In Love Finds You in Snowball Arkansas, hotel guest manager Lucy Louise Binoche’s biological clock is clanging as she longs for a man to share her life with, someone “who will cherish and appreciate me.”  Don’t we all?

When outdoorsy Mr. Right, Justin Gerard, bounds into her crosshairs at a singles group meeting at church, the fun begins.  Lucy jumps at the chance to further their relationship by signing up for a week of prayer, praise and fun in the Ozarks at a camp on the Buffalo River even though her knowledge of the great outdoors would fill a thimble.

Under the tutelage of best friend and coworker, Matt Frazier, Lucy careens from one disaster to another in her attempt to demonstrate her worthiness.  In the process, she learns important life lessons about herself.

Love Finds You in Snowball Arkansas is a well-told, heartwarming and satisfying story with compelling characters.  I loved its strong sense of place.  When I closed the book, I wanted to pack my bags and head off to Snowball myself.  I  wonder if there’s a return to Snowball in the works because I’d love to find out what happens with Wendy and George in more detail.  Hint. Hint.  

Incidentally, Sandie’s book – along with Andrea Boeshaar’s Love Finds You in Miracle Kentucky – is the first of two titles in a new line of inspirational romances by Summerside Press, a division of the Ellie Claire Gift and Paper Corporation of Bloomington, Minnesota.  The company plans two releases in this line every other month.  Love Finds You in Miracle Kentucky is at the top of my to-be-read pile and I’m putting Irene Brand’s Love Finds You in Valentine Nebraska on my Christmas wish list.  This book is that good!

A SCRAPBOOK OF CHRISTMAS FIRSTS

At His Command is the third story in Love Inspired’s popular Homecoming Heroes category romance line, a  limited series from Steeple Hill honoring the men and women now serving in our armed forces and the heroes at home who support them.

This book, Coulter’s fourth, displays the hallmark of what we’ve come to expect from this award-winning author: a plucky heroine, a hero to die for; wry, witty romance and gut-wrenching emotion.

In this story, Army Lt. Maddie Bright returns to Ft. Bonnell in Prairie Springs, Texas, to recuperate from an intense year of combat nursing in a Middle East war zone.  Her path crosses with Jake Hopkins, a war vet wounded several years prior who wrestles with PTSD and his memories of a split-second combat decision that resulted in the death of Maddie’s brother, Noah, Jake’s best friend.

Maddie and Jake’s growing relationship as they care for a young refugee suffering from a life-threatening injury while awaiting news of the fate of their dear friends, a military couple MIA in the war zone, kept me turning pages.

This afternoon I was prompted to recall Coulter’s rich characterization of Nurse Bright when I read Jason Cohen’s moving “My Turn” essay on page 14 of the September 1st issue of Newsweek.  It was titled “The Tragic Bond of War:  As a fellow soldier I share a special connection with my patients.  When one dies, I lose a piece of myself.”  

Kudos to Steeple Hill and all the writers in the Homecoming Heroes series for reminding us of the men and women of our armed forces who daily put themselves on the line “to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

In past generations, nearly every American had a close family member or neighbor in service.  Now with an all-volunteer military, that seldom happens.  According to Col. Andrew J. Bacevich, USA, Ret., a graduate of the USMA at West Point whose son Andrew was killed in Iraq last year; fewer than one per cent of our countrymen now serve.  So most Americans, other than those who live in communities supporting a military installation, have little or no direct contact with members of the military or their families.

I know firsthand.  We’ve got skin in this game.  I’ve prayed a close family member home from five tours in the Middle East, the last two spent in war-torn Iraq.  He’s still on active duty and likely to remain so until he retires many years hence at the ripe old age of forty-two, God willing.

And as I’ve witnessed the heroism of his wife and his young children in dealing with these separations, I appreciate the attention stories like At His Command direct to the members of our armed forces and their families.  Particularly when I recently read that a transportation company at Fort Knox, Kentucky, was gearing up for its sixth tour in five years.

But in contemplating my son’s future deployments and the sacrifices this Kentucky unit and their families have been asked to make, I believe with all my heart that all our servicemen and women deserve more than mere platitudes of support or yellow magnet ribbons made in China slapped on our cars.

To honor our troops, each of us must make ourselves worthy of the sacrifices we are asking our men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan to make in our name.  I urge everyone to do his or her part to support our troops by fulfilling the role our founding fathers envisioned for each of us:  by exercising due diligence and casting an informed vote this November.

Granted, that’s easier said than done.

This week and next both major political parties will be holding their conventions and rhetoric from their podiums will fill the airwaves and cover miles of newsprint.  The messages in these speeches will be reinforced with a barrage of ads followed by an army of spinmeisters shaping our perceptions on talk shows sponsored by media that may have a vested interest in the election’s outcome.  Our job is to separate the facts from the fictions.

