Summer’s Beauty

By Jeannette Doran

In Iowa, the corn grows, and the fields green.  Summer’s beauty enfolds us in God’s love.  We breathe in our Creator’s presence which surrounds us.  By mid-July, the corn reaches to the sky straight and tall as it stretches for the light. After the long days of  relentless heat leave the land parched, the summer storms are welcomed with their streaks of lightning which stir up the necessary nitrogen to nourish the roots. The corn’s roots sink deep down searching for life-giving water and nourishment in the rich black Iowan soil.  The leafy stalks gain strength swaying in the wind.

Just as the light and rain storms grow and beautify the corn, so our souls need the light of God’s grace and waters of daily compassion.  As our Creator cares for the corn, we, too, are provided for abundantly.  All of creation grows in the balance of sunlight and darkness, summer’s heat and thunderstorms to water the parched land.  In our busy lives, we also thirst for intervals of deep silence and listening .  We crave the space to sink into that silence of our inner being to listen to the whisper of God’s presence, letting the light spill over the shadows of yesterday’s tears.   The warmth of God’s love intensifies our experience of our Creator, which deepens and expands as we spend more time in quiet prayer.

When we sit still in the warmth and light of the divine presence, we nurture a deeper confidence and intimacy with our Creator, who is always with us, calming our fears.  Light, warmth and rain storms are needed to cultivate the corn in summer, and we need the warmth, light and rains of the Holy Spirit to wash over and envelop us each moment.    God’s compassion is new each morning and is always there for us.  Take time to hold onto God who waits in silent spaces, and joy and peace will pervade your day.  Breathe in Jesus and breathe out mercy.  In contemplating the rich beauty of the cornfields in summer, recall the necessary stages of growth it has experienced along the way, and the care it has received. 

Believe in the divine tender love and mercy surrounding you.  Live in the consciousness of this tender presence through your own experience of God’s unconditional love for each one of us.   May we all grow in grace, washed in the Spirit and bathed in God’s everlasting and compassionate love.

Why Am I Afraid to Tell You Who I Am?

By Lisa Lickel

That biography—scares a lot of us new writers. Yet it's a vital part of your craft. Think about it: you fiction writers create characters all the time, but when it comes to using words to describe you panic. "I'm boring," I heard at a class I recently taught. "What if I don't have any publishing credits?" "Why does anyone care if I have any interesting hobbies?"

Let's visit the situation.

I'm a mystery lover and just dying to feed my passion this weekend. At the book store and I have $12.73 with me. Read the back of the potential book cover with me:

In one hand I have Bats In the Belfry, a cozy by Saint Gail; it's new to me, but book 2 in the Manse Murder Mysteries. Saint Gail was the daughter of a pastor, is married to one, and the mother of another. She has a master's degree in Momhood and likes to race stock cars on the weekend. Visit her website for More Momhood Racecar stories and sign up for her newsletter which is full of tips on how to murder someone without leaving a clue.

In the other hand I have Everybody Hated Roger, a cozy by Cec the Curmudgeon. I've never heard of him either, but I like the cover and it's the right length book and price. Cec the Curmudgeon is a stay-at-home househusband who only drives his Rabbit hatchback to church on Sundays. He pecks out his stories on his Royal Underwood by day and dreams up stories in Technicolor by night. He plans on getting e-mail someday so he can interact with his fans.

Um—not really a choice there for me. Saint Gail is going to have the more interesting story because she lives an interesting life. But the only thing she didn't have control over was being born a pastor's daughter. We all start somewhere, usually at ground zero. Putting yourself out there for the public is scary—there's just no getting around that, but authordom is show business, folks!  "I'm nobody - a PTA, mini-van driving soccer mom." Yeah, so? Bet you got a zillion stories of back seat and sideline humor. Pick a couple and focus on your momhood qualities. "There's no way my life is interesting. I drive semi-loads of shopping carts from one side of the country to another." (Quick hit: how many shopping carts to a semi-load? 500. Ask me how I know.) Well, golly-gee – there's another zillion stories about angels on your shoulder, traffic tales, dictating your books on tape. Pick something: "Semi driver Royal Underwood got his writing career off to a start while driving cross country, listening to stories of fellow travelers in untold diners, watching other long-haul goodbuddies deal with the loneliness on the road and meeting his future wife at a monster truck rally in Omaha." Now, that's interesting.

Anybody can be interesting. One of my favorite authors writes about his life in rural Wisconsin. How boring can a short bald guy who married late, lives on a run-down farm and is not-mechanically inclined, be? Here's the beginning of his bio: Raised on a small dairy farm, Perry equates his writing career to cleaning calf pens – just keep shoveling, and eventually you’ve got a pile so big, someone will notice. Perry further prepared for the writing life by reading every Louis L’Amour cowboy book he could get his hands on – most of them twice.

Yep – it's Michael Perry, author of several books; the first one was his take on moving back home and being an EMT.

Maybe you can't do better, but you can be just as good.

Me? Why, Lisa Lickel is a Wisconsin writer who lives with her husband in a hundred and sixty-year-old house built by a Great Lakes ship captain. Surrounded by books and dragons, she writes inspiring fiction. Her novels include mystery and romance, all with a twist of grace. She has penned dozens of feature newspaper stories, short stories, magazine articles and radio theater. She is the editor in chief of Creative Wisconsin Magazine and loves to encourage new authors. Find her at LisaLickel.com.

I didn't start out this way – took me a while to get there, and I'm still growing.

How about you?