Royally Inspired Writing Contest!

Royally Inspired Writing Contest!

by | Oct 24, 2024 | Thoughtful Thursdays

Royally Inspired Tournament

The First Annual WhiteCrown Princess Moments Contest

 

Hear ye, hear ye! You’re invited to don your writer’s armor and prove your mettle in a battle to the death…er…publication!

View All Images You Can Choose From!

 

What Is the Royally Inspired Tournament?

In this writing contest, you write a short story based on one of the book cover images linked above–there are nearly 30 to choose from! When you submit your story, start by saying which image it goes with (for instance, “Contemporary 3”). We will choose FOUR winners, which will be published with the image you selected as the cover (we’ll of course add your title to it!).

What are Princess Moments?

Princess Moments are short fiction that give readers that “ahhh” moment that royal fiction is famous for—the one where a royal steps up or accepts the proposal or finds their inner strength or wins the day or realizes their own true worth. Princess Moments are published exclusively on WhiteCrown’s website and are free for readers to enjoy.

How Long Should the Entries Be?

Current Princess Moments range from 500-2000 words. This is a great guideline, though we’re not super-strict about word counts on these. Keep it a “short,” but feel free to use however much space your story needs. (The “official” definition of a short story is 1,000-7,500 words.)

How Many Entries Can Each Writer Submit?

As many as you like! You can submit multiple stories for the same image, or a story for different images! Entries will be anonymized before they’re sent to the judges, so each entry will be judged on its own merits alone.

Is there an entry fee?

Nope! The contest is free to enter!

Are there any restrictions on who can enter?

Nope! You can be published or unpublished, any age. Just keep in mind that WhiteCrown readers are teens and adults, so we’d like to see short stories that target teen or older.

Who Are the Judges?

The Royally Inspired Tournament will be judged by royal experts—WhiteCrown’s existing authors and editors!

What Do Winners Receive?

Each winner will receive a contract for publication on the WhiteCrown website, as well as a special edition WhiteCrown original paperback of their choice with printed edges.

Things to Know About WhiteCrown?

WhiteCrown is a line of royal fiction under the WhiteFire Publishing Group, a Christian publisher. While faith themes don’t need to be overt, especially in short fiction, there should be nothing in your entry that would mark it as incompatible with our publisher, including foul language, explicit sex scenes, or graphically described violence. All stories published by WhiteCrown must feature royalty. To know what kind of stories we most love, you should read our existing short fiction and/or novels.

 

Feeling royally inspired? Then get writing!

Deadline for submissions is November 15, 2024.

Winners will be announced on December 6, 2024.

Entries should be emailed to princessmoments@whitecrownpublishing.com
using a subject line of “Royally Inspired Tournament Submission”
Again, please include WHICH IMAGE your entry is meant to match,
along with a TITLE for your story!

We can’t wait to see what stories these images inspire!

View All Images You Can Choose From!
Post-Op Update

Post-Op Update

by | Oct 17, 2024 | Thoughtful Thursdays

Thank you all so much for praying for me as I went into surgery last Friday, and for continuing to pray for my recuperation! I appreciate it so much!

So last Friday, October 11, I had my double mastectomy. The “double” part was my choice, made because it decreases my chances of going through breast cancer again by 90%. I liked those numbers! Because of my size and the size of the tumor, a single mastectomy was necessary–a lumpectomy wouldn’t have left me with enough material for reshaping. I also needed to have all the lymph nodes in my right armpit removed, because they were still showing up as abnormal in the last MRI. Having the lymph nodes all removed puts me at a risk of lymphedema, swelling of the arm and hand, so I would definitely appreciate prayers that I can avoid that. I have exercises to do to help prevent it, and will be wearing compression sleeves to help with it as well.

The surgery went really well! Not that I got the update from the surgeon, LOL, but she reported to my family that everything was textbook or better. She was able to use a blue dye that tracks the drainage channels in my arm so that she could avoid them, which should help with that lymphedema concern. We all agree that we just love Dr. Bailey and always feel better about things after talking to her. She came in to see me before surgery and said, “I know you’re not looking forward to this, but look at it this way. After today, we know you’re cancer free. That makes today a great day.” And she is so right about that!

