Susan Lower's Blog, page 12

Book Discount: Limited Time Only

So much has happened in the past few weeks.

Today is my birthday.

I’m turning 37! (Shhh.. don’t tell my kids. They still think I’m 29. lol)

Last week my dad turned 70!!

and my husband and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary.

Time to celebrate!

For a limited time, you can purchase the eBook version of my novel Forgotten Reins for just $3.75 on Amazon!!

 

If you already purchased it, then consider giving it as a gift to a friend!

Please help me celebrate and share this!!

Hurry, this price will only last until midnight Sunday, June 7th!

 

 

 

Unbridled: Cast of Characters

Today I want to introduce you to the cast of characters in Unbridled.

Since we’re still in the A-Z challenge and C is for Characters, it only feels fitting to do this in alphabetical order:

You’ve already met Cade from a previous post, but here he is again. He’s just so handsome isn’t he?

 

and then there is Jenny.

sweet pair right?

But then there’s D.J. I know you weren’t expecting him and he’s a character that you don’t expect, nor is his role in this story.

 

 

 

photo compliments via creative commons U.S. Army Wounded Warrior Sports Program

And the our rescue horse in this story, that you met in a previous post, Apple Jack.

Since the Silver Wind books are set on a equine rescue, each book has a rescue horse as one the “main characters” that influence the story. Because of this role and for the love of horses, when you purchase any of the Silver Wind books, a portion of the proceeds from my sales is donated to a local equine rescue.

Next week, we’ll move onto the letter D.  Any ideas what it will be?

If you’ve missed any of the previous post you can catch up here:

A is for Apple Jack

B is for Book Cover

 

Book Cover Ideas for Unbridled

Working my way to the next letter of the A-Z Challenge:

B is for Book Cover

I don’t usually start thinking of book covers this early out. However, as a visual person I love using photos to inspire me while I’m writing. I’ve started creating pinterest boards for each of my novel projects.

I found this stock photo that I really think fits Jenny’s character perfectly.

Since you all voted and selected Forgotten Rein’s cover with Sarah and a horse on the cover I’m wondering if this photo alone would be good for the cover. However, with a title of UNBRIDLED I almost feel like it’s missing the horses head or that “freedom” feeling that the title implies.

As we know from meeting Cade, he’s an ex-rodeo bronc rider,o I tried putting these two together:

Unbridled Book Cover Option 1

Yet, Cade does ride a motorcycle. After all that’s how he and Jenny “run into” each other.  So I put this together:

Unbridled Book Cover Option 2

As you can see these are just the rough idea layouts of the book cover design. I’ve still got a little ways to go yet before the novel itself is ready to send out to the editor and all you beta readers.

But it’s inspiring and sometimes fun to take a break from writing and play with the visual side of creating a book.

I’d love to hear you’re feed back on these book cover design ideas. Please do share and include your thoughts in the comment section.

Next week I’ve got the Cast of Unbridled’s characters to introduce you to.

 

Art of Work :Book Review

Having just finished Jeff Goin’s new book The Art of Work, I wanted to share with you the inspiration I received from this book.

 

 

When Jeff put this book out to his following for free (you had to pay shipping and handling) I was tempted, but then as a frequent book reviewer for Thomas Nelson I was offered a review copy. I just finished reading it. (Remember, I said I’m a little behind these days. lol)

I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had read other books by Jeff on writing and so to read a book that was filled with inspirational stories of people finding their true callings in life through their passions riveted me to the pages. It was like reading a Chicken Soup for The Soul book filled with real life examples of doing what you love and being filled with purpose and joy because you’re doing what you have always been meant to do.

I’ve never been a big “self help” kind of book reader and when I do I’m that person who needs specific directions. That was the only disappointing thing I found in this book. While filled with beautiful stories of going from lost and broken to joy and purpose filled it didn’t give any direction.

That’s because there’s a work book and a course Jeff has for you to purchase in addition to the book. If I had to purchase this book, I would have been disappointed as to not have got the answer to what I was looking for: How do you pinpoint your passions to discover your true calling?

I guess that’s why you have to get the workbook.

However, if your looking for just that first step of wondering if there is more to life than where you are now, then I recommend reading this book.

