Introducing the Boy in Blue

I recently self-published a very short novel (a novella, technically) titled The Boy in Blue.   It's only 78 pages long, the belated fulfillment of an idea I had for a story way back when I was a young girl.  (Way, way back! We're talking 50+ years ago!)  I wrote about it over at my flagship blog, String o' Pearls, if you want to check out that post.  

If you click on this link to the bookemon.com page where it's listed for sale, you can click on the "Read" or "Preview Book" button (to the right of the "Add to Cart" button) and "flip" through the pages of the book on your iPad or laptop without having to spend a penny.  

All the cool kids are reading this little book, as you can see.

(Full disclosure: this is not a random unbiased reader. It's my very own son #2, posing with the book so he could post this picture on the family text stream and claim to be my favorite, because he was the first of the brothers to get his hands on a copy and therefore the first one to read it...although I don't think he has actually read the whole thing yet!)

The Boy in Blue a is humble little work, but it's kind of sweet.  If you do read it, I'd love to know what you think!

The Sequel is Finished!

On December 8, 2023, I finished the sequel to Erin’s Ring and published it through Bookemon.com.  It is titled Marguerite's Diary.   Seeing as how this historical novel includes approved Marian apparitions and also a Marian miracle, I thought it was apropos that its publication date would be one of Mary's special days, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

For the cover, I used an old still life painting I'd done in college in the late 70's,
to which I added some flames and a Rosary, so it would fit the subject matter.

I exhaustively pored over the book's 20 chapters myself, looking for typos and grammatical errors, and then had my husband read through it, too.  He caught a few boo-boo's I'd missed.  (You'd be amazed by how many typos an author's eyes don't see, because she knows what she meant to say, and so that's how she reads the words!) However, I fear that even with all of that care and attention in an effort to produce as clean a manuscript as possible, there will be errors.  Cheryl Dickow, the publisher at Bezalel Books (where both Finding Grace and Erin's Ring were published, but which is now out of business), liked to remind me that there was no such thing as perfection in the printed word.  I guess I'll have to take her word for it, and try not to panic if I see any errors in the printed books...

...which are due to arrive today!

I ordered ten copies to start out, because I've promised them as Christmas gifts for our oldest son's four oldest daughters (the avid readers!  The ones who really wanted me to write this book!).  Then there's one for us, and one for each of our five sons.  I didn't want to order too many to start out, because they're a tad pricey on the site where I had them published, at almost $20 a copy, and I want to make sure that they turned out nicely.

My husband is wondering if I should republish on Amazon, using their KDP services. I think the copies would be much cheaper to purchase if I did that, and the book would be legit, with an ISBN number...

We shall see!  In the meantime, it feels good to be done, and to have copies in time for Christmas!

Feeling Encouraged

I have been working on a sequel to Erin's Ring for about a year or so now.  I'm calling it Marguerite's Diary. I've started a big push to finish it by Christmas, which will be hard but not impossible.  (I was going to finish it LAST Christmas, but I missed that deadline by a mile, obviously!)  I dream of being able to wrap up copies to give to my four oldest granddaughters as gifts this year.  Wish me luck!  (Better yet, pray for me!)

I found a site called Bookemon (where I had my My Little ABC Book published) that is user-friendly and where you can get copies of your book on a print-by-demand basis.  They aren't cheap, but the quality is very good--as good as any publishing house has to offer, if you ask me.  You can also set up your Bookemon account to have your titles listed for sale on Amazon...but I've been-there-done-that already, and both books that used to sell on Amazon are out of print now.  I'm not in the "author" business anymore.  I don't think I really have the heart for that.  This book is mostly for my grandchildren, and for my personal use--to have copies made as gifts or whatever.  I'm trying to get all the joy out of the writing, without the stress of wondering whether anyone will read or like what I've written.  I know the audience for whom I'm writing this book will be pleased no matter what.

Anyway, out of the blue lately there have been little surprises that have made me feel very encouraged and excited to keep on writing. 

While we were away for a couple of weeks recently, visiting our two boys who don't live near us in VA, I got a sweet text from my daughter-in-law Braveheart (wife of son #4).  She is the mother of triplets who are in kindergarten, and son #3's daughter is in kindergarten at the same Catholic school.  One of the triplet boys is with his sister in one homeroom, but the other is classmates with his cousin.  Braveheart had gone in to school that day as a volunteer, to read to the class that has the two cousins in it.  Afterward, she sent me this: 

When I asked her if they liked it, she said they loved it--and so did their teacher.  In fact, the teacher wanted a copy!  So I'm ordering a copy to donate to the kindergarten library.  (Braveheart is ordering one as well.)

