The Story Behind the Story - An Interview on Liz Tolsma's Website

It all began with a conversation.

My wife Cindy and I are both in the field of public education. We were having a discussion one evening about some of the laws affecting education and how they are getting manipulated into something far different from the original intent.

For example, the laws concerning homeless children were originally designed to benefit a student who was suddenly homeless due to some catastrophic event, like the family’s house burning down or being irreparably damaged due to some natural disaster, like a tornado or flood. Or maybe the husband and/or wife lost his or her job and the family’s been evicted because they cannot pay the rent or mortgage. The McKinney-Vento Homeless Act was designed to help in these situations, so that children could still get their education without being penalized in any way for something out of their control (i.e., not be held accountable of lost textbooks, not be held accountable for unexcused absences due to the event, be provided special bus transportation, if needed, etc.).

However, as in many cases, students get savvier as they get older and learn how to find loopholes in laws.

High school students under the age of 18 who google “How can I become emancipated from my parents?” are finding out they too can fall under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Act, and it’s as easy as 1-2-3:

1. Get into an argument with their parents and manipulate their parents to offer up the golden ultimatum: “If you live under my roof, you live by my rules. Otherwise, you can move out.”
2. Once those magic words are given, the student moves out of the parent’s house and moves in with a friend’s family.
3. Once this occurs, the student in considered “homeless,” and is afforded all the privileges McKinney-Vento has to offer.

At this point, students cannot be held accountable for attendance.  They cannot be held accountable if they lose or damage school-assigned property (i.e., textbooks, iPads, etc.). They can go to school when they wish. Stay home when they wish. There is no one who can hold the students accountable legally because the law protects them.

We also noted how many of these same “privileges” are afforded to English Language Learners, formerly known as ESOL. If students are considered ELL students, because of their language barrier, they too cannot be held accountable for many things until they reach a certain level of language proficiency and are dismissed from the program. This usually takes years.

In the midst of our conversation about how these laws get abused, my writer’s mind ran with it. “So, what if some terrorist organization used these laws against us? To their advantage, like high school students use the McKinney-Vento Homeless Act? And what if they coupled this with the issue of illegal immigration? Used unwitting illegal immigrants in a diabolical plan against our country? There would be nothing legally anyone could do about it.”

And that, my friends, is how 30 Days Hath Revenge was born.

To see this interview on Liz Tolsma's Website, click HERE

Blooming Where We Are Planted (A Seriously Write Blog Post)

“I want to write full-time.”

“Oh, how I wish I could write all day long.”

“I’d write more if the day job didn’t get in the way.”

Ever utter these kinds of words? I would wager there are few if any writers out there who haven’t at some point in their life. Some writers are fortunate enough to realize those dreams. Others, not-so-much.

But are we less fortunate?

I had a birthday recently. Over half the student body wished me a happy birthday as they passed me in the halls, saw me in the cafeteria, or in a classroom. As an assistant principal, it meant a lot, because I’m usually viewed as the “bad guy” (it’s an occupational hazard).

Then, I received a letter from an 8th grade girl. The letter wished me well on this day of my birth. But it also said so much more.

The young lady thanked me for being there for her, looking out for her, urging her to strive harder to make the very best life she can muster at this precarious age, and believing in her.

As I read the letter, it reminded me of another one I received several years ago from a troubled young lady at the high school where I began my administrative career. It too spoke of how I was the only person who listened to her, showed that I cared for her by holding her accountable, even though she was making a tough choice to drop out of school. I would later see her in another setting where she beamed of great joy at the telling of how she had gone back to school, received her GED, and had been accepted into a college down south. She was chasing dreams, and she reminded me it was my encouragement that set her on this path.

I often get discouraged at this career we call “writing.” It’s an up and down, roller-coaster, whirlwind kind of life that has its own peaks and valleys to say the least. However, in the midst of crafting a tale about some fictional characters, are we blooming where we are planted to make a difference in the lives of real people?

