E.V. Sparrow's Blog, page 11

Preparing a Novella to Introduce Mick Muldoon

After signing a three-book contract with Celebrate Lit Publishing, I decided I want readers to discover more about Mick ahead of the historical fiction novel in which he is the main character.

Mick is a simple Irish farmer in a small village in 1866 Ireland, but he’s a complex man. He battles with poverty, multiple deaths of his wives and children, and his moderate scoliosis, which adds to his alcoholism. All those adversities develop his resilience. He believes in and is dedicated his faith in the Trinity, family, and hard work despite the tragedies.

In Muldoon’s Minnesota Darling, Mick happily escapes the tenements of New York City’s Lower East Side, and heads out West with Ed to purchase farmland. This is where he discovers his dreams of life and love. #historicalfiction #historicalfictionbooks

Ella’s Heart

This was my third published short story by Inspire Press included in their Inspire Love compilation. Sometimes, love is expressed by a person in ways others don’t understand or appreciate. Actions which come out of Ella’s love create self comfort, but pain for someone dear to her. Click here for her love story.

EV_Ella’sHeart

A.C.F.W. Blog Post, Embrace the Messy

Grateful to ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) for the opportunities they give us members to write articles for other authors. I hope mine blesses any discouraged authors. The writing professionals always tell us to write what we know. What if we know messy? Don’t have a lot of Scripture memorized? Or our faith is not yet at a mature level? Can we write characters similar to us? Different than us? Or maybe at a faith-stage we lived out for ourselves several years ago?

Embrace the Messy by E.V. Sparrow

#acfw #christianauthors #christianfictionauthors

Recent A.C.F.W. Blog Post, Mismatched in the Yoke

Grateful to ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) for the opportunities they give us members to write articles for other authors. I hope mine blesses any discouraged authors. We occasionally need to adjust to a helpful mindset while we bump shoulders with the world of writing and all its challenges.

Mismatched in the Yoke by E.V. Sparrow

#acfw #christianauthors #christianfictionauthors

Love’s Perfect Heart

The first time I read this quote, I gasped. Its imagery of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross was acute in my mind, but the truth of this statement profoundly moved me by its purity. His motivation for His suffering and sacrifice was to save me and you from the power of sin in our lives, and His resurrection was to save us from eternal death.

Now faith, hope, and love remain—these three things—and the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13, CEB)

Tell me your thoughts about on this #Valentine’sDay2023. #loveatitsbest #purelove #Godislove

February’s Celebrate Lit Multi-Author Giveaway

Happy February Readers!

February is the month we celebrate love. As an author, I am so thankful for all your love and support! I wanted to show you how much I love all my readers by partnering up with Celebrate Lit Publicity for their We Love Our Readers Multi-Author Giveaway.

Here is your chance to win 45 books or a $500 Amazon card in Celebrate Lit’s We Love Our Readers Giveaway.

Enter at: https://promosimple.com/ps/23a85/2023-we-love-our-readers

The event and giveaway take place February 13 through February 19.

#multiauthorgiveaway #giveawayusa #bookgiveaway #bookgiveaways #christianfictionreader #christianbooks #christianbookstagram #christianbookclub

A Journey for Hope

Today, January 17, 2023 is release day for Stacy T. Simmons’ second book. She passed away before seeing it birthed. Stacy was an author with Celebrate Lit Publishing, and I recently contracted three books with them. She was enthusiastic and encouraging to me via social media.

Please, read the press release and visit her Facebook Page with over 3,000 followers, to discover why she was beloved.

ajourneyforhopepr8Download

Happy New Year Readers: Publisher Giveaway

My publisher, Celebrate Lit, began a huge giveaway! My short story, South Dakota Foreman, is in the Heartland Treasures anthology. See it in row 3, 3rd from the left.

Here is your chance to win over 45 books or a $500 Amazon card to buy a ton of books for yourself in Celebrate Lit’s Happy New Year Readers Giveaway.

The event and giveaway take place January 9 through January 15.

Click here to enter: https://promosimple.com/ps/24309/2023-happy-new-year-readers-updated

Christmas Blog Tour: Article 9

The Nativity

Mary, mother of Jesus. My heart can barely grasp what an extraordinary woman she must have been to be chosen the mother of the world’s Savior. I imagine her perfect, without sin. Though this is unlikely, God blessed her above all women. Yet His path for Mary wasn’t easy. To avoid disgrace as an unwed mother, God instructed her fiancée to marry her and to travel together from Nazareth to safety in Bethlehem.

