Winter Newsletter

 God bless you and Thank you again for your interest in

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

The process of promoting and marketing my book, Joy Comes to Bethlehem, continues.  As I look back on 2012, my head begins to spin—- again.  Those of you who know my family personally are well aware of the emotional events that were in the forefront of our family members’ lives.  It all started in March, when our very dear family friend, JoAnn, unexpectedly passed away.  Though of no blood relation, Jo had no children of her own and my brothers and I called her our “Second Mama”, as we had been very close for fifty years, since I was 12 years old.  In May, my precious mama, Edith Edwards, went on to her heavenly home and then my sweet daddy, Rudy, joined her in glory in August, less than three months later.  As if that were not enough, after a short illness, my beloved Aunt Gerri joined them as well.  You would have really loved Aunt Gerri!  She was the family “Storyteller”, the favorite of our whole clan and anyone else who came in contact with her.

You may be wondering why I am telling you all this— about our losses of 2012.  I’ll answer that, but first let me simply say that, in our losses, all is not lost!  The good news is “The Good News”!  Each of these precious people that I just spoke of above was born again and had a genuine relationship with their Savior, Christ Jesus.  SO they are each enjoying their Heavenly Home, having a lot more fun than any of the rest of us are having right now.  For those of us who are in Christ, we sure have a lot to look forward to and Eternity is a long, long time!

So how does all this relate to Joy Comes to Bethlehem and my personal experience?  In retrospect, I see now that God, in His love and mercy toward me, gave me this book to write and publish at this very specific time in my life.  My parents lived with my husband, Guy, and I for the last three & a half years before their deaths.  Their health was waning with dementia and other age related illnesses.  For those of you who have watched the gradual decline of a loved one, you are well aware of the toll that it takes on loved ones and especially caregivers.    So I now see that the writing, self-publishing process and marketing of Joy Comes to Bethlehem was not only a gift to our grandchildren (its original purpose), but was incredible therapy for me personally at a season in my life when God knew that I needed something out of the ordinary, to help me cope with trials that only He knew were heading our way.

So, just how did this book all come about?    Since I spent so many words on the above section of this installment of Joy Comes…,  I will continue the  “how’d it happen”  section next time.

About this ride…   Since my last communication with you, I’m happy to report that I enjoyed book singings at 3 Barnes & Noble stores, Tinkerings, in Salem, VA and Old World Accents in Carytown (Richmond, VA).  In addition to that I was invited to speak to a couple of groups— a church group and a civic group— to tell my story about just how I came to write this little book.  I find that many people I talk with are very interested in writing something that is on their hearts and are interested in the process of self-publishing a book.  I really would like to do more of that sort of thing.

So what’s next?   Many of you have asked when the next book in this series will be released and you even signed up to receive this newsletter to be specifically updated concerning that matter.  I’m glad to tell you that more progress is being made.  Molly is still working on the illustrations and expects to be finished very soon.  I have been busy looking into other publisher options, hoping to keep the cost down on future books.  No doubt, we will all appreciate that!   Hopefully in the next very few weeks, I will be able to let you know when to expect its release.

As mentioned before, please help spread to word to your friends & family about Joy Comes to Bethlehem and other books forthcoming in the series.  Word of mouth is my best advertisement!

Being self-published, 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.  I still have copies of Joy Comes to Bethlehem available for sale and am also still behind in recovering my monetary investment to get it accomplished.  So if you or someone you know wants one or more copies, please let me know.

Don’t forget, 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 much appreciated!  And, hey, if you have a minute, I would love some feedback from this newsletter venture.  If, for any reason, you do not want to continue 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 forge into this New Year.  You might even find yourself writing a book!

Connie

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