Wednesday, October 7, 2015

TV Interviews

This evening, October 7, 2015, I have the honor and privilege of being a guest on WATC-TV 57's Atlanta Live program, 7-8:30 PM (Eastern). The program is available by live stream here.

I would greatly appreciate your prayers - I tend to enjoy being a hermit, so being interviewed on TV is a huge step outside my comfort zone. But we're talking about books, about faith, about my walk with Jesus - and that THRILLS me. Just pray I don't make a fool of myself or embarrass my Lord.

I'm so proud of our other authors who've recently been interviewed on both TV and radio. You can view and listen to those at the links below:

TV Appearances:

(YouTube links)

Deborah Harper - WATC-TV 57 Atlanta
Elizabeth Noyes - WATC-TV 57 Atlanta
Joan Deneve - WATC-TV 57 Atlanta


Radio Interviews:

(SoundCloud links)

Betty Thomason Owens - The Dottie Coffman Show - Victory Radio
Cynthia Toney - The Dottie Coffman Show - Victory Radio
Elizabeth Noyes - The Dottie Coffman Show - Victory Radio
Fay Lamb - The Dottie Coffman Show - Victory Radio

I'll keep the PRESS page (see tab above) updated with new interviews as they're available, so stay tuned. 

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

On Music and Writing

Today, we welcome some very special guests to the Write Integrity blog. Best-selling author Elizabeth Noyes interviews accomplished musician J. Mark Perry to get his thoughts on music and writing. Enjoy!

On Music and Writing
by Elizabeth Noyes

“Music is the universal language of mankind.”
 ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

History tells us about the Nine Muses of ancient Greek mythology, those fabled daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (memory) who were believed to be the inspiration for all forms of literature, science, and the arts. The muses include Calliope (epic poetry), Clio (history), Erato (love poetry), Euterpe (music), Melpomene (tragedy), Polyhymnia (sacred poetry), Terpsichore (dance), Thalia (comedy), and Urania (astronomy). It is easy to see from their areas of devotion how creative threads overlap.

Today, the term “muse” is a general reference to any person or idea that inspires an artist, writer, or musician. I recently spoke with an accomplished musician to gain his perspective of some of the commonalities of music and writing.

J. Mark Perry grew up in Cartersville and Marietta, Georgia, the son of a pastor and youngest of three siblings. His family’s passion for Jesus and their deep-seated love of music led Mark to trust in Jesus as his Savior at the tender age of six and one-half, and also influenced his decision to make music his future.

He earned a Bachelor of Music and a Master of Music Education from the University of Georgia and, while there, served as Drum Major for the UGA Redcoat Band. That’s where he met his future wife, Suzanne, who was also a member of the band.

Today, Mark serves as Pastor of Worship Music at Sunrise Baptist Church in Lawrenceville, Georgia (www.SunriseBaptist.com). He and Suzanne have two sons, Alex and Andrew, a daughter-in-law, Mary, and a new grandson, Gibson.

Elizabeth NoyesMark, thank you for sharing a glimpse of your life with our readers. You’re an accomplished musician with a passion for the Christian ministry. You’re also a husband, father, new grandfather, pastor, speaker, teacher, musician, performer, mentor, and counselor -- all in the course of a normal day. Would you share a tip with our readers on how you manage all the demands on your time?

Mark Perry:  Managing time is by far the greatest challenge of my life. In the "big picture" I try to keep things prioritized and, as cliché as this sounds, it truly is effective for me. The Lord Jesus comes first followed closely by my relationship with my wife, and then with my family. Church-related ministry comes next, but I’m also careful to guard calendar time for my personal interests and hobbies.

I adopted this "priority concept" several years ago. If you picture your life as a wagon wheel with God as the center hub, the surrounding spokes that reach out to the rim of the wheel represent established priorities. At any given time, those spokes bear the weight of the whole wheel and represent the changing priority of our focus. I am blessed to have an understanding family that realizes my ministry sometimes forces me to put the needs of others first, but it’s my responsibility to ensure my loved ones regain their proper priority in my life in due season.

EN:  You come from a musical family background. At what point did you know with certainty music was your future? Did you ever consider another vocation?

