Into the Fire

The highest praise for me directed at my novels is this: "They seem so real. It's like I know the people in the story – or that I want to meet them." 

"I appreciate the honest reality of the temptations many Christian’s experience and struggle with."

"Right off the bat I was drawn to the book’s two main characters, Stone and Jenna, who are as rich and as complicated as people are in real life—something I like in a novel."

"As a Christian, I find her writing inspiring as she unfolds the realities of life as they tie into a relationship with Jesus."

"Petrino-Salter also captures the pain, anger, shame, and defensive attitude that so often manifests in the lives of women who have been sexually abused."

"This story has such a great message. In addition to that, I loved all the characters. They seem like real people."

"I could relate to the characters…. especially the young lady who was so broken."

"Petrino-Salter creates a three-dimensional man that each reader can understand and relate to. I felt his frustration and depression and yearned for him to find the true love of his life."

Thank you to the readers of my novels who "get" me, who understand the contrasts I make, the befores and afters, the pain, the temptations, the ugly, and the beauty, the passion, the love of and in life. Thank you to each one who felt something reading the story. Thank you to each one who championed the "real" factor in the different stories. 

Thank you is not enough. I'm so grateful to all of you. 

Father, thank you is never enough for all that you've given me, done for me. Never enough, but it's all I have. I love you, Lord. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

I can't tell you how much I love his music. Maybe it's the passion I hear. The first time I heard the beginning of this song, I cried. Those who know me are well aware that I can cry at almost anything, but it's not just that I'm a sap, because I am, but it's the passion and intensity of the feelings that stir me so deeply. I'm not sorry God made me this way. It's who I am. Hope you enjoy this one as much as I did. 

Thank you, Lord God Almighty, for it all Always desperate for you. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

It's a strange expression, but everyone seems to know what it means. It took me a long while to get here, but I'm definitely comfortable in my own skin. Not proud of it but comfortable in it.

I think it takes time to learn who you are, what your purpose is, and how to attempt to be the best individual and "corporate" entity you can be. 

With me, Jesus made the difference in the desire to understand who He'd created me to be. It was slow going, but I made it. There are innumerable complexities in each of us. Maybe our desired outcomes for our lives are relatively simple, but getting to them and gaining the momentum to clarify and then put ourselves under the direction of the Savior isn't always as easy as we might hope it to be. Struggles usually empty out our own designs, but until we understand how we're confounding ourselves in the pursuit of being "better", it inevitably takes a hard and bumpy road to get there.

Having been one to rarely learn any way but the hard way, maybe it took longer than it should have to get comfortable in my own skin. So be it. I got there in spite of myself and definitely with the Holy Spirit's assistance. And now? What you see is pretty much what you get. I don't play games, and I want what's best for you. I do my best to be the best friend I can, but I am selective. I love deep. I cry hard and often. I'm emotional. And I'm grateful that's who God made me to be. 

How about you? Are you comfortable in your own skin – or is there chafing going on under that skin at the moment? 

Father, I'm thankful for your work in me – I know it hasn't been easy. Thank you always for rescuing me from myself. Amazing God. Please continue to refine me. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

     One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters. With her the kings of the earth committed adultery and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of their adulteries." 

     Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and seven heads and ten horns. The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. This title was written on her forehead:

                                     MYSTERY

                            BABYLON THE GREAT

                       THE MOTHER OF PROTITUTES

                AND THE ABOMINATION OF THE EARTH. 

I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus. 

     When I saw her, I was greatly astonished. Then the angel said to me: "Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns. The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and will come up out of the Abyss and go to his destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because he once was, now is not, and yet will come. 

Revelation 17:1-8 (NIV) 

I don't know how unique or unusual it actually will be, but this latest novel I'm working on is a bit of a different kind of love story. It's told mostly from the male protagonist's first-person point of view. Of course, as a female author, I'm taking a risk by working to get his voice, his perspective, and his actions correct and believable. I did this approach with one of my older novels Breath of Life, but that protagonist had a totally different personality from this one. This hero is a bestselling author who's moved away from the publishing hub and all that went with it in his life to an obscure location in northern Idaho on 30 acres of forest with a two-story cabin he remodeled along with building a guest cottage with a garage and a 3-bay garage/shop for his vehicles. 

