Typos -- A Writer's Nitemare

I just had to send out a fancy email to the ACFW membership promoting the sponsorship program for our 2007 conference. I'd been busy all day working on other things, and it was the last item on my to-do list before the week ended. So, I opened up a copy of the HTML email I'd sent before to publishers and agents and did a little tweaking in the narrative. Then I sent it to the ACFW email loop.

A few minutes later I received an email from one of the loop moderators who had withheld the email from the queue. I had a typo. Did I want to correct it and resend? Does Ben make rice? Is the sky blue? Of course I wanted to fix it. I corrected the mistake then resent it.

Then what to my wondering eyes should appear in my email in-box but a copy of the first email I sent. The one with the error!!! I wanted to die. Seems another moderator saw the post and released it before the other woman could delete it. I hate typos, and I hate them worse when they are in something that gets sent out. And I REALLY hate it when the document is sent to other writers!!! But, there it was in all its glory.

After advice from another board member I decided to not say anything because most people wouldn't notice the typo anyway. Well, at least one person noticed because when I turned on my compuer this morning I found an email from someone who pointed out the typo. She was very kind in how she did it, but still I know that if she noticed it and wrote me there are probably others who noticed and didn't write me.

We all make typos--even the most published of authors. So why does it bother me so much? Why do I think it's a reflection on me personally? It's not like everything I send out is loaded with typos. Sometimes when I write this blog, I notice a typo after it's been published on the Web. But with Blogger I can go back and fix it. I get a second chance and a third and fourth, if needed. This time I had no more chances.

What was that word I said God gave me for the year? Oh yeah, "humility." Gulp. I'm learning it big time.

A Little Bit of This and A Little Bit of That

I'm here, just trying to catch up on my life after four days away over last weekend. No work yet on the synopsis. ACFW duties are taking up my time. I have minutes to write and send for three days of meetings, announcements to compose for the members at large, and a new job description for my board position to upload to a permanent file in cyberspace. So for now the WIP sits waiting. Frustrating, but the work I'm needing to do for ACFW is so worth it all.

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance Featured Book This Week is...Ta Da!!

The Reliance

by Mary Lu Tyndall

A YOUNG BRIDE separated from her husband just as a child has been conceived...
A GRIEVING HUSBAND tempted to take his anger out through the vices of his past...
A MARRIAGE AND A SHIP threatenend to be split apart by villainous Caribbean pirates...
In THE RELIANCE, Edmund Merrick tormented by the apparent demise of his pregnant wife Charlisse, sails away to drown his sorrows. He turns his back on God and reverts to a life of villainy, joining forces with the demented French pirate Collier. When his mind clears from its rum-induced haze, will Edmund find the will to escape?
Seemingly abandoned by her new husband, Charlisse battles her own insecurities as she is thrown into the clutches of the vengeful pirate Kent, who holds her and Lady Isabel captive.
Will she be swept away by the undertow of treachery and despair? Can Edmund and Charlisse battle the tempests that threaten to tear them apart and steer their way to the faith-filled haven they so desperately seek? Or will they ultimately lose their love and lives to the whirlpool of treachery and deceit?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
M. L. (MARYLU) TYNDALL grew up on the beaches of South Florida loving the sea and the warm tropics. But despite the beauty around her, she always felt an ache in her soul--a longing for something more.
After college, she married and moved to California where she had two children and settled into a job at a local computer company. Although she had done everything the world expected, she was still miserable. She hated her job and her marriage was falling apart.
Still searching for purpose, adventure and true love, she spent her late twenties and early thirties doing all the things the world told her would make her happy, and after years, her children suffered, her second marriage suffered, and she was still miserable.
One day, she picked up her old Bible, dusted it off, and began to read. Somewhere in the middle, God opened her hardened heart to see that He was real, that He still loved her, and that He had a purpose for her life, if she's only give her heart to Him completely.

