Welcome to stop #10 on the CrossRiver Author Hunt today. This is a Cyber Scavenger Hunt, in case you didn’t know. It’s just like knocking on your neighbor’s door and asking for a paper clip or a clothes pin before dashing across the street to ask for something green. Only this is better, because you can do it in your pajamas. Well, you can do a normal scavenger hunt that way, but people might complain.

You don’t even have to start at the beginning if you didn’t know we were playing. You can start here! If you are a first-time visitor to my site, I hope you’ll stick around a bit and get acquainted.

After you read my blog post, feel free to wander around my site and get to know me a bit, then enter the giveaway at the bottom of the blog post. Sign up for my free e-newsletter for a chance to win. Plus, you will receive a small thank you gift: Three Steps Toward a Happy Life (complete with a check-list to see how you’re doing!)

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Before you head over to the next stop, collect the clue at the bottom of this post. You’ll need it to enter the drawing for CrossRiver Media’s giveaway.

Grand prize: One winner will receive a Kindle loaded with CrossRiver books! Winner will be chosen randomly from among those who enter the correct phrase.

Other prizes: Four winners will receive hard copies of 3 different CrossRiver books, signed by the author!

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Now, On to the Story…

A few months ago, I had an editorial conference call with the folks at CrossRiver about my novel, Rose Hill Cottage, which comes out this summer. If you aren’t a writer, just imagine you are meeting with the school principle and your child’s teacher about math grades. You don’t know whether you’ll get a gold star for your great parenting skills or if you might end up standing in the corner for that one spitball you put on the ceiling in seventh grade. (Because obviously it is still up there just waiting to snare you). That pretty much describes my level of trepidation before the call.

Now, this is craziness. My editor is a wonderful woman who can point out a dangling participle with such grace she makes you want to dangle another one just to hear her correct you. Okay. Maybe not. But she is extremely kind in her revisions. And my publisher is equally generous. Yet, I took the call and closed my eyes; as if they could see me from hundreds of miles away and closing my eyes would help me hide.

We talked for several minutes before my editor mentioned how much she appreciated the sense of community in the book. I stopped being nervous and even missed whatever she said next, because the statement shocked me. This wasn’t the story of a community. It was the story of a lonely woman. I finally came back to the conversation and managed to pay attention to details for the next hour.

Afterwards, I thought about the book and let scenes play in my head like movie clips. Sure enough. Community showed up everywhere. In the local library. At the convenience store. During the Fourth of July picnic and even when people met one another on the street. I suddenly realized I can’t help it. I’ll always write about community no matter what theme I pursue. Because that is how I live. It is who I am.

I think we are all designed for community. For relationships. We are meant to connect first to God and then to one another, now and forever. The Bible describes those connections in the Garden of Eden.

That is why we spend hours on social media. Why we follow sports teams. Why we drive a zillion hours one way to spend Thanksgiving at our grandmother’s house. And that is why a break in our relationships is so painful, so tragic, and so desperately in need of a Healer. Thank Heaven (for real), we have One. But that is another story.

For today, I’m grateful to have this little blogging community. And I’m grateful that you, Dear Reader, have joined us if even for just one day. Who knows where this story might take us?

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To celebrate the scavenger hunt, I’m giving away a copy of an EP titled Love More Perfect. Just sign up for my newsletter for a chance to win. The winner will be chosen at random. Relationship Disclaimer: I gave birth to the amazing artist who sings on this album.

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Thank you for stopping by during the CrossRiver Author Hunt! Before you go to the next stop collect your clue below. You’ll need this to enter the giveaway on the CrossRiver website.

“with God and inspires”

Next stop on the CrossRiver Author Hunt: Nancy Kay Grace!

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Have you stumbled onto the Author Hunt or forgotten what you’re supposed to do next? Here’s a quick review:

~Visit every author’s site that is a part of the hunt.

~Collect the clue provided at each author blog.

~Sign up for each author’s email list/newsletter for extra chances at fun giveaways.

~Stop back at the CrossRiver Media’s website after you visit the last blog in the hunt and enter your clues for a chance to win the grand prize.

~Click here for a complete list of the rules.

Happy hunting!