Congratulations to Christy Winner Jill Williamson by Terry Burns

Our sincere congratulations to Jill Williamson as her novel title "By Darkness Hid" is this years Christy Award in the visionary category. Even though Jill is no longer with Hartline I was pleased to be the agent on this book.



This is not only a win for Jill but for Jeff Gerke as his small press went head to head with major publishers and came away with the win.


We are bursting with pride for Jill and for Jeff both and wish them tremendous ongoing success.

Get Yourself to a Conference - by Terry

Let me put my writer hat on. I met my agent, Joyce Hart, at a writer's conference. Yes, even agents generally have agents, but that was before I started working with her in that capacity.

The contacts I have made that resulted in my first getting published as well as deals since that time and the things I am doing for my clients now primarily come from conferences.

Writers can't write in a vacuum, but "normal" people like our family and friends generally do not really understand so it is important for us to get off and get in contact with other writers for encouragement and support.

We wouldn't try to do heart surgery without the training, or work on cars, or fix plumbing, or anything else so why would we think we could write credibly without learning the skills necessary to do so. Workshops and conferences are the primary place this learning takes place.

There are so many other reasons, but suffice to say we need to make conferences and workshops a central part of our writing efforts. Hartline puts notes up on our blog to help select such a conference and I encourage you to take advantage of those posts in the archives there.

But today I'd like to talk to you about two if you are close enough for them to be feasible. Frontiers in Writing is a two day conference put on in Amarillo Texas June 25-26th by the Panhandle Professional Writers. It's a good conference, quite economical, and I've been associated with it for many years. I recommend it highly.

I also recommend the Greater Philly Christian Writers Conference in Philadelphia August 12-14th. Marlene Bagnull puts on an awesome conference and it is more than a writing conference, it is also very much a spiritual retreat. She puts on two a year and I was at the one in Estes Park Colorado a few months ago. This one will help you get your head, your heart, AND your writing in order.

I cannot stress strongly enough how important it is for you to get yourself to a conference if you are serious about your writing, and one of these two would be a great place to start.

Terry

Interview with Luke Robinson by Diana

Luke credits the success of his walk to all the folks he met along the way, his sponsor's as well as Malcolm, his dog he lost to cancer in 2006.

Two Years

Two Dogs

Two Thousand Miles

and still a ways to go in solving this heartbreaking disease for both Humans and their canine companions.

Luke announced at his gala event that finalized this part of his journey that he and his two dogs, Hudson and Murphy will walk across Europe to continue to bring together all the resources possible to fight this battle. Un- shared information has been one of the impediments to the solution and cure of cancer in both humans and animals. Luke hopes to unite the people in the know, their research and their passion. And he is off to a great start.

http://www.wwlp.com/dpp/news/massachusetts/man-completes-2300-mile-dog-walk

Please take a moment to view the above link, Luke's Boston TV interview. It is short and sweet and helps you get to know Luke a wee bit better.

Have a great Tuesday.
From my heart to yours,
Diana

Covers . . . We Got Covers!

One of the most important parts of a book is the cover. It can be the best book in the world and if the cover does not get it picked up and looked at, the contents are wasted. I have a couple of friends that are buyers for large chain bookstores and they openly admit they do not have time to review all of the books they acquire for the stores but instead depend on reviews from trusted sources, and the cover and how it will display in the store.

Terribly important, and the publisher has the final say on the cover and on the back cover copy. I do try to get at least cover consultation for my clients, but I know the publisher calls the shots. We all know authors who have ended up with covers that they didn't feel represented the content of the book or that they were otherwise unhappy with. We also have a lot who are just estatic with the cover they ended up with. We’ve had a lot of interaction on covers here of late and have been pleased to have our input listened to quite a bit. These covers would come under the heading of covers the authors are very happy with and we expect them to be quite successful.

We just got the cover on Bonnie Calhoun and Michelle Sutton’s “Deadly Accord,” a mystery from Abingdon Press due out Feb 1st 2011. Trust me, you’re going to love this one.

At the same time we got the cover for the second book in Tammy Barlow’s “Sierra Chronicles” from Whitaker House entitled “Hope’s Promise.” Book one, “Love's Rescue” is already out, and book three, “Faith’s Reward” has been turned in to the publisher. Another one for your must read list.

The cover for Roger Bruner's "Found in the Translation" is the first of a two book release from Barbour coming out Spring of 2011.

I got the final cover on my “A Writers Survival Guide to Getting Published” from Port Yonder Press. Developed in a month long online course taught for the American Christian Fiction Writers, this how-to book will be out in a few months. In can be pre-ordered now at my bookstore and while you are waiting I will send you a free smaller ebook version for free.

