An Ask and an Offer
This morning I’m coming to you with a favor to ASK and then I have something to OFFER you.
The “ask” involves the Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference, which I’ve been teaching at for as long as I can remember. Last year was the conference’s 50th anniversary and I was beyond touched and humbled to be named the conference’s Writer of the Year. This conference has such a special place in my heart and has been a blessing and turning point for more authors than I could name in this space. Just look how many were in attendance last year!
But thanks to the pandemic and, more recently, the horrible fires that threaten so many in California and near Santa Cruz and Felton where Mount Hermon is located, the conference center is struggling, and the writers conference is on life support. My agent, Steve Laube, has launched a Kickstarter fund to help revive the writers conference. There is only one week left to raise the funds needed to bring the conference back. If the Kickstarter campaign makes its goal, I will get to teach the Major Morning Track in Intermediate Fiction Writing at the 2021 conference. There is nothing I’d love more than to hear that the campaign was successful!
So many of you who follow Inspired by Life…and Fiction are amazing supporters of Christian authors. If you are a writer, an editor, a publisher, a bookstore owner, or a reader of Christian books and wish to help future writers in a tangible, sacrificial way, I can’t think of a more worthy cause! You can click HERE for info on how to contribute. Even a small donation of $5 or $10, added to so many others, could make a huge difference. Thank you for prayerfully considering a gift of any size. I’ll end my “ask” with this collage of some of my favorite memories from last year’s conference.
And now for the offer: The ebook version of my fourth novel, Beneath a Southern Sky, is free today only via BookBub! I know many of you have already read this book (which was winner of the RITA Award, ACFW Carol Award, Inspirational Readers’ Choice Award, Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award, and a finalist for the HOLT Medallion and several other awards), but in case not, this would be a great time to grab your copy! [Click HERE to get your copy from BookBub.]
My husband designed the beautiful cover of the most recent version, reissued by our own Raney Day Press when the rights to the novel reverted to me seventeen years after the book was first published.
Beneath a Southern Sky has had several different covers over the year, including the original one in blue and purple, the barn image for a bargain line the publisher did. (Ironically, a copy of this version now has a “bargain” price of $51!) The last cover was for the Dutch translation of Beneath a Southern Sky.
It’s been a long time coming, but one of my big writing goals for the past few years has been to complete the Camfield Trilogy with Breath of Heaven. (My husband already has a beautiful cover designed, just waiting for a book to go with it!) I know my characters as well as I know my own kids, I have most of the research and plotting finished, and I’m so eager to tell Natalie and David’s story! I have one rewrite/edit to complete on another book, and then Breath of Heaven will finally get my full attention!Speaking of BookBub, if you don’t already follow me there, I invite you to click FOLLOW at Deborah Raney.
In fact, all of the authors here on Inspired by Life…and Fiction have BookBub profiles and we’d love to have you follow us there! It’s a great way to see an author’s entire collection of books, get news of new releases, and find out about sales and giveaways. Here are the links for the whole gang:
