Becky Wade's Blog, page 114

Cover Reveal

The cover for the third book in the Hanger’s Horsemen series is here!

Luke Davenport’s story is one step closer to publication! I’ve been polishing up the revisions this past month, and I can’t wait to share Preach’s story with you. While we wait for the book itself, I’m excited to reveal the cover art. The Bethany House team did another stellar job. This cover is very reminiscent of the first cover in the series with the hero front and center. What do you think?

This cover went through a few small revisions in its journey to perfection. Below on the left is the original cover my publisher sent me. I liked the model and the background was gorgeous, but it didn’t really tell a story. It was a little too static. So I asked if there were a way to create more of a sense of movement and story. They came back with Version 2. Seeing more of the hunky model was a plus, but what really got my attention was the addition of the three cowboys in the distance. Such a small thing, but it was genius. Exactly what this cover needed. Are they the other three Horsemen racing to join Preach in his fight for justice? Or are they the gang of rustlers causing havoc in Madisonville, TX? Could be either one. You decide!

The last change I asked for was in the color of his vest and hat. In the current version, the brown vest and light tan hat are nearly identical to the ones worn by the model for the first book in the series. I wanted the men to feel distinct and carry their own personalities. So in the final version, you will see that the vest is blue and the hat is a darker shade of brown. Just the type of change I was looking for! They also added a bit more vegetation in the foreground for an extra pop of color. I’m so pleased with the final product!

My inspiration for Preach’s physical appearance was a cross between two football players—one from my generation and one who is actively playing. Howie Long and JJ Watt. I think the model they found pairs well with the image I was envisioning.

Now that the series is complete, I thought you would enjoy seeing all the covers side-by-side.

They look good together, don’t you think? Which cover is your favorite of the series?

Christmas Reading Reward

Every year I set aside the time from Thanksgiving week through New Year’s Day to read Christmas-themed novels. It’s one of the ways I enjoy the season. However, this year my Christmas reading can’t start until Dec. 1, the day I turn in my book. And so Christmas reading will be my reward for finishing. Only I had no idea how motivating this would turn out to be!

Three of my (many) favorite authors have Christmas books releasing this year! Although I confess I already have—and have read!—one of them.

Karen Witemeyer’s Under the Texas Mistletoe showed up in my mailbox in September and I couldn’t resist! I devoured the first of the three novellas, “A Texas Christmas Carol.” In truth, I read the other two in their previously published versions, but I may dip into them again in December because I still remember how much I loved them both.

Then I discovered that both Becky Wade and Susan May Warren have Christmas-themed books coming—and both are releasing at the end of November!

Be. Still. My. Heart.

Becky’s book, You and Me, is set in the town of her current series, Misty River. I can’t wait revisit it during the holidays.

Susan May Warren’s Have Yourself a Christiansen Christmas returns to the place and people I have come to adore–the Christiansen family of Deep Haven. They truly feel like real people to me. Reading this book will feel like catching up with old friends.

You can bet I pre-ordered them both!

There will be plenty more Christmas books that find their way to my list in December, but knowing these will be waiting for me at the finish line will get me through those last few days of revisions. The hardest part will be deciding which one of them to read first!

Visiting Bridges (and a book deal!)

One of the first stops Ken and I made in our recent six-weeks-long trip was Winterset, Iowa, home of the covered bridges of Madison County and the setting for my newest novel, Bridges. (KEEP READING FOR A DEAL ON BRIDGES TODAY ONLY!)

We’d visited Winterset several times during the years our youngest son attended college in Iowa. And the charming town that inspired the bestselling novel The Bridges of Madison County was also the inspiration for my novel (although Robert Waller’s book “inspired” my own novel in a little different way than you might imagine. I don’t want to give any spoilers, so you’ll have to read Bridges to find out what I mean by that.)

You can’t drive across the covered bridges, but it was fun parking our camper in such a way that it looked like we did!

Ken noticed this patch of chicory growing near Holliwell Bridge. I loved the juxtaposition of the inspiration for both my Chicory Inn Novels series and Bridges, so had to snap a pic from this perspective:

Our entry into Winterset was the same as my hero, J.W. McRae’s, in Bridges. Here’s the first paragraph of the book and the exact spot where it takes place in real life.