I only stayed one night in the hospital, which was fine by me. 😉 I did have a bit of swelling on my right side the morning after surgery, so they wrapped me up tight in an ace bandage and told me I wasn’t allowed to take it off until my follow-up appointment at the one-week mark. I absolutely understand that…but I’m looking forward to getting a break from it. I feel a bit like a mummy. 😉

As I’m sitting here several days post-surgery, I can report that I’m certainly nowhere near normal–my range of motion is hugely decreased, so there’s a lot I can’t do while incisions heal.  But the pain of the first day has faded into discomfort and aching, which is a big improvement. I’m able to sit at my desk and in fact find that it’s really comfortable to have my arms braced at that height. Convenient, since I just had digital galleys arrive for The Collector of Burned Books. Reading through it doesn’t tax me much but still makes me feel useful, so that’s nice. =)

My sister brought over a TON of food, and my mom and grandmother added to it, so we’re well stocked, for sure! Definitely a blessing, because I can’t even reach the microwave on my own, much less cook anything, LOL. Today I have an appointment with physical therapy, and tomorrow a follow-up with my surgeon at which I will hopefully get the drains removed and be cleared for things like showering. They expect to have pathology reports early next week, so I also have an oncology appointment on Monday to discuss treatment from here out. (UPDATE: Pathology reports came in, and I am CANCER FREE!! No cancer in any tissue or lymph nodes removed! Praise God!)

Again, thank you all so much for your support and encouragement and prayers! I don’t know where I’d be without it, but it means the world to me.

Thoughtful Thursday – My Peace I Leave You

Thoughtful Thursday – My Peace I Leave You

by | Oct 3, 2024 | Thoughtful Thursdays

Original post published May 19, 2022

“Peace I leave with you,
my peace I give to you.
Not as the world gives
do I give it to you.
Do not let your hearts be troubled;
be not afraid.

~ John 14:27

What is peace? Jesus promises to leave us with it–not just any peace, but His peace. It’s something we all know we need. Something we crave. Something we spend money searching for and trying to grab hold of. Something we tout.

But do we really understand it? Like, really understand it?

What is peace? Is it the absence of strife? Of conflict? Of war? It is “the state of tranquility or quiet” like the dictionary says? Or “a state of security within a community”? Is it just “freedom from disquieting thoughts” or “harmony in personal relations”?

Maybe peace is, in a way, all of those things. But that is peace as the world knows it–as the world gives it.

The peace of Christ is something different. It’s something more…but also something more fundamental. Whole books can be and have been written on the subject, and it’s one I’ve really wanted to lean into from the biblical perspective. I’ve read about it. I’ve talked about it. I’ve studied it. Not enough, but enough to get started thinking it through in words here (no doubt I’ll have more on the subject later!).

A few weeks ago, my husband was speaking with a board of directors. He’d been nominated to be the new president of this board for a non-profit, and one of the others asked him, “Do you feel peace about this?”

Now, my husband is a man of deep and thoughtful faith, but he’s also a man who has taken great pains to separate his faith from mere feeling or emotion. So this phrase–do you feel peace–has long grated on him. He will say that never once in his life did he “feel peace” about a decision before it was made–though he frequently feels it after it is made. To some, this seems like a lack of faith.

But it isn’t. It is, in fact, a very true and primal kind of faith: the kind that says, “I will trust you, Lord. I will trust who you made me to be. I will trust that when I’m chasing after You, even if I make a mistake, you will redeem it. I trust that even if my fallibility, I can’t possibly undo your will…even if I’m not 100% sure what that is.”

Because how often are we really 100% sure? More, how often are we supposed to be? A couple years ago a friend sent me a book called Searching for and Maintaining Peace. She sent it “just because,” but it arrived while we were in the hospital with my son, when he was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. It took me a while to get around to reading it, but it became one of those books where I had to underline and highlight insights all over the place.

One of the things the author pointed out which really resonated with me was that true faith, true peace isn’t about always hearing God perfectly. It’s about knowing that, even when we don’t, He is still there at work. That part of this journey of faith is training ourselves in His ways enough that, even when He’s silent, we can still act. We can still choose good things. Just like as kids grow up they have to learn to make decisions without parental input, so do Christians have to learn to live, making day-to-day decisions whether they’re absolutely certain about the “rightness” or not. God is there, He’s watching, He’s comforting…but He’s also saying, “Go ahead, beloved. Step out. I’m right here if you falter.”

That is true peace. Not a lack of conflict. Not security from your community. Not harmony with others. True peace, the peace given by Christ, is trust. True peace, the kind our Lord and Savior gives us, is knowing that we cannot possibly outpace His love. We cannot fall so far that He isn’t there to catch us. We cannot undo His will. True peace is knowing that even when circumstances are terrible and our world is crumbling around us, nothing can take away the most precious thing in the world: our salvation. True peace is knowing that the only identity we really need is Child of God.

