Raelee May Carpenter's Blog

Does Time Heal Wounds?One of the platitudes, for lack of a better term, survivors are often told after experiencing loss, is ���Time will heal your hurt.���Each April 27th I go back in time and remember my father���s death. Forty-one years ago he was slain by an unknown killer.The cold case remains one of Nebraska���s unsolved homicides.Over the years I thought I���d let it go, but I was mistaken. My mind continually reminds my heart of what I���ve struggled with over the years. In letters to the editors of newspapers read by my dad���s hometown people, I wrote: Murder. An ugly word when viewed from a distance. ���Body of Merlin Mosel found in ditch��� made the word murder more than ugly to my family. On April 27, 1975, we found out all we never wanted to know about the word. Murder became personal.From a testimony that was printed in a Christian magazine, I expounded: ���It was raining at the gravesite. I can���t recall what words were spoken from the Bible, but they comforted me. A break in the clouds heightened the words. A glimpse of sunshine penetrated my numbness.���That same afternoon I looked out the kitchen window and saw a rainbow perfectly arced over the grave. My parents lived in an old country parsonage with the cemetery on the other side of the driveway. Tears washed my cheeks as God���s symbol of love and mercy assured me of His presence. The rainbow, a physical sign that God was in control and keeps His promises. I perceived the sign as if God assured me everything would be all right.���Little did I realize until the following year, my Lord and Savior used that incident, and others, to call me to Himself.No matter how awful, I���ve always believed knowing what happened to my father is preferable to never receiving an answer. I���ve longed for the truth. The event impacted my life, and the lives of three generations. I���ve written variations of my feelings and frustrations, along with the account of what I knew at the time and my search for answers numerous times over the years. The details of the night preceding Dad���s homicide came to me second-hand, because I had a life away from the small town where my parents lived.I never viewed myself as a survivor of a traumatic event. Thanks to the power of the Holy Spirit, I consider myself a victorious overcomer.Working titles of the fictionalized account included: ���The Hidden will be Revealed,��� ���Unfinished Business,��� ���Ultimate Answer,��� ���The Touch of Time,��� and ���Today, Yesterday, and Tomorrow.��� Time may dull pain, but the remaining scar was ripped off the wound over and over, deepening the injury.However, with the publication of TOUCHES of TIME, I���m finished with the haunting hole in my heart. I can honestly say, ���Yes, time heals wounds.��� God, the Master Healer, fills that vacant spot in my heart with His love.My soul is at rest.
Inspirational romance author LoRee Peery strives to remember the Lord���s redeeming grace each day when she surveys her sense of place in Him and where He has placed her. She clings to 1 John 5:4 and prays her blended family and dozen grandchildren see that faith. Her Frivolities Series and other publications are available at Pelican Book Group http://tinyurl.com/kwz9enk or on Amazon author page: http://tinyurl.com/kafhkcc

Touches of TimeA decades-old unsolved homicide.A grieving single mother-to-be.A cold-case investigator.Sarah Bishop goes through her deceased mother���s belongings and becomes immersed in the details of her grandfather���s unsolved homicide. Determined to find who was responsible, for the sake of her unborn baby, Sarah vows to seek out the answers her mother had failed to find.Cold Case Investigator Ford Melcher is intrigued by Sarah���s dogged drive to solve the old mystery. His current case has reached a frustrating dead end, but he comes to believe it is somehow linked to Sarah���s quest. His desire to protect her from further hurt is put to the test, especially when he has secrets he���d rather not disclose.Answers could remain elusive as to who struck Sarah���s grandfather and left him in a ditch. Will the search for those answers open doors for her to discover the life God planned? Can she accept that plan if it includes a man who wasn���t forthright with information?

