H is for Harvest: How Do You Decide What to Keep?

Growing up, I spent a lot of time in the backyard hovering around our grapevines and plucking grapes to eat. I guess this was before the world came to the general agreement that eating unwashed fruit would result in your certain and immediate demise. Or at least it was before I cared about such things.

We had about three varieties of grapes, and I realize now that it would be nice to name the specifics here. If you're on the edge of your seat waiting to find out about the grape varieties, please allow me to let you down gently right up front: I'm not exactly sure. 

I do know that at one point, one of the varieties was the blue concord grape. I know this because of the label on an old bottle of homemade wine in my pantry, made from the blue concord grapes harvested from my childhood home.

When my family decided to try their hand at making wine, I was itching to help out. Mostly this was because I imagined it would involve stomping around in an enormous barrel of grapes like I had seen on a particularly funny episode of I Love Lucy. I was mildly disappointed by the fact that the actual chosen method for squashing grapes was squeezing them by hand through a mesh straining bag. As it turned out, this was a very un-funny process. But it was effective, and eventually there were several bottles of wine lining the basement shelves to commemorate countless hours of research and labor. (I should emphasize that this was before you could just Google "how to make wine" - so there were actual books from the library involved in the research phase. Books. From the library. It was all pretty mind blowing.)

I've never asked why the blue concord grape was the chosen variety for the Rice family's stint in winemaking. I'm sure there was a reason for it. I find myself wondering about it now because for the very first time, I have three manuscripts started, and I have no idea which one to harvest, squash, and bottle into a finished product. The first is 9,855 words, the second is 1,810 words, and the third is 909 words. All started, some more than others, and all left abandoned. I'd like to think they're aging, but the truth is I'm simply at a loss with respect to which idea I'm most excited about.

The one thing I do know is that I need to make a choice; to buckle down and commit to just one manuscript at a time. Otherwise, the ideas will turn out like the homemade bottle of wine in my pantry: dusty, unopened, and probably past its prime - full of potential, but never poured out and enjoyed the way it was meant to be.

I would love to hear from some fellow writers today about how you navigate through this situation. Leave your comments below if you'd like to join the discussion. 

G is for Going Forward: RoboFriend's Advice for the Weary Writer

I have a friend who I'm pretty sure may be a robot. She's a fantastic girl, and she's a dear old friend. It's just that... she's way too enthusiastic about exercise. I mean, really happy about it. Especially running. No one should like running that much! So it's only logical to assume that one day I will find out she's actually a government-issued robot, placed among us ordinary humans to whip us into shape in order to keep healthcare costs down or something.

Kidding, of course. In all seriousness, I wish I could share her genuine love of sweating, but I do enjoy spending time with my friend, and so we find ourselves working out together now and again. Usually this involves her signing us up for some new and crazy physical challenge. It is because of this friend that I've had the experience of throwing repeated roundhouse kicks to a punching bag, crawling through the mud at six in the morning while an army drill sergeant yells in my ear (true story), and my favorite of all: running Philadelphia's Broad Street Run, a ten mile race through the City of Brotherly Love. And yes, in case you're wondering, you can smell the cheese steaks while you're running. It's pure torture.

We've run that particular race twice now, and to her this is about as difficult as playing a game of hopscotch. Sometimes we've "trained together", which is just a fancy way of saying she ties a rope around my neck and drags me around for several miles while making encouraging statements to keep me from keeling over.

There is one particularly encouraging thing she told me before our first race that has always stuck with me. "If you feel like you can't finish," she said, "just remember that all you have to do is keep going forward." She went on to explain that as long as I put one foot in front of the other, no matter how slowly, I would still be moving forward. She encouraged me not to think about how many miles were left, but just to focus on continuing to make progress, even if I was barely moving (and let me tell you, folks, I was barely moving by about mile eight of this race). But I did finish, and strangely, I actually enjoyed the experience.

Today I'm in the middle of my writing race and I feel like veering off course for the nearest cheese steak stand and watching the others whiz by me. I have an editing deadline to meet, and I'm nowhere near the end of this blog challenge. I also have a little one who seems to be under the impression that her crib has some sort of elite room service package which allows her to order all sorts of things in the middle of the night. "Chocolate milk. Other chocolate milk. Tiger! Bunny! Bunny!"

I'm running on very little sleep, and I feel like there's too much in front of me. But I'm up. And I'm putting one word in front of the other. I'm moving slowly, but I'm moving forward. Thanks, RoboFriend. :)  

F is for Food: Inspiring Takeaways from Lucille Osborn's Psalm 34:8 Cooking Series

This weekend I had the unique and incredible experience of attending a session in the Psalm 34:8 cooking series, led by Lucille Osborn.

