This is your opportunity to get nearly 300 ebooks free or $0.99! You can get the entire Time Captives trilogy for a total of just $1.98, which is a rare and awesome deal you won't want to miss. Plus so many others!
The tradition introduced by European Americans of Thanksgiving as a time to focus on God and His blessings dates back well over four centuries in America. For example, such thanksgivings occurred in 1541 at Palo Duro Canyon, Texas with Coronado and 1,500 of his men; in 1564 at St. Augustine, Florida with French Huguenot (Protestant) colonists; in 1598 at El Paso, Texas with Juan de Oñate and his expedition; in 1607 at Cape Henry, Virginia with the landing of the Jamestown settlers; in 1619 at Berkeley Plantation, Virginia; (and many other such celebrations). But it is primarily from the Pilgrim’s Thanksgiving celebration of 1621 that we derive the current tradition of Thanksgiving Day.
The Pilgrims set sail for America on September 6, 1620, and for two months braved the harsh elements of a storm-tossed sea. Upon disembarking at Plymouth Rock, they held a prayer service and then hastily began building shelters; however, unprepared for such a harsh New England winter, nearly half of them died before spring. Emerging from that grueling winter, the Pilgrims were surprised when an Indian named Samoset approached them and greeted them in their own language, explaining to them that he had learned English from fishermen and traders. A week later, Samoset returned with a friend named Squanto, who lived with the Pilgrims and accepted their Christian faith. Squanto taught the Pilgrims much about how to live in the New World, and he and Samoset helped forge a long-lasting peace treaty between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians. Pilgrim Governor William Bradford described Squanto as “a special instrument sent of God for [our] good . . . and never left [us] till he died.”
That summer, the Pilgrims, still persevering in prayer and assisted by helpful Indians, reaped a bountiful harvest. As Pilgrim Edward Winslow (later to become the Governor) affirmed, “God be praised, we had a good increase of Indian corn”; “by the goodness of God, we are…far from want.” The grateful Pilgrims therefore declared a three-day feast in December 1621 to thank God and to celebrate with their Indian friends – America’s first Thanksgiving Festival. Ninety Wampanoag Indians joined the fifty Pilgrims for three days of feasting (which included shellfish, lobsters, turkey, corn bread, berries, deer, and other foods), of play (the young Pilgrim and Wampanoag men engaged in races, wrestling matches, and athletic events), and of prayer. This celebration and its accompanying activities were the origin of the holiday that Americans now celebrate each November.
However, while the Pilgrims enjoyed times of prosperity for which they thanked God, they also suffered extreme hardships. In fact, in 1623 they experienced an extended and prolonged drought. Knowing that without a change in the weather there would be no harvest and the winter would be filled with death and starvation, Governor Bradford called the Pilgrims to a time of prayer and fasting to seek God’s direct intervention. Significantly, shortly after that time of prayer – and to the great amazement of the Indian who witnessed the scene – clouds appeared in the sky and a gentle and steady rain began to fall. As Governor Bradford explained:
It came without either wind or thunder or any violence, and by degrees in abundance, as that ye earth was thoroughly wet and soaked therewith, which did so apparently revive and quicken ye decayed corn and other fruits as was wonderful to see, and made ye Indians astonished to behold; and afterwards the Lord sent them such seasonable showers, with interchange of fair warm weather as, through His blessing, caused a fruitful and liberal harvest, to their no small comfort and rejoicing. (1,300 more words)
I'm participating in a Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale again this year! Creighton Hill will be free during the sale, while the rest of Time Captives and Twisted Dreams will be $0.99! And don't forget, you can always get Espionage: A Companion to Time Captives free for signing up for my newsletter. ;)
Go ahead and check out the website! You can preview the sales now, but note that the prices advertised won't be valid until Friday. You can also click "going" on the Facebook event to get a reminder when the sale is live. You don't want to miss these awesome deals!
As you all know, I'm a huge fan of everything Jaye L. Knight writes, and as you may or may not already know, I love listening to audiobooks. So what better thing is there than to combine the two? Resistance is now available on Audible through the voice of narrator Lance Rasmussen! Find out more and listen to the sample below. And don't forget to enter the giveaway! You can see the other tour posts here.
