Ebook Sale! Don't Miss Out!

Right now Dauntless is available for only $.99 on Amazon, and Chivalrous and Courageous are only $2.99 each. Don't miss out on this great sale, and please spread the word.

Diversity Between the Pages!

Hi Friends, I really enjoyed doing this unique interview about Dance from Deep Within over at "Diversity Between the Pages." Hop on over and check it out!

WhiteFire Scavenger Hunt Stop #6

Welcome to the WhiteFire Publishing Scavenger Hunt!

If you’ve just discovered the hunt, be sure to go back to stop #1 and collect all the clues in order. Once you have them all, you’ll have uncovered a secret message. Turn that in at the final stop for a chance to win one of THREE amazing prize packages!

• The Hunt begins at Roseanna White’s site
• Take your time! You have all weekend to complete the Hunt—entries will be counted until Monday June 26—so have fun reading all the posts along the way and getting to know each author
• Lots of extra prizes! Many of the authors are featuring unique giveaways as well, for even more chances to win!
• Submit your entry for the grand prizes back at Roseanna White’s blog.

 A Muslim, a hippie, and a Christian walk into a coffee shop... 

No, it's not the start of a questionable joke, it's the fascinating premise for my Deep Within Series with WhiteFire Publishing. It's hard for an author to choose a favorite book, kind of like choosing a favorite child, but I do believe my Deep Within books are the the most life-changing books I've written. These books are filled with romance, humor, and even suspense as the heroines search together for true meaning in their lives. I invite you to take this journey of discovery, starting with Dance from Deep Within. 

book 1 available now

Despite her conservative Muslim heritage, Layla Al-Rai longs for a chance to earn her degree in engineering and perhaps even...dare she dream...to choose her own husband. But young women from her background rarely enjoy such freedoms. When she finally talks her parents into letting her attend college, she is drawn to fellow twenty-something students, Allie and Rain, over a class project. 

Allie, the blonde ballerina, faces her own struggles as she deals with an ex-fiancé and a church she had hoped to leave behind. Rain, the bi-racial hippie chick, longs for something to believe in, but her questioning could cost her the love of her life. 

When Layla's childhood sweetheart reenters her world, it seems her dreams might become real. Until everything falls apart. When she meets truth face to face, will she find the courage to accept it even if it requires the ultimate sacrifice?

Also look for the equally compelling book 2 in the series, Dare from Deep Within, coming in November 2017.

book 2 coming November 2017

For those of you who read book 1, that's not Allie in the top left corner; it's her sister Sarah. And that's Fatima, Layla's abused Saudi friend, on the beach. The whole gang will come back together to help save Fatima in a suspense and romance filled adventure that's sure to tug at your heart and challenge your thinking. Be sure to keep an eye out for it!

Now back to the Scavenger Hunt

Here’s the Stop #6 Scoop:

You can order my book at amazon, barnesandnoble, or cbd.

Clue to Write Down: FIND

The Next Stop on the Loop, #7: Gail Kittleson

Need the full list of stops?

Roseanna M. White

April McGowan

Cara Luecht

Christine Lindsay

Debra Marvin

Dina Sleiman

Gail Kittleson

Joy Palmer

June Foster

Melody Carlson (hosted)

Nelson Hannah

Rachelle Rea Cobb

Sara Goff

Susie Finkbeiner

Susanne Dietze

Suzie Johnson

All finished? Be sure to Submit Your Entries by midnight on June 26th. Best Wishes!

Dusting off an Old Manuscript

When I teach writing classes, I always talk about how important it is to get those ideas out of your head and down on the paper. Lump of clay writing, I call it—or in less delicate terms, word vomit! In the winter of 2013-2014 I word vomited the sequel to Dance from Deep Within onto my computer while I awaited the decision on my Valiant Hearts Series from Bethany House Publishers. As many of you know, I landed that deal, and the next two years were a blur of writing, editing, and marketing Dauntless, Chivalrous, and Courageous.

But now those books are out on the market, and for the last year I’ve been launching a new career of public relations writing for the non-profit humanitarian organization, Operation Blessing. I haven’t had much time for writing anything new. You see where this is going, right? While I didn’t have time for writing something new, I did have time to edit and complete my 95% finished first draft.

