Writers' Round Table: What We Listen to, and Why

Welcome to the first ever Writers' Round Table on this blog! I'm super excited about this post, and it's a feature I'll definitely want to do again.

It all started when I settled in to starting Jane of Austin and began scrounging about for new music before getting to work. That action sent me on a mental rabbit trail about writing and music and the interaction between the two.

And if it's a big deal, I knew it would be for other writers, too. So to chat about it today I've got a crackerjack group of super talented storytellers who know their way around a playlist! So settle in with a cup of tea - you might just find your next favorite song!

Off the Shelf: Liz Johnson & The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

So delighted to have a new installment of Off the Shelf for you today! Liz Johnson, author of The Red Door Inn, is stopping by today to share about her favorite book, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. It's a novel that's been on my re-read list for quite some time, and Liz's blog is an eloquent reminder why. 

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - read it only if you 

want to be delighted.

A little over a year ago, I met the new girl at work. She was outgoing, funny, and loved books—maybe, almost as much as I do. We hit it off right away, and I knew we could be good friends.

And then we hit a bump in the road. During one of our countless book discussions, she confessed. She’d never read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer.

Fresh from the Oven Sweepstakes - with Katie Ganshert!

It's a day to celebrate! Katie Ganshert's The Art of Losing Yourself and my Reservations for Two are officially three weeks old today!

To celebrate, we're giving away a copy of each book, as well as a bag of cornbread mix and a handmade, hand-stamped necklace. The pendant on the necklace reads faithful, a word that Katie and I agreed fit both books.

Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt: Stop #14 (Pink Team)

Welcome to the Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt! I am a part of Team Pink, and this is Stop #14. The Hunt begins at Noon Mountain time on April 16 and ends at midnight Mountain on April 19, 2015, so you have a long weekend to complete all 34 stops and maximize your chances at prizes!

If you're just joining us, there are two loops—pink and purple—and they begin at Lisa Bergren's site and Robin Hatcher's site for stop #1 for either stream. If you complete either the pink loop or purple loop, you can enter for a Kindle paperwhite and the 17 autographed books from that loop. If you complete both loops, you can enter for the Grand Prize of a Kindle Fire HDX and all 34 autographed books.

Please be sure to keep track of the clues at the bottom of every post in the loop and the favorite number mentioned. You'll need those clues to enter for the loop prize and every number mentioned in order to enter for the grand prize.

(Also, please don't use Internet Explorer to navigate through the loops. Some web sites won't show up using IE. Chrome or Firefox are recommended.)


Hillary here - welcome to stop #14, Pink Loop, of the Great Scavenger Hunt of 2015! If you're just popping in, do start at stop #1 for the full dish. 

I'm delighted to be hosting my friend here today, the delightful Katie Ganshert. Katie writes with great sensitivity and lyricism on a number of topics, infertility included. Read on to find out how her own journey inspired her latest release, The Art of Losing Yourself, releasing April 21st. 

In the world of novel-writing, authors can usually be lumped into one of two groups—character-first and plot-first. The names are self-explanatory. A character-first writer starts with a character and builds the plot accordingly. A plot-first writer starts with a plot, and then creates characters to carry it out.

I don’t fit into either mold.

My novels don’t begin with a character or a plot. They almost always begin with a scene. They’ll come to me at random times. While I’m driving in the car or taking a shower or lying in bed or sitting in church. The scene will play out—so real and vivid and enticing that I need to write it. And once I’ve written it, I need to find a story to go with it.

For my upcoming novel—The Art of Losing Yourself, releasing in a few short days—it all began with a parking lot and my irritation with an Expectant Mother sign. As a woman who has walked the path of infertility, those signs can feel like a punch to the gut. In the midst of my inward musings, the scene that would birth this novel took shape.

Here’s a snippet:

I wasn’t sure at what point the air inside Toys R Us grew too thick to breathe. Mandy’s words had brought in a high tide of what-ifs. What if we were never chosen? What if we went through the same thing Mandy’s cousin’s church friend went through? What if Ben and I were doomed to forever be in this place we’d found ourselves in, with no hope of getting out? I tried my hardest to shut the questions off.

