Shelley Shepard Gray's Blog, page 8

News, News, News

This week, I’m so happy to share some fun news!

First, for the next week, DAYBREAK, the first book in this year’s Days of Redemption series, is an amazon.com December Deal! That means that the kindle version of DAYBREAK is now just $1.99.  If you happen to have a kindle, or know someone who does and might like the book, I hope you’ll take advantage of this sale price.

Next, the dates are set! In February, I’ll be heading to Sugarcreek and Berlin for a series of book signings! If you can join me,  I hope you will!  Here’s the information:

Thursday, Feb. 6:

6:00 pm. Signing, and perhaps dinner, hosted by The Gospel Bookstore in Berlin. As soon as I know the exact location, I’ll share!

Friday, Feb. 7

11:00am-2:00 pm. Signing and lunch with me at an Amish home! This is hosted by Amish Heartland Tours!  Price will include a copy of Hopeful and a wonderful Amish-made lunch! For more information, go to www.amishheartlandtours.com

Saturday, Feb. 8

Signing in Sugarcreek!

10:00 am-12:00 noon, Signing and Reading at The Gospel Shop, in downtown Sugarcreek

Then…over to Alliance for a Library Visit!

3:00-5:00 pm, signing and reading

Rodman Public Library

215 E. Broadway St. Alliance, OH 44601

Finally, I’ll be heading down to Florida and will be speaking at a library in Sarasota on Feb. 20. More information about that to come

I hope everyone will have a wonderful week. I’m trying very hard to get the first draft of JOYFUL done so that I can have a joyful holiday! I really don’t want to be writing on Christmas Day…

Blessings to you!

Shelley

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend

I hope everyone has been having a great weekend. We’ve been blessed with blue skies and cool weather-perfect days to decorate the house for Christmas, go on long walks with the dogs, and even go out and do a little bit of shopping.

As usual, every night I’m the first person to bed! What’s been funny is that all three dogs are ready to go to sleep then, too! So, while the rest of the house is up watching late night movies, I’m in my room reading and hanging out with three dogs.

I hope all of you have been having time to do a little bit of decorating, sleeping, and maybe eating a plate or two of leftovers, too.

Here’s a photo of my son’s dog Rudy on Thanksgiving Night!

Two Days To Go…

Good morning! It’s Tuesday morning, and we’ve already been making lists and checking them twice. Yep, I’m about to brave the Kroger and get the rest of the ingredients for Thanksgiving dinner. Late last night my son and his dog arrived, sometime today my daughter will get home. Then on Wednesday and Thursday, we’ll have a few more relatives arrive, too. I’m happy and excited and keep buying more towels. I seem to always do that~my kids say we have more towels than a hotel!

In the midst of all this, I’ll be doing two radio interviews and continuing on my revisions for Secrets of Sloan House.

The folks at my publisher are busy, too! On Saturday, they’ll be sending everyone who signed up for the authortracker newsletter the first chapter of HOPEFUL.  If you haven’t signed up yet, please do! They are planning to continue to send out all kinds of fun ‘bonus’ things.

Wishing you many blessings today!

Shelley

Santa Sighting!

I had a great time at last Saturday’s bookfair in Frankfort, KY. I met a lot of nice authors, bought yet another cookbook, and signed lots and lots of copies of PEACE. It was also very fun to meet some readers who had read the whole Secrets of Crittenden County series and talk all about Perry Borntrager!

Some children’s authors were there, all dressed up like characters in their books. That is why there was a man wandering around dressed like Santa Claus. When he walked by, I couldn’t resist asking for a picture together. He was a good sport!

 

Are You an ‘Accidental’ Amish Fiction Fan?

I love receiving notes from my readers. I love to hear what book they just read, love to hear about their favorite characters and scenes. I even don’t mind reading about what parts of the books they didn’t like so much.

But my all-time favorite notes are from brand new readers. I love reading about how they ‘discovered’ my books.

When readers tell me that they’ve loved Amish fiction since reading The Shunning by Beverly Lewis, and discovered ‘Shelley Shepard Gray’ when they were looking for more authors in the genre, I can completely relate. I’ve certainly found new authors that way.

