Allie Pleiter here, with my first blog for loveinspiredauthors.com. It’s exciting to be here!

I’ve spent a lot of time recently thinking about how life imitates art and vice versa. Or, as my friend likes to put it, “you write the book you need to read.” God has a good time with me on that one, especially with my latest Bluegrass Blessings.

Did I somehow know I’d be confined to orthotic shoes this year, and therefore write Dinah Hopkins and her 30-odd pair of flip flops as my heroine? Did I know my daughter would focus her professional interests to baking and pastry, and therefore write a baker heroine? Dinah’s role as Middleburg’s baker was set long before my daughter began watching Ace of Cakes, so how could that be?

When God first led to me Midway, KY as I was looking for an inspiration on a setting for my series, did He know there’d be five books when I’d only envisioned three? Did He know those secondary characters were longing for stories of their own when I wrote them into the background of what I thought were main characters? Did I become so fond of Kentucky by writing the books, or did writing the books make me so fond of Kentucky?

I think God’s showing me how far and wide He sees. How His view expands beyond time, visibility, and my meager concept of what “ought to be.” I always seem to write characters who teach me things, even when I think I’m in control. It’s one of the great blessings of this work for me. I hope it’s one of the great blessings for you as readers.

Questions from Readers

I had the nicest email from a girl (about 12 years old) who is reading my book. And I think she's a budding author, because she had the best questions for me. Things like: How do you come up with your characters? How do you think of your story ideas? Do you ever get writer's block? What was your favorite book to write and why? Do you ever get nervous to see how your book will turn out? What made you want to write and why?

So I thought I'd share some of my answers to her, in case anyone else is curious or thinking of writing.

What was your favorite book to write and why? I love each of them and wouldn't be able to pick one! To me, there's something special about each one.

Do you ever get writer's block? I don't get true writers block to where I can't write at all. But I do have trouble thinking of ideas sometimes. It helps if I get away from the computer and spend some time thinking.

Do you ever get nervous to see how a book you just wrote will turn out? I do get nervous! The last one I worked on was very difficult to write. And I worried that it wouldn't be as good as the others. But the editor helped me make it better so that I really like the way it turned out! :)

How do you come up with ideas for your stories? I write down ideas all the time and keep them in a file on my computer. I get ideas from TV shows, the newspaper, and watching people out in public.

I love to hear from readers, so if you ever have any questions or comments for me, please contact me through my website, www.missytippens.com or by email missytippens [at] aol.com.

Missy

Traveling Abroad by Marta Perry

Hi, Friends,

By the time you read this post, I'll actually be somewhere over the Atlantic, on the way back from two weeks in Norway. So I'm writing it before I leave, anticipating a delightful time.

My husband and I are going with our daughter, son-in-law, and two grandchildren to visit with our son-in-law's family in Holmestrand, Norway, for two weeks. We've been there before and simply love it, but it's especially nice to travel with the family. Bjoern, 9, and Greta, 7, are shown here with me on a train trip. They're really old enough to appreciate what they're seeing this time, although they will probably enjoy playing with their five Norwegian cousins more than sightseeing! We been able to get to know them well through our visits back and forth, so it's a real joy to be getting together again.

We'll be doing some traveling around, visiting the family's summer cottage on an island in the fjord. I know from past experience that the hearty Norwegians will all take a dip in the icy fjord water, while we wimpy Americans will sit on a rock and watch!

We're also taking a short side trip to Sweden to visit my husband's second or third cousins. (Or second cousins once removed; I'm never sure how that works.) We haven't seen them since a trip we made twenty years ago, so the kids who were teenagers then are married with families of their own now.

So, thank you for indulging me in reminiscing about a trip I'm leaving on tomorrow! Next time around, I'll have some photos from Norway to share. I hope you have something planned for this summer that brings you joy.

Blessings,

Marta Perry

The Making of a Hero

Ramona here, and I had the most amazing 4th of July this year. I took my daughter, who loves fireworks, to Franklin, Kentucky, to watch their celebration on Friday. Then, on Saturday, I found myself in a position to watch a lot of the Nashville fireworks in the midst of a raging thunderstorm. I’d picked up the simulcast of the symphony, and I assure you there are few spectacles that can rival Sousa blended with lightning and skyrockets.

Yet the most memorable moment of the weekend came on Sunday morning. After our service of patriotic music and inspiring sermon, the invitational hymn brought forth not a new believer but an old one.

Dick Bradley has been our “amen corner” for as long as I can remember. His faith is unwavering, and he and his wife, Lady, have guided at least three generations of the church’s kids through superior example and wise advice. You may not always agree with Dick, but no one doubts his passion for his family or his faith.

Or his country.

Sunday, Dick got up and simply repeated three names:

Jack Williams
Ed Nelson
Howard Sweeney

He then explained that in August 1942, the four of them had been just four young men from Donelson, Tennessee. Friends, who forever bonded during the six months that followed the first landings of what became one of the most pivotal battles of World War II.

Guadalcanal.

Dick is now the sole survivor of the four. Ed is buried on Guadalcanal. Dick simply wanted to remind us of that which lies behind the fireworks and patriotic music.

Over the past week, I’ve been holding a contest on my blog to “cast” the hero of my next book. As writers, we deal in the business of heroes. But, to tell the truth, no matter how impressive our fictional heroes, no matter what feats they achieve or triumphs they have, they never really measure up to the real thing.

So here’s my love and thanks to the real heroes among us.

Meeting friends this Indpendence Weekend...

A big shout out from me, Lisa Mondello, to wish you all a Happy Independence Day weekend. Okay, it's Monday and most of you celebrated your holiday on Saturday. But this year me and my family made it a weekend affair.

We started out going to one of our favorite spots to visit with the family, Bigelow Hollow State Park. There's a great pond there, barbeque pits and great swimming and rafting. A few families met there and we had a great time taking turns exploring the lake on the raft, cooking and just having great conversation. My beagle, Nike, even sat in my lap and enjoyed a good trek around the lake with me and my husband. The next night we went for ice cream with my kids and a few other friends and watched the fireworks.

The weekend wasn't all fun though. I'm still working on the final read through of my December 12/09 release for Love Inspired Suspense, Yuletide Protector. I've seen the cover and I have to say it is beautiful! As soon as I can post it, I will.

I hope all of you had a wonderful weekend filled with happiness with friends and family. Many blessings to you, Lisa Mondello

The Fear Factor

BHP, Vitamin D,

Swine flu, sunlight, salt,

The disease of the week, It’s making me weak,

This nervous breakdown’s not my fault

Crazy mad cow, Asian flu

Acetimenophene,

Killer bees and Lymes disease

And trans fat in our ice cream.

