Merry Christmas from us all...

With love to all of you from Bonnie, Debbie, Katy, Latayne, Patti and Sharon:

CHRIST, COME SOFTLY

(acrostic poem)

Christ, come softly: the uneven way

Has been prepared. Though angels

Rampant crowd the skies, each one

In his own way praising Thee-- Softly,

Softly come. Through tribulation and joy,

This night whispers hope.

(In exultation, my heart's own voice

Sings! And even the voiceless and deaf rejoice!)

But silvered silence sighs. The skies are emptied now, and

Only for now, this Logos-Child speaks not.

Remembering vows, and veils, and the cup to come, He

Now sleeps. Softly, softly: Christ.

--Latayne C. Scott

Twelve whatever doing whatever....

We have a winner for the twelfth day of Christmas... and not without some merry ole' yuletide confusion.

The contest was to find an author or title in "Twelve Lords a-Leaping" which sounds suspiciously like the previous "Ten Lords a-Leaping..."

The lyrics site I consulted had those fellows leaping on the twelfth day.

But I think it reflects what we all knew -- by the time you get to the end of this song you don't really care why they're doing whatever they do on what day. I lost interest when I was 12. Or maybe it was 10. While I was leaping or drumming or....

ANYHOW... the winner of Shout of the Bridegroom is Carmen Sandman. Please email us your snail mail address, and congratulations, Carmen!

Novel Matters Celebrates!

When our agents contacted us, just over a year ago, to suggest we come together and team blog, I'd never heard of Bonnie Grove, Patti Hill, or Latayne Scott. At first - can you believe it, with each woman so different? - I had trouble remembering which was which. On our first conference call, we had to state our names every time we talked.

Sharon and Debbie I already knew and loved, and Wendy assured us we would all get along extremely well, and that the blog would be a great way to encourage the reading and writing of up-market fiction. It seemed a smart idea.

How little I knew. This blog - my friendships with these ladies, as well as the opportunity to enter into your reading and writing lives and to invite you into ours, has been an extravagant gift.
Today we are looking back on a great year, and looking forward to an even better 2010.

~

I came to the blogging world kicking and screaming. How in the world did I expect to fit another writing assignment into my already FULL schedule? And honestly, who cared a wit about what I had to say?

Then I met my blogging partners.

Of course, there was room for Debbie, Bonnie, Katy, Sharon,

and Latayne! If my schedule required slicing and dicing--and it did, fine. Anything to make room for these wonderfully talented, gut-splittingly funny, and precious-to-Jesus (and me) ladies.

I need these ladies. They cover for me and teach me things about writing I didn't know I should know. They walk faithfully with the Savior, mimic Him in His love. They pray for me. Encourage me. Love me.

No more kicking and screaming here.

And to all of you who drop by to share, thank you very, VERY much. I've learned so much from you, been challenged to look at writing from a new vantage and been encouraged by your thoughtful observations. You are so generous! I appreciate the precious gift of your time in this world that pulls us all from hither to yon.

As for looking down the road, I'm excited. I have a novel to finish and friendships to cultivate through NovelMatters and SheReads. Coming to this blog on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays is like opening a present. That's 156 presents in 2010! And I like presents.

Merry Christmas, dear readers! Emmanuel! God is near!

~When I began in the world of publishing I quickly learned I was in over my head. I remember saying to my agent, "I need a mentor." I began praying, and God sent me five godly, gifted women. It is a lavish gift (I comfort myself in the knowledge that God is lavish in His giving and not that I have a particularly astounding deficit that requires the faithful attentions of no less than five women in order to tame it). Not a day has gone by that I have not thanked God for the gift of these amazingly talented, intelligent, women.

The blog itself has been a massive blessing. The community built here (and the numbers are growing) has offered so much more to me than I can ever hope to return into it. Help, laughter, a true sense of belonging - I have found it here with you.

A highlight for me was the Audience with an Agent contest we held this fall. We were blessed to read the hearts and hard work of so many writers. You should have seen the flurry of rejoicing e-mails that flew between the six of us when Sharon told us Wendy requested two manuscripts from the top six. I'm looking forward to the next Audience with an Agent Contest (this time Janet Grant is the reading agent!) to be held VERY soon (get those novels polished!).

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a healthy, happy, New Year. Peace.

~

Like Patti, I was reticent to enter the world of blogging -- for two reasons. One, I was afraid it would take too much time away from writing -- as if blogging weren't writing!

