Nana Holds from Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power

Thanks so much for joining me today. I was going to put this series on hold, but a couple of signals have urged me forward. Besides, I think I like the idea of savoring the memories created in Cabo by reliving them with you next week! Grab your coffee and come on in.

So since I’ve introduced you to Jene’, I have received several pieces of what I will deem hate mail from what we now know to be one person. Whoever you are, I pray you continue to read this story of redemption, and that you will experience true redemption in your life.

Anyway, in the midst of the vile hatred and anger spewing out of this mail, I was able to pick out a couple of things that deserve an explanation. I’ve pondered and prayed about them and since I have no idea who reads this, let alone when they jump into the story, I now realize I need to explain some things a bit better. The first of which is the term “bio mom.” See, a long time ago, back somewhere in the beginning of this series, I explained that in order to protect her identity, I was going to just call her bio mom. God as my witness I wasn’t being sarcastic in any way by using that name, and only He knows the veracity and depth of my heart, which I try to share with all of you. I never have, nor will I ever, use this platform, or any other for that matter, to gossip and/or slander anyone’s reputation.

Someone said to me, “Why don’t you just call her “mom?” Well, I could, I guess, but this whole experience, as well as what I have endured in my childhood has taught me that being a mom, let alone being called a mom, is a privilege and though I don’t claim to know her heart, her actions have not warranted that privilege; and yet for the sake of healing, I’m going to now refer to her as Bry’s mother. I will never stop praying for her to come into relationship with our heavenly Father who is the only one who can take the pain from her choices and redeem it for something beautiful. For God sent his son to die for her as well, as he did for you and me.

I have to ask myself, “What if she were to read this series? Would she feel shame?” God knows that I so wouldn’t want that. She may have regrets, but that is beyond my control. What is possible for me is to promote healing. It’s no secret that I don’t get along with her; it’s also no secret that I’m trying to learn all that I can and allow Him to correct what is wrong within me, cut away all that needs to go. All the while, my prayer has been and continues to be that my transparency will lead others to truly invite Him into their own unpacking process.

It’s funny when I think about this whole writing journey, the changes that He has brought about through it all, the person I was in the beginning compared to what I am now and still to be. I remember when I was writing my first book thinking He was going to use my writing for the unbeliever! Wow, I can’t help but shake my head in awe at the reality of writing for the saints, to encourage them in the journey to a deeper, more honest relationship with Him. Yes, I know that’s why He has me writing from my heart to yours.

Join me tomorrow for more of Nana Holds

Evinda

Publication Update, Part 2 From Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power

Thanks so much for joining me today for the second part of this publication update. I guess that’s what I get for waiting so long!

I need to rewind a bit to lead into where we are going next with this update. About a year and a half ago, I had met Nan Rinella, the coordinator for the C.S. Lewis workshops, at a Starbucks when my first book, A Cup of Encouragement for the Day” came out. Her joy for the Lord and my passion to share the Lord connected us instantly and we stayed in touch, but it wasn’t until three months after I met her that she wrote me to tell me she loved my book and that she was going to quote from it in her teaching for the upcoming workshop. She invited me to attend and said I could sell the book there.

Well, it just wasn’t the right time – how many times have we had to hear that – and so I didn’t go. But this year, as the conference drew close, she got a hold of me again and invited me. I asked her if the offer to sell books still stood because by then I would have three! She told me she would bet back with me. To make that long story short, through a series of what I deem divine, I would up having a conversation with the president/founder of the C.S. Lewis Foundation, and learned that their headquarters is in Redlands, California, just around the corner from us.

But wait, it gets better! Through that connection something else has transpired: On November 15th, CPM will move its office, which is currently in our home, in with C.S. Lewis Foundation Headquarters! I know, I can’t believe it either! What a huge blessing and a ginormous reminder that He hears the cries of our heart. We had only begun praying about this a couple months prior and I thought that was something way down the road.

So in between the event, writing, blogging, taking care of little Bryden, I’ve had this mental note: Need to begin studying this C.S. Lewis guy! I don’t mind telling you I am totally ignorant about him! Well, I’ve only gotten to scratch at the surface because of all that life is requiring of me at this point, but I headed to this conference hopeful!

Now, let’s get back to the conference. After Nan’s class about how to pitch an agent, we sat and talked for a bit about her experience with Agent Steve Laube. All of a sudden her eyes pop open and she says, “Steve needs a helper; I didn’t assign him a helper.” She turned and said, “You’re his helper,” and began to rattle off my duties, and then sent me on my way to the next class. He was due in any moment and he would be teaching at 3:30.

At lunch, I asked Nan, “So how does one get an appointment with Steve?” She looked at me as though I had just asked a pretty stupid question: “You make an appointment. You have to sign up!”
I popped up and out of my chair and ran to the registration desk only to find there were no more appointments left! When I told Nan she said don’t worry about it. You’re his helper!

Well, as it turned out, Steve was actually late to class! He had fought the Houston traffic the entire way from the airport, which is an hour and a half away. He came straight to class without checking in, getting water, collecting $200, did not pass go, et cetera! I was immediately at ease as Nan introduced us. His class was about the dos and don’ts of pitching, and he shared some of his experiences with some outlandish pitches. It was kind of like listening to an American Idol version gone bad, you know, those people who think they can sing but can’t hold a tune in a bucket let alone in and out their mouth! Anyway, he was quite engaging and real and I liked him immediately!

Going back to my room Friday night, though I had no scheduled appointment with him, I really did have a peace as the words of Jeremiah 29:11 floated to the surface of my heart and traveled to my mind. I knew if I was supposed to get that time with him, I would; if not, it wasn’t or isn’t my time.
Saturday morning, after our service and before classes began, I was going out to the hallway and ran into him. He was with a couple of other guys but I comfortably stopped to talk with him for a moment, letting him know if he needed anything to let me know. And he said, “Yeah, and we’re supposed to talk sometime today.”

