LOST IN DREAMS - Roger Bruner - Free Book + Music CD

Welcome back, Roger. Why do you write the kind of books you do?

I write Christian fiction because that’s what I most enjoy reading. Now, if you’re asking about my specific genre, I should explain that my first two books are considered Young Adult because they have an eighteen-year-old protagonist. Nonetheless, men and women seem to enjoy them as much as teens. I don’t think of myself as a YA author. Not primarily, anyhow. I have several unpublished manuscripts that fall into the category of contemporary women’s literature and one that’s “speculative fiction.” About spiritual warfare. And because I have a weird sense of humor, I’m apt to use humor a lot in my writing.

Besides when you came to know the Lord, what is the happiest day in your life?

The day I married Kathleen. This is a second marriage for both of us. We’ll celebrate our eighth anniversary on November 4, and we still feel like newlyweds.

Actually, after almost 47 years, James and I sometimes feel like newlyweds, too. How has being published changed your life?

When I go to Christian writers conferences, unpublished writers look at me with admiration. Receiving respect from one’s peers is important, but even more so my being in a position to advise and encourage them. Being published has also given me a special relationship with local bookstore staff. I can’t say that people recognize me walking down the street or that I see my seatmate on a plane reading one of my books, but those things would give me a charge. I get the biggest charge, however, from knowing that my books are in the hands of thousands of people whose lives I’ll never have the opportunity to touch spiritually in person.

What are you reading right now?

Bill Myers was a speaker at the writers retreat I just came back from. I’m reading his book, Eli, which is a fictitious “What if Jesus had come during the 20^th century instead of in New Testament times?” I’m only forty pages or so into it, but I’m hooked. He’s as good a writer as he was a speaker and teacher.

I loved that book What is your current work in progress?

I’m writing a novel for teen boys now. Misfits is about a pair of misfit preacher’s kids who start such a rocking nonconformist movement that even the in crowd is begging to join. I’m 70,000 words into the rough draft and anticipate 20-30,000 more. Thank goodness, Harry Potter helped get teens into reading longer novels. After writing so many books from a girl’s/woman’s point of view, it’s kind of weird writing as a guy again.

What would be your dream vacation?

I’ve been to Australia on a number of mission trips and a couple of personal ones, but always with limited time and an even more limited amount of money. I’ve never made it any further west than the Blue Mountains. So I’d love to take Kathleen back to Oz with enough time and money to visit other parts of the country.

How do you choose your settings for each book?

Because Found in Translation was loosely based on my daughter’s mission trip to Mexico, that setting took care of itself. I needed to return Kim to California in Lost in Dreams because that made it easier to include one of the other characters from Found in Translation. My place settings aren’t always that important. Many of my manuscripts can take place anywhere. But they’re all contemporary. I don’t think I’d be good at trying to recreate something from an earlier period in history.

If you could spend an evening with one person who is currently alive, who would it be and why?

With the elections coming up next year and the Republicans determined to remove Mr. Obama from the White House, I’d really like to meet Herman Cain. He seems to have a number of good ideas, but I’d like to chat with him about his plans rather than simply listen to speeches and debates.

I find the debates much too artificial, so I'd love that, too. I'd like to visit individually with a couple of the candidates. What are your hobbies, besides writing and reading?

Music. I play guitar and sing, and I write my own Christian songs. I have a small digital recording setup in my music room, and you can listen to some of my songs at the Read/Listen tab on my website. My other favorite hobby is photography. Our living room walls are lined with pictures I took on various trips to Australia.

What is your most difficult writing obstacle, and how do you overcome it?

I’m a perfectionist, and my biggest obstacle is making myself accept that I’ve done all I know how to do to make a manuscript excellent—and in calling it “Done!” I have to remind myself that it’s probably good enough for the right publisher not to reject—and that further positive changes will be up to the editor.

What advice would you give to a beginning author?

Don’t try to get published too soon. It takes years to learn the craft of writing sufficiently well to get your first book published and a lifetime to keep improving and continuing to be published. My first published book, Found in Translation, won a novel competition in 2006, but it took another three years for it to become publishable. Thanks to James Scott Bell, I ended up cutting those precious, original first fifty pages and writing a new beginning. But that, in the words of Robert Frost, has made all the difference.

Tell us about the featured book.

Lost in Dreams is a continuation of Found in Translation. On the way home from her mission trip to Mexico, Kim arrives in Atlanta to find that a horrible disaster has taken place. She feels responsible, and periodic nightmares highlight a prolonged period of guilt and depression. The prospect of a mission trip to California helps to restore her, but she still has a number of issues to deal with, especially regarding her relationship with her father.

Please give us the first page of the book.

Act One

Chapter 1

“Kim! Look out!”

Aleesha’s scream almost gave me a heart attack as it split the early afternoon lull and reverberated throughout the Skyfly Departures Terminal at San Diego International Airport.

Before I could figure out what I was supposed to look out for, my feet started sliding gracelessly across the floor. Was this one of those California earthquakes I’d heard so much about?

