Which Title Won? See the Wonderful Results Here

I’m excited to announce that we now have a winning title for the seventh Miller’s Creek novel!

And honestly, I’m delighted with the title that you all helped me choose.

Why?

Because it truly represents our heroine’s heart.

But before I reveal the winning title, please allow me to introduce the story to those just tuning in to our search.

The title for next #MillersCreek novel by @Cathy_Bryant decided by readers. See it here:
Click To Tweet

New Miller’s Creek Novel Coming Spring 2016

Here’s the book description for the next Miller’s Creek novel:

A transformed wild-child returns to Miller’s Creek to care for her ailing father and face the judgmental ranch manager she’s always loved. When a flood threatens Miller’s Creek and their respective properties, Bella joins forces with Clay to protect what they both hold dear. Though Bella attempts to persuade Clay and others that she’s not the same person they remember, all her efforts come to naught when nasty rumors jeopardize her teaching career. Now on shaky ground, Bella is forced to depend solely on God to plow through the false accusations of a student who has shredded what was left of her reputation. But is it too little too late?

When we began our quest for the next book title, I had sixteen really good options, all which pointed toward Bella’s struggle for freedom from her checkered past. At first, I didn’t have one that especially stood out, which is exactly why I reached out to my reader friends for their help.

But as the first week of competition played out, one of the titles became very important to me. And that title was eliminated in the first round!

But I stuck to my guns in carrying through with the Clash of the Titles competition, and I am so glad I did. My reader friends were spot on in their choice, as usual.

Here are the sixteen titles we started with:

Chained Free
The Path I Follow
Crossways
Freedom’s Way
Run Free
Freedom’s Journey
The Path Behind Me
Freedom’s Quest
Freeway’s Cross
Highway to Freedom
Still I Will Follow
Freedom’s Run
Freeways
Freed
I’ll Always Follow
Freedom’s Slave

If you’re interested in viewing the previous week’s results, you can do so with the links to these posts:

See How To Help Choose My Next Book Title (Round 1 – Clash of the Titles)
Round 2 – Clash of the Titles
Semi-Finals – Clash of the Titles
Finals – Clash of the Titles

And the Winning Title Is…

STILL I WILL FOLLOW! It won by 68% over The Path I Follow.

Let me give a shout out to all of you who voted each week to help us get down to just one title. I appreciate your help so much.

Despite all that the story heroine Bella has been through and the chains from her past, one thing characterizes her. She is determined to follow Christ no matter the cost. Still I Will Follow is the title that needed to win to show Bella’s determined devotion. So again, “Thank You!”

What’s Next in the Novel-Making Process?

I’m currently finishing up the rough draft of Still I Will Follow–I love that this story finally has a name! My goal is to have the rough draft completed by the end of this week. Though I’m about a week behind where I hoped to be, the external story is coming along nicely.

Then I will take the book through three or four rounds of edits before I pass the book off to beta readers for their input. (More on that coming soon…)

In addition to finishing the rough draft and edits by the end of March 2016, I’ll also be working on the cover and starting to round up ideas for the book’s cover reveal party, launch party, and virtual tour. (And you thought being an author was a piece of cake…)

Prayer Request:

I still need your help, friends, this time in the prayer department. Not since I wrote The Way of Grace in 2012 have I struggled so with the spiritual theme of a story. With the third Miller’s Creek novel, I wanted so badly to accurately portray grace that I wrestled with the best way to make the story reveal that oh-so important concept.

I’m having the same difficulty with freedom. Right now, it’s like a swirling hornet’s nest in my brain. Even as believers, we can end up enslaved to so many things: others’ opinions, our jobs, our wealth, etc. Through Jesus we can break those chains. True freedom is only found in Christ. Without Him, there is no freedom. My problem comes in trying to have the story adequately portray both the chains we take on and the freedom that is ours.

Please pray that Biblical freedom will “gel” in my heart and brain so I might make the concept strong and real through the story line of Still I Will Follow.

Thank you so much for your prayer report as I finish up the next Miller’s Creek novel!

Still I will follow,

 P.S. Here’s a sermon from James Merritt which I found really helpful in my quest to better understand the freedom that is ours in Christ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUuMaU7gBf0. Now if I can just figure out how to bring out these truths through the story.