What A Great State We Live In!

I’m so proud to live in a state where we have the right to choose a license plate proudly proclaiming, “In God We Trust.” I’m not sure many state governments would have the guts to do that anymore. That pretty much sums it all up, doesn’t it? In every aspect of my life, personally and professionally, our gracious heavenly Father is the One guiding me. It’s when my eyes stray away from the cross that I falter every time.

Not only am I native of the Hoosier state, but I can now say I purposely chose to live here. I’m one of those “returnees” who has “been around” in the nicest sense of the word. Born in the southern (I like to stress that aspect) city of New Albany, across the Ohio River from Louisville, Kentucky (called “Kentuckiana”), I left Muncie armed with my Ball State diploma, determined to see the world. As I like to say, “The girl from Indiana met the guy from Rhode Island in Texas, married in Kentucky (reception in Indiana), honeymooned in Hawaii, settled in California, had a child and moved to Pennsylvania, birthed two more children and moved to Massachusetts, recovered her senses and came home again.”

Yes, Indiana is “home in my heart,” and I thank the Lord for a husband and children (highly adaptable) who love it every bit as much as I do. They still laugh, however, when school is called off for the mere prediction of a snowflake. Those who have only lived in Indiana sometimes look at me like I’ve got a loose cylinder for choosing to live here, but after living all across this great country, I can say I know what’s out there, and Indiana’s not so bad, people. Quite the opposite.

That started me thinking, and I’ve gathered a few fun facts to know and tell about Indiana that I’d like to share. I love this kind of thing. Even my fictional core character, Sam Lewis, resorts to reciting historical facts in times of stress. It anchors him and helps him focus. Hey, we all have our comforts…and quirks. For instance, did you know:

*Santa Claus, IN, receives more than one-half million letters and requests every Christmas.
*Explorers Lewis and Clark set out from Fort Vincennes on their exploration of the Northwest Territory (winking at anyone who knows anything about my book).
*Parke County has 32 covered bridges and is the Covered Bridge Capital of the World.
*True to another of its mottos, Indiana has more miles of interstate highway per square mile than any other state.
*The Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, the Pentagon and U.S. Treasury, a dozen other government buildings in Washington, D.C. as well as 14 state capitols around the nation are built from sturdy, beautiful Indiana limestone.
*Indiana means “Land of the Indians” but there are fewer than 8,000 Native Americans living in the state today.
*Indianapolis grocer Gilbert Van Camp discovered his customers enjoyed an old family recipe for pork and beans in tomato sauce. He opened a canning company and Van Camp’s Pork and Beans became an American staple.
*In 1905, Sarah Breedlove McWilliams Walker developed a conditioning treatment to straighten hair and amassed a fortune selling her cosmetics door-to-door – paving the way for the Avon Lady, perhaps?
*From 1900 to 1920, more than 200 different makes of cars were produced in Indiana – Stutzes, Maxwells, Duesenbergs and Auburns – prized antiques today.
*The American Federation of Labor (AFL) was organized in Terre Haute in 1881.
*Vincennes was the capitol when Indiana was a territory, and Corydon served as the state capitol from 1816 until 1825.
*Indiana is nicknamed the “Mother of Vice Presidents” for its five citizens elected vice president. Can you name them without research? If so, you get a gold star!
*The first saxophone was made in Elkhart in 1888.
*Of what variety are the two trees that appear on the righthand portion of the state seal of Indiana? (Hint: think of our state song). Sycamore. What animal is on the seal? Buffalo.
*The state flower is the peony.
*In 1992, Indiana ranked number one in the nation in the production of ducks and popcorn (Orville Redenbacher, anyone?).
*The play Happy Birthday, Wanda June was written by what Indiana-born novelist? Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
*While working as a technician for Indiana Bell, John Cougar Mellencamp accidentally cut off phone service to all of Freetown.
*While hiding from Native Americans in 1790, what cave system in southern Harrison County was discovered by Daniel Boone’s brother? Squire Boone Caverns. My genealogy-loving cousin insists we’re related, and Squire is often referred to as Daniel’s “black sheep” brother. Maybe I should find out why...

There are so many more fun facts to know and tell. One last question for you: does anyone have a definitive answer to the question: What does Hoosier really mean?

Keep on writing, fellow Hoosiers (whether native or adopted)! And always remember, In God We Trust. That’s my prayer today as I send off my second manuscript to my publisher! Amen.