MP:  I knew I would choose music as a career during my junior year of high school. I had given the idea serious thought for several years prior, particularly when visiting my older brother while he was in college and was a member of the University of Georgia Redcoat Band. I remember thinking the Redcoats were one of the coolest groups I’d ever been around. I still do! After completing my education, I taught high school band for a few years before entering church music ministry fulltime.

EN:  As a writer, I’m often asked where I get my ideas. I’ve watched and listened to your creativity as Pastor of Music Worship for Sunrise Baptist Church for several years, so let me pose a similar question to you. Where do you find inspiration?

MP:  It’s difficult to pinpoint only a few places of inspiration. I’m curious by nature. I enjoy people-watching, observing social situations, watching performances, and studying various forms of art, but I have to confess that most of my ideas come from Scripture. I think when you pay attention to the world around you inspiration can come from almost any environment or circumstance.

EN:  I’ve often said writing is like music. It has a rhythm, tone, and flow that must mesh to create a state of mind where the reader forgets they are reading words and are not actually part of the story. Walk us through the steps you follow when customizing a piece of music for your choirs and orchestra.

MP: I believe the language of music crosses all cultures. When I first begin work on a particular piece of music, I have to consider the style (or culture) the music was created in. I use five simple characteristics to determine how to present a piece of music that is authentic to its style. Every style of music is unique in nuances, pronunciation of lyrics (for vocal music obviously), rhythmic groove or pulse, tonal quality, and vibrato style. Once you get past the musical stylings of a composition, you also have to move past what I call the "musical encumbrances" of music, such as rhythms, melodic line, harmonies, etc. This will allow the performers to internalize the music to the best of their abilities. Once this happens, it gives the performers the ability to communicate and connect with their audience. And once you connect with the audience, you move past simply hearing a musical composition to a musical experience.

EN:  You had the distinct and elite honor of performing as drum major for the University of Georgia Redcoat Band during your college years. Now, you lead the UGA Alumni Redcoat Band. You must have a multitude of quirky stories from these experiences. Please share one poignant memory—good or bad, funny or perhaps not so funny.

MP:  I had the awesome opportunity of performing as drum major for the very first night game in Sanford Stadium at the University of Georgia. It occurred on Labor Day, a Monday night, in 1982, and pitted the UGA Bulldogs against the Clemson Tigers. Of course the Dawgs won, which made it even more special.

EN:  I know you’ve also performed as an orchestra member with the Sons of Jubal. How many instruments do you play and, as a performer, do you prefer singing or playing and why?

MP:  I can make a decent tone on most every instrument and play the trumpet and piano reasonably well, but the French horn was my principal instrument as a college music major. My favorite thing to do as a musical performer is to conduct rather than play or sing. I enjoy bringing many musical elements together.

EN:  It’s easy to see that you have a heart for Christ and a passion for music. If you could condense your wealth of experience into one “do” and one “don’t” for writers/musicians/artists, what advice would you give?


MP: You can probably tell from my previous answers (and my wife would totally agree) that I don't do a very good job of condensing things down to "one anything." I guess the best I could come up with for one “do” and one “don't” would be two sides of the same coin. Do be as genuine and as authentic as you can. Don't try to fake your way through your musical expression. People can sense a fake a mile away, but are drawn to someone who is genuine and authentic.

WIP: Thank you both for an insightful interview. May God continue to use you both to touch hearts and change lives.


About Elizabeth Noyes:

Elizabeth Noyes—professional writer, aspiring author, dedicated dreamer—lives in the suburbs of Atlanta with her husband and best friend, Paul, who listens tirelessly while she regales him with all the tales in her head of damaged, but very human characters clamoring to be heard.

A native of the Deep South, she claims to still “speak the language,” even after traveling around the world for most of her adult life. Recently retired from a career as a professional business writer and editor, she now fills her days editing, critiquing, reading, playing with the grandkids, learning more about Social Media than she ever wanted, and putting her stories into words to share with others.

Her second book, Imperfect Trust, released this summer, and is the second book in the romantic suspense Imperfect Series. Book One, the award winning Imperfect Wings, was released August 2014. She also co-authored two multi-author novellas, A Dozen Apologies and The Love Boat Bachelor.






Friday, August 28, 2015

New Release and TV Interview

We're excited to announce the release of Misstep by Deborah Dee Harper. This cozy mystery is the first of her Road's End Series, and it's the first in our new Pens of Mystery line of books.