Having grown up always doing what was expected of me instead of what my heart desired, I can relate to what you may be feeling right now. That tug in your heart, that excitement that never really goes away…. It’s part of who you are and who you’re supposed to be.

What I appreciate most about The Art of Work is that it tells us that our work is never finished and sometimes it’s not supposed to be. We each have this little piece that is meant to be carried on by another person to take it further to another and another until it is accomplished in the time is was meant to happen.

 

 

 

Apple Jack: the Stallion in Unbridled

I’ve recently accepted the A-Z blogging challenge from one of my critique partners and dear friend. The more I’ve been thinking of this challenge the more fun I’m thinking it’s just the motivation I need to finish the next book of the Silver Wind Trilogy.

To start off the challenge we start with the first letter of the alphabet. The letter A.

So A is for Apple Jack.

(Photo compliments of Creative Commons via Flickr)

As I’m writing and revising the second book of the Silver Wind Trilogy, I realized how important the horses in the books were. They play just as if not more of a role then the main characters themselves to help tell the stories.

Several weeks ago, you read the story of Mandy and her adopted rescue horse Prince Fox. While the horse in Forgotten Reins was a fictional horse inspired by the true story of a rescue horse, I wanted to introduce you to the horse in the second book of the Silver Wind Trilogy, Unbridled.

We met “Apple” as Jenny likes to call him, in the first book, when Josh brought him to the rescue along with another horse.

Apple Jack is buckskin stallion.

I know most of you have heard of buckskin clothing. If you read any historical fiction with cowboy and Indian’s they wear a lot of buckskin. That comes from a deer, not a horse.

In this case, buckskin refers to the color of the horse. It’s a gray/ yellowish color and they always have a dark line down their back.

Now Apple Jack is a stallion, but he’s also wild.

What you don’t know about this horse is where he comes from. Josh doesn’t exactly tell Sarah where he found him. If you know, feel free to share what Josh tells Sarah when he brings Apple to Silver Wind in the comments below.

Beyond that short scene, Apple isn’t part of Sarah’s story.

But this buckskin stallion plays a large part in Jenny’s.

I love this picture of this buckskin horse above. It’s the eyes I think that draw you to this horse. There’s a lot of sadness.

Jenny named this horse “Apple” because the only thing he’ll eat is apples, and even then he won’t take them from her hand, just from inside his feeder.

When Cade comes along, he feels “Apple” isn’t really a good name for a stallion and dubs the buckskin “Apple Jack” because “Jack” just sounds so much more masculine to him. He also once had a horse named Jack, but he never tells that to Jenny.

If you know much about horses, then you’d also know that a “Jack” is a male donkey and “Jenny” is  a female. Just something quirky on my end, like in Forgotten Reins when you see that Sarah’s rescue horse is named Bonnie and Micheal’s horse is named Clyde. (I know … the things we writers come up with.)

So the more you get to know Apple Jack in this story, the more you’ll find out three things.

1. Apple Jack doesn’t like women

2. Apple Jack is wild and ran free reign until he came to the rescue.

3. Apple Jack has a sweet spot. Can you guess what it is?

As we’re moving forward in this challenge and going behind the scenes of Unbridled, feel free to post questions in the comments below you’d like to know about the characters, the writing process, or other novel ideas. There is so much that goes into a novel that I forget you all don’t always get to see or know after the novel is finished.

 

 

From the Heart of A Young Mother

Motherhood is a universal language.

If there is one thing that most women can relate to, it’s the trials and tribulation of part of this journey we take through being a woman. So of us choose to take that journey in different ways and at different stages in our lives.

But one thing always remains constant: LOVE

A mother’s love is unfailing. Oh, we get mad at our children, we may grieve our children, or even become separated from them, but a mother always carries love in her heart for her children.

Twelve years ago, my husband and I moved to a city just outside of Detroit, Michigan. My husband took on a job as a teacher in an inner city school in Detroit. Not only that, it was an “alternative” school. aka “that’s where the bad kids go.”

My husband never saw those kids as “bad” only “misunderstood.” I could see why as I look back on those years of him working there. It was just months after Teach For America sent us there in hopes of making a difference in these young teenagers’ lives. Only at the time I didn’t realize it was us that would be taught by these young people.

