Monday, January 27, 2020

Unfortunately, I have neglected to mention the most important detail: My new blog URL! You will find my new blog at: https://writinginchrist.blogspot.com/

I look forward to interacting with you all there!

Blessings!

Bill Burt

Sunday, January 26, 2020

Dear friends,

You may have been wondering why I haven't posted anything on my blog for quite some time. Three reasons: First, we are moving from our home of 33 years to enjoy dual living with our daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter. Our "new" home is only about 3 miles from our current house, and it's out in the country. We've spent the past year preparing our current home for sale, which has been a real trial. (We have lots of stuff to pack and problems to address!) We probably won't be moving for another 4-5 months, since the new place needs rehabbing and we plan to build about 2,000 additional square feet onto it for our family to occupy. My email will remain unchanged.

Second, I have been rather ill for the past 2 months with RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus), which gave me a bad case of chronic bronchiolitis, making breathing a real challenge. I passed this bug along to my wife, and she in turn gave it to our son-in-law and granddaughter. RSV can really hang on, and there is no cure. Thank the Lord, I am finally over it.

Third, I have still been writing and bookselling. (2019 was a banner year for book sales.) For the first time in my career, I am developing the plot lines for two different titles at the same time: Books 3 and 4 in the Creation Seekers series. Book 3 takes place mainly in South America, while Book 4 is local to Oregon and is a crossover title. I am excited about both of these titles and the potential they hold for blessing you, my readers.

I am also nearly finished reformatting The King of the Trees for republication under my own imprint, KOT Books/Creation Way Books. Although I still have plenty of new copies of all the titles in the "King of the Trees" series (in storage), those titles have technically been out of print since the closure and bankruptcy of WinePress Publishing five years ago.

A note on Amazon.com: Amazon is currently offering all the titles in the "King of the Trees" series as "new." However, KOT Books, LLC owns all the new copies of these titles in the world—except for those in the hands of a few collectors or bookstores, of course. My point is, don't fall for Amazon's rather deceptive advertising. If you look carefully, you'll see that the shipping time is 1-2 months. Apparently that's how long it takes them to fulfill those orders—if they can fulfill them at all. My sense is that they just want a "BUY NEW" placeholder until I can republish all those titles myself. I will let you all know when the third edition of Book I is available for purchase.

I hope and pray you are enjoying the Lord's blessings this winter!

Mae'r Goeden yn fyw!

In His service,

Bill Burt

Thursday, December 21, 2017

Catching up!

Dear friends,

You may have wondered what has happened to me and my blog. It's been three years since I've posted anything, but I wanted to bring you up to date on what's happening in my life.

First and foremost, you are probably aware by now that I've published a new title—The Lake Lights—the first in my new Creation Seekers series. (If you're unfamiliar with this title, feel free to check out the link.) Seven years of work went into this book. Its publication was delayed because of the WinePress debacle, whereby my former publisher closed its doors, taking all the authors' royalties and many of our rights with it. Instead, I have formed my own publishing company, Creation Way Books, which is an imprint of KOT Books, LLC.

But enough history. I'm about a third of the way through Book 2 in the new series—and it promises to be a blockbuster. Most of the action takes place in Scotland, thanks to Dr. MacKenzie. This second book begins about five years after the end of the first.

This summer, I decided to retire from my primary job as a sign-language interpreter after forty-odd years. Practically speaking, however, I'm not really retired. I'm devoting more of my time to caring for my elderly mother and father, who are 88 and 89, respectively. This week has been a good example of that: I had to hospitalize my mother on Saturday for a bad case of shingles. She was practically comatose, and I didn't think she was going to make it—but she's recovered nicely. Today, I took my father for a chest x-ray. They both have dementia, although Mom is much worse off memory-wise than Dad is.

I'm also assisting my wife with the myriad details surrounding her private counseling practice. Between writing, publishing, caretaking and office-assisting, I'm kept very busy.

In case you're wondering, my two children are grown and married. My wife and I now have two grandchildren and another on the way. We feel very blessed that our kids are living in the local area and are married to godly spouses.

I want to take this opportunity to wish you and your loved ones a very merry, blessed Christmas and a hope-filled New Year.

God bless you!

In Christ's service,

William Burt

Monday, December 22, 2014

Dear friends,

During this Christmas season, I would like to share a story my son sent to me. For the past several years, he has been managing some coffee houses owned by Bethel church, which he and his wife attend. With that background in mind, here is what he wrote:

As some of you know, someone stole an iPad out of the cafe at Bethel this last Sunday.  We got a call from a pawn shop owner saying someone had attempted to sell it.  Through some great police work by the Richland PD they found out the young man who did it, and started to try and find him.
I used the "find my iPad" app on the computer to leave a message on the iPad that would pop up saying that if he returned the iPad we wouldn't press any charges.

I got an email this afternoon from a man apologizing for stealing the iPad and saying that he wanted to meet up to give it back.  We met a few hours ago and I could tell immediately that he was broken and ashamed as to what he had done.  I invited him back to my truck to talk (it was cold!), and I asked him what had led him to make this decision.  He told me about how he had been injured on the job and was an air force vet, and that he had a 4-month old daughter that his ex-girlfriend didn't want him to see anymore.

I told him that all was forgiven, and that I would like to help him.  I told him I would buy him a cart full of groceries if he would listen to me for a while. We went over to Fred Meyers and I started talking to him about how God loves everyone, and uses lots of situations to get our attention.  I told him that his life was spiraling out of control because he kept trying to fix it himself, instead of relying on God.  We filled up the cart with groceries as he talked about his drinking problem and how he wants to get his life turned around.  

In the truck on the way back to his apartment I told him that when God gets our attention we have two choices: to accept his help, or reject him.  I told him to think about what he was going to do now that he knew God was after his heart.  Before I helped him take his food inside he said that he wanted to let Jesus in his heart and change his life.  We prayed together and he accepted Christ into his heart!  After that we hugged and he bawled and then invited me into his apartment where he was staying.  There were 5 other guys in there and I was able to talk with them as well and share the gospel and God's love.

God works in mysterious ways!  I gave the young man my number and we'll be connecting regularly to get him to church and to Abide.  He'll be coming to church with me this Sunday.  Just thought I'd pass this along!

I hope you found my son's message inspirational, especially at this time of the year when we celebrate God's grace extended to us undeserving humans in the form of His Son's birth.

God bless you, and have a wonderful Christmas!

In His service,

Bill Burt

Friday, August 1, 2014

2014 Readers' Favorite Medalist!



Dear reader,

I am very excited to announce that "The King of the Trees" (Book 1 in the "King of the Trees" series) has won the Silver Medal in this year's Readers' Favorite International Book Award Contest!

We have also recently significantly revamped and enhanced the KOT Books website to make the images more appealing, the navigation easier and to present our products in a more organized fashion. Check it out when you have a chance! (Just click on the text.)



Readers' Favorite book reviewers have also awarded 5 stars to 

each of the seven series titles!



And in case you haven't seen it yet, here is the powerful book 

trailer for "The King of the Trees," created by Christian 

Prince of Supernova Studios!




BOOK I REVIEW

BOOK II REVIEW

BOOK III REVIEW

BOOK IV REVIEW

BOOK V REVIEW

BOOK VI REVIEW

BOOK VII REVIEW

On another note, our first grandchild—Elias James Burt—was born on August 26!

Happy Reading, and God bless you!

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Here's a fun review of Book I from the Readers' Favorite website:

The King of the Trees

This is a great site for finding good books.
You might want to check out my recent interview podcast on the "Alive in Christ" internet radio station.

Alive in Christ!

This podcast also features some great Bible teaching!

Blessings to all!