My next book’s book launch that is! Just spent the past half hour or so tweaking a press release and sending it off to several sources around town and posting it to my Facebook Author page Notes section. I have that section syndicated to several areas around the ‘net, so it’s a quick way to get news out.
I had planned on writing a post on Monday this week, but that didn’t happen. Mondays have been busy again, and regularity of blog posting has taken a back seat as a result. Between part-time work, planning the book launch bazaar and fashion show, and playing Mom’s Taxi for my daughter, life has been busier than intended.
Now here I sit, roughly 2.5 weeks away from the big day! Work didn’t call me today, but I found myself making phone calls and rounding up bed sheets for the runway instead. My living room is slowly filling up with stuff to take to the venue, and I haven’t even ordered a box of books yet.
But it’s all good. So far my health seems to continue a slow rate of improvement, which tells me I haven’t overdone it, thankfully. Praying that continues through Feb 8th so that my health doesn’t take a nose dive after the launch is over.
I just wanted to draw your attention to a small contest involving my profile over at hubpages.com. If you look up Marilynn Dawson there, then review the hubs, I encourage you to pick the three most popular hubs and list them in a post about them on my author page on Facebook. The commenter with the closest guess will get an ebook copy of “Dressed for Eternity” on Feb 1st, one week before the book launch event.
You can find several hubs in a widget on the left side of the page here. Click the FB link on my hubpages profile to be taken directly to my author page once you have decided which hubs are the most popular.
Lastly, here is the press release I am sending out to places around the Kelowna, BC area. Feel free to grab it and share with your own sources.
PRESS RELEASE
What does a Roman Soldier, a Yemeni headdress, and the Bride of Christ have in common? Do gems, silk and honey have something to say together? What if the message of eternity was found in antiquity?
KELOWNA, BC CANADA January 23, 2013 – Marilynn Dawson, author of “Becoming the Bride of Christ: A Personal Journey”, “Mom’s Little Black Book: Godly Advice for the High School Graduate” and “Practical Thoughts on Becoming an Author” releases her next book, “Dressed for Eternity” in February 2014. Through practical research into down-to-earth materials, history and workmanship, Marilynn draws some interesting parallels to character God longs to see in the Bride of Christ. Lovers of history, archaeology, fine jewelry, fine food, bridal attire, fashon, and faith are invited to join her as she makes forays into Egypt, Yemen, Canaan, Rome and ultimately, the New Jerusalem.
Marilynn’s book seeks to answer the question, “How does God adorn His Bride in the Scriptures?” At first glance, this question seems entirely scandalous, particularly to the protestant evangelical or charismatic Christian. But as Marilynn observes, the notion is not out of line with those who worship female deities or who place prominent women in eternal places. Analogies, conclusions, and questions face men as well as women in this very different and eye-opening book.
This book is now available for purchase from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Chapters, Marilynn’s website, and other locations as well later in 2014.
She is hosting a book launch bazaar and fashion show at 6pm on Feb 8th at Evangel Church at 3261 Gordon Drive, as well as an online version at: https://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/dressed-for-eternity-book-launch-bazaar-and-fashion-show/ starting at roughly 6:16pm PST. Vendors will feature various items discussed in her book, while models showcase modest trending clothing styles on the runway. There will be book readings, door prizes, and a mystery Grand Prize Basket to cap off the evening in both the offline and online events.
About the Author:
Marilynn grew up in a solid Christian home, coming to Christ at the age of 7. She has been actively involved in Church life since age 10, including activities such as joining her Mom and sister in singing special numbers, choir, teaching Sunday School, leading Sunday School open session, planning Sunday School lessons, and more. Marilynn attended both public and Christian private schools growing up. She attended North Island Community College on Vancouver Island and Trend College in Kelowna, BC, obtaining certificates in receptionist work and CompTIA A+ computer repair.
Throughout her life, Marilynn has written poetry and published a few of them in the American Poetry Anthology(two issues). She’s also written numerous unpublished articles on end-time eschatology and the news, written unpublished short stories, word studies and more.
For more information about “Dressed for Eternity”, please visit https://www.facebook.com/Marilynn.Dawson.Author or contact Marilynn Dawson at 1-250-869-8429 or send an email to author@fa-ct.com.
