Sunday, February 28, 2010
PCS=stress!
Friday, February 26, 2010
Progress, maybe
- I've been so scattered.
- I've been eBaying my mom's collections of Precious Moments and rubber stamp sets.
- I've been falling behind in the Bible in 90 Days challenge, so much so that I'm about ready to quit...yet the Holy Spirit prods me onward. I read about half a day's assignment each time.
- We're also getting ready for a PCS (move), and because we have to sell our house I've been sorting our belongings and parting with a lot of things. That is hard for me, as I'm emotional about my stuff.
- I've also been reading like a fiend; hence, the book review posts. I overcommitted on book reviewing, as usual. I decided it's not always my fault. I say yes and write them on my calendar; then the publicity team assigns me a date that doesn't always match. Therefore, I've declined a lot of books lately without definite dates, or with dates that clash with my life's commitments.
- I still have a shelf of books requiring reviews that I never wrote. Oh, I posted what was asked of me, but I have yet to read the book to review it.
- I've also been busy with the class I'm taking. It's taken a lot more work than I first imagined.
- Same with Wives of Faith. It's good work, though.
- I spent quite a bit of last weekend on my daughter's applications for summer dance intensives.
A Soldier's Devotion
from the back cover:
U.S. Air Force pararescue jumper Vince Reardon was headed to a lifesaving mission. Until a too-pretty lawyer crashed her fancy car into his motorcycle--sidelining him for two weeks. Vince can barely accept Valentina Russo's heartfelt apologies. Ever since his brother was wrongly convicted--and killed in prison--Vince has lost respect for lawyers. But wait--is that Val volunteering at his refuge for underprivileged kids? If Vince isn't careful, this lady of the law might just earn his respect and his heart.
Pattie's Review:
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Plain Jayne
Jayne Tate is an investigative reporter for a major daily newspaper. When her editor demands she take time off to grieve the death of her father and get her writing back up to par, Jayne instead follows her instincts. She's certain there's a story to uncover about the Amish, but where to start?
An initial interview with the intriguing owner of an Amish furniture store opens the door for Jayne to live with the Amish family he left behind. What she doesn't yet know is that her journalistic observations of this sincere, yet conflicted family are destined to cause reflections of her own childhood.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
From her blog:
I write Generation-Next Contemporary fiction. My books are usually center on normal people learning to live, laugh, heal, and try to understand the concept of God in a crazy world. My first released novel, Plain Jayne, is now available nationwide. The second, Simply Sara, will release in Fall of 2011. Both books are "Urban Amish," and totally not your mom's Amish books. Except for the Amish. They're still there.
Pattie's Review:
Plain Jayne really is fresh and new. Like many readers of Christian Amish fiction, I began reading Beverly Lewis when she first came out. Then it seemed like Amish fiction exploded everywhere, and it got to be too much to keep up with, and too much alike. So I stopped reading them.
This book is different. It's contemporary, yet respectful of the Amish way of life.
This is Hillary's first book, and I am glad it's the beginning of a new series. She truly gives a fresh take on Christian Amish fiction, and it's a great read. I have not yet had a chance to finish the story--I'm about halfway through, but I'm enjoying it immensely.
Links:
Update June 2010: I finished the novel after our move, for the "Spring Reading Thing" reading challenge. I enjoyed it.
Double Trouble by Susan May Warren
What's the story?
PJ Sugar is training to be a PI--private investigator, that is! Her boss, Jeremy, has her doing jobs she feels are not the best use of her talents. However, their new case has her playing a new and challenging role. Can she do it? Will she succeed? And how in the world does she figure out who she is and where she's going?
What did Pattie think?
Once again, I enjoyed this latest from Susan May Warren, who is a wonderful writer. PJ Sugar is a heroine with spunk, overcommitment, and a little self-doubt. Every time she said "I promise" to someone else, I knew it would backfire on her eventually.
The mystery in this book is wonderfully multi-layered. Through it all, PJ searches for her true self, and learns that even when those you love want you to go back to the way things used to be, sometimes you just can't go back. Or, you don't want to.
I love the growing relationship between PJ and Jeremy, both on professional and increasingly personal levels. He sees her as she is, not as she was, like her old flame Boone.
Tension, tension! I look forward to the next book in the series.
The Contest:
Be sure to enter the Double Trouble Prize Package Giveaway by clicking on the ‘Double the Sass” button! Susan’s giving away an iPod prize package that is anything but troubling! Check it out!
Prize Details
Double Trouble, the brand new PJ Sugar novel by Susan May Warren, is in stores now! To celebrate the release, we’re running a HUMDINGER of a contest!!
One Grand Prize winner will receive a $150 SUPER SLEUTH prize package that includes:
* A brand new iPod Shuffle (perfect for those all-night stakeouts)
* A $10 iTunes gift card (we recommend the ALIAS soundtrack)
* A $10 Amazon gift card (why yes, they do sell spy pens)
* A $10 Starbucks gift card (for fuel, obviously)
* A pair of designer sunglasses (be stealthy AND super chic)
* A gorgeous scarf from World Market (can also be used as a blindfold, and/or for tying up bad guys)
* AND signed copies of both Nothing But Trouble & Double Trouble. (romance! danger! intrigue! sooo much better than Surveillance for Dummies!)
We’ll announce our super sleuth winner on March 1st.
THANK YOU to the gals at Lit Fuse Group for a review copy of this novel.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Nothing but Trouble
Friday, February 19, 2010
Testing the waters
I've been reading a lot of mil-wife blogs over the past few months, and while I already blog elsewhere, I thought I might try a new blog here specifically for the military part of my life.
Sometimes it feels like translating another language when I'm talking military life. Other times I learn so much from others who have walked the path ahead of me.
Come alongside this journey with me! It's only been eight years total, and not quite four on the active duty side.
CFBA Presents The Pastor's Wife
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Jennifer AlLee was born in Hollywood, California and for the first 10 years of her life lived over a mortuary one block from Hollywood and Vine. An avid reader and writer, she completed her first novel in high school. That manuscript is now safely tucked away, never again to see the light of day. Her first inspirational romance, The Love of His Brother, was released in November 2007 by Five Star Publisher.
Besides being a writer, she is a wife and mom. Living in Las Vegas, Nevada, her husband and teenage son have learned how to enjoy the fabulous buffets there without severely impacting their waistlines. God is good!
ABOUT THE BOOK
Maura Sullivan never intended to set foot in Granger, Ohio, again. But when circumstances force her to return, she must face all the disappointments she tried so hard to leave behind: a husband who ignored her, a congregation she couldn't please, and a God who took away everything she ever loved.
Nick Shepherd thought he had put the past behind him, until the day his estranged wife walked back into town. Intending only to help Maura through her crisis of faith, Nick finds his feelings for her never died. Now, he must admit the mistakes he made, how he hurt his wife, and find a way to give and receive forgiveness.
As God works in both of their lives, Nick and Maura start to believe they can repair their broken relationship and reunite as man and wife. But Maura has one more secret to tell Nick before they can move forward. It's what ultimately drove her to leave him three years earlier, and the one thing that can destroy the fragile trust they've built.
If you would like to read the first Chapter of The Pastor's Wife , go HERE
Pattie's Review:
I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. And before you write me off as a cynic, let me explain.
As a former church pastor's wife (and current chaplain's wife), I am unusually harsh with any books about pastor's wives, fiction or nonfiction, short or long. I know not everyone's experience is like mine, praise God, or there'd be more men out there like Nick Shepherd. (Not that I ever left my husband, but still.)
So I began this book ready to do battle with any inconsistencies or irregularities.
Happily, I can report that this is a well-written story, and it's not too far-fetched, AND it deals with real issues in a non-accusatory way, with a little humor thrown in to soften the blow.
Best of all, I liked Maura. She's real. She struggles with something every pastor's wife, whether she will admit it or not, also deals with: BALANCE. How does the pastor balance his calling with his wife? How does the pastor's wife balance her marriage with the church, who is in essence the "other woman" (the Bride of Christ)? And how in the world does she compete with God?
The thing is, we can't compete with God. God is not asking us to compete with Him and His Church. Far from it.
My husband was once a young, enthusiastic pastor, and I struggled on and off for years with how to deal with the fact that it always seemed to me like the church came first. By the grace of God alone we made it through those early busy years. So Maura and Nick's struggle is probably pretty typical of young pastoral couples.
The other important lesson Maura learns, and I had to learn as well, is this: Don't try to serve outside God's call and God's gifting on your life. It won't work. It's a recipe for disaster and burnout. Church members, don't expect her to do everything just because of her husband's position in your church. She should be like any other church member, because she IS. Also, don't expect anything out of your pastor's wife that you aren't willing to do yourself, be it kitchen work, cooking, nursery, leading Bible study, or (Heaven help me!) playing the piano.
The novel is a pleasure to read, and it passes my scrutiny (for whatever that might be worth to you).
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Important message from LitFuse Group and Kitchen Chat
On Friday, February 19th, Margaret McSweeney will interview Marc Klaas, father of Polly Klaas who was kidnapped and murdered in 1993. As a legacy to his daughter, Marc founded KlaasKids Foundation to help stop crimes against children. Please tune in to Kitchen Chat with Margaret McSweeney Friday at 11:00 am CST!
Here is an excerpt from Marc's journal that is posted online:
"There is nothing that can prepare one for a murder trial. My family sits as the last few hours in Polly's life are dissected, analyzed, de-constructed, reconstructed, cross-referenced and compartmentalized. The constant assault on our sensibilities by horrible revelations that defy the principles of civilization seem overwhelming much of the time. It is impossible to withstand or rise above the continual dehumanizing facts that are revealed in a constant, monotonous stream of revelation. There is no room for anything but the processing of nightmarish information. The killer laughs throughout the video tape and I want to shout, yet I must sit unflinching and stone-faced for fear of causing a mistrial. Every day my family is drawn into the world of murder, mayhem, rape and deprivation and there is no way out."
Learn about effective ways to keep your children safe from harm and find out what you can do to help stop crimes against kids. Please tune in and call in with your questions for Marc this Friday 11-12 CST on Kitchen Chat.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Chaim Potok
It's the birthday of Chaim Potok, (books by this author) born in the Bronx (1929). His parents were immigrants from Poland, and he grew up in a strict Orthodox Jewish culture. When he was about 14 years old, he happened to pick up a copy of Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh, and it changed his life. He said, "I lived more deeply inside the world in that book than I lived inside my own world." And over the years, he read as much as he could, and he moved away from his parents' strict beliefs. But when he started to write fiction, he went back to his childhood, and he wrote The Chosen (1967), a best-selling novel about two boys growing up together in Brooklyn in the 1940s. One of the boys, Danny, is expected to become a Hasidic rabbi like his father, but he is more interested in Freud and psychology. The other, Reuven, is more integrated into mainstream society. Potok continued their story in The Promise (1969), and wrote about similar conflicts between religious and secular communities in many more novels, including My Name is Asher Lev (1972), The Book of Lights (1981), and a group of three related novellas, Old Men at Midnight (2001).
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
a Kiss for Cade Blog Tour
About the story:
Now the deaths of his sister and brother-in-law prompt a return visit and Cade once again sees Zoe, the fiery redhead he left so many years ago. He promised Zoe he'd come back. Seeing the beauty that has grown both inside and out, watching her love the children his sister left behind, Cade wonders anew why he never did return. Yet a bounty hunter cannot form the kind of ties he now desires. Wanted men will only see his loved ones as pawns to hurt Cade.
So Cade must walk away again, this time from both the woman he loves and his sister's children. There's no other way. Or is there?
Pattie's Review:
Saturday, February 13, 2010
The Ultimate Artistic Struggle
Here it is, in a nutshell: Do you wait for inspiration, or do you just get busy?
I came across my friend Victoria's blog again today on Facebook. We became friends because our husbands are lifelong friends, and a more fascinating woman you'd be hard-pressed to find. She is a person I greatly admire because she's fearless in her work, and encouraging of everyone she meets!
Here is a quote from a recent blog entry:
For those of you who are waiting for something MORE before you start the thing you want to work on (MORE research, MORE preparation, MORE thinking or reading about it…) just. get. started.
I can’t stress enough that TIME is of the essence. The time to begin is now. You can’t do the work if you don’t have SOMEthing to work ON — that means marks on the page, strokes on the canvas, words on the page, SOMEthing to edit and revise. One of my favorite authors, David Foster Wallace, once wrote a great essay about how, as a writer, all of his IDEAS for writing were these perfect pink smiling Gerber babies in his head. He could think about a piece of writing and it was ideal, shining, perfect in its abstraction… but when he wrote it down, yikes! It globbed out onto the page like roadkill, all disjointed and mangled, never eloquent or well stated. And then, his written monstrosity would haunt him, not at all the Gerber baby of an idea, but manifested as a horribly deformed creature who dribbles and leers from the shadows…
I adored that description the moment I read it! It summarized EVERYthing I always felt about my writing… but also held a valuable truth: you can’t do the WORK of something, until you have something tangible to work ON.
Write it down, sketch it out, get started… and then let the work begin!
Good stuff!
I choked
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Walking on Broken Glass Blog Tour
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Christa Allan, a true Southern woman who knows any cook worth her gumbo always starts with a roux and who never wears white after Labor Day, weaves stories of unscripted grace with threads of hope, humor, and heart.
The mother of five and grandmother of three, Christa teaches high school English. She and her husband, Ken live in Abita Springs, Louisiana where they play golf, dodge hurricanes, and anticipate retirement.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Leah Thornton's life, like her Southern Living home, has great curb appeal. But already sloshed from one-too-many drinks at a faculty party, Leah cruises the supermarket aisles in search of something tasty to enhance her Starbucks—Kahlua and a paralyzing encounter with a can of frozen apple juice shatters the facade, forcing her to admit that all is not as it appears.
When her best friend Molly gets in Leah's face about her refusal to deal with her life, Leah is forced to make a decision. Can this brand-conscious socialite walk away from the country club into 28 days of rehab? Leah is sitting in the office of the local rehab center facing an admissions counselor who fails to understand the most basic things, like the fact that apple juice is not a suitable cocktail mixer.
Rehab is no picnic, and being forced to experience and deal with the reality of her life isn’t Leah’s idea of fun. Can she leave what she has now to gain back what she needs? Joy, sadness, pain and a new srength converge, testing her marriage, her friendships and her faith.
But through the battle she finds a reservoir of courage she never knew she had, and the loving arms of a God she never quite believed existed.
If you would like to read the first chapter of Walking on Broken Glass, go HERE
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Never Say Never Blog Tour
Kai Miller floats through life like driftwood tossed by waves. She's never put down roots in any one place--and she doesn't plan to. But when a chaotic hurricane evacuation lands her in Daily, Texas, she begins to think twice about her wayfaring existence. And when she meets hometown-boy Kemp Eldridge, she can almost picture settling down in Daily--until she discovers he may be promised to someone else. Daily has always been a place of refuge for those the wind blows in, but for Kai, it looks like it will be just another place to leave behind. Then again, Daily always has a few surprises in store--especially when Aunt Donetta has cooked up a scheme.
Interview with Lisa Wingate:
1. How did you develop the initial story idea/plot line for this book?
Some book ideas you search for, and some just blow in on the wind. For the past several years, dating back to Hurricane Katrina, we in Central Texas have been the recipients of massive hurricane evacuations. These massive exoduses of people, pets, and belongings are frightening, frustrating, challenging, and at times oddly wonderful. When so many are on the road seeking shelter, the worst, but also the best qualities of humanity come to the surface. Hurricane evacuations truly provide times when we ask the question, "Am I my brother’s keeper?" In answering that question, we’ve enjoyed amazing moments of friendship and fellowship, family reunions, and chances to share a food and space with strangers from other parts of the country. We’ve traded stories and recipies, laughter and tears.
One thing we’ve learned about hurricanes, living here, is that the paths are never predictable. Storms waver, hesitate, speed up, slow down, and sometimes change course unexpectedly. Evacuations needs can change and develop quickly. What better way for the beauty shop girls to find their inner strength and to show Daily hospitality, than for their cruise plans to land them smack in the middle of a sudden and chaotic hurricane evacuation?
2. Almost every author puts a little of themselves into their stories—what did you put of yourself into this one? (personality traits, life events/jobs, settings, characters based on people you know, likes/dislikes, etc.)
There’s a bit of me in the setting, of course. I love Texas, in all its variety of cultures and landscapes, but, living in a small town, I have a particular affection for little bergs like Daily, where the coffee’s always hot, and a good slide of pecan pie can cure most ills. Having watched our little town mobilize to take in hurricane evacuees several times now, I’ve been reminded that sometimes the worst things that can happen bring out the best in people. Given the opportunity and faced with the need, regular people can rise to the occasion in amazing ways, as do the citizens of Daily in the book.
Some members of the Wingate family might also claim to recognize themselves among the citizens of Daily, Texas. I would offer the disclaimer that any resemblances are completely unintentional, but that would be a bald-faced lie. When you come from a family of great storytellers and colorful characters, there’s nothing to do but make use of what you’ve got.
3. Did you encounter any interesting challenges while writing/researching for this book? Please explain if so.
The most difficult part of working on Never Say Never was researching and reliving the devastation left behind on the Texas gulf coast last year after Hurricane Ike. While interviewing family members about their experiences during the evacuation and return, we shared laughter and quite a few tears. For those who have lived in southeast Texas all their lives, talking about familiar landmarks, heirlooms, and old family places that were washed away forever, knowing some things will never be the same, is both difficult and devastating. For those of us who have so many memories of family gatherings and vacations there, it’s hard to believe we’ll never visit the old places again.
4. Why is this book/story relevant today?
Despite our best-laid plans, we all experience storms in life—whether those storms be of a weather-related nature, or due to an illness, death, or in recent months, job loss and financial misfortune. When the parameters of life and our ability to control fate suddenly change, we’re confronted with our own helplessness and need to rely on other people and God. In a culture that values independence and self-sufficiency, it’s important to remember that we all have a common need and a common responsibility for each other and that without faith we really are alone in the storm.
About the Author:
Lisa Wingate is a popular inspirational speaker, magazine columnist, and national bestselling author of several books, including Tending Roses, Talk of the Town, Drenched in Light, A Thousand Voices, and A Month of Summer. Her work was recently honored by the Americans for More Civility for promoting greater kindness and civility in American life. Lisa and her family live in central Texas.
Pattie's Review:
In the third of the Daily, Texas series of books, Lisa Wingate tackles a hurricane and its aftermath. Hurricane Glorietta hits the coast of Texas, forcing evacuations north, and cancelling the cruise Donetta Bradford was going on with her Daily friends Imagene and Lucy. Along the way, the three ladies are rescued by Kai Miller, a freespirited young woman who works on the cruise ship. Daily, Texas, also becomes shelter for a couple of dogs and an entire church family from the Louisiana Bayous.
I think this book addresses more faith-centered struggles than the previous two, although again the faith issues are more subtly woven into the narrative than some readers might like. Lisa Wingate is not a preachy writer. Instead, she creates humorous situations out of slice-of-life scenarios and shows how faith--and faith struggles--can play a role.
Overall, I enjoyed this third installment in the Daily series.
LEAVE A COMMENT on this post, and you'll be entered for a chance to win a grand prize package including the following:
Donetta and Imagene's Texas Road Trip Basket (approximate total value over $150)
Take a Texas road trip, without ever leaving home!
Featuring:
The Daily Texas Series by Lisa Wingate:
Talk Of the Town
Word Gets Around
Never Say Never
The Blue Sky Hills Series by Lisa Wingate:
A Month of Summer
The Summer Kitchen
Beyond Summer (a special advance copy not available in stores until July 2010)
Road Trip Snacks (Straight from Texas, of course!)
Wrap it all up with a fuzzy, fleecy Texas throw blanket for those cold nights on the road (or curled up with your books!)
Special thanks to KCW Communications for a review copy of this novel, which I will be donating to my local library.
Monday, February 08, 2010
Thin Places, a Memoir
Media Release:
Every two minutes, someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted and of the millions of sexual abuse and rape victims, 15 percent are under the age of 12, according to a 2007 study by the U.S. Department of Justice. Critically acclaimed author Mary DeMuth is among the millions of adults who are victims of childhood rape and are living with the emotional scars of the haunting abuse.
DeMuth bravely shares her painful story in her new memoir, Thin Places (February 2010). Repeatedly raped by two neighborhood boys at a young age, DeMuth details her traumatic and disturbing childhood in the memoir. Raised in a broken home, she lost her biological father when she was ten and was stripped of her innocence growing up in an unstable environment where drugs were commonplace.
But Thin Places is about hope and healing more than it is about the traumatic events of DeMuth’s childhood. According to DeMuth, thin places are “snatches of time, moments really, when we sense God intersecting our world in tangible, unmistakable ways.” When she encountered the true love of Jesus at a Young Life camp in high school, DeMuth’s life trajectory changed. God reassembled the pieces of her emotionally fragile self, which initiated true healing and peace.
“Folks may wonder why I’ve spent all this time looking back,” says DeMuth, “dredging up what God sees of my story, what my eyes see. Jesus says truth sets people free. This is my way of doing that—of telling the stark truth on the page so others can be set free.”
DeMuth’s desire is to see readers set free from their family secrets. In light of that, she’s started a blog for readers to anonymously share their family secrets. Since the blog launched in February 2009, over 200 survivors have emailed their family secrets for DeMuth to anonymously post, and the blog was featured on Christianity Today’s blog, Her.meneutics. For more information, visit: http://blog.myfamilysecrets.org.
Sunday, February 07, 2010
Thoughts on a Sunday
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
CFBA presents Never Say Never
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Lisa lives in central Texas were she is a popular inspriational speaker, magazine columnist, and national bestselling author of several books. Her novel, Tending Roses, received dozens of five-star reviews, sold out thirteen printings for New York publisher, Penguin Putnam, and went on to become a national bestselling book. Tending Roses was a selection of the Readers Club of America, and is currently in its fourteenth printing.
The Tending Roses series continued with Good Hope Road, the Language of Sycamores, Drenched in Light, and A Thousand Voices. In 2003, Lisa's Texas Hill Country series began with Texas Cooking, and continued with Lone Star Cafe', which was awarded a gold metal by RT Bookclub magazine and was hailed by Publisher's Weekly as "A charmingly nostalgic treat." The series concluded with Over the Moon at the Big Lizard Diner.
Lisa is now working on a new set of small-town Texas novels for Bethany House Publishers. The series debuted with Talk of the Town and continued with Word Gets Around and Never Say Never. A new series is also underway for Peguin Group NAL, beginning with A Month of Summer (July 2008), and continuing with The Summer Kitchen (July 2009) and Beyond Summer (July 2010). Lisa's works have been featured by the National Reader's Club of America, AOL Book Pics, Doubleday Book Club, the Literary Guild, American Profiles and have been chosen for the LORIES best Published Fiction Award. In 2009, A Month of Summer was nomiated for the American Christian Fiction Writers Book of the Year award.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Kai Miller floats through life like driftwood tossed by waves. She's never put down roots in any one place--and she doesn't plan to. But when a chaotic hurricane evacuation lands her in Daily, Texas, she begins to think twice about her wayfaring existence.
And when she meets hometown-boy Kemp Eldridge, she can almost picture settling down in Daily--until she discovers he may be promised to someone else. Daily has always been a place of refuge for those the winds blows in, but for Kai, it looks like it will be just another place to leave behind. Then again, Daily always has a few surprises in store--especially when Aunt Donetta has cooked up a scheme.
If you would like to read the first chapter of Never Say Never, go HERE
Pattie's Review:
In the third of the Daily, Texas series of books, Lisa Wingate tackles a hurricane and its aftermath. Hurricane Glorietta hits the coast of Texas, forcing evacuations north, and cancelling the cruise Donetta Bradford was going on with her Daily friends Imagene and Lucy. Along the way, the three ladies are rescued by Kai Miller, a freespirited young woman who works on the cruise ship. Daily, Texas, also becomes shelter for a couple of dogs and an entire church family from the Louisiana Bayous.
I think this book addresses more faith-centered struggles than the previous two, although again the faith issues are more subtly woven into the narrative than some readers might like. Lisa Wingate is not a preachy writer. Instead, she creates humorous situations out of slice-of-life scenarios and shows how faith--and faith struggles--can play a role.
Overall, I enjoyed this third installment in the Daily series.
Monday, February 01, 2010
Double Trouble Contest
Be sure to enter the Double Trouble Prize Package Giveaway by clicking on the ‘Double the Sass” button! Susan’s giving away an iPod prize package that is anything but troubling! Check it out!
Prize Details
Double Trouble, the brand new PJ Sugar novel by Susan May Warren, is in stores now! To celebrate the release, we’re running a HUMDINGER of a contest!!
One Grand Prize winner will receive a $150 SUPER SLEUTH prize package that includes:
* A brand new iPod Shuffle (perfect for those all-night stakeouts)
* A $10 iTunes gift card (we recommend the ALIAS soundtrack)
* A $10 Amazon gift card (why yes, they do sell spy pens)
* A $10 Starbucks gift card (for fuel, obviously)
* A pair of designer sunglasses (be stealthy AND super chic)
* A gorgeous scarf from World Market (can also be used as a blindfold, and/or for tying up bad guys)
* AND signed copies of both Nothing But Trouble & Double Trouble. (romance! danger! intrigue! sooo much better than Surveillance for Dummies!)
We’ll announce our super sleuth winner on March 1st.
February already?
- I am about two weeks behind on Bible in 90 Days. I may not make it by the end of March, but by golly, I'm doing better than I ever have in previous attempts at reading the Bible through!
- I am finding the writing of poetry to be extraordinarily difficult. Bring on the nonfiction unit, quickly!
- I am absolutely succeeding in writing something every day. Having a writing class helps that, and I have also been journaling in my personal journal nearly daily. Plus emails help too!
- I am still trying to figure out how to fit in my regular writing and editing gig at Wives of Faith; some days I have it all together, but other days I get those emails that make me think I can't do it and should quit already. Praise God for Sara Horn, one of the most encouraging people ever!
- I've only read 6 books this month; I shoot for a goal of 10 each month.
- Facebook is too much fun and I spend too much time there. 'Nuff said.
I wish you all a great week!