Writing in New Jersey

Today I got to meet an Internet friend I've known for more than 10 years.

I live in Indiana. She lives in New Jersey.

We've shared hundreds of emails, conversations, broken hearts and celebrations.

And now we're together at last!

We had a fantastic lunch at an authentic Italian restaurant where the owners and servers all spoke Italian. And the food was absolutely amazing. I want to take the entire restaurant and staff and bring them home with me to Indiana!

This friendship would have never occurred except for the written word. What a powerful thing writing is. All these little symbols add up to business transactions or love letters or two moms with autistic kids (like my friend and I) venting and sharing encouragement via the Internet.

My friend is having major surgery tomorrow. I'm here to help her through it and to help care for her children, three of whom have autism, two of them quite severe.

Will you do me a favor and pray for her? And as you pray, thank God for the power of the written word, and God's gift of communication through it.

So many amazing things happen all because we write. Friendships are formed, people are encouraged, some escape into a story. Words are quite amazing, aren't they?

We shouldn't be surprised when the Creator Himself used words to create this amazing universe.

But it still makes me giddy to think about how powerful this gift of words is.

Makes me excited enough to write about it.

Tweet this: The power of words makes me giddy! How about you?

Karla Akins is an award-winning, prolific writer of books, short stories, plays, poems, songs, and countless nonfiction articles. Her biography for middle grades, Jacques Cartier, went #1 in its category on Amazon. Her first fiction novel, The Pastor's Wife Wears Biker Boots, was released in 2013. Her short stories have been published in several magazines including Havok and Splickety. When she's not reading she's writing. When she's not writing she is zooming along on her motorcycle looking for treasure. Learn more at KarlaAkins.com.

Words

If you're a writer, I know that at some point you've struggled to find the exact words needed to share your thoughts or feelings. Not just any words will do. The right words can help your readers see the world in a new and unexpected way. Stephen Lawhead, author of The Paradise War, describes the power of the language in his fictional world below:


"there were no dead words. No words that had suffered the ignorant predation of a semiliterate media, or had their substance leached away through gross misuse; no words rendered meaningless through overuse, or cheapened through bureacratic doublespeak. Consequently, the speech of Albion was a valued currency, a language alive with meaning: poetic, imagaic, bursting with rhythm and sound. When the words were spoken aloud, they possessed the power to touch the heart as well as the head: they spoke to the soul."

I want to give that type of language to my characters, my story world!


Any tips on how you find the right words?

Or if you're a reader, would you share an example of a fiction book where the words reached out and grabbed you?

Gifts Writers Love

People think writers are hard to find gifts for. I disagree. Give us a pencil, a pad of paper and a coupon book for an endless amount of free time, and we're happy. But, if you insist on spending money on us, who am I to stop you? Here are some ideas for gifting writers.

1. It's not too unique, but writers love books. Especially in the genre they write in, and most especially in the genre they don't write in. Oh, and they especially, especially appreciate books on the writing craft. Okay, so maybe just a gift card to a bookstore or amazon.com is in order.
2. A Kindle or other ebook reader. We're back to books again. Fine. A gift card so the writer can purchase the ebook reader of their choice is again a very good choice. (If you're buying for me, I want the new and improved Kindle, k? Thanks.)
3. Coupons/gift cards to their favorite hang out -- Starbucks, Coffee Shops, etc.
4. If you are buying for the lady writer, this lipstick flash drive or this adorable purse flash drive is the ticket. For the not-so-girly-girl or guy there are other unique flash drives here,  or here and here.
5. It gets cold in my office where I write, so  I imagine writers could use a pair of handerpants or fingerless gloves. Not to mention warm slippers or booties for keeping writers' feet warm on cold wooden or tile floors in winter time.
6. When writers are working on a project they don't get to cook very much so this bacon air freshener or corn dog air freshener would come in handy and help the family feel like they had a home cooked meal while eating delivered pizza for the umpteenth time. 
7. Nothing says "Merry Christmas" quite as well as a generous gift of eggnog soap.
8. Even the best writers can suffer from writer's block. This inflatable brain might help or a gift card to iTunes so they can purchase the Writer's Block Assassin app would be app-propriate. (See what I did there?)
9. If your writer has a deadline close to Christmas, they may feel better about missing the Christmas frenzy of fruitcake and turkey by your thoughtfulness in gifting them with these inflatable ones.
10. Some writers are neat and tidy, and others, like me, live er, a little more creatively. For those who are a little challenged in the area of tidiness, this mini-file for all those business cards they collected at the last writer's convention is handy dandy.
11. For the suspense writer, nothing says Merry Christmas better than a knife stabbing the refrigerator/file cabinet or splat stan coaster or knife coat hook or dead Fred pen holder.
12. For the writer who often loves to play host and hostess, they'll love these.
13. Etsy.com is one of my favorite places to find unique, handmade gifts. I like the site because I'm helping independent artists such as myself (writers are artists, right?). Find unique gifts for writers here.
14. I love my headphones and ear buds for listening to music while I'm writing. They also help block out the sounds of the house. However, I'm constantly misplacing them. You can never have too many. Find some cute ones here, and here and an adorable way to store and keep track of them here.
15. Actually, the ideas for writers are endless. They'll love a moleskine journal, or a nice pen, the 2011 Christian Writer's Market Guide, or tuition to a writer's conference.
16. The kids can make a coupon gift of writing time for Mom. The spouse can promise not to complain when a deadline looms and they have to stay in the writing zone.

