Writers in the Storm

Before Lyn gets started, I just wanted to let you know. We've had requests to repost the finalist's entries of the Going to the Chapel Conest. We were happy to comply! Just go to the Contest page to view. Here's Lyn:

By Lyn Horner

Modern Druidism, or Druidry, sprouted in 17th century Britain. This period is known as the Druid Revival.

Studying scraps of historical records equaling only ten pages of translated text, scholars of that time began to formulate a new spiritual philosophy. Rooted in nature and the living earth, it attracted interest all over Britain, and a number of people embraced this new path. It offered an alternative to the rigidity of organized religion and the materialistic views of philosophers like René Descartes.

English Druids claim the first modern Druid order was formed in 1717, during a meeting
at the Apple Tree Tavern in Covent Garden, London. There is no proof of this legendary meeting but, whether it occurred or not, the revival was well advanced by that date.

Some of its followers hoped to modify Christianity into a more nature-based religion. They supported the Latitudinarian movement in the Church of England. Latitudinarians urged tolerance toward religious dissenters and favored meditation and individual study as a spiritual path.

Other members of the Druid Revival sought to create a totally separate faith. Many believed in pantheism, which asserts that the universe is a living, divine being. The term pantheism was created by John Toland, an Irish writer whose views greatly influenced the Druid Revival. Pantheist Druids believe everything in nature is divine. Polytheistic Druids believe in many gods of nature. Such beliefs were crimes in 18th century Britain, subject to severe punishment.

Eager to learn from their ancient predecessors, Druid Revivalists latched on to any bit of information they could find. In his writings, Julius Caesar said the original Druids taught their students about the planets. This caused Revivalists to tramp across the Salisbury Plain, examining megalithic sites in search of clues to the Celtic Druids’ knowledge of astronomy. References to the ancient ones worshipping in forest groves had an even greater impact, leaving a vision of white-robed figures communing among the trees imprinted on our imaginations even now.

In the 19th century Welsh Druidry came to prominence. It’s founder was Edward Williams, who took the name Iolo Morganwg (Iolo of Glamorgan.) A gifted poet and scholar, he sometimes added his own poetry to authentic medieval texts, inventing lore that influences modern Druid rituals. He and his Welsh Druid compatriots were often at odds with the Druids of Britain and France.

The same holds true for Irish Druids of that era. Throughout the 19th century, Irish
Celtic nationalists bitterly opposed their British overlords. Most were conservative
Christians. Those few who were attracted by Druid lore turned their backs on Druid groups outside traditional Celtic nations. These regional and political rifts within the Druid movement lasted for decades.

Despite such setbacks, Druidry has evolved and spread to many corners of the world over the past three centuries. The first American Druid societies came into being during the Revolutionary War. By the early part of the 20th century Druid orders included large branches in the U.S. and Canada, and reached as far away as Australia and New Zealand. France also developed a strong Druid presence with its own special traditions.

Archeological finds during the past century forced modern Druids to reassess some of their beliefs and traditions. For one thing, some Druid orders had claimed a continuous, unbroken link reaching back to the ancient Druids. Archeologists and historians have proven this false. Some modern Druids found it difficult to dispense with their misleading claims, but nowadays most realize they do not need that fictitious link to the dim past. They have established modern Druidry with a unique three-hundred-year-long tradition of its own.

Cairistiona Worthington, in The Beginner’s Guide to Druidry, states, “A Spiritual Path, a way of life, a philosophy, Druidry is all of these . . . Druidry today is alive and well,
and has migrated around the world forming a wonderful web of people who honour
and respect the Earth and the sacred right to life of all that is part of the Earth. Like a great tree drawing nourishment through its roots, Druidry draws wisdom from its ancestral heritage. There is a saying in Druidry that ‘The great tree thrives on the leaves that it casts to the ground’. Druidry today does not pretend to present a replica of the past, rather it is producing a new season’s growth.”

