Trick or Treat with Miralee Ferrell

I'm honored to have debut author Miralee Ferrel stopping by Posting with Purpose today.

Miralee, what a treat it is to have you here! Since we can't really ignore the date, I have to ask: what is your favorite kind of candy to give out? Or, better yet, to get?

We live 9 miles out of town, and our driveway is 1/4 mile long with a gate at the bottom, so we don't too many Trick or Treat visitors....but I rotate through several different candy favorites. Right now I have a bag of oversized peppermint life savers--you know, the individually wrapped ones--near my desk and I munch them when I write. Drives people in my family nuts that I crunch them instead of suck on them, but hey, I can't help myself! LOL! Of course I also love a variety of chocolates, and have had a hankering for Hot Tamales lately, too.

My kids are dressing as water and a pirate. (Come back for the pictures in a few days. I'm sure you're dying to know what water looks like ...) What was your favorite costume growing up?

Hmm...that was SO many years ago! Let's see...I know I was Cinderella going to the ball one time and loved that. I did like the long, sweeping, full skirted dresses...I think they made me feel special and elegant. I never got into the ugly or scary costumes but loved anything dressy instead.

Ah, there you are as a gypsy. Ever dress up as an adult?

No, I've never attended an adult costume party where I took part. Our church has had Harvest Parties, but only a few brave adults dressed up, mostly it was the kids. My hubby isn't a social person so we rarely attend group parties/functions...we're both more home bodies I guess.

I've read that the premise of this book grew out of reality. Tell us about that moment. At first, was it more trick or treat? As time went on, did that change?

At first I'd have to say definitely trick...we had no idea who this young woman was or why she'd targeted my husband. As we dug deeper into her story and the past, we realized there had been an episode prior to my meeting my husband, and before he became a Christian, where he'd been with the girl's mother one time. We decided to meet Trish and found a girl who'd believed all her life that her father didn't want her. That did it for me. I didn't care if she really belonged to him or not, I felt she needed a father in her life and that we could be good influences. We didn't get a blood test, as Trish has family characteristics that we felt were enough proof. And like I said, she needed a dad! She's part of our extended family now, and has given us three grand kids (which our own two haven't chosen to do, yet~) and we did have the opportunity to lead her to the Lord. God is good!

Look how cute we were this summer at OCW! Not that this has anything to do with me stalking you, but what would you least like to find on your doorstep?

A skunk!!! My daughter and her husband own and live on the adjoining property to ours and have had a horrible time with skunks the past 3 yrs. I think they've trapped over 25 now...and one of the nasty little critters crawled under their house and sprayed. They had to wash everything in the house and move out for a week. Some of their skunk stories would be great writing material...finding one trapped in a big pipe in their barn that he had to try to shake out without getting sprayed, their dog trapping one under his car that he drives to work, and of course....it sprayed all over the underside of the car...so when it heated up the smell got stronger. I could go on, but you get the idea!

Thanks, Miralee! I hope this interview makes everyone run out to buy The Other Daughter. The premise is intriguing and the author entertaining!

The tour continues (See the whole list here): And don't forget, a comment left on any of these blogs will enter you in a drawing to win your own copy!

28th Jennie McGhan---Jen's Life Journey
http://www.shoutlife.com/cmpctjen
and http://jenslifejourney.blogspot.com/

29th Susan Lohrer ---Inspirational Editor
http://www.inspirationaleditor.blogspot.com/

30th Carla Stewart---Carla’s Writing Café
http://www.carlastewart.blogspot.com/

TODAY: HERE!

1st Bonnie Leon---Bonnie's Blog
http://www.bonnieleon.blogspot.com/

2nd Jan Parrish---Bold and Free
http://www.caregiverscorner.blogspot.com/

3rd Tina Helmuth---The Ink's Not Dry
http://tinahelmuth.blogspot.com/

Just a Bunch of Flying Pixels

Mom and I have been in "deep edit" mode for the last month. Yesterday we polished up a new ending to On the Threshold and sent it to our fresh test reader. The lucky lady had not seen our writing before and was able to keep up with us, chunks of chapters at a time, as we made our way through the book.

