Recycle, Reuse, Resurrection

(Well Paula took my idea for a post, sort of. But it’s well worth repeating. Mine is more the resurrection of an idea in general whether it’s a full manuscript like Paula’s, a partially written story, or just a germ of an idea.)

I think we all have story ideas we have started and for one reason or another have abandoned. Whether we became disinterested in the idea, the idea fizzled out, or it had gotten rejected one too many times.

An editor recently mentioned to me she might be in need of historical series ideas and would be interested in seeing what I might have. No guarantees.

If an editor says this, you bet your booty I’m going to send her something as quick as my daughter’s woodpile cat can disappear. He may be big but he is lightening fast. :-)

Starting a series from scratch takes a long time, even to just get the overall idea then each individual novel in the series.

The key words with a time sensitive project are recycle, reuse, and resurrection. Since this editor didn’t need chapter samples from me, just the synopses, the work was cut in half, but still a lot of work. By recycling, reusing, and resurrecting, my work was again cut in half.

One.

Two.

Three.

And they were off. One I recycled a series idea and tweaked it for this different market. One I reused a single story idea and built on it for the other two stories I wanted to propose in the series. And one, I resurrected a story that had previously been rejected as a single title.

In a short time, I was able to send off three series proposal to this editor. Now I’m waiting to see if she bites on any of them.

What ideas do you have lurking or hiding in a drawer (or computer file) that need a facelift to give them new life? Go mining for gold.

Dying to Live

This time of year is bittersweet for me. Over the years, the month of April has brought tests and challenges that were painful and difficult. My emotions remember that traumatic path and want to shy away from the memories. My mind wants to block out the events themselves.

One event happened 19 years ago. I was in the middle of dealing with a family-wide bout of the chicken pox while trying to adjust to a recent move to an apartment with four children ages 9, 6, 2 1/2 and 8 1/2 months. The day after my husband was able to return to work, our 6 year-old son was involved in an accident near the playground of the apartment complex. I remember it vividly. The innocence of the oldest twirling obliviously with a stream of yellow caution tape. The horror of seeing my 6 year-old unconscious on the ground with no one around to help. The frustration of wanting to rush out but concern over leaving the two younger ones in the apartment by themselves. Having to leave my children in the care of a stranger while I went to the hospital.

Several years ago I found myself seeing a Christian counselor trying to understand where “I” had gone. I couldn’t understand why my zest for life had abandoned me. It felt like I had been swallowed by a black hole. I had been enjoying new energy and health after having lost a great deal of weight when my normally optimistic self seemed to ooze out of every pore never to be seen again. If you have never been clinically depressed it is something that is hard to explain. Feeling that you are sitting in a tiny boat in the middle of a vast body of water with no shore in sight and no clue as to where that shore or any safe haven might be.

Even as I remember the pain of my son’s accident and the struggles that followed as he worked to overcome his brain injury, I rejoice that he is now finishing college and has taken the recovery skill of learning to play instruments and turned it into a passion. I marvel at his gift for music and am thrilled that he will graduate next May with a degree in Music Composition.

As for me, I rejoice that God had a way out of the pit that I was in. Thankfully, doctors were able to diagnose the cause of my depression which enabled me to find “me” and to see that there was indeed light and a way back to feeling whole again.

What does any of this have to do with writing? Aside from believing that life’s trials and challenges give us insight that we would never experience otherwise for our writing, they also give us perspective. As important as our writing is to us and even to God, He has a life journey for us. It lasts more than a moment be it of pain or trauma or even joy. Part of that journey is to resurrect those moments and bring something new out of our life.

So, while part of me still doesn’t look forward to the death of anything in my life, I know that it truly isn’t the end but rather the beginning of the life that He has planned. God is faithful to resurrect our dry bones and breath new life into them. (Ezekiel 37:5-6)

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Elaine serves as Secretary/Treasurer for Mile High Scribes, the ACFW Southwest Denver chapter now meeting at the Tattered Cover in Highlands Ranch. She is currently working on a series set in the world of professional ice hockey. Elaine and her husband are rejoicing in the thought that 2 out of 3 of their children will graduate from college in 13 months.

Resurrecting that Manuscript

I'm a firm believer that my first two books will publish. Yes, I wrote them years, not months, ago. Yes, I'm a better writer now than then. Yes, they will take a lot of work. But they will resurrect. I know it.

Maybe you have an old manuscript that needs resurrection. Let me tell you what I've learned:
1) It's good for a manuscript to lie in the grave awhile. Even in the grave it changes.
2) Unlike Jesus, sometimes a manuscript resurrects more than once before fully coming to life.
3) Like Jesus, newness of life for the manuscript itself and those who read comes with resurrection.

Let's take my first novel for example. I wrote it from my heart, loved it, won contests with it, rewrote it many times, learned from it. Finally I sensed the Lord telling me it was time to lay it down. Into the grave it went. Waiting was good for it. It needed me to grow up--as a writer and as a person--to do it justice. Before it went to the "grave," I was given some advice about the manuscript I resisted. The advice went with my manuscript to the grave. What I didn't know is that advice was changing the manuscript even as it slept.