God had a plan…

It was something I believed once, a long time ago. But now?

My hand settled over the flatness of my stomach, even as I attempted to keep the memories away. But they were stubborn, intrusive things, dredging up handfuls of doubt I was so sick of holding. Once upon a time, I naively thought God would bless Ben and me for doing life His way. Yet there I sat in the driver’s seat, a bag of baby items resting in my lap, with nothing but aching arms and an empty house.

A ray of sunlight broke through the clouds and reflected off a parking sign straight ahead of me: For Expectant Mothers.

My composure snapped.

Without warning, without forethought, I shifted into drive and hit the gas, a wild scream tearing up my throat. My car lurched forward and rammed into the metal post. The sign remained standing. Its resiliency blistered all reason. I threw my car into reverse, backed up, and ran into it again, flooring the gas until a loud crunch rent the air.

I blinked several times with the steering wheel gripped in my hands. Then I rose up in my seat. A stork carrying a bundled baby was taking a nosedive toward the cement.

The Art of Losing Yourself Book Blurb:

Just like in my dream, I was drowning and nobody even noticed.

Every morning, Carmen Hart pastes on her made-for-TV smile and broadcasts the weather. She’s the Florida panhandle’s favorite meteorologist, married to everyone’s favorite high school football coach. They’re the perfect-looking couple, live in a nice house, and attend church on Sundays. From the outside, she’s a woman who has it all together.  But on the inside, Carmen Hart struggles with doubt. She wonders if she made a mistake when she married her husband. She wonders if God is as powerful as she once believed. Sometimes she wonders if He exists at all. After years of secret losses and empty arms, she’s not so sure anymore.

Until Carmen’s sister—seventeen year old runaway, Gracie Fisher—steps in and changes everything. Gracie is caught squatting at a boarded-up motel that belongs to Carmen’s aunt, and their mother is off on another one of her benders, which means Carmen has no other option but to take Gracie in. Is it possible for God to use a broken teenager and an abandoned motel to bring a woman’s faith and marriage back to life? Can two half-sisters make each other whole?

The Scavenger Hunt Skinny:

Thanks for stopping by on the hunt! Before you go, make sure you write down the clues.

Secret Word: your
Secret Number: 7, because Danny and I married on 7/7/07 (Yeah, we were one of those). 
Next Stop: Katie's hosting Stop #15! Click here to continue. And if you're turned around, a complete list of the stops with links will be on Robin Hatcher's website.



Before You Go:

You can find ordering information for The Art of Losing Yourself here, as well as the first chapter.

Reflections on my own journey with infertility can be found here and here.

Also, you can enter to win a copy of my latest - and not yet released - title, Reservations for Two below. Thanks for stopping by, enjoy the rest of the Scavenger Hunt!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Q&A Tuesday with Becky Wade + Giveaway!

Delighted to have Becky Wade on the blog today! I've enjoyed getting to know Becky over the last couple months, partly because of her books, and partly because, well — you'll figure it out when you get there. And stay tuned for the giveaway below!

 Hillary Lodge: Thanks for joining in on the blog today, Becky! Share with us about your most recent release, Meant to be Mine.

Becky Wade: Meant to Be Mine is a secret baby story. Yay! I've been wanting to write one for a long time.

Ty and Celia marry in a Las Vegas wedding chapel after a whirlwind romance. He
realizes the next morning that he's made a mistake. They part ways. The story picks up more than five years later, when Ty tracks Celia down in search of a divorce. He discovers that he — they — have a child he knew nothing about.

Like all my books, Meant to Be Mine is a wry, modern (hopefully heartwarming) love story with a faith story woven through.

Christians, Spec-Fic, and the Amish Issue

A good friend of mine sent me this link the other day, about why there isn't more Christian Speculative Fiction on the market, and why the Amish seem to be taking over the world.

Well, Christian bookstores, at least.

I thought it would be fun to blog about.

So let's take a look.

1.) Christian Bookstores don't carry much spec-fic/sci-fi/fantasy.

Sure, we know that the bookstores skew towards a female, and often older, demographic (hence the Precious Moments population). We know that spec-fic readers tend to be male. The two don't meet well. But even if you could get the spec-fic reading men into the bookstores, past the Testamints, and into the bookshelves, you still have a person standing in your way.

