Angie Arndt

Cowboy for a Rainy Afternoon by Stephen Bly – Excerpt and Review

Angie Arndt — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 11:41:56 +0000

CHAPTER 1

The Matador Hotel died on July 5^th, 1965, but they didn’t bother burying it until last fall.

New Mexico heat blanketed Albuquerque that July like too many covers in a stuffy cabin. The kind of day that you sweat from the inside out and feel sticky dirt in places that you don’t ponder much except in the shower. I reckon that four-bladed overhead fan that squeaked like an unfed cat failed to console Shorty McGuire. Doc Boyce said he passed on durin’ the night, but no one discerned it until they observed the empty back table at the Round-Up Café. For the last nineteen years of his life, Shorty lived in a second-floor room at The Matador. At straight up 6:00 a.m. ever’ mornin’ he ate two eggs fried hard under the faded picture of Theodore Roosevelt leading the Rough Riders up San Juan Hill.

As a boy, I calculated that Shorty McGuire and the others must be pushing a hundred-years-old when I met them for the first time in 1954.

I reckon I surmised wrong.

The Albuquerque Herald reported that Hadley (Shorty) McGuire was only 86 when he died on that July day in 1965. The Herald is right most of the time.

As the last of that bunch at the Matador, there was no one left to take his trappings, so Whip Johnson and me cleaned out Shorty’s goods a few days after his funeral. Whip managed the hotel in the 60s for his Uncle Durwood Johnson who gained some fame in the Southwest on the rodeo circuit after the war. He won the hotel on a bet on a black half-thoroughbred stallion down in Magdalena.

The floor of Shorty’s little room with one four-pane slide-up window was carpeted solid with six to eight inches of newspapers, not a one newer than 1939. He claimed that cowboyin’ didn’t provide the time to read much, so he saved them for his retirement. I never did know if he got caught up.

We didn’t have the nerve to give his tattered clothing to the Rescue Mission, so we chucked them into the hotel incinerator. We crated his boots, wooly chaps and battered Stetson, then donated them to the state museum. I had a notion they would want to display the gear of an old-time cowboy. But they stored them in a back room for a few years, then sold them at an auction to raise money for a modern art statue that looks like the scrap-iron pile out behind my barn. If I’d known they were selling Shorty’s belongings, I’d have bought those suckers myself and buried them, rather than let some car dealer in Denver drive off with ‘em. But that’s the way the past is. You can’t hang on to it all. What survives gets stolen by strangers who have no blasted idea of what they hold in their hands.

The tobacco-stained furniture in Shorty’s room belonged to the hotel, but Whip decided to replace it all and re-carpet. So they moved in newer furniture, but I don’t think the room was ever repainted. Whip and me always thought that room smelled like Lordsburg, but that might be its location on the south side of the hotel, facing the Santa Fe tracks.

I never went back to the hotel after that day. The hippies ran it in the early 70s, then some drug dealers. I think one of them big moving companies bought the place and used it for storage for a decade or two before they tore it down last year. All them red bricks got shipped to the west side for deluxe estate fencing around an upscale gated community. I hear they decided to build urban condos on the old hotel site for rich city folks, but I can’t figure what kind of people would want to live in downtown Albuquerque.

At least, not nowadays.

I still have Shorty’s rim-fire saddle hangin’ in my tack room. It was one of the first ones Estaban Chavez built, when he still had that shop behind the Chinese laundry in Las Cruces. Lots of folks have wanted to buy it over the years, but it doesn’t belong to me. Some day Shorty’s kin will show up wantin’ his things, and I’ll have it ready. I keep the leather oiled. Shorty died almost forty years ago, but I’ll hang onto it for him.

That’s the way things are done around this part of the country.

It’s one of the lessons I learned in the lobby of the Matador Hotel.

REVIEW

The next chapter goes back 40+ years to when the narrator was child, spending a rainy afternoon with his grandpa’s cowboy friends. Reading this book put me in the middle of a fading hotel lobby with a bunch of delightful old men, listening to their colorful adventures and reminiscences of the old West. Their topics include the Code, roping & riding, hard-livin’ and hard playin’. But this isn’t just a collection of stories, Bly introduces a sure-enough forties-style mystery into the mix as well. And he kept me guessing until the very end.

