Still time for April's Prompt-Deadline Extended

Hello all,

Someone (thank you, Anita! :-)) brought to my attention that my Cheryl[at]CherylWyatt.com box was full...so I'm extending April's Prompt Contest into May. I'll take April entries until May 5th.

My apologies! I have only been online a couple times since my wreck because my fingers/hands hurt from bending backwards in the steering wheel and I jammed/dislocated three fingers. LOL! Typing is mega painful, so I hadn't cleaned out my mailbox.

It's cleaned out now and you can send in entries. Looking forward to reading them!!! :-)

Cheryl

Southern Illinois Earthquakes

Quakes! What a way to wake. Loud rumbling and our house shimmying back and forth jolted and jittered us out of bed this morning. We're having earthquakes here in Southern Illinois ranging anywhere between 2.5-5.2 magnitude. The one around 4-5 am seemed to go on and on and on.

What makes me nervous is we live on the New Madrid Fault. Yikes! No property damage...but if you all could pray that things settle down...we'd appreciate it. I don't like being separated from my children with this seizmic activity going on. And I'm not exactly mobile enough to be able to rush out of the house.

Not only that..I dreamed about an earthquake two weeks ago and because of the stupid dream I'm feeling panicky. In the dream there was an earthquake and the ground split and opened up and there was this huge chasm between my children and I. So of course, with my writer's vivid imagination, I'm a little fearful to have my children not with me.

Prayers are appreciated.


Cheryl

I'm having entirely too much fun

On this Darvocet....

 

LOL!

 

Actually...I'm kidding. I've only had two in 24 hours and before that I was having to take them every four hours. So prayers are working! Keep at it!

 

And keep sending thanks His way too. Some friends from church came by tonight...brought me THE best grilled burger and other awesome food. Told me an awesome joke. Wish I could remember it...something about geese. Tim and Lauren and her brother. And of course Lauren looks so beautiful pregnant...she's one of these thin women who look like an olive on a toothpick. Very glowing. She's going to be a great mom. They had me laughing for at least an hour. And my MIL has lunch for me in the fridge for tomorrow. My lifesaver Aimee came today and cleaned the guinea cage after her lovely mom brought some bedding from the store. Aimee also did my dishes and laundry. YAY! And straightened my kitchen and vacuumed. My sister and BIL are watching the kids and my house is QUIET for the first time in nearly a decade! Granny Veda got moved from Intensive care to a regular room..PRAISE GOD! And granny Nellie called to chat and she always cheers me up. Debbie called from the Carolinas and I lost my balance while talking to her and bumped my foot...OUCH! She lovingly scolded me and told me to sit down I was out of breath. Or maybe that was the voices in my head. LOL! I had six uninterrupted hours to read my Bible and pray. SIX!!!! WOW! That hasn't happened in years. My cousin from across the street calls once an hour to check in on me. My SIL and niece came by for coffee and a chat. Folks have been calling. Cards have come in the mail and well-wishes through e-mail from all over the world. I tell you..I should crash my car more often....HE! NOT! I know I'm forgetting stuff too.

 

I truly feel loved everyone! THANK YOU!

 

Hugs,

 

Cheryl-more and more on the mend.

--
www.CherylWyatt.com ~~High-Caliber Romance, High-Octane Faith~~  
Pouring my vial of words over Him.

A SOLDIER'S PROMISE~ Steeple Hill LI ~ Jan. 2008  RT Top Pick!
A SOLDIER'S FAMILY~ Steeple Hill LI~Mar. 2008 RT Top Pick!

GREAT GOBS OF TURKEY

I have to brag on my Seeker sisters today... Seekerville

They sent a huge ham and a turkey from Harry and David's gifts.

How awesome is that? And so practical too. Not like I can eat flowers. LOL!

Hope you'll zip over to Seekerville and tell them how great they are.

I definitely feel enormously loved by all the well-wishes and prayers you all are sending.

Hugs,

Cheryl

Still on the mend

Isaiah 58:8
Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

My hands aren't hurting as much and I'm slowly but surely feeling better. Your prayers and well-wishes have uplifted me and I am grateful most of all for the outpouring of thankfulness heading God's way that He protected us from greater harm.

Keep sending those prayers for healing up, and also please continue to bombard God with thanks on behalf of myself and my children.

Hugs,

Cheryl

Recouping and Thanks

Hey all

Some of you know by now I was in a MVA Saturday night.

Posting quick to say I'm all right and my family is all right. Car didn't make it and the can of bisquits I'd just bought from the store definitely didn't make it. :-)

I'm sore but recouping. The driver who ran a stop sign and caused the accident is being evasive and cavalier. Please pray she does the right thing and cooperates with police so we can get insurance stuff pushed through.

In addition, thanks you to all of you who came out to my booksigning and found out the hard way that I wasn't there. Many of you found out about the wreck from the librarians. I am sorry I wasn't able to notify you and I know many of you drove long distances to get there.

I appreciate you and will answer all of the e-mails and letters when some of the swelling and pain is out of my hands. Right now it hurts to type. I did break my foot/ankle in several places but that seems to be the worst injury I received...THANK GOD.