J.W. McRae braked at the stop sign where St. Charles dead-ended at Clark Tower Road. He shifted his pickup into Park and rested his forearms atop the steering wheel, his chest constricting. If he didn’t know better he’d think he was having a heart attack.

Those of you who’ve already read Bridges know that there’s a special reason that the bridge pictured on the cover of my novel is NOT one of the Bridges of Madison County. But I love how this interior of Holliwell Bridge echoes the cover Ken designed for my book:

And now for that special offer! The e-book for Bridges is only $1.99 if you grab your copy TODAY! Click on the image below to get this special deal:

Speaking of bridges, less than an hour north of Winterset, Ken and I got to ride our bikes across the incredible, half-mile-long High Trestle Bridge near Madrid, Iowa. The artist/architect who designed this bridge was brilliant!

And for a better idea of just how high and long that trestle is, here’s what it looks like from the highway below!

We saw a lot of other bridges on our trip, but I think these in Iowa were my favorite!

Again, don’t forget to grab your copy of the Bridges e-book for $1.99 and I hope you have a wonderful day!

Researching?

If you’re going to write historical fiction, it helps to enjoy doing research, which I really do! This past weekend, I set out on a fun trip with my husband, not intending for it to be a research trip. But since I can’t seem to stop looking for insights and tidbits to add to my stories, it ended up being a little bit of a research trip after all.

My husband Ken has been a car buff for as long as I’ve known him, which is more than 50 years. A few years ago, he joined The Vintage Car Club of Holland through friends of ours who own a Model A Ford. Our “not-quite-vintage-yet” car is a 2003 Mazda Miata, which still runs great at nearly 20 years old. This weekend, the car club reserved a tour bus, and about 50 of us visited several car collections, some of them private, and others, like the fantastic Stahls Automotive Collection in Chesterfield, Michigan, that were open to the public. Of course, we also laughed and dined like kings and stayed overnight in a great hotel, so all of that would have made it a fun trip. But I also learned a couple of things along the way.

First, I saw how passionate vintage car collectors are! Their enthusiasm for taking a rusted-out hulk and transforming it into a show-worthy car was inspiring. Restoring vintage cars can be a very expensive and time-consuming hobby, yet apparently addictive. Not one of the collectors wanted to stop after restoring one car. And the results were simply beautiful. Plus, they are capturing an important piece of history that shouldn’t be forgotten.

That’s the second thing I learned—a little bit about the history of the car industry. Everyone knows Henry Ford, of course, but there were many others who contributed wonderful innovations. I noticed that the earliest cars looked like carriages without the horses, hence the name “horseless carriages.”

We might still be riding in those bulky contraptions if not for engineers and designers who figured out how to streamline cars and make them more beautiful. And faster, much to the delight of Ken and his fellow Nascar fans.

Have you ever heard the expression “that’s a doozy!” Well, another thing I learned was that the expression came into use because of this car, a Duesenberg. It was such an exceptionally beautiful vehicle in its day that people would see it and remark, “That’s a Duesey!” (I love fun facts about our language!)

I enjoyed looking at all of these beautiful antique cars and imagining the characters in my books driving around in them. The novel I’m currently writing takes place in the Gilded Age when cars were just coming into use, so the timing of this trip was perfect. And the last stop on our journey just happened to be at a beautiful Gilded Age mansion in Marshall, Michigan. Look at these gorgeous hand-painted ceilings and walls! And gowns! I was in research heaven!

Of course, I have no idea how much of what I saw and learned will end up on the pages of my novel. Any writer will tell you that only about 10-20% of all their research ever makes it into the finished book. But our vintage car excursion has certainly helped me picture a few gorgeous settings and vehicles for when I’m creating future scenes. I hope readers will “see” them, too.

Is there a favorite time period that you enjoy traveling to through books?

Inspired by Scripture

This Sunday feature is brought to you by ClashVerseoftheDay.com. You may sign up to receive a beautiful photo with Scripture in your inbox each morning or view the verse each day online.

Happy Anniversary, Inspired by Life and Fiction

Photo by Daniel Huniewicz on Unsplash

Ten years ago tomorrow (October 17, 2011), Tamera Alexander and I launched a new group author blog with eight other writers. We called it Writes of Passage and it was hosted on Blogger. Over two years later, it became obvious the blog would be better served if it had its own website. I no longer remember if the website name (writesofpassage) was already in use or if we simply wanted a new name that better identified who we are. Whatever the reason for the change of name, in March 2014 we became Inspired by Life and Fiction and debuted in this location.

