Take heart young ladies

Several young ladies have told me they are in love with William the Third from The von Strassenberg Saga. They wish they could find a man like him.
They doubt he really exists.
Take heart.
Somewhere he does exist.
William the Third wasn't just pulled out of my imagination, he was subconsciously modeled after my husband.
Like a lot of things with the saga it wasn't something I intended to do.


When my husband and I started kind of dating again he was drinking, smoking, cussing...typical construction worker behavior. I say that because, at the time, he was working in home construction.
I, on the other hand, was on fire for Jesus, a Bible thumper walkin' the walk and talkin' the talk.
We fortunately had a mutual agreement: I would not try to change him and he would not try to change me. He would put up with my God-speak and I would put up with his construction workerness.
Even during that time, out of respect for me, he acted the gentleman and would not cuss or be crude around me.
And even though we were both divorced and I was the single mom of three kids, we withheld from certain activities until our wedding night. This was never something I had to argue with him about. He was actually the one who brought it up, "I don't want to do anything to interfere with your relationship with your God." And he didn't. And he wouldn't let me. Lol.
Just this week he was offered a big promotion at his place of work (he's now a chef). When he started there in June of this year he negotiated to have Sundays off (because you see, my husband did accept Christ and without any preaching from me). This promotion to sous chef would involve Sundays and he would have to go back to nights. Meaning: he would rarely have time with the our boys.
He turned the promotion down.
In his words, "I took this job with the stipulation that I would have Sundays off. I'm not going to waffle on that just because I'm offered a promotion. And I just got my time with my family back, I'm not giving that up."
I tell you this not to just toot my own horn but to let you know that there are men like that out there. 
You just have to be patient and trusting. 
And patient. 
I went through a lot of heartache for many years because I was impatient.
And I didn't trust.
Two points I am still working on. 


All that being said, I never intended to incorporate any Christian elements into The von Strassenberg Saga. All I wanted to do was write something other than another bandwagon book because readers deserve more than the overabundance of recycled plots that are out there. It wasn't until nearly the end of Filter that William III revealed to me that he is a Christian. I actually fought him on this point because I didn't want to write an ambush book. 
That's what some non-Christian readers call books wherein the author sneaks in Christian theology. 
But then I got to thinking about it. 
I am a Christian. 
And I write to you out of my own experience.
And most Christians are misrepresented in fiction. Even Christian fiction. We are often portrayed as two dimensional and overly sentimental. Fluffy characters. The requirements for a book to be considered as "Christian fiction" only perpetuate this. And, let me tell you, going by Harlequin's Love Inspired Romance guidelines, Filter is too racy. Yup. 
This is why I am reluctant to list The von Strassenberg Saga as Christian fiction. It is dark and riddled with sinful behavior and it isn't all tied up with a pretty bow at the end. God doesn't always deal in happy endings. But He does always work things out....eventually. 
The other reason that I do not list the saga as Christian fiction is that it is not written to teach or preach. William is a character who happens to be a Christian. It is unrealistic to assume that everyone walking around in a story is an atheist or agnostic. It is unrealistic to pretend as though religion is not a factor in the lives of some of the people around you. At least William is written honestly, with all his flaws (you'll see more of that in Bluestocking). He doesn't always do the right thing. He doesn't always think the right thing. He struggles just as any Christian struggles. 
Just like my husband. Who is a real man. Not a two dimensional cut out.
So take heart ladies, men like William III do exist.
I promise you. 

Unruly Characters

I understand that the voices in my head are not real. 
The problem is: they don't.
When first beginning a story, it is usually one line of dialogue that runs through my head continuously until I let it out. If I continue ignoring said voice long enough, it gets louder and usually some friends come to join in. 
It isn't unlike that great book or movie or song that gets stuck in your head and won't get out. Except this is all coming to life inside my thoughts. 
Well, I had my ideas about how to write book 2 of The von Strassenberg Saga. But every time I sat down to write the contemporary part of it, I would hit a brick wall. ALWAYS with the brick wall. Finally one day I threw my pen and paper down, that's how I write when things are difficult because that's how I wrote when I was a kid, and picked up a Grisham novel. There is no greater muse than getting lost in a good book. At least for me. Quite suddenly, the problem presented itself. I was fighting the characters again. This was something that happened while I was writing Filter and I fought it through 80 pages until eventually I realized that it would all be crap if I didn't give in. So I gave in and started over. Fortunately, it is still early in the game for book 2. And where the brick wall stood is exactly where the story needed to diverge from my expectations. And WOW! The contemporary thread of the story is completely different from Filter. If you loved William Drexler III in Filter, and I know some of you are literary crushing, you will catch your breath at him in book 2. His story is tragic and lovely and oh, sigh. He is William Drexler, isn't he? :) 
So things are now going very well with book 2! Thought some of you might like to know that!

