Under a Starry Sky

Every year my church does a program called A Festival of Carols with choir, orchestra and drama. I always participate in the choir, but this year I had the opportunity to act in the drama. I hadn't done any acting since I was in high school so it was fun to get the opportunity to do this again. As an added bonus, I got to act with my husband and son, and my daughter and sister were in the choir. I even got to sing two duets with my husband. We've been singing together since before we even started dating (20 years ago) so it's something I absolutely love to have the chance to do.

The story was that my character, Melody, is excited to finally be able to have a Christmas with her husband employed so she can help others, buy gifts for the kids, etc. Unfortunately, she comes home to find that her husband has been let go. In anger, hurt, sadness and frustration, she storms off and gets in a sort of dream-like time warp thing that sends her back to Bethlehem.

She meets Mary's mother first who reminds her that everyone is on a journey and that we need to trust God. Then she meets an angel (a part of the M.O.T.H.H.s - Multitude of the Heavenly Hosts) who teaches her that, although God could incinerate all of humanity because of our fallen state, instead He opted to show us some love. Finally she meets a shepherd who takes her to the manger, but Melody is so caught up in her own problems that she completely turns her back on Jesus. The shepherd teaches her that God thinks he's "somethin'" and how precious it was that he got to see his Savior.

At this point, Melody has had enough and fully breaks down. She finds herself in a "limbo" state where she can see and hear both the past and present, but can't get to either one. She yells at God about why she's been put through all of this, being open in her pain and anger. Eventually, she realizes that she completely missed Jesus because she had been too wrapped up in her own issues. She tries to go back, but can't and ends up falling on her knees. She asks God to forgive her and thanks Him for His gift and His love. At this point, she is finally transported back home to find that the choir has come with gifts, food, and a lot of love.

While acting was a lot of fun, the thing I loved the most about this experience was seeing how it affected the people who came. I had so many people come up and tell me about how the story had spoken to them, some of them in tears. Some people were touched by the situation, because they've been in the same place. Others could relate to Melody shaking her fist at God and yelling at Him. Still others realized that they had often turned their back on Jesus figuratively when they were going through their own issues or had gotten caught up in the gifts, busyness, stress of the season and had left Jesus out of it.

There was one part that brought real tears to my eyes every night. It was when Melody realizes just how much God loves her and how little she deserves that love. Even writing it now, my eyes are tearing up. God's love isn't a romantic love, even though I am part of the bride of Christ. The love I'm talking about isn't even the paternal love He has for us, even though I can call Him Abba Father. I'm talking about the love that the God of the universe, the Almighty, sovereign, omnipotent, holy, King of kings can demonstrate for a weak, insignificant, sinful, human like me. It's that unconditional agape love - a love that I don't think humans can fully grasp. In the words of Harvey, the shepherd, "To think, God loves me. To think, He thinks I'm somethin'!" I don't know why God loves me, but I'm so thankful He does.

This Christmas I am so thankful for the love God showed us by sending His Son to earth. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16). Most preschoolers can recite that verse, but oh friend, it's so true! He LOVED us! He still does. It was love that prompted Him to sacrifice His Son, send Him to earth in human form, suffer and die. Why? So we can be reconciled to Him, forgiven from our sins and one day live with Him. It was worth the cost to Him because of His great love for us.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas! Spend some time this day thinking about the love that God showed when Jesus came to earth. He loves you and He thinks you're somethin'.

What's in a Name?

My mom doesn't like the main character's name in my new series. She accused me of using a random name generator to name her, which I have done before, but I also don't just use the first name that pops up, and I usually only use it for minor characters. However, I didn't use a random name generator for her name, but there was a method behind my madness. This whole conversation got me thinking about how I do name my characters. It was surprising how many different methods I've used to name my characters.

In the KW Consulting series, Kate and Isabelle sort of named themselves. I don't know how else to describe it. One day when I was thinking about the characters, those names popped up, and they fit. That was the end of it. There was no debate, because it was who they were.

Georgia also named herself, but I fought it. I didn't like the name, didn't want it, but it was her name. It wasn't until I started writing her story in Smell the Roses that I realized that her dad's name was George, and she was named after him. And yes, I know that I'm the author and technically I should know these things, but I swear that sometimes my stories have a life of their own. I had no idea that was why her name was Georgia. It was definitely an "aha" moment when I figured it out.

