#Authorlife

Every so often I want to give you a little "peek behind the curtain" of my #authorlife. 

Here are just a few things that are going on right now. 

• Last Saturday I taught an all-day class on Scrivener - a writing software that I love. But wow - all day. It's a lot of talking, even for someone who talks as much as I do! I've made a mental note to be sure to plan to eat out after teaching this class in the future! And maybe to plan to sleep in the next day, too!

• Even though Beneath the Surface - Book 1 of the Dive Team Investigations series - doesn't release until March 2018, this week started with some emails about promotional materials for the book  - things like postcards, bookmarks, and social media images. I'm super excited to see what sorts of things the team at Revell comes up with! 

  

  
  

• Then the edits for Beneath the Surface hit my inbox (Yes, the Darth Vader theme music is appropriate here - you're humming it now, aren't you? Excellent). The edits are due back to the editor on the 29th. Yikes!

• At the end of the edits there's this lovely little spot for me to provide the "teaser" for Book 2 in the Dive Team Investigations series.  This would be the same Book 2 I am currently writing and that is due to my editor in early December. :) 

• Now, my brain can't decide if it wants to work on the revisions for Beneath the Surface, or rework the first chapter of Book 2, or just ignore all that and work on a proposal for a completely different book that is half-written and just needs to be finished and turned in! (Yes, for those of you wondering, this is Max and Sara's story).

• This week I also got invitations to attend two different publisher dinners - at the same time - while at the ACFW conference in September and I had to choose which one I would go to (because sadly - no clone). And yes, getting invited to a dinner with a publisher makes me want to pinch myself!

• I also had the privilege of sitting down with a White Collar Crimes investigator who is going to help me bring my hero for Book 2 to life (the fictional hero's name is Adam Campbell and he looks like Ryan Reynolds). He answered a ton of questions, showed me a real credit card skimmer they'd taken out of a gas pump, and was super patient. This kind of research is one of my very favorite things about being an author. 

• I'm in the process of developing a new website so I'm making decisions on that stuff, too. And by developing, I mean I've hired an A.MAZ.ING website developer and she sends me ideas and I try to make decisions without hurting her feelings and she tells me not to worry about her feelings because she is awesome (but I still worry).

• If you've been following along on social media (and if you haven't - why not?) you already know that this week was also the big "Lynn gets an office" week around here. So instead of writing, I've been painting and sanding sheetrock and cutting boards and loving the fact that my kids get to work with my Dad (who can build anything - really). More pictures and a big "reveal" will happen eventually. For now, I'm still dusting. Everything. It's everywhere. Dust is evil. (And before anyone comments - No, I did not have on safety goggles. No, my hands were not actually anywhere near that blade despite what the picture might look like. Yes, I was being careful. For the cut I needed to make, that actually was the safest way to do it. I try to take good care of my fingers. They are rather important for writers! And yes, I do like power tools.) 

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• Oh, and did I mention we've already started back to school with my homeschoolers and my precious Emma is d-y-i-n-g for school to start which won't happen until next week? 

Whew! I'm tired just reading all that. And believe it or not, I left stuff off the list. All sorts of things that are part of life and don't have anything even remotely to do with writing, but are still super important. 

If you're so inclined, I would appreciate your prayers. Especially over the next few weeks as I juggle multiple projects and a lot of life craziness. 

And if you have any burning questions about writing and publication, share them in the comments and I'll try to answer them soon. 

Grace & peace,

Lynn

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The First Blank Page

I'm starting a new book today. 

Oh, I've been working on it for weeks, but today is the first time I'm taking the ideas and brainstorming and plots and characters and putting them on the page.

Today, I'm turning these characters loose and letting them come alive - and hanging on for the ride they will take me on. 

Everyone approaches their writing a little bit differently. No writer has exactly the same method as another. For me, staring at the very first blank page is humbling. And terrifying. 

So before I put a word on the screen, I offered all of it up to the One I write for. I recommitted myself, my words, my stories, and my characters to Him. I asked Him to use all of it - every word - for His Glory and to fulfill His purposes. 

I prayed for my readers, my publisher, my editors, my brainstorming buddies, and my sources. I prayed for endurance and focus and I asked for an outpouring of creativity from the Creator. 

And now, I ask you, to join me. Every stage of a book has it's own issues, but for a recovering perfectionist like me, the beginning is fraught with challenges. Would you pray specifically over the next couple of weeks that a solid foundation will be laid for this story? 

In addition, there is a very difficult topic at the heart of this book. The research I've done and continue to do is hard. I covet your prayers as I dig deep into a very real and present evil in our communities. There are things you can't "un-know" and whether this story changes anyone else, writing it absolutely will change me. I pray it does. 

