Suzanne Woods Fisher's Blog, page 28

Friday’s Photo Caption Contest: Waiting for your Wit

Last week’s winner is Debi Smith, for her “heavenly pearls” caption. All were good, though! Always hard to pick just one. Debi, email me with your address and I’ll pop a signed book in the mail to you.

This week’s photo…

Here’s a picture of my dog, Toffee, up in my garden. I took it just a few days ago–we were up in the garden and I heard her but couldn’t see her. When I called her name, up popped her head! Silly pup.

Wednesday Wonderings: Travel Anxieties

There was another lesson I learned from Alaska…I am way too prone to travel anxiety.

As I prepared for our trip, I read about giant swarms of mosquitos (so we gave our clothing a major bug killing spray and probably took a few years off our lives in the process), and about not sleeping because of the 23 hour day (so I bought industrial strength night blinders), and about the danger of getting feet wet on a hike (packed loads of extra socks) and ending up with frostbite and amputated toes.

And while we were in Alaska…we were given lots of terrifying warnings about bears. You can even buy 2-for-1 Bear Spray cans at Costco in Anchorage. (Not kidding! I saw a stack!) Moose, also, were reported to be shockingly dangerous.

Those warnings are all valid, meant for our benefit…and I realize guides need to alert hikers to danger so they pay attention.

Here’s an example: Steve and I went biking and canoeing on Wonder Lake in Denali National Park, and were given cans of bear spray to use, plus strict and scary instructions of how to use it. At the end of the lecture, at the point when I was teetering on scratching the whole biking and canoeing plan, I asked the guide if she’d ever had to use bear spray.

“Nope,” she said with a shrug (and she had grown up there!).

Hmmm…I wish she had started with that particular piece of info!

For those of us prone to travel anxiety…we’re already on high alert. What we need is less warnings and more encouragement to relax and enjoy the adventure. Because, in reality, I had one mosquito bite throughout a two-week trip, saw a lot of bears but they were far more interested in salmon than in eating me, and never did encounter a moose up close. In fact, I was prepared for Alaska to be a difficult, aggressive environment…and it was just the opposite!

What if I’d let anxiety prevail and missed out on an awesome day of canoeing on Wonder Lake? It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience! No bears, either, though our friends did bicycle past a bear cub.

I’ve come back from Alaska with an awareness of how much anxiety I let creep into other areas of life. It’s sneaky, that fear stuff. Far more invasive in my thinking than I had realized.

What a wonderful lesson from Alaska…to unravel the tangles of anxiety, and not let it rob joy and adventure. After all, what might we be missing?

 

 

 

Final List of Winners

Here’s the finalized list…all winners have been notified. Thanks, everyone, for entering, and keep checking in for more contests, giveaways, and good stuff. There’s always something brewing here!

Grand Prize (iPad): Kari Leverenz-Heflin

1st Prize (Amish Gift Basket): Donna Brookmyer

2nd Prize (Amish Popcorn Sampler): Catherine Wanich

3rd Prize (Amish Beginnings Series): Desiree Kessler and Nicole Buchanan

Winners Announced for “The Return’s” Book Launch!

 

Thanks to everyone for tossing your name in the bonnet for the mini-iPad contest to celebrate the release of The Return!

There are two prizes still waiting to be claimed (we email winners and allow 48 hours to respond…if we don’t hear back, we move on to other names). I’ve had so many emails asking who won the iPad, I thought it’d be best to announce [most of] the winners.

Congratulations to these winners:

Grand Prize (iPad) – Kari Leverenz-Heflin

Amish Gift Basket – still waiting on address

Amish Popcorn Sampler – still waiting on address

Amish Beginnings series – Desiree Kessler

Amish Beginning series – Nicole Buchanan

For those who didn’t win, don’t lose hope! I host lots and lots of contests and giveaways and good stuff….because there’s always something to celebrate!

Click here to stay connected.

photo credit: Huffington Post

Friday’s Photo Caption Contest: Waiting for your Wit

Last week’s winner was Charlette, for her “One more time to pull the buggy” caption. Loving all of your clever remarks! Charlette, email me with your mailing address, and I’ll pop a signed book in the mail.

Here’s this week’s photo:

Wednesday Wonderings: Lessons from Alaska

The very first spoken words of God in Scripture are: “Let there be light, and there was light” (Genesis 1:3). The first words out of God’s mouth to man!

After spending two weeks of July in Alaska, where the sun never really sets, I’ve had an entirely new understanding of what “light” means to creation. Here’s an example: if you were to plant an arugula seed in Alaska during the summer, you could count on harvesting it for a salad in 10 days. In the lower 48, that arugula would need 40 days ’til harvest. Not because of warming days…because of long days of light!

That’s why Alaskan gardeners can grow those curiously giant vegetables during such a short growing season.

Of course…just like wild turkeys flying over the fence to invade my garden and eat up the ripe grapes, Alaskans have their own version of garden thieves…

But back to “light”…I’ve come back from Alaska attentive to how many times “light” is mentioned in the Bible. From those first spoken words of God, to Jesus’s claim that He is the light of the world (John 8:12).

Any insights about the impact of light to share? Please leave a comment!

Photo credits: alaskabg.org, bearfootalaskaguides.com, bayeradvanced.com

Author Spotlight with Roseanna White

Scroll down for a chance to win a copy of Roseanna White’s book, A Name Unknown. Winner will be announced in the next Author Spotlight feature. Congratulations to last week’s winner of Chasing Secrets, Edward Arrington! Please e-mail your mailing address to my assistant Christen (christenkrumm@gmail.com).

