Category Archives: THIS AND THAT

A Rock & Roll Christmas by Lillian Duncan

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I love Christmas so much that I wrote a two Christmas novellas this year–A Rock & Roll Christmas and A Christmas Stolen! A Christmas Stolen is part of my publisher’s Christmas Extravaganza and won’t be released until December 1. A Rock & Roll Christmas is available now!

AMAZON LINK!

It was $2.99 but it’s on sale now through Christmas for .99 cents! I’m also doing an Amazon Giveaway with it.  Which means you go to this LINK and have a chance to win it for FREE!

When I was asked to be part of a Christmas Collection with other suspense authors, I wanted to write something new rather than use one of my older books. So I thought and thought. I wrote A CHRISTMAS STALKING a few years ago and it featured a country music star and a handsome small-town police chief. So…I thought why not reverse the story. So I created Johnny Rocker–an arrogant rock & roll star. It was fun to write@

 

Here’s a bit about A ROCK & ROLL CHRISTMAS:

Someone wants mega rock & roll star, Johnny Rocker, dead. It’s Maddie Cotton’s job to make sure that doesn’t happen.

Johnny Rocker believes he’s doesn’t need anyone or anything—especially God because after all he is a rock & roll god. When the floor beneath his feet crumbles—literally—he hurtles toward a different truth.

Since the death of Maddie Cotton’s family, she’s run from life and love. With God’s help, she’s ready to step out of her comfort zone and into a different life. But when her boss asks—no begs—her to take on one last job, she finds it hard to refuse.

Even under Maddie’s protection the threats continue. As Christmas approaches the danger escalates—someone doesn’t want Johnny Rocker to celebrate A Rock & Roll Christmas.

 

GOD BLESS & GOOD READING!

 

 

Today’s The Day!

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Today’s the day!

Today’s the day for the big American Christian Fiction Writer’s Gala where the winners of the Carol Award will be announced. My book, Puzzle House, is a finalist in the novella category sooo…. what’s my thoughts as I wait to hear the announcement tonight?

I’m sure the other two finalists in my category are just as deserving. I’m sure their books are just as good. I’m sure they’ve worked just as hard to get to this point. Of course, I’d love to win but… winning isn’t everything.

Win or lose, God has blessed me by giving me the dream of being a writer and then the dream becoming a reality.

Win or lose, when Monday comes around I’ll be back at my computer working on my next story.

Win or lose, God will still love me as will my husband, family and friends.

Win or lose, I’m blessed in more ways than I have time or space to talk about.

In 2012, I heard the words, “you have bilateral brain tumors.” Those are not words you want to hear! Those words were quickly followed up by explaining that these type of tumors are rarely cancerous. Good news but that doesn’t mean they haven’t wreaked havoc on my life and my health.

As I went ( and still go) through my struggles, Romans 8: 28 has become one of my go-to Bible verses to give me peace and strength. God promises to work out ALL things for good for those who love him. That’s me! But the truth is I couldn’t see how God could work out BRAIN TUMORS for my good.

And yet He did!

Here it is 6 years later and I still struggle with the effects of the brain tumors but… I have peace and joy. I can still write the stories God gives me. And one of the stories He gave me is PUZZLE HOUSE. Puzzle House would never have been written if I hadn’t developed the brain tumors because the main character has what I have. Yes, the same Puzzle House that’s up for the Carol Award.

So as you can see, God really does work all things out for the good of those who love him.

GOD BLESS & GOOD READING!

 

 

 

Trivia Game Winner!

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First, let me apologize. I said I’d announce the winner on Friday–which obviously didn’t happen. But I’m ready to announce the winner now.

The winner of the trivia game is….drumroll….Trixi! Trixi, you’re the winner.  Use the contact form to tell me what book you want and where you want it from–Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Be sure to use the address you want me to send the book to.

Now for the rest of you–I have a surprise. I can send you a PDF copy of one of my books so the instructions for you are to go to Amazon, pick a book, tell me what book you’d like and I’ll send you a PDF copy. Thanks for playing the game with me!

GOD BLESS & GOOD READING!

PS. The book offer is only for those people who already answered the trivia question–as of this moment.

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TRIVIA GAME–DAY 3

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Here’s the trivia questions for day 3.

QUESTION 1–‘Call me Ishmael’ is one of the most famous opening lines every written. What’s the name of the book and the author?

QUESTION 2-What’s the last book of the Old Testament?

QUESTION 3-Tell me one interesting thing about the town, city, or area you live in.

 

There you have it. Three days of trivia. I’ll put all the names of anyone who answered all three questions in a bowl and pick a winner of one of my books. If you answered all three days, you’ll have three entries. The answers must be left as a comment on the blog. Thanks and good luck! Winner will be posted on Friday!

 

GOD BLESS & GOOD READING!

TRIVIA GAME–DAY 2

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Here’s the trivia questions for day 2.

QUESTION 1–Who wrote GREAT EXPECTATIONS?

QUESTION 2-What’s one of your favorite Bible verses? Give the reference and the verse, please.

QUESTION 3-On the TV show NCIS, what is Gibb’s full name?  Who was he named after? You only need to answer one of these questions.

Don’t forget you need to answer as a comment to be entered in the contest.

Until next time…GOD BLESS & GOOD READING!

Let’s Play A Game!

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OK. I’ve been busy for the past few months with visiting family, a family wedding, my 45th class reunion, and then a camping trip but the summer’s slowing down. Nothing to do this week so….Let’s play a game!

How about a trivia game? Today, tomorrow and Thursday,  I’ll post three questions. Anyone who answers all the questions correctly gets entered to win. The prize? You can choose any e-book I’ve written (except for the Sisters by Choice trilogy). Notice I said e-book–not print. If you answer all the questions for all three days, you get three entries.  One question will be book-related, the second will be Bible-related, and the third will be an anything goes question!

You must post your answers here as a comment. If you post it on Facebook it won’t count. When you post the comment, it may not show up right away since I have to approve comments from people who haven’t posted before.

Are you ready?

QUESTION 1–Name 2 different locations used in GONE WITH THE WIND.

QUESTION 2-What Bible verse talks about God using all things for the good of those who love him?

QUESTION 3-What’s your favorite summer food?

Don’t forget you need to answer as a comment to be entered in the contest.

Until next time…GOD BLESS & GOOD READING!

HELP ME BRAINSTORM!

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I’m working on a series of novels that will show God’s supernatural power. My idea is to have an overall title then a specific title for that novel.

Example: Miracles: A Small Blue Purse

But I’m looking for something other than Miracles because I don’t want to make people think the stories are real. Something catchy but readers will know right away they’re fictional and have a touch or two of the supernatural. Any ideas? Here’s a few of my ideas. Feel free to expand on them or come up with one of your own.

 MIRACLES: A SMALL BLUE PURSE

MIRACLES; A ROCK’N ROLL CHRISTMAS

MODERN DAY PARABLES: A ROCK’N ROLL CHRISTMAS

MIRACLES, PARABLES, & GOD: A SMALL BLUE PURSE

 

PS. I’ll make a gift of one of my ebooks if I use someone’s idea!

Why Don’t Christians Read Christian Fiction?

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Much of mainstream fiction is filled with bad language, graphic sex scenes, and all manner of wrong-thinking. Considering that, you’d think more Christians would want to read books that come from a Christian worldview–and yet I know many Christians who don’t read Christian Fiction. So why don’t they?

They haven’t even heard of Christian Fiction or if they have…

They think Christian fiction is all based in Bible times.

They think all Christian fiction is sweet romances.

They think Christian fiction is really a sermon disguised as a book.

They think it’s not as professional as mainstream fiction.

They think it’s corny, cheesy, or too preachy.

They think it’s not fun, interesting, or exciting.

They think Christian fiction is not socially relevant.

Whatever the reason, I’m here to say they’re wrong. Modern Christian fiction has something for everyone, no matter what they enjoy. It ranges from very mild Christian content to strong. It has every imaginable genre you could want except for erotica or porn. It ranges from sweet to edgy to even more edgy. It has characters ranging from facing the realities of this life to characters facing aliens or magical beings in another time or place.

So what puts the Christian in Christian Fiction?

In my opinion, there are two things that make Christian Fiction Christian Fiction.

First you have to follow some rules…I know…writers hate rules. It stifles our creativity, right? But without rules there would be anarchy!  And that’s never a good thing.

To me Christian Fiction is a label, much like the movie-rating system and that label should mean something. Readers should be able to trust that label when they make their reading choices. The traditional list for Christian Fiction included: conservative Christian values; Christian characters who didn’t drink alcohol, play cards, dance, or gamble; no profanity; no strong violence; chaste relationships that focuses on the emotional side of love, not the physical. In recent years these rules have relaxed. In fact, some publishers have relaxed beyond a point that is uncomfortable for me.

My own list includes these DO NOT HAVES:

Explicit sex scenes.

Superfluous violence.

Four letter words or any other words that might offend my readers

Second of all, there must be Christian content—how much depends on your specific story.

One of the ways I describe the Christian part of my stories is to say that all of my main characters are on a spiritual journey but they aren’t all in the same place spiritually. Some are devout Christians; some are lukewarm and some are even backsliders. And some are not Christian at all but searching for answers. As Christian Fiction writers, we need to help our characters find the answers. And in the process we might just help our readers find some answers they’re searching for as well.

 

So I hope this post has got you thinking that you might like to give Christian fiction a chance. Tomorrow, I’ll post a list of books that can get you started!

UNTIL NEXT TIME…GOD BLESS & GOOD READING!

 

 

 

Christmas Tree Extravaganza!

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My publisher, Pelican Book Group, has a Christmas Extravaganza where she publishes new Christmas-themed novellas and puts all the previous titles as well as the new ones on sale for 99 cents! To check it out CLICK HERE.

So anyway I’m having a Christmas Tree Extravaganza!

Every year as Christmas approaches, we clear off our enclosed porch and up comes the trees from the basement. This year, according to my husband, we have 17 trees up. One lonely tree stayed in the basement.  Twelve are on the porch and 5 are in the house. No, they aren’t all full-sized trees. We have large ones, medium ones, and small ones. It’s a bit of work, but the results are so much fun, I don’t really complain about it.

Anyway, here’s my 2017  Christmas Tree Extravaganza! My photography’s not the best but at least you can get an idea of what it looks like.

     

   

   

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS & GOOD READING!

 

 

Feeling Overwhelmed?

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I love Christmas but I also know that the Christmas season can be overwhelming. Too many things to do. Too many places to go. And too many good things to eat.  At the moment, Christmas is quickly approaching and that means COOKIES! I love all things sweet but Christmas Cookies are a weakness of mine. And my husband makes wonderful cookies so….

I’m so close to my weight goal–only a few more pounds to go. And it seems as if I’m surrounded by Christmas Cookies everywhere I go–except my WW meeting. I’ve been taking the all or nothing approach when it comes to Christmas Cookies this year, meaning nothing. An all or nothing approach isn’t really helpful in most areas of our life and that’s very true when it comes to weight loss. And I know that most of the time.

But this year is different. The last thing I want to do is sabotage myself but it’s a bit overwhelming to think about NO COOKIES during the holiday season. That made me think about other times when I was overwhelmed.

One of those was when I worked as a speech pathologist for schools. Any job in the education field is a bit overwhelming but being a speech pathologist is certainly one of those because there’s two parts to our job, first is to provide therapy for the students. But the other part of the job is to evaluate students who might need therapy as well as to provide ongoing evaluations to my current students while still providing service for my current students. Each year the evaluation process became more complicated and time-consuming, thus more and more overwhelming.

One of the things I learned to do was not to focus on all the evaluations that needed to be done during the year and making myself even more overwhelmed. Instead each month I would make a list of the students who needed evaluated that month–which made the process more than manageable. All the evaluations would get done on time!

That’s when it came to me. I’ve been worrying about how to get through the whole Christmas season without Christmas Cookies. But I don’t have to worry about saying no to cookies for the next 2-3 weeks, I only have to say no at the next event. It’s about keeping the focus on the present and not worrying about the future. That’s manageable–I can do that.

About now, you might be saying, “so what.” Hold on, I’m getting there.

It’s good to plan and have long-range goals but that’s not always true for every situation. Sometimes, it’s better to take the one day at a time approach. Losing weight is a good example, but I can think of others as well. Cleaning house is one. I don’t like cleaning but if I focus on only cleaning a few things each day, it makes it manageable. And what about writing a book?

When I start to write a new book, I look at the completely blank screen and it’s overwhelming. So I block that out and write the first word, then the first sentence, the first page, and before I know it I have the first chapter finished.

The holiday season can be overwhelming and before we know it, we’ve lost our Christmas spirit and that’s no fun at all. So I suggest you make a list, check it twice, and then do the next thing that needs done. Focus on one thing at a time and enjoy the season!

MERRY CHRISTMAS & GOOD READING!