Into the Fire

". . . So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."

John 8:36 (NIV)

                                                God Bless The USA.

                    Which road are you taking? 

Father, thank you for leaving us with your beauty, adventures, places that won't harm us. Apart from you, we can do nothing. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

. . . in a love song is a quick read for e-readers and portrays two individuals who've never experienced real love. Their attraction is instant, their goals not the same, but there's something intangible that makes them want to pursue each other to see where it takes them. Love is rarely easy, but these two realize they need more than their sizzling attraction to keep them together. 

The price is right at $2.99. Order an e-copy and see how you feel about Dale Rivers and Patricia Edison's story. 

Father, thank you for this story and each one before and after. You are the inspiration-giver and apart from you, I can do nothing. Thank you is never enough. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

No, it's not Mars. It's western Washington. Or it could be. For us on this side of the Cascade Mountain Range, it's cookin'. Summer brought the heat. Normally, for us, June is wet and the average temperature is about 70 degrees, definitely not in the 100s. It's joked about around here that Independence Day is the marker for when summer finally arrives – after the 4th. And that summer lasts through August and fall arrives in a hurry. Well, not this year, although one never knows what's going to happen from now on.  

But for those who moved to this area or choose to live here because you love the rain, well, no doubt you're sweating it out with the rest of us and probably not really happy about it. 

We cannot say that this year summer took its time getting here or failed to arrive at all. Nope. Not this year. 

Have a great summer wherever you are! 

Father, thank you for it all. Words don't do the gratitude justice. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

Another oldie but goodie. There were a lot of them back in the day. 

Father, you knew the times, you know the times, and all that they entail. And, still, the most important thing remains: Jesus: the Savior of the world. Thank you is never enough. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

Imagination is a wonderful thing. It spawns creativity. No one can compete with God's imagination – which is probably a foolish thing to say because His "imagination" creates reality. Mankind is blessed with gifts and talents from our Creator who has given us the abilities to create realities from that imagination. Some use it to engineer incredible machinery or mathematical formulas or escapades into outer space. Others of us use it to write stories based on images, topics, people we've known or met or want to meet – even if they're not real. 

Authors of novels must make fictional realities that reveal something relatable to those who read them. No matter what genre – be it fantasy to sci-fi, love story to women's fiction, thrillers to mysteries – no matter what, there has to be some identiable "thing" or emotion within the story to grab a reader's attention and allow them to insert him or herself into that pseudo reality. By so doing, that "story" becomes life-like to the reader. 

One of my favorite compliments is that my characters are relatable. That means I've accomplished one of the goals in presenting the story. So. I thank every reader of one or many of my novels who has "related" to one or more of my characters, and know this because I can't say it often enough: Apart from the Lord, I can do nothing. 

Father, you give me inspiration, stories, determination to present you in the midst of all the goings-on in this sin-stained world. May I never fail to do so. Thank you is never enough. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

. . . 

He does not treat us as our sins deserve

   or repay us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

   so great is his love for those who fear him, 

as far as the east is from the west,

   so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

Psalm 103:10-12 (NIV) 

My new novel, my WIP (to the writing crowd), is turning out to be enormously fun to write. My last three novels produced some tough transitions. First, Race became strenuously tricky to compose. Even with the superlative help from a wonderful LEO, I froze up on the story so many times I could've produced a writing glacier. What resulted from those frigid writing interruptions was the beginning of the novel Seeing . . . and then, surprising to me, another start of a novel which developed into . . . in a love song. All three novels finally made it into publication but it proved to be a genuine struggle to get them finished. Considering I enjoyed the way all three of them survived and turned out in spite of the challenges, it's sometimes amazing to me that I did in fact complete them successfully – and by "successfully" I mean I truly loved the stories/characters/plots. You gotta love your stories or why write them?

So here's the "conundrum" for my new one. As you know, I write Christian fiction, love stories with the exception of Race, my solo mystery/police procedural which of course included a slim romantic thread in it. The tagline for my fiction is Raw Romantic Redemptive. "Raw" is the first word of the three because as those of you who've read my work know, my books are not your typical Christian fiction fare. 

The reason I use the words "not your typical" is because I deal honestly with sexual tension, temptation, attraction, desire, and in some cases sexual sin. I stress that my novels are not graphic, no soft porn, but they are realistic in every aspect of male/female sexual concerns. Secondly, you will find the occasional words used which are not swear/cuss words although come Christian readers believe them to be: i. e. hell, damn, ass (slang usage). There are sentences which point out a character cussing but the word is not written. There is an occasional reference to the "f-word" being used by a character but it also is not written out. This is why I have chosen "Raw" to be the first word used to describe my stories. All of those choices are absolutely considered to be irreverent, wrong, "un-Christian" to some readers. Fortunately, the whole gamut of romance novels from Bethany House and other Christian publishers are available to those readers. 

The last two words of my tagline are self-explanatory. Romantic is real and evident and Redemptive is clear, available, and present  in each story. There's a choice to be made. The contrasts are obvious. 

In my stories the worldly lifestyle is accurately portrayed just as the contrasting lifestyle of living for God is exemplified. 

So what's the conundrum? I don't enjoy the thought of offending readers or potential readers. I know that some readers are not my "audience". Yes, it would be "easy" to eliminate those simple words, but, for me, it would not demonstrate authentic characters or environments for my stories. Reality isn't always "clean" even for Christians – even when it appears to be. My goal is to portray life in this world with its challenges, temptations, failures, and successes. Reality. Christians struggle in spite of having the right answers. Life's often hard. The wonderful solution is holding onto God's Truth in all things and seeking forgiveness for those failures with heartfelt repentance. Jesus longs to forgive. The Holy Spirit counsels and comforts. 

It's a conundrum, but I know what the answer is for me. 

Father, please help me to write the stories you've given me with all the honesty and reality you've chosen for me to communicate. May my stories give you pleasure. I thank you for each one. Apart from you, I can do nothing. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

These are the new (above) and old/original (below) covers of Vince Flynn's first published novel. It's the only one of his that doesn't feature the incredible character Mitch Rapp. If you've never read Vince's novels, he writes the best political thrillers you'll ever read. Having had great sources for his characters and stories, his novels set the stage for many other thrillers. Of all the heroes throughout the thriller genre – and there are truly some great ones – I've yet to find one to equal or surpass Vince's Mitch Rapp. 

If you want to read incredible thrillers that feature politics, the CIA, and covert operatives, start here and finish the long series begun by the late Vince Flynn now with author Kyle Mills continuing this amazing series. 

Father, Vince is now in your care. Please let him know he's truly missed by many of us. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

So, do you like this method of ending stories? Leaving you, the reader, dangling with a perilous undetermined conclusion? 

My feelings vary concerning cliffhangers. If the next novel will be a year away, then No with a capital N. That's a terrible way to leave a story. However, if the next book is six months or less away from being available, it's conceivable that I will not object to a cliffhanger IF it's not a life and death circumstance. To keep a reader dangling with someone's life at stake is a gimmick especially if it's the hero's life in the balance. Danger is one thing, but life and death? That's unfair. 

Your thoughts?

Father, thank you again and again for your writers, authors, and stories. You provide every good and perfect gift for us whether we acknowledge you or not. Thank you is never enough. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.