Hip Hip Hooray!! Go Kathy!

Today the Joy Writers celebrated with a chocolate party! In this picture my critique group, surrounds Kathleen E. Kovach, our fearless leader. Her first book, Merely Players, released this month by Heartsong Presents.

Pictured left to right, back row: Lynnette Horner, Margie Vawter, Donna Robinson, Marla Benroth, Holly Armstrong. Front row: yours truly, Kathy Kovach and Bonnie Doran. (Not pictured: Jill Hups) This is one special bunch of ladies, ya'll. Don't know what I'd do without my group.

I met Kathy the first time I attended what was then the Brighton Writers group. I felt safe with this initial critique group experience because my dear friend, Neva Andrews, had taken me under her wing, but the opening announcement was that Neva was turning over leadership to Kathy. I exclaimed, "Oh no!" not because I didn't think Kathy would be a good leader, but because I didn't know her and had felt safe with Neva on this new writing venture.

But I shouldn't have worried.

Kathy has been a wise and selfless leader, working hard to learn the craft of writing and always sharing what she learns with us. She's become one of my dearest friends. Many times she has prayed me through discouragement or given me a pep talk. Sometimes she even gives me a kick in the pants. Last spring I was asking God if I should continue pursuit of book publication, or put it aside and wait until my children grew up. She knew of my struggles. After God did a couple of miraculous things, including honoring me as the Colorado Christians Writer's Conference Writer of the Year, Kathy very sweetly and firmly said, "God has answered you clearly. I don't want to hear you ask whether or not you should continue writing anymore."

Kathy's usually my roomie at conference, the giggle in my day, and my safe place when the writing world gets scary. When Tracie Peterson announced Kathy's first book contract at a conference a while back, I think I screamed louder than Kathy did. I couldn't be more pleased.

I'm not usually much of a short romance reader, but I love Kathy's book, Merely Players. Kathy does some beautiful things with symbolism and fun stuff with humor, besides writing a moving story with some real meat behind the romance. You'll love her main characters, Bethany Hamilton and Ricky O'Connell, high school sweethearts who are reunited ten years later when Rick, now a star named Brick, shoots a movie at the aquarium where Bethany works with Dolphins.

Wonderful character development, great sub-plots, and a moving love story, this book lives up to Kathy's tag, "spiritual truth with a giggle." Very well done. Check it out!