Publishing Books That Matter

Most of us here in the book department at GUIDEPOSTS spent the past week in Denver at the International Christian Retail Show, which is a big convention for Christian books and merchandise.

It’s always fun to wander the floor and see what new gadgets will be in Christian bookstores, and to see what great books will be on the shelves this fall.

We were there meeting with agents and authors and talking to people in the industry. We were also giving away early editions of some of our books, like the beautiful memoir Halfway to Each Other, which we’ll be releasing in September.

This is the story of a couple on the brink of divorce who, as a last-ditch effort to save their marriage, move their family to Italy for a year. The book is the story of how getting rid of the distractions we fill our lives with—television, video games, malls—allowed them to find joy in each other once again, and ended up bringing their family closer than ever.

We also gave away early copies of Julie Hadden’s Fat Chance. You may remember Julie from the television show The Biggest Loser. She lost half her body weight (and—astonishingly—has kept it off) and gained a whole new perspective on caring for the body that God gave her. It’s a practical and inspiring story, and we got a great response to the book.

Conventions are fun, but they’re also a very good reminder of why we do what we do. In a tough economic market, Christian books are one of the few areas that’s growing, and it’s exciting to be a part of something that has eternal rewards.

Beth Adams is the creator and editor of GUIDEPOSTS' Home to Heather Creek fiction series.

Two Sets of Parents

This holiday weekend, my parents are heading off on a cruise to Alaska. This trip has been my mom’s dream for as long as I can remember—she’s wanted to see the glaciers and the Northern Lights for a long, long time.

They never quite managed to swing it, though, between two busy jobs and three kids and a mortgage and expensive college tuitions. My parents always put us first, and their own dreams got put on hold while they made sure we were taken care of.

Now, for their 35th anniversary, they’re finally doing it. They deserve it, and I couldn’t be more excited for them. My brothers and I had fun coming up with just the right gift to have sent ahead for them to find in their stateroom, and we’re looking forward to hear all about their trip of a lifetime.

I, on the other hand, will be spending this holiday weekend with my husband’s family in Michigan. It will be great to see them, and I can’t wait to catch up with nieces and nephews, but it won’t be a cruise by any stretch of the imagination.

My father-in-law has Alzheimer’s, and has been in a nursing home for the past few years, while my mother-in-law is wrestling with breast cancer and got her last chemo treatment yesterday.

I’ll be glad to be there to support her, but I’m also trying to brace myself, and my husband, to find her changed. I’m trying to keep in mind that she probably won’t feel or act as active as she normally is. She’s fighting for her life, and we can only pray that God will help her beat this thing.

I’m thankful for the good health my parents have enjoyed, and I pray they will have many, many more cruises ahead of them, but thinking about what I’ll see this weekend makes me even more thankful they’ve finally decided to enjoy the time they have and to make the most of the time they have together.

I know my mother-in-law would give anything to take another vacation with her husband, or even just to sit in the church pew with him again. I know that someday my own parents won’t be as healthy as they are now. But they’re finally making it a point to enjoy their time together, and I couldn’t be happier for them—and for all of us. 

Beth Adams is the creator and editor of GUIDEPOSTS' Home to Heather Creek fiction series.

Yesterday, I worked from home so I could concentrate on an incredibly fun and poignant book we’re releasing next year.

It’s about a church-going soccer mom, who, having survived breast cancer, decided it was time to finally do what she’s always wanted with her life, and became a Private Investigator (a la Nancy Drew).

It’s a sweet and inspiring story about turning your life around and living richly and enjoying every moment, and it’s also really funny and well-written. I’m very excited about it—I think it’s going to be a great book.

But this wasn’t the first draft of the book I’ve read, and I know that the story ends in a rather unexpected way, so as I was working, I couldn’t help reading everything through the lens of how it all ends.

Every moment in the book was infused with a meaning that someone reading the story for the first time wouldn’t get, and it got me thinking about how knowing what happens at the end changes how we think about what comes before.

Actually, this musing started when I saw a trailer for the movie The Time Traveler’s Wife, based on Audrey Niffinegger’s bestselling novel, earlier this week. I loved this book; everyone I know loved this book. As I was watching the trailer, I was tearing up, anticipating what I knew was coming. But then I started wondering: What would I think of this trailer if I hadn’t read the book? What if I didn’t know how it all ends?

