Weekend Chat: Should Christian Novels Become Better Movies

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Today's Weekend Chatterbox is about novels becoming books.

Bishop TD Jakes second novel turned movie, What's Easily Broken is about to hit a theater near you January 9, 2009. Although I didn't give the novel a favorable review, I wonder is the story better suited for cinema.

Question: What is your favorite movie adaptation of a novel and why do you think it worked?

Wednesday Readup: Mainstream Christian or Perish?

Today Publisher's Weekly posed an interesting discussion regarding the smart moves mainstream publishing houses have taken to bring contemporary Christian stories to the marketplace. The author further implied a challenge to Christian publishers to make the same choices or else:

“By limiting our choices in publishing and retailing to only those books that have a direct Christian message, we are effectively driving [readers] to buy from the competition.” Reidy called for publishers, retailers, agents and authors to “expand the universe of what's possible in the world of Christian publishing and retailing.”

Source: Publisher's Weekly: Mainstream Houses Market Christian Fiction.

My response:

“By limiting our choices in publishing and retailing to only those books that have a direct Christian message, we are effectively driving [readers] to buy from the competition.” Reidy called for publishers, retailers, agents and authors to “expand the universe of what's possible in the world of Christian publishing and retailing.”

I so agree. Not only are Christian publishers driving readers to buy from the competition, they are driving writers to not see CBA publishers as a viable option for them. Mainstream faith fiction writers, who oftentimes write about urban themes or are African-American writers have been ignored, shunned and sometimes ridiculed for writing with a more expansive Christian worldview. Kudos to Thomas Nelson for giving Nicole the spotlight she deserves.

Kudos to Reshonda, Jacquelin, Pat. The list is growin with more authors who have been successful mainstream writers are Sherri Lewis, Tiffany Warren, Pat Simmons and Victoria Christopher Murray to name a few.

Submit your responses to Publisher's Weekly to be a part of this conversation. Digg the article and mine, then join me on Twitter this month as we begin counting down the best Gospel Fiction books of 2008.

Discuss Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's New Acquisitions Changes Tonight

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, the publisher of authors including Philip Roth, Jonathan Safran Foer, Günter Grass and J. R. R. Tolkien, has temporarily suspended acquisitions of new manuscripts, a company spokesman said Monday...He added, “Every new manuscript that comes in is going to be subjected to a higher degree of scrutiny and consideration than has previously been the case.”

He said he could not be specific about what criteria would govern decisions about what manuscripts to buy, but said that editors would have to prove to an acquisitions committee that the book showed concrete evidence of “market interest.”

(Read Full Article Here)

Moreover, last week I mentioned that some bookstores aren't taking new book orders at the top of 09 to stay solvent.

So how do authors adjust and prepare for these changes?

I'll be discussing these developments with Marina Woods in more detail tonight and what they may mean for authors (both newbies and midlisters) on The Dee and Marina Reports Show Tonight. You're welcome to call in and add to the conversation. Or email me questions to address during the show. The Show airs tonight at 8 -8:45 pm. with a fifteen minute Real Talk After Show. Visit the show and chat at www.blogtalkradio.com/deegospel The call in # is (646) 649-1066.

Dee Stewart

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A Humbling Approach to Organic Spiritual Content

I read many stories that attempt to illuminate and fail. To set a soul artist vertical, upward toward Heaven, one must allow the soul to write.

I read J. Mark's very well done blog entry on Organic Spiritual Content. In a nutshell he provided a few observations on how most Christian novelists infuse spirituality in their stories, offered three methods of adding spiritual content organically to our writing, and then opened the post for more interpretation, discussion and methods to try.

I read the post three times, and believe the post to be a great tool for Christian novelists to bookmark and use, but I felt something was missing. Something that mattered to me and I believe those who worship similar to me. So here is my method to try:

Writing as Worship: Vertical Writing

Continue reading "A Humbling Approach to Organic Spiritual Content" »

FIRST: In Charge: Finding the Leader Within You by Myles Monroe

It is time to play a Wild Card! Every now and then, a book that I have chosen to read is going to pop up as a FIRST Wild Card Tour. Get dealt into the game! (Just click the button!) Wild Card Tours feature an author and his/her book's FIRST chapter!

You never know when I might play a wild card on you!

Today's Wild Card author is:

Myles Munroe

and the book:

In Charge: Finding the Leader Within You

FaithWords (November 10, 2008)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Myles Munroe is the founder of the Bahamas Faith Ministries, a network of outreaches and churches headquartered in Nassau, Bahamas. He is a gifted orator and speaks to audiences around the world as both a preacher in church and parachurch settings and as a motivational speaker at large business gatherings and for other non-church organizations. He's authored more than a half-dozen books.

