April Showers Bring May Books

 

Hello Readers!

April Showers bring May...Books! Right?! 

I have partnered up with Celebrate Lit Publicity to do an amazing giveaway just for you for the opportunity to shower one winner with books!

I want you to have a chance to win 40+ books or a $500 Amazon card to buy a ton of books yourself in Celebrate Lit's 3rd Annual April Showers Bring May Books Giveaway.

Click here to enter: https://promosimple.com/ps/1b04a/2022-april-showers-bring-may-books

The event and giveaway is going on now through April 16

Pursuing My Dream

    It's been about ten years since I self-published my first book. Being an author is full of ups and downs, encouragement and discouragement, pride and self-doubt. For the past few years, I'll admit that I've been content to continue in the path that I had been in. Hopefully, there is still improvement in my writing itself, but I haven't been pursuing traditional publishing. Until recently.

    I came across an opportunity. Love Inspired, the inspirational division of Harlequin Press, was looking for new authors. To be considered I simply needed to submit a query letter, a synopsis, and the first chapter of a book. If they were interested, they would request a full manuscript. If they liked that, I would be considered for publication. It was worth trying at least. I had nothing to lose. 

    A few weeks ago, I submitted the required elements. Yesterday I received the response. "We have read this with great interest and there’s lots to love in your writing. Despite this, . . . " And there is was. I'll admit that I tend to be a pessimist. If I have low expectations, then I won't be disappointed. So when I sent it in, I told myself that it wasn't going to happen. When I got the rejection, it amazed me that I was actually okay with it. 

    For one thing, I have the first chapter of what will be this year's Christmas novella written. Maybe they don't want it, but I know that it's going to be a good story, and nothing is preventing me from telling it. 

    Another reason is that I trust that God has a plan for me and my writing. For right now, publishing traditionally is not in His plans for me. Maybe someday it will, but for now, His answer is no. God can still use my work for His honor and glory. In some ways, I have more freedom in what I write because I self-publish. 

    I had hoped that they would at least want my full manuscript or that if they gave me a rejection, they would be specific with why they didn't chose it. Neither of those happened. Still I put my work out there for the first time in a long time. I know that rejection is part of being an author, and I feel like I was able to handle it well. 

    Being a writer is not easy. I'll admit that there are times that I want to quit. For now, I'll keep going and trust that God has a plan for me that is better than the plans I have in mind for myself. 

  Photo by Suzy Hazelwood: https://www.pexels.com/photo/black-typewriter-machine-typing-on-white-printer-paper-1303835/

Hop Into Spring Giveaway

 Hello Readers!

Spring is coming! Flowers are blooming, the weather is warming, and it's a beautiful time to be outside. To honor you and the coming of spring, I have partnered up with Celebrate Lit Publicity to do an amazing giveaway just for you!

I want you to have a chance to win 45+ books or a $500 Amazon card to buy a ton of books yourself in Celebrate Lit's 3rd Annual Hop into Spring Giveaway.

Click here to enter: https://promosimple.com/ps/1a2bc/2022-hop-into-spring

The event and giveaway is going on now through March 19.

 

The Missing Ingredients

 Divisive. That seems to be a key word in the past couple of years. Politics, masks, vaccines, policies, schooling, and countless other details of life are places where we can make our stand, have our voice heard, and prove our point. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. We need to be able to take a stand for right, to uplift the downtrodden, and to spread the gospel of Jesus. Yet when I see people taking a stand, there seems to be some missing ingredients.

We get so hung up on our opinions, on the facts and data, on being right, that we forget that there is a person on the other side of our argument. People fling hateful words around criticizing and condemning people who don't think exactly like them forgetting that their words hurt. It's easy on social media and the internet to be anonymous, to not have to see and confront the hurt our words have caused. 

The Bible is clear on how to handle these issues. "Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will." (2 Timothy 2:23-26) Kindness. Gentleness, Patience. Not easy, no, but as children of God we should be producing this fruit as evidence of the Holy Spirit. It is only through the Spirit that we can produce these traits especially when we are facing difficult times. There's a purpose to it though. Our main goal should not be to win the argument, to prove that we are right and they are wrong, but our goal should be that they will have a "knowledge of the truth" and "escape from the snare of the devil".

In 1 Corinthians 13 we see another missing ingredient. "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing." (1 Corinthians 13:1-3) Love. You can have tremendous spiritual gifts, amazing talents, but if it's done without love, it's worthless. After all, the two greatest commandments according to Jesus are to love God and love others. Are we loving those on the other side of our argument or do we hate them? Are our words filled with love, or are they meant to hurt and cause anger? 

If in this world filled with malice, spite, anger, and arrogance, we as Christians could lean into the Holy Spirit and exhibit love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control we would stand above the others as beacons of light - a city on a hill. Can you imagine what a difference it would make? What if instead of firing off verbal shots aimed to hurt, we treated those who disagreed with us with patience and kindness? What if instead of retaliating, we exhibited self-control? What if we were able to calmly explain our position with gentleness? What if in the midst of the chaos we had peace and joy? What if as others yelled hateful things at us, we showed them love beyond comprehension? We can't do it on our own. We need God's help, and then He would be glorified. Our goal in the middle of all the disagreements in this life should not be to win the argument. It should be to bring others to know Christ.

Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Photo by Monstera from Pexels

We Love Our Readers Giveaway

 

Hello Readers!

We are so thankful for all your love and support through the year!

To show you how much, I have partnered up with Celebrate Lit Publicity to do an amazing giveaway where you can win a spectacular prize of over 45 books or a $500 Amazon gift card to buy books you love to build up that TBR pile!

Be sure to enter Celebrate Lit's 4th Annual We Love Our Readers Giveaway going on now through February 19!

Enter here: https://promosimple.com/ps/15bf6/2022-we-love-our-readers-multi-author

New Year, New Meh

 

Maybe the last couple of years have been too tough, or maybe last year ended on such a sour note that it already has effected the new year, but there wasn't a lot of joy for me heading into 2022. Usually the new year brings a certain amount of anticipation, hope that things will be better, or that things will fall into place. I experienced none of that with the changing of the calendar.

In fact, I probably entered this year with a healthy dose of skepticism, and whole lot of angst, and if I'm honest, in a state of depression. Nothing will change. It will only get worse. There is no hope. 

I didn't realize how hard the last couple of years had been on my mental health. After all, my family has been relatively healthy, our jobs were secure, we didn't have a lot of struggles that we witnessed around us, so who am I to complain? I'm blessed. How can I be stressed? Then I went to a trauma conference. They talked about how normally people experience stress daily and it's a little hill that quickly recedes. Someone who has experienced trauma has more of a spike when stress comes along and they are unable to recover easily, so they sit in this state of stress and depression until their body can regulate and go back to normal. As soon as I saw the graphic, I realized that I had been spiking over and over and over again the past two years. 

On top of that, the year ended in a way that absolutely plunged me into depression. My life will never be the same, and I don't know how to cope. While I'm the first person to say that there is no shame in seeking help, I'm the last person to admit that I need help. Instead I heap more guilt on myself. You're so blessed! How could you be so ungrateful? You should be able to fix this! What's wrong with you? If that weren't enough, I don't even know how to go about finding help. And that makes me even more depressed and more stressed because I have no idea where to even start and for goodness sake why can't I even do that right?

So, how did 2022 start? My classroom added a new student and it completely shifted the dynamic of my already chaotic class. On top of that, my husband started the year off sick for probably a week and a half to two weeks which left me frustrated (I'm a terrible nurse) and feeling very alone as we isolated to try to keep the rest of us well. And now, in spite of isolating, I'm sick, and back in isolation away from my entire family. My illness happened near my oldest child's 18th birthday so there's also a certain amount of guilt at 'ruining' what ought to have been a special event.  

And now you might be wondering why you're reading such a depressing post. Is there any light, any hope, any lesson to be learned in the middle of my mess? Of course there is.

I am slowly learning to ask for help. I am looking for counseling. I am working through some of the issues that hit so hard at the end of last year. In fact, it's no coincidence that my church's women's Bible study to start this year is Forgiving What You Can't Forget by Lysa Terkeurst. Yeah, God practically put neon lights around that one for me. 

I even have some goals for this year. I'm hoping to publish at least two more books this year - one more in the Holliday Hotel series and another Christmas novella. I heard of another publishing opportunity that I'm going to pursue. I don't know how that opportunity is going to go, but I'm praying. In my classroom, I am focusing on baby steps both academically and relationally. For my family, I am working on being a better wife and mother. I think I've let my moods challenge my relationship with my husband and children the last couple of years, and I want to repair what I can. 

Maybe I don't have a word for the year, a resolution, or a verse, but that doesn't mean I'll remain stagnant this year. God is working in me. He has me in a place where I need Him, a place where my weakness will demonstrate His strength. He is always faithful, always good, and He never, ever gives up on me. Everything I go through is an chance to grow, to become the masterpiece He sees when He looks at me.

Happy New Year Multi-Author Giveaway

 Happy New Year Readers!

We are so thankful for all your support

throughout the year!

To show you how much, I have partnered up with Celebrate Lit Publicity to do an amazing giveaway where you can win a spectacular prize of over 50+ books or a $500 Amazon gift card to buy books you love to build up that TBR pile!

Be sure to enter Celebrate Lit's 2nd Annual Happy New Year Readers Giveaway going on now through January 15!

Enter here: https://promosimple.com/ps/14293/2022-happy-new-year-multi-author