Guest Post and Giveaway

With a Little Help from My Friends

Post by Tristi Pinkston

People are always asking me how I manage to do everything I do.  I’ll admit it—I am a pretty busy person.  I’m a mom with four kids, and we homeschool.  I am an author, a freelance editor, a virtual book tour coordinator, an online writing instructor, and I’m also the Cubmaster in my ward.  I have a whole lot of plates spinning at once, and sometimes they all manage to stay upright, and sometimes they all come crashing down. 

When it comes to my writing, there’s one major reason why I’m successful—I have excellent friends.  My critique group has been invaluable, pointing out my flaws and helping me strengthen my weak spots.  Last night, I needed help reading through some typeset proofs, and several of my friends stepped up to the plate and read thirty pages each, looking for typos.  My friends support me at my book signings, comment on my blog, retweet my Tweets, share my events on Facebook—they have my back.  Likewise, I have theirs. 

Writing is a solitary endeavor.  It’s just you and the computer … or you and the notebook.  But then it becomes the work of a village.  We can’t be successful if we remain closeted away.  We must reach out and create a writing community, a group of friends who understand what we’re going through and will be there for us to answer questions, to cheer us on, and to be honest with us.  We can’t survive in this critical world without a support system, and we must be willing to listen to that support system when they’re telling us we need to make a change.

I love my friends.  I’m so grateful for them.  They have been in my corner all the way, and I’m honored and excited to be in their corners as well.  You might think that authors are competitive, and I’ll admit that some are.  But the happiest authors are the ones who understand that we’re all in this together. 

 

Tristi Pinkston is the author of (soon to be) eight published novels and one cookbook. 

You can learn more about her at www.tristipinkston.com

She is also the author of today's giveaway a copy of her e-book Season of Sacrifice

Book Description: Sarah Williams is a young Welsh immigrant, coming to Utah to join her sister Mary Ann Perkins and her young family. When the Perkins' are asked to join the San Juan mission to pioneer a trail through Southern Utah, they take Sarah along to help care for the children. But a six-week journey turns into six agonizing months of hard work and toil as the Saints blast their way through a cliff to bring their wagons through what would become the famous Utah landmark "Hole in the Rock." This LDS historical fiction novel is based on the life of the author's great-great-grandfather and accurately depicts the experiences of these intrepid pioneers as they sought to be obedient to a higher call.

Entry Rules:

ALL ENTRIES MUST BE MADE BY 11:59 PM MST tonight, January 24, 2012. Winners will be posted tomorrow morning in our Winner's Circle (tab at the top of the blog home page).

As usual, there are multiple ways to earn entries into this drawing, make sure you take advantage of ALL of them.

1. Leave a comment on this post.

2. Become a follower of this blog or tell us you already are (you must clearly state in your comment on this post that you are a follower to receive credit for this).

3. Follow MMW on Facebook (again, you must clearly state in your comment on this post that you have done this to receive credit).

4. Advertise this spectacular month of give-aways on your blog or Facebook page. (clearly state!)

5. Follow Tristi at one of one of the below sites and let us know by clearly commenting below.

http://www.tristipinkston.blogspot.com

http://www.tristipinkston.com