Videos of ZuZu!!!

 For those who haven't seen my past two posts, I've taken up a new pet. Her name is ZuZu and she's a prairie dog. She's warmed up to me pretty well, but still a little skittish of other family household members.

I will attach two video links below. I hope you enjoy watching them!

http://youtu.be/ojrmao9KM_s
http://youtu.be/Ex8ja452ILs

UPDATE on THE PROTECTED

This process of publishing has been a long one, but I'm nearing completion. I've received my third set of edits and once I turn those in, they will review it, send it back one more time and if it's good (close enough to perfect ;)) then I will send it back along with a signed sheet of permission to send the manuscript to the printers for distribution!

If I had to guess, my book will be in stores late June or so. I will try my best to keep you updated. Now that school is out, I have much more time to blog!

I can't remember if I told you about the second book I'm writing...but I'm halfway through with it. If you like suspense/horror, then you'll love it. :) I can't really give too much info because it's still early in the making.

I can't wait to see where God takes The Protected. I pray it blesses many lives and that God speaks through my writing to reach others all over the world. Will you guys help me get the word out?

Thank you!! I hope you guys have a blessed day!

~Brooke-Lauren Montgomery

New Furry Friend

Hello everyone! I can't remember the last time I posted. This semester in school has been intense. Currently, the spring semester just finished and May Intercession has begun. I'm taking an American Regionalism class where I'm learning about the West and I LOVE it!

I've learned that yellow is just as pretty as green. God created them both and they are unique.
If you noticed the title of the post, you're probably wondering what my new pet is...ironically, this adorable little creature is found in the West and is a relative to the squirrels. I've been waiting since September 2013 to get this sweet and intelligent animal and, finally, I get to pick her up today! In the time of waiting I did much research and am thoroughly impressed with them overall and have, once again, realized that we do not give animals enough credit in smarts.

At 3:30 today, I will get to bring home my sweet little ZuZu, a prairie dog pup. I know this will be an incredible experience because out of all rodents, this one seems to have the most personality, taking on characteristics of an actual dog.

For the past couple of days I've prepared her habitat and designed a heavy duty box to set her cage on so she can be off the ground. I used scrap book paper to decorate it. I will post pics later because I haven't taken them yet. Lol.

If you're looking for a small, affectionate creature that just wants to be with you, this animal is for you. I will also update my experiences with ZuZu, will post pics, and upload videos on youtube. I will attach links in later posts.

I hope everyone is doing well and that the start to summer (though not technically summer til June 21), is blessed!

~Brooke-Lauren Montgomery

Close to Production!-The Protected

Hey guys! So, I'm finally out of school for the semester and I can finally breathe...but the

best thing of all came wrapped in a package, with the name of Tate Publishing, in the mail to me Monday evening. My ARC (Advanced Reader's Copy) arrived! When I opened it and saw it, I nearly cried tears of joy. This all feel so surreal. 

 

My book should print for distribution and purchasing sometime April 2014. I cannot wait to see where God take this book! 

 

God has already opened so many doors for me for this book. The first being, Tate Publishing accepted my book when they only take a very few percent of manuscripts. The most recent one was a HUGE blessing. A month or so ago, the production of my book was put on hold because I could not yet pay the remaining balance on the book due to my 15 hour semester consuming the majority of my hours at work.

If I had to guess, I might could have had the remainder by a few months from now. It saddened me, but I knew inside God had everything under control.

 

I prayed for weeks, "God, if it is Your Will, please provide a way for me financially to pay the remainder so the halt of production will be dismissed." Soon after I prayed, I had a dream I received a check in the mail for more than enough to cover my book. The next day, someone paid my remaining debt by check. God is SO good. Now, the book has moved forward and arriving to the last stages of production before distribution!

