I hope you’ll take a minute and go check out the wonderful nominees at the CWO Sweet Scent Awards.

These Christian ladies all demonstrate a “sweet savour of Christ.” The only problem you’ll have is choosing which one — because so many of my favorites are among the nominees!

From now until Dec. 15, be sure to cast your vote for these: Best Friend Award, Most Joyful Among Us, Best Home Maker Award, Better Half Award, Most Humorous Award, Best Group Blog, Best Mommy Award, Best Home School Award, Best Scrapbooker Award, Artistic Blog Skin Award, and The Unified Heart Award.

Hope ya have a great week. I’m up to my ears in tangled Christmas lights, wondering WHEN I’m going to get it all done. When I need a breather, I’ll pop in to visit some of these refreshing blogs.

The Advent season is upon us! Can you believe it? Are you ready?

I bought an inexpensive live tabletop tree this year, and it’s so pretty. We put it on the table behind our couch, and this tree is going to become more and more special to us as we add to it each day. Why? Because this is our Jesse Tree! Hopefully, after Christmas, we’ll be able to plant it in our yard and always remember the 2006 season of Advent.

If you’re wondering what a Jesse Tree is all about, I’d love to recommend a wonderful resource for you. Ann Voskamp, who writes the inspiring Holy Experience of Listening blog, has written a devotional book for Advent called The Glorious Coming.

This book is so beautiful! Of course, if you’re one of Ann’s blog readers, you know her heart. She’s a homeschooling mother of six, living out her faith on a small Canadian farm, and I’ve been so encouraged by her daily writing.

You can download The Glorious Coming right now in e-book form! And it even contains full-color illustrations by Nancy Rodden which you can print and cut out to make ornaments to decorate your Jesse Tree. Here’s a description of The Glorious Coming from the publisher’s website:

Every family has one: a family tree with its arching branches of grandfathers and grandmothers, its sheltering leaves of aunts and uncles. To make a Jesse Tree is to trace the family line and heritage of the family of God, of human beings from the beginning of time to the coming of God Himself, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.

We will hang the symbols of our story on our corporate Family Tree, the Jesse Tree. We will open God’s Word and read God’s story—our story—as He wrote it on the pages of people’s lives. And Jesus will come to us, and we will come to Jesus.

I’m so excited we’ll be journeying with the Voskamp family this year in celebrating Advent. The devotional readings started November 30th (but you can still jump in!) and run through December 25th, Christmas Day.

I hope your family will also usher in the Holy Season in a special way, whether you decorate a Jesse Tree, light the candles on an Advent Wreath, or read a devotional book together.

Let’s celebrate the coming of our Messiah, Jesus Christ, together this season.

It is time.

This weekend, if you start to feel swamped in decorating, shopping, wrapping, baking, and all those other things we women do before Christmas, take a breather and browse through CWO for some spiritual encouragement.

I love this pretty graphic the editor, Darlene Schacht, made of my book cover. How creative! Here’s what she said about it when she introduced my December Book Buzz column:

“You might also want to check out Heather’s own book, From a Daughter’s Heart to Her Mom, if you’re looking for something beautiful and unique to give to your Mom this year.

From a Daughter’s Heart to Her Mom makes a wonderful keepsake as a coffee table book, or one to keep at your bedside for daily reflection. Vintage style, color-tinted photographs adorn the pages of this book alongside quotes, scriptures, and inspirational messages that remind a mother how important she is.”

From a Daughter’s Heart to Her Mom is now for sale in the CWO Bookstore, which includes some more reviews of it. (Thank you!)

I’m so blessed to be part of this publication. You can write for CWO too! If you have an article idea, check out the CWO Writer’s Guidelines, which begin by stating, “The purpose of Christian Women Online Magazine is to unite women of faith, regardless of our differing ages, our roles as women, or the signs that mark our church doors. We believe that one of the best ways to do this is to encourage each other in faith, by our spoken and written words.”