The markets are down, Unemployment is up

And General Motors is broke,

Housing has tanked and savings are lost

It’s enough to make me smoke.

If you’re like me and you’re sick of fear

And the news just makes you tired

I’ve got just the thing, to make you relax

And it goes by Love Inspired.

The people are real, their problems are too,

But they trust in God’s providing,

And when it’s over, and the last page is turned

You’ll know it’s a happy ending.

Now you know why I stick to fiction and have stayed away from poetry. However, I feel the sentiments of the poem are real. We live on a continent that gives us tremendous freedom and the best lifestyle of anyone on earth and we are constantly looking over our shoulder to see what is going to come and take all this away from us. And I’m a bit tired of the fear that newspapers seem to gleefully generate.

Yesterday we celebrated Canada Day, on Saturday Americans will celebrate Fourth of July. Both holidays remind us of what we are blessed with. I pray that we can learn to see the good things we have instead of being so afraid of what we are going to read next in the newspapers.

Second Chance Family

My fourth book in the Fostered by Love series is out in July (on the shelves now) called Second Chance Family. It is Whitney Maxwell's story (Noah Maxwell's sister from book three). Below I have an interview with Whitney who meets Dr. Shane McCoy in the book. Dr. McCoy works with troubled children and has often worked with children at Stone's Refuge. Both Whitney and Shane are wounded souls who are trying to deal with their pasts. When Shane's son, Jason, who has autism, brings these two people together, their world changes. Will they have a second chance at love? Will Whitney get the family she's always yearned for?

Interview with the heroine from Second Chance Family by Margaret Daley:

1. Whitney Maxwell, tell me the most interesting thing about you.

Since my brother, Noah, found me in Dallas last year, I have hope that I can make my life count for something. I’m studying to be a teacher and have discovered how much I love working with children.

2. What do you do for fun?

I love to ride horses. I go out to Stone’s Refuge to ride with the foster care children there.

3. What do you put off doing because you dread it?

Cleaning my apartment—you clean and not a couple of days later it is dirty again.

4. What are you afraid of most in life?

Last year I would have said nothing. Now I’m beginning to think never having something like Noah and Cara do. Seeing how much my brother and sister-in-law love each other makes me wish I could have that—but I don’t see that really in my life.

5. What do you want out of life?

To help others—especially children in need. I’ve been there. I don’t want others to go through what I did as a child.

6. What is the most important thing to you?

Being needed, accepted totally no matter what I’ve done.

7. Do you read? If so, what is your favorite type of book to read?

Right now I’m reading a lot of textbooks because I’m going to school to become a teacher.

8. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

My past—it’s something I’m not proud of. I made some bad choices. I was angry and didn’t have much hope my situation would change.

9. Do you have a pet? If so, what is it and why that pet?

Callie, a cat. She is a great listener.

10. If you could travel back in time, where would you go and why?

To when I was a child. I wish I could do over my life with what I know now.

Changing it Out.

I was impressed with Merrillee’s remodel of her bathroom, and thought I’d share what my husband and I did over Spring Break. I finally convinced him to redo our closet. Well---the way I did it was went out to the Container Store and bought things to remodel it. My husband didn’t want to get rid of the shelves on the wall between the two sides of our closet, but once we knocked out the two hanging rods and shelves above, he said, maybe we should do the entire closet. I didn’t hesitate and immediately went out and finished buying the things we needed to redo the entire closet.

Well, he didn’t think we needed to repaint the walls in the closet. It had not been repainted since we moved into the house 30 years ago. I told him once in 30 years was not overdoing it. (You know how husbands are. If I had put a dent in the car, it would’ve been an entirely different reaction.) We repainted. As you can see, we installed the new shelves and hanging rods. It is a pleasure to walk into that closet. I have a smile on my face each time I walk into it. And I have to give my husband a gold star. He does excellent work.
Leann

The Importance of Mentoring

Today I was thinking about how many aspiring novelists there are out there. I have gotten several reader letters lately from people who express interest in writing. When they ask my advice on how to get started, I easily recall days not so long ago when I was in the place of longing that they are. I hope and pray that my advice to them is as solid and sound as the advice I received.

I started writing while on bedrest with a pregnancy. That's also the season in my life when I stumbled upon the Steeple Hill message boards. I had seen the Web site advertized in one of the Steeple Hill books that I'd read. I was thrilled to find a community of other aspiring authors just like me. AND, when the authors I'd been reading for months or years started extending encouragment and mentoring moments with me, I knew THIS was the publisher I wanted to write for.

Many of those authors who aspired with me, and who I met online, then later at an www.acfw.com American Christian Fiction Writers conference, become some of my closest friends. Camy Tang, Cynthia Hawkins, Danica Favorite-McDonald to name a few. Margaret Daley not only befriended and encouraged me, she mentored me for years...and she's still there when I need to brainstorm or when I have questions. Others who helped were my now-good friend Ginny Aiken, Marta Perry, Mae Nunn, Lenora Worth, Debra Clopton, Allie Pleiter, Janet Tronstad, Janet Spaeth (Barbour author), Lena Nelson Dooley (Heartsong and Summerside author) and others I'm SURE I'm forgetting.

These women live the faith you find in their stories.

Today's post is dedicated to thanking them. I hope to be able to help other aspirings' the way these ladies have helped me...often more than they know or realize. But I know that God knows and I've prayed He blesses their writing because of it.

I hope you have women mentoring you in your life and I hope you're mentoring others. Whether it's in your field of work, in your giftings and talents or spiritual mentoring.

I'd love to hear about mentors who've meant the most in your life. Please share!

Warmly,

Cheryl

"After The Storm" Continuity Series

Victoria Bylin here . . . Instead of blogging today, I thought I'd pass on the link to Valerie Hansen's prequel novella to the "After the Storm" continuity series. The story is set in High Plains, Kansas, a small town devastated by a tornado. The series is comprised of 9 books. The first six are contemporaries, and it starts in July with Val's book, "Healing the Boss's Heart." The last three jump back in time to 1860. I wrote No. 3 in the historical segment. It's the caboose in a long train.

The train is leaving now with Val's prequel . . . Here's the link. I hope you enjoy it!

http://www.eharlequin.com/article.html?articleId=1421

And a little note . . . I'm blogging Thursday at http://www.petticoatsandpistols.com/ It's a children's story about a writer named Miss Rabbit. It's light and fun and hope you stop by and say hello!

