It started with me having a tummy bug, and I believe I slept a bit more than usual. Which was a good thing. But the week completely slipped by without much notice. I hope all of you had a good week.

Blessings,

Leanna

The Grant family's exclusive Sonoma spa is a place for rest and
relaxation—not murder! When Naomi Grant finds her client Jessica Ortiz
bleeding to death in her massage room, everything falls apart. The
salon's reputation is at stake…and so is Naomi's freedom when she
discovers that she is one of the main suspects! Her only solace is
found with the other suspect—Dr. Devon Knightley, the victim's
ex-husband. But Devon is hiding secrets of his own. When they come to
light, where can Naomi turn…and whom can she trust?

Bio:
Camy Tang writes romance with a kick of wasabi. She used to be a
biologist, but now she is a staff worker for her church youth group
and leads a worship team for Sunday service. She also runs the Story
Sensei fiction critique service. On her blog, she gives away Christian
novels every week, and she ponders frivolous things like dumb dogs
(namely, hers), coffee-geek husbands (no resemblance to her own...),
the writing journey, Asiana, and anything else that comes to mind.
Visit her website at http://www.camytang.com/ for a huge website
contest going on right now, giving away fourteen boxes of books and 24
copies of her latest release, DEADLY INTENT.

The winner of Lookin' Back, Texas is Katie. Please send me an email with your snail mail address and I'll pop it in the mail to you. Congrats! And thanks to all who joined in this celebration!

Book clubs are such a wonderful excuse to get together with friends, eat and chat about good books. Reading and writing is my passion so sharing this with friends is always so much fun. This week, I had the extreme pleasure of visiting a book club. The ladies (called the Dot... Dot... Dotters) were super nice and friendly. They had read Lookin' Back, Texas, and discussing it was so much fun.

I also received an email from the Gadsden Public Library book club. They had read Ruby's Slippers and loved it. Just made my day hearing that.

Did you know I have questions posted on my website (under the tab: Book Clubs) for each of my books? If you have a book club and you read one of my books, please let me know. We can set up a phone call where I talk with your group, and I would also be happy to send some bookmarks for your members. Just let me know! Also, if you send me a picture of the group, I'll post it.

PERMISSION TO FORWARD GRANTED

Here are the 2009 ACFW Book of the Year finalists. So proud of those nominated, so many of them are friends. Enjoy some great books! Congrats all!

2009 American Christian Fiction Writers
Book of the Year Contest
Finalists

Debut Author
• A Passion Most Pure (Julie Lessman)
• Courting Miss Adelaide (Janet Dean)
• Every Good and Perfect Gift (Sharon K. Souza)
• Hero, Second Class (Mitchell Bonds)
• In the Shadow of the Sun King (Golden Keyes Parsons)

Lits
• Faking Grace (Tamara Leigh)
• Picket Fence Promises (Kathryn Springer)
• Single Sashimi (Camy Tang)
• Sweet Caroline (Rachel Hauck)
• Truffles by the Sea (Julie Carobini)

Long Contemporary
• Lookin Back Texas (Leanna Ellis)
• One Holy Night (J.M. Hochstetler)
• Stuck in the Middle (Virginia Smith)
• Summer of Joy (Ann H. Gabhart)
• Symphony of Secrets (Sharon Hinck)

Long Contemporary Romance
• Along Came a Cowboy (Christine Lynxwiler)
• Controlling Interest (Elizabeth White)
• The Convenient Groom (Denise Hunter)
• Finding Stefanie (Susan May Warren)
• Zora and Nicky: A Novel in Black & White (Claudia Mair Burney)

Long Historical (6 finalists due to a tie)
• The Apothecary’s Daughter (Julie Klassen)
• Calico Canyon (Mary Connealy)
• Deep In the Heart of Trouble (Deeanne Gist)
• From A Distance (Tamera Alexander)
• I Have Seen Him in the Watchfires (Cathy Gohlke)
• My Heart Remembers ( Kim Vogel Sawyer)


Mystery
• The Case of the Bouncing Grandma (A.K. Arenz)
• Death on a Deadline (Christine Lynxwiler, Sandy Gaskin, and Jan Reynolds)
• Drop Dead Diva (Christine Lynxwiler, Sandy Gaskin, and Jan Reynolds)
• For Whom the Bell Tolls (Nancy Mehl)
• Of Mice . . . and Murder (Mary Connealy)

