Alison Strobel's Blog

If you came here hoping to find links to the free e-book of The Heart of Memory, I'm afraid you're a little too late. BUT, don't despair--until May 16th you can get the book for a measly $2.99! And if you're a newsletter subscriber, you'll be able to enter a contest for those who have placed a review of the book online. Not a subscriber yet? Sign up in the field on the right and you'll get a copy of the most recent newsletter with all the contest details!

Yes, the blog has been a bit neglected. But remember--I update constantly on Facebook and Twitter, so if you're not following me there, hop on over and join up!

Just a few quick updates:

My fifth novel, The Heart of Memory, is officially released. Through May 1 it is free for all ebook readers (in the US and Kobo Canada, and someone told me Amazon UK has it for super cheap). If you miss this deal, don't despair--it'll be $2.99 for the two weeks after that, and then $4.99 for the two weeks after that, so you can still get it for at least half price through the end of May!

Our second children's book, That's When I Talk to God, is also in stores and getting great reviews from the preschool set and their parents. This is a great bedtime book (and daytime book, and kill-some-time book, and "Mom, I'm bored" book...) and we hope you'll give it a shot.

On May 5th at 2pm EST I'll be on Your Family Live! talking about The Problem With Prayer. I'll be joined by Joni Eareckson Tada, Ginny Owens, and Becky Taribassi. My bit will focus on teaching your kids to pray, a la our kids' book. If you miss the broadcast you can check it out on these other carriers and I think Your Family Live! will have it archived, too. When they do I'll link to it.

Speaking of Facebook (well, I was a minute ago, anyway) I'm officially severing my personal and work 'profiles' there by sending all my non-personal friends over to my group page. Or rather, asking y'all to move yourselves, since I can't join you to the group myself! Activity has picked up there a lot and I'm having a great time getting to know everyone better and hearing what y'all have to say about the books and whatever else is going on in the world.

Alrighty, enough blogging--back to the line edits for Composing Amelia and the eight (yes, you read that right, though some are kids books!) proposals I'm working on. An author's work is never done! Hope you all enjoy the fruit of it. :)

Our second children's book is available for pre-order on Amazon! Rein in your excitement and hold off on ordering until the release date--I'll post a reminder for those of you who want to purchase it. We have already turned in proposals for three more books in the series--please pray they're well-received!

Recently I posted about Sandi Rog, a fellow author who, the same week her excellent debut, The Master's Wall, released, was diagnosed with cancer. She recently sent out this update, and with her permission I'm posting it here. Please continue to support her and her family with her prayers, and by buying her book--for every book sold her publisher is donating a dollar to a foundation they created just for Sandi, to help cover expenses. I meant it when I told you to buy her book instead of mine for Christmas. IN FACT...the next 10 readers who buy her book and email me a picture of themselves with it (alison at alisonstrobel dot com) will get a free copy of whatever book of mine they want, including Dan's and my children's book. And if there's a big enough response, I'll come up with a few more prizes. I'd really appreciate it if you posted about this on your own blogs, tweets, FB statuses, etc. THANK YOU! Ready, set, go!

I spent all day at the hospital today, and I feel I should fill you all in
on my prognosis.

We saw Doctor Myint who is my oncologist. Here's what he said:

I'm at Stage 4 Cancer with T-cell Lymphoma. It's very aggressive. I have to
undergo six chemo and radiation treatments (that's five days in the hospital
every three or four weeks, can't remember). I go in again on November 29th.
He worked the schedule out so I could be home for Christmas (I'll go home on
Christmas eve after my last treatment). He says at the end of all my chemo
treatments (which will end up being approx. four and a half months), I'll be
admitted into the hospital for a full month for a bone-marrow transplant
(the cancer IS in my bone-marrow; he said there were two different things
they were looking at in the bone-marrow. It wasn't in one part, but it WAS
in another). They will "flatten" my bone-marrow during my stay in the
hospital (destroy it; this will be the worst of the treatment, he said), and
then reintroduce my own stem cells back into my body.

Good news: he says this will also likely put my MS in remission!!! I knew of
another doctor doing this method on MS patients (one in Chicago). Turns out
Myint WORKS WITH THIS GUY and they both made the discovery together!!! So,
he said, while he can't "officially" say he's treating my MS, he actually
WILL be. I was so wanting to do this with the doc in Chicago, but there was
no guarantee I'd get in for this treatment, so I didn't sign up. I'm amazed
that Myint was part of that same team of doctors! It gives me hope. I was
thinking how horrible it would be to deal with cancer and then when that was
done, to deal with MS.

