World AIDS Day (plus ebook giveaway)

by LeAnne Hardy

December 1 was World AIDS Day. It was also the launch of my new novel for teens and adults, Keeping Secrets. Keeping Secrets is about one of the millions of African young people affected by the HIV and AIDS pandemic. 

Thirty-four million people in the world today are living with HIV. Thanks to early efforts at education, only about thirty thousand of those live in Australia, and those are primarily in what are considered high-risk groups. Yet for every person with the virus in the blood steam, weakening the immune system, countless others are affected—parents, children, friends, employers, employees, whole communities losing economic power as wage earners become too ill to work. Anti-retroviral drugs have greatly extended the lives of people living with HIV. Unfortunately, this transition to a “manageable chronic disease” has meant that Australians, like Americans, have grown lax in prevention. Last year’s rate of new infections was the highest it has ever been. 

More than two-thirds of people living with HIV are in sub-Saharan Africa where I lived for more than fifteen years. As much as 40% of fifteen-to forty-nine-year-olds in some regions are infected. I have heard statistics as high as 70% in localized areas. Grandmothers who expected their grown children to care for them in their old age are instead raising orphaned grandchildren. Children as young as five attempt to care for younger siblings on their own. These are not statistics. They are people like you and me with hopes and dreams like ours. 

Keeping Secrets is about a promising South African figure skater who is afraid she will be kicked out of the rink if people find out her father has AIDS. Sindi’s love of skating represents the dreams that can be lost when a family is hit with a disease that still causes shame. But it’s not just a story about HIV. It’s about how easy it is for all of us to cut ourselves off from the very relationships we need because we are afraid that someone might find out the truth about us, the secret we’re trying to hide. We’re so busy preserving our image that we turn away even from those who care. We try to keep skating, we smile for the judges, but sometimes the hurt is too much. 

I remember what it was like Before. I flew over the ice like a swallow on the wind. Music filled my whole body, and I soared like a bird above the city of Johannesburg—eGoli—place of gold. I dreamed of gold medals and going to the Olympics someday. 

But that was Before. 

I was too young to know that life can collapse as fast as a skater can lose an edge and tumble to the ice. It hurts to fall, but you get up; you keep skating. You smile for the judges, and you don’t let them see the pain. That’s what winners do. 

But sometimes, the hurt is too much, and you can’t get up. You can’t keep skating. 

Then you lose. 

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqXuva2gTuk&feature=youtu.be 

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Keeping-Secrets-LeAnne-Hardy/dp/0615928897/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1385832992&sr=1-1&keywords=keeping+secrets+hardy 


ebook giveaway: 
LeAnne has kindly offered to give away an ebook copy of Keeping Secrets to a reader who leaves a comment on this post. The winner will be announced in the post comments on Tuesday, 24th December.

LeAnne Hardy has lived in six countries on four continents, most recently in South Africa where she conducted story hours for orphans and vulnerable children and trained as an adult figure skater. Her books for adults and young people use story to communicate truth in a way that touches the heart.

What inspires you? (plus an ebook giveaway)

By Lisa Harris

As a writer, I’m always looking for inspiration. That nugget of a story that simmers in the back of my mind until finally, it’s ready to be put down on paper. I love discovering new characters and new plots. For me, it’s invigorating and simply put, fun.

As a young girl, I used to imagine myself writing in some secluded cabin in the middle of the woods. Soft music played in the background, snow drifted past my window, before dusting the ground with a layer of white powder. With a fire roaring in the background, I sat in front of my typewriter—yes, this was a long time ago—producing bestseller after bestseller. 

Right. Somehow that never happened. 

When I started writing, my kids were young, so reality for me was scrambling to find a few moments to write while the kids took a nap, or while Dora the Explorer sang in the background. I’d quickly peal the peanut butter and jelly sandwich from the keyboard and brush off the cheerios from my chair and write. Finding inspiration wasn’t exactly on the menu. I had to learn to sit down and write, inspired or not. 

But no matter who we are, I think it’s safe to say that we all long to feel inspired. Whether it’s writing a book or a poem, creating a stunning dish in the kitchen, listening to music, taking a class that challenges us, or simply being inspired to be a better person, we all need inspiration.  

I’ve also found that in the busy world we live in, I need to be intentional in finding that inspiration. Which means intentionally stopping to be quiet, listening for God’s voice, taking a quiet walk in a garden, or making sure I don’t miss the colors of the sunset. 

Here are a few things that inspired me: 

Friends and family

My children

The African bush

Music

Books

Gardens

Laughter

Sunsets

Stars

What about you? What inspires you?

~~~ 

Lisa latest book is a romantic suspense from Revell.

When two Jane Does are killed on the outskirts of Atlanta, Georgia, detective and behavioral specialist Avery North discovers they share something in common--a tattoo of a magnolia on their shoulders. Suspecting a serial killer, Avery joins forces with medical examiner Jackson Bryant to solve the crimes and prevent another murder. But it doesn't take long for them to realize that there is much more to the case than meets the eye. As they venture deep into a sinister world of human trafficking, Avery and Jackson are taken to the very edge of their abilities--and their hearts. 

Dangerous Passage exposes a fully-realized and frightening world where every layer peeled back reveals more challenges ahead. Romantic suspense fans will be hooked from the start by Lisa Harris's first installment of the new Southern Crimes series.

ebook giveaway for Australian and New Zealand readers:
Lisa has kindly offered to give away an ebook copy of Dangerous Passage to an Australian or New Zealand reader who leaves a comment on this post. The winner will be announced in the post comments on Tuesday, 3rd December.

LISA HARRIS is a Christy Award finalist and the winner of the Best Inspirational Suspense Novel for 2011 from Romantic Times. She has over twenty novels and novella collections in print. She and her family have spent almost ten years living as missionaries in Africa where she homeschools, leads a women’s group, and runs a non-profit organization that works alongside their church-planting ministry. The ECHO Project works in southern Africa promoting Education, Compassion, Health, and Opportunity and is a way for her to “speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves…the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice.” (Proverbs 31:8)

When she’s not working she loves hanging out with her family, cooking different ethnic dishes, photography, and heading into the African bush on safari.  For more information about her books and life in Africa visit her website at www.lisaharriswrites.com or her blog at http://myblogintheheartofafrica.blogspot.com. For more information about The ECHO Project, please visit www.theECHOproject.org.