Dating Article

Time for another Behind the Design of the book cover process! This time, I'm backing up a few months to a cover that remains one of my favorites: True Nobility by Lori Bates Wright.When I read the answers Lori filled out in the questionnaire, I knew I was going to love doing this one. She wanted the cover to feature her heroine--face not fully visible--in a beautiful blue hoop dress. Now, I confess: I love historical covers with gorgeous dresses. I think they grab the eye immediately. I love them as a reader, I love them as a writer, and I love them as a designer, LOL. As a designer, these are far easier to find images for than everyday historical garb. Go figure, I guess they're more fun for models to take pictures in. ;-) In this case, I began with the dress. I wanted to find something accurate to the era, and I was thrilled when I stumbled across public domain images from the Met galleries. When I saw this one, I knew I'd hit upon a winner. In general, this fit the desc...

For the first time ever, one of my new releases is a featured ebook sale! If you haven't read Barclay's story yet, now is the perfect time to snag the ebook. Available for a limited time from selected retailers for just $0.79!!! Check out the links below for your preferred retailer.  About the Book With Danger Creeping Ever Closer, Do Their Dreams Still Matter? Once London's top thief, Barclay Pearce has turned his back on his life of crime and now uses his skills for a nation at war, including keeping an eye on a talented engineer working as a clockmaker. But not until he rescues the man's daughter from a mugging does he begin to wonder what his future might hold. Evelina Manning has constantly dreamed and worked for independence, but she certainly never meant for it to inspire her fiancé to end their engagement and enlist in the army. When the intriguing man who saved her returns to the Manning residence to study clock repair with her father, she can't help being ...

As the old year draws to a close, I always pray for a word for the new year. Something I ought to keep in mind through the coming months. Something God whispers to my spirit. Sometimes I get one. Sometimes I don't. For 2018, there was no word that stood out. And given 2017, I didn't mind that. See, the last word I received was Overcome . An encouraging word, a word of promise. But a word that was also a warning. Even as I got it, I was hedging. "Maybe it's not for me to live--maybe it's for me to give ." And it was, in a way. In May of 2017, my sister was diagnosed with lymphoma. I sat down to write her some encouraging cards to take to the hospital with her for her first treatment and was looking up scriptures to include, and one of them was the very verse that inspired that Word of the Year. I got chills, let me just tell you. And I knew. I knew that word had been for my whole family, and I knew my sister would overcome this cancer--that God would overcome ...

Since I did a bit of a round-up in this week's Word of the Week post, I thought I'd continue that trend today. 😀 Here you'll find a list of all my past Christmas-themed posts throughout the years (or all the ones my search turned up, anyway, LOL). Have you missed one? Now's the perfect time to catch up! Finding Christmas Christmas should be about Who is in our hearts, not about what's under the tree...or even what family is around us. The Real Spirit of Christmas We hear so much about the spirit of Christmas...but what about the Spirit this Christmas season? When Christmas Was in the Books A quick look at the very different appearances of Christmas on the pages of A Heart's Revolution (formerly Love Finds You in Annapolis ) and Ring of Secrets When Christmas Was Banned   How the Pilgrims and their descendants viewed Christmas The Hanging of the Greens   The reasons behind the red and green tradition Santa Claus and Giving   The real St. Nick and what he stood ...

This is another word that my daughter came running out to show me in her history book. And one I found even more intriguing when I looked it up on my own, as etymonline doesn't, in fact, agree with said history book! So, according to A History of Us , the phrase brand-new was once bran-new . This because imported items were shipped in barrels that used bran as a packing material. So if something was fresh from the crates, just taken from the bran... Other sources, however, say that the original was brand-new , dating from the 1500s...though the idea is actually rather parallel, in that it came from the notion of being straight from the forge ( brand at the time meant "fire). Shakespeare actually used fire-new . So whether it has a D or not, it certainly carries the same meaning--something freshly made.

Original post published December 15, 2011 I'll just come out and admit it--I like getting presents. I do. That surprise of ripping open the paper and finding something underneath that you didn't choose for yourself. That feeling of appreciation that comes from knowing someone took the time to select something for  you . And, well, just getting new things. 😉 Amazon I like giving presents. I like putting thought and care into what each person in my life wants and needs. I love finding those gems--like the year we gave my mother-in-law the leg lamp from her all-time favorite move,  A Christmas Story . (Or as she calls it,  Shoot Your Eye Out , LOL.) I love picking things that I know will make my kids squeal with delight. But this year . . . I don't know. We're trying to clear some accumulated junk from our house, so I'm rather loath to bring in new junk. You know? In years past when buying for my kids, I would often just grab things to fill out the allotted funds from...