It’s Facebook official: My award-winning debut novel has found a publishing home! The Life We Greet (working title), my three-part historical continuity series, will be published with Chrism Press this coming year.

The funniest part of this (for me, at least) is that the acquisition process began with WhiteFire Publishing months before they founded Chrism Press or asked me to be one of its founding editors. I certainly wasn’t expecting any of this back in January, when I submitted my manuscript. 2020 has been a wild ride.

A detail from a contemporary painting of Joan of Arc. My main character looks something like this, but with less pouty lips. Apologies for the lack of attribution: I have no idea who painted this or where it is located.

I’m excited to work with the rest of the Chrism Press and WhiteFire Publishing team to make this a great book and great series.

I won my category.

The hysterical picture my friend snapped of me, right after the (virtual) ACFW awards ceremony.

Because I don’t have enough going on in my life… I’m now an editor.

And I love it.

God works in mysterious ways.

How Chrism Press came about is a long story, full of surprises and the working of the Holy Spirit. My fellow writer (and now fellow editor) Karen Ullo and I have been discussing the idea of publishing for some time. Then my college friends David and Roseanna White, owners of WhiteFire Publishing, had an idea for an imprint. They believe that Catholic and Orthodox fiction will enrich not only their company's offerings but the Christian market at large.

To quote our mission statement:

“Whether Christian themes are presented overtly, subtly, or symbolically, Chrism Press seeks Spirit-filled fiction in all genres. We are not afraid of darkness; we enjoy the strange and the weird, as well as humor, romance, adventure, and fun. We strongly believe that fiction should never be boring.”

Suffice to say, Karen and I are floored. What was once our "someday" pipe dream has become reality.

Take a moment and check out Chrism Press. And while you are there, sign up for our newsletter!

…and I’m one of them!

What is the Genesis Contest? From the American Christian Fiction Writers’ website:

The Genesis Contest is the ACFW contest for unpublished Christian fiction writers. Genesis has a number of categories/genres to enter, the opportunity for unbiased feedback on writers' work by published authors and experienced judges, and the chance for the category finalists to have their work read by Christian publishing house editors and literary agents. ACFW has been pleased to see many previous category winners and finalists move further in their writing careers to become published authors.

The Genesis Contest is competitive and making it to the finalist round is a huge honor. Deo gratias.

From an interview with filmmaker Whit Stillman:

Your approach to editing is quite striking. Your characters have this very composed manner, but what adds a dose of realism is that you often cut into a scene late and cut out early — so that the conversations are often in medias res, and we get the sense that we really have walked in on life proceeding, like we’re catching a documentary glimpse of it.

Absolutely. It makes things much more interesting if the audience has to fill in some of the blanks. It keeps them on their toes. You get a lot of grief from development people about this: “Well, people won’t understand what’s happening in the scene.” But if you found some way to explain it at the beginning of the scene, then the rest of the scene would be completely boring. Nunnally Johnson, the screenwriter and later producer, would say that the most boring lady at a party is the one who tells you everything. Don’t tell people everything; let them figure it out.

Movie poster of Love and Friendship via Wikipedia.