Stephen Bly’s descriptive narrative put me right in the middle of the action – whether it’s at the hotel desk, on a narrow red rock cliff or in a grimy, smoke-filled dance hall. I could hear the bawling calf and taste the dust and blood on my lips as their stories unrolled like an errant ball of yarn. And the smells! Whether it’s the pungent mix of Old Spice and chewing tobacco or the earthy musk of a cow herd, you are there in the middle of the action.

I loved this book. It reminded me of the black-and-white cowboy shows I watched as a child: Zorro, Roy Rogers, The Cisco Kid – I know, I’m telling my age. But these guys talked about the real West. There isn’t always a happy ending to their stories. Sometimes the good guy doesn’t make it and sometimes the bad guy gets away – just like real-life.

And, I love that Bly makes it all happen in the space of one rainy afternoon.

Cowboy For A Rainy Afternoon: Novel As Memoir

Angie Arndt — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 13:52:58 +0000

By Stephen Bly

The Matador Hotel died on July 5^th, 1965,

but they didn’t bother burying it until last fall.

Cowboy For A Rainy Afternoon, Stephen Bly

The plot for Cowboy For A Rainy Afternoon developed like homemade stew in a crockpot. A slow simmer. Then, the image of the 1950s kitchen filled with sweet aromas and sights and sounds. Hours later all the parts seemed ready.

The story grew out of fond memories from my childhood. What makes it real personal is that I was 10-years-old in 1954, just like the narrator. And I did hear numerous accounts about the “old days.” At that time, Johnny Appleseed was a legendary hero. I learned about him at the knee of my Indiana grandma. She figured anyone who dedicated himself to planting apple trees must be a good guy.

I often get asked where I grew up. Readers of my westerns suppose I was born and raised in some rough and tumble part of the west amid gunfights and wild adventures. Well, they’re somewhat right. Home for me was a ranch north of Visalia, California, in the great San Joaquin Valley.

“That doesn’t sound like the wild west,” they say.

They’re wrong. From Joaquin Murietta to the Dalton Brothers, Visalia Saddles to the Miller and Lux Ranch … that valley’s filled with western history. One of my favorite tales involved the gunfight and capture of Sontag and Evans at Stone Corral, a few miles down the road from our home.

Cribbage and cowboys. . .I figured I fit right in.

Cowboy For A Rainy Afternoon, Stephen Bly

It seems quite natural for me to write about a grandpa and the game of cribbage. My grandpa taught me to play when I was 4-years-old. I played him once or twice a week until he died when I turned 15. In the book Pop’s name is Theodore and his wife is Katie, same as my grandparents.

Talk slow and think deep. It’s part of the Code of the West. Some scoff at the notion of an unwritten set of rules that honest men lived by. Politically correct history books deny the Code’s existence. Those authors and professors didn’t grow up in the West. I remember in the mid-1980s standing at the graveside of my uncle. At the time, his place encompassed around 14,000 acres. As I looked down at the coffin of my Uncle Buster, an old-timer slid up beside me. “He was a good man, son. He lived by the Code.”

There’s a quiet buzz from antique ceiling fans, like six thousand crickets,

all out of tune. You don’t even notice, until there’s silence.

Cowboy For A Rainy Afternoon, Stephen Bly

Woolworth’s department stores provided lots of pleasure for kids like me. Like a Dollar Store, they included a soda fountain lunch counter, better merchandise, and a friendly clerk behind every counter. By 2001, the company focused on sporting goods and changed its name to Foot Locker, Inc. A classic example of a company that adapted to the market needs.

In today’s consumer shopping mall world, it’s hard for some to envision the incredible thrill of merchandise-packed Five & Dimes. I couldn’t believe so many products existed. I’m not sure kids today can experience anything near that excitement. A $.49 badge? That’s what Little Brother, the 10-year-old narrator, gets. A little spendy for 1954. I remember getting a 25-cent a week allowance, provided I did all my chores, in a time when $1.00 per hour provided a decent wage.

My bedroom teemed with White Owl cigar boxes, my granddad’s favorite cigar. He didn’t smoke them much; mainly he chewed them. And because I lived across the road from him, I got many of his boxes. Lots of childhood treasures can be stored in a cigar box.

Folks today think that 1954 existed in some other galaxy, on some other planet.

Maybe they’re right. It’s hard to believe that world and this one are made of the same stuff.

Cowboy For A Rainy Afternoon, Stephen Bly

I can’t tell you about television in 1954. We didn’t have one yet. Didn’t matter. Didn’t need one. When I came home from school, I did chores or played outside until dark and Mom made me come indoors. Now, that does sound like a century ago.

