When is it Time to Quit?

by Patricia Bradley

Psalm 37:4: “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart…”

In 1998 I attended my first conference, the Florida Christian Fiction Writer’s conference in Titusville, Florida. I had written two novels that I was sure an editor would want. I managed to snag a few requests for a proposal and although deeply disappointed none of them wanted to lug home the 700+ pages I’d brought with me, I was optimistic. 

Did I tell you it was my first conference?

Fast forward through rejections to my next conference in 2000. I was savvy now. I didn’t wait outside the stall door in the bathroom to catch an editor or agent. Nope, I didn’t leave getting my books in front of an editor to chance—I set up as many appointments as the conference allowed and hung around the appointment desk, waiting to snatch up any cancelled appointments.

Fast forward once again through rejections, retreats where I really learned to write, and more conferences where I still hounded the appointments person for more appointments with editors and agents. I had absolutely committed myself to delighting myself in the Lord and I fully expected God to give me my heart’s desire—a publishing contract. 

Then sometime in 2011, I stumbled on Psalm 37:7. “Be still in the presence of the Lord and wait patiently for him to act.”

Huh?

A lightbulb moment. God would act when He thought the time was right. From that point on, I turned my journey over to Him and suddenly, the journey was much more fun. I didn’t have to hound agents or publishers. If God intended for me to be published, it would happen. And if He didn’t, well, that was okay, too, because I knew he would have something much better for me. 

So, if there is something your heart desires, ask God is this what He wants for you. He'll let you know. If it is, do all the hard stuff--learn the craft of whatever it is you want to do--and then let Him have the schedule. 

I promise you won't be sorry. I'm working on a proposal now for my 9th book. 

Story Ideas

by Patricia Bradley

What do you suppose is the one comment from readers most fiction writers do not want to hear? If you said: You ought to write a book about my life, you would be right. At least you would be right about me. 

Why do you suppose a writer wouldn't want to be given a ready-made plot with a really interesting character? That's what I had to explain to a friend just this week. 

The friend in question had led a very interesting life--I'm sure of that because she's a very nice person and some very interesting things have happened to her. But...

Unfortunately, for this writer anyway, that question makes me quake in my boots. I mean, how do you tell someone who is very serious about their life being perfect for the plot of a book that you can't take their life story and fictionalize it. Especially when this is someone you are really fond of.

I tried to explain that I write fiction and that while I might use something that had happened in her life as an obstacle in my heroine's life, I couldn't take her whole life story and write it. I can't even write a story based on my life. 

My story ideas usually come from nowhere. An example is my first book, Shadows of the Past (which is free as a digital download until August 31). I was sitting on my sofa, reading my devotion for the day when a woman popped into my head and said that someone was trying to kill her. Of course, I had to know more, and that's when I wrote the book. 

So, for the authors out there, what do you say when someone tells you they'd like for you to write their life story? And that it would be a New York Times Best Seller?

The End

by Patricia Bradley

The End

Pre-order Amazon

Have you ever wondered what an author does after they write The End? I wrote those words this week and I can tell you.

First, even though I wrote The End, I wasn't through. No, I went through it with grammar and spellcheck, which missed 90% of the errors, but wanted to change my fragments to whole sentences. Then I took three sheets of paper full of errors a friend found (Thank you, Delores Topliff!!) and made those corrections. 

Next, I read the story of the umpteenth time. Then ran spell check again because I made changes. This morning I attached it to an email to my editor and hit send.

Whew. And thank you, Lord!

So, what will I do today to celebrate? Take a vacation? Party? Go to the beach? 

No, I have a list of undone chores that I'm starting on. Like cleaning out my closets, and entering my checks into the computer so I can reconcile my bank statements. All seven months. And then there are those books on my TBR pile that I want to write reviews for. And oh, yeah. Start on the next book in the series which I think will be set at Graceland and will involve an Elvis impersonator. 

Of course, my editor will come back with edits, and then another editor will send me edits...

So, if you're an author, what do you do to celebrate finishing a book? And if you're not an author, what do you do to celebrate finishing a big project? 

Oh, and the book cover at the beginning? It's the first book in my new series. Don't have a cover for the one I just turned in. It's working title is Justice Buried because there's a body that's been buried for 28 years and somehow ends up at the Pink Palace Museum.

