Verse of the Day

When we know that God's hand is in everything, we can leave everything in God's hand.


“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33)

Verse of the Day

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

Turning the Paige by Laura Jensen Walker

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Turning the Paige
Zondervan (March 1, 2009)
by
Laura Jensen Walker


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Laura Jensen Walker is an award-winning writer, popular speaker, and breast-cancer survivor who loves to touch readers and audiences with the healing power of laughter.

Born in Racine, Wisconsin (home of Western Printing and Johnson’s Wax—maker of your favorite floor care products), Laura moved to Phoenix, Arizona, when she was in high school. But not being a fan of blazing heat and knowing that Uncle Sam was looking for a few good women, she enlisted in the United States Air Force shortly after graduation and spent the next five years flying a typewriter through Europe.

By the time she was 23, Laura had climbed the Eiffel Tower, trod the steps of the Parthenon, skied (okay, snowplowed) in the Alps, rode in a gondola in Venice, and wept at the ovens of Dachau. She’d also learned how to fold her underwear into equal thirds, make a proper cup of English tea, and repel the amorous advances of a blind date by donning combat gear and a gas mask.

Laura is a former newspaper reporter and columnist with a degree in journalism who has written hundreds of articles on many subjects ranging from emu ranching and pigeon racing to goat-roping and cemetery board meetings. However, realizing that livestock and local government weren’t her passion, she switched to writing humor, which she calls a “total God-thing.”

Her lifelong dream of writing fiction came true in Spring 2005 with the release of her first chick lit novel, Dreaming in Black & White which won the Contemporary Fiction Book of the Year from American Christian Fiction Writers. Her sophomore novel, Dreaming in Technicolor was published in Fall 2005.

Laura’s third novel, Reconstructing Natalie, chosen as the Women of Faith Novel of the Year for 2006, is the funny and poignant story of a young, single woman who gets breast cancer and how her life is reconstructed as a result. This book was born out of Laura’s cancer speaking engagements where she started meeting younger and younger women stricken with this disease—some whose husbands had left them, and others who wondered what breast cancer would do to their dating life. She wanted to write a novel that would give voice to those women. Something real. And honest. And funny.

Because although cancer isn’t funny, humor is healing.

A popular speaker and teacher at writing conferences, Laura has also been a guest on hundreds of radio and TV shows around the country including the ABC Weekend News, The 700 Club, and The Jay Thomas Morning Show.

Another book in this series is Daring Chloe

She lives in Northern California with her Renaissance-man husband Michael, and Gracie, their piano playing dog


ABOUT THE BOOK

At 35, Paige Kelley is feeling very "in between." She's still working her temp job after two years, still not dating three years after her divorce, and still melting at every chubby-cheeked toddler she sees while her biological clock ticks ever louder. Paige even moves back home to help her ailing, high-maintenance mother.It's not exactly the life she'd dreamed of!

When her Getaway Girls book club members urge Paige to break free and get on with her life, she's afraid. How will her mother react? How can Paige honor her widowed mother and still pursue her own life? The answers come from a surprising source.
A trip to Scotland and a potential new love interest help launch an exciting new chapter in her life, and lead Paige to discover that God's plan for her promises to be more than she ever imagined.

This latest release in the Getaway Girls collection delivers a smart, funny, and warm account of one woman's challenge to reconcile who she is—a dutiful Christian daughter—with the woman she longs to be.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Turning the Paige, go HERE


Margie's comments: Laura Jensen Walker first came to my attention with her third book, Reconstructing Natalie. As I proofread it, I loved how the author handled a tough subject (breast cancer) with humor and grace yet with a compassion that spoke of having experienced the tough trials of life. So when I picked up Turning the Paige last weekend, I did so with anticipation. And it proved just as satisfying a read. At one point near the end I tried to put it down and go to sleep (it was late!), but the description I'd read so mirrored my own in a similar situation that I knew I wouldn't sleep until I finished it. So. . .

Paige jumps off the page (yes, it's a pun. . .just following the example in the title of the book. . .I make no apologies *smile*) as a vibrant individual. I love the members of her book club and the other characters who play a role in Paige's life. And I loved the descriptions of the trip to Scotland. Brought back wonderful memories from last fall when I made my first trip to my grandfather's birthplace. How Paige deals with her mother, her sister, and others around her is a challenge to all who read her story to deal with others with grace, exhibiting Christ's love to all.

A very satisfying read that I highly recommend.

Verse of the Day

He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. (1 Thessalonians 5:24)

Self-Editing TIps

Sentences that contain parenthetical material usually need commas, depending on the type and necessity of the information. Take a look at the following examples:

1. Miss Piggy who is considered by most to be the star contributes to the success of the show.

2. Computers moreover play a vital role in all businesses and at the same time encourage new and fascinating approaches to the various fields of education.

3. Jerry a student in my Fundamentals of Writing course informed me that she could not find the word mnemonic in her pocket dictionary.

Commas are needed in all these sentences, so let’s take a closer look at where and why.

1. Miss Piggy, who is considered by most to be the star, contributes to the success of the show.

The clause who is considered by most to be the star gives us more information about Miss Piggy than is needed for this sentence to make its point. So we set it off with commas.

2. Computers, moreover, play a vital role in all businesses and, at the same time, encourage new and fascinating approaches to the various fields of education.

Moreover and at the same time are adverb phrases that aren’t really needed since they don’t affect the meaning of the sentence if we leave them out. Yet they do help direct our thinking, so when they are included we set them off with commas.

However, if the adverb is essential to the sentence, then we leave the commas out. For example:

The storehouse was indeed empty.
Two students cheated and were therefore disqualified.

3. Jerry, a student in my Fundamentals of Writing course, informed me that he could not find the word mnemonic in her pocket dictionary.

The phrase, a student in my Fundamentals of Writing course, renames the subject Jerry. Either used alone as the subject is valid.

Jerry informed me that he could not find the word mnemonic in her pocket dictionary.
A student in my Fundamentals of Writing course informed me that he could not find the word mnemonic in her pocket dictionary.

So when both are used, the restatement of the noun/subject is set off with commas. (This restatement of a subject is called an appositive.)


That’s enough for today. Next week we’ll continue with the parenthetical material as it relates to essential and nonessential clauses and phrases . . . and how to tell the difference.

Verse of the Day

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace. (1 Peter 4:10)

Verse of the Day

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. (Galatians 6:9)

A Cousin's Promise by Wanda Brunstetter

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
A Cousin's Promise
Barbour Books (March 1, 2009)
by
Wanda Brunstetter


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Wanda enjoys writing about the Amish because they live a peaceful, simple life─something she says we all need in this day and age.

Using the knowledge her Amish friends have shared with her, Wanda has also produced several children’s titles in the Rachel Yoder─Always Trouble Somewhere series, an Amish cookbook, and a devotional collection entitled The Simpler Life, which was released in July 2008 and celebrates the virtues of the Amish lifestyle. Wanda and her husband are members of the fellowship of Christian Magicians.

Wanda is also a member of the North American Association of ventriloquists, American Christian Fiction Writers, and the Northwest Christian Writers Association. She lives in Washington State, where her husband pastors, but takes every opportunity to visit Amish settlements across the country.

Other books by Wanda are A Sister's Test, A Sister's Hope, and A Sister's Secret


ABOUT THE BOOK

Wayne Lambright who, crippled after a tragic accident, feels himself unworthy of her love; and Jake Beechy who, after having abandoned her to explore the English world, returns to renew their courtship.

Willkumm to the lush and lavish Amish country where Wanda Brunstetter's new romantic series, Indiana Cousins, begins with A Cousin's Promise. Loraine Miller finds herself torn between the love of two good men.

When a horrific accident cripples Wayne Lambright, he finds it difficult enough to take care of himself, much less Loraine Miller, his future bride. Will he sacrifice his happiness to give her a better life?

Having already been jilted once, Loraine is terrified of yet another rejection. But does she love Wayne enough to marry him, for better or worse? When her old boyfriend Jake Beechy returns from exploring the English world, he hopes Loraine will give him another chance.

How will God work to give Loraine the desires of her heart? To which man will she pledge her love and loyalty—for better or worse, until death they do part?

If you would like to read the first chapter of A Cousin's Promise, go HERE


Margie's comments: Wanda Brunstetter is an author who consistently delivers a good read. I've had the privilege of working on several of her past books over the last nine years. If you want a relaxing, quiet read, I recommend any of Wanda's Amish-themed books. I haven't read A Cousin's Promise (can't read everything! LOL), but I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

Is Good Grammar Important in Fiction?

Okay, maybe that's not a good question to ask an editor and former high school English teacher. LOL But it has come up several times in the last few weeks, either from clients or statements made in my hearing or even in my reading.

The short answer? Or at least my take on it. Yes, it matters. But . . . I'm not saying that everything in a work of fiction needs to be grammatically correct. The writing book I'm currently reading is Dwight Swain's Techniques of a Selling Writer. This is what he has to say about the importance of grammar:

"To keep rules in proper perspective, violate them by design only.

"That is, make them tool for manipulation of your reader's emotions. If that takes sentence fragments, non-punctuation, stream-of-consciousness, and one-word paragraphs, by all means use them. Winston Churchill blazed the trail for all of us when he spoke his mind to the purists who insisted that no sentence end with a preposition: 'This is one rule up with which I shall not put!'

"So, deviate if you must. But do it with malice and by intent, not accident.

"And, most of the time, stay within the rules. Your readers will feel more at home that way."

And so will your editors. *smile*

Do know the rules of grammar: punctuation, sentence construction, word choices, etc. Because when you know the rules, then you can break them . . . effectively.

Check out this for a humorous, yet serious, approach to this topic.

Verse of the Day

Abraham didn't focus on his own impotence and say, "It's hopeless. This hundred-year-old body could never father a child." Nor did he survey Sarah's decades of infertility and give up. He didn't tiptoe around God's promise asking cautiously skeptical questions. He plunged into the promise and came up strong, ready for God, sure that God would make good on what he had said. (Romans 4:19–21)