How to Invite the Power of Intentional Growth into Your Life this Year

Exciting news! I have a new book out and it's available for pre-order now!

 I'm so happy to be able to offer this to readers who are looking forward to some serious and intentional personal growth in 2019! Read the ebook with a journal or notebook handy because this book is meant to give you ideas...

The Healing Bucket: How to Invite the 

Power of Intentional Growth 

into Your Life this Year

by K.L. Lantz

This is my first foray into the realm of nonfiction as well as into the world of Christian motivational books. I personally love inspirational books of all kinds, and have read excellent books by Evangelicals, Catholics, Mormons (Latter-day Saints) like me, and those of no particular faith. In fact, a few of these authors are referenced in my own book because a book without references is a sad, lonely island. As such, my book is rich with references to scientific studies, wisdom from other books I have read, as well as personal experiences that have informed my perspectives.

I've written this book because I believe that every person's experiences qualify him or her to share unique perspectives on universal wisdom. We all come at this big, blue world from different angles. It's through our differences that we discover the most powerful truths about what makes us human and what that even means. My faith informs every decision I make in my life, so it wouldn't have felt right to write this book without it. The main reason I had to include a fair dose of God in a book about overcoming personal challenges is that all of the amazing personal achievements I had in 2018 were gifts. Yes, I am the one who ran the marathon in the rain. I am the one who busted my butt until twenty-five pounds fell off. I am the one who wrote and published my first middle grade novel. I am the one who, terrified though I was, squeezed myself into a leotard and took an adult ballet class every Friday at 10am. I am the one who signed up for science classes and went back to college. But you guys, God is the one who gave me the breath from day to day enabling me to take these frightening paths. God is the one who lined up the ducks and made it easy(er). God is the one who comforted me and guided me through the lowest points of my journey--and every journey has 'em. Yes, it would have been ungrateful not to include God. 

I hope that those who pick up The Healing Bucket discover in themselves strength they never knew they had, and power to change their lives. I also hope those who journal their way through this book will acknowledge all of their angels, the mundane and the divine, who help them along the way. As I mention in Chapter 11, gratitude is the secret to lasting happiness. Oops, I'm giving it all away. Just don't forget to pick up your digital copy. At $4.69, it is a steal! Enjoy!

Here's the blurb:

Prepare yourself for the future life you want to live. While there may be bucket lists full of items that sound exotic or alluring, the best goals are the most personal ones. What you want is not a bucket list, but a healing bucket. The items you add to your healing bucket will not come from a travel website or a fashion blog. They will call to you from within your heart as you use the power of prayer and this unique journaling aid to find the fulfillment you've been longing to find. This isn't just a journal and it isn't just a Christian motivational book. It's a little of both. And it's an invitation, a guide to a journey that ends with a greater sense of purpose and meaning, the kind that can only be found on a journey with Christ.

Katrina Lantz is the author of the middle grade book Drats, Foiled Again! She is also a wife and mother to five rowdy boys. Finding peace and a fulfilling purpose in the midst of a sometimes crowded and chaotic life has not been easy for her, but with God all things are possible. Writing as K.L. Lantz, Katrina leans on her faith as a member of the Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-day Saints and shares her experiences after an intense year of goal-setting and miraculous fulfillment in this unique inspirational book, The Healing Bucket. Some miracles are big and some are small, but all have the same source. Lantz invites you to lean on Christ while daring to dream of a bigger and brighter life for yourself and those you love.

And the COVER!!

Pre-Order Now

Rilla Alexander: Without the Doing, Dreaming is Useless

I watched this today and just loved every second of what she's saying here. Why? Because I can relate to this! This is the way my ideas are born, grow wings... that melt in the sun and fall to their demise in the icy water below. :)

It doesn't have to be that way!

Watch and see what I mean:

 Also great reading: What to do when you fall into your old, less productive ways


How are you doing with your New Year's goals and revisions?