Visit the author's website.

Product Details:

List Price: $19.99
Hardcover: 224 pages
Publisher: FaithWords (November 10, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0446580465
ISBN-13: 978-0446580465

AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:

Chapter 1


“I’m In Charge”: The Battery and the Wire

Who’s Got the Power?

“The value in each human is the gift they were born to deliver to humanity”



Which one of these is the most important part of a car: the battery or the terminal wire? You’ve probably never heard of the little red wire that connects the battery to the rest of the engine in the car. If you’re like most people you will say, “The battery. It has the power.”

Your car has about 60,000 parts. The battery says, “I’m in charge of all of them. Nothing starts without me. I’m the battery. I have the power. Power! Power! Power! I’m the one who starts everything. Nothing starts until I arrive. I’m the power. I’ve got the power to start the engine.”

Does that sound like some people you know?

Well, if the battery is the most important part of the car, let’s disconnect the wire. The battery costs about $150. The little red wire missing from the car costs about $10. You have 59,999 working parts and only a $10 wire missing. Without it, the car will not start. Your car may be worth $40,000, $50,000 or $100,000, but it can be immobilized by this $10 wire. You want to go somewhere. You have something to do! The car says, “I’m ready, but there’s a little $10 wire missing.”

The battery says, “I’ve got the power.”

A spark plug says, “I’ve got the fire.”

“The engine says, “I run the car!”

That little wire is very quiet. He does not have to say, “You need me. You can’t start without me.” All the other parts soon realize it, and they say, “Go find the wire.” The terminal wire was created to transmit electrical current from the battery to the generator and to the engine to ignite the spark plugs that provide the fire to turn the pistons and turn the engine over. In essence, the little terminal wire was designed to be the “leader” in the area of electrical transmission. In the domain of the terminal wire, the terminal wire is in charge. It might be just a little wire, but it could shut down the engine.

If that spot is empty, the car shuts down.

Each one of the car’s parts is a leader. A spark plug can never be a battery. A battery can never be a manifold. A manifold can never be a generator. Therefore, in the domain of the battery, the battery is in charge. It is unique because only it can be the battery — no matter how jealous the battery or the spark plug gets, no matter how much the steering wheel wishes to be a battery.

Each part is important. Every component of the car was designed to lead in a specific area and to serve a purpose or function in the context of the whole. Each one is a leader!

This concept of leadership contradicts the philosophy that leadership is reserved for a small, elite group of individuals “chosen by providence” and entitled to lead the masses of incapable subordinates in need of guidance by those of superior status. It is a direct challenge to what I was taught in the colonial experience of my childhood.

My view of leadership is this: each of us has an inherent gift and must serve that gift to the world. You are a leader. You have power. Your gift is your power. You are in charge in your area of gifting, your domain. You have a leadership spot to fill and a function to carry out. Your gift determines that spot and that function. Just as the value of the terminal wire is determined not by size or cost but by function, your value is not determined by anything but your gift. Someone needs your gift, and you must serve it to the world. You also need the gifts others bear to live.

So who’s in charge? You are! Who’s got the power? Everyone of us.

Weekend Chat: What Feels Like Home? Thanksgiving

My grandmother, Minnie owned a cleaning service in Miami, Florida, but her passion was quilt-making. She made me a quilt for a college, made Selah a quilt before she was born, and then another one for when she would get bigger. And before she died she was working on my wedding quilt. I am not married.

The last few days have been very cold, and so I pulled out our quilts and put them in our beds. Selah hers and mine. And the unfinished wedding quilt I decided to complete for grandma. Last night after I tucked Selah in her quilt and snuggled in mine, I remembered her smell and began to miss her. I have been having family issues.

This morning my mom woke me up to tell me that my great-aunt Kate(my grandmother's twin) had passed through the night. I exhaled and cried. I did. I knew that my grandmother had touched me last night and her spirit was bring Aunt Kate home. I miss her more.

This weekend's chatterbox question isn't so much a question, but an opportunity for us to give thanks. Thanksgiving in the United States is next week. So the question is:

What feels like home to you? What are you most thankful for?

A Night in the Life of Dee Stewart, Publicist Tonight at 9:20 PM

If you missed my teleseminar, you can hear me live tonight with on Blog Talk Radio @infinitemms sharing a day in a life of a publicist http://tinyurl.com/5o5var