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. 🙂