Writing and the Valley of Dry Bones

Asking God to Breathe Life by Debbie Roome

The story of the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37 has always fascinated me. I think it’s the concept of taking something dry and dead and seeing God breathe life upon it. I don’t know about you, but I sometime produce a piece of writing that seems dry and void of life. There can be many reasons for this but an important one is a lack of fellowship with God.

4 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones and say to them, 'Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.' "

The bones of our writing are the skeleton that supports it: the framework of introduction, body and conclusion. These give writing its structure and form and the other elements are built around them.

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

If I neglect to spend time with God, praying, reading His word and seeking His will, I find myself becoming dry and uninspired. Our motivation for writing and everything else we do should be to honor God and display our love for Him. As we give ourselves to Him, He breathes life into us and our work.

9 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.' " 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

I love this picture of life and ask God regularly to breathe life and inspiration into everything I do – including my writing. The results are amazing. If you’re feeling dry and uninspired this week, I encourage you to read through Ezekiel 37 and spend some time with God. Soak in His love and presence and then let it spill over into your writing and everything else you put your hand to.

Quotes from the New International Version of the Bible

Debbie Roome works as a freelance writer from her home in New Zealand. Visit her at Debbie Roome or read some of her work at Suite 101 , Take Root and Write and Faithwriters.

Gentle Romance

Reviewed by Phee Paradise

The Homecoming
By Dan Walsh

A young, beautiful woman is hired by a grieving widower as a nanny for his son. I’ve read more than one book with a similar storyline, but it’s unusual for a man to write that kind of book. I think his perspective gives the male protagonist more credence. The Homecoming is unusual in several other ways as well. It’s set during World War II and the romance develops in the background. There are several more prominent threads that weave through the plot, creating a setting for the romance that develops slowly.

Shawn Collins is a committed fighter pilot in the war, but his true concern is for his son, Patrick, who has just lost his mother in a car accident. While worrying about Patrick, Shawn is grieving for his wife. He has also recently reconciled with his father and needs to rebuild that relationship. In spite of these personal problems, the Army sends him on assignments that don’t let him see either of them often. So he hires Katherine Townsend to be Patrick’s nanny. She’s single and attractive, so he makes it clear they have to keep their relationship professional for the sake of propriety.

The bond that holds all the characters together is Patrick. He is an appealing seven year old whose love of life can’t be suppressed, even by all the trials he faces. He knows he’s loved and loves all the adults in his life unconditionally. Although Walsh never shows us his point of view, he is the central character in the story. I found this approach refreshing and engaging. I knew that all the issues in the relationships would work out because Patrick believed that God would work them out. He was able to accept even the huge losses in his life because he knew he was loved and cared for. His prayers nudged his father, his grandfather and his nanny to consider God more seriously.

The Homecoming is a gentle book, with a sweet ending. It presents serious themes like grief and loneliness quietly, yet powerfully. I don’t think you’ll spend a lot of time pondering these deep issues. Instead you’ll read the book like many people approach life, accepting the difficulties and rejoicing over the blessings.

Pros: Likeable characters who accept the life they are given with grace. Interesting historical setting with a plot that moves the characters forward without a lot of drama, but with a satisfying romance.

Cons: There isn’t a lot action or excitement in the plot.

About the book
A reluctant war hero returns home and encounters a new chance at love.

No sooner has Shawn Collins returned home from the fighting in Europe than he is called upon to serve his country in another way--as a speaker on the war bond tour. While other men might jump at the chance to travel around the country with attractive Hollywood starlets, Shawn just wants to stay home with his son Patrick and his aging father, and grieve the loss of his wife in private. When Shawn asks Katherine Townsend to be Patrick's nanny while he's on the road, he has no idea how this decision will impact his life. Could it be the key to his future happiness and the mending of his heart? Or will the war once again threaten his chances for a new start?

About the author
Dan Walsh is the author of The Unfinished Gift and a member of American Christian Fiction Writers. He is a pastor and lives with his family in the Daytona Beach area, where he's busy researching and writing his next novel.

Editing Tip # 33: Book Publishing Options (part three)

Kathy Ide’s Editing Tips
© Kathy Ide, 2010

In this column, freelance author, editor, and speaker Kathy Ide shares tips on self-editing your manuscript.

~ Book Publishing Options (part three) ~

Last week I briefly discussed the option of having a manuscript published by a subsidy publisher. But that’s not the only alternative to commercial publication. Here are three more.

