Fall Newsletter 2012

 God bless you and Thank you for your interest in

Joy Comes to Bethlehem, as well as the books yet to come in the series.

What an amazing ride this has been—- ever since I started the process of actually self-publishing a book.  It has truly been quite a learning experience and more importantly, it has been an amazing spiritual journey.  As many of you know, it started out as a simple Christmas story that I wanted to create to share with our 8 grandchildren.  I wanted it to be about the birth of Jesus.  It needed to be meaningful and come from a different angle that would capture a child’s attention.  Most of us would probably agree that the Christmas Holiday has become so materialistic and so focused on Santa Clause and self fulfilling pleasures that the true meaning and origin of this very incredible occasion just gets pushed into the back ground.

So, just how did this book all come about?    Many people have asked me that question.

Well, it was the result of answered prayer.  One morning last November (2011), as I was having my prayer and Bible study time, I prayed— asking God to give me a story for the children.  —A story about the birth of Christ that would be biblically accurate and yet captivate their attention, as I mentioned above.  As I pondered and prayed, I considered the possibility of using an animal— maybe a lamb.  No. —-Lambs have been used many times before.

Then I thought about a donkey.  But there is no mention of a donkey in the bible account of Jesus’ birth, except that traditionally there has been and besides, this would be a fictitious story anyway— that is, outside of His birth event.

Then it occurred to me.  The donkeys!  I had a little olive wood donkey for each of the children which I had purchased for them while I was in Israel earlier that year (2011).  And guess where they came from.  You guessed it.  They came from Bethlehem!  I had purchased the almost 3” tall creatures in a store in Bethlehem, Israel and was saving them to give to the children for Christmas.  I sat there, laughed out loud and declared, “God, you knew all along! You had this all planned out!”           <<< I will continue telling more about this in the next Joy Comes…. Newsletter>>>

Why are you receiving this?  Most of you, receiving this newsletter, signed up for it when we met at an event where I was selling and signing copies of Joy comes to Bethlehem.  I think you did so because of your interest in being informed of when the next book/s will be coming out and about future venues where I will be signing and/or reading.  Even though you may already have purchased your copy of Joy Comes…, please help spread the word to your friends & family.

To answer the first question:  Currently the second book in the series is in the capable hands of the artist, Molly Keller.  Doesn’t she do a wonderful job!?  I can hardly wait to see her interpretation of the story that is Book #2.  I will not disclose the name just yet.

About this ride…  I have already been enjoying book signings and such, beginning with my official Book Launch on Oct. 7, at my home church, Radford Worship Center. Then came  reading & signing at Grove United Methodist Church, Radford;  Pages Bookstore in Mt. Airy, NC;  Floyd;  Amazing Women’s Conference – Mt. Airy;  Corrinne’s in Christiansburg;  Steger Creek in Roanoke;  Barnes & Noble, Valley View.             

Book SigningsBook Launch
Steger Creek – Roanoke, VA
Barnes & Noble – Valley View – Roanoke, VA
All that’s missing are the people!

So what’s next?   Upcoming scheduled book signings and events:  Thursday, Dec. 6 at Tinkerings in Salem 6 – 8 P.M. (This is an “adults only” event.);   Saturday, Dec. 8, 10:00 A.M. – Music Comes to Town, in Radford (Pre-registration required. I will be reading and signing.)  and 1 – 4:00 P.M. at Barnes & Noble in Christiansburg.   Then in Richmond Saturday, Dec. 15,  Noon – 2:00 at Barnes & Noble – Chesterfield Town Center in Midlothian;  3 – 6:00 P.M. at Old World Accents, in Carytown and again at Old World Accents on Sunday, Dec. 16 Noonish – 6ish.   I am really enjoying meeting so many nice and interesting people.  As mentioned before, please help spread to word to your friends & family about Joy Comes to Bethlehem and these events.  Word of mouth is my best advertisement!

As a self-published author, I do not have a publisher or agent helping with marketing and promotion.  It’s all on me and my friends, with God’s help and guidance.

If you are on Facebook & can fine the time, please go to “Connie Wohlford, Author” and “Like” the page.  You can even leave a nice comment about the book if you wish. 🙂   That would be very helpful.  I know we are all very busy, but if you have a minute, I would love some feedback from this newsletter venture.  If you do not want to receive it feel free to let me know and I will remove your name from the list.

Meanwhile, God bless you and yours as you bask in the wonders of this Christmas season.

Connie