by Roseanna White | Oct 20, 2011 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
I’m going to try to share news in a way that doesn’t tell what I’m not at liberty to tell yet. =) Let’s see how I do.
This much I think I can say: In the last two weeks, I’ve gotten two offers for book contracts. One for a three-book deal. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m not going to say what books or what publishers given that the contracts haven’t been settled yet, but yeah. Wow. I have been one EXCITED woman, and have done much calling to family and best friend so I can squeal. =)
The funniest part was that when I told my daughter (who will be 6 on Sunday! Where did the time go??) about the more recent of the two, I said, “Xoe, remember this story I told you about? Well a publisher bought it!” And Xoe’s eyes got really big, she jumped up and down, and said, “Where is it? Let me see!”
LOL. If only it were so quick. 😉
But it’s really neat to see how the Lord worked all this out at once, and both a relief and an excitement to know that my next writing-year is now filled. I work well with direction. =) It’s also a blessing to be working with these publishers and editors who I really admire. I’ve already had a phone call with the second editor, chatting about all the aspects she loved, the gleam that had lit the president’s eye when she described my story to him, and how excited they all are about this project. Music to an author’s ears!
But alas, after the initial jigging comes reality, which in this business means WAITING. And in the case of October, it means a lot of family activities taking my time. So these next few days I’m going to be making a birthday cake with a pirate ship, cutting out the same from a giant cardboard piece for the kids to play in at the party, assembling a variety of homemade games and decorations, and trying to squeeze research and writing in there wherever I can.
Oh, and I just got a Kindle! That, at least, is helping me with my reading. Yesterday it read to me as I packed books into envelopes. =)
Well, there you have my exciting, amazing two weeks. I’ll share the details as soon as I can!
by Roseanna White | Oct 13, 2011 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
We love to torture our kids. And by torture I mean tickle them, “eat” them up, chase them around, pretend our hand is a monster . . . you know. Torture. The sweet kind. I imagine that’s a fairly universal love of parents the world over, and it’s no great secret why. We do it because we love to hear that belly laugh, hear those delighted shrieks of “No, no! Hey, why’d you stop? Do it again, do it again!” We love to see those huge smiles on their faces.
We love their abandon.
My hubby will tickle me, too, but we often get a good laugh out of how he does the same “gobble” to me he does with the kids, and I just look at him. And usually say, “Um . . . sorry. I’m not as much fun as the kids, am I?” Which yeah, makes us chuckle. But it’s not a belly laugh. Those same simple things don’t result in such instant
Joy once we grow up.
Man . . . I sure wish they did!
The abandon of a small child has its ups and downs. It results in those moments of unbridled bliss, and it results in equally unbridled fits. Laughter and tears in equal measures,
Joy and frustration, love and rage. I’m sometimes amazed at how my kids can go from total contentment in their game with each other to hitting each other and screaming at the top of their lungs, then straight back to fun.
It’s something we learn to control as we grow up, something we teach those kids to do. Self control is important, especially when it comes to those negatives. And those who never learn it . . . end up with reality shows on TV??? 😉 Seriously, that control is a must, yes.
But what are some of your best moments from adulthood? Are they when you’re sitting there, perfectly controlled? Are they when you don’t react to something? No–our favorite moments are the ones where we regain a moment of childhood abandon and embrace the
Joy of life. When we scream our heads off on a roller coaster. When we laugh until we cry. When we let it all go and just
live.
Sometimes it’s hard to do that, especially in this stage of my life where I have to keep the Mommy turned on. Oh, I can laugh with my kids. But I’m also trying to make sure knees don’t collide with heads as we wrestle, that things tossed up in
Joy come down in one piece. I’m trying to protect and nurture and so can’t give my full attention to the game. I
have to do this. I
love to do this.
But sometimes I just wish I could let loose a belly laugh and not care.
And that goes for my prayer life too. That should be the one place I can let go completely, but even there I’m usually trying to protect–myself. I find myself praying, “Lord, you know I hope . . . you know I fear . . . I’m trying not to hope too much because then I fear I’ll be disappointed . . . I’m trying not to expect disappointment though because that would be faithless . . . I don’t want to assume your will . . . I don’t want to miss your will . . .”
But there I need to let go of the control. With the Lord, I need to be unafraid of the extremes. I need to show him the highs and the lows. I need to be unafraid of letting that kid inside me out before my Father.
I need to embrace the abandon.