I did not know cowboys named Quirt, Bronc, Thad, Shorty, Coosie or Pop. But I knew men much like them. In fact, most folks called my Grandpa Wilson “Pop.” I once met an old-timer in Magdalena, New Mexico, who had been a sheriff in the 1930s. He still packed a pistol and watched the door, just in case someone he sent to prison got out and scouted him for revenge. I based my character, Quirt Payton, on him.

All the aged cowboys I ever met wore long-sleeved shirts, usually some faded shade of white, with the collar buttoned. This kept the dirt out when he rode down the trail or behind a herd of slow-moving cows. Also, an old beat-up Stetson and yellowed cigarettes stained their fingers.

I don’t suppose the current generation has ever ridden in the open trunk of a car, nor let the air down in the tires to drive down a railroad track (and they call skateboarding an extreme sport). At one point, the six cowboys in the novel, plus Miss Diane Anderson, and the boy narrator, pile into a ’49 Plymouth, without seatbelts. I could have been the poster child for the need of such safety devices. I fell out of my parents’ car, going about 55 miles per hour, in 1949. I spent 10 days in the hospital nursing a major concussion.

At least one of the stories happened to me. In 1994, in Telluride, I was told by the hotel clerk I couldn’t get a room. He intimated I wasn’t their kind. My gruffy appearance after a week’s research in the wilds didn’t impress them. So, I drove all the way to Cortez for a room, arriving about midnight. To say I was ticked is an understatement.

It’s like I’m right there in the room with these old-timers. Some of these scenes I do recall first-hand. I remember going to see a friend of my grandfather’s at a 4-story hotel in central California in the mid-1950s. His room was carpeted with out-dated newspapers that he hadn’t got around to reading yet. Such images last forever.

My favorite things to do when the weather threatens and I can’t play golf: oil the saddles, clean the Winchesters, or write a novel about the Old West.

In Cowboy For A Rainy Afternoon I discover that maybe I wasn’t born 100 years too late.

Cowboy For A Rainy Afternoon (hardback, Center Point) will be released: June 2010. Available through http://www.amazon.com/ or www.BlyBooks.com

For your chance to get a copy of Cowboy for a Rainy Afternoon, just comment on this or any post during the Blyfest. (Be sure to put your email address in the post or sign in using Blogger or Gmail so that I can contact you if I pull your name.)

The Blyfest Blogfest schedule for the month of June is:

June 7 through 13 – Cowboy for a Rainy Afternoon: Novel as Memoir

June 14 through 19 – Chapter One and Review of Cowboy for a Rainy Afternoon

June 21 through 26 – Do They Sweat in Duke City: Fiction as Research

June 28 through 30 – Woolworth’s and White Owls: Why I Wasn’t Born 100 Years Too Late

June 30 – Recipient of Cowboy for a Rainy Afternoon Chosen and Announced

Blyfest Blogfest

Angie Arndt — Mon, 31 May 2010 11:32:57 +0000

I am so happy to introduce my guest blogger for the entire month of June: award-winning author, Stephen Bly. Stephen has written over 100 books, won the 2002 Christy award for his book, The Long Trail Home, and a Christy award finalist for Picture Rock, The Outlaw’s Twin Sister, and Last of the Texas Camp. His new book, Cowboy for a Rainy Afternoon, releases June 1st AND YOU have a chance to win a copy (details at the bottom of this post).

In addition to writing, Stephen’s a speaker, mentor for Jerry Jenkin’s Christian Writers Guild and pastor of Winchester Community Church (Winchester, Idaho). In his spare time, he collects antique guns and pursues the 3 Rs of ridin’, ropin’, and rodeo.

Even though his time is precious, Stephen was gracious enough to sit down and answer some of my questions about writing, God’s call and life in general:

I’d love to write a novel. As someone who has written over 100 books and countless articles, what advice can you offer?

My first question to you: are you starting with a book? I wrote and published hundreds of articles and short stories and cowboy poems before I ever attempted a book length project. Even then, it was nonfiction first. I had established myself as a writer of family, devotional and discipleship books for adults, teens and kids, before I considered fiction. And before I did novels for adults, I tried stories for youth. But that’s my journey.

