Welcome to My Worlds: A Bipolar Christian Tells All

By Robin Miller 

As a little girl, I had a dream—to be a writer. Life ensued. I went to college and graduated with a paralegal certificate, then realized I hated the legal industry. I wanted to experience life, so I went to work in the automobile industry. Stayed there, in customer service, for ten years. Let me tell you, THAT was an experience. Every now and then, I’d remember the dream and write a poem. Enter it in a contest, got a couple published. Then I got married and had my first daughter. I had such a busy life, how could I think of my dream? Until the day my little girl and I were reading, and I thought to myself, “I love reading, have always loved reading. I want to be an author, have always wanted to be an author.” I decided to do something this time. I enrolled in a Writer’s Digest fiction course. Completed it, and began work on a manuscript.  

Life interrupted again. We moved—twice. I had two more children, both girls. But the dream didn’t die. And ten years after I completed my fiction course, I decided to do something again. I bought craft books. Joined writing groups. And learned about writing conferences. Before then, I hadn’t a clue that there were conferences you could attend to take workshops and classes to learn and study. Places you could go and be taught by nationally recognized authors. Events where you could meet with *gasp* editors and agents, face-to-face. Boy, was I hungry for that. 

I attended some small, local conferences. Learned what a pitch was. Realized I was nowhere ready to pitch to an agent, much less an editor. Honed. Studied. Absorbed. It took me having gone to four conferences before I attended the “big” ones—ACFW National and RWA National.  At conferences I’ve:

• Met my critique partners face-to-face and our relationship changed from just writing partners to dear friends for life.
• Met my mentor in person and realized I loved her just as much as I did on email and telephone.
• Met my agent in person for the first time.
• Pitched to the editor who ended up contracting my first book—the one I’d pitched to her.
• Networked with editors who I just like hanging out with because they’re fun
• Been blessed to have taught and encouraged other writers
• Realized how much I NEED conferences to feed my writing spirit

 Want to advance your writing career? GO TO A CONFERENCE. Yes, it takes money to go. Plan ahead. Apply for scholarships. Sale the kids. (Ok, I’m kidding about that.) But the expense is worthwhile—you’re investing in your career. And for me? It’s investing in my mental stability to be around others in this crazy industry.

I’m often asked how I get ideas for my books. I always want to answer, “Where don’t I get ideas?” 

 I get character ideas by people watching. Now, my friends and family know I detest shopping. If I never had to walk into another mall in my life, I’d be happy. But with three daughters, that’s not gonna happen. Sigh. So when forced to brave the elements of humanity (although, I seriously question this—have you ever seen women at a 75% off sale act really human?) and venture into stores or malls, I watch people. I study them. Yes, even been known to snap a picture of one with my cell phone because of a certain hairstyle, or quirk, or expression. All of this information filters down and finds its way into a character. 

 Newspapers, television, and yes, even those true-crime shows all provide fodder for my plots. No, I don’t see something or read about it and then just change minor events for my story. I play a game called what-if. For example, I’ll hear a story about a woman who shot her husband for having an affair. My mind starts the game: What if the woman had hired a private detective to get the “goods” on her husband? What if the private detective had a grudge against the husband for some wrong years ago? What if the man wasn’t having an affair, but the private detective made it look like he was, just so his wife would kill him? Oh, what if the woman didn’t even suspect her husband was having an affair, but this guy who had a grudge against the husband pretended to be a private detective and sent incriminating evidence to the wife? . . . and so my mind goes.

I also get ideas from my own life. For instance, the germ of an idea for my upcoming release, TORRENTS OF DESTRUCTION, came about due to a trip my husband went on. He went on a white-water rafting trip on the Gauley River in West Virginia. He brought home pictures and a video of his adventure. While watching it, I played The Game. What if a tropical storm hit while a guide had a group out? What if the guide was a woman? What if someone in the boat was a murderer? What if the river flooded due to the storm, and the guide had to led a group of men, whom she didn’t know and surely didn’t trust, through the area to reach safety? And the idea for TORRENTS OF DESTRUCTION was born. 