Like other military moms, many times I have heard people say they don’t have time to follow current events or they’re just too tired to bother.  After a day of long hours on the job or running the kids to ball games and swimming practice, they say, the last thing they want to do is survey news sites on the web or watch C-Span.  All they want to do is chill out with an episode of “American Idol” or “Grey’s Anatomy.   I can appreciate that. 

But I hope they’ll reconsider.  We owe it to the 4,147 soldiers, sailors and airmen who have made the supreme sacrifice.  We owe it to those currently serving on active duty and in the reserves.  Lastly, we owe it to our children, our grandchildren and the country we’ll leave to them.

I’ll climb down from my soap box now.

In closing, Brenda Coulter’s At His Command should be on the shelves of your local Wal-Mart, Target, Border’s or Barnes & Noble starting today.  But you’ll have to hurry, they won’t be there long. 

You can also order the book from Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0373874960. 

While you’re at it, you might also want to check out Brenda’s clever blog, No Rules.  Just Write. at http://brendacoulter.blogspot.com. 

Don’t forget to vote! 

Keynote speaker Lori Foster shared pointers for avoiding the pitfalls in the publishing industry.  A wise writer whose work has appeared on the New York Times Bestseller lists, Foster pointed out that every writer has been in the same place as every other writer at some point in her career.

Foster reminded us that rejection happens before you get published and it happens after you’re published, too.  A  writer doesn’t have a great deal of control over what happens to her in this business, she said.  That’s why attitude is everything.

“It’s so easy for writers to make it harder than it is,” Foster said.  “You should have fun with this.  It’s just writing!”

Being able to write is a gift, Foster noted.  “Celebrate that you have a talent that not many other people have.  You’re a story teller.”  She further encouraged writers with four other cardinal rules:  don’t quit, keep submitting, don’t wait for your muse–just do it! and never ever compare your work with someone else’s.

Another highlight of the conference was the “WisRWA’s Got Talent” session.  In an hour and a half, Hillary Sares of Kensington Books and  Rose Hilliard of St. Martin’s Press shared their initial reactions to twenty-five first pages of manuscripts submitted anonymously by conference goers.

Listening to the thought processes and comments of these seasoned editors hit home the value of polishing that all-important first page.  “Read the opening of your novel the same way a buyer in a bookstore would,” Sares said.  She also noted that editors have very short attention spans.  Like your target readers, you have to reel them into your story immediately.

Janice Meynard, Susan Kearney, Anna Schmidt and martial artist Morganne MacDonald also presented thought-provoking and informative sessions.

The WisRWA members I met this weekend were warm, welcoming and accomplished.  It was an honor to place third in the series contemporary category of their Fab Five contest for the unpublished.

Not to be outdone, the Wisconsin Chapter of Romance Writers of America is holding their Love Is In The Cards Conference this weekend, too.  Lori Foster,  Janice Maynard, and Susan Kearney are among a full slate of presenters scheduled to give talks in Green Bay.

It’s tough to choose between these smorgasbords of riches.

The deciding factor for me this year is the chance to applaud my fellow finalists in Wisconsin RWA’s Fab Five Contest for unpublished writers and cheer on the winners of its Write Touch Readers’ Award Contest for published ones.  Everyone who participates in the Fab Five wins because of the feedback the judges provide on the score sheets.  If you want thoughtful, constructive advice on how to take your writing to the next level, enter the Fab Five.

This summer with gas prices shooting towards $4 per gallon many of us will be forced to make hard choices about where to invest our writing dollars.  If you’re thinking about skipping conference this year, you might want to reconsider.  Oftentimes the boost you get in creativity and the encouragement provided by your writing peers that one weekend can carry you through an entire year.

It’s special because today both my website and my blog went live and are now available for the world to see.

It’s bittersweet because my mom isn’t here to see it.

A year ago this week after a long illness, my mother was called home.  In the days before she passed, I remember seeing her lying in the hospital bed the hospice set up in the living room of her tiny house and feeling exactly five-years-old.

Listening to the rise and fall of her breathing, I was transported back to one of those rare occasions in childhood when Mom took to her bed with a cold or the flu.  Nothing seemed right then.  My father, my brother and I would tip-toe around the house, speaking in hushed tones waiting for the moment Mom would be on her feet again, back to being the anchor of our lives, doing all those things moms do to make us feel special.  Last year, emotionally I longed to see her do the same even though intellectually I knew it to be impossible.

So here’s to all our mothers wherever they may be.  Young moms.  Old moms.  And about-to-be moms like my niece, Jen.

When you leave your mom today, give her an extra big hug.  And say a prayer of thanksgiving for all the love she’s given you and the joy she’s brought to your life.

I know I did.

Jan

This is just one small step into this 21st century method of communication and I’m learning as I go.

Hope you’ll come back again.  Soon.  When there’s something to see.

Jan