Rachel Starr Thomson

24-year-old author and filmmaker Ashley Crook, whose book Hearts Journey Home was released in December of last year, truly believes in the life-changing power of creativity used for God. On her Web site’s “About Us” page, beneath a photograph of her family labeled “The Team,” she sets out the mission behind her work:

We desire with all our heart to help bridge the gap between a person and healing, between souls and God. To make known the treasure of God’s love, healing, and salvation. Our goal is to work as a team with others to create a trestle to the treasure of Jesus and His love and salvation.

We endevour to do this first just by our lives and reaching out to others, and also by creating entertaining, touching, powerful, family-friendly, refreshing films, books, photos, sketches, paintings, and other works of art which bring a refreshing, healing balm to hurting hearts and which leave the recipient/viewer/reader with a feeling of fulfillment and renewed enthusiasm for our Lord.

We commit all we do to Him – Our Father, Savior, and Guide.

I met Ashley online way back in March 2008, when she e-mailed me with a few questions about how I’d self-published. Since then, I’ve had the chance to watch her move to the publication and marketing stages for her book. Tomorrow, I’ll be talking with Ashley about her own writing journey — how she got started and how this book came to be. On Wednesday, I’ll post more about Hearts Journey Home, including a YouTube trailer Ashley filmed.

Well, it’s Friday, and a crazy week has come to an end. Most of the craziness has been good, and nearly all of it online. A quick summary. This week I:

• Joined Twitter (follow me: @writerstarr). I was hearing a LOT of buzz from the online writing community about how the entire publishing industry is on Twitter, and if you want to network you just can’t beat it, and well, they’re right. But I’m still learning to use it effectively.
• Uploaded Worlds Unseen to Authonomy.com. This site, run by HarperCollins and still in beta form, is one of the most interesting things I’ve seen in quite some time, and I’m loving all the near-instant feedback on my book. But I suspect this one’s a double-edged sword, with huge potential to become a time-sink and much opportunity to get in over my head. Figuring this out too.
• Was interviewed by Lyn Perry of Residential Aliens here. Lyn is running a fun series of two-question interviews. Check it out!
• Got hacked on Facebook for about an hour. Not my favourite thing. Rebecca Miller of the Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy Blog Tour was also hacked; also not her favourite thing.

Crazy and fun this week has been, but I think I can best bring it to a close by repeating my Facebook response to the hacking:

Rachel Starr Thomson thinks she has it pretty good. That hacker posted “lookin for love” as my status, but truth is, I’ve already found it. I have an amazing family, the best friends in the world, and in all things, above all things, through all things the… love of God in Jesus Christ. I am seriously blessed.

Amen :). See you next week!

While researching the conference I’m attending, I discovered Publetariat, a site for indie writers and publishers that’s run by April Hamilton, one of the conference presenters. I’ve only been frequenting it for about a week, but I love it. The site links to blog posts from all sorts of people walking the quirky road of indie publishing, with great articles on topics ranging from marketing to good writing to things of special concern to independents. Good stuff. I highly recommend checking it out.

Here’s the link: http://www.publetariat.com/

Ray Bradbury’s Zen in the Art of Writing was a fantastic shot in the arm years ago when I was playing with the idea of becoming a writer. He understands what it means to be creative and can articulate it like few others. This short passage is from the Preface.

These essays were written at various times over a thirty-year period, to express special discoveries, to serve special needs. But they all echo the same truths of explosive self-revelation and continuous astonishment at what your deep well contains if you just haul off and shout down it . . .

And now:

I have come up with a new simile to describe myself lately. It can be yours.

Every morning I jump out of bed and step on a landmine. The landmine is me.

After the explosion, I spend the rest of the day putting the pieces together.

Now, it’s your turn. Jump!

I recently finished reading this book on writing about literature. (Tough slogging at times, and I learned anew how nuts the modern world can be, but I learned plenty.) It’s a guide for university-level students who are studying literature, meant to teach them how to analyze what they’re reading so they can pen intelligent essays about it, whether they’re writing about fiction, drama, poetry, etc.

Much of the authors’ advice boils down to this: Pay attention to your responses while you’re reading. Note your thoughts and feelings as you go. Return to your notes once you’re finished, bringing your overall knowledge of the story to bear, and figure out WHY you responded as you did.

This is excellent advice for a writer. Dig out some of your favourite books. Read them over again, even if only in sections, and think about why you respond the way you do. I just pulled Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time off my shelf, flipped it open to the first page, and read this:

It was a dark and stormy night.

In her attic bedroom Margaret Murry, wrapped in an old patchwork quilt, sat on the foot of her bed and watched the trees tossing in the frenzied lashing of the wind. Behind the trees clouds scudded frantically across the sky. Every few moments the moon ripped through them, creating wraith-like shadows that raced along the ground.

The house shook.

Wrapped in her quilt, Meg shook.

It’s a marvelous opening, but think about it. Does it grab you? Does it create a certain atmosphere or make you feel that certain things are more likely to happen than others? Why? Is it the use of words full of emotion and violence, the moon “ripping” through the clouds and the shadows “racing”? Is it the contrast of Meg, wrapped in a quilt in her attic and thus making a very small figure, with the hugeness and wildness of the world outside? What do YOU think?

