A TRIBUTE TO BRAVE CHILDREN EVERYWHERE...

MIXING THE CHRISTIAN AND THE SECULAR

You may have noticed I cleaned up my blog this weekend. (It's amazing how much you can get done with only your left hand!) I cut out all the dead links, the blogs that no longer seem to be current, and threw together everything I like and find helpful. I hope you do too.

It caused a friend to ask me - a) aren't you going to turn off readers who aren't Christians?, and b) shouldn't your blog be one thing or the other?

Not being one to run from much of anything - for those of you how know me - I decided to address these questions, because they're good ones. If readers are going to keep up with my writing journey, and any great research sites I have to offer, they deserve to know these answers. I want people to keep checking in with me, and be assured I haven't developed a "split personality".

I am who I've always been - a Christian who's doing her best to live in a secular world. I'm a firm believer that we as Christians have become way too incestuous in only having Christian friends, attending "Christian" events, and going on so-called missionary trips to build clinics or put the roof on a church in Equador, or Chile, or some other worthwhile Third World country; or worse, taking "our youth" to another city to "study" the plight of the homeless or delinquent youbg people when we have plenty of that in our own backyard. (there's the subject of another post, right there!)

So, I hope I don't "turn off" readers who arern't Christian. Anyone who sees my Christian links (and I love the group Edgy Christian Fiction Writers) and doesn't want to click on them, doesn't have to but I hope they do. We can all learn a lot from each other as writers and fellow travelers in life. There're some Christian agents listed to the right, but you'll have to click on all the links to find them!

Because I don't choose to live my life "one way or the other", I don't see why my blog can't address both secular and Christian authors and subjects. I'm curious about life, politics, crime, sociology, ethics, book reviews, current affairs, and what's going on in "Christian fiction" as well as "secular fiction". I love standing up for the underdog, the Canadian military, and battered women and children and the homeless are special passions of mine.

I love all the authors I've linked to under "Favourites". I read a lot of secular fiction in the genres I love: thrillers, suspense, romantic suspense, romantic comedy (thank you, Toni, for introducing me to the incomparable Susan Elizabeth Phillips),and memoirs such as The Kit Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns.

I also love Robin Lee Hatcher, Francine Rivers, Robert Liparulo, Randy Alcorn, and Ted Dekker. To name just a few!

It's that simple. If we can't integrate all parts of our life, we're not doing our job as Christians. I used love to shock Christian audiences whenever I gave "talks" on street youth, and one of my favourite lines was that if Jesus came back today, He'd appear in a strip club before He'd ever walk in to a church. He didn't mind "mixing it up" with the secular world. Everyone He came in contact with learned from Him.

So, I say let's not worry about being one thing or the other. I'll keep posting great links and resources as I find them - for every author and friend to take advantage of. Please keep coming back if you like posts on "edgy" topics, "edgy" books and their authors, and mixing it up in the world. God bless!

LOOKING AHEAD...

I'm six weeks past my shoulder replacement, and can now type for short periods of time. My physiotherapist is thrilled with my progress in my mobility, although I still can't reach straight out to the front of me. If I don't hold my right arm up with my left hand, it just falls to my side. This is my worry - that I won't be able to strengthen those muscles the surgeon had to cut and reattach, and therefore won't be able to drive. However, we don't know that yet, so here's to the daily exercises!

I'm excited because the countdown to my critique partner's visit is only four days now. :) Robin Matheson still lives in my hometown of Barrie, Ontario. Since I moved away three years ago, we've never failed to email each other every day. She's going to be here for an entire week of brainstorming, plot outlining, and visiting. As we're both compulsive workaholics (and won't have a car, lol!) I'm looking forward to getting a book outlined for each of us.

I'm also excited because I have a new online critique partner, Nannette Chapman. So far, we're burning up the internet getting her edits ready for her requested resubmission to SAPPHIRE BLUE PUBLISHING. Although I can't write/type for very long at this point, I'm thrilled to be helping a fellow Kiss of Death writer prepare for her new career with this new epublisher.

My recovery is going much better than my first shoulder surgery. I'm enjoying the summer months off work, reading out in the backyard, and spending time with my kids and golden retriever. Things are looking up, and I'm thankful for the friends and family who've seen me/us through this long rehabilitation.

ACT TWO, a Novel in Perfect Pitch... by Kimberly Stuart

I'm busy recuperating and reading everything I can get my hands on. This book is a fabulous "beach read", or in my case, "backyard read", for the summer. It's laugh-out-loud funny, with just a light spiritual touch that shouldn't offend mainliners and will remind Christians to count their blessings.

Here's the back blurb:

"New Yorker Sadie Maddox is the toast of the classical-music world - and a bit of a diva. But lately her CD sales are sagging, not to mention parts of her anatomy. Maybe it's time for a change. So when her agent suggests a professorship at a small liberal-arts college, Sadie decides to give it a go. Besides, she needs the money.

But the college is in rural Iowa. Sadie's colleagues are intimidated, her students aren't impressed, and she has to live far too close to farm animals. When Sadie meets Mac, a veterinarian, she assumes they have nothing in common - he is, after all, a country-music fan - and she's counting the days until she moves back to New York. Yet, when Sadie is forced to spend time with Mac, she likes him. Her students really need her. And this quiet midwest community begins to grow on her.

But when the semester ends, Sadie packs up and decamps for the city that never sleeps...and finds she can't either. Will she find the courage and grace she needs to embrace her ACT TWO?

This is Stuarts' third book and she's refined her craft for romantic comedy. Sadie's a just-turned-forty, single career woman, and frankly, it was a relief to meet a heroine so well written and realistically portrayed. The premise may seem familiar, but Stuart's writing style, imagery, and character relationships bring it to life in a fresh, new way. Her romantic touch brings to mind Susan Elizabeth Phillips. I'm looking forward to Stuarts' next book!

Run and check out her website at KIMBERLY STUART and enter her contest to win an iPOD. All her books can be bought on AMAZON.COM.