Peering Through Life's Window

I wrote down the names and drew one... And the winner is... Drumroll... Congratulations, Melissa!

A Warm Welcome to Liz Tolsma Liz will give away a print copy of Rails to Love (U.S. Residents only). To enter to win leave a comment and an e-mail address below. Hi Liz, first, tell us a little about yourself. I’m passionate about my writing and telling people’s stories. I’m passionate about my editing and serving young writers by helping them to get their careers going. I’m passionate about my family, which includes my husband and our three children. I’m passionate about adoption, which is how our children came to be ours. I’m passionate about gardening, walking, and camping with my family. Thanks for sharing with us. Tell us about your latest book.  My latest book is World’s Greatest Love in the Rails to Love collection. It just released last week. All of the stories in there have trains as an integral part of them. Mine is set on the Ringling Brothers circus train in 1896. It was a ton of fun to write – and research. All of the stops in the book are the

A Warm Welcome to the Midwest Christian Romance Authors Mildred Colvin, Jamie Adams, Linda Cushman and Regina Tittel Introducing Their Texas Brides Mail-Order Style Series See links for free books from some of their earlier selections on Amazon and a Smashwords code for free copies of Mail- Order Shotgun Wedding. Each author shares an excerpt below. Introducing the Group Midwest Christian Romance Authors is a group of four women who live in the Midwest and write, encourage, and edit each other’s work. Three of us met for the first time in Mammoth Spring, Arkansas when we toured the beautiful historic Frisco depot and grounds for the railroad. As a result, we each wrote a novella called In Mammoth Spring, AR. A year later, three of us, although not the same three, met in Warsaw, Missouri, at the Truman Lake Visitor Center located on Kaysinger Bason. Later, all four wrote another series that became a sequel to our first series, In Warsaw, MO. Since that beginning, ou

Hats...Horns... Congratulations, Connie!

A Warm Welcome to Gay Lewis  To enter to win the eBook of Sarah and the Double Wedding Woes  leave a comment and an email address below.   Hi Gay, first, tell us a little about yourself. I’m a retired interior designer, a current pastor’s wife, and mother to grown children. Two daughters live near me in Texas, and one moved to Kentucky. I live in a small town west of Houston but drive to the city for shopping. My driving record scares everyone, including me. As I write this, my husband is in the garage trying to repair my latest scrape with the side of our garage. I told him a few minutes ago that I’d leave the car outside from now on and let him park inside for me. Scraping the garage is a habit and I hate leaving scars on the fender. He patiently buffs them out. Sigh. I’ve done this several times. Good luck with the car and the garage. When it comes to cars, you're a writer, right? Many writers were avid readers as children. How about you? If so, what did you rea

A Warm Welcome to Michelle Griep Out of the Frying Pan , what a cute title! How appropriate that  Michelle shares a recipe. She also gives us a favorite Bible verse Zula’s Siren Cinnamon Muffins I love to cook, so getting into character for my latest co-authored release, Out of the Frying Pan, was particularly fun. Main character Zula Hopkins is renowned for her sweet culinary skills at the Sunset Paradise Retirement Community. These muffins are her go-to recipe for attracting male suitors—and it’s the first thing she whips up to garner the attention of Detective Jared Flynn for her niece KC. Here’s the recipe . . . Siren Cinnamon Muffins 2 cups flour ¾ cup sugar 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda pinch of salt ¾ cup buttermilk ¼ cup melted butter 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 large egg 8 ounces sour cream 2/3 cup cinnamon chips Streusel: 1 package instant cinnamon oatmeal 1. Preheat ove

You would think the author of countless romance stories would find it easy to write one out of her own life. But it’s not. Growing up, I would walk home and look up to heaven, spin around, and wonder if God was taking my picture. Did He care for my overly-sensitive, hurting and lonely heart? All a teacher had to do was look at me wrong and I’d burst into tears until sixth grade when I learned to hide my pain. The sweetest love story is when, after years of sensing God’s call to me, I finally understood that I could respond. That he was waiting for me to do so! James 4:8 says “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. (NASB)” Really? He wasn’t some distant King high on a thrown beyond my reach. I first came to understand this at a Campus Life/Youth for Christ meeting. For weeks I had begged some friends to let me come to a meeting. They seemed happy. They had something I didn’t. And they would go to concerts for groups like . . . Petra, who I had never heard of.

Hat, Horns, Confetti... Congratulations to Melissa and Janet!

In honor of the Olympic Games, we're celebrating sports and athletes. I'm giving away an e-book, a print copy (U.S. residents only) and my publisher's giving away a Smashwords code for  Stopped Cold.  To enter to win leave a comment and an e-mail address below. The Olympic Games are underway! What a wonderful time of competition, excellence and togetherness. The results of hard work, gifts used, and obstacles overcome pay off. Possibilities for shining futures fill the air. One one-hundredths of a second can separate number one and number two. On the edges of their seats, spectators escape life’s difficulties and differences and marvel at the best of the best. It’s a great time to sink into the pages of Stopped Cold , a teen sports mystery, and meet high school swimmer Maggie Butterfly. Stopped Cold   finished 4th in the 16th Annual Preditors and Editors Readers’ Poll and was a 2013 Grace Awards Finalist. Below find The Thrill of Victory , Chapter One and Youth Su

The winner of Through Raging Waters is... Hats, Horns... Congratulations, Sonja!

A Warm Welcome to Renee Blare                                               The Tetons                                                           Renee talks passionately about her beloved Wyoming, where she set Through Raging Waters. She’ll give away an e-book of that novel. To enter to win leave a comment and an e-mail address below. Wyoming Wonderland Many who know me would tell you that I love my home. From the ongoing saga of the first National Park to my husband fishing at one of our high mountain lakes, I post about my beautiful state on Facebook daily. I share pictures of my Wind River Mountains, Snowy Range, and Wyoming Black Hills. (Black Hills below) This is God’s country. The Big Horn Mountains is where I had my honeymoon as well as Thermopolis, the largest single hot springs in the world. I love to fish and hunt these hills. Wyoming is like no other place on earth, at least to me. And it’s on fire. Over 60,000 acres of land is currently burn