Southern Christian Writers Conference

Last weekend I had the privilege of co-teaching a workshop with lifelong friend, Shirley Crowder, at the Southern Christian Writers Conference in Birmingham, AL. The entire weekend was great! I made some new friends in the Christian writing world and renewed some old ones. The food was yummy, the fellowship was wonderful, and the weekend was fun! And the icing on the cake—on Saturday afternoon when the writing awards were announced, a devotion I had written that had been published on “Arise Daily” won first place in the devotion category. 

Release Day Again!

It’s Release Day again. This time it’s for book #2 in my personal Bookmageddon. This one is a devotional book co-written by Shirley Crowder and me. It’s Book Two in our Wonder and Worship series. This book takes the reader through the year—winter, spring, summer, and fall. Happy release day to Wonder & Worship Through the Year

Release Day!!

 “Stuck in the Middle” my debut children’s book is releasing tomorrow! Here’s the Amazon link to it: https://www.amazon.com/Stuck-Middle-Atrapada-Harriet-Michael/dp/1962862690 

Bookmageddon

 

A few years ago, a writer friend of mine had something like four books all releasing in the same year. On her social media posts she referred to it as bookmageddon which I thought was hilarious. Well, now I'm having my own (much smaller) version of bookmageddon. I have two books that are both releasing later this spring. Book #1 is my debut children's book titled, "Stuck in the Middle" which will release from Mt. Zion Ridge Press on April 15. It's a K-5 book about a middle sister named Hannah who struggles to figure out if there is anything about her that is special. Her brother is the family's only son, her older sister is the oldest girl, and her younger sister is the baby, but she is just... Hannah. One pretty amazing thing about this little book is that it will be published in both English and Spanish. 

Book #2 is the second in the "Wonder & Worship" devotional series Shirley and I started last year. It's titled "Wonder & Worship Through The Year" and will release from Entrusted Books on May 20. We're pretty excited about this new book baby of ours. You will be hearing more about each in the weeks to come. 

Welcome 2025

2025 has come in with a blast! A blast of snow, that is. Here in Louisville where I live, we just had an historic snowstorm that dropped over ten inched on the ground. I've been pretty much stuck in my house for going on five days now. I did get out yesterday to make a grocery run. This short stay at home gives me time to look ahead at what 2025 will bring to my writing world. 

January: My contributor copies of Chicken Soup's newest book, "Laughter's the Best Medicine" should arrive, though they haven't yet. I have a devotion in "The Secret Place".

February: "Laughter's the Best Medicine" releases and is available for sale in stores and on Amazon.

March: The MidSouth Christian Writers Conference will be held in Memphis March14-15. I will not only be attending, I'll be co-teaching a three-hour workshop on devotional writing on Friday afternoon the 14th. Also, my newest devotional book, a 2nd in the "Wonder & Worship" series will be releasing sometime this spring. I don't have a release date yet but think it will be sometime in March.

April: The annual EPA Evangelical Press Association conference will be held in Branson MO, I don't think I will be able to attend this year, but I sure enjoyed attending last year!

May: May has a lot of things happening, the main one being that my debut children's book will be releasing from Mt. Zion Ridge Press! I can't wait to share more with you about both of my upcoming releases! Also in May I will have a blog post in the EPA Freelancers blog and at the end of May are the Selah awards.

June: in early June the Southern Christian Writers Conference will be held. I may be participating in it this year. 

And as if that isn't enough to keep me busy, I am always writing articles and devotions that may get published at any time. I have two-three devos published on the online site, Arise Daily every month, usually have a devotion in "The Secret Place" quarterly, and am usually asked to write seven for "The Quiet Hour" once or twice a year. 

As far as books go, here are all the irons I have in the fire:

"Wonder & Worship through the Year" (devotional book I co-wrote with Shirley Crowder) releasing from "Entrusted Books" this spring. It's turned in but we haven't gotten our edits back to work on or our cover.

"Stuck in the Middle" (children's book) releasing from Mt. Zion Ridge Press in May. (Turned in, edited, illustrations turned in, just waiting for the final touches.)

"Savannah Sunrise" (historical romance that I co-wrote with my son, Trapier Michael) is finished but not contracted yet.

"Boston Dawn" (tentative title, historical romance) is a sequel to "Savannah Sunrise" so far, my son and I have only the first two chapters of it written but its plotted and pretty well researched, I am giving us til June to work on it and then will need to put it aside to start on another devo book with my friend, Shirley.

"Catch the Fire" (tentative title, a missions-based devotional I want to co-write with Shirley)

And finally, I have several more children's books written that I need to pull out and polish up, one at a time.

Did I mention that I love writing? lol! Here's to a successful 2025!

The Kentucky Christian Writers Conference

 At the start of my writing journey, way back in 2009, I attended the Kentucky Christian Writers Conference and it jumpstarted my writing. At that time I had a full length manuscript written but not published. 

That was it. 

That manuscript, which later became my book, Prayer: It's Not About You was the only thing I had ever written at the time and it was just a document sitting on my computer back then. But at the KCWC I took a class on freelance writing taught by Lettie K. Whisman that changed my life. I went home and tried my hand at freelance writing devotions and articles and within just a few months the contracts started coming in. 

This year the KCWC will be virtual so anyone can attend from anywhere. It is set for next weekend; Oct 17-19 and I will be there once again but this time as faculty. I will be teaching three workshops on the following topics: writing for magazines, devotional writing, and the pros and cons of co-writing. Sometimes in life things come full circle. I am so looking forward to being a part of this wonderful conference again!

Happy Fall!

How did it get to be autumn already? My family always takes a beach trip in early September that makes the summer last a little bit longer for me every year. We just came back from that so now there’s no getting around it—fall is here! Are you happy that the weather is or will be cooling down soon? Or do you miss those longer warm summer days? Maybe a good autumn devotional will help you get in the fall mood.