Marion Ueckermann's Blog, page 2

On an Africa Book Safari with Marion Ueckermann

During the month of October, a group of  authors, who either live in Africa or are rooted in this amazing continent, are teaming up for an exciting adventure.

We’re going on an Africa Book Safari! Together, we will discover some of the rich, diverse colors and nuances of Africa through stories, devotions, and memoirs, all set in Africa. What’s more, because we are writers, we would like to invite you all to come along with us!

For free!

We will be traveling together in a blog hop through various blog posts featuring fiction and non-fiction books, all centered in Africa. Our Safari Guide will be interviewing each of us, and we invite you to listen in as we chat about ourselves and our books. You will find the interviews on the author’s own sites, as well as posted on one another’s blogs or websites.

So come along and join in the fun! And here comes our guide who will be taking us on our safari.

Safari Guide: Hi! I believe you’re Marion Ueckermann, is that correct?

Marion: That’s me. And you, I presume, are going to be our Tour Leader for this great time. What should we call you?

Safari Guide: You can call me Mr. Africa!

Are you all comfortable? Please buckle up your seat-belts. Starting today, I plan to show you all different angles to this continent.

Marion, it’s your turn to sit up front with me. Everyone, let’s go discover Africa!

As our large safari landrover moves away from the buildings and
heads into the wilds of Africa, Mr. Africa swings in his seat to face me.

Safari Guide / Mr. Africa: So, Marion, tell me a bit about yourself. Have you always lived in Africa?

Marion: No, I was born in Zambia. When I was 5 ½ , my parents returned to South Africa and settled in a small mining town in what was then known as the North Eastern Transvaal. I grew up in a very hot town called Phalaborwa, right beside the Kruger National Park. We did have wild animals breaking through the fence on the odd occasion and roaming the streets.

Then, when I turned forty, my husband, Noel, and I emigrated to Ireland with our two sons. We weren’t coming back. Eighteen months later, God opened a way and we returned to South Africa. We’ve lived in the eastern suburbs of the capital city, Pretoria, for the past seventeen years and are now setting our sights on our retirement in around six years when we will move down to the Western Cape to be closer to our children and grandchildren.

Mr. Africa: And what family do you have?

Marion: Hubby and I have two married sons—Ryan and Kyle. From Ryan and his wife, Amy, we have two gorgeous grandsons aged 9 ½ and almost 6, and a granddaughter arriving on November 18th. They will be moving to Cape Town in December. My youngest son, Kyle, is married to a Finnish girl, Tiialotta, and they live in Stellenbosch near Cape Town. They don’t have any children yet…they’re too busy saving the world.

Mr. Africa: Marion, did you always want to be a writer? Or what prompted you to start writing?

Marion: In my late thirties, I got a yearning to write. When we lived in Ireland, I began to pen my heartaches of emigration into poetry. A few years after we moved back to South Africa, I wrote my first, unpublished, novel. In 2014, I published my first novella with Pelican Book Group, and a few months later, began indie publishing my work. In 2016, God called me to give up the corporate world, company car, and pension plan, and write full time for Him. I haven’t regretted it for one moment.

Mr. Africa: What genre do you write in, and why?

Marion: I write contemporary Christian romances, mostly between 35,000 and 65,000 words long — it all depends on the project requirements, or the actual story. If I’m not bound by word length on joint projects, then the story is as long as it needs to be.

Mr. Africa: What book are you going to be sharing with us during this safari? Tell us a little about it. What inspired this particular story or topic?

Marion: I’m sharing The Other You, set in the winelands of Stellenbosch at the southernmost tip of Africa. Stellenbosch is a place close to my heart because, as I said, my youngest son lives there. It is also such a quaint university town surrounded by the most incredible wineries.

I love seeing how God works to create a story, and The Other You has a fascinating story. I hope you don’t mind me jabbering on about this for a while. It’s a bit of a tale.

Backtrack to the beginning of 2013. I was still unpublished and visiting my sister on her farm, about ninety minutes from where I live. As we sat around the kitchen table, my brother-in-law, Danie, said to me, “So when are you going to get published?” I went on to explain that publishing wasn’t that simple and that it was difficult to get your books seen by a publisher. As we chatted I happened to mention that I really wanted to write a book set in the winelands of South Africa. Danie got up and disappeared, soon returning with an Afrikaans version of the Farmer’s Weekly magazine, open to the story of South African wine farmer, Philip Jonker. In the article, Philip told of how God undertook for his family and their hundred year old family vineyards during the farm uprisings of 2012. That was the beginning of a story idea that started forming in my mind.

I found the wine farm’s website and emailed Philip to tell him how fascinating I found his story. He emailed me back and sent me ALL the correspondence between him and his church during the uprisings. It was an amazing tale of God’s goodness and protection.

The farm uprisings formed an important part of The Other You, and with Philip’s permission, I wrote some scenes based on his experiences. I have to say that The Other You is one of my favorite stories I’ve published. I based certain scenes in this story in this beautiful cellar at my favorite Stellenbosch wine farm, Waterford.

Mr. Africa: Marion, it sounds exciting, and I’m looking forward to reading it myself. You obviously have a deep love for this land. What in particular makes Africa so special for you?

Marion: Family first, obviously, and just the people of South Africa — they’re so warm and friendly, and so diverse. As I said in the first poem I wrote called The Emigrant’s Lament, “Africa will always be in my blood.” I really realized that during the time we lived in Ireland.

Mr. Africa turns off the landrover’s engine and whispers.

Mr. Africa: Everyone, be really quiet. There’s a lioness in the grass, stalking those impala in the open savanna ahead. Let’s park and watch for a while.

Suddenly the impala scatter. The lioness gives chase, then another, but soon both give up and disappear into longer grass.

Mr. Africa hands out refreshments for everyone to enjoy.

Mr. Africa: While we’re quenching our thirst, perhaps one of the other authors can join me in the front.

Marion, which do you prefer? Coffee or tea? Sweet or savory?

Marion: Tea please—Five Roses—in a mug with the milk in first (it really does make a difference). Oh, and a teaspoon of sugar. Thanks so much. A sweet koeksister is always welcome to nibble on—one must be crazy not to enjoy those traditional Cape Malay confectioneries made of fried dough infused in syrup or honey.

Here are the others participating in the safari. Greg Mackinnon, Ashley Winter, Lisa Harris, Anna Jensen,  Marion Ueckermann, Dianne J. Wilson, Val Waldeck, Harry Kraus, and Lynnette Bonner. Please, everyone, stay in the vehicle and visitors, feel free to visit us all! And don’t forget to join the Africa Book Safari taking place from Friday, October 25th to Monday, October 28th on Facebook 

Marion: VISITORS, don’t forget to come back here tomorrow and I’ll tell you where to go next on this blog hop! See you again at the Facebook safari!

Promos Abound

I have a couple of specials and promotions to share with you today.

A Hero for Heather (Seven Suitors for Seven Sisters Book 3) is discounted to $0,99 until today, Sunday, November 25th.

Love series? Click on the image below to link to a Series on Sale promotion this week and get your favorite series, each boxed in a neat little bundle, at discounted prices. You’ll find deals from the following authors: Valerie Comer, Autumn Macarthur, Alana Terry, Kimberly Rae Jordan, Leah Atwood, Shannon L. Brown, Kari Trumbo, Becky Doughty, Kit Morgan, Patricia PacJac Carrol, Hayley Wescott, Laurie Larsen, Lindi Peterson, Lynnette Bonner, Tammy Doherty, Ginger Solomon, Annie Boone, and of course, myself.

This is my series in the offering discounted for this week. Get it by Thursday…

Poles Apart is discounted to $0,99 until Cyber Monday, November 26th.

All these wonderful books are in our 12 Books of Christmas Promotion from November 23rd – 26th.

