Fractured Memory – WordServe Water Cooler

Exciting things have been happening at WordServe Literary this month!

On the final post of each month you’ll find a list of Water Cooler contributors’ recently released books along with a recap of WordServe client news.

New Releases

Julie Cantrell re-released Into the Free and When Mountains Move with Thomas Nelson. Into the Free, now a New York Times Bestseller, follows the story of Millie Reynolds in Depression-era Mississippi as she tries to break her family’s longstanding cycle of madness and abuse. When Mountains Move takes up the story as Millie prepares to get married and move to the wilds of Colorado–only to find she can’t truly leave her old past behind.

Rebecca DeMarino published To Follow Her Heart, the concluding volume of her Southold Chronicles Series, which plunges readers into a 17th-century world of tall ships, daring journeys, and yearning hearts.

Cheri Fuller released Mothering by Heart with Barbour. Through engaging short stories, inspirational reflections, Scripture, creative ideas, and thought-provoking questions, this short book encourages mothers to relax, embrace their children’s individuality, and rely on God for the wisdom they need.

Greg Johnson, along with many Water Cooler contributors, released Excelling at the Craft of Writing: 101 Ideas to Move Your Prose to the Next Level with FaithHappenings Publishers. The easy-to-read, engaging essays cover a range of topics, from organizing and outlining your work to creating powerful characters and dialogue to fine-tuning your language, style, and voice. The perfect place to start for any writer hoping to reinvigorate their writing!

Sarah Parshall Perry released Mommy Needs a Raise with Revell. Women know that raising children will be different from climbing the corporate ladder. But nothing can truly prepare them for the mind-muddling world of motherhood. With her signature wit, lawyer-turned-full-time-mommy Sarah Parshall Perry invites mothers to join her as she gives up one thing to get something better–and ends up finding out what she’s worth along the way.

Jordyn Redwood released Fractured Memory with Love Inspired Suspense. United States marshal Eli Cayne saved Julia Galloway’s life once…and he’s prepared to do it again. But his task would be easier if she could remember him—or the murderer who almost put her in an early grave and seems to be hunting her once more. Fractured Memory keeps readers on the edge of their seats as the two work together to confront Julia’s past—and the feelings growing between them.

Mike Yorkey released Playing with Purpose: Tackling the Truth with Barbour Books. Filled with inspirational readings that draw spiritual points from players and coaches, important games throughout football history, and teams spanning the NFL, college, and high school, this book will challenge and inspire you to draw wisdom from both the game and God’s Word.

New Contracts

Carole Avriett signed with Regnery Publishing for her new book, The Boys from Coffin Corner. Releasing in early 2018, it will tell the true story of a WWII B-17 crew shot down over German-occupied France and the unlikely survival of all ten men against incredible odds.

Jan Drexler signed a 3-book deal with Love Inspired for a series of Amish novels, The Prodigal’s Brother, His Chosen Family, and His True Path, for publication in 2017 and 2018.

Marjorie Jackson signed with Barbour for her novella Devoted, for publication in 2017.

Jordyn Redwood signed a two-book deal with Love Inspired Suspense for The Doctor’s Redemption and The Doctor’s Spy, due to be released in 2017 and 2018 respectively.

Christopher and Michael Ross signed with Harvest House for Finding Faith in a Minecrafty World, a devotional that guides young readers through the fantastic landscapes of Minecraft, revealing clues for a stronger faith and much more fun in the real world.

New Clients

Carey Lewis signed with WordServe this month. Welcome!

What We’re Celebrating

Cristóbal Krusen’s film, Sabina K., received a Special Jury Mention at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival!

You hear a lot on the writing journey that it’s filled with highs and lows—probably more so in publishing because it’s rapidly changing and I personally wouldn’t consider any part of the industry stable or predictable.

valley-of-fire-1390258_1920 The problem is the valley is hard. What exactly do you do? Do you give up writing? How do you readjust to keep your writing career moving forward when seemingly no one wants the words you’re putting on the page?

My writing valley (really—the deep dark hole of despair) started after my first trilogy was published. I worked really hard marketing those books, had great reviews, and two out of three of the books were each nominated for multiple awards. I was even told by my publisher that I was (at one point) their second-bestselling fiction author.

I thought there was no way my next proposal wouldn’t be picked up—by somebody. Well, it wasn’t and to be honest it put me in a psychological funk. I was pretty convinced that my envisioned bestselling author status dreams were rapidly crumbling in front of my eyes.

I’ve come through my first major valley (I’m sure one of many to come) and I thought I’d share what I did to survive it without throwing my writing career in the trash and lighting it on fire.

Grieve. It’s okay to be sad about it. The writing life is unpredictable—even that’s a pretty generous understatement. Your writing life didn’t go as planned and it’s hard to readjust dreams sometime—but do readjust.
Help other authors. Help them promote their books. Read books for endorsement. Review novels. Keep your name in the reader’s mind by having your name on their books.
Stay active on social media. Even if you’re not publishing, keep engaging with your readers and other authors.
Keep writing and learning the writing craft. Above all else—don’t stop writing. Journal. Blog. Write a new book proposal. Use this time to brush up on the areas of your writing that aren’t strong. Read those numerous writing craft books that have been piling up beside your bed (come on, I know you have them!) Learn those pesky computer things you’ve been putting off. Scrivner. Newsletter distribution sites. Take an on-line writing course. Even James Patterson has one now that’s very reasonably priced.
Write outside your genre. During my valley, an editor from Guideposts reached out to me and asked me to audition for a cozy mystery series they were putting together. Hmm. Cozy mystery? I write thrillers. Straight up thrillers. I honestly didn’t think I could write gentle enough for a cozy mystery, but what else was I really doing? So I tried it. My first submission, well, you could probably predict the feedback I received. Too dark. The heroine’s not cheery enough. By the way, this surprised no one that knew me. But I resubmitted—and they loved it! And then the series didn’t move forward. I auditioned for a different Guideposts series and washed out again. Maybe cozy mystery wasn’t for me, but it did prove I could write something other than thrillers and I built bridges to editors at Guideposts even if they didn’t take me on for those projects.
Listen to God’s nudgings. Looking back with perfect vision, I felt that God used the Guideposts experience to get me to write outside my comfort zone. During this process, I started thinking about a contest called Blurb to Book that Love Inspired was hosting. Never did I imagine I would write for them. I didn’t think I was a good fit, but I found myself obsessing about this contest to the point where I couldn’t sleep. So I entered, and I ended up winning a contract for Fractured Memory, my novel releasing this month from Love Inspired Suspense. Suddenly, I was clawing my way out of that dark writing well.
Go indie. In this writing age, there is literally no reason to not have content out for readers. Don’t quit your day job and scrap and save every penny you can to hire a good editor, proofreader, and book cover designer. I do say this with some caution—be sure you put out a good book! Don’t sabotage yourself into another pit.

Overall, take the valley as a place that can provide rest, rejuvenation, and growth. Perhaps you will need to go back to a paying job or postpone the plans that you had of quitting or reducing your hours. Just know that the valley is survivable and it doesn’t have to mean the demise of your writing career.

Tell me, how have you survived low points in your writing career?