Click here: http://songdove.fa-ct.com/stuff/DFEpresskit.zip to download the press kit containing an image of the book, author photo, bookmarks, sample section, etc. This kit will grow, so check it once in a while for interviews, guest appearances, and to learn about more locations where the book may be found.
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That’s right. It’s official! “Dressed for Eternity” will launch in paperback, PDF, epub, and mobi formats on February 8th, 2014.
To celebrate, anyone and everyone from the Okanagan Valley is invited to attend the “Dressed for Eternity” Book Launch Bazaar and Fashion Show that will take place at Evangel Church on 3261 Gordon Drive at 6pm! There will be door prizes, book readings, a fashion show and a mystery Grand Prize! It’s also FREE!
Vendors will be featuring products discussed in the book, and models will showcase modest current fashions in casual, formal, and wedding/bridal categories.
Occurring one week before Valentine’s Day, this is the perfect time to browse what local vendors have on hand for that special someone in your life!
An online version of this event is in the brainstorming/planning phase, with a few offline vendors interested in being part of the concept. So for those of you who don’t live in the Okanagan Valley, there is hope! Pray God guides me in the best way to pull off an online version, and that it will be done to the benefit of the vendors involved.
In other news, we’ve had five winners now in the Google Play Giveaway, with three more draws to go. The last draw will be January 26th. See the Giveaways link in the top menu bar to enter your Google acct email address for a chance to be one of the remaining three winners.
Yes, that’s me inserted into the image, courtesy of a TRON FB app a few years ago.
This year, as a family we rang out 2013 and rang in 2014 by following up my church’s New Year’s Eve service with Tron Legacy! Two scenes in the movie stood out to me this year.
The first scene is when Qora is telling Sam how she was rescued by his Dad, Kevin Flynn. Qora referred to him as Creator, even though earlier in the movie, Kevin had told his son that while he invented this amazing place called The Grid, he had only written some of the code responsible for the Iso’s.
The second scene was when Sam and Qora activate the beacon to head back to the “real world”. Clue is trying desparately to get into the stream, close enough that parts of his body threaten to de-res, when Kevin activates his power as the head programmer, and pulls him not only out of the beacon, but chooses to eliminate the threat that Clue is to The Grid by pulling him into an embrace, not only destroying Clue in the process, but dieing himself in the process.
These two scenes struck me because of their similarities to what God is to us and what He’s done for us. As we know from John 1:1-5, Jesus Christ was not only present at Creation, but created everything Himself and for Himself. Unlike Kevin Flynn, He deliberately created mankind with a free will. Nothing about us combined randomly out of already supplied code. Christ saw the mess that mankind had made of the world, and rather than simply outright destroy everything He’d ever made, He embraced mankind which resulted in not only the death of sin, but His own earthly death in the process so that we might be granted forgiveness for our sin and receive eternal life.
Another scene strikes me every time I watch the movie as well. It takes place in a few different instances actually. In the first movie, a program is created to protect The Grid, his name is Tron, after which the movies are named. However, in the second movie, we are introduced to a formidable program named Rinsler, who we later find out is Tron corrupted. This is important to understand. However, the corruption is not 100% complete, as Rinsler’s dual discs are only orange on the inner ring, while the outer ring remains white. In addition, when he finds out that Sam is not a program, but instead a user, he halts the fight. Much later in the movie as Sam, Kevin and Qora are flying a commandeered craft to the beacon, Rinsler, supposedly fighting alongside Clue, suddenly gets a clear view of the craft’s occupants and can nolonger keep up the fight. This angers Clue and he takes out Rinsler’s craft while trying to speed on toward the beacon. We see Rinsler floating downward as his programming changes from orange to white moments before the movie carries on at the beacon.
The script writers have left the door open to a third Tron movie. The Grid is not completely wiped out by the explosion that removes Clue’s threat to the system. Tron has gone from being a created program with autonomous properties, to a corrupted autonomous program, to a reformed program of his own choosing, remembering his original mandate and choosing to revert to it when forced to witness potential consequences.
