The Challenges of Writing for Charity

with guests Walt Mussell and Lindi Peterson.

Have you ever had a passion for something? A real wish to change the world in some way? Sometimes, a cause, a situation, or an enlightening triggers us to take action.

As a writer, we have more than one way to influence the world. We can write for charity.
Lindi and I have teamed up with a group of primarily Atlanta-based authors to participate in an anthology to help raise money for a school in Atlanta for children with dyslexia. Lindi will go into detail about our project.

 My purpose is to provide a list of things to consider when writing for charity. 

I remember my first attempt at writing for charity.  I teamed with a now Love Inspired author (back in her pre-fame days). Our project was a book of family recipes from famous authors. We amassed around thirty recipes to start, narrowed it down to two charitable options (Hunger or Autism), and put together a proposal with the help of the other author’s agent. After eighteen publisher rejections, the agent gave up. 

I still have the recipes, and have even made a few of them, but it gnawed at me for a long time that the project never reached fruition. I learned that it’s best to choose your charity at the outset, as some authors, though keen to help, want specifics before committing their time.  

We’ve learned a lot on this project. However, we also wanted to include tips in writing for charity as a single author. For that, I sought advice from Alana Terry, an inspirational suspense author who has dedicated much of her writing to supporting a charity for refugees trying to escape North Korea (over $4,000 raised to date). Whether writing as a solo or a group, some advice works for both

• Make your book connect to the charity.

For many of Alana’s books, the setting is in North Korea, which fits in with her charity. For the school anthology, every story makes a tangential reference to dyslexia. Last year, another group of authors put together an anthology that focused on human trafficking. Every story in the book contained a link to information on trafficking. (For my failed cookbook, we should have focused on hunger.)

• Select a charity that wants to be a partner.

For the dyslexia anthology, there will be a signing at the school, something possible as most of the authors are Atlanta-based. In addition, the lead author works closely with the school, which makes the book more fulfilling. Per Alana, you hope the charity will “promote your work.” This deepens the connection to what you do.

• Ensure your efforts are used for the charity.

For both projects referenced, time was spent ensuring that the funds raised would be put to the needs.

• For a group project, sign a contract.

Writing is still a professional endeavor. You need your rights outlined, such as time donated to the project. Earlier, I mentioned an anthology that focused on human trafficking. The project had a limited time engagement of four months.  

• For a group project, have a back-up plan.

In the case of the dyslexia project, one author had to drop out at the last minute, leaving the project in a quandary as the donated cover art, among other things, specified “twelve” authors. The lead author located a replacement and the project stayed on course.

Lindi here!

My good friend Ciara Knight has dyslexia. Her son also has dyslexia. He goes to a school that specializes in teaching children who are dyslexic. Awesome, huh? But last year they were informed they needed to find a new location for the school, a task that wasn’t easy. They did land in an awesome place, but the budget was tight. 

Lindi and Ciara.

That’s all it took for Ciara to take action. She immediately established a committee and they got to work. They asked authors to write for a boxed set, of which all proceeds will go to the school. GRACEPOINT. The common theme in the boxed set was you had to mention dyslexia in your story. So twelve authors committed to writing a novella and contribute to the boxed set.

What a project!

Like all projects, there have been many amazing moments, as well as challenging moments. Ciara worked hard getting the cover art and formatting donated. What they found in putting all this together is that the writing community is not shy about being willing to help or donate their time and mad skills. A NYT Bestselling author, Sherrilyn Kenyon, also has dyslexia,and agreed to write the forward for the novellas. As Walt mentioned above an author stepped up at almost the last minute when one of the original authors had to back out. The formatting of twelve books was a bit challenging, but people willing to work around the clock were able to get the job done.

It does take a village people!

There are people working on PR right now. As Walt mentioned, there is a book-signing scheduled at the school. There is a Thunderclap set up, as well as a social media blitz going on. We have two parties planned on FB for the release day, one the day before with guest authors, and one the day of with the twelve authors. Everyone is participating 100% because we have a desire to help where and when we can. 

