It’s Gracie Lee’s anniversary!

Today marks the one year anniversary of the release of The Accidental Salvation of Gracie Lee. To those of you who are still with me on this journey (and if you’re reading, I suppose you are), a humongous thank you all the way from the bottom of my heart.

No really.

THANK YOU.

On Gracie Lee’s anniversary, the book is selling well and may even be picking up steam. That’s a cool thing, especially for a first-time author one year later. And I have you to thank for it. Because when you tell a friend about it or write a review or post something on Facebook, the buzz builds little by little.

Of course, we must celebrate. Right?

Celebrate = cool GIVEAWAY! (Woodworx Workshop is sponsoring this giveaway, but all opinions are my own.)

But first, a few thoughts on the year.

One year later, I have lots to say about the experience. Being an author is definitely not all glamorous. I’m not gonna lie—things have happened along the way that made me wonder if I was on the right path. Yup. If you want to feel all the things, put your first book out into the world for anyone and everyone or no one to ponder. But I’m happy to say, one year later, I realize the parts that gave me the greatest joy are well worth the angst involved. And bottom line, the thing I want more than anything is for someone to read my words. Lots of someones. And I want those someones to relate and take something away.

Is that asking too much?

I realize one year later, the best part of the entire experience is what’s wrapped around the book. What the book allowed. For me and those who read it.

It’s about the connections made, the people I’ve met and somehow touched. It’s about making new friends through commonality and realizing we are all so much alike.

It’s about reconnecting with old friends. It’s about starting a conversation with a total stranger. Conversations about social issues in the 70s that are so timely today. It’s about the hard-working farmer who feels pressure from all directions every day. And the farmer’s wife who softens life’s edges as best she can.

It’s about the land. Seasons. Carving a life truly by the sweat of the brow.

It’s about being a young girl with no voice but speaking up anyway.

It’s about the joy we still feel when we hear old church hymns played on an upright piano or see a combine in the field or taste Nana’s strawberry cake.

It’s about not taking things at face value.

It’s about life around the kitchen table and on the front porch and between rows of cotton when the sun is so hot it burns the part in your hair.

It’s about the writing and storytelling and doing something fulfilling that provides contentment while losing track of time. Forgetting to eat. Forgetting to bring the mail in three days in a row.

It’s about saying yes and finding your voice. Finally.

And y’all, I’ve received so many priceless cards, handwritten letters, and emails from readers I’ve never met. So unexpected and cherished!

This time last year…

Oh my goodness. I was excited and nervous and had no idea what to expect. Leading up to book release, I wrote lots and lots of blog posts to introduce the world to Gracie Lee. If you’re new to my blog and haven’t read the book yet, or you’d just like to take a trip down memory lane, I’ve included links to a few of my favorites below. (Based on the titles of these blog posts, maybe I should write an entire middle school series starring Gracie Lee?)

Meet Gracie Lee
Gracie Lee & the Fortune Teller
Boo! What Would Gracie Lee Do?
Gracie Lee’s Favorite Strawberry Cupcakes
Silly Putty Dreams
Gracie Lee’s Spaceship Squash
The Eudora Welty Connection
One Book, Two Book, Accidental Survey
Be Like Gracie Lee
The “Woods”
About the Setting
Book Launch Eve
Recipe for a Delicious Book Launch
The Question I Get Asked Most

Calling all Gracie Lee Fans!

There are still a ton of folks who haven’t met Gracie Lee. So how can you spread the love? 

• If you’re a fan of The Accidental Salvation of Gracie Lee, tell someone.
• If you haven’t done a review on Amazon or Goodreads or Barnes & Noble, write one.
• Follow my Author Facebook page and invite your friends to like it.
• Share this post on your Facebook Timeline.
• Pin the post pictures to Pinterest.
• If you haven’t read The Accidental Salvation of Gracie Lee yet, add it to your Goodreads bookshelf.
• Better yet, buy the book and read it. ?
• Post a picture of your copy of Accidental Salvation on Instagram with #RWBookClub —can’t hurt!—and tag me @gracegrits
• Are you in a book club? Hey, I love book clubs:)
• Ask your local library to carry it.
• Share my tweets.
• Come to an event.
• Enter my giveaway below!

Now for the GIVEAWAY.

You deserve a giveaway for making it this far.

I’m pumped to collaborate with local Fayetteville wood artisan, Jake Lewis, owner of Woodworx Workshop. To celebrate Gracie Lee’s anniversary, we are giving away one of his very cool, one-of-a-kind, wood art pieces!

If you are the lucky winner, you’ll receive your choice of the following: Butterfly, Flutter By (8″ x 7″) or I Heart Arkansas (9″x8″). Lewis’s work is locally handcrafted and not found at big box shops. Be sure to check out the company website linked above and follow all his links below. You’re gonna be impressed.

Woodworx pieces are so fun and creative made from reclaimed materials and scrap wood. Doesn’t this fit perfectly with The Accidental Salvation of Gracie Lee? With life in general? Because if you think about it, we are all fashioned from the bits and pieces we take away from our parents and teachers, our surroundings, the things we read and see—and nothing is wasted, everything valuable.

Deep, I know.

Next week (or sometime soon), I plan to offer up some practical insights I’ve gained about the actual writing, publishing, marketing, so you want to be an author topic. The good and the not so good. But for today, again, thank you readers.

This giveaway lasts until Valentine’s Day.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

[tweetthis]Happy anniversary to The Accidental Salvation of Gracie Lee! @Woodworx789 @amazonbooks #ad #GIVEAWAY #bookboost #win[/tweetthis]

Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

Musical Pairing:
Asia Victoria Stuck In The South