But how could it be when I seemed to be the only object shaking or moving?

As I teetered and tottered to maintain my balance, I felt like a pedestrian who’s stepped on an unexpected patch of icy sidewalk. . .and never stopped sliding.

I didn’t have a chance to think about protecting the arm I’d broken in Mexico a couple of weeks earlier. I was too concerned with not breaking my neck this time.

Just as I stopped skating out of control and started regaining my stability, I made the mistake of shifting my weight the tiniest bit. That motion offset my center of gravity just enough to make both feet shoot out from under me. Although Aleesha had gotten close enough to grasp my unbroken arm, she couldn’t hold on to it.

I wish I could say her valiant effort served as a parachute slowing my fall, but truth be known, I probably more closely resembled a jumper whose chute has failed to open.

From a speeding, out-of-control vertical position to splattered-flat-on-the-floor in 3.353 seconds. That would be a new record for any accident-prone eighteen-year-old. It was for me.

 “Ow.” Good girl, Kim. No cursing. God cured you of that in Santa María.

How can readers find you on the Internet?

 They can find me at www.RogerBruner.com . I just put a contact form on the Contact Me tab, so they won’t even have to send email if they want to get in touch with me. I’m also on Facebook and Twitter.

Thank you, Roger, for the interesting interview.

Readers, here's a link to the book. By using it when you order, you help support this blog.

Lost in Dreams (Altered Hearts)


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BANDIT'S HOPE - Marcia Gruver - Free Book

Welcome back, Marcia. Tell us about your salvation experience.

God saved me at a very young age, eight years old to be exact. I immediately sensed that everything important had changed forever. I’d love to report that I lived a life of total surrender from that moment on, but I’m a slow learner. After too many tumultuous years away from God, we reconnected in my late twenties. I discovered that, though I’d tried to walk away, He’d been beside me all along. I made more mistakes, of course, but I’d drawn a firm line in the sand. Come what may, I wanted no part of life without Him.

You’re planning a writing retreat where you can only have four other authors. Who would they be and why?

One, an aspiring author who I would try to dissuade from this crazy writing life.

Two, a brand new author who I’d offer to mentor.

Three, a contemporary to commiserate with.

Four, an author who’s sold a million copies so I can pick his/her brain and suggest we co-author the next bestseller.

If one and three sound negative, it’s not my intent. Writing is an all-consuming profession that not many people are ready for, whether they think so or not. Those I couldn’t talk out of it belong there. Those who have already taken the plunge are well aware it’s a love/hate lifestyle fraught with highs and lows.

People are always telling me that they’d like to write a book someday. I’m sure they do to you, too. What would you tell someone who came up to you and said that?

I always tell them I’ll be glad to help. I explain the process, involving hours spent writing first drafts, poring over books on craft, checking style manuals, submitting your work to critique groups, joining online communities, attending conferences to pitch your work to editors and agents, etc. If their eyes don’t glaze with fear, I figure they must be serious.

At what point do you stop proofing and editing and call a book done?

Writers are an insecure lot. Seldom are we satisfied with our finished product. I don’t think we ever stop tweaking our work. When I skim the pages of my published novels, I find myself still editing, wishing I’d written a line a different way or twisted the plot in a different direction.

Do you think reading other authors helps you as a writer? If so, who do you read?

I believe reading anything helps me as a writer. If there’s an author out there who wasn’t a reader first, I’d like to meet them. I think loving to read is part of the writer makeup. Who do I read? There’s no space here for that list. I have my favorites that I go back to repeatedly, but I love to discover new talent. I recently judged the ACFW Genesis Contest, and if those entries are an indication of the newly emerging pack of writers, I have stiff competition at my heels.

Tell us about the featured book.

In Bandit’s Hope we discover the fate of Tiller McRae, the runaway who disappears from North Carolina at the end of Raider’s Heart. In the years after he’s gone missing, Tiller’s been up to no good, running with a ruthless band of thieves along the Natchez Trace. Desperate to change his circumstances, he runs again--this time landing on the doorstep of Bell’s Inn near Canton, Mississippi. Tiller longs to pursue a relationship with the beautiful half-breed proprietress, but knows his shady past and secret life of crime take him out of the running for her heart and hand. Despite the danger he risks in staying, he finds it impossible to leave Bell’s Inn and sweet-faced Mariah Bell.

Mariah struggles with her attraction to the young man who has taken up residence at her boarding house, because his strength is the last thing she needs. After the secret death of her father, Mariah needs a weak and spineless husband to hide behind while she carries on as the new owner of Bell’s Inn. Handsome, take-charge, Tiller McRae, with his broad shoulders and manly ways will never do.

Can Mariah and Tiller escape the consequences of deception and find a way to be together?

Please give us the first page of the book.

