Inspired by . . . old book – new book

 

Shh . . . don't tell . . . . Jonathon Graham here, hijacking June's blog again, to share some words about old books and new books!

 

I love the smell of books. Don't you?

Old books, especially, seem to have a mysterious scent about them. It's interesting to think about all the different people who might have held the book, what they thought when reading it, how it impacted their lives. Hmm, I might suggest to June that she write a book about the journey of a book one day, lol!

I have a fair-sized collection of books. Nothing extraordinarily valuable in the eyes of the world. But each book that I've kept, I've kept because it has value to me.

My wife and I have limited space in our little bungalow, so most of my collection is currently boxed, awaiting the day when I'm able to shelf them again.

Since moving to the bungalow a few years ago, I've been purchasing most of my books in eBook format. One of the things I really like about eBooks is that, if I have my cell phone with me, I have access to my library! Now when I'm waiting at the doctor's office, or other similar appointments, I can catch up on my reading!

I must admit, though, I do miss holding a book in my hands and turning the pages.

So why am I talking about books anyway? Well, because I have some exciting news to share with all of you!

 

Starflower has just been released in eBook format!

 

 

I know a lot of you prefer eBooks, and June and I are so thankful to be able to offer Starflower to you in this format!

 

 

Even more exciting, for those of you who still like holding a book in your hand, when you purchase the print copy of either Heart's Desire, or Starflower, you can get the eBook version for free!

 

 

For those of you new to eBook reading, you don't have to purchase a Kindle to read these books.  The eBooks can be downloaded onto your personal computer, or your smart phone. This also applies to those of you who have ipad, tablet, or nook. You can still read eBooks purchased from Amazon on your personal computer!

Oh, and one more thing before I go – and June would definitely NOT want you to know about this – so don't breathe a word!

 

Her birthday is next month!

 

And I happen to know that she has some special gifts lined up for YOU during her birthday week!

So stay tuned!

 

Well, I'm off to hijack her Twitter and Facebook accounts!

 

Be Blessed,

Jonathan

 

PS – For those of you wondering about June's new book, No Tomorrow: it wasn't released last month as expected, but we have some exciting news about this title, coming soon!

Inspired by. . . reviews

The Literary Maidens have posted a review!

 

 

Click on the book cover to read what Madi has to say, and for a chance to win a free copy of Heart's Desire!

 

Double your chances of winning! Visit Goodreads and enter to win there, too!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Heart's Desire

by June Caedmon

Giveaway ends August 10, 2013.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Here's an excerpt from Heart's Desire to whet your appetite:

 

“Ride to New Orleans? Have ya plum lost your senses?” Curly sputtered.

“Have you got a better idea?” The adrenaline wasn’t pumping quite so hard now, and Melinda realized that her idea was risky.

“Take the train, send a wire.” Curly suggested, clearly flustered by the turn of events. “You’ll never make it there in time on horseback.”

Melinda’s first thought had been to take control of the situation. But she knew that was sometimes her downfall. Lord, show me what to do, she prayed as she considered Curly’s suggestions.

“Curly? ‘Thet you?” A small man dressed in a suit peered around the side of the barn.

“Hello, Jerry. Got something for me?”

“This wire came in a couple of days ago for Mr. Elliott. Can you take it to him?”

“A couple of days ago!” Curly nearly shouted at the man.

“It wasn’t anything urgent,” the man defended himself. “Just a list of items from his fiancé. I’d have ridden out with it if it was important,” the man huffed as he walked away.

Curly cringed when he saw the look of determination on Melinda’s face. “Now I know what yer thinking but…”

“The next train to New Orleans doesn’t leave until tomorrow morning,” Melinda said, heading for her trunk. “And after witnessing that scene, we obviously can’t trust the wire service. If I ride all night, I can get to New Orleans just after the boat docks. It will be close, but if any horse can do it, Charger can.”

Finding her trunk, Melinda opened it and pulled out a pair of trousers and an overcoat. Not waiting for a response from Curly, she slipped inside the carriage to change.

“Blast that Jerry and his late telegrams,” Curly muttered as he put the shades down to give Melinda more privacy. “Mr. Elliott will have my hide for this!”

Want more? Visit the author at junecaedmon.com

 

Have a wonder-filled day,

 

 

 

Sharing inspiration here:

 

Inspired by. . . a good read

A sweet blogger friend recently introduced me to Goodreads.

Whether you're an avid reader, or someone who reads only occasionally, I encourage you to check them out. If you don't have a lot of time for reading, Goodreads is a great place to read reviews and recommendations so you're more likely to pick a book you'll enjoy. If you're an avid reader, it's a wonderful place to connect with other readers who enjoy the same types of books, read reviews, give reviews and. . . oh, did I mention the giveaways?

 

There are lot's of giveaways at Goodreads! And now through August you can enter to win a copy of Heart's Desire!

 

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Heart's Desire

by June Caedmon

Giveaway ends August 10, 2013.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

 

 

In fact, I'm giving away three copies! So tell your friends!

Are you on Goodreads?

I'd love to connect with you.

June's bookshelf: read

The Rescue

by Lori Wick

The Knight and the Dove

by Lori Wick

The Princess

by Lori Wick

Beauty

by Robin McKinley

The Fellowship of the Ring

by J.R.R. Tolkien

 

 

Have a wonder-filled day,

Inspired by... new beginnings

 

Whew! It's been a crazy couple of weeks!  For those of you who have stuck with me... thank you!

I've been working hard on a couple of projects and have some exciting news to share with you today....

 

Announcing the re – release of

Heart's Desire

 

 

We are so pleased to be re-issuing this title under Wendyhill Media. 

 

 

The other three, previously published titles are {re} releasing soon! and you'll be the first to know when they do!

 

Want to know more about Heart's Desire?

 

Nestled along the banks of the mighty Mississippi, Riverview Planation is the picture of southern charm and tranquility. But an embittered quest to right the wrongs of the past soon threatens to destroy the peace and security of all who dwell there.

Melinda Cartwright is determined to help the Elliott brothers catch the smugglers who threaten their pecan operation. And John Elliott is just as determined to stop her!

As he watches his older brother, his aunt and even their house guests fall in love with Melinda and her winsome ways, he battles his own conflicting feelings for her. Melinda is not immune to his charms. But she denies her feelings, certain a future with John would mean the sacrifice of her dreams.

Then Melinda makes a sacrifice of another kind. One that could cost her very life. Ultimately, God intercedes to show them that only by trusting Him can they receive the true desire of their hearts.

 

You can read an excerpt from the book on our website www.junecaedmon.com

 

It's a cloudy, rainy day here in Texas.  The perfect kind of day to curl up with a good book and your beverage of choice!

 

Have a wonder-filled day!

 

 

 

 

Sharing inspiration here:

Inspired by... serendipity

Welcome to...

Here's a look at the unexpected and wonderful things I found this week:

Technique

... found over at A Little Bit of This and That.  Skylar taught me how to make a "spiral" friendship bracelet!  Most girls probably learn this technique when they are Skylar's age, but I didn't and I've always wanted to learn! Thanks, Skylar!

This technique: How To Macrame

I learned from a Crafty Mommy over at Ali.Lilly!  Thank you, Ami for sharing this wonderful tutorial!  And welcome (back) to Texas!

{more} Technique

...found while commenting on one of Sandy Ang's beautiful cards. Having spotted the "most viewed ever" link on her sidebar I just had to check out her beautiful Kusudama Flower Bookmark.  The real gem was this link I found on her tutorial page. 

Folding Trees (the best tutorials and paper creations online) is no longer an active blog, but in their own words "...we have compiled a valuable resource as a source of inspiration and tutorials, and we hope you’ll continue to visit us..."  Well, June and Eve, you can count on me visiting often and I am thrilled to have found you!

I've been inspired to combine these two "techniques" in some ways I think you'll find appealing.  I'll be sharing them with you soon!

FUN

...found at Wordle! 

Have you heard about Wordle? (I'm usually the last to know about anything, so I won't be surprised if you have!)  I found out about it this week and spent all night a few hours playing the other night.  The wordle above was created by entering my blog URL. (Apparently, I use the word "great" a lot!)  You can also do fun, random stuff like this:

Which is the same as the one above, but a different layout.  The colors are custom colors I entered into the Wordle site.  Cool, eh?

Wordle lets you enter A LOT of text.  Here's what came out when I entered the last chapter from Heart's Desire:

The custom coloring on this one I did myself in Photoshop.  I made an anniversary card for my friend's using their names, adjectives describing them and their marriage, and proper nouns of the things they like - they loved it!  My mind is just spinning with all the fun possibilities!

