CHRISTMAS WISHES from your friends at Inkwell Inspirations

From Reviewer Kim Ann: "Merry Christmas from my family to yours! This is my favorite time of year for so many reasons! I love getting to spend quality time with all of my family, twinkle lights abound, and of course the delicious food and cookies, but it is also my favorite time of year because we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! This has been such a stressful year for all of us, but I pray that we can all take this day and focus on our many blessings, especially, and most importantly, the gift of salvation."

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From Author Susanne Dietze: “This olive wood nativity from Israel is, for my family, a special reminder of God with us, Emmanuel. The past year has not been easy for anyone, but Jesus is still King, Savior, and Lord. I pray we all find some quiet moments to hold Him dear this Christmas!"

 

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From Reviewer Rebecca Maney: "From our hearth to yours, 'Good News,  Great Joy'!  Merry Christmas, Rebecca"

 

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From Author DeAnna Julie Dodson: "Have a merry Christmas and a joyous, blessed New Year! (I'm the little one in the blue dress. The others are my brothers and sister.)"

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From Reviewer Nicole Cook: "Merry Christmas to all of our Inkwell Readers!  I'm so grateful for all of the friendships I formed this year with many of our readers and authors.  Books have a fabulous way of bringing people together.  Enjoy the holiday season and best wishes for an amazing new year."

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From Author Dina Sleiman: "May your Christmas be filled with laughter, light, and love." 

 

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From Reviewer Paula Shreckhise:  "Merry Christmas Blessings. 

Happy reading and here’s to a much better 2021!"

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From Author Anita Mae Draper: "We have our decorations up including the stockings for all of our children, although only our youngest, a student, is home this year. Due to our provincial health guidelines, our oldest son who lives a few hours away can't come home this year. Neither can our oldest daughter in Vancouver, BC, nor our youngest daughter in South Korea. We enjoyed a Christmas in January 2020 with them all and God willing, we can be together in 2021. Since March, we've had a family Zoom session every second week and on Christmas Day (Boxing Day in South Korea), we'll Zoom with them all and share the opening of gifts tradition. This year is a mountain in our lives, but we have each other and we feel God's presence as we do the best we can to reach the peak. Merry Christmas to all and stay safe."

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From Author Niki Turner: "It’s not all 'fake news.' That’s even a real tree! Do America a favor and subscribe to your local newspaper this year. Merry Christmas and God bless us all!"

 

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From Author Gina Welborn: "Merry Christmas to you and yours from the Welborn Family!"

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 From Author Lisa Karon Richardson: "Wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year. May the joy of the season warm your heart all year long."

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From Author Jennifer AlLee: "Even in the most unusual of years, some things remain the same: the love of family and friends, and the joy and blessings at the heart of Christmas. Wishing you and yours much beauty now and in the new year." -Jennifer (AlLee) Farey

 

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From Author Debra E. Marvin: "Christmas is a season for me, not a day. It's appreciating blessings of family, friends, the comfort of home, and the fun of each day-whether it's an old tv show or a new travel destination. Those blessings carry us year round, as does our faith, so a Merry Christmas wish is my daily wish for you all."

(2018 photo)

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From Reviewer Trixi Oberembt:

I know 2020 has been challenging for all of us, some more than others. One thing I've seen over and over is how people have helped other people in so many ways! And the many ways God has provided over and over again in my own life. I pray that each of us can find a little bit of good in each day, and still be thankful. So I'm taking time to reflect on the Lord's goodness this holiday season. I'm so incredibly grateful that I have my family surrounding me, a church family that has bonded even closer through this year, and a good book to escape to when reality becomes a little too much for me. 

 

I'm thankful to all the hard working authors who write the stories that us readers get lost in. I pray that you always use your skills & talents for God's glory and you write what He would have you to write. Finding God's truth in fiction is something I treasure and helps me in my own faith walk! You're all so incredibly special to me. I wish each and every one of you a blessed Christmas as you reflect on the reason why we celebrate. The birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. 

 

A special thanks to Debra who has banded all of us reviewers together and featured our reviews here on the Inkwell Inspirations blog. Your hard work and dedication to make this all happen is an incredible blessing to me! Thank you for all you've done this year! I look forward to continuing to have a place to share my opinions & thoughts in the next year and beyond. Merry Christmas to you, may the Lord bless you in a special way!

 

 
 

Austen in Austin: Blogmates Watch a Dream Come True

by Dina Sleiman

Back in 2009, when I was first learning the writing industry and seriously seeking publication, God joined me with a group of ladies to help me along my quest. I was invited to join Inkwell Inspirations, a new writers blog comprised mostly of writers who had won writing contests (I had just won the Touched by Love contest) but were still unpublished. Over the next years, we would become not only blogmates, but also close friends, prayer partners, and in many ways a writing team. So it's not surprising that we decided to band together on a writing project, and Austen in Austin was born.

