Progress! Slow, but steady...

Last week I wrote "The End" on Love Believes All Things!

But if you look at my progress meter, I'm not quite to the end of the book, am I?

Okay, okay, you caught me. I wrote "the end" on the first draft. I took my characters from the beginning to the end of the book - no, I'm not going to tell you what happens yet - but I still have a lot of filling in to do to round out Ruthy and Levi's story.



I need to develop the secondary characters...

My heroine needs a mentor. She really does. Someone who can point out just how hard her poor broken heart has become.

And if her heart can't soften - if she can't forgive the ones who have treated her so badly - how can she open it up to love our hero?

Another secondary character I need is a friend for my hero. He's such a nice guy, but almost too nice. He needs someone who will challenge him to act when he needs to act.

So now that I'm working on all this stuff, the word count will be increasing more slowly...but it will increase.

Stay tuned!

Speedbo 2012 is up and running!

Have you heard about Speedbo yet? No?

If you have ever thought maybe, just maybe, you'd like to get that story out of your head and onto paper (or into the computer) someday, here's your chance.

Speedbo (aka "Speed Book") participants set a goal and write.

All through March we're writing.

Your goal might be 50 words a day or 1000 words a day. Maybe your life is frantically busy and you only have one day a week - that's fine.

Set a goal. Plan to meet your goal.

Make your goal...

Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Realistic
Time-bound

And then head over to Seekerville.net to join in the fun. Sign up and you'll be eligible for prize drawings, and hang around all month for the great tips and encouragement from the Seekerville community.

What have you got to lose? You have ZERO words now, right? Any progress from here on is a start on your story!

* * * * * * *

Of course, now you want to hear about my own Speedbo goals and progress, right?

My word count goal for the month was 55,000 words.

Gulp.

I wanted to push myself, stretch myself...and finish my WIP.

And I made this goal before we planned an out-of-state trip during the last week of March.

So how am I doing?

Well, since March 1st I've added 14,254 words to my WIP, so I have just over 40,000 words to go!

I need to be SMART though, right?

I write 5 days a week, and on that schedule I only have 10 more days to write before we leave town.

I normally write 2500 words a day. 

Do the math. 

I can either push myself to write the 2500 words a day while we're traveling, or I can change my goal, or I can try to increase my daily word count.

Or I can do all three.

I'll keep you posted!

Meanwhile, you can watch the progress of "Love Believes All Things" on the nifty word counter on your right (I started the month with 30,000 words already written).

And no, I don't really look like a prune. Or a grape. Or a California Raisin.

(Now that song is stuck in your head, isn't it?)
(And if it isn't, then enjoy your youth!)

Book Review: Along Wooded Paths by Tricia Goyer

Along Wooded Paths continues the story of Marianna Sommer and her family after their relocation to the Amish community near Kalispell, Montana.

Marianna has delayed her return to Indiana, reluctant to leave her family, the Montana community and the closer relationship with God she has found there. Another factor is her friendship with the Englishcher, Ben. She knows her friendship with him is endangering her heart, but how can she turn her back on such a good friend who introduced her to God?

Meanwhile, Aaron Zook has tired of waiting for Marianna to return to Indiana and become his wife. The cabin he has built for the two of them is completed and waiting for her and he wonders why she has delayed returning home, but he only knows that she has decided to stay in Montana longer. He makes the trip to visit her, and after being injured in an accident on the trip, stays with the Sommer family during his recovery.

We see Marianna’s attraction to Ben, which blossomed and grew during the first book in this series, reach a turning point as Marianna considers the changes loving an Englischman would make in her life. At the same time, Aaron’s constant, familiar presence reminds her of the dreams she had before she met Ben. Which direction will her heart lead her?

This is the second book in Tricia Goyer’s “Big Sky Novels”.  I’ve enjoyed both books offered so far, and am waiting anxiously for the third book, Beyond Hope’s Valley, coming out in April 2012.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher for my review.

What are you - plotter or pantster?

There’s always a lot of talk between pantsters (seat of the pants writers) and plotters (those who LOVE outlines) about which is better.

Some writers are more creative when they have a plan laid out of where they’re going. The scenes are lined up, the chapters headed, and all they need to do is add description and dialogue. The goal looms ahead, they're on the right track, no deviations, just the story they planned to write.

Other writers do better if they let their characters take the reins and write the story themselves. Who knows where they'll end up, and who cares! The discovery is in the journey!

The more I write, the more I find I’m somewhere in between.

I can’t start a story unless I have a road map...but at the same time, once they’re on the road, my characters will surprise me with their own twists.

In the middle of a scene one of my characters will do something and I’ll say

Where did that come from? I didn’t know she was thinking that!

And

       * poof  *

there’s a sub-plot...

                  ...or twist...

                            ...or even a new secondary character writing itself for me.

Usually, I can head back to the road...

...but not until after an exciting shortcut to mushrooms.

So tell us, are you a pantster, plotter, or somewhere in between?

Book Review AND Author Interview! The Merchant's Daughter by Melanie Dickerson

In this hauntingly beautiful retelling of the classic fairy tale, Beauty and the Beast, Melanie Dickerson takes the reader to 14^th century England where we meet Annabel Chapman. At seventeen years old, Annabel is of the age to marry, but her one desire – to read the Bible – can only be fulfilled by entering a convent. However, her father’s death and the family’s bankruptcy three years earlier have made that dream impossible. 

To save her family from losing their home, Annabel becomes a servant of the new Lord, Ranulf le Wyse, a man whose scars and missing eye make him fertile ground for rumors and speculation. While in this potentially dangerous situation, Annabel learns that underneath Lord le Wyse’s gruff exterior lies a desperately wounded man. When Lord le Wyse asks her to read his Bible aloud to him in the evenings, they find common ground. 

