HOW TO WRITE A NEWS RELEASE

I was a daily newspaper reporter who received dozens of news releases every day. Here's some of the advice I gave Ozarks Chapter of American Christian Writers recently.

NEWS RELEASES

· Use a professional-looking letterhead.
· Insert the date
· Contact: Name
  Address
  Phone
  E-mail Address

· If you are promoting a book and free review copies are available upon request, say so. You also can send out news releases in advance for speaking engagements.
· Write your headline. Mine would say something such as:
   Former medical reporter addresses death, resurrection
   and the eternal in new book, Swallowed by Life
   Pick out the most important nugget about the book for the headline.
· Use a dateline (Place of origin. Some might actually include the date). The date line is all caps: SPRINGFIELD, MO—
· Start your lead, literally your hook, right after the dateline. If you are speaking or doing a book signing, use that in your lead and maybe even the headline. If you have connections to the community, such as being a native, graduate of area schools, etc.
· If possible, it should be one page in length.
· Use pertinent information such as your summary sentence that describes the book, and about a paragraph of other description.
· If it’s non-fiction, add a few facts and quotes to support your book’s thesis.
· Add a short bio on your background in general and success as a writer.
                                                                                                                                                                                                               Copyright Oct. 1, 1011

Interview with novelist Erica Vetsch, a wonderful writer

Erica Vetsch - Stories that Testify to Love Ada Brownell Blog Interview:

1. How did your style and voice develop with such rhythm, music, and clarity? Are you a musician? I can’t claim to be a musician, though I took piano lessons for ten years or so as a kid. My writing style and voice developed over the course of several years of writing fiction and a lifetime of reading fiction. I didn’t realize my voice had become distinctive until one of my crit partners judged a contest I had entered. (She didn’t know I’d entered, and I didn’t know she was judging.) She was able to identify my writing without my name being on the document. That’s when I knew I’d found my voice.

2. Does vivid description come naturally to you, or have you studied techniques and worked at it? Description is the part of fiction writing that comes the easiest for me. The techniques I have to employ and the work I have to put into it are all on the side of not putting too much in and allowing the characters to interact with the setting instead of just describing everything in great detail. I have to remember that I’m not writing a history book, but rather a story.
 3. Do you need to constantly watch in order to show instead of tell, as you do so beautifully, or is that just the way you write? This takes constant vigilance, though it comes more naturally now. I tend to do more telling in my first draft, then go back and try to take it out and show instead during the editing process. I watch for my ‘telling words’ like felt, wondered, watched, thought, was, etc. Being careful to show instead of tell also helps with the description, because I think about what the character is thinking, seeing, smelling, touching, and incorporate that into the narrative.
4. What method do you use to develop your characters? I am a plot-first novelist. My stories are usually sparked by reading history books or biographies. Then it is a matter of discovering which type of person would have the most difficulty overcoming the story problem. One resource I love is: The Complete Writer’s Guide to Heroes and Heroines. This book helps me identify my character’s personality type and how that type interacts/reacts to other types. 
5. What prompted you to write a western?  Some of my historicals have been set in the American West, like A Bride’s Portrait of Dodge City, Kansas, some have been set in the Colorado Rockies during the silver boom there. Another series takes place in 1905 Gilded Age Duluth, MN. My voice and my passion seem best suited for historical romance. I love the research, the richness of the settings, and weaving true historical events and people into my stories. As to visiting Dodge, I haven’t been to Dodge, even though I am a Kansan, born and raised. I have spent time in Old Abilene Town and in the Cow-Town Museum in Wichita, as well as several other western frontier town museums.
6. What are your next projects and goals? I’m currently working on a new “Bride” book titled A Bride Sews With Love in Needles, CA set to release in November of next year. It’s a World War One era story about a Harvey Girl working in the El Garces hotel in Needles and the man the town has dubbed a coward because he hasn’t enlisted, but whom my heroine finds herself falling in love with anyway.
7. Tell us more about who you are and how you became a writer—condensed version. As I mentioned above, I’m a Kansan, born and raised, and I now live in Minnesota with my husband and two children. I’m a homeschool mom with one high school student and one in college. I’ve always been a voracious reader and constant daydreamer. A few years ago, I started writing fiction, first for my own pleasure, then in pursuit of publication. In 2008, I was awarded my first contract while at the ACFW conference. My first novel released in November of 2009, and since then, a dozen more books have followed. A Bride’s Portrait of Dodge City, Kansas is my first trade-length novel.

