Welcome Martha Rogers and Autumn Song

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

MARTHA ROGERS is the author of the Winds Across the Prairie series which is four books about Oklahoma with a prequel, Amelia’s Journey coming in January. Her new series, Seasons of the Heart now has books one and two released. Not on the Menu, was part of a novella collection with DiAnn Mills, Janice Thompson, and Kathleen Y’Barbo; and River Walk Christmas, a novella collection with Beth Goddard, Lynette Sowell, and Kathleen Y’Barbo. A former schoolteacher and English instructor, Martha has a master’s degree in education and lives with her husband in Houston, Texas where they are active in the ministry at their church. When not writing, Martha enjoys spending time with her family which includes nine grandchildren and two great-grandsons.

AUTUMN SONG
by Martha Rogers
Published by Charisma Media

ABOUT THE BOOK

Why does everyone think a girl’s only lot in life is to find a husband and settle down?

Kathleen Muldoon is twenty-three and tired of ranch living. Fiercely independent and determined to become a nurse, she has left her family’s ranch to study medicine under Old Doc Jensen andlive in town with her Aunt Mae, who runs a boardinghouse.

Daniel Monroe has just arrived in Porterfield to set up his law practice. Sparks fly when he is introduced to Kate at the boardinghouse, but the initial attraction quickly dissolves into an argument—the first of many. Daniel is enamored with Kate but uncomfortable with her independent spirit and dreams of becoming a nurse.

When trouble erupts between the ranchers and lumberjacks over timber rights, Kate is furious to learn that Daniel has worked out an agreement she believes will destroy her father’s land. Can they overcome their pride and help each other become everything God wants them to be?

Set in the late 1800s, the Seasons of the Heart series follows the lives of four women and their families, weaving together their stories of faith, life, and love as they bond in friendship only God could orchestrate.

Readers, buy your copy of Autumn Song today!

Summer Dream and Autumn Song are now available from CBD, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble. Check with your local Christian book store for availability. E-book editions will also be available. These are available from the Realms fiction, a division of Charisma Media.

AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR FEATURE AUTHOR

What Does Age Have to Do With Anything?

We make so many excuses for not submitting our writing. I don’t have enough time. I have too many other obligations. I’m too young. I’m too old. I’ve got too many rejections. I don’t have an agent. Any sound familiar? If I had used the excuse of age, I would never have been published. My agent believed in me and kept submitting my manuscripts. When I wanted to quit, friends encouraged me to keep on.

When God calls us to a task, He expects us to finish it. If we’re obedient to that call, He will give us what we need to complete it because He who began the work in us will carry through until it’s completed. Galatians 6:9 tells us not to grow weary when we’re doing God’s work because we’ll reap a harvest when God sets the time.

At one time I asked God if He’d forgotten how old I was getting and how time passed by. Of course He knows how old I am and how long I have on this earth. I just wished He’d let me in on His plans. With so many younger authors were getting contracts and having success, I began to think it would never happen to me, but I persevered, not ready to give up.

Well, God doesn’t forget. He doesn’t sleep. He never quits work. He’s always there willing to help us reach our goals when we call on Him for help. The Lord does expect us to do our part. That part is to put ourselves in that chair and write.

Whether you first contract comes at age twenty-three or seventy-three, God’s timing is always perfect. He’ll never let us down. The answer may not always be what we hoped and prayed for, but His answer is the best for us at that time. It always is.

I’ll be 75 in two months and by that time I will have five novels and one novella published with another five novels contracted. When God opened the door for me, He kicked it wide open. Prayer, perseverance and patience reaped the harvest at the time God ordained.

Do whatever it takes to write. Quit making excuses. If you’re serious, God will help you find the time, face rejection, find an agent, or create the stories. At other times He may tell you to wait a season and take care of other things first. Listen to His voice and calling. Write as much as you can when you can. Be patient, and pray for His guidance in all that you do. Jeremiah tells you to call on Him, and He will answer and tell you great things you do not know. Jeremiah also tells us that God has great plans for us, plans to give us hope and a future. So press on to what God has called you to do whether it is to wait for a season to begin or whether it is to work hard now. Pressing on will lead you where you need to go.

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Thank you, Martha, for sharing with us today.

