My E-book Release

  As a writer, I should have some creative way to introduce my first e-book to the world, right? Wrong. Here’s the best I can do with trembling fingers and gritted teeth.

These seven flash fictions are to give people who are unfamiliar with my writing a chance to try it for .99 cents. It also gives “fans” something to tide them over until the Complete Collection is finished, which should satisfy everyone until my first novella is released, which should then hold everyone over until my first novel dazzles the world, lol.

See? I have it all planned. And it begins with Third Side of the Coin, Seven Flash Fictions.

Available on Amazon for Kindle: Third Side of the Coin, Seven Flash Fictions

Available on Barnes & Noble for Nook: Third Side of the Coin, Seven Flash Fictions

More Details:

The production of an e-book for an indie author is emotionally, physically, and time draining. I formatted the book myself, a wonderful romp through HTML land with the guidance of Guido Henkel. My hat’s off to this man (though I don’t endorse horror novels). He personally answered all my questions via his blog and through email. If you decide to publish an e-book and don’t want to tackle the formatting yourself, I recommend you hire this expert.

Then there was the cover design. Wow. My mama, Lynda Kay, went through headache after headache with that, tweaking, redesigning, changing font, adding layer after layer after layer. She used the freebie, Paint.net, to create it from this free stock photo:

All that to say, our only resources were time and heart to invest in this project. Which brings me to the stories themselves.

They were written, edited, read by third parties, self-edited, edited by my mom, who passed them back to me, sent back to her, back to me, back to—anyway, I lost count. Then most of the stories went to my dear friend, Rachel Phelps for editing. Back to me, back to my mom, back to me, back to my mom…

Even after they received the green light from everyone, and I began formatting, I was still editing.

Tested in the Kindle app on my computer, I began the upload process on Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing. I checked the preview of the doc and the cover picture. Things weren’t right and I sent more emails and texts with cries of help. Not sure if it was just a lousy, inaccurate preview, I finally clicked publish. Next thing I did? Sobbed. For ten minutes. Not from joy, unfortunately, but because I wondered if I’d done everything wrong and failed miserably, forced to go back to square one. I had to wait until the book finished the review process—the next day. The thing that got me through the night? Prayer. God granted me peace and patience.

The first time I saw my e-book on Amazon, I squealed. The cover was fine. I checked the interior. Off center. I cried. Sent another email to Guido with my source file. He pointed out potential problems. I corrected those, and uploaded again. Another long wait. I checked. It seemed to have updated, but the preview was still off center. I left it alone, checked back a couple of hours later, refreshed, and…cried. It was perfect.

With all the bugs worked out, the upload to Barnes & Noble went smoothly.

After all that, I’m offering this e-book at .99 cents. Why? Because it’s a labor of love, a learning experience. My prayer that goes with each copy is that God will reach His hand through the words and touch the heart of the reader.

That’s my writing dream.

Months of work–was it worth it? Yes. Every critique, every frustrated “I can’t do it.” Every moment, every tear.

But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect (mature) and complete, lacking nothing. James 1:4 (NKJV)

Please share this blog post with your friends and family, via email, your blog, Facebook, Twitter or whatever your favorite outlet. My desire is to see as many people touched by these stories as possible.

I hope you enjoy Third Side of the Coin, Seven Flash Fictions.

For Him,

Sarah Elisabeth

Available on Amazon for Kindle: Third Side of the Coin, Seven Flash Fictions

Available on Barnes & Noble for Nook: Third Side of the Coin, Seven Flash Fictions

 Third Side of the Coin, Seven Flash Fictions

Heart pounding. Heart wrenching. Heart tugging. Raw and realistic, these short stories show a third side of the coin.

With the gift to find real meaning in a story, award-winning author Sarah Elisabeth creates tales to stir the heart and evoke deep, often buried emotions. Not one to shy away from tragedy or crisis of faith, she explores human conditions through engaging short stories.

“Sarah, your writing is so clear and evocative that there are moments I forget I'm reading and just experience the story.” Rachel Phelps, Multi Award-Winning Master Author

Third Side of the Coin (Seven Flash Fictions) contains seven gripping short stories, and is a prelude to Third Side of the Coin, Complete Collection.

These seven titles include:

I’d Rather Die—Faithwriters.com Editor’s Choice. In a few minutes, a woman must decide to deny her faith, or die.

