First off, last year this day, we welcomed an exchange student from Spain’s Basque Country to our family. He was with us for four months. I had four teenagers in the house at once–two seniors, a junior, and a seventh grader. It was never dull. Dinner time was full of laughter and learning about Spain.

Then in February I went to a writer’s conference with my two seniors. I enjoyed my day and had fun. I learned a lot about writing. I also heard about a publisher by the name of Booktrope. Little did I know how that would change what would happen in my year. By March, Dragon’s Future had been accepted for publication! I started this website and was amazed that people I didn’t know would want to receive an email telling them when I posted a blog.

June brought two graduations in one day. It was a busy day because the schools were fifty minutes away from each other. Our seventeen-year-old son graduated first, and then a few hours later I was able to give a hug to my nineteen-year-old daughter and the rest of her classmates after they had picked up the diplomas and were returning to their seats. It was a very special day.

My two seniors. The oldest graduated after the younger one.

July saw camps for the kids, computer time for me to prepare book trailers and edit two books, and a French exchange student came for a visit. It was a busy month at home. Dragon’s Future released in August. It was an exciting time as I had my first author interviews via web blogs, radio, and youtube channel videos. I also took four girls to the University of Oregon to learn about college life, while I took a workshop on Mindset.

School started in September. My youngest entered eighth grade, and my nineteen-year-old started college at the local community college. In October, The One Who Sees Me released on the same weekend that my eighteen-year-old headed off to college. Even though he is number four child, he was the first to really leave to go to college. It was a tough weekend. I was so proud of him stepping out and making friends.

November began the holiday season. We were able to see our eighteen-year-old for the first time over Thanksgiving. We enjoyed a quiet meal with my folks and the family. The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we set up our tree and prepared for Christmas. I finished a new fantasy story I had started back in May and gained several new ideas for stories as well. December 8th, Dragon’s Heir released.

As I look to 2016, I don’t know what all it will bring. I have some things scheduled, but I know God has a way of throwing surprises our way as well. So, I am open to what He wants to bring our way. I look forward to the release of Dragon’s Revenge in April, Dragon’s Cure in August, and Dragon’s Posterity in December. I want to finish writing a story about Ruskya and Duskya that takes place right after the prologue to Dragon’s Future. I want to write a story that takes place in Egypt and then continue the series I just started this year. I also have some ideas of stories of the Carr–all based where Dragon’s Revenge takes place. So, we will see.

What has your year been like? Do you have anything you want to share? Feel free to comment below. And have a blessed New Year!

So, what’s all the fuss about? Book one followed Ruskya and Duskya as they fought for their dragons’ future. We met a young villager by the name of Braidyn. He heads south to Boskay and finds a home. However, he never quite feels at home. His sense of justice is great and he wields it without mercy. Two dragon eggs are stolen from his dragon colony. He recruits Ruskya and Darryl to help him find the culprit. Their journey takes them to a new land and another dragon colony with different traditions. Braidyn must learn to temper his justice or he will lose everything that is important to him.

Follow along ad see if Braidyn can find his home. Will the sandhills call to you as they do to me?

In celebration of the release, we will have a Facebook party on Saturday. We will have prizes, giveaways, books, authors, and lots of fun,and yes, dragons. One of the authors who will be present is Brian Rathbone, number one international seller of the Godsland series. Facebook parties are amazing. You can participate from the comfort of your own home. Just log in and chat. The party will be Saturday, December 12 from 3:30-7:30 Eastern. Come join us. I will be giving away a signed copy of Dragon’s Heir and mugs, magnets, and other wonderful Dragon Courage things.

I’ll leave you with this trailer of Dragon’s Heir. Enjoy. And may your dragon fly true!

Why God is kind:

It finally makes some sense. So I have been thinking about God, and his characteristics, and there are people that only want to dwell on a god that is loving, kind, and forgiving. Then they do not think about God’s power, his justice, his wrath, and his holiness. However that part of him was the only part I understood. God’s loving kindness, and his forgiveness did not make sense. Why would he come down from his throne, and give his son to die so that we could be saved? It almost sounded stupid for me, but He was God and did not need to be questioned. But God finally revealed the answer to me in a way that I could understand it.

