Do you own an iPhone, iPad, or an iPod touch?

Do you want to try a mobile app self-help treatment for OCD?

If so, you may have the opportunity to participate in an online study being conducted by researchers at Brown University/Alpert Medical School evaluating a mobile app for OCD. Each participant will receive free access to the mobile app and be asked to complete four online surveys over 12 weeks. For further information and study participation, please contact Jessica Lawton at401-455-6541 or via email at JLawton@butler.org.  If you have questions regarding participation, you may also call Dr.  Maria Mancebo at 401-455-6216or via email at mmancebo@butler.org.

Today is my 33rd birthday.

[Insert whine about being 33 and single.]

Seventeen-year-old Westlin Beck is dreading this last summer before her senior year. Her best friend is away at camp, her boyfriend is working from dawn until dusk, and her dad is more distant than ever.

But everything changes when the Hart twins move into town. Silas, so good-looking and a budding poet, is friendly with everyone but West, while Laurel, his mysterious sister, appears to be sick with an illness no one—and especially not Silas—will discuss.

Forced to team up with Silas in her summer car-cleaning business, West and Silas begin to forge a friendship—and maybe something more. But when West comes face-to-face with Laurel’s devastating secret, the summer changes into a rescue mission—one with unexpected results.

Truest will be published September 1, 2015, by HarperCollins.

Add it to your Goodreads to-read shelf!

Available for pre-order at
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Books a Million
Fishpond
Powell’s

Cover reveal next month!! (It’s gorgeous!)

I needed to collect these into one place for myself.

First drafts. I tell ya.

For the Next Time I Start Writing a New Novel
Show Up
First Draft Manifesto
Second Draft Manifesto
Just One More
Writing is Hard
Writing and/or Life, Both Hard
Thoughts on the Writing Life
The Good & Bad of Writing
From Hit-or-Miss to Hard Work

Things will be quiet here on the blog till after Christmas! I’ll be headed to my parents’ farm to spend time with them, my sister Kristin, my brother Kevin, and the new puppy Casey.

I know that Christmas is a hard time for a lot of people (including myself, usually). I will say a special prayer for you that God will hold you this holiday and that you’ll be filled with incarnation marvel and joy.

I can’t thank you all enough for caring about me and about my blog!  I love blogging, and I love interacting with blog readers, and I want this to be a safe space for dialogue and discussion.

Twice a year, I ask for your input to help make my blog a better experience for you all!  It’s that time again!

If you would be willing to take this short survey (five open-ended questions and you can skip any you don’t want to answer!), I’d be so grateful to you.

GIVEAWAY:
As an incentive, I’ll be giving away a free book to one survey-taker!  The survey itself is anonymous, so if you want to be considered for the drawing, leave a comment on the post that you took the survey. Thanks!

Click here to take the survey!