GOING RAW

By Sharon Wilhite

I'm going on an all raw diet. No cooked to mush veggies, no fruit cocktail and cobblers, no gravy smothered meat, and no calorie laden snacks and drinks with zero nutritional value. Yes, I'm going raw - to reacquaint my taste buds with the flavor of real, unadorned fruits, vegetables, and water.

 

Actually, although that sounds very healthy, my self-imposed diet isn't food based at all but literary based. No mushy romance novels, no fruity fad books, no Christian truths smothered under suspense and no books with zero spiritual or practical value.

 

My mind is fat and lazy; I find myself jittery, unable to concentrate, craving instant gratification of the flesh -withdrawal symptoms for sure! I'm going raw, and the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is so weak.

 

  ("For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." Romans 8:5-6)

By Charis Seeley

I’m only 23, but sometimes I worry about the younger generation. The average teenager sends over 100 text messages every day. Most of them use abbreviations so much that it creates a language filled with three letter words. The only single letter words in the English language are ‘A’ and ‘I’. When I receive a text filled with single letters and numbers that replace words…. I want to send them back to elementary school English class.

Never mind trying to get teens to read a book. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard a teenager squeal about a movie series and how they “Can wait to find out how it ends!” Meanwhile, they seem unaware that the movie they loved was based off a novel series. I can’t help but wonder why they haven’t read the books.

The Hunger Games is a series like that. By the end of March, you can bet there will be scads of teens excited for the second movie, eager to find out what happens next, but not willing to pick up a book. And I’ll hopelessly hang my head. Authors no longer face the challenge of keeping their reader out of other books and in theirs. They have to keep them away from the TV, computer, movie theater, game console and cell phone. It’s a daunting task. Most of the time, at least.

I was grocery shopping a few days ago when I overheard a daughter talking with her father. She looked about 15 years old. They were talking about the upcoming Hunger Games movie. “Please, Dad? I want to read it.” “Why? I thought they were making it into a movie.” “I know, but I want to read it.”

I was so happy to hear a young person excited about a book that I almost stopped to thank her. I hope there are more kids out there who also value reading books and knowing the difference between to, two and too. 

Maybe these kids aren’t as bad as I thought.

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?

Indroducing Lisa J Lickel

From One Peculiar Sort to Another

I assume that if you’re reading this, you’re one of those.

Of course, assumptions get us in trouble all the time.

Assume. What does it really mean? Let’s visit Gail’s favorite book: the Dictionary.

Assume: vt, ME, fr.

1. to take in or receive

                           2. to take upon oneself

                           3. to take control of

                           4. to pretend to have or be

                           5. to take as granted

                           6. to take over the debts of another

Creative fiction and non-fiction story-tellers make a promise to a reader. We tell you right away on the back cover what kind of a story we plan to deliver with a certain type of person who lives at a particular moment of time in a special place and is undergoing a unique and compelling predicament. We promise you an adventure in a way that makes you want to take it in, pretend to step into another world and work hard to cheer our protagonists to victory. A story teller lets the reader take for granted our control of craft by stepping out of the way.

This promise fulfilled keeps readers coming back. This promise lets the reader assume our next book will be as emotional as the first. So, are you one of those? One of those writers who keeps growing and extending yourself and stretching to find the best, most peculiar stories to share? Are you one of those readers who find the reading experience so keen you have to tell everyone about it? If you are here on this great adventure, I assume so.

Lisa Lickel  
 “What if” stories with a twist of grace
Lisa Lickel and her husband live in eastern Wisconsin in a 
150-year-old Great Lakes ship captain's house. Lisa writes 
inspirational novels, short stories, devotionals, radio theater for 
fun, edits, critiques and mentors, reads a storm, reviews and 
recently became editor in chief of Creative Wisconsin. Visit her at 
http://lisalickel.com, and at facebook and goodreads.com.