I’ll be posting, but may be irregular for a few more weeks. I want to give my blog followers something of value and hope you will hang in there with me while I get back on my feet and writing and posting regularly. Keep on writing. Set some goals for yourself. My critique group met last night for the first time this year and we talked over our writing goals. My publisher wants three more New Testament Women books this year. One member plans to write a chapter a week on his novel in progress. Another has a similar goal of writing every week. One other member wants to polish her novel and pitch it to a publisher and complete a manuscript for another novel this year. Our fifth member wants to complete a business book he is writing and then continue with his novel in progress.

I encourage you to set goals and share them with me and those who read this blog. It is good to encourage each other to meet our goals and work through the writing process together.

The songs and the clarity of the young voices struck at the heart of the Christmas season. The audience was invited to sing a verse of several well known and loved Christmas carols ending with the classic “Silent Night.” The concert was a loving gift to those who attended. Coming home afterwards my heart felt full and I thought about the birth of Jesus over 2,000 years ago. A simple setting and God’s love for all of mankind all wrapped up in a tiny baby. What an amazing gift to us all!

Merry Christmas to all of you and a blessed New Year.

To keep it simple each site has a limit of entries per person.  To participate go to the list at I Am A Reader and scroll down a few paragraphs to the link list.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Your Holiday Gift: a free copy of  Rebekah Redeemed or The Fisherman’s Wife

Three Winners Chosen from those who leave comments during the Giveaway Hop  Dec. 2 – 6

Winners Announced on this blog, December 7th, 2011 

Each participating blog is hosting their own giveaway and we’ve all linked up together so you can easily hop from one giveaway to the next.

The rules:
Must be 13 or older to enter
Entries will be accepted until 11:59 pm EST, December 6, 2011
One entry per person
Contest open internationally
The winner will be notified by email
Winner will be determine by random number generator
It’s not necessary to follow me for this, but it sure is appreciated!

To keep it simple each site has a limit of entries per person.  To participate go to the list at I Am A Reader and scroll down a few paragraphs to the link list.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Workshop Description:

Think of amazing characters, such as Sherlock Holmes, Scarlett O’Hara (Gone with the Wind), Tarzan, Scout Finch (To Kill a Mockingbird), Peter Pan, Charlotte (Charlotte’s Web), T. S. Garp (The World According to Garp), Nick and Nora Charles (The Thin Man), Harry Potter, the list goes on and on.

Characters are at the heart of every great story and every fiction author needs to know how to create good ones. Think temperament, intelligence, appearance, physical characteristics, quirks, moods, mannerisms, and so on. Great characters need to be real, engaging, and motivating; they need to keep the reader reading. They need to touch something in the reader; they need to be remembered.

Join Maggie Ball as she discusses characterization.

To register for “Creating Great Characters” email Maggie Ball at:maggieball@compulsivereader.com

Details to attend the LIVE WEBINAR will be provided upon registration.

There will also be a bonus PDF workshop handout included and registered attendees will receive a recording of the live webinar.

For complete details go to:

http://www.writersonthemove.com/p/writers-on-move-workshop.html

What are people saying?

“Tools and Tips is full of very useful information. I’ve always been impressed with your organizational and get-the-job-done skills. You did a good job of sharing them. I especially like your do-it-yourself writer’s retreat idea! Congratulations! This is a great addition to your list and I’m sure it will lead to even more inspirational readers for your other works.”

– Patsy Rae Dawson - International marriage consultant, has mentored both husbands and wives for 40 years, award winning author, Certified Public Speaker, publisher, BlogTalk radio host,

http://www.writersonthemove.com/p/writers-on-move-workshop.htmlTitle: Create and Sell an Informational Product

Presented by: Karen Cioffi

Date: November 18, 2011

Time: 7PM, EST (U.S. Time)

Workshop Format: Live Online Chat

Handout: Yes

Fee: Free

Workshop Description:

Surely, you’ve all hear by now about informational products. If not, it’s all about creating a product that provides needed or wanted information to others . . . information others will be willing to pay for.

And, it’s not difficult at all.

So, what might be an example of an informational product?

Simple, anything that, again, will provide people with information / knowledge they need or want. Information that will solve a person’s problem or will help them get where they want to be. It might be a report, an e-book, a workshop, you get the idea.

To help you get in the informational product game, Writers on the Move is hosting a workshop presented by Karen Cioffi that will give you the steps you need to get where you want to be: creating and selling informational products.

To register for “Create and Sell an Informational Product” email Karen Cioffi at:

karencioffi [at] ymail.

The workshop is free, but all registrants will be added to the Writers on the Move and the presenter’s mailing list.

Details to the LIVE CHAT will be provided upon registration.

We’ll be offering (at the discretion of the presenter) an After Workshop Package of this workshop for those who didn’t register and would like to purchase it. It’ll include the live chat transcript, the workshop handout, and possibly a podcast. Be sure to Get Yours when it’s available!

