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First, THANK YOU to everyone who entered the Autumn’s Promise drawing! I loved hearing about what characters you liked and I loved reconnecting with so many readers who have really become my online friends.
This past weekend, two ladies who won the books had time to actually read Autumn’s Promise (thank you, thank you!) and wrote to tell me what they thought. I don’t want to give anything away, but here are two quotes (with their permission)
I just finished Autumn’s Promise. I could not put it down I enjoyed it so much.
I could not go to bed last night until I finished the book.
YAY! Talk about being relieved. I really do get nervous when a book releases!
Autumn’s Promise will hit the bookstore shelves Next Week, on August 3rd.
In other book news, I finished revisions on The Caregiver, which will be released in March, 2011, and I’m currently writing The Protector, release date still to be determined.
Finally, I am Happy To Announce that I sold a historical western series to Abingdon Press. I’ll be writing for them as ‘Shelley Gray’. I *think* the series is called Texas Heroes. The First Book is titled “The Texan’s Promise’ and will be released in November, 2011. These books all are set in Texas and Colorado, and take place just after the Civil War. They’re inspirational, too, and I’m very excited about the opportunity. As of right now, I’ll only be publishing one of these books a year.
Of course I plan to keep writing Amish Romances for Avon Inspire as long as my publisher wants me!
Well, that’s the book news for now! Currently, the wonderful publicist at Harper Collins is helping me set up some book signings~including visits to Lancaster, Sugarcreek, and Middlefield. As soon as everything is set up, I’ll post that information.
Happy Monday!
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Everyone, thank you so much for your interest in this contest! We now have winners!
How we chose: There were over 50 entries, between the website comments, Facebook, and email messages to me.
In order to be fair, we wrote everyone’s name down, folded the papers, and drew out 22 names. (nothing very fancy or going on here!) Please find the winners below. If you are one of the 22, please send me either a private email or a private FB message with your address on it. Thanks so much!
THE WINNERS:
From Email Messages:
Shelby M., Doss R., Debbi S., Cindi L., Nancy P., Kristie
From the webiste comments:
Margaret H., Juliet RB., Dawn, Pam W., Marge H., Wenda H., Cindi L., Katie., Shannon
From FACEBOOK
Linda M., Stephani B., Vicky Y., Barbara TA., Kristy, Dawn M., Willard C.
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Dear Readers,
Today I received my copies of AUTUMN’S PROMISE. Because so many of you have written to tell me that you’re anxious to read the book, I’m giving them all away!
All you have to do is be willing to post a short comment about the book on amazon.com, CBD.com, or any of your favorite book sites.
If you’d like to be in the running, tell me who your favorite ‘Seasons of Sugarcreek’ character is…You can post a comment here, send me an email, or let me know on FaceBook!
I’ll notify the winners on Friday.
Thanks, and I’m excited to mail out the books!
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This past weekend, my husband and I went away again~this time we went north to the Cleveland area. On Friday night, we stayed in Chagrin Falls. It’s a little town just east of Cleveland, and actually does have a little waterfall. I booked a room in an Inn that was an old Tudor mansion. It was a bit different for us~we usually just stay someplace easy, like a Holiday Inn. But, wow, was this place gorgeous! It was built in 1900 by one of the steel barons of Ohio. Tom and I wandered the grounds and peeked in every open bedroom, just to see what the whole house looked like.
On Saturday, we were out the door by nine am, and off to Geauga County, the setting of my Families of Honor series. We went straight to Middlefield, and right away felt like we were in Amish country! There were buggies everywhere, and the main road even had a white line painted on the right hand side, so the buggies had their own lane. That was so nice for everyone. We went to Mary Yoder’s Amish kitchen for a late breakfast, then headed over to the WalMart.
Yep, the WalMart was on my list of ’sights to see’ : ) The reason is because the Middlefield Walmart was built with the Amish in mind. I had heard it had hitching posts, but in actuality,the area for the buggies was far neater! They had a whole covered area for the buggies, so the horses could have shade. There was also a place for them to have water. I counted twelve buggies parked in the area when we visited. Of course, I dragged my husband inside to see if that store was carrying my books, and they had the whole ‘Sisters’ series, plus ‘winter’s awakening.’ I was thrilled about that.