And two, I wondered what I might have to say on a consistent basis that would be of interest to anyone. And yet, when my wonderful agent Wendy ran the idea by me of participating in a group blog with authors she thought I'd have a lot in common with, the idea was more than intriguing. For me, it was a way to enter the blogosphere without having to carry the ball completely on my own.

A few weeks later when Latayne, Patti, Bonnie, Katy, Debbie and I had our first conference call to begin working out the details, I couldn't believe how much fun we had, how much we laughed, and hit it off. It was -- to quote one of my favorite lines from Sleepless in Seattle -- magic! When several of us met at a writers' retreat, I thought, no, this wasn't magic, this was inspired. A week with the six of us together at Mt. Hermon Christian Writers' Conference only confirmed that.

This has been a wonderful year at Novel Matters, not just with my five compatriots, but with all of you. You're the reason we do this. Your contributions make all the difference. We're looking forward to our affiliation with SheReads in the new year, and pray that we will be a blessing to you, as you are to us.

May God bless you richly, may you have the best Christmas EVER, and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. Thank you for hanging with us!

It's been a wonderful year at Novel Matters getting to know Sharon, Katy, Bonnie, Patti and Latayne. They have become much more than friends - they are mentors, confidants and prayer partners. Each brings a wealth of knowledge and experience, and a humble, willing spirit. I feel honored and blessed to be among them.

The highlight for me was the privilege of being together at the Mount Hermon Writer's Conference last spring. It has also been a privilege to be part of the Audience with an Agent contest, to read the heart of writers and hopefully help someone move toward representation.

I wondered initially about the commitment involved in blogging regularly with seasoned bloggers, but we have a great support system in each other. When one is overwhelmed by deadlines and/or family stuff or forgets to post, someone steps forward with the perfect post. God always provides.

But the best thing about Novel Matters has been connecting with so many wonderful writers and readers. Thank you for the opportunity to get to know you better. Merry Christmas, and keep writing in the new year!

Well, I'm bringing up the rear of this discussion because I posted something previously and the internet dog ate my homework. Really. And it was an A+ post.

In it, I described how reticent I have always been to share anything with other readers and writers about the writing process as I've experienced it. Such a thing felt pretentious to me.

But with this unaccustomed exposure here on NovelMatters has come a commensurate feeling of satisfaction when people who comment on this post say, "I feel that way too," or, "That's the way it works with my writing," or (best of all), "here's a suggestion for that."

This marvelous partnership with our brilliant agents and the extraordinary other authors has been a great gift to my life. And instead of you readers being faceless emails or elusive postings elsewhere, you have become real personalities to me.

It takes a village to raise a writer, I guess. And you've raised this one up to great heights of praise to a God who has brought us all together.

The Yearnings

You know the drill by now -- for our final day of the Twelve Days of NovelMatters Christmas Giveaway: Find a title and/or author in Twelve Lords a-Leaping!

The winner will receive my book, The Shout of the Bridegroom (what? you didn't know I wrote a book by that title? Well, not all by myself--) and will be announced on Monday.

As we begin to think about a new year, and new beginnings, I want to share with you the poem that won me a scholarship to college. Now, years later, it seems, so, youthful. It was written when I was 16 years old, and although I normally don't publicly explain any poems (they should stand on their own, I believe), I will this one.

My mother was a professional musician, and at the time of the writing of the poem, I was dating a young man who played over a dozen musical instruments. Though I love music (and even took clarinet lessons and singing lessons for a while), I am tuneless, toneless, and incompetent in every sense of the word as it pertains to music. Yet as I sat watching my mother and my boyfriend playing one song after another on our piano, I knew that was a world I would never share.

I would never and can never produce music. But my soul yearns for it. In my mind, I can produce melody. It just never comes out. I hear it echoed and perfected in the music of others, and I deeply love it.

I have the feeling that a lot of readers feel this way. They yearn to express some of the deepest and purest emotions within them, but simply cannot --no more than I can reproduce any of the music I feel within me.

What an honor and blessing it is for me -- and I'm sure I speak for Patti, Bonnie, Sharon, Debbie, and Katy -- to be given words to do that for others. What resonates with you is because you've felt something similar. What gives you insight is because you have a God-shaped hole in your heart that He longs to fill, and we get to be the carriers of words to salve that yearning.

Oh blessed, blessed privilege we have! Oh, thank you, readers, for letting us do that!