About the Book: Hoping to leave the shadows of her shady yesteryears behind, Adeline Reid is focusing on her photography career. But when her ex-boyfriend’s compatriot in crime shows up in Dodge City her entire past is threatened by exposure. Can Addie keep her secrets while helping to catch a killer? Deputy Miles Carr’s investigation into a shopkeeper’s murder leads him to Addie’s door. Will his attraction to this female photographer keep him from catching the true culprit? Or will Addie lead him off course in more ways than one?

 Author Bio: Erica Vetsch is a transplanted Kansan now residing in Minnesota. She loves history and reading, and is blessed to be able to combine the two by writing historical fiction set in the American West. Whenever she’s not following flights of fancy in her fictional world, she’s the company bookkeeper for the family lumber business, mother of two terrific teens, wife to a man who is her total opposite and soul-mate, and avid museum patron.

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A Bride's Portrait of Dodge City, Kansas

Here's a review of a Christian historical romance I read recently:

A BRIDE’S PORTRAIT
By Erica Vetsch

This interesting book might take place in Dodge—but it’s not “Gunsmoke.”

The setting is not the Long Branch Saloon, with its “attached” brothel.  Much of this book takes place in a photography studio, the sheriff’s office, the mercantile, and the Wild West’s streets.
The leading man does carry guns on his hips, and he’s a deputy working for the legendary Bat Masterson. Of course, the leading lady is the photographer.
But another deputy, a gal that works at the mercantile, a slick handsome gambler that says he works for the railroad, also play a big part.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see a western like this written by a blacksmith, but a female wordsmyth who creates a symphony with words while she wraps the reader around her plot’s baton?
Erica Vetsch’s words have cadence, rhythm, harmony, melody, percussion—words that sing.  Vivid description,  memorable characters, but also heart ache, secrets, murder, fear, greed and the fruits of the Spirit mingling to bring out truth and victory over evil.
The whole book has a voice and style I enjoyed.  The characters are so believable I probably will think of them when I pass through Dodge again.
Here are a few samples of Erica’s writing:
Page 15: The smells of ink and beeswax furniture polish drifted over her. Everything in this bank bespoke of prosperity, from the shiny  woodwork to the burgundy velvet wallpaper to the gleaming brass hardware. A row of teller windows took up the left-hand wall. Patrons stood patiently in line waiting for their turns, and Addie took her place at the tail end.
“Lord, please let the bank manager understand….”
Page 47: Miles’ chest squeezed. Just because something was legal didn’t make it right. The gambling, drinking, and immorality of Dodge City flew in the face of everything his newfound faith and God’s Word told him.
Page 255: Miles stared down at the unconscious form now sprawled across the bunk in the first cell. “I’m surprised you stood it for as long as you did. He had no call to say those things about Fran. He’s sloppy drunk, and he’s mean afterward.” And more slippery than a pickled onion.
This is one of those books that caught me in its pages and I found myself reading late into the night and once during a meal.
I love this era, and I enjoy good writing. I definitely will be interested in reading more of Erica Vetsch’s books.
NOTE: I was provided a review copy of this book.