Ordering Information: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1597893609

Board Meetings Are Definitely Not Boring

I'm back from the ACFW board meeting and exhausted! It was a fabulous time of hard work and good fun. The new members bonded so well with the ones still on the board. We cover the range of ages, come from different parts of the country, are at different places with our writing, but we're all of one mind. To make ACFW the best writing organization there is. We accomplished so much in making final decisions for the 2007 ACFW conference. This fall's conference is going to be the greatest one yet for ACFW!

I said in my last entry this would be my last spring meeting as secretary on the board, but after this productive weekend I am wondering if I should run again for secretary. So many positive things are happening for this wonderful organization and I really would like to be involved in helping make them happen with God's help. This is definately something I will have to pray about between now and when nominations open up in the fall.

My body is weary from meetings and talking, talking, and more talking. Not to mention the wonderful dinners out. As Rachael Ray says, Yum-O. Tomorrow it's back to normal and back to the synopsis. For now I think I'll just snooze here on the couch.

Time - Is There Ever Enough?

The old saying goes, "Time flies when you're having fun." I say, "Are we having fun yet?" This week is literally flying by. It's already Wednesday and tomorrow I join the other ACFW board members for our annual Spring meeting. I'll be with them tomorrow through Sunday, and before that I have a to-do list as long as my arm. There are things not on the list I haven't yet done like post the latest info on the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance book of the week. Come to think of it, I missed last week too!

I'm still hard at work on the synopsis of MFB. This by far is the hardest element of the book proposal. Is it too long? Do I keep in too many details? How many details do I need in a mystery synopsis? Can I leave out some of the clues? Egad. I'd also like to get my submission of the first pages to the ACFW Genesis contest before I leave for the meeting. Then there's packing, making sure my cat is taken care of, etc. etc.

To top it off, this coming Sunday is the switch to Daylight Savings time! Even one less hour of sleep when I'll probably be sleep deprived. When I get home Sunday afternoon I'll probably collapse on the couch until Monday morning!

But, I am really looking forward to seeing the other board members and working out details for this year's conference in Dallas. It'll also be bitter-sweet as it will be my last Spring board meeting since my term as Secretary will be over this coming fall. By December 1st I'll once again be a member-at-large. So I go into this weekend, praying for energy to stay alert and take the necessary minutes and to enjoy the fellowship and company of the others. I am so blessed to have been able to serve ACFW in this capacity for almost three years now.

I'll be back next week sharing more about this incredible writer's journey.

What Was I Thinking?

There have been times I thought I could survive this life without God. Definitely before I turned my life over to Jesus more than twenty years ago, but even after that. Surprised? Well, maybe I haven't thought I could survive totally without God since that eventful Good Friday back in the day when I realized Jesus went to the cross for ME. Until that day I'd always considered what He did as something He did for us corporately. At that moment I suddenly saw what He did for ME personally. I saw my sin and wondered why on earth He would do that for ME? But He did. So why have I, over all these many years, so consistently tried to take back parts of me from Him to do my own thing my way? I honestly don't know, because every time I do it backfires, and I come back to Him on my knees asking for forgiveness and for Him to take all of me back. He always does.

Over the past ten-plus years since I so clearly felt the call of God on my ability to write, I've struggled. When the going is good and I've had something published it's been easy to give all my writing to Him. But, when there are the long dry spells with nary a sale or interest, I've found myself taking the bull by the horns and launching off in a direction God didn't want me to go. Every time, the result has been no sale, lots of disappointment, and having to do a turnabout to head back in the right direction with God in the lead.

Right now I find myself at the precipice of having to trust God for the outcome of my latest project. Without an agent I'm having to present myself to publishers that have shown an interest in my work all by myself. But, am I by myself? No!!! God is with me as the ultimate agent. Twice this week I've heard my favorite Bible teacher, Beth Moore, say "There is no high like the Most High." She's also said twice in two different lessons, "When God says 'no' it's because there is a greater 'yes' waiting to happen. Woooeeee!!

Right now I'm working on my proposal for my story. When I send it out, it will be with a mix of fear and anticipation. But if it comes back with a "No thank you," I know there's a greater "Yes" coming down the road. God is good.