For those of you who have been following my health struggles and diagnosis of the incurable chronic illness gastroparesis, let me say this: I do believe God will heal me. I���ve asked for that, and I know He���ll do it. Only thing about our relationship (His and mine) is I don���t get to tell Him when.Years ago I made a sort of deal with Him. I want only the best of everything He can give me, and I will do whatever it takes to get that same best.The cost to me, my end of the deal, is quiet trust, unconditional surrender to Him and His good will.This is something I struggle with every moment of every day and more often than not, fail at entirely.But ���when we are faithless, He remains faithful������ (2 Timothy 2)I believe with every fiber of my being that in all of this���chronic nausea and vomiting and pain and shortness of breath, mental struggles with a doctor who wouldn���t believe I was sick, the havoc it has caused to my mental acuity and coordination, the lost career and social opportunities that have resulted���ALL of it, He has kept his end of the deal.His best is, indeed, mine to own.If you���re thinking now His best isn���t very good, I have failed dreadfully to communicate to you the lovely wonder which is my life. The gifts of love and support of every kind I���ve received from every angle. The gift of rest, the luxuries of wordless prayers at all times and hours snuggled up with cutest, smelliest, sweetest, most stubborn ball of fur in all creation.The gift of enough. To know contentment and watch the priceless sorts of blessings overflow a cup that need never ask for more.I am so happy.For those to whom comfort, ease, status, or money are ends to pursue, I feel only pity. I have possession of a million wonderful things which no money, which even no glory���save His alone���can buy.In this now, I choose to trust Him. I told Him I would take only His best, and I would share it with those He loves. In this now, I choose to believe in His purpose. I will have this disease as long as I can do better for His beloved children with it than I could without it.That might end tonight. It might tarry until the day I���m living for, the day I finally see the unmatchable beauty of His face.For all of these blessings, I choose to trust Him. I choose to believe what He said, that His purposes for all of this will be made good.That He, in His wisdom, wastes nothing.I made a deal with Him, remember? If I can ever hope to hold up my end of it, this disease is a priceless gift of grace I can not afford to waste.

I���ve been thinking about Jesus��� first miracle. Part of me has to ask: why?

Because he could���ve healed a sick person or fed some hungry folks or even raised the dead then. But he didn���t.

He turned water into wine.

It was at a wedding, of course, and at Jewish weddings one of the seven blessings given���first during the ceremony or the last at the table���is, ���Blessed are You, Lord, our God, sovereign of the universe, who creates the fruit of the vine.���

Jesus��� first miracle blessed a marriage and God himself, but it also blessed a celebration. A party.

I don���t know where we ever got the impression of Jesus���of God Himself���as a stiff, dull character who thought we should spend our lives sitting quietly in pews. Jesus hung out with prostitutes and sinners, and the uber-religious folk of His day called Him a drunkard and a glutton.

A Messiah whose first official act was to give more wine, of incomparable vintage, to already-drunk party guests certainly isn���t the sort to tell us that we shouldn���t enjoy���or celebrate!���our lives.

Not that I���m advocating drunkenness, alcoholism, or any point where a celebration stops being a blessing and becomes a bondage, but I��pray I��won't advocate religious bondage any more than I will the other kind. I believe most emphatically in a God who wants to give us joy, who wants us to embrace it in every circumstance.

Who wants us to live it up with laughter, smiles, gratefulness, and overflowing hospitality.

A God whose first official act in His incarnation was to make sure a party didn���t stop.

I didn���t make up this God in my head. This is God of the Bible. The God who attended that wedding in Cana, the God who died in Jerusalem, the God who��stomped Death itself into the dust on a bright Sunday morning in springtime.��This is the God who gave us Grace, along with every good and perfect gift. Just maybe He hopes the goodness and perfection of those gifts will show up our faces sometimes.

Grace is a feast, and salvation is the most smashing wedding party ever thrown in all of eternity. So what do you do with that?

You celebrate, my friends.

Eyes on the Light.

Have you ever had your past come back to the surface? I think most of us don���t want this to happen. Except, sometimes, the past collides with the present. It can be good or it can be the worst thing ever. And when it is the latter, we may think, ���Where���s God? Doesn���t He care?���

These are some questions I asked myself when writing Hearts Undone. What could be so bad that could rip these two apart? And you know it wasn���t even anything I had originally plotted into the book. As I got deeper and did editing, I rewrote the book three times. Yes, you read that right; I wrote it all over three times.

