NextGenWriters Conference - Register Now!

NextGenWriters Conference is a free, online conference designed to help authors under the age of twenty discover new craft techniques and improve their writing. Click here to find out how it works. Our presenter list includes some amazing new and returning authors this year. Registration is open now! Here is the direct link to register. See you there.

FREE e-book sampler of YA books

Get this FREE e-book sampler, which has the first three chapters of these Young Adult novels from Zondervan: Halflings by Heather Burch, Replication by Jill Williamson, The Merchant's Daughter by Melanie Dickerson, Reckless Heart by Amy Clipston, Finally and Forever by Robin Jones Gunn, and Interrupted by Rachel Coker. This is a great way to check out some new authors and get an idea of what book you might want to read next!

E-Book Sale!

Zondervan is doing an e-book sale on their YA books! My book, The Merchant's Daughter, is on sale for $3.99, and my good friend, Jill Williamson's book, Replication, which is fabulous by the way, is on sale for $2.99. Here is the facebook link to all the books that are sale So enjoy some books this summer on your e-reader. It's going to be 100 degrees here this week, so what else do you have to do that won't make you melt? :-)

E-mail Glitch

Hi, everybody!!! I just want to let you know, if you have tried to e-mail me through my website recently, my website email has not been working, probably for at least a week. :-( So if you need to get in touch with me, please leave a comment here on my blog or message me on facebook. Thanks!!! I really do love hearing from my readers, and if I get your message, I will write you back! I promise! :-)

Family Fiction Magazine's Annual Poll and a Book Signing in Huntsville, Alabama

Check out Family Fiction Magazine's annual survey. Go vote for your favorite books, authors, genres, even movies and DVD's. Click here to go vote.

Also, I'm doing a book signing at the Books-a-Million in Huntsville, Alabama this Saturday, January 28th, from 1 to 3 p.m. I hope you can come by and say hello!

I'm also meeting with the Finding Hope Through Fiction Book Club in Atlanta this Monday night, Jan. 30th. For more information, contact me or Nora St. Laurent!

The Merchant's Daughter is $1.99! For a Limited Time ONLY

Hey, everybody! I'm excited to let you know that The Merchant's Daughter is $1.99 for a limited time as an e-book. So get it while you can! ALSO, The Healer's Apprentice is $1.99 for a limited time!




Please tell all your friends!

The Merchant's Daughter Now Available on Kindle and Nook!

Time has seemed to go by so slowly while I've been waiting for The Merchant's Daughter to release! Finally, it is available for download to your computer, Kindle, Nook, or whatever e-reader you happen to have! Go here to buy it for your Kindle.
Or if you have a Nook, click here to get it.


And I have some more news to share. If you like fun, romantic stories, you will love this book. It's one of my favorites. Before the Season Ends by Linore Rose Burkard, and right now, for a limited time, it is a FREE download! I've downloaded it to my computer, because I know I will read it again some day, and I'm sure I will get a Kindle some day too! So go here to download your FREE copy of Before the Season Ends.

Enjoy!

The Reviews for The Merchant's Daughter Are IN!!!

The reviews are in! I was really excited to get a Publisher's Weekly review for The Merchant's Daughter today. Oh wow, I feel so blessed!
"...Dickerson has once again done her historical homework in this tale set in England in 1352. ...This riff on Beauty and the Beast makes the story as comfortable as a pair of old shoes, but the shoes fit well. The Christian apparatus in the tale is natural and a nice twist links the Bible, literacy, and women's empowerment."

I was thrilled to get a positive review in Publisher's Weekly! Yay! They even complimented my research. And I've gotten a few others too.

Here is an excerpt of a review I particularly enjoyed from Kirkus. I'm not sure if they're trying to be positive or negative or both, but I liked it anyway. "Should Annabel flee or stay to defend lonely, disfigured Ranulf, whom she has come to love? Awash in meticulous medieval detail and heavily glossed with Christian overtones, this thinly veiled homily pulses with self-sacrifice, good intentions and suppressed sexuality."

Can't help but enjoy the "pulses with ... suppressed sexuality" comment! LOL!

And the Romantic Times reviewer said: "A fresh take on Beauty and the Beast. Even though this is a young adult novel, adults will enjoy this as much as teens. The message will resonate with readers of all ages: Beauty is within all of us. Regardless of physical appearance, a person’s true value lies within."

And this is from Booklist: "Intertwining the lore from The Beauty and Beast and strong biblical messages, Dickerson (The Healer’s Apprentice, 2010) manages a heartfelt romance that will stick with readers, not only for its morality but for
the exploration of a woman’s place within fourteenth-century English Christianity. True, readers will peg the happy ending at the start, but the progression of Annabel’s honorable love affair will have the rapt attention of Christian-fiction fans."

So, all in all, I can be quite happy with those reviews. But it would certainly--as I know from experience--be smarter to ignore all these reviews along with any negative ones I get and just keep writing my next story. But hey, it's only my second book. Maybe wisdom will come with the third book.

Seekerville Giveaway and Interview

Today I will be on the talking about fairy tales and particulahttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifrly Beauty and the Beast. Please stop by and chat with me. If you leave a comment you will be entered in a drawing to win a copy of my new soon-to-be-released book, The Merchant's Daughter.