Novellas
• The Cookie Jar (Janet Lee Barton in A Connecticut Christmas anthology)
• Dressed in Scarlet (Darlene Franklin in Snowbound Colorado Christmas anthology)
• Santa’s Prayer (Diane Ashley in A Connecticut Christmas anthology)
• Snowbound for Christmas (Gail Sattler in A Connecticut Christmas anthology)
• Stuck On You (Rhonda Gibson in A Connecticut Christmas anthology)

Short Contemporary
• Buffalo Gal (Mary Connealy)
• Clueless Cowboy (Mary Connealy)
• Family Treasures (Kathryn Springer)
• Her Unlikely Family (Missy Tippens)
• White as Snow (Janice Thompson)

Short Contemporary Suspense
• Bayou Paradox (Robin Caroll)
• Broken Lullaby (Pamela Tracy)
• Countdown to Death (Debby Giusti)
• Forsaken Canyon (Margaret Daley)
• Killer Cargo (Dana Mentink)

Short Historical
• Family of the Heart (Dorothy Clark)
• Masked by Moonlight (Allie Pleiter)
• Reckless Rogue (Mary Davis)
• Return to Love (Susan Page Davis)
• Sandhill Dreams (Cara Putman)

Speculative
• The Book of Names (D. Barkley Briggs)
• DragonLight (Donita K. Paul)
• The Restorer’s Journey (Sharon Hinck)
• Shade (John B. Olson)
• Summa Elvetica: A Casuistry of the Elvish Controversy (Theodore Beale)


Suspense
• Anathema (Colleen Coble)
• The Black Cloister (Melanie Dobson)
• Fossil Hunter (John B. Olson)
• Lonestar Sanctuary (Colleen Coble)
• Perfect (Harry Kraus)

Women’s Fiction (7 finalists due to a tie)
• A Month of Summer (Lisa Wingate)
• Every Good and Perfect Gift (Sharon K. Souza)
• My Sister Dilly (Maureen Lang)
• The Perfect Life (Robin Lee Hatcher)
• The Shape of Mercy (Susan Meissner)
• Stepping into Sunlight (Sharon Hinck)
• Tuesday Night at the Blue Moon (Debbie Fuller Thomas)

Young Adult
• The Big Picture (Jenny B. Jones)
• The Fruit of My Lipstick (Shelley Adina)
• It’s all About Us (Shelley Adina)
• The Owling (Robert Elmer)
• Trion Rising (Robert Elmer)

Julie Whitby, my critique partner and Golden Heart finalist, and obviously the lady in red.

Heather Webber and Cathy Liggett, great gals!

Dinner out with 'inspiring' friends: Robin, Rachel and Sarah!

Shelley Shepherd Gray and I right before our talk about making the jump to the inspirational market.

Yesterday, my last day in DC, I zipped over to the National Museum of American History and saw the REAL ruby slippers! In my research about the slippers, I learned that those are not the only pair. There are a few in collector's items. Back in the 1970s, an auction of movie memorabilia uncovered more ruby slippers in the storeroom. You see, they didn't just make one pair of ruby slippers. More pairs were needed because Judy Garland would go through many during rehearsals and filming. One pair was used only for that shot of the heels clicking together. Also, an early prototype was made that resembled an Arabian style. The shoes at the Smithsonian looked darker than I expected. Many of the sequins had lost their shine. But it was still a thrill to see them!

The kids are up early, ready to pack and go to Gramma's house. They're excited! And that makes me so happy. They'll have fun at the ranch. Whereas they are easy to pack, the Hilo Monster is not. What do you pack for a big goofy labradoodle that resembles Cousin It? Do I take an extra pair of shoes so she'll chew on those instead of Gramma's? Do I take shampoo for when she plunges into the lake? (I hope she doesn't meet up with the 6 foot alligator residing there!) I am taking lots of treats, so Gramma can entice her to obey. Funny. I'm not worried about what the kids will do. I'm worried about what damage Hilo will cause.

