K. Dawn Byrd's Blog, page 34
October 7, 2012
Register to win Cathy Bryant's "The Way of Grace"
The Vastness and Costliness of Grace
By Cathy Bryant, ©2012
Grace. Can you wrap your brain around such a simple, yet amazingly vast, subject? And even more importantly, can you fathom the motive behind it, which is pure, unadulterated love?
I have to confess that they both stymie me.
Grace sees the foolish, the weak, the unlovely, and reaches out to help, to deliver, and to save. Grace doesn’t turn away when confronted with betrayal, hatred, and opposition. Instead it prays: “Forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing.” Grace isn’t a drop or two here and a cupful there. It’s an ocean, so wide and so deep the finite human mind can’t fully comprehend its reach. It has no boundaries.
God’s grace is enough to wade in, to splash around in. Every second of every minute of every hour we’re immersed in it. Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. ~Romans 5:1-2a (NIV, emphasis added)
Since grace and mercy are often used in the same phrase, for a long time I believed they were the same. Only as an adult (and a…ahem, “mature” adult) did I truly come to understand the difference. Mercy is not getting what I deserve—that traffic ticket when I sped through a stop sign, that death sentence for my sin. On the other hand, grace is receiving more than I can ever deserve and more than I’ll ever be able to repay—forgiveness, communion with the Almighty Creator of all that is, the assurance of heaven and home in spite of…well, me.
See what I mean? The more you try to plumb its depths and measure its width, the bigger grace grows. Even in the midst of the most heinous sin known to mankind, grace bursts forth, all-encompassing. As usual, God’s Word says it best: The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. ~Romans 5:20-21 (NIV, emphasis added)
I can only speak for myself, but the sheer vastness of God’s amazing grace moves me. It makes my heart swell with joy and gratitude. It removes barriers between me and those unlike me. It compels me to share God’s goodness with a world that could often care less.
And that thought brings me to another point I never fully considered until recently: grace is costly. As followers of Christ and ambassadors of His grace, we should be aware that our attempts to exhibit grace will often be met with the same suffering and opposition Jesus faced. Not everyone will appreciate our efforts. Some will betray us. Others will loudly denounce us. But still we must prevail in our efforts to make Him and His grace known. Following the leader calls for endurance, even to the point of costly grace—the same grace Jesus showed us on the cross.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ~Ephesians 2:4-9
Cathy is the author of the Miller’s Creek Novels—Texas Roads, A Path Less Traveled, and The Way of Grace. Her desire is to write heart-stirring stories about God’s life-changing grace. Though Texas-born, she currently resides in the beautiful Ozark mountains of northwest Arkansas with her husband of thirty years and near the world’s cutest grandson. You can learn more about her and her books at http://www.CatBryant.com and http://WordVessel.blogspot.com.
Click on the book cover for more info!
October 2, 2012
James Rubart's "Soul's Gate"
Title: SOUL’S GATE: A Well Spring Novel
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Cover blurb: Reece stood and faced the group. “Every now and then we get a break from reality. A glimpse into the other world that is more real than the reality we live in 99 percent of our days. The Bible is about a world of demons and angels and great evil and even greater glory. A world the prophets saw; the world Enoch, and Elijah, and Paul, and John the apostle all saw. A world that is all around us in every moment if we would have eyes to see and ears to hear.”
What if you could travel inside another person’s soul? To battle for them. To be part of Jesus healing their deepest wounds.
Thirty years ago that’s exactly what Reece Roth did. Until tragedy shattered his life and ripped away his destiny.
Now God has drawn Reece out of the shadows to fulfill a prophecy spoken over him three decades ago. A prophecy about four warriors with the potential to change the world . . . if Reece will face his deepest regret and train them.
They gather at a secluded and mysterious ranch deep in the mountains of Colorado, where they will learn to see the spiritual world around them with stunning clarity. And how to step into the supernatural as powerfully as anyone in the Bible did.
The four have a destiny to battle for a freedom even Reece doesn’t fully fathom. But they have an enemy hell-bent on destroying them as well and he'll stop at nothing to keep them from their quest for true freedom and the coming battle of souls.
1) How did this story come to you?
When I was writing my first novel, ROOMS, I thought about what would be the next step after someone went into the rooms of their own soul and came up with the idea of someone going into other people’s souls. So while Soul’s Gate isn’t a sequel to ROOMS (which I plan to write someday) it did inspire the concept of Soul’s Gate
2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.
This is my first novel with Thomas Nelson. I had a wonderful experience with B&H, who published my first three novels, ROOMS, BOOK OF DAYS, and THE CHAIR, but when Allen Arnold (former Publisher at Thomas Nelson) and I developed a friendship, it was natural that he would approach me at some point with the idea of publishing with him. He did and in early summer 2011 I signed a five-book contract with them.
3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
• I used to do voiceover work in radio commercials (which helped me tremendously in voicing my novels in audio form.)
• I can juggle
• When I was 1 ½ three fingers on my right hand were smashed when a table saw fell over on me. The growth plates were destroyed and the doctors said although they wouldn’t have to amputate, the fingers would never grow. Thankfully God intervened.
4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?
SOUL’S GATE is the first book of a trilogy, so I just turned in the first draft of the second book, tentatively called MEMORY’S DOOR (June 2013) and edits on it will start soon.
5) Parting comments?
It’s so cliché to say it, but true regardless, I love my readers. They make this all possible. You’re great and your support means so much to me.
6) Where can fans find you on the internet?
Web site: www.jameslrubart.com
Twitter: @jimrubart
Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/8wchjt4
[image error]
Register to win James Rubart's "Soul's Gate"
We're happy to have James Rubart with us today talking about his book, "Soul's Gate." To register for a chance to win a copy, leave James a comment with your email address and if you've not done so, place your email address in my feedburner box to the right to receive weekly emails about giveaways. To learn more about James and his book, read on!Title: SOUL’S GATE: A Well Spring Novel
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Cover blurb: Reece stood and faced the group. “Every now and then we get a break from reality. A glimpse into the other world that is more real than the reality we live in 99 percent of our days. The Bible is about a world of demons and angels and great evil and even greater glory. A world the prophets saw; the world Enoch, and Elijah, and Paul, and John the apostle all saw. A world that is all around us in every moment if we would have eyes to see and ears to hear.”
