Connie Almony: Controlling One's Story, A Different Perspective

Everyone's Story welcomes back with much affection the lovely Connie Almony. Since the first time Connie has appeared on Everyone's Story she has gone on to publish her first novella in Christian fiction. Congratulations, Connie! Whether expressing her musings on her personal blog or the group blog she participates on, or in her moving fiction (her novella is a must read for the inspiring combo of the power of faith and love), Connie zings her message through to the heart. Please check out Connie's Giveaway and her special message below. We're both looking forward to hearing from you.

Giveaway:
Connie is offering one $5 Amazon Gift Card, which is perfect for either purchasing her novella AT THE EDGE OF A DARK FOREST or any other e-book of your choice, to one randomly chosen commenter. The winner will be announced here on Friday, August 15th, between 5-6 PM EST. To be entered in the Giveaway, please leave your contact information within your comment. Thanks!

            Blurb for AT THE EDGE OF A DARK FOREST:

Cole Harrison, an Iraq war veteran, wears his disfigurement like a barrier to those who might love him, shielding them from the ugliness inside. He agrees to try and potentially invest in, a prototype prosthetic with the goal of saving a hopeless man’s dreams.

Carly Rose contracts to live with Cole and train him to use his new limbs, only to discover the darkness that wars against the man he could become.

At the Edge of a Dark Forest is a modern-day retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Only it is not her love that will make him whole.

Why I’m My Characters’ God by Connie Almony

One of the things that I love about writing is the way God inserts Himself into the process, revealing something new I needed to know about Him. Yes, I know He is a big, powerful, wise and merciful God, but writing has allowed me a greater glimpse of what all that means.

Why? Because for a little while every day, I AM GOD.

Oh, don’t gasp and call me crazy because you think I have a God complex. Believe me, having had a glimpse of what His job entails I know I wouldn’t want it. Too much responsibility!

What I mean is that, to the characters of my story, the people I birth, the settings I paint, the situations I plan, I am their creator. I decide who lives and who dies, who grows and who remains stuck. I let them fall and create challenges to stretch them. I am their God.

How has that changed me?

Years ago, as a drug-prevention counselor in a narcotics-infested area, I learned how good people could fall prey to their surroundings. If there is no one around, pointing a direction of purposefulness and godliness, a young person will often slip into making destructive choices just because “everyone is doing it.” They don’t know any different. In fact, though the grant funding my position restricted me from counseling drug addicts, our center stretched the word “prevention” to include “preventing from further use” so I wouldn’t be twiddling my thumbs all day. By the time most of these kids got to high school they were either using or their parents didn’t spend much time helping them because they were too busy managing the effects of the “using” child. What some, who have grown up in a supportive, loving, Christian environment, would call dysfunctional was not only normal for these kids, but to them a necessary means of survival.

Courtesy Google Images

When faced with many of the scenarios my clients lived under, I became more cognizant of the wisdom behind God’s statement, “Judgment is Mine.”  I can honestly say, if I’d lived in the environments these kids lived in on a daily basis, I don’t think I would have resisted as much as some of them did. How can I judge them when I do not know the whole story of their lives and have not experienced the same pressures?

You’d think this would have been enough to own the verse mentioned above. But something sunk it deeper into my cells than getting to know my clients from the outside-in. It came with developing my characters from the inside-out. I know their destiny almost from the moment of their birth. I know what they are called to do. I know they will hit hard roads, all of which are of my making, and that those roads will define who they are. I ache for them when they hurt (I even cry as I write) and I rejoice in their triumph. I worry when they sin, because I know how it will impact them down the road. Sometimes, I let them feel the impact of that sin so they will see what God says is true, and therefore trust His loving guidance in the future.

Some of my characters appear to be horrible people … at the beginning. Some are only broken, seemingly weak. But I know what will move them and strengthen them, and so I make them move, because without that movement, they will be forever lost.

