Friday, July 31, 2009

Super Mommy Stops Short!!


Extra, extra! Read all about it!!

This just in.
On July 30th, 2009, Super Mommy Betsy St. Amant was walking to her front porch, quite proud of herself for juggling all the things in her hand, when she was stopped short.
Yes, that's right. While demonstrating her superhero strength and navigation skills as a Super Mommy by carrying (by herself, in ONE fearless trip!) her one year old daughter, a purse, a bulging diaper bag, a drink, and two, yes TWO happy meal boxes into the house from her car, said daughter yanks straw from lidded cup and proceeds to poke diet coke into Super Mommy's eye.
It appears there might be new villian on the loose in our town - The Little Miss. Is she a Miss? Or is she a Mess? Only time will tell. Stay tuned to www.betsy-ann.blogspot.com to continue to read the latest scoop on the dangerous feats of Super Mommy and her beloved foes. We have it here first, folks!

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Yay!


What a blessing! RETURN TO LOVE is continuing to get excellent reviews. Check out this latest at Kassy's blog HERE.

In other news, today is cookie day.
Yep, I figure one of my duties as a new stay at home/write at home mom is to occasionally take my hubby and his hard working firemen buddies a treat now and then. So later this morning, Little Miss and I are baking up some chocolate chip cookies and taking them to the station. =)
That is, if we don't eat them all first!! haha.
Seriously, is anything better than a hot, freshly baked, chocolate chip cookie? Talk about comfort food! And yes, I give Little Miss tastes of them. No wonder I'm her favorite mommy =)

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Introducing...


It is my honor to introduce you to a fun, fresh new blog by one of my extreme besties, Lori Chally! Fellow writer, fellow mommy, fellow ACFW'r, and, as you can see from her new website - fellow traveller in grace.


Lori and I met and clicked at an ACFW conference several years ago, and we've been Sisterchicks ever since. (anyone who doesn't know that Robin Jones Gunn reference - google it, and buy the books. You won't be disappointed!) We've been through a lot together, even were pregnant together in 2008! (yes, lots of stories. LOTS of stories. Like when Lori came to visit me while she was about 6 1/2 months pregnant and ate crawfish for the first time! haha! Here's a pic! Let me just add for vanity's sake, I was 8 months. lol)


Lori decided to debut her blog with an interview with...Gracie! Not me. But the heroine from RETURN TO LOVE. Go check it out HERE! =)

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Rain, rain go away...




I love storms.


Well, let me clarify. I love storms when my husband is home, we're snuggly with lots of lights on and some good books laying around, playing with Little Miss on the floor, cooking dinner and enjoying the drizzly sound of the rain against the roof...


I do NOT like storms when Hubby is working, the bottom of the sky is about to fall out on my muddy yard, and Little Miss freaks with every burst of thunder.


Welcome to today! =)


I was supposed to have today "off" to work on my new novel proposal, vacuum, get a few things done (Audrey is terrified of said vacuum, therefore its much easier and less tearful to do it when she's at Nana's!) etc. while Audrey visited with Nana (my mom). We arranged to meet and "switch" at a church about halfway between my house and my mom's. Well, we failed to realize the giant swatch of red coming across the radar from Texas, and ended up being out driving in the worst of it. Streets are flooding, fast, and it was pretty scary. Needless to say, we couldn't switch at the church or anywhere without a cover. We both needed some caffeine, so we said we'd try at Sonic under the awning and get a drink. We got to Sonic, and the lights flickered and went out twice there, and the wind was so strong the rain was blowing in sheets UNDER the awning. We then went straight to my mom's, and literally, it was "over the river and through the woods, to grandmother's house we go". The streets are awful.


So, the desire to have a few productive hours at home alone were swapped for the desire to just keep me and my daughter safe! This was a scary one. So, Little Miss is now napping with Nana and I'm working on my proposal - here, at her house. Where we will stay. lol


Atleast until that nasty red is long gone!


How about you? Love storms? Hate storms? I really do like them when the conditions are right. lol Today, they were NOT.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Monday reading!

Wow, it's Monday again! Time flies by faster and faster it seems - especially now that I'm not working a job outside the home. =)

Between my being home daily and my husband's crazy schedule of 12 hour shifts at the hospital or 24 hour shifts at the fire station or being on call sporadically, sometimes we literally have to stop and think hard about what day of the week it is. Weekends no longer really exist for us, except of course there is church on Sundays. Saturdays, Fridays, Tuesdays - all the same in regards to routine or work.

But it's working for us! What about you? What is your daily/weekly routine like? Is there a particular day of the week you like the best/least?

Here's a new interview for today on RETURN TO LOVE by Tracy Ruckman on the Christian Writing Examiner!

Also check out this interview HERE on Net's Book Notes, by Annette Irby.

Happy reading!

Friday, July 24, 2009

I'm back!

Yay! I'm back in business. Our internet was down because of the card in the computer. My handy dandy tech father was able to discover this and replace the card for free from spare parts last night. Whew. We have a new modem now too, as we thought that was the original problem, but that was needed, anyway, so we won't worry about taking it back. Now we have a back up that still works as well.

I am so not a techie.

I feel like I've been incommunicado for weeks! Not just since Tuesday. At least with my Blackberry I've kept email access. I can technically get online through my BB too, but...its just so difficult. Slow to load pages, and the format is funky on blogs or other sites so its hard to see what you're doing and most of the time, the entire page doesn't load - like banners, headers, etc. Confusing for a non techie like myself.

But I'm back!!

So, today... new updates! Check out Lisa Jordan's post for RETURN TO LOVE and my guest blog HERE. Also, Jennifer's review HERE and Roseanna's Review HERE!

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Grrrrr

This was me this morning, after realizing that my internet was down, and not coming back on with the standard tricks.



In fact, that's still me, because I'm at my mom's house writing this blog - still no internet at home. My dad has been a computer tech for 20+ years, so I know the usual tricks. Restart. Reboot. Reconnect. Try again. What lights are blinking? Ethernet or USB connection? Is the green light on the modem blinking or solid? What, its not on at all? Yep, you're screwed.

Well that's how it felt anyway. lol I spent a good part of today on the phone with the tech support people of my internet company, who basically asked me the same questions and made me retry all the steps I already knew and had already tried twice each, in various forms.

They finally boiled it down to I need a new cable, which might or might not be true, but I finally stopped trying to convince them otherwise and took their word for it in order to keep my sanity. So my dad has an extra cable, and we'll see if it works tonight at home. Sigh.

If not, I might not get to blog tomorrow. So if I'm MIA, then, well, just re-read this post and it will be like a brand new day, because nothing will have really changed. =)

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

So good its just awful...

Hubby and I watched the movie PUSH last night through PayPerView, and wow. I can't get it out of my head. Absolutely fantastic movie, one of my top favorites, I believe.

(If you watch it, know there is very mild sensuality, a bit of language, and some violence.)



Basically, it's about these "special" people (think X-Men type mutants but more normal looking). Some are good, some are bad. All have super powers. There are Sniffers, Movers, Watchers - all whose names imply their powers. (tracking skills, telekinetic energy, and psychic. Plus a lot more, some which we didn't even meet in this movie. Then there are Pushers, which is really neat - they have the ability to push thoughts, even lies, into people's head and make them believe it as truth. Very powerful stuff.

In the picture above are the two stars, Dakota Fanning and Chris Evans. (side note - it was really neat to see Dakota in an "adult" role instead of movies like Babe the Pig. She's grown up and her acting is amazing. I hated they gave her a few cuss words but it did fit her character - tough chick, on her own, etc.) Dakota is a Watcher and Chris is a Mover, but kinda bad at his powers. Those develop throughout the movie. They are independent, on their own, trying to stay under the radar from a governement agency named Division who is all about control, power, and experiments. They are trying to build an army of special powered people and experiment on the "mutants" (though they are not called that) like lab rats.

The plot is sort of complicated to explain, and I won't really try because A. It's just hard and B. I don't want to give anything away. But basically, Dakota's mom is stuck in Division and Dakota wants to get her out, and knows through her powers as a pyschic that it all boils down to finding this one particular girl and this particular case she has - before Division does. Chris gets involved because he at first believes there to be money in it for him, and needs to pay off some bookies for gambling. But then he forms a bro/sis type relationship with Dakota and wants to help her, not to mention another twist involving the girl they are trying to find.