You can also participate by downloading the free Christmas scrapbooking pages, which are simply gorgeous! Or you can write an essay for the weekly In Other Words blog carnival, which is hosted at a different site every week and is based on an inspirational quote. This month’s host is Laurel Wreath.

Another way to join in CWO is through reading the Snippets from the Word together. There are suggested scripture readings in the morning, along with a devotional by Elisabeth Elliot to read in the evening. Can you think of any more inspiring way to spend your time?

Be blessed!

Today is Lucy Maud Montogomery’s birthday, and I’ve been wanting to sit down and blog about her all day — but I’m just too tired!

She was born in Clifton (now New London), Prince Edward Island on November 30, 1874. She published her first novel, Anne of Green Gables, in 1908 — so I guess that means she was 34 years old (we better get moving). Altogether, she published 20 novels in a little over 30 years.

I enjoyed reading about her life here at Wikipedia, especially since I’ve journeyed to Cavendish where she lived. It’s interesting to note how her life seems to parallel Anne’s in many ways.

I hope I can write more tomorrow. Right now, every muscle in my body is aching. I feel like I know how manual laborers feel when they come home at night. If I were a man, I’d want to sit in a big, fat Lazy Boy chair and hog the remote, shutting out the world.

I’ve spent the better part of my week either down in the basement totally reorganizing and hauling clutter off to Goodwill — or I’ve been upstairs repainting a bedroom and a bathroom. Who knew painting gives you sore muscles?

Why, oh why, did I ever let our house painter talk us into matte (flat) paint three years ago? I can hear him right now, “Well, m’am, I’d highly recommend the matte paint on these new walls here. I’ve done this for years, and I wouldn’t go with a satin. No sirree.”

Grrrr. Ever tried to wipe crayon or fingerprints off buttery yellow flat paint? It leaves a mark, even if you use those Mr. Clean eraser things.

So it was a glorious occasion yesterday when I covered the boys’ bathroom walls in a rich, deep SATIN taupe that dried a little bit shiny. I’m so happy I could kiss the walls. And another bedroom with light pink flat paint is now a happy apple green — satin of course.

I still have one more coat to paint tomorrow — then I have to haul all the furniture back in. Thankfully, most of the toys now have homes in our semi-organized (though still unfinished) basement.

When I’m not so tired, I want to tell you more about what inspired me to TACKLE my basement. And yes, it does have something to do with Lucy Maud Montgomery. I’ve had a creative burst of some sort.

Tonight I’m flat, worn out. Not flat — satin! There’s a new phrase — satin worn out. Sounds better, doesn’t it?

OK, well YEA for techno-phobic me. I finally figured out how to scramble my novel, and I sent off a 59,000-word text file to the robot-counters at NaNoWriMo, allowing me to download a neat little certificate. So this is what it’s all about.

So far, there are about 8000 people who have finished and submitted at least 50k words to enter the NaNoWriMo “winner’s circle.” I’m sure thousands more will be submitting by midnight. Then it’s a wrap for NaNoWriMo 2006.

I celebrated alone, rewarding myself with a Weight Watchers chocolate brownie — that thing was so small, I had to eat another one. So I might as well have eaten a Bona Fide Little Debbie. I guess it was worth 180 calories. At least it was chocolate!

Well, I’m done. Weird. It won’t be hanging over my head like it’s been all month. Now what?

I think I’m going to take a few days off, let it simmer on the back burner — then get back to it in December. Now that I know how the novel ends, I want to start over again, incorporating more foreshadowing. My main character knows more now than she did when I started a month ago, so she’ll be dropping hints throughout the narrative about what’s going to happen.

Also, in my word count, I included some of my journal entries, prayers, and emails that related to things going on in my life … all part of this manuscript in process … and so I’ve decided to incorporate these in my novel. Why not advance a scene through an email? Some novelists write their entire books as a series of emails. And prayers are important — they allow readers to see into a character’s heart. Likewise for journal entries or letters.

Have any of you finished NaNoWriMo? How do you feel now? What will you do with your novel? You’ve created something from nothing — that’s pretty exciting!

