Drawing--Contest!! Free Book!

Sunflower Serenade Giveaway!

I've been reading Tricia Goyer's Sunflower Serenade and enjoying this sweet story of a small town, its residents, the county fair and the country western singer who arrives and sets the town on its ear. Tricia weaves a story of gentle country life, but also more complex family relationships. I have an extra copy of this lovely, hard-cover book to give away. Here are the rules:

Leave a comment telling me if you've ever read any of Tricia's books, or any of the Guidepost series books, and you'll be entered in the drawing. If you want a second entry for another chance to have your name drawn, either link my blog to yours or follow my blog, and let me know that you did.

Here's a quick summary of the book again, in case you missed it on my earlier post.

About the Home to Heather Creek series: Charlotte Stevenson's world is turned upside down when her daughter, Denise, dies in a tragic car accident. She ran away at eighteen and Charlotte has never forgiven herself. Now, Denise's children, abandoned by their father, are coming from California to live on Heather Creek Farm in Bedford, Nebraska.

Charlotte is uncertain about her ability to care for three grandchildren who are not thrilled to give up the beach and sunshine for snow and farm chores! But she sees a chance to make amends and will do whatever it takes to keep her fragile family together. Feel the courage, strength and commitment of this family as their lives unfold in the Home to Heather Creek series.

ACFW welcomes guest speaker BIRDIE ETCHISON - Monday, August 31st

Join us Monday, August 31st at the Vancouver Church of Christ for

"FINDING YOUR NICHE: The Short and the Long of it" with Birdie Etchison.

At conferences the emphasis is on writing the novel, but what if you don’t have
time? What if you’d like to try something shorter first? Or, give yourself a break in between writing the longer muse.

How to make transitions in your life of writing. How to keep on going when the engine is rusty.

Topics we’ll discuss:

Hearing the call
Getting started
Keeping at it
Marketing
Bouncing back after rejection
Mentoring others

Birdie Etchinson first began selling short stories and articles to a variety of Christian publishers. Her first published books were juvenile, three nonfiction, and then romance. OREGON was an alternate selection For Crossings Book Club. Her nonfiction written with a non-writer became a movie made for TV. She’s also written novellas and short articles for collections like The Heart of a Mother. Her other accomplishments include being an instructor for Writer’s Digest Schools.

Birdie resides on the Long Beach Peninsula. She has six children, seven grandchildren, and nine great-grands. Her hobbies include reading and cooking.

Please come around 6:30 pm to socialize and snack. Birdie will speak at 7 pm. Don't miss out on Birdie's valuable insight and experience.


And don't forget the wonderful new "twist" to our meetings. Each ACFW Portland
Chapter member will be eligible to win a weekend Beach retreat at Lincoln City. The winner will be drawn at the end of the calendar year (our last meeting of the year.)

How do you win this stay in a four bedroom beach house with a view? Everyone who attends any given meeting will recieve a slip of paper to enter. Also, everyone who brings a snack will receive an entry slip. Whenever you buy a book from our used book fund-raiser, you will earn a chance as well. So, the more you attend, bring snacks, and buy books, the more chances you have to win the stay in Lincoln City!

More information about the raffle and the beach house will be available at the meeting.

Directions to Vancouver Church of Christ:
I-205 to the Padden Parkway exit and go east on Padden. Turn left at the 94th Ave light, then take the first left and turn left again into the church parking lot.

If you can bring snacks or beverages, please contact Cheryl Martin: calm1954 at yahoo dot com.

Portland ACFW Meets Monday, June 29

Join us Monday, June 29th at 6:30pm to meet and hear from NW author LINDA CLARE. Linda will be teaching on Writing To the Rule of 3.

Linda is a published non-fiction author and is looking forward to the October 2009 release of her first novel, The Fence My Father Built, from Abingdon Press.

Address: Vancouver Church of Christ 9019 NE 86th St. Vancouver, WA 98662.

Directions: From Portland: Take I-205 northbound and cross the Columbia River into Washington. Take the Padden Parkway eastbound exit (exit 32). Continue right onto Padden Parkway. You'll see the church on your left. Turn left at the first traffic light, NE 94th Ave. Take the first left (NE 86th St.) and then another left into the church parking lot. We meet in the Fireside Room to the right of the main entrance.

Writing Seminar June 30th with JILL WILLIAMSON

Jill Williamson, author of By Darkness Hid, a Christian fantasy novel, is giving a writing seminar. She will be sharing 10 Tips for Better Writing and 10 Steps to Publication.

June 30th - 6:30 PM
Liberty Bible Church in Salmon Creek
12401 NE Salmon Creek Ave
Vancouver, WA 98668

(360) 574-9302

Admission is free.

Multi Author Signing June 20th

Come join me at Beaverton Christian Supply on Cedar Hills Blvd, on June 20th, as I join with six other fabulous authors for 2 hours to sign your favorite books. Here's the authors you'll meet:

Robin Jones Gunn
Cindy Hannan
Miralee Ferrell
Melanie Dobson
Leslie Gould
Pat Rushford
Jill Williamson

Where Do I Find Christian Fiction??

Are you a starved Reader? Looking for solid, faith inspiring books that offer Suspense? Romance? Adventure? Mystery? Edge of your seat thrills? An escape into times past? Times to come? Have you read every Christian novel your neighbor owns and gave up on finding any more?

We wanted to make your life easier, sort of. So we collected links to a whole bunch of Christian Fiction Authors---just for you! Because you are very special, Reader. This is not an exhaustive list by any means. We are just getting started, so please be patient. If you don’t see your favorite Christian author listed, please give us a shout! And if you are a published Christian author and would like your books included in this listing, let us know. It’ll cost you no more than a Starbucks. Or a MooLatte. (This is a sophisticated drink for grown ups and not just a coffee flavored milkshake.)

PLUG TIME (since it’s our site and we can do whatever we want): The Portland Christian Writers would like to take this opportunity to brag on the Christian authors in our local area. Here are a few of our very own Oregon & Washington Christian authors listed in a totally random and in no way secret bible coded order:

Christina Berry http://www.christinaberry.net/
Sherrie Ashcraft http://www.sherrieashcraft.blogspot.com/
Lorena McCourtney http://www.lorenamccourtney.com/
Randy Ingermanson http://www.ingermanson.com/books/index.php
Bonnie Leon http://www.bonnieleon.com/
Karen Kingsbury http://karenkingsbury.com/
Robin Jones Gunn http://www.robingunn.com/
Jane Kirkpatrick http://jkbooks.com/
Miralee Ferrell http://w3.gorge.net/miralee/Author.html
Melanie Dobson http://www.melaniedobson.com/
Jill Williamson http://jillwilliamson.wordpress.com/
Patricia Rushford http://www.patriciarushford.com/
Randy Alcorn http://epm.org/books/alphabetical_book_indexDetail.php
Leslie Gould http://www.lesliegould.com/pages/books.html
Melody Carlson http://www.melodycarlson.com/
Mesu Andrews http://mesuloveshim.blogspot.com/
Lindy Jacobs http://lindyjacobs.blogspot.com/
Ann Shorey http://annshoreycom.blogspot.com/


If you belong on this list and are not, please leave us a comment with your web link. A nice comment.


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OKAY, NOW FOR SOME PAINLESS PLACES TO FIND FICTION:
First, you’ll find current titles and a good variety of Christian Fiction at
Christian Book Distributors: http://www.cbd.com/

Michelle Sutton’s Edgy Inspirational Author Blog offers more book reviews than you could ever possibly find time to read. But more important to the topic at hand: this site lists countless Christian authors. I mean that. I gave up counting. I actually attempted to copy each of the links for you here, but my mouse started to smoke. Just go there. You’ll need to scroll down a little and look for a list called “Incredible Authors” on the left. http://www.edgyinspirationalauthor.blogspot.com/

The American Christian Fiction Writers’ website lists gobs of Christian Fiction authors: http://acfw.com/readers/authorlist.shtml

. . . and upcoming releases: http://www.acfw.com/upcomingreleases.shtml

. . . more book reviews: http://www.acfw.com/bookreviews.shtml

. . . and Mary Connealy tells me that this list, broken down by sub-genre, is so comprehensive it’s scary: http://tiny.cc/ysOAM Of course, I gotta check that out now, just because she said that. (Yes, I grew up reading Stephen King.)

Vicki Hinze lists more authors here: http://web.mac.com/vickihinze/Vicki_Hinze_Author/

And some authors just don’t seem to be listed on any of these sites, they’re just grazin' around out there having fun: Maggie Brendan http://www.bustlesandspurs.com/
(Maggie, I'm sure you're not the only one. We'll round up the others soon.)



Grace Bridges supplies a list of Christian Speculative Fiction and some reviews here: http://splashdownbooks.com/lost-genre-library.html

If you STILL haven’t gotten your fill of book reviews, Roseanna White does more here: http://www.christianreviewofbooks.com/

There’s some sort of battle of the authors going on here, looks like it could be fun: http://acfw.com/readers/authorcomparison.shtml

Again, I’m sure we’ve missed someone even with all these lengthy lists. Just let us know who’s missing and we’ll get them added.

So, see? There is no way you can complain about not having anything to read now. Not that you would complain. And even if you have time to read all these titles, by the time you finish them, there will be more. I may even have a book for you by then. Wow. You’d better be on hand for that . . . I’m thinking that will be a MooLattes on the house kind of day.








~Camille Cannon Eide
EXTREME KEYBOARDING

Jill Williamson's new cover for By Darkness Hid

Miralee suggested I post my new book cover, so here it is:

Isn't it pretty?