As the month of May begins, we’ve had some fun things happen with the books. Haven’t done a blog update for a little while. I posted most of the stuff to Facebook and Twitter, but since that information scrolls by pretty fast I’ll post it here too in case you missed it.

Probably the biggest thing is that Gary and I made the cover of Family Fiction magazine for their May/June issue. There’s also a nice feature story about us and our book, The Dance on pgs 10-13. This is a large online publication read by thousands of friction readers. Click Here to read it online.

Then some readers let me know that The Dance is now available at Sam’s stores all across the country at a pretty discounted price. Only $9.58. So I drove down to our local Sam’s in Daytona Beach and, sure enough, there it was.

It’s about the same price as Amazon and Christianbook.com, but you don’t have to pay any shipping and get it right away.

Something else happened with The Dance. In April’s issue of Book Fun Magazine, another popular online magazine, you’ll find a feature story I wrote (they actually contacted me and asked me to write it) about how my book deal with Gary came about and what it was like to work with him. If you want to read that story, Click Here, and go to pages 28-33.

Then this past week, my 3rd novel (and winner of my 3rd Carol Award), The Deepest Waters, enjoyed a surge of interest and sales on Amazon. My publisher did a 1-day special, marking it down to $1.99 on Kindle (and all Ebook editions). That day it climbed to #918 overall ranking on Amazon and #1 on Religious Historical Fiction.

But then the next day, when it was back to FULL PRICE, it did even better. It climbed to #268 overall on Kindle and #1 in Christian Fiction, ALL categories.  And it stayed high for almost a week after that. Click Here if you’d like to check it out on Amazon.

One last thing…Gary and I were interviewed for 20 minutes about The Dance by Gary’s son, Michael for his podcast. You can listen to it by navigating back to the “Books” page here, the clicking on The Dance cover. Scroll down until you see the icon that looks like an old-time radio microphone.

Last week, my newest novel, The Dance, co-authored with Gary Smalley went on tour…without me.

Such is the state of things in this new digital age. In mid March, my publisher sent out copies of the book to 50-60 bloggers throughout US and Canada. Most of them have already read the book and posted their reviews on their blogs. Quite a few also posted reviews on Amazon.

As of now, there are 48 customer reviews on Amazon, averaging 4.5 stars (quite a few more 5 stars than 4, too). Many have also said very encouraging things on Twitter and Facebook. Here’s a few examples of what I’ve read (if you’d like to read the full reviews, click here, and scroll down a little on the right).

Excerpts from Some of the Reviews:

“A great joint-read for married couples in their second decade and beyond…This look at contemporary marriage survival teaches and entertains. I was stunned by the power of The Dance, a relationship textbook done in a novel format…Reading The Dance encourages, nay, demands one to express their love to their spouse. A convicting relationship grabber.” — Harold “Doc” Wolf

“When a book makes me cry and I read it from cover to cover in less than 2 days — I know it is a good one and a keeper. When I opened The Dance to start reading, I was immediately drawn in…Right from the get go I was mesmerized by this story.” — Janet Sikora

“…Not only will this book entertain readers of both genders, but they will be taught powerful truths and challenged to have a better marriage at the same time. This may be just the book you have been looking for to someone who may not ever pick-up a non-fiction book, but learns well through the power of story. I highly recommend this excellent book, and award it 5 out of 5 stars.” – ChristianFictionAddiction

“These two work awesome together. Dan Walsh is an amazing storyteller and Gary Smalley is one of the best marriage counselors out there. As a team they created the best fiction book about marriage I’ve ever read and recently I’ve read quite a few. Like I said, though this book wasn’t for me (a single teen), it was still a fantastic story and that alone makes this a great book. I fully intend to read the rest of this series.” — Danyelle0423

“The Dance is excellent and portrays a perfect look at what it takes to really work at putting your marriage back together, healing the wounds, and finding love all over again…Overall, The Dance was excellent and I highly recommend it on so many levels! I CANNOT wait until Book 2 is out!” — Loren M. Mcghee

They all read like this. I’m so encouraged that we’re off to such a great start for this book and the Restoration series!

Believe it or not, this post is about Thankfulness. Just how, I’ll get to in a moment.

My wife and I were watching the TV from our DVR, getting caught up on this new series on the History Channel, called The Bible. I’m grateful it’s getting such incredible ratings, trying to grade it on a curve for accuracy. I realize they are covering a lot of ground in a short time.

In watching the segment on Moses, I found myself freshly inspired about the power of God to do whatever it takes when He sets His mind on a thing. He decided to liberate Israel from four centuries of slavery. They did not and could not help on any level. He put forth a strategy that required amazing, miraculous feats of supernatural power.

