by Roseanna White | Aug 30, 2011 | Uncategorized
A couple weeks ago I gave y’all a sneak peek of Sandi Rog’s upcoming release, Yahshua’s Bridge. I finished reading it while in Oregon, so now you get a full review. =) I’ll start by giving you the back cover copy.
An amethyst stone draws him to his past. An elusive maiden draws him to his future.
Alexander is born into slavery under an abusive master: a master of his own flesh and blood . . . a man he will never call father. Determined to break away from his master’s hold, Alexander devises a plan to purchase his freedom. but what’s he to do when he finds himself shipped off in shackles to Egypt, disappearing from the of lives of everyone he knows and loves?
My official endorsement:
“Stupefying, stunning, and stirring–Yahshua’s Bridge is a tale that takes the reader from the darkest valley to the highest pinnacle of hope. For anyone yearning to go deeper, this story of hearts broken and promises kept will take you there, and leave you astounded by the beauty of our Savior.”
I don’t give words like “stupefying, stunning and stirring” lightly. It takes real skill as a writer and superb story to earn those words from me–and Sandi deserves them all. This was a story unafraid to show us the ugliness of the world, the injustices that can destroy our lives, the cruelties that might plague us. All these are written with what I can only term bravery. It would have been so much easier to tell a story with simpler conflict and a happily-ever-after for everyone involved–but as Sandi said to me, that would have been unfair to all the early Christians and what they went through for their faith.
But she did a truly amazing thing with this story–she showed all that ugliness and depravity, made me growl and cry at what befell her characters . . . and then used it to direct both the characters and the reader to the awe-inspiring glory of God. For every point of pain, there is one of hope. For every stroke of ugliness, there is eclipsing beauty.
Alexander and Elianna have a story of losing all you have at the hands of the world . . . and finding all you need through the provision of the Lord. In this breathtaking sequel to The Master’s Wall you will learn how great is the power of forgiveness, how over-reaching is the hand of our Lord, how unshakable is the bond of true love, and how magnificent are the arms of our Savior.
Weeks after I’ve finished reading, this is the thing that sticks with me most: that whatever happens to me here, my ultimate goal is to cross over that beautiful bridge of light, to escape the shackles of my earthly bondage, and to finally glimpse the face that has twisted in agony for me, to finally put my hand in the ones pierced for my sake.
Wow, this makes it sound like the story is all message, LOL. The message is there, delivered in a masterful way–through a compelling story. The places Alexander and Elianna take us . . . the fun they have, the adventure they find, the direction their lives take . . . WOW. It’s a journey you don’t want to miss. A book you don’t want to miss.
Yahshua’s Bridge releases is a couple months, and as soon as I notice it’s available either for pre-order or order, I’ll be giving a link. Because seriously–you don’t want to miss it!!
by Roseanna White | Aug 26, 2011 | Uncategorized
Today for my My Friend Friday feature, I want to draw your attention to a serviceman in desperate need of your prayers. This case was brought to my attention by one of my nearest-by writing friends, the lovely Rita Gerlach. Rita’s niece is the wife of Derrick Miller, a brave Army Guardsman who has been unfairly made an example of by the government.
I’m not usually an anti-government person, and I take pride in our military. Which is why when Rita first told me about the situation her nephew-in-law was in, I had full faith that justice would be served. Unfortunately, recent judgment has disappointed us all. Rather than trying to sum up the situation and getting it wrong, I’m pasting below from www.DefendDerrick.blogspot.com. Please read through what this courageous young man is going through and spend a few minutes in prayer for him and his family, and that the appeal is successful. At the very bottom, you’ll find my usual instructions for the giveaway, but I don’t want to take away from this story by posting it here.
***
Army Guardsman, Sergeant Derrick Miller has been sentenced to life in prison with the chance of parole by the United States Military.