Ideas are everywhere, you just have to look for them. Now, back to The Game. What if a writer was on tight deadline? What if she kept playing on email and the internet instead of making her word count? What if . . .

 By Robin Miller

I remember the first manuscript I hacked out on a typewriter. (Showing my age, aren’t I?) It was bad, and I mean, bad. That was back in the 90s. Thank goodness I lost that manuscript in one of my moves. Yes, it was THAT BAD. Then I wrote a story I just loved. Wrote it, rewrote it, polished it until it was “ready.” Submitted it to a publisher. Um, it wasn’t ready. It now sits happily UNDER my desk. That was early in 2000. 

Between then and now, there have been many a manuscript on my computer in various stages. Some completed, some not. Some I really love, some, not so much anymore. But there is a story on my system that I love. It’s one that comes straight from my heart. It is ready for submission. Matter-of-fact, it’s been submitted to many places. Oh, I’ve gotten the personal, nice rejections, but not a contract. Again, let me reiterate, I LOVE this story. My writing buddies love this story. But for some reason, editors don’t. Or it’s not right for them. Or it’s too similar to something they’ve already contracted. Or . . . 

Know what I’m talking about? There comes a time in every writer’s career when they have a story that means so much to them, is so personal to them, that it’s almost obsessive in the way we write. And when it’s done and edited and ready to go out, we just KNOW it’s going to be snapped right up. But it doesn’t. We get rejection letters. We get depressed. We pull the story out again and revise. We resubmitted until our story has seen every editor’s desk in the business. We’ve revised until we can’t revise anymore. And still it’s uncontracted. We can spend months, years even, on this one story to no avail. No contract. No interest. 

Each writer will come to this crossroads sometime in their career. Each writer will have to cross the hurdle, much like overcoming writer’s block. Each writer will have to make that painful decision to put the story aside and move on. Yep, you heard me—put the story of our heart aside and move on to something else. 

Ouch, that hurts. For me, it was several months of pouting. Kicking the couch. (Would never kick my dog) Pouting again. Stomping around the house until the hubby and kids were cowering in closets. Depressed. Angry. Depressed again. Pouting. Watching others getting their stories of their hearts published. Pouting. Depressed again. 

And then I grew as a writer.  

I saved the story of my heart onto a disk. (Ok, two different ones—I’m obsessive, what can I say?) Then I did the hardest thing, I deleted it off my desktop. My heart pounded, I felt nauseous. But I knew I had to. And then I did the unthinkable—I started a new story. I’d learned there’s a time to put away a story and move on to something else. I’d grown. I’d become a “professional” in my career thinking because I would write something else, something that might have a chance of being published. One story does not a writer make. 

I still miss that story of my heart sometimes. Every six or seven months, I pull out the disk and read through it. I don’t save it to my computer though. I read it, then put it away. I’ve moved on to something else, and doing so got me published.

 One story does not a writer make. 

One day . . . one day it’ll be that story’s time. It’ll be its turn. And I’ll take it out, probably revise it for the millionth time, and send it out again. Who knows? It might be snapped up in a minute. But until that time, I’ll keep pressing forward. Keep writing what I can. Keep giving each current story all my attention. I’ll keep doing so because I want to be an author, because I DO have more than one story in my heart.

One story does not a writer make.

By Robin Miller

 Overall, writing contests get a bad rap. Oh, when a writer finals, places, or wins, it’s all good. But if they don’t . . . 

First, there’s the whole deal of score sheets. Really, on a scale of 1-5, you expect someone to put a point system to our works of art? And feedback? If the author is published, how good is the feedback if the book’s published? Can’t exactly change a character arc because the score sheet showed the hero’s journey was a bit too slow. 

And judges! Who are these unnamed, faceless people? If a writer gets a good score, they’re wonderful, brilliant and insightful, of course. But a bad score? Oh, the judge didn’t “get” the story. Had to be someone unfamiliar with the genre.  

