It's Book Release Day - and So Much Awesomeness!

The big day is finally here! Sweet Confections is celebrating it's official book birthday with lots of giveaways and great reviews.

But first, I want to wish a happy book birthday to Synchrony by Cindy Ray Hale! Find out more about her fabulous book series on her website. (PS - she has a fabulous giveaway going on, too!)


To kick off the Sweet Confections blog tour, I hit the amazing Down Under. Thank you to the Australian Romance Readers Association for spotlighting my book! It's an absolutely delicious feeling as an author to know you have readers all around the globe.

Today, there are also two reviewers. Laurie Lewis was my first stop this morning. She's known for being brutally honest about everything from characterization to plot holes to grammar issues. As I chewed on my fingernails (my hair is too short to twist around my fingers!), I clicked on her website and quickly read her review. Then reread it . . . and smiled.  =)  Here's a short blurb from Laurie:

Ferguson's characters were thoughtful and real, making it easy for readers to invest fully in the challenges and hiccups in their budding relationship. I especially enjoyed the heroine. Rachel Marconi is not a Barbie doll. Nearing thirty, and a few pounds above svelte from all that delicious baking, she proves that real women eat, laugh, love, work, and drive men crazy--even perfect 10's like Graydon Green. - Read Laurie Lewis' full review here.

The second review for today was over on Heather Justesen's blog. Heather is my partner-in-crime for my book series. My series is Indulgence Row and her book series is In the Garden - but we are sharing a town (Crystal Creek) and we use each other's characters in our books. It's been so much fun to brain storm and create Crystal Creek together.  So, what did Heather have to say about Sweet Confections?

Great characters that made me laugh out loud and fall in love--as any good romance should. -  Read Heather Justesen's full review on her blog.

And, of course, with everything I do, there's an awesome giveaway! Simply click here to enter to win an iTunes gift card, Sports Authority gift card, or a fabulous book.

Looking for purchase links? Check out the sidebar!

A Gift, A Sassy Book, and an Ebook Giveaway!

A Gift

My fabulous friend, Jennifer, gave me a beautiful gift last weekend.

She made this gorgeous African Blood wood pen to celebrate my international magazine article that came out! Isn't she a sweetheart? Her thoughtfulness made my eyes go all watery (and still does). It's become one of my special pens. I have just a couple of pens that I pull out when I'm brainstorming and outlining new book ideas. There's gobs of notebooks filled with ideas, but only a few lucky pens make the cut for creating something from a little idea in my head. Those pens write, write, write out those thoughts, developing characters, filling out plot ideas, and getting down scene blurbs. Special, special pens. Thank you, Jennifer!

While I'm chatting about writing, I got an awesome phone call yesterday from the LDS Church Offices. I was asked to help with another disabilities related project their working on. I can't give any other details, but I'll let you know when it's published! It was both an exciting and humbling moment, all wrapped in together. How grateful I am to help with something so near and dear to me.

A Sassy Book

Stephanie Fowers has a new book coming out!!! I L.O.V.E. her books! I got a glimpse of Prank Wars a few years ago, and have bugged, bugged, bugged Stephanie about it ever since. Thank goodness it was a nice friendship type of bugging, and not an annoying "Get this woman away from me!" type of experience.  LOL!  Stephanie emailed me a few weeks ago and asked me if I'd like to do an advance review. Of course, I immediately responded with a good ol' Kansas "Heck yeah!".

Book Blurb:  All war. No love. Madeleine’s been hurt too many times in the dating scene to let Byron beat her in some huge prank war. They’ve had their deserters, their POW's, their casualties, but no one can risk losing the battle of the sexes.
 

Except now something strange is happening at the college...and it’s not just the students. Buried deep beneath the pranks is real danger and the only other person who suspects is Byron. Should Mad join sides with him or does that mean forfeiting her heart to the enemy?

My Review

Prank Wars is awesomely sassy, brilliantly sneaky, and spine tingly!

Mad Dog is one of the best female main characters ever! She and Byron totally embody the best of best in college prank competitions . . . that will either lead to a total I Hate You relationship or a Jump Off a Cliff and Straight into Love relationship. The pranks, banter, and twisted relationships in this book keeps you turning page after page after page until you hit The End. Your butt will be sore from sitting so long and your throat will be throbbing from laughing so hard! Even then, you'll want more, more, more!

Prank Wars will be released on Valentine's Day 2012. And it's THE BEST gift you can buy for yourself, a friend, or sweetheart.

An E-book Giveaway

One lucky person will win an advance issue of a Prank Wars e-book. Entering is simple:

1. Follow my blog.
2. Check out the Prank Wars book trailer & leave a comment.
3. Leave a comment on this post & tell me what your favorite part of the trailer was! Please include your email address so we can contact you with the good news.

The winner will be announced on Wednesday, February 8th. Good luck, everyone!

I've been published internationally!

Today, I received this awesome package in the mail . . .

