Into the Fire

There’s just no better way to glamorize a gangster than to put Johnny Depp in the starring role, dress him up in period garb, put him in the most stylish and specially made fastest cars of the era holding a machine gun on running boards, and give him some dynamite lines. Perfect.

I assume this story of John Dillinger takes some liberties with historical accuracy, but who knows being as much of his high crime, depression-era bank robberies took place in the seemingly always gangsterized city of Chicago.

Directed by Michael Mann, it’s an action movie with a heart. Special Agent Melvin Purvis, played by Christian Bale, is assigned the daunting task of capturing or killing John Dillinger after he escapes from prison, evades police and multiple Bureau agents, and robs a bunch of banks. Bale’s portrayal of the no-nonsense, confident yet humble Purvis, giving him a heroic approach to the formidable commission is understated and well done.

Charming the lovely Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard), a coat checker who falls in love with the dashing gangster, Dillinger comes for her in spite of her warnings to stay away because she’s being watched. Thinking he can put them up in an old safe place, Billie is captured inside the hotel and Dillinger has to speed away. Billie refuses to give him up, giving a fake location which sends the feds on a wild goose chase and infuriates her interrogators.

Their love is for real and outside of Billie only one of John’s friends remains true to the end. It isn’t until John reluctantly hooks up with Baby Face Nelson on a job that things begin to deteriorate for him. Betrayal ends his “career”, and Billie seems to be the only one who knows his life will come to a bad end until he senses it’s close.

There’re a lot of gangsters and G-men in this film to keep track of, and it moves fast most of the time. The R-rated film is quite clean considering its subject matter, and the romance is low key but essential to establishing the character (I know: he’s a gangster, for crying out loud!) of John Dillinger in this story. I’ve seen some PG-13 rated films far more offensive than “Public Enemies”.

Some reports label Dillinger a folk hero for robbing the banks the common people held responsible for The Depression. This particular movie plays that up to establish an empathetic “hero” who doesn’t relish the killing and prefers to just get the money and zoom away in “One minute and 40 seconds. Flat.”

There’s a bit of melodrama at the end, but, c’mon, it’s a movie, and in this case it’s just right. Good film. I loved it. I’ll be seeing it again soon. And, yes, I’m a Johnny Depp fan.

Father, you know my prayers. You know my heart. You love more deeply than I ever could. Your desire is to bring the lost to Jesus . . . before it’s too late. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

Brandilyn Collins introduces another fascinating tale in Exposure to succeed her previous stand alone novel dark pursuit. We’re introduced to Kaycee Raye who writes a column about fear: people’s worst fears, overcoming fears, standing strong when fear encloses you in its piercing grip. However, since her own fears remain longstanding from her childhood recollections of a paranoid widowed mother and seem to have flared into flame since the death of her dear friend, her helplessness to fight against her fears is once again amplified.

Captured in throat-drying reality by the author, we can more than sense this young woman’s obsessive compulsion to be afraid. When the first freaky episode with a camera in Kaycee’s home terrifies her and sends her speeding to the police station, she fears even more for her sanity when the attractive policeman returns with her to check out her home where not even the camera is found, let alone anything else to prove it was there.

Interwoven with Kaycee’s terror is the story of a young couple with a sick preschooler. Somehow through the agony of trying to take care of her illness, the young father who works at a bank gets desperate and finds himself in the middle of a circumstance he can’t control.

Included along with these two scenarios, Kaycee’s deceased best friend’s nine year old daughter, Hannah, is struggling with her father’s new wife and step-family. She wants to leave her home and come to live with Kaycee. When Kaycee won’t allow her to do so because she knows the little girl must learn to cope with the changes in her family dynamic, Hannah decides to run away and heads straight for Kaycee’s house in the dark of night.

That’s all of the plot line I’m going to tell you. I really think Brandilyn does a masterful job of twisting this story. For one thing, we’re never truly sure Kaycee is alright, that her experiences are in fact real until there’s an undeniable piece of evidence, even though it fades from “exposure”. The dots are all there, but we can’t quite connect them. We feel for the heroine because she is so crippled by her fears, and the farther the story advances, the more understandable those fears feel. We see her desire to overcome them, but there seems to be no solid ground for her to stand on to do so. No rock of reason. And no faith.

