Debut Author Spotlight ... Catherine Richmond

MY SCENIC ROUTE TO PUBLICATION

by Catherine Richmond

My publication journey involves an unexpected turn leading onto the scenic route. I was busy raising my family and working as an occupational therapist, when I heard a song about a mail order bride meeting her husband for the first time. Prairie grass waved dusty green in the wind. The hot sun released the smell of creosote from the railroad ties. A train whistle echoed in the distance. I knew these two people - where they’d come from, their hopes and dreams, and what happened next to them.

What I didn't know was how to write.

The newspaper said one of my neighbors had a novel out with Bantam Loveswept. So one afternoon, when everyone was out of the house, I called her. She recommended I join RWA. I took a non-credit class through the community college, then several on-line classes. I read the RWR and how-to books. I joined a Nebraska Novelists critique group. I wrote other stories. Rejection letters filled my mailbox. Contest judges slapped low scores on my entries.

I learned to revise. Again and again.

A year ago April, while vacationing in New York City, agent Sandra Bishop tracked me down. The manuscript had placed third in the Launching a Star contest, earning a read from a Thomas Nelson editor. Sandra said the publisher was interested if I could make a few changes. Being totally unprepared for this news, I did not have my laptop with me. So Sandra made the requested changes on her copy and sent the manuscript back. The next morning, I got The Call in Central Park, at John Lennon's memorial, a mosaic with the word "Imagine". Which shows God is able to do exceeding abundantly, above all we ask or think!

SPRING FOR SUSANNAH
by Catherine Richmond

Thomas Nelson, May 2011
356 pages

With no prospects for marriage and her parents recently deceased, Susannah Freemont agrees to go west to the Dakota territory to marry her minister's homesteading brother, Jesse. But Susannah is painfully shy, doesn't see herself as worthy of love from either a husband or from God, and lives in constant fear that Jesse is going to ship her back to Detroit.

In spite of her petite size and the fact that Susannah doesn't look like she could survive on the prairie, Jesse quickly discovers that his new wife is a greater blessing than he even hoped for. The years she spent as her father's veterinary assistant allow her to save Jesse's ox and twin calves and to help neighboring farmers with their animals.

But Susannah's feelings of unworthiness are deeply rooted, and she can't believe that Jesse's praise-or the tenderness and love he shows-could possibly last. The thawing of her heart seems almost as distant as Spring in the midst of the winter blanketing the Dakota prairie.

Catherine Richmond was busy raising a family, working as an occupational therapist, and trying to remember where she hid the chocolate, when a song sparked a story within her. The journey to publication was long, but full of blessings. She couldn't have done it without the ACFW, RWA, and FHL (the inspirational chapter of RWA) and lots of chocolate!

http://www.cathyrichmond.com/

Debut Author Spotlight ... Keven Newsome

MY WRITING JOURNEY

by Keven Newsome

It must have been fifth grade when I began my writing journey, but writing video game spec fic. And the best part was that all the characters spoke in King James English, because that’s what they did in the game. But it was my first attempt at writing, and that counts for something.

I didn’t write again for several years, focusing instead on music and art. In Junior High I started a series of sketches that had a story behind them. This germ of a story took root and ignited that fire of writing. Pictures are worth a thousand words, and those thousand words were screaming to be written down.

High School is when I really started writing. I did about four short stories, which I still have but haven’t read in years because I’m sure they really suck. I also hand wrote about 150 pages of a novel based on that story germ from Junior High. It was full of narrative summary, anachronistic dialogue, and teen angst, all wrapped in a medieval candy shell.

After graduating college in 2002, I began what I affectionately call My Practice Book. Its real name is Among Dragons. And it’s a prequel to that horrific attempt to write I made in High School. This book is on my list to be rewritten and reworked, because it’s actually a decent story even if the writing stinks. I had a copy printed, and it sits on my shelf as a reminder of how much I’ve learned.

My intention after completing this prequel was to go into the trilogy of books based on… you guessed it… that story I started in High School. I reworked it, reoutlined it, and made it into something exciting and worth writing. I wrote about fifty pages and then hit a block. But it wasn’t a writer’s block, per se. It was a block of distraction. You see, my creative mind was dwelling on something else that had recently come up.

