DEADLINED AND LOVING IT!

I'm deadlined...and loving it! I'm grateful for writing opportunities because...I'm called to write. Especially Christian fiction. January was a blur as I finished a novella for a contracted project entitled Kiss the Bride. It's about four young restaurant owners who pass around a "Kiss the Cook" apron until they each find romance with Mr. Right. The last groom crosses out "Cook" and writes "Bride." Each novella in this Barbour 4-in-1 tells the love story of each girl. Kiss the Bride will be on shelves September, 2006. The publisher plans to feature the apron on the cover. I can't wait to see it. The four coauthors are: Kristy Dykes, Aisha Ford, Vickie McDonough, and Carrie Turansky. We plan to have aprons made identical to the one on the cover and wear them at a large book signing in September at American Christian Fiction Writers annual conference in Dallas. That should be fun.

I enjoyed writing my novella, "Angel Food," in this collection. My heroine learns an important lesson in life and love, found in 1 Corinthians 131,3: "If I speak in the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal…if I give all I possess to the poor…but have not love, I gain nothing." Though she helps in a rebuilding project sponsored by her church (a worthy, God-pleasing activity), she's not putting Christ first in her life because her focus is on her new restaurant and seeing it succeed. She's consumed with this goal because she wants to take care of her mother in her elderly years (her mother had her late in life)--a worthy, God-pleasing goal. But she finally comes to see what true success is and what true love (for God) is. And in the process, she finds the love of her life!

Now, I'm facing another deadline: May 1, 2006. Hallelujah! I love those deadlines! I'm writing Heart of the Matter, a contemporary novel for Heartsong Presents (Barbour). Here's a short blurb:

A man with a prejudice...
A woman with a problem...
A child with the answer.

The scriptural theme is: It’s what’s in the heart that matters, not a person’s outward appearance, based on 1 Samuel 16:7.

I'm teaching a fiction workshop at Florida Christian Writers Conference in Bradenton, Florida, this coming weekend. www.flwriters.org Some of the speakers who are leading authors of fiction are T. Davis Bunn, Angie Hunt, Gayle Roper, Eva Marie Everson, Bryan Davis, and more.

Now, back to my writing...