It's been a great month for two projects that bear my name.
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Really, I was just given the privilege of working on them. For
Firebird, I adapted the story from the film
Unconditional, brilliantly written by
Brent McCorkle and based on a real person,
Papa Joe, from right here in Nashville. And on
Courageous Teens, I worked with
Michael Catt (executive producer of the films
Fireproof and
Courageous) to adapt his
call to courage for a teen audience. His message has already inspired so many adults; if we can instill Christian courage at a teen level, I cannot imagine the impact we would see in our world.
Apparently, the market agrees on both accounts.
Firebird was named a finalist for the
2013 Christian Book Award. They're announcing the winners on April 29 (and the ceremony just happens to be at
my church :).
Courageous Teens is a finalist in
Christian Retailing's Best awards, a list that
also names an
adorable little oriole as a finalist. The winners will be announced at the
International Christian Retail Show in June.
I don't do this job for the awards. (If I did, I would've quit a long time ago. ;) But I do thank God for industry recognition; it's His way of opening a few more doors. And you'd better believe that I'm celebrating right along with the team who made these books happen.
If you have either of these books on your bookshelf or even if you've told a friend about them, you're a part of that team.
Thank you.
Let's celebrate!