Exciting News!

I'm so pleased! It is contest season for last years books. (A book can only be entered into a contest in the year after its publication copyright date so this is the reason you don't see current books listed as finalist or winners)

Anyway, I'm excited because I got the call on Friday that DREAM A LITTLE DREAM was given an Award of Merritt in the Holt Medalion Contest in the romantic comedy catagory! This means that it finaled but didn't win :( but still I'm just thrilled anytime my books final in a contest and the Holt is wonderful contest to final in. I chose to take a chance and enter this book in the romantic comedy catagory just to see how it would measure up against other books other than just Inspirational. I was very pleased to see it win an Award of Merritt.

But wait there's more! LOL. On Saturday I got the call that OPERATION:MARRIED BY CHRISTMAS is a finalist in the BOOKSELLERS BEST Contest in the Inspirational catagory! The winner will be anounced in July at the Romance Writers of America conference in San Francisco. This will be my first trip to SF so this will make it an extra special trip.

Whew!!! It's been crazy around here!

Hi everyone! Whew has it ever been crazy around my house. As you know I've been writing on the new books due out in 2009 so as always my life is crazy with deadlines (which I absolutely love--I do not like it with lag time inbetween) anyway, on top of that my youngest son got married!!! If you read the dedication of HER BABY DREAMS you see that I dedicated the book to my first daughter in law, Heidi. I got a bit ahead of the curve by dedicating that book to her since they didn't actually get married until April 19 but :) I was just so excited about it. So there is my excuse for not having been here to blog lately.

News about the books--hold on to your hats because Sugar Rae Lenox is coming to town in my July Mule Hollow book and it is a really fun book! I think you will enjoy it. I'll post the blurb later when I post the picture.

Also, just finished the following book that will come out in April of 09 and it's a bit different...:) in a good way.

And now I'm working on the June 09 book which is a 2-n-1 book which means I'm doing a book and Janet Tronstad who writes the Dry Creek series for Love Inspired is doing the other book!!! Janet and I are really excited about this and it has been in the works since July of last year. Both of our writing scedules were so full that we couldn't fit the book in until now but I really do believe it will be a really cool book. And of course my book is set in Mule HOllow and Janet's is set in Dry Creek. So stay tuned!!!

Celebrating!

It is now official!!! I've just signed a four book contract to continue my MULE HOLLOW SERIES with Love Inspired. I am so excited and feel blessed at the opportunity. These books will hit the bookshelves in 2009.

For 2008 I still have 2 books coming out so I hope you run right out and pick up copies and join in the fun. HER BABY DREAMS will be on the shelves across the country in April. It received 4 stars from Romantic Times magazine and also 4 stars from Cataromance.com This makes me smile--but my hope is that it makes YOU smile! As you know if you've read my bio at debraclopton.com making readers smile is my goal.

Don't you just love this sweet cover!!! I thought the art department did an outstanding job with this darling cover. HER BABY DREAMS has what I consider my most fun hero that I've ever created. Dan Dawson is a big ole flirt who wants to make you smile as much as I do...but he really wants to make my heroine Ashby Templeton smile. The only problem is she thinks he's just-- a "big ole flirt"--and that's the problem! :) Now, he's going to have to prove there's more to him than meets the eye.

I'm on deadline crunch right now with the first book in the new contract so I'll say goodnight. But please drop me a note I love hearing what you think!

Hello, I'm ducking in from deadline crunch to let everyone know that NEXT DOOR DADDY is indeed on shelves now! It just came to my attention that on my actual web page it is listed as a Feb release when it is actually a JANUARY release--goodness, all this time and I didn't catch that mistake. Thanks Sherrie for the heads up. I hope that hasn't messed too many of you up and you can catch it on shelves now. There is a lovely review of it over on cataromance.com if you want to read it. Okay, I've got to get back to finishing up a proposal for one of the my next books.
Also, just got the word that AND BABY MAKES FIVE won the Barclay Gold contest and NO PLACE LIKE HOME took 3rd in the same contest. I'd thought all the contest for 07 were over so it was a very nice end of the year surprise. Thank anyone and everyone who voted for them!

I'm hoping everyone is on the look out for NEXT DOOR DADDY! I love this book and readers from the bookclub who have already received the book in the mail are sending me the best letters. It hits the bookstores about 3 days before January so I hope everyone will grab a copy--I promise it will make you laugh and it might make you cry too. It is my first book about a widow and a widower and God just put it in my heart that it was time for me to write this story. It was the hardest thing I've ever done but the most rewarding. This story is so full of love and comments from readers such as Carols under one of the other post just bless my heart so much. I write my stories to make you smile, to forget your troubles for the few hours it takes to read one of my books but also to touch your hearts. As I write I pray for the readers who will read my books and that God will give me something in each book that will meet a need. Sometimes that's just to make you laugh when you really needed to laugh. To be entertained when you really needed to be entertained. But I share my heart in the hope that my experiences will translate to those who need something more from me...NEXT DOOR DADDY was a complete work of love and I hope you all enjoy it and please leave comments. I believe with your comments you can also touch the lives of those who come here and read them. I've had letters from readers who said this was the funniest book! And then heartfelt letters from widows who've said the book helped them remember wonderful moments shared with loved one who've passed away. God bless you all.

Okay, ignore this post! I'm trying to figure out how to get this picture to the sidebar and as you can tell I don't know what I'm doing. But hopefully I'll learn the more I play with this blog site :) This is my learning curve and I'm behind and sliding off the end of it!

When I decided to start this blog I knew I was going to have trouble getting something written every day or so because my writing schedule is so heavy--however I didn't realize exactly how hard it would be! But here I am over a month later finally making my 3rd entry. I'm going to make another one right after this one about my new book! But anyway, I went on vacation for a week, took a revision with me to work on, but still enjoyed Arizona. I've always wanted to go and so I loaded up my little Tbird and hit the road. I was meeting my parents in Sedona. I was going to blog about it but now all this time later it seems a bit late. Still I had an adventure I chased hot air balloons in Albuquerque New Mexico, went to a wonderful farmers market and had the best apples I've ever tasted in my entire life! They're name is No Name Apples from some little farm there in Albuquerque. After I headed out from there I saw a pumpkin chunking competition as I flew by in my car (which gave me a great idea for an upcoming book in Mule Hollow!!! That's why I love road trips, after being holed up with nothing but me and my computer for months on end as I write my books my brain needs the stimulation that fresh air and new sights give it...road trips are just a natural part of my writing life) anyway so much happened on the trip that I can't possibly put it in the blog but I'll tell you this, you will read about much of it in up coming books. I'll also share some other stories and pictures later on if I can get to the store and develop them. All in all it was a great trip but I couldn't wait to get home and finish work on the revsion I was busy with and then get proposals done for the books I'll write in 2008 (they'll come out in 09) all the books for 08 are already written!