The Gift of...Gifts

by Shannon Milholland, Social Media Director

"The pen is mightier than the sword."

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Each string of prose is beauty; each strike of the keyboard  music. When you exercise your gift of writing whether you're composing a tweet, blog post or a chapter of your novel, you give with your gift. Every word represents an opportunity to enhance the life of another.


This holiday season I want us to ask ourselves what keeps us from giving our gift?


insecurity


fear of rejection or failure


time constraints

Give the gift this year that is the most personal and meaningful - the gift of the pen. Write the acknowledgments for your non-fiction book and mail them to each person included. Compose a letter to your family with a paragraph detailing all the reasons you love each person. Address your gift tags with adjectives describing the recipient and let them guess on Christmas morning which present is for them based on the description.


Sometimes the best gift to give is the one you already have.

The Gift of Mystery

by Sandra Balzo

Buried in a box somewhere in my closet is an old photograph. It was taken after the gifts were opened on a long-ago Christmas morning, and I'm sitting in my father's overstuffed chair. The thing is so big – or I'm so small – that my feet can't dangle because my toes barely reach the edge of the cushion. A stuffed cocker spaniel is tucked under one of my arms, and my face is buried in my Christmas gift – a new book.

My dad was an avid photographer, but try as he might, each year my Christmas pictures were pretty much the same. My siblings' – inevitably blurry – were shot as they passed by on new bikes or roller skates. Me, I could always be found in that chair, reading. The family still-life.

Mystery novels topped my Christmas list, even then. Trixie Belden, Nancy Drew, Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple – I loved them all because I knew that, together, we would solve the crime and make the villain would pay. Order would be restored. All would be right with the world.

In fact, my favorite book of all time is a twist on mystery. It's Barbara Michaels' Ammie, Come Home, considered the best American supernatural mystery of the 20^th century.

The story involves Ruth Bennett, owner of an elegantly spooky Georgetown brownstone, and her college-age niece Sara. One night Sara starts acting crazy. Or… could she be possessed?

“Dripping with atmosphere,” and downright “chilling,” Ammie is at its core, a story of the unlikely alliance – Ruth, Sara’s scruffy boyfriend Bruce, and college professor Pat MacDougal – that forms to save the girl.

As an adult, I appreciate the artistry of the writing, but when I first read Ammie, all I knew was that it took me to a place where evil was punished and good rewarded – even after death. And despite the fact that most of the characters in the book weren’t related to each other – much less to me – they felt like family.

That was important to me.

You see, Ammie, Come Home came out in 1968. My father was no longer snapping photos, he was dying of lung cancer. I was fourteen.

I was angry, because life seemed so unfair.

I was scared, because I knew my dad would die, as he did twelve days before Christmas that year.

And I was ashamed, because my awful secret fear was that my mom would die, too, and leave me alone.

In short, I was ripe for a fictional world to disappear into and, particularly, for a book like Ammie, Come Home. I needed to believe there was life after death. That family could form where there was none. And, most of all, I needed to believe that there was justice. Somewhere. Somehow.

A couple of years ago, I wrote an essay on Ammie, Come Home for the book Muses: 100 Classics That Inspire Today's Mystery Writers. When I got my author copies, I slipped one into an envelope and, on a whim, sent it off to Ms. Michaels.

You know what? She sent ME a thank you note, saying she was delighted that Ammie is still remembered so fondly. She seemed gratified – even mystified – that her work should have had such a profound effect on me.

That it had been such a gift.

As writers, we can't know what kind of day our readers are having when they crack open our books or fire up their Kindles or Nooks. They might just as easily be on a split vinyl chair in a hospital waiting room, as on a treadmill at the gym or a queue for the train.

But what we do know is what our readers want. Not just for Christmas, but anytime.

They want to be transported and entertained. They want order restored, if only fictionally.

And it's in our power to give that to them.

Lucky us.

________________________

Sandra Balzo turned to mystery writing after twenty years in corporate public relations, event management and publicity. TRIPLE SHOT, her seventh Maggy Thorsen coffeehouse mystery was just released. Sandy's second series, Main Street Murders, debuted in April with RUNNING ON EMPTY. The books, set in the popular vacation destination of North Carolina's High Country, alternate with the Maggy Thorsen mysteries.