I hope we are.

As we enter into the season of giving, may He who gave us life everlasting help us bloom into abundant trees bearing good fruit (Colossians 1:9-14).

To see this article on the Seriously Write website, click on the following link: HERE 

Deadly Research Can Be So Uplifting (A Seriously Write Blog)

I wrote a series of articles several years ago when 30 Days Hath Revenge originally came out. It was a quick history of The Plague. It covered The Justinian Plague of 542 A.D., The Black Death, or Black Plague, in the 14th century, and the Third Great Plague of the 17th century. There were other, more recent outbreaks, too, which I discussed, like The Barbary Plague in San Francisco during the early 1900s, and smaller outbreaks in Chandigarh, India (1994) and in Bunia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa (2003).

As I researched for my book, I became fascinated by a portion of Old testament scripture I had read numerous times in the past, but it was an author who specialized in germ warfare who pointed out to me what I had missed.

In 1 Samuel 5:1-7:1, we have the story of the Ark of God being captured by the Philistines. They take the Ark back home and place it in the temple of Dagon in the city of Ashdod. At first, the Lord God sends a little message to the Philistines by causing the image of Dagon to fall on its face. The priests of the pagan temple, finding their god on the ground that next morning, picked up the image and put it back in its place.

(As an aside, how much does this look like us? God knocks down an image we tend to worship, and we, like the priests, pick it up, dust it off, and continue to live our lives in the same fashion, missing the inherent warning? Hmmm…Now, back to our story.)

So, the Lord God does it again. When the image of Dagon fell a second time the very next morning, the head and hands also broke off. They were found lying on the threshold of the temple. A very symbolic act by the Lord God to denote His dominion and power over the pagan god. Problem is, neither the priests nor the people of Ashdod got the message. You would think they would have put two and two together and thought to themselves, “Hey, we didn’t have this problem until the Ark of God arrived.” But, they didn’t. So, God proceeded to Plan B.

(One more aside: This, by the way, shows how merciful God is. He could have just gone ahead and enacted Plan B, but He tried to get their attention by other means first. This is often how God operates. Unfortunately, we often miss the earlier messages and only see the bad ones that follow, like the people of Ashdod. Then, we have the audacity to criticize God and ask why He is so vicious, so uncaring, and so malevolent in His ways. “Why does He allow bad things to happen to good people?” Had we listened the first time, He wouldn’t have to enact Plan B. Hmmm… Now, back to our story.)

In verse six and following, it says the Lord God’s hand was heavy upon the people of Ashdod, and He inflicted them with “tumors.” In the Septuagint and Latin Vulgate, they add this line (NIV): “And rats appeared in their land, and death and destruction were throughout the city.”

That’s when the priests and people of Ashdod finally figured it out. Oh, it’s the Ark… So, they called for a meeting and decided to move the Ark. To Ekron. Duh. Now, two cities were infected because God did not stop the affliction in Ashdod. Verse 9 says the people in Ekron were also infected with “tumors.” In the Septuagint, it adds: “in the groin.”

The Bubonic Plague was referred to by that name because of the buboes (in the Biblical account = tumors) which appear under the arms and in the groin area. Lymph nodes swell with a mixture of the bacteria, both alive and dead, and puss (hence the stories about the “stench” and “smell of death” often recorded by historians).

In 1 Samuel 6, seven months passed before the Philistines called a major conference. Seven months of the plague devastating five major cities of the kingdom. Such is sin. It causes great suffering and stubbornness. So, when the conferees arrived and discussed the situation, they decided the Ark of God must be sent back to Israel. They also decided a guilt offering be sent with it: five golden tumors and five golden rats, to symbolize the affliction, and one for each ruler of the five major cities of Philistia (vv. 1-18). They finally got it.

Historians believe that this account in 1 Samuel is the first recorded account of a bubonic plague. There may have been other outbreaks in biblical times, too. They just didn’t get recorded.

