Suzanne Woods Fisher's Blog, page 4

Here’s What I’m Doing this Fall

Considering the pandemic, heat waves, wildfires, power outages, some earthquakes that have jiggled the SF Bay Area, I’m ready to fill my mind and soul and heart with knowledge about a God who never changes, whose love endures forever.

I’ve signed up for Bible Study Fellowship, on-line. BSF is an international, non-denominational Bible study where classes around the world are studying the same lessons during the same week.

It is so good. So in-depth. So life changing. So faith building.

BSF has been around a long time. (I remember my mom doing BSF lessons on our dining room table.) Meeting on-line is somewhat new, though. Years ago, when my children were young, I did five of the studies. They became foundational years for me as a Bible student and as a young wife and mother. I’m eternally grateful for those years.

Currently, there are ten studies: Romans, Matthew, Isaiah, Acts, Genesis, and Revelation, the Life of Moses, John, People of the Promised Land 1 (Joshua, Ruth, Samuel, David, Solomon), and People of the Promised Land 2 (the divided kingdom and the minor prophets).

Genesis is this year’s study–one of my favorites, as it unfolds like a story, full of unsavory characters and unlikely heroes.

By inviting others, three of my friends, scattered around the country, have jumped online and signed up.

Friends, if you have ever wanted to attend BSF but couldn’t because of time schedules or because they didn’t offer in-person classes in your city or town, now is your chance! Go to BSF International and check it out. There are online Zoom classes offered all days of the week and at all various times. There’s sure to be one that will work for you. I know you won’t regret it.

Hope you’ll sign up! This is a good time for a good, in-depth Bible study.

 

Odd and awesome Little Free Libraries!

A few years ago, I added a Little Free Library out in front of my house. It’s more of a “community-builder” than I could’ve imagined! Neighbors stop to chat, strangers drop off books and become friends, children peek in to see what’s inside for them. And now there’s a second Little Free Library in my town.

I found a note in my mailbox recently from a woman I haven’t met yet, who just wanted to thank me for “running the Little Free Library on my property.” She added, “I greatly enjoy borrowing, returning, and contributing books.”

There’s just something about books…and the people who love books. They bring people together in the best way.

Something else that’s fun–friends send me pictures of interesting libraries they’ve come across. Here are a few unique and notable ones:

 

New York City

 

Venice Beach canals, California

 

Martinsville (Virginia, I think)

 

Vinylhaven, Maine

 

Honey Bee Island (somewhere in Canada)

 

Near Chicago

 

Austin, Texas

 

Treehouse…not sure where!

 

If you happen upon any Little Free Libraries, please send me your pix!

Utterly Confusing Proverbs That Leave You Scratching Your Head

As the title suggests, there are some old proverbs that are thoroughly baffling. But on a closer look, you’ll find they actually make sense. Like this one…

I received a bunch of emails yesterday after this proverb went out, asking what it meant! It’s another way of saying that it’s best to let a person, or a day, prove itself.

I find these Penn Dutch proverbs in old books, some of which are printed in the German dialect. The translation can get lost as it converts to modern English…and modern thinking. For the most part, they reflect a farmer’s life from the 18th or 19th century.  This year, I’ve been adding the meaning to a proverb when it’s really puzzling. Like this one…

Proverbs are meant to make you think, or to inspire you, or maybe to just start your day with a smile.

If you haven’t subscribed to the Penn Dutch proverbs, give them a try! It’s easy to unsubscribe…but I have a hunch you’re going to enjoy them. And feel free to share your feedback. It’s always welcome.

Click here to subscribe to a daily proverb to your inbox: https://bit.ly/3fF5Xh1

 

 

 

⚡ FLASH SALE On a Coastal Breeze⚡

If you’re needing a great summer read, look no further! I’m super excited On a Coastal Breeze is on deep discount for one day only! Travel to Three Sisters Island and enjoy this fun beachy read!

More about On a Coastal Breeze:

For Madison Grayson, life is good. Newly licensed as a marriage and family therapist, she can’t wait to start her practice. Despite the unfortunate shortage of eligible bachelors on the island–they’re all too young, too old, or too weird–Maddie feels like she’s finally found her sweet spot. Not even one panic attack in the last year. Not one.

And then Ricky O’Shea drops in. Literally. Floating down from the pure blue sky, the one man in the world she hoped never to see again–the one who’d been her archnemesis from kindergarten through her senior dance–parachutes into town, landing on Boon Dock, canopy draping behind him like a superhero. Ricky O’Shea. Now Pastor Rick, the new minister on Three Sisters Island.

Time to panic.

With wit and a bit of whimsy, bestselling author Suzanne Woods Fisher invites you back to Three Sisters Island where family, forgiveness, and a second chance at love await.

Grab your copy here.

#1 Amazon Best Seller…and it’s practically FREE!

Stitches in Time, book 3 in the ‘Deacon’s Family’ series, is only 79 cents as an e-book! But hurry…it’s only available at that bargain price for a limited time.

Grab a copy here!

More about Stitches in Time: 

Detachment had worked well as a life strategy for horse trainer Sam Schrock. Until he met Mollie Graber . . .

