Yearly Archives: 2012

Sunday Brunch! Locusts And Wild Honey? From The Blog Archives

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Locust photo courtesy of Free Digital Photos.

***This is a repeat of an old blog post.

Matthew 3:4 Now John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.

Locusts and wild honey? I’ve always wondered about this. I wish there were more details. John The Baptist wandered around the wilderness dressed in a garment made with camel’s hair, preaching the gospel and he ate locusts and wild honey? I’m wondering if the locusts were alive when he ate them, or if he cooked them over a fire before eating? How does one eat a locust? I’m wondering how easy it was to gather the locusts and wild honey for his meals? If you have any knowledge about this, feel free to share. It just doesn’t sound like an appetizing diet to me. I’m thinking he had other things to eat, but it appears that he may have eaten the locusts and wild honey quite frequently?

Share your thoughts with a comment! I hope everybody has a blessed Sunday!

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Blogging Break

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Most of the blog posts that you’ll see over the next month will be pre-scheduled repeats from old blog posts. I have a project that I’m trying to finish up, so I have to focus on my writing for awhile.

I do have one book review that I’ve agreed to do, but, other than that, I won’t have time for regular blog posts for several weeks.

Are you enjoying this spring weather? Our household has been suffering from allergies this year – more than usual! I’ve also planted seeds earlier in the season and I’ve seen my pretty flowers popping out of the ground!

~Cecelia Dowdy~

How Much Should You Get Paid To Write A Novel?

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How much should you get paid to write a novel?

Read this insightful blog post by Steve Laube. Steve has also linked to the following articles. You should read these, too, if you want to know a bit about the financial gain from writing novels:
Eric Wilson’s blog post -Eric only made an average of $22,500 per year for ten years, which is not a lot of money and he’s made the NY Times Bestseller List.
Ann Von Peterson – She states she will never sign another contract with Harlequin. Read the blog post to find out why.

So, how much do you feel an author should get paid to write a novel? Leave a comment!

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Predator By Terri Blackstock

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Predator by Terri Blackstock
Krista Carmichael wants to capture her sister’s murderer. Krista’s fourteen-year-old sister, Ella, was murdered by one of her friends on Grapevyne (a fictional site that’s similar to Facebook). She sets up a fake identity, posing as a teen, so that she can hopefully befriend the man who killed her sister. Meanwhile, her father, David, seeks revenge in his own way. He starts targeting male members at his church, wondering if some of the men in his congregation could’ve been Ella’s killer.

Krista finally targets Ryan Atkins, the person who invented Grapevyne. Can’t he make changes to ensure his site is safe for teens? Ryan suffers from fallout when Krista makes these demands, meanwhile, the killer is still on the loose, targeting other girls to kill.

This was a simple read that you could probably finish in a day or so. As with Terri Blackstock’s usual suspenseful style, there are times when you may get scared while reading the story. It was kind of hard for me to read this book because of the subject matter. It bothered me (a little bit) that it dealt with the death of a young teen. I guess I felt that way because I have a child, and I’d hate to see what the grief would do to me if something happened to him. Krista’s and David’s grief was very raw and fresh. It was extremely difficult for them to deal with their loss.

Overall, a good book. If you enjoy Blackstock’s writing, then you’ll enjoy this story.

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Saturday Matinee! Revolutionary Road

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Can you imagine packing up your family and relocating to Paris – without having a job? Would you do it?
That’s what April suggests to her husband Frank. Frank loves Paris, and has dreamed returning to that European city. Frank hates his office job, so April suggests they pack up their two children, sell their house, Frank can quit his job, and they can relocate to Paris. April offers to work while Frank “finds himself” by discovering what he wants to do once they move.
I had a hard time getting into this movie. I thought it was kind of slow – slow and a bit confusing. Granted, I was sick with a temperature while I watched it, so, maybe that affected my opinion. There were some flashbacks, and I was kind of confused when I saw that April was an actress at the beginning of the movie. Then, I’m assuming it flashes back in time to April and Frank meeting at a party. April’s acting career is not mentioned again, which is odd. (Unless, I missed their mentioning it.)

