Book Winner and how I'm spending my day

Wow!! Thanks so much for all the wonderful comments for Patti Lacy's post on Monday!

She's a super lady and it was really fun hosting her!

But enough chit-chat. It's time to announce the winner of Patti's new release, The Rhythm of Secrets.

And that winner is... CAROL KILGORE.


Congrats, Carol!! Please shoot me an email and let me know where you would like the book sent and I'll have Patti send it out to you ASAP. :)



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Whew! I'm exhausted now. No, actually I can't be exhausted. I still have to do my "legs and back" P90x workout to do and then the rest of the day I'm spending...

Plotting. Ugh.


I'm having a terrible time of it. I know my heroine pretty well, but my hero is in sad shape.
So I need to spend some time figuring out what his "issues" are.


And in case you were interested, I'm going to be checking out some articles from Jeannie Campbell--particularly this one on determining your character's motivating need. It looks like something I could use now.

What are you doing today?

Special Guest Blogger: Patti Lacy!

Hey, all! Happy Monday!
I'm SO excited to be hosting such a special author on my blog today!

In case you didn't know, the one and only Patti Lacy is the author of An Irishwoman's Tale and What the Bayou Saw, both Foreword Magazine Book of the Year finalists. (In addition to being such a talented writer, Patti just so happens to be THE nicest woman on the Internet)

Her third novel The Rhythm of Secrets was just released and to some wonderful reviews. So I asked Patti to stop by and talk about her new book, which she will be giving away to some lucky commenter here! :)

So please welcome Patti!
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Hey, Jennifer!

Thanks for letting me plop down on your comfortable couch and share the story of what inspired The Rhythm of Secrets, my third literary baby.

On the morning of July 8, 2007, I opened the Chicago Tribune. Coffee (yeah, I’m an addict) sloshed on the table…and I didn’t care. Gail Rosenblum’s article about Sandy Sperrazza, a mother giving up…and then reclaiming…her baby grabbed my heart and wouldn’t let go. The idea for my third novel rustled right there in the pulpy pages, begging to be SET FREE!

Stories of two Vietnam veterans, a Moody Bible Institute student, and a brave pastor’s wife collided with the fictional character of Sandy. We time-traveled to my beloved N’Awlins during the 1940s, headed north when things exploded down South, and jetted to Thailand for a tumultuous climax. It was SO MUCH FUN!

How long did it take you to write this book?
I received my box of author’s books on Christmas Eve of 2010. We are talking OVER THREE years for the birthing of perhaps my most unruly child. During that time, I was working on two other books, but still…

TALK ABOUT A PAIN!!

And now I’m “pregnant” with a fifth baby. Book four is in foster care right now with Bethany House editor Sarah Long. Translation? Substantive edits are in Sarah’s hands.

In the meantime, Below Normal and Beyond Normal are itching to get on paper. Here’s my hook: Evelyn Sechrist, a bereaved widow, and Jamie Sue Symmes, a mentally handicapped grocery bagger, fight their families and city hall to open a soup kitchen on the poor side of Normal, Illinois (by the way, my hometown!)

I hope y’all drop by my website, http://www.pattilacy.com/, from time to time. There are book reviews and a blog. If you’re an art lover, don’t miss my ART BITES, posted five days a week at on my main Facebook page.

Thanks, Jennifer, for letting me hang here on Monday, Monday!
Blessings, all!!!

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See? I told you she's the nicest woman on the Internet!


Here's a little about her book: The Rhythm of Secrets
Since 1955, Sheila Franklin, a talented musician, has perfectly performed the role of devout pastor’s wife, locking away her past as Sheba Alexander and Sylvia Allen. Her carefully constructed façade crumbles with a single phone call from a young Marine named Samuel, the illegitimate son she secretly put up for adoption. Samuel begs Sheila to use her government contacts to get his fiancé, Mali, a Thai prostitute, into America. A dangerous mixture of love and guilt spurs her to help her only child even though it devastates her husband Edward and exposes her questionable past. After a quarrel with Edward, Sheila and Samuel board a C-130 for Thailand and then search Bangkok’s steamy streets for a Madonna-faced prostitute. The two whisk Mali from a brothel but are seized by a warlord who considers Mali his “number one girl.”
In a teak “ghost house,” Sheila discovers God’s grace and gains the freedom she needs to find her own identity—Sheila, Sylvia, and Sheba. A framed story, this novel has roots in the bohemian 1940s New Orleans French Quarter and spans three decades, including the turbulent Vietnam era.

And here's the trailer:




Awesome, Patti!



CONTEST: Patti is generously giving away a copy of her book, The Rhythm of Secrets to some lucky ducky commenter!

The contest will run NOW until Thursday 11:59PM (EST). I will announce the winner this Friday, January 28th.



Good luck and happy reading!