MEMORIES OF MY AMERICAN CHRISTIAN FICTION WRITERS CONFERENCE

This morning I received an email from the American Christian Fiction Writers Beyond the Borders Zone chapter asking for a photo to be included in a slide show at the Zone breakfast for this years conference. It has been quite a while since I looked at my old photos of that awesome conference Ray and I were so privileged to go to. Memories of that 2009 ACFW in Denver flooded back, especially as I started looking for a photo. Simply can't resist sharing a few here of the many we took that year. 

This photo shows the generosity and friendliness shown by everyone to this rather nervous Aussie intruder. What a thrill it was to listen to these great folk share in the sessions. (L-R) Karen Ball, Allen Arnold and with Debbie Macomber who was the Keynote Speaker that year as well as joining Karen and Allen in these published author sessions. 

Ray enjoyed helping at the Beyond the Border zone table and handing out some of the Aussie goodies at the book-signing  

 Lisa Harris and I first met in Johannesburg four years before and enjoyed meeting her again so very much.

Colleen Coble and I had exchanged emails over the years and how exciting to meet another of my all-time favourite authors.

 Perhaps of all the authors I met, Lena and I have been in touch the longest since the early days of the Barbour Heartsong Presents book club. Who can resist her smile and loving hugs!

 Margaret Daley was kind enough to endorse my Outback From Baragula. She was president of ACFW operating board in 2012.
As well as writing great books, Cheryl Wyatt has since become very involved also on the ACFW board 

Kim Vogel Sawyer too so generously endorsed my Outback From Baragula novel. Like so many of the great authors I met in Denver, many of her beautiful stories are "keepers" on my book shelves. 








And now I'll have to put some of my other photos sometime on my Facebook page instead of here. 
How I would love to be able to go to the ACFW conference this year when other Aussies are going. I know they will be wonderfully blessed and I look forward to seeing their photos and hearing about their experiences.

WHEN WRITING IS HARD

I think all writers have “hard” times of writing when the words, ideas, just will not come or flow properly. I certainly do!

It is now many years ago since that day I was whinging to my teenage daughter about needing “something to “happen” in another manuscript. She said, “For goodness sake, Mum, get a gun and shoot someone!” Well, for that story, Burnout, I did get the gun and had a fun scene with some drunken hooligans doing some target shooting enough to traumatise my heroine already traumatised by guerillas in Africa. Then of course there is that old kangaroo shooter and the shoot out with “baddies” in the Baragula books.

I have always admired writers who somehow manage to work on more than one fiction manuscript at a time. It has always seemed that my brain can only deal adequately with the one set of characters and their story.

Depending on how much of the manuscript I have written before an interruption so I have to switch gears, I have even found it difficult to get back into the story when the current manuscript has been interrupted for many hours, days, weeks, by other demands on my “writing brain”. These include such things as requests for a rewrite from an editor on another story, or even having to again read through a manuscript in the proof editing stage. It seems once I have to become immersed again in another story the uncompleted one is so very hard to pick up and continue writing.

And of course, there are more than these two interruptions that disrupt my writing a manuscript but the following will do for today.

After having successfully sold my Harlequin medical romances and Heartsong Present books, I ventured into writing single title manuscripts. When my first one was completed, I started again going through that realm all writers hate - submitting and receiving rejections again. Of course, this meant the same manuscript was rewritten and rewritten and rewritten.

Not wanting to repeat the mistake I made over thirteen years of rejections on my first ever manuscript, I decided to start writing another book rather than wait until I had sold Return to Baragula. An idea had been brewing for awhile and I always toss story ideas into a folder. So, the setting, the story, and characters were chosen and at last I started writing Her Outback Cowboy. Then the major interruption came.

At last I had signed a contract for Return to Baragula. Very exciting. However, during the rewriting and working on that story, as had happened with my Heartsong books minor characters started to demand their own story be told. Now that at last a publisher was going to release Book One , the next two in that Baragula series had to be written. Poor Her Outback Cowboy had to be put aside – until recently after the launch of Justice at Baragula.

