This Gal Knows How to Find that Spark Others are Looking for! Come See How.

We're about to talk to another one of those ladies with a spark. Join me in welcoming Darlene Franklin.

Award-winning author and speaker Darlene Franklin recently returned to cowboy country—Oklahoma. The move was prompted by her desire to be close to her son’s family; her daughter Jolene has preceded her into glory. Darlene loves music, needlework, reading and reality tv. Talia, a Lynx point Siamese cat, proudly claims Darlene as her person. Darlene is the author of fourteen contracted books and novellas, as well as several hundred short pieces. Two of her books have finaled in ACFW’s Book of the Year (now the Carol award) contest: her novella, Dressed in Scarlet, and her cozy mystery, A String of Murders. Visit Darlene’s blog at http://darlenefranklinwrites.blogspot.com/  for information on book giveaways and upcoming titles. She is also a contributor to http://thebookdoctorbd.blogspot.com/ .

SDC: Welcome Darlene.You are fast becoming both a well-known and talented writer, Darlene. And this book about Christmas comes to us in plenty of time before that special time. Before you tell us about your newest release please fill us in on what inspired you with the book(s) you’ve written up until now.

Darlene: I’m blushing, Shirley. I could get superspiritual and say “the Lord did.” I was just saying to my son that I’m a creative person. I lack plenty of other qualities, but I am very creative and God made me that way. I’m grateful for that, and for the doors He’s opened for ministry.

But specific ideas? They come from everywhere. From historical events, folk tales, another book, a town name, a natural disaster, a paragraph in a newspaper, an object I see on the side of the street ... I’ve also grown in my understanding of the market, how to find that spark that sets off a story idea that excites me, what settings sell and what stories haven’t been done to death.

I had toyed with the idea of an artist searching for someone to model Mary, and when our novella group for A Woodland Christmas hit upon the idea of an itinerant woodcarver, I knew this was the place to do it. (Our group had formed with the general understanding that we were doing a “Christmas novella collection set in historical Texas.” It grew from there.) My hero paints the figures that the woodcarver fashions, and he discovers Mary’s model right under his nose.

SDC: Tell us about your publisher and the experience your experiences in working with the one you are with. And also a little more about your story.

Darlene: Barbour Publishing has been very good to me. I started with Tracy Peterson, but when she left Barbour and years passed without another contract, I began to wonder if they would ever buy anything else from me! But then Susan Downs bought my mystery series, and since then I have worked with Becky Germany on novellas, JoAnne Simmons on Heartsongs, and Paul Muckley on non-fiction (short pieces, not books). They’ve all been great.

A Woodland Christmas is my third Christmas anthology. An itinerant woodcarver moves from town to town in the woodlands, delivering “sawdust sermons” that hold even more value than the furniture he crafts. Will the advice he dispenses help four couples find their way to the miracle of love at Christmas? In my novella, The Face of Mary, Mary “Polly” Jessup holds onto a promise of marriage made five years ago, but when Joseph “Joey” Carpenter returns from law school with a new outlook and new girlfriend, her future hopes are dashed.

SDC: What is your theme mainly as you write and what kind of response to you receive from readers who have been influenced greatly by your writing?

Darlene: My tag line is “writing at the crossroads of love and grace.” Most of the time, my characters face some traumatic event, and they discover God’s love never fails and His grace is enough—whatever happens. In A Face of Mary, my heroine’s father is suffering from memory loss, with tragic consequences for the family.

I often hear how realistic my characters are, how I don’t create Christian comic book figures who spout the correct answer all the time.

SDC: I appreciate reading about realistic characters. The others just don't ring true for me. I also love, love, love to ask this question. The answers are so varied. How do you make faith, love, and hope work together in your stories, Darlene?

Darlene: Sometimes there is an overt “faith” element—such as in Face of Mary, Joey is looking for a woman with a character like Mary. Other times it simply comes as the characters’ response to their circumstances. That is more the case in my next Heartsong, Bridge to Love, where my farmer hero is battling New England’s Year of No Summer (snow at some point every month), 1816.


I once attended a workshop that talked about the love triangle in Christian romance, between God, the hero and the heroine. If those are the three points of the triangle, perhaps faith, hope and love are the lines connecting them. The human couple cannot truly love each other unless they are rightly related to God.

SDC: How long did you have to wait before getting published the first time?

Darlene: My first published piece—a devotional—came out when I had been writing for two years. After that, publications were few and far between. My first book came out in 2005 (after fourteen years), and since then, things have snowballed until now I am writing full time.

SDC: What’s your favorite Bible verse or verses that sustain you while you write and why?