It's a race against time, as with every good movie, and the writer really amped the stakes by having not only the Division after Dakota and Chris and this girl, but another group of bad guys, an Asian mob family that want the case for themselves. Stakes stakes stakes! I should have taken notes. That is always my weak spot in writing.

Which brings me to my point in blogging about this movie. It was so good it made me feel like a chump writer. LOL! Do you ever have those days as fellow authors? You read a book or see a movie where the plot absolutely blows you away. So detailed, so meticulous, practically flawless, complete with SHOCKING twists and turns...and you think, man, I could never think of something like that. Couldn't even begin to!

I told that to my hubby last night. I was in a good mood from such a great movie, but was at the same time a little bummed because, seriously - never in a million years could I concoct that.

But he said something really profound that touched me. He said "Isn't your writing ultimately from God? Are you saying that it would be impossible for God to use you to write the next best seller, or impossible for Him to use you to write something that amazing?"

I just kinda sat there, ashamed, because he was so right! Just because I doubt my abilities doesn't mean I should doubt God's. And yes, I believe my writing is a gift from Him and I believe He guides it. So I shouldn't speak negatively about my abilities (nor should I be prideful of course!) but there is a balance in being confident in what He does in me and through me.

So today, as I work on finishing up my contracted novel to meet my deadline next week, I'm going to remember that God guides my pen, and even though I might doubt my own abilities at times, I will NEVER doubt His. He might or might not choose to use me to write a best seller or be "the next Nicholas Sparks" or "the next Stephanie Meyer" or "the next Susan May Warren" but you know what? I am the only Betsy Ann St. Amant and I'm going to write as if that's all I need to know.

Fellow authors, your thoughts on this??

Monday, July 20, 2009

A fantastic new suspense...

It's my honor to introduce to you today my good friend LIZ JOHNSON, new author for Steeple Hill Love Inspired. Her debut novel, THE KIDNAPPING OF KENZIE THORN, is a fun, exciting, romantic read. I highly recommend! Perfect for summer lounging - with your back against a wall, of course =)




Here's the info you need:

Title: The Kidnapping of Kenzie Thorn

Author: Liz Johnson
ISBN: 978-0373443482
Release Date: 7/14/09
Genre: Christian Fiction/Romantic Suspense

Summary:

Myles Parsons is just another inmate in Kenzie Thorn’s GED course until he kidnaps her, offering only a feeble explanation–that he’s actually FBI Special Agent Myles Borden. Terrified, Kenzie doesn’t want to believe his story of being undercover to protect her. Moreover, she can’t believe that someone might really want her dead.


But just when Myles thinks he has her out of harm’s way, his plans start to fall apart. He attempts to take Kenzie to a safe house—but the stubborn woman won’t go! So together they must uncover the clues that will reveal a most shocking perpetrator. All the while Myles tries to keep his distance from Kenzie … but finds himself falling in love.

About the Author:


Liz Johnson grew up reading Christian fiction, and always dreamed of being part of the publishing industry. After graduating from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff with a degree in public relations, she set out to fulfill her dream. In 2006 she got her wish when she accepted a publicity position at a major trade book publisher. While working as a publicist in the industry, she decided to pursue her other dream-becoming an author. Along the way to having her novel published, she completed the Christian Writers Guild apprentice course and wrote articles for several magazines.

Liz lives in Colorado Springs , Colorado , where she enjoys theater, ice skating, volunteering in her church's bookstore and making frequent trips to Arizona to dote on her nephew and three nieces. She loves stories of true love with happy endings. The Kidnapping of Kenzie Thorn is her first novel.

Keep up with Liz's adventures in writing at http://www.lizjohnsonbooks.com/



And purchase your copy of THE KIDNAPPING OF KENZIE THORN here!!

Come visit me today at...

So Many Books, So Little Time

and at...

Christian Review of Books

Friday, July 17, 2009

Visit me!

