One of my friends recently posted a meme on Facebook that said, ‘My desire to keep informed is at odds with my desire to stay sane’. Do you ever feel like that? There are so many negative stories on both mainstream and social media, that it’s easy to enter into that negativity. Yet if we stop to look around us, there are countless stories of hope.
Last year, editors Anne Hamilton and Ruth Bonetti put out an anthology called Palette of Grace, which included short pieces of fiction, nonfiction and poetry that all reflected aspects of faith. You can hear some of the contributor’s reflections in a previous blog post.
They’re about to launch Volume 2 in the series: Symphony of Grace, published by Armour Books. It’s a collection of faith-filled short stories of fiction and nonfiction, plus the occasional poem. I asked some of the contributors, including myself, to give some insights into their stories and process. And be sure to read to the end because there’s a giveaway! [N.B. The giveaway has now closed.]
Painting Pictures in Design and Words
First up, is the fabulous Rebekah Robinson from Beckon Creative Graphic Design. Rebekah, you designed the beautiful cover and layout for the book. As a graphic artist, can you share any insights about how you go about designing such a cover? What do you hope the cover conveys?
When we started the previous anthology, Palette of Grace, I knew I had a Katie Pertiet scrapbook kit with painted colour samples, which I got permission to use. Then I created some textured art paper in Artisan 6, looked on iStock for a colourful ‘painty’ background, and and we went from there.
When I came to do Symphony of Grace, I wanted a matching look, so I rounded up a whole lot of backgrounds that said ‘colourful!’ and ‘musical!’ and Anne Hamilton helped me choose one. We stuck with the same fonts. Ruth Bonetti provided the handwritten Bach sheet music image, which I coloured up to echo the paint samples.
It’s always a process, and each cover goes through several iterations before we’re all happy. It has to be true to the content, and I like to have harmonising elements echoed in the interior layout. I hope this cover says ‘rich; deep; variegated; intimate; soul-chords.’ That’s certainly how the book reads, and it describes the grace of God itself, too.
Rebekah, the covers for both Palette of Grace and Symphony of Grace are stunning. You’ve done a brilliant job.
You also have two stories in the anthology. I really loved the way you used fictionalised accounts of real encounters that Biblical characters had with Jesus. What prompted you to tell the stories in that way?
Thank you! I got the idea from Anne Hamilton’s Jesus and the Healing of History series, and she graciously said she didn’t mind me having a go. So, I’ve been sprinkling vignettes through my own current series, which is where these two come from. As I’m writing about the fruit of the Spirit, I’m looking for examples in the Bible of God displaying those attributes in His nature. The Stoop is all about Jesus employing the grace of patience as He is continually confronted with waywardness as well as need. Flesh and Stone puts Him in His daily MO of seeing what the Father is up to, and letting the Holy Spirit guide His actions for new outcomes. He is the Spirit of Grace, after all!
Imagining the viewpoints of the other characters can shine different angles of light on the scenes, as there are always multiple things we can lift out. I don’t think we’ll ever exhaust all the lessons in God’s Word, nor all the ways He shows His love for us. I’m thrilled to have a teensy part of unpacking that.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Rebekah. The creative arts can certainly be used to great advantage in helping us to see those different perspectives.
To find out more about Rebekah’s series on the Fruit of the Spirit and other publications, please visit the publishing link at Beckon Creative.
Creatively Sharing Difficult Topics
Miranda de Jager has two poems and two memoir pieces in the anthology. That’s a great achievement in itself, Miranda. Congratulations! Your poem Lonely Old Guitar contains some beautiful imagery. I was wondering about the story behind that. What prompted you to write it?
Thank you Nola, I have been writing poetry for many years, as a means to release emotions that were too private or hurtful to relate. I haven’t shared many of my poems, but when I was given this opportunity by Anne and Ruth, I revamped a few poems that I thought may encourage others. I think I discovered the topic Lonely Old Guitar in an online poetry writing group years ago.
While the story of the old guitar is fictional, the feelings of being lonely and rejected formed a huge part of my childhood and teenage years. I tweaked the poem for Symphony of Grace and gave it a new ending. God has often given me new purpose when life’s challenges became overwhelming and I struggled to find hope.
My story, The Cage, in the earlier Palette of Grace anthology, provides more perspective on how I struggled to talk and make friends until a Godly intervention helped me to find my voice.
Thanks for sharing that, Miranda. I think the emotions in your poem and memoir piece will resonate with a lot of readers. In your story, The Past is a Foreign Country, you used creative techniques to deal with a very difficult subject. Is there anything you can share with us about the situation that prompted the story and why you chose to tell it in a creative way?
The idea of telling the story in a creative way came about when I started receiving counselling for repressed memories, which is a safety mechanism of the brain to protect us from the effects of severe trauma. In a way, it is similar to amnesia, except that with repressed memories, the brain has the ability to block out traumatic events while remembering only the good events around the trauma. I never realised I had repressed memories because I didn’t notice the gaps in my memory. When scary flashbacks to my past started about twelve years ago, I decided to find a good counsellor.
It has been a slow and difficult process and while it may have been easier to continue repressing my past, I knew that I could only receive healing by facing the truth with God’s assistance. To make a long story short, this counsellor, who knew that I loved to write, suggested that I write a story to support the healing process, which is what I did.
The story evolved over time, I made a few changes for the book and the editors came up with the perfect title. I used my imagination and creative juices on how to tell the story, but it is still a true story because the facts, names and places did not change. The way I approached the story changed. I do not want to give too much away, but I think creativity can be an amazing tool to deal with difficult subjects or things that are hard to explain. If we can use show, don’t tell in memoir and even add a twist, it would make it more interesting for the reader.
Thanks for telling us about your process, Miranda. It must have taken you a lot of courage to share these stories, but I’m sure they will touch many readers.
Using Humour to Highlight Deeper Truths
Next I interviewed myself about my story, Muffy the Matchmaker. Nola, your story has an intriguing title. Who is Muffy and how was she involved in matchmaking?
Thanks for asking, Nola. Muffy was a beautiful little Pomeranian that I bought when she was just eight weeks old. I was single and living by myself at the time, so she certainly brought some zing into my life. When she was just a few months old, I started going out with a fellow I’d met at a Christian singles line-dancing social. The fact that I could count and turn on the beat made me one of the best dancers in the room, so it was a no-brainer that ‘Dave’ would want to see me again.
Not long afterwards, another fellow called Tim asked me out. I was a late bloomer when it came to romantic relationships, so it was totally new territory for me to have two fellows interested at the same time. I told Tim I was already going out with someone, but invited him to a small party I was having so people could meet Dave. Muffy jumped into Tim’s lap and fell asleep. The little fluffball had made her choice, but it took me a while to work it out.
Over time, some red flags appeared in my relationship with Dave and I came to realise that Tim was the one I was meant to be with. There’s obviously a lot more to it, and I go into more detail in the story that’s published in the anthology, but God’s guidance was central to my decision.
It sounds like the story is more serious than we might think from the title. How does humour fit in?
Muffy definitely played a part in proceedings, so that suggested to me that a light touch was needed. In the wedding photo, you can see her beaming at the camera while resting her paw on Tim’s shoulder. It’s as if she’s saying, ‘This is my Daddy’. However, there was a more serious undercurrent. Deciding who to marry is a huge decision, and we can sometimes ignore or rationalise red flags because we don’t want to be alone.
I wanted to share about my process in making that decision. For me, it included a lot of prayer, seeking wise counsel from trusted friends, and being sensitive to God’s leading. However, I didn’t want it to sound preachy or heavy-handed. Humour can be a great tool in such situations because it can be disarming and help to break down barriers to difficult topics. It’s not a rollicking, laugh-a-minute piece, but hopefully the odd humorous metaphor and anecdote can engage people and draw them into the story.
If anyone is interested in how to use humour as a creative writing technique, I wrote a series of blog posts on that topic a while ago. Look for Posts 29 to 32 on my writing tips blog. (However, please note that some of the links within those blogs no longer work. I haven’t gotten around to checking all of them for a while, but the content of the blog posts are still fine.)
