Elizabeth Goddard's "Disarming Andi"

We're happy to have Elizabeth Goddard with us today talking about her book, "Disarming Andi."

To learn more about Elizabeth, please read on.

Your title: Disarming Andi

1) How did this story come to you?
I came across information regarding decommissioned missile sites being remodeled into homes.

2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.

I heard back from my editor two years after sending in this proposal that she was interested in contracting the novel.

3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.

I have a B.S. in computer science. I was a regional account executive in the corporate world, a job that sent me to 48 states, Canada and the Bahamas and after that I sold drugs (ahem, pharmaceuticals). I prefer action adventure movies to chick flicks.

4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?

Currently, I’m finishing up the third book in this series, Praying for Rayne. Book 1 is Dissarming Andi. Book 2, Exposing Amber.

5) Parting comments?

Thank you for having me here!

6) Where can fans find you on the internet?

http://elizabethgoddard.com/ and on facebook, Elizabeth Goddard Readers Group.

Leanna Ellis' "Once in a Blue Moon"

We're happy to have Leanna Ellis with us today talking about her book, "Once in a Blue Moon."

To learn more about Leanna, please read on.

Your title: Once in a Blue Moon

1) How did this story come to you?

Once in a Blue Moon came to me when I was reading an article about a woman who writes obituaries. I wondered what that person would be like if her first obit had been written for her own mother. Bryn Seymour intrigued me from the beginning and I had to know more about her life.

2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.
I had finished my first contract with B&H Publishers and submitted a short synopsis for Once in a Blue Moon along with a brief blurb on two other novels. They were accepted and I signed another three book contract with B&H. I really enjoyed writing the book but hit a snag toward the end because my own father was in the hospital on and off for several weeks. It was a very difficult time to work as I was in the car a lot or sitting in the hospital room. But I managed to get the book finished just before my father went into the hospital for the last time.

3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
1. I’ve been writing since 1991 and published since 1995.
2. I have a crazy dog we call the Hilo Monster, a combo Labrador and poodle that likes to eat our eye glasses. So far, she’s eaten six pairs.
3. I have a weird sense of humor. Oops! If they’ve read my books, then I guess they know that.

4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?

My next book is Facelift and it will be out in September 2010. It’s about a can-do kind of woman who takes in her ex-mother-in-law after a botched facelift only to receive an emotional facelift of her own as she learns to lean on God through life’s trials.

5) Where can fans find you on the internet?

I’m on Facebook and Twitter and my blog is on my website at www.leannaellis.com. Thanks so much for having me here today!

Lauralee Bliss' "Love's Winding Path"

We're happy to have Lauralee Bliss with us today talking about her book, "Love's Winding Path."

To learn more about Lauralee, please read on.

Your title: Love’s Winding Path

1) How did this story come to you?
I actually conceived the story nearly five years ago when four of us authors had an idea to write real life novels as biblical allegories. And so I chose the Prodigal Son. Not knowing, in fact, that many years later when the book was bought, I would be dealing with my own "prodigal son" situation and am to this day.

As far as the location, having traveled Utah several times and visiting its national parks, I fell in love with the state and wanted to bring the area to life within the pages of a novel.

2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.
As I mentioned the idea came about five years ago for a separate collection that didn't pan out. Like everything in our lives, our writing and the publication of that writing is in God’s perfect timing. This was one of those books. It sat for a quite a long time, until one day out of the blue when the editor from Barbour bought it as part of a series based in Utah.

3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
I have hiked the entire length of the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine
I will stop at any outdoor shop to look at gear rather than clothing stores
I love to eat brownie batter straight out of the bowl

4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?
I am currently editing Book Three of this series set in Utah called Wasatch Love. After that, who knows? I might take some time off to do more hiking and see where the Lord leads. It is His work that I do, after all, and so I wait to discover what He wants me to write.

5) Parting comments?
I hope readers will come away with words of comfort in Love’s Winding Path, especially if they have prodigal sons and daughters--that with God, there is hope.

6) Where can fans find you on the internet?
On my web site at: http://www.lauraleebliss.com
My blog: http://www.blissfulwritingthoughts.blogspot.com

Cathy Bryant's "Texas Roads"

We're happy to have Cathy Bryant with us today talking about her book, "Texas Roads: A Miller's Creek Novel."
To purchase Cathy's book, navigate to the bottom of her interview. To learn more about Cathy, please read on.

Your title: TEXAS ROADS

1) How did this story come to you?

The spiritual message of the book came from my own desire to find home. After moving from one small Texas town to another, God taught me that our only “real” home is in Him. My heroine takes the same spiritual journey. The basic plot of the story came when I was working in the garden and a car drove by slowly, the driver staring at me like I was a zoo exhibit. The incident irked me, and I thought, “If it bothers me so much after living in small towns my entire life, how would a city socialite handle the lack of privacy you sometimes feel in a small town?” Afterwards, the scenes began playing out in my head like a movie.