On a Goth girl with the gift of prophecy.

So I began to write Winter’s story. December 2006, I finished the first draft. A second draft followed, then beta readers and a third draft. I tried my hand at submitting the third draft, but received nothing but no’s. I didn’t even get past the query letter stage.

In the fall of 2009, Winter was a finalist in the Marcher Lord Select Premise Contest. Little did I know this contest would be the pebble that begun the avalanche to being published. A year after entering that infamous contest, I received an email from one Kat Heckenbach. She had read my book and loved it. She passed it on to a friend of hers who was reading it and loving it. That would be Grace Bridges, owner of Splashdown Books.

Grace sent me a message. And while it was glowing and full of praise for the book, it contained one small sentence that almost made me want to throw out the computer. “For your own sake, I wish you would find a bigger publisher than me.”

Grace finally relented after I convinced her no one else would have me. I guess the whole premise of my book sounds a little too risky. We signed in December 2010, and Winter was released June 1, 2011 under a new paranormal imprint of Splashdown Books called Splashdown Darkwater.

Risky? Winter instantly became an in-house best seller for Splashdown Books. And I’m honored, and very thankful, that Grace didn’t see risk in my book…but potential.

WINTER
by Keven Newsome

Splashdown Books, 2011

Winter Maessen didn't ask for the gift of prophecy. She's happy being a freak - but now everyone thinks she's crazy. Or evil.

Goths aren't all the same, you know. Some are Christians.

...Christians to whom God sends visions.

Students at her university are being attacked, and Winter knows there's more than flesh and blood at work.

Her gift means she's the only one who can stop it - but at what price?



Keven Newsome is a graduate student at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, where he is pursuing a Master of Arts in Theology specializing in Supernatural Theology. He writes stories that portray the supernatural and paranormal with a Biblical perspective. Winter is his first book. He currently lives in New Orleans, LA with his wife and their two children.

www.KevenNewsome.com
www.facebook.com/thewordcrafter
www.twitter.com/kevennewsome
www.youtube.com/kevennewsome
Keven also heads up the team at the New Authors' Fellowship collaborative blog.

WIN A FREE e-BOOK!

Keven Newsome and Splashdown Books are giving away one e-book of

WINTER to one lucky commenter.

Contest Rules:
Comment on Keven Newsome's My Writing Journey by Thursday, July 21, 2011 and your name will go into a drawing for a free e-book of Winter in the e-book format of your choice. Contest closes Thursday, July 21, 2011 at midnight. The winner will be posted on Friday, July 22, 2011. Winner must provide an e-mail to Brenda AT Brenda Anderson Books DOT com. Don not post your mailing address anywhere on this blog.

Debut Author Spotlight ... Travis Perry

THE "EASY" ROAD to PUBLICATION

by Travis Perry

For me, the publication of my novel was surprisingly easy. The hard part was finishing the story in the first place.

I began writing The Crystal Portal in 2006. I had written short stories before and had a few published in small magazines, and one of my stories made it into a book anthology. But I had never written a novel and really didn't know anything about how to proceed with and finish a work of that length.

I wrote about a quarter of the the story (in a different order than it is now) and got stuck. Discouraged that my story would be of no interest to anyone, busy with ordinary life, and suffering from a serious case of writer's block, I only made marginal progress for the next several years.

I finally realized my problem was that I was only thinking of the story in terms of my main character and other point of view characters. I was not taking into account my villain's actions, which is why I was so stumped as to what should happen next in the tale. It may seem like a simple thing, but since I did not ask anyone for advice on the story or read anything about how to write a novel, it was a major realization for me.

After I completed the story in 2009, I read it over and felt something was missing. Other friends who read it didn't react to it the way I expected. I had done my own editing, but I knew I needed help.

On an online group of Christian speculative fiction authors (the Lost Genre Guild), I asked if anyone would be willing to help me edit and fix the story for the reward of having coauthor credit and a share of any profits that might ensue from publication. I had several people express interest, but Mike Lynch seemed to be the most interested and had the most experience in having other books published.

