I'm a Speaker too!

The sun is shining, the birds are chirping and I'm feeling like spring may finally be on its way. Thank goodness! What a long, cold winter it's been. But in spite of the cold, I have been enjoying some speaking engagements which I thought I'd tell you about today.

Writers must also learn to be speakers. Speaking serves several purposes. There are often groups that ask a favorite writer to speak to their group and its also a way to build a platform. (A platform is the group of people who follow you as a writer, who enjoy reading your books, and who will continue to read new books you write.)

I am reminded of this aspect of the writing life because lately I have been asked to speak to a few groups and have loved every minute of it. In the past few weeks, I have spoken to a local writing group about an aspect of the writing craft, to a group of high schoolers about writing, and to a men's group about one of my books which they are studying.

… yes, you read that correctly. A men's group has been studying one of the books I wrote.

Last summer a man I know who teaches a Sunday School class at a large Methodist church in my city and also leads a men's small group at that same church read Prayer: It's Not About You and liked it well enough to want his groups to read and study it too. I am both humbled and honored by this!

His small group has been studying it since last fall and asked me to join them for a casual question / answer session. They wanted to meet the author and be able to ask me questions. What an enjoyable time I had! Now, this same man tells me his Sunday School class (a much larger group) will begin studying it in mid-April and later this summer when they are closer to the end of the book, he would like me to come speak to them. He may have several Sunday school classes join together to hear me, so in that session I will be both speaking and answering questions.

And I'm loving every minute of it! If you have a group in need of a speaker, I'd love to be contacted. I can speak on Biblical topics, especially prayer, and on writing topics too.

New Pictures and a Chat with my Mom

A couple of weeks ago my husband and I had some pictures made in order to choose one for back of our book, "A Stand for Truth" that is currently in the publishing stage with Olivia Kimbrell Press. The choice was difficult since we had a great photographer who made us look nice, in spite of ourselves. Here is the one we chose.

Oliva Kimbrell Press is the same publisher who published my novel, The Whisper of the Palms back in March of 2017. This book is the fictionalized version of my parents' story--their childhoods, love story, and call to foreign missions that ultimately led them to Nigeria where I was born. In celebration of the two-year book anniversary, Valentines (since this is a love story), and my mother's birthday (Feb 23) the ebook is going on sale Feb 13-16. You can watch for more reminders of that sale on my Facebook author page.

Since the story is based on the lives of my parents, I wanted to share a conversation I had with my mom the other day. Mom told me about a book she is currently reading that took her back to her childhood because it had a rural farm setting about the time she grew up in the hills of North Carolina, the daughter of a poor farmer. Mom told me about the turning plow and the regular plow. In the book she's reading the little girl had to learn how to use a turning plow.

"Now that was different from me," she said. "Daddy would never let me work the turning plow. He said it was too hard to handle." Then she explained that the turning plow turned over new ground still hardened from the winter. "But I begged him so that he finally agreed to let me try my hand at the regular plow. I was supposed to plow between rows of corn but I lost control and plowed up about a fourth of a row of corn. We could get most of it to stand back up by stepping around the roots and packing them back in the dirt but Daddy lost some of his plants." 

I asked her if my grandfather, whom I remember so fondly, was angry with her. "Oh no," she said. "He thought it was funny and laughed and laughed at me. I had my pride hurt, though. I was always so sure I could do anything anyone else could do." 

… and this is why I wanted to write a book about my parents. I love my mom's can-do attitude and my dad's ingenuity. My mom has always believed anything was possible and my dad has usually found a way to make it happen, whatever it was. If you haven't reads the book yet, get it while its on sale in a couple of weeks. I promise you will enjoy it.