When god created us, it was like the parallel of a master smith forging a sword. He made, and shaped us the way he wanted us to be. When he was done, he stepped back and saw that it was perfect. But each time we sin, that is like the sword fell into the beach, and splashed around in the surf. It is fun when we do it, BUT, the thing we don’t always notice is that there is salt in the air and water. It burns the metal, and corrodes and eats away who the master smith made us to be. Soon we are covered in rust. Then when the master smith saw what his creation was doing, instead of destroying it and creating a better one; he gave us the opportunity to correct us. He will erase the rust that formed, and he will grind out the pits that formed. but it is not easy on the sword. The sword needs to be willing as well. However, when the sword constantly plays in the surf, then the more damage it causes to itself.

God calls us to be perfect, but we are not. However it is best if we stay out of the surf. He will not destroy us because we sin, but he will correct us in his own way.

God uses the people who have sinned to show his glory.

Encouragement for rough times:

If you are going through a rough time, remember: A sword needs to be sharpened so it is useful to the one who wields it. If you are struggling because of something in your childhood, remember: A sword was heated so it could be forged to designated design.

When you are having a hard time, remember: God has forged you perfectly, and he is sharpening you so that you will be perfect in his hands.

God and Satan as warriors:

Going with the sword analogy;
God, and Satan are warriors.
Most times Satan uses the best swords to fight against god, because they are strong, big, and easy to use, (these people are the big people: Hollywood stars, music artists, Atheists, and the other great minds), and they cut deep into the ones who are blind to the truth.

However god uses the small and rusted, and broken knives and daggers, to defeat Satan. (these ones are the small everyday people who live life, struggling just to have enough faith so that they can make it one more day without being discouraged and walk away from the one who made them), On their own they are practically useless. They are not sharp. They are coated with rust, and the pits in the metal are not pleasing to the eye.

But God picks them up and Fights off Satan with them: PROVING THAT IT IS NOT YOUR ABILITY, BUT IT IS YOUR AVAILABILITY, THAT GOD USES FOR HIS GLORY!!!

The Angel and Revenge:

There once was a angel who fell for a trap. “I wish to be like God,” He said, but he was not strong enough to defeat Him. God had to punish the angel for his weakness, so He cast the angel and his followers from his presence. God then, in his patience and kindness, let the angel to walk on the earth that He created, instead of destroying him out right. However he was to be punished for his rebellion as all traitors that lose. God gave the angel a gracious amount of time, then when that time runs out God will cast the fallen angel into the “lake of fire”, or other wise known as hell, which He created specifically for the ones that rose up against him: The fallen angels and their leader. Then the fallen angel, taking advantage of God’s mercy, found God’s most precious creation, the human female and told her a lie. “If you disobey God then you will become like him,” He said knowing that this was the very thing he had wanted. Then the human was taken by her own desire, and it took the final step and shattered the only law its creator had given to it, because the fallen angel had given it a doubt and a reason. The fallen angel smiled. “My job is done” he thought. for he knew what he had done. He had taught his enemy’s most precious creation to disobey. That lesson would never be corrected unless God himself desired to remake the thing he had just created. He had marred his enemy’s most precious creation; the perfect revenge. Thus was his hate toward God. ” As long as I am here, I will take as much of his creation with me into the place He has made for me. It will be his fault when his creation leave him, and He will have no choice but to either change his rules, set me free from my punishment, or watch for an eternity as they burn with me. ” A shiver when through his spine. He feared that punishment, and he hated God all the more for not telling him how long he had before then. God then looked upon the fallen angel. and gave the word. ” You will lose every fight with me and you will be bound by what I say and you will not stray from my plans. If you wish to do anything you will need to come to me and beg for it. Your legs now belong to me.” and thus the fallen angel hated God’s creation, for God gave them a second chance, but yet he received none. “I WILL MAKE GOD DESTROY AS MANY OF HIS CREATION AS I CAN!” the fallen angel hissed, and he left the garden.

About the author:
Robin Wyatt, the 18-year-old son of Kandi J Wyatt, is studying Bible at Ecola Bible School. When he’s not in college, he enjoys anime, fire dancing, and swords. He has a large collection of knives and swords which he makes sure stay in pristine condition by rubbing out rust and using orange oil to protect and shine them. He just finished his first draft of an epic fantasy which filled 508 college ruled pages handwritten with his favorite Ticonderoga pencils.

