2013 - Roseanna M. White

30 Days of Giveaways! ~ Day 10

by Roseanna White | Jul 10, 2013 | Remember When Wednesdays, Uncategorized

Day 9’s winner of Ring of Secrets is:

Amy Campbell!

And as a reminder of what you’re entering for this week…ta da! 😉

Now. It’s “Remember When” day around here…but I’m excited. So we’re tweaking. 😉 You see, this arrived from FedEx yesterday:

How exciting is that?? My first order of business was to pull out a few for my family, closest friends, and critique partners. They all got personal thanks for their part in this crazy writing journey.

But then I got to thinking. What am I going to write for autographs in general? See, I’ve given each of my books a little message that I write in them when signing.

A Stray Drop of Blood, which pivots around the life-changing events of the crucifixion and resurrection, says:

May His touch leave you forever changed.

Jewel of Persia, which is about how our faith can save us when we’re surrounded by the enemy, says:

May the Lord be your Light.

Love Finds You in Annapolis, Maryland, which touches on the price of liberty in a nation newly formed, where freedoms were still as tenuous as peace:

May you find true Liberty in Him.

And most recently, Ring of Secrets uses a line from the book itself, appealing to how we find the Lord in our quiet moments, often where we least expect Him:

May you hear Him in the echoes of silence.

So now, here I am with Whispers from the Shadows in hand (squeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), and I need to come up with my little note for it. I could use your help!

Whispers has a couple themes. I wove the title all throughout it, a very subtle but always present illusion to the spiritual battles going on around us. Whenever evil is at work in the book, there are shadows lurking. Sometimes the heroine hears the whisper of voices trying to destroy her, and then finally she hears the whisper of the Lord, giving her hope. And my hero has finely tuned his spiritual ears and is guided more by that awareness of the Holy Spirit’s urgings than his own intuition or skill. Trust is another huge theme–these two are on opposite sides of a war, but have to trust each other to survive someone who threatens them both.

I was considering something like “May you learn to know His whisper” but that might be too close to Ring of Secrets”’. I like them to be a sort of benediction or prayer for the reader though. (Hence why they all thus far begin with “may…”) Thoughts? Suggestions? I hope so, because that’s your question for the day:

What message should I use when signing

Whispers from the Shadows?

(Special bonus: if I decide to use yours verbatim, I’ll send you the first one I write it in!!)

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30 Days of Giveaways! ~ Day 9

by Roseanna White | Jul 9, 2013 | Uncategorized

Day 7’s winner of Ring of Secrets is:

Elizabeth Riggs!

Remember, every entry this week keeps you entered for every drawing! Both of the daily book and for winner’s choice of one of these two gorgeous necklaces. =)

Today, another installment of Story Time Tuesday.

Story Time . . . The Sky Beneath My Feet by Lisa Samson

I just finished this one for my book club’s July read. I have certain expectations when a book has “Lisa Samson” on the cover…and I had certain expectation based on the cover, LOL. Namely, I expected the book to be about the main character, Beth, taking her old VW van to the beach. The offer comes in chapter 1. So…okay. A road trip book, right? Sure.

Um, wrong. LOL. But I got over that expectation pretty fast and settled in with my first one: namely, that anything by Lisa Samson is going to be great.

Yeah–that’s a safe assumption. =)

Beth is disillusioned with a lot of things. Her husband has been dubbed the “men’s pastor” at a megachurch in the D.C./Baltimore area–though no one’s really sure what that means. Her eldest son has gone ultra-conservative just so he can better argue with his father, and her younger son is an expert at issuing a “whatever.” Beth, feeling far as could be from her Quaker roots, belongs to two book clubs, countless small groups and Bible studies…but has never been so lonely in her life.

She can’t remember the last time she really prayed. Her husband’s turning into a stranger–who decides he has to cut himself off from the world by living for a month in his shed. Her teen sons never respond like she expects them too. And whenever she looks at her life, all she sees is the lack–not of things, which she’s long ago learned to live without, despite her church’s hugely affluent demographic. But she feels a lack of purpose. A lack of dreams. A lack of relationships. And when she looks in the mirror, she sees only a glimpse of the girl who wanted to do so much with her life…and has been swallowed by the woman whose life has gotten away from her.