Covers are very important, and we try to be proactive and try to have as much input as possible. I think we have some terrific covers coming out, what do you think?

The Final Mile by Diana

The Final Mile and Diana is Tagging Along!

Today in Boston, a significant MILE stone is being accomplished. Luke Robinson, a client of Diana's, is completing a 2,000 mile journey he began March 2008 in Austin Texas. Two dogs, Great Pyrenees, Hudson and Murphy, two thousand miles walking, camping out in rain, snow and sleet, across America to raise awareness for Canine Cancer. Luke lost his beloved dog Malcom to metastatic Cancer in 2006. The impact of this loss and it's consequent emptiness prompted Luke to do something to eradicate this horrible disease.

Eight months ago Diana had the privilege of meeting Luke as he walked through Pittsburgh, PA. and it was after that meeting that Luke became a Hartline client. Luke has many incredible experiences from this journey and is now in the process of placing them into book format.

AT 7:00 AM, today, Dwight Ritter, (another Hartline author), his wife JoAnn and their dog Blue and I will depart Cape Cod, MA and head into the city of Boston. Our first stop will be to drop my bags off at the Fairmont Copley Hotel, then proceed to the Museum of Fine Arts, where a 9:30 am Memorial Service will be held in the Rose Garden at the Museum of Fine Arts for all those attendees that have lost dogs to cancer. I myself lost our precious dear family friend Sassy to Canine Cancer in 2005. After this service, at 10 AM, we will accompany Luke and 'The Fuzzybutts" on there final mile walk from the Back Bay Fens to the Boston Common where at 11:00 AM a festival celebration will be held at the Parkman Bandstand. There will be all manner of fun activities for the participants and their canine companions.

6:00 PM A special Gala Event, Puppy Up Party will be held at the Fairmont Copley. We will be entertained with special music, an auction and a debut song written and sung by Luke as a tribute to Malcom.

An unexpected benefit of Luke's walk has been a new collaboration with the Canine Hereditary Consortium. Luke will be meeting with the consortium Sunday and this will begin the newest phase of Luke's involvement and passion to fight Canine Cancer. This consortium is collecting DNA samples from all breeds of dogs. If you are interested in participating in this study, you can find the information at Luke's website linked below this.e time DNA sample is needed from all dogs with cancer - all breeds, all cancers A one time DNA sample is needed from all dogs with cancer - all breeds, all cancers

I wish you all could join us but Please be sure to stop by and view the pics at www.2dogs2000miles.org.

Puppy Up!

From my heart to yours,
Diana

Stepping Into Our Lives by Joyce's client Jane Kirkpatrick

I’m pleased to present a guest blog by award winning author, Jane Kirkpatrick. This was written on her blog on Mother’s Day. I liked it so much I asked Jane if we could put it on our blog. Father’s Day is next Sunday, and I believe this can apply to Step Dads as well as Step Moms.

I’m proud to announce that Jane is a 2010 Christy finalist.

SPECIAL OFFER FOR AN E-BOOK: At the bottom of this blog are some links to an e-book from Jane that is being offered for 99 Cents. The title the book is “A Clearing in the Wild.”

Stepping Into our Lives
By Jane Kirkpatrick

My last two novels grew out of a desire to discover my grandmother and what I call memory DNA, how we shared more than eye color or a love of the arts. She too married a man with three children. She too grieved with her husband at the death of a son. My grandmother shared time with her step-children’s mother and found a way through the mine field of powerful adult relationships keeping children from being further wounded by the choices adults had made.

She stepped up well. I was an adult before I realized that people I called Aunt Winnie, Uncle Bob or Uncle Russell were actually my mother’s half-siblings, my grandmother’s step-sons and daughter. Somehow she raised her children to understand the connection between each of them as children cherished by their shared father and children loved by God. Descendants of those half-sibs tell stories of my grandmother as someone who cared for them, someone they liked being around and adored.

She must have stepped over those moments of disappointment with a forgotten Mother’s Day card focusing instead on creating new memories. She must have cherished shared laughter over a bedtime story or stepped aside allowing her step-children to have alone time with their father accepting that these were requirements in a marriage not just between her and her husband but with his children as well. I know she stepped in at times of their mother’s illnesses, sharing her comforting love.

Thirty-four years ago, when I took on the challenge of becoming a step-mother, I was buttressed by great loves, too: mine for my husband; his for me and his children; and our shared love of God. I confess, though, I had a pretty romanticized view. I dreamed of erasing the image of Hansel and Gretel’s shrewish step-mom. I had high hopes like any new bride and any new mom had.

What I hadn’t prepared for, despite my background in mental health, was reality! The painful moments of confusion and exclusion and lack of recognition. I wasn’t their mother and yet I performed motherly duties, often. I didn’t share my husband’s memories with his children so easily spoken at the dinner table often leaving me shadowed in the kitchen. I was frustrated when we discovered the kids had managed to get the two of us arguing while they skipped out the door. This wasn’t fun at all!

Thank goodness for good friends who stepped in to offer counsel and prayer. They reminded me that what our three children and I had in common was a shared love for this man and a desire to heal the wounds of past decisions while growing new flesh to form a new family. When their mother lay dying, I knew my stepping and stumbling as a step parent had been worthy work as she told me: “You’ve been a friend to me. I leave my children in the best of hands.”

Our kids are grown now yet Mother's Day is still a celebration of stepping: Stepping over hurts, to find the loving core within each of us. Stepping forward, to assert the importance of marriage to model for our children what caring and commitment look like. And stepping aside without feeling displaced knowing my step-children share with me a desire to be accepted, to know that we are loved both by the man in our lives and the Creator of us all. It’s a day when I count the steps we’ve taken together to weather the storms and celebrate the many more days of sailing calmer seas.

The word “family” comes from the Latin word Famalus meaning servant. I think that’s what my grandmother must have figured out. To have a servant’s heart as a step-mother is to live the story of how God steps into our lives to bring healing and grace every day of the year.

Go to www.jkbooks.com to sign up for Jane's Story Sparks Newsletter.

Here are the links for the promo priced eBook.

Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Clearing-Wild-ebook/dp/B001RLTFMK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1276525960&sr=1-1

Barnes & Noble eBook: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/A-Clearing-in-the-Wild/Jane-Kirkpatrick/e/9780307550699

Kobo: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/A-Clearing-In-The-Wild/book-UWZghmDiHEG-QkoyHdxIOw/page1.html

Sony Reader Store: http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/jane-kirkpatrick/a-clearing-in-the-wild/_/R-400000000000000114721

You Can't (and shouldn't) Win Them All! by Terry's Client Deborah Dee Harper

Who’d ever imagine that losing $20,000 and guaranteed publication of my novel with a powerhouse publishing company would be a good thing—a very good thing?

Certainly not me—at least not back in the days when I was one of five finalists for the 2009 Operation First Novel contest sponsored by the Jerry B. Jenkins Christian Writers Guild and Tyndale Publishing House. That event stood, to-date, as the pinnacle of my writing career. Yes, I’d been published before, but this was the big time. This was the culmination of years of study, the completion of the manuscript I’d worked on for two solid years. Achieving finalist status in that prestigious competition was proof that somebody—somebody in the know, someone besides me—believed I could write.

I fretted for four months. But that all changed about thirty seconds after hearing Jerry B. Jenkins make the announcement at the Writing for the Soul conference last February that someone else (a very deserving man) had won, Misstep had not, and I was officially a loser. (Well, he didn’t say it exactly like that.)

Strangely, after my initial disappointment faded, a great relief washed over me. I was free! No more waking up to thoughts of winning. No more drifting off to sleep worried about losing. It was settled. I could get on with my life. Sure, winning would have been nice; I could certainly use $20,000 and I’d love to have my Christian novel published by Tyndale. But I realized it wasn’t the right time in my career to bypass the hard work of pitching my manuscript. I needed to speak with learned professionals from the publishing industry—the agents, editors, and publishers from around the country who were present at the conference. It was imperative that I hear what they had to say, soak up their knowledge, immerse myself in the atmosphere and camaraderie of like-minded individuals whose collective goal will always be to honor our Lord and Savior through our writing. It was up to me to prove I could deliver what they needed, that I had what it takes to be not only a writer, but also a published author. I had to believe in myself before I could ask them to believe in me.

So I hit the floor running and for the next two days, I pitched and smiled and asked questions and soaked up advice and acted the part of someone who had a product to offer that she believed in. I left the conference energized and optimistic (albeit sans the $20,000), returned home, and sent out requested proposals, manuscripts, and thank you notes. Then I prayed.

Four months later, Misstep and I are represented by Terry Burns, one of best agents in the business, and I’m now officially a proud member of the Hartline Literary Agency family. Through Terry I met Linda Glaz who not only helped me with my manuscript, but brought many a smile to my face in the process. I have a new batch of colleagues who have welcomed me into their midst with warmth and encouragement. Now that’s winning.

And I owe it all to being a loser.

Deborah Dee Harper www.deborahdeetales.blogspot.com