2016: a year in review

In preparation to write my year in review post, I went back through my archives and realised that I've actually been doing this for a long time.

Here are the previous year-in-review posts:
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015

So... what can we say about 2016?

Click to enlarge

Starting with the blog, simple maths says that this blog has garnered 48.6K views this year, which really goes to show that last year was an anomaly. And because I have apparently rediscovered my love for analysing figures and making graphs, here's a graph which shows you 2015 was weird:

Then again, my all-time top posts are mainly from 2015, so... *shrug*

Other than the A-to-Z blogging challenge (which I started doing in 2011!), this year's blog has primarily consisted of 3 types of posts:

• #musicmonday 
• Wednesday's #bookreview 
• #fridayflash posts

I have to admit, I mainly slacked with the flash posts because... well... lazy. And busy. And writing other things. But since the book reviews have been mostly consistent until December, here's a round up of my favourite books for the year!

Well, there were actually 16 5-star books, but the last one couldn't fit in my screenshot :P 

I don't actually know how Goodreads arranges these but here they are in alphabetical order on Amazon (affiliate links):

A Thousand Perfect Things (Kay Kenyon)

Beguilement [The Sharing Knife] (Lois-McMaster Bujold)

Book Launch Blueprint (Tim Grahl)

Cinder (Marissa Meyer)

Dissolution (Lee S. Hawke)

Indie Author Survival Guide (Susan Kaye Quinn) - there might be a 3rd edition out but I can't seem to find it

Just One Damned Thing After Another (Jodi Taylor)

Little Lord Fauntleroy (Frances Hodgson Burnett) - such a classic

Subversive Jesus (Craig Greenfield)

Take Back Tomorrow (Richard Levesque)

The Blind Pig (Elizabeth Dougherty)

The Ladybird Book of Dating (Ladybirds for grownups) - okay, this was a bit of a joke, but it's HILARIOUS

The Man with Two Pasts (Dan Rix) - this is the last book in a series, FYI. But it's a good series!

The Princess and the Captain (Anne-Laure Bondoux)

The Untold Tale (JM Frey) - OWAITOWAITBOOK2JUSTRELEASED

Zoe's Tale (John Scalzi) - this is book 4 in a series, but I read it without reading any other book of the series!

To read all my flash fiction for the year, follow this tag.

---

Writing-wise, several things happened this year.

 

 

I released Coexist on 31 March 2016 with a semi-successful blog tour. (Okay, I don't know how successful it was, but I think it was successful? But maybe not, because several months later a friend says oh, I didn't know you launched.) At any rate, I have just approved a quotation to do a print run in Malaysia, so that should be out sometime... I don't know. January? Hopefully.

I wrote and released Anna's A to Z of Worship Leading, which was written for the A to Z blogging challenge, in May 2016.

Working with the Malaysian Writers Society (MYWriters) in Penang, we launched the first volume of NutMag, an annual zine which features writings from Penang! I had the privilege of editing this volume, and one of my flash fiction pieces is also included in the list of 10 authors.

I also sold a short story to Insignia Stories, but I'm not quite sure when that's going to be released. I was hoping it would round out the end of the year.

Lastly, Love in Penang (which I edited) is #58 on Fixi's all-time bestseller list, with something like 6.5K sales total (according to the publisher), whilst Cyberpunk: Malaysia (which includes a short story of mine) is at #82.

On to unpublished stuff, Flame of the North is also mostly done, just waiting for a cover and the editor. Dongeng is on its first draft and Absolution is kind of in the pits. But I'll get back to that in 2017.

I also submitted to a bunch of places this year and whilst half of them were rejections, one was an acceptance (Insignia, as above) and the rest are probably rotting electronically in the slush pile, I'm kind of happy with the volume of work I've produced. Even with the other whole bunch of non-starters and half-abandoned ideas. I really should start tracking my word count.

---

Community-wise, the Malaysian Writers Society is A THING, like a real legit registered society, okay. And while we're still working out the kinks and trying to set things up right, it's still awesome cos it's happening, if you know what I mean.

Want to be a member? Here's how!

You can apply for membership here.

We pulled off registrations and a fest in Sept & Oct, leaving a lot of people very frazzled. I also got to lead a workshop on Self-Publishing! Woohoo!

In Penang, our events are moving at full force with weekly write-ins on Mondays at LUMA, a monthly write-in on the weekends (Sat/Sun - we swapped quite a bit this year) and not-quite monthly readings on the 3rd Thursday of the month. Not-quite monthly because we have a quarterly special which is often just a catchup/makan session. Oh! We also instituted the monthly critique as part of the Monday write-ins, which sometimes works but sometimes not. Oh well.

And, of course, the MOST EXCITING PART: our drop-in writing space at LUMA during the last week of November was an absolute BLAST.

---

I also went back to acting for a short while, doing W;T with the Penang Players.

One of our publicity shots. 

I also turned down a chance to act with them in 2017 because I didn't like the script. But maybe I'll go for another audition in Feb. I don't know. I DON'T KNOWWWWWW. I might be in a cave by February trying to align timelines and stuff, so, yeah.

We (I) also tried to kick-start (again) a drama team in church, but whilst we did do one show during Occupy Beach Street and in church followed by a Treasure Hunt for Christmas Eve, I don't know how or if it's going to work out. Right now, I'm thinking it's a non-starter.



I also joined a choir.

---

I don't really know what else to add here. I think I've covered the main stuff: blog, writing, acting... I updated my website (again) and created another website and if you think it's pretty, it's only because of the wonders of drag-and-drop templates. And canva.com, which makes life simpler.
And this post is getting too long.

So, goodbye, 2016. You have been an interesting year.

Get Coexist #free via @instafreebie on the #trickortreatreads Book Blog Hop

So my blogger friend Patricia is running a Trick-or-Treat Reads Book Blog Hop and I decided to join in the fun. =)

So, if you wanna grab a copy of Coexist, you can do that HERE!

When Winds Blow Cold is always free as a download on NOISETRADE or if you sign up for my mailing list.











Now go drop by the other author's sites to get more free books!

Announcing the winners of the Coexist Tour #giveaway!

*drumroll*

The winners are:

Blythe L Jackson

and

Kirby

Congratulations!

You should have received an email from me yesterday (4/9) with instructions on how to claim your prize. If you did not receive the email, please check your spam folder, or drop me a message here or on twitter.

---

Get Coexist on Amazon or Smashwords. Check out Book Depository or Createspace for paperbacks!

Are you an A to Z blogger? Send me a message on my facebook page or twitter with your blog name and number and I will send you a coupon to get Coexist on Smashwords for only $0.99!

About the book:

Jane Hays has been told all her life that it’s dangerous to be out in the forest past sundown. At fifteen, she’s quite sure that it’s all old wives’ tales... yet, why does her village bar the gates every night? Why do they even have gates? When she is caught in an unexpected rainstorm on her way home, Jane ignores all the warnings and seeks shelter in a cottage in the middle of the forest. Soon, she is caught up in a world of magic and beauty – and in the storm of the Fairy Queen’s wrath.

The Fairy Queen is out for blood. There have been intruders – human intruders – in her domain and she will stop at nothing to find them and kill them. After all, it is only fair. She is only seeking retribution for the death that humans leave in their wake.

But Jane isn’t all that she seems to be. And the events of the night aren’t as innocent as they appear.

A tale of magic, fairy creatures and family, Coexist is a novella for the young and the young-at-heart.

#AtoZchallenge: Focus

Okay, it's easy to mistake this one and go "of course my focus is Jesus!" (Which should be your natural response.) That’s not what I’m talking about. The thing is, a single worship set needs a single focus. And because I'm (primarily) a writer, I would put it as this:

Your worship set needs a story-arch.

Sure, you can put together a bunch of songs about a bunch of stuff about God, and that's fine. People can, and will, still worship. But what I'm saying is that if you have a specific or focus in your worship set, it will have a greater impact.

Have you ever been to church and worship was really powerful, and then the pastor comes up and then he preaches about this theme and suddenly everything you sang about 30 minutes before that became really relevant. The lyrics speak to you. The preaching makes so much sense. And then the worship team starts the altar call, and that one thing that God was speaking to you about through the whole service is sealed with that final song. BAM.

That doesn't often happen by chance. That happens with a lot of preparation and cooperation and prayer. If your pastor's the kind who has a whole preaching series planned out and can share that with you, you should use it as the starting point for planning your worship set. It helps. Even if he doesn't, that's okay. God knows what He's trying to say (even if the pastor doesn't yet) and He can reveal that to you whilst you are preparing.

There’s no single way to do this, but the way I usually start is by picking a key song for the week. Then I build or craft a set of songs around the same focus, e.g. grace. This focus, or theme, doesn’t mean that every single song just says something about grace. I like to lead people on a journey (see the word story-arch?), which generally goes through a progression of thoughts from “What does the Bible say about grace?” or “How does God show grace?” through to “Now that I know that, what is my response to God’s grace?”  Sometimes the key song sticks and sometimes I have to throw it away as stronger or more appropriate songs emerge. It’s sad when that happens, but that’s okay.

(I've also blogged about this before here.)

---

Are you an A to Z blogger? Send me a message on my facebook page or twitter with your blog name and number and I will send you a 50% discount coupon for Coexist on Smashwords.

About the book:

Jane Hays has been told all her life that it’s dangerous to be out in the forest past sundown. At fifteen, she’s quite sure that it’s all old wives’ tales... yet, why does her village bar the gates every night? Why do they even have gates? When she is caught in an unexpected rainstorm on her way home, Jane ignores all the warnings and seeks shelter in a cottage in the middle of the forest. Soon, she is caught up in a world of magic and beauty – and in the storm of the Fairy Queen’s wrath.

The Fairy Queen is out for blood. There have been intruders – human intruders – in her domain and she will stop at nothing to find them and kill them. After all, it is only fair. She is only seeking retribution for the death that humans leave in their wake.

But Jane isn’t all that she seems to be. And the events of the night aren’t as innocent as they appear.

A tale of magic, fairy creatures and family, Coexist is a novella for the young and the young-at-heart.

Get Coexist on Amazon or Smashwords. Check out Book Depository or Createspace for paperbacks!

Our final stop for the Coexist Tour is at Madeline Dyer's, where I talk about editing. 

---

PRIZES!
It's the final day for the giveaway! *gasp* 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

#AtoZChallenge: Exhortation

In Extravagant Worship, Darlene Zschech talks about a time when their worship team was given 12 minutes to just get up on stage and start an unscheduled service, “to take people from chaos… to being aware of the presence of Almighty God.” She concludes by saying this:

“If you don’t have the revelation about the power of praise and worship and about living as a worshipper, you can’t do that in twelve minutes because you can’t just get up and hope somebody is going to worship. It is just not going to happen. We have to lead people. We have to take them by the hand and say, ‘I know that it is tough out there but let me take you to the answer for your life.’” (pg. 82, emphasis mine)

Exhortation is defined as “an address or communication emphatically urging someone to do something.” And that’s exactly what you, as a worship leader, need to do. You need to exhort the congregation to come and worship. You’re calling them into the presence of God, you’re issuing a clarion call that now - right now - is the time to set everything aside to come and worship God. That’s your duty. That’s your calling as a worship leader.

It isn’t easy. There are going to be days where you don’t feel like worshipping. You don’t feel like going through the motions. You don’t feel like anything you do is making a difference. That’s normal. That’s human. That’s probably where 90% of the congregation are at 10AM on a Sunday morning, because they haven’t quite woken up yet or they’ve just quarrelled with someone in their family. Even if you’re at an evening service (like I attend), you’re dealing with people who are possibly angry and cantankerous for any multitude of reasons - they’re hungry, hurt, someone just cut them off in traffic, they were just laid off, or they’re PMSing or… well, anything and everything, really.

And that’s when you exhort yourself - and them - to worship. Because that’s what you’re called to do.

---

Are you an A to Z blogger? Send me a message on my facebook page or twitter with your blog name and number and I will send you a coupon to get Coexist on Smashwords for only $0.99!

About the book:

Jane Hays has been told all her life that it’s dangerous to be out in the forest past sundown. At fifteen, she’s quite sure that it’s all old wives’ tales... yet, why does her village bar the gates every night? Why do they even have gates? When she is caught in an unexpected rainstorm on her way home, Jane ignores all the warnings and seeks shelter in a cottage in the middle of the forest. Soon, she is caught up in a world of magic and beauty – and in the storm of the Fairy Queen’s wrath.

The Fairy Queen is out for blood. There have been intruders – human intruders – in her domain and she will stop at nothing to find them and kill them. After all, it is only fair. She is only seeking retribution for the death that humans leave in their wake.

But Jane isn’t all that she seems to be. And the events of the night aren’t as innocent as they appear.

A tale of magic, fairy creatures and family, Coexist is a novella for the young and the young-at-heart.

Get Coexist on Amazon or Smashwords. Check out Book Depository or Createspace for paperbacks!

Today, we're back again at Rebekah's for her review of Coexist.

---

PRIZES!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

#AtoZChallenge: Discipline

A series on worship leading isn’t complete without a note on discipline. Discipline is sometimes a “bad” word in modern circles, being equated to punishment. But we’re not talking about that kind of discipline, fortunately.

Discipline is defined in Wikipedia as: “The suppression of base desires, and is usually understood to be synonymous with restraint and self-control. Self-discipline is to some extent a substitution for motivation.”

Dictionary.com explains it as (amongst others) an "activity, exercise, or a regimen that develops or improves a skill; training."

Worship leading is a skill, as much as it is a gift or a talent. And with any skill, one has to work at it. It involves hours of practice, the ability to take criticism, the desire to improve and the will to work at it. These skills include vocal skills and musical skills which can be improved through vocal lessons or music classes, as well as generally through practice and a lot of experience. It’s not just the musicians who have to learn up the songs and practice. Worship leaders also need to practice the song.

How well do you know the songs you have chosen? Do you know the lyrics by heart? You need to know the song, the places it builds, the dynamics that drive it, the rhythm and tempo, the way it segues between verses and choruses and bridges and all the other odd things that are involved in a song in this era (key changes? Tempo changes? 7/4 timing?!).

But more than just a physical set of skills, it involves the discipline of waiting on the Lord. It involves spending time in private worship and devotion, of seeking God. Creating a worship set doesn’t happen in twenty minutes. As I mentioned in Capacity, it also has to do with seeking the heart of God for the congregation.

What happens during worship isn’t always under your control, but what you bring to the session is. I have to confess that I’m not the most disciplined of people. I’m sometimes (read: always) lazy, and that sometimes translates into last minute song selections, periods of spiritual deadness, and times where nobody knows what the heck is happening during practice and therefore during service. So seriously, be disciplined as much as you can.

(See the post on Grace when that happens.)

---

Are you an A to Z blogger? Send me a message on my facebook page or twitter with your blog name and number and I will send you a coupon to get Coexist on Smashwords for only $0.99!

About the book:

Jane Hays has been told all her life that it’s dangerous to be out in the forest past sundown. At fifteen, she’s quite sure that it’s all old wives’ tales... yet, why does her village bar the gates every night? Why do they even have gates? When she is caught in an unexpected rainstorm on her way home, Jane ignores all the warnings and seeks shelter in a cottage in the middle of the forest. Soon, she is caught up in a world of magic and beauty – and in the storm of the Fairy Queen’s wrath.

The Fairy Queen is out for blood. There have been intruders – human intruders – in her domain and she will stop at nothing to find them and kill them. After all, it is only fair. She is only seeking retribution for the death that humans leave in their wake.

But Jane isn’t all that she seems to be. And the events of the night aren’t as innocent as they appear.

A tale of magic, fairy creatures and family, Coexist is a novella for the young and the young-at-heart.

Get Coexist on Amazon or Smashwords. Check out Book Depository or Createspace for paperbacks!

---

Today's stop is a physical one. 

I'll be reading at the PWE Reading event in The Big Fat Hen tonight at 8pm. Come early and catch a great dinner!
You'll also be able to pick up a coupon to get Coexist at $0.99 while you're there. ;)

[edit: Here's the video!]


---

PRIZES!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

#AtoZchallenge: Capacity

Capacity is an individual thing. It's hard to compare from one person to another. Some have small capacities - serving in one ministry is enough for them; they are drained and tired at the end of it. Some can serve in two or more before they feel the strain. Others do not seem to tire no matter how many ministries they serve in.

It is a difficult thing to understand. Those with large capacities look at those with small and wonder, "why do these people do so little and complain so much? Do they not see the many things I am doing?" Those with smaller capacities look at those with large and stand in awe, feeling guilty because they do not have enough to give - and worry if God might love them less because they have not enough to offer. This brings us into the dangerous territory of works vs grace.

Leading worship is a strenuous, time-consuming thing. It may seem that all you do is stand up on stage for a 30-minute set and sing. "Why can't you lead at prayer meeting too then? Since you're so good at it, it won't be a matter for you to also lead in cell group and in that outreach meeting. It doesn't matter if you use the same songs."

Maybe some - if they have the capacity for it - can lead multiple services during a week. But not everyone can. Do you have the energy - and the time - to select songs over and over for different meetings, knowing that you can't simply repeat the same songs because God may be wanting to say different things at each one? If you do, good for you. If you don't, give yourself more time between each time you lead. This is easier said than done, especially if your church does not have enough worship leaders.

And even if you have the time and the energy and the brainpower to keep doing it over and over again, the question you need to ask next is if you have enough heart for it. Do you have the capacity - the largeness in your heart - to love the congregation, the leaders, the musicians with you? Enough to pray over them? To seek God's heart for them? To sing the songs they need the most?

Or are you just picking songs because you like them and everyone knows them and you don't have time left choose?

When you lead, you do not just stand there and sing a set of songs. You stand there and you cover them in your mantle - you lead them into God's presence with your voice and with your heart.

And sometimes, your heart isn't big enough on its own.

---

Are you an A to Z blogger? Send me a message on my facebook page or twitter with your blog name and number and I will send you a coupon to get Coexist on Smashwords for only $0.99!

About the book:

Jane Hays has been told all her life that it’s dangerous to be out in the forest past sundown. At fifteen, she’s quite sure that it’s all old wives’ tales... yet, why does her village bar the gates every night? Why do they even have gates? When she is caught in an unexpected rainstorm on her way home, Jane ignores all the warnings and seeks shelter in a cottage in the middle of the forest. Soon, she is caught up in a world of magic and beauty – and in the storm of the Fairy Queen’s wrath.

The Fairy Queen is out for blood. There have been intruders – human intruders – in her domain and she will stop at nothing to find them and kill them. After all, it is only fair. She is only seeking retribution for the death that humans leave in their wake.

But Jane isn’t all that she seems to be. And the events of the night aren’t as innocent as they appear.

A tale of magic, fairy creatures and family, Coexist is a novella for the young and the young-at-heart.

Get Coexist on Amazon or Smashwords. Check out Book Depository or Createspace for paperbacks!

Today's tour stop is at Patricia's, where I talk about my inspiration for writing and for Coexist! See you there!

---

PRIZES!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Things I have learnt about self-publishing as a non-American (aka Amazon hates me)

I'm grabbing a spot on my own blog today (since it's an off-day for A to Z) to talk about publishing Coexist.

Publishing in Malaysia, especially for English books, is a nascent industry. There are relatively few publishers, especially genre publishers, that I know of. Fixi Novo has been doing well in publishing pulp fiction but has since chosen to focus more on short story anthologies. ITBM apparently publishes some English books - but I haven't exactly seen many of them. MPH, Silverfish and Gerak Budaya do publish but seem to be focused more on non-fiction, or at the least, literary fiction. I could be wrong. Also, apparently, if you want your book to qualify as "Malaysian literature," it needs to be written in Malay, which is not a battle I want to fight right now.

I've been on the fringes of the self-publishing scene since about 2011, watching on the sidelines via twitter, via facebook, as online friends put out books year after year, mostly indie on Amazon, one or two with a traditional publisher. I worked on and off on my own writing - with higher output during A to Z (April) or NaNoWriMo (November), because work and church took up a lot of my time and I just couldn't concentrate. But I read their stories, I listened as they talked about publishing and how they did it, helped them launch by lending out blog space, until, when I finally decided that I could and should publish something, I'd already subconsciously made the decision that I would go the indie route, rather than look for a traditional, or even small, publisher. After all, there were very few local options.

The main problem I faced was that all the material online were very American-centric. With Amazon being the main player in the ebook world, that's no surprise. But since I've travelled this far down the road, I thought I'd share a list of things I have discovered about self-publishing as a non-American, specifically in a country that Amazon does not sell to:

1. Royalties from Amazon will take forever to arrive
This is day 5 that my book is out, so it seems strange that I'll talk about getting royalties already, right? So yes, I don't have experience of receiving an actual royalty cheque yet, but I can safely tell you that it's going to take a long while - longer than an American would have to wait. That's because my only option for payment as an International without an American or European bank account, my only option is to receive payment via cheque (or check, to you Americans), which will only be cut once it reaches $100 of whichever currency it's in.
This means that although I've enabled Amazon to sell my book internationally in all its worldwide territories, I have to wait until I earn royalties of $100 in each denomination to be able to receive a cheque in the respective denomination. That's one of the reasons why I'm channeling people to buy from Smashwords, leading to my next point.

2. Smashwords pays quarterly via paypal, with a minimum threshold of $10.
Smashwords is awesome. I cannot say that enough. They sell internationally and they are also a distributor, so if you publish with them, you can opt in to get your book distributed to other retailers such as ibooks, kobo, Barnes & Noble, and Scribd, saving you the trouble of setting up multiple accounts. It also distributes to libraries via Overdrive, Gardners, Odilo and Baker & Taylor's Axis 360. This helps expand your reach, even if it's not as big or famous as Amazon.
Smashwords does have an option to ship to Amazon, but because Amazon is... what it is... that doesn't automatically happen unless you're selling more than 1K copies in Smashwords or something like that, so I opted out of that and published it on Amazon on my own. Smashword's royalty rate is also higher than Amazon's at up to 80% of list price (technically 85% of net earnings), and approx 60% of list at the major retailers mentioned earlier which is pretty fair, compared to Amazons 35% if your list price is <$2.99 and 70% if it's between $2.99 - $9.99.
Last plus point for Smashwords - it publishes in a variety of formats, including epub, mobi (for Kindle) and PDF so it basically covers any type of ereader your market may have.

3. Going Amazon Exclusive is not for everyone
There are a lot of tips on how to use KDP Select to your best advantage and head up the Amazon bestsellers list by keeping everything exclusive to the Amazon ecosystem. Which is good, if your audience is primarily in America, but not so good if you want to reach the international market.
In my case, since my primary fanbase (aka family and friends) generally do not have access to buying on Amazon, keeping it exclusive to Amazon, whilst it might help sales a little due to the free days and internal Amazon algorithms, will only hurt me in the long run. Because it's friends who recommend to friends and word-of-mouth that counts, yes? Even with my international appeal (at least according to blogger's stats), cutting out 25% - 50% of my audience by not selling it in a place they can access is just bad business sense. But well, this really depends on your audience or intended audience.

4. Be prepared for withholding tax and annoying tax forms
When you put anything for sale, whether with Amazon or with Smashwords, be prepared to fill up pages and pages of declarations to formally announce that you're not based in the US and you aren't a tax resident there (You generally qualify as a tax resident if you stay in the country for >181 days).
If you're in a country which has a tax treaty with the US, GOOD FOR YOU! Otherwise, be prepared to get 30% of your earnings sent to the US IRS as "withholding tax".
How to earn money like thatttttt. =(

5. POD is an option that might or might not work, because BOOK DEPOSITORY
I hadn't originally wanted to do a print copy of Coexist, but after getting a few queries about whether there will be a paperback, I decided to go ahead and figure out how to get it into print. I'd tried to use Createspace many years back and gave up because it was so difficult, but I'm glad to say that they've since simplified the whole process. The only thing that annoys me now is the fact that if I need to make edits to the text (i.e. interior file), I have to reupload the cover.
On one hand, it might not work because buying via Createspace (higher royalties) or through Amazon is expensive. Shipping in the US is maybe $3+, and if you combine your purchases to be more than $25, you can get free shipping. International shipping was something like $7+ the last time I checked, which is higher than my book's price of $5.99. Not forgetting the fact that it takes between 30 - 40 days for it to reach Malaysia.
But on the other hand, I also discovered that since Book Depository is a subsidiary of Amazon, stuff you publish via Createspace is sold there... in RM... with free shipping. I basically make very little off these sales because of the additional costs, but it expands my reach. LIKE I CAN TELL PEOPLE THEY CAN ACTUALLY BUY MY BOOK. (Especially since the ebook market is still slow in Malaysia.)
So... having the option so that people can buy it in the format they like best is good, but I'm not banking much on it. Also, $100 before I see any of the money.

If you have any questions about self-publishing as a non-American, especially in places where Amazon doesn't sell, do feel free to drop a question in the comments. Hopefully I'll have an answer for you!

---

Are you an A to Z blogger? Send me a message on my facebook page or twitter with your blog name and number and I will send you a coupon to get Coexist on Smashwords for only $0.99!

About the book:

Jane Hays has been told all her life that it’s dangerous to be out in the forest past sundown. At fifteen, she’s quite sure that it’s all old wives’ tales... yet, why does her village bar the gates every night? Why do they even have gates? When she is caught in an unexpected rainstorm on her way home, Jane ignores all the warnings and seeks shelter in a cottage in the middle of the forest. Soon, she is caught up in a world of magic and beauty – and in the storm of the Fairy Queen’s wrath.

The Fairy Queen is out for blood. There have been intruders – human intruders – in her domain and she will stop at nothing to find them and kill them. After all, it is only fair. She is only seeking retribution for the death that humans leave in their wake.

But Jane isn’t all that she seems to be. And the events of the night aren’t as innocent as they appear.

A tale of magic, fairy creatures and family, Coexist is a novella for the young and the young-at-heart.

Get Coexist on Amazon or Smashwords. Check out Book Depository or Createspace for paperbacks!

---

PRIZES!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

#AtoZchallenge: Beauty

Psalm 29:2 and Psalm 96:6 both mention worshipping God in the beauty of holiness. This can mean many things - it's been talked about as "holy garments" or that God's holiness is beautiful, or there is beauty in holiness. Gill's exposition says:

“... in true holiness, in which there is a real beauty: holiness is the beauty of God Himself, He is glorious in it; it is the beauty of angels, it makes them so glorious as they are; and it is the beauty of saints, it is what makes them like unto Christ, and by which they are partakers of the divine nature...”

Which is all very well and very theological, but I want you to stop and linger on the word beauty.

The ancient church used to understand beauty. Europe is littered with grand cathedrals. A majority of artwork in that era (other than portraits) were commissioned by the church or were religious-based. The church pursued the arts; it pursued the creation and the maintenance of beauty (besides showing off that they had money).

Somehow, we’ve lost that. The modern church thinks in terms of practicality, functionality and convenience. We’ve moved from beautiful, majestic churches full of artwork and stained glass windows into squat warehouses and shop lots. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s practical and cheaper. But it often shuts off our faith from our senses.

Yet beauty is an important thing. It’s what attracts people. It’s what pulls people in and gains their attention. It’s what makes them stop, stare, and hopefully ponder a little more. The gospel is beautiful. God is beautiful. So the worship of our beautiful God needs to be beautiful.

What is beautiful to one congregation varies by their demographics. Older congregations find hymns beautiful. Younger congregations love the repetition of choruses in the way the music swells and builds. Older congregations like bright spaces, younger congregations like the anonymity of dim lights in their worship. But what you need to keep in mind is that a worship song set is an art form in itself. It’s not a list of songs that you cobble together any old how, but something that you work on with love and care, looking at the words of the songs, the ebb and flow of worship and the lows and the peaks of the music, allowing God to show you His beauty as you worship Him in song.

---

Are you an A to Z blogger? Send me a message on my facebook page or twitter with your blog name and number and I will send you a coupon to get Coexist on Smashwords for only $0.99!

About the book:

Jane Hays has been told all her life that it’s dangerous to be out in the forest past sundown. At fifteen, she’s quite sure that it’s all old wives’ tales... yet, why does her village bar the gates every night? Why do they even have gates? When she is caught in an unexpected rainstorm on her way home, Jane ignores all the warnings and seeks shelter in a cottage in the middle of the forest. Soon, she is caught up in a world of magic and beauty – and in the storm of the Fairy Queen’s wrath.

The Fairy Queen is out for blood. There have been intruders - human intruders  - in her domain and she will stop at nothing to find them and kill them. After all, it is only fair. She is only seeking retribution for the death that humans leave in their wake.

But Jane isn’t all that she seems to be. And the events of the night aren’t as innocent as they appear.

A tale of magic, fairy creatures and family, Coexist is a novella for the young and the young-at-heart.

Get Coexist on Amazon or Smashwords. Check out Book Depository or Createspace for paperbacks!

Today's tour stop is at Rebekah's, where I talk about fantasy and our view of the world!

---

PRIZES!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

#AtoZchallenge: Adoration

The easiest 'A' words that come to mind when it comes to worship leading are ability and availability. Leading worship requires some level of ability - you should be able to carry a tune and have at least a nice voice, even if it's not, you know, record label great. You probably should have some sort of background in music, though music theory and knowing how to play an instrument are bonuses, rather than prerequisites. Availability is also a must - because you need to have enough time to choose songs, practice songs, work with musicians, etc.

And yet... the one thing that leapt into my mind (and hasn't let go yet) is the word adoration.

Every Christmas, we sing "O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord" and we think of Jesus as a baby and the shepherds crowding round the manger. We think of the nativity scene and we associate Bethlehem with the birth of Christ. But when we behold Him in that scene, we often don't behold the fullness of who He became. We only see the human aspect of Him at His weakest. And because words have changed over the years, we have come to water down the word adore, associating it with cute cats and chubby babies every time we squeal, "Oh, how adorable!"

Then there are the “A-door! A-window!” jokes. No? Only me? Okay.

Adoration and adorable have come to mean very different things, although they both derive from the same root, adore. At its strongest, adoration means worship and veneration. It means devotion, deep love and respect. And that is what we bring weekend after weekend, what we offer in the quiet times in our rooms, what we seek to do when we carefully craft a worship set.

Ask yourself: Which songs will inspire love and devotion for God in the congregation? Which lyrics will help the congregation - and me - see a fuller picture of who God is so that we can worship Him in deeper understanding, in spirit and in truth?

If we do not seek to constantly adore our God, all we end up offering are empty songs.

----

Are you an A to Z blogger? Send me a message on my facebook page or twitter with your blog name and number and I will send you a coupon to get Coexist on Smashwords for only $0.99!

About the book:

Jane Hays has been told all her life that it’s dangerous to be out in the forest past sundown. At fifteen, she’s quite sure that it’s all old wives’ tales... yet, why does her village bar the gates every night? Why do they even have gates? When she is caught in an unexpected rainstorm on her way home, Jane ignores all the warnings and seeks shelter in a cottage in the middle of the forest. Soon, she is caught up in a world of magic and beauty – and in the storm of the Fairy Queen’s wrath.

The Fairy Queen is out for blood. There have been intruders – human intruders – in her domain and she will stop at nothing to find them and kill them. After all, it is only fair. She is only seeking retribution for the death that humans leave in their wake.

But Jane isn’t all that she seems to be. And the events of the night aren’t as innocent as they appear.

A tale of magic, fairy creatures and family, Coexist is a novella for the young and the young-at-heart.

Get Coexist on Amazon or Smashwords. Check out Book Depository or Createspace for paperbacks!

Don't forget to drop by at Back Porchevations today for our first stop on the Coexist Tour. LuAnn will be giving you a review of Coexist.

---

PRIZES!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

COEXIST LAUNCHES TODAY!

Coexist has finally been released! Woohoo! *flings confetti everywhere*

So I've been setting up a tour to celebrate the launch. Here's where you'll find Coexist over the next seven days:

April 1: LuAnn Braley's review at @ Back Porchevations
April 2: Fantasia Hearth
April 3: Right here!
April 4: Patricia Lynne
April 5: Live reading at The Big Fat Hen
April 6: Rebekah Loper's review @ Fantasia Hearth
April 7: Madeline Dyer

I'll be updating these links as they go live, but for now, here's an excerpt!
(Also, check out the Rafflecopter below for prizes.)

---

The door swung open silently.

Standing on the threshold, she looked back and forth between the growing storm behind her and the welcoming fire in front of her. The rain lashed harder, drenching her again. It almost felt as if the wind was trying to blow her into the house. She noticed with dismay a small puddle of water forming at her feet. Taking a deep breath, she stepped in and closed the door behind her.

Still, she stood with her hand on the doorknob, her eyes roving the quiet house, wondering if someone would emerge from the shadows. Minutes passed and Jane slowly relaxed her guard. The warmth of the cottage enveloped her and she soon found herself skirting the low table in the middle of the room and sinking down on the rugs that were piled up by the fireplace. She had almost fallen asleep when the door slammed.

“Who’s that?” Jane’s voice was shrill in her ears as she sat upright, clutching at the rugs.

There was the sound of scuffling before a deep voice answered, “Shouldn’t I be the one asking? This is my house, after all.”

“I didn’t mean to –”

“No, don’t turn around!”

Jane froze mid-turn, her gaze settling on the curtains. She could see faint movement from the edge of her eyes. Her imagination ran wild. She squeezed her eyes shut as she imagined him sneaking up on her, wondering if he would have a monstrous face, if his body would be twisted, if he would cook her first, or if he would eat her alive.

“You can stay. Just don’t look at me.”

Jane tried to speak in measured tones, her heart still pounding. “Why... why not? Is there – is there something wrong with you?” He didn’t sound dangerous – in fact, he could be anybody from her village or the next. She relaxed her body as she turned back toward the fire, squinting her eyes to try to catch a glimpse of him. The fire was casting shadows in the wrong direction for her to see anything.

“No – nothing. You’ll just... Just don’t.”

Jane kept her eyes on the fire, trying not to react to the noises behind her or the growing smell of wet dog. The queasy feeling returned.

“What are you?” she blurted.

There was a sudden silence. “What do you mean?”

Jane gathered up her courage. There wasn’t much to begin with, but she didn’t want to be eaten without ever seeing the creature. She took a deep breath and turned around.

She saw his face first and smiled. He was a good looking man, with soft brown curls framing a pleasant – but slightly worried – face. He was in the midst of rubbing himself down with a tattered towel, which he hurriedly swung to cover the lower part of his body. She stifled a scream as he backed away, his four feet scrabbling against the wooden floor.

“Now, stay calm now...” He held out a hand as if it would hold her back.

“What are – are you a – a monster?” She couldn’t help staring as he slowly lowered the towel and held his hands open in front of him.

---

About the book:

Jane Hays has been told all her life that it’s dangerous to be out in the forest past sundown. At fifteen, she’s quite sure that it’s all old wives’ tales... yet, why does her village bar the gates every night? Why do they even have gates? When she is caught in an unexpected rainstorm on her way home, Jane ignores all the warnings and seeks shelter in a cottage in the middle of the forest. Soon, she is caught up in a world of magic and beauty – and in the storm of the Fairy Queen’s wrath.

The Fairy Queen is out for blood. There have been intruders - human intruders - in her domain and she will stop at nothing to find them and kill them. After all, it is only fair. She is only seeking retribution for the death that humans leave in their wake.

But Jane isn’t all that she seems to be. And the events of the night aren’t as innocent as they appear.

A tale of magic, fairy creatures and family, Coexist is a novella for the young and the young-at-heart.

Get Coexist on Amazon or Smashwords. Check out Book Depository or Createspace for paperbacks!

Are you an A to Z blogger? Send me a message on my facebook page or on Twitter with your blog name and number and I will send you a coupon to get Coexist on Smashwords for only $0.99!

---

About the Author:

Anna Tan grew up in Malaysia, the country that is not Singapore. In 2015, she traded in a life of annoying other bean counters for one of annoying the online world with questions about life and death and everything in between. The answer is sometimes 42. 

When she is not writing or nitpicking over other writers' copy, she can be found reading a book or attempting to organise her room. 

She can be found lurking at the following places:

Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

---
PRIZES!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

#atozchallenge: 2016 Theme reveal #atozreveal

I'd briefly thought about doing this last year, but the problem then was that I didn't have the time to sit down and write. I didn't want to simply dash out something half-baked and then have regrets. So I took the easy way out and did a series on the A to Z of (mostly) worship songs, which was pretty fun, and kicked off my currently slightly sporadic Music Monday posts.

So, this series veers far away from the usual stuff I post on my blog (books, books and more books - plus the occasional flash fiction), but then again, it is something close to my heart.

Cover by Pam Choo!

This blog series isn’t a how-to of worship leading. It’s not going to teach you step by step what to do, or all the things you need to know about worship leading, or even about worship. That is something too wide a scope for my little blog, and definitely too long for the short snippets and sound bites that make up posts for the A to Z Blogging challenge. Whilst I will be expanding on the posts when I compile them into an ebook after this month, it will still not be comprehensive enough to really teach you anything in depth about this vast experience called worship.

I know all the arguments about how we’ve confined the word “worship” into the 30-minute segment at the beginning of church service where we sing songs and how worship should actually encompass the whole of our lives and the way we live it for God, but for the purpose of this series (and to make my life simpler) when I say “worship” I will generally refer to singing songs (unless I state otherwise).

I'm not saying that I know everything about worship leading. I'm not even saying I know very much at all. I'm just writing out things that I believe are important - at least to me in my walk with God. I first started leading worship in youth group back in the late '90s when we called ourselves lead worshippers. I don't call myself anything anymore, except that busybody who likes compiling top 25 lists (okay, now I feel like an old fart).

At any rate, I'm hoping that you will glean something from my 15+ years of experience. Or not.

I'll be compiling it into an ebook at the end of the month and will be sending out a copy to all those on my mailing list. So sign up if you want to get a free copy! (You'll also get a copy of When Winds Blow Cold, my fairy tale short story when you sign up.)

2016 A to Z Index: 
(each link goes live on the day itself)

Adoration
Beauty
Capacity
Discipline
Exhortation
Focus
Grace
Honour
Integrity
Jesus
Kindle
Listen
Motive
Name
Obedience
Priesthood
Qualified
Rest
Sensitivity
Theology
Unity
Vulnerability
Worth
Xenia
Yearn
Zerubbabel

---

RELEASING 31 MARCH!

Are you an A to Z blogger? Send me a message on my facebook page or on Twitter with your blog name and number and I will send you a coupon to get Coexist on Smashwords for only $0.99!

About the book:

Jane Hays has been told all her life that it’s dangerous to be out in the forest past sundown. At fifteen, she’s quite sure that it’s all old wives’ tales... yet, why does her village bar the gates every night? Why do they even have gates? When she is caught in an unexpected rainstorm on her way home, Jane ignores all the warnings and seeks shelter in a cottage in the middle of the forest. Soon, she is caught up in a world of magic and beauty – and in the storm of the Fairy Queen’s wrath.

The Fairy Queen is out for blood. There have been intruders – human intruders – in her domain and she will stop at nothing to find them and kill them. After all, it is only fair. She is only seeking retribution for the death that humans leave in their wake.

But Jane isn’t all that she seems to be. And the events of the night aren’t as innocent as they appear.

A tale of magic, fairy creatures and family, Coexist is a novella for the young and the young-at-heart.

Get Coexist on Amazon or Smashwords. You can also get it as a paperback here or here.