Novel Journey Welcomes Christine Lynxwiler

Christine Lynxwiler considers herself richly blessed to be living the crazy writer life with her husband and two daughters in the beautiful Ozarks of Arkansas. She sold her first Christian fiction story to Barbour Publishing in 2001. A four time winner of the ACRW/ACFW Book of the Year Award, she now has 12 books in print, including Arkansas, Promise Me Always, Forever Christmas, and her newest release, Along Came a Cowboy. She has 2 more on the way and recently signed a contract for a brand new six book series. Christine loves to laugh and when asked to choose a movie, almost always picks a comedy. A romantic comedy, of course. Or as her husband calls it, a chick flick.

To learn more about Christine, visit http://www.christinelynxwiler.com/

It Takes More Than a Cool Pair of Shoes by Christine Lynxwiler

I’d like to start exercising. I just have to get out of my chair. And someday I will. But occasionally I hang out with a few friends locally who aren’t going to do it someday. They’re doing it today. When they talk about running marathons or (if they feel like slacking off a little) 5k runs, I get excited. Me, me, me!! I want to do that. I want to do that now.

My sweet husband helped me pick out some gorgeous running shoes. We dropped a nice amount of money into the hand of the very young saleswoman and I bounced out of the store. Oh, I forgot. After we checked out, I saw padded socks for runners, so I made another cash register run and got those, too.

I came home and dressed in my running clothes. We all know reasonable goals are the key to success, so I picked out a short distance on the gravel road in front of our house and determined to run it. I planned to go a little farther each day. And away I went. I chugged along but before I even reached the turnaround point (still within sight of my house) I turned my ankle and fell to my knees in the gravel and the rest is history. I retired with a wicked-looking battle scar and loads of Band-Aids. My daughters fixed me a tall glass of ice water while I relaxed in the safety of my chair.

Sometimes we’re like that in our writing. We want to be a writer. And we want it right now! We have a laptop. We have a website. Where are the contracts?

People often approach me at book signings and tell me they want to be published authors. I welcome questions about writing and am always thrilled to talk to writers who are working to get published. My advice to those who want to be published is almost always the same. First, learn the craft. Find a good place like American Christian Fiction Writers, or attach yourself to a published author who has time and a willingness to help you, and be a sponge. Keep an open mind and a humble spirit. And grow very thick skin. When I first started writing, I thought every word was magical. Once I figured out that I could actually put together those magical words and make stories (stories my family loved, I might add), I was a monster. I’d stop at nothing to protect my babies. . .um, stories.

Thankfully I got into a couple of critique groups and I kept hearing the same thing. Literally the same words—“The delete button is your friend.” I remember the first time I deleted a whole scene. The pain was very real. But so was the reward.

You may be the best storyteller in the world. And I won’t tell you that if you are the best storyteller you’ll never get published without learning about goal, motivation, and conflict or how to stay in a character’s point of view. But I will tell you this. No matter how good you are at telling stories, learning these things will only improve you. So if you think you could be a published author now and you’re right, then just think. . .with a good grasp of basic skills you could be a multi-published, best-selling, award-winning (and all those other hyphenated words) author!

Unfortunately 9 out of 10 times at book signings, the questions I get aren’t “How can I hone my skills so that publishers are interested?” or “Where do I learn how to write in one character’s point of view?” Instead I hear, “How do I get a publisher to look at my story?” or “How can I get an agent to sell my story?” or even “Would you ask your publisher to buy my book?”

And I totally understand.

I want to be a runner. Not a walker. Not a stretcher. A runner. But deep down, even while I was buying those beautiful shoes and padded socks, I knew that if it was that easy, everyone would be doing it. So it’s back to walking for me. For now. But someday when I’ve got the walking part down, you’ll definitely see me run.