I was skimming the New York Times Bestseller Lists for both print and e-book combined for fiction from April 2012 – July 2012. I only looked at the top 15 titles, I didn’t view the extended list. It was interesting to see two self-published secular titles listed as bestsellers. Do you know of any other NY Times Bestsellers that are self-published titles? Far as I know, the author of On The Island got a major seven figure deal with a traditional publisher.

ON THE ISLAND, by Tracey Garvis-Graves. (Tracey Garvis-Graves.) An English teacher and the teenage boy she has agreed to tutor are stranded on an island when the seaplane taking them to join his family in the Maldives crashes in the Indian Ocean.

BEAUTIFUL DISASTER, by Jamie McGuire. (Jamie McGuire.) A college girl in search of a new beginning makes a bet with an attractive but dangerous man.

This was the was the only Christian title that I saw on the list for those months in the top fifteen for those months:

LOVING, by Karen Kingsbury. (Zondervan.) Bailey Flanigan must decide: Will she spend her life with Brandon in Los Angeles, or will her heart draw her back to Cody in Indiana?

It’d be great to see more Christian fiction titles in the top fifteen regularly. Wouldn’t it be great if Christian fiction could dominate the list?

~Cecelia Dowdy~

TEST

My blog is now feeding into my website. I still have some tweaking to do on my website. Glad I made this change!!

~Cecelia Dowdy~

I’ll be signing copies of Chesapeake Weddings on August 4, 2012
from 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm at the following location:
Manassas African-American Heritage Festival
Grace Metz Middle School
9950 Wellington Road
Manassas, VA
More information about this event is available here.

~Cecelia Dowdy~

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~

Literary Agent Steve Laube shared this link on his blog today. Take the Bestseller Test simply by copying and pasting a sample of your work into the box and then choosing the genre. I used one of the books that I’m currently working on to take the test. My score was 19.9 out of 20 for the romance category.

So, try it out! What’s your score?
Share your score with a comment!

As Steve pointed out, a computer can’t really determine if writing is great or not, but, doing the activity sure is fun!

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Literary Agent Steve Laube posted this link on his blog yesterday. Read it and let me know what you think. What are your publishing predictions for 2012?

It’s a given about the e-books really taking off. I mean, bookstores are closing down and more and more people are purchasing Kindles and Nooks. I thought it was interesting what some of them said about self-publishing. It appears that some of those who commented on the link above felt that more authors would be self-publishing since the publishing model for commercial publishers wasn’t set up for e-pubbed titles. I do know that commercial publishers are re-releasing old titles as e-books, but the authors may not be getting a fair percentage of the cover price.

It kind of makes you wonder about the roles of editors and literary agents. Will their roles be changing in 2012?

So, after reading the above-mentioned link, share your thoughts. What are your publishing predictions for 2012?

~Cecelia Dowdy~

All, Christian fiction author Sandi Rog, mother of four, is battling cancer. She has MS, and it appears that her MS medication may have caused the stage 4 cancer from which she is now suffering. She has no money to pay all of her medical bills, so, people are banding together to raffle tons of great prizes! A raffle ticket is only $5.00. Go to this website to see more details – you might even find some things that you’d like try and win through the raffle!

Also, while you’re at it, say a prayer for Sandi!

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Do you have a diet/exercise routine that works for you? If so, share it with a comment.

I’m going to go off the beaten path and talk about a subject that I rarely mention on this blog – diet and exercise. A blog reader emailed me about an idea for her own blog. When I emailed my response back to her, it turned out the post outlined my struggle with high blood pressure over the last two years, which prompted me to post my experience here.

I was diagnosed with high blood pressure about 2 years ago, it’s hereditary. Since I’ve been in my thirties and forties I’ve been on the heavier side, but people wouldn’t necessarily categorize me as “fat” – I was skinny while in my twenties, seriously.

Anyway, I was on different meds for the HBP off and on for a year. Every med gave me a negative side effect. Soon I got tired of that crap and went to a holistic doctor. She gave me a list of a bunch of vitamins and herbs to take. I take them all. The main one that keeps my HBP down is the Hawthorn. Also, exercise helps.

Exercising at home was not working for me. My job was stressful, and when I got home, all I wanted to do was sit back and relax. So, I decided to exercise during my lunch time while at work. I bring work-out clothes and go for a brisk walk/run for about a half hour or 45 minutes. Plus, they have a gym at my job so if it’s cold or rainy, I get on that treadmill! Exercising is nothing “new” to me. I used to run 10K races while I was in my twenties/early thirties. Also, I exercised regularly at the gym.

My routine lagged when I got pregnant. The pregnancy was difficult and after our child was born, I didn’t really feel like exercising. Well, our “baby” is six now, so, I guess I can’t use the child as an excuse for not exercising!

I’ve been exercising during my lunch break for about eight months now. I cut out fast food (except on weekends – I was eating fast food almost every day when I was diagnosed with HBP) and I watch my sodium intake but, for the most part, I eat whatever I want whenever I want. I love carbs, so I don’t really watch my carbs. I eat oatmeal (the oatmeal that’s JUST OATS, the holistic doctor told me to stop eating the flavored oatmeal packets, too much salt in them) or some low-sodium cold cereal every morning for breakfast. I eat my breakfast at work. I also eat a low-sodium lunch and dinner. Sometimes I snack, sometimes I don’t. Depends on if I feel hungry or not.

People just started randomly commenting about my weight loss about a month or so ago. At first, I didn’t really notice it. I don’t weigh myself (too depressing) and I don’t really watch my figure – I started this new plan to keep my HBP down not for vanity reasons. The weight loss was secondary since I didn’t really have a goal of losing X amount of pounds – I just wanted a normal blood pressure reading so that I could stop taking that terrible medicine the doctor gave me.

However, lately, people have been saying, “Hey, you’ve lost weight,” or “Hey, you’re slimming down.” At first I thought they were just being nice, but, too many people were randomly commenting about my weight loss, plus, my jeans are very loose, they barely stay on my hips, so, I’m starting to pay attention now.

I love sweets! The weekend before last, I made vanilla bean panna cotta for the very first time! Yum! Last weekend, I made an apple pie and it was GOOD!! I don’t eat sweets every day, but I eat them when I want them. If I want to bake something, I do it! I don’t count calories or pounds.
OH, BTW, my blood pressure is BELOW normal/NORMAL now. I usually do a reading whenever I go to the grocery store at the BP machine and I also have a small BP contraption at home. It’s just a small square contraption with a cuff and a rectangular box – like the picture on this blog post.

This routine is working for me, so I was curious about others who read this blog. So, do you have a diet/exercise routine that works for you? If so, share it with a comment! Also, I’d be interested in knowing if something happened to make you change/start your diet/exercise routine.

~Cecelia Dowdy~