An Update from Our House to Yours!
I must admit, though it’s been a great summer with lots of fun and exciting things going on, I’m not sorry to see it end. I’m just plain tired of being HOT and can’t wait to start enjoying those cool autumn days that are even now starting to whisper an announcement of their arrival.
As we roll into October, I wanted to update you on what’s going on here at the Macias household. All is well with Mom (doing much better than a few months ago!), and Al is still balancing his time between work and golf (though anticipating retirement so he can devote more time to hitting that little white ball around with his shiny clubs). He has also been busy installing a patio for our new soft tub, so life is busy (but good!) all the way around.
As for writing/speaking, business is booming. I’ve never been busier—thank You, LORD! The biggest news is that I’m launching a weekly one-hour radio program called “Write the Vision,” which will air via The International Christian Network (www.theicn.com) each Thursday from 6—7 p.m. Pacific Time, beginning October 15. Now I have to tell you that the statement I just made is strictly on faith, as I’m still wrestling with the technological issues of getting this new project set up, but I’ve enlisted some pastoral help from church (from those who actually understand this sort of thing), so I hope to have it squared away so I can start recording soon. For any of you who may have questions about the writing/publishing world, this will be a great opportunity for you to email your questions to me at kathimacias@theicn.com so I can respond on a future program. We have some great interviews lined up, so be sure to listen in—and help me spread the word!
I am also in the midst of a heavy speaking season, being home just one weekend between last month and November. After that my traveling schedule should settle down a bit, though I still have that book deadline of December 1 looming. RED INK, the third novel in the Extreme Devotion series, is one-third done, so I really need to get some serious writing done!
Above all, dear friends, please know that I appreciate you all and pray for you regularly. I hope you do the same for me. Until next time, Vaya con Dios!
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Where do you writers get your ideas???
I was attending a large outdoor family gathering recently, and as I sat on the sidelines, trying to regroup and relax a bit, Cousin Myrtle happened by.
“Hey, Kathi,” she said, grinning as she plunked down on the bench beside me. “How’s the writing going?”
As a professional writer who has authored thirty books in nearly as many years, I get this question on a regular basis. When I assure my interrogator that the writing is going very well, thank you, I invariably get the second-most asked question: “Where in the world do you get your ideas?”
Sure enough, Cousin Myrtle followed up with that very question just as her eight-year-old twin grandsons raced by behind her, shooting one another with red punch-filled squirt guns as their mother ran shrieking after them.
I smiled and shrugged. “It’s tough, but somehow they just keep popping up.”
She shook her head. “Well, I don’t know how you do it. I’d run out of ideas after the first book or two.”
The words were scarcely out of her mouth when her younger brother Clyde—one of my least favorite cousins—walked by, looking as cool as…well, as cool as any fifty-something guy can look when he’s trying to convince everyone he’s still in his thirties. (The spiked hair was bad enough, but the baggy pants that started just below his ample paunch were a bit much, and I couldn’t help but wonder if he really thought he was impressing the two twenty-something women joggers who were looking in his direction and laughing!)
“Yeah, it’s a stretch,” I assured Myrtle. “But you learn to be observant and find ideas in everyday occurrences.”
She frowned and glanced around, then shrugged. “You’ve got to be kidding. Books are supposed to be exciting, and real life is…boring.”
I smiled, as I watched my very pregnant niece give her husband “the look,” as he drooled after the disappearing backsides of the two shapely joggers who were still laughing at Cousin Clyde. I could only imagine the conversation that would follow when the expectant couple climbed into their car to head home.
“Oh, I don’t know,” I said. “I’ve never thought of real life as being boring. In fact, I usually find there are so many things going on that I have to pick and choose which ideas I want to write about.”
Myrtle frowned again. “I find that really hard to believe.”
Out of the corner of my eye I spotted Grandpa Amos, the patriarch of the family, entertaining his pre-school groupies by taking out his teeth and pretending they were talking to him.
Refocusing on Myrtle I said, “Hey, I’m just kidding. Nothing exciting goes on in my life either.”
She beamed. At last I had confirmed her suspicion that writers led boring, humdrum lives like everyone else. As she got up to leave, she asked one final question: “So out of all the books you’ve written, which is your favorite?”
“It’s Beyond Me,” I answered.
She chortled. “Just as I thought! One title blends right into the next one until you can’t even remember them anymore.” She was still chuckling and shaking her head as she walked away, mumbling, “I still can’t figure out where she gets all her ideas.”
Did I dare tell her that it was at a previous family reunion that I gathered much of the material for another book, How Can I Run a Tight Ship when I’m Surrounded by Loose Cannons? Nah. The concept might send her right over the edge….
“Hey, Kathi,” she said, grinning as she plunked down on the bench beside me. “How’s the writing going?”
As a professional writer who has authored thirty books in nearly as many years, I get this question on a regular basis. When I assure my interrogator that the writing is going very well, thank you, I invariably get the second-most asked question: “Where in the world do you get your ideas?”
Sure enough, Cousin Myrtle followed up with that very question just as her eight-year-old twin grandsons raced by behind her, shooting one another with red punch-filled squirt guns as their mother ran shrieking after them.
I smiled and shrugged. “It’s tough, but somehow they just keep popping up.”
She shook her head. “Well, I don’t know how you do it. I’d run out of ideas after the first book or two.”
The words were scarcely out of her mouth when her younger brother Clyde—one of my least favorite cousins—walked by, looking as cool as…well, as cool as any fifty-something guy can look when he’s trying to convince everyone he’s still in his thirties. (The spiked hair was bad enough, but the baggy pants that started just below his ample paunch were a bit much, and I couldn’t help but wonder if he really thought he was impressing the two twenty-something women joggers who were looking in his direction and laughing!)
“Yeah, it’s a stretch,” I assured Myrtle. “But you learn to be observant and find ideas in everyday occurrences.”
She frowned and glanced around, then shrugged. “You’ve got to be kidding. Books are supposed to be exciting, and real life is…boring.”
I smiled, as I watched my very pregnant niece give her husband “the look,” as he drooled after the disappearing backsides of the two shapely joggers who were still laughing at Cousin Clyde. I could only imagine the conversation that would follow when the expectant couple climbed into their car to head home.
“Oh, I don’t know,” I said. “I’ve never thought of real life as being boring. In fact, I usually find there are so many things going on that I have to pick and choose which ideas I want to write about.”
Myrtle frowned again. “I find that really hard to believe.”
Out of the corner of my eye I spotted Grandpa Amos, the patriarch of the family, entertaining his pre-school groupies by taking out his teeth and pretending they were talking to him.
Refocusing on Myrtle I said, “Hey, I’m just kidding. Nothing exciting goes on in my life either.”
She beamed. At last I had confirmed her suspicion that writers led boring, humdrum lives like everyone else. As she got up to leave, she asked one final question: “So out of all the books you’ve written, which is your favorite?”
“It’s Beyond Me,” I answered.
She chortled. “Just as I thought! One title blends right into the next one until you can’t even remember them anymore.” She was still chuckling and shaking her head as she walked away, mumbling, “I still can’t figure out where she gets all her ideas.”
Did I dare tell her that it was at a previous family reunion that I gathered much of the material for another book, How Can I Run a Tight Ship when I’m Surrounded by Loose Cannons? Nah. The concept might send her right over the edge….
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