Category: Cladach Authors

Christ, Cladach Authors, Experiencing Community, Offering HOPE, The life of faith

Remembering Those Who Have Gone Before

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Today is All Saints Day for those Christian traditions that follow the liturgical church calendar.

As publisher and editor-in-chief at Cladach I am reminded of three of our authors who have passed from this life to the next. We never formally acknowledged these passings. So today I would like to commemorate these three, faithful departed saints.

Candi Adermatt

G.H. Cummings

James Troy Turner

I often think of these lines from the hymn “The Church’s One Foundation”:

O happy ones and holy!
Lord, give us grace that we
Like them, the meek and lowly,
On high may dwell with thee;

That is my prayer as we remember these three Cladach authors who have gone before us:

Candi Adermatt (1947-2015)

Candi worked in the Office of the Provost at Azusa Pacific University as a freelance doctoral-dissertation editor. She belonged to East Valley Authors. She found her greatest pleasure in spending time with her sons and their families. Candi authored the contemporary novel Love Rekindled.

George Herbert Cummings (1929-2019)

Herb had three careers in his long life: serving as a local pastor of churches in Colorado, California, and Oregon. Then as a licensed family counselor. And finally, as an author. He had two daughters (one of whom is yours truly). Rev. Dr. Cummings authored the book Making It In Marriage.

James Troy Turner (1949-2022)

Troy was a Vietnam vet who had a gift for writing poetry in which he creatively expressed his disappointments, questions, dogged faith, as well as observation and insights into life. He found metaphors in the grit of everyday life. He lived in Colorado.

**********

I thank God for the faithful lives they lived. May they rest in the peace of Christ.

Both we and those who have gone before us are part of the mystical body of Christ and the communion of saints.

God be with us all and help us to keep our sights on the “really real” but unseen, and bring us into full union with our God forever.

 

Art in Books, Author Guest Post, Book Illustrations, Cladach Authors, Creative Nonfiction, Healing & Wholeness, Memoirs, Offering HOPE, Perseverence, Relationships

“An Earthly Father Who Just Loves Me”

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Fathering with faithfulness, courage and hope through pain and uncertainty.

A YOUNG FATHER’S BATTLE

(An excerpt from Mark Fraley‘s Sketchbook story, CREATION OF CALM):

 My body has been invaded.

“Dear God, comfort them! I can’t right now.”

“The hardest part… is not being able to pick up my son when he is close to tears.

My heavenly Father says, “I love you and I know it hurts. Put your faith in me.”

Moments together turn into hope, a hope that is reachable and lasting.

My children provide me with strength needed to move forward. I can forget my condition when they are with me.

“So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-17 MSG)

A lot of who I am today comes from who my dad has been for years. I thank the Lord for the gift of an earthly father who just loved me!

DING

An encouraging book for anyone facing trials and challenges.

Cladach Authors, God and Creation, God working in history, Memoirs, Nature Writings, New Releases, Nurturing Wonder, Offering HOPE

Bobo, Ouyang, and Susan: Experiencing Community

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Beauty, comfort, and caring community can come to us in surprising ways.

Ouyang is a Chinese friend of our author Susan Elaine Jenkins. They became acquainted while she lived and taught school in China for many years. Ouyang appears in Susan’s memoir SCANDALON: Running From Shame and Finding God’s Scandalous Love. If you read Scandalon, then you know how Ouyang helped Susan adjust to life in China and how Susan helped Ouyang better understand Christianity. Their conversations shared in the book are deep and moving and show God’s hand at work across cultures.

So I was delighted when Susan and Ouyang contributed a story, “Bobo the Hedgehog,” to our most-recent release, The Animals In Our Lives: Stories of Companionship and Awe.

“Bobo the Hedgehog” relates a moving childhood experience of Ouyang during the dreary days of the Communist Revolution in China—a period of time with very little beauty, comfort, or caring community. Seemingly by accident Ouyang found all those things—beauty, comfort, and caring community—when he happened upon a rare thing, a rose garden, one of the few gardens sanctioned by the government. And inside that “secret,” gated garden was a kind old gardener who befriended Ouyang. When the old man found a hedgehog by the river, he kept it hidden and let it be Ouyang’s “pet” for a while until the risk became too great and the hedgehog was released back into the wild. But the comfort and joy a pet hedgehog brought to the boy never left him and became a part of who he is today.

