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6 Susan Stitch

Timestamp: 2009-04-30 20:45:13 UTC

Susan Stitch said...
I remember going to by Great Grandma's house in Arkansas and having 'Yahoo Mountain Dew' for the first time, and I was hooked! I couldn't find it it my home town, so I thought it was a country thing -- with a man in overalls chewing on a wheat stalk it made sense to me! It's been my favorite soda ever since, and I was so glad it finally made it nation wide. I felt like I was personally responsible for expanding its sales!

Congrats Susan! And thank you to the rest of you who entered...great memories!

Enduring Justice by Amy Wallace

Amy is a GREAT writer! Her stories grip the heart and leave you on the edge of your seat!

About Amy:

Amy Wallace is the author of Ransomed Dreams and Healing Promises, a homeschool mom, and self-confessed chocoholic. She is a graduate of the Gwinnett County Citizens Police Academy and a contributing author of several books including God Answers Moms’ Prayers and Chicken Soup for the Soul Healthy Living Series: Diabetes. She lives with her husband and three children in Georgia.

Visit her FABULOUS website for a real treat and to learn more!

About the book: Book Three in the Defenders of Hope Series!
A painful past
Hanna Kessler’s childhood secret has remained buried for over two decades. But when the dark shadows of her past threaten to destroy those she loves, Hanna must face the summer that changed her life and the man who still haunts her memories.

A racially-motivated killer
As a Crimes Against Children FBI Agent, Michael Parker knows what it means to get knocked down. Difficult cases and broken relationships have plagued his entire year. But when the system fails and a white supremacist is set free, Michael’s drive for retribution eclipses all else.

A life-altering choice
A racist’s well-planned assault forces Hanna and Michael to decide between executing vengeance and pursuing justice. The dividing line between the two is the choice to heal. But when the attack turns personal, is justice enough?

Buy the book here!

Sign up for Amy's excellent Newsletter and be entered to win the entire Defender of Hope series! Chocolate Suspense Newsletter

The wall she’d built with years of secrecy started to crack.

Hanna Kessler wrapped trembling arms around her waist and stared through the glass door into her parents’ backyard. A place she’d avoided her whole stay. Sunlight danced in the still water of her mother’s koi pond and highlighted all the landscaping changes Dad had made since Mom’s death.

Hanna closed her eyes against warring memories of past and present. As a child, she’d loved feeding the beautiful orange fish and hearing Mom laugh as the koi swarmed to the food. Now the little pond area was the only bit of her mother remaining. Maybe that was why she’d glanced outside and then stood transfixed. She needed her mom now more than ever.

Swallowing hard, she opened her eyes and focused on Mom’s teakwood dolphin statue and the white rocks around the water, glinting in the late afternoon sun. She reached out to touch the warm glass but couldn’t force herself to open the door. Goose bumps trailed her arms and she shivered.

She couldn’t go outside.

But she had to do something. Had to get away. So she stumbled into the rustic living room, her favorite place in the house. The surrounding family snapshots reminded her of simpler times. Boating on Kentucky Lake. Thunder over Louisville. Playing at Iroquois Park. Times when Mom and Dad and her brother, Steven, had wrapped her in their protection and love.

The front door rattled, then creaked open. “Anyone home?” A man’s deep voice carried through the safe place she’d escaped to months ago. It wasn’t safe anymore.

But her frozen feet refused to move. Where could she hide? Footsteps thundered through the front hall, drawing closer. She had to get out.

Choking down the lump of panic in her throat, she ran back to the sliding glass doors and forced her feet to move outside, onto the concrete patio. She could get to her car from there. The keys! Turning back to the house, she focused on the tall form stepping out of the house and walking toward her.

“Hanna-girl, what’s gotten into you?”

Her brain snapped to attention. The man in front of her was no threat.

“Daddy!” She ran into his outstretched arms.

Andrew Kessler kissed the top of her head and chuckled. “You looked like you’d seen a ghost. Didn’t you get the message I left this morning?”

Heartbeat still pounding out of her rib cage, she inhaled a few deep breaths before answering. She hadn’t checked messages today. And no way could she admit she’d listened to most of the messages her family had left, never intending to return the calls. “I…I must have missed it. Sorry, Daddy.”

Try as she might to hide it, calling her father Daddy only happened when she was terrified. Or hiding. And she’d done a lot of hiding.