Other Contributers
I’ve just given you a taste of the stories and poems included in this anthology. Other contributors include Hazel Barker, Linda Barton, Antoni Bonetti, Ruth Bonetti, Diana Davison, Rose Dee, M. Lester Dighton, Michelle Dennis Evans, Sandra Florentina, Terry Gatfield, Anne Hamilton, Dell Saddler Hamilton, Pamela Julian, Rosemary New, Raelene Purtill, Karen Roper, Jo Wanmer, Jenny Woolsey and Justin Yeend. Thank you, everyone, for sharing your stories. And a huge thankyou to publisher and editor Anne Hamilton and editor Ruth Bonetti for making this opportunity available.
How to Purchase
Giveaway
[N.B. This giveaway has now closed. Winner announced in comments.]
I have a copy of Symphony of Grace to give to one lucky reader. In order to enter the draw, simply leave a comment on this blog post by midnight on Sunday 30 March 2025 (Australian Eastern Standard time). The winner will be determined by a random draw of all eligible entries. Please note that contributors to the volume and those involved in its production/publication are not eligible. For full terms and conditions, please click here.
Photo Credits
Front and back covers of Symphony of Grace by Rebekah Robinson at Beckon Creative. Nola’s author photo by Wayne Logan at Encouraging Photos. Wedding photo by Ferris Downs Photography. Featured photo by Gerd Altmann on Pixabay. Guitar by JKing on Pixabay. Young girl by ClickerHappy on Pixabay. Cross by congerdesign on Pixabay. Photos of Rebekah and Miranda supplied by the authors.
14 Responses
Looking forward to reading this anthology. It looks great and I enjoyed the first one. And Nola, what a terrific, long blog. Very informative, thanks. I was fascinated to hear about Muffy’s role in your getting married.
Thanks, Jeanette. Muffy was quite the little matchmaker. We had her for another 15 years after we got married. There are a lot of really heartfelt stories in the book, and you’ll recognise many of the names. Thanks for commenting.
I was very interested to read this and your story also, Nola. I lived quite a happy life in the care of my parents, but there were just one or two incidents, especially when my father took very ill when I was 14 and, as the eldest, I had responsibilities on me which caused me hurt. I repressed these for years, but the Lord put an opportunity to share and this I did over thirty years later. I loved your wedding photo and story, too.
Thank you for sharing that, Heather. It’s amazing how God can use all of those little incidents to help shape our characters and also to bless others. All of our stories are important. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Loved the blog Nola. I also love the name of the book. Symphony of Grace. Wow! Beautiful. And then, it’s time to mention Muffy and you and Tim. What a wonderful story. So looking forward to reading about it. It sounds like a wonderful anthology with input from many gifted writers including yourself. Congratulations to all!
Thank you, Anusha. Muffy was quite the matchmaker! Many years later, I was able to use her skills to matchmake two of my friends, and they are very happily married. There are a lot of great stories in there. People really shared from their hearts. Thank you for commenting. Bless you.
This sounds like a wonderful anthology! I loved the interviews, especially the one with yourself, lol. Dogs are usually good judges of character, and it sounds like Muffy is no exception. I can’t wait to read your story and the others. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Rochelle. The fur kids should always be consulted on important relationship business! I’m glad you enjoyed it. There are some great stories in there. A number of authors really made themselves vulnerable and I’m sure their stories will touch many people. Thanks for commenting.
There’s absolutely no question about the perfect matches you’ve mentioned – the cover and the title are stunningly beautiful and perfectly matched and, having met both Muffy and Tim, there’s no question yours was a match made in heaven.
Miranda, thanks for your bravery. I know first hand how God’s grace brings healing after trauma – remembered and suppressed – and for me, He did so through writing.
Thank you, Mazzy. Muffy certainly knew how to pick ’em! And Miranda’s stories are poignant, but beautiful and filled with hope. I’m sure you’d love them. Thanks for commenting.
Thank you for the encouragement Mazzy. I’m still going through the healing process, but by the grace of God and Christian counselling there has been amazing progress and I do believe He will complete the work He started in me.
It is wonderful that there is such a harmonious collaboration of Christian writers that produce this uplifting book.
Thank you, Jane. It’s wonderful to see the variety of stories from such different writers, yet all connected by a common faith. Thanks for commenting.
Thank you to everyone who entered the random draw for a copy of the book. I am pleased to announce that the winner is Heather Gray. Congratulations, Heather!