It's the advance copies of my article, How Do I Help This Child: Seven principles for helping Primary children who have cognitive disabilities, which will appear in the international LDS magazine, Liahona, in February 2012. Six whole pages about how to help kids ages 3-12 during Sunday school classes. Six pages! That's huge in the magazine world!!! And the article is featured on the front of the magazine! We need more exclamation points!!!!  =)

I was sent copies in English, Spanish, and French. But the magazine is sent world-wide and interpreted into all sorts of awesome languages, like Chinese, Portugese, and so many more. It's so exciting to realize something I wrote is helping people all over the world!

And isn't that an awesome picture of me and my son? Thanks to the fabulous Erin Jensen. Oh yeah, and our guest reader, Mr. Blue Rock Monster, courtesy of my son, Isaac.  LOL!

What a WOW moment!

Breathe In, Breathe Out

It's been a whole week since the last time I posted. It's also been a very stressful week.

Editing on (dis)Abilities and the Gospel has been great! (BTW - did I tell you we tweaked the book to to be "and the Gospel" rather than "in the Gospel"? Well, we did!) In fact, the editing has been so smooth, we should finish up the last of it this week. Then the manuscript will go to our line editor for one last round of edits. Once those final edits are approved, the manuscript will be typeset. It's so exciting to see everything progressing so well - at least in the editing area.

The part that has me super stressed out is our copyrights. We sent our application in for copyrights in October. The website said it takes about 4-6 weeks to look everything over and get permissions. We've followed up a few times, told there were some delays. Then in February we found out they hadn't even started looking over our application yet. YIKES! We're still working through getting copyright permissions and just praying they'll all come through in time. (Cross your fingers and say lots of prayers for us, please!) 

Remember that editing I talked about? Normally, once you go through editing, your manuscript is complete. Nothing else needs changed. But with our manuscript, we aren't sure if everything IS complete. What if a quote isn't approved? Then we need to go back and do a re-write. Which means that chapter needs to be re-edited and approved by our fabulous editor, Tristi, again.

Valor was hoping to have our manuscript over to typesetting a little after mid-March - but they're giving us a bit of extra time in hopes we'll get all of our permissions. Because once it's typeset, it's set in stone. The only changes that are generally made after typesetting is during the galley reviews (the proofs of the typesetting). In this stage, the author and editors review the manuscript one more time looking for any misspellings or punctuation mistakes that could have occurred while the manuscript was typeset. But the only changes that are made are little ones to make the corrections I mentioned. No big re-writes.

So, the stress will continue until March 20th. At that point, we (Lynn & I) need to gather all of the permissions we've received, and re-write the sections with quotes that have not been cleared yet. Some days I get so stressed out and overwhelmed, I can't do anything more than just remind myself to breathe in and breathe out. It will all get figured out and worked through. And it's not all stress. I've seen some pretty miraculous things happen to help prod things along. Some amazing people who've stepped up to help because they know this book is so needed right now. It's those moments during this stress that make my heart full and tears well up.

Really, I know everything will work out. And I know that when this book is released, it's going to be it's very best version and ready to help all the families and church leaders teach individuals with mental disabilities the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's going to touch so many lives in such wonderful ways.

Until then, I'll try to keep looking forward - and continue practicing my breathing techniques!

Bloggers Wanted: (dis)Abilities in the Gospel Blog Tour

My publisher is gathering contacts for my book's blog tour. We are specifically looking for parents, teachers, and church leaders who are raising or teaching kids/teens/adults with special needs (specifically autism, downs syndrome and other mental disabilities) AND who also have a blog they post on regularly. If you or someone you know is interested in reviewing the book, please email me off list with your snail mail address, email address, and blog address (lots of addresses!) at danyelle@danyelleferguson.com The book tour is this summer.

You can find out more about my book at www.DanyelleFerguson.com

Thank you for all your support!

Mormon Mishaps & Mischief: Hilarious Stories for Saints by D.N. Giles & C.L. Beck

It's finally out! Mormon Mishaps & Mischief by D.N. Giles & C.L. Beck has hit the bookshelves. Six of my own short stories appear in this fun humor book. Here's more about the book:

Ward meetings have never been so funny!

This collection of humorous anecdotes from celebrated LDS authors shows off Church members at their finest. From primary pranks to cheeky comments made by Zion’s youth to high priests hijinx, no age group is immune to the potential for humor.

Though it may not be in the official Word of Wisdom, laughter really is the best medicine. Whether you’re a senior missionary, or an eight

-year-old graduating to senior primary, you’re bound to get a kick out of these silly stories.

Read about:

*The preschooler who was afraid of being eaten by ‘Sunbeans’

* Establishing Zion in Cougar Stadium

*The ‘oddmonition’ of Paul

*The 14th article of faith

*Doing battle with the “Laman Knights”

*A young women outing that almost landed the class behind bars…and lots more!

Perfect for those long Sunday afternoons, Mormon Mishaps and Mischief will keep your family laughing all week long!

Mormon Mishaps & Mischief makes a fabulous stocking stuffer. You can purchase it here:




If you'd like to meet the authors and many of the contributors and have you book signed by all, then head on over to the Book Launch Party!

Dec. 9, from 6-9p.
At Barnes and Noble
330 E 1300 S
(University Parkway)
Orem, Utah