Colorado Update

Hey friends and lurkers,

I'm back in Texas and wanted to give you an update since so many of you have asked how my residency went and prayed for me while I was gone.

The time was sweet and amazing,challenging and confirming. I know I am where the Lord has called me to be and that knowledge is wonderful and scary all at the same time.

My mentors for the week were DiAnn Mills, Jerry B. Jenkins, Doc Hensley, and Janice Mitchell. Every day we listened to a devotional and then split into groups to meet with each of these teachers. Our chapters were critiqued by our classmates and mentors. The goal by December is to have the tools necessary to finish and publish a first novel.

I received encouragement and challenge from all the mentors. I was coached in speaking so that I can be involved in interviews and talk shows when/if the book is published. McNair Wilson and Julie Neils were my coaches in this area. I sat for a mock interview about my book, Shaken, and am really excited about where the Lord is leading.

Here is the premise behind my novel, Shaken. 

When your world is shaken, you seek a stronger foundation.

Never one to welcome change, Kaylan Richards is forced to choose between her dream education  and a calling to work in Haiti. She chooses to go to Haiti and immediately battles culture shock, language barriers, and an angry voodoo doctor determined to harm her physically and hinder her  ministry. Then the earthquake hits, devastating Haiti and killing her best friend, and Kaylan is left returning to the states questioning a God who claims to be good. Can the love of the man she left at home help her heal and show her the God who never abandoned her, or will the earthquake shake even the most rooted faith?

I hope you will stay tuned as I complete the book. I am half way there and it is due in a little over a month! Pray for motivation and a focused heart and mind. My band director in high school used to tell me, "Give it all ya got, but don't give it more than you have." It seems like a pretty good philosophy.

I also hiked the Incline with my friend, Amy while I was in Colorado. I think they should call it "Devil's Staircase." It was a good life analogy of the struggle to get to the top, the exertion and pain and determination, and then the sweet success when you finally arrive. On the way down, the journey up seems worth the pain (except I don't EVER want to hike that thing again). That is much how my writing has seemed over the last few weeks. Thank you to those who have prayed and continue to love and support me as I push on toward fulfilling the dreams God has called me to. He is a God of big dreams and I can't wait to see what He does with mine.

In the One who is Mighty to Save,

Kariss

Copyright of Kariss Lynch