We're also excited to announce that Deborah will be interviewed on TV tonight, August 28. She'll appear on Atlanta Live, which broadcasts on WATC-TV 57 in Atlanta Monday-Friday, 7-8:30 PM.
You can livestream the program here.

For any WATC-TV viewers joining us - WELCOME! We're glad you're here. Feel free to look around, check out all our books, and drop us a note.

About Misstep:

"Winnie and Sadie are still fighting, and I'm still living in the strangest town on earth."

It’s December in Road’s End, Virginia, a tiny town long forgotten by anyone but its residents, where Colonel Hugh Foster and his wife, Melanie, have chosen to live—for better or worse. The jury’s still out on that one!

Road’s End is comprised entirely of senior citizens whose kids have grown and left for greener pastures. Hugh, Melanie, and Bristol (one of the few sane people in town) are faced with a crumbling church in desperate need of repair and renovation, a dwindling congregation of opinionated, ornery senior citizens, and a camel—yes, a camel.

And if that's not enough, the trio and the rest of the Road's End residents, are soon mired in danger and intrigue when a group of gun-toting drug dealers arrive in town, bent on killing the church handyman, and conspiring to ruin the doggonedest record-breaking blizzard the town has ever seen.

Poor drug dealers.

Available on Amazon and Kindle
and by request from most booksellers



About the Author

Deborah Dee Harper writes from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and specializes in humorous, inspirational Christian books for both children and adults. Her novel, Misstep, is the first book in her Road’s End series for adults (although children are welcome to read them as well). She’s also written a children’s adventure series, Laramie on the Lam, that is inspirational, humorous, and full of fun. (Many of Laramie’s fans are adults!)

Deb has three grown children—Derek (married to Renee), Dennae (married to Richie), and Darice (married to Ron). Between them, they’ve given her five lively grandsons—Dustin, Hunter, Cannon, Tyler, and Adam, and one beautiful granddaughter, Molly. Deb took an early retirement from a mid-sized school district in Michigan and began writing seriously, and wrote two newspaper columns, feature columns, greeting cards, essays, articles, poetry, and had stories included in multiple anthologies and Chicken Soup. She was a member of the Jerry B. Jenkins Christian Writers Guild and took the Apprentice, Journeyman, and Craftsman classes. Her manuscript for Misstep was a finalist in the 2009 Operation First Novel competition.

Deb finds humor everywhere and believes God deliberately gave us a sense of humor to enjoy the truly funny or joyous or unbelievable or downright silly things in life. Humor not only gives us joy, it often changes our opinion of others (or ourselves) and helps bridge the gap between people of differing opinions. When she’s not writing, Deb enjoys photography, herb gardening, astronomy, and chasing the occasional grizzly bear for a picture.

She writes three blogs: 

www.deborahdeetales.blogspot.com,
www.deetrails.blogspot.com, and
www.laramieonthelam.blogspot.com

Her website is at www.deborahdeeharper.com




Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Road Trips: One She'll Never Forget


A Trip I’ll Never Forget
by Harriet Michael


Born in the jungles of the Niger River Delta, my memories of family road trips are filled with adventure. My parents were missionaries to Nigeria, West Africa in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. Road trips back then involved packing lunches, and drinks because there were no restaurants along the way. No, our roads had only bush, small villages, and more bush. Bush was the term for the Nigerian landscape.

Though we could sometimes fill our tanks with petrol, as it was called, the petrol stations did not have bathrooms. So, the bush was used for both our bathroom stops as well as lunch stops. But nothing is quite as wonderful as stopping along the side of a rural African road, parking under a lush tree, getting out of a hot car that had no air conditioning, and lunching on tomato sandwiches, peanuts, bananas, and cold Kool-Aid, from an ice chest. 

Most of my childhood road trips were hot. But there was one exception. Once when my father was traveling home from a preaching engagement with my little sister and me along for the ride; a rock from the dirt road flicked into our windshield. This was before the days of shatterproof glass and the rock shattered our windshield. Fearing glass would blow onto us as we traveled the rest of the way home, my dad stopped and carefully removed the entire windshield, one little piece at a time. 