Anyway, he said his staff was shocked at how aggressive this cancer is and
that it's a rare form of cancer. But because they've tackled it right away,
they feel positive they'll be able to get rid of it. He said it responds
positively to chemo and radiation treatments. So . . . He also said he WILL
give us a copy of the FDA report which states that I got cancer from the MS
drug I was on. He says it's several MS drugs that can cause this, and not
just the one I was on!

Anyway, it was hard news to receive, but I'm feeling positive and
encouraged--especially with the MS news! Pray my body is strong enough to
endure the treatments. So far, God has given me His strength to get through
this. Pray that continues! My kids are counting on it.

I'm exhausted and feeling lousy, otherwise. :-)

One last thing: they say the first few months after the release of a book
are vital. Well, this all happened just as my book released, so I won't be
able to market it the way I'd like. I asked God to be my publicist and take
care of it all for me. I can see Him doing that already, but I don't want
Him to get bored with it and move on to something else, lol. :-) Will you
pray He'll continue that work for me? Thank you! xxx I have to laugh,
because several of the doctors and nurses know about my book. Some have even
bought it! I was passing out bookmarks from my hospital bed. I debated
setting up a table for signings. :-)

Oh, and am I scared? Yes. I can't believe I'm in this fight. I'm taking
things one day at a time to keep my sanity.

If you don't hear from me in reply to emails or whatever, please don't take
it personally. I try to read everything, I just can't reply to everything. I
might put updates on my blog on occasion.

Hugs in Him,

Me

Tricia Goyer, a well-known and well-respected Christian author, recently featured me on her blog. You can check out the interview here.

Unbelievable--it doesn't release until March 15th, but there it is! (Trivia: March 15th was also the release date of Worlds Collide, back in 2005.) Whoever wrote the back copy is totally getting a gift from me, because it's brilliant. Check it out:

When beloved Christian writer and speaker Savannah Trover becomes gravely ill, she has to face the sham that her faith has become. Days before her heart transplant, she vows to change her ways and she renews her relationship with Christ. But when she awakens from the surgery, Savannah discovers that her faith has left her completely. Savannah's husband, Shaun, is concerned about his wife's odd behavior---and even more concerned about the secret he's keeping from her. If she doesn't bring down their ministry, then he might, losing his family in the process. A stranger may hold the answer to Savannah's recovery, but is Savannah strong enough to return to her old way of life? Can Shaun right his wrongs before word gets out? And do either one of them remember how to be who they once were---or who they want to be? In this latest relational drama from Alison Strobel, readers will explore the difference between emotional faith and life-giving truth as Savannah wonders if she can ever trust her heart again.

Swoon! Back copy is so difficult to write well--it needs to be enthralling without being overly dramatic or promising too much, telling enough of the story to hook readers but not give anything away...I stink at it, so I'm glad Zondervan has someone so skilled working on this stuff!

Anyway, I hope you're as excited to read it as I am for you to read it. :) But don't order it yet--watch this space for a blitz buying date and we'll try to get it on the bestseller list. (Hey, a girl can dream, right?)

Check out Trish Perry's interview with me about Reinventing Rachel. Some of the most creative interview questions I've ever been asked! And I'm offering a free copy of Reinventing Rachel as well--make sure you follow her contest entry guidelines!

Yes, you read that right. Well, I'll amend it a little: you can give them if you want, but only if you also give a copy of Sandi Rog's The Master's Wall. Sandi is a new author--this book just released last Monday--with a lot of talent, and this book is really good. (So good that I, who normally doesn't read historical fiction, actually offered an endorsement for it.) But that's not the reason I want you to give it out to everyone you know. The real reason is because Sandi was diagnosed last week with Type A Lymphoma on her brain, and her publisher has set up a fund for her into which they'll donate a dollar for every copy--paperback and Kindle--of the book that is sold. So hop on over to your favorite bookseller and buy a copy of The Master's Wall for Christmas, and while you're at it, pray for her and her family (hubby and two kids, ages 10 and 3).

It's November, and you know what that means! National Novel Writing Month kicked off today! If you want to participate but haven't signed up yet, get your patootie over to nanowrimo.org and register. (Or try to, anyway. Looks like the very eager participants are keeping the site tied up. Keep trying, though!) You're only 1667 words behind if you don't start until tomorrow, and you can totally make up that time. And once you've signed up, come join the discussion on my FB group page and tell us what your story is!

We've got a discussion started on my FB group page about book clubs. Come share about yours!