When Kaycee makes every effort to put one thing in front of fear and engages in haphazard prayer as a last result, she is finally able to achieve monumental results.

Brandilyn does a remarkable job of capturing palpable fear, its consuming power and debilitating responses. Most of us hope to be brave. Some of us truly are. All of us fear something or someone. Exposure exposes us to what fear is, how it feels, what it can do, and the only real remedy for it. In this life, this fallen state, it can be a constant battle to overcome.

This story is indicative of Brandilyn’s trademark: Seatbelt Suspense. You won’t be disappointed.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0310276438

Father, you know how hard Brandilyn works, how she gives her best to every project and endeavor she undertakes. Please bless and strengthen her as she continues to do what you have for her. Encourage her as no one else can, and fill her with your Spirit. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

When the focus zeroes in on the career, the writing, the marketing, the push-push-push, hurry-hurry-hurry, work-work-work, think-think-think, go here: www.HolyDesperation.com.

Take a deep breath.

I appreciate the reasoning behind the whole writing/publishing gig. I do. It’s sound. Business requires hard work in order to turn a profit unless someone happens to cash in on a phenomenon that nets them a huge reward with little investment. If given the time, we might all be able to think of an example.

However, things change a bit—at least for me—when you insert “Christian” in front of a business title. If the business dares to claim this designation, it is implied that the owners, the operators, and the workers adhere to the moniker or its connotation. Translated it simply should mean if you choose to engage this business and its employees for services, you will encounter integrity, efforts to accomplish excellence both in workmanship and customer service, and receive adequately explained information about all aspects of what the business offers along with reasonable prices for what is provided. Right? As with Christian people in general, there are too many testimonies of this not being the case. It’s disappointing at best and a travesty at worst.

Some “Christian” professionals seem to compartmentalize their “religion” from their business practices. They choose methodology or practices which mesh with the secular approach to business/business relationships. Others give lip service to Christian principles but operate in the worldly business mode, not seeing there can be a disconnect between the two. Others mingle their faith and business as it should be, functioning together to arrive at desired goals.

Okay. Switching gears. Just a bit. If you’re a Christian who is a career person of any kind, you have to figure out how to mingle faith and business every working day. Most people who have careers have a hard time leaving work and not bringing that career home. Careers compose a huge amount of daily existence. Most people can’t flip a switch as they walk out the business door for the day or the weekend and morph into the “home” person. Usually, there is an untangling period like with a clingy child you’re trying to set down without pushing them away from you. They’re important, but they need to stop clinging.

What, or more critically: who is number one in your life? Is it Jesus? Is it really? It’s a question we must ask ourselves daily. That heavy bloodstained cross lies there in our path. Will we walk over it? Treat it as an annoying obstacle? Or pick it up and carry that monument of death which reminds us of who we really are, who we claim to be, who we need to follow? Have we died to self?

Do we follow the demands of “the man” or do we discover how to truly follow Jesus? Do we promote ourselves without conscience or do we understand how the Lord would have us progress and move forward in our work? Sometimes it won’t be easy, and like everything else of value which we’ve worked for or toward, it requires something of us. Always.

Where do we expect to see this exemplifed and practiced? In those businesses who dare to proclaim their faith as a designation of how they intend to do business. That’s where. When they don’t conduct that business with the implied qualifications and the simple—though often not without extra effort—courtesy innately required, I can’t help but wonder why they bother with the title. Maybe especially in “Christian” publishing . . .

Father, you say I am an ambassador for your Son. I need you, Holy Spirit, to guide me, to lead me into the darkness, to provide the shine of your Truth. Everywhere I go. I’m desperate for you. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

How ’bout a rerun?

Full Disclosure, Part Three

Sometimes when you are not in the direct glare of the light, you see things more clearly. Instead of what you’re gazing at looking all shiny or bright, you can see the details and formations of what you’re viewing with distinctions and clarity. When you think about it, almost anything can look somewhat glorious in the bright light. So looks can be deceiving.

I’m applying my little metaphor to the publishing industry, and, yes, we’re talking Christian publishing. And, no, we’re not going to tear it apart. I’ve had the opportunity, pleasure, and privilege to meet some interesting, genuine Christian professionals in this business of producing fiction both in person and via email conversations and discussions, including authors, agents, and editors. Decent, caring, and thoughtful people. Any business has its good points and its lesser qualities as far as how it’s run or how it serves its customers. Really it’s the intent of a business that ultimately speaks for how it appears in the eyes of its employees and its customers. That’s where the tale is told.