Try the same thing with some of your favourite authors. Look for specific things, positive and negative: Does this opening grip me? Is this conversation moving? Have I ceased to care about a character here? Is this scene especially atmospheric? Why is my heart racing at this point in the story? WHY? What is the author doing to call forth this reaction?

In any profession, you’re wise to learn from the best. And the first key to learning is a simple question: “Why?”

My friend Felice Gertwitz is hosting a contest through her radio show today:

Listen into the Blog Talk Radio show http://www.WritingandPublishingRadio.com for a chance to win a free book. Your choice of “Information in a Nutshell: Writing and Publishing” OR “Reach for the Stars: Young Fiction Author’s Workbook” … to find out how, listen to the event live or at a later date. Contest begins August 24-august 30th.

Also, you can win a copy of Robin Parrish’s Offworld through this Inklings contest.

This month’s Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy blog tour focused on a sci-fi novel: Robin Parrish’s Offworld, published by Bethany House. It’s an exciting, summer-blockbuster sort of story that generated much comment and controversy on the tour. You can win a copy, but first, check out my tour posts:

Introductory Post (including links to other bloggers): http://www.rachelstarrthomson.com/2009/08/offworld-csff-blog-tour/

Review of Offworld: http://www.rachelstarrthomson.com/2009/08/a-review-offworld-day-2/

“The Book On Paper and the One In Here”: http://www.rachelstarrthomson.com/2009/08/the-book-on-paper-and-the-one-in-here-offworld-day-3/

Interested in winning a copy of Offworld? It’s easy. Visit www.rachelstarrthomson.com and identify a book page, article, blog post — anything — that you’d like to share with others. Post the link to your blog, Facebook, Twitter, or even e-mail. Comment on one of the Offworld posts to let me know where you’ve posted your link. Whoever posts the most wins. The contest ends Friday. Have fun!

This post lifted from a promotional e-mail sent out by Writer’s Digest, complete with links. It’s a great explanation of why I decided to go to this conference — and why you, if you want to write professionally, may want to consider attending one as well. (If you decide that you simply have to be in New York this September, let me know so we can meet up!)

Writer’s Digest Conference
The Business of Getting Published
September 18 – 20
The Marriott Marquis
Times Square
New York

If you’re serious about achieving success as a published author, you should be at the Writer’s Digest Conference in September. Here’s why:

1.) You’ll get a one-on-one, professional evaluation of where you are in your career.
The Writer’s Digest team interacts daily with writers from all walks of life, with deep experience evaluating publishing materials. At your one-on-one editor meeting, a Writer’s Digest editor will review your writing and show you what paths are available to you, where you should focus your energy, and how to position yourself for greatest success.  Register and submit a writing sample by September 1 and you may be one of 10 people invited to also meet one-on-one with a literary agent. Click here for more details.

2.) You’ll learn the ins and outs of marketing and promoting your writing.
Once a book is accepted and published, a writer’s job is just starting. Successful authors know it takes time and energy to market and promote a book, both on your own and in partnership with the publisher. Writer’s Digest Conference shows you how the marketing and promotion process works, both in person, online, and with social media tools.

3.) You’ll start building relationships for long-term success.
Having a successful career as an author means you need to start building relationships with other writers, authors and industry people TODAY—not when you need something. At Writer’s Digest Conference, you’ll meet and interact with other writers, editors, agents and industry experts.

4.) You’ll move your career online.
If you’ve been holding off on starting that author website, building that blog, or jumping into Twitter, then this conference will show you best practices in the field. Don’t wait to start until you have a book ready to sell–you need to get known BEFORE the book deal. You can do that online—and we’ll show you how.

5.) You’ll learn nuts-and-bolts information not covered in most writing conferences.
Most writing conferences focus on helping you hone the craft of writing, but being a good writer is only half the puzzle. You need to know how to find your audience through publishing, promoting and selling your writing.

Take the next step to make your writing career a success.

Click here to register now!

The popular question “WWJD?” used to frustrate me. “WDJD?” — What Did Jesus Do? — has had a far more profound effect on my life. Read the article on Boundless.org.

I just finished the working outline for The Advent! I am really excited about the way the book has shaped up. Of course, “finished” is a funny word — in this case, the outline will continue to be “working” until the book is actually written. I do have some ideas to tweak and two plot lines to tie up, but I think I may wait and see how they flow once the book is actually being written.

The best thing about this announcement is that I’d written “Finish Advent outline” as a goal for this week, but I didn’t think it was going to happen. I just got to cross it off the list, making myself feel mighty productive. And now, with an actual plan in place, writing can commence.

See you on the other side!

P.S. Wondering what in the world I’m talking about? Download a free copy of Worlds Unseen, the first book in The Seventh World Trilogy, which will finish up in December 2010 with the publication of The Advent. Or you can purchase Worlds Unseen or Burning Light at these links or from any major online retailer.