A month after our move, we welcomed our first child into this world. Our daughter Bella. During those three years of my husband teaching in Detroit, we couldn’t afford to have more than one car. So we shared, and on many days between doctor appointments for our baby, I always ended up at the school at the end of the day.

Our baby girl learned to walk down the halls of that alternative school. When boys were fighting the halls would freeze when my baby held onto the wall and made her way from one end to the other.

They respected my baby. Though they had trashed vehicles and fought with each other, they froze and let my baby go by. They watched out for her, as if she were their own. They had their own.

Many of the teenagers in that school had more babies than I did.

The girls, while still interested in boys with hot cars, would come and readily give suggestions and advice for things concerning my baby. We had a connection that only parents, only mothers could make.

My baby was always safe in those halls, even though I never was far out of reach from her.

A mother’s heart spans wide and far and reaches the hearts of others. Tweet This.

A few months ago, I received a copy of Tricia Goyer’s book, Teen Mom.

I was asked to pass this book onto a teenage mother. As I read this book, I thought of all those students I met during those years in Detroit. I thought of all the teenage girl down the street from our house who was the first to befriend me when we moved so far from home.

I wish I had a teen mom in my life now that I could share this book with, so I’m asking you. Do you know a teen mom who would benefit from reading this inspiring book?

All you have to do is say, “Yes I do” and I’ll send this book to you to share. If there are more than one of you responding, I’ll drop your names in a hat and let my youngest draw out a name.

Happy Mother’s Day.

Meet Cade Sheridan from Book 2: UNBRIDLED

Unbridled continues the Silver Wind Trilogy with Jenny’s story. Since you have already met Jenny from the first book in the trilogy, today let me introduce you to Cade Sheridan.

So who is Cade Sheridan?

Cade is a bronc rider who quit the rodeo after his life took some unexpected turns– like how he and Jenny ‘ran into’ each other.

Where did Cade Sheridan come from?

Cade grew up on a farm in Tennessee. His father was a bronc rider and his mother helps care for his sister’s three kids still living on the farm.

How did Cade get his name?

Originally, when brainstorming this novel, I started with the name Travis. Yep, Travis. But it didn’t feel right for this character. Then one day a writing critique partner shared the joyous news that she was a great aunt to a baby boy named Cade Sheridan. Sounded like a cowboy to me, and she agreed. So literally, Cade Sheridan was born.

Everyone has struggles, what are Cade’s?

Cade lost his father when he was fourteen. He’s been trying to fill his father’s shoes ever since.

Then there is women. Let’s just say Cade hasn’t had a good track record of relationships.  His momma did however, raise Cade in a Christian home. While he seems rugged on the outside, his heart is in the right place.

However, like all of us, he’s human (or at least in the novel he is. )

What’s Cade’s Favorite Color?

Yellow. It’s the shade of your skin healing from a deep bruise.

What does Cade look like?

I think this photo from istock comes pretty close to the image of Cade I see in my mind when I’m writing him.

Cade’s favorite food?

They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Well ladies, Cade loves a good steak and who could resists his mother’s world class potato salad? Of course, he wouldn’t skip having some lemon  pie for dessert, either.

If Cade isn’t riding bronc’s in the rodeo anymore, what’s he doing?

While Cade’s not at the rodeo, he’s still breaking broncs. Only now he’s training them for their owners.

What does Cade like to do?

When he’s not fiddling with his motorcycle, you can find him on a trail somewhere and sleeping under the stars.

Where does Cade live?

Cade travels between jobs. Just like the rodeo, he doesn’t stay in one place very long.

Or is that all about to change?

Will Cade meet his match in Jenny or the wild stallion that brings him to Silver Wind Equine Rescue in the first place?

**On a quick side note: if your in the Danville PA area this weekend. I will be attending the annual Danville Spring Fling. You’ll find my booth on Mill St near the Danville Business Alliance. Myself and another author artist would love it if you stopped in to say hello. **

 

 

 

The Alternative Chapter of Unbridled

Whenever I watch a movie with my husband, we always stick with it beyond the end. As you know many movies always show the alternative endings and deleted scenes from the making of a movie.

This week as I was cleaning up my work space and sorting through books, I came across my notes for Unbridled. Before the days that pintrest was introduced to me, I have always kept my book notes and research in binders labeled on my bookshelf.

