• Category Archives Out of the Blue Bouquet
  • Flower Shop Talk

    I’ve always loved flowers. When I was a child, my mom and grandma jokingly called me their “flower child” because I always kept them supplied with a fresh bouquet of flowers for their dining room tables.

    As a teen, flowers sort of represented an elusive dream that was never mine. On Valentine’s Day, it seemed like every other girl in the school would receive flowers from someone, but there was never a delivery for me. Keep in mind, I was painfully shy and never actually voiced the desire to have flowers. But, if you have to say you want them, that steals away part of the magic of receiving them, doesn’t it?

    Maybe that background and love for flowers is what has made a few flower deliveries extra special to me.

    When I was in college, I competed in scholarship pageants. In one pageant, I completely screwed up the talent portion. Think about your worst public humiliation nightmare, and that’s pretty much what happened. When I was on stage in front of everyone, I lost where I was in my violin piece. It was an epic failure, and I never did manage to find my place in the music. If I hadn’t screwed up so badly, I would have won the competition.

    Fast forward six months to another competition. This time, however, it was a larger competition with many more contestants. I nailed the talent portion, and at the end of the night, they gave me flowers. I won. Not only did I win, but I won a great deal more scholarship money than if I had won that other pageant. That year, the pageant I won was rated one of the top local pageants in the country in terms of scholarship money, and also came with many more perks and help than I would have had otherwise.

    On that night, and in my memory, that gorgeous bouquet of red roses meant so much more than the fact that I had won a pageant. It meant that, even if I failed, I could get back up and succeed. It meant that even when things turn nightmarish and I completely embarrass myself, God can still have a plan that is even better than I can imagine. Even now, when I screw something up or am facing something difficult, I can remember those flowers and hope for another bouquet just beyond my sight.

    Now, just so you don’t feel bad for me about not receiving Valentine’s Day flowers in high school, I have another story to tell. For the Valentine’s Day following my senior year of college, I, once again, did not receive flowers, not even from my boyfriend, Brian. Not wanting to be cliche, Brian waited until the following day to give me roses, along with an engagement ring and a beautiful proposal.

    And I said yes. Again, the flowers were more than mere flowers. They were a promise that I’d found a Prince Charming who would supply me with flowers when I needed them and when I didn’t. When there was a reason, and when there wasn’t. Through ups and downs he would love me, and I’d never have to ask.

    Fast forward over ten years and three children later. I received flowers on April 12. Why do I so specifically remember that date? Because that was my due date of when my fourth baby was supposed to have been born. I unexpectedly miscarried at 12 weeks, and there are no words to describe how difficult that was both physically and emotionally.

    Busy life went on. I had three children to care for, and we ended up selling our house and moving in the time between. Then on April 12, we were moving into our new house, and a bouquet of flowers was delivered from my parents and siblings. The card simply said that they were remembering me on this day. I honestly still can’t think about it without tearing up. Those flowers gave me permission to grieve. They let me know that I wasn’t alone and that other people cared and remembered both me and my baby.

    Three vastly different experiences, but all with the same result. I received flowers that touched my heart and made a difference to me.

    When thinking about an idea for a book, I often start with an emotion that I want to capture. The “Out of the Blue Bouquet” was at least partially inspired by my experiences and a desire to capture a bit of that magic that happens when you receive flowers. There are many different reasons one might get flowers, and many more ways those flowers could impact a life. For me, flowers have both thrilled and comforted me, representing accomplishment, validating grief, and symbolizing the love of my Prince Charming.

    The five stories in the “Out of the Blue Bouquet” hopefully capture some of those emotions associated with flowers. My book is the last in the set and ties everything together by telling the story of how all of the characters in the other books got their accidental flower deliveries.

    Wanting to stay true to the flower magic of my original idea, I thought it would be fun to open a “virtual flower shop” to go along with the book. The shop contains images that can be downloaded and sent to others, as if they were real flowers. Some of the flower messages are funny, and others are serious or romantic. Everyone likes to know someone is thinking of them, and maybe sending someone virtual flowers will give them a hint of the thrill of real ones!

    So visit the “Out of the Blue Bouquet” Flower Shop and pick a few flowers to brighten someone’s day. And then, if you haven’t yet, read the “Out of the Blue Bouquet” collection!

    So what about you? When have flowers been special to you in your life? Have you ever had any “out of the blue bouquets?”

     

    Flower shop

    “Out of The Blue Bouquet” on Amazon

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  • Out of the Blue Bouquet

    So the story starts months ago with a multi-author collection I put together for Valentine’s Day. As that collection was ending, another author I had “met” through that set (Chautona Havig) mentioned that it would be fun to do another set of new books. And that got me thinking.  I really don’t do well if someone says something along the lines, “Do you have an idea for _____?” If I don’t, them my mind won’t let me rest until it has come up with something.

    So I went to my best thinking spot. Sometimes I refer to it as my “office.” It’s where I get all of my best ideas and where I go to figure out the toughest scenes.  It’s a magical place and it has never once failed me.

    Aright, it’s the shower.

    So I was in the shower when I got the idea for a multi-author collection where each of the stories was independent but connected in some way. Specifically, the last book in the set (mine) would tie everything together while also spinning its own fabulous story. By the time I stepped out of the shower, I had the idea, the plot, the title, and my hands weren’t even (very) wrinkled.

    Now, I get lots of ideas for books, many of which I forget before I even manage to write them down. For this one, I kept thinking about it for several weeks before I mentioned it to anyone. I was honestly nervous about it because I knew it was big. I would have to be in charge of the set, which included a lot of legwork, financial responsibilities, coordination, and recruiting other authors. The other scary aspect was that the set would largely depend on my writing ability. With my book being the last in the set–the one that ties everything together–I knew I would have to write around the stories of multiple different authors. Needless to say, that would be a challenge.

    From that very first night when I got the idea I prayed about it, telling God that if He wanted this to happen, He was going to need to make it happen. It was too big for me. So I let it marinate a few weeks, but it kept nagging me. I finally mentioned the idea to Chautona when we were chatting one night. And she loved it. Chautona’s excitement is contagious, and I quickly started recruiting other authors to join us. Recruiting an author to write something new and specific is not an easy task. As a general rule, we are a pretty independent lot. I also very much appreciated that they needed to have a large degree of faith in me and the idea. In the end, we had a total of five fantastic authors who were willing and able to go “all-in.”

    I won’t pretend that it’s been entirely easy. We’ve had some bumps along the way. The actual writing and working together was never an issue, and I really enjoyed molding my story to fit theirs. The final product is something amazing–one that I’m extremely proud of. I truly feel that from the idea, to the formatting and cover, to the specific authors and their stories–God did made all the pieces come together to make something even more than I imagined that first night I had a big idea.

    Out of the Blue Bouquet is a collection of five new books by five best-selling Christian authors. Though each story is complete and independent, you have to read the entire set to find out how they are connected. I look forward to hearing what you think of it. My heart seriously takes off every time I think of people reading a product that once only existed in my imagination.

    Finally, I have a few other pieces of good news for you:

    ***  Out of the Blue Bouquet is available for pre-order at all retailers for 99 cents. This is only for a limited time. So if you are one of those who gets her ebooks from somewhere other than Amazon, get it quick. The book will be officially released November 7th. However, it will not be available forever. It is meant to be a limited-time collection. Eventually, it will be unpublished and the individual books will only be able to be purchased as single titles at full price. So again, get it quick!

    The individual retailer links are below.

    Amazon

    Barnes & Nobles

    iBooks

    GooglePlay

    Kobo

    *** You may notice that the official title of this set includes “Collection 1.” Yes, that does mean what you think it means. I’ve had quite a few more showers since that first where I got the original idea. I am currently working on more  upcoming Crossroads Collections. If you read Out of the Blue Bouquet and love it, make sure you are signed up with my newsletter. I will let subscribers know when another collection is released. Also, please leave a review and help spread the word by telling your friends. Reviews help tremendously, and I still believe that word of mouth is the best compliment and most effective marketing tool!

    • Please note, some links on this page may be affiliate links, which means if you purchase using the link, I may get a small commission at no additional cost to you.