Morgan L. Busse's Blog, page 14

Fairy Tale Collection Writing Contest and Cover Reveal

Do you love fairytales? Ever wanted to try your hand at writing one? Here is a great opportunity to get creative and come up with your own retelling of the Beauty and the Beast fairytale.

Rooglewood Press is holding their second fairytale novella collection contest and I am happy to be part of their cover reveal:

Rooglewood Press is delighted to introduce their second fairy tale novella contest—

Five Enchanted Roses

a collection of “Beauty and the Beast” stories

The challenge is to write a retelling of the beloved fairy tale in any genre or setting you like. Make certain your story is recognizably “Beauty and the Beast,” but have fun with it as well. Make it yours!

Rooglewood Press will be selecting five winners to be published in the Five Enchanted Roses collection, which will be packaged up with the gorgeous cover you see displayed here. Perhaps your name will be one of the five displayed on this cover?

All the contest rules and information (how to enter, story details, deadline etc.) may be found on the Rooglewood Press website. Just click HERE and you will go right to the page.

Rooglewood Press’s first collection, Five Glass Slippers, is available for pre-order now and will be released on June 14. Do grab yourself a copy and see what these talented writers have done with the timeless “Cinderella” tale!

 

Cover Illustration Credit:

This cover illustration was rendered by Julia Popova, “ForestGirl.” You can find out more about this gifted artist on her website: www.forestgirl.ru

Blog Hop: The Seahorse Legacy

Hi everyone! Today I have the pleasure of participating in The Seahorse Legacy blog hop. The Seahorse Legacy is the third book in the Eyes of E’veria series, but it is the first book in a mini series within the series.

Let me say this: I really enjoyed this book. It is a pirate fantasy with a young lady knight thrown in. Curious? Just read my review below and don’t forget to enter both raffles for a chance to win books and pirate prizes!

Review:

Cazien is the captain of the Seahorse Pirates and holder of his family’s Legacy, a legacy that gives him special abilities linked to the sea and binds him to a secret oath, one that chose his bride for him hundreds of years before he was born. Of course, being a pirate, he doesn’t like to be told what to do, or in this case, who to marry.

Eirelle is the first woman to ever be knighted in Everia, an honor she has desired ever since she was a child. But little does she know her allegiance is owed to another country, one bound by marriage: her marriage.

Everything is at stake for Cazien. He must woo and wed Eirelle (or just grab her and run) in order to fulfill his family’s oath. If he doesn’t wed her, not only will he lose his abilities through the seahorse legacy, the people of his island country will be captured and all of Everia will be at risk.

But how do you get a pirate to do what he doesn’t want to do?

I loved The Seahorse Legacy. I also loved Serena’s first two books (check out my reviews here: The Ryn and The Remedy), but I have to say I liked this one a little more. What can I say? I’m more of a pirate lover than a knight lover :). Both Cazien and Erielle are mixed characters: good, but flawed. And I liked that.

I also loved the connection Cazien has with the sea. As a sea-loving woman, I would love to have his abilities, or to even sail on his ship.

This is the first book in a two book series, so it does end without everything resolved. But that only makes me want the next book now!

***

Here are the links to The Seahorse Legacy:

Amazon

Goodreads

And don’t forget to enter both raffles for a chance to win The Seahorse Legacy and other prizes!

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Following God is not a Game

I like games: board games, video games, outside games, indoor games, you name it :) But I play games, they are not my life. They do not dictate my life, they do not help me make choices. They are there when I need a break or want to do an activity with someone. I think everyone would agree games are there to be played, but then you walk away and go back to living life.

I think people treat their walk with God the same way. They pull out their Bible once in a while, attend church every couple weeks, and pray when something bad happens. God’s Word is a list of things that—if you feel inclined—you can follow. But if they gets in the way of your happiness or what you want to do right now, then you can toss them out.

My friends, following God is not a game. You are all in or you are all out. Now that doesn’t mean you don’t slip up, that you never sin again. When we walk, there are moments we trip and stumble. But we don’t stay on the ground. We don’t turn around. We get back up and take more steps, each step drawing us closer to Christ-likeness.