For Mark and Shelby, their pasts come back to do harm and also throw some twists and curves into their reality. This becomes a life or death situation. Shelby has to learn to trust God fully, and Mark has to overcome his own issues with God.

But, isn���t that like us all? We all have things we must get past. Our own mountains and valleys in this life that, in the end, can help someone else when they���re down and don���t think there���s any help.

God can use you and your problem to reach another person.

During times like these we must turn to the one who can help: Jesus. He���s the only one who can bring us out of the mud and set us back on the right track. I really pray this is shown in Hearts Undone.

How has God shown you He���s there in the darkest times of your life?

Allyson Carter��writes Edgy Christian romance and suspense novels. In her books, readers will find emotionally stirring story lines, as well a compelling mixture of suspense and faith. She resides in Missouri with her loving husband, four wonderful children, and three cats. When not spending time with her family, you can find her knitting and watching perhaps a few way too many suspense and reality television shows.

Connect with Allyson:

website: http://www.allyson-carter.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Author-Allyson-Carter-450572041707210/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AllysonCarter99

Hearts Undone
After a bitter divorce, Shelby Johnson is looking to rebuild a life for herself and her daughter, Hannah, while avoiding the thing she mistrusts most: men. Her resolve is tested, however, when her brother���s best friend, Mark, moves in across the street and her long-buried feelings for him rise to the surface. Can she open up her heart again? When someone threatens her life, she realizes that her heart isn���t the only thing on the line. She turns to the only man she feels she can trust.
Mark Daniels returns to his hometown to solve a crime committed in the military. When he gets caught up in Shelby's troubles, he knows she needs someone to protect her, but can he be that man? Being around her again is forcing him to face the way he feels���something he���d rather not do. When his past comes to haunt him, he vows to protect Shelby and her daughter until his last breath.
Through God's love, Shelby and Hannah find their way into Mark's heart. Will there be room for God too?

Get your copy of Hearts Undone:

eLectio: http://www.electiopublishing.com/index.php/bookstore#!/Hearts-Undone-Paperback/p/53645002/category=4758361

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Hearts-Undone-Carolina-Danger-Book-ebook/dp/B014ED2GNC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1440959814&sr=8-1&keywords=allyson+carter+hearts+undone&pebp=1440959817914&perid=067EMG19W14HJEG9W5A9

(Hearts Undone was published by eLectio, who also published Liberation Song. ~RMC)

[image error]Lewis Ben "Indy" SmithHowdy Folks! Indiana Smith here!

���WHO?��� you ask.

Well, I am 51 years old, a native Texan, the son of a retired Baptist minister, and an English teacher. I collect fossils and artifacts, read books of all sorts, and have a passion for bad movies that leads me to cinematic marvels like Zombie Hamlet and Army of Frankensteins. I have taught for 20 years at a private Christian School; I pastor a small church, and I've been married to my childhood sweetheart for the last 31 years. I acquired the nickname of "Indiana" Smith as a teen, when Raiders of the Lost Ark came out, due to my crazy adventures while artifact hunting.

eLectio released Lewis's latest and Raelee's Liberation Song in the same monthI have two books in print. The Testimonium is my first novel, a Biblical archeology thriller set on the Isle of Capri in Italy. My newest release, published in May, is��The Redemption of Pontius Pilate a historical epic about the man who sent Jesus to the cross. My next work Matthew���s Autograph will be released in December, and I just finished my fourth novel, another historical work set in the Roman Empire, entitled Lover of God. Sometime later this fall, I'll be starting my next work, another story about my intrepid team of Biblical archeologists and scholars. I'm thinking of calling it The Gnostic Library.

