Persistence...Does It Payoff? by Dora Hiers

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Soon after we married, my husband and I began praying for different jobs so we could leave Florida. The constant ninety degree temperatures left me fatigued, and both of us longed for cooler climates. We prayed. And prayed. God told us no...for twenty years.

We'd walk in the evenings, sweat dripping down our necks and backs, sharing our dreams, and talking about where we might live. Sometimes when we felt particularly discouraged, when it didn't feel that God was listening to our prayers, He'd open up a door. An interview, just enough encouragement to keep us knocking on heaven's gate.

In 2007, God finally called us into our promised land, North Carolina, a land flowing with milk and hon...er, seasons. Where trees bud and leaves flutter softly to the ground in a gentle breeze. Where we could tug on sweaters and long pants, instead of the usual shorts and flip flops. Where we learned to appreciate snow and four-wheel drive.

What if we'd given up praying for our dream? Would God have given up on us? No. But He might not have blessed us so abundantly. He moved us smack into the middle of NASCAR country! Hubby thinks he's already in heaven!

Jesus shared the parable of the persistent widow in Luke 18, instructing us to "always pray and not give up" and that God wants to bring justice to His chosen ones, the ones who cry out to Him continually.

Many of us started writing with only our dreams. Years stretch into decades, and as we walk the path, sweat drips down our backs. We're fatigued, worn out from sending queries and proposals, and the constant rejections seem to be the only answer to our prayers.

What does God call us to do?

I believe He gave us our marching orders.

Pray. Pray. Pray. Don't give up. Cry out to Him continually.

What if your promised land is right around the next query letter?

What about you? 
Are you weary from the long journey?

Have you considered quitting? What, or who, has kept you going?

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Devastated after the brutal murder of her husband, Chelsea Hammond vows never to love another lawman. Intent on rebuilding her shattered life, she turns her focus to helping troubled teens. But when an angry father bent on retaliation, threatens her, Chelsea must turn to the one man she never thought to trust: Deputy U.S. Marshal Trey Colten.

Trey wants only to protect Chelsea, but she blames him for her husband’s death. Trey can relate. He blames himself, also. As danger lurks, Trey begs Chelsea to heed his warnings. He let down one Hammond. He won’t let down another—especially one who now holds his heart.

When Chelsea is snatched from her home, can she put aside her fear, and trust Trey with her life? Can she forgive him for destroying her past and let him help to rebuild her future?

Where one journey ends, another begins…

Dora Hiers is a multi-published author of Heart Racing, God-Gracing romances. She’s a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and the Treasurer for ACFW-Charlotte Chapter. Connect with her here on Seriously Write, her personal blog, Twitter, Facebook or Pinterest.

Wherever Books Are Sold by Shannon Taylor Vannatter

Shannon Taylor Vannatter

Wherever books are sold. The ability to say that has eluded me for fourteen years.

In late 1999, I’d realized that story I’d had in my head since I was fifteen could be a book and got a hand me down computer. I started writing and didn’t stop until I’d finished the book. It was badly written, but I didn’t know it at the time. Fifty-two rejections and a second book later, I wrote number three. It got published by a print on demand company. I didn’t know what that was, but soon learned they’re not in stores and they’re usually over-priced.

Three more completed manuscripts and over two hundred rejection letters later, I finally decided I needed help to get where I wanted to be. For the next two years, I attended every writer’s conference in my area and joined two writer’s groups. I learned so much, but there came a point, I wasn’t learning anything new and nothing specific to my genre.

I googled Christian writer’s conferences and found American Christian Fiction Writers. From 2005 – 2008, I attended the conference. In 2009, I finally signed a contract with Heartsong Presents for three books set in Romance and Rosebud, Arkansas. Both are small, real towns about thirty-five minutes from where I live. People go to Romance to get married and send their wedding invitations and Valentine cards to be re-mailed with a unique, hand-stamped postmark from Romance, Arkansas and I incorporated that local flavor into each book.

My dream had come true.

Except that most stores don’t sell Heartsong Presents books.

Heartsong has a book club readers can join. Members receive four new titles each month. If readers aren’t in the book club, HP titles are hard to find except online. A Christian book store in my area carries the line and I’ve had good sales there. I’ve been blessed to have thousands of readers reading my books.

But all writers want their books in stores. Lots of stores. It gets old when people ask where they can get your book and you have to say, online.

I knew from the beginning, that my three books would be combined into one volume at some point and sold wherever books are sold. Finally, that time has come and I’m so excited—I get to say it:

“You can find my book, Arkansas Weddings wherever books are sold.”