Rosemary Gresham has no family beyond the band of former urchins that helped her survive as a girl in the mean streets of London. Grown now, they concentrate on stealing high-value items and have learned how to blend into upper-class society. But when Rosemary must determine whether a certain wealthy gentleman is loyal to Britain or to Germany, she is in for the challenge of a lifetime. How does one steal a family’s history, their very name?

Peter Holstein, given his family’s German blood, writes his popular series of adventure novels under a pen name. With European politics boiling and his own neighbors suspicious of him, Peter debates whether it might be best to change his name for good. When Rosemary shows up at his door pretending to be a historian and offering to help him trace his family history, his question might be answered.

But as the two work together and Rosemary sees his gracious reaction to his neighbors’ scornful attacks, she wonders if her assignment is going down the wrong path. Is it too late to help him prove that he’s more than his name?

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Sure, Suzanne, and thanks so much for having me! My family and I live in West Virginia, near the Maryland border, where both my husband and I grew up. I attended St. John’s College (the Great Books School), where you read original texts and have conversation-based classes for four years. This approach to education reinforced a decision I made in high school to homeschool my kids—and that’s what takes up much of my time these days. =) I have two kids, ages 11 and 9, and when I’m not reading with them for school or writing my books for Bethany House, I’m editing for WhiteFire Publishing (which my hubby and I own), designing book covers, and pretending my house will clean itself.

Do you have a day job as well? If so, what is it?

Several of them, but they’re all from home, LOL. As I mentioned above, I homeschool—which is a full-time job in itself. I’m also an editor and a book designer, creating both covers and interiors for indie authors and other small presses (www.roseannawhitedesigns.com). So lots of jobs, but they all deal with books!

When did you start writing your first book?

When I was 12. =) Well, that was the first one I finished, other than short picture-book style things when I was younger. I actually wrote that first novel between the ages of 12-13, rewrote it the summer I turned 14, and did about a million more revisions over the years too. I finished 8 other novels by the time I graduated from college, and published quite a few before that first one finally found a home at Bethany House as The Lost Heiress, which released in 2015—20 years after I first wrote it!

How did you choose the genre you write in? Or did the genre choose you?

Historical romance was really my first love when it came to full length novels. It’s what I love to read and what I first starting writing. I tried my hand at every other genre under the sun at one point or another before I was published, but I was thrilled when it was a historical that first found a home with a publisher, and I’ve had a blast writing it ever since. Someday those contemporaries might make their way into the world—who knows?—but for now, I so enjoy diving into history!

Does writing energize you or exhaust you?

Both, depending on the day, LOL. What I love are those days when I have nothing to do but write, and I can sit there and hammer it all out. They usually only happen a couple times a year, but the sheer joy of it keeps me going until exhaustion eventually takes over. But as everyone in my family knows, I do get cranky when I don’t get my writing time. So it’s best to let mama write without too much interruption in the mornings.

Friday Photo Caption Post…Waiting for your Wit

I’m a little late posting (it’s actually early Saturday morning) because I was on the road yesterday and never had a chance to sit down with my computer (I’m minding two little darling grandchildren who keep me hoppin’).

Last week’s response to my bear picture bowled me over! SO many, and so many wonderful captions! The winning caption goes to June Armstrong…but you’re all amazing! (June, email me with your mailing address and I’ll pop a signed book in the mail).

As for the rest of you brilliant people…thanks for your input…keep ’em coming.

This week’s photo is one of those, “What?!” Photo credit belongs to Gary Clark; the photo was taken on an Amish farm in Pennsylvania. (Thank you, Gary, for sharing your awesome pix!) To everyone else…start captioning away!

 

 

Author Spotlight with Lynette Eason

Scroll down for a chance to win a copy of Lynette Eason’s book, Chasing Secrets. Winner will be announced in the next Author Spotlight feature. Congratulations to last week’s winner of A Matter of Trust, Heidi Madsen Robbins! Please e-mail your mailing address to my assistant Christen (christenkrumm@gmail.com).

Elite Guardians bodyguard Haley Callaghan may be in South Carolina, but when a photo leads investigators in West Ireland to open a twenty-five-year-old cold case, her life is suddenly in danger. Haley knows how to take care of herself; after all, she’s made a career out of taking care of others. But after an uncomfortably close call, Detective Steven Rothwell takes it upon himself to stay with her—and the young client she has taken under her wing. A protector at heart, he’s not about to let Haley fight this battle alone.

In a sweeping plot that takes them into long-buried memories—and the depths of the heart—Haley and Steven will have to solve the mystery of Haley’s past while dodging bullets, bombs, and bad guys who just won’t quit.

What part of the country do you consider home?

The southeast. I’m from South Carolina.

Currently, how big (or small) is your household?

There’s my husband and me and our two teens. One just finished up her first year of college and the second one is almost a junior in high school.

What do you do when you’re not writing?

I love photography and, of course, reading.

Friday’s Photo Caption Contest…Waiting for your Wit

First…sorry the picture was so small last week!

Second…it’s always so hard to choose just one caption winner because they’re all good! Sandy Arnold is last week’s winner. Email me with your mailing address and I’ll pop a signed book in the mail to you!

Here’s this week’s pix…I took it just two weeks ago in Brooks Falls, Alaska. Have fun with it!