Recovery

From Mark (written last night)

9:30 am, Ortho Neuro ward nursing station: (husband) "So how is THE patient this morning?" (nurse) "Well, let's say she has made it clear to us what she will and will not do." (husband) "This is promising, she never leaves you guessing. She must be getting better." (nurse) "I guess so, but I wish we could get her to wake up and take some food. She just wants to sleep, keep the lights out and shades drawn. She needs to wake up. You go in there and wake her up. She has made it clear that we are not to do that."

So starts the first day of convalescence. Brandilyn is the type of person who is blessed with a very strong personality. Even when heavily sedated, she can make her feelings known with just the look in her eye. Those big lovely green eyes can communicate volumes. I found her half asleep in a drug induced state of mind. Her speech was very weak and she was asking things like "What day is it? What time is it?" When I told her it was only 10 am, she couldn't believe it. She thought that it must be at least early evening, if not later. She felt like she had been awake all day long. I perked-up at this thinking about that old adage "time flys when you are having fun." As you can see, I was proving no help at all. I couldn't get her to wake up, sit up or do much of anything else.

The nurse came in about then (I expect) to see what progress I was making. She looked at me, shook her head and then made a comment to Brandilyn something like "how are we doing?" Brandilyn gave her a look that said "what do you mean WE?" I decided that I would be more help just stroking her brow and saying nothing. That worked! Someday I will get the hang of all this subtle communications stuff. (husband) "You realize that she will never wake up as long as you are giving her pain medications. They always knock her out." (nurse) "Well 'Dr. Welby', if we take her off pain meds her foot will be very painful. Just what do you suggest that we do?" (husband) Err, uh, well, maybe I better go run some errands." (husband exits stage right)

3:30 pm, Ortho Neuro Ward Nursing Station: (husband) "So how is our patient this afternoon?" (nurse) "She is doing much better. She actually let us in the room and is coming out of her meds beautifully." I go in the room and Brandilyn is sitting up in bed, eyes open, drinking water with the window shades open. She tells me what great nursing talent they have in the unit and then describes each one by name. She has now acquired a room mate. She said that the pain medication that they had her on was making her so sensitive to noise that when the patient was being moved into the room it "about drove me crazy." She had them take her off pain meds entirely and give her just Ibuprofen (Do I know my wife or what?). She was feeling much better and had minimal leg pain.

I am now going to end this edition of the "Recovery Blog" and get back to the hospital. I expect that she will be discharged tomorrow. I do need to point out that the nursing staff at this hospital is first rate. I took a little, but not too much, liberty in my rendition of the events. Thank you all for the wonderful responses to yesterday's post. She may let me do the one for tomorrow. I expect that getting situated on crutches will be an experience worth sharing with you all. Thanks so much for your well wishes and prayers. I don't know how God is going to use all of this, but it's a major event in her (our) lives, and I am sure that it will lead us somewhere we would never have gone otherwise.

Good night all and God Bless,

Husband

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Read Part 4

Update on Brandilyn

"It was a bright winter day and the sky was blue, up over a hill a snowmobile flew, then another and another and then ... not another".

This is Brandilyn's husband, Mark, reporting to you from behind the master's computer while my world class author and all around great wife is on an undercover assignment in the local hospital gathering insights for her next novel and, while she is at it, recovering from some rather major foot surgery. Here's a synopsis.

Friday evening our son Brandon called and suggested that we do an outing Sunday afternoon. We left it up to him to decide exactly what it would be. Saturday he called to say that he had arranged for the "snowmobiling outing of a lifetime" in the beautiful North Idaho mountains. Some of his friends were planning a trip, had extra snowmobiles and invited us to join in. I was eager and Brandilyn was, let's say, thoughtful. She is not a cold weather person and does not revel in winter sports—especially ones that involve speed and heights. Brandon and I suggested to her that snowmobiles can be driven slowly and that heights are simply not as issue. She relented and actually got into the idea. Then she learned that one of the gals going on the trip is a "Seatbelt Suspense" fan and was delighted at the prospect of meeting Brandilyn. Well this "cemented" the deal as we argued that she had an obligation to her fan to join in. The stage was set.

Sunday arrived and the weather was beautiful. Brandon's friends were very nice. Our group included six people, riding five snowmobiles. Brandilyn and I rode tandem. All was going well and Brandilyn was getting into the swing of it. When we stopped for a rest, our son Brandon offered to double up with his girl friend and let Brandilyn ride by herself—something she accepted without reservation. We took off again and Brandilyn was scooting along at a very respectable pace and handling the snowmobile quite nicely. We stopped for lunch and enjoyed the spectacular scenery. Afterwards, our host and guide suggested that we take a particular trail. It rapidly turned out to be one that was very narrow and un-groomed. We were in single file with a number of sleds in front and Brandilyn and I towards the rear. Here comes the inciting incident....

We came upon some very steep little hills that were so close together that as soon as you get to the bottom of one, you have to start climbing the next. It was in the "saddle" between two hills that Brandilyn leaned in the wrong direction, accelerated by mistake and rolled over her entire snowmobile, throwing herself completely off and into the snow—a perfect five point landing if I do say so myself. Being right behind, I quickly ran to her and found that she had hurt her foot while departing from the sled. I kept my cool, however, and took her picture so she can relive the moment years from now.

She was in pain—and I mean real pain. The process of digging her out while not touching her foot and then getting the snowmobile free took quite a long time. Then the trip out took two hours as she had to be driven very slowly to minimize the pain caused by bumps on the trail. Once back in the car, pulling her boot off caused screams of pain only second to what I observed when she was giving birth to our kids.

We were in complete denial that anything was terribly wrong. We were saying that this "sprained" ankle would be on the mend in no time—in spite of the fact that she was in constant pain and the ankle was the size of a large melon. Once home, we called a neighbor who is a retired ER doc and asked him to check it out. While waiting for him to arrive, she was flat on her back sounding like nothing was wrong and carrying on a conversation with her sister, whose daughter had just been married that very day. Our doc friend arrives and took one look at her foot and told us to get to the hospital immediately—things were not looking promising.