What can we take away from this? It’s interesting how God uses the effects of sin (in this case, war, pride, and disease) to “preach a sermon,” of sorts (cf. Romans 1:19). In one of the worst accounts in recorded history, it started with one little microscopic bacteria and a flea. But that’s how sin operates. One seemingly small incident, decision, or choice against the laws of God, even by those who seem religiously devout, hatches in one individual and spreads throughout that person’s body, who in turn, comes in contact with another and another.

And the rest, they say, is history.

If only we would listen to the first message, we’d never have to experience God’s Plan B.

To see this article on the Seriously Write website, click on the following link: HERE!

Reviewing the Mindset of Reviews (An ACFW Blog Post)

As many authors know, good, critical, honest reviews are important. Future readers often base their purchases on them. Therefore, reviews are gold when talking bottom lines.

Because Amazon uses the review system as one of its major marketing arms, keeping reviews as pure as possible is paramount to good customer service.

To prevent others from manipulating this system, Amazon has vowed to pronounce an author anathema if they seek to manipulate reviews. The consequence? Banishment from the Amazon kingdom. They sued four companies for doing exactly that: contaminating the overall quality of the review process. One of them had a very inconspicuous name: buyamazonreviews.com.

Then, there was the not-so-blatant, in-your-face 5-star review scandal. A company was manipulating reviews via a buyer-friendly return policy, proving there is more than one way to skin the proverbial cat.

We know book companies have used the method of “giving away books for honest reviews” for years. So long as the reviewer stated in the review he or she received the book for free in exchange for an honest review, most people were okay with it. Even that game has changed a little with Amazon upping their purchase requirement from $5 to $50 per year. In other words, anyone who receives books for free and reviews them can no longer do so if they do not spend $50 a year on Amazon. This is actually a good thing on multiple levels.

However, what hurts authors as much as a one-star or malicious review is the poorly written one.

Assuming the reader is being honest and would give the product an honest review, how the review is written can make a 5-star review seem either real or fake. It’s all in the syntax.

For example, let’s say the reader–we’ll call her Carol Critique–reads her favorite author-friend’s book–we’ll call her author-friend Wynona Writer. There are two ways Carol can write the review. A good way and a bad way. The bad way is to write it like she knows Linda:

I haven’t read Linda’s newest book, Can’t Buy Me Amish Love, but I know it’s going to be one of the best Amish romance novels ever written because I read her last book as soon as it came out. Better than Beverly Lewis! I can’t believe she’s not on the New York Times Best Seller List! All I can say is, When’s the movie coming out?????!!!

If you’re a reader who does not know the author, is that how you write your reviews? I hope not. I’ll wager there aren’t too many reviews of Debbie Macomber’s books wherein the reviewer speaks as if she knows Debbie like a next-door neighbor. Phrases only a mother could write, like, “I’ve known Debbie for years, so I can vouch for this book!” or “Everyone must read this book!!! It will change your life!” garner the same respect as a political ad with the disclaimer at the end: “This message is sponsored by Who Cares PAC NSCF and not associated with any political candidate.”

The good way is to pen a professional-looking review:

In her latest book, Can’t Buy Me Amish Love, Linda Writer has crafted a wonderful sequel to the first book in this series, I Want to Hold Your Amish Hand. The story of Yenta Yoder continues when she…(blah, blah, blah…you get the picture).

To simply write it in a more professional manner makes the review seem more “honest.”

But wait. Rumors abound concerning Amazon searching your social media sites, looking for friends and relatives who also review your works. “Shills,” they call them. If the Amazon Review Board thinks the reviewer is related or a good friend, she will get a Nastygram stating her review has been removed. If Amazon thinks you’re recruiting reviews in a nefarious manner, your author page could be history.

So, what’s a writer to do? Well, first off, we can’t (nor should we) discourage friends and family from writing reviews. Writing them honestly and professionally should be encouraged, though.