The kind gardener (however clandestinely) sharing the creature with him, at a time when families were not allowed to own pets, a terrible time when starving people were eating whatever animals, including pets, they could find … is the type of experience that can give needed hope to a child in a bleak environment.

Ouyang’s childhood memory, written for him by Susan, provides a rare glimpse into what life was like in those difficult times. It also gives a glimpse into the life and character of the boy who became the man, Ouyang.

Soon after The Animals In Our Lives was published, Ouyang found this little hedgehog (pictured above with him) on a river bank. Happy, formative, hope-giving memories again flooded back to his heart and mind.

Ouyang’s story of “Bobo the Hedgehog” is one of many included in The Animals In Our Lives, that demonstrate how animals of all kinds can give us companionship, the experience of awe, and a sense of God’s presence.

 

 

Book Publishing, Cladach Authors, Marketing Books, New Releases, Poetry

Publishing During the Coronavirus Pandemic and Social Isolation

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Photo by Julentto Photography on Unsplash

Like everyone else, Cladach has felt the effects and isolation of the virus. Especially in these ways:

  • Amazon, where many of our sales happen, has de-prioritized orders, sales, and shipping of books during the pandemic as they concentrate on shipping more urgently needed items. But, the good news is we’ve heard from customers that their orders are on the way. Amazon has our books in stock and will fulfill orders, though the ship time may be longer than usual. So go ahead and place those orders!
  • Postponed spring titles and uncertain release dates. But the following books will release in 2020 (dates to be announced):
    • A BRAVE LIFE by Janyne McConnaughey, PhD
    • BIBLE POEMS by Donna Marie Merritt
    • UNPAUSED : Poems by Alice Scott-Ferguson
  • Author events cancelled. Here are a few examples:
    • Catherine Lawton (that’s me) was scheduled to teach three workshops at the Colorado Christian Writers Conference, which had to be canceled, but conference director Marlene Bagnull says she plans to save the 2020 program in 2021. Conferees can look forward to my workshops on these topics in May 2021 in Estes Park, Colorado: 1) Poetry, 2) Creative Nonfiction, 3) Marketing
    • Janyne McConnaughey (author of BRAVE and now living in Seattle) has had to cancel her early May trip to Colorado Springs, where she was scheduled to participate in the Mountain of Authors event and do a book signing at a local shop.
    • Alice Scott-Ferguson had anticipated a trip in April to Monument, Colorado for a Pen Women’s event, meeting with friends, authors and readers and selling copies of Pausing in the Passing Places.This event was postponed.
  • As we’ve all heard, small businesses, including those in the book business, have suffered because of lower sales, closures, layoffs. One way to support local independent bookstores is to purchase books through the nation-wide, excellent and efficient online Bookshop program, Books are shipped directly from printer/warehouses, and the profits from these online sales are shared among all participating, local independent bookstores. Cladach titles that are available through IndieBound are also searchable and orderable through Bookshop. For instance, you can find my new book, Glimpsing Glory, at Bookshop HERE.
  • We all feel the isolation. “Staying Home” and social distancing can bring out creativity and is surely teaching us some important and hopefully lasting lessons if we will listen in the solitude to what our very-present God is whispering to us. May it be so. May healing and hope spread through our world, and may we come together again soon!
  • Some heartwarming stories are coming out of this difficult season, as people choose to show generosity and a giving attitude. Donna Marie Merritt (author of forthcoming BIBLE POEMS, who lives, writes, and works as a librarian in Connecticut) shared this happy, heartwarming report: “Last night I was feeling helpless, looking at a box of children’s books [that she authored] sitting idle because there are no book events right now. Then … I posted on a local FB page that any child in need of a book right now could get a signed copy from me free. Within hours, the entire box was signed and waiting in bags on my porch for pick-up. I had unemployed parents reach out, parents with bored children, parents who can’t bring their kids to the library during this crisis. It was the best ‘book event’ of my career. And some have begun sending photos.” [Photos posted below with permission].
Book Publishing, Book reviews, Cladach Authors, Marketing Books

Credibility, Context, Trust

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Before choosing to buy or read a book, don’t you check to see who has endorsed it, what reviewers are saying, which of your friends recommend it? When we tell you that a well-known, trusted leader or author has endorsed a book, we’re not just “name dropping.”

We appreciate every single person, famous or not, who posts a review of one of our titles, shares an update from one of our authors, and recommends a Cladach book to their friends and followers. Word of mouth is the most effective way of “getting the buzz going.” And buzz gets people’s attention.