Lookie Lookie It's a Bookie!

My books on a bookshelf in a bookstore! What a novel idea! So grateful to our local bookshop for giving Filter some shelf space!

The Joy of One Sale

Well, actually it was two sales! In one day.

As an independently published author (fancy way of saying I gave up on finding an agent and don’t have the granola to print physical copies so I only epublish), I cannot tell you the sheer joy when one person says, “Yea, all that work you did for ten months….that’s worth $2.99 to. Granted the hope and excitement that springs up with that one sale often fizzles out quickly, but it sure is sweet at the realization of it. I wrote Filter in opposition to the vampire craze. Everybody was writing vampires and then witches and then zombies…. It was my hope to write a book that could be just as terrifying and darkly romantic without all of the cliche. Of course if more people left reviews I would know if I have succeeded. Readers, if you buy an independently published book PLEASE be kind enough to review it. We rely on them for two reasons. First, it’s the cheapest publicity there is. Second, we need to know if we’re failing in our craft. Be truthful but in a constructive way. We don’t have professional editors combing through our manuscripts. We have good friends and wonderful big brothers (who I still can’t believe read my YA romance/thriller!) and the few people who take the time to curl up with their Kindles or Nooks or other eReaders. You are vital to our success. 

To whoever actually purchased my ebook today: Thank you, thank you

If you want to try it before you buy it just sample it!

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Writing YA Christian lit or Not.

I did not grow up in a Christian home. My parents weren't druggies or alcoholics or abusive. We were just a typical lower middle class family struggling to make it work. My mother stayed at home with us until I was in first or second grade. She then took a job with a maid service. For the first time my sisters and I were given an allowance. As the youngest, I was paid the least for my labor which included dusting and vacuuming. It was $5. And it was enough. A new bookstore had opened in the recently developed strip mall across the street that ran behind our home. The bookstore was the only thing that made the destruction of the farmland acceptable in my mind. I was maybe 8 or 9 at the beginning. Each Friday I would take my $5 and walk to the bookstore. Back then $5 was just enough to buy two paperbacks. This was when I fell in love with Lois Duncan and Christopher Pike. No, there were no Sweet Valley High books for me. My friends were all reading them, but not me, never a one. I was a Nancy Drew girl, a mystery and thriller girl. When I was 10 I discovered what I consider to be the original Twilight series, The Vampire Diaries, LJ Smith. And by the way, the WB series does the book series a great injustice. I read all of Duncan and Smith and Pike and usually read book more than once. When I became a Christian at the age of 15 I was reading Dean Koontz and my Bible and occasionally Stephen King. Seem like a conflict of interest? Indeed. But what else was I supposed to read? Christian fiction at the time left much to be desired. It was poorly written and cheesy to say the least. Recently when I started writing my own YA novel I struggled with this. I wanted to write something Christian parents would approve of and Christian and non-Christian terms would enjoy. Oh but we have Twilight, you say. Um no. While Edward insisting on waiting until marriage to have sex is great and my favorite thing about the entire series, it doesn't override the fact that Bella's entire existence, she thought, hinged on Edward. That's stupid. And unhealthy. While most of my characters are not Christians, they struggle with their morals and with the morals of their Christian friends. But that isn't the focus of the story. It is a thriller after all. And honestly I didn't write it with any moral in mind. My goal was to write a romantic thriller for teens that didn't involve vampires or zombies or werewolves or this ridiculous notion that a girl's life should revolve around a boy. Injecting my Christian faith into the story was tricky. I didn't want to lay it on too thick but I didn't want to ignore it. I'm the end I think a happy balance was found but you would have to be the judge of that. Look for my ebooks Filter at amazon.com or smashwords.com.