Giveaway! Life Support by Candace Calvert!

Welcome to Writing for Christ Candace Calvert, it is great to have you here! So you’re a writer? What made you decide to start creating characters and story worlds?

I’m delighted to be here, Casey—always great to connect with you and your readers.

To answer your question, I was always a fan of make-believe. The kid who daydreamed, doodled, and lived to create “through the looking glass” scenarios with siblings and friends. Writing is a validation of that quirk—and a really good excuse to continue it into adulthood!

What is the one title that has significantly impacted your life?

In addition to the Bible . . .

To carry on with my previous answer, I’ll pick a children’s fiction title: Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White. I was so caught up in that fictional world! It spun my imagination like . . . a web. And, in truth, made me sob in my spaghetti plate. I finished reading the story just as I was called to the dinner table.  It’s important to me that my hopeful fiction touches readers’ emotions—laughs, tears, and sighs.

If you could get a do-over when it came to learning this whole thing called writing, what would you go back and tell yourself?

Don’t  pressure yourself to “get it done, be published”—that isn’t validation as a writer. Much the same way it’s vital “ . . . to be still and know” in our relationship with God, it’s important for writers to take the time (while working at learning craft, of course) to really discern where this journey is leading them. When hard work, passion, and calling combine, it’s a blessing worth waiting for.

5 preference questions:

Homemade or take-out? (Grin) You’re asking a “foodie”—hand me my apron, please!

Email or snailmail? What, no texts? Seriously, I do all the fast things, but receiving handwritten cards and letters is a beautiful thing. I love sending handwritten notes to readers.

Online shopping or Black Friday deals? Online. I don’t see shopping as a contact sport.

Books or movies? Books.  With popcorn.

Note-taker or memorization? Memorization—unless an idea wakes me up. Then I’ll actually jot a few pertinent notes via the computer.

               

Yes, I’m asking you to play favorites…which of your books is your favorite, published or unpublished? And if this is your debut novel, has your favorite been published yet?

(Please plug the other books’ ears wouldya?) My favorite, so far, may well be my current release, Life Support. The story issues are important to me, and these characters really wrapped themselves around my heart.

Places for readers to learn more about you?

Readers can find me hanging out on Facebook and Twitter—and I’m always available through the contact page on my website. My blog, Authors’ Galley, is a fun mix of authors and food. Here are those links:

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Authors’ Galley: Manuscripts & Wooden Spoons

Thank you for being with us today!

Thank you for hosting me, Casey and friends—enjoyed it! 

Readers, enter to win Candace's book here!

Please leave an email address! If I draw your name and there is no email, you will not win.

For extra entries:

~Be a follower

~Be a subscriber

Contest is only open in the U.S. and void where prohibited. Chances of winning are based on the number of entries and winner is draw from a non-biased third party- Random.org. I am not responsible for any lost or damaged items for said prize.

Thanks for coming by to enter! Contest ends on April 11th

Attn Readers! If you're struggling to leave a comment on my blog, please email your comment entries (in ONE email) and I will submit it for you. But PLEASE only do this after you've failed to leave a comment. My email is: caseym.writer(@)gmail.com 

DREAMING of: That Perfect White Day

Have you picked out your wedding dress?

On the top of my desk is a drawing by a dear friend of mine. It’s of my heroine in my fifth book: Addie. Addie is one of those characters that gets under my skin and I want to see her gain her wings. But she’s still crouched in the shadows waiting to unfurl and fly away. Addie has a problem. She’s got the wedding dress and no groom. No fiancée. No boyfriend. No prospect. But she’s got that white dress and has hidden it in the back of her aunt’s store…where no one will find it.

Don’t we all have a bit (chunk) of Addie in our lives? If it’s not you, it might be your daughter or your best friend or your best friend’s daughter. We’re sitting on the edge of that seat, waiting for the right guy to come along so we can grab our perfect dreamed-for white dress and rush down the aisle before he changes his mind.

We listen to sweet love songs. Read romance novels. Moan over wedding pictures. Pin hundreds (thousands) of ideas for our perfect day on Pinterest. We feed this obsession we have with finding our handsome Prince Charming and how happy and joyous that day will be. And well it should be!