The roster has changed very little through the years. When we started the blog, we had ten authors, each blogging twice a month, Monday through Friday. In 2019, I decided to become a “bonus day” blogger, which increased our roster to eleven.

Thanks so much to Tamera, Cara, Deborah, Becky, Julie, Lynn, Jody, Karen, Dani, and D’Ann for creating a wonderful place for readers to meet with us. 

And thanks to all of you, our readers, for your participation. When you comment, when you join in, you make the experience even better. We appreciate you.

Happy Anniversary, and here’s to the next ten years!

~robin

A Few Reasons Why I Gave Self-Publishing a Try

Recently, I got an email from Allyson, young, aspiring writer. She had a great question that I thought I’d answer here on the blog today. Her question was this: “I can’t decide whether I want to self-publish or traditional publish . . . I know you’ve done both, and I’ve been curious why you self-publish your YA books?”

To self-publish or go with a traditional publisher, that is the question these days, isn’t it?

I can speak to the traditional side of things since I’ve published over two dozen novels with four different traditional publishers. I can also speak to the indie side of the equation since I’ve now released a dozen indie books. I’m what is known as a hybrid author, one who has her feet firmly planted in both the traditional and indie publishing worlds.

I started off in traditional publication before self-publishing came of age. And being the driven and ambitious personality that I am, I knew almost from the start of the indie explosion that I wanted to give it a try. There were many reasons why, but here are just a few that drew me:

1. More publishing opportunities: I’m a prolific writer, mainly because I love telling stories and always feel at my best when I’m writing the first draft of a book. Thus, my writing output exceeds the needs of traditional publishers. The indie route allows me to put out as many books as I want.

2. More control of the process: While there are many benefits to working with a traditional publisher (that is an entire post of itself!), I’ve also learned that I enjoy having the final say on many aspects of the publication process. With indie publishing, I get to nitpick at my covers until they’re exactly what I like. I get to set the prices that feel right to me. I get to determine the publication schedule that works best for my life.

3. More control of the content: With traditional publication, when contract renewals come around, I have to work within my publisher’s parameters to find new book ideas that will be acceptable to them. However, with indie publishing, I can write about whatever sounds fun to me, including carrying on series.

As I said, those are just a few among many reasons I choose to indie publish. But that doesn’t answer Allyson’s question completely, since she wanted to know why I chose to self-publish my YA books.

The answer is actually a little complicated (so I’ll give you the very abridged version!). My first YA series, the Uncertain Choice Series, was published by Zondervan. After finishing the first contract with them, I had an idea for another series (my Lost Princess Series), but Zondervan wanted something a little different. Rather than give up what I was passionate about writing, I declined their contract and decided to write the next series on my own.

Ever since, I’ve loved being able to have the complete freedom to write the YA books that I enjoy. So I’ve continued to publish them independently. In fact, I’m working on a brand new six-book series, Knights of Brethren. Book one, Enamored, hits shelves in just a few weeks!

What about YOU? What other advice would you give (from either a writer’s or reader’s perspective) about traditional or indie publishing?

Fall in its Images

It’s taken awhile, but it’s finally beginning to feel like fall in Indiana. I love the transition from the heat of summer into the crisp air and chilled temperatures. There’s something satisfying about sliding in the third of four seasons.

In the last two weeks, I’ve had two novellas release. Dangerous Pursuits released on the 12th, and is a collection of 15 novellas by a host of top romantic suspense authors. The collection is 99¢ through the end of this week, then it launches to $9.99. If you’ve been eyeing it, now is the time to buy. You can click on the image or link to go to my website with its links to different sellers.

One of the things I love about fall is the colors that appear in the fields around us. There’s something about the sunshiny yellow of these daisy like flowers that just make me smile.

The trees are starting to change too…My absolute favorite part of fall. The explosion of colors lets me know that the trees are preparing for winter and that we get one last color show.

