Wreader Fun

I'm alone in the house and should be working but those gals at Seekerville are having a Historical Dress-Up party and keep distracting me. The celebration is in honour of Steeple Hill releasing four new Love Inspired Historicals every month instead of just two. Senior Editor Tina James is the guest of honour and the party is brimming with all sorts of people in their historical finery. I do believe the sagging food tables will soon cave in from their burdens as well.  Jecoliah Endicott, c 1888 As you can see from my photograph, I've taken on the persona of Jecoliah Endicott - known as Liah to her friends - the heroine of my current work-in-progress. Although she doesn't understand how, Liah has travelled from 1888 over to the world of today on Unpubbed Island and is quite amazed by the whole experience. I would have been here earlier to tell you of the whole affair but Liah has kept dashing off at the sight of anything red in the hopes of catching the ha...

I have some fantastic news! But you need to act quick, because it's only this week. Harlequin Enterprises , the famous Romance publisher, is looking for writers who can tell a great, emotional story. And they have a week of special events to help you get started. This includes live chats, podcasts, webinars, and even writing challenges. To find out more, check the eHarlequin blog and schedule of events . Follow them on Facebook and  Twitter for up-to-date information and links to chat transcripts in case you missed them.

I think this is the longest I've gone between posting here, but that's because I've been playing chauffeur to my boys and trying to get everything ready for our trip to Orlando next week. I can't believe it's almost time to leave. Yikes! I'm blogging about my upcoming trip over at Prairie Chicks Write Romance today. My question for discussion is if you're going to RWA Orlando this year and if you have any hints, tips or stories about other conferences to pass on. I'm also hosting a guest blogger - Love Inspired Suspense author Stephanie Newton - over at Inkwell Inspirations today. Stephanie lives in Florida and her topic is about learning French and how she managed with the language while on a trip to France. Stephanie's question for discussion is if you've ever had a problem due to miscommunication or lack of it. Steph's giving away a copy of her latest release to one person who comments before Sunday midnight, July 25th. The following pho...

I was scheduled to post on the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) Conference blog on July 2nd but somehow, I ended up there today. This makes for some out-of-sequence reading because I wrote the first paragraph as if it was going to be posted on July 2nd. *sigh* Here's the complete text with photos - although I look a smidgeon different today due to a 30 lb weight loss :). Yay. Ah, September – one of my favourite times of the year. Huh? Yes, I know it’s only July 2nd because we celebrated Canada Day yesterday and it’s just 2 days before the U.S. Fourth of July festivities. But, still… September is the premiere social event of the season. To this Canadian gal, anyway. I’ve only been an ACFW member since 2007 and was thrilled to discover my first conference would be in Minneapolis – a simple 2 day drive from our prairie farm in southeast Saskatchewan. And, I was familiar with the area having lived several hours north of the twin cities for years, albeit across the border. Man...

Midnight Caller by Diane Burke - Love Inspired Suspense Mar 2010 Have you ever read a manuscript and then held the book when it was released in print? Have you ever been in on the early stages of critiquing a manuscript but can’t take any credit for it because it’s gone through so many hands since then? That’s how it is with Diane Burke’s debut novel, Midnight Caller . I've known Diane for a couple years now and we read each other's writing before it was ready for anyone else to see - at least mine was in that category. Diane on the other hand, was ahead of me all the way. Last year with a working title of Whispers in the Dark , Diane won the prestigious Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery and Suspense in the Inspirational category. Now with a name change, Diane's first book, Midnight Caller , has been released as a Steeple Hill Love Inspired Suspense (Mar 2010). I ordered Midnight Caller from eharlequin.com as soon as I saw it listed on the website. I don’t...