When He was done, they were free.

I thought about what it must have been like for the Jews alive at that time to witness these things. I mean, think about it. Think about the violence and horror of our own Civil War, which is what it took for the South to free its slaves back in the 1800s. Big nations whose entire economy is dependent on slave labor, don’t just decide one day to let them all go free. That nation must be forced to release them.

Which is why I don’t believe the story of Moses is some wonderful myth. The facts are: the Jews were slaves to the Egyptians for 400 years. Then they were not. Then they were somehow safely across the Red Sea.

You might think a people who witness these extravagant displays of supernatural power with their own eyes would be forever grateful to the One who delivered them. And you might think they would reason, if He could do all these things then He could certainly provide for us going forward from here.

But that’s not what we see from these folks. Shortly after this, they begin to grumble and complain at Moses, and at God, with each new trial they face. We’re not talking about some minor discouragement; we’re talking about full-fledged anger and resentment. The shaking your fist in God’s face kind of anger. There is no thankfulness toward God present, no trust.

It’s almost as if they have disregarded everything God has done for them so far, and have adopted an, ”Okay, but what have you done for me lately?” attitude. As I watched this unfold, I found myself criticizing them harshly for being so ungrateful and having such a short memory span.

Then I began to reflect on my own–some even fairly recent–episodes of grumbling and complaining. I’ve been walking with the Lord consistently now since the age of 17 (I’m almost 56). Though I haven’t seen the Lord part the Red Sea, I have witnessed too many miraculous examples of God’s love and faithfulness to recount.

And yet, I can still find myself adopting this: “Okay, but what have you done for me lately?” attitude toward God. The truth is, if I would direct my mind to think about the correct answer to this question, actually give it some serious thought, I would find a long and growing list of things God has done for me. Even lately.

Which is precisely why the psalmists and even the apostles in the New Testament urge us to cultivate a thankful heart toward God. To regularly and intentionally dwell on the good things God has done. It’s not because God craves complements; it’s because the default setting for our minds, because of Adam’s Fall, is set in the wrong place.

We tend to magnify the negative, the parts left undone, the mistakes, the prayers not answered yet or not answered to our liking. But what would happen if we deliberately spent time thinking about what God has done for us lately?

So I did this.

And that exercise led me into a long list of things to be thankful for. Some big, some small. But all excellent (and recent) examples of the Father’s love. Try it some time. Tell us what you come up with.

My first novel co-authored with Gary Smalley, The Dance, is almost out (April 1st). Advanced copies were sent to a number of media outlets and already we’ve received back a number of excellent reviews.

So relieved. At this stage, it’s a little scary for an author awaiting the release of a new book, those early reviews. Especially from the bigger publications. On the whole, they’ve been pretty good to me. But still. With each book release I go through the same thing. Maybe they won’t like this one. Maybe they’ll tear it up.

I had some additional reasons to be concerned with The Dance. I still wrote the book and came up with the story, so my existing readers should recognize me. But there are definitely some new things in The Dance than in my other books. This is the first book I’ve co-authored with anyone. And it’s not just anyone, it’s Gary Smalley. His influence is definitely woven throughout the book (which is a good thing). Most of my other novels are historical or at least set back in time a bit; this one’s in the present tense. It’s not a stand-alone but the first book in a series. The Dance has a totally different cover design. What will they say?

Apparently they like it. Here are excerpts from the pre-release reviews from 4 significant publications:

“Marilyn Anderson, after 27 years of marriage, leaves her husband. ‘I’ve dropped hint after hint, clue after clue,’ she says in her note. Jim, a successful businessman, is clueless, but, once over his anger, he begins soul-searching with help from his children and retired dance instructor Audrey Windsor. Marilyn, meanwhile, finds a job and a roommate and begins dance lessons. Throw in a well-meaning uncle, their daughter Michele’s wedding, their sons’ questions, a demanding church deacon, a dashing dance instructor, and a hurricane, and readers will definitely come away satisfied and shedding tears at the end. Mixing fiction’s emotion and nonfiction’s teaching works splendidly here.” ―Publishers Weekly

“4.5 Stars/Top Pick – Walsh’s literary talents and Smalley’s relationship expertise combine in a spiritually and emotionally powerful start to the Restoration series. Walsh’s characters come to life, and important marital and life lessons are woven throughout.” —RT Book Reviews magazine

