First pages are challenging. Wouldn’t you rather not have to go it alone? The June 2019 Indiana Chapter ACFW meeting is here to help guide and shape the first chapter of your manuscript.
Writers, if you’re near Kokomo, IN, you’ll not want to miss getting your first page evaluated by professional editors in the industry. Kind, gentle, but honest professional advice here. Oh, and lunch beforehand is available too! Click the link below for more details . . .
I’m pleased to welcome Rick Barry to this month’s author interview and book giveaway. Rick recently attended the Awards ceremony for MovieGuide’s 12th Annual Kairos Prize for Spiritually Uplifting Screenplays. Rick was in the Top 10 for the Kairos Prize by Beginning Screenwriters. What an honor, Rick! Let’s take a look at the book that made the Top 10! Presenting … The Methuselah Project.
Book Giveaway and Blurb
The Methuselah Project, genuine paperback copy
In WWII, Nazi scientists began many experiments. One never ended.
Roger Greene is a war hero. Raised in an orphanage, the only birthright he knows is the feeling that he was born to fly. Flying against the Axis Powers in World War II is everything he always dreamed–until the day he’s shot down and captured.
When Allied bombs destroy both his secret prison and the eccentric genius experimenting on POWs, Roger survives. Within hours, his wounds miraculously heal, thanks to those experiments. The Methuselah Project is a success–but this ace is still not free. Seventy years later, Roger hasn’t aged a day, but he has nearly gone insane. A Bible becomes the only reliable anchor for Roger’s sanity and his soul. When he finally escapes the underground organization holding him in our time, the world has become an unrecognizable place. Will anyone believe his crazy story before the organization’s assassin can snuff out his long life once and for all?
Wow, what an action-packed plot!
First, an author improves with experience. Because it’s my third book, I believe The Methuselah Project is my best so far. It’s also my favorite to date. I poured quite a bit of myself into it. Even as I wrote it, I pictured the scenes as a film playing before me. Also, many reviewers have declared, “This should be a movie!” So, it was my logical choice.
A few years back, it was my privilege to drive Movieguide’s Dr. Ted Baehr from the Indianapolis Airport to the downtown hotel where American Christian Fiction Writers were holding their annual writers conference. During that ride, we talked about stories, and Dr. Baehr encouraged me to visit California to take his screenplay-writing class “How to Succeed in Hollywood without Losing Your Soul.” That was a terrific introduction to writing scripts for movies. (But of course, I still needed to study professional scripts and to practice writing my own.) For the past three years, I’ve entered Movieguide’s worldwide Kairos Prize competition, which exists to encourage Christian writers to develop wholesome scripts that point viewers to God. On my first two tries, I was a rank amateur and got nowhere. But, praise the Lord, my third script was my best yet, and it made the list of 10 Finalists.
Among individuals, that would be Dr. Ted Baehr, mentioned above. But in a general sense, I’ve also been encouraged to see others, such as David A.R. White and the Kendrick brothers, creating wholesome films that boldly present a God-centered worldview.
Novels are stories, and movie scripts are stories, but they are totally different kinds of documents. For film, each page of a script equals about 1 minute of movie time. So there’s no way to include everything in a novel in a 90-minute movie. I had to eliminate my own scenes, reduce the number of characters, and emphasize the main thrust of the story (the “through line”) with lean writing and no wasted words. In that regard, I’d say script writing has taught me–as both writer and self-editor–to focus strictly on the key elements. Never again will I watch a movie based on a novel and complain, “Hey, they left out some things that were in the book!” It’s simply a necessity of that medium.
It’s work. Tedious work, and not for the faint-hearted if you’re adapting your own novel, because you WILL have to axe people, lines, scenes that you love. Script writing is not for the mildly curious. You must really love your story and possess a drive to make it available for an audience. Otherwise, the work becomes drudgery, and you’ll be tempted to quit. I was tempted, too. But God has gifted me with some sense of perseverance–or stubbornness!