“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” Mark 8:36

One

Pearl River, on the Natchez Trace, June 1, 1882

Mariah Bell reached the bottom landing, stumbling under the weight of the most precious cross she’d ever had to bear. Balancing her father’s lifeless body as best she could, she reeled across the kitchen to the door she’d propped wide with her boots, a yawning gateway to the backyard and the early-morning darkness.

A breeze laden with the smell of magnolias met her at the stoop. The fragrant gust wrapped around her face, and her labored breaths sucked in the scent of the blooms. Mixed with the odor of Father’s pipe tobacco and the vile stench of his illness, the cloying wind threatened to turn her stomach.

Searching blindly with her toes, she found the top step then allowed the drag of her load to shift her forward and over the threshold. Heart pounding, her panting gasps a roar in her ears, Mariah tottered briefly at the edge of the second step.

Exhausted, she surrendered to the pull of the earth, and her trembling legs staggered wildly to the ground. When her bare feet touched the cold, wet grass, she glanced over her shoulder at the shaded windows of Bell’s Inn and whispered a grateful prayer.

If one curious lodger had peered out and caught her struggling along the hallway, knees bent beneath her unlikely burden, she’d be undone. With her clumsy gait and heavy tread, not to mention the squeaky step at the bottom of the stairs, it amazed her they hadn’t.

“Just a little farther,” Mariah whispered, a catch in her throat. “Almost there.”

If she could get Father’s remains secreted away without Mrs. Viola Ashmore, the most meddlesome woman in Mississippi, pressing her nose to an upstairs window, the unthinkable scheme might work.

Last night, the Widow Ashmore—Miss Vee, as she liked to be called—had returned from her sister’s down in Natchez. Her arrival threatened to ruin everything, and Mariah regretted the hasty decision to summon her home.

She trudged to the waiting wagon bed and eased Father down, her muscles straining from the effort to lower him gently. Clutching his nightshirt with determined fists, she lifted him aside to raise the tailgate.

Three months ago, toting him ten feet would’ve been impossible to imagine, despite her work-honed arms and sturdy Choctaw ancestry. Squinting in the moonlight at the dear face of the man who gave her life, his once burly frame reduced to a frail skeleton by the wasting disease, she bit off a cry of pain.

Not now, she ordered herself, choking on scalding tears. There’d be ample time for mourning once she hid the body. Covering up his disappearance would be another matter entirely.

From the time she’d leaned over Father’s sickbed the night before to find him still and cold, she’d known exactly what to do. She sat at his bedside until the parlor clock struck three times, long past the hour when even the restless Miss Vee had doused her lamp.

Slipping inside the barn, she’d hitched Sheki to the wagon and loaded a shovel before pulling around to the door. The hard part, the dreaded part, had been carrying Father through the house. It took all the strength she could muster, of both body and soul, but somehow she’d managed.

Mariah reached over the tailgate and smoothed his hair. “Forgive me, Aki,” she whispered. “It’s the only way.” Straightening, she wiped her eyes and steeled her trembling chin. She’d come this far, and she’d see it through.

How can readers find you on the Internet?

Your readers can learn more about me at www.marciagruver.com . I’d love to hear from them on my contact page or ‘friend’ them on Facebook.


Thank you, Marcia. I love the peek into the book. Can't wait to read it.


Readers, here's a link to the book. By using it when you order, you help support this blog.
Bandit's Hope (Backwoods Brides)


Leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book. Please tell us where you live, at least the state or territory. (Comments containing links may be subject to removal by blog owner.)

Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.

The only notification you’ll receive is the winner post on this blog. So be sure to check back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You will have 4 weeks from the posting of the winners to claim your book.

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Winners!!!

Patricia (TX) is the winner of Once Upon a Thanksgiving by Winnie Griggs.
PurlingPenny (Ontario) is the winner of When Love Gets in the Way by Janelle Mowery.
Kristie (OH) is the winner of Forsaking All Others by Allison Pittman.
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Also, tell your friends about the book and this blog. Thank you.

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Click the Contact Me link at the top of the blog, and send me an Email.

Remember, you have 4 weeks to claim your book.

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THE LADY'S MAID - Susan Page Davis - Free Book

Bio: Susan Page Davis is the author of more than thirty published novels. Prairie Dreams is her new series from Barbour Publishing. A Maine native, Susan now lives in Kentucky with her husband, Jim.

Welcome back, Susan. Tell us how much of yourself you write into your characters.

It varies. For the most part, my heroines are much younger, prettier, and braver than I am. Elise Finster, in The Lady’s Maid, shares some qualities with me. She second guesses herself, as to whether or not she’s done the right thing and whether she can protect her mistress. Her highest desire is to see those she loves safe and happy.

I just finished reading The Lady's Maid earlier today. I absolutely loved it. What is the quirkiest thing you have ever done?

I once tied a murderer’s necktie. I was reporting on the trial for a newspaper and after the lunch break I went back into the courtroom early. No one else was back yet except the defendant and his guard. The guard was trying to help the man tie his tie, but was having trouble doing it “backward.” He asked if I could tie one on another person, so I did it. Later that day, the defendant was convicted of murder.