I did a video interview via Skype a few weeks ago. I still haven't watched it myself, but if you're interested, here is the YouTube link.

Wreath by Judy Christie

Hey, all! I want to tell you about a special offer one of my author friends is making available today. Judy Christie has written her first Young Adult novel, Wreath. And today when you order her new book, you also get several cool downloadable gifts free -- including a sneak peek--the whole first chapter--of my upcoming novel, The Merchant's Daughter, coming in November.

I'm sharing news of Judy's book with you because I think it's the type of book you might enjoy. Wreath is the story of a teenager -- Wreath Wisteria Willis -- who lives in a junkyard by night and goes to school by day. Life has kicked her around a bit, but she is determined not to let it keep her down. She's gutsy, fun, and smart -- just the type of girl you want to read about and share with the young readers in your life.

But I'll let Judy tell you more about her new book. Check her out at JudyChristie.com. Get her book today and get lots of other free gifts -- including one from me!

Shelbyville, Tennessee book signing and Medieval presentation

Hi, all! I'm doing a medieval presentation


and book signing at The New Covenant Christian Book Store in Shelbyville, Tennessee, at 12:00 noon tomorrow! Saturday, Oct. 8th, in honor of Christian Store Week. My very generous and helpful librarian from the Monrovia Library is accompanying me and providing a projector and screen so that I can have pictures. Yay, pictures!




A picture is worth a thousand words so maybe it will keep me from talking too much! LOL


Anyway, I'll also be signing copies of The Healer's Apprentice, so please come and see me!

The Merchant's Daughter is up for Book of the Month

Today the online ACFW Book Club is voting on my new book, The Merchant's Daughter, (and a slew of other historicals) for the January book of the month. If you are a member of the ACFW Book Club, you can go now to vote at this link: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/acfwbookclub/surveys?id=2387975. (Please copy and paste because blogger is not letting me insert a live link.)

And if you are not a member of the ACFW Book Club, it's very easy to join. You can go to the yahoo groups website, groups.yahoo.com, and search for ACFW Book Club and click join. That's just about all you have to do. Then click where it says Polls on the left side and find the poll that was just created today, Sept. 19th. Or copy and paste the above link.

Thanks!!!

Also, miraculously, I am heading out to St. Louis on Wednesday for the ACFW conference!!! If you will be there, please look for me and claim your hug! I am so excited to be going. The Healer's Apprentice is up for a Carol Award, which is soooooooo sweet. Can't wait to see people and be with a bunch of great writers for four days! Woohoo!!!

News, and Trailer for The Merchant's Daughter

While The Healer's Apprentice continues to get attention from contests--it is up for a Carol Award on Sept. 24th, one of three finalists in the Young Adult category, and a Maggie Award on Oct. 1st, also in the Young Adult category, I'm gearing up for the release of my second book, The Merchant's Daughter. More information to come, but I will be doing some book signings in the North Alabama area in November and December, so keep watching for that information.



Or watch it on YouTube, http://youtu.be/d-cwzxPfupE

The Merchant's Daughter releases in November.

99 Cent E-Books!

Zondervan is offering a whole list of their e-books for 99 cents, including The Healer's Apprentice. You can get them for your Kindle, your Nook, your Kobo, your Sony reader, and if there are other e-readers I don't know about, they should have them for 99 cents too! Here's the list of Young Adult books:
Vanished (Faithgirlz! / Boarding School Mysteries)
0.99

The Healers Apprentice
0.99

Beyond the Reflection's Edge (Echoes from the Edge)
0.99

Chosen Ones (Aedyn Chronicles, The)
0.99

Catwalk (On the Runway)
0.99

Starlighter (Dragons of Starlight)
0.99

Eternity's Edge (Echoes from the Edge)
0.99

Boyfriends, Burritos & an Ocean of Trouble (Real Life)
0.99

I Love You This Much
0.99

Always Watching (The Rayne Tour, Book 1)
0.99

Mixed Bags (Carter House Girls, Book 1)
0.99

Saint Training
0.99

Premiere (On the Runway)
0.99

On the Run (Elijah Project, The)
0.99

Sophie's Secret (Book 2)
0.99

Sophie's World (Sophie Series, Book 1)
0.99

A Horse to Love (Keystone Stables)
0.99

Motorcycles, Sushi and One Strange Book (Real Life)
0.99

Stealing Bradford (Carter House Girls, Book 2)
0.99

A Girl Named Mister
0.99

Katy's New World (The Katy Lambright Series, Book 1)
0.99

Lucy Doesn't Wear Pink (Faithgirlz! / A Lucy Novel)
0.99

Jackson Jones, Book 1: The Tale of a Boy, an Elf, and a Very Stinky Fish
0.99

So go stock up on some good books! And please tell your friends!

The Great Reveal: Video Trailer of The Merchant's Daughter

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http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

What do you think of the trailer? She slightly mispronounced the hero's name (Ranulf, emphasis on the second syllable) and it isn't live action like my first one, but I like it.

