Why I Write Romance (by Patty Smith Hall)

8_CreateaCaption‘And the LORD GOD said, “It is not good than man should be alone; I will make a helpmeet for him.”’ Genesis 2:18 KJV

 

Love! Romance! Commitment!

And that’s just Genesis, folks!

A lot of folks don’t know this but I almost gave up writing Christian romance years ago. It was after a published author I admired told me to stop writing ‘fluff’ and work on something that would bring honor to the Lord. The pain I felt at those words! I knew God had called me to write romance but I couldn’t help wondering if this author had a point. Were the books I was writing ‘fluff’ in God’s eyes?

I looked no further than Genesis for the answer, and can now make a daring statement.

Our God is a romantic.

Let’s look at the facts. In the first two chapters of Genesis, the Lord worked a masterpiece. Light and darkness. Earth and sky. The seasons. Fully matured plants and fruits to sustain all the animals. And of course, man.

You’d think that would be enough, wouldn’t you?

But even in all that splendor, God saw a problem. Man was alone. Some folks might asked why God didn’t make Adam and Eve at the same time. After all, He knew man wouldn’t like being alone. Maybe God exposed man to solitude for a reason.

Think about that first meeting. After having all the creatures of the earth brought before him, Adam must have felt an emptiness. Where would he find the one creature who would ease his loneliness, the one person he could share the paradise God had created.

In that moment, the Lord stared into the soul of man and knew that his heart was ready. With just a thought, He put Adam to sleep. When he awakes, he’s not alone.

“Adam, I have brought one more creature for you to name.”

Do you think Adam’s heart fluttered in his throat the first time he saw the slope of Eve’s face? Was he breathless as he compared the woman’s soft curves to his hard angles. Or did he simply stare into her eyes and recognize her for what she truly was?

The missing part of himself.

Ah, romance!

It’s hard to have a Christian marriage in today’s society. The world had made the sacred union between a man and a woman into something cheap and sordid. Cheap sex. Empty relationships. Changing partners.

How sad!

As an author of Christian romance, it’s my ministry to portray love and marriage through the filter of God’s Word. To give young women the honest truth behind a loving marriage, a union that includes God at it’s center. A life full of love and commitment.

I can’t help it. I’m a romantic.

Just like my Heavenly Father.

 

IMG_1250About the Author:

 Patty Smith Hall is an award-winning, multi-published author with Love Inspired Historical and Heartsong/Harlequin.  She currently serves as president of the ACFW-Atlanta chapter and calls North Georgia her home which she shares with her husband of 30+ years, Danny; two gorgeous daughters and a future son-in-love. Visit her website at www.pattysmithhall.com.

 

 

New Hope Sweethearts

New Hope Sweethearts 2She’s ready to take back her life . . .or what’s left of it.

 After ten years of caring for her invalid grandfather, Kallie Huffman is ready to claim her life as her own. Taking a job in the laboratory of New Hope Community Hospital seems like a logic choice while she waits for her nursing license to be reinstated. That is until she meets Lab Director Jefferson Muster. Kind and intelligent, the handsome doctor is everything Kallie has ever wanted in a man. But what about having a life of her own?

He’s never needed anyone’s help. . .until now.

 Patients are dying at New Hope Community Hospital, and Jeff needs help to discover the culprit before another family loses a loved one. When help comes in the person of Kallie Huffman, the walls Jeff has constructed around his heart after a family tragedy start to crumble. But Kallie craves a life on her own terms. Can two people shaped by heartache trust in a love to last a lifetime?

3 Truths About the Writing Life (by Patty Smith-Hall)

file9421279373453I’ve always been one to know the facts. Be it in my old job as a research nurse or in my writing life, I’ve always wanted to know what to expect. Television had told me that romance writers lounged around on their chaise, a feather boa wrapped seductively around their neck, clad only in an uber expensive nightgown from Bloomingdales, holding their Yorkie with one hand while the story poured from the pen in her other one. If it’s a tough guy who writes suspense, he’s led a hardened life that gives an edge to his characters.

What a load of crud!

So what is the truth? What can you expect when you become a published author?

1) Writing is hard work!