“Wow, that felt good!”

Dora here. Writers, how many of you dream of saying these words? 

Raising my hand...

Arkansas Weddings
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Love’s never easy in three Arkansas romances. Pastor Grayson is still grieving his wife’s death. Will a budding relationship with florist Adrea Welch be the healing he needs to plant new love in his life? Laken left home eight years ago and never looked back. Now she’s in Romance, Arkansas, again, but is she too close to her past—and Hayden Winters? Shell doesn’t have a good reputation. But no matter what everyone thinks, she’s back in town with a job to do. Will Ryler Grant disrupt her plans. . .and change her heart?

Shannon Taylor Vannatter is a stay-at-home mom and pastor’s wife. Her debut novel won the 2011 Inspirational Readers’ Choice Award. When not writing, she runs circles in the care and feeding of her husband, their son, and church congregation. Home is a central Arkansas zoo with two charcoal gray cats, a chocolate lab, and three dachshunds in weenie dog heaven. If given the chance to clean house or write, she’d rather write. Her goal is to hire Alice from the Brady Bunch.

Do Readers Love Your Hero?

Incredibly Deep Hole

Yes. 

My dog dug this Incredibly. Deep. Hole. 

Grandma and Grandpa had just left after visiting for a few days. Do you think he was upset?

Hey everyone. Dora here, and when I posted this picture on Facebook, a friend who works at the fire station with my hubby asked if I planned to cover the hole before "the chief" got home.

What? Why would I do that?

Bruiser the puppy

Hubby, aka "the chief", enjoys the antics of his baby, and if you lived through this cutie's puppy stage, you might understand. As a pup, Bruiser loved to swim in our pool. Once, when our older son fell asleep with the sliding door open, Bruiser went swimming, dragging along my hubby's, er...undergarments. He's a bit mischievous, (OK, a lot) so digging a hole that deep clearly wasn't an issue. 

But my friend's comment made me think about...

Perceptions of a hero.

"How could I possibly make that connection," you ask. 

"What correlation does a hole have with a hero?"

Not the hole necessarily, but how different people perceive the same person. 

At the fire station, hubby may be the chief, but at home, he's my husband, my sweetheart, my best friend and life partner. My hero.

While he may be gruff and authoritative at work, at home, he's cuddly and kind, helpful and considerate, devoted and loving. While the community sees him as a public figure, someone who often must reject their building plan, or as a manager, the final decision maker on discipline or firing, I see a man devoted to God and family.


As a writer, I must create heroes that readers admire or like. 
Although my hero may be gruff on the job or around others, he must have redeeming value to the heroine, and ultimately, to my readers. 

How do I do that? Let me show you by giving you an inkling of why I perceive my hubby differently than others might:

• He immerses himself in the Word every morning.
• When one of our sons call with a problem, he drops everything to listen and works together for a solution.
• He rides along with me on all my library presentations (and believe me when I say that's a bunch!) to offer moral support and a helping hand.
• When our grandson spends the night and wakes crying, hubby's the first one out of bed to comfort the Little Man. When I finally stumble into his bedroom, Little Man's already cradled in hubby's loving arms.
• When our cat stranded herself in a tree, hubby dragged out the ladder to rescue her. At midnight.
• Hubby could go to lunch with the guys, but he chooses to share lunch with me. And  sometimes he jots "I love you" on the receipt so I'll see it later.
• On a recent day trip for business, hubby invited me to ride along. He could have just driven himself, but he wanted to share the day with me.

Do you get the idea? 

Your hero may be unlikable to some people, but show him being nice and sweet to your heroine, and your readers are sure to fall for him, too.

How do you perceive your hero?

If your hero is gruff, how do you make him lovable?

Journey's Embrace
by Dora Hiers

After an injury forces Deputy U.S. Marshal Sage Michaelson off duty, he heads to his hometown with two things on his mind: recuperating and reevaluating, but Sage can’t refuse his best friend’s plea to keep a protective eye on his little sister after someone ransacks her house. But Delaney’s not so little anymore—and definitely not the young “Dane” Sage remembers.

Flight Medic Delaney Hunt has loved Sage forever. But, he’s all about control and order while she embraces life and takes risks. As much as the idea appeals to her, she doesn’t need Sage looking over her shoulder. But when things go wrong and she finds herself hanging by her fingertips, who does she call to rescue her?

Will Delaney ever be the woman Sage wants by his side? Can Sage learn to live by grace, recognizing that God is in control? Can they overcome their fears to embrace life together?

Happy Independence Day!

