meet Gail Sattler

Gail Sattler is an author, musician, wife, mother, speaker, and pet owner. Gail is a multi-published author who loves to lace a serious plot with love and laughter. When she’s not writing or walking her dogs, Gail plays bass for her worship team, a local Jazz band, and a community orchestra.
Gail Sattler lives in Vancouver, BC, where you don’t have to shovel rain, with her husband, sons, dogs, and a lazy lizard named Draco, who is quite cuddly for a reptile.

Visit Gail’s website at www.gailsattler.com.
You'll also find Gail at her book website – www.mennonitefiction.com and her blog – www.gailsatter.blogspot.com



The Narrow Path
Can two people from different worlds find love somewhere in the middle?

Miranda feels like she’s been transported back to Little House On The Prairie, and Ted’s head spins when Miranda reads her Bible on her cell phone. Yet Miranda Klassen and Ted Wiebe must find a way to make peace to meet their common goal to open the doors of Ted’s Old Order Mennonite church and community. Will they also find love in the process?

Miranda Klassen’s Mennonite church is big and modern and she loves the mixture of faith, action, and activity. But in order to follow her dream she moves across the country to a small town to organize another church’s 25th anniversary celebration. Ted Weibe has been assigned to assist and guide Miranda, feeling good that his church has chosen another Mennonite. But except for sharing the same basic faith and denomination, their churches have nothing else in common. His church embraces old-style roots, so Ted except to find someone similar at the airport – a women who never wears pants, no body piercing – including ears – no makeup, and wearing a head covering as a sign of modesty – someone else who lives in accordance with old-fashioned values. But the woman who acknowledges him is wearing unreasonably high and outlandishly expensive shoes, denim jeans, and makeup including bright red lipstick. As she gets off the plane she’s fiddling with an iPod and yapping on the cell phone. When Miranda enters Ted’s church and community she feels like she’s been transported back into Little House On The Prairie, with cars. Ted is supposed to help Miranda fit in, and Miranda is supposed to help his church reach out into the community. When it’s time to start planning and organizing for the celebration, then the fun really begins. Depending on one’s definition of fun…



You can purchase The Narrow Path from CBD and Amazon:


Gail is giving away a copy of The Narrow Path. To be entered in the book giveaway, leave a comment and check back on Tuesday, May 25th to see if you've won. You can enter twice--once on each post in this spotlight. If you want to guarantee that you're notified if you win, then leave your email address in the comment, otherwise, you can just check back and email me through the button in my sidebar.
**Annoying little disclaimer: This giveaway is open only to U.S. addresses. By clicking on the Amazon link above or in the sidebar, and purchasing, I will receive a very small percentage of the sale.

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How Does Your Garden Grow?

One of the things we did when my parents were here was to plant "my garden" and I wanted to show it to you.

Don't laugh. I've wanted to do this for a couple of years.

And here's the third tomato plant. I have two Better Boys for my hubster (and kids) and one Bonnie Grape for my kids that like the lil grape tomaotes.










How do you like my super snazzy garden? Aren't the pots simply... charming? The tomato plants are growing fast and I'm wondering if they don't like their ugly buckets after-all. So, should I just leave them ugly or paint them? I'm thinking about hot pink with purple and green polka dots, but I don't want to ruin a good thing here. LoL







I was so surprised to see blossoms already!

So tell me, would red tomatoes clash with snazzy hot pink buckets planters?

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Today's THE Day

THIS is the day I've been anticipating.
Dreading.
Excited about.
Gnawing my fingers over.
LoL--are you sea sick yet? Well, that's how I've been feeling, too. Today I'm speaking for A Woman Inspired's One Marriage Webinar. Heidi and I are sharing a session, and it starts at 11:30. So, ALL prayer is tremendously appreciated! (Read that: Please pray! I desperately need it!!)

