HHH Blogger Spotlight - Tiffany Amber Stockton & GIVEAWAY!!!

By Tiffany Amber Stockton

MY WRITING JOURNEY

Like many other writers and authors, my journey toward publication began many years ago. I wrote my first short story in 5th grade with several accolades from both my teacher and my fellow students. It was even entered into a ‘Young Writers of America’ contest and was selected for publication. Ever since I learned to read at age 3-1/2, I’ve been telling stories. My parents often had to correct me from the extra embellishments I’d add from what really happened. I could often easily keep a captive audience, so writing seemed to be a natural progression from the verbal.

I wrote often, but it wasn’t until I was a Senior in high school that I got the ‘bug’ to write. My English teacher saw potential, and as an author herself, she encouraged me to pursue the talent further. One of our assignments that year was to write a children’s book to be read by actual 3rd graders. The book I wrote and illustrated received the highest amount of praise from the students, and it was voted the top favorite. I finished high school knowing I wanted to continue writing. However, I became more focused on finishing my education and getting my college degree, so my writing took up residence on the back burner.

In 1997, I joined an online community for a television show and wrote my first fan fiction. After receiving a lot of encouragement and feedback, I realized I might be able to do more with my writing than just write for fun.

During this time, I was writing letters and then emailing Tracie Peterson, one of my favorite authors. Our correspondence led to talking about writing, and when I admitted how much I loved it, she told me about this brand new group called ACRW (American Christian Romance Writers, now ACFW, American Christian Fiction Writers) and said I should join to check it out. I was one of the first 100 members, and I still have my original “membership card” as a keepsake. When this group held their first writing conference, Tracie told me I should go. I asked her why, and she said it would give me a chance to meet her face to face. We had been writing to each other for about ten years, so I jumped at the opportunity.

Not only did I realize a dream of meeting Tracie, but I also discovered so many kindred spirits at that conference. I knew I found “my kind of people,” and I was determined to stay the course. I did everything I could to improve my skills and develop my craft. I bought writing books, studied a wide variety of fiction, conversed with other writers and authors, attended more conferences, purchased audio recordings of workshops and presentations, and soaked up as much information as I could handle.

While studying, I was also writing, and Tracie at one point asked if she could see some of my work. Talk about nerve-wracking! With great trepidation, I sent her something I had started, and a few days later, she asked me if her husband could read it. She told me he loved history and was especially found of unique settings like the one I used, so I agreed. About a week later, her husband Jim emailed me with some suggestions on how I could make the story stronger. He had some great ideas! Little did I know at the time that Tracie and Jim were acquisitions editors for Barbour Publishing, and they were looking for new authors. To this day, we still joke about how they had tricked me.

Over the course of the next year, I made the changes Jim suggested and finished the book, then sent it to him so he could read it. At the ACFW conference that year, I was one of two new authors who received a contract for a first novel from Barbour Publishing! This was almost four years after joining the organization. I finally took a rather scary step into the world of being an author.

That night, after things had quieted at the conference, I was still elated and flying on cloud nine. Since the hour was late, and everyone had gone to bed, I went to the business center and logged online. The only one signed on was the man who is now my husband. Some people would call that ironic. I call it God. One of the biggest moments of my life, and the first person outside of the conference with whom I share the good news is the man I would marry just 8 months later. Amazing!

We had met two years before at the ACFW conference, and we’d been both chatting and emailing from 2000 miles away. When I told him what had happened, he congratulated me then said we should celebrate. So, he suggested he come for a visit, and we could drive to New York to catch a show. I jokingly said, “On my advance money, right?” and he agreed. What a jokester. He lived in Colorado and I lived in Delaware at the time, but we now both live in Colorado, and he also has a book published, working on a second.

To date, I have now sold 24 novels with more on the horizon, and total sales for my books have crested the 500,000 copies mark. God truly has blessed my endeavors, and I look forward to sharing more stories with my readers in the years to come. Thank you for stopping by and showing your support. An author is nowhere without readers.

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Now, for some book blurbs of my all-time top 5 best-selling and award-winning books, along with a cover showcase, plus a fun Christmas story that's part of a 4-in-1 collection:

LIBERTY'S PROMISE

Relive the birth of a new country as three generations of women battle to know who they can entrust their hearts. Raelene is all alone, but is there peace in following the wishes of her dead father? Elanna is intelligent for her young age, but will her love for an older man turn into passing fancy when his integrity is questioned? Margret’s loyalties are torn when the colonists rebel, for how can a relationship with a British soldier built on deceptions survive? Will each woman find her place of freedom to embrace her faith and trust her heart to love?

