The Adulteress by Jeannette DiLouie

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Back Cover Blurb:

Living in 1st Century Jerusalem, Keziah considers herself to be a Law-abiding Jew, devoted to appearances and propriety. When her parents announce her betrothel to an older priest who cares nothing for her, however, her worldview crumbles and she decides to create her own rules. But her new focus on the immediate over the eternal leads her into further trouble until the day she comes face to face with a universal story too inspiring to ignore.

Loyal to Rome but ruing his decision to join the legions, Demetrius is sure he hates absolutely everything about Judea. That is until the day he meets Keziah. Drawn to her from the start, he ends up fixating on her as some sort of salvation he has to have. Yet while he desperately wants to protect her from her abusive husband, he only ends up putting her in extreme danger; and himself down a precarious path he never could have predicted.

My Review:

First of all, I found this cover very intriguing, and though I’m not one who reads a book based on the front cover, I will say that the front cover of The Adulteress definitely drew me to the book. The blurb on the back cover cinched the deal and I was hooked.

I will admit that even though both front cover and back cover blurb grabbed my interest, I still approached the book with some caution and skepticism because I was well aware that it is a self-published book, and I have read many books that have been self-published or published by vanity presses that are of very poor quality and could have used a good editor’s eye to help the writer whip them into shape before publication.

So imagine my surprise when, from the beginning of the very first page of The Adulteress, Jeannette DiLouie captured my interest and held it captive until the very last sentence on the very last page.

I rarely give a book a five star rating because, as a writer, I believe it is important to continue learning and improving with each book, but once in a while I read a book that I believe the author has done a top-notch job on and couldn’t have done much, if anything, to improve it, and this is one of those books. Therefore, The Adulteress by Jeannette DiLouie has earned a 5 star rating from me.

I highly commend Jeannette DiLouie for producing a top quality book in the self-publishing market; for taking the time to have one or more than one other person/editor read her book and help her to be sure her writing had no glaring mistakes or typos that drive people like me crazy because those things always distract me from the story.

Ms. DiLouie did an excellent job of placing me in the setting of this story. I was drawn into Jerusalem and as Keziah’s story unfolded I found myself experiencing strong emotions: anger, frustration, and bewilderment with her parents; sympathy, fear and concern for Keziah; and the emotions continued throughout the story as Keziah’s life intertwined with the life of Demetrius and other important characters.

My concern for Keziah, and later, Demetrius, kept me turning pages as I hoped that by the end of the story, each would have their problems resolved and find some happiness or contentment in place of their pain and suffering.

Ms. DiLouis also created a situation in Keziah’s story that, though very familiar with the Bible, I didn’t see coming because I was so caught up in Keziah’s emotions. It made for a surprise followed by the thought “How come I didn’t see that coming?” This made the book even more enjoyable.

Jeannette DiLouie did a wonderful job with making Jerusalem real, bringing the 1st Century to life and describing scenes in such a vivid way that I was there, in Jerusalem, witnessing all of these happenings, and some made me chuckle, some made me want to give certain characters a good talking to, and others brought tears slipping down my cheeks.

This is one of those books whose characters and story will stay with me for a long time to come. It’s the kind of book I enjoy so thoroughly and love so much that I hate to see it end, and yet am relieved to reach the last page so that I won’t have to stay up late for one more night.

The Adulteress is filled with living, breathing characters set in a time of Biblical history and truth that reaches to your very soul as you read.

I was astounded to find that this is Ms. DiLouie’s first published book, and the fact that it is self-published was also surprising. It is definitely the best written self-published book I have read to date, and I highly recommend it. It is a story of abuse, romance, bad choices, pain and regret, suffering, real love and true forgiveness.

 

The Allure of the Mountains (Poem)

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Since I finished my short story, Forbidden Love, I have decided to share some poetry for a few weeks. Today’s poem is a Sense Poem.

The Allure of the Mountains
by Kelly F. Barr

Snow-capped mountain peaks
Christmas scent of pine trees
Cry of the majestic eagle
Refreshed, renewed, alive
Clear sweet water from mountain spring
Most heavenly place on earth

What’s So Great About Self-Publishing? Guest Post by Jeannette DiLouie

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Editor’s Note: Today’s post is by guest blogger and author/editor, Jeannette DiLouie.  Jeannette is an independent thinker, author of ten books, currently, in genres of Historical Christian Fiction, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, and Political Thriller. She is an avid reader and book collector. Check out her blog and website at https://www.innovativeediting.com/blog/

What’s So Great About Self-Publishing?

I went the self-publishing route, and I don’t regret it one bit.

This particular adventure began back in 2013, when I gave up on getting a Big 5 contract and decided to take authorship into my own hands. Since then, I’ve published 10 books through Amazon’s CreateSpace, and I plan on doing the same with another two novels this year.

