Monday, March 30, 2009

CFBA presents...The Real Enemy by Kathy Herman

I haven't been around in awhile. My computer is on the blink. In fact, I'm at the library using their very slow computer. Thank God for libraries, heh? And thank God for wonderful writers like Kathy Herman. I hope you'll put this book on your TBR list.


This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
The Real Enemy
David C. Cook (March 2009)
by
Kathy Herman

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Suspense novelist Kathy Herman is very much at home in the Christian book industry, having worked five years on staff at the Christian Booksellers Association (CBA) in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and eleven years at Better Books Christian Center in Tyler, Texas, as product buyer/manager for the children’s department, and eventually as director of human resources.

She has conducted numerous educational seminars on children’s books at CBA Conventions in the U.S. and Canada, served a preliminary judge for the Gold Medallion Book Awards of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association , and worked as an independent product/marketing consultant to the CBA market.

Since her first novel, Tested by Fire, debuted in 2001 as a CBA national bestseller, she's added thirteen more titles to her credit, including another bestseller, All Things Hidden.

Kathy's husband Paul is her best friend and most ardent supporter and manages the LifeWay Christian Store in Tyler, Texas. They have three grown children, five adorable grandkids, a cat named Samantha—and an ongoing fascination with hummingbirds. They also enjoy world travel, deep sea fishing, stargazing, and bird watching and sometimes incorporate all these hobbies into one big adventure.


ABOUT THE BOOK

Brill Jessup just became the first female police chief in Sophie Trace, Tennessee, and is riding on the credentials of a stellar eighteen-year career on the Memphis police force. She may be a pro at finding clues, but she tends to ignore the obvious in her personal life. And she would rather work than deal with the bitterness she feels about her husband Kurt's infidelity. Kurt, is weighed down by her unrelenting anger as he struggles to let God redeem the stupidest mistake he ever made. He is genuinely contrite and making every effort to show his commitment to Brill. But she hides behind her badge and her bitterness, deciding that moving her family away from Memphis is the only change she needs to make. So why can't Brill get over this anger?

Before she ever has time to unpack her boxes, people start disappearing. Lots of them. Seven people in seven days To complicate matters, a local legend has many residents believing that the cause is unearthly─tied to the “red shadows,” or spirits of the departed Cherokee who once inhabited the land.

While Brill draws on all of her experience and instinct to solve the case, she must confront an enemy that threatens everything she holds dear─one that cannot be stopped with a badge and a gun. She is forced to confront the real enemy.

If you would like to read the first chapter of The Real Enemy, go HERE

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

CFBA Presents Turning the Paige by Laura Jensen Walker


This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

Turning The Paige

Zondervan (March 1, 2009)

by

Laura Jensen Walker

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Laura Jensen Walker is an award-winning writer, popular speaker, and breast-cancer survivor who loves to touch readers and audiences with the healing power of laughter.

Born in Racine, Wisconsin (home of Western Printing and Johnson’s Wax—maker of your favorite floor care products) Laura moved to Phoenix, Arizona when she was in high school. But not being a fan of blazing heat and knowing that Uncle Sam was looking for a few good women, she enlisted in the United States Air Force shortly after graduation and spent the next five years flying a typewriter through Europe.

By the time she was 23, Laura had climbed the Eiffel Tower, trod the steps of the Parthenon, skied (okay, snowplowed) in the Alps, rode in a gondola in Venice, and wept at the ovens of Dachau. She’d also learned how to fold her underwear into equal thirds, make a proper cup of English tea, and repel the amorous advances of a blind date by donning combat gear and a gas mask.

Laura is a former newspaper reporter and columnist with a degree in journalism who has written hundreds of articles on many subjects ranging from emu ranching and pigeon racing to goat-roping and cemetery board meetings. However, realizing that livestock and local government weren’t her passion, she switched to writing humor, which she calls a “total God-thing.”

