Mount Hermon recap, part 4, Genesis finalists

Captain’s Log, Stardate 04.20.2006

Got a lot today, so here we go.

Continued from Mount Hermon recap, part 3:
I got a chance to get to know Sarah Anne Sumpolec better. She’s a funny, fresh firecracker of energy. Loved her. If you have teen girls, they’ll love her Beka novels.

I hooked up with my friend Donna Fleisher again. That woman is walking encouragement, let me tell ya. I’m giving away an autographed copy of her latest novel, VALIANT HOPE, on my website contest.

I met Judy Gann for the first time, and she is such a sweet, gentle, sweet woman. And did I mention how sweet she is? She gave me a copy of her devotion book, THE GOD OF ALL COMFORT, for those living with the challenges of chronic illness. Now don’t freak out, I don’t have a chronic illness, but I will always suffer from the surgeries on my knee, and she wanted to encourage me with her book. Isn’t she just da bomb?

I hung out and made mischief with my friend Charise Olson, who lives down the road from the Mount Hermon campgrounds. She got great feedback on her missionary women’s fiction novel from both Mick Silva (Waterbook) and agent Steve Laube. The funniest part of the conference was when she “discovered” her tagline: “Having a good day? I can fix that.”

I got to see Lynette Sowell again! She’s such a sweetheart. I didn’t get a chance to talk much with her, but I hope she had a great conference. This was her first time at Mount Hermon.

My friend Randy Ingermanson was mentoring at the Fiction Mentoring Clinic. We spent many late night hours with the rest of the Night Owls in the coffee lounge: Dineen Miller, Rich Bullock, Brandilyn Collins, Steve Laube, Meredith Efken, John Olson, Lynn Thompson, and a rotating cast of Others.

I got a chance to hug Gayle Roper—I love that woman.

I went out to dinner a couple times, once with Charise, Cyndy Salzmann, Pamela Dowd, Janet Lynn Mitchell, Patti Hill, Cathy Elliott, and Katherine Hyde. We went to Riva Fish Market and I had FRIED FOOD! Yum! I wept because I had to leave several large pieces of calamari, shrimp and a scallop on my plate.

Susan Meissner won Writer of the Year! In celebration, I will see if I can get an interview with her on my blog and give away a few of her books.

Tomorrow: How I made a brand-new acquaintance cringe.

It is my great pleasure to announce the 2006 Genesis contest Category Finalists!

Contemporary Romance:
Kaye Dacus
Annette M. Irby
Glynna Sirpless
Kristian Tolle
Betty Woods

Historical Romance (there was a 3-way tie):
Janet Dean
Andree Eisenberg
Charlene Glatkowski
Pat Gonzales
Audra Harders
Lisa Marie Nelson
Donna Robinson

Romantic Suspense:
Anita K. Greene
Kelly Irvin
Robin Miller
Kelly Ann Riley
Jill Eileen Smith

Mystery/Suspense/Thriller:
Alice Loweecy
D'Ann Mateer
Sandra Moore
Wayne Scott
Cheryl Wyatt

Science Fiction/Fantasy/Speculative Fiction (there was a 2-way tie):
Beth Goddard
Rebecca Grabill
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Mirta Ann Schultz
Sherry Thompson

Women's Fiction:
Janice LaQuiere
Erin Keeley Marshall
Marian Merritt
Ane Mulligan
Julie Saffrin

General Fiction (includes General Historical, Multicultural, Young
Adult, Contemporary Fiction, Chick-Lit):
Mary Ann L. Diorio
Mike Ehret
Heidi Gennaro
Lynne Gentry
Christina Miller

My heartfelt congratulations to all the Category Finalists!

Toilet seat cover

Captain’s Log, Supplemental Update August 2008: I wrote up the pattern for this with "improvements"! Here's the link to my No Cold Bums toilet seat cover ! Okay, remember a few days ago I was complaining about the cold toilet seat in my bathroom? Well, I decided to knit a seat cover. Not a lid cover, but a seat cover. I went online and couldn’t find anything for the seat, just one pattern for the lid by Feminitz.com . However, I took her pattern for the inside edge of the lid cover and modified it to make a seat cover. Here it is! It’s really ugly stitch-wise because originally I made it too small and had to extend it a couple inches on each side. I figured I’d be the one staring at it, so who cared if the extension wasn’t perfectly invisible? I used acrylic yarn since, well, that’s what I had, and also because it’s easy to wash. I’ll probably have to wash this cover every week or so, but it’s easy to take off—I made ties which you can see near the back of the seat. And...

I sold to Steeple Hill!

Captain's Log, Supplemental Remember that romantic suspense proposal I blogged about earlier? Well, it just sold to Steeple Hill’s Love Inspired Suspense line! I am so jazzed! I am beyond jazzed! The story’s working title is Sinister Spa The story's title is Deadly Intent and here’s a blurb (but it’s probably not what will appear on the back of the book): Massage therapist Naomi Grant could use a massage herself. With her father at home recovering from a stroke, Naomi is put in charge of the family’s elite day spa in Sonoma county. The new responsibilities sit awkwardly on her shoulders, and things only get worse when handsome Dr. Devon Knightley breezes into the spa, demanding to see one of the female clients. And the woman is found dead in Naomi’s massage room. Suddenly, Naomi is a suspect and her family’s spa is shut down. How could God let this awful thing happen? Devon only needed to see his ex-wife about a family necklace she still hadn’t returned, but when she dies and...

I got my cover!

Captain’s Log, Supplemental Blog book giveaway: To enter, go to the blog links below and post a comment there. Eyes of Elisha by Brandilyn Collins Tangerine by Marilynn Griffith I GOT MY COVER!!!! What do you guys think?

Excerpt - A HUNDRED YEARS OF HAPPINESS by Nicole Seitz

Captain's Log, Stardate 03.05.2009 Update: Sorry, this giveaway is closed. A Hundred Years of Happiness by Nicole Seitz A beautiful young woman. An American soldier. A war-torn country. Nearly forty years of silence. Now, two daughters search for the truth they hope will set them free and the elusive peace their parents have never found. In the South Carolina Lowcountry, a young mother named Katherine Ann is struggling to help her tempestuous father, by plunging into a world of secrets he never talks about. A fry cook named Lisa is trying desperately to reach her grieving Vietnamese mother, who has never fully adjusted to life in the States. And somewhere far away, a lost soul named Ernest is drifting, treading water, searching for what he lost on a long-ago mountain. They're all longing for connection. For the war that touched them to finally end. For their hundred years of happiness at long last to begin. From the beloved author of The Spirit of Sweetgrass...

Cover Reveal + New Logo for Year of the Dog, a Mahina Security Novel

A New Look for Year of the Dog (and a Behind-the-Scenes Oops!) What do a dog trainer, a security expert, and a nearly-naked book cover have in common? Let me explain. 😅 Year of the Dog is the first book in my Christian romantic suspense series, Mahina Security, set in beautiful (and sometimes dangerous) Hawaii. It features quirky humor, family tensions, sweet romance, and a mystery involving a missing person—and it’s now available to read in the Christian suspense anthology, Danger in the Shadows , on Kindle Unlimited ! But before that happened, I had a bit of a cover mishap… While creating the ebook cover, I realized that the original stock photo made my heroine look, well, completely nekkid. 😳 She’s actually wearing a tube top in the image, but when I cropped it for the ebook, the top disappeared—leaving her looking very PG-13. To fix it, I did some Canva magic on a strappy top from another image and stuck it onto the model (so she’s decent now). But when I resize...

Search This Blog