Two years ago, Bailey Adams broke off her engagement to Danny Maxwell and fled Logan Point for the mission field in Chihuahua, Mexico. Now she's about to return home to the States, but there's just one problem. After Bailey meets with the uncle of one of the mission children in the city, she barely escapes a sudden danger. Now she's on the run--she just doesn't know from whom. To make matters worse, people who help her along the way find themselves in danger too--including Danny. Who is after her? Will they ever let up? And in the midst of the chaos, can Bailey keep herself from falling in love with her rescuer all over again?

Link to purchase:

Amazon

Summer Reading

by Patricia Bradley

When summer hit here in Mississippi, it hit! Temps in the high 90s and sometimes a heat index of 119! But what an excellent excuse to stay inside and read. 

I have so many books on my TBR right now as I finish up the second book in my Memphis Cold Case series. But one night when I couldn't sleep, I picked up H. L. Wegley's Voice in the Wilderness. 

Big mistake! Instead of reading for a half hour to unwind, I.Couldn't.Put.It.Down! It's a political thriller, with romance, about two people who must decide if they are willing to sacrifice their lives to save the United States. 

Imagine if a group of people in power wanted to completely take over our country, and they used the military and NSA to do it, and two people stood between them and victory. That's why I couldn't put it down. I had to see how it turned out for Brock and KC.

It has murder and intrigue, romance, spies...here's the blurb from the back of the book:

As catastrophes drive the US into martial law, all eyes are on America, waiting to see what emerges. KC Banning, network specialist, discovers President Hannan’s tyrannical plans and is branded a terrorist, sending her fleeing the Beltway to find her childhood soulmate and protector, Brock Daniels. Brock, a writer and man of faith, gives CPR to a dying nation through his blog, which is read by military members still loyal to the Constitution. But starting a grassroots insurgency while reconciling KC’s and Brock’s broken relationship proves difficult. When Hannan sends Special Forces to kill Brock and KC, starting a war in the Central Oregon desert, reconciliation, like staying alive, might be impossible.

H. L Wegley has the credentials to write a book like this--he's served as an Air Force Intelligence Analyst and a Weather Officer. He knows his stuff!

If you're looking for a fast-paced read with a sweet romance intertwined in it, Voice in the Wilderness is a great choice. It can be found at Amazon.

The Games We Played

by Patricia Bradley

I'm working on my second book in the Memphis Cold Case series and my heroine, Kelsey, discovered a croquet set in a shed from her childhood home. So of course, the hero--Brad--challenges her to a game. 

I don't know about you, but it's been umpteen years since I played a game of croquet. But YouTube to the rescue!

And before long Brad and Kelsey were engaging in a hotly contested game of croquet. 

So what happened to croquet? And some of the other games we played? 

Like Hopscotch. 

 

And Jump Rope?

Or Kick the can, for that matter. 

I asked a couple of kids at church about Kick the Can. They looked at me like I'd lost my mind and asked, "Why would you kick a can?"

I started to explain that it was a game I played outside when I was their age, but I gave up when they rolled their eyes. Then, it dawned on me. Kids don't play outside unless it's organized sports. And that got me to thinking about other games, sayings, and not only games but things that we used, like a dial phone. Here's a list:

• Sandlot baseball  - a ragtag group of neighborhood kids choose sides and find a vacant lot and play baseball.
• Cowboys and Indians (I was always an Indian) And in the same vein, sheriffs and bank robbers. I bet I ran a thousand miles every summer, riding my stick horse...or just pretending my legs were horses. Whoever was the robber went in the house and got one of their daddy's handkerchiefs to fold in a triangle and tie around their face.
• Rolling down the window. Kid's nowadays have automatic windows rather than the crank ones I grew up with.
• Double Dutch..
• Riding in a car without a seatbelt. I remember stretching out in the floorboard or on the backseat  or standing in the middle on the hump in the floorboard. I even remember standing up in the back of a pickup as it breezed down the road. Maybe somethings are better now...or at least safer.
• Watching the radio. Just like it was a television, only there was no picture.
• Leaving the house after breakfast and coming home at noon just long enough to wolf down a sandwich and then go back outside until my mom yelled it was time for supper. And then going back outside to play kick-the-can or tag or hide-n-seek or catch lightening bugs.
• Dialing a phone...or being on a party line. I can remember on Sunday afternoon listening in while some of the old ladies talked. I bet they were all of thirty years old. So how about you?

 Can you add to the list of things kids don't do anymore? Or we don't do, for that matter?

What's on Your Bucket List?

Hi, Patricia Bradley here, and today I want to talk about bucket lists.

