ACFW Conference

Has is really been a week since we got home from Denver? It seems like yesterday that we were there and yet I miss those friends, both old and new that we got to visit with!

It is such a blessing to be able to spend time with special friends, to connect with my agent and to meet with editors. To talk about what we all love, the Lord and writing for Him.

This picture is of me and Dan and a few of the Bards of Faith, a group of writers I'm thrilled to be part of. Love them all! Wish I'd been able to get a picture with all of us together at one time!

Dan and I had a wonderful trip and he was able to connect with people he's come to care about too. A few days just doesn't seem enough time to get together each year. We're going to have to come up with something in between!

ACFW Book of the Year Awards Nominees

I'm very excited to see that all authors, including me, of A Connecticut Christmas anthology, are finalists for the Book of the Year award for Novellas! :)
It is an honor to just be listed with so many great authors! Congratulations to all the finalists in all categories!


PERMISSION TO FORWARD GRANTED

Here are the 2009 ACFW Book of the Year finalists. I am so honored to have coordinated this contest again this year. Congratulations to all the fabulous authors who entered and those who finaled!!

2009 American Christian Fiction Writers
Book of the Year Contest
Finalists

Debut Author
• A Passion Most Pure (Julie Lessman)
• Courting Miss Adelaide (Janet Dean)
• Every Good and Perfect Gift (Sharon K. Souza)
• Hero, Second Class (Mitchell Bonds)
• In the Shadow of the Sun King (Golden Keyes Parsons)

Lits
• Faking Grace (Tamara Leigh)
• Picket Fence Promises (Kathryn Springer)
• Single Sashimi (Camy Tang)
• Sweet Caroline (Rachel Hauck)
• Truffles by the Sea (Julie Carobini)

Long Contemporary
• Lookin Back Texas (Leanna Ellis)
• One Holy Night (J.M. Hochstetler)
• Stuck in the Middle (Virginia Smith)
• Summer of Joy (Ann H. Gabhart)
• Symphony of Secrets (Sharon Hinck)

Long Contemporary Romance
• Along Came a Cowboy (Christine Lynxwiler)
• Controlling Interest (Elizabeth White)
• The Convenient Groom (Denise Hunter)
• Finding Stefanie (Susan May Warren)
• Zora and Nicky: A Novel in Black & White (Claudia Mair Burney)

Long Historical (6 finalists due to a tie)
• The Apothecary’s Daughter (Julie Klassen)
• Calico Canyon (Mary Connealy)
• Deep In the Heart of Trouble (Deeanne Gist)
• From A Distance (Tamera Alexander)
• I Have Seen Him in the Watchfires (Cathy Gohlke)
• My Heart Remembers ( Kim Vogel Sawyer)


Mystery
• The Case of the Bouncing Grandma (A.K. Arenz)
• Death on a Deadline (Christine Lynxwiler, Sandy Gaskin, and Jan Reynolds)
• Drop Dead Diva (Christine Lynxwiler, Sandy Gaskin, and Jan Reynolds)
• For Whom the Bell Tolls (Nancy Mehl)
• Of Mice . . . and Murder (Mary Connealy)

Novellas
• The Cookie Jar (Janet Lee Barton in A Connecticut Christmas anthology)
• Dressed in Scarlet (Darlene Franklin in Snowbound Colorado Christmas anthology)
• Santa’s Prayer (Diane Ashley in A Connecticut Christmas anthology)
• Snowbound for Christmas (Gail Sattler in A Connecticut Christmas anthology)
• Stuck On You (Rhonda Gibson in A Connecticut Christmas anthology)

Short Contemporary
• Buffalo Gal (Mary Connealy)
• Clueless Cowboy (Mary Connealy)
• Family Treasures (Kathryn Springer)
• Her Unlikely Family (Missy Tippens)
• White as Snow (Janice Thompson)

Short Contemporary Suspense
• Bayou Paradox (Robin Caroll)
• Broken Lullaby (Pamela Tracy)
• Countdown to Death (Debby Giusti)
• Forsaken Canyon (Margaret Daley)
• Killer Cargo (Dana Mentink)

Short Historical
• Family of the Heart (Dorothy Clark)
• Masked by Moonlight (Allie Pleiter)
• Reckless Rogue (Mary Davis)
• Return to Love (Susan Page Davis)
• Sandhill Dreams (Cara Putman)

Speculative
• The Book of Names (D. Barkley Briggs)
• DragonLight (Donita K. Paul)
• The Restorer’s Journey (Sharon Hinck)
• Shade (John B. Olson)
• Summa Elvetica: A Casuistry of the Elvish Controversy (Theodore Beale)


Suspense
• Anathema (Colleen Coble)
• The Black Cloister (Melanie Dobson)
• Fossil Hunter (John B. Olson)
• Lonestar Sanctuary (Colleen Coble)
• Perfect (Harry Kraus)

Women’s Fiction (7 finalists due to a tie)
• A Month of Summer (Lisa Wingate)
• Every Good and Perfect Gift (Sharon K. Souza)
• My Sister Dilly (Maureen Lang)
• The Perfect Life (Robin Lee Hatcher)
• The Shape of Mercy (Susan Meissner)
• Stepping into Sunlight (Sharon Hinck)
• Tuesday Night at the Blue Moon (Debbie Fuller Thomas)

Young Adult
• The Big Picture (Jenny B. Jones)
• The Fruit of My Lipstick (Shelley Adina)
• It’s all About Us (Shelley Adina)
• The Owling (Robert Elmer)
• Trion Rising (Robert Elmer)

Back to work

VBS was wonderful! We had a great turn out each night! SO glad it was at night, especially for those that were outside in the Market place. Last week was a really hot one here, but it cooled down after a cool front and storm came through yesterday. Now that things have calmed down, I'm glad to be able to get back to work. I have several ideas that need some fleshing out this next week. I love starting new projects!

VBS

Our VBS started this week and it is one of the biggest outreaches we have at our church. For four nights the whole congregation works to make it the best it can be. It begins with the play--this year they are doing Moses and the characters range from members in their 80's to 12 years old. My husband and two of our granddaughters have parts in it and my daughter and I are doing make up. But the VBS doesn't consist of only the play. After about 30 minutes of it, the younger children go to various crafts throughout the building, while the older ones are outside at the Marketplace where many of the teens help out. The whole thing last for two hours each night.

Looking around, I've been so humbled by seeing how many members take part in this outreach. For weeks before hand there is preparation for the crafts--cutting things out, coloring, pasting getting it all ready. There are rehearsals for the play that run for weeks and so many working in many other ways things to get ready. It is truly a blessing to be part of it.

Christy Awards

Just got through 'watching' the Christy Awards on live feed. It was almost as good as being there. So many other writer friends were watching along with me and it was so neat to actually find myself holding my breath waiting for the next award! Felt like we were in one big room together! They did a great job of it!

Big congratulations to all the winners!

GASP!

Correction: It HAS been a month--over a month since my last post before yesterday. So very sorry. I'm not sure where June went. This is July and it is going quite fast. too. But hopefully, I'll post again this month and set a record. :)

It is HOT here in Oklahoma today. And it's going be like that for a while. We've been walking of an evening...but I think we're going to have to make it even later with VBS going on this coming week, or get up really early and go then. VBS starts tomorrow night and runs through Wednesday. Play rehearsals are going on now and I'm trying to work on a proposal in between all the coming and going in this household. Got to get to it. Just wanted to check back in and say I finally realized this isn't June after all. :)

Summer Time

Well, It's not been a month since I've blogged here, but it's definitely been longer than a week!

Ah, summer time...were there ever any lazy, hazy daze? I seem to remember them from my youth. Loved summertime. No school. Swimming, staying out in the yard late, waiting for the ice-cream truck to come down our street.

I loved going to the library and coming home with an armload full of books. Loved knowing I had plenty to read until the next trip. Loved curling up with a book inside, outside--anywhere I could. Somehow those long lazy days seemed to disappear with adulthood. Now I wish I could catch up on my "to be read" pile!

And speaking of reading--I think I might start trying to put up a monthly interview with some of my writer friends. Maybe a twice monthly. Then we' d know I'd blog at least twice a month. Yes, I'm going to think on that. :)