Virginia Smith here today, with a double drawing! Maybe you'll win!

Will Mayla Strong’s life ever resemble normal? Just as she settles into a great place with God, everything else falls apart. In the course of a single week she loses her job, wrecks any chance at a relationship with Pastor Paul, gets the cold shoulder from her friend Stuart, and learns that Lindsey—the teenage sister of her late friend Alex—needs a place to stay. What good is being a control freak if nobody will do what you tell them?

Taking advantage of her newfound “vacation time,” Mayla flees to her grandmother’s house in Florida. But one by one, her problems follow . . . literally. In this touching sequel to Just As I Am, quirky Mayla Strong comes face-to-face with the responsibilities and joys of friends and family. As she tries to help her loved ones, Mayla begins to realize that God has all the answers—the trick is letting go long enough for Him prove it. *********



Hi, Virginia, I received your beautiful new book, Sincerely, Mayla, two weeks ago, can't wait to get into it. Now that I'm back from vacation exploring Santa Fe and Albuquerque--and my feet are now as brown as Mayla's on that gorgeous cover, by the way--I'll have time to read her story. I'm delighted to post an interview with you.

Margo, thanks so much for allowing me to be a Guest Blogger here today. I appreciate the opportunity to talk about my newest book.

So, you have ten books under contract? Wow, good for you and God! I don't believe you were published at all, were you, when we all drove through Nashville two years ago, during conference, for the booksigning for Terry Burns and Kathryn Mackel, Randy Ingermanson and all?

When we met 2 years ago (it'll be 3 in September, actually!), I had a book contract but it hadn't be released. And at that conference in Nashville I signed with my agent and pitched what would become my second book to Steeple Hill. Things have snowballed since then. Kind of amazing, isn't it? When God is ready to move, He really moves!

He does! We serve an awesome God! So, tell us about Sincerely, Mayla.

Sincerely, Mayla is my fifth novel, but I actually wrote it several years ago, right after I finished Just As I Am. The main character, Mayla Strong, is so vivid and alive in my mind she just wouldn’t step quietly back into anonymity. The idea for Mayla’s external struggle – convincing Pastor Paul that he has feelings for her – came about during the editing process of Just As I Am.

Wait until I tell my daughter. Her husband's sister is about to be engaged to a Pastor Paul~

Well, in the first draft of that book, Mayla ran to the office of Salliesburg Christian Church for a private counseling session with Pastor Paul. One of my editors said that was inappropriate, so she advised me to place a secretary in the outer office and leave the door cracked open. Which I did.

LOL, wise move.

But I started thinking about the scrutiny a single pastor is subjected to in a conservative church. How can they ever form a lasting relationship with a woman if they’re not allowed to be alone with them? In other words, how can a single pastor ever become a married pastor? And then I thought, “What would Mayla say to that?” That made me laugh – she would be furious to be subjected to such “propriety”! I decided that would make for some funny scenes, and I was right.

But I didn’t want Sincerely, Mayla to be only about a Mayla-style romance. Just As I Am touched on some pretty hot contemporary topics, and I wanted to do the same in Mayla’s second book. I have a heart for crisis pregnancy centers, and in the months before I was ready to start working on Sincerely, Mayla, Focus on the Family began a campaign to purchase an ultrasound machine for every Pregnancy Resource Center in the country.

Wow. That is wonderful.

Yes. Some of the broadcasts really touched me, and I paid a visit to the Salt Lake City PRC. The tour I received during that visit gave me the information I needed to write one of my favorite chapters in Sincerely, Mayla.

Sounds intriguing!

Another thing I wanted to accomplish in Sincerely, Mayla was very personal. I wanted Mayla to face up to an issue I’ve seen crop up in multiple generations in my family: the tendency to manipulate others through martyr-type behavior and guilt dispensing. I’ve been on both the receiving and giving ends of that battle my whole life.

Me, too, from time to time.

But the Lord had been pointing out to me that I could put a stop to manipulating behavior in my own life. I often write from my own experiences – I emphasize the lessons the Lord teaches me by watching them play out in my characters. So that’s what I decided to do with Mayla.

Great. It would be hard not to.