At the hospital, she was quickly diagnosed as being very badly hurt—a broken fibula (about a centimeter distance between the two pieces) and torn ligaments on her tibia. Not the kind of injury that can be treated with a splint. They performed surgery last night and I arrived home after tending to her as she came out of anesthesia—about 10:30 pm. The surgery was a complete success. She is still in a great deal of pain and managing it with medication. I expect that they will discharge her tomorrow or the next day. Recovery will take 4-6 weeks before she can put full weight on the foot, and we don't know how long before she can run again. But when she does, we are expecting great things as she now has a bionic foot.

Needless to say this was all a very traumatic event for Brandilyn. Her spirits were extraordinary. She maintained a great sense of humor and continuously asked questions of the folks at the hospital. I watched her as she scanned the environment, taking in details that would some day appear in one of her novels. Of course, today after surgery, she was not taking much of anything in.

We have no idea how God will use this event in our lives, but I am sure it will be for some good. Perhaps I will have the opportunity to post the next blog and I may share with you other stories about how Brandilyn's loving husband is coping with feeling like a real horse's behind for ever letting her go out there and hurt herself in the first place.

God bless,

Brandilyn's husband—Mark

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Read Part 3

Why Brandilyn's AWOL

Gayle here. You know the only time I pop in is when Brandilyn cannot—which is practically never.

Here’s the scoop. While snow mobiling with her family yesterday afternoon here in Paradise (North Idaho)—a first for her—Brandilyn flipped her snow mobile and wound up with a severely broken ankle, not to mention excruciating pain. Thankfully no head or back injury!

She’s awaiting surgery later today here at a local hospital and will spend the night, tentatively returning home tomorrow. I spoke with her briefly this morning. She was quite sedated due to the pain but not surprisingly, maintained her truly “Brandilyn” sense of humor. Since she can’t kick any cabinets for awhile, she says, her writing better go well! Unfortunately, her running shoes won’t be seeing any action for some time.

I know she appreciates your prayers and would welcome all your cheery and humorous comments for when she returns on line. Meanwhile, I’ll keep you posted as to her progress. But you just know, when she returns, you’ll hear the real story—not just the facts as I tell them here—but with all the embellishment and scope of the consummate novelist she is!

Blessings,
Gayle DeSalles, Brandilyn’s assistant

www.wordcount.biz

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Read Part 2-5

Read Part 6-10

Read Part 11-end

I Love a Parade--Part 2

Continuing Mama Ruth's story from the early 1950s...

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... Two policemen wearing full dress uniforms roared up, one on either side of me. They motioned and piloted me off to the side of the road. My foot was shaking so much on the pedal that the jeep was jumping like a green rabbit in tall grass. What in the world had I done wrong? Turning off the engine, I leaned my quivering head out of the homemade window.

The tallest officer stood by my jeep and asked, "How did you get onto this road, Madam?" His voice was stern and brisk.

"W—why, I just turned onto it way back there."

"Who are you?"

"I’m Ruth Seamands, an American living in Belgaum in Mysore State."

"Please show us your passport."

"I always carry my passport." I dug it out of my purse.

They both looked at it, compared the uncomplimentary picture of me with the real me. The officer’s eyes narrowed. "What is your business here in Bombay?"

"I’m doing some Christmas shopping."

"Christmas shopping? Isn’t Belgaum nearly 600 kilometers away?"

"Yes, but I always come to Bombay to shop for Christmas presents. I am also visiting some friends who live on this road."

"What friends? Who are they?"

I told them.

In great surprise, each drew in a deep breath. Face softening somewhat, the examiner asked, "Weren’t you informed you should not be on this road today?"

"No, I was not. What’s the matter, officers? Why am I being stopped?"

"You are being stopped because no one should be on this road. Our police force has sealed off every lane and alley leading to Marine Drive."

"I guess they missed the alley I was in. Why is the road shut down?"

"We are having a parade of honor today, and this road was sealed off for protection."

"For whose protection? Who are you honoring?"

He drew himself up as tall as his five-feet-four would allow. "King Saud of Saudi Arabia." His voice was as chilling as my goose bumps.

I gasped and felt my eyes rolling back in my head. "K—King Sa—?"

"Yes, Madam. And you are holding up his entire parade."

"Me? Imposib—, I—I’m very sorry—I d-didn’t know—" I shook my head. "He—the King—he didn’t tell me he was coming—"

"I will stand guard with you, and my companion will go back to escort the King’s parade. We cannot hold off any longer."

He motioned to his buddy, who screeched his motorcycle around, and with siren wailing, zoomed back to his convoy.

I gulped air and my stomach bobbled silently while I tried to keep from giggling. My mind flashed a mental picture of the King of Saudi Arabia drumming his ringed fingers on his limousine’s arm rest, and cracking his knuckles in impatience. Some stupid idiot was holding up his parade.

Of course the forlorn truth about that mental picture was, the king’s royal knuckles were cracking because of me. I was the stupid idiot delaying the honors due him. I glanced across the road and saw many people now strung out in front of their apartments, and lining doorways, waiting to see the King.

My face had a hard time keeping itself straight.

As thundering drums approached, I stood respectfully beside the officer and my dusty jeep, watching the long procession of flags, drums, horns, motorcycles, black cars, the King and his kin, army officers and police.

I waved merrily to King Saud as he passed by. I was closer to him than anyone else, but he didn’t wave back.

His knuckles probably hurt.

After the great retinue disappeared down the road, I climbed back into my jeep. "May I go now?"

The police officer guarding me moved his head from side to side which means "Yes" in India. "I will have to report the reason for the delay to my superior officer, Madam. You may be questioned."

"Please report it to the TOP superior officer," I suggested.

My motorcycle friend managed a stiff smile.