I have always wanted to be a writer. I started two novels, one in my teens and one during my Navy years, and abandoned both. After college I entered the work force and didn't write any fiction again for 20 years, although I did publish a few articles for Indian Artifact Magazine in the 1990's. Then around 2000 or so I went online and began writing all sorts of stuff on the internet���mainly longwinded debates over politics and religion that may not have persuaded anyone but did sharpen my skills as a writer.

In 2012 I began writing my first novel. Several things inspired The Testimonium. One was an Easter monologue I did for chapel at the Christian school one Easter���a costume drama as Pontius Pilate, dictating a letter to the Emperor, describing the events surrounding the trial and execution of Jesus of Nazareth. Performing that role got me to thinking���what if there was such a letter? Sure enough, after a bit of research, I found that Justin Martyr did make a reference to the "Acts of Pilate" in a letter to the Emperor Antoninus Pius around 140 AD.

The second thing that inspired me was reading The Da Vinci Code. Dan Brown's book was a page-turner, but its claims about the origins of Christianity were historically inaccurate to the point of slander. Even worse, many people believed this steaming shovelful of historical horse hockey! I thought, why couldn't someone write a story just as good with a more accurate view of our faith's origins? Finally, I read a historical novel by one of the best-known Christian writers out there. It hit the Christian fiction best-seller list, but just wasn't that good. Bad writing, tons of dialogue-related anachronisms, and shallow characters. I thought to myself, even I could do better than this!

One day in March of 2012, sitting in chapel at school, character names began popping into my head. I jotted them down on a piece of scrap paper, then went home that night and began writing. I wrote seven pages that evening, and the next morning I got up an hour early and finished five more before I headed off to work. Nine months and 450 pages later, The Testimonium was complete. My firstborn literary child had entered the world!

Lewis's first published novelThe Testimonium tells the story of a team of archeologists who discover Pilate's long-lost report to Rome about the trial and execution of Jesus. When the scroll is opened and translated, it corroborates many details of the Gospel accounts���even the resurrection, which Pilate reports as a rumor sweeping Jerusalem.

Dr. Isabella Sforza, the Italian scholar who led the dig on Capri, is a lapsed Catholic who quit believing a long time ago, but two of her colleagues, American Josh Parker and the Vatican's archeological consultant Dr. Duncan MacDonald, are both strong believers as well as men of science.

As each of them wrestles with the implications of the scroll's contents, world reaction to Pilate's Testimonium ranges from skepticism to accusations of fraud to outright violence. An Al Qaeda splinter cell in Italy targets the team in a deadly terror attack. Isabella struggles with her feelings for Josh and her own emerging faith, even as deadly forces plot to destroy the scroll and kill them both.

In February 2014, I found the website for eLectio Publishing, and after doing a little research on them, I sent them The Testimonium. They offered me a contract, thus a wonderful relationship was born. To this day I have nothing but praise for these good people who took a chance on a rookie. Since then I have finished three more novels and have at least two more cooking in my head. I'm not on the best seller lists anywhere, and I am still struggling to gain recognition outside my local community���but I am immensely proud to call myself a novelist!

It���s been one of those days. Yeah. Those ones.

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I���m not one of those people who���ll only say, ���The Lord this��� and ���the Lord that,��� because that���s what I call Him when I���m angry or annoyed with Him. Personally when I hear ���the Lord,��� I don���t think rightful and compassionate sovereign. I think Sassenach.

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And I���ve got enough of the Irish Republican in my blood that Sassenach is but a tiny shade better than Slave Master���I���m an�� abolitionist, so you know I���m no fan of them.

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When I love Him more like I should, I just call Him God or even by one of hundreds of His pet names I know in various languages. But ���The Lord���? For me, that���s like calling Him with His middle name. When I start ���Lord���-ing Him, it���s a big clue�� to the sorry state of my heart at that moment.

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I found myself doing it this morning. ���The Lord must be trying to teach me patience.��� As James said, patience is produced by the�� testing of our faith���which is never fun and often irritating.

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���The Lord must be������ Like I KNOW what He's doing.

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At the time the thought came, I was resisting the urge to stress-eat gummy bears. That only feels good for half an hour, then you feel sick. But it���s been one of those days where it all starts to seem like a good�� idea.