As Americans, we celebrate the Fourth of July. Independence Day. The freedom to be our own country. The freedom to be, well...free.

We take so many things for granted. Choices like:

Where to worship, work, live, shop, travel.

Who to love and marry, who to "follow" on Twitter or "like" on Facebook.
What to read, wear, eat and drink. What to say or feel.
How to spend our money, our spare time, to worship or celebrate.

Or something as simple as writing this blog post. 

Celebrate Independence Day with family and friends over barbecues, baseball games and fireworks. Live. Love. Laugh. Adopt an attitude of gratitude and pray for our leaders.

Thank you to all who fought, to those who continue to fight, for our freedoms! 

Thank You, God, for allowing me to live in a free country. Help me not to take for granted the price that was paid for my freedom. Help our leaders make the right decisions for our country and to look to You for guidance.

What about you? What are you thankful for today? 

How will you celebrate your freedom?

Happy Fourth!

Creating Catchy Titles by Karen Witemeyer

Karen Witemeyer

With jazzy titles like Stealing the Preacher and Short Straw Bride, how could I not ask Author Karen Witemeyer for her tips to share with you? Be prepared to take notes! Enjoy, and I'll see you on the other side!!  ~Dora

Whether you are hoping to catch an editor's eye with an unpublished manuscript or a reader's eye as she browses for a new book, the first impression you make is with your title. 

The split-second it takes a potential reader to scan your title can be the determining factor in their decision to pick up your book and examine it more closely or to move on to something else. A strong, catchy title can make the difference between a sale and a pass.

A successful title reflects a manuscript's genre, tone, and possibly a key story element. For example: romance titles often include words like bride, love, and heart; suspense titles, on the other hand, favor words like dark, danger, and death. These words create an expectation in the reader. They create a mood.

Don't follow the formula too closely, though. Your title still needs a unique twist to set it apart from all the others. Since I write light-hearted historical romance, I try to create titles that reflect that humorous/romantic feel. With my debut novel, I came up with a title that played on words. In Tailor-Made Bride, my heroine is a seamstress or tailor yet despite the hero's resistance, he eventually realizes she is tailor-made for him.

Titles should intrigue the reader and make them want to find out more about your story. My most recent two titles play on this idea. Short-Straw Bride and Stealing the Preacher leave questions in the reader's mind. What is a short-straw bride? Did men really draw straws to see who would marry her? Why would someone steal a preacher? How does that even happen? Both titles also hint at possible humorous scenarios or shenanigans going on and when paired with the right cover, create a vivid impression on readers.

My other two titles did not originate with me. My editors actually came up with the ideas. The title for my second book, Head in the Clouds, plays on a key story element as well as highlighting my heroine's dreamer personality. She always had her nose in a book and her head in the clouds. But what made this title so perfect was that throughout the story, clouds were used to symbolize ambiguity as well as God's leadership of his people, like the cloud by day he used to lead the Israelites through the wilderness.

My final title, To Win Her Heart, is probably the most generic of the five, but it fit my genre as well as my story and was well-received by readers.

Keep your titles short, usually not more than 3-4 words. Remember, it needs to look good on a cover and not take up too much real estate. Give it punch so it lingers in a reader's mind. And after you pour your heart and soul into crafting the perfect title, don't marry yourself to it. Editors are notorious for changing titles. After all, a title's job is not just to represent your story but to sell your story to readers. It's all about marketing.

Question from Karen: What are some of your favorite book titles?
And from Dora: How do you come up with your titles?

Stealing the Preacher
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On his way to interview for a position at a church in the Piney Woods of Texas, Crockett Archer can't believe it when he’s forced off the train by an outlaw and presented to the man’s daughter as the preacher she requested for her birthday. He's determined to escape—which would be much easier if he could stop thinking about Joanna Robbins and her unexpected request. 

For months, Joanna had prayed for a minister. A man to breathe life back into the abandoned church at the heart of her community. A man to assist her in fulfilling a promise to her dying mother. But just when it seems her prayers have been answered, it turns out the parson is there against his will and has dreams of his own calling him elsewhere. Is there any way she can convince Crockett he ended up right where he was supposed to be?

About Karen Witemeyer:
Two-time RITA® Finalist and winner of the coveted HOLT Medallion and ACFW Carol Award, CBA bestselling author, Karen Witemeyer, writes historical romance fiction for Bethany House, believing that the world needs more happily-ever-afters. She is an avid cross-stitcher, shower singer, and bakes a mean apple cobbler. Karen makes her home in Abilene, TX with her husband and three children. Learn more about Karen and her books at: www.karenwitemeyer.com.