Making Dreams Come True – Part 6

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If you haven't read the previous parts, you may want to do so first. See:

·         Making Dreams Come True – Part 1

·         Making Dreams Come True – Part 2

·         Making Dreams Come True – Part 3

·         Making Dreams Come True – Part 4

·         Making Dreams Come True – Part 5

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Lois died the day before Thanksgiving, 2008

The eight months we had together, with both of us being Stephen Ministers, helped me through the grieving process. All during that time she was alert and looked forward to joining her heavenly family. I'd never seen her so at peace. We had time to make plans. We talked about her will and her two grown children. Her son, who was in Afghanistan was able to return and be with her for a time before she died. She got to see her daughter through new eyes and loved her even more. She showed me how dying is not as difficult as I had thought it might be.

After the memorial service, I was lost. I went from being a 24-hours a day nurse to not having any obligations. I'd been giving the shots, changing the bandages, feeding her intravenously, checking blood sugar, and keeping it all on schedule. I couldn't face Christmas, so I went to Nova Scotia alone and stayed until after New Year's day. It was a place with no memories.

Planning to open a bookstore.

By the time I got home I had decided to work on another unfulfilled dream.

All my life I'd dreamed of owning a small independent bookstore with space for living above the store. In the store itself, I visualized a place to write plus displays of collectible books, posters and such from famous writers. Of course, I also realized it would never happen.

Then, when Lois died and I needed to sell the house and find another place to live, I thought it might be the time to open a bookstore. I decided to limit it to prize-winning books only and I began to collect books that had won the Pulitzer Prize. I would have a corner for Christy Award winners and children's section with nothing but Newbery Medal winners.

I would sell the house and open a bookstore in town with living space upstairs. The more I worked on the bookstore plan, the better I felt and soon I was working on the changes White Rose Publishing had suggested.

I made the changes the publisher asked for

I also began to get involved with living. I went back to church and rejoined the choir. I attended rehearsals with the San Gabriel Chorale again. I worked on the edits nearly every day now.

I cut and cut and cut, saving all the precious words in a separate file in case I could use them later. I cut the length from 100,000 words to 80,000 words. I cut most subplots, but there were two I couldn't leave out. One was about the bookmobile librarian Liz who started the idea of the book in the first place and the second was the race relations subplot I haven't told you about. I resubmitted the manuscript to the publisher August 17, 2009.

Read the next post to find out what the publisher said.

My New Profile -- Changing Churches Is Tough

Our church friends become family after a while. There are many reasons for leaving a church, moving to a new city or across town. Or, perhaps you just find a church that better fills your needs at this time in your life and you decide to make the change. Whatever the reason, leaving can lead to a feeling of loss and a period of grieving, no matter how happy you are at your new church. It's not just the church activities you miss, it's the friends you were used to seeing week after week, some twice a week.

We identify with our churches to a point where they can become a part of our identity. That happened to me recently. Although it has been several months since we switched churches, I noticed my blog profile hadn't been changed. Now it has.

Here is my new blog profile:

I am a Stephen Leader, a Stephen Minister, and a member of First United Methodist Church in Georgetown, Texas. While singing with the Austin Lyric Opera Chorus, I was in 42 productions. Along with my wife, Celeste, I sing with the San Gabriel Chorale and we have been in several Berkshire Choral Festivals. I am an Adjunct Professor at Austin Community College where I teach computer courses. I received the adjunct teaching excellence award in 2005. I am a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers, the Writers League of Texas, and the San Gabriel Writers' League. I have a Master of Science degree from the University of Houston and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California at Long Beach. Awards for Where Love Once Lived include First Place -- 2007 SouthWest Writers Contest in the Inspirational/Spiritual Category, First Place -- 2007 Writers' League of Texas Novel Manuscript Contest, Romance Category, Third Place -- Fourteenth Annual Lone Star Writing Competition, Northwest Houston Chapter of the Romance Writers of America, Inspirational Romance Category and Finalist -- 2006 Yosemite Writers Contest Novel Category.

I'd love to hear about your experiences in moving from one church to another.

Hearing From Readers Is Fun!

One of the fun things for a writer is to hear from readers. Here is an email received recently followed by my response.

From: Vivian

Sent: Friday, March 11, 2011 8:14 PM

To: sidfrost@suddenlink.net

Subject: Where Love Once Lived

Sid, I am glad that you left your card with me when you came to visit in January.  I asked at the library for your book and found that it was in circulation, so I put it on reserve.  I finally got a copy March 6 and enjoyed it very much.  It is an excellent novel, and I wonder if this is what earned you first place in the Southwest Writers conference? 

Your characters are well developed.  I suspect they are not all fictitious!  Your training as a Stephen Minister is especially apparent in the dialogues of Brian, Karen, Phil, and his Dad, and even the feisty Cathy and Liz.  They are affirming, supportive, and non-judgmental.

I hope to see more of our neighbor and promise to read whatever you write!  You might not appreciate my “editing,” but I need to know how Brian resumed ownership of his company in California.  Perhaps he delegated that responsibility to Ron while he went honeymooning in Germany!