This knowledge has given me a new perspective on my relationship with God and His people. I cannot judge someone for their sin because I do not know how they got there (their backstory). I also cannot chastise God for the challenges He places before me, now that I have a better understanding of what He means to do. I will trust Him, because He has given much, and I suspect that though, as the Great Author He is, His stories are fraught with turmoil, His specialty is for Happily Ever After.

Check out Connie's previous appearance on Everyone's Story when she addressed the issue of A Dog With Skin Problems, An Autistic Child, and Heaven Sent Joy

Connie's Ah-hahs To Tweet:

Visit with author Connie Almony whose novella is receiving a lot of attention. (Tweet This)

Like Beauty and the Beast stories? How about one with a war-vet, amputee with PTSD? (Tweet This)

Author Connie Almony: Are you God to your characters? Visit Connie on Everyone’s Story. (Tweet This)

Author's Bio and Places To Connect:

Connie Almony is trained as a mental health therapist and likes to mix a little fun with the serious stuff of life. She was a 2012 semi-finalist in the Genesis Contest for Women’s Fiction and was awarded an Honorable Mention in the Winter 2012 WOW Flash Fiction Contest. Her newest release, At the Edge of a Dark Forest, is a modern-day re-telling of Beauty and the Beast about a war-vet, amputee struggling with PTSD.

You can find Connie on the web, writing book reviews for Jesus Freak Hideout, and hosting the following blogs: InfiniteCharacters.com and LivingtheBodyofChrist.Blogspot.com.

You can also meet her on the following social media outlets:

Twitter

Facebook

Pinterest

Naomi Musch: What Bonds Pre-Published Writers And Authors

Everyone's Story welcomes back author and writer-encourager Naomi Musch. Take one look at Naomi's Tweets and you'll see why she's a writer's joy. I'm glad she's back, because Naomi goes beyond uplifting a writer's hopes by daring us all to believe in what we strive in doing and that's such an awesome plus these days! Check out Naomi's BookGiveaway and venture into Young Adult-New Adult fiction. And see what message she has to share this week. We're both looking forward to visiting with you.

Book Giveaway:
Naomi is offering one e-version of her YA/NA novel TREVELYAN to one randomly chosen commenter. The winner will be announced here on Friday, August 8th, between 5-6 PM EST. To be entered in the Giveaway, please leave your contact information within your comment. Thanks!

Blurb for TREVELYAN:

Five men and two eleven princes have embarked upon a quest: to save a sister from the wasteland of the Great Winter where she is held in the clutches of a Monster Lord who all believe brought desecration and ruin to the once glorious kingdom of Trevelyan. It is a land where hideous creatures and madness prey upon the careless, a land where faerie magic has taken an evil turn. For fifty years, no man or ally of men has been safe beyond the Cranreuch Plain.

Until Belle's choice leads them all to discover the truth.

Now rescuing her might come at a cost no one expects -- and from an evil no one but a princely beast and the faeries of Evensong ever anticipated.

Only Brave Writers Need Ride by Naomi Musch

To market, to market, to learn how to write.

Home again home again, writing all night.

To market, to market, to book contests run.

Home again home again, sure wish I'd won!

To market, to market, to proof read and edit.

Home again home again -- the publisher read it!

To market, to market: See my pretty new book?

Home again, home again, to my writing nook.

That little rhyme expresses almost every writer's up and down excursion as we pursue our dreams of authorship. We study. We attend conferences. Craft! Craft! Craft! We're told to never stop learning it. There in the trenches we write, inching our way up to the heights. With trepidation we hand over our work to others for their critique.

It really can feel like we're screaming down an incline, almost puking while we wonder what the beta readers, the critique group, the contest judges will say. Then we rewrite. We catch our breaths and try again. Finally we submit to a publisher or hire an editor. We throw our hands into the air and let go.