The Gift You Get When You Give

by Susan Reichert, Editor-in-Chief

There is just nothing more joyous than seeing a child’s face on Christmas morning. Their eyes are big as saucers as they look at all Santa left.

Do you remember that feeling standing in front of your Christmas tree looking at all the toys that Santa Claus brought? And oh, all the presents so brightly wrapped.

I hope this year we all remember to brighten the face of someone…perhaps a child by picking an angel on a tree or maybe you could brighten the heart of an elderly person in a nursing home who has no family.

We’ve all been told it is more blessed to give than to receive. I have never quite figured that out. You see when I give a present to someone I get such a warm and wonderful feeling seeing their face light up with joy. That is my present.

The Gift of Gab

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director

Like most of us, I’ll be attending a few Christmas parties this month, some because I want to, some because I’m expected to. (If you’re reading this and you happen to have invited me to a party, be assured that yours is on the “I want to” list!) 

On that subject, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention how much I enjoyed our recent Southern Writers Christmas celebration, graciously hosted by our own Shannon Milholland, who’s as capable a cook as she is a bodacious blogger. It was an evening of quality conversation, fine dining, and nobody brought fruitcake.

As in our case, engaging in lively conversation at a party is easy when you all know each other already as friends and/or coworkers. But what about those gatherings where the only person you really know is the host? That happens fairly often because the trouble with parties can be, they keep inviting all these people you don’t know!

We writers run the gamut from verbose literary intellectuals who can regale a cocktail party full of strangers, to reserved observers who, even with close friends, are listeners rather than talkers. While we all possess a knack for the written word, it may or may not translate into glib verbosity out in the field.

Some people happen to be born schmoozers, able to rise boldly to any social situation. I’ll mention my late friend Bad Dog again because he was a master at it. He could be right at home whether at a rowdy radio remote or visiting a group of sick kids at St Jude’s. His trick – if you can call it that, because he did it with sincerity – was making other people feel important. One way to do that is by asking them questions they enjoy answering. Get someone to talk about themselves and they will never be bored.

In her book How to Work a Room, one of Susan RoAne’s excellent recommendations is to find a stranger and introduce yourself, identifying your relationship to the host and inquiring of theirs. Determining areas of common ground usually leads to free-flowing conversation. Discover mutual interests and you’re off and running.

Engaging in a dialogue with a complete stranger can even lead to writing ideas. An interesting incident told to me by a former flight attendant became the basis for a scene in a novel I was working on at the time. Another conversation with a police officer afforded the opportunity to ask specific questions related to law enforcement for another project.

So at a party full of unfamiliar faces, we can stand off to the side of the busy fray nursing a cranberry punch, or pick someone who looks like they could also use someone to talk to. We may make a new friend, or meet a character in our next story.

May you have a great time at all your holiday gatherings this season. And if you’re going to be doing any cooking, I hope you’ll visit our special Southern Writers Holiday Recipes page and help yourself to some great recipes, including those of fellow food-loving authors Sandra Balzo, Alice J. Wisler, Marybeth Whalen, Lisa Wingate and Philip Levin. (Don’t let the word “recipes” scare you…they’re easy to make and too delish to miss!)

The Gift of a New Beginning

by Doyne Phillips, Managing Editor

My wife’s uncle was a minor league baseball umpire before retiring to our little town. There he would umpire for the local Little League teams on occasion. He was impressive in full uniform with pads, mask and a booming voice that could fill a stadium. I think most of us enjoyed a taste of the minor leagues at our little local games.

He would begin his games with a command, “Balls in, throw down.” Practice balls from the infield and outfield would be thrown to the dugouts. The pitcher would take his last warm up pitch to the catcher. The catcher would “throw down” to second base. Players would take the field. The game was about to begin.

No matter the season the teams had experienced up to this point, it is a new game. This is a chance for continued success or redemption. This is a new beginning.

