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June 9th, 2015 – 5 Fold Media releases the first book in the Capturing the Supernatural series: Healed!: Present-Day Stories of Divine Healing and How It Happens.

Healed! by Andy and Cathy Sanders is a compilation of thirteen different miracle healing stories from ordinary people serving an extraordinary God. Most of us believe (or want to believe) that God still shows up in miraculous ways—that He supernaturally intervenes in our lives. But how come it always seems to happen to someone else, often in some far-away place? This book will uplift and inspire you to believe not only that divine healing happens today, but that it’s happening far more often than you might imagine.

This is a timely message for the bride of Christ! Each chapter is a journey from pain to victory. I believe that the reader will not only experience God’s healing power, but they will also find that they are living at a new level of faith. -Patrick Schatzline, Author of I Am Remnant and Unqualified

“My arm is burning! It’s on fire! I can’t see it but I can feel it all over me! I am fully, entirely, completely healed!” John Burton, Charisma Media Contributor

“Mom felt a hand touch her shoulder, shooting a bolt of electricity through her body. The cancer never came back!” Bill Yount, Elijah List Contributor

“God delivered me from obesity and obesity-related diseases, an addiction that had kept me in prison my entire life.” Pastor Kathy Hill

About the Book:

Healed!: Present-Day Stories of Divine Healing and How It Happens (Capturing the Supernatural) by Andy and Cathy Sanders

Published By: 5 Fold Media, LLC

Release Date: 6/9/2015

Price: $15.95

Pages: 240

ISBN: 978-1-942056-02-7

To Purchase: Contact your local bookstore, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Parable Christian Stores, Cokesbury Christian Books, and Books-A-Million. Order bulk directly from the publisher. E-book format is also available.

About the Authors:

Andy and Cathy Sanders have been studying God’s divine intervention in the lives of ordinary people for years. Together they founded 5 Fold Media with the mission of releasing God’s stories around the world. This Capturing the Supernatural series of books is being published to document what God is doing on the earth, providing a snapshot of His handiwork and incredible creative care for His children.

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I watched this interview with Ted Dekker from October of last year. I find his story so intriguing and just wanted to share it with you. His parents were missionaries to cannibals in Indonesia! Here are links to his website and Twitter.

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Charisma House and its imprints do not accept Unsolicited manuscripts. Their imprints are Charisma House, Passio, FrontLine, Siloam, and Realms.

They offer both traditional and co-publishing options to authors.

Charisma House offers two paths to publish your book: traditional publishing through Charisma House and co-publishing through Creation House. For traditional publishing,  you must use a literary agent and send a proposal.

Their co-publishing option is through their Creation House imprint. One interesting note is that they monitor the co-published books and the ones that show some promise may open up doors for that author to be offered a traditional book deal.

The link to Charisma House’s Guidelines

The link to Creation House’s Guidelines

The Journey is Worth the Struggle

This guest post is by Cortland Jones. His new book, Out of the Darkness releases December 23 with Tate Publishing (blurb below). You can follow Cortland at his blogs (links at bottom), on Twitter, and on Facebook.

A Word of Encouragement for the Aspiring Author

In the process of sharing my insights gained from the experience of becoming a published author, I also express sincere gratitude to blogger Chris Mooney, and others like him, who make information available to aid aspiring authors in their quest to become published. Contemplating what I would say, my hope is that I communicate something helpful, insightful, encouraging, and inspirational to individuals aspiring to make being an author a ‘lifestyle,’ and not just the event of becoming published.

‘Where there is no struggle, there is no progress.’ – Frederick Douglass My journey of becoming published began, in 2000, with the concept of my book, intended to be a devotional for my church community. The process of writing the content for the concept began in 2005. The manuscript was published in February 2014 by Archway Publishing and I have since transitioned to Tate Publishing with a rerelease in October 2014. Writing on the subject of ‘faith,’ I can see the parallel between my content and the practical application I had to encounter in the ‘process’ of writing and transitioning to publishing, marketing, and promotion of the published work. No one part of the process has been easy, but the journey has been worth the struggle.

Transitioning from writing the manuscript through the process of publishing, three concepts come to mind: 1) authenticity, 2) belief, 3) confidence. In the process of writing the content of my concept, I had consistent dialogue, with self and others, about my purpose, motivation, ambition about why I was writing. Ultimately, I do not intend to be satisfied with saying, ‘I am a published author.’ I celebrate my ‘success’ and appreciate the process that has led to achieving this personal goal, but the event of being published coincides with the ultimate goal of being a distinguished, published author and enjoying a ‘lifestyle’ supported by the ‘success, or prosperity’ of the published work(s). So the consistent ‘dialogue’ helped me be ‘authentic’ about identifying where I’m striving to go in the process of being involved with the work as a published author. My authenticity enabled me to embrace and accept the demands of the work associated with the process of marketing and promotion once the manuscript was published, while still working a full-time job as an educator.

