Journal Jots – Blog

Jamie shook his head and backed away.

“I can’t, Jess. This is too important for blind faith.”

The smile on her lips softened to tender.

“It’s only ‘blind’ to those who don’t believe, Jamie,

but once we lay our will down for God’s,

it’s amazing just how much we can suddenly see.”

–Love at Any Cost by Julie Lessman

Blind Faith. Goodness—is there any other kind?

Not according to Hebrews 11:1, which says: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Not seen. Mmm … well, speaking as a very visual person, that doesn’t always bode so well for me, especially with my books. Oh, I have the “hope” part down pat, I can tell you that. But the “things not seen”? Not so much. Which is why today’s quote from my new novel Love at Any Cost is such a blessing to me, and, I hope—for you too. 

You see, like my hero Jamie MacKenna in the clip above, sometimes there are things so important to me that I want to help faith along. For instance, as many of you know, I’m running a Journal Jot contest right now (see info below in the middle of this blog) and one of the components was nominating Love at Any Cost for novel of the month at The Book Club Network, which many of you did—THANK YOU SOOOO VERY MUCH!! 

I am happy to say that because of your support, Love at Any Cost is one of twelve nominees for Book of the Month, which is a huge promotional blessing for whichever author wins this contest.

But now comes the “blind faith” part—trusting God for things “hoped for” without “seeing” how that can happen without my help. I am well aware that one of the authors nominated has a huge platform and fan base from which to rally support and, understandably, has been doing so, so I was planning on pulling the big guns too. I had intended to send out e-mails to my almost 6,000 newsletter subscribers to ask them for their vote in this contest, which runs from April 15 through the 30^th. 

And, goodness, I even toyed with the idea of adding an ADDITIONAL contest to this Journal Jot today where any votes cast for me in this TBCN would be entered into a random drawing for choice of my books, OVER AND ABOVE the Journal Jot contest below where entrants can accrue 5 additional points in that contest for voting for me in the TBCN poll.

But then I decided not to do either. Sigh.

Why? Because I happened to stumble upon Jamie’s sister’s quote above, when Jess tells Jamie that faith is “only ‘blind’ to those who don’t believe, but that once we lay our will down for God’s, it’s amazing just how much we can suddenly see.” 

Gulp. Convicted and nailed by my own book. How sad is that?? Because once again I am brought full circle to realize that it’s not about the things I hope for—winning a contest, good reviews, selling books—it’s the things God hopes for me. Drawing closer to Him, drawing my joy from His well instead of the well of approval, and writing for Him and Him alone. As Jess says to her brother Jamie in Love at Any Cost—it is truly amazing just how much we can suddenly “see” when our focus is on God instead of ourselves.

And this girl suddenly “sees” that it’s not about wielding votes … it’s about yielding hopes to a God who knows far better than me the very thing that will make me happy. 🙂

 

CONTEST!!!

NOTE: But now, since this contest is already in place, I need to advise those of you entered that you do have the opportunity to accrue FIVE ADDITIONAL POINTS by voting for Love at Any Cost in The Book Club Network poll on the right-hand side of the website. Once you vote, just click on the “vote for Julie” item in the Rafflecopter box further down in this post and GOOD LUCK!! Here’s the link:

THE BOOK CLUB NETWORK POLL

Book promotion is a tough job, so that’s why I posted this contest asking for your help in promoting Love at Any Cost.  The way I see it, this needs to be a win-win situation for both of us, so there are several ways you can help me out, and each will earn you a point in the contest below where prizes will be awarded to the reader friend with the most points as follows:

First-Place Winner (most points accrued):

—Kindle ($69.00 value)

—A character named after you in my next book, Dare to Love Again.

—Choice of any of my books including Love at Any Cost or Dare to Love Again

—Choice of five top CBA books from my library (all new and unused)

 

SECOND-PLACE WINNER (2^nd most points accrued):

—Choice of any of my books including Love at Any Cost or Dare to Love Again

—Choice of two top CBA books from my library (all new and unused)

 

THIRD-PLACE WINNER (random drawing of points accrued where even one point has the chance to win)

—Choice of any of my books including Love at Any Cost or Dare to Love Again

—Choice of one top CBA books from my library (all new and unused)

 

SO HOW DO YOU ACCRUE POINTS?

It’s simple! Pick which of the following things you want to do in the Rafflecopter box below, and Rafflecopter will tally it for you and for me!!a Rafflecopter giveaway CONTEST ENDS 4/30 AND WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON JOURNAL JOTS ON FRIDAY, 5/3, SO GOOD LUCK!!