Her lifelong dream of writing fiction came true in Spring 2005 with the release of her first chick lit novel, Dreaming in Black & White which won the Contemporary Fiction Book of the Year from American Christian Fiction Writers. Her sophomore novel, Dreaming in Technicolor was published in Fall 2005.

Laura’s third novel, Reconstructing Natalie, chosen as the Women of Faith Novel of the Year for 2006, is the funny and poignant story of a young, single woman who gets breast cancer and how her life is reconstructed as a result. This book was born out of Laura’s cancer speaking engagements where she started meeting younger and younger women stricken with this disease—some whose husbands had left them, and others who wondered what breast cancer would do to their dating life. She wanted to write a novel that would give voice to those women. Something real. And honest. And funny.

Because although cancer isn’t funny, humor is healing.

A popular speaker and teacher at writing conferences, Laura has also been a guest on hundreds of radio and TV shows around the country including the ABC Weekend News, The 700 Club, and The Jay Thomas Morning Show.

Another book in this series is Daring Chloe

She lives in Northern California with her Renaissance-man husband Michael, and Gracie, their piano playing dog


ABOUT THE BOOK

At 35, Paige Kelley is feeling very "in between." She's still working her temp job after two years, still not dating three years after her divorce, and still melting at every chubby-cheeked toddler she sees while her biological clock ticks ever louder. Paige even moves back home to help her ailing, high-maintenance mother.It's not exactly the life she'd dreamed of!

When her Getaway Girls book club members urge Paige to break free and get on with her life, she's afraid. How will her mother react? How can Paige honor her widowed mother and still pursue her own life? The answers come from a surprising source.
A trip to Scotland and a potential new love interest help launch an exciting new chapter in her life, and lead Paige to discover that God's plan for her promises to be more than she ever imagined.

This latest release in the Getaway Girls collection delivers a smart, funny, and warm account of one woman's challenge to reconcile who she is - a dutiful Christian daughter - with the woman she longs to be.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Turning The Paige, go HERE

Sunday, March 15, 2009

CFBA Presents Breach of Trust by DiAnn Mills

I love fast-paced romantic suspense, and DiAnn Mills delivers.

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Breach Of Trust

Tyndale House Publishers (February 5, 2009)
by
DiAnn Mills

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Award-winning author, DiAnn Mills, launched her career in 1998 with the publication of her first book. Currently she has over forty books in print and has sold more than a million copies.

DiAnn believes her readers should “Expect an Adventure.” DiAnn Mills is a fiction writer who combines an adventuresome spirit with unforgettable characters to create action-packed novels.

Six of her anthologies have appeared on the CBA Best Seller List. Three of her books have won the distinction of Best Historical of the Year by Heartsong Presents. Five of her books have won placements through American Christian Fiction Writer’s Book of the Year Awards 2003 – 2007, and she is the recipient of the Inspirational Reader’s Choice award for 2005 and 2007. She was a Christy Awards finalist in 2008.

DiAnn is a founding board member for American Christian Fiction Writers, a member of Inspirational Writers Alive, Romance Writers of America’s Faith, Hope and Love, and Advanced Writers and Speakers Association. She speaks to various groups and teaches writing workshops around the country. DiAnn is also a mentor for Jerry B. Jenkins Christian Writer’s Guild.

She lives in sunny Houston, Texas. DiAnn and her husband have four adult sons and are active members of Metropolitan Baptist Church.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Paige Rogers survived every CIA operative’s worst nightmare.

A covert mission gone terribly wrong.

A betrayal by the one man she thought she could trust.

Forced to disappear to protect the lives of her loved ones, Paige has spent the last several years building a quiet life as a small-town librarian. But the day a stranger comes to town and starts asking questions, Paige knows her careful existence has been shattered.

He is coming after her again. And this time, he intends to silence her for good...

Paige Rogers is a former CIA agent who lost all she treasured seven years ago when her entire team was killed in a covert mission. She blames their leader—Daniel Keary—whom Paige believes betrayed them. Disillusioned and afraid for her life, she disappeared and started a new life as a librarian in small town Split Creek, Oklahoma.

But her growing relationship with high school football coach Miles Laird and the political ambitions of her former boss threaten to unmask her. When Keary announces his candidacy for governor of her state, he comes after Paige to ensure that she won't ruin his bid for office by revealing his past misdeeds. He threatens everything she holds dear, and Paige must choose between the life of hiding that has become her refuge . . . or risking everything in one last, desperate attempt to right old wrongs.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Breach Of Trust, go HERE

Watch the Book Trailer:



Friday, March 13, 2009

Louisiana Saturday Night with Shonell Bacon

What a treat to interview author, screenwriter, writing coach Shonell Bacon. Shonell lives right here in my neck of the woods but we've never met. I've heard a lot of good things about her and look forward to the day we can meet at Starbucks and talk writing. In the meantime, enjoy the answers to her questions 'cause she has a lot of great information to share.

1. First, tell us about yourself and what you do in life.
Well, by day, I’m an English Specialist and mass communication visiting lecturer at McNeese State University, where I teach freshman composition, developmental writing, writing for the media, emerging media practices, and on and on.
By night, I am a writer and an editor. I edit manuscripts and screenplays for individual clients and presses. It’s been my side gig for about seven years now, and I could only do it because I love words and I love a good story. Right now, as a writer, I’m focused on screenplays. In the last year, I’ve had pilot place in a competition, a short script become a finalist in a competition, and am in the process of having another short script optioned. With these successes thus far, my excitement lies in the visual medium right now.

2) Tell us about your path to publication, how long you’ve been writing, how long it took you to publish, and how many books you have under your writing belt.
Around 1994, I became serious in trying to get published. I submitted a plethora of queries, synopses, sample chapters – received a plethora of rejections. In 2000, I met a woman online who was a writer, and we decided to write a book together – completely online via e-mails. For about six months, she and I sent chapters back and forth, and once we had a book finished, we got it edited and decided to self-publish. We didn’t have much money, but we had a good book, and demand was quick. We just didn’t have the money to print more books – lol. Luckily, Zane an extraordinarily popular author of erotica and the owner of Strebor Books liked our novel, LuvAlwayz: The Opposite Sex & Relationships and decided to publish it. Through Strebor Books (which is now a part of Simon & Schuster), I published two novels – in 2001 and 2003. In 2004, I had a short story published in a popular erotic anthology, and recently, several of my short stories have been published as e-stories through an up and coming publisher.

In addition to my fiction, I’ve also contributed and co-edited academic textbooks that are currently being used in McNeese’s freshman English classes.

3) You have a lot going on: writing, teaching, coaching other writers, and I understand you have some new ventures in the works. How many hours in your day? You must have fantastic organizational skills. How do you stay organized, productive and successful?
Rest assured, I stumble and fall just like everyone else, but what keeps me on my toes for the most part is my trusty planner, my slightly compulsive nature, and my need to see things crossed off to-do lists, LOL I really do believe in the adage, a place for everything and everything in its place.

4) Are you a member of any writers’ group—local or national--and if so, how do you think they help you?
Right now, I’m not a member of any groups because I spend so much of my writing and helping others to write in one-on-one sessions with writers. Having said that, I believe groups are invaluable. Writing is a solitary act; however, getting those words published takes networking. Writers need writers on their level to grow with, they need writers on levels above them to learn from, and they need writers on levels below them to teach.

5) What has been your biggest frustration within the publishing industry and how have you dealt with it? What gets you down and can stop you in your tracks?
Biggest frustration has been hearing that I don’t write “black” enough. More times than I care to count, I have been told that I write great stories with good character and on and on, but those same stories get passed-up for publication because they don’t read black enough. This, in the past, has stopped me from writing completely because I don’t know how to write any other way than the way I do. What has gotten me out of that fit of despair is embracing screenwriting. In a short amount of time, I have found people who appreciate the stories I have to tell and don’t base them on how they “sound” culturally but how GOOD they are.

