We watched him for five or ten minutes.  He was very dog-like as he bounced around in the cold, trying to dig some unlucky little critters out of their holes in the ground.  But he was a little too wolf-like too.

Except for coyote-watching, I haven’t done much lately but write.  My Book 2 is due in four weeks, and then I’ll jump back into Book 3.

But here’s news you can use, right now: CathiLyn Dyck and friends are about to launch the first issue of Scienda Quarterly Magazine, an ezine that promises to be very interesting.  Cat interviewed me about a variety of topics and posted part of the interview today at Scita Scienda as a preview of the ezine, which comes out on February 1. It’s “the armchair adventurer’s magazine, featuring creative writing, literary essays, discussion, interviews and book reviews.” I can’t wait to see it.

I could post more, but WordPress is excruciatingly slow and aggravating today. It’s probably a problem with my browser, actually.  Whatever it is, it has me on the verge of using some unladylike language so I’d better quit while I’m ahead.

Speaking of blogging, Dawn Kinzer has kindly posted an article I wrote about the rollercoaster ride of the writing life.  Thank you, Dawn!

How was your Thanksgiving? We celebrated Thanksgiving at my daughter’s house, and we do have many blessings to be thankful for.  It was a relaxing time (as relaxing as it could be with a busy two-year-old and a teething infant) and I was glad none of us had any plans to hit the Black Friday sales.  Because it’s hard to be greedy and thankful at the same time.

Here’s a photo I took yesterday morning while I was burning the pecan pie.  Our back windows look out on a vacant pasture, so we can feel like we live in the country even though we don’t.  I know deer are pests, but isn’t he (she?) a beautiful sight?

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.

Ever have one of those days where you feel scattered?  Or torn in three directions?  Ever have a whole month like that?

Me too.  August flew by in a whirl of work and travel.  I kept working on the edits of my next novel even when we were on the road to California.   I’d planned to keep working all the way home too, but I managed to lose my laptop cord somewhere.  Or at least I thought I’d lost it.  When we unloaded the van, there it was, hiding under a duffel bag.  There’s nothing quite like the joy of knowing you don’t have to order a new laptop cord after all.

Update on the edits: I’m seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, and it’s not the headlight of a locomotive.

Update on the garden:  We’ve been invaded by tomato hornworms, and the heat just won’t quit.  The garden is not looking good.

Update on social media:  Sadly neglected.  Right now, revamping the novel takes precedence, and I like the way it’s going.  I intend to finish before I head off to the ACFW writers conference later this month, so I can let the story sit and cool for a few days before I give it a final read-through and send it to my editor.  Then I’ll try to remember how to tweet and post on Facebook and all that jazz.  Has FB made too many aggravating changes while I was gone?

And this morning at 11:00 Eastern, I’m doing a live interview on WGRC Radio, 91.3 in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, their live streaming is down, but maybe I have a few friends who live close enough to give a listen.

Finally, just because I think you’ll like it, here is yesterday’s Wednesday Link List on Paul Wilkinson’s “Thinking Out Loud” blog.  It’s one that I read every week, and I usually click through to most of the links.  He always provides lots of good food for thought.

And now I’d better make sure I’ve assembled enough working brain cells to handle an interview….

How did you become a believer? By the hair of my chinny-chin-chin. I was a rebellious no good hippie who took awhile to get with the program. God wouldn’t let me alone! I finally surrendered.

Are there some ministries or issues that are of particular interest to you? Helping the poor is one I love, but so far I seem to be too poor to help anyone else. <G> I’m also interested in disability issues but Joni is doing such a great job there, I’m not much help.

When and how did you first realize you might be a writer? I was a sickly kid, always had to stay home with respiratory problems in the winter. My great-aunt was a typing teacher and mailed this enormous black Underwood typewriter to me. I’d sit on the edge of my bed and type poems and stories, which my mom dutifully submitted to Children’s Highlights. I didn’t get published but I was hooked.

What other careers have you pursued? I was a teacher in public and private schools—started as an art teacher, moved into classroom and even directed a preschool. Now I teach writing at the college level. How have they affected your interests as a novelist? When my kids were little I wrote a lot about kids, for kids. You can’t be raising four kids, let your house be a daycare for a bunch more and not have kids on the brain 24/7. At least I couldn’t.

