The contest is the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award.

I made it into the top 1,000,000,000,000 and am therefore pretty sure to win.

OK, really it’s only the top 1,000. It was based solely on the book pitch (short summary of the book). This is good. Next they narrow it down to the Top 250 (reading an excerpt from the book).

It’s like American Idol except with no idols or Americans and it’s non-sexy writers like me with pale skin and agoraphobia who only go out when the next Star Trek sequel is in theaters.

Here are the top 1,000 if anyone wants to scroll down and find my name (don’t really do that, Mom).

I’ll be sure to update everyone when I crash and burn in the next round.

Two friends made it into the second round as well: Robert Treskillard and Pete Peterson. Congratulations, fellows!

Thanks for all the nice remarks on Facebook yesterday!

Possible cover for my novel?

I had fun with last week’s post about what actually happened last year, and it was true enough. But it’s clear to me that there is a danger for me in being too flippant about the events of life. In particular, there’s a danger in not recognizing, with thankfulness, the sovereign hand of God for our good and, most importantly, for his glory, in all things.

So God himself is, of course, the author and hero of this story that is my life. There’s no meaning, truth, beauty, or goodness apart from Christ. So, with that in mind, I want to be thankful out loud here for a few areas I neglected last week.

Family
The mercy of God in my ordinary life has no greater vehicle than my bride, Gina. She is the primary voice of encouragement in my life (and in my writing) and is a nearly-endless blessing to me in a thousand ways. She is an excellent partner and an enormous helper. There’s no higher calling than that. Our children have been an unbelievable gift, a source of joy and a point of focus for an intentionality in my life I’ve never had before. Thank you, Yahweh.

Our wider family has been a gift as well, from our parents to our siblings and cousins etc. I here include some special friends who have been like family to us. You know who you are.

Vocation
I thank God for the work he has blessed us with. I have never been more satisfied in occupational matters than I am now. I know the idea of vocation (calling) extends beyond occupation, and that we are called to many things. But I am thankful for my job.

I want to thank the saints at my local church. They have been an unlooked for delight to us, and an experience of meeting in the name of Jesus we are deeply happy in. The pastors have been faithful under-shepherds to the Senior Pastor (Chief Shepherd), Jesus.

Suffering
Suffering is an ordinary part of fallen life. I thank God that he has been good to us in and out of pain. Life hasn’t been easy for us in many ways, as I know it isn’t for anyone (though we all feel like our pain is unique and particularly difficult). God’s sovereign hand for good in all things is in evidence in our lives. We are thankful for this mercy.

Finally, I mentioned that we had a son. His name is Micah. We gave him this name as, primarily, a tribute to the unmatched glory of God. Micah means “Who is like Yahweh?” The answer is, of course, silence. There is no one like Yahweh (rendered “The LORD” in most translations). No one compares with him. All wholesome delights originate in him, reflecting glory back to the Source.

We want to find our joy in him, and see with clear eyes that all true delight is a gift from him, and we want to be happy about that. As a naturally somewhat-melancholy, anxious type, it’s my prayer that I can set aside the impediments which sprout in my heart, weeding with vigor at the nonsense fruit of vanity.

A Psalm we learned last year is an appropriate way to end this brief exercise in public thankfulness. Maybe you should consider memorizing it as defensive measure in the war on your soul -for when the inevitable attacks come.

Psalm 46

46:1 God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns.
6 The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
7 The LORD of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
8 Come, behold the works of the LORD,
how he has brought desolations on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the chariots with fire.
10 “Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”
11 The LORD of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

May the God of Jacob get glory from us in 2010. He will be exalted, so let’s join in the endless chorus.

OK, since everyone is legally required to do these things, I will comply.

In no particular order –and in no way does this constitute the kind of reflection one ought to engage in– in 2009:

1. I won’t share much of my family life, as is my general custom*, but my wife Gina and I welcomed our third child (somehow not named Ender) and second son into our home. He has been a lot of fun –chief among God’s gifts to us this year. He looks like his mother, but still maintains a masculine aspect.

2. I was privileged to be published in each issue of West Virginia South (The Fledge Chronicles serial) in 2009. This was a real blessing, and allowed me the chance to work with a great editor in Audrey Stanton-Smith. She has been a believer in this series from the start.

In those Fledge stories I was able to work with three neato artists/illustrators:

Rex Queems     Ted Williams (my childhood chum)     Zach Franzen (who’s illustration will appear in February’s issue –I’m stoked)

3. I signed a contract with a literary agency, Eames Literary. Surprisingly, they also signed it. I am hopeful that this will lead to good things. If nothing else, it affords me with many awkward and unavoidable opportunities to try to say “My agent…” in a sentence without sounding like a big, self-important jerk.

