Showing posts with label Historical Romance. Show all posts
When Livy O'Brien spies a young boy jostling a man walking along the boardwalk, she recognizes the act for what it is. After all, she used to be known as Light-fingered Livy. But that was before she put her past behind her and moved to the growing town of Chestnut, Illinois, where she's helping to run an orphanage. Now she'll do almost anything to protect the street kids like herself. Sheriff's deputy Jake Russell had no idea what he was in for when he ran into Livy--literally--while chasing down a pickpocket. With a rash of robberies and a growing number of street kids in town--as well as a loan on the family farm that needs to be paid off--Jake doesn't have time to pursue a girl. Still, he can't seem to get Livy out of his mind. He wants to get to know her better . . . but Livy isn't willing to trust any man, especially not a lawman.
Interwoven throughout is a group of street kids arrested in Chicago and sold as child labor. Leading this band of ragamuffins is young Luke, a scared, determined orphan intent on rescuing his little brother at any cost.
Jake and Livy’s story started out as a novella proposal for Tyndale House Publishers several years ago, but didn’t make the cut. In hindsight, I think we can all agree that this was a good thing! I liked the premise so much that I revised it, working with the story until I had a full-length novel.
As a novella, Stealing Jake was a light-hearted love story of a former pickpocket and sheriff’s deputy sparring with (and against!) each other and ultimately falling in love. But as I built it into a full-length novel, it evolved into so much more. The gritty world of coal mining worked its way into Jake’s past, and the even grittier world of street kids in the late 1800’s into Livy’s traumatic past. And along the way, a kid named Luke took hold of my heart and wouldn’t let go.
The manuscript garnered several awards, and the attention of a few editors, but something was lacking. I knew what it was: Luke’s story. But I was afraid I couldn’t weave scenes in from his point-of-view in seamlessly. But his story, and that of his friends, demanded to be told. Finally, one night at the ACFW conference in 2008, romantic suspense author Robin Caroll helped me brainstorm ways to weave Luke into the story. I think she (Robin) was tired of hearing me gripe about it!
I loved the results, and the revised version went on to final in the 2011 RWA Golden Heart contest before being contracted by Tyndale House as one of the launch books for their Digital First Initiative program.
To celebrate the release of Stealing Jake, I’m giving away a Kindle. Deadline to enter the contest is September 30th. Go to my website for more information.
You can read more about the book on Amazon or CBD.Award-winning author Pam Hillman writes inspirational fiction set in the turbulent times of the American West and the Gilded Age. Her debut book, Stealing Jake, won the American Christian Fiction Writer’s Genesis contest and was a finalist in Romance Writers of America’s prestigious Golden Heart contest. She lives in Mississippi with her husband and family.
Connect with Pam on the web:
Website: www.pamhillman.com
Personal Blog: www.calicotrails.blogspot.com
Group blog: www.seekerville.blogspot.com
The Blacksmith’s Bravery—third and final book in my Ladies’ Shooting Club series—released November 1. I’m thrilled to see this one on the shelves and a little sad to be leaving the fictional town of Fergus, Idaho behind.
When I first thought of this series, I wanted to write about a group of strong women who supported each other physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I wanted them to do something usually perceived as a man’s province. That wasn’t hard in the 1880s setting. My ladies wanted to learn to shoot.
A murder in their town drew the women together out of fear at first. Widow Libby Adams, owner of the emporium, approached Gert Dooley, sister of the town’s gunsmith. She asked Gert to teach her to shoot her late husband’s pistol so that she could protect herself and her store. A rancher’s wife heard them shooting and asked if she could join them. Then the saloon owner, Bitsy Shepard, heard about it, and asked to tag along.
Gert and Libby were faced with some decisions. They could have said no and let it go at that, but they saw women who feared for their children and their own lives—women who had no men to protect them or who felt vulnerable when their men were off tending to their ranches or businesses. Some women were friendless and outcasts of society. Libby and Gert decided to welcome all women into their circle and to teach them all to shoot safely.
Their kindness and generosity brought them much more than they’d imagined. Women in the Shooting Club found friendships and wise counsel in addition to marksmanship.
Of course this upset the men in Fergus. They wanted their women at home in the kitchen, not out shooting up their stock of ammunition. In the first book, the club nearly tore the town apart. But by book 3, things have calmed down a little and most of the citizens have accepted the ladies’ newfound skill as an asset.