Guest Question: So what excuses have you used to keep from submitting? And if you aren't a writer, what excuses have you used to keep you from doing what God is calling you to do in your 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 autographed 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 contest is open to US/Canada residents only.

Welcome Martha Rogers and Summer Dream

Please interact with our guest authors by answering the question they provide. IF there is a book giveaway, your response will also enter you in the drawing for a free book.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

MARTHA ROGERS' book credits include the novella, Sugar and Grits and A River Walk Christmas, as well as the historical romance series, Winds Across the Prairie. She had also written seven Bible studies, contributed to compilations by Wayne Holmes, Karen O’Conner, and Debbie White Smith. Martha has also written devotionals in several anthologies including recently released Blissfully Blended, Devotionals for Step-moms from Barbour. Martha is currently working on another series, Seasons of the Heart. Book one, Summer Dream, will released in the summer of 2011. Martha sings in the choir at her church and is a co-leader for a First Place 4 Health group. She loves to scrapbook when she has the time. She is a retired teacher and lives in Houston with her husband, Rex where they enjoy spending time with their grandchildren and attending football and baseball games when one of them is playing.

SUMMER DREAM
by Martha Rogers
Published by Realms

ABOUT THE BOOK

The first book in the Seasons of the Heart series is set in Connecticut in 1888, the year of what historians call “The White Hurricane.” The story reveals the power of God’s love to change lives and heal hearts. Summer Dream tells of a young couple’s love for each other and the obstacles that stand in their path of happiness. Until Nathan Reed resolves his anger with God and his family, he has no hopes of courting Rachel Winston, the minister’s daughter.

As the daughter of a small-town minister in Connecticut, Rachel Winston believes the only way she’ll ever have a husband is to visit her aunt in Boston for the social season until Nathan Reed arrives in town. Although attracted to Rachel, Nathan avoids her because he has no desire to become involved with a Christian after experiences with his own family. When a devastating blizzard paralyzes New England, Nathan is caught in it and lies near death in the Winston home. Through the ministrations and tender care of Rachel and her mother, Nathan learns a lesson in love and forgiveness that leads him back to his home in the South. Before he can declare his love for Rachel, he must make amends with his own family. Will he return to Connecticut before Rachel leaves her home to head west as a missionary in Oklahoma Territory?

Readers, buy your copy of Summer Dream (Seasons of the Heart, Book 1) today!

AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR FEATURE AUTHOR

Personality and Writing Style

I’ve read a lot of discussion about organization and writing. For those of us who are SOTP (seat of the pants) writers, writing an outline or any of the other myriad organizational strategies boggles our minds. However as I have progressed, I’ve found that a little bit of both is necessary to get a story done in time to meet a deadline.

New things crop into a story, new characters step in and wish to be recognized, and events occur and come as a complete surprise to “pantster” writers. That still happens even when I do loosely plan my chapters. Usually my chapter outlines are one to two sentences as to what I want to happen in that chapter. What actually happens in the chapter comes as I write the characters and the scenes.

Randy Ingermanson has a “Snowflake” organizational strategy for organizing stories and plots that many love and use, but I could never get my head wrapped around it. The reason being that it took too long to actually begin writing the story. Even when I tried to do charts and graphs, my imagination would kick in and things happened that had no place in the outline.

I’ve heard this happens to even the most organized writer. Characters will began to them and want something entirely different than what has been plotted.

Whether we organize or just dig in and write, we all have some idea of where our story is going and what we want to accomplish in the end. If we don’t know our destination, we will have difficulty along the journey. Sometimes we can get so bogged down with the details that we lose sight of the story and where it’s headed.

Writing a synopsis and chapter events helps with the organization, but it’s the surprises along the way that make writing the book fun. Do extremely organized writers experience surprises as they write? Some with whom I have spoken so, but a few others grimace in horror. It all has to go as they planned or they panic.

Does our personality have something to do with how we organize or don’t organize our writing? Does having a laid-back sanquine personality lead to being a “panster” writer and panic as deadlines near? Is the choleric personality the one who must organize down to the last detail and be completely in charge of the story? Does the melancholy worry about every detail and word to be perfect as he/she writes? Is the phlegmatic writer more calm and relaxed and able to get things done on time?