The reception of the book in the blogging world and online blew me away. In the first week of release, it ranked in the top 100 on Amazon. I was excited and thrilled to say the least. It has continued to pop up in the top 100 in Kindle books for children’s dragon stories two more times. Today being the most recent of those events. Not only was it in the top 100, it was two places above LRW Lee’s second Andy Smithson book! I have found Ms. Lee to be a wonderful woman who has encouraged me in my path as an author. She was the first to congratulate me on the official release of Dragon’s Future. So, to be ranked alongside her work was flabbergasting. To have Dragon’s Future nominated and accepted into the Cybils awards was even more mind-boggling.

Dragon’s Future not only was warmly welcomed out in the world, but it has been greeted with excitement in my local community. My local library had me do a book reading and signing. Both the market and library has my books for sale. The elementary school contacted me to purchase books for the school library. Parents have greeted me and chatted about the book. The amount of people who have purchased Dragon’s Future just because it is my book amazes me.

If all of this wasn’t enough, today Dragon’s Heir book two of the Dragon Courage series is available for pre-order. What path will Dragon’s Heir take? Will the message of the need to temper justice with mercy be greeted with as much acclaim as Dragon’s Future? Only time will tell.

However, I can’t stop being mom. Seven o’clock each morning, I have left and gone south past the high school to drop my eighteen-year-old off at work in a field where he is changing irrigation pipe. My thirteen-year-old earned a part in the local adult theater group’s Christmas play which means extra trips north throughout the week.

I have been so busy with school and family that several book events have fell to the side. Wednesday while at school, I had a moment to check email and saw a Twitter notice of a blog post. It was my post on Vox Dei’s webpage! I had forgotten it was to air that day. As my eighteen-year-old says, “Face palm!” The next day, I had another similar experience. I checked email just before lunch during my prep period and found a Twitter announcement of my cover reveal for The One Who Sees Me. How could I have forgotten that! I knew I needed to get a better grip on my calendar.

Saturday loomed big in my vision. I had to be ready for the book signing and release party of Dragon’s Future. My husband and eighteen-year-old would be off at a men’s retreat which left my nineteen-year-old and thirteen-year-old at home.

Grandprize packet of swag and a signed book went to a high school senior.

My thirteen-year-old and I enjoyed the Cranberry Parade at the local festival, and then we headed to the art gallery and used book store which was hosting the signing. After frantically trying to find parking, I was able to elicit help from some friends to carry books and supplies to the gallery. My three hours were fun and profitable. Many came through to purchase books, and I even met a journalist for the local paper who wants to do an author interview. We’ll see what happens.

In the meantime, I am ready for another week of school. I will try my hardest to be better at budgeting my time between family, school, and author work. It is a challenge this year, but it can be done.

Back in March when I signed up with Booktrope and began the process of publishing my books, I was encouraged to have a website with a blog. That means that at least once a week I am suppose to write about something book related or at least my life related. Sometimes that gets a bit overwhelming. Coming up with ideas isn’t quiet so hard as finding the time to sit down and write! The next hurdle that I tackled was creating a Facebook author page. That was a little easier because I know how Facebook works. However, it can be time consuming because I get caught up in the lives of my friends and acquaintances and forget I am suppose to be writing blogs and other things. My book manager really had to twist my arm to get me to set up a twitter account. I had been resistant to the efforts for years. I didn’t see a need, but when Pam said I needed one, I decided to try it out. I was quite glad that I did. I have found some really amazing people on there and some wonderful authors. It is a fun way to get a good laugh and to cheer up my day. The last social media step was to create an Instagram account. I am not quite as enamored with it as I am with Twitter, but I am learning the ropes thanks to other Booktrope authors who are helping me out. Why do I need all of these social media outlets? Because people want to know what an author is up to. They want to interact with the writer and know he or she is a real person. So, every day, I am on at least one of these social media outlets trying to connect with readers and writers.