After the Storm: The Founding Years (Love Inspired Historical) Book 1 – Jan 10 – High Plains Bride by Valerie Hansen Book 2 – Feb 10 – Heartland Wedding by Renee Ryan Book 3 – Mar 10 – Kansas Courtship by Victoria Bylin This series is about a new town in High Plains, Kansas Territory which suffers a tornado strike. Each book has different characters and yet they’re interwoven into the High Plains community. Each book is a stand-alone (except for the missing children thread) and yet together they tell a beautiful story of the integrity and stamina of early Americans faced with destruction and having to rely on their own resources. Book 1 - High Plains Bride by Valerie Hansen: Valerie Hansen pulled me into the story by her poignant portrayal of a young woman who feels the need to stay and protect her family rather than go find one of her own. And she’s written a hero whose generosity overwhelms everyone, including himself but that’s because he puts the needs of others ahead of his ow...

Since my last post, the conference just got better and better. The agent I went to see in the Friday night agent chat is interested in my historical novel, Emma's Outlaw . This is the same story the editor at lunch in my last post is interested in, so I'm very glad I'm taking time to do a recon in Wyoming to lend authenticity to Emma's journey. However, that's tomorrow since I'm still in Colorado. I didn't have time to blog yesterday on Sat but the conference is over now. I'm sitting in the hotel lobby and want to download these photos before I hit the road in case I don't have internet service tonight. Friday night after the Harp and Bowl worship session, I joined the Seekers for their nightly get together. Starting at the back row, left to right: Julie Lessman, Cheryl Wyatt, Audra Harders, Janet Dean, Mary Connealy, Camy Tang, Tina M. Russo and Pam Hillman. Front row: (L to R) Cara Slaughter, Debby Giusti, Ruth Logan Herne, Sandra Leesmith and Mis...

I started working the reg'n desk at 7 am and stayed there most of the day. So many people to greet. It was fantastic putting 3D images to facebook photos. The highlight of my day was when I finally met Gwen, my critique partner of 2 yrs. :D We sat for our first large session (540 of us) for supper. Debbie Macomber then gave the keynote address. She's a terrific speaker and yes, I cried when she choked up. Her speech was on her writing journey. It was great! So inspiring. 9 pm saw me at the Steeple Hill chat. Then, I scurried down here to the lobby to post this. Breakfast tomorrow is with the Steeple Hill authors and on-line friends who go on the www.eharlequin.com Steeple Hill boards. My agent appt is tomorrow morning at 11:30. Yikes! Since we must be seated by 7:30 for breakfast, I'm heading up to bed now. More updates when I get the chance.

Tomorrow, Sat, Feb 28, I'll be hosting Steeple Hill Love Inspired Historical author Renee Ryan over at Prairie Chicks Write Romance. Renee tells us her fascinating story of rejection, publication and more rejection. She then lists 10 positive action steps for “staying the course” in the face of rejection. Renee will be joining us from sunny Nebraska to encourage you and answer your questions while I head 4 hrs north to my monthly writer's meeting, weather permitting. You can check out Renee's blog at http://www.reneeryan.com/ and if you like games, she even has a jigsaw puzzle of the book cover featured here. So please give a big prairie welcome to Renee so she won't feel like I've invited her to the party and then deserted her. Okay, so maybe I have , but I just don't want her to feel like that, okay?

Forsaken Canyon (Heart of the Amazon Book 3) by Margaret Daley Love Inspired Suspense #119 - Oct 08 Once again, Margaret Daley has written an intriguing archaeological mystery set in the remote desolate canyons of New Mexico. This final book in the Heart of the Amazon series had me looking over my shoulder at the oddest times since the author gave us the POV of the ‘Guardian’ who is on constant, silent vigil of our heroine. I thought I knew who the Guardian was, but then the author threw a red herring in the path, only to be followed by another, and another until I was getting dizzy second guessing myself. And yet, when I reached the end and discovered who the Guardian actually was, everything fell into place and I realized, the clues had been right before my eyes. Of course, Kit Sinclair doesn’t know she has a secret Guardian. A history professor at the Albuquerque City College, Kit is under pressure to publish something if she wants to make tenure and stay on the faculty. She’s not a...

