Introvert Personality Test

For all you introverts out there, here is some hope. Christian author Karen Hancock has a great post with links to introvert personality tests and networking for introverts. The publishing industry can be difficult to break into if you prefer to be alone, if you feel weird about telling strangers about your work. But being introverted is not wrong, just different and once you know you aren't alone and you are normal use can use this gift to change your world.


Click here to read this post and to find out if you are a true introvert.

Shop Talk with Christina A.--The Hook

By: Christina Adams


Bang!

It could've been the sound of a door slamming, but as I catapaulted over the wooden fence of Mr. Woodard's farm I knew it was a gun.


When you are writing a story or non-fiction piece, that first line is so important. Depending on the genre you are writing, the tone and theme of your piece, and even your own personality, all come into play for those first few words. (After all, you are the first one who has to like what you are writing, right?) You want to hook the reader, make them care and give them only enough information to help them understand what is happening, not too much or eyes could start to glaze over and lists of to-do's start to muddle the attention. But how do you choose your hook?

Often when I have a story idea I come up with the climax first, next who the main characters should be and then I decide where these characters would need to start to make the climax intense. However, knowing where I want to start the story and knowing the right words to make that happen aren't always the same thing. Some of my stories have had their beginnings rewritten several times, but the key is to not let future rewrites keep you from writing that first one. The blank page can be scary, a monster waiting for the writer to slay, although like a war-scarred knight, the more battles you have fought and won the more second nature your fighting will become.

Once the first line is written and the whole story is finished, it is good to go back to that first line. I have found that after I have experienced the rest of the story I have a better idea of what the story is about, what is important and what I really want to convey to the reader. I want the first line to taste like the rest of the book with a dab of the theme in the words I choose. Is the story dark? I drag my words through the night. Is the story heartwarming? I gather words that are soft and open their arms. But no matter what kinds of story it is I always hide a question, if possible more than one, that will draw the reader in.

This is the way I have discovered works for me. What have you found that works for you? Do you start with intrigue, shock, mood, emotion? What kind of openings do you love to read? Tell me about it and let's talk shop.

Fiction Contest

Howard Frank Mosher Short Fiction Prize

An annual contest for short fiction. A chance for your fiction to be read by Hunger Mountain editors and guest judges.

One first place winner receives $1000 and publication!
Two honorable mentions receive $100 each.
$20 entry fee
Submit one piece of fiction, not to exceed 10,000 words
The postmark deadline is June 30.

Read complete guidelines at http://www.hungermtn.org/short-fiction-prize/

Popes & Bankers, A Cultural History of Credit & Debt, From Aristotle to AIG

Amidst The Wreckage of FINANCIAL RUIN, People Are Left Puzzling About HOW IT HAPPENED. Where Did All The PROBLEMS BEGIN? For the answer, Jack Cashill, a journalist as shrewd as he is seasoned, looks past the headlines and deep into pages of history and comes back with the goods. From Plato to payday loans, from Aristotle to AIG, from Shakespeare to the Salomon Brothers, from the Medici to Bernie Madoff - in Popes and Bankers Jack Cashill unfurls a fascinating story of credit and debt, usury and "the sordid love of gain. With a dizzying cast of characters, including church officials, gutter loan sharks, and even the Knights Templar, Cashill traces the creative tension between "pious restraint" and "economic ambition" through the annals of human history and illuminates both the dark corners of our past and the dusty corners of our billfolds. (taken from the back cover)

Journalist Jack Cashill creates a highly readable and timely book about the current financial crisis. That he does so in an engaging manner is to his credit. His approach is unique and the writing insightful. He chronicles our economic woes by “tracing the history of credit and debt, and usury (as lending at interest was widely called until at least AD 1800). Usury is a word that is used frequently by the author as he explores the events that brought us to this moment....

The Review
The Bible it seems is quite clear about lending money to neighbors and loved ones: “if thou lend money to any of my people that is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him usury (Exodus 22:25). Strangers however, are fair game … “Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury… (Deuteronomy 23:19-20). The Hebrew word for usury is neshek and by the 15th century Gentiles were borrowing money and paying neshek to their Jewish brothers.

While the Old Testament has a lot to say about the subject, Jesus Christ it turns out had little to say beyond the parable of the talents and the pounds. Oh, and the time Jesus threw the money changers out of the temple. But we really don’t know how Jesus, the son of small business owner felt about making an earthly profit now and again. Instead, Jesus preached about a different type of ROI for those who accepted his offer … the promise of a heavenly reward.

The practice of usury however, continued to be a hot topic prompting Pope Innocent II to define usury as “detestable and disgraceful rapacity condemned by human and divine law alike.” A mere thirty years later Pope Alexander III “expanded the definition of usury to include any sale on credit in which the accumulative price was higher than the cash price.” Later he would argue “that usurers should not only be excommunicated but also be denied a Christian burial.”