New to Stoney Ridge, schoolteacher Mollie has come to town for a fresh start. Aware of how fleeting and fragile life is, she wants to live it boldly and bravely. When Luke Schrock, new to his role as deacon, asks the church to take in foster girls from a group home, she’s the first to raise her hand. The power of love, she believes, can pick up the dropped stitches in a child’s heart and knit them back together.

Mollie envisions sleepovers and pillow fights. What the 11-year-old twins bring to her home is anything but. Visits from the sheriff at midnight. Phone calls from the school truancy officer. And then the most humiliating moment of all: the girls accuse Mollie of drug addiction.

There’s only one thing that breaks through the girls’ hardshell—an interest in horses. Reluctantly and skeptically, Sam Schrock gets drawn into Mollie’s chaotic life. What he didn’t expect was for love to knit together the dropped stitches in his own heart . . . just in time.

Suzanne Woods Fisher invites you back to the little Amish church of Stoney Ridge for a touching story of the power of love.

Buy One, Give One

I live in northern California, where the Quarantine has been in effect for nearly five weeks. Life is verrrrryyyyy limited…but I still want to help our country’s current well-being and its recovery.
(Because we will recover from this pandemic!)

So I had an idea…

During the month of April, if you pre-order a copy of On a Coastal Breeze from the Baker Book House (30% off list price plus free shipping!), I will donate a copy to your church or public library.*

Together, we support an Indie bookstore and help local libraries.




All you need to do is to pre-order from Baker Book House (click here), then fill out a short form with your library’s mailing address (please please please double-check the address!). Then, when On a Coastal Breeze releases on May 5th, the books will be shipped out. Pronto.

Together, we can make a difference.

Stay home, stay safe, stay well!

COVID-19 Virtual Author Visits for Teachers

Hoping you are staying well! And sane.

My daughter and her husband, both teachers, are scrambling to adjust to virtual teaching because of the need to close schools due to COVID-19. Through Bookbub, I learned of an author’s idea to help teachers and thought I’d do the same with my own circle of author-friends.

A wholesome bunch!

There are so many amazing authors (such as Bill Myers, Angela Hunt, James Hannibal, and more—see the full list here!) who are willing to do a virtual classroom author visit for students through meeting platforms (like Zoom or Skype). These generous authors will share their writing journey and expertise with your students.  Free! No strings attached.

Here’s how it works:

The teacher will contact the author to schedule the virtual visit. During the virtual visit, the teacher will manage the call and the students. (Aka…control the mute button!) A suggestion: Have 5-10 prepared questions for the author and limit the time frame. Speaking of the clock…these authors live all over the country, so keep that in mind when you schedule the call.

You can contact the authors through their websites or reach out to me or my assistant Christen Krumm for more information.

And here’s a couple of additional resources to help teachers (and parents!) get through this quarantine period:

Author and speaker Erin Weidemann has a podcast on K-Love to help parents set up and manage school at home.
Author Kate Messner has put together a list of teaching resources on her website that’s worth checking out.
A shout out to Mo Willems who offers Lunch Doodles with Mo each day for kids through the Kennedy Center.

Hands washed. Hands lifted. Pray on! Together, we’ll get through this.

Working from Home? (Aren’t we all?!)

Are you suddenly working from home?

If so, there’s a lot on your shoulders!

Trying to keep up with work AND care for/homeschool children AND create some kind of work/life separation AND tamp down rising anxiety over Coronavirus.

But once it settles into a groove, and with a little flexibility, you might find yourself embracing this new “working-from-home” reality.

Here’s a few tips to help, gleaned from my 30 years of working at home (while raising 4 kids!):

Work when you’re most productive. For me, it’s early in the morning before anyone else in the household is awake. One writer friend is a night owl. She’s just finishing up to head to bed as I’m waking up to start my day.

Set ground rules for your family. Create clear expectations with your spouse, and even with your school-age children.

Make a stoplight to use while you’re working.
Red means STOP. Green means OK to interrupt. Yellow…check first.

Keep a dedicated work space. It can be done! I work in a ridiculously tiny laundry room.

Kids need routine. Structure your day, and their day, and stick to it. Include plenty of breaks. Afternoon rest/reading time was non-negotiable when my kids were home.

Reserve screen time for children for times when you are on a call or need some uninterrupted time.

Create Boredom Beater boxes for your children. Fill them with goodies or a surprise or quiet activities.

Organize tasks to suit your capabilities. I’m more creative in the morning, so that’s when I write. I save the afternoon for interruptible tasks.

Make social media a little harder to dive into.
For example, don’t open your Facebook tab unless you’re taking a break.

Don’t be too hard on yourself! It can take a while to figure out what’s working and what isn’t. But you’ll figure it out.

Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt Stop #23

Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt Stop #23

Welcome to the Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt! If you’ve just discovered the hunt, be sure to start at Stop #1, and collect the clues through all the stops, in order, so you can enter to win one of our top 5 grand prizes!

• The hunt BEGINS on 3/12 at noon MST with Stop #1 at LisaTawnBergren.com.

• Hunt through our loop using Chrome or Firefox as your browser (not Explorer).