The top superior officer and his wife were the friends I was staying with. He was the supreme captain of the whole Bombay police force, numbering 85,000 men at that time. With so much responsibility, no wonder he forgot to warn me at breakfast that morning. He had been riding in one of the lead cars in the parade—sitting ramrod stiff, looking straight ahead. I could imagine his shock seeing me with peripheral vision, in custody of one of his officers. The crazy person holding up the entire king’s parade—was his own houseguest?

Maybe that would help him remember he hadn’t warned me about the parade.

I bet his knuckles hurt.

I Love a Parade--Part 1

To ring in March, another true (believe it or not!) story from the eclectic and intriguing life of Mama Ruth:


Bombay is like an enormous dragon; its legs spread out in all directions except to the west. The sea rules on that side.

Monsoon rains were over on this day in the early 1950s, and the dragon’s face had been washed but possibly not the underbelly. I had been shopping early, before the straight-up sun made my bone marrow melt like butter on a hot ear of corn. Now I was on the way back to our friends’ home where J.T. and I had occupied the guest room for a few days. I wasn’t too well acquainted with Bombay traffic and kept looking out for a street which would open onto Marine Drive. A frustrating search.

My jeep had threaded its way through many needle-eye-sized lanes, and I breathed deeply of pungent aromas rising from tea and coffee stalls. Traffic through this lane was one way but barely moving at all. It was much more stop than go. Carts piled with crates of live chickens, motor scooters with whole families clinging on, children, dogs, and stray cows clogged the lane and created the same atmosphere found in any Indian bazaar.

Ah! At last. An opening at the end of this lane. After another fifteen minutes of almost impossible congestion, I reached the corner and turned onto Marine Drive. This was the most beautiful road in Bombay. It curved for miles along the west rim of the city, skirting the sea. I was headed for one of the tall apartment houses that overlooked the ocean several miles further on.

Breathing a great sigh of relief, I began to enjoy my ride. Controlling a left-handed-drive car in a left-lane-drive country has its problems. Usually Marine Drive was full of several lanes of fast moving traffic, but not that day. I was thankful to enjoy the view on both sides without any other vehicles in the way. I did enjoy the smooth pavement, sun on the sea alongside the road, and all the fancy apartment buildings on the opposite side.

Suddenly, I woke up. Not only could I see very little traffic on that road, I saw NO traffic. Absolutely none. Not another car, jeep, or truck had passed me on either side for at least two miles. And none in sight as far as I could see. Surprising! Since it was not after lunch—not nap time—how did it happen that not one single soul was driving on Marine Drive except me? My skin popped up goose bumps in spite of the Bombay heat. Suddenly, TERROR...

Had the Trump sounded and I didn’t hear it because of my noisy ex-World War II jeep? Now that wouldn’t be the reason I didn’t hear it!

Had the Rapture taken place in the blink of an eye after I turned the corner? Had everyone gone to Heaven except me?

Would anybody be home at my friends’ house? I felt fearfully lonesome.

After some hyperventilating, I peered again into the rear-view mirror. Did my scared eyes imagine some slight movement far behind me? Did angels chase people? I kept checking...

Ahhhh! Two motorcycles. Good—I wasn’t alone. But in double-quick time, I realized something. Those two motorcycles were chasing me. And they were gaining--fast...

First Contract Announcement

Before we get to today's topic, a quick addendum to the Coral Moon influencers’ list post. It's come to my attention there's a bit of confusion. If you were on the list for Violet Dawn, you aren’t automatically moved to the Coral Moon list. I don’t want to be presumptuous in assuming anyone wants to stay on as an influencer. So you “old influencer” folks need to email my assistant to sign up again. (I know quite a few of you are on the blog alliance list, so you’re getting a book anyway.)

Now, today’s fun announcement. It’s a real privilege for me to be in contact with so many aspiring novelists. I know how hard y’all are working, and I remember those frustrating days all too well. My heart is with you all. So it’s especially satisfying to be able to announce new contracts.

This one is for long-time BG Lynette Eason, a wife and homeschooling mom of two in South Carolina. Her book, Lethal Deception, will be released February 2008 in Steeple Hill’s suspense line:

When socialite, Cassidy McKnight, is kidnapped in the Amazon Jungle, haunted ex-Navy Seal, Gabriel Sinclair, must rescue her. As they race to outwit a killer, they find themselves growing closer to each other and to God. But Gabe has an explosive secret and when Cassidy finds out, her world crashes down...

This is a one-book contract for Lynette, but the book is part of a three-part series, so she’ll be on a “wait and see” mode regarding the other two.

I asked Lynette to tell us what she’s done to work on her craft, and what best helped to push her toward publication:

I've been writing fiction for 8 years. Dee Henderson actually edited my entire first book as a way to help teach me the ins and outs of writing. Unfortunately, I didn't realize what she did for me until a couple of years later...groan...and I don't even have a copy of her edits, just the final product. Yup, still kicking myself on that one. So, that was the main thing that REALLY helped me out. In fact, some of my initial questions during the two years of her "mentoring" are up on her webpage. To this day, I'm not sure what prompted her to help out such a newbie. I just chalk it up to a God thing.

Of course, I've been a faithful fan of Brandilyn Collins' F&F blog and that has helped me TREMENDOUSLY over the past year +. Seriously, you've been awesome. Finding your blog was better than Christmas morning and my birthday all rolled into one. (And they usually are - rolled into one, that is as my b'day is the 28th of Dec.)

Also, I've been to the Blue Ridge Christian Writer's Conference in Black Mountain, NC. I've been three years all total over the past 5 years. Gayle Roper held a fiction mentoring clinic for the week and that was a huge help to sit around the table with 9 other author wannabes and have them go through the first 20 pages or so of my manuscript and give me feedback. And, of course, Gayle's feedback was priceless.

And then there were the contests. Some were helpful, others not. The TBL (Touched By Love) contest sponsored by FHL (Faith Hope and Love) through RWA was great. I got very helpful feedback there. ACFW has been awesome. Every time I've had a writing question, someone has been ready and willing to answer it.

So, I guess you could say it's not the things that helped teach me the craft, it was the published authors who were so generous with their time and knowledge that really taught me the craft of writing...and taught me that I have a lot more to learn!

