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The Memoir to Read When You're Facing Down Chaos [A Review of "When God Doesn't Fix it" by Laura Story

6/5/2019

You know I've been writing my memoir.
... then putting it off, then making myself face it again; face the present, admit the past.

As I've tried to articulate the past, making sense of it, interpreting it, I've also been absorbing others' memoirs.

How do they make sense of their past? Of how it's shaped them?
And why is it helpful - or, better yet, critical - that I read it?

What I've Been Reading

I've read a number of memoirs recently, both to find myself in each one hopefully discovering the secret of how to be a human, and also to absorb the essence of excellent memoir writing so that I could deliver it to my readers, too.

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Ted Dekker's Secret to a Powerful Point of View

5/16/2019

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Story telling is about creating connections.

As story tellers, our job is to first connect ourselves to the story, writing authentically from some truth in us. Our second job then becomes to connect readers to the story and characters in a meaningful way.

One of the most effective ways to grab hold of someone’s heart and make them care about your characters and their plight, is through the strategic use of Point Of View (POV). Whatever you think of best-selling author Ted Dekker, I’m sure we can agree on one thing; his adept use of POV is what drives those stories deep into a reader’s heart, and leaves them wondering about those characters long after closing the book.

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Who Will Love Me For Me? (A Personal Letter About the Gift of Rejection)

4/24/2019

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Life gives us truckloads of opportunity to experience rejection, doesn’t it?

Some of us get more “opportunity” than others.

I’ve come to realize I’m one of the lucky buggers who gets a bigger helping of it than some. From my early childhood yearnings for mommy and daddy to love me more, to best friends inexplicably drifting away or outright stabbing me in the back, to being disowned by family, I’ve had a wide range of experience with being rejected; feeling unloved.

Being rejected, especially by those close to us, is one of the most devastating, soul-crushing experiences we can ever know. A need for belonging is innate in each of us – once our need for food, air, and safety is satisfied, the very next basic human need is for love and acceptance.[1]

Our need for love and acceptance is built into our DNA.
Being loved (or unloved) changes us.

It actually changes who we are; how we see God, the world, and everyone in it. It even affects our sense of hope for the future and our will to live. [2] It’s like we’re somehow defined by love – like love is our identity. When there’s a lack of it, it messes with who we are.

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When Fear Stalks You: Lessons from Bear Survival about How to Handle Fear

3/12/2019

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As someone who has experienced years of anxiety, I am deeply grateful to tell you such fear is not a death sentence or a permanent state of being.
Victory can be had,I learned.

Fear Asks Permission

Did you know fear isn’t more powerful than us? Like a strong bear, it may have the ability to maul and consume us, but it doesn’t come out of nowhere and overtake us. It first needs a reason. An invitation. Permission.

In writing my short thriller, The Cabin, about a writer who seeks out solitude and inspiration in an isolated cabin and has a Cujo-type of bear encounter, I researched bear behavior. What I came across was compelling, especially considering the bear in this thriller seems like Fear personified the more I write him. Check out this advice to hikers when coming upon a bear who is not aggressive, but is advancing on the hiker nonetheless.

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The Encouraged Leader

3/1/2019

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"I've given and helped others for so long, but now I need help, and where is everyone??"
This is a question I've heard from the hearts of friends who are leaders.
It's a question I've found in my own heart from time to time.

When a person spends their time and energy pouring themselves into others, lifting others up when they're down, building up and encouraging others, and watching and listening for those kinds of needs around them, it's fulfilling and rewarding.

But... what happens when the leader is the one who needs encouragement?
How and where do we find that encouragement we so readily give?

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Feeling Invisible? Writing in Obscurity? You May Just Be Doing It Right!

1/23/2019

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Ever notice how the dreams you have and the goals you set are big, and the results you get seem so very small?

I have a problem with this. I'm a major optimist and love to dream and have all kinds of big, shiny ideas.

Optimism is wonderful, and even necessary. We need optimism to even have dreams. Here's the problem.

I get super frustrated when I see the enormous difference between the size of my dreams and the size of my results.

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Encouragement for the Daunted [And a Tip for Memoir Writing]

9/5/2018

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"Recently I was chatting with a woman who has wanted to write her memoir. For years she's wanted to. For years, I've heard her tell interesting stories that I agree, should be recorded. And for years, she's put it off. As I explored her reasons for being stalled, I discovered several. One of them was this idea that to write a memoir required deciding to sit down and plod through almost without stopping until it was done. In her mind, it was a giant undertaking, so she put it off until 'one day' when she 'had time' for that kind of dedicated time investment.

But 'one day' is a day that never comes.

Never." ...

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Book Launch Basics from Best Seller Tracy Krauss

6/22/2018

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My latest book, THREE STRAND CORD, made it into the top 100 books in three categories on Amazon.ca, holding steady in ‘hot new releases’ in Christian fiction for several days after the launch.

This isn’t my first book launch and it isn’t the first time I’ve seen this kind of result. However, I have learned a few things over the years about what seems to work and what takes a lot of effort with little reward. Of course, the book industry is always changing and so must our strategies when it comes to launching a new book.

Here is a breakdown about has worked for me.

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10 Ways to 10x your Book Launch

6/22/2018

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Writing a book typically takes longer than expected. What begins as a bright shiny idea must be pulled out of one’s soul, penned or typed onto paper and then edited and edited some more.

Once a book is ready for publication, whether traditional or self-published, the author is exhausted and just wants to get the book out there.

Before you eagerly hit publish, here are 10 steps to 10x your book launch results.

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The Last Time I Saw My Friend

4/12/2018

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I buzzed Liz’s apartment. The phone went straight to answering machine.
That was odd. It had only been four hours since we’d arranged for me to pick her up for her appointment.

I dialed again. No answer.

In the last weeks she’d grown more exhausted by the day. The last few days she was too weak to even walk, so a neighbor lady in her building kindly lent her a wheelchair. The last few days, I was honored to bring her to multiple emergency appointments.

I checked my phone for a ‘sorry, I’m running late’ text. Maybe she couldn’t wait for me and went to the hospital with someone else.

No texts awaited.

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Forward>>

The Memoir to Read When You're Facing Down Chaos [A Review of "When God Doesn't Fix it" by Laura Story

Ted Dekker's Secret to a Powerful Point of View

Who Will Love Me For Me? (A Personal Letter About the Gift of Rejection)

When Fear Stalks You: Lessons from Bear Survival about How to Handle Fear

The Encouraged Leader

Feeling Invisible? Writing in Obscurity? You May Just Be Doing It Right!

Encouragement for the Daunted [And a Tip for Memoir Writing]

Book Launch Basics from Best Seller Tracy Krauss

10 Ways to 10x your Book Launch

The Last Time I Saw My Friend

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