Kerry Johnson's Blog, page 6

Author Interview & Giveaway: Jody Hedlund ~ Hearts Made Whole

I’m excited to share author Jody Hedlund’s latest release, Hearts Made Whole, and welcome her to my blog today! Fans of Jody’s books expect tender romance, rich historical detail, page-turning tension, and villains you love to hate, and Hearts Made Whole has all of those and more!

About Jody:

Jody Hedlund is an award-winning and bestselling author of inspirational historical romances including books for adults and youth. She currently makes her home in central Michigan with her husband and their five busy children.

As a busy mama-writer, she has the wonderful privilege of teaching her crew of 5 children at home. In between grading math papers and giving spelling tests, she occasionally does a load of laundry and washes dishes. When she’s not busy being a mama, you can find her in front of her laptop working on another of her page-turning stories.

She loves reading almost as much as she loves writing, especially when it also involves chocolate and coffee.

My Review:

Jody Hedlund’s second book in her Beacons of Hope series, Hearts Made Whole, is another tender, tense, and terrific historical romance.

Set in 1865 at Windmill Point Lighthouse on Lake St. Clair in Michigan, Hearts Made Whole is Caroline Taylor and Ryan Chamber’s story. Ryan is the brother of Love Unexpected’s heroine, Emma Chambers; he’s a physically and emotionally wounded Civil War veteran looking for a place to work and call home after the war’s end.

Heroine Caroline is faithfully fulfilling her late father’s livelihood–keeping the light–but is met with opposition because of her gender. Enter Ryan, with his honorable, war-damaged body and soul, and you have a dynamic mix of emotion and conflict between the main characters.

I appreciated the author not shying away from the reality and legacy of the Civil War and its wounds, both inner and outer, on the remaining soldiers. Ryan is a strong, likeable character, yet he struggles mightily with addictions and regrets, causing him to stumble over and over. Jody doesn’t sugar-coast PTSD but through the story gently shows the grace required to overcome the past.

Caroline is steady and strong, and as the oldest child, she’s determined to care for and protect her five siblings. The author creates strong and believable tensions between the Taylor family members and between Ryan and Caroline, who forge an unlikely friendship as they struggle to run the light and maneuver a tenuous situation at the lighthouse and in the duties required.

Jody is adept at creating page-turning romantic tension and stories that pull you right in and place you in the setting. I loved learning about the Lighthouse and this area in Michigan.

The friendship-turned-romance between Ryan and Caroline is realistic and sweet and honoring the Lord. This story holds a shocking twist that keeps the reader guessing, but Jody handled it carefully and still pulled off a sigh-worthy ending.

I particularly appreciated the realistic way Ryan’s healing process progresses from story beginning to end. The author didn’t try to make everything neat and tidy, but instead creates a realistic picture of healing and forgiveness.

You can’t go wrong with a Jody Hedlund romance. Hearts Made Whole comes highly recommended, and I look forward to Jody’s third book in the Beacons of Hope series about Caroline’s sister, Tessa.

***

1. Why lighthouses? What fascinates you about these shining beacons?

I’m fascinated with lighthouses for a number of reasons. First, my state of Michigan is home to the greatest concentration of lights in the United States. In fact, Michigan is noted as the state where the most lighthouses were erected. And now today, more than 120 remain compared to 500 total for the rest of the nation.

Not only are lighthouse beautiful and picturesque, but they bring back a sense of nostalgia, poignancy, and romance that few other historical markers do. They’re rich in historical details and stories. They’re wrought with danger and death. And they’re just plain fun to explore. Climbing the winding staircase, reaching the top, and peering out the tower windows (or in some cases going out onto the gallery) is breathtaking.

2. Hearts Made Whole is the second book in your Beacons of Hope series. How did you come up with the idea for the story?

Historical textbooks are full of stories about men like George Washington, Thomas Edison, Andrew Carnegie, and so many more.  And while such men are truly remarkable, all too often their stories overshadow equally courageous and remarkable women. One of my goals as an author is to help bring forgotten women of the past to life.

In the Beacons of Hope series, I’m focusing on historical women light keepers who have often been kept in the dark by the more prominent stories of their male counterparts.

As I researched for writing a lighthouse series, I came across a fantastic book called, Ladies of the Lights: Michigan Women in the U.S. Lighthouse Service. The book is a tribute to the approximately 50 or so women who served either as primary or assistant keepers in Michigan Lighthouses.

I based the heroine in Hearts Made Whole on one of those women light keepers. It’s my hope to bring her and the other women keepers out of the historical shadows and into the spotlight.

3. Many of the heroines in your books are inspired by real women. Is that true of the heroine in Hearts Made Whole? If so, what women provided inspiration?

The woman light keeper in Hearts Made Whole is inspired by Caroline Antaya. Caroline lived at the Mamajuda Lighthouse on the Detroit River a short distance away from Windmill Point Lighthouse.

Caroline’s husband served with honor in the Union army during the Civil War, losing several fingers on his hand at Gettysburg. Eventually after returning from the war, her husband was named as keeper of the Mamajuda Lighthouse, but he passed away of tuberculosis.

Part of what really impressed me about Caroline Antaya’s situation was that she had been doing a fantastic job as a light keeper. But the district lighthouse inspector trumped up charges against her saying that she was in ill-health and incompetent. He took away her position simply because she was a woman and gave it to a man instead. Fortunately, her community rose to her defense and enlisted the help of a Michigan Senator to help her get her position back and she went on to serve as a light keeper for another three years.

In those days, when women were regularly discriminated against because of gender, Caroline’s story is inspirational and an encouragement to persevere in the face of injustice. I admired Caroline’s will to stand up for herself and to pave the way for women coming after her to use their God-given talents and abilities in roles and jobs that had previously been closed to women.