 

The pictures at the top are of the ARC I received Monday. I hope that many of you will consider purchasing a book once it comes out. You won't regret it! :]

God bless you all, and have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

~Brooke-Lauren Montgomery 

Stress

written by Brooke-Lauren Montgomery



Hey guys. I know it's been a while since I've posted anything. I've been crazy busy with school and my two jobs. I'm taking 15 hours of classes while working about twenty hours a week. I'd orginally started with 12 hours until I was told there had been a mistake on my graduation plan. In order for me to graduate in May of 2014 as I planned, I have to take 15 hours this semester and 18 this coming Spring. I have a lot of reading and tons of papers I have to write. Next semester I present my capstone which is the final say in whether I graduate or not. It's a twenty to twenty-five minute long presentation of a paper a student has written that they must present to the whole English department.

Some good news is that my first novel, The Protected: The Unseen Realm is moving on in the production schedule quickly. I've picked my cover and it's AWESOME!!! I cannot show it yet, but as soon as I can, I will. I turned in my first set of edits to my project manager last Friday and am currently awaiting my second set of edits before finalizing the changes. I can't wait!!!

I want to share an encouraging word with you today. It's about hurt. A couple weeks ago, someone I thought was a good friend of mine told me we couldn't be friends anymore. I don't know what I did, and I begged this person to talk to me so we could work things out, but they ignored me. Like everybody, I have struggles I face. This "friend" was someone I went to for prayer and vented to whenever I had a bad day. This person is a good twenty years older than me and promised me they'd always be there no matter what. They said they loved me like their own, then I received a call one evening from them saying we couldn't be friends anymore. I was dumbfounded and couldn't understand. This person said they were "led" to do this. When I texted the next day asking what I did, they cut me off and never spoke to me again. Didn't have the decency to talk things out with me face to face and let me know what the real issue was. I blamed myself for another frienship gone wrong, that it was my fault for, once again, getting rejected when I did nothing. Afterall, why else would someone I became good friends with decided to whack the friendship off? I was distraught and shocked at how ugly this grown person was to me. I just couldn't figure out why they had such anismosity toward me.
I texted a good friend of mine I've known for years who knew the person, explaining what happened. Come to find out, the reason this friendship ended wasn't even because of me, but because of jealousy. It sounded so preposterous that at first I didn't accept it, but the more I thought it over and the more my good friend explained certain things to me, it clicked.
I cried out to God because I couldn't stand the hurt anymore. I've been hurt countless times by people I thought were my friends. People who've walked away from an eight year best friendship for a group of girls she knew for only a month, friends who lied to me, back stabbed me. The day this certain "friend" told me to quit talking to her, nearly killed me because that was one more person I started to trust. I prayed for God to give me the Peace only He can give, and He did. He let me realize that this happened for a reason. If it hadn't happened, I wouldn't have kept growing in Him because this person was holding me back and I see it clearly now.
Yesterday afternoon as the situation came back to my mind, I thought of how people hated Jesus, and if not everyone liked Him, the Perfect Son of God, what made me think everyone would like me? I'm a people pleaser and I want everyone to like me, but they won't. It's not reality. Then I thought, "Well, Jesus never had any good friend who promised they wouldn't leave, reject Him," and immediately, Peter, one of Christ's close disciples came to mind. In Matthew 26, Peter promised He would never deny Jesus, that he would die with Jesus. However, Peter ended up denying Jesus three times before the rooster crowed.
God told me through this passage, that He knows what it feels like to be rejected, and not only did Peter do it, but the Jews did. They rejected their own Savior and hung Him on a cross.

My encouraging word for you, friends? Don't let someone keep your broken and torn heart. Take it back and hand it to Jesus so He can heal it and replace it back within you. I'd be lying if I said I don't struggle with bitterness and anger toward those who've deliberately hurt me, but know this: It's okay to struggle. We're human. But, pray and ask God to remove the anger and bittnerness to allow joy to flood back in. It's a constant battle for me because I'm reminded every day what this person did, but it's my choice whether I let it take me over or whether I shove it out of mind and pray for God to give me strength and compassion on those who've hurt me.
It's not easy by a long shot. It's a process.
Just know that God knows how you feel. He out of anyone does.

