More Than A Job -- Lynette Endicott

Please Welcome Author Lynette Endicott who has stopped by to tell us about her new release More Than A Job.

Blurb: When she loses the job that was her full existence, Paige Hamilton learns that there are more important things in life - including love. Can Joshua draw her away from her anger at his company and into his arms?

Address to webpage, blog or similar?

http://lynetteendicott.blogspot.com

http://lynetteendicott.com

Please tell us your latest news!
My debut book, More Than A Job has just been released by Desert Breeze Publishing.

If you were to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?

Well, because I love the characters, they have continued to live in my head, and so I have an epilogue playing out. Or maybe a sequel or companion book. We'll see.


How does your family feel about having a writer in the family? Do they read your books?

My brother is also an author, in a completely different genre, so even though I am the eldest I am not the first to publish a book. My sister directs a Literacy Center in a nearby county. All five kids are readers, something we learned from our parents, who have always been voracious readers as well. We are PKs - Preacher's Kids -- and I admit I did edit some of the steamier scenes when I realized that Mom and Dad would read my book.

Can you tell us something behind-the-scenes about this book that the readers would love to hear - something not easily found on your website?

More Than A Job is about a woman who worked in group homes for adults with developmental disabilities. I worked in the disability field, both in disability rights and in programs like the one in the book, for more than more than 30 years. I am developing some guidelines about writing characters who have disabilities, because of that experience.

Do your fictional characters develop on their own, or do you have their lives planned out in advance?

A little of both! I find that even if I have the plot mapped out and the character develop written down, the characters often go off in unexpected directions. In More than a Job there is a significant event in Paige's life that wasn't in my mind in advance at all.

Do you base any of your characters personalities off people you know, and if so, do you tell them?

Not consciously, but sometimes a friend or family member will remind me that an event or conversation or characteristic is from someone in real life. I think my writer's mind tucks away memories that might make good stories, and then pulls them out when they are needed without my conscious action.

When did you discover you are a writer? Was there a specific catalyst?

I've always written stories. My mom kept some of the imaginative ones from grade school and always declared I was a writer. When I was 14 I was in a class that went on a field trip to a nearby prison. All the people wrote their impressions, and I was chosen to put them together to submit to a youth magazine. The article about our trip, with comments from my classmates, was the first thing I published. By the time I graduated from college, ten other articles were accepted by that publisher.

What’s your favorite place you’ve visited?  Do you have a “must see” destination on your bucket list?

I love British Columbia. Vancouver and Victoria are beautiful, diverse and interesting cities. Scotland and Ireland, especially areas of our ancestors, are definitely on my Bucket List..




Thank you for stopping by Lynette.  Is there anything else you want to share?

Stay tuned. If you enjoy More than a Job, there are two more books coming in 2012.

Welcome Shawna Williams.

Welcome, Shawna. I've read all your books, enjoyed them and would recommend them. But some readers may not know about you or your books. So let's remedy that.


Tell us a little about yourself? Hi Tina, and thank you for having me. Well, I'd like to think I'm a wife and mother above all else, and I certainly try to be, but there's a lot that makes up me. I'm a writer. I write about the things I'm passionate about, which always includes a message of Grace. I love my critters. We live on a ranch so I have plenty, and room for more. I work as an editor for two publishers and as Social Media Specialist for The Wordsmith Journal magazine. I also enjoy designing jewelry, rock hounding and hiking.

Tell us about your writing journey? I had never considered becoming a writer until close to a decade ago when over the Thanksgiving holidays I had a dream. It was just a really fascinating dream with people I felt like I immediately knew. For about six months I thought about it nonstop, trying to fill in gaps and work out certain details. Eventually it became too big to keep straight in my head so I began to write. Initially this was just to satisfy my own curiosity, but over time it turned into a love for the characters and their journey and eventually writing itself.

