Saturday, January 31, 2009

I was interviewed...

by award-winning inspirational author Margaret Daley and will be featured on her blog this coming week. Check it out at http://margaretdaley.blogspot.com/

Brand-Aid Contest

Christmas is over, writer’s block is stashed away with the ornaments, and I’m back to accumulating dust in direct correlation to word count.

I've been reading a lot about branding lately. For a writer, that essentially means defining your unique niche, sticking to it, and making sure all of your communications reflect that definition. It all seemed a bit claustrophobic since I’m playing around with chick-lit and women’s fiction and not sticking solely to romance. And then I stumbled upon this simple phrase: Tell the reader what emotions your stories evoke.

So simple/so profound. I can do that!

But I’m not going to...just yet. Instead, I’m going to ask you. Yes, I have a tagline I love...warm romance with dollops of faith and sprinkles of joy...but that doesn’t really describe what the reader feels. So (assuming you’ve read Beauty for Ashes, Garment of Praise, Far above Rubies, Over the Wall, Walk with Me, or a work in progress) if you’re brave enough to offer a couple emotion-filled lines, you’ll be in the running for a $10 gift card of your choosing. I’ll put all posts in a hat (well, most likely a mixing bowl...) and let one of my grandkids pick the winner on Valentine’s Day. Thanks in advance!

A Strange Christmas

This was the first Christmas since 1974 that we didn’t spend with our oldest son. Since Scott, Kristen, Reagan, Sawyer, and Sage weren’t able to make it up to Wisconsin this year, we mailed their stockings to Missouri. So sad. And for the first time since 1981, our Aaron was not here on Christmas Eve. NOT so sad! Because God, in his awesomely perfect timing, added another stocking to our mantle...on Christmas Eve!! Aaron and Adrianne gifted us with grandbaby #9 at 6:39 p.m. on December 24. Lillyanne Alice Lola Melby came into this world with tons of dark hair and kissably fat cheeks. What a gift!
Part of the reason our Missouri kids weren’t able to be here was because Scott flew out of St. Louis on December 27, on his way to three weeks in Egypt. Read about his adventures at http://bluebottledesigns.blogspot.com/