In keeping with the theme of the series, in the Blacksmith’s Bravery, saloon girl Vashti Edwards wants to take a further step into a man’s world. She wants to drive a stagecoach. Blacksmith Griffin Bane, who runs the stage line, wouldn’t consider himself intolerant. He just can’t imagine hiring a woman to drive stage. That’s plain crazy. He resists Vashti’s pleas to give her a chance, but finally allows her a toehold because of her shooting skill. She rides shotgun with an older, experienced driver on the Silver City run, and then gets him to teach her the fine points of handling a six-horse hitch.
When Vashti earns her spot on the driver’s box, a new problem arises. A gang of robbers has targeted the local stagecoach line. Once again, the Ladies’ Shooting Club is called upon to face down the outlaws.
I loved writing this series from start to finish. A research trip into the mountains of Idaho was a highlight. I learned so much—like how dangerous those mountain roads are, and how big crickets can get! The writing was spread over about a year for the three books. They stand alone, but as a trilogy they give the reader a full picture of life in this little mining town. The characters carry through from book to book, and you’ll see the romances blossom in fulfillment as you read on.
After the first book (The Sheriff’s Surrender) I received a few comments that the romance moved too slowly. I feel it’s realistic, and Gert and her sheriff do work through their issues and get to the altar in the second book. Her brother Hiram, the shy gunsmith, overcomes his extreme timidity with women and lets his feelings be known in The Gunsmith’s Gallantry. Again you see the fruition of this romance in the next book, while Vashti and Griffin are beginning theirs. I believe I married off four couples in this series, and hinted at a future for another pair. This is historical romance with a dash of mystery and suspense, and a spoonful of growing faith. But it’s not “passion at first sight.” Most of my romantic pairs in the series have known each other for years before acting on their attraction. But their relationships are as solid as the mountains they live in.If you’d like to read more about this series and my other books, come visit me at www.susanpagedavis.com. Every month I give away a few books there (use the “Enter the Contest” form—I won’t use your address for anything else). I’d love to see you there. Right now I’m working on a new Prairie series about an Englishwoman who goes west to find her uncle. Look for the Prairie Dreams series next fall.
Susan Page Davis
Susan will give one copy of The Blacksmith's Bravery to a commenter on this post. Of all her books, tell Susan which one was your favorite and why. If you haven't read any of her books, that's okay, comment on why you would like to win this one. The drawing will be held on Monday the 22nd. Please be sure to include your email address if it isn't available in your profile.
Susan will give one copy of The Blacksmith's Bravery to a commenter on this post. Of all her books, tell Susan which one was your favorite and why. If you haven't read any of her books, that's okay, comment on why you would like to win this one. The drawing will be held on Monday the 22nd. Please be sure to include your email address if it isn't available in your profile.
The Very Beginning:
One day as I was reading a biography about John Bunyan, I ran across a reference to his second wife, Elizabeth. I loved the brave way she defended John during one of his trials when he was under arrest for his “unlicensed” preaching.
Elizabeth’s strength to face a court of persecutors and her determination to faithfully support her husband touched me so deeply, I decided her little-known story needed to be told to the world.
The Research & Planning Phase:
I spent about 6 weeks reading biographies and any other time-period books I could find. I sifted through plot ideas, wanting to stick as closely to the facts as possible but also knowing I would need to dramatize the story to bring it to life.
A large part of my planning involves the process of getting to know my characters. I use an extensive character worksheet (available on my blog for free). I tried to use what history knows about the real characters, but then fill in the rest and make them larger than life.
The Writing:
I started writing The Preacher’s Bride in September 2007 and finished in May2008—so altogether it took me nine months, writing mostly in the evenings after the kids were in bed and occasionally in the afternoons or on weekends. (Since then, I’ve been able to work out a writing schedule that allows me more regular time.)
The Editing:
I spent a summer self-editing the book, and eventually I hired a freelance editor to read through it. Her suggestions helped me polish my first chapter so that I was able to final in the ACFW Genesis contest in May of 2009.
The Querying Stage:
During the months before I finaled in the contest, I had started querying The Preacher’s Bride to agents. I received rejections from all of them except one—Rachelle Gardner. She requested a full manuscript within days of the query, but then my book sat in her slush pile for months.
My contest final perked her attention and not long after that she offered me representation.
The Proposal Shopping Phase:
Rachelle immediately went to work shopping my book. She pitched the idea to a Bethany House acquisitions editor at a conference she was attending. When she got home, she called me, told me Bethany House was interested, and we got busy writing a proposal to send to them.
