With Christmas approaching more quickly than I care to acknowledge, I would like to take this opportunity to wish special joy and peace for you and your family throughout the holiday season and during the New Year. May His love be all around you at Christmas and always.
I invariably plan to be better organized to avoid being caught up in the hustle and bustle of the season, but this year the month of December has almost taken me by surprise. My concept of busy has been redefined with book signing appearances and Christmas shopping events. Still, I am thrilled with how so many of you are recognizing the potential of Arriving as a unique Christmas gift, and I thank you for your purchases.
Today when I began writing this greeting, I was reminded of the look of awe that flashed across the face of a woman I recently met when she learned that I was a published author. She went on to share her wonder and her disappointment. Apparently she has written five books about Ireland, and publishers have consistently rejected her because her stories are too long. Not for the first time, and decidedly not for the last, I felt how blessed I was to have met Faith Farthing of FinalEyes Communications.
Our incredible journey began over lunch in September 2010 when I handed over my 600-page manuscript. A month later, Faith tried to caution me about the demands, the trials and tribulations, and the busyness of being an author. Still, eight days after my 65th birthday, we signed our contract to work together. Within a year, Arriving 1909-1919, book one of the Understanding Ursula trilogy, was in print.
The enthusiasm of my readers has been amazing and uplifting. Yesterday I discovered that my friend in Winnipeg purchased a copy of Arriving on Amazon that was accidentally delivered to Montreal. After a kind woman at Canada Post clarified that my parcel had been “missorted,” I telephoned my long-time friend to let her know she would eventually receive her book. Still, she was disappointed to have to wait at all; after reading “all my wonderful reviews,” she said, she was dying to read the novel I have been telling her about for years.
Good success to all of you who have liked my Enter to Win Giveaway; soon there will be four happy winners. If you are not one of the lucky ones, you can still pick up a copy of Arriving in time for Christmas; I will be signing and selling copies at the Edmonton Indoor Market at City Hall on 104 Avenue the next two Saturdays, December 10 and 17.
I wish you and yours the beauty, the joy, and the love of this special season. Believing makes everything possible.
Corinne