All that sounds like this book is full of “lessons” and themes and messages. Honestly, I didn’t set out to write a book that would teach anybody anything. I never do. I strongly believe that fiction should entertain, not preach, so I hope all of my books are primarily entertaining. But because I am a Christian, and because Mayla is a Christian, elements of God’s grace show up naturally in the story. So if someone wants to learn a thing or two, they can. But mostly, I just hope they like the story!

I’d like to invite everyone to pop over to my website.

To celebrate this week’s blog tour of Sincerely, Mayla, I am giving away a set of Mayla books – Just As I Am and Sincerely, Mayla – to two lucky people on May 19th. I hope you’ll enter the drawing!

Again, Margo, thank you so much for inviting me to be your guest today!

Thank you for coming. Sounds like your books are full of double blessings, entertaining and addressing today's issues~ I can't wait to read them.

God bless.

Lazarus was dead! Are you?

God can use you anyway! A friend just sent me this from The Daily Encourager . (It says "Author unknown." If you know the author, please let me know.)

So, be encouraged:

No Excuses

There are many reasons why God shouldn't have called you.
But don't worry. You're in good company . . .

Moses stuttered.
David's armor didn't fit.
John Mark was rejected by Paul.
Timothy had ulcers.
Hosea's wife was a prostitute.
Amos' only training was in the school of fig-tree pruning.
Jacob was a liar.
David had an affair.
Solomon was too rich.
Abraham was too old.
David was too young.
Peter was afraid of death.
Lazarus was dead.
John was self-righteous.
Naomi was a widow.
Paul was a murderer.
So was Moses.
Jonah ran from God.
Miriam was a gossip.
Gideon and Thomas both doubted.
Jeremiah was depressed and suicidal.
Elijah was burnt out.
John the Baptist was a loudmouth.
Martha was a worry-wart.
Mary was lazy.
Samson had long hair.
Noah got drunk.

Did I mention that Moses had a short fuse?
So did Peter, Paul -- well, lots of folks did.
But God doesn't require a job interview.
He doesn't look at financial gain or loss.
He's not prejudiced or partial,
not judging or grudging,
not sassy or brassy,
not deaf to our cry, not blind to our need.

As much as we try, God's gifts are free.

Satan says, "You're not worthy."
Jesus says, "So what?... I AM."

Satan looks back and sees our mistakes.
God looks back and sees the cross.

He doesn't calculate what you did last month or last year.
It's not even on the record.
Sure. There are lots of reasons why God shouldn't have called us.
But if we are in love with Him,
If we hunger for Him more than our next breath,
He'll use us - in spite of
who we are,
where we've been, or
what we look like.

"I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength" Philippians 4:13

We need a new punctuation mark~

We need a mark for when we don't want to shout, but we want emphasis or humor. I think we need something to replace "LOL" or "< grin >."

I submit we need one more simple little diacritical mark, a pretty one, already available: The tilde~

It has uses in math, in editing, and in Spanish and 17th century French, and maybe others I'm not aware of.

But I haven't seen any case where it appears at the end of a sentence, so it would cause no confusion.

I would also submit a new name for the tilde when used for emphasis and humor, one that suggests a frisson of emotion: Strangely enough, I would submit "the frisson."

It's easy to reach at the upper left end of the keyboard.

And isn't it a pretty little flourish at the end of the sentence~

I mentioned it about a year ago, and I have been lax in my campaign. So, here's my slogan:

We need a new punctuation mark--
The "frisson" for when one is having a lark?

Or maybe not.

Anyway, a cheer and a plea for the frisson~

Movie-maker speaks!

I just woke up for a midnight cup of tea (decaf), came in here and found this awesome (click here: ) interview by CJ Darlington with Stephen Kendrick, a Christian co-writer of movies--made by his church--and well-received. Such as "Facing the Giants."

And he talks about, among other things, edginess. And a marriage book he's writing to be used in the movie--about firefighters-- Fireproof, out in August.

God provided again and again, in amazing ways. Like when they needed to move a car off of a train track, and a man who lived nearby just happened to have in his backyard, a fork lift. No charge.