But the problem with Addie (and most of us, if truth were to be told) is that we focus on that white dress instead of keeping our hearts white and pure in all things. Really, after that day where we commit our hearts to our one and only, the dress won’t be worn again. You might pull it out for special occasions, but I can count on one finger the number of times I’ve seen my mama’s wedding dress.

The dress does not a marriage make.

See, that’s another one of Addie’s problems. She’s basing her future around a dress. How perfect the day will be and whose face will be at the end of the aisle. She’s dreaming about the day instead of what that day brings: a future with someone you’re committing your entire life to love and honor.

If I’m going to do this “dreaming” thing right this year as my “one word” for 2014, I can’t just “dream” whatever I want. Sure, I can imagine and have some plans lined out in my head, but if I’m dreaming of a future and a marriage and a family, trusting God that day is headed my way, then I better be doing that dream justice. So what am I doing to remain faithful in that dream?

I better be reading His word. I better be talking with and surrounding myself with women and wives I respect. It’s not a one day trip, it’s a life-time journey. It all starts with a beautiful, white-dress day, but until that day I’m dreaming of, I challenge myself (and you!) to lean hard into God.

We’re dreaming of/for our future, ladies, let’s commit these days as singles to learning His truth and path for us now.  

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A series of posts centered around my "one word" for 2014

A Beautiful Telling ~ A Stillness of Chimes by Meg Moseley ~ Review

The depth of character development in this novel is deep and subtle, drawing deeply on the surrounding events that are happening to the characters with a beauty and an ease to the storytelling that made it easy to keep picking up this book.

Our heroine, Laura has not had the easiest of lives and that has contributed everything to where she is right now. In her hometown, her childhood sweetheart back in her life and the potential that her once thought to be dead father could very well be alive. If that is not enough emotional depth, I don’t know what is. 

There is much happening within the characters and I think it’s balanced well with the action of the story, though it is slight and more is focused on creating rich and deep characters. I found sections of the story emotionally pulling at my heart strings and while the romance is subtle, it drew me in ever so gently-a hard thing to do with this hopeless romantic.

I did think parts of the story might have been a little bit slow, but on the flip side of that, the literary quality, the character depth, the symmetry woven throughout the story created a great character driven women’s fiction.

This review is my honest opinion. Thanks to the publishers for my copy to review.

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More about the novel...

When Laura Gantt returns to Georgia to handle her late mother's estate, she hears a startling rumor---that her father staged his drowning years ago and has recently been spotted roaming the mountains. 

With the help of her former high school sweetheart, Laura searches for the truth. But will what they find destroy their rekindled feelings?

Will you please consider rating my review? I would be so incredibly grateful!

Giveaway! For Such a Time by Kate Breslin!

Welcome to Writing for Christ Kate Breslin, it is great to have you here! So you’re a writer? What made you decide to start creating characters and story world?

Hi Casey, thanks so much for asking me to join you and other readers today. Yes, I…am…a…writer! My career began early, with poetry—as a child I wrote all kinds of rhymed prose, which I included in family birthday cards and pen pal letters; then I graduated to short stories in junior high; song lyrics as a young adult, and finally, after exhausting my supply of the books I loved, I decided I’d give writing my own novel a try. And once I started, I couldn’t stop!

What is the one title that has significantly impacted your life?

I’d have to say the Bible. I was born and raised Christian, but drifted away from my faith when I grew older. Also, I had never actually read the Bible before. Then years later, after an incident I credit entirely to God’s Providence, I “came home” and for first time began reading the Scriptures. It took me an entire year to finish the Good Book, but in the end, I began to understand what having faith means and the incredible gift I’d been given. And I’m still learning!

If you could get a do-over when it came to learning this whole thing called writing, what would you go back and tell yourself?

That’s a great question, Casey. My first reaction would be to say that I should have written inspirational stories from the get-go; instead, against my own inclination I sought to publish in the general romance market, with my starry gaze on fame and fortune. And I got close, but never quite there. It took years before I finally woke up to the Spirit’s gentle prodding and started writing what I was supposed to be writing; and once that happened, it seemed I published almost overnight. But I also wonder if that time was meant to further hone my craft; I believe that everything happens for a reason, and I’m where God wants me to be right now. The title of my novel, For Such A Time, seems very symbolic of my own writing journey.

