"Books of Hope" Nonfiction Contest Winner!

I'm please to announce I've won the non-fiction category in Pix-N-Pens Publishing's "Books of Hope" contest!

In 2012, Pix-N-Pens Publishing, the same company that published my book co-authored with Renee Gray-Wilburn Grandparenting Through Obstacles, held a contest to search for manuscripts to publish. Early on, publisher Tracy Ruckman said that she had noted something disturbing in the faces of people she saw everywhere: hopelessness. She wondered what she could do. So she sponsored the contest to look for books on hope to publish in order to take hope in Jesus Christ to the hopeless.

The contest was announced in May. Pix-N-Pens and its sister publisher, Write Integrity Press, wanted entries in both fiction and nonfiction. They also wanted stand-alone books and books in series of three.

I wanted to enter the contest, but I wasn't sure what to enter. I didn't have anything that fit the "hope" theme in the works. So I did what I always try to do with my writing: I went to see what the Bible had to say. I turned in my concordance and started looking at how many times the word "hope" was used in the Bible. I found about fifty uses of the word in the New Testament, 31 in the Psalms, 18 in Job, and interestingly only 12 elsewhere in the Old Testament.

I thought I could write a brief chapter or devotional-style entry on each occurrence and so that's the idea I pitched to the contest in the 3-book series nonfiction category.

Finalists were announced in June. Turns out there were far more entries for fiction that for nonfiction books (lucky for me!). Everyone wants to write fiction! But nonfiction sells a lot more. When people need help, they reach for nonfiction.

My idea was a nonfiction finalist. The winners of the contest were announced on January 23, 2013. You can read the official announcement here: "2012 Books of Hope Nonfiction Winner" Announced. Scroll down for the winners of the fiction categories. I see some really exciting books there that I'm looking forward to reading!

My first book in the "Days of Hope" series will be 50 Days of Hope from the New Testament.

When will it release? That has yet to be determined. Right now Pix-N-Pens has me very busy with two other series I'm writing for them.

The second book in my "Prophecies Fulfilled" series, titled Prophecies Fulfilled in the Death & Resurrection of Jesus, releases next month just in time for Easter. Please watch this blog for the soon-release of the book's cover! Very exciting!

The first book in that series, Prophecies Fulfilled in the Birth of Jesus, released for Christmas 2012 and is available now. Like Grandparenting Through Obstacles, it's a great resource for individual use or group study.

I'm also contracted for a 3-book series of fiction, the "Springs Eternal" series starting with Hope's Diner which is scheduled to release later this year.

My thanks to Pix-N-Pens Publishing (PNP) and Write Integrity Press (WIP) for the opportunities to write for them and for their heart for reaching people with the hope that is in Jesus Christ.