Hugs and Happy Weekend!!

Julie

 

MORE OPPORTUNITIES TO WIN!!! (Mark your calendars for these giveaways!):

 April 11-22, 2013:

Win your choice of my books at a character spotlight on ANDIE TUBB’S BLOG at:

http://www.frommipov.blogspot.com/

April 19-30, 2013:

FIVE GIVEAWAYS of Love at Any Cost at THE BOOK CLUB NETWORK!!!

http://www.bookfun.org/

April 19-30, 2013:Win your choice of my books at an interview on NORA ST. LAURENT’S BLOG at:

http://psalm516.blogspot.com/

May 6-20, 2013:

Win your choice of my books at an interview on JUANITA NOBLE’S BLOG at:

http://juanitanobles.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

Flatter me, and I may not believe you.

Criticize me,  and I may not like you.

Ignore me, and I may not forgive you.

Encourage me, and I will not forget you.

—William Arthur Ward

WHOO-HOO … official release date for Love at Any Cost is ALMOST HERE!!

April 15 is the big day when e-book orders are released, but the paperbacks have apparently already been shipped and the reviews are coming in!! Here are just a few snippets from the four reviews now on Amazon:

• Mrs. Lessman has spun straw into gold. She weaves such a wonderful story about life and faith in God … This book took me on a wild ride. Full of twist and turns that even I didn’t expect and that’s saying something. — Darla

• Warning — you might want to wear asbestos gloves while reading Love at Any Cost because sparks fly from Cassidy and Jamie’s first meeting and continue to sizzle right to the very end. I’m sure the author wouldn’t want any of her devoted fans to get singed! — KAV

• Oh my. Let me begin by saying that Julie Lessman is, and has been for quite awhile now, my favorite author ever!! And this book…OH MY! Putting this book down every time that I had to was painful! Once again, Julie has given me a story to cherish and has reminded us that every perfect love story always, without fail, has God at the center. — EMH

• Julie Lessman does an amazing job of weaving a spell-binding story of love and faith – not leaving any detail unwritten. — Ashley Pichea

• Someone should report Julie Lessman for Cruelty to Characters! She certainly knows how to put them, and subsequently her readers, through the wringer. But that’s what I love about the whole Julie Lessman experience — emotional overload with a happy ending. — KAV

LOL … well, please DON’T “report” me to the “Cruelty to Characters” organization as Kav suggests above, but I gotta tell you—these reviews realllllly blessed the socks off me because what you see above is busy people taking the time out of their busy days to encourage somebody, and almost nothing is nearer and dearer to my heart than that.

Encouragement. Something people never forget as our quote expresses above and something all of us desperately need. 

I will admit that I am an encourager from way back, I guess because I didn’t get much encouragement myself when I was young. I still remember the day I was twelve when I gave my mom my 150 single-spaced typed pages of what today is my debut novel, A Passion Most Pure. My nine-year-old sister, Katie, who loved having me read it to her at night, had encouraged me to let Mama read it, so I did. Mama didn’t say anything for a couple of days, so I finally asked her what she thought. “I’m sorry, Julie,” she said in that sad-eyed way she had when she pitied someone, “but it was so dry, I couldn’t get past the first page.”

Even now, tears spring to my eyes at the devastation of that simple sentence on a little girl’s heart, her dreams, her hopes. I think I must have made up my mind right then and there that I would never, ever do that to another human being as long as lived. Never cut another human being down, never make them feel less, only encourage them to be all they could be. 

When I started a new school in 5^th grade, I remember how one day the popular “clique” extended that coveted invitation to play with them on playground, the same clique that made fun of the less popular girls over and over again. I think I must have thanked them at the time, but I stayed where I was, playing foursquare with the less popular group rather than to ever hang out with people who’d make fun of somebody else. 

At an all-girl’s high school I attended, we had two volleyball courts for gym class, and everybody would crowd on the one court where the two most popular girls were. I can still feel the anger rising even now as I marched to the middle of the next court and stood there, head high and shoulders straight, all by myself until others slowly trickled over. 

I guess you could say I became fanatical about encouraging others because as the Bible says in Proverbs 25:11— A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. 

Silver. Gold. Treasure. Which is what we are, as Emma Malloy tells her young neighbor in A Heart Revealed, “treasured possessions of a passionate God.”

Encouragement. Every single day of our lives we have the opportunity to treat others like they are God’s treasured possessions, because they are, so take advantage. It’s not hard to tell a checker in the grocery store that you like her blouse if you do or a waitress that she’s done a good job if she did. Or a husband that you are soooo glad you married him.

It’s easy and soooo very important to God, to the people we encourage, and to us. I encourage you to compliment at least five people today. You know, nice things you may be thinking anyway but don’t usually express—let those people know how much you appreciate them, care for them, or like something about them.

UH-OH … You know, in the time it’s taken me to write this post, I just discovered that a fifth review has been posted on Amazon for Love at Any Cost — a 1-star that has now dragged down my rating. If any of you have read Love at Any Cost already and liked it, now would be a realllllllly good time to encourage me with a good review! 😉

Hugs and Happy Weekend!!

Julie

CONTEST!!! (Ends May 31st)

To celebrate the release of my new “Heart of San Francisco” series, I’m kicking off a brand-new Kindle contest along with signed copies of choice of my books and other top CBA books, so check it out at the link below, turn up your volume and enlarge the screen for best effect, then when you’re done watching, just arrow back and check out the contest below, okay?

 VIDEO FOR LOVE AT ANY COST

Book promotion is a tough job, so I’m asking for your help in promoting Love at Any Cost, and the way I see it, this needs to be a win-win situation for both of us! There are several ways you can help me out, and each way will earn you a point in the contest where prizes will be awarded to the reader friend with the most points as follows:

First-Place Winner (most points accrued):

—Kindle ($69.00 value)

—A character named after you in my next book, Dare to Love Again.

—Choice of any of my books including Love at Any Cost or Dare to Love Again

—Choice of five top CBA books from my library (all new and unused)

SECOND-PLACE WINNER (2^nd most points accrued):

—Choice of any of my books including Love at Any Cost or Dare to Love Again

—Choice of two top CBA books from my library (all new and unused)

THIRD-PLACE WINNER (random drawing of points accrued where even one point has the chance to win)

—Choice of any of my books including Love at Any Cost or Dare to Love Again

—Choice of one top CBA books from my library (all new and unused)

SO HOW DO YOU ACCRUE POINTS?

It’s simple! Pick which of the following things you want to do in the Rafflecopter box below, and Rafflecopter will talley it for you and for me!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!! If this series does well, that means I get to keep writing, so every vote counts!!

 

BLOG GIVEAWAYS (Mark your calendars for these giveaways!):

Now until April 15, 2013:

5 GIVEAWAYS ON GOODREADS!!!

“Sweet Thunderation,” my publisher Revell is giving away five free copies of my upcoming release, Love at Any Cost, book 1 in my brand-new “Heart of San Francisco” series. All you have to do is click on the Goodreads link below and enter—it’s that’s easy! Good luck and here’s to a win!

 http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/46424-love-at-any-cost

 

Now until April 15, 2013:

 ANOTHER IMPROMPTU GIVEAWAY ON REVELL’S FB PAGE!!!

ENDS MONDAY, 4/15!!! My publisher Revell is giving away another free copy of my upcoming release, Love at Any Cost, book 1 in my brand-new “Heart of San Francisco” series. All you have to do is click on the link below and enter—it’s that’s easy! Good luck and here’s to a win!

https://www.facebook.com/RevellBooks?ref=hl

 

April 11-16, 2013:

UNSCHEDULED IMPROMPTU GIVEAWAY OF THE DAUGHTERS OF BOSTON TRILOGY!!!

Unbeknownst to me, one of my DEAR reader friends is having a giveaway on her blog of THREE BOOKS — A Passion Most Pure, A Passion Redeemed and A Passion Denied, so toss your name in the hat by leaving a comment on Kara Grant’s wonderful blog, A Book Lover’s Heart at:

http://karathewriter.blogspot.com/2013/04/featured-author-and-giveawayjulie.htm

 

April 11-22, 2013:

 Win your choice of my books at a character spotlight on ANDIE TUBB’S BLOG at:

http://www.frommipov.blogspot.com/2013/04/character-spotlight-cassidy-mcclare.html

 

April 19-30, 2013:

FIVE GIVEAWAYS of Love at Any Cost at THE BOOK CLUB NETWORK!!!

http://www.bookfun.org/

April 19-30, 2013: 

Win your choice of my books at an interview on NORA ST. LAURENT’S BLOG at:

http://psalm516.blogspot.com/

May 6-20, 2013:

Win your choice of my books at an interview on JUANITA NOBLE’S BLOG at:

http://juanitanobles.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

His breath caught at the twine of Jess’s fingers in his.