I'm a writer not a speaker, but last year, on August 24th, I told God that if He brought speaking opportunities to me I would speak for Him. In February, when Amy asked us to speak, I knew what my reply would be because I had already made the commitment to God. I emailed Heidi (gotta love living on opposite sides of the world from each other!) and when I got her reply it was "Let's pray about it." LoL Poor Heidi. By then it was too late. I'd already said yes. I didn't want to give myself an opportunity to chicken out. =)

So today I'm talking about "Passionate and Purposeful Intimacy: Practical Ways to Put the Passion Back in Your Marriage." I'll also be doing a Q&A time, and unless I'm thinking with my fingers (writing as I think) my brain works on a delay. So pray for clarity of thought and speech for me. When I practiced the other day I caught myself dropping my r's, like a good Mainer... even though I haven't lived in Maine for 30 years. *shock* It'll be interesting to see if I drop them today. ;-)


If you came for the author spotlight I had rescheduled for yesterday and today, I'm sorry. I tried to do it, but I couldn't. I didn't have the info I need, nor could I get it online. The false advertising was not intentional. Next week, though, I'm ready to go with the last spotlight for the summer! And it's a great book! =] Then I'll be on to blogging through Joshua, Judges and Ruth as I do Kay Arthur's study.

A word to the wise: when your husband encourages you to attend Toastmasters with him, don't ever say "I don't need to cuz I'll never speak." If you do, you can be reasonably sure you'll regret it.

Yup, I learned that the hard way. Never say never.
So tell me, what have you said you'll never do?

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Changings Coming Soon!

I really and truly did not forget about the winners. =] Really. I was collecting them. =]

Rita is the winner of DiAnn Mills' book, A Woman Called Sage.
Kelly is the winner of Nicole O'Dell's Magna and Making Waves.
Congratulations, ladies!

I left one giveaway open: Jim Rubart's Rooms. Scroll down the page and enter the giveaway, if you haven't already. I'll announce that winner next Tuesday.

Tomorrow I'll be spotlighting and giving away a copy of Vanessa Miller's book Yesterday Promise and next week is Gail Satler's The Narrow Path. (Which I might add, is excellent!! You really, really won't want to miss that one!) =]

After those, I'll be taking the summer off from author spotlights. I'll be doing a Bible study with some of the ladies at my church and I want to have a little more time to focus on it. What study? LoL, I'm so glad you asked! It's Kay Arthur's Choosing Victory - Overcoming Defeat. It's her study on Joshua, Judges and Ruth and I've wanted to do this for years!

To replace my author spotlights, I'll be writing and posting about what I'm learning in the study. I am so excited about this!

When I read, I've found that I get very distracted by highlighting and anything more than simple underlining, and as some of you know, Kay Arthur uses all kinds of marking in the text. So, I invested some of my "earnings" (so strange after 17 years of no personal earnings! LoL) and purchased a new wide margin study Bible. It's the hardback version of the Bible I've used for several years and I cannot wait to get my hands on it. I loooove my Bible but I want to make sure I can still read it without distraction for many years to come, and since I want to do more than just this one study, I invested in a copy I can mark up. Really mark up. Not only that, but once I have it in my hot little hands, I can jump in and start working on the first lesson. =] I know, the logic is a little sketchy, but it makes perfect sense to me. ;-)

And it's special for a couple more reasons which I want to record inside the cover. It's my Ebenezer for these first months of 2010. So much has already gone on this year! Things I never, ever would've imagined! Things that are major for me and totally out of my comfort zone and totally unexpected. But God has been, and IS, soooo faithful. This Bible is my Ebenezer, to remind me of His faithfulness whenever I begin to panic in the future. =]

Do you know what I mean by calling it my Ebenezer? I wrote about just that in May's issue of Exemplify. =] You can read it here, "Rocks in My Pocket" on page 60, but trust me, you'll want to read your way there because Exemplify Magazine is so good! It blesses me every month.

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Family Fun!

One of the things the kids did in preparation for my parents bi-annual visit was to practice their wii boxing. You see, my mom has a mean reputation on the wii and they just did not want to be beaten by their grandmother...







