Waterbrook makes New York Times Bestseller's list.

Via Christian Retailing
Dinner With a Perfect Stranger(excerpt) by first-time novelist David Gregory has made it to The New York Times best-seller list, making it WaterBrook Press' first title to be named to the newspaper's list. The book will be included as No. 30 on the expanded Hardcover Fiction list on the newspaper's Web site on Sunday and Aug. 21.

Sunday's list is based on sales ending the week of July 30; the book released July 12.

A novella set almost entirely in a modern-day Italian restaurant, Dinner With a Perfect Stranger is about a skeptical young professional's conversation with Jesus about Christianity.

The book also has gained mainstream national media attention in USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, NPR's Day to Day, and Billy Graham's Decision magazine.

WaterBrook, launched in 1996, is an imprint of Random House.

A pretty balanced review of the book can be found at Collect Miscellany.

And catch this--Mr. Gregory sent this manuscript to Waterbrook unsolicited. Yikes!!

Writing to see what the end's gon' be,
Dee

Two Dees & the Tobacco Bride

The weekend is upon us. I know we have been writing:) To keep you motivated through the weekend I am posting an interview I had with Deanne Gist. Her book, A Bride Most Begrudging and this week's christian fiction's focus, currently ranks #15 of the, #1 on the Christian Book Distributors fiction list, and a third printing in just six short weeks. If you have goals to become a best selling published author, stop by her site and read her road to getting published. And check out that cute book trailer.

Is it true that 1/3rd of the tobacco brides survived? If so, why?

The death rate for Jamestown in its early years was catastrophic. The high mortality rate was caused by malnutrition, poor sanitary conditions, clashes with the Native Americans, and various diseases (one of which was malaria).

Why is this story timely for today? what issues still apply to us now?

I think many of us are afraid of something. We are afraid of failure, of success, of loving, of being alone, of death, of what people think. All kinds of things. In Bride, my character had allowed his fear to rule his life.
What I hope the novel illustrates is that you can overcome fear. And the only way to overcome fear is to release it to the Lord--knowing when you release it, that if He chooses to allow your worst nightmare to come true that He’ll be with you and you can be devastated, but you won’t be defeated.

Why did you add the dialogue regarding Adam Lucas an indentured servants?

The research I do for my novels reveals so much about the place and time period I am studying. I try to weave in as much of the research as I can without bogging down the story. I thought it noteworthy that pre-slavery Virginia had black indentured servants who became lucrative farmers and land owners after their servitude had come to completion. They were well liked and well respected in the community. It was something I didn’t think was common knowledge, so I wanted to be sure and include it somewhere in my novel.



Why did you choose 17th century Virginia as a setting?




I am always on the prowl for interesting little tidbits that occurred in our country’s history. I discovered that the Virginia colonists refused to stay in America unless the Crown sent them some women. The Crown’s solution was to empty the female felons out of their prisons and sell them for their weight in tobacco leafage as brides. From there, my research revealed an instance where a woman was actually kidnapped, transported and sold against her will. I decided to fictionalize what happened to her.


I like the humor elements in the novel. What is the funniest thing you
encountered while writing this book?



One of the places I visited while doing research was Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. There was a woman in period costume standing in a chicken coop giving a lecture on poultry. It really ticked the rooster off and he tried to flog her in the middle of her speech. Without missing a beat, the woman swiped the rooster up by the feet and held him upsidedown for the rest of her presentation. Ha! I still get a chuckle out of it when I think about it.



After you wrote BMB did you find yourself speaking in period dialogue in
every day talk?

No, thank goodness! But I did find myself wanting to let the characters of my next novel speak with that same speech pattern, even though they were from the mid-1800s. After a while, I did manage to adjust to a new time period, though.



I don't know why Constance reminds me of Nicole Kidman, but do you picture your characters as current movie stars?



I’ve heard of authors who do model their characters after movie stars. I, to date, have not done so. In Bride, my characters came from pictures of some random persons I found in magazines. For my next novel, I went to a modeling agency and looked through their files until I found someone who had just the right look. Then I asked for their composite card and tacked it up on my bulletin board. That way, I had something solid to go on when doing my descriptions.


Thanks Dee for chatting. :)

Writing to see what the end's gon' be,
The other Dee

New Blog for Christian Fiction Enthusiasts by Christian Fiction Published Authors

From all of us at the Charis Connection
If you're reading this blog, you probably have an interest in Christian fiction. You may enjoy reading it, you may be writing, editing, or publishing it, or you may be taking your first steps toward learning how to create your own short stories or novels. Whatever your reasons, here's what we're about: we're a group of novelists who publish what has been called "Christian fiction," "faith-based fiction," or "fiction with a Christian worldview." Our contributing authors have a few things in common--collectively, we've published numerous novels for Christian publishers. We have a genuine passion for the art of the story. We are dedicated to continually improving our craft as we strive for excellence in every book. We believe the art of story to be a legitimate, viable means of attracting others to a loving God and Savior, who frequently used story to communicate deep truths. We believe in what we're doing and have made a commitment of our time, effort, and faith to constantly deepen the quality and broaden the outreach of fiction written from the perspective of a believer in Christ. Our ultimate purpose is to glorify the One who gave us the gift of creativity. Whatever brought you here, we hope you receive a blessing from your visit.