“People need to read this story.” Jessica Turner-Stotz, Fan

Everything—After turning his life over to Jesus Christ, a man learns his greatest battles are yet to come.

“The raw emotion of your story is incredible. I lived this exact story with my own wife over the last year. Your words couldn't possibly be more accurate.” Gerald Shuler, Flash Fiction Master

Forgotten—Faithwriters.com Editor’s Choice. The lonely elderly. Forgotten by God?

“This story touched me in ways you will never know. Thank you.” Cheryl Harrison, Blogger

Secure—Faithwriters.com Editor’s Choice. A grandmother struggles to connect with the estranged granddaughter now in her care.

“Pain and the promise of healing is so alive—yet restrained—in this very sensitive piece.” Noel Mitaxa, South Eastern Australian Pastor

Understanding—The impact a letter can have—on the sender as well as the recipient.

“The more I talk about my past suicide attempts, the more I open up. You may never know the difference you might make in one's life by penning these words.” Shann Hall-LochmannVanBennekom, Writer and Mother

Scarred—Truly redeemed? A woman reaches out to help a former heroin addict begin her new journey.

“This is an adult piece with raw emotions and an ugly all-too-human subject. You offered God's grace...” Mona Purvis, Retired Executive

Third Side of the Coin—A foolish error costs one news reporter more than her career.

“Your character's pain was raw…I could feel it, see it.” Lollie Hofer, Teacher

That is WRONG

Of Knights and Fair Maidens I’ll be honest. I planned to write a post about the Medieval Faire I attended in October, but couldn’t think of a creative angle. I wanted to leave you with more than the memory of dazzling pictures. I almost passed up writing this, but one thing kept replaying in my mind. The phrase, “That is wrong.” Ah, yes. I think we have something here.

In October, I was privileged once again to attend the Medieval Faire put together by my dear friend, Rebekah Ray. Amid the elegant, and mostly authentic, medieval ware we learned more of the true history surrounding the time of the crusades.

But before that, we experienced some genuine medieval entertainment in the form of mock battles demonstrated by members of the Fellowship of Christian Swordsmen. 

They also treated us to an inside look at the process of bringing a battle to life. Their spokesperson, Kevin Karaki, cautioned kids to “not try this at home.” Sorry, parents, I don’t believe it did much good.

A Dose of Truth

After the feasts and fights, we settled in for Kevin’s oratory on the crusades. He’s majoring in history, but still asked if anyone present had been to the Holy Land. When no hands went up, Kevin said, “Good, then no one can dispute what I’m about to say.”

 With humor and audience interaction, he simplified the stark time in history. His goal was to dispel the misconceptions about what started the crusades and the fueled conflict that spanned generations. After stating a common belief, he requested that if any of us heard someone say it, we should walk up to them and say, “That is wrong.” And proceed to give the facts. We practiced this throughout Kevin’s talk, always on queue with, “That is wrong.”

I benefitted from the laughs and the history lesson, then went about enjoying the day, which included archery. I joined in this year, and actually sank one of my three arrows into the target.

Before we started though, there was an issue with finding the arrows we were to use. As we waited, Rebekah’s dad made a good humored joke using one of those misconceptions. We laughed, and someone said, “That is wrong!”

Nice.

Sometimes it’s just the thing we need to do. Take a stand.

In a loving spirit: “Come now, and let us reason together,” says the Lord. Isa 1:18

Imagine. What would our world be like if all who knew the truth—simply said it?

For Him,

Sarah Elisabeth

An Old, Old Story—Baby's Recitation

  I LOVE old books. I recently acquired one in excellent condition with a copyright by D. Lothrop and Company, 1884. It’s a collection of short stories for Christian youth. What are the odds?

The stories are so sweet and full of meaning that I’d like to share some. I’m pretty sure the copyright has expired, or at least no one will sue me for posting. Of course, it’s not near as charming as reading it from the yellowed pages, but it’s the best I can do.

For Him,

Sarah Elisabeth

Baby’s Recitation

(Author not noted. How sad.)

They called her the baby, though she was two years old. Of course she was the “cunningest little thing that ever lived.” And among her other accomplishments, she could recite little cunning verses in the prettiest manner!

Behold her now, perched on the mantel, her favorite place to practise, rehearsing her new “piece,” so as to be ready when papa comes home.