���The Lord must be trying to teach me patience.�����

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Like He���s some cruel, oppressive, Sassenach pretender.

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Like He���s not the One who���s taken care of me since before�� the world began and loves me more than I could ever even imagine loving myself.

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I stopped myself (this time, anyway), because a thought like�� always circles downward and takes my mood spiraling to the depths with it.

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���God, I���m sick of failing this test. I can���t do this�� anymore. Please help me get in this time. I love You. I believe You. Amen.���

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There���s a song by Anthony Brown & Group Therapy that speaks volumes to me, encourages, inspires and lifts me up when I���m feeling down. ���Worth��� is the official name of the song, and it is beautiful! I advise you to listen to it on YouTube.

I believe the song ���Worth��� is based on a Bible verse that I call ���the Bible in a nutshell��� because it is the foundation for God���s Word, it is the ultimate HOPE for humanity, it is the source of encouragement when all seems lost. The verse I���m talking about is John 3:16 which says, ���For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.��� (King James Version of John 3:16)

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I love these Bible-based truths! It���s so important to read God���s Word (The Holy Bible) and find your worth in what He thinks about you, in what He knows about you and about what He has planned for your life here on Earth. God thinks you���re special (1 Peter 2:9). He considers you one of His own children (Romans 8:17). Here are a few more Bible verses about your worth in God���s eyes���

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You are God���s masterpiece

Ephesians 2:10 (New Living Translation), ���For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.���

Hey, and you thought Leonardo Da Vinci created so many world-famous masterpieces (and he did), BUT the Creator of the Universe created you, and He considers you His masterpiece! Powerful points. Let your mind soak in those truths for a few minutes then continue reading.

God has good plans for your future

�����For I know the plans I have for you,��� declares the Lord, ���plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.��� ��� Jeremiah 29:11 (New International Version)

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Oh yes, dear heart, be encouraged because, not only does the Creator of the Universe adore you, He has good plans for your life! If you only would just trust Him and allow Him to lead you, guide you, bless you and protect you���You���ll see just how good God is and want to love and serve Him!

If you already know your worth and celebrate these truths, I encourage you to share your story about how you found your true worth in God because there are people out there in this world dying to hear these priceless�� and timeless truths.

Again, just allow this to soak in���The CREATOR of the UNIVERSE loves you! If that���s not a major self-esteem booster, I don���t know what is! It���s so easy���especially for women���to allow the media, movies, magazines and opinions of people we know to weigh our worth. I���m writing this devotional today to tell you to stop. Stop listening to the world���s words about who they think you are.

Madea, a fictional character created by movie mogul and playwright Tyler Perry, once said, ���It ain���t about what they call you; it���s what you answer to!���

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Don���t ���answer to��� the lies of the world. Don���t ���answer to��� the negative labels society tries to plaster on you. Don���t ���answer to��� people who think less of you. If you���re a believer in God then you should know HE is the ONLY One in the entire universe you must answer to, and He thinks you���re worth saving! Allow Him to change your life.

How do you allow God to change your life? By letting Him in your heart and finding your true value, your true hope, your true worth in His Words (The Holy Bible).

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Always remember and treasure this truth: God loves you with all of His divine heart! And if God be for you, who can be against you? (Romans 8:31) The answer is: No one.

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God is for you, so be encouraged and know your worth!

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Alexis A. Goring is a writer at heart and a journalist by profession. She loves the art of storytelling and is especially delighted to have released her first book, an inspirational romance novella called Hope in My Heart: A Collection of Heartwarming Stories, in Sept. 2013. When Alexis is not working on her next book or chasing down the next big story for the newspaper where she works as a freelance reporter, she can be found listening to songs by her most admired musicians, enjoying the food in cafes/restaurants, shopping at her favorite malls and spending quality time with loved ones (family and friends).����

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Connect with Alex:

Author page on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/AuthorAlexisAGoring

Blog, ���God is Love��� - http://capturingtheidea.blogspot.com

Twitter handle, @pennedbyalex

Get Alex's Book:

Amazon.com, http://amzn.to/1it3pxT

BarnesandNoble.com, http://bit.ly/1mGHW95

It may come as a shock to you, but most authors aren���t rich.