When we can really claim that, when our prayers and contemplation are not about what we need or want or hope to do, but in who we are in Christ, then we’ll also be able to claim exactly what Jesus instructs. Our hearts will not be troubled. We will not be afraid.

Are you troubled? Afraid? We’ve all been there, or are there right now, or will be in the future. But the more we focus on the truth that we’re not defined by our jobs or our place of residence, by our marriages or our children or our families, by what we’ve accomplished or where we’ve failed, the more we’ll find that fearless peace.

Because we are God’s. And He is our master. And Christ has left us with something the world does not give and the world cannot take away. He has given us a gift of peace that stills our hearts and girds our minds with courage.

Be not afraid. Be not troubled. You belong to the Lord.

Poets

Poets

by | Sep 26, 2024 | Thoughtful Thursdays

Did you ever watch the movie Dead Poets Society? It came out when I was in high school…or at least, I watched it when I was in high school. I don’t remember much about the movie, honestly, except that part of the premise was that the kids at some private school started a club where they read poetry together.

Why, you ask, do I remember this or want to talk about it? Because as I leave tomorrow to attend my 20th anniversary homecoming at my college, I find myself thinking about something that movie inspired.

Every Wednesday, my group of friends got together for “Poet’s.” It started pretty early in our Freshman year–we’d been talking about the movie and how fun such a group seemed to be, so we decided to start such a group ourselves. We didn’t have rules about what you had to read–it could be poetry, it could be prose, it could be something you’d written or by a favorite author. But at a college dedicated to reading and having conversations, this seemed like a pretty natural off-shoot…and one that let us pick our own things, rather than doing what was on a prescribed reading list.

Every Wednesday for four years, we met. I remember that in that first year, I read aloud an entire manuscript I’d written, one chapter at a time. Kimberly read us The Giver and Winnie the Pooh. Justin read bits of a book he’d written. Rob read us poetry. Martin chose an essay. Do I remember each thing we read together? Absolutely not, LOL. And that’s not the point.

The point is that we created something precious. The very act of selecting something to share with the group was important–it meant we were thinking about each other, that we were considering words that had impacted us. It gave us a chance to have fun conversations, to talk about everything from novels to poetry to essays to articles to songs. It gave us a chance to laugh together, to learn together, to share something that mattered.

The location of our meetings moved through the years, but it was always either in a dorm room or dorm common room. The core faces stayed the same, though others came and went. We had the most participants when we met in the common area of a dorm our senior year, and I still remember one of the “newbies” giving a rousing performance of a variation of “I’m a little teapot” in one of her first times coming. We often ordered pizza, or I (as the one with a kitchen) would bring something I’d baked. When Rob had completed a bartending course, he made us all some mixed drinks that we each took a sip of to see how he did (I don’t generally like the taste of alcohol, but I discovered that grasshoppers are delicious and quite enjoyed that single sip, LOL).

When I think about my college experience, I talk most often about curriculum and the focus on the dialectic that are an official part of St. John’s College. But when I think about the things I loved most about those days, I realize that a big part is that group of friends that made that focus such a part of our everyday lives. The fact that we used one of our free nights to keep doing the thing we were there officially to do, just on our own terms. We read. We discussed. We shared that experience. And that formed a foundation for friendships that have continued through the last two decades.

When we get together now with Martin and Kimberly, there’s never any hardship finding things to talk about, and for those “things” to quickly transcend into ideas and philosophy–because that’s what we did for four years. We started with a thing and we shared it and talked about it until it became something more. And by doing that, we cemented ourselves in each other’s thoughts and hearts and lives.

Even today, I often imagine how something I read would sound in one of their voices. I think about what they’d say on a given topic. I remember the scent of that delivery pizza and hear the shared laughter. It’s shaped me in ways I probably don’t even know. And makes me so glad that we not only chose to get together with our friends one evening a week, but that we chose something like that to do. That for four years, “Poet’s” meant fellowship and conversation and friendships that are lasting a lifetime.

I think today, when David and I talk about the sort of get-together we long for, that’s what we really have in mind. It’s not that we want to talk about any one particular subject at a party or meal. But we love to talk about things that matter. We love to share things that matter to us and present them to others so they become part of our common dialogue. We love the bonds that forge, and we miss it when it doesn’t happen. We’ve always “blamed” it on the St. John’s education…but you know? I don’t think it’s just that. I think we can “blame” it on ourselves and on that weekly getting-together we chose to do for four beautiful years.

