Suzanne Woods Fisher's Blog, page 17
July 6, 2018
Coffee Break: Anchors and Adjustments
A book called Nudge, a social economic book, studies how and why people think the way they do (and how to change their thinking). Everyone starts with an anchor and adjusts from there in a new direction.
In other words, if you’re learning something new, you start with what you already know. If you love geraniums, then you might want to learn more about pelargoniums (every geranium is a pelargonium, but not every pelargonium is a geranium).
You know you can break off any piece of a geranium, put it in good soil and keep it watered, and it will grow. That’s your anchor knowledge. If it works for a geranium, then it would probably work for any pelargonium. Worth a try, right? That’s the adjustment of thinking, based on your anchor.
Let’s take that concept to a spiritual level.
Scripture is our anchor. If we anchor our thoughts to the Bible, then as we adjust our thinking, it is firmly tied to “right” thinking. A wise and wonderful and healthy way of thinking.
Here’s my real-life example: as my son is on his way to Honduras to live for the year, it is very tempting to go to a place of worry. Just google Honduras and you’ll see what I mean! One friend, in particular, tells me the latest worst news (as if I wasn’t aware!).
But Scripture is my anchor.
“If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the farthest sea, 
even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast” (Psalm 139:9-10).
“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, for I am with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).
“You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you” (Isaiah 26:3).
The Bible is full of “anchor” verses about trusting a good and loving God with our daily concerns. From there, we adjust our thinking. When I rest on my anchor of trust, worry dissolves and my heart finds peace.
How about you? Do you have some anchor verses to share? Please chime in with a comment! Your thoughts are treasured.
By the way, I’ll be sharing Tad’s life in Honduras throughout the year. On Instagram and FB, too! You’re invited to follow along: suzannewoodsfisher and www.facebook.com/SuzanneWoodsFisherAu...
July 2, 2018
Christmas Is Coming Early!
Tomorrow is release day for Minding the Light, but there’s still time to get in on the two-for-one deal!
A few months ago, Phoebe’s Light hit the bookshelves with rave reviews, including 4 ½ stars from Romantic Times.
It’s the first in the ‘Nantucket Legacy’ series that tells the story of the island’s early settlers—the Starbucks, the Coffins, the Macys, the Foulgers. In Phoebe’s Light, a great-grandmother’s journal, passed on through the generations, becomes a story in itself as hints are revealed of a hidden treasure chest.
Whenever a book releases, it’s an occasion to celebrate. Minding the Light, book 2 in the ‘Nantucket Legacy’ series, releases tomorrow, and I’ve got a wonderful bonus to offer you.
Minding the Light carries on the Starbuck family sagas of Quaker Nantucket during the whaling period. After six long years at sea, Captain Reynolds Macy returns to Nantucket to discover that he is a father of two motherless children. His late wife’s sister, Daphne, is the only one on the island who isn’t afraid of him and is willing to tell him the truth.
In early October, this gripping series concludes with an explosive ending in The Light Before Day.
Here’s where Christmas comes early to you…
If you purchase Phoebe’s Light and pre-order Minding the Light, I’ll send you (or whomever you’d like to gift a book) a book of signed, 2-in-1 Christmas Amish novellas.
These Christmas Amish stories, full of family, faith, and romance, are set in Stoney Ridge and will get you in the holiday mood—no matter the season.
If you’ve already read Phoebe’s Light, this Christmas Comes Early bonus can apply if you pre-order Minding the Light (book 2—releases tomorrow, July 3) and The Light Before Day (book 3—releases in October. Hint: CBD has the best prices right now! Click HERE for book 2 and Click HERE for book 3.)
It’s easy to do! Here are 3 simple steps to get your bonus:
1) Buy Phoebe’s Light and Minding the Light anywhere. (FYI: CBD is offering a discounted bundle price: https://bit.ly/2JRPtXs)
2) Then click HERE and submit your receipt # and mailing address so I know where to send your book. Please fill out address form carefully!
3) Expect your signed 2-in-1 Christmas Amish novellas to arrive within a few weeks.
But don’t wait! I have a limited number of the Christmas novellas, so this offer won’t last long.
Consider this my way of thanking you for being such a faithful reader.
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June 29, 2018
Coffee break: Letting Go…and Taking Back…and Letting Go…
The winner of last week’s photo caption contest was Karen G. for her witty: “Fed Ex just got Fed Up!” Karen, if you’ll send me your mailing address, I’ll pop an Amish Wisdom bag in the mail to you.
Thanks to everyone for chiming in with wit and wisdom. It was hard to pick just one!
