Wilma Derksen
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The Joy of Lavish Mercy

8/15/2023

2 Comments

 

Does it give joy?

​It’s one thing to find joy in writing a romance novel…  its another thing for the novel to have the ability to provide the same sense of enjoyment to the reader.

I just want to entertain in this novel.... No heavy teaching, no statements - just enjoyment....
Have I done it?

Here are some of the responses....  
 
Well Wilma, you have outdone yourself. Talk about a page turner….. The story is so enthralling that one can’t wait to read each page. I literally had the next page in my hand while reading the one before me. I loved all the characters. You have definitely found your forte’. Please write more of these. I can only dream to be as good a writer and creator as you are. Will be no problem selling this book. (a promising fiction writer)
 
I finished your book yesterday and I enjoyed it from the first page to the last. I wanted it to be longer!! … I have never read a romance about Mennonites and I enjoyed that there was an authenticity to the characters in the community. I liked that they weren’t perfect and made mistakes and bad choices. It was just the right amount of suspense to keep me reading. Lots of action too!! Thank you so much for sharing your story! You have an amazing gift! (family)
 
 I was spellbound.  You obviously have done a lot of research - at least it seemed that way. The references to both the tzars and the Mennonite colonies in Russia seemed accurate.  Even the brief inclusion of the Gypsies!  Where do you do your research? I loved the creative first chapter - and that the conflict is immediately evident…. (instructor type)

Wow, the conflict of the pacifistic Mennonites and the need for Russian Boris and his guns. It was great that he had PTSD!   I loved that the outliers were the ones who befriended the Russians. I was surprised that you could write about Nadia’s horror in such detail.  That must have been so hard given your life experiences. I think you can spend the rest of your days writing fun historical novels. (friend)


All of  these reviews are somewhat biased - but I love them. I read them over and over again. More joy.

Thank you for your encouraging interest. Such fun to be moving towards something new.

The manuscript is currently being formatted and in the process of being printed. It will be launched on November 26, 2023 at the Maplecrest Creative Arts Celebration at the Prendergast Budling 906 Cottonwood Road here in Winnipeg.  More details to follow.

Believe you can and you're halfway there. - Theodore Roosevelt 

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August 08th, 2023

8/8/2023

0 Comments

 
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Something New

8/8/2023

4 Comments

 

New Day Dawning

I have found a new joy.

I didn't think there was any joy left in this world after Cliff left. In fact, the whole month of May - the anniversary of his death - I was in a real funk. This funk lasted into June.

Then in July in desperation I started to think of the coming winter to make plans. I worried about t
he end of November (the day Candace disappeared) which is always tough, so in the past I've always planned  an art event - or something like that - for the last week in November.

Last year we launched Cliff's book, Chasing the Light, which filled me with deep satisfaction - perhaps not joy - but definitely all kinds of good feelings. Perhaps another book launch? But the book I am currently  working on  is another book on forgiveness and it won't be ready - my publisher tells me. So what to do? 

My dear son reminded me that I do have a book that has been sitting in the wings for two decades - why not release it?

Actually I do have a book that I wrote a long time ago  under a pseudonym but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to release it again. It was a romance - a failed romance.
 
Ever since grade school when I had borrowed a Christian romance, a Grace Livingstone Hill book, from our church library, I had wanted to write a romance book just like her. Actually all I ever wanted to be was a romance writer.
 
As a teen I remember writing them in a makeshift office in our old barn pounding them out on an ancient Underwriter typewriter. But I couldn’t write the kiss scene since I’d never been kissed – not for lack of opportunity - but I was so idealistic back then. I didn’t believe in kissing until they proposed marriage.  I never did finish the manuscripts.
 
Then after I was married – I kept trying but never got very far.

Finally I decided to write a historical romance set in the Mennonite culture - so fun.


To prepare, I took a Mennonite history course at the U of W, went on a trip to Russia and interviewed my father who was a natural story teller. Our family stories were dramatic. We were Mennonites of British background with hints of blue blood.

Finally, two decades ago, I was able to finish my first romance novel. I then self published a few copies in secret - just to see if it would find readers looking for escapism. I was  terribly disappointed that everyone who read it fell in love with the wrong character. I decided that even though I enjoyed the writing – I didn’t have have the skill it took to write a romance. (Besides the “forgiveness” theme seemed to follow me and demand attention so I very deliberately put it out of my mind and forgot about the failed attempt.)

Except my son, who had helped me plot the intrigue of the book, remembered it and  wanted me to pull it out and revamp it.

To please him, I pulled it out and reread it. Even though the romance was lacking, I was surprised that I had captured some of the tension of a Mennonite girl growing up in a mayor’s home in the Kuban villages.  It was actually quite good.

And now that Cliff is gone the lure of romance writing has new meaning.

So I took on the challenge and started to rewrite it. It’s called Lavish Mercy. I have to admit I found great joy  in writing about love - the allure, the tensions and the beauty of that first kiss. 

Perhaps after all these years I am actually a romance writer.  Wow! What fun! I have found a new joy.

I'm already into the next.


“A writer - and, I believe, generally all persons - must think that whatever happens to him or her is a resource. All things have been given to us for a purpose, and an artist must feel this more intensely. All that happens to us, including our humiliations, our misfortunes, our embarrassments, all is given to us as raw material, as clay, so that we may shape our art.”  - Jorge Luis Borges
4 Comments

Register for Life Writing Course

8/5/2023

1 Comment

 

Let's  start in October!

I am still passionate about this! Everyone has a life worthy of story. 

​Have you ever wanted to write your life story, but didn’t know where to start?
                          Couldn't find the motivation?
​Attempted to write your autobiography - stopped writing and never started again?
                           Didn't think you could do it? 


Then this is the course for you!.

Dates for next online course
First Level -  8 Sessions 
Begins 
Oct. 4 - Nov. 22,  2023
​Wednesday​
10:00 to 11:30 am CT
ZOOM for 8 weeks 

Second Level -  8 Sessions 
Begins 2023
Jan. 10 - Feb. 22, 2024
​WEDNESDAY
10:00 to 11:30 am CT
ZOOM for 8 weeks 

Prerequisite 
Computer competency
Burning desire to tell your life story


Register: ​http://www.wilmaderksen.com/writing-course.html

1 Comment

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    "W", stands for writing, walking, wondering, wandering, winning, wincing,  and for Wilma,  This is an invitation to come walk, write, wander with me!

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