JO HUDDLESTON'S

 A GOOD READ

June 2012  

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." --Plato 

Yours and Mine

Let me know your five favorite novels and their authors and I'll include them here. Your last name is optional.

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My book America: Her Hope for the Future is now available (99 cents!) for the Kindle here. The print edition is available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. If you read and like any of my books, I'd appreciate your writing a review on the book's Amazon and Barnes and Noble pages.Thanks.

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This month I highlight Gone to Ground by Brandilyn Collins and Hearts That

Survive by Yvonne Lehman. Below is information about these books. (Disclaimer: I may not have read these recent releases yet; just letting you know about them.)

Title: Gone to Ground

Author: Brandilyn Collins

Genre: Mystery

Publisher: B&H Publishing

Release Date: March 2012

Brandilyn's website

Book available here 

Six murders have occurred in small-town Mississippi. Now, to their horror, three women of three different generations realize they know who the killer is--someone dear to them. Independently, not talking to anyone else, each woman must make the terrifying decision to bring the man down. But each woman suspects a different man.

Title: Hearts That Survive-A Novel of the Titanic

Author: Yvonne Lehman

Genre: Historical

Publisher: Abingdon Press

Release Date: March 2012

Yvonne's website

Book available here

Lydia Beaumont and her friend Caroline Chadwick plan Lydia's wedding aboard the "grandest ship ever built." Yet their lives take a tragic turn when the "unsinkable" Titanic goes down. They and their descendants struggle with all that was lost and what the future holds for those brave enough to face it.

 
Cara Putman has seen 15 books published since her first released in 2007. She also  serves on the board of ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) and loves to mentor unpublished writers. She has graciously given me a copy of her book, Rainbow's End,  which one of my newsletter subscribers will win in a June 25 drawing.

JO: Please tell us a little about yourself.

CARA: I'm the homeschooling mother of four kids. I also teach classes at a Big Ten university and a community college as well as write and am active in our church and homeschool co-op. Add in family time, getting kids to activities, and the occasional date night with my husband and life is full and busy - just the way I like it!

JO: What fun thing can you tell us about yourself that we don't know?

CARA: My family and I are in the middle of a grand adventure. God answered a dream of my heart for my kids by gracing us with a summer in Germany. I'm teaching two mornings a week and the rest of the time we are tourists enjoying the country and each other.

JO: What do you enjoy doing when you're not writing?

CARA: I love to read and really enjoy crafty things like crocheting, scrap-booking, card-making, etc. What I've found is that as my kids get older and start activities, I have less time for anything other than reading and writing. That's okay...I love this season.

JO: How did you become involved in writing?

CARA: It's been a heart dream of mine since I was a teen. College, marriage, law school, and starting a career placed writing on the back burner, but the dream never died. In 2005 it was burbling to the surface again. I met Colleen Coble at a book signing, my husband asked her if I'd told her I wanted to write, and that was all the encouragement I needed to start. I gave myself a deadline to seek publication, and God beat even that short deadline. It's been an amazing journey!

JO: Where do you write? Do you have a dedicated office or a corner or nook in a room?

CARA: I used to have a dedicated office, then our fourth was born and we needed to shuffle bedrooms. Now I have an office set up in the corner of our bedroom. I write primarily on a laptop, so that allows my office to travel to Panera, the gymnastics gym, etc., as I need.

JO: Do you always know the title of your books before you write them?  

CARA: Usually, and I've been shocked at how many of them stick.

JO: Please tell us about Rainbow's End.

CARA: Rainbow's End is a novella collection of stories written by four authors.  It's set in the Ozarks with a geocaching competition as the thread that runs through all four stories. Here's more: Join a geocaching adventure in the spectacular Lake of the Ozarks wilderness, with Lyssa, the reluctant volunteer whose former nemesis is now her chief sponsor; Madison, a city girl paired with an outdoorsy guy who gets on her very last nerve; Hadley, who doesn't know enough about guys to realize she's met a womanizer; and cautious Reagan, who meets an equally cautious guy. Will they find the treasure they're looking for ... or something else entirely?

JO: What takeaway value do you hope your readers receive after reading this book?

CARA: That even when life doesn't go as planned, that God is still in control. And His plans are always better than our own.

JO: Where did you get the idea for your book?

CARA: I started with the germ of an idea - it sold on a paragraph. So the real plotting work came after we received the contract. I knew geocaching would play a large role, but placed characters in the framework, added an element of suspense, and had a lot of fun watching the story and twists unfold. It was probably my most unplotted story and readers have loved it.

JO: Did you have to do any research for this book?

CARA: I did a bit because I'd never actually gone geocaching. It's something I'd love to try with my kids though. I think they'd love it! I also needed to do some research on Lake of the Ozarks. My sister and her husband ran through on their way to Branson and that gave me a great starting place.

JO: How long have you been writing? When did you sell your first book?

CARA: I've been writing for publication since May 2005. My first book sold at the ACFW conference in 2006. I'll never forget JoAnne Simmons calling me to the front on the opening night of conference to receive my contract!

JO: What are you working on now?

CARA: I've got a WWII proposal at committee that I'd love to write. Then I'm working on another proposal and letting the creative juices percolate.

JO: What advice would you give to writers just starting out?

CARA: If you're serious about writing, then you need to join ACFW (www.acfw.com). You'll find a community of helpful people, online courses, local chapters, a national conference, and the sense you're not the only one on this crazy path.

JO: Please tell our readers where they can get your book.

CARA: You can find my books in local bookstores, amazon.com, cbd.com, Barnes&noble.com and really anywhere books are sold.

JO: Where can our readers find you?

CARA: I love to interact with readers. They can find me online at www.caraputman.com, http://blog.caraputman.com, www.facebook.com/caraputman, and www.twitter.com/cara_putman. 

JO: Cara, thanks for your interesting interview and for spending time with us today. And thank you for giving me a copy of your book, which one of my newsletter subscribers will win in a drawing June 25. 

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I've read Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls, Scribner, 2009, 270 pages. This is the story of Jeannette's grandmother, Lily Casey Smith, a "no-nonsense, resourceful, and spectacularly compelling grandmother." The author didn't think of the book as fiction but because she didn't have words directly from her grandmother, she sometimes had to draw on her imagination to fill in the details. Thus, the book is labeled "A True-Life Novel." When women didn't have the vote and had to choose between being a nurse, a secretary, or a teacher, Lily Casey Smith aspired to fly an airplane. At age six she was helping her father break horses and was a good ranch hand, doing well every chose that any cowboy could do., At age fifteen the became a frontier school teacher, riding five hundred miles on her pony alone to reach her first job. The journey took a month. She raised two children, one of whom is the author's mother. In a time when survival was a personal goal, this story portrays all the necessary hardships and and sacrifices, some of which are not pleasant to visualize. Nevertheless, Half Broke Horsesis among those unforgettable books. A good read.

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Publicity Tips

by Joan Stewart

Joan Stewart

If you're following journalists or bloggers who are in an ideal position to give you publicity, here's a great way to get their attention.

Set up a Google alert at http://www.Google.com/alerts for their names. Every time you see that they've written a blog post or an article that fits in with the content at your blog, comment on it at your own blog and link to it.

Then send an email with the subject line "I blogged about you" and provide the link. Every time I see subject lines like that one, I open the email immediately, then I jump to the blog to see what somebody said about me. I can almost guarantee they'll open
your email. And they might even reply.

You can keep the conversation going by:

--Inviting the blogger to write a guest post at your blog. don't bother asking journalists who are too busy. You can, however, ask permission to reprint a post from their blog on your own blog.

--Posting comments on the blogger's or journalist's blog. This is a powerful way to get onto their radar screens BEFORE you pitch them. In fact, comment several times over a few weeks and chances are good they'll remember you when they see your pitch.

--Search for them on Twitter, follow them, and reply to their tweets. Check out the Journalists Who Twitter wiki at http://tinyurl.com/3erv9s

--Friend them on Facebook.

--Connect with them on LinkedIn. When extending an invitation, be sure to mention you read their blog regularly. Some people, me included, won't accept invitations from strangers who are trolling for connections.

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Reprinted from "The Publicity Hound's Tips of the Week," an ezine featuring tips,  tricks and tools for generating free publicity. Subscribe at http://www.publicityhound.com and receive by email the handy cheat sheet "89 Reasons to Send a Press Release." If you like these tips, please pass them on to your friends, clients and colleagues.

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                  It Pays to Be Old 

No one believes seniors . . . everyone thinks they are senile. An elderly couple was celebrating their sixtieth anniversary. The couple had married as childhood sweethearts and had moved back to their old neighborhood after they retired. 

On their way back home, a bag of money fell out of an armored car, practically landing at their feet. Sally quickly picked it up, but not sure what to do with it, they took it home. There, she counted the money: fifty-thousand dollars!  

One says:  "Tell us the story from the beginning."  

Andy said, "Well, when Sally and I were walking home from school yesterday . . . ."

The first FBI guy turns to his partner and says, "We're outta here."  

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