THE SHADOW OF YOUR SMILE - Susan May Warren - Free Book, Plus More

Susan May Warren has a new book release: The Shadow of Your Smile. Welcome, Susie. We're ready to party with you.

I know you speak at various conferences and meetings. What do you have coming up in 2012?

I love to teach aspiring novelists (and sometimes published novelists) how to write – so I’m thrilled to be teaching at a number of conferences this year!  I’ll start with our own My Book Therapy Deep Thinker’s Retreat – a specially designed 5-day intensive, intimate retreat where I help authors work on wordsmithing.  (http:deepthinkers.mybooktherapy.com) Then, in April 14-16, I’ll be teaching an intensive Advance Fiction Writing seminar in Minneapolis for the Minnesota Christian Writer’s Guild.  In May, I’ll be teaching at the annual Blue Ridge Writer’s Conference, and then I’ll take a break until August, when I teach at the Oregon Christian Writer’s Conference.  I’m thrilled to have been picked to teach a Continuing Ed Session at the annual ACFW conference this year.  I’ll also be offering our Pitch and Promotion Seminar before the conference, (an MBT event), and then I’ll finish the year with the annual MBT Storycrafter’s retreat – where we spend a weekend learning how to craft a story.  (http://storycrafters.mybooktherapy.com)  Looking forward to teaching some new classes, meeting new writers and hanging out with friends.

If you were planning a women’s retreat, what would be the theme for it?

Embracing Grace: Discovering the transforming power of God’s love.

Who would you want as speakers and why?

Hmm… Susie Larson, a friend who is an awesome speaker, and who makes me thirst for the Lord when she speaks.  And I’d like worship and prayer to be lead by my writing partner, Rachel Hauck. I’ve done retreats with her before and always come away transformed.

Sounds wonderful. I’d sign up for it. Where would you hold the retreat and why?

Maybe Florida, in February, because that’s where I have the Deep Thinker’s Retreat, and I just love getting away. But I love Colorado and I wouldn’t turn down an escape to the mountains.

Do you read print books or ebooks? Or a combination of the two?

I read both.  And I have a Kindle and a Nook.  And too many books in my house. J

That sounds like my house as well. And sometimes I’m reading manuscripts for endorsement, but I’m careful which ones I accept because of my own book contracts. Your book has an interesting title. How did you come up with it?

The Shadow of your Smile is actually a song, and when I heard the song, and the title, I just knew it would make a great book.

So what is the book about?

The story is about a woman named Noelle who is struggling with the grief of losing her beloved daughter. As the book opens, she falls during a robbery and suffers memory loss, a complete wipe of the past 25 years. Because of her grief, her husband counts it as a blessing and determines not to tell her of the daughter they lost.  Noelle begins to put her life back together, but as she discovers her life, she realizes it’s vastly different than how it’s turned out.  Worse, she discovers that Eli is keeping secrets…and the loss of their daughter is just one of many.  Can losing her memory give them a second chance at love? 

Sounds intriguing. Please give us the first page of the book.

Eli Hueston would like to live alone forever in his ice house. He could, couldn’t he? At least for four months out of the year. The house, dragged out into the middle of McFarland Lake right before Thanksgiving, now accessible only by snowmobile, had all the trappings of home sweet home.

Without the icy, impenetrable chill.

About as big as his bedroom in their two-story cape cod, the ice house contained oak cupboards, a stove, microwave oven, refrigerator, and a new HD flat screen, not to mention his submergible camera capable of monitoring the bottom of the lake, the bait and fish.

If he wanted to, he could spend the night on one of the four bunk beds, the house turning so toasty warm from the propane heat that he’d on occasion had to open one of the vents near the ceiling for air.

Of course it had facilities. Oh, and six holes for catching fish.

Which, sometimes, he did. Like today. Four perch—one a keeper—and a northern who couldn’t escape the lure of a flathead chub head jigging in front of its wide, hungry mouth.

The pike Eli had cleaned and fried up in a batter of shore lunch. He downed it with a Coke. He wasn’t the type to haul a six pack out to the woods anymore. He’d been the alcohol route, found it empty when he woke to a worse fate every morning. Besides, he’d seen too many anglers toes up from hypothermia to tempt fate by bringing alcohol out to this lonely planet.

Indeed, the smooth white of the lake, marred only by the serrated tracks of his Polaris, seemed its own constellation, the surface crystalline and shiny under the blue sky now mottled by the twilight settling over the horizon. It spilled magenta over the ice like syrup.

He could stay here all winter. And, in the summer, pull the custom-made trailer onto land, park it on the Huestons’ little undeveloped plot of land, and fish from the shore, camping out, surviving on fresh walleye, northern pike, and bass over a crackling campfire.

If only life were as easy as fishing.

I know I must read it now. How can readers find you on the Internet?

www.susanmaywarren.com

Thank you for having me on your blog today!

It’s always a pleasure to share time with you, Susie.

Readers: Enter 1/9 - 1/28. Come Back to Deep Haven and Win a $200 Visa Card from @SusanMayWarren! Sometimes love requires a little forgetting ... Come back to Deep Haven and find out what's been happening in your favorite quaint hamlet. If you're new to the Deep Haven series - this is the perfect book to start with - each book in the series is a stand alone story.

Susan is celebrating the release of The Shadow of Your Smile by giving away a prize pack worth over $200 from 1/9-1/28.

One grand prize winner will receive:

• A $200 Visa Gift Card (Use that to rekindle a little romance, treat yourself to a spa day, snap up those shoes you’ve been eyeing, or purchase a few great books!)

• The entire set of Deep Haven Books 

The winner will be announced on 1/30/12 on Susan’s blog, Scribbles! Just click one of the icons below to enter and tell your friends about Susan's giveaway on FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning.

Thanks, Susie, for allowing us to celebrate with you.

Readers, here are links to the book. By using one when you order, you help support this blog.

The Shadow of Your Smile (Deep Haven) - paperback

The Shadow of Your Smile (Deep Haven) - Kindle


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