Like Tron/Rinsler, mankind was created for relationship with God, to love and serve Him. Like Tron/Rinsler, we too were corrupted, won over to the dark side by a cunning and masterful liar bent on destroying all that God had made. But just as we see in the final battle before the beacon when Tron/Rinsler remembers and chooses to revert back to his original programming, we too can return to the relationship God longed for us at the beginning. The difference between us and Tron/Rinsler, is that we were unable to make that choice until Christ paid the ultimate sacrifice for our sins.
Just like Tron/Rinsler’s story, Christ’s death on the cross was not the end. The story has been granted continuation and it is now up to us to make the choice that will either result in eternal separation from God, or eternity spent in relationship with God. We too can move from dark to light by choosing to accept Christ’s forgiveness for our sins and choosing to live in right relationship with Him for the rest of our lives.
Will we see another Tron movie? I don’t know, but I do know the script writers left the door open for that to happen. But one thing I know for certain, is that life for us does carry on after death’s door. Our story has not only been left open, but is indeed going to take place. The question is, on which side of eternity will we sit? On the destroyer’s side, or God’s side.
Welcome to the latest blog stop on the Google Play Winter Giveaway! I get to host this particular stop on tour, as I give away one PDF copy of my books each week until the end of January 2014. This Giveaway is in celebration of my next release, “Dressed for Eternity” which will launch in February 2014. You can read a sample of that book here: https://www.facebook.com/Marilynn.Dawson.Author/app_186268111422317
Today, we get to feature Volume Five of my series, “Becoming the Bride of Christ: A Personal Journey”. This is a 6 volume set with a Leader’s Guide; 14 chapters spread across the volumes, with Volume Five containing Chapters 11 and 12. The back cover of Volume Five has this to share:
“Indeed. . . God sets the solitary in families. . . the lonely among those who care. . . Through the efforts of some of those among my church family’s pastoral staff, the glass walls began to crumble. . . It was fearful at times, especially when big chunks of those walls fell down leaving me feeling exposed and vulnerable for a time. . . But God in His wisdom had placed the right people in my life at precisely the right time to help me through, to draw me out, and as a result, to bring me to that place of healing and restoration I keep talking about. In light of the past few years, this verse really is a comfort tonight.”
Becoming the Bride of Christ chronicles my personal journey as I learn to live with God as unseen Husband and Father in the home. It’s about learning to appropriate many Scriptural concepts that we’ve overly spiritualized, and bringing them down to where life is lived every day. This book can be read as an account of the lessons God’s actively teaching me, or it can be engaged in as a personal or group Bible study. There is quite a bit of Scripture in every chapter, as well as questions to help a person appropriate these lessons into their own life.
One of my goals is to share a story that men as well as women can read and glean from. Too often it seems presentations on the Bride of Christ have been geared toward women when Scripture says the Church, who is referred to as the Bride of Christ, is made up of men and women. I write from a women’s perspective of course, but it’s my desire that men will be able to gather helpful insight, not just women. After all, we are all called to live out the commands of Christ in our everyday life.
You are welcome to read an excerpt from Volume Five at this url here: http://www.freado.com/read/14674/becoming-the-bride-of-christ-a-personal-journey-volume-5
I’m giving away a copy of Volume Five on January 5th. As the giveaway is happening on Google Play, you will need a Google account email address to be eligable for the drawing. Enter via Rafflecopter below:
https://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/giveaways/
In addition, while this tour is going, the following coupon code: 2MU73RQR is good for 10% off all books featured on this tour when ordering from Createspace.com – Good through to the end of the blog tour on January 26th.
Colossians 4:6 Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.
“Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless & pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation.”
Phil 2:14
Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, 1 Peter 5:7
Do you ever have one of those weeks when it seems anything you say on a given subject hits the fan? Yeah, I had one of those weeks over Christmas believe it or not. Heading into upset, bothered and distraught prayer got met with several results.
1) A hug, both in that 360 degree warmth that only God is capable of, and also in the form of snow falling at that very moment of prayer! The knowledge that God was telling me He had the situation under control was reassuring. I still found myself a bit stressed, but not as much as before that prayer session.
2) The third result came the afternoon of Christmas Day, as prayer time revealed the message of humility. I knew then, that although I’d already put much thought and effort into the words that had hit the fan, that I needed to humble myself and apologize for the way those words were received and the resulting damage they’d done.
Boxing Day came and the week progressed, and the verses above were brought to my attention. If you’ve read my series, “Becoming the Bride of Christ: A Personal Journey”, you’ll know that working out the concept of grace in everyday life can be a challenge for me. There are days when I don’t have a problem with it, and then there are days when I am very much that proverbial bull in the china shop no matter how much I try to string words together. Needless to say, seeing this verse came as a humbling exhortation yet again. I almost felt rebuke, as if I hadn’t tried hard enough.
But then the next verse came to me. Attempts at trying to clarify what I’d said were taken by others as arguing the point instead of clarification. As Children of God we are not to be arguing with each other, but seeking to build each other up.
The answer is found in the final verse that came to me tonight. I must seek to humble myself before God and others to a greater degree than I have to this point. If that comes as a shock to some of you, then let it be known that there is always room for continued growth in the life of the follower of Christ. I have this annoying habit of falling off pedestals that others put me on, thinking that I will never behave this way or that way. Unfortunately, I am quite human still, even with the distance in this journey I have covered. The reminder to assume a position of humility is needed every so often, particularly with the knowledge that even my best efforts at communication can fail so easily.
It is my prayer that one day, I will be able to show grace in ALL circumstances, that one day Colossians 4:6 will be true every time I open my mouth or put fingers on the keyboard, not just most of the time, or part of the time, but all the time. That’s quite a thought to consider as we head toward 2014.
So here I am, Wednesday night. . . but hey. . . I’m here. The past few weeks have been tough on my health. Good stuff going on, such as being able to share the Gospel in song via a small choir going out into several community events recently. Just need prayer for my health to improve. I have one more major event coming up that I’ll be doing sound for, and then that’s it for 2013.
While my Google Play Giveaway continues, and while edits and plans continue for the February launch of my next book, “Dressed for Eternity”, yet another venue is having a pre-Christmas sale. If you missed the Christmas sale blog hop I was part of at the beginning of December, you’ll want to catch this one.
New Christian Books is putting everything in their online store on sale at 20% off through to December 31st. Use CHRISTMASSALE in the coupon code area at checkout. You can find my books all in one place here. Clicking their logo will take you to the rest of the site so you can browse books by all the other authors as well. There’s bound to be something there for everyone on your list.
With Christmas happening next week, we’ll see if I remember to get this month’s newsletter out. I’m thinking it may be AFTER Christmas Day! So, if I don’t get another blog posting in before Christmas Day, let me wish everyone a Merry Christmas!
So it appears that Tuesdays are becoming more regular than Mondays with this weekly blog posting effort. Mondays have just been too busy lately to maintain the desired regularity.
Efforts on my next book, “Dressed for Eternity” have been going well. I had four reviewers/editors look over rough draft round 2. As I began working on returned edits for rough draft round 3, it became abundantly clear that my personal writing nemesis, “it’s versus its” had come back to haunt me in a BIG way! One editor found most of them, with a second editor locating what she missed. A third editor gave me such a glowing review that I plan to use it when the book launches in February.
One editor actually does this sort of thing for a living, and asked if I would leave her a review on her business page on Facebook. This is what I wrote:
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As my next book, “Dressed for Eternity” enters what is hopefully the final round of editing by the time Christmas rolls around, I must thank Nat Davis for being part of the team that contributed to the editing process. She was very thorough, going page by page, noting any time my personal nemesis, “it’s versus it’s” showed up, punctuation suggestions, etcetera. Her interest in the book’s subject matter resulted in suggestions, that if followed, would have expanded the book into my second series if not expanding the single book’s page count significantly beyond it’s roughly 300 pages so far.
While we have different perspectives on some of the Biblical doctrines in my book, those differences didn’t stop her from participating in the editing process. As I said to her directly, that takes spiritual maturity.
It is safe to say that she doesn’t merely put her academic prowess to work on editing a book, but her reasoning, intellect, and spiritual understanding as well. The author better know their stuff and better be able to back it up with an editor of Nat’s caliber. In so doing, Nat’s approach challenges the author to write with excellence in all areas; content, presentation, and style.
It was a pleasure working with her, and I recommend her for any editing needs future authors may have.
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Don’t forget to enter the Google Play Winter Giveaway! Also don’t forget to stop by this week’s blog stop on tour for the giveaway. Jansina features the book that will be drawn on Sunday, December 15th.
