Tuesday, August 30, 2011

A Historic Event and Giveaway!!!

by Dina Sleiman 

Two years ago this week, a most monumental event occurred. Inkwell Inspirations was launched, and so the journey began. To celebrate this historic occasion in all of our lives, I offer a (slightly ridiculous) commemorative poem and a giveaway.

Ode to Inktropolis



There once was a place little known
Where ink inspirations called home
A wellspring of thought
The readers they sought
While searching the web they did roam

Til Gina took charge of the helm
Cleopatra the queen of the realm
She sailed on her barge
Queen Gina at large
While servants did fan with a palm

Then writers she drew to the place
Scribblers who penned words of grace
The best in the land
They formed in a band
To share thoughts throughout cyberspace

These women of varying sorts,
The winners of writing type sports,
Wives, moms, and the like
Gals who work, cook, and bike
These Inkies within Inkwell's forts

For two years their stories they spun
While Inkettes joined in on the fun
Some said fond goodbyes
And new ones did try
To add to their numbers again

Now several have novels to sell
The blog has most surely done well
Soon others will too
Perhaps even you
For Inkies have come here to dwell.

Yes, a lot has happened in the last two years. CJ's first book has come out. Mine is available in ebook and will release in print next month, followed by Barb's, Gina's, and Lisa's novellas late this year and early next year. We celebrated Jen's The Pastor's Wife a while back, and will enjoy another of her novels soon as well. See the "our books" page for more details. We've also raked in lots more contest wins. Visit the "announcements" page for a full list. And we've welcomed new Inkies. See the "who we are" page if you haven't yet met our newest members, Barbara Early and DeAnna Julie Dodson. Most importantly we've formed a community, supported one another, and had a ton of fun.

Giveaway: Share a favorite Inkwell memory or post from the past two years for a chance to win three Love Inspired Historical novels. Leave a comment with your email address in a secure form (ex. - yourname at gmail dot com) anytime this week for a chance to win. And speaking of giveaways, there are less than two days left for my goodreads giveaway of my novel. If anyone is interested click here.

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 Dina Sleiman writes lyrical stories that dance with light. Most of the time you will find this Virginia Beach resident reading, biking, dancing, or hanging out with her husband and three children, preferably at the oceanfront. Since finishing her Professional Writing MA in 1994, she has enjoyed many opportunities to teach literature, writing, and the arts. She was the Overall Winner in the 2009 Touched by Love contest for unpublished authors. Her first novel, Dance of the Dandelion, will release with Whitefire Publishing in 2011. She has recently become an acquisitions editor for WhiteFire as well. Join her as she discovers the unforced rhythms of grace. For more info visit her at http://dinasleiman.com/
 

34 comments:

  1. Taking this journey
    These sisters came alongside
    Smiling, we forge on

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  2. Following Deb's lead:

    Dip in the inkwell
    Ink and inspirations flow
    Weaving takes of grace

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  3. Oh, very fun. Great idea, ladies. You girls should be writers or something.

    And don't ask why I went with a limerick. No good reason :)

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  4. I like limericks. :-) I also like Dr. Seuss.

    My favorite posts are those that share something fun or an cool fact, such as Niki's post on the gal who first drove a car across America or Anita's sharing about how she's taken her kids to be extras on a movie.

    Probably my favorite aspect of the blog is the beautiful background templates Lisa creates. Well, and the work she's done on our headers and author photos. Which I hope that conveys to our readers that we are passionately drawn to things of beauty and creativity.

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  5. We do have one beautiful blog. Lisa does a great job with the design!

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  6. Love this, Dina! I think we should use this somewhere in promo materials!

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  7. I agree - Lisa's designs are so awesome! Thank you, Lisa.

    Dina, you are so clever with poetry. I can't write poetry, though I did do that Haiku for one of my posts. That was kind of fun.

    Like Gina, my favorite posts are also the ones where I learn fun facts. I loved the post about the first woman driving a car across the country, too. My absolute favorite posts we've ever done were the Inkspots - the women in history. I love reading about historical women.

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  8. Niki, I don't know about that. It's pretty cheesy :)

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  9. Suzie, I enjoyed the inkspots too. Although, I must confess, I don't usually love the history posts. I prefer the more spiritual posts and the funny posts. Shows how we're all so different.

    My very favorite posts have been our party days because we're all so silly.

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  10. ladies...i can't believe that your beautiful blog is two years old...how time flies.

    i always enjoy visiting. thank you for all of your postings...here's to many, many more :)

    karenk
    kmkuka at yahoo dot com

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  11. Invited to come
    And share in the fellowship
    So glad to be here!


    :D

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  12. Loving the haiku
    They tickle my senses pink
    Can't wait to hear more

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  13. Karen, glad you're enjoying it. We have so much fun.