Like the day I was at the Blue Angels air show. I'm writing about flight and I wanted to see another air show, since it had been years since my last one. I mentioned to a stranger in that huge crowd that I'd love to take my daughters into the VIP section where they could see the show the way I did when my dad was in the Navy in Pensacola. The crowd of multiple thousands was twenty people thick along the flight line and my little girls would see nothing, over all the heads. The kind stranger introduced herself--the mother of one of THE Blue Angel pilots. It was his last show and it was a big deal. She handed me three tickets to the VIP section. Amazed, I thanked her, and we went in but all the chairs were taken. So we sat down on the ground in front of everyone. When the show started, everyone stood--and we were on the front row. Awesome show, awesome God, encouraging us, and my writing!

Anyway, this interview is powerful and encouraging. It came in with my Title Trakk subscribed email. Now I'm going to read the rest of it, and tell my daughter Kirk Cameron's in a new movie. She's taking his Way of the Master witnessing course.

That's another point they make, how our writing witnesses. How they wanted to be powerful but not "cheesy." All the stuff we think about in our writing, plus with a videocam. You all will love this article.

Thanks for indulging me and my midnight rambling.

Nighty-night.

"Something Happens" Do you need healing? Praying for Kristy

Sunday, our choir sang the most awesome, song, Something Happens. As a sweet white-bread church, we sang it with a lot of Spirit and power, even so.

But here's the song's writer, himself, leading it, and watch out! LOL

There is power in the name of Jesus, and when His name is uttered in faith, (click here:) Something Happens!

I'm dedicating this blog entry to our precious Kristy Dykes. God bless, Kristy, I'm praying, praying, in that mighty name of Jesus!

"It was the worst of times, it was the best of times--" The 'Sixties

I just listened to the most fascinating analysis of our times!

Very interesting observations and for me, a certain amount of nostalgia, too-- the rippling effects of the '60s. How the philosophies and events changed our world and affected the children of the '70s, '80s, and today, even our own children, today.

I loved and hated the '60s. Some of it was so much fun, some of it was awful. And I hated the direction I could see us going in. Tommy lists the good changes and the bad. As in _A Tale of Two Cities_, he says, "It was the worst of times, it was the best of times."

A friend sent the link. She loves the speaker, Denton Bible's Pastor Tommy Nelson, who used to play football at U of N. Texas.

To hear it, click here, go to your choice of type of links to the sermons, and click on #7 Blueprint for Revolution to #3, the Results of the '60s.

Tell me what you think.

When God makes you do weird things

I just received a Google alert!

Pam Meyers tagged me. She wants to know what I'm reading. She says to turn to page 123 of the nearest book, go to the fifth sentence and post the next three! Then tag five more people. Cute idea. LOL

Okay, I just finished _Demon: a Memoir_ by Tosca Lee. *Really* good. Very different!

I can't quote from it as I've already lent it out, and honestly, the nearest book to me, where I was doing Bible study homework at my desk, is the NIV!

I wondered if I should do exactly what the rules say, or just choose a light and fun book I've recently enjoyed.

But--when the author of the nearest book is--God--how do you choose a different book? LOL

Sometimes we're called to do something weird. He may just have something up those big sleeves.

So, okay, page 123 is in Leviticus 9, and this may be apropos of nothing, but, who knows, maybe God wanted someone to see this awesome sacrifice. It will be fun to see if someone says He did. So, let's see:

"9 His sons brought the blood to him, and he dipped his finger into the blood and put it on the horns of the altar; the rest of the blood he poured out at the base of the altar. 10 On the altar he burned the fat, the kidneys and the covering of the liver from the sin offering, as the LORD commanded Moses; 11 the flesh and the hide he burned up outside the camp."

There you have it! Does that speak to anyone out there?

I'm now tagging these five to do the same: Michelle Sutton, Cynthia Hickey, Lena Nelson Dooley, Terry Burns, Cynthia Ruchti, Sharlene MacLaren and Tosca Lee. Whoops, can't count! Love it!

Are your characters on the "B" Team?

A good story has conflict, and well-rounded characters face inner conflict as well as outer conflict.

Lucy must save the ranch and not let it be foreclosed in order to keep the steers moving out and the groceries coming in--external conflict. Lucy doesn't want to keep the ranch, she wants to be an interior decorator--inner conflict. Her ancestors and siblings would be disappointed if she let the old homeplace go, yet they don't help. External and internal conflict.

We can go on, brainstorming, adding "but--" "so--" "and--" "but--" deepening external and internal conflicts.

How else can we add internal conflict?

