Love Can Be Hard Sometimes

HHMS Banner

Have you ever had a hard time loving someone? I think everyone probably has at one time in their life. But what would your life be like if you’ve never had the courage to love anyone? I explore that idea in my new book, He Hideth My Soul. 

Love can be hard, but it is always rewarding. As I wrote this book, I knew I wanted love to be part of the theme of the book. And not necessarily romantic love, though there are a couple love stories in the book.  I had written three books already where Otis Miller was a minor character and wanted to tell the rest of his story. This book is that story.

Otis has had a hard life. Due to many of the events in his childhood, he has never had the courage to truly love anyone. He likes many people, but doesn’t love anyone. Many people ask where the inspiration for my books comes. I can’t honestly say where the inspiration for this book came from or why I chose this theme, but I hope it touches you when (if) you read the book.

About the Book

He’s never had the courage to love anyone…

3D HHMS1The only thing Otis Miller has ever wanted to be is a doctor and he wants to be the best. A surprise talk with his Aunt Eleanor days before his twenty-first birthday leads to a visit from his grandfather’s lawyer and the discovery that he is the heir to a large fortune. With all the papers signed, Otis heads to Chicago to follow his dream.

After graduating from Jenner Medical School, Otis goes to the mine he owns in Colorado to see how things are and to provide medical care for everyone in town. He finds horrible working conditions and learns to make difficult decisions that will be best for all

Will Otis learn to let God cover him in the depths of His love? Can Otis hide in God’s presence whenever he doesn’t know where to go next?

Note: 50% of my income from this series will go to the World Orphans organization.

http://books2read.com/HeHidethMySoul

About the Author

Author Picture 2015-2016 croppedFaith Blum is a 20-something author of multiple books in various genres. She loves to write, read, play piano, knit, crochet, sew, watch movies, and spend time with her husband.  She lives in Wisconsin in a small town with her husband and cat where she can write to her heart’s content during the day. Faith’s goal in her writing is to encourage Christians in their walk with Christ.

Giveaway

Giveaway

Faith is giving away three prizes! The grand prize is a paperback of her new book. First and second prizes are both an eBook of He Hideth My Soul. Enter here for the chance to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Excerpt/Review

He sighed and turned away, leading Blaze the rest of the way to Dr. Benson’s office. He wasn’t there when Otis arrived, so he worked on organizing the supplies—something he cared about and Dr. Benson didn’t.

The bell over the front door tinkled, and he went to see who it was.

“Is Dr. Benson in?” the man asked.

“No, he isn’t. Can I help you?”

“You a doctor?”

“Basically. I’ve trained under Dr. Benson for about three years.”

“You’ll do. My little girl is bad sick. My wife’s tried all sorts of things and it ain’t helpin’.”

Otis grabbed the extra doctor’s bag and left a quick note for Dr. Benson. “Lead the way.”

All day, it seemed like Dr. Benson and Otis barely missed each other. When Otis got back, there was a note from him saying where he was, then Otis left and Dr. Benson came back, and so on and so forth. It was mid-afternoon before they finally crossed paths.

“There really is someone behind the notes,” Dr. Benson said.

Otis laughed. “Yes, there is. Good news is, people apparently trust me to treat them even without you there.”

“Good, excellent, marvelous. But I do still need to know who you treated for what in case they come when you aren’t here.”

Otis handed him the list he had made a few minutes earlier.

“Johnny on the spot today,” he said. “Well done, good treatments, and excellent work. I approve you to go anywhere you find a place in need of a doctor.”

“About that,” Otis said. “You mentioned Jenner Medical School once. Is Dr. Tyler still there?”

“Yes, yes, yes, he is. In fact, I wrote to him about you. Without your permission, I know, but when you have the territory’s best doctor as your pupil, you tend to lose your head while helping him.” He blinked rapidly and stared at the space beside Otis’s head. “Where was I? Oh yes, well, I told him about you and how you want to be a doctor and how hard you worked and all that. He’s incredibly excited for you to go. They don’t have scholarship funds at the moment though, unfortunately.”

Otis cleared his throat. “So he wants me there?”

“Yes, definitely; he was most emphatic about it. Even offered to let you borrow the money from him.”

“I don’t need it. Most likely, anyway.”

“Say again?”

Tour Schedule

February 20
Bookish Orchestrations – Introduction Post
Creating Romance – Book Spotlight
Rachel Rossano’s Words – Book Spotlight

February 21
Letters from Annie Douglass Lima – Book Spotlight
Rebekah Lyn Books – Book Spotlight

February 22
Ruth’s Real Life – Book Spotlight
Kandi J Wyatt, Where Fantasy and Reality Meet – Book Spotlight

February 23
With a Joyful Noise – Review
God’s Peculiar Treasure Rae – Book Spotlight

ebruary 24
Writings, Ramblings, and Reflections – Post from the author

February 26
Bookish Orchestration – Giveaway winner post

Advertisement

July Goals (and an exciting announcement!)

