Thankful Thursday. Since this is the first Thankful Thursday, I want to first and foremost thank my wonderful husband, Nick Hauenstein. He’s amazing. When I wrote late into the night, he was understanding. When I was down about low sales, he was encouraging. When I had writer’s block and having a mental breakdown, he brought me chocolate. Thank you, honey for being wonderful.
Word of the Day Wednesday: Where I take the word of the day from my calendar and create a Concise Creation (Poem, Song, Flash Fiction, True Story) based off of it.
Today’s Word: Miasma-1. A vaporous exhalation or emanation 2. An atmosphere that depletes, corrupts, or obscures
Though the path before me is straight,
A miasma of doubt obscures my vision.
To my left is temptation.
To my right is pride.
Ahead of me is sacrifice of everything I am
But the reward is everything good and whole.
Temptation to gossip about the fools around me.
Temptation to judge based on appearances.
Temptation to speak the evil my tongue wishes to unleash.
Pride in my abilities and intelligence.
Pride that I do the right thing.
Pride that I would never do what they do.
Sacrifice my selfish constitutions.
Sacrifice the feckless notion that I can do no wrong.
Sacrifice the pedestal I have placed myself upon.
Ahead is freedom.
Ahead is love.
Ahead is peace.
The miasma clears.
I no longer have doubt about what I need to do.
Sacrifice.
You may notice that my characters often deal with frustration. That’s because it’s something I personally struggle with. How do you handle it?
Meme Monday! When I came up with the character of Doctor Bartholomew, I pictured David Tennant in glasses. Bartholomew’s a bit eccentric, but his heart is in the right place, even if he is a bit socially awkward. How did you picture Doctor Bartholomew when you read him?
Hey everyone! I just got back from a writers conference over the weekend and am feeling refreshed and ready for the world. As some of you may know, my mother, the inspiration behind the Rose of Petrichoria series, passed away November 27. I went into a funk that I just couldn’t pull out of. Stopped writing, even though I should have been working on Found, the second book in the Faith in Concordia series. My launches for the last few books have been pretty lackadaisical and I’ll straight up admit why to you.
The Rose of Petrichoria hasn’t been selling well. Once someone reads it, they love it, but I haven’t been successful at all at getting it into the hands of readers. When Mom died and my sales continued to do poorly, I just felt like I failed her. I know, and knew, it wasn’t true, but my heart was broken and it tends to lead the way most times for me.
I went to the Northwest Christian Writers Association’s Writers Renewal conference empty, but left feeling encouraged by our speaker, Rachel Hauck (author of Once Upon A Prince), and inspired by the workshops I attended. This leads me into a few favors I have for you, my amazing readers.
Have you read Forgotten? If not, what are you waiting for? It’s only $.99 cents now, so click on over to go get it. If so, I have 3 requests. First, review! At Writers Renewal, I learned that at 100 3+ star reviews, my book will become more visible on Amazon.
Second, send me any quotes or memorable scenes from the book. Has it been a while? I’d be eternally grateful if you reread it (even if it’s a speed-read) to see if you can find anything. I have a few marketing ideas that would benefit from having some pull-quotes.
Finally, please share! I believe in my story and I know it has touched quite a few of you. I would love it if you could share the link to Forgotten on your social media.
Thanks for all your support!