A Caffeine Conundrum by Angela Ruth Strong @ $1,99

Poles Apart by Marion Ueckermann @ $0,99

A Christmas Surprise by Kimberly Rose Johnson @ FREE

Together for Christmas by Autumn Macarthur @ $0,99

A Sanctuary Christmas Tale by Lisa Phillips @ $0,99

The Christmas Arrangement by Janette Foreman @ FREE with newsletter sign up

Christmas Surprises by Jenn Faulk @ FREE

A Picture Perfect Christmas by Candee Fick @ $0,99 (Fri/Sat) or $1,99 (Sun/Mon)

Christmas Snowe and Peppermint Cocoa by Joi Copeland @ $0,99

A Honey of a Christmas by Jessica R. Patch @ $0,99

Golden Belles are Wringing by Gina Conroy @ $0,99

Love, Laughter, and Luminarias by Jaycee Weaver @ $0,99

Happy reading!

 

Another Book Baby!

Golly, I can’t keep up with myself. Hope you can.

On Tuesday, my second book in The Potter’s House series, went on pre-order. Recovering Hope will release on Tuesday, November 13th, and will remain at the special release price of just 99c until a week after release. Get your copy today, but first, a little more about this story…

In a single moment, a dream dies, and hope is lost.

Lovers of the ocean, Hope and Tyler Peterson long for the day they can dip their little one’s feet into the wild blue yonder and pass on their passion for the sea.

Despite dedicating her life to the rescue and rehabilitation of God’s sea creatures, when their dream dies, Hope can’t muster the strength to do the same for herself. Give her a dark hole to hide away from the world and she’d be happy…if happiness were ever again within her reach.

While Tyler is able to design technology that probes the mysteries of the deep, he’s at a loss finding a way to help Hope surface from the darkness that has dragged her into its abyss. He struggles to plan for their future when his wife can barely cope with the here and now.

If they can’t recover hope, their marriage won’t survive.

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“Recovering Hope is such an emotional story (have the tissues handy!) yet ultimately triumphant too. God’s love is stronger than even the worst human heartbreak we experience in this fallen world.” ~ Autumn Macarthur, Author

READ FOR FREE IN

New Release!

I’m so excited to let you know that this week I released A Time to Push Daisies in print. The ebook format released at the same time in the Somewhere Beyond the Blue box set. The set is available until October 15th at the special release price of just $0.99. A bargain for an assortment of five novels and novellas filled with silver-haired characters that will keep you entertained for hours. Warning: some stories require tissues!

Paula Marie of Fiction Full of Faith did an amazing review this week on A Time to Push Daisies. With her permission, I’m sharing that review with you today, but first, the blurb…

Not every woman is fortunate enough to find her soulmate. Fewer find him twice.

JoAnn Stanson has loved and lost. Widowed a mere eighteen months ago, JoAnn is less than thrilled when her son arranges a luxury cruise around the British Isles as an early birthday gift. She’s not ready to move on and “meet new people”.

Caleb Blume has faced death and won. Had it not been for an unexpected Christmas present, he would surely have been pushing up daisies. Not that the silver-haired landscape architect was averse to those little flowers–he just wasn’t ready to become fertilizer himself.

To celebrate his sixty-fourth birthday and the nearing two-year anniversary since he’d cheated death, Caleb books a cruise and flies to London. He is instantly drawn in a way that’s never happened before to a woman he sees boarding the ship. But this woman who steals Caleb’s heart is far more guarded with her own.

For JoAnn, so many little things about Caleb remind her of her late husband. It’s like loving the same man twice. Yet different.

Or is it?

MY POINT OF VIEW BY PAULA MARIE:

Ladies, get your tissues ready, you are going to need them…….in a good way, of course! I was excited to read a  love story for an older generation, and this story does not disappoint! So many romance novels these days are about characters in their 20’s, and don’t get me wrong, I love to read those too, but it is so nice to see that we older folks aren’t too old for love too! I was so enamored with Caleb and JoAnn, I found myself so many times at the edge of my seat unable to read this fast enough to get to the next part of this beautiful love story. This book has a lesson for all of us, from the young to the young at heart, we can all take away a new appreciation for God’s unending love!

Now, have you ever wanted to go on a European cruise? Visit Ireland, Scotland, London? Walk among the Standing Stones or cross over the Ha’penny bridge and all the other sites there are to see? My feet have never left the good ole’ USA, but I feel as though I have been on the most luxurious trip thanks Marion’s A Time to Push Daisies!  Not only did I get to set sail on an amazing cruise with my own butler, but I had the chance to fall in love…..with both the hero and the heroine in this beautiful story of love found later in life!

