Nicole Seitz

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
SPIRIT OF SWEETGRASS
Integrity/Thomas Nelson (March 6, 2007)
by Nicole Seitz

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
NICOLE SEITZ is a South Carolina Lowcountry native and freelance writer/illustrator published in South Carolina Magazine, Charleston Magazine, House Calls, The Island Packet and The Bluffton Packet.A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's School of Journalism, she also has a bachelor's degree in illustration from Savannah College of Art & Design. Nicole is an exhibiting artist in the Charleston, South Carolina area where she owns a web design firm and lives with her husband and two small children.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Essie Mae Laveau Jenkins is a 78-year-old sweetgrass basket weaver who sits on the side of Hwy. 17 in the company of her dead husband, Daddy Jim.Inspired by her Auntie Leona, Essie Mae finally discovers her calling in life and weaves powerful "love baskets," praying fervently over them to affect the lives of those who visit her roadside stand.Relations are strained with her daughter Henrietta, who thinks Essie belongs in a retirement center. If Essie can't pay $10,000 in back taxes to save her home, she may have no choice. More tensions: her grandson EJ wants to marry a white girl, Essie discovers that a handsome man she's trying to find a girl for is gay, and her daughter carries a hidden secret.When she's faced with losing her home and her stand and being put in a nursing home, Daddy Jim talks her into coming on up to Heaven to meet sweet Jesus-something she's always wanted to do.The SPIRIT OF SWEETGRASS shifts less successfully to the afterlife, where her Gullah-Creole ancestors surround her; but soon, her heavenly peace is disrupted, for she still has work to do. Now Essie Mae, who once felt powerless and invisible, must find the strength within her to keep her South Carolina family from falling apart. Together, with Daddy Jim, they team up to return to Earth and battle two spirits conjured up by Henrietta's voodoo that threatens to ruin an attempt to save the sweetgrass basket weaving culture.

Truth About Fear

I put the finishing touches on a seminar I am doing this fall on overcoming obstacles. Part of the process includes overcoming fear.
According to Susan Jeffers, Ph.D.'s book "Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway", there are five truths about fear:
1- The fear will never go away as long as I continue to grow
2- The only way to get rid of the fear of doing something is to go out and do it
3- The only way to feel better about myself is to go out ... and do it
4- Not only am I going to experience fear whenever I'm on unfamiliar territory, but so is everyone else
5- Pushing through fear is less frightening than living with the underlying fear that comes from a feeling of helplessness
So the answer is ... get over it and get on with it!!!

Reviews for MIKE

I would like to take a moment to thank those who have posted a review of MIKE somewhere on the Web! I appreciate the encouraging words. Apparently Book IV really touched a lot of people.
I hope Book V will do the same!
Thanks so much!

Book Expo America

This year Book Expo America is in New York City, at the Jacob Javits Convention Center from May 31 - June 3.
I'm not attending this year, but I will never forget my first Book Expo last year in DC. Upstairs housed hundreds of children's book publishers and some promotional companies. Downstairs ... there were thousands of publishers! The main floor could have held several football fields, it was so massive. I remember going down the stairs in total awe, completely overwhelmed by what I saw. I had mapped out the contacts I wanted to make, but it was impossible to hit every booth on my list. I even managed to get into the agent area for thirty minutes! I was a little more composed for Sunday and was the second author at my publisher's booth signing books that morning. (Moved all fifty copies, too!) I did get some time to simply wander aimlessly and met some really nice people.
Craig had a good time, too. He came home with dozens of bags and over a hundred books!
If you ever get the opportunity to attend, do so! It will be a weekend you will never forget.