When did you first discover that you were a writer?

When I was very young I began creating stories. As an adult, I spent many years as a nonfiction writer. Finally I decided to seriously try fiction. I sold my first short story in 2001 and my first book in 2003.

Tell us the range of the kinds of books you enjoy reading.

I’m an eclectic reader. I most enjoy true history, natural science, mysteries, historical novels, fantasy, and romantic suspense. Right now I’m reading Dinner at the St. James, by Sandra Robbins, for fiction, and The Cowboy: His Characteristics, His Equipment, and His Part in the Development of the West, by Philip Ashton Rollins, for nonfiction.

How do you keep your sanity in our run, run, run world?

I ignore the world and let it run.

Very good answer, Susan. How do you choose your characters’ names?

That’s a bad question for me because I’m awful with names. I forget real people’s names and have trouble creating fictional ones. Once I realized one of my characters was a real person—a rather public person. Had to change his name. And my son pointed out to me that one of my books had the hero and heroine named George and Laura, during the Bush administration. Changed her to Rachel.

I’ve used a lot of methods, most born of desperation: the usual baby books and phone books, census lists (for most common names in historical periods), asking people who live in a particular state for regional surnames, and begging my kids to help me. (“If you can’t help me come up with a decent name for this character, I’ll name her after YOU.” That usually works.)

In a few instances, friends and relatives asked me to use their names in books.

What is the accomplishment that you are most proud of?

My family.

If you were an animal, which one would you be, and why?

By nature, I think I’d be some reclusive, rarely seen critter, like a pine marten. But real life has made me more sociable.

What is your favorite food?

Fruit, just about any kind.

What is the problem with writing that was your greatest roadblock, and how did you overcome it?

Expectations. It took some major adjustments.

Tell us about the featured book.

The Lady’s Maid features Elise Finster, who accompanies her young mistress, Lady Anne Stone, on a voyage to America in 1855. Lady Anne’s father has died, and her Uncle David is the new Earl of Stoneford—if he steps forward and claims the title. But David disappeared into the American West when Anne was a baby. Now it’s up to her and Elise to find him. But obstacles abound. Mules, a lazy hired man, mountains, unexpected romance, and a sinister stranger stand in their way.

The Lady’s Maid is the first book in the Prairie Dreams series, and releases October 1, 2011.

Please give us the first page of the book.

 

Chapter one

January, 1855

Stoneford, near London

“Come with me, Elise. I can’t face him alone.”

            Lady Anne gripped her hand so hard that Elise Finster winced. She would do anything to make this day easier for her young mistress.

            “Of course, my lady, if they’ll let me.”

            They walked down the sweeping staircase together, their silk skirts swishing and the hems of their crinolines nudging each other. Lady Anne kept her hold on Elise’s hand until they reached the high-ceilinged hall below.

            At the doorway to the morning room, Lady Anne straightened her shoulders. A pang of sympathy lanced Elise’s heart, but she couldn’t bear this burden in the young woman’s place. Anne Stone had to face the future herself.

            “Good day, ladies.” Andrew Conrad, the Stone family’s aging solicitor, rose from the velvet-upholstered sofa and bowed. “Lady Anne, you look charming. Miss Finster.”

            Elise murmured, “Hello, sir,” while Lady Anne allowed Conrad to take her hand and bow over it.

            From near the window, a tall, angular man walked forward—Anne’s second cousin, Randolph Stone. Ten years older than Anne, the studious man lived in a modest country home with his wife and two young children and eked out a living on the interest of his father’s meager fortune. Elise gritted her teeth, a reaction he always induced in her. With effort on her part, Lady Anne never guessed how much she loathed Randolph.

            “Anne.” Stone took his cousin’s hand and kissed it perfunctorily. He nodded in Elise’s direction but didn’t greet her.

            “Randolph. I didn’t expect to see you here.” Lady Anne arched her delicate eyebrows at the solicitor.

            “Mr. Stone had some questions, and I invited him to come with me today, so I could explain the situation to both of you.”

            Lady Anne said nothing for a long moment, then nodded.

            “Er, if it pleases you, my lady, this is confidential business.” Conrad shot a meaningful glance Elise’s way.

            Elise felt her face flush, but held her ground. She wouldn’t leave until Lady Anne told her plainly to do so. Besides, he’d brought along an extra person. Why shouldn’t Lady Anne have that right as well?

            “I would like Elise to stay.” The lady smiled, but with a firmness to her jaw befitting the daughter of an earl.

            Conrad nodded. “As you wish. Shall we begin, then?”

            Lady Anne sat on the upholstered Hepplewhite settee and signaled for Elise to sit beside her. Elise arranged her voluminous skirt and lowered herself, avoiding the direct gaze of Randolph Stone. He didn’t care for her, either, and Elise knew exactly why, but she didn’t believe in letting past discord interfere with the future.

           

How can readers find you on the Internet?

Come see me at www.susanpagedavis.com

Thank you, Susan, for another interesting peek into your life and writing.


