Dan Walsh's Blog, page 42

New Year, New Look

No, it's not my hair. And it's not my weight (I have lost a couple of pounds but it's probably water weight). Drive by my house and it looks just the same. No...I've spent almost this entire New Year's Day redoing my website, getting it ready for Book Number Two (that would be The Homecoming).

Didn't catch the Tournament of Roses or Mummers parade? Not into the New Year's Day Bowl Games either, eh? Apparently not. My son was sick, my wife and future daughter-in-law spent the whole day cleaning...

The Deepest Waters or...what?

"What's in a name?" Juliet asks Romeo. She then answers: "A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet" (slight paraphrase). A fancy way of saying something is what it is, no matter what you call it.

Parents usually spend a great deal of time picking out a name for their child, as well they should. It's something that will stay with them their entire lives. I know a friend who chose "Danger" as his son's middle name. He said he always wanted to say, "Danger is my middle name."

All right ...

Bestseller on Kindle and Crossings Book Club

Guess the "brief shining moment" I mentioned back on Monday has turned into a few good days. I just checked Amazon again and The Unfinished Gift was back at #4 on Kindle's Christmas bestsellers list. Not sure what accounts for this "Kindle surge," but it actually surpassed the hardcover edition, showing up at #14 on the Christmas bestsellers list for all books: hardcover, paper & Ebooks (the hardcover version was back at #30).

The connection between my book and Richard Paul Evans' novel, The C...

The Unfinished Gift # 4 on Kindle!

I know this isn't the New York Times bestseller list, but The Unfinished Gift reached a pretty high place for a brief shining moment this week. A few days ago it was #4 on Amazon's Kindle sales ranking for Christmas books.

It was quite a sight to see it climb up the ranking this way. When I saw it, I clicked on the list to see who else was there and there was my book at #4. Ranking at #1 was Glenn Beck's book, then Mike Huckabee's book, then William Bennett's Christmas book (3 major conservati...

The Unfinished Gift recommended by Charisma

My publisher sent me an email today with some exciting news. Charisma magazine selected The Unfinished Gift as one of 3 Christmas fiction books they recommended in their December Christmas issue. Charisma is a large evangelical publication that primarily reaches charismatic and pentecostal churches. It has over a half-million readers.

Beside a picture of the book's cover, here's what they said:

"The simplest gifts mean the most. Ian and Patrick Collins are grandfather and grandson struggling...

Seeing "Better Days" as Christmas Gifts from God

It's the most wonderful time of the year, right? That message rings out every Christmas season from a number of directions. There's a sense we should pretty much be smiling from Thanksgiving all the way through Christmas day.

But in reality, Christmas isn't the same experience for everyone, not even the same experience for the same person year to year. Some may be having their best Christmas ever right now, while others...not so much. To be frank, my wife and I are having a weird year. Not a ...

The Blog Tour Ends

As the weekend wrapped up, the Christmas Blog Tour came to an end. Earlier last week, I was able to keep up, even posting a sampling of blog sites each day. But as the week ended, I got a little swamped. There were 77 bloggers who featured The Unfinished Gift on their blogs throughout the United States and Canada. Revell told me it was their most successful blog tour so far.



Some did interviews, most reviewed the book and posted excerpts of the early chapters, some even previewed the sequel....

A Wintry Word of Encouragement

A friend in Orlando, Virginia Knowles, knowing my love of the writings of Charles Spurgeon, emailed me this very timely and encouraging quote. I had to share it.

"Thou hast made summer and winter." ~ Psalm 74:17
"My soul begin this wintry month with our God. The cold snows and the piercing winds all remind us that He keeps His covenant with day and night, and tend to assure us that He will also keep that glorious covenant which He has made with us in the person of Christ Jesus. He who is true...

Blog Tour Sites for Tues & Wed

For those who'd like to see some more of the bloggers writing about The Unfinished Gift, here's a few more (and it really is just a random sampling...there have been 24 in just the first few days):

Edgy Inspirational Author's Blog - Click here.

A Peek at My Bookshelf Blog - Click here.

A Mom After God's Heart Blog - Click here.

Faith Deployed Blog - Click here.

Word Vessel Blog - Click here.

Cara's Musings Blog - Click here.

There are so many others besides these. I'm really grateful for all this ef...

More Blog Tour Sites

More bloggers participating in the Christmas Blog Tour went "live" today, posting reviews and interviews about The Unfinished Gift. I've been told different ones will be posting at different times throughout the week.

Thought I'd list of some of them, in case anyone is curious about what others are saying. It has been extremely satisfying and, at times humbling, for me to read how the book is affecting people.

Click here to read Buuklvr81's blog (you'll have to scroll down a bit).

Click here to ...