Welcome to another Seekerville Weekend Edition.
Hope you enjoy our comic book angst.
For even more fun, be sure to check out another new
Hope you enjoy our comic book angst.
For even more fun, be sure to check out another new
We Have Winners
As always, contact Seekerville through our new web email if you are a winner and if needed, provide your snail mail address. Please note our giveaway rules here. All prizes are mailed within 6-8 weeks of winner announcements. But if we missed something, just let us know!
Sandra Leesmith shared on Tuesday about meeting her first author and the significance of meeting authors . Winner of Sandra's first Avalon release, The Price of Victory is Jess.
Love Inspired author Allie Pleiter joined us on Wednesday to talk about The Kiss That Isn't. Winner of Allie's February release Falling for the Fireman is Christina B.
Thursday Thomas Nelson author Cara Lynn James shared "My First Conference". The winner of The Writer's Book of Matches: 1,001 Prompts to Ignite Your Fiction is Andrea Strong.
Friday we were delighted to welcome Senior Fiction Editor Natalie Hanemann to Seekerville. Winner of Beth Wiseman's Need You Now are WFNREN and Carol Moncado . Thank you to the very generous Natalie Hanemann for sending out both copies!!!
Next Week In Seekerville
Monday: We are excited to welcome award-winning Harvest House author Mary Ellis who will share the fun facts about her first book signing. Leave a comment to be entered into a drawing for Mary's current release An Amish Family Reunion!
Tuesday: Seekerville is delighted to welcome back our friend, Word Serve Literary Agent Barbara Scott to chat about her role as a literary agent and chalking up those first sales for her new clients!
Wednesday: Friend of Seekerville Nancy Kimball guest blogs about a subject near to many of us, how to fit in writing time for those who are also employed full-time. Nancy will be offering a gift package that includes a $10 iTunes gift card, a $10 Barnes & Noble GC and one of her beautiful Party Lite jar candles to one commenter. Stop by and chat for a chance to win this delightful collection of gifts!
Thursday: Our hostess is Love Inspired author Audra Harders who is ready for some thought provoking conversation about Villians: the Other Hero. The giveaway will include among other things...chocolate!
Friday: Today is the February Contest Update. The prize vault is open!
Seeker Sightings
In Too Deep, Book #2 in The Kincaid Brides, releases this week. Wednesday, February 3rd.In 1866 Colorado, Ethan Kincaid agrees to a marriage of convenience with the same casual disregard he gives every decision. Audra Gilliland, young mother of two, accepts his proposal because she wants to stop being a burden to her newly married stepdaughter.
And suddenly both of them are in far deeper than they'd planned.
What will it take to transform two wayward hearts fearful of getting in too deep into two trusting hearts ready to risk falling deeply in love?
Mary Connealy will be on Petticoats and Pistols on a special day, February 1st, to launch In Too Deep, and she'll be giving away a signed copy of In Too Deep to one lucky commenter.
Missy Tippens was recently on the Romcon Blog talking about her new release, A House Full of Hope (now available everywhere!). You can still read her post and an excerpt!Missy will be talking about her pets on Roxanne Rustand's All Creatures Great and Small blog on Feb. 1st.
And, Missy will also be blogging on the Savvy Authors site on February 2nd.
RT Book Reviews says this about Glynna Kaye's High Country Hearts: "A warm and deeply engaging story..." You can pre-order your own copy here.
January 24-31, 2012 Win a copy of A Passion Most Pure AND your choice of any of Julie Lessman's other books including her upcoming release, A Love Surrendered, PLUS your choice of a top CBA book from her personal library!! Check it at Michelle Tuller's blog, Sweet Treats and Inspiration. 
Random News & Information Attention READERS!! FamilyFiction is looking forshort-short romantic fiction judges . Time to Vote for the 2012 FamilyFiction Readers Choice Awards! Harlequin Acquires Heartsong Presents (Reuters) Barbour Sells Heartsong to Harlequin (Steve Laube Blog)
Editor's Note on Christian Fiction (PW) Why Vision Is More Important Than Strategy (Michael Hyatt)
Identification With Your Protagonist (ScreenWriters Salon) Three Important Questions About Digital That Nobody is Asking (FutureBook Via Steve Laube) Facebook Timeline To Be Mandatory Soon (GalleyCat) Authors! Sign Up Before February 1st to Be a Book Giver for World Book Night, April 23rd 2012. The Hub & Outpost Method to Organize Your Social Media Marketing by Joel Friedlander (Author Magazine) And finally for all you obsessive review readers...10 Bestselling Books with More Than 80 One-Star Reviews (Galley Cat) That's it! Have an EXCELLENT week-end!
I'm SOOOOO excited, I WON Beth's new book, Need You Now! Thank you so much. I've emailed my snail mail address to you already.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, congrats to the rest of the winners too and bless everyone from Seekerville!
ReplyDeleteWell Ren..may I call you Ren? Bless you too!!
ReplyDeleteTina,
ReplyDeleteNatalie gave her own book away friday morning. She drew Deb M's name.....check the comments.
Remove my comment if I"m wrong. :)
Cathy
I'm glad to hear Harlequin bought Heartsong Presents.
ReplyDeleteJust yesterday I tried to look up Heartsong and thought they had closed.
I'm one of the weird people who like shorter books. Not necessarily short stories...if that makes sense.
Oooh well Cathy that isn't supposed to happen. Oopsie. Well Seekerville will just give one away to Ren from us. No worries.
ReplyDeleteCongrats to all the winners!!!
ReplyDeleteActually, that was me :). I've already emailed with Ms. Hanemann. Glad Ren will get one too :D.
Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Congrats to ALL the winners and thank you Seekerville for another wonderful week of postings!
ReplyDeleteThere's so much to learn here and it's so much fun :)
Blessings!
Kara
Connie Queen I know what you mean about shorter books. I love Heartstrong presents to as well as the li range. I was happy to see what has happened.
ReplyDeleteTina thanks for the link.
HAHAHAHA! Ok, those cartoons are priceless! My favorite is the 'conflict' one. That's totally me. Give that chick red hair already.
ReplyDeleteNow, on to all those good links. :)
Love the cartoons! And Audra's topic next week is a very good one. I can't wait.
ReplyDeleteAnyone have thoughts on the Harlequin acquistion of Barbour?
Congratulations to all the winners.
Congrats to the winners! And I loved the comic book edition...very clever, indeed. ;)
ReplyDeleteIf anybody else read that article about digital publishing and actually understood it, please explain it to me! LOL!
ReplyDeleteOh, and thanks Tina, for the WE! Have a great weekend everybody!
ReplyDeleteTEENSTER -- LOVE the article on the top ten bestselling books with the most 1-star reviews!!!! Made me feel SOOO much better ... :)
ReplyDeleteGREAT, WE, Teenster!! SUPER CONGRATS to all the winners and HAPPY WEEKEND, ALL!!
Hugs,
Julie
Well, Melly one of the things the article says is...there's a lot of hype about ebooks, and when the dust settles, a book is a book is a book.
ReplyDeleteI think Steve Laube makes a good point about the Harlequin/Heartsong sale. Watch and see.
That's great news about Heartsong! And a great WE. And Ruthy's story is positively magical. Sure and it had me yearnin' for the old country. And I know Moira's secret...wonder if anyone else figured it out?
ReplyDeleteOh -- and forgot to say I LOVED the cartoons too. Especially the first one -- kind of funny to contemplate seekerville dampening the romantic lives of its readers seeing as you are all romance writers!
ReplyDeleteAnd the head hopping one. LOL! SNORT!
Aye, 'tis a lovely Weekend Edition of a morn gone cold, Tina, m'lass!
ReplyDeleteAnd 'tis wondrous to think that m' friend Kav has uncovered Moira's secret...
Inspired by that old saying: "If you love something, let it go. If it loves you, it will come back. If it doesn't, it was never really yours in the first place."
Anyone for a viewing of Roan Inish, mayhap????
Harlequin buying Heartsong...
First, it's a brilliant acquisition. Absolutely.
Second, it brings a lot of great authors on board, and opens the ground work for more possible expansion. Love it!
Think of all those sweet gals who are now Harlequin authors... And in Anaheim, just envision THE HARLEQUIN PARTY! :)
I like the watch and see attitude. My Ruthy-approach?
Keep writing, schmoozing, laughing, creating and work strong and steady. Remember the turtle won the race because HE DIDN'T STOP... ;)
Change freshens us. Makes us grow. And anything that makes us work smarter and harder is what built this great country in the first place.
But now I can make fun of Myra. She's a BOUGHT woman. ;)
Congrats to all of the winners! I am now the proud owner of a Seekerville pen, so I feel like a winner, too. (It arrived today in the mail.)
ReplyDeleteGood morning, Seekerville! And YES, I do know it's the middle of the afternoon.
ReplyDeleteNever mind that.
My wife just took the pen. Don't think I'll be getting it back.
ReplyDeleteLOL, Walt you are so funny!!
ReplyDeleteCute photo captions! :)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to all the winners!
Have an excellent weekend everyone!
I shouldn't be surprised about Heartsong, but it did startle me a bit.
ReplyDeleteCongrats, winners!
Mel, I read the piece about digital publishing a couple of days ago, and I thought it was great.
ReplyDeleteBut now I need some of that sneezing-sniffling-stuffy-head-so-you-can-rest medicine, and couldn't explain the post about digital publishing if my life depended on it.
So we'll just go with Tina's explanation.
Works for this stuffy head.
Tina, the funny thing is that she referred to the pen as "those friends of yours that write all of those books you have."
ReplyDeleteLOL. We think your wife is wonderful. I'll send you another pen.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry about it. It will stay here at the house. Besides, my wife is worried I might actually show up with a pink pen at the office. :-)
ReplyDeleteOkay Ruthy, this just made me laugh out loud. I scared the dog.
ReplyDelete"But now I can make fun of Myra. She's a BOUGHT woman. ;) "
Tina, I love the cartoons. How clever!
Congrats to all this week's winners.
Re a book is just a book - did you all see the cute cartoon video Rachelle Gardner posted on her blog yesterday? Love it -
It's a Book by Lane Smith
http://www.rachellegardner.com/2012/01/its-a-book/
Congratulations to the winners! loved the cartoons Tina :) I received may pink pen in the mail this week as well and had to hide it from one of the twins that thinks the world would be a better place if everything were pink.
ReplyDeleteHappy weekend, everyone!
ReplyDeleteWe're still traveling, but almost home. An up and down week of bittersweet blessings. Two standouts? The packed church at my dear father-in-law's funeral and the proud look on my mom's face when I told her my story was in this week's Woman's World. You have to understand, my mom has Alzheimer's and is mostly unresponsive, so this was a BIG thing - even better than getting published :).
I'm on my way to read Ruthy's story - I'm ready for a bit of the old country - and a visit to Yankee Belle. Have a great weekend!
Jan, I have been thinking about you all day. I am sending someone out again to find your WW. If not found will you please, please send me a copy? Prayers for you and your family. xxxx
ReplyDeleteOh Jan, that made me teary.
ReplyDeletePrayers for a safe rest of the journey.
Aw, Jan...
ReplyDeleteYou've been missed.
Now I'm praying the dog is okay.
God bless you. And I hope my story makes you smile. ;)
Hugs, kid.
Walt.
ReplyDeleteI love your wife.
I think you should both have pink pens. Goin' steady pens.
Perfect.
Congratulations to all the winners! Just got in from out of town. :) Tina, thanks again for posting everything in this WE. It's always so helpful and informative! Have a wonderful weekend, all!
ReplyDeleteWelcome back, Jeanne! And thank you!
ReplyDeleteAll right, I've gone to facebook and done my timeline page, and I LOVE IT!!!!
ReplyDeleteIf you're not my friend on facebook, WHY AREN'T YOU??????
Get on over there and we'll hook up.
AND... I'm recreating my Allegany county website because the automatic renewal didn't go through because my debit card had expired and I hadn't logged in a new one yet.
So a pirate firm grabbed it and will happily sell it back to me. For $59.
So now we're www.themenofalleganycounty.blogspot.com and rebuilding today.
Dagnabbit.
Hey, I'm leaving pumpkin roll, though. And fresh coffee. And some Hall's Mentho Lyptus I'll share with Pam.
Okay, okay, I'll do my timeline today.
ReplyDeleteInteresting on the pirates. Ask Jack if he knows them.
Love the WE, Tina. Cartoons are great!
ReplyDeleteAlso, thanks for Michael Hyatt's article about vision vs strategy. A MUST read!
His article provided a huge EUREKA moment for me this week. God's been working on this for some time, but I needed to read Hyatt's piece and then discuss it with Darlene Buchholz and cp Anna Adams to have the light bulb come on. I'm a new woman...a new writer and ready to tackle whatever comes my way. Perhaps a future blog post for Seekerville...
Eureka moments are always good so thanks again, Tina!
Hugs!
Tina, what an amazing compilation of links!!! So much going on right now in our writing world!
ReplyDeleteI hope everyone is having a great weekend!
Jan, we're glad you checked in. It's been quiet without you. What a sweet story about your mother's reaction to your story. Very touching.
ReplyDeleteI just re-read Michael Hyatt's article. And then I posted it to facebook and THEN I sent the link over e-mail to my friends.
ReplyDeleteDebby, it was a HUGE moment for me, too. And it amde me realize that it's sort of what I've been doing all along. I just wasn't really clear about it, or know it was okay to start with a need/vision and then work from there. I've always felt a little guilty about not having clear plans.
My sister read it and now she's considering going back to medical school- at 44! She has the vision, going to sit with it and pray on it, and see if the plans form up. I'm so proud of her!
Oh, Jan...
ReplyDeletePrayers for your family, and all of you. I got tears in my eyes when you said your mother's face lit up! My grandmother suffered with Alzheimer's for 5 years and those moments of clarity were such gifts.
RUTHY!!!!
ReplyDeleteUnbelievable!!! I can't imagine how fast they must have moved!!
I wonder if you wait a bit, they'll let go of it? Or does a domain name last a year? I wish there was a way to steal it back.
I'm SO sorry. That is horribly UNFAIR.
Prayers for a speedy re-build and peace of mind. Those sorts of things always make me soooo mad I can't sleep. :O
Wow, that's a lot of God-thing going on. Thank you, Michael Hyatt.
ReplyDeleteI printed up my vision statement and goals and have them at work, in my Jesus Calling and at my desk.
POWERFUL!!!
I'm working on my vision statement tonight.
ReplyDeleteI love that article, love the whole eye-opening idea of setting a plan in motion.
Virginia, no worries. But I wanted you guys forewarned because I never thought of that. I felt secure thinking that it was on automatic renewal, but never considered what would happen if the card expired.
hahahahaha.
Now we know!
But God Bless Donna from Ithaca who let me know about it.
I have been living on this computer today. My fingers are frozen in place. Silly fingers.
The GOOD SIDE of that is that it pushed me to double check everything and yes, update things. I hate the idea of paying someone to do website stuff, so I do it myself (hence the slightly amateurish but SINCERE look of my sites, LOL!) but if I mess things up, it's my own darned fault.
And hey, another tip:
My web provider raised rates in September. The e-mail went to my spam box. I had negotiated lower rates with them, so when I saw that they were back to charging me $19.95, I called them. They credited me for four more months to make it even out.
And that saved me another $60.
I'm learning that you have to check and re-check these folks. And that's hard to do when you're working all the time, writing when you can.... Grrr....
I should sic Jack on them, but I'd rather he give me a shoulder rub.
Has anyone seen him around?
Wow ... what a great week this was in Seekerville, and it look like another great week coming up! I look forward to the posts! :)
ReplyDeleteVirginia,
ReplyDeleteSo glad to hear that Hyatt moved you as well...and your sis. Med school? Really? Tell her I'm cheering her on!!!
Hyatt's right. Once the vision is in place, the strategy is easy. It either moves us toward the vision or takes us away from it.
I'm working on moving forward!
Jan,
ReplyDeleteContinued prayers for you and your family, especially your sweet mama. My MIL had ALZ. Hate it as much as I hate cancer.
Your WW issue...what's on the cover? Is it red? A little voice told me to buy the copy. Silly me, in a rush, I passed it by. Thought I'd already missed your story. I should have listened and acted!
Ruthy's cooking a turkey today, and everyone's invited for dinner.
ReplyDeleteRight, Ruth?
hahahahah Ruthy is inviting everyone for dinner. She has egg nog ice cream for dessert. (I peeked)
ReplyDeleteY'all are welcome! Come on down!
ReplyDeleteHey, Virginia, did I ever tell you the inspirational story I use of Ann Landers? Or Dear Abby, but I think it was Ann's...
A man wrote saying he was a successful businessman, wife and kids, who always wanted to be a doctor. It was his dream, but he didn't follow it early because he was A. A man. B. Young. C. whatever... But he said he couldn't let go of this dream because it grabbed him inside, that this is what he was supposed to do, but he was 36 and if you counted med school and internship/residency, he'd be working on this degree for nearly 8 years and he'd be 43 years old.
Her answer?
"How old will you be in eight years if you don't pursue your dream?"
I have never forgotten the sheer common sense simplicity of that sentence.
We're going to age anyway. Might as well do it doing something we love.
Jan's "Woman's World" was still available at Walmart yesterday!!
ReplyDeleteYes, Glynna - I bought some more copies (with the green cover) today at the Walmart in Mitchell, South Dakota, home of the World Famous Corn Palace.
ReplyDeleteWhich we did not go see. Again. We were in too big of a hurry to get home.
It's nice to be home.
And when we got here, I found the greatest surprise in the pile of mail! An envelope from Mary Connealy with a PINK PEN!
Mary, you made my day!
And my husband thought I was being all stalkerish when I waved at Decatur, Nebraska this morning.
:)
WOOT WOOT!!! SCORE!! Jan Drexler's story is in the FEB 6 Woman's World. Green cover
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to read it!!!
Just saw that I won a copy of Falling for the Fireman and am so happy! Thanks for the giveaway and I look forward to reading this book. :)
ReplyDeleteI've entered your Query Contest. It's the same query I just sent out in yesterday's mail, so we'll see what it looks like to someone else.
ReplyDelete