This would have been a good idea, except for the fact that it was rainy season. Sure enough a sudden rain storm blew up and my father had to drive with the rain pouring in on him. He told my sister and me to get in the floor of the back seat so the front seats would partially block the incoming water. I remember thinking it was one of the grandest adventures I had ever experienced. My sister and I hunched down in the back, each behind a seat and giggled at each other as the water pooled at our feet. I don’t think it was as much fun for my poor dad though. He drove slowly on ahead in spite of the rain in his face. When we arrived home, we took warm baths and then my mom made hot cocoa. That too was an adventure! I had never had hot cocoa in Africa before ... or since.


****


Born in Nigeria, West Africa, as the daughter of missionaries, Harriet E. Michael is a writer, gardener, wife of over 35 years, mother of four, and grandmother of one.
She holds a BS in nursing from West Virginia University but has discovered her passion for writing. Since her first published article in 2010, she now has over a hundred and fifty published articles and devotions. 

Harriet is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Louisville Christian Writers. Her book, “Prayer: It’s Not About You,”a finalist in the 2011 Women of Faith book contest, is set for release in September, 2015 by Pix-N-Pens Publishing Company.

Follow her on:

Website
Facebook
Blog






Monday, July 20, 2015

The Wackiest Trip Ever

I have to agree with this headline ...

The Wackiest Trip Ever
by Deanna Klingel


I’ve been traveling with my books nearly every week for five years. But this is the wackiest trip I’ve taken yet.

I leave home with my Rand McNally Atlas, print out of my destination’s website, MapQuest directions and my GPS all in agreement. I’m going to Fairview, in Northern Kentucky, an hour north of Lexington on U.S. 68, to the Jefferson Davis Monument State Historic Site where I’ll sign books beside the 350 foot obelisk monument. 

Have you heard of the annual 500 mile long yard sale? It’s on U.S. 68, and it’s today. Every home, business, church and farm has set up a sale along the road. U.S. 68, a two-lane highway with a double yellow line, has berms as wide as driving lanes lined with parked cars. Shoppers dash across the highway carrying lamps and ladders. Chairs are lashed to the roofs of cars; family pets wander back and forth.

After several miles I suddenly see Welcome to Fairview. I’m in an Amish farm community. Ladies in bonnets sort through the dishes, boys in blue ironed shirts, black pants with suspenders, peddle their bikes in the highway. Teenage girls load their buggies. In the fields men and their horses work the dirt. There are no brown and white state park signs. There is no 350 foot obelisk. Thank you for visiting Fairview.

A mile further up the road I see a state park sign, but not the one I’m hoping for. Surely a ranger there can tell me where to find a 350 foot monument in their neighborhood?

“No ma’am. We got nothing like that around here.”

“Is it possible there are two Fairviews?” I ask.

“Oh no. Not possible. It’s ag’in the law. Can’t have two with the same name in the same state. Uh uh. Nope.” It’s true, I remember, Rand McNally only lists one Fairview, Kentucky.

“Is this your zipcode?” I point to MapQuest.

“No. It isn’t.”

“I guess I need to call this other park ranger and see where he’s hanging out today.” The guy looks like I just woke him up. Oh! Park Ranger! “I can help!” His park brochures are not in a rack or alphabetized. They are all in a wash tub. Together. He sifts through them and eventually finds one that says Jefferson Davis. “Looks promising,” I say. We turn it over where the locator map indicates it’s in the far southwest corner of Kentucky. Another Fairview. Five hours away.

Gladys, my GPS navigator, is not leaving. She insists we have reached our destination. I trick her by keying in a town close to the second Fairview. Okay, she says, get back on U. S. 68, and the fun continues. After many miles of roadside sales we leave U. S. 68 to travel the Bluegrass Parkway and later the Western Kentucky Parkway. Now, we’re back on U. S. 68 again. I’m blinking, taking it all in: ladies in bonnets, boys in blue shirts on bikes, girls in buggies, farmers plowing with horses. I have a sinking feeling. There’s that little sign…again…Welcome to Fairview. I dare to think how this could happen. Was it the Parkways in the wrong direction? Did I really drive in a circle? But no, my dashboard reveals I’m still traveling SW. Suddenly, rising out of a wheat field in front of me, a 350 foot obelisk.  This really is the other Fairview.

But not the one where I have a hotel reservation.


Both Fairview, Kentuckys are on U.S. 68, both are State Park sites, five hours apart, the rangers aren’t aware of each other. Both are rural Amish farm communities that look just alike, (except for a 350 foot obelisk) including their identical welcome signs. Both are exactly six hours from my home in different directions.  I don’t think there’s an obelisk in the Twilight Zone. But, maybe.