As a consumer, I am disappointed in the demand for smallish novels. The only larger novels seem to remain in some historicals, some thrillers, and some fantasies. This “demand” is from the publishers who insist that the people of today don’t want to read long novels. You could say they’re right if you talk only to those people. I’m not one of them, and I know a lot more voracious readers who don’t care for the shorter books either. Is it the cost of producing the longer novel?

As a writer, I hear the fears of multi-published authors wondering if their sales are going to be good enough to warrant another contract. These authors market, blog, have great websites, interact with readers, visit bookstores to promote their work, attend writers’ conferences, even teach classes at them. They have strong agents. Yet they become victims of “sales” or the lack thereof. If a book is not cutting it, there’s a sense of failure, and yet they’re published authors.

Soooo . . . what am I saying? Being published isn’t the end all, cure all for a writer. There’s a revolving door in the industry. Editors change jobs every so often. Authors get dropped. Demands change. Problematic speculations persist. Authors whimper in fear. Not all bright and shiny, is it?

If you’re striving to break through to the ranks of being published, best be sure your real success is solidified in pleasing the Lord. Otherwise, your so-called success in publishing might be as fleeting as a warm sun in winter.

To be continued . . .

Someday.

Father, I remain attentive to your direction. Lead me. You’re the only One I want to follow. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

Their feet rush into sin;
they are swift to shed innocent blood.
Their thoughts are evil thoughts;
ruin and destruction mark their ways.
The way of peace they do not know;
there is no justice in their paths.
They have turned them into crooked roads;
no one who walks in them will know peace.

. . .

For our offenses are many in your sight,
and our sins testify against us.
Our offenses are ever with us,
and we acknowledge our iniquities:
rebellion and treachery against the Lord,
turning our backs on our God,
fomenting oppression and revolt,
uttering lies our hearts have conceived.
So justice is driven back,
and righteousness stands at a distance;
truth has stumbled in the streets,
honesty cannot enter.
Truth is nowhere to be found,
and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey.

Isaiah 59:7-8; 12-15 (NIV)

It’s sometimes easy to set aside the fact of death when it has no immediate bearing on your life. Life and death take place all day long everyday. Sometimes it’s heartwarming and sometimes it’s gruesome. Rarely is the start of life sad, and the end of life happy . . . except for those who join Jesus following that last breath.

So. Present day. The world says goodbye to 70’s icon and beauty Farrah Fawcett who dies of cancer at 62 years of age, and before the tears are even close to drying on the faces of her loved ones and fans, the King of Pop goes into cardiac arrest at the age of 50 years and sends more family and fans into mourning. When your number’s up, the choice is no longer yours. Actually, it never was.

And, see, that’s the thing. Mortality is real. It ends. Then . . .

Those who remain after the death of a loved one suffer loss. There’s no getting around it, no shortcuts to the grief process. There can be relief if the loved one suffered. Seeing them released from ever-increasing pain provides some solace.

But reality requires something of us, does it not? As people, we decide our eternal fate. Believe God and turn to Jesus or die in our sins. Our choice. Sound simple? Maybe harsh? Not meant to be. The journey can be convoluted, filled with deception, lost in sin, and hard to find the right path. All along the way, God waits for the opportune moment to borrow a line from “Curse of the Black Pearl”, able to redeem the worst and least of us when we’re finally willing to see His perfect sacrifice on our behalf. Why He is so patient I can’t say.

I know the Lord God Almighty. He saved me when I cried out to Him nearly 31 years ago. He’s loved me in my foolishness, comforted me in my losses, and inspired me to follow Him and enjoy His fellowship, direction, and miraculous ways. I’ve lived on both sides of the spiritual realm. Jesus is the best. He brings peace to death and comfort to sorrow. And life itself is only truly found in Him.

Please comfort those who have lost loved ones, in the Name of Jesus, Amen.

I do have some complaints against the publishing industry. The complaints are based on my perceptions from what I’ve gleaned in reading some of the professionals’ blogs, from listening to some of the professionals speak, and from personal conversations via emails and in person with professionals. I’ve come a long way, baby, in the evaluating process, and a few things still stink. Having said that, I only partially care.

