The Birth of a Dream

I stopped by a garage sale in my neighborhood a while back.

In the driveway was a box of a few books. As I was looking through them, the lady managing the sale told me, "There are a bunch of other books over here too if you're interested."

I walked over, and yeah, I barely could control my grin.

JACKPOT!

I bought 15 books from that garage sale at .25 cents each. Most all in like-new condition. (most of these weren't ones I would have purchased new anyway, but for a quarter I'd give them a try, so no writer's guilt...)

The writer I am had to ask who the reader of the house was. Come to find out, it was an elderly woman who was "downsizing" and moving into an apartment/assisted living.

Instantly my mind went to my own grandma. Memories of going to her house and searching her bookshelf flooded my heart. My grandma's bookshelf held my first taste of Christian Fiction, Janette Oke, Lori Wick, and Grace Livingston Hill, to be exact.

A few years ago, my grandparents moved into a nursing home/assisted living facility, and my mother salvaged a few of the books for me from the similar garage sale.  There are no words to tell you how special those books are to me. They are how I fell in love with books, they are what birthed the dream of being a writer someday.

Sometimes, in all the craziness of everything, I like to pick one of them up, snuggle up with a blanket, and read one of those "old" books of grandma's. They make me smile, they made me remember, and they make me appreciate the journey.

Because this writing life IS a journey, a crazy, fun, scary, wild, sweet, wonderful journey.

It also makes me appreciate anew the simple act and pleasure of reading a book.

Those "non"-bookies don't always understand this emotional connection we have to a book. It doesn't really make a lot of sense. But it's special. I can't aptly put it into words (oddly enough!) but it just plain is!

Discussion: What was your first "memorable" book you read? Who inspired YOUR writing journey at it's infant stage?

When it all started....

I stopped by a garage sale in my neighborhood last Saturday.

In the driveway was a box of a few books. As I was looking through them, the lady managing the sale told me, "There are a bunch of other books over here too if you're interested."

I walked over, and yeah, I barely could control my grin.

JACKPOT!

I bought 15 books from that garage sale at .25 cents each. Most all in like-new condition. (most of these weren't ones I would have purchased new anyway, but for a quarter I'd give them a try, so no writer's guilt...)

The writer I am had to ask who the reader of the house was. Come to find out, it was an elderly woman who was "downsizing" and moving into an apartment/assisted living.

Instantly my mind went to my own grandma. Memories of going to her house and searching her bookshelf flooded my heart. My grandma's bookshelf held my first taste of Christian Fiction, Janette Oke, Lori Wick, and Grace Livingston Hill, to be exact.

A few years ago, my grandparents moved into a nursing home/assisted living facility, and my mother salvaged a few of the books for me from the similar garage sale.  There are no words to tell you how special those books are to me. They are how I fell in love with books, they are what birthed the dream of being a writer someday.

Sometimes, in all the craziness of everything, I like to pick one of them up, snuggle up with a blanket, and read one of those "old" books of grandma's. They make me smile, they made me remember, and they make me appreciate the journey.

Because this writing life IS a journey, a crazy, fun, scary, wild, sweet, wonderful journey.

It also makes me appreciate anew the simple act and pleasure of reading a book.

Those "non"-bookies don't always understand this emotional connection we have to a book. It doesn't really make a lot of sense. But it's special. I can't aptly put it into words (oddly enough!) but it just plain is!

Discussion: What was your first "memorable" book you read? Who inspired YOUR writing journey at it's infant stage?

*************************************************

 

Krista is a follower of Jesus, a wife, a mother, and a contemporary romance author. She recognizes that life can be frustrating and just plain not fun sometimes, but believes that laughter and smiles can make the not-so-fun a little better! She blogs about the amazing things God has been doing and her journey as a busy momma of 4 and caregiver to a daughter with a rare congenital heart defect at http://reflectionsbykrista.blogspot.com. She is represented by the fab agent, Rachelle Gardner, and her debut novel, Sandwich, With a Side of Romance, releases in September 2012.

FAV Romance authors!

I LOVE FEBRUARY.


Why?

Well, for one, I have a really GOOD excuse to eat chocolate!

But really, Valentine's Day and my OWN Valentine's birthday month makes me think of love and flowers and romance and hearts.

It's hard not to smile when looking at a pink heart, let's be honest! Especially if that pink heart is filled with chocolate... but I digress!

So, our "theme" for this week and next, to celebrate the wonderful month of February, is romance novels.

I find it nearly impossible to tell you what my favorite romance novels are. Mostly because many of my other alley-cats are posting theirs and there is a TON of duplicates that would be on my list.

What's a cat to do?

Well, I stick out my tongue and post them anyway, of course!

Actually, no. What I do is instead focus on romance AUTHORS that I really like and just happen to name some of their books... It's my way of beating the system, although really, there is no system... Just my weird quirkiness that doesn't want to look stupid repeating things.

Hmmm... I think I might need therapy.

Anywho,

Fav Inspirational Contemporary Romance Authors (NOT all inclusive... and I'm excluding historicals because, well, there are a lot of them and I have a lot of favorites there, so this would be a VERY long post!):

Jenny B. Jones. She's new on my list... on my romance list anyway. Her contemporary romance novel, Save the Date, was OH MY GOODNESS hilarious. My mother even said after she read it that it was the first book she's read that is as good as mine. Okay, not saying this to say that my manuscripts are awesome, but if you can beat out a woman's own daughter, then it's pretty good.


Tamara Leigh. Okay, some might call these more "chick lit" however all her books have boy ending up with girl at the end, so I stick out my tongue at you and call it romance. NA NA NA! Seriously, these are hilarious, and I rarely take more than a day to read one. I just wish she would write faster... still waiting for newest one in her Southern Discomfort series (and Faking Grace is still my ALL TIME FAVORITE Leigh book.)

 Kaye Dacus. Kaye is fun because she has both contemporary AND historical romances out there. Love to get a fun flavor of both. I have a hard time picking a favorite of hers because I love them all, but I probably would still say that Stand-in Groom, her first, is probably my favorite. But urgh... I really liked them all. So yeah, just read them all and you're good:-)




Francine Rivers. Another conteporary and historical writer, and I think her books are probably most all Christian fiction reader's fav list. Scarlett Thread and Atonement child were both great, great books. It's been a while since I've read them... need to remedy that!





 
Lori Wick. Yes, I know she writes mostly historical, and she hasn't written anything new in a long time. But she was the main author who got me reading Christian fiction, so I can't leave her off the list! Sophie's heart was one of my favorite's for a long time though, and sometimes I still go back and read it again. It was sad, fun, and romantic all at the same time. Very much a "sweet" romance. She had some other really good contemporaries as well, but Sophie's heart is the one I could read many times over!

Susan May Warren. Another one where I can't list a favorite if I tried. I love her romances as they have a bit of suspense added as well, and she writes a metaphor like no one else I know! Favorite series would be the Noble Legacy Series, however loved her other ones as well too!





Okay, there are a ton more that I love, but I think this is a pretty good list to start.

So, who are YOUR favorite contemporary romance authors? If you are a historical fanatic and don't read a lot of contemporary, feel free to list those too:-)