Stranded...

Some days, the urge to disappear for a week on a desert island is quite strong.


Today is one of those days.

So, since I can't purposefully strand myself on a island (and really, would I want to without pool-side service and electricity??), I'll stick to what I do best - imagining.


But I need to pack an imaginary suitcase, so help me, will you? What TWO BOOKS (besides your Bible!) would you want to take with you if you knew you were going to be stranded and could only read those two books for the next indefinite period amount of time? (and don't start on the logic of KNOWING you're going to be stranded and packing cell phones and radios and smoke signals. lol)

I know one of mine would be The Shape of Mercy. Still pondering my second...

Yawn

YAWN.

I've been up since 4:50 a.m.

Yes, it was on purpose.

Yawn.

Today, I had to get up at 4:50, get dressed, get Little Miss up and dressed, and be at my parent's house across town at 6:15 to meet my husband, coming straight from work. From there, we left his truck and got in my car and drove almost two hours to Alexandria, where I dropped Hubby off with his mother in law's fiance, and they then proceeded to drive together to New Orleans, where he'll attend a family meeting for her new therapy center.

Little Miss and I turned right back around and drove back home. Poor Little Miss was in the car without a break from 5:45 - 9:30. Almost four hours! But she did great. Slept about thirty minutes of it, and while Hubby drove there, I sat in the back with her and supervised her breakfast. On the way home, when it was just us, I kept a bag of toys in the front seat and handed her things as she got grumpy. That took up the first 45 minutes. Then nothing kept her occupied, so I started with snacks. Between 5:45 and 9:30 she had half a cereal bar, a ton of goldfish, juice, a fruit snack stick, and is now working on a cookie. lol But we had minimal fussing, which was this caffeiene deprived mother's goal. =) I promise I saw mirages of Starbucks along the dusty, boring, flat, tree-lined highway.

Yawn.

Still sleepy. It's gonna be a long day, having started it before the sun, but that's okay. All for a good cause. Hubby is bringing his mother's SUV back home with him, which he will drive while his truck is in the shop for almost two weeks staring next week.

The rest of our day will consist of caffeine, cartoons, and lots of running around.

Yawn. Maybe if I squint, I can conjur up a Starbucks gift card....

Brother against brother...

There is a situation going on right now in the fiction writing industry that absolutely appalls me. A well known author has taken it upon him/herself to publicly attack a respected, well-known and very successful publishing house in the CBA (Christian market) and question their authors, their morals, their purpose, their effectiveness...


I refuse to name names, or go into the details here. Odds are you know what I'm talking about and if you don't, then even better. I refuse to give this author the satisfaction of receiving any more Google hits on this matter than he/she already is by listing the specifics,


Maybe some think that even "negative fame" or attention is better than none, but I disagree.

I just have to say that this kind of Christian author attack on other Christian authors is disgusting. It's awful to try to gain attention and fame for one's own work by openly dissing the work of others. Maybe that's not his/her goal but it comes across that way, and is heartbreaking.

Don't we all have the same goal? Aren't we ultimately as Christian authors all writing for an audience of One? I find it an honor and a reverent joy to write for the CBA market and to have books published that promote hope and joy in the Christian life, that show characters struggling with issues of faith and dark circumstances and coming out victorious in the end.


It's a sad day indeed when a Christian author stoops to this level, especially without first finding out all the facts and details involved in his/her accusations and comments.


Ignorance is plain ugly.


I want to learn from this, as upset and sad as it makes me, and find good from the situation. It seems lately that God, through various means and avenues, has been showing me the best way to behave under personal attacks (and this one feels personal even though its not), and so far that has meant to not lash back - which is another reason why I'm not naming names here publicly. I just want you all to be aware that whether its in the Christian publishing market or in your own personal daily life, be careful. Get your facts because making accusations. Really know what you're saying, and PLEASE - pray about what you say before you say it!


I don't want to ever be the person on the other side of this issue I'm referring to. I don't want to ever find myself in that kind of dark place. Therefore, I am committing to speak slowly, listen deeply, and pray before ever launching what could be viewed as an attack on a fellow brother or sister in Christ.


I hope this author sees the error of his/her ways. I hope good will come from this in the industry at the end of it and not bad.

I just really, really hate division among God's troops. =(

A surprising story...

When I volunteered to participate in Erica's blog tour, I knew I'd be in for a good read and quality writing. Erica is a friend and the crit bud of one of MY crit buds (is that clear? lol) and I knew she was talented...

But I was NOT expecting this!! THE BARTERED BRIDE was a surprising, refreshing, intriguing story that I had trouble putting down. I haven't quite finished it yet, because, well this happened --

But I am determined to get it back and finish the last few chapters!! Time to turn on Dora, because I've got to see how this story winds up.

Here's a quick overview...

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Duluth, Minnesota in 1905 boasts more millionaires than any other U.S. city. Tycoon Abraham Kennebrae intends to marry his grandsons off to three of the wealthiest heiresses in town and allow Kennebrae Shipping to gain control of Duluth Harbor.

Tempests rage, in the board room, the ball room, and on treacherous Lake Superior. Will hearts and helms survive? Will God prove Himself sovereign over wind, waves, and weddings?