The young couple trekked on unpaved trails for four days along flatlands and over hills, possibly in freezing temperatures. When they reached Bethlehem, no doubt weary, they had to settle for a cave—used to house animals—in which to rest where Mary gave birth.

The least desired place for a birthing mother became the most honored and beloved story of all time. The young couple listened to God, trusted, obeyed, and persevered. Hard as it was—which many of us can’t comprehend just how difficult—God provided for them along the way and when they reached their destination.

I wonder if the world silenced to hear the first cry of the King. If an unidentified light glowed in the dim cave the moment Jesus entered the world. If the waters rested and the winds ceased. Luke 2:13-14 tells us after shepherds in Bethlehem were told of Jesus’ birth, the angels sang. We will never know the full magnificence of all that took place during the nativity.

What an honor it is to have included the nativity in my novel Dress Shop Miracles. It’s one of my favorite scenes as my characters traveled from a difficult path to hope, love, and miracles. I hope you love the story of Molly and Ted as much as I did writing it, and guess what? 

I’m giving away one e-book copy of Dress Shop Miracles via Amazon Kindle.

To qualify for the drawing simply: 1) subscribe to my website at diannmarieandre.com; 2) then comment below this article (at my website) that you subscribed via Christmas Blog Tour. The winner will be announced December 24, 2022.

You can read the blurb here: https://www.amazon.com/Dress-Miracles-Dianne-Marie-Andre-ebook/dp/B0BH1CVXYK/ref=sr_1_1? 

I hope you’ll take a moment to enjoy a video with my 52-year-old nativity set honoring the birth of Christ. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao9h2lbQTgw

Merry Christmas,

Dianne Marie Andre

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In addition to writing Christian fiction, Dianne is currently working on a memoir. She is a landscape photographer. Most of her pictures are taken on twenty acres where she lives in California’s Central Valley with her husband, Joe, her adorable rescue dog, Ralphie, occasional steers, hens, sheep, and a bazillion trees. You can connect with her at https://diannemarieandre.com/5039-2/ 

Christmas Blog Tour: Article 8

Christmas in Northern Hearts

By Laurie Wood

Northern Hearts (Heroes of the Tundra Book 2) is my Christmas novella set in the real-life town of Churchill, Manitoba, Canada. It’s called the Polar Bear Capitol of the World. I set my entire series there, and my husband and I flew up in 2019 so that I could do proper research on the town and its polar bear research facilities.

I set this story during the Christmas in between Northern Deception (Book 1) and Northern Protector (Book 3). The inspiration for the story came to me out of the blue—I love it when my brain and creativity strikes like that—because I was thinking about family situations and secrets.

I had the vision of a rich young woman with every advantage she could have in her life, but still yearning for more. And her family held a long, dark secret in the past. She’s about to find out about a family member she had never known existed before, and how that person had been following her life from afar.

The hero is the opposite. He’s grown up without a proper family in the foster care system and the unknown family member of the heroine has been a stand-in mother figure for him. When the hero and heroine meet and are forced to work together for thirty days to meet the legal requirements of the family member’s will, they have to examine what their relationships mean to them and learn to work together. 

Being a romance, they will fall in love, but I include some real-life festivities that take place in Churchill, and some traditions that I wish I’d done myself over the years. I believe that family traditions keep memories alive and serve the purpose of keeping families intact, especially when children are young and growing up. Once they’re grown up, some traditions need to change to facilitate the changes in the family make-up, for example, adult children marrying and the “family” enlarging.

Like the Sabbath being made for man, not man for the Sabbath, as Jesus taught us, I think that family traditions like every person being present at Christmas dinner when that may not be feasible, need to be looked at in the light of love and common sense. Christmas dinners may need to be done rotationally. Traditions may need to grow and change as the years go by.

That doesn’t mean that our Christmas excitement and celebrations of our one true King shouldn’t take place or be enjoyed. They just may look different from year to year, and that’s all right. The true meaning of Christmas is that Jesus is the Light of the World and our Saviour. I wish you all a blessed Christmas!

If you visit my website at https://www.lauriewoodauthor.com and sign up for my newsletter, you’ll receive a gift. Thank you for being with me today.

You can buy Northern Hearts here: https://amzn.to/33CFJeE  

Northern Redemption (Heroes of the Tundra Book 4) will come out in 2023.