I don't know that I had a bucket list when I was younger, mostly because that phrase wasn't used then. It has become popular in the last few years because of the 2008 Jack Nicholson/Morgan Freeman movie, The Bucket List, where according to the Internet movie database, two terminally ill men escape from a cancer ward and head off on a road trip with a wish list of to-dos before they die.

I thought the term had been around longer than 2008, but according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary site, it came into usage only two years earlier. From their website:

Definition of bucket list

1. :  a list of things that one has not done before but wants to do before dying

2. Origin of bucket list

   from the phrase kick the bucket (to die) -- 1785

   
   First Known Use: 2006

Anyway, my bucket list isn't much...one of the to-do things on it -- becoming an author -- I've reached. (Whoo-hoo!) I'd still like to travel to Hawaii and Israel, but that's about the extent of my list.

So, now that you know a little of the bucket list history and my bucket list, do you have one?

Leave a comment if you have a bucket list and tell me a couple of them.

Winner of the Rafflecopter is Caryl Kane for Silence in the Dark

And Kim Hansen for the $15 Amazon Gift card.

And winner of Sarah Young's Jesus Calling devotional journal is: Pam Broyles

Please contact me at pat at ptbradley dot com--I forgot to state you need to leave your email address AGAIN!

Silence in the Dark Release Party Day 3

by Patricia Bradley

Hello again! Thanks for coming back for the last day of the Silence in the Dark Release party!

Bailey struggles with turning her problems over to God. Here's an excerpt with her mother:

“I was running away, Mother. The danger in Mexico was better than staying here and hurting Danny, or…”

Kate squared her shoulders and turned Bailey to face her. “I’m going to say something you won’t like.”

“What’s new?” A wry smile pulled at her lips. It didn’t matter what her mother said, it wouldn’t change anything.

“You’ve given this fear control and power over you. Shh…” she held her finger up when Bailey started to protest. “Hear me out. You’re holding on to it so tightly you can’t see anything else.”

“Mom—”

“I’m not through. God saved you that day, but all you can see is your fear. Over and over he tells us to fear not, that he is with us. The way I see it, you can keep holding on to it and nothing changes. Or you can turn it over to him, trusting he will give you peace. It’s your choice.”

“But why did he let it happen in the first place? Why didn’t he save the twins?”

“Two hard questions I don’t have answers for.” Conflicting emotions crossed her mom’s face. “I wish I did. But for those times I don’t understand, I trust who he is. I look at what he’s done in the past—the blessings he’s poured out on us, and all the troubles he’s brought us through.”

I think we all struggle with fear, at least I know I do.But one thing that has helped me has been Jesus Calling, the one-year devotion journal. So, I've decided to give away a copy of the devotion to someone who leaves a comment. This is separate from the Rafflecopter!

All you have to do is leave a comment, giving your favorite scripture verse. Then click here to enter the Rafflecopter for a copy of Silence in the Dark and a $15 Amazon gift certificate.

Places to connect with Patricia:

www.patriciabradleyauthor.com
www.facebook.com/patriciabradleyauthor
https://twitter.com/PTBradley1
Pinterest

Goodreads

AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE

Places to purchase Silence in the Dark

Amazon

B&N

CBD

Silence in the Dark Release Party Day 2

by Patricia Bradley

Welcome back to my release party for Silence in the Dark! Today I'm sharing the prologue to the story. It's an event that happened when Bailey was ten-years-old, and it affected her the rest of her life.

It is based on something that happened to me when I was twelve. After reading the prologue, I'll tell you a little more about the true story.

Prologue

1993

Ten-year-old Bailey Adams huddled with the Carver twins on Cassie’s bed. They’d given up pretending Cassie and Jem’s parents weren’t arguing or that their dad wasn’t drunk. She avoided their eyes, knowing how embarrassed they were. “Maybe I should just go home.”

Jem shook her head. “No, stay. He’ll go to sleep soon, and tomorrow it’ll be like nothing ever happened.”

Cassie threw back the blanket. “I’m going to tell them to stop!”

Jem grabbed at her arm and missed. “You’ll just make it worse.”

“I don’t care. I can’t stand it any longer.”

She wasn’t gone five minutes when it sounded like firecrackers exploding in the living room.  And screams.

“No! Don’t shoot!”

Another boom.

Silence.

“Cassie! I have to go help her!” Jem jumped from the bed.

“No. He might shoot you.”

“My daddy wouldn’t hurt me.”