Lucille is a freelance food stylist, which means her job is to make food look irresistibly appetizing for various television programs and cookbooks. This alone is inspiring to me, because it provides a perfectly good explanation for why everything I cook looks so incredibly unappetizing: it's simply because I'm not a professional!

Lucille is a professional, and she's also the creator of the Psalm 34:8 cooking series, which explores Scripture through interactive cooking demonstrations. By "interactive cooking demonstrations" I mean to say that you get to eat the food she makes during the class; to literally taste and see that the Lord is good. (Psalm 34:8)

Don't mind if I do.

This particular lesson was on the Parable of the Talents, and there were all sorts of amazing takeaways from the lesson itself. And from the food. (Did I mention the food?) But for me, the biggest takeaway was how simply and creatively Lucille is using who she is to serve the Lord.

This A to Z blog challenge is really challenging me to be more open and vulnerable, because you can only write so many surface-level blog posts before you have to get real. So let me get real with you again today: as a Christian writer, I often find myself wrestling with what it means to do it all for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31).

That's difficult for me to admit, but it's true. I mean, I get that writing for the glory of God means being a good steward of resources that result from my writing, and being careful not to turn God's gift of writing into an idol, etc. etc. etc. The stories I write are what you would call  good clean fun, because that's just who I am as a writer. They have their themes, sure, and I'm contracted with a Christian publisher, so I must be doing something right. But still, I often wonder if I'm missing the mark; if everything I write should be a heavy, life-changing, world-shaking theological masterpiece. Maybe, I've often thought, that's what it means to write for the glory of God. And maybe that's the only way to do it.

I am so thankful for people who can write like that (I usually start each morning with their words, in fact), but I'm not one of them. Maybe someday I will be, but for now (to speak in terms of the Parable of the Talents) I'm more of a two-talent type of girl, and it's my job to wisely use and invest what I've been given to make an impact for the Lord. Lucille showed me in a very tangible (and delicious) way how she is using who she is to relate to others and speak truths.

It inspired me in too many ways to count and outline here (I'm on deadline, you know). So I'll just summarize by saying that Lucille's demonstration ignited an excitement for how God might use me, just the simple fact of who I am, to pour love into others I encounter on this road I'm on. It helped me to realize how very uncreative I am in comparison to The Creator. I imagine that there will be all sorts of ways to do it all for the glory of God. I imagine that there will be little moments, and big ones, too. Perhaps some days I will write life-changing, world-shaking theological masterpieces. Most days, I probably won't. But every day, I will be on the lookout for how God is calling me, in the divinely creative way that only He can orchestrate or imagine, to make an eternal impact because of who and where I am.

And who knows? Maybe I'll even learn to make perfect golden crepes, just like Lucille demonstrated.

Maybe... but I doubt it.

E is for Early: Worms Don't Sleep in, Y'all

It's fitting that I'm beginning to write this post at 4:31 on a Saturday morning, because E is for early. 

For me, the hours before the world wakes up are the best writing hours. They're also the best coffee-drinking hours, and luckily the two go hand-in-hand. I'm not sure why early morning works so well for me. Maybe it's because there are fewer distractions, or perhaps it's simply that I'm a glutton for punishment, but I truly like this time. I look forward to it each night as I'm going to sleep (which is usually before nine, by the way).

I often hear from people who say they would write if only they could find the time. My gentle reminder to them (and my point in sharing this with you) is that you have to make the time. Writing early in the morning is a habit I got into when I was working full-time and writing on the side. It worked so well that I never dropped the habit. But it doesn't matter when you make the time, all that matters is that you do. So go find your early, writers!

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to my worms. Er... words.

Give me a break. It's early. ;)

D is for Don't Miss This! - Liberty Belle Cover Reveal

I am thrilled to be able to show you all this too-cute-for-words cover for Emily Ungar's upcoming middle grade title, Liberty Belle.

(Psst: D is also for Don't forget to enter the giveaway at the bottom of this post!)

On the same day she turns twelve years old, Savannah moves away from everything she’s known in sweet, sunny Georgia to preppy Washington D.C. Not only will she miss her best friends Katie and Tessa, Savannah will start a new school. She soon discovers that her schoolmates love to brag—about their clothes, their parents’ governmental connections, and even who has the in with the school authorities.

Unhappy and lonely, Savannah decides if she can’t make life better, she can at least make it sound that way. Soon she is living in the childhood home of George Washington, riding in the limo of the vice president’s daughter, and even moving into the former Luxembourg embassy.