I realized I would probably just see the movie as one big sappy love story, because if you don’t know the arc of the story, that’s kind of what it looks like. It was only knowing what happens in the last few pages of the book that made me so excited about what was to come.

I wonder if that’s the mark of a well-told story: that the end changes everything that comes before it. Either way, it has some pretty big implications for how I want to think about my life. If I knew the end of my own story, how would it affect what I do today? 

Beth Adams is the creator and editor of GUIDEPOSTS' Home to Heather Creek fiction series.

On Mystery

I was working on a new series idea this week, and I kept trying to think about what the plots would be and who the characters were.

As I wrote out my thoughts, I kept finding the plots straying. The characters wouldn’t do what I wanted them to. I thought I was working on a romantic series, but what kept coming out was the set-up for mysteries! I kept wanting to have the characters stumble into mysteries, not love.

Maybe that says something about me. But I think it also says something about the nature of stories as well. I find myself drawn to mysteries because they present a puzzle, an inherent question that has to be answered. I love working on our Mysteries of Sparrow Island series and our newer series Mystery and the Minister’s Wife. I love these books, because when I’m reading them, I want to know what the solution is to the mystery is, so I keep going to find out.

But this isn’t peculiar to mysteries. I realized that every good story answers a question—who will the heroine end up with? Will the characters make it through the winter? What will happen to the children when their father comes back?

It’s what draws you along and makes you want to read to the end. You want to find out what happened. You want to make sure everything turns out okay.

I work mostly in fiction, but personal memoirs and GUIDEPOSTS magazine stories do the same thing—they pull you in, leave you wanting more, and you have to read to the end to find out what happens. Mysteries ask these questions in a very specific and overt way, but every good story has an element of unanswered question that drives the narrative forward. Here’s to the mysterious nature of story. 

Beth Adams is the creator and editor of GUIDEPOSTS' Home to Heather Creek fiction series.

A New Beginning

We’re in the early stages of launching a new fiction series, which may just be my favorite part of my job (I know, I know. I say that about everything. What can I say? I like my job!)

This series revolves around four nurses at a very special hospital. These men and women are caring, qualified, and compassionate, and they are also inspired by their faith to make sure that every patient gets the best possible care.

I was talking to the author of the first book in the series today, and brainstormed ideas and talked about plot points. As we talked, I was struck by the fact that I really had no idea what it’s like to bring a hospital setting to life.  I’m thankful that I haven’t had to spend much time in hospitals personally, but in this case, when it came to figuring out how nurses work (Who do they report to? Do they all work together, or do they have specialties? Do they have desks? How do they interact with doctors?), I was lost.

I know that we have a lot of caregivers out there, and I want to make sure these books are authentic and pay tribute to the work that they do, mostly unsung, every single day, but I had no idea how to do it! What does a book editor know about nursing?

Lucky for me, our authors are so much more knowledgeable than I am. This author knew exactly what to do—how the hospital should look, what the nurses would be doing, how they would react to situations. Talking to her, I felt so much better about this series, because I was reminded, once again, that it doesn’t really matter how little I know, because God has given us all different experiences and opportunities, and he has once again managed to pair me up with someone who has exactly the right skills and talents to do the job before us. It’s never felt better to be reminded how little I know.

Beth Adams is the creator and editor of GUIDEPOSTS' Home to Heather Creek fiction series.

Helping New Writers

I’m helping to judge a writing contest for beginning writers for the American Christian Fiction Writers, and it’s reminding me why I love what I do.

I’ve got five entries to judge, and they’re each really different and surprising. These entries have already been through one round of judging, so they’ve been preselected to be the cream of the crop, and I have to say, I’m impressed. None of these writers has been published before, but with a little work, any of them could be. It’s good to read great writing, but more than that, it’s fun to be on the hunt for gems.

There are a lot of writers out there, and a lot of manuscripts to be read, but with each new one I start, I still get a little thrill. Each book is a new opportunity. Maybe this will be the one that changes the way I think about something, or tells a story that I can’t forget, or shows me a character who I want to get to know.

It’s fun for me to dig in to the manuscripts, but the real reason I like it is that I know it helps writers who are just starting out. Hopefully, the feedback I give will help them improve, and even eventually get published. Maybe I’ll get to edit these writers some day! What a joy.