****

Deanna K. Klingel writes primarily for a Young Adult and Children's Literature market. She's also been published in anthologies, short stories and poetry. She collaborated with Write Integrity authors on The Christmas Tree Treasure Hunt. Her books include: Just for the Moment: The Remarkable Gift of the Therapy Dog, Avery's Battlefield, Avery's Crossroad, Bread Upon the Water, Cracks in the Ice, Rock and a Hard Place a Lithuanian Love Story, Amanda and the Lazy Garden Fairy, Beth's Birds, and The Mysterious Life of Jim Limber. Several have received awards or acknowledgements.

Deanna and her husband Dave have seven grown children raising their children across the Southeast. Deanna and Dave make their home in North Carolina.







Friday, July 10, 2015

Road Trips: Her Poor Brother!

My Poor Brother!
by Harriet Michael

The Nigerian roads I grew up accustomed to were usually unpaved, bumpy, and challenging. Memories of strange and interesting occurrences traveling those roads flood my mind when I think of my childhood road trips.

There was the time we headed north on our local leave (the term the missionaries used for vacation.) Traffic came to a stand still at the old Jebba Bridge. This was before it was replaced in the 1970’s with a four lane bridge much better equipped to handle traffic flow. Back then it was a long two lane bridge over the beautiful Niger River. After waiting for over an hour, my father walked ahead to see if he could get a closer look and discover the problem. After a while he returned and informed us that a group of nomad cattlemen had been walking their herd over the bridge when a cow died. They were in the process of dragging the dead cow off and then trying to get the rest of the herd across and, well, that takes time.

Other road trips were memorable for better reasons. My father stopped once when he spied a beautiful wild orchid in full bloom growing near the road. The whole family piled out of the car to marvel at its beauty.

But usually, trips were long, hot, and uncomfortable. The worst was a time my family’s trip involved covering extremely difficult terrain. Mom and Dad sat in the front and my siblings and I in the back with my brother by the window. After a while, my younger sister, who was prone to motion sickness, felt nausea coming on. She stretched her body across my brother trying to get her head to the window but did not quite make it and threw up on him.

We stopped the car. My parents gave my sick sister Dramamine, cleaned him as best as they could and moved her to the front seat with them. We piled back on the road, my brother still claiming the window. But in a bit, we had Act II when feeling sick, my older sister tried to put her head out his window but also did not make it.

Again we stopped. After cleaning both of them and giving her Dramamine too, we started out again with my brother announcing that he wanted me next to him because I never got motion sickness. His statement was true–except for that one time. Soon enough we had Act III with me trying to reach his window and not making it.

Then we rearranged the seating yet again. This time my parents decided to put all three sick, sleepy girls in the back and let my brother sit in the front between them. On his lap, he held the family dog which he had held most of the trip. Guess what happened next? Soon, the dog got sick on my brother too.

It was not funny at the time but it has been a hilarious family tale ever since. We still laugh at the time everyone including the dog got sick on my poor brother.


****


Born in Nigeria, West Africa, as the daughter of missionaries, Harriet E. Michael is a writer, gardener, wife of over 35 years, mother of four, and grandmother of one.

She holds a BS in nursing from West Virginia University but has discovered her passion for writing. Since her first published article in 2010, she now has over a hundred and fifty published articles and devotions.

Harriet is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Louisville Christian Writers. Her book, “Prayer: It’s Not About You,”a finalist in the 2011 Women of Faith book contest, is set for release in September, 2015 by Pix-N-Pens Publishing Company.

Follow her on:

WebsiteFacebookBlog








More from the Authors of Unlikely Merger:

Thursday, July 9

Write Integrity Press: The Road Trip Miracle

Wednesday, July 8


Jennifer Hallmark: Interviewed by Janet K. Brown

Tuesday, July 7

Write Integrity Press: Three People on a Journey

Monday, July 6

Sunday, July 5

Write Integrity Press: Summer Recipes SweetPepper Relish

Saturday, July 4:

Write Integrity Press: Summer Recipes Keeping it Simple


Monday, June 29:
            




Thursday, July 9, 2015

The Road Trip Miracle

Today, we welcome Joan Deneve sharing one of her road trip adventures.