April and Frank are not a happy couple. They argue all the time, but, it’s hard to pinpoint their source of discontent. They have two children and live in a quaint home on Revolutionary Road. They’re living the American Dream, and others think highly of April and Frank Wheeler. They even become friends with their real estate agent and her adult psychotic son – a son who has the ability to accurately guess people’s problems and emotions.

This movie reminded me of a foreign film. I’ve noticed that foreign films don’t always make a lot of sense. I know that Frank and April are not happy, but, it’s hard to figure out why. Frank is disgruntled with his job, so he finds solace with a girl in the typing pool. April is a suburban housewife who takes care of the house. Her love for Frank has dwindled – she also finds brief solace in the arms of her next door neighbor. It appears this movie is about lost dreams? I felt there should have been an event….or SOMETHING to explain why this couple is so unhappy.
I was also confused about the ending. April and Frank have a HUGE ARGUMENT, and then, the next morning, April is acting like the perfect wife, making Frank’s breakfast, as if the events of the previous night never happened. Weird…
When I saw April acting totally different than she had the night before, I thought…”Ahh, she’s scitzophrenic.” I figured she had a split personality and that would explain the whole reason of discontent within their marriage – she was really TWO personalities. That was a totally wrong assumption!
Another thing I noticed, which was also a bit weird – Frank and April’s children are not shown very much. You see them breiefly, maybe, two times?

I’m thinking that if I read the book, some of the loose threads in the story could be explained?  Such a tragic story, tragic and sad. I doubt I’ll watch this movie again.

I felt that the author of the book/movie was trying to get his point across that the American Dream is not all that it’s cracked up to be. I wish I could’ve written a better movie review, but, this is the best that I could do considering I felt the movie was very incomplete. I only watched Revolutionary Road because I loved Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic. I was very disappointed in Revolutionary Road. This movie was a far cry from Titanic.

Have you seen Revolutionary Road or read the book? If so, what’d you think about it?

Belong To Me – A Secular Title

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Belong To Me by Marisa de los Santos

Please note that this is a secular title.

If you didn’t know your biological father, would you search for him so that you could meet him? That’s one of the story threads in this book.

I enjoyed reading this book, to a certain extent. I’m not sure if this is classified as literary fiction. It was written in a way that I’m not used to reading.

Cornelia and her husband Teo relocate from the city to a small town. She’s currently not working and her husband is a doctor – an extremely good-looking doctor – a fact that the female neighbors notice immediately. I had a hard time liking some of the characters in their new town. It appeared that they were concerned about liking/disliking people at the drop of a hat – some of their conceptions based upon the way a person looked or dressed. For example, Piper, one of Cornelia’s neighbors, initially doesn’t like Cornelia because of her short, petite stature and her choice of dress for a welcome-to-the neighborhood party. Also, the neighborhood women seemed to have too much time on their hands – none of them worked full-time, and it appeared they were more concerned about appearances and who was doing/saying what in their neighborhood moreso than running their household and raising their children, or minding their own business.

You also have Elizabeth, Piper’s best friend who is dying of cancer. Piper takes care of Elizabeth, placing her own health and family on the back burner so that she can minister to her friend. When you see Piper caring for her friend, she doesn’t seem to be so cold-hearted, which endeared me to the story a little bit.

Cornelia and Teo are childless, a fact that bothers Cornelia. They “mentor” a thirteen-year-old girl, Clare, who is like a daughter to them. Cornelia is also befriended by Lake, the mother of a thirteen-year-old genius boy named Dev. Lake has also recently moved to the area so that Dev can attend a school for highly-intelligent children.

As the story unfolds, you discover Lake’s real reason for moving to the area. You also see a deep friendship form between Dev and Clare.  Dev has always wondered about his father, so Dev and Clare “play detective” and search for Dev’s dad, hoping to clear up Dev’s questions about his parentage.

Dev also befriends two kids at his new school, one of his new friends, a girl named Lyssa, has serious mental and emotional problems and he supports her during her difficult times. Dev is also befriended by his school mate Aiden, and they go into business together raking leaves.

This book was not written in a simple, straight-forward manner – which is why I had mixed feelings about the writing style. The story would often go off on a tangent, giving paragraphs of background detail, before getting to the point at hand. I found this style a bit bothersome since I’m not used to reading books written like this. The story itself was mesmerizing, however, it does have a little bit of graphic language.

So, if you didn’t know your biological father, would you search for him so that you could meet him, like Dev did in this book?

Have you read this book, if so, what’d you think about it?

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Saturday Matinee – Legally Blonde!

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Have you seen this movie? If so, did you think it was funny?

Legally Blonde is a funny movie and I really enjoyed seeing it again! I saw it in the theater when it first came out several years ago, and I happened to catch it on Oxygen channel last Sunday. Elle is a vibrant, blonde, fun-loving, and popular president of her sorority. She gives great advice about fashion and makeup to her sorority sisters, plus, she’s a fashion major with a 4.0 GPA. Her and her sorority sisters are eagerly anticipating Elle’s rich, handsome boyfriend, Warner, will propose to her soon. However, Elle is devestated when Warner breaks up with her – after all, she’s not the best girlfriend material because she’s not serious or smart enough to be a part of his family.

Warner is headed off to Harvard Law School and Elle is determined to get into that same school to win him back! She comically goes through the admission process and passes her LSAT and is admitted into Harvard!

Her entrance onto the campus is so comical – it’s so funny to see the reactions of her fellow students. A series of events happens once she’s in her classes, plus, she’s upset to discover that Warner is now engaged to a frigid, cold-hearted woman named Vivian. Can Elle still win him back?

This movie was laugh-out-loud funny in so many ways. I think I liked it so much becaus the character of Elle was so striking. You have the contrast of the flighty, rich, pampered blonde trying to fit in with the serious, studious grad school crowd. Also, Elle is very compassionate. She befriends her nail technician, helping her to re-gain custody of her dog. You also see Elle in the courtroom, helping to win the murder case of one of her sorority sisters.

Legally Blonde was a treat to watch, and if you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend that you watch it.

So, have you seen this movie before? If so, what do you remember about it?

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Question From A Writer

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Alexis wrote to ask the following question:

I’m a writer too trying to break into it full-time. Any advice?
Thanks for writing Alexis. Your email mentioned that you’re a member of ACFW, so, you’re off to a good start by being a member of that organization. As far as writing full-time, that’s hard to do. Most writers (including myself) have full-time jobs, or, they have another income to depend on (like the income of a spouse, or, perhaps they’re getting retirement income.) I work full-time as a financial analyst, so, if I were forced to live off my writing income, I’d be in the poor house!
I recall literary agent Chip Macgregor has blogged about quitting your full-time job for your writing career. I believe he said you should have a number of future contracts in place, also, you should have at least six months worth of income in the bank that’ll be enough to pay all of your bills.
You might want to consider going to the ACFW conference in the fall. I know it’s kind of pricey, but, I feel it’s well worth the money if you want to break into the Christian fiction market!

A Time To Love by Barbara Cameron

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A Time To Love by Barbara Cameron

This book is about Jenny, a news correspondent who covers stories in war-torn countries. She also focuses on how these wars affect children. She has a soft spot for kids and it’s safe to say that the children are her main cause in her news career. When she’s seriously injured from the fallout of a bomb, she returns to her grandmother’s Amish home to recuperate. She also “meets” Matthew, an Amish man with whom she shared a budding romance as a teen. Matthew’s wife has died from cancer and he’s raising his three children with the help of Hannah, his sister.

Matthew and Jenny grow closer as she heals from her accident. However, there is an elder/bishop in Amish territory who objects to the budding romance. Jenny has to convince the elders that she’s in the area to heal and not to cause any trouble. This is a sweet, enjoyable romance that doesn’t have a heavy plot. If you want something sweet and breezy to read, then I recommend this book.

Have you read this book? If so, what’d you think about it?

~Cecelia Dowdy~

SPOILER:

I was reading an ARC (Advanced Reading Copy) so, it’s possible these issues were cleared up in the final version of the story: A few things happened in the story which puzzled me, but I didn’t want to write these things in my review because I didn’t want to spoil the plot for anyone. These things in no way make this a bad book, and I’m recommending the book as a good read, but these are just a few things that I felt I should mention.

I felt that there were a couple of holes in the story. Matthew encourages Jenny to write her thoughts in a journal since she’s no longer able to help the children through her news correspondence. Jenny enjoys writing in the journal since it’s therapeutic for her and she also purchases a journal for one of Matthew’s children. When Phoebe, Jenny’s grandmother, overhears Matthew and Jenny talk about the journal writing, she clearly gets very upset, but, it’s never explained why she’s so upset.

When Jenny talks to her grandmother about the journals, she mentions Anne Frank (the famous Holocaust diary author). It appears her grandmother has never heard of Anne Frank, which I think is odd. Although the Amish live separately, they’re still in America and I know they do have an educational system up to the eighth grade. I’d think they’d learn about US history and such in school? It appeared that the Amish were more separated and far removed in this book than in other books I’ve read.

For example, Jenny appears to believe that her grandmother’s never been on an elevator – I’d think that most Amish may have been on an elevator in a public building (like a hospital or a visit to the doctor.) Her grandmother explains she’s been on one, but I thought it was unbelievable for Jenny to think of her grandmother and the rest of the Amish as living in a totally separate world – I believe the Amish mix with the English more than what this story portrays. Also, her grandmother is puzzled by the term “microwave”. Again, although she doesn’t own a microwave, I’d think that the Amish mix with the English enough to know about cell phones, microwaves, etc. although they don’t own these things.

Also, Jenny marries Matthew and becomes Amish. However, prior to this, she was a famous news correspondent and she lived in the world using her laptop computer, phone, modern conveniences and other electronic gadgets and she was on TV. There was NO discussion about her giving up her former way of life – NONE. I’d think to make the story more believable, there’d be some discussion about what Jenny would be giving up – her career, her electronic stuff, but this is not mentioned at all. I’d think there’d be some struggle for Jenny as she converts to Matthew’s world, but I did not see this struggle portrayed in this story.

In spite of these few things, this is still a sweet, gentle read that is very enjoyable!

Christy Award Nominees!

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Congratulations to the 2012 Christy Award nominees! Looks like an awesome lineup of books! Have you read any of these books? If so, which ones have you read?

CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

Larkspur Cove by Lisa Wingate (Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing
Group)

Wolfsbane by Ronie Kendig (Barbour Publishing)

My Foolish Heart by Susan May Warren (Tyndale House Publishers)

CONTEMPORARY SERIES, SEQUELS, AND NOVELLAS

Dancing on Glass by Pamela Binnings Ewen (B&H Publishing Group)

The Touch by Randall Wallace (Tyndale House Publishers)

The Amish Midwife by Mindy Starns Clark and Leslie Gould (Harvest House
Publishers)

CONTEMPORARY STANDALONE

Dry as Rain by Gina Holmes (Tyndale House Publishers)

Promises to Keep by Ann Tatlock (Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group)

Words by Ginny Yttrup (B&H Publishing Group)

FIRST NOVEL

An Eye for Glory by Karl Bacon (Zondervan)

Southern Fried Sushi by Jennifer Rogers Spinola (Barbour Publishing) – This is a wonderful book! Read my review here.

Words by Ginny Yttrup (B&H Publishing Group)

HISTORICAL

Forsaking All Others by Allison Pittman (Tyndale House Publishers)

Mine is the Night by Liz Curtis Higgs (WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group)

Wonderland Creek by Lynn Austin (Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group)

HISTORICAL ROMANCE

A Lasting Impression by Tamera Alexander (Bethany House, a division of Baker
Publishing Group)

The Maid of Fairbourne Hall by Julie Klassen (Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group)

To Die For by Sandra Byrd (Howard Books, a division of Simon & Schuster)

SUSPENSE

Over the Edge by Brandilyn Collins (B&H Publishing Group)

Pattern of Wounds by Mark Bertrand (Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group)

The Queen by Steven James (Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group)

VISIONARY

The Chair by Jim Rubart (B&H Publishing Group)

Forbidden by Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee (Center Street, a division of Hachette Book Group USA)

Veiled Rose by Anne Elisabeth Stengl (Bethany House, a division of Baker
Publishing Group)

YOUNG ADULT

How Huge the Night by Heather Munn and Lydia Munn (Kregel Publications)

The Merchant’s Daughter by Melanie Dickerson (Zondervan)

Waterfall by Lisa T. Bergren (David C Cook)

Have you read any of these books? If so, which ones have you read?

Leave a comment and join me in congratulating these wonderful authors!

~Cecelia Dowdy~