Tomorrow Hidden Mercies is officially released! Good news! My publisher says that Sam’s Club has purchased several thousand copies, and it will also be available at Amazon, B&N, CBD, Simon & Schuster, and Christian Book Stores everywhere!
A few weeks ago I was in Arkansas visiting my sister when a friend asked me to come speak to her class for their career studies. (Jake – Write what’s on your heart, and it’ll be okay!) It was raining that morning and on the way to the school my car got rear-ended while I was waiting at a traffic light. (It was totaled.) When I arrived at the school, I was shaken up, wet, miserable, and the last thing I wanted to do was teach a class. (Alaina – It’s A LOT harder than it looks… but it’s a lot of FUN too!) Then the kids came! Bright, eager, kind. Forgiving and attentive even when I lost my train of thought. Those precious children even took notes as I stumbled through my presentation. (Heidi – Never give up on your dreams either!) When I invited them to be part of a real-life “brainstorming session” about a nutshell idea I had about writing a historical romance based on research I’d done about the Ohio River in the 1700’s, they participated with enthusiasm and creativity. (Scarlett – I’ll most definitely let your teacher know!) Sometimes magic happens when a group of […]
Sometimes people ask me to describe the mental process I go through in order to come up with the stories I write. I never know how to answer. Frankly, if someone could step inside my head, they would probably be as confused about the process as I am. However, one thing I can say that there is always an incident that causes the writer-synapses inside my brain to start flashing like a fire engine. When that happens, I know I have a story. My latest Amish novel, HIDDEN MERCIES, which will come out April 9–opens with an Amish wedding scene in which the groom has not shown up and the bride is beside herself with humiliation and worry. That scene began to percolate as I sat through three hours of Amish preachers speaking in German during a real-life Amish wedding. Since I could not understand more than two words, I began to wonder if Amish brides ever get left at the altar, and if so, what would happen. The rest of those three hours just flew by. My publisher thought it would be fun for readers to get a peak behind the scenes of HIDDEN MERCIES, and experience with me the […]
I received a very special gift this week. My first cousin, Eva Gleim, sent me a picture of her mother, my aunt, reading my first book not long before she passed away. This picture especially grips my heart because back when I thought I would never, ever, make it as a writer, Aunt Mary was one of my biggest encouragers. Mary worked terribly hard. Raising six children, feeding them out of a huge garden, taking care of everything from stray cats to little nieces and nephews, but somehow in the middle of all that work, she still found time to play the piano, sing, dream…..and read love stories. As she once told me when she was well into her eighties, “I like a little kissin’ in a book I’m a-reading.” I’m so grateful that she got to hold the first love story I ever published. Because of her, I’m always mindful to put a little kissin’ in every story.
For those wondering how in the world my son ended up working as a military contractor in Afghanistan, or for those who are interested in a great-paying (albeit dangerous) job, my son just published an easy-to-read book that crystallizes his years of working as an Human Resource manager in Afghanistan. In it he explains the why, how, and how-to of getting various jobs overseas. Everything he wished he had known before he went there. It is an important book for those ex-military personnel who are struggling to find good-paying jobs here in the states. I was surprised that in some places it reads like an adventure novel–and I found myself chewing my fingernails, amazed at how much he had never told me. For paperback or kindle edition CLick Here.
The following is a recent post from my son’s face book. He is working as a military contract worker in Afghanistan. Missing him today after getting to see him for a few days over Christmas. “I work with Heroes. Today started horrifically. Large truck/car bomb went off at one of my subcontractor’s compound less than a mile away. It was so loud and shook so hard I thought we were hit again like on May 2 and I kissed the floor. Multiple injuries, building destroyed etc. at their location. Within seconds we had guns cocked and loaded. Within minutes we had medkits ready, combat medics, food, shelter, etc. This was our “family” and we were bringing them to safety and care. The attached shows real life superhero’s. I consider these guys friends and family. The guy on the far left has saved my life more times than I’d like to admit. The dude with the purple gloves is someone I trash talk with everyday but seeing him jump into action was amazing. In fact everyone on my team today was amazing. Normally I don’t like to post things for OpSec reasons but this pic was on a public news site.”