~*~
On a different note, I making another change to my Friday posts and doing a Faith on Fridays theme instead of giveaways, etc. I’ll have occasional faith-themed guest posts, but mostly I’d like to begin an online weekly Bible study. I’ll post the chapter of the week and my thoughts on it, and hopefully we’ll get a discussion going on it.
So tomorrow we’ll begin with I Corinthians 1. Hope y’all will join in!
by Roseanna White | Oct 6, 2011 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
Round about five and a half years ago, my family started a church. Why? Because we felt the conviction to worship on the Sabbath, and there were no sabbath-keeping churches around whose doctrines we believed in. So we became a branch church of a Seventh Day Baptist church in Pennsylvania and went about establishing ourselves.
These past years, we’ve rented two different buildings, trusting the Lord to provide one of our own in His time. And the time has come. This last week we stepped into our new old church for the first time as owners and knew beyond doubt we were home.
This might be hard to understand if you’ve never attended a small church bound by the restrictions of the place you’re renting, but wow. It’s so amazing to realize we can now do whatever the Lord asks of us, without having to ask the building’s owners for permission! Book clubs and movie nights, dinners and clothing drives. All sorts of things we’ve been wanting to start but couldn’t.
On Sunday I went over and scrubbed the hardwood in the sanctuary. I got sweaty, sore, and tired, but it was a labor of love. An offering to the Lord. An investment in this home He’s given us. We as a congregation have a lot of hard work ahead of us to make this old country church vibrant again, but it’s work we’re looking forward to.
And I love pausing a moment to look at when things happen. In the life of the church, it came exactly when we needed it to, when we had worked through some issues and were ready to surrender entirely to Him. And personally, it came just as I am (momentarily) between projects. One book is finished, at committee, and ready to be decided on in the next week (pray, please!!). The one due out in December has undergone its final edits, so I have nothing more to do on it right now. And my next project is still awaiting approval from my editor, so there’s no point in diving in if she’s going to ask for major changes to the idea. I’ve got a ton of editing to do for WhiteFire, but that’s all.
So here I am . . . ready and able to give of my time.
It’s a good time, a hopeful time. A time when potential and possibilities are all shimmering on the horizon. No disappointments or frustrations yet. No failures or setbacks.
In a lot of ways, it’s exactly like where I am with
Love Finds You in Annapolis, Maryland. It’s a pretty blissful time, these months leading up to release, when there are no bad sales numbers to haunt you or negative reviews to upset you. All potential. All hope.
I’m optimistic enough to blindly say that potential will lead to a realization of blessing. I’m realistic enough to know that’s no guarantee. And I’m experienced enough to know that no matter what comes in a month or a year, this time is meant to be savored for exactly what it is–a new beginning, unconstrained by what may come.
I’m going to enjoy it.
by Roseanna White | Sep 29, 2011 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
Back when I worked in the Admissions Office of my college, I made friends with one of the (non-student) staff who manned the office. Patricia was a total sweetheart, and we had many a laugh together over the four years I worked there. At 6’1″ tall, Patricia towered over me. She was more than a decade older, with a teenage son. But we had a great relationship.
One of the things that struck me early on about Patricia was that she offered compliments so freely, and so often. Every day when I walked in, she would have something sweet to say. “Oh, your hair looks good like that.” or “I love your shoes.”
Is there any better way to make friends with someone? LOL.
It didn’t take me long to figure that secret out, so I would start finding ways to compliment as well. Sometimes in creative ways, sometimes in those same simple observations. But you know what? Those who give them freely don’t often get them as regularly, and Patricia was often surprised, her thanks startled and genuine. I began saying in response to baffled thanks, “Hey, compliments are easy.”
It became a bit of a joke between us, this genuine complimenting and then laughing response.
At the ACFW conference last week, I was thinking a lot about Patricia. Not that she was a writer or anything (grins), but because those lessons she taught me about complimenting came back to visit. In a situation where one meets a lot of new people, or people one usually only sees online, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by it all, or to feel a little lost in the crowd. But it takes so little to make someone feel comfortable.
“Wow, that’s a great skirt.”
“You have the most perfect hair.”
“Well aren’t you adorable!”
Easy things to say. Simple to come up with. But not so simple to the person hearing them. To the recipient, a compliment can settle, can lift up, can encourage, can edify.
