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!

 

 
 

You get what you pay for

I'm seeing a disturbing trend.
Readers are doing anything and everything they can to get a free book. Sweepstakes, newsletters for free ebooks (it's actually easier to give a book away than it is to promote one that costs something), hours spent on Facebook parties for a chance to win, blog giveaways, and more.
Nothing is wrong with these marketing tools. They're supposed to be ways to reach a broader audience, to interact with readers, and to win customers to a writer's brand. Those are all good things. We used to have to wait for books to come out in print, and then we had to go to a bookstore to buy a copy of a book we might or might not end up liking, and short of sending fan mail to our favorite authors, we rarely got any kind of glimpse into the writing process or the author's life. (Most authors, I think, liked it that way.)
It's not so anymore.
Don't get me wrong, I understand being poor as a church mouse and frantically searching for clean, sweet fiction with a Christian worldview. I scoured thrift stores, memorized names of publishing houses, read everything at the library, and searched for sets of used books on eBay before the almighty Kindle entered the world.
With the evolution of ebooks and self-publishing, everything changed. Suddenly we were deluged with free ebooks. We learned quickly those free ebooks were a hit-or-miss proposition. Some were great, some were dreadful. But it didn't matter—we reasoned—because we hadn't lost anything by downloading a freebie or spending a measly 99¢ to fill up our Kindles.
The publishing market was flooded with free and cheap books, and authors—from top-of-the-line bestsellers to up-and-coming newbies—found themselves in competition, all together, in a new world. Now, our marketing efforts have to almost equal our time spent writing and editing.
Every free ebook you download took hundreds or thousands of hours to produce by the author, the editor, the cover designer, the publisher, and so forth.
The intent of a promotional deal is to attract new readers. Are you a new reader? Great! Get that book. If you like it, buy something else in that author's library at regular price. Are you already familiar with that author and enjoy their work? Let them know by paying a fair price for their labor.
We're more willing to pay our coffee baristas than we are to pay our authors, and that's a shame.
We need to change our mindsets, especially as Christians. We should be willing to pay for the things we value. The Bible is filled with instructions to pay the laborer his due, to reward those who work with fair pay, and... in a nutshell... to do unto others as we would have them do unto us.
What's a story worth to you? If nothing, that's what you'll end up getting.

Niki Turner is a novelist, journalist, blogger, and the co-owner and editor for the Rio Blanco Herald Times weekly newspaper in northwest Colorado. Niki is also the current president of the ACFW CO-Western Slope chapter. Married 27 years to her high school sweetheart, she is the mother of 4 adult children and "Mimi" to 4 grandchildren.
She currently has 11 published novellas, all available in collections or individually on Amazon.com.
Connect with Niki at:
www.nikiturner.net
Facebook Author Page
@NikiTurner716
Goodreads
Amazon