What do you think of the cover? I absolutely love it and think they perfectly caught the feel of the story, with the hero's face in the broken mirror the heroine is holding. Cool, no?

If you'd like to pre-order your copy of The Merchant's Daughter, you can do that on Amazon.com
Barnes & Noble
ChristianBook.com
or Borders

Let me know what you think!

Website Is Back Up, a.k.a. Always Backup!

Always keep a backup copy of your website!

That's the moral of the story of my disappearing website. It went down last week, and today it's back, thanks to Michael Joshua. Michael helped me by finding the html codes for all my web pages and putting them back up for me. It was quite a bit of work, and he is a hero! So, if you need a simple affordable website, Michael is your man! You can contact him on his website, or leave me a message in the comments and I'll give you his email address.

Keep an eye on my website in the next few days to see the official unveiling of the cover for my new book, The Merchant's Daughter, which comes out in November. There is a trailer for this book too, so don't miss it!

Here's a teaser for The Merchant's Daughter, my Medieval Beauty and the Beast story:
An unthinkable danger. An unexpected choice.

Annabel, once the daughter of a wealthy merchant, is trapped in indentured servitude to Lord Ranulf, a recluse who is rumored to be both terrifying and beastly. Her circumstances are made even worse by the proximity of Lord Ranulf’s bailiff—a revolting man who has made unwelcome advances on Annabel in the past.

Believing that life in a nunnery is the best way to escape the escalation of the bailiff’s vile behavior and to preserve the faith that sustains her, Annabel is surprised to discover a sense of security and joy in her encounters with Lord Ranulf. As Annabel struggles to confront her feelings, she is involved in a situation that could place Ranulf in grave danger. Ranulf’s future, and possibly his heart, may rest in her hands, and Annabel must decide whether to follow the plans she has cherished or the calling God has placed on her heart.

ICRS, Christy Awards, and website problems

Monday I'll be signing copies of The Healer's Apprentice at the International Christian Retail Show--right after Karen Kingsbury. (Thank you, Karen, for drawing the crowd!) Should be fun. I've never been to the ICRS, but I'm very excited about it. There will be actual famous people there, like the Duggar family, Bethany Hamilton of Soul Surfer fame, and others. I will only be there one day, but I hope to post some pictures.

Monday night I will also be attending the Christy Award dinner, which should also be fun. Or at least nerve-wracking! It's really exciting to be a finalist, I must say.

And lastly, you may have noticed that my website is down and showing an error message. I have called the server about this and it is supposedly being fixed, but it is taking quite a long time. Grrrr. Right now I have no one to maintain my site, and I am pitiful, just pitiful, when it comes to anything having to do with making updates to a website. I tried once and it was not pretty. But the person I had hired to do my website and make updates has decided not to do it anymore, so if you or someone you know knows anything about HostGator or anything about websites, please, please, please let me know. I want to put the cover and trailer for my new book, The Merchant's Daughter, on my website, and I need help. Help, help, help. Please help the pitiful, old-fashioned author who has zero ability to work on a website.

Okay, end of pathetic-ness confessions and rants.

Greater Harvest Writers Workshop in Dayton Ohio

In case you live near Dayton, Ohio or can drive in for the workshop, I want to invite you to the Greater Harvest Workshop on July 30th. I'll be teaching two workshops, one on writing
Christian romance and one on revising the first 30 pages of your manuscript so that an editor or agent can't resist requesting the full.

There will also be three other presenters, author Linore Burkard, children's author Donna Jo Shepard, and magazine article writer Teri Horsley. So please make plans to come! You can find out all the details at the Greater Harvest Workshops website.

You can also connect with Greater Harvest Workshops on facebook. Hope to see you on July 30th!

Win the e-book of The Healer's Apprentice

Hey, guys! My friend, Carrie Pagels is giving away The Healer's Apprentice as an e-book. So if you have an e-reader and don't have The Healer's Apprentice yet, please go by Carrie Pagel's blog and leave a comment for a chance to win it!

I am working on the second round of edits of The Merchant's Daughter, my Beauty and the Beast story that comes out in November, and I am loving it so much!!! I love the changes we made. You're going to LOVE this hero! Guaranteed or ... I'll be really surprised! LOL!

Anyway, hope everybody is having a great weekend! Remember to check out Carrie's blog and her review of The Healer's Apprentice!

Vote for The Healer's Apprentice in a cover contest

The good news of recognition for The Healer's Apprentice has been coming fast and furious, and I almost forgot to tell you about a cover contest that The Healer's Apprentice is a finalist in. Check out the Cover Cafe Cover Contest where my book is in the Two-Image Cover category. The front and back covers are being judged. There are lots of Christian books in the contest, in every category except the Worst Cover category. Which is good, since you will have to vote in at least three categories for your vote to count.

So go vote on three categories, and don't look at the Worst Cover category. Those covers are really gross, pornographic, if you know what I mean.

Also, if you want to win a copy of The Healer's Apprentice, leave a comment all this week on Shannon Vannatter's blog, where Rose is being interviewed on what she thinks of love, men, and marriage--but this was before she met Lord Hamlin. ;-) Go check it out!