Ceci Giltenan, Author

One day a wealthy woman walked through the doors of a mission hospital and saw a nun on her hands and knees, scrubbing the floor. The wealthy woman said “You couldn’t pay me enough money to do that.”

The nun said, “Me either.”

If you have ever known someone who has answered a calling, you know this is true. Priests, other clergy, members of religious orders, lay missionaries, sometimes even nurses, teachers and other people who choose to serve, know what it means to answer a calling. Whether the calling is to serve God, or simply to serve humanity, saying yes to that call isn’t easy. One doesn’t usually answer a call like this with visions of becoming rich and famous. A life of service nearly always has inherent sacrifices.

However, the world is unquestionably a better place because of those among us who answer a call to service. With this post I would like to thank the many wonderful people I have encountered in my life who did answer that call. To name but a few, the Reverend J. Marshall Dunn, Sister Carol Gaeke, Father Giles Barreda, Father Francis Hanudel, Father Adam Midor, Father Jacek Labinski, Father Micheal Pucke, Dr. Edna Quinn, the late Dr. Thomas Erskine, Dr. Karen Badros. You have made a difference in my life and I am a better person because of each of you.

Ceci

My brain is fried. I cannot focus. I have writing that I want to do on Fingal’s story and too much work for clients that I have to do, none of which is getting done. I realized last night that I don’t have a courage topic for today and as I tried to find one, the only image I could manage to summon was a barren desert.

Any ideas? Consider this an open mike and have the courage to step up to it and share a story, quote or other thought on courage.

Ceci

Oh–don’t forget, Highland Solution is on sale for $1.99 (or the international equivalent) for a few more days. If you haven’t read it, now is your chance and if you have and enjoyed it, tell a friend. You can purchase it from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and other retailers of ebooks.

Today I am welcoming Jeanne Arnold back to my blog. Jeanne is the author of Stubborn, an truly excellent young adult romance.

Thank you for having me again, Ceci. I wish you the best with the release of Highland Courage.

I never put thought into how much courage I needed to become a published writer. It takes courage to ride the Kingda Ka at 128mph. It takes courage to change direction in life. Sometimes, it even takes courage to reach out and shake hands with a stranger. But looking back, my leap into the publishing world took a whole different kind of courage. Publishing is not for the faint of heart. Neither are roller coasters. I never rode the Kingda Ka, but I did test the waters of publishing after I wrote my first young adult novel. I quickly learned that the road to publication is not a road. It’s a windy coaster track with few sensational peaks and plenty of valleys abundant with dissuasion and rejection.

It turned out courage fueled me through each step into publication. Hitting send in the email program and launching my manuscripts into the hands of literary agents took a lot of nerve. Sharing my words with complete strangers took courage, let alone sharing books with the critical masses. Each time an email arrived with a response, I needed more courage to open it. A few years later, I have three book contracts and a series in the making. The story goes on, but the message is simple—courage emboldened me to follow my dreams, achieve my goals and grasp what I thought was out of our reach.

Stubborn
With a train ticket, a bad attitude, and an unfortunate scribbling of obscenities across her forehead, seventeen-year-old Avery Ross is tossed out of the frying pan and into the fire when she’s sent from New York to the vast oil field region of North Dakota. When a green-eyed boy with a sultry Texan accent comes to her defense, Avery has no clue that his actions will lead her into a passion-charged summer, full of temptation and loss.

Defiant and relegated to work at her aunt’s boarding house, Avery discovers a connection between her aunt and the striking boy. He and his brothers are seeking revenge for the wrongful death of their sibling, and Avery becomes entangled in their battle over oil rights, loyalty, and love. Avery falls for the brooding, younger brother, Gabriel Halden, against her aunt’s forewarnings and creates more tribulations than any of them could anticipate.

Available from Amazon: Stubborn

Champagne Books: Stubborn

And other retailers of e-books.

Follow the Author:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jeanne-Arnold-Books
Twitter: @Jeannesbooks
Website: http://www.jeannearnoldbooks.com

My Review of Stubborn:
Stubborn is a great read, I had trouble putting it down. This well-written story is filled with nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat suspense and action not to mention an intense romance. The character development is particularly good and that is sometimes difficult when a story is written in the first person. The author captures the character’s angst extremely well. I am older but many of Avery’s internal thoughts took me right back to those years. Well done Ms. Arnold. If you enjoy YA romance, this is a must read!

For those of you who have been on this journey with me, six months ago, when I was preparing for the release of Highland Solution, I didn’t have the first clue how to go about promoting my book. A lovely author, Donna MacMeans, told me to ask several other respected authors in the genre to let me appear on their blogs.

Gulp.

I had to ask someone I didn’t know–someone famous–to do me a favor.

That may have been the hardest thing I ever had to do. However, I met some wonderful, supportive women, like Sue-Ellen Welfonder and Laurin Wittig.