After eight years of working with the same premise, I have to confess I'd begun to get tired of these people we'd created. But then we did this edit. The characters, the story, the joy--they all came alive for me again. I love it!

Today we did our "pet" word searches and brushed up the last details our reader mentioned. (These were the most over-used words this time around: shook head or hands, tapped, patted, squeezed, own, rubbed, tilted, clear, now, and down.) Then I attached the manuscript to an email and sent it off to our agent, who sent--or will within hours--it right on to the VERY patient editor who'd requested it.

Just a bunch of flying pixels right now. But someday ... maybe ... it will be a book!

Don't Miss a Halloween Treat with Miralee Ferrell

I'll be trick or treating with debut author Miralee Ferrell on Wednesday. You won't want to miss the one-of-a-kind picture I'll be posting. We'll also be discussing her first novel, The Other Daughter, which released last week.

Since this is Miralee's first book, this is obviously her first blog tour, but Miralee is a terrific marketer. She knows that readers quickly get bored when every post on the tour is the exact same thing.

Because of how accessible she made herself, every post has been unique. There are different questions posed and each blogger put their own spin on the interviews. I've really enjoyed popping in at the blogs listed below.

And the best part? Any comment on any of the blogs will get you one entry into a drawing for a free copy of The Other Daughter. Go ahead, leave a comment on every single one! You won't want to miss reading a book which got a Four Star review from Romantic Times Review.

Here's a blurb about the book to whet your appetite:

The girl standing at the door took a deep breath, pulling her suitcase a little closer to her trembling legs. "My mama's dead. He's my daddy."

Susanne Carson knew that she could trust the love of her life—her husband, David—until she discovered a strange, unkempt young girl on their doorstep, claiming to be David's daughter.

Not that their marriage had ever been perfect—David's decision to embrace the Christian faith had strained their relationship. Susanne may not have agreed with his beliefs, but at least she trusted him. Had David been hiding this not-so-little secret from his past? He wanted Susanne to believe in his God, but believing hadn't done much to keep David out of another woman's arms.

As David confronts the truth of his past, Susanne must face her own moment of truth as her marriage is taken to the breaking point and the life of one young girl is left in her hands.


Read the entire opening scene at Miralee's web site: www.miraleeferrell.com

The Other Daughter has already released! Look for it in stores near you, or order from http://www.amazon.com/or http://www.christianbook.com/

Here's the tour!

Oct. 20th, Karen Phillips--Sky-High View
http://sky-highview.blogspot.com/

LaShaunda Hoffman—See Ya On The Net
http://lashaunda.blogspot.com/
http://sormagtours.blogspot.com/


21st Angie Arndt---The Road I'm Traveling
http://psmcmanus.blogspot.com/

22nd Deena Peterson---Deena's Books
http://deenasbooks.blogspot.com/

22nd Teresa Morgan---Teresa Morgan's Blog
http://www.teresamorgan.blogspot.com/

23rd Rose McCauley---Stories of Faith, Hope and Love
http://www.rosemccauley.blogspot.com/

23rd Pattie Reitz----Fresh Brewed Writer
www.xanga.com/pattierwrandhttp://freshbrewedwriter.blogspot.com/

24th Cecelia Dowdy---New Christian Fiction Reviews
http://www.ceceliadowdy.blogspot.com/

Tiffany Amber Stockton--A Fiction-Filled Life
http://www.ambermiller.com/

25th Bonnie Way---The Koala Bear Writer
http://thekoalabearwriter.blogspot.com/

Stormi Johnson---Write Thoughts
http://writesthoughts.blogspot.com/

26th Robin Grant---Queen Of Perseverance
http://queenofperseverance.blogspot.com/

27th Delia Latham---The Melody Within
http://themelodywithin.blogspot.com/

28th Jennie McGhan---Jen's Life Journey
http://www.shoutlife.com/cmpctjen
andhttp://jenslifejourney.blogspot.com/

29th Susan Lohrer ---Inspirational Editor
http://www.inspirationaleditor.blogspot.com/

30th Carla Stewart---Carla’s Writing Café
http://www.carlastewart.blogspot.com/

31st Christina Berry--- Posting with Purpose
http://www.authorchristinaberry.blogspot.com/

