Category: Blog tour

Action Kids Blog Tour Wrap Up

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Good morning, everyone!

First of all, a big THANK YOU to everyone who took part of my blog tour, celebrating the release of my book, Action Kids’ Club. It’s been a busy couple of weeks. Even though this is the end of the tour, there are still six giveaways going on, so check them out if you get a chance!

Every comment you leave one of my blog tour posts until tomorrow at midnight (on this blog or one of the blogs that hosted me) will give you an entry to win this giveaway, check out the link for more details.

See the other giveaways here: Mrs. Mommy Booknerd’s Reviews, Nayu’s Reading Corner, Bookworm Blather , Writing in Wonderland, and on my blog, a $50 GiftCard! 

You also might want to check out the Action Kids blog and Action Kids Facebook for continuing fun, stories, trivia and games. 
And last, but certainly not least of all, thank you, thank you, thank you to all the blogs that hosted me during this tour! I really appreciate you.
I hope y’all have a great Saturday!  


When Life Hands You Lymes #47 – Giveaways

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Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen! Today we’ve got a lot of giveaways to talk about, so we’ll get those out of the way (and hopefully y’all will enter them because I’ve got some really good stuff I’m wanting to get into y’alls hands)!
Check out the giveaways here: 
Mrs. Mommy Booknerd’s Blog
Nayu’s Reading Corner
Bookworm Blather 

Writing in Wonderland
and on my blog, a $50 GiftCard 
Plus, today I’m guest posting/being interviewed over at In The Bookcase, so y’all will want to be sure to check it out! Tomorrow we’ll be wrapping up this blog tour right here on Noveltea. 
And now it’s time for the 47th segment of my fictional story, When Life Hands You Lymes. Oh, and this post is late today because I had to go get my blood drawn. 😉 

“How did your day go?” Mom asked, meeting me at our front door. 
I gave her a surprised head to toe sweep, trying to figure out why she was standing outside instead of sitting at her desk. Not seeing anything amiss, I summoned a smile, “It was a day.” 
“I hate to tell you this, but your afternoon has had a little change of plans.”
The story of my life. I mumbled the words under my breath, knowing better than to say them out loud. No doubt a new John Maxwell or Darren Hardy book would show up in my room, just waiting for me to read if Mom knew the state of my very pessimistic thoughts. 
Mom’s eyebrows lowered as she studied me. 
“Ok?” I finally realized she must be waiting for some kind of response from me. Whatever news she had I just wanted her to get it over and done with. I wasn’t in the mood to be around anyone. I just wanted to curl up in a dark place and cry myself to sleep. The deep kind of sleep that you don’t wake up from for a long, long time. 
“We’re going to the Health Department so we can get your blood drawn.” 
I let my backpack hit the front porch with a thud. Yea. More of my life blood being sucked out of my body and sent to a lab. Pretty much the way I always dreamed of starting my junior year of high school. Turning around I started down toward Mom’s garage. 
“Your backpack.” Mom was right behind me, pushing my arm through the strap. 
“Thanks.” My word of gratitude wasn’t so much for her giving me back my backpack but for her lack of a lecture. What in the world was wrong me with? I knew better than to be acting like this. 
Mom didn’t say anything when I punched the seat warmer on before I’d even buckled up, but I did notice that she turned the A/C off. I bit my bottom lip and squeezed my eyes hard, facing the side of the BMW. 
This really isn’t cool, God. I let out a huge puff of air. Not fair at all. I stopped before I could continue my rant as images from our bulletin from the previous Sunday dropped into my brain. There’s a clinic that our church helps support in Haiti. The people wait for hours, sometimes days, to get medical treatment. Often times there’s not enough staff or medication to care for sick and certainly no modern comforts. Flies, bugs and sometimes dogs come and bite at the people as they wait in the dust and the heat. Looking at the sleek interior of my ride, I couldn’t hold back my tears any longer. Yes, I didn’t think it was fair for me to be sick when so many of my friends weren’t. But then again, neither was it fair for me to have such privileges and good care when so many millions in the world were in such need. 
“Thanks Mom for taking me to get my blood drawn.” 
With a smile Mom reached over and gave my leg a little squeeze. 
With a deep sigh I closed my eyes and drifted into sleep, lulled by the hum of the engine. 