The Road Trip Miracle
by Joan Deneve

I’m afraid to fly. There. I said it. And your well-meaning platitudes or statistics of how much more likely I am to die in a car crash won’t sway me. My husband is actually a pilot, and he gave up a long time ago. So don’t even try.

Besides, my husband loves road trips as much as I do. At least, he says he does. Maybe it’s because he loves me and gets a big kick out of seeing me jump over hedges to claim the front seat the minute he jangles the keys. Okay. Slight exaggeration. But you get the point.

There’s something about gassing up the car and stockpiling junk food the night before. We usually leave before the sun comes up. I stumble bleary eyed to the car and make my nest complete with pillow, blanket, and carry-on bag loaded with things to amuse me.

But I never seem to dig anything out of the bag. Except food, of course. I usually don’t even make it out of the city limits before ripping into the bags of chocolate. Or the gummy worms. Then when we cross the county line, I rummage for the chips to get the sweet taste out of my mouth. Thus, the whole trip is a vicious contest of sweet versus salty.

But the magazines or books never make it out of the bag. The trip is amusement enough. Like the first streaks of the sunrise. Or a bird swooping down on a lake.

Even on a road I’ve traveled a hundred times, I won’t read or let myself go to sleep. I’m afraid I’ll miss something.

And the best thing about a road trip? Time. Glorious time. A precious and rare commodity meant to be treasured and appreciated. Road trips are God’s little time-outs: To ponder the meaning of life or to mull over a problem like your tongue worries a sore spot in your mouth. 

It’s also a great time to pray. And if you’re paying attention, you might even get a road trip miracle.

My husband and I were traveling back from a weekend trip. We were both enjoying the companionable silence, lost in our own thoughts. It was almost dusk in late January. Cold, dreary. I stared to my right, past my own faint reflection to the blurred images of the bare trees whizzing by. 

My mind drifted to the passage I’d read that morning from one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. John 11. It’s the story of how Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. One phrase played like a broken record in my mind. “Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.”

I pondered that for a few miles. How special, to have it documented in black and white that Jesus did in fact love these three people. And like a needy child, my heart cried out to Jesus and I said something like this: “I know you’re real, and I know you love me. I really do know that, but sometimes I really wish I had it written down. Not just to the whole world, but singled out, to me personally.”

It wasn’t a real prayer. More like a wish. I remember I was looking down at the floorboard when I was thinking those thoughts. And the moment I raised my eyes, a billboard to my left, across the median lit up as dusk settled into night. And the only three words on the billboard were JESUS LOVES YOU.

My mouth gaped open. I stared even as my vision blurred with unshed tears. We passed the sign, and I craned my neck around to keep it in my sight as long as I could. And I could feel Jesus smiling.

I gasped to my husband, “You’ll never guess what Jesus did for me just now.”

My husband, now hungry, disregarded the wonder in my voice and replied, “Do you think this is the exit to Shoney’s?”

Not to be deterred, I repeated more emphatically, “I just told Jesus I wish I had it in writing that He loved me, and there was this sign back there. Didn’t you see it?”

He barely shook his head. “I’m taking this exit. I think there’s a Shoney’s up here on the right.”

“Honey,” I angled my body toward him. “It was like I got my own personal sign from Jesus telling me He loved me. Don’t you see how special that was?”

“Ah. There it is.” He turned down the service road to Shoney’s and then replied, “Honey, I don’t need a sign to know Jesus loves me.”

Okay. I’ll give him that. Maybe I don’t need a sign either. But it’s nice to know that sometimes God goes out of His way to orchestrate the mundane details of our lives to let us know He’s listening and that He loves us.

And if you’re ever riding south on I-65 from Huntsville to Montgomery, Alabama, you might just see my sign. It’s okay. I’ll share it with you, 'cause He loves you too.


****

Joan Deneve teaches English in a Christian school and has a passion to help young people fall in love with Jesus and equip them to become all God wants them to be. Joan began her walk as a Christian when she accepted Christ as her savior two weeks before her sixteenth birthday. She graduated from Tennessee Temple Bible College in 1975.

Joan and Rene’, her best friend and husband of forty-plus years, reside in Prattville, Alabama, a charming city in the Heart of Dixie. They count their son and daughter, son-in-law, and seven phenomenal grandchildren to be their greatest blessings on earth.