What if you could travel inside another person’s soul? To battle for them. To be part of Jesus healing their deepest wounds.
Thirty years ago that’s exactly what Reece Roth did. Until tragedy shattered his life and ripped away his destiny.
Now God has drawn Reece out of the shadows to fulfill a prophecy spoken over him three decades ago. A prophecy about four warriors with the potential to change the world . . . if Reece will face his deepest regret and train them.
They gather at a secluded and mysterious ranch deep in the mountains of Colorado, where they will learn to see the spiritual world around them with stunning clarity. And how to step into the supernatural as powerfully as anyone in the Bible did.
The four have a destiny to battle for a freedom even Reece doesn’t fully fathom. But they have an enemy hell-bent on destroying them as well and he'll stop at nothing to keep them from their quest for true freedom and the coming battle of souls.
1) How did this story come to you?
When I was writing my first novel, ROOMS, I thought about what would be the next step after someone went into the rooms of their own soul and came up with the idea of someone going into other people’s souls. So while Soul’s Gate isn’t a sequel to ROOMS (which I plan to write someday) it did inspire the concept of Soul’s Gate
2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.
This is my first novel with Thomas Nelson. I had a wonderful experience with B&H, who published my first three novels, ROOMS, BOOK OF DAYS, and THE CHAIR, but when Allen Arnold (former Publisher at Thomas Nelson) and I developed a friendship, it was natural that he would approach me at some point with the idea of publishing with him. He did and in early summer 2011 I signed a five-book contract with them.
3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
• I used to do voiceover work in radio commercials (which helped me tremendously in voicing my novels in audio form.)
• I can juggle
• When I was 1 ½ three fingers on my right hand were smashed when a table saw fell over on me. The growth plates were destroyed and the doctors said although they wouldn’t have to amputate, the fingers would never grow. Thankfully God intervened.
4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?
SOUL’S GATE is the first book of a trilogy, so I just turned in the first draft of the second book, tentatively called MEMORY’S DOOR (June 2013) and edits on it will start soon.
5) Parting comments?
It’s so cliché to say it, but true regardless, I love my readers. They make this all possible. You’re great and your support means so much to me.
6) Where can fans find you on the internet?
Web site: www.jameslrubart.com
Twitter: @jimrubart
Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/8wchjt4
[image error]
September 17, 2012
Ann Miller's "The Art of My Life"
www.AnnLeeMiller.com. The Art of My Life Excerpt
Chapter 1
July 15
Ever have a painting you’ve stared at for years—and loved? Then, one day, you see something which alters the way you view the piece forever. And you have to decide whether the art has been irreparably marred or merely deepened.
Aly at www.The-Art-Of-My-Life.blogspot.com
Cal walked through the tinted glass jail doors into the loamy scent of Bermuda grass, pine bark, and freedom. The surf shorts and T-shirt he’d worn three months ago when the cop clamped metal on his wrists hung loosely, misshapen, like a life that no longer fit.
He scanned the weather-bleached asphalt, the smattering of cars roasting in the Daytona Beach summer. Sun glinted off the windshield of a silver Honda—Aly’s?—blinding his eyes, yanking her last words to him into the whiteness. I love you, John Calvin Koomer. Usually he blocked out Aly’s admission, but in jail the video had played over and over—the certainty in her eyes, the tremor in her voice.
He squinted at the Honda. Sweat slicked his armpits and tickled the side of his face.
Maybe he should have slept with Aly when she offered. He shook his head, dissolving the idea. No. It didn’t matter that protecting her from another guy taking what he wanted had earned him two and a half years of looking at the back of her head. It had been the right thing to do.
He’d smoked weed to forget her, crammed Evie into Aly’s place inside him, but going to jail had ripped away everything but the truth.
He loved Aly. Always had. Always would.
And it was time to do something about it.
The rumble of an engine pulling into the lot jerked his head around. His mother’s minivan puttered toward him, mowing down the stubble of his hope.
He glanced back at the Honda. No college graduation tassel dangled from the mirror. No silhouette of the Virgin Mary was rusted into the right front bumper.
The car was empty. Like he felt inside.
Mom angled into a parking space, her maneuvering as precise as everything she did.
His flip flops scraped the blacktop as he shuffled toward her. As his hand closed around the chrome door handle, heat branded his palm. He climbed into the stream of the air conditioning blowing from the dash, and the door clunked shut behind him.
Mom reached for him, and his breath stuttered.
When was the last time they’d touched?
She wrapped awkward arms around him. “I—I’ve wanted to hug you ever since the first day I visited you at jail.”
His hand lit on the fabric stretched across her dancer’s back. He sucked in gulps of human affection and the talcum scent of childhood while his mind tried to solve the puzzle of his mother. He coughed, searched for words to fill the silence, and found none. For a heartbeat he was ten with tears pricking the backs of his eyes.
She released him.
Relief, then the desire to cling to her, flushed through him making him feel lightheaded.
His mother’s slim fingers shifted the car into reverse. Her dark hair, slicked back from her face in her customary ballerina bun, exposed the scar running from her temple into her hairline. It whitened now, the only hint of emotion on her face.
According to Grandpa Leaf, Mom had been dropped on her head as a child—causing her to rebel into conservatism from her hippie upbringing. Leaf always cackled after he told the story.
Why couldn’t Henna—his lumpy grandma—have picked him up? He pictured her, in one of her bird of paradise muumuus, beaming at him—someone he didn’t have to measure up for.
“Your grandmother is giving you her boat.”
His jaw swerved toward Mom. She might as well have said Cape Canaveral would launch another Discovery with Henna as pilot. The forty-one foot Catalina he’d sailed a thousand times materialized in his mind.
“Your father and I thought it might give you a fresh start. You could run charters like you and Fish used to talk about when you were kids.”
That was before Fish fell in love with politics in tenth grade. He could almost see Fish’s perennially sunburned face. God, it had been a long three months without Fish.