For me, I feel like this is not an ending, but a beginning. It got me thinking about what I really enjoy. Yet now I need some time away from my story so I can get to know my characters even better as I go about my normal daily routine. I’m still snatching things from life and tossing them into my manuscript — like a recipe that needs a dash more of this and that.

I have this new layer of writing, the novel layer, that’s different from my private journal, emails to friends and family, posts to online writing groups, comments on other people’s blogs, my blog posts here, and my non-fiction reviews and articles.

The novel layer: it’s a secret place I’ll retreat to in the months and years to come. So far, I like it there.

I’ve been culling my book collection today … no easy task for me. But I simply MUST! I’ve received so many great books lately, I’ve got to find places to put them. So that means cleaning off my shelves to make room. (I’m donating them to our local public library, which has a permanent used book sale.)

As I was going through our books, I wished I had more time to organize them into categories. One day when I have time — ha! I would really LOVE to organize my Japanese books. I bought quite a few at Kinokuniya, the largest bookstore in Osaka. They had the most fantastic Japanese language section — and I actually made a lot of friends there with fellow gaijin (foreigners). That’s where I learned to teach English!

Today I came across my all-time favorite Japanese language book, and I was near breathless as I typed it into Amazon to see if it’s still in print. It is! Read Japanese Today by Len Walsh was published in 1969, and it is the most wonderful introduction to Nihongo I’ve ever read. If anyone has any other favorites, please let me know!

Here’s what the back of the book says:
“Far from being a complex and mysterious script, Japanese writing is actually a simple, fascinating pictographic system, easily understood and readily mastered. It need no longer baffle visitors to Japan — with the new approach in this concise and entertaining book you will be able to read 300 of the most common and useful characters in just a few hours …”

If you have any interest in Japanese language or culture, you MUST read this book. It will simplify all the kanji down to pictures, showing you how the picture became the written character. I’m going to reread this book again tonight. It’s a quick, enjoyable read.

Before I studied Japanese, I didn’t understand the people over there. Everything was weird and different — and though I wasn’t a bit homesick, I felt like an oaf with a “high nose” and American accent. But God led me to an English-speaking church in south Osaka which met on Sunday nights, where the pastor and many church members were from New Zealand. They were all fluent in Nihongo, and told me I must study it or the country would never make sense to me.

So I did. Very intensely. I took language lessons at least two hours a day, five days a week, mostly for free taught by volunteers or in exchange for English lessons. Then I pushed myself and got into a Japanese university, which was incredible. I’m sure I’ve written about this before here, but I don’t feel like scrounging around in my archives right now.

This book opened my eyes and heart to Nihonjin (Japanese people). Reading it again brings back so many memories. Sometimes I wonder what in the world God wants me to do with these little tidbits that rumble around in my mind — certainly not handy for most polite dinner conversation. For now, I’m having a fascinating time researching my novel for NaNoWriMo. Maybe I’ll find a sympathetic editor someday who is looking for a children’s writer crazy about Japan. (If you are this editor, please contact me!)

I’m off to read … Oyasumi nasai.

P.S. The character on the front of this book is higashi, which means East.

Here’s a great post about how to add graphics to your blog, book, or presentation. Hat tip to Hsien Hsien Lei of A Hearty Life for passing along this informative link.

Obviously, as you can tell from my blog, I have NO talent whatsoever in this area — and I’m amazed at people who have this gift. One day, I’d love to learn how to design simple booklets that would incorporate pictures and words — just for my own kids. It would be so fun to make a “Day in the Life” type book — something for my kids to look back on someday.

Alas, I’m still afraid of our digital camera. (red in the face here). I still take pictures with our old camera, though I know it’s time for me to enter the digital age. I’d love to take some kind of “graphics for dummies” class with a teacher who would understand my phobias. My biggest fear is that if I try anything new, I’ll crash our computer … and probably burn supper while freaking out about what I’ve done.

If you’re interested and have time, this post and the comments that follow make for an interesting read.