Even the police and EMS mentioned that the way both vehicles were totaled (because we also hit a tree after colliding with the vehicle that caused the wreck) and that my family was uninjured except for my fractures and whiplash is a real miracle.

So if you would please join me in praising God that this wasn't worse.

I'll start posting more when my hands and fingers get back to normal.

Thanks so much for all of your well-wishes and prayers.

Recouping and exceptionally thankful my family is okay,

Cheryl

BOOKSIGNING BLUSH AND CRINGE

I have my very first book signing tomorrow. Last night...not only did I get sprayed by a skunk in my garage...I found out the hard way I'm still severely allergic to tomatoes.

Not only do I have a pleasant aroma following me and my blotchy neck hives around...my eyes, lips, face and hands are badly swollen and I'm not sure how I'll even sign books. LOL! Febreez and Benadryl here we come......

PS...tomato juice DOES. NOT. WORK.

Cheryl "Hives" Wyatt

CONGRATS ANITA DRAPER-March Prompt Winner

Congrats to Anita Draper for winning March's Prompt Contest!!!

 

Anita has her choice between several new Steeple Hill releases.

 

Way to go, Anita!

 

All the entries this month were so great...it took me awhile to choose!

 

Keep at it everyone! April's prompt was posted. Just scroll back until you find it...or look at the sidebar to the right.

Cheryl Wyatt

Steeple Hill on My Space!

Exciting news! Steeple Hill now has a MySpace page. So if you're on My Space, be sure to zip over there and view their profile. Send 'em a Friends Request while you're at it. I think Dream and the team did a fabulous job with it.

http://www.myspace.com/steeplehill or click the header link above.


Cheryl

Eldorado Book Signing

Just letting folks know I will be signing the first two books in my Wings of Refuge Series from Steeple Hill (A Soldier's Promise and A Soldier's Family) this Sunday, April 13th, from 2 to 4 pm at the Eldorado Library in Southern Illinois...the setting of Wings of Refuge.

The address is:

Eldorado Memorial Public Library
1001 Grant St.
Eldorado, IL 62930

Call 618-273-7922 for directions.

Hope to see some of you there!

Cheryl Wyatt

eHarlequin.com Issues 100,000 Book Reading Challenge

*****Permission to forward*****

eHarlequin.com Issues 100,000 Book Reading Challenge

National Center for Family Literacy to receive up to 100,000 books with estimated valued of $700,000

Toronto, (February 11, 2008)—eHarlequin.com (www.eHarlequin.com), the online site for Harlequin Enterprises Limited, is challenging its community members to read an astounding 100,000 books in one year in the 2008 eHarlequin.com 100,000 Book Challenge. When the reading challenge ends on December 31, 2008, Harlequin will make an unprecedented donation of an equivalent number of books to the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL). The estimated retail value of a 100,000 book donation to the NCFL by Harlequin Enterprises Ltd. is $700,000 U.S.

The stated mission of NCFL is to create a literate nation by leveraging the power of the family. Family literacy helps parents and children form a learning partnership that ends the cycle of poverty and low literacy. NCFL works to find solutions to the literacy crises that build on the family by creating a new cycle of ongoing learning and mutual support. Since its inception in 1989, NCFL has provided leadership to solve the national literacy problem. Through groundbreaking initiatives, NCFL fuels life improvement for the nation’s most disadvantaged children and parents. More than one million families throughout the country have made positive educational and economic gains as a result of NCFL’s work, which includes training more than 150,000 teachers and thousands of volunteers.

“Recent studies show that people are reading literature less and less,” said Sharon Darling, president & founder of NCFL. “This reading challenge not only will provide an important incentive for everyone to read more, it also will greatly benefit the millions of adults who have low literacy – 34 million in the United States alone and 771 million globally.”

In addition to promoting literacy, the 2008 eHarlequin.com 100,000 Book Challenge encourages readers to discuss the titles they have read on the eHarlequin.com website in their own blogs. Those participating in the challenge share their thoughts, reviews, opinions, recommendations and progress. Another remarkable and unforeseen aspect to the challenge is that many people who were not bloggers—or who even knew what a blog was—are now passionate blog hosts and are spearheading online discussions in the forums.

“Our readers are very passionate,” says Jayne Hoogenberk, community manager for eHarlequin.com. “They read, talk, think and dream about books 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year. The median number of paperbacks read in one year by Americans is 12. The median for Harlequin readers is 30. Since we’re always looking for ways to inspire and challenge our community members, we wondered if, as a group, they would be able to read 100,000 books in a single calendar year and through our donation of 100,000 books, share that love of reading with others who don’t have such easy access to entertaining and engaging literature for women.”

The original book challenge was laid down on eHarlequin.com in January 2006 and challenged community members to each read 100 books. Seventy-five community members took up the gauntlet. By the end of the year, 55 of those people had read or exceeded the goal. In 2007 eHarlequin.com challenged its members to read 10,000 books collectively. By year end they had read an astounding 24,440 books. To date 350+ participants have accepted the 2008 100,000 Book Challenge. In one week they have already read some 1,000+ books.