I expected a journey–and I got one, some of which was indeed behind the wheel of her VW van with its “ironic” Jesus fish on the bumper. But this wasn’t just a journey to the beach house offered in chapter 1. This was a journey to the mansion next door, the Catholic church on the hill, the mean streets of Baltimore, a peace demonstration in D.C. with a “rent-a-mob,” and back in her memory to a Quaker meetinghouse with a skylight in the roof for watching the sunset.

This was a journey to the place within herself where every act of the church wasn’t just a demonstration to attract the crowds. To a place where God was real…and had a real purpose for her.

What I loved about this book was that it didn’t pull any punches about its realism. This is a woman like so many women, whose life has its totally-unique quirks, sure, but who could so easily be me or you. This is a woman who’s not sure what the rhetoric means anymore, who doesn’t quite belong anywhere she’s made a habit of going, who chafes against the expectations and longs for real purpose. This is a woman who can’t quite chuck the mold but is tired of living within it. All she wants is that one real experience with God again.

The characters in The Sky Beneath My Feet are perfectly drawn and beautifully flawed. The cast will make you laugh sometimes and sniffle at others, and as Beth finds her footing in her undulating world, you’ll feel yours rocking along with hers. Her story will make you question. And will show you some beautiful answers. Whether or not you agree with her wondering or her solutions, your heart will be expanded on the journey.

So lay back, open your eyes, and watch the sky change beneath your feet.

My question to you today comes from Beth’s experience in that sunset Quaker meetinghouse:

Do you have one moment that stands out above the rest

when you’ve really known God is there with you?

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30 Days of Giveaways! ~ Day 8

by Roseanna White | Jul 8, 2013 | Giveaways and Contests, Word of the Week

The winner of day 7’s drawing is:

Amy WV!

As a reminder, every entry this week keeps you in each day’s drawing for a book, and also for winner’s choice of one of two necklaces from Inspired Novelties–so keep those entries coming, and please do share! Last week we ended up with over 1,000 entries, which was pretty awesome! =) Let’s see if we can get it even higher this week. =)

Now for today!

Word of the Week . . . Sleight

I admit it–this is one I’d never paid attention to before. I’m sure I’ve seen “sleight of hand” written out correctly like so, but I never paused to realize it was spelled with an ‘e’.

And I’m not the only one who has written this as “slight of hand.” Slight makes sense there, implying light, nimble fingers. There’s even a phrase from French that means “light of hand” literally, used the same way.

Sleight, however, comes from a whole different word. An Old Norse one that made its way to English waaaaay back in the 13th century. It means “cunning.” Which makes even more sense in “sleight of hand,” doesn’t it?

That phrase, by the way, has been around since 1400. Whodathunk it was so old?

My question for you today:

Have you seen any sleight of hand tricks lately that really got ya?

We just saw a magic show last weekend–favorite trick was one where the guy turned $1 bills into $100 bills. Don’t we all wish we knew THAT one? LOL

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30 Days of Giveaways! ~ Day 7

by Roseanna White | Jul 7, 2013 | Giveaways and Contests

Yesterday’s winner of Ring of Secrets is:

Amy Putney!

Keep entering! Every entry you make this week increases your chances to win a copy of the book, AND this week’s bonus winner will have a choice of one of two one-of-a-kind necklaces from Inspired Novelties!

Tomorrow I’ll be back with my Word of the Week. For today, here’s your question:

If you could travel anywhere in the world on a

dream vacation (cost being no issue), where would you go?

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30 Days of Giveaways! ~ Day 6

by Roseanna White | Jul 6, 2013 | Uncategorized

Two winners from yesterday! The winner of Ring of Secrets is:

Caitlyn Santi!

And the winner of the $15 Bath & Body Gift Certificate is:

Katie Scheidhauer!

Congrats to all our winners so far! Today begins a fresh batch of entries. So every time you enter from now till NEXT Friday will get you entered for a copy of Ring of Secrets each and every day (or another of my books if you have that one already), AND winner’s choice of one of these two necklaces, hand-crafted by Susie Finkbeiner of Inspired Novelties.