The Sweet By and By Launch party

Had a great time in Nashville at Davis-Kidd for The Sweet By and By launch party. Sara sang, answered questions, then we signed lots of books.
I had a blast.

It was great to meet some of you I know on Facebook and Twitter, and Linda, the winner of the Fly Away contest and her friend Stephanie.

Me, April Schaffer, Sara Evans.

Exciting things coming up!

Just got off the phone with the great marketing and promotions team at Thomas Nelson and they have some fun and exciting things lining up for the release of The Sweet By and By.

If any of you have a review blog or book blog, let me know, we might be able to give you an influencer copy of the book.

Also, keep an eye out for deets on my Fan Page Birthday Party where YOU my guest will have a chance to win prizes. Why not? All y'all bless me throughout the year.

Steadily working on my own book before diving back into book three with Sara. My protagonists, Joy and Spear, are taking shape and I'm hewing out their story.

Did you see The Proposal? Remember when Drew was at hacking away at the old canoe in the front yard after a argument with his dad? Yeah, that's me and this book.

I think the pressure is really internal. I'm nervous I won't write a good enough book. And need to just surrender it to Jesus.

Here's one of my favorite lines. And it so works. "Jesus, You have a book to write. What do You need me to do?"

Stay tuned for more exciting details here.

A weekend in Nashville

The weekend in Nashville was fun. What a great city -- big and exciting but with small town warmth.

Country music fans are some of the nicest music fans in the world. As they waited in the hot sun to be let into Rocketown for Sara's Fan Party, they said nothing when VIP guest went in ahead of them. Same with Josh Turner's fans. They were even helpful. So, big shout out to country fans!

Sara's fan party was energetic and packed. About half way in, she introduced the book and called me up on stage. We plugged the book and I said what a great team we made. She was so easy to work with -- we had a lot of similar ideas.

Cool for me, too, was meeting a couple of players on the University of Alabama's softball team. I'd just been watching them on TV a few weekends ago. I was and am a fan! I got a picture with them, and gave them an Advance Reader Copy of The Sweet By and By.

Saturday I attended Josh Turner's Fan Party. I'm "new" to him, but have come to love his music. He was so casual and fun at the party. Good banter.

I had to leave before I could meet him, but I wanted to get to the airport on time or Budget would charge me for another day of car rental. And don't get me started on the fiasco for the weekend. Yikes!

Listen, go over to Sara's site and sign up for a chance to win a trip to Nashville for the launch party. Also, check out Country Weekly in the next few weeks. Their photographer was there and got a picture of me with Sara!

Blessings.

Never fear, God is here!

In between collaborating on books with Sara Evans, I am working on my own book. It's a funny, yet poignant story... naturally.

Every time I go to work on a book, I meet someone or see something that is right in line with what I'm working on. Here's what I mean.

When I started the first Nashvegas book, Lost In Nashvegas, the angle was redneck chick lit. I mused over what kind of story I could write, pondering if I could even come up with a redneck chick story. One night at our Fire Dweller prayer meeting, I pondered the idea further, praying, asking God for direction and when I looked up, there was a kid standing in front of me wearing a t-shirt with a redneck joke on the back.

During the writing of Diva Nashvegas, I struggled to find details on exactly why an artist and a label would clash. All I could find in my research was artist and label clas on "creative differences." Okay, but what kind of creative differences? I needed details! I couldn't create a believable dialog with: "We have creative differences." Blah.

I also struggled how to structure the interview style of the story.

Out of the blue I came across a book, Conversations with Tom Petty. Not only did it give me the idea of how to format the interview portion, but Tom talked in detail about his riff with his record company! What a relief.

Shortly after, I found an online forum where a man in the know, gave me even more details.

When I worked on The Sweet By and By with Sara, I met a woman at a wedding rehearsal dinner who was raised by hippie parents! Exactly what I needed for our character, Jade.

So, yesterday while musing over this new book, a new friend posted on my Facebook wall. I thought, "Ask him if he wants to brainstorm with you."

Sure enough, he did. Thank you Torry Martin. Little did I know, he attended culinary school! Exactly what I needed for this book! Not to mention he's creative and really funny.

Hubby shook his head when I told him. "This happens every book," he said.

God is so good. If you doubt, don't. Look what He does for me. He'll do the same if not more for you.