The Writing Prep Zone

Sandra D. Bricker is a best-selling and award-winning author of laugh-out-loud romantic comedy for the Christian market. Her most popular series (that started with Always the Baker Never the Bride from Abingdon Press) will conclude this spring with Always the Baker FINALLY the Bride, which is now available for pre-order at Amazon.Connect with the author on her website or on Facebook.

  

My name is Sandra D. Bricker, and I’m a serial prepper. Okay. Let me explain.

Every few months, I schedule a Skype session with a favorite girlfriend of mine. The other morning, we had coffee together across the miles between Southern California and Central Florida, and – as usual – one of the first things she asked me: “So how’s the writing going?”

“I’m in the Prep Zone,” I replied.

Because she’s known me for a couple of hundred years, she understood exactly what this meant. Ever since my college days, I’ve referred to the hours before an important date as The Prep Zone. If you’re a woman, you’ll understand. These are the hours burgeoning with activities like a fresh mani/pedi, an extra-long/extra-hot bath, a snack of protein so we don’t sit down for dinner feeling ravenous … The Prep Zone.

My time before beginning a new writing project is very much the same. I have a sort of laundry list of things I like to do to find the appropriate mood for the story I’ll write. It goes a little something like this:

I read. Something completely UNLIKE what I’ll be writing; a sort of palate-cleansing adventure. A Frank Peretti, a Brandilyn Collins, or a Colleen Coble. I like a little something to take my mind off the last project and away from the one to come.

I listen. To music – all sorts of music! – until I find that just-right soundtrack for the story I’ll soon start. When I wrote The Big 5-OH!, Michael Buble made the cut. And I enjoyed him so much that he carried over to the next novel, Always the Baker Never the Bride. By the time I started the second book in the series, Always the Wedding Planner Never the Bride, the classic rock of Bob Seger rose to the top. For Raw Edges (my upcoming Quilts of Love book releasing in the fall), I’d found inspiration in vintage Van Morrison. The music is as important to the writing as the words themselves for me.

I go people-watching. I can sit in a Starbucks or on a park bench or in my favorite wine bar for hours, just watching the folks who cross my path. Every now and then, a platinum blonde with an enviable sense of style walks by…and an Audrey Regan (from Always the Designer Never the Bride) is instantly born!

I scribble. I almost never leave home without a small leather notebook in my purse. When a funny line or situation pounces, I’ve learned to write it down before it escapes. If sudden plot inspiration falls out of the sky, I’m ready to catch it. Not with a net, of course; but with a sturdy gel pen and a page of my journal.

By the time my handsome date arrives – err, I mean by the time I type Word 1 – I usually feel fairly well prepared already. I’ve started getting to know my characters. I know what music they enjoy, what clothes they wear, what kind of person they’re attracted to, and whether they have a dog or not. Because of my prep time, I’m ready to put characters and situations that have already become very real in my mind to the page so that my readers will feel the same.

What about you? What’s the most important part of your preparation process? If you share something that I want to “borrow,” I’ll put you in the running to win a copy of the final book in my Another Emma Rae Creation series from Abingdon Press. Always the Baker Finally the Bride releases on April 1^st.

You can pre-order your copy of Book #4 at Amazon today.

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Nursing the Wounds of Betrayal

I can’t believe she did that! How could she have been so thoughtless? So cruel? So…fill in the blank.

We’ve all felt it, haven’t we? The sting of betrayal is like nothing else. If a stranger had said or done the same thing, it wouldn’t have hurt quite so much. But when you’ve given someone a closer look at the deepest parts of you…shown them the soft underbelly that isn’t for the world to see…let down your guard and trusted them enough to show your vulnerabilities… You don’t expect that person to poke at those soft places in your heart. And when they do? Well, that’s a pain unlike any other.

But what do we do with the feelings that follow? The Bible speaks of the limitless grace of forgiveness.

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”. –Matthew 18:21-22 (NIV)

But…How, Lord? How?

There’s something to be said for understanding your reactions, for defining the turmoil that’s going on in your heart. Much like the physical loss of a loved one, there are stages of our grief after the betrayal of a friend or loved one.

Denial. No way! She never would have said/done such a thing. I must have misunderstood. Let me look at this again because it just doesn’t make sense. She would never!

Anger. Does she really think she’s going to get away with that? How could she have said/done that!?What is WRONG with her? Doesn’t she know…

Bargaining. I don’t want to lose the friendship we’ve built, so I’m going to have to figure out a way to deal with this. I’ll wait and see what happens. If she sincerely apologizes, THEN…

Depression. The reality is sinking in now, and I can’t escape it. My friend/spouse/sister actually said/did that. I just don’t know what to do with this. How will I ever move on? It’s hopeless…

Acceptance. Well. What’s done is done. It is what it is. I’m going to have to figure out a way to forgive and move on, even if it means moving on without my friend. Help me, Jesus.

