Jody Hedlund's Secret, Plus a Giveaway!

I'm thrilled to have Jody Hedlund on my blog today. Not only is she an incredible author, but she's also been a huge encouragement to me in my writing journey. You can read about Jody's new book below (and enter to win a free copy! Yah!) I've read the book and literally could not put it down. You DO NOT want to miss out on this awesome opportunity! So...without further ado, here's Jody sharing with us about her greatest fear.

Secret #14: My biggest fear

By Jody Hedlund, @JodyHedlund

No I'm not afraid of the dark—never really have been. And I'm not afraid of spiders, or mice, or bees, or snakes, or anything that creeps and crawls.

I'm not afraid of too many things. I try to keep my focus on today and not let the worries of tomorrow overwhelm me. There are just so many things to worry us including terrorists, droughts, chemicals in food, the national debt, etc. Quite frankly, if we let ourselves dwell on all of the problems out there in the world, we'd live in constant fear.

Nevertheless, I do have one thing that scares me the most—and that's skin cancer.

To the average person, fear of skin cancer may seem like a silly fear. But for a fair-skinned, red-headed girl like me, skin cancer is a very real threat. In fact, my grandfather died of melanoma when I was in college, when I was still blissfully unaware of the dangers of sun-tanning.

I was one of those foolish, vain young ladies who purposefully slathered her skin with baby oil and laid out in the sun in order to get a tan—which as you might guess for me was more of a deep red burn. I regret all the many years I abused my skin and exposed myself to the sun's harmful rays.

Now I've become the mom who now slathers her kids with enough sun-screen to turn them into walking mummies. Well, not quite that bad. But I do have a slight paranoia about them getting sunburned. So they are well covered in strong, water-resistant sun block. And I buy them swim shirts to wear when they'll be out in the sun for prolonged time.

And if you ever visit a pool and see the dorky woman in a wide-brimmed hat and long sleeve shirt sitting on the edge of the pool with her feet in the water—you'll know that's me.  Or I'll be reading under the shade of a table umbrella.

While I do all I can to wisely protect myself and my kids from the sun, I've also had to slowly let go of my fear. I'm getting better at not freaking-out when one of my kids gets sunburned. And I'm realizing that worrying about cancer won't prevent it or cause it.

Our days are numbered. God won't take us before our time is up. And no amount of fretting will add or subtract more from our time.

What about you? What's your biggest fear?

 

Publisher's Weekly calls Unending Devotion "A meaty tale of life amid the debauchery of the lumber camps of 1880s Michigan . . . exciting and unpredictable to the very end."

To celebrate the release of Unending Devotion, Jody is giving away a signed copy. Leave a comment (along with your email address) to enter the drawing. Valid only with US or Canadian addresses. Giveaway ends: Oct 1st.

For more secrets about Jody and additional chances to win her newest release, visit her Events Page to see where she'll be next in her "Fun Secrets About Author Jody Hedlund" blog tour.

Also join in the Pinterest Photo Contest she's hosting. Find more information about it on her Contest Page.

Jody would love to connect with you! Find her in one of these places:

Website: http://jodyhedlund.com/

Blog: http://jodyhedlund.blogspot.com/

Facebook: Author Jody Hedlund

Twitter: http://twitter.com/JodyHedlund

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/jodyhedlund/