Once Upon A Prince!

I'm so excited to debut my new cover! Once Upon A Prince releases May 2013 from Zondervan!

Once Upon a Prince, the first novel in the Royal Wedding series by bestselling author Rachel Hauck, treats you to a modern-day fairy tale. 

Susanna Truitt never dreamed of a great romance or being treated like a princess---just to marry the man she has loved for twelve years. 

But life isn't going according to plan.

When her high-school-sweetheart-turned-Marine-officer breaks up instead of proposing, Susanna scrambles to rebuild her life. 

The last thing Prince Nathaniel expects to find on his American holiday to St. Simon's Island is the queen of his heart. 

A prince has duties, and his family's tense political situation has chosen his bride for him. When Prince Nathaniel comes to Susanna's aid under the fabled Lover's Oak, he is blindsided by love.

Their lives are worlds apart. He's a royal prince. She's a ordinary girl. 

But everything changes when Susanna receives an invitation to Nathaniel's coronation. It's the ultimate choice. His kingdom or her heart? God's will or their own? 

Diary of a Writer: Look Who Learned to Use iMovie?

Diary of a Writer: Sweet Caroline and Helping Others

My plate is full. I'm starting a new novel. Editing a My Book Therapy book. Reading a play for a friend. I love this because I know the play will be produced. I'm not an expert on plays but I know something about story.

Also, judging a contest, mentoring a friend who finaled in a contest, and reading a couple of synopsis for writer friends.

It's not a burden though it keeps me busy. Even a bit distracted but I love helping others. Truly, I've been so blessed it's a bit hard to say "No" to those requesting help.

Why do I say "Yes?" Because I remember what it was like when my heart burned to write. Burned to be published. Burned to have input from someone who knew what was what. I was desperate for a helping hand and leg up.

And the Lord sent people to me. I am forever grateful to Him. To them. So I love giving back.

Yet, I'm eager to get planning and writing this next book. Rattling thoughts are loud.

But I don't know the ending of this book yet and it's hindering my beginning and protagonist identity.

It'll come to me. It always does. God is so very faithful to supply the job He's called me to do.

Repackaged cover

 When I was writing Sweet Caroline I hit the skids. I'd gotten the publisher's catalog in the mail and saw the advertising for my new book, Diva Nashvegas.

While that was exciting, the stats on the first Nashvegas book, Lost In Nashvegas socked me in the gut.

My heart palpitated as I read the comparative units sold. Surely it was a misprint. Or, you know, numbers from the first few months.

I was discouraged. A bit embarrassed. This book was supposed to knock chick lit on it's ear as the first "redneck" chick book. Instead, I was knocked on my ear.

At that point, I felt I'd failed everyone. My publisher, my editor, my agent, myself. I was terrified to call anyone to talk about it because I thought I'd hear the cold truth. "You're not good enough."

I'd been struggling with Sweet Caroline, finding the right tone, finding a deeper layer to my voice, all the while knowing as I wrote a chick lit the genre was on it's way out. So the catalog news only added fuel to my self imposed fire.

First Cover. Won a Carol Award with this one

Deadline approached. Another author read what I had so far. Days away from submitting the book to my editor, the author wrote saying, "You need more tension. Perhaps another story line?"

Blow to the gut. But, I took it to heart and sat my butt in the chair for 15 hours on a Saturday writing and rewriting. Went to bed late, woke up at 3:00 a.m. to write before church.

Yet there was no way I was going to weave in a good sub plot. What a mess.

I went to church. Walked around like a zombie. So discouraged. So tired. My writing career was over. My editor would discover what she was bound to suspect after the low Nashvegas sales. "Rachel is a hack."

Original cover idea

I sought prayer from anyone who would listen that Sunday morning. I needed a miracle. Like, you know, God downloading a new book to me overnight. I'd wake up with it written and edited beside my bed.

Hey, anything is possible. Especially to the desperate.

Several praying friends exhorted and encouraged me that morning. I determined to go home, plant my butt in the chair, clean up what I had, and submit the best book possible on Thursday.

So tired, I could barely think. God did not download a new, grand, better book to me.

Instead, He sent me a friend. I called Susan May Warren and saw the first of two miracles....

(to be continued)

Diary of a Writer: New Season!

Last summer I found myself at a crossroad. We'd just moved into a new house. I'd set up shop in my new office and... waited.

I didn't have a new book contract. The Wedding Dress was in edits. Love Lifted Me was with Sara and edits. I had one more book to write with Sara but otherwise I was an author seeking her next project.