....at MUCH CHEAPER THAN THERAPY blog today! (where they say, chocolate is plentiful and advice is free!!) =)
Also, check out the rave review given by Allison Pittman, author of the ever popular CROSSROADS OF GRACE series, in her newsletter! What a sweet lady! (and super talented author!!!)
You've Got To Read this Book
Return to Love
by Betsy St. Amant

Another fabulous way to escape the summer heat is to escape into a good book--and Return to Love is a lovely cool spot to duck into. Did I say "duck"? Maybe I mean waddle--and not because I've over-indulged in 3 Musketeers Minty Minis, but because another sort of bird features prominently in this fun romance. Penguins. Yep, as a first in my reading experience since my childhood favorite
Mr. Popper's Penguins, I had a chance to enjoy a book featuring my personal favorites of God's creations. This debut book is a delightful romance between penguin caretaker Gracie Broussard and hunky musician Carter Alexander. (By the way, hunky musicians also factor high on my list of favorite creations!!)

I had the experience of meeting Betsy a while ago at a writers conference in Shreveport, Louisiana--and she herself is a beautiful, delightul woman herself. You can check out my blog for a quick interview with her-- and be sure to leave a comment for a chance to win a signed copy!
Be sure to visit her blog to sign up to win a copy, as well!! And read the interview. She had some fun questions!

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Yay!

More Reviews!
Click HERE to visit Tiff Amber Miller at her blog and win a free copy of RETURN TO LOVE!
Also, HERE to check out a review by Ppreacherswife!
I'm so very pleased with the reviews I'm getting. What a blessing! I'm sure there will be someone, somewhere, eventually who doesn't love RETURN TO LOVE - reading is so subjective, its just inevitable! - but hopefully I will miss seeing their bad review. Haha! =)
Thanks to everyone for enjoying my story. I hope you will all pick up the sequel and else what happens to Lori in A VALENTINE'S WISH February 2010!
Happy reading!

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

New reviews!

Check out some new reviews and interviews of RETURN TO LOVE at the following links!

By Erynn Mangum - Click HERE

By Sarah Varland at LAMBSWELL - Click HERE

By Martha Rogers - Click HERE

By Debra Ullrick - Click HERE

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Happy Birthday Little Miss!!!

Today is the official day!
My Little Miss is one year old! 2:09 p.m., 7 lbs, 2 ounces, and 17 1/2 inches long.
It does NOT seem like a year has passed. But I can't write too much more about that or I'll cry all day!!!! So here are some pics from her party Saturday. =)
We had a Taylor Swift themed party, as Little Miss LOVES her music! That's my country girl!! Haha. I hung up magazine cutouts of Taylor, played her music in the background, dressed Audrey in a cute little red and white/denim outfit, made goodie bags with cookies, Taylor Swift-wrapped candy bars, and bubbles in guitar-shaped holders. We also had cowgirl print balloons and cowgirl table confetti, a Taylor Swift decorated cake by my aunt, who is a genius with frosting and owns a cake business, and my mom made cookies in the shape of boots and the number 1. Such a fun time!




Here's Audrey the day before her party, posing with her guitar like Taylor. =)


Audrey had a blast opening her gifts Saturday and enjoying her cake, and even when she was obviously exhausted, she never got fussy or overwhelmed by her guests once. I was so proud of her! (she crashed afterward for a solid hour!)







She loved her first big girl chair! Her name is monogrammed on it, behind her. =) She also loved the charm bracelet Hubby got her - her first piece of real jewelry!!! Pics to come on that, we need to get it sized.

What loot!

More pics on my Facebook page, for any Facebook fans.

And PS - visit Trish Perry's site HERE to read an interview with me featuring RETURN TO LOVE and enter to win a free copy of the book!!!!

Monday, July 13, 2009

Confession time

This incident keeps coming up between me and my husband lately, and I feel led to to confess. So, here it comes. A top secret, most embarassing newlywed confession. Prepare to be shocked. Prepare to point and laugh. Prepare to even gag, possibly.

You have been warned.
In the first 6 months we were married, back in 2004, I decided one night that I - a woman whose culinary skills never exceeded a peanut butter and jelly sandwich - was going to make my hard working hubby homemade soup.