2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.

TEXAS ROADS, a 2009 ACFW Genesis finalist, was being considered by two publishers when I felt God telling me to go a different direction. Against the advice of many, I pulled the manuscript from further consideration, and put it into e-book and print format myself.

3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
~ I’m a published composer of several children’s songs.
~ I’m a teacher/musician by profession.
~ I’m self-taught on piano.

4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?

I’m currently trying to get the word out about TEXAS ROADS, but I’m also over halfway finished with book two in the Miller’s Creek, Texas series, tentatively titled A PATH TOO NARROW.

5) Parting comments? TEXAS ROADS is available in e-book format at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/8963. The book is available at a 25% discount during the week of March 7-13, 2010 in honor of “Read An E-Book Week.” The book is also available in print format at https://www.createspace.com/3429242. If you prefer an autographed copy, you can mail a check for $17.06 (to cover book cost, tax and S&H) to Cathy Bryant, P. O. Box 971, New Boston, TX 75570. Be sure to send a return address and let me know who to sign the book for. A portion of the proceeds from this book will be donated to Buckner International, a global Christian ministry that provides care and resources for orphans and at-risk children in the United States and more than 50 countries around the world.
Thanks so much for having me on your blog!

6) Where can fans find you on the internet?

I spend at least a few minutes each day at Facebook, Twitter and ShoutLife. But the best places to reach me are my website guestbook at www.CatBryant.com or my blog, WordVessel (http://WordVessel.blogspot.com).

Queen of Hearts by K. Dawn Byrd

I'm really looking foward to the release of my new book, Queen of Hearts, from Desert Breeze Publishing on April 1. Click on the image to the left to read an excerpt.

Daphne Dean is proud to be serving her country stateside during WWII as a reporter and an Office of Strategic Services operative. When the photograph she takes of the crowd at a murder scene places her on the mob's hit list, she's forced into hiding in a vacant mental asylum in the middle of nowhere with terrifying secrets of its own.

Daphne believed herself to still be in love with her ex-fiancée, Kenneth, until she spends several days locked away in the asylum with Vito, the mob boss' son. Can she put the terrifying events that occurred there behind her and allow herself to pursue a relationship with Vito? Or, will she return to Kenneth who has turned his back on his country by becoming a draft dodger and a black market racketeer? One thing's for sure, it won't matter if she can't escape the mental institution alive.

Question:
In Queen of Hearts, our heroine, Daphne Dean, took a book to bed with her to take her mind off the fact that she was in hiding in an abandoned mental institution. She chose a comedy. What do you like to read and why?

Amanda Cabot's "Scattered Petals"

We're happy to have Amanda Cabot with us today talking about her book, "Scattered Petals."

To learn more about Amanda's book, click on the cover to the left. To learn more about Amanda, please read on.

1) How did this story come to you?
I knew I wanted Zach, who was introduced in Paper Roses, to have his own story, so I asked myself who would be the perfect woman for him. The answer came as a bit of a surprise. Who would have thought that a quintessential Texas cowboy like Zach would need a sophisticated East Coast lady? And who would have thought that Priscilla’s craving for adventure would bring her first tragedy, then healing and happiness?

2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.
Since this book was part of a three-book deal, the real story relates to the first book in the series, Paper Roses. Although I had been writing for the secular market for many years, I had never seriously considered writing for the CBA market. All that changed the year that a dear friend entered the final stages of leukemia. Sharing her final months and watching her journey toward the Light changed my life and the direction of my writing. Although it took longer than my agent and I expected to sell Paper Roses, God’s timing was perfect, because Revell has proven to be the perfect publisher for me.

3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
1) When I studied in France, my French mother served me what appeared to be hamburgers but was actually ground horsemeat. (We won’t talk about my reaction when I learned what it was.)
2) My sisters call me the queen of small kitchen appliances, because I have (and use) a soymilk maker and yogurt maker in addition to the usual suspects (food processor, stand mixer, breadmaker, etc.).
3) I’m considering writing a cookbook entitled “I Can’t Believe This is Low Fat.”

4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?
Tomorrow’s Garden, the third of the Texas Dreams books, which is due out next March, is currently in the production process (final editing, designing the cover, etc.), so my involvement in that is minimal right now, but that doesn’t mean I’m not writing. I’m hard at work on the first of my Wyoming Winds trilogy and am having a great time introducing readers to my new home.

5) Parting comments?
Thanks so much for inviting me to be part of your blog. I enjoyed our conversation.

6) Where can fans find you on the internet?
I invite them to visit my web site, www.amandacabot.com. I also welcome email from readers and try to respond within a couple days.