Mount Hermon Results, thank you Jesus

Above is my roommate, Sue Tornai, we were a perfect match to room and ride together, thank you Sue.
   Hearing, Listening to, and Loving God
  While at Mount Hermon Christian Writers’ Conference, Mar 29 – Apr 2, I had an amazing experience. I actually listened to what God was saying to me. “Priscilla, you are out there promoting your own efforts with your historical romance. Wasn’t our story about Jesus, Joseph and Mary traveling to Egypt good enough for you?”
    Well, as Liz Curtis Higgs said, I felt the ‘hot hand of God on my back’. Just before this, the Lord spoke to me in one of the workshops that said writers need to focus on their writing, not different genres. At the conference no one liked my historical romance, and during my mentoring track for a work-in-progress I submitted a historical romance and the leader tore it apart. I can’t give her credit for that, it was God’s doing—just another way to wake me up.
   What did I do? I listened and did what I should have done from the start. I put aside my historical romance and never mentioned it from Sunday thru Tues (the remainder of the conference that started on Thursday). I told everyone that I wrote biblical fiction. On Monday morning, I had an appointment with the senior editor of WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing, the evangelical division of Random House and she asked me to send her my manuscript. Below is a snippet about the book
    Gifts for the Road is complete in 91,200 words.
    It’s about trusting God, while facing the unknown, as the Holy Family leaves Bethlehem for Egypt under the threat of Herod’s soldiers looking to kill Jesus. The family is also pursued by two thieves seeking to steal the Magi gifts. Joseph, Mary, and Jesus travel with Mary’s maidservant, Joseph’s friend, and borrowed servants. The wayfarers visit family, sleep in caves and are hosted by Jewish families living in Egypt. Among their adventures, they encounter wild animals, ride camels and sail the Mediterranean. Answering questions along the way as to why they are so far from home, Mary and Joseph share prophecy and the birth of Jesus. Some believe them, some do not. Joseph takes his family one hundred and fifty miles south along the Nile, where they spend six months in a cave and one of the thieves becomes saved. Before heading home on a Roman vessel, Joseph and those with him help a destitute family in Alexandria get back on their feet.

Ready for Mount Hermon

I have never been nervous about much, anxious sometimes, but now with all that awaits me at Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference, I know that only with God’s help will I manage to stay calm.

My books are ready. I sent one for a critique and one for a publisher’s review. What they have to say, I don’t know. I only know that I write for the Lord – biblical fiction and historical romance. It is so much fun to create, but once again, without God’s help, I would be useless. He and I meet every morning and we have a conversation about my stories. Granted, it seems like a one sided conversation sometimes, but if I am still and listen then I hear what He has to say through his Holy Spirit. Thank you, Jesus.

Interview

See my interview on http://www.inspirewriters.com/.  Inspire is a fine Christian Writers group in the Sacramento area that helps writers with critiques and needed inspiration on how to do it right.  Check out their website and see everything else they do for their members.

Published Fiction

MORNINGSIDE - Edward Hunter's family comes to life in the 1815 English Countryside novel. Morningside - a prequel - is about family - sisters, cousins, and other odious relatives who fall in love. The story is full of romance and adventure (1815 Style), laughter, tears and jealousy depicting how the families of the 4 cousins in Crystal Pines got started.

It is the first book of the Crystal Pines trilogy - I am still working on the middle one - inspired by the writing’s of Jane Austen. Her fans might find my books a good read, however, the stories are only inspired by Jane and are a bit more upbeat.

Read about Edward Hunter’s mother and her four sisters. See how romance blooms in this elaborate first novel in the trilogy. See how each sister, Edward's aunts, who though lack fortune and connections, beat Phoebe Vance, an odious sister-in-law, to the altar.
Morningside can be purchased from the publisher, PublishAmerica or Amazon or from a bookstore (Published in 2006 after Crystal Pines).


The middle book of the trilogy Winter's Inn is not completed but is about Edward Hunter’s sisters and brothers.



CRYSTAL PINES is about four English bachelor cousins who sail to New York City in 1839 to run the family business. Although their intention is to focus on their enterprise, they are soon distracted by certain young ladies in their midst.

While crossing the ocean on an American packet ship, two counsins become enchanted by a Southern belle and her governess returning from Europe. Edward Hunter, the leader of the delegation, spends his time with a nine-year-old stowaway he takes under his wing. Afer settling in the city, Edward comes to regard most of the females he encounters as audacious and tiresome - until he meets Olivia Worthmore.

Discover how each cousin settles his romantic escapades by fighting duels, withstanding blizzards and saving damsels in distress. Escape the rigors of the 21st century, wrap up in front of a good fire and enjoy this elaborate historical fable.

Crystal Pines (Published in 2005 before Morningside).  It can be purchased from Amazon or ordered from a bookstore.  It has been made into a screen play and is waiting for a producer to look at it for a movie.








































-








-

Mt Hermon, 2012

Getting ready for Mt. Hermon Writer’s Conference, 2012

I have been so busy preparing for the Mt. Hermon Christian Writers’ Conference that I have canceled many outings and opportunities to take the time needed to get my books complete.  Yes, I say books.  Flair with Words does not necessarily mean just that—I cannot take the credit, I give it to God.  I never thought about writing historical fiction until 13 years ago when I became enamored with Jane Austin’s work, Pride and Prejudice, produced by the A&E Channel. 

