn series. I would love to win this award at least once during my career.

I don’t think the awards felt any different from each other, although winning the Daphne Du Maurier Award was neat because the contest was actually sponsored by a secular organization.

JR: Kaley Quinn is one of my favorite fictional characters, and I was happy to see her in the novel I'm currently reading. Would you like to tell us about Dead Fall and the Quantico Files series?

NM: The Quantico Files series tells the story of Alex Donovan and Logan Hart, both behavioral analysts for the FBI’s prestigious Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) for the FBI.

Here’s the synopsis for Dead Fall:

He has a deadly endgame in mind--and he's already chosen each victim . . . including her.

After putting to rest the most personal case of her career, Alex Donovan is ready to move on and focus on her future at the FBI's elite Behavioral Analysis Unit. When the BAU cofounder is discovered dead in his hotel room, the FBI is called in to work on the strangest case they've ever faced. How do you find a killer who murders his victims from a distance?

When it becomes clear that the killer is targeting agents in Alex's unit, they are ordered into lockdown, sheltered in the dorms at Quantico. Alex bunks with controversial agent Kaely Quinn, and as they work together, Alex discovers in Kaely the role model she's never had--despite being warned away.

As Alex questions the type of agent she wants to become, things get personal when the brilliant killer strikes close to home. Now Alex will do anything to find the killer--even at the risk of her own life.

JR: Another of my favorite characters is Hilde Higgins from your Curl Up & Dye trilogy. I'm sure Hilde and Kaley regularly meet for coffee a fiction world diner, since they have so much in common. Or let me put it a different way - what is it like writing different genres such as the cozy mysteries of Curl Up & Dye, romantic suspense like Finding Sanctuary, and thrillers like Kaley Quinn profiler and the Quantico Files?

NM: The genre I’m writing now is what I’ve always wanted to write. (Although I would love to tackle a few novels that look more deeply into the spirit realm – kind of like what Frank Peretti writes.) I started off writing cozy mystery because that’s the door that opened. I actually love cozy mystery so I truly enjoyed that opportunity. Then I was asked to write Mennonite-themed suspense. That changed to romantic suspense. Then my books became more suspense (less romance). Now my books are suspense/thriller, although I believe every book I write has a mystery flavor since mystery is probably the genre of my heart.

JR: I've mentioned that I'm working toward reading my sixteenth Mehl novel, and yet I haven't hit the halfway point yet. Besides the different genres, what changes have you made in your writing? What advice would you give a young writer? Are there people you still consider mentors, and do your characters sometime help mentor you?

NM: Wow. Lots of questions there. I think the changes in my writing have to do with doing more research into law enforcement. I love law enforcement and it means a lot to me to be able to represent these brave men and women in my writing.

To newbie writers I would advise three things. First of all, study the craft of writing. If you don’t, you’ll pay the price for it. Don’t send out proposals to agents or publishers before you know what you’re doing. They’re looking for writers who understand how to write a book. If you don’t, you’ll be rejected. Just remember that you wouldn’t want a surgeon to work on you who hadn’t gone to medical school. Same thing with writing. Go to school. I always advise Christian writers to join American Christian Fiction Writers. There is so much information there as well as great connections.

My second piece of advice is to read books released by the publisher you’re targeting. Find out what they like and write that.

Number three, find a good agent. Not one that asks you for money. Legitimate agents don’t do that. When querying, send them exactly what they ask for. Read their requirements. If you don’t, your query will be rejected.

Not sure if I have a mentor. I’ve certainly had God put people in my life that have helped me. Susan Downs is one of them and Raela Schoenherr with Bethany House is another. I love these women and will always appreciate them.

JR: Thank you for your time. I'm sure that Dead Fall isn't the end of the Quantico Files; what else are you working on? How's your family (both the two and four legged members)? How can we keep up with the latest?

NM: The last book in the Quantico Files is “Free Fall.” It will be out in June. I’m working on a new series now that features two retired behavioral analysts that have started a detective agency.

My family is fine…now. Norman and I were both hit with COVID around Christmas. He recovered after a couple of weeks. Mine took longer. I had what is called “long term COVID.” It was rough. I’m just now starting to feel like myself again.

Our dog Watson is doing fine. Still thinks our bed actually belongs to him. Since we moved he is determined to protect us from the evil deer that come into our yard. Sigh.

I’m on Facebook. I have a regular page and a fanpage. I’m also on Twitter. My website is: nancymehl.com.

Thanks for the interview, Jeffrey. 

THANKS TO MY BETA READERS, AND WHAT'S NEXT WITH MY WRITING?