There is a reason Jesus repeatedly told His followers to take up their cross and follow Him. To not look back. To be hot, not lukewarm. Following God is hard. It means denying yourself, even dying to yourself. It means putting His words above everything else in your life. It means actually doing what He says, not just when it suits you.

There have been times in my own life that I haven’t wanted to go on. The grass looks greener on the other side of the fence. Why should I suffer if I don’t have to? Other Christians are doing their own thing and still following God. Why can’t I?

Here’s the thing. Are they really following God? When a person runs a marathon, they don’t go off in their own direction, they go the way of the race or else they aren’t really in the race. Same way with following God. He is going one direction. Are you going the same way? Or your own way?

Following God is not a game, it is a life commitment. How about you? Are you tempted to just follow God when it’s easy? How do you overcome that and keep on going?

 

 

 

A Time to Die Cover Reveal

What if you only had one year left to live? How would you spend it? That is the question behind Nadine Brandes’ debut novel A Time to Die. I don’t know about you guys, but that’s a great premise for what looks to be a great book! So without further ado, here is the cover…

How would you live if you knew the day you’d die? 



Parvin Blackwater believes she has wasted her life. At only seventeen, she has one year left according to the Clock by her bedside. In a last-ditch effort to make a difference, she tries to rescue Radicals from the government’s crooked justice system. But when the authorities find out about her illegal activity, they cast her through the Wall — her people’s death sentence. What she finds on the other side about the world, about eternity, and about herself changes Parvin forever and might just save her people. But her clock is running out.

***

About the Author: Nadine Brandes is an adventurer, fusing authentic faith with bold imagination. She writes stories about brave living, finding purpose, and other worlds soaked in imagination. Her debut dystopian novel, A Time to Die, releases Fall 2014 from Marcher Lord Press. When Nadine’s not taste-testing a new chai or editing fantasy novels, she is out pursuing adventures. She currently lives in Idaho with her husband.

Where to find Nadine online:

Website: http://nadinebrandes.com

Facebook: http://facebook.com/nadinebrandesauthor

Goodreads: http://goodreads.com/nadinebrandes

Twitter: http://twitter/nadinebrandes

 

And don’t forget to add A Time to Die to your Goodreads tbr list! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21795840-a-time-to-die

My First Rejection

I am a stubborn woman (I think my husband just said amen to that!). I figure out my goal and throw myself at it. I strategize, plan every minute detail, and calculate my odds at achieving that which I want most. I subconsciously live by the belief that if I just work hard enough at it, I can have it.

But sometimes what I want and what God wants for me are two different things.

Sometimes He says wait.

I just received my first book rejection two weeks ago. Now at first that would seem like a bummer. No one likes to be rejected. However, this person had a lot of nice things to say about my manuscript. As a writer, I needed to hear that. But she let me know, in the end, that the Christian book market (at this point) is not looking for a book like mine.

Anything else I could work with. If my manuscript needed more work, I could do that. Better writing, a thorough grammar check, a stronger main character: those are things I have control over. But the market? No matter how hard I work, I cannot change the market.

I stared at the email a couple more times, elated that someone liked my work and yet disheartened about the state of the market. Why write then? I thought. Then God pointed out two things:

He is not confined by the market. He can do what He wants when He wants. If God wants my book out there, then He has the power to do it (that if is a scary word).

And…

Only He can make it happen. I can write the best book I can, but only God can bring together the market and the people to make it happen. That is out of my hands.  Believe me, the stubborn side of me wants to. But I can’t.

So what do I do now? I write and wait on Him. Waiting is not easy, but it produces patience and self control. Instead of barreling on ahead with my own agenda, I am learning to quiet myself and wait for God to move. That might be months or it might be years. I might not see it in my lifetime. But I believe that I am supposed to write. So therefore I will continue down the path God has shown me and trust Him with the ending to my own life story.

***

I wrote that post back in September 2010. Two years later I published my first book, Daughter of Light, with Marcher Lord Press. The next year Daughter of Light finaled in many prestigious awards. Along with that I published the second book in the series, Son of Truth. I am now finishing the last bit of rewrites on Heir of Hope, the third and final book in the Follower of the Word series.