NEVER GIVE UP

Comments after Friday night's championship game:
"This is why you keep batting," said David Freese who delivered the winning home run in Game 6 on the Cardinal's last strike. Freese was named most valuable player after Friday's win. "Sometimes things don't work out, you get injured, you do stupid stuff,but you try to stay on path.
"You surround yourself with guys like we have on this team."
"We just kept playing," commented Lance Berkman.
Albert Puljols: "The fans never gave up."
Yadier Molina: The pitcher, Chris Carpenter, had a little trouble the first few innings and Molina told him, "You've got plenty more."
The team was ectastic because Texas had been a formidable foe.
What kind of encouragement do we receive from God's Word to keep pressing on to fulfill our calling?
"Because you have obeyed my command to persevere, I will protect you from the great time of testing that will come upon the whole world to test those who belong to this world" Revelation 3:9-11 NLT
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us" Hebrews 12:1-3NLT
"And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not" Galatians 6:8-10.
 

What we can learn from Freese

On Thursday night it was a tied ballgame in overtime, the last out for the St. Louis Cardinals and the last strike for David Freese. The Texas Rangers stood ready to snatch the 2011 World Series from their grasp.
The Texas pitcher grasped the baseball and prepared to send St. Louis to the outfield. The ball, exceeding the speed limit on most freeways, headed for the plate and Freese's bat connected, arching the ball high above the field, over the wall and into the grassy area beyond.
Freese ran the bases and the St. Louis players and fans went berserk with joy. After a season of wins and disappointment and barely making it to the playoffs, they were within one game of being the champions.
They didn't quit. They kept believing they could do their best. Albert Puljols pointed up to give God the glory when he did well.
Most of the players embarrassed themselves every once in a while with a foolish error. But they didn't become professional baseball players by allowing their goofs to knock them off course. They alway kept trying.
Seventy years ago, on Oct. 29, 1941,Prime Minister Winston Churchill visited England's Harrow School.
“Never give in, never give in, never; never; never; never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense," Churchill said.
Things were looking up a bit for Britain. The German World War II bombing blitz on London was over. They needed some encouragement.
Even today, we can use encouragement as well, but we also need to make up our minds to never give in to adversity.
* Never give up on freedom in our nation.
* Never give up on your loved ones.
* Never give up on doing your best.
* Never give up living for the God who loves you. Keep your heart's door locked to Satan.
* Never give up on believing God will take care of you, bless you, use you, and lead you.
* Never give up praying and reading God's Word.
* Never give up looking up--for the Lord Jesus to come and catch away the church.
Never, ever, give up. You never know when the swing of your "bat" (the talent you hold in your hand) will be a home run.
Never, ever, give up being on the winning team that defeats the enemy of their souls, and will make Heaven their home.
Never give up.

Guest post from novelist Staci Stallings

Ever Faithful

By Staci Stallings 

            For many years of my life, I wanted to be successful.  I put a lot of effort into that endeavor.  I worked and worked and worked.  If I joined an organization, I had to be president because I wanted the organization to be successful and I wanted to be seen as a success in the organization.  Success was my goal.

