ON CHRISTIAN BOOK. COM AS AN AUTHOR

I am so happy tonight! My author page and interiew is now up on Christianbook.com. This is a dream come true for me. To tell you honestly, I never knew it was a possiblity. I think God had bigger and better plans for me than I did. :)

With the 3rd book in the Heart of the West series coming out at the end of May, I have even more to celebrate. Without getting too personal, I've travelled a difficult personal walk the last few months so I needed some good news. God continues to bless.

If you're interested in reading the interview, click here. http://www.christianbook.com/fiction.

I'll be doing LifeWay National Fiction Event Day in May at their store next to the Mall of GA in Buford. I can hardly wait. The folks there are wonderful and so are my fans.

I'm working hard on the first book on the next series, The Blue Willow Brides but taking time to research and craft my scenes and characters that I hope you'll come to love.

I pray your winter hasn't been a hard one---spring will be here soon. I've been seeing Bluebirds poking in the Bluebird box on my fence outside my office window, looking for their home and that's a definite sign of spring:)

Until next time,
Maggie.

GUEST BLOGGING

Brrr...Baby's it's cold outside!

Atlanta's snow storm last week was incredibly beautiful. Look at our gazebo in the neighborhood covered with snow. So pretty! Hard to believe that I normally stop here on my walk and listen to the gurgle of the creek behind it. Of course, now it's melted and a little bit warmer, which tells me spring is not far off because I've spotted bluebirds in our back yard.

While I've been working on my new series this week, I've taken a break to guest blog for Petticoats And Pistols. I'm tickled that they asked me to guest blog and my post will be up on Saturday. Hope you will check it out here: http://www.petticoatsandpistols.com/ tomorrow.

Now back to my regular schedule, that includes hot coffee to chase the chill away and back to see what my characters in the "other" world of Blue Willow Brides are up too. :)

Stay warm...

Maggie

Winner of No Place for a Lady

Congratulations to Trinity Rose who won the Valentine giveaway for a copy of No Place for a Lady! I hope you'll enjoy the book and post me a comment after you've read it.

I appreciate everyone's participation and for sharing your favorite valentine card memory. I hope your Valentine's Day was wonderful. I received a dozen beautiful red roses from my husband and nice dinner out. My day was especially sweet with a surprise visit for a few hours from my daughter, Sheri and family from Augusta. She gave me an adorable moose statute with a sweet smile on his face. After seeing them in the Grand Tetons this past September, I'm enamoured by those beautiful creatures. By the way, for Christmas she gave me a silver moose bead for my Chamilia bracelet. She really knows how to get to my heart.

Isn't he cute?

Have a wonderful week. Until later,

Maggie

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

It'll be here on Sunday--Valentine's Day! As a child, I loved how we covered shoe boxes with crepe paper and glued hearts, etc. on it to hold the valentines we hoped to get at school. Remember those times?

In honor of the most romantic day of the year, I'm giving away a copy of No Place for a Lady over at Bustles and Spurs today.

Some of you have written me saying you've read book 2 and would like to read the first one. Well, here's your chance. Go to www.bustlesandspurs.com and tell me what was your favorite valentine card that you can remember.
You can read my answer there. On Monday, I'll draw a winner.

Good luck and have a Happy Valentine's Day!!

Maggie

Who Dat?

Yes, I'm happy The Saints are in the Superbowl and I'm cheering for them!! I'm not a huge football person but I like to stay abreast of a few teams, especially the Broncos and LSU. So I have one eye on the TV that I can see through my French Doors and my hand on the dashboard of Blogger.

The reason that I wanted to blog tonight was that want to tell you about a wonderful autobiography that I read last week while recoupering from surgery. I met this wonderful lady when she friended me on facebook. Long story short, she sent me a copy of her book to read and I could not put it down! Damaged Goods is a true story of Charlotte Hunt's abusive childhood. It's an incredibly raw look at sexual abuse and the power of God to overcome the worst betrayal in one's life. Well educated, Charlotte is a gifted writer as she bares her soul in this indept look at her past and her present. She's a sucessful national motivational speaker and speaks to diverse audiences in overcoming childhood trauma, women's issues, and is a favorite lecturer for district attorney offices, educators, addiction treatment programs and children advocacy centers.

She is active in vocal and jazz studies and has done radio programs, PBS specials, commercials and an international runway model. I told her that she is a much more beautiful version of Michelle O'Bama for certain.

I hope you check out her website and perhaps read her book if you know of somewith with childhood trauma or abuse, or if you were a victim. Maybe you'd just like to understand this terrible covered up shame that ocurrs every day around the world. Her story will uplift you even in the darkest moments of her scarred life because she gives HOPE and points us the Christ who always loves us, pours out His grace and who was always there with his arms open wide waiting on us to run to Him to triumph over one of life's greatest tragedies. Her friendship is what I call one of those "God Winks"!

You can check out her website:

http://www.charlottehunt.net/

Back to the Superbowl and half-time

Maggie

Great News For Me!

Friday, I discovered that my book, No Place for a Lady was voted as one of the Best of 2009 books for Crossings Book Club! The Jewel of His Heart was listed as one of the Best of 2009 on Christian Book Distributors and has only been out since October. Needless to say that's a wonderful thing for me and I was excited to see some of my writer friends on the list as well. Tracie Peterson and Tamera Alexander are both favorite authors of mine and I've met them both. Having Tamera endorse The Jewel of His Heart was truly a shining moment for me.

But I also have to thank my readers who have purchased and enjoyed reading my two books. I receive letters and emails stating they can't wait for A Love of Her Own to be released. I have friends and people at church tell me the same thing. You can't possibly know how encouraged I am by that, especially as I write a new novel for another series. I'm always wanting to keep getting better! :)

I wanted to let those of you who read my blog and live in the Marietta area know that a friend of mine, Eva Marie Everson, will be book signing at Sweet Spirit Christian Bookstore between 2-5. Eva grew up in South Georgia but lives in Florida now. She has written a slew of books and her newest release by Revell is Things Left Unspoken. I have a copy of her book, Reflections of God's Holy Land and you can bet I'll be taking it to have her autograph it for me. Later, she will be speaking at North Metro Church on Barrett Pkwy at 6 pm.

Her website is below if you'd like to read about Eva and all her books. When I led a critique group for six years, Eva quoted me in her book, Word Weavers, a book on sucessful critique groups, co-authored with Janice Elsheimer. http://www.evamarieeverson.com/

Until later, Maggie

MY Thoughts For Today

I received permission to post this from Right From The Heart, my pastor, Bryant Wright's radio ministry, back in December, but with Christmas and finishing galleys, I didn't get around to posting it. I used to work for Right From The Heart, and was a prayer minister for two of it's fundraisers and considered it a great priviledge to be able to do so. One of my heart's passion besides writing, is that others may come to know Christ--not for me to feel good--but because God loves each one of us and wants us to know Him. In view of the terrible tragedy in Haiti, today seem to be the right time to post it. It appears to be so hopeless a situation, but I know with God all things are possible. Pray for them and send a donation to the Red Cross.

There are people I love who have not put their hope and faith is Christ, but will easily trust and rely on the unthinkable. Here's Bryant message that I wanted to share and by the way he is currently writing a book on the history of the conflict in the Middle East. Once I know when it will be released, I'll let you know.


The Evidence of Things Not Seen Dec 11 2009
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." - Hebrews 11:1
We pride ourselves in being logical creatures who demand proof before believing most things. Yet, a professor can tell us that there 100 trillion stars in the sky, and we accept it without question. We accept as absolute fact that an atom has neutrons and electrons spinning around a nucleus, even though we have never seen any of them. We know that light travels 186,000 miles a second even though we've personally never measured it. And we agree that Lincoln wrote the Gettysburg Address, and that E does, in fact, equal mc2. We accept all these things as facts without ever demanding the proof of their authenticity.Yet so many of us will reject Jesus - risking our eternal souls even when presented with solid proof. What proof? The witness of thousands of people who saw the miracles of Jesus. Testimonies from dozens who witnessed His death, then saw Him alive after His resurrection. And what about the fulfillment of prophecies concerning Jesus? Yet even after being shown so much solid evidence, many enlightened, logical people reject Jesus as "just some myth for the gullible." In fact, the divinity of Jesus is just about the only thing people refuse to accept, even when evidence is overwhelming. Tell me, where’s the logic in that?What about you? Are you willing to accept the truth of Jesus on faith? In fact, it's the ONLY way you can accept Him. So, go ahead, take that leap of faith. Once you do, your life will be changed forever.

Here's the link to Right From the Heart and the devotional & sermons.
www.rfth.org.

Maggie

ENJOYING THE WEST & WILDLIFE

I have a new blog post up on Bustles and Spurs today and a few photos from my recent trip out West. This was at the end of September on a research trip for my new series, The Blue Willow Brides.

I bought a suitcase full of books to bring home to read about Wyoming and history in general of settlers in the West. The mountains in Jackson, WY are so incredible that pictures don't do just to their beauty or size. I posted some pictures on the blog. Check it out at your leisure.
http://www.bustlesandspurs.com/

Until next time...

MY COVER WON!

I was happy to find out that my cover won for Reader's Choice for favorite book cover for 2009. This cover is my favorite of my three, and the title has a deeper meaning to me. Luckily, the publisher let me keep this title.

All the covers were so pretty, and it was a close vote. I don't know about you, but a great cover compells me to pick up the book when I'm in the bookstore. Revell does such a beautiful job on their covers. I appreciate Carmen for taking the time to promote some her favorite books and allow readers to submit their favorite cover. Check it out:
http://continuousdelights.blogspot.com/2010/01/cover-contest-winner.html

Hope your New Year is off to a good start. This is always a chance to clean out, start over and review what you didn't accomplish in 2009. But be encouraged. Most of us never keep those committments to watch our diet, exercise and give our time back to our community or church. But it's never to late to start again with renewed energy and purpose and make every day count.

I know I'm going to give it my best shot.

Until I return, thank God for your friends, family and another new year to get it right.

BOOK COVER CONTEST

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to a prosperous New Year in 2010. Hard to believe we're almost there, huh?

I wanted to let you know that my book cover has been nominated for a cover contest on Carmen Boley's blog. You can cast your vote for the favorite covers listed. Just got to Carmen's blog and on the right hand side- bar, click on your favorite cover then submit your vote. It's just that easy. Of course, I hope you'll choose mine, The Jewel of His Heart, which also happens to be at the top of the blog. There's only 6 more days left in the contest. Vote only one time please. Here's the link.

http://continuousdelights.blogspot.com/2009/12/cover-contest-time-to-vote.html

Until later...

TUESDAY DEC. 22ND BOOK SIGNING

This has already been a fast and furious month for me and I'll wager for you too. I'll be signing at the Border's Bookstore at the Avenues in E. Cobb tomorrow, Tuesday 12/22 from 1-3 pm. I hope if you happen to live in the area that you'll stop in and say hello. I'd love to meet you.

I'm hoping to write a blog post before Christmas, so hope you'll come on back.

Happy shopping for your last minute gifts and I hope you save time for baking your favorites Christmas cookies! This is a wonderful time of year, but especially for the children and since I have grandchildren, it's exciting to watch them at Christmas!

I'll be back soon.