Seekerville: The Journey Continues

Hello everyone, Winnie Griggs here. On April 25^th Her Amish Patchwork Family, the third book in my Hope’s Haven series, will release. This book will feature the final and oldest of the Eicher sisters, Martha.

When writing a multi-book series there are a lot of parts and pieces to keep track of – today I thought I’d share a little bit about my personal method of doing this. First let me say that I’m a spreadsheet nerd. If I need to track anything I usually put it in a spreadsheet. So of course that’s what I use to track all the details of my story world. And let me add that I’ll keep up with a lot of this same info even if it is a standalone book – it saves a lot of time trying to remember what the name of a particular restaurant is or the street name my hero’s house is on.  SO here goes:

The first thing I start tracking is backstory. Here is a view of my tracking chart for backstory:

As you can see, I built on this from book to book - necessary because the books are so interlaced through family. So when I created this for the first book, it just had event columns for the Eicher and Stoll families, the age columns for Micah and Asher didn't exist, and the rows ended where it says Greta's story opens.  The other information was added as I began work on each book.

Next comes my character tracking which also includes pets/work animals. Here's my sheet for that. Hopefully it's pretty self-explanatory.

The next sheet in my workbook is reserved for location info

Next I have my story calendar, a day by day chart of what happens when. Having this picture helps me keep up with certain things that are fixed (holidays, church services, standing civic/committee/business meetings, etc.)  It also helps me make sure I don't have two Wednesdays in one week or a nine day week or any of the other weird things that can happen if I don't keep up with things. I have one of these for each book

I also will create sheets that are specific for each book/series.  For instance, in this serries I have children show up in each book and even some that are born between books. As these children will interact with each other, I needed a quick reference on how old they were at particulars points in time. So I created this sheet

So there you have it. my personal Storyworld Tracking method. Leave a comment letting me know what you think to get your name in the drawing for an advanced copy of Her Amish Patchwork Family.

And here is a little more info about my upcoming release

HER AMISH PATCHWORK FAMILY

In this heartwarming Amish romance, a former schoolteacher and a single father discover a second chance at friendship, family, and love

Former Hope’s Haven schoolteacher, Martha Eicher, has always been the responsible one, putting her family first and caring for her widowed father and two younger sisters. But now they’re all happily married, and Martha isn’t sure where she fits in anymore . . . until she hears that Asher Lantz needs a nanny. Even though her childhood friendship with Asher ended abruptly years ago, when a misunderstanding drove a wedge between them, Martha offers her assistance.

Asher is also feeling adrift. As a single father to his niece and nephews, he struggles to balance his new family responsibilities with those on the farm and in his workshop. He’s grateful for Martha’s help, but worries things will always feel awkward with her. Yet before long, Asher realizes Martha is exactly what his family needs, and he can’t imagine his home without her. Martha and Asher thought they were lost, but could they be right where they belong . . . together?

PURCHASE LINK

 

Hello everyone, Winnie Griggs here. I’m very excited to report that I’m participating in a fun new multi-author project. As most of you know, in addition to Seekerville, I’m also the member of another author blog, Petticoats & Pistols. The authors on that blog specialize in Western and Americana romance novels.

Late last summer we started kicking around the idea of doing a group of connected stories. But there's a lot of work that goes into setting up a project like this, especially when there are so many authors involved.

After some discussion to determine interest and availability a few of the members took the lead in developing a suitable premise. There were several iterations of this as the development team came back to the group with ideas and continued to refine them until in the end I think we landed on a very fun and exciting concept.

The series is called The Pink Pistol Sisterhood and is about - wait for it - a matchmaking pistol! 

Here's the setup for the series: A one-of-a-kind pink-handled pistol is gifted to Annie Oakley. The pistol comes with a legend, one promising that whoever possesses it will find true love. Annie passes the gun on to one of her students and sets the whimsical journey in motion as it passes from one heroine to another. 

Once the concept was decided there were many other parts and pieces to take care of. One of the members took the lead on the artwork, including the series logo, cover concept and the development of most of the covers themselves. Another member volunteered to help with the book formatting so that we had consistency throughout. A release schedule was determined and then we all had to figure out where we plugged into that. And then there was brainstorming around promo and marketing, release venue and pricing as well as wordcount targets. But in the end it all came together, thanks in big part to our fabulous core team: Pam Crooks, Karen Witemeyer, Shanna Hatfield, Jessie Gussman and Kari Trumbo. 

All told 11 of us were able to participate. All the books are sweet western romances, and they span the time period from 1893 to the current day. Some of the stories are historical, some are set mid-century, and some are contemporary, but the thread that binds them all together is the journey of the pink pistol and the loves and lives of the women it touches.

The books will release every ten days, starting on March 30th with Karen Witemeyer’s story In Her Sights and wrapping up on July 10th with Jessie Gussman’s book Pistol Perfect.

As a gift to our readers we've created set of magazines to go along with the series. There will be four in total and each will contain excerpts, puzzles, author interviews and lots of other fun content. Two of the magazines are already available and can be acquired via the links below. And note, these are free and  you can absolutely rest assured that you are NOT signing up for anyone’s list.

There is also a facebook reader group where we post behind the scenes info, celebrate good news, host release parties and just generally have fun. If you’re interested in joining here’s the link: Pink Pistol Sisterhood Reader Group

The participating authors, in order of release date, are: Karen Witemeyer, Shanna Hatfield, Cheryl Pierson, Kit Morgan, Kari Trumbo, yours truly, Linda Broday, Pam Crooks, Jeannie Watt, Julie Benson and Jessie Gussman

Mine is the sixth book in the series, the exact middle. Here is a little bit about it:

DISARMING HIS HEART

Violet, who performs in a traveling show as the mysterious Masked Marvel sharpshooter, has an accident that puts her arm in a sling. To maintain the mystery of her identity she secretly swaps places with her identical twin, a “townie” dressmaker, until it heals. Of course that means Violet also has to take on her sister's role as director of a children's church program. Before slipping out of town, her sister informs Violet that she’s sweet on Carson, the pastor and co-director of the children's program, so she’d appreciate it if Violet doesn’t mess anything up with him.

Carson became guardian to an orphaned eight-year-old six months ago and to his frustration he hasn’t been able to make any progress in building a relationship with the boy. It’s to the point where he’s begun to wonder if he’s even fit to be a pastor.

As Violet and Carson work together on the children’s program the attraction between them grows. But the knowledge of her sister’s feelings and guilt over her deception hold Violet back.

Little does she know that Carson is harboring guilty secrets of his own…

This series uses a unique object as a connecting thread - a pistol with a pink mother-of-pearl handle - that is passed on from one person to the next. Do you have a special keepsake that was passed on to you? Tell us about it in the comments along with a note about what meaning it holds for you and you'll be entered in a drawing for one of my books. I'd also welcome any thoughts you might have on the Pink Pistol series itself.

Hello everyone, Winnie Griggs here.  I’ve recently gotten the rights back to two of the books previously published by Love Inspired Historicals and have been doing my best to figure out the ins and outs of converting them and reissuing them as self-published works.  I think I finally have things ALMOST figured out – just one or two more things I need to figure out and I’ll be done. 

One of the things I never realized before now was that it’s much more difficult to format for a print copy than an eBook copy. Amazon makes it really easy to upload your eBook from your manuscript but print is, as they say, a whole ‘nother ballgame. For the few other books I’ve self-pubbed before now I actually hired a professional to take care of it. But besides being a bit pricey it also means you need to go back to that person every time you want to make a change.

So I decided it was time to roll up my sleeves and learn to do it myself., and that’s where the learning curve came in. I purchased Atticus and it’s a really nice package for formatting print, except I had some custom things I wanted to do (naturally!)  so I had to check out helpful videos and join an author group to draw on their experience. As I said, a couple of tweaks and I’m there.  The next one should go much faster.

Since Harlequin holds the rights to the cover art and blurb I had to replace these elements. Because I’m not as good at design as Pam and some of the others here, I hired a cover designer I'd worked with before to make my new cover for me. These two books were part of the original Texas Grooms series set in Turnabout, Texas.  I was never very fond of that series title so now I’m rebranding it as Turnabout Hearts. I also have plans to retitle some of the books to give them a more cohesive feel as a series. And I asked my cover designer to create a series logo and give the covers within the series a cohesive feel.  

This first one was originally titled The Holiday Courtship and it will be reissued on Dec 1st as His Christmas Matchmaker.

Below is the original cover and blurb followed by the new cover and blurb.

THE HOLIDAY COURTSHIP

HIS CHRISTMAS MATCHMAKER

Vowing to put her past behind her, schoolteacher Janell Whitman has resigned herself to spinsterhood and she's erected walls to guard her heart from all but her pupils. 

A solitary heart…
Hank Chandler is quite comfortable with his uncomplicated bachelor life. But when he suddenly finds himself the guardian of his orphaned niece and nephew he knows all that that will have to change. Not only do the children need a mother’s love, but he’s not fit to be a single parent. So he’ll need to marry quickly, whether he wants to or not. 

A Christmas bargain…
Seeing their need, Janell impulsively reaches out to help the hurting Chandler family. But when Hank proposes a businesslike marriage she draws the line at becoming his wife. She softens her refusal, however, with a counteroffer – she’ll take care of the children after school and help him find an appropriate wife in time for Christmas. After all, how hard can it be? 

But as the holiday grows closer, it seems increasingly difficult to find a suitable candidate––not to mention even harder to deny their growing feelings for each other. It might take a miracle for these two hearts to become one, but Christmas is the season of miracles––and love.

          Preorder HERE

 by Chris Fabry

It also happened with my writing a few years ago. A reviewer online had said something cutting and biting about one of my novels. He referred to what brings me joy as “silly little stories.” 

If you write, you have to grow a thick skin. Same with doing any kind of public speaking or revealing your thoughts and personality through radio. Not everyone is going to get what you’re saying. 

The truth I keep coming back to is that if God has placed a creative desire inside you—and since he’s wildly creative, why wouldn’t he?—then allow the process to do its work in you as well as on the page. I do not control the outcome of my stories. I don’t dictate how they will be received. I don’t know if what I’m doing will be a bestseller or a bomb. But I do know that my job is to be faithful to tell the story with everything in me and allow that process to change me.

As I was writing the novelization of Lifemark, a story crafted and filmed by the Kendrick Brothers, I had two competing voices inside. One was loud and brash and angry, like a heavy metal rendition of “My Way.” That voice said something like this: Readers are going to see through your agenda. You just want people to believe the way you do and to control women’s bodies. The accusation and vitriol continued as I fleshed out the story of Melissa, a teenager with an unwanted pregnancy.

Don’t give up.

Keep telling your stories.

The criticism is meant to stop you because you’re doing something that counts.

Don’t give up.

I’d love to hear of a moment when you listened to the whisper rather than the noise.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Chris Fabry is an award-winning author and radio personality who hosts the daily program Chris Fabry Live on Moody Radio. He has written more than 80 books for children and adults.

Author's Website , Chris Fabry Live - Moody

ABOUT LIFEMARK

For eighteen years, she tried to believe she had made the right decision—for him.

But if she never saw him again, how could she ever be sure?

Melissa had clung to the thin thread of hope given by the adoption agency that someday her newborn son might want to connect with her. When his eighteenth birthday arrived, she called the agency to simply update her contact information, not expecting a response.

Susan and Jimmy Colton had raised their boy with openness about his adoption. After the heartbreaking loss of two infant sons that marked their early years of marriage, they promised themselves they would try not to hold too tightly to David or hold back any information he wanted about his birth. And so they waited on him.

David was hesitant to talk about the questions and curiosities about his birth story that often haunted him. But as he neared adulthood, his need to know the full story of his life became something he couldn’t shake. Until the call came to the Coltons from the adoption agency, and the first tentative bits of communication and connection set in motion a story that would change all their lives forever.

From the team that brought you the movies Courageous and War Room comes Lifemark, the novelization of the new film inspired by a true story of adoption, redemption, and hope.

Giveaway

 by Ryan Steck

*image from Pixabay

Turns out, Matthew Redd was the same guy I always knew, albeit much older and similarly armed with a plethora of new life experiences himself. Over the course of about a year and more than 100,000 words later, I explored who he is but also what message he might want to send. That, coupled with a story idea I had in mind about a mystery set in Montana that would lead to a global conspiracy, turned into Fields of Fire, my debut novel—and the first book in my Matty Redd thriller series—set to hit bookstores on September 6.

About Ryan

About Fields of Fire

“You know Ryan Steck as the Real Book Spy. Now, get to know him as the author of Fields of Fire, his debut thriller featuring Marine Raider Matthew Redd in a battle that will leave you speechless and begging for more. Lock and load!” —Jack Carr, Navy SEAL Sniper and #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Devil’s Hand

Waiting to be deployed on a critical mission, elite Marine Raider Matthew Redd stops to help a stranger and wakes up hours later to learn his team was wiped out in an ambush. Unable to remember anything, Redd can’t deny the possibility that he’s somehow responsible for the information leak that led to the massacre. He’s given a deal to avoid a charge of treason, but it means walking away from the Corps and the life he loved.

As he faces his loss, Matty gets a cryptic message from his adoptive father, J. B.: “Trouble’s come knocking. . . . Might need your help.” He points his truck home to rural Montana, only to discover that J. B. is dead and the explanation for his death is far from satisfying. Determined to dig up the truth, Redd uncovers a dark global conspiracy with his hometown at the center and no team at his back—except one he might find among past friends, old enemies, and new allies, if he can figure out who to trust.

Giveaway*

Hi everyone, Sandra Orchard here. After a long hiatus from blogging, I’m delighted to be back celebrating the release of my 25th novel with a post about voice.

Boughs of Folly is my tenth cozy mystery written as part of multi-author sets. In such cases, maintaining authentic voices for characters, that are simultaneously being written about by other authors, carries unique challenges.

When my first novel released, a family member said she felt distracted while first reading it, because she heard my voice in her head. Thankfully, after a few scenes, my characters took on lives of their own for her, and she forgot about me. But her comment made me ever cognizant of the importance of ensuring the “voices” of my stories are true to the story being told.

So, how do we do that?

First let me clarify what I mean by “voice.” Voice can refer to:

1) An author’s unique style of storytelling that characterizes much of his or her work.
2) A particular story’s narrative voice—i.e. the voice in which the story is told. Or…
3) The characters’ actual voices spoken in dialogue.

The best advice I’ve heard with regards to developing #1 is to not try. Some say your distinctive voice will emerge the more you write. But be cautious about imitating others who you presume know more than you. I’ve observed, especially with newbies, that in our efforts to incorporate all the seemingly wonderful advice we receive from critiquers, we can quickly dilute or lose the fresh voice of our original piece. I suspect this is because when you’re passionate about a story and write with abandon, oblivious to ‘the rules’, your unique voice is given full rein. Editing, on the other hand, uses the left side of your brain and can alter it drastically.

Honing this skill has proven invaluable to me in writing multi-author continuities featuring the same main character, including for Boughs of Folly. Now in theory, the first lucky author of a continuity gets to set the tone the rest of us must mirror for each continuing character. And Boughs of Folly is book one in the Jingle Bells Mysteries set. However, the three-book bundle, features long-established characters from the realm of the Chocolate Shoppe Mysteries.

So, I acquainted myself with all the wonderful quirky characters by immersing myself in the original series. The stories are set in Georgia, but the series editor advised me that authors were urged to use a light touch when it came to “Southernisms.” My goal while reading was to know the characters so well, that I’d hear their voices in my head. To that end, I focused on the distinctive nuances of each continuing characters’ voice. These are the same sorts of nuances you can use to create characters that stand apart from each other.

Tip: Sitting in a crowded place, such as an airport or shopping mall, and listening to the conversations going on around you is a great way to discover fresh voices for your characters.

Ready to assess the voices in your stories?

Finally, notice what isn’t in the dialogue. What’s not being said, or the subtext of what’s said or done, often characterizes the reader far more than his or her actual dialogue. In other words, what counts isn’t what your character says, but the effect of what he meant.

If you’re writing a continuity, your editor’s input is invaluable in keeping characters’ voices consistent from one author to the next, and the continuity guidelines will likely determine who the narrator’s voice or voices will be.

Whether writing in first or third person, the character you choose to narrate the story (or scene) has a huge impact on your story’s tone. In my romantic suspense, where my hero and heroine take turns narrating scenes, I choose the character with the most to lose.

In addition to all the elements of voice discussed above, other elements also come into play in your narrator’s voice. For example, can the reader trust the narrator? Do his thoughts correspond with his speech and actions? Does she have a secret? Is he hiding a sin or regret or deep-seated fear? The more you flesh out your characters with flaws, fears, secrets etc., the more you can layer their emotions into the narrative, so the reader experiences them, too.

Most importantly, have fun getting into character!

Speaking of having fun…

Giveaway:

And…enter the rafflecopter giveaway for a chance to win one of 10 copies of Boughs of Folly.

And…stop by my blog to see the free E books and special price promos my publishers are offering as part of my celebration. (current limited time offers—Deadly Devotion is free & Identity Withheld, a Love Inspired Suspense, is $1.99 )

~*~*~*~*~

Connect with Sandra at: website | Facebook | Amazon

About Boughs of Folly:

Jillian Green’s holiday cheer nosedives when her great aunt’s friend, Herbert, is killed while helping them decorate for a fundraiser. But the case is more tangled than a strand of twinkle lights, and if Jillian can’t uncover the killer, Herbert’s night might not be the only one silenced this Christmas.

Boughs of Folly is part of a three-book Jingle Bells Mysteries bundle, releasing June 25, 2022, and sold exclusively by Annie’s Fiction

Don't forget to enter to win a copy of one of Sandra's earlier titles by leaving a comment or question about 'voice' below!

Hello everyone, Winnie Griggs here. I’m so excited - the release day for Her Amish Springtime Miracle, the second book in my Hope’s Haven series, releases on Tuesday May 24th.

Her Amish Springtime Miracle features Hannah, the youngest of the three Eicher sisters, as the heroine. When I developed her character I looked to her biblical namesake. Hannah Eicher is a young Amish woman who has learns from her doctor that she will likely never be able to bear children. When an infant girl is abandoned in her family’s barn with a note pleading with Hannah to raise her, Hannah knows it’s an answered prayer. Now, a year later, Hannah is on the cusp of finalizing her adoption of baby Grace.

The hero, Mike is an paramedic with unwanted ties to the Amish. His parents were Amish but when he was a young child his mother died and his father left with bitter feelings toward  the community and embraced a more worldly lifestyle. This meant Mike was raised in the English world from age seven so for all intents and purposes he is an Englischer. But now he has to go back to his childhood community to find a lost-to-him nephew, the last member of his English family.

Both Hannah and Mike are seeking to build family ties in an unconventional manner but this commonality is only one of the things that draw them together. Their differences, though, are more profound. Because neither is ready to set aside the lifestyle and beliefs of the world they inhabit.

When I first conceived this story I never imagined the difficulty I would have in writing the final third of the book (It would have helped if I was more of a plotter and less of a pantser ). Trying to give Hannah and Mike their HEA when they had so much to overcome was definitely not easy. I did eventually manage to resolve this in an organic and believable manner (I hope!)

Here’s an excerpt (slightly modified for space and to remove spoilers). For context, Hannah is a baker and Mike, who's trying to get back in her good graces after they find themselves at odds over somehing, has offered to help her with one of her orders

Mike turned to Hannah. “What can I do?”

She waved dismissively. “There’s no need for you—”

He raised a brow. “Don’t you think I can be of any use?”

Hannah didn’t answer for a moment, and he wondered if this would be one of her stubborn moments. Then she nodded. “All right.” She retrieved a roll of parchment paper and stack of sheet pans. She set the pans down and handed him the roll of parchment paper. “You can line each of these pans, edge-to-edge, while I prepare the work surface.”

“Starting me off with the hard jobs I see.”

That earned him a grin.

While he worked on lining the cookie sheets, she cleaned and dried the table. Then she grabbed a canister of flour and dusted her work area.

A few minutes later he’d finished his task. “All done. What’s next?”

Hannah tilted her head and met his gaze. “You’re sure you want to keep going?”

“I am.”

She gave him a mock-warning look. “Don’t say I didn’t give you an out.”

Good, she was relaxing.

“If you’ll get two discs of cookie dough from the refrigerator, I’ll get the rolling pins.”

Once that was done, Hannah went into instructor mode. “We need to roll out this dough to a uniform thickness of about a quarter inch.” She demonstrated. “If the dough begins to stick, you can sprinkle on more flour.”

He enjoyed watching her when she was in her element, confident and relaxed. Standing side by side as they worked was nice too. Was she even aware that she hummed softly when she worked?

“How’s this?” he asked when he had it rolled out.

Her mouth scrunched to one side as she focused on his dough. “The center seems a little thicker than the edge. Otherwise I think it’s ready.”

Mike studied his dough critically, then rolled gently from the center out.

This time Hannah nodded and gave him an approving smile. “You’re doing so much better than I did on my first attempt.”

“Why, thank you. I have a good teacher.”

“Of course, I was six my first time.”

That surprised a chuckle out of him, and he saw an answering grin on her face. Promising. “So what’s next?”

She checked her ever-present notebook. “These are for a graduation party and I’ll use three different shapes” She retrieved the appropriate cookie cutters and handed him one. “You can work on the rectangles.”

Did she know she had a smudge of flour on her cheek? Even though he thought she looked absolutely adorable, he couldn’t resist reaching up to brush it away.

As soon as his hand touched her face, sensations jolted through him with the force of a flashover—sudden, overwhelming, undeniable.

She felt it too. He could see it in the way her eyes widened and darkened, in the sound of her breath catching in her throat. For that moment in time everything shifted.

They weren’t rivals any longer.

They weren’t Amish and English.

They weren’t Ohioan and Missourian.

They were just a man and a woman.

I hope you enjoyed this sneak peak into my plotting process (or lack thereof) and my story. Leave a comment with your thoughts to be entered in a drawing for a copy of Her Amish Springtime Miracle.

HER AMISH SPRINGTIME MIRACLE

An orphaned baby brings together an unlikely couple who learn the true meaning of family

For more information or to purchase, click  HERE

 ~ 5 Ways No Creek Built Community and We Can, Too ~

4.     In A Hundred Crickets Singing, Joe convinces the Willards and the Percys to help him create an Italian feast to bring the community together. He says it was what the grandmothers in his old Italian neighborhood did to ease troubles between warring grown children. A little music, a little dancing, and great food is Joe’s prescription. It also helps that those attending have to learn something entirely new in order to eat the food. They’ve never eaten spaghetti and have to learn how to twirl the slippery pasta onto their forks. It places everyone on a similar footing and creates lots of fun and laughter. What sort of event can you imagine where people might learn or participate in something new, without risking too much embarrassment, to encourage them to laugh with one another? Laughter is known as the “best medicine” for good reason, releasing tension and bringing people together.

5.     No Creek desperately needs a medical clinic that will serve everyone, regardless of race. While there is no denying the stubborn stance and laws of segregation at the time, those who are willing find a path forward despite the resistance they face. Two things help unite the races and the community. First, women in the community, together with trusted pastors, endorse the project and meet personally with other women—often overlooked community members who can gain the ear of their husbands. Second, once the leaders of the building project finalize details, members of both churches—Shady Grove and Saints Delight—are encouraged by their pastors to help build the medical clinic. This gives everyone an opportunity to contribute labor even if they cannot contribute money, giving them a stake and pride in the clinic. It also provides an opportunity to labor together and iron out differences created on the job, building relationships that might extend into the future. Together they witness the growing and finished product of their combined labor. Sometimes we need a project to pool our resources. Financial commitments are good, but there is no substitute for laboring together to build something important for the good of all. Is there a project your community might benefit from that would require many hands and hearts to achieve? How will you go about it, and who can you enlist to help?

Communities, families, schools, workplaces, neighborhoods, and towns grow through communication and interaction. Recognizing a need, drawing in trusted voices to recognize and demonstrate that need to others, engaging others and making them feel welcome in a way that reduces tensions or animosity, and working together to address the need are all keys to building bridges and a better tomorrow.

 

About the Author

Four-time Christy and two-time Carol and INSPY Award–winning author Cathy Gohlke writes novels steeped with inspirational lessons from history. Her stories reveal how people break the chains that bind them and triumph over adversity through faith. When not traveling to historic sites for research, she and her husband, Dan, divide their time between northern Virginia and the Jersey Shore, enjoying time with their grown children and grandchildren.

 

Visit her website at cathygohlke.com and find her on Facebook at CathyGohlkeBooks.

 

 

About A Hundred Crickets Singing

In wars eighty years apart, two young women living on the same Appalachian estate determine to aid soldiers dear to them and fight for justice, no matter the cost.

1944. When a violent storm rips through the Belvidere attic in No Creek, North Carolina, exposing a hidden room and trunk long forgotten, secrets dating back to the Civil War are revealed. Celia Percy, whose family lives and works in the home, suspects the truth could transform the future for her friend Marshall, now fighting overseas, whose ancestors were once enslaved by the Belvidere family. When Marshall’s Army friend, Joe, returns to No Creek with shocking news for Marshall’s family, Celia determines to right a long-standing wrong, whether or not the town is ready for it.

1861. After her mother’s death, Minnie Belvidere works desperately to keep her household running and her family together as North Carolina secedes. Her beloved older brother clings to his Union loyalties, despite grave danger, while her hotheaded younger brother entangles himself and the family’s finances within the Confederacy. As the country and her own home are torn in two, Minnie risks her life and her future in a desperate fight to gain liberty and land for those her parents intended to free, before it’s too late.

With depictions of a small Southern town “reminiscent of writings by Lisa Wingate” (Booklist on Night Bird Calling), Cathy Gohlke delivers a gripping, emotive story about friendship and the enduring promise of justice.

Leave a comment for Cathy below for a chance to win a copy of A Hundred Crickets Singing.

Hello everyone, Winnie Griggs here. Back in January I posted about writing book blurbs (you can read that post HERE) and promised you a Part 2. So today I'm delivering on that promise.

First a caveat - this is just my thoughts on what makes up a good blurb. There are likely other methods that are as effective if not more so.

First let’s talk about what goes into a blurb.
I consider that these the four components are the minimum of what you need.to create an effective blurb. 

• The Tag Line
• The Characters:
• The Conflict:
• The Close:

For the purposes of this series of posts, I’m going to use the blurb from the first book I had to craft a blurb for all on my own. We’ll look at what I did right, what I did wrong, and what I might do differently today. It’s for my book The Unexpected Bride, an April 2019 release. It reads as follows: 

Caleb isn’t sure what to make of this woman who isn’t at all what he contracted for—she’s spoiled, unskilled and lavishes her affection on a lap dog that seems to be little more than a useless ball of fluff.  But to his surprise she gets along well with the children, works hard to acquire domestic skills and is able to hold her own with the town matriarchs.

Could the mistake that landed him with this unexpected bride be the best thing that ever happened to him?

So today I want to dig into the first component.

The Tagline.

Technically, the tagline is optional, but I think having one adds a little extra punch to your blurb. The Tagline, also called a log line, is a very short teaser, designed to hook the reader and introduce the tone of the book. There are several different ways to approach this.

Unfortunately, I didn’t include a tagline for The Unexpected Bride (shame on me!). So if I were to try to craft one today, how would I go about it? Well, let’s see how it might look using each of the four methods above.

Using method one:  A runaway heiress must serve as housekeeper and nanny in this accidental Mail Order Bride story

Using the second method:   Can a klutzy socialite who ends up far from home provide the care and love six orphaned children and their determined uncle so desperately need?

Using the third method:   She ran away from home to escape an unwanted engagement. So how did she end up agreeing to marry a disagreeable stranger?

And using the last method:   In this heartwarming story, an inept runaway socialite must build a loving home for six orphaned children and their much too serious uncle.

So which one would I actually use? The test would be which one I thought provides the best hook while remaining true to the story.  Right now I'm thinking it would be the third one.

A couple of tips:

• Just because the tagline appears at the top of your blurb doesn’t mean it needs to be created first. If you’re having problems figuring it out, craft the rest of your blurb first and then come back to it. Hopefully the key tone and story essence you want to convey will pop out to you then
• To figure out what part of your book would make the best hook, ask yourself what is most unique or interesting about your story. 

There you have it, my notes on how to craft your book blurb’s tagline. Next time we'll look at the second component, the characters.

So do you have any questions? Do you agree with this approach? Would you have chosen (or crafted) a different tagline for TUB than the one I chose? 

Leave a comment to be entered into a drawing for a book from my backlist

And if you're interested in learning more about The Unexpected Bride or ordering a copy, click HERE

By Michelle Shocklee

I often wonder what my high school history teacher would think if he knew I grew up to become an author of historical fiction. He would no doubt be quite surprised considering my utter lack of interest in bygone eras while spending time in his classroom. Dates, facts, ancient events. Blah. Who cares? I often wondered as he droned on and on about wars and people whose names were faintly recognizable . . . although I couldn’t tell you why.

Fast-forward to my late twenties, when I discovered that I not only enjoyed reading historical fiction but found deep satisfaction in writing it as well. And, as every historical author knows, it’s the research into those once-dreaded dates, facts, and ancient events that breathes life into the story. I can’t get enough of them now.

You might even say I’m obsessed with research.

My latest novel, Count the Nights by Stars, is a split-time story. With each of the settings being historical, I had the wonderful task of researching two vastly different time periods. When I’m in the throes of writing a new novel, research books litter my desk and the floor surrounding my chair. Websites on historical happenings are constantly open, articles are printed, and I find there simply isn’t enough time in each day to read and research all the fascinating facts about my chosen topic.

After my husband and I moved to the Nashville area in 2017, I was like a sponge soaking up Tennessee’s captivating history. I grew up in Santa Fe, New Mexico (which has a captivating history of its own I plan to write about someday), and lived in Texas for thirty years after marrying a Texan, so I’d never given much thought to Tennessee. Sure, I knew Nashville was famous for country music and the Grand Ole Opry, but after moving here I discovered a rich history that had nothing to do with music. Those discoveries would eventually inspire me to write my Christy Award‒nominated novel Under the Tulip Tree. But because I’d learned so many interesting things about Nashville’s history through my research that weren’t included in that book, I knew I had to write another one. This time the two historical stars would be the Tennessee Centennial Exposition of 1897 and the famed Maxwell House Hotel.

To help readers envision the exposition, I needed to go beyond mere description. I had to make the expo grounds come alive with sights, smells, and sounds. This is true in any novel, but it is especially true in historical fiction because modern-day readers can’t place themselves in the setting the way they can with a contemporary story. Historical authors must, must, must bring history to life, and to do that we need to know the facts. Yes, those dry, boring facts we despised in history class now become lifeblood to our books. Without them, readers can’t experience the setting with the characters, which becomes a real problem for both the author and the reader.

One of the methods I used to help bring history alive in Count the Nights by Stars was to study photographs of the exposition grounds. Every black-and-white photograph—and there are hundreds of them—reveals large and minute details I incorporated into the story. For instance, while describing Vanity Fair, the amusement area of the fairgrounds, I let my heroine, Priscilla, and her group enjoy spicy pork sandwiches from the Cuban Village while sitting on the banks of Lake Watauga in the warm June sunshine. They discuss what they see—the Parthenon, the Egyptian pyramid-shaped Memphis building, and the giant seesaw—while feeding crusty ends of their sandwiches to the ducks. In those few paragraphs, the reader not only visualizes the setting but imagines the flavors and sounds as well.

Historical photographs also allowed me to place Priscilla and Luca under the newly invented electric lights of the fairgrounds at night, which was especially vital for a pivotal scene. Had I not known electric lights had been employed throughout the fairgrounds, my characters would have been wandering around in the dark. My research also provided schedules and routes for electric streetcars running to and from the exposition, which was essential information at different points in the story. I hope readers of Count the Nights by Stars will truly experience the exposition in their imaginations.

The Maxwell House Hotel is the other main location that appears in both time periods. Priscilla and her family stay at the hotel during their visit to the exposition in 1897, while Audrey and her family live in the hotel manager’s apartment in 1961. Even though it was the same hotel, I might as well have been writing about two separate places. Time had not been the old hotel’s friend, and by 1961 it was a run-down residential hotel rather than the grand dame of Nashville as it had once been. The detailed language I used to describe the magnificent hotel in 1897 was not applicable in the 1961 story. That’s where extensive research came in. Using old newspaper articles, firsthand accounts, and archived pictures, I was able to accurately describe the once-gleaming hotel as it was in 1961.

Writers often ask this question: When do you have enough research?

My answer: Never . . . but you eventually must stop researching and start writing!

Have you read a book where the setting positively came alive in your imagination because of the author’s description? Tell me about it!

(Comment below for a chance to win a copy of Count the Night by Stars).**

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

 ABOUT COUNT THE NIGHT BY THE STARS

1961. After a longtime resident at Nashville’s historic Maxwell House Hotel suffers a debilitating stroke, Audrey Whitfield is tasked with cleaning out the reclusive woman’s room. There, she discovers an elaborate scrapbook filled with memorabilia from the Tennessee Centennial Exposition. Love notes on the backs of unmailed postcards inside capture Audrey’s imagination with hints of a forbidden romance . . . and troubling revelations about the disappearance of young women at the exposition. Audrey enlists the help of a handsome hotel guest as she tracks down clues and information about the mysterious “Peaches” and her regrets over one fateful day, nearly sixty-five years earlier.

1897. Outspoken and forward-thinking Priscilla Nichols isn’t willing to settle for just any man. She’s still holding out hope for love when she meets Luca Moretti on the eve of the Tennessee Centennial Exposition. Charmed by the Italian immigrant’s boldness, Priscilla spends time exploring the wonderous sights of the expo with Luca—until a darkness overshadows the monthslong event. Haunted by a terrible truth, Priscilla and Luca are sent down separate paths as the night’s stars fade into dawn.

Count the Night by Stars releases on March 22, 2022. 

**Giveaway prize courtesy of Tyndale House Publishers. Subject to Seekerville and Tyndale House Publishers' Giveaway terms. US mailing address only. Thank you.