            After I started writing, I turned my success-orientation toward God. I wanted to be a success for Him.  Somehow I thought that would prove to Him I was worthy of His love and gain me a place in His kingdom.  I wanted Him to love me, and I thought the only way He would love me was if I was a success. Sad how some of us get so mixed up like that.
            It took seven years of writing, three years of publishing, and a gentle re-direct from God for me to see how wrong I had been the whole time.  As always, I had been working and working and working, trying to get the publishing and marketing to work out.  I put an enormous amount of time and effort into that endeavor. Still, things were not pointing toward me being a success.  Even when I had successes, they were too small for me to acknowledge, and so I called them failures and resolved to do better.
            When I finally woke up to see that what I was doing was not what God required of me—that He didn’t require me to be a success for Him to love me—that was truly a revelation.  In a very real way He saved me from me!
            Since then, lesson-by-lesson, I have learned to let go of doing it myself and to let Him take over the controls of my life.  Not always easy for a control-freak, but by far the easier way to live once you get the hang of it.
            The other night in a sermon, God spoke to me in a way that made me smile.  The pastor said, “God doesn’t require you to be a success. He only requires that you be faithful.” Well, that’s about as direct a message as you could get.
However, would I have heard those words ten years ago? Probably not, but they sure resonated with me the other night.
            The amazing thing is that a friend of mine and I have been talking about this very thing—being faithful.  She said, “What I am learning is that God doesn’t even require us to be faithful because our faithfulness is imperfect. God simply wants to show us His faithfulness.”
            Wow!  Not only do I not have to be a success to gain God’s approval, I don’t even have to be perfectly faithful to gain God’s approval!  The more I thought about this, the clearer it became.  Over and over and over again, God has shown me, “Staci, even when you fall, even when you’re discouraged, even when you feel like a failure, even when you’re scared, I am here—loving you, cheering you on, giving you Me.”
       With that understanding, how then, I ask you, could I ever feel like a failure? How could I ever think I was anything less than a success?  And it has nothing at all to do with me. It has nothing to do with my performance, my plans, my control, my abilities, my knowledge, my understanding.  It’s all about Him.
     His performance, His plans, His control, His abilities. His knowledge, His understanding, His wisdom, His love, His mercy. His faithfulness. In a very real way, all He asks of me is that I take a step back from me, look to Him, and marvel at His faithfulness.  He is ever faithful to me. Not sometimes faithful. Not faithful when it’s easy or convenient. He is EVER faithful!
Just as He is ever loving.  He is.  And if I let my worth be based not on me but on Him, then I’m already a success.
Isn’t He the coolest?

Copyright Staci Stallings 2006

 A stay-at-home mom with a husband, three kids and a writing addiction on the side, Staci Stallings has numerous titles for readers to choose from.  Not content to stay in one genre and write it to death, Staci’s stories run the gamut from young adult to adult, from motivational and inspirational to full-out Christian and back again.  Every title is a new adventure!  That’s what keeps Staci writing and you reading. 

Find Staci on the 'Net:

Facebook Author Page at:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Spirit-Light-Author-Staci-Stallings/266593276699576
 Staci's Bookshelf:
http://stacistallings.wordpress.com/
Spirit Light Books--The Blog
  http://spiritlightbooks.wordpress.com/
Or...
Follow Staci on Twitter @StaciStallings
 

Need help

Two-year-old little Layla often says, "Need help."
She does it when she can't turn the door knob to go out into the yard. The little tyke did it the other night when company was in the house for dinner, the dog was in his kennel, but the door she liked to open in order to let her playmate out was turned to the wall.
"Need help," she said, turning to anyone in the room who would come and let the dog out.
Today we need help. I guess we've always needed supernatural help. but today we who live in the United States notice it more than perhaps our generation has any other time. Mexico has had 20,000 people killed near our border by the drug cartels. Iran is busily building nuclear bombs with a dream of wiping us and Israel off the map. Islamic terrorists hope to get our citizens a few at a time with a bombing here or there or to take down another plane or three.
Enemies outside our borders are devising ways to ruin America--the only place in the world where people want to live so badly we're thinking of building a fence to keep them out--in contrast to the countries who built walls to keep people in.
But we have problems at home also with too many unemployed, houses being repossessed, our economy in danger of collapsing, and thousands of unruly folks demonstrating in the streets.
We NEED HELP.
Many of us, like the Psalmist David, discovered our help comes from the Lord. Much of the church is praying for our nation. Yet, we don't need to worry about the politicians--although they need our prayers--but we need to pray for the church, and ask the Lord to make our hearts right. God said, "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land" (2 Chronicles 7:13-15).
I pray for our leaders, but I also acknowledge that I am nothing but dust, and I seek God's forgiveness for all my sins.
We need to put God first in our lives once again, and walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. "Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon (Isaiah 55:6-8).
Need help. The Lord has helped people who asked for His mercy in the past, and He will do it again.
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble" (Psalm 46:1-3).