Release date: July 14, 2020

Publisher: Thomas and Nelson

Genre: Non Fiction

Blurb: From the star of Say Yes to the Dress: Atlanta, now filming its eleventh season for TLC, comes a book and a life-makeover movement for women approaching fifty and beyond.

Move over, girlfriend, Lori Allen is here to help you say yes to what’s next! Star of Say Yes to the Dress: Atlanta, Lori Allen uses her confidence, wisdom, and signature humor not only to help young brides on their most important day ever but also to model to them and their mothers how to live out the coming years as the best of their lives.

Lori Allen is owner/operator of one of the biggest and busiest bridal mega-salons in the country, Atlanta’s Bridals by Lori. But she’s also a wife, mother, grandmother, and breast cancer survivor.

Whether you’re feeling invisible, disappearing into the fabric of your couch a little more every year, or simply being indecisive about what’s next, Lori offers herself as the poster child of what to do, not do, and how to see your way through the unexpected.

In Say Yes to What’s Next she addresses essential issues, such as

• don’t let yourself go,
• marriage is awesome, but it’s no fairytale,
• keep your mouth shut and your heart open to your kids (and they’ll bring you grandkids),
• make time to parent your parents,
• maintain a close circle of girlfriends,
• get off the couch and live your passion,
• take charge of your money, and
• what to do when life gives you a faceplant.

Say Yes to What’s Next is a life makeover and therapy session from a relatable you-can-and-you-should-do-this straight-shooter as Lori helps women shape their own futures with confidence, style, and sass.

“Say Yes” to Positive Thinking with Lori Allen

When I was raising my family — my daughter Mollie and my son Cory— I always strived to give them happy childhood experiences that allowed them to feel good about themselves. As a Grandmother, I strive to recreate those same experiences with my grandchildren.

Here are just some of my recommended techniques for helping your kids see life through a glass is half full lens.

1. Positive Thinking Starts with YOU – That’s right, children emulate what they see and experience and you are their shining example. Make sure that you’re practicing what you preach; show your children how you look at the bright side when something challenging comes your way and they’ll quickly learn that that’s the best way to deal with daily frustrations and adversity. 

2. Positive Reinforcement: Parents frequently use reinforcement the wrong way. For example, when a child wins their tennis match, parents’ heap on praise. When that same child loses a match, those parents tend to go quiet. They think it’s best not to say anything at all, which is a big mistake. Pick out the positive parts of the match that they lost – whether it was a great serve or that they displayed good sportsmanship – and let them know that their efforts have been noticed. 

3. Play UP Their Natural Strengths – Another way to raise positive thinkers is by emphasizing the greatest natural strengths your child possesses. If your child has a lofty goal, encourage them like my parents did to me when I told them I wanted to open my own bridal salon. Use phrases like “I know you can do it if you work hard!” and “You got this, you can accomplish anything once your mind is made up!” Showing absolutely confidence in your child’s abilities will help them to not just think – but to KNOW – that the sky’s the limit!

4. Focus on the Good– You need to teach your children to focus on the positive and not on the negative, to always look for the silver lining. I’m not saying that they should never tell you when something is bothering them, instead help them focus first on the good parts of their day and minimize some of the bad parts. 

Find more great tips in “Say Yes to What’s Next” by Lori Allen.

Good morning everyone, I have a special treat today! Author Barbara Hinske has a fabulous guest post about her novella and how it’s about to premiere on the Hallmark Channel on November 27. I adore Christmas movies and can’t wait to watch this, here is some more information on the movie and below is more information about the book and the post from the author.

Blurb:

Verna Lind expects Christmas of 1952 to be the best holiday she’s had since the war ended. But as she’s leaving the bank, a frigid wind off Lake Erie catches her hard-earned Christmas club savings, whisking the bills into the busy streets of downtown Cleveland and devastating her plans. Strangers come to her aid, though no one anticipates the power of their chance encounter or the seeds of happiness Verna’s lost money will sow. 

From Barbara Hinske, best-selling author of the Rosemont series, comes this heartwarming Christmas tale celebrating the generosity of the human spirit and the irresistible pull of love — an instant holiday classic for admirers of It’s a Wonderful Life and The Gift of the Magi. 

Dreams Really do Come True

The Christmas Club – my Christmas novella – is one of the Hallmark Channel’s 2019 Christmas movies! If that sounds like an author’s dream come true, it is!

I’m a women’s fiction author who also writes mystery/thriller/suspense novels – all of them with a touch of romance. I planned to publish an anthology of Christmas novellas with a group of other similar authors. It seemed like a smart marketing opportunity and I set to work. What would I write about?

A homily from a sermon I’d heard thirty years earlier had made a big impression on me at the time and had stuck with me all these years later. The point of the pastor’s story was to do kind things in nice ways. We all like to be recognized when we do something kind for someone else. I certainly like a pat on the back! But sometimes the recipient of our generosity feels demeaned – or is made to feel “less than” – by acknowledging our gift. The pastor told the story of a woman whose money blows out of her hands. A young man races off to chase after it, returning to her with the money. She gratefully acknowledges his efforts at finding it. What he doesn’t tell her is that the money was long gone; he’d restored it to her from his own wallet. She isn’t made to feel like a charity case.

I expanded on this idea by placing characters at Christmas (in 1952) and having the lost money be Christmas Club savings. If anyone has saved all year long in a Christmas Club account at the bank, they know how precious that money is and how devastating it would be to lose it. In my story, however, that lost money carries blessings with it all around.

As it turned out, I was the only author who actually wrote their novella. I published it as a stand-alone work in October of 2016 and the rest, as they say, is history. The Christmas Club was greeted with enthusiastic reviews – many of them opining that it would make a great Hallmark movie and that they would re-read the story every Christmas.

Crown Media purchased the screen rights and Julie Sherman Wolfe made a lovely screenplay out of it. She changed the setting from 1952 to current day and added a twist that I wished I’d thought of. In my humble opinion, I think both the book and the movie are holiday classics and should be on everyone’s “to do” list for the holiday – now and in the years to come.

My goal in writing The Christmas Club was to uplift, encourage, and entertain. I’m more than pleased with the pleasure and happiness it’s bringing into the world.