With those of us who are what is known as "seat-of-the-pants" writers, we never know what's going to happen as we begin our stories, but there's a lot about the style of this novel I really didn't see coming. I'll have to go with it for now, but the words of a special friend who was the beta reader for many of my novels are echoing in my head. She told me she didn't prefer a lot of dialogue in stories. 

Anyway, that's a mini-preview of "the next one" in the lineup . . . 

Father, you are the giver of good and perfect gifts. I thank you for every inspiration, character, story, words. Apart from you, I can do nothing. Thank you is never enough. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

When you're anticipating having that 2-yr.-old kind of mindset on Thursday . . . 

Father, you've protected me my entire life. I could always be my own worst enemy. And yet, there you've always been. Thank you is never enough. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

As much as we wish they weren't for various reasons which shall follow, novelists rely on reviews to help promote and sell their novels. It's a fact of life. 

As you know, romance is the genre for millions of readers and because of that, there are multi-millions of books they can choose to read. That means stiff competition for the authors of love story/romance novels. And although many authors don't care to admit they are entering a competition when they engage their efforts in writing novels, if they desire to sell any of their wares, they must admit it is a competition, like it or not. 

So. Reviews matter. And the last thing any author needs is a 1-star review on Amazon or anywhere else. I recently opted to buy some reviews by experienced reviewers and lovers of romance for Goodreads exclusively. Some authors and readers spend considerable time there. Others don't. I don't, which is why I chose to have a handful of reviews posted there for Then . . . you. Big mistake. Out of the several people who selected to review the novel, most of them were from foreign countries and I suspected the nuances of American romance novels might not translate well no matter how fluid they perceived themselves to be in the English language. That is not meant to be an insult in any manner, and, in fact, it turned out to be quite true. I declined to offer it to a couple others because it was quite clear their overall "personality" most likely wasn't cohesive with Christian Fiction.

Two of the reviewers got the protagonist's name wrong, one labeled the novel for Young Adults, proceeded to do a critique with a list of complete misinterpretations and misunderstandings and hard to decipher points made (yes! a list), and it was an agonizing disaster of a review that made no sense at all. And managed to make me quite angry. Out of that expense I received one rewarding review. 

Live and learn. This was the last thing I expected. 

Just a few thoughts this Wednesday in the life of a novelist. 

Father, you know it all. Everything. You collect our tears. You know the number of hairs on our head. Who can ever understand your incredible magnificence? Thank you for the all-consuming grace and abundance you've shown me throughout my life. Thank you is never enough. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

Beautiful music. Takes you away from everything else for a little while. 

Thank you is never enough for the beauty you made sure we still were able to find and have. You could've taken it all away because of our betrayal, but you chose to give us chances to see and realize who you are. Desperate for you, Lord. In the Name of Jesus. 

Novelists are often asked many different kinds of questions about writing their stories. The answers can be as different as the people themselves. Each writer has his or her own methodology even if it's the seat-of-the-pants style of operation. Whether or not the author has a formula they follow, does outlines or storyboards, or makes lists, or sets specific hours in a day or night to write – whatever their practice is, it's still unique to them no matter how many other authors employ similar tactics to put that story together. 

A recent inquiry asked of novelists was how do they select their characters' names. 

I have no better way to answer this than they just come to me. Not a terrific answer, I know. Not like having a book of names to shuffle through for each character in the story. Or having a list of favorite male and female names acquired over time and waiting to be attached to a character. For me, the name and the character "just happen" usually simultaneously. For me, I believe the Lord gives them to me, but I know there are readers and other authors who can't accept that. Doesn't matter because I get them and the character fills in the personality. 

I'd love to hear how other authors arrive at their characters' names just as much as any reader might want to know. 

Father, thank you for my characters and their names. It's always exciting to see what you give me. I never know until you make them appear! It's awesome. Thank you is never enough. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

     The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was given power to scorch people with fire. They were seared by the intense heat and cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify Him.

     The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was plunged into darkness. Men gnawed their tongues in agony and refused to repent of what they had done.

     The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East. Then I saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. They are spirits of demons performing miraculous signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty. 

     "Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed."

     Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.

     The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, "It is done!" Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since man has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the fury of His wrath. Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found. From the sky huge hailstones of about a hundred pounds each fell upon men. And they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible. 

Revelation 16:8-21 (NIV)