We can blame it on Poet’s.

Writing Retreat 2024 is Here!

Writing Retreat 2024 is Here!

by | Sep 19, 2024 | Thoughtful Thursdays

It’s here, it’s here! My 2024 writing retreat IS HERE!

Writing retreats with my best friend Stephanie are always something to look forward to. But this year? This year it’s especially special, because I didn’t think I’d be able to do it. I thought we’d have to postpone until spring 2025. I thought that between being wiped out by chemo and then undergoing surgery and radiation, that week we’d reserved at a VRBO long before I knew I had cancer was going to be yet another casualty of cancer. In fact, on my calendar I even had a date circled–September 3, the last date we could cancel our retreat and get a full refund on the rental.

We didn’t even attempt to make a decision about it until I was halfway through chemo, when we had a better idea of dates of surgeries and all the other fun stuff. And if you’ve been keeping up with my journey, you probably already know how happy I was when my oncologist, rather than saying, “Oh, you shouldn’t travel four weeks after your last chemo infusion” instead said, “Go, go! Please, go visit your friend! Have fun!”

Thank you, Dr. Safi!

I don’t think I can adequately explain how freeing that command felt–not just because it meant I can fly to Kansas City and spend a week with my best friend, doing what we love to do…but because it meant cancer doesn’t get to steal one more thing. Cancer doesn’t get to take this from me. Cancer doesn’t get to dictate this.

And so, today I’m waking up in our rented house in Kansas. I’m sitting with my laptop and my story. I’m laughing with my best friend. We’re planning when we’re going out to dinner and when we’ll stay in. We’re planning out the next week. And though I may not be able to keep the pace of previous years and write 10-12,000 words every day…I may. Who knows? Regardless, I am here and am enjoying myself and I am so, so grateful to be able to do this!

And I need it. Not just mentally and emotionally–which is absolutely true. I need it literally. I have a book that was originally due to Guideposts on September 1, but which they graciously told me I could turn in on October 1 instead. A book that I was far from having finished before I arrived here in Kansas. A book 100% relying on a successful writing retreat in order to be written. Of course, I’d already planned on that, hence why I wasn’t panicking ahead of time. Because the retreat has never failed to come through for me when it’s deadline-crunch-time, especially when it’s an out-of-town retreat.

There is something “magical” about focusing only on writing. On giving myself permission to tune out and turn off everything else. Something that allows creativity to flow and my will-power to focus, and even when I’m tired, my brain knows what it’s supposed to be doing and shows up to work. (Not always true on an average day, LOL.) And that is AMAZING.

I’m eager to see how this week goes. Will I have to take naps? Will I be able to hit my usual word counts? I don’t have the answers to these questions quite yet, but regardless of what they are, I’m excited to discover it! And while our usual exercise of jogging will have to be walking this year instead (yeah, um…reality), I know I’ll still get some movement in and enjoy my days here.

If you want to follow along how the week is going, I’ll be posting to social media with updates and fun pictures and word counts! Be sure to check in and see how the week is progressing! And hey, if you wanted to say a prayer that energy levels stay good, I would not object. October 1 is fast approaching, LOL. ;-)=

Thank you all, as always, for cheering me on!

Inspiring

Inspiring

by | Sep 12, 2024 | Thoughtful Thursdays

At one point over the summer, I found myself on a breast cancer forum on Reddit. It started as I looked for answers as to whether a side effect was common and what solutions others had found for it, but we all know how those can rabbit-trail, right? I ended up reading some threads that had me laughing, some that me blinking back tears, some that had me nodding along, and few that left me scratching my head.

One that has stuck with me was a rant–an understandable one, in one respect. The poster was saying how she hated to hear “you inspire me,” or “you’re such a warrior.” Her take, and the take of most of the people who commented in reply, was that she didn’t want to inspire anyone. This wasn’t a battle she’d chosen. She wasn’t a warrior, she was just a conscript in a battle that scientists and doctors were fighting, and she didn’t want to be there, so don’t call her a hero. I similarly heard from a few individuals along the way that they, too, hadn’t liked it when people said they were inspiring in a battle not of their own choosing.

I get that, in a way. But also…I don’t. Because here’s the thing.

We never get to pick which battles we’re tossed into in this world, not really. Much as “pick your battles” is an adage, it’s one with limited scope, right? Because it’s all about choosing not to make a battle of something when it’s all but useless. When it comes to health struggles, chronic illness, disease, behavioral health problems…no one chooses these battles. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have to fight them.