On a personal side, I’ve had four book launches. At each one of those launches, I had a giveaway where all the money collected went to a certain charity. It all depended on what was going on in my life at the time as to what charity the money went to. And let’s be honest, it wasn’t a lot of money, but anytime we can donate to a good cause, why not do it? Through the book launches, I was able to give money to autism, breast cancer, missionaries in Peru. Once again, the readers and writers united to help a cause.
  

Everyone loves giveaways!

I do a lot of my writing events with a local bookstore, FoxTale Book Shoppe. They are an amazing group of people who support writers with a fierceness! The local authors love these people and this book store. Ellen Ward, one of the owners of FoxTale shared that sometimes authors host events where part of the sales goes toward a charity. Customers will occasionally donate toward that charity as well. She also says animal causes seem to garner a lot of attention. 

I’m sure many of you have causes that you are passionate about. Look around your communities. There are probably many ways to help at a local level if you want to donate time. Online access makes it very easy to donate financially.

And of course, look at your favorite authors. Check out what they are doing. You never know the impact you can make by simply buying a book. Walt and I are giving away two copies to a commenter today! Either E book or Print book—whichever the winner chooses.

Seekerville wants in on this fun! We're Seekerville is going to give away four E copies to four commenters. Note this will release on August 30th! So leave a comment. 

Romance for the soul, a gift from the heart. 

This collection of sweet and inspirational novellas has an uplifting love story for everyone. These stories bring a touch of grace to romance and a touch of romance to your heart. 

Can a town save a marriage? Will a high school reunion offer a second chance at love? Can a man with a secret and a woman afraid of being hurt learn to trust? Can a girl running from her past escape her heart? Will a woman trapped in the past discover the true importance of family? Can unexpected love become the best present ever? 

You’ll find hours of enjoyment as well as a satisfying ending to each story. No cliffhangers and no partial novels are offered here, just an escape into worlds of love, families, and grace. 

Pre-order Love and Grace on Amazon
Pre-order Love and Grace on ITunes
Pre-order Love and Grace on Kobo
Pre-order Love and Grace at Barnes and Noble

So, for the typical Seekerville charge, we raise two questions:
1) If you could write for charity, what type of project would you like to be involved in?
2) What should Walt do with those recipes? 


Special thanks to Alana Terry for her help. Please click here to check out her latest work and here to check out her website.    

Walt Mussell lives in the Atlanta area with his wife and two sons. He works for a well-known corporation and writes in his spare time. Walt primarily writes historicals, with a particular focus on Japan, an interest he gained in the four years he lived there. Outside of writing, his favorite activity is trying to keep up with his kids. As one is starting college and the other is starting high school, this is proving more difficult. 

Visit his website “Daddy Needs Decaf” at waltmussell.blogspot.com. Follow on Twitter at @wmussell  



USA Today featured author Lindi Peterson lives in north Georgia, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, with her husband and a lively array of cats, dogs, and birds. She loves sharing life with her family and friends. Her passion for reading led her to writing, and then God spoke words of love into her heart and changed her life forever. 
Visit her at: lindipeterson.com/inspyromance.com
Twitter@lindipeterson 

The Great Reader Event

The Great Reader Event

Lindi Peterson and Ciara Knight

Ciara Knight (L) and Lindi Peterson (R)

Ciara: Planning a reader event can be exciting and exhausting. We’ve attended many in the past, so we had the general idea of how they are run, but we had no idea about all the little things that we had to think about. Don’t worry, though, we are happy to share what we've learned with you here today.

First, do you have a theme for your event? We chose ‘Love Our Readers,’ because our event was being held on Valentine’s Day, and it’s all about the sweet/inspirational love story.

Lindi: And along with theme is purpose. Our purpose wasn’t to make money. We did this to raise awareness for local businesses as well as local authors. There is so much talent in our area that we believe needs to be promoted. We think that after this first year people will be talking about the event so next year people will be looking forward to it.