Inspired by Prince William and Kate's wedding, I'd put together a Royal proposal and delivered it safely to my agent's hands.

But it didn't feel like business as usual. I felt like I was in a new season with more transition coming. Our unexpected house move was more than just, "Hey, a cool new home at a stellar price."

It was as if the Lord was showing Himself, getting our attention, proving Himself in this physical change.

We sensed change for my husband though we weren't sure what. He still worked part time as a teacher and full time as a pastor.

The summer months were calm. Busy with house guests and settling into our new home.

Then the fall came and a chance to sell my royal idea. When Zondervan brought an offer to my agent, I knew it was the right one. After six years with Thomas Nelson, it was hard to say goodbye. I've loved my time with them and working with such an great team.

But I learned about more than book publishing the last few years. I embraced core lessons of my heart that I pray never go away!

The doors of this new season in our lives were still opening and I prayerfully moved forward.

I never want to do anything out of conceit or selfish ambition. Though I fail at that goal, it is my goal. I want to walk with honor. I want what the Lord wants.

But sometimes He says to us, "What do you want?"

Ever read about Cain and Able? Cain kills Able his brother and God comes looking for a reason "Why?" He has a discussion with Cain about it, then pronounces his punishment. He'd be a vagrant and wanderer on the earth.

Cain argues back. "Hey, no way, others will try to kill me."

First thought I had was, "Well, dude, you killed your brother. You're lucky God is letting you live."

But the Lord of Host, in His infinite mercy and wisdom, replies to Cain, "I'll put a mark on you so no one harms you. If they do, seven times worse will come up on them."

Wow! I've not killed anyone and I struggle with God showing any mercy toward me once in awhile. "Rats, I mess up again."

But the Lord is willing and able to reason with us as we walk faithful and obedient. John 15 Jesus assures us if we abide in Him, He'll abide in us and we can ask whatever we will. God wants us to bear fruit. He glorifies Himself when we do!

So I reasoned with Him. I'd been praying for and asking about reward. I was writing books, working hard, doing all I could to write the best books possible but the reward was small.

Book writing is an intensive, slow turn around business. There are a lot of ambiguities. There's no real formula for success except "hang in there and keep at it."

My friend Debbie Macomber once said she was a twenty-five year, overnight success.

There is no guarantee going forward that I'll have a certain amount of success. I'm not even sure what "success" always looks like, but I have a few ideas. I'm presenting them to the Lord, talking to Him about it.

I know there's more for me. The churning in my spirit keeps my mind and heart alive with that hope. But I don't try to imagine the outcome. A good friend of mine gave me that advice once and I'm learning to embrace it.

This summer I was to write a final book for Sara Evans but we've put it on hold for awhile as she pursues other things. I'm so glad for her success with her latest album.

Once Upon A Prince will be my next book in 2013 and my first title with Zondervan. This month I'll be working on royal book 2, about a princess.

Other changes abound. My husband went back to youth ministry in November and this month, he's returned to church full time and will not return to teaching this fall.

We knew God spoke "reversal of the reverses" last year and it took eighteen months for us to know what it really meant. But we've seen it happen live and in person!

What an amazing God we serve. How He loves us, OH how He loves us.

Change is hard. Crossroads confusing. Everything is not always smooth and peachy keen but we are at peace. Full of joy. Always hoping and abounding in Him.

Welcome Author Leigh Duncan

Please welcome my local RWA STAR chapter author and friend, Leigh Duncan! She is a great writer and such an encourager. I feel so encouraged after being with her.

Her newest release, Rodeo Daughter, was a Romantic Times Top Pick! Well, I'll let her tell you about it.


 Rodeo Daughter Summary:
Amanda Markette’s years on the professional rodeo circuit led to dreams of a home without wheels with a family-first kind of guy.  That man is definitely not her old boyfriend, Mitch Goodwin, rumored to become the county’s next District Attorney.  His demanding job has already cost Mitch one marriage. But Amanda’s plan to keep her distance falls apart when a bad-tempered judge permits the doting father only supervised visitation with his child…under the wary gaze of the one woman whose trust Mitch fears he’ll never win.Rodeo Daughter Reviews:“Readers better hold on to the tissue box.”

--- 4 ½ stars, RT Book Reviews June TOP PICK!

 “Rodeo Daughter is a nostalgic tale of two adolescents falling in love and later finding their way back to each other…I hung on every word.”  

--- Kay Quinton at Fresh Fiction.

 BLOG:  Where Did You Come From?It’s summer in Florida.  The heat index is climbing and the humidity, whew!  Let’s just say everything is soggy and let it go at that.  At our house, the air conditioner runs full time.  The cucumbers in my garden have died back; the first tomato harvest is over and I’m getting ready to start a new crop.  And tiny baby birds chirp from nests in the Chinese Ting that grows outside my office window. So, with all this new life bursting on the scene, is it any wonder that I’ve been asking, “Where did you come from?”  No, this isn’t a lecture on the birds and the bees.  It’s a question about the heroes and the heroines in the stories we write.

Where do they come from? 

For me, every new book starts with the characters.  And because I write romance, I usually “see” the hero or the heroine first.  I’ll be going about my business—shopping, cleaning, cooking, whatever—and one of them will pop into my head.  Sometimes, they wave and keep on going.  There’s a woman in an orange grove who’s been doing that lately.  But she doesn’t stop, so I wave back and let her go, knowing her story isn’t quite ready to be told yet.  When it’s time, she’ll come back and stay a while.  She’ll start talking or she’ll do something that catches my attention. 

That’s how it was with heroine in Rodeo Daughter, my third book for Harlequin American Romance.  Before I even started working on the book, I caught a mental glimpse of a young woman running the barrel race in a rodeo.  At the time, I was knee deep in edits for my second book (The Daddy Catch, June 2011), so I just gave her a nod and went back to work.  She didn’t leave, though.  She hung around.  She’d pop in at the oddest moments.  Each time she did, I got to know her better.  I learned that her name was Amanda Markette, that she and her father had problems they needed to resolve.  She’d given up the rodeo scene and turned her attention to family law.  Recently, she’d moved to Melbourne, FL where her latest client was a prodigal mom determined to win back custody of the daughter she’d abandoned four years earlier.      

All well and good, but what’s a romance without a hero?

Mitch Goodwin took his own sweet time making himself known.  But one day, as I watched Amanda prepare for a case, I noticed this tall, dark-haired man in a business suit cutting through the courthouse.  Right away, I knew my hero had arrived on the scene. Of course, Mitch didn’t think he needed a woman in his life.  He was a workaholic, and he pretty much thought he had it all.  In fact, he’d just received the nod from the outgoing District Attorney and was excited about his prospects of becoming the lead DA.  The only shadow on his bright horizon was the custody suit his ex-wife had filed.  She claimed he didn’t spend enough quality time with their daughter.  She was right, but with his focus set on his career, super-confident Mitch couldn’t see it. 

Clearly, Mitch had lessons he needed to learn.  That’s where my job came in.  The result was Rodeo Daughter, my third book for Harlequin American Romance, one that I hope you’ll enjoy.Bio:

Author Leigh Duncan

Leigh Duncan writes the kind of books she enjoys reading, ones where home, family and community are key to the happy endings we all deserve (The Daddy Catch, June 2011 and The Officer’s Girl, June 2010.).  Rodeo Daughter, her third book Harlequin American Romance.  Leigh is a long-time member of the Romance Writers of America.  When she isn’t busy writing or helping aspiring authors, Leigh enjoys curling up in her favorite chair with a great book. To learn more about her, visit www.leighduncan.com
             

Heart of Gold by Robin Lee Hatcher

The truest treasure is found deep in the heart.

Back in her beloved Virginia, Shannon Adair loved nursing injured soldiers back to health. But in Grand Coeur, Idaho-the rough-and-tumble place where her father has been called to lead the church-she's not sure where she fits in. Then a critically ill woman arrives, and Shannon knows her place at last: to care for this dear woman and ease her pain.

Matthew Dubois is the fastest and most reliable stagecoach driver on Wells Fargo's payroll. But his widowed sister is dying and he's about to inherit his young nephew. So he takes a job at the Wells Fargo express office in Grand Coeur until he can find the one thing he needs to get back to driving: a wife to care for the boy.

What neither of them knows is that God is at work behind the scenes-and is lovingly bringing them together to discover the true desires of their hearts.

About the Author:

Best-selling novelist Robin Lee Hatcher is known for her heartwarming and emotionally charged stories of faith, courage, and love.

She discovered her vocation after many years of reading everything she could put her hands on, including the backs of cereal boxes and ketchup bottles.

The winner of the Idahope Writer of the Year, the Christy Award for Excellence in Christian Fiction, two RITA Awards for Best Inspirational Romance, two RT Career Achievement Awards (Americana Romance and Inspirational Fiction), and the RWA Lifetime Achievement Award, Robin is the author of 65 novels and novellas. Her historical romance Catching Katie was named one of the Best Books of 2004 by the Library Journal.

Robin enjoys being with her family, spending time in the beautiful Idaho outdoors, reading books that make her cry, and watching romantic movies.

She is passionate about the theater, and several nights every summer, she can be found at the outdoor amphitheater of the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, enjoying plays under the stars. Her main hobby (when time allows) is knitting, and she has a special love for making prayer shawls.

Robin and her husband make their home on the outskirts of Boise, sharing it with Poppet, the high-maintenance Papillon, and Princess Pinky, the DC (demon cat).

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A Note from Robin:

Please join me on Thursday, February 9, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. (Mountain Standard Time) for an online party to celebrate the release of Heart of Gold, a Women of Faith™ novel!

We will be gathering on my Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/robinleehatcher)

under the Notes section to get to know each other better (look for the link in the left sidebar of my wall, click it, then click the link to the party which will be the top Note listed).

I will be sharing behind the scenes stories and a favorite recipe. If you have a recipe to share, please have it ready! (For a better understanding of how the party works and a list of all the prizes, please read the information on the Event page <https://www.facebook.com/events/185357471546685/>.)

I’ll also be hosting drawings for autographed copies of the book and other prizes with ties to Idaho and the story. We’ll have a party game with a grand prize of a Kindle Touch loaded with my two Women of Faith™ novels, The Perfect Life and Heart of Gold! I'll also be announcing an exciting new contest during the evening.

Please share this information with your friends. The more who come to the party the merrier!

I’m looking forward to mingling online with all of you! Please be sure to calculate the correct time zone for you. If you need help, use: www.timezoneconverter.com

In the grip of His grace,

Robin

His Holiday Family by Margaret Daley

Please welcome my friend and ACFW President, Margaret Daley. Looks like she's at it again with another entertaining, and delightful release!

MD: When I decided to write a series about a town that goes through a hurricane, I wanted to give tribute to all the people who have gone through a disaster and rebuilt their lives. This series was written for the heroes and heroines who help others in a time of disaster.

Blurb for His Holiday Family by Margaret Daley:

When Hurricane Naomi tears through a small Mississippi town, a daring rescue unites two heroes. Nurse Kathleen Hart is a single mom racked by guilt over her husband's death. Firefighter Gideon O'Brien—orphaned as a young boy—has lost too many people he cared for. To rise above the storm's devastation, Gideon helps Kathleen and her sons rebuild their home. As Christmas approaches, they discover that even the strongest of storms can't destroy a romance built on the foundation of faith.

Excerpt from His Holiday Family:

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Gideon O'Brien hopped down from Engine Two and assessed the chaos in front of him. Strapping on his air pack, he started toward his captain. A hand gripped his arm and stopped his forward progress. He turned toward the blonde woman who held him, her large blue eyes glistening with tears. She looked familiar, but he couldn't place where he knew her from. His neighbor's daughter, perhaps?

"My two sons and my cousin—their babysitter—must still be inside. I don't see them outside with the other tenants." Her voice quivered. She tightened her hand on his arm and scanned the crowd. "I'm Kathleen Hart. My sons are Jared and Kip. I tried Sally's cell but she didn't answer. Please get them out." A tear slipped down her cheek.

"Where are they?" Gideon moved toward his captain, his palm at the small of her back, guiding her in the direction he wanted her to go. Yes, he realized, she was his neighbor Ruth Coleman's daughter.

"Sally's second-floor apartment is on the east side, the fourth one down on your right. Number 212. Hurry." Her round eyes fastened on the fire consuming the three-story apartment building on Magnolia Street.

Gideon paused in front of Captain Fox. "Mrs. Hart says her sons and babysitter are still inside. Pete and I can go in and get them." He looked toward the west end of the large structure where the men of Engine One were fighting the flames eating their way through the top level. "There's still time."

"Okay." His captain surveyed the east end. "But hurry. It won't be long before this whole building goes up."

The scent of smoke hung heavy in the air. The hissing sound of water hitting Magnolia Street Apartments vied with the roar of the blaze.

Gideon turned toward the mother of the two boys. "We'll find them." He gave her a smile then searched the firefighters for Pete.

When Gideon found him a few feet away, he covered the distance quickly. "Let's go. There are three people trapped on the second floor. East end."

At the main entrance into the building Gideon fixed his mask in place, glancing back at the blonde woman standing near his captain. He had seen that same look of fear and worry many times over his career as a firefighter. He wouldn't let anything happen to her sons and Sally.

Gideon switched on his voice amplifier and headed into the furnace with Pete following close behind him. Through the thick cloud suspended from the ceiling in the foyer, the stairs to the second floor loomed. Crouching, he scrambled up the steps. The higher he went, the hotter it became.

Giving!

I love giving. It's such an amazing gift to humanity. A picture of God's generous heart.

Nothing is gained by being stingy, clinging to our hearts, our money, our "stuff."

Yea, I like my stuff. I like things. But I've found such a freedom and joy in giving.

Especially giving of words. Encouraging others, praising others, esteeming others higher than myself. (A work still in progress.)

So, as we go into fall, approaching the busy season of school, holidays, Christmas, I want to encourage giving.

I've got 3 copies of Dining with Joy to give away. And two audios of The Sweet By and By!

Leave a comment telling me some "giving" you plan to do or have recently done. I'll draw a winner next week!

Happy giving!

This Time by Rachel Hauck

Long before the Kindle, the Nook, or the Sony reader. Long before the iPad was a spark in Steve Job's eye, I sold an e-book. I'd written this rancher girl story for Heartsong but they had a book very similar coming out by Kathleen Y'barbo (don't think I've let her forget it) so they turned me down.

Writer's-Exchange was leading the way in those days in epublishing, a small venue from Australia my second favorite country, so I sold them Belle and Burke's story.
With the advent of e-readers, this story is finding a new audience and I thought I'd share it with you. As the used cars sales men say, "It's priced to sell!"

Leave a comment on the blog and I'll draw a name to win a copy of Softly and Tenderly, my book with Sara Evans and a $10 Amazon gift certificate.

Here's what a reader said about This Time:
This story made me feel hope, that all wrongs can be righted and that something you believe is gone forever can come back to you. Belle and Burke are great characters. I recommend this book. It's one of my favorite Rachel Hauck books.

Blurb:
Oklahoma Rancher Belle Jamison's world topples when her best friend announces that Burke Benning, their former classmate and an NFL superstar running back, is coming to their fifteenth class reunion to act as Master of Ceremonies. Twelve years earlier the handsome athlete broke Belle's heart by deserting her minutes before their wedding ceremony.

Burke's retirement from professional football brings him home to Haskell for good. While his new career in life is uncertain, he knows he must deal with his hurtful actions toward Belle. A mountain of unspoken words looms between them and only the grace and peace of God can help them overcome.

Seeing Burke stirs the love and pain Belle still has hidden in her heart. As they rebuild their friendship and rekindle a lost love, Belle must choose to forget and trust him once more. Will their desire for love overcome the devastation of the past? This time, will their love last?

Click here to buy the book.

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Be sure to leave a comment for your name to be entered into the drawing! You can comment on any author site you see posting about the book this week!

Rachel

Forever After by Deb Raney

I'm thrilled to have another good friend and acclaimed author on the site this week!

Please welcome Deborah Raney.

Forever After is the second book in Deborah Raney's Hanover Falls Novels series from Howard/Simon &

Schuster. The first novel in the series, Almost Forever, won the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence and a

HOLT Medallion Award of Merit.

Synopsis: Lucas Vermontez was a proud firefighter like his father. Now, not only has he lost his father and his best friend, Zach, in the fire at the Grove Street Homeless Shelter, but the devoted rookie can no longer do the work he loves after being crippled in the tragic event.

When friendship with his buddy's beautiful widow turns into more, he wonders what he could possibly offer Jenna. Jenna Morgan is trying to grieve her husband's death like a proper widow, but the truth is, she never really loved Zach.

His death feels more like a relief to her. But that relief is short-lived when she loses her home and the financial support of her in-laws. Now the secrets of her past threaten to destroy her future. Almost Forever, Book 1 in the Hanover Falls Novels series, won the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence in 2011.

DEBORAH RANEY's first novel, A Vow to Cherish, inspired the World Wide Pictures film of the same title and launched her writing career after 20 happy years as a stay-at-home mom.

Her books have won numerous awards including the RITA, National Readers Choice Award, HOLT Medallion, the Carol Award, and have twice been Christy Award finalists.

Deb also serves on the Advisory Board of the 2500-member American Christian Fiction Writers. Her 20th novel released this month from Howard/Simon & Schuster.

She and her husband, Ken Raney, enjoy tending wildflowers and native grasses in the Kansas prairie garden in their large back yard. They also love traveling together to conferences, and to visit four children and three little grandsons who all live much too far away.

Dragons of Chiril by Donita K. Paul

It's an honor to have my good friend Donita Paul stopping by today to tell us about her new novel.

