Category: writing

Who likes parties?

Or even better, who likes to party from the comfort of your very own home, only you don’t have to host guests or clean bathrooms or prepare food or even wear makeup!

If that sounds like your kind of party, I hope you’ll come to the A Broken Kind of Beautiful Facebook Webcast Party tonight, from 6-7 pm, CST.

We will be giving away SIX prize packages.

There will be two special guests joining us–Becky Wade and Melissa Tagg, both of whom will be giving away their upcoming releases.

There will be mingling via a chat box (no need to hit that pesky refresh button).

And I will be broadcasting live via a video webcast. 

I’ll be sharing behind-the-scenes stuff about my latest release, A Broken Kind of Beautiful, and answering questions.

If you’d like to see pictures of all the prizes we’ll be giving away, you can hop over to this page. All the prizes will be bundled into six separate packages and we’ll be giving away one prize package every ten minutes. 

It’ll be fast-paced and high-energy and lots o’ fun!

To join, simply click on this link and hit JOIN, then feel free to invite your friends! The more the merrier. 

The party itself will be located here. This is the location you will go to when 6 pm, CST arrives (or a little before if you want to arrive early). 

I hope you can make it!

It’s funny.

You work and work and work on a story. Brainstorming. Plotting. Drafting. Revising. Editing. Then you do the editing all over again with your publisher. You see the cover for the first time. It starts to creep its way into the world. Marketing and publicity happen.

Then release day comes.

And the story is no longer mine, if ever it was.

It’s YOURS.

You will get to sit with Ivy and Davis and Marilyn. You will get to visit Greenbrier, South Carolina. You will join them on their journeys. And you will get to make your own opinions and have your own experiences.

No two will be the same, because no two readers are the same.

Whatever your experience may be, I pray that the story blesses, encourages, and entertains you. I pray that it would minister to the broken pieces inside and I pray that it would draw your heart closer to Him. 

One thing is for sure–anything good, anything praiseworthy, anything worth remembering in this novel is straight from the Lord. I’m simply the middle man. 😉

Before we get to this final giveaway, I’d like to draw your attention to a few items…

Don’t forget to check out the A Broken Kind of Beautiful page on my website! It  has a lot of fun (at least I hope you think so) bonus features.

You can read the first chapter for free.

AND!

I’m inviting you to the A Broken Kind of Beautiful Webcast Party. Click on the link to see pictures of ALL the prizes we will be giving away during the party. They will be bundled into SIX prize packages and the only way to win is by joining the fun! So mark your calendars for Monday, April 21st at 6 pm, CST. I think it will be a super fun-filled evening. Please RSVP and share with friends!

Thank you for being a faithful reader. Sharing my work is one of the things that makes this journey so fulfilling. 

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Giveaway Time!

To celebrate the release, I’m giving away an autographed copy of A Broken Kind of Beautiful. Congratulations to last week’s winner, Cassandra from Ohio! This week’s giveaway will end at midnight on Friday and the winner will be emailed on Saturday, so please keep an eye on your inbox. Be sure to click Already Follow or Already Like to maximize your entries . This giveaway is open to everyone, international friends included!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Fashion is a fickle industry, a frightening fact for twenty-four year old model Ivy Clark. Ten years in and she’s learned a sacred truth—appearance is everything. Nobody cares about her broken past as long as she looks beautiful for the camera. This is the only life Ivy knows—so when it starts to unravel, she’ll do anything to hold on. Even if that means moving to the quaint island town of Greenbrier, South Carolina, to be the new face of her stepmother’s bridal wear line—an irony too rich for words, since Ivy is far from the pure bride in white. 
 
If only her tenuous future didn’t rest in the hands of Davis Knight, her mysterious new photographer. Not only did he walk away from the kind of success Ivy longs for to work maintenance at a local church, he treats her differently than any man ever has. Somehow, Davis sees through the façade she works so hard to maintain. He, along with a cast of other characters, challenges everything Ivy has come to believe about beauty and worth. Is it possible that God sees her—a woman stained and broken by the world—yet wants her still?