God has done so much with my writing since I received my first rejection, above and beyond what I ever imagined! Sometimes I need to remind myself that I have no idea what God is going to do, but to just trust. Writing is hard, very hard, and I want to know that I’m not wasting my time. But the future is not mine to know.

I want to encourage those of you who are writing to keep on writing. Place your dreams and stories before God. I don’t know what He’s going to do with them, but when they are done for Him, they won’t be done in vain, even if it touches one soul. In the end, it is worth it.

For Love or Money?

A friend of mine posted a question on Facebook: “Would you rather do what you love and barely make ends meet or do what you tolerate for abundance?”

Good question. I think most people would say they would rather do what they love. After all, who wants to be chained to a mundane job day after day for forty years if they had a chance to do what they love?

The problem is, I think people view the whole “do what you love and be poor” idea with rose-tinted glasses. Sure, they would live in a smaller house and drive a cheaper car if they could just do what they wanted. However, sometimes being poor doesn’t mean having less, it means not having at all.

Dan and I are both currently doing what we love and what we believe we have been called to do. Dan is a pastor and I am a writer. We wouldn’t trade what we do for the world. But love for our work is not always enough to sustain us:

-When medical bills come in.

-When your doctor says you need a procedure done and the insurance doesn’t cover it.

-When a family member is facing death and you can’t go to be with them because you can’t afford the plane ticket.

-When the car breaks down and you don’t know how you’re going to fix it.

-When you wonder how you’re going to feed your family.

The reality is there are times when you get tired of scraping by and wondering how you are going to provide for your family every month. Sometimes the stress out weighs the love. That’s when love is not enough to sustain you.

So how do we do it?

Honestly? I cry. I pray. And God meets me where I am. He has always taken care of us. We have never went hungry, never went without a roof over our heads. Each and every need He has provided for. And I have learned to be content with what I have in the process.

Love alone doesn’t keep us going. I’m not sure if it could keep anyone going in the long run. But doing what we love and placing our love in God’s hands, trusting Him to take care of us, that is what helps us during the rough patches.

How about you? Would you rather do what you love or be secure financially even if that meant doing something you don’t necessarily enjoy?

 

True Beauty

This is a post I wrote a couple years ago shortly after I had the twins. I’m revisiting this because lately I’ve been struggling with my outer appearance (yes, I actually do sometimes) and it helped to reread something I wrote years ago. Hopefully you will find it encouraging too.

If your morning is anything like mine, you do the following: look into a mirror, evaluate the work that needs to be done and start pulling out the necessary equipment needed to transform the ugly duckling into a beautiful swan. And there’s nothing wrong with that (trust me, after being up all night with twins, I would scare people by the way I look in the morning). But a thought hit me the other day that I would like to share with you.

How many of us wish we could change one part of the way we look? Perhaps it’s your hair, your legs, your face, fill in the blank… Unless you’re really rich and can afford plastic surgery, the best makeup, and constant visits to the beauty salon, you’re stuck with what you were born with (and for those of us with short legs, science has yet to figure out how to make them longer).

But there is a part of you that you can change. It’s what’s inside of you. God calls it “unfading beauty”. Eventually your outer body is going to age. You can color your hair, but someday it will be white. You can wear color contacts to get the eye color you always wanted, but someday those eyes will be hidden behind a pair of glasses or whiten with cataracts. You use every cream that promises to forestall wrinkles, but eventually they catch up. And your weight will change, especially if you have children (trust me, I know; been there, done that). Our bodies are fading beauties. Like flowers, we bloom. But then the petals droop and eventually fall off.

So since we really can’t change what we look like on the outside, we should start investing in that which we can change: our inside. Any woman can do it. It doesn’t require a lot of money. Just time with God, time in the Bible, and a change in our perspective of what true beauty is.

So what is this true beauty that every woman can possess? God calls it a “gentle and quiet spirit” which is so precious to Him. That’s right, this kind of spirit is precious to God. And it’s available to every woman, whether she is freckly, has frizzy hair, or weighs more than she did in high school. And it will never fade. When your outer body starts to succumb to the ravages of time, you can control what your insides look like. In fact, you can posses it now.

