Seekerville Bistro Weekend Edition

Sit. Relax. Have a cuppa. Try the menu specials.
The doors are open for another Weekend Edition.
(Oh and refills are, of course, on the house.)

Monday many of you admitted to a very serious problem. You are Bookaholics. Winner of Courting Miss Adelaide is Michelle from Salida, CA. And winner of a surprise book package is Jessi (who loves us, she really loves us!).



We hope you didn't miss A Sure Sign of Spring-Wildflower Bride, in Seekerville on Wednesday. Holly is the winner of Mary Connealy's soon to be released novel.


Thanks to Janice Hanna Thompson for bringing us her twelve plotting steps. Winner of It Had To Be You, which they will receive on or about the release date of May 1st, is Lorna.




Monday: Seekerville is thrilled to have Heartsong Presents, and Barbour Publishing author Vickie McDonough with us. She's sharing on a topic near and dear to us, contests. Join her for Writing Contests-My Story. Vickie is also giving away a copy of The Anonymous Bride.





Tuesday: Steeple Hill Love Inspired author Cheryl Wyatt is here with a post on Wrong Word Usage. And she will give away 7 copies of her upcoming release, Steadfast Soldier to 7 brave commenters willing to soldier-up and take a certain risk of her steadfast choosing. Are you brave enough for this challenge?






Wednesday: Join Love Inspired Suspense author Debby Giusti for Laptop Ergonomics, with her daughter and favorite physical therapist Liz Wrobley. She'll also be giving away a copy of Killer Headline.




Thursday: Thomas Nelson debut author, Cara Lynn James is your hostess today.




Friday: Janet Grant, the esteemed founder/owner of Books & Such Literary Agency, joins us for fun, frolic and spot-on insider information into the publishing industry. Janet's success is no accident. This bright, savvy woman has the experience, the moxy and the know-how to educate us on the dos and don't s of literary fiction. Stop in and let's round-table chat about what it takes to make it as an author in today's competitive world.


April 28: Waterbrook Press author Mona Hodgson.


April 29: Zondervan debut author, Melanie Dickerson.


May 3 & 4: Steeple Hill Historical author Renee Ryan.


May 5: Executive Editor, Steeple Hill Books, Joan Marlow Golan.


May 7: Heartsong Presents author Shannon Vannatter

LAST CHANCE TO SUBMIT QUESTIONS FOR JOAN MARLOW GOLAN, EXECUTIVE EDITOR OF STEEPLE HILL BOOKS!!!!!

Don't miss this chance to chat with Joan both via our interview and on May 5th when she'll be popping in and out to answer questions and meet the Friends of Seekerville.

If you're targeting Steeple Hill, be here. If you're not, well... why not? Steeple Hill books offers warm, endearing, evocative books monthly in Love Inspired, Love Inspired Suspense, and Love Inspired Historicals. Jump in for this opportunity to learn more, ask more and get a feel for the lovely, gracious and incredibly intelligent woman that heads the largest Christian fiction publishing house. And you only get one chance to make a good first impression.

Make that impression right here, in Seekerville.

Send your anonymous questions to Ruthy at loganherne@gmail.com by Monday, April 19. so that I can include them in the interview, then mark your calendars for May 5th. We can't wait to see you all there!

Congratulations to Debby Giusti. Protecting Her Child finaled in the The Write Touch Readers' Award contest. Winners will be announced at their annual conference May 14-16.

Debby will be blogging on the Love Inspired Authors blog, Tuesday, April 20.


Mark your calendars, Debby will be speaking at the ACFW WORD Chapter meeting, in Buford, GA, on Tuesday, April 27. The talk is on Building Suspense in Any Genre.




Camy Tang can be found on the Faithchick blog, May 22nd asking people what she can do with fresh parsley. (Yes, we are serious.)

• Check out Sourcebooks, The Publish This Book “Tearing Down the Walls” Promotion.

• Why (Some) Authors Fail (The Huffington Post)

• Harlequin Expands German Operation (Yahoo Finance)

• Orbit to Launch Digital Short Fiction Program (PW)

• Zondervan Makes Layoffs in Consolidation (Christian Retailing)

• Simon and Schuster Children's Books to Launch Brand New Teen Imprint (BookTrade)

• Book Tour as a Facebook Event (GalleyCat/MediaBistro)

• And finally, congratulations. You're published. Library of Congress will Store Twitter Archive (GalleyCat/MediaBistro)

Have a great weekend.


Waiter! Check Please.

Weekend Edition Happy Easter

Easter says you can put truth in a grave, but it won't stay there.
~Clarence W. Hall

Happy Easter from Seekerville.

We Have Winners!


We hope you didn't miss Secrets of the Slushpile with Harlequin first reader Patty Smith Hall. Winner of Revision Heaven, a May online class with Laurie Schnebly Campbell, is Casey.


Francine Rivers was in Seekerville for an awesome interview. Winner of Her Mother's Hope is Rose McCauley.

April Contest Update winner of a Seekerville surprise package is Diane Marie Shaw.


Confessions of a Reformed SOTP Writer by Audra Harders. Winners from her Thursday post are Regina Merrick (comment winner) and Gracie Bea (prank winner).





Next Week In Seekerville


Monday: Christy finalist, Mary Connealy is your hostess today.


Tuesday: 2010 RITA finalist, DiAnn Mills is our guest today. She'll be doing a book giveaway too!


Wednesday:Desert Breeze Publishing author K. Dawn Byrd joins us today!


Thursday: Steeple Hill Love Inspired author Ruth Logan Herne posts today. Her topic: Holy Hot Heroes, Batman!!!!And some lucky commenter will win a copy of Waiting Out the Storm as soon as it hits the shelves.


Friday: Tina Radcliffe brings you a special inside report: What I Wish I Knew Before I Sold a Book, by the Former Inhabitants of Unpubbed Island.







Save The Date


April 16: Revell author, Janice Hanna Thompson , returns.


April 23: From Books & Such Literary Agency, Janet Grant.


April 28: Waterbrook Press author Mona Hodgson.


April 29: Zondervan upcoming author, Melanie Dickerson.


May 5: Executive Editor, Steeple Hill Books, Joan Marlow Golan.






Random News

• Touched By Love Contest Extended Deadline April 5th

• Why Women Don't Want Macho Men (WSJ)

• Thank you to Word Sharpeners Blog for mentioning Seekerville

• Nathan Bransford, Literary Agent: All About Co-op

• The Five Stages of Misfortune by Jason Black

• Are You A Lurker? A great article on internet/blog lurkers. Are you a lurker? If you have never posted before in Seekerville, post this weekend for your choice of any Seeker author book. Winner posted in the 3/10 Weekend Edition.
  

Have a great weekend, and remember only a week and a half until Glee returns. Until then, go ahead and try Defying Gravity.

Shamrock Weekend Edition

Since there was so much Blarney in Seekerville today we will be giving away TWO copies of Winter's End
(I bought out Wal-Mart!!! he he he).
Denise and Pat Jeanne please send me your snail mail addy~~~Tina

Happy St. Patrick's Day from Seekerville to you!

In preparation for St. Paddy's Day we'd like to share how
you can get your own Irish accent with
Instant Irish Accent Mouth Spray! and you can Get Irish Now!

Congratulations to Missy Tippens, Cheryl Wyatt and Debby Giusti who are finalists in the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence, Inspirational Series category!

We Have Winners:


Monday: Janet Dean shared with her post Sharing My Favorites. Winner of The Substitute Bride is Vince. And Winner of Around the Bend by Shirley Jump is Virginia.


Tuesday: Did you guess correctly in Myra Johnson's Tuesday quiz from Isn't She A Character?

Abby = Cara
Betsy = Tina
Claire = Janet
Denise = Ruthy
Edith = Pam
Haley = Missy
Ingrid = Myra
Jenny = Mary
Kimberly = Audra
Linda = Sandra
Monica = Debby
Nancy = Cheryl
Ophelia = Glynna
Frannie = Camy
Georgia = Julie

The drawing winner for a copy of Romance by the Book is Casey!



Thursday: Eroticism and Evocatism...Two "E's" at Odds!!! Winner of the Winter's End is Edwina and the winner of a 15 page critique is KC Frantzen.


Friday: Thank you to Shari Barr for being our guest with, The Stuff of Dreams~~or Not. Winner of her release, McKenzie's Montana Mystery, is La Tawnia.




Next Week In Seekerville:



Monday: Multi-published historical author, Ruth Axtell Morren is our guest today and she's giving away a book too.



Tuesday: Steeple Hill Love Inspired (Wings of Refuge series) author, Cheryl Wyatt is today's hostess.



Wednesday: Join Steeple Hill Love Inspired Suspense author Debby Giusti on St. Patrick's Day. And she'll be giving away a copy of Killer Headline!



Thursday: Zondervan and Steeple Hill Suspense author, Camy Tang is here with her post on Your Best Writing Time.



Friday:Today Tina Radcliffe will update her popular post, Writing Romantic Fiction For Woman's World Magazine, with some tips from Woman's World Assistant Editor, Patricia Gaddis.





Save the Date:


March 29: Publishing professional, writer, and friend of Seekerville Patty Hall.


March 30: RITA and Christy Award winner Francine Rivers.


April 2: Mutli-published historical author, and three-time RITA nominee, Cheryl St. John.

April 7: Desert Breeze Publishing author K. Dawn Byrd.


April 9: Revell author, Janice Hanna Thompson , returns.


April 23: From Books & Such Literary Agency, Janet Grant.


April 28: Waterbrook Press author Mona Hodgson.


April 29: Zondervan upcoming author, Melanie Dickerson.




Seekerville is thrilled to announce that owner/founder of Books & Such Literary, Janet Grant will be visiting us on April 23rd.

Have questions about the industry, the standards, Janet's agency ?

Send your questions to loganherne@gmail.com. ALL questions remain confidential between you and Ruthy.






Seeker Sightings:


Janet Dean can be found March 15th, at Black 'n Gold Girl's Book Spot to celebrate Friend of Seekerville, Renee's one year blog anniversary. Stop by for a chance to win The Substitute Bride.










Join Julie Lessman for a Love Scene Critique and Book Giveaway, winner's choice of signed Daughters of Boston book OR her new book, A Hope Undaunted, when released in August, at Black 'n Gold Girl's Book Spot for more celebrating with Renee on March 19th.










Visit Debby Giusti and the Craftie Ladies of Suspense for their continuing story: An Irish Mystery, running from March 8 to March 18, featuring Patrick Mulligan and the love of his life, Caryn Reilly, Shamrock Castle, and lots of Irish lore!










You can Find Ruth Logan Herne here:

The Parma Public Library is hosting a book signing for two local authors on Saturday, March 20, 2010 from 1-4 P.M. The Friends of the Parma Public Library are pleased to welcome local authors Marilyn Lowden Koss Wright and Ruth Logan Herne for an afternoon of refreshments, conversation and books.

Lowden Koss Wright will be offering her book Patchwork Pieces, a delightful account of her memoirs, the memories of a west side gal, tried and true.

Ruthy will be signing copies of her 4 1/2 star debut novel, Winter's End, a warm, evocative inspirational romance published by Steeple Hill Books and on bookshelves now.

Both ladies look forward to an afternoon of community banter and really good cookies

Mary Connealy can be found on Christian Book Giveaways giving away a copy of The Husband Tree, March 12 - 18. Stop by to get your name in the drawing.

Heads up Ohio!! Mary is in Ohio from March 19-27. Here's a link to where you can find her.








Random News:

• Just to make sure you are paying attention, one weekend poster is going to win a copy of Ruth Logan Herne's debut release, Winter's End. Just post something Irish. Winner announced Sunday at 7 pm MST.
  

• A Big Thank You to the RWA/NYC bloggers at Blogging in the Big Apple (Maria Ferrer) for mentioning Seekerville in their post on group blogs. You guys rock!

• Christian Fiction Editors Talk Trends: Bonnets Multiply; Goodbye, ChickLit (PW)

• Fiction Publishers Exploit Digital Media for New Growth (PW)

• Okay all you knitters...Simon & Schuster has a nice sweepstakes on their website for the promo of The Sweater Quest.

• From those CRAZY people who brought you NaNoWriMo...Script Frenzy. Script Frenzy is the other global writing escapade put on every year. The goal: writing a 100-page script in 30 days.

• How To Design a Book Cover: 6 Hours of Work in a 2 Minute Video (GalleyCat) So cool!!!
  

Congratulations to all those who placed in the Phoenix Rattler: Does Your Story Have Bite? Contest. A special shout out goes to the Friends of Seekerville!! WooHoo!!

Contemporary Fiction
1st Place SEASON OF SURRENDER by Mary Proctor
2nd Place ROMANCE ON A DISTANT RIVER by Lee Carver
3rd place SURVIVING CARMELITA by Susan Miura

Historical Fiction
First Place BEYOND A RIVER by Michelle Shocklee
Second Place NIGHTSHADE by Debra E Marvin
Third place THE SAMURAI'S HEART by Walt Mussell

Young Adult
First Place THE WISHING SEA by Durga Walker
Second Place CALEUCHE REDEMPTION by Colleen Shine Phillips
Third place TALE OF A MAN by Deborah Anderson

Fantasy/Allegory/Science Fiction
First Place COUNTING TESSA by Tina Pinson
Second Place The Lightstone of Perlan by Dona Watson
Third Place METAMORPHISIS by Chawna Schroeder

Suspense/Thriller/Mystery
First Place NO TURNING BACK by Katie Vorreiter
Second Place ANOTHER SUN by Katie Vorreiter
Third Place DEAD WEIGHT by Lynda Schab

Women’s Fiction
First Place THROUGH THE VALLEY by Sarah Forgrave
Second Place THREE WISHES by Lynda Schab
Third Place THE BLUE LAKE JOURNALS by Cathleen Armstrong



Congratulations to Friend of Seekerville, Maggie Brendan for her featured author interview at Christianbook.com!!




Bain taithneamh as an deireadh seachtaine!

(English translation of this Irish phrase= Enjoy the weekend!)

Seekerville Weekend Edition: Valentine's Day

This is it. Valentine's Day weekend. The stuff romance is made of. And we do love romance around Seekerville. I've complied a list of my top ten romantic songs just for the occasion.

What's on your list? Leave us your favorite romantic song and we'll put your name in the hat for a chance to win your favorite Seekerville romance.

Top Ten Romantic Songs

1. A Groovy Kind of Love-Phil Collins

2. Can't Fight This Feeling-REO Speedwagon

3. When You Say Nothing At All-Keith Whitley

4. You Shouldn't Kiss Me Like This-Toby Keith

5. This Kiss-Faith Hill

6. Wonderful Tonight-Eric Clapton

7. Don't Want To Miss A Thing-Aerosmith

8. I Will Always Love You-Whitney Houston

9. Valentine-Martina McBride

10. Truly, Madly, Deeply-Savage Garden





We Have Winners:

Monday Janet Dean celebrated the Release of The Substitute Bride and the winner of a copy of that release is Helen Gray!


Hope you didn't miss Tuesday's post by Myra Johnson, You Talkin' To Me?? The winner is Pamela Mason (Drop Myra an email or leave it in the comments! Email addresses for Seekers are available by clicking on our names in the right hand column of Seekerville.)

The Seeker Voice answers are:

1. Cara
2. Ruthy
3. Janet
4. Glynna
5. Tina
6. Myra
7. Debby
8. Julie
9. Mary
10. Audra
11. Sandra
12. Pam
13. Cheryl
14. Missy
15. Camy
16. Marlena Fortune


Wednesday, Julie Lessman's A Kiss Is Just A Kiss, post winner is Gina Welborn. Also she'd like to announce that her newsletter winner is Heather. (Please contact Julie by clicking on her name in the right hand column of Seekerville and then you'll be able to click on her email addy.)


Thursday Ruth Logan Herne was your hostess with The Good Cook's Guide To the Chopping Block of Chronic Wordiness. Winner of her debut release, Winter's End is Sherrinda. Please email Ruth!


Friday's guest Jennifer AlLee posted, Has the Road to Your Dream Taken A Detour? The winner of her release, The Pastor's Wife is PATRICIA W!

Next Week In Seekerville:


Monday: Steeple Hill Love Inspired author Missy Tippens shares today.


Tuesday: Multi-published author of Southern mystery and suspense, Robin Caroll is our guest today!


Wednesday: Love Inspired Suspense author Debby Giusti is posting.


Thursday: Zondervan and Love Inspired Suspense author Camy Tang is your hostess today.



Friday: Today we're doing something different in Seekerville. Story consultant, author and lecturer Michael Hauge will be sharing one of his articles and then we will take questions on the topic or any other questions, which will be answered by Michael in another post. There will be two giveaways of The Hero's Two Journey's DVD sets, winners announced in the Weekend Edition.

If you are not familiar with this wonderful teaching tool check it out here, and you can get a sneak peak of Michael Hauge here.




Save The Date:

February 26: Summerside Press author, Ocieanna Fleiss.


March 3: Revell author, Laura Frantz.


March 10: Friend of Seekerville, talented writer Pepper Basham.


March 12: Multi published children's author Shari Barr.


March 15: Multi-published historical author, Ruth Axtell Morren.


March 29th: Publishing professional and writer Patty Hall.


March 30th RITA and Christy Award winner Francine Rivers.




Ruth Logan Herne will be hosting Francine Rivers and here's more on that from Ruthy:

Francine Rivers is scheduled to come to Seekerville on March 30, 2010 and we're delighted.

Oh my stars. The Atonement Child. Redeeming Love. The Mark of the Lion series...

I'm grabbing nitro pills just thinking about it, LOL! I need questions from you guys, though, not the same old, same old... What would you like to know about Francine, about her work, about her upcoming book Her Mother's Hope to be followed this fall by Her Daughter's Dream.

Redeeming Love is being made into a movie by Abba Productions. That's an interesting thought right there, isn't it?

E-mail me your questions at loganherne@gmail.com so I can put together a warm, lovely interview for Francine, one of the nicest ladies on the planet. Seriously!





Seeker Sightings:




Janet Dean will be guest blogging at Faith and Fiction on Fire as part of a blogFEST series A Kiss to Build a Dream On, Wednesday February 17th.













Mary has a book signing in Mission, Texas, from Noon to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 13th at: Family Christian Stores #491 Sharyland Towne Center 2505 E Expressway 83 Ste 500 Mission, TX 78572.











Friday February 12th through Saturday February 13th you can find Julie at at Faith and Fiction on Fire as part of a blogFEST series A Kiss to Build a Dream On. Stop by for a chance to win a signed copy of your choice of one of the Daughter's of Boston series or a signed copy of Katie's story, A Hope Undaunted, when it releases in September.



Monday February 15th, book giveaway at Operation Encourage An Author Blog. Your choice of one of the Daughter's of Boston books or a signed copy of Katie's Story, A Hope Undaunted, when it releases in September.


Hope your Valentine's Day is lovely!

Seekerville Weekend Monkey Around Edition

If you were monkeying around on Unpubbed Island , you may have missed the news!


Seeker Audra Harders just sold to Steeple Hill Love Inspired. Check out yesterday's post for the details and maybe, a few leftovers from the party.

We Have Winners:

Tuesday we were delighted to have Lisa Wingate in Seekerville. Winners of her release, Never Say Never, are Lynn Rush and Crystal Laine Miller.



Thank you to Kim Watters for being such an inspiring guest on Wednesday with Taking the Plunge. Winner of her Steeple Hill Love Inspired release, On Wings of Love, is Pamela Thibodeaux.


Next Week In Seekerville:


Monday: Mary Connealy brings us a lesson on revisions. Join her for Revisions~Action. If you do your homework you might win a copy of one of her recent releases.



Tuesday: Revell author, Janice Hanna Thompson is our guest today. Love, Laughter and Happily Ever Afters, and there's a chance you could win a copy of Swinging on a Star. Janice's post is Tickling the Funny Bone. Don't miss it!



Wednesday: Time for the February Contest Update. The prize vault is OPEN!



Thursday: The newest bootee from Unpubbed Island, Steeple Hill Love Inspired author, Audra Harders is your hostess today.



Friday: We have special guest, Superromance author, Abby Gaines in Seekerville today!

Save The Date:


February 12: Five Star and Abdingdon Press author, Jennifer AlLee.


February 16: Multi published author of Southern mystery and suspense, Robin Caroll.


February 26: Summerside Press author, Ocieanna Fleiss.


March 3: Revell author, Laura Frantz.


March 10: Friend of Seekerville, talented writer Pepper Basham.

March 12: Multi published children's author Shari Barr.


March 15: Multi-published historical author, Ruth Axtell Morren.




Seeker Sightings:




Congratulations to Ruth Logan Herne. Her March debut Steeple Hill Love Inspired release, Winter's End earned a 4 1/2 STAR rating from RT Book Reviews.










Thursday, February 4th, Myra Johnson will be guest blogging at Faith and Fiction on Fire. She'll be part of a blogFEST series A Kiss to Build a Dream On.










Debby Giusti will be blogging on the Love Inspired Authors Blog on Monday, February 1st.











Be sure to visit Goodreads for a chance to win The Substitute Bride, Janet Dean's February release. Janet is giving away three copies You may enter between now and March 1.










Don't miss the ACFW bookclub chat with Mary Connealy on Monday night, February 1st at 7 pm, CST. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE A MEMBER OF ACFW TO LOG IN AND JOIN THE FUN! http://acfw.com/fchat/flashchat.php When you go to the site, create your name and click login. You can skip the password. To log out click the red dot in the right hand corner of your screen.

Friday, February 5th, Mary will be guest blogging at Faith and Fiction on Fire. as part of a blogFEST series A Kiss to Build a Dream On.




Random News:

• Christian Publishers Back Online Slush Pile: From PW.

• Guest Blogger at Literary Agent Nathan Bransford's Blog, John Gibbs asks Is Your ''But'' Too Big?

• For all of us romantics. This couple brings new meaning to the words Save The Date!

• Agent and author Noah Lukeman's blog is a gold mine of practical advice. Check it out!

• iPad is HERE

• From GalleyCat: Esi Sogah was elevated to associate editor at the Morrow/Avon imprint.

• News from Cindy Myers Market News Blog:Denise [Deni] Dietz has accepted a position with Tekno-Books/Five Star as Associate Editor. She will be in charge of all first-time mystery and romance authors. That includes first-book writers and published authors (but new to Five Star). Books should be a minimum of 65,000 words, a maximum of 120,000 words. Queries should be sent to: AssociateEditorTekno@shaw.ca

Have a great weekend....


All monkeys appearing in this blog are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.