Other interruptions have come while trying to get back into the heads of these new main characters, Jenny and Dave. Er... sorry, make that Jennifer and David! Now I have written well over 40,000 words written of what will probably be about 85,000 – 90,000 words of their story but this last week or so just seem to be stuck for “what happens next”.

I didn’t like the prologue I had written a few years ago so am trying to weave the same information into the story elswewhere for the reader. I am beginning to think I have not researched the setting enough, the possible physical and spiritual conflicts enough.

And... Horrors! Not enough has “happened”. Where is the action? Is it boring?

And what am I doing right now?

Well, besides probably too much reading of other writer’s books, I find all kinds of things that just have to be done around the place. And of course, the writing at this section of the story I’m at right now is so hard, I’m procrastinating by writing a blog post about how hard it is to get into Her Outback Cowboy again by writing about how hard it is sometimes to work on an old manuscript again.

On second thoughts...
Perhaps I do need to “get a gun” into this manuscript! But being another inspirational romance, the hero or heroine mustn’t shoot at each other of course.

But what if... ? Nah, that won’t work. Had stolen cattle in Outback From Baragula.

What about a flood? Nah, had that in Return to Baragula.

Maybe the jealous neighbour from the closest homestead hundreds of kilometres away turns up again? Mmm...
It will probably just have to be that gun once more!

Writers getting it “right.”



Not Qld but western New South Wales
paddocks of Paterson's Curse weeds.
Click on photo to see enlarged.


So, here I am, back trying to finish that half-finished manuscript I started a few years ago before I received a contract for Return to Baragula. I stopped writing this one to concentrate on writing the next two books in the Baragula series.

And have I been busy rewriting and editing that first draft, including trying to get the setting of fictitious Lomond Downs right!

When I wrote Outback from Baragula, I set Davidson Downs in a part of New South Wales I had actually never visited before. Thankfully I had a good friend who did know the general area, even had photos she shared with me.

This time I am setting most of the story of Her Outback Cowboy on a property south-west of Longreach in Central Queensland. This is another part of Australia I have never been able to visit. I have always understood this area is called the Channel Country where many small rivers and creeks are really nothing more than just that, channels rather than rivers. I mentioned to a couple of people this manuscript was set in the “Channel Country” only to be told they both individually thought the area called this was set in northern Queensland. So, back to doing research again in an effort “to get it right!”

I am wondering what other writers find about their unfinished manuscripts. Have I really changed myself so much that I now see unbelievable flaws and editing needed, including those weasel words? Yes, including that word “that”!

Oh, and both men were wrong about where the Channel country is.

Or are they? Would love to hear from anyone who has driven down the road from Longreach on the map called Thompson Developement Road! Do leave a comment here with your email so I can ask you heaps of questions. Or email me at mary@mary-hawkins.com

Restarting work on that unfinished manuscript

Some years ago, after too many rejections on my first single title attempt, Return to Baragula, I started writing another book. I had written nearly 44,000 words of it with about 20,000 to go when at last I discovered a relatively new publisher in Australia had started to release Christian Fiction. To my delight a contract was signed for Return to Baragula. I had revised it so many times, become so fond of some minor characters that they needed their own story and I started writing Outback From Baragula. Thus what was to be a single title became Book One in my Baragula trilogy and for the last few years there has been simply no time to keep writing that other manuscript.

However, the pace has slowed. Justice at Baragula and my husband’s two devotional meditations have been launched. Promotion and activities with other writers is still keeping me busy but there really is no longer any real excuse not to try and get back to writing that stalled story I have tentatively called Her Outback Cowboy.

It has been incredibly easy to procrastinate opening up this file again, searching the filing cabinet for the printed out so-far-manuscript, dragging out the folders with the research for the settings, character information, story-line, etc, etc. In fact, I have been surprised at my real reluctance to try and get back into the hearts and minds of this hero and heroine once more.

Perhaps I am finding it hard to let the characters from Baragula go.

Perhaps I am just very nervous about going through “it” all again—the writing, the editing, the rewrites, the submission process, those revisions from a publisher, those proofs to check, the promotion of a new release and so on and.

Perhaps I keep thinking of all the house cleaning that needs to be done, all those cupboards that need sorting out—including these filing cabinets that have caused me so much angst trying to find Her Outback Cowboy folders today!