During a combat mission in a hostile area an Afghan man was walking inside their defense perimeter and was brought to Derrick’s attention. He was recognized by several men of being the driver of a truck the day before that was taking insurgents to a nearby village. Intel confirmed the convoy but told US soldiers to let them pass.
Derrick detained the man to ask questions because being inside the defense perimeter he knew this man had reconed the whole area. Testimony and evidence established in the trial that the man, in fact, had walked the entire perimeter according to eye witnesses.
Derrick felt an attack was imminent and detained him for questioning. During the questioning the man reached out and grabbed Derrick’s weapon..there was a struggle for the weapon and then Derrick shot him in self defense.
Within an hour they were attacked on all 4 sides in an extreme complex attacked, which was also testified by many soldiers at the trial. The attack was not a result of the Afghan national being shot. The enemy knew where everything was set up inside the defense perimeter because everything was hit dead on. Where the commander was sitting and having chow moments before was hit by mortars. The only reason he had gotten up was because of the shot fired by Derrick.
Derrick having alerted the men to an imminent attack saved many US soldiers lives that day..to which many testified at the trial.
The prosecution said soldiers are overseas to “win the hearts and minds” of the Afghan people and that Derrick should never have detained the man for questions. Our government expects our soldiers to go overseas to a hostile place to just win the hearts and minds. They would have preferred Derrick allow the man to take his weapon and shoot him rather than Derrick defend himself. The military felt that self defense should not have been used because Derrick was putting his life above that man’s and did not win his heart and mind. So now he’s dishonorably discharged and serving life in prison.
There are media articles but they don’ t do any justice in telling what happened. They even name an Afghan man, and during the whole entire trial he was never mentioned. The trial was held in July, 2011.
MORE:
From the article ‘Eating Our Own’ by Dianna West
http://bigpeace.com/dwest/2011/08/02/another-soldier-convicted-for-actions-in-afghanistan-eating-our-own-some-more/
In a contested jury trial at Fort Campbell KY, SGT Miller was sentenced to life in prison with the opportunity for parole (in 10 years) for killing an Afghan civilian when the civilian grabbed his weapon during harsh questioning. The civilian was identified as a possible insurgent who had been walking through SGT Miller’s platoon defensive perimeter observing their defensive positions. After the shooting the unit was attacked in a complex attack and the ANA soldiers assigned to the platoon pulled back prior to the start of the shooting and hid behind a building.
The witnesses against SGT Miller were a soldier who originally supported SGT Miller’s version of events, but changed his story when he was threatened with being named an accessory and being placed on legal hold so he could not demobilized. The other witness was an Afghan translator who was promised US Citizenship in exchange for his testimony. He was brought to the US in January and has been living at Fort Campbell in a base hotel at $630 per month with a dedicated van to take him wherever he wants to go, and has been fed at taxpayer expense.
Basically, the two witnesses had every incentive to testify the way the Government wanted them to — consistent with guilt rather than SGT Miller’s claim of innocence. SGT Miller cooperated in every way from the date of the shooting, but his command lacked the moral courage to stand behind him.
The Afghans run that area of the country. This guy [the victim] was an insurgent but no one in the freaking military is willing to say so to the two-faced Afghans. They had a firefight that night that was designed to kill Americans — all the while the ANA soldiers were nowhere to be seen. They disappeared just before the shooting started and the fire on American positions was such that the guys targeted were sure that they [the insurgents] had recon of American positions due to this guy and his two military-aged males accompanying him reporting on the positions.
That we waste ONE American life in defense of that country is anathema. The country is completely corrupt; they are cowards unwilling to defend their own country, and we have gotten so deep in defending an indefensibly corrupt regime we cannot extricate our military in a way that allows us to maintain our honor.
***
Roseanna again–please, spare a few prayers for Derrick and his family, and leave a note of encouragement for them on the website above–I doubt they will check this one. But because I have an ongoing Friday-post giveaway, feel free to comment here as well for your entry for this package of books, or on any other Friday post in July or August.
by Roseanna White | Aug 25, 2011 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
As I wrote up the posts about the fun time I had in Oregon, picking and choosing what I ought to share and what I ought not, it got me thinking about a few things of the utmost importance to all of us–and how to balance them.