Second, to garner more reviews, you could:
• Employ the likes of a buyamazonreviews.com? I wouldn’t advise it, though.

• Give away massive amounts of books to targeted reviewers who will, no doubt, give you nothing lower than three stars? They may help you get to the magic number of 100 faster, but at what cost?

Or how about this for a third option? Simply write the best book you can muster and allow God to work? From there, it’s in God’s hands. Of course, we’ll travel down the free eBook giveaway avenue and all those other four-letter marketing streets we introverted authors just can’t wait to travel. And sure, some people won’t like what you’ve written. Others might even boldface lie about your book (and Amazon has an abuse policy to address this, too). Don’t fret, though. Even the Bible has its detractors. The point is, we live in a fallen world. Enemy territory. And we write Christian fiction.

It’s a wonder we don’t get more one-star reviews than we do.

To see this blog on the ACFW website, click on the following link: HERE!

Keep Writing...and Get Better Along the Way (A Seriously Write Blog Post)

 

      

I’m reading Robert Benson’s book, Dancing on the Head of a Pen. It’s a thought-provoking, journal-of-sorts on the career of writing. Robert’s life experiences are woven into the fabric of this work, helping to bring to light some topics writers must tackle, whether they like it or not.

Although I’ve chuckled numerous times at Robert’s singular wit, one section, in particular, made me laugh out loud. Robert gets asked the question we all do from time to time: “So, how’s the job going?” But as you know, our friends and acquaintances don’t use those exact words like they would of their doctor friend or their school teacher buddy. Instead, we often get the question put to us this way: “So, are you still writing?”

Like Robert observes, no one asks the doctor if she is still seeing patients. No one asks the school teacher if he still goes to class every morning. No one asks the pastor if he still drops by the church on Sundays. Yet, when confronted with a writer, people feel compelled to ask, “Are you still writing?” In Robert’s words, it’s as if they just can’t believe someone would want to accomplish the feat of writing a book more than once.

Sometimes, we ask ourselves the same questions, don’t we? Do I have any more books in me? Good books? Books people would actually want to read? And enjoy?

For some, one book is all they have in them. Nothing wrong with that, per se. So long as they realize it. (I wish M. Night Shyamalan would have realized that when it came to his movies.) For others, life simply gets in the way. However, as Robert observes, for the true writer, writing is a much a calling and passion as the doctor who must operate, not to make money, but to save lives. Or the teacher who will not stop until her students understand with proficiency. Or the pastor who feels his mission is from On High.

If you ask any of those other professionals how they accomplish such feats, they will tell you two things: 1) They never stop. They keep “Keeping On” when the skies are blue and when the ominous clouds roil in the heavens. Those old wild horses are no match; and 2) They never cease to want to grow, learn, or improve at what they do. There’s an internal gas pedal always pressed firmly against the floorboard. Their minds are always working on the task, even if in the background while at dinner with a friend or spouse. Their passion will often find its way into conversations as they “test” thoughts and ideas on others in an attempt to fine tune for future use.Also, their noses are always in journals, books, and articles on their craft. Learning is just as important as doing. They know the former makes the latter better.

Do you write when nothing is selling? When there are no prospects on the horizon of a contract? Do you take the reviewers’ 2-star critique to heart and seek to determine where the weak sentence structure lies?And do you keep the 5-star reviews tucked away for encouragement but careful not to let them swell the ego?

As Robert Benson says, rewriting and rewriting sentences, organizing the words in the best possible positions, is an art. No artist with a chisel chipped away a statue in a day or two. No artist with a brush ever placed bristles to canvas, satisfied with the very first stroke of each color. Time, care, skill, and diligence—they all rest in the artist’s quiver, to be used with forethought, so something wondrous can emerge. Something with which the artist will never be truly satisfied because of the passion within.

(Oh, and Robert would be proud of this article, too. I kept it to approximately 600 words.)

To see this article on the Seriously Write website, click on the following link: Keep Writing...and Get Better Along the Way