I still don't who won those games, but I can tell ya, it sure was fun to watch! And listen to! Oh-my-goodness! My house was soooo noisy the week my parents were here! But that's okay. It was fun! =]












Pappy was talked into bowling by the girls and Grammy was so happy. LoL She said that maybe this summer she wouldn't have wii bowl with another man just to play. Did it work, Mom? =]

Because our tv lives in the closet in the dining room, we found it easiest to leave the tv in it's hole, shove the dining room forward and use the walk-way between the dining room and kitchen as a bowling alley. It worked great! =]









My dad even managed to get some work in on Jim's book. Between trips to Timbuktu, visiting, and splitting wood. Yes, he really did split wood! And he did more than just run the lever. *eye roll*








As much as everyone loved wii, that wasn't all we did. Really. We played cards, worked on the computer (Mom's not mine cuz I was on a computer break. Kinda.), and we played speed Scrabble. Man, but I love that game! =]








Okay, so here's one of me on wii. *eye roll* I was trying my hand at the cow racing game. Whatever the name of that game is, it sure is hilarious. LoL







One of the kids' favorite things is a weiny roast. We make up a huge pot of homemade mac 'n cheese, grab some baked beans and the dogs and head for the hill. Jim put a tractor tire rim up there as a fire pit and circled it with benches he made from old telephone poles. It's so peaceful up there and always a treat.

And there you have it: a week of life with Grammy and Pappy here. It was wonderful and the computer break for me was super. I'm already looking forward to their visit this fall! =]

(Don't forget the author spotlight and book giveaway that's going on!) =]

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with Jim Rubart

Welcome to Patterings, Jim! Tell us about your epiphany moment when you decided you were going to seriously pursue writing and eventually publication.
When I was twelve I wanted to be an NFL quarterback, I wanted to compete in the Olympics and I wanted to be an author. They were all fantasies. I never believed any of them could come true. As the dreams of pro stardom faded the writing dream just increased. I dabbled with writing short stories, subscribed to Writers Digest, even went to a few local writing workshops, but I never showed my writing to anyone.

Then in 2003 when my wife went on a fast without knowing why God had told her to do it. On day three I said, “I know why you’re fasting. God is saying I need to decide if I’m going to step into this gift He’s given me or refuse.” At that point I jumped in full force.

Which of your books (published or upcoming) has been the most fun for you to write and which character is your favorite?
ROOMS is my favorite at this point because it’s my first and so much of my heart is in it. My favorite character is Rick. He's wise, strong, kind, focused, passionate, full of mercy and justice at the same time. I wish I could be more like him.

What is your most difficult writing obstacle, and how do you overcome it?
Time. I have a full-time job, two wonderful teenage boys and an amazing wife. Being an author could easily consume all my time all by itself. I overcome it by writing in batches. I might write for an entire weekend and then not for two weeks. When I’m under a deadline that’s not an option, but I try to balance family time and writing time so both receive the attention they deserve.

Which character in your new release most interested you while you wrote?
My main protagonist, Micah Taylor. He’s so tortured! But in a good way. He’s full of passion, spontaneous, and I didn’t know what he was going to do. I watched him in my head and simply wrote it down.

What is the quirkiest thing you have ever done?
I’m terrified of heights, but jumped out of an airplane at 10,000 feet anyway. I thought I would conquer my fear by facing it. Didn’t work, but it was a rush! I felt like I was outside my body for six hours after jumping.

Are there things you put off doing because you dread them?
Yes. Why can’t everything be easy? Oh, we live in a broken world? Shoot, that’s right.

What would a perfect day for you look like?
Connection time with Jesus at 7a. Waterski with my boys at 8a. Long walk with my wife after that. Dirt bike with my boys in the afternoon. Do some writing. Long dinner with my wife. We all watch a great movie together. Sleep.