“Let go, Jamie, and let God be God,” she whispered, the trace of an imp in her smile.

“He does it so much better than you.”

—Love at Any Cost by Julie Lessman

Oh my, He certainly does!!

Like the trailer that Revell was kind enough to do for my new release Love at Any Cost?? Simply over-the-top wonderful … just like everything God does. 

But I’ll admit right out in the open—I was worried. You see, I have never been a really big fan of trailers because frankly, I haven’t seen a whole lot of them that I really liked. To be honest, more of them have turned me off than on, and I almost would rather not have one at all than a bad one.

So when Revell asked me to check out three different videographers they recommended to see which one I liked best, I chose Jones House Creative, and HOLY COW, am I glad I did! Not only did the capture the essence of 1902 San Francisco, but they gave me goose bumps while they did. 

Instead of me blathering on and on—which I have been known to do—how about I show you the video? Then to celebrate the release of my new “Heart of San Francisco” series, I’m kicking off a brand-new Kindle contest along with signed copies of choice of my books and other top CBA books, so check it out at the link below, turn up your volume and enlarge the screen for best effect, then when you’re done watching, just arrow back and check out the contest below, okay?

 VIDEO FOR LOVE AT ANY COST

CONTEST!!!

Book promotion is a tough job, so I’m asking for your help in promoting Love at Any Cost, and the way I see it, this needs to be a win-win situation for both of us! There are several ways you can help me out, and each way will earn you a point in the contest where prizes will be awarded to the reader friend with the most points as follows:

First-Place Winner (most points accrued):

—Kindle ($69.00 value)

—A character named after you in my next book, Dare to Love Again.

—Choice of any of my books including Love at Any Cost or Dare to Love Again

—Choice of five top CBA books from my library (all new and unused)

SECOND-PLACE WINNER (2^nd most points accrued):

—Choice of any of my books including Love at Any Cost or Dare to Love Again

—Choice of two top CBA books from my library (all new and unused)

THIRD-PLACE WINNER (random drawing of points accrued where even one point has the chance to win)

—Choice of any of my books including Love at Any Cost or Dare to Love Again

—Choice of one top CBA books from my library (all new and unused)

SO HOW DO YOU ACCRUE POINTS?

It’s simple! Pick which of the following things you want to do in the Rafflecopter box below, and Rafflecopter will talley it for you and for me!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!! If this series does well, that means I get to keep writing, so every vote counts!!

Hugs and Happy Weekend!!

Julie

BLOG GIVEAWAYS (Mark your calendars for these giveaways!):

April 5-12, 2013:

Win your choice of any of my books at an interview on JAMIE LAPEYROLERIE’S Blog at:

http://booksandbeverages.wordpress.com/2013/04/05/4-questions-with-award-winning-author-julie-lessman/

Now until April 15, 2013:

5 GIVEAWAYS ON GOODREADS!!!

“Sweet Thunderation,” my publisher Revell is giving away five free copies of my upcoming release, Love at Any Cost, book 1 in my brand-new “Heart of San Francisco” series. All you have to do is click on the Goodreads link below and enter—it’s that’s easy! Good luck and here’s to a win!

 http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/46424-love-at-any-cost

 

Monday – Thursday, April 8-11, 2013:

Join me on SEEKERVILLE for “Congratulations — It’s a Series,” where I introduce my brand new series that takes place in 1902 San Francisco with book 1, Love at Any Cost. Win your choice of any of my books AND a chance to enter my Kindle contest. Here’s the link — hope to see you there!

http://seekerville.blogspot.com/

 April 11-22, 2013:

Win your choice of my books at a character spotlight on ANDIE TUBB’S BLOG at:

http://www.frommipov.blogspot.com/2013/04/character-spotlight-cassidy-mcclare.html

April 19-30, 2013:

FIVE GIVEAWAYS of Love at Any Cost at THE BOOK CLUB NETWORK!!!

http://www.bookfun.org/

April 19-30, 2013: 

Win your choice of my books at an interview on NORA ST. LAURENT’S BLOG at:

http://psalm516.blogspot.com/

May 6-20, 2013:

Win your choice of my books at an interview on JUANITA NOBLE’S BLOG at:

http://juanitanobles.blogspot.com/