Then, one day, someone who loved the manuscript asked me to resurrect it. I poured over it, rewriting the first few chapters to bring it up to my present understanding of craft and my more fully developed voice. Low and behold, I realized the advice I'd buried with the manuscript had been right! I made sweeping changes and took it to a writer's conference where an editor requested a full! Excited, I dug into the rest of the chapters, ready to bring my story to new life. But--you guessed it--things didn't go as I planned. Some of it was my skill level, and some of it was life circumstances. Eventually I had to put it away and take care of the crises at home.

Fast forward a couple of years. It's again been requested that the manuscript be resurrected. I prayed and felt the Lord say it was time to learn a little more, to bring newness of life into my beloved story. On my to-do list is another round of polishing those first chapters so I can take it to someone more advanced than I for advice. I don't know if this will be a final resurrection or just another groaning hinting of the new life it will someday lead.

But I do know resurrection day will come. The Lord planted the faith within my heart to believe it will someday come fully to life and bring new life with it for others.

Until then I wait, in eagerness and expectation.

If you have a manuscript that just won't die, don't be afraid to resurrect it. Each time you pull it from the dark recesses of your computer, look at it with new eyes, revisit past advice, and rewrite with the newness of life that's grown in you since the last time you tackled it!

And wait in expectation. Sunday's on the way!

Where'd you come from, Hot Stuff?

It seems strange to be talking about new beginnings when I’m smack in the middle of my WIP. Then again, it’s while you’re slogging through the muddle in the middle that new ideas spring up out of nowhere.

You’re staring at the computer screen, ransacking your brain for your next sentence, and suddenly a plot for a completely different story pops into your noggin. Strange new characters whisper in your ears while you labor to get old Klaus and Gertrude down off the mountainside before the volcano erupts.

It’s so easy to get swayed by these new project possibilities. I once read a funny piece that compared the allure of a new story idea to meeting a new romantic interest. The temptation to dump your current dimming flame and take up with that hot, new prospect can be overwhelming.

What should we do with these new beginnings that crop up when we need to be focusing on finishing our current novel?

First, be encouraged. You may feel like your brain is an empty paper bag with nothing but a hint of Sesame Chicken wafting around inside it, but creativity lurks amid those dried-up bits of rice. Use that spark of a new story to remind yourself why you write, that you CAN create, and that God has more exciting plans for your writing journey.

Second, write it down. Throw just a few words into a document detailing that mind-blowing plot or those compelling characters. You’ll feel better knowing you’ve put something on a page and can come back to it when the time is right.

Third, get back to work on your WIP. Tell that flirty new beginning that you’ll be in touch soon, then disconnect and get back to business. Because the only thing more exciting than a new beginning is the satisfaction of typing “The End.”


Evangeline Denmark has co-authored two children’s books, The Dragon and the Turtle (Waterbrook Press, 2010) and The Dragon and the Turtle Go on Safari (Waterbrook Press, 2011) and also writes adult fiction. Evangeline serves as chapter secretary for Worship Write Witness and has only broken up with one of her novels since she began writing in 2006. You can find Evangeline online at www.breathenbreatheout.blogspot.com and www.dragonandturtle.com

Meet my 8th child!

I’m like a proud parent, showing off my newborn. I even showed her to the lady at Curves, who sincerely tried to match my enthusiasm, but I could tell she was just being polite.

If you’re a published author, or even simply blessed your project by typing “The End”, you know the feeling. Every story, or article, or poem is a new beginning. It’s that bouncing baby book that you gaze at with wonderment. I created this. What a miracle!  It breathes new life into your stagnant career, reminding you that you can do it again, and again.

Oregon Weddings is my eight cover. Inside are stories I had already birthed and had covers of their own when they first came out:

• God Gave the Song – Two people learn how to forgive with the help of a melodious alpaca.
• Crossroads Bay – She seeks a treasure. He seeks her heart.
• Fine, Feathered Friend – An actress afraid of birds enlists the help of a bird trainer afraid of actresses.

But seeing this fresh, new cover brings back the excitement. I’m an author with child, dreaming of what the next one will look like. Holding this infant book in my hands makes me long to see the art on the stories still in my head. It gives me the kick in the pants I need to get them written.

I’m passing out cigars. Want one?

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Oregon Weddings is due out in early April. Watch for it in stores or order it online at Amazon!

Kathy Kovach is the ACFW Rocky Mountain Zone Director, and author with Heartsong Presents and Barbour Publishing. She writes Spiritual Truth…With A Giggle, thus proving herself as one of God’s peculiar people. With a passion for story, she dissects movies on her Craft Cinema blog. Read the first chapters of her books at Fiction Finder and visit her at www.KathleenEKovach.com.