On a personal note…
My family has a big change coming up this week. My youngest son, Tad, is moving to Honduras to work for a company based in the capital city of Tegucigalpa. A lot of prayer has gone into this decision. A lot! I’m excited for this expat adventure for him… and also wrestling with God over trusting Him with the safety and well-being of my son.
In case you didn’t know…Honduras is on the State Department’s list of DO NOT TRAVEL countries.
TRUST is my anchor word for the year. Every time anxiety sneaks up on me (and it is so darn sneaky!), I want to exercise a habit of replacing the anxious thought with one of trusting God. I have an index card filled with biblical verses of God’s protection. What a difference it makes–to take my thoughts and prayers upward and hand them over to God to transform. When I do, peace covers me like a blanket. (Phil. 4:7)
Have you had a similar experience in which God s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d your faith over your kids’ choices? Would love to hear from you! And if you have a prayer to spare, I’d be grateful if you kept my son Tad in your prayers.
June 25, 2018
Author Spotlight with Karen Witemeyer
Leave a comment and enter below for a chance to win a copy of Karen Witemeyer’s new book, “More than Meets the Eye.”
Winner will be announced in the next Author Spotlight feature. Congratulations to June Horne for winning Patricia Bradley’s book, “Justice Betrayed.”
Please email my assistant Christen to claim your prize. Note: This post contains affiliate links meaning I will get a small commission if you click and buy from that link.
Many consider Evangeline Hamilton cursed. Orphaned at a young age and possessing a pair of mismatched eyes—one bright blue, the other dark brown—Eva has fought to find her way in a world that constantly rejects her. Yet the support of even one person can help overcome the world’s judgments, and Eva has two—Seth and Zach, two former orphans she now counts as brothers.
Seeking justice against the man who stole his birthright and destroyed his family, Logan Fowler arrives in 1880s Pecan Gap, Texas, to confront Zach Hamilton, the hardened criminal responsible for his father’s death. Only instead of finding a solitary ruthless gambler, he discovers a man not much older than himself with an unusual family. When Zach’s sister, Evangeline, insists on dousing Logan with sunshine every time their paths cross, Logan finds his quest completely derailed. Who is truly responsible for his lost legacy, and will restoring the past satisfy if it means forfeiting a future with Evangeline?
Can you tell us about your newest release? Is it part of a series or a stand-alone?
More Than Meets the Eye is the first book in a new series. It’s a tale filled with secrets, flawed characters fighting for a fresh start, a hero bent on revenge, and an unconventional heroine whose cheerful demeanor holds the power to soften even the hardest of hearts. Oh, and a feral hog named Hezekiah who thinks he’s part of the family.
The premise behind my new Patchwork Family series is a group of orphans who bond to form their own family when their orphan train derails. These youngsters were overlooked, discarded, and unwanted by the families they met along their journey. Zach, because he is a belligerent loner with a giant chip on his shoulder. Seth, because he is sickly, weakened by asthma. And sweet, little Evangeline because she was born with mismatched eyes.
Is anything or anyone in this book based on real-life experiences?
None of my characters or situations are based on any real-life experiences. However, the themes and spiritual struggles of my characters definitely tie back to my own issues. I might not be an orphan with heterochromia, but I know the pain of rejection and the desire to shun conflict and hide myself away. I might not be an ex-gambler bent on avenging his father’s death, but I know what it is like to lose my father at an early age and how that grief can change the trajectory of my life.
Who was your favorite character in this story, and why?
That’s such a hard question. I’m actually going to pick Zacharias Hamilton, Evangeline’s oldest brother. He’s the thirteen-year-old loner who found himself responsible for two other orphan children and found a way to keep them all alive and create a family where none previously existed. He’s tough and gruff and never actually says “I love you” out loud, but his actions prove it out over and over.
Of course, he might be my favorite because I’m currently in the middle of writing his story. LOL. I always fall a little bit in love with my heroes as I write them.
Compared to your other books, was this one easy to complete or challenging? Any idea why?
Evangeline and Logan’s story wasn’t necessarily harder to write, but because both the hero and heroine had such sad backstories, I found it more difficult to work my trademark humor into the narrative. Thankfully, I had a crazy, trouble-making hog to add into the mix along with brotherly teasing and a dreamy heroine who always tried to see the best in any situation. Nevertheless, I still had to remind myself regularly to look for places to add lightness and levity. Hopefully that comes through without taking away from any of the suspense and drama of the plot.
What’s the most difficult thing about writing from the point of view of the opposite sex?