Think about your own personality and how it affects your writing. Does your personality reflect how you approach writing and how you organize? Do they have anything in common?

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Thank you, Martha, for sharing with us today.

Guest Question: Does your personality reflect how you approach writing and how you organize? Do they have anything in common?

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 autographed copy of the book 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 US/Canada residents only.

Blog Tour - Andrea Boeshaar and Unwilling Warrior

Today,
GlassRoadPR
introduces Chasing Lilacs
Strang Publishing
by Andrea Boeshaar

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ANDREA BOESHAAR, veteran author and co-founder of American Christian Fiction Writers, has been tapped as the second novelist in Strang Book Group's new line of historical romances. Andrea delivers an engaging tale of a woman bruised by a neglectful father and at the mercy of the times in which she lives.

UNWILLING WARRIOR
by Andrea Boeshaar
Published by Strang

ABOUT THE BOOK

Valerie Fontaine is frightened. Her mother has passed and the War Between the States is raging. She braves the distance and leaves her finishing school in Virginia to be home with Daddy in New Orleans for Christmas.

Benjamin McCabe has a noble dream of photographing the Civil War--until his brother is lost during a battle. He has no idea his quest to find the missing brother will lead him into the enchanting presence of a New Orleans socialite.

And neither could have guessed how their lives would be forever changed.


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Order you copy today!

Spotlight on Martha Rogers and Becoming Lucy

One day late, but the author had computer problems. :)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

MARTHA ROGERS is a Christian freelance author of both fiction and non-fiction and speaker. Her stories and articles have appeared in a number of compilations and magazines. Her first fiction will be released in 2007. Her experiences as a public school teacher, Sunday school teacher, youth leader, First Place leader, Mom and Grandmother give Martha a unique field of ministry.

BECOMING LUCY
by Martha Rogers
Published by Strang

ABOUT THE BOOK

After her parents' deaths, 17-year-old heiress Lucy Bishop takes refuge on her aunt and uncle's ranch in Barton Creek, Oklahoma. If it weren't for ranch hand Jake Starnes, the genteel young woman wouldn't survive the backbreaking work. But a dark secret torments him. Can Jake face his past before somebody claims Lucy's hand---or her life? 304 pages, softcover from Realms.

Readers, buy your copy of Becoming Lucy today!

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

1. What gave you the inspiration for this story?

Driving back and forth to Tulsa to visit our son and his family, we always stopped at the Oklahoma Tourist Info Center for a break. I picked up a book about Oklahoma and liked the history. I decided I had to write a story about those years before statehood.

2. How much of your own experiences influenced your characters? What aspects became traits that were theirs and theirs alone?

Lucy is like me in some ways, but she is her own person. I am adaptable and have a giving spirit and determination to make things work like Lucinda had when she first came to Barton Creek. Jake is not like anyone I know. He had great faith to go back and face the consequences of his actions when he had just found the girl he could love the rest of his life.

3. If your hero/heroine were an ice cream flavor, what would he/she be and why?

Lucy would be strawberries and cream because it's just the right blend of tart and sweet at the same time.

4. Are there any themes in Becoming Lucy that you hope the reader sees? Are there any themes that weren't overt but developed as the story progressed?

The main one is that God's great love forgives us and reconciles us to Him no matter what we've done. The other more subtle one is that of God's protection for His children. All my books carry a theme of reconciliation and reunion.

5. What were your most difficult parts to write? Your favorite?

The most difficult part is keeping up with conflict because I dislike confrontation and don't like to write conflict. I love to write about love and how a couple grows and discovers truths about each other as they fall in love.

6. When is your next book coming out and what is the story?

Book 2, Morning for Dove will be out May 1st.

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Thank you, Martha, for being in the spotlight with us.

Readers, leave a comment for your chance to win a FREE autographed copy of Becoming Lucy.

Make sure you also leave your email address (name at domainname dot.com/net). You won't be entered in the drawing without it. If you wish to comment but don't want to be entered, say so when you post.

And if you want to make certain you don't miss anything, check the box that says 'email follow-up comments to:' when you leave a comment and they'll be sent to the email address associated with your blogging account. That way you'll be notified of any comments and will know when the winners are announced each time.

This week, the contest is open to US/Canada residents only.