I’m the guest blogger again for the Collaborative Story over at Marcher Lord Press. All of us authors have been contributing a chapter a week and this week it’s my turn. The story is starting to wrap, so head on over, you don’t want to miss out!
But Who Would Be Dumb Enough To Even Try It?
Many of us Christian writers have heard the term “write for an audience of One.” Our first audience is God. When God is our audience, we seek only to please Him, and to let Him do what He wants with our writing.
Recently, it occurred to me that the same idea applies to book marketing. I am not marketing myself. I am not marketing my book.
I am marketing God.
When I interact with a reviewer, I am connecting with someone who may or may not know God. Through my emails, phone calls, or letters with reviewers, I am displaying God to them, even if I never mention His name.
When I do an interview, the words I write or say go out to a group of people I will probably never meet. But through an interview I have an opportunity to share my life, my passions, and my writing. And through that, whether overtly or covertly, I share God.
And when I am invited to do a blog post, I am sharing God, even if the topic I write about is writing. This is because people are not just reading about how to write a scene, or how the theme of forgiveness is woven into my story. They are also reading me. And when they read me, they are reading God.
When I realized this, marketing took on a whole new perspective. If I am marketing myself or my book to drive up sales, that will only last temporarily. Sure, I might reap the benefit of more money or a higher rating on Amazon. But it will disappear, whether the next day, week, month, or year.
But when I view each thing I do as a chance to share God with this world, then marketing takes on an eternal value. Imagine that. Marketing as a way to be a light in the world :).
This is the passion and goal behind my marketing: to reach as many people as I can. I hope that by my words and actions, the people I interact with will see someone who is different. And that will point them to God, the one I really want people to embrace.
Something light and fluffy for my post today. I had my first book signing this week at Norm’s Coffeehouse and wanted to share some pictures. Enjoy 🙂
There once was a little deformed creature that lived inside my heart. I rarely saw him; he preferred to live in a tiny out-of-the way hole inside my chest. He was smaller than his other brothers and therefore was usually able to perform his wicked deeds below my radar.
His name was Greed.
He seemed harmless enough. He never bit my hand and he actually made me feel secure. He told me if I had money in my savings account, then I could face anything life threw at me. He whispered how nice that new shirt would feel or how cool I would be with that cell phone over there. When money issues were brought up at church, he would remind me that I had responsibilities first and needed to pay the bills at home. Besides, God doesn’t need my money? Right?
I began to realize just how dangerous he was when I found my heart attaching to the things around me. My house, my car, the new dishware. He had thrown out ropes from my heart and wrapped them around the objects around me… and I never knew. Until those things were taken away.
And then I felt the pain of Greed.
Have you ever felt that? The roaring inside your heart when something you like is taken away or destroyed? The car gets scratched, the kids draw all over the walls, the dog throws up on the couch. My heartstrings were attached to the things of this world. And it was time for God to get out the scissors.
Snip. Snip. There went the house. Snip. There went the savings account. Snip. Snip. There went the TV, the furniture, the dishware. God took everything away (or put it in a storage shed) when my husband was unemployed. I was stripped down to nothing but the clothes I had and my computer (God didn’t take that away lol). But I have learned a huge lesson during those times God has used the scissors:
Greed lied to me. And Greed hurt me.
Nice salaries, large bank accounts, a hefty retirement (or even being debt free) is not a security in life. God is.
A beautiful home, nice cars, the latest cell phone, designer clothes only bring temporary pleasure. But God brings a fullness to life that nothing in this world can give.
But I don’t have any of those things, you might think. Yeah, actually, neither did I. But you don’t need things in order for Greed to move in and start attaching your heart to this world. You just need to want them, hold them tightly when you finally do, and roar when someone or something takes them away.
The poorest person in the world can still have Greed living in their heart. And the richest person can be free of the bondage of Greed. Why? Greed has nothing to do with possessions or money, it has to do with the heart (where Greed likes to live).
