Guest Blogger Tanya Eavenson and Unconditional

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

TANYA EAVENSON and her husband have been involved in ministry for fifteen years teaching youth and adults, and doing counseling. Tanya enjoys spending time with her husband, and their three children. Her favorite pastime is grabbing a cup of coffee and reading a good book. Tanya is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and writes for Christ to the World Ministries sharing the Gospel around the world.

UNCONDITIONAL
by Tanya Eavenson
Published by Astraea Press

ABOUT THE BOOK

He will fight for her at any cost...

Elizabeth Roberts can't remember her past, and the present is too painful. She turns to nightclubs and drinking to forget her infant daughter's death, her husband's affair.

When his wife's coma wiped out the memory of their marriage, Chris Roberts found comfort elsewhere. He can't erase his betrayal, but with God's help he’s determined to fight for Elizabeth at any cost.

She wants to forget. He wants to save his marriage. Can they trust God with their future and find a love that’s unconditional?

Readers, buy your copy of Unconditional today!

AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR FEATURE AUTHOR

The Most Unlikely Writer

My husband and I have been involved in ministry for fifteen years teaching youth and adults, and doing counseling. Until three years ago, I thought this was my call—to support, to pray, and to help my husband in the ministry with God’s strength and using my talents. And it is, and will always be, as a pastor’s wife. However, God called me to a ministry of my own—to write.

When my husband left for Israel three years ago, it was the first trip he’d gone over seas since our three children were born and, honestly, I didn’t know what to do with myself. During that time, with God’s leading, I wrote a story entitled Live by Faith, Not by Sight. Though it may never see an editor’s desk, that story is dear to my heart, more than any others because of what it represents. To follow the Lord, not by what I can see, or knowing I wasn’t a writer, but living and believing in God to do as He said, so He can accomplish His will in my life.

Here is the verse God has taught me through this writing experience and I’m learning to live out daily.

“We walk by faith, not by sight.” 2 Corinthians 5:7

See, I’m the most unlikely writer. I remember saying with ready fingers pressed on the keyboard, “Are you sure, God? I never wanted to write. Never cared to write.” But there I was, typing away at the keys. And though I was writing, I’m not sure when I became a writer really, but it took longer than most. In 2011 I entered Unconditional in the ACFW Genesis Contest and my novel semi-finaled. At that time I still didn’t believe I was really a writer but I keep plugging away, learning the craft. It wasn’t even when I signed my first contract. It happened when my husband told me he was proud of me and that I trusted God and never looked back. That’s when I became a writer and an author at the same time.

Sometimes people ask me why I wrote Unconditional, a story about marriage. I tell them I felt the Lord had placed it on my heart. Statistics show Christian and non-Christian marriages are failing at the same rate. I believe in marriage there needs to be an unconditional love as God shows and displays in our lives. At times, we may feel like our spouse is our enemy, but God tells us to love our enemies, so what is that saying for our marriages today? We need to show a love that isn’t possible from us alone, but a love that comes from God who ordained marriage to last.

I wholeheartedly believe that if we fight for our marriages and follow after Christ, He will be the One to grow in us an unconditional love for our spouses.

I grew up in a family were divorce is common, like most people today, with the idea once you “fall” out of love, and you can’t get along anymore, it’s time to get a divorce. It was almost engraved in me witnessing everyone in my family get divorced one time or many times. I, too, almost went down that route with divorce papers in hand. I told myself many things at the time, but the truth. I was focused on our failures, not the hope that with God, all things are possible. The question was, were we willing to save our marriage at all costs? Would we fight for each other, whether we felt like it or not?

The story opens in a situation some married couples might find themselves in, losing a child, being in a loveless marriage, experiencing hurt by feelings of abandonment, adultery. Faced with the choice to fight for the marriage at any cost or give up. In my story, as in real life, there is a choice.

The other thing I hope my readers take away from this story is Christ’s love for us. Christ gave up His life, so we may turn from our sin and have a relationship with Him. That no matter what we go through, Christ is there, never leaving or forsaking us. There is no greater love than that of Christ.

If you get the opportunity to read Unconditional, or if you just want to talk, I would love to hear from you. Contact me on my website at: http://www.tanyaeavenson.com/.

I want to thank Tiffany for welcoming me to her blog, but also to you for stopping by. While you’re here, I want to give away an ebook copy of Unconditional to one winner who leaves a comment. Please make sure you leave your email address so we may contact you if you win. Good Luck!

Reader Question:  Have you ever wanted to be a writer? If so, what would you like to write about?

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Thank you, Tanya, for sharing with us today.

ENTRY RULES Readers, leave your email address (name [at] domainname [dot] com) along with your answer to the question for your chance to win a free eBook copy of the book featured above. If you do not answer the question, and your email address isn't provided, you will not be entered.

This week, the drawing is open to anyone worldwide.

Guest Blogger Tracy Krauss and Wind over Marshdale

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

TRACY KRAUSS is an author, artist, playwright, director, worship leader, and teacher. Originally from a small prairie town, she received her Bachelor’s Degree at the University of Saskatchewan. She has lived in many places in northern Canada with her husband, a pastor, and their children. They currently live in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, Canada where she pursues all of her creative interests.

Published works include four romantic suspense novels: AND THE BEAT GOES ON, where archaeological evidence for creation comes at a heavy cost; MY MOTHER THE MAN-EATER, the story of a ‘cougar’ who takes on more than she bargained for; PLAY IT AGAIN, about an unlikely match during the 1980s rock n’ roll scene; and WIND OVER MARSHDALE, where strong spiritual forces rock a seemingly peaceful prairie town. She also has several stage plays in print. Visit her website for more details. http://www.tracykrauss.com.

