Do You Like Me?

  Well, not me exactly. My new Facebook fan page! I finally have Sarah Elisabeth Writes up and running, looking smart with the welcome page featuring my first ebook cover. Here are 7 reasons to “LIKE” my fan page:

1. I’ll post things on it not available on my personal page

2. Occasionally, I’ll hold a drawing exclusively for fans of the page

3. I’m starting a series called “A Thousand Reasons to Praise God.” Be encouraged and join in with your reason of the day!

4. You can easily share my writing with your Facebook friends by inviting them to “LIKE” the page

5. When I need beta readers, I’ll ask my fans first

6. About once a month, I post one of my flash fiction stories

7. I’ll like you forever and ever!

That’s enough reasons to “LIKE” my fan page, right? I hope so, because I don’t want to take up anymore of your time talking about it. Oh, and thanks!

For Him,

Sarah Elisabeth

Facebook.com/SarahElisabethSawyer

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

NaNoWriMo...Say What?

 

NaNoWriMo is the acronym for one of the most insane things I do annually. (Simply because I don’t indulge in many insane things.) Translated, it means:

NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH

Oh yes. You can write a novel in a month. I read an interview not long ago and the author mentioned Karen Kingsbury had once written a novel in a weekend. I wonder what her keyboard looked like afterwards.

If you want to be technical, though, succeeding at this event does not produce a novel. The challenge is to write 50,000 words, and as I covered in my post Novella, Short Story, and What’s Flash Fiction? 50,000 words doesn’t qualify as a novel (unless the genre allows, such as with sci-fi).

But all that is beside the point. The goal this November is to join in literary abandon with tens of thousands of writers from around the world. For me, this means joining my Faithwriters.com family on our special thread in the Forums on the NaNoWriMo website and keeping track of everyone’s progress (aka procrastinating on writing my next scene).

So there you have it. If I seem a bit preoccupied when I bump into you on Facebook or face-to-face, you have my disclaimer.

It’s going to be a blast, and I’ll post my word count on an irregular basis.

Are you doing NaNoWriMo?

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.

***

My First eBook Cover!

Okay, I suddenly realized I hadn’t even posted this creation on my blog. What’s up with that? Without further ado, here’s my first ebook cover, designed by my mama, Lynda Kay Sawyer. What do you think?

For Him,

Sarah Elisabeth