 

It was a labor of love, as the published ladies sought to help the unpublished ladies achieve that esteemed goal, although at this point each of the Inkies has several published works to their names. Several more years passed before the dream became a published reality, but I'm happy to share it with you today. 

As you can see, these eight fun Texas-set novellas are based on Jane Austen's novels. The Ladies of Inkwell Inspirations had such a great time working together inventing these stories with their overlapping settings and characters and their Austenian plot lines, and I just know that you'll enjoy them too! They're written by some great established names in Christian fiction like Lisa Richardson, Gina Welborn, and yours truly, as well as some Inky authors who you might not have read yet, but will soon become favorites. I highly recommend reading the stories in order for the full experience of the overlapping characters and settings. The ebooks are a great deal at only $3.99 each for a volume of four delightful stories!

Volume 1 includes:

If I Loved You Less by Gina Welborn, based on Emma

A prideful matchmaker examines her own heart when her protégé falls for the wrong suitor.

Romantic Refinements by Anita Mae Draper, based on Sense and Sensibility

A misguided academy graduate spends the summer falling in love . . . twice.

One Word from You by Susanne Dietze, based on Pride and Prejudice

A down-on-her-luck journalist finds the story of her dreams, but her prejudice may cost her true love . . . and her career.

Alarmingly Charming by Debra E. Marvin, based on Northanger Abbey

A timid gothic dime-novel enthusiast tries to solve the mystery of a haunted cemetery and, even more shocking, why two equally charming suitors compete for her attentions.

Order Volume 1 in print or ebook 

Volume 2 includes:

Simply Lila by Suzie Johnson, based on Lady Susan 

Yearning to find a real-life hero, a wallflower must learn to live outside the pages of an Austen novel. 

Fully Persuaded by Niki Turner, based on Persuasion 

A brokenhearted artist struggles with the shame of her family s bankruptcy and the return of her first love whose proposal she d spurned because he was poor. 

Mansford Ranch by Dina L. Sleiman, based on Mansfield Park 

An aspiring novelist with a keen eye for character must determine who is worthy of playing her own leading man. 

Sense and Nonsense by Lisa Karon Richardson, based on Sense and Sensibility 

A would-be missionary is determined to make it to Ceylon, but when her funds disappear, she has to accept help from the man she most wants to avoid. 

Order Volume 2 in print 

Order Volume 2 in ebook

Here's what people are saying about Austen in Austin: 

"They had me at the title! What's not to love about a collection of novellas patterned after Jane Austen's classic novels and set in the historic capital city of Austin, Texas? The result is as delightful as the premise." ~ Mocha with Linda

"Austen in Austin is one of the most well executed novellas I’ve read...All of the novellas are interrelated, so where one author leaves off another picks up months or years later, with a new lead character and a familiar cast. I enjoyed the continuity as well as the familiarity which this team of authors developed. If I Loved You Less probably held the closest to Austen’s works. In contrast, Alarmingly Charming struck me as an improvement on the original (because truthfully, I did not enjoy reading Northanger Abbey). All in all, these stories are irresistibly sweet romances with subtle elements of faith." ~ Shelf-Esteem

And in case you're wondering, yes, you can purchase the novellas individually in ebook format, but at $2.99 each, it's a much better deal to buy a set of four for $3.99. 

        Be sure to check out these fun novellas and share them with your friends!

The Inkwell Doth Overflow!

by Dina Sleiman

Has anyone else noticed how many books the Inkies have been producing lately? We've been churning them out like there's no tomorrow. Our Inkwell is overflowing with books; I can hardly even keep up with them anymore. Just think, seven years ago, we were mostly a group of unpublished authors, and now every last one of us has been traditionally published.

No matter your reading tastes, the Inkwell has something to offer: from cozy mystery to romantic suspense to whimsical romance, women's fiction, speculative fiction, young adult, and historicals.

So I have a few questions for you. Which is your favorite book by an Inkwell Inspirations author? And which Inkwell book are you looking forward to reading?

I'll go first. My favorite Inkwell Inspiration book so far is Volume 1 in our Austen in Austin novella collection. The ties between the novellas were a lot of fun, and the connections to the Austen stories were delightful. Although the stories were written by four different authors, they flowed seamlessly. I enjoyed it from the first page to the last. This book thoroughly tickled me at a time when I had grown weary of reading. If you haven't checked it out, what are you waiting for? And the good news is that Volume 2 will be coming this fall, including my own Mansford Ranch.

The book I'm most anticipating reading is Jennifer AlLee's Last Family Standing. I love a book that surprises me and isn't just the same old same old. So I love the fresh and unique premise of this women's novel based on reality TV. Not to mention, I really enjoyed Jen's novel The Mother Road. Now, don't be confused. Last Family standing is already available. In fact it has been for almost two years. I'm just terribly behind on my reading! But this is definitely one I plan on getting to.

Your turn! Tell us what Inky books you've enjoyed and what you look forward to reading in the future.