Summer Kick Off Giveaway

 

Hello Readers!

Summer is here, kids are out of school, and the beach is calling! No better time to pick up your favorite book to read in the lounge chair! To help you build up that summer TBR pile,  I have partnered with Celebrate Lit for a giveaway just for you!

Here is your chance to win 35 books or a $500 Amazon card to buy a ton of books for yourself in Celebrate Lit's Summer Kick Off Giveaway!

Click here to enter: https://promosimple.com/ps/25563/2023-summer-kick-off

The giveaway is going on now through June 18.

Reclaiming Mother's Day

 

I had the best Mother's Day this year! In the past, I've struggled with this holiday (and I've written blog posts about that as well), but this year, I reclaimed it. 

At the end of last year's celebration, I was sitting in a chair, and I sighed. "I hate Mother's Day." To my surprise my teenaged son said, "Me, too." It shocked me, and I realized that I needed to reverse this quickly, or my issues were going to carry down to the next generation, and I didn't want that! The reason why my son hated it is because he felt like nothing they did was good enough for me. (How's that for hitting you in the gut?) But my dislike of the day had nothing to do with my children or their gifts, yet he couldn't see that. 

No, it had to do with the way that we celebrate the holiday in my family. Basically, the oldest mom in the family gets to decide what we're doing, and usually the moms end up cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the kids with a gift thrown in for good measure. I hated it! But saying that felt selfish, so now on top of hating it, I felt guilty which only made me hate it more. 

As I talked with other moms, I realized that I wasn't alone. This is a holiday that often is celebrated in a way that is the exact opposite of how most mothers would like to spend the day that is supposed to be honoring them.

I looked at my kids and knew I was going to do something different. My oldest is in college. I only have a few years left with my kids before they leave and start their own families. So I booked a weekend getaway for me, my husband, and our children. No one else. We went to a small mountain town, stayed in a cabin with the scent of pines and the tinkling of a small creak in the air. We played games, watched a movie, went for a hike, and it was absolutely lovely! 

Here's my opinion. Mother's Day should be about the mothers who are still in the trenches, who are still taking care of their kids day in and day out. Yes, I appreciate my mother, my mother-in-law, and my grandmother. Yes, I value them and want to honor them. But in the process of honoring them, I feel like I've lost nineteen years of Mother's Days, because the holiday was about them, and no one cared about me or what I wanted. (And yes, I know that's not completely true, but that's how it felt.) 

I think grandparents day should be a bigger deal than it currently is. I think we need to shower the grandparents on that day, and not just leave it to the schools to do a little something. When we can do that, then we can reserve Mother's Day (and Father's Day) for those with kids at home.

This year I told my kids that when they have their own children, I only want them to come see me on Mother's Day if that is their choice. I want them to do what they want to do to celebrate without any thought for what I want. If they want to give me the grandkids so they can nap and binge watch TV without being interrupted, you better believe I'm happy to do that. If they want a date night with their spouse, just tell me when you want me to babysit, and I'm glad to do it. If they want to take the family out and do something together, good! Enjoy the time! It goes by fast! The fact is, that I had my time, and I missed it. I don't want my children to miss it, too.

Photo by Lisa Fotios: https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-photo-of-a-person-s-hand-holding-a-white-mug-4284177/

Thank you!

     You are amazing! There are so many simple things that you do that make me smile and I want to thank you for all of them!

1. You read my books. I don't care if you purchased it, borrowed it, or won it in a giveaway, an author is nothing without readers! Thank you for taking a chance on me. 

2. You write reviews. Reviews make such a difference for an author. It makes me smile when I read what you thought about my books. Even a short review makes a big impact. Thank you for your honest feedback.

3. You tell others. People enjoy trying books that have been recommended by friends. That's worth more than paid advertising to me. Thank you for telling others about my books.

4. You follow me. I just recently reached the milestone of having 1,000 followers on Facebook and Instagram! I'm absolutely blown away by that! Thank you for following me on my journey.

5. You participate on my social media. This one seems strange, I know, but every time you comment on a post, enter a giveaway, like or share a post it increases my visibility to others. But more than that, I love interacting with you and when I see your name come up over and over again it makes me feel like I get to know you a little bit better every time. Thank you for participating!

I'm so blessed by all your kind words, your encouragement, and your thoughtfulness! You are wonderful and I just had to take a moment to thank you for all that you have done for me. 

In case you missed it, I am doing a big giveaway right now to celebrate having 1,000 followers. If you are on Facebook, you can enter here: https://www.facebook.com/CourtneyLymanauthor or if you're on Instagram you can enter here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CrddDFruYYD/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link. And if you happen to be on both - go ahead and enter on both! 

Thank you again and again for your support! I love you guys, and I'm looking forward to seeing what God has in store in the future!

April Showers Giveaway

 

Hello Readers!

Spring is here, so the snow will be starting to melt soon, and it is the perfect time to sit outside and soak up those rays while reading a good book! I have partnered with Celebrate Lit for a giveaway just for you to build up that spring TBR pile!

Here is your chance to win 35 books or a $500 Amazon card to buy a ton of books for yourself in Celebrate Lit's April Showers Bring May Flowers.

Click here to enter: https://promosimple.com/ps/246f2/2023-april-showers-bring-may-flowers

The event and giveaway is going on now through April 23.

Rivals

 

Recently, my husband and I took a trip with my parents and my friend to go to the PAC-12 Men's Basketball Tournament in Las Vegas. Both my husband and I graduated from the University of Arizona, and we're all big Wildcat fans. 

The very first night, the couple on right in the picture above came and sat next to us wearing gear for our arch rivals - the Arizona State Sun Devils. All of us inwardly groaned thinking about four straight days of basketball sitting side by side with our 'enemy'. But we couldn't have been more wrong!

We found out that they're a house divided with her rooting for ASU and him rooting for the U of A. We were shocked that they could make such an arrangement work. They both cheer for the other's team until they play each other - then it's every man/woman for themselves. 

Our teams did end up playing against each other during the tournament. I always try to be a considerate fan to those around me, knowing how much I hate when others are mean-spirited to opposing fans, but getting to know them made me be extra careful about how I cheered on my team. Both of us have bad stories of the other team's fans being rude, and it was so refreshing to be able to sit side by side in companionship even during an intense rivalry game. 

They come to the tournament every year, and shared their knowledge with us. Before the championship game, she told us that they sell the shirts that they give the winning team right after the game, but if you don't get down there quickly, they sell out. She then offered to go down with two minutes left in the game if it looked like the Wildcats would win and get the shirts for all of us, so that we could enjoy the celebration afterwards. True to her word, even though the game was a close one, she left with two minutes left to be first in line and watched the rest of the game on the televisions in the walkways. Because she didn't have a strong allegiance to either team in the championship game, it wasn't a big deal for her to miss out on the last couple minutes, but it meant the world to us. In the picture above, we're all wearing the shirts that she graciously got for us.

After the arena emptied, we walked through crowds of celebrating Wildcat fans. Everywhere we went we got asked where we got our shirts. We felt like celebrities and joked that we were going to make the story of how we got our shirts our 'fish' story that grew to exponential proportions every time we told it. 

Rivalries in sports can be heated, but it can also be an area where friendships grow - and can be a way to show the love of God to others. It made me think of how we often create rivalries where none need to exist. We compare ourselves to that other mom who seems to have it all together and they become our rival. Or we compare our ministry to somebody else's and feel like they get more accolades for their service. In our jobs, we can definitely feel competitive with others as they get promoted or recognized. For me, it would be easy to see writers that I met at a conference get publishing contracts, and feel some jealousy. 

It doesn't need to be this way though. God puts us where we are, gifts us in the way He determines, and has a plan for each of us that is unlike anybody else. Our new friends showed me that rivals can be respectful and friendly while working together to accomplish a goal. If it works this well in something as simple as being kind spectators at a sporting event, how much more could it work if we practiced it in everyday life?

Hop into Spring Giveaway

 

Hello Readers!

Are you gearing up for spring? I am, and I'm excited to feel the warmer weather! With that in mind, I have partnered with Celebrate Lit for a giveaway just for you to build up that spring TBR pile!

Here's your chance to win 40 books or a $500 Amazon card to buy a ton of books for yourself in Celebrate Lit's Hop into Spring Giveaway.

Click here to enter: https://promosimple.com/ps/2430f/2023-hop-into-spring

The giveaway is going on now through March 18.

Writing Tools

 I'm so thankful to be writing in an era that has so much information at my fingertips. We all know the power of a good internet search for authors. I've looked up things like average temperatures in certain locations, checked to make sure my fictional town is indeed fictional, and found out symptoms for diseases. In my current work in progress, I've had to look up information about a specific surgery and the recovery time. It is incredibly helpful! I can't imagine trying to write before the internet and having to leave home to do research - exhausting!

There are a couple of other tools besides generic internet searches that I use frequently that people might not consider. The first is behindthename.com/random. Sometimes naming characters is easy, but sometimes it's more difficult. This website allows me to set some parameters and then randomly generates names from which to choose. If I want some specific ethnic names, I can select that and get a list (including surnames) that I can use for my characters. I used this in Maui Christmas because I wanted traditional Hawaiian names that were also not super common. For minor characters, I might use it if nothing is coming to mind for the name. Plus, it's a lot of fun - at least for a nerd like me who loves names.

Another tool that I've only recently begun to use is houseplans.net. I can't always picture a floor plan in my mind. It's very vague to me which makes it difficult to write. I discovered this tool when working on A Groom for Christmas so that I could find a little mountain cabin for Bryce's grandma. Since then, I use it often. I can select regional areas and styles of homes, and then select the one that I think fits best. It's fantastic! (If you want to see the floor plan I'm using in my upcoming Holliday Hotel book, you can click here) 

Not only are these sites useful, they're also fun to play around in. I can waste a lot of time looking up names or houses. Do you know of any other tools that writers use? I'd love to hear about them if you do! 

Technology is a blessing for research. It makes writing much easier, and kind of fun, too.

Photo by Nao Triponez: https://www.pexels.com/photo/shallow-focus-photography-of-macbook-792199/