But I like contests, always have. Unpublished and published. I like feedback. I like score sheets. Call me strange, but I like to know how my story interacts with the reader. A very wise person once told me that your story is just a story until a reader interacts with it. Stuck in my head. I like that—to think that readers are interacting with my story, my characters, my settings. 

How to cope with bad scores? Don’t. No, I’m serious. If you get a bad score and there’s nothing useful you can use in the feedback, shut it right out of your mind. If you can’t get it out of your head, here’s a thought—praise God that particular judge didn’t feel compelled to go write a review of your book up on Amazon!  

I’m blessed. I just finaled in the debut author category of ACFW’s Book of the Year Contest with my first book by Steeple Hill Love Inspired Suspense, BAYOU JUSTICE. I’m in a group of writers who are so talented, I’m awed to be listed with them. Will I place? Probably not—hey, were you not paying attention? I said those who finaled with me in that category are awesome! But it’s enough for me just to make the list. Have I NOT finaled in a contest as a published author? You bet. The Edgar Awards. Didn’t even come close. But you know what? I’m proud that I had enough guts to enter. 

Contests are what they are—subjective because each reader/judge will interact with your story differently. Good, bad, or ugly, I love ’em. I just like to know that readers ARE interacting with my story. That’s enough for me.

Born and raised in Louisiana, Robin Caroll is a Southerner to a T. Her passion has always been to tell stories to entertain others while glorifying God. Robin’s mother, bless her heart, is a genealogist who instilled in Robin the deep love of family and pride of heritage—two aspects Robin weaves into each of her books. Robin is the author of the 6-book bayou series from Steeple Hill Love Inspired Suspense, and the upcoming romantic suspense TORRENTS OF DESTRUCTION from Underdog Press. Robin’s debut novel, BAYOU JUSTICE, was a RT award nominee, and is a finalist in the debut author category of the Book of the Year contest.

When she isn’t writing, Robin spends time with her husband of nineteen years, her three beautiful daughters, and their four character-filled pets at home—in the South, where else? She gives back to the writing community by serving as President of ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) for 2007 and 2008. An avid reader herself, Robin loves hearing from and chatting with other readers. Although her favorite genre to read is mystery/suspense, of course, she’ll read just about any good story. Except historicals! To learn more about this author of deep South mysteries of suspense to inspire your heart, visit Robin’s website at www.robincaroll.com.

Why I Write for HIM 

I’m a stubborn person. Okay, all who are reading this who know me are now laughing aloud and thinking, “That’s putting it mildly.” Anyway, I’m stubborn and independent and a little headstrong. (Ok, stop laughing now.) I just knew that when I wrote my first book, it’d be published. I mean, I wrote it, right? It should be published. Wrong. I spent many a year writing stories that I thought were good, but something just wasn’t right. Wasn’t there. 

And one day I realized why. Because my stories were like the ones I’d read and finished, then been depressed or sad. While I had given my stories a happy ending, I wasn’t honoring the One who gave me the storytelling gift.  

What an aha moment that was for me. To write a story, but bring honor to God within the lines. It was a brand new concept for me. But I didn’t know how to do that, or was there even such a thing. 

My sister introduced me to Christian fiction by loaning me some of her books. I’d had no clue there was even such a thing as inspirational fiction. I was hooked from the first one. I devoured those stories. Just had to get more. And it occurred to me that I could do this—I could write a story and fill it with hope and honor My Savior in doing so. Wow, amazed me.  

So I joined writing groups that focused on edifying and teaching, directed at the Christian market. I bought craft books and attended conferences. And I prayed. A lot. I told God that published or not, I’d write to honor Him. 

I made that personal decision five years ago and have never looked back. I love writing stories of hope, of promise, of sharing the love I have for Christ with others. There’s no job I could love more. And even in the midst of tight deadlines, I remind myself to be thankful of being able to do what I love, and bring honor to God.