4. Which scene in Hearts Made Whole was the most fun to write? Which was the hardest?

My favorite scene to write was the shaving scene, where Ryan is attempting to shave himself one-handed (due to his war injury), and he ends up doing a terrible job! Caroline offers to help him which leads to a very romantic scene of her lathering him up and having to spend plenty of time in close proximity.

The hardest part of the book to write was the scene where Caroline’s sister Tessa makes a BIG mistake (I can’t mention it otherwise I will spoil the story). But it was a heart-wrenching scene (and difficult to write tastefully and required lots of editing to get it just right).

5. You’re a prolific writer. Do you ever get writer’s block, and how do you work your way past it?

No, fortunately, I rarely get writer’s block. I give myself a daily word count of how much I need to write, and I stick to it as best as I can. Whatever amount I miss one day, I try to make up on another day of that week. Having the daily/weekly goals helps keep me going even when I’m not in the mood. However, if I ever get into a slump, I put in my earbuds and listen to music. The steady rhythm helps me block out distractions, inspires me, and often evokes strong emotions deep inside me.

6. Is there a particular Scripture verse that inspires you in your writing?

Among many, here’s one I aspire to live by: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.” (Ecc. 9:10) I believe in working responsibly and hard with the gifts we’ve been given.

7. What is your family up to these days?

My husband and I are celebrating 24 years of marriage this summer! Yay! My oldest son is graduating from high school and will be attending a private Christian college in the fall, Cedarville University in Ohio. My twins will be turning 16 during the summer and getting their driver’s licenses. Since they are involved in SO many activities, I’m looking forward to them driving themselves places! My youngest two children have completed 4th and 6th grade and are in an Adventures In Odyssey phase. I think they’ve listened to just about every episode that’s ever been made!

***

Jody, congratulations on your 24th anniversary! Thank you so much for sharing about your books, writing, and your family. I’m so looking forward to the third book in this series!

I’m offering a chance for readers to win a copy of Hearts Made Whole!

Please leave your name and email address in the comments below, or on the Facebook post, and answer this question: Have you ever visited a lighthouse? We’d love to hear about it!

The drawing is open from Saturday, June 13th, to Friday, June 19th. I’ll draw one name on Saturday, the 20th and post it here, then email the winner. (U.S. residents only, please.)

***

To connect with Jody on social media, check out these links:

I hang out on Facebook here: Author Jody Hedlund

I also love to chat on Twitter: @JodyHedlund

My home base is at my website: jodyhedlund.com

For lots of fun pictures, follow me on Pinterest: pinterest.com/jodyhedlund

I get personal on Instagram: instagram.com/JodyHedlund/

Or you’re welcome to email me at: jodyhedlund@jodyhedlund.com

Filed under: Musings Tagged: Author Jody Hedlund, Beacons of Hope, Christian fiction, Hearts Made Whole, Jody Hedlund, Lighthouses

Two Nightlights

“Where are the nightlights?”

My hubby and I shared an identical deer-in-the-headlights look. I’m not even sure which of us asked the question.

We had just arrived in our Hershey hotel room, and were excited to be in the chocolate-smelling hotel in the quaint Pennsylvania town founded by Milton Hershey and decorated with big brown Kisses.

But we were tired from the past two days exploring Philadelphia on foot and the many hours driving from Florida in the days before that. Sleep beckoned like a hot chocolate-covered ice cream sundae.

The boys, wiped out after an eventful afternoon in the Hershey Museum and chasing each other through Hershey Gardens, pulled their covers up a little higher in the pitch black room. After a quick search, resigned realization settled on our shoulders.

Neither of us had grabbed the two small LED nightlights we always travel with.

It would be a dark night in the Hershey hotel.

One of the things I appreciate most about my hubby is his attention to detail. He’s meticulous when it comes to planning and bringing items for vacation.

*Okay, I admit it. He’s a packing genius.* He always brings items one might not normally pack on a trip, but suddenly needs in a pinch.

For example, we have a travel-size humidifier, perfect for combatting dry hotel rooms. On this family trip it was desperately needed when our younger son caught a cold two days into the vacation. Chase was coughing and congested, and the little humidifier pumped away near his face at night, relieving the stuffiness and giving us peace of mind, 1100 miles from home.

Trev also packs two nightlights for the hotel, trusty little beacons in the dark world of new surroundings. Usually one goes in the bathroom; the other in a socket near the boys’ bed.

“Can’t you go back and get them?” One of the boys whispered.

The expression that you don’t appreciate what you have until it’s gone is quite true. When we settled in for the night at the Hershey hotel, we realized our pair of nightlights remained in Philadelphia.

In the darkness, before sleep grabbed hold, I thought about those two nightlights, now a fixture in our previous hotel room in Historic Philadelphia. The hotel staff probably wouldn’t notice them since they’d clean during the day.

But I hoped the next person staying there would appreciate their soft light, maybe even decide to keep them.

“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” ~ Matthew 5:14-16

Help us be Your nightlights, Lord.

Filed under: Musings Tagged: candidkerry, family travel, God, Hershey, Hotel rooms, Matthew 5:16, nightlights, vacation

Witch Words Will You Believe?

Last night my hubby and I had the (too-rare) treat of going out, child-free, for dinner and a movie.

It was wonderful.

Naturally we chose the testosterone-fueled, superhero-filled epic action flick Avengers: Age of Ultron. With three males in our house, Marvel-themed discussions occur often at the dinner table and in the car, on family walks and in the family room.

I’ve learned a lot about the various characters, from their heart-warming stories (Captain America, sacrificially steering a flying-bomb aircraft into