Guest Post - Author Sheila Roberts

Today I am very pleased to welcome author Sheila Roberts to Library Girl Reads.  Her latest book, The Snow Globe, was just released in October.  It sounds like a wonderful Christmas read!  Thank you to Sheila for sharing some of her inspiration and holiday spirit with us.

WHAT DO YOU SEE?

I love snow globes! They’re so darned pretty. And intriguing. Remember shaking a snow globe as a kid and being fascinated by the blizzard you had just created? Boy, I do. Oh, the power! And the little scene inside always fascinated me. I’m a Seattle girl and the first snow globe I ever owned was one that came with the Space Needle in it. I loved that snow globe! I’ve had all kinds of snow globes over the years since including a gigantic one containing Santa and his elves, one with a woodland scene complete with reindeer, and one with an angel. Snow globes with angels always rank as my favorite because they make me think of miracles.

And what better time to think of miracles than Christmas, the season of miracles, of angels singing and shepherds gazing timidly at that baby in the manger? Sometimes we think that miracles have to be gigantic, but I think they come in all shapes and sizes: a child’s smile on Christmas morning, the tree staying upright (I don’t know about you, but when I was growing up a collapsing tree was a regular occurrence – my dad the not-so-handy-man, finally wrapped wire around the trunk and secured the wire to a nail on the wall. Charming.) For me it’s always a miracle if my clothes still fit by New Year’s.

I think snow globes fascinate us because the scene inside is always so idyllic. We look at it and think wouldn’t it be nice to live in that perfect little alpine village, all dusted with snow? Actually, not. Someone would always be shaking your village, making you live in a perpetual blizzard. Ick! I have to admit though, I’ve experienced some perfect moments when I’ve thought, I wouldn’t mind staying here – times when my children were behaving like angels, when my life was going smoothly, when my house was clean, when I had a waist.

But if you stay put you never grow and you miss the adventure ahead, which is why I made the snow globe in my book a catalyst, a tool to help my characters glimpse the possibilities the future holds. As you look around you this holiday season, I hope you’ll see the small miracles in your life both large and small. You may feel like you’re in a snow globe and some giant hand is shaking you up and creating a nasty blizzard. My wish for you is that, when the snow settles, like Kiley, Suzanne, and Allison did in The Snow Globe, you’ll see a future filled with new possibilities. And that you’ll get through the holidays with your waistline in tact!

Sheila Roberts lives in the Pacific Northwest. Her novels have appeared in Readers Digest Condensed books and have been published in several languages. Her novel Angel Lane was an Amazon Top Ten Romance pick for 2009 and her holiday perennial, On Strike for Christmas, is slated to be a Lifetime Channel movie presentation this December. When she’s not hanging out with her girlfriends or hitting the dance floor with her husband, she can be found writing about those things dear to women’s hearts: family, friends, and chocolate.

You can visit Sheila at her website (http://www.sheilasplace.com).
You can also find her on Twitter (http://twitter.com/_Sheila_Roberts) and
Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/reqs.php#/pages/Sheila-Roberts/76502579853?ref=ts)

Note: All opinions provided on this blog are my own. If a product was given to me for review, the source of that product is noted in the post. Links to Amazon.com are affiliate links and I do earn a small percentage for each item purchased through those links. Any other referral or associate links will be noted within the post.