Katie's Short Story!

Check out my fabulous crit partner's short story, Waiting for Sunset, featured in Christian Fiction Online magazine!

Here's the link: http://christianfictiononlinemagazine.com/WaitingForSunset.html

KUDOS, KATIE!!

Article Help

I have a question I'd like to ask all you ladies (especially those 40 and over) out there. This is for a sidebar I'd like to include with my article for Today's Christian Woman.

The question is simple:

What do you do to keep the romantic fire stoked at home?


The shorter and more creative, the better. Examples could be working out together, date nights, always finding the humor in things, never running out of toilet paper, etc.

If you have a comment, please include only your first name, age, city, and state. If uncomfortable leaving that info, lease your email address and I'll contact you.

Article Query Accepted!

Recently, I've been submitting articles and queries to Christian magazines like Christianity Today, Guideposts, and Today's Christian Woman. The topic of my interest is in online attractions. Last Friday, I sent in a query to TCW. That public slushpile was filtered to the assistant editor by Tuesday. (I thought this was fast). Today, that editor wrote me saying she was interested in my "intriguing query letter." (I thought this was really fast!)

So I'm putting a halt to my WIP work to hammer out this article. I was so excited about it and I wanted to share with my supportive blogging community! A byline is a byline, and I'll take one (if possible) in a national magazine! :)

Wish me luck when I send in my manuscript (editor's term, not mine...I still call them an article from my journalism days) this weekend!

T3 - Lowered Expectations

Been a victim of high expectations? What's the solution? Check it out at The Character Therapist!

Oh, and from now on, Thursday Therapeutic Thoughts are going to be called T3 (TTT). I'm tired of writing it out each time!

A Book Hits Home with This Therapist

I just finished a book that is all about where romance meets therapy. I finished Denise Hunter's The Convenient Groom in about 6 hours total today. This book was an absolute must-buy simply based on its premise (that, and I'm a complete sucker for the heroine-and-hero-have-to-get-married type books).

Here's a blurb from the author's website:

Dr. Kate has it all-a radio talk show, a nationally-syndicated column, and a publisher who is paying for a lavish wedding to coincide with the release of her first book, Finding Mr. Right-For-You. But when her fiance jilts her the morning of the wedding, her life begins to crash around her. Who, after all, would want a relationship book by a counselor who can't even hold her own engagement together?

When Lucas Wright realizes what has happened, he offers to marry Kate and save her public image. Kate's heart-and her pride-have been deeply wounded. Are Lucas's handsome smile and utter devotion enough to convince her that her marriage is more than she had ever expected?

I was all over this in the store. She's a high-profile therapist--you have to be if you are called Dr. First-Name--and her specialty is relationships. She gets jilted, a PR nightmare for someone like her. Enter selfless (or is he?) stand-in. Awesome reading.

One of my favorite parts was the beginning of each chapter starting with an excerpt from Dr. Kate's book, Finding Mr.-Right-for-You. Each quote was very therapy-sounding, and many were even along the lines of what I've told clients! Of course, the quote always played into the chapter content, so after reading the quote, I would push on through the chapter, dying to know how it would play out.

I also loved the character arc for the therapist. Being one, I can easily see how we might tend to lean toward the misconception that we know everything there is to know. :) I also can totally identify with the idea that we can't let our own human weaknesses show on the outside. (I mean, what would my clients think if they knew their therapist had also suffered from depression?) Therapists are kind of like pastors. We go through the same stuff everyone else does, but for some reason, everyone thinks we don't. (I know I've thought my pastors were just one under the Trinity in holiness and perfection....but they have all put their underwear on one foot at a time like we all do.) So therapists have learning curves, too...perhaps harder than average, as we're working against all our book knowledge of human behavior instead of just hanging it all out there blindly. Make sense?

Denise is an excellent writer...I had never read any of her work before. But you can bet I'll be grabbing up her first Nantucket Love Story when I have a chance.

Thanks for reading my review...pick this book up!

Treatment Tuesday - Compulsive Shopping Disorder?

Is there really such a thing? Get in on the debate over at The Character Therapist.

The Winner of Menu for Romance Is...

Marybeth Smith!

Thanks everyone for playing!

Marybeth, send me your snail mail addy to charactertherapist (at) hotmail (dot) com.

Have a great weekend!