Various Things

Nine days from deadling for Coral Moon and counting.

We’ve been on the topic of character arcs within series for a while. Feel like I'm running out of things to say. Do any of you have specific questions about series you’re working on? Or anything I’ve missed? Please post them if you do, and we’ll take a look at them tomorrow.

I had a good day yesterday. Writing, of course. But also had a conference call with my agent and the marketing and publicity gals at Zondervan regarding Violet Dawn. They are giving that book a good launching, I’ll tell you. With what they’re doing and what I’ll be doing (and what you can be involved in, if you choose), if should be a fun launch. More on that to come.

Other various pieces of good news, in no particular order:

Received a new copy of Dead of Night today—third printing.

Web of Lies is selling the best of any of my books so far. Yippe-yay. And the sales figures don’t yet reflect the flyers campaigns in stores such as Lifeway and Family and Parable, etc, which are just getting underway.

Eyes of Elisha and Dread Champion are both getting spitzy new covers and will be reissued this spring. That is terrific news.

Wait, is spitzy a word? Somebody do tell. It just sounds so right.

Brink of Death will be in Zondervan’s summer sale around June. That means you can pick it up in bookstores for a cool $4.97. Hey, I can’t even get it that cheap at my author discount. Methinks I should buy a few copies meself. (This is an example of what I was mentioning a few days ago—market, market, market the first in a backlisted series.)

I heard numerous other cool things but can’t tell it all here. In short, I’m feeling very humbled at God’s mercy after so much good news in one day. He knows us poor humans so well! He knows when we’re struggling and really need a pick-me-up. As I’m working the countdown for this deadling, these myriad pieces of good news have gone a long way to help keep me going.

I’ve also received some very nice letters of late. Here are two that meant a lot to me. Again, as I struggle to finish another book, they are wonderful encouragement.

What a wonderful ministry you have....one sentence from Web of Lies made such an impact to me: 'God's power is released through prayer, whether I feel anything or not.' I've already told two of my closest friends about this sentence. My friend just found out that her 10-year-old daughter [has an incurable illness], and I told her to tell her church to pray. Every Christian she knows should be praying for her precious little girl.

I live in a suburb of New Orleans. My family was very fortunate to not receive much damage from Hurricane Katrina, but we have many dear friends who lost everything. One friend called me in tears, the day I finished reading Dread Champion. She'd just found out that not only her original filing with FEMA had been rejected, her appeal had too. She was at the end of her rope and begged me to pray because she didn't know how to deal with it. I remembered the "Dread Champion" verse and pulled out the book. We looked up the reference and we (along with a few other people) are now claiming Jeremiah 20:11-13 for this situation. My friend says she's signing every letter she sends to FEMA with these verses! Thank you so much for this blessing from God that we received from your writing.

What’s most impressive about these letters is how the themes of the book were passed from reader to friends in difficult situations. Two readers, and yet—who knows?—6 or 8 or maybe more people have now been heartened by God’s message as they face struggles in their own lives. That's the efficiency of our God.

I pretty much let it all hang out here, BGs. You know writing’s hard for me. You know I struggle with it and always angst that the books are horrible when I write. God always pulls me through. No wonder I get on my knees every time when I finish a book. I just couldn't do it without Him. And He sends good pieces of news just when I need them. Thank You, God, for the positives of this day.