Self-publishing
You can take full control and responsibility for the entire process of publication, putting every aspect of the process out for bid rather than accepting a preset package of services from a subsidy publisher. Publishing-related services include:

1. Writing coach/mentor (or ghostwriter/collaborator)
2. Editing and proofreading
3. Cover design
4. Obtaining an ISBN/barcode
5. Typesetting (interior design)
6. Book printing
7. Getting your book set up with a distributor
8. Marketing/publicity (PR company, speaking engagements, press releases, book reviews, online promotion, social media networking, book videos/trailers, etc.)
   

Self-publishing can be more cost effective than subsidy publishing and may result in a higher-quality product (or at least something that is more appealing to you).

The completed books are the author’s sole property, and you keep 100 percent of sales proceeds.


Electronic Publishing
Maybe you simply want to get out the message God has given you, and you don’t care whether it gets into printed form.

Many authors publish their writings on their own Web sites, e-newsletters, and/or blogs.

An e-book publisher will take a Word or WordPerfect file, design an electronic cover for it, format it to look like a book on screen, and send it back to you in PDF format, which can be read by anyone with a computer. Once the e-book publisher has formatted your book, you can send it to anyone you want by e-mail or on disk.

Alternately, you could convert your manuscript into PDF format yourself. (Several Web sites and word-processing programs offer free conversion. For a more professional-looking product, consider hiring a typesetter. Let me know if you’d like a referral for this service.)


Do-it-Yourself Printing
Most copy shops and many office supply stores offer various book-binding services. Alternately, you could purchase binders or report covers at an office supply store and fill them with three-hole-punched sheets of paper. If clear-front covers are used, you can design an attractive cover page using either a color printer or specialty paper.


Whether you plan to self-publish, e-publish, or DIY, I strongly encourage you to get a professional edit/proofread to make sure your writing flows smoothly, doesn’t contain anything that could potentially be misread or found offensive, and is free of typos, inconsistencies, or errors in punctuation, usage, grammar, and spelling.


**********

NOTE: It is an infringement of copyright law to reproduce this
publication, in part or in whole, without the express permission of the
author. To request permission, please e-mail Kathy@KathyIde.com.

**********

AUTHOR BIO:
Kathy Ide has written books, articles, play and movie scripts, short stories, devotionals, and curriculum. Her books include Polishing the PUGS and Fiction and Truth. Kathy is a full-time freelance editor, offering a wide range of editorial services for authors and publishers. She also speaks at writers’ conferences across the country. She is the founder and coordinator of The Christian PEN: Proofreaders and Editors Network (www.TheChristianPEN.com) and the Christian Editor Network (www.ChristianEditor.com). To find out more, please visit www.KathyIde.com.

On Cloning

BY SUZANNE WILLIAMS

The goal of every photograph should always be to "make it right" from the camera. But there are going to be times when your end result is just not what you desired. Perhaps you were with a group and did not have the time to compose as you wished, or maybe an object fell into the frame unknowingly. In these cases, the clone tool can often be helpful to remove or correct the scene.

I am for doing as little post editing on photographs as possible. I always hesitate to crop an image and if it must be done, do so minimally. Too much post processing in my opinion is a bit like cheating, unless your goal is for something more of an art form.

The clone tool is perhaps the most misused photo editing tool in our box of tricks. Whenever I see an obvious area of cloning in an image, I always cringe. Correctly done, cloning should always, ALWAYS be invisible. The viewer should NOT be able to tell it was done, and there are a few keys to getting it right.

Patience

Good cloning takes time. If you are in a rush or trying to work too fast, you will mostly likely do a sloppier job than if you slow down and take your time. If you do not have the time at present to tackle a large area of cloning, then stop and do it later!

Use a large image

The fact is that the larger the image is, the more pixels you will have to work with. To reiterate the old cliché, in this case, "bigger is better". A larger image, whether it is taken with a digital camera or scanned into the computer, will give you a better collection of source points to choose from.

Zoom in!

Trying to clone while you are zoomed out in a photograph is doing so blindly. You cannot possible see all the detail that needs correcting, and you will definitely miss artifacts that you should have removed. But be sure to zoom out occasionally to see the overall effect of what you are doing. You can "get lost" in the photo otherwise.

Direction is important

Look closely at your image and notice the direction of the objects in the picture. If you are cloning areas of a building and your source point is a vertical line, for instance the corner of a building, or a horizontal line, like a window frame, then clone in that direction. Go left to right if the picture at that point is flowing left to right. Go up and down if the source goes up and down in the photograph. This will prevent your having areas that seem to move in a different direction. Trust me, people like myself notice.