In the end, we hopefully garner a publishing contract or cleanly edited manuscript ready for the final journey. A smooth finish, right? When we finally think we've arrived, the marketing begins. One last climb and plunge. It's hard, uncertain work getting our shiny new book out there in the public eye. In fact, it's exhausting even while it's exhilarating. Yet, once we ride the writers' roller coaster to the finish, we find we're ready to do it all over again, so we go back to the keyboard and buckle in.

What part of that ride are you on right now? Are you just beginning to learn the craft, or are you a veteran author looping between marketing finished work and making new submissions? Do you have insights to share? I find that I'm usually in several places at once, always trying to learn more about the craft, constantly searching for new venues and sets of eyes to have a look at my work, teetering around the precarious turns of marketing my published work, and always, always writing something else.

Wherever you are, stay with it! Many people say they're going to write a novel, but most of them don't finish what they start (if they start). Everyone has ideas, but not everyone is brave enough to move them forward. Yes, it's grueling sometimes, but I hope you hang in there. In the end, it's a thrill ride. The finish might be more gentle and quiet than a giant whoosh! Your book might not shake the foundations of the publishing world, but you'll get closure. You'll have great joy every time your inner voice cheers, I did it! Some will love your work and become fans. Yes, and strangely enough, you'll probably decide to get back on the track and do it all again.

Godspeed on your ride. Keep going. Be brave!

To view Naomi's previous guest appearances on Everyone's Story, please see:

Putting Kick In Your Writing By Sharing It With Others 

When Writing The End Begins The Magic

Naomi's Ah-hahs To Tweet:

Author Naomi Musch on Everyone’s Story: how to be brave while writing & dreaming of publication. (Tweet This)

#BookGiveaway of Naomi Musch’s YA/NA novel TREVELYAN. (Tweet This)

Author's Bio and Places To Connect:

Naomi writes from the pristine north woods of Wisconsin, where she and husband Jeff live as epically as God allows on a ramshackle farm where they spend quality time with their children and grandchildren. Amidst it, she writes novels about imperfect people who are finding hope and faith to overcome their struggles.

In non-fiction venues, Naomi spent five years as a staff writer for the EPA award-winning Midwestern Christian newspaper, Living Stones News, telling true-life stories of changed lives. She has also written dozens of magazine and internet articles for the purpose of encouraging homeschooling families and young writer, and she is currently serving on the board of directors for the Wisconsin Writers' Association.

She invites readers to say hello and find out more about her books, passions, and other writing venues at http://www.naomimusch.com or to look her up on Facebook (Naomi Musch - Author) and Twitter (NMusch).

Places to purchase TREVELYAN:

Desert Breeze Publishing

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Stephanie Landsem: Stepping Back Into The Biblical Days

Everyone's Story once again welcomes warmly author Stephanie Landsem. Look at Stephanie's  online reviews and you will read praises for her novels in all vital areas of storytelling: setting, plot, and characterization. In other words, in addition to Stephanie being a pleasure to work with and host, she's an author for other writers to learn from and for readers, truly an author to entertain and to make the reader think. I hope you are as thrilled as I am that she visits with us this week. Please check out Stephanie's Book Giveaway, and then the handful of questions she answers. If you have another question or would like to say hello, please leave a comment. We're both looking forward to hearing from you.

Book Giveaway:Stephanie is offering one copy of her novel THE THIEF to one randomly chosen commenter. The winner will be announced here on Friday, August 1st, between 5-6 PM EST. To be entered in the Giveaway, please leave your contact information within your comment. Thanks!

Here's a glimpse from THE THIEF: excerpt

  Questions for Stephanie:

Tell us about your mindset as a contemporary author writing historical fiction. Do you go about your day, interacting with family and friends, running errands, preparing meals or snarling at the laundry mountain, in a constant how-would-they-have-done-it centuries ago? 

I love this question because I’ve always done that. Even when I was a kid I was fascinated by how every day tasks were done centuries ago— and became even more so as I had children of my own. I remember one beautiful summer day when I had three little ones and was pregnant with my fourth. I threw in a load of clothes, put some dinner in the crockpot and turned on the dishwasher, then took them all out for a day at the park with friends. I remember thinking, “Wow. That never could have happened even 100 years ago.” On the other hand, I sometimes envy my historical characters for their slower-paced lives that seem more family oriented than what we have today.