The person who buys the store's stock.

We're in a recession. We have been for a while. Though there are sure-bet spec-fic authors like Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker, stores are going to be less likely to pick up books by lesser known authors in a genre that doesn't sell much.

And it's not just Christian bookstores. Mainstreams booksellers such as Barnes & Noble and Wal-Mart are going to buy what they think will sell well in their stores.

2.) "Everyone" is asking for more Spec-fic, though.

Keep in mind that, yes, spec-fic readers are very vocal, but one more thing - they know how to use their computers (this is not necessarily true of Amish Fiction readers. Just sayin'). Mike Duran's inside source (and if my hunch regarding the identity of that source is right, is a solid person to listen to) made the point that if Spec-fic really truly sold like gangbusters, publishers and book store buyers would sit up and pay attention. Really. But they're not. So my guess is that "everyone" isn't as many people as you'd think.

3.) Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker are the big fish in the spec-fic world.

True. BUT there are tons of other writers out there. Bill Myers is one of them; he'll also be keynoting this summer at the Oregon Christian Writers Conference in Canby. Jill Williamson's By Darkness Hid was not only Marcher Lord Press's biggest seller, but won the 2010 Christy Award in their Visionary category. Randy Ingermanson has several books out, Eric Wilson did a Vampire trilogy with Thomas Nelson Publishers, Stephen Lawhead released several fantasy books. The books are out there. You might have to order them, but they are in existence.

That said...

I have to be honest here. My husband has read a lot of spec-fic of the Michael Crighton, James Rollins, Matthew Reilly, Clive Cussler type. (By the way, how much should Clive Cussler be on Dancing With the Stars? Tons, that's how much. He can drive to the lot in his pink car. Sorry. Tangent.) He's also read some of the Christian releases.

And honestly? He usually likes the general market ones better.

There have been some exceptions, but he prefers the plotting in the general market releases. And rather than ignore the elephant in the room, I'm going to go out on a limb here, and accept that I may receive angry letters - there is some really, really good Christian Fiction out there, of many genres. But some of it is not so great. Just because a book is written from a Christian world-view doesn't mean that it's a worthy piece of art or entertainment. I'm sorry. it doesn't.

So. There you have it. I'm not pointing fingers or naming names, I'm just putting it out there.

4.) Historical Romance and Amish are what's selling.

The economy is bad. CBA readers, by and large, are looking for love stories, and they want them in long skirts. Gloves optional. Why Amish? Because it's safe. Because it's cozy. Because their world is simplified. Because our world isn't. Our world is scary and war-ridden and filled with gray areas that are difficult to wade through.

Also,the rest of us look impossibly hip next to the Amish. There are loads of reasons. I did find out recently that the Amish boom is plateauing, at least. Most publishing houses have filled their Amish Writer Quotas, and in an industry where platform is the new black, that means that either you're already in, or you get to do something else. A new sub-genre will get its turn in the spotlight shortly. In the past we've seen Chick-Lit, suspense, and Prairie Fiction do really well. We'll see what comes next.

5.) The popularity of Amish Fiction represents a Christian world-view shift.

This is an interesting idea. In this blog, Mike Duran posits (sorry, watching lots of Fringe these days) that Christians are veering away from material that contains elements of the supernatural, that they avoid the mysterious. Duran argues that the Bible, what with the fish taxi and the speaking snake (oh, and the speaking mule), and the angels and the prince of the air and the curses and the locusts and the food appearing on the ground and the visions and the prophecies food multiplying and the dead being raised (reanimation? Sorry, like I said, watching Fringe) and the RESURRECTION, scripture alone includes a lot of weird. We won't even talk about end-times prophecy.

My theory on the subject is that Christians, by and large, like their spiritually-oriented paranormal material to be served straight-up. By that, I mean they want it to stay within the covers of their Bible. Because outside of that, you've got a lot of tricky theological decisions about what kinds of weird are okay, and which are twisting spiritual truths incorrectly and not okay, or downright occultic.