Sometimes, though, I hear from Amish fiction fans who started reading my books on accident.

When I started writing Inspirational novels, an editor who I had submitted to asked if I wanted to give writing Amish novels a try. Since I live so close to an Amish community, I did.  I decided to write a story set in a bed and breakfast much like the ones my writer girlfriends and I visit when we go on writers’ retreats. That story was the beginning of Hidden, and the whole Sisters of the Heart Series.

While I was writing and doing research, I discovered that I loved spending my days dreaming about my Amish characters. I really enjoyed writing the book, but never expected it to be published.  No one was more surprised than me when Avon Inspire published that first novel!

I thought I’d share a few of my favorite stories that I’ve heard from readers who started reading my Amish novels almost by accident. Perhaps some of you have had a similar situation?

One lady in the Midwest shared how she was keeping her sick mother company by her bedside.  When her mom fell asleep, she didn’t want to leave her side, but also didn’t want to simply sit and do nothing. That’s why she noticed her mother had been reading Spring’s Renewal-it was tucked away in a drawer in her bedside table. Well, she was bored enough to pull it out and see what it was about. To her surprise, she liked it enough to start searching the house for Autumn’s Promise…and after that? She was a fan of the genre.

Another lady was in the library and saw the cover of Hidden. Since the heroine on that book’s  cover isn’t wearing a bonnet, she didn’t think it was either Amish fiction or Christian fiction. She simply thought the cover was pretty. She told me that when she realized that most of the book took place at an Amish B&B, she almost put it down. But, well, she was kind of interested in Anna and decided to go ahead and finish it. Next thing she knew, she was asking the library for Wanted, the next book in the series.

Finally, just last Saturday, I met a lady who told me that a few years ago she used to not be a reader at all. She had also been going through some tough times and had lost her faith. She was walking to the checkout counter at Walmart and saw a copy of GRACE.  When she saw it was a Christmas book, she went ahead and bought it-thinking if she didn’t like it she could stick it in a friend’s stocking. Now she has a bookshelf full of Amish books by a variety of authors.

  Over and over people have told me that they’re fans of the genre because of the slower pace, because of the faith of the Amish. They enjoy reading about life without electricity, televisions, computers, and cell phones. I like writing about the Amish for many of those same reasons.

Perhaps there’s someone in your life who you think might be an accidental Amish fan, too. If so, I encourage you to give them a book or send them to the library with a couple of authors’ names. It sure doesn’t have to be one of my books~just pick one of your favorites. It would be so fun to get another letter months from now from one more accidental Amish fan.

Have you ever recommended an Amish book to a friend or family member?

Thank you so much for stopping by, and of course, for giving my books a try. I’m very thankful for you!

Blessings,

shelley

Meet Lynne and Laurie!

It’s funny~just as I was writing a scene in THANKFUL where the heroine realizes she needs help~I realized I need help, too!

I’ve been so busy writing that I’ve let a couple of other things fall by the wayside. Some might be things that y’all might never notice-such as Amazon.com and Goodreads.com, and other social media updates. Others you might have noticed-such as responding in a timely manner to requests for bookmarks and bookplates.  I’ve felt badly that I haven’t been able to do everything as well as I would like.

Because of all of that, I’ve asked two special ladies for some help. Lynne and Laurie are a mother-daughter team-how neat is that? Lynne will be helping me with sending out bookmarks, organizing mail, and light editing. Laurie will be my social media coordinator and will focus more on some of my online postings and other media responsibilities.  Both are faithful, exceptionally kind women, and both are far more organized than I am. This is a very good thing!

So, if you happen to write me and see that one of them responds, please know you’re in good hands.

Thank you, as always, for reading my books and taking a minute to stop by.

Please join me in welcoming Lynne and Laurie!

 

Seven Years!

Happy November!

I happen to love reading what everyone is thankful for during the month of November. I especially love reading about all the small things that people are thankful for~a hot cup of coffee, a hug from a friend, a smile on the subway. Those are the kinds of things that can turn a ‘blah’ day into a much better one, I think.