His mind swerved back to Henna, the dots connecting. Henna held herself responsible for his going to jail. He’d tell her she didn’t owe him anything. But he knew she’d make him keep the Escape.
So what if he’d been caught with Henna and Leaf’s weed? He’d rather do the time in the Volusia County Correctional Facility than watch his grandparents go to jail. They were more like leftover flower children than drug dealers. And he loved them. His favorite childhood daydream had been imagining Mom sitting him down and saying, all serious, that she was sorry, but Henna and Leaf were his true parents. He’d sniffle, plow a hug into Henna’s soft middle, then race free and wild into the rest of his boyhood—the way he was meant to be raised.
As they passed the New Smyrna Beach City Limits sign, Mom glanced at him. “I don’t have to tell you that whatever you do in this town sticks to you for the rest of your life. Promise me you’ll never smoke pot again. Salvage what’s left of your reputation.”
He’d always been The Scream to Mom’s American Gothic. “Your reputation. I don’t care about mine.”
“How can you go to jail, have to report a record every time you apply for a job—”
“Leave it, Mom.”
“Is pot why you never got through college?”
“I never got through college because I hated everything but art classes.”
“Maybe you’re self-medicating for ADHD—”
“I can paint a canvas for six hours straight.”
“Or bi-polar. You’ve always been mercurial.”
“Yeah, I get it from you.”
“Funny.” She didn’t crack a smile as she wheeled the van into a marina parking space.
He could sure use a good smoke about now. Maybe it was time to quit weed. But it wouldn’t be because his mother extracted a promise. It was his own damn life.
Mom killed the engine.
The car popped and crackled in the silence.
“Cal.”
He gripped the armrest, poised to escape.
“We want to give you a shot at making something of your life.”
His failures throbbed in the car, the ones she’d spoken and the ones left unsaid—his part-time job at Stoney’s Ink Slab that fell short of Mom’s idea of a career, his want of religion. Did the list ever end?
“We moved your stuff from Henna’s place to the boat. She kept your studio set up, so you can still paint there whenever you want.”
He heard the but in her tone, the word that always followed her praise.
She dug the boat keys out of her purse and handed them to him. “Your father and I are on the title for now because you need us to cosign for a startup loan. But if you default, you’ll have to sell the boat to pay off the loan.”
The whiskey shot that he was twenty-five and couldn’t sign for his own loan burned all the way down. “Fair enough.” He swallowed. “How much is the loan?”
“We figured forty thousand would cover repairs and get your business off the ground.”
His head knocked against the headrest. He’d never had more than two hundred dollars in the bank at one time. And now he was getting a ninety-thousand-dollar boat and more money than his brain could compute. Henna had always been wacky generous, but his folks cosigning a loan—mammoth. Was it a last ditch effort to shove him into the sausage casing of society? Well, maybe he was willing this time.
“I drew up a business plan—not so different from the one I did for my dance studio. We meet with Aly tomorrow at three to find out if the loan has been approved and sign the papers.”
He sucked in a breath. “Aly?”
“Who else would we go to? Aly’s practically family. She’s a loan officer—”
He wrenched the door open. “Right.” He stepped out and turned back to face Mom. “Thanks for the lift. The offer of the loan.” He stared at her, gratitude and shame stopping up his words, dampening his eyes. “I’ll think about it.”
She opened her mouth to argue.
He held up a hand. “I said I’ll think about it.”
Her brows arched into triangles and her lips pressed into a flat line, but she turned the key in the ignition.
The minivan eased out of the parking space, his mother sitting ramrod straight.
He released the air crowding his chest.
He swung open the pier gate and breathed in the familiar fishy, gasoline scent of the marina. The shock of freedom left him feeling exposed.
Afternoon sun baked his shoulders as he walked, dissolving the weirdness, leaving only a buoy of hope. A charter business could give him a life. In the next heartbeat the physical craving to paint washed over him. He inhaled, imagining he could smell the Vaseline scent of his oils.
Selling his work, someday seeing his face on the cover of People magazine throbbed in his gut. But it was time to kill that dream. He’d always paint, but Aly needed a guy who owned yard tools, tires worth rotating; who carried AAA, Visa, and voter’s registration cards. His stinking driver’s license wouldn’t even be back in his wallet for another three months.
If he worked the Plan B his family had dealt him and succeeded at running a charter sailing business, he’d gain a shot at Aly.
The only shot he’d ever get.
Back Cover:
Cal walked out of jail and into a second chance at winning Aly with his grandma’s beater sailboat and a reclaimed dream of sailing charters.
Aly has the business smarts, strings to a startup loan, and heart he never should have broken. He’s got squat. Unless you count enough original art to stock a monster rummage sale and an affection for weed.
But he’d only ever loved Aly. That had to count for something. Aly needed a guy who owned yard tools, tires worth rotating, and a voter’s registration card. He’d be that guy or die trying.
Bio:
Ann Lee Miller earned a BA in creative writing from Ashland (OH) University and writes full-time in Phoenix, but left her heart in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, where she grew up. She loves speaking to young adults and guest lectures on writing at several Arizona colleges. When she isn’t writing or muddling through some crisis—real or imagined—you’ll find her hiking in the Superstition Mountains with her husband or meddling in her kids’ lives.
www.AnnLeeMiller.com
Blog: http://the-art-of-my-life.blogspot.com/
Twitter: @AnnLeeMiller
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AnnLeeMillerAuthor
Buy Links:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-My-Life-ebook/dp/B009BICC2G/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1347838604&sr=8-7&keywords=The+Art+of+My+Life
Barnes And Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-art-of-my-life-ann-lee-miller/1112910892?ean=2940015675597
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/230031
Everyone wins from Ann Miller!
We're happy to have Ann Miller with us today talking about her book, "The Art of My Life." Giveaway: Anyone who leaves a comment with their e-mail address will receive a free e-copy of prequel: Kicking Eternity. Or you may request your free copy at www.AnnLeeMiller.com. The Art of My Life Excerpt
Chapter 1
July 15
Ever have a painting you’ve stared at for years—and loved? Then, one day, you see something which alters the way you view the piece forever. And you have to decide whether the art has been irreparably marred or merely deepened.