And these hope-filled books are worth their attention.

Endorsements also add context to a lesser-known author and their books.

These people, whose names are recognizable to a large number of Christian readers, have lent their support by endorsing or reviewing our authors’ titles:

Janyne McConnaughey, author of Trauma in the Pews, on Alice Scott-Ferguson’s DAUGHTER OF THE ISLES:

“The combination of goodness, grace, and grief that visits every woman’s life is portrayed with honesty…I found courage to face the complex feelings of aging.”

Kay Arthur, Precept Ministries International, on Judith Galblum Pex’s WALK THE LAND:

“You’ll be enriched spiritually through Judy’s story of the insights given her by her God on this journey of a lifetime.”

William Prince, General Superintendent Emeritus, Church of the Nazarene, on Physa Chanmany’s NO MORE FEAR:

“A good story of a man who found God and is preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ.”

Ken Canfield, founder of National Center for Fathering and author of The 7 Secrets of Effective Fathers, on Nancy Swihart’s ON KITTEN CREEK:

“A fresh reminder that we are each living an adventure.”

Eva Marie Everson, CBA best-selling author and novelist, on Catherine Lawton’s FACE TO FACE: A NOVEL:

“I was fascinated.”

Eric Wilson, New York Times bestselling author, on J. Michael Dew’s GADLY PLAIN:

“A small literary miracle … full of hope.”

Marilyn Musgrave, then U.S. Congresswoman from Colorado, on Donna Westover Gallup’s WHITE AS SNOW:

“A wonderful book. I couldn’t put it down.”

Thomas Jay Oord, theologian and prolific author, on Janyne McConnaughey’s BRAVE:

“Vulnerable in the kind of way that changes the world!”

…and many others. To all reviewers and endorsers of Cladach books, we say “Thank you.”

 

Cladach Authors, Memoirs, Uncategorized

On Veteran’s Day – Honoring Our Authors Who Have Served

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Today (and every Veterans Day) we especially acknowledge and thank these Cladach Authors who have served in the Armed Forces of their Country and the cause of freedom:

1. John Buzzard

Served in the U.S. Navy during Operation Desert Storm. Buzzard tells a lot of his Navy experience in his memoir Storm Tossed (under the pseudonym Jake Porter)

2. Dennis Ellingson

Served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War. At the time Ellingson didn’t know he’d become an author of many books, including God’s Healing Herbs and The Godly Grandparent.

3. George Herbert Cummings

Served in the U.S. Army during World War II and with the occupation forces in Korea, as a Chaplain’s Assistant. Many years later, Rev. Dr. Cummings authored Making It In Marriage (out of print).

4. James Troy Turner

Served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War. Some of Turner’s Poems allude to that experience and its aftermath.

5. McGill Alexander

A highly decorated Paratrooper in the South African Army, he retired as a Brigadier General. More of General Alexander’s thrilling story is told in his book, Hostage In Taipei.

Thank you, gentlemen, for your service.

Cladach Authors, Engaging Culture, Marketing Books

Cladach Authors in their Communities

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We love to see our authors out participating in their communities, sharing their expertise and their books, and meeting readers. These events happen around the country and sometimes around the world. We love to receive reports and photos of local author activities, such as the following:

Donna Marie Merritt

Donna Marie Merritt was a guest artist at the Watertown (Connecticut) Farmers’ Market, selling and signing her many books including BIBLE POEMS. Donna is a long time resident of Watertown and well-known local poet, who has also worked in the community as a school teacher and librarian. Her goal is to ensure that every person of every age has books they love to read.  Worthy goal, I’d say.

John Buzzard

On Saturday November 2, John Buzzard, author of the Cladach historical novel THAT DAY BY THE CREEK, has sold and signed copies of his books at the Empire Ranch Cowboy Festival in Sonoita, Arizona, along with other members of the Western Writers of America. Looks like a great time, John! And I like the cowboy hat.

Marilyn Bay

Marilyn Bay signed copies of her novel, PRAIRIE TRUTH, at Coffeehouse Ten24 in Eaton, Colorado. Marilyn says she enjoyed visiting with people “about books, writing and the rest of life.”… Marilyn’s roots go deep in Northern Colorado farming soil, and her books, including ALL WE LIKE SHEEP: LESSONS FROM THE SHEEP FARM find eager readers near and far.