I care because I tend to like reasonable explanations, justice for all, and the like. Outside of that, hey, I firmly believe a business is entitled to operate the way they feel will best suit their bottom line, providing they don’t forfeit their integrity in the process.

Yesterday I referred you to a valid piece from Mary E. DeMuth, and today I’m going to send you to an interesting post from Mike Duran: http://mikeduran.com/?p=3328.

Sometimes as writers we marvel at different facets of the writing community. We all have our favorite authors, books, genres. We’re amazed when some novels sell great numbers and become disappointed when others don’t. We work at our craft, construct our novels, we play by the rules or attempt to, we suck up our emotions at rejections, and we trudge on to our varied goals. We watch in surprise, admiration, bafflement, maybe nausea as our compatriots in the field rise to “stardom” or dive into obscurity.

What will it take to rock the industry? Another Shack? Another niche novel which breaks out from the mold and turns readers into marketers?

This s l o w moving machine known as royalty publishing most likely isn’t going to make any decision(s) quickly. They lumber along in a steady plod overloading CBA shelves with prairie and Amish romance novels and celebrate because precisely who they’re being written for purchased them. But what about the readers who are combing the shelves or internet outlets for adult fantasy from a Christian worldview? What the industry managed to do is to alienate that market and send them into secular stores for their “fixes” because “Adult Christian fantasy doesn’t sell well.” Okay, so it’s a niche market, and money is tight, and we don’t want to waste production time and money on something that only a few thousand readers will buy or like.

When is it time to bring the legitimate complaints to the forefront of the writing community? When do these complaints sound like whining?

There’s a lot of “bluffing” out there. “Great writing always gets published.” Guess what: Lousy writing gets published, too. “We have a great marketing team.” Guess what: “Except for new authors.” And the list goes on. But no matter: It is what it is.

I think the main thing I wanted to say is this: There are legitimate complaints being made against the publishing industry. Whether or not they’re ever noticed, acknowledged as having merit, taken to the board rooms or pub boards: Who knows?

Sometimes they just need to be brought up again. Just in case anyone who cares is listening. Or just in case anyone who can actually make changes is tuned into another point of view . . .

Father, you always hear your people—their prayers, tears, sorrows, joys, needs, praises, frustrations. All of it. Thank you for caring. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

I’d put Mary DeMuth, Brandilyn Collins, Karen Kingsbury, and Robert Liparulo right up there at the top as far as marketing efforts and/or success in that area of publishing. Seriously, nobody tries harder to be innovative and fan friendly than these authors.

Today, let’s talk about Mary. Energetic and completely transparent author/marketer Mary E. DeMuth posted this article on marketing over at The Master’s Artist: http://aratus.typepad.com/tma/2009/06/the-prayer-and-paradox-marketing-strategy.html#more. It’s her conclusions and her honesty which make her so authentic. She’s such a giver.

Platform and marketing have become as valuable as the storytelling these days. Proposals require you to establish who you can influence to read your novel(s) and how you plan to do just that.

Once you have a real fan base, it’s less difficult to market because the devoted fans spread word-of-mouth recommendations like wildfire. But what about the new authors coming up from the ranks of the unpublished? These days a large percentage of them have established some kind of platform, be it ministerial or educational creds. Most of them don’t boast “A’s” in homemaking. Not saying it’s impossible for those of us with no platforms and a serious lack of supremo marketing plans to get noticed, but it does make it more difficult.

The thing I struggle with in all of this is exactly what Mary captures in her post. Too often we hear the lip service given to Christianity by professionals, but less often do we hear and see the practical application of the Jesus/writer relationship in the business end of this unusual business.

Since I write my version of reviews but never read others’ reviews until I’ve read the novel, I select my reading material from limited back cover copy—there are times when I don’t read all of it if I’m interested in the book—and the reactions to a novel by readers who I perceive as having similar tastes to mine. The marketing factor plays a small role in my case for selecting reading material. And, for me, I confess the oft-used phrase for writing (which of course I disagree with conceptually), “Less is better” should be used for marketing in many cases. Honestly, too much, too often, too many places where I see an author or book being trumpeted turns me the other direction. Am I all alone in this? Or is everyone too inhibited to answer?