I received a few at ACFW that made me smile. And I tried to give some that would do the same for others. Because compliments are easy. They don’t cost me anything, they don’t take any effort. It’s no sacrifice at all to say something nice to someone. So why don’t I do it all the time?
Because the one thing compliments DO require of us is to look away from ourselves long enough to notice someone else.
I make a concerted effort to do this, but it took a bit of training. I couldn’t tell you how often I thought nice things but didn’t say them before I learned this lesson from Patricia. Why did I hold my tongue? Couldn’t tell ya. Probably because it was easier not to engage someone at all.
But that’s not who I want to be. I want to be someone who can make you smile, make you laugh. I want to be someone who brightens your day, just as so many of you brighten mine. We can all be a little self-focused now and then, and to a point there’s nothing wrong with that. But I really, really hope I never forget this lesson. That every time someone says something nice to me, it serves as a reminder for me to give even more.
So a big THANK YOU! to all of you who lift me up day after day with your comments and emails, to those who made me grin at the conference with the nice things you said about me. And while I can’t exactly offer individual encouragement to y’all here and now since I have no idea who is reading this (ha ha), I can tell you this: your words make a difference. You’re appreciated and loved. You make my life richer.
Now, accepting compliments graciously, humbly, but without denying them and thereby calling the giver a liar . . . that’s a whole other post. 😉
by Roseanna White | Sep 15, 2011 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
Am I the only one out there slightly amazed that the ACFW conference is only a week away? I knew it was coming. I had in fact thought, for a while, it was coming this week rather than next. But I’ve been so focused on finishing my Revolutionary War novel that until I completed that on Monday, I’d hardly spared a thought to conference prep.
Last year, I’d planned on going to conference. That is, until it came down to needing to register. As I considered it, I remember thinking, “This just isn’t the year.” I had no idea what I would pitch. To whom I would hope to pitch it. Where I was going in my career. I was in the midst of writing
Jewel of Persia for WhiteFire, but that wasn’t something I needed to present to anyone else. Which left me with the same projects I’d pitched before and the distinct idea that nothing would come of it.
So my hubby and I made the decision to focus on growing WhiteFire and forgo conference last year. “I’ll have a better idea of where I am next year, I think.” So we went on vacation. And had a beautiful, perfect time with the family.
I’m still amazed at all that’s happened in a year. Not only did I renew acquaintances with a few editors that I value super highly, but I also wrote and sold a book to Summerside that’s coming out
in two and a half months!! I’ve gotten to watch
Jewel of Persia take off, which is super exciting. And we’ve expanded WhiteFire with some of the best books I’ve read in years.
All in all a great year. And I felt definite peace about going to ACFW this year. Registered, paid, signed up for my classes, even volunteered. When I did all this, I had this idea that I needed to connect with every possible editor, and a vague one that it may be time to search for a new agent, as my original one was focusing on publishing. I kept thinking, “Okay, I’ve got
Annapolis. But what about after that??” I thought I’d be pitching anything I could.
Since registering, I’ve signed with the amazing Karen Ball as my agent. I’ve got two other deals on the line, though certainly not guaranteed. And I’ve got this beautiful realization in front of me–I’m not going to the conference this year to pitch. I’m just going to bask in the wonders of the industry I love and see where the Lord leads me.
I’ve yet to get a dress for the award’s banquet (which I had two months ahead of time last time I went). I didn’t even think about business cards until last week, and I was putting one-sheets together (overview of my genres this time, upon Karen’s recommendation, rather than specific to a book) just the last two days. If someone asks me for an elevator pitch, I may just laugh at them.
But that’s okay. Because I’m not going to be hunting down agents and editors at meals this year. I’ll have appointments, see what those editors are looking for. Talk to them, hopefully laugh with them. And count it a success on that front.
Mostly, I’m just looking forward to these three days of being a writer. Living it, breathing it. Hanging with my peeps. I’m grinning over the fact that I apparently signed up for a career-tracking class taught by my own Karen Ball, whose classes I didn’t realize at the time I would so adore. I get to take it beside my best friend, whom I haven’t seen in two years. It’s going to be a blast!
And yeah, I’m going tonight or tomorrow to shop in my aunt’s closet for a dress for the banquet. 😉 (She also offered me her shoes, which is akin to heaven on earth.)
I’m excited. Not because I’m hoping to make successful pitches, for once, but because I know I’m where I need to be.