Enter the knights … The Knights Templar “a unique monastic order” a.k.a. “warrior monks” who were created by church and secular leaders when 300 cheerful Christians were killed by a swarm of Saracens. The monks lived by the Rule, (“silent meals, coarse clothing, daily prayers, and perpetual celibacy”) while serving the church. They would also “create the first great international banking enterprise.”

These “fighting monks” had the “equivalent of branch offices stretching from one end of the Mediterranean to the other. They also had major complexes in Paris and London, cities in which decisions about war and peace were often made. Even more usefully, the Templars interacted with kings and popes, and they did so precisely when those leaders needed money, namely, on the way to the battlefield.” The Knights Templar, whose reputation preceded them, “did not need to hire security to protect their money transfers” which was also useful.

In their spare time, the Knights “raised taxes for the king, paid bills, minted money, collected tariffs, chased down deadbeats, provisioned the army, supported diplomatic missions, and advanced loans to the kings’ friends and relatives – even Grandma, literally.” They also charged interest. Apparently, a practice now sanctioned by the church. Their demise forty years later had nothing to do with usury, but everything to do with scandal, power, timing, money and debt.

Today, despite the best efforts of government, church and man the need to finance the good life has nearly brought America to its knees once again. Standing in front of the 1933 inaugural crowd FRD railed against the “self-seekers” who proposed “the lending of more money” as a solution to their and the nation’s problems. “To drive the point home about the evils of such wanton usury, he continued with an analogy that America’s biblically literate population surely understood, “The money changers have fled their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths.”

Despite the charming fireside chats, “the New Deal did not deliver.” Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau Jr. told a Congressional hearing … “We are spending more money than we have ever spent before and it does not work. … I want to see this country prosperous. I want to see people get jobs. We have never made good on our promises. I say after eight years of the administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started and an enormous debt to boot.”

The answer to this mess is not blame but accepting personal responsibility for debt and living within (or below our means), saving and investing. Living debt free.

Popes & Bankers is a striking book full of amazing characters and history and will surely capture the mind and attention of those interested in our economic past and present. This book is for readers who agree with philosopher George Santayana’s prediction, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Note to writers: Who was it that said there are no dull stories, only dull writers.

This book was provided by Thomas Nelson for review.

Writer's Book Shelf-Plot and Structure

Book Review: James Scott Bell's Plot and Structure

By: Christina Adams

As you might guess from the title, this is a book for the writer who wants to dive deeper into technical aspects of writing a story or novel. Unlike many writers' book, that only have a chapter to devote to plotting, this book goes into detail on what a plot is, how to tell if it is not working and what to do to spruce it up. It also covers the structure of character archs, complex plots and the twist endings.

Even though this book has the word 'structure' in its title, it isn't only for people who love outlines and structuring. Bell covers both sides of the writing brain and points out the benefits of right-brained creativity and left-brained logic, as well as ways to make both sides stronger.

Reading this book has helped me to be aware of what I am trying to do with the characters and plots in my story. I have been able to create tighter plots and been able to recognize and avoid the mistakes I used to make. I would recommend this book for all fiction writers.

Book quote: "No matter what kind of novelist you are, there's one thing you will have when you've completed your manuscript--a plot.... The only question at that point will be, "Does it work?" By "work" I mean connect with readers. That's the function of plot after all. The reading experience is supposed to transport people, move them through the power of story. Plot is the grid that makes it happen."

Author Hillary Duff

Hillary Duff has just signed a multiple-book deal for a YA series and a nonfiction book on children of divorce.

The Writers Book Shelf - My Favorite Books on Writing - Tricia Goyer

Tricia Goyer is the author of 20+ books and has published over 300 articles for national publications such as Guideposts for Kids, Focus on the Family, Christian Parenting Today, Today’s Christian Woman and HomeLife Magazine. She won Historical Novel of the Year in 2005 and 2006 from American Christian Fiction Writers, and was honored with the Writer of the Year award from Mt. Hermon Writer's Conference in 2003. Tricia's book Life Interrupted was a finalist for the Gold Medallion Book Award in 2005.

Check out her website http://www.triciagoyer.com/ especially On Writing.

Here are some of the books on writing that Tricia recommends...

. Sally Stuart's Christian Writers Market Guide:
http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=074617&event=1

. Writers Market Guide:
http://www.amazon.com/Writers-Market-2007-Deluxe-Online

. Sandra Glahn's amazing tutorial about great writing:
http://www.aspire2.com/Editors%20desk

. Sandra Glahn's information about magazine writing:
http://www.aspire2.com/notes%20journalism%20I.htm

. Sandra Glahn's How to Break Into Publishing:
http://www.aspire2.com/writingbreakingintopublishing.htm

. On Writing by Stephen King. A bit raw, but one of the BEST books on
fiction writing I've ever read.

. Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. Again, a bit raw, but very, very good
advice. Anne writes crazily (if there is such a thing) but it works. She's
got a terrific voice.

. Randy Ingermanson's Advanced Fiction Writing Ezine:
http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/ezine/

Also, Donald Maass' Writing the Breakout Novel.