5 preference questions:

Homemade or take-out?

I prefer the taste of the first, and the efficiency of the second. :-)

Email or snailmail?

I usually email these days, which is bad because I still love getting cards and letters in the mail.

Online shopping or Black Friday deals?

I shop online, though when I can I like to buy local. And I don’t “do” Black Friday! :-)

Books or movies?

I usually have at least one book going at all times, but I do enjoy watching period movies. I’m a big DA fan!

Note-taker or memorization?

Personally, I tend to memorize more than I take notes. Stephen King mentions in his book, About Writing that writers must read, read, read! I think I’ve learned more from other authors than poring over “how-to” books. Still, there have been a few I’ve found very helpful.               

Yes, I’m asking you to play favorites…which of your books is your favorite, published or unpublished? And if this is your debut novel, has your favorite been published yet?

This is an easy question, Casey. I’ve written three books, but For Such A Time is the book of my heart, so I’m thrilled it’s the one I sold!

Places for readers to learn more about you?

My website is www.katebreslin.com and you can sign up if you’d like to receive news on my upcoming events and giveaways. You can also email me at katebreslinauthor@hotmail.com

My FB page is: https://www.facebook.com/KateBreslinAuthor and you’ll also find me on Pinterest and Goodreads.

Thank you for being with us today!

Casey, thank you so much, it’s really been a pleasure. And I hope readers will let me know what they think of Stella and Aric’s story!  

Readers, enter to win Kate's book here!

Please leave an email address! If I draw your name and there is no email, you will not win.

For extra entries:

~Be a follower

~Be a subscriber

Contest is only open in the U.S. and void where prohibited. Chances of winning are based on the number of entries and winner is draw from a non-biased third party- Random.org. I am not responsible for any lost or damaged items for said prize.

Thanks for coming by to enter! Contest ends on April 4th

Attn Readers! If you're struggling to leave a comment on my blog, please email your comment entries (in ONE email) and I will submit it for you. But PLEASE only do this after you've failed to leave a comment. My email is: caseym.writer(@)gmail.com 

What Words Are Being Said About You?

A friend and I were talking last night, she about a college class she’s taking and me contemplating her words. The concept of the conversation? What words would people use to describe you if you weren’t around? If there was no agenda or something hindering their honest truth?

It gave me pause. A chance for reflection. Because I certainly have words I hope people would say about me. Kind. Loving. Compassionate. Generous. Encouraging. But would those words come out of someone’s mouth to describe me?

Photo Credit

It makes one reevaluate one’s life and think about one’s actions. It makes me think about my attitude at my job or my heart towards my family or my response in a difficult situation. Do I want to be viewed as someone to turns to God and devotes her life to His calling for me—no matter what that might cost? Or do I just want to ask for help from God when I really need it? That one hits too close to home.

I don’t want my words here on this blog to just be empty phrases and thoughts. Something that sounds good to put on the screen to be read by “my” followers. I want them to be true and honest, pouring from my heart and what God is teaching me. It’s not just about me. It’s about God. And how He is working through me to impact other people’s lives.

I think I know what some people would say about me. My friends and the ones who know my heart. Who know who I am—even when frustrating circumstances have morphed and twisted my emotions.

But what would the patients coming through the clinic doors of my work say about me? What would the teller at the bank or grocery story have to say if questioned? The people you run into that pass through your life without really stopping. I formulate thoughts about them: it’s called a first impression. What are the first impressions someone makes about me? Would they want to get to know me better? And then once they get to know me better, would they want to continue spending time with me?

It makes me think. Ponder what I want my life to represent and it is convicting.

If I want to be viewed as loving, godly, kind, generous and encouraging, what do I need to change about who I am at the heart level to achieve that?

What are three words you hope someone would say about you?  

Emotionally Provoking ~ A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner ~ Review

            

At times emotionally overwhelming, a woven thread of character stories that tore at my heart – and then proceeded to put it back together again – “A Fall of Marigolds” is sure to impact lives and remind readers of what they have to be grateful for.