Aly at www.The-Art-Of-My-Life.blogspot.com
Cal walked through the tinted glass jail doors into the loamy scent of Bermuda grass, pine bark, and freedom. The surf shorts and T-shirt he’d worn three months ago when the cop clamped metal on his wrists hung loosely, misshapen, like a life that no longer fit.
He scanned the weather-bleached asphalt, the smattering of cars roasting in the Daytona Beach summer. Sun glinted off the windshield of a silver Honda—Aly’s?—blinding his eyes, yanking her last words to him into the whiteness. I love you, John Calvin Koomer. Usually he blocked out Aly’s admission, but in jail the video had played over and over—the certainty in her eyes, the tremor in her voice.
He squinted at the Honda. Sweat slicked his armpits and tickled the side of his face.
Maybe he should have slept with Aly when she offered. He shook his head, dissolving the idea. No. It didn’t matter that protecting her from another guy taking what he wanted had earned him two and a half years of looking at the back of her head. It had been the right thing to do.
He’d smoked weed to forget her, crammed Evie into Aly’s place inside him, but going to jail had ripped away everything but the truth.
He loved Aly. Always had. Always would.
And it was time to do something about it.
The rumble of an engine pulling into the lot jerked his head around. His mother’s minivan puttered toward him, mowing down the stubble of his hope.
He glanced back at the Honda. No college graduation tassel dangled from the mirror. No silhouette of the Virgin Mary was rusted into the right front bumper.
The car was empty. Like he felt inside.
Mom angled into a parking space, her maneuvering as precise as everything she did.
His flip flops scraped the blacktop as he shuffled toward her. As his hand closed around the chrome door handle, heat branded his palm. He climbed into the stream of the air conditioning blowing from the dash, and the door clunked shut behind him.
Mom reached for him, and his breath stuttered.
When was the last time they’d touched?
She wrapped awkward arms around him. “I—I’ve wanted to hug you ever since the first day I visited you at jail.”
His hand lit on the fabric stretched across her dancer’s back. He sucked in gulps of human affection and the talcum scent of childhood while his mind tried to solve the puzzle of his mother. He coughed, searched for words to fill the silence, and found none. For a heartbeat he was ten with tears pricking the backs of his eyes.
She released him.
Relief, then the desire to cling to her, flushed through him making him feel lightheaded.
His mother’s slim fingers shifted the car into reverse. Her dark hair, slicked back from her face in her customary ballerina bun, exposed the scar running from her temple into her hairline. It whitened now, the only hint of emotion on her face.
According to Grandpa Leaf, Mom had been dropped on her head as a child—causing her to rebel into conservatism from her hippie upbringing. Leaf always cackled after he told the story.
Why couldn’t Henna—his lumpy grandma—have picked him up? He pictured her, in one of her bird of paradise muumuus, beaming at him—someone he didn’t have to measure up for.
“Your grandmother is giving you her boat.”
His jaw swerved toward Mom. She might as well have said Cape Canaveral would launch another Discovery with Henna as pilot. The forty-one foot Catalina he’d sailed a thousand times materialized in his mind.
“Your father and I thought it might give you a fresh start. You could run charters like you and Fish used to talk about when you were kids.”
That was before Fish fell in love with politics in tenth grade. He could almost see Fish’s perennially sunburned face. God, it had been a long three months without Fish.
His mind swerved back to Henna, the dots connecting. Henna held herself responsible for his going to jail. He’d tell her she didn’t owe him anything. But he knew she’d make him keep the Escape.
So what if he’d been caught with Henna and Leaf’s weed? He’d rather do the time in the Volusia County Correctional Facility than watch his grandparents go to jail. They were more like leftover flower children than drug dealers. And he loved them. His favorite childhood daydream had been imagining Mom sitting him down and saying, all serious, that she was sorry, but Henna and Leaf were his true parents. He’d sniffle, plow a hug into Henna’s soft middle, then race free and wild into the rest of his boyhood—the way he was meant to be raised.
As they passed the New Smyrna Beach City Limits sign, Mom glanced at him. “I don’t have to tell you that whatever you do in this town sticks to you for the rest of your life. Promise me you’ll never smoke pot again. Salvage what’s left of your reputation.”
He’d always been The Scream to Mom’s American Gothic. “Your reputation. I don’t care about mine.”
“How can you go to jail, have to report a record every time you apply for a job—”
“Leave it, Mom.”
“Is pot why you never got through college?”
“I never got through college because I hated everything but art classes.”
“Maybe you’re self-medicating for ADHD—”
“I can paint a canvas for six hours straight.”
“Or bi-polar. You’ve always been mercurial.”
“Yeah, I get it from you.”
“Funny.” She didn’t crack a smile as she wheeled the van into a marina parking space.
He could sure use a good smoke about now. Maybe it was time to quit weed. But it wouldn’t be because his mother extracted a promise. It was his own damn life.
Mom killed the engine.
The car popped and crackled in the silence.
“Cal.”
He gripped the armrest, poised to escape.
“We want to give you a shot at making something of your life.”
His failures throbbed in the car, the ones she’d spoken and the ones left unsaid—his part-time job at Stoney’s Ink Slab that fell short of Mom’s idea of a career, his want of religion. Did the list ever end?
“We moved your stuff from Henna’s place to the boat. She kept your studio set up, so you can still paint there whenever you want.”
He heard the but in her tone, the word that always followed her praise.
She dug the boat keys out of her purse and handed them to him. “Your father and I are on the title for now because you need us to cosign for a startup loan. But if you default, you’ll have to sell the boat to pay off the loan.”
The whiskey shot that he was twenty-five and couldn’t sign for his own loan burned all the way down. “Fair enough.” He swallowed. “How much is the loan?”
“We figured forty thousand would cover repairs and get your business off the ground.”
His head knocked against the headrest. He’d never had more than two hundred dollars in the bank at one time. And now he was getting a ninety-thousand-dollar boat and more money than his brain could compute. Henna had always been wacky generous, but his folks cosigning a loan—mammoth. Was it a last ditch effort to shove him into the sausage casing of society? Well, maybe he was willing this time.