Wishing you all the best,
Victoria Bylin
http://www.victoriabylin.com/
http://www.petticoatsandpistols.com/

My Pleasure to Serve You at the Window

A long time ago, I lived in a town that only had a Chick Fil A in the mall. We actually had to get out of our car and walk into the mall to get that deliciously crunchy chicken sandwich (with buttered bun and exactly two pickles) and perfectly salty waffle fries. When we moved, we moved to an even smaller town without a mall OR a Chick Fil A. Of course it was only a few weeks before we heard they were building one less than a mile from our old house!

I don't live in a huge town now, but it's a beach town and as you can imagine, in the summer our population swells. So we have tons of restaurants, one of which is a free-standing Chick Fil A. I think the kids and I ate there forty-two times the first month we lived here. We're now down to a much more reasonable once a week! Except not on Sunday, because Chick Fil A is closed on Sunday.

So in honor of one of my fave fast food restaurants, here's an ode to Chick Fil A by Christian comedian Tim Hawkins:



(Upon doing some research I just found out those of you in Canada don't have Chick Fil A on Sunday or any other day! I'm so sorry to hear that...but then, you do have Tim Horton's so I'm thinking maybe that's a fair deal :) And if any of you have fast food addictions, feel free to comment and make me feel better about my love for crispy chicken sandwiches!

Stephanie Newton writes for Love Inspired Suspense. She's also a homeschooling mom, soccer mom and pastor's wife. And, well, she's addicted to Burn Notice and Twizzlers. Her upcoming book is Moving Target, on sale August 11!

Replacing old tile and carpet

The photo above is the new tile in one of my bathrooms. I'm glad to replace the old tile, but the process is not convenient. Nearly twenty years ago, we bought a house when we moved from Georgia to Massachusetts. I disliked the tile foyer and had it replaced almost as soon as we moved in. I didn't know how messy replacing tile can be--dust and grime everywhere.

We've owned our current house for ten years, and the carpet is looking worn. So after months of looking and looking, I finally found some carpet I like. But before we put in the new carpet, I wanted to replace the tile in our bathrooms. I've hated it ever since we moved in, even though I was the one who picked it out. I knew the process would be messy, but I had forgotten how messy.

A fine film of dust has settled on almost every surface in my house. We did put sheets over everything in the master bedroom before they tore up the tile in the master bath. The sheets are still there. We'll see whether they did any good once the tile job is complete. The dust even filtered inside the drawers and cabinets. I've been cleaning all day--wiping down walls, dusting, vacuuming and washing. I've hardly made a dent in the mess. Maybe by the time the carpet that we ordered arrives, I'll have the house in order.

Surely the carpet installation won't be as messy. Have you ever done any remodeling and had a big mess? Tell us about it.

Merrillee

A Yurting we will go!

Okay, I will admit it. I'm a bit of a prissy girl. Not overly but enough that the very idea of camping, as in a tent and cook stove gives me hives. Thankfully my husband isn't into camping either. And until we had our kids, my husband and my idea of roughing it was not having reservations. But when you have kids, you want to take them to the great outdoors so they can develop an appreciation for nature. My parents did that with me, only we stayed in a trailer so even then we weren't really camping. Here in the Pacific Northwest we have these wonderful things called Yurts. I grew up in California and had never heard of one, but when a friend explained what they were, I was all for it. The futon style beds inside aren't the most comfortable, but they are off the floor. The round, walled structure has a heater, electricity and table and chairs. There are several parks throughout Oregon and Washington that have yurt villages. The yurts are relatively inexpensive and I'll admit it, a fun way to enjoy the outdoors.

How do you handle stress?

It's me, Lenora. I'm not going to panic. Really, I'm not. I have a heavy deadline due to some revisions and I'm planning a two week trip as I make my way to Washington, DC for a conference. I agreed to host a meeting at my house this weekend, complete with cooking brunch (and I obsess about presentation!!!) But I'm okay, really. My house is a mess and somehow I have to get it clean by Friday. But I'm not sweating it, no ma'am. I have magazine work to complete and edit, but that's okay. I have lots of time. I agreed to help with a meal for about 30 people in mid-July. The night before we leave for said two week trip. But I'll get it done, I know.
I'm helping out with a church supper Wednesday. No problem. I need to remember Father's Day is Sunday. Got gift. Hidden at a friend's house. Memo to self--remember to get gift from friend's house. Did I mention I'm doing revisions??? Did I mention my deadline is fast approaching? Did I mention my house is a mess? But I'm not going to panic. Did I mention that I was about to go to bed and realized I hadn't written this blog? Does anyone have any chocolate????

Am I the only person on earth who feels as if she just can't stop pedaling, pedaling as fast as she can??? Just wondering?? I need something to calm me down, something to center me. I will trust that things will work out and my brunch will be great, that it won't rain Saturday morning and that I won't burn anything. I need to trust that I'll find time to get the house clean and that my presentation of that brunch will be ... stunning. I will not panic. Not me! Now quick, someone talk me through this. Or at least tell me I'm not the only one???

Did this post cheer you up or make you just plain tired???

Lenora :)

"My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." (Exodus 33:14)

Hi, there. I’m Renee Ryan and I have a confession to make. I’m a big fan of westerns, and I mean all westerns not just romances. My two favorite movies are Tombstone and 3:10 to Yuma. I’m also partial to High Noon with Gary Cooper, but who isn’t?

I’ve been fascinated with the Old West ever since I was a kid growing up in northeast Florida in the sixties, a heyday for all things western. I loved watching Gunsmoke on Sunday nights. Even better, there was this really cool theme park near my hometown called Six Gun Territory. My father took my twin sister and me there at least once a month. The park was set up like an old western town straight out of a 1960s television program. Yeehaw!

Aside from all the usual rides and yummy food, Six Gun Territory staged a mock “shoot-out” every two hours in the deserted streets. Looking back with my adult eyes, I realize those shoot-outs had to be the cheesiest shows ever staged. But to a five-year-old little girl they were pure magic. The good guy always won. Maybe I should write a song, Ode to Six Gun Territory.

Or, maybe not.

For what it’s worth, the Old West has always been good to me. My first published novel was a western romance set in 1879 Denver, Colorado. EXTREME MEASURES came out in July 2002. That was seven years ago. SEVEN years ago! I could write an entire blog about that looooong dry spell. However, I won’t.

