Exciting Times!

This is an exciting career year for me. I have 7 books coming out, and I'm working on more projects that look promising. Publishing is a business with no guarantees, so I'm trying to enjoy the good times after many years of being on a roller-coaster ride.

Sweet Baklava and Delight Yourself in the Lord...Even on Bad Hair Days (devo with Sandra Bricker, Kristin Billerbeck, Diann Hunt, and Trish Perry) have March release dates. Shades of the Past, a Heartsong Presents book set in the Mennonite community in Sarasota, Florida, is going to book club members this spring.

Then in the fall, Love Finds You on Christmas Morning (2-novella generational anthology with Trish Perry) is being released in September. The other two Heartsong Presents books in the Sarasota series, Trusting Her Heart and Unlikely Match, are going to the book club in the fall. Then the 3-in-1 repackaged West Virginia Heartsongs, Appalachian Weddings, will be available in bookstores.

People sometimes ask what it takes to have a successful publishing career. There's no easy or single answer, but there are some common traits I see among other multi-published authors.

Being an author requires a ton of hard work, tenacity, motivation, study, willingness to change and shift, and the ability to work with editors. The time to get serious about being a published author starts long before an editor offers a contract. And once you have a taste of success, if you want to keep the momentum going, you can't stop. In fact, I find that I have to work harder than ever, even when I get bad reviews, rejections (yes, I still get them), and have the temptation to go outside and play before my work is done.



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