While writing my manuscript, dialoguing about the authenticity of the purpose, motivation of the ‘why’ I was writing, I encountered multiple paradigm shifts that challenged my ‘belief’ in what I was doing. While writing, do I ‘believe’ what I am doing is worth what I am going through in order to succeed in becoming published? Am I ‘confident’ in myself, regardless of what I encounter, what I am doing will result in what I aspire to? So now, everything that occurs, like finding Chris Mooney’s blog, becomes ‘fuel’ for me to continue my journey and my struggle towards the ‘lifestyle’ I aspire to! May God bless your efforts!

Out of the Darkness is an insightful resource providing biblical references from both the Old and New Testament books of the bible intended to enlighten and encourage growth in the grace and truth of Christ on the subject of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. A personal testimony of knowledge gained on the subject of salvation through life experiences, Out of the Darkness encourages consideration to God’s invitation of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ by providing insight on the subject of darkness and how God uses both ‘circumstantial darkness’ and ‘spiritual darkness’ to lead open hearts into a personal, intimate encounter with God leading to a journey into the marvelous light of His love and relationship with His Son Jesus Christ that touches, changes and transforms open hearts to be a blessing as they are blessed by His grace.

Follow Cortland’s blogs:

myImmanuel.wordpress.com– inspired insights from the grace & truth of Jesus Christ
gracetoteach.wordpress.com– a word of encouragement for the Educator
graceforchange.wordpress.com– encouragement for separation, divorce, co-parenting challenges
youngdisciplesforchrist.wordpress.com– insight & encouragement for the young adult

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Castle Gate Press, looking for manuscripts with a touch of the fantastic

Today our guest writers are Phyllis Wheeler and Suzanne Hartmann of Castle Gate Press.

Thank you for this opportunity to introduce your readers to Castle Gate Press, a new Christian publishing house created by two author/editors, which began accepting submissions in January of 2014. Our desire is to help new authors with well-polished manuscripts that don’t fit well into the standard niches of larger publishing houses. We walk with our authors through the publishing process, from the contract and royalty, through comprehensive editing, to extensive advice and assistance with marketing and publicity.

Castle Gate Press is seeking manuscripts (both agented or unagented) of any genre that have the following:
•       a touch of the unusual and strange  (for example: It’s a Wonderful Life, Back to the Future, Spiderman)
•       a Christian worldview
•       Faith may or may not be overt

Here’s the nitty-gritty you’re probably wondering about:
•       Castle Gate Press is a traditional, royalty-paying press.
•       We offer a 50-50 split of net proceeds, including sale of books to the author.
•       We also provide complete professional editing, covers, print book layout, and e-book creation.
•        We sell print-on-demand books through Ingram, available on request to Amazon and any bookstore or library in the U.S.
•       We sell e-books through a variety of channels, including international.
•       We send advance reader copies to Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and selected prospective endorsers.
•       We provide publicity assistance, seek local bookstore book signings, and set up a pre-sales page at Pubslush.com, while promoting the author on our blog and Facebook page.

If you have a manuscript that contains at least a touch of speculative fiction (or maybe much more than a touch), Castle Gate Press is interested! You can find more information, as well as our submission guidelines and great writing advice at http://www.castlegatepress.com.

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My good friend Andy has been in the Christian publishing industry a long time now and about 5 years ago started this press that is now really taking off. They’ve recently updated their website and are accepting submissions.

Beside publishing they offer author coaching and interior layout design.

Check it out here…

www.5foldmedia.net

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I’ve spent countless hours of my life adding pages to a book I will complete this year. I hope it will be published, but there is no guarantee. I also spend time writing for my blogs that have a few readers and short stories that I share with friends. It can all add up to feeling like a writing failure — unless I know why I write.

The question, “Why do I write?” is one every author (or aspiring author like me) must answer. Why? Because there will come a time when the countless hours spent in solitude pouring our souls into a manuscript will seem like a waste, and we’ll ask, “Why do I torture myself so?”

When you find the answer, it will be your core motivating factor.

So, why do I write?