The winners to the contest will be announced at the American Christian Fiction Writers conference in Denver this September. If you’re interested in writing fiction, this is a great place to start. Maybe I’ll see you there! 

Beth Adams is the creator and editor of GUIDEPOSTS' Home to Heather Creek fiction series.

Sunflower Serenade

Today the newest volume in the Home to HeatherCreek series landed on my desk. I always get such a thrill when I see one of these in finished form. By the time we ship these books out, we’ve been working on them for over a year, and it’s the most satisfying feeling to see something you’ve worked hard on and poured your heart into turn out beautifully.

The book I got today was book number 10, and some very exciting things happen in this story. It’s time for the annual Bedford High School Alumni Banquet, and an unwelcome visitor is expected: Kevin Slater! That’s Sam, Emily, and Christopher’s father, who they haven’t seen since he left their mom nine years ago.

Every member of the Stevenson family reacts to this news in a different way, and it’s heartbreaking watching them all face the reality that the family they’ve cobbled together may be about to fall apart. Charlotte didn’t choose to take in her grandchildren, but when faced with the possibility, she is ready and willing to do whatever it takes to keep them all together. The fierce love that binds them all together comes through on the page, and I couldn’t help but be reminded how much my own family means to me.

I fall a little more in love with the characters in each book in this series. I hope you do too, but more than that, I hope that in reading these books, you are reminded of the depth and the strength of the love that surrounds you. 

Beth Adams is the creator and editor of GUIDEPOSTS' Home to Heather Creek fiction series.

Visiting Far-Off Lands

One of my favorite parts of my job is that I get to learn about and read about different places all over the country. Home to HeatherCreek is set in the middle of Nebraska—a place I’ve never visited, but can picture in crystal-clear quality. Its history and its culture and scenery are real to me. I feel like I know this place.

Mystery and the Minister’s Wife, our bestselling mystery series, is set in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains in Eastern Tennessee. The place comes alive through the pages of the book, and even though it’s another place I’ve never visited, I feel like I get to go there every time I crack open the spine of one of the books. I probably know more about Eastern Tennessee than most people who live there.

I know readers of our Tales From Grace Chapel Inn series feel this way about Acorn Hill—we get letters all the time from readers who want to go there themselves!

Today I was working on a series set on the rocky coast of Maine. I felt the cool ocean breeze. I smelled the briny seaside air. I could see the place in my mind (with the help of some pictures I found online and memories of ancient episodes of Murder, She Wrote).

Even though the town I set the fictional series in was made up, it felt real to me after I’d spent so many days researching and creating the fictional town. When I finally had to turn my attention to another task, I felt a little sad, like I was leaving a place I loved.

This is what I love about reading. It can sweep you away to a whole different place. Who needs to travel with so many good books in the world? 

Beth Adams is the creator and editor of GUIDEPOSTS' Home to Heather Creek fiction series.

Stories That Touch Your Heart

I was brainstorming new fiction ideas today, and I was thinking about what makes people feel drawn to a story. Obviously, there are many things that pull you in to a book: a great, memorable character, a gripping plotline, a strong hook, standout writing.

But I decided that there’s something I had been overlooking, and it’s something that GUIDEPOSTS does particularly well: I realized that best stories touch you on an emotional level. There are books that I enjoy reading, that I like, and that I know are good; in my head, I know these are good books.  But the books that I love the best are the stories where I react with my heart and not my head.

The Home to Heather Creek series does this remarkably well. From the first page you’re drawn in by the characters’ pain. The children have just lost a mother; Charlotte has just lost a daughter. Who of us doesn’t mourn hearing that? We feel for them, and we’re drawn in by our compassion and our need to make sure things turn out alright for these characters. I think this emotional connection with the characters is the reason this series has been so successful.

Can you think of other books that you’ve loved because they've touched your heart?

Beth Adams is the creator and editor of GUIDEPOSTS' Home to Heather Creek fiction series.

Among the Redwoods

Last week I had the great privilege of attending the Mt. Hermon Christian Writer’s Conference, and I’m still recovering. It was a great week—the quality of the writing was great, and I met some wonderful people, and heard about several books I’d be honored to publish. Christian book publishing is a small world, and it was great to connect with old friends and meet some new ones.

