Getting to Know Your Presidents!

Today we meet Robin Gilbert Luftig

1. Where do you live? (You can use city and state or just state if you prefer) 

Harrisburg PA

2. How long have you been a Word Weaver? 

Since 2014

2a.) What chapter are you President of? 

Page 7

 3. How long have you been writing—or when did you feel God was calling you to be a writer?

I started writing in 2005 and self-published my first book, From Pain to Peace: The Journey of Forgiveness After Divorce in 2011.

4. What do you like to read? 

I like to read anything that’s well written. Fiction or non-fiction. Mysteries to memoirs. Young adult to Christian Living. If it’s written well, it’s a treat to read.

5. What do you write? 

I blog and write articles. As far as books, I write both fiction and non-fiction.

 5a.) If you are published:  

1. First book?  From Pain to Peace: The Journey of Forgiveness After Divorcewas published in 2011. The second edition has been updated with newer statistics and cover, renamed Learning to Bloom Again: Walking Through Forgiveness After Divorce.

 2. How many written?  Three so far. My latest book is God’s Best During Your Worst: Finding Your Way Through Life’s Tragedies and is scheduled to be released by Bold Vision Books in the spring of 2020. My first novel, Ladies of the Fire, is with my agent and is being shopped around at this very moment.

 3. Newest book? My first novel, Ladies of the Fire, is with my agent and is being shopped around at this very moment.

 6. Where’s your favorite place to write? 

I love writing at my desk at home. There, I can look out at the peaceful Susquehanna River, listen to some soothing music and allow it all to focus my soul.

 7. If you have a dedicated writing space, describe it for us. 

It’s at an antique (or maybe it’s just old) writing desk my husband found at Goodwill. It sits in front of a huge window facing east overlooking the Susquehanna River. There I can block out all distractions and still take in the beauty and peacefulness of what the river has to offer. When a new day awakens, and the sun comes up the birds sing a welcoming song and all is at peace. That’s heaven for me.

8. What’s your ideal writing routine (time of day, with or without a beverage, snack to get to the finish line, etc.) 

When I’m not working my day job, I get up early—around 4:00—and begin. First, I hit my devotion time. When I’m finished there, I fix a cup of coffee, grab a protein bar and a couple bottles of water, and settle behind my desk. After the sun comes up and the birds quiet after finding their purpose for the day, I turn on Pandora and dial (HA! That’s a trip down memory lane. Who dials anymore?) to Spa Music and bask in my writing groove.

9. We all have several authors we love to read so I won’t make you pick a favorite—but what has been your favorite book this year and why? 

I stumbled onto Richard Paul Evans’ The Walkseries and fell in love with it. The way he turned phrases, painted pictures with words, and told a great story of his (fictional) odyssey walking across the country was riveting.The series was a real escape from all the woes of a day.

10. What’s one piece of writing advice you’d like to share with other Word Weaver members? (Maybe something you wished you would have known as you began writing.)

Everyone starts at their own beginning and must their pay dues. Anticipate that pain—as well as delight—will be a companion on your writing journey. Because it isa journey. You’ll experience serenity as well as exhaustion. You may often feel like quitting, but don’t. Just hang in there. Much of what you’re dealing with won’t make any sense … until you go to a writers conference and meet others who are just like you. Stay plugged in to Word Weavers. Some of these people may turn out to be a lifeline for you.

Bonus:  If there is anything else you’d like to share about you or your writing journey that I have not asked in the above list – feel free to add it!

Before God’s Best During Your Worst was picked up by my publisher, I had over fifty rejections. FIFTY! But I didn’t have a choice … I had to keep on going. Keep writing. I sought out wise council and followed their advice. I re-wrote the book several times—start to finish. It was painful. I honestly didn’t want to do it. But I listened and hung in there. While nothing was happening with this book, instead of feeling sorry for myself, I reached out to a friend I met at BRMCWC. She gave me great advise, that I follow still. She told me leave what’s in God’s hands to him … and start writing another book. That’s when I turned my focus to fiction and began writing Ladies. Now both books are finished. God’s perfect timing has my first with a publisher and the second waiting not far behind. 