That sometime turned out to be right then. Whew, no time to get nervous; or so one would think. But I did and my nerves hit me all at once like a huge wave that rocked me and left me with cotton mouth. I began somewhat clumsily, and then the rest of it was an out-of-body experience as I sat with him for almost 25 minutes sharing my heart to encourage hearts, one heart at a time. See, an agent is the instrument used to negotiate with a large publishing house that distributes in mass quantity, getting books out on the shelves and into the hands and hearts. It’s not that my work would be over; it just wouldn’t feel like I’m trying to push this gigantic life-sized boulder up a mountain!

Again, there’s so much I could say about that time with him, and the blessing of a couple of other opportunities I had to get to know him, but let me just close this publication update with this: He took my novel, “Back to Single,” and will be reading it to see if I have the kind of writing talent he wants to work with. The fact that he spent that time with me was a blessing in and of itself; that he took my first novel is the cup of hope I will be drinking from as I let go and let God while he reads it and they decide where it goes! I am learning to relax with the gift He has given me, trusting He will use it when, where and how HE chooses. I just need to keep working at my gift.

Who knows what the next publication update holds!

Evinda

Publication Update-From Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power

Thanks so much for joining me today for a little break and some publication news! Grab your coffee and come on in and get comfy. I may keep you a few minutes longer today.

Wow, I just realized I haven’t posted a publication update blog since May, and a lot has happened since then! Let me cut to the chase and give you the exciting news that the second in the “Cup” series has just been released, A Cup of Hope for the Day,” and its official release date for the press, bookstores, et cetera, will be January of 2013! You should see the book. It looks so amazing, thanks to my assistant/graphic designer, Jocelyn Fletcher! It will be a bit before it’s available through Amazon, but if you don’t want to wait, you can go through our website’s gift store or even schedule or attend a Girls’ Night Out (food, fun, fellow-shipping and snacks too with one to two women-owned businesses and myself. Just invite your friends, promote it and we’ll do the rest!)

It’s hard to believe that I have three books out in print! Now the task of partnering with Him to get them out there into hands and hearts! As this journey is nearing three years now, or more, I’m losing track, I have to admit I am a different person, a person who is minus several more layers, being emptied of me that more of Him may reach out to others needing encouragement and hope for the journey. This weekend was an incredible reminder of that emptying. I will never forget what it feels like to “feel” as though I don’t belong, like the mere presence of my books is an insult to the intellectuals in attendance at the C.S. Lewis Writers’ Conference. I can’t even tell you how many times I asked Him: “Why am I here,” only to hear, “Trust me,” which I did and I continue to do. Seriously, have you ever gone to like a Star Trek convention? Well, that is what this felt like, only based on C.S. Lewis and his works, which I am only beginning to delve into. I felt so out of place, like I was drowning in my lack of knowledge.

The reason I got here in the first place is nothing less than a divine appointment so I won’t bore you with those details. I came to the workshop to learn, to be of some help, to network, and for the chance opportunity to speak with the attending agent, Steve Laube. OMG, I just remembered that I began to pray about this whole agent thing a few months ago, whether that would be the route to take or…. It gives me goose bumps now that I think about it.

Anyway, every time I passed the book table loaded with many of C.S. Lewis’s works and Tolkin’s, too, and then look off to the corner to see Evinda Lepins, sticking out like a sore thumb with literature for chicks, I asked myself, Really? Why am I here? By Friday afternoon, I felt like a bull in a china cabinet every time I walked by and I said to Becka, the books store manager, “My books don’t belong here.”

She says, “What do you write?”

I went on to explain to her that my “cups” are sort of like Chicken Soup for the Chick’s soul, and that I had my first novel release in June of this year and I gave her the 30 second version about it being about a girl who goes through a painful divorce and a year later enters the dating world while juggling single parenting and a career and that’s about all I got out when she stopped me, her eyes growing big and suddenly sort of glassy, like water.

“My very good friend has just gone through that, and her divorce is almost final.” She was so stuck on emotion, she could barely get all the words out and then she continued. “She will be here tomorrow.”

Her words worked like a push and this time it was my turn for glassy, watery eyes. I thanked her and walked away, heading to my next workshop, reminded that I had not gotten here of my own and maybe it wasn’t about what He was going to do for me, but what I was willing to do for Him, and where I was willing to go for Him.

It didn’t help that we had little to no signal so I couldn’t really reach out to anyone so instead, I reached up, which is exactly what I needed to do. I met some amazing people. Diana Pavlac Glyer taught my favorite writing class of the day. She is an amazing woman of God, a professor at Azusa Pacific University, the one who started the potter’s hands ministry, and has just released a devotional entitled “Clay in the Potter’s Hands,” which I bought and can hardly wait to begin. She has such a gentle, humble spirit and as I listened to her share and teach, uncontrollable tears of wisdom and revelations trickled like a slow stream down my face and onto my notes. I found such solace and encouragement in the reality of the truth that writing is a process and by the time we reach the end of the project, we are nowhere near the same person we were in the beginning.

By dinner time Friday, I was at peace, knowing I didn’t need a reason to be here; I just needed to be there in all the moments, soaking them all up, because my treasures weren’t coming in book sales, but in learning more of the art in writing more books for His glory and edification and not my own!
Please join me tomorrow for more on this update, which I know has turned into sort of a short story – sorry about that – but there really is something more to do with publication news having everything to do with this journey’s twists and turns of adventure and growth!

Joyfully,

Evinda

P.S. Join me and Steve today for Blog Talk Radio as we continue on in the Breaking Free from Co-Dependency series of our Destination? Joyful! ™ show.