It was also wonderful to get out of the city and visit one of the most beautiful places I can imagine. Mt. Hermon is located in the Santa Cruz Mountains, about half an hour south of San Jose, California, where I grew up. It’s dazzling there—stunning mountain vistas, ancient and peaceful groves of trees, rocky coastline, achingly blue sky. One of my favorite parts of the whole conference was getting away from the conference center and out onto the trails that wind through the woods. I passed enormous trees, crossed rickety bridges, and drank in the sweet silence of undisturbed nature. Sometimes I forget how much my soul craves the quiet.

I also had the chance to visit a nearby park full of ancient redwood trees. These trees are some of the tallest in the world, and many have been growing for thousands of years. Some of them have been around since before Jesus walked the earth. These things are huge.

Here’s a photo of me at the base of one, though the picture doesn’t really do justice to how enormous these things really are. I felt tiny standing there. But it’s nice to feel small sometimes. It helps me remember how much bigger the world is than my problems and my experiences. Standing there next to a tangible reminder of the power and the beauty of nature, I couldn’t help but feel grateful for the opportunity.

Beth Adams is the creator and editor of GUIDEPOSTS' Home to Heather Creek fiction series.

Telling My Story

I wrote a story for the April issue of GUIDEPOSTS magazine. When it came out, I showed it to a few people, then carefully filed my copies away and went back to work. I didn’t really tell many people, and I didn’t do much to celebrate. Hopefully, my story would inspire someone, and that would be celebration enough.

Then last week I got a frantic email from my mother: “WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME YOU HAD A STORY IN GUIDEPOSTS MAGAZINE?!” I could practically hear the hurt in the email.

My first reaction was frustration. Who had outed me? I demanded to know who told her about it. Apparently my mom’s friend Leta is a subscriber and had brought the magazine in to work and shown it around to all my mom’s co-workers. Argh. So now not only did my mom know, but all of my mom’s friends knew too.

I wrote back and told my mom something about how I just hadn’t quite gotten around to mentioning it yet, and promised I’d send her a copy of the magazine. Then I bent over and hit my head on my desk. I should have known that with 5 million readers, someone would have pointed the story out to my mom. I should have just told her about it.

So why didn’t I?

The truth is, my story, like all stories in GUIDEPOSTS, is very personal. It’s about a time when I was incredibly vulnerable and questioning everything I thought I knew. The life my parents had built for me and the faith my mom had passed down to me was a part of that.

Somehow, I was kind of embarrassed for her to know about that. I guess I didn’t really want her to see how badly I had struggled. For some reason, telling my story to the 5 million readers of GUIDEPOSTS didn’t seem like a big deal, but opening up to the people I love about what was really going on in one of the most difficult periods of my life felt a lot more scary.

Isn’t it funny how the people we love most are the hardest to be honest with?

After my mom’s reaction, I sent a copy to my grandfather, and he called me last night to tell me he’d shown it off at church as soon as it came in the mail. He also said he was proud of me, which I think is what my mom was trying to say too. So I guess opening myself up was worth it in the end—I know at least two people who the story helped.

Actually, counting me, I know three.  

Beth Adams is the creator and editor of GUIDEPOSTS' Home to Heather Creek fiction series.

Celebrating Spring

A few days ago, we had the first day of spring. I wouldn’t have noticed (the temperature hasn’t felt particularly spring-like), but when we were making the bed Friday morning, my husband announced that we’d made it through winter.

At first, I started to argue. I mean, yes, technically it was spring, but when it’s 30 degrees outside, it’s hard to be excited about the season, no matter what the calendar says. I’m still wearing my down coat, and my wool sweaters. It’s not spring. It’s still feels like dark, depressing winter, and I am really sick of winter.

But as he fluffed the pillows and smoothed the comforter, I realized that I wanted to have his optimistic attitude about the temperature, even if the weather wasn’t cooperating. Technically, it was spring; and even if it didn’t feel like it, thinking about the warm days to come still beats moaning about how miserable the cold is. Even if it doesn’t feel warm, thinking about how nice it’s going to feel when does warm up made me feel better.

So. I’ve resolved to try to maintain a positive attitude about the weather. Hopefully, the temperature will eventually catch up. In the meantime, it’s spring, and I’m going to celebrate it.

Beth Adams is the creator and editor of GUIDEPOSTS' Home to Heather Creek fiction series.

Making Stuff Up

Today I spent a good part of my morning brainstorming ideas for a new fiction series. I do this fairly regularly—after all, it’s part of my job to come up with new books our readers are going to love.