Ciara: Start planning well in advance. We started planning in May of 2014 for a February 2015 event. Before you begin work on your event, you should consider what type of budget you’d like to work with. Do you want a large event with a big budget, a small event with a modest budget, or something in between? Based on this desire, you can start the planning process.

Lindi: Ciara and I tossed out many different ideas before deciding on the luncheon on Valentine’s Day. One of them being a brunch that served mimosas. (You guys serve brunch here on Seekerville, right?) But we discovered we didn’t want to get into the alcohol aspect. That brings another level of expense even to a mild-mannered brunch. So we landed on a luncheon. Now that we had our date and event we asked Karen White if she would be available to be our Keynote speaker. She was and she agreed! So we asked two local authors who wrote sweet and/or inspirational fiction to join us. Missy Tippens and Meg Moseley both agreed. Now the hunt was on for the perfect venue.

Ciara:  Yes! What venue will fit your vision? You can have a seated dinner at a country club, a buffet at a local restaurant, or tea and sweets at the mall. The possibilities are endless, just make sure it matches your theme. In our case, we chose to go with an eclectic theme with an air of romance, so we reserved the Rose Cotttage. It has the perfect ambiance with its various, ornate chandeliers, hardwood flooring and a fireplace.

Lindi:  Yes, the place is very cool with its mix-matched chandeliers. I loved that right off. It was different—in a good way!

Ciara: Next on our list is food.

Lindi: Yes—food is a must!

Ciara: No doubt. We live in the south, so we have to have food at our event. If you’ll be serving food, you need to think about your theme. In our case, we are having a sweet and romantic catered lunch prepared and served by Tea Leaves and Thyme. It’s a local, delicious tea house in Woodstock, Georgia. It’s perfect for our sweet/inspirational love event.

Lindi: Oh, and our menu? Chicken salad, pineapple orange pasta salad, scones with lemon or almond crème, yummy dessert. And iced tea of course!

Now that we have the place and the food we need to talk about our bookseller. FoxTale Book Shoppe! An amazing bookstore that is so author friendly. They hold workshops, host book launches, book parties, book teas, book everything. We are so pleased to have them on board.

Ciara: The big decisions are made so let’s concentrate on a few of the small things. I’d strongly suggest to offer some door prizes or welcome bags with promo goodies. One way to offset the cost of this to stay within your budget, reach out to local stores and small businesses. At Love Our Readers Luncheon we worked with SandyJo Designs for our centerpieces, Jewelry designer Julie Helligrath from Enchanted Ambition, Mary Conneally who donated books and other authors to fill our bags with amazing swag! Oh, and we even made the welcome bags.

Lindi: Correction. Ciara made the bags. Also, each author is donating a basket for the door prizes. The centerpieces are door prizes as well.

A few other miscellaneous things to think about is making sure you have all utensils, decorations, name tags, pens for signing, paper products and dishes. At our event, we’ll be eating on mismatched china because it fits our theme.

Lindi: Yes, I work with a guy whose wife collects china. She’s donating the use of 40 plates for the day. Ciara and I are dishwashers immediately after the event. Event planner/author to dishwasher in a matter of minutes. Gotta love it!! (And we do!)

Ciara: Lastly, set a schedule ahead of time. Make sure you speak to your keynote speaker, each of your authors and bookseller to work out a timeline that works for everyone.

Lindi:  We hope to stay on our timeline. If not, well, we live and learn and trust us, we are taking notes for next year. Since our goal is to raise local author awareness, we hope to grow the book signing part of the event.

Thanks for letting us share this journey we’ve been on. We’ve been promoting this by social media and word of mouth. FB Twitter, Instagram—If you are on these sites and are our friends, I’m sure you’ve seen our posts. As of today we only have 7 tickets left. Of course we hope to sell them this week.

Anybody want to come?

***

Missy Tippens, here. Thank you Lindi and Ciara! I hope some of you may be able to come to our event. We'd love to see you! Visit http://loveourreaders.blogspot.com for more info! Feel free to ask questions.

GIVEAWAYS TODAY! Please let us know in the comments section if you'd like to be entered. Ciara is giving away one copy of Valentine's in Sweetwater County.

Lindi is giving away one copy of Rich in Faith.

 Visit Lindi at www.lindipeterson.com

Visit Ciara at www.ciaraknight.com and be sure to read her inspiring story of overcoming obstacles (on her "About Me" page).

We've Got You Covered!

We've Got You Covered!

with Missy Tippens and Lindi Peterson

Missy Tippens, here. And I’d like to welcome my very good friend and critique partner Lindi Peterson. Lindi had books published with Belle Bridge Books and is now publishing independently as well. She just released her first indie book last week, and it has an amazing cover that fits well with her brand and her Belle Bridge covers. I thought I’d ask her to share her journey in achieving that. But first, I’m going to share about some of my fantastic Love Inspired covers.

Several years ago, I shared a post about Harlequin’s Art Fact Sheet. (Click here, but please come back!) This AFS has been invaluable in helping figure out what will make a great cover. Now that I know better how to fill out the form, I’ve found that the art department has made the covers almost exactly as I envisioned them!

For my latest release, The Guy Next Door, I sent my editor a Word document with photos of a couple sitting by a campfire. I also sent a photo of a campfire beside a lake. And I even sent a photo of s’mores!

Here’s the description I typed with the photos I sent (Spoiler Alert for the story!):

Scene #2 – Roasting marshmallows for s’mores at lakeside fire pit. A big proposal scene where they declare love. Hero and heroine sitting on logs that surround the fire. Scene actually takes place in late afternoon/ early evening with light filtering through tall pines. But night scene might make nice cover.

I think they got it just right! And the heroine looks a lot like the photo I sent them (a photo of the daughter of a friend of mine).

On my previous book, Georgia Sweethearts, one of the scenes I described as a possible choice for the cover was when the hero and heroine shared their first kiss. I sent a photo of a man and woman sitting side by side with a note to meld two photos, the first one for an example of the pose.

Then I also sent along a second photo of a picnic table with this added:

Better setting/background--in back yard under a tree. (Add tulips):

 

Photo Credit: Crestock/ simply

Well, here’s what they came up with (and note the tulips, even!). They captured the heroine’s ponytail as well as the clothes that I described in the AFS.

For A House Full of Hope, I sent photos of each of the kids. I sent photos of black labs. I sent a photo of a white wooden farmhouse, adding this note:

SCENERY

Large farmhouse for three generations of Rykers (with porch and front steps and white railing but also has rocking chairs on porch)…

I also sent along a photo of a canopied drive and wrote this:

Canopied Drive to house scene (#1) (peaceful, dappled sunlight) and add black lab trotting down road as well as kids’ bikes tossed on side of road to indicate playing…

So the editors and art department did a great job showing all that. They even captured the pink that the oldest child always wore (a description I added in the AFS).

I’ve been blessed with covers that go along with what I’ve envisioned on the stories. So I’m sharing some tips that I think help.

--Use scenes that convey the overall theme of your story—romance or family or suspense…

--Consider using scenes that include hooks that sell well such as children, brides, pets, cowboys, firefighters, holiday etc.

--Use scenes that evoke emotion. Peace, fear, love, hope, danger…

--Use places that are important to the story but that are also visually appealing.

--Consider covers with people as well as covers without (landscape). Some genres sell better with one or the other.

--Study covers of bestselling books in your same genre.

I hope this helps you when you’re working on your own covers—whether traditionally or independently published. And now, I’m going to turn over the post to Lindi…

Hi all! So great to be back in Seekerville talking covers with Missy.

In my Indie journey I knew from the start I didn’t want to design my own cover. A lot of people do, and they do it well. But knowing my strengths and weaknesses, I knew I would be hiring someone to design my cover. Missy mentioned that I have published with Belle Bridge Books. The ladies there were great in giving me permission to have my series keep the same look.