Darlene: My life verse. “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[a] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39) God has proved that in the crucible of my life, which in recent years has included my daughter’s suicide and my mother’s death. That is the truth I aim to bring to life in my stories. It’s only because of God’s love that I can write of love and hope!

SDC: Where is your favorite place to go and why? Does it often play any part in your story writing?

Darlene: I suppose it’s to go over to my son’s house and spend time with my grandkids! He lives about 15 minutes away, and I love those babies. So far, they haven’t appeared in too many books (a few devotionals, though.)


As far as book settings, I lived in Colorado for almost two decades. I find it hilarious that I now I live in Oklahoma, I am selling stories set in Colorado. (My three mysteries were set in Oklahoma.)

SDC: How does your family respond to your time away from them to write and do research for writing?

Darlene: Since I now live alone, it’s not a big problem. I occasionally have to tell my son “no” and that always makes me sad. But more often I say “yes.” He’s also extremely proud of me. Whenever we go some place together, he introduces me as “my mom. She writes books” and points to a book if it’s for sale at that store.

SDC: He sounds like a great promoter! Home grown. What question would you like one of our viewers to answer to help me select the winner?

Darlene: What facet of Mary’s (the mother of our Lord) character would you like to develop in your own life?

SDC: That will be an interesting question for the readers to answer. Thanks. It’s been a real pleasure having you here at A Pen for Your Thoughts, Darlene.
READERS: Be sure to answer Darlene’s reflection question above to try to win a copy of her book!

Congratulations to Debbie Lee of Centralia WA. I know you're going to love this book.

Uh Oh, Which Way Do We Go?

Sometimes there are things that lead us into a different direction. Shall we turn here or shall we turn there? Are we afraid to go on sometimes? What goes through our minds? How can we avoid continuing on in the direction we were headed best?
What is the best answer?
And maybe there is more than answer.

Well, let's see what Delia says in our next Writing Tip. And boy did it hit home for me!

A Dozen Ways to Put Off Writing a Novel

Writing Tip #6

by Delia Latham

Writing Tip: It does not matter whether or not you assign yourself writing time each day.

Already, I feel the outrage of veteran writers who adhere to rigid rules of time apportionment. I’ve heard it too: “You must allow yourself a certain number of hours to write – every day.”

And I agree. As a writer, you must carve out a set amount of time every day for writing. It’s also good to have a realistic word count goal, and not stop until you’ve reached it.

So now I’ve executed a complete 360, haven’t I?

No, I have not. I stick to my initial statement: It does not matter whether or not you assign yourself writing time each day … unless you write during that time.

It’s easy to allot a slice of hours and minutes for any given action. It’s harder to use that chunk of time for the purpose designated. If I give myself four hours to write every Monday through Friday, but spend three hours and ten minutes of the alloted time doing something else – even something “writing related” – I haven’t accomplished what I set out to do.

I’ve put together a list of ways to sabotage writing time. If they’re not familiar, you’re probably one of the few authors who has learned to avoid procrastination. Good for you! I’m impressed. But I’m not quite there yet, and I have a feeling I’m not alone. Thus this list.

Novel Detours

1. Check e-mail. It must be done, but not during writing time. Checking leads to answering. Answering leads to chatting. Chatting lead to lots … and lots … of lost time.

2. Visit a Social Networking Site. Facebook, Shoutlife, Twitter … to mention just a few. Networking is important, even crucial to building a platform. But writing time is exactly that: time for writing. Networking is not writing, and is incredibly time consuming. Find another time slot for it.

3. Research. It’s unavoidable if you want to make a novel accurate and true-to-life. But it is not writing. It’s easy to feel self-righteous about two hours spent finding out whether plastic tea pitchers existed in 1936. Trouble is, research gets out of hand so easily. While digging into information regarding an intended subject, tidbits of data about a gazillion other topics show up – and before you know it, you’re looking at those as well. I’ve found, through uncomfortable experience, that it’s good to specify a limited amount of time for research. “Writing Time, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., to include no more than one hour of research.” (Better yet, save yourself a headache and just make the pitcher a pitcher – must it be plastic?)

4. Write other things. Like I’m doing right now. Instead of plowing ahead on my current WIP – an inspirational novel – I’m procrastinating by writing about procrastination. Between projects, this article would be an excellent way to fill my fiercely guarded writing time. But until that novel is finished, I’ll simply find myself another hour or so closer to my deadline, while my characters remain frozen in time, right where I left them yesterday. Articles, short stories, fillers, greeting card verse … they’re all commendable projects. But none get a novel written. Unless and until the author develops an iron will and rigid self-discipline, it’s a good idea to work on the novel to the exclusion of everything else. Once you’ve mastered the ability to park yourself in your writing spot at the same time every day, for the same length of time, then who knows? You may be fine with adding other writing projects to the mix.