Who are your favorite nonfiction authors? Your favorite novelists? Too many to list, but I love mainstream and women’s fiction. And I’m starting to appreciate a good romance.  And are you a poetry reader too? Huge poetry reader. In fact several of my first sales were poems. My first byline was a poem that I sold to the Denver Post newspaper when I was 17. These days I love Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost and a good friend named Collette Tennant, whose little book Commotion of Wings, is fantastic.

The Fence My Father Built is a poignant story that deals with tough family issues. Are parts of the story drawn from your own family history?  Yes, in that I did not know my bio dad growing up. I searched for him and we met when I was 42 years old. But unlike the novel, my real dad is alive and well and living in Chino Valley, Arizona.

How did you come up with the title?  A friend said that the fence was what the book was all about. I said, “hmm,” and retitled it, which also gave it this double metaphor that made the whole story more meaningful.

What’s the most important truth you hope your readers will hang onto after they’ve read the last page of the story?  That no matter what you struggle with or how bad your life seems, your Father loves you and is watching over you.

What’s your favorite part of the process of writing a novel?  The discovery phase, which for me comes when I’m doing the first revision, of a depth of the characters who have slowly opened up to  let me see into these lives. I start out very excited about a story idea, then get frustrated if I don’t know everything about the character. The process of learning exactly who I am writing about comes slowly, as in real life relationships. When I start to grasp that character’s deepest needs, wants, shortcomings and joys, then I feel honored to be the writer of these fake people’s lives.

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever heard? Writing is rewriting.

If you’re the type to keep favorite quotations or Bible verses posted near your computer, can you share one or two of them with us?  My verse is Micah 6:8 : He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you But to do justice and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God? (NAS)

Would you like to tell us what you’re currently working on? I’d so excited to share that I’m working on another story about Native Americans. This one is called A Sky without Stars: Lakota Star Quilt and is for Abingdon Press again, probably in a year or so. It’s set in the Arizona desert. A Lakota woman, Franckie Chasing Bear, and her young son Harold, relocate to Arizona to start over after Harold’s father was killed in a barroom fight. Franckie’s afraid Harold will lose his heritage and is making a Lakota Star quilt to help him when she meets a handsome part-Lakota man who works for the BLM. He’s got a faith Franckie can’t understand but that intrigues her. She’s torn between the past and the future as she struggles to keep the old ways alive for Harold without getting trapped in the past herself.

Where can readers learn more about you, The Fence My Father Built, and your other endeavors? I hang out mostly at my blog, Linda Clare’s Writer’s Tips, and I have a Group, and a Fan Page on Facebook. I do Twitter too and Linked In and Branch Out, all at Linda S. Clare. C’mon over for almost daily writing tips, book reviews and giveaways and the occasional bit of news. I’d love to learn more about what you’d like to see in Christian fiction, how the books you read impact your life and anything else you’d like to discuss. Thanks to Meg, for inviting me over. She’s been a guest on my blog and will be appearing there again.

BIOGRAPHY:  Linda S. Clare grew up in Phoenix, Arizona and taught art as well as elementary school in public and private schools. She has published four books, including her debut novel The Fence My Father Built (Abingdon Press 2099). She has won several fiction awards, teaches college writing classes and works as a mentor and editor. Her husband of thirty-two years and their four adult children, including a set of twins, live in Eugene, Oregon, along with five wayward cats, Oliver, Xena Warrior Kitty Paladine, Melchior and Mamma Mia!

Jon and I drove from Georgia to California a few weeks ago to help my siblings deal with the stuff our late mom left to us.  It was a bittersweet time as we sorted through things and decided what to keep, what to put in the estate sale, and what to toss.  Two weeks’ worth of work plus the road trip on both ends added up to three weeks.

It was a great trip.  I spent time with family and old friends, made some new friends, and fell in love with California and Californians all over again.  But I’m glad to be home.

He’s designing at least one print for each book of the Bible, but some books have more.  He spent seven straight weeks on passages related to the death and resurrection of Jesus.  Being an artist, Jim makes good use of his imagination in his attempt to connect with the God of the universe.