Lynette’s clearly brighter than I am. Took her eight years to reach publication in fiction; took me ten.

Three cheers for Lynette! Three cheers for a newbie breaking in, and for the pay-off after eight years of hard work!

Regrouping

Well, had one of those days yesterday. Ye ol' computer crash. Happened just after I'd opened my book file to start writing for the day. Oh, yay. Ain't we got fun.

'Twas a different error message than I've ever seen before. "Insurmountable boot amount." Huh? They telling me my foot's too big?

I called Gateway--maker of my computer. Got put on hold for a loooong time. Finally got through to a tech support guy. Who had no clue about insurmountable boots. This did not make any points with me, but I managed to be nice. He put me on hold again. For a loooong time. I paced my office. The only good part was their cool "hold" music. The tech had the nerve to come back on the line in the middle of Aerosmith's Sweet Surrender. I liked him even less after that. Tech guy informed me he'd "done some research" on my problem. I got to hear his technical explanation for the bottom line:

It done broke.

So I bundled up said sad computer and ran it into Best Buy. Of course it was pouring rain. Could it possibly be sunny on such a day? Good news--they can restore everything. Bad news--it'll take four to five days. And they don't know whether they can recoup all my data files first. But for $99 they'll give it a go.

I could just kick myself.

I back up my manuscripts--let me say that immediately in my own defense. If I didn't do that, I'd be in serious trouble right now. Every day after I'm done writing, I faithfully back up--twice. First on a flash drive. Second, in case said flash drive drives off into the sunset, or my house blows up or something, I email the manuscript to my assistant, where it can sit in her "saved" file on the Internet. However, there's still that back-up-all-your-word-files-and-pictures-and-Outlook thing. I'm not so good at that.'

I tried. Really. Bought a back-up drive and everything after my last computer crash. One of those fancy thingies that you're supposed to be able to set up so it auto-backs whenever you want it to. Except that I could never get the dang thing to work. (Are you figuring out yet that I'm not the most computer-savvy person on the planet?) I planned to study up on the problem. Really. It's just that every day I have this page count, and before I know it, days go by, then weeks, then months ...

Forget kicking myself. Too painful. I'm taking that insurmountable boot to the nearest cabinet.

Worst case scenario is--I lose all my email stuff. Again. All my pictures and logos and word files, except for my manuscript. Again.

This time when I go back to Best Buy to pick up my computer, I'm taking that back-up drive with me. They're gonna show me how to do everything--more like set the thing up for me. Or I ain't leavin' the store.

Sigh.

Needless to say, I lost hours of work time, trying to sort all this out. I did manage to finish the alloted page count by 9:30 p.m. But I had no handy-dandy blog post ready, and wasn't exactly in the mood to go hunting for one. So here's what ya get. In all its glory.

So tell me, oh brilliant BGs. How do you back up data? Anybody use an online service? Anybody got their handy-dandy back-up disk to do its auto thing? Anybody lost lotsa data and kicked lotsa cabinets? Anybody else got an insurmountable boot?

Dagnabbit all. I need to pull out my Best of Aerosmith CD. Maybe a listen or two to Sweet Surrender--the whole song--will lessen the pain.

Da Photo Revealed

My, didn't a lot of you guess on Friday. Some of you got pretty doggone close too.

Peg Phifer's answer really made me laugh. She said the photo was of the cabinets I've kicked. :)

Real answer--Top, you were right about "poor workmanship." That's because everything was stripped down and torn apart in this photo. It's the inside of a private airplane--a Cessna Turbo 210, to be exact. The interior was completely torn apart so it could be redone--from header to floor. The photo was taken from the cargo area. That high part is the separation between the cargo area and the back row of seats. The right door should be at the top left of the photo, but it's been taken off.

Here are some photos of the finished product.


Taken from left pilot seat.

The one below is looking into the cargo area. To take the stripped photo shown Friday, the photographer stuck the camera through this door and shot from a low angle. The silver hump from Friday is now covered in the dark blue carpet (at left side of door). (The other dark lump is baggage.)

So there ya have it. We'll do this again sometime--on a Friday when we've all been working too hard and need a break from industry news. You got a crazy photo you want me to post, send it on over.

Happy Monday, all.

Whazza Photo Friday

In light of the last day of the work week (yay!), I give you this photo. What is it? First right guess gets a free book.

While you're at it, if you've got an interesting photo of your own to link to, go right ahead. Last time we did this, y'all had some great ones.

Happy weekend, BGs!

Dark Fiction—What Is It?

The original question and answer from my interview with Sue Brower:

Is there any room in CBA (or more specifically at Zondervan) for Christian writers whose tone is somewhat dark?

You know, this is very subjective. There are several very successful authors in CBA that write what I would call “dark” fiction. However, for a first time author, it is not likely that we will pick it up.

When I wrote Sue and asked for her definition of this term, she replied:

“Dark” fiction is anything that leaves the reader feeling disturbed by what he/she is reading or that creates a negative emotional response in the reader. Sometimes it is graphically violent content, sometimes it is themes of mental illness or abuse. This in no way is an indication of how poorly a novel is written. In fact it demonstrates that the book was so well written it affects the reader’s subconscious and lingers for days after. Dark fiction leaves the reader disturbed rather than entertained or enlightened.

My own take:

Sue’s definition is interesting. I’d pretty much agree, with two expansions. First, every novel that covers difficult material is not necessarily dark. It’s how that material is handled. Second, I think dark fiction can disturb and still enlighten. Not all dark fiction does, but it can—in fact, dark fiction in the Christian category should enlighten. Otherwise, what’s the point? Knowing that Zondervan purchases only fiction that fits with its mission statement to “glorify Jesus Christ and promotes biblical principles,” I think Sue would agree with this. Although she used the word enlightened, I’d be willing to bet she meant something more like the word lightened. In other words, these books don’t leave you all warm and fuzzy.