 

I'd like to start today's blog by thanking my Beta Readers: Mary Allen, Kacy Barnett-Gramckow, Heidi Glick, Twyla Jackson, and Joanne Sher. They have read my novel that I've been working on since '07, and provided excellent feedback.

Did I mention that I started writing "An Apologetic For Murder" since 2007? It has been an adventure. 

It started no later than 1995, actually, when I had a concept of a group of six friends working together to solve a murder. I called them the Menagerie: each one had an animal nickname. 

In 2007, I was wanting to write a book promoting apologetics. Of course, as a lay-person with no name recognition, would anybody consider reading a book by little old me? And then, I remembered some friends who were in apologetics/anti-cult ministry mention that they got death threats. 

So the Menagerie found a home - they attended an apologetics conference to find out who was trying to kill an apologist. I also thought of having an innocent bystander - if a hit-man could be called an innocent bystander - intercept a bullet meant for one of the apologists. 

Immediately, there were a lot of characters to develop. There was the six in the Menagerie. Then, there were the apologists, of which there were five (patterned after the book Five Views On Apologetics? Not intentionally but it did have an influence). Add to that seven suspects. Which one did it?

No, I'm not answering the above question, though my Beta Readers know. However, I was half way through writing the novel until it hit me who hired the hit-man and whose bullet said hit-man intervened. 

The novel was finished in 2008. The next year, after looking into some venues for publishing, a self-publishing company agreed to publish it. The following year, that company went belly-up in a way that it ended up on the front page of the local paper and was covered by all the local newsstations on TV. 

Around that time, I read The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Christian Fiction by Ron Benrey.  I had previously read other literature on writing, includint two books on writing Christian fiction. Benrey was the first one to advise getting an agent, and also encouraged going to writing conferences and joining the ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers).

So I took his advice and joined, became part of a couple critique groups, and started on my first re-write of the novel. Originally, it had six "main characters." In writing the novel, though, those six characters fell into roles. Two got a lot of "screen time", two were important more for their roles (e.g. the policeman of the group), and two (who happened to be the married couple of the group) were basically supporting characters. So I set to work focusing on the two main characters.

Shortly after, I did a third rewrite, more major than the second. I figured out who the actual sleuth of the group was. So I did something I never thought I'd do, and rewrote the story as a first person narrative. 

Around 2014, the fire faded. During that time I made some half hearted starts, and in 2019 I got serious to rework the novel and seek publication. That's also when I lined up the beta readers.

I did have two concerns with my novel, both of which affected marketability and both were confirmed by the comments of the beta readers. The first was if there were too many characters. The consensus was that the story called for a lot of characters, but yes, I did have a lot of them. The second was if it was too deep theologically for the average fiction reader (and relatedly, not enough action to maintain interest). This concern was legitimate.

Soooo... where do I go from here?  Basically I have two options.

One is to give up on this story. I have two other story ideas (different genres from each other and from my above novel). I also have other talents that are laying dormant such as songwriting, ceramics, and drawing. Add to that an interest in refugee ministry.

The other is to do a third rewrite, and this one will be more major than the other two. The previous ones maintained the same characters, the same plot, the same victim, the same killer. If I rewrite, I will be trimming the characters which will then alter the plot. After all, the seven suspects had motives to kill one of the five apologists, but they weren't after the same apologist. I might get rid of an apologist while wanting to keep the person who wanted to kill him.

If I do start from scratch as I'm proposing, or if I decide to write a new novel, I'll be working with a couple of books. The first is The Chunky Method by Allie Pleiter, to help me in following the two rules of writing illustrated above. The second is Soul Types, which looks at the impact of the Myers-Briggs Types on spirituality.

Should you feel led to pray as I think this over, it would be appreciated.

DR. EEYORE AND MR. TIGGER? OR IS IT THE OTHER WAY AROUND?

 

"You are Winnie the Pooh, and you've won free professional counseling. Since you are well adjusted, you don't need them for yourself. So do you give them to gloomy Eeyore or to bouncy Tigger?"

This was a Table Topics question presented at a Toastmasters meeting I attended fifteen years ago. (Table Topics is a portion where one Toastmaster asks questions to other members and with no prep time they give a one to two minute answer.)

No, I wasn't the one who received this question. But I did come up with an answer: Neither. I would rather get Eeyore and Tigger to work together so they would help balance each other out, and give the counseling sessions to grouchy Rabbit.

But would my idea (the one of pairing Eeyore and Tigger, not the one of sending Rabbit to the shrink) actually work? Or would they irritate each other so much that it would make both worse? 

