Coffee with the Author
Coffee with the Author @ Ridge Road Wesleyan Church
543 Ridge Road, Queensbury, NY 12804
For more information: 792-1971
Come meet me Saturday, November 1st at 9:30 a.m., for a cozy, casual chat about writing, reading, and Home Another Way. I’ll be focusing on “Loving the Unlovable” and everyone in attendance will receive a special Prayers of Encouragement sheet for listing those people we should pray for, but don’t – for whatever reason.
See you there, if you can make it!
Coming in Fall 2009: Watch Over Me
My second novel, formerly known as Things Found in the Morning, now has an official title.
Watch Over Me.
Yep, that’s it. I actually came up with that one myself – after several of my other ideas were swatted down like pesky mosquitos. This title does fit the book quite well, though. It’s also the second title that has been inspired by a song. My agent’s idea for Home Another Way came from James Taylor’s “Home by Another Way.” Watch Over Me is from George Gershwin’s “Someone to Watch Over Me,” which is also mentioned in the book.
Now, onto cover design.
Well, it’s Crunch Time
Five weeks until my second novel is due to Bethany House. My plan is to finish the actual writing this month, and take all of November to edit. My father graciously offered to take a week off from work early next month, and watch Jacob, which will be a huge help – though I’m not sure how Jacob’s schoolwork will look…there are always, shall we say, interesting answers appearing on the paper when Papa helps with school. But, it’s only a week.
I promised Jacob I’d take him to the local indoor water park once I finished. He reminds me every day.
This novel has been hard. I mean hard – hard to get started, hard to plot, hard to figure out the characters, hard to actually put words on the computer screen. The plot changed numerous times. I rewrote chunks and my word count went nowhere. The minor characters are still somewhat in flux. Some days I opened the word processor and couldn’t make a sentence. Some days I had literal anxiety any time I though about the book. So I didn’t think about it. Man, I sound neurotic. *grin* Really, I’ve been wallowing in my insecurities through most of this process. Yes, I should be trusting in God. He provided the contract, He would help me see it though. But I’m too worried about this book being “good enough.” I know that’s wrong, so now when I think that, I pray. I pull my eyes off myself and look up.
I spoke with several other authors who assure me the second novel is the hardest, and it does get easier as time goes on. I hope so.
I’m ready for number three.
Awesome Review at Blogcritics.org
Blogcritics is an online magazine, a community of writers and readers from around the globe. Jennifer Bogart writes:
…Home Another Way is populated with an eccentric cast of characters. The people of Jonah are overwhelmingly Christian and downright unusual. Each has experienced some degree of pain in their lives, difficult circumstances, sin. Yet they all look for the light, the silver lining, and worse – they all speak well of Sarah’s deceased father, whom she is determined to hate.
Debut novelist Christa Parrish breathes new life into Christian fiction that focuses on interpersonal relationships. Home Another Way sparkles with crisp, cutting descriptive prose and veritably oozes angst. Convinced that everyone else is to blame for her destructive downward spiral, Sarah’s life is an open wound that she aggressively defends with sharp words, angry offensives, and seductive wiles. Her attempts to staunch its flow of blood include junk food, strange men, and impassioned, solitary violin solos.
Short chapters and rapid scene changes propel the reader through the novel. When it seems that Sarah’s self pity and anger will never end, glimpses of the joy and peace in the lives of those around her shine through the darkness to save the story from descending into pure depression. The contrast between her life as an unbeliever and those of the Christians she knows is stark, yet believable due to their foibles and realistic lives. These characters are so authentic in their quirks and qualities that they linger in the memory long after the story is over. From the obese Memory, her heart for hospitality and grown invalid son to young Beth with her disfiguring scars and pure heart – their unremitting hope and faith is a beacon to all who will encounter them.
Parrish swerves to avoid clichés and predictable, tidy endings to provide readers with an authentic, satisfying conclusion. Not everything is as it seems for Sarah, or for the reader. Those seeking a refreshing change of pace from the glut of repetitive Christian romance titles will be pleasantly surprised… Read the entire review here.
Cooking Around the World
Thursdays are our “at home” days. Every other afternoon we are out of the house, whether I’m teaching or Jacob is participating in the drop-in “Artful Afternoons” at the Hyde Collection. Or play dates. Or co-op. Or the homeschool bowling league. Or, or, or.
Thursdays are lazy days. We take too long to do school. We follow rabbit trails, play board games if we don’t feel like reading, get outside for nature study or trampoline bouncing between math and history, and mess up the kitchen with science experiments. We breathe. Ha ha. I wash the floor and clean the bathrooms. Sometimes we don’t get out of our pajamas until lunch.
Thursdays are also Jacob’s cooking days. He chooses and prepares (with varying degrees of help) dinner for the family. And he’s now decided that every Thursday he wants to make a meal from a different country.
Of course, being a homeschool mom, I’ve turn this into a learning opportunity. Jacob picks the the food, then we look up the country in Operation World’s Window on the World and commit to pray for the people there throughout the week. Jacob also finds the country on a black-and-white map, coloring it and the country’s flag, and we put these in his Worldview Notebook.
This week, Jacob chose India. For dinner, we made Chicken Biriyani, Chana Masala (chickpeas with spinach), and Naan, of course.
Or specific prayer requests for India:
- Praise for every Indian Christain, and that God would continue to draw them closer to Him, and uphold them in the face of any persecution.
- Praise and prayers of safe-keeping for all the missionaries in India, especially Ben and Susie Thomas, who are there with Athletes in Action, and who our church support.
- That those who don’t know Jesus would read and understand the New Testaments and other literature given out each year.
- That many would hear the preaching of the Gospel through missionaries and radio programs.
- That those ministering to the poor, homeless, sick, and other “untouchables” will not just bring Spiritual help, but also meet the real, tangible physical and emotional needs of those with whom they come in contact.