I completed an entire book without any study of the craft. It was dreadful, maybe not the bones, but certainly the technique. For about five years I toyed with this story, putting it away, and then pulling it out and trying to make it better -- still without any teaching, so it was one bad draft after another.

One day I just felt it was time. I became determined to learn and make it into something publishable. The result was my first two novels: No Other and In all Things.

Do you put yourself into your books/characters? Oh yeah! Even if I don't mean to. Characters come from the writer, and though we go out of our way to research and understand our character's persona and situation, it still gets interpreted through our senses.

I do have a couple of characters however that I have felt more of me in than most. Mine would be Jakob from No Other and In All Things. Yeah, he's a dude, but according to hubby I think like a guy, so maybe that's why I can identify with him. My other character is Pennye in The Good Fight. There are some personal issues with her that came directly from my own experience. The analogy, 'An elephant can paint its ear and flap them in a flowered meadow but still not be a butterfly," was something I once said in reference to myself. I'm older now though, and have come to realize that the above statement may be true, BUT elephants are quite marvelous, just in a different way.

Are there things you put off doing because you dread them? Umm... yeah... Right now I have a sink full of dishes waiting for me. Oh joy.

What's your favorite time of year? WINTER! Cold, ice cube, bone-chilling winter. Bundle me up and let me hike through three feet of snow! Unfortunately we live in an area that only gets a few inches at a time, if that, but I'll take it. It beats the humidity and non-seasons from when we lived in Houston, TX. (No offense to Houston. Winter is just my thing). I adore Christmas, and nothing says Christmas time like a blanket of snow.

How important is faith in your books? It's everything! Faith gives me direction and I don't think I could write a story without it. The story simply wouldn't be there.

What is your favorite book you’ve written and why? In All Things. I had a discussion with a reader about this book today. She'd written to say she loved it but I had scared her for a bit with a certain scenario with Meri. I told her I know I did, but I didn't do it for the thrill. Meri's character had to come to terms with some serious issues from her past that had been driving her actions. For a struggle to be real there has to be the threat of making the wrong choice, so I took it to the edge with Meri. But that was part of the beauty of the story to me. To see how things could have fallen apart, but instead were restored. The book is a continuation from No Other, so to me it completes Jakob and Meri's story. These two characters are very dear to me, and writing those final words in that story and having everything fall into place was a great feeling of satisfaction to me as an author. I hope readers feel the same way.


What is your writing schedule like? Used to write nightly and all was fairly calm. Now it's like, "Oh crud! I gotta deadline approaching. Kids, Hubby, fend for yourselves!"


What distracts you from writing the easiest? Stuff! Actually, pressure. It's hard to write under pressure, so I find myself looking to do other things, like waste time on Facebook, browsing Overstock.com without buying anything, checking my sales ranking on Amazon, etc. Of course this is completely counterproductive because it just adds pressure by decreasing productivity. Blah!


Tell us a little about your new book. Well, I have three I'd like to talk about. No Other, In All Things and The Good Fight are three books in a series I didn't intend to write. No Other and In All Things are books inspired from my dream that began this whole writing journey. The Good Fight came later when readers asked me to tell a story about Roger, Jakob's rival turned ally (sort of) in No Other. No Other has recently released in print, and it begins the story of Jakob and Meri -- two young people from very different backgrounds who are struggling to get back to life as normal at the close of WWII. In All Things picks up with their journey ten years into their marriage, when some things have gone very right, and others very wrong.

 The Good Fight, my latest release, visits Roger a decade after No Other. He's redefined his life after letting go of a life-long pursuit and placed his value in human integrity instead of social status, which sounds good on the surface. But without compassion, integrity can be a cold and harsh thing. In this story Roger meets Pennye, a woman who challenges his view on everything, and forces him to see people. It really is a beautiful tale, if I may say so. I know I'm a little biased. The end is my favorite because Jakob and roger come full circle to not being reluctant allies, but being true, life-long friends. It's not easy though. Oh goodness, I hope I didn't just give too much away. You'll still like it! I promise!