Jonathan Kennebrae, oldest of the three Kennebrae brothers, finds himself backed into a corner. Marry heiress Melissa Brooke or lose his own considerable inheritance. Can he find a legitimate reason to avoid the wedding and still keep his fortune? But as the wedding day approaches, does he want to escape?

Melissa Brooke, only heir to her father’s empire, is bartered by her parents into a marriage contract to a man she’s never met. Can she trust him with her deepest secret? Can she trust him with her heart?

* * * * *

Order your copy of this great story HERE !!!!

* * * * * *

I just immediately fell for these characters and their situation. I don't read a lot of historicals, mostly because I don't have a lot of time anymore to read in general, but I think I've discovered a secret...I think what makes a historical great is when the reader doesn't feel that they are reading one.

I don't mean in regards to word style or setting. Erica did an amazing job in both of those aspects. I'm talking about story quality, where the reader gets sucked in and becomes so involved in that world that it doesn't seem like it was a long time ago. It seems like right now, and you're in petticoats and chemises right there with them! =)

Here's some of the writing you can look forward to, a beautiful phrase that jumped out at me as "wow" -

The morning sun fell through the stained glass of the upper windows, shattering rainbows on the Perisan rug.

I love that!! And that's just one of the pretty descriptions you'll read that will transfer you back in time.

Here's a little bit about Erica, and then keep reading for an interview with her!!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:




ERICA VETSCH is married to Peter and keeps the company books for the family lumber business. A home-school mom to Heather and James, Erica loves history, romance, and storytelling. Her ideal vacation is taking her family to out-of-the-way history museums and chatting to curators about local history. She has a Bachelor’s degree from Calvary Bible College in Secondary Education: Social Studies. You can find her on the web at http://www.onthewritepath.blogspot.com/


1. Tell us a little about the process for writing The Bartered Bride. The idea came to me while I was sitting in church waiting for the service to start. All of a sudden, the names and the "What if?" queston just burst into my head. I wrote The Bartered Bride in about five weeks. I was so 'high' on the story, I couldn't wait to write it and to get that first critique back to see how it read.

2. Do you see yourself putting a little bit of Erica into all your heroines, or are you totally different from each of them? My heroines are usually the way I WISH I was. They always come up with something snappy to say, or have the right words of wisdom for a situation. That being said, they share my values and as much as possible given the historical context, my views on things.

3. What is the takeaway you hope your readers will gain from reading The Bartered Bride? A couple of things. First, that God is sovereign, and that His will WILL be accomplished, no matter how much scurrying and forcing of issues we might try to do. And Second, that quite often we pray that God will change someone else, when we're the one most in need of change.

4. What is your favorite color and why? Red. Because it makes me happy.
5. What is your favorite guilty pleasure? Book buying. I buy lots of research books and novels.

6. Imagine - you just pulled open the doors to Barnes & Noble and stepped inside. What's your first thought? I wish I had a zillion dollars. :)

7. If you had your choice between a muffin, a bagel, and a donut, which would you go for? A donut. Bavarian creme filled chocolate slathered donut all the way.

8. If you had to pick only ONE theme or message of God's truth to share with the world in your books, what would it be? The message of John 3:16, That God loved us enough to send His Son to die for us, so that we could spend eternity with Him.

9. What is your favorite Thanksgiving holiday tradition? Probably that we put up all our Christmas decorations that weekend. A great family time with music, food, laughter, untangling of lights you promised yourself last year that you'd store more neatly but ended up just wadding up and stuffing into a box.

10. What is a book you recently read that has still "stayed with you" in your mind? Right now it's Montana Rose by Mary Connealy. The heroine was such a departure for Mary and she carried it off beautifully. Humor, love, danger, it's all there.

~ Thanks for reading! Hope you purchase this story for yourself, because you won't regret it!! I'm officially an Erica Vetsch fan. ~

Now to go demand my book back from Little Miss....

These are a few of my favorite words...

The End.

It has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

I proudly typed those beautiful words last night 9:30 p.m., sitting in my bed, eyes glazed, shoulders hunched, yet somehow basking in the glory of a finished novel, or in this case, novella.

I'm done.

Of course, an author is rarely ever done-done. There's always last minute edits of your own choice, then those by your editor and then line edits and copy edits and...okay, I'm losing my joy.

But for now, The End is typed on the last line of my Christmas Novella, entitled The Gingerbread Season and releasing October, 2010 as part of a Steeple Hill compilation book with author Marta Perry.

What about you? Where are you on your WIPs? Is The End near, or are you at The Beginning? Do you like finishing a novella, or are you sad to see your characters go? Sometimes I'm a little nostalgic to say goodbye to my characters...but this time, I'm eager to see them launched and hopefully appreciated. This was my first novella, and it was hard. It's more difficult than you might think to condense a full story into half the typical word count. There is zero room for fluff, extra words, unnecessary dialogue...you gotta be sharp, and I guess I like to drone on at times =)

This was a great experience, one I really learned from and appreciated. I hope you'll all enjoy The Gingerbread Season next year.

(and if you don't, don't tell me. LOL)

THE END