6) Give us your best marketing tip and how much time do you spend marketing yourself and your work? Want to tell us what you think about the whole ‘branding’ phenomenon?
Branding is EXTRAORDINARILY important. I recently did a three episode stint on the online radio show TALE IT LIKE IT IS, where I talked about branding, among other things – you can hear the show at my site, http://shonbacon.com/listen. Just like a company needs to brand its product, a writer must brand him or herself. A writer needs a website. A writer should have a blog that is updated at least once a week. A writer should have a presence on MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter – just some of the social networking sites. A writer should develop a mission statement for his/her writing career (one that is regularly evaluated because we all evolve and change), and then create a plan to see how online marketing/promotion can be used to support that mission. I recently wrote on mission statements at Blogging in Black [http://readersrooms.com/2009/02/17/what-is-your-mission-statement/] – my mission is in the write-up.
.
7) What do you dread the most when you sit down to write?
Don’t hate me, but I dread nothing. When I’m actually sitting down with the task of writing, everything in my universe is aligned for that experience, and it’s – personally – one of the best experiences. I don’t worry about the story sucking (because the internal editor is OFF); all I worry about is getting the work from inside me to inside my laptop.

8) How did you get into coaching other writers? Did it evolve out of your teaching, and how does coaching affect your own writing?
In 2003, I taught fiction writing through McNeese’s continuing education department, and I met men and women of all ages that loved words and putting them together to tell stories. Many of those participants are a part of the Bayou Writers Group here in Lake Charles, LA. Teaching that class was my first setting in which I could express my passion for creative writing to a captive (lol) and appreciative audience. Since then, I’ve taught other classes through MSU, to include my Writers Boot Camp.

9) Do you have a critique group? How would you advise beginning writers about critiquing each other? If you don't have one, who were your early readers and how did they help you?
I don’t necessarily have a critique group, but I do have a circle of friends I’d trust my life and my words to. Oftentimes, admittedly, I’m so connected with a piece and it feels so “right” that I don’t go looking for them to critique my work; I look for an editor to clean it up. Whenever I write something different than the norm, I call up the circle of friends and send them material and a critique form I put together.

For beginning writers in critique groups, I would suggest having a form – a rating/discussion form. For the one I give to friends, there is a table where they rate story components like characters development, plot (to include conflict, obstacles, tension, resolution), dialogue, etc. And then there is a discussion section where they can elaborate on the ratings and explain WHY they rated the way they did and offer suggestions for revision.

My third year in the MFA/MA program at McNeese had the best critique/workshop group ever. It, for me, epitomizes what a group should be. Should have participants who loves stories and who want their fellow writers to have the best stories they can write. Every session should be about lifting the writer in the development of his/her craft.

10) Share some of your brainstorming techniques. How do you plot your books or are you a seat of the pants writer?
A lot of my stories come from images I see throughout the day. I wrote a piece titled “Empty Swings” after seeing a set of swings in a park. They were swaying though there was no breeze. The image pulled something in me, and a story idea was born.

Once I birth the idea, I’m a very analytical writer. I estimate a word count, think about chapters, consider a word count per chapter, and then I break out the note cards and write a scene per card. By the time I commit myself to begin actually writing the story, I have seen the story in my head a million times, and I have a well-developed outline.

Now, having said that, I must add that my stories never end up exactly like the outline. In the end, characters tell the story – not the writer. Once characters are alive on the page, they dictate how their stories will be told.

11) Where would we find Shonell Bacon on a Saturday night? With other writers, on the Internet or painting the town?
If I’m not at Joe Muggs at Books-A-Million having a chocolate-caramel latte, I’m at the laptop editing, spending time with my family, studying how effective the internet is for promoting and marketing one’s self, and yes – writing.