Look Both Ways

Janus, the Roman mythological god for gates, doors, endings, and new beginnings, lends his name to January. The bleak midwinter provides a perfect time to reflect backward and forward.

This year has been one of much growth for me as a writer. No, I didn't manage to sign with a leading agent, nor did I land a seven-book contract with a major publishing house. But God graciously lead me to take several giant steps forward in my career.

Giant Step #1:  I hit 2010 at a run. It was one year ago this week, the last week of 2009, when a fellow ACFW member called together a small cluster of historical writers to form a Scribes critique group. I was thrilled when he accepted me to be a part of that select few because my wip is a middle-grade fantasy set in the twenty-first century and the nineteenth. It was an important step toward professionalizing my calling as a writer.

As we've grown from being a cluster of strangers--albeit, sisters and a brother in Christ--we've become a cohesive unit that not only critiques one another's work but also prays for and encourages one another. I praise God for our critters.

Giant Step #2:  When it came time to renew ACFW membership, I didn't hesitate, largely because of the critique group, the specialized loops I had joined, and the camaraderie among Christian writers. Also, I joined ACFW-Indiana.

Giant Step #3:  Upon hearing that the annual conference was to be held in my backyard, I determined to attend, though it was a financial stretch. Fellow ACFW members helped me navigate a crash course in crafting one-sheets, elevator pitches, one-paragraphs, and synopses of various lengths. Finally September arrived, and I was able to match up faces, voices, and personalities with names from the main loop; meet writers whose work I had critiqued or reviewed and who had dissected my scribbles, chat with agents and editors as if they were ordinary people, share a room with writer and friend Ramona K. Cecil, and see Chip MacGregor's kilt. Of course, the high point was a request from one of America's most respected literary agents to see the full manuscript of my nearly-complete wip. (Unfortunately, she retired before I could get the ms to her. Lesson learned? Don't pitch an incomplete. Have that puppy all coiffed and groomed before you march it around the ring.)

Giant Step #4: God intervened with my plans. Because He had plans of His own. After a fourteen-year hiatus from classroom teaching to concentrate on my work as a writer and raconteur, I was offered an English teaching position at a Christian school. Five days a week--and sometimes more--I'm surrounded by middle-graders. Get the irony? I write for that age group. He plopped me smack-dab in the middle of the middlers! Every day I hear their interactions and laugh at their humor.

Now it's time to look forward to 2011.

Goal #1:  I'll let Christ lead, revealing His plans, whether they be giant or baby steps. I pray He will guide my mind in the creative process, my fingers on the keyboard, and my heart to Him, that all I write will reflect Him, because if it doesn't, it's just a bunch of empty, vain symbols on a page.

Goal #2:  When I read that the agent who had asked for the full ms. was retiring, I went through a brief period of mourning. After all, this was the third time such has happened. (The first two were editors who, based upon conference interviews and their reading of partials and synopses, requested fulls. In both cases, they left their positions shortly after that conference.) As the Lord has done so many times throughout my life, He promptly reminded me that He is sovereign and omniscient; nothing comes as a surprise to Him. (See Jeremiah 29:11.) The agent had agreed that mid-March was a reasonable target date to submit my completed manuscript to her, saying, "The publishing houses won't be acquiring until after the first of the year, anyway." I am keeping with that original goal, finishing the final chapter as 2010 winds down and beginning revisions with the new year. Lord willing, I'll have the first revision accomplished by the Ides of March.

Goal #3:  I'll begin plotting and writing the sequel to The Second Cellar.

Goal #4  I'll continue to hone my craft by participating in the Scribes critique group and studying various resources.

Now, it's your turn. What steps did God lead you through in 2010 to improve you as a writer? Where do you hope to go in 2011? What are your goals? I can hardly wait to read your responses.

A Prayer for the New Year

I pray you have support as a writer this year.
Whatever stage you are at and at whatever crossroads you may encounter,
I pray those around you will be Holy Spirit inspired to speak hope and love and encouragement into your life.

I pray for time to write, energy to write and the anointing to write.
If God has called you to this ministry, I pray an Aaron for you. Someone to lift up your arms when you are tired and to stand by your side murmuring words of constant encouragement into your ear. I pray you will find intercessory prayer warriors to break through supernatural boundaries so that you can do more than humanly possible. I pray you walk in your calling, doing eternal work, and that you are able to accomplish much despite the enemy’s constant onslaught against you.

