The Next Big Thing Blog Hop

Have you been noticing changes to my blog lately? Well, I'm not done yet.

All of this has been bringing me yet one step closer to fulfilling my childhood dream. Today, I am going to tell you about my next step.

I was invited to participate in "The Next Big Thing Blog Tour" by my friend, Katina. In this blog hop, I am to answer 10 questions about a book that I have written or am working on.

Did I hear a gasp? Yes, I am working on a book. I have several book ideas but decided to tell you about a book that I am almost ready to publish.

1) What is the working title of your book?

     The Year Santa Meets Jesus

2) Where did the idea come from for your book?
     Several years ago, I noticed the crowds of children at malls waiting in line to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas. I started thinking about how many Christians visit their local Santa and yet never introduce him to Jesus. That's where the idea for my book came from.

3) What genre does your book fall under?
This would be labeled as Christian Fiction and Poetry.

4) Which actors would you choose to play in your movie rendition?

Hmm... I'm not good at remembering actors' names. And if I were to name an actor I do know, you'd say why he's not a kid anymore. So I'll just describe what I think the actors would look like.

 I imagine Santa being a normal middle aged shopping mall Santa. Extra stuffing padding his belly and an overly white cottony beard.  For the boy I imagine him being around 7 or 8 years old with big brown eyes.

5) What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?

Everyone, including Santa, needs someone to care about them.

6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
Right now I plan to self-publish. Unless an agent just happens to be reading this. ;-)

7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
It probably took me a week to write the first draft. The first draft was not a poem. It took me a few months to modify it and make it exactly what I want it to be.

8) What other books would you compare this story to?

It's a picture book. Once I have the pictures, I'd probably be able to compare it then.

9) Who or what inspired you to write the book?

Well, God inspired me to write it. Most of the short stories and tracts I've written were simply things I felt I had to write because of problems I saw around me.

10) What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
It is short and sweet. It's about a boy that cares more about giving to Santa rather than receiving something from him.

I see this as a story that parents can read to their children and show them where their hearts should be this Christmas. And who knows it may stir some grown up heart strings as well.

I was tagged by Katina Vaselopulos of Life's Incredible Journeys. Last week Katina wrote about her upcoming book on her Next Big Thing Blog post here.

Do you have something big you are planning? What "Big Thing" does God have you working on right now?

As always feel free to share in the comments below.

And keep an eye out for a special Christmas present from our family to yours coming soon.
 
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Happy New Year

A lot has happened over the past two months. If anyone is still out there checking on my blog occassionally, I'm sorry that I hadn't updated in such a long time. I know my sister has been asking about my blog.

December was a great month. We had snow! This was the first snow Hannah remembers. It was a Wednesday night and as we were walking out of the church building, Hannah started hollering and wanting to be held. She was afraid of the snow. Then her brave big brother went out there and jumped around in it to show her that it was o.k. Then she slowly made her way down the steps and into the snow. Then she started laughing about it.


The snow lasted all that night and a little ways into the next day. I have a couple of pictures of it. The first one is of Scott cleaning the car before going to work that morning.

The second is of Ruth with her snowman that she made. I really thought this picture was funny. What seems out of place in this picture?

If you said the snowman in the middle of the green grass, your right. It just doesn't seem right for a snowman to be standing on a bright sunshiney day in the middle of the green grass. But he held up for at least that day and part of the next. He was a pretty tough snowman.


We enjoyed our Christmas with my parents. We spent Christmas Eve with them and then had our Christmas at their house. I think this was probably one of our best Christmases. I liked it because it was simple. We kept it pretty laid back. The kids weren't all in a rush to open presents. We slept late, I even took a shower and ate breakfast before we opened them at about 11 o'clock. It was nice not having the day focused on presents.


My Dad had made an excellent dinner of Roast Beef, with Salad and other side dishes. Then my Sister and her husband came over and we enjoyed getting to just visit. My Dad even took the kids to his church to play in their gymnasium. It was so quiet around the house at that point. Then we played a game of Clue with my sister and her husband. We had a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to our next visit with my sister and brother-in-law. Hopefully we will learn to use those new rod and reels they gave us for Christmas.


I have so many things I plan on doing this new year. I want to go visit my Mom for her Birthday and actually go on a shopping spree with her. I am saving a little bit of money aside to enjoy a good shopping trip with her. I intend that she finds something for herself, however she already has been talking about finding something for me. But that is just the way my Mom is, for her it is more fun to find something for her kids than for herself. I plan on finding something that she likes during it all though.


In my next blog, I plan to write about my goals for this New Year. So don't give completely up on me and keep checking back. I'll try not to let another Month and a half go by before writing again. :)