Tag Archives: denanetherton.me

General, Nature, The Arts

A Bit Of Respite

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I took a breather yesterday from all this marketing stuff about my new book, Haven’s Flight, which launched on April 4th on Amazon.

Being a newbie to the business of publishing novels, I had no idea how many promotional things I’d be asked to do.

Not that it wasn’t all fun things. But it was a lot to do.

For example, last Friday, March 31, I did an interview for Suspense Sisters blog about  Haven’s Flight. If you’re curious you can see that  here.

And then, just this past Tuesday, April 4th, I did an hour-long radio interview for BlogTalkRadio. Marji Laine Clubine hosted the show, and she’s just delightful. Listen to it by clicking here.

So, as I said, I took a breather from marketing activities and drove down to the pier to walk and soak (literally soak, since it was raining and raining) up the flavor of the sea and the culture of marine industry yards away from my feet.

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My boots started getting saturated, so I dipped into my favorite Woods Coffee, which is perched right above the water and spend a couple of hours writing on my newest suspense/thriller.

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This next book, the sequel to Haven’s Flight, takes place right here, even though I don’t call the town by its actual name. The sea, the town, and the mountains surrounding the town are the perfect place for my next story to take place. I hope you agree. The book will come out in the fall, and I’ll be letting you know more about it when as the date for its release approaches.

Marji Clubine mentioned that she had traveled to the Northwest and thought it was beautiful, but she could never live here. Too many trees.

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How could there ever be too many trees?

But she loves the wide open spaces of Texas. I’ve been there, and I can say it is beautiful, too, in a different way.

I’ve gotten a couple of lovely reviews already for Haven’s Flight. If you’re curious, hop on over to my “published book” page for a quick read.

I’ve got my launch party coming up this Sunday, April 9th at the Fairhaven Public Library. It’s at 2:15. I’ll be signing books. Goodies will be present, too!

I’ll be sharing photos from that event later next week.

Gosh, I really appreciate my readers. Thank you all so much!

 

Christian faith, General, The Arts

Yippee! My Book

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I just got my book in the mail!

Wow, what a feeling. To see my words transformed from a manuscript on my computer to an actual physical book.

I did not begin writing with a dream to make myself famous or to make money. Ha, ha! My goal was to make a story— which had been percolating in my mind for decades—take shape as words, and eventually, pages. And I hoped someone would read it and take something of value from the story.

Haven’s Flight began with an image that popped into my head when I was just a teen. An image that wouldn’t leave my head until I sketched it on a sheet of artist paper.

I had no concept yet, just the suspenseful drawing of a young woman standing alone in a snowy field, surrounded by dark forest, looking nervously over her shoulder.

Some of my readers have found similarities between my protagonist, Haven, and me, the author. That wasn’t my intent. But authors imbue their characters with things they feel and know, and have experienced. I knew Haven would have to be a musician because that’s what I have known intimately for nearly fifty years.

I also knew she had to have her adventure in the wet, rugged, and mysterious Cascade Mountains.

The book I’m confident you’re soon going to order from Amazon wasn’t even on my mental back-burner originally. (By the way, Haven’s Flight is discounted by forty percent if you order it before April 4th.) Book 2, coming out in the fall was the original story. But when I started to write it, I realized that story needed to begin with another story.

Haven’s Flight is a redemptive story about a young woman who has lost her faith, but comes to realize, after facing extreme danger and adventure in the Cascade Mountains, that God never leaves us or forsakes us. Don’t expect this Christian novel to be all sweetness and light. After all, Haven spends half the book hiding from a crazy guy!

I hope you love it.

 

 

Christian faith, General, The Arts

Haven’s Flight Finally Flies

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I remember talking to published authors a few years back at a writer’s conference.

Most of them advised me: Take your time. Don’t be in such a hurry to get published. You’ll never be as free with your writing time as you are now, not yet published.

Of course I smirked at this advice, although not visibly. Easy for you to say, published author, looking down from your high perch as an author with credence in the publishing world.

I was in a hurry. I bristled at the thought of all the things an aspiring writer has to do to prepare for a career (or even a partial career) in writing. Why can’t I just write?

Why do I have to have a platform? Why do I have to join all these writer groups and have critique partners?

Why do I have to submit my excerpts to contests and get stinging criticism from judges? Why do I have to read and study all these books on the craft of writing?

And why does it all take so much time?

I wrote my first book nine years ago. Man, was I ever ignorant of the publishing process. I thought I’d just take my baby down to the nearest agent and get a contract the same day.

Wrong!

My first critique at my first writer’s conference pulled me up short. The critiquer, a seasoned author said, “Before we go over your excerpt, let’s pray.”

We have to pray because it’s so bad? Not an auspicious start to our meeting.

She handed my printed excerpt to me and my stomach went sour at all the red ink on the pages.

 

A couple of years later, I attended another conference. This time I interviewed authors during our meal-times. My question, “What is the most important advice you could give me as an unpublished writer?” got the biggest response.

“Don’t give up.” Without exception, each author had said nothing was more essential than the will to keep going.

God reminded me of that bit of advice over and over during the next few years as I slowly began to get small articles and stories published.