Tell us the range of the kinds of books you enjoy reading.
Everything. Bios, magazines, fiction, non-fiction, Reader’s Digest, trivia books…

Are there certain foods or snacks keeps the words flowing for you?
Coffee with almost as much Cream Brule cream as coffee. (Yes, for those of you who have already read ROOMS, Micah gets that trait from me.)

Are there spiritual themes you like to write about?
Absolutely. A friend once told me, “Every Pastor really has one sermon and they keep doing it over and over again using different angles.” So my “sermon” would be freedom, healing, and destiny.

What lesson is the Lord teaching you right now or recently taught you?
That He doesn’t care about sin. He wants relationship. Don’t misunderstand. The Father abhors sin. But that’s why He sent Jesus, to take care of it once and for all, past, present and future. It says in the Word we should be, “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith,” but so often we focus on our sin and try to fix ourselves. We can’t. We don’t have the power to be Holy. But the Holy Spirit does have the power. We have the Holy Spirit inside us. If we fix our eyes on Jesus, hang out with Him, immerse ourselves in our relationship with Him, focus on the unfathomable depth of His love, and let the Holy Spirit change us, we will become more Holy almost without being conscious of it.

All too often we focus on the wrong thing. Thanks so much for that reminder.
When is your next book due out and can you tell us about it?
Book of Days will hit shelves in January 2011. It’s the story of a young man who is losing the memories of his wife who died two years earlier. In an attempt to recover the memories he goes on a quest to find God’s Book of Days—described in Psalm 139—that has recorded the past, present, and future of every soul on earth.

Jim is giving away a copy of Rooms. To be entered in the book giveaway, leave a comment and check back on Tuesday, May 11th to see if you've won. You can enter twice--once on each post in this spotlight. If you want to guarantee that you're notified if you win, then leave your email address in the comment, otherwise, you can just check back and email me through the button in my sidebar.
**Annoying little disclaimer: This giveaway is open only to U.S. addresses. By clicking on the Amazon link above or in the sidebar, and purchasing, I will receive a very small percentage of the sale.

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meet Jim Rubart

My day job is helping authors and businesses market themselves through my company Barefoot Marketing. I live in the Pacific Northwest with my amazing wife and our two incredible teenage boys.

Want to know more? Here are a few links:

Web sites: www.jimrubart.com and www.barefootmarketing.com
Facebook: James L. Rubart
Twitter: @jimrubart
e-mail: jim@jimrubart.com



Rooms

It was just a letter. Cryptic, yes. Absurd? Absolutely. But Seattle software tycoon Micah Taylor can't get it out of his mind—this claim that a home was built for him, by a great uncle he never knew, on the Oregon coast. In Cannon Beach. The one place he loves. The one place never wants to see again.

Micah heads for Cannon Beach intending to sell the house and keep his past buried, but the nine thousand square feet home instantly feels like it’s a part of him. Then he meets Sarah Sabin at the local ice cream shop. Maybe Cannon Beach can be a perfect weekend getaway.

But strange things happen in the house. Things Micah can't explain. Can barely believe. All the locals will say is the house is “spiritual.” Unsettling, since Micah's faith slipped away like the tide years ago. And then he discovers the shocking truth: the home isn’t just spiritual, it’s a physical manifestation. Of his soul.

Will Micah run—or will he risk everything to see what waits for him deep within the house’s ROOMS?

Jim Rubart Rooms Chapter 1



You can purchase Rooms from CBD and Amazon:


Jim is giving away a copy of Rooms. To be entered in the book giveaway, leave a comment and check back on Tuesday, May 11th to see if you've won. You can enter twice--once on each post in this spotlight. If you want to guarantee that you're notified if you win, then leave your email address in the comment, otherwise, you can just check back and email me through the button in my sidebar.
**Annoying little disclaimer: This giveaway is open only to U.S. addresses. By clicking on the Amazon link above or in the sidebar, and purchasing, I will receive a very small percentage of the sale.

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