The first, as my post’s title would indicate, is encouragement. Encouragement is one of the most important parts of faith–the thing that edifies us, that builds us up. Encouragement is born of love and respect, either in a general form or a more familiar one. And I gotta say, it’s one of the biggest blessings on my life.
Writing can be a very solitary endeavor, and after years and years of it, you start to wonder about your own work. I once thought myself an amazing writer–then I learned all I’d done wrong. So I set about relearning, honing the craft, and in a lot of ways starting over. I’ve never quite been able to shake the uncertainty that came with that epiphany. Which is good–I needed a good dose of humility (more on that in a bit, LOL). But it also means that whenever I know someone is reading one of my books, I’m nervous. Wondering if they’ll love it, hate it, or give it a resounding “meh.” (Which may be the worst of the three.)
Because I’m so acutely aware of my own need for encouragement, I will always, always try to offer some to other writers, even if I don’t necessarily like their work. They still put a lot of time and effort into it, and my tastes are hardly the end-all, be-all. In Oregon, one of the ladies who had an appointment with me sat down looking totally dejected. Overwhelmed. Close to tears. So rather than just invite her to launch into her pitch, I talked to her first. Asked her some questions about her experience thus far. Then listened to her tell me about her book. And before I looked at a word she’d written, before I knew if she was the next big thing or destined to shove the manuscript in a drawer forever more, I gave her the words the Lord had placed in my heart before this conference–that He does not discourage, ever. He corrects, He reshapes, and sometimes that’s painful. But He never, ever discourages. I really, truly hope that I gave her a measure of the encouragement that I received from others last week.
And encouragement I received by the bucketful. From the other authors who had read
A Stray Drop of Blood or
Jewel of Persia and took the time to tell me how much they liked it to feedback from agents and editors who had read my work-in-progress–I was floating through much of the conference. Yet with every praise, I felt a pang of caution. It would be easy to let the good stuff go to my head, and brag about it all over creation. But I still remember where that lack-of-humility landed me.
Nowhere.
It’s a strange balance we have to strike. Encouraging others is entirely necessary, and receiving it ourselves can do the work of the Lord. But we then have to careful that we don’t use it to do our own work instead. Encouragement builds us up–but the building must belong to Him.
I think it’s important to have those moments of excitement, and to have those people we can share them with. But I never want to forget that when encouragement rests on someone’s opinion, you can bet the opposite opinion is out there too. I cling to positive feedback, and I incorporate it prayerfully into my life. But I have to incorporate the negative too.
So as we all journey from our valleys to our mountaintops and back again, let’s keep the balance in mind. Let’s find ways to pull up our brothers and sisters when they’re headed downward. And when we’re on the top, riding high, feeling great, full of encouragement, maybe that’s when we’ve got so much to spare that we ought to share it with those around us. Spill it onto them, as I’ve mentioned before.
It’ll do good for those around us, then. And also keep us from focusing too much on ourselves.
by Roseanna White | Aug 24, 2011 | Uncategorized
Wednesday at the OCW conference, I took a look at my schedule and realized I barely had time to breathe, LOL. After the editor panel the day before, my appointment slots not only filled up, they got overbooked (slight confusion due to a change, LOL).
My morning was yet again filled with the coaching session class by Karen Ball, and she had us do a really great experiment. Dividing us into groups, we had to act out an argument and record it. Then play it back and transcribe not only what we said, but what we did while saying it. If you’re a writer and find that your characters do nothing but nod, smile, and pace, this is a great exercise to try! (Waving at
Ann Shorey who stepped way outside her sweet self to play the part of a slum-lady, after irresponsible-me to collect my past-due rent. So fun!)