           

Set between two American tragedies in 1911 and again on 9/11 there were scenes throughout the book that were so emotionally evoking that I almost wanted to set the book down and breathe a different breath of air. I was taken to the streets of Manhattan on both of these tragedies that tore at my heart.

          

  Clara and Taryn are two women, separated by one hundred years and yet tied together with this piece of cloth, a scarf that has seen them through some of the hardest points of their life. While the story has much going on within our characters, there is a tremendous level of hope. The story is told so both spectrums are well balanced and I found I didn’t want to put the book down. I wanted to find out what happened to these women that came alive on the page.

            

This novel is written for the secular market, but one no less powerful with a story line that I think will connect with so many readers. It takes a great deal of emotional energy to write an emotionally impactful story and that was certainly accomplished within this novel.

           

This review is my honest opinion. Thanks to the author and publisher for my copy to review.

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More about the novel...

A beautiful scarf, passed down through the generations, connects two women who learn that the weight of the world is made bearable by the love we give away....

September 1911. On Ellis Island in New York Harbor, nurse Clara Wood cannot face returning to Manhattan, where the man she loved fell to his death in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. Then, while caring for a fevered immigrant whose own loss mirrors hers, she becomes intrigued by a name embroidered onto the scarf he carries…and finds herself caught in a dilemma that compels her to confront the truth about the assumptions she’s made. Will what she learns devastate her or free her? 

September 2011. On Manhattan’s Upper West Side, widow Taryn Michaels has convinced herself that she is living fully, working in a charming specialty fabric store and raising her daughter alone. Then a long-lost photograph appears in a national magazine, and she is forced to relive the terrible day her husband died in the collapse of the World Trade Towers…the same day a stranger reached out and saved her. Will a chance reconnection and a century-old scarf open Taryn’s eyes to the larger forces at work in her life?

Giveaway! Princess Ever After by Rachel Hauck!

Welcome to Writing for Christ Rachel Hauck, it is great to have you here! So you’re a writer? What made you decide to start creating characters and story world?

Rh: I always wanted to be a writer. My dad used to tell me I was a writer. Finally, at the age of 32, the Lord called me to quit my job and in the lull time of not having a pressure packed schedule, I started writing. Christian fiction was very young and new in those days, and WW2 novels dominated the shelves. So I started an epic WW2 novel. It was rejected but I was able to actually use part of that book in Love Starts with Elle. 

What is the one title that has significantly impacted your life?

RH: Probably Song of Abraham by Ellen Gundersen Traylor. That book really made me understand I could be a friend of God’s.

If you could get a do-over when it came to learning this whole thing called writing, what would you go back and tell yourself?

RH: Don’t take it all so seriously. Yes, it’s your career and your passion but take it all in stride. There’s more to life…

5 preference questions:

Homemade or take-out?: Homemade

Email or snailmail?: Snail mail

Online shopping or Black Friday deals? : Online!

Books or movies?: Depends. :-)

Note-taker or memorization?: Memorizer but I do take notes only to discard them later.

               

Yes, I’m asking you to play favorites…which of your books is your favorite, published or unpublished? And if this is your debut novel, has your favorite been published yet?

RH: I love Softly and Tenderly for some reason. Just remains one of my favorites. I think Princess Ever After is a favorite too.

Places for readers to learn more about you?

www.rachelhauck.com

Thank you for being with us today!

RH: Thanks for having me. 

Readers, enter to win Rachel's book here!

Please leave an email address! If I draw your name and there is no email, you will not win.

For extra entries:

~Be a follower

~Be a subscriber

Contest is only open in the U.S. and void where prohibited. Chances of winning are based on the number of entries and winner is draw from a non-biased third party- Random.org. I am not responsible for any lost or damaged items for said prize.

Thanks for coming by to enter! Contest ends on March 28th

Attn Readers! If you're struggling to leave a comment on my blog, please email your comment entries (in ONE email) and I will submit it for you. But PLEASE only do this after you've failed to leave a comment. My email is: caseym.writer(@)gmail.com