This concludes my brief review of the history, culture and religious beliefs of Celtic and modern day Druids. I have only skimmed the surface of a subject that has been written about at length by scholars far more knowledgeable than I. If you would like to learn more about the Druids, please refer to the resources listed after each of my posts.

Books:
The Druidry Handbook by John Michael Greer
The Beginners Guide to Druidry by Cairistiona Worthington

Websites:
What is Druidry from The Order of Bards, Ovates & Druids
The Druid Network – a directory of Druid groups in theUSA
South  Central Druid Coalition – Networking opportunities for Druids in Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Louisiana

Has this series been helpful to you? Do you write about other periods, cultures or religions in your books? Do you enjoy doing research? How many of you find that, until you do the research, you cannot proceed with your story?

Lyn is hosting a new collaborative series -- “Western Romance, The Story of Us” –on her home page. Several talented authors and readers are contributing. She hopes you will stop by http://texasdruids.com/posts/ and give her guest bloggers some comment love!

Don't forget to check back - our guest blogger this Friday will be the amazing Sue Grimshaw, former romance buyer for Borders, now acquiring editor for the new Loveswept line for Random House!

We love hearing from you! Not only do we hope that you enjoy the blogs here at WITS (and comment on them!) we also hope you'll visit our Writers In The Storm Page on Facebook.

As you know, we're hosting some amazing guest bloggers on Fridays lately, and today we're fortunate to have Kitty Bucholtz, the founder of the sucessful blog, Routines for Writers. Kitty's blog forte is inspiration, as you'll see from the following. We know Kitty from our local RWA group, OCCRWA, but she left us a year or so ago to follow her husband to a job in Australia! We miss her sunny personality and her encouragement, but you can get a shot of it anytime on her blog!

I’m so happy to be a guest here at Writers in the Storm. Not only are these some of my favorite people <waving madly>, but they’re serious about their writing and it shows on this blog.

I’ve been getting more and more serious about my writing as time goes by. It’s been a slow road with a few wonderful moments that I thought might be THE MOMENT. But then The Moment would turn into “We almost bought it,” and I had to trudge on. There were a few times when I gave up for a while, too discouraged to think of a way to keep going.

But a couple years ago I had lunch with my friend Dwight who said he wanted to run a marathon just to say he did it. I’d been trying to think of something I could do before I turned 40 that I’d never done before, something I’d never have believed I could do. A half marathon sounded like a brilliant idea. Especially because I was a dedicated couch potato. Running 13.1 miles without stopping was definitely on my list of things I couldn’t do.

We talked my husband John into joining us and the three of us began to train. From the beginning. Meaning we downloaded the “Couch to 5k” podcast from iTunes which starts with you running for 60 seconds, then walking for 90 seconds. I thought running meant running so I ran. Before the second minute of running was announced on my iPod, I was exhausted and ready to quit. But I couldn’t because now I’d convinced John to run, too, and he wasn’t quitting after 60 seconds. Crap! What had I gotten myself into?

Over the next 9 weeks, we slowly worked our way up to 5km (3.1 miles) and the three of us entered our first 5k race. Turns out John is a natural athlete and he did well in that first race (and has done well ever since). Dwight is about 6’4” and I figured his long legs would do all the work, but he struggled more than John. I struggled, too. I made it, but I was near the end of the finishers.

We kept training. We entered another 5k race and we did better. We drove to another city and ran a 10k race. I was excited about that one because we would be running through the wetlands next to a beach and there would be ice cream at the end. I was so slow that the photographer didn’t bother taking my picture (they take everyone’s picture) and they had already put the finisher’s medals away when I crossed the finish line.

I had half a bowl of melted ice cream and thought about what an idiot I was to be doing this. At the outset, running seemed like the perfect form of exercise for the budget-impaired. After all, we had two legs and a pair of sneakers when we started. But every race has an entry fee (money). We didn’t realize that you needed proper running shoes in order to not hurt your feet (more money). We were buying running gels (money), and driving all over the state (gas money).

To do what? To have John and Dwight always wait for me because I was always at the end of the pack. It was embarrassing.

One day, because I tend to be a techno-geek, I created an Excel spreadsheet with all of our race information. All the races we’d run so far, our times, what place we came in, and a list of the races we were planning on entering before the big prize – the Huntington Beach Marathon and Half Marathon. Typing the details into that spreadsheet, I noticed something for the first time.

I’d gotten a little faster with each race.

Shocking! Because I’d always been near the end, finisher number 752 out of 827, or finisher number 1721 out of 2165, and because I’d been passed by old men and a woman with one leg, I’d assumed I sucked big time. Maybe I did in comparison to the winners. But I was beating out my best time with each new race!

I’ve now run two half marathons and several shorter races. I’ve got some great stories about how running has taught me how to be a writer who goes the distance. I came in third to last in one half marathon because I’d hurt my foot a few weeks before and basically limped for 13.1 miles. My goal was only to go as far as I could without hurting myself. I never dreamed I’d even finish that race.

But the people waiting at the finish line cheered for me! I couldn’t believe it. I asked a stranger why they were cheering when I was nearly dead last. She said, “Because you finished! We’re all standing here because none of us could do what you just did!”

It shouldn’t take much imagination to think back through my story on running and change it to a story on writing. Paul, one of the writers in the Bible, gives some great encouragement to people on a journey. He says we can take pride in ourselves without comparing ourselves to others. He encourages us not to get weary of trying. And he reminds us that when we forget the past and press on toward the goal, we will win a prize.

Next month John and I will run the City2Surf race in Sydney for the second time. It’s the largest race in the world with 80,000+ runners. Last year, I finished behind about 49,000 people. But I beat 16,000 other people! And 15,000 people never crossed the finish line.

What about you? Have you done anything in your outside life that inspired your writing? This is not an easy journey, and we all benefit from your inspiration - please share it with us!

I’ll never win first place in a footrace. And I don’t dream of making more money than Jane or selling more books than Sally. But I have career goals and benchmarks, and I’m beginning to see that when I compete with myself and don’t give up, I win a little bit every day. I hope you see that about yourself, too.

Kitty Bucholtz has been published in a variety of magazines and anthologies, and writes light-hearted urban fantasy. She holds a Master of Arts degree in Creative Writing from University of Technology, Sydney, and is a member of Romance Writers of America and Romance Writers of Australia. She loves to help and encourage other writers and is one of the co-founders of Routines for Writers. Follow her on Twitter at @KittyBucholtz.

When I read today’s guest blog, the first question I had for Denise was why she and Monica would team up to write a book. When she sent me their bios, it not only made it clear, but made me want to read the book. Read on, and you’ll see what I mean.

~ Laura

After writing 11 historical romances, one of which won Romantic Times Magazine's Best First Historical in 1994, the last thing Denise Domning thought she'd be doing was co-writing someone's memoir, especially someone she didn't know.  So how did she connect with Monica?  Through their shared Homeopathic doctor.  At every visit the doctor and his wife would insist that Denise had to write this Monica's story.  They eventually wore her down and she agreed to meet Monica, and the rest as they say is history.  Thank heavens it only took her five years to do the research on Monica's life as compared to the twelve she took before she completed her first Medieval novel.

Monica Sarli began to consider writing her memoirs in 2001 after her then ex-husband Steve died from Hepatitis C acquired during the nineteen years of their shared Heroin addiction.  That’s when she realized she’s a statistical anomaly: only one percent of Heroin addicts are able to leave behind their addiction and live sober, healthy and productive lives, and she’s now been clean for twenty-five years.  She credits her recovery to three principles she learned while at the Amity Therapeutic Community, principles that now guide her life: Never Lie, Honestly Share the Truth of Your Life, and Help Others.  She continues to use these same principles today in her recovery from her sex addiction.   She hopes all those living with addiction or living with an addict find inspiration in her story.  Today, she’s single, sober, happy and loving her life just as it is.

Publishing Naked

After almost a year of twiddling our thumbs, Monica and I have turned our back on New York and decided to strike out on our own.  This isn’t a decision I would have made a year ago, but a year ago I still believed in the idea of a New York publisher.  I’m not so sure any more. 

I’m just now realizing, Kindle and Amazon have changed everything.

I’ve been promising for years to bring out my novels on the Kindle. I finally got around to doing it—on my own.   You know, I just wasn’t willing to share that 70% royalty Kindle was offering. I was astounded at how easy it was . . . okay, for me.  I’ve spent a few years working at web design, so coding the books myself into html/xhtml format was pretty simple, although plenty tedious. 

Much to my amazement, my Kindle books started selling immediately.  A hundred dollars a month royalty isn’t much but it’s a heck of a lot more than those books were earning for me over the last few years.   Each month, that number climbs. 

At the same time I also used the “Back In Print” program through Authors’ Guild to bring the first five books out in print through iUniverse.  I will not be repeating that experience with the other books.  Not only did they get the covers wrong on two of the books, they actually blamed me for not getting them the covers and/or changes.  That wasn’t what happened, but I was overwhelmed with our move from Scottsdale up here to the farm, so I let it go.  Then I heard from another author that the same thing happened to them.  Now, maybe wrongly, I’m seeing a pattern.  I’m sure as heck not spending any money with iUniverse for promotion, not if this is the way they handle their projects.)

That’s when Monica and I got yet another rejection for our book.  It’s not the quality of the writing that keeps New York from buying—it’s that Monica isn’t famous. 

I looked at my Kindle statement, looked at Monica (who is the sort of person that walks into the room and everyone starts whispering, wondering which movie they’ve seen her in) and thought, “You know, we’re going about this all wrong.  If we need to prove to New York that Monica can hold up her end of the deal and promote the book, then why not do it for ourselves?  Why put our book into the hands of people who don’t believe in it?”

Then the news about Amanda Hocking broke, how she self-published her way into a 2 million dollar contract with St. Martin’s Press when her books went viral on Kindle.  

If that wasn’t enough to convince me, the other day I was speaking with a friend who is an author that consistently hits the Times.  She had heard from someone high up that the publishing world as I’ve known it is doomed -- with maybe six more years before they’re going to have to either change or die. 

That was it.  Monica and I sat down, looked at our project, divided the book up into smaller parts and created her new memoir series: The Men Wars.  The first book, which we intend—I’m writing as fast as I can—to have out before the end of July, is entitled Men-ipulation. 

We’re not going into this on a hope and a prayer, plugging it into Kindle and waiting.  We’re going to use the marketing and PR plan we had to develop for our non-fiction proposal. Did you know that all non-fiction books require a business plan to be submitted to New York?  I didn’t, but I sure do now.

So, instead of doing our PR in tandem with a publishing house’s marketing plan we’re going to be suiting ourselves.  Tomorrow, Monica is doing the photo shoot for the cover art.  A new website is in the planning stages. We’re not letting anyone else put their fingers in it.  If this one fails, it fails because we really don’t have the talent to make this fly.

I don’t believe that and neither does she.

Here’s my promise to the readers of this blog.  Each and every week as we go along, I’ll keep you updated on what happens and how it happens. 

Oh, and in case you think I’ve given up my historical roots, not so.  At least not yet.  Connie Flynn has allowed me to participate in her great Bootcamp for Authors on-line writing course. 

Starting July 15, I’ll be teaching a course called “Bringing Your Historical to Life”.  At the end of the course you should know how to weave your historical research into your novel so deftly that your readers will feel like they’ve used a time machine after reading your book.

Have you considered publishing naked? If so, how?  If you already have, how did it turn out? We'd love to hear about your experience.

You'll want to be sure to stop by Writers In The Storm on Friday. Our guest blogger will be Kitty Buckholtz, the founder of the amazing blog, Routines for Writers!