12) What is your very favorite thing to do when you’re not writing?
Two things – watch sports and listen to music. Music evokes the same emotions I receive when a story lulls me to the laptop. It soothes this savage beast and sparks me to write. I ADORE sports and before I became a teacher, writer, editor; my dream was to be a sports anchor for ESPN – any Sunday during football season or day of the week during baseball season, you can hear me commentating on the games just by walking passed my house, LOL I’m THAT vocal!

13) Where do you write—describe your writing space to us. What inspires you?
Don’t really have a “space” – I’m a floater. I usually have mood-setting elements. For example, I usually compile a “soundtrack” for the stories I write and put them on repeat while I write. My favorite movie is “Fatal Attraction,” and sometimes, I play that as background noise because it’s not something I have to watch, and the sounds are familiar to me. I like to have a cup of coffee on the left hand side of me, and usually, before I write, I pray, asking God to help my creativity flow

13) What's next for you? Tell us how to keep up with you and your writing, and anything else you want us to know.
A lot of things are up with me!

Writing wise, I am working on several screenplays – both feature-length and short – to submit to agents/production companies and to submit to competitions and interested parties.

I, along with my best friend, plan to move into the indie publishing business sometime this year and publish one of my novels hopefully by the year’s end.

I’m looking into podcasting – under the publishing company but have a show that features writing tips and the like.

And of course, I’m always editing and coaching.

To learn more about me, you can check out my official site (http://shonbacon.com/), my editing site (http://chicklitgurrl.org/), and my two blogs ChickLitGurrl: high on LATTES & WRITING (where I interview women writers – http://chicklitgurrl.blogspot.com/) and All the Blog’s a Page (a monthly blogging series in which writers talk about writing and its relation to various topics – http://alltheblogsapage.blogspot.com).

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Louisiana Saturday Night with Janice Repka

it's my great pleasure to introduce Janice Repka. Janice gives some great information here and I hope you'll take the time to read the interview and check out her website and her book.

1)Tell us who you are, how you came to live in Louisiana?
I’m a transplant from Pennsylvania who moved to Lake Charles in 2007 to attend the MFA program in creative writing at McNeese State University. My first book, The Stupendous Dodgeball Fiasco, was published by Dutton Children’s Books in 2004. It was a Junior Library Guild selection and a 2008 Nebraska Golden Sower Award Honor Book. It was also nominated for the Sunshine State Reading Award, the Young Hoosier Book Award, the Great Stone Face Award, and the Keystone to Reading Book Award.

2) Were you born a writer or did you teach yourself to BE a writer?
I’ve enjoyed creative writing ever since I was a little girl, but I’m a big advocate for craft development. No matter what level a writer is at, she can learn to improve her writing.

3) Tell us about your book. What inspired you to write such a story and how long did it take you to sell it?
You’ve heard the adage “write what you know.” Since I’m a lawyer, it only made sense that the plot of my first book would involve a legal dispute. In The Stupendous Dodgeball Fiasco, I was interested in exploring the idea that a 12-year-old boy could represent himself in court. Fortunately, my agent, Scott Treimel, knew an editor at Dutton Children’s Books who he thought might be interested in the finished manuscript, and we got an offer on the first try.

4) Do you read kid's books and if so, who are your favorite children's book authors?
I read many middle grade and young adult novels to stay abreast of what’s going on in the industry. My favorite author is Nancy Springer. Her newest series, the Enola Holmes Mysteries, features Sherlock Holmes’ little sister as a young Victorian-era sleuth.

5) Are you a member of SCBWI? What other professional writing organizations do you belong to and how have they helped/motivated you?
I belong to a number of writing groups, including the SCBWI. Additionally, I am beginning to lay the foundation for a children’s writers critique group in my area. Writing organizations are a great way to keep grounded and get connected in a field that can otherwise make one feel somewhat isolated.

