So every year there is a week long ta-do in NWA leading up to the Wal-Mart shareholder’s meeting. And this usually includes three nights of concerts. Last year we saw the Eagles, Hall and Oates, and some African Americans pretending to be Kool And the Gang.

Tuesday night it was Lifehouse and Taylor Swift. It was a lot of fun. The Lifehouse lead singer can totally wail–and I mean that in a good way. He sings with his eyes shut, so it was hard to snap a picture of him with his peepers visible.

Nope. Not quite.

Not here either.

SCORE!!!

But I couldn’t stop staring at his guitar player’s hair. It looked so familiar.

Leif Garrett? A 1970s Rod Stewart? My cousin Tina?

Taylor Swift was very peppy. The tweens there were going nuts. I think I have hearing damage from the three girls beside me. Taylor’s band was interesting too. In case you’ve wondered where Captain Jack Sparrow’s been hiding out, it’s in her band.

“Arrr, shiver me timbers. Nothing a boy loves more than a skinny girl beside him, guitar playing, and extra heavy eyeliner.”

And I couldn’t stop staring at THIS guitar player either.

This picture does NOT do his hair justice. I couldn’t ever get it all in one frame. I needed a panoramic option or something. Anyway, it was a miracle of gravity and hair gel, and I was mesmerized.

I have a concert Thursday night and more famous people to see Friday, so stay tuned.

Finally, summer is when I get in some reading. With the book writing, not as much reading as I’d like. But here are some things I’ve read lately.

I STINK at reading nonfiction. I have a whole stack of them that have enough dust to plug up your sinuses for life. But I LOVED this book. Took a bit to get into, but really had some practical advice and ended up being a page turner for the most part.

I tried to read this. Got over half way through. Anything princessey always gets my attention. This is from the author of Dairy Queen, which got amazing reviews. I will probably try to finish it…eventually.

I’ve read about half of this runaway best seller too. They are currently talking FILM right now, so it’s gonna be interesting. It’s an interesting read on a lot of different levels. Lots of debate going on about the theology of it, which I am totally staying out of.

I am on book nine of the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich (who I notice has a little nip and tuck done by the time you see her author photo on book ten. Go, Janet!).

I will soon be reading From a Distance by Tamera Alexander. I LOVE historical romance of the secular variety. But I have yet to find anything on the Christian shelves that has the same sizzle and interesting plot. But word on the street (Just pick one–um, Main Street?) is that Tamera is top notch in Christian historical fiction. I haven’t got to crack it open yet, but looking forward to it. I’ve included a preview chapter and some info below so we can all ooh and ahh over it.

Until my next Weird Guitar Player Report,

Jen

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Allianceis introducing

From A Distance(Bethany House June 1, 2008)byTamera Alexander

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Tamera Alexander is a bestselling novelist whose deeply drawn characters, thought-provoking plots and poignant prose resonate with readers. Tamera is a finalist for the 2008 Christy Award Remembered, and has been awarded the coveted RITA® from Romance Writers of America Revealed, along with Library Journal’s Top Christian Fiction of 2006 Rekindled. Having lived in Colorado for seventeen years, she and her husband now make their home in the quaint town of historic Franklin, Tennessee, where they enjoy life with their two college-age children and a precious—and precocious—silky terrier named Jack.

A Note from Tamera:

Stories are journeys, and each story I write is a journey for me.

Rekindled began with a dream—the image of a man returning home on horseback. He came upon a freshly dug grave and when he knelt to read the name carved into the roughhewn wooden cross, he discovered the name was…his own. The inspiration for Revealed grew from two characters in Rekindled whose stories needed to be told. But even more, whose stories I needed to tell. Writing Revealed was a very personal journey for me, and a healing one. For Remembered, I met that story’s heroine (figuratively, of course) while strolling the ancient cobblestoned pathways of a three hundred-year-old cemetery in northern Paris, France. And From A Distance came from a question I was struggling with in my own life at the time, “What happens when the dream you asked God for isn’t what you thought it would be?”

For me, the greatest thrill of these writing journeys is when Christ reveals Himself in some new way, and I take a step closer to Him. And my deepest desire is that readers of my books will do that as well—take steps closer to Him as they read. After all, it’s all about Him.

In the Potter’s Hand,

Tamera

ABOUT THE BOOK

What happens when dreams aren’t what you imagined,

And secrets you’ve spent a lifetime guarding are finally laid bare?

Determined to become one of the country’s premier newspaper photographers, Elizabeth Westbrook travels to the Colorado Territory to capture the grandeur of the mountains surrounding the remote town of Timber Ridge. She hopes, too, that the cool, dry air of Colorado, and its renowned hot springs, will cure the mysterious illness that threatens her career, and her life.

Daniel Ranslett, a former Confederate sharpshooter, is a man shackled by his past, and he’ll do anything to protect his land and his solitude. When an outspoken Yankee photographer captures an image that appears key to solving a murder, putting herself in danger, Daniel is called upon to repay a debt. He’s a man of his word, but repaying that debt will bring secrets from his past to light.

Forced on a perilous journey together, Daniel and Elizabeth’s lives intertwine in ways neither could have imagined when first they met . . . from a distance.

If you would like to read the first chapter, go HERE

“…a rich historical romance by possibly the best new writer in this subgenre.”
–Library Journal

“…a most amazing story. The characters are more than words on the page; they become real people.”
–Romantic Times

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