That's right, I was Super Wifey. How hard could it be?

I bought vegetables. I bought hamburger meat. I found our wedding gift crock pot. I put on my proverbial apron and thought, oh yes. This will be great. Julia Childs' family will be begging for the recipe. Betty Crocker ain't go nothing on me. Those reality TV chefs don't know what they're talkin' about. I AM COOK. HEAR ME STIR!


I poured water in the crockpot. I dumped in (canned) veggies. And I added hamburger meat and some salt and pepper. Then set the timer for 8 hours so it'd be ready after work.

Yes, I confess. That's all I did, and I expected excellent results. The best homemade soup EVER.

Disappointment is a part of marriage, is it not??!!

Needless to say, I came home from work to boiling veggie water with floating chunks of gray meat. NO, I didn't add a soup base like Campbells Cream of Chicken. NO, I didn't brown the hamburger meat first so it'd be nice and brown. I figured it'd cook in the crockpot. And it did. In floating gray masses.

I just looked at it and then stirred it, like that was going to help. Hubby poured a bowl (bless his heart) and took a bite of the gray meat veggie water. And promptly asked for the Tony's Spice seasoning. I was mad at myself for failing, mad at hubby for even trying to eat it, mad at my mom not teaching me how to cook (she tried, its not her fault) and mad at the rest of the world just in general. Hubby choked down lumps of the soup, after adding so much Tony's seasoning that the gray meat veggie water basically became gray meat veggie SALT water.

He didn't ask for seconds.

So, my friends, family and faithful readers, that is my newlywed confession. I served my husband salt water and gray meat for dinner. We've been cracking up over that lately as I've been branching out in my cooking and actually being succesful at new recipes.

Please, please PLEASE tell me you've done the same???? =)
And somewhere, Julia Childs rolls in her grave.

Friday, July 10, 2009

First week at my new job....


Well, it's been a little over a week now at my "new job" of SAHM (well, really I guess its WAHM since I am writing too!) and its been even better than I had hoped. If that's possible! I've been so productive on house work and party-planning for Little Miss' first birthday bash - tomorrow! And I took one afternoon to sit at Barnes & Noble while my mom babysat and wrote for 2 1/2 straight hours. It was amazing! I'm definitely loving my new career =)

For the first time, I'm not rushing. Before, it was rush rush rush to wake up, get dressed, get Little Miss dressed, fed and off to Nana's - then rush to work, rush around work, wishing I was home, then rush to get Little Miss than rush home to do laundry, wash bottles and dishes, eat something frozen or blah for dinner, and rush through our nightly routine to get Little Miss to bed. All just to do the same thing the next morning!

Now, I'm more relaxed. I'm not stressed about my lack of time with Little Miss or for my deadlines. I'm able to watch TV, read books, snuggle during her nap, keep up the laundry and household chores regularly without having to do everything all at once, etc. BLISS!!!

I've even experimenting more with my grocery shopping, coupons, home-made recipes, cooking, etc. Before, I would go through Walmart or Brookshires and pull whatever off the shelf that I needed or didn't. Now, that our money is tighter, its a challenge to find sales, the best price between items, etc. I've never gone into a grocery store and done so much math before! lol But it makes a difference. And now I have the time to take these extra steps.

So here's to SAHM and WAHM's...it's a job, for sure, but the most rewarding EVER. =)

Thursday, July 09, 2009

Come visit me at...

Valerie Comer's blog, here! She reviewed RETURN TO LOVE in a previous post and the most recent is my guest blog post on TO MUSE OR NOT TO MUSE. =)

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Interview!

I was interviewed today on Lena Nelson Dooley's blog. Click here to read! =)

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Booksigning Pictures

Booksigning Pictures!






Here's me at my table before we got started.




Here's Audrey in her "little black dress" for Mama's big event!







A few crowd shots









My grandparents (minus my other grandfather who didn't make it in the pic)






Vince and Becky Yauger, a dear friend and fellow writer, drove in from near Dallas for the event! I felt so special! Becky is my girl with the golden ticket. She knows what that means!!! =) Let's just say she can be credited with some of my first industry experiences because of her generousity!