While you're trying to pin that tail on the donkey, one possible title for my autobiography would be "Dr. Eeyore and Mr. Tigger", with apologies to Jekyll and Hyde. Of course, that would assume that in reality I'm an Eeyore, who changes into a Tigger alter ego. Is that correct? Or is it vice versa, with Tigger being the real me, convinced that I'm really Eeyore instead?

Whichever is the case, this year has brought out my inner Eeyore, with Tigger quarantined - all the social distancing and stay at home orders took the bounce out of him. COVID-19 and the elections are factors, but they aren't alone - this has been a year of change in many ways. 

I don't want to go into all that's going on, but I want to deal with the artist part of me. I finally dusted off my novel, re-worked it, and submitted it to some potential publishers and agents. And I'm still with it published. I would have loved for my Dad to have been able to read the published book, but he passed away last year. I'm wondering if it's that I just haven't reached the goal line, or is it that I'm either not a publishable author or that my WIP (Work In Progress) for the past fourteen years won't have enough of an audience to get the support of a publisher or agent?

Add to this that I'm a former songwriter, visual artist, and ceramist. I've done some drawings off and on (including my favorite characters, posted about a month ago), but I've been too busy with my novel and other activities over the last few decades to write songs, and I haven't touched clay since taking a college level ceramics class in Spring of '78 (unless you count getting to play with Play-Dough once in '86). 

To be honest, this blog hasn't been the most encouraging either. Part of it is time. My goal is to have four blogs a week, and I'm doing well when I get one up. Another part is that I'm still not having a regular readership, with many blogs in the low single digits of being viewed, and even fewer comments. 

May I ask you to help in one of the following ways? 

• First and foremost, please pray for me, that the Lord directs me. 
• If anybody wants to read a few chapters of my novel, and let me know if they want to read more, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!! And should you want to read the rest of it, I'd be glad to let you.
• Please pray for this blog. Should I keep on, or give it up? And if you want to read regularly and leave comments at times, it would be appreciated.

Thank you very much for reading this blog.

The Issue Of Sovereignty In Novel Writing.

I remember when I was doing critiques as an ACFW member. I was reading one novel where the male lead was knocked out and put in a death trap inside a house. He made it out unharmed but still bound. 

Then, he heard footsteps. Was it the bad guys to make sure there job was finished? No! God was good: it was his buddy who came to see if he was okay.

The author then submitted their synopsis of the story for feedback. When it got to the scene I mentioned, the author again mentioned God is good in allowing the hero's friend to come instead of his foes.

Is God good? Absolutely. And in the novel itself, the hero was definitely saying God is good. However, the fact that good guy showed up instead of the bad guy had nothing to do with the goodness of the Lord, but the goodness of the author. (Unless you are such a strong Calvinist that you believe every word a novelist writes has been predestined.)

In a sense, could a novelist/screenwriter be viewed as a small 'g' god? They have the ability to create a world with people in it. The places may resemble real life places (e.g. my novel takes place in Indianapolis.) Or the places are fictitious but still operate in our reality (such as my favorite coffee shop which closed half a dozen years ago in real life but still is open for business in my novel.) Or the writer is a sci-fi or fantasy writer where you have your complete world with creatures that you don't have here.

The first two books I read on Christian writing were How To Write (And Sell) A Christian Novel by Gilbert Morris and Writing For The Soul by Jerry Jenkins. Morris made it clear from the start that we shouldn't just start writing but in advance divide the book into parts and chapters. Likewise, he has a detailed list on what each character looks like as well as other info. 

Jenkins has a completely different philosophy. You may or may not know that when he and LaHaye started writing Left Behind it was supposed to be a novel, not a series. It didn't turn out that way. He also likes getting interesting characters in a room together and see what happens. Jenkins tells readers that he didn't kill off a character - he found them dead. Likewise, he keeps the descriptions to a minimum, allowing the reader the honor of deciding what a character looks like.

Now, there are times descriptions help. Remember the story I mentioned at the top of this blog? The hero's friend was named Billy Bob.  How many of you have a picture of a white guy? I did. The author was creative in having an African American with that moniker. 

However, the story I was critiquing was a sequel to a published novel. She mentioned Billy Bob's ethinicity in the first book; she forgot to mention that in book two. So I had an incorrect picture of the character as I was reviewing the second story, before I had a chance to read the first one.

Another writing book I read was Writing Killer Fiction: The Fun House of Mystery And The Roller Coaster Of Suspense by Carolyn Wheat. She mentioned that most mystery writers plot it out like Gilbert Morris, while suspense authors are more apt to just write without planning ahead.

So let me close this with two questions. The first is how you'd write. (And if I'm blessed to have any authors as regular blog readers, please tell me about your writing). The second is from those who know me which one you think I would lean towards. I'll answer the second question next week.