Then, I had to put my baby into stranger’s hands and ask for honest reviews. Friends were one thing, but real reviewers were something else. Wonderful bloggers like Tin at Love Saves the World, and Angela at Satin Sheets Romance, agreed to read my debut novel and they gave Highland Solution great reviews.

When Highland Courage reached the editing stage, I needed to find honest beta-readers, who would give me the feedback I needed to improve the story. One author, Suzan Tizdale; two fans, Barb and Ann; and a wonderful friend, Rhonda, agreed to help me.

Having to ask for help so often has pushed me so far out of my comfort zone, I don’t know where it is any longer. Still, if I had never taken the first step, approached the first stranger, I do not believe Highland Solution would be as successful as it has been.

Just recently, I summoned up enough nerve to ask for a spot on RomCon’s Historical romance blog. You guessed it, I am appearing there today! Please stop by and leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of Highland Solution. For any of you who have already read Highland Solution, if you are one of the winners, I will substitute a copy of Highland Courage on its release day.

Ceci

A Facebook friend, Debbie McCreary shared this poster.

This is profoundly true. For most people it takes great courage to say, “I’m sorry, I made a mistake.” It is sometimes harder still to be on the receiving end of that apology and to forgive that person. Finally, when both an apology and forgiveness has been offered, the last step, forgetting the offense is perhaps the hardest but the most rewarding.

Although there have been very few negative reviews of Highland Solution, in two of them, the reviewers commented that problems were resolved “too easily.” I strongly disagree with this assessment. When either the hero or heroine makes a mistake, they discuss it fairly quickly, the one who needs to do so apologizes, forgiveness is offered and they move forward. This works for me in real life, and I have managed to stay in love and married for almost 23 years. Therefore, it is what my characters do.

Perhaps more difficult than accepting an apology and choosing to forgive and forget is choosing this high road in the absence of an apology–when the other person does not acknowledge their offense. I can honestly tell you, I stink at this.

Katherine, the heroine in Highland Solution understands the strength it takes to forgive and the peace that is found in forgetting. She lived in an abusive situation for years but when she rides away, it is behind her. She doesn’t dwell on it, and never seeks to right old wrongs.

Niall, like me, can’t do this very well. One reason Niall is so bitter towards women to start with is that he holds onto past hurts. His step-mother was cruel and self-serving. She would never have recognized her actions as wrong so she would never have apologized. He tries to ignore her, but avoidance is not the same as forgiving and forgetting. Her actions have colored his opinion of all women. He cannot forget. The same is true for the first woman that he thought he loved. She cheated on him, breaking his heart and embarrassing him publicly. She never asked for his forgiveness and he never offered it unilaterally. Thus he carries the pain and hurt he suffered at the hands of both of these women forward and it colors his actions.

So today I wish you the courage to apologize, when it is needed, the strength to forgive those who wrong you and the peace that comes from truly forgetting transgressions. I wish the same thing for myself. 🙂

Using a random number generator, I have selected the winners of the e-books for the various contests that have been running and they are:

Book Lady
Zee Book Blog
Terry Evans
Dianne

Congratulations! I will be contacting you via email.

Ceci

While I have been waxing on about Courage, there has been a lot of love in the air. A variety of Valentine’s events are winding up today. I have summarized them at the bottom of this post. They all end today and there are some amazing prizes–be sure you check them out.

Today, I’ll be brief. On a day when we celebrate love, remember that the choice to love also takes courage. Why? Because choosing to love means accepting the possibility of pain. In Highland Solution, Father James, tells the heroine, Katherine:

“My sweet girl, this world is full of people whose first concern is usually their own needs or desires. You are one of the few who always considers the needs of others before your own. You have learned the surest way to open yourself to hurt is to love and yet you love anyway.”

I’ve always loved the song Anyway by Martina McBride and the lyrics were part of my inspiration for Katherine. In spite of the difficulties she faces, she chooses to love anyway. As many times as I have listened to that song, I have only just watched the video and I think it really captures the message beautifully. Enjoy.

My giveaways:
I will be choosing winners for free e-copies of Highland Solution, from everyone who has commented anywhere on my blog during February until 10:00 pm EST on Valentine’s Day. If you haven’t yet, leave a comment to be entered.

Scottish Affair Scavenger Hunt and Valentine’s Bash
Please join me with the other great authors who have participated in the Scottish Affair Scavenger Hunt at Coffee Time Romance for a Scottish Affair Bash http://coffeetimeromance.com/CoffeeThoughts/. And don’t forget to enter the scavenger hunt. You can find details on how to enter here https://www.facebook.com/events/248247838676537/. By the way, my word is “Heroes.”

Love Struck Valentine’s blog hop
I have also participated in the Love Struck Valentine’s blog hop. The grand prize is a Kindle Paperwhite filled with 43 electronic books! For a chance at the grand-prize, be sure to enter here Love Struck Entry.