It might sound like a quick turn-around, but it took seven years. Over that time I hunkered down and worked on my craft. I’m stillworking on my craft. That’s what is so awesome about Word Weavers. There, I surround myself with other writers. And I go to conferences where I meet successful writers and hang on their every word. I follow their blogs, and invest into my craft.
 

In 2009, Robin founded Renew Ministries, promoting God’s healing plan for our lives. She has also worked with twelve-step groups, including the Christian divorce support group DivorceCare,sharing the importance of trusting God. Her self-published book, Learning to Bloom Again: Walking Through Forgiveness After Divorce offers lessons—both good and bad—and shows there can be healing after divorce. 

 In 2011 life shifted when Robin needed emergency brain surgery. She shares what she learnedin the book God’s Best During Your Worst,a Christian Living book contracted with Bold Vision Books. She also has her first piece of fiction, Ladies of the Fireready for publication. She’s represented by Cyle Young/Hartline Literary Agency.

Luftig is a nationally-known speaker who shares stories of God’s mercy and grace at women’s retreats and conferences. She is an active member of Word Weavers International where she serves as a group leader. She and her husband, Lew, live in Central PA.

Getting To Know Your Chapter Presidents!

Today we meet Ann Peachman Stewart

Where do you live? 

I live in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, a large city outside of Toronto.

How long have you been a Word Weaver?

I became a Word Weaver in September, 2011, so eight years.

What chapter are you President of?

I started the Word Weavers Mississauga chapter, which was the first in Canada. We operated until 2014, but Canadian winters when everyone wants to stay home and Canadian summers when everyone wants to go away were hard on membership, so we folded. I joined Word Weavers Page 10. Bruce Brady was president, but he was looking for someone to take over, so after a few months I took the position. I have loved being an online president. Our group has changed somewhat over the years, but I remain close to those who are no longer in the group, and loved meeting them at Lake Yale last year. It always amazes me the special bond I have with writers I would never have met if it wasn’t for technology.

How long have you been writing—or when did you feel God was calling you to be a writer?

I’ve written since I was a kid, but after my husband died in 2007 I started taking courses with the Christian Writer’s Guild. I took all three of their courses over four years and the experience changed my life. I learned I could write fiction. I continue to hone my craft through other courses, one conference a year and Word Weavers.

What do you like to read?

Fiction takes me away to another place, and non-fiction teaches me things. Both are good, but my favourite is fiction.

What do you write? 

Contemporary Women’s Fiction

My blog, Small Miracles, addresses the issues of those who care for elders.

Where’s your favorite place to write?

Every summer I go to Manitoulin Island. It’s a wild, beautiful place, and I love to sit outside the cabin with my laptop and face the water. I have this scene on my desktop for inspiration the rest of the year.

If you have a dedicated writing space, describe it for us. 

It’s not too official looking, but I sit on the end of my couch.

What’s your ideal writing routine (time of day, with or without a beverage, snack to get to the finish line, etc.)

Because I’m still working full time, I’m forced to write my blog in the evenings, but it’s not my best time. I usually start writing on Monday, finish on Tuesday and “pretty it up” and add the finishing touches and post it on Wednesday. Then I take a few days off. If I have free time on the weekend, I work on my second novel or a proposal I am preparing for an agent for my first novel.

We all have several authors we love to read so I won’t make you pick a favorite—but what has been your favorite book this year and why? (Great story, impactful, educational, etc.)

Fiction: Right now I’m reading The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton.

Non-Fiction: Brene Brown’s wisdom has taught me so much. I read Dare to Lead and Daring Greatly this year.

What’s one piece of writing advice you’d like to share with other Word Weaver members? (Maybe something you wished you would have known as you began writing.)

Explore different kinds of writing. When I took the first course through Christian Writer’s Guild, it forced me to experience many different kinds of writing, some of which I’d never heard of before. Some weren’t my favourite, but some surprised me. It expands and grows me to try new writing styles.

