Pinterest Wars with Becky Wade

pinterest failOkay, so wow. It’s March. March, people!

Anybody else having a slight panic attack about this?

Because I am.

It’s hard to believe, but my second novel, Wishing on Willows, will be birthed into the wide scary world in just 15 short days!

Holy buckets of gravy, where has the time gone?

I have some fun stuff coming up to celebrate the new release.

A couple local book signings. A presentation at the public library. An online Wishing on Willows Extravaganza on launch day – March 19th, from 6-7 pm CST – in which I will be video chatting with readers, answering questions, and giving away six fun prize baskets!

And then there’s the title of this blog post….

The fun-ness (this ought to be a word, don’t you think?) that is happening between me and one of my new favorite authors, Becky Wade.

Have you read My Stubborn Heart yet? 

If you haven’t, get thee to a bookstore.

I promise you will laugh and sigh and find yourself unable to put the book down! No questions asked, one of my favorite reads of 2012.

Anyway – Becky and I discovered that readers who like her book tend to like mine and vice versa. So we thought, hey! We should team up and do something fun together.

And voila! Pinterest Wars were born.

8 challenges.

One per week.

I’ll throw down a challenge the first week.

She’ll throw one down the next.

For eight weeks.

We’re starting next Monday – March 11th.

Here’s where it gets even more fun.

We’re inviting you to participate!

We will post a new Pinterest challenge every Monday on this blog and our Facebook pages (make sure to follow me and Becky on Facebook).

We will have the rest of the week to attempt whatever is on the picture – it could be a recipe, a craft, a hair style, a posed picture like the one above, whatever!

Then on Friday, we will post our attempts on this blog and our Facebook pages and you will choose a winner!

Just for the record, Becky and I are not crafty people. Which means this ought to be funny. Like pictures from this website kind of funny.

Even more fun – we’re inviting you to participate! We want you to do the challenges with us and post your results on your Facebook! Make sure to tag us in the picture so we can see them.

For every challenge you participate in, we will write your name on a piece of paper and put it in a hat. At the end, we’ll be drawing some winners and giving away our new novels!

Wishing on Willows by moi, releasing March 19th.

Undeniably Yours by Becky Wade, releasing May 1st. (I’m absolutely itching to get my hands on this one!)

So mark your calendars for next Monday and join us for the first challenge! It’s going to be nothing if not interesting!

Let’s Talk: What’s one thing you’ve tried that was an epic, hilarious fail? Perhaps a meal or a craft?

Don’t forget, if you pre-order Wishing on Willows, my publisher will send you a complimentary download of seven devotionals written by me!

I’m guest posting over at Jennifer Major’s blog today about one of the best, most unexpected blessings that has come from being a writer.

My friend Caroline asks me three super fun questions on her blog, Under God’s Mighty Hand.

Literature through the Years

It started on the couch of my childhood home. 1404 Lincoln Road. My brother and I would sandwich my dad on the middle cushion while he read Berenstain Bears and Little Critters and I’d search for that spider. Anybody remember that spider?

I went to a special reading teacher in first grade because they thought I might have dyslexia. Her name was Mrs. Detmering.

And then my second grade teacher, Mrs. Getty, read the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books out loud to the class and books began casting their spell.

Not Ann of Green Gables. I got a set of those for Christmas and tried. I really did. But I couldn’t get through the first one.

But Boxcar Children and Judy Blume?

Oh, how I loved Fudgie’s shenanigans.

I must have read hundreds of books in my younger years, but these are the ones I remember…

The Phantom Tollbooth. If books hadn’t already grabbed my allegiance, this one sure did. After such a magical experience, there would be no going back.

Where the Red Fern Grows. I cried real tears over those two dogs.

The Face on the Milk Carton. My first re-reader. Anybody else remember it? I think it was the romance that got me.

Then I went on a major Mary Higgins Clark kick.

And in high school, I picked up Gone with the Wind.

I remember reading it on the bleachers before basketball games. I remember reading it late into the night. I remember finishing it and immediately checking out the sequel (not written by Margaret Mitchell) at the library because what in the world!? Rhett and Scarlett had to be together.

I read I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb in my high school popular adult lit class and decided I would be a psychologist.

Then in college, on my dorm room floor in Madison, Wisconsin, I gave my life to Christ and a friend introduced me to this genre called Christian fiction.