But first, who would I choose to design the cover? There are so many great individuals and companies that are designing now. Just as I was delving into this journey I saw my friend Sherri Wilson Johnson’s cover.

I said, self, find out who designed that cover. Just so happened I was with Sherri. She gave me the number of the gal, Lynnette Bonner, who has a cover design company, Indie Cover Designs. 

I looked over the covers Lynnette had done and was impressed by the diversity and the quality of the work. Her rates were reasonable. I ended up telephoning her because of the situation with keeping my covers the same as the trad pubbed book. Lynnette looked up the first book and she helped me with the questions to ask my publisher to get the correct items.

Again, the gals at Belle were helpful and sent me links to purchase the template for the background and the dove that drapes down the side

Then my search began. I love people on the covers of books. So, I searched and searched and searched. Those who have done this know how many hours can go into finding one photo.

The perfect photo.

I sent Lynnette several examples and we decided on one.

Dreamstime.com/Kguzel

Then I purchased the template and the dove images and the beach girl. Yes, in Indie pubbing you do have to put out the money for the images. But it’s money well spent in my opinion. I bought $60 worth of credits and didn’t use them all. The stock photo site I used was Dreamstime.

Then I sent all the images to Lynnette. She put everything together and we tried a couple of different background colors before settling on the final blue.

When I saw it I KNEW it was perfect.

While this process is different from the Art Fact sheet Missy spoke of, it has a lot of the same elements. Your vision in someone else’s hands. Your ideas sent through cyberspace coming back to you in the form of a beautiful cover.

I enjoyed this part of Indie publishing. (Formatting and I aren’t best friends, but that post can be written by someone else.)

Lynnette and I have already decided to work together for book 3, Rich in Faith, which is coming out in February.

I feel like I’ve found someone who understands what I want in a cover. I found I worked well with Lynnette in the fact that we could email or message on FB. She let me know when she would be able to get to my work and I tried to keep her posted on my timelines and when I would be getting certain information to her. So a comfortable relationship is very important when choosing someone or a company to make your cover.

Thank you Seekerville for having me again! I always love hanging out here.

I’m giving away 2 copies of my current release, Rich in Hope. Kindle version or print. Your choice.

Missy, here again. I'll be giving away 2 copies of The Guy Next Door (print or e-book, your choice). But we need you to LET US KNOW in your comments which book/s you want to be entered for!

 Also, let us know what you think makes a good cover.

TODAY!!! HOPE FOR THE HOLIDAYS RELEASES!

CLICK THE PHOTO TO PURCHASE

TODAY! RICH IN HOPE SPECIAL PRICE OF 99 CENTS!

CLICK COVER TO PURCHASE

*****

Connect with Missy and Lindi:

www.lindipeterson.com

www.missytippens.com

Lindi on Facebook

Missy on Facebook

@MissyTippens on Twitter

@LindiPeterson on Twitter

Welcome Guest Lindi Peterson!

Missy, here. I'm excited to welcome back critique partner extraordinaire Lindi Peterson to Seekerville today! Lindi has a new release coming soon from Belle Bridge Books, so read on for a chance to win a copy of Rich in Love! Now, here's Lindi...

The Story of Us...And Them

by Lindi Peterson

Yeeee!!  That’s me screaming—I’m back in Seekerville! The place where food is a must, learning and laughing go hand in hand, and the best writers you’ll ever want to meet hang out.

Seekerville rocks! A big congratulations for your Writer’s Digest Top Website Award. You certainly deserve it.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about story. Realizing the difference between story and plot has made a huge difference in the way I approach my first drafts. It’s also helpful for synopsis writing. I have to thank Alicia Rasley for her synopsis notes that differentiated the difference between story and plot. I’ll never forget it. I keep those notes with me ALL the time. Whenever I am writing a new story.

Dictionary.com defines story like this:

Story**** a narrative, either true or fictitious, in prose or verse, designed to interest, amuse, or instruct the hearer or reader; tale.

Dictionary.com defines plot like this:

Plot****Also called storyline. the plan, scheme, or main story of a literary or dramatic work, as a play, novel, or short story.