What does one have to do with the other? Well, as I stare at an empty suitcase, wondering what I am going to pull out of the closet to fill it up, it reminds me of staring at a blank computer screen, wondering what words I'll pull out of thin air to fill up the pages and complete a manuscript. Sometimes the words come easily, sometimes they fit just right, but other times like conference clothes have grown too tight (shocking, I know!) they don't fit so well. But that's where editing comes in. And I'm working on editing a manuscript right now. But there's not much editing for a suitcase. I zip it up, hand it to the American Airlines personnel to store in baggage, and it won't be until I get to DC that I'll realize I forgot something or should have brought something else. Hopefully, my manuscript will fair better than that and I'll whip it into shape before it hits my editor's desk.

RWA is the first national writers group I ever belonged to. It's a great group that really helps teach the next generation of writers about craft and the business. It's been a couple of years since I've been able to attend RWA, but next week I'm winging it to Washington, D.C. for the national conference. If you're a budding romance writer or an established one, it is the place to be. I'm excited because I have several friends up for the RITA award and also my critique buddy is up for a Golden Heart award. So I'll be ready to cheer them on Saturday night. A friend of mine and I are also speaking at the conference about making the leap into inspirational fiction. I'm looking forward to that. Seeing old friends and meeting with my agent will also be highlights, but I'm also hoping to catch a few sights of the city. I haven't been to DC in several years, and there is so much to see! But if I don't see much, that's okay, I'll be back in a few weeks with the family to enjoy all the sights.

If you're in the DC area on July 15th, come see me at the RWA booksigning, featuring 500 authors. It's at the Marriott Wardman Park from 5:30 to 7:30pm.

Doesn't quite have the ring that 'Elvis Takes a Back Seat' had, does it? Is anyone else out there tired of the MJ coverage? To me, it is so overblown. I've enjoyed dancing to a MJ tune occasionally but I'm not sure he was of the calibre of Elvis. Here's one difference with MJ and Elvis. Elvis was known by one name. Also, Elvis did not like the name 'King of Rock 'n Roll.' Michael Jackson named himself 'King of Pop.' To me, none of MJ's songs had much depth. But that's probably just me. It's very weird watching the coverage of fans in deep mourning. I just don't get it. Maybe it's because I just lost my father. Maybe it's because the mourning for MJ is over the top and tipping into idol worship. Which is what I wrote my book, Elvis Takes a Back Seat, about. We were at church the weekend after MJ died and there was a little girl in my kids' class and during worship she yelled out, "I love you, Michael Jackson." That's just weird. We were not at the Holy Temple of Michael Jackson. Puh-lease! MJ was a man. Period. And a very sad one with a lot of problems. Anyone who is taking that much drugs is not a happy person but a deeply disturbed individual. Very sad to me. So maybe I should have a heroine find a bust of MJ and take it to Neverland. Hmmm... no, I think not.

and cranky! When noises bombard me from every direction, I cannot think. Kids saying, "Mom! Can I ...?" Dogs wrestling, panting, barking. Right now, I have one dog trilling wanting to go outside and another dog (the Hilo Monster) barking and barking and barking to go outside and join my mother who just walked up to the barn to feed the horse. Hilo is convinced Mom's having way too much fun without her. And I am trying to get everyone QUIET, so that everyone else who is still enjoying dreamland won't be awakened so early and so that I can put two thoughts together. Is it too much to ask for just a little quiet?

If I have the television on to see what in the world transpired that day, then my daughter has her iPod player turned up sky high. Or she's singing to the heavens. Now, I love her voice. I'm grateful for her gift, but does she have to sing ALL the time? At the table? In the shower? While snorkeling?

Then my son decides to practice some fencing move in his room. Upstairs. And it sounds like he's kungfu fighting a giant panda.

And there's the ticking of a clock from somewhere.

See! I must be officially old. And definitely cranky. Does anyone else have trouble thinking when there are so many distractions and noise?

I'm suddenly looking down the barrel of the gun into ordering stuff for school. The kids' book lists are now up on their school's website and I need to get those ordered. Thankfully I only have to order for my son, as my daughter will be able to utilize most of my son's from last year. Hand-me-down books. I ordered more uniforms and backpacks today. My credit card is smokin'! And soon it'll be time to head back to school. Where does the time go? Is it hiding? Does it run away from us? Is it in a race?