It sounds crazy, I know. Even as I wiped the chocolate from my lips and savored the heavenly goodness, I wondered if it was real. Had God really spoken to me through French pastry? Challenged my settled, church lady thoughts with a simple chocolate éclair?
Or what about the twenty-five other saints, signs, and wonders that turned my faith topsy turvy that first year after we moved to France? The silver haired prostitute who hung out on rue des Gras, or the old man in the restaurant supply store, walking around with a live chicken under his arm? The little girl in a clown nose who opened our train car on the way to Paris, or the burly guys in raincoats up in the trees of cours Sablon, smoking their cigarettes as they hacked off all the new growth. Or the gorgeous woman on the motorbike outside my children’s school, her scarf billowing behind her like a hand, beckoning me to follow?
When we moved to France back in 1999, I knew my life would change. But my faith? Why would it? I had it mostly figured out. At least I thought so. Thank heavens God stepped in to show me all I was missing!
After my memoir French By Heart came out in 2007 and I found myself speaking to book clubs and church groups and audiences in all sorts of places about how living in France changed my life, I couldn’t help but allude to the spiritual story that I didn’t share in French By Heart: that my time in France had given me so much more than just the cultural experience of living in 
another country– it turned my faith UPSIDE DOWN! I yearned to share my stories about the holy nobodies and sacred ordinary things that spoke God’s words to me, leading me away from my self-imposed rules for earning God’s love and into the land of a grace I’d never known.
And so, ten years after French By Heart, I’ve finally done it. I’ve finally found the right way for Madame Pink Suit (the lady on the motorbike) and the raggedy sage and his dogs in Ambert and my team of flea market saints and all the rest to share their divine wisdom with the world! The Holy Éclair: Signs and Wonders from an Accidental Pilgrimage is being released by Nurturing Faith on December 4! (You can pre-order it here!)
I can’t wait for you to meet all the everyday saints and ordinary wonders who’ve been jumping around in my head for nearly 17 years, asking me not to forget them, and to hear the holy messages they shared with me. I know you’ll fall in love them too! But the adventure is just beginning. I need help getting them out into the world (they’re shy by nature.) I would be so grateful if you would join me as part of my book launch team!
So what’s a launch team?
It’s just a group of folks who believe in a book and are invested enough to spread the word about it to the people they know – their friends and neighbors and family- the people they interact with in their lives. After all, we can’t expect my mother to tell the WHOLE WORLD. (Only Raleigh, North Carolina, and most of eastern Kentucky!) So will you do it? Would you consider joining my launch team?
What do Launch Team Members agree to do?
Here are the four things I need each member of the launch team to do.
First: Read the book. The first 30 people who sign up with me to be on the launch team will get a free copy!
Second: Join my private The Holy Éclair Launch Group on Facebook! It’ll be fun! (I’ll add you when it’s ready!)
Third: Share about the book on social media- Facebook or twitter or Instagram or a blog if you have one. I’ll have some graphics for you to share so you don’t have to invent anything unless you just want to!
Fourth: Write a review on a retailer site, like Amazon or Goodreads.
Want to sign up?
Email me to sign up. You can find my email address on the last line of my contact page of this website. Or send me a note on facebook or twitter or Instagram. (I’d repeat my email address here but spammers love email addresses and I’m scared.) The
good: best one
last day to sign up to be on the team is Halloween! (No trick- just a yummy treat!)
What if I want to be supportive, but I can’t do the launch team stuff?
That’s GREAT! I’ll appreciate ANYTHING you can do to spread the word about The Holy Éclair! If you’d like to share this post on Facebook or twitter, that would be super nice. But whatever you’re able to do, know that I’ll hug your neck and thank you and think good thoughts about you all day long.
You’re invited to a party, launch team member or not!
My official Book Launch Celebration Party is December 4, 5-7 pm at the AYMC (new building) at First Baptist, Greenville, SC and I’d LOVE LOVE LOVE to see you there! I’ll have plenty of copies of my book as well as Christmas-y snacks and music and fun! Thanks, friends! I love and appreciate each one of you!
Our launch team is complete now! Thanks so much, team!
Love, Becky PS. Thank you to my friend, author Michelle DeRusha, who showed me the ropes for the book launch thing!
