My Father's Daughter

My father was an amazing man. He was one of six siblings, all of whom were geniuses. My father’s IQ was over 160. Genius, I believe, is around 135. He played several instruments, including the trombone, the French horn, the English horn and the piano. He won first place in the state competition in Nebraska, for French horn.  

All through my childhood we heard my father playing classical music on the piano and playing the trombone in church. He was a minister, and many people said he was the most knowledgeable preacher they ever heard. As I mentioned in a previous post, he was also a poet, with over two hundred poems. What most people didn’t know about him was that he was a very accomplished composer. He wrote the words and music to around fifty beautiful songs.

In 1999 we lost him to leukemia. He contracted leukemia from getting radiation treatments for prostate cancer. I miss him very much.

As talented as my father was, the one thing he was short on was the courage to publish all the wonderful poetry and music that he created. I believe he was afraid that people wouldn’t appreciate his work and he would feel rejected. So, the safe thing was to just keep it in the family.

When I started writing my book, The Adventures of Little Chrisamee – Creation, I was having great fun writing the story. In the back of my mind was the idea that I would love to get it published. Because of watching my father with his writing and composing, I just sort of had it in my mind that publishing was just a pipe dream. It wasn’t something I would ever be able to do.

As the story progressed and I was getting great feedback from my family and friends I starting thinking more and more about getting it published. Still, there was always this nagging fear that publishing a book was something completely out of my reach. If I tried to get it published and failed, then everyone would see me as a failure. However, if I just shared the story with my family and friends then I would be seen as a successful story writer. After all, if you don’t try then you can’t fail, right? On the other hand, if you don’t try then neither can you succeed.

I decided I had to try. The chain of fear of failure had to be broken.

Another thing that motivated me is the fact that I don’t have any children. I have felt for years that when I leave this earth there would be nothing left behind to show that I was ever here. If I could get my book out there, then there would be proof that I existed. Still it was very scary trying to get this accomplished.

My family and friends were very supportive. When they would ask me how it was coming along, I would start thinking, “I have to do this, I have to do this”.

Then I married my husband Ray, and he was not going to let me give up. I am so grateful to him for that.

I had a lot of challenges along the way, and I was never certain I could get it done. The day my published books arrived was possibly the most exciting day of my life.

My great nieces and great nephew, Amy, Torri, Trent and Jackie, are all little angels in the book. When they got their signed copies, they were thrilled, taking it around showing it to everyone they know and bragging about their stardom. Since then, they have written and illustrated their own books, even using online apps to print them up. I was amazed when I saw them.

If you like to write, but you have the same fears that I have, I encourage you to not let it stop you. The pride of seeing your finished book is more than I can ever explain to you. Also, like with my great nieces and nephew, you never know what else will come as a reward to your efforts.

In short, break the chain of fear, and create a new chain of success. You will never regret it. I wish my father and mother could have seen what I did. I know they both would be very proud.

Your comments are welcome.  

It's A Small World

One thing I am finding fascinating and fun about having a blog is seeing where my audience is. Every day I look to see how many people have viewed what I have written. It is very exciting and interesting. So far, besides the viewers in the USA, I also have a viewer in Mexico, United Kingdom and Russia.

I know how the person in Mexico and the one in the United Kingdom found out about my blog, but the one in Russia is a complete mystery to me. I have only been blogging for two and a half weeks. This shows me once again just how small the world is now.

I hope to have the chance to see a lot of this world in my lifetime. One of the ways I would like to see it is by taking a river cruise. If you aren’t familiar with them, I highly suggest that you look them up on the internet. The website that I have found that shows them the best it called “Viking River Cruises”. Another site is “Gate 1”, and then you have to select the tab for river cruises.

To take a river cruise, you fly to Europe or whichever country you want to go to. Europe seems to be where most of the river cruises are. Then you board a river cruise ship and travel through the country. These small cruses ships are sort of like the big cruise ships except they only hold about two hundred people. They have cabins that I understand are larger than the ones on the huge ocean cruise ships. Onboard entertainment and restaurants with wonderful food are provided in the fare, and you can eat breakfast, lunch and dinner if you like. Of course, eating in the local restaurants would be a lot of fun, but that comes out of your own pocket.  