I’m constantly on the lookout for writing mentors, and here are a couple of new ones for me. Since I’m writing a children’s novel for NaNoWriMo, I’ve been rereading some favorite books from my childhood — trying to figure out what it is that makes them so good.

I’ve rediscovered Katherine Paterson’s Bridge to Terabithia — have you read this one? Ms. Paterson’s Christianity is subtly woven into her writing, and I love this. It fascinates me to see how she gently leads readers into a greater understanding of God without bamming them over the head. For unbelievers who pick up one of her books, her faith is fresh and startling.

Katherine Paterson was born in China to missionary parents, lived there for many years of her childhood, then also lived in Japan for four years. She’s married to a Presbyterian minister and began writing while her four children (two biological, two adopted) were young.

Many of her books for children have won awards, including two Newbery Medals: Bridge to Terabithia and Jacob Have I Loved, as well as two National Book Awards: Master Puppeteer, and The Great Gilly Hopkins.

On her website, an interviewer asked her, “In what ways has your religious conviction informed your writing?”

She answered, “I think it was Lewis who said something like: ‘The book cannot be what the writer is not.’ What you are will shape your book whether you want it to or not. I am Christian, so that conviction will pervade the book even when I make no conscious effort to teach or preach. Grace and hope will inform everything I write … The challenge for those of us who care about our faith and about a hurting world is to tell stories which will carry the words of grace and hope in their bones and sinews and not wear them like fancy dress.”

In another part of the interview, she was asked, “What would be your ‘words of wisdom’ to a person who wants to write, but is paralyzed by failure? What advice would you give people starting out?”

Here’s her response:

“When a teacher (still a dear friend) of mine in graduate school suggested I ought to be a writer, I was appalled. ‘I don’t want to add another mediocre writer to the world,’ I said. She helped me (it took years of nudging) to understand that if I wasn’t willing to risk mediocrity, I would never accomplish anything. There are simply no guarantees. It takes courage to lay your insides out for people to examine and sneer over. But that’s the only way to give what is your unique gift to the world. ”

“I have often noted that it takes the thinnest skin in the world to be a writer, and it takes the thickest to seek out publication. But both are needed—the extreme sensitivity and the hippo hide against criticism. Send your inner critic off on vacation and just write the way little children play. You can’t be judge and creator at the same time.”

Another Christian writer who has successfully written for the general markets is best-selling author, Bret Lott, whose book, Jewel, was an Oprah Book Club selection. He was the keynote speaker at this year’s Christy Awards banquet, held last July at the International Christian Retail Show in Denver.

In The Writing Life, Terry Whalin linked to his keynote address here. If you have time, it’s definitely worth a read.

Lott says in his speech, “From the time I wrote my very first short story, I struggled with how to tell a lie — that is, write fiction — while serving Christ. My struggle, then, was always with how to be a Christian and how to be a writer … one simply is a Christian, and I was trying to learn how to be a Christian who writes.”

He later talks about how Christ used parables, works of fiction, as connecting points to reach people. Lott brings to life the parable of the Good Samaritan by placing the story set in modern-day Denver.

Then he says, “Christ’s stories surprised His listeners. They were unexpected, yet the surprise of them was totally logical and clear and, finally, the kind of surprise that makes good literature good literature: the surprise turn in a story — not of plot, but of character — when the reader must come face to face with himself, and his own failures, and the dust of his own life, a dust with which we are each of us fully familiar, but which we forget about or ignore or accommodate ourselves to. The dust of our lives that we have grown accustomed to, and which it takes a piece of art created in the spirit of Christ to remind us of ourselves, and our distance from our Creator — and the chasm that is bridged by grace.”

Katherine Paterson does this so well in Bridge to Terabithia, written three decades ago and still widely read today, even in public school classrooms. As an aspiring fiction writer, I’m struggling with how to create my own bridge from a child’s heart to God — through story.

