A Very Special Christmas Eve Surprise

Less than an hour before our Christmas Eve celebration was slated to begin, I took a break from my busy preparations to check my email messages. An unfamiliar name and intriguing "Contest Entry" subject line caught my eye. One click later, it caught my breath.

My contemporary romance, Season of Surrender, made the final round of the Phoenix Rattler, Does Your Story Have Bite? contest! (See the www.edgyinspirationalauthor.blogspot.com/ for a list of finalists.) Wow! With Christmas decorating (40,000 thousand lights or thereabouts) and party hosting in full swing from the time I submitted my entry until the third week of December, I'd forgotten all about the contest.

My first reaction was to read the message again. Much slower this time. Then I wanted to holler the news to my daughters. But I decided to wait until the whole family was present.

A Stray Drop of Blood by Roseanna White ~ WOW!

If you’re looking for a novel that waters down the stark realities of sin and its wages, don’t read A Stray Drop of Blood by Roseanna White. Set in decadent first century Jerusalem and Rome, strong, multi-layered characters, rich spiritual insights, well-depicted historical events, and moving romance are powerfully combined in an edgy yet tastefully crafted and fast-paced classic.

Stunningly beautiful Abigail is an atypical Hebrew slave gently raised and educated as a daughter in the prosperous Visibullis household during the time of Jesus. But her

Green by Ted Dekker--A Most Provoking Novel

I’m normally not an allegory lover, so I struggled about a week to give an honest review of Green by Ted Dekker. This is one of the few books I’ve read that I’ve pondered about for many days after I read it.

The Circle is a meager nation of seventeen thousand people living two-thousand-plus-years in the future under the leadership of Thomas Hunter, a man catapulted into their world from our contemporary era. They have followed the tenets of Elyon, their Creator and Savior, but no one has seen Him in a decade, and doubts about Him have eroded their faith. Discouraged by their bare, nomadic existence with the need to constantly flee from the enemies they’re forbidden to fight, many in the Circle, including Thomas’s son, Samuel, turn away from their Creator to war against their foes and avenge their victims.

Amanda Cabot's Paper Roses, a Heart-warming Story of Giving and Forgiving

Sarah Dobbs, determined to bury her painful past in Philadelphia, travels to Ladreville, Texas, with her little sister, two-year-old Thea, to start life afresh as a mail-order bride. But she doesn’t know that her intended, rancher Austin Canfield, has been murdered by an unknown assailant. Austin’s brother, Clay, an emotionally wounded man who wants Sarah to return to her previous life, offers her no encouragement or support and tries to talk her into going back home. Since that is not an option, Sarah and Thea must live on the Canfield ranch temporarily, but Sarah refuses to be a burden. She soon puts her trilingual talents to use by accepting a job with the French owners of the only general store in Ladreville, where French and German factions eye each other with deep mistrust and suspicion.

The Christmas Journey Review and Interview with Author Winnie Griggs

Ry Lassiter, a prosperous lawyer from Philadelphia, hurries back to Texas after he receives a desperate telegram from Belle, his childhood friend. But before he can reach her, two thugs accost and shoot him. Josie Wylie, a livery stable owner he’s briefly met and helped, realizes the thugs are following Ry and mean to harm him. She charges after them, and her quick thinking saves his life. When a thug gets the upper hand, Ry rescues Josie before he passes out from his injuries.

Gingham Bride by Jillian Hart ~ Book Review and Author Interview

Seventeen-year-old Fiona O’Rourke’s goal is to graduate from school and run away from her cold-hearted, worn-out mother and lazy good-for-nothing father to live in a world she controls where no one can hurt her. She’s so focused on her escape plan, she is unaware of the admiration of the young men in her town, and is convinced she’s unattractive and unlovable. Her unhappy world goes from bad to worse when a man she’s been betrothed to all her life but has never met suddenly shows up to jeopardize her dreams with the threat of forcing her into a loveless marriage to get the deed to her family’s land.

Poor but honorable Ian McPherson travels from Kentucky to Montana, not to marry Fiona as his grandmother promised the O'Rourkes, but to determine if their land is suitable to raise his small herd of thoroughbred mares, the only assets left after his family suffers the loss of their wealth. Dismayed by the run-down condition of the O’Rourke property, Ian has no intention of staying and marrying Fiona, especially when her father demands a huge sum of money for her that Ian doesn’t have. But her plight touches his heart, and when she is attacked by a ruthless acquaintance of her father’s, Ian is determined to protect her, even if it means sacrificing his own dreams to help her fulfill hers.

Pitch and Promote Like a Pro by Terry W. Burns

When I attended the ACFW conference last month, I was privileged to meet and talk with Terry Burns. The man exuded wisdom, gentility, and compassion, and I went away wanting to know more about him and his expertise. (I also wished an agent or editor could have reviewed my proposal and told me if it was not only acceptable, but exemplary--'Sorry. That's my perfectionist tendencies talking.)

A few days later, I clicked on Terry's website, www.TerryBurns.net, zeroed in on his bookstore, and found a jewel. Pitch and Promote Like a Pro CD. And the price was better than right. I ordered it, hoping it would help me give my book proposal the edge I felt I needed to impress an agent who had invited me to send one.

Pitch and Promote Like a Pro arrived a few days later, and it provided a wealth of down-to-earth advice about every facet of pitching one's book. Nineteen topics spread over eighty easy-to-read pages that range from overcoming his personal fears about pitching to writing the dreaded proposal step by step. Terry uses his own proposal as an example and breaks it down, page by page, with simple explanations to help the writer not only create the blasted thing, but understand the reason why he or she must follow certain guidelines. And he's taken the guesswork out of the "Marketing Analyses" and "Marketing Comparables." Yay! Great, great stuff!

My proposal is finished. I can't say that it's exemplary, but I have a lot more confidence in it than the version I took to the conference. Thanks, Terry, for sharing your invaluable info. To God be the glory.