Jesus is the prime example of this kind of beauty. The Bible says “there was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him.” (Isaiah 53:2b NLT). Yet as we read the gospels, Jesus is one of the most beautiful people who walked the earth. His “gentle and quiet” spirit shone through to the point that people ceased to see his physical appearance and saw his true beauty within. He served others selflessly, healed those no one else would come near, and loved the world to the point of dying for it.

I don’t know about you, but that’s the kind of beauty I want. I want a gentle spirit (this word can also be translated “meek” which means power under control and I don’t know anyone who has more power than Jesus, yet his was always under control). I want a quiet spirit (this does not mean never speak; rather it means in all situations, we are quiet before God and allow Him to direct the way we respond to the situation). I want to serve selflessly, love unconditionally, and let kindness seep out of my pores. This is the kind of beauty that will never fade. This is the kind of beauty you can possess now.

Now don’t start throwing out your curling iron or mascara. It’s okay to make yourself look nice (I love to look nice for my husband). But consider how much time you are investing in your outer appearance and your inner self. One is going to fade, nothing can really stop that. But the other will last until the day you die. Not everyone can be a super model, but every woman has the opportunity to be the most beautiful woman on the inside. It’s not hard to realize which one is worth investing in more, is it?

“You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God.” 1 Peter 3:4 (NLT)

My Writing Process

A couple days ago I was invited by my friend Ralene Burke to blog about my writing process and what I’m working on. So I said sure, why not? I’m always curious about what my favorite authors are up to and I thought you might be the same. So here we go!

1) What am I working on?

If you don’t follow my Facebook page or my twitter, then you haven’t heard the news yet: I finally finished the rough draft for Heir of Hope, the final book in the Follower of the Word series. Wahoo! Yippee! *cue music and dancing*

I’ve been working on this book for almost a year and let me tell you, this is going to be one big book. It finished at 48 chapters (not including the epilogue) and at least 150,000 words (your average book is usually 80,000).

So what am I working on now? My rough drafts are usually the bulk of the story. In other words, I don’t do a lot of rewrites. The story is here, it just needs a bit of clean up. So that’s what I’m working on right now: I’m checking the pacing and continuity, adding description if it needs it, and anything else I find. I should be done in a month and then off it goes to my beta readers, then to my editor. Whew!

I don’t  have a release date yet, but as soon as I do, all of you will be the first to know ;)

 

2) How does my work differ from others in its genre?

I write fantasy, but my fantasy lacks the usual creatures and races that other fantasies contain: like elves, dragons, orcs, etc… Instead, in my world I focus on people who are born with special gifts and abilities. I ask myself why would people possess such gifts, like the ability to see inside the soul (Daughter of Light), and how would they use this power? What choices would they make?

My books are not YA (young adult) which also sets them apart from others in my genre. I write about deep, dark stuff, but not with all the graphic details. And my characters are adults, with adult issues, ideas, and desires.

My work has been compared to Terry Brooks’ Shannara series and Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth series.

 

3) Why do I write what I do?

A lot of authors answer this question differently. Some absolutely love writing and can’t imagine doing anything else. Some write to tell a story, others write to explore issues.

I originally wrote because I had this story inside me. But as the years passed and the rejections came, I needed more of a reason. I didn’t know if I would ever publish this series, but I still wanted to write it. I wanted to leave this series as a legacy to my children. The Follower of the Word series is a reflection of my own faith: my fears, my doubts, and my exploration of what does it mean to really follow God?

I know any story I write will have bits of me inside it. And will probably have some element of the fantastic, too. That is who I am: a mixture of questions, faith, and imagination. That is what I write. That is probably what I will always write.

 

4) How does my writing process work?

I’ve went into deeper detail about my writing process (How I write a novel), but in a nutshell, here it is:

~I plot months to years in advance before writing a novel.

~Storyboard my book a couple days before I start writing (this is the outline I follow).

~Write rough draft (this takes the longest amount of time). I try to write 500+ words a day. Recently I was able to move that number up to 3,000 words a day, but that is hard to sustain with a family that wants dinner, laundry done, and mommy around :)

~Rewrite and edit (I’m fast at this).