“May God bless my two little feet,

May they never go astray,

But swiftly and joyfully tread—”

Now baby is puzzled. What is the next line? She can’t think. She twists and untwists her little clasped hands, and finally puts them behind her, in a way she has when she is troubled. “In the straight and narrow way.” Those are the words which have slipped away from her little brain just as her tongue was going to speak them. She thinks and thinks, but they will not come. At last, with bright eyes and smiling lips, she lisps out her next line, repeating the preceding one, that mamma may see just how it fits:

“But swiftly and joyfully tread

After Katie, evway day!”

Katie is the ten year old sister, and if there is any thing in the world that baby likes to do, it is trot after her from morning till night. If the verse really doesn’t finish that way—and baby has her doubts about it—she thinks it is a very nice finish indeed.

“Oh, you little rogue!” says mamma, and lifts her down to half smother her with kisses.

“Katie!” said the mamma, that same evening when the baby was sleeping, “how do you think baby said her new verse this afternoon? She forgot the last line, and this is the way she put it:

“May God bless my two little feet,

May they never go astray,

But swiftly and joyfully tread

After Katie, every day!”

Do you know I have been praying ever since, that Katie’s feet might be kept from going into places that it would not be safe for baby to follow.”

What made Katie so quiet for the next half hour? Her lips had been parted, all ready to ask permission to go to Jennie Blake’s for the next afternoon, when her mother spoke.

“But,” said Katie, “let me see. If baby has really prayed about following me, I must be careful. Jennie Blake is real funny, but she doesn’t always tell the truth; and she says hateful things to her little sister Carrie, and Carrie is afraid of her and hides, and makes believe she doesn’t hear Jennie sometimes when she calls; and baby might learn to do that ; and oh dear! she might learn from Jennie not to speak the truth. I don’t believe I ought to go to Jennies Blake’s tomorrow.”

And Katie worked away on her tidy, and said never a word to her mother about Saturday afternoon and Jennie Blake’s home.

***

Facebook Works—Five Tribes Story Conference

The Graceful Entrance

My mom and I arrived in Muskogee too late for checking into the hotel before the reception started, so we drove straight to the Five Civilized Tribes Museum. Please note: I was in my comfy four hour driving clothes and hadn’t put on make-up yet. Or plucked that one pesky chin hair.

As soon as we pulled into the parking lot, who else had just arrived? Tim Tingle, international Choctaw author and storyteller, and event co-coordinator. He waves and comes over to the car. I hold the tweezers inconspicuously. He insists we make him feel better for being casual and waits by the car to walk inside with us. So much for slapping on some make-up.

Recognition

But how did this man, who we’ve not seen since last year, recognize and call us by name? Facebook, of course. We connected with him and several others after meeting at the conference last year. Not a lot of conversation between us on there, but he’s been keeping up with my writing/storytelling and my mom’s filmmaking.

Once inside, Tim (he insists we just call him Tim) starts engaging in other conversations. I slip back out to fix up a bit. My mom and I then ascended the stairs to the reception area with the elegant white table clothes covering a dozen tables with chairs. I was in denim shorts and too frazzled to take any pictures.

We drop our keys-n-such on one of the half occupied tables as we head to dip up plates of refreshments. Upon returning to the table, before I could set my plate down, the lady across from me asked, “Aren’t you Elisabeth?”

Uh, okay. “Yes, well, Sarah Elisabeth.”

She shook her finger knowingly. “I thought it was you. We met last year, I’m Francine.”

I instantly recognized the name. “Francine Bray? With the Choctaw pony conservation thing?”

Facebook at work again.

Next to join our table is Greg Rodgers, who mentored under Tim Tingle for four years and is now quite an accomplished author and storyteller himself. Hadn’t seen him in a year either outside of, you guessed it, Facebook.

“Hey Lynda and Sarah. How are y’all doing? Saw the picture of your first storytelling. Congratulations!”

The next day, as he moderated the first panel discussion, Greg did special recognition of three or four authors, storytellers and professors in the audience. I was shocked when he included me.

It Works

Greg was after me all through the conference, trying to get me to the mic to tell a story. I wish I had had one prepared.

Facebook. It keeps your face in front of those you want to remember you. So choose a good profile pic.

For Him,

Sarah Elisabeth