BRANDYWINE BRIDES

Three romances by Amber Stockton take readers into beautiful historical Delaware, where a family of bookstore owners has their faith restored and love multiplied. Caroline manages a bookstore while her parents would prefer she marry. Grace seeks a missing heirloom book with the help of a questionable young man. Lillian reopens the bookstore in her brother’s memory. Will each woman’s literature inspired dreams lead her to a man of faith and devotion?

BLUE RIBBON BRIDES

Meet nine men and women whose competitive goals take them to state and county fairs between 1889 and 1930. From baking pie to polishing pigs, from sculpting butter to stitching quilts, everyone has something to prove to themselves and their communities. But in going for the blue ribbon, will nine women miss the greatest prize of all—the devoted heart of a godly man?

My story is Front Paige Love: 

SECOND CHANCE BRIDES

Meet nine women from history spanning from 1776 to 1944 feel the sting of having lost out on love. Can their hope for experiencing romance again be renewed?

My story is From a Distance - Breckenridge, Colorado, 1925
Financial Manager Trevor Fox sets out to find a lady to love him and not his money, then meets and falls for an average girl only to discover she’d deceived him to protect her heart after he unknowingly rejects her. 

A GRAND DESIGN

A romantic getaway on a charming island may be just what Alyssa needs—if only she can let go of her past. When Alyssa Denham, a single career woman, wins a romantic getaway for two on Mackinac Island, she gives her carefree best friend a call. Together, they tour the old shops, eateries, and hidden treasures of the quaint island while helping Alyssa’s grandmother piece together an heirloom quilt. Their quest gains them entrance into the homes of many longtime residents of the island, areas of the city that are otherwise off limits to tourists. As the quilt’s story takes shape, Alyssa gains amazing insight into her grandmother’s life… and attracts the attention of the handsome Scott Whitman, an island resident in charge of hotel transportation. Will memories of her past keep Alyssa from letting go? Or will the quest to piece together the heirloom quilt restore Alyssa’s fractured heart—and bring healing to her entire family?

HOMETOWN MELODIES

Melody May Buchanan left Gatlinburg to pursue a life in the symphony. When a letter arrives asking her to return home for her granddaddy’s 80th birthday, she knows she must go. Leaving her fiancé in Denver while the symphony is on break, she pushes behind her the reasons she left and heads home. But the homecoming isn’t quite what she expected. She’s immediately faced with everything she loved while growing up there…even her best friend, Drew. Old feelings surface, and she starts to wonder if she made a mistake. When her fiancé arrives, her two worlds collide, and she discovers Drew has become quite a success in the music industry. Now, she has a choice to make. Either way, one man will get hurt. But, which option is the best?

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GIVEAWAY!

Ask me one question or leave a comment about something you read in today's post for a chance at a FREE autographed copy of one of my books. I will do the drawing on Tuesday, October 20th. Good luck!!

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Tiffany Amber Stockton has been crafting and embellishing stories since childhood, when she was accused of having a very active imagination and cited with talking entirely too much. Today, she has honed those childhood skills to become an award-winning and best-selling author and speaker who is also an advocate for literacy as an educational consultant with Usborne Books. She loves to share life-changing products and ideas with others to help better their lives.

She lives with her husband and fellow author, Stuart Vaughn Stockton, along with their two children and two dogs in Colorado. She has sold twenty (24) books so far and is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency. You can find her on Facebook and GoodReads.

The Romantic Lumberjack? -- and a Book Giveaway!

By Tiffany Amber Stockton


Yesterday, we launched our brand new web site with a new design and a new name! Doesn't it look amazing? Again, thanks to Matt Jones with Jones House Creative for our fantastic banner.

To go along with this launch, we are having a series of giveaways hosted by various authors over the course of the next few weeks. All you need to do is follow the instructions in each post to be entered for your chance to win.

Since I just had my newest book release in August, I'm giving away a FREE autographed copy of A Grand Design to one lucky winner. Just answer one of the questions at the bottom of this post and place your answer in the comments, and you're entered to win. That's it!

** Oh, and my book isn't the only one being given away this week. So, leave comments every day on every post this week. The more posts on which you leave a comment, the more chances you'll have to win.

Here's a blurb about the book for those who don't like being surprised. :)

A fun getaway on a charming island may be just what Alyssa needs…if only she can let go of her past.

Fifteen years ago, Alyssa Denham stopped taking her annual summer trip to Mackinac Island, refusing to tell anyone the reason she avoided the island she loved as a child. Now here she is, unexpectedly on the island for two weeks with her best friend, Libby, trying to keep her secret buried. Alyssa’s grandmother, who lives on the island, has asked Alyssa and Libby to help piece together a friendship quilt she had started years earlier. Their quest takes them to the homes of some of her grandmother’s long-lost friends, giving Alyssa amazing insight into her grandmother’s life…and attracting the attention of the handsome Scott Whitman. Will memories of her past keep Alyssa from letting go? Or will she finally learn to trust and let God heal her fractured heart?

And now back to your regularly scheduled blog post:

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When we think of the old west, the cowboy immediately comes to mind, but he wasn’t the only type of man to swarm across the plains and into the mountains in search of steady work.

The hearty loggers came in droves and lived a lifestyle uniquely their own. I have pages and pages of details about these men from the research I’ve done for some ideas on books set in the 1880’s about lumberjacks. There is no way I could share all of this with you in one blog, so I’ll just hit the highlights.

Man is either dominated *by* the forest or he *dominates* the forest. The lumberjack knew this very well and quickly gained a respect for the woods or else he died. He faced danger from sunup to sundown six days a week, and his instinct for survival never slept. Even at rest, every muscle and nerve remained alert.

At the end of each day, two dozen “shanty boys” lived in a single log cabin, and fights broke out nightly over something as insignificant as someone else’s socks laying on the floor in front of a man’s bunk. The fights were squelched as quickly as they started by the other men because fighting was outlawed by the Timber Boss. A man might not only lose his pay, but his job as well, for fighting, drinking, or reveling with women of the sordid type. These weren’t allowed in camp—ever.

So, on Saturday night after supper, the lumber camp quickly emptied as the men made their way to the nearest town to let off the “charge of gunpowder” they’d held inside for six days.

Whenever a lumber camp was situated near a town, the houses of ill repute relocated to the end of the skid road, the trail built by the lumberjacks that contained logs at ten-foot intervals down the road for the ease of being able to skid their logs down to the mill yard.

It didn’t take long for these saloons and soiled doves, women of bad reputation, to become known as "skid row." The name has stuck to this day as a description of a bawdy place in any town, but it originated with the loggers.

The lumberjacks too lived by an unwritten “code” that said no man could offend, insult, or molest a woman or speak lightly of a woman of good reputation. By the code, women and children were helpless and always safe when woodsmen were around.

It didn’t take long for gamblers to infiltrate the camps, taking jobs for a time to size up the crew and find out how much money they had. Lumber camps were ripe with men unable to spend their money throughout the week and they easily fell victim to the gamblers’ games.

The camps were one of the least discriminating places in the west. Without blinking an eye, they hired men from all backgrounds and nationalities. These men worked hard from the moment the whistle belted out “Daylight in the Swamp” at dawn’s first light to “Gabriel Time” calling them in to supper. They gulped their meals in less than ten minutes, because there wasn’t much time left before their nine o’clock bedtime.

You may think the life of the early lumberjack to have been very harsh and restrictive, and they were, but the Timber Bosses paid them a dollar a day and higher, and competed with other logging camps by offering better and more food, better bunks, thicker blankets, and other perks in order to attract hard-working men to their camp.

The lumberjacks quickly found this out and soon got the reputation of being persnickety over something like rancid butter or over-cooked flapjacks. They nailed the offending victuals to the cookhouse door and walked off the job in search of a camp with better food, leaving the Timber Bosses scrambling to move men into different teams in order to keep up with their eight to ten-thousand board feet per day goals and deadlines.

Now it's YOUR turn:

• Have you read any books or seen any movies where the lumberjack is a prominent character? What is the title of the book or name of the movie?
• Would you read a series or even a single book if a lumberjack was the hero? Why or why not?
• Did any of the above change your view or knowledge of the lumberjack? What was it?

** I'll announce the winner from the drawing in the comments once the winner has been selected. And the name will also go in the right sidebar of our blog.

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BIO
Tiffany Amber Stockton has been crafting and embellishing stories since childhood. Today, she is an award-winning author and speaker who has partnered with Nerium International in the anti-aging skin care industry, helping others look younger and live better. She lives with her husband and fellow author, Stuart Vaughn Stockton, in Colorado. They have one girl and one boy, an Aussie/retriever mix named Roxie and and Australian cattle dog/Corgi mix named Timber. She has sold fourteen books so far and is represented by agent Sandra Bishop. You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter. a Rafflecopter giveaway