Remember a few years ago when American Beauty won the Oscar for best picture? That movie to me is an example of dark fiction. The story stuck for days. It haunted me. For the first twenty-four hours after seeing it, I merely hated the movie. How could such a thing be voted best picture? I hated that dark story. And I could hardly agree with the ending—which shows a dead character rather blissfully floating through clouds, as I remember. Certainly not a Christian message of truth about what happens after death. But then I began to realize something. The movie was brilliantly done. The pacing, the twists, the characterization. On multiple levels that movie defined the dysfunction of so many American families today. It had to be brilliantly done to disturb me that much—to stick with me for that long and speak to me so deepy.

Still—did I find it enlightening? Not really. It spoke of the human condition, true. But I already knew those things. And it left no hope, nor gave any solutions to the misery. To me, mere dark truth is not enlightening. It’s just depressing.

Now picture this—that same story, with the Christian message infused. Not overdone (!), not tacked on, but through some natural event in the story, the viewer would get the message that Christ introduced to these families would make a difference.

That to me is an intriguing thought. And that example is precisely why I believe dark fiction can play a wonderful, significant role in the Christian fiction world. Granted, it’s not for everybody. Many people won’t find it “safe.” Those who don’t, who are so disturbed by content that they can’t hear the message won’t like it at all. But there are others who will respond to this type of fiction.

The challenge is doing dark fiction well. That’s mighty hard because the writer faces all sorts of balances. How dark is too dark? What’s the message? How many difficult subjects and characters can be included before the story is just too weighted altogether, and that message is muddied? The worst thing to end up with is dark fiction done poorly.

Here’s the reality check. Remember Sue’s line: "…for a first time author, it’s not likely that we will pick [dark fiction] up.” That doesn’t mean Zondervan—and other houses in CBA—won’t publish such stories. It does mean they have to proceed carefully. As we’ve seen by definition, many times the darker the fiction, the narrower the target audience. Which means a smaller projection of sales. A brand new author also has a smaller projection of sales, because novels are sold on name recognition, and a new author has none. So when these two things are combined, you can get even smaller sales projections. There’s got to be something so stellar about the book that (1) the publisher believes they can edge up sales because it’s so well written and people will talk about it, and/or (2) the publisher wants to invest in this great new author, knowing that over time and with future books, his/her sales numbers will grow. Either way, it’s a gamble for the publisher. And a house can’t afford such a gamble without having other authors who are already proven and successfully selling to offset the cost.

Feedback, differing opinions?

TODAY: Angie Brendt--Angie Gets Cornered

Kanner Lake is growing, you know. Last fall, a good friend of mine, Dimples Wright, opened up a new ladies gym in the old hardware store just off Main Street. Her husband owns the building, and when the hardware store closed, she thought it would be fun to open a little gym for the Kanner Lake ladies. Dimples is a retired history and gym teacher, and is in amazing shape for a lady of our era. Of course, not everyone has the same idea of fun...

Sundry Items

Happy Wednesday, all. Today I have various updates and pieces of information for you.

Blog comments: I’ve set this blog up so that every comment is automatically emailed to me. This way I can keep up with your feedback without always checking the blog, which I don’t have time to do. It’s also helpful because when you leave comments to an old post—no matter how old—I’ll know about it. Some of you have wondered about this. You can rest easy that I do see any comment you leave.

Monday’s post—Sue Brower’s interview, part two: There was some interesting discussion in the comments. Some of you had points to add about the so-called ETPs—easy to place books. Some of these comments were added a day later. You might want to go back and check to see what you missed.

Feedback on anything I’ve gotten wrong: Forensics and Faith is here to inform, not misinform. So please, any time anyone sees some fact here that I’ve gotten wrong, or if you know a point on any subject that I’ve missed, please do leave a comment or email me. I’m really grateful whenever someone take the time to do this. And I’ll be sure to correct my mistake as soon as possible.

Coral Moon Influencer’s List: My assistant has heard from quite a few of you but tells me we still have room on the list, so don’t hesitate to email her if you’re interested.

Update on GG: He’s still on the porch. In the cane chair. Same clothes. Every once in awhile he changes position. Yesterday was most disturbing. In the front yard I saw a soccer ball, a goal net, and a silver scooter lying in the grass. I’ve never seen evidence of kids at that house before. Are these playthings GG’s? Is he planning to try out for a national soccer team? Is he two-wheeling around the neighborhood at night on some nefarious business? The plot thickens…

“Dark fiction” follow-up to Sue B’s interview: In Monday comment's Mark Bertrand wondered if I could find out how Sue defines dark fiction. Frankly, I wondered about her definition, too. It’s such a difficult term to define—and a dozen people are likely to have a dozen different explanations. I wrote Sue and received her answer. We will cover this topic tomorrow. Meanwhile, in preparation for what should be a lively discussion: Tell me--what is your definition for dark fiction? Do you read it? Why or why not?

Influencers' List for Coral Moon

Well, it ain’t that far away now. Coral Moon, second in the Kanner Lake series, releases March 23. Which means the book starts shipping from the Zondervan warehouse on that day. It will start showing up on bookshelves by the beginning of April.

I am excited to see this book release. It was a bear to write. Really hard. But I’m convinced that’s because God took me into unexpected territory. Well, that, and I just find writing hard in the first place. But now that Coral Moon is all set to release, I must say I do like this story. I wouldn’t be surprised if those who liked Violet Dawn like this one better.

Back cover copy:
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The figure remained still as stone. Leslie couldn’t even detect a breath.

Spider-fingers teased the back of her neck.

Leslie’s feet rooted to the pavement. She dropped her gaze to the driveway, seeking . . . what? Spatters of blood? Footprints? She saw nothing. Honed through her recent coverage of crime scene evidence, the testimonies at last month’s trial, the reporter in Leslie spewed warnings: Notice everything, touch nothing...

Leslie Williams hurries out to her car on a typical work day morning—and discovers a dead body inside.

Why was the corpse left for her to find? And what is the meaning of the message pinned to its chest?

In Coral Moon, the senseless murder of a beloved Kanner Lake citizen spirals the small Idaho town into a terrifying glimpse of spiritual forces beyond our world. What appears true seems impossible.

