Monday, December 7, 2009

Welcome to Heartsong Connection!

Barbour Heartsong Presents Romance is so excited to welcome you here to Heartsong Connection--A place where readers and writers and lovers of Heartsongs can connect with one another.

I'd like to introduce you to your hostesses here at Heartsong Connection.

First is JoAnne Simmons. Here's a little bit about JoAnne:

After several job-hops since I graduated from Cedarville University in 2002, God has blessed me with my dream job as a Christian fiction editor. I’ve been reading and writing ever since my first grade teacher encouraged me to do book reports once she realized the normal class work left me rather bored. (Yep, I was a "nerd"!) My editing career began when my school friends discovered it was a good idea to have me look over their homework before they handed it in. From there, God opened door after door of experience for me. I have yet to put pen to paper (er...fingers to keyboard) on a novel of my own, but someday I hope to. For now, I’ll keep reading, editing, and soaking in everything I possibly can about Christian publishing.

JoAnne is the editor for Heartsong Presents. She's got way more to do than I think is humanly possible, and yet it all gets done in a timely manner, and she does it all with a smile. JoAnne also blogs at The Edit Cafe with fellow Barbour editor Rebecca Germany.

Next is Heartsong Author Jeri Odell.

Jeri Odell is a native of Tucson, Arizona. She has been married over twenty-five years and has three adult children. Jeri holds family dear to her heart, second only to God. When not writing or reading, she teaches a college girl's Sunday school class and leads a mid-week Bible study for them. Jeri is also attempting to scrapbook twenty years worth of family photos--a major feat!


You can find a list of Jeri's wonderful books by clicking HERE.


(Side note here: Jeri was the first Heartsong Author I ever communicated with. I read one of her Heartsongs--Surrendered Hearts--and loved it, sent her a little note, and she replied to me so sweetly! I was thrilled, and her encouragement to me to keep writing meant a lot.)

Which brings me to...well, me.

I'm Erica Vetsch and here's a little about me.


Erica Vetsch is married to Peter and keeps the company books for the family lumber business. A home-school mom to Heather and James, Erica loves history, romance, and storytelling. Her ideal vacation is taking her family to out-of-the-way history museums and chatting to curators about local history. She has a Bachelor’s degree from Calvary Bible College in Secondary Education: Social Studies. You can find her on the web at http://www.onthewritepath.blogspot.com/

My first book, The Bartered Bride, debuted with Heartsong Presents in November of 2009. (Insert excited squeeing noise here!)


So, now that you know a little bit about us, what can you look forward to here at Heartsong Connection?

Every week we'll be posting about a new Heartsong book. You'll learn about the book, the author, the setting, and more. In addition, we'll post about a Heartsong story from the archives, a story you might've missed, or maybe one that you especially enjoyed.

Here is the tentative posting schedule:


Monday: Every Monday we'll unveil a brand new Heartsong title. You'll get to read a little about the characters and setting and a little bit about the author.

Tuesday: On Tuesday we'll post a short exerpt from the book, as well as give you a sneek peek into Wednesday's post.

Wednesday: A chance to meet the author, either through a guest blog or an interview. This is your chance to ask questions, and the author will try to answer them.

Thursday: A peek at the Heartsong vault. Here's where we'll post about a previously released title in the Heartsong collection. If you've read the book, be sure to chime in with your thoughts. If you haven't read the book, it will still be available to order online or through Heartsong.

Friday:We're having a drawing every Friday! If you leave a comment sometime during the week, you will be entered to win a prize!


Prizes? Yep! Prizes!

For those of you who belong to the Heartsong Presents Book Club, you can win TEN--count 'em--10 Heartpoints which can be applied to a future shipment of books.

OR,

If you don't belong to the book club at this time, you can choose to receive a free copy of either the book of the week or the archive book of the week.

But wait! There's more!

At random intervals, we'll choose a Follow Friday Winner. To be eligible for this drawing, you must be a follower of Heartsong Connections through the Google Follow Widget here on the blog. On a Follow Friday, one follower's name will be drawn to win their choice of that week's prizes.

It is our hope that here at Heartsong Connections, we can discuss the things that we have in common: A love of stories, romance, and God.

So don't be shy. We'd love to hear from you, we'd love to have you meet and make new friends among the Heartsong readers and writers, and who knows? You might even win a prize or two!

An important word about the prizes. Because of international costs and customs laws, we have to limit the prizes given away to those in North America only. Chances of winning depend on the number of entries received. Winners chosen by random draw. It is the responsibility of the winner(s) to contact Heartsong Connections through the email address provided indicating their choice of prizes. If you win, shoot us an email!