I had no idea how right I was last summer when I cited that as my reason for not going to conference in 2010. But praise the Lord I listened!
by Roseanna White | Sep 8, 2011 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
First, I want to thank everyone who shared their story yesterday of where they were on 9/11. If you haven’t yet, I’d love to hear from you on yesterday’s post. Tomorrow I’ll be asking for folks to share the tales of heroism and miracles they’ve heard–from the small ones like Carissa shared, about her aunt’s alarm not going off that morning, making her late to work at the World Trade Center, to the bigger ones of lives saved against all odds. Tomorrow we’ll feature the hope.
Today I want to talk about attacks.
Last night I had some of the strangest dreams I can ever recall. To give you some context, here’s what’s been on my mind. First, 9/11. Duh, right? Second, one of my books going to committee, likely today. Third, a lot of prayer I’ve been giving to my projects, including this new school year with my kiddo. Fourth, and this will seem insignificant, but bear with me, my internet has been crashing on my laptop.
So. In this crazy dream of mine, I got up in the morning like always and grabbed my laptop. Turned it on, and it booted fine. Then went blank. Just–blank. Not to be daunted, I go through the house turning on lights. The switches are on, nightlights are still glowing, but the overhead lights won’t come on. Weird, but whatever.
Daylight is just beginning to brush the world outside. I hear something and look out the window to find four inches of snow on the ground, but only in the grass. In the driveway is my mother-in-law’s Jeep. And in our yard is . . . a reindeer? Looked like it, but apparently it was a dog. (No clue what that was all about, LOL. Probably from my son’s new obsession with Rudolph.) My MIL gets out of her car with people I’ve never met before, people who look like I imagined Sandi Rog’s neighbors from Holland did (see her comment to yesterday’s post). My husband appears and tells me he’s heading out with them for breakfast. I’m fine with that . . . except the light thing is getting to me. And my computer’s still not working. And I’ve got that feeling at the back of my neck that says someone’s here who shouldn’t be.
While my MIL says something about taking the kids for an hour–which sounds like a great idea, since I don’t want them exposed to whatever-this-is, I start to pray. Only my lips won’t move. My tongue won’t work. Still, I force out the name of Jesus.
The lights come on. My laptop’s screen finally displays what it should.
Content, I send hubby and kids off and try to pull up my book on my computer.
It wigs out again, and the lights again go off. Getting mad now, I storm over to the light switch chanting the name of Jesus and glaring at where I imagine this invisible enemy to be. I won’t be run over. I won’t be torn down. I’m thinking, “You’re only here because you want to stop the good that’s coming today. Well, sorry about your luck. I’m not going to take it.”
I put my hand on the light switch. It was in the off position. I push it up. Something pushes it down. Up. Down. Until once again my swollen tongue wraps itself around the name of the Savior.
That would be when I woke up–pushing at my husband’s back and trying to mumble a prayer, LOL, while he says, “Are you okay?”
Now, I’m not trying to say this dream was anything but that–a dream. But as I lay there trying to get back to sleep and contemplating whether that was my imagination attacking itself or maybe a message that I needed to bathe my day in prayer, I had to look back over other times my dreams have had this note to them.
Here’s the thing. I’ve had fearful dreams before. I’ve had dreams that touch on the spiritual, usually when I’ve been thinking about it. I’ve had dreams where I feel the Spirit descend and wash me in His renewing waters, when that breath of holy wind provides in sleep what I need so much in waking.
This wasn’t like that, not really. There was no fear, just indignation that something would dare do this. And when I woke up, it wasn’t with a pounding heart–it was with a desire to give my day entirely to the Lord.
Contemplating what to blog about today, I realized that in a lot of ways, this is what happened on 9/11, as so many mentioned in the comments yesterday. We were attacked. Yes, it hurt–devastated. Yes, we were afraid.
But we stood up. We fought back. We worked together. We claimed the victory long before it was ours.
Today as we go about our lives, my prayer is that we consider what it means to be attacked, spiritually and physically. That we remember our reactions, that we recollect that helpless feeling we all had, the incredulity that someone would dare do this to us. And that then we cling to the real and true victory–the Savior who already won the battle, and the promise He gave us that we can claim that victory for ourselves by the power of His most holy name, His sacred blood.
Today my crazy dream is going to be a reminder to me not to just take it when the enemy tries to mess with me. Instead, I’m going to stand up and shout the name of Jesus. I’m going to do the work He gave me.
And if someone tries to push me down . . . well, I’m going to push right back.
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.