From March 7-13 Celebrate with me as we promote electronic books. Starting on Wednesday the 10th and ending Saturday the 13th, I'll be giving away a free electronic copy of my latest release, Meander Scar, to everyone who leaves a comment with your e-mail address.
Today, please welcome Cathy Bryant, who started her journey to publication with an electronic book.
Cathy Bryant, author of Texas Roads, book one in the Miller’s Creek series
Cathy, how long did you work toward publication? What three things do you know now about the publishing world that you wish you knew when you first started?
I know this answer will probably sound trite and contrived, but I honestly didn't set out seeking publication. I set out to write a book to honor God and to share my spiritual journey in a fictionalized form with the hope it would help someone else. Once the book was written, I lost my focus and started believing that I had to have a publishing contract.
God brought me to a place where I realized I had taken my eyes off Him, and I sensed then that...
Five Questions with Leanna Ellis, author of Once in a Blue Moon
Leanna, how long did you work toward publication? What three things do you know now about the publishing world that you wish you knew when you first started?
When I started writing way back in 1991, it took me three and a half years to sell my first book. I was very naïve and knew nothing about the business when I started, but I think that was good. I learned along the way as I needed to learn things. If I had known the obstacles in my path before I started, I might not have ever started down this journey. Ignorance was bliss. When I left category romance after writing twelve books, I almost knew too much about the business. I knew how steep the climb was and that was daunting. What I wish I knew way back at the beginning was what I recently learned in Outliers about 10,000 hours. It takes 10,000 hours to become proficient in something. Instinctively, all those many years ago, I poured myself into my writing, often working twelve to fourteen hour days. But knowing those quiet hours of solitude, which...
Format: Paperback Number of Pages: 368 ISBN: 0800733215 ISBN-13: 9780800733216
Jill Eileen Smith’s second story in the Wives of King David remains more than faithful to the Word. She reminds us that society has not changed since the fall. Our natural tendency toward sin is no excuse, and everyone around us suffers when we fail as children of God.
Smith paints Abigail, widow of Nabal of Maon, as a woman chosen by David as a wife for love, not contract or obligation. Smith recreates a believable description of life with the “fool,” the meaning of Nabal’s name. When Abigail hears of Nabal’s refusal to gift the exiled David and his men with food, even though the men have protected Nabal’s sheep and crops from marauders, Abigail rushes to offer food to ward off David’s impending revenge. Nabal is struck by the hand of God and dies. David moved quickly to acquire Abigail, and Nabal’s wealth.
Although Abigail falls in love with David, she sometimes feels as though she’s exchanged a life of violence with Nabal to one of jealousy and sorrow with David, as she knowingly enters...
For the third Inspirational Regency Romance from Linore Rose Burkard, the author takes up the story five years after the events of The House on Grosvener Square. The first romance has achieved the desired result of matrimony and even produced two children, unusually doted upon by their parents, Ariana and Phillip Mornay. Mr. Mornay would become a viscount, if only he’d agree, but he has more vexing business to attend to: Ariana’s family visit with her scheming and somewhat spoiled naïve young sister Beatrice, as well as having to fill his estate’s Country curacy. And that is a nasty business when who should be proposed for the post but a former rival of Ariana?
Burkard’s favorite family of mischief returns for another adventure. Not content to cause madcap mayhem in London, they now find plenty of trouble in the country when a mysterious illness causes an upheaval in housing arrangements. A new neighbor has ulterior motives of several sorts to be in the district. To top it off, no one wants Beatrice to have her own season in London so that she can catch a rich...
Susan J. Reinhardt's writing credits include devotionals, fillers, short articles, and a short story for such publications as The Secret Place, A Cup of Comfort Devotional for Women, The RevWriter Resource, Christian Devotions, Devotions Magazine, the anthology, His Forever, and LIVE. A third fiction manuscript is in the works. When not writing, she juggles the responsibilities of a small business, church activities, family, friends, and a decrepit house. Susan’s blog is: www.susanjreinhardt.blogspot.com 1. Susan, how long have you been working toward publication? What three things do you know now about the publishing world that you wish you knew when you first started?
Thanks for inviting me, Lisa. My journey toward publication has been an on again, off again adventure. While I've always written for church programs, Bible Studies, and some curriculum, it wasn't until I married my late husband in 2003 that I got serious about writing. He encouraged me to attend a small, one-day writers' conference.
When an editor at the conference read my devotional, she asked if I'd like to write one for her online publication. Sue always jokes that I got a "deer in the headlights" expression. Since that time, I've pursued both non-fiction and fiction publication.
Review of Texas Roads, book one of the Miller’s Creek Series by Cathy Bryant
c. 2010
Cathy Bryant’s debut novel, Texas Roads, is a journey on many levels. Danielle Davis searches for family ties and in the process, learns who her true Father is. Steve Miller searches for a way to save his town from the affects of slow decay and learns to face his deepest fears.
What fun to create a town, as Bryant has done. Miller’s Creek, Texas, is people with an eclectic collection of characters who remind us of our neighbors and ourselves. When a town is dying of old age and neglect, what are the businesses that remain? The diner and the beauty parlor, of course. A vet, the mayor who is a descendant of the town founders and must make his real living as a rancher. They might outwardly welcome the niece of a beloved community member, but when they’re just as quick to turn around and blame her when vandalism hits hard and fast.
In an attempt to start over after the death of her business-minded father and her cheating husband, Dani decides to jump...
Wiseman’s series of romances set in Pennsylvania Dutch country are a delight to read. She’s done the research and added a touch of the mother tongue to draw the reader even deeper in the life of her Amish characters. Plain Pursuit is the story of forgiveness. What act loses the love of family and community? Murder? Adultery? Writing a best-selling tell-all memoir?
Wiseman explores the determination of a particular old-order Amish district’s attempt to keep the church pure. They can forgive choosing not to join the community; they can forgive vow-breakers who rejoin. But forgiveness goes only so far.
Guilt-ridden, fearful and wounded in body and spirit, Carley Marek is offered a choice by her boss: take a short-term vacation, or take a permanent one. Thinking she’d find peace and quiet, Carley chooses a working vacation with a friend who had joined an Amish community. The peaceful vacation is not to be as Carley is drawn first of all in to the early to bed and even earlier to rise...
Debut novel to be released Spring 2010 by Abingdon Press
Leah Thornton, already sloshed from one-too-many at a faculty party, is cruising the supermarket aisles in search of something tasty to enhance her Star-bucks—Kahlua, for example. Two confrontations later—one at the grocery and the other with her friend Molly—Leah is sitting in the office of the local rehab center facing an admissions counselor who fails to understand the most basic things, like the fact that apple juice is not a suitable cocktail mixer. Rehab is no picnic, and being forced to experience and deal with the reality of her life isn’t Leah’s idea of fun. But through the battle she finds a reservoir of courage she never knew she had, and the loving arms of a God she never quite believed existed.
Christa Allan, a true Southern woman who knows any cook worth her gumbo, always starts with a roux and who never wears white after Labor Day, weaves stories of unscripted grace with threads of hope, humor, and heart. The mother of five and grandmother of three, Christa teaches high school English. She and her husband, Ken, live in Abita Springs, Louisiana where they play golf, dodge...
Deborah McCarragher began her journey of creative writing soon after coming to know Jesus as her personal savior in 1989.She uses her spiritual gifts of encouragement and teaching in her home church.She also enjoys in-depth bible study in her personal time, and is a small business owner of over twenty years.Her love of the Holy scripture and bible study are evident in her poetry and literary works.She and her husband attend HiberniaBaptistChurch in Green Cove Springs, and reside in Fleming Island, Florida.Her primary goal is to share her personal testimony with others while bringing hope and practical help through her books. The following interview is an excerpt from Deborah’s website.
Deborah, Welcome to Living Our Faith Out Loud. Tell us a little about your background.
I grew up in a Navy family and moved frequently. I married my first husband right out of high school. That marriage ended in divorce four years later. I remarried in 1982 (to my current husband) and we’ll be married 28 years in January 2010.Seven years into our marriage, I gave my life to Jesus...[More]
Welcome, Lynne. You describe yourself as a wife, mother, author, speaker and dramatist. Tell us a little about how all those things work together to give you your unique voice. Thanks for having me, Lisa. I believe that any woman who raises kids is lucky to survive with her sanity let alone her voice. Seriously, any time a communicator can factor life lessons into their writing, speaking, or stage work layers of insight and depth are added to the story they’re trying to tell. Vastly different experiences create a rainbow of voices. The “Susan Lucci” of the Genesis contest? Okay, what are you learning from that experience, and what makes you keep coming back for more? I’ve entered ACFW’s Genesis contest three times and finaled three times. My first year to enter, the contest was set up for an overall winner. I got second. I knew this win meant my first publishing contract was right around the corner. But it wasn’t. While I’ve sold some short stories, I’ve yet to sign a novel contract. What keeps me coming back is the determination to master the storytelling craft and capture some unsuspecting editor’s heart. The rest will... [More]
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