I finished writing Sushi and Suspicions and turned it in! To celebrate, I ate my favorite peach jelly from Minamoto Kichoan ! I was a bit surprised to realize at the end of the book that there wasn’t as much romance as in some of my other books, maybe because there were a lot of characters in this book compared to other romantic suspense novels I’ve written. Sushi and Suspicions will be releasing in June in the multi-author box set Summer Suspicions . Even though it’s a box set, each Christian Romantic Suspense novel in it is a full book, so it’s a great deal! Preorder Summer Suspicions for only 99 cents!
Captain's Log, Stardate 08.22.2006
Blog book giveaway:
My Thursday book giveaway is MURDER, MAYHEM, AND A FINE MAN by Claudia Mair Burney.
My Monday book giveaway is EMILY EVER AFTER by Anne Dayton and May Vanderbilt.
You can still enter both giveaways. Just post a comment on each of those blog posts. On Thursday, I'll draw the winner for MURDER, MAYHEM, AND A FINE MAN and post the title for another book I'm giving away.
Check out Christian Women Online (click on the button above) to see what other women are blogging about this quote!
"Salt, when dissolved in water, may disappear, but it does not cease to exist. We can be sure of its presence by tasting the water. Likewise, the indwelling Christ, though unseen, will be made evident to others from the love which He imparts to us."
~Sadhu Sundar Singh~
I loooooooooove salt. Love it, love it, love it. I crave it especially during those times of the month, and then I bloat out like a blowfish.
When I was single, I didn't crave Jesus the way I craved salt. And I knew that was wrong, I knew I needed to reorient myself.
Singleness was hard for me. I struggled a lot. Thank God He gave me my discipler at church to help keep me sane and remind me to at least try to focus on Christ rather than on my desire to no longer be alone.
Now I have my husband, but I still have a heart for single women. My singleness was a hard time for me, and not every woman can have an older woman discipler to help her along.
So I write books aimed at that single woman. And yes, they're fiction. They're romances. They're funny, breezy, fluffy, and entertaining, because that's what I like to read. I'm not a terribly deep person.
But I'm also praying that the love Jesus gave to me when I was struggling and crying and alone will come through in these funny, breezy, fluffy words. That Jesus' love will salt the entertainment of my novels--just like salt on hot French fries! Yum!--so that a single woman will finish my book with a satisfied smile, and feel a little less alone because she has a little more of Jesus in her heart at that moment.
So on the surface, my books are beach reads. But Jesus is in me like that salt, and I'm praying His message comes through the fun, sun, and fluff to strike a deeper chord in my readers.
Okay, now I want French fries!
TMI:
Diet: I exercised yesterday! Of course I also was trying to "burn the butter" (quite literally) from the shortbread I made Sunday night! Doh! Does it count that the shortbread has oatmeal in it???
Writing: I am SO lucky! My friend Jane (whose hubby is a fantastic wedding videographer) is going to take my promo pictures! She and I are trading services--she's going to use her HOT new digital camera for my pics and I'm looking over her proposal.
So all you--us!--poor writers, we should think more about what we can trade for each other.
Take card-making. Say you're terrific at it. Say I (or somebody else) need thank you cards to send to editors/agents from appointments at conferences which are personalized for my brand (I said the b-word). You offer 10 cards made to my specifications in exchange for a crit. Voila! We have traded services and spent minimal money.
I wonder if I should start a trading services section in the ACFW forum?
Blog book giveaway:
My Thursday book giveaway is MURDER, MAYHEM, AND A FINE MAN by Claudia Mair Burney.
My Monday book giveaway is EMILY EVER AFTER by Anne Dayton and May Vanderbilt.
You can still enter both giveaways. Just post a comment on each of those blog posts. On Thursday, I'll draw the winner for MURDER, MAYHEM, AND A FINE MAN and post the title for another book I'm giving away.
Check out Christian Women Online (click on the button above) to see what other women are blogging about this quote!
"Salt, when dissolved in water, may disappear, but it does not cease to exist. We can be sure of its presence by tasting the water. Likewise, the indwelling Christ, though unseen, will be made evident to others from the love which He imparts to us."
~Sadhu Sundar Singh~
I loooooooooove salt. Love it, love it, love it. I crave it especially during those times of the month, and then I bloat out like a blowfish.
When I was single, I didn't crave Jesus the way I craved salt. And I knew that was wrong, I knew I needed to reorient myself.
Singleness was hard for me. I struggled a lot. Thank God He gave me my discipler at church to help keep me sane and remind me to at least try to focus on Christ rather than on my desire to no longer be alone.
Now I have my husband, but I still have a heart for single women. My singleness was a hard time for me, and not every woman can have an older woman discipler to help her along.
So I write books aimed at that single woman. And yes, they're fiction. They're romances. They're funny, breezy, fluffy, and entertaining, because that's what I like to read. I'm not a terribly deep person.
But I'm also praying that the love Jesus gave to me when I was struggling and crying and alone will come through in these funny, breezy, fluffy words. That Jesus' love will salt the entertainment of my novels--just like salt on hot French fries! Yum!--so that a single woman will finish my book with a satisfied smile, and feel a little less alone because she has a little more of Jesus in her heart at that moment.
So on the surface, my books are beach reads. But Jesus is in me like that salt, and I'm praying His message comes through the fun, sun, and fluff to strike a deeper chord in my readers.
Okay, now I want French fries!
TMI:
Diet: I exercised yesterday! Of course I also was trying to "burn the butter" (quite literally) from the shortbread I made Sunday night! Doh! Does it count that the shortbread has oatmeal in it???
Writing: I am SO lucky! My friend Jane (whose hubby is a fantastic wedding videographer) is going to take my promo pictures! She and I are trading services--she's going to use her HOT new digital camera for my pics and I'm looking over her proposal.
So all you--us!--poor writers, we should think more about what we can trade for each other.
Take card-making. Say you're terrific at it. Say I (or somebody else) need thank you cards to send to editors/agents from appointments at conferences which are personalized for my brand (I said the b-word). You offer 10 cards made to my specifications in exchange for a crit. Voila! We have traded services and spent minimal money.
I wonder if I should start a trading services section in the ACFW forum?
Comments
Write on!
Warmly,
Ann Voskamp
(I specialized in working with children)
I can't tell you how much "beach reads" met a need for rest and distraction and refreshment.
Keep writing- ;) There's someone waiting for their "fry- order";)
btw, I'm a barter & trade girl too!
I used sea salt in an unusual way last night...to soak my nose! Yep, I did it. I'm officially not part of the status quo of the CBA. My nose is pierced. Tag, you're it.
I agree with amydeanne about the thread of hope in lighter reads. It seems to me that when you can still laugh you tend to think "How bad can things be?" Great post. Thanks for sharing.
I must tell you....on a bad day there is NOTHING like a little salt!!:) thanks for the words...
Yeah, singleness can be hard but I guess over the years I've discovered through others that marriage also has a lot of problems. Maybe it was God's provision for me not to get married so that I wouldn't have someone to run out on me when the going got as bad as the pain.
But a great blog, Camy. And yes, we are to be the salt of the earth and that will still be there in any book written in and for his glory.
I am craving chips now and gotta go get some.