Adventure Awaits!

Keli Gwyn here to talk about adventure.

Seventeen days from now my husband and I will be traveling to Austria to visit our daughter. Adriana has been working there as an English-language teaching assistant.

We haven't seen our gal since she left a year ago. To say I'm eager to see her would be an understatement. I've warned Adri to brace herself because the moment I spot her in the Vienna airport, I'll come flying at her.

Carl and I will spend three and a half weeks with Adriana, much of it in Austria. We'll start off in Vienna, where we'll see sights such as the beautiful Schönbrunn Palace pictured below.

We'll take a few days to travel to Nürnberg, Germany, where we lived early in our marriage. Adriana was born during our time there, and we still have German friends in the area.

I'm a homebody, so preparing to leave home isn't easy. However, once I arrive at our destination, I usually end up having a great time. I'm sure that will the case next month.

One of the things that will enable me to relax on this trip is knowing that the draft of my third Love Inspired Historical, my first written on deadline, is done. I sat nose-to-screen for six weeks, but what a reward I have to look forward to: I get to see our gal. I'll admit that visiting Europe will a nice bonus.

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Are you an adventurer, or is leaving home hard for you too?

What adventures have you embarked on lately?

Allie Pleiter on getting s-t-r-e-t-c-h-y

Someone recently asked me if I thought there was a theme to all my writing.  A common message that runs through all my books.  Now, I try hard not to overanalyze my work for fear that the Talent Fairy will come snatch all my muse away once I’m on to her (not exactly true, but I do try not to analyze).  Still, when I took a look at my books, the through line is precisely what my tagline says:  “The adventure starts right where you are.”

I believe this to be true.  I believe each of us is capable of far more than we realize.  I believe God places great--and small--adventures in our paths every day if we would only choose to launch them.  As the saying goes, God needs neither strength nor skill, only will.

My next book Family Lessons is no different.  In April you’ll meet the tiny, tenacious town of Evans Grove Nebraska, and the orphans stranded there who change the town forever.  You’ll meet a short, spunky teacher named Holly who steps up to the challenge God lays before her.  And you’ll meet Mason, the lonely lawman who lets Holly into his life.  Of course, Holly and Mason have to go through a whole lot of strife and drama.  I love my characters to get their happy endings, but I sure make them work hard to get there.

Even though I make my living in “happy endings,” the raging optimist in me loves beginnings.  January, Monday, casting on a new knitting project, Chapter 1--all those starts and launches get my juices going.  I have big plans for 2013, including some goals that make me more than a little bit nervous.   I’ll be writing more books than ever in 2013, starting college plans for my son, launching my daughter into her senior year in college, accepting the Presidency of my local American Christian Fiction Writers chapter, and a bunch of other s-t-r-e-t-c-h-y challenges. Those, after all, are some of the best kind you can have.  The kind where God has to show up or you’re sunk--those are the growing places for our faith.

So what about you? What adventures is God laying at your feet?  Where do you think you’ll stretch this year?

The Diamond Secret--Lenora Worth

My next release is a Love Inspired Suspense titled "The Diamond Secret." What girl doesn't love diamonds? And especially a rather large chocolate one. I've always been fascinated by chocolate diamonds so writing this book was a lot of fun. It's set in New Orleans and it's part Indiana Jones and part Southern mystery. My hero, Cullen Murphy is an Irishman who really wants to find this diamond. My heroine Esther Carlyle runs an antique shop but she's always longed for a grand adventure. Cullen takes her on a great adventure while they try to put together all the clues that will lead them to the diamond. Of course, they hit a few roadblocks along the way. It all happens this August. Hope you can come along with Esther and Cullen and help them find the elusive chocolate diamond. Have you ever wanted to have a grand adventure? Where would you like to go or what would you like to discover?