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148. Why Do Some Christians Revile ‘The Chosen’? | with Josiah DeGraaf and Jenneth Dyck
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Into the Darkness
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The Chosen Succeeds Where ‘Woke’ Stories Fail
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The Wayward, Tabitha Caplinger
Fortified, V. Romas Burton
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148. Why Do Some Christians Revile ‘The Chosen’? | with Josiah DeGraaf and Jenneth Dyck
Fantastical Truth, Feb 7, 2023

147. Why Can Christians Celebrate Stories about Merlin and King Arthur? | with Robert Treskillard
Fantastical Truth, Jan 31, 2023

146. How Did Animators Adapt The Wingfeather Saga For Streaming TV? | with Keith Lango
Fantastical Truth, Jan 24, 2023

145. How Did Edmund Spenser’s ‘The Faerie Queene’ Shape Christian Fantasy? | with Rebecca K. Reynolds
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144. Which Top Six Fantasy Franchises Gave Fans Grief in 2022?
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143. Which Top Ten Lorehaven Stories Proved Most Popular in 2022?
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Into the Darkness
“Charles Hack’s Into the Darkness summons a close-range science fiction story, focusing on the personal challenges of space warfare among alien cultures with a steady pace and serious tone.”
—Lorehaven on Feb 3, 2023

A Crown of Chains
“A Crown of Chains creatively retells a biblical tale to explore themes of providence, racism, faith, and fidelity.”
—Lorehaven on Jan 27, 2023

Lander’s Legacy
“Lander’s Legacy stacks modern thrills and complex characters on a foundation of biblical what-ifs.”
—Lorehaven on Jan 20, 2023

Prince Caspian
“Pacing starts slow but creature lore grows in C. S. Lewis’s sequel, introducing practical tyrants and talking-beast politics into a Narnian resistance.”
—Lorehaven on Jan 13, 2023

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Lorehaven helps Christian fans explore fantastical stories for Christ’s glory: fantasy, science fiction, and beyond. Articles, the library, reviews, podcasts, gifts, and the Lorehaven Guild community help fans discern and enjoy the best Christian-made fantastical stories, applying their meanings to the real world Jesus Christ calls us to serve. Subscribe free to get any updates you choose and to access the Lorehaven Guild.
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The Indie Fork

Seven years ago, I would have told you: I’ll never self-publish. It seemed pretty clear to me. I wasn’t impressed with the products that usually emerged in that sector of publishing and it seemed, in so many ways, a cop-out–giving […]
Rachel Marks on Jan 27, 2012
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Rachel Marks's ebook novella

Seven years ago, I would have told you: I’ll never self-publish. It seemed pretty clear to me. I wasn’t impressed with the products that usually emerged in that sector of publishing and it seemed, in so many ways, a cop-out–giving up.

A lot has happened in my life in seven years. My husband and I lost everything, including our ranch (a very long and interesting story I may someday write about). Not long after, I became sick, and was soon diagnosed with lymphoma.

You tend to reevaluate things when death breathes on you. Before my diagnosis my art was taking off, I was writing with everything in me and submitting to agents and even getting a lot of great responses, although no contracts yet. But once the chemo started I was fairly useless. Because of the constant pain, I couldn’t draw or write, there were times when I couldn’t even find the energy to read. Mostly I just sat and stared at the wall. It was a strange state. A hopeless one.

But God is good and he chose to take away the tumor and released me back into life once more. Of course, I wasn’t the same. I didn’t know what I was beyond wife and mother anymore. After a year of what I realize now was basically torture I was confused, afraid of everything, and hollow.

It took another close call of the doctors discovering a secondary tumor six months into remission to wake me up from that. When I opened my eyes after the surgery, and heard the words I’d pleaded with God to hear, Not cancer, it was as if God was saying to me, I still have work for you to do.

And in the struggle of discovering that mission, I’ve come to a very important realization. The WHY of my writing. For so long I thought it was something for me to enjoy, something I was supposed to be honing and perfecting. I was being obedient. But I wasn’t enjoying it. In fact it had become a bit of torture in itself.

After a few months of wondering what the heck I was trying to prove, I decided to just “hang it all,” and put one of my favorite novellas on Kindle. I told myself it didn’t matter how many I sold — that wasn’t the point. The point was to allow people to read it.

And, in this, I discovered my WHY. I discovered the joy in writing again. And I found that God will use me and my work. Because even in the small story of Winter Rose, I’m seeing Him move.