Suffice it to say, lots of things have happened in my life since that first novel hit the shelves. Most importantly, I’ve switched from writing secular romances to inspirational romances. My second Inspirational novel for Love Inspired Historical novel, HANNAH'S BEAU, is a July release and available now at eHarlequin.com.

Maybe, just maybe, you might find a few remnants of Six Gun Territory in there.

Girls' Night

One of the best things about being a romance author is romance author friends! Yup, I'm really blessed. My best friend is a romance author (Hi Cathy McDavid!) My sister-in-law is a romance author (Hi Patti Osback!). My father-in-law's girlfriend is a romance author (Hi Sandra Lagesse). Well, need I go on. A few weeks ago, I went to see the musical Girls Night with a few friends. There were four romance authors and one mom. I'm not going to tell you about the musical, but I'm going to tell you what romance authors do to musicals... we analyze them. We did this one a little different. We focused on characterization. There were four heroines and one angel.

Heroine number one: Married, a bit bipolar, prescription drug addict,
one child, a husband who loves her and she knows it.
Heroine number two: three times divorced, no children, loud and cheeky,
doesn't feel loved. She blew her big romance.
Heroine number three: Married, chubby, three children and one on the way,
doesn't feel loved but should.
Heroine number four: Married, schoolteacher, two children, klutzy, doesn't
feel loved but should.

After the show, we all tried to identify with one heroine. Of my friends, none of us picked heroine number one. None of us picked heroine number two. It was a 50/50 split. Two of us were chubby girl. Two of us were klutzy girl.

So often, when we write, our heroines are, well, somewhat us. I've written six books for Harlequin. I'm a teacher - yup, I've written a teacher. I have one son - yup, I've written a heroine with one son. I've stayed in a cabin in the middle of nowhere - yup, I have a heroine who spent much of her time in a cabin in the middle of nowhere.

Okay, look at the heroines. Which one are you? And/Or, do you write about or try to find books that are, well, somewhat you?

Meet Me in Magnolia, Georgia!

Missy Tippens, here. And I’m excited to announce my new Love Inspired book, His Forever Love, is on the shelves now! Here’s a little bit about it…

In Magnolia, Georgia, local legend says that a couple who holds hands around the “forever” tree will have an unending love. Even so, Bill Wellington held Lindsay Jones’s hands around that tree years ago...and then left her behind. He chose the big city, and now he wants to bring his grandmother there. But to his amazement, he finds that Granny has a boyfriend—and a vibrant life. A life that includes Lindsay, Granny’s caregiver. Bill never thought he’d want to come home, yet Magnolia clearly has its charms. As does Lindsay, who makes him long for a second chance at forever love.

I hope you’ll take the time to visit my fictional town of Magnolia, Georgia, and meet some folks I’ve gotten attached to (yes, we get to know our characters and kind of hate to see them leave when the book is over!). :)

I thought I’d share a couple of photos of beautiful magnolia trees with you. They were blooming in May when I chaperoned a group of 8th graders on a 3-day trip to Savannah, Georgia. I hope you can see the blooms. Enjoy!



And now, I'd love to hear about your town. Do you live in a small town like Magnolia? Or are you in a city?

Missy
http://www.missytippens.com/

Reunions

Reunions. There are many kinds. Class reunions. Family reunions. Unexpected reunions with friends.

I moved three times in high school, so I was invited to three different class reunions. I never went though because I had made more friends at a nearby rival school than at my own school. LOL!

I love family reunions where family convene from all over the United States to spend time together. There seems to always be that one person in a family who is like the glue that holds everyone together. That person normally plans the reunion. On my side of the family, my cousin Cheryl organized a massive family reunion last year in West Virginia. Had it not been for her hard work, I'm not sure our family would have had that wonderful, memorable time together.

I also recently had a wonderful surprise of having my best friend from childhood contact me. I've also reunited with old friends (girls...not guys! LOL) on Facebook that I'd lost contact with. Was really nice to catch up with them. So the social network sites can be a great way to keep in contact with friends.

Our family has a page/network on My Family. That is also a wonderful way to keep up with what's going on with family in other states. We share pictures and stories and someone even does a devotion. That someone is often the same Cheryl who planned the reunion. I'm so thankful for her and don't tell her near enough.

My June Love Inspired (A Soldier's Reunion) is IN STORES NOW. It is a story of reunion of high school sweet hearts. It is also a story of reunion between the heroine and God. I've received many, many letters from readers saying that they felt romanced by God through the book, or that they had been far from God and were brought near by the book. There's no higher compliment that a reader could pay than that. I'm so thankful to be able to write stories that honor Him...our God who has a heart for reunion.

I'd love to hear of your most memorable reunion. Leave a comment if you'd like. I'd love to hear from you now.

Thanks for coming by!

Warmly,

Cheryl Wyatt

My summer fun

I know some of you out there are great at being a gardener. Well, I'm not for several reasons. I still remember having to help my mother in the garden as a child. Let's just say I didn't inherit her green thumb. She was great at growing things. I'm not. I didn't like gardening as a child, and I haven't changed my mind in all those years. And while we on the subject of the outdoors, I don't camp out either. My idea of roughing it is a two star hotel.

Well, anyway I decided to help my husband these past few weeks with our yard work and gardens since I'm retired now. In the two times I worked outside with him, we found two snakes and I think every mosquito in the neighborhood feasted on me. I'm now over the urge to help my husband with the garden. He's on his own.

How My Latest Series Came To Be

Hi from Gail Gaymer Martin at http://www.gailmartin.com/ heading for Gideon Film Festival at Ridgecrest Conference Center in North Carolina. Excited about meeting movie producers and learning to pitch my novels for movies.

My newest series idea came to me after the death of our daughter Brenda who died of ovarian cancer nearly three years ago. She loved animals and had two border collies and two parrots. The dogs, Miranda and Nike, were involved in agility and flyball. Brenda also taught obedience training and fostered dogs. So when I was looking for a new idea, Man’s Best Friend came to mind. The first book Dad In Training, released this September, involves Molly, a teacher of special needs students, who wants to open a dog shelter. Her friend Steph has a border collie, named Fred . Fred and Steph get dragged into Molly’s scheme of finding a building for nothing. It’s full of laughs and some tears too and a romantic hero that I hope you fall in love with.


Steph is the heroine of the second book, Groom In Training, to be released in February 2010. Fred is naturally a major character. Steph runs a doggie daycare in Molly’s building – Time for Paws, and Steph’s story revolves around a helpful man with a grouchy brother who lives next door to Steph. Fred falls in love in this book with Suzette, a Bouvier Des Flanders. You can see why from her photo. She’s rather exotic. Nick, the hero, is far from exotic. He’s playful, caring and often late. I hope the ending will make you laugh. . .and cry a little.



Presently I’m proposing the third and final book which I’m naming, Bride In Training, although I haven’t had a title used that I created for a long time. But maybe this time. The story’s heroine is Emily, a part-time employee at Time For Paws, a young woman with a difficult past but a heart for dogs. A cairn terrier will be the main dog in this novel. And you’ll never guess who the hero is. The grouchy neighbor who learns that self-worth is not measured by success but by love.

I hope you look for Dad In Training this September and have fun with the women who are involved with Time for Paws. They are determined to find happiness and to grow in faith.

Lost in the Revision Jungle by Marta Perry

I decided last night that I really shouldn't be blogging this month. I am deep into revisions on a book that is due June 1--so deep, in fact, that I can't see my way out and am slogging my way through, putting one foot in front of the other in the blind hope that I'll get there at last. But I promised I would, so here I am, blogging on the only thing on my mind--revision.

Probably writers are as unique in approaching revision as they are in other aspects of writing. Some writers produce a first draft that barely needs a touch (Snarl) while other produce something that is almost an outline rather than a book. I'm somewhere in between. While I'm writing my first draft, I jot down copious notes of all the things I should do, things I've forgotten to put in, and things I'm not sure of. For reasons known only to my subconscious, I start those notes on the last page of my notebook and work backwards.

When I've reached The End, of course it's not really that. Not yet. Now I must go back and incorporate in the manuscript all those things I've jotted down. Some may be as simple as changing a name; others may involved writing a new scene or moving a chapter. I try not to focus on the whole book at this point, or I might panic, something I do several times in the course of a book anyway.

My backpack feels a little lighter when I've finished that stage. Now I move on to reading the whole thing, making sure it all fits together with no untidy ends sticking out like an ill-made bed. Then it's on to reading for repetitions of words, phrases, or body language. Once I discovered that my characters nodded so much that they must have looked like bobble-head dolls. I check for consistency in descriptions, check chronology, and try to be sure I haven't left any trail of breadcrumbs that will lead the reader in the wrong direction.

Finally, when all the corrections have been keyed in, I give it a last read. At this point, I've lived so long with the story that I've lost the ability to judge whether it's decent or dreck. I take a deep breath, murmur a silent prayer, and hit Send. Then I go in search of chocolate.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I think my character is lost in that troublesome scene in chapter ten. I'd better go try to rescue her.

Bye,
Marta

Flowers in a Teacup

I was passing by the side of my house and noticed the first lilacs open. Unfortunately, years ago, when I planted this white bush, I did so against my pale gray house, so it doesn't offer much of a contrast. So, I snipped off a few tops and set them in this teacup with a few sprigs of forget-me-nots to enjoy in my office. The scent is heavenly!

"I Will Lift Up My Eyes . . ."

Last week, I spent five days in the mountains of North Carolina at the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers conference. Started by Yvonne Lehman, it’s grown steadily every year, and this year more than 350 people attended.

Many I had seen before; some were old friends. It’s a glorious time of worship and spiritual growth as well as intense sessions to help new and experienced writers grow in their craft.

Unlike most conferences I attend, each day of BRMCWC starts and ends with worship. The music, led by Lynn Deshazo, helped remind us that we’re more than writers. We’re missionaries who use our gift from God to reach out to the body of Christ . . . and beyond. Our words tell wonderful and entertaining stories, but they also reflect who we are as Christians.

Yes, I have a new book out, and I promoted it there. But I teach at BRMCWC even when I don’t have a new book because of the energy, faith, and encouragement I leave the conference with. It’s a time of renewal that always leaves me eager to start the next book.

And it doesn’t hurt that my friend, Eva Marie Everson, and I even got to go to the mountaintop, to pray, breathe deep, and look out over God’s creations, great and small.





I will lift up my eyes to the hills—
From whence comes my help?
My help comes from the LORD,
Who made heaven and earth.
(Psalm 121:1-2, NKJV)

Summer. Yea!

Summer is coming! Summer is coming! Don’t you just love it? School will be out so the grandkids will be able to visit more often. We’ll plan little trips to local museums or zoos and have wonderful days. I love summer.

Summer means golden wheat fields waving in the wind and huge combines like prehistoric monsters gobbling them up. I love to watch the process of the grain pouring out into the trucks. It brings back memories of playing in the grain like a sandpile when I was a kid.

Summer used to mean camping trips to the lake, but thankfully those days are over. I wouldn’t have traded them for anything, but I never was that fond of a sleeping bag. I’m more a Best Western kind of camper.

One of the summer’s best things is coming up soon. The Romance Writers of America’s National Conference will be in Washington D.C. this year. It’s great to meet face to face with writers and publishing professionals from around the world. I’m so excited about going. I hope to see some of you there.

What do you love or hate about summer?
Pat

I'm excited that my second book, Courting the Doctor's Daughter, released May 12. I love the book's pretty cover!

Courting the Doctor’s Daughter continues the stories of children who rode the orphan train into Noblesville, Indiana and turned lives upside down, as children are apt to do.

Mary Graves is the town doctor’s daughter, a widow with three sons—two from her marriage and one from the orphan train. A handsome stranger blows into town peddling his “elixir of health.” Mary is outraged by the claim’s Luke makes for his phony medicine. Or so she sees his tonic. Worse, she soon suspects Luke has an interest in her foster son, Ben. That’s when the real trouble begins.

The research that’s necessary to write a novel, especially a historical, is both fascinating and frustrating. Especially when I discover a plot element in my book won’t work…though I can sometimes find a way around it.

To write the first book, Courting Miss Adelaide and Courting the Doctor's Daughter, I researched Noblesville, a real town in Indiana, and the “orphan train.” The history behind the orphan trains fascinates me. Between the years of 1853 and 1929, 250,000-some say, 350,000, orphans or half orphans rode trains from New York City to new homes. The idea to place out orphans originated with a Methodist minister, Charles Loring Brace, founder of The Children’s Aid Society. Brace saw children working in sweatshops, peddling newspapers and living on the streets in abject poverty, as many as 30,000 at any one time. He decided relocating these children to homes in agricultural areas would give them a chance for a better life. For some, it did. Others lived more like indentured servants than members of a family.

Courting the Doctor’s Daughter also required researching medical practices in 1898, focusing on the use of herbs or medicinal plants in treating illness. I learned many medicinal plants are dangerous if improperly used. Several plants are used in modern medicines. Digitalis comes from foxglove. Horehound eases sore throats and coughing. Horseradish is a potent diuretic. Licorice was used as a laxative. St. John’s Wort helps mild cases of depression. I was surprised to learn that herbs I use in cooking, such as oregano, sage, thyme, also contain healing properties. It’s been fun to see that God created the first medicines.

I needed an ingredient with medicinal properties that fit the image I had of my hero’s medicine. In Rodale’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs, I found what I sought—catnip. Not only cats appreciate this herb. Uses for humans include: digestion and sleeping aids that also eases colds, colic, nervous headaches and fevers. Catnip was listed in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia from 1842-1882. In more recent times, Varro Tyler, Ph.D. at Purdue, author of The Honest Herbal found a bit of evidence that catnip may be a sedative. Health food stores carry catnip in capsule form. Today it's mostly used to calm fussy infants.

I love history and find research fascinating. Thanks for allowing me to share some of the process.

Blessings, Janet Dean

Pet Perspective

We live on a farm at the intersection of No and Where. We've been through many dogs. Some we had to dispose of ourselves, some got run over, some just disappeared. Mostly we had a que-sera-sera attitude toward the dogs. When you live on a farm, most animals have to serve a purpose and that includes dogs and cats and horses and cows. When we got Toby, the dog in the picture here, we chose her for a purpose. Both her parents were excellent cattle dogs. And, we discovered, so was Toby. She was a natural and lived for the days when we had to move the cows to work with the calves or move them from pasture to pasture. But what set Toby apart from all the other dogs that roamed in and out of our lives is the fact that she was smart, loving, cute - and she stayed alive for fourteen years. She was the only dog that we had this long and, as a result, became a part of our family like no other dog had. She was loved and adored and appreciated by our children, by my family and by our own friends. She loved children and was always gentle with them. She let our 18 month old granddaughter sit beside her and put hats on her head. She would go with me on long walks as I untangled twisted story lines, prayed for my children and simply enjoyed being outside. For fourteen years, as I headed down trails and roads, always in my peripheral vision, was the sight of her black tail, waving like a plume, her head up, sniffing the air.

Over the past year she started showing her age. When we went out for a walk she would stay a bit closer to me and didn't go charging out after deer, or running off into the field following the scent of a coyote or scurrying off into the trees to chase down a rabbit. But she as always game to head out no matter how cold or hot. My husband had always taken her to the mountains when he went out on week long trail rides with his horses. This was the highlight of her year, but this year, we knew it wasn't going to be possible. She was just getting to old for eight hour long rides. We started to think that maybe, one day, this dog might not be with us. I started to wonder when we would have to make that fateful trip to the vet, though I knew it wasn't going to happen soon. Toby was still in such good health and I didn't want to contemplate having to make that hard decision.

Then, one night, last month, she and a visiting dog, headed off to check something out in the back field. The visiting dog returned and Toby didn't. I called and called, and when she didn't come bounding up to me, mouth open, tongue hanging out, looking as if she was laughing at some private joke, I knew something had gone horribly wrong. But it was 11:00 at night and cold and I didn't know where to start looking for her in the forest surrounding our home. Neither my husband nor I could sleep that night and as soon as it got light, we went out to look for her. Awhile later, we found her, dead, in the snow only fifty yards from the house. Killed by two wolves according to the tracks we found and the way she had been killed. As I knelt down beside her broken body, I could not believe how deeply I grieved the loss of this dog and how much it hurt. I used to chuckle at people who grieved pets, thinking, how much can you love a dog? Well, last month, I choked on my own words. I found out exactly how much you can love a dog. I found out exactly what kind of a hole they leave in your life when they go. Especially when all the kids are out of the house and sometimes the only conversation I would have was a one-sided one with my dog.

Toby now lays under a pine tree on a sunny hillside overlooking a field. A fitting final resting place for a dog who loved to run up and down those self same hills or sit beside us when we would enjoy the warm sun. My husband and I have had deeper, harder sorrows in my life. We buried a child, each of us a father, grandparents and cousins. We've stood by graves of friends, of children of friends. I know where to put this sorrow for our dog in the grander scheme of things. But it is still a sorrow and I know that anyone who has ever had a beloved pet understands.

Someday I'll find a way to channel this into a story. I'm a writer. That's what writers do. We take the good and bad events of our lives and shift and re-shape them and then put them in a book. It's a way of dealing and controlling events we have no control over. So some day, when you're reading one of my books, you might have the privilege of meeting Toby for yourself. I hope you enjoy her as much as we have.

The Wait...

Hi, this is Lisa Mondello and I'd like to talk a little about how much writers wait. We hurry to get that fabulous manuscript written, get it printed off and then wait for the news as to whether or not the book we've crafted will be published.

After a while, writers get used to waiting. It's part of the business. We wait for news, we wait for updates, we wait for our author copies to arrive so we can hold out book in our hands, we wait to see our books sitting pretty on the bookstore shelf. If you can't handle waiting, it's probably not a good idea to be a romance author since it comes with the territory.

Right now I'm in waiting mode again, but this time it's to see the cover art for my December 2009 book Yuletide Protector. My editor sent off my copy edits for the book and I'm really excited about how the book turned out. In her letter she told me she'd seen the cover for Yuletide Protector and in her words it's gorgeous! I'm thrilled. I'm so anxious to see it. The problem is I won't get my chance for another couple of weeks! I have to admit the wait is killing me. To hear this excitement from my editor just makes me want to see the cover all the more. But I promise you, as soon as I have the cover for Yuletide Protector, I'll be posting it on my website and on the CRAFTIE Ladies of Suspense website for you to view.

Speaking of CRAFTIE Ladies of Suspense, make sure you stop over there and post a comment. Every month the CRAFTIE Ladies give away 4 FREE Love Inspired Suspense books to a lucky reader. I'll be blogging on Friday over at the CRAFTIE Ladies site so make sure you stop by. I may even have my cover by then!

Until next time, many blessings, Lisa Mondello

It's Graduation Time

Sandra Robbins with a few thoughts about graduation:

My town only has one high school, and I didn’t even realize last Friday night was graduation. When my sister asked me on Saturday if I’d attended, I had to confess I didn’t even know the date this year.

Maybe the relief that I didn’t have to attend made me put the whole thing from my mind. For the past three years, I’ve fought the crowds for a seat to see a family member graduate, but not this year. In the two hundred member graduating class, we had no relatives receiving a diploma.

However, I’m not getting off that easily. In two weeks I travel to Texas to see my granddaughter graduate from her high school. Her class has about nine hundred graduates, so it’ll be even more crowded and much longer. I remember when her brother graduated, we all cheered wildly when the last student, a young man whose name started with Y, walked across the stage to receive his diploma.

One might think I’m complaining, but I’m not. I’m thrilled that she is graduating as an honor student and has achieved her goal of being accepted into the film school at USC. I must admit that I’m apprehensive about her going to California to school just like I was for her brother when he went to New York to college. Now they’ll be on opposite sides of the country, experiencing two totally different college environments. She’ll be studying film, and he’s studying naval engineering and ship design. Their schools are very different from the state school I attended, but I’m thankful for the opportunities they have and the experiences that await them.

Over the next few weeks, thousands of students will be receiving diplomas, and their families will be just as proud of their children’s accomplishments as I am of mine. So, I congratulate all the graduates this year and wish them well as they step out into the real world. We who love them have laid the foundation. Now it’s their time to follow their dreams.

Do you have someone graduating this year? What are you wishes for them?

Creativity--What is it?

Hello, Leann here.
Lately I’ve been cooking a lot. My husband is on Weight Watchers and doing a great job. Frankly, I hate cooking. My husband’s the cook. And a good one. I cook because we have to eat. It surprises me that my children have favorite meals I cooked while they were growing up. (They also have memories of mother at the computer writing.)
My son-in-law is also a great cook. When he reads a recipe in the newspaper or cookbook, he sees how he can adapt it, change it or add to it. This is something my husband does, too. It’s a wonderful creativity which I don’t have, nor do I wish to have. Now put me in front of a computer with a murder, a hero and heroine, and I get jazzed up thinking how I can tell their story.
I remember hearing a famous designer talk about where she got the inspiration for her latest fashion. She was looking up at the sky through the canopy of leaves and came up with the pattern for the material and what she wanted to do with that pattern.
Creativity comes in many forms, but there is a catch. You have to use it. What are you creative in? Have you put the gift to use?

Knitting and reading

Camy Tang here, with another weird combination. :)

I love the feel of a book in my hands—I love the smell of the paper, the pretty cover.

I also love knitting. The only thing I don’t like about knitting is that it takes up both my hands so I can’t hold a book (although knitting is a good way to stop snacking at night, since I can’t knit and shovel food in my mouth at the same time!).

So what a knitting reader to do?

Ebooks!

I love electronic books. I don’t yet have a Kindle ebook reader from Amazon.com, but I love reading ebooks on my computer.

Some people’s eyes have a problem with the computer screen, so this might not be an option for them—they will probably need an ebook reader that has the eye-easy screen like a Kindle or Sony Reader.

The best part about reading ebooks is that you only need to hit a button (on my computer, the down arrow) to turn the page. I also don’t need to actually hold the book in my hands.

So guess what I can do??? I can knit and read at the same time!

Granted, I need an easy project that only calls for stockinette or garter stitch, so I don’t need to stare at my knitting. No lace patterns or intricate cables.

But socks with self-striping yarn are great! I can knit stockinette stitch in the round AND read an ebook on my computer at the same time!!!!

Am I using enough excited exclamation points??!!!!!!

Seriously, I love this. I go online, buy and download the Love Inspired novels every month on ebook. The cost is comparable to the Steeple Hill subscription service, but I can choose to buy which books I want from the three different lines (Love Inspired, Love Inspired Historical, and Love Inspired Suspense).

The best part about ebooks is that they have a longer shelf life than the books at Walmart. So if I want to read a book that was published a few months ago, it’s available at ebook stores and I can download it in a jiffy.

So, blog readers, what’s your verdict? Am I nuts? Or a genius?

Camy Tang writes romance with a kick of wasabi. Her novel Single Sashimi is out now, and her Love Inspired Suspense novel, Deadly Intent, releases in July this year. She runs the Story Sensei critique service. In her spare time, she is a staff worker for her church youth group, and she leads one of the worship teams for Sunday service. On her blog, she gives away Christian novels and ponders frivolous things. Sign up for her newsletter YahooGroup for monthly giveways!

Taking The Challenge

I’m Victoria Bylin, and I write westerns for Love Inspired Historicals. I’m not the least bit shy when talking to people one-on-one or in small groups, but put me in front of a microphone and I lose my bearings. Considering how God often works in my life, it’s not surprising I ended up in that situation a few weeks ago.

Halfway into a Bible study I recently took, the leader challenged us to name something we couldn’t imagine ourselves doing. I wrote down, “Public Speaking.” The next day I received an email asking me if I’d like to speak to a writers group in Northern Virignia. I felt as if God had heard my reluctance and decided it was time for a quick cure.

As things turned out, I agreed to do a short program on historical research for NVCA, the Northern Virginia Christian Writers. It’s a small but active group of authors in various places on the road to publication. I was nervous when I first arrived, but the leader, Johnese Burtram, immediately put me at ease. When she introduced me, she told the group I was on my “maiden voyage” as a speaker. People smiled, and I knew I was among friends.

I don’t think my presentation will make the history books for anyone except me, but I hope people came away with a nugget or two, something new for a writer’s tool box. I know I did . . . I learned that I actually like to speak to groups. I also learned not to tell God what I don’t want to do! With this foray into public speaking, he gave he a chance to grow. I’m glad I took it and look forward to growing even more as both a Christian and an author.

For more about that journey, visit www.victoriabylin.com

Play that Funky Music

Hi, Stephanie Newton here. When I'm working on a story, I make a soundtrack of songs that have meaning for those characters. A lot of writers do the same, I think. For me, it's an auditory cue as I start work. It reminds me who my characters are and taps into my emotions.

A few weeks ago, when I was finishing Smoke Screen, my January book, some friends generously offered their carriage house for a writer's retreat. They live in our old neighborhood so when I drove in, the sights of my hometown were a welcome home. As I sat writing, though, I realized how familiar the sounds were. So different from what I hear where I live now, yet I didn’t realize I even missed them.

The boats buzzing and grumbling on the international waterway. The ocean so close that when the south wind blows, I could hear the surf. Above my head, I heard the orange and white T-38 trainer planes that the Navy uses to train their fighter pilots. Where I live now I hear planes, but it’s not the tiny buzz of the T-38’s, it’s the roar of the F-22. I don’t hear softly lapping water of the Santa Rosa Sound, I hear the chorus of a million frogs that have grown from tadpoles in the pond behind my house.

