Two Trips--Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky and ACFW Conference in Denver

I usually try to blog once a week, but this time it has been three weeks since I blogged due to two trips this month. From Sept. 7-11, I spent five days on my annual spiritual retreat at the Abbey of Gethsemani. It was a wonderful time of prayer, Bible reading and also digging into some other Christian study books, along with several quiet walks and meals. Gethsemani is a silent retreat center run by Benedictine monks. A wonderful place.

Then from Sept. 16-20, I was in Denver for the 8th annual American Christian Fiction Writers' conference. My return connecting flight was delayed due to a plane malfunction so I spent an unexpected night in Memphis, TN and didn't get home till Monday afternoon. So, I feel like I've been a day behind all week, but I wanted to post some highlights from the conference along with some pictures.

Our first speaker was Donald Maass of Writing the Breakout Novel fame. His class was as good as his book and gave me several ideas for making my manuscript better before submitting it to an agent. Our keynote speaker was Debbie Macomber who has sold over 100 million copies of her books in 23 languages. I got to assist at her booksigning and found out she is more humble and sweet than you can imagine. She was also such an encouragement to all the writers at the conference with her own story and her admonitions to persevere! She is wearing the red sweater in the first picture.

We had many other classes, meetings with an editor and agent and wonderful worship services, but my favorite part of conference is always meeting up with writing friends, both old and new, so I will share a few pics of some of these special people. My roommate was JoAnn Swearingen whom I had met at another conference and got to know much better at this one. She is a great writer and also a talented artist. (She's wearing a gorgeous pink top in our picture.)You can check out her site at www.joannswearingenfiction@viviti.com

Kim Sawyer, another friend who happened to win the Book of the Year award (yea, Kim!), and I always try to catch up on each other's lives and take a picture at the annual conference. (she's in the black) Check her out at http://www.kimvogelsawyer.com/

Another fun meeting and picture event was with the other three authors who have joined me in proposing a Christmas anthology for Barbour--Jeanie Smith Cash (who came up with the idea), Deb Ullrick (in the back), me and Jeri Odell. Prayers for this project to come to pass would be muchly appreciated. I love and collect Christmas books, and this has been such a fun group to work with!

I think four pictures is about all my dialup will download without timing out, so check back in a few days for more conference photos.

Book Review--A Promise for Spring by Kim Sawyer

If you have been following my blog for very long, you've read several reviews of books by Kim Vogel Sawyer. Besides being a wonderful author, she is a dear friend, and I am always happy to have the privilege to read and review her books. But you will have to buy your own copy, as I don't use her books as giveaways, although I do share them with neighbors!

Kim has a soft, gentle voice and demeanor, and her books are soft and gentle reads with much emotion, and you become so involved with the characters that you feel like you want to sit down and talk with them even after you finish reading the book!

A Promise for Spring is no exception. I usually empathize with the heroines in novels, but in this story, I felt great compassion for both the heroine, Emmaline Bradford, and the hero, Geoffrey Garrett. The young couple had been promised to each other back in England, their home country. Neither knew it would be five long years before they would see each other again, or how much each would change during that time. It reminded me of when my husband was overseas in the Air Force and I was back in KY attending college. Although our time apart was a little less than one year, we still had many adjustments to make to each other and the changes that had taken place in our lives.

Imagine traveling half a world away to marry a person whom you haven't seen for five years. Emmaline and Geoffrey have both gone through huge changes in their relationship with each other and with God. They each need to renew their faith in Him and in each other before their new life together can flourish. I hope you will buy and read this book to find out if and how a "well-bred Englishwoman" will "become a wildflower bride."

2008 ACFW Conference

Last weekend I attended the 7th annual ACFW conference held in Minneapolis, MN. I want to share a few of the highlights with you and some pics, too.

I again had the privilege of traveling from Kentucky with Ruth Seamands, who at 91 is the Mama of our group. We arrived on Wednesday, and I spent part of the afternoon helping ready the bags for the attendees. That night a group of us went to TGIF's for supper. Here are Ruth and I with Kim Sawyer (check out her site at http://www.kimvogelsawyer.com/) and Margie Vawter.

On Thursday morning I was honored to introduce Margie Lawson as our Early Bird speaker for the second year in a row. After taking her class last year at conference, I devoured all three of her online classes this past year, and rewrote my WIP using her techniques. I am already signed up for her October advanced class. If you have taken a Margie class before, you know how helpful this will be, so hurry on over to http://www.margielawson.com/ and sign up!

The third picture was taken at our awards' banquet. Mama Ruth in the middle is dressed in her sari, flanked by me and my wonderful roomie, Jennifer Johnson. Check out Jen and her books at http://www.jenniferjohnsonbooks.com/

The only bad part about conference is leaving and knowing that you won't see many of your new and old friends for another year. But, we have our ACFW loop to keep us in touch. If anyone is reading this who is interested in writing fiction, hurry on over to http://www.acfw.com/ and sign up for the best writing organization in the world!

Books by Kim Sawyer

It has been several months since I've done a review of books by one of my favorite authors--Kim Sawyer. I met Kim at our first ACFW conference in Kansas City in 2002. She had already self-pubbed the first in a series of books at that time, but in the past few years she has had 10 books contracted by Barbour and Bethany House! And two more are getting ready to come out this fall and next spring!

Besides being so successful, Kim is as sweet and genuine a person as you can find. And her stories are as sweet as she is! If you love heart-tugging tales of characters who seem so real you find yourself thinking about them after you finish the book, hurry out and buy, beg or borrow one of her books. Sorry, but since her books are so special to me, you'll have to get your own copy, because I don't give them away in my monthly drawing.

The three books I am reviewing today make up her Sommerfeld Trilogy. In BYGONES (Book 1) Widower Marie Koeppler Quinn and her grown daughter Beth return to the Mennonite community Marie abandoned twenty-three years ago. Soon after their arrival in Sommerfeld, a series of mysterious thefts raises the community's suspicions against the "outsiders." Can Marie prove their innocence or will she be forced to flee once more? Henry Braun, who has loved her since they were teenagers, soon begins to wonder if she's stolen more than his heart. When all is said and done, can Henry and Marie let bygones be bygones, or has their love been doomed from the start?



BEGINNINGS (Book 2 ) This book centers on Beth, Marie's daughter. Beth is starting over...in her place of residence, her occupation, and her relationships. Two men vie for her affection--Andrew Braun, a steadfast and helpful Old Order Mennonite who expects traditional roles between men and women; and Sean McCauley, a man with Christian convictions but who is seemingly more business-minded than people-minded. In which world does Beth's heart belong? With so many choices in front of her, how can she know what God has planned?

BLESSINGS (Book 3) Trina Muller who was a minor character in the first two books finally has one of her own, although we do get to catch up on happenings in Marie and Beth's lives, also. Trina has been blessed with the gift of healing God’s creatures. Desiring to use that gift, she seeks the opportunity for education but is met with resistance from her family. Graham Ortmann loves Trina, but he can't understand her desire to be more than wife and mother. Will this Old Order Mennonite girl be able to spread the wings she believes God has designed for her?

I wondered how Kim had written so realistically about these young Mennonite women, even down to the details of how their cap strings tickled their faces, so I asked her. She told me that her mother was from a Mennonite family and her dad had joined the Mennonite faith when they married. So Kim was raised in a conservative Mennonite home, giving her first-hand research on these books! That gives these books an authentic look at the Mennonite faith.

I hope you will also check out Kim's website at http://www.kimvogelsawyer.com/ for more info about this talented, yet humble, author and her other books. You will find your own Blessing!