To publish a first novel in today’s competitive market requires a well-honed craft, a cadre of ready readers, and some name recognition. On the other hand, to become a novelist, you must get your first story or two into your slush pile. So, keep plugging away. Doesn’t mean it won’t be good and printable on the first try, but your manuscript(s) will provide that necessary well of experience with words and a story-world.

You have had so many varied life experiences, i.e., pastor, mayor, writer, speaker, father, husband, gun collector, etc. How has God led you in these different ventures?

My wife, Janet, and I had been married four years and had our first two sons, when we were confronted with the claims of Christ on our lives. After we became followers of Jesus, my life took a dramatic turn…from my father’s ranch to going to seminary, to see what God called me to be and do. After I began to serve in my first church, Janet searched for God’s will for her talents. That eventually led to Mount Hermon Writers Conference. As she learned how to write and send materials to editors, she asked permission to edit some of my sermons…to pull out stories and articles…and send those too.

“Sure,” I said, “but writing’s not my thing. It’s yours. Don’t get me involved.”

One day I went to the mailbox and found two checks made out to me from two different magazine articles. That’s when I considered that maybe I might try writing on my own.

After I published my first western, a man moved to our small town, a tool and die maker, who was an expert on antique Winchesters. I asked him if he had any guns like the ones my characters carried.

“Sure do,” he said.

“I’d like to shoot them, so I know exactly how that feels,” I replied.

We went to a shooting range a couple times and that began a partnership that evolved into a full-blown collector hobby.

I’ve heard people use the term “cowboy philosopher” used for years. What is it about the “cowboy life” that lends itself to philosophizing and a closer walk with God?

A cowboy’s friendships were shaped by tough work and tragedy, companionship and daily battle with weather and critters. Only the battlefields of Europe and the Pacific would equal the old West in producing men of courage and character. This stark reality on the land, with lots of nights around a campfire and under the heavens, goaded them to storytelling, philosophizing, and wondering about God.

Good cowboys are highly skilled workmen. They might not need a college degree, but it took years to attain the level of expertise they possessed in working cattle and reading brands. Those qualities meant the difference between a cattleman’s profit and loss. By the time most cowboys realized that the independent life can get mighty lonely, it was too late. Few were drafted as cowboys. They rode by their own choice. Though they might not regret that decision, most wished they’d planned better for their future.

Talk slow and think deep. It’s part of the Code of the West. I remember in the mid-1980s standing at the graveside of my uncle. At the time, his place encompassed around 14,000 acres. As I looked down at the coffin of my Uncle Buster, an old-timer slid up beside me. “He was a good man, son. He lived by the Code.”

People who lived out West didn’t figure there was a Code of the West, like some historians and writers do now. Their unwritten code was “the way we do things.” Those oral principles got handed down from father to son. Not much different than any family, clan, or culture. And it contained lots of very practical advice.

“Little Brother, a man don’t jump into the stream until he sees which way the water’s flowin’,” says a character in my newest release, Cowboy For A Rainy Afternoon (June 1^st,hardback). It’s told from a 10-year-old boy’s point-of-view, but years later as an adult. He learns many life lessons one summer’s day in a lobby at the Matador Hotel in Albuquerque. He gets a graduate degree in cowboy philosophy.

You and your wife are known for your western novels. In fact, you’ve been a Christy Award finalist four times and were the 2002 winner for The Long Trail Home. Has there ever been a time when you had doubts about a book you were writing?

No. I’m usually three books ahead in my mind. The one I’m writing today is already finished in my head. I think it’s going to be a good story. And so is the next one I’m going to do. Now, the one that is third on my list is a bit sketchy still; however, I really have no doubts about it.

I have some friends who raise cattle and they’ve gotten a kick out of my attempts to help them (remind me to tell you why you don’t chase cows with an umbrella, even if it is raining). What’s the funniest “city slicker” moment you’ve seen?

The ones I’m aware of are most often not funny; they’re painful…and naive. Many gentle city folk think a range cow is a tame backyard pet. When they start harassin’ her calf, they’re lucky not to get corralled in a hospital.

And there’s the guy who thinks he can rope a calf, horseback, so he ties hard-and-fast, ropes a fencepost, and rips the saddle off the horse.

Or there’s the look on a tenderfoot’s face as they slip to the ground and try to walk, after a 5 hour horse ride.

I know that feeling – although it’s been close to twenty years since I’ve been on a horse! Thank you so much for taking the time to answering my questions and participating in my Blyfest Blogfest. I’ve ordered my copy of Cowboy for a Rainy Afternoon and can’t wait to get it.

