A Valentine's Gift

It's Valentine's Day, that holiday I used to call "the darkest day of the year". I was always on the short end of the stick when it came to love and romance. I was never one of those girls that had flowers and balloons delivered to school. (If you are one of those girls, don't tell me about it.) Well, to be brutally honest, I never even had a boyfriend in high school - or college. And you have to remember that I didn't even know God in high school so I had no religious convictions whatsoever and I still couldn't get a date. For anything.

But before you feel sorry for me, you've got to know that I look back on all of that and I am...grateful. After all, what felt horrible at the time, was an effective strategy in keeping my heart for my future husband. Not having those relationships kept me from making big mistakes. So while I don't have any of those happy "dating" memories, I also don't have any sorrow or regrets. And that's a good thing. Sometimes it's easy to get lost in the here and now, and forget that God is at work behind the scenes, shaping our lives for some future time.

But since most of you are still in that waiting time, I have a special gift for ya'll. I get a lot of mail from girls who have read the Becoming Beka series and want more books. Unfortunately, the publishing world can be very, very slow. So I have spent the last six months writing a novel that I am going to give away for free! Yeah, I know, it's insane. It started out as an experimental project and turned out to be a blast to write.

Totally Unfamous is a blog-book. That means it will release on a blog platform a little at a time, but it is still a complete novel. Oh, and it's written completely in poetry. Yes, you read that right. That's how Lucy wanted it written and since it's her book, how could I argue? Lucy (Beka's younger sister from the Beka series), is now seventeen and is a senior in high school and Totally Unfamous is her story. I posted the first four pages of Lucy's story today, and each day there will be more up there to read.

Could you help me spread the word? If you like the story and think you know others would like it as well, you can use the graphic button above to link the Totally Unfamous page to your own blog or website.

You can also find me over at ShoutLife, a new Christian online community.

So Happy Valentine's Day to each and every one of you. Even if you are by yourself today, remember that you are never alone, and that God always knows more than we do. You are God's precious Valentine today, and every day.