One of the most intriguing parts of this story is the appearance of more than one “beast” and more than one “beauty”. Annabel’s depth of beauty is more than skin deep, and she is contrasted with another girl who appears beautiful on the surface. Lord le Wyse’s beastliness is legendary, but again, the author holds other beastly men up for the reader to compare with him. These contrasting characters give this story many complex layers to explore.

This is Melanie Dickerson’s second book, matching her first, “The Healer’s Apprentice”, in historical detail and appealing romance. Even though both stories are retellings of classic tales, they read more as richly detailed historical fiction than fairy tales. 

With her complex characters, detailed historical settings and compelling stories, Melanie Dickerson writes the kind of fiction I wish more Young Adult readers had access to.

And now you can meet the author!  

   

Hi Melanie, and welcome to my blog!

Thank you, Jan, for inviting me! I’m thrilled to be here!

First of all, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I’m a wife and stay-at-home mom of two daughters and I live near Huntsville, Alabama. I’ve always been fascinated with the middle ages, and I love writing in that time period. I also love to cook, but I hate to clean up. It’s a classic internal conflict, but now my daughters are getting old enough to help out with the dishes, so … classic happy ending! (Just don’t tell my daughters I said that.) And we have a crazy dog, a Great Pyrenees mix who loves to escape our fenced in back yard and run wild all over our neighborhood. And that’s my life in a nutshell. Pretty boring, really.

Both of your published books are retellings of classic fairy tales – The Merchant’s Daughter is a retelling of “Beauty and the Beast”, and your first book, The Healer’s Apprentice, is a retelling of “Sleeping Beauty”. What made you choose these stories?

When I started getting the idea for The Healer’s Apprentice, I didn’t even know there was such a thing as fairy tale retellings. I was watching Disney’s Sleeping Beauty movie with my daughters and it occurred to me that it would be fun to flesh out the basic story and make it more realistic. And since publishers at the time all wanted series, I thought it would be fun to do a series of books based on fairy tales. And since Beauty and the Beast was my favorite fairy tale, it was the natural choice for my second novel.

Even though your books are enjoyed by readers of all ages, they are in the “Young Adult” age group. What is your vision for writing for this audience?

I love feeling that I am writing something that shines light in the darkness. So many YA books these days seem so very dark. I have nothing against showing good versus evil, but I dislike the idea of my daughter, and other teen girls, reading books that blur the lines between what is good and what is evil. Today’s “heroes” are often anything but heroic. And I fear that many of the novels teach kids that it’s okay to do evil if one can justify it somehow. It’s okay to kill innocent people if you’re forced to do it, or vampires can be good if they don’t kill people. That bothers me, frankly. And I love it when I get emails from girls all over the world (thanks to e-books!) who say that they appreciate the Christian aspect, or the spiritual aspect, or the moral aspect of my books. The teen years are so crucial! If I can positively affect a life in that pivotal time, then I am happy and blessed.

Even though this is just your second book, you’re already developing a loyal readership. Can you tell us about your next project?

Well, it’s top secret of course, Jan (wink) but I just finished the first draft of a Snow White story involving Rose and Wilhelm’s (from The Healer’s Apprentice) second son, Gabe. He learns that his older brother’s betrothed is actually still alive and being persecuted by her evil stepmother. Since his older brother has a broken leg and can’t go rescue her, Gabe goes himself. He and Sophie escape from the duchess, but they have to battle her hired henchman, wild animals, and their own attraction for each other as they ride toward the Cottage of the Seven, the mysterious house where they’ve been told they will find safety. I’m hoping this one will be published late next year.

Thanks for stopping by, Melanie! We'll be looking forward to your next book!

I received a free galley copy of this book from the publisher. I was not required to write a favorable review nor did I receive any incentive to do so.

Book Review: Forsaking All Others by Allison Pittman

 From the back cover:

“Camilla Fox is alive, having been rescued from a near-fatal snowstorm after leaving her home to escape the Mormon faith she no longer calls her own. Now, as she regains her strength under the personal care of United States Army Colonel Charles Brandon, thought of the two children she left behind flood her mind, threatening to break her heart.

Camilla is desperate to reunite with her daughters and does not want them to grow up under Mormon teachings, but she cannot provide a home for them on her own, and she will not share her husband with a sister wife. As Spring arrives, Camilla returns to Salt Lake City ready to fight…and she won’t back down until she’s brought her children safely to the other side.”

This book is the second in the Sister Wife Series by Allison Pittman. I hadn’t read the first one, For Time and Eternity, before I received this book for review, but it’s on my “to be read” pile now!

Allison Pittman reveals the inner workings of the early days of the Mormon Church under the leadership of Brigham Young with a sympathetic eye that shows the reader the difficulties followers of a false prophet encounter. Her heroine, Camilla, is torn between two worlds – the world of the Latter-Day Saints where her husband and children reside, and the irresistible pull of the God of the Bible. Even though Camilla made a heartbreaking choice when she fled her home, leaving her children behind, we continue to cheer her on as she fights to regain her children.

This seemingly straightforward story is interwoven with complex and sometimes conflicting emotions as Camilla struggles to find her way. Mrs. Pittman navigates this complexity with an ease that brings the reader along effortlessly. Her descriptions are part of what helps us navigate – her details in a variety of settings in this historical novel provide a solid background that places the reader in the middle of the action.

For the reader’s greater enjoyment, pick up the first novel in the series before reading this one – but be sure to come back!

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher for my impartial review.