I can relate.  You know the verse that tells us to work out our salvation in fear and trembling?  I often think of it when I’m struggling with a plot problem or trying to figure out what one of my imaginary  characters might do next.  I find myself pondering deep, scary, eternal questions as I play with my fictional world.  The deepest questions usually come when I’m working on the darkest parts of the story.  The parts that aren’t pretty.

Not all visual art is pretty, either, but God isn’t found only in beauty.  Parts of the Bible get downright ugly, like real life, but God’s there too.

Some of Jim LePage’s designs aren’t what I would call pretty, but they’re powerful and thought-provoking.  Others are downright beautiful.  I hope you’ll take a look.

I’m halfway between two stories.  I’m looking back at When Sparrows Fall, still doing interviews and discussions online and in real life, while I’m researching and revising my next novel, tentatively called Undo the Dark.  With Undo, I’ll immerse myself in a new set of characters, and I promise they won’t have a thing to do with extreme homeschooling.

But I still care about the Quiverfull movement and its accompanying baggage like the SAHD (Stay-at-Home Daughters) trend and “courtship.”  I care about the people who’ve been taken in by these teachings, so bear with me if I still harp on the subject now and then.  (When it comes to so-called biblical courtship, the best rebuttal I’ve ever seen comes from Eric Pazdziora in his article, The Bondage of Betrothal.  But if you’re not in the mood for anything serious, read “Courtship isn’t the only way!” and enjoy a good laugh.)

But enough about that.  Now I’m going back to the new characters who are vying for attention in my head.  They don’t want to talk about courtship or homeschooling.  At the moment, they want to talk about ghosts, and I’m going to let them.  Novel-writing is fun that way.

Edited to add: I forgot to include a link for my interview with Holly Craw in the Phoenix Examiner, where we discuss courtship and novels but no ghosts.

An excerpt from the review by Gina Dalfonzo:  “There seems to be a lack of understanding within the larger Christian community as to the actual nature of patriarchy. Sometimes the patriarchal lifestyle is even romanticized, as people marvel over how well-behaved the children seem and how adorable the girls look in their long dresses. All too often, Quivering Daughters warns, we fail to see the ‘fear-based living’ and endless struggle for perfection behind the scenes.”

The entire review is well worth reading, and so is the book.  As “patriarchy” creeps into mainline denominations, we would do well to be well-informed.

Now I’m back to work, and I have some good stuff to share.  First, I have a guest post at RomCon about why I like to write fiction that includes both tragedy and comedy, serious issues and comic relief.

Any of you who participate in Goodreads might like to know that When Sparrows Fall has been chosen for the July discussion in the Christian Fiction Devourers group, which has its own Facebook page. And if you’re not in Goodreads…well, what’s keepin’ ya?  It’s a great way to find out what’s new in the world of books, both general market and Christian.

And here’s where I try to harangue you into signing up for my e-newsletter.  I plan to send the first issue tonight, so sign up today (June 23) if you’d like to find it in your inbox.  Scroll down to the bottom of the megmoseley.com home page to find the sign-up form.  These newsletters will be infrequent and brief because I’m so bad about writing letters of any kind.

If you’re in metro Atlanta, I hope you’ll stop by the Buford Lifeway store this Saturday, June 25, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. because I’ll be there, signing When Sparrows Fall.  My friend Anita Mellott will be there too, launching her book of devotions for homeschool parents, School Is Where the Home Is.  I hope we’ll see some of you there.

Yesterday we laid my mom to rest in the family plot in a country cemetery.  We sat in the shade in the morning heat with our backs to a vineyard.  Horses grazed just across the fence, bringing back memories of the many times my parents pulled to the side of the road beside a pasture so their daughters could hop out of the car and pet the noses of friendly horses.

On Sunday, we drove past the block that used to hold my dad’s menswear store, the one I wrote about in this article.  I only caught a glimpse of the building, which was renovated along with many others after the 2003 earthquake.  The downtown area looks trendy now, with wine-tasting rooms and antique shops everywhere, but overall the town hasn’t changed much since I was a kid.  It’s always good to come home.

My mom is really home now.  I miss her, but I’m glad she’s where she wanted to be.