And so – at last! – we fall into the arms of grace and allow our faith to begin healing our heart and mind. In times like these, I often wonder why I had to go through the grief process, why I couldn’t have just immediately turned to Christ and tossed my burdens at his feet without facing all those demons head-on. But I’ve come to believe it’s an important part of the process. As humans, it seems we have to make our way to forgiveness. As hard as we try, we just don’t have the same capacity for love as the One who IS love, and we have to navigate toward his light in order to reflect it.

Working our way through the muck toward healing and forgiveness takes a little time. But keep your eye on the prize, my friend. And try to remember that pain, resentment, anger…these are all temporary bricks on the path that was laid to lead us through grace to eventual forgiveness. We cross over them; and quickly too, because they have a pretty rapid rate of growth. If we stand there with them long enough, they’ll eat us alive. So we fight our way over them, knowing that He’s waiting for us on the other side.

In times like these, while I’m hacking at the jungle between me and the forgiveness that offers my heart’s healing, a song called Losing (by TenthAvenue North) ministers to my heart.

“We think pain’s owed apologies and then it’ll stop.
Truth be told, it doesn't matter if they're sorry or not.
Freedom comes when we surrender to the sound
of Your mercy and Your grace. Father, send Your angels down.

Oh Father won't you forgive them;
they don't know what they've been doin'.
Oh Father, give me grace to forgive them,
cause I feel like the one losin'.”

Pain, suffering, betrayal…These are the things that make up parts of our lives, whether we like it or not. Pleasant? Absolutely not. But no matter how broken your heart feels, working your way through the jungle toward forgiveness is the only way to the other side. And reaching the other side is imperative. There are no lessons taught, and no one suffers by your unforgiveness…except you. 

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Sandra D. Bricker is a best-selling and award-winning author of laugh-out-loud romantic comedy for the Christian market. Her most popular series (that started with Always the Baker Never the Bride from Abingdon Press) will conclude this spring with Always the Baker FINALLY the Bride, which is now available for pre-order at Amazon.


Connect with the author on her website or on Facebook.

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Trusting God with the Outcome

Believe in God’s miraculous power and trust in His will.

   

The power of prayer and the sovereignty of God are indisputable. God is God, and declaring so helps us to recognize that He governs all things. Who is to say what God can do? When we believe—with all our heart, soul and strength—and trust God with the outcome, His will is done and miracles occur. 

 Though God can, has and does perform miracles without our help, He tells us to ask and we shall receive. So we have a tendency to pray selfishly, seeking only what we want, and base God’s goodness on His answers. God promises to provide what we need, the desires of our hearts, but our prayers often seek what we want. Imagine if God always said “Yes!” to everything.

In the movie, Bruce Almighty, starring Jim Carrey, God bestows His power onto Bruce. However, with this power comes numerous prayer requests. Instead of considering each one, Bruce hits Reply All and answers “Yes.” It doesn’t work out very well. What if God had said “Yes” to Jesus when he asked not to endure the suffering of the cross? Our reconciliation with God would no longer exist and we would have to pay the wages of our sin. It can be very difficult to accept God’s answer to our prayers, but, when you pray, trust that God’s answer — whether yes or no — is in line with His will.

Should you pray for miracles then? Yes, absolutely! Pray for healing from    terminal illness. Pray for God to open each person’s eyes to His glory. Pray for the Red Sea to part again, or for the deaf to hear and the blind to see. Regardless of His answer, God’s love for you never fails. 

God knows the desires of our hearts and, when we pray, He wants nothing more than to grant us those desires. However, God’s plan is much bigger than any one person. Even Jesus prayed earnestly to avoid suffering, but he trusted God with the outcome.

Matthew 26:39 (New Living Translation)

He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My  Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”

God’s plan for you is so much more than you can fathom. Though at times it may seem that He only intends for you to suffer, God’s love for you is great. What happens when we trust in God and demonstrate our love for Him?

Romans 8:28 (New Living Translation)

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

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Sandra D. Bricker is a best-selling and award-winning author of laugh-out-loud romantic comedy for the Christian market. Her most popular series (that started with Always the Baker Never the Bride) will conclude this spring with Always the Baker FINALLY the Bride, which is now available for pre-order at Amazon.

Sandie leads a team of writers in creating the Living It Out daily Bible study for CedarCreek Church. Today's devotion is based on the Living It Out study on trusting God. If you enjoyed it, feel free to check out the daily studies by e-mail or audio podcast by clicking HERE.

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