Perhaps it is because today is the first day of spring and has been a lovely sunny day. I just wanted to go outside on one the rare days of sunshine we have had lately and pull up all those weeds in the garden that can hardly be called a flower garden anymore.

Perhaps I just want to help more and more our very busy daughter-in-law and son as they prepare to give us our sixth grandchild in October. I so enjoyed having the four year old granddaughter and 21 month old grandson for several hours on two days this week while their other three lovely boys were at school. And the next two weeks are school holidays for them and I’d love to spend time with them too.

Perhaps it is just simply because I am feeling lazy?

So, to prayer and the Scriptures once again for direction, for knowledge to be certain of priorities in my life the Lord wants me to have right now.

Above all, Lord, perhaps I need to simply be more self-disciplined?

Any suggestions gratefully received!

YouTube book trailer, my first e-book and other new book events

Ever curious about what published authors are doing when their latest book is released - besides trembling with nerves and excitement of course? Well, perhaps I should make that the weeks and months before the book is released as well as those days and weeks once the book is on the way at long last to readers.

Months ago when my publisher, Ark House Press, told me the month Justice at Baragula would be released, the action commenced. Emails started going out to my family, friends, acquaintances and to the six – no, make that seven counting Tasmania Writers Centre – organisations I am a member of. Then of course there was my networking on the internet, including Facebook, this blog and also the International Christian Fiction Writers blog I contribute to. No, I haven’t yielded to Twitter!

Then we heard that my husband’s two books were to be released the same month as mine. Action Stations! As mentioned before here, we organised those two book launches. Emails flew to and fro organising those special events. Then of course there was advertising to do in any way we could through our Christian contacts in Melbourne and also in Tasmania. We have had radio interviews and our first book-signing with another booked for July in Hobart – more about that later.

Now, during all that activity, as I had for the first two Baragula books I emailed Misty Taggart at Trailer To The Stars to have a video book trailer produced for this third Baragula book. When the time came for her to make the trailer her husband was very ill in hospital and our son who was to do the voice over became extremely busy becoming “Mr Darcy” in a theatre production of Pride and Prejudice. The trailer was completed several days ago now but this is my first chance to let you know about it! I am also in the throes of copying all three Baragula book trailers to DVDs to be able to give to bookshops who are willing to use them in their stores.

The other exciting news is that Justice at Baragula is now available as an e-book from two major Christian Bookshop outlets, Koorong and Word. My publisher is also endeavouring to soon have it available at Amazon for their Kindle.

And so, what else should a writer be doing at this time? Writing her next book! And that is what I am finding very difficult to settle down to now. Somehow I have to make the time to finish Her Outback Cowboy.

Do have a listen to this latest book trailer on YouTube for Justice at Baragula. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnGljXFxzLg

And please leave a comment here to let me know what you think of it – and the other two for Return to Baragula and Outback From Baragula on YouTube also if you have not seen them before this.

And now it is nearly bed-time so that manuscript will have to wait - again. Oh, but I should mention I am at last able to see the top of this desk after a clean-up today. Mmm... Wonder what else I'll find to do tomorrow instead of writing that manuscript

Exciting when New Books arrive!

Ray’s devotional books arrived last week.
My Justice at Baragula arrived last Monday so we have several boxes of books to store away until they are all sold – or given away, so watch this blog! I just checked one Christian bookshop on the internet and Ray’s books have started to arrive on their shelves in cities across Australia while mine are still to make their appearance.

I even eventually managed to work out how to “create an event” on Facebook to let folk know about the book launch we are organising – or at least the first one in Melbourne, Victoria, on Saturday, June 4th at 2.30pm at Ringwood Church of Christ. This will be followed by afternoon tea and the friends of our daughter, Gaylene, are kindly catering for us and would appreciate an RSVP so there will be sufficient goodies.

Now we can also announce the names of the kind folk who are going to launch our books.

John Sharpe, the minister at Ringwood will launch From Eden With Love. We do thank John for all his support.

We are thrilled our dear friend, Jacquiline Purnell, will be home from Bangkok and is launching CHILDREN: God’s Special Interest. She has worked for years with children and has written the forward to this book for Ray. Jacqui and her husband David have worked for many years with World Vision and he is currently their South-East Asian Development Manager.