I am acquainted with a lot of writers, and I think I know what they would like the most of all this Christmas. Most of all they'd like your love and support. They'd like time with their families. They'd like to know that you "get" what they're doing, and believe that what they are doing is leaving a legacy because words are forever.

Okay, fine. What they really want -- are contracts. Lots and lots of contracts. And chocolate.

Merry Christmas!

My Teacher is a Witch

At the ripe old age of 49, I've decided to return to college. It's not that I don't have enough to do. My writing plate is full, as are my pastor's wife and homeschool Mom platters. But God stirred my nest to step out and learn something new, and quite frankly, I love school.

I'm attending classes at a liberal arts community college, and it's been a refreshing wake-up call. Stepping out of my Christian bubble and interacting with the "real world" hasn't shocked me. (I don't live in a cave and kill my meat with a club. I have access to TV and the Internet and grew up in the '60s and '70s.) But stepping outside my comfort zone has reminded me of Whose I am and why I write.

My English teacher is a Witch. She announced to the class that Christians have caused more wars and wielded more hate than any other religion on earth. She holds degrees in philosophy and comparative religions. "I grew up Christian and studied all the religions of the world," she said, "and this is the one that best suits me because I believe there are many paths to God."

My history class has an element in it that believes anyone connected to the Tea Party are members of the Ku Klux Klan, are racist bigots, and ignorant rednecks. I'm not astonished. If highly educated peoples believe we evolved from a blob in a bog, I suppose the same sort of logic can lead them to a warped view of Tea Party folks.

If you know me, you know I can't remain mute when someone voices a fringe opinion. My English class is an arguments class and arguments are encouraged.  Before I fully considered the consequences of my words, I heard myself speak. "I've searched all the religions, too, and I've decided to follow Jesus."

Silence.

I probably kissed an "A" good-bye in that class but that's okay. I don't think God puts us in those positions to sit idly by and remain quiet. I believe it's the same with writing. He doesn't give us the passion to endure this grueling profession for some random willy nilly purpose.

Being  in the daily presence of humanists has solidified my mission as a writer. I write to expose Truth, to help people see the love of God in the midst of the failures of man. People are hungry to know God, whether they realize it or not. I write because God-inspired words contain the power of life and God's Words heal rather than destroy.

I yearn deeply for people to see God's character and this is why I sit at my computer for hours a day weaving stories that will lead seekers to the Promise. I want them to meet God's Son, so they can know that peace and hope are only a prayer away.

The lost write a message, too, and it's the opposite of hope. Only those of us who follow Jesus know True Hope, True Love, and True Eternal Victory. The world is starving for what we write. Would we pass by hungry children and refuse to feed them? When we let our egos get in the way of God's call, that's exactly what we do. It's tempting to give up after rejection by a publisher or agent. Jesus was rejected, too. What hope would there be if Jesus had felt sorry for Himself? His humiliation didn't stop Him from answering His call.

What matters is our obedience, being able to hear the voice of God, and answering the call to write what is true, noble, pure and just. God placed a fire in us to share the One True Path to God. People need our words to light the way because the path they travel is too dark and they are blinded by fallible human knowledge.  Our obedience is paramount so those searching for Truth will hear God's call the loudest.

Too many fall away simply because they didn't have the right information put in front of them at the right time. We would do well to remember that we must write so the lost can find their way.

Put your hands to the plow (i.e., keyboard, pen, et. al.) dear writer, and WRITE, to the glory of God.

Someone is dying and needs to read what God has to say.

Plowshares and Swords

“I wish I had a plow."

My sweaty sixteen-year-old and I had engaged our parched garden, more clay and weeds than topsoil and tomatoes. I brandished the dull hoe and he, the even duller shovel.

I did a little checking. Some of the oldest plows were wood structures fitted with a metal tip—a plowshare—designed to open farm ground for sowing seed, creating room for roots, and clearing weeds. (I think the fine print said don’t even think about using old hoes and shovels to do a plow’s job.)

Joel, Micah and Isaiah spoke of plowshares and swords in the same breath. In their times the metal of one was often beaten to form the other, depending on need—war or peace. How did the Hebrews know when to fashion which?

And what do plowshares and swords have to do with Christian writers of fiction? Like metal, words are a currency. Both require careful handling. Both require increasing accuracy and artistry. Skillfully wrought and wielded, both are highly effective. And both serve divergent purposes depending on the need.

King Solomon compared rash speech to thrusts of the sword. Paul called Scripture the sword of the Spirit. The writer of Hebrews declared Scripture sharper than any two-edged sword, plunging straight to the soul. Like swords, words do battle.

Scripture writers linked plowing with diligent hard work, always with a view to a harvest. If we pursue the metaphor, words can open hardened hearts, invite lives to deepen, and promote fruitfulness.

You, gentle writer, cradle a precious currency. Life and death are in the power of your tongue. Your wise tongue can bring healing. And sometimes healing requires a fight.

How do you and I know when to take up a sword and when to put our hands to the plow?

Look at King Solomon, who confessed to God, “I am but a little child …so give Your servant an understanding heart" (2 Kings 3).

Consider King Jehoshophat, who cried out to God, “We are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on You” (2 Chronicles 20).

Ponder Jesus, who did not speak on His own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Him commanded Him what to say and what to speak (John 12).

Wait. Ask. Listen. Speak.