Or maybe not.

5. Edit what you’ve already written. I wish I could reclaim all the time I spent editing my last novel. To avoid dealing with a rock wall of writer’s block, I edited my four existing chapters over and over – and over – for nearly a year. When I finally forbade myself the right to change a single word until the book was finished, I broke through that stubborn wall and started writing. It wasn’t necessarily good writing at first. But I was putting words together and making sentences about the characters and situations in that novel. I had plenty of opportunity to cull out the awful stuff later – when the story was told.

6. Critique a friend’s work. I love working with critique partners. I’ve learned as much about my craft by critiquing and being critiqued as I have by reading books and attending classes. But critiquing is not writing. Enjoy someone else’s work on your own time. (Writing hours belong to your novel, not you.)

7. Blog. This particular form of online presence has become almost a frenzy. And there’s no doubt that it provides a good medium for staying in touch with readers … friends … family … or simply as a personal journal. (Though I have to admit, the idea of journaling in such a public forum makes me break out in hives.) But posting to a blog, whatever your reason for having one, doesn’t add a thing to your work-in-progress. Blog if you must – just keep it to its own time slot.

Note: The above applies to newsletters, as well. Whether you’re creating, writing, or posting news items, don’t steal from your writing time. If you really want to pursue these activities, schedule a time slot just for them. You might think about writing four days a week and working on your blog and/or newsletter on the fifth day. The point is, keep your writing time pure. Mixing it with other “writing related” pursuits will eventually whittle it down to far less than you started out with.

8. Write a review. It consists of more than putting words on paper … first you have to read the book. And writers should read. But believe me when I say reviewing can quickly get out of hand. Be careful how many you agree to do. It involves reading, writing, and usually posting to several different online venues. I also like to take time to e-mail the contact with a copy of the review and information on where I’ve posted or plan to post – and this costs another minute or two. Last but not least, writing a review is “writing related.” At the risk of nagging, I’ll say it again: It adds not one jot or tittle to your novel. Consider including review activities on your to-do list for “the fifth day,” right along with maintaining your blog and/or newsletter.

9. Surf the Web. I’m beyond glad to be rid of my old typewriter with it’s correction tape and smeary ink cartridge. But that trusty machine had one massive benefit: All it was capable of doing was getting my words onto paper. When I sat down to write, I wrote. Now, my writing instrument has become a time bandit, robbing me of precious seconds, minutes and hours. Writers, beware the virtual time warp! You sit down to write, fire up the Web, and ten minutes later your clock has moved forward three hours! Amazing, isn’t it?

10. Play Online Games. I used to visit games.com on a regular basis. After all, even writers deserve a break now and then! I can’t even venture a guess as to how many times I entered a Boggle gameroom for “one or two rounds” and came out only when the phone rang, my honey hollered “hungry,” or I realized I needed to visit the restroom – badly – two hours later. Games are enjoyable pastimes, but even word fun like Boggle and Scrabble doesn’t qualify as writing. Play when you’re not supposed to be creating a novel.

11. Make a phone call. About the time you start to really get into the next chapter, a mental alarm goes off. You intended to call someone today – a friend or family member, a business associate, a bill collector, the winner of your latest blog contest … someone. Immediate instinct is to reach for the telephone, but don’t. Keep a notepad beside your computer. When you remember something you need to do, jot it down. Now you’ve lost ten seconds, rather than the five minutes to half an hour you’d forfeit if you made that call. It’s also helpful to keep a to-do list. Lay it out the night before. Include those calls you need to make, and slide them into their proper time slot – which is not in the middle of your writing time.

12. Take a phone call. Here’s the deal: Ignore the telephone during writing hours. Let your answering machine do what it’s there for. Return calls after you’ve written those 1,500 words or when the clock strikes whatever time you’ve set as “quitting time.” If you’re a worry wart who will be absolutely certain that last call was the local hospital with news that your 25-year-old baby finally crashed his souped-up Mustang, then do yourself a favor and put the answering machine within hearing distance. You’ll actually hear that overgrown infant asking to borrow another hundred bucks, and you can ignore him and go back to work. Most calls can wait – let them.

That’s it - my half dozen little bites of writing sustenance. I hope it’s beneficial. But why, oh why, are you reading this rather lengthy example of procrastination instead of starting that next chapter?

It’s only a matter of time….

(Ah, Delia. You hit the right note with these. And for me, especially #5. I think editing is the story of my life. Will I ever stop?)

 

Delia Latham

Yesterday's Promise

Goldeneyes

Adam's Wings (coming 12/2010)

http://www.delialatham.net/