All three books are available as digital copies.


What are you working on right now? Right now I'm working on a sequel to my Depression Era historical Orphaned Hearts. This is another "My readers made me write it story" but I'm not complaining. I'm quite happy to revisit Sadie, David and Caleb. In this story Caleb is grown up. Instead of saving Caleb by finding him a home, this story is about Caleb saving his home by saving the town. It's a romance, of course, and we learn very early on that it was a good thing in Orphaned Hearts that the Sheldons backed out of adopting Caleb when Elizabeth Sheldon learned she was pregnant. She gave birth to a baby girl. Hmm...


Sounds awesome, and sometimes readers know what the next story should be. Look forward to reading it.


Thank you, Shawna.


Learn more about Shawna, take a closer look at her books;

http://shawnakwilliams.com/

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Shawna-K-Williams/236629884245

https://twitter.com/#!/shawnakwilliams

Book links:

No Other: 
http://www.amazon.com/No-Other-ebook/dp/B003K15MY0/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1330838288&sr=1-1

In All Things:

http://www.amazon.com/In-All-Things-ebook/dp/B004A14PPQ/ref=pd_sim_kstore_2?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2
The Good Fight:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Good-Fight-ebook/dp/B0061YJAKU/ref=pd_sim_kstore_4?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2
Orphaned Hearts:

http://www.amazon.com/Orphaned-Hearts-ebook/dp/B004EEOMWA/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2

Also available at B&N, Christianbook.com, Kobo and Sony Reader Store

The Light Keeper's Daughter by Jean Kinsey

 Welcome, Jean Kinsey thanks for stopping by for a visit. 

 v Tell us a little about yourself? I am a 71 yr-old grandmother who teaches Sunday school in a little country church. I love to travel and try to take a cruise whenever I can.

 v Tell us about your writing journey?  Tina, I've always

          dabbled with writing, but it wasn't until late in life when I actually took the time to do

          it. I began serious writing after my husband passed in 2005.  My short stories have

          been published in thirteen Chicken Soup for the Soul books and several periodicals.  

v What do you do enjoy doing in you spare time? write

v Tell us a little about your new book. The Light keeper's Daughter is a 1915-1918 historical.

v What inspired you to write it? I've always enjoyed lighthouses, and I remember stories told to me by my grandmother about WWl and the influenza pandemic. I just put them together and came up with my first novel

v What message do you hope readers will take from it? Nothing is impossible with God

v Do you have a favorite scene? Care to share an excerpt? 

   Belle blinked. A kaleidoscope of colors floated around the room as the ladies promenaded in gorgeous evening gowns. Her breath shallow and her pulse racing, she nearly fainted as a mental picture of her feet flailing in the air and dress flying over her head, bounced through her mind.

    Belle and Lawrence made their way to the dance floor without a catastrophe, as the orchestra switched from the trot to a slow waltz. She was one of the ladies of Marley Cove, not just the light keeper's daughter. She belonged.  

v What distracts you from writing the easiest? My grandkids

v What kind of books do you enjoy reading? (Book recommendations welcome!) My favorite is Fireflies in December by Jennifer Erin Valent.

v Which character in your new release most interested you while you wrote

  Why? Belle the daughter of a light keeper, who thought she always wanted to get away from the sea but found she really loved it.

v If you were a style of music, what style would you be? Southern gospel

v Are there spiritual themes you like to write about? Forgiveness, understanding & love

v Share a verse or Scripture passage with us that is special to you. (and why) 23^rd Psalm—It got me through a long night waiting for a surgery I wasn't expected to live through.

v Are there things you put off doing because you dread them? Yes, self editing

v What's your favorite time of year? Love them all

v When is your next book due out and can you tell us about it? August 2012 the first of a trilogy, Secrets of Willow Shade

v How do you handle rejections? I haven't had many thanks to Desert Breeze. But I accepted the rejection from another publisher well by immediately rewriting and submitting to DB.

v Why do you write? Because I must

v What would you be doing with your free time if you weren’t writing? Feeling lonely.

v What are you working on right now? A light suspense trilogy set in Logan County KY where I was born.

v Do you put yourself into your books/characters? Yes. But I put my dad in all of them.

v Do you have any advice for other writers? Just write and pray

v How important is faith in your books? My first book is full of faith. The next one refers to it less, but it is there.

v What themes do you like to write about? I don't want to be branded into any theme.

v What is your favorite book you’ve written and why? I like Secrets of Willow Shade because it is funny, suspenseful and full of my early life on the farm.

v What is your writing schedule like? Constant now since I'm contracted to four books in less than two years.

BLURB

A broken heart and trouble with the law washes Belle's dreams of a beautiful life with wealthy Lawrence Rinehart out into the sea. Branded a thief by Lawrence's mother, Belle seeks refuge in a lighthouse on the shore of a secluded little seaport.

Captain Fred Logan, penetrates her wall of defense and persuades Belle to come out of isolation. Together they face WWl, rescue a baby from the sea, and battle the deadly flu epidemic.  

Will Belle choose Fred or the wealthy ex-boyfriend when Lawrence's boat capsizes and she braves a vicious storm to save him? Will Divine Guidance give Belle courage to do what she must in order to truly be free?

Where can readers buy your book and where can they learn more about you? 

www.desertbreezepublishing.com www.amazon.com http://www.barnesandnoble.com/  and anywhere ebooks are sold.

My website is:  http://kystorywriter.blogspot.com  

My facebook is Jean Thompson Kinsey

Give Us This Day by June Foster

June Foster is a Retired Teacher. She and her husband travel full time in their RV. She began writing Christian Fiction in January 2010. She hopes to minister to Christians who struggle with the same issues as her hero and heroine.

Give us this Day  is author June Foster's new release.

EXCERPT 

Holly reached down and untied the shoe string of her left tennis shoe. Could she really do this? 

"What are you doing?" His questioning look accelerated the nervous pangs in her stomach. 

Holly lifted a restraining hand to him and continued her work. With an unsteady grip, she pulled her sock off exposing the curved metal of her prosthetic limb. 

Jess stared, his eyes the size of large plates. "Oh, good Lord, Holly. What happened?" 

Holly folded her jeans up to her knee exposing the entire device. She released the suction holding the hollow plastic casing over her knee stump and removed the entire leg, setting it next to the couch. 

Her heart thundered as she dared a glance at Jess. 

He sat motionless, his eyes wide open. "Why didn't you tell me?" 

"Because I thought you'd reject me if you knew. Now do you see? You're not the only one with a flawed body." Holly leaned back against the couch, her stub barely meeting the end of the seat. Her palms were like ice. She took the risk and showed him. No turning back now. He'd always know. 

Jess's voice was barely a whisper. "You haven't told too many people." 
B "No. Only my family and Dr. Murphy know. Zack, too. I was riding on the back of his motorcycle when the accident happened."

"Holly, I don't know what to say." He gazed at her with woeful blue eyes.

She wiped away another stream of endless tears. "After I came to know you, I figured you'd love me in spite of it. That's the kind of man you are. I didn't know how to tell you until now."

Jess eased off the couch and slowly knelt in front of her. He folded her jeans a little higher, gazed at her with eyes of love and compassion, then bent down.

She gasped.

He lowered his lips to the stub and kissed it, then gazed up at her again.

"I can't believe you did that. I love you for it."

Jess blinked, a grimace painted on his face. With a groan, Jess moved back onto the couch with her. He slid his arms around her. "You're right. It would've made no difference in how I feel about you, but this makes things even more difficult." 

Because Of Me by Fay Lamb

Fay Lamb works as an acquisition/copyeditor for Pelican Book Group (White Rose Publishing and Harbourlight Books), offer her services as a freelance editor, and is an author of Christian romance and romantic suspense. Her emotionally charged stories remind the reader that God is always in the details. Because of Me, her debut romantic suspense novel is soon to be released by Treble Heart Books /Mountainview Publishing.

Fay has a passion for working with and encouraging fellow writers. As a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), she co-moderates the large Scribes’ Critique Group and manages the smaller Scribes’ critique groups. For her efforts, she was the recipient of the ACFW Members Service Award in 2010.

In 2012, Fay was also elected to serve as secretary on ACFW’s Operating Board.

Fay and her husband, Marc, reside in Titusville, Florida, where multi-generations of their families have lived. The legacy continues with their two married sons and five grandchildren.

Because of Me: 

Not your typical Christian Fiction

Michael's fiancée, Issie Putman, was brutally attacked and Michael was imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit. Now he's home to set things right.

Two people stand in his way: Issie's son, Cole, and a madman.

Can Michael learn to love the child Issie holds so close to her heart and protect him from the man who took everything from Michael so long ago?

Excerpt 

Issie waited a minute, but Cole didn’t join her. She walked to the dugout, her tennis shoes scuffing the soft sand. Cole looked up. Tears stained his dirty little face.

Before she could get to him, Kevin pulled her outside the concrete block enclosure. “What kind of lies have you been feeding your kid, Issie?” he asked between clenched teeth.

“What?” She blinked.

“After his home run, he whispered to some of the boys that his dad was here at the game. What kind of crap is that? His dad’s still behind bars.”

Issie heaved a deep breath and chose to ignore her brother-in-law. As usual, he hadn’t told the whole truth. She suspected from the news reports Tom Jervis might see freedom soon.

“After he told his little lie, Derek James taunted him, said he’d heard Cole’s daddy was in prison,” Kevin continued.

“Cole doesn’t lie.” Issie strode toward her son. Kevin was supposed to help protect him from this. Why hadn’t he shielded her son from some of that James’ family malice?

She clutched the chain-link front of the dugout, using it to keep herself upright until she reached Cole.

What had caused her son to say such a thing? Where had he gotten the idea?

Eric scooted over so Issie could sit beside her son.

“Do you want to talk about this?” she asked.

Cole shook his head and fixed his gaze toward right field.

How did God make a mother able to feel her child’s pain?

Cole’s chin trembled. He looked up at her, his gray eyes penetrating her soul. “I saw him, Mommy. I really did. He was watching you when you were screaming for me. He smiled at you.” Cole swung his feet back and forth, the soles of his shoes rasping across the sand. He looked down at them. A tear slithered from the corner of his eyes and dropped, staining his uniform. “No one believes me, but my daddy was here. I saw him.”

She’d never told him anything about the man who fathered him. “Cole, honey, how do you know it was him?”

“Granny Rhonda’s Michael. Like in the pictures Granny Rhonda had, the man with you in the picture in ‘Tilda’s living room, but today he had a beard and his hair was longer.” Cole looked at her, tears streaking through the dust of red clay that settled on his face.

Why hadn’t she seen this coming? She’d never imagined the track upon which his train of thought pulled his overactive imagination. Why hadn’t she told him the truth? Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

He’d never said anything to her about the prom picture sitting on Matilda’s mantel, and she’d never known Michael’s mother, Rhonda, had shared other pictures. Cole had been so young then. How could he remember? His question after her nightmare took on a new light. Mother and son both held a desire so deep, and their yearnings centered on a man who’d left Issie years ago.

She bit her lower lip. How could you tell a little boy he had no hope of ever having a father in his life? She took a ragged breath and released it. “Honey, the man you saw probably reminded you of Michael because we talked about him the other night. I believe you saw someone that looked like him, but I don’t think it was Granny Rhonda’s Michael.”

My Michael.

Available through all fine book retailers, Amazon,

Mountainview Publishing, a division of Treble Heart Books.