OK, I promised you a chance to win your own copy and here it is: comment on this or any post during the Blyfest and on June 30th, I’ll going to put your name into a worksheet and use my HDRNG (Handy Dandy Random Number Generator) to choose the number of the winner. Be sure to put your email address in the comment or use your Google sign-in because that’s how I’ll contact you at the end of the month. (Hint – Use this format to type your address so spammers won’t find it: psmcmanus (at) yahoo (dot) com.)

I hope you win!

Angie Arndt — Wed, 05 May 2010 12:33:29 +0000

Just received this from the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance and thought you’d like to hear about it:

Author Julie Cave has decided to give two of her lucky Facebook fans the privilege of naming a character in her next book, The Shadowed Mind.

Two Facebook fans of Christian fiction author, Julia Cave, will have the privilege of naming a character in The Shadowed Mind, the second book in her Dinah Harris trilogy. Her first book, Deadly Disclosures, has FBI agent Dinah Harris struggling to find a killer as she fights her own demons of alcohol abuse and depression.

The contest will kick off May 4th and winners will be announced May 27th during Mrs. Cave’s appearance at the Creation Museum.

Contest Rules are:

The first winner will be an existing fan of Julie Cave before May 4th and will have successfully invited another fan. (Be sure to have that fan indicate who invited them!)
The second winner will be chosen from the new fans that join after May 4th. All new fans must post the name of the fan who invited them to Julie’s page.
Any fan who is also a subscriber of the RSS feed at www.juliecave.com will receive a second entry automatically.
PLEASE NOTE, she will draw two winners from a list of those who meet these requirements.

Review of Welcome Home

Angie Arndt — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 05:13:47 +0000

One of our favorite Sunday night shows is called Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (EM:HE) hosted by Ty Pennington. We love to watch him as he leads teams of interior designers, contractors, renovators and volunteers tear down and rebuild new homes for worthy families. And did I mention they do it all in seven days? The sheer coordination of materials and manpower needed to pull off such a feat has to be something akin to arranging the choreography of seven majoy Broadway musicals at one time.

However, we just see the end of the journey for those who receive new homes made especially for them. The real feat for the deserving families involves convincing ABC and the EM:HE team that they are worthy of the effort. Most begin with a nineteen page hard copy and video application mailed in with several stamps and more prayers. Several months and thousands of votes later, it comes down to the morning of the shooting when they may or may not hear Ty say, “Good morning, family!” Being selected as an EM:HE family is nothing short of a miracle.

For the Woodhouse family, being selected by ABC is only one in a long string of miracles that God has seen fit to give them. Welcome Home! chronicles the day-to-day miracles and “God-touches” that define the lives of Kim & Jeremy Woodhouse and their two children who just happen to have severe, chronic health conditions. And I don’t use the word, “miracle,” lightly.

Their son, and oldest child, was a miracle child, conceived after several miscarriages. However their joy soon turned to horror when he was 21 months old and stopped breathing. After several visits to the hospital, they learned that he had respiratory issues and chronic asthma. Meanwhile, Kim has become pregnant with child number 2, a lovely daughter named Kayla, whose health issues soon eclipsed her brother Josh’s.

Kayla has a very rare condition that leaves her unable to feel pain, hot or cold unless it is 20 to 30 times greater than that one of us may feel. Imagine having a fearless toddler who feels no pain! This is complicated by the fact that her

Kayla wearing a cooling vest

body cannot adjust to heat or cold and must be kept at a temperature of 62 degrees. A few minutes outside on a sunny day could literally kill her. Added to all that is a brain malformation that required brain surgery by the time she way nine years old. Can you see why they live from miracle-to-miracle?

This book is an inspiring story of their journey to extreme joy through learning to trust and have faith in the Lord’s leading and provision. Through it all, God has blessed them with just the right medical advice or just the right person with just the right skills or even just the right verse to help them provide for their children’s needs.

As you read Welcome Home! be sure to have a box of tissues ready, because you will need them. This is definitely a two-hanky book because you’ll cry in both sorrow and joy.

Interview with Kimberly Woodhouse

Angie Arndt — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 10:17:00 +0000

I’m so pleased to post an interview with Kimberly Woodhouse today! You know from last weeks’ post that Kim wrote Welcome Home: Our Family’s Journey to Extreme Joy! I contacted her through her publicist, Heather Diane Tipton, and Kim graciously agreed to answer a few questions.

