On Our Journey Home, the Staci Stallings Newsletter

Theme for the Month: My Life Motto

Insights

My parents were in Amway for a time, back when it was practically a new company that no one had ever heard of before. They never struck it rich, never made Diamond Directs, but I'm very thankful they decided to try it. You see, Amway introduced my family to a man named Zig Ziglar. I got a lot out of listening to tapes of Zig sometimes more than I realize even now. However, the most important thing I got from listening to this wise man was a life motto. I don't know how many times I had heard it before it stuck, but it became the foundation upon which I built the rest of my life.

It goes like this, "You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want."

I do this every day on a small scale, like helping at my daughter's school or taking care of my family (not small in the long run, mind you, just not opportunities that scream, "You're helping a lot of people here"). However, in the past nine months or so, I've had a unique opportunity to help a lot of people, maybe more than I realize even at this moment. Maybe even you!

Two years ago I joined an organization called the American Christian Romance Writers (ACRW). As the name implies, it's a bunch of writers who talk about how to write and market Christian Romance. Not long after I joined, there was a big discussion about "what inspirational/Christian romance really is." There were some authors, who write mostly for the big lines, who believe very strongly that "Christian" must not include anything that doesn't agree with Christian values. Thus, divorce cannot be mentioned in a Christian novel. Neither can anyone drinking or even playing cards. (I'm not kidding about the card thing. That sparked a big discussion. Could the character play Solitaire or even have a deck of cards in the house?)

Not long after that discussion, an editor who is in the group sent word that manuscripts with pastors as the hero were no longer being accepted as that plotline had been overdone. I, as some of you have probably figured out, didn't alter the stories God gave me to write because the higher ups believed they wouldn't be marketable. I just kept right on writing about gangs and dancing and even playing cards. About ten months ago, the same discussion was revisited this time sparked by a missionary in the field who said she is tired of reading books where the heroine is perfect and the hero backs up after so much as a brush kiss and apologizes. She said that this is not how life is.

In the middle of the fray that ensued, another lady came on and said that after dealing with her life all day, she just wants to come home and read something where the characters are good people who make good choices. Why is that so wrong? That's when it hit me: There is a place for BOTH styles of writing because there are readers who want to read the ultra-Christian and those who want to read the edgier-more-worldly type books.

That's when the idea for The Inspirational Reader first sparked in my brain. It has taken nearly ten months and many hours at the computer, but The Inspirational Reader is set to launch on Easter Monday, April 12, 2004. This site lets authors input information about their books, and it lets readers then search for the types of material that they like to read.

Authors rate their books based on Religiousness and Worldliness so that readers have a good idea of where the book falls on the sweet to worldly scale as well as on the practical wisdom versus God/church/Bible verses scale. It's not an exact science, but it at least gives readers a solid chance at getting their definition of a Christian novel to line up with that of the author.

Trust me, there is nothing more devastating to a Christian author than to be told that their novel isn't "Christian enough." The problem isn't that it's not Christian enough, the problem is that the reader expected one thing and got something else. The Inspirational Reader aims to solve that dilemma.

Because I set up the site and because you are a subscriber to my newsletter and because I need some real readers to try out the site and let me know what they think, I humbly invite you to visit…

www.theinspirationalreader.com

There are not many books in the database at the moment (although we're working on that), so your search will have to be a bit broader than it will have to be later on. However, I would like for anyone who is interested to check it out, and please let me know what you think.

This is my latest attempt at helping the most people I can help. How am I doing?

Wisdom of the Ages

"Where there is great love there are always miracles."
- from Good Stuff

A Life Question

Who have you helped to get what they want today?

~*~*~

Contest! Contest! Contest!

Those subscribers who sign up between today and April 22, 2004 (the next newsletter publication date) will be entered to win a signed copy of "Eternity" by Staci Stallings. Tell your friends about the newsletter. They can get in on "Princess," the newest cyber-serial beginning in May, plus they will be entered to win "Eternity." It's a no-lose proposition!

And the Winner is…

The winner of the signed copy of "The Long Way Home" is

Patrice Ashbaugh

Congratulations, Patrice!

~*~*~

It's Official…

A Brand New
Staci Stallings Cyber-serial
is Coming!

If you enjoyed "Silver Rain" and fretted through "The Price of Silence," you will fall in love with "Princess"!

Coming in May, 2004

Overall rating: 4 Hearts
Reviewer: Shelly Tavenner
Site: The Romance Studio

Staci Stallings shoots and scores with this inspirational multi-cultural romance.

Heather Nolan cannot believe she may have to take a semester off from college because of money, or rather her lack of it. It really galls her that students, such as herself, that want to make a difference may have to take time off because they don't have the financial backing of the college, but yet the jocks at the school who could care less about class, get practically a free ride! When one of her teachers asks her to tutor the star basketball player, Heather may be disgruntled, but she's not stupid. She can use the tutoring money to stay in school. Anthony Russell has never really had to apply himself unless it was on the court, but school has become a little tough and he needs someone to tutor him so he can stay off probation and on the team. Both Heather and Anthony have a lot to teach each other…about school, basketball, friendship and love…if they really look at each other behind the dumb jock and nerdy tutor façade they both desperately cling to.

Heather and Anthony's relationship builds slowly, each afraid to believe they are more than what other people see them as. Watching them fall for each other is poetic and inspiring. The obstacles that stand in their way are varied and are approached with a fresh view. College life is described honestly and the sports element gives the story a thrilling lift. You can't go wrong by picking this one up. This sweet story will remind you that real love is out there, if only you can really see what's before you.

Princess

Sometimes Life's Lessons Surprise You…

On Down the Road

Prayer log excerpt from The Cornelius Legion

[fiona] Please bless and keep our soldiers safe
[masterpiec] Let them know that You are with them in their every waking and sleeping hour
[fiona] cover them and help them do what they must do
[masterpiec] Cover them with Your blood so that the demons will run away screaming.
[fiona] Please strengthen them
[fiona] and give them Your peace even when things are horrible
[masterpiec] Pour out Your mercy on the people of Iraq and Afghanistan
[fiona] please send them the Gospel
[masterpiec] they are frightened Lord
[fiona] and protect those there who are Your own
[masterpiec] They need You so much
[masterpiec] They need Your compassion in the hospitals
[masterpiec] Your understanding in the council meetings
[fiona] and give them the faith necessary to walk with You and to make a difference where You have put them
[fiona] Please send Your people
[fiona] with Your good news
[fiona] and with helping hands and loving hearts
[masterpiec] Show them the right way to set up their government and break open their hearts so that they might do so so that all people might have peace and freedom.
[fiona] Let them be a beacon to those people who are in darkness
[fiona] and who need you so much!!
[masterpiec] Make all Your soldiers see the difference they can make where You put them.
[fiona] Work to get their governments set up and running
[masterpiec] One difference and one difference and one difference do not equal three... they equal You and You are infinite.
[masterpiec] Allow our differences to ring in infinity.
[masterpiec] Allow the positive differences the soldiers make to ring in infinity.
[fiona] Please send the right people at the right time
[masterpiec] And please let them be able to see at least the start of those differences
[masterpiec] So that they might know, see, and understand the difference they have made through You….

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/corneliuslegion/

Prayer support for our troops and for you! Visit today!

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Until next time, live in God's peace and love!

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