Ann Peachman Stewart has worked for 20 years among elders and from this has grown her passion for respectful eldercare which provides purpose and growth. Her other passions her three children and three granddaughters (and a fourth grandchild on the way) fishing, all things nature, old graveyards and her dog, Teddy.

My blog [email protected]

If you or anyone you know is involved in any aspect of caring for an elder, everything from hands-on care to visiting as a friend, this is for you.

The 5 Tips Newsletter comes out monthly and contains 3 themed blog posts regarding eldercare, 5 quick tips about the theme and a recipe! Sign up for the newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/ac4036fba65b/f7avdbea9h

Birthing the Baby

Ashley Clark posted a take on writing based upon the painful experiences of the labor process during the birth of her son. I am not experienced in that side of the deal, but I’ve been around a few births. I have been exposed to the process by which nurses and OB GYN staff determine the quality of health of the baby during the process known as Electronic Fetal Monitoring (EFM). So, with the idea churning around in my brain, I thought I’d birth it for you here. If you are interested in learning more about the technical side of this and you have a smart phone, find the app called EFM Guide. It will explain the terms and physiology of what’s occurring at any given time on the fetal monitor. 

The first thing to learn concerns the process of EFM. No one has x-ray vision. No one can see your creation, your story. It will only come to fruition if you let it out. However, with the proper monitoring, one can tell the overall health of it. So, the first step is to apply the belly band around the mother. This device connects to the fetal monitor and shows patterns understood through observation. And, since birth is as much about the mother’s health as it is the child’s, we will also connect the mother to a heart monitor, We will watch her blood pressure, pulse rate and breathing rate. By discerning the increase in stress of the mother, we’ll know to look for like stress in the baby and whether or not the baby, like the mother, can recuperate from periods of stress.

Although millions of people attempt to birth books, the successful ones I see plug into a venue to expose their efforts to people of greater knowledge and skill. This is the importance of writers’ conferences. Get plugged in. Dare to put your efforts up for observation. Let the pros discern your status. It’s for your own health and that of your creation.

Since you are attached, so to speak, we’ll look at a few of the terms and what they mean to the baby. Fetal heart rate (FHR) refers to the predominant average rate displayed on the graph. The issue is that a baby in the womb experiences many influences changing their pulse rate. For instance, the baby may not like mom’s diet and the rate goes up. Mom may bend over and apply pressure to the baby and the rate goes down. The rate ranges from 90 to 200 beats per minute (bpm). What we’re looking for is the average baseline rate, generally expected to be around 140, ranging from 130 to 150, during rest or normal times. 

You experience any number of things throughout your day. Some of you may even have an hour by hour calendar so you know exactly when to write, when to do chores, when to go to the store, etc. If you don’t write during the proposed time, your baby suffers. If the cat plops on your computer key board, the baby suffers. If the older child falls off the porch rail, everything goes haywire until the emergency is under control.

When the baby is excited, its heart rate accelerates. If the increase is over twenty bpm, it shows on the graph as an upward swing of the FHR. Accelerations are expected to decelerate as evenly as they accelerate. What you see is activity measureable by rate and time. An increase of fifteen bpm over a period of twenty seconds will show the peak at ten seconds and a return to baseline FHR at twenty seconds. 

One day you’ll zoom through pages of text, moving right along on the plot and character development, and then it’s back to the grind. But that’s good! Realizing writing comes in spurts allows you to go with the flow and realize there will also be the work associated with normal activity.

In the same vein, decelerations occur. This time the monitor shows a depression of the FHR. It is always a sign of stress. Whereas an acceleration can happen from fun things, like receiving Brussel sprouts for lunch, decelerations occur from stressful things, like contractions mentioned previously. Again, stress is a part of labor, but the key is how well the baby recovers. We look at how low the FHR drops, how long it takes to get to its lowest rate, and whether or not it recovers to baseline FHR in the same time span. This pattern, equal time going into the depression and equal time coming out of it, is normal for babies.

Most of you know writer’s block will slow you down and you’ve overcome the illness. One way or the other you have taken steps to recover, whether it’s writing something else (like a blog) or brain-storming with cohorts. The issue is when your story is depressed you don’t let it stay that way. You get on with it. That’s normal life to a writer, so I’m told…

Accelerations and decelerations generally occur in association with the mother’s health. If mom’s heart rate goes up, chances are there will be a response from the baby and it will chart accordingly. If mom’s blood pressure changes significantly due to an event, the baby will be stressed, too. However, the OB folks also have terms like Early and Late Accels and Decels. These events occur, generally, because of events that are not obvious. These events are watched with a closer eye on the chart to determine if they are a) regular, b) predictable (able to tie the pattern to a cause and it repeats), c) whether or not they can be relieved.

Sometimes when we write, stuff happens. Stuff outside of normal or the occasional emergency discussed earlier. Most of you have had these experiences: bad health reports relating to significant diseases, loss of a loved one, hard economic times. Each of these will have an effect on your writing. That’s why Hemmingway always wrote in the morning. He knew that he’d be drunk by early afternoon and that all writing ceased at that time. I’m not advocating you plan that well for early decelerations, but you get it.

The last thing I think is important for you to know about this FHR monitoring is a major problem when the actual birth is occurring and it’s known as Shoulder Dystocia. The term dystocia simply means something abnormal. Many causes exist for this, but the inclusion of the word shoulder gives us a clue. When the baby starts down the birth canal, the preferred position is with the head preceding everything else. The baby also rotates so the shoulders end up with one toward the belly and one toward the spine. The baby faces either the left or the right side of the mother. This is the best position, considering the shape of the pelvic bone girdle through which the baby will pass. On the top of mom’s pelvic girdle lays the pelvic arch bone. 

The problem comes when the baby’s shoulder closest to the mom’s belly catches, or hangs up on, the pelvic arch. Here’s the mom in heated battle with contractions going on, breathing heavily labored, she’s pushing to expel the baby and WHAM. The shoulder dystocia thing happens. The external sign observed by the OB folks is the head “crowns” (the top of the baby’s head is exposed through the vagina and is usually a sign of imminent delivery), but then it gets sucked back up into the birth canal (turtling—like a turtle pulling in its head). Holy smokes! Emergency! The birthing staff starts doing many things at this point. The FHR monitor is removed. The mother is placed in a number of positions to assist in relieving the pressure and to assist the baby in acquiring a better position for delivery. Someone will usually start by applying full body pressure on the pubic arch to try to effect a change in the girdle shape. Often the mother’s position changes to her hands and knees to alter the pressure points. All of these ensure the baby comes out as quickly as possible at the right time.

What we know about writers is unless they are tended by observant staff, they will experience shoulder dystocia of an incomplete or unpublishable work. I’ve experienced this. I wrote my first novel about twenty years ago, but didn’t really have the interest in continuing with the writers’ conference route. Life changes, work experience, the economy and any number of other excuses kept me from pursuing the dream of publication. Then one day someone offered to publish it for three hundred dollars. What a pittance to pay for a book I could hold in my hand instead of looking at the manuscript in a box in the closet. I jumped.

It was the wrong thing to do. Yes, I have a book to hold. Yes, I had friends buy it. Yes, I gave many away and some even said they liked it and want to read the next one. It was premature and should have hung up on the way out! Now I know better. Now you do, too. Don’t get anxious. I have since learned God has my best interest at heart and He directs my path, if only I will follow him instead of getting in front of him. Thanks to many, I know I’m on the right path to publication, but it’s likely to be nine months from now.

Warren’s varied experience runs the gauntlet from delivering babies as an EMT, to public speaking, to forest technology, to surveying, to manufacturing where he traveled around the world, and writing. These activities offer readers a wide view of life as Warren focuses on details surrounding all of us. 

He lives with his wife of forty-eight years, Barbara, in northwest South Carolina. Their three children bring twelve grandchildren and many foster kids into the picture.