Choose the right brush and alter your source point

These two keys go hand-in-hand. Don’t use a large brush for a small area. To misuse another infamous phrase, "less is more". A smaller brush will prevent you from disturbing objects in the image that need to be left alone. And by frequently altering your source point, you will prevent what I have dubbed "over-cloning". Over-cloning happens when you repeat the same artifact way too many times. Even a small spot, can become obvious to a critical viewer.

A couple of other points, I’d like to include are the use of transparency and Photoshop’s Healing Brush. I have found that cloning works better with the use of the Healing Brush. The Healing Brush will smooth out the edges and blend the new cloned area into the image. Especially when working with areas in a photo where the light changes, you need to assure that shadows remain as shadows and some strange light doesn’t appear where it should not be. If your software does not have a Healing Brush, the use of transparency, can achieve the same result. Lower the opacity to 50% and work the edges, constantly altering your source point. Then work them again at 25%.

By following these few rules and "practice, practice, practice", the clone tool can become a very helpful tool and a great way to enhance an image. Always be willing to admit you did some cloning. After all, the best compliment a viewer can pay is when they say they can’t see you altered it at all.

Examples

This example is a photo I took while on vacation in the Appalachian Mountains. There was just no way to take the picture without the telephone wires in it. So I instead got the exposure and composition I liked and removed the wires later. Left is before, Right is after.

Restoring old photographs is a great place to really work on your cloning skills. This image belonged to my grandmother. Left is before, Right is after.

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Suzanne Williams Photography
Florida, USA

Suzanne Williams is a native Floridian, wife, and mother, with a penchant for spelling anything, who happens to love photography.

Humbled

Reviewed by Phee Paradise

Finding Jeena
By Miralee Ferrell

Finding Jeena is about humbling - the kind that is referred to in the phrase, “How the mighty have fallen.” The book begins with Jeena Gregory at the top of her career, making a lot of money and spending it on the material things that will flaunt it. She’s supremely confident, arrogant and self-centered. But she has a few things going for her. She has a grandmother and a friend who care about her spiritual condition. And God loves her enough to let her fall.

The first part of the book lets us get to know Jeena as I’ve just described her. But, as a result of an unfortunate job decision and some poor choices, Jeena’s security is stripped away. As she loses all the things she values, she has to face her prejudices, her past and her fears. And eventually she has to face God.

In Jeena, Ferrell has created a character who is forced into circumstances that create growth. As she is humbled, she gradually recognizes her pride and begins to learn humility. In spite of this, I have to admit I didn’t like Jeena. I can’t relate to either of the worlds she lived in and I found myself criticizing all of her responses to them both. Her shallow selfishness is something I don’t encounter in many of the people I know. Although the theme of humility was clearly developed, it seemed like the author had purposely created an obnoxious character, then forced the circumstances to turn her into someone likeable.

However, one of the things Ferrell did well, was to develop several sub-themes that created empathy for women in difficult circumstances. The ones Jeena meets in a women’s shelter are diverse and authentic. I liked them all, even the one that Jeena didn’t like. And their tentative faith helped Jeena listen when God came knocking.

Pros: Sympathetic depictions of women with serious problems and the people who show them God’s love. Also, a thorough treatment of the road from pride to humility.

Cons: A main character that is not very sympathetic, and whose choices may not seem completely authentic.

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

Finding Jeena Kregel Publications (March 8, 2010)

by

Miralee Ferrell


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

In October 2007 Kregel Publications published The Other Daughter with excellent reviews. The Romantic Times Review magazine gave it Four out of Four and a half stars, with a very strong review. Two different major motion picture studios are currently considering the book as a possible family movie, and my second book in the series (Past Shadows) is on my publishers desk being reviewed for a possible contract offer now.



In February of 2009, Love Finds You in Last Chance, California was published by Summerside Press and Finding Jeena released in March 2010 from Kregel Publications.



Miralee Ferrell lives in Washington with Allen, her husband of more than 37 years, ans has two grown children. She serves on staff at her local church ans is actively involved in ministry to women.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Jeena Gregory thought she’d made it. She has everything a woman could ask for and a budding career promises more. But when rumors around town cast her boss in a shady light, Jeena starts to question her employer’s integrity. Was she wrong to trust this man and this job?



When the boss disappears, salaries go unpaid, and Jeena overhears several hush-hush phone calls, she realizes her carefully crafted world is crumbling. Shaken to the core at the threat of losing everything, Jeena is suddenly confronted with her prejudices─and with a God she had long forgotten.

To read an excerpt of Finding Jeena, click HERE.