We talked back and forth with Bethany House for two to three months before we finally settled upon a 3 book contract. They bought The Preacher’s Bride and also asked me to write two additional books, which I’m currently working on.
The Preacher’s Bride is currently available for order on Amazon.com, Christianbook.com, and other internet sites. It’s also for sale in most bookstores.
You can connect with me in LOTS of ways. Please stop by and say hi!
Website: JodyHedlund.com
Email: jodyhedlund@jodyhedlund.com
Blog: jodyhedlund.blogspot.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorJodyHedlund
Twitter: http://twitter.com/JodyHedlund
Question For Readers:
Did anything about the start-to-finish writing journey of my book surprise you? If you’d like to sign up to win a free copy of The Preacher’s Bride, please tell us your favorite candy bar (because don’t you know, a writer’s favorite food is always chocolate?!) And don’t forget to leave your email address. The drawing will be held on Monday the 4th of October, 2010.
Bio: Jody Hedlund is a debut historical romance novelist who was a double finalist in the 2009 ACFW Genesis Contest. She received a bachelor’s degree from Taylor University and a master’s from the University of Wisconsin, both in Social Work. Currently she makes her home in Midland, Michigan, with her husband and five busy children.
I wrote my first romance on a cast iron Royola typewriter with my three and five year old toddling around me back in the seventies. I did everything wrong. I sent it off on erasable paper—smudge city—with hand corrected typos and received an interesting offer from a well-known literary agency. For $350, they would read the manuscript and consider handling it. So for $350 very hard-earned dollars, I received a six page letter. Three pages were glowing with my ability to tell a story. The other three were scathing commentaries on my writing and the romance genre in general for not being literary.
My first advice? Beware of any agent who charges to read your material unless they are hired specifically to edit it. I was told that even if someone were to publish the book, not to come back to said agency because some publishers would print anything. Ouch!
So I sent it to another well-known agency. All ten pounds of it. I’d never heard of queries. In fact, I got this one’s name from the back of a book I’d read and liked. I hadn’t even heard of the Writer’s Market!
This man’s offer and commentary were far more civil and encouraging...and free. First, I was told that if I condensed the first three chapters into one, they would consider marketing it. I was also told that my writing reminded the agent of “wearing a Dior original to a dinner party…with gravy stains on it.” Yikes! I had a Dior original. Gravy stains could come out! Unfortunately, my marriage ended that year and I began life as a single working mom. The two books I’d written went into the attic and would remain in storage for around 15 years.
I’d tossed them in the garbage when my new husband and I were moved into our home, but he found them and asked to read one. It was that dear man who told me, “Hey, this is pretty good and I don’t even read this stuff.” He encouraged me to try again. So I did. And totally rewrote both books, researching deeper and improving them immensely. Thank goodness they hadn’t been published as they were.
So, my very first book came out in 1990 with Zebra Books titled Pirate’s Wild Embrace. (I did not pick the title.) It was released exactly 13 months after the same publisher had rejected it, not a word changed. But the second time it was submitted after my purchasing a Writer’s Market and shot-gunning queries to ten agents and ten publishers, it was by an agent who’d responded to my literary barrage. Zebra had a slot and my completed manuscript filled it. I went on to do another fourteen historicals for Zebra/Kensington and a contemporary for Kismet Romances. I guess one could say they slammed the door on my foot, but I didn’t take my foot from the door.
It was only after I’d sold five books that I discovered there were organizations like Romance Writers of America that would have been so helpful earlier on in knowing the business side of writing. So I learned most of what I’d done wrong after the fact and discovered there was a method to my writing madness by joining writers’ organizations. I also greatly improved my craft through this association.
I could go on and on about the rejections that turned into published books…when the time was right. Every manuscript I’ve ever written has been published, but not when I first wrote it. What can I say? The ideas were good, but it wasn’t their time or my writing level wasn’t right yet. I say this to encourage those of you who hide old manuscripts under the bed not to give up on them.
I failed my way into the inspirational market as well. I didn’t want to write inspirational romance because I’d read a few mediocre ones and judged the genre by the few. But I was four years without a contract from Zebra during the major publisher consolidations of the nineties. And here is an interesting tidbit. Even though authors were getting contracts cancelled and books returned, God saw that I had a book come out every one of those dry years. I’d written so many ahead and Zebra published them all. He even made certain I received wonderful rejection letters about how this project wasn’t what they wanted, but please send something else. In hindsight, He was failing me into the inspirational market. I’d exhausted my secular avenues and that was the only door open.