This book is due in early December which means I want to finish it by the end of September so I have a couple of months to do the revisions before it goes to my editor. So when I'm not running kids to camps and swimming pools and football fields, I'll be working on this story. What are your plans for this summer? How can I pray for you? I'd love to hear about it in the comments. 

Grace & peace,

Lynn

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Exciting Book News

I know things have been pretty quiet over here on the blog. But I promise, I haven't been being lazy. I've been writing every spare minute of the day because....I have just signed a 3-Book Contract with Revell! The first book, Beneath the Surface, is due to my editor on April 30 and will release Spring 2018. 

I've known about this for a couple of months and keeping it a secret has been killing me! I am overwhelmed with gratitude for this amazing opportunity and I covet your prayers as I jump into this new adventure!

There will be much more news in the days and weeks ahead, so stay tuned.

And if you want to get all the news FIRST, be sure to sign up for my newsletter. Newsletter subscribers get first dibs on everything, from the latest publishing news to book giveaways. 

The contract!

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No One To Trust by Lynette Eason

There are only a handful of authors whose books shoot to the top of my to-be-read pile as soon as they become available.

Lynette Eason is one of those authors.

No One To Trust is the first novel in her new Hidden Identity series. I was a little sad to say goodbye to the characters in the Deadly Reunions Series, and I wondered how she would top the twisty plotline that wound through those books.

But she did.

No One To Trust opens with a murder. It’s followed by a blood pumping chase that ends in …well…I won’t say, but by this time, I want to know who David Hackett is, and why Kyle Abernathy is being chased by a hit man.

If you think you’ll be able to catch your breath, you’re wrong, because the next scene comes straight from most women’s nightmares. Summer Abernathy wakes up to find a man pointing a gun at her. He’s not there to kill her, but what he tells her sends her world into a tailspin, and takes the reader along for the ride.

For the next 300 pages, the story unfolds, one tantalizing detail at a time. We meet siblings, clients, former military unit members, U.S. Marshalls, and let’s not forget the mob boss with a snake fetish and his seriously dysfunctional family.

Lynette does a masterful job of introducing new characters and keeping the entire cast distinct. I never struggled to follow along, even toward the end when plot lines and characters were converging and then taking off in unexpected directions.

No One To Trust also gives us a nice spin on the typical romance, because the main characters are already married. The question is, will their marriage survive? Can Summer forgive Kyle for lying to her? Can Kyle keep them alive long enough to convince Summer that the one thing he hadn’t lied about was his love for her?

Underpinning the entire novel are beautiful themes of redemption, forgiveness, and, ultimately trust, making No One To Trust both a thrilling and uplifting experience.

No One To Trust is available from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, in January 2014 from your favorite bookseller.

The super fine print: I received this book in exchange for my opinion. I was not required to provide a favorable review. All opinions are my own.

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a million little ways - uncover the art you were made to live

We all make art in A Million Little Ways.

Yes, you do, too.

Even if you don’t think of yourself as artistic or creative, after reading Emily P. Freeman’s latest offering, you’ll view everything you do in a new light. Because “art is what happens when you dare to be who you really are.” (p. 21)

While I have no trouble saying that I’m a writer, I’ve never considered myself to be an artist. Art is painting, drawing, sculpture, design. Art it musicals, opera, plays, and concerts.

Or is it?

What if art is so much more and what if all of us make art in a million little ways?

Making beds, writing books, cooking meals, designing clothes, playing with Legos, decorating interiors, and hosting dinner parties, all can be ways you express yourself, ways you create, ways you make art.

The most beautiful thing? God uses us as “we make art with our lives” to reveal different aspects of Himself to a world that desperately needs Him.

A Million Little Ways is divided into three parts:

In Part 1, we see a beautiful picture of God as the Artist and us, as His image-bearers, placed in the world to live art.
In Part 2, we uncover the art we were born to make by looking within, back, up, around, and beneath.
In Part 3, we release the art we were made to live when we show up, wait, offer, wonder, and create.

Emily P. Freeman writes with a transparency and honesty that always leaves me surprised to discover that someone else struggles with the same things I do. Each chapter feels like a conversation with a friend who sees beauty in you. Beauty you may be unable to see in yourself, not because of anything you can do in your own strength, but because you are an image-bearer of The Artist.

There was so much in these pages to digest, to ponder, to consider, to breathe in and live out, that I don’t feel one read-through was sufficient so I’m starting over and reading it again.