“The response of the past two years was so overwhelmingly positive that we had to keep going,” states Hoogenberk. “We also knew that we had to up the ante. And so the 2008 eHarlequin.com 100,000 Book Challenge for literacy was born. Last year we capped the number of participants and still easily surpassed our target. Since the event has generated such positive feedback, and in order to reach our goal of 100,000 books read, we’ve decided to leave registration open-ended this year.”

There are no hard and fast rules other than participants being asked to have at least 50% of their list be novels published by Harlequin. This allows readers to discover the outstanding breadth of editorial Harlequin has to offer. The other 50% of books can be any genre by any publisher. Likewise, all formats—print, eBooks, audiobooks, etc.—are acceptable, and readers are encouraged to seek them out and give them a try.

The range and diversity of Harlequin readers is not confined solely to the type of books they read or the medium in which they enjoy them. The online nature of the eHarlequin.com community illustrates the significant power of books to unite readers in a global way. Geographic boundaries have become meaningless in this venture as the challenge brings together readers from countries as varied as Germany, France and the Philippines, as well as Harlequin editors in Toronto, New York and London and Harlequin authors from around the world.

The 2008 eHarlequin.com 100,000 Book Challenge is taking place right now at eHarlequin.com.


About Harlequin Enterprises Limited
Harlequin Enterprises Limited is the global leader in series romance and one of the world's leading publishers of women's fiction, with titles issued worldwide in 25 languages and sold in 94 international markets. The company releases over 115 titles monthly and publishes more than 1,300 authors from around the world. Harlequin Enterprises Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Torstar Corporation, a broadly based media company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TS.nv.b). Harlequin's website is located at www.eHarlequin.com. Harlequin has offices in 18 countries, including offices in Toronto, New York and London. For more information please visit www.eHarlequin.com or press.eHarlequin.com.


About National Center for Family Literacy
The National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL) is the worldwide leader in family literacy, an intergenerational approach to help families escape poverty through education. More than 1 million families have made positive educational and economic gains as a result of NCFL’s work, which includes training more than 150,000 teachers and thousands of volunteers. Educators, policymakers and philanthropists rely on NCFL to mobilize family literacy efforts, conduct research and develop new, effective tools to leverage the learning relationship between parents and children. Family literacy, pioneered by NCFL, is a powerful community strategy for raising educational levels, improving workforce skills and breaking the cycle of poverty. Visit www.famlit.org to learn more, make a donation, locate a literacy program in your area or find out how to become a volunteer.


Media Contacts:

Don Lucey Carla Blanton
Asst. Mgr., Public Relations Communications National Center for Family Literacy
Harlequin Enterprises Limited 859-608-4850
(416) 391-7094 cblanton@famlit.org
don_lucey@harlequin.ca

CONGRATS ONLY UNI WINNERS

Congrats going out to

Windy City and Christy Jan who won the drawing for a copy of Camy Tang's Only Uni!!!

Cheryl

Prehistoric Blush and Cringe

Well...

Every single member of American Christian Fiction Writers ACFW now knows I'm suffering from PMS (Prehistoric Monster Syndrome) this week, thanks to the fact that I sent a very soul-baring prayer plea to THE WRONG E-MAIL ADDRESS yesterday. Not only that, I'd mentioned in the request that I needed prayer for my speech because I couldn't stop being mean to my husband. (Anyone read Celia in A Soldier's Family? Yeah...she's a lot like me in the mouth department.)

On the upside...I had about 115 people e-mail me within an hour, telling me they were lifting me and my granny Veda and my neice Bridget up in prayer. :-)

Today I can finally laugh about it.

Of course, when I tearfully told my husband that thousands of people now know how mean to him I've been this week...he jerked forward, spewed Dr. Pepper all over the coffee table....and laughed his head off for the next twenty minutes.

Uh..maybe he feels vindicated...ya think?

LOL!

What else is there to do besides laugh?

HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Cheryl aka Chief Red Cheeks

APRIL's PROMPT CONTEST aka STORY STARTER

April Prompt Contest
RULES:
• Write a 500 word scene using all ten Prompt Words.
• Begin each scene using one of three Scene Starter Sentences.
• Mail your scenes in the body of an e-mail to Cheryl @ CherylWyatt . com (close spaces before and after “@” and “.”)
• Put “April Prompt Contest” in the subject line.
• Entry deadline is the last day of the month.
• Winners will be notified the first week of the next month.
• Winners will receive a free Steeple Hill book, mailed the month winners are notified.
• All monthly entrants (not just winners) will be entered into the annual contest for one of several chances to win a six month subscription to any Steeple Hill line of their choice.
• Entries will not be posted or published anywhere and entrants retain all rights to their work.
• I will post winners’ names each month if permission is granted either at the time of entry, or upon notification of placement.
• New prompts will be posted on the first of the month.
• Most of all, have fun!

April Prompt Words
1. sill
2. seal
3. SEAL
4. Navy
5. train
6. base
7. bass
8. basket
9. story
10. storey

April Scene Starter Sentences:
“That’s the worst excuse for a pushup I’ve ever seen.”
“Whadda ya mean you can’t breathe?”
“We’ve got a situation.”

Happy Writing!

Cheryl Wyatt aka Squirrel