To celebrate the holiday season I'm giving away books! I don't know about anyone else, but books are pretty much my favorite of all the things, ever. I have a legit library in my home. In fact, I bought my house almost solely because it has a library in it. Anyway, I like big books and I cannot lie.

So, of course, I want to give them away to you! Here are several giveaways I'm either running or participating in right now:

• I'm giving away 3 signed, autographed paperback versions of Danny Boy to 3 lucky winners on my Facebook page and/or Instagram. Get the details and learn how to win here.
• I'm running a free Kindle-version giveaway on Amazon. Enter to win here.
• I'm participating in a 12 Giveaways of Christmas event from today through Christmas Day. Watch my Facebook feed for the link to download a FREE book each day! Danny Boy: The Boy Who Raised His Family will be free to download on December 19th, 2018.

After I published the Kindle version of the book, I took a little break to clear my head. So, it's been almost a month and now I feel ready to put the paperback version out there. There still may be errors. If so, please contact me and let me know what they are! That's one of the problems with self-publishing--some things may slip through that an editor would catch. If you find one, please let me know! 
The book is printed on demand, meaning there is no large pile of them in Amazon's warehouse. They wait until you order it and then print that one out to send to you. That's great because I can make changes any time and they'll take immediate effect! Technology is awesome. 
I feel strongly that there are people out there who need the message contained in this book, so I'll be doing my best to get it in front of them. If you're interested in helping with that effort, the best thing you could do is go on Amazon and review the book. It doesn't have to be a 5 star review (but it doesn't NOT have to be, either ;). When Amazon sees products being purchased and reviewed, their algorithm automatically pushes the product higher up on the list of search results and product recommendations. This puts the book in front of more people. So, please, please, please help me bring some hope to people who are struggling out there to make sense of their lives as caregivers. Buy the book and leave a review! 
Thank you!!!
P.S. When you buy the paperback, you get the Kindle version for free! Also, if you're a Kindle Unlimited subscriber, you can read it for free anytime!

Thoughts on the cover design? I did it myself, so of course I'm going to be unsure about it until I get some solid validating feedback. I'm having an editor look over the manuscript now, so hopefully they can help me polish it up before I put it out there in the world.

I've had some of my kids--who've grown up around Danny and heard these stories for years--read the manuscript, occasionally one will ask, "Wait. Did that really happen?" It strikes me just how crazy some of our experiences with Danny really are. It certainly felt crazy at the time, but after you tell the story for so long I guess it loses some of it's shock factor. A lot of the stories I write about in the book are just so ridiculous, they HAVE to be real. I can't make this stuff up, folks. My imagination is not that... twisted?

Anyway, I hope you like it. I wrote my book to help families who are struggling to raise kids with special needs to see the bigger picture. My hope is that they'll be able to recognize the refining process for what it is and maybe even embrace it... eventually.

It feels a lot like the ninth month of pregnancy right now. After many years of planning, years of remembering, and almost a year of writing (and a whole lot of texts to my mom to get facts and dates right), the manuscript is finally written.

There's still plenty to do before "my baby" can make its appearance, however. This website, for one thing. Then there's editing, formatting, and cover design that all need to be completed. But it's close. So close.

Will people like my baby? I wonder. Will it be received the way I intend? Or worse, will the whole world take one look and shrug their shoulders in indifference? I want to scream, HEY, LOOK! THIS IS SPECIAL!

But we'll just have to wait and see. Time will tell.