Lott ends his Christy Awards speech by imploring the writers in attendace to:

” … write books that will magnify Christ in a way that only I — you listening to me — can magnify Him. That’s all. And it is work enough — joy enough — to last each of us our own lifetime.”

In this month’s Christian Women Online, Ann Voskamp wrote:

It is the beginning of the list season: lists of menus, lists of hand-made projects, lists of addresses, lists of baking goodies … lists of gifts.

I am seeing things I have never seen before, atuned and aware of this constant, endless stream of gifts from His hand. I am one waking from slumber….from the stupor of indifference and ignorance. I have sight, fresh and keen—the world is new and full of His gifts.

Ann is making a list of one thousand things she’s thankful for — and you can join in too! You can make the list on your blog and join up with the other participants with the “Mr. Linky” set up here at CWO.

I’ve given this some thought and have decided to keep a record of my thankful reflections in my paper journal — something I keep nearby in the kitchen where I’m working. I’ll come back and add some to this post in a few days.

I can already tell a difference in my heart as I focus more on having an attitude of gratitude.

11/23/06:

Thank you, Lord, for the pitter-patter of children’s feet coming down to breakfast (They’re not burdens; they’re blessings!).

Thank you for the coming few days where we’ll celebrate Thanksgiving feasts with family.

Thank you for faithful writers in the blogosphere who connect us through our faith.

11/24/06:

Today I’m overwhelmed with joy! My brother and his wife announced they are expecting their first child next summer. I’m going to become an aunt! Thank you, Lord, for this wonderful news!

11/25/06:

I hung our seven stockings today on the mantle. Christmas is coming. The anticipation in our home is starting to build. I’m looking forward to a whole month of celebrating this year.

11/28/06:

Two precious treasures from yesterday. In cleaning out our basement, we rediscovered my oldest son’s battery-powered train set — it’s been boxed away three or four years. Now it’s perfect for his little brother. We went and bought six new “size C” batteries, and it runs! Smoke even comes out the steam engine.

Another gift: my husband, exhausted as he was from his day at work, carried our Christmas tree upstairs, and now the train set is running around the base of the tree. What a glorious sight — increasing our anticipation toward Christmas!

If you’re participating in National Novel Writing Month, how’s it coming? I’ve read on a few people’s blogs the up-and-down woes of pounding the keys day after day, trying to reach that magical 50k mark at the end of the month. I’m simply amazed at people who can write, then blog about what they’re writing and get feedback from readers. I can’t do that!

In fact, I was feeling guilty a couple of weeks ago that I’m not telling anyone what I’m working on. Why do I feel this need to keep it all a secret? There’s nothing new under the sun, of course. My story is simply a recycled theme, coupled with my own life experiences and imagination.

Then I started doing some research on children’s author, Katherine Paterson, and I came across her acceptance speech for the Scott O’Dell Award. She started her speech by saying, “As many of you may know, I do not talk about a book while I am working on it. Even my husband is left in the dark until I present him with the messy first draft.”

Ah, relief! It’s OK not to talk about a work in process. It gives me freedom to create while my piece is still in the quiet darkness of my mind and heart. I’ve already changed some character’s names — and I’m sadly thinking about letting one of my characters go. It’s painful, but I think he might be better off in another story.

The more I’ve gotten into writing, the more I’ve realized my need to study how the masters do it. I thought it would come naturally from all the reading I’ve done, but there’s a craft to novel writing — and I don’t have it yet!

I read through Randy Ingermanson’s Snowflake Method, and I’ve worked on several of his steps with my plot and characters. He forced me to think about the design of my whole story, instead of letting my characters plod along and do as they pleased. And I’ve come to a horrible realization about my main character.

She’s too nice.

At least she’s too nice in the beginning. In fact, as I’ve plotted my book’s design using the Snowflake Method, I’m realizing that the problem with my book right now is that there’s not a major problem at all. I’ve just got some nice characters meeting each other, getting involved in a few humorous situations, helping each other, and then we tie things up nicely.

Nice does not a novel make.