OPUS ENVY

I watch his fingers

Teasing the piano

As he caresses the ivory teeth

It purrrrrrrs

Harder now – he strikes

A glancing blow off the black fang

An answering roar

ah Rachmaninoff

just because my soul is not in

my fingertips does not

mean I do not have

one

Our Eleventh Day Winner

Is Ruth Ann Dell!

Merry Christmas, Ruth! We're going to send you a copy of Lying on Sunday and A Heavenly Christmas in Hometown, both by Sharon K. Souza.

You lucky lady, you.

Mwah!

We Love Our Sharon!

Latayne here -- and unabashedly asking for the greatest power on earth: that of prayer. Our quiet strength Sharon is in the hospital with a recalcitrant infection in her foot, and I ask you to pray for her speedy recovery so that she can spend Christmas with her loved ones. We are thanking God in advance for hearing our prayers for full, fast healing.

True confessions and Sisterhoods

Congrats to Carla Gade - you have won a copy of Tuesday Night at the Blue Moon. Please email us your snail mail address.


The 12 Days of Christmas Book Giveaway Contest

We're ringing in the 12 Days of Christmas on Novel Matters. (For complete contest rules, click the link.) The winner of Lying on Sunday and A Heavenly Christmas in Hometown will be announced Thursday afternoon.

On the 11th day of Christmas my true love gave to me ...

11 Pipers Piping

I love the women here at Novel Matters. Love and respect them tremendously. When I consider the gifts the Lord has given me this past year, they're among the dearest. They're talented, compassionate, funny, supportive. They're my prayer partners, critique partners, my friends. I've never been part of what I'd call a sisterhood --- till now. And in this sisterhood I have access to women who really know their stuff when it comes to writing. I've learned and will continue to learn so much from each of them.

~

Debbie's post on Monday about journaling is just one example. She's drawn on her journal entries time and again to recapture the details and emotions of one event or another to infuse into her writing, and it's served her well. Like Debbie, I had several diaries in my early to mid-teens. I got them as gifts mostly, and I loved them. Loved the pretty covers and the tiny satin-ribboned key, loved the smell of them, loved the lined pages, loved the idea of keeping a diary. (And speaking of lined pages, here's a bit of trivia about myself. I'd do just about anything to avoid shopping, and I mean anything. I. HATE. IT. But I could spend an entire day in Staples poring over pens, paper, Post-It notes, you name it. For me, there's nothing like a stationery store.)

~

But while I loved my diaries, did I fill those lines with my deepest secrets or longings? Not so much. The truth is I've never been one to journal. With one exception. Two and a half years ago when we lost our son, a very close friend who had lost her husband only three months before gave me a journal and said, "Do this. Really." And I have. I've journaled extensively in all things related to losing Brian.

~

So no, for the most part I'm not a journaler, but I am a jotter. When I'm working on a novel -- which is always -- consciously and subconsciously I'm ever in the story. I walk side by side with my protagonist day and night, through every ordeal she suffers. I listen when she speaks to me, I take note of scene ideas as they come, and I write it all down. Rarely is the material not used, so I've learned to trust the voices I hear. I used to keep stacks of scribbled notes by my computer where I write, things I would jot down on scraps of paper, on napkins, on ticket stubs, whatever was at hand, then search through them for just the right note as I wrote one scene or another. While I still have scribbled notes at my work station -- which is the ONE messy place in my house, this stack of organized chaos (Hmm. Maybe I'll ask Santa for a a stack of 5x7 note cards and a little box to keep them in. Yes, indeed.) -- I've begun the practice of entering my notes at the very bottom of my WIP document so I no longer run the risk of losing them. Yeah, I still have to sift through the notes as I write, but at least I know they're safe and secure. Unless my computer crashes.

~

Do I wish I had a journal from my days as a 15-year-old runaway in 1968, living on Haight-Ashbury? Or from the moment I felt the first flutter of life in my womb four months into my pregnancy with Brian? Or when I stood at my brother's gravesite listening to Taps? You bet. All I can do now is draw on memory for the things I failed to write about, but I do believe I'll take this journaling thing more seriously, thanks to Debbie.

~

And as we soon draw this first year of Novel Matters to a close, I want to say Thank You from the bottom of my heart to Bonnie, Debbie, Katy, Latayne and Patti for all the ways you've enriched my life. I look forward to the fun things we have planned for 2010. And I want to thank you, our readers, for spending some of your precious time with us. I hope we bless you as much as you bless us.

~

So whether you're a writer or not, do you journal? And if you are a writer, how do you keep track of the ideas that come to you? If you're organized, please SHARE! You know we love to hear from you.