Synnagain’s Weblog

For a while I posted to a message board for authors and wannabe authors of inspirational novels. Christian romances. Gag me. Perhaps I should have stuck with them, for I would have learned discipline. The publishers’ main outlet was Christian bookstores and the managers of those stores had very strict rules about what was Christian and what wasn’t. The imaginary characters in these books couldn’t have a glass of wine with dinner, and they couldn’t dance, or refer to anyone as an angel unless that person was certifiably celestial. No card players unless they were the bad guys. No references to underwear, or to a breast unless the subject was cancer. I could go on. No novels set in medieval times for those folks were Catholic. And don’t say dagnabit. The plus side was that in spite of their strict guidelines, they could take on grimmer subjects such as child abusel I suggested many times that there should be denomination specific lines, or at least mainline books. To me nondenominational suggests a very specific theology/doctrine. But their attitude was, “Oh, no. We are ALL Christians”. This group was very big on praise songs in lieu of church hymns and I don’t think they cared much for liturgy but I’m not one hundred percent sure about that. They seemed to be the Are You Saved type, and to those people, there is no other kind.