“I drew up a business plan—not so different from the one I did for my dance studio. We meet with Aly tomorrow at three to find out if the loan has been approved and sign the papers.”
He sucked in a breath. “Aly?”
“Who else would we go to? Aly’s practically family. She’s a loan officer—”
He wrenched the door open. “Right.” He stepped out and turned back to face Mom. “Thanks for the lift. The offer of the loan.” He stared at her, gratitude and shame stopping up his words, dampening his eyes. “I’ll think about it.”
She opened her mouth to argue.
He held up a hand. “I said I’ll think about it.”
Her brows arched into triangles and her lips pressed into a flat line, but she turned the key in the ignition.
The minivan eased out of the parking space, his mother sitting ramrod straight.
He released the air crowding his chest.
He swung open the pier gate and breathed in the familiar fishy, gasoline scent of the marina. The shock of freedom left him feeling exposed.
Afternoon sun baked his shoulders as he walked, dissolving the weirdness, leaving only a buoy of hope. A charter business could give him a life. In the next heartbeat the physical craving to paint washed over him. He inhaled, imagining he could smell the Vaseline scent of his oils.
Selling his work, someday seeing his face on the cover of People magazine throbbed in his gut. But it was time to kill that dream. He’d always paint, but Aly needed a guy who owned yard tools, tires worth rotating; who carried AAA, Visa, and voter’s registration cards. His stinking driver’s license wouldn’t even be back in his wallet for another three months.
If he worked the Plan B his family had dealt him and succeeded at running a charter sailing business, he’d gain a shot at Aly.
The only shot he’d ever get.
Back Cover:
Cal walked out of jail and into a second chance at winning Aly with his grandma’s beater sailboat and a reclaimed dream of sailing charters.
Aly has the business smarts, strings to a startup loan, and heart he never should have broken. He’s got squat. Unless you count enough original art to stock a monster rummage sale and an affection for weed.
But he’d only ever loved Aly. That had to count for something. Aly needed a guy who owned yard tools, tires worth rotating, and a voter’s registration card. He’d be that guy or die trying.
Bio:
Ann Lee Miller earned a BA in creative writing from Ashland (OH) University and writes full-time in Phoenix, but left her heart in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, where she grew up. She loves speaking to young adults and guest lectures on writing at several Arizona colleges. When she isn’t writing or muddling through some crisis—real or imagined—you’ll find her hiking in the Superstition Mountains with her husband or meddling in her kids’ lives.
www.AnnLeeMiller.com
Blog: http://the-art-of-my-life.blogspot.com/
Twitter: @AnnLeeMiller
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AnnLeeMillerAuthor
Buy Links:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-My-Life-ebook/dp/B009BICC2G/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1347838604&sr=8-7&keywords=The+Art+of+My+Life
Barnes And Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-art-of-my-life-ann-lee-miller/1112910892?ean=2940015675597
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/230031
September 11, 2012
Becky Melby's "Contest of Wills"
Title: Contest of Wills, a novella in Cedar Creek Seasons Publisher: Barbour Publishing Cover blurb: “A Contest of Wills” by Becky Melby
Minutes after braving frigid waters in the annual Polar Bear Dip near Cedarburg, free-spirited, forty-something Willow Miles literally grabs the nearest man to solve her car trouble. Predictable Wilson Woodworth offers Willow and her children a ride—simple kindness that plunges both into uncharted waters. When a contest to win retail space in the coveted historic district draws the unlikely pair into some outlandish schemes, will they find that opposites attract?
“In Tune with You” by Rachael Phillips
Twenty-five-year-old Chesca Appel, part-time choirmaster and music box shop manager, plans a magnificent cantata to celebrate Easter. Then her pastor requests two unexpected additions: drama and children, neither of which she feels capable of handling. Enter Seth Amundsen, a tone-deaf football coach who loves both. He, the rowdy children, his alluring ex-fiancée, her vengeful mother, and a basketful of trouble all join to make a cantata more memorable than Chesca ever imagined.
“Silvery Summer” by Eileen Key
With art, culture, the scent of strawberries, summer-at-its-finest, and love in the air, newly retired Claire Parsons can’t resist wondering if she misjudged Cedarburg’s—and Eli Mueller’s—influence over her. They both broke her heart once. Does she dare let them work their magic on her at this stage of life? Will love come full circle in Cedarburg?
“Maybe Us” by Cynthia Ruchti
With college more than ten years behind her, Beth Schurmer can’t afford to invest in a love interest. . .plus her Yarn Shop and caring for her great-grandfather. Love has threatened to bankrupt her more times than she can count. It’s a good thing her neighbor, basketball star turned chocolatier Derrick Hofferman feels the same way. But as autumn comes to Cedarburg, Beth considers that wool of three strands might have merit after all.
1) How did this story come to you?
While sister Wisconsinite Cynthia Ruchti and I were brainstorming ideas for a new novella collection we discovered with both loved the history and tranquil beauty of Cedarburg. We were thrilled when Rachael Phillips and Eileen Key, our cohorts in A Door County Christmas, wanted to join us for another collection. We divided up the year and I was blessed to end up with the first three months of the calendar—a fun-filled time in this tourist town. Cedarburg hosts a Winter Festival that touts events like a bed race and a chili cook-off. Researching these none-too-serious competitions triggered the idea of creating two main characters, polar opposites in life philosophy and personality, competing against each other. During a visit to the Shops at Cedar Creek Settlement, a boutique mall set in an old stone woolen mill, I decided to have my Willow and Wilson compete for a rent-free year of shop space at the mall. When I started writing, I wasn’t sure who was going to win!
2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.