I went through it kicking and screaming like Jonah going to Ninevah. I’d been happy where I was, successful even…if I didn’t count four years on hold with no contract. Besides, those Christian characters didn’t have hormones! And I wasn’t holy enough to write Christian fiction. I was still a relatively new Christian—actually a returned one from a college/twenty-something period where I’d been educated beyond my spiritual intelligence. Finally I agreed to try. Told God I’d take Hi Honey I’m Home, written for Harlequin American, clean it up and do the best I could, but the spiritual part was up to Him. And please, God, don’t make it preachy.
I have to tell you, as the spiritual parts “came” to me, I found myself crying, deeply moved by what God was doing through me, a total screw-up. When I sent it off with a prayer at the post office, I felt for the first time that maybe God and I were on the same page after all. Maybe He could use me, ex-sexy historical author and baby Christian. And He could use my characters, even if they had hormones.
The book was rejected by Steeple Hill. Hindsight gave me the reason. God knew I still had a foot in the secular door, if I stayed with Harlequin. He knew my weakness. Instead, Hi Honey I’m Home was picked up by Multnomah Publishers as the launch book for their new mass market line. It made the bestseller list for a couple of weeks. But it was the fan letters that bowled me over the most. Yes, this character was still hot, but in addition, that character’s struggle touched someone’s life. A pastor’s wife vowed to renew her efforts to make her marriage work on seeing how hard the hero worked for his family, even though it took him away from them. Another person told me the theme in Not Exactly Eden of rejection and being surrounded, but not despairing had lifted her, a missionary’s daughter whose husband had abandoned her after she was handicapped out of depression. She would not despair.
The books went on and on. My historical Irish series, Fires of Gleannmara, won numerous awards including a Christy, but it didn’t sell well. And I was without a publisher. Yet, the research for that series and for the one beginning with this month’s release HEALER, Book one of the Brides of Alba series, helped me effectively witness to my daughter. She’d been stalked and assaulted in college, abandoned God in anger, and turned to Wicca-white witchcraft. That process, like my career, was not an overnight success, but five or so years later, she came back to Christ on Mother’s Day, one I will never forget.
And I developed a passion for reaching out to New Age believers using the history of the early church and of druidism’s acceptance of it in Ireland to make an effective case for Christ. I call it fishing from the other side of the boat. When they won’t hear Scripture, use history and science to back up Scripture. It got my little girl back in the boat and I have sold my Gleannmara books to admitted Wiccans and New Agers at medieval fairs as a result. What a joy it has been to establish what we have in common and build on it toward Christ.
Today I found out RIONA, the second book of that series will not be re-released. Again, poor sales of that line led to the decision. How does one explain pages of awards, but poor sales? That has been my story with several publishers. Great reviews. Wonderful awards, but sorry, they just didn’t sell as well as we’d hoped.
So now I have HEALER, a book of my heart. The proposal was another one of those secular historicals that morphed over ten years in the back of my mind into a moving inspirational saga set in Arthurian Scotland. HEALER is book one of the Brides of Alba trilogy, Alba being an early name for Scotland. And this is Arthurian Scotland—and King Arthur, for that matter—as never seen before.
The series focuses on three brothers, their respective brides, and how love and faith grow to enable them to survive those trying times of the Saxon invasion and the church's desperate measures to ensure the survival of Christianity. These measures include matchmaking men and women from the Davidic bloodline passed on by royal Irish and the apostolic bloodlines established in Britain by the first century family and followers of Christ. The historic Arthur in HEALER, one of at least two arthurs (a title) and definitely the last one, is a product of such matchmaking. So is the merlin (another title) Merlin Emrys, who in this case is a documented Celtic Christian bishop and druidic scientist. In fact most of the Arthurian figures were bred and raised by the Grail Church to become warriors, kings and queens of Britain to ensure the Grail Church's survival. Brenna and Ronan's conflict is a result of that matchmaking gone wrong.
Forced to live most of her twenty years in hiding from both her own clan and the clan who murdered her family, Brenna of Gowys wonders how she can possibly fulfill her mother’s prophecy that the Gowys seed will divide the enemy O’Byrne’s house and bring about a peace beyond his wicked ken. Brenna’s clan remnant would have her lead them to certain death against the stronger O’Byrnes. But Brenna is a healer, not a warrior. Nor is she the shape-changing wolf-woman of the hills as she’s rumored to be by the superstitious clans; although she does have a gift with wild animals, including her pet wolf Faol.