Heroic Valentine’s Giveaway on Facebook
This is another massive giveaway with over 40 prizes. You can find details here: Heroic Valentine’s Giveaway All you have to do to enter is tell us your favorite romance novel of all time (or a list of your favorites).

It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.

The jury is out on who actually said this. It is often attributed to either Abraham Lincoln or Mark Twain but it is unlikely either of them coined the phrase. However, whoever said it was no fool. I am going to coin my own related phrase (write this down) It is better to say “I don’t know” and be thought ignorant than to bullshit your way through an answer and remove all doubt. And yet, this seems to be a very hard thing for many people to do.

Jimmy Kimmel’s occasionally has a feature on his late night talk show called Lie Witness News. In it a reporter goes out on Hollywood Boulevard and asked passing people about things that haven’t happened. I really should have picked just one, but I couldn’t.

In the first clip, people are asked their opinion about Obama’s decision to appoint Judge Judy to the Supreme Court:

The second clip is a little older. It was made before Pope Francis was elected and people were asked what they thought of the new pope:

In this one, people are asked what they thought of the Academy Awards Ceremony before it had occurred.

Props to the last woman in the last video who calls the interviewer on the fact that they hadn’t occurred yet.

This is my grandfather, Van Wesley Carper whom I loved dearly. He died on this day 45 years ago when I was six years old and I still miss him. Now that I am north of fifty I realize how young he really was, only in his sixties. His life was shortened for the same reason many of his peers also died young. He was a coal-miner in southern West Virginia and died of black-lung, a disease caused by breathing coal dust.

America needed coal which provided the main source of energy for industry and transportation from the 18th century through the 1950s. The only way to get it was for men like my grandfather to go into the mines every day and dig it out. Mining was dangerous, back breaking, physically draining labor. The hours were long and the pay was atrocious. However, this was the work that was available and he had a family to provide for.

Today’s post is just to honor the many people who do “the job,” no matter what it is. Whether they are firefighters, police officers, members of the military, or even coal miners, the people who choose daily to face danger and hardship because there is a job to do and a family to feed, deserve our respect. Thank you.

It is my pleasure to welcome fellow Champagne Book Group author Elizabeth Fountain to my blog today.

Liz left a demanding job as a university administrator in Seattle to move to the small town of Ellensburg, Washington, and pursue her dream of writing novels. She started writing in grade school; fortunately, most of her tortured high school poetry and song lyrics are lost to posterity. She teaches university courses, writes fiction that captures the unintentional humor and weirdness of everyday life, and strives to live according to a line from British singer-songwriter Chris Rea: “Every day, good luck comes in the strangest of ways.”

Virtually every great story holds within it a tale of courage exercised by a character in order to overcome great odds, or courage missing, leaving a character floundering in the muck and mire. Maybe this is because as humans we all struggle to find the source of courage, and question whether we have enough bravery to get by.

Writing takes courage. Well, writing is a part of life, and heck, we all know life takes courage. The act of putting dark squiggles on a blank page, hoping that they communicate our meaning with some semblance of accuracy, hoping that someone will care about reading them – this is an act of daring nerve.

So it’s no wonder my first novel, An Alien’s Guide to World Domination, is in great part a tale about the ways in which its characters search for the source of their own courage. It weaves many stories together: the story of twin children exiled from their home planet and then separated by an accident their landing unintentionally causes; the story of Louise Armstrong Holliday, a lonely woman who loves her dog but has little success connecting with other humans; the story of Jack, Louie’s friend, as he strives to forget his biggest life failure; and the stories of the various aliens and humans Louie and Jack encounter in their journey to save humanity.

Over one hundred people came to my book launch celebration, and I had to stand up in front of them to read something from the book. This was my first novel, and I desperately wanted to share its “Important Themes.” Every novel has them, right? I scratched my head, hemmed and hawed, and finally realized the most important phrase in the book: “But you tried, anyway.”

That’s the heart of this story. It’s about people who look the impossible straight in the eye, and do it anyway. Save the world from stupid but brutal aliens? Find a sister lost somewhere in the galaxy? Escape exile and return home? All impossible tasks, but these characters accomplish them, by helping and loving each other. (And by trusting a dog, of course!)

My second book, You, Jane, offers the story of a woman who needs to find the courage to live the life she’s meant to live, with the man she’s meant to love. In order to do both, she has to let go of everything that’s given her comfort over the years, and come to terms with her ability to tell stories that come true and create mischief in her life. Is this like my life at all? Well, I’m too chicken to admit anything, but I do believe it takes tremendous audacity to let go of our safety blankets and allow the real world to make our heads spin.

So here’s to all writers, authors, and of course, readers – all of us who look the impossible straight in the eye and do it anyway, with one another’s help and all the courage we can muster.

Her first novel, An Alien’s Guide To World Domination is available from BURST! Books and on Amazon. Her second book, You, Jane, will be released by Champagne Book Group in summer 2014.

You can read more about Liz’s work, and follow her obsessions with music, luck, friendship, and baseball on her blog, Point No Point.