Welcome to the Holiday Indie Book Sale! Looking for ways to reduce your Christmas shopping debt and still give awesome gifts this year? Look no further than these amazing books by some great self-published authors for gifts to stuff your stockings. From Black Friday through the day after Cyber Monday, fill the shelves of your loved ones with paperbacks!
Melody Valadez
DQTR44VX (20% off)
Those Who Trespass
Faith Blum
93LQLRJ8 (10% off)
A Mighty Fortress
Marilynn Dawson
2MU73RQR (10% off)
Mom’s Little Black Book: Godly Advice for the High School Graduate
Becoming the Bride of Christ: A Personal Journey:
Volume One
Volume Two
Volume Three
Volume Four
Volume Five
Volume Six
Leader’s Guide
Molly Evangeline
http://www.mollyevangeline.com/holiday-sales
Kelsey Bryant
YFY84GHU (20% off)
Family Reunion
Christina & Melody Grubb
http://www.etsy.com/shop/DaybyDayCreations
Aubrey Hansen
D6PH5HAT (20% off)
Peter’s Angel
Morgan Huneke
BX6RV6SK (20% off)
Across the Stars
Vicki Lucas (Discounted to $10 through Paypal)
Toxic
J. Grace Pennington
9L3ES8RT (20% off)
Never
Jordan Smith
5PC4QW6S (20% off)
Finding the Core of Your Story
While you’re shopping for those on your Christmas list, why not enter the giveaway below for a little something for yourself?
Songdove’s Musings is about to enter the Christmas Season with a bang!
To begin with, this blog will be part of a blog hop this coming weekend featuring various authors offering their books at a discount to kick-start your Christmas shopping. This event will take place between November 29th and December 1st. Stay tuned for more details.
Secondly, I personally invite you to take part in the Songdove Books Google Play Winter Giveaway taking place between December 1st and January 26th. As part of this blog tour, several blogs will feature one of my books every week. The complete schedule is below. Pay attention to my own date in the list, and don’t forget to stop by the others as well. If you have a Google account email address, you can enter your name to win one of my books every week. The first drawing is on December 8th.
December 2nd:Tiffany – Voices for Society
December 9th: Jansina Grossman – Rivershore Books
December 18th: Lori Ramsey – Author and Novelist
December 23:Tiffany – Voices for Society
December 30th: Marilynn Dawson – Songdove’s Musings
January 6th: LitanyPrayerhope – Prayer of Hope’s Christian Fiction Reviews
January 13th:Tiffany – Voices for Society
January 20th: Jansina Grossman – Thilly Little Nothing
In addition, while this tour is going, the following coupon code: 2MU73RQR is good for 10% off all books featured on this tour when ordering from Createspace.com – Good through to the end of the blog tour on January 26th. See “Around the World” in the top menubar for Createspace links to each of the books.
Lastly, my latest book, “Practical Thoughts on Becoming an Author” ebook now available from Smashwords! Sign up for the Songdove Books Newsletter to receive a coupon code good for one free copy in the format of your choice.
So I completely missed last week’s blog postings, and here we are on Tuesday, and I’ve missed Monday’s posting again! It isn’t for lack of not having a note on my calendar to do my blog posts every Monday. There’s no excuse there. But Mondays have been a big strange lately and checking my calendar hasn’t been at the top of my list.
It is true that we are in November, late November now to be exact. This means life gets busy, especially the closer we get to Christmas. I’ve been in the middle of several projects lately on top of needing to rest for my health, work to pay the bills, and my usual church involvement. Special events are slowly picking up steam and my daughter is now taking harp lessons that I have to play Mom’s Taxi for.
In roughly two-week’s time, this blog will see a spurt of activity, my newsletter will go out encouraging everyone to stop by, and Christmas events will begin in earnest.
I’ll be part of a blog hop that I will be able to tell you more about in coming days. My Google Play Winter Giveaway begins on December 1st with the first drawing to take place on December 8th. The small choir I’m part of begins singing at various venues around town this coming weekend through to December 20th. Plans are in the works for my next book’s book launch bazaar and fashion show due to take place in February of 2014.
Reviews coming in on the rough draft of “Dressed for Eternity” are quite positive so far!
So there’s a lot going on. What’s your fall looking like?