I pray you reap the rewards of investing your talents instead of burying them, and feel moments where you hear Him say, “well done, good and faithful servant.”
I pray that at your lowest low you can rest and let go and feel His peace,
and at your highest high you can give thanks and feel His glory shine through you, rejoicing!

They say life is short, like a flower. We could burn under the hot summer sun. We could freeze under snowflakes so deep. We could wither or just simply grow old – and we will - this flesh, anyway. But life after this life is long – forever. I pray the scales fall from our eyes and we see as He sees (the beginning of wisdom) so that this next year we keep more than New Year’s Resolutions. We will become one year closer to what He created us to be.

Happy New Year, my dears. And may God bless us (with undeserving grace and mercy), every one!

Let A Story Help You Tell Your Story

Greetings Traveler! I hope you had a Merry Christmas (or perhaps are still having one). I hope Santa left a few writing gifts under your Christmas tree. I have just a brief posting today about a writing exercise I like to use to flesh out stories and open up the imagination spicket from a trickle to a tidal wave.

When I am having trouble plotting out my story or figuring out where I want the story to go, I sit down and write a short story about me (as the main character) telling someone else all about my story, my characters, and why they should read it.

I tend to work this routine even if I don't know what that story is yet..or at least not all of it. The story might be just an idea I have with various parts of a beginning, a middle, or end floating about the realm of my imagination. If that is the case, this exercise can help you get the creative energies flowing by allowing you to write about your story as though it were done and you were telling someone about it. It forces you to create, imagine, and develop on the fly.

While you are imagining how other people are going to react to your story...you might find that your story needs to go a different way in order to get the reaction you wanted (or imagined). After all, aren't we just talking to ourselves here in this exercise?

In summary, this type of writing exercise serves the purposes of :

• practicing what to tell other people (potential readers & publishers) about your story to get them hooked
• identifying the key points of the story that you should tell others about
• a dress rehearsal for when you are presented with a "this is it" moment, where you get to pitch your story or idea to an agent or editor.
• creating a narrative one sheet to help you focus the "real" one sheet document
• allowing you the opportunity to quickly see how (sweeping) changes to the storyline affect the overall story

Bottom line- this is a good exercise just to see if what you already have (or will have) sounds good (at least when your telling someone else about it) as though it were a finished product. It's a narrative type of plotting tool, if you will, that can help you develop your storyline and characters from what I call "the back book cover point of view."

Anyway, try it. Take something you have already written and write a story about you telling someone about your story and how they react to it. You can then try it with a potential story that is swirling around in your creative think tank.

Until next time........remember to write from the past, write in the present, and write boldly into the future.

When Your Home is Your Office

Most writers work at home. Some of us even have a dedicated office. That's mine in the picture.

With tax season coming, you may be wondering if you can deduct expenses for your writing space. Expenses like heat and electricity and property insurance.

The answer? It depends. (I bet you saw that coming.)

I'm not a tax specialist, so you should talk to your accountant before claiming home office expenses. But I can give you some general guidelines, which I have tailored to writers and am posing as questions.

1.  Do you write as a business? My March 25, 2010 Hoosier Ink post called "Write On and Write Off" will help you figure it out. If writing is your hobby, you cannot deduct home office expenses. If it is a business, it still depends on the answers to the next three questions.

2.  Is there a discrete part of your home that you use exclusively for your business activities? This could be a separate office or simply a desk in the dining room that is dedicated to your writing activities. If your children use the office or the desk to do their homework, it doesn't qualify. If you write on the dining room table and you serve meals there, too, it doesn't qualify. You can, however, use the space for more than one business activity. For example, if you make jewelry and sell it over the Internet, you can use the same space for that business as you use for your writing business.

3.  Do you use the space regularly for your business purposes? You don't have to use it forty hours a week, but incidental or occasional use isn't enough. Unfortunately, I can't give you a bright-line test.

4.  Is your home office your principal place of business for your writing activities? It doesn't have to be your jail, however. It's okay to write at Starbucks if you do your paperwork (submissions, bookkeeping, etc.) in your home office.

Even if you answered all of these questions "yes," you may still have a problem. That's because how much you can deduct depends on how much profit you make. And even if the royalties are rolling in, your deduction must be proportionate to your dedicated space. If your office is 10% of the square footage in your home, you can deduct 10% of your utility bills. If the desk in the dining room takes up 2%, that's all you can deduct.

For more information, visit the IRS website at http://www.irs.gov/ and download Publication 587, "Business Use of Your Home."

Kathryn Page Camp