What an incredibly nice, unexpected blessing, hearing that my humble little picture book had been a hit at our grandkids' school.  Blessings like those are not a dime a dozen.

But then the very same night, amazingly, I got a text from one of our twenty-something nieces on the Pearl side, saying she wanted to let me know that she had ordered my first novel Finding Grace on Amazon (where copies are sometimes available through other sellers, often used).  She was too young to read it when it came out, she said, but she was trying to get into reading and thought it was time to do so.  I was so touched by this!

(I'm not crying; you're crying!)

I can't believe my darling niece paid this for a copy of Finding Grace!  I sure hope she likes it.*

Wow...just wow.  Two messages like that in one day was almost more than I could handle.  I have been a full-time homemaker (a wife, mother, and Grammy, without a career outside the home; a woman who has not made enough money in her lifetime to qualify for a monthly Social Security check like most folks my age), and writing was just something I got to do for a few years, between the time my boys were growing up and moving away and when the grandchildren started coming along at a furious pace.  I didn't have a writing "career," per se.  I don't think of myself as a "writer," really.  But on October 17, my loved ones were sure making me feel like one.

As if my cup hadn't already runneth over, the very next day, a nice reader named Ellen left me this comment on a recent post at String o' Pearls: "Hi Laura, somehow I missed that your books are actually available for purchase.  I thought they were for family only.   I bought them both from Thriftbooks and have been enjoying Erin's Ring.  Your writing is lovely!"

Somebody pinch me!  

Okay then, now I should get back to writing that sequel, shouldn't I?  With my confidence bolstered by all this love and encouragement, I can and I must.

*BTW, I sent a reply telling my niece to cancel the order if it wasn't too late, because the price on the used copy was so high and I still have a number of copies that I bought years ago (for book signings, few of which ever happened!), and I could send her one of those.  But she didn't take me up on it; then when her copy came in the mail yesterday, she texted to say that it was okay, and that she loved getting to support me and my book.  (Okay, maybe this time I AM crying.)

Real Life IS Better Than Fiction!

When I started working on Finding Grace in August of 2007, I seriously didn't expect it to ever become a book.  I mean, my goal was to write a full-length novel, sure; but I never really believed it would get into print and become an honest-to-goodness BOOK--as in the published variety, with a front and back cover and professionally printed pages and everything.

My girlhood dreams involved imagining that I might someday produce one "great American novel" (just one!  That's not too much to hope for, is it?), inspired by my early favorite authors, Harper Lee and Margaret Mitchell. Lee had stopped at To Kill a Mockingbird and Mitchell at Gone with the Wind--two of my all-time favorite books; I figured I could stop when I'd written my one novel, too.  (I also loved the romantically brooding works of those talented Bronte sisters, but I was looking for inspiration on this side of the pond, in modern times.)

I tucked away this dream while I was busy raising my boys.  By the time I felt ready to try my hand at novel-writing, when my youngest boy (whom we'd been homeschooling from 4th through 8th grade) was about to start high school, a new dream had emerged for me: to write a novel that would never make me rich or famous, but that would be an antidote to the dangerous secular humanist values and messages with which most modern popular fiction was replete (and this situation seemed to be getting exponentially worse as the years had gone by).

When I set out to tackle that book, with absolutely zero writing experience to my name--unless you count the papers I did as a college English major decades earlier--I did hope that I would have the patience and drive to see the project through and tell the story I wanted to tell (even though over the course of the four and a half years I spent writing it, the original story I'd imagined went in directions that I hadn't planned at the outset; it's funny how that happens).  Because you see, Finding Grace was more than anything a labor of love for my family, something that I thought I could leave behind, something that would be around long after I was gone.  Even if all it turned out to be was a manuscript printed off at home, with hole-punched pages in a binder, I wanted to get this done to pass down to any book-loving grandchildren I might one day have.  I wanted to create a novel that espoused the beautiful teachings and traditions of our Catholic Faith, one that was filled with endearing characters whose lives were enriched in countless ways by living according to that Faith.  As the years were going by, I was becoming more and more worried that by the time my future grandchildren were reading, there would be nothing of Truth or beauty left in print--at least in popular mainstream fiction; so I wanted to take matters into my own hands.