The river cruises go along the major rivers such as the Danube, the Rhine, and others. Since they travel down the river in the evening or at night, you are in a different city or village every day. You then get to explore the town or countryside all day long. There is beautiful shore line all along the river. On regular ocean cruises you spend a lot of time in the middle of the ocean where all you can see is water and sky. Not so with the river cruises.

Since I discovered river cruising I am starting to put away my pennies. I have spoken to people who have been on river cruises and they say that they enjoyed them even more than the ocean cruises.

Hopefully I will get to do this sometime within the next couple of years. Until then I will keep saving my pennies and dreaming about how fantastic it is going to be. Everyone needs to have a dream. Right?

Gina, Caleb and Shianne

If you read my last post you will remember that a group of ladies at the women’s retreat gathered around in a circle with me and prayed that God would use my book, “The Adventures of Little Chrisamee – Creation” to bring children to the Lord. That was on Sunday, 10-13-13. I was thrilled that they did that.

On Tuesday, 10-15-13, my friend Gina from Tyler, TX Called because she wanted to tell me something that had happened.

Gina, unfortunately, has been estranged from her daughter for many years. She hadn’t seen her grandchildren, Caleb and Shianne, in a very long time.

In October of 2012 Gina felt led to write the book of Genesis by hand, in cursive. She found out that her grandson Caleb was wanting to learn to write in cursive. Gina sent the book of Genesis, which she had written by hand, to her daughter with a note suggesting that Caleb could use it to help him learn cursive.

In June of this year Gina got a phone call from her daughter telling her that if she would like to see her grandchildren she would bring them over for the day. Of course Gina was thrilled.

While visiting with their grandmother, Caleb told her that when he was practicing his cursive by reading and writing the book of Genesis he had asked the Lord into his heart and became a Christian. He also said that when he prays, his little sister, Shianne, won’t close her eyes.

Gina remembered that she has a copy of my book, so she brought it out and started reading it to the children. After she finished the first chapter, Shianne said, “I want to ask Jesus into my heart now, Grammy”. Gina led her in prayer and she became a Christian also.

When Gina called and told me this story I had tears in my eyes remembering how the ladies had prayed for this very thing just two days earlier. God is so good.

If you have a children’s story that you really want to write, don’t let anything stand in your way. You never know what impact it is going to have on the children who read it. At the same time, that puts a lot of responsibility on us to make sure that what we write has good values. As writers, we can change the world.

Comments on this post are welcome.

The Ladies' Retreat

This past weekend I had the privilege of going to a women’s retreat at a wonderful campground called Old Oak Ranch, in Sonora CA.

Usually we are in dorms, but this time we were in the barracks. There were twelve sets of bunk beds. We had eleven ladies from our church, and there were ten ladies from a church in Nevada.

The guest speaker was a lady named Lydia Ranger. She is an incredible speaker and one of the most powerful singers I have heard. She was amazing. If you ever have a chance to hear her or buy one of her CDs, I highly recommend it.

I got to know three of the ladies pretty well. They were Becky, Becca and Debbie. I told one of the ladies from Nevada about my book, “The Adventures of Little Chrisamee”. She was very interested in it and said she would love to see it. Luckily I had brought a few books with me. She loved it and showed it to several of the ladies and they all were interested in it also. I sold every copy I had with me. If I had had any idea what was going to happen, I would have brought more. I could have sold them all.

Debbie told me that her calling is to help people promote things they are doing or working on. She has plans to help promote my book.

It amazes me how many people want to help when they find out what you are doing. So many people are connected with people or businesses that can help in some way or have information that is very useful.

On Sunday morning about eight of the ladies gathered around in a circle with me. We all held hands and they prayed over me and my book. They prayed that God would help me with the writing of my second book.  More than that, they asked God to use the book to help children understand about God and come to know Him as their personal savior. That is what I desire most with my books. If I sell a million books, that would be exciting, but if I only sell a hundred but they help children to make it to heaven, it will be worth it all.

Tuesday evening I received a phone call from a friend in Texas. In my next post I will tell you all about it. It was quite amazing and ties in directly with everything that happened at the retreat. I want to make sure I have all the details correct before I put it in my blog.

I hope you will come back to read about it.  

Poem - Sarah and John

Today I decided to share one of my poems with you.

Back in about 1981 I woke up at 2:00am one morning and I was thinking: "The temperature outside was 17 below."