So when Brenna witnesses the ambush and attempted murder of a warrior during the annual O’Byrne hunt to find the wolf-woman, she does what she’s called to do. She brings him into her mountain hideaway to heal him, even if he could be her enemy. All she knows is that he is not just wounded in body, but in spirit; that he’d been there as a frightened child when her family had been slain; and that she has seen a future with him. But is her faith strong enough to follow the vision, no matter where it leads?
Please stop by my website at www.LindaWindsor.com and check out HEALER and sign up for my contest to give away a signed copy. It’s my first book trailer and I am over the moon with it and the cover. It so captures the essence of HEALER, my twenty-ninth book. Wow. I can’t believe it’s been twenty years since my mother gasped, “Linda, they put your real name on the cover!” of Pirate’s Wild Embrace. She just knew I’d get kicked off the church choir. Fortunately, my fellow Christians were full of grace toward this baby one.
I hope that the writers among you will be encouraged by the “failures” I’ve mentioned. I’ve often said that rejections are like footprints on the sand. If you don’t see them, you haven’t been moving at all toward your dream.
Basking in His love,
Linda Windsor
Thanks so much for hosting me today, Lynnette! It’s a joy and privilege to talk about my writing journey though to be honest, I’m still pinching myself. It all began in my childhood when I used to hang around the library and read all those little bios of historical figures. Being a Kentuckian, I was very enamored with Daniel Boone as my ancestors followed him into the area in the late 18th-century. Kentucky history forms the basis for my first 3 historical romance novels – The Frontiersman’s Daughter, Courting Morrow Little, and The Colonel’s Lady.
I’ve been writing stories since age 7, all historical, as that’s my passion. I wrote a novella at age 12 and then the sequel to Gone With the Wind in high school, then Dances With Wolves II and an English mystery, among other things. All of them were just terrible - with a capital T! It only took 40 years for me to take my scribbling to a publishing contractJ. It’s truly a miracle that I am published. I had no computer skills and no computer until the last few years (always wrote manuscripts out longhand), no writing friends, no agent, no writing conferences or connections, no critique partner, was unaware of the writing community blogging, etc. To complicate matters, I was teaching fulltime and married and had my children late, beginning at age 35. After the birth of my second son, I felt the Lord telling me to put my writing aside so I did for 5 years. None of this was conducive to publication, let me tell you. I felt farther from my dream than ever before.
In 2007, after feeling free to write again, I finished The Frontiersman’s Daughter which I had worked on over a ten year period. My grandmother, parents, and brother gifted me with a manuscript evaluation/critique with a wonderful freelance editor, Arlene Robinson. She suggested I tweak a few things and then put her stamp of approval on the manuscript. At the same time, I submitted several chapters to Writer’s Edge, a Christian manuscript submission service, which brings unagented writers and publishers together. Almost immediately I was contacted by several CBA publishers, large and small. Within six months, my dream editor and publisher, Revell/Baker Publishing Group, asked for a full of The Frontiersman’s Daughter. Later I realize how rare this kind of an opportunity is. I’ve heard that only Kristen Heitzmann and I have been picked up through Writer’s Edge.I’d already begun working on Courting Morrow Little when Revell offered me a 3 book contract. I’d hoped to simply sell one novel so was astonished when they asked for two more. I’d recently finished the sequel to The Frontiersman’s Daughter, which was set in Scotland, but my publisher wanted me to stay on the frontier. I was thrilled to oblige and am now finishing The Colonel’s Lady which is due August 1st.
I think, deep down, that the Lord gifted me to write from an early age. There’s no doubt that He opened the door when the time to publish came about (His timing, not mine). Circumstances were definitely not in my favor. The only things that kept me in the game was a love for writing and the knowledge/belief that if I was ever to be published, He would have to handle all the details. And He did. I’m truly living proof that you don’t need any superfluous writing stuff to get in the door. If publishing is His plan for you, all you really need is Him – and the book of your heart.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. ~Proverbs 3:5-6
I’d love to have readers visit me at laurafrantz.net!
The journey that brought A Tailor-Made Bride to publication is an unusual one, for it started with a different manuscript altogether. In 2007, I took my first completed novel to the ACFW conference. I arrived a day early and worked at the volunteer station stuffing envelopes. A woman worked beside me who shared my first name. Hmm…that's fun, I thought. However, as time ticked on, I picked up clues to her identity from others in the room. This was Karen Schurrer, an editor from Bethany House, my dream publisher.