With a new year on the horizon, we too will have a new beginning. Each year we wipe the slate clean and look to the future for a new and prosperous beginning. We have hope for success in the fruition of our dreams and hard work. We hope to see many great things accomplished in the New Year.

With this in mind I hope you will take some time to gather your thoughts, determine your current position and chart your future course. Determine where you are now, what you like about your current position, what you would change about your current position. From that point you must determine who makes the decision to change. Most likely it will be up to you. Then you must find a solution or plan and chart your course for the future. Whether it is daily, monthly, yearly or whenever you may need it; give yourself the gift of a new beginning!

The Gift of Great Food

by Shannon Milholland, Social Media Director

During this season of endless holiday feasts have you ever considered the fastest way to your readers hearts may be through their stomachs. Many writers have found sharing the gift of a recipe in an article or at the end of a novel adds a personal touch that calls the reader's heart.

This Christmas, we wanted to give some of our favorite recipes to you. Whether you're heading out to your company party or setting the table for your family, we hope are favorite culinary delights make your season a bit brighter this year. Check them out here.

So come gather around the table and bon appetit, y'all!

The Gift of Humor

by Jenny B. Jones

Humor makes the world go round. It is the sugar in my tea and the spice on my fajitas. It’s also why I write books— to make someone laugh, to entertain, to encourage and provide an escape.

What I love about humor is that it can sweeten almost any story or work of nonfiction, whether it’s just a brief moment or the voice of the entire piece. Let’s talk about some ways you can incorporate a few laughs, a few smile-inducing moments in your work.  

1.  Kids, Old folks, and Minor Characters

The joy of having an elderly character or a young character is that they have free reign to say and do whatever they want. Exhibit A:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g9p-Y_nBdc

Look at the success and beloved legacy of Golden Girls. Use grandma or the four year old to be the voice of reason, to be your blunt characters, and the ones who have no filter. Usually they’re just vocalizing what we polite ones are thinking anyway.

Look for other characters who can be your Steve Martin. While my protagonists always have a sense of humor (or are supposed to), the heavier comedy usually comes from my minor characters, such as a nutty best friend or a socially inept boss. (Think Michael Scott, The Office) This keeps your main character (the one you want your reader to relate to) more believable while letting other characters up the comedic stakes.

2.  Contrasts

When you have contrasts in your book, you have built-in humor. How can you twist your story, your setting, your character to provide the unexpected? One of Warren Buffett’s best friends is a woman, Sharon Osberg. The two have been bridge partners and confidants for over twenty years. I find that unexpected, endearing, and humorous. It’s not the first image that comes to mind when I think of Buffet, but man, is there a story there or what?

3.  Dialogue

Dialogue is one of the easiest and most effective sources for humor because you can use just a little or a lot. For me, dialogue is the driving force of the humor in my books, so I rely on witty conversation a lot. (Again, my use of the term witty up for judgment, but wit is the intention.) I want the comedic dialogue to be shorter; a funny piece of conversation is rarely a long one. And I want it to move quickly. In my romance Save the Date, social worker Lucy and ex-quarterback Alex are total opposites, share a mutual dislike, and find themselves in a fake engagement. If I didn’t capitalize on that to create some sparring, humor-filled conversations, then I haven’t done my job.

Dialogue can also be effective for those writing more serious tomes. Sometimes a moment is so dark or the reader has been held under for so long, a brief flash of subtle humor or irony would give them some relief.

Laughter is one of the best sounds ever created. (Right after that noise made by popping the tab on a Diet Coke.) Your readers are surrounded by a bad economy, global unrest, pressure at work, and stress at home. If you’ve been called to write a little comedy, you have the opportunity to provide your reader with moments of escape, a break from the realities of life. There’s nothing like getting reader email that says “You made me laugh on a tough day” or even a simple “You made me smile.”

Humor isn’t just a style.

It’s a gift to your reader.

____________________________________

Jenny B. Jones is the four-time Carol Award winning author of books for women such as Save the Date and the newly released companion YA There You’ll Find Me. None of these books have been optioned for stage, screen, or Vegas, but Jenny continues to sit patiently by the phone waiting for that lucky call from Spielberg or Donnie Osmond. Having little free time, Jenny believes in spending her spare hours in meaningful, intellectual pursuits such as watching E!, binge Twittering, and writing her name in the dust on her furniture. You can find her at www.jennybjones.com

The Gift of Time

by Susan Reichert, Editor-in-Chief

If you have been on the receiving side of giving, you know the wonderful feeling that accompanies the gift.

During this season, we seem to be more giving of ourselves than the rest of the year. We somehow come up with presents for those we love but I can’t help but wonder if perhaps we could make a special effort to help those not just less fortunate, but those who are working to become authors. 

Is there someone you met at a conference that wanted to talk to you about how you got to where you are? Maybe because of your schedule you didn’t have the time to answer their questions and spend time with them. Hopefully, if you are lucky, they gave you their name and email. If they did, could you now find the time in your schedule to reach out to them, answer their questions and even mentor them?

There is no better feeling on earth than when we help someone and do so with our time. That is really the most precious gift we have to offer. Money you can make, time you can’t; it is already set.

Tools of the Tirade: The Gift of a Timeout

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director

If he could hear today’s talk radio, I think Ernest Hemingway would be rolling in his grave. As the one who said, “When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen,” he would not be one to applaud the discourtesy often shown by the callers and, very often, by the hosts themselves.

Yet I must admit I listen to talk radio on a regular basis, because—being a bit of an editorial-page junkie—I’m intrigued by what’s on people’s minds. Even when I disagree with the views expressed, I respect those who feel strongly enough to vocalize their opinion and I’m grateful for the advent of talk radio so I can eavesdrop from the comfort of my car.

It only becomes frustrating when neither side listens to the other and the dialogue devolves into a total failure to communicate. What could have been a meeting of the minds ends with insults, and neither side comes out looking good.

And yet I keep listening, as do millions of others. Why? Because conflict is interesting.

Daytime TV knows this very well, and capitalizes on the audience’s appetite for arguments. You’ll find no deficiency of disharmony on courtroom shows, nor shortness of shouting matches on tabloid TV. Reality shows in general can’t stop themselves from creating fake complications as the cameras roll on what we’re supposed to believe is real life, because real life apparently isn’t all that riveting.

I personally am not a fan of any of these TV shows because of all the manufactured drama, which I find very manipulative and annoying. Somehow an authentic disagreement between people on the radio is more compelling to me than watching a Real Atlanta Housewife fight with her daughter because a bracelet was borrowed without asking.

Somewhere between the spontaneity of talk radio and the manipulation of reality TV is the very weird hybrid of the internet known as the comment section of news articles. While some people’s responses to every subject under the sun can be genuinely thought-provoking, a distressing number represent the most inane, grammatically-challenged drivel around. The anonymity of the internet brings out the worst in some people, who seemingly live to agitate. Reading their mini-tirades makes one wonder where all their aggression comes from. Perhaps they watched too much reality TV.

But, as we’ve established, conflict is interesting, so we read it, watch it, listen to it and try to inject the right amount into the stories we write. 

Much like the ebb and flow of a good plot, however, it can’t all be nonstop conflict. We need to take a timeout. That’s when a little cooperation is a welcome relief, and it can even accomplish some good. One of the most inspiring examples of positive collaboration is chronicled by Doyne Phillips in the current holiday issue of Southern Writers Magazine. Doyne’s inspiring feature on Charitable Writing tells how a writers’ group in West Tennessee published their first book of short stories and has been donating the proceeds to the Literacy Council. In CCWriters Shorts, the stories themselves are presented according to their Flesch-Kincaid readability score, another nod to the very people the Council helps learn to read.

When you come right down to it, we can eavesdrop on the lives of others or we can make a difference in people’s lives. During this holiday season, let’s consider the impact good writing can have, and how we might use our gift in ways that benefit others. If nothing immediately comes to mind, don’t worry; an idea will eventually present itself. We just have to listen for it.

The Gift of Counting the Cost

by Doyne Phillips, Managing Editor

With Black Friday behind us, I was thinking about some of the reasons I do not participate. I weighed the cost of rising early after a great Thanksgiving Day feast, fighting the crowds and chancing the item will not be sold out when I got there, against the savings on the item. The savings never seemed to win out.

I was not willing to pay the cost. This is something we as writers have in front of us as well. Are we willing to pay the cost to have a successful book? I guess the first question would be what is the cost.

Let’s look at the cost of an all-time bestseller. In 1978 Dr. M. Scott Peck wrote The Road Less Traveled. He saw his dream begin with a $5,000 advance. Simon and Schuster published 5,000 copies for $7,500. In order to complete his dream of a best seller he began the lecture circuit and a series of interviews which turned out to be over 1,000 interviews the first year. He also personally sought out reviews in key publications. For the next twelve years he continued at the pace of at least one interview per day. The results were 6 years later in 1984 he had a New York Times Best-Seller which remained on the list for 540 weeks. It sold over 10 million copies. Would The Road Less Traveled have sold as well without the author’s hard work? We may never know but I would think not.

Things have changed since 1978. The most notable developments being social media, eBooks and all things digital. What hasn’t changed is the hard work necessary to get the results. We think nothing of movie stars hawking their wares on talk shows and at film festivals. Writers must do the same. Steven King said, “Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.”  Once you have written that great American novel, be ready to really get to work. 

This holiday season, why not give yourself a gift - the gift of counting the cost? It will be worth every minute of your time and once you hit that best-seller list you will realize you'll be glad you did.

The Gift of a Reader

by Shannon Milholland, Social Media Director

Have you ever wished for more readers? It seems everywhere we turn someone is telling us to look at numbers, numbers, numbers...and they don't mean small ones. In the pursuit of more Twitter followers and additional Facebook fans, the needs of the individual reader can get lost.

Why not use this holiday season to focus your mind and heart on the one?

One reader can mean one life influenced.

One reader can change the future.

One reader is an unfathomable gift.

Thank you, dear friends, for being the one. May this December bring you everything your heart desires and more.

The Gift of a Writing Partner

by Kelli Zaniel

What I love about God is how He chooses to use picked-over-people like us. We’re all clearance rack material…that is until God plucks us from beneath the rags to show the world just how capable He is. God saw the potential in Moses who stuttered; Gideon who doubted; and Peter who bragged. God saw something in them no one else saw, and He used their lives for an eternal purpose.  

God sees great potential in us too.

He must have been twirling clearance racks and picking through piles before choosing this mama for writing. A few years ago, my laundry-folding, potato-peeling days were interrupted by the call of my heart to write…for moms. At this time in my life, untangled hair and clean hands makes me happy, how could I do this? I mean, some days I feel like Scarlett O’Hara after the burning of Atlanta. I guess the difference is she shakes her fist while digging her heel into scorched earth…I dig my slipper into smelly laundry. Fiddle-dee-dee! 

In a home a few miles away, my friend Heidi attempts to tame her own wild kingdom. She has a pile of dirty dishes in the sink and globs of Dermalogica on the floor. In the midst of her mess, she too feels a tug towards the pen.

The lives of two crazed mamas collide with big dreams. Just like Moses and Peter… we have issues. But since God recruits people with issues, we’re perfect for the job!

One moment we’re knee deep in bread flour and then next we’re doing more than we ever dreamed possible. God alone breathes new energy into wrung out women like us. He empties himself into the pores of our soul. He leads us on adventures we never imagined ourselves taking.

Balancing writing and family is hard.

Our partnership allows us the freedom of expression without stealing time away from our families. After all, they are our first God-given assignment. Heidi strings along words into a blog one week, and I the next. This way we’re able to balance our priorities. For us, it works.

Heidi and I are humbled that two unqualified, strung-out-mamas can work together to do more together than we ever could apart.

Clearance rack material yields priceless miracle-designed-moments. They transform us from the inside out and we’re never the same. Heidi and I know, because that’s how Mothers on Mission began.

________________________________________

Kelli is co-founder of Mothers on Mission. Her Southern heart was born in Georgia but now makes its home in Nevada along with her husband and three daughters. She is a popular blogger who loves to challenge and inspire women, especially moms. 

Visit with her on Facebook or her blog.