WIND OVER MARSHDALE
by Tracy Krauss
Published by Astraea Press

ABOUT THE BOOK

Marshdale. Just a small farming community where nothing special happens. A perfect place to start over… or get lost. There is definitely more to this prairie town than meets the eye. Once the meeting place of aboriginal tribes for miles around, some say the land itself was cursed because of the people’s sin. But its history goes farther back than even indigenous oral history can trace and there is still a direct descendant who has been handed the truth, like it or not. Exactly what ties does the land have to the medicine of the ancients? Is it cursed, or is it all superstition?

Wind Over Marshdale is the story of the struggles within a small prairie town when hidden evil and ancient medicine resurface. Caught in the crossfire, new teacher Rachel Bosworth finds herself in love with two men at once. First, there is Thomas Lone Wolf, a Cree man whose blood lines run back to the days of ancient medicine but who has chosen to live as a Christian and faces prejudice from every side as he tries to expose the truth. Then there is Con McKinley, local farmer who has to face some demons of his own. Add to the mix a wayward minister seeking anonymity in the obscurity of the town; eccentric twin sisters – one heavily involved in the occult and the other a fundamentalist zealot; and a host of other ‘characters’ whose lives weave together unexpectedly for the final climax. This suspenseful story is one of human frailty - prejudice, cowardice, jealousy, and greed – magnified by powerful spiritual forces that have remained hidden for centuries, only to be broken in triumph by grace.

Link to an excerpt: http://tracykrauss.yolasite.com/wind-over-marshdale-first-chapters.php

Readers, buy your copy of Wind over Marshdale today!

AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR FEATURE AUTHOR

Lessons from a frog

Some students in the science department at the school where I teach did a project recently called, “How to boil a frog.” As unappetizing as it sounds, the premise is that frogs, since they are cold blooded, don’t realize the heat is being turned up if it’s done gradually. They’re happy to bask in their nice pot-come-swimming-pool until their blood literally boils.

I won’t go into the finer details, and please – no nasty backlash from the animal rights advocates out there. The frogs, apparently, don’t suffer if it’s done a few degrees at a time. For some of us, our experience as writers is somewhat the same. I’m not talking about being boiled alive, although sometimes critic’s comments can have that effect. I’m talking about the gradual addition of ‘tasks’ that, if they had been laid on us in one dump, would have surely killed our aspirations.

I’m a writer at heart. It’s what I would do all day every day if given the chance. But, like every other writer I know, there is a lot more to it than writing. With it comes the necessity of promoting yourself and your work – something I never even thought about before publication. I read an alarming statistic recently that said the average author spends 75% of their time promoting and only 25% writing new material. Yikes! That isn’t what I signed up for! Upon reflection, however, I think I actually fit this stat.

Secondly, statistics also say that the majority of novelists do not make their living writing novels. That’s reality, folks. They have another day job or they are privileged to have a spouse supporting them. Even if they ‘write’ for a living as in a newspaper, copy editing, etc. they aren’t making their bread and butter on fiction. This was a huge disappointment for me the first time I heard it. My dream is to write full time … to become the next break-out best seller… In the meantime, I teach secondary school, which isn’t so bad since I teach drama so I also get to write plays for my students.

I’ve been asked how I manage to juggle all these aspects of my life – writing new material, promoting already published stuff, teaching full time, ministry (I am the worship coordinator and leader at my church), and home life. When I think about all the hats I wear, sometimes I’m not sure. Fortunately, like the frog, each new responsibility was added gradually. When my children were young, I was not as active in the church and I did not work full time outside the home. Although I didn’t have as much time to write as I would have liked, I managed to squeeze in an hour or so a day while the kids napped. When they got older and I decided to homeschool them, I still instituted an afternoon ‘quiet play time’ which was set aside for writing, and my husband was good about allowing me some time in the evenings. They grew up seeing me write and knew that this was not the time to disturb me!

Once I went back to teaching public school my writing schedule changed, but my family was already well adapted to my need for solitude, be it on the weekend or during holiday breaks. The addition of more responsibilities was added when my husband and I went into ministry full time.

When I first started submitting written work, I was very discouraged by all the rejection. Then, when I did finally land my first contract in 2008, I still sometimes caught myself feeling jealous of all the other writers who had managed to get published long before me, and with seemingly less effort. (I’m sure that’s not true, but it’s how I felt.) It had been a very long time coming, and it was hard not to be envious of other people’s success.

Then my husband had some very wise words. (He does that occasionally.) He noted that I probably wouldn’t have been able to handle all the stress and busyness of the marketing end of things at a sooner point in my life.

When I though about it, I knew he was right. Marketing and promoting takes up a ridiculous amount of time and energy. There is no way I could have handled it when my kids were small, or when I started homeschooling, or when I first went back to teaching full time, or when we took our first pastorate. God, in His wisdom, knew what was the right timing FOR ME.

What’s right for me will not be what is right for you, of course. We are all individuals and everyone’s writing journey is unique. Like the frog, my ‘heat level’ has been added in gradual increments. Sure I sometimes feel stressed if there is a deadline coming or too many things happen at once. But generally, I feel pretty satisfied with the way things are going. I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing and loving every minute of it. That’s really all a person can ask.

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Thank you, Tracy, for sharing with us today.

Reader Question: What is your passion and how do you fit it into the rest of your busy life?

ENTRY RULES Readers, leave your email address (name at domainname dot com/net) along with your answer to the question for your chance to win a free eBook copy of your choice of either the Kindle or ePub edition of the book featured above. If you do not answer the question, and your email address isn't provided, you will not be entered.

This week, the contest is open to anyone worldwide.