What she said.

When I started out my later-in-life "career" as a writer, none of my boys were even married yet.  By the time Finding Grace was published in 2012, our oldest son was married and he had given us identical twin granddaughters.  (I had written identical twin girls into Finding Grace several years before they were born.  I had also given my title character, Grace Kelly, a father who was a dentist--and that was our first daughter-in-law's dad's profession.  Totally by accident, art had imitated life!)

Fast forward to 2020, and I've now got 16-going-on-17 grandchildren.  And to prove that dreams do come true, one of those twins I mentioned earlier, who is now 9, recently read her Grammy's second YA novel, Erin's Ring (she's still a bit too young for the more mature-themed Finding Grace).  Her mom sent me this text when she was reading it.

Umm...I believe that is the only endorsement I need.  Better than a 5-star Amazon review, in my opinion.  This is exactly the audience I hoped to affect with my writing: future generations of Pearls!

My middle son also recently texted me a few cute pictures of the oldest of his three girls, who's 4, holding a copy of Finding Grace.  She and her older brother (5) think it's a story about her. ;)

In about 9 or 10 years, I hope she'll read it.  And I hope I'm alive to hear what she thinks!

Life is SO BEAUTIFUL, even in the age of Covid-19.  It is better than any story I could ever think up.  Better than any fiction, for sure.  I am enjoying all the undeserved blessings I've been given, because I know that life can change on a dime, when we least expect it.

Thank you, God, for helping me to see my dreams come true: not one, but TWO published novels; and better yet by far, so many beloved grandchildren to read them.  I am humbled and grateful!

Grace-filled Tuesdays (Book Club "Meeting" #26): Looking for Some Help (and Playing Catch-up)

I've been hosting a Book Club over at my flagship blog, String of Pearls, for a while now.  It's called Grace-filled Tuesdays, as you might know if you come here often.  I've forgotten to share several of those "meetings" here at The Write Stuff; so before I show you today's post, we'll play a little catch-up, okay?  You can click on any of these links if you'd like to get up to speed with the other club members.

"Meeting" #22 : On Being a Writer (Sort of...)
"Meeting" #23 : Cliffhangers and Cliffs
"Meeting #24 : Austen Talk, and a Giveaway Reminder
"Meeting" #25 : Giveaway Winners

Now we're all caught up and ready for today's "meeting."  (I'm so glad you're here, by the way!)

Tuesday's child is full of Grace...

...and Tom, and Sully, and Molly, and Theresa, and Erin, and a whole host of other characters who make their way onto the pages of my novels Finding Grace and Erin's Ring.

That's right, you guessed it: it's Book Club time!  Whether you've been here before or are a first-time member of the club, welcome to Grace-filled Tuesdays!

Today, I'm looking for some help getting the word out about my two novels, both of which I believe would make excellent choices for inclusion in the curricula of Catholic classrooms and homeschools, not to mention homes where people like to curl up with books on rainy afternoons or hide under the covers with book lights late at night, long after they should be asleep...

Published in 2012, Finding Grace was a recipient of the Catholic Writers Guild Seal of Approval.  Classified as "YA fiction" but written with older teen readers (and adults) in mind, this deliciously lengthy novel handles difficult topics like underage drinking, teenage pregnancy, and abortion; but it does so without unnecessary salacious details and with great compassion for the human condition.  You can click on this review, by Tiffany, who blogs at Life of a Catholic Librarian, if you'd like to get a better idea of how this book might be just the right work of fiction for your high school-aged reader.  Here's a snippet of that review, in case you don't have time to read the full article right now:

This isn't a quick read, and for good reason. The book captures important moments in a young adult's life, and fleshes them out into a wonderful, relatable story that will grab your heartstrings. As an adult, this book made me nostalgic, and realize how much work I still have to do to make my faith a bigger priority in my life. Do we ever fully grow up? ;-) For young adults, I strongly suspect they will identify with the winningly charming Grace and want to try her approach to life with the saints.  [And of course, there's this, too, dear readers (my favorite part of writing the novel, if you want to know the truth!)]  I couldn't wait to see how things would turn out for Grace and her friends. Who will get the boy?  [Indeed--who will?  I made sure to write the story in a way that it would keep the reader hanging until the very end.]