Now a multi-published author of historical fiction set in Biblical times (with THE TOMB releasing in early 2015), how do you see your reading audience and their reading desires and interests?

I see my readers as my biggest inspiration. Their encouragement and comments on my books are what keeps me going. From what I’ve heard from them, I believe my readers want two things: a good story and to deepen their faith. First, readers love to be transported into the fictional world and imagine that they are ‘right there’ in the story. Second, they want to have new insight into their faith. I often hear that my stories inspire readers to go back to the Bible and read it with fresh eyes and new understanding. My hope with each book is to deliver both.

In hindsight, what would you advise the debut author Stephanie Landsem? And projecting ahead with what you’ve learned so far on this published author’s journey, what type of things are you on the lookout to avoid in the future?

I’d tell debut author Stephanie to take a deep breath and keep her eyes on the horizon. It’s so easy to see the mountain of tasks for each day—word count, editing, marketing—and forget to raise my eyes up and remember why I’m writing books. I want to always remember how truly blessed I am to share these stories with my readers.

Has researching your novels taught you any fascinating wonders you’d like to share?

Yes! More than I can write about here. As probably any historical novelist would tell you, the amount of research we do to make our stories accurate is far more than you ever see in our books. There is so much left in my head that when I have time, I blog about my historical research on my website in case any readers want to learn about the cool things I find that didn’t make it into the story.

Other than Jesus Himself, if you could step back into the time of your novels to interview one person for research for a novel, whom would you choose? What top 3 questions might you ask?

That is a hard question! I just finished edits on my third novel in the series, The Tomb, so I would have to say that the one person I’d most like to interview would be Lazarus. I’d love to ask him what it was like to die and how did he feel physically when he came back to life in the tomb. And then I’d like to know what he was thinking when he walked out of that tomb and saw Jesus and his sisters.

Do you have a reoccurring author’s theme in your novels?

The underlying theme of all the novels in The Living Water series is this: What does it mean to encounter Jesus, the Incarnation of God?  Whether my characters are a poor Samaritan, a desperate thief, a Roman centurion, or lifelong friends of Jesus like Martha and Lazarus, each of them faces this fundamental question. In the end, I think it’s the ultimate question that we all must ask ourselves.

For fun: if you were gifted 3 weeks to reread 3 novels, which preteen novels would you gladly pick up again?

You really do ask some brutal questions, Elaine! Hmm. I’d go with the classics that bring back great memories of reading away the summer hours when I was a kid:

Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott (my favorite by Louisa)

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis (I know it isn’t a single novel but I’m a fast reader)

The Black Stallion by Walter Farley (I love horses and was sure I was going to be a jockey when I grew up)

Thanks for having me Elaine, it is always truly a pleasure to chat with you.

To view Stephanie's previous guest appearance on Everyone's Story, please see Illuminating History Through Fiction

Stephanie's Ah-hahs To Tweet:

Get into the mindset of Biblical fiction characters with author Stephanie Landsem. (Tweet This)

Like #BiblicalFiction? See what inspires author Stephanie Landsem. #BookGiveaway (Tweet This)

Writing Fun: Everyone’s Story hosts Stephanie Landsem #ChristianFiction #BookGiveaway (Tweet This)

Author's Bio:

Stephanie Landsem writes historical fiction because she loves adventure in far-off times and places. In real life, she’s explored ancient ruins, medieval castles, and majestic cathedrals around the world. Stephanie is equally happy at home in Minnesota with her husband, four children, and three fat cats. When she’s not writing, she’s feeding the ravenous horde, avoiding housework, and dreaming about her next adventure—whether it be in person or on the page.

Places to connect with Stephanie:

Website

Twitter

Facebook

Pinterest