James Troy Turner

James Troy Turner sold and signed copies of poetry books, POEMS and MORE POEMS during the downtown festivities for Sugar Beet Days in Sterling, Colorado. Troy enjoyed signing his books, showing off his dog, PJ, and visiting with both new and old friends and customers, some of whom remember him from his farm-equipment mechanic days.

Dennis and Kit Ellingson

Dennis Ellingson, known as “The Herb Guy,” and Kit Ellingson set up their booth for the Master Gardener’s Fair in Central Point, Oregon. We’d love to have been there along with others of the public who stopped by to check out Dennis’s books and plants and Kit’s photography. Dennis and Kit are joint authors of THE GODLY GRANDPARENT and Dennis’s books include the ever-popular GOD’S HEALING HERBS and GOD’S WILD HERBS.

Don’t we have resourceful, creative, and engaging authors!?

Cladach Authors, Lent / Easter, Poetry, The Love of God

Valentines, Lent, and Love Poems

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GUEST POST by Mary Harwell Sayler

Today, Valentine’s falls on Ash Wednesday—the beginning of Lent and, in many churches, the annual 40-day season of introspection and self-examination that leads to confession, repentance, and the spiritual freedom needed to receive the joy of Easter.

At first, though, it seems ironic that a Valentine’s Day of flowers and candy coincides with a time typically thought of as giving up something—such as flowers and candy! But then, the colliding and coinciding can help us to see what they have in common with each other and this blog: love.

Praise God our Father!
Blessings on our Mother Earth.
We are their love child.

–Mary Harwell Sayler in PRAISE!

Love of the beloved needs expression! The highest examples of these come in the Bible, the trek toward Easter, and the love expressed in poetry. You’ve undoubtedly read love poems—from greeting card verse on a Valentine to the 23rd Psalm to the poetic lines of a romantic sonnet. [You may have] tried your hand at writing a love poem too.

But “love” has many faces.

Take, for example, this prose poem. I’ll explain it once you’ve had a chance to experience it.

Scavengers
(after reading Attila Jozsef)

Attila the Hungarian poet, I really love you. Please
believe me before you throw yourself beneath that
train. The fright of flying freight crushes my reading
of your prose poems—poems poised with insight
and odd juxtaposition. I try to rescue the paragraphs
you pose from extermination, reeling as I read. What
can I do but pet The Dog you left behind, ragged and
muddy, ready to avenge your wounds and scavenge
the pieces of God you hid in my upper berth on this
looming train?

–Mary Harwell Sayler in Faces in a Crowd

Ever since childhood, I’ve “loved” poetry, which led to my reading the best works of classical and contemporary poets as evidenced in the above poem….. Once my tastes in poetry became more eclectic … I discovered poets from all over the world, each of whom brought experiences beyond my own.

Attila Jozsef of Hungary was one such poet, with his thought-provoking, deliciously-worded, introspective poems (suitable for Lent) such as “The Dog.” But when I learned he’d committed suicide by throwing himself in front of a train, that sad news stunned me into writing a poem pleading for life and poetry and, perhaps, for his forgiveness of those of us who have led easier lives.

Contemplation of our ease versus dis-ease, our lives versus death, our love versus bigotry, bias, boredom, and indifference gives us the stuff of which poetry and Lent are made. But the greatest of these is God’s Word of love.

Child, Child,

If God didn’t love you, no eyes, no ears
would weave into your gut, no
heart would arch into the inner soles
of your shoes, showing you where to go.

If God didn’t trust you, there would be
no joy to oil your neighbors, no love to
cover the sins of your enemies, no Good
News to paper the walls of your head.

–Mary Harwell Sayler in Outside Eden

This post was slightly edited from the original one posted by Mary Harwell Sayler at https://thepoetryeditor.blogspot.com/2018/02/valentines-lent-and-love-poems.html

Answering the Call of Christ, Authentic Faith, Cladach Authors, Nature Writings, Nurturing Wonder

Don’t Settle for Dormancy—Live Abundantly

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Are you settling in to dormancy?

In November I’m reminded of nature’s cycles of dormancy and productivity. Here in Colorado, many trees are losing their leaves. Grass will soon go dormant and turn brown.

Trees and shrubs have produced seed pods and cones; flower heads have released seeds that may sprout and surprise us in the garden next spring. Pumpkins have been cut open and seeds scooped out and roasted.

Author and field biologist Carol O’Casey unwraps the wonder of seeds—using science, literature, personal experience, and scripture—and applies this to the believer’s life of faith. In Unwrapping Wonder, she writes, “Often times, in order for us to blossom into the abundant life God has in store for us, we must accept our own spiritual brokenness—just as germination requires the seed coat to be broken.”

Don’t settle into dormancy and stay there.

“Are you lacking the life-giving water necessary to initiate the germination process? Do you long for an abundant, seed-coat-busting life? Abandon your dryness and lifeless routine. Risk heat. Risk exposure. Risk growth. And take heart. Jesus tells us, ‘Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds’ (John 12:24)”

Thank you for reminding us, Carol, that even during dormant seasons life is waiting in the seeds. Some plants will sprout surprisingly early, as soon as daylight hours start increasing. Meanwhile, wait in hope and expectancy.

As Carol says, “Allow God to unleash his power in your life. Be ready to sprout where you are planted. And live. Abundantly.”

Photo Credit: flickr
Author Guest Post, Cladach Authors, Experiencing peace, God and Creation, Offering HOPE

Even Under a Cloud of Smoke

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Under the blanket of smoke in this NASA photo, and right by one of those red dots, was our home for 30 years and the place where we took the humble first steps of founding Cladach Publishing. Many roots and memories. Many beloved people and places. Much trauma and loss this week.

It all happened so fast. My sister was awakened at 1:00 Sunday night and told to get out immediately. She grabbed her dog, purse, a few clothes and ran out to her vehicle. Smoke everywhere. A wall of fire on the hill above her neighborhood. She drove out to the highway and sat in her vehicle dazed, not knowing what to do. She decided to drive to a friend’s house. With all the cars trying to get out of the area, it took her 1 1/2 hours to drive about 5 miles. Soon after she arrived there, her friend was also evacuated. They fled to the friend’s brother’s home in another town west of there. My sister, grateful for a home to stay in, has been there all week, sleeping on the living room couch, and doesn’t know when she’ll be allowed back into her home. Though the fire devastated—wiped out—the entire neighborhood just two streets away from her home … her house and street have remained intact. Several of our friends in Sonoma County have lost their homes.

But how beautiful to see people set aside their differences and come together in the face of a common enemy, to support and help and encourage each other.

One Cladach author, Dean Davis*, lives in Sonoma County. When the fire hit, he was recovering from surgery just three days prior. His wife, Linda, shared this encouraging update on Facebook. I share her words here with her permission:

~~~~~

Today, Friday Oct. 13, is a new day. Old things are passed away. I don’t think we’ll ever be the same.

The Santa Rosa fires have died down and though they still flame up here and there, we believe the worst is over. There is no wind this morning. The area is just filled with firefighters, police, national guard, and volunteers (and smoke!). People are tender and in shock…. This is such a season for reflection.

On the first day of the fire, I went through the house asking myself what I really needed to take with us. There was very little. Photos, tax records, and our cat. And even when the evacuation came, I had to leave the cat. Now that the danger has passed (at least for the moment) we will move ahead with a new perspective of what is really important.

God was very good to provide volunteers to come get our horses the first day. To have them safe and away allowed me to focus on keeping Dad safe and healthy. God knows the little things that show us his kindness and mercy. We are all back at the house (except for the horses) and we feel we will most likely be able to stay put.

We have been told to wait another 36 hours before resuming life as usual because high winds are expected again tonight and everything could change again.

We are numb. But at peace.

A week before the fire a little scripture put to tune came to me every day, all day. “Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee.” I couldn’t get these words out of my mind. Little did I know they were preparing me for these days. I think this experience has taught us to take nothing for granted. We have no rights, just mercy and grace. The only ‘right’ we have is our righteousness through Christ, who has given it as His free gift….  We feel vulnerable yet under the shadow of His wings at the same time. We are reminded that this life and this world are just temporary yet very important. Each day is a gift because He is with us. And our gift back to Him is a life of service, faith and gratitude. God is good…all the time!

~~~~~

Thank you, Linda. God protect you and yours. We pray for your safety and for continued peace… and for Dean’s full recovery.

The one good thing about these horrendous trials is that we become more acutely aware—though often not until after the crisis—that God Is With Us … always, even in the Valley of the Shadow of Death.

Even under an ominous cloud of smoke with erratic fires erupting all around.

——–

*Dean Davis is the author of The Dangerous Journey of Sherman the Sheep. (My ten-year-old grandson loves the story of Sherman who encountered many trials on his dangerous journey and finally learned that the Good Shepherd was always with him.)
Photo: NASA MODIS Rapid Response Team, Jeff Schmaltz