Sunday Morning Peace

And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name . . . Jesus

Matthew 1:21

A wonderful day to you!

Monday Morning Gratitudes

peace thru difficult times
joy inside through turbulent exterior circumstances
nice weather
silver bells
new songs I fall in love with
quiet walks with hubby
the wind whistling thru the pines
the real meaning of Christmas
the first prayer from a child
delight in simple things

Blessings!

Sunday Morning Peace

The Greatest Gift Ever Given . . .

" . . . for unto you is born this day in the city of David,

a Saviour,

which is Christ the Lord."

Luke 2:11

A joyful Christmas to you!

Suzanne Hartmann: Guest Blogging Today Here!
Welcome, Suzanne. I'm thrilled you're here for another visit. Friends, check out her debut novel. Sounds like a fun read! Now, may I present . . . Suzanne:

AUTHOR BIO

Suzanne Hartmann is a homeschool mom and lives in the St. Louis area with her husband and three children. When not homeschooling or writing, she enjoys scrapbooking, reading, and Bible study. PERIL: Fast Track Thriller Bk. #1 is her debut novel.

On the editorial side, Suzanne is a contributing editor with Port Yonder Press and operates the Write This Way Critique Service. She has also written an e-book on the craft of writing, Write This Way: Take Your Writing to a New Level


A Novel with a Twist of NASCAR

Writers get their ideas many ways. In the case of my first novel, PERIL: A Fast Track Thriller, boredom motivated me to create stories to entertain myself while I sat through my kids' violin and piano lessons and baseball and soccer practice. Over a couple of years, what started with a simple question— "What if I could..."—eventually became a set of detailed stories revolving around one main character: they mysterious Lady Anne.
The idea for a twist of NASCAR came after my daughter decided she liked watching stock car races and one day announced that she had chosen a favorite driver. I knew nothing about NASCAR at that point, so I had no idea if this driver was someone we should encourage her to root for. I decided I’d better educate myself and started paying more attention when my husband watched a race (instead of taking a nap).

After a few months of watching the races and pestering my husband with questions. I realized that stock car racing was more interesting than I thought. Eventually, I couldn't resist placing some of the stories I had created at a racetrack. And that naturally led to the addition of a main character who was a NASCAR driver.

At the time I did all of this, I never intended to write a novel. I just had fun thinking about my stories, tweaking them, and adding to them. It wasn’t until I was thinking about one of the stories while taking a walk in our neighborhood one day that a thought popped into my head, “Why don’t you make these stories into a novel?” I fought the idea for a week or so, thinking maybe I was having a premature mid-life crisis or something, but after much prayer, I realized God was nudging me. So in spite of the fact that I had very little experience writing fiction, I set out to weave my stories into a novel.

Although I didn’t do it intentionally, the twist of NASCAR made my novel unique. Not many books incorporate NASCAR into their stories, and most of those that do are romances, not suspense novels. So the blend of NASCAR excitement with the thrills and mystery of the suspense genre that originated with my daughter’s interest in stock car racing shaped my novel into something special. I may not have known what I was doing, but God knew exactly where He was leading me, and it’s something I give Him thanks for daily.



Here’s a little about the book God led me to write. It is my debut novel and published by OakTara.

PERIL: A Fast Track Thriller:

A top-secret agent.
A high-profile assignment.
Danger at a NASCAR track.

A top secret agent with enhanced strength must use her extraordinary abilities during several high-profile assignments, from the White House to NASCAR tracks, while escorting the first Muslim king to convert to Christianity. When unwanted publicity and the attention of a NASCAR champion threatens to expose her secrets, she becomes a terrorist target with danger surrounding her on all sides.

“Plenty of action and unexpected twists.”

Foreword by Jimmy Makar, GM of Joe Gibbs Racing

BOOK TRAILER (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-G_LzhD4zE)



Thank you for hosting me here today. Before I go, I would like to invite your readers to enter the KINDLE give-away I’m hosting to celebrate the release of PERIL: A Fast Track Thriller. Entries will be accepted through 12/16. To enter, click here: WIN A KINDLE (http://fasttrackthrillers.blogspot.com/2007/01/kindle-give-away_01.html)



Where can people find your book on-line?

Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Peril-Suzanne-Hartmann/dp/1602903069/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321304203&sr=8-1)

Christian Book Distributor (http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=903067&item_code=WW&netp_id=965251&event=ESRCG&view=details)

At my website: Fast Track Thrillers (http://fasttrackthrillers.blogspot.com/)


Where can people find you on-line?

My Website – FastTrackThrillers (http://fasttrackthrillers.blogspot.com/)

My Blog - Write This Way (http://suzanne-hartmann2.blogspot.com/)

Facebook – Suzanne Hartmann – Author http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Suzanne-Hartmann-Author/45955180933

Twitter - @SuzInIL (http://twitter.com/#!/SuzInIL)


Hope you enjoyed getting a glimpse into Suzanne's life.
Blessings!

Monday Morning Gratitudes

Things that have meaning to me this time of the year, like:
peppermint
poinsettias
holly
mistletoe
gingerbread
cookies
apple and pumpkin pies
delicious smells
sparkling houses

Blessings!

Sunday Morning Peace

Children's lit up faces every Christmas gives me a real feeling of delight.

I've always loved traditional practices at Christmas

Hanging stockings comes under that category for me.

Here's the history of hanging stockings:

The tradition of the Christmas stockings began by a story told since ancient time about a kind noble man who had three daughters. The wife of the nobleman expired and the daughters and their father were left in a state of sorrow. The daughters had to do all the work in the house. When the daughters became young and eligible for marriage, the poor father could not afford to give the huge dowries to their husbands.

One evening the daughters, after washing their stockings hung them near the fire place to be dried. Santa Claus being moved by the plight of the daughters came in and put in three bags of gold one in each of the stocking hanging by the chimney. The next morning the family noticed the gold bags and the nobleman had enough for his daughter’s marriage. The daughters got married and they lived happily ever after. Since then children have been hanging Christmas stockings.

Here's some delightful stockings that carry meaning:

Had tons of fun hanging these for my grand-boys this year!

Pictures a little fuzzy but you can imagine what a ruckus was raised when I told them it was for ME!

Here's the "baby" stocking I insisted was for them.

A fun animal stocking

A handmade stocking

And a fancy child's stocking

What do you use for stockings?

Are traditions meaningful to you?

Or do you throw caution to the wind and explore the unconventional?

Blessings!

Monday Morning Gratitudes

Peace
Quiet
Christmas songs
Toe-tapping music
songs that touch my heart
tingling bells
wind chimes
stars
laughter as children bump (sliding on rear ends) there way down stairs
a child's apology

Blessings!

Sunday Morning Peace

Till he fill your thy mouth with laughter . . . Joh 8:21a

December is one of my favorite times of the year.

This month I'm going to feature some of the fun, inspirational, meaningful things I enjoy.

To begin . . .

I love christmasy stuffed toys.

My jingle-bell reindeer

I fell in love with this plump fellow several years ago.

Doesn't he look just right to snuggle up with?

This is the little homeless guy

my husband rescued.

He got a bath and now owns a special

spot on the stairs during Christmas.

And finally . . .

A little girl all decked out for Christmas.

She's a doll! :)

Smiley blessings on you today!