In A Promise To Love, there is a scene where my heroine, Ingrid, uses Swedish pastry to bribe her way into a house where her youngest stepchild is being kept. A friend and reader saw an advertisement for this Swedish Tea Ring in a magazine after reading that scene and was hungry for it. She immediately ordered one for herself and her daughters, and one for me. This is a picture of what I saw when I opened the package. No dieting for me or my family from that point on until it was GONE! Absolutely delicious. Have I mentioned before that people who read Christian fiction are some of the nicest people in the world? Thanks Ruth Morris for your thoughtfulness!
I have a lot of friends from many different walks of life. It’s been interesting watching the various reactions over the outcome of our last election. Some were elated. Some were thrown into deep despair. Those who were thrown into despair now talk of stockpiling ammunition, stocking up on food, and battening down the hatches. The constant talk of a “fiscal cliff” isn’t doing anyone’s nerves any good. Frankly, our family’s hatches have always been battened down–whatever that phrase means. We have our own water filtration system, we have a wood burning stove and plenty of firewood. I’m almost always well stocked on beans and rice. I’m not a fan of shooting Bambi, but I would do so if it was necessary to feed my family. ( There’s usually a herd of deer in my garden every morning anyway.) Our decision to do this was not based on any political climate. We just like living in the country and are willing to sacrifice convenience and gasoline to do so. But that isn’t really what I mean by battening down the hatches. One of the great benefits of having a Christian mindset is the reassurance that this world is not our […]
Just wanted to let everyone know that I’ll be in Wooster, Ohio on November 3rd, Saturday, from 9:30 to 4:00 signing books along with about a hundred other Ohio authors and illustrators. I’m hoping there’s some local readers around there who would enjoy coming over and saying hi. This will be the 25th Annual Buckeye Book Fair, and will be held in the Fisher Auditorium on the OARDC Campus. They do charge $2 admission, which is given to various libraries and adult literacy programs. I noticed in the program that they have a children’s class at 2:30 with a professional illustrator. It’s going to be hard for me to stay in my seat. I want to take the classes and hear the speakers, too! See you there!
As I was researching The Measure Of Katie Calloway, there was one thing that kept cropping up in the old books I was reading. The wildfire that swept across Michigan in the fall of 1871. It was one of the greatest natural disasters in the history of the United States, and yet I–who had lived in Michigan for 18 years of my adult life–had never heard of it. It was the perfect storm of drought, thousands of acres of dry-as-kindling pine tops left over from the lumber camps, farmers burning off fields, and some believe there was a low-flying comet that added its fiery path as well. I read true stories of heroism and of great stupidity, desperation and wisdom. I read of the enormous outpouring of compassion that came from people all around the country in the way of food and clothing long before the Red Cross existed. It wasn’t easy working all these elements together into a book about a marriage of convenience, but of all my books so far, this one is my favorite, and the valiant Ingrid Larsen is my favorite heroine.
It has taken a couple days to write about this–a couple days to believe that it is true. On this past Saturday night, my second novel, The Measure of Katie Calloway won the most prestigious award in the romance genre–the RITA. I was up against such strong writers, I didn’t think I had much of a chance. Still….I watched the tweets of those who were at the awards banquet in Anaheim with a small flicker of hope in my heart. Then I saw my name come up as the winner of the inspirational genre and I will never forget that moment as long as I live. I screamed, and my husband came running. Then he realized what had happened and threw his arms around me and we hugged and cried and laughed and sobbed. It has been a long, long road. I read many times that it was practically impossible for an unknown author to get published anymore. I kept telling myself that the Lord had never asked me to be successful, He had only asked me to be faithful. It’s hard to write year after year with nothing to show for it except a stack of unpublished manuscripts and […]
At our church, we pull out all the stops for our Vacation Bible School. It is not unusual for us to have 150 or more little kids running around squealing and having a good time. Last Friday, though, the squealing turned into terrified screaming. On the Friday of VBS we traditionally hire a company to put up a parking lot full of inflatables. We rent a sno-cone machine, and grill about 300 hotdogs and make vats of baked beans and it is all free to the children and their parents. One of the prettiest sights in the world is watching these little kids skipping around, giggling, having fun, just playing themselves silly, while the adults stand around, watching out for them, while they congratulate themselves on having survived another year of VBS:-) The wind came out of nowhere. Apart from an overcast sky, there was no warning. None. In a matter of seconds…not minutes…seconds….hurricane force winds swooshed down and literally almost blew some of the children away. The wind picked up a 1400 lb. inflatable and carried it several feet along the parking lot–even though it had not yet been inflated. Peat moss from the playground swirled around in everyone’s […]