By writing this post I’m not advocating e-publishing, but I felt it was important that we as writers — especially we who write speculative works — know what our goals are. We need to be obedient, but we also need to be willing to shrink our large-sized artist heads down so God can get us through the right doors.

My goal is still to be published with traditional publishers. But I also feel it’s important for us to let God be the one to guide each work to the right outlet.

In my next post I’ll talk more specifics, how I made the cover, how I chose the venue. And even the evil “P” word of self-promotion.

In the mean time, consider why you write. Dig deep inside and seek God’s will for your work. Don’t be stuck on one way for every piece you write, there’s so much available to us out there. In the end your journey may not look how you imagined, but it’ll be right.

– – – – –

Rachel A. Marks is a writer and artist, a surfer and dirt-bike rider, chocolate lover and a keeper of faerie secrets. She teaches her four kids at home and tries not to act like a nerd during science class. She was voted: Most Likely To Survive A Zombie Apocalypse, but hopes she’ll never have to test the theory.

Her novella Winter Rose is currently available on Amazon as a free download.

Rachel Marks
Rachel A. Marks is a writer and artist, a surfer and dirt-bike rider, chocolate lover and a keeper of faerie secrets. She teaches her four kids at home and tries not to act like a nerd during science class. She was voted: Most Likely To Survive A Zombie Apocalypse, but hopes she'll never have to test the theory. Her novella Winter Rose was released in November 2011.
Website ·
  1. C.L. Dyck says:
    January 27, 2012 at 2:12 pm

    We used to be connected on ShoutLife ages ago, and then I kinda lost track of you. Now I know why. Oh, man, Rachel. What a rough road. So glad to see you here today and get this chance to catch up with your creative journey.

    Reply
  2. Galadriel says:
    January 27, 2012 at 3:01 pm

    Interesting. I would have liked more information on the plot of Winter Rose, though. Even the summery at Amazon was less than informative, but I downloaded it anway.  It seems to have potental

    Reply
  3. Rebecca LuElla Miller says:
    January 27, 2012 at 3:06 pm

    I don’t think this info is available anywhere, but Rachel did the art work for the cover of Winter Rose. So when she says in her bio “writer and artist” she ain’t kiddin’ ! 😉

    Becky

    Reply
  4. Rachel says:
    January 27, 2012 at 3:45 pm

    Great to see you, C.L! It’s been an exciting journey for sure!
    Galadriel: I didn’t want the post to feel like I was pumping my book, so I didn’t put a big chunk of info about it in there. But you can read a more thorough summary in this review here: http://literallyjen.com/2012/01/22/winter-rose-by-rachel-a-marks/
    As well as in a few of the Amazon reviews. 🙂 Hope that helped!
    Thanks Becky! *hugs*
     
     
     

    Reply
    • E. Stephen Burnett says:
      January 27, 2012 at 4:17 pm

      Thanks for your thoughts today, Rachel, and for your testimony about God’s work in your personal and writing lives. As you’re promoting Winter Rose, you might also consider the Speculative Faith Library. Anyone can submit a complete, published, Christian speculative novel here. That way, we’ll be able to get it on our cyber-shelves.

      Reply
      • Rachel Marks says:
        January 27, 2012 at 5:24 pm

        Thanks E. Stephen! I filled in the form. 🙂

        Reply
  5. Grace Bridges says:
    January 27, 2012 at 6:22 pm

    Thank you for sharing your story! I downloaded the book. That is such a beautiful cover! Well done.

    Reply
  6. Morgan L. Busse says:
    January 28, 2012 at 7:50 pm

    Great real story, Rachel. Can’t wait to read the one you wrote 🙂

    Reply
  7. TheQuietPen says:
    February 1, 2012 at 10:20 pm

    This hit the spot!  I’m was in a similar place with a manuscript–I was so set on Getting It Completely Done that I lost all joy in actually writing it.  It took prayer and God-prodding to realize I actually sort of hated it, and I was mad about feeling that way.  I’ve since taken a hiatus to focus on short stories.  Thanks for sharing.  It’s incredible what a hold God has on our lives!

    Reply
  8. Rich Bullock says:
    February 23, 2012 at 8:31 pm

    Glad you’re making progress, Rachel. Winter Rose was a compelling story–hooked me in and wouldn’t turn me loose.

    Reply

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