Here they are:

Having a fearless child who does not feel pain must be terrifying! How often do you have to “give Kayla over” to God each day?Until she was five – every second I prayed for her (and Josh’s) survival because she was such a daredevil. Now I give them over to the Lord many times a day, but it’s not quite as crazy as when they were little.
I saw that Kay Arthur’s Precept on Precept studies have helped you meet each day’s challenges. What other studies would you recommend to someone facing such a great battle?I love Kay’s other books, and Elizabeth George’s A Woman After God’s Own Heart. Elizabeth has a series of Bible studies that follow that book, and those are some of my favorites as well. I’ve done them all. J A Woman After God’s Own Heart is a book I return to often, I learn something every time I read it and love how it steps on my toes. Kay’s His Imprint, My Expression is another one I love to go back and read. I really enjoy in-depth studies – ones that dig really deep, so the Precept studies are my top favorite.
As a speaker/singer/writer and mother of two children with health issues, you must have lots of organizational skills to do everything. What organizational tip can you give to those who are struggling with their schedules?The best tip I can give you is to take the time (could take 3-5 days) to organize everything in your life. Make a list of everything that needs to be accomplished, divide and conquer (who does what on which day), and cull everything that is unnecessary. I plan out our homeschool days, our “chores” (which we call service opportunities), meals, what I can delegate out, and what I need to get accomplished at the pool while my kids are swimming. Getting organized can be the hardest part, but once you’ve got it – things can run smoothly even in the midst of the chaos. J (The parenting book I’m working on has a whole section of ideas on how to get organized.)
I’m sure that you and Jeremy must spend a lot of time with Kayla because of her health issues. I saw in your book that Josh is totally OK with that and loves her, but it must be a huge responsibility to be a big brother to a young lady with such severe medical problems. What are some ways you make Josh feel special?Josh is a very special guy. And we try to make sure he remembers that every day. He is so creative that he sometimes surprises me with a new story or creation that he’s built, so we really encourage that and his flare for drama. Josh likes one on one time, and so we try to give him that – but he also loves to just hang out with us for “family time.” We’ve always said that we are a family, and we stick together, encourage one another, and pray for each other. Josh is a huge support, and very protective of his sister – but Kayla is also a huge support and encourager of her brother. We have Bible study together as a family, but also with each of the kids separately. The kids swim together for hours every day, and they love to encourage each other and laugh together.
On a totally unrelated note, I saw where your website says you are a “third generation Liszt student.” What does that mean?I’ve had a lot of people ask me what that means – I’m so glad you asked! That means that Franz Liszt (one of the most amazing virtuoso pianists of all time) taught my teacher’s teacher. Clear as mud, huh? The Liszt technique has been passed down through piano teachers taught by Franz Liszt himself.
Congratulations on your second printing of Welcome Home! Do you have any other projects in the works? Have you written any fiction? Thank you so much!Yes, I have a parenting encouragement book and a romantic suspense that I am currently working on. I’ve written a lot of fiction – please watch my website for coming releases – www.kimberleywoodhouse.com Thank you!

Thank you, Kim, for answering our questions! ‘Wish you all the best!

WELCOME HOME: OUR FAMILY’S JOURNEY TO EXTREME JOY by Kimberly Woodhouse

Angie Arndt — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 05:48:01 +0000

Although I usually focus on fiction titles, for the next three weeks I’m going to spotlight a very special book about a very special family. Today I’ll post an introduction, next week the author will join us with an interview and on September 11th, I’ll give you my review.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Overwhelming trials . . . met with overcoming joy.

Kayla Woodhouse is not your typical twelve-year-old. Due to a rare medical disorder, she feels no pain, doesn’t sweat, and needs protective cooling gear just to go outside. With her restrictive lifestyle; countless hospitalizations, including brain surgery; and the resulting mountain of hospital bills, what’s a family to do? How the Woodhouse family has faced seemingly impossible challenges is a story that has captured the hearts of America. Millions of people have experienced glimpses of their lives on Discovery’s Mystery ER, The Montel Williams Show, and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (recently voted one of the show’s all-time best episodes!).