I met with a lot of great authors that afternoon and came home with some precious impressions of some of the nicest folks and their passion for their projects. Wondering about why appointments are important when it’s your writing that should get the focus? That’s why. A project that may have otherwise not caught my attention I will now read through with excitement, because I saw their excitement for it. Don’t underestimate how much your passion means to an editor!
Wednesday afternoon I also taught a class that I called “The Marketing Monster.”
There are sooooo many marketing classes out there that I didn’t really want to compete with them. I didn’t want to cover the same thing they did. So rather than focus on the steps you can take when marketing, I dealt with the attitude writers often have toward it, the fears and insecurity, the resentment we often have of this thing that takes away from our writing time. Had I not titled it “The Marketing Monster,” I would have called it “Spirit-Led Marketing.” My whole focus was on crafting the right heart within ourselves so that then we can follow all those steps in the right way. It was a fairly small class, but the ladies who came responded well, and
one really summed it up at the end by saying, “The other marketing classes are about our actions. This was great–it was about our heart.” If you’d like my notes and handout from this class, shoot me an email at roseanna at roseannawhite dot com, or you can
order the CD for $6 from OCW.
Directly after my class came the autograph party. I had a fabulous time with some of my awesome author friends and also sold a fair number of books, which is always fun. 😉 Overall, my time in Oregon was wonderful and packed full of learning, networking, and meeting with some truly promising authors.
And boy, was I glad to get back to my hubby and kiddos! =)
by Roseanna White | Aug 23, 2011 | Uncategorized
Towering pines, heavy with green, a cool breeze blowing, brilliant sun shining–that’s what I woke up to every morning in Oregon. I come from a very green area, but as my hubby drove me home, I paid attention to the difference in trees. I always thought we had a lot of pine around here, but the vast number of deciduous struck me on Thursday–as opposed to the area I was in in Oregon, with its tall spires of evergreen dominating the landscape. And I got to see Mount Hood as we flew in, a snow-covered cone poking out of the cloud-cover as the sun set in the west. Snow in August–my mind knew this happened, but it was the first I got to see it, and it made me grin.
Tuesday was the first full day of the conference, and a busy one. I decided to sit in on a coaching session class in the morning since otherwise it was free time, and I needed to keep busy to keep from missing my babies. 😉 So I attended a class taught by my own agent, the fabulous Karen Ball. Anything taught by Karen is going to be hilarious, that’s just a given. It was also informative, helpful, and just a great time of fellowship with other published authors.
In the afternoon I had appointments and had the privilege of meeting with some great authors. I also got the chance to chat with other editors and agents, which is a side of things I’d never experienced but really loved. It was great to hear from the agents what they were shopping for their clients, and to share WhiteFire’s vision. It was also fun to laugh with the editors–and didn’t hurt that one was reading one of my manuscripts and kept finding me to tell me what part she was in and how much she was enjoying it. =) I had a meeting with said editor and my agent, which left me floating away on a cloud of hopeful peace.
I think one of my favorite parts of conference were the panels. On Tuesday came the book-editor panel, on which I got to sit. Sandwiched between two editors I really admire, it was fun to hear their answers to the questions the authors asked, and offer my own take on things.
Tuesday I also had the pleasure of checking my email and finding a request to develop a new idea for a story–something that kept me entertained all weekend. =) I won’t get into details just yet, but let’s just say it would be a really fun project, and I love that I was asked to come up with a pitch! The idea I’ve developed has some intriguing history I can work in, plus a few things that should just be pure fun.
Then came one of my other favorite parts of OCW–after the second awesome keynote address by Mindy Starns Clark on “The Reality” of publishing–versus “The Dream”–there was an author reading. Other activities shared the same time slot, so only a handful of people attended, but it was so much fun. Again, I was sandwiched between truly amazing people. Award-winning, best-selling people. Humbling, and also such an honor to be included. Afterward, I was given the highest compliment possible, as someone came up and told me the snippet I’d read brought them to tears.