This last photo is a small reminder of beauty that popped up in the cracks of our patio. We have an explosion of flowers in containers around our patio, but this little bloom decided to jump ship and take root in the narrowest of cracks. It’s a reminder that God can bring beauty in the most unlikely places. I smile every time I look at it.

What’s your favorite part of fall?

Giveaway – 10/10/21 – 10/16/21

A Bushel of Books for Fall

Who doesn’t love the idea of curling up with a new book on a cool fall evening? I’ve joined with over 40 other authors to offer a HUGE prize package of books to help you kick off the fall reading season.

There are nearly 50 titles, including books by Elizabeth Ludwig, Suzanne Woods Fisher, Rachel Fordham, Lacy Williams, Jill Kemerer, Lenora Worth, and dozens more. My Under the Texas Mistletoe is part of the package as well.

Click here to enter.

Hope you win!

Go In Peace: Why “Happily Ever After” Matters

Hi friends!

Happy Wednesday. I’ve got a treat for you today. The lovely Kristy Cambron is sharing a guest post about peace today. I don’t know about you, but I feel we all can use more peace in our lives. If you aren’t familiar with Kristy or her books, run—don’t walk—to your nearest bookstore or online retailer. Her books are deeply researched and brimming with emotion and beautiful authenticity. Enjoy!

Go ahead. Give me the super-secret ending for that next big movie, Netflix series, or the book everybody is talking about. . . I won’t be upset. Why? I guess it’s time to confess something very difficult for a storyteller to admit:

I love spoilers.

I know! Storytelling logic says this goes against everything we book lovers love about a great story. We want those compelling characters. A pulse-pounding plot. A really memorable story that if told well, will be one that both changes and challenges us, and moves us in some way. And yes, whether we know it or not. . . we want the spoilers in some form because we want to know it’s all going to work out in the end.

Here’s why that “Happily Ever After” ending matters to me, and why it probably does to you too.

Stories have a rhythm. You drop the main characters into the action right away. You give them motivation—a problem to fix or a journey to take. And along the way, the reader or viewer or audience member experiences that journey through the characters’ eyes. We embark on the adventure with them! And I don’t know about you, but especially in seasons where I’ve felt like my own life has fallen out of rhythm, I crave the happily ever after end.

Now, this isn’t about avoiding the plot twists. And it’s not about knowing which characters live or die. It’s not even about control (though I know you could argue this spoilers-loving storyteller might want a little of it in knowing what’s coming). More than anything, knowing the end of the story allows us to see how the characters find peace even in peaceless circumstances. And that tells us we can do the same.

One of my favorite quotes is attributed to Billy Graham: “I’ve read the last page in the Bible. It’s all going to turn out alright.”

I love that! And here’s why that one thought is so powerful: Jesus knew we needed peace in our lives and He came to earth so we might have it. The greatest story ever told has an end. And we know what it is. And whether we’re a reader or storyteller (or both), that end brings peace regardless of the peaceless circumstances that may surround us.

In John 14:27, Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (NIV)

The word Jesus uses to reference peace here in the New Testament is often used in connection to the Hebrew word for peace in the Old Testament (see Numbers 6:24-27). It has a two-fold definition, meaning: physical safety (external peace) and spiritual wholeness with God (the peace inside of us).
Jesus is telling his disciples (and us, as we read His words) that regardless of what’s happening on the outside of our lives—the circumstances we often can’t control—He can bring us peace on the inside. And that peace means whatever happens in our story, we know where the end is. We know true peace. We know that “Happily Ever After” isn’t a fairy tale or a nice item to have on the wish list of our lives.

Peace is real. It’s available. And in the greatest stories, we always find it in the end.

Go in peace today!

KRISTY CAMBRON is a vintage-inspired storyteller writing from the space where art, history, and faith intersect. She’s a Christy Award-winning author of historical fiction, including her bestselling debut, The Butterfly and the Violin, and nonfiction, including the Verse Mapping Series of Bibles and Bible studies. Her work has been named to Cosmopolitan’s Best Historical Fiction Novels of 2021, Publishers Weekly Religion & Spirituality TOP 10, Library Journal Reviews’ Best Books, RT Reviewers’ Choice Awards, received multiple INSPY Award nominations, and a 2020 Christy Award for her novel, The Painted Castle. You can connect with her at: kristycambron.com

KRISTY CAMBRON:
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