by Roseanna White | Jan 4, 2016 | Announcements, Book News, Sales
First of all, thanks to all my fabulous readers for sharing about the 1-day-only sale of The Lost Heiress on the 2nd. In unprecedented awesomeness, it skyrocketed to the top of its lists and even cracked the top 100 on all Kindle books! If you heard any strange shouting for joy, that was just me. 😉
And now that the 1-day-only sale is over, I want to share about another sale, this one for my Culper Ring Series (digital editions). These prices will run until January 31st–your chance to snatch up the whole series for under $5!
Otherwise, it’s back to the grind today. School will begin at our kitchen table promptly at 9…and I’m going to use the time until then to work on Giver of Wonders, which is thiiiiiiiiis to “The End”!
See y’all back here soon for some more special stuff I’ll be focusing on this week!
by Roseanna White | Jan 1, 2016 | Holidays, Word of the Week
Every year, I pray for a word. Instead of a resolution, just one word that I can strive for in the year. It doesn’t always come. But as I drove home on the last day of 2015, I knew what my word was for 2016.
Mine.
It started as a game with my kids. My husband and I would both latch hold of them, and we’d play a mock tug-of-war game amidst their giggles. “Mine!” I would say, tugging on them. “Mine!” David would argue, pulling them close for a hug. The kids both thought this was hilarious fun.
In the mornings, my son still calls to me three days out of five. He can obviously get up on his own, and he does, often. But some days he sticks to the old tradition of calling out, “Mama!” And I go in, and I gather him up, and I hold him close. “Mine,” I often whisper into his ear. “My boy. I love you.” When I go in to wake his sister an hour later, I sit down on her bed, run a hand over her hair, and say, “There’s my girl. Time to get up, sweetie pie.”
It’s a part of our family language, this claiming of the ones we love. This Mine.
Yet it touched something deep inside me when my little boy started putting his arms around me, pressing close, and saying, “Mine.” It’s his way of saying I love you. It’s his way of saying, We’re a family.
Yesterday, when I asked God what He wanted me to dwell on this year, I imagined arms bigger than Rowyn’s, bigger than David’s, bigger than the world coming around me. And a voice far deeper whispering in my ear, “Mine.”
For they are my people, and I will be their God.
The question of what it means to be His is one that has fueled contemplation and discourse for millennia. I could write a long, long post on my thoughts on the matter here and now.
I’m not going to do that. I’m not going to think about what I know about it already. I’m just going to ask.
What does it mean to belong to God?
How will my daily actions change if, before I do anything, I remember that I am His and He is mine?
My every action, my every reaction should start from that one central point.
I am His.
My speech. My writing. My everything should reflect it.
I am His.
My relationships, my family, my commitments should be kept in their proper places.
I am His.
May 2016 be a year filled with Joy and blessing. May its hardships and trials pale in comparison to the love we feel in our Father’s arms. May we find peace amidst the turmoil that has its claws in the world, and may we know the path He would have us tread. May He open our eyes to the truths of His Word, of His Spirit. May we understand what He calls us to do.
And may our every act, our every thought be rooted in that most basic truth–that God has wrapped us in His arms and whispered that claim into our ears.
Mine.
by Roseanna White | Dec 31, 2015 | Thoughtful Thursdays
I know, I know. Every blogger in the whole blogosphere is reflecting now on the exit of 2015 and the entrance of her baby sister. But under the firm belief that reflection is good for the soul, I must join in. 😉
As I look back over 2015, I see a year full to bursting with moments, milestones, and new missions that won’t just pass into history with the dawn of a new year.
This year, the very first novel I wrote saw publication, after 20 years of revisions and rewrites, and after 9 other published novels. I can’t quite explain how that feels, to have poured so much love into a project over so long, starting when I was twelve, and finally hold the finished project in my hands. It’s exhilarating. And it’s humbling. And it’s terrifying. Because now my very first baby is out in the world, and there are people who love it and people who hate it, people who judge those characters who have been so close to me for so long…yeah. But for all the negatives that come with putting out one’s work, they’ve got nothing on the positives. Thank you, Bethany House, for making this dream come true and pushing me to make this last version the best one by far!
This year, my designing took off in ways I honestly hadn’t expected. By my quick calculations, I designed over 60 book covers in 2015. For someone who thought she’d just take on freelance projects for some fun and extra cash, it’s been big fun and quite a blessing. I so love all the new writers and publishers I’ve gotten to meet through this, the new relationships formed, new discoveries made. God has really blessed me through this designing gig, and I’m so grateful to Him for the opportunities He provided.
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Xoe in the Nutcracker –
I would post one of Rowyn,
but he refuses to be captured
on camera! |
This year, my kids have grown up on me! Okay, not fully. But Xoe is 10. Double-digits. And starting to look like a young lady. And sometimes I just want to, as my mother always threatened, put a brick on their heads so they stop growing! It’s so cool to watch these fun little people learn and laugh and become who they are. They’re in 5th and 2nd grades now, and being their teacher continues to be something that wears me out but fills me up. I love being a homeschooling mom!
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| My post-Christmas project |
This year, I took up knitting. Technically, this fall. And I am totally hooked! I made a lot of Christmas gifts this year–and as gifts, I received yarn, circular needles, blocking mats, and giddiness as I got to dive in and create some new projects–like the boot toppers for my mom, above.
This year, my husband started chasing his dream. He’s long been interested in TV and film, and this year he took the first steps toward learning how to produce it. He went on two mission trips to Bulgaria in 2015, in March and October. During the second one, he visited a refugee camp with camera in hand and a heart to hear the stories of the refugees, and he came back with interviews that have become his first film. Along the Path is finished and ready for viewing; I’ll post a link next week. I’m so crazy-proud of this guy, who has always said that his calling is to help others reach their calling. It led him to start the Appalachian Relief Mission, took him an ocean away twice so far, and fills him with purpose. One of my greatest honors this year, and one of my biggest goals for 2016, is to support him in his dreams as he has always supported me in mine.
This year, my focus hasn’t changed much on the outside…but it’s changed a lot on the inside. Somehow, in the last few years, I’ve stopped caring about the things that surround me. I just want to be the woman God has made me. I just want to serve Him. I just want to help others know Him better.
And this year ended with a Joy I’m not at liberty to share just yet. 😉 But it’s a promise of stories to come and a 2016 filled with words, and it made this holiday season pretty darn bright for me!
by Roseanna White | Dec 21, 2015 | Uncategorized
Merry Christmas, from my house to yours!
I hope everyone has a beautiful Christmas, filled with love, laughter, and most of all Jesus. See you back here next week!
by Roseanna White | Dec 17, 2015 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
Obviously, Christmas has been on my mind. And on my television. And in my news feed. It’s everywhere I look, and that’s awesome and fun. But this being me, I can’t just let it pass without thought. So I figured I’d share my reflections this year on the holiday…and how we recognize it.
First up, I’d like to shake my head at all the kids’ shows where they have to “save” Christmas. Where someone is threatening to ruin it or steal it or destroy it somehow or another. It was cute in the Grinch, because he then realizes that Christmas is something more. But I would like to posit this to all movie and TV show makers: you cannot steal Christmas. You cannot destroy it. You cannot ruin it. Christmas is not about anything we do. Christmas is about a miracle from God to man. And just like no villain can take it away, no hero can restore it. Because it’s not about us.
Which leads me to observations not aimed at the television. 😉 We also cannot have Christmas. I know that we’re thinking with generous hearts when we say we want that unfortunate family to still be able to have Christmas, so we help them out. But that’s been niggling at me too. Don’t get me wrong–I think it’s awesome to help out a family down on their luck. I think it’s wonderful to give gifts to kids, especially, who may never have gotten much before.
But “having” Christmas isn’t about what’s under the tree. We know this, intellectually. But it’s still the way we think, isn’t it?
We think of Christmas as something to experience. Something that involves all these traditions, all this pomp, all these things–sparkly things and lit-up things, expensive things and cheap things. Christmas is an event, played out each year with the help of retailers and marketing executives.
What would happen, I wonder, if one year we had no gifts? Would Christmas not come? Would we not have it? The Whos down in Whoville knew better, but I posit that most of us wouldn’t hold hands and start singing if we discovered all our stuff had vanished.
But let’s put aside the stuff and things. Let’s give ourselves credit and say that, yes, if the things were removed, we’d still rejoice on Christmas. But…why? Because, probably, we’d say we still have our families, and that’s what matters.
This is beautiful. And anyone who knows me even a little knows how much I value my family.
But this year, thanks to my husband’s reflections at Thanksgiving, I had a new realization.
Christmas isn’t about our families either.
Maybe, just maybe…we’re doing something a little bit wrong
by making it about spending time with loved ones.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not advocating not spending time with family–I think this is important! But I think it’s important all year long. Every day or week. Not just on holidays. They provide a great reason for us to get together, and the tradition of gathering to observe holy days is long-standing and not something to toss aside.
But within our hearts and minds, where are we ranking that family time in relation to Christ, to worshiping Him and standing in awe at his arrival?
If it were in the right place, would people who have lost loved ones still find this time of year so hard? Depressing? Difficult to get through?
I don’t think so. I think…and I know people are going to rail at me for saying this…I think we’ve turned our families into idols, especially this time of year. I think we value them more than we value God. Christmas has become more about who is around us than Who is in our hearts. Gathering together for a holiday is supposed to be a way of teaching the young what the day means, of reminding each other, of corporate reflection and thanksgiving–after all, corporate prayer is greater than the sum of its parts, so I daresay corporate praise is too! But the gathering-together is not supposed to be the main thing it’s about. Thanksgiving, for instance, was first and foremost supposed to be a day to thank God-–even if we’ve lost our families in the year past. How much more so Christmas?
A few years ago, we had an ice storm Christmas morning that prevented our normal brunch at my mother’s house. And yes, it got me down. I missed my family, missed spending that time together, and was watching the thermometer, waiting for it to rise above 32 and melt that ice.
Now I wonder…what should I have been doing that day to make it special, even without all my family? How can I keep my eyes on Him, even if I’m alone (I wasn’t even alone that day, still had hubby and kiddos)?
I love, love, love my family. But I ought to love, love, love, love God even more. Spending time with them is important. But spending time with Him is even more important. So here’s my challenge to myself and anyone else who wants to join in.
This year, I will take time only for Him on Christmas. This year, I will stop and rethink my thoughts to make sure that I’m paying more attention to Him than to gifts and cookies and lights and decorations…and family.
This year, Christmas will not be about presents. It will not be about anything I can “have.” It will not even be about those people I love so much.
Christmas will be about Christ.
So if we were each absolutely alone this year on December 25…how would we worship Him? And how can we bring that into our busy day?
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.