I am beyond excited about Peter Jackson's latest middle-earth offering, The Hobbit. Bummer that we have to wait until December 2012 for it, but at least we've got a trailer to check out.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
First Trailer for THE HOBBIT
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Chuck Testa! Coolest Taxidermist Ever!
I've had a bit of a blogging sabbatical. Been busy writing a book, living life... you understand. But today my son shared these videos with me and thought, "Hey, I've got to share this fun with my friends." So here we go...
The first video is real, for taxidermist Chuck Testa:
Now that you've seen the original, you can fully appreciate the Songify version... and I dare you not to sing the chorus hours later... Chuck Testa!
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
CFBA Presents LOVE ON THE LINE by Deeanne Gist
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Squeezed betwixt-and-between all this, she read romance novels by the truckload and even wrote a couple of her own. While those unpublished manuscripts rested on the shelf, she founded a publishing corporation for the purpose of developing, producing and marketing products that would reinforce family values, teach children responsibility and provide character building activities.
After a few short months of running her publishing company, Gist quickly discovered being a "corporate executive" was not where her gifts and talents lie. In answer to Gist’s fervent prayers, God sent a mainstream publisher to her door who licensed her parenting I Did It!® product line and committed to publish the next generation of her system, thus freeing Gist to return to her writing.
Eight months later, she sold A Bride Most Begrudging to Bethany House Publishers. Since that debut, her very original, very fun romances have rocketed up the bestseller lists and captured readers everywhere. Add to this two consecutive Christy Awards, three RITA nominations, rave reviews, and a growing loyal fan base, and you’ve got one recipe for success.
Her latest releases, Beguiled
, Maid to Match
, and Love on the Line
are now available.Gist lives in Texas with her husband of twenty-eight years and their border collie. They have four grown children. Click here to find out the most up-to-the-minute news about Dee.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Dashing Luke Palmer is more than he appears though. He's a Texas Ranger working undercover to infiltrate a notorious gang of train robbers. Repairing telephones and tangling with this tempestuous woman is the last thing he wants to do. But when his stakeout puts Georgie in peril, he realizes more than his job is on the line.
If you would like to read the first chapter of Love on the Line, go HERE.
JEN'S THOUGHTS
Deeanne Gist remains one of my favorite authors of historical fiction. She always finds away to bring new, fresh twists to stories of days gone by. Love on the Line
is no exception. I'm sure you'll enjoy this offereing from a master storyteller!If you haven't tried one of Gist's books yet, check out Maid to Match
, which is available right now as a free Kindle download.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Interview and Giveaway with Author Rose McCauley
It's a great pleasure to welcome back my dear friend (and debut author!) Rose McCauley.
A: Jeanie Smith Cash came up with the idea and graciously asked me to join her and Debra Ullrick and Jeri Odell.
Q: Have you always wanted to be a writer?
A: Yes, I have written since a young child, but only started pursuing publication about 10 years ago.
Q: How do you come up with your story ideas?
A: Many different ways—something I see or hear or read about, or sometimes I come up a character first and then write a story about them.
Q: How does your faith impact your writing?
A: Like life, I think our faith should impact everything we do. I like to put my characters in situations that cause them to reach out to God for help or insight.
Q: How long does it take you to complete a novel?
A: Since this was a novella (20,000 words) I was able to write it in a month. How many drafts do you go through? After the initial writing, I sent it to 3 crit partners who gave me some suggestions, then I sent it to the other three authors in the collection for their suggestions, then made a few more and sent it in, so this book went through 4 minor drafts. I have a longer novel (over 80,000 words) that has gone through several drafts!)
Q: Do you plot out your story ahead of time, or do you think it up as you go?
A: Since Barbour requires a complete synopsis of the whole book, this story was well plotted out before I started, making the writing go faster, but there were still minor changes as I went. The first story I wrote I just started with my characters and took them on a journey, but that story took much longer to write and is not published! One of the things I learned from that experience is to have more structure before I start, but to still allow myself and my characters to change direction if needed to make it a more compelling story.
Q: After becoming a published author, what surprised you the most?
A: How much hard work still remained to market the book.
Q: What’s the most important piece of advice you would give to a fledgling writer?
A: Keep studying the craft of writing, keep reading and keep writing.
Q: If you weren’t a writer, what would you be doing?
A: Since I already had a career of 27 years of teaching, I am enjoying writing as my second career!
Q: What does your family think about your crazy career?