Readers, you're going to love this book. Here's a link to the book. By using it when you order, you help support this blog.
The Lady's Maid (Prairie Dreams)


Leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book. Please tell us where you live, at least the state or territory. (Comments containing links may be subject to removal by blog owner.)

Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.

The only notification you’ll receive is the winner post on this blog. So be sure to check back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You will have 4 weeks from the posting of the winners to claim your book.

If you’re reading this on Feedblitz, Facebook, or Amazon, please come to the blog to leave your comment if you want to be included in the drawing. Here’s a link.
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THE MEASURE OF KATIE CALLOWAY - Serena Miller - Free Book

Welcome, Serena. Why do you write the kind of books you do?

I write historicals because I love the research and challenge of putting myself into the mindset of a heroine from a different era.  I also write some Amish fiction because I live near the largest Amish settlement in the world, and have many friends there. I write Christian fiction because that is who I am. I add a suspense element to each book because I love a good mystery. And I always make certain my book has a happy ending because I don’t even want to read a book that doesn’t have a happy ending—let alone write one!       

Besides when you came to know the Lord, what is the happiest day in your life?

The Sunday my husband was able, after a very long illness, to once again go back to the job he loves--ministering to our beloved church.      

I totally understand that. I almost lost my husband two and a half years ago, and his recovery was long. How has being published changed your life?

I’ve discovered that I have more discipline than I ever dreamed. Real, honest-to-goodness deadlines with real, honest-to-goodness publishers, scares the pants off me. I’m extremely focused on getting that daily word count finished before I allow myself to go outside and play.

And I’ve discovered that I just love, love, love housework these days! I always pretty much despised it before. Now I find that there’s nothing like staring at a blank computer screen for a couple of hours with a deadline looming, to make scrubbing the toilet seem like a terrific idea. 

What are you reading right now?

A one-thousand page, two-volume set about the five-hundred year history of the Amish. It was written by an 82 year man who spent the past 40 years researching it. It’s hard sledding, but I’m determined to get through it.

What is your current work in progress?

Another historical that is also post Civil War and will have a tie-in with The Measure of Katie Calloway.  This one is about an impoverished immigrant girl who marries a Michigan dirt farmer and helps raise his young family in spite of the fact that he is still grieving his recently deceased wife. The working title is The Endurance of Ingrid Larsen and I will follow this “marriage of convenience” as she helps her husband and his five children survive all the hardships that defined the early settlers of the north woods. He finally realizes the value of this young woman who is quietly holding his life and family together. It will be set in 1871, the year of the great fire that swept Michigan. The main thread of the story is loosely based upon my grandmother’s life, and I have some handwritten history that I intend to weave throughout. 

What would be your dream vacation?

I have two: Taking a train ride across America in one of those expensive private rooms on Amtrak, with only my laptop and a really good idea for a book as my companion. The other one is floating down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers on the Delta Queen paddle-wheeler with my family and friends.  

They both sound like fun to me. How do you choose your settings for each book?

So far, I’ve chosen geographical locations that I’m intimately familiar with. However, the third book I’ll be writing in this north woods series will be set in Copper Harbor, which is in upper Michigan. I’m looking forward to traveling there and exploring the rich copper mining history of the area.

If you could spend an evening with one person who is currently alive, who would it be and why?

Hands down, it would be Allan Eckert, author of the Frontiersman and many other amazing historical works. I would love to sit at his feet and ask questions about how he finds and keeps track of his incredibly intricate historical research.

What are your hobbies, besides writing and reading?

You just had to ask that question, didn’t you? Did my sister put you up to this, Lena?

I have a track record with hobbies that is legendary in my family.

I used to sew—but my neck hurt, and my back hurt, and I would get a headache, and frankly, I just wasn’t any good at it. I finally came to the conclusion that life was too short to be that miserable. Then I discovered thrift stores and never looked back.

I tried to crochet an afghan for my little granddaughter, until I came to the end of my yarn supply and realized that my afghan was three feet across at one end and only a foot wide across at the other end.

I took a crack at playing the hammered dulcimer and stopped when my family started leaving the house every time I sat down to practice.

I used to get all excited about planting a garden and would put one in every spring and feel all good about myself until I would forget I even had a garden. Then my sister, the professional organic gardener, would drop by and have a good belly laugh over my lovely garden of weeds. This scenario repeated itself for several years.

I do still weave a rag rug on an old floor loom from time to time, but these days my main hobby appears to be sitting on the front porch, staring into space, hoping an idea will hit me for a good book…and trying to come up with something quick to make for dinner.    

  

What is your most difficult writing obstacle, and how do you overcome it?

Self doubt. I sort of have this little red devil with a pitchfork sitting on my shoulder, whispering into my ear that whatever I’m writing at the moment is possibly the worst thing ever written by any writer since the beginning of time. He also reads over my shoulder, and makes wise-cracks about how my editor will hate the manuscript so much, she’ll throw it in the trash and tell me never to contact her again.

     

So far, that has not happened. Instead, this year I’ve been contracted to write five more books over the next two years. The devil is a big, fat, liar.

How have I overcome it? I write even harder--just to spite him.       

What advice would you give to a beginning author?

a)  No matter how many A’s you might have made in high school or college English, assume that when it comes to writing commercial fiction, you are as dumb as dirt.

b)  Go to writers’ conferences and soak up everything you can about craft and the business from professionals who are presently in the trenches.

c)  Decide from the beginning that you are in this for the long haul and that you won’t shrivel up and die if a publisher rejects a manuscript.

d)  And—here’s something I really, really wish someone had told me—do NOT tell everybody you know, and the postman, that you are writing a book.  (Yes, I even told the postman.) Ten years down the road, when you are still struggling to get published, some of those people will be saying snarky things like: “So-- when is that book of yours going to get published?”  Or even worse, your great-aunt Tilda will decide that you are the perfect person to write her life story. Unless great-aunt Tilda was an assassin for the CIA, you’ll want to avoid that.

Tell us about the featured book.

Ah, my little Katie Calloway. Oh, how I love that girl! Okay. It’s 1867. The Civil War has ended, but Katie’s husband, a plantation-owner/soldier whose mansion was burned to the ground during General Sherman’s march to the sea, is taking his fury out on her—his “northern” wife. Afraid for her life, Katie escapes north and ends up working as a cook for a rough-and-tumble Michigan lumber camp.  Of course, the owner of the lumber camp falls in love with her, but Katie has a secret—a violent, murderous husband back in Georgia who she is afraid will someday come looking for her.

By the way, I don’t know how in the world the cover artist did it, but she so utterly captured the image of Katie on the front cover of the book—I burst into tears when I first saw it.   

I love your cover. Please give us the first page of the book.

Chapter One

A drop of rain seeped through the sodden roof of the Georgia cabin where Katie Calloway lay. The raindrop fell on her bare foot—a small, welcome kiss on her bruised and battered body.

            She had survived another night.

Maybe there was a God in heaven after all.

 

            Katie eased her head to one side, hoping not to awaken her husband, but her caution was unnecessary. Harlan was gone. Thank God.

And yet, this struck her as odd. It was rare for him to leave without first demanding breakfast, but she didn’t dwell on the fact. She was too grateful that he was no longer lying next to her. Limp with relief, she inched her body off the ancient feather tick mattress, grimacing from the pain. Harlan had been roaring drunk when he staggered home last night. With all her heart, she hoped that her orphaned eight-year-old brother, Ned, had not heard the blows she had silently endured.

            A note lay on the rickety bedside table. She reached for it, stifling a groan at the pain. Her eyes squinted as she tried to read the note in the dark cabin. There had been a time in her life when she would have lit a candle without a second thought, but candles were scarce these days. She seldom used one unless Harlan demanded it. In semi-darkness, she carried the scrap of paper outside the cabin into the faint, early morning light.

How can readers find you on the Internet?

www.serenabmiller.com

Thank you, Serena, for dropping by today.


Readers, here's a link to the book. By using it when you order, you help support this blog.
Measure of Katie Calloway, The: A Novel


Leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book. Please tell us where you live, at least the state or territory. (Comments containing links may be subject to removal by blog owner.)

Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.

The only notification you’ll receive is the winner post on this blog. So be sure to check back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You will have 4 weeks from the posting of the winners to claim your book.

If you’re reading this on Feedblitz, Facebook, or Amazon, please come to the blog to leave your comment if you want to be included in the drawing. Here’s a link.
Http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com

CHARLOTTE'S ANGEL - Carol Preston - Free Book

Welcome, Carol. I'm always glad to make a new friend from "down under." Tell us how much of yourself you write into your characters.

Probably more than I realise. Because my writing is based on my ancestors I’m always trying to identify with their circumstances and predicaments and imagine how they might react and behave, it’s likely that there’s a part of myself in all my characters. On the other hand I do draw a great deal on my counselling experience with lots of other people, in order to understand and appreciate a range of human behaviours and emotions, so I try to be intentional about making my characters varied.

What is the quirkiest thing you have ever done?

I’m smiling to myself as I read this question. I have some friends who are quite adoringly quirky and I sometimes envy their capacity for self abandonment. Generally I’m the more introverted and conservative type. In my younger days I loved to occasionally ride a motor bike – off road – in the dirt and mud. We did that every now and then as a get-away-and-relax thing. More recently my husband and I did the walk to Machu Pichu in South America, which was wonderful experience but almost killed me. I like to break out and do something that stretches me every now and then but I don’t have a long list of quirky things.                                              

When did you first discover that you were a writer?

When I was a young girl of about 10, I loved to write poetry about what was happening in my life.  That was my secret place, where I expressed all my thoughts and feelings. So perhaps that’s actually when started being a writer. In my adult life as a psychologist I was writing articles for psychological journals but I thought of myself then as a researcher or psychologist, not a writer. I guess it wasn’t until about twelve years ago, when I decided to write my family history into novels that I began to think of myself as a writer. It’s taken me some time to become comfortable with the idea of calling myself a writer.  