“…When a novel is in the hands of accomplished storyteller Dan Walsh and the lessons come from relationship expert Gary Smalley, the result is a story that manages to simultaneously teach and entertain. For those who prefer their counsel in non-fiction form, this book drew heavily on Smalley’s The DNA of Relationships. After reading The Dance, even fiction lovers might want to dive straight into the DNA for more details. Yes, the advice is that good—it’s even useful for single folk—but if Walsh hadn’t made us care about the characters The Dance would have been just another thinly-disguised self-help book. We do care about the characters, though…As always, Walsh paints the background with a master’s touch…The Dance is the first of a series focusing on the Anderson family. That’s good; because this Dance deserves an encore.” ― Crosswalk.com

“The Dance is well written. It features relatable characters, ones that any reader can readily identify with. The authors present believable conflicts often occurring in marriages while offering pragmatic solutions to heal long-festering wounds.  At the conclusion of The Dance, the door stands open for the reader to delve deeper into the healing process the Andersons have begun to experience…The Dance is a quick, satisfying read to whet readers’ appetites for the next installment.” — The New York Journal of Books

Next up? The Dance goes on an internet blog tour the first week of April. About 60 seasoned bloggers throughout the US and Canada are receiving copies of the book now, and will post their reviews just after it releases. Hoping they will enjoy The Dance just as much.

Haven’t done this in a while. If you’re someone who follows me on FB a lot, some of this might feel like a rerun. Usually FB is where I toss up new things that are happening, as they are happening. But I also know, with FB or Twitter, because of the scrolling thing, if you aren’t reading it RIGHT THEN, it scrolls right on by.

I’ll put things not in order of importance, but in the order they float up to my brain.

Remembering Christmas makes CBA Bestseller List!

This was pretty exciting and unexpected.

My 4th novel, Remembering Christmas, which made the ECPA Bestseller list last year, had a re-surge of interest this holiday season in a fairly big way. It made it to #9 on their national bestseller list for February, which I’m pretty sure was a reflection of holiday sales, not how many people bought it in Feb. (Click on this Pinterest link if you’d like to see a pic of this).

I had an inkling it was doing well by how it ranked on Amazon, but Amazon ranking is not a solid indicator across the board (including other online stores, bookstores, etc.). It made it to #1 on their Christmas bestsellers list, then stayed mostly in the top 5-6 the entire time between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The surprising thing was that during this time, it was outselling Christmas books by big bestsellers like Glenn Beck, Mike Huckabee, Max Lucado, Debbie Macomber and Joel Osteen. Of course, their books in regular bookstores clobber mine.

My other Christmas novel (actually my first book), The Unfinished Gift, also stayed in the Top 10 on Amazon’s Christmas bestseller list throughout the holiday season also.

The Reunion Wins 2 Awards!

My most recent novel, The Reunion, was honored in 2 significant ways last month. It was chosen as The Book Club Networks’s (TBCN) Fiction Book of the Month and featured in the January issue of Christian Retailing magazine. I didn’t have anything to do with this. Books are nominated by readers and voted on by readers, so this was a great honor. Here’s link to a pic on Pinterest of that article in Christian Retailing.

Also, it received 5 out of 5 Stars (“near perfect”) and was nominated by Christian Manifesto, a large Christian website that reviews and critiques Christian music, movies and books, for their annual “Lime Award” for Excellence in Christian Fiction. In December, the 2012 winners were announced and The Reunion won in the Contemporary Romance category! Mega bestselling author Karen Kingsbury was mong the other nominees in my category. Here’s a link to the list of winners.

Speaking 6 Times at FL Christian Writer’s Conference

When it rains, it pours.

I spoke 3 times last November at the CLASS Christian Writer’s conference near Santa Fe. In about 2 weeks, I’ll be doubling that effort at the Florida Christian Writer’s Conference near Lake Yale, FL. I’ve been asked to share a 3-part Continuing Education fiction track, teach a fiction workshop, deliver one of the keynote messages and then share at a keynote VIP breakfast the last day of the conference. Here’s a link for more info on what I’ll be sharing.

I’m really looking forward to this. Not just at the chance to speak there, but even more so for the opportunity to listen to the incredible faculty that Directors Eva Marie Everson and Mark Hancock have put together. This is a regional writer’s conference, but you’d be hardpressed to find a better team with a deeper bench at any national conference. People like Steven James, Alton Gansky, Rachel Hauck, Deborah Raney and Sally Stuart. Not to mention a host of literary agents and editors.

If you’re a writer, or aspire to be, not just in fiction but in any area don’t miss this opportunity. Here’s a link to the main website.

Coming Soon…

We’re close to unveiling the new cover for Book 2 in the Restoration Series, The Promise, as well as the “final” title to the novel I’m working on now (my 10th).