Dad stepped back and tilted his head, still holding her in his arms. “Well, I’m in Louisville for the weekend and had to see my girl. I miss you. So does everyone back in Alexandria.”

Even Michael? She wouldn’t ask. She had no right. Not after ignoring all the calls and letters he’d sent. The ones declaring his love even though she’d run away from everyone after her brother’s wedding. She couldn’t meet Dad’s eyes.

“Hanna, look at me.” He tilted her chin up. She fought to not pull away. “Steven asks about you every day. I’m surprised your brother and Clint and the rest of their FBI friends haven’t hightailed it up here to drag you home.”

“They wouldn’t.” Especially not Michael. Not after almost two months of her frosty silence.

Dad laughed again. He had no idea the pain his questions, his presence here, caused. “Steven’s planned it. So has Michael. But they’re waiting for you to come back, on your terms.” As if that would happen. “Susannah’s birthday party is a week from Saturday. Clint and the rest of us are praying you’ll come. Take pictures. Let us show you how much we love having you in Alexandria.”

A week from Saturday. The twenty-fifth of August. She wouldn’t be there. Couldn’t face Clint Rollins. Not after her negligence had nearly cost Clint’s son his life.

Tears slipped past her clenched eyes.

“Oh, honey.” Dad gathered her back into his arms. “No one blames you, Hanna. No one. You need to let the past go. Everyone is safe now. All the Rollins clan. Even Conor.”

So Sara’s baby was still alive. Just like Steven’s and Clint’s messages had said. Relief rushed through her, causing her knees to wobble. But other guilt arrows pierced her heart. All the lies she’d told Steven and Michael. Dad too. Clint’s son wasn’t the only reason she’d fled Alexandria.

“You’ll be there for Susannah’s party, right?” His hopeful blue eyes begged.

She pulled out of his arms and walked back into the house. Dad followed. “I…I need a Kleenex.” Searching through the oak cabinets in the kitchen didn’t produce any tissues. So she grabbed a paper towel from the counter. “What brings you in town? During our phone calls last week, you never mentioned coming home.”

“If I had, would you have been here?”

Ouch. “Yes, Daddy.” Another lie. “So are you here to check on the Mall St. Matthews coffee shop? I’ve been working there every day, just like you arranged. It’s going well.” And she was babbling.

“I’m here to meet with some old friends on Friday and talk about upcoming business opportunities.”

Old friends. The memories rushing in unbidden surfaced more tears. And more cracks in the wall of secrecy. She needed to get out of the house, out of the neighborhood. Now. Maybe then she could exhibit some self-control.

“Why don’t we grab a late lunch at the Cheesecake Factory? After your long drive you’re bound to be hungry, right?” She forced a smile.

“Okay, Hanna-girl.” He wiped away one of her stray tears. “On one condition.”

Please don’t ask about the party, Daddy. Please.

He lifted his bushy graying eyebrows. “Promise you’ll come back to us and take pictures at Susannah’s birthday party next week.”

The very thing she couldn’t do. How would she get out of this without telling more lies or spilling everything? She had to avoid that. Maybe one last fib would get her though the weekend with Dad.

Then she could find somewhere else to run.

Excerpted from Enduring Justice by Amy Wallace. Copyright© 2009 by Amy Nicole Wallace. Excerpted by permission of Multnomah Books, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Q and A with author Amy Wallace

Q. Where did the idea for the stories in the DEFENDERS OF HOPE series come from?

A. The Defenders of Hope series started with a literal dream about an FBI agent with a wounded heart and a mom on a dangerous quest for answers. That dream became the book Ransomed Dreams. During the research for Ransomed Dreams, I met with a federal agent and asked the question—what would happen if an FBI agent found out he had cancer? His answer became the second book, Healing Promises. And the third book in the series, Enduring Justice, grew out of a secret one of the characters, Hanna Kessler, struggles to keep hidden.

Q. Your current release is Enduring Justice, book 3 in the Defenders of Hope series. Is it necessary to read all the books in order?

A. I’ve been told by many readers and read reviews that have said the Defenders of Hope books can be read as stand-alones. The cases and suspense story-lines are self-contained, no cliffhanger endings until the next book. But the characters’ friendships and relationships grow and are challenged in each book, so I’d say it’s best but not necessary for the stories to be read in order.