I also appreciated this positive review, from a book-loving blogger (Rebekah's Weblog was her site) who decided to exit the Internet a few years ago.  Here's an excerpt, if you want a quick synopsis:

The cover of Finding Grace, in all its pastel sweetness, is a bit misleading. I had assumed (based on the cover, shame on me!) this was a book I would read ahead of time in hopes that my 9 year-old AnneMarie would enjoy reading aloud with me as we talked through issues. Not so. The topics covered include Grace experiencing the first hand pain of a Holocaust survivor as well as very mature teenagerly topics such as underage drinking, premarital sex, adoption and abortion. Pretty heavy. This coupled with the length of the novel make this in no way suitable to a young mind. I think perhaps high school is the earliest I would recommend this, and is not at all too youthy for any adult.

I don't recall reading any books with such a theme when I was in high school, a time of great introspection and soul searching for me, as I am sure it is for many girls, although society would not lead us to believe this is true with the typical characterization of the rebellious, bubble headed and fad-driven teens we are continuously subjected to. I know that I would have appreciated and benefited from reading Grace's story during that awkward time, just as I benefited from reading it now!
  
Finding Grace is a book that, although it has much to offer, has yet to truly find its audience.  After more than four years on Amazon, it has only gotten 20 reviews.  Research shows that reviews help a great deal.  So today, I'm asking for help in spreading the word any way you can.  If you read and enjoyed Finding Grace but didn't leave a review on the Amazon site, would you consider writing just a few words?  (Not to put words in your mouth, but even two would work: "Loved it!"  Ha ha!)  Or if you're a teacher or homeschooler, would you consider reading it to see if you think it would make a good addtition to your teens' literature curriculum?

If Finding Grace is too long a book for you, or if its themes are too advanced for the students/offspring/young readers in your life, perhaps you could check out Erin's Ring, a much shorter work aimed at readers middle school-aged and up.

Published in 2014, Erin's Ring is the winner of two book awards from the Catholic Press Association: 3rd Place in Books for Teens and Young Adults, and 2nd Place in Catholic novels.  This work of historical fiction is appropriate for even pre-teen readers, and its length of just under 200 pages makes it a great choice for classroom use.  However, like Finding Grace, although this novel was written with the hope of inspiring young readers, it doesn't ever speak down to its audience and can be enjoyed by adults as well.

I was humbled and pleased by this wonderful review of Erin's Ring by Catholic author and blogger Kari Burke.  If you don't have time to read Kari's whole article right now, here's a short blurb:

Pearl is an expert at creating authentically Catholic characters who are also multi-dimensional.  So, it comes as no surprise that it was the characters that drew me into the story.  I especially love that the relationships in their lives create a perfect conduit for their strengths and weaknesses to be revealed.  The relationships in the book are full of ups and downs, misunderstandings and insecurities, and, like the characters themselves, are just so real.  

Erin’s Ring is a beautiful love story but it’s not so much about the romantic love between a man and a woman.  Rather, it is about true love and devotion to the Catholic faith and to family.  With so many immoral worldly books on the shelves of our library these days, it can be nearly impossible to find wholesome reading material for teen girls.  This story fills a need for real Catholic fiction that never preaches, yet clearly delivers a message of hope and piety.  Erin’s Ring is exactly the kind of story I feel good about encouraging my daughters to curl up with.  In fact, it’s exactly the kind of book I myself enjoy curling up with!

Do Kari's words make you want to read it?  If so, today might be your lucky day, because

Bezalel Books has recently reduced the price of Erin's Ring from $11.99 per copy to $8.99, in order to make it more affordable for Catholic classrooms and homeschools.

And if you do read and enjoy it, could you post a few words on the Amazon site, pretty please?

Right about now, I can just hear you crying ,"What?!", a la Ralphie in the movie A Christmas Story,  "It's just a lousy commercial!"

Alrighty then, that's enough about marketing and promotion; let's have a real "meeting" and discuss book stuff, okay?

My husband (the most unbiased of all judges when it comes to anything having to do with his better half, I can assure you) tells me that what makes my books enjoyable is the characters.  He says mine are very fully-developed and real, and they make readers care about them.  (He isn't a professional literary critic, but he did stay at a Holiday Inn Express recently...)  So here are some Book Club questions for you: How important to you are the characters in a novel?  Do you need to care about them a whole lot; or can you be satisfied with not-so-believable/lovable characters, as long as the plot is fast-paced and action-packed enough to hold your interest?

