A Plan For Everything Blog Tour: Author Interview + Giveaway

 

Welcome to the Blog Tour & Giveaway for A Plan for Everything by Beverly Varnado, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!

Title: A Plan for Everything
Author: Beverly Varnado
Publisher: Anaiah Press
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Release Date: January 21, 2020

Connie’s Coffee and Cones is thriving, and owner Connie Spencer is right on track to realize her dream of expanding into a catering business. She believes she owes her success to her remarkable ability to plan. In fact, she has a plan for everything. At least, she thought she did—until Michael Cole appears in Worthville.

Michael has an agenda of his own—and a competing business—that threatens to derail everything Connie hopes for professionally. And if that isn’t enough, Michael carries a secret that could cause a backlash for both of them. So, why does she find herself attracted to him? When an accident on a rain-slicked highway leaves Michael temporarily incapacitated, Connie is presented with a dilemma she never saw coming—helping the man she’s falling for, or moving ahead with her meticulous plans.

As life spirals out of her control and Connie faces losing everything, she questions whether her plans are enough. But if hers aren’t, whose are? As she searches for the answer, she learns she must come to terms with her deepest hurt in order to embrace a higher plan for her future.

PURCHASE LINKS*: Goodreads | Amazon

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Award-winning Southern writer, Beverly Varnado, is a novelist, screenwriter, and blogger who writes to give readers hope in the redemptive purposes of God.

She has written a nonfiction memoir as well as several novels and screenplays, one of which was a finalist for the prestigious Kairos Prize in Screenwriting. Her work is also included in several anthologies and periodicals. As an artist, her work was recently chosen for exhibit at a State University gallery.

She lives in Georgia with her husband, Jerry, and their chocolate Aussiedor who is outnumbered by several cats. Beverly is Mom to three children and Mimi to two grandchildren.

Read her weekly blog One Ringing Bell, peals of words on faith, living, writing, and art at oneringingbell.blogspot.com.

CONNECT WITH BEVERLY: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

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Hi Beverly! Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions and giving my readers the chance to get to know you and your novel- A Plan For Everything- a little bit better. I always like to begin these interviews the same way with something fun… tell us 5 random facts about yourself that we WON’T find in your bio!

1. I’m tall. 5’9”
2. I’m a University of Georgia football fan. That may have something to do with my husband having played  college football at UGA!
3. I sing with a symphony chorus and am a lifelong church musician.
4. I’m allergic to cats but have three of them. Had the cats first. They’re not going anywhere.
5. Rutabagas are my favorite vegetable. 

Let’s talk writing! Did you always know that writing was what you were meant to do? How did that realization come about?

I’ve written since I was a child, but about twenty years ago, I began to sense that God wanted me to devote more time to my writing. I initially worked in non-fiction, but God led me to write a novel, which at the time, felt a bit like walking on water since I had always thought of writing fiction as doing the impossible. But somehow, through a lot of prayer and God’s help, I did it. Multiple novels later, I’m still at it.

Take us back to that moment finding out your words were to be published for the first time… what was your reaction? How has that changed with each additional publication?

 I entered a writing competition where the winner would receive a book contract. While at a writing conference, my name was announced as the winner. It didn’t seem real for quite some time. When I received the notice Anaiah had accepted my submission for publication, I was standing in a lettermen’s club at a football stadium and was so excited I could have scored a touchdown myself! It never gets old hearing your work will be published.

I love learning the story behind the story. What was your inspiration for A Plan For Everything?

Connie Spencer showed up in the first book in this series, The Key to Everything. She was such an intriguing character, I wondered what her back story was. So I began to pursue that. My friend, Terry Kay, who wrote To Dance with the White Dog and The Valley of Light, both turned into Hallmark movies, says “We don’t write to tell a story. We write to discover a story.” The story I discovered in A Plan for Everything when I began digging into Connie Spencer’s past was she carried a deep hurt―one that fueled so much of how she lived her life. This hurt is what brings her to a moment of decision

Can you tell us a little bit about A Plan For Everything? What do you hope readers will take away from this book? 

Connie’s Coffee and Cones is thriving, and owner Connie Spencer is right on track to realize her dream of expanding into a catering business. She believes she owes her success to her remarkable ability to plan. In fact, she has a plan for everything. At least, she thought she did—until Michael Cole appears in Worthville.

Michael has an agenda of his own—and a competing business—that threatens to derail everything Connie hopes for professionally. And if that isn’t enough, Michael carries a secret that could cause a backlash for both of them. So, why does she find herself attracted to him? When an accident on a rain-slicked highway leaves Michael temporarily incapacitated, Connie is presented with a dilemma she never saw coming—helping the man she’s falling for, or moving ahead with her meticulous plans.

As life spirals out of her control and Connie faces losing everything, she questions whether her plans are enough. But if hers aren’t, whose are? As she searches for the answer, she learns she must come to terms with her deepest hurt in order to embrace a higher plan for her future.

As far as what I hope readers take away―if they struggle with trying to control every little detail as I have at times, I pray they find hope in Connie’s journey.

This book follows your previous novel The Key To Everything. For those who have not yet had the chance to read that one, will they be able to enjoy this story on it’s own?

Absolutely. The books have a few of the same characters, but the protagonists are different.

A Plan For Everything sounds great, and I cannot wait to read it myself. I find that writers are so often some of the best readers too. If we were to take a look at your own TBR, what might we find there? 

I have a devotional my daughter brought me from England written by Susanna Wesley, a mid-century autobiography by historical fiction writer, Eugenia Price (love vintage books), and several books from other Anaiah Press authors including A Promise to Keep by Melony Teague which released the same day A Plan for Everything did.

Thank you again for taking the time to answer my questions. Before we go, can you give us an idea on what we can look forward to next? Any projects you are currently working on that you can share? 

I’m working on a sequel to A Plan for Everything. It’s a Christmas book also set in Worthville, Georgia called A Season for Everything.

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(1) winner will receive an A Plan for Everything inspired giveaway including a Jeremiah 29:11 planner, coffee mug, Starbucks coffee, and a $15 Amazon card!

Be sure to check out each stop on the tour for more chances to win. Full tour schedule shown below. Giveaway will begin at midnight January 23, 2020 and last through 11:59 PM EST on January 30, 2020. US only. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.

Giveaway is subject to the policies found here.

ENTER GIVEAWAY HERE

 

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