Q. You’ve said that Enduring Justice contains the shards of your once-broken heart. What do you mean by that?

A. Fifteen years ago, God placed me in a safe place and used my future husband’s hands to hold me together while my heart shattered. David was the first person to hear about my being date raped when I was a teen. For five years I’d denied what happened or blamed myself. So when my walls of secrecy started to crumble, I felt alone and terrified.

But God met me there. He covered my shame with His grace and we started down the painful path of healing. Even though this isn’t the same circumstances as what Hanna Kessler faces in Enduring Justice, a lot of my personal story went into the writing. And while this subject may qualify this story as “gritty,” the focus is not on the past experiences, but on the healing an adult woman finds as she opens up to her family and the man she loves.

Q. One of the key themes running through Enduring Justice is racism, as Hanna’s love interest, FBI Agent Michael Parker, is investigating a white supremacist. Why is this topic near to your heart?

A. I grew up in the military and had friends of all skin colors and nationalities. One of my best friends was African American. We never talked about our skin color, but I remember one time she made a comment about how people treated her differently because of her skin. She wouldn’t explain. It wasn’t until years later after hearing some ugly words from extended family members about people of other skin colors that I started to understand racism still exists. And it breaks my heart.

Through Hanna and Eve and Michael and Lee, I wanted to highlight some of the challenges I’ve learned about from friends of other nationalities and also to show that it’s not skin color that matters, it’s who we are on the inside. We truly can be color-blind.

Q. Where can readers learn more about you, Enduring Justice, and your other books?

A. I enjoy and value email from readers! So please visit me on the web at the Dark Chocolate Suspense site: www.amywallace.com and leave a note in the guestbook, drop me an email, or join the Dark Chocolate Suspense newsletter community: http://www.amywallace.com/Newsletter.html.

Readers can also check out a very cool book format and read the first two chapters of Enduring Justice online: http://www.amywallace.com/ej_chapter.html

Fun Promo from Pepsi & Mountain Dew!

This spring, Pepsi and Mountain Dew are taking a nostalgic trip back in time by offering special retro formula of their popular beverages sweetened with natural sugar, just as they were back in the ‘60s and ‘70s, giving fans literally a taste of the past. Yum! I can't wait to try one...these retro sodas are in stores everywhere beginning this week, but they'll only be available for about 8 weeks. So hurry...don't wait!

In honor of this promotion, Pepsi and Mountain Dew are offering your readers a refreshingly rad retro throwback pack valued at $150 and featuring the following items:




Pepsi Throwback Trucker Cap
Retro Pepsi Tin Lunch Box
Retro Clock Radio/CD Player
USB Lava Lamp
Pepsi Throwback & Mountain Dew Throwback

To enter all you need to do is leave a comment sharing a favorite memory from 'back in the day'! Something from the 60's/70's! If you weren't alive then, just tell me a favorite childhood memory! The winner will be announced April 29th!

Twitter It!

Are you sick of hearing about Twitter yet?

About nine months ago I heard of this thing called Twitter. For three months I put off checking it out. I already had a presence of MySpace, Facebook, and ShoutLife, and I didn't understand how this new social marketing opportunity would be any different.

What is Twitter?

Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing? You have 140 characters (letters) to answer that question. You can “twitter” once a day or twenty times a day. It's up to you.

You may wonder who reads these twitters. They are your “Followers.” People follow others they know, those they respect, or those recommended by other.

In the 6 months since I've been Twittering I've accumulated 3,600+ followers, and I get between 20-30 new followers every day. (I received five new followers in the time it took me to write this article!) Not every follower reads each of my posts, but many of them read most.

Throughout the day I send in updates about my devotional time, writing, editing, and even my errands. People follow the progress of my books, and they are often eager to spread the word about my project. They comment back, which gives me a sense of community. I’ve also used Twitter when doing research. I post questions, and I ask for feedback. I’ve even asked for suggestions for chapter titles or character names. Fun!

Twittering may sound like work, but it takes less than one minute to post 140 characters—about two sentences, or as much as this paragraph.

As a writer there are benefits to Twittering
1) People DO enjoy hearing about everyday lives of interested people. As a writer you are one of them. (This is the Reality TV Generation, remember?) As you’re working on a book, you can become interesting to a wide variety of people—many who may later be readers.