I'm happy dancing! If you read my post a couple days ago, you'd see that I've been w aiting on the results from the Linda Howard contest and I rec'd them late last night: 'When You Least Expect It' is a finalist!!! Wow! I'm so excited! In the next few days I'll receive my entry back along with the judges' comments and I have a week or so to revise my entry, if I wish, taking their insights into consideration. Then I re-submit and wait for the final judging. I'm not going to tell you who's the final judge, but she's from my target line at SH. Happy dancing...

Heart of the Family (Fostered by Love) by Margaret Daley Love Inspired #425 – Dec 07 This is a story of forgiveness given for a wrong done years ago but not forgotten. This is Book 2 in the Fostered by Love series. In this great book, we get a glimpse of what a group foster home looks like from the inside and some of the problems the manager encounters because yes, the manger is our heroine, Hannah Smith. But when Hannah took the job, she didn’t expect to find her arch enemy on the Board of Directors. And when she did find out that little bit of info she figured she’d be able to steer clear of him...but not if he keeps coming to the home. At first Hannah doesn’t know what to do. She brings a child in for medical care and comes face-to-face with the man who killed her brother over 20 yrs before. Since she was only 7 yrs old at the time of the incident and she’s using her married name, the pediatrician has no idea who she is and she’s not telling. Because she loves her job, she’ll just h...

Here's an update on the Fostered by Love series by Margaret Daley. In an email, I was telling Margaret how eager I am to read Book 3 - Family Ever After - since I'd hoped Cara and Noah would get together since they were first mentioned in separate instances in Book 1 - Once Upon A Family . In her responding email, Margaret mentioned there are more books in this series so I asked her what they were since they're not on her website at http://www.margaretdaley.com/books.htm yet. She emailed back the info so here is the new Fostered by Love series list: 1 – Once Upon a Family – Apr 07 – Peter Stone and Laura Williams 2 – Heart of the Family – Dec 07 – Dr. Jacob Hartman and Hannah Smith 3 – Family Ever After – May 08 – Noah Maxwell and Cara Winters 4 – Second Chance Family – Jul 09 – Whitney Maxwell's story (Noah's sister) 5 – Together for the Holidays – Nov 09 – Lisa Morgan's Story (Andy's mother) About Book 5, Margaret said, 'As you're reading she has...

A Dry Creek Courtship by Janet Tronstad Love Inspired #459 Sep 08 This excellent book is the first book on my 2009 Top 10 list. I read it a week ago and I still get a warm, fuzzy feeling thinking about it. The author’s compassion shines through the pages. I’ve always liked her humor, and here she uses it to full advantage as Edith and Charley start to spread their arms in this, their freedom years. Actually, my hubby decided he didn’t want to read it before he even started and just skimmed through it, reading, ‘here and there’. And why didn’t he like it? Because he said it’s about ‘old people’. I looked at him and said they were just a couple years older than us and we still have love and have passion for each other – at least if last night was any indication...er...never mind that...what I wanted to say was - what does age have to do with love? It’s all in the storytelling and this author writes with just as much feeling, tension and conflict as any other LI book on the market. The ye...

I’m eager to start 2009 but have one more thing to do before I part with the old year and that’s to let you know all the blessings I received in December. I made a conscious decision not to do any writing in Dec other than blog posts so that I could devote more time to my family. During the year, I tend to ignore their needs for my own especially when my head’s wrapped around a plot and I need to get it down before it’s gone. Once I’m pubbed I won’t have the luxury due to deadlines but I didn’t have that added stress this year. I did manage to enter a few contests and things and I was blessed to win some books and things: On Dec 11, http://www.eharlequin.com/ hosted their annual open house. It was a wild day of surfing the boards and visiting with over 100 authors. I won a couple of their fantastic prize giveaways: A trio of Shelley Galloway’s Harlequin American books plus a $10 Starbucks gift card. A 3 book pak by Dana Mentick including Love Inspired Suspense and Barbour Publishing ...