When the four of us began tossing around ideas via email, we agreed on two main things: we would each take a different season of the year, and the famous bridge (the last surviving covered bridge in Wisconsin) would be featured in each story. We combined our ideas, wrote our synopses, and were thrilled to receive an acceptance from Barbour editor, Rebecca Germany. After that, there was nothing to do but start writing and plan a research trip. Sadly, my mother passed away the week we’d planned to meet in Cedarburg. I wasn’t able to join the other three, but I was there in spirit and gleaned so much from their experience of seeing Cedarburg in June in its full bloom of flowers and tourists. We finished our novellas before our October deadline and now we’re proud to hold our new “baby” in our hands!
3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers. 1. I once won a black olive-eating contest.2. I had the joy of being present at the home birth of two of my grandsons.3. I can trace my genealogy back to Ethan Allen.
4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?
I’m currently working on a three-book series. Like my Lost Sanctuary series, these are contemporary stories that each contain a historical thread. I went back to the 1852, 1912, and the Roaring Twenties for Lost Sanctuary, and this time I’ll be writing about characters in the nineteen-forties, -fifties, and -seventies.
5) Parting comments?
Thank you for this opportunity! I’m looking forward to meeting some of your followers.
6) Where can fans find you on the internet?
www.beckymelby.com, Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/becky.f.melby, Twitter: @BeckyMelby
Register to win Becky Melby's "Contest of Wills"
We're happy to have Becky Melby with us today talking about her book, "Contest of Wills." To register to win a copy, leave Becky a comment with your email address and if you've not done so, place your email address in my feedburner box to the right to receive weekly emails about giveaways. To learn more about Becky and her book, read on!Title: Contest of Wills, a novella in Cedar Creek Seasons Publisher: Barbour Publishing
Cover blurb: “A Contest of Wills” by Becky Melby
Minutes after braving frigid waters in the annual Polar Bear Dip near Cedarburg, free-spirited, forty-something Willow Miles literally grabs the nearest man to solve her car trouble. Predictable Wilson Woodworth offers Willow and her children a ride—simple kindness that plunges both into uncharted waters. When a contest to win retail space in the coveted historic district draws the unlikely pair into some outlandish schemes, will they find that opposites attract?
“In Tune with You” by Rachael Phillips
Twenty-five-year-old Chesca Appel, part-time choirmaster and music box shop manager, plans a magnificent cantata to celebrate Easter. Then her pastor requests two unexpected additions: drama and children, neither of which she feels capable of handling. Enter Seth Amundsen, a tone-deaf football coach who loves both. He, the rowdy children, his alluring ex-fiancée, her vengeful mother, and a basketful of trouble all join to make a cantata more memorable than Chesca ever imagined.
“Silvery Summer” by Eileen Key
With art, culture, the scent of strawberries, summer-at-its-finest, and love in the air, newly retired Claire Parsons can’t resist wondering if she misjudged Cedarburg’s—and Eli Mueller’s—influence over her. They both broke her heart once. Does she dare let them work their magic on her at this stage of life? Will love come full circle in Cedarburg?
“Maybe Us” by Cynthia Ruchti
With college more than ten years behind her, Beth Schurmer can’t afford to invest in a love interest. . .plus her Yarn Shop and caring for her great-grandfather. Love has threatened to bankrupt her more times than she can count. It’s a good thing her neighbor, basketball star turned chocolatier Derrick Hofferman feels the same way. But as autumn comes to Cedarburg, Beth considers that wool of three strands might have merit after all.
1) How did this story come to you?
While sister Wisconsinite Cynthia Ruchti and I were brainstorming ideas for a new novella collection we discovered with both loved the history and tranquil beauty of Cedarburg. We were thrilled when Rachael Phillips and Eileen Key, our cohorts in A Door County Christmas, wanted to join us for another collection. We divided up the year and I was blessed to end up with the first three months of the calendar—a fun-filled time in this tourist town. Cedarburg hosts a Winter Festival that touts events like a bed race and a chili cook-off. Researching these none-too-serious competitions triggered the idea of creating two main characters, polar opposites in life philosophy and personality, competing against each other. During a visit to the Shops at Cedar Creek Settlement, a boutique mall set in an old stone woolen mill, I decided to have my Willow and Wilson compete for a rent-free year of shop space at the mall. When I started writing, I wasn’t sure who was going to win!
2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.
When the four of us began tossing around ideas via email, we agreed on two main things: we would each take a different season of the year, and the famous bridge (the last surviving covered bridge in Wisconsin) would be featured in each story. We combined our ideas, wrote our synopses, and were thrilled to receive an acceptance from Barbour editor, Rebecca Germany. After that, there was nothing to do but start writing and plan a research trip. Sadly, my mother passed away the week we’d planned to meet in Cedarburg. I wasn’t able to join the other three, but I was there in spirit and gleaned so much from their experience of seeing Cedarburg in June in its full bloom of flowers and tourists. We finished our novellas before our October deadline and now we’re proud to hold our new “baby” in our hands!
3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers. 1. I once won a black olive-eating contest.2. I had the joy of being present at the home birth of two of my grandsons.3. I can trace my genealogy back to Ethan Allen.
4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?
I’m currently working on a three-book series. Like my Lost Sanctuary series, these are contemporary stories that each contain a historical thread. I went back to the 1852, 1912, and the Roaring Twenties for Lost Sanctuary, and this time I’ll be writing about characters in the nineteen-forties, -fifties, and -seventies.
5) Parting comments?
Thank you for this opportunity! I’m looking forward to meeting some of your followers.
6) Where can fans find you on the internet?
www.beckymelby.com, Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/becky.f.melby, Twitter: @BeckyMelby
We're happy to have Becky Melby...
We're happy to have Becky Melby with us today talking about her book, "Contest of Wills." To register to win a copy, leave Becky a comment with your email address and if you've not done so, place your email address in my feedburner box to the right to receive weekly emails about giveaways. To learn more about Becky and her book, read on!Title: Contest of Wills, a novella in Cedar Creek Seasons Publisher: Barbour Publishing
Cover blurb: “A Contest of Wills” by Becky Melby
Minutes after braving frigid waters in the annual Polar Bear Dip near Cedarburg, free-spirited, forty-something Willow Miles literally grabs the nearest man to solve her car trouble. Predictable Wilson Woodworth offers Willow and her children a ride—simple kindness that plunges both into uncharted waters. When a contest to win retail space in the coveted historic district draws the unlikely pair into some outlandish schemes, will they find that opposites attract?