What kind of marketing appeals to you? What do you design for your proposals?

Jesus, you’re the objective. Not the books. Help me to understand your plan for me. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

You know: what is that final decision-making moment that spurs you on to buy one novel over another? Do you browse in specific bookstores? Do you peruse Amazon or Christian Book Distributors? Where do you go and what pushes you toward one novel and convinces you to buy it—or not?

And for those of you writers who are avid readers, what type of marketing turns you on to a book or off to a book? Come on—I find it hard to believe that all of us writer types don’t find some kinds of marketing off-putting? Is it really just me?

I certainly understand the joy in getting a good review or a thoughtful comment about one’s book. It’s a bona fide thrill to know that someone benefited from something that you invested heart and soul into, that someone actually “got” you, that someone found something, anything, redeeming about what you wrote. There’s no getting around the rush.

But when do the “praise reports” become annoying to read? Or do they? When do authors who continually promote their stuff start grating on us? When do the hard push marketers chafe our sensibility? Or, again, is it just me?

If I really like a novel, I’m fairly certain to get another one by the same author. And you know I have my favorites. How about you?

I guess what I’m looking for is the answer to this question: what is it that ultimately sells you on a book? Can you nail it down? Does it vary? And I’m not talking about your favorite authors. At some point you read their first book. Word of mouth? An ad? Facebook recommendation? Twitter? A blog? What? Or who?

Lord, you lead and direct people in so many ways. You provide words, plots, characters, and stories. You are the audience of one, but you have a plan for all things, a purpose for the work we do. I’m so grateful for your leading. And I’m so desperate for you. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

Ask Don Piper what happens when someone who knows Jesus personally dies. Well, if you can’t ask him or hear him speak about it, you can read 90 Minutes in Heaven as told to Cecil Murphey and published in 2004 by Revell.

Christians who follow Jesus expect to go to heaven because of what Jesus accomplished on the Cross and because He rose from the dead. Once we accept His sacrifice and invite Him to take over our lives, we’re “in” for eternal life in a perfect place known as heaven. If any of us have wondered or doubted or been unsure of that fact on our darkest days or in our weakest moments, we can read this account of one man’s experience in heaven. The blessing that awaits Christians is worth the struggle, the hardship, the suffering, and the journey to get there.

Pastor Don Piper and Cec Murphey tell us the route which led to the deadly car crash and the following transportation to the heavenly place where Don arrived after a semi truck crossed the center line of a two lane road and smashed Don Piper’s 1986 Ford Escort with him inside it. He was pronounced dead at the scene. And if it were up to Don, he would’ve gladly stayed that way because of where it took him. But it was not to be.

The explanation of Pastor Piper’s 90 minutes of being dead on earth and alive in heaven is detailed but somewhat brief. The bulk of the short book explains the absolute agony of his return to earth and how he happened to come back to a life situation he wished he could escape. The miracle of his earthly resurrection cannot be pooh-poohed and explained away by doubters. The facts are indisputable. And wonderfully unique.

I appreciate the final chapter which addresses “Near Death Experiences” (NDEs) and those accounts of people who’ve been “heroically resuscitated after dying”. He maintains that his own experience defies many of the explanations offered in those circumstances. He knows precisely where he was when he died, and although the time seemed immeasurable while he was there, it ended up being 90 minutes in earth time.

His testimony has encouraged innumerable people who needed to know what they or a loved one could expect when that final breath came and went. His experience after the accident which took his life has also provided the hope others so desperately needed in their pain and recovery.

I recommend 90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper with Cec Murphey because all of us need a reason to exhort ourselves in times of intense need, to remind ourselves that what we can expect in heaven makes this life even more uniquely precious but fleeting. The book came out several years ago and achieved New York Times Bestseller status because even the darkest hearts tend to want to believe there’s a heaven even if they don’t accept the only way to get there.

Lest you ever doubted or wondered, it’s for real.

Father, thank you for eternal peace with you through Jesus Christ our Lord. Nothing could be more desirable. Thank you for those you allowed to return to us with a testimony of the incredible reality and beauty of a place without sin. A place where pain and suffering, sorrow and tears no longer exist. The kind of place you had in mind for us from the beginning . . . Holy Spirit, make it real for us. Help us to pray as you desire in accordance with the Father’s will. May we worship in Spirit and in Truth. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.