Last night I was especially thankful for my ‘small group’ at church. A group of us have been meeting on Sunday nights once a month for years now. We take turns going to each others houses. There, we have something to eat, catch up on everything that’s been going on with our jobs and kids and extended families and then settle in for an hour or so of a Bible study.  Last night, we celebrated our 7th year together!

For the last couple of months, we’ve been talking about the Book of Acts, and last night we took turns reading out loud. Around eight o’clock last night, we were sipping coffee, reading about Paul and Luke and a terrible storm…and well, something just clicked. In the middle of it all, one of us looked at the others and stated out loud what we were all thinking-that it was an awesome meeting.

And that, today, is what I keep thinking about and am so thankful for.

Of course, I’m grateful for my family and friends and wiener dogs and my health. I’m thankful for God giving me the ability to make up stories and thankful for my agent and my editors who have given me so many opportunities.

I’m thankful for pumpkin bread and long walks and lots and lots of fall leaves.

But today? I’m especially thankful for my faith and for my small group. They’ve inspired me and challenged me and make me laugh, too. 

I hope we’ll be together for another wonderful seven years.

wishing you God’s blessings today!

shelley

 

Author Tracker!

I now have two newsletter signups. One is my regular newsletter that I send out a few times a year.

The other is Author Tracker! This is managed by my publisher and is going to be a great place to read about special promotions, upcoming books, and new events. It’s also going to have fun “Extras”! For example, this Friday people who have signed up on Author Tracker will have access to a special epilogue to PEACE. It’s an extra scene that takes place one year after PEACE ends. 

I hope you’ll give Author Tracker a try. Just fill out the form on my homepage! Easy as that.

Shelley

 

 

HAPPY PEACE!

It’s On-Sale Day for my Christmas Novella, PEACE! In the publishing world, On-sale day is kind of like a birthday! So, I hope you’ll help me celebrate!

If you happen to see it in the stores over the next few days, let me know! It’s always fun to see where it turns up.

PEACE is my 19th book to be published with Avon Inspire. I am so grateful to all of you for giving my books a try, for telling your friends and relatives about them, and for even asking your local libraries to put them on the shelves!  Thank you and Thank you, again! 

Baking Cranberry-Orange Bread

HAPPY FRIDAY!

It’s been a busy week here!  On Tuesday, our little dachshund Suzy had to have surgery to get a cyst removed from her leg. She’s an older dog, almost 12, so it’s been a tough recovery for her. I’ve been carrying her around and generally trying to keep her happy.

When I haven’t been fussing over an ailing wiener dog, I’ve been writing JOYFUL (out next summer), revising REDEMPTION (an e-book, out at the end of February), and doing a final read-thru for HOPEFUL (releases Feb. 4) Oh, and getting ready for my Christmas book PEACE to be published. (Goes on sale Tuesday, October 22!)

That’s a lot to do, even for someone like me, who likes working on several projects at once!

That’s why yesterday I turned on some music, slipped on an apron, and baked some cranberry orange bread. Soon I was making a mess in the kitchen, the house smelled heavenly, and everything seemed possible…as long as I had a cup of tea and a slice of warm bread to go with it!

If you’re like me and you like to bake, here’s the recipe. It’s a good one, I think.  

ALASKA CRANBERRY-ORANGE BREAD

3/4 c. orange juice

1/2 c. mayonnaise (I used light Helmann’s)

2 eggs, lightly beaten (I used egg beaters)

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

1/4 t. salt

1 cup sugar

2 t. grated orange zest

1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries (I chopped them in the food processer)

2 T sugar

1t grated orange zest

1)Combine orange juice, mayonnaise, and eggs in a small bowl; stir well.

2)Combine flour and next 6 ingredients in a large bowl; stir well. Add OJ mixture to flour mixture, stirring until just blended. Fold in cranberries.

3)Pour batter into a greased and floured loafpan. Combine 2 T sugar and 1 t. orange rind; sprinkle over batter. Bake @ 350* for 1 hour to 1 hour, 10 min. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing from pan.