2) 75% (or maybe more) of the people I've connected with are those who I haven't connected with before. Score! My followers include radio hosts, TV producers, editors, and many potential readers.

3) My Facebook account is also connected with Twitter. When I update the status of one, the other is updated. Because of this, my Facebook network has grown too.

4) When I promote my interviews or articles or books I have a wide variety of people who are eager to hear the newest news. For example, when I was recently on Focus on the Family radio I twittered about it and many, many people responded, telling me they turned into the radio. It was a great feeling!

Following back

Personally, I follow thousands of people on Twitter. NO I do not keep updated with this many people all day long. Rather, I have a select few that I follow via my cell phone. The rest (those I don't follow on my cell phone) I keep updated on by scanning on the web 4-5 times a day. If I see something interesting, I may comment on their post.

The people I follow closely are writer friends and professionals in our industries, such as Michael Hyatt CEO of Thomas Nelson, Sheila Walsh, and Ed Stetzer CEO of Lifeway. I can honestly say I know more about what’s happening in the publishing industry today than I did a month ago. I also follow a few “unfamous” closely. One is Kristen a farm mom. I’m writing a series of books set on a farm, and it’s free research!

So if you are interested in connecting with people, building relationships, and spreading the word about your writing Twitter might be worth checking out. Go ahead and try it. It’s not hard to dip your toe into … since it’s only 140 characters at a time.

“LIVE LIKE A ROCK STAR” SWEEPSTAKES LAUNCHES TODAY

This is from my good friend Brandilyn!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Know any teens age 13-18?

Tell them about the “Live Like a Rock Star” sweepstakes, sponsored by Zondervan to promote the new exciting young adult suspense novel, Always Watching, by Brandilyn and Amberly Collins. Entry into the sweepstakes is easy. And each entrant can earn up to ten entries, resulting in a greater chance to win.

Grand Prize: $850 night out on the town, including dinner for six at a restaurant of winner’s choice, and limo service for the evening. The first 200 entrants will receive a free copy of Always Watching.

About Always Watching– Rayne Tour Series book #1
Seatbelt Suspense® for young adults.
This daughter of a rock star has it all—until murder crashes her world.
During a concert, sixteen-year-old Shaley O’Connor stumbles upon the body of a friend backstage. Is Tom Hutchens' death connected to her?

Frightening messages arrive. Paparazzi stalk Shaley. Her private nightmare is displayed for all to see. Where is God at times like this?

As the clock runs out, Shaley must find Tom's killer—before he strikes again...

Watch the trailer.

Join The Rayne Tour Series Fan Club.


“Mother and daughter team Brandilyn and Amberly Collins have stormed onto the YA scene in exhilarating style with this great new series. Always Watching is a fast paced whodunit set against the intriguing backdrop of rock star celebrity .... Shaley’s struggle to balance her public status with her true identity is one of the most interesting aspects of this story. [Brandilyn Collins’] adult fans will find much to rave about here, while new teen readers will love the youthful voice and perspective that Amberly Collins brings to the table. Underlying the tension and dread is a strong spiritual message about trusting in the God who is always watching over us.”

– Jake Chism, The Christian Manifesto

TO ENTER SWEEPSTAKES, go here.

Okay, so the truth is...

Okay, so the truth is that there are negative things to being a writer. (I had to think and think of what they were, but I finally came up with a few.) Here's one: Butt in chair (which means I'm writing) leads to butt expanding in chair.

As a writer, I spend wayyyy too much time at the computer and not nearly enough time exercising. But I DID find an exercise that works for me. I ride on a recumbent bike 30-45 minutes 4-5 times a week. Since it's a chair seat I can *read* as I ride. Not bad! I'm also active with my family. We go on walks and/or bike rides a few times a week. But I know I need to do more.

Overall, I've lost weight in the last few years. I'm down 15 lbs, but I have more to go. What I realized when reading this post is that while sitting down and writing is EASY for me, exercising is not. And for some people out there (please tell me it's so!) exercising is easy, but writing is not. As I've considered this, I've realized even more that each of us have our unique battles, and the best way to fight our battles is through God's strength.

So my plan???

I need to get my heart focused because I know my body/desire will follow. My first step is to start memorizing Scripture more diligently than I have been. I'm starting with Ephesians 6:10-12 ... this battle is not against flesh and blood ... isn't that the truth!