• There is NO RUSH to complete the hunt—you have all weekend (until Sunday, 3/15 at midnight MST)! So take your time, reading the unique posts along the way; our hope is that you discover new authors/new books and learn new things about them.

• Submit your entry for the grand prizes by collecting the CLUE on each author’s scavenger hunt post and submitting your answer in the Rafflecopter form at the final stop, back on Lisa’s site. Many authors are offering additional prizes along the way!

Welcome to my tiny little piece of the web!

My name is Suzanne Woods Fisher. I enjoy writing stories that take you to places you’ve never visited — ones with characters that seem like old friends. But most of all, I want to write books that make readers think, long after they’ve finished reading.

My newest release is a women’s fiction title called On a Coastal Breeze. It’s the second in my ‘Three Sisters Island’ series, a story about the Grayson family. Paul Grayson has a sense that his young adult daughters are growing estranged, so he does something drastic. He buys a bankrupt island off the coast of Maine.

On a Summer Tide kicks off the series, as the daughters head up to Maine, thinking their dad has premature senility. But don’t count this dad out too quickly. There’s just something about this island that makes his daughters slow down and rethink a few things.

Book 2, On a Coastal Breeze, shows the family is settling into island life, particularly Maddie, the middle daughter.

Here’s a sneak peek:

For Madison Grayson, life is good. Newly licensed as a marriage and family therapist, she can’t wait to start her practice. Despite the unfortunate shortage of eligible bachelors on the island–they’re all too young, too old, or too weird–Maddie feels like she’s finally found her sweet spot. Not even one panic attack in the last year. Not one.

And then Ricky O’Shea drops in. Literally. Floating down from the pure blue sky, the one man in the world she hoped never to see again–the one who’d been her archnemesis from kindergarten through her senior dance–parachutes into town, landing on Boon Dock, canopy draping behind him like a superhero. Ricky O’Shea. Now Pastor Rick, the new minister on Three Sisters Island.

Time to panic…

********

There’s just something about an island, don’t you think? Large or small, it’s a genuine escape from reality. A world apart from the ordinary. Islands aren’t easy to get to, or convenient, plus they require loads of advance planning (groceries, for one!) due to geographical limitations. Yet, somehow, once you’re there, you don’t want to leave.

So what happens to you on an island? I think it’s your soul. It finds rest.

We all need that kind of “soul rest” found on an island. It’s a fundamental need God hardwired into our bodies, minds, and souls, one He modeled by resting after Creation. Science confirms the need for bodies to have time off from workouts to the point where you can stall fitness—or worse, reverse it when you don’t give your body a day of rest.

That scientific finding isn’t just for our bodies, but also for our minds. I’m kind of an Energizer bunny-type—I keep going and going and going, even on vacation. I’ve been known to wake up at 4 am and slip quietly off somewhere with my computer, to hit my word count before the day gets underway.

But then a curious thing happened. Two years ago, I explored remote islands off the coast of Maine to research the ‘Three Sisters Island’ series. The minute I stepped off the ferry and onto the island, magic began. Crisp ocean air acted like an elixir, curing everything. The stress I brought along with me started to evaporate, like a wisp of steam from a cup of hot tea. I felt happier, more positive, more balanced. Locals, I noticed, had a nonchalant attitude toward time. Ironically, there seemed to be plenty of it. I appreciated the little things—finding seashells, watching waves, gazing at stars. Life just started to slow down.

The experience changed me, and it changed the stories.

Here’s the tricky thing I’ve been working on ever since that first research trip. Is it possible to bring that island-sense-of-well-being back home and into the daily grind? It’s not easy, and it takes intention to prioritize soul-rest, but I think it can be done. I know it can. And if I can do it, you can do it.

Tonight, try to re-claim that island feeling. Turn your phone to silent. Linger over dinner. After the dishes are put away, pick up a book, one like On a Coastal Breeze, that gives you a dose of summer by the sea.

After all, there’s just something about an island—any island—that’s good for your soul.

Here’s the Stop #23 Basics:

If you’re interested, you can order On a Coastal Breeze on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, CBD or at your local bookstore!

Clue to Write Down: even

Link to Stop #24, the Next Stop on the Loop: Elizabeth Goddard’s site!

But wait! Before you go, I’m offering  3 copies of On a Summer Tide — book one in my Three Sisters Island series— to 3 lucky winners! All you have to do to enter is sign up via the Rafflecopter below to get my e-newsletter (or note that you’re already a subscriber). Additional points for those who follow me as an author on BookBub, Facebook, GoodReads, or on Instagram! And more points if you sign up for the daily Amish Proverbs! (USA only)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hillbilly Amish

Just when you think you understand the Older Order Amish, they surprise you.

To the outsider, the Old Order Amish seem to be a one-size-fits-all package. From state to state, town to town, they sound alike (Penn Dutch is a German dialect brought from European immigrants in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries). They look alike—clothing that resembles early American Quaker clothing (though the Amish are not related to the Quakers). And they certainly act alike—preferring horse and buggy over cars. No electricity in their homes. Nor telephones.

But look again and you’ll discover startling variations among the Amish…

Read the full post on More to Life Intersection here.