6) Do you work outside the home as something other than being a writer? What's your writing schedule like?
Right now I’m a graduate teaching assistant at McNeese State University. My writing schedule requires a lot of flexibility these days, but I always make sure to set and meet small goals as I work on a project.

7) What's your take on critique groups? Have you ever belonged to one--why or why not?
A good critique group is critical to a writer’s development. I’ve belonged to various groups though out the years, including traditional and on-line groups.

8) What's the most difficult thing about writing for you?
Rewriting, but it’s also the most rewarding thing. That’s where the story can be found.

9) What is the best advice on writing you've ever received?
This happened recently. I had a private critique session with Steve Wingate, author of Wifeshopping: Stories (Mariner 2008), and I mentioned how I was trying to get my writing up to the next level. Steve explained that it wasn’t about going up; it was about digging down. His message really hit home for me. I realize now it’s not about getting a story polished until it’s perfect. To the contrary, it’s about leaving enough ambiguity and establishing enough complexity that the story feels real. That takes depth, not height.

10) What have you learned on the path to publication that you'd like to share with other writers?
Focus on your craft. You have to pay your dues on the rewrite. Too many writers spend their time trying to get their work published before its ready. Putting in that extra time to revise will make the process of finding a place for your fiction that much easier.

11) Tell us your very favorite thing to do -- doesn't have to have anything to do with writing.
I love pulling weeds in the garden. There’s something about the fresh air, the smell of the dirt, and the raw force of yanking things out of the ground that gives me simple satisfaction. That weeding helps the garden bloom next season is just a bonus for me.

12) You were listed in the “First Books” section of the 2006 Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market guide published by Writer’s Digest Books. A great article focuses on you and your book, The Stupendous Dodgeball Fiasco. Tell us how that came about.
I put together my own marketing plan for The Stupendous Dodgeball Fiasco, complete with press kit. So when I heard through the SCBWI that the editor of the Writer’s Market guide was looking for first book authors to feature, I sent off an e-kit to her. It’s a good example of how important it is for authors to take personal responsibility for the success of their books so that they can seize an opportunity when it presents itself. With the current state of the economy and its affect on the publishing industry, this proactive approach is more critical than ever.

13) Last, are there any upcoming books on the horizon? Tell us what you'd like for us to know about Janice Repka, and how we can keep up with your writing future.
I’ve got a new humorous middle grade novel I recently completed and another in progress so this is a very exciting time for me creatively. I’m also excited about a new course I’ll be teaching this spring called “Write for Children and Get Published.” It is a six week course being offered through McNeese State University’s Continuing Education/Leisure Learning Office, beginning March 6th. In the course, I’ll cover the basics of writing for children from idea to the marketplace. Genres will include picture books, early readers, middle grade, and young adult books. The course will focus evenly on the craft of writing and understanding the world of children's publishing. Feedback will be provided, and students will be taught how to approach editors/agents and pitch their work with a view toward publication. The course is open to the public and writers may register by going on-line to www.mcneese.edu/conted/ and downloading a registration form, or by contacting the McNeese State University Continuing Education Department at 337-475-5616.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

The Echo Within by Robert Benson

I really enjoyed this book--especially Chapter 8. It's titled Knowing. Benson writes: My father taught me that a writer has three jobs: The first job is to learn the craft. And The second job is to find your own voice. Further on he says The last of the writer's three jobs is to figure out what you have to say and begin to say it. But back up... here's the clincher. The part I like the best:
Benson writes, "Early on, my father's voice--the voice of the writer I wanted to be--got in the way. I found my voice only after he had lost his altogether."

For some reason, I felt incredibly sad reading this. It was as if I knew what he was saying, identified with it in some vague, can't-quite-grasp-it-way. I suppose that might be just the echo within... .