A: They are all very proud and supportive, and my husband has washed a lot of dishes in the past few years!
Q: There’s been a lot said about the future of publishing and the possible death of the print book. What’s your take on eBooks, self-publishing, and such?
A: I do not have a kindle, but my daughter and granddaughter do and love them. I have downloaded several books to my computer kindle but have not completed one yet! I still love to hold a book in my hands and I love to share my books with others, so will keep buying printed books.
Scenario: You’re about to be dropped off on a deserted island. You can take along one survival item, one book, and one person (living or dead… but they’ll be alive on the island). What and who do you take?
A: I am very practical. I would take a blow-up mattress, a Bible, and my hubby. He is the McGyver-type, so he could build anything we needed!
Thanks for hosting me, Jen. This was a fun interview!
And thanks for joining us, Rose. I'm so happy for your success!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Rose McCauley
Rose has been writing for over ten years and has been published in several non-fiction anthologies and devotionals. She is happy for this to be her first fiction anthology because Christmas books are her favorites. A retired schoolteacher who has been happily married to her college sweetheart for 41 years, she is also mother to three grown children and their spouses and grandmother to three lovely, lively kids! You can reach her through her website http://www.rosemccauley.com/ or blogsite at http://www.rosemccauley.blogspot.com/
“God sets the lonely in families…” Psalm 68:6
Nick Powers worked hard to earn his college degree and his dream job. He doesn’t know what to expect when he finds out new owners will be taking over Bellingham Plantation soon. When Carol Wells comes to town, she and Nick get off to a rocky start, but soon combine forces to make Christmas a happier time for others. Can they find their own Christmas happiness?
WIN THE BOOK
If you’d like to be entered to win a copy of Christmas Belles of Georgia, just leave a comment on this blog. I’ll pick a winner at random on Friday, October 14th. (NOTE: This time round, US addresses only. Thanks.) Please leave an email address so I can contact you if you're the winner. (To prevent spammers from trolling for your email, please use this format with the brackets--you [at] yourmail [dot] com--or something similar.) Good luck!
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Interview and Giveaway with Author Alice J. Wisler
It's my pleasure to welcom Alice J. Wisler to the blog.
A: I received a wedding invitation intended for the previous owner of my house. The invitation was beautiful and the reception was to be held at a country club in New York. I wondered: What if I crashed this wedding? Instead, I let my main character end up at the wrong wedding.
Q: Have you always wanted to be a writer?
A: Yes, ever since I was in first grade and I wrote stories with stick-figure illustrations and stapled them together.
Q: Do you plot out your story ahead of time, or do you think it up as you go?
A: I plot ahead of time. Publishers want a synopsis, so this makes me go deep into the story and get it all lined up before I set out to write it.
Q: What’s your favorite part of the writing business? What’s your least favorite?
A: I love it when I’m about ¾ of the way through writing a novel. That’s when I love, love, love to spend all my time writing. Hours pass and I’m in my own world. Sometimes I even forget to eat.
Q: After becoming a published author, what surprised you the most?
A: What do you mean Oprah doesn’t know who I am? :)
Q: What’s the most important piece of advice you would give to a fledgling writer?
A: Don’t give up. Keep writing to improve your voice and the craft.
Q: If you weren’t a writer, what would you be doing?
A: I’m sure I would have discovered some drug that would help others and earn me millions.
Q: What event, writer, or book has most impacted your writing life?
A: The cancer-related death of my four-year-old son Daniel in 1997 has impacted my writing more than anything else. He was a sweetheart and I miss him each day.
Q: What’s the one far out sci-fi technology you’d most like to see become a household item?
A: A robot that cleans the entire house with one press of a button.
Thanks for taking the time to visit with us, Alice. Blessings to you!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alice J. Wisler is the author of RAIN SONG (Christy Finalist 2009), HOW SWEET IT IS (Christy Finalist 2010), HATTERAS GIRL and A WEDDING INVITATION----all by Bethany House Publishers. In memory of her son, she teaches online grief-writing courses---Writing the Heartache---and at conferences across the country. Visit her website: http://www.alicewisler.com/.
Samantha Bravencourt ends up at the wrong wedding in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and from there, the past starts to come alive. She meets Lien, a former student from her days of teaching English-as-a-second-language at a refugee camp in the Philippines as well as Carson, the man who taught with her, the man who broke her heart. Now she and Carson are asked to help Lien find her mother before Lien's wedding date. Why is the past so hard to forgive? And dare she take another chance on love?