Lucky for you, when I attended Allume a few weeks ago, I got to hear Emily speak and the fine folks at Revell gave all the attendees a copy of A Million Little Ways. But I already had my review copy from Revell, so I’m going to share the art with you. Subscribe to the blog through email or leave me a comment here on the blog, on Facebook, or Twitter. I’ll put the names in the random number generator and whoever it picks will win their own copy. Contest ends Sunday, November 24th.

A Million Little Ways is available November 2013 at your local bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing.

The super fine print: I received a copy of A Million Little Ways in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

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Singularity by Steven James

Most of us accept death as a part of life. But not everyone.

In Singularity, the second book in The Jevin Banks Experience, Steven James plunges us into a world where research into brain function and artificial intelligence that is intended to help quadriplegics or children with life-shortening diseases is being hijacked by psychopaths.

Psychopaths who will eliminate any and all obstacles between them and immortality.

In Singularity, illusionist Jevin Banks loses a friend in what the authorities insist was a tragic accident. He knows it wasn’t and he refuses to allow his friend’s death to go unsolved.

Lucky for him, the supporting cast from Placebo, the first book in the The Jevin Banks Experience, is back, and they are as fabulous as ever. Charlene, Jevin’s girlfriend; Xavier, Jevin’s right-hand man; Fionna, home-schooling mom and computer whiz; Fionna’s kids, four of the coolest kids on the planet.

Of course, one of our villains from Placebo is back, too. Derek Byrne, aka, Akinsanya, intends to live forever and his methods are, well, let’s go with extreme. (Gory, sick, disturbing, horrifying—those would all work as well).

As I’ve come to expect from Steven James, the first few chapters are tough. Evil men unleash their power over those who’ve tried to thwart them, and the results are devastating.

From there, Singularity takes us into a world of illusion, organized crime, conspiracy theory, top-secret military research, and prostitution. Set mostly in Las Vegas, Singularity doesn’t shy away from gritty realities. Nor does it glorify them.

If you’re looking for safe, predictable fiction that gives you an interesting enough story but doesn’t make you think or wonder about anything, then Singularity is not for you.

If, however, you’d love to read something that you haven’t figured out by page five, if you’d like a story that reflects the world we live in, that delves deep into questions about what makes us human and why God allows people to do bad things, if you’d like to get to the final page and go “What??!!!” as the whole story gets turned on its ear…

Read Singularity.

Singularity is available as of November 2013 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

The super fine print: I received a free copy of Singularity in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

You can read my review of Placebo here. I highly recommend reading Placebo first. 

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Book Review :: When A Secret Kills by Lynette Eason

One of my personal rules of writing book reviews is No Spoilers - so be prepared for this review to send you straight to your local bookstore!

Lynette Eason wraps up the Deadly Reunions series with When A Secret Kills and, well, at the risk of sounding cliche…

It starts with a bang. (Sorry, that’s all I can say!)

As hard as this may be to believe, the pace actually quickens from there.

After ten years in hiding, Jillian Carter knows it’s time to go home.
Time to face her past.
Time to expose a powerful politician for a crime that happened before her eyes.
Time to explain her disappearance to Colton Brady—the high school sweetheart who hadn’t deserved to have her vanish without a word.

Convincing Colton of what she saw and why she had to stay in hiding is complicated. So very complicated. (Sorry, that’s all I can say!)

Despite his reservations about Jillian’s story, Colton is too good of a cop to refuse to consider all the facts.

The fact that he’s still in love with Jillian Carter being at the top of the list.

As I’ve come to expect from Lynette, there’s just enough romance to keep me from being completely wigged out by the danger Jillian—and those she loves—are in as they search for the truth of what happened that night.

This plot line is one of the twistiest I’ve encountered in a while and I loved the surprises that awaited me on each new page.

When A Secret Kills hurtles from the chaos of the opening pages to the unexpected—and very satisfying—conclusion.

Available May 2013 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group. 

You can read my review of the previous books in the series by clicking on these links.
When the Smoke Clears
When a Heart Stops

While When A Secret Kills could be read as a stand alone, you’ll definitely miss out on the intricacies of the plot and the depth of the characterization if you haven’t read the previous books in the series first. 

The super fine print: I received a copy of When A Secret Kills in exchange for my review. I was not obligated to provide a positive review. All opinions are my own.

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Vanished by Irene Hannon

One of the things Irene Hannon does so well is to give us a peek into the world of different types of law enforcement. In her new “Private Justice” series, she’s taken us into the world of private investigators.

As it turns out, they aren’t all 100 pounds overweight, kicked back behind a massive desk, and puffing on a smelly cigar.

In Vanished, we meet the three former law enforcement men who make up the private investigative agency, Phoenix, Inc. 