First, it has already accomplished what I personally needed most. By becoming one of 10 Finalists out of hundreds of submissions from 20+ countries, this script has provided some affirmation that, yes, I am succeeding in learning the ins and outs of writing screenplays. (In fact, in this journey, my script actually got further than scripts of more experienced colleague friends who have been writing them for longer than I have. That is exciting for me, but can also be a wee bit awkward.) Past the affirmation, it would be exciting if a producer decided to option it for possible production. It could still happen. We’ll see what the Lord has in store.
A longtime WWII buff, Rick Barry has a B.S. in Foreign Language Education. He speaks Russian and has visited Eastern Europe over 50 times for Christian ministry. Rick’s short fiction and articles have appeared in a variety of publications. The Methuselah Project is his third novel. In February 2018, Rick’s screenplay on the novel was one of 10 Finalists for Movieguide’s Kairos Prize.
Visit him on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/rick.barry.184/
Visit his website at rickcbarry.com
Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/WriterRickBarry
When the weather’s so cold you have frost on the windows, it’s time to curl up indoors with a fuzzy blanket, burning candle, and a good book for a good, long afternoon. Check out these great reads—and enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway at the end! Four books, four winners!
Book Giveaway: Their Daring Hearts
About Sharlene:Born and raised in west Michigan, Sharlene attended Spring Arbor University. Upon graduating with an education degree in 1971, she taught second grade for two years then accepted an invitation to travel internationally for a year with a singing ensemble. In 1975, she married her childhood sweetheart. Together they raised two lovely, wonderful daughters, both of whom are now happily married and enjoying their own families. Retired in 2003 from 31-years of teaching, “Shar” loves to read, sing, travel, and spend time with her family, in particular, her wonderful, adorable grandchildren!
A Christian for 45+ years, and a lover of the English language, Shar has always enjoyed dabbling in writing–poetry, fiction, various essays, and freelancing for periodicals and newspapers. Her favored genre, however, has always been romance. She remembers well the short stories she wrote in high school and watching them circulate from girl to girl during government and civics classes. “Psst,” someone would whisper from two rows over, and always with the teacher’s back to the class, “Pass me the next page.”In recent years, Shar felt God’s call upon her heart to take her writing pleasures a step further and in 2006 signed a contract for her first faith-based novel; thereby, launching her writing career with Through Every Storm. With a dozen books now gracing store shelves nationwide, she daily gives God all the praise and glory for her accomplishments.
Shar has done numerous countrywide book signings, television and radio appearances, and countless interviews. She loves to speak for women’s organizations, libraries, church groups, women’s retreats, and banquets. She is involved in Apples of Gold, a mentoring program for young wives and/or mothers, and is active in her church as well as two weekly Bible studies. She and her husband, Cecil, live in Spring Lake, Michigan with their beautiful white collie, Peyton and their rag doll cat named Blue.
Visit her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sharmaclaren
Visit her website: http://www.sharlenemaclaren.com
What is your 2018 goal?
We were just discussing this on my Facebook page the other day. My 2018 goal is to dig deeper into my daily Bible reading. Too often, out of busyness and my sometimes hectic life, my Bible reading becomes more of a task than a treat. I do too much “surface” reading and not enough “in depth”. I want to read it more for content and truly understand what I’m ready through study and concentration. I’m praying the Lord will guide me in this because I tend to get distracted by so many other things that vie for my attention.
Book Giveaway: Grandpa Forgot My Name (a children’s book) paperbackJoyce also has a new-release: Romance Along the Rails releases January 23, 2018. It will be available for pre-order on Kindle this week, and you may purchase it here:
What is your 2018 goal?
My favorite thing about the Christmas Holiday was spending time with family and friends. We had Christmas dinner at our house with two of our daughters and their families including six grandchildren, then we traveled to Columbia, SC to spend a week with our son and his family, two more granddaughters.
About Joyce:Joyce Valdois Smith is the wife of Bob, mother to four married children and grandmother to twelve amazing grandchildren. She is a retired public health and school nurse Writing has been her longtime passion. Joyce is an author of Christian historical and contemporary fiction as well as children’s books. She is active in her church. She lives with her husband and Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Lady Catherine (Katie), in Southwest Missouri.
Book Giveaway: Sarah’s Legacy, an e-book
Blurb: Exuberant, 18-year-old Polly Dye is torn between wanting to please her mother and wanting to please Garrett, the man she is dating. To add to Polly’s unsettled feelings, she and her family move into a house that evokes a chilling sensation as she steps over the threshold. Polly can’t decide whether this disturbing feeling means that something bad has happened here or that something bad is going to happen.
Soon Polly discovers the diary of the original owner of the house, Sarah Davis. She hopes that by reading it, her questions about the apprehensive feelings she has in the house will be answered. Instead, she finds herself wrestling with the many losses that Sarah experienced while still maintaining her faith in God. What good is a God who doesn’t protect one from pain, Polly’s utmost goal in life?
As Polly experiences losses of her own and learns through the mistakes that Sarah made, Polly realizes it’s not enough for her to have faith in her mother’s faith. Will Sarah’s legacy enable Polly to make that faith her own and will her questions about the house be answered?
About Daisy Townsend:Daisy Beiler Townsend has been published in magazines and periodicals more than eighty times. Researching the history of their home in Sandy Lake, Pennsylvania, in 1998 led to beginning a historical novel inspired by the lives of former residents of their home in the late 19th – early 20th century. In 2014 Daisy published her first book, Homespun Faith, an autobiographical devotional, and then completed Sarah’s Legacy. She and her husband, Donn, live in Pennsylvania and have three children and six grandchildren.
Follow Daisy on social media:
https://twitter.com/DaisyDonaisy
https://www.instagram.com/daisybeilertownsend/
https://www.facebook.com/DaisyBeilerTownsend/
What is your 2018 goal:
My 2018 goal is to finish the first draft of the second book in the Sarah’s Legacy series. That’s what I’m working on now.
Buy Links for Daisy’s Books:
ttps://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sarahs-legacy-daisy-l-townsend/1127572697?ean=9780692989555
Book Giveaway:
A Bouquet of Brides Collection (my story being “In Sheep’s Clothing”) I’d be happy to give away the winner’s choice of paper or ebook—but to U.S. residents only. If outside the U.S., an ebook.What is your 2018 goal?
Pegg Thomas lives on a hobby farm in Northern Michigan with Michael, her husband of *mumble* years. They raise sheep and chickens, keep a few barn cats, and Murphy the spoiled rotten dog. A life-long history geek, she writes “History with a Touch of Humor.” Pegg is published in the Barbour historical romance collections. In March 2017, Pegg took on the mantle of Managing Editor of Smitten Historical Romance, an imprint of Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas. When not working or writing, Pegg can be found in her barn, her garden, her kitchen, or sitting at her spinning wheel creating yarn to turn into her signature wool shawls.Website: PeggThomas.com
Purchase Pegg’s Books:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Bouquet-Brides-Romance-Collection-Bachelors/dp/1683223810/
CBD: https://www.christianbook.com/bouquet-brides-collection-bachelors-happily-after/mary-davis/9781683223818/
Follow Pegg’s Adventures on: ColonialQuills and NovelPASTimes
Giveaway Details!
Runs from Friday, January 19, 2018, to midnight CST Thursday, January 25, 2018.
Ebooks open to lower 48 US and worldwide. Print books only open to lower 48 US states.
Winners will be announced the following Friday.
No purchase necessary to enter, but if you like what you see, we’d appreciate a few follows and likes on our social media pages!
Click link below:
In the News:: Coming up next Friday: interview with the characters from WWII author Liz Tolsma’s latest novel, The Melody of the Soul! — and includes a giveaway!
Be sure to come back next week!