~I have beta readers read the manuscript and give me their feedback.

~Work in any feedback.

~Turn manuscript in to my editor.

Of course, that’s only the beginning. Then there are all the edits from my editor, proofs, etc… before I finally hold the book in my hands. But as far as my own process, this is how I write my books.

***

 Thanks, Ralene, for inviting me to be a part of this blog hop. If you are looking for a freelance editor or advice on marketing, look her up (www.raleneburke.com).

And in celebration of finishing Heir of Hope, here is the blurb I worked up for the back cover:

The great city of Thyra has fallen and shadows spread across the country of Kerre. Rowen Mar, the last Truthsayer, is taken before the Shadonae. But the Shadonae are not who she thought they were. And now they want to claim her as their own.

Caleb Tala, former assassin and prince of Temanin, is now a Guardian of mankind. Exiled from his country, Caleb wanders the Great Desert in search of his mother’s past. Along with him are Captain Lore Palancar and Nierne, Thyrian scribe.

These are the last days of the Eldaran race. Rowen and Caleb must find their way along the dark path set before them by their ancestors: to heal what was wounded and love where hatred grows. But the road is narrow and the darkness beckons. If either of them fails, all will be lost…

And the human race will be no more.

To find out more about the Follower of the Word series, check out Daughter of Light, followed by Son of Truth.

A Spring in Your Step Blog Hop Winner and Cover Reveal

Thank you everyone who stopped by and entered my giveaway for the Spring in Your Step Blog Hop. And now for the winner…

Drum roll please…

Cindy ! Congrats on winning the Amazon gift card! I will be sending you an email :)

And now for the cover reveal for Forever Layla by Melissa Turner Lee:

What if the woman you envied most is the person you are destined to become?

In 1994, high school senior David Foster was the lackey and soundboard geek for his best friend’s grunge band. During spring break, the band lands a dream gig playing at a motel in Myrtle Beach, SC. David expected all the girls to ogle the guys on stage, but when a beautiful blond “Bond Girl” approaches him and calls him by name, he’s shocked to find out she knows more about him than a stranger should.

She even knows about his notebooks and his visions of time travel.

What she thought was a quick time-travel-sightseeing trip takes a surprising turn when she meets the young adult version of the man she’d heard stories about as a child. His fairy-tale romance with the woman he’d loved, Layla, inspired her to accept nothing less than a love just as strong…but hopefully not as tragic. When she won’t tell the younger version of him her name, he calls her Layla–and the world as she knows it changes forever.

***

To add Forever Layla to your Goodreads list, click here.

And to enter the giveaway for an advance copy of Forever Layla, enter here: Rafflecopter Giveaway

Melissa Turner Lee holds a BA in Communications with a concentration in Journalism from the University of South Carolina. She has studied fiction writing since 2008, attending various writing conferences and workshops, along with guidance from professional writing coaches. She resides in Spartanburg, SC with her husband and 3 sons.

Blog | facebook.com/MelissaTurnerLee | @melissatlee1975

A Spring in Your Step Blog Hop

Hi! Welcome to the Spring in Your Step Blog Hop. As part of this blog hop I will be giving away a $10 Amazon gift card (details down below)

So who is ready for spring to come? Tired of the snow and cold weather? What is your favorite part of spring?

I love flowers and gardens. The moment I don’t have to worry about frost, I’m at my local nursery picking out plants. This year I’m even more excited because we just moved into a new house with built in flower boxes, many flower beds, and a raised garden spot. So excited!

Along with gardening, I also love to bike. In my hometown we have a paved trail that runs the entire town. This is especially nice since I bike with my kids. There is nothing like a warm day with the wind in your face, racing along with your kids and enjoying the scenery.

So how about you? What do you look forward to the most in the spring? Getting outside? Barbequing? Planting flowers? Share in the comments. I would love to know!

Now for my giveaway for a $10 Amazon gift card: Rafflecopter Giveaway

And don’t forget to check out the rest of blogs along this hop for more gift cards, swag, and other prizes! Click here