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In fact, most authors, especially if they���re full-time authors, are kind of poor. Most authors aren���t best-selling authors. The vast majority���something like 90%���of authors, even extremely talented, hard-working ones, can NOT make their living at the thing they pour so much energy and heart in to.

Good authors spend thousands of hours on a single book. Brainstorming, writing, editing, rewriting, editing again, proofreading, more editing. And, in this day and age, they���re probably expected to do a lot of their own marketing, too. That work adds up, and it can break a novelist���s heart when they finally bring a book to market and realize the sad truth:

Most people don���t buy books.

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People actually look at their hard work and say things like, ���If books are so fundamental, why aren���t they free?���

Is bread free?

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Think about it. Aren���t books important? Doesn���t reading matter? And if a baker���s work is valuable enough to earn a living wage, why should writers work thousands of hours for free?

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Sometimes even well-meaning readers don���t understand. We writers are glad you liked our book. Also, yes, if you buy a copy of a book, you should be able to loan it out or give it away, but please think about the author when you make choices about how you do that.

Yes, you may have paid 10-15 dollars for that copy, but after the publisher, the designer, the editor, the printer, the shipper, the distributor, and the retailer take their cut, the author is fortunate to walk away with $2. In truth, most royalties ring in at far less than one dollar per copy.

So forgive authors if all your selfless lending and giving of their books makes them cringe instead of grin.

If your friends can afford their own copy of an author���s book (and most ebooks cost less than a Starbucks latte, so���), maybe recommend they buy it instead of loaning it to them. And if they truly��can���t afford to buy it, at least ask them to post a rating or a review on Amazon and Goodreads when they finish reading your copy.

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Even the Bible says, ���Don���t muzzle the oxen at the grindstone. The worker is worth his wages.���

If a writer has worked at their craft, you can tell when you read the book. If they hadn���t worked hard, the book wouldn���t be worth sharing with your friends. And if a book is worth sharing, it���s worth paying the one who wrote it.

...After all, that's how they can��afford to write more. :)

Georgia ShulerI have a three year old, a toddler, and a baby so I���m no stranger to grit. Whether I���m pulling off shoes that sound like maracas or cleaning out a bathtub where I swear, my kids lost weight, grit and I have become close friends.

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��Maybe that���s why I���ve noticed recently the stories I buy into also contain ���grit.��� I loved the movie Mud. The story is about a pair of teenage boys coerced into helping an outlaw figure out love and hideout on an island in the Mississippi River. It weaves an amazing rich and authentic tapestry of the setting. When the boy cries���his nose runs. When the outlaw is stranded on the island���his only shirt gets sweat stained.

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I also enjoy James Bond movies but I don���t buy into them as much. James Bond seems to emerge from gritty situations and places with a torn shirt or an attractive souvenir scar.�� I still like the movies, but when I think about it, I don���t feel as immersed in those worlds. As a result, I���m less excited about the story. Maybe I���ve been brainwashed by an army of sandy shoes, but my storyteller mind would rather spend time watching the dirty, culturally rich world of Mud than the beautiful destinations featured in Bond movies. And to me, having your audience want to spend time in your world is the ultimate compliment.

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Tolkien understood grit. His books led me to picture his travelers as sweaty, dusty, and with crumbs after they ate. Their epic struggles were centered on armies, sorcerers, and trolls, but I would argue that the grit played a role in helping me feel those struggles. Somehow, a clean Frodo wouldn���t have felt like he was suffering nearly so much.

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Life is full of glorious imperfections, and art that imitates life needs to have them too. Or else our minds reject the story as not being really-real.