I wondered why I was thinking that. Then I thought:  "The temperature outside was 17 below. Old Sarah sat in her big chair and rocked it to and fro."

Suddenly I realized it was a poem, so I got up, went into the living room and sat on the couch. From 2:00am until 3:00am I sat there in the dark and wrote a poem. When I finished creating the poem I knew I needed to write it down but I was so tired I couldn't hold my eyes open any longer. I decided to go to bed, and, if the poem was actually any good, I would remember it in the morning.

When I woke up the next morning I remembered every word. I wrote it down then and it has always been one of my favorites.

If you enjoy it, I would really appreciate it if you would send my blog address to your friends. Also, comments would be nice.

Thank you

Janice

Sarah And John

The temperature outside was seventeen below.

Old Sarah sat in her big chair and rocked it to and fro.

 

She wrestled to her feet, went through the parlor door,

And struggled up the monstrous stairway to the second floor.

 

She stopped to catch her breath, that frail shivering form.

The cold just went right through her, she was never really warm.

 

She shuffled down the hall, flipped on the bedroom light,

Looked at the picture on the wall, and blew a kiss,”Goodnight”.

 

“Dear John, oh how I miss you. I wish that I was there.”

She changed into her gown and pulled the hair pins from her hair.

 

“Perhaps it will be tonight”, she thought, and tried her best to die.

But the only thing that she could do was close her eyes and cry.

 

She couldn’t sleep well anymore, she tossed and turned all night.

And when the sun began to rise, she saw the day’s first light.

 

She’d gotten so forgetful, she’d leave the burners on.

And, when she reached for her glasses, she’d wonder where they’d gone.

 

She couldn’t cook, so she’d just have toast and jelly and milk.

She looked at her flannel nightgown, and remembered when she’d worn silk.

 

She watched all day for visitors, but none would ever call,

So, she sat in her old rocking chair, and watched the snowflakes fall.

 

Joe went to the office, while Donna cleaned and baked.

“No time for Mom today”, she thought, while Mom just rocked and ached.

 

And then one night it happened, while Sarah lay in bed.

God just smiled and kissed her. “Come home, my child”, He said.

 

And when, at last, they found her, it came as quite a shock.

“How could she die, and us not know? She just lived down the block?”

 

“She was too young to die”, they said. “She was only eighty four.

We thought for sure that she would live, at least for ten years more.”

 

So, they donned sad faces, and gravely said, “We can’t believe she’s gone.”

And, while they cried their selfish tears, she walked and laughed with John.

 

Janice Austin Bates

 

Finding a team of experts

Today I thought I would tell you how I ended up with the experts who helped me put my book together. When you publish a book, the people you find to help you can make you or break you, especially when you are a novice.

When I was writing my book I would pray before I started writing each time for God to help me write the story of creation correctly so that children would enjoy the story, and so that they would really understand it.

I would also look on line for an illustrator. There are a lot to pick from. When I would find one that I liked for my particular book I would send them an email requesting that they send me a price list. Each one I contacted did send me their prices and I was always horrified. They were always $1,000 per picture. I needed 17 pictures so I couldn’t possibly afford them.

Finally one day I realized that even though I was constantly praying about the writing, I had never prayed and asked God to help me find the right illustrator. I immediately stopped and prayed about it. Then I  started looking again. A day or two later I found another illustrator I liked and sent the usual email. Once again I got the same email back with $1,000 prices. However, this time, (in answer to my prayer I am sure) she also sent me a note telling me that she was the same as all of the other illustrators I had contacted with the $1,000 prices. She explained that the reason was that they all work for the publishers, and they can afford them. People like me who were self-publishing cannot afford them. She suggested that I check out a website called Picture Kitchen Studio. I loved the pictures and contacted the illustrator. Her name is Kim Sponaugle and it turned out that she is a wonderful Christian. Her prices were a fraction of the other prices. She was incredibly nice and helpful. She did all my pictures and they turned out fantastic.

Kim got me lined up with an editor named Pam Halter (also a wonderful Christian). She has written children’s books for about 25 years or more. She also was very helpful and great to work with. When she sent back my edited book I was horrified at all the things she told me to take out or change. I cried my eyes out. For the next 6 months, every time I tried to start making changes I would start sobbing and put it away. Finally my husband, Ray, told me that since we had already paid for the publishing I had to finish the book. I knew he was right, so I started making the changes she suggested and resenting her with every delete and change I made. When I was finished I re-read my book and was amazed at how much better it was. I guess she knew what she was talking about after all.