The Echo Within is a profoundly affecting, honest look at the myriad ways we are drawn into our life’s best work.
Written out of his own lifelong search for and response to the calling voice of God, Robert Benson recounts his discovery of the meaning of vocation, work, and purpose through the ups and downs inherent in family life, professional choice, and spiritual experience. With clarity and insight, and in the elegant prose for which he is known, he gently invites and encourages readers to find such deep truths for their lives as well. In particular, he illuminates the way for readers to explore:

· ways to sense the Holy in our pursuits, both in the pursuits themselves and within ourselves.
· how to fall into our vocation and chart a course toward it at the same time.
· how to love the work we do, and the process of doing it.

For anyone beginning a new career or sensing a needed change in their life or wrestling with a transition suddenly thrust upon them, Robert Benson delivers wisdom, humor, and heart in what he’s learned about listening for The Echo Within—and how it can help us discover our calling.


Author Bio:
Robert Benson has written more than a dozen books about the discovery of the sacred in the midst of our ordinary lives, including Between the Dreaming and the Coming True, Home By Another Way, and Digging In. His work has been critically acclaimed in a wide range of publications from The New York Times and USA Today to Spirituality & Health and The Benedictine Review. He is an alumnus of The Upper Room’s Academy for Spiritual Formation and was recently named a Living Spiritual Teacher by SpiritualityandPractice.com. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

You can purchase The Echo Within here:

www.Amazon.com
- www.ChristianBook.com
- www.FamilyChristian.com

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

When I Don't Know What to Do

The most beautiful song.

This is the perfect song to listen to while praying for loved ones.
It speaks to the very core of my soul--because
I never know what to do or what to say.
Thank God--He's God,
always on His throne.
He does know what to do

And though we'll never understand...
we trust Him, don't we?
when we don't know what to do.

Let your healing come, Lord, let your healing come...
to Eric
to Alvaro
to the man across town who's contemplating suicide...
to a friend who's so incredibly lonely
to a 93 year old friend, Lord, who's so tired of being on this earth
to a friend who fell and hurt her knee.
to fathers and mothers who are sick and alone with nothing but memories
Let your perfect healing come.

We need you, Lord.
We trust you Lord...
only you...
when we don't know what to do.
Let your healing come.

Note: Our one-year-old nephew went to live with Jesus today. Please pray for his parents, his three year old brother and his grandparents as they face this tragedy.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

CFBA Presents Love Finds You in Humble, Texas by Anita Higman


This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

Love Finds You In Humble Texas
(Summerside Press February 2009)
by
Anita Higman

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Anita Higman is the author of 24 books including fiction, nonfiction, childrens books and plays. Among her published romance titles are Larkspur Dreams, The Love Song and Castles in the Air, all coauthored with Janice A. Thompson. Her mysteries include Another Stab at Life and Another Hour to Kill. Anita is a member of ACFW and the Christian Humor Writers Group and she has been recognized for her involvement in literacy programs. A Texan for the past 24 years, Anita has coauthored an awardwinning book about her home state, A Tribute to Early Texas. She lives with her family near Houston.


Other books by Anita are Another Hour To Kill and Another Stab At Life

ABOUT THE BOOK

The Abernathy sisters. One is bright, one is beautiful, but both are in love with the same man. One sister will let go of love, and like a kite string untethering in the wind, the choice will undo each of their lives. What will it take to heal their hearts, for love to find them in a place called Humble, Texas?

Trudie Abernathy is a little inelegant, and she's never had much luck in love. To make matters worse, her thirtieth birthday is fast approaching and her sister, Lane, has decided to treat her to a makeover and a few blind dates. Trudie is about to protest, but then she meets the kind and handsome Mason Williamson. In spite of her humble manner, Mason finds her attractive, funny and smart. But Lane inexplicably pushes Trudie away from Mason and toward the other willing suitors. The makeover has transformed Trudie from ordinary into stunning, but she isnt sure how she feels about all the attention from men. Can Trudie stay true to her humble self and find her hearts desire in the process?

If you would like to read the first chapter of Love Finds You In Humble Texas, go HERE

Watch the trailer for this book: