WIN SOMETHING YOU REALLY WANT AND MAYBE EVEN NEED...WAIT, NO "MAYBE" ABOUT IT...YOU NEED THIS

Did you get everything on your Christmas [book] list? I asked my husband for an Amazon gift card, but he bought me a book instead. Granted, it was one I asked for--The Hidden Christ by James Ferrell, so thank you very much, dear. Really. I just started reading it and I know I'm going to love it. (BTW…I highly recommend Ferrell’s other two books, The Peacegiver and The Holy Secret—they’re different than the typical novel, but their messages are amazing. His newest book is nonfiction).

This is actually not a post about author James Ferrell or what I got for Christmas, but a post about you and what you got for Christmas and you winning something that will store and display all those book somethings you got for Christmas. Yes, today is the day I'm announcing an awesome give-away…the chance to win something that book-lovers and book-collectors can never get too many of…bookcases.

I am giving away a bookcase valued at $60, courtesy of csnbookcases.com. Please check out their lovely website with all the varied and wonderful possibilities for bookcases. I especially love the ones designed for children found here. Someday, I would love to design a playroom for grandkids with cool shelves for kids books. So fun!

This very well may be my first ever blog giveaway, so I'm making it a good one. The lucky winner will get to choose ONE of these three bookcases... (and no, I'm not coming over to assemble it if assembly is required.)

View details here

View details here

View details here

Books, framed photos, and is that a box of tissue, not included.

To enter, please humor me and become a follower on my blog. (If I hit 100 followers (aiming high) I will give lucky number 100 a gift certificate for vinyl lettering worth $15.

Let's see, how else can you make my day...hmmm...comments, lots and lots of comments... (as I cackle and rub my hands together... I've got you in my power now. You want that bookcase don't you? DON'T YOU?) So leave a comment and convince me that you'll buy my novel whenever in the heck I finish writing/revising/editing/ submitting/publishing it. And yes, I realize you don't even know the title of it yet (except for the favored few) but just promise me, PROMISE ME.

Sorry for the lapse there. How about just a comment telling me a book you got for Christmas and if you really didn't get one for Christmas then I am so sorry and I will personally file a complaint with the North Pole in your behalf. But level with me, were you just not good enough this year?

Okay, here's the bottom line:

1) one entry for becoming a follower/two if you already are (early bird gets the worm and all) as of riiiiight....NOW.
2) one entry for a comment
3) two entries for sharing the contest complete with link on your blog or any of those other online places you like to haunt. Just let me know where.

Did I forget anything? How about more prizes? I sell vinyl lettering, so I will also pick some winners to receive $15 gift certificates for custom lettering. This will be after I draw the big bookcase winner because it is so lame to be picked for a lesser prize and then be out of the running for the greater, more awesome prize. It's so, so...yeah, lame. And I am not about lameness here at the Of Writerly Things blogspot.

I'll post about the contest over at my vinyl lettering blog. Feel free to stop by there as well.

CONTEST WINNER TO BE ANNOUNCED ON MY ANNIVERSARY: FEBRUARY 12, 2010!!!!!

I'm taking a holiday from blogging...

Okay...apparently, that's what I should have written sometime around say...Thanksgiving. My blogging has become more than sparse over the past SEVERAL weeks. A measly promise of prizes and a repeat of a blog posted elsewhere is all I have offered. I think my brain was on holiday as well, but with the return of order and civility around here and the expectation of a new year and decade (NO PRESSURE THERE!), I'm baaaaaack!

I'm also very hopeful that I might actually finish my novel. Seriously. Not that I have worked on it since Thanksgiving, mind you (get that crazy thought out of your pointy little head), but sometime in the netherworld of last November I did begin a summary of the rough drafty drivel I'm calling a novel. I know. A summary. That's so 10th Grade English Class-y of me. I actually printed off a copy of my entire manuscript. Doesn't that sound so writerly, so authorly? I have a manuscript! Ahhhh! On the first page I wrote in big letters: NOT FINAL DRAFT! Lest anyone happen upon it and read it and think that I am so insanely delusional that I think these words as written are publish-worthy.

Anyway, my goal is to finish the summary which promises to reveal all the gaping gaps I need to fill. I will reread the manuscript (Oh, I love that word) which will further reveal such things as all the "be" verbs I need to exchange for action verbs, the dangling participles I'll need to undangle, and the words like "undangle" that probably aren't really even words that will need to be cut. Have you ever heard anyone say, "Can you please undangle that string you're hanging over the cat's face"? Hmmm...

Well, I'll get to work on that whole summary and finishing thing and you quietly amuse yourselves till that grand day of being done arrives. You'll be the first to know.

This post has turned into

A Heavenly Spark

Many of those in our midst have endured trials this past year. Some heart-wrenching, some less so. I have sorrowed with you and prayed for you and learned from your steady examples of faith. To you I give this quote from Washington Irving. I read that it is the quote taped to Stephanie Nielson's refrigerator to give her strength through her dark days of recovery. (She is the fellow Arizonan who was badly burned over most of her body in a plane crash over a year ago. Read her inspiring blog here.)

"There is in every true woman's heart a spark of heavenly fire which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity, but which kindles up and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity."

To you who are the heroes in your own lives, may God bless you and yours in the coming year.

Happy New Year!

[Post originally published at anwafounder.blogspot.com 12/15/09]

PLEASE COME BACK TO ME, DEAR READER!

I know I've been neglecting you, but, please stay tuned. I will be back soon and with the chance to win prizes...yes, that's prizes with an "s" on the end!!! And all because I care about you.

Catching Fire

A good friend is one who loans you their copy of Catching Fire when they find out you are number bajillion in the library hold queue and they know you have been in withdrawals ever since coming to the end of Hunger Games and discovering it's not the end, but only the beginning of a series, and even though you were rather late in jumping on the Hunger Games bandwagon, there was still several months to wait until Book Two would be released. Said friend has not even read Catching Fire herself, but still loaned it to me, probably because I am obsessed, and because she purchased the book, but recklessly decided not to read it till Book Three was released, thus sparing herself the agony (of which I am now experiencing) of waiting so long to find out what happens next.

That is my definition of a friend.

Thanks, Peggy. I owe you.

*****
And in case you're wondering...Book Two is every bit as intense and wonderful as the first. I loved it!

The Ball's in Her Court by Heather Justesen

I know, I know. Another book review, but it is the Christmas season and you need gift ideas, right?


She's got a great job, a loving group of family and friends, and basketball skills like you wouldn't believe, but Denise DeWalt's life is far from perfect, and she's about to come face-to-face with a past she hoped to leave behind forever.

Twenty-six-year-old Denise thinks she's come to terms with her childhood in the foster care system, but when her old nightmares return, Denise realizes that she must deal with her past once and for all if she ever wants to move on to a brighter future with Rich, the only man who can see past her former life. As Denise's search leads her closer and closer to the one person she hoped she'd never have to face again, she begins to realize that her future depends on just one person--herself.

This emotional and inspirational love story proves that life is full of unexpected twists and turns--especially when it comes to facing your demons, fighting for love, and finding happiness for the future.

I'm excited that Author Heather has consented to my rambly interview questions. Welcome, Author Heather. Hmmm...that sounds good together. I bet she would agree.

ME: Do you ever read your back-of-the-book blurb thingy in a deep, dramatic tone like they do on TV… ”She’s got a great job, a loving group of family and friends, and basketball skills you wouldn’t believe…” Like when your husband’s in the shower you could sneak up and go, “Twenty-six-year-old Denise thinks she’s come to terms with her childhood in the foster care system, but when her old nightmare returns…” or it could be your answering machine message, “This emotional and inspirational love story proves that life is full of unexpected twists and turns…”

HJ: Although I've read the backliner many times already, I admit, I never thought of reading it into my answering machine message. I am really pleased with the copy my editor wrote for it, though. [So, the official term is "backliner" and not "back-of-the-book-blurb thingy"? Aspiring authors take note. I do like the answering machine idea for you, Heather... "She's got a great job, a loving group of family and friends, and basketball skills you wouldn't believe... Pick up "The Ball's in Her Court and read it today. And if you'd like to leave a message for Author Heather, do so after the beep. Beeeeeeeeeeep...]

ME: Your main character, Denise, has much to deal with in her past. I don’t want to make light of the foster care system. I assume your experience with foster children was the catalyst for this story? Did you use any of those experiences in the story or a combination of them? Or was this story born more out of research?

HJ: Actually, I started writing the story before we ever had any placements, while I was researching adoption issues before our licensing was done. My experience with the foster kids did, of course, color the way I wrote the story in later versions, but most of the adoption stuff came from research I did online in preparation for fostering. The adoption forums on About.com were extremely helpful.

ME: There are good lessons (Readers, note the discussion questions at the back of the book) for everyone to learn from your book and not just those acquainted with the foster care system. Besides just being an entertaining read, what do you hope a reader takes away from this book?

HJ: There are several themes in the story, among them, Denise's issues with accepting that the atonement really did apply to her, and her fears of taking risk (we all have to take risks once in a while--if I hadn't risked rejection, this book would never have been published). I also am a strong believer in the importance of family--however it may have been formed. I hope this book teaches all of these things without coming across preachy because they are just part of our everyday lives, things we all have to deal with. [I'm grateful I don't have to deal with Denise's cleaning obsession--I'll stick to my C-OCD--Chocolate-Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.]


ME: But I digress... Give me one random sentence from your book, no context.

HJ: "You keep saying that, but I never get a real reason why." [Now that sounds like an actual quote from my husband. Does he get any kind of royalty for that, I wonder? You can get back to me on that.]

ME: What other works do you have in progress?

HJ: "Rebound," the spin off to this one about the roommate Lily is coming out in May, and I have another book about Lily's sister Shelly (whom we get to know in Rebound) in serious revision. Besides that, I have a couple of unrelated books in various forms of editing and hope to submit one in the next few weeks. I always have more projects than time on my hands. [The Ball's in Her Court/Rebound--I love it when the titles of a series are related. It's so Twilighty-New Moony-Eclipsy-and whatever the 4th one was-y of you! Hunger Games/Catching Fire--not so much.]]

Thanks, Heather!!! It's been fun getting to know you better. I've seen you from afar (LDS Storymakers) and hoped to someday bask in your authorly glow. This has been a little glimmer, so thank you!

For those twice-checking their Christmas lists, The Ball’s In Her Court is available at Deseret Book, CedarFort.com and Amazon.com. Also check out Heather Justesen’s blog for more of Author Heather.

[And for more of me, just wait till after the holidays. I plan on eating lots and lots of fudge.:D]

Trail of Storms by Marsha Ward

After her sister suffers a brutal attack, Jessie Bingham and her family flee post-Civil War Virginia and undertake a perilous trek to New Mexico Territory. When Jessie hears that her former sweetheart, James Owen, has taken a wife, she accepts Ned Heizer's marriage proposal on the condition they wait to wed until the end of the journey. But then Jessie encounters James again . . . and he isn't married now!

In her third novel about the Owen family, award-winning author Marsha Ward reunites Jessie Bingham and James Owen in a bewildering tangle of values, emotions and high adventure.

I did not write that. It's like the official blurb on the back of her book. That's why it sounds all official and intense, and, well, better than something I could've written. It makes you want to read the book doesn't it? My husband read the first two and really enjoyed them, and I have it on good authority that this third one is finding it's way under the Christmas tree (Shhh...).

I personally can't wait to read all three of them one after the other. And then I get to blog about them and interview Marsha and ask her all sorts of fun, authorly questions that might not be official at all.

But I will strive for intense.

Find Marsha Ward and her book in these places:
marshaward.com
marshaward.blogspot.com
barnesandnoble.com

Also check out her book trailer on the side bar.