And most of all, it doesn’t mean we don’t get to choose HOW we fight them.

I know, I know, I’ve already talked quite a bit over the summer about choosing to approach our limitations with an attitude worthy of Christ, so I don’t want to just repeat myself. But at the same time, it bears repeating and dwelling on. And it bears it, in a way, because of its simplicity.

I’m still getting so many messages saying how inspiring my attitude is, and how it has proven an encouragement for other people going through their own struggles. And I hear, in the back of my mind, those people in the forums saying they don’t want to be that inspiration. And it makes me…sorrowful. Because why? Why wouldn’t you want to lend others strength simply by being there? Why wouldn’t you want to prove to them, by putting one foot in front of the other, that they can keep putting one foot in front of the other? What I love about that is that it doesn’t require giving up any of the measly strength I have to help someone else–it doesn’t weigh on me or hurt me at all. All that’s required is that we stand here, wherever God has put us, and say, “He’s got me. And because you can see He’s got me, you can know He’s got you too.”

I’ll be honest–optimism comes easily to me. It doesn’t, generally speaking, require effort. When my husband says, “I’m so proud of how you’re making the best of this,” the only possible response is, “What else am I supposed to do, make the worst of it? What would be the point of that?” But as my doctor pointed out, “You’d be surprised.” So often, we choose to dwell on the negatives instead of the positives. So often, we get worn down. So often, even what people intend as encouragement just grates on us, a reminder of what we’re going through and don’t want to be. Sometimes, it feels never-ending, and sometimes there really is no end in sight.

I get that in those times, the last thing we want to think about is the idea that God put us in this so that someone else could be inspired. That seems pretty awful, right? Why should we have to suffer just so someone else can see us and say, “Hey, I can get through it too”? But I would say that that isn’t the reason we suffer. But it can–and I daresay should–be a consequence of our suffering. It isn’t the reason, but it can be part of the meaning we take from it.

There are going to be days in all our lives when we don’t feel like smiling. When we’re miserable. When we just want it to stop. There are days when we struggle to remain positive, when tears come, and frustration and hurt and depression. It’s okay that we have those days. And when we’re in them, seeing someone else going through something with a smile might actually do us more harm than good, emotionally speaking. But when those days come, instead of thinking “I don’t want to inspire anyone in this battle,” I personally have found it to be a great help to just pause and think, “How is this inspiring?”

Seriously. On some of my worst days, when someone has commented or messaged to say how inspiring I’ve been, I have to ask how and why. I don’t feel inspiring. I don’t feel like I’m doing anything big or great. I’m not trying to project anything in particular or live up to anything for the sake of others. Those days, I am literally just plodding along, drained of energy and want-to. And then someone will say something like that, and I think of those people on the Reddit forum who would clench their teeth and bite back a sarcastic retort. And again I’m filled with that sorrow.

Because you know what I hear when someone says that? I hear, “God is capable of using my mess in ways I can’t imagine.” When I see someone blinking tears from their eyes for me, I see God binding His Church together in ways I could never do on my own. When someone reaches out to say they know they can keep fighting because I keep fighting, I marvel at how He is so strong, so capable of holding us in His hand, when we are at our weakest.

In my head, “positive” is just the default. I’m usually surprised when someone chooses a different perspective, LOL. I don’t think about it being anything unique, not until one of my doctors says something like, “And you’re still smiling and laughing. You don’t know what a difference that makes.”

I’m learning, though. I’m learning what a difference it makes–not just for me, but for everyone else. Because no, I didn’t choose this war or this battle, maybe I was drafted into it like everyone else. But that doesn’t mean it’s not my part to fight it valiantly and worthily. No, I didn’t choose this so I could inspire anybody–but that doesn’t mean God can’t and won’t use it to do just that. No, I don’t want to be going through this–but I am, and so I will walk through each day as a child of Light, not of darkness. And I will reflect that Light in whatever way I can. Through a smile, through a joke, through vulnerability.

Maybe none of us get to choose the fight…but we get to choose what we’re fighting for. And when we look beyond ourselves, when we embrace the inspiration we can be for others, just as we look to the inspirations those who came before us provided, it can change everything. We don’t need to set out to “be inspiring.” We simply have to open ourselves up to God and say, “Do with me, with this, whatever You will.” He’ll take care of the rest.

Cart
Checkout - $0.00
  • 0
  • 1