I knew that C.S. Lewis and I had more in common than our Christianity when he said, "You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me." Welcome to a celebration of faith, tea, and the written word. I'm always engaged in a book, and whether it's one I'm reading or one of the inspirational romances I write, there's always a cup of tea close by. Join me in a cup as we chat about faith, our favorite books and the exciting places our reading and writing adventures take us.

Thursday, June 22, 2017

WhiteFire Scavenger Hunt Stop #15


Welcome to the WhiteFire Publishing Scavenger Hunt! If you’ve just discovered the hunt, be sure to go back to stop #1 and collect all the clues in order. Once you have them all, you’ll have uncovered a secret message. Turn that in at the final stop for a chance to win one of THREE amazing prize packages!

The Hunt begins at Roseanna White’s site
Take your time! You have all weekend to complete the Hunt—entries will be counted until Monday June 26—so have fun reading all the posts along the way and getting to know each author
Lots of extra prizes! Many of the authors are featuring unique giveaways as well, for even more chances to win!
Submit your entry for the grand prizes back at Roseanna White’s blog.

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Austen in Austin: Book or Party?


Both! Austen in Austin, a 2-volume series from WhiteFire, began as a fun, lighthearted conversation among friends and blog mates.

We were talking about Jane Austen adaptations when Anita Mae Draper said she might like Mr. Darcy better if he wore a Stetson.

I jokingly titled the project Austen in Austin.


Next thing you know, eight women, all inspirational authors of historical fiction, began brainstorming. Each of us took one of Austen's works to rewrite, historical Texas-style (Sense and Sensibility got two stories, one for each of the sisters in the original work.). We talked Austen books and watched movie adaptations of her stories. We researched historical Austin, Texas. We invented a street, Chawton Circle, and a finishing school for young ladies so our heroines would all have a home base in common. We created Pinterest Boards and documents so we could plan how to overlap characters and could describe what the school, which we named the Austen Academy, looked like.

Austen in Austin was truly a labor of love, a fun exercise with friends, and a delightful chance to spend time with Austen characters--in my case, by retelling Pride and Prejudice.

Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy is now Will Delacourt, railroad magnate, and Elizabeth Bennet is now Eliza Branch, a striving journalist who is trying to pay her way through school and avoid the suitors thrown at her by her overbearing mother. Like their original Austen counterparts, Eliza and Will form terrible first impressions of one another...but will pride and prejudice stand in the way of a happy ever after?

My story, One Word From You, won the ACFW Genesis contest for Historical Romance in 2013. It was an amazing moment for me.

(If you like books set in Jane Austen's time, check out my novel The Reluctant Guardian about a spy, a woman who's in the wrong place at the wrong time wearing the wrong thing, and her two rascally nephews. If you like books set in the old west, you might like my novel My Heart Belongs in Ruby City, Idaho, a mail-order mix up with plenty of humor and heart. Just click the titles for links!)

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Here’s the Stop #15 Scoop:


You can order Austen in Austin, Volume I, here:

Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Jet

~OR~ you can order my individual Austen in Austin novella, the Genesis-winning One Word From You:

Amazon
Barnes and Noble

Clue to Write Down: meets

Link to Stop #16, the Next Stop on the Loop: Suzie Johnson! Click here for her blog.

If you're going out of order, here are the links for each stop:

Melody Carlson (hosted)

When you're all finished, Submit Your Entries here!

And now, my giveaway!

In honor of Jane Austen, I'm giving away a Jane Austen Devotional! Devotions include Scriptures and quotes from Austen's works. Please enter the Rafflecopter form below.

(Like winning books? Subscribe to my newsletter, an occasional cheery hello only when I have a new release, and someone always wins a prize!)

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

19 comments:

Rachelle Rea Cobb said...

What a neat way to have come up with the novella collection!! I love it when the titles comes to you first--that's also what happened with my first novel, The Sound of Diamonds. :)

Happy to be on this hunt with you!

Christine Lindsay said...

What a Gorgeous photo of you.

Amber Lemus said...

I have so wanted this devotional! LOL. I bought one for a friend for Christmas but didn't snag one for myself.

I love the Austen in Austin idea. I will need to get this anthology. And probably your LIH too, since the hero on the cover looks SO much like Mr. Knightly. ;)

Trisha said...

Hey Susie! How did I miss "One Word From You"? I'm going to head over buy Austen in Austin right now!

June Foster said...

Susanne or Susie, (that's my daughter's name.) I enjoyed appearing with you on WhiteFire's scavenger hunt. Wishing you many sales with your historical novels.

Susanne Dietze said...

Hi everyone! I am sorry to be so late responding today. We just got back into town! Waving hi and looking forward to catching up on the hunt!

Susanne Dietze said...

Hi Rachelle! I love the title The Sound of Diamonds. How intriguing!

So happy to be on the hunt with you!

Susanne Dietze said...

Thanks, Christine! That is so kind of you to say. That was a very special night!

Glad to be on the hunt with you!

Susanne Dietze said...

Hi Amber! So glad to see you here!

Doesn't my LIH cover look like Mr. Knightly (JLM)?!?!?! It's amazing! LOL.

You will love the Jane Austen devotional! It's such fun to read snippets of Austen, and in the context of a devotional, there are new elements to be gleaned. I love devotionals and it's an interesting change. Oh, and Debra Marvin is giving away the Prayers of Jane Austen which I LOVE.

Thanks for saying hi!

Susanne Dietze said...

Trisha!!! I'm so happy to see you! Waving hello!

I hope you enjoy A in A. It was such fun to do.

Hope your day is going well!

Susanne Dietze said...

Hi June! How delightful that your daughter and I have the same name! My mother was going to name me something else but for some reason started calling me Susie before I was born, and that was that.

So glad you could come by today. Thanks for the good wishes! Have a great time on the Scavenger Hunt!

Mrs Tina said...

Hi Susanne, sounds like a fun novella collection and I love the way you came up with the collection. I signed up for your newsletter, although I should be already on your list.
This has been a fun scavenger hunt.
blessings,Tina

Susanne Dietze said...

Hi Tina! I'm so glad you signed up for the newsletter...if it's a duplicate it'll let me know. Thanks for the heads up!

I'm so glad you're enjoying the Scavenger hunt! These things are such fun.

Have a great day.

V. Joy Palmer said...

Austen in Austin sounds sooo good! Happy to be on this journey with you!

P.S. I have and love that Austen devotional! <3

Susanne Dietze said...

Hi V. Joy! So glad to be on the journey with you, too!

I'm glad to hear you enjoy the Austen devotional. I recently learned there's a Charles Dickens devotional, too!

Caryl Kane said...

Hey Suzie! It's great seeing you!

I had not heard of the Jane Austin Devo. Thank you for the chance!

Susanne Dietze said...

Hi Caryl! So glad you came by--it's great to see you! Hope all is well.

Susanne Dietze said...

Congratulations to Mom is Reading for winning the Jane Austen devotional! Thanks to all who entered and participated in the Scavenger hunt!

Mrs Tina said...

Congratulations to Mom is Reading!
Blessings,Tina