Have a blessed day! <3 

Reflection Unknown

Written by Brooke-Lauren Montgomery

So, I've been furiously working on one of my latest novels, Reflection Unknown. I just finished plotting the last half of the book, and am SO excited to write it!!!!

For those of you who like horror, this book is right up your ally, no doubt. It's extremely graphic and beyond creepy. It's so disturbing in some aspects that I actually had to take a break from writing and reconnect with God. (Not that I wasn't connected before. Just had to get closer with Him). But, the stuff in this book is really dark. It does have a good ending. Evil does not win. Evil will never win in any of my books, because God prevails over all evil.

Reflection Unknown is still in the making, so I don't have a publisher for it yet. I'm hoping to land an agent for this manuscript. I can tell my writing has gotten so much stronger since the first book I wrote, The Protected:The Unseen Realm, which is supposed to be released sometime in March or April 2014. (Not that my writing isn't strong in The Protected.) I've just been able to catch mistakes better than I used to before sending it to my editor, DeWanna Pace. She's awesome! She's been editing my manuscript, Reflection Unknown, and has shown me how to improve before sending it to agents or publishing companies. She's just fabulous.

My first novel, The Protected: The Unseen Realm, is geared for middle school through college age kids. It does have a couple of somewhat graphic scenes, and has no profanity. This is a book sold under the Christian Market. I believe I talked a little more about it on a seperate blog of mine recently. But, if you like angels and demons, good vs. evil, this is your book! And, if you like endings with a twist, this is also your book! Lol. If you are one that likes a good freaky, page turner, nail biting experience without the gore and profanity, you'll love this book. 

If you like gore, high tension, nail shredding, on the edge of your seat books, Reflection Unknown is most definitely for you. It does contain some "mild" profanity in it. Also, if you like twist endings, you'll love it! Reflection Unknown would not fly under the Christian Market due to its extreme graphic contents and occassional profane language. (Nothing like the F word or misuse of God's Name).

I have big hopes for these two novels. I love my God-given gift to write! I hope that when these two novels come out, you guys will read them and enjoy them, and also learn something through them.

I will update more on each of these novels later.

I'm supposed to be getting back my first edits on The Protected: The Unseen Realm any day now. Feels like forever when you're an excited writer! :]

Hope everyone has a blessed day and a wonderful rest of the week!

Must Read: Becoming More Than A Good Bible Study Girl

I finished reading a very good book a few days ago called, Being More Than A Good Bible Study Girl by Lysa TerKeurst. She is the president of Proverbs 31 Ministries.

This book is one I highly recommend. Lysa is very transparent. She doesn't try to hide anything. She's also very straightforward, and doesn't sugar coat things. However, she is absolutely hilarious! I laughed several times while reading her book.

Being More Than A Good Bible Study Girl teaches us that we are not worthless. It teaches us that God is the only thing that can fill the void everyone is born with. Everyone's void is different, and everyone tries desperately to fill it with temporary things that bring us happiness. Eventually the happiness wears off and we try to fill it with more and more and more, and it never seems to work. We can never get enough. In her book, Lysa shows how we CAN get enough. After reading Being More Than A Good Bible Study Girl, I felt happier than I had in a long time. I read it within two days, and it was the best two days I'd had in a while.

I felt closer to God. Not only that, but I could relate, almost in every aspect, to Lysa! I would come across places where she'd messed up in life and I'd think, Whoa! You did that, too??

This book is geared for girls and women. Lysa really hits home for how a lot of women feel inside even though they cover their unhappiness with a smile.

I rate the book 5 out of 5 stars. It's one I'm definitely keeping to reread.

If you feel like you're missing something, read this book. You won't regret it.

To read about Becoming More Than A Good Bible Study Girl, or to purchase the book, please click the following link: http://www.amazon.com/Becoming-More-Than-Bible-Study/dp/0310293251

Becoming More Than A Good Bible Study Girl is also located at your local Christian bookstore(s).