A Silly Fascination

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I have a silly fascination with hot air balloons. 
The “I don’t really want to study them and I’m fine never being in one, but it’s so much fun to talk about them as if I’m an experienced hot air balloon pilot and live in one” kind of fascination. 
Take for instance when I’m talking to my adopted dad on the phone. Pretty much if he asks what I’m doing or where I am, you can count on my answer being somewhere along the lines of “Oh, just floating around in my hot air balloon with Frank.” 
Frank, of course, is the 94 year-old guy who’s teaching me how to fly a hot air balloon. Ahem and Frank is just as real as me living in a hot air balloon is.

In October I went and stayed with my sister for a week. The last day I was there, there was a hot air balloon festival thingy going on. We decided to get all the children up and go watch the fun. 
It’s a loonnnngggg story, but we ended up in the field that all the balloons were flying over for a competition where they had to throw something onto a big target. 

That meant all the balloons were flying right over us. It was totally amazing. This picture (below) doesn’t show very well how close we were to the balloons, but let’s just say they could call down and talk to us and we could see their features quite clearly.

Being so close to the hot air balloons was way cooler than I had imagined it would be and greatly increased my delight in the colorful objects.

Some day I might just feature one of these contraptions in one of my books…

Have you ever taken a ride in a hot air balloon? Would you like to?

Today I’m guest posting and hosting a giveaway over at Nayu’s Reading Corner! I’d be delighted if y’all would check it out. 🙂 
And don’t forget to check out Mrs. Mommy Booknerd’s Book Reviews and Writing In Wonderland to check out the giveaways I’m hosting there.

Plus, check out this post for your chance to win a $50 gift card and this post to see the prize for the quote puzzle and comments game. 
Find Action Kids’ Club here (e-version) and here (paperback).

Thanksgiving

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Today part of our family is celebrating Thanksgiving, so I thought I’d share a list of ten things I’m thankful for, in a random order, of course.

1. My writing. Despite all the frustrations, stress and heartache that goes into being an author, I’m thrilled that I get to be one and I’m very thankful for the opportunity.

2. My family. Seriously, I have the best family. I’m actually quite privileged to have two families and both of them are top-notch. I can’t imagine life without them. They encourage me, make me laugh, inspire me and love me no matter what.

3. Living out in the country. I can’t imagine living in a city or town. I’m a country girl through and through. I’m so very thankful that my parents decided to raise us kids where hay fields and woods go as far as the eye can see.

4. All the opportunities I’ve had this year. Not only have I gotten to do some pretty amazing things at home such as publish a book, move to our house we built and be the maid of honor in my wonderful friend’s wedding and but I’ve also spent four months travel through Asia, Europe and the States.

5. Friends. Friends. What can I say? They’re amazing. They are so good at encouraging me at just the right moments. I get notes, texts, emails and voxes letting me know they’re thinking of me. They are something I’m very thankful for.

6. Blogging. Blogging inspires me. It helps me to connect with other people. It provides an instant outlet for my writing. Blogging is one of my favorite things to do. I’m so very thankful to be a blogger.

7. My Office and Library. Let’s just say they’re everything I dreamed of. I feel incredibly special and happy and privileged when I think that this is my workspace that envisioned and then with the help of my parents made into a reality. Such a wonderful writing environment.

8. The Bible on audio. Despite loving to read, I’m an audio learner and listening to the Bible is wonderful. I get so many thoughts that I haven’t ever got while reading the Bible. I feel as if I know the people in the Bible personally. I can relate to them. The Bible has become so much more real to me during the last few years when I’ve listened to the audio over and over again.

9. Candles. I know some people might consider this a small thing, but we weren’t able to have candles at our old house, so moving and being able to have candles burning is something I do not take for granted.

10. Books. Books are wonderful, helpful, interesting, entertaining little things. I’m very thankful to have them in my life. Both for reading and writing.

* * *



Today I’m posting over at Sam’s Blog, so if you get a chance, you should really check it out!

And don’t forget to check back over at Writings of Rosie to enter the giveaway I’m hosting on her blog. 

Check out this post for your chance to win a $50 gift card and this post to see the prize for the quote puzzle and comments game. 

Find Action Kids’ Club here (e-version) and here (paperback). 

