FREE today! December 8th and 9th!

 I Walked with Jesus 1 and 2 will be FREE on December 8th and 9th!

At Amazon
Currently #33 in Inspirational Religious Fiction

At Amazon

December 15 AND 16, the next weekend, get The Human Bean and Mooseberry Mooseberry Gooseberry Pie!

At Amazon

At Amazon

December 22 AND 23 the weekend following, get The Parables of Virginia Bean (Conquering Your Goliaths, The Feast, and The Gift all in one book). 

At Amazon

If you didn't get your hands on the individual stories I had free in November, now's your chance!

Finally, on December 23, Get the Conquering Your Goliaths Guidebook!

 

At Amazon

By now, you've probably read all three Virginia Bean stories and have a desire to work through some Goliaths in your own life.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Cover Reveal for book two of I Walked with Jesus

 

Here it is! Book two of I Walked with Jesus! Now is the time to get the first book! The paperback is only $3.44! 

Synopsis:

The followers of Jesus must have felt lost and unsure after Jesus’ ascension to heaven.

Sure, they had been taught. They had been healed. They had seen miracles at Jesus’ hand. But could they live His word without being near Him?

Could the lame man who returned to the temple day after day for healing continue to wait? Could the eunuch whom many hated get answers from God? What of Tabitha who arose from the dead? What was her life like before that great day? What of other followers of Jesus – on the day of Pentecost – who were strengthened, fed, and led? How did they remain faithful?

Find out on your continuing journey with Jesus through the “Acts of the Apostles.”

I will send out chapter one in a few days - this is the updated version that will be in the book. Expect I Walked with Jesus, book two, to be out mid-September. We're almost there!

Books - Bryce Canyon and More!

No, you haven't heard from me in a week, but my family and I have been to Bryce Canyon. What a beautiful place to get inspired! We stayed at the Evergreen.

Myself and my daughter, Tiffanie in front of the cabin.

The stairs to the second floor where my daughter and her two kids slept were an exercise in and of themselves. Fortunately, my husband and I got to sleep on the main floor.

The view from our porch, and where I wrote every morning. It was splendid! So quiet!

One of my favorite places - Mossy Creek

My family

The Hikes were worth it, though I wish I had been in better shape!

While I was on vacation, this announcement went up here!

Get Enlightened

Audio Books and Miracles

Today, I had a guest post published here. The guest post? Are You an Audio Book Fan?

Well, are you?

If you're not, you might want to read this post. If you are, you might want to read it anyway. Who knows what new information you might glean.

New information abounds in the universe.

When I began to write my new book, "I Walked With Jesus: New Testament Stories of Faith and Healing From the Least of These," I had no idea that The Chosen was also in the works. But this has happened to me before, and it has probably happened to you.

When I began thinking about putting some of my books on audio, I had no idea that someone would contact me for that very thing I needed. But Nancy Peterson was also on the same page. She was thinking to start a narrating business and needed some books to read.

Consider the story of the loaves and the fishes. This story is in my new book to be released in September. When all of the people gathered to hear Jesus and they were hungry, they probably had no idea that Jesus could turn five loaves and two fish into enough food to fill the crowd with extras to spare! The boy and his family had no idea that their offering would feed so many. They were a poor family and had brought all they had to feed themselves while they heard Jesus speak. What of the five loaves and two fish amongst so many? 

A lot when you consider the power of Jesus Christ.

Listen Up

Listening is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself as a writer. When you listen, you open yourself up to ideas and direction that you wouldn't get otherwise, especially if you have your hard plans set and will still change them.

And I'm speaking of an outline here.

I think it's important to listen up.



Photo by tami.vroma, courtesty of Flickr

You may call it your gut feeling or you may call it inspiration, but whatever you call it, be prepared for some direction as you write, and don't be afraid to take a different path if you feel so led.

When I was writing Conquering Your Goliaths: A Parable of the Five Stones, I decided to name the main character Virginia, and I wasn't sure why that was important, just that it felt right. I later discovered, after some research, that Virginia meant 'pure one', and it suddenly made sense to me since part of Virginia is 'virgin.'

There were other a-ha moments when writing that book, but books don't have to be of a spiritual nature to get insights about what should happen next, and that's why I like to also share the story of Susan in Scrambled.

Photo by: vavva_92, couresty of Flickr

Susan leaves her husband during the first part of the story hoping for a better life, and all during the writing of the book I knew that she'd return to him. I felt as if he'd change for the better, and that she'd change for the better and that together they'd make a happy couple. Some good things happen in the story, and I'm not going to tell you what Susan decides, just keep in mind that her heart felt feelings aren't en-graven in stone and I give her two choices up until the very end.

In writing A River of Stones some 10 years ago now, I discovered early on that Samantha, the main character was a bit like me, and a bit not like me. I discovered that she spoke up far more often than I dared to as a kid but that she was like me when it came to her vivid imagination--something I haven't lost since. It was important for Samantha to carry the speaking up and vivid imagination portions of her personality throughout the story, but I also had to listen up for areas in which she wanted to change and grow. I couldn't keep her surrounded by the same pain, at least not completely, and I needed to allow her the freedom of choice--I couldn't force my beliefs on her, for example, but had to allow her to discover these on her own.

Listening up is as important as writing to me because when I have listened I have created an authentic world. I have created a character or a set of characters that live in a real world with real world problems that can be overcome.

Cutting corners in my books, as in life, rarely works.

Getting Clear about Grammar

Grammar.

We love it, we hate it, we wish that we could write without worrying about it. The good news?

Art by: fin5bjh, courtesy of Flickr

We can, but only for so long.

When a story is new and fresh, we write until we can't write anymore. We get it all out. Not all of our sentences are perfect; they shouldn't be. We are waiting for that spark of inspiration, that plane that will take us soaring through the universe, and we know it won't come in for a landing unless we are willing to write.

I try not to edit as I write. The process stunts my thinking and creates a stop in the creation process. Instead, I focus on getting it all out even if I don't use all of it or I have to rearrange the paragraphs later.

The key here is LATER:

Much later I am going through my manuscript and working out the kinks. This is when I look for flow, depth, intrigue, or whatever else I want my work to be. This is when I make changes to sentences and word choices. This is when I get someone else (perhaps many someone else's) to go over my work to see what I've missed.

Because I ALWAYS miss something.

Photo by Mike Baird, courtesy of Flickr

Grammar is important in those final stages of your work; especially when you're at the publishing stage. Especially if you are publishing your book yourself or going through POD, you need to make sure that your grammar is as good as it can get.

Yes, I've heard of folks getting published without cleaning up the grammar, I've even heard authors say that the message is what is most important, and that the grammar issues can be overlooked, but I disagree. Yes, your message is the MOST IMPORTANT THING, but in order to get your message across to the most readers, your grammar needs to be seriously looked at and changes made. If not, a great reader may decide that their time is far too precious to continually wade through your work.

And no great writer wants that.