Or is it?
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Are you interested in receiving a free copy of Coral Moon? Those who are put on the book’s “influencer list” can do just that. Zondervan and I ask just a few things of you in return. The kind of influencers we’re seeking will tell folks within their circle of friends and family about the book. Perhaps feature it in a blog post. Perhaps suggest it to a book club for discussion. (Because of the theological questions this book raises, plus the plot, this book would make for an especially lively discussion.) Also, I urge influencers to write a review for the book on amazon.com and other online sites. In this way, influencers help get the word out about the book.

One caveat: You don’t have to do a thing if you don’t like the book. You can write a negative review if you want, but don’t ever feel compelled to write a positive one just because the book was free. Honest kudos only.

I have quite a few open slots available on this list, but they’re not infinite. So if you’re interested, please write my assistant asap: gayle@brandilyncollins.com. Make sure you include your full name and address. And please list the kinds of things you would do to help tell others about the book (again—honesty only). I ask for the list because if I see something on there I can help you with—send support materials, for example—I will do so.

BHCC members: Sigh. How to rate this book for you when I just can’t think like you do? Let me put it this way. Those of you who couldn’t read Violet Dawn, forget even trying to read this one. Those of you Big Honkin’ Chickens who actually made it through Violet Dawn and were amazed to survive—Violet Dawn wasn’t all that scary, I don’t think. Tense, yes. Suspenseful, yes. Scary—well, not in my opinion. Due to its subject matter, however, Coral Moon is scarier, I think. But hey, it’s also a way cool story. So it’s your loss, Chickies. :]

Once my assistant and I put the list together, we send it to Zondervan. When the book starts shipping, your copy will be mailed to you with a cover letter. My thanks in advance to all of you who participate.

TODAY: Janet Detcher--A Dinner Alone

Recently I received this forwarded e-mail from a friend. I don't even know if the story's true or not. Could be just made up. But it doesn't matter. The sentiment is true enough--and one I agree with. So I wanted to share it with you. You can read it as truth, or read it as fiction--either way, it has a strong point to make...

Sue Brower Indepth Follow-up--Part 2

5. You spoke of a "category strategy" in your interview. What does that mean exactly, and how do authors fit into that?

First, the category strategy determines how many books we want to publish in a year. If you look at the entire Fiction category, it is composed of 7-8 subgenres. The category strategy also determines how many books we will try to publish in each subgenre. The team looks at trends and the saturation level of each subgenre to determine where our strengths and opportunities are. We also balance the category by determining how many new vs. established authors we can publish. As we look at new proposals, we need to see how that proposal fits in with our goals and objectives based on the overall strategy.

Here’s a hypothetical example. I receive a proposal in the Contemporary category that I think has potential. I will look at our list for the appropriate year of release and see that our goal is to do three Contemporary novels per year. I have already signed contracts for three novels. I can: 1) tell the agent that I like the work, but don’t have room on my list, 2) go to the team and make the case that this is “fresh” and innovative and that we really need to publish it instead of another Western, 3) or I can try to move it to another year.

A category strategy sets our goals and objectives, but is flexible and malleable.


6. What advice would you give to a writer of ETP (easy to place ) books who'd like to publish a breakout novel?

First, I would not assume that an ETP cannot be a breakout novel. Every book you write, should be approached as the one that will launch your career.

One of the most obvious differences is that the ETP tends to be a shorter novel. I also think they tend to follow more closely to an established writing formula. I would advise that you expand your novel through characterization rather than adding a lot of subplots or additional characters. Enhance your ETP writing by spending more time on character motivation and “getting into the scene.” I am NOT advocating that you fill the text with flowery phrases and in-depth self analysis. Your plot still needs to move and the reader needs to be motivated to keep turning the pages. I AM advocating that a book that changes lives or is memorable has an emotional tug or a real connection with the character.


7. What does Z use when looking at previous sales figures before acquiring authors?

We use a variety of resources to evaluate established authors. We look for market share, first-year-sales, and fluctuations in performance.


8. You said in a recent interview that aspiring writers should go down the to easy-to-place (ETP) road but cautioned "THE ONE THING TO KEEP IN MIND! Don’t expect that your fans will automatically follow you to that big epic. These are two different consumers and the fan of shorter, sweet romances may not have the time, interest, or patience for an epic. They may follow, but you can’t expect all of them to."

My concern and QUESTION: In an industry where first impressions are so important and where writers are quickly labeled and threw into a genre bin, couldn't this path hurt a writer's "street cred" for the genre their heart is really in? People tend to see writers and entertainers as what they first present themselves. Do you have any hard facts or clear examples of where an author made a successful transition from writing ETPs to their desired genre or style? If so, does the bigger picture of the literary field concur with this mode to success?

First I want to clarify; I think that aspiring writers can (not should) go down the ETP road without it hurting their ability to later be published in other formats.

Most of my examples would be in the ABA market. Writers like Nora Roberts, Debbie Macomber, Jayne Krentz, and many other romance and women’s writers started out with ETP publishing. Now those same books are being re-released!

In the CBA, there are several former ABA mass market authors that are now successful CBA authors—Francine Rivers, Terri Blackstock, Lori Copeland, and Robin Lee Hatcher among them.

All I can say is that I don’t hold with the idea that ETP books are a detriment to an author’s moving into more substantial writing. The difficulty I have is that sometimes the sales numbers generated in ETP are higher than we can project for a non-ETP book (what IS the opposite of an ETP?). The author just needs to manage their expectations and understand that they may still be treated like a new author—even when they have several ETP’s under their belt.


9. Is there any room in CBA (or more specifically at Zondervan) for Christian writers whose tone is somewhat dark?

You know, this is very subjective. There are several very successful authors in CBA that write what I would call “dark” fiction. However, for a first time author, it is not likely that we will pick it up.


10. Along the lines of "easy to place" work--what type of theological statements makes a contemporary fiction piece easy to place in today's market? Does one's work need to be overtly spiritual in order to be considered ETP? Does a lack of spirituality make a book harder to place within CBA?