Social media isn’t the only thing an author does. Once the novel is written, then it must be edited. The editing process is different for each editor. Since I have two genres of books, I have two editors. The one takes my book, reads it and writes down all of her first impressions in a word document, then re-reads it and edits for grammar, clarity, word choice, and plot consistency. Then she sends it all back to me. I then read through the novel and accept or reject her changes and add notes to explain why I didn’t or to help clarify things. Then I send it back to her. She goes over it again and sends it back to me. This final round may take one to three passes depending on how much we differ in our opinions. My other editor sent me my manuscript in chunks with the grammar edits first. Then after reading through it that way, I then received a full manuscript with the word choice and plot consistency issues. I read back through the novel to accept or reject those changes. When it is to the editor and author’s standards, it will go to a proofreader.

However, while it is in the process of editing, the author not gets to consider cover design and blurb. What will portray the genre and the book in a single image to make the book stand out so that people want to pick it up and check it out? What words should go on the back cover to intrigue a reader to gather it to himself or herself and read it? We don’t want too many details given away and yet at the same time we want to say what the book is about. So, while editing goes on, the outside is decided on as well. Then begins the proofreading.

The proofreading process is less stressful than the editing process. In editing the author’s very words and ideas are brought into question. With a good editor, though, the author knows her best interests are at the heart of the changes. Proofreading is for format and those little things–spelling, grammar, punctuation, and word usage. Word usage is easy. It isn’t did you use the right words, but rather did you use the same word repeatedly in one section. The proofreader offers suggestions of how to change that. She or he will also work on typos. Throughout the whole proofreading process though I read through my novel at least one more time!

After proofreading, the novel is ready to be submitted for layout. To do this, the author must make sure that everything is exactly as she wants it in print. So, back to reading meticulously the novel. (Note this is at least the fourth reading after submission to the publishing company.) Once satisfied that all looks good, it is submitted to layout. Layout then puts it into a pdf file and sends it back to the author for a final proof. Again I read through my book to make sure there are no errors. I was fortunate with Dragon’s Future to not find many. I could adjust and change them without a cost to me.

Now that the book is in layout, we are down to the last month or so before it is released. That means that my job is done, right? Wrong! I am now very busy on-line making friends and letting people know about my book. I am doing Facebook parties, Twitter posts, and blogs. What is a Facebook party? That was my question back in April when I first heard about them. They are a way of getting people from all over together to learn and celebrate the release of a book or other event. A Facebook event page is created, and on the day and at the time set, the party begins. Usually there are different authors set up to take over a half-hour to an hour slot. During this time, they engage the audience who has logged onto the event page. There are giveaways, fun memes, photos to comment on, and ideas shared. The theme usually relates to the author’s book or books. There can even be question and answer time for the author. It is fun when there are lots of people involved and commenting on the different photos or threads. It was at one such event that I sold my first book!

I am also busy creating advertisements for my book. I didn’t know it three months ago, but books have trailers just like movies do. So, I am learning Photoshop CS6 and other multimedia applications to create trailers, and still images with reviews and endorsements for my book. I am also looking at what is called ‘swag’. My teenage children laugh every time they hear the word. It is a teenage word to mean something is cool, radical, awesome (choose your era of word). In the book realm it means promotional giveaways such as bookmarks, coffee mugs, pens, notebooks, t-shirts, magnets, stickers, lip balm, etc. The list is as big as your imagination! These are used on those Facebook parties and at signings as ways of bringing people in to purchase your book.

One final touch happens during all of this. The cover artist receives the information on how long the book is, the final blurb, any endorsements to add to the book, and then finalizes the cover. This is the last step layout needs to be able to print the book, whether that is a Kindle or a print version.

While all of that is happening, I am also counting down the days to the release! For me, my first release will be Monday, August 10, only three weeks away! That will be when I will have a Facebook release party and celebrate the birth of my novel! Then in September, I will have my first signing.

Are you exhausted yet? There is the energy of excitement and suspense of wondering what will it be like when it is finished, and the ups and downs of technology communications, or real life happenings that cause your team to change mid-way through. These keep you on your toes and everything fresh. So, yes, being and author is more than writing. It is being a person who is active in the birthing of a book.

It was Local Authors Day at the library and I was doing the rounds, talking to the faces behind the tables, finding out what they had to say. I had stopped at the table of a memoirist, a woman who had published her story, set up a women’s writing circle and did indeed have an interesting story. But when it came to fantasy: “I don’t read fantasy,” she said. She was being polite and even gentle, but I caught the whiff of dismissiveness in her words, the unspoken “it’s not worth my time”. Now I’m not young, and she was older, and I knew the mindset of her generation, the one that Ursula LeGuin has been battling all her life. Fantasy is pulp fiction, escapism, somehow less than real life. And I have to admit, there is fantasy out there that lives down to those expectations.

