A Perfectly Unique Friendship (and Giveaway!)

I still remember the exact moment I met Annie Downs.

I sat at a writers’ conference with a couple of women four and a half years ago while we ate lunch in the camp cafeteria. Except for the women I sat with, I was younger by 25 years than most people in the room.

“Are you Mel? My friend {from the Internet} said you were awesome and I must meet you this week.”

Out of nowhere (but now I know better, from Georgia) came a girl who quickly shimmied up to our table to talk to my friend Melodee. Mel and she began a conversation, Annie sat down and we all fell in love with this amazing girl.

We learned that she was planning on moving from Georgia to Nashville in the next few months. Why? Because she could. She was going to pursue a dream of full time writing. Why? Because {I learned after reading her work} she was awesome. And we found out that she was single, amazing, and could perhaps make us laugh louder than anyone else I’d ever met.

For the next five mornings I sat next to Annie in a beginning writing workshop. We laughed, shared apples and stories and took notes like fiends. {I envied both her pens and her handwriting.}

We became friends.

Sometimes friendships take time and space and a lot of care. Sometimes all we need is a joke in the mountains and a hike through some redwoods to bind us close.

Since I’ve known her, Annie has moved to Nashville, lived in Scotland, traveled to Africa, attended the Grammy’s and self-published a book. Her book got picked up by Zondervan recently and was republished and then released yesterday to all of us!

This is what Annie has said about why she wrote Perfectly Unique:

“The idea that God made us each on purpose and made us to impact the world for Him is something that every teen girl needs to grab onto and live out of.”

Perfectly Unique is written for the teen and adolescent girl who needs to understand just how important she is and how much God loves her. It would be an amazing gift {and investment} into any young girls’ life.

For YOU ALL specially, Annie is going to send an autographed copy to one of my blog readers. All you have to do is leave a comment.

Nothing more than that. No pressure. Something like. “I’d love the book,” or “Sounds like fun!” or “Annie makes me laugh too.” Anything.

Leave a comment before 9pm PDT on Thursday night and I’ll announce the winner on twitter and on my Facebook Community page.

Some helpful links:

Buy Annie’s Book on Amazon.

Head to Annie’s website.

Follow Annie on Twitter.

Download her free 30 day devotional called Word Revolution.

Get connected with me on my Facebook page.