Ah…The Easy Life of a Christian Writer—by Christine Lindsay

A writer, especially a Christian writer, makes loads of money and can afford to be chauffered around and someone else clean her house and make the meals. A published writer also makes so much money he or she does not need another job to pay the bills.

Laughing out loud.

Here’s another one for you:

A Christian writer only writes happy stories because their lives are so blessed and easy they never suffer.

I’m not laughing quite so loud now.

If it weren’t for the compulsion that the Lord placed on my heart—to write stories that will inspire people to follow Him, I could find a ton of other things to do. Life might even be a little easier. I might not be so tired.

Writing is hard. It’s time consuming, it takes commitment. Especially when you are also a real-life person in your family.

The people I love are complex human beings. Even though my husband and I have tried to be good Christian examples over the years, some of our loved ones have made choices that have brought them great pain. In fact, my own poor choices brought me a great deal of anguish such as getting pregnant out of wedlock as a young woman and reliquishing my first child to adoption. But, those experiences help me get inside my character’s head when she longs for a child that is not her own in Shadowed in Silk.

So all that lovely pain was not without a wonderful purpose.

I guess that’s why I write about characters who suffer from loneliness and depression because I see this in several of my family members and is one of the themes in my book Captured by Moonlight. How about the subject of growing up with an alcoholic father—that features heavily in Shadowed in Silk and even more so in Veiled at Midnight?

Writers write from the heart, but especially Christian writers.

Veiled at Midnight has been a special book for me. I wrote it while watching my young brother recover from alcoholism. At first glance readers might be turned off by a book, where one of the characters is a young man who drinks too much, but let’s keep in mind that a novel has multiple layers.

I for one hate reading a book that depresses me. But I also don’t care for a book that doesn’t have big stakes. I don’t care for books where nothing much happens. And if something in life is worth big stakes, you can be sure the loss of it will hurt big time. The only good thing about the pain in my life as I’ve said before is what it teaches us. How the Lord uses pain to show us a deeper glimpse of Himself.

That’s why I love novels that take the characters through pain, but…and here’s the thing…hope must glimmer on every single page.  Because even though my life is far from easy—and I’d bet the fictitious family farm that your life is tough too—I believe in a great God who turns the dark valleys into mountaintop experiences.

I believe in happy endings. And I will always write a happy ending, that’s my promise to my readers.

So as Veiled at Midnight is released, it’s with a lot of joy, because not only does my character gain victory over his personal dragon, so too did my real life brother, Steve.

Veiled at Midnight is the happy ending to a three book series. It is the passionate and explosive finale to the end of the British Empire.

VEILED AT MIDNIGHT by Christine Lindsay

The Partition of India has sent millions fleeing to the roads, and caught up in its turbulent wake, Captain Cam Fraser, his sister Miriam, and the beautiful Indian Dassah. 

Cam has never been able to put Dassah from his mind, ever since they played together at the mission as children. But a British officer and the aide to the last viceroy can't marry a poor Indian girl, can he?

As this becomes clear to Dassah what choice does she have but to run. Cam may hold her heart, but she cannot let him break it again.   

Miriam rails against the separation of the land of her birth, and as British forces will soon leave India, she struggles--is Lieutenant Colonel Jack Sunderland her soulmate, or a distraction from what God has called her to do?  

ABOUT CHRISTINE LINDSAY:

Stories of Christine Lindsay’s ancestors who served in the British Cavalry in Colonial India inspired her multi-award-winning, historical series Twilight of the British Raj, Book 1 Shadowed in Silk, Book 2 Captured by Moonlight. The third and final book Veiled at Midnight to that series is releasing October 15, 2014.

Christine makes her home on the west coast of Canada with her husband and their grown up family. Her cat Scottie is chief editor on all Christine’s books.

CONNECT WITH CHRISTINE:

Please drop by Christine’s website http://www.christinelindsay.com/ or follow her on Twitter and be her friend on Pinterest , and  Goodreads

Make sure to stop by tomorrow, when you can enter to win a free copy of Veiled at Midnight!

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The Big Red Do-Over Button by Author Christine Lindsay

Sadly, God did not issue us with a Do Over Button, but don’t you just wish He had? A nice big one like a giant red Smartie on your desk that you could slam, and it would whip you back several years when you were deciding what to write.

In all the writing related blogs and instructive courses, we are told to study the market, see what publishers are selling, what readers are buying, etc. Good advice—advice I heartily recommend.

However, I started writing the first book in my historical series before I ever heard that advice. I was born in Great Britain, so I grew up on novels written about the flamboyant exploits of British Colonialism. Think dashing British Cavalry officers on glorious steeds and rescuing the courageous woman who went out to far flung colonies to be with the brave men they loved. Or soldiers from WW1 and WW2 in tropical uniform. Ah adventure and romance...doesn’t it just make your toes curl?

I grew up reading the blockbuster novels, Far Pavilions and Shadow of the Moon, written by the famous MM Kaye that big New York agents like Donald Maass and writers like Stephen King still drool over today. 

You can’t beat quality. I wanted to write novels like MM Kaye set in British Colonial India but from a Christian viewpoint. However, I didn’t know that the setting of India would turn some readers off even before they cracked the book open. This even surprised me after my first book Shadowed in Silk won the ACFW Genesis and continued to win awards. This lack of interest in my chosen setting continued to amaze me even after Book 2 Captured by Moonlight won a few awards.

Ah, the setting. It actually hampers sales. Did I choose the wrong setting? Do I wish I had a big red Do Over Button on my desk? 

After my first book Shadowed in Silk won the Genesis, The Grace Award, and was a finalist for Readers’ Favorite, I considered writing for the market. At that point I could have set aside my ideas on the 3-book series and started something with a more lucrative setting. But the artistic passion to finish what I started would not let go. To satisfy myself as a Christian writer, I simply had to finish that series to the best quality that I could. I had to write the kind of book I love to read.

Besides, I felt the encouragement from God to finish what I started. 

Book 3 Veiled at Midnight is releasing this Oct. 15. As this third baby from this series is about to be released I can say with all honesty I’m glad I Don’t have a Do Over Button on my desk. I’m so thrilled that I stuck to my artistic integrity in spite of what the marketing gurus say. I feel good about the quality of these three novels. 

Yes, it’s true my name isn’t as big as some of my contemporaries. YET!!! My sales numbers aren’t as high. YET!!! 

So does this mean I am unsuccessful?

I don’t feel unsuccessful. In fact, I feel a deep satisfaction in my soul. I also believe in the steady build, the slow burn. I believe in longevity. Maybe the slow burn will burn bright in the long run.

So, yes, study the market. If you are passionate about a story that is popular with the market right now—Go for it.

Write the passion on your heart. It will show on the page, and that is what will make the readers heart go pitter-patter too. 

VEILED AT MIDNIGHT-- The British empire draws to an end...

but the turmoil has only just begun.

Christine Lindsay was born in Ireland, and is proud of the fact that she was once patted on the head by Prince Philip when she was a baby. Her great grandfather, and her grandfather—yes father and son—were both riveters on the building of the Titanic. Tongue in cheek, Christine states that as a family they accept no responsibility for the sinking of that infamous ship. Londonderry Dreaming is Christine’s first contemporary romance set in N. Ireland. 

CONNECT WITH CHRISTINE:

Please drop by Christine’s website http://www.christinelindsay.com/ or follow her on Twitter and be her friend on Pinterest , and  Goodreads

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