My first full-sized novel releases in three weeks: Haven’s Flight is the story of a young woman, a pianist, who has witnessed the violent death of her mother during a robbery and suffers from Post Traumatic Stress. She enrolls in a wilderness therapy camp, hoping that the program will help her heal so that she can perform on stage again. But, while at camp, someone is following her, leaving her threatening notes.

If you click on “my books” you can read a little bit more about the story.

Haven’s Flight is a Christian story, a redemptive story. It’s got some dark themes in it. I wouldn’t recommend this story to anyone younger than sixteen.

But the biggest spiritual message in the story is the one God gives to each of His children:

“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

Haven’s Flight releases April 4th as an ebook, (Write Integrity Press is the publisher)) and can also be ordered as a print book from Amazon.com. I hope you enjoy it!

Christian faith, General

Tomorrow’s the Big Day

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And I’m a bit nervous. I know just enough about my neck surgery to think (and think and think) about the possible complications.”Awful-izing,” my husband calls it.

And then, of course, some good friends filled me in about their own surgeries and how terrible they felt for a couple of weeks afterward. Thanks, guys!

I would have much preferred to hear half-truths: “Piece of cake. Hardly even needed painkillers. All that stuff you hear about complications? Don’t believe it. Not gonna happen.”

I had my pre-op appointment with the surgeon  the other day. He says I’ll feel like I have strep throat and whiplash for a couple of weeks.

He keeps his face thoroughly composed even when he says, “The only thing you have to be careful about while you’re recovering is falling. Oh, and choking.

Do you ever have some big thing that you’re dreading, and as you get closer to D-day, you start this count-down thing?

Like: “in seventy-two hours, at @ 4:30 PM, this will be over.”

And the next day you think: “in 48 hours, at @ 5 PM,  I’ll be in recovery.”

And now, Monday, Nov. 28th,  at @ 2:45, I’m declaring: “in 24 hours, I’ll be right in the middle of surgery.”

And the Lord will be right there, too. Even though I won’t hear Him or feel Him.

“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5 NIV Bible)

If you happen to remember me at 11:30 AM Tuesday morning on Nov. 29th, pray for me!

Thanks.

 

 

 

 

 

Christian faith, General, Healthy Relationships

We All Want Connection

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I volunteered to help teach the four and five-year-olds Sunday School the other day.

There were three of us adults in the class, which was just about perfect, considering that each of these kids has a strong personality and tremendous energy.

A little later in the hour, two other kids arrived. The boy joined right in for the lesson. But the little girl—I’ll call her Joni—proceeded straight to a table and climbed underneath.

We teachers welcomed her and invited her to join the group.

But she remained there for the duration of the lesson and song-time and nothing I said could induce her to leave her spot.

Which was a bit of a problem because she distracted the other children and some of them tried to climb underneath the table to join her.

After song-time I said, “Okay, it’s time to wash our hands and get ready for snack time.”

Immediately our little Joni jumped up and rushed to the head of the line for wash-up.

I helped her suds her hands and rinse and dry them.

She ate her graham cracker with gusto and quickly downed her dixie cup of water.

I sat down next to Joni as the craft items were place on the table.

She dove for the crayons and stickers.

Hmm, this little girl sure fooled us. She had seemed shy when she entered the room.

“Can you write your name?”

She looked at me as if I were crazy.  Without a word, she deftly wrote her name at the bottom of her sheet of paper, then glanced up at me  with a cute but pugnacious thrust of her tiny chin.

She placed her stickers amongst the words, “Jesus loves me.”

Then colored with a skillful hand.

Joni insisted that I sit nearby so I could see how well she was coloring.

After she finished the craft, I said, “Can you draw other things?”

“Of course,” she said. “Wait till you see how well I can draw a horse.”

She turned the sheet over and grabbed another crayon. “Now close your eyes and don’t look until I’m finished.”

When she was done she told me I could look. Sure enough, she’d drawn a very recognizable horse and even added a saddle and stirrups.

We spent the rest of craft time talking about My Little Ponies and I told her about my granddaughter’s collection of My Little Ponies.

After the Sunday school ended, one of the teachers remarked, “Well, it looks like all Joni needed was someone to connect with.”

Arriving late, Joni saw that we were already involved in an activity and found the area underneath the table a safer place to be.

I’ve seen this with grown people too.

Not that they hide underneath tables!

I work in women’s ministries and have seen grown women arrive at a women’s social, then turn around and go home if they do not quickly find an available table to sit at with women they already know.

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But once they’re safely situated, they talk and participate like old pros.

Just like Joni.

Folks, let’s turn our eyes outward and notice others.

It’s so easy to only think about our own schedules and our own friends.

Look around. Is some person sitting all by himself at church? Go sit with him.

Who’s that couple in the lobby at church? Go over and introduce yourself.

How about that nice family three doors down from your own house? Invite them over for lunch.

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And if you are lonely, call somebody and invite them to do something together. Don’t wait for somebody to call you. Make the first move. People will love you for it!

Everybody wants to be wanted.

Sometimes the connection is as simple as trading stories about your last trip to the zoo with a grandchild.

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“Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he had received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” (1 Peter 4: 7-10 NIV Bible)