This is how I see it. Story comes before plot. (Stay with me here!) Notice how in the story definition there are the words, designed to interest, instruct the hearer or reader.

The plot is the main story of a novel, play, short story.

Before you get to the main story you need to know YOUR story. And by yours I mean the one the characters in your head are trying to get you to write or type onto that blank piece of paper staring at you.

Readers want to know their story, not their plot. What makes the difference is one little word. One word that writers dread hearing sometimes. One word that doesn’t come into play until the third or fourth revision for some of us.

The word?

Photo credit: Crestock/Odina222

Emotion.

Emotion can take a plot and turn it into a story.

RayAnn Phillips sat on the fast moving train through the city she’d only been in for two days. She held the paper with the address of her new employer in her hand so she wouldn’t have to search her purse when she got off of the train. The city was much bigger than Rossville. She would start her new job in less than an hour, provided she could find the place. Her stop proved to be the most popular. Many bodies pressed into her and she hoped the address would be easy to find when she arrived on the street.

This is a short excerpt. Do we know what is going on?

We do.

Do we care?

Not sure.

RayAnn Phillips wasn’t used to sitting close to strangers, so she scooted as close to the window as she could as she sat on the fast moving train, scrunching her purse, lunch tote and her umbrella on her lap, while holding tightly onto the paper with the address of her new employer. The unfamiliar landscape of city streets whisked by and she realized her toes and palms were sweating. Her second day in the city was her first day on the job, and both had her wondering if she had left her sanity back in Rossville, along with her family and cheating ex-boyfriend. The auto-voice announced her stop, startling her. The train did move fast. Swallowing hard, she double checked to make sure she didn’t leave anything on the train and joined the crush of people exiting. But even being pushed from every side couldn’t shake the loneliness inside. As if mocking, a gray sky greeted her as she stepped onto the street. Refusing to give way to the tears that threatened, she breathed in hope and stared at the address. The address that she could no longer read as the numbers had bled together.   

We know the same ‘plot’ information in paragraph 2 that we learned from paragraph 1. RayAnn, formerly from Rossville, was in a big city about to start a new job. Oh, and she’s on a train.

But from the second paragraph we glimpse a bit of her ‘story.’ We know she’s nervous, lonely, and heartbroken for starters. That’s HER story. The city, the train, and the new job are things moving her along through her journey in life. Her nervous, lonely, heartbroken journey. That’s what readers care about.

We all have a story. Now I’m talking about everyone who is reading this post. We are in God’s story and He’s created a storyline for every one of us. We are all gifted in different ways. For those who are called to write, that’s why we don’t give up. Because that’s our role in the story God has created for the world. When we’ve tapped into the vein of what God has put a passion in us to do, we are falling into 

                  Photo credit Crestock/Fotovika

God’s story.

Can you picture God’s storyboard? How amazing it must look! And you know, I’m guilty of messing up His story sometimes, not knowing which way to go, what to do in certain situations. I’m sure God is up there shaking His head as His storylines become blurred and go off in the completely wrong directions at time. But with prayer, fellowship and knowing who He is, we live in Him, and He in us. Then His storyboard is back on track. We bring to life all the emotions needed for a great story. Let’s remember to tap into those as we write the stories the world was meant to read. As we pour into characters, their stories come to life, and in turn those emotional journeys pour into readers, who in turn tell others about what they’ve read.

Here is an excerpt from my upcoming release Rich In Love.

Brief set up. Heroine Ann Thomas is in Florida at the reading of the will of the father she’s never met. She’s staying in his home, (mansion!) and is supposed to be downstairs for a dinner. She’s broken the heel on the only pair of shoes she brought so Anastasia, ‘the help’ has some extra clothing items she’s going to let Ann borrow for the evening. Ann is in her bedroom waiting on Anastasia. Oh, and Ann has a Jimmy Choo shoe obsession that she can’t afford to fuel. :)

My door opens. I can hardly see Anastasia through the jumble of material she’s carrying.

