The Winning Names

Let me begin by saying how much fun I had last night's Grand Slam! Name-The-Characters party. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did, and I appreciate all the input on names and helping to get the word out about my next novel, Pilgrimage of Promise. Book promotion, while a very necessary part of my job as a writer, is one of my least favorite things to do, so I try to have fun with it and make it a prize-winning situation for those who are kind enough to help.



If you'll allow me, I would like to apologize for a few things before I announce the winner. After the book launch party for The Way of Grace was over I felt like I had worn everyone out with activity, so this time around I wanted to make it easier--just a matter of copy and paste. But I swung too far the other direction and gave too much to copy and paste. In the process, I feel like I came off as over-promotional. If I offended any of you, I humbly seek your forgiveness. I also think I made it too complicated with people not knowing where to paste what. I'm sooooo sorry!! Next time, I won't be so quick to rush through the process and will try to simplify even more. (I've always said that humans have the unique capacity to make everything more complicated than it has to be, and I certainly proved that in this case!)



Okay, I feel better with that off my chest, so let's move on to what we've all been waiting for--the winning names. There were so many good character names suggested last night that I have enough to last for at least five or six more stories! In the end, it came down to which names best fit the story, and I couldn't be more tickled with the names for my new characters. In fact, tickled doesn't even begin to describe it!!



Drum roll please....



The winning name for the new hero is Chance (and I've given him the last name of Johnson). I chose this name because our distrusting heroine is going to have to take a "chance" on trusting others again.



The winning name for the new heroine is Dakota (and I've given her the last name of Kelly). I chose this name because the name Dakota means "friend." In spite of her lack of trust in others, our female lead is loyal and a true-blue friend. (During my research last night, I learned that Kelly means "bright-headed." Dakota is a red-head, so I thought the last name fit really well, too.)



Both names were suggest by Facebook friend Cindy Gasaway! Yay, Cindy! Thank you!!! (I'll contact you about your prizes in a PM on Facebook.)



Thanks again for all the suggestions and the fun time! I feel extremely blessed to have friends like you!!!