About the Book
"Don’t you know? Animals like you have no soul."
Could God ever love a half-blood all of society looks upon with such fear and disdain? Jace once believed so, but when a tragic loss shatters the only peace he’s ever known, his faith crumbles as the nagging doubts he’s tried to put behind him descend on his grieving heart. With them come the haunting memories of the bloodstained past he longs to forget, but can never escape.
Taken from home at a young age and raised to serve the emperor, Kyrin Altair lives every day under a dangerous pretense of loyalty. After her unique observation skills and perfect memory place her into direct service to the emperor, Kyrin finds herself in further jeopardy as it becomes increasingly difficult to hide her belief in Elôm, the one true God.
Following the emperor’s declaration to enforce the worship of false gods under the penalty of death, many lives are endangered. But there are those willing to risk everything to take a stand and offer aid to the persecuted. With their lives traveling paths they never could have imagined, Jace and Kyrin must fight to overcome their own fears and conflicts with society as they become part of the resistance.
Haven’t discovered the world of Ilyon yet? Find out more at the official Ilyon Chronicles website!
Book Sale!
Now is the perfect time to get into the series! Starting Friday, November 29th, all books from Ilyon Chronicles will be discounted. You can even get the prequel novella for free! So be sure to check them out on Amazon.
About the Author
Jaye L. Knight is an award-winning
author, homeschool graduate, and shameless tea addict with a passion for
Christian fantasy. Armed with an active imagination and love for adventure,
Jaye weaves stories of truth, faith, and courage with the message that even in
the deepest darkness, God’s love shines as a light to offer hope. She has been
penning stories since the age of eight and resides in the Northwoods of
Wisconsin.
Lance Rasmussen is an audiobook narrator and actor based in Denver, CO. A
graduate with a BFA in Acting from Utah State University, and an MFA in
Acting from Louisiana State University, he now narrates and produces
audiobooks from his home studio while working at various regional
theaters across the country. More information can be found at www.lanceras.com. Follow him on Instagram at @LCRasmus.
Giveaway
Share in the excitement of the release and enter to win one
of 3 copies of the Resistance audiobook! Winners will receive a free download
code to use on Audible. Open internationally!
Which basically means I have no brain. I was doing really well, keeping ahead, and then I hit some really terrible days where I just can't focus...and I'm not really sure what I'm doing next in my book. One character who I intended to put in a position where she could finally start getting the information she needs ended up stuck in a cell in the dark without any of her equipment, and I'm not sure what the other MC can do about the situation. It'll be interesting once I figure it out.
Reading...isn't exactly something I have time for during NaNo, but with my inability to focus on writing, I read The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Riddle of the Ages instead. And watched Disney+, because I'm so excited it's finally here and The Mandalorian is pretty cool. Baby Yoda is so cute! (Obviously it's not Yoda Yoda, but it's not like we know what his species is called.)
I'm going to try to get back where I need to be with NaNo, but I guess we'll just have to see.
The other day, a friend of mine was talking about things you should do to be successful. Fairly standard things...make your bed every day, keep your car clean, read your Bible every day, live debt free, serve your way to the top. And I was all "why am I not successful?" Because I do these sorts of things. (Can't say I've served my way to the top, per se, and I know I don't always have the right attitude when I serve, which kind of misses the point, but part of why I don't make very much is because I tend to undercharge/give things away, and I'm always really uncomfortable being at an event and not working.)
And then it hit me: I was defining success by the world's terms. I was defining it by how many dollars enter my bank account every month, by the fact that I've never been anywhere close to the New York Times bestsellers list, by the fact that my music studio remains small, by the fact that I haven't written well enough to publish another novel in years...
But being rich and famous isn't success.
And it isn't even really what I want, when I think about it. Success isn't measured in how many dollars are in your savings account, or how high your book is on the Amazon bestsellers list, or whether anyone of importance ever knows your name.