If you've already been using wordle, I'd love to hear/see what you've done!

So... what serendipitous finds did you have this week?

Inspired by... a picture

A picture is worth a thousand words... or so they say.  I would have to agree.  I'm no great photographer and my eight year old digital camera works... most of the time.  And, every once in a while, when I'm downloading my photos there is a passable one in the bunch (1 in 200 is usually my ratio - ha!).

But that doesn't stop me from taking pictures... lots of pictures!  I am frequently overwhelmed by God's creation and am constantly seeing things I want to "share."  A picture is a great way to do that.

I was delighted when I came across the Scripture and a Snapshot challenge over at Katie Lloyd Photography!  What an inspiring way to spread the Word!

Here's my first submission:

I love Hyacinths!  It's fascinating to me how they change color depending upon the alkalinity of the soil. In this picture I focused on the leaves.  Don't ya just love the dark veins and different shades of green?  I do!  It reminded of this scripture, Psalm 37:4, which is one of my favorites.  We often have many different "shades" or desires in our hearts.  But until those desires line up with what God desires for us, pursuing them won't bring the joy and blessings God wants for our lives.

I enjoyed discovering ways to practically apply this scripture to my life when I was writing Heart's Desire.  As you can guess from the title, it's a major theme in the story.  Melinda has many "plans" for her life.  But it isn't until she begins to seek God's plan for her that she finds true peace.

So what's your current heart's desire?  Do you think it lines up with what God would want for you?

I'm excited to be participating in:



Inspired by... truth

"Truth is stranger than fiction." This adage was never more real to me than when I began researching the first book, Heart's Desire.  Set in the pre-civil war South, I discovered I knew a lot of things in general, but not much in detail. 

I write fiction, not fantasy.  (Well, so far!)

My characters and their stories are pure imagination, but I strive to keep the settings and character-behavior historically accurate, no matter what the time period.  I enjoy reading books that do more than entertain, but also help me grow and my writing style tends to reflect that.  I enjoy researching and writing the details that help the reader better understand the character's world. Heart's Desire seems to have achieved this as one reader commented, "Your knowledge of the times is amazing! You transported me right into that book!"

From the beginning of Heart's Desire, Melinda, the main character, did things a 19th century woman should not be doing! You can read about her in the first chapter, HERE.

At first, I was concerned the reader might be put off by this and not continue reading.  You see the story, while fiction, must be believable.  It is important to me to gain and establish my reader's trust.  Subsequent research into Melinda's, er, activities, proved very encouraging.  I found numerous, interesting, at times bizarre stories of women (during the same time period) doing exactly what Melinda does in Heart's Desire, though not always for such righteous of reasons. 

It's always a challenge to keep the reader interested in the story, not revealing too much too soon, while at the same time not drawing things out too long.  I hope the first chapter of Heart's Desire will interest you enough that you'll continue reading...

What's your favorite truth? that's stranger than fiction?

Further Inspiration...

Below is a picture of Tezcuco Plantation.  Tezcuco means "a resting place" and can't you just imagine yourself sitting on that beautiful porch, enjoying a glass of fresh-squeezed lemonade as the breeze from the nearby Mississippi river ruffles the fronds of those potted ferns?  I could and this gracious raised cottage quickly became my inspiration for the Elliott's Riverview Plantation featured in Heart's Desire.

Happy Reading!

Inspired by... dreams

That's how they all started really, the books, with a dream.

I dream nearly every night, or I should say morning, since that's when most of them seem to happen. Which means I usually wake up before the dream is finished (or morphed into something different). That's what happened... I was having a dream, an really interesting dream and I wanted to know how it ended, or what came next...

Sometimes, if I think really hard about the dream, I can go back to sleep and the dream will start again. Not this time. As I already mentioned, it was an interesting dream and I wanted to know what happened next. For the first time it occured to me that, it was my dream! if anyone could decide what happened next it could be me, right? And so I wrote what happened next... and Hearts Desire, was born.

It was a little intimidating when I realized I was writing a book. I had never given any thought to writing a book, never had the desire to write a book. But once I got started, Melinda's story turned out to be much bigger than I ever imagined and by the time page 150 came along, it was time to admit: I was writing a book!

What was even more intimidating, was that the people who read the book - really liked it!

I'll talk about why that was so intimidating (and still is!) in the next post.