Finally, we visited the local Christian bookstore, then visited all kinds of Amish craft stores. Some of these stores are no bigger than a person’s garage. But I just love these family owned stores. They often have handmade baskets and dolls. I bought a very pretty emerald green and black checkeredboard mini quilt from a little girl who couldn’t have been more than twelve. It was her day to man the front counter.
We ended the day by driving to downtown Cleveland and staying at the one of the big hotels down by the Museums. We got dressed up and celebrated our 21st anniversary at a fancy restaurant. Nope, it wasn’t very Amish-like, but so fun, too!
It was so nice to get away, but now I’m looking forward to staying home, writing, and seeing my kids! They come home on Friday.
I hope everyone had a nice weekend, too.
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I hope everyone had a relaxing weekend!
My husband and I returned home last night from our little getaway to Louisville. We stayed downtown, visited the Louisville Slugger Museum and even ordered a bat for my husband. <g> On Saturday night we went to the Louisville Bats baseball game and had a great time. The stadium was almost full, there were lots of kids, and the Bats won! After the game, the city of Louisville had their fireworks display on the river. We stayed in our seats and loved every minute of it!
On Sunday, we took a trip over to Indiana, to French Lick. It’s home to two absolutely beautiful hotels, both built about 100 years ago. We toured them both, ate ice cream, and then decided we would rather be home than in a hotel so we came back a day early.
We heard from our kids, too, by way of a short text. ‘It’s sunny and pretty in Paris. Please check our credit card balances’. Yep, that was it! I couldn’t help but laugh.
Today it’s been back to work for me, I received revisions for The Caretaker last Thursday.
Please let me know how your holiday was. Did you barbecue? Have family over? Sleep in?
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Congratulations to Tammy and Kristy! Please send me a private email with your regular address, and whether you would like the hardcover large print edition of FORGIVEN or the regular, trade paperback edition.
Thanks so much for leaving a comment!
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I have to admit that things have been hectic here at my house. My two teenagers are leaving for Europe today! They’re going to five countries in three weeks with a favorite teacher. Each summer she takes about 35 kids somewhere, and even lets some former students (like my son) come along.
It’s been very exciting~and, as I was ironing last night for two hours (which is such a ‘mom’ thing! All their clothes are going to be in duffle bags!) I was thinking that all this preparation has been a little exhausting, as well.
The kids have been a little concerned about my husband and me. As in, what in the world will we do with no kids for three weeks? Those of you who have children are probably smiling with me.~somehow I think we’ll be just fine! <g>
I have a lot of writing to do, but my husband Tom and I are going to travel a little bit as well. We’re going to go to Louisville for the 4th of July. There, we’ll go to a minor league baseball game, shop, and sleep in. The weekend after that, we’re going to drive north to the Middlefield, Ohio area. That’s the setting of my 2011 Families of Honor series. So, we’ll visit Amish country and I’ll take notes. Oh, and we’re going to stay in downtown Cleveland for a night, too.
So, we’re going to have a great time. Okay, we won’t be in Paris <g> but we will enjoy driving on country roads, and doing things that we want to do. And that, of course, is what summer is all about.
Anyone else have a driving trip planned this summer?
PS…If you would like a bookmark, bookplate, or pen, please email me your address and I’ll send them off to you.
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 On Wednesday night, I received a terrific phone call. The Virginia Chapter of RWA awarded my novel FORGIVEN the HOLT Medallion for the Best Short Inspirational Romance of 2009! Since then, I’ve been stunned and oh, so excited. It’s such an honor even be in the same company as the other finalists, and truly gratifying for FORGIVEN to be given such recognition! When I’ve talked to church groups, I’ve often talked about writing this book.