Cal, Dev, and Connor are great guys who now share the motto “Justice First.” Their goal is not to take the place of law enforcement, but to help those for whom traditional law enforcement has failed.

When lovely, Pulitzer-nominated journalist Moira Harrison shows up with a story of a dark road, a terrified woman, and a disappearing Good Samaritan, it’s not hard for former detective Cal Burke to understand why the police aren’t pursuing her case.

After all, there’s nothing to go on.

Or is there?

The stomach twisting opening of Vanished grabbed me and pulled me in. I was a little surprised by the quick revelation of the bad guy, but knowing who “done it” didn’t keep me from wondering how on earth Cal and Moira would prove it.

I enjoyed Vanished am looking forward to the next book in the Private Justice series. (Because Dev is a rascal, and I liked him a lot!)

Available January 2013 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

The super fine print: I received a free copy of Vanished from Revell in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

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Placebo

Placebo by Steven James

Placebo is the first book in Steven James' new series, The Jevin Banks Experience.

Jevin Banks is an illusionist with a successful stage show, a wife, and twin sons. Until tragedy lays him bare.

Placebo opens with a first chapter that is so painful to read, I kept having to remind myself that it wasn't real. The 2nd person voice enhances the agony. This experience is so vivid, so raw, that even the character living through it needs a way to distance himself.

Despite  the fact that we meet Jevin Banks at his lowest point, the story that unfolds is not depressing. And it is not a particularly gruesome story. Don't get me wrong, this is Steven James after all! His bad guys are creepy. But while I usually need to leave the lights on and only read his books when I'm in a safe place, Placebo's plot kept me turning pages well into the night and left me eager for the next experience.

I never give away the plot when I write a review, but here are a few teasers for you.

1. Placebo deals with quantum physics and entanglement theory, but you don't need a Ph.D. to follow the plot. If you ever read something you don't understand, don't worry. None of the characters in the story fully understand it either. That's the point. Just keep reading.

2. The secondary characters are awesome. We meet everyone from a conspiracy theorist with a thing for cheese to a brilliant computer security expert with a wandering eye. Trust me, you're going to love them.

3. The best fiction deals with questions that we all struggle with. Placebo asks some tough ones. How do we go on when people we love make horrible mistakes? What's the point of getting up in the morning? How powerful is prayer and does it really work?

4. The very best fiction asks tough questions and doesn't leave you depressed. Placebo is some of the very best fiction out there.

Get it. Read it. Experience it.

Available November 2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

The super fine print: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

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Raising Financially Confident Kids

I know I said I’d be reviewing books and such every other week, but I had the opportunity to review two great books from Revell—one fiction, one nonfiction—but both reviews needed to be posted during the same week. I decided to go for it. Today, we’ll hit the nonfiction and tomorrow, you’ll get an Extra Edition.

I picked up Raising Financially Confident Kids by Mary Hunt because educating my children about finances is very important to me and I want to start now, while they are very young.

I do not want my children to grow up with a sense of entitlement. I want them to walk around each day with a profound sense of gratitude and a heart bent toward sharing with others. (I want that for myself as well!)

I had some specific things I wanted to take away from the book (how do you talk to your preschooler about money, when do you start allowances, what about those tricky teen years) but honestly, I did not expect to enjoy reading it.

We’ve been through Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University. Our only debt is our mortgage. (Boy, that feels so good to say after carrying two mortgages for seventeen months!!)

I don’t need to be convinced that debt is bad for your relationships, and that debt free living allows you to better serve the Kingdom.

I’m already sold.

So I sort of expected to skim over the “yeah, we’re already doing that” parts and focus on the sections that applied to me.

I didn’t do much skimming.

Raising Financially Confident Kids was not only packed with useful information, it was a very enjoyable and quick read - it even has a great twist at the end!

There are chapters for all stages of development, and great advice on shielding our children from consumerism and tearing down attitudes of entitlement. I’ll be pulling this out again as my kids get older to refresh my memory on how to explain things like compound interest and helping them see the “lie” in advertisements (if you have this toy you’ll be popular, etc.). And my kids are going to start hearing me use this line, "We don't choose to spend our money that way," a lot!

The “salary” plan she implemented with her own boys over twenty years ago intrigued and terrified me! It’s hard to argue with the results, and it certainly gave her sons the opportunity to learn how to manage money while still in the safety net of the home. I’m a few years away from that point with my own sons, but I can see us using a version of this method down the road.

I highly recommend Raising Financially Confident Kids to parents of children of all ages.

Available August 2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

The super fine print: The fine folks at Revell sent me a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not required to give a positive review.

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