Delightful, talented author Amanda Deed  will be launching my Justice at Baragula. I was not at all surprised when her challenging Christian novel, "The Game”, won the 2010 CALEB award for Christian Fiction.

Ray is donating the royalties from his devotions about children to the Khayelihle Children’s Village in Zimbabwe, and those from his devotions for married couples to the Australian Christian Lobby which supports Christian Marriage.

As well as all the excitement about our books we have been busy with other activities this last week. It has been very encouraging to receive feed-back about my talk last Thursday at the local Women Aglow meeting. As Ray teases me, I spend days preparing a talk but then get away from my notes as my heart takes over. How could anything else happen when talking about the outward appearance of Christians and their inward appearance that should shine the beauty and fragrance of Jesus to those we meet. As Isaiah 53:2 (NIV) says about the promised One, “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him...” yet despite the horror of Him dying on a cross, for those of us who have learned to love Him as Keith Green’s song says,
“O Lord, you’re beautiful,
Your face is all I seek.
For when Your eyes are on this child,
Your grace abounds to me.”

Another old song should be our daily prayer. “Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me, all His compassion and purity.” If only that could be true!
Our prayer is that at least though our writings we may share snippets about the Lord Jesus Christ that will encourage readers to want to know Him as their Saviour and Lord  - and also intimately as their best Friend.

The winner of last weeks giveaway, Outback From Baragula, is Michelle Dennis Evans. Congratulations! Please send me your postal details to mary@mary-hawkins.com and I will have it in the mail for you.

Another Book Giveaway

Very exciting!

We are expecting Ray’s books to arrive any day! He has been receiving emails that boxes of his books have arrived in Adelaide at the Churches of Christ Global Mission Partner office and from other friends and family too in Queensland and New South Wales. My book, Justice at Baragula is still at the printers but should also be arriving on our doorstep – and in bookshops during the next 2-3weeks.

After finishing preparing my talk for the Women Aglow meeting in Beaconsfield tomorrow morning, I managed to “create an event” on Facebook – my first one. Weell... I did try earlier but didn’t send it to specific folk and now they are probably getting the invitation twice – hopefully no more than that! This is announcing our book launch in Melbourne, Victoria at the Ringwood Church of Christ, Saturday 4th June at 2.30pm

Promotion of books takes TIME! And I’m discovering doing three at once even more complicated. I guess my main problem is trying to do and be involved in too many other things at the same time.

Trying to help readers know whether they can recommend books, authors often offer free copies – Weell... as many as we can afford of course. In later posts I will be giving away Ray’s two books also, so I do suggest if you are not already a Follower of this blog that you become one so you do not miss out. As mentioned in my last giveaway draw, I am giving you an opportunity to read my first two Baragula books before Book Three, Justice at Baragula hits the bookshelves. Unfortunately again I need to limit the draw for Book Two, Outback From Baragula, to readers in Australia and New Zealand. Later in the year when our books will be available as e-books we will celebrate that by more giveaways of them to – everywhere in the world!

About Book Two in the Baragula single title, inspirational romance series:

Meet folk from Baragula again in OUTBACK FROM BARAGULA when Matthew and Emily’s friend, Steve Honeysuckle, heads west to the Davidson’s outback cattle station and Matthew’s sister, Jillian Davidson. He loves his mountain home while she loves the endless plains of the outback. He has strong faith in God, she has none, but together they have to face the dangers of the outback to find Jillian’s missing twin brother and Davidson Downs’ stolen cattle.

To enter the draw, you must leave a comment here. The draw will be Tuesday evening the 10th of May next week Please return to see who the winner is. I will need contact details to send the book to the winner.

ENTER THE DRAW NOW BY LEAVING A COMMENT!

Book winner and Book Three

A big thank you to those who entered the draw for the first book in my Baragula series, Return to Baragula.

The proofs for Book Three, Justice at Baragula, arrived yesterday and I've been very busy today checking them for the Title Manager at Ark House Press so they could get to the printer in time for the release of the book in May. Sorry the draw for my book giveaway had to wait. Our son arrived right when I needed someone to select a piece of paper from all those with names on of those followers who left a comment.

I am delighted to be able to congratulate Mandy! Your book will be sent as soon as you send me your postal details.

Afraid my eyes have been glued to this computer screen too long today so this post needs to be kept short.

Justice at Baragula is the 18th story I have written and will be my 19th title released. Amazing! Now I need to knuckle down and think very seriously which book will be my 20th - a real milestone. There is still one manuscript I called Delayed Dreams that was rejected and still languishing neglected in a box somewhere. Should I rewrite that one? Should I finish writing Her Outback Cowboy or should I think about seeing if my second inspirational romance book, Damaged Dreams, could be re-packaged and re-printed? That really needs to happen now before I look at Delayed Dreams again.

So, what do I do now? The first thing is to pray of course -which I can assure you all I have certainly been doing.

Do any of you remember my second Heartsong Presents book, Damaged Dreams? Anyone read it?
And afraid this has to be enough tonight here. I need to stop, stretch, do hand and finger exercises - and exercise discipline to stop checking my Facebook home page!

Once again, a very big thank you to you all. I will have another draw for Book Two, Outback From Baragula in the next few weeks!

Giveaways, Guests and Greetings

Australian and New Zealand followers, you still have until before next Wednesday to leave a comment and be entered in the draw for Return to Baragula. Do remember you need to leave a comment AND be a follower to be in the draw.

As I mentioned last week this is Book One in my Baragula series. There will be another giveaway contest for Book Two, Outback From Baragula, before Justice at Baragula, Book Three, is released in May! Not long to wait for that book now, so do check back here! I will be including overseas followers later when I can offer them the e-books Ark house Press have said will be released as well!

Ray and I have been really blessed with hosting overnight guests this last month or so.

In fact, just after I typed that last sentence two lovely friends arrived to share with us. They have become “Grey Nomads” with a camper-van travelling around Australia and we have not seen them for many, many months. They returned to Tasmania for several weeks to see family and friends and we are so privileged to be included in their visit! (And that information is so you know I do have a bit of an excuse for this blog post being late – once again!)

I have truly had a feast of fellowship with guests these last few weeks. Jo-Anne Berthelsen and her husband stayed a few nights with us and while our long-suffering husbands also enjoyed fellowship as fellow ministers, we enjoyed sharing “writer talk”. We are both published by the same company, Ark House Press, and I am really looking forward to reading her next book, Helena’s Legacy, scheduled for release in June. Jo-Anne is also a wonderful speaker – as we discovered when she was the main speaker at the Baptist Women Ministries’ conference in March. Do click on her name to go to her website and learn about this lovely woman who blessed me so much during our time together.

(However, I'll make sure I don't stand in front of the stayed glass of our door next time. I promise you that is not a halo!)

 Last week we were privileged to also have John Mackay stay overnight with us. He is the International Director of  Creation Research - the man the media has called "The crocodile hunter of creation." and an international speaker http://www.creationresearch.net He had several appointments in our area and was great to renew fellowship with him in this way and be informed, blessed and challenged by his message. This photo was taken with John and another member of his team at Brady's Lookout between where we live and Launceston - a beautiful place.

With still catching up on the hundreds of neglected emails, organising book launches for Justice at Baragula  and Ray’s two books in Melbourne (June 4th – more details later) and Launceston as well as family and other commitments, this of course does mean I haven’t written anymore of my new manuscript. But I do know God IS in control! The time to write will come.

And now I must finish here and get back to checking the proofs for that new release in May.

Please remember the draw for that first book in the series, Return to Baragula. The draw will be Tuesday evening and announced next Wednesday.

My First Book Giveaway - on my own blog!

Baragula Book Three, Justice at Baragula, is coming in May! The edits have gone back to the publisher at last, the book is currently being formatted for proof editing and is scheduled for release in early May.
I have written other series before this, but it wasn't until I was doing these last edits I wondered if I have given away too much of the stories in the first two books.

This means I should be encouraging readers to make sure they have read them first. To start with, between now and April 27th, I would love to give away a copy of Book One, Return to Baragula, to anyone who is a follower of my blog and also leaves a comment.

This first Baragula book was published in 2008 and Book Two, Outback From Baragula, in 2009.