Another fun addition in reading this story of Marion’s – you get a to see some old friends, Caleb is of the Blume family, and JoAnn is a part of two earlier books (A Time to Laugh and A Time to Love, making this the third, any fan will remember:

PLUS – there is a recipe that I promise you will love if you like chocolate! I made them immediately after reading this story, and my hubs loved them!! I plan on making another batch while I get to read these 4 other stories in the box set, if the other stories are half as good as this one, I am really in for a treat this weekend – win / win!!

To read more great book reviews or fun and interesting interviews with your favorite authors, follow Paula on her blog, Fiction Full of Faith.

 

Dublin Doors

Back in 2015, I took part in an A-Z blog challenge. I decided to blog on my favorite topic, Travel, and picked a place for each daily blog starting with that particular letter. I did so well until I got to R and fell off the bandwagon. Or was it the globe? Anyway, time and responsibilities simply got away from me, and I failed to complete the challenge. But I was impressed with how far I did get amidst the mayhem that particular year brought.

Very soon, I’ll be releasing A Time to Push Daisies in the box set Somewhere Beyond the Blue (soon as in any day now). As my hero and heroine in this story spend a wonderful day in Dublin, I thought it would be fitting to repost my D blog from the A-Z challenge. So here you go…

There’s a protest song written and composed in 1962 by Malvina Reynolds called Little Boxes. When walking through the streets of Dublin, one might be tempted to start singing something similar…

“There’s a green one!”

“There’s a pink one!”

“There’s a blue one!”

“And a yellow one!”

In Dublin, however, one would not be singing about houses, you’d be tooting a tune about

the colorful doors that line the city’s streets. These doors have become an icon of Ireland and are found amongst other things on posters, coasters, placemats.

At one time, these famous portals, found on Georgian townhouses south of the Liffey river, were all painted the same color.

The story is told, whether true or not, that the fashion of painting these doors in a kaleidoscope of color started with two famous (and slightly eccentric) writers, George Moore and Oliver St John Gogarty who lived next to each other in Ely Place. Moore apparently painted his door green to prevent a drunken Gogarty from mistaking it as his own door. Gogarty retaliated and to prevent a drunken Moore from knocking at his door, painted his red.

Other tales of explanation involve a Dubliner coming home late one night intoxicated on the black stuff (Guinness). He stumbled into the wrong house and the wrong bed because the terrace houses were so similar. The women of Dublin painted their doors different colors the following morning. True or false…who knows?

Another story is that when Queen Victoria died, the Irish were ordered to paint their doors black in mourning. Instead, they painted their doors in the brightest colors possible.

The Irish love a good tale, but the official truth related to strict rules about making external changes to Dublin’s el

egant townhouse. Door color was the only thing they could change, hence the bring colors to create their own personal identities for their homes.

Whatever the reason, I’m glad they did. I have a thing about doors. I love them if they’re unusual, colorful, old. One of the most photographed items on our trip to Budapest in December was the incredibly unusual doors. The same went for Ireland when we lived in Dublin over a decade ago. Consequently, one of my favorite places to show off to visitors was Fitzwilliam Square and the Dublin Doors.

My rendition of the Dublin Doors poster isn’t quite as grand as the real thing, but here’s what I managed to create.

As it’s the Easter weekend, I thought I’d share a Scripture verse of a time when doorposts were painted red.

Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning. ~ Exodus 12:22

 

Featured Image: Pixabay.com/falco

Starting Over

Now that my website it totally updated (almost), I decided to be a little more active with a blog (well, at least once a week, on no particular day). But, because I’m so busy churning out books for my readers, and I already blog at Inspy Romance, I’m going to cheat a little and recycle the blogs I’ve posted here (well not here here as I’ve never gotten a blog off the ground on my website), there, and everywhere over the past couple of years. It’s one way of getting my blogs together in one place, and you may just stumble across a post you’ve never read before, or one you perhaps read a long time ago and would enjoy reading again.

So here’s to a blogging good future!

 

Image: Pixabay.com/rawpixel