I never worked so hard to act normal in my life! I resisted throwing my pitch at her, but two days later, I sat at her lunch table, and after everyone explained their projects, one brave writer asked if we could send her our proposals. She said yes.
After the conference, I immediately sent in my proposal and soon had a request for a full manuscript. Surely a contract was right around the corner, right? Wrong. The acquisitions editor, Charlene Patterson, rejected my manuscript. She considered the plot too unoriginal for launching a new author. Nevertheless, she complimented my writing and said there was one component to the story that she did like—the dress shop. Could I come up with a new idea surrounding a dress shop?
Now you have to understand, in the original book, the dress shop burned to the ground in the prologue. It didn't even make it into chapter one. Yet Charlene wanted me to create an entirely new book from scratch based on this shop idea. Could I do that?
By this time, I was halfway into a second book that was supposed to be a sequel to the one that had just been rejected. I'm the kind of person that can't stand to leave a job undone, and this second story could stand alone from the other. The only tie in was that the heroine had been a secondary character in the first book. So, I dug up my courage and wrote back to Charlene. I told her that I would absolutely work on some ideas for a dress shop book, but I was in the middle of another story that she might find interesting. I included a brief synopsis of the story and explained that I would like to finish it first before starting on another project.
She was very encouraging and said the book had possibilities and invited me to submit it when I had it finished. In the meantime, I worked up some ideas for the dress shop book and sent those in as well. She gave me some feedback, told me what she liked and what she would recommend that I change, and we left it at that.
Six months later, I finished that second book. The 2008 ACFW conference was only a few weeks away. Doubting Charlene would remember me, I held my breath and sent her a short note saying that I had finished the manuscript, reminding her that she had invited me to submit it, and offering to send sample chapters. To my shock, she not only remembered me but told me to send her the full manuscript. She also asked about the dress shop book and made arrangements to meet with me at the upcoming conference to discuss both projects.
Charlene shared the manuscript with Karen, my first editor contact, and both of them not only read it before conference, but sent me comments. They each met with me in person and confided that they were interested but were waiting to see what I did with the all-important dress shop book. At conference time, I had a synopsis and one whole chapter to show them. One chapter that I ended up completely scrapping after I visited with them. Despite that, Charlene told me that I didn't have to finish the entire story before I submitted to her again. Just get about 7 chapters in, she said, and send it in.
So I did. I wrote those seven chapters and e-mailed them to her. By January 2009, Bethany House offered me a three book deal launching with A Tailor-Made Bride, the dress shop book. Oh, and that second book that had been completed earlier? That one is coming out in October as Head in the Clouds.
As for developing the story for A Tailor-Made Bride, I knew my heroine would be a seamstress since my key prop was a dress shop. So next I had to think up potential conflicts. What if the hero had plans for purchasing that particular storefront, but the owner gave it to an outsider who knew nothing about their community? What if he hated dressmakers? But why would he hate dressmakers? What if something in his past led him to consider women who valued fine clothing as self-centered and vain? What if he had a sister, and this sister wanted to attract a beau and sought out the dressmaker's help?
The ideas started rolling. As for the theme of the book, the question that got me started was: What happens when believers disagree about what the Christian life should look like? I wanted to demonstrate that even small differences of opinion based on personal interpretations of Scripture and life experiences can cause tears in the fabric of unity that Christ desires for his followers. Since my heroine was a dressmaker, I selected inner vs. outer beauty as the point of conflict. And you might be surprised at where my two strong-willed characters end up meeting on the issue.
It usually takes me about a year to move from concept to completed book, including the time spent in research. However, with A Tailor-Made Bride, the publisher had an opening three months earlier than expected. I had to increase my pace, but I managed to get it finished in about 7½ months. Since turning in that manuscript, it took nearly another full year before the book made it into print. It's been a bumpy ride, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
Karen's Bio:
Karen Witemeyer is a deacon's wife who believes the world needs more happily-ever-afters. To that end, she combines her love of bygone eras with her passion for helping women mature in Christ to craft historical romance novels that lift the spirit and nurture the soul.
Karen holds a master's degree in Psychology from Abilene Christian University and is a member of ACFW, RWA, and her local writers' guild. She's an avid cross-stitcher, shower singer, and bakes a mean apple cobbler. Karen makes her home in Abilene, TX with her husband and three children.