Mike and I worked together to edit the story. A number of parts were cut out, the order of a number of scenes changed, and we did a lot of other editing. Mike wrote one scene that hadn't been in the book before I started working with him.

After we had done our work together, Mike was looking for some objective readers for some good feedback on our work. One of the people he showed the story to was Grace Bridges, who is the owner of Splashdown Books. She loved the story and was immediately interested in publishing it.

Of course, she had interest in other edits and story changes, but with her help, the process of actually getting published was quick and mostly painless. So I was very blessed to have stumbled onto people willing to help me, and who saw something good in my story.

Now if only I get to generate some sales...

THE CRYSTAL PORTAL
by Travis Perry and Mike Lynch

Splashdown Books, 2011

And Yeshua said, "His ears will be a sign to you."

A time-travelling warrior elf on a manhunt for an evil genius. A state-of-the-art robot from New Los Angeles. And a carpenter's son from first-century Israel. Entering the Portal, they join forces with a princess of the Sapphire Monarchy to defy their power-mad adversary.

Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-PAAbOF6nA

Travis Perry was born and raised in the mountains of western Montana, where he learned to let his imagination soar. A one time-pastoral student and active church member, he has a keen interest in faraway places and has studied (attaining varying degrees of proficiency): Spanish, French, German, Biblical Greek and Hebrew, Arabic, Italian, and Dari (Farsi). Blending Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Biblical Historical Fiction, he created the worlds of his first novel, The Crystal Portal, co-authored with Mike Lynch. An Army Reserve officer recently serving in Afghanistan, he is currently on his way home to his wife and six children in Wichita Falls, Texas.

WIN A FREE e-BOOK!

Travis Perry and Splashdown Books are giving away one e-book of

The Crystal Portal to one lucky commenter.

Contest Rules:

Comment on Travis Perry's The Easy Road to Publication by Tuesday, July 19, 2011 and your name will go into a drawing for a free e-book of The Crystal Portal in the e-book format of your choice. Contest closes Tuesday, July 19, 2011 at midnight. The winner will be posted on Wednesday, July 20, 2011. Winner must provide an e-mail to Brenda AT BrendaAndersonBooks DOT com. Do not post your mailing address anywhere on this blog. 

2011 Christy Award Winners Announced

The Christy Award winners were announced earlier this evening in Atlanta during the International Christian Retail Show. These awards are given annually in order to honor and promote excellence in Christian fiction.

I've read twelve of the finalists, and five of the winners and, while I might be a tad disappointed that my favorite (A Season of Miracles) didn't win, all the winners justly earned their victory.

Congratulations to the following finalists and *Winners:

Contemporary Romance
*SWORN TO PROTECT by DiAnn Mills (Tyndale House Publishers)
Blood Ransom by Lisa Harris (Zondervan)
Indivisible by Kristin Heitzmann (WaterBrook Press)

Contemporary Series
*THE RELUCTANT PROPHET by Nancy Rue (David C. Cook)
The Thorn by Beverly Lewis (Bethany House Publishers)
The Waiting by Suzanne Woods Fisher (Revell Books)

Contemporary Standalone
*ALMOST HEAVEN by Chris Fabry (Tyndale House Publishers)
Lady in Waiting by Susan Meissner (WaterBrook Press)
A Season of Miracles by Rusty Whitener (Kregel Publications)

First Novel
*HEARTLESS by Anne Elisabeth Stengl (Bethany House Publishers)
Crossing Oceans by Gina Holmes (Tyndale House Publishers)
A Season of Miracles by Rusty Whitener (Kregel Publications)

Historical
*WHILE WE'RE FAR APART by Lynn Austin (Bethany House Publishers)
Chosen: The Lost Diaries of Queen Esther by Ginger Garrett (David C. Cook)
For Time & Eternity by Allison Pitman (Tyndale House Publishers)

Historical Romance
*THE GIRL IN THE GATEHOUSE by Julie Klassen (Bethany House Publishers)
She Walks in Beauty by Siri Mitchell (Bethany House Publishers)
Within My Heart by Tamera Alexander (Bethany House Publishers)

Suspense
*THE BISHOP by Steven James (Revell Books)
The Bride Collector by Ted Dekker (Center Street)
Predator by Terri Blackstock (Zondervan)

Visionary
*TO DARKNESS FLED by Jill Williamson (Marcher Lord Press)
Konig's Fire by Marc Schooley (Marcher Lord Press)
The Last Christian by David Gregory (WaterBrook Press)

Young Adult
*MOTORCYCLES, SUSHI, AND ONE STRANGE BOOK by Nancy Rue (Zondervan)
The Charlatan's Boy by Jonathan Rogers (WaterBrook Press)
The Healer's Apprentice by Melanie Dickerson (Zondervan)

Debut Author Spotlight ... Roger Bruner

A DEFINITE GOD THING

by Roger E. Bruner

When I wrote my first novel manuscript in 2004, I knew getting it published would be a lengthy and tedious procedure. So my wife and I decided to use Print on Demand (POD) and do it ourselves. It was a fun procedure, and I even designed the cover myself, using a picture of my cat appearing to read a book.

The published book looked great. I bought maybe 130 copies in all and sold them to everyone I knew. Turns out I didn’t know as many people as I thought I did, though, and those review copies I gave away were eating up what little profit I was making. I don’t know what happened to the consignment copies that went to bookstores that have since gone out of business. (Not due to my book, I hope.)

The worst problem was I couldn’t spend all of my free time writing and still do the marketing that any writer—but especially a self-publisher—must do. What writer wouldn’t prefer the writing without the marketing?

Then I went to my first Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference and started learning what good writing really was. My first book not only didn’t qualify, I came to view it as an embarrassment—something I didn’t want people to associate with me. I pulled it from availability and advised people who had a copy to hold on to it; if I ever became well known, it might qualify as a collector’s item. As Al Gansky, one of my favorite suspense writers says, “An autograph will get you twenty-five cents extra at a yard sale.”

I kept on writing. And writing some more. I kept on going to writers conferences. Bought and digested enough writing books to have made me super-fat if they’d been food.

My third manuscript, Found in the Translation, won first place in the novel competition at the Blue Ridge Conference in 2006. “Ah!” I thought. “Now I’m getting somewhere.”

Wrong again. While that honor looked good on my proposal, nobody was beating down my door, and I was getting frustrated about my inability to hook an agent.

A publisher at a writer's conference invited me to submit sample pages—I’m not even sure which manuscript. Several months later, I received email from a different editor at that publishing house. She explained that they didn’t publish that genre of novel, but she loved my writing and felt confident my time would come.

We continued to correspond off and on, and she read samples and continued to encourage me. I still consider her one of my biggest fans.

Then I asked James Scott Bell to read the first page of Found in the Translation at a conference appointment. “Roger, you’re not even starting with a scene.”

Whoops! At first I balked (I didn’t tell him that, though), but finally saw the light. He was the expert. A multi-published expert. So I lopped off the first fifty pages—sob—and wrote a new beginning. Much better.

I asked my editor friend if she’d look at it. She asked for fifteen pages on Monday, the whole thing on Wednesday, and on Friday told me it was so good she’d lined up Terry Burns at Hartline Literary as my agent. She didn’t just tell me; she sent me the back-and-forth email leading up to that.

And to think Terry was one of the agents I’d requested an appointment with at the American Christian Fiction Writers conference I was getting ready to attend! If God wasn’t in charge of all that had happened so far. . .

Although Found in the Translation didn’t sell for a year, Barbour was wonderfully receptive when it landed at their doorstep. Even if they did ask to take “the” out of the title.

FOUND IN TRANSLATION
by Roger Bruner

Barbour Publishing, May 2011
368 pages

When Kim Hartlinger—eighteen and spoiled—arrives on a mission trip to Mexico and discovers, to her chagrin, that she’ll be doing construction in a remote village without plumbing and electricity, rather than evangelism in a medium-sized town with a fast food joint . . she has only two choices. “Rough it” (which isn’t exactly what Kim had in mind when she signed up for this trip) or turn around and head home.

Will Kim be able to touch the villagers’ hearts with the Gospel? Or will her time in Mexico be up before she gets the chance?



Roger Bruner worked as a teacher, job counselor, and programmer analyst before retiring to pursue his dream of writing Christian fiction full-time. A guitarist and songwriter, he is active in his church's choir, praise team, and nursing home ministry. Roger also enjoys reading, web design, mission trips, photography, and spending time with his wonderful wife, Kathleen.

http://www.rogerbruner.com/

Debut Authors Make Bestseller List

The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) has recently released their Christian Fiction Bestellers through July 2011. You'll find the usual names there, Karen Kingsbury, Beverly Lewis, Francine Rivers, Ted Dekker, etc, but what's exciting is finding three 2011 debut authors on the Top 20 list.

Congratulations to Ruth Reid (The Promise of an Angel), Joan Wolf (Reluctant Queen), and Catherine Richmond (Spring for Susannah). Your achievement is encouraging to everyone hoping to break in and succeed in this tough publishing business.

http://www.christianbookexpo.com/bestseller/fiction-current.php

Debut Author Spotlight ... Dorothy Love

MY PUBLISHING JOURNEY

by Dorothy Love

My publishing journey began in 1989 when I left a job in college teaching to pursue writing full time. I wrote and submitted constantly for five years, publishing a number of magazine pieces along the way.

My first novel for young readers was published in 1995 and I went on to publish 13 other novels for preteens and young adults in the secular market before moving to the CBA to write historicals for adult readers.

I was born and reared in a small Southern town. I  love writing about the history of my native region and love encouraging readers to explore the wonderful stories from their own family histories.

Beyond All Measure, my adult fiction debut, is the first of the Hickory Ridge novels and is set in a fictional town in  my home state of Tennessee. Though I haven't lived there since I was a young girl, I have many relatives there and I get back there as often as I can.

I recently finished line edits on the second Hickory Ridge novel, Beauty for Ashes which will be out early next year, and I'm currently writing the third book, to be called Every Perfect Gift.

BEYOND ALL MEASURE

Hickory Ridge Series #1

by Dorothy Love

Thomas Nelson, May 2011

320 pages

Ada Wentworth, a young Bostonian, journeys to Hickory Ridge, Tennessee, in the years following the Civil War. Alone and nearly penniless following a broken engagement, Ada accepts a position as a lady's companion to the elderly Lillian Willis, a pillar of the community and aunt to the local lumber mill owner, Wyatt Caldwell. Ada intends to use her millinery skills to establish a hat shop and secure her future.

Haunted by unanswered questions from her life in Boston, Ada is most drawn to two townsfolk: Wyatt, a Texan with big plans of his own, and Sophie, a mulatto girl who resides at the Hickory Ridge orphanage. Ada's friendship with Sophia attracts the attention of a group of locals seeking to displace the residents of Two Creeks, a "colored" settlement on the edge of town. As tensions rise, Ada is threatened but refuses to abandon her plan to help the girl.

When Lillian dies, Ada is left without employment or a place to call home. And since Wyatt's primary purpose for staying in Hickory Ridge was to watch over his aunt, he can now pursue his dream of owning Longhorns in his home state of Texas. With their feelings for each other growing, Ada must decide whether she can trust God with her future and Wyatt with her heart.

Dorothy Love is the author of the Hickory Ridge series, historical novels set in the beautiful Smoky Mountains region of her native Tennessee. Her well-researched, heartwarming stories of small town Southern life, faith, friends, and family reflect the emotions, concerns, and values of women everywhere.

Growing up in McNairy County, Tennessee, Doro attended Bethel Springs Presbyterian Church and the local grade school where she spent every spare moment writing stories to share with her classmates. As a college student in Texas majoring in teaching and English literature, she co-edited her university newspaper. After earning a master’s degree and a Ph.D, she authored dozens of magazine articles before breaking into book publishing with a number of award-winning novels for preteens and young adults. The Hickory Ridge series marks her adult fiction debut.

http://dorothylovebooks.com/