It’s funny, I think. The sounds of home are so comforting and they’re so familiar that most of the time I don’t even notice them. You could add to mine the sound of the X-box in the greatroom and the guitar from my daughter’s room. The soccer ball hitting…something. The kids laughing—or arguing. Barking dogs as the squirrel comes to the window to taunt them.

It is a kind of music, I think. It’s the soundtrack of my life.

Novel Settings

Hi! Merrillee here. When I start a new story, I usually have the hero, the heroine and a problem. The next thing I need is a setting. Where do these people live? What setting will enhance the story? How will the place the characters live affect their lives? These are all questions I have to answer.

My goal is to write at least one book for every place I have lived. So far I have a series set in the small fictional town of Pinecrest, Washington, which I set near Spokane, Washington. I lived there when I was in high school. I took this photo of a sunset when I was visiting in Spokane. In all three books, my characters watch a sunset. Some of them see God's beautiful creation, while others find the array of colors an expression of their feelings. I especially like to use settings to convey character traits or feelings.

I also wrote one lone book set in Dallas, Texas, where we lived when my kids were in high school.

My next series of books is about three brothers, who grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, but two of them have found homes in different parts of the country. I loved writing the first book because it is set at the beach in Florida. I live near the beach, so I could easily imagine my characters frolicking in the surf. I could feel the sand between my toes and the sea breeze cooling off a hot afternoon along with my characters.

The second brother lives in South Dakota. How did he get there? Starting when he was twelve, he went to visit his uncle's farm in eastern South Dakota and he fell in love with small-town life and farming. Numerous readers, who either lived in South Dakota or visited there, wrote to tell me how much they enjoyed reading about places with which they were familiar.

The third brother, who is a big-city business man, finds himself with a new job in the mountains north of Atlanta. He has to learn to adjust to living in a small town. Instead of looking at skyscrapers, he's looking at mountains and lakes.

Settings are important. They often make the characters who they are. It influences the way they think, the way they talk and the way they view life. What kind of settings do you like to read about—the big city, a small town, the seashore, the mountains or the wide open spaces of the prairie?

chatting over chocolate

Someone once said chocolate stops the aging process.  Now it may not be true, but do you want to take a risk?  Of course not!  That's why we eat chocolate, right?

Well, tonight we set our aging clocks back a decade or two.  And I was glad to be a part of it.  The ladies at Main Street Church, in Sackville New Brunswick, invited me to their 'Chatting over Chocolate' ladies' night out.  I was one of the guest speakers, and with table strewn with chocolate chips, chockie pretzels and little Dove chocolates about, AND chocolate trifle for dessert, am I one to turn that down?

Duh, of course not.  I decided to talk about Mythbusting The Romance Novel.  You see, my brother narrates for the Mythbusters show and so I 'borrowed' the idea a bit.  I wanted to set them all straight on romances.  I had to give my spiel twice, once on Monday night and the next Tues night.  

I think it turned out well.  I pulled no punches.  Romance writing isn't easy, and Harlequin, Love Inspired, esp. sets the standard high.  You think that Christian romances are easy to write?  You think that because Harlequin owns the line that they can't be wholesome Christian stories that touch our hearts and encourage our readers?

I wish you could have heard me, then.  Harlequin sets the bar high and is by far one of the most professional organizations I've worked for.

And, because I am who I am, I coloured my talk with a bit of fun and humour.  Things like my editor just asked me to move my island.   Apparently, it's not going to work where it is.  Other stuff like getting a 19 page contract in full blown legalese and the only thing I understand is the very tight deadline and the amount of money they're going to pay me.  (I flipped to that first)

I'd like to tell you the ladies enjoyed every minute of my talk, but the Bible says something like Speak not thine own praises, but let other men speak it.

So I'm not going to tell you they laughed and congratulated me on my talk.  (You didn't hear it from me, okay?)

And if you quote me, I'll deny it!

Have a great day!

Where do the ideas come from anyway?

Hi. I’m Renee Ryan. I write for Steeple Hill Love Inspired Historicals. One of the first things people ask me when they find out I’m a writer is some version of “Where do you get your ideas?” The short answer is, “I don’t know.”

The long answer is: I get my ideas from everywhere—movies, the mall, restaurants, airports, seminars, workshops, driving in my car, a song on the radio, all sorts of places. Often the crazier the situation the more I start the “what if” game.

For instance, my idea for THE MARSHAL TAKES A BRIDE came to me at an Old West exhibition in Colorado Springs, Colorado. A group called The Shady Ladies gave a talk on prostitution in the Old West. You might wonder what a nice Inspirational writer was doing at a seminar like that. Long story, one that involved a series of wrong turns. But once I was there, I decided to stay. What fascinated me most about this presentation was the instant sadness I felt for the women who chose that profession. Or rather, for the women who “fell” into that profession. There weren’t a lot of options for unmarried ladies in the Old West, ladies who, say, found themselves without money or skills or a man to protect them.

At one point in the presentation, The Shady Ladies discussed birth control. Obviously, there weren’t many reliable methods back then. Mistakes happened.

But what did these women do with their mistakes? There were options, of course. One was to raise the child in a brothel or mining camp or wherever the mother conducted her business. Another option was to send the child to a baby farm. Baby farms were homes usually run by former prostitutes who took in their sisters’ mistakes.

By the way, don’t you hate the word, mistake? Me, too!

Needless to say, the “what if” game took off in my head.

What if…a daughter of a prostitute vowed never to fall into the same life as her mother? What if…that same daughter decided to help other children avoid a similar fate? What if…this woman was a big thinker and wanted to do things right, even if that meant taking on a large debt? What if…she wanted her baby farm to be located in the richest part of town? What if…

Well, you get the idea. Bottom line, Charity House was born in that seminar and now I have a series of books about the men and women who live and work at this unique orphanage. From the start, I could see countless opportunities for God’s mighty work with these people. In fact, the possibilities are endless. And, Praise God, they keep coming to me as I sit down to write.

The heroine of THE MARSHAL TAKES A BRIDE is the schoolteacher at the Charity House School. She’s trying to raise her little sister she had no idea existed until six months prior to the opening of the book. The hero is a lawman bent of seeking vengeance for his wife who took a bullet meant for him. His wife was the sister of the owner of Charity House and thus has a tight bond with the orphanage.

My July 2009 release, HANNAH’S BEAU, has a rebel preacher with interesting connections to Charity House. You can find out more about both stories and my other upcoming releases at www.reneeryan.com