WIN THE BOOK
If you’d like to be entered to win a copy of A Wedding Invitation, just leave a comment on this blog. I’ll pick a winner at random on Monday, October 10th. Please leave an email address so I can contact you if you're the winner. (To prevent spammers from trolling for your email, please use this format with the brackets--you [at] yourmail [dot] com--or something similar.) Good luck!
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Interview and Giveaway with Author Susan Page Davis
It's a pleasure to welcome author Susan Page Davis back to the blog!
A: Vickie McDonough, Darlene Franklin, and I are all clients of the same agent. He asked the three of us if we’d like to put together a book series set in Texas. When we began looking at a timeline of Texas history for ideas, the story of Cynthia Ann Parker jumped out at me. She is one of the most famous Indian captives of all time. I wanted to write a story about another girl who underwent the terror of capture and isolation from anyone she knew, but who had a happier outcome than Cynthia did.
Q: Have you always wanted to be a writer?
A: I suppose I have, although when I was in first grade, I thought I would like to run a store. Later I thought owning a hotel would be the best job on earth, and for a while I considered going into nursing. I don’t think I considered “writer” as a possibility for me at that time.
Q: How do you deal with writer’s block?
A: I don’t encounter it very often. Occasionally I’ll get “stuck” writing a particular scene. When that happens, I either push through it and leave it to be revised later, or skip right over it and go to the next part. Later, I think it over and decide whether I really need that scene. If I do, what is its purpose? Usually, focusing on the job that scene needs to do helps me write it.
Q: How long does it take you to complete a novel? How many drafts do you go through?
A: I would say that I go through at least six drafts, and the actual writing takes me anywhere from a month to six months.
A: I plot it out beforehand. It helps me stay on track as I’m writing.
Thanks for visiting with us today, Susan!
About Captive Trail:
Taabe Waipu has run away from her Comanche village and is fleeing south in Texas on a horse she stole from a dowry left outside her family’s teepee. The horse has an accident and she is left on foot, injured and exhausted. She staggers onto a road near Fort Chadbourne and collapses.
On one of the first runs through Texas, Butterfield Overland Mail Company driver Ned Bright carries two Ursuline nuns returning to their mission station. They come across a woman who is nearly dead from exposure and dehydration and take her to the mission.
With some detective work, Ned discovers Taabe Waipu’s identity. He plans to unite her with her family, but the Comanche have other ideas, and the two end up defending the mission station. Through Taabe and Ned we learn the true meaning of healing and restoration amid seemingly powerless situations.
Captive Trail is second in a six-book series, Texas Trails. You can read more about it at: http://www.texastrailsfiction.com/. Award-winning authors Vickie McDonough and Darlene Franklin also contribute to this series—we have two books each. And each book can be read on its own.
The Lady’s Maid is first in my new Prairie Dreams historical romance series. Elise Finster accompanies her young British mistress, Lady Anne Stone, on a voyage to America in 1855. Lady Anne’s father has died, and her Uncle David is the new Earl of Stoneford—if he steps forward and claims the title. But David disappeared into the American West when Anne was a baby. Now it’s up to her and Elise to find him. They join a wagon train in Independence, Missouri, not realizing they’re leading a killer straight to David.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Susan Page Davis is an award-winning author with thirty-seven published novels and novellas. A Maine native, she has also lived in Oregon and recently moved to western Kentucky.
Susan has six children and eight grandchildren and loves to spend time with them. She loves animals, puzzles, reading, and genealogy. In January, 2011, she was named Favorite Author of the Year among readers of Heartsong Presents books. She’s a member of Women Writing the West and American Christian Fiction Writers and a past winner of the Carol Award (ACFW’s Book of the Year) and the Inspirational Readers’ Choice Award.
WIN THE BOOKS
Susan is so awesome, she's giving away a copy of each of the books featured in this post! If you’d like to be entered to win one, just leave a comment on this blog. I’ll pick a winner at random on Monday, October 3rd. Please leave an email address so I can contact you if you're the winner. (To prevent spammers from trolling for your email, please use this format with the brackets--you [at] yourmail [dot] com--or something similar.) Good luck!
Friday, September 9, 2011
Interview & Book Giveaway with Author Anne Mateer
A big welcome to one of the sweetest gals I know... debut author Anne Mateer!