Tell us the range of the kinds of books you enjoy reading.

I love historical novels because I feel I’m learning something important while at the same time enjoying a story. I like biographies for the same reason. I always have a nonfiction book on the go as well, usually something on spirituality or faith. I like to be inspired and challenged in my faith walk by these. I’m also a regular reader of the Bible which is my greatest inspiration and challenge.           

                  

Occasionally I love to read a good crime story; a who-done-it, especially if it’s really cleverly written, and has a good twist.     

How do you keep your sanity in our run, run, run world?

I like to keep a good balance of quiet time, relaxation and busyness. I have an acre of garden to tend at home, so that’s often my escape from the phone, computer and people when I need it. Reading is also a place to retreat and be quiet and reflective.

I still practice counselling three days a week from home, and while that’s sometimes draining, it also takes me out of myself and focuses my thoughts on the lives of others. This more often than not makes me feel grateful for my life and I believe gratitude one of the greatest antidotes to insanity.

   

How do you choose your characters’ names?

I use the real names of my ancestors and for others who were real in their lives I often change the names slightly so there’s a bit of anonymity. For the fictional characters I choose names that were common in that era.       

What is the accomplishment that you are most proud of?

Raising a daughter and a son who are very beautiful people. I know I didn’t do this alone. My husband helped of course and certainly God was involved, as well as others who were very much part of their lives. However, I’m never more proud than when I look at my children, and appreciate who they’ve become.

If you were an animal, which one would you be, and why?

That’s a tough question. If I thought about which animal I find most appealing it would be a Golden Retriever, because I used to raise them and have owned quite a few and I think they’re adorable. They’re loving and cuddly and gentle. I think I’d like to imagine I could be like that; sort of forever childlike. However, I’m too grateful being a human being, with all the capacities and experiences that involves, to ever really contemplate being an animal. 

What is your favorite food?

Definitely chocolate!  It’s my comfort food and my reward food. I like it rich and dark.

A woman after my own heart. What is the problem with writing that was your greatest roadblock, and how did you overcome it?

I think the greatest roadblock for me was overcoming the sense that writing was self indulgent. For a long while I had the feeling that I ought to be doing something else with my time; something more productive or perhaps something that felt more like work.  I overcame that with the help of my spiritual director, who led me to a place of accepting my writing as a gift from God and possibly a  gift to those who might read what I write.

Tell us about the featured book?

Charlotte’s Angel is the sequel to my previous book, Mary’s Guardian. It   continues the story of my ancestors who were transported to Australia from England as convicts in the late 1800s. However, Charlotte’s Angel focuses on the life of a young girl born to a convict mother who was of questionable character. Charlotte grows up in a broken home, amidst violence and immorality, from which she needs to be rescued. I think it’s a story of hope and redemption, and one that applies not only to the last century but for today. 

Please give us the first page of the book.

Chapter One

Windsor, Hawkesbury River, NSW, January, 1813

In the butcher’s shop in Windsor, William Douglass was finding it difficult tocontrol his annoyance. The young woman on the other side of the counter was clearly dragging out her request for a couple of chops while she endeavoured to show off her own assets to William. She couldn’t have been much more than twenty-five years old, he decided, and was definitely looking for trouble. There were any number of men around these parts who’d respond to those flashing blue eyes and silky blonde hair with a lot more than she bargained for. What was  really hard for him to ignore was that she had a ring on her finger that indicated she was married.

‘It’s hard bein’ new in the area.’ She pouted prettily. ‘Quite lonely, really. I’m hopin’ some of the locals will be nice to me. You must know your way around these parts, eh?’ Her face lit up with a cheeky smile.

This was an invitation she’d no doubt made to any man who’d listen to her, William thought. If he hadn’t been in a work situation with his employer at the other end of the counter, he’d have given her a piece of his mind. More than old enough to be her father he was, and the thought of a daughter of his behaving in such a disgraceful manner appalled him. Of course, he had no such worry with his daughter, Elizabeth, who had been married just five months and was, in his mind, the epitome of grace and decorum. This young woman in front of him he’d likely take to with his belt, if he had the opportunity. As it was he just wanted to see her out of the shop before he exploded.

Sounds very interesting. How can readers find you on the Internet?

My web-site is  www.carolpreston.com.au  

I’m also on Facebook


Thank you so much, Carol, for dropping by my blog.


Readers, here's a link to the book. By using it when you order, you help support this blog.
Charlotte's Angel


Leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book. Please tell us where you live, at least the state or territory. (Comments containing links may be subject to removal by blog owner.)

Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.

The only notification you’ll receive is the winner post on this blog. So be sure to check back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You will have 4 weeks from the posting of the winners to claim your book.

If you’re reading this on Feedblitz, Facebook, or Amazon, please come to the blog to leave your comment if you want to be included in the drawing. Here’s a link.
Http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com

LOVE ON THE LINE - Deeanne Gist - Free Book AND A Lot of Other Fun Things

Welcome, Deanne. I always love spending time with you. Tell us about what’s been happening with your books lately.

My 2010 book, Maid to Match, was chosen by Booklist as one of the year’s Top Ten Inspirational Fiction. It won the National Readers’ Choice Award and Book Buyer’s Best. It was also nominated for a RITA, Readers’ Crown, Holt Medallion, Golden Quill, Maggie, Lories Best, and Heart of Excellence Readers’ Choice.

Love on the Line has already hit several bestseller lists, has received starred reviews, and is about a switchboard operator and a Texas Ranger who goes undercover as a telephone repairman.

How can you encourage authors who have been receiving only rejections from publishers?

I finished my first book in 1997. It wasn’t published until 2005. Then, when it came out, it was an “overnight success.” So, a rejection now doesn’t necessarily mean the work isn’t good, just that the timing isn’t right. The greatest advice I can give to an aspiring writer is: Continue to hone your craft and start on the next project.

I know what you mean. It took me 8 years to be an overnight success (in some people’s eyes). Tell us about the featured book.

Rural switchboard operator Georgie Gail is proud of her independence in a man's world…which makes it twice as vexing when the telephone company sends a man to look over her shoulder.

Dashing Luke Palmer is more than he appears though.  He's a Texas Ranger working undercover to infiltrate a notorious gang of train robbers.  Repairing telephones and tangling with this tempestuous woman is the last thing he wants to do.  But when his stakeout puts Georgie in peril, he realizes more than his job is on the line.

Sounds like a book I'll love to read. Please give us a peek inside your book.

Ding.

          Georgie Gail snatched up a switchboard cable and stuffed it into number twenty-eight. “Hello, Central.”

          “Georgie, it’s Mattieleene. How old is he? What does he look like? You have met him, haven’t you?”

          She didn’t pretend to misunderstand. “Yes.”

          The new troubleman tried to open one of the office desk drawers, but it was locked. With a great deal of satisfaction, Georgie smoothed her skirt beneath her and adjusted herself in her chair.

          “Well?” Mattieleene asked.

          “He’s big and he’s grouchy.”

          He pierced her with his gaze.

          She shifted, facing forward. She could still see him, but only in her peripheral.

          “Never say so!” Mattieleene moaned. “Is he old?”

          “Very old.”

          He jiggled the second and third drawers. Locked.

          “Is he ugly?”

          “Long in tooth and raised on sour milk.”

          Balling his fists, he placed them on the desktop and leaned against it. The fabric of his sleeves tightened around his upper arms. 

          “Oh, crumbs.” Mattieleene sounded near tears. “Why couldn’t they have sent a man with a little fur on his brisket?”

          “Party lines, Mattieleene. Anyone can hear.” And from the crackling on the line, it was a sure bet half the town was listening in.

That just moved to the top of my to-be-read pile. How can readers find you on the Internet?

a. Readers can contact me, enter contests, obtain book club ideas, and receive exclusive perks at IWantHerBook.com.

b. Any reader who’d like to spend a weekend with me can find out the details at GetawayWithDee.com.

c. I have a very active facebook community at Facebook.com/DeesCircle. The first time they visit, they can earn a Historical Novel Name by saving me from an oncoming train!

I am thrilled to introduce Georgie and Luke to the word in her latest novel, Love on the Line. To celebrate my publisher, Bethany House, is hosting the Love on the Line iPad2 giveaway an Author Chat on Facebook! Enter today and follow the link below to RSVP for Deeanne's rip-roarin' Facebook Party!

One fortunate winner will receive: 

• A Brand New iPad2 
• An Autographed Hardback Copy of Love on the Line by Deeanne Gist 

Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on November 7th. Winner will be announced at Deeanne's Author Chat Facebook Party. Deeanne will be wrapping up the Love on the Line celebration by chatting with friends new and old! So grab your copy of Love on the Line (it's okay if you don't have one yet- you might could win one!) and join Deeanne on the evening of November 8th for a rip roaring book chat, a little trivia and lots of giveaways (books, and Amazon, iTunes, and Starbucks gift certificates)!

Don't miss a moment of the fun. RSVP today and tell your friends. Hope to see you on the 8th!

Thank you, Deeanne, for the interview and the chance to win all those things.

Readers, you can also win a free copy of Love on the Line right here on this blog. And here's a link where you can order a copy.

Love on the Line

Leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book. Please tell us where you live, at least the state or territory. (Comments containing links may be subject to removal by blog owner.)

Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.

The only notification you’ll receive is the winner post on this blog. So be sure to check back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You will have 4 weeks from the posting of the winners to claim your book.

If you’re reading this on Feedblitz, Facebook, or Amazon, please come to the blog to leave your comment if you want to be included in the drawing. Here’s a link.
Http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com