Shepherds Abiding in Dry Creek by Janet Tronstad Love Inspired #421 Nov 07 This is another great stand-alone book in the Dry Creek series. The author has the knack of pulling us into the town to get up close and personal with the inhabitants. I’ve read every Dry Creek novel and I still want to read more. I love to read about the older characters who appear in the background of each book like a neighbour waiting for me to stop and visit. And I liked the way the author showed me POV’s of both Marla and Les. They might have been serious in their thoughts, but it was fun knowing what they thought and how far off base they were. In this book, the town has combined forces to eat over 500 cans of soup so the labels could be traded in for a life-size plastic Nativity set. But before everyone even has a good look at the display, the shepherd goes missing and suddenly the new residents – a widow and her children – are suspect. Reserve Deputy Sheriff Les Wilkerson would like to get to know the w...

Calico Christmas at Dry Creek by Janet Tronstad Love Inspired Historical #19 Nov 08 This is a great book for Ms Tronstad’s foray into the Historical Inspirational market. After 14 contemporary Dry Creek books, the author has gone back 130 yrs to the beginning of this small Montana town. Her refreshing story had me smiling because I could picture it all as the story unfolds including the determination of the heroine as she sat waiting for God to come and claim her. Elizabeth O’Brian has lost her husband and infant to the influenza and is waiting for her turn to die. She sits in her tent and waits. And waits. Jake Hargrove has inherited his half-brother’s part-Sioux daughters. The youngest is just weeks old and desperately needs nourishment. Jake has heard that Elizabeth has lost her baby and might be receptive to nursing his infant niece. After 10 days without her own baby, all it takes is the wail of Jake’s niece to start her milk flowing again. In order to ensure the baby has nourishm...

Hill Country Christmas by Laurie Kingery Love Inspired Historical #18 Oct 08 I liked this book. It takes a new twist by giving an inheritance to a woman of the Old West so that she has the means to pursue her dreams. But what will a poor woman do with all that sudden wealth? And can she handle the people who want to share her good fortune? Christmas is the perfect backdrop to show what’s really important in the world. Delia Keller lived a poor life after her father took off to seek his fortune. With her preacher grandfather, they had their physical needs supplied by their parishioners, but there wasn’t any money left for luxuries – like fixing the roof. Delia is left destitute when her grandfather dies but on the day she buries him, a stranger, Jude Tucker, rides into town and hands her a bank certificate – the entire estate of her father who had struck it rich and left it all to her in his will. She was now completely without family, but a very wealthy woman. And it’s it nice that an ...

His Holiday Heart (The McKaslin Clan) by Jillian Hart Love Inspired 469 Nov 08 This is the McKaslin Clan book I’ve been waiting for! The author has dangled the stories of each sister before me while holding their lone brother’s aloft. Each time I caught a glimpse of surly Spencer only whet my appetite for his story. And then, the day came when I rec’d His Holiday Heart in my eharlequin box and I panicked. Surely, Ms Hart had an extraordinary tale awaiting me after all the build-up...right?...right? YES! His Holiday Heart is an excellent book and worthy of a spot on my 2008 Top Ten List. I became intrigued on page 1 when one of Spence’s sisters hinted she knew his secret and he became paralyzed at the thought. Ms Hart has created a wonderfully refreshing hero in this book. Spence has always been responsible for his sisters and is happy they are happily married but after he saw his mother take his youngest sister and walk away from the rest of the family, he doesn’t trust women. Marriage...

Her Perfect Man (The McKaslin Clan) by Jillian Hart Love Inspired 455 Aug 08 This great book is about the final McKaslin sister in this series. The author gets down to the nitty gritty with this one because the heroine is being harassed by her ex-boyfriend which means it’s not as light reading as some of them, but it certainly isn’t as heart-wrenching as the previous McKaslin book. Rebecca McKaslin has finally broken up with her long-standing boyfriend much to the relief of the rest of the McKaslin clan. And, she’s gone one step further and said she’s had enough of men. Wouldn’t you know it...Chad Lawson, the perfect man moves in next door, ready to rescue Rebecca whenever the ex shows up. But after all these years, Rebecca doesn’t want to be rescued. She wants to handle it herself without help from anyone...especially someone who’s too handsome for his own good, regularly attends church and challenges her man policy. Heat Level: Affectionate My Rating: Great – 4 stars See the rest of ...