Before DragonSpell, on a different continent and a different time, a young emerlindian’s desperate decision threatens to disrupt the foundation of the world. Tipper has been caring for her family’s estate for years now, ever since her father disappeared, making a living by selling off his famous artwork. Then she learns that three statues she sold were carved from an ancient foundation stone, and the fabric of her reality is crumbling. She must find the three statues and reunite them, positioned exactly in the right form. She must free her father and save the world. But she can’t do it alone. Her ragtag band of adventurers includes Beccaroon, a giant parrot; Bealomondore, an aristocratic young artist; a handsome dragonkeeper prince; the Wizard Fenworth; and the tumanhofer librarian Librettowit. Together they travel through valleys and kingdoms and consort with purveyors of good and agents of evil to find and reunite the missing statues. Will they learn to rely on Wulder’s grace and guidance along the way?

Dragons of the Watch will be the last book in this series. It comes out in October.

From Donita:

"The heroine in the first two books of the Chiril Chronicles is Tipper Schope. In her early twenties, she has been in charge of a massive household for the many years following her father's disappearance. In her mind, she has not done a great job. At the time of the first scene, she has been reduced to selling her noted father's artwork in order to pay the bills. Her home is a deteriorating mansion. They have two servants left from the full staff. Her mother's mental health and stability has broken down. The failure of the mansion has caused hardship among those who depended on her father and this establishment. Tipper feels the weight of all the responsibility.

I see strong women face two types of situations those they chose and those that are thrust upon them. I know a young lady who worked hard to put herself through college to become an RN. She showed tremendous strength and determination to meet her goal, one she had chosen herself. But this same young lady had an abusive parent, an alcoholic spouse, and a relative with a debilitating disease. Obviously these burdens were not ones she chose. With each new obstacle that came her way, she continued on the path she knew God had ordained. And not only that, but she remained a cheerful, optimistic person. As a great mom, she has drilled into her kids, "Attitude is everything."

The character in Dragons of Chiril is also challenged by adversity. Unfortunately, three of the statues she sold to acquire money for expenses, turned out to be the cornerstone of the world she lives in. With the statues separated, the countryside has bizarre eruptions that destroy property and life.

As in real life, with each new challenge, Tipper grows to meet the difficulty. That stretching to do the next thing, the thing we think is just beyond our ability, makes us grow stronger. Tipper's character deepens as she handles what I (the author) throw at her. And she also gains a perspective of herself that eliminates the false guilt. I think false guilt weighs us down more than the reality we face. Tipper does reach a happy ending, but the reader is aware that it is not because the road we travel will not smooth out and be bump-free until we reach Heaven. That's okay. We have the hope!"


For more about Donita and her books, click here.

The Fine Art of Insincerity by Angela Hunt

Please welcome friend and author fabulous, Angela Hunt. I love the title and premise of this book. And knowing, Angie, it will be a great read. Take a peek at the blurb and first chapter!

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The Fine Art of Insincerity

Three Southern sisters with nine marriages between them — and more looming on the horizon – travel to St. Simons Island to empty their late grandmother’s house. Ginger, the eldest, wonders if she’s the only one who hasn’t inherited what their family calls “the Grandma Gene”— the tendency to enjoy the casualness of courtship more than the intimacy of marriage. Could it be that her sisters are fated to serially marry, just like their seven-times wed grandmother, Lillian Irene Harper Winslow Goldstein Carey James Bobrinski Gordon George? It takes a “girls only” weekend, closing up Grandma’s memory-filled beach cottage for the last time, for the sisters to unpack their family baggage, examine their relationship DNA, and discover the true legacy their much-marrying grandmother left behind.

The Fine Art of Insincerity is a stunning masterpiece. I was pulled into the lives of Ginger, Pennyroyal and Rosemary--sisters touched by tragedy, coping in their own ways. So real, so powerful. Pull out the tissues! This one will make you cry, laugh, and smile. I recommend it highly. --Traci DePree, author of The Lake Emily series

“Only Angela Hunt could write a relationship novel that’s a page-turner! As one of three sisters, I can promise you this: Ginger, Penny, and Rose Lawrence ring very true indeed. Their flaws and strengths make them different, yet their shared experiences and tender feelings make them family. From one crisis to the next, the Lawrence sisters are pulled apart, then knit back together, taking me right along with them. I worried about Ginger one moment, then Penny, and always Rose—a sure sign of a good novel, engaging both mind and heart. Come spend the weekend in coastal Georgia with three women who clean house in more ways than one!”

Liz Curtis Higgs, best-selling author of Here Burns My Candle

THE FINE ART OF INSINCERITY

ANGELA HUNT

Prologue

Ginger

“You can’t tell your sisters,” my grandmother once told me, “what I’m about to tell you.”

I listened, eyes big, heart open wide.

“Of all my grandchildren—” her hands spread as if to encompass a crowd infinitely larger than myself and my two siblings—“you’re my favorite.”

Then her arms enfolded me and I breathed in the scents of Shalimar and talcum powder as my face pressed the crepey softness of her cheek.

My grandmother married seven times, but not until I hit age ten or eleven did I realize that her accomplishment wasn’t necessarily praiseworthy. When Grandmother’s last husband died on her eighty-third birthday, she mentioned the possibility of marrying again, but I put my foot down and told her no more weddings. I suspect my edict suited her fine, because Grandmom always liked flirting better than marrying.

Later, one of the nurses at the home mentioned that my grandmother exhibited a charming personality quirk—“Perpetual Childhood Disorder,” she called it. PCD, all too common among elderly patients with dementia.

But Grandmother didn’t have dementia, and she had exhibited symptoms of PCD all her life. Though I didn’t know how to describe it in my younger years, I used to consider it a really fine quality.

During the summers when Daddy shipped me and my sisters off to Grandmom’s house, she used to wait until Rose and Penny were absorbed in their games, then she would call me into the blue bedroom upstairs. Sometimes she’d let me sort through the glass beaded “earbobs” in her jewelry box. Sometimes she’d sing to me. Sometimes she’d pull her lace-trimmed hanky from her pocketbook, fold it in half twice, and tell me the story of the well-dressed woman who sat on a bench and fell over backward. Then she’d flip her folded hankie and gleefully lift the woman’s skirt and petticoat, exposing two beribboned legs.

No matter how large her audience, the woman knew how to entertain.

I perched on the edge of the big iron bed and listened to her songs and stories, her earbobs clipped to the tender lobes of my ears, enduring the painful pinch because Grandmother said a woman had to suffer before she could be beautiful. Before I pulled off the torturous earbobs and left the room, she would draw me close and swear that out of all the girls in the world, I was the one she loved most.

Not until years later did I learn that she drew my sisters aside in the same way. I suppose she wanted to make sure we motherless girls knew we were treasured. But in those moments, I always felt truly special.

And for far too long, I believed her.

© 2012 by Angela Hunt, used by permission. Do not reprint without permission. For more information, visit www.angelahuntbooks.com

To order: www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1439182035/booksbyangelae0d

To download the Angela Hunt iPhone/iPad app: http://mobileroadie.com/apps/angela-hunt

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Writing: Denise Hunter talks about life as a writer

My good friends Lena Dooley and Denise Hunter are talking writing over on Lena's blog today. Denise has some new releases coming (yay!) but on the featured book on this post is a re-release of Surrender Bay.

I love both of these women, their heart for the Lord, for worship, for others and for writing great books

Be sure to check it out!

Becoming a Writer Part 3

Let's get a few basics out of the way. To become a writer you must...

• Have a seventh grade reading spelling competency. CHECK
• A story idea. CHECK
• A writing implement. Pen, pencil, paper, computer, crayon on the wall. CHECK
• Some modicum of determination and inspiration. CHECK
• Time each day, even a minute, to write. CHECK

After the first blaze of inspiration fizzles -- anywhere between one sentence and fifty pages -- you have to figure out just where this book is going.

Here are some key tools to making your idea into a publishable novel.

1. Dynamic characters. There are several ways to do this. Creating a super hero like Superman. Creating a super cop or super cowboy. A heroine who can draw the attention and restraint of a vampire. ;)

Mostly great novels are made up of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Bruce Willis in Die Hard. Meg Ryan in Sleepless in Seattle. The character Elizabeth in The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird.

Ask key questions: What does my protagonist want? What's keeping her from getting it? Why can't he get over his fears to realize his dream? What wound still darkens his heart? What is her story journey and what will be her epiphany? What can she do at the end she can't do in the beginning.

In Dining with Joy, it seemed rather simple, but the thing she could do in the end she couldn't do in the beginning was make banana bread! It took a whole book and emotional journey to get her there.

Do your character work! Figure out who these people are. Ask "why" until you get at the rock bottom answer.

Me: Why can't Joy cook?

Me: She's an athlete. Just doesn't like it. Doesn't have that gene.

Me: But she never learned to cook?

Me: Her father did all the cooking. Not her mom. No example.

Me: Yeah, but, she's a cooking show host...

Me: Her father never let her in the kitchen. He was creating.

Me: And...

Me: She started resenting him, and cooking.

Me: Ah, now you're talking. But so much she didn't cook?

Me: (eventually) She never learned to cook because she resented her father, thinking he loved food and cooking more than the family.

A-HA!

Now, I can take all of that as a building block to the plot.

2. Work out your plot blocks. Know where your story is going. Even if you like the creative, pantser process. A friend was studying architecture. She wanted to do design, be creative, forget the rules. Yet each time she turned in a design, her professors told her, "this will fall down. it's not usable." Finally, one prof said, "Learn the math. Then you can do what you want."

My friend was amazed at the power and design ability she had once she learned the rules of building buildings.

Learn the rules of the craft. Work out your story so you know where you're going. Even for a fun road trip, you have a map. A plan. Take the time to figure it out.

Weave the plot with the characters fears, goals, dreams and desires.

3. Cause conflict. Things should not be easy for your protagonist. People should not be polite. Issues and people, life, disaster, whatever should get in the way of your protagonist achieving his dream. Or, perhaps he's given up on his dream and you story is how one more event makes him almost give up on life.

You need conflict for a great novel. Author Davis Bunn had a NY publishing house editor tell him, "Ambush the reader." Let the unexpected happen. Make it happen. Turn situations and dialog upside down and write what you see.

In Softly and Tenderly, Jade was beginning to give up on having a child of her own. She'd lost three to miscarriage and one to abortion. But she was secure and loved in her marriage to Max. Until...

Then a woman is killed and Jade learns Max is a father and must raise his son. We ambushed Jade in that book. Hopefully, we ambushed the reader. :)

4. Weave the spiritual or emotional message with the characters plot and journey.

5. Bring all conflict forward. Don't hang back with a story point for some big reveal while filling the pages in between with chapters that don't move the story forward. Don't just repeat what the reader already knows.

In Dining with Joy, I wanted the big disaster to be Joy failing on a national talk show. I'd planned to write this about 2/3 of the way through the book. But I realized it needed to come more in the middle. But then what? What happens after she's outted?

Well, I had to dig deep and figure out what else was going on in Joy's life and figure out her final disaster. It was a smaller one, but after all she'd been through to that point, it was the most emotional one.

So... AMBUSH THE READER! Allen Arnold, fiction publisher at Thomas Nelson says, "Conflict makes great novels."

6. Have a satisfying ending. After you've taken everything from the protagonist, bring back hope. Let him finally find peace, achieve his dream, or whatever. The ending doesn't have to be happily ever after, but must be satisfying.

7. Once the novel is written, in all it's crappy glory, rewrite with word painting in mind. Be more careful and purposeful with your word choice. Start layering in emotional and physical colors. Make sure you have 3 of the 5 senses in every scene. Begin to hone and craft.

8. Mostly, tell a story. Take us on a journey with a complex, compelling character that we'd put up with almost anything to hang out with for 350 pages.

God bless your writing!

A Perfect Blend by Trish Perry

Please welcome my friend and fab author Trish Perry as she tells us about her new book.

The Perfect Blend
Steph Vandergrift left everything to elope with Middleburg attorney Rick Manfred, who then stood her up at the altar. Too embarrassed to return home, Steph hopes to earn enough to get by until she can decide what to do next. Tea Shop owner Milly Jewel hires her and appreciates the extra help at the tea shop.

Also appreciative of Steph is Kendall James, one of the kindest, most eligible bachelors in the area. But by the time Steph feels able to consider dating again, her run-away fiancé returns and tries to win her back. Steph is wary, but she and Rick always blended so well.

Christie Burnham, the frank-talking equestrian from whom Steph rents a room, and her frillier sister Liz become fast friends and confidantes to Steph. Between the two sisters there isn't much any man is going to pull over on Middleburg's newest bachelorette and tea shop employee.

A little about Trish

Award-winning novelist Trish Perry has written The Perfect Blend, Sunset Beach, Beach Dreams, Too Good to Be True, The Guy I’m Not Dating, all for Harvest House Publishers.

Her monthly column, “Real Life is Stranger,” appeared in Christian Fiction Online Magazine during its inaugural year.

She was editor of Ink and the Spirit, the newsletter of Washington D.C. ’s Capital Christian Writers organization (CCW), for seven years. Before her novels, Perry published numerous short stories, essays, devotionals, and poetry in Christian and general market media. She will release several new books in 2011.

Perry holds a B.A. in Psychology, was a 1980s stockbroker, and held positions at the Securities and Exchange Commission and in several Washington law firms. She serves on the Board of Directors of CCW and is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Romance Writers of America. She invites you to visit her web site.