That's it for now.  But I'll be back.

Grace-filled Tuesdays (Book Club "Meeting" #21): Shelf Esteem

Today over on the blog, we had another "meeting" of the Book Club.

I shared some exciting news about where I've spied copies of my two Catholic novels, Erin's Ring and Finding Grace, recently.  Head on over to String of Pearls if you're interested in finding out where my books are currently enjoying a little shelf esteem.  Come on--join the club!  Because Tuesday's child is full of Grace, as you know...and Erin, too!

And don't forget about the giveaway!

I'm giving away five free copies of Erin's Ring.  Just share this post on your blog, on Twitter, or on your Facebook page, and contact me to let me know that you've done so.  I'll throw your name in the hat, and on Nov. 1 I'll announce the lucky winners.

Grace-filled Tuesdays (Book Club "Meeting" #19): For the Love of Boys

Hey, readers, the Grace-filled Tuesdays Book Club met today at String of Pearls.  Just thought you might like to know.

What did we talk about, you ask?  Well, if you're interested in joining the club, click here and head on over.

I'll give you a hint about what the topic of discussion was: the importance of writing what you know, and the fact that what I know the most about is having a family with five boys in it. You'll be let in on my not-so-secret secret: that these are the guys who inspired me to create Grace Kelly's five older brothers in my first novel, Finding Grace.

My boys, in birth order from R to L.

For the love of boys, please join us!  We'd love to have you.

The Numbers Game

Here's what I posted over at String of Pearls today, copied and pasted for your convenience:

Well, I just realized that I missed a national holiday yesterday.

I'm sure you were all whooping it up like crazy, making and eating infinite amounts of pie--because what better way to celebrate a number that stretches on into infinity than by finding a dessert with the same name?

Truth be told, I've never been good at math and I don't really "get" pi.  (But then again, I don't really get pie, either, when there's a much better option: cake!)

But in honor of Pi Day, I thought I'd play the numbers game a little here and share my Amazon stats with you.  I just happened to check my author ranking on Saturday (something I rarely ever do, because it's not as if it's a huge confidence-booster or anything!).  Well, my friends, I say move over Nicholas Sparks, John Grisham, J.K. Rowling, et. al., because [drumroll please!], as of a few days ago,

Yeah, baby, that's right: my author rank on Saturday was #64,146.  Read that number and weep!  (Just for grins, I checked again today, and I've already moved down the list to #79,477.  Yikes, it doesn't take long to have 15,331 authors pull ahead of you!)

After checking my author rank, I decided to check out the sales ranks for each of my novels, and this is what I learned: Finding Grace was ranked #269,893; and Erin's Ring was ranked #148,276.

So needless to say, my books won't appear on the New York Times bestseller list anytime soon...or ever.  But I did look up another number, which makes me feel a tad better about my rankings: the Amazon website lists 32.8 million book titles (when you add up everything they carry--hardcover, paperback, Kindle, audio, and children's board books); so in light of that number, my rankings don't seem quite so dismal.

I know that my novels, written with the specific purpose of inspiring young readers and hopefully helping them to grow in knowledge of and love for the Catholic Faith, won't make me rich or famous, and I'm 100% okay with that.  I also know that without the help of the Internet and generous eFriends (some of whom I've never even "met") who promote these books on their blogs and websites, I would have trouble getting copies of Finding Grace and Erin's Ring into the hands of the readers for whom I wrote them.

Case in point: not long ago, I was informed by my online friend Nancy Carabio Belanger (a talented and successful Catholic author) that my books had been mentioned in a recent blog post over at Shower of Roses.  Jessica, a homeschooling mother of seven, wrote that she had put together stacks of books for each of her children this past Christmas, and look what her 12-year-old daughter's stack included:

I want to thank Jessica from the bottom of my heart for her support.  And I absolutely mean it when I say that if my novels touch even one reader--her 12-year old, for instance--then my mission has been accomplished.

It doesn't matter what the numbers say about my books, because when all is said and done, chasing worldly success is a game with no meaningful score. There is only one literary critic I've ever worried about pleasing anyway.  And I think you know the Guy I'm talking about.