Brooke was a little different. I knew she was a former model, and I thought of women like Brooke Burke and Brooke Burns, and that led to the creation of Brooke Bailey. It just seemed to be the right name.

Christmas Angel needed an angelic name, but not one that was completely obvious like Angel. So I combined two Christmas carols. Angels We Have Heard on High gave her the first name of Gloria and Hark! The Herald Angels Sing gave her the last name of Herald. Thus Gloria Herald was named. I have to admit, her name makes me happy, even now.

So now I'm starting a new series focusing on different holidays. The owner of the bed-and-breakfast's name is Carol Noel Holliday (this isn't the name that mom can't stand). Carol was born on Christmas day, and some family history played into her name a bit. Joel's grandma was a Christmas baby, too, and her name was Carol. I liked the way it fit with the season, but again, wasn't blatantly obvious.

Now for the name that has brought about all this reminiscing. The main character of my new book is called Willa Newman. The holiday the book centers on is New Year's (which is why I'm hoping for a January publication) so obviously her last name had to have "new" in it somewhere. But it's Willa that has caused the trouble. In the story line, Willa makes a resolution that sort of alters her course. Willa means "resolved" and that's where her name comes from.  So as you read my new book (next month?) you now have a little insight into where the names came from, and hopefully, it will make you look a little more favorably on them.

Missed Goal

When this year began, I had three writing goals. The first was to finish the KW Consulting series. That goal happened, and Always a Bridesmaid was published in September. It was a wonderful moment to see this series finish, and yet sad at the same time to leave behind these wonderful characters. I enjoyed writing this final book, but it took me a long time to write it - longer than I had originally guessed it would. 

My next goal was to start my next series, and I did that. I have finished the first book of a new series that will be set at a bed-and-breakfast called Holliday Hotel. My edits are completed and it's been sent to my faithful editors. I'm hoping that it will be published in January, but again, it took longer than I expected, and I am not giving my poor editors much time to go through it - especially considering that it is such a busy time of the year. 

My final goal was to write another Christmas novella. This one, I completely missed. Since Always a Bridesmaid and the new book took longer than I had planned for, I simply ran out of time. I've already been told by my mom and my Grandma Larsen that they would both really like me to get a Christmas novella out next year, and I promise it's on my list of things to do. I really enjoyed writing Christmas Angel last year, and I had planned to get one done this year, but somehow the time slipped away faster than I had anticipated. (If you haven't read my Christmas novella, you can purchase it at Amazon.com for just $0.99.) 

So I made two of my three goals, which isn't too bad. I would have been happy to announce that I had completed them all, but I guess it was just too much. So my goals for next year? Complete the second book of the Holliday Hotel series and write a Christmas novella. If I have time for something else, it'll be a bonus. 

I'm looking forward to introducing you to my new series with new characters. I have fallen in love with them already, and I can't wait to see where this series goes! While you're waiting for the new series, go ahead and finish up KW Consulting with Always a Bridesmaid and read (or reread, like my mom did) Christmas Angel. 

Always a Bridesmaid

Christmas Angel

Advertising

I think the hardest part for me as a self-published author is the lack of advertising. There are so many books on Kindle that it's easy to get lost. I get good reviews, but I get few reviews. I know there are people who won't buy a book with less than thirty reviews and all of my books have less than twenty.

In an attempt to advertise, I printed up some cards (shown above) with my books on them. I was going to be selling some homemade items that a few of us had made at a craft fair at my church and I thought it would be the perfect time to try to spread the word about my books. Since the craft fair was a Christmas craft fair, I decided to make the primary focus on my Christmas novella from last year, Christmas Angel (link below). On the back, I put my KW Consulting series. I printed eighty cards. I think I handed out less than ten. I really am a terrible advertiser. I hate promoting myself. It's so awkward. I'm terrible at it.

So my first attempt to advertise was - well, not great. Yet, I know that I should do more. So what do I do? My next attempt may not be any better, but in January I'm going to start an author Facebook page. My plan is to have drawings for people who like and share the page, give away prizes at times and try to keep everyone updated on sales and progress. I wish I could give away copies of my books, but since they're in ebook format, that's a little hard to do so instead, I'll probably give away Amazon gift cards and fun little gifts that I find.

My question to you, is this: how would you advertise? Have you ever had to advertise and found something that worked really well? I would love to hear how others have done it, because this is definitely not my strong suit. I guess it's just all part of the learning process.

Christmas Angel