I don’t have a good feel for what is required in ETP books. I do believe that if you want to write in CBA, you should have an identifiable spiritual theme. No matter where you publish, the spirituality shouldn’t be overt, but rather woven naturally into the story. I do think the author needs to earn a certain amount of spiritual credibility with the retailers and readers. After he/she has reached a certain level of success, the author is a little more flexible in the content of his/her books. Keep in mind, though, that your loyal readers develop certain expectations of your work. You risk losing their loyalty when you deviate from your “brand.”

It continues to surprise me that there are some authors who want their books to be published by a Christian publisher, but want the spirituality toned down or not identifiable at all. I don’t want the spiritual content just plopped in willy-nilly, but Christian characters should reflect their values in the way they act and talk.


11. If an NYT bestselling mainstream author along the lines of John Grisham were to approach you and express a desire to write the same kind of stories that have populated the NYT bestsellers list but without any profanity or any otherwise objectionable content, would you be interested? If so, how would the development track of that author go? Would Zondervan maintain his/her presence in the general fiction isle of secular bookstores or would their work become Christian fiction by default? Is that choice even in Zondervan's hands or is it up to the individual booksellers and/or the buyers for those booksellers?

This is a tough one, I don’t have very many bestselling mainstream authors knocking on my door. :) Seriously, the first question I would have to ask is if the book fits our mission. Just because it doesn’t have profanity or objectionable content, doesn’t mean it “glorifies Jesus Christ and promotes biblical principles.”

It is hard to know where the book will be placed. It will depend on what our Sales and Marketing teams see as the optimal positioning. Our partnership with HarperCollins can help us with a strategy for selling to the appropriate buyers.
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Many, many thanks to Sue for taking the time to answer these questions for us!

TODAY: Bailey Truitt--Back to Normal (We Hope)

Well, by now you've all heard the news. The trial is over. We are so very happy for the outcome. God has answered our prayers...

Sue Brower Indepth Follow-up--Part 1

A number of weeks ago some of you sent in follow-up questions for Sue Brower, fiction acquisitions editor for Zondervan, after her interview at Novel Journey. You sent some in-depth questions, and she needed some time to respond. Running today and Monday are her very interesting answers.

1. You said, "(Zondervan is going to be) a company that takes advantage of new opportunities, trends, and fresh voices in fiction." Do you have any idea what those new opportunities, trends, and fresh voices are? Or will you simply know them when you see them? Any insight into this?

It’s a little bit of both. Zondervan has a research department that helps us identify new opportunities and trends. If there is a topic that is ideal for a specific author, we might ask him/her to work on it with us. If it’s totally new, we just keep it in mind as we receive proposals from agents and at conferences. Sometimes, though, you read something that is so unique and fresh that you just have to have it for your product line. These are rare, and the whole team has to have a passion for it before we will acquire it.


2. "Zondervan fiction...will appeal to the core Christian market." Although I have an idea, can you clarify "core Christian market?"

Since we use our mission statement as the filter with which we sift all of our projects, we will always appeal to those seeking “resources that glorify Jesus Christ and promote biblical principles.” Core Christians are those that not only attend church, but also look for resources and products that support their values and help them in their walk of faith.


3. Karen Ball just stated in an interview that most authors' ideas of how to market their work are usually not successful and/or generally don't work, yet that question is repeatedly asked of new authors at every application. How should a new author know what will work for his/her book since marketing techniques seem to be in flux right now with internet exposure and "gimmicks"/ideas?

It’s important that a new author work closely with the marketing department of his/her publisher to determine what tactics will be the most effective. It is probably going to be different for every author. I still believe that an author must have a website and that it is beneficial to network with other writers and writers groups. I also think it is to their benefit to become best friends with their local booksellers and librarians. Beyond that, it really does depend on the author. The most important thing, though, is to partner with your publisher. It’s very easy to duplicate efforts and waste money if you both aren’t working from the same plan.

Now, if you have a publisher that does not partner as well as you would like, here are the things I personally think are most effective for an author to do:

-- Write the best book you can possibly write.

-- Develop a simple website presence that allows you to promote your books and allows the reader to obtain sample chapters.

-- Make sure your website has some way for readers to sign up for updates on your next book. Some publishers have “author tracker” programs that will do this for you and all you need is a link. Otherwise, it is very important that you generate a mailing list. I don’t think you need to do a newsletter unless you have something to communicate to your fans—a new release, a book signing (more on this later) or an upcoming title. It would be nice to also have a place for all your reviews and feedback from readers.

-- DO go out to your local bookstores and introduce yourself as a local author. It’s never a waste of time when the staff knows you by name and is willing to put your book face out instead of John Grisham’s. It is also helpful to introduce yourself to your local librarians. If they have book groups, offer to come in and chat. Doing this may not make you a bestseller, but book groups are easy to do, and they can become a great word-of-mouth campaign.

-- The hardest thing for a fiction author to get is broadcast publicity. Unless you have a great personal story, it doesn’t take long to talk about your book. Do make sure your book is in stores before you do any publicity. It is a wasted effort if the readers cannot go right out and buy the book as soon as they hear about it.

-- I would find out from your publisher where they are sending your book for review and supplement that list with on-line reviewers. The best way to spread word-of-mouth is to encourage people to read your book—what reader doesn’t like to get a free book! If you're going to spend money on something, this is it.

-- If you are in a smaller community, you might also approach the local newspaper about doing an article. I would suggest that you connect with the religion writer and help them do an article on Christian fiction. “And, oh by the way, I just happen to have a new book in bookstores now.” If nothing else, you can write the article yourself and put your new book in the byline.

These are just a few things that the author can do. The bottom line is that you have a strategy and that it aligns with your publisher’s strategy.

4. It seems that publishers, like movie producers, keep repeating what appears to work until it's worn out. Is there a genuine interest by publishers today to stretch the "formula" for "successful" novels? And by that I refer to length and material in that "fresh" Christian voice?