Joan enjoys time well-spent with family and friends, but finds equal joy in quiet moments of solitude on her back porch. There, surrounded by bluebirds and yellow butterflies, she began writing her debut novel, Saving Eric, which was published earlier this year by Pix-N-Pens.

An active member of her church, Joan enjoys singing in the choir. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and is currently working on the second book in the Redeemed Side of Love Series. She enjoys chatting with fellow writers and readers.


Saving Eric


More from the Authors of Unlikely Merger:
99 Cents on Kindle

Wednesday, July 8

Jennifer Hallmark: Interviewed by Janet K. Brown

Tuesday, July 7

Write Integrity Press: Three People on a Journey

Monday, July 6

Write Integrity Press: If I Could Take Three People on Vacation

Sunday, July 5

Write Integrity Press: Summer Recipes SweetPepper Relish

Saturday, July 4:

Write Integrity Press: Summer Recipes Keeping it Simple


Monday, June 29:
            





Wednesday, July 8, 2015

An Adventure with the Heroines



Today, Elizabeth Noyes shares her response to "If you could take three people on a summer vacation, you'd take ... [and Tracy would change the rules and beg to go on this adventure with them!]



A Vacation Adventure with TJ, Lucy, and Shea
by Elizabeth Noyes


I’ve vacationed with family and friends many times. That’s always fun. And I love traveling with my honey. In fact, we have a couple of more lovely trips planned in the near future. So, being a writer and lover of fiction, who else would I want to have an adventure with than three of my heroines from the Imperfect Series!


Trouble magnets, that’s what I call them—TJ (the heroine from Book 1), Lucy (making her debut in Book 2), and Shea (who’s been mentioned in the first two books, but will take center stage in Book 4). Those three embody all the spirit, courage, brokenness, and sass hidden in every woman. Imagine what fun we would have visiting Idaho and teaming up with the Cameron women—Cate, Mallory, and Cassidy. We’d go rafting on the Salmon River, horseback riding along the Lost River Valley, hiking in the mountains, fishing, kayaking, and we’d be sure to find our own kind of trouble, knowing the hunky men of the Triple C Ranch are just waiting for an opportunity to come to rescue—not that we’d need them. Yeah, that’s definitely on my bucket list.



Imperfect Wings
Available Now - Print and Kindle
Imperfect Trust
Releases Next Week!
          

Elizabeth Noyes is a native of the Deep South and claims to still "speak the language," even after traveling around the world for most of her adult life. She and her husband now live in the eastern suburbs of Atlanta where she works full time as a professional writer and editor for a privately owned company. "It can be a challenge finding enough time to squeeze in church, family, work, grandkids, friends, AND find time to write," she says. "Somehow, though, the balance always comes."


Her favorite things include reading across many genres, playing bridge with dear friends, crocheting, baking, country music, and her three precocious and gorgeous grandkids.
Using ideas from the thousands of books she's devoured provides great opportunity to mix and match plots, flawed characters, and locales she's visited to create her own unique stories, settings, and characters. "There's a whole host of heroes and heroines prancing around in my head, each one clamoring for their story to be told."
Her first published work, A Dozen Apologies, released on Valentine's Day 2014, is a collaborative effort involving 12 authors, each contributing one character and one chapter. Elizabeth's hero, Elliott Weston, was chosen by online readers as the guy who got the girl in the end. This anonymous vote allowed Elizabeth the honor of penning the final chapter.
Her first novel in the Imperfect Series, Imperfect Wings, was a CAT 5 winner in the 2013 Writers on the Storm contest. This action-packed, full-length romantic thriller takes you from the jungles of Honduras to the mountainous beauty of Idaho and finally to the polished red oak confines of a U.S. District court in Virginia.




More from the Authors of Unlikely Merger:
FREE on Kindle
July 1-5

Wednesday, July 8

Jennifer Hallmark: Interviewed by Janet K. Brown

Tuesday, July 7

Write Integrity Press: Three People on a Journey

Monday, July 6

Write Integrity Press: If I Could Take Three People on Vacation

Sunday, July 5

Write Integrity Press: Summer Recipes SweetPepper Relish

Saturday, July 4:

Write Integrity Press: Summer Recipes Keeping it Simple


Monday, June 29:
            

Sunday, June 28: