Her Best Catch by Lindi Peterson

Lindi Peterson's Her Best Catch is a first person Christian romance. Now, I usually don't read first person, but this has a romance in the story line, and I LOVE romance.

I started reading this book on Christmas night while I was trying to put my son to bed. Using my SuperNanny techniques, I was waiting for him to get out of bed so I could promplty put him right back in the bed. Since my little man likes to get out of bed on the minute, every minute, I had to be patient, but ready.... So, I'm standing at the kitchen counter, near his bedroom, Her Best Catch open and my book mark ready to be placed in said book as needed.

An hour later, my little man is asleep and I'm thinking I'll read one more chapter.... One more chapter turned into I'm half way through the book. I can't stop now!!!

I liked the main character, Allison Doll. She's a little snarky, in a nice way and I didn't feel she realized how attractive she was to Ashton Boyd, the relief pitcher for the Braves who happens to visit her Sunday School class. Our hero, Ashton Boyd was a guy I wanted to know more about. What was his story? I mean, a hunky relief pitcher just shows up in Allison's Sunday School class one day and all of the sudden, he's calling her and wanting to talk about the Sunday School lesson? Pulleeze, there's got to be something dark in his past. Then, he shows up at her place of business in his Jag and takes her to lunch. Ohhh, he's gonna break her heart. Don't get in the Jag, Allison! Don't do it... But she does... and I've gotta find out what happens next... Plus, Allison's trying to plan a party for her mother's 50th birthday and Allison's dealing with the budding relationship of her two best friends who now are known to Allison as Trelvet (was Trent and Velvet pre-relationship days). No Spoilers here... You'll have to read the book to find out how everything comes together.

And I did find out how everything ended.... when I finished the book four hours later.

IN ONE SITTING.

I was very satisfied, and had gotten attached to the characters. I hated for the story to end. I'd somehow come to care about Auditor Allison Doll, with her little ponytail her Mom wishes she wouldn't wear and her glasses. I wanted to know if Ashton was going to break her heart or not, just like her friends said he would.

Haven't we all been there at sometime in our lives? Suddenly, Allison represented every girl at that single point in her life when it seems everyone else has someone. She represented my family member, my best friend. She represented me at one time, except she had the confidence to say what she wanted and I didn't obtain that until I was well into my 30s...

This story made me laugh and it made my heart ache at times for Allison's situation. It made me say "Oh, No!" I sighed at some of the tender love scenes. There is a lot of God talk in this book. There's a lot of prayer. God is important to the characters. For me, it wasn't out of the ordinary. I find I'm sending up prayers to God every hour - Hey, He's there, He hears us, He loves for us to talk to Him. I think your comfort level with the "God talk" in the book will depend on your own walk with Him. But this book is purely for entertainment. Not preachy... it's simply a book about a Christian woman who's secure in her walk. Her Best Catch was one of these stories where you truly like the character and you want it to keep going. It's a light-hearted story with fun characters. I give this debut by Lindi Peterson five stars!!! Loved it!

About the Author:

Along with being one of my best pals, this chick is a great motivator. She's sensitive to others feelings and she's David Crowder's biggest fan! What else about Lindi?  Well, you can find her at www.lindipeterson.com.  She's president of our Georgia ACFW Chapter. She blogs on Monday's on www.thefaithgirls.com.
Lindi definitely believes happy endings are just the beginning. She lives out her real life romance with her husband in Georgia. When she's not writing, she loves to read, bowl and spend time with her family.

O is for Overcoming Obstacles

Lindi here.

ob·sta·cle   [ob-stuh-kuhl] –noun.  something that obstructs or hinders progress.

o·ver·come  [oh-ver-kuhm] -came, -come, -com·ing.    –verb (used with object)
1. to get the better of in a struggle or conflict; conquer; defeat: to overcome the enemy.

So here we have the dictionary definitions of our A-Z challenge O words. As writers how do we feel about these words?

Personally they drive me crazy. 

Mixing it up with the A-Z challenge is an overall theme of accountability. Although I’m not sure I’m the best person to be speaking on that aspect. I once told my father I was going to call one of those work from home places. He told me that was something I probably shouldn’t do.

I do have a problem with discipline.

I am a procrastinator. 

Yet there is a very ‘cool’ thing that happens when you are a writer. We’ll get to that ‘cool’ thing in a minute. After we figure out how to overcome the obstacles.

Obstacles are different for everyone. Everybody has their own lives. Some people have jobs outside the homes, some have children, husbands, families. Some people have all of those things. 

Others have deadlines, revising syndrome,(you know, you can’t quit revising long enough to send the manuscript out!), the I can’t finish it blues.

First you need to identify your obstacles. Identify what stops you from getting the manuscript out the door. 

(I promise I haven’t forgotten about the ‘cool’ thing. It’s coming!)

Then you put into motion the overcoming part. Like the dictionary definition says ‘to get the better of in a struggle or conflict.’

One of my biggest obstacles is time. I have a full time job away from my home. Some days I have a long way to drive and spend up to 4 hours on the road. I find it hard to write at night. The creativity doesn’t seem to be there. Now get me up at 4 a.m. and I can crank out some pages. 

Some ways I’ve made an attempt to overcome this obstacle are:

1.Rise early.

2.Learn to write in small segments. Let’s say I get up a little later than I want. I check my email, get my coffee, then look at the clock. Sometimes I only have 15 minutes before I have to get into the shower. I do something with those 15 minutes. I’m not going to lie-it was hard to learn. At first I felt I wasn’t making any sort of progress. But I was. Think on it like this-15 minutes a day for 5 days is 1 and a half hours. That’s more than you’d have if you didn’t do anything. And it adds up.

3.If I’m having trouble with a scene I print out what I have then take it to work with me. I leave it on my desk and think about it when I can. My mind can work on the scene while I’m on hold or if I’m waiting for my computer to do this or that.

4.If I’m at work, and something comes to me regarding my story, I quickly email it to myself. It’s a great jump start the next morning.

These are just a few small things that go a long way when it comes to adding words to your manuscript.

Okay, I think this post is getting a little long, and I really don’t do long posts, so I’m turning it over to you guys.

Oh, but wait—the ‘cool’ thing. Yeah, I did promise that, didn’t I?

The End.

Yep, The End. Typing those words is the ‘very coolest’ of all writerly things. I still remember typing those words for the first time over 12 years ago. I remember the feeling and I LOVE the feeling. I can’t wait to FEEL like that again.

Those words are my main motivation for overcoming obstacles and those words hold me accountable. 

Now I’ll turn it over to you. What are your obstacles? Have you tried overcoming? If not, what are some ways you can try? Or throw it out to us and we’ll all chime in!

Thanks for having me, Christy! I love your blog!

And remember-Happy Endings Are Just The Beginning :)

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Thanks for being here, Lindi! What an awesome post! I need to heed every word!

Leave a comment to be entered to win Lindi's debut novel Her Best Catch.

About the Book:
Allison Doll's mother is rebelliously turning fifty, her two best friends have started dating and a gorgeous injured relief pitcher named Ashton Boyd has joined her Sunday school class, rocking her world into confusion, heartache and temptation, places she hasn't visited in a long time, much less all at once.

But with the help of family, old friends she really hasn't lost, a new friend she really can count on, and God, she begins to find out whether she'll always be a girl waiting for life to happen or a woman who's ready to commit to her best catch.

Lindi Peterson definitely believes happy endings are just the beginning. She lives out her real life romance with her husband in a small Georgia town. When she's not writing, she loves to read, bowl and spend time with her family. Read more about her at www.lindipeterson.com