I write about what I am going through in life, my challenges, my triumphs, my struggles. I write about how God walks me through making me more like him. It’s therapy for me, the avenue by which God reveals to me the issues I am blind to otherwise. And in writing them, I share them with you, so that maybe if you are going through the same thing it will be a light to you.

That’s why I sit here with my laptop and type this even though it’s 2:37am. Because I know that this can inspire you to be who God made you to be.

I write for change — for souls.

If not one person ever reads my non-fiction There’s Something Deep Inside, my soon to follow novels, this blog, or crmooney.com, I won’t be discouraged because my life has been changed. And when I’m feeling lazy and want nothing more than to do any other thing than write, I remember that there are souls waiting on the other side of my obedience and it gives me the strength to go on.

So what moves you? Why do you write?

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Once in awhile, I get a request from a publisher to be placed on my List Of Christian Publishers, and I like to ask them a few questions. If you are a publisher (of any size) and would like to be added, please send me an email.

Here is some brief information from Rick Bates of CrossLink Publishing and their submission form:

What makes you unique in the marketplace?

CrossLink is a professional, traditional publishing company. We go out of our way to make ourselves available to both new and experienced authors. Every detail of our publishing process is completely transparent before and during publishing. We pay royalties of 10% of retail price, regardless of the actual sales price, including sales to the author. Authors purchase books at a 55% discount off of retail. Books are published in print format as well as the 7 major eBook formats. CrossLink was honored to produce the 2011 Christian Small Publishers Book of the Year in the Bible Study category.

What type of manuscripts are you looking for?

We seek out material that will benefit Christians looking to grow in their spiritual walk. We accept Christian themed books in the bible study, devotional, inspirational, meditations, and spiritual growth areas.

Do you accept unsolicited manuscripts or queries or are agents required?

We accept quality manuscripts from any source and do not require authors work through an agent. Many of our authors come from The Writers Edge service, but we accept independent submissions via our website (http://www.crosslinkpublishing.com/submit-a-manuscript.html) as well.

What type of promotion will you employ, or will the author be responsible for promotion?

CrossLink advertises books on its website and partners with Ingram, Spring Arbor, Books and More, and other distributors and databases to insure our books are available to over 30,000 wholesalers, retailers, and booksellers. We encourage authors to pursue other promotional avenues to augment our efforts. Our free, proprietary 8-week marketing plan will provide specific guidance and help in jump starting marketing efforts.

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Little gets under my skin more than sitting at the laptop to write for a couple of hours and only having only a few paragraphs to show for it. Nights like that almost end with my laptop being chucked through the window.

After one such night I was determined to write faster. They have courses on speed reading, so I figured writing faster is a skill that could be learned too.

So I sat down and wrote out what I thought were my biggest obstacles: not having time to write and distractions (short yet accurate). Through a concerted effort in a few areas , I’ve grown to writing a few pages a night instead of just those few paragraphs.

1. Plan when you will write. You’ll never find the time to write, you must make it. When I wake up, I take a few minutes and plan my day. Part of that is determining when I will write. Whether it’s during my breaks at work, or an hour in the evening, the time is set. This is a huge step as it gives me time to think about what I want to write that day and when the prescribed time comes its easy to keep the appointment.
2. Set a time limit. This is related to number one. I only set aside an hour tops for writing. If I get in a groove and write beyond that, great. But often my attention span is only about that long so if I need a break or want to be done, there’s no guilt after that. Also if the words aren’t flowing I have a predetermined quitting time which frees me from staring at the monitor for another hour and getting even more frustrated.
3. Manually disconnect the internet. I’m obsessed with finding the “right word” or doing fact checking as I go. While I think those tasks will only take a moment, they end up wasting an hour sometimes. By disconnecting the internet at the modem, I have to get up from the desk in order to check my email or search for when to use effect or affect.
4. Just write, don’t edit. It sounds easy enough, but my internal editor is a 24-hour operation. For my predetermined writing time, I sit down and just write. If something needs editing I leave and XYZ after the word or sentence I want to go back to and I’ll check on those after my first draft is done.

Being intentional about my writing time, and limiting interruptions has more than doubled my writing output. I hope these simple steps will not only increase the amount of words on the page, but the quality of them as well.

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I keep notebooks; it’s an OCD thing for me. I like to write things down, what can I say. In January, I was looking through a notebook from 2008 and the entry went something like this:

“It’s almost December, and I really wanted to have TSDI (a book I was writing) done before the end of the year. I’m only half way. I just can’t seem to find the time.”

Looks like I never did find the time, because four years later it sits unfinished at page 108.