A: I’ve been a reader for as long as I can remember, but in 4th grade I was given the opportunity to attend a couple of summer honors camps—one for science, one for poetry. In the science class, we dissected a frog. Ew!! In the poetry class, we learned about poetry and then wrote our own. Bliss! From that moment on I knew I could make words work together and that I wanted to be a writer. In middle school I discovered historical fiction and fell in love. I wanted to weave together history and fiction but from a more overtly Christian perspective. (This was pre-Janette Oke!) Lo and behold, here I am!
Q: What was your inspiration for Wings of a Dream
?A: My grandmother was a born storyteller and often told us stories about her family. Long ago I heard about how her mother died while her father was fighting WWI in France and how her mother’s niece came to care for them. Only many years later, when piecing the story together by year, did I realize that my great-grandmother died in the influenza epidemic of 1918. After my grandmother passed away in January of 2000, I knew I wanted to spin this situation into a novel, but I couldn’t quite solidify a story and characters. Nine years later, after I’d learned much about writing and finished 4 other novels, the story fell into place. I’m still humbled and amazed that Bethany House liked it!
Q: Do you plot out your story ahead of time, or do you think it up as you go?
A: I’ve always been a seat-of-the-pants writer, mostly because I enjoy being surprised by the story and the characters. However, my first book contract was for two books—the first completely finished and the second only a paragraph blurb! So this past year, in order to make my deadline, I have learned to be a bit more deliberate in my planning for the story, mostly so I could avoid all the rewrites I experienced with Wings of a Dream to address weak plot points! Several things have helped me to map things out a little more beforehand, including Snowflake software by Randy Ingermanson, How to Find your Story by Jeff Gerke, and the writing software Scriviner, though much still takes shape as I go.
Q: What’s the most important piece of advice you would give to a fledgling writer?
A: Before you can move forward, you have to understand that talent alone is not enough. Just as an athlete who is naturally gifted must still work to hone his or her skill in a sport, a writer must work at craft—and be willing to learn! Read craft books. Attend conferences or listen to conference workshops on CD. Join a critique group. Write, write, write.
Q: What do you think about writing contests? Have you participated in any? What’s the benefit to an unpublished writer?
A: I entered several contests before I was published. They are a good way to get some feedback, to see where you are. However, my biggest caution is a person’s motivation. If it is all about the win, you’ll often be disappointed and discouraged. If it is about learning and growing as a writer, you’ll ALWAYS be a winner!
Wise words, Anne. Thanks so much for visiting with us today! And now I'd like to add my thoughts about Wings of a Dream
...THOUGHTS FROM JEN
How do I love this book? Let me count the ways.
- I love that it's a historical novel written in 1st person. Brilliant! It made me feel like I was right there with Rebekah, facing each trial and each triumph.
- I love how the story is as much about Rebekah's growth as a person as it is about romantic entanglements. The character arc is realistic and compelling.
- I love how the prose flowed so seamlessly that I never wanted to put it down. Have you ever stood in the kitchen and stirred pots on the stove with one hand while holding a book with the other? Yep, it's that kind of novel.
- I love that well-earned writing success has come to such a hard-working, lovely person as Anne. Yes, we are friends, but that's not why I'm recommending her book. It's just plain great!
- And last but not least, I love that I can add Anne Mateer to my list of must-read authors. I'm looking forward to the next one!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Anne Mateer is a three-time Genesis Contest finalist who has long had a passion for history and historical fiction. She and her husband live near Dallas, Texas, and are the parents of three young adults.
Rebekah Hendricks dreams of a life far beyond her family's farm in Oklahoma, and when dashing aviator Arthur Samson promised adventure in the big city, she is quick to believe he's the man she's meant to marry. While she waits for the Great War to end and Arthur to return to her so they can pursue all their plans, her mother's sister falls ill. Rebekah seizes the opportunity to travel to Texas to care for Aunt Adabelle, seeing this chance to be closer to Arthur's training camp as God's approval of her plans.
But the Spanish flu epidemic changes everything. Faced with her aunt's death, Arthur's indecisiveness, and four children who have no one else to care for them, Rebeka is torn between the desire to escape the type of life she's always led and the unexpected love that just might change the dream of her heart.
WIN THE BOOK
If you’d like to be entered to win a copy of Wings of a Dream
, just leave a comment on this blog. I’ll pick a winner at random on Thursday, September 15th. Please leave an email address so I can contact you if you're the winner. (To prevent spammers from trolling for your email, please use this format with the brackets--you [at] yourmail [dot] com--or something similar.) Good luck!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
