Welcome to debut month for my first Utah book, "Love's Winding Path." Journey with our hero, Dan, as he attempts to discover himself and God's will for his life while encountering adventure in Moab, rafting the Colorado River and the beauty of Arches National Park.
Red rocks. River rafting. Freedom! Maybe?
After years of impatient living and working on his parents’ peanut farm, Dan has finally escaped. Life as a river guide in Moab, Utah, is as far from peanut farming in Virginia as a man can get, and Dan revels in the newness of this life. An awesome job, a cool jeep , a place of his own—and a gorgeous girl.
Gorgeous or not, Jo has no intention of hooking up with Dan. First off, he’s just a bit too sure of himself, and second, he shows no interest in God. He’s also got issues to deal with…but then, so does she, so maybe she’ll leave that particular area alone. But as long as Dan avoids God, Jo will avoid Dan. At least, that’s the theory.
When life in Moab takes some unexpected twists and turns, Dan must face who he really is. Maybe all that God stuff is true. But will he let go and believe, or continue to tough it out alone?
Softcover, 170 pages from Heartsong Presents, Barbour Publishing
This book can be ordered directly from the Publisher right now! See here for more information or call Barbour Publishing to order HP#890 Love's Winding Path (740) 922-7280 to order.
Coming Soon!
Next week I will be the featured guest on several blogs highlighting this new release. Check back here for more information as it becomes available.
And coming March 8th - GUEST blogger Susan Page Davis with her article on writing a series PLUS a book giveaway!
I have an old copy of my second novel ever published, sitting here by my desk. Instead of a blog post this week I thought, why not give the copy away to ease those February blues? So leave a comment here on my blog if you would like your name throw in the hat. It's Behind the Mask, a romantic suspense. I'll draw a name on Sunday, Feb 28.
And if you have not signed up to receive updates to this blog, I encourage you to subscribe (see the column on the left side to sign up). There's some great upcoming events and guests:
Coming soon to Blissful Writing Thoughts
Next week kicks off my brand new release, Love's Winding Path, Book 1 in the Utah series!
March 8th is my guest blogger, Susan Page Davis with advice on writing a series as well as a book giveaway!
April is guest blogger Laurie Alice Eakes!
And some great advice and inspiration thrown in for good measure!
(Drawing is for US residents only. Void where prohibited)
Iam so pleased to have Martha Rogers as my guest this month on Blissful Writing Thoughts. This remarkable lady has seen her dream come true with the publication of her first full-length novel, Becoming Lucy, through Realms, a division of Strang Publishing Group. Come read her story of faith and find out how to win a copy of her new book!
"My writing journey began when I realized how much I like to make up stories. My mother called it daydreaming, but I liked living in my fantasy world. I made up stories for my paper dolls and my dolls using them as the characters. I wrote short stories as a teenager and my first novel as a freshman in college. My love of writing continued, but I had no clue as to what it took to be published. A short story I sent to a magazine in 1959 was rejected with a form letter. I entered several contests after that but never won any awards.
Through the years I learned that perseverance was the only way to keep my sanity. Rejection after rejection disappointed me, I kept on writing. I met DiAnn Mills at a writing conference, and she took me under her wing and mentored me. She also convinced me that joining ACRW would really help me improve my writing. I took her advice and it’s the best thing I could have done. She formed a critique group with Myra Johnson, Kathleen Y’Barbo and me as members. Later Janice Thompson joined the group then Marcia Gruver and Linda Kozar.
Through ACRW and then ACFW, I met Brandilyn Collins, Lena Nelson Dooley, Deb Raney, Lynn Coleman, and Rebecca Germany as well as my agent, Tamela Hancock Murphey. The most important lesson I have learned from them is patience. Giving God time to work on His schedule and not mine was difficult for me to do because I’ve always been a “take charge” sort of person. It didn’t take long for me to realize that catching the eye of an editor was more than being in charge.
DiAnn, Kathleen, Janice and I collaborated on a novella anthology, Sugar and Grits and submitted it in 2001. Patience paid off as we waited and left it with Barbour until 2005 when we were offered a contract for it. When it was published in 2007, I thought now I would be on my way. Two years later I still didn’t have another contract, but I didn’t give up.
I had adopted Galatians 6:9 as my writing verse because I knew if I didn’t give up on what I believed God wanted me to do, I would reap a harvest.Then in 2009, Tamela called me with the news that Strang was interested in Becoming Lucy. They first sent an offer letter then a contract for one book with an option for three more. I started working on the manuscript and after I turned it in, a got another email from them saying they were ready to contract the next three in the series. In September of 2009 I signed the contract to finish out the Winds Across the Prairie series.
Since then I have signed for Christmas novella that will be released in September 2010. When God opened the door, He kicked it wide open with five books in one year. Unbelievable.
The road has not been easy, and the rejections hurt. But I learned from the rejections. I paid attention to what my critique partners and judges in contest said. Of course some of what they said made me a little angry, but then I settled down and began to think things through. The best way to further your writing is to attend conferences. There you will have an opportunity to attend workshops with great authors and learn from them. Books on improving your writing are usually available, and you have the opportunity to meet and network with others who are on the same journey you are as well as meet those who are well established and long down the road ahead of you. Detours, bad roads, hazardous conditions, stop signs and other road difficulties with pop up to distract and take you away from your writing. The key is to keep on with your writing. However, we sometimes have to put our writing aside for a season because what is happening in our lives is more important than a manuscript. Spend time with the Lord, and He will direct your paths in the right direction. Listen for His instructions and follow Him in all that you do. Be patient because our time tables are not God’s and seldom do they match. If it’s to be, it will be, when He ordains that it’s time."
Martha's book credits include the novella, Sugar and Grits, seven Bible studies, contributions to compilations by Wayne Holmes, Karen O’Conner, and Debbie White Smith. Martha has contributed devotionals to several anthologies including soon to be released Whispers of Wisdom for Step-Moms from Barbour. Martha served as editor of an eight page monthly newsletter for the writer’s organization, Inspirational Writers Alive! for six years and is the state President.She is also the director for the annual Texas Christian Writer’s Conference.
After her parents’ deaths , seventeen-year-old heiress Lucinda Bishop travels to Barton Creek, Oklahoma in 1897 as the ward of Amelia and Ben Haynes, her mother’s sister and brother-in-law. There she meets Jake Starnes, a drifter now employed by her uncle. With Jake, she faces emotions she’s never before experienced. When Jake must return to Texas to face murder charges and certain execution, Lucinda is forced to go on with life which includes Luke Anderson. When Jake is found innocent, he heads back to Oklahoma,but can he arrive in time to prevent Lucinda frommarrying the wrong man?
To be entered into a drawing for a copy of this book, please leave a comment along with your e-mail address. If you are on Twitter and RT the announcement for this special guest blog, you will be entered a second time. Thanks for visiting!
I am pleased to welcome Roseanna White, author of A Stray Drop of Blood who will talk about the importance of finding a character's voice.
Saying it Straight: Finding a Character’s Voice
Voice is always a huge marker for me of a good writer versus a so-so one. When the words of a character flow, when they not only tell me what they’re saying, thinking, and doing, but how–and even whose head I’m in without being told–then I know it’s a strong voice. I’ve read a lot of opinions on how to “find your voice,” on dialogue, on deep POV. But for me, nothing helps me find each character’s voice like sitting back and listening.
I’ve written all kinds of characters, from coastal Southern to high-society New York, from Biblical Hebrew to Victorian-era Monagasque. My goal is always to use their thought patterns to draw a more complete picture of the character, and this is as never as simple as what they’re expressing. It’s largely about how I write those expressions.
With a minor in linguistics, I’ve learned to pay a lot of attention to things like sentence structure, word choice, and cadence. Ask anybody who has taken a course in which they had to translate a text–there are a thousand ways to phrase every idea, and finding “just the right one” is often a matter of taste and style. Should you use a contraction or not? Should you choose “right” or “just” for that sentence? Would it better capture the verb if you use simple past or past progressive?
When I was writing A Stray Drop of Blood I put a ridiculous amount of time into the language. Set in Jerusalem and Rome at the time of Christ, the common language would have been Ancient Greek. I was learning Greek for two of the years during which I was writing the book, so I had the advantage of first-hand insight into the way the language affected the thoughts expressed. It was an inside joke at our school that our thoughts would occasionally come out Greek, though in English words–we’d mix up the word order terribly, but our classmates would still understand us, because they were “thinking Greek” too. As I wrote, I wanted to somehow capture that–the way people of the era thought, spoke, and interacted.
The result is a conscious choice not to use contractions, but rather to convey formality versus casualness through word choice and arrangement. To have typical Greek replies to questions, which may sound odd to English speakers, phrases like “To me, at least, it seems . . .” peppered throughout. Lots of contrasting thoughts butting against each other, and even having my characters shift between Greek, Latin, and Hebrew to best convey the point they wanted to make at the time.
One of the highest compliments my writing has been paid was when someone said, “I knew they were French before you ever said so. They just sounded French.” That’s what I go for in all my dialogue and deep POV. That the reader will recognize that Louisa is from the Carolinas, Rem from D.C. That Abigail is obviously versed in the Greek poets, that Jason has spent a lot of time in Rome. I can only do this by knowing the word-pictures they paint for themselves, the analogies they would make, the images that fill their mind.
To me, it’s not really about finding my voice. It’s about finding theirs.
About Roseanna's book A Stray Drop of Blood
Beautiful is a dangerous thing to be when one is unprotected.
For seven years, Abigail has been a slave in the Visibullis house. With a Hebrew mistress and a Roman master, she has always been more family than servant . . . until their son returns to Jerusalem after his years in Rome. Within a few months Jason has taken her to his bed and turned her world upside down. Maybe, given time, she can come to love him as he says he loves her. But how does she open her heart to the man who ruined her?
Israel's unrest finds a home in her bosom, but their rebellion tears apart her world. Death descends with Barabbas's sword, and Abigail is determined to be there when the criminal is punished. But when she ventures to the trial, Barabbas is not the one the crowd calls to crucify. Instead, it is the teacher her master and Jason had begun to follow, the man from Nazareth that some call the Son of God . . .
Born free, made a slave, married out of her bonds, Abigail never knows freedom until she feels the fire of a stray drop of blood from a Jewish carpenter. Disowned by Israel, despised by Rome, desired by all, she never knows love until she receives the smile of a stoic Roman noble.
Welcome to debut month for my first Utah book, "Love's Winding Path." Journey with our hero, Dan, as he attempts to discover himself and God's will for his life while encountering adventure in Moab, rafting the Colorado River and the beauty of Arches National Park. 