Success is living fully for God every day of your life.
I know I've written similar posts before, but this is just something that hit me again the other day. Because I know it in my head, but I don't always (often) live it in my heart.
The more things don't go the way I wanted them to, the more I doubt. The more I struggle to trust that God has a plan that is better than mine. I thought I learned that earlier this year. Apparently not. It's probably something I'll keep learning throughout my entire life. I've been frustrated and angry and bitter. I had to get my heart right with God. And ask Him to give me trust in Him, because I can't do it myself.
Because my life doesn't look like what I thought a "successful" life should look like. But just because I don't make anywhere close to enough to live on from book sales doesn't mean I'm a failure as an author. Just because my music studio is small doesn't mean I'm a failure as a music teacher.
If I'm touching other people's lives, showing them God's love and shining His light into their lives, then I'm successful. And not because of what I've done, but because of what God does through me.
Success is surrendering to God.
Not being rich and famous. But living fully for God every day of your life.
Making my bed every day and living debt free are good habits that teach me to be a good steward of what I've been given. But if I think doing those things is going to put me on the New York Times bestseller list, I've missed the point.
Putting God first in my life won't necessarily make me successful in the world's eyes, but it will make me successful in God's eyes.
About a year ago, I had decided never to do regular NaNo at all, and never to do Camp NaNo again. I had some good reasons.
First, generally speaking, I'm not a particularly fast writer. I didn't think it was humanly possible for me to write 50,000 words in 30 days. But then last April happened. I used Camp NaNo as motivation to get the second draft of Acktorek finished (and rewrites for the third draft started), and I managed to write roughly 70,000 words* in 2/3 of a month. A second draft, yes, but mostly new material. Including several 7,000+ word days. It was insane.
*I can't remember my exact stats, and all the stats from last April were lost in the NaNo website transfer, which I'm not happy about, so I can't verify the exacts.
So clearly, my reason for not doing regular NaNo was invalid. If I work hard enough and focus hard enough, I can write 50,000 words in 30 days.
Second reason, and my reason for deciding not to do any NaNo again, is that I get obsessed with stats. Anything with numbers, actually, whether it's word count, my personal budget, population statistics for my worldbuilding, birthdays and age gaps, or literally anything you can convert into numbers. Which is weird, because the only school subject I liked less than math was Latin. (Algebra reviews were kind of fun, though, if only because it gave me a break from geometry proofs. And multiplying and dividing fractions can be cool.) My stats obsession contributed to fluff sections in my writing trying to make word count, and, combined with multiple other factors, did damage to my writing quality.
And, unfortunately, my tendency to obsess over stats and other numbers still 100% exists. So that's always a worry that I'll have. However, it's all in having the right focus. If I'm just trying to make word count, that's a problem. But if I'm using NaNo simply as an incentive to finish writing a book, it's a different matter. My April Camp NaNo work doesn't have a lot of fluff to make word count. In fact, I started working on an alternate version of a section for draft 3 at the end of NaNo because I'd finished the book before I hit word count.
So I've decided to do NaNo this November. My first regular NaNo. And I'm not even a rebel for continuing work on an already begun draft. :(
What am I working on? Acktorek 2. Which needs a better working title, but anywho. I wanted to get the book at least half written by the end of the year, and I estimate that NaNo should get me into the climax, at which point I should be home free. I'm learning more about who Emma and Mitchell are in this book (worldbuilding Mitchell's home also helped), and I'm going to use what I've learned to go back and revise/rewrite book 1. Then rewrite book 2. And then I want to draft a book 3. Because I want to make this a series. And somehow fit in other series/standalones in between. Especially now that I know I can write pretty fast when I really set my mind to it. Maybe I won't win, and that's okay, but if I've at least got myself past the midpoint of the book, I'll be happy. And if I finish the book, I'll be even happier.
I'm doing NaNo. And I'm absolutely going to be watching Month of the Novel for, er, inspiration?
P.S. This post was written and scheduled on NaNo Eve (if that's not a thing, it is now), so by this time, I'm hopefully not flailing in a sea of words.