I pulled out the one titled “Unbridled” and I found the first chapter, but not the first chapter that many of you have read and know. If you haven’t read the first chapter or two of Unbridled, you can find it in the back of Forgotten Reins.

However, just like the 50 first chapters I wrote for the first book of the Silver Wind Trilogy, there is an alternative first chapter for the second book. If you currently are a subscriber to my mailing list, I will be sending out the alternative chapter next week to my subscribers. If you haven’t subscribed yet, you can sign up here, or click on the sign up button above or on the side bar here on my website. If you’re not happy on my mailing list, no sweat, just unsubscribe. Hey, I would, too if you’re not getting what you expected.

I’m always amazed to see how I first start out a book, sometimes isn’t how it ends up in the book. The beginning sets up the stage, puts you into the story, and introduces you to the characters.

In Unbridled, you’ve already met Jenny from Forgotten Reins, but you haven’t met Cade Sheridan.

Stay tuned next week and find out where Cade got his name and as I’ll introduce you to this handsome motorcycle cowboy.

What I’ve Been Working On

I realize now that I didn’t send out a post last week, I apologize. With the warming weather of spring, I’ve been doing that age old ritual of spring cleaning in addition to getting my work space organized in the hopes of becoming more productive in the coming weeks.

As you know I have several book projects that I’m working on.

I have some good news and some bad news. If you’re like me you like the bad first so the good makes it feel worth hearing the bad.

Bad news: The publication date of the first book in the Planet Mitch series has been pushed back to later in the summer. This comes to waiting on illustrations and cover design development.

Good news: The delay in Planet Mitch means the pushing forward of Book #2 in the Silver Wind Trilogy. I’m currently working on the second draft of Unbridled and should have it ready for you Beta’s by the beginning of May.

Thanks to an hour delay two Saturday’s ago, I was able to indulge in some brain storming for additional books in the Brides of Annie Creek Novella Series. I’ve got three planned out with working titles. I’m not putting a limit on the number of stories in this series. We’ll see where it takes us, shall we?

I’ll devolve deeper into that brain storming and outlining at a later date.

For now, I’ll be in a cabin for camp nanowrimo with two of my other critique partners as I flesh out and finish up revisions for Unbridled. I’m also taking the 30 day kindle challenge. Yeah, I know, if I don’t have enough on my plate! But hey, it’s April!

I did go in and update my about me page here on the site, let me know what you think.

In addition to that update I’ve added two new post pages to the menu bar of my site. I have had many of you ask about life on a dairy farm and have asked for some advice on creating Etsy shops and selling handmade. You’ll find “On the Farm” where I talk about dairy farming and “Etsy Shop Talk” where I have gathered my posts on this blog over the years for those of you that have inquired.  If you still have questions, please contact me.

In the mean time, I’ve got to get back to writing. I know you’re all waiting for the next book. And with that, I want to thank all of you for sharing my books with your friends and your honest reviews over on Goodreads, Amazon, B&N, and Smashwords. You’re all fantastic!

 

 

One of Those Mom Moments #tbt

One day this week, I sat waiting for my number to be called in a hospital lab. It was time for my annual blood work. Fun. Fun. Fun.

As I waited, behind me I heard the sounds of a baby cry. Instantly, my memory flashed back twelve years.

I was that mom shushing my baby in the waiting room, and I was that mom crying as my infant got her heel pricked and squeezed in a hospital lab.

For the first few months that seemed like the only place we ever went.  Two or three times a month, we visited the hospital lab for a heel prick.

My first born child came into this world with jaundice. Many moms in my local MOPS group would tell me about putting their babies under bilirubin lights to cure their babies, who also had it. I was told to put my baby in the sunlight. Each time the doctor shared the lab results there was improvement, but it took weeks rather than days to clear up my little one’s condition.

I’ll never understand why my baby couldn’t have gone under the lights like so many other babies, but then again it would have been too easy, too simple, for the upcoming journey we had yet to endure.

Now when I look back on it, these little pricks seem so small compared to what my baby has gone through.

Yet, as a mother, I just wanted to make everything better – now. Don’t we all?

The sounds of a baby crying have hushed, and my number here at the lab is one call away.

I still cringe thinking of the pinch I’ll receive from the needle, but I’m brave for if my infant could endure this many times in the first months of life, surely I can just this once.

My number is 12.