Book Blurb:
When a dressmaker who values beauty tangles with a liveryman who condemns vanity, the sparks begin to fly!
Jericho "J.T." Tucker wants nothing to do with the new dressmaker in Coventry, Texas. He's all too familiar with her kind—shallow women more devoted to fashion than true beauty. Yet, except for her well-tailored clothes, this seamstress is not at all what he expected.
Hannah Richards is confounded by the man who runs the livery. The unsmiling fellow riles her with his arrogant assumptions and gruff manner, while at the same time stirring her heart with unexpected acts of kindness. Which side of Jericho Tucker reflects the real man?
When Hannah decides to help Jericho's sister catch a beau--leading to consequences neither could have foreseen--will Jericho and Hannah find a way to bridge the gap between them?
My path to publication is unconventional. Although I grew up surrounded by books, I rarely considered a writing career. Instead, I studied chemistry and received my doctorate in pharmacy. After graduation, I chose to work one day a week as a hospital pharmacist so I could stay home with our three children. On January 6, 2000, when our youngest was a toddler, I had a dream with such intriguing characters that I felt compelled to write their story. Before that date, I’d never had an idea for a book, and after that, ideas flowed. It was as if God turned on a writing switch in my brain. The novel that came from that dream will never be published, nor should it, but it got me started.
Since God had called me to write and since our children were young, I decided if I was going to dedicate time to writing, I needed to be serious and pursue publication. I went to my first writers’ conference in September 2000 with a perfect 750-page manuscript and one question—how to find a publisher. That one-day conference showed me everything I was doing wrong. I came home with several books on writing craft and slashed my manuscript in half. I still had a lot to learn.
In 2001, I joined Diablo Valley Christian Writers’ Group. My writers’ group has taught me three main things: 1) how to write 2) how to handle critique, and 3) a writer needs other writers. Later that year I attended another conference taught by Lauraine Snelling. She taught me so much about plotting, characterization, and research. At that point I was playing with the idea for A Distant Melody, and Lauraine’s teaching got me off to a great start.
The concept for A Distant Melody came out of a “what if” question—what if a man and woman met at an event, truly clicked, and parted before exchanging contact info? Wouldn’t it be romantic if he went through great effort to track her down? It wouldn’t work in a contemporary setting—he’d “Google” her—but it made a sweet premise for a historical. My husband and I watched a History Channel special on the US Eighth Air Force based in England which flew over Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II, and I was hooked.
But a historical? Historicals require research! And I’d never flown a plane—how could I put myself in my hero’s seat behind the wheel of a four-engined bomber?
So for the next year I immersed myself in research. I read basic texts on World War II, the home front, and the Eighth Air Force. I checked out a “How to Fly” book to get the basics, purchased copies of the B-17 pilot’s manual and the Army Air Force training film (pure gold!), and ran the flying scenes past a pilot friend. For home front information, I used everything from Top Ten lists, to fashion style guides, to the Time Capsule series with extracts from Time Magazine. I loved my research so much that the story expanded to become a trilogy, with each book focusing on one of three brothers.
In 2003, my writers’ group encouraged me (pushed me?) to show my work to professionals, so I submitted at Mount Hermon Christian Writers’ Conference. I received good feedback from published authors, editors, and agents—and began accumulating a stack of “good” rejection letters. They liked my writing, my story, and my characters—however, historicals weren’t selling. They wanted chick lit. This continued for years.
I never wanted to give up on the series, because I loved my characters. However, in 2005 all doors to publication seemed closed and padlocked, and I wondered whether I had heard God correctly. Was I truly meant to write? Was I wasting my time when I could be doing something more productive?
That year at Mount Hermon I went for a walk under the redwoods and stopped to admire a little white flower. I praised God for the flower and felt touched—had He made that flower just so I would praise Him? Then I looked around me. Hundreds of redwoods covered the hills, and thousands more out of my vision, all surrounded by white blossoms. How many of those flowers would ever cause someone to stop and praise God? Were they created in vain? Did the Lord waste His time creating them? Of course not. God is a creative Being, and He made us in His creative image. In His mercy, the Lord showed me that even if my writing was never seen by another human being and never caused anyone to praise Him, I did the right thing obeying His call to write. I was not wasting my time.
Mother Teresa said, “God doesn’t require us to succeed; He only requires that you try.” If God has called you to do something for Him, measure your success through His eyes. Did you obey? Were you faithful? Did you persevere?