I often put it off, not because I don’t enjoy it, but because it becomes a bit consuming. It takes time, for sure, to be creative. It means I have to close my door, turn off my email, and allow myself the space to think. It also means thinking creatively, which, to be honest, there are times I just don’t want to do.

Often, it’s easier to simply deal with emails and read manuscripts than to come up with ideas of my own. It takes energy, too. I’m always surprised at how draining it is to write. I’m just sitting in a chair! How hard could it possibly be?! Yet somehow, it’s draining on so many levels.

Mt. Hermon Writer's Conference

The past few days, I’ve been gearing up for the Mt. Hermon Christian Writer’s Conference, which I’ll be attending early next month. I’ll be meeting with authors and agents, and learning more about what’s going on in the world of inspirational book publishing.

I’m excited about the conference for several reasons—for one, it’s supposed to be one of the best out there. For another, the conference takes place at a gorgeous, relaxing retreat center in the Santa Cruz mountains, just a little ways south of San Jose, California.

San Jose is home to me, and I’ve actually been to Mt. Hermon before, because I went to summer camp there with my youth group when I was in high school. My memories of the place revolve mostly around belly flop contests and dance-offs, and though I suspect the conference will be a bit more grown-up than high school camp, I’m really looking forward to returning to a place that shaped my spiritual journey in so many ways.

I’m also teaching a couple workshops at the conference, and for some reason I’m kind of looking forward to that too. When I first found out I had to teach, I almost tried to get out of the conference altogether, but when I sat down to think about what kind of wisdom I could possibly impart to a group of writers more experienced and talented than myself, I realized that there are a few things I know about.

I know about how to pull together a book series. I spend a good part of my day creating, fleshing out, and editing fiction series. I know about that. I realized I also I know a fair amount about writing mysteries. I’ve never written one myself, but I have edited a ton of them, and drawn some of my own conclusions and rules about what makes a good, well-plotted, fast-paced mystery.

I proposed two workshops—Writing The Series and Writing The Mystery—and I’m actually getting excited about what I’m going to say and how I’m going to present the material. It’s going to be fun.

If you’re a writer, you should think about checking out the conference! You can find out more information here, and I hope to meet some of you there. 

Beth Adams is the creator and editor of GUIDEPOSTS' Home to Heather Creek fiction series.

The Story of My Life

They left me in the dark little room and closed the door. I tried to keep clam, to stay focused, to not freak out. Then they told me, through the headphones strapped to my ears, to step up to the microphone.

What in the world was I doing here? I should never have said yes to this.

When I wrote an article for the April edition of GUIDEPOSTS magazine, I was excited to write a story about a personal change in my life. I could handle writing. I know how to do that. I feel secure with my fingers on a keyboard. But when the magazine’s audio team asked if I wanted to read my story for the audio version of the magazine, I didn’t exactly jump at the chance.

Why would anyone want to listen to me read? My voice is not trained in any way (when I was about eight, my mom told me I sing like a frog, and that was pretty much the end of my vocal aspirations), and I’ve always had a bit of a lisp. I always think I sound like a dork when I hear myself on tape. Plus, I’ve listened to some boring recordings in my life.

I did not want the story I’d worked so hard on to be turned into a snoozefest. I thought they should just hire a professional actor, someone who knows what they’re doing. And they would have—I didn’t have to accept.

But then I wondered: what was the worst that could happen? If I tried to read and completely mangled the story, they probably just wouldn’t use it. If I wasted a few hours of time in a studio, I’d just work late to make it up. Was my own insecurity really going to keep me from trying something new? I had no idea what to expect in a recording studio—but that was exactly the reason I should give it a shot. 

“Sure,” I said. “I’ll try it. I’ll read my story.”

So this morning I found myself crammed into a little padded room, earphones strapped to my head, staring at a microphone, praying I wouldn’t sound like too much of an idiot. And you know what? I don’t think anyone is going to hire me for my vocal talent anytime soon, but it went okay.

I didn’t get laughed out of the room. I made it all the way through my story without breaking down in frustrated tears. I didn’t appear to waste too much of anyone’s time. And best of all, I tried something new. In my book, that counts as a successful day.

Beth Adams is the creator and editor of GUIDEPOSTS' Home to Heather Creek fiction series.