Additionally, as a book coach, I’ve helped other writers take the same journey. It’s an authorial choice I’m willing to stand by, both personally and professionally.

Why do I think it’s such a good idea though? Let me count the ways…

  1. You have total independence throughout the writing process.
  2. You have total independence throughout the editing process.
  3. You have total independence throughout the designing process.

Whatever publishing step you’re at, you’re free to run your business as you see fit. And that doesn’t always happen with traditional presses, as I’ve seen one too many times.

One of the first books I read this year was an utterly phenomenal young adult fantasy novel put out by a Big 5 publisher. The plot was striking, the characters were stellar and the setting was 100% believable. I devoured that book and bought up the second in the series just as soon as I could justify it.

But its sequel wasn’t nearly as good. There were too many new subplots thrown in, too many new character perspectives added, and the setting expanded into something far more complicated.

Book 3 was even worse, to the point where I won’t even bother buying Book 4.

Since the author can obviously write and write well, it begs the question of what in the world happened after that debut novel. Yet I truly believe her deteriorating story line is the publisher’s fault. It felt like she was pressured to just get something out on the market after her initial hit, with truly disconcerting results.

As a self-published author though, that’s not a problem I’ve ever had to deal with.

I also don’t have to worry about a rushed editing job, while many book presses – particularly the smaller ones – don’t seem to care about quality control. Once again, they’re interested in getting a book out to market. Toot sweet.

People complain about self-published novels all the time, and I understand why. Too many of them are poorly edited, to say the least. But my counter argument is that I see the same thing on the professional end of the spectrum.

Missing words, scattered sentences, dangling plot points: You’ll find all of those and worse.

Self-published authors, however, get to choose their own editors. While this does cost me money, I don’t care if it means I can actually be proud of the books I put out there.

Then there’s the issue of my front cover designs, which I put together myself. Did you know that authors are sometimes told to change their stories in order to fit pre-selected pictures? They’ve had to alter character details or rework plot points just to suit their publishers’ dictatorial decisions.

Self-publishing, on the other hand, allows a creative liberty that, in my opinion, can’t be beat. I’ve designed each and every one of my front covers by using Shutterstock, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator; and I adore nine of them.

As for that 10th? Well, they say you can’t have everything in life and I guess it’s true.

None of this is meant to trash talk everything about traditional publishing. There are plenty of books by small presses and the Big 5 that are well-written, well-edited and well-designed.

Plus, authors who choose to unfurl their full individuality also have to handle their own marketing. And as I always tell the writers I coach, that can be a very tough job to fill.

But I still believe that’s a fair trade-off for the certainty that someone else won’t try to take over my story. My authorial independence is something I guard fiercely, so unless some other company can offer me realistic deadlines, thorough edits and a say in my cover art, I’ll stick with self-publishing.

That’s just the way I like it.

 

 

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Enough Time to Write

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If you’ve been visiting or following this blog for long, you probably already know that in addition to being a writer, I am a homeschool mom and I am doing my best to live a healthy lifestyle – eating the Trim Healthy Mama way and exercising.  This means making everything from scratch, no processed foods. It also requires protein at each meal, low carbs and no sugar. It’s going well, but it can be time consuming to make everything from scratch, though not overwhelming.

My family has to take priority over my writing during this time in my life, which I know is the right thing, but I sometimes get frustrated because I WANT to write everyday, but that is just not possible right now.

Then, when I attended the Super Saturday writers’ conference this year, the keynote speaker, Mike Dellosso, addressed this very issue. He works a full-time plus a part-time job, is the father of five daughters in a homeschool family and writes books, and, like me, his family comes first, so his keynote speech was of great encouragement and help.

You see, I’ve been frustrated and feeling guilty because I’ve had so many people say, “If you really want to be a writer, you need to write everyday, AND, you need to treat it like any other job, which means you can’t NOT do it. You have to schedule time and park your behind in your seat and write — no excuses!”

Well, that’s fine for those whose children are grown and no longer living at home, but that is not where I am at. Therefore, when Mike talked about how we have a dream for writing much more than we do, but that might not be God’s plan for us right now, that made sense.

Mike reminded us of the story of Joseph from the Bible and how he had dreams that took twenty-two years to come to fruition, but that during that time, Joseph kept his faith and remained patient and made the most of each and every circumstance. (This was both encouraging and a bit discouraging to me because as a 50+ woman, I want to complete as many books as I possibly can before I am either unable or unavailable to do so anymore.)

However, Mike went on to say that wherever we are on the road in our writing, that’s where God’s want us at this time, and we should simply be content in that AND do our best with the time we have.

So, that is what I am trying to do in my writing life right now. I am trying to be content with the time that I have to write and use it to the best of my ability. I am working on cleaning out our spare room to organize my books on the bookshelves in that room and put my little desk up there, so that when I have time to write, I will have a place where I can go and not be distracted by other things that might need doing, or by interruptions and other distractions, so that my writing time will be as fruitful as possible. I am also trying to write at least twice a week and the first chance I get at the beginning of each month, I try to write and schedule a month’s worth of blog posts, so that I can concentrate on my WIP for a month at a time, since I normally get about four hours of writing time twice a week for the most part. That plan seems to be an encouragement for me as I actually feel like I am accomplishing something and making progress.

What about you? Where are you at in your writing journey?

Do We Have a Responsibility in Regard to Our Entertainment?

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Entertainment surrounds us — social media, movies, music, books, DVDs. It invades our sight, our hearing, our minds, and our hearts. Therefore, don’t we have a responsibility to be careful about what entertainment we allow to invade us?

The book of Proverbs in the Bible is a book of wisdom and in that book it says, “Pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to a man’s whole body. Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.”  (Proverbs 4:20-27)

Also, in the book of Philippians we read, “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8)

Therefore, it is my understanding that we are responsible for whatever we fill our senses, our minds and our hearts with.

So, why am I talking about this? Because of a brief conversation I had with some friends recently. These friends are also believers, and we were talking about writing and one mentioned the writings of Diana Gabaldon, especially her “Outlander” series, to which I commented, “that’s garbage”. Two of my friends responded with, “No, it’s not. Her writing is fantastic.”

Now, I will admit that I have not actually read any of Diana Gabaldon’s works. So maybe she is a very skilled writer. However, I do know that her Outlander series has a lot of explicit sex in it, and a lot of it is rape, which she romanticizes.

In my opinion, that is wrong, and it certainly isn’t something I want to read and invade my mind and heart with.

Whenever I’ve made these comments about Ms. Gabaldon’s writing, I’ve heard the same thing from both Christian and non-Christian women who read these books, “That was the way it was in that place and time period.”

To which I must say, “I’m sure that NOT EVERY male/female relationship in that place and time period involved rape, just as I’m sure that EVERY woman who has ever been raped has experienced a violent, invasive, traumatic event and would not find it in the least bit romantic. Therefore, I find it irresponsible that a writer would have women romanticizing and fantasizing about their rapist(s) and the act of rape.

I find it disappointing and disheartening that Christian women are reading such things and finding them great entertainment. I refuse to read that type of so-called entertainment.

I am also very careful with what I write because I do not want to be responsible for leading someone down a crooked path. I don’t write preachy stories or stories that will have a strictly “Christian” label, but I do write with the same responsibility with which I read, and though my characters face temptation and sometimes yield to it just as any human, they will also grow and learn and find redemption.

 

 

What is a Book Launch and Why Should You Have One?

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Last Monday I posted about traditional vs. indie publishing. (By the way, I forgot to mention in that post, that indie publishing earn 70-80% of their sales.)

In that post, I mentioned book launches and promised to post about that topic this week.

What is a Book Launch?

A Book Launch is a way to introduce your new book to friends, relatives, and others who may be interested in your book. There are several ways to hold a Book Launch, but the two most popular are an in-person party or online, or you can do both.

Steps for a Book Launch

  1. Send invitations — through snail mail and email for an in-person party and through email and Facebook for an online party. It’s good to have an email system set up that you will be using to send frequent emails to your readers about your books and personal appearances, etc. for this. However, you may want to personalize invitations to those you know well, like friends and family, and those you can send from your personal email. Each invitation should include an invitation for them to sign up for your email list.
  2. For an in-person Book Launchvparty, purchase decorations, create a poster for the event and purchase and serve refreshments, using a theme that goes with your book. Have door prizes and/or hand out goodie bags to each guest.
  3. For an online Facebook Book Launch party, come up with a few good discussion questions and set up some prizes for participation.
  4. Another great idea is to do a blog tour, which consists of you asking other bloggers if you could do a guest post or an author interview on their blog. You can also ask to read and post about your book.
  5. It’s also good to contact local newspapers, magazines, TV and radio stations and give them a press release and press kit about your in-person Book Launch event. You can have your in-person Book Launch party in a local independent book store or Barnes & Noble, or at a library or in your home or a rented space.
  6. The most important thing is to have fun with this! Also, Book Launch parties aren’t just for your first book. Every book you write and publish deserves it’s own Launch party.

Why should you have a Book Launch party? Because it will get you and your book some recognition, grow your readership, get people excited about your book, help get the word out about you and your book(s).

I haven’t had a Book Launch party yet, but I look forward to having one form my first book. I found this information about book launches on websites, blogs and in a book about marketing.