The Times are Changing, But You Still Have Time

by Yvonne Anderson

For the first time ever, I forgot to change my clocks Saturday night for the time change Sunday.

The only consequence, fortunately, was getting up with my cell phone alarm at 6:00, staggering into the kitchen to turn on the coffee, seeing the clock on the microwave saying 5:00, and thinking Huh? Then I remembered: It's Daylight Savings Time.

It was disappointing to realize the microwave clock lied to me and I couldn’t go back to sleep for another hour. But I’m thankful for my self-adjusting cell phone alarm. Without it, my whole morning would have been thrown out of whack.

Speaking of times and seasons, this seems to be the season for writing contests. I keep seeing reminders from ACFW that the deadlines for submission to the Genesis and Carol Award contests are breathing down our necks.

Like the Genesis contest, Novel Rocket’s Launch Pad Contest: Boosting You Out of the Slush Pile is for writers who have never released a novel through a traditional publisher. It’s a way to gain experience in the submission process, to get some unbiased input on the opening of your book, and, if you’re a winner, to get a little attention for your work.

The contests are similar, but there are two big differences:

1) With the Launch Pad contest, the grand prize is this really cool blown glass rocket trophy,

something no other writing contest can boast, along with the opportunity to bypass the slush pile and get your submission into the hands of an agent.

2) The submission deadline for the Launch Pad contest is still a comfortable distance away. We have different deadlines, depending on the genre, but the first one isn’t until April 10. And that’s only for Suspense/Crime/Mystery/Thriller. If your story is in another genre, you’ve got even more time.

Some unsolicited feedback from people who participated in previous years:

Peter Leavell, author of Gideon's Call, recently volunteered: "I will preach it from the highest pulpit, the two mandatory contests are Novel Rocket and Genesis. I applied the feedback from both and entered Operation First Novel in 2011. Christian Retailing also chose it as the Best First Novel winner for 2013." 

This email came from UK writer Magda Knight, who entered two stories in the Middle Grade/Young Adult category in 2012: “At the risk of burdening your inbox I'd like to voice my appreciation of the incisive and immensely helpful critiques by the judges. I don't think I've ever had such pertinent and useful feedback. Absolutely game-changing. Please accept my thanks for setting up such a great competition. I may not have won, but thanks to those critiques I feel like I won anyway. Huzzah!”

From two other past entrants: “I can't tell you enough how much it has helped me. Just getting my work out has been hard for me, because I usually don't receive any feedback. Both of the judges’ critiques were extremely helpful.”

“The comments were spot on. Some were very encouraging. It's given me new motivation to continue on. Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

So how about you? The deadlines aren’t pressing yet, so you can breathe easy and often. Check out the complete rules. (Contest rules, that is, not rules for breathing.) And, if you’ve got a novel manuscript you’d like to share with us, give us a try!

Yvonne Anderson writes fiction that takes you out of this world. Look for Ransom in the Rock, the third book in the Gateway to Gannah sci-fi series, to release this spring!

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Your Assignment, Should you Choose - M. Laycock

There's a small card sitting by my computer. Every time I glance at it I smile. The card pictures three horses standing in a green valley surrounded by mountains. I love it because it was sent to me by a friend who had just read my first novel and wanted to tell me how much she was blessed by it. I love it because that woman painted the picture on the card. I love it because the horses in the picture are real. I'd ridden one of them often. And I'd ridden in that very valley surrounded by mountains.

When I look at that card I can smell the sweet green of the wild grasses in the valley and the sweat of the animals. I remember what it was like to be swayed gently by the movement of a powerful animal under me as we walked the high trails. I remember the joy of the wind in my face as we galloped and the vast views when we reached the mountain tops. When I look at that card it all comes rushing back and becomes real again. 

A picture can do that. So can words on a page written with skill. It's what I aim to do every time I sit down to write. I aim to bring it all to life on the page so that others can be there too. I want them to experience that place, the emotions of the characters, the pain and the joy. Even if they have never been there themselves they can experience it as though it were real, if I can capture it and convey it clearly to them.

But this is not my only task as a writer of faith. I am charged to do more. I am charged to convey something, even if just a small sliver, of the character of Christ. I can do it because I know Him. He has revealed Himself to me through the story of my life. I see Him in every aspect of it and I have the joy and the privilege of communicating that to others, to make Him real to them.

That's the joy and challenge of writing as a believer in Christ and, in a way, the joy and challenge of living in Him. It's the challenge to see Him and his hand of mercy all around us. 

Through her wonderful blog, A Holy Experience, Ann Voskamp challenges her readers to do just that. She calls it the Joy Dare. I accepted that dare for two months while undergoing radiation treatments for breast cancer. It gave me a reason to look around me, in the tiny space where I lived, and find things that were gifts from God just for me. I found them and I found Him, every day.

That's the challenge of life, our assignment. Will you accept it?

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Marcia Lee Laycock writes from central Alberta Canada where she is a pastor's wife and mother of three adult daughters. She was the winner of The Best New Canadian Christian Author Award for her novel, One Smooth Stone and also has two devotional books in print. Her work has been endorsed by Sigmund Brouwer, Janette Oke, Phil Callaway and Mark Buchanan. Marcia's second novel, A Tumbled Stone has just been released.

Abundant Rain, an ebook devotional for writers can be downloaded from Amazon or Smashwords . 

Visit Marcia's website.

 

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