All is well until she learns that her true friends from Georgia are coming for a visit. Now Savannah must create the life she’s been talking about in her letters—and fast! Will Savannah find herself or lose her friends?

Liberty Belle is scheduled to be released August 12, 2014 (Anaiah Press). Find it on Goodreads here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21802855-liberty-belle

About the Author: Emily Ungar is a graduate of Indiana University, where she majored in journalism. After living in seven different U.S. states by the time she finished college, she now lives in Indianapolis, Indiana, with her husband and very curious twin toddlers. When she isn’t chasing after her twin boys, Emily loves to curl up in a chaise lounge with a book in one hand and a lemon cupcake in the other. Emily loves connecting with her readers, so she welcomes you to say hi on her blog at emilyungar.com. 

Find Emily on...

Twitter: @emilyungar

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/emilyungar/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emilyungarauthor

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/13863166-emily-ungar 

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C is for Calendar: My Strange Plotting Secret

I was one of those kids who absolutely loved school. I even loved the smell of school. In fact, if I concentrate, I can still smell my elementary school.

Sniff... ahhhh.

I know. I have issues.

But there was one thing I didn't love, and that was pre-writing. Pre-writing involved trying out various methods to organize and plan out what you were going to write. It wasn't the writing part I had trouble with so much as it was the pre part. I would sit there staring down at the empty bubbles on my cluster diagram, feeling frustrated because I just wanted to cut to the chase and get to the actual writing already. (I generally have never liked any activity that involves an exact method of doing something, so when I was instructed to plan my writing using a certain method in a certain way, it didn't really sit well with me.) 

Surprisingly, I grew up to become someone who does recognize the immense value of pre-writing, and more specifically, plotting. Now that I'm free to do this however I see fit, the method I've found to be best-suited for my style is calendaring. 

(It has been said that there is nothing new under the sun, so I'm sure I'm not the first person to do this, but you should know that I just completely made up the fact that calendaring is an official plotting method. But, made up as it may be, it is my method, and I want to share it with you today.)

I begin with a paper calendar, usually in my case it's a freebie that has come from a local business. For some reason, I absolutely can't do any plotting digitally, so the paper calendar is critical. Then, I get to work planning out my story: when characters will meet, when conflict will be introduced, when questions will be raised, and when matters will be resolved. This is especially critical when the plot gets tight time-wise and important plot points take place in a matter of days (or hours, or minutes).

After the initial calendaring comes my favorite part of the process: once I actually start writing, things come up.

Just as unexpected things make their way onto our real-life calendars, things sometimes pop up in my story, and the characters have to shift around a little bit to accommodate these new (usually exciting) developments. Typically, after a first draft, I'll redo my calendar completely to make sure everything clicks into place. Sometimes during a revision, even more things come up, and the process begins again.

For me, using the calendar makes the story feel tangible. And besides, it makes good use of all those paper calendars we get in the mail. Save a tree, people!

So there's my strange but beloved plotting secret. What are your plotting secrets, writers? Please leave your comments below. I enjoy hearing from you.

B is for Block: Writer's Block, and How to Cope

So, here's the thing: I'm having a terrible case of writer's block with respect to how to begin this post. Would you please be so kind as to assume I have already dazzled you with some sort of catchy opening?

You would?

Great! I knew I liked you.

Now that you're hooked, let's talk about writer's block. 

For several years, I worked as a marketing consultant for a firm I adored, and one of the coolest things about my job was coming up with creative ideas. There were times when I'd literally be tasked with being zany and creative, and these were my favorite times by far.

Except... being creative rarely ever happened while sitting around a meeting table. That was usually where the assignments were dished out, though. And generally, when being watched expectantly by several pair of eyes, my creative juices would run dry. "Let me think about it and get back to you," I would say.

That's what I'd say, but it's not exactly what I meant. What I really meant was, "Let me stop thinking about this so hard."

Because for me, the biggest creativity killer in the world is over thinking. Sure, there are times when I have to meticulously outline, plot, and analyze. And those things certainly have their place in the writing process. But once it's time to sit down and actually write, I do my best writing when I'm not writing at all.

If I've spent too much time in front of the keyboard debating over my next sentence, I know it's time to pack it up for the day and go do something else. When I'm busy doing something else, I typically find my mind wandering right back to my writing and lingering there. I become distracted by my writing, instead of being distracted from my writing, if that makes sense. By the time I get back to my story, the words have all but typed themselves.

We each have our own way of coping with writer's block, and the "do something else" method certainly won't work for everyone. But if you're looking for a reason to step away from the computer for a few hours, then I suppose this is as good as any.