What about you? How do you battle the "butt expanding in chair"?

"Man, you have a lot of books."

There is one comment that I get from 99.9% of all people who visit our house. "Man, you have a lot of books." It's a true statement, because I DO have a lot of books. I love books--old ones, new ones, classic, books, novels, historical research. And on any given day I'm "reading" a dozen books. This means that around the house there are a dozen books (at least) that have a bookmark in them. Some I just started. Others are nearly finished. These are books I pick up through the day and read. Some one page. Some fifty pages.

The cool thing is that I'm never without something wonderful to read. The hard thing is that I want to read them all, now, today.

In the morning, as I have quiet time with God, I have a stack of 20-30 devotional books to choose from. These include classics like, "My Utmost for His Highest" and workbook style books like, "Live a Praying Life" by Jennifer Kennedy Dean. Sometimes I pick up the books on the top of the stack, but most days I feel "drawn" to a particular book. There are times when the book I feel lead to read isn't on the stack, yet I know I have it, and then the hunt begins.

Usually, it's pretty easy to find a book. My books are organized: fiction, non-fiction, research, childrens, teens, Gen X, parenting, marriage. But there ARE more books than space, so I have additional books tucked around the house--under beds, in baskets, in trunks. Yesterday for some reason I felt led to hunt out a book by John Sherrill called, My Friend, The Bible. I'd read about this older book somewhere and bought it years ago, yet it wasn't until yesterday that I really was drawn to read it. I searched through the non-fiction shelves, and the Biblical research shelves, but I couldn't find it. I looked on other shelves just in case it was misplaced. Finally, I found it in my old trunk, where I'd stashed it with others.

The book is an interesting story about a man's journey to being drawn to read, and fall in love with, the Bible. Now, John Sherril WAS a Christian and He loved God, yet to read about his journey to falling in love with the Bible is a beautiful thing.

As I'm reading it, I--of course--began thinking of my own journey toward the Bible. I grew up going to church, but except for memorizing Scripture to win prizes, I never spent much time in the Bible. After accepting Christ at seventeen-years-old, I remember opening up my Bible for the first time. I'm not sure how I ended up in 1 Peter, but there I was. And, in 1989, as I read 1 Peter 1:24-25, I felt my chest burn as if God was speaking to me:

For all flesh (mankind) is like grass, and all its glory (honor) like [the] flower of grass. The grass winters and the flower drops off, but the Word of the Lord (divine instruction, the Gospel) endures forever. And this Word is the good news which was preached to you.

That day when I read it, I KNEW it was truth, and it was confirmation that my accepting Christ and living for Him was the right decision. I wouldn't be around forever. I needed to consider my life and eternity. And I needed to put my faith on God's Word, which was around long before me and would remain long after I was gone.

Today, as I'm reading John Sherril's book, I'm again awed by the fact that God SPEAKS to us through His Word. As Sherril writes, "As I was grasping the huge fact of literalness, I was still only part way into the awesome reality of this Book. For the truth in the Bible was also contemporary. It had happened then; it was also happening now."

The Bible tells what happened, but when I read it something happens. God uses these Words to prick my heart, to speak to me, to point out direction, or correction, or inspiration within the pages.

Like Sherril. The Bible is my friend. No, more than that. The Bible is a tool my best friend, my Savior, uses to speak to me today. What an amazing thing, when you think about it. What an amazing God to develop this process.

May I ever continue to be faithful to read and listen and understand. And how about you? How do you feel about your Bible? How does your feelings toward it impact your life?

Join in the discussion about ABSTINENCE

Join me on April 15th at 8PM! I'll be on Linda Goldfarb's show, Live Powerfully Now Ministries: Empowering & Encouraging the Community of God discussing abstinence.

Tune in as we discuss these and other questions/topics:

· What is this new trend happening with older teens; sleeping with anyone and everyone giving no consideration to a relationship of any kind?

· Have you found any one ‘abstinence” approach that “gets through” to our teens more effectively than others?

· What role is left for parents to play?

· What role can Christian teens assume to empower their peers in a world that seems to have given up on them?

Tune in across the globe online at 8pm Central on April 15 http://www.blogtalkradio.com/linda-goldfarb and call in as well using (347-324-5810).