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In This Issue
April & May Contest!
From the Inside...Out
Greetings
Prarie Hills contest winner
Tracking down Susan
Blog-A-Book!
Contact Info
 
pj

Find Sugar! 

PJ Sugar's first novel - Nothing But Trouble will begin to make some sneak appearances across the country starting the end of April. 
 
Go Hunting for Trouble, and let me know where you see it.  Send me the Name of the Bookstore where you found it here  (and the city, please), and we'll put your name in a drawing for a preview copy of The Great Christmas Bowl - my Christmas Novella, coming out this fall!  
 
Send me a PHOTO of you and the book in the bookstore, and we'll add your name 5x! You can send the photo to amy@susanmaywarren.com

Go....Hunt up Trouble! 
 
 
 
 Article-on the couch hdr
 
 
 
I've been wanting to do this for a few years now, a response to so many of the basic, but essential questions that participants in my beginning writer's workshops ask.  How you do you plot?  How you develop characters?  How you do you pitch a book?  What goes into a scene?  How do I craft a black moment?

And can you help me do it?

Yes!  And, it doesn't have to be overwhelming!  I believe that writing a book doesn't have to be agonizing, that it can come from your heart, and still be put inside a framework of proven storytelling.  And this book, my method of looking inside for your plot and characters, teaches you how.
 
Buy a copy here  at Amazon. If you've already read the book, tell others what you thought by posting a review. Thanks!
 
The book went on tour
in February ... find out what people are saying here!
 




Snow... 

Today, May 9th, we in Northern MN, woke up to snow. 

Will winter never end?  I want flowers!  Flipflops!  To sit out on my soon-to-be-built deck with lemonade!

Alas, it is not yet to be.  At least not for a couple more weeks.  I just have to be patient...

I read a psalm a day - have been doing it for years (thanks for the advice, dad!).  Somehow it just gets my heart in the right place to start the day.  I'm on Psalm ONE again today, having finished the book yesterday.  I love the verse that talks about the blessed man (or woman) who "is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season, and whose leaf does not wither.  Whatever he does prospers." 

As I look out in my yard, at all the budding lilacs, the maple tree, the peonies and hydrangeas (I hope they're still alive), the truth of this verse stirs me.    They've been waiting all winter to yield fruit - and their season is almost upon them.  It's like raising kids - waiting eighteen years to see them yield fruit.  Or working on a book and seeing it come to life on the shelf.   It's worth the winter months to see the spring.  Worth the perseverance to taste the fruit. 

My son graduates from high school (with honors!) in a month.  I'm so proud of the way he has grow up to be a man who thinks through his actions, a compassionate and moral person who loves Jesus.  Fruit. 

My book Nothing but Trouble, a book that birthed in my head over four years ago is finally, finally hitting the shelves (thank you to all who have read it and said such nice things about it!)  Fruit. 

I need to remember that the things I do in the winter, the perseverance will bear fruit.  I know we're all in hard economic times - persevere.   Don't wither.  I believe that spring, with its fruit, is coming. 

Ah see, there's the sun...

I hope it's warmer in your part of the country/world!  Thank you for everyone who dropped me a line about Nothing But Trouble - I just finished up the edits on Double Trouble, PJ's continuing adventure.  (Now, we need to start a forum - Boone, or Jeremy?) Be sure and scroll down to the bottom of the newsletter to check out the newest contest - with a fun prize!

To all the PJ Sugars out there - Be blessed today!
 
In His Grace,
 
Susan May Warren 
 
Sugar Bomb! 
 


Get into Trouble" with
nbt button
ME on May 15th!
 
  
The celebration for Nothing But Trouble is about to begin. Join me for a month long Sugar Party!

The fun will Kick-off with a SUGAR BOMB on Friday May 15th. Here is how it works:purchase a copy (and maybe a few for friends) of Nothing But Trouble anytime during the day on May 15th. Every one who purchases a copy of the book will be entered into the contest to win a Sugar Spa Basket. Once you buy your book at Amazon or CBD (or anywhere else) and then come back here (contest page at www.susanmaywarren.com) and leave me a message telling me where you bought your book. Easy. And for every additional copies you buy, you'll gain an additional ten entries into the contest. So just let me know how many copies you bought. Please help me spread the word by putting this button on your blog. Just copy and paste this code in your side bar: http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd78/rs_designs/trouble2.jpg'>http://
 www.litfusegroup.com/latest/current-blog-tours/80-qget-into-troubleq-with-susan-may-warren-on-may-15th">http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd78/rs_designs/trouble2.jpg"
width="125" height="140" alt="Get in Trouble with PJ Sugar on May 15 - come join the fun with author Susan May Warren" title="Get in Trouble with PJ Sugar on May 15" />
 
 
Everyone who helps me get the word out will be entered to win a $25 Amazon gift certificate! Once your button is up, email Amy and let her know you added the button to your site and be entered to win $25 to Amazon.com, twitter and facebook it and get additional 5 entries! Include your twitter/facebook id in the email too!)

The party will continue all month with a blog tour and chances to win copies of Nothing But Trouble from the blog tourists! Please have a look at the wonderful bloggers on the tour. What a fab bunch! Schedule here!

The Sugar party will conclude in a day of celebration on Friday June 19th with a day long ONLINE Sugar Bookclub Party. I'll be giving away prizes, answering questions, hosting a live chat, and generally getting myself into some "Trouble".

Tell your friends...or better yet, host your own Sugar Party! Details to follow.
 
Video Trailer for Nothing But Trouble!
 
My publisher Tyndale has created a GREAT book trailer for PJ Sugar!
 
 
 
 
My Book Therapy: LOVE TO WRITE!
 
Write a book with My Book Therapy Voices in 2009!
 
Update on Blog-A-Book! We're currently editing chapter 3! Here's a preview... 

Chapter 3 Rough Draft Final

Of course, Greg didn't have the courage to pick up his cell phone - Kenzie's call went immediately to voice mail. "Just what did you tell your cousin?" Kenzie said under her coiled breath, all the while smiling at the large, dark-haired man who had finally acted with some chivalry, given her a blanket and made her a cup of tea.

Not that it tasted any better than the coffee offered by Mr. Lewd Suggestion - at least that's what Luke's I'm...not that type of guy comment felt like

It had taken her a long, reeling moment to sink in what he'd meant, and well, she wasn't either, thank you very much.

What had Greg gotten her into...and, with whom? She pressed end on her phone and snuck a look at him. Luke Alexander. She remembered his name now - thanks to the memo on her phone. Park ranger. Local, Untamed Wildlife seemed a better description. Who, perchance, needed more monitoring that she did, because her so-called protector appeared a little on the unhinged side the way he paced in tiny circles, his ear pressed to his cell phone, glancing at her like she might be a wounded deer who wandered in under his watch.

Not that he didn't look capable of taking care of a wounded deer. Or elk. Or black bear. Easily over six foot, he had the lean, broad-shouldered appearance of many of her leading men - with the exception that his probably came from good, old fashioned hard work as opposed to the gym, and occasional body-enhancement surgery now popular in her neighborhood.

He wore his hair military short - brown as coffee, a solemn set to his clean shaven jaw as he now turned away from her, cutting his voice low, nearly growling in to his phone.

She certainly wouldn't want to be the person on the other end of the line.
For more go here!
 
To read Rachel's critique go here!
 
To read Susan's rebuttal *g* go here!
 
 

MBT header
Are you a writer?  Or want to be?  Get a daily dose of "how to write" and discover the writer in you - www.mybooktherapy.com! 
Susan May Warren
Soul-Stirring Fiction
www.susanmaywarren.com