HOLT, NRCA & Golden Quill Award Finals for The Promise of Rain!

The past few days have been thrilling! I just found out that The Promise of Rain, the first book in my 'From Kenya, with Love' series, is:

A 2014 National Reader's Choice Award double-finalist for the Best First Book and Contemporary Series categories

A 2015 Golden Quill Award finalist in the Sweet Traditional category

and...

A 2015 HOLT Medallion finalist for Best Book by a Virginia Author!

Whew! I'm still in shock. I found out about the HOLT final on Mother's Day, the NRCA finals the next day...which happened to be my deadline day for the third book in the series (working title: Beyond the Storm)...and the Golden Quill final today. Three days in a row and four finals. I'm overwhelmed and super grateful!!

Deadlines tend to be stressful and just days prior, on the full moon of course, my dogs got into a random fight that left one with a torn ear. It was bleeding like nobody's business (pouring out of her) and when I took her into our laundry room, she did the doggy head shake. The entire room looked like a murder scene as was hell to clean up. But all that mattered was making her better, so off to the vet ER it was and after sedation, stitches, wrapped head and a cone, she's finally better.

And today, I got six, day-old Black Copper Marans chicks! Sooo cute!

So, as you can see, I have lots to celebrate! I'll probably be back in the revision cave soon, but what better way to come out of a deadline cave!

Many thanks to readers everywhere who have been enjoying the series and giving it great reviews. I truly appreciate it!

And a belated Happy Mother's Day to all you incredible moms out there!

My first blog award!

Hey everyone! I just got my very first blog award, and my Therapeutic Thursday posts were sited as one of the reasons. You have to admit that getting a blog award is wonderful, feel-good therapy for a writer :).

Huge thanks to Joanna St. James for passing the award on to me. If you haven't already, check out her blog. She does fantastic interviews and has insightful writing posts that I know you'll enjoy. Also, thanks to L'Aussie for creating the Fair Dinkum award. The award has a beautiful meaning, 'true blue', but I think L'Aussie says it best and gives a much more thorough explaination. Check out her post on Fair Dinkum here.

And that leaves me to the writers I'd like to pass the award on to...

Kaily Hart: For being a true blue friend, for being the one who urged me to start a blog, and for having a wonderful, honest, and informative blog of her own.

Jennifer Shirk: For her kind support of so many writers, and for her informative, fun, sweet, and sassy writer's blog.

Christine Bell: For her frank and funny honesty about her writing and publication experiences.

Maria Zannini: For her warm, fun, and honest must-read writer's blog, and for reaching out to other writers.

Anne Gallagher: For her informative, warm, and down-to-earth Piedmont Writer's blog.

Thanks everyone and have a wonderful weekend!