So I dusted off (okay, I found and opened the old Microsoft Word file of) Dare from Deep Within and set to work. I still had some challenges to face since I had shifted directions somewhere in the middle and needed to clean up my characterization and motivation. The wording needed a good edit, and I had to write the ending. However, just a few months later, in my spare time, I’ve managed to complete a very solid draft of the novel. WhiteFire, who published the first book in the series, has agreed to release book 2 sometime in 2017!

It turns out what I teach my students is true. It’s always worth getting those ideas down on paper, even if they grow dusty on the shelf. How about you? Have you ever dusted off an old manuscript? What were the results?

Dance from Deep Within is Available on Amazon now.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Sleimans. 2016 has been a pretty good year for us. My husband, Dani, is still working at the Christian Broadcasting Network. Adam (14) has branched out, and in addition to music, gymnastics, and online video gaming, he has been enjoying soccer and his global studies high school program. Christi (22) is finishing up her B.S. in engineering while working as a head resident advisor, and still considering options like grad school, peace corp or finding a job for next year. Jonny (19) is doing great in his business undergrad program, he's the vice president of his award-winning Enactus business club, and still fitting in a lot of surfing and other outdoor activities. Christi and Adam both plan to go on short term missionary trips during summer 2017.

For me the year brought my first "real" job. I'm enjoying my work writing for the humanitarian organization, Operation Blessing. In addition to writing social media posts, articles, webpages, and helping the team with editing and research,  I also wrote a nonfiction book for them called 10 Ways to Live Your Faith, which will hopefully be available sometime soon. My co-workers are amazing and tons of fun! This year also brought my first major published award--the Carol for young adult fiction. And I'm still chipping away at my novel writing and finding a new groove with that as a working woman.

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a wonderful, blessed New Year!

Austen in Austin: Blogmates Watch a Dream Come True

Back in 2009, when I was first learning the writing industry and seriously seeking publication, God joined me with a group of ladies to help me along my quest. I was invited to join Inkwell Inspirations, a new writers blog comprised mostly of writers who had won writing contests (I had just won the Touched by Love contest) but were still unpublished. Over the next years, we would become not only blogmates, but also close friends, prayer partners, and in many ways a writing team. So it's not surprising that we decided to band together on a writing project, and Austen in Austin was born. Several more years passed before this dream became a published reality, but I'm happy to share it with you today.    As you can see, these eight fun Texas-set novellas are based on Jane Austen's novels. We had such a great time inventing these stories with their overlapping settings and characters and their Austenian plot lines, and I just know that you'll enjoy them too! They're written by some great established names in Christian fiction like Lisa Richardson, Gina Welborn, and yours truly, as well as some authors who might be new to you now, but will soon become favorites. I highly recommend reading them in order for the full experience. The ebooks are a great deal at only $3.99 each for four delightful stories! Order Volume 1 in print or ebook  Order Volume 2 in print  Order Volume 2 in ebook Here's what people are saying about Austen in Austin:  "They had me at the title! What's not to love about a collection of novellas patterned after Jane Austen's classic novels and set in the historic capital city of Austin, Texas? The result is as delightful as the premise." ~ Mocha with Linda "Austen in Austin is one of the most well executed novellas I’ve read...All of the novellas are interrelated, so where one author leaves off another picks up months or years later, with a new lead character and a familiar cast. I enjoyed the continuity as well as the familiarity which this team of authors developed. If I Loved You Less probably held the closest to Austen’s works. In contrast, Alarmingly Charming struck me as an improvement on the original (because truthfully, I did not enjoy reading Northanger Abbey). All in all, these stories are irresistibly sweet romances with subtle elements of faith." ~ Shelf-Esteem And in case you're wondering, yes, you can purchase the novellas individually in ebook format, but at $2.99 each, it's a much better deal to buy a set of four for $3.99. My contribution to the collection is called "Mansford Ranch," a play on Mansfield Park of course. It's located in Volume 2 of Austen in Austin.   As an aspiring novelist, Franny Sue Price prides herself in being a student of human nature. When dashing Hank Crawfield returns from his studies back East, he sets his Stetson on wooing her. Although he melts her with his charm and sophistication, Franny fears something is amiss. She and her longtime friend, cowboy Eddie Mansford, devise a series of challenges to test Hank’s true character. As Hank’s crooked nature comes to light, Franny realizes that the hero she’s looking for may have been under her upturned nose all along.          Be sure to check out these fun novellas and share them with your friends!

Celebrating!

 Thanks to everyone who has celebrated with me!