Now Kayla’s mom, Kimberley, takes readers behind the cameras to reveal their family’s journey as never before told. From medical sleuthing to cross-country moves, from freak fires to battles with insurance companies, Welcome Home proves that truth really is stranger than fiction. This candid life story reveals both success and failure and demonstrates how, even during tough circumstances, to shift your life from heartbreak to extreme joy.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kimberley Woodhouse is a wife, mother, author, and musician with a quick wit and positive outlook despite difficult circumstances. A popular speaker, she’s shared at more than 600 venues across the country. Kimberley and her family’s story have garnered national media attention for many years, but most recently her family was chosen for ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, The Montel Williams Show, and Discovery Health channel’s Mystery ER. Welcome Home: Our Family’s Journey to Extreme Joy, releases from Tyndale House Publishers September first. In addition to her non-fiction, she also writes romantic suspense and children’s books. Kimberley lives, writes, and homeschools in Colorado with her husband and two children in their truly “extreme” home.

Blue Like Play Dough

Angie Arndt — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:09:56 +0000

Review

Tricia Goyer is an amazing writer. At age 36, she writes with a voice of experience, eloquence, and insight far beyond her years. But, then again, she had to become an adult much sooner than most.

In her latest nonfiction book, Blue Like Play Dough, Goyer shares the joys and sorrows of her life: being an unwed mother at age 17, homeschooling three children, watching a family member die, and juggling her family, writing and ministry (successfully!) while living in a home with three generations and an exchange student (again, successfully!).

Through it all, Goyer shares how God has used the events in her life, even those that seem insignificant at the time, to shape her life, like play dough, into a vessel fit for His service. This was a wonderful book that I devoured in one sitting.

On a personal note, it will soon be one year since my daddy went to Heaven and I haven’t really cried about losing him. Goyer’s account of her grandfather’s home-going, was so much like what Daddy experienced that I wept aloud as I read it.

Young mothers take note: you willl survive your children’s babyhood, childhood and terrifying teens with your sanity intact IF you lean on the One who created you for this purpose. Read this book for an encouraging and uplifting look at one woman’s journey through “motherhood in the grip of God.”

The Go-Go Campaign

Tricia is offering an extra incentive to purchase Blue Like Play Dough. Here’s the details from her website.

I wrote Blue Like Play Dough because many times moms feel squished and smashed by all the demands of life. It’s hard being a mom; yet it’s often the hard stuff that changes us for the better.

Like any mom, at times I’ve felt like a failure. And other times I’ve felt as if God reached down and added an extra touch of sunshine to the day.

My hope is that my personal stories will encourage other moms to allow themselves to be shaped and molded. And as their children grow and change, they’ll be changed into something beautiful, too. My Life, Unscripted andGeneration NeXt Parenting are conversations about things that matter to this generation.

People need help and encouragement–not from someone who looks down, pointing a finger in their face, but from someone who has been there and who understands. My goal is to get books in the hands of people who need to see that perfection isn’t necessary, and people who can find hope when they realize the hard stuff of life often molds us into better people if we let it.

Together we can make a difference in the lives of those who are in crisis or who just need a little encouragement.

So How Does This Work?

It’s easy! For every copy of Blue Like Play Dough purchased, I’ll donate a copy of My Life Unscripted or Generation NeXt Parenting to a pregnancy, teen or family support ministry (while supplies last).

Join the Go-Go Campaign

Read an excerpt.

See a video sneek-peek.

Will You Join Me in Love?

Angie Arndt — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 11:44:21 +0000

Perform a web search of Claudia Mair (rhymes with fire) Burney and you’ll find pages and pages of information.

Depending on where you look, you could find the books she’s written:

Or, you may find reviews of her books, like these:

“Claudia Mair Burney has created a genre all her own: sassy mystery. Burney’s engaging writing and interesting characters, coupled with a sexual tension unprecedented in inspirational fiction, put this novel in a league of its own.”– Lisa Samson, Christy Award-winning author of Quaker Summer and Straight Up

and

“Claudia Mair Burney knows how to make the most heartbreaking things funny as she stares down the truths we turn away from. Every Amanda Bell Brown mystery leaves me looking deeper into the mysteries of God and deeper within myself.”– Marilynn Griffith, author of Pink, Jade, Tangerine, Turquoise, and If the Shoe Fits

She describes herself as:

Unworthy servant, loved by God, amazed by grace. Wife. Mother. Godmother. Friend of sinners. Novelist.

But in her blog, Ragamuffin Diva, her latest post shares how she had plans to begin a safe house – a refuge for hurting women – called The Living Room. Its a wonderful idea: offering compassion, hope and help while utilizing her degree as a social worker to minister to victims of human trafficking.

But then things began to happen …

July 28th – The Burney’s car was stolen.

July 30th – They were served with an eviction notice (of their home, not the place where they were going to start the ministry)

Now, I don’t know about you guys, but when Satan starts moving that fast, then I think that maybe God was about to do a mighty work! And did I mention that she suffers from fibromyalgia, too?

Well, we all know how the story ends, don’t we? God is in control!

Pray for Mair, her family (disabled husband, children and her rabbit) and her finances. And if the Lord leads, click here or on the little ChipIn widget in the top right corner of my blog.

The ChipIn button will take you directly to PayPal, put the amount you’re led to contribute and then log-in to your PayPal account. It may take more than a minute to show up, but be patient, you should see it appear in about fifteen minutes or so.

Let’s show this family some love …

ragamuffin diva: Will You Join Me in Love?

Take a Sneak Peek inside The Last Woman Standing by Tia McCollors

Angie Arndt — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 12:05:12 +0000

Tia McCollors, author of The Last Woman Standing

Meet the Author

Bestselling author Tia McCollors entices the taste buds of her readers with a sweet blend of faith and fiction in her inspirational novels. After leaving a 10-year career in the corporate arena as a public relations professional, Tia has emerged as a steadfast author of faith-based books.

In addition to being a novelist, Tia is an inspirational speaker and instructor for writing workshops. In 2006, Tia was voted as the Breakout Author of the Year by the Open Book Awards of the African American Literary Awards Show and was honored to be featured in the 2006 edition of Who’s Who In Black Atlanta.

As a founding author with the Anointed Authors On Tour, (AAOT) she has teamed with six other award-winning, best-selling authors of Christian fiction and non-fiction. Together, they have committed to write and publish integrity-based literature, touring as a testament to the power of using their gifts and talents for God’s glory. In addition to AAOT, Tia is a member the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW).

She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of North Carolina in 1996. A native of Greensboro, NC, she now lives in the Atlanta,

Win a Copy!

Georgia area with her husband and children.

To find out more about Tia, visit her at www.TiaWrites.com.

About The Last Woman Standing

After being married to their careers instead of each other for ten years, “Ace” and Lynette Bowers ended their marriage. Four years later however, it seems as though their love never ended – to both of their surprise and denial. Sheila Rushmore is Ace’s current girlfriend and a woman who is used to getting what she wants – except Ace’s commitment to marriage. When Sheila realizes Lynette may be the cause, she launches a plan to play the hand of God, instead of allowing God to bring the love they all desire in His way.

Read an excerpt.

THE LAST WOMAN STANDING BLOG TOUR GIVEAWAY

Tia McCollors is the author of four Women’s Fiction books. Read the question below to see if you can answer it and provide the name of the book in which it was featured:

In A Heart of Devotion, one of the main characters, Sherri Dawson, started her own line of clothing for petite women.

What was the name of her clothing line?

Leave your answer in the comment section. All post with correct answers posted to the blog comment sections will be entered in a random drawing for prizes. The more you post (with correct answers) the better your chances. Winners will be contacted via email and also posted on Tia’s Blog, “From Tia’s Pen”.

Contest prizes include:
1. $5 gift card to Smoothie King or Panera Bread (Winner’s Choice)
2. $5 gift card to Chick-Fil-A
3. $10 gift card for Border’s
4. Autographed copy of The Last Woman Standing
5. Autographed copy of The Last Woman Standing

(Comments are moderated so it may take a bit for the comment to show up.)

Follow the rest of The Last Woman Standing Blog Tour at:

http://bitly.com/TheLastWomanStanding

Angie Arndt

Cowboy for a Rainy Afternoon by Stephen Bly – Excerpt and Review

Cowboy For A Rainy Afternoon: Novel As Memoir

Blyfest Blogfest

Review of Welcome Home

Interview with Kimberly Woodhouse

WELCOME HOME: OUR FAMILY’S JOURNEY TO EXTREME JOY by Kimberly Woodhouse

Blue Like Play Dough

Will You Join Me in Love?

Take a Sneak Peek inside The Last Woman Standing by Tia McCollors

Tia McCollors, author of The Last Woman Standing Meet the Author

About The Last Woman Standing

THE LAST WOMAN STANDING BLOG TOUR GIVEAWAY

Tia McCollors, author of The Last Woman Standing

Meet the Author