Andi Pray: March 2011

I asked a question today to a couple of writing email lists I'm on. I asked if anyone was like me. :D Is that possible? Not really, but some have same traits like having a bookshelf of writing books and not reading them. I have at least twenty books on writing, writing exercises, advice from writers, even the Chicken Soup for the Writer's Soul. I love that one, although I have not totally read it through. I probably have read my Chicken Soup book more than I have any others and I even have workbooks with exercises in them to get the juices flowing, a Writer's Toolbox with fun popcicle sticks on them with ideas and twists and turns and a cute mini-hourglass timer to say, "Ready, set, GO! Don't pick up that pencil or pen, don't you dare hit delete and edit, just write!" I have books for encouragement and hope for writers, and Lord knows that what I need. So why are they laying on my shelves collecting dust with all the other to-be-read books from the latest book sales, garage sales, hand-me-downs, and consignment store purchases? Because I am either a collector of the coolest toys imaginable to a writer (I even have the novelist boot camp) or I am just so disorganized I don't know how to balance college classes in my late 30's, three teenagers, church, husband, Sunday school, life outside my dungeon, and promoting my book. Is there a way to truly balance all that? Sometimes I wonder with three psychology research papers looming over me. 6 1/2 weeks and counting. :D

Hello All,

Thank you for joining me for this month's newsletter. I hope the more I write these, the better I get and the more interesting they become.

SPRING IS COMING!

In Wyoming we know that the ever changing weather during March and April only teases us for what is coming after Labor Day. That's when we know it's safe to finally plant anything new. Anything that survived the winter and sporadic frosts is a blessing. I wish our growing season was longer so we could have more produce and brighter flowers earlier in the season. I am starting to see patches of green in the grass and look every day for the sprouts of leaves for my daffodils and tulips. They are the first to greet and fight to survive the unpredictable early Spring season.

LET ME HEAR YOU!

I want to hear from you on a few things. I am thinking of having a guest review added to the newsletter. If you have something you want to say about Haunting Footsteps, please send me a note and let me know. I take the good with the bad and the ugly.

I hope you have good things to say. I have heard it verbally, but to have it to share with others is the best advertisement out there. I know I contradict myself, because if I want to watch a movie, I usually choose the one critics put down. Those usually turnout to be the best. I know people who are movie fanatics and go a lot. They let my husband and I know what they think, but most of the time I like to see for myself. When it comes to the sale of my books, however, I have to trust word of mouth as the best advertisement to help out. I am asking for your help in getting the word out and sharing with others, either through the forum on the website www.andiprayonline.com, Facebook, Twitter (andiprayonline) or allowing me to add it to my newsletter and blog http://andiprayonline.blogspot.com/.

I LOVE HOSTING CONTESTS!

I love it when people participate in the fun. Right now, I have a quiz at http://www.goodreads.com/quizzes/7340-haunting-footsteps. If at least five people take it, I will have a contest for a free copy of Haunting Footsteps and goodies. Come this summer, when I have a definite date for my next book, 'Till Death do us Part: Annie, I will be having a contest to let you decide on the cover. My dear friend, Angie, made up four covers for "Annie: and I'm biased to a couple of them, but I want to hear what you would like to see on a cover. Look for that soon.

We all have heard about the natural disasters rocking our world. Response teams are still working in Haiti and India from their earthquake and tsunami tragedies, and then along comes Japan. A Christian relief effort that I trust and have sponsored a child through in Uganda, is one of those response teams that go where people need help. World Vision is spread out all over the world in trying to help children and families fight poverty, starvation, and AIDS in many countries. Our homeless here in America have more than these families. Many of the children are raised by their grandparents or take care of their younger siblings on their own. If you have ever seen these stories, I pray your heart was broken as mine was. Yet, nothing could break my heart more than watching my thirteen-year-old daughter cry as her heart was broken from just Google images. Her empathy opened my heart. For over a year I have sponsored a child in Uganda where the people are in danger of AIDS and HIV, drought, starvation, and no clean water or even simple medication we can walk to the corner store and purchase. My daughter has taken on babysitting and odd jobs where people ask to raise the funds on her own for a four-year-old child in Haiti that lives in a community also threatened with AIDS and is recuperating from devistation. Now, as Japan is rocked and trying to hold their land together, I am finding another way to help. With every book sold thus far and on, fifty-cents will be donated to World Vision's Disaster Relief fund. That way, it is not focused on just one area, but in all areas that need help. I hope you will join me in this venture and find some way to help. If not through World Vision, then in your own communities with those less fortunate. I once did a Sunday school study called Start at Home, Start with Me, and we discussed first looking into our own hearts, in our own homes, and families to heal and see where God was leading us. That was the year my garden had peppers in it, and I hate peppers. But it was not for me. They were to be grown and then donated to our Comea shelter so they could feed people in our community that did not have food. A few peppers came through. It was enough to know that the garden was not mine, but God's and I grew what He wanted in it. Whatever came up was used for His glory because He took care of my family. No matter what we have gone through, no matter how tight the money was or how bare the cupboards were, we never went naked (Truly thank God for that because no one wants that nightmare

), we never went hungry, there was gas in the car, shoes on our feet, and a roof over our heads. Why God blessed us different from others I do not know, because I know I am no more important nor does God love me more than anyone else.. He created us all, and we are all precious in His eyes. I wish I had the answers as to why bad things happen in this world besides the fact that Satan walks among us and loves our agony. No one truly has those answers, except God, and believe me, I have a lot of questions for Him when I get to Heaven.

I hope you enjoyed this month's newsletter. I look forward to keeping you updated on contests and spotlights happening in my own little world population me and you. I also look forward to hearing from you. If you would like to something more, less, different here, please let me know. Have a great St. Patrick's Day tomorrow, enjoy the beauty of the day, and if it's warm enough make a jug of sun tea just to say, "Welcome Spring."