A few blogs ago, I posted psychological issues one could face that would make interesting personality traits for our characters.

(And I stress again, that while little quirks can be amusing, real problems are not. I do not make light of those, or of the people who suffer them. The real problems could make wonderful, redemptive stories, though.)

Another source of internal conflict for the Christian market would be spiritual inner conflict. And this morning, I found an interesting and challenging article about the church today and one man's analysis of its influence on the world--not always for good.

Click here to read the six reasons he gives for his unsettling conclusion.

Do you agree with him? Does he understand? Is he too harsh? Characters in these situations may be understood or they may be criticized. Complacent. Miserable.

Disagreeing or agreeing, we can find fodder for our stories here. It's interesting reading, and sure to step on some toes--not my intention--but much of it is worth considering.

And perhaps worth laying on our poor, unsuspecting characters.

What do you think? Is the church on the "B" Team? Do you see your characters in any of these spiritual situations?

Not-so-Wordless Wednesday! Good grief.

No words on Wednesday didn't quite happen for me, LOL! The picture has words:

"It seemed like an ordinary day until I had coffee with Jesus at the Cafe' du Monde."

Please scroll way down, or click here to see the painting. I took the photo one morning while enjoying a cafe' au lait--like the photo at the top of the blog--at the Cafe' du Monde in New Orleans' French Quarter. (Unless the photo shows a bowl of crawfish, or me in the patio of the Dauphine Orleans hotel looking up at my husband, or any number of others.)

I love the, yes, words. They lift my spirit to read them.

Have you ever had coffee with Jesus? He'd love that!

He waits to be invited into our lives. Jesus Christ, himself, says, "Look, I'm standing here at the door, knocking. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and share a meal with them." Revelation 3:20.

(Actually, it's written to a whole church that is meeting in his name, but leaving him outside! A word to the wise! )

Anyway, one on one, He wants to set us free from the penalities of our bad choices. Even the little ones.

Our perfect God cannot have imperfection--sin--yes, that's what he calls it--in his presence.

And if we've ever told a lie, or wished you could have something that belonged to someone else and they couldn't, anymore, or been really angry with someone, then, in God's eyes, we've already broken three of the Ten Commandments!

In God's perfect eyes, we're a thief, a liar and a murderer, in our hearts! That's a heavy truth. But it is the truth. Jesus said if we are angry with someone without cause, we have committed murder already in our hearts!

Yes, we do get some credit for not actually commiting murder, but that's not enough. God says our "righteousnesses are as filthy rags."

Uncleansed, we cannot stand in the presence of a holy God!

Whoa! That is too hard! Who can live up to such a standard? No one!

"But, wait! for just $19.95.... " LOL

No, a far greater price than that has been paid, on the cross of Christ, so that we can have a great personal relationship with God.

In his great love for us all, he took on a body of flesh and came into this world to live among his creatures, teach us about himself, and finally, pay the awful penalty for our sins.

All the sacrifices given to Moses and his people were to prepare the way for this ultimate sacrifice. He is "the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world."

And all who receive this sacrifice and agree, "Yes, God, those are my sins on that cross, forgive me and help me to live right," and mean it, become children of God. And he becomes our Lord and Savior.

So, let's open the doors of our hearts and invite him in to live with us and help us turn away from bad choices. Agree with God that we have done wrong. Tell him we're sorry for falling short of his perfection, whether in awful deeds or little thoughts.
Ask him to forgive us and help us to live for him.

Make that commitment to him, and our sins will already be forgiven, even as we learn to do better.

And when the time comes, we will join him in heaven, along with many other believers who have gone before you. (Along with our pets, I believe.)

There, we'll probably have satisfying work, wonderful times with others, and sing some of the best songs we've never heard in our lives!

Not only that, our eternal life will begin. I know mine has. As they say, I'm not perfect, just forgiven. Thank you, Lord!

Is that arrogant? No. God says,

These things I have written to you that believe on the name (nature, identity, mission) of the Lord Jesus Christ that you may know you have eternal life. 1 John 5:13

Hallelujah, what a Savior!

Wish I knew the artist's name to give him or her the credit.

"It seemed like an ordinary day until I had coffee with Jesus at the Cafe' du Monde."

LOL See what an awesome truth comes with a few little words on a Wednesday!

Wordless Wednesday