4. I was pleased to be a finalist for the West Virginia Fiction Award, in which competition I was defeated soundly in the final round.

5. I won my fantasy football championship for the second time ever. Most of this was done without watching more than five minutes here and there of any games. You can be impressed.

6. I had a poem, called “The In-Between,” published in a regional arts journal called Holler. The poem references the “scattered bodies, once-homes, for souls of nicotine” and also some Frenchie named Napoleon. There is nothing about fantasy football in the poem.

7. I was happy to have a hand in bringing Eric Peters, one of my favorite singer/songwriters, into our area of the country for a concert (w/ LeeAnn Sharp). He is swell. It was a great time. He, unlike most of his cronies, actually is a man and loves football.

8. I copied and pasted a lot of quotes and called it “blogging.” I did this because 1) I liked them and thought you might as well, 2) They saved me (and you) from my drivel.

9. Andrew Peterson wrote a blurb for me which I couldn’t use because in it he said he’d never met me, but in fact he has (twice) and didn’t remember (shocking? No) and it would be weird if people read that and then found it was a lie…a LIE! <—Nacho L. reference in honor of my brother, Will Smith. <—-Not a lie.

10. I went further bald. <—- Excellent writing.

This picture proves that a) I am actually two-faced, or b) I move around a lot when teaching the kids.

11. I was defeated by my brother, Josiah, at our Independence Day Cricket Extravaganza. I was bowled clean not a few times.

12. I read some good books, including these which come to mind at the moment (I should probably actually write down the books I read):

Auralia’s Colors

Cyndere’s Midnight

Raven’s Ladder

North, Or Be Eaten

Fitzpatrick’s War

Notes from the Tilt-a-Whirl

A House for My Name

The Narnian

Jack: The Life of C.S. Lewis

J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography

A Primer on Worship and Reformation

Is Christianity Good for the World

ESV Study Bible

Patrick O’Brian (Desolation Island, and another one, or two)

PG Wodehouse (a few of his –I can’t remember the names)

A Bunch o’ Sherlock Holmes (reread)

Ender in Exile

Cry, the Beloved Country

No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency

The Yiddish Policeman’s Union

The Wilderking Trilogy

Godric

Florence of Arabia

When Helping Hurts

The Meaning of the Pentateuch

Jaybor Crow

Lord Dunsaney’s Collection

An Intro to Biblical Theology

Most of them were good.  

13. My Bible reading was focused mainly in Genesis, Exodus, Matthew, James, Ephesians, and my favorite, Ecclesiastes.

OK, so those things happened, and some other things. Now you know.

* Note on item #1 (above). The reasons I don’t are many, but it includes the fact that that stuff is usually not as interesting to others as it seems to the person sharing. We have a private blog for that stuff and we just share it with our family/very close friends. But please know that family is central in my life, it really defines who I am in most ways. This kind of demonstrates how limited blogs usually are (and certainly are in my case) for getting to know the person behind them. Blogs, as we all know, are about copying and pasting smart-sounding quotes.

Writing is a business fraught with innumerable obstacles and marked by disappointments. No, it’s not like fighting-a-war hard, but it is simply very challenging if you are serious. That may seem silly but it won’t to anyone who has ever tried to get beyond the “I have a few ideas” stage and actually set to work. I don’t say that to garner pity (alone) but to say that it is easy to get discouraged about a lack of progress. I have been fighting that feeling off with varying degrees of success lately, and trying to keep my frustration in check. Then here comes October.

This October reminds me of last October. Last October was a good month for me in my efforts to be a “real writer.” I got my first paying gig writing fiction for West Virginia South magazine as they accepted my proposal to publish The Fledge Chronicles. The first story was published last October, “The Lion, the Bridge, and the Wardrobe Malfunction.” Since then they have continued to publish an installment of the serial in each publication. I am very thankful for Audrey Stanton, the editor of WVS, for being willing to publish the stories, and for her abundant supply of enthusiasm for them.

Last October I also debuted at the Rabbit Room, by the whimsical invitation of Andrew Peterson. I have posted two, or three times a month there (as AP requested) for the last year. It has been a joy to be in the company of such incredible artists and to get to know some of them a lot more betterer (see, writing is hard). The readers and posters over there have been a big encouragement to me, and I am so thankful to Andrew, and to the whole gang.

So, all in one month, I was being read by a lot more people and getting paid for it. Reflecting on this has been humbling for me this October. Who knows what awaits for me this October? Maybe more literary success. Maybe not. But I have reasons not to grumble.                 

Further, God seems to be kicking me in the pants with numerous exhortations to be grateful. Reminders of the mercy I’ve been given are jumping out in front of my car in a way impossible to miss. Mainly it’s the Gospel –pardon and peace with God! But it’s also babies, books, and bluegrass and many other things all singing from the same sheet music.

So October comes again. It’s another reason for skipping grumbling and going straight to gratitude. Who gets thanks? The God of Abraham.

I received word that I did not win the West Virginia Fiction Award. This was a disappointment, but it was an honor to have been included among the finalists.

It was mostly difficult because chief among the criticisms I received from the final judge were formatting issues that could have only been altered after the story was sent in (electronically).

I was asked to paste the story in the body of an e-mail (as well as attaching it in a Word document) and I can only assume that it was then copied and pasted again where the original formatting was lost.

So it was a bummer to read a detailed critique mostly about formatting issues (“Never, never, never, ever send in a story without page numbers!”) when almost all of those were in the original story.

Oh well. Such is life. Next time I’ll be sure to ask if that kind of thing is being done. And I’ll ask for UN observers. Hopefully this won’t affect my Heisman campaign.

One wonders what would have happened if the judge would have seen the story as originally formatted. But I really do still think I would have lost.

As a wise man once said, “Somebody call the waaaaambulance.”

Next week at this blog: Even more whiney action! Don’t miss it!

The latest installment of The Fledge Chronicles is out and you don’t want to miss it.

I took that last sentence from Cliché Adverts Plus and inserted “The Fledge Chronicles” where it said “your product name.”

I am a marketing genius.

This story is called Missing Inaction and it’s the heartwarming tale of a two lovers who hate each other at first and then later they fall in love and save the factory and heal old wounds. It’s a fun ride for the whole family.

Again, Cliché Adverts Plus. I inserted “Missing Inaction,” which is the real name of my real story and it doesn’t have anything to do with two lovers and saving the factory and healing old wounds.

It’s really about what happens when a man spills coffee on his shirt while trying to exit his vehicle by means of his window. Then other stuff happens after that. There’s funny parts.

You can subscribe to West Virginia South if you want to have these stories and so much more delivered to your house anywhere in the United States.

Again, Cliché Adverts Plus.

But, there literally is a picture of a cool biplane on the cover of WVS.

The editor says in the table of contents (which is a table where magazines store their contents) that this S.D. Smith fellow will have you “roaring with laughter.” This is funny because there’s a part about a lion (recall: roaring) in this little yarn which was first discussed in The Lion, the Bridge, and the Wardrobe Malfunction. That being the first Fledge story published, this being the last –latest. This one follows up on the lion fiasco a bit.

OK, I am officially out of marketing-juice and I’d rather be punched and kicked in the corner for a few hours than look at this keyboard for ten more seconds (ever feel like that?).

Thanks to you for reading and for sending me full boxes of Big League Chew.

I got a bit of good news last week. I learned that I am a finalist for the West Virginia Fiction Award. This is another in a long series of positive developments in my writing career for which I am very grateful.

The story is a humorous one, and I think the Award is more geared toward more serious work, so we’ll see if it makes them laugh enough to look past the real serious stuff. See, I’m already building a psychological defense mechanism against losing –maybe it will work. Self-delusion? Maybe I should have gone into politics after all.

Patience is a virtue that certainly seems required for this kind of work. I am discovering that a key to success lies in continuing to be active even while you wait. If the thing you wait for doesn’t pan out, then have something else in the ‘ole pipeline.

Remember there’s a lot in your hands, and a lot that isn’t. Keep writing, keep imagining, keep on yielding in your heart to the Sovereign God of all.

While my novel has been done for a while and I wait on that front I’ve been very active with The Fledge Chronicles serial and good things keep happening there and my imagination conjures up some really fun possibilities in the future for the citizens of Fledge.

Thanks for supporting me, friends.

The latest of my stories from The Fledge Chronicles is available in the latest issue of West Virginia South. Latest. Latest. I always hate to use that word so much when I’m doing these newsy posts (which will have their own featured area in the new website –across the Jordan).

The latest, latest story is called The Young and the Heckless and it takes us back in time to understand a bit more about the development of some of the principle characters in the stories. That sounds boring but it’s so not boring. It’s the longest story yet (again, not boring though) –I was surprised, and thankful, that my editor did not want to cut it down at all.

I also wrote a little story about my favorite restaurant, the As You Like It Cafe, and they put that in the magazine as well. That’s my first non-fiction officially published. You should check out the restaurant if you are in southern West Virginia. It’s the best and is run by some great people. Also, they cater. To you.

 

I may try to get together a post with a preview, but I’m not sure that those are all that useful. I am growing more and more convinced that people want short posts, not long ones. And it’s hard to do a preview of a short story short enough to be of interest, but long enough to make any sense.