Like snow in summer or rain in harvest,
honor is not fitting for a fool.
Like a bad tooth or a lame foot
is reliance on the unfaithful in times of trouble.
Proverbs 26:1 and Proverbs 25:19 (NIV)
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Lord, apart from you I can do nothing. Absolutely nothing. Thank you is never enough. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
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This never fails to amuse me. The two-year-old in me still lives! Hahaha! Girl's got 'tude. Apparently, I'm missing a shoe.
Father, you've guarded and protected me from myself my entire life. I went the wrong direction and you sought me out. Thank you is never enough. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
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Today I remember the process of writing . . . in a love song. Those of you who've read the Foreword know what song inspired it. And a few of you might remember that I began the story after starting Race, my only mystery, freezing up on it, beginning Seeing . . ., and then after writing several chapters of Seeing . . ., I wrote the first few chapters of . . . in a love song.
. . . in a love song was completed after I finally went back to finish Race, followed by Seeing . . ..
That was the most unusual process I've experienced in writing my novels. I'm a very sequential person, rarely random, but these three books blew the doors off "sequential".
. . . in a love song is only available as an e-book at present.
Father, thank you for every inspiration, word, character, story. Only you. Thank you is never enough. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
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Being an author of Christian Fiction, many who do not believe or participate in my faith have made comments about the genre as "having an agenda". My reaction has always been that fiction in general has an "agenda". First off, the obvious agenda is to tell a story. Within that framework, the story is meant for various kinds of entertainment. Just as secular (general market) literature is written to fulfill that basic purpose, there needn't be a distinction between those authors and those who write Christian novels.
So I asked myself if my Christian fiction has an "agenda".
Definition of agenda (Merriam-Webster)
1: a list or outline of things to be considered or done; "agendas" of faculty meetings
2: an underlying often ideological plan or programI decided the #2 definition has merit for novels in general. It's the very essence of developing a plot in a story and bringing it to fruition. There is an objective to a story. Otherwise, it isn't worth telling. Now we may not "approve" or "enjoy" the particular plot and the agenda it's developing, but that's a matter of personal taste.Therefore, in the Christian Fiction genre, the objective and/or agenda is to – ideally – organically manifest the faith factor in the story. Myriad ways to do that result in many different kinds of stories with all kinds of characters, twists, tragic events, and even supernatural occurrences. All hopefully to create interesting and well-written novels.My "agenda" is to contrast the world's view of love, romance, and sex to God's plan for those three giving an honest and authentic depiction of both. Which is why I describe my stories as Raw Romantic Redemptive.I think the perception in either general market or Christian fiction of their authors pushing the agenda is where the disconnect occurs. Facing the fact that an opinion or dislike of an agenda in a story really isn't the determining factor as to whether or not there is one.Father, you know hearts. All of them. You know who will reach out to you and who will hold onto their hearts. Only you. Thank you for rescuing me. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. -
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For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.
2 Corinthians 11:13-15 (NIV)
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The first line can grab a reader in a proverbial heartbeat. Those of us who are patient readers don't demand an all-out knockout punch in the first line, but, frankly, it's a treat when one accomplishes that initial thrill of admiration or excitement or intrigue.
Here's the catch: as a reader, are you willing to advance in the novel if the first line possibly is too harsh, offends you, or startles you in a possibly negative way?
Some readers are not offended easily. They're reading troopers. I would classify myself as one of those. Becoming "offended" is off-putting because of what it's become in our culture. The first line in Then . . . you will unintentionally "offend" some readers. I can tell you upfront who these readers are: they are the majority readers of traditionally published Christian fiction. They are the readers who gave Redeeming Love and The Masterpiece 1-star reviews. They are the readers who question an author's Christianity because they have become offended at a word, a circumstance, some measure of theology, a character's reaction, etc. They are the readers who search for the many novels with the "clean" Christian fiction labels insinuating that authentically portrayed attraction and realistic romance are somehow "dirty".
Just some thoughts on that "first line" impact.
Father, you know my heart. You know I never want to write anything that offends you. It's all about you. Thank you for all that you've given me and done for me. I have no words large enough to express my gratitude. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
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This was the third novel published in print, but it was not the third one written. It came later after the three others that followed The Famous One. It was my first effort at writing my protagonist in first person male point of view.
I'd asked an author friend to do the back cover blurb. He was kind enough to read it and I loved his response:
"A bestselling novelist hiding her loneliness behind a pen name, Shay is more of an innocent than her stories let on with only two vices: shoes and cigarettes. When one of them attracts the attention of another lost soul looking for love, Shay's story takes an unforeseen turn. In Breath of Life, Nicole Petrino-Salter proves to be a minute chronicler of the human heart. She imbues her tale of second chances with a quiet emotional intensity that builds page after page."
J. Mark Bertrand, author of Back on Murder and Pattern of Wounds
Breath of Life is currently not available for e-readers.
Father, thank you is always the way my prayer starts when it comes to writing these stories. My gratitude is never-ending. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
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I am Nicole Petrino-Salter. I write love stories with a passion. Raw Romantic Redemptive.
I could say that's all you really need to know, but I won't. I'm also a bit of a rebel in that if you tell me not to do something, I just might do it anyway if I disagree with the instruction. Especially when it comes to my writing. As you can tell, I like sentence fragments. I like italics. I like real romance and sexual attraction in my stories – all without graphics – because I think this approach makes a story and the characters authentic. Occasionally I will use the words "hell" or "damn" and allude to a character cussing – also because in the context of the story, it will be authentic for the character(s).
If anything in the above paragraph offends you, you probably would criticize my work. However, if you can read with a clear heart, you will find the gospel within the pages and a story that exudes redemption. The world is not kind nor is it clean. Sometimes as an author we must show it as it is and hopefully display the transformation that Jesus can make.
This is the continuation of my introduction for marketing purposes . . . clumsy as it might be.
Because Then . . . you is coming soon, and I'd love for you to read this one.
Lord, you know how much I love this story that you've given me – the unusual inspiration, the fun in writing it, the characters, everything about this one touched me deeply. Thank you is never enough. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