Here is my mom with Audrey - Audrey got in on the celebration with a cookie of her own! Apparently at some point during the event, she traded cookies with my grandmother - because hers was bigger. HAHA!



My Little Miss! Supportive already =) Who knows, maybe she'll do her own signing one day!!

Here's a pic of the drawing for the giveaway basket you see on my table. Audrey did the honors....





And the winner is ASHLEY ST. VINCENT! Congrats!!



Monday, July 06, 2009

Success!

The booksigning Friday night was a HUGE success! Thanks for everyone's prayers and support. We sold out in less than an hour - almost 50 books! What a blessing. I got to see a lot of family and friends, even some from out of town. As soon as I got inside and got settled at my table, Elizabeth (the coordinator at the store) got me a strawberry frapp from Starbucks and the next thing I knew, I had a line at my table! It went by so quickly.

The giveaway basket was a hit and so was the free candy and my mom's famous teacake cookies. One man kept circling the store, and taking a cookie on each lap. He never even pretended to be interested in my book, just kept raving about the cookies. Haha. Oh well!

The pictures are on my mom's camara which I will try to load today for everyone to see later today. =)

Friday, July 03, 2009

Booksigning!

If you're local to my area in North Louisiana, I'd love to see you at Barnes & Noble tonight on Youree Drive at 6:30! I'll be doing a booksigning until about 8:30 there.

It's my first real booksigning. The one I've done in the past was for a POD book of mine from a small press, and was at my church, which was wonderful - but more of a family/friend only event.

I'm going all out tonight - a themed basket giveaway, a newsletter sign up, free candy, free bookmarks, and, get this - my mom even made her special "holiday-only" cookies to celebrate! Better get there fast =)

Here's some pics from last night - after our birthday date (nice dinner at a Japanese restaurant and seeing the movie Transformers 2) we stopped by a Walmart near our house...



Thursday, July 02, 2009

Happy birthday!


I'd like to take today's blog post to honor my sweet hubby! Today is his birthday! He'll always be younger than me, which is already never letting me forget - haha, if I hear one more time "you'll be 30 before me!" - but man, is he a keeper! =)
This has been a rough couple of months for us with my MIL and especially rough for him, but he's stayed strong, stayed level headed, and continued to make wise decisions for our family and his family.
And thanks to his generousity, I am offically a SAHM today! He gave me the best gift of all - on HIS birthday. As a fireman, he might be a local hero, but he is without a doubt my hero, and my daughter's.

So happy birthday Brandon! Little Miss and I love you! Can't wait for our date tonight!

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Today's the day!!!

Today is the BIG DAY! My last day of work, and the first day of my new release with Steeple Hill Love Inspired - RETURN TO LOVE.





There is a blog tour going on this entire month, so be sure to note the schedule posted below and participate during July! Check back to my blog too for giveaways. And for my local friends, I'd love to see you at my booksigning at Barnes & Noble this Friday the 3rd, at 6:30!


July 1 Georgiana - http://www.georgianad.blogspot.com

July 3 Erica - http://www.onthewritepath.blogspot.com

July 4 Laura Hilton - http://www.lighthouse-academy.blogspot.com/

July 6 Liz Johnson - http://www.lizjohnsonbooks.com/

July 8 Valerie Comer - http://www.valeriecomer.com/

July 9 Erynn Mangum - http://www.erynnm.blogspot.com/

July 10 Sarah Varland http://www.lambswell.com/

July 13 Allison Pittman - http://www.allisonpittman.com/

July 14 Martha Rogers - http://www.marthasbooks.blogspot.com/

July 15 Debra Ullrick - http://www.christianromancewriter.blogspot.com/

Lisa Jordan - http://www.lisajordan.blogspot.com/

July 20 Roseanna White - http://www.christianreviewofbooks.com/

July 24 Angela Rogers - http://www.pantylesspreacherswife.wordpress.com/

Camy Tang - http://www.camys-loft.blogspot.com/

July 29 Erica Harper - readinandreviewin.blogspot.com

July 31 Eileen Watson - http://www.eileenastels.blogspot.com/