Mother Inferior

Great Advice from an Award-Winning Fiction Author

I'm happy to host Suzanne Woods Fisher’s blog tour for her just-released historical novel Copper Fire, is the sequel to the three-time award-winning Copper Star, a World War II love story inspired by true events. Fisher was a contributing editor to Christian Parenting Today magazine. Her work has appeared in Today’s Christian Woman, Worldwide Challenge, ParentLife, and Marriage Partnership. She has contributed to ten non-fiction books, including Chicken Soup for the Soul: Children with Special Needs. A wife and mother, Fisher lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and raises puppies for Guide Dogs for the Blind. The best thing about being a writer, she feels, is that all of life becomes material for writing. It’s all grit for the oyster.

During the month of June, Suzanne is running a book-a-day-giveaway contest. To enter, scoot on over to her blog (www.suzannewoodsfisher.blogspot.com) to leave a comment or pop her an e-mail: suzanne@suzannewoodsfisher.com

Copper Star (ISBN: 0-9793327-4-5) and Copper Fire (ISBN: 978-0-981-5592-0-9) are available at Amazon or other on-line booksellers, at Suzanne’s website, or can be ordered through your favorite bookstore.

Welcome, Suzanne!

Tell us about Copper Fire.

SWF: Copper Fire is the sequel to Copper Star, picking right up at the very end of World War II. On a summer day in 1945, my main character, Louisa, receives a telegram from the International Red Cross Tracing Service. She discovers that her cousin, Elisabeth, has just been released from a concentration camp, Louisa is determined to go get Elisabeth…and that’s where the story begins.   

Who is your favorite character in the book? And why?

SWF: I really like my main character in Copper Star, Louisa, the young resistance worker smuggled out of a Nazi stronghold by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. She’s funny, determined, smart… and flawed. And she knows it! She has an ability not to take herself too seriously.

Please tell us all about what you are working on these days.

SWF: In late August, Grit from the Oyster: 250 Pearls of Wisdom for Aspiring Writers, will be released from Vintage Spirit. I wrote Grit with three other very talented authors.

And another piece of great news! I just received a contract from Revell/Baker for a non-fiction book called Amish Peace in an English Life. It won’t be out until 2010…but it is taking up 90% of my brain right now.

Wow! That's great! Congratulations! Now, I'm sure all the writing moms out there want to know--how do you balance your personal and writing time?

SWF: I am constantly trying to find a balance. I don’t think I’ve ever had a typical day! Not with four kids and a corporate-guy husband, a steady stream of puppies we raise for Guide Dogs for the Blind, added into that mix is my parents. They just moved in across the street (yep! You read that right.  As in wave-hello-as-you-pick-up-your-newspaper-off-the-driveway kind of proximity!  Seriously! Check out my blog) because my father is suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease. But…let’s imagine what a typical day would be like.  My goal is to try and get three to four hours of concentrated work in, nearly every day. I can’t get much more than that in, yet I think that’s reasonable. I don’t want a spine that ends up resembling a question mark.

What inspires you to keep going?

SWF: This is an industry in which “no one is looking for you.” Behind every published piece, a writer has a fat file of rejection letters. But, ah, there’s just something about that published piece that makes up for that rejection file!

What do you love about being an author? Is there anything you dislike?

SWF: Most favorite part? All of life is material. It’s all grit for the oyster. Least favorite? I still only make a dime an hour. And I still get plenty of rude rejection letters!

Any parting any advice for beginning writers?

SWF: A while ago, I went to my first writers’ conference expecting to connect with editors, plug a few queries, well, you know the drill. I left the conference with something even better: Three new writer friends all at the same “career place.” We have kept in touch (a cinch for e-mail junkies), edit each others’ work, and are even writing a devotional together to encourage new writers called Grit for the Oyster. I went to the conference with one intention; God had another one in mind. So my parting words are: Stay open. Stay optimistic. And remember that if God calls you to write, He’s not calling you to be the best, just to give your best.   

Suzanne can be found at www.suzannewoodsfisher.com.

Thanks, Suzanne! :)

Need a new website or blog design?

Through my friend Mary DeMuth's excellent blog for writers, I found a couple who is doing a bang-up job in their new web/blog/graphic design business. I love their stuff, and I like supporting godly Christian companies (especially those run by young families). After I saw their promotion, I decided to hire them to design a new site for me. Whoo-hoo! :)

Right now they're offering a spectacular deal which wanted to share with you. You can get a complete, custom web site (not a template) for $500...and even less if you refer other people to them. That's amazing!

Here's the scoop:

What do you get?
Basic custom Web site (up to 7 pages)
Fully programmed and coded with CSS/HTML/XHTML/CSS
Matching Blog design
1 year of unlimited web maintenence
Does not include Web hosting/domain

What's the deal?
You pay $500, BUT if you refer someone who purchases the same deal you get $100 off. For every additional person, you get $25 off.

Details:
They ask for half down as a deposit. If you do not have the complete $500 before the end of June, you can pay your deposit of $250 and hold off on creation of the site until you are able to pay the rest. This will ensure your promotion discount even after the promotion expires. They ask for the balance when they complete your Web site.

Also, make sure you have a web hosting service/domain available. They can purchase one for you at an additional cost.

When you refer someone, they must pay their deposit before your discount is applied. If you refer several people, they'll add a discount until you're down to $250, your deposit. From there, you cannot receive anymore discounts. Discounts are only applied until the promotion ends.

So, potentially you could be paying $250 for a brand new professional Web site. Remember, you will not receive a template. You are getting a custom design made just for you. That's a great deal if you want a beautiful site without the high cost.

Interested? Then email Ashley.

So that's it. If you decide to use Tekeme Studios, be sure and tell them Dena sent you! :)

Summer Sanity Savers: Finding Quiet in the Chaos

Ahhh, summer…those lazy days of hammock-dwelling, lemonade-drinking, softball-watching bliss.

Yeah, right! J For parents with kids in public school, summer means the kids are suddenly home, all day every day. I love my children immensely, but I also love peace and quiet. And at times, June through August seems like an endless parade of whines (“I’m bored!”), dines (“Can I have a snack?”) and lines (“I want to ride the Screaming Eagle again, mom!”).  It’s enough to make me wish for winter in the Northeast--and live in the Southwest!

So what’s a mom to do? In the interest of saving my sanity, I’ve gleaned some ideas about finding a few quiet moments amidst the chaos. Read on, fellow moms, and be encouraged…summer only lasts about ten weeks now—remember, our parents had to deal with TWELVE! :)

Sheila Wray Gregorie, author of To Love, Honor and Vacuum: When you feel more like a maid than a wife and a mother, encourages moms to teach their children about quiet time. She notes, “You may need to train your kids to have downtime in the afternoons, even if they don’t nap anymore. We made our kids stay in their rooms for an hour after lunch just to rest, even if it was just playing with puzzles, or drawing, or reading books. That was mommy time, and I needed it. When we plan for those kinds of times, kids actually appreciate it. They like having order in their lives. So don’t be afraid to take a little time to yourself. You need it, too.”

I’ve discovered that the Internet is a great source for some great quiet activities. (What did I ever do before the World Wide Web?!) Here are my favorite sites;

·         Zoom (PBS Show)—has great art, kitchen and science-related activities.

·        Family Fun—love the magazine, love the site!

·         Amazing Moms—recipes, crafts and more.

And finally, Karol Ladd, author of many books (including A Positive Plan for Creating More Fun, Less Whining), has these ideas:

·         Kite Adventures

Go for a kite-flying adventure, and be sure to take the camera. It's more fun with the whole family! After you enjoy flying kites, return home to create a colorful construction paper kite. You may even want to put a picture of your kite-flying adventure on your newly constructed craft kite. Top off the day by watching Mary Poppins.

·         Clouds

Take a bedroll and pillows outside, and lie down and look up. Watch the clouds and point out figures and pictures that you see in them. After a while you may want to come inside and make a cloud picture using blue construction paper, white chalk, or cotton balls and glue.

·         Sidewalk Chalk

Never underestimate the fun of sidewalk chalk for kids of any age. This inexpensive activity offers myriad ideas for creativity. Hopscotch, foursquare, artistic  masterpieces, and human-sized tic-tac-toe are just a few of the things you can do with the just a little chalk on a nice summer evening.

Do you have your own ideas? Put them in a comment, and share your creativity with your fellow moms.

Cutest Kid Contest

The editors of Parents are looking for the cutest kid in America between six months and six years old to be the cover kid of the magazine's November 2008 issue.

To enter Parents magazine's online baby photo contest, just upload a picture of your child before June 24 here.  Your kid could be chosen as one of five finalists, flown to New York City with a guardian and professionally photographed.

And to help you take those great summer photos (and maybe win the contest!), Sharon Elcock, who has organized hundreds of photo shoots in her role as Sittings Editor at Parents magazine for four years, shares these basic picture taking tips:

1. Do: Take photos with a really simple – but pretty background. No one wants to look at dirty dishes in your kitchen sink! Instead, go for natural scenery in front of lush greenery or pretty flowers.
2. Don't: Please, please no pictures with food on the face. Cute for grandma's refrigerator – not so much for the judges.
3. Do: Try to capture your child in a care-free, happy moment. Photos that are too staged usually don't show you're child's true energy and personality.
4. Don't: No extreme close-ups please!  It makes it hard to see the whole child.
5. Do: Be honest with yourself about your child's temperament. Does he truly enjoy taking pictures or does he burst into tears the moment you point the digital at him? If he does not like taking pictures at this time in his development, be patient! Chances are, with time, he may come to like the camera. Enter the contest then and watch him win!
6. Don't: Lose the hat, the towel draped over the kid's head – what are you hiding under there?
7. Do: Try taking pictures using interesting, fun angles.

Have fun, and good luck!

Interviewed by Vonda Skelton

My dear friend, Vonda Skelton, hosted me on her blog the other day. She's a wonderful person, dynamic speaker, and a gifted writer, so I hope you'll visit her site and check out all the great things she's up to...including a writer's cruise and a critique business.

And the Winner Is....

I drew for the HUGE book giveaway on Monday and the winner was Helen Cook. THANKS to all who participated! I especially appreciate my fellow authors and speakers who listed the giveaway info on their site(s). I had a great response! :) I promise to do it again.

What a Mom Needs

My friend Lorri Allen and her co-host, Larry Estepa, were kind enough to interview me on their Sirius/FamilyNet radio show, "Mornings," on May 5th. We talked about moms--how we feel overwhelmed and under-equipped, what families can do to encourage moms, and where we can find hope and peace.

If you want to take a listen, click here and then scroll down the "filter by guest name" to Dena Dyer. It's a twenty-minute interview which aired in two parts. I really enjoyed talking to them, AND I was once again thankful for coffee--because we chatted at 5:30 a.m.! :)

A Sweet Book (and Contest!)

I get asked to host a lot of blog tours, which means I'm offered a lot of free books. (That's the fun part of having a blog!) And while I support a lot of different authors, I'm rarely taken in by a book like I was with the one I'm promoting today. Sweet Caroline by Rachel Hauck is a fun, summery chick-lit novel, but it's more than that. It's also a well-crafted, lighthearted-but-not lighweight literary representation of the delicious grace of God, served up with lots of laughter. Simply put, I loved it! And I'm honored to host a part of the blog tour to celebrate this newest release from an excellent (and groovy!) writer. Read on to find out about the book, a SWEET contest, and a great recipe for butter biscuits (yum!), which are featured in the book.

Contest: The Sweet Life contest! Enter to win a Scrumptious Baking Basket from Rachel. The basket contains a Super Cool Apron, a Low country cook book signed by PAT CONROY, rolling pin, and a pie plate! All you have to do to enter is sign up for Rachel's newsletter here.

And here's a recipe for Bubba's Buttery Biscuits!

3 cups self-rising flour
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and chilled, plus 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted for brushing the tops
1 1/4 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

From the author, Rachel:

"I'm a forty-something, a child of the '60's, '70's, '80's, '90's and '00's. I roller skated through the '70's into the '80's with Farrah Fawcet hair and a three-speed orange Camero.

Born in Ohio, I lived several years in Oklahoma and Kentucky before my parents moved the family to Florida. I graduated from Ohio State University (Go Buckeyes!) with a degree in Journalism. As a member of Phi Mu sorority, I partied my way though the last few years of college. But, the truth is, and always will be, I belong to Jesus. At the age of six, I knelt at the altar of a Tulsa Methodist church and gave my life to the One who loves me.

After graduation, I hired on at Harris Publishing as a software trainer, determined to see the world. And I did it without a laptop, a cell phone, an IPod or portable DVD player. Those were hard times. I traveled to Ireland, Spain, Venezuela, Mexico, Australia, Canada and the U.S. from California to Maine. But, life on the road is difficult. Working twelve to fourteen hour days, one doesn't get to see many of the sites. In Ireland, our company's distributor drove me around at night so I could see something of Dublin.

I met Tony, my husband, in '87, at church, of all places. We got married in '92. Tony has been a pastor for twenty years. I've worked with him in eighteen of those twenty. Our heart is to see teens and adults passionate, radical and whole hearted for Jesus. Tony and I don't have any children of our own, lots of kids-in-the-Lord and we love them all. However, we do have a very spoiled dog, and an even more spoiled cat.

I've always wanted to be a writer. My dad used to tell me, "You're a writer."  I have letters he wrote me post college, exhorting me to write. In this, I believe he had the heart of God.

In '93, I started an epic WW2 novel with two plots. It was well rejected. After that ordeal, I took a break and put efforts into my job as a software project manager. But, I missed writing and in late ' 99, I took up the craft again. With a little help from my friends, my first book was published in ' 04, Lambert's Pride, a romance novel. I love writing chick lit and romance. I love writing. What an honor."

Thanks, Rachel, for not abandoning your call to write. :) I, for one, am very grateful you didn't give up!

Links:

Rachel's website.

Buy the book here.

Rachel's My Book Therapy ( a writing craft blog for writers).

I'm a Proud Wife!

I'm so proud of my hubby for being one of four winners in a jingle contest sponsored by the Texas Dept. of Transportation. Here's a page which profiles him (isn't he the cutest?!) and his award-winning composition. To hear the jingle, click on "Contests," then "Carey Dyer" and "Play Carey's Jingle." He's also had several arrangements (many of them multi-part acapella pieces) published by Sound Music Publications, as well as other companies.

Carey has always supported me in my writing endeavors, and now I get to champion him as he branches out into songwriting and arranging. Congrats to my sweetie!

Win Lost Gold (chocolate gold, that is)!

Today, I'm participating in a fun blog tour for my friend (and multi-award-winning author) Tricia Goyer's book, A Whisper of Freedom. During the tour, you can enter to win one of FIVE signed copies of A Whisper of Freedom by signing up for Tricia's newsletter here!

About the book: Battles heat up…not only those being waged by the soldiers on both sides fighting for Spain, but in the hearts and minds of the men and women who must sacrifice more than their dreams to save the lives of their loved ones.

In this meticulously researched novel, brave and idealistic Sophie, Philip, Jose, and Deion realize their only hope for freedom is escaping Spain's borders.

By continuing the story of this band of volunteers during the Spanish Civil War, A Whisper of Freedom proves that there are whispers of hope and liberty that resonate through even the darkest night.

Links:
Book excerpt
Buy the book
Watch the series trailer

Here's the MEME Tricia gave us to answer (wanna see other bloggers' answers? Click here to see the list of blog tour hosts):

1. List three things you would do with a chest full of gold (assuming you got to keep it!) One: give money to my favorite causes and bless my extended family members. Two: pay off our credit card and mortgage. Three: save money for the boys' education and put away enough money so that my hubby and I could work some, travel some, and minister together (with finances as no concern) as God leads.

2. List three charities/missions/organizations you support (and why). Hmmm....let's see. I love supporting Life Today with James and Betty Robison, because they are doing such neat work all over the world, with water wells, poverty, and (with their newest project, House of Destiny) even rescuing children out of human trafficking situations. We also give to Samaritan's Purse, Franklin Graham's organization. They meet basic needs all over the world, earning the right to share Jesus' love after they've been His hands and feet to the neediest people on our planet. And my hubby and I also support the Gideons, who faithfully place Bibles in hospitals, schools, hotels, and conference centers around the world. We like to give Gideon Bibles in people's honor and/or memory.

3. List three ways you have volunteered your time/services. I've taught at Christian Women's Job Corps, which helps women get a free education and job training, and which emphasizes Bible study and shows the love of Jesus in a very tangible way to women in dire straits who need--and deserve--a hand up (not just a handout). With my hubby and our music theater co-horts, I've sung at nursing homes in our area. And I volunteer to help with both my son's schools when opportunity presents itself.

4. List three things you keep "hidden" when company comes over.  Our closets, the garage and our master bathroom. The house LOOKS straight, until you open certain doors. :)

5. List the last three things you've lost. A cellphone (expensive!), garage door opener, and the back to our satellite box's remote control (can you say "toddler in the house?").

6. List the last three things you've found. A toy, a remote control for the T.V., and lots of crackers and Cheerios (all of these were in the space between the couch's cushions and its back. Yuck!).

Fun questions! Why not answer on your own blog, and get a chance at a great prize?

Three brave participants will be selected to win their own lost gold (Gourmet chocolate coins and all three books in the Chronicles of the Spanish Civil War series). To enter all you have to do is answer the MEME on your blog and then leave a comment here that you’ve posted. Easy.