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So don���t forget the grit. Let your characters get eggshell in their bite of omelet, use spit to clean sticky fingerprints off of their phone, smell a mysterious sour stink in a hot muggy room, or at least arrive at work only to find a stain on their shirt. As unattractive as these things are, in a funny way, they pull the audience in.

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Georgia has studied writing and business at Lansing Community College, Michigan State University, and Siena Heights University. She is a board member for the Michigan Writing Centers Association and an active member of Finish The Damn Book, Fiction 440, and SCBWI. Currently, she is working on final edits for her first novel, the Phantom Maker and the Maze. Georgia will be launching a collaborative writer���s blog (mipenpals.com) this fall. She and her husband are outnumbered by their three energetic children in Haslett, MI.

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https://capitalcitywritersassociation.wordpress.com/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/finishthedamnbook/

At the end of this past March, I started reading a book called Shakespeare Saved My Life by Laura Bates. I read it on an absolute whim���it happened to be that month���s read at my local library, and the title was catchy, so I thought, ���Oh, why not?���

But, like so many things in life, it turned out that I was meant to read that book. Because after it, I found myself thinking, ���Wow. This. I feel called to do this.���

Laura Bates spent ten years teaching Shakespeare to prisoners in solitary confinement���those who had fallen so far from society nobody believed they could be rehabilitated. But Laura disagreed and spent her own time���not paid time, but her own time���developing a Shakespeare curriculum for these inmates. The book also chronicles her ten-year relationship with one of the most notorious inmates���a man named Larry Newton who was given life without parole for a murder he committed at age 17���a man who became like a son to her, who saw himself in Shakespeare���s characters.

The book made me question everything I had ever thought about the prison system, and it made me realize that if prison is not about rehabilitation, it���s worthless. It also stirred something deep inside me that made me want to do something. But I didn���t think there would be any way for me to do this. I���m an author. I���m an editor with a growing list of clients. I have a full-time gig as the mother of the three most beautiful boys in the world���who all happen to be aged five and under. One night, I found myself drifting off to sleep and saying to God, ���So, this is incredible. I could do this. I could

share the beautiful gift of literature with prisoners. I know I can���t do this now, but maybe someday������

But, as always, God found a way to make it happen.

About two months after I finished the book, my dream, like so many others, had slid to the back of my mind. Much more pressing were the issues of my sick child, finishing an editing project for a client, and attempting to keep my house in some semblance of order. But when I made it to my meeting of the Virginia Writers Club, it turned out that on that particular evening, a woman from the Juvenile Detention Center in Manassas had come to ask if any of us would be willing to come down to the center and talk to the kids there about writing.

I nearly spit out my water.

After a series of emails with her, I now find myself excited and overjoyed at the prospect of spending a Friday afternoon with these kids next month. Everything fell into place to make this happen���my wonderful babysitter was available, the date that worked best for me to come was available, and my topic���developing characters that people care about���was approved. I feel so honored to have this opportunity, but am also humbled that God not only made this work out for me when the situation seemed (to me) to be impossible, but that He chose me to do this. To spend time with these kids�� who, I hope, will grow in their love of literature���because, as Larry Newton noted after studying Shakespeare and moving out of solitary, literature can be life-changing.

����Amanda Romine Lynch is a writer, editor, and blogger who grew up in Florida knowing she belonged somewhere else. She now lives in the DC Metro Area with her husband and three amazing little boys. She is the Eco-Friendly/Green Living Contributor over at the Prime Parents��� Club and strives to live earth friendly in a world of disposable diapers. When not writing about Anabel and Jared or chasing around a curly-haired boy, she cheers for the Gators (in all kinds of weather) and occasionally remembers to sleep.

Amanda writes��New Adult books that are a lovely hodgepodge of mystery and romance with a little suspense thrown in.��Her novels Anabel Unraveled & Anabel Divided and her companion novella Meghan Defined can be found on electiopublishing.com, Amazon.com, and most major online book retailers.

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Connect with Amanda

��Website: amandarominelynch.com

��FB: http://www.facebook.com/AmandaLynchWriter

��Twitter: @thebookprincess