Giveaway in Honor of National Library Week (A Reminder!)

I've been hosting a giveaway over at String of Pearls.  In honor of National Library Week (April 12-18, 2015), I'm giving away a signed copy of each of my YA Catholic novels, for adults young and old--Finding Grace and Erin's Ring.  Leave me a comment before midnight tonight, and you could be a lucky winner.  (Let me know which title you'd prefer as your prize, if you're so moved!)

I need your comments by midnight tonight in order for your name to be tossed into the hat!  So visit my combox--oh please oh please oh please!  I love to hear from you.



 



 

April 16 was dubbed "Celebrate Teen Literature Day," and on that date I blogged about my motivation for writing fiction aimed at teens (and their parents!).  If you missed that post, you can read it here.

Eager Readers

Talk about a dream come true for an author of a Catholic YA novel: a group of schoolchildren reading her book!  Wow.  There's a lad giving it the thumb's up here.  And is that young lass up front hugging her copy?!  (As an added bonus, these eager readers are dressed in Catholic school uniforms, which I just love.)

These 5th-graders are reading Erin's Ring at a Catholic school out in the Midwest, and their teacher is my niece.

For more on this, head on over to String of Pearls.

A Book Giveaway, in Honor of National Library Week

In honor of National Library Week, I'm going to give away one copy of each of my novels (you can enter to win here at The Write Stuff, and over at String of Pearls, too).

Tuesday April 14 is "National Library Workers Day," and I thought that was a perfect reason to give away a copy of Erin's Ring--a book that features the public library and a kindly and helpful librarian who works there.  If you win, perhaps you could give it to a special librarian in your life as a gift (or then again, you could keep it and share it with your favorite reader, middle school-aged and up).

Thursday April 16 is "Celebrate Teen Literature Day," and I thought that was a perfect reason to give away a copy of Finding Grace--a book that I wrote with high school-aged readers in mind.  If you win, perhaps you could give it to your favorite teen as a gift (or your favorite adult, for that matter!).

To enter the giveaway: leave me a comment anytime between now and Saturday April 18.  In your comment, let me know which of the two titles you would prefer to win.  It's a short window of opportunity, so if you want to throw your name into the hat, don't shilly-shally!

I look forward to your comments, fellow bookworms!

#showusyourlist (Good, Clean Fiction to Nourish Your Soul)

Erin McCole Cupp, a Catholic blogger and the author of a wonderful novel called Don't You Forget About Me, has come up with a Mardi Gras hashtag media blitz idea: she has invited a slew of fellow writers and bloggers to share lists of fictional works they've enjoyed (books, of course, but movies as well)--works that remind readers that there are choices out there that are a whole lot more wholesome and inspiring than the trashy and surprisingly popular garbage that passes as "literature" in our modern world.  Works that are polluting minds and damaging souls.  (You know, like 50 Shades of Grey, to name one such offering.)  The plan is to saturate the Twitterverse, the blogosphere, and the land of Facebook with these encouraging lists of entertainment choices that are "good, beautiful & true," and to tag them #showusyourlist.

Here's Erin's post, if you'd like to check it out and see what titles she's put on her list.

I've never read 50 Shades, a shameful trilogy of books that glamorizes kinky, misogynistic, and abusive sexual practices.  But I've heard enough to know I never will.  And I don't think you have to be a mental giant to realize that what's being peddled here isn't harmless escapist entertainment for women; it's pornography.

This meme would be sort of funny if it wasn't for the expression on Belle's face.  She's looking at Gaston (a macho doofus who might be my boys' favorite Disney animated character of all time) with a patronizing expression, as if to say, "What do you expect from a meathead like him?  His biceps might look like watermelons, but his brain is the size of a pea."  But in this case, even a man of little brain like Gaston is right on the money.  Ladies, if you think these books have any redeeming qualities, you're fooling yourself.  If you think they're morally neutral escapist fantasy, you're fooling yourself.

You wouldn't be happy if you caught your husband looking at pornographic materials, would you?  So how do you think he'll feel if he finds you reading this sort of smut?

Anyhoo--

I decided to join Erin and make a list of way-better-for-your-soul books that I've enjoyed, works of contemporary fiction that you can read in public without one iota of shame.  I posted my list earlier today at String of Pearls, if you'd like to check it out.