Being an Author

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Being an author isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. 
Being a writer rocks. 
Being an author though? That can be hard at times. Really hard. It takes perseverance. It takes tenacity. It takes discipline. It takes someone who is strong. Someone who is willing to go through round after round of rejection and still bounce back, ready to run again. It takes someone who can handle failure and grow from it. It takes someone who realizes that it’s a process and processes take time. 
Sometimes I forget those things and I stumble and fall. 
Sometimes being an author is scary. Sometimes being an author can be like getting punched and not really knowing why. Sometimes being an author is pouring years of your life into a book and not knowing how the readers will respond to it. Sometimes being an author seems like way to much work and heartache. 
Then I remember these things and I rise up, clambering over the defeat to run at it again…
Being an author is a way to influence the world. It’s a way to entertain, motivate and inspire. It’s a way to open a new world for my readers. It’s a way to multiple my life because through my books I can reach far more people than I ever could on my own. 
Being an author means I will have books that outlast my stay here on earth. It means I can help others learn about the love of reading. It means that someday I’ll have kids reading until they can hardly keep their eyes open at night because they have to see what happens next. It means that good friends will come along side me, encouraging me, urging me to keep going. 
Being an author means I’ve crossed the world from being a reader, to having people be able to read about my own world and thoughts. It means children will have a better chance at a successful life. It means I’ve stayed the course, I’ve been dedicated, I’ve taken the leap and worked to make my dreams come true. 
Being an author isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. But it’s more. More than mets the eye. More than non-authors will understand. More than I ever imagined. It’s a deep, crazy journey that’s well worth it. 
I am, and always will be, an author. 

Today I’m posting over at Writings of Rosie! Check it out and enter the giveaway on her blog for your chance to win that ^ fun giveaway!

Check out this post for your chance to win a $50 gift card and this post to see the prize for the quote puzzle and comments game. Find Action Kids’ Club here (e-version) and here (paperback). 

Up, Up, and Away! Celebrating Over at Splash of Ink

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Yea! Welcome to day two of the blog tour! Today I’m posting over at Splash of Ink. Y’all should really check it out because I’ve got some exciting news to share with you. *cue happy dance*
Check this post out for your chance to win a $50 gift card and this post to see the prize for the quote puzzle and comments game. You can get more entry points each day. *grinning like a cheshire cat*
Find Action Kids’ Club here (e-version) and here (paperback)! 
This morning I realized that I didn’t get any pictures of myself with the book yesterday which is a bummer. I did take a picture of me working on the blog tour, though, so I thought I’d share it with y’all. 
Yesterday was a rather crazy day with the release of Action Kids’ Club, lots of excitement, a busy day at work and checking up on my comments every time I could snatch a second so I could keep up with the thrilling buzz of a new book release.  
And just because I’m a happy author to another bright and new book, here’s another look at the cover. 🙂
What did you do yesterday? I sometimes forget that the whole world isn’t rejoicing with me at this wonderful new addition to my bookshelf (after I can force myself to stop carrying it everywhere I go) and holding their breath as they check Noveltea again for any new comments or updates. Did you get to do anything extra fun? I’d be delighted to hear. 🙂 

Giveaway for Quote Puzzle Game

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Hey! This is your chance to win this amazing Action Kids Kit:
* A signed copy of Action Kids’ Club
* Action Kids notepad
* Action Kids bookmark
* Little notebooks
* Pens
* Buddy Davis CD
* Snacks in case you get hungry while reading
* Gum

How to get entered into the prize:

*Every day during the blog tour there’s a quote puzzle at the end of the post. Figure it out and leave your answers in the comment section and you’ll automatically be entered to win with five points

*Leave a comment about the blog tour in any of the blog tour posts and you’ll get one point

A winner will be drawn at random and announced at the end of the blog tour. (Prize will only be sent to USA addresses, sorry!) 

Action Kids Blog Tour Schedule

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It’s HERE!!!

Everyone, welcome to November 10th, 2014. The official release date of my book, 

Action Kids’ Club 

This is quite the thrilling day. 

After working on it for four years, having a countdown for two weeks and passing out Action Kids business cards to random people at Wal-Mart and church, the day has finally arrived to start getting this book out into y’alls hands, and to celebrate, we’re going to kick off with a blog tour! I’m first up, so check back soon for the first post in the tour. 
(If you’d like to do an author interview/guest post on your blog, just let me know!)

Hold on tight, y’all, and get ready for some amazing giveaways (lots and lots of them!), never-before-told stories, fun surprises and a very exciting next two weeks! 
Action Kids Blog Tour Schedule 

1. November 10th – Me at Noveltea 

2. November 11th – Sunny at Splash-of-Ink 

3. November 12th – Willa at Willa Nicole Scribblings 

4. November 13th – Leah at Apassionata

5. November 14th- Rosie at Writings of Rosie 

6. November 15th – Sam at Sam’s Blog 

November 16th – Break for Sunday 

7. November 17th – Sylvia at Writing in Wonderland 

8. November 18th – Michelle at Bookworm Blather 

9. November 19th – Emily at Mrs. Mommy Booknerd’s Book Reviews 

10. November 20th – Nayu at Nayu’s Reading Corner 

11. November 21st – Tarissa at In the Bookcase 

12. November 22nd – Me at Noveltea 

Blog Tour #4 – My Adopted Parents and Me

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Guess what I get to talk about on the Blog Tour today? My adopted parents*! Yea! And in honor of that, I thought I would share some more fun stuff here, because really, one post can’t come near to covering it all! To see the Blog Tour stop for today (which I must say is quite interesting!) Click here.  
(*I’m going to drop the word ‘adopted’ for the rest of this post)

My dad and I working on fiber-glassing our newest dinosaur model. – May 2013

 My dad is so extremely talented! I can’t even imagine having as much artistic ability as he does. Watching him build the dinosaur model and getting to help with it left me pretty much in awe. He would just look at it and say “This doesn’t look quite right” and next thing I knew he’d have the problem fixed until the beast actually looked as if he were alive! Not only can he build dino models, he’s also a great taxidermist, can paint absolutely beautiful pictures, does amazing drawings, writes songs that are stunning, can play instruments crazy-well, built his own log cabin, and… I think you get the picture. 🙂 He’s also so nice and a totally great people-person. Kids absolutely love him, well, just about everyone does, actually!

My mom and I all happy when getting to see a proof copy of our book for the first time! May 2013

I have so much fun when I’m with my mom! When we’re at the Museum I have the best time hanging out with her. Mom and I laugh together a whole lot, it seems we can always find something funny. She’s also a great cook, I have fun sitting in her kitchen and watching her when we’re at the cabin. She makes one of the best-looking cakes ever called a chocolate-mayonnaise cake. She’s extremely adventuresome, I get to hear all sorts of tales of her doing things like kayaking through the Everglades, journeying across the USA with dinosaurs, camping in Alaska and that kind of stuff. She’s also amazing with taking pictures, something which was very evident while trying to find pictures for this post because I have hardly any of the two of us together! She and Dad work together as such a great team. I can’t imagine keeping track of everything like she does. She is amazing!

Me almost crying with joy while holding my books the night of our book debut. There had been a problem with the printing and we hadn’t known if they would be ready in time. – June 2013

 They both have been very supportive and helpful with me as far as my writing goes. They’ve encouraged me, mentored me, co-authored a book with me and everything in-between. I’m so thankful to have them as my parents!

My parents and me the night the book was released, after everything was done. We’re all exhausted! – June 2013
I love getting to stay with them, being with them always gives me new ideas for books! 
My mom and me at the Mega Answers Conference. – July 2013
Whether going to a conference, building a dinosaur model, staying at the Museum, being on live TV, camping out in a cave or just being at the cabin, life with my parents is very fun and adventure-filled! I thank God for them each day and feel so blessed to have be able to call two of my biggest heroes my parents. 
My dad and I being interviewed on live TV. – August 2013 

What about you? Does this sound like an exciting life to you? And make sure you don’t miss out on today’s Blog Tour post!  And, remember, you can still enter this giveaway!

Cricket and me driving to the Museum after they picked me up at the airport. – October 2013

Please Note: I only talk about my ‘adopted’ parents in this post, not my other family, because that’s what this Blog Tour is about. Just know my other family is totally, 100% amazing as well and I could go on and on about them! I’m so very, very blessed to have two families!

**Please Note: I do not necessarily endorse everything on the blogs during this tour**