I have this bad habit of trying to expand people’s thinking. And so I tried to tell her how fantasy could be so much more. I like to think I made some headway. She had a thoughtful tilt to her head when I left.

What I told her was that fantasy has the potential of opening people’s eyes to reality in ways they would never expect. By removing people from their normal frame of reference, separating them from all the buzzwords that make them assume they know what you’re saying as soon as you’ve said two words, you can get them to look at age-old issues with a fresh perspective. When Tolkien tells the story of Legolas and Gimli overcoming centuries of tension between Elves and Dwarves to build a life-long friendship, is he not making a commentary on racism? And he can make it more effectively because we do not belong to one side or the other, and we can look at racism for what it is, all on its own, without our feeling defensive or hostile. When Gimli brings Legolas to the Glittering Caves, where Legolas expected to see only rock, he finds beauty too great for him to express. And this is what fantasy has the power to do: to remove the blinkers we wear, and too often choose to wear, to encounter unexpected beauty and pain, to understand that our way of looking at the world is not the only one and that we are limiting ourselves.

By removing familiar labels, fantasy can help us grow into a fuller understanding and appreciation of reality. By dressing truth in different clothing, fantasy can smuggle it into our armed camps and disrupt our lives. And sometimes, you know, we need our lives to be disrupted.

About Janet’s book: (click on the book to find it on amazon)

In this Christian fantasy, one young wizard with a hunger for wisdom and some dangerous secrets finds himself pitted against another ready to reach for power with the darkest forces possible.

Wizards have never in the history of Coventree, renounced Wizardry. But Blayn Goodwin finds himself growing detached from the practice of Wizardry, even as he rises through the ranks to become the youngest member of the Supreme Council. He has lost interest in the usual gods in favor of a god without a name, not that he makes that fact public.

Edgar Savile has his own traitorous secrets and kidnaps Blayn’s eldest son to prevent Blayn from probing into them. Meanwhile the Supreme Wizard, suspicious of Edgar, sends Blayn to retrieve an ancient book from the Other World, hoping it will arm them against Edgar’s treachery.

What Blayn finds is not what anyone expects, and threatens to tear Coventree’s fraying system apart at the seams.

About Janet:

After raising five children and one husband, Janet Ursel came to the obvious conclusion that writing novels was an essential part of the recovery process. Her studies in languages and literature, along with her experience as a pastor’s wife, market analyst, and ESL teacher, made her uniquely qualified to explore the life of a wizard in a parallel universe, so she did. She can be found at janetursel.com and on too many social media sites in one universe, and alternating between Canada and the United States in another universe

Website

Facebook

Twitter: @JanetUrsel

We started with music–everything from 80’s music, nightcore, Sabatan, theme music to Sword Art Online and Castle in the Sky, to the 1967 musical movie Oliver Twist.  Talk about eclectic!  The kid sings along with all of them.  He started out with the headphones in one ear, but soon unplugged them and let me listen in.  From there, we discussed all kinds of things.  I informed him that Anastasia was a real story–not the way that Disney portrayed it, but I gave him the facts and my memories of people claiming to be her in the late ’70’s and early ’80’s.  We shared childhood memories–both his and mine.  We covered a zillion topics.  He informed me that even though he may travel in the future, he will always want a home in our home town.  He regaled me with verbatim comedian acts from Jeff Foxworthy and Gabriel Iglesias.  Overall it was a wonderful time.

What did I learn about middle school students?  I was taught that they have eclectic interests.  They are curious and want to learn, but not necessarily what a teacher would want them to learn.  They have hopes and dreams, and can stretch beyond what adults often think they can do.  Why don’t we let them dream and soar?  Why do we tie them down to our world of issues?  Why not give them the tools to enable them to succeed in our world when the time comes?  As a teacher, author, and mom to middle school students, my job is to empower them to live their dreams.  To help them look beyond the black issues of their everyday life and see the rainbow at the end of the day.  To see the silver lining on the clouds.  This is why I teach.  This is why I write, and this is why I’m a mom.

My seventh grader