November

1st Bonnie Leon---Bonnie's Blog
http://www.bonnieleon.blogspot.com/

2nd Jan Parrish---Bold and Free
http://www.caregiverscorner.blogspot.com/

3rd Tina Helmuth---The Ink's Not Dry
http://tinahelmuth.blogspot.com/

4th Teresa Slack---ShoutLife Blog
http://www.shoutlife.com/teresaslack
http://www.teresaslack.blogspot.com/

5th Pam Meyers---A Writer’s Journey
http://pammeyerswrites.blogspot.com/

6th Betsy St. Amant---Betsy Ann's Blog
http://www.betsy-ann.blogspot.com/

7th Megan DiMaria---A Prisoner of Hope
http://www.megandimaria.blogspot.com/

8th Christa Allan---CBAllan WordPress
http://www.cballan.wordpress.com/

9th Susan Marlow---Suzy Scribbles---Homeschool Blogger
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/SuzyScribbles/

10th Jamie Driggers---Surviving the Chaos
http://www.survivingthechaos.blogspot.com/

11th Cindy Bauer----Christian Fiction Author & Speaker
http://www.cindybauer.blogspot.com/

12th Angie Breidenbach---God Uses Broken Vessels
http://godusesbrokenvessels.blogspot.com/

13th Patricia Carroll---Patricia PacJac Carroll
http://patriciapacjaccarroll.blogspot.com/

14th Toni V. Lee---Spreading Truth Through Fiction
http://tonivlee.blogspot.com/

15th Camille Eide---Faith Inspiring Fiction
http://camillecannon.blogspot.com/

16th Lisa Jordan---Musings
http://lisadjordan.blogspot.com/

ACFW: A Novel Journey Special Edition & Overall Aftermath

Many, many awards were given out during the ACFW banquet, but there's one category they have added. Yet. The Best Blog. Of course, we all know who would win.

Yep. Novel Journey.



Here I am with Gina Holmes. She once posted an entry where she quoted a Peanuts adult as saying, "Whah whah whah whah whah."

I posted a comment with something like this: "You missed a comma. It doesn't even make sense unless it's 'whah whah, whah whah whah.'" I giggled and waited a few days to see what her witty response would be. Finally I wrote explaining that I was going out of town and really needed to read her comeback first.

Turns out she couldn't tell if I was joking or not. There probably is someone in the blogosphere who would write that and mean it, but I am NOT that person!



I was also happy to get a picture taken with Ane Mulligan.



Can you see anything different about her teeth? She had a flashing blue/red light in her mouth which the camera didn't quite capture, though Robin Jones Gunn looks lovely as always.



Then I determined to track down all the NJ folks who were at the conference. Me with Janet Rubin. Check out her awesome devotionals on Sundays on Novel Journey.



And I couldn't let Jessica Dotta escape without a picture, either!

(If you don't recall, NJ critiqued Undiscovered back in April.) You must read Gina's awesome interview on Chip MacGregor's blog. And NJ's interview with Dean Koontz! And ... okay, all their posts are worthy of your time.

The aftermath? I came home with twelve books! When will I find the time to read them??

And remember that post about the first day and bumbling through the pitch to the agent at the dinner table? The day after we came home, our agent called and that editor wanted to see both of our proposals!

Did Someone Mention My Husband?

Oh, that was me ... in the last post.

I thought you might enjoy seeing my husband in uniform. I rarely get to see him that way because he changes before he comes home. This picture was used as an example at the jail of good pod supervision.

I blurred the faces myself and I'm very proud of my newfound skill.

A pod is a two-story structure that my husband elects to be locked in. Surrounded by fifty-six inmates. Did I mention that he's alone and they're--obviously--out of the cells some of the time? It's supposed to be a weapon-free facility, though they occasionally find shivs made from toothbrushes, pencils, paper, and the like. On his belt, he carries a hook that is sharp in the deepest part of the curve. It cannot be used on any part of a body because the opening is too small, but he can cut through a rope of sheets in case there's a suicide attempt.