I read Redeeming Love and The Mark of the Lion trilogy (life-changing) by Francine Rivers. Karen Kingsbury’s One Tuesday Morning (unputdownable).

Somewhere along the line I met Harry Potter, and oh my goodness, I was a goner. I think I’ve read those books 4 times through, at least. Hubby would often joke, “Is Harry coming between us again?”

More magic. And I’m not talking the actual magic that occurs in the Harry Potter world. But the magic that comes when we are swept into words on a page. When we’re transported to another place and try on somebody else’s skin.

That’s the magical part. That’s why I love books.  And that’s why I read them to my son.

I wonder which ones he’ll remember when he’s grown.

Let’s Talk: What books do you remember from your childhood? What are some recent favorites? When did you fall in love with reading?

Where Lilacs Still Bloom Blog Hop & Giveaway!

A blog post on a Thursday! What in the world is going on?

Fun, that’s what!

I am thrilled to have award-winning author, Jane Kirtpatrick, on my blog today. Not just because her newest release has flowers in the title (like mine), but because she’s a phenomenal writer.

Her newest release, Where Lilacs Still Bloom, hit shelves last week and is already receiving rave reviews.

Jane is going to share some thoughts on perseverance, an important theme in her novel. An important theme in life (especially if you’re a writer).

I trust Ms. Kirkpatrick’s words will be a blessing to you today.

But first, I want to call your attention to a few fun announcements:

  • On top of that, there’s a grand prize! $50 Visa gift card plus signed books from Jane and myself. Totally cool, right? To be eligible, you must comment on all five blogs in the Where Lilacs Still Bloom blog hop. That’s it! The grand prize winner will be emailed and announced on Jane’s blog next Tuesday.

Without further ado, let’s turn it over to Jane…

Perseverence

“Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate.  For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life.” –James 1:12 (The Message)

I enjoy words, looking up their origin and exploring their many meanings discovering new insights into words and life.  That proved true for the word challenge.  So many of the historical people I write about are beset with challenges on the Oregon Trail, as homesteaders and pioneers, as mothers and fathers making lives for their families. 

Challenges are part of the human condition. When I looked up that word I found these definitions that were familiar: “A call to engage in a fight” or “the quality of requiring full use of one’s abilities, energy or resources” or “a formal objection as to a juror” or “to summon to action.”  Quite far down on Webster’s list were origins of the word challenge as coming from the Latin calumnia meaning trickery. Right below that was the definition “to deceive.”

How could a challenge be a deception? I began to think back to a time of great challenge. One of the biggest was finally agreeing to move with my husband to a remote ranch twenty-five miles from the smallest town, seven miles from a mailbox and eleven miles from a paved road.  He wanted to build a new life on 160 acres of remote, sage and rattlesnake covered land.  After five years of resistance on my part, we stepped out on a cloud of faith believing we wouldn’t fall through. We faced enormous challenges from the weather, the distance, the isolation.  Acquiring building materials, making phone calls from a barn ten miles away, dealing with a treacherous dirt road that wound up a canyon with a 950 foot drop and no guardrails became almost daily encounters.

Yet from those challenges my husband and I developed a closer relationship.  We found ourselves trusting in God’s calling to that land and deepened our loyalty to God. Each of us discovered new skills we didn’t realize we had and found ways to help our family that might not so easily have occurred before our move. We found happiness and contentment and more life.

The deception in the challenge?  If I had stayed where I was I would never have found that joy; our faith might not have been deepened, our lives enriched beyond measure through new professions and helping each other. Sometimes the greatest challenges begin with a deception, our minds telling us “You can’t do that!  You’re too old, too weak, too foolish.”  We are tempted to listen to the nay-saying voices rather than hear the gentle sound of God calling us to greater things, helping us through the hard times knowing there are joys on the other side of the challenge because we persevered.

Scripture tells us “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial.”  Stepping over the deceit does not mean the challenge will be easy, but doing so promises a deeper relationship with God and the reward of “more life.” Those words are not deceitful but full of hope.

God the Creator of the universe, give us wisdom to see beyond the deceit to the challenge that will deepen our love for you.  Help us face the challenges today head-on trusting that we may know you more deeply and discover all you have planned for “more life.”  Amen.

Let’s Talk: What challenges are you facing today? What are you learning about yourself and about God as your persevere through these challenges?

Do you want to get to know more about Jane Kirkpatrick? Check out her blog. Or find her on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest