5 Books I'm Grateful For | BLACK FRIDAY BOOK SALE

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  Just looking back at the past year I see that I have been so blessed, even though going through a pretty tough time in my life.  So...Happy Thanksgiving!

Like most other bookworms, great books make their way onto my "things I'm thankful for" list every year. It's hard to choose favorites, but  I went ahead and picked five books I read in 2015 and am thankful for.

1. The King's Scrolls by Jaye L. Knight - This book tells of hope and faith in the darkest of times!  One of my all time favorites.  :D

2. A Time To Die by Nadine Brandes - I promise you, this book is not as morbid as it sounds.  It is really a story of living your life to the fullest!

3. A Time to Speak by Nadine Brandes - Equally as good or better than it's previous book, A Time to Die.  It encourages everyone to speak up for what they believe in and to not give in to fear.

4. Water Princess, Fire Prince by Kendra E. Ardnek - I love this book so much!  It is wonderfully written with a wonderful story.  The story is right up my alley with Christian values with an epic portal fantasy tale.

5. Shadowhand by Anne Elisabeth Stengl - This.  Book.  Is.  Mindblowing.  Each Tales of Goldstone Wood book gets better!

I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to another great year of reading! Speaking of more reading, here's one more thing to be grateful for. Books on sale! In honor of Thanksgiving and Black Friday, a group of independent Christian authors banded together to offer over seventy discounted books on Nov 27-30. There's literally something for everyone.

Every single book listed on Indie Christian Books is on sale in one or more ways. Find discounted paperbacks, dozens of books offered with free shipping, $0.99 ebooks, package deals and more. Even if you have a budget of $0, new reading material awaits you.

Don't know what to pick? The fearless Indie Christian Books team created a quiz that will generate a book list perfect for you! Check it out!

What awesome reads of 2015 are you grateful for? What books are you looking forward to reading in 2016?

A note on the Ebooks Only page. All books are listed as "Sold Out." This only refers to paperback copies of these titles. Please click onto the product pages to find descriptions and links to discounted or free ebooks.

Acknowledgements: Thanks to Leah E. Good for her work organizing this sale, Gloria Repp for completing the time consuming job of uploading book info to the sale website, and Hannah Mills  for her fantastic design work on the website graphics. Hannah can be contacted at hmills(at)omorecollege(dot)edu for more information about her design services.

Why I Write My Books Like A Movie

My fourth grade teacher was the one who taught me to love writing.  Thank you, Mrs. Hunt, wherever you are!  She also had this one saying for when we were writing stories (or narritave as they are called in school.)  She would always say.

Write it like a mind movie.

It made complete and total sense.  It still does, actually.

So now, whenever I write a book, I watch the scene as I write like I am watching the movie.  I add camera angles, special effects, and color grading in my mind.  I watch it like a finished movie would look.  (And what do you know, it's EXACTLY like the book?  LOL)

1. It helps with character voice.  Picturing the characters and watching events happen in my mind just helps me develop unique voices for my characters.  It helps me hear their voices in my head and each one sounds different.

2. It helps me with description.  Watching stuff play out in my mind like a movie helps me picture setting in my mind just the way I want it.  (Can you tell I'm a very visual person?)

3. It captivates my attention to the point where I don't realize I am typing anymore.  Do you ever read a book and forget you are actually reading words on a page and then you go back to real life and think, "Who and where am I?"  I certainly have.  Watching a movie of my book while I write it is sort of like that.  (While editing The Clockshifter I sometimes accidentally refer to the character as myself.  LOL)

5. I love making movies.  If I don't have the resources to make the movie now, I can at least make it in my mind.  :)

Do you ever make a mind movie of your book?  Am I weird for doing this?  Comment away!

NaNoWriMo Is Over Halfway Over?

How is NaNoWriMo over halfway over?  Time flies when life gets crazy!

Last week was the craziest week of my life.  Life pretty much exploded.  Because of that, I'm about 13,000 words behind.

My Life:

Theater, terrifying experience, watching soccer game, sleep, journalism, soccer game, sister's birthday, journalism, sleep, mom's birthday, sleep, sister's birthday party, movie at friend's house, sleep, Church, house cleaning and other neglected stuff, dinner at grandparents' house, sleep.

Crazy, right?  Hardly any time for writing.  I'm thinking that I won't make it to 50k, so I am shooting for about 25k words, which I have done a few times before.

How is your writing going?