Taking my own (writing) advice

For the last two years, I've been blogging with writers for writers. I end up dispensing a LOT of writing advice, much of it recycled, some of it through goofy metaphors I make up with my creative genius (an adorable, invisible owl named Oliver).

Would you look at that! He's not invisible!

Today, I'm taking some of my own advice:

• Set a writing goal (big or small, your choice)
• Tie it to a motivation (people you love, an audience you want to reach, recognition in publishing)
• Get excited about it!!!

Here I go:

• Ambition: Get my middle grade superhero story publishing-ready through rereading, editing, and seeking professional advice. Do it by next spring.
• Motivation: The pleasure of seeing my soon-to-be-six-year-old's face when I show him the finished product and tell him Mommy wrote it just for him. Add to this the bonus of reading it aloud with him when we're done with all his 1st grade read-alouds (Charlotte's Web, Detectives in Togas, Homer Price).
• Enthusiasm: Hanging out at WriteOnCon next week with other ambitious, motivated, enthusiastic writers. I'll also garner enthusiasm this fall and winter as I watch FOUR of my six critique partners achieve their publication goals with DEADWOOD, TREASURED LIES, THE EMISSARY, and AMAROK. Go Operation Awesome ladies!!!! Woooot! Oliver is SO proud! <-- check it out, the enthusiasm is already building!

What's your ambition/motivation/enthusiasm builder?

p.s. If you haven't read it yet, I posted my review of ENDLESSLY by Kiersten White over at Afterglow Book Reviews. Yep, loved it THAT much!

Writers Write

Writers write, bloggers blog, and some say blogging doesn't count as writing. I hope they're wrong because, not counting blogging, I haven't done any new writing in weeks.

I'm reading THE PLOT THICKENS and critiquing for some fabulous people (CPs, cousins, contest winners, auction winners), and eyeing my teetering TBR pile with a mixture of excitement and despair.

I'm also teaching my son addition, subtraction, phonics, handwriting, reading comprehension, art, music, science, and social studies.

And lately I've been cleaning my house, which has to be done during these dry creative periods (because when I'm feeling inspired, I can't be bothered to dust or vacuum).

But all those things up there don't make me a writer. Only writing does. So, referencing my own post on bite-sized goals, I plan to cheat on my overwhelming to-do list and write 1k words tonight anyway. Even though I should be doing other things. I just can't stand not being a real writer. Not really writing.

Do you get into slumps like this that aren't really slumps? Times when something else trumps writing just because it has to be done? 

After all, it is September. I know half y'all are dealing with school beginnings either as teachers or students.

May we all find the time to express the stories fighting to burst free from our innermost fancies!

*rides off into the sunset*

(I never know how to end these things.)

Promises, Promises

Tomorrow, I will write/edit/read everything on my to-do list.


I'll make an editing schedule and keep it up every night.


As soon as I'm done reading this book, I'll get back to revisions.

These are just a few of the promises I've broken to myself and others who try to motivate me. It's like somewhere along the line, I decided every writing goal was a New Year's resolution to be bent, broken, and forgotten sometime mid-February.

It's not that I'm lazy. Okay, maybe a little bit. And easily distracted. And busy with other (worthwhile) things, like raising my kids, teaching important life skills (yes, I get the irony), and cleaning the bathrooms.

The thing with unreliable people is that eventually the people around them stop trusting them to keep promises. And while I do try to be reliable for other people (especially the physical, face to face people in my life), the same thing applies to self-trust. At some point, I don't believe myself anymore when I set a writing goal because I know the toilet will overflow or there will be a hurricane looming over the east coast, or I'll get diverted by a shiny object, and the goal will be forgotten. Usually I remember it the next day and try to get back on the horse.

But sometimes I just stop writing/editing/reading. For weeks at a time. I always come back to it because it's part of my soul. There are other parts of my soul, too, though. And they have a siren song all their own.