Guerilla Book Promotion: Ain't No Valley

To celebrate Ain't No Valley's release, The Ripe Harvest and Bethany House will award four $1,000 scholarships and one $1,500 award. Scholarships will be awarded in two age groups, 16-21 years and over 21 years of age.

Entrants should submit an essay (maximum 1,000 words) after reading Ain't No Valley. Essays must answer the following question:

Describe the character you most identified with and how that character sought and found a new beginning in life. Now, describe your personal situation and the plan you have for a new beginning.

Essays should be typed, double-spaced, and should include the entrant's address, telephone number, email address, name and age. Completed essays must be postmarked by midnight January 7, 2006 and mailed to:

Ripe Harvest Foundation, Inc.
Ain't No Valley/Get Lifted
PO Box 10402
Baltimore, MD 21209

Winners will be announced in March 2006.

For additional information about the contest and the book, see here or phone the Ripe Harvest Foundation at 410-542-5144.

Writing Out Loud

"Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God"
-Bible verse for thought: Romans 10:17

Last year I took a year long writing workshop with Chuck Palahniuk. Chucky gave us a monthly lesson on his writing technique and a homework assignment. My writing cronies and I critiqued each others work. And at the end of the workshop we wrote to Chucky about our experiences and our goals for this year. Chucky wrote me back and sent Selah and I gifts. My writing grew this year, because of that workshop and Chuck's motivating gift box. I have met most of my goals and at this moment every query I've sent I received an acceptance for submission. But that good record will change, since the fall is my designated short story submission time. (The spring was creative nonfiction, magazines and critical reviews for lit journals.) So of course, I am still a member of the workshop. My creative writing is not as strong.

This summer I hosted a summer reading series. Next thursday is the finale and then I will take all my surveys and reports from the participants and decide if cranking this thing up in the winter is a good move. But during this series I presented a short story that I submitted to an online magazine. I haven't received a rejection from it yet, because I just sent it off. However--with hindsight, I think that the story wasn't right for that e-zine. We'll see. Anyway...

In Chuck's workshop we did a two month study on Reading out Loud/Writing Out Loud. In this discussion Chuck disclosed that he uses book readings as opportunities to get feedback from his audience. Does the rhythm of the piece make sense to them? Do they catch the jokes, the timing? Because reading your story out loud gives you the chance to see how people react to the story, so that you can go back and add beats or change pacing. Since I knew that my writing was different from what I read in the e-zine(an ezine that wants different creative stories)--my work is humorous meets strange, not so cookie cutter...so...I knew I needed to try it out on my audience.

Therefore, at each thirdthursday session I read my story "Straddling the Fence" for the group. I received fifty responses about it, and a nice critique from Chris Wells. All good. Thank you, guys. But I also got to see where I needed to change my phrasing or pull the joke back, or expand upon the seriousness of the theme. And I don't know if they will take it or not. But what I do know is that I have seen people moved by it already. I've heard people laugh right where I wanted them to laugh. I wanted them to get quiet right when I wanted them to and I wanted them to internalize what happened and say Oh! I got that. Hallelujah. And that has happened. So If they don't accept this story, then I'm fine. I'll post it on my online writing portfolio for anyone to read. (I need some new content there anyway.)

This month I'm trying to write a short story for a contest, so I will read what I come up with next Thursday at thirdthursdays and then I will read it at my writing group meeting that Saturday and I will read it again at my Bible Study supper club until its edifying.

So what does this mean, Dee?

When I talk amongst my writing friends we talk about will CBA take this? Will ABA take that? Is it too Black? Is it not Black enough? Who will hear my words outside of the Holy Spirit? And I say from my experience so far--is-- to write and then write it out loud. Faith comes through hearing. If write we our stories and present to them to our community, our church, our children, then we are working in the Body. And that is the most important thing. And--this is the kicker--if we keep writing out Loud, eventually someone will want to help us get our stories past our neighborhoods. Because then we are acting on our Faith. We are speaking to this world what is...
As Christ did when he said, "Peace Be Still."
We have to get out here and speak. Speak like a child speaks.

But there is also some prep work we need to do before we read our stories. ...the Word of God brings Hearing. What kind of hearing? Holy Hearing. We want to hear from God more than any other audience member. So we need do a little prep work. We have go to God and ask for repentance. Repentance for putting too much pressure on this divine work. For not putting him first in the making of the work. In our lives. We have to cleanse ourselves before we speak The Word. We have to prepare ourselves for constructive feedback from God, which will come from our audience. We have to prepare ourselves for when someone doesn't laugh, when someone doesn't say Hallelujah, sister as we read our story. We have to humble ourselves and then, believe--Faith--that what they reveal to us about our stories are from the Lord. We have to prepare ourselves so that we can discern through the Spirit those who will not be there to edify Him. This prep work is tough. But if we are christian fiction writers, then our approach must be christian. It can't be like a def poet stepping a cool swagger to the mic. We have to be humbling like Christ, ready to love.

This month's Celebration of New Christian Fiction Katy Popa gave us an interesting quote as a theme:

... under the imaginary table that separates me from my readers, don't we secretly clasp each other's hands? ~ Bruno Schulz

And that Schults snippet resonated with me. And I thought let me add that here, while I'm on this subject.

If we prepare to speak our works as Christ, and speak them out loud, and observe our audience as we speak, we should want them to grab our holy hands-so to speak-and get the thing that is at the heart of the story(in our case--GOD.) We want that. So we need to read out. Write out. What say you?

For this year's remainder, I encourage us all to at some point to read our stories to someone out loud. Get feedback from the people whom we are suppposed to be writing . Tap into your market, tap into your church and bless them with your spoken word. And believe that God gave you the right words to praise him through your stories, to connect him to others by it. We got it like that. You know?

Writing to see what the end's gon' be,
Dee
PS. I read my blogs outloud before I post.:)

Writing Woman, Writing Christian: Sex Slavery

An excerpt from my interview with Deanne Gist...

I discovered that the Virginia colonists refused to stay in America unless the Crown sent them some women. The Crown’s solution was to empty the female felons out of their prisons and sell them for their weight in tobacco leafage as brides. From there, my research revealed an instance where a woman was actually kidnapped, transported and sold against her will. I decided to fictionalize what happened to her.

Can you imagine--irregardless of whether you're a man or woman--being sold for a tobacco bushel? Do you think we sell ourselves for cheaper than that today?

When I read A Bride Most Begrudging I thought of the main character, Constance's frustration. Here she is this women of royal heritage being treated like a prostitute, a criminal or worse in a world where people don't share her beliefs. Yet, she knew who she was and would not allow that situation to change who she was inside her heart. I believe Constance mirrors what God sees in the church. What our Lord sees in us.

We are precious. We are queens. And here we sit in this world where none of that matters. How do we live in it and stay precious and stay queens of Heaven? How we do remind ourselves that we are Daughters of the King?

Last week I watched a 48 Hours Series on Sex Slavery in Latvia. And it reminded me of the situation in Haiti, whereby Haitian girls are raped as a form of political oppression. Biafran Women were raped in front of their husbands or forced to be raped by their sons. And think about thirteen-year-old girls in Atlanta, who are being pimped and prostituted. And no one fights for their honor. No one fights for the princesses. And I think about our Lord, who died on the cross for all of this , and I wonder what do we fight for now? Why is life this hard for so many?

Tayari Jones discusses a controversial memoir, Confessions of a Video Vixen. She doesn't condone the woman's actions, but she thinks this book sheds a realistic, but horrible light on why we, women are selling ourselves for less than a tobacco leafage:

Read this book and let's think about what it means that there are circles where it is considered appropriate for a woman to be sent over like a gift basket...Forget whether or not you want to blame her, or blame the man, just think about what it means that there is so much traficking in women's bodies. Think about it when you watch a [music]video. Read this book and think about it all.

My daugter is in Kindergarten this year and we had a time finding suitable school clothes, because many of the clothes at the mall were too seductive for a five-year-old to wear. To top that off, this summer our media told us news about two young girls a little older than my Selah who were murdered by one of the girl's father. Two other girls buried alive by strange men, who see them less than prostitutes, less than criminals. And I scream out to the Lord for my baby's safety. How will this new world treat my daughter? If she doesn't play the Jessica Rabbit Vamp? How will she be mistreated because I brought her as up a child of God?

A Bride Most Begrudging's ending gives me enough illumination to carry me through this year and appeases my fears until my change comes. I'm not going to give the ending away. You will have to witness God answering my prayers for yourself when you read the book. :)

Writing to see what the end's gon' be,
Dee

Love at First Fight: Constance & Drew

Deanne Gist's A Bride Most Begruding strikes my fancy. Let me tell ya. Her heroine Constance is trapped in the wrong place at the wrong time. But her life and all the people she touches is changed for the better. Good news to here for time such as these.

The remainder of the week I will discuss A Bride Most Begrudging, Deanne's battle to get Constance's story told, and why I think this historical romance manifests God's romance with us.

Writing to see what the end's gon' be,
Dee