I don’t like the show, Mike and Molly, because, last session, the female lead decided to quit her paying job as a teacher and become a writer. No writing classes or studying craft books—no,  she just whips out a couple of chapters and sells her book for a boatload of money to an editor she meets at her first eight-week writing retreat (for which she won a scholarship!)

No wonder they call it comedy!

The truth is it doesn’t happen like that for most of us. First, you write, then you write some more, until you’ve finally poured everything into finishing your book. All the while, you’ve studied craft books and gone to conferences, soaking in as much as you could to learn your craft. Then you pull out your novel and realize it’s pretty much 320 pages of crap, so you settle in to do the rewrites. And you edit and write and rewrite until that bright and glorious day when you finish it AGAIN.

Then it’s time to let others see your baby, for them to red line it and mark it up so that you can have an even better and stronger story. Then you’re ready to submit it . . . maybe.

But writing is also the most thrilling ride that I’ve ever been on (outside of marriage, but then marriage is work too!). Those giddy moments when you’ve written something so beautiful that you know it could only have come from God. Or those exquisite moments right after your agent tells you you’ve sold your first book; the first time you see your cover; seeing your book on the store bookshelves for the very first time—heck, even a one-starred review because it means someone took the time to read something you’ve created.

Yes, writing is hard, but it’s so totally worth it.

2) Not everyone will love your work.

I’m ashamed to say that when I first started, I thought every thing I wrote was magical. The characters, the descriptions felt so real to me, as if I’d actually stepped into the manuscript and had made my home there. Then I entered it in a writing contest, and waited, certain some smart publisher would snatch it up.

I was in for a long wait. My manuscript didn’t even final. In fact, the scores were so dismal, I thought someone had made a mistake. And the comments—passive writing, two-dimensional characters, episodic scenes. One judge even said I was the queen of -ly words.

I wanted to smack her. Obviously, the judges didn’t ‘get’ my writing. I even had the gall to go to the contest coordinator and ask if there’s been a screw-up (over fifteen years later, and I still cringe at the thought. Poor woman!) No mistake—the writing was just bad.

That is why it is necessary to grow a thick skin. Learn from the comments of your critique partners or judges. Weed out the good advice. Realize judges/critique partners/ editors/agents have dedicated their time and effort to make you a strong writer. So kick a couple of cabinets, eat some ice cream, then get back to work.

3) Writing is a calling.

A few years before I was published, I was at the end of my rope as far as my writing was concerned. Between my family and work schedule, there never seemed to be time to work on my stories, and when I did have time, the lack of words would frustrate the dickens out of me. All of my writing friends were published, some multi-published, and here I was, still plugging away at the same old book and not doing a very good job of it. I wanted to give up until I read these words from a Bible study a friend had given me.

“You are a literature missionary!”

Those words from Marlene Bagnull’s Write His Heart punched me in the heart like a two-by-four. Here I was, so frustrated and discouraged, and God had been calling me to the mission field the whole time! Yes, it meant giving up my loft ideas of what I wanted from my writing and give them over to Him. To write without any expectations, to trust Him with the very thing that was so precious to me, to allow Him control over my writing life.

There are people only you can reach, who ‘get’ what you’re saying, who feels as if the story could have been written just for them. You could point them to Christ through your words!

IMG_1250Author Bio:

Patty Smith-Hall is a multi-published, award-winning author with Love Inspired Historical/Heartsong and currently serves as president of the ACFW-Atlanta chapter. Patty admits she has been making up stories since she was knee-high to a grasshopper. Now she’s happy to share her wild imagination and love of history with others, including her husband of 30 years, Danny; two gorgeous daughters, and her future son-in-love. Her next book, New Hope Sweethearts, will be available on Amazon July 1st, 2015.

Website: http://www.pattysmithhall.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/patty.s.hall
Twitter: https://twitter.com/pattywrites

 

Great news! Patty has agreed to give away a copy of her soon-to-be-released novel, New Hope Sweethearts!

Just leave a blog comment below, answering the question, “What has been the hardest part of your chosen career path?” 

Contest closes on Sunday night, winner announced in Monday’s post!