To order A Broken Kind of Beautiful, scroll down to the buy links at the bottom of this page.

I am FINISHED!

On Saturday evening, I finished my manuscript.

Writers everywhere will understand when I say, it is the best feeling in the world!

This is the first one I’ve written after it was contracted. My first three were all written before I signed on the dotted line. This fourth one was contracted when it was nothing more than a short blurb of an idea. And that, my friends, is an entirely different intimidating ballgame. 

In December, I chatted with my editor and we decided on which book I would write. 

Since I  needed to have it turned in by mid April, I commenced brainstorming immediately. So many amazing writer friends helped me figure the story out. Seriously, the plot, or lack thereof, was giving me hives. But figure it out, we did. I started fast-drafting on January 1st. Finished the rough draft in mid February. And oh boy, was it a hot mess with a capital H.

I don’t think people believe me when I explain how absolutely awful my rough drafts are. I promise you, I am not exaggerating. And this one was a doozie. 

The edits were overwhelming, to say the least.

But I kept plugging away. Chapter by chapter.

I had some meltdowns. (I’m not sure any book is made without them.)

There were plenty of distractions and days with zero motivation.

My husband was a trooper.

This past weekend, he took our little guy to Wisconsin so I could finish up.

And on Saturday night, I finished the big edits, formatted the book, and sent it to my Kindle for one final read through. Any changed I make now will be minor ones. Until my editor gets her brilliant hands on it, that is.

For now, though, this feels GOOD. This feels VICTORIOUS. 

God met me every step of the way. His provision was astounding. His grace, never failing. His mercies, new every morning.

I sure hope the story blesses you when it releases next February.

So now what?

Now I work on edits for my Year of Weddings novella, An October Bride. 

And I get ready for the release of A Broken Kind of Beautiful, which hits bookstores ONE WEEK from tomorrow. Holy buckets of gravy. Cue nerves and excitement.

How do I plan to celebrate the release?

With a Facebook webcast party on Monday, April 21st at 6 pm, CST! There will be lots of prizes, a fun chat room where party attenders can interact, two author guests, and did I mention prizes? The best part? You can participate from the comfort of your very own home. You can even wear your pj’s if you want. Nobody will know. I’d love it if you’d hop on over and RSPV. Please feel free to share the invite with friends! The more the merrier.

There will also be an in-person celebration on Saturday, April 26th from 1-3 pm at Books-A-Million in Davenport. If you live nearby, I would love to see you there! There will be free truffles and lots of hugs. 

Until then, why don’t we get the celebration started another Monday blog giveaway? 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Giveaway Time!

Every Monday, from now until its release on April 15, I’m giving away an autographed copy of A Broken Kind of Beautiful. Congratulations to last week’s winner, Connie from Florida! This week’s giveaway will end at midnight on Saturday and the winner will be emailed on Sunday, so please keep an eye on your inbox. Be sure to click Already Follow or Already Like to maximize your entries . This giveaway is open to everyone, international friends included!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Fashion is a fickle industry, a frightening fact for twenty-four year old model Ivy Clark. Ten years in and she’s learned a sacred truth—appearance is everything. Nobody cares about her broken past as long as she looks beautiful for the camera. This is the only life Ivy knows—so when it starts to unravel, she’ll do anything to hold on. Even if that means moving to the quaint island town of Greenbrier, South Carolina, to be the new face of her stepmother’s bridal wear line—an irony too rich for words, since Ivy is far from the pure bride in white. 
 
If only her tenuous future didn’t rest in the hands of Davis Knight, her mysterious new photographer. Not only did he walk away from the kind of success Ivy longs for to work maintenance at a local church, he treats her differently than any man ever has. Somehow, Davis sees through the façade she works so hard to maintain. He, along with a cast of other characters, challenges everything Ivy has come to believe about beauty and worth. Is it possible that God sees her—a woman stained and broken by the world—yet wants her still?

To pre-order A Broken Kind of Beautiful, scroll down to the buy links at the bottom of this page.