I urge you to support authors who are writing uplifting, clean, inspiring literature.  Buy their books.  Leave reviews on Amazon, if you're so inclined (even just a few words can help).  It's not enough to say "Don't read 50 Shades!" and leave it at that.  Find books that you think people should read, and promote those among your friends and loved ones.

Harper Lee's Second Novel

You guys, I have an author's page on Amazon.  Amazing.  And my long-held pipe-dream was to write just one novel in my lifetime, a la Harper Lee (yes, folks, I did just put my humble little self in the same sentence with that literary giant--shame on me!).  Yet there are  two books listed on my Amazon page now.

Sometimes I have to pinch myself.

When I add up my sales revenues, there's no pinching going on--believe me.  I am not going to be able to tell my husband that he can retire now because my book income can support us. 

But getting rich has never been the goal, anyway.  Using the gifts God gave me to give Him greater glory is the only important thing here.  If even one reader is inspired to love Him more after reading one of my books--just one reader--then my goal has been accomplished.

When I read To Kill a Mockingbird at the age of about eleven, Harper Lee's history inspired me.  That book was the catalyst that set my dream in motion: one novel, that's what I would write.  Just one.   In 2012, when I was a newly-minted grandmother, that dream was finally realized with Finding Grace; and I thought, "Okay, now I'm done."  I didn't think I had another book in me.  Truly I didn't.  And that was okay by me.  For goodness sake, one book was good enough for Harper Lee--it was certainly good enough for me!  (By the way, thank you, Cheryl Dickow, for thinking otherwise, or I wouldn't have had the joy of bringing Erin's Ring to life.)

But have you heard the exciting news about Harper Lee?  At the age of 88--55 years after her first (and only) book was published--she is publishing her second novel, titled Go Set a Watchman.  It is a sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird, featuring a grown-up Scout.  In reality, however, this is the novel she wrote first!  But the publisher was very taken with the flashbacks to Scout's childhood in Lee's debut manuscript and convinced her to write another book, from young Scout's perspective.  That book became the wildly successful To Kill a Mockingbird, and it made the reclusive author a millionaire many times over.  (If you want to read more about this incredible story, check out this article, or this one.)

I have lots of copies of Lee's masterpiece in my house.  Two are hardcover special edition copies, with vintage-style artwork on the covers.  (Those are the ones I keep in the living room, for show--they're too precious to thumb through with chocolate-stained fingers; I have several dog-eared paperback copies, complete with coffee stains, on the family room shelves as well.)  And you can bet I'll have some copies of Lee's second published work (which will be available in July of 2015) on my shelf as soon as it's out.  In fact, I've already pre-ordered a hardcover copy from Amazon.

Harper Lee's is a lot more impressive than mine...but you guys, I have an Amazon author's page.  And sometimes I think if it wasn't for Lee and the effect her work had one me, I wouldn't have one at all.

Mom's Books and Good Intentions

When our youngest son was packing up his stuff to head back to Notre Dame (for his final semester before graduation!  Yikes!), I saw his carry-on bag sitting on the edge of the bed in his room.

Yes, those are copies of Finding Grace and Erin's Ring in there, right on top.

I have no illusions that my baby--who didn't inherit his mother's obsession for reading and who has only a few months left to matriculate at one of the most beautiful and opportunity-filled universities in the USA--will actually spend his off hours with his nose in his mommy's books.  Aside from his studies, he has ROTC responsibilities that take up a good deal of his time.  And he has a nice group of friends who are just as sick of books as he is by Friday afternoon, so that the last thing they're thinking is, "TGIF!  Let's crack open some novels and hunker down for the weekend!"  (College kids: they just don't get how great a plan that actually is!) So I'm not going to expect him to call and tell me he's finished them.  But I love it that when he left home after his last Christmas vacation as a college undergrad, he had those two books close at hand for his flight out to Indiana.

I love his good intentions.

To put it quite simply: I love that boy.

A Special Christmas Offer for Mothers and Daughters

Check out this limited time offer on a mother-daughter Christmas package from Bezalel Books!  You can get Cheryl Dickow's inspirational novel for women, Elizabeth, a Holy Land Pilgrimage

and my newly released YA novel, Erin's Ring

for just $17.99 (with free shipping and handling!).  Both books can be enjoyed by women of all ages.  There are limited quantities of these special Christmas packages, so hurry on over to order now.

Happy reading!