“Wait, we’ll call the police.” Bailey snatched the phone from its cradle. “Its dead.”

“I have to find Cassie. You climb out the window and go next door to Mr. Arnold’s house and call the police.” Jem ran out of the room.

Bailey’s thumping heart jerked in her chest as she turned and stared at the open window.

Another gunshot bolted her into action as footsteps stomped down the hallway. She climbed through the window and ran for all she was worth to the neighbors.

A week later at the funeral home, Bailey slipped away from the stateroom where three caskets lined the wall. Every time she heard someone say how lucky she was, her insides cringed at how she’d run away. Why did she live and Cassie and Jem  and their mother have to die? What if she’d stayed and tried to talk to Mr. Carver? He’d been like a dad to her, and maybe he would have listened and the twins would still be alive. She should have stayed…but sweat ran down her back just thinking about it.

She found the washroom and hunkered down in one of the stalls. She didn’t think she could face one more person. The restroom door opened, and Agnes Baker’s nasally voice filled the room.

“Such a pity.

Just her luck to be caught in the same room with the worst busy body in Logan Point.

“Yes. I heard he lost his company and started drinking,”

“Really? I hadn’t heard that.”

“They say he was gambling, too. Christine Carver was a saint. And those two beautiful girls. Only ten years old and so sweet and innocent.”

Correction. Maude Arnold was the worst busybody. She just hoped they didn’t want the stall she was in.

“Well, I’ve heard that God only takes the best,” Agnes said.

“Explains why the Adams girl survived without a scratch.”

“Maude, you shouldn’t say things like that. And you certainly don’t joke about it.”

Bailey’s cheeks burned as she stared down at her Mary Jane shoes.

“Well, it’s true,” Maude snapped. “Don’t you remember when she hid my keys in Vacation Bible School? And wouldn’t tell where they were until I threatened to paddle her? That girl gets into more trouble—”

Bailey flung the stall door open. “Excuse me.”

“Bailey! I didn’t mean—”

She glared up at Maude. “Yes, you did. You don’t think I’m good enough to go to heaven. Well, I think you’re just mean.”

She walked out of the washroom, her head held high. But what if Maude was right?

What if she wasn’t good enough?

~

Can you see how something like that could change Bailey's life?

It did mine. When I was in the sixth grade, one of my best friends was killed by her father the weekend I was supposed to spend with her. 

For months, I feared my own father would do the same thing. While in my heart, I knew he would never ever do such a thing, my head didn't always believe my heart. We didn't have counselors back then to talk us through such tragedies, and I'm really glad we do now.

However, because of what happened to the twins and their mother, Bailey becomes a missionary, but did she do it for the right reasons?

Be sure to enter the Rafflecopter for a chance at a copy of Silence in the Dark and a $15 Amazon gift certificate. Click here to enter. Just scroll down to the Rafflecopter.

And come back tomorrow for the last day of the party and a surprise. 

Places to connect with Patricia:

www.patriciabradleyauthor.com
www.facebook.com/patriciabradleyauthor
https://twitter.com/PTBradley1
Pinterest

Goodreads

AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE

Places to purchase Silence in the Dark

Amazon

B&N

CBD

Silence in the Dark Release Party Day 1

By Patricia Bradley

In Silence in the Dark that released April 19, Bailey Adams has been running from things all her life, but this time, she doesn't know who or what she's running from...here's the back cover copy:

In one of the most dangerous states in Mexico, Bailey Adams is running for her life . . . again.

When Bailey Adams left Logan Point two years ago for the mission field of Chihuahua, Mexico, she thought she was getting away from her problems. Running into her ex-fiancé Danny Maxwell was not part of the plan—neither was being chased through the city by the local drug cartel, the Calatrava. Now despite her best efforts, Danny is her only chance of escaping the people chasing her and getting back to Logan Point safely. Can Bailey find the strength to face what’s coming? And in the midst of the chaos, can she keep herself from falling in love with her rescuer all over again?

Readers of my Logan Point series met Danny in the second book of the series, A Promise to Protect. And Bailey is Robyn's sister from Gone Without a Trace. But you don't have to read the other books first...unless you want to. :-)

To celebrate the release of Silence in the Dark, I'm giving away a print copy of Silence in the Dark (or digital copy for addresses outside the Continental US and Canada), and a $15 Amazon gift card. Just enter through the Rafflecopter that will run through May 17!

And come back tomorrow for the opening paragraphs of Silence in the Dark.

a Rafflecopter giveaway