CCWC. . . As Promised

As I promised the writers in the Rocky Mountains this past weekend, I’ll blog thoughts on writing. The Emotional Architecture class brought the greatest response, so I’ll add some thoughts to it.

It’s really difficult to know how to write out of an emotional architecture without trying it out, failing, and then finally hitting that sweet moment when you realize something is happening to your writing.

While it’s good to read another novel and then write, what I see happening in the manuscripts is a copycat writing. It flattens any hope for personal style or finding a personal writing aesthetic. So if you heard from me that your writing was suffering from either clichéd writing or formula, remember to pull out your hand-outs and try them out. And don’t be in a hurry. Writing is revising.

If you would like to post more questions here this week, please feel free. I’m looking forward to seeing how each of you return home and start making application. Remember that George Barna says if you don’t apply what you learned from a class or workshop within 24 hours after hearing it, you won’t. So start writing today.

Painted Dresses--The Book is Coming Soon!

This is the first couple of reviews to hit the web for Painted Dresses. Couldn't wait to crow!

This first is from best-selling author Liz Higgs:

"Painted Dresses is both wise and witty, full of living, breathing people, rather than cardboard characters. I'm sure I went to high school with Gaylen, dated Braden, partied with Delia, and ran away from Freddy--that's how convincingly they leaped off the page. Amusing at one turn, sobering the next, Painted Dresses captures life in all its messy glory. A wonderful novel from a uniquely gifted storyteller."
--Liz Curtis Higgs, best-selling author of Grace in Thine Eyes

The next one is from a book review blogger on eOpinions:
Painted Dresses

May 01 '08

Pros: "excellent writing, great characters, compelling storyline

Cons: "a bit dark and heavy"

The Bottom Line"Painted Dresses" will stay with you long after you've finished it.

One of my more recent advanced reader copies to show up in my mailbox was a copy of “Painted Dresses” by Patricia Hickman. Hers isn’t a name I was familiar with, so I was able to start into this novel with an open mind and no preconceived ideas. I must admit that I was incredibly surprised with what I found.

Sometimes it feels like life is falling apart for Gaylen Syler-Boatwright. Her marriage is on the ropes, reeling from the impact of her infidelity. Then to make matters worse, her father passes away and Gaylen is left to look after her younger sister Delia. The Syler family has it’s own set of quirks, and the death of her father brings Gaylen back into the middle of it all. When Delia gets into some serious trouble (non-fatally shooting the sister of a local drug dealer) Gaylen takes her off to their late aunt’s cabin to lay low. Gaylen and Delia can’t stay at their Aunt Amity’s house long due to the drug dealer on their trail, but what they find at the cabin—a collection of painted dresses hanging on their aunt’s walls—sets them out on a mission to deliver the dresses to the people their aunt had intended them for. Each dress that Gaylen and Delia deliver unravels a clue to a mystery that has haunted Gaylen for as long as she can remember. A mystery that involves dark nightmares and paralyzing fear. Will Gaylen ever come to terms with whatever it is that she can’t remember to find the symbolism behind the dress from her childhood she can’t remember? The dress her aunt intended for her?

The first thing I noticed about “Painted Dresses” was how much I liked Patricia Hickman’s writing style. There was a graceful literary flow to them, unlike many other authors I’ve read. She painted a picture easily and clearly, making it seem as if the reader is a fly on the wall—witness to everything that is going on, seeing and hearing all the activity of the storyline with crystal clarity. I enjoyed the storyline of “Painted Dresses.” It’s unlike what most people think of when they think of faith-based fiction, but it’s compelling and hard for a reader to put down. . .

The characters of “Painted Dresses” were very vivid and real feeling, an eclectic group of people. The family dynamic of the Sylers was compelling, seemingly like so many families you see every day. Some that wallow in their conditions, others who want so badly to break the mold that they are willing to work hard for what they want. Conclusion and Recommendation I really, really enjoyed “Painted Dresses” and would have to say it’s one of the better novels I’ve read in a long time. . . I think that the conclusion of this novel could have a healing effect.

Release Date “Painted Dresses” is set for release in July of 2008. Recommended:Yes

The Painted Dresses Road Tour

It’s that time of year again when Patty goes on the Road speaking and sharing on life and faith and dropping in to share at a few writing workshops. However, this year, with the release of my July book, Painted Dresses, comes a personal story not shared by me or my hubby before, and that’s of the big mess we made of our lives the first decade we were married. And then of the redemptive intervention of God to rescue us from disaster. It’s the story behind my stories. At times it’s a story stranger than fiction.

The Painted Dresses Road Tour will begin in May and continue throughout 2008. If you feel like you’re running out of gas, or feel squeezed by life’s gas crunch, drop in and set a spell and let God give you a tune up and an overhaul. For booking info, just drop me a line.

Part of my story is set to release in an upcoming Publisher’s Weekly. It’s a story of redemption just as my books carry that eternally hopeful theme—God loves us too much to leave us the way we are.

Watch for book and speaking tour info this coming Monday!

Into the Wild

Last year I read an article in Outside magazine about a student named Chris McCandless who literally abandoned everyone he knew, all his possessions, and walked away from his life. His wealthy parents had given him everything in life including a chance at an Ivy league school. But he took all of his identification cards and cut them up. He pried off his license tag, hid it, and abandoned his car on the side of the road. He burned what cash he had. Then he worked his way north until he reached the wilderness of Alaska. In his journal was later found the entry: Today I walk into the wild.

Chris’s story became the film, Into the Wild, produced by Sean Penn. At the outset we are left to wonder why Chris walked away from his privileged life. But being privy to his internal thoughts as expressed in a journal, we begin to see what seems to be a young Thoreau emerging. But one of his entries is very telling. He refers back to when he had some cash and was able to buy the necessities of life comparing it to life in the wild where he is dependent on killing wild game to survive. He says that he is so much more alive when he has to depend on his own abilities to live.

I can’t imagine the numbness he must have been fighting to get to that desperate point. He was so desperate to feel something that was wholly his, he gave up everything to feel it. There is a tendency among today’s youths to explore more, to leave behind the comforts of their parents’ home and explore the world like vagabonds. Is what we parents have worked so hard to provide for our children really helping them or is it leaving them feeling as if they are missing out on the striving and struggle to survive?

In the end, Chris does not survive. In spite of asking a few people how to do things like skin an animal, he doesn’t know enough about the Alaskan wilderness to overcome starvation. The film left me yearning to help my son enough to make him feel secure in his abilities, but to leave him the wiggle room to make mistakes and taste of disappointment. It’s a rite of passage to fail and then problem solve your way to success.
He has a right to feel and own those experiences and live his own life.

Catfish in the Tank

There’s a story about a fishing company that deep sea fished for restaurant owners off the east coast. Before the ship would return home, the live fish caught and dropped into a holding tank were going to the bottom of the tank and dying. But one day a sea catfish accidentally got in the tank. Those are trash fish, not good for anything. But the captain noticed that with that catfish in the tank, when the other fish would grow lethargic, the catfish, seeing them as easy dinner, would nibble on them. Not wanting to be eaten alive, the fish would swim away. When they docked, the catch that day was fully alive. The catfish was what was causing the fish to stay alive. So the captain started capturing catfish and placing one in the tank so that his fish would arrive to shore alive.

Last fall I had what some might call a mountaintop experience. I had immersed myself in Bible study, digging more deeply than I’ve ever dug. I’ve had other seasons where my Bible study reaped high results. But following that season I felt closer to God than I’ve ever felt. Never had my path felt more sure. I could see what was ahead, what I was supposed to do next. I understood some things about God that rang so true, I thought I was getting at least a taste of what it was like to be a spiritual giant. I also knew that while I couldn’t live on the “mountain” forever, that what I would take back down would have lasting benefit that would translate into a transformative experience. It was like cycling to the top of a hill and then finally enjoying the ride coasting all the way down.

Then I ascended back into what Paul calls “this body of death.” I had to return to life as a mortal. It wasn’t long until life changes as well as disappointments became a weight on top of me.

When we ascend into a valley, we can question our faith. We start to wonder if the mountaintop was real because the reality of the valley is so heavy. But there is a lot going on besides what you’re feeling at the time. The weights you’re carrying, that seemingly have been thrown on your shoulders without your permission, are helping you build endurance. Perhaps you’ve been complacent in your decisions, believing that whether you choose A or B, neither is a bad choice. But in the valley, you see clearly the truth behind your decisions as well as your indifference—you weren’t made for mediocrity. Just lifting your feet and allowing life to carry you along can take you over a cliff. So these wake up calls alert you to the fact that the choices you make are a privilege and a responsibility. This “body of death” carries within it the capacity to make us into beings that can accomplish much more than daily life implies we might accomplish.

The catfish in our tank is a reminder that we can’t just go to the bottom of life and die. God wants us to arrive home having lived life on earth fully alive.

Never Meant to Stay Forever Young

My son had what he called a weird dream. When he said that to us, like it was weighing on him, it was as if God said to me, “Listen up.”

There was a nurse caring for humans who were kept in slots, like pits from which they couldn’t climb out of. She seemed to tend over them as if she was taking a shift to keep them all in their cubicles. Each person had been dropped down into the pit and surrounded by wall-like partitions around the tops of each pit, so they were isolated from each other. As they spoke, it was evident that although they were adults, the fact they were kept isolated and told by the nurse that they were just fine the way they were, that they were like infants in adult bodies. The things that came out of their mouths were foolish, like the babblings of little children. Then a light shone, as if from heaven, and it was time for this nurse to leave so another nurse came in to take her place.

It was troubling my son, I could tell. And then this came to me: There are deceptive spirits that control people’s lives. They hover over them, keeping them in their pit so that they are never able to reach their full potential or maturity as a fully formed adult. The Bible says that the devil comes as an angel of light, to deceive and blind others. I’ve seen people floundering in a deception of their own making; they go around looking for people to agree with their bad choices, to coddle them, if you will. They don’t know they’ve fallen into a pit and can’t climb out because they simply choose to live in the pit soothed by what they want to hear.

There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to destruction. That’s not too popular, but the Word of Truth comes like a sword to pierce our souls. Like Jesus was pierced in the side so that a fountain flowed out of his side, that same fountain, clean and washing away the soil of our pit-dwelling days, also cleans away the matter from our spiritual eyes so we can see the light of truth. And He puts us in His Body, around other confessional truth-telling believers, so that we’ll no longer be isolated. When we’re isolated, that’s when we begin to believe our own press.

Just something to ponder. I don’t know who all drops by this watering hole, but maybe it’s specifically for someone out there in cyberspace.

We're Not So Different

Ever want to lie down and die? Hide under the bed? Think you’re the only person in the world who has your problems? That everyone hates you and that you don’t have one real friend left in the world? So did Elijah.

Ever think your dad's not telling you everything? That your sibling hates you? That other men are after your wife? That your kids fight and behave worse than everyone else’s kids? Meet Isaac.

Ever think that your dreams will never come true? That there’s a conspiracy against you? That lies are being spread about you? Daniel knew events before they happened, yet he spent most of his coming-of-age years enslaved.

Ever think that your past is worse than everyone else’s past? That men will never stop using you? That you’ll never get a break or find acceptance in anyone of importance’s eyes? So did a woman who stopped for bottled water. She found approval in the eyes of the Master of the Universe disguised in carpenter’s clothes.

Ever think that your way is right, that your religion will trump all others until you’re dumbstruck one day to realize you were wrong all along? That you missed God by miles because you didn’t know him as well as you thought? Paul, a man of high religious pedigree, called himself “the chief of sinners.”

Because we go through so many difficulties and make choices that turn out horribly wrong we think that our struggles are what keep us from attaining any sort of great purpose in life. We start to believe that it’s our problems that keep us from reaching into life and pulling out the wondrous plum of happiness that will finally make us realize why we’re here. But it’s in the middle of problems and crisis that all of these people came to realize their dependence on God. Just when each person thought his or her days as a major player was over, God stepped in and showed that His playing field had a different playbook. Are you going through a season of sorrow? Does it seem like you can’t depend on friends to support you when you need them most? Do family members disappoint you? The questions swirling around your wonderful mind have been circulating since ancient times. We haven’t evolved at all. We’re just as dependent on our Creator as the first family that introduced dysfunction into humankind.
PH