I wonder if there will ever be a time in my life when all those promises I made to myself will be fulfilled. Some books take a lifetime to write. Maybe some routines or habits take a lifetime to master.

I'm not going to end this post with a new promise. I'll just say I have hope and determination on my side. I've been described as tenacious. I've been compared to a fire.

I've accomplished many difficult things, from brutal survival situations to a marathon to natural childbirth, and I always come out stronger, if a bit bruised. And I can conquer myself, too.

I may not be making leaps and bounds toward my ultimate goals of publication and readership, but even baby steps will get me there someday.

There's one thing I can always promise:

When I want something badly enough, it happens.


Are you the promise-making type? How do you keep yourself in line?

Celebrations and Reading Vacations

Picture from Things-We-Heart

On Operation Awesome today I'm talking about giving ourselves permission to celebrate our achievements, big and small. It's been a complete year since I started writing again after the birth of my second son. In the space of one year, I've written two books.

Even though I'm still query-nervous and have yet to go all-out in the agent hunt, I think it's important to give myself permission to celebrate. Two books in a year took a lot of hard work, and I'm pleased with my progress as a writer.

My journey to become a career writer marches on, just over two years since I started writing seriously. I'm in this for the long haul. And that means marking the milestones as I pass them.

Up next? A well-deserved reading binge:

• Fire by Kristin Cashore
• Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
• Ten Things We Did (and probably shouldn't have) by Sarah Mlynowski
• Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover by Ally Carter
• Only the Good Spy Young by Ally Carter
• I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore
• Cassandra Clare's Immortal Instruments series
• A few works in progress written by my CPs and friends

Meanwhile, I'll dabble in revisions as feedback trickles in, and write whenever the muse strikes. 

What are your writing goals? What accomplishments, big or small, should you be celebrating?

Five Happy Things

Why? Because I like lists. :)

1) I finished my first draft on a YA Urban Fantasy with sci-fi elements last night!! Go me!

2) My (raving) review of MY JANE AUSTEN SUMMER is up on The Best Damn Creative Writing Blog. Just looking at that pretty pink and green cover makes me smile.

3) I'm halfway through reading my tenth novel of the year, including classics, bestsellers, and unknowns. The numbers don't matter, but it sure makes me feel good to read so much.

4) The 18-month-old is potty training much more easily than his older brother did (knock on wood).

5) The big earthquake predicted to hit California this week hasn't happened (knock on wood again).

What makes you happy today?

Read Your Bookshelves in 2011? That's 420 Books!

Four hundred and twenty books! I counted. And listed all the titles on a Word document which is stapled and lying in front of me as I type this. If I follow through with my goal to read all the books in my collection (minus technical text books for hubz's degrees and the whole shelf of children's books), I'll have to read more than one book per day in 2011!

Hmm... might not be able to achieve this New Year's Resolution in one year.

BUT...

I think it's worth a try. Even if it takes a couple years to achieve this goal, how cool would it be to point at my massive library and say, "Yes, I've read every book!"

So cool.

Plus, imagine the wealth of writing styles and random information I'll be able to draw from when writing my own fiction!

Thus, my insane goal of 2011 (and 2012 and 2013 and maybe 2014) is to read my bookshelves.

Your turn to count. How many books would you have to read per week if you chose to read your bookshelves in 2011? (Hint: subtract the books you've read in the last year. You don't need to read those again so soon.)

My purpose with this goal is to

a) learn more about all the subjects and genres I've been drawn to throughout the years,

b) complete the gaps in my public school education, particularly in math, economics, and history,

c) dissuade myself from spending oodles and oodles of my husband's hard-earned cash on shiny new books (oh, I'll still buy a few, but probably not nearly as many as in 2010).

First up: TWENTY books on motherhood, childcare, and developmental psychology. Yeah, I've got three shelves to go before I get to the middle grade fiction shelf, but that will be a compelling carrot for this crazy horse.