Q. How do you get your story ideas?

A. There’s an old adage to write what you know. I might add to that, to always keep your eyes and ears open for a possible story line. That first novel I wrote was sparked by something someone said to me when she showed me a picture of my great-grandfather’s grave. My Love Finds You in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin story grew out of wanting to know the history behind the beautiful lakeshore recreational building that has become an icon of the area. Just today a newspaper article sparked an idea I’d like to develop into a proposal.

Q. What is your daily writing routine?

A. My best writing time is morning, but I’ve had to make myself work outside the box at times when that kind of schedule doesn’t work. Since I am a morning person, I find it best to set my alarm as if I’m going to work. I get up at 5:30 and spend at least an hour in my Quiet Time with God. Then I try to walk daily for exercise before settling down in my home office to write. I recently converted unused space in my dining are into an office and that has helped tremendously with getting the sense of “going to work.” This helps me stay on task. Too many years actually working Monday through Friday probably contributes to that. On days I have an obligation away from home in the morning, I have had to force myself to be creative in the afternoon and early evening. I think as I start working on deadlines more and more that’s going to be essential.

Q. What advice do you have for new authors?

A. Persevere, persevere, and persevere. I started out aspiring to be published in novel writing more than ten years ago. I had the raw ability and desire to write, but that skill had to be trained and honed, much like a young colt has to be trained. I have learned that writers need to develop what we jokingly refer to as rhino skin and also we need a positive teachable attitude. Join critique groups, take writing courses, attend writing conferences where great teaching occurs and you’ll have opportunities to meet with industry professionals and pitch to editors and agents. ACFW has a great yearly conference ever September that is for fiction writers only. I cannot tout ACFW enough. It is a must organization to join for anyone who writes fiction from a Christian point of view.

Q. When you aren’t writing, what fills your days?

A. I volunteer at my church in the multicultural ministry, helping Japanese women learn to speak English and lead a women’s small group Bible study. I’m also chapter president of my local ACFW chapter which meets monthly. Also, I enjoy reading (surprise, surprise) and movies. Love to cook and find new ways of making things. You’ll find an adaptation of a recipe someone gave me called Chicken George at the back of Thyme for Love. I loved having April prepare it in the novel, and look forward to experimenting with more recipes for the sequels.

Thanks for coming by this week, Pamela. I hope you’ll come back again when your next book comes out.

Q: Give us a little preview of Thyme for Love.

A:  April Love has always dreamed of being a chef. When her Aunt Kitty hears of a in-house chef position for a non-profit organization housed in a lakeshore mansion next door, April returns to Canoga Lake, Wisconsin, where she’d spent many summers growing up, to apply for the job. When she discovers her former fiancé Marc Thorne working there, she wonders if this position was really God’s intention for her. After all, Marc all but left her standing at the altar to chase his own dreams in California. It doesn’t take long to realize Marc is hiding secrets and despite returning feelings for the man, April determines she will not make the same mistake as she did eight years earlier. But when their boss is found dead and Marc is framed for his murder, April has no choice but to turn sleuth to keep Marc from being accused of a murder he didn’t commit.

Q: What made you want to write this book?

A:  I’ve always loved romance and mysteries, and decided to write a story that married the two elements together. I grew up in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin and have always been fascinated by the many 20^th Century mansions that dot the lake’s shoreline. I toyed with the idea of setting the story in one of those homes, but decided to create a smaller lake and village just to the east of Lake Geneva to gain more freedom with some of the details of the story and its characters. I loved having the area located close enough to Lake Geneva that April and Marc could go there for a meal at one of the actual restaurants there. I also gave them backgrounds that involve working on Geneva Lake as many college students do during the summer months.

Q: Have you written other novels besides Thyme for Love?

Oh yes. My first novel which I would classify as a women’s fiction languishes in my computer at the moment. Authors very seldom publish their first written work as that often turns out to be a practice project. The storyline still resonates with me and I’d love to one day pull it out and rework it. There are a couple other stories that will probably never see the light of day. I’m very excited to have a novel set in my hometown of Lake Geneva, Love Finds You in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, coming out in June 2012 from Summerside Press. It’s a 1933 historical romance, and I had a blast researching for the story.

Q. Do you have any plans for a sequel to Thyme for Love?

A. I’m so glad you asked. Thyme for Love is part of a three-book series called “On the Road to Love.” Books 2 and 3 involved April and Marc, and both are set in Canoga Lake. In Book 2, Love Will Find a Way, April moves into an old Victorian home with plans to turn it into a restaurant and catering business. It isn’t long before a discovery made while they are renovating the home threatens to hijack plans for the grand opening. In Book three, Love’s Reward, April and Marc’s wedding plans are in full swing, until it becomes apparent there is someone who doesn’t want them to marry.