If one must labor, let it be a labor of love.
—Julie Lessman
Okay, hold me down … and for pity’s sake HIDE THE COFFEE!!! I’m bouncing off the walls now as it is, and God knows that “Fridays” don’t help!! Then plop Labor Day on top of that and LOOK OUT!! But, WHEW … what a week!!
Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!! (Thank you, Erica Vetsch and Renee Chaw, for introducing me to a new form of expressing my excitement.) First of all, as some of you may or may not know, my latest book in the O’Connor saga—A Heart Revealed—released just yesterday, and that’s always a skittery time for an author because you’re waiting for people you love (YOU!!) to read it. It was SO fun to receive the picture above from one of my “bud/prayer partner” reader friends, Michelle Tuller, whose name is also in A Heart Revealed as a subordinate character. Michelle came in second place in my newsletter contest to have a character named after 
her in A Heart Revealed, and then, of course, Casey Herringshaw (to the left) came in first, so her character is more prominent. So when you see their names in the book for the first time, I’m asking each of you to say a little prayer of blessing for them because they truly are a blessing to me.
And then, of course, you nervously eye the rankings on Amazon, which I only do around the time of a book release because it’s SO fun to see a good ranking, no matter how short-lived! For instance, when A Passion Redeemed came out, the first week it popped up on an Amazon bestseller list where it was #1 and Gone With the Wind was #3—go ahead, tell me THAT wasn’t fun!!! And, yes, I actually did print the page off and have it for all posterity so that I know I didn’t dream it!
But, that’s not all that happened to crank up my tic level this week. I also had three of my favorite blogger friends post their suggestions as to the top ten authors to read in Christian fiction/bucket list, and you guessed it—they included me on their lists. WOW!!! One might possibly expect to make one or two lists at the end of the year where everybody posts their top-ten favorite books, but mid-year??? Doesn’t happen. Until this week. So, here’s the links to check for some GREAT suggestions on wonderful Christian authors:
Rel Mollet from Relz Reviews:
http://relzreviewz.blogspot.com/2011/08/10-authors-you-need-to-read.html
Nora St. Laurent: Finding Hope Through Fiction
http://psalm516.blogspot.com/2011/08/10-authors-you-need-to-watch.html
Casey Herringshaw at Writing for Christ with her “bucket list”:
Then, as if that wasn’t enough to put me over the top, I find out yesterday that book 1 in The Winds of Change series, A Hope Undaunted is FREE on CBD.com e-book, Amazon Kindle, B&N Nook and Sony E-reader for a limited time. Trust me, this is HUGE!!! Because what happens is new people read one of my books, and then a percentage of them (those crazy, over-the-top romantics who crave passion in their romance novels like me) will then go on to read the rest, God willing!! It certainly worked last year when A Passion Most Pure was released as a free download (of which 75,000 took advantage, even though not all of them probably ever read it, most likely), so we are hoping the same thing will happen for A Hope Undaunted.
BUT … I need your help!! PLEASE tell as many people as you can about this giveaway, tweet it, FB it, blog about it, whatever you can do to get the word out would be GREATLY appreciated. You do not need a Kindle, Nook or e-reader to download it —you can download e-books on ANYTHING, including PCs, Macs, iPads, iPhones, Cloud Readers, Androids, Blackberrys and Windows Phone 7, you name it! So here are the links:
CBD.com:
Amazon.com:
Barnes & Noble:
Sony e-Reader:
http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/julie-lessman/a-hope-undaunted/_/R-400000000000000279440
Finally … there are still blog/interview/giveaways going on, but not for long, so TAKE ADVANTAGE!! Here’s what’s cooking this week:
AUGUST 21 to SEPTEMBER 2, 2011
Join me at Nora St. Laurent’s blog, Finding Hope Through Fiction, for a chance to win a signed copy of any of my books including my upcoming release, A Heart Revealed at:
http://psalm516.blogspot.com/2011/08/julie-lessman-giveaway-hope-undaunted.htmlhttp://psalm516.blogspot.com/2011/08/julie-lessman-giveaway-hope-undaunted.html
AUGUST 25 to SEPTEMBER 10, 2011
Join me at Casey Herringshaw’s blog, Writing for Christ, for a chance to win a signed copy of any of my books including my upcoming release, A Heart Revealed at:
http://enjoyingthewritingcraft.blogspot.com/2011/08/special-giveaway-and-author-interview.html
AUGUST 25 to SEPTEMBER 3, 2011
Join me at Lena Nelson Dooley’s blog, A Christian Writer’s World, for a chance to win a signed copy of any of my books including my upcoming release, A Heart Revealed at:
http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com/2011/08/heart-revealed-julie-lessman-free-book.html
AUGUST 28 to SEPTEMBER 3, 2011
Join me at Pat Iacuzzi’s blog, American Historical Christian Fiction (PLEASE SCROLL DOWN PAST THE C.J. CHASE INTERVIEW) for a chance to win a signed copy of any of my books including my upcoming release, A Heart Revealed at:
http://amhisbooks.blogspot.com/
AUGUST 29 to ?, 2011
Join me at OneDesertRose’s Blog for a Q&A session where a comment will enter you in a random pool giveaway for participants from several blogs to win a signed copy of any of my books including my upcoming release, A Heart Revealed at:
SEPTEMBER 5 to 11, 2011
Join me at Relz Review blog for a chance to win a signed copy of any of my books including my upcoming release, A Heart Revealed at:
http://relzreviewz.blogspot.com/
SEPTEMBER 6 to 10, 2011
Join me at Renee Chaw’s blog, Black ‘n Gold Girl’s Book Spot, for a chance to win a signed copy of any of my books including my upcoming release, A Heart Revealed at:
http://steelergirl83.blogspot.com/
SO … that’s it for this week … gotta go drink some Chamomile tea to calm down, which is gonna be REAL hard to do since I’m writing a love scene in The Cousins McClare today. Sigh. The life of a CDQRW (caffeinated drama queen romance writer). But I love my job because writing for God is truly a labor of love and one for which I am eternally grateful. And, YES, Karen … I am bringing the corn on the cob and a dessert on Sunday … can’t wait!!
I wish each and every one of you a blessed Labor Day weekend and may everything over which you labor, be a labor of love!
Hugs,
Julie