Writing FORGIVEN was truly a leap of faith for me. I loved the romance between Sam, an Amish man who had left his order, and Winnie, a somewhat spunky heroine who was recovering from burns in a hospital. However, I really felt God was beside me when I wrote the whole other storyline~Jonathan’s struggle to forgive the person who burned down his barn, injured his sister, and put his family and livestock in danger.
Knowing other people enjoyed the novel enough to give it such high praise is humbling, indeed. And, of course, worth a celebration.
In honor of the HOLT MEDALLION, I’m going to give away two copies of FORGIVEN. One is the regular paperback version. The other is the hardcover, large print version. If you know of someone who might enjoy this book…or perhaps even your local library, please leave a comment. On July 1, I’ll have my husband draw two names.
So good luck! And, as always, thank you for visiting my website, reading my books, and sharing them with your friends and family.
Below is information from the Virginia Romance Writers of America website, telling more about the HOLT.
The HOLT Medallion Award was named for VRW’s first elected president, Cynthia Holt, and serves as the acronym for Honoring Outstanding Literary Talent.
In the early 1990s, there were several contests available to unpublished romance writers, but only a few recognizing the achievements of published writers in romantic fiction. The HOLT has been awarded annually since 1995.
Medallions are awarded to the authors whose books are selected by a panel of romance readers as the best in each of twelve categories.
Cast in pewter by a Virginia artisan, the medallion features a Dogwood blossom, the Virginia state flower, framed in a laurel wreath, the traditional emblem of victory. The flower rests on the pages of an open book representing the fiction we love to read and write. Above the wreath, a heart signifies the romance genre, and beneath it, a scroll with the inscription “HOLT.”
What makes the HOLT unique is our purpose of reflecting the actual marketplace. Judging panels are comprised only of avid romance readers who participate with enthusiasm and sincerity. They’re looking for a good read, a book they would buy and an author they would follow. Their judging decisions reflect these inclinations. No editors, agents or writers are eligible to judge.
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Do thunderstorms scare you? For some reason, they usually don’t scare me all that much.
Maybe it’s because they remind me of my dad and Texas. I vividly remember watching the storms as they crossed the fields of our ranch by his side. We’d sit on the couch, drink Cokes, and ooh and aww over the bold flashes of light illuminating the night sky. Dad taught me to count ‘one Mississippi, two Mississippi’ in between the flash of light and the roll of thunder so we could try to figure out just how many miles away the lightning was.
To this day, I still don’t know if that little trick is even remotely accurate-and I’m not sure I even care. It was just fun to smile at him and start counting.
Here in our little town north of Cincinnati, we’ve had quite a lot of storms this week. The rain’s come down hard, and there’s been a lot of lightning, too. Usually, I just like to look out the window and watch it all go by.
But on Tuesday night, I was home alone. There was also the possibility of tornadoes, so I kept the television on, but turned the volume down low so I could read Tricia Goyer’s newest WWII novel. I lit a candle, plopped Suzy, my little dachshund, on my lap, and settled in. Tricia’s book was great, Suzy was happy as long as I had her head covered, and the time went by quickly. So much so, I hardly minded being all alone in the midst of a very bad thunderstorm.
How has the weather been where y’all are? Stormy? Hot and humid? What are some of your favorite things to do when storms come rolling in over your house?
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I’m happy to say that I turned in The Caretaker last Thursday, just in time to get ready for my brother’s visit. Yesterday after he flew back to Arizona, I anxiously got back to work. I’ve now officially started The Protector! I have to admit that I was ready to get back to my computer. I’m one of those writers who actually really enjoys writing. If I’m not making up a story, I get a little antsy.
Tomorrow (June 10) will be kind of a fun day for me. I’ll be a guest on Suzanne Woods Fisher’s radio show, Amish Wisdom. At 4 pm (Central) I’ll be visiting with Suzanne about Spring’s Renewal, and my visits to Sugarcreek. Here’s the link to hear about it: http: toginet.com/shows/AmishWisdom.
Am I nervous? You bet!
I’ll write again soon and let y’all know how it goes…
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