I had already contracted with a publisher. They charged my $3,000 and told me they would make my book a paperback and price it at $7.95. When I contacted them and said I was ready to publish they told me I was mistaken about the price. They told me that they were going to have to price it at $24.95. I told them that no one would buy a 40 page children’s paperback for that price. They said that was what they were going to price it at anyway. They wouldn’t budge. Since it had been just over a year since I had signed the contract they would not refund my money either.

I cried and prayed. Then I contacted Kim. She agreed that no one would buy it. She told me to call a lady named Lisa Umina at Halo Publishing.  Just like Kim and Pam, Lisa was also a wonderful Christian. She took me under her wing, guided me through the process and ended up making my book a hardback with a jacket. Then she priced it at $17.95. It turned out beautiful.

There were a lot of laughs and tears but I am thrilled with what I ended up with.

I learned a lot of lessons, but none more important than understanding how critical it is that I pray about everything in the whole journey. What an experience this has been. I can't wait to do it all again with the next book.

Getting Started

Hi

My name is Janice Austin Bates. A couple of years ago I started blogging but I didn't know what I was doing. I posted three blogs and then lost my access to my account. I still don't know what I am doing but someone is helping me learn how to blog, so I am trying it again. This time I actually have a home page. Please be patient with me while I figure this all out.

Last year I published a Christian children's book. Hopefully it is the first of a series of books. I plan to tell stories from the Bible as seen through the eyes of a little angel named Chrisamee, pronounced Chris-uh-me. She watches the stories happen through a window in the side of heaven. At the end of each day she runs to the throne room and talks to Father God. She tells Him what she saw and she has questions about it, so He answers them for her. The idea of my books is to tell children the stories from the Bible in a way they will enjoy and help them to understand them.

I guess I should tell you how I got started.

When I was a teenager I started noticing that many of my thoughts flowed in a rhythm and had to rhyme. It used to drive me crazy. I wished that I just thought normally like everyone else. I never told anyone about it because I thought it was weird. Finally one day I realized that I was thinking in poetry. My father wrote a lot of poetry but I never paid any attention to it. Over the years I came  to find out that not only did my father write poetry, but my aunts, Agnes, Mary and Frances and my grandmother and great-grandmother were poets also. My cousins, Guy, Jim and Dan write songs, which of course is poetry and music. I guess it runs in the family.

I started writing poems and now I have quite a few of them. Sometimes when I start a poem it flows out of me as fast as I can type. Other times it is a struggle. When it is a struggle I usually end up just deleting it because it never turns out to be something that I like. When it flows it always turns out to be a poem that I love.

When I was a sophomore in high school I won an award for writing a short story. When I was a senior I was named "Homemaker of the Year". I found out that the thing that won me the title was an essay I wrote in my Home Economics class. Ironically, I am now in a Writer's Forum club here in town and my Home Economics class teacher is in the club also.

About eight years ago I was sitting in my living room one evening. I started thinking about a story I read in my childhood about a little angel. Suddenly I began thinking that I would love to write a story about a little angel. Her name would be Chrisamee and she would find a hole in the side of heaven where she would watch creation happen.

The whole story started unfolding in my head so I grabbed a tablet and started writing. Before long I had about a dozen pages. I called my sister and told her I was coming over. I read to her what I written and she loved it. By then end of the evening I knew that I wanted to finish the story and get it published, however I thought I was just dreaming. My family was very encouraging and helped me to keep going until I actually had a finished, published book in my hands. I still can't believe I did it.

Now I have started the second book. This book is about the fall of Lucifer, the fall of Adam and Eve, and the nativity. I have to say that this is a more difficult book to write. It starts out very sad, but of course, it ends happy. It isn't easy to write a sad story without losing the children's attention. Please pray for me. I need it.

Well, I hope you have enjoyed my first blog. As I continue my blog I will tell you the story of how I went from my tablet to my finished book. It involved a lot of smiles and tears.

I will talk to you again soon. Please share my blog with other people.

Thank you - Janice