These are my first longer inspirational romance novels after the five Harlequin Mills and Boon category medical romances (1994-1998), and contemporary and historical inspirational romances published by the American publisher, Barbour Publishing, in their Heartsong Presents Book club (1993-2002). All except one book were later in two Barbour 4-in-1 volumes under the titles Australia (2000) and Australian Outback (2003). The novella in Australia, Search For the Star, was first published with three other stories by different authors in Christmas Dreams. Do check out my website - still needing updating though, I'm afraid! 

Many folk have asked me where "Baragula" is. Sorry, readers, it is a fictitious town set in the real area north-west of Sydney, not far from the Barrington Mountains to the east of Scone in the Hunter Valley. I do have a scene in the hospital in Scone and along the real road from Scone through to the Barringtons.

Many folk have also asked me, "Where do you get your ideas from?" For most of my books I simply have to say, "I really don't know - or remember where the germ of an idea originated from." So what about that first Baragula book? Let me say first of all that when I wrote Return to Baragula I had no idea of it becoming Book One in a series!

Australian readers will know that at the end of the school year in Australia, many thousands of teenagers completing their last year of High School before Tertiary education or entering the work force descend on various places around Australia to celebrate. We lived in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales when our seventeen year old daughter completed her final Higher School Certificate examinations. Several of her friends travelled to celebrate at the Gold Coast in Southern Queensland. While they apparently had a great time there, I have to confess feeling a little relieved our daughter did not go as she was preparing for twelve months overseas as a Rotary Exchange student. Years later my writer's brain clicked into gear. That simply means I started to ask many "What if?" questions about a Christian teenager who joined a School Bash party at the Gold Coast. The result was the prologue in Return to Baragula and the "ripples" that affected many others in Emily Parker's life for many years.

Book Two and Book Three are not sequels as I understand them but more "spin-offs" about characters you first meet in Return to Baragula. Over the years I have introduced minor characters in my stories and then later decide I just have to write their stories also!
Emily Parker and Doctor Matthew Davidson have their story told mainly in Book One. Then in Outback From Baragula, Matthew's sister, Jillian Davidson and one of Emily's friends, Steve Honeysuckle, have to survive many dangers out in western NSW on her family's cattle station.

In Return to Baragula I introduced Madeline Honeysuckle and the local policeman, Bradley Hunter, who obviously had some history between them. I just  had to share their story in Book Three, due out this coming May! I enjoyed creating an odd outback character - a kangaroo shooter - in Book Two so much he just had to appear again to help Brad and Maddie try to bring a criminal to justice in the final book in the series - well, right now I think it is the last in the Baragula series!
But there's another story, other characters trying to tell me their stories in outback Queensland in a manuscript I'm writing I've tentatively called Her Outback Cowboy. A young woman returns to her old outback home from America after many years growing up in Texas. When still a teenager, she had been wrenched away from her father and her beloved home in the outback.
Hmm, but then there's that Dream series I would love to finish. It is still evolving from my second Heartsong book, Damaged Dreams!

Enough of that! Lets get back to Baragula!
Apologies to my overseas readers, but this time I am limiting this giveaway of Return to Baragula to Australian and New Zealand readers only. And why? Well, Justice at Baragula is going to be released later as an e-book!  My publisher, Ark House Press, has told me it will be one of their first books also released in print AND an e-book. I am also anticipating the other two books will also be available later as e-books.

Of course that means more giveaways in the future!

And there's still more! Book One has had a few changes since that first print edition. I realised Book Clubs and Study Groups were looking for Questions for Discussion included in Christian Fiction books. All my three Baragula books now have them, including the latest version of Return to Baragula which will be the book sent to the winner of the draw.

And yes, I will have another giveaway here later for Outback From Baragula too. And then of course there are my husband's two devotional books, then BookThree in the Baragula series as well, then...?

REMEMBER: TO ENTER FOR A CHANCE TO WIN RETURN TO BARAGULA YOU NEED TO BE A FOLLOWER AND ALSO LEAVE A COMMENT BEFORE WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27TH
Please don't forget to leave your name and email contact details - or if your prefer, send them privately to me at mary@mary-hawkins.com