I’m an explainer. Where my husband would discipline our children with a stern no and leave it at that, I would pull them aside and take five minutes to explain why I felt the need to say no. Guys, especially the heroes in my books, are no-nonsense, skip-to-the-chase kind of people. They don’t feel the need to explain things to death or even to ponder too long on a matter. They make up their mind, speak their piece, and move on. So when I write from the male point of view, the biggest pitfall I have to watch out for is over-explaining. I trim and re-trim my male dialog and even try to carve back their narrative so it feels more masculine and less like me.
What did you (or your editors) edit out of this book?
There wasn’t much edited out, but there was something that I edited into the book. I was already several months into the writing of More Than Meets the Eye went a speaking opportunity took me to Lubbock, TX. After conducting a library workshops that morning, I did a late afternoon book signing at the local Barnes & Noble. A few minutes before our official start time, and man and his family came through the store, saw my name and stopped. His wife loved my books and couldn’t believe that they had just happened to come into the store at the exact time I was there. God moves in mysterious ways. We chatted and I signed a book and then carried on with the rest of the signing. It was a lovely encounter, but I didn’t think anything special would come from it. Until I received an email from the husband a few days later.
Knowing how much his wife loved my books and seeking some special way to honor her, he asked if there might be any way for me to name a future character after his wife. His story along with his plea touched my heart, and I knew at once that I needed to find a way to make this happen. My main character was already named and I was too deep into the story to change Evangeline, but I had a secondary character, a love interest for the younger Hamilton brother who could be renamed without too much trouble. So after some brainstorming with Jeff (the husband) about his wife’s eye color and hair color, I set about transforming Anne Stokes into Christie Gilliam. Kristie actually spells her name with a K, but since that wasn’t historically accurate, I changed the starting letters. In another romantic twist, I had Seth Hamilton revert to using his original surname (instead of the adopted name the orphans all took on when they created their own family) at the end of the book – that surname being Jefferson. In honor of the husband who approached me for this sweet tribute to his wife.
Jeff had to wait nearly a year and a half for this surprise to come to fruition, but it finally has. And if you read the dedication, you’ll see he and his wife mentioned along with the providence of the God who brought this all about.
Purchase a copy of More than Meets the Eye
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | CBD | KarenWitemeyer.com
Winner of the HOLT Medallion and the Carol Award and a finalist for the RITA and Christy Award, bestselling author Karen Witemeyer writes historical romance to give the world more happily-ever-afters. Karen makes her home in Abilene, Texas, with her husband and three children.
Website | The Posse, Karen’s Fan Page | Facebook
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June 20, 2018
Coffee Break: Caption This! Photo Contest
Just got back from Ohio Amish country for the Girlfriends Getaway 2018 and took a bunch of photos that I’ll be sharing soon.
Below is one of my favorites. Thought it would be fun to do a “Caption This!” photo contest and see what you can come up with.
Leave a comment with your wittiest caption…or for you savvy Instagramers, leave a hash tag. I’ll pick one winner to send an Amish Proverbs cloth shopping bag. (Winner announced next week.)
June 18, 2018
Author Spotlight with Patricia Bradley
Leave a comment and enter below for a chance to win a copy of Patricia Bradley’s new book, “Justice Betrayed.”
Winner will be announced in the next Author Spotlight feature. Congratulations to Darlene Holley for winning Beth White’s book, “A Rebel Heart.”
Please email my assistant Christen to claim your prize. Note: This post contains affiliate links meaning I will get a small commission if you click and buy from that link.
Award-winning author Patricia Bradley has thrilled readers with the nonstop action in her suspense novels. Now she turns up the heat again with Justice Betrayed.
Memphis, Tennessee, is celebrating their annual Elvis week, and Detective Rachel Sloan isn’t sure her day could get any stranger. But when aging Elvis impersonator Vic Vegas produces a photo of her murdered mother with four Elvis impersonators—one of whom had also been murdered seventeen years earlier—she wonders if there is some connection between the two unsolved cases.
When yet another person in the photo is murdered, Rachel suddenly has her hands full investigating three cases. Lieutenant Boone Callahan offers his help, but their checkered romantic past threatens to get in the way. Can they solve the cases before the murderer makes Rachel victim number four?
What is one thing you’ve learned the hard way so that others don’t have to?
Just one thing? Not sure I can narrow it to one, but if I have to, it would be I wish I’d attended a writers’ conference sooner. That would have fixed a lot of my problems.
It was at my first conference that I first heard the term head-hopping and learned what the term POV meant. Point of View—writing from one person’s perspective. No more switching from the hero’s POV to show what the waiter (or some other secondary character) was thinking.
I didn’t know these terms because I was so isolated, living in a small town with no other writers around. This was before the internet made it easy to connect with other writers. For years, I wrote in a vacuum and kept making the same mistakes all beginning writers make. At the conference, I connected with other writers and joined a critique group, and gradually I learned what those mistakes were. I can trace my growth as a writer back to that first conference and then to the other conferences I attended.
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Patricia Bradley is the author of Justice Delayed and Justice Buried, as well as the Logan Point series. Bradley won an Inspirational Readers Choice Award in Suspense, was a finalist for the Genesis Award, won a Daphne du Maurier Award, and won a Touched by Love Award. She is the co-founder of Aiming for Healthy Families, Inc., and she is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Romance Writers of America. Bradley makes her home in Mississippi.
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June 13, 2018
Coffee Break: BookSweeps Giveaway of Small Town Sweet Romances
Just wanted to pass along a very awesome giveaway going on this week from BookSweeps! You can win a copy of one of my favorites stories The Keeper (hint: have a hanky ready!), a brand new eReader, plus books from other small town sweet romances authors…PLUS you get FREE ebooks just for entering.
Ends soon, so hurry to enter! And good luck!
Enter here: http://bit.ly/smalltownsweetromance-jun18
June 11, 2018
Author Spotlight with Beth White
Leave a comment and enter below for a chance to win a copy of Beth White’s new book, “A Rebel Heart.” Winner will be announced in the next Author Spotlight feature. Congratulations to Charette Bond for winning Susan May Warren’s book, “Storm Front.” Please email my assistant Christen to claim your prize. Note: This post contains affiliate links meaning I will get a small commission if you click and buy from that link.
In 2016, Christian Market offered a review of The Magnolia Duchess, stating, “White’s readers are reminded of the political intricacies and what families sacrificed during America’s early years.” White explores similar themes of struggle, sacrifice, compromise, and romance in the wake of the Civil War in A Rebel Heart, the first novel in her new Daughtry House series.
In A Rebel Heart, readers are transported to an impoverished plantation set in the Deep South. Selah Daughtry, her two younger sisters, and their spinster cousin can barely manage to feed and clothe themselves. With their family’s Mississippi plantation swamped by debt and deteriorating around them, the only option seems to be giving up their ancestral land.
Pinkerton agent and former Union cavalryman Levi Riggins is investigating a series of robberies and sabotage linked to the impoverished Daughtry plantation. Posing as a hotel management agent for the railroad, he tells Selah he’ll help her save her home, but only if it is converted into a hotel. With Selah otherwise engaged in renovations, Levi moves onto the property to “supervise” while he actually attends to his real assignment right under her nose.
Selah isn’t sure she can entirely trust the handsome Yankee to protect her home and family in these hard times, but she’d do almost anything to save the Big House. What she never expected to encounter was his assault on her heart.
What is one thing you’ve learned the hard way so that others don’t have to?
What have I learned the hard way? Only one thing?
Ha!
Okay, here goes. Less is more.
A complex plot with lots of characters may seem like a good idea on the front end, but after eighteen published novels (along with a few others that will likely never see the light of day), I’ve discovered that each character introduced requires a certain amount of development (i.e. word count)—otherwise, their presence is not needed or even desirable.
Here’s the problem. Beth White, as a human being, is insatiably curious about why people behave the way they do and how things came to be. Well, that makes sense; it’s why I became a storyteller, to begin with. Even as a very little child, when I first learned to read, I read the encyclopedia set my parents bought from some door-to-door salesman—literally from cover to cover. Sitting on the floor in front of that bookcase in the hallway, I read every biography first: female scientists and artists and authors and rulers and saints. Then I delved into the Founding Fathers, revolutionaries, anarchists, poets, architects, rulers of ancient civilizations, scholars, inventors. I wanted to know about the geography of African and South American countries, who discovered the cure for incurable diseases, and who started wars and why.
Above all, I was interested in love stories.
The more I read and absorbed, the more intricately woven the world around me seemed to be. This affects that, which leads to something else, which causes another cataclysmic event, which changes the world.
A weird little introvert, I explored relationships in my mind. My dolls and paper dolls talked to one another, and an infinite variety of characters peopled my interior landscape. As my imagination matured, I began to write down the stories in my head. Every hero and heroine who crossed my path showed up in some form, including the ones from novels and short stories and fairy tales and biographies I read.
Folks. That’s a lot of characters. People are fascinating. They’re inscrutable. The minute you think you know why they behave the way they do, some random emotion or outside force takes them in an unpredictable direction.
Fast-forward to my current career/hobby of writing full-length novels for publication. While developing the Daughtry House series that launches in this month with A Rebel Heart, I conceived the series as focused on three young women who grew up on a Mississippi plantation before and during the Civil War. The Daughtry sisters have to make a life for themselves without the protection of parents, husbands or brothers, in a world hostile to somewhat independent-minded women.
In the first book of the series, eldest sister Selah wants to turn the plantation into a resort hotel as a way of keeping it out of the hands of the railroad. That’s a complicated enough venture, but for some reason, a gaggle of seven war orphans taking shelter at the plantation, along with a family of former slaves, wouldn’t leave my head. I had to write through half the novel before the weight of juggling all those backstories began to take a toll on my mental energy. I couldn’t focus on the central plot, which was Selah’s love story with a Pinkerton agent using the hotel as a cover for his investigation of a series of railroad murders.
I tell you what, by the time you’ve written five or six scenes with a character—even a minor one—it’s very, very difficult to eliminate her. Especially an adorable, sassy blonde six-year-old named Olivia. But you will not meet Olivia Priester in A Rebel Heart. She had to go, along with her funny, mischievous twin brothers. I kept her older brother Wyatt because he has an integral part in the mystery plot. I discovered that removing the distraction of Olivia, as hard as that was, helped me focus on Wyatt’s goals and motivations and conflicts. It also freed my attention for the more important work of developing Selah’s journey from guilt and regret to the freedom of repentance and forgiveness.
Perhaps Olivia will resurface as a major character in some other story, who knows?
In any case, I am applying the lesson I learned from “Too Many Characters Syndrome” as I write the sequel to A Rebel Heart. Keep the main thing the Main Thing. Focus on the central story, only bringing minor characters onstage—as entertaining as they may be—when they are absolutely essential to the plot.
I hope my readers will not mind this peek behind the curtain, where a somewhat unfocused, insatiably curious writer struggles to produce a coherent fictional adventure. And I hope fellow writers will learn from my rabbit trails that it’s a lot easier to add characters, layering them in during the course of rewrites than it is to remove them!
Happy reading and writing to you all!
Purchase a copy of A Rebel Heart
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | CBD | BethWhite.net
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Beth White’s day job is teaching music at an inner-city high school in historic Mobile, Alabama. A native Mississippian, she writes historical romance with a Southern drawl and is the author of The Pelican Bride, The Creole Princess, and The Magnolia Duchess. Her novels have won the American Christian Fiction Writers Carol Award, the RT Book Club Reviewers’ Choice Award, and the Inspirational Reader’s Choice Award.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Pinterest
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June 8, 2018
Coffee Break: Peace of Mind
After hearing this week’s news about the tragic deaths of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain, I turned to this talk by Melissa D’Arabian. You might remember her as the winner of a season on the Next Food Network Star. While Melissa was in college, her mother took her own life. That devastating event sent her into a decade long spiritual winter.
“Sometimes,” Melissa said, “the only way out…is through.”
Melissa is a very genuine and authentic person of faith, fun to follow on social media, and has used her celebrity platform to make suicide prevention a national conversation. I learned a great deal from this talk about her mother’s suicide and wanted to share it with you. As Melissa said, we all know someone with mental illness. And most everyone can be helped.
June 6, 2018
Coffee Break: Girlfriend Getaway 2018
What’s on your calendar for June 15th-16th? How about coming to the Girlfriend Getaway in Sugarcreek, Ohio? A lot of Amish fiction authors and readers are planning to be there…and you’re invited to join us!
We’ve got action-packed fun planned for you, culminating in a special luncheon on Saturday. Click here for more details for the Girlfriend Getaway.
One extra book signing: If you’re in the Sugarcreek/Berlin area, I’d love to meet you! On Wednesday, June 13th, Gospel Bookstore in Berlin, Ohio, is hosting a book signing for me from 4-6 pm…and my very wonderful publisher has worked some magic to have pre-release copies of Minding the Light, book 2 in the Quaker ‘Nantucket Legacy’ series. Pretty awesome!
Wednesday, June 13th, 4-6pm
Gospel Bookstore
4900 Oak Street
Berlin, Ohio
(330) 893-2523
Come if you can! Gospel Bookstore is one of my all-time favorite places to be and I know you’ll love it, too. Email me if you’re coming…I’ll have something special waiting for you.
Warmly,
Suzanne