Monthly Goals

Can you believe another month is here? I know I can’t! It seems like just yesterday I wrote up my goals for June. A lot has happened, and I’m not just saying that tritely. A LOT has happened. In fact, it was something life-changing. Continue reading

June Goals

Monthly Goals

May is over, June is here. It’s time for an update!

  • Get Blog Tour ready (DONE!)
  • Read one writing book (Failed)
  • He Hideth My Soul edit #1 and send to beta-readers (DONE)
  • He Leadeth Me rough draft finished (Failed)
  • All the Way final edits (DONE!)
  • Publish All the Way (DON!)
  • Total word count goal: 30,000 (Half-done)

Obviously, I didn’t quite get as much done as I intended, but most of my May was spent helping get our kitchen remodeled. And it’s still going on, so June’s goals are getting scaled down a little more than I would like, too.

First, pictures of the kitchen:

Kitchen Collage

  • He Hideth My Soul edits #2 and #3
  • He Leadeth Me rough draft finished and type up done
  • Prep for two tour orchestrations
  • Read one writing book
  • Sew

May Goals

Monthly Goals

April was a busy, but very good month. Here are the goals I made with the completions in bold:

  • Keep up with the Facebook group (Done! If you’re a writer and on Facebook, we’re keeping the Encouragement Campfire going year-round. Let me know if you want to join)
  • Write 2,000+ words per day (Averaged out, yes, for a total of 55,083 this month)
  • Promo books on twitter (Done! And hired a Virtual Assistant to help me keep up with it. Thanks, Naomi!!)
  • Finish two writing books (Done! And reviewed here and here.)
  • Keep up with reviewing books read (Done! One is being reviewed on Friday).
  • Edit All the Way and send to proofreaders (Done!)
  • Get Be Thou My Vision and Blessed Assurance on Pronoun (Done and loving it!)
  • Total word count goal: 50,000 (Done plus 5,000 extra)

And now it’s on to May. Is it just me or is this year going by way too fast? Continue reading

February Goals

January was a good month for me. Here are the goals I made with a note as to whether they were finished or not.

January Goals:

  • Send All the Way to beta-readers by the 16th (Done)
  • Finalize Savior, Like a Shepherd and send to formatters by the 23rd (Done)
  • Write 30,000 words in He Hideth My Soul (I’m at 16,000 so far!) (Done! Total: 33,216)
  • Read Editor-Proof Your Book (Not done)
  • Sew at least 2 squares of quilted skirt (Done)
  • Get all books ready for wide distribution (Done all but 2 because they need to wait)
  • Edit #2 of Novella (Not done)

And now for my February goals:

  • Sew 4 quilt squares
  • Order Proof Copy of Savior, Like a Shepherd
  • Edits #2 and #3 of novella
  • Read 2 books on writing
  • Prep everything for Release Tour and Facebook Party
  • Do any research needed for All the Way
  • Finish rough draft of He Hideth My Soul

And there you have it. Busy, but hopefully not too busy. Do you have any specific goals for this month?

Oops… I forgot

So, I’ve been doing this monthly goals update for a couple of months now. And with the end of one year and beginning of another, I forgot to update you on my December and January goals.  I’ll get right to it.

December Goals:

  • Finish rough draft of All the Way (Done)
  • Finish Edit #4 of Savior, Like a Shepherd and send to proofreaders by the 12th (Delayed a week, but done)
  • Edit I My Cross Have Taken (Done)
  • Read The Art and Craft of Writing Christian Fiction, Editor Proofing Your Book, and How to Train Your Cat to Promote Your Book (Finished the first one, but not the others)
  • Sew nightgown, get at least partially finished with quilted skirt (Done)
  • Watch videos for the marketing courses I bought (Watched a few)
  • Practice Piano at least 3 days a week (Mostly)
  • Word count goal: 20,000 (Done)

Continue reading

Four book Cover Reveal!

adopt-a-book-banner

About the Series

Genre: Christian Western Coming of Age

Logline: Through God’s leading, four orphans grow up to be important members of their communities.

The Orphans of the West series is a continuation of the stories of 4 orphans that were introduced in either a Hymns of the West novel or novella and goes through each orphans life.

Savior, Like a Shepherd is about Titus Hine who was introduced in Blessed Assurance (Hymns of the West Novellas #6) and how he must take care of his sister and brother as winter approaches, all while not being allowed to work anywhere.

All the Way is about Henry Salisbury, the only orphan in the series not directly introduced in a previous book, but it has other characters you will recognize from the books about the Brookings family.

He Hideth My Soul is also attached to the Brookings family and Otis Miller as Otis finds out that his grandfather left him a large inheritance and he can finally follow his dream.

He Leadeth Me takes up Gage Wilhelm’s story. Gage was introduced in I Love Thee (Hymns of the West Novellas #1) and tells how he is given the deed to his farm and told to go back to his farm. Gage gladly accepts only to have someone show up claiming his long-dead father owed another man a large sum of money and now there’s 10 years of interest added on. Continue reading