It's true, though, that many believers like to skip over the weirder passages of Scripture. Other believers prefer to believe a lot of the stranger bits are literary devices. We live is a post-modern world that clings to science and reason and avoids or negates the inexplicable. To think that post-modernism hasn't crept into the church is unrealistic.

Now, to say that non-paranormal stories are bland and avoid mystery is unfair. To quote Proverbs 30:18-19, "There are three things that are too amazing for me, four that I do not understand: the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a snake on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a maiden." Life is mysterious. Romance is mysterious.

There's a lot of thoughts there, not necessarily a lot of conclusions.

What do you think?

The "Why?" of Christian media

This is a subject I've been thinking about for a little while, first in regard to Christian music, and second in regard to fiction.

There's a lot of say about Christian film, none of it really any good, so I'm skipping it for the time being. I may change my mind as this blog progresses.

First up - the book is coming along. Not as fast as I'd like - I didn't make two chapters this last week. The one chapter was slow, slow going. Very slow going. Golf tournament slow. Made for TV British historical melodrama slow (do you ever notice how fond the British are of whispering? Whispering women. Can't understand what they're saying, and it happens all the time. Sorry. Back on track...). But the chapter is finished, the next started, all will be well, and I'm still perfectly on target.

Totally lost my train of thought. Christian Media. Christian Music. I was thinking about Christian music last night while we were doing the dishes and making pizza (note to single women: marry the pizza man). Danny put on Michelle Tumes, and I found myself enjoying it. This is a bit unusual, since I really don't listen to Christian music anymore. The last few years, I've found it all somewhere between homogenous and weird. The last Christian CD I purchased was Todd Agnew's last release. I love songs from his first and second album, but the third had an identity crisis and was too weird (with the exception of the duet w/ RSJ) to listen to in my car with the windows rolled down. The artists I like best are all crossovers - Leigh Nash, Anberlin, and Lifehouse.

The growing trend I've seen in CCM is a gravitation toward very worship-driven music. And there's a place for that. I just can't listen to it all the time.

Maybe it's because I don't live in the Bible Belt.

My guess is that the worship-oriented stuff sells because people can't get it anywhere else. If they want something relaxing, they buy Enya; Country, Rascal Flats; Pop, Kelly Clarkson. Worship? Then they turn to CCM.

That's just my thought, and it may not be true. But it feels true, because if you look at what CCM put out around ten years ago, it's astounding. Early Nichole Nordman, Bleach, Caedmon's Call 40 Acres, The Normals, Rebecca St. James, Michelle Tumes, Early Kutless (before most of the band bailed), and...*sigh*...remember when the Newsboys stood up to the microphone? The Jars' original album, the first W's release? There were a lot of different sounds going on.

Now everything sounds like it's being mixed by the same band of music producers, and Christian music has become much more formulaic. And Christian rock? Rock & Roll (as Jack Black taught us in School of Rock) is about sticking it to the Man. Most Christians don't believe in sticking it to the man, and efforts to stick it to the prince of darkness haven't been terribly successful.

(Unless it's Demon Hunter, as my brother pointed out, especially with their 2007 release Storm the Gates of Hell. But that's Demon Hunter, and they're hard core.)

So that was my music theory: people don't buy Christian music unless they have to. Then I started wondering if they do the same with Christian fiction. Because what sells best in Chistian fiction is the really safe stuff. Edgy and applicable isn't selling, not unless it's historical or (here it comes...) Amish. If people want to think and read at the same time, they'll pick up something secular, or worse yet, non-fiction (gasp!).

(I heard you, back there in the corner with the nasally voice, there's The Shack. It know. It's just the one shack, though. There's a whole lot of non-shack drowning it out.)

I blog about Christian media fairly reguarly, because it's a real head-scratcher to me. I am heartened that Red's new release is second on Billboard's Christian charts, but then again we've got the fact that Christian media is a segregated art form, placed far away from secular fiction shelves and certain away from its musical genre counterparts.

Don't know what to do about this, because all of it's run by businesses who want to stay in business. Darn them. They want to produce things that will sell. And that's tough in a rocky economy.

Pray that the economy turns around. Economy turns around, recording labels and publishing houses get to a point when they can afford to take the occasional risk. I miss risks. They can be fun to listen to.