Yes, there is a genuine interest by acquisition editors to stretch the “formula” and publish outside the box. We just have to be very deliberate in our approach. We have to balance the tried-and-true with the “fresh.” This means that there are not as many openings in our lists as we would like for experiments. So to the new author or the author trying to be innovative, it appears that we really aren’t interested.

[Brandilyn here. This is a key issue. The new author already has the harder challenge of “breaking in.” This is because there are fewer slots in any given house for a new author. The house needs numerous established authors’ sales to carry one new author. If you add to that mix content that has a narrower audience or is a further gamble, you narrow your chances for scoring a slot even more. This is why it’s so hard for a brand new author who is “pushing the envelope” to land a sale. With so much going against that author, the writing has to be absolutely stellar.]

Monday, questions 5-11, beginning with: You spoke of a "category strategy" in your interview. What does that mean exactly, and how do authors fit into that?...

Letter From the ECPA

Recently I received this letter from Michael Covington, Information and Education Director for ECPA (Evangelical Christian Publishers Association). Michael very kindly took the time to point out some erroneous statements in my previous posts about data reporting for bestseller lists. (Links to these posts in the sidebar.) He gave me permission to run his letter publicly to clear up these misconceptions. I thanked him privately, but here’s another, public thanks from me for his time and energy. It’s hard researching these issues from the outside and getting everything right, so I’m very happy to have an “insider” tell me—and now all of you—what’s really up.
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Dear Mrs. Collins:

… Through reading your blog, I can sense that you are an influencer in the world of Christian content, specifically in the fiction genre. I have also noticed that you have a keen awareness of and interest in book sales data and bestseller lists. In my current role I am involved in the development of Pubtrack and all data initiatives for ECPA members. Because of my roles in Christian retail and the world of book sales data I thought it might be helpful for you to have some insider information that would further educate your blogging endeavors.

In a couple of your blog posts you commented that STATS was the industry’s first data collection service, then CROSS:SCAN was launched by CBA and then Pubtrack was a “back atcha” to CROSS:SCAN. I was actually on the CBA B.O.D. when CROSS:SCAN was launched and can tell you that while it may have appeared that Pubtrack was an answer to CROSS:SCAN, it actually had been in the works for quite some time.

STATS was developed in 1999 to aggregate book and Bible sales data from Christian retailers in order to help Christian publishers and retailers more fully understand how books were performing out the front door of Christian stores vs. simply into the back door (as is reported by AAP). In 2004 STATS Plus was launched with increased search and analysis functionality and then Pubtrack was first announced in January of 2006.

As you have rightly noted, STATS at one time did have over 900 rooftops reporting, which included Family Christian Stores. As a practice, we have never announced who is “in” or “out” of STATS data, however in this case the retailer made the announcement that they were withdrawing. In your post dated May 4, 2006 you wrote:

“Remember that the sales above were only reported from about 1000+ Christian bookstores. For a rough estimate of total sales of the book in a given month, the formula I’ve heard is to multiply the STATS number by 3. Of course, from current lists this formula would be a higher multiple, since the number of stores reporting to STATS has fallen from 1000+ down to around 650.”

The actual multiplier we have used has been 2.45 for books and 1.45 for Bibles, however contrary to what you wrote; the multiplier never changes for STATS (or for Pubtrack), regardless of the actual number of stores reporting. This is because a normalization factor is included in the output data in order to provide comparative sales analysis.

So, when you look at STATS data you are looking at a virtual 1000 Christian retail stores. This method has been proven accurate +/- 4% and it helps those evaluating the data to look at numbers week over week or month over month to compare apples to apples. Otherwise if you have 532 stores send in data one week and then 674 the next week, you cannot compare aggregate numbers to one another for trends analysis. Therefore, we insert a normalization factor into the tables that averages out the numbers so that you are always looking at “1000 stores,” therefore the multiplier to figure total channel volume never changes. As I understand it, Bookscan uses a similar normalizing number in their data for the general trade.

Going forward, our data collection tool as you have noted, is called Pubtrack. Last week marked the official rollout of the Pubtrack user interface and publishers and retailers will begin using the tool as early as next week. Since this is similar to a beta-phase, we will keep STATS up and running through the end of this year. You commented multiple times that it appeared Pubtrack never materialized. I can understand how you came to that conclusion; however Pubtrack has been around in a tangible manner for more than eight months and has undergone much iteration to bring it to where it is today.

A logical question might be “Why has it taken so long to come to some form of arrangement between CBA and ECPA?” As you have pointed out in some of your more recent posts, the two associations have continued to work together in this area of data since the announcement of CROSS:SCAN. In one post, you mentioned a letter from CBA that referenced, “more news to report in January during Advance 2007!” While we were hopeful that something definitive could have been announced last week, I am not sure that Mr. Johnson was making a direct reference to the CBA/ECPA talks as CBA has made another announcement about an agreement between CROSS:SCAN and industry newcomer Above the Treeline.

Finally (I bet you hoped I would get there), with regards to your comments on bestseller lists, ECPA is keenly interested in tracking books wherever books may be sold and have as one of our strategic goals to implement a multi-channel bestseller list by compiling sales data from all channels. However, as you can see navigating the relational waters with all of the different entities involved is a Herculean task and one that we anticipate could take years to complete.

Ms. Collins, thank you for your ministry and gifting, we appreciate the voice you have in this industry and pray that we can be a source of information for you in the future.

Warmest regards,

Michael Covington
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Now wasn't this guy tactful and kind, even while pointing out my mistakes? I sure thought so. Very impressive. Again, I send Michael Covington many thanks for this information.

Safe Christian Fiction--My Take: Part 2

Please click over to Charis Connection again today for the second half of this post. I'd love to see your comments there.

Safe Christian Fiction--My Take: Part 1

I am posting about this convoluted topic today and tomorrow on Charis Connection. Please click over and read my thoughts. I hope you'll leave comments there. Anything you disagree with? Some point I failed to make? I'd love to hear your take on the discussion.