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.

Where I’m at now: 
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 was always intrigued by the statement of the centurion at the foot of the cross: “Surely this man was the son of God.” Perhaps my interest was because I served in the military and felt that my life was something like that centurion’s. In any case, I always wanted to know more about this military man and his statement. When I read Wallace’s book, Ben Hur and Douglas’s The Robe, I was left with more questions than answers. I wanted to delve deeply into the centurion’s life and know exactly who he was.

I began research into the centurion in the 1990s. Already, I knew his name. In Christian legend, it is Abenadar. He was said to be a man of mixed Roman blood. In early 1995, I wrote a short story about Abenadar. The main character was the woman who lived with him and the setting was their house following the crucifixion. Already I had begun to flesh out Abenadar. I made him a man of mixed lineage: Roman and Jew—otherwise Pilate would not have given the job of the crucifixion to him. He had to speak the languages of the people—again, otherwise Pilate wouldn’t have trusted him with the job. The woman who lived with him had to have been a woman of the streets—no other woman, other than a slave, would be able to associate with a Roman of mixed blood. He had to be competent. He had to be divided somewhat in his mind, but not his loyalties. The picture of Abenadar began to build. The picture of the woman he lived with began to come into focus. In the short story, I made both of them rougher than they ended up eventually, but that story was where the novel began.

I started writing the novel, Centurion, while I was flying in Europe in 1995. The first few chapters flowed. When you write a book about the life of a man, you need to start with his beginning, and the beginning of the centurion’s life was fundamental to his character. To be a member of a Roman Legion, he had to have a Roman father. To know the languages of the people, he needed to have a Jewish mother. Since the Romans, at the time, were attached to Herod the Great’s court in Jerusalem and there was a connection with Tiberius in Galilee, it was easy to build the character of both the centurion’s mother and father. She became a local bride to the Roman ambassador. Her home town was one of the largest in Galilee, Nazareth. From that, it wasn’t difficult to construct a possible interaction between Mary, the mother of Jesus and the mother of Abenadar.

The next step was the most difficult for me. I had to build the entire life of Abenadar. I chose to begin with his great step into the Legion. That was the real beginning of Abenadar as a military man. Years of research was poured lovingly into this portion of the book. It was a necessary and fulfilling step to build up the man who was to become the centurion at the foot of the cross. In the novel, the history about the Legions and about training, promotions, leadership, and structure is exact and exciting. At the same time, I laid the foundation for his loss of faith and his return to faith. He was, after all, a Jewish man in the Roman Legion.

Abenadar moved up the ranks to finally reach the position from which he would be called to play his greatest role in history. He wasn’t a man divided. He wasn’t incompetent. He wasn’t weak or foolish. He was one of Pilate’s favorites and yet a man of mixed lineage. I had not given up on his wife, or rather the woman who lived with him. The why of her existence was coupled with his. It had to intertwine. She had to be Jewish too, but able to live with a Roman Centurion. She had to be a woman of the streets. I chose to make her a woman who desired nothing but a home and stability. She had not lost her innocence in spite of her forced harlotry. She became a much less rough character than I first envisioned. She became the Centurion’s link to Jesus the prophet, the man he must eventually crucify.

So, in a nutshell, there is a part of the journey I made to write Centurion. It took a while and it was difficult, but when the manuscript was finished, it was whole and the men and women in it were whole. It let me understand just who was this man, Abenadar, the man who crucified Christ and who stated “This man was surely the son of God.”

How did Centurion finally get published? The job of finding a publisher was as difficult as the work of writing itself. Centurion was my sixth completed novel and the eighth I started. That means I had the experience of writing eight novels before I started looking for a publisher for Centurion. I started with Christian press and eventually sent it to a Christian reading service that supplied suggestions to Christian publishers. I received two offers to publish from that one input. Unfortunately, my email was toasted and I don’t have the records from back then, but Oaktara (Capstone at the time) made me a great offer and took my other novels into consideration. I never expected an inspirational press to want to publish any of my novels but Centurion. The novel was published by Oaktara in January 2008 after about a year from contract. Four of my other novels were published by Oaktara after that.

L. D. Alford is a novelist whose writing explores with originality those cultures and societies we think we already know. His writing distinctively develops the connections between present events and history—he combines them with threads of reality that bring the past alive. L. D. Alford is familiar with technology and cultures—he is widely traveled and earned a B.S. in Chemistry from Pacific Lutheran University, an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Boston University, a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from The University of Dayton, and is a graduate of Air War College, Air Command and Staff College, and the USAF Test Pilot School. L. D. Alford is an author who combines intimate scientific and cultural knowledge into fiction worlds that breathe reality. He is the author of three historical fiction novels: Centurion, Aegypt, and The Second Mission, and three science fiction novels: The End of Honor, The Fox’s Honor, and A Season of Honor.

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.

I do think being a part of the writing community is very valuable. Last year I joined ACFW and attended their annual conference in Denver. Wow! However, if the Lord had allowed me to become involved in the writing community and see the level of competition and the difficulty of becoming a part of the CBA prior to publication, I think I would have quit. In His mercy and grace He withheld the very things I longed for for my benefit in the long run. I would have always written for myself, of course, for the joy of writing, but I would not have attempted to become a published author. He knew this, of course, and planned accordinglyJ. He is a very wise and personal God.

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!

In April 2008, I received “the phone call” from my agent, Rachelle Gardner, that Zondervan had made an offer on the Seasons of the Tallgrass, a contemporary romance series set in the Flint Hills of Kansas—a place I dearly love. My long-held dream had finally arrived—my prayers had been answered. But the story didn’t begin there…it began many years ago when I attended Emporia State University and took a summer course called Flint Hills Folklore.

Along with classroom study, we took field trips into the heart of the Flint Hills and visited with old-time ranchers, schoolmarms and post-mistresses. It was such a delightful experience, especially our drives into the pastures. We would get on these back roads and drive over pasture guards into the open range. We would travel for miles without seeing another car or even an electric line—just pure, native prairie. That summer, I fell in love with the Flint Hills and it has stayed with me all this time, finally culminating in the contemporary romance series, the Seasons of the Tallgrass.

My first book, Snow Melts in Spring, begins when a horse is terribly injured. Right off, I had to know technical terminology and had to create a scene that was accurate and believable. To get it right, I contacted a handful of veterinarians, asked them a bunch of detailed questions all the way down to possible accident scenarios, which would create the type of injuries required for the story. I even shadowed one small animal vet for a day in order to get a feel for what a "day in the life" might look like for my character who was also a vet.