It's my preference that he work in the jail instead of on the street. On the inside, he knows why the inmates are incarcerated and their mental health scores that place a value on how dangerous they are to others or themselves. On the outside, he could pull a car over for a simple speeding ticket and be shot in the face.

No matter where they work, I appreciate the men and women keep our community safe. And I feel for the inmates themselves. They folks are just as loved by God as a law-abiding citizen. Some just need to find a way out of the life they were born into, others need medication to function in normal society. Oh, yeah, and there are those that haven't been to court yet and are presumed innocent.

The goal of the jail system is rehabilitation, but we all know the reality is more of containment. So my husband goes to work where he gets sworn at ... dodges flying human waste ... hears all the reasons why it isn't the inmate's fault ... manages tens of inmates ...

Sometimes I can barely manage two kids. And he's sweet enough to listen to me whine about having a hard day!

Heart Moment Writing Contest

Information for this writing contest sat in my inbox for weeks before I finally acted on it--last night. The National Center for Biblical Parenting is looking for mothers and fathers to relate a "heart moment" they had with their child. Deadline is October 31st. I entered a funny story about Joshua--and it relates to the ACFW conference. If I don't win, I'll post it here. ;-)

More details are at Heart Moment Writing Contest. Top prize is a $20 gift certificate to your favorite ice cream shop! So show me up, then send me a taste of your waffle cone.

On that chilly note--Kevin and I were in bed last night. Well, just to be clear, I was laying on top of the covers and he was cozy underneath. We prayed together, an almost nightly ritual that's been hard fought for us to truly establish. But he apparently wasn't as cozy as he looked as both realized at the same time that the weather had changed enough for us to put a quilt back on the bed.

He popped right out, we whipped the comforter off, and added the heavy, multicolored quilt his late Grandma Alice had made us for Christmas one year. It was delicious to slip into bed around 1 in the morning and not have to wait ten minutes for my bony hands to warm up. The quilt's weight pushed my body into the mattress and I slept like a baby. Okay, more like a toddler who missed her nap and spent all day running around pretending she was a monkey.

So here's my question: what is your favorite thing to take out of storage when the weather changes? I know most of you are in my part of the world, but for my wonderful Australian readers, think Spring!

Photo courtesy of jslander

10-20-30

I was tagged by Camy Tang!

Where was I 10-20-30 years ago?

10 - Worked as a shoe saleswoman at Fred Meyers, a one-stop-shopping store, at least twenty hours a week while taking fifteen hours of class work during my sophomore year at Pacific University. This might have--insanely--been when my husband and I began discussing having a baby.


20 - Fourth grade, Reno, first year back in the States having done the majority of my growing up--at least the part I could remember--in Nigeria, West Africa. A period of adjusting to stores with aisles full of toilet paper, a precious commodity we shipped to Nigeria. To ice cold soda. To no longer being special because of my skin color. Hoping against all hope that we'd return to our foreign home.

30 - Spent a lot of time sleeping, eating, producing waste. Only 16 days old!

Photo courtesy of Tenunda

ACFW: The Final Day

The final morning, I lurched out of bed to turn off the alarm ... and I was tired. (Notice that space before and after the ellipsis? Just one of my new skills developed from reading the The Christian Writer's Manual of Style: Updated and Expanded Edition I won on Day 2!)

We were planning on grabbing a quick breakfast of tea and pasties from the coffee shop before the session at 9:30, but Rebecca called and invited us to run over to Sonic. Who can say no to Sonic? We may be from Oregon, but we're smarter than you'd expect!

We slipped, a little bit late, into the service during a worship song. We didn't miss much, right? WRONG! The only thing during the whole conference that we didn't get to time on and we missed the Hairy Man song! If you've ever heard Jim Bell speak, then you know what I'm talking about. If not, I believe copyright laws prohibit me from telling you anything about it. However, I am allowed to inform you that Ashberry did author a second verse two years ago after Jim spoke at OCW and sent the lyrics, complete with motions, to Mr. Bell.

Hmm ... I actually have a short video clip of Jim's performance at OCW from my digital camera. But I promised him it would never make it's way onto the internet.

After the fantastic final keynote, I manged to snag a few more people for pictures:

Me with Sharlene MacLaren

With Jenness Walker

We packed our stuff and came down to the lobby. Crowds of people were waiting for shuttles to the airport, but a few folk were hanging out, relaxing. We sat down with Brandilyn Collins, Susan Meissner, and Pamela Griffin. These folks were tired, too ... tired of carting around the few books they hadn't sold. They decided Rebecca, Mom, and I looked like we needed some more reading material and passed around free books like it was the final minute of a yard sale.

We're ready to see if we're members of BHCC (Big Honkin' Chickens Club) or not. As Brandilyn recently pointed out, she is the only author who has a fan club dedicated to enthusiastically promoting her books while not reading any.

We've read all of Susan's women's fiction--now here comes the Widows & Orphans series!

And Pamela Griffin, a new-to-us author

Then these famous author types actually asked us, the unpubbed, if we wanted to dine with them. A great idea, until the whole group tried to get tables together-ish. When Rebecca, Mom, and I ended up at our own little table, we hatched a new plan.

A risky plan. A departure from this conservative's usual pattern of behavior.

Our flight left in five hours, but we'd used the smaller airport, Dallas Love Field, which gave us a little more time to play. Rebecca knew of an artsy theater that also served meals. We said goodbye to the ACFWers and hopped in her car. The only movie we really wanted to watch was due to start in about an hour. Here's where it gets even crazier. (If you're thinking, "What's the big deal?" just remember I'm a planner.)

We bought our movie tickets and dashed over to the airport to check our suitcases. That way, we'd only have to go through security and find our gate when we got back. Unfortunately, my bag was overweight. No problem. I unzipped it--in full sight of everyone!--and removed about eight books. I cracked Rebecca up when I came back out to the car carrying a stack of novels!

We went back to the theater, bought our lunches, found three seats together, and had the BEST time watching Becoming Jane. One of the first lines of dialogue is from Jane, who's writing in the early morn as the rest of her family slumbers: "No, no! Too many adjectives!" And she scribbles out the words. All the writerly jokes would not have been half as funny if we hadn't come from an intense writing conference.

Zipped back to the airport, almost got slammed to the ground by security when Mom tried to sneak in a water bottle, and made it to our gate. Turned out Randy Ingermanson had the same flights home so we picked his brain--ew!--for about an hour and I read all of Wanda Dyson's Abduction (A Shefford-Johnson Case, Book 1). It was such a good read that I finished the last several pages on the airport shuttle as it took us out to the farthest lot from the terminal. And I've never let my kids out of sight since.

Ended up that there was an earthquake as we were on the shuttle. Just a little one, but still. And we arrived home in the wee hours of the morning. I feel into bed, alarm set to take the kids to school a few hours later.

ACFW: Day Three

Apparently there are two kinds of conference attendees--the ones who either blogged real time during the conference and/or had all their pictures posted within a few days or the ones who dove into their WIP and can't find time to breath, let alone blog.

Oh, wait ... then there's me. I'm still plodding along, attempting to give the conference the time and attention it's due while editing 740 manuscript pages. That's right, seven hundred and forty! (Spelling it out seems to capture more of the challenge...) The joint book and my solo project.

And there's the kids, the hubby, the broken kitchen appliance: great blogable moments passing me by because my OCD tendencies won't let me blog them until I'm done with the conference posts.

Here's one cute story I'm slipping in, though, like a well-placed paragraph of back story. In Dallas, one of the songs we worshipped God with had a line saying, "Jesus, here I am your favorite one." I LOVED this because we could all sing the claim and be right. Each one of us in that room was his favorite one. Then came a line, "And I will crown you with my love." The music for this song reminded me of an 80s movie theme, but with Jewish overtones. Very meaningful to sing, and the arrangement captured the angst of a love song to the Lord.

It got stuck in my head. I hummed it for days and would randomly break out into song. One such time, I was driving the kiddos to school. After I finished, Joshua said, "You're going to put me on his head?!?" Oh, yes, crown him with my love. :-)

So, what about the conference? I'm going to utilize fragments and let the pictures speak for themselves so we can get through this thing.

(Talking to self) Stop living in the past!

Great breakfast contact with an editor. More scrumptious learning in Deb's class. Fantastic lunch contact with an editor. It was one of those unplanned opportunity. She went around the table, but never got to us, so she stayed after and talked for a few minutes. I was able to pitch Undiscovered then because we had an appointment with her in just a few hours and we could focus on On the Threshold during that time. More laughing at--I mean "with"--Jim Bell during another keynote. Yummy lunch.

We snapped this pic with Brandilyn Collins right after the meal. She'd been the one to convince us ACFW, with it's focus on fiction, would be a better fit for our career growth than Mt. Hermon. Which still doesn't mean we won't show up in CA some year.

Then the book signing:

Me with Tosca Lee

With Sandra Glahn

With John Olson

Us with the amazing Camy Tang

Then to the best editor appointment of the conference. We walked into the room and heard another editor--one we are personal friends with--telling the one we were to meet with great things about us. (I'm keeping the sweet-talking editor's identity secret because I don't want to be name dropping, but she's an awesome lady and I'm glad to know her.)

And then the banquet!

The Harvest House crew in line behind us:
Susan Meissner, Trish Perry, & Kim Moore

All dressed up!

With award-winning Colleen Coble

And award-winning Jennifer Griffith

One award I was particularly interested in was the historical category of the Genesis competition. Tina Helmuth won second place! I had the pleasure of calling her right after the ceremony to congratulate her.

And to bed.

ACFW: Day Two

It's October 1st, barely, and I'm blogging about September 21? I guess that's what happens when you come back from a conference full of idea to implement on your manuscripts. Mom and I had a five hour critique group today. They went over the full manuscript of Undiscovered.

Thankfully, the majority of the changes are really simple and easy. It's the cleanest draft I've ever written and I'm proud of the story. I can't wait to get it sent off!

Enough about me--let's talk about the conference and me.

The morning was spent in Deborah Raney's fantastic Women's/Contemporary Fiction track. She had great writing exercises for us and covered a wide range of topics in a short time. Mom and I had to slip out in the middle to go to our first editor appointment. First, though, we went to the prayer room. After feeling discombobulated from the second critique the day before, we knew we needed some quiet time with God. Then we pitched our hearts out.

Apparently, we our pitch was too low. For the first time ever we were told it sounded like a tough sell in the CBA market. That it might be too dark. Ah, that good ol' hindsight. Could it be that we had not review our cover sheet to our proposal? That we didn't use any of the tried and true phrasings we've worked so long to perfect? That our on-the-spot delivery focused on the trouble at the beginning of the book instead of the journey that comes after it?

The editor complemented our writing style and asked for a business card. If we ever meet again, we could give her a much better feel for the story. Not a "bad" appointment, by any means. Just another new thought to keep us unbalanced.

After lunch, we both went to Professionalism and Publishing with Sue Brower, a senior acquisitions editor from Zondervan. This workshop was fun and informative. Best of all, I won a fantastic book: The Christian Writer's Manual of Style: Updated and Expanded Edition. It's crammed with great advice pertaining to the CBA market.

Mom and I split up for the next two workshops. For some reason, I couldn't convince her to attend Tax Tips: Part I & II. Truly, Danica did a fantastic job keeping us awake. Oh, and teaching us how to save money while treating our writing as a business.

Friday night was the only evening meal we had on our own. Kellie Gilbert, the president of the Oregon chapter, invited Mom and me to go out to eat with her, Cheryl, and Lindy Jacobs. Way back in the day...like in 2003...at our first OCW conference, Mom and I won a free critique from Lauraine Snelling. Guess who else won? Lindy Jacobs! It's been fun to run into each other at conferences here and there over the years. Strangely, our careers seem to be progressing at the same pace.

We dragged our friends, Ocieanna and Rebecca, along.

Dinner did not agree with Mom, so she went up to the room near the end of the Late Night Chat: I've Got a Contract, Now What? Turns out that dinner at the particular restaurant did not agree with several of people. Aw.

I hung around after the class and chatted with Camy Tang and Sue Brower again. The time difference kicked in about then...and I was off to bed.