So how do you kick Greed out of its hidey-hole?
Well, you could get rid of everything you have. I wonder if Jesus saw a major infestation of Greed when the rich young man ran up to him and asked how he could inherit eternal life (Mark 10:17-27). Greed may be small, but the ropes it uses to tie us to the world can be iron solid. I love how Mark says, “Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him”. God doesn’t want Greed to stay in our hearts. In fact, Greed can keep us from experiencing the true fullness God wants to give us. Mark ends with saying, “At this, the man’s face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.”
Getting rid of everything may be a bit farfetched, but here a couple more doable ideas:
1) Ask God to reveal Greed. Like I said, he’s small and seems relatively harmless. So we need God to shine the light on his hole and expose him for what he really is.
2) Give away stuff. There is nothing like thinking about giving away something to get Greed to come tearing out of his hole and shouting why you should keep it.
3) Tithe. Yep, tithe. I have come to believe that tithing is like taking a pill to keep the Greed away. You give to God and His church every week with joy and Greed just can’t stand that. Why? Because I believe giving then trickles into the rest of your life. You start giving stuff away. You give money to other things. And the ropes Greed was using to attach you to this world strain under that weight until they snap and you find yourself free.
And lastly, think about a big fire. When Greed comes knocking on my door, I imagine everything burning up (ok, yeah, there is a bit of a pyro in me). But the truth is, everything is going to burn in the end. And we can’t take the stuff of this world with us when we die. So then why let Greed have his way and tie me to things that are not going to last? I’d rather have the freedom God gives and His fullness and pleasure. So snip away God, snip away. And Greed be gone!
(*Originally posted August 2010).
Here is a quote I came across a couple months ago: Faith is not believing God can, but that God will!
But what if He doesn’t?
I couldn’t help but look at those words and ask what about the people who have lost loved ones? Or parents who prayed and prayed for their child to live, but their child died anyway? Or the man who lost his job and eventually his home?
Did they not have enough faith? Did they not pray enough? Or is faith something more?
Last year I found my faith stretching beyond anything I had ever known. For the first time in my life, I believed God could do anything, not just with my head, but with my heart. That faith carried me through some of the darkest moments of my life… until nothing happened.
God didn’t come through.
I couldn’t believe it. It was the biggest letdown ever. I had prayed, prostrated myself before God, and thought for sure that God was behind us. But He didn’t show up.
I felt alone and devastated. Was my little kernel of faith just not big enough? Mentally and emotionally I felt like I was being sucked down into a vortex of darkness. Could I trust God anymore? And what is faith really?
It was the story of three men that made me start to think there is more to faith than just believing God will do something. The men’s names were Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Most people know them by Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They were three young men taken captive by King Nebuchadnezzar and sent off to Babylon where they served him.
In Daniel chapter 3, Nebuchadnezzar creates a statue of gold and commands his people to bow and worship it when the music starts to play. The music plays, and everyone bows… except for those 3 men.
They are brought before Nebuchadnezzar. He tells them he will give them a second chance. But if they fail to obey and bow down, he will throw them into the blazing furnace. “And then what god will be able to rescue you from my power?” (Daniel 3:15)
Here is their response: ”O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty.
But even if He doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.” (Daniel 3:16-18).
Did you catch that? These men knew God could save them. They had faith. But their faith wasn’t based on what God would do; it was based on God Himself. That is why they could say even if He doesn’t. Even if God did not save them, they would still follow Him and not bow down. They completely put their faith in God to do whatever God was going to do, even if God’s plan did not include saving them.
Wow.
Do I put my faith only in what God is going to do? Or simply in God Himself? Do I trust God so much that I place myself in His Hands and know that no matter how dark the outcome, He has a reason for it?
That is a different kind of faith than the quote up above. A faith that has allowed Christians in the past to face torture and death. One that allows me now to see beyond my current circumstances. A faith in God alone, not in just the outcome we want from Him.