“In Tune with You” by Rachael Phillips
Twenty-five-year-old Chesca Appel, part-time choirmaster and music box shop manager, plans a magnificent cantata to celebrate Easter. Then her pastor requests two unexpected additions: drama and children, neither of which she feels capable of handling. Enter Seth Amundsen, a tone-deaf football coach who loves both. He, the rowdy children, his alluring ex-fiancée, her vengeful mother, and a basketful of trouble all join to make a cantata more memorable than Chesca ever imagined.
“Silvery Summer” by Eileen Key
With art, culture, the scent of strawberries, summer-at-its-finest, and love in the air, newly retired Claire Parsons can’t resist wondering if she misjudged Cedarburg’s—and Eli Mueller’s—influence over her. They both broke her heart once. Does she dare let them work their magic on her at this stage of life? Will love come full circle in Cedarburg?
“Maybe Us” by Cynthia Ruchti
With college more than ten years behind her, Beth Schurmer can’t afford to invest in a love interest. . .plus her Yarn Shop and caring for her great-grandfather. Love has threatened to bankrupt her more times than she can count. It’s a good thing her neighbor, basketball star turned chocolatier Derrick Hofferman feels the same way. But as autumn comes to Cedarburg, Beth considers that wool of three strands might have merit after all.
1) How did this story come to you?
While sister Wisconsinite Cynthia Ruchti and I were brainstorming ideas for a new novella collection we discovered with both loved the history and tranquil beauty of Cedarburg. We were thrilled when Rachael Phillips and Eileen Key, our cohorts in A Door County Christmas, wanted to join us for another collection. We divided up the year and I was blessed to end up with the first three months of the calendar—a fun-filled time in this tourist town. Cedarburg hosts a Winter Festival that touts events like a bed race and a chili cook-off. Researching these none-too-serious competitions triggered the idea of creating two main characters, polar opposites in life philosophy and personality, competing against each other. During a visit to the Shops at Cedar Creek Settlement, a boutique mall set in an old stone woolen mill, I decided to have my Willow and Wilson compete for a rent-free year of shop space at the mall. When I started writing, I wasn’t sure who was going to win!
2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.
When the four of us began tossing around ideas via email, we agreed on two main things: we would each take a different season of the year, and the famous bridge (the last surviving covered bridge in Wisconsin) would be featured in each story. We combined our ideas, wrote our synopses, and were thrilled to receive an acceptance from Barbour editor, Rebecca Germany. After that, there was nothing to do but start writing and plan a research trip. Sadly, my mother passed away the week we’d planned to meet in Cedarburg. I wasn’t able to join the other three, but I was there in spirit and gleaned so much from their experience of seeing Cedarburg in June in its full bloom of flowers and tourists. We finished our novellas before our October deadline and now we’re proud to hold our new “baby” in our hands!
3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers. 1. I once won a black olive-eating contest.2. I had the joy of being present at the home birth of two of my grandsons.3. I can trace my genealogy back to Ethan Allen.
4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?
I’m currently working on a three-book series. Like my Lost Sanctuary series, these are contemporary stories that each contain a historical thread. I went back to the 1852, 1912, and the Roaring Twenties for Lost Sanctuary, and this time I’ll be writing about characters in the nineteen-forties, -fifties, and -seventies.
5) Parting comments?
Thank you for this opportunity! I’m looking forward to meeting some of your followers.
6) Where can fans find you on the internet?
www.beckymelby.com, Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/becky.f.melby, Twitter: @BeckyMelby
September 3, 2012
Staci Stallings' "Deep in the Heart"
Title: Deep in the Heart Publisher: Spirit Light PublishingCover blurb: Just out of college and completely alone in the world, Maggie Montgomery has one shot left to save her life from an abyss of poverty and hopelessness. Clinging to the last shred of fuel and hope, she arrives at the mansion of Texas billionaire Conrad Ayers. Although Maggie is clearly not what Mr. Ayers and his wife have in mind for a nanny, they agree to hire her temporarily until they can find someone more appropriate to fill the position. However, Maggie's whole world is about to be up-ended by two way-over-scheduled children and one incredibly handsome hired hand. As she struggles to fit into a world she was never made to fit in, Maggie wonders if she can ever learn to become a perfect version of herself so she can keep the job, or is she doomed to always be searching for a life she can never quite grasp?
Keith Ayers despises his life. As the son of Texas billionaire Conrad Ayers and the fiance to a Senator from Texas' daughter, it looks great on the outside, but inside, he is dying. He would vastly prefer to manage and train his father's racehorses. However, everyone else thinks that is beneath him. He needs to get into industry and build on his father's success. Suffocating under the constrictions of his life, he meets Maggie who begins to teach him that wealth and power is not everything in this life. But can Keith defy the most powerful men in Texas to follow his heart?
1) How did this story come to you? Of all 31 full-length novels I've written so far, this one started with the least amount of information--a name and a "presence." I woke up one morning with the name Keith Anderson running through my mind, and I felt like I knew him--even though I didn't. Even after I really woke up, I couldn't shake the name or the presence, nor could I shake the feeling that he was real. So I went and Googled the name, and there he was, the exact guy I was picturing. All that day God gave me more and more of his story, and within a day, I was writing his and Maggie's story. Who could have guessed that following that little thin thread of instinct would lead to my first #1 Best Seller? God is so awesome!