I realize now I’ve got to go back and rewrite my first chapter and make my character not so nice. She’s got to have some flaws, some areas for growth — so that by the end of the novel, she’s changed a bit. And I’ve got to include more danger, more action, more antagonists. If everything is so nice and spiffy, then what will readers gain from reading the book? My readers don’t lead perfect, shiny lives — so they’re not going to care about characters who are polished up in the beginning.

It’s going to be hard. Since I’m the one writing the story, and I know how it’s going to end up, I don’t want to change the beginning and poke all these holes in my character. I love her, and I want readers to love her right away too. But she’s got to come to a “shocking realization” about herself (which appears in my one-sentence summary of the book).

So now I see how I must try to rewrite that opening chapter — actually much of the book will need to be rewritten. You see, my readers will be kids, and kids are smart. Especially kids who’d rather be reading a book than watching TV or playing boring video games.

As for my NaNoWriMo progress, I’ve decided to rename my file “The Process of Writing (Novel Title).” In this file, I’m tossing in everything I’ve worked on this month. My daily journal entries that go along with writing out scenes, my character’s autobiographies, my prayers (Lord, please help me write what you want me to write), a few emails from encouraging writerly friends, and bits of dialogue my own children say.

With all this, I’m up to 37,000 words. So I will hopefully keep going a few more days and reach the finish mark. But I’ll have to write by long-hand when we’re traveling to visit family this week because I don’t have a laptop. (sigh.)

Yet Robin Lee Hatcher says she writes her character autobiographies by long-hand, so maybe this will be good for me after all. I think you use a different part of your brain to write by hand as compared to typing.

Many times during this busy month of writing, I’ve felt God speak to me. I know it was Him because the experiences are so powerful, I’ve been overwhelmed to tears. For example, part of my story takes place in the 40s, and one day I was feeling frustrated that I needed so much more time to research.

Then I went to a meeting, and we had a guest speaker, a well-known writer in my hometown who writes a weekly newspaper column. (I’d met her once, when I bought a book she edited.) When she stood up to give her speech, she showed us all some newspapers from the 40s, with headlines screaming about important events that appear in my novel. She talked about what it was like for her. I hope no one in the meeting saw me scrunch down in my seat and wipe away tears.

Another time, I was thinking, This whole writing thing is such a waste of my time. I’m no good. I can’t possibly write a novel. There are several Japanese elements in my story, and I was thinking that there are tons of people who could write about this better than me. I was pushing my cart through Wal-Mart, blessedly alone, while I thought these things. Then I looked up, and I was standing in the Asian section of the store.

There were boxes, packages, and cans of my favorite foods that I remember eating in Japan! The Japanese words jumped out at me, and I could still read them. For example, Wal-Mart carries the “Sapporo Ichiban” brand of Ramen. I could hear the commercial in my head that I watched on TV hundreds of times when I lived there. Again, I was moved to tears, and even though the store was packed, there was no one but me on this aisle, so nobody saw me. Write, my child. Write what’s on your heart.

One day, I got an email from my husband, asking if I’d be interested in going to a particular writing conference next year. This was all his idea. We talked about it, and I decided to get up in the morning and use my NaNoWriMo word count goal to register for the conference. I also signed up for a one-day intensive writing workshop, where you read a part of your work out loud to an editor or agent.

A few days later, I got a package in the mail, confirming my registration. When I went back to the site to check something online, two words jumped out at me: SOLD OUT. The workshop I’m signed up for is now sold out. I couldn’t believe it. If it weren’t for my husband’s prodding, I wouldn’t have a spot. Again, I was overcome with tears!

So, as you see, I’ve become quite an emotional basket case this month! I have so little time to write, only in the wee morning hours, but as I go along my days, I’m listening to my children more closely than ever, jotting down their exact words on sticky notes, studying their actions … and moving … slowly … along … in my dream of writing a children’s novel.

In living this way, I’ve never felt such JOY of being a mom! It’s like my characters are alive in my own home!

And you? What are you dreaming about this week?

I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving. May God bless you with a wonderful celebration of His love!