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  14. Karen, thanks for enjoying Inkwell!

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  15. Fun, Dina! We've had some great posts here and I've learned a lot from all of you. I've also been encouraged and challenged in my faith.

    And then there's the fun. Photos from travels and e-parties and celebrations and some downright silliness.

    What do you all enjoy writing about best?

    Right now, I like writing the historical bios best--like Alice Ramsay (the woman who drove the car across the US) or heroes of faith. I enjoy the historical info I pick up when I research, but I'm also challenged by a value or trait these people cultivated. So thanks for the chance to learn by writing as well as by soaking up your wisdom, ladies!

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  16. Susanne, I enjoy writing the spiritual posts best because they help me to grow in my own faith.

    I also really enjoyed writing my dreams post. I spent days on that one and wrote it as a lyric essay, which is a style I had been studying.

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  17. Well, thinking of fun... I recall the day Barb introduced Mary Conneally's new vampire novel.
    I've also loved our First Sale parties!

    We've had some incredible devotionals too. I posted Sunday's to FB, and noted that we write this blog in the hopes that God will use our efforts to touch someone. Even if it's only one person, it's worth it.
    Sometimes that person is one of the other inkies!

    Hi KarenK! Great to have you checking in -- didn't I see you in cyberspace today? Aren't we vying for the same book giveaway? tee hee

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  18. Oh, that fake vampire book idea was a hoot!

    I really loved my first sale party. Although a local friend thought I really did have a party at the beach was sad she wasn't invited. LOL.

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  19. I think I've enjoyed Dina's prayer posts the most. Intimidating though because it's an area I need to improve. (But then, if I knew it all already, I suppose I wouldn't have been nearly as blessed, right?)

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  20. Ahhh. Thanks, CJ. That really blesses me.

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  21. Great poem, Dina. Although I should be mad at you for raising the bar when I have to post tomorrow. What shall I do???

    We've had so much fun, and there's tons more fun to come :+}

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  22. I learn from the spiritual posts, too. They're always a blessing to me.

    Also, I LOVED Susanne's nesting hummingbird post.

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  23. Love the poem, DIna! Even though we're all different and like different kinds of posts, we also bring different talents to the table, that God seems to have knit us together into a team.

    So glad you all like the "look" of the blog too. It's just about time we had another facelift. I'll have to give that some thought!

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  24. Jen, I'm sure you'll come up with something to top my silly little poem that barely makes sense. LOL.

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  25. I'll need to look up the humming bird. I don't really remember that one.

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  26. I agree, Lisa. It's the body of Christ at work :)

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  27. Lisa, I love your "knit together" comment. I suddenly had an image of knitting needles and brightly colored yarn. It makes my fingers itch to knit.

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  28. Thanks for liking the hummingbird post, Suzie! You probably don't remember it, Dina, because it was on my personal blog. Maybe I can put it on Inkwell sometime.

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  29. Okay, I feel better now. Sometimes I skim posts when I'm really busy, but I was surprised I had completely missed one.

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  30. I always love reading the posts on this blog. I like how there's always a different theme each day so it never feels 'samey'.

    I think my favourite post would be one of Dina's where she talked about visualisation when praying. That post really spoke to me at a time when I was struggling to pray. It gave me a fresh idea to try and it certainly worked!


    Not sure if I'm elligible for the giveaway because I live in Australia but I'll try anyway :) My email is Laura.ayson at hotmail dot com

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  31. Do you have an ebook reader, Laura? If so, I'll toss your name in there and send you an ebook of my Dance of the Dandelion if you win instead. And I'm so glad you were touched by my prayer post!!!!

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  32. I'm actually about to bite the bullet and get an ebook reader for my birthday! I've resisted for so long but finally I'm going to get one. So, yes *IF* I win, I'd love your ebook, Dina :)

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  33. And the winner of my giveaway is...drum roll please...Laura Elizabeth!!!

    Congrats, I will email you a link to download my novel for free.

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  34. Ahh!! Thanks so much, Dina! This is great news after a long, tough day at work. I look forward to reading your book!

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How Our Giveaways Work: The Official Rules

We, the ladies of Inkwell Inspirations, would love to give free stuff to everybody. Since we can't, we will often have a giveaway in conjunction with a specific post. Unless otherwise stated, one winner will be drawn from comments left on that post between the date it was published and the end of the giveaway as determined in the post. Entries must be accompanied by a valid email address. This address is used only to contact the commenter in the event that he/she is the winner, and will not be sold, distributed, or used in any other fashion. The odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. NO PURCHASE, PLEDGE, OR DONATION NECESSARY TO ENTER OR TO WIN. ALL FEDERAL, STATE, LOCAL AND MUNICIPAL LAWS AND REGULATIONS APPLY. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.

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