Yearly Archives: 2007

Love Remembered By Ann Bell

Love Remembered
Author: Ann Bell
Publisher: Heartsong Presents/Barbour
ISBN: 9781577485407
Binding: Mass Market

Love Remembered was re-released as part of the Montana Collection:

Montana (Inspirational Romance Collections) (Paperback)
by Ann Bell (Author)
Paperback: 480 pages
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Incorporated (August 1, 2000)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 157748794X
ISBN-13: 978-1577487944

Love Remembered dealt with a number of issues: teen pregnancy, abortion(nobody had an abortion, but the subject was mentioned numerous times throughout the story), and disabilities (spina bifida).

Dawn Harkness is an OB GYN nurse. When one of her teenaged patients is kicked out of her house because of her pregnancy, Dawn takes the young lady, Sarah, into her home. Sarah’s mother does not want her daughter in her home since she’s pregnant, and the baby will be disabled due to spina bifida. Sarah’s mother urges her daughter to get an abortion, but Sarah refuses.

As Sarah lives with Dawn, she discovers the meaning of true Christian love. When Sarah’s baby is born, Dawn takes a month off from work to help care for the baby. Conflict arises when they need to decide how to care for Charity’s (Sarah’s baby) needs. She needs special care, and Sarah will not be able to provide that for her baby and she doesn’t want to place her into an institution.

Meanwhile, Sarah’s mother comes back into the picture, embracing her daughter and her new granddaughter. She apologizes for demanding that Sarah get an abortion, and Dawn encourages their family to attend church.

When the father of Sarah’s baby turns out to be from a family that Dawn is acquainted with, things get even more complicated.

Meanwhile Dawn tries to live a normal life despite all that’s going on. She dates Mike Archer, a doctor at the hospital. However, she discovers that Mike is not the right man for her due to his views on abortion, and his opinions about Christianity. She breaks things off with him, stating that she can not date a non-believer.

Also, Ryan Reynolds, her brother’s childhood friend, is in love with her. She becomes reacquainted with Ryan when he appears at the doctor’s office (where she works) selling medical supplies. Ryan doesn’t know if a romance can blossom between them since he travels a lot selling medical supplies. When it appears he’s going to be moving into her town permanently, it turns out that things fall through because his company is being bought out, and Ryan loses his job. How can he support a wife and family without a job, and Dawn wonders how Ryan will be able to fit into her life? She’s taking care of an infant, and she’s not sure if Ryan would be willing to accept a ready-made family.

I thought this book would make a great teaching tool to give to young girls so that they can see the affects of teenaged pregnancy. I could see giving this book, along with Tilly by Frank Peretti, to teenaged women to teach them about abstinance, and the results of having unprotected sex.

Cecelia Dowdy
www.ceceliadowdy.com

Amelia Earhart Mystery

Leave a reply

This is something I’ve always wondered about…what happened to Amelia Earhart. I remember when I was a kid, walking around the neighborhood with one of my friends, we would stop and talk and wonder about what happened to her. What can I say, we were bored and had nothing else to do but wonder about things to waste time! When I logged onto AOL, they posted the following article about the mystery (hopefully the link still works!) :

http://news.aol.com/topnews/articles/_a/new-clues-emerge-in-earhart-mystery/20070330225509990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001

I don’t get how the ‘evidence’ found over the years was either ignored or not taken seriously, well, not too seriously. They need to wrap up this mystery! It’s been 70 years!

As an author, I’m always looking for new ideas for novels, and I keep things in mind that intrigue me.

Until next time,
Cecelia Dowdy
www.ceceliadowdy.com

Critique Groups

Leave a reply

Do they really work? That’s a tough one. Maybe, maybe not. My first experience with a critique partner was lousy. She wrote Scottish historicals while I wrote contemporary romances. Although she was a good writer, and she gave me a few good pointers, we just didn’t mix. She dropped me as a partner, and that was fine with me. We were online partners.

My second critiquing experience was with a group of writers through an online critique group. All of us were at different stages in our writing careers, so some of us needed more guidance than the others. I loved the group, but in the midst of getting married (therefore, I was planning a wedding), I didn’t contribute as much as I wanted to. It just got to the point where I wasn’t contributing anything at all. I’d sold a book to Love Inspired while I was with this group, and eventually, I dropped out of the group, however, I did mention the group as a great help to me in my dedication in First Mates.

My third experience wasn’t an official group. Some of the Love Inspired authors merely wanted another set of eyes to look over a proposal, so a few of us agreed to do this. I did get some positive feedback on a book I was working on, and I was grateful for the help.

Right now, the only critique help I get is through a Christian writers group that meets locally. I’m the only one doing fiction. I’m also one of the few who is commercially published (one other woman is commercially published, however, she does not come very often due to the travel distance). I’ve gotten some great feedback from this group of people, however, I feel that I don’t contribute much when I critique their stuff since I don’t really read much poetry, short stories, or non-fiction.

So, critique groups are really hit or miss for me.

Until next time,
Cecelia Dowdy
www.ceceliadowdy.com

Author Interview – Jeanne Marie Leach

Leave a reply

The Plight Of Mattie Gordon
ISBN: 1932695478
ISBN-13: 9781932695472
Format: Paperback, 181pp
Publisher: Treble Heart Books

If you haven’t met her before, this is one lady well worth getting to know. She is Jeanne Marie Leach, published Western romance author, writing coach, and all-around breath of fresh mountain air.

Tell us a little about yourself, about your home in Colorado.

I’ve gone past the age of 50 and was surprised and delighted to find that a good part of life still happens past that age. David and I have been married 32 years. We never had kids of our own, so we borrow other people’s kids for a while, spoil them rotten and then give them back. We also have a 130 lb. Alaskan Malamute, whom we spoil too.

We live in the mountains of Colorado at an elevation of 9,097 feet above sea level. Having grown up in the Black Hills of South Dakota, the mountain girl in me couldn’t be squelched. Eventually, hubby also decided he was a mountain man, so here we are, surrounded by 13,000 ft. snow covered mountain, beside an icy lake.

Every author has a unique story of how her career began. What led you to write Christian romance? Who or what has most influenced you?

Back in the mid ’80s a girlfriend discovered Jeanette Oke books. We shared them and became hooked. I never told anyone that I’d been “thinking” up stories since I was a teenager. These stories would sometimes take me a year to complete. After reading Ms. Oke’s books, my stories took on a Christian romance twist that wasn’t there before.

I finally asked my clinical psychologist father-in-law if what I was doing was normal. He asked me a couple questions and soon leaned back in his chair. “The only difference between you and a writer is that a writer writes these stories down.”

I started typing at the computer and never looked back.

When did you first envision the storyline for The Plight of Mattie Gordon?

It was over four years ago that I first started working on The Plight of Mattie Gordon. What I like to do is think of a character, then figure out what would be the worst thing that could happen to them.

I’d just seen the Black Canyon of the Gunnison in western Colorado for the first time, and was totally awed by it. The information on the Black Canyon said that outlaws had hidden there back in the early days of the west.

I started to wonder what would happen if ordinary people lived there, and soon I had a picture of Mattie in my mind. Add to that an outlaw son, and the story took on a life of its own.

You wrote many sides to Mattie Gordon’s character with which women can identify. What do you like best about Mattie Gordon?

My favorite things about Mattie are her tenacity, her single-minded purpose when it came to her son, and the hope she held in her heart that as long as Will had breath, she knew God could save him.

So often, when we don’t see the answer to our prayers according to our timetable, we give up and lose hope. We convince ourselves that it will never happen and give up trying. Mattie never gave up!

Other than a bounty hunter, who is Cyrus Braydon?

Cyrus is a tough man on the outside with a tender spot he’d shoved down inside long ago. In order to maintain that rough exterior, he’d nearly forgotten that part of him. Until he met Mattie, he’d been able to keep reigns on his tenderness, fooling most people into thinking he didn’t care about anyone or anything. But when faced with the unfailing and unconditional love of a mother for her son, the tenderness came out, and he had quite a time dealing with it.

What inspired you to choose the southern plains states – Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas – as part of the backdrop for this story?

It was a process that took time. First, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison is out on the high plains. One could ride right past it within a few hundred feet and not know it was there. I liked that as a hideout for the gang. That would be why they were able to stay hidden for so long.

Then, I also needed a cow town, someplace where cattle shipping was prominent, and when I realized Hayes, Kansas was exactly what I needed, I had to figure out how I can get a hidden canyon close enough to Hayes to be a viable solution to Will’s cattle sales, yet far enough away for him to not fall under people’s scrutiny. So I set my hidden canyon in the southwestern part of Colorado. While the plains may be flat, they are full of surprises and places to hide.

Different places in your book you hint at the miracles God works in our lives. Has God touched you with a miracle? If so, what meaning did it have for you?

God has touched me with MANY miracles down through the years. In most recent years, they always pointed to hope.

If you could personally share one truth, one bit of Christian wisdom you feel God would have you give, what would it be?

Prov. 13:12 tells us that hope deferred makes the heart sick. I’ve been heartsick before, and it’s not a good feeling. When you lose hope, you feel you don’t have anything to live for, and your future abounds in bleakness. To lose hope is to forget that God is still on the throne, and that he is still working on your behalf to bring about great things for you.

But Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” The passages that follow that say that if you seek him with your whole heart, he will be found by you.

This message of hope has become the theme of all my books. In fact, one woman who has read my book sent me an e-mail message saying she now had hope for her 16 year-old son because of Will and Mattie. Wow!

So my message to readers is to NEVER GIVE UP! As long as you have breath, you can hope for a bright future, a future led by God.

Many thanks to Jeanne Marie Leach for sharing! If you’d like to know more about the author or her work, feel free to visit her at www.jeannemarieleach.com or http://www.ShoutLife.com/JeanneMarieLeach.

~Interview by Tammy Barley – author, book reviewer, interviewer – http://www.shoutlife.com/TammyBarley

Congrats To The Inspirational RITA And GH Finalists!

Leave a reply

RWA’s RITA is the highest award of distinction and is the most sought-after award in romance publishing today. The 1,100 romance novels entered in this year’s contest have been narrowed down to nearly 100 finalists in 12 categories. These finalists advance to the next stage of competition where they will be judged by very discriminating judges – their fellow published authors. The judges now have the difficult task of critiquing and ranking these finalists to determine the final 12 winners.

The winners of the 12 RITA Awards will be revealed on July 14, 2007 at RWA’s 27th Annual National Conference in Dallas, TX.

RWA congratulates the authors of the following distinguished books as finalists in the 2007 RITA contest. The following books reflect the diversity and the best romance fiction published in 2006.

2007 RITA for Best Inspirational Romance Finalists

Revealed by Tamera Alexander
Bethany House Publishers – (0764201093)
Karen Schurrer, editor

Rekindled by Tamera Alexander
Bethany House Publishers – (0764201085)
Karen Schurrer, editor

Be My Neat-Heart by Judy Baer
Harlequin Enterprises, Steeple Hill Love Inspired – (373873670)
Joan Marlowe Golan, editor

A Family Forever by Brenda Coulter
Harlequin Enterprises, Steeple Hill Love Inspired – (0373873581)
Krista Stroever, editor

The Measure of a Lady by Deeanne Gist
Bethany House Publishers – (0764200739)
David Long and Julie Klassen, editors

Ten Thousand Charms by Allison Pittman
Random House, Waterbrook Multnomah – (1590525752)
Rod Morris, editor

My So-Called Love Life by Allie Pleiter
Harlequin Enterprises, Steeple Hill Love Inspired – (9780373873852)
Krista Stroever, editor

Violette Between by Alison Strobel
Random House, Waterbrook Multnomah – (9781578567942)
Shannon Hill, editor

RWA’s Golden Heart contest honors the best unpublished manuscripts of the romance genre. The 2007 Golden Heart winners will be announced during a black-tie Award’s ceremony at RWA’s 27th Annual Conference held July 11-14, 2007 in Dallas, TX.

2007 Golden Heart for Best Inspirational Romance Manuscript Finalists

The Heart Beckons by Carla Hughes
Trouble in Paradise by Tina Radcliffe
Accidental Truth by Ramona Thompson
One Day by Gina Welborn

Congrats to these wonderful ladies!

Cecelia Dowdy
www.ceceliadowdy.com

Tulips

Leave a reply

I haven’t been blogging the last couple of days because I don’t feel well. I’m trying to get rid of this cold that I caught from my son. My son probably caught it from his daycare.

My tulips have started coming up out of the ground. Hopefully, they’ll be as pretty as the ones in the picture above!

Cecelia Dowdy
www.ceceliadowdy.com

Tilly By Frank Frank E. Peretti

Leave a reply

Tilly
Paperback: 128 pages
Publisher: Crossway Books; New Ed edition (July 7, 2003) Original copyright 1988
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1581345607
ISBN-13: 978-1581345605

When I was cleaning my messy house, I found this book buried amid a pile of old books I had stashed away. I read this book years ago, but I recall how much I enjoyed it, so I figured I would blog about it today. Tilly is the story about Kathy Ross. When she sees a small headstone, with only one date, she’s intrigued. She continues to be haunted by a mistake she made around the same time that’s displayed on the dated headstone. The headstone has only one name, Tilly.

Her grief continues as she recalls that point in her life, and when she sleeps, God speaks to her in her dreams, letting her see the child to whom she would have given birth.

Tilly touches upon a deep and taboo subject in most Christian fiction, and that’s abortion. Tilly is also a story about accepting God’s grace for our sins and since God has forgiven us, then we need to forgive ourselves.

Cecelia Dowdy
www.ceceliadowdy.com

The Purpose Driven Life Chapter 6

Leave a reply

Rick Warren ends this chapter with a very thought-provoking question:How should the fact that life on earth is just a temporary assignment change the way I am living right now?

In this chapter, Warren talks about how we should not focus so much on earthly things since our time here is limited, and it’s just a temporary stop before we go on to eternal life.

It’s hard for me to think that way, I’ll admit. He also mentions focusing on riches and money, and about how that is a downfall. I focus on money and riches a lot. I’m working on not thinking about money, but it’s hard for me to change that. I know that since me and my husband have had a son, finances have gotten tighter, and it’s hard not to wish for more dollars to put into the bank, and for that next book contract so that we can get a hold of some extra money from that advance.

I don’t think about everlasting life all that much. It crosses my mind occasionally, but I have to admit that I spend more time thinking and reflecting upon the here and now and the immediate future.

Warren is right about us being here on a temporary basis, the stop before eternal life. I just have to learn to refocus my thinking, which can be a battle at times!

On to another topic, a family member sent me the following link which has an interview with Shelley Bates, author of The Sounding Brass, which I reviewed a few days ago. Interesting article and it gives background information about how she came to write a three-book novel series about a cult. Here is the link below:

http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/cms_content?page=1406120&sp=67484

I would also like to point out that I enjoyed posting yesterday’s interview with the authors of Larkspur Dreams. I will be posting more interviews from various authors in the future. Look out for them. Authors are known for giving great writing tips as well as great publishing tips!

Peace,
Cecelia Dowdy
www.ceceliadowdy.com