Stubbornness can be a serious fault, but when it’s applied to following God’s will, it’s a very good thing.
It’s been said that “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” While I understand the sentiment behind the phrase, to me it somehow lessens and negates the other millions of steps taken in any journey. Yes, there has to be that first step, but sometimes the real effort comes in later steps after the excitement of embarking on the journey has worn off.
For me, life is not only a journey, but a series of mini-journeys. And for authors, each book is a journey all its own. For my novel TEXAS ROADS, the journey consisted of both an inner personal trip as well as the outer steps needed to produce a work of fiction. Let me begin by giving a little background to help you understand my trek into the world of writing TEXAS ROADS.
I’ve always longed for one little corner of the world to call my own, yet for many years my family and I seemed destined to travel from one small Texas town to the next. Just as we’d start to feel at home in one place, God moved us on somewhere else. Finally I reached a breaking point. If God loved me so much, why wouldn’t He give me this one desire of my heart?
Hindsight makes comprehension so much easier, doesn’t it? I now see that through this part of my life journey God was gently revealing that He was my home. Only He could fill that home-sized hole in my heart. That quest and discovery of true home became the spiritual journey for my heroine in TEXAS ROADS. From outward appearances, Dani Davis has it all—wealth, social status, a fulfilling career. But on the inside she knows something is missing. She feels empty, and wrongly assumes that it’s because she’s never felt like she belonged anywhere.
When she stumbles upon Miller’s Creek, Texas
My writing journey has been much the same. Only when I lost what I thought was rightfully mine was I able to embark on the journey God had planned for me—that of becoming a writer. My first single step was a two-footer as I jumped in with both feet, eager to test my wings. Those first steps weren’t tentative for me, but more like an excited skip down a new pathway.
After an extensive pre-writing session where I filled out lengthy character charts and wrote a synopsis that was more like a novella, the first draft of TEXAS ROADS flowed easily. Then the challenge of the journey threatened to stop me in my tracks. The problem came from my own naïve assumption. As a newbie, I thought the book would be written in that first draft. You can imagine my disappointment in reading over the story. Maybe writing wasn’t my thing. Maybe I wasn’t supposed to take this road. My steps slowed. I looked back.
I’d already come so far. I’d spent hours reading craft of writing books and more hours of applying what I’d learned to my writing. I’d invested money, time, sweat and tears on the journey. And if I stopped now, what would I do? Like the gentle Shepherd that He is, God nudged me to take another step. Only His constant nudging pushed me up the mountain of edits and revisions. He provided a whole host of friends who were brutally honest and helped me shape and polish the story. Finally I made it to the mountain top. Ah, at last! I was skipping down the road again. The story secured some recognition in the ACFW Genesis competition and provided momentum to push me up the next incline.
Then I came to a fork in the road. One path was filled with people just like me—those who wanted to make a difference in the world through the stories they told—some who’d already cleared a few obstacles in the path toward publication and were quickly becoming known as storytellers.
The other path was a little shadowy and very narrow—the path of self-publishing. From where I stood, it looked rocky and steep. Many fellow travelers had only made it halfway up the mountain where they now congregated in an attempt to catch their breath. To make it worse, some of the people from the first path jeered at them.
How was I supposed to know which way to go? In all honesty, neither path looked appealing. I sighed and followed the majority. But the further I traveled down my chosen pathway, the less right it felt. So I did what I should have done in the first place: I stopped and asked God what He wanted me to do.
He motioned for me to backtrack, and then started leading me up the narrow path. “Lord, I don’t think I can do this.”
“You’re right. You can’t. At least not by yourself.”
My pulse thundered in my ears at the implication. I knew I needed to trust Him more. “But Lord, the success rate isn’t too great on this road.”
“Whose success are you after, yours or Mine?”His words sliced clean and deep, removing the vanity and pride that had built up in my heart. I grabbed hold of His outstretched hand and began to climb.
So far the journey of writing and independently publishing TEXAS ROADS has taken three years, but just because a book has been published doesn’t mean the journey is over. I’m currently learning to take the difficult steps of getting the word out about the book.
Why stay on this exhausting road? Because it’s His story, not mine.
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Click on the cover of the book to be taken to the Amazon page. Or download a Smashwords e-book here: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/8963 . Connect with Cathy on her blog, WordVessel.
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Click on the cover of the book to be taken to the Amazon page. Or download a Smashwords e-book here: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/8963 . Connect with Cathy on her blog, WordVessel.
