Royals A New Chapter & Author Expectations

"Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire." — St. Catherine of Siena #royalwedding

This morning I watched the Royal Wedding. It was beautiful and sweet, a modern day fairy tale coming to life. Billions of people watched, anticipated and shared in the writing of a new chapter of the British Monarchy. It was a very celebratory and heartfelt morning all over the world.

Then I thought about my writing and an author’s responsibility to our readers. Like the Prince and Duchess they knew that there was a great deal of expectation in today’s wedding ceremony(the dress, the kiss, the vows.) When you write a sequel or when you’ve written more than one book you have inadvertently established a brand, an expectation.

Writing the second book has been tough, because of the expectations that I have put on myself. I want a better book 2. I want my editor to be glad that she decided to take a chance on me, and I want my readers to not be disappointed. I don’t want to be a one book writer. This is my life.

So as I prepare to work through another draft of Book 2, Someone Bad and Something Blue, I pause to wish Prince William and Duchess well and to thank you for sharing this journey with me.

Book 1 A Good Excuse to Be Bad releases July 2011. Learn more about it here.

Christian Retailing Retailer’s Choice Awards Announced

I’m excited! Some of my favorite books of 2010 (and friends) have been picked as finalists for the 2011 Christian Retailing Retailers Choice Awards. Publishers submit books that they feel fit the nominee criteria for the award. Those nominees are “judged on the impact they have had on staff and customers, their ability to be evocative, open minds to new ways of thinking and encourage and affirm Christlike living.” Winners will be announced at Christian Retailing's Retailing ReBoot 2011 event, to be held April 26-28 at the Florida Hotel and Conference Center in Orlando, Fla.

Nominees in the various Christian Fiction categories are:

Fiction: Contemporary Romance

Lydia's Charm, Wanda E. Brunstetter (Barbour Publishing)
Nightshade, Ronie Kendig (Barbour Publishing)
Seek Me With All Your Heart, Beth Wiseman (Thomas Nelson)
Tender Vow, Sharlene MacLaren (Whitaker House)
The Bridge of Peace, Cindy Woodsmall (WaterBrook Multnomah)
They Almost Always Come Home, Cynthia Ruchti (Abingdon Press)
Two Tickets to the Christmas Ball, Donita K. Paul (WaterBrook Multnomah)

Fiction: General

Greater Love, Robert Whitlow (Thomas Nelson)
Her Mother's Hope, Francine Rivers (Tyndale House Publishers)
Unlocked, Karen Kingsbury (Zondervan)

Fiction: Historical Romance

Embers of Love, Tracie Peterson (Baker Publishing Group)
Here Burns My Candle, Liz Curtis Higgs (WaterBrook Multnomah)
The Gathering Storm, Bodie & Brock Thoene (Summerside Press)

Fiction: Mystery and Suspense

Immanuel's Veins, Ted Dekker (Thomas Nelson)
The Bishop, Steven James (Baker Publishing Group)
The Twelfth Imam, Joel C. Rosenberg (Tyndale House Publishers)

First-Time Authors

Crossing Oceans, Gina Holmes (Tyndale House Publishers)
Life Without Limits, Nick Vujicic (Doubleday Religion)
The Devil in Pew Number 7, Rebecca Alonzo (Tyndale House Publishers)

Congrats to the nominees.

On a side note: I still wish for the day that Christian Retailers are more racially inclusive.  So I will I add a Category that will be added on that great day my wish comes true.

Fiction: Regardless of the Color of the Author

In the Midst of It All, Tiffany L. Warren (Hachette)

The Someday List, Stacy Hawkins Adams (Revell)

Inconvenient Friend: Rhonda McKnight (Urban Christian)

More Church Folk, Michelle Bowen (Grand Central)

Selling My Soul, Sherri L. Lewis (Urban Christian)

Samson, Jacquelin Thomas (Gallery)

Long time Coming, Vanessa Miller (Abingdon Press)

The Voice, the real one

“The voice of my beloved! Look, he comes, leaping upon the mountains,bounding over the hills.” -Song of Solomon 2:8

I’m on my final rewrite for my novel, Someone Bad and Something Blue. It releases July 2012. My editor was nice to give me an extension. The book was due April 15.

However, the morning I was about to send it in, a still small voice whispered, “This is not our book.”

I tell you. I wanted to fall through the floor.

Continue reading "The Voice, the real one" »

Easter Book for Baskets: That’s When I Talk to God

As a book lover and mom, I like to add books to my family Easter baskets.  Thanks to my friends at David C. Cook I got the blessing to have my daughter, Selah read to me Dan & Ali Morrow’s That’s When I Talk to God.

We liked it so much we’re including it in our new friends and family Easter Baskets. Why? Because it helps children feel comfortable about talking to God. Selah is eleven and she believes in God, but she’s had trouble knowing how to talk to Him or if she should. This book has helped her define her own personal relationship. I know the book is targeted to children less than eight, but for a preteen it is very thoughtful. This is a time when she is trying to learn herself and separate from me. Knowing that she can choose when she wants to talk to God instead of just when I say she needs to pray is a preteen thing. I encourage preteen parents to get the book so they can read it to their younger siblings or friends.

Here’s a little more about the book.

Excerpt…

Every night at bedtime, Mom helps me put on my favorite monkey pajamas, gives me a drink of water, and tells me a story. Then we snuggle close and she says a prayer before we go to sleep. So begins the story of a girl who thinks praying is just a bedtime activity, until her mother points out that we  to God any time, any place, and about anything!

That’s When I Talk to God takes a different approach than many other children’s books by showing prayer in context, through a child living her life and learning through it all the ways and times that she can talk to her Lord. Touching on the concept of God talking back to us makes it even more unique.

Also included in the back of the book is a letter from Lee Strobel, Ali Morrow’s father, encouraging the parents and grandparents who read That’s When I Talk to God to their children.

That’s When I Talk to God by Dan and Ali Morrow

David C Cook/April 2011

ISBN: 978-1434-70018-6/36 pages/hardcover/$10.99

www.davidccook.com

If Robert Kennedy, Jr. and Martin Luther King, Jr. Could See Us Now

‎"What we need in the United States is not division, what we need is not hatred, what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness, but it’s love, peace, compassion towards one another, and a feeling of justice towards those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white, or whether they be black." Robert F. Kennedy on the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. 4.4.1968

 

I remember the day President Obama won the presidency. My heart leaped for my daughter Selah, as I dropped her off at school that morning. Now just a few years later, I weep for her. In my opinion the dream is still deferred.

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