How many books on your shelf have you read? How many do you actually want to read? Take inventory and let me know in the comments below.

Goals and Guilt

Image from this site
Inspiration from Kristal's Operation Awesome post

Do your New Year's Resolutions make you feel guilty at the end of the year? Do you look at that gym membership and curse the loss of monthly funds to a goal that fizzled out about June? What about your writing goals? Can you really control whether or not you find an agent or an acquiring editor who is nuts about your work?


Here's my take on it: Goals are good. Make goals. Write down your goals, but focus on the parts you can control. 


I am definitely a fan of resolutions. I still have a notebook page of joint and individual goals my husband and I made as newlyweds, in the guise of predictions for the next five years. Yesterday we celebrated our five year anniversary. Not only had most of our 'predictions' come to fruition, but some had even surpassed our expectations. 


I believe in writing down what you want to accomplish. But it doesn't stress me if I don't meet all my goals. It gives me something to work on for the coming year. Give yourself a mixture of easily attainable goals and pie-in-the-sky goals, and celebrate what you've done at the end of the year. For the rest of it, reassess and recommit if it's still something you even want.

Getting an agent and getting published... they WILL happen, one of these years. All I have to do is keep expecting it to happen, keep working toward it, and that goal, too, will one day bow to my perseverance. 


What are your New Year's Resolutions? Not sure where to start? Start with this.

Join the fun!

Here are a few of my 2011 hopes and dreams, in no particular order:


1. Keep re-imagining my current WIP until the plot is water-tight, the characters are four-dimensional, and the  concept is completely unique. Then, and only then, revise it. 


2. Keep up with my critique group revisions each week.


3. Comb through my first novels to see what I can learn from my mistakes, and hopefully be encouraged by how much I've grown since then.


4. Be more engaged on the blogosphere by reading and commenting.


5. Run another marathon in Fall 2011. (to go with this: get rid of writer's butt)


6. Read all the books on my bookshelf. Take notes.


7. Teach son to read independently. Continue math play with manipulatives. Do more science experiments a la Beakman's world. (home preschool) 


8. Pimp my favorite authors' books across the web. Find new authors to love.


9. Make sure my husband knows he is loved, and has the time he needs to complete his master's program.


10. Keep a paper journal, and up  the ante on my personal scripture study so it's a nightly routine. 


Yeah, that's a good start. :)


Mary Kole wrote an amazing post on Dealing with Rejection that is actually more about the stages of a writing career and how you can get to where you want to be. Simply brilliant. Check it out!

One Week Until NaNoWriMo!

It's about time I wrote my post about Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month).

Yep, I'm planning to do it. Can I finish my current WIP in a week? No, probably not, but I'm still going to work on writing 50,000 words during November because I just can't pass up an opportunity like this! Not when people are going to be holding me to my promise. You can't BUY that kind of pressure.

Well, I guess you wouldn't want to buy pressure in the first place, but you get what I mean, right? The idea that somebody somewhere might come across the status bar and find me at 3,000 words at the end of November is kind of horror-fying. Thus, I will prevail. I will conquer. I will rule the Nanowrimo!

So add me as a buddy and watch me win.

Buddy Me

I want to watch one hundred writers complete a book in the month of November. To me, that would be the best manifestation of writerly awesome ever. Join us in committing to write 50,000 words in thirty days! It's going to ROCK the Hizzouse! <--I will try not to be this lame once Nano starts. I promise.

[No promises.]

Stop that, keyboard. You can trust me. I will not be lame.

[E for Effort.]

Not nice, keyboard. Not. Nice.

p.s. The WriteOnCon chat with Sara Megibow of Nelson Lit Agency was really, really fun and informative. You can still read the whole thing on the WriteOnCon blog, and I recommend you do.

p.p.s. Mark your calendars for the query chat this Thursday with THE Query Ninja herself, Elana Johnson!