Readers have told me they love the sea people of Avonai from my book, Daughter of Light. For those of you who have not read it yet, they are a race of people who live along the eastern coast of the continent and are so connected to the sea that they can feel the sea inside their veins and their eyes change to match the color of the waters.
One of my main characters, Captain Lore, is from this race (from his mother’s side). His connection to the sea creates a unique problem for him. Most of his people grow up near the sea and build up a tolerance to the sea’s moods. But Lore grew up in the White City, far from the sea, and so when he goes near the ocean, his seablood can make it hard for him to focus, or worse, during a storm, can physically hurt him.
So where did I come up with this idea for a race of people who are connected to the sea?
It started with my own experience with the ocean. As a child, my only memories of the Pacific were visits to the beach in California. I remembered how dirty the beach was, how hot, and, in my own opinion, how ugly. I did not like the ocean.
It wasn’t until shortly after I was married that my husband took me to visit one of his favorite places: Whidbey Island in Washington State. I stood on that rocky shore, with the wind blowing and gray clouds overhead, crabs crawling over seaweed, colorful starfish along the cliffs and white gulls crying above me that I fell in love with the sea. That moment took a hold of my soul.
Later, I remembered this quote from Legolas (from Lord of the Rings) when he first saw the ocean: “…then I stood still, forgetting war in Middle-Earth; for their wailing voices spoke to me of the sea! The sea! Alas! I have not yet beheld it, but deep in the hearts of all my kindred lies the sea-loving, which it is perilous to stir.”
I was blessed later to live on the Oregon coast. I watched how the ocean would change. Calm one day, furious 
the next. And all the beautiful colors it would turn: blue-green, a deep gray, soft blue. That’s when I came up with the idea to have a race of people connected to the sea. And have their eyes change to match those beautiful colors.
I was also told early on in my manuscript that Lore was too good. I realized that by having him part of this race of people, but not growing up near the sea, would create a part of Lore that he could not control (and Lore doesn’t like to be out of control). It is one of his flaws (another one to come in Son of Truth). Having flaws made Lore more human.
So that is how I came up with the idea to have people connected to the sea.
I had the privilege of visiting my first book club as the guest author. The members were incredibly friendly and welcoming. They also had some great questions. Thank you ladies!
Forgiving can be a difficult and painful process. But it heals the soul in the end. Here is my post on Forgiveness at oneanotherliving.com.
Hey! Today I am a guest blogger at Marcher Lord Press as one of their collaborative story writers. The overall story is a fantasy about 5 companions who are dumb…er…brave enough to embark on an adventure no one else in their right mind would do :). Enjoy!
But Who Would Be Dumb Enough To Even Try It?
Butterscotch and Vanilla. No, they’re not flavors, they are the names of my two guinea pigs. Vanilla, the white one, is very vocal. He squeals whenever the refrigerator opens because he thinks I am going to get him carrots. He also loves to be petted and purrs loudly whenever I do so.
Butterscotch, on the other hand, is a very quiet pig. He looks around with inquisitive pink eyes and never lets his guard down. I can count on one hand how many times he has purred for me (and they were very quiet purrs).
As I petted them one day, I realized something: how such two small creatures had such different personalities. And it made me think of God. God could have made the whole world with only a few varieties of animals and we would have never known. But no, He created a vast amount of life, each unique.
Then I thought about how God could have given each animal a bland personality. You know, all dogs the same, all horses the same, all mice the same. But instead, He infused each animal with his or her own personality and quirks. He placed his fingertip on each animal and left it unique and special, all for His glory.
I stopped petting Butterscotch and Vanilla. Butterscotch looked at me while Vanilla tried to position his body under my hand again. I looked at them and felt such awe at a God who is so connected with His creation. Even the smallest detail never escapes His eye.
Amazing how God uses two little guinea pigs to reveal Himself to me 
.
*Originally posted July 2, 2010
Morgan L. Busse 