         Actually it’s only two dresses. She has two pair of strappy sandals dangling from her arm, high heels jutting toward me.

         “Okay, pick one. Coral sundress with tiny black polka dots or this very cute chiffon flowery print.”

         Both dresses are beautiful. “I’ll take the coral.”

         “I knew you would. Here.” She hands me the dress.

         “Where did these come from?”

         “From me. I wanted to help Mama with dinner, and I couldn’t decide what to wear. So I brought a couple of choices.”

         “Thank you. I’ll go put this on.” I head for the bathroom.

         “All right. The shoes are on the bed. See you downstairs. Pronto.”

         Even though I know she’s gone, I still dress in the bathroom. I’m a pretty modest person. After slipping the dress on, I hang my ‘funeral’ dress back in the closet.

         The coral dress is soft. It fits me well. I don’t recognize the name, but I’m sure it’s expensive. It just feels like it is.

         I walk to the bed, stopping about a foot away. The sandals sit on the bed, proud and tall. I know, without a doubt, they are JC’s.

         Stepping closer, I can see the white label with those lovely words, Jimmy Choo. Anastasia has left me a pair of JC shoes to wear for the evening.

         Is this how Cinderella felt? Fluttery heart and all smiles?

         My foot tingles, I swear it does, when I slip the shoe on. My bad pedicure clashes with the elegant shoe, but I don’t have time to do anything about it. I’m already late for whatever it is that is happening downstairs.

         After buckling the strap around my ankle, I quickly put the other shoe on. Coral suede JC platform sandals now adorn my feet. Cautiously, I take a few steps around the bedroom. It’s like I’m walking on air.

         I’m not sure what kind of impression I’m going to give to whoever is waiting downstairs.

         But I’m sure it will be the wrong one.

            

We learn a little about Ann’s story from this excerpt. She’s modest. She’s not used to high-end fashion. She’s nervous about going downstairs, but wearing a pair of JC shoes give her confidence she doesn’t normally have. And she’s going to project that false confidence on the people at the dinner. I think every female knows that sometimes, right, or wrong, wearing something pretty makes us feel better. No, it’s not a permanent fix, but for the moment, we’ll ride that feeling.

Make sure you have a good plot for your characters, but don’t forget to tell their ‘story’ as they walk through the journey on the pages. Picture God’s story board, find your place in His story, pour into your characters the same passion and emotion we live in, and you will have a great story to tell.

I’m giving away 2 copies of Rich In Love. Print or Kindle version. Winner’s choice. As soon as it releases, I’ll send the copies. **Please let me know you'd like to be entered in the comments.**

Thank you Seekerville for having me today.

Rich In Love

When Ann Thomas is summoned to Florida for the reading of the will of the father she never knew, her life is forever changed. She learns she has a half-sister, she has the chance to inherit millions, and her name is really Angelina. Brett Hamilton, CPA, is assigned to help Ann spend a lot of money in a short period of time. As soon as his ‘assignment’ with her is over, he’s headed to Peru to be a missionary, something he’s felt called to do his whole life. Ann still lives with the pain of having a mother who chose world missions over her. Can Ann risk giving her love to someone who might give it back, or should she ignore her growing feelings towards Brett to keep her heart safe?

Bio:

I can't help but think my love of reading led to my passion to write. I've always had stories running around in my brain. That's probably why I wasn't very good at math. The fictional characters living up there pushed the numbers out of the way.

It's an honor to be able to bring the characters to life and put their stories on pages.

I live in a small town Northwest of Atlanta, Georgia, with my husband, 2 cats, 1 dog and 2 birds. (The cats rule, by the way!) We're a few hours away from the beaches of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, a couple hours away from the mountains of Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee. The best of both worlds, I say.

When God reeled me in and showed me true love, my stories really came to life. For when we know we are loved well, we know we can love well.
My tag line, Happy Endings Are Just The Beginning, guarantees the reader a happily ever after. www.lindipeterson.com