2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.I had published a couple of books as Kindle ebooks prior to Aug. 2011, but that was when I decided to go big into Kindle. Deep in the Heart was one that had already gotten some good reviews when I gave it as a free ebook some years earlier, so I put that one as one of my first eleven novels on Kindle. Then in April 2012, after a cover-change, I was looking for my next book to do free days with, and this one just kept coming to me. So in defiance of some of the unwritten "rules" about how you're supposed to do free days, I put this one free in April, and it went to #1 on the Free Side for 36 hours. Then it turned around and went #1 in four categories and all the way up onto the Top 100 Paid for 2 weeks. Recently it was chosen as a 100 Books under $3.99 by Amazon and has been doing gangbusters since then!3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.First, I love to snowboard and skateboard... on the Wii. I'm a chicken, and I get hurt really easy. So I love that I can try kick-flips and double barrel rolls, and if my Mii crashes, I can get up and go again--no pain! Second, I hate cooking. It must be a generational glitch or something. But the number one comment I get when I cook is, "What IS this?" Followed closely by, "Yech! Can I have something else?" (Oh, well, we can't be talented at everything!) Third, my house is a disaster. :) I think it's that generational curse again, but despite my best intentions, my idea of cleaning is moving stacks from the top of the desk to the floor. If a clean desk is the sign of a clean mind... Don't ask!
4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?I just had a third title go free in August, To Protect & Serve. It and its sequel, White Knight, are doing very well, and I'm getting some great feedback on both of those. The third in that trilogy will come out in November, and I already have readers beating down my door to get too it. It's called "For Real," and the reviewer that called "Deep in the Heart" "the best Christian book I've ever read," said that "For Real" was even better! So great stuff for my readers I hope!
5) Parting comments?Thanks for having me, K. Dawn! You have totally been a great and blessed friend on this writing journey, and I so, so appreciate your dedication to letting people know about the world of Christian fiction!
6) Where can fans find you on the internet?My Christian living blog is at: http://spiritlightbooks.wordpress.com and my blog with first chapters, excerpts, and reviews of all of my romance novels is at: http://ebookromancestories.com Come over and visit. You'll feel better for the experience!
Deep in the Heart is only $2.99 on Kindle for the month of September! Get your copy today!
Here's the link: http://ow.ly/doEuZ or click on the cover below.
Register to win Staci Stallings' "Deep in the Heart"
We're happy to have Staci Stallings with us today talking about her book, "Deep in the Heart." To register to win a copy, leave Staci a comment with your email address and if you've not done so, place your email address in my feedburner box to the right to receive weekly emails about giveaways. To learn more about Staci and her book, read on!
Title: Deep in the HeartPublisher: Spirit Light PublishingCover blurb: Just out of college and completely alone in the world, Maggie Montgomery has one shot left to save her life from an abyss of poverty and hopelessness. Clinging to the last shred of fuel and hope, she arrives at the mansion of Texas billionaire Conrad Ayers. Although Maggie is clearly not what Mr. Ayers and his wife have in mind for a nanny, they agree to hire her temporarily until they can find someone more appropriate to fill the position. However, Maggie's whole world is about to be up-ended by two way-over-scheduled children and one incredibly handsome hired hand. As she struggles to fit into a world she was never made to fit in, Maggie wonders if she can ever learn to become a perfect version of herself so she can keep the job, or is she doomed to always be searching for a life she can never quite grasp?
Keith Ayers despises his life. As the son of Texas billionaire Conrad Ayers and the fiance to a Senator from Texas' daughter, it looks great on the outside, but inside, he is dying. He would vastly prefer to manage and train his father's racehorses. However, everyone else thinks that is beneath him. He needs to get into industry and build on his father's success. Suffocating under the constrictions of his life, he meets Maggie who begins to teach him that wealth and power is not everything in this life. But can Keith defy the most powerful men in Texas to follow his heart?
1) How did this story come to you? Of all 31 full-length novels I've written so far, this one started with the least amount of information--a name and a "presence." I woke up one morning with the name Keith Anderson running through my mind, and I felt like I knew him--even though I didn't. Even after I really woke up, I couldn't shake the name or the presence, nor could I shake the feeling that he was real. So I went and Googled the name, and there he was, the exact guy I was picturing. All that day God gave me more and more of his story, and within a day, I was writing his and Maggie's story. Who could have guessed that following that little thin thread of instinct would lead to my first #1 Best Seller? God is so awesome!
2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.I had published a couple of books as Kindle ebooks prior to Aug. 2011, but that was when I decided to go big into Kindle. Deep in the Heart was one that had already gotten some good reviews when I gave it as a free ebook some years earlier, so I put that one as one of my first eleven novels on Kindle. Then in April 2012, after a cover-change, I was looking for my next book to do free days with, and this one just kept coming to me. So in defiance of some of the unwritten "rules" about how you're supposed to do free days, I put this one free in April, and it went to #1 on the Free Side for 36 hours. Then it turned around and went #1 in four categories and all the way up onto the Top 100 Paid for 2 weeks. Recently it was chosen as a 100 Books under $3.99 by Amazon and has been doing gangbusters since then!
3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.First, I love to snowboard and skateboard... on the Wii. I'm a chicken, and I get hurt really easy. So I love that I can try kick-flips and double barrel rolls, and if my Mii crashes, I can get up and go again--no pain! Second, I hate cooking. It must be a generational glitch or something. But the number one comment I get when I cook is, "What IS this?" Followed closely by, "Yech! Can I have something else?" (Oh, well, we can't be talented at everything!) Third, my house is a disaster. :) I think it's that generational curse again, but despite my best intentions, my idea of cleaning is moving stacks from the top of the desk to the floor. If a clean desk is the sign of a clean mind... Don't ask!
4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?I just had a third title go free in August, To Protect & Serve. It and its sequel, White Knight, are doing very well, and I'm getting some great feedback on both of those. The third in that trilogy will come out in November, and I already have readers beating down my door to get too it. It's called "For Real," and the reviewer that called "Deep in the Heart" "the best Christian book I've ever read," said that "For Real" was even better! So great stuff for my readers I hope!
5) Parting comments?Thanks for having me, K. Dawn! You have totally been a great and blessed friend on this writing journey, and I so, so appreciate your dedication to letting people know about the world of Christian fiction!
6) Where can fans find you on the internet?My Christian living blog is at: http://spiritlightbooks.wordpress.com and my blog with first chapters, excerpts, and reviews of all of my romance novels is at: http://ebookromancestories.com Come over and visit. You'll feel better for the experience!
Deep in the Heart is only $2.99 on Kindle for the month of September! Get your copy today!
Here's the link: http://ow.ly/doEuZ or click on the cover below.