Best regards, Vivian

Here is my response:

Thank you so much for writing and telling me about reading Where Love Once Lived. As you probably know writing is a lonely business and writers don’t hear as much from readers as they would like to. And when we do get comments, the readers don’t go into much detail. Of course I savor every “enjoyed it” and “great”, but I am especially pleased to get feedback such as yours.

I don’t know if you’ve check on my blog, The Christian Bookmobile, http://christianbookmobile.blogspot.com/, but this is where I talk more about the book. The blog is aimed toward Christian readers and writers. It also has a touch of Austin history in it.

Some of the characteristics of some of the characters in the book were taken from people I know or have known. The idea for writing the book came to me because a bookmobile librarian named Jean Siedo. Liz’s appearance and actions on the bookmobile were copied from the real person. However, Jean had a husband and two daughters. I made Liz’s husband an alcoholic because I was married to one, and placed Liz’s grandson in prison because my son was in prison for DUIs.

George McCullough, Phil’s dad, has the same memories as I do of the time he grew up in the Clarksville area. The only difference was that I grew up on the white side of the imaginary line.

In real life, my mother had Alzheimer’s and my father reacted the way Brian’s father did in the book.

I tried to close up all the loose ends in the book, but I guess I didn’t do a good job on the California company. While writing the sequel, however, I noticed it and had Brian ask his daughter to manage the company. She said no, since she wanted to finish her MBA in Austin. However, she suggested Darrell Johnston, the young man who organized the collection for Liz’s trip to England. I haven’t written that part yet, but I know Brian likes the idea and I think Darrell will accept the offer.

By the way, the honeymoon in Germany doesn’t go as smoothly as you might think. There needs to be a major conflict for the new book. But, this time the conflict is not between Brian and Karen.

Thanks, again for writing, and please recommend the book to your friends.

Sid

As I prepared this article, I noticed I hadn't responded to one of Vivian's questions. I sent her this:

I just noticed I forgot to respond to your question in the first paragraph re the Southwest Writers Conference. Yes, Where Love Once Lived won first place in the Inspirational or Spiritual Novel category in the 2007 contest. It also took first place for Romance in the Writers League of Texas contest in 2007. Thanks, again, for writing.

Sid

Where Love Once Lived Cover

I received two cover proofs from CreateSpace today. The next step is for me to choose one. I can request a third concept, but there will be an additional fee for that service. The exciting part of this is that I like both covers. That's also a problem because I can only pick one. Will you help?

Here are the descriptions of the differences provided by CreateSpace:

Cover 1 -- Both covers use the illustration provided. This one uses a blue background and a simple type treatment. The word Love is in red to represent the blood of Christ.

Cover 2 -- This concept uses a green background that matches the style of the illustration. The back cover also contains a few flower petals faintly visible. The type treatment is more prominent in this example.

The words are the same. Only the colors and the fonts vary. Which one do you like best?

Here are the words that are on the back of the cover:

She'd once loved a bookmobile driver. Memories of that time with him poured in so rapidly she caught her breath. It'd been long ago, but her heart remembered. At first she remembered the love she'd felt back then, but the good memories didn't last long. She'd gone to the bookmobile as usual that last day, but nothing was to be the same again. She went to Brian with love and exciting news. She left alone. Not just without him, but alone in the world and apart from God.


Is it ever too late to find happiness? No, says Sidney W. Frost in his inspirational Christian novel, Where Love Once Lived. Brian Donelson returns to his hometown after a thirty-year absence to win back his beloved Karen. But Karen, who has grown closer to God than he has, harbors a secret that keeps her away from Brian at all costs. While driving the local bookmobile, Brian struggles to earn her trust, even as he grapples with secrets of his own. With God’s help, can these two find happiness? Beautifully written and told with wit and grace, Where Love Once Lived is a moving love story filled with the glory of God.

Sidney W. Frost is an elder in the Presbyterian Church and a Stephen Minister. While a student at the University of Texas, he worked as a bookmobile driver for the Austin Public Library.

Saying it in 250 Words or Less

Here is the proposed back cover text for Where Love Once Lived. Tell me what you think.

She'd once loved a bookmobile driver. Memories of that time with him poured in so rapidly she caught her breath. It'd been long ago, but her heart remembered. At first she remembered the love she'd felt back then, but the good memories didn't last long. She'd gone to the bookmobile as usual that last day, but nothing was to be the same again. She went to Brian with love and exciting news. She left alone. Not just without him, but alone in the world and apart from God.

Is it ever too late to find happiness? No, says Sidney W. Frost in his inspirational Christian novel, Where Love Once Lived. Brian Donelson returns to his hometown after a thirty-year absence to win back his beloved Karen. But Karen, who has grown closer to God than he has, harbors a secret that keeps her away from Brian at all costs. While driving the local bookmobile, Brian struggles to earn her trust, even as he grapples with secrets of his own. With God’s help, can these two find happiness? Beautifully written and told with wit and grace, Where Love Once Lived is a moving love story filled with the glory of God.

Sidney W. Frost is an elder in the Presbyterian Church and a Stephen Minister. A former member of the Austin Lyric opera, he once worked as a bookmobile driver at the Austin Public Library.