Spending more time with Beth and the kids and exercising are other things that I have not done much about for the past few years. And why not? Again, I could not “find the time.” It was as though some mythological time keeper had stolen the extra hours I needed to write a novel, run a few miles, take my wife out to dinner, or get a couple of credit hours in. If I could but locate them I would be able to do these things.

It’s a lie. A farce. Those extra hours don’t exist, so stop looking. You will NEVER find them. Depressing huh?

A tad, but what is more depressing is the amount of hours I wasted every day. Whether it was TV, just chilling, checking facebook, or fantasy football/baseball, I let these pointless activities rule my life. It’s not that I didn’t want to get up and accomplish something of meaning, it’s just that writing a novel is hard. It takes time and mental focus. It’s, dare I say, w**k.

If you follow me at all, you know that I am spending quality time with Beth, writing, and exercising regularly. Did I find the time gremlin and beat him senseless until he gave me more time? No.

I made time.

I have the same twenty-four hours per day as always, but now I am intentional. My life is measurably better than before. Where I could find no time before for the things of meaning, I now make time for Beth, spend 3-4 hours a week to exercise, and 5-8 hours a week to write. That’s over a twelve hours a week I am more intentional about. Even now, as I write this, the TV is off. The old me reacted to life, the new me takes action and gets things done.

You can do it too! Here are a few tips on making time for the important things YOU want to do. (Please leave any tips you have in the comments!)

1: Turn the dish/cable off. This was huge for me. It used to always be on in the background and before I knew it, I was watching absolutely nothing of merit. We have Netflix now so we can watch movies now and then, and a few TV series, but it no longer has the control it used to.

2: Be productive on your breaks at work. I get get two fifteen minute breaks at work in an eight hour day. Before I used to surf the internet or walk to the post office, but now I used that time for non-novel writing. Monday and Wednesday I work on posts for this blog. Tuesday and Friday I work on short stories. Thursday I write posts or add new publishers to my writing blog (christianwriterscorner.wordpress.com).

3: Make time for things that matter ten years from now. For me, it’s exercise. I must exercise 3-4 days a week. Why? Because when my kids are teenagers, I want to be able to run around a basketball court or soccer field with them without going into cardiac arrest.

4. Motivate yourself. Find what motivates you and put it in front of your face every day. My motivation is that I want to end the cycle of of being a dreamer in my life so I don’t pass it on to my kids. I want to encourage them to dream huge dreams, but not to stop there. They need to do the work. I don’t want them years for now to start things and not finish because I never did. I want to show them that it doesn’t matter how smart you are, or how much potential people think you have, if you don’t work hard and finish you won’t get anywhere in life.

5. Do it now. This used to kill me. Beth would tell me something needed to be fixed, and I never found time to do it. My kids wanted to play ball, but something else was going on, so I would put it off until later. Now, if at all possible, I stop, and get it done. I may not have an hour to throw the ball with Jaivin, but he’s never complained about me saying, “Get the gloves, but I only have a few minutes.”

Remember, you’ll never find time for anything. If you want to get it done, you will have to make time.

What are some of the ways you make time for the important things in your life?

——————————

I wanted to leave you not only with a question, but with some quotes that I hope will motivate you the way they have me:

In truth, people can generally make time for what they choose to do; it is not really the time but the will that is lacking.

~ Sir John Lubbock

Time is an equal opportunity employer. Each human being has exactly the same number of hours and minutes every day. Rich people can’t buy more hours. Scientists can’t invent new minutes. And you can’t save time to spend it on another day. Even so, time is amazingly fair and forgiving. No matter how much time you’ve wasted in the past, you still have an entire tomorrow.

~ Denis Waitley

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

~ Steve Jobs

Much may be done in those little shreds and patches of time which every day produces, and which most men throw away.

~ Charles Caleb Colton

He who every morning plans the transaction of the day and follows out the plan, carries a thread that will guide him through the labyrinth of the most busy life.

~ Victor Hugo

For disappearing acts, it’s hard to beat what happens to the eight hours supposedly left after eight of sleep and eight of work.

~ Doug Larson

Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.

~ Napoleon Hill

Until you value yourself, you will not value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.

~ M. Scott Peck

Yesterday is a canceled check; tomorrow is a promissory note; today is the only cash you have – so spend it wisely.

~ Kay Lyons

Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson and Albert Einstein.

~ H. Jackson Brown

If you want to make good use of your time, you’ve got to know what’s most important and then give it all you’ve got.

~ Lee Iacocca