I went to bed Tuesday exhausted but left feeling that the day had been one for the record books. And very, very eager for Wednesday. =)
by Roseanna White | Aug 22, 2011 | Uncategorized
After spending most of last week in Oregon at the wonderful Oregon Christian Writers Conference, it seems fitting to suspend normal posts for a few days here on the blog and instead share the blessing this conference was for me. =)
I left here with my hubby (after dropping the kids off at my parents’) at about noon last Sunday, on my birthday. I was armed with my two carry-on bags, all my information and boarding passes printed out, and belly full of nerves. Now, I am in general a laid-back, easy-going gal. But this past year I’ve started a list of things that will get me anxious. Tornadoes made the list this spring–and I had to add extended travel to the list this week.
Now, I’m not afraid of flying–I was cool as a cucumber on the plane. It’s the preparation. The nerves of getting to the airport on time, and then through security. I couldn’t eat much for days beforehand, and my stomach was just all twisted up. But the moment I arrived at my gate, I was fine. And soon better than fine, as I looked down at my phone and realized my best friend had called to wish me a happy birthday while I was in the little shuttle train. I called her back, and we had an awesome time chatting until boarding began.
Oh yeah, had I mentioned this was on my birthday? Not exactly my favorite way to spend the day, but all went well. =) I touched down at 9:04ish local time and then called home and read while waiting for the next shuttle at 10:45. Now, I’m not a night owl, and I expected to be beyond exhausted, since this was midnight already my time. But I wasn’t, surprisingly. I held out just fine until I got on the shuttle, then slept through the hour of transport to Salem, Oregon. I got into my room a little after midnight local time, 3 a.m. according to my internal clock. Which worked out perfectly, since I was so exhausted that I slept until 6 PST, which effectively put me in the right time zone. =)
I was extremely blessed to have been paired with a fabulous roommate. Joanna works with one of Focus on the Family’s kids’ magazines and is only a couple years older than me. We’re both morning people, have similar senses of humor, and basically just got along swimmingly. At breakfast Monday morning (a time reserved for faculty and staff orientation), I got to sit with a fun bunch of folks that ranged from some ladies I know pretty well from previous conferences and the blogosphere to a couple hilarious editors.
My next stop was saying hello to my agent, the awesome Karen Ball. And I gotta tell you, I had a real wow moment when she slung an arm around my shoulders, turned me to an editor, and said, “This is Roseanna. She’s mine.” I knew God had blessed me in amazing ways by leading me to sign with Karen–but meeting her in person, at a conference, hammered it home. She is a truly amazing woman, and a real force in the Christian publishing industry. I am blessed beyond words to have the privilege of working with her.
There were a few other moments in the day that made it awesome on a personal scale–words of encouragement for my writing. I also got to hear my first pitch of the conference, from a lovely woman who was so very excited about her story that I couldn’t help but get excited too.
The only conferences I’ve been to before are ACFW conferences, which are wonderful. But I quickly discovered that OCW is something different–it’s more relaxed, much smaller, and has a laid-back feel. But what was the same was the feeling of community, and the Spirit that came each time we all gathered together.
Monday included an agent and magazine/article editor panel, which was fun to listen to, the first keynote address by the fun and funny Mindy Starns Clark, who spoke about “The Dream” of publishing and her path to publication, and then a Night Owl session by Karen Ball on how to make a good first impression with your manuscript.
Take-away from Karen’s session: you only have 10-15 seconds to grab an agent or editor’s attention–make it count! And 95% of proposals they receive shouldn’t have been sent out yet and need more work.Don’t send a manuscript out before its time!!
Monday I also video-called home with Skype, which was a big mistake. Made my baby cry. =( Apparently seeing Mama but being unable to be with me was just too much for Xoe. (Rowyn didn’t seem to mind, LOL.) So we didn’t try that again!
I had a really great start to the conference. Met some great people and knew that the next day would be even better. Which I shall tell you about tomorrow. =)
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.