From then on, the Lord put in my heart to write.  I will step on my soap box just for a moment to say that I gave up television to write, because in my mind I could produce something that was better, cleaner, nicer and more rewarding to spend time watching or reading.  I do not approve of the garbage that is promoted on television—from risqué commercials to predictable movies, filthy sit-coms, and other conglomerations of ‘entertainment’, which, as monkeys without a brain, our society sits and laughs at, or cries through when they glue their eyes, and what is left of their morality, to the idiot tube.

As for writing, after the first 6 months of creating practically nonstop, I gave up my corporate marketing career so that I could write without hindrances from obligations at work.  When this happened, I began to write, two then three books at the same time (see www.priscillamcdaniel.com, my book, Crystal Pines, has been made into a screen play with a producer looking at it).  I can’t say that the books are the greatest, but the ideas were (are) and they were given to me by the Lord as words poured from me. 

Now here is the writers’ conference and I have 3 historical novels to present.  One is Gifts for the Road, about Jesus, Joseph & Mary’s trip to Egypt—it is good and ready for an Editor’s review.  Another called, Raspberry Castle, 1931 California, is a romantic endeavor (not a romance novel) but a humorous account of two people who come from opposite ends of the economic scale.  I started this story 10 years ago and then re-wrote it.  I am sending it to the conference for critique, though I believe it is ready for an agent.  The 3rd book, which I started and thought was complete, Mingyu Tea, is my work in progress and is going with me to a Mentoring Track looking for feedback. 

I have spent the past year perfecting the novels that God has put on my heart.  I hope to get at least one of them picked up by an agent or publisher at the conference.  Please pray for me.  

Why and how I started writing.

I must begin by saying that I was not one of those people who always wanted to be a writer. I had dabbled in a few stories on no consequence when I was first married, but it never amounted to anything. Then one day after my husband and I watched the A&E version of Pride and Prejudice with Column Firth, I was smitten.
My husband, too, enjoyed the movie very much, especially the subtle English humor and asked me when the movie ended, “What happens after that?” I
I admitted that I didn’t know but went downstairs to my computer, absolutely inspired to make up a story about how the Bennett sisters faired (I eventually changed the story from a J Austin follow up to one of my own). This was in 1998. At the time I was a marketing director with a high profile in the business community in Ventura County, CA. However, my enjoyment with the position I held was beginning to fade. I had done some corporate writing, but I soon found out that it had little to do with writing fiction.
The programs on television never impressed me nor did the stupid commercials; it seemed to be a good reason to stop watching TV altogether. Instead, I thought that perhaps I could write something that was worth watching or reading. Hence, I begin to write every day after work and late into the nights. I loved it and found that it challenged me more than anything I had ever done, with the exception of my Bible studies, which I have done daily since 1984 when I was born again.
Six months later I quit my job so that I could write. Of course, my nasty boss and many of the other employees laughed! Until I retired in 2008 I had various management positions in the retail world and later when my husband and I moved to Sacramento, CA I worked as an office assistant with two different financial institutions.
Writing was so much fun, and I was wholly and completely inspired by the Lord. I know this because the words and ideas just poured from me, beginning at age 54 - someone who never thought of writing a book. I was mesmerized by how difficult it was to make the words in my brain come out on paper in story form.
On my next blog I will tell what my husband thought of my writing abilities.

Just starting

I have renamed this blog and hope to replace it with my website, which is outdated. Currently I am working on my latest book, Gifts for the Road. It is approximately 91,000 words and I have been editing it and proofing it for the last month. I want it to be perfect when I send it out.
It was at one time with an agency, but I was not happy with their progress so I took it back. Since then I have rewritten the beginning and made it more exciting.
Oh! And did you wish to know what it is about- here is a snippet:

Ordered by God to flee from Bethlehem, Mary, Joseph, and fifteen-month old baby Jesus leave town in the dark of the night. They know King Herod has sent his soldiers to kill the baby, but they are unaware they’re being followed by two bungling thieves who are after Joseph for the money from the magi. One thief must choose his destiny—to find salvation or return to his life of crime.

Is it Baby Jesus or an Angel of the Lord who saves the travelers from a lion in one of the caves where they spend the night — helps them escape the soldiers through an underground tunnel leading away from Beersheba into the desert — delivers them from archers and an angry mob of Egyptian priests — saves them from a falling boulder?
Mary’s maidservant and Joseph’s carpenter helper traveling with them must decide whether to marry in Egypt or wait until they return to Bethlehem, all the while being careful not to let their lover for each other overstep the bounds of proprietary. Meet the families that host Joseph and his troupe as they journey from Israel to Asyut and back, via Alexandria, Egypt. Feel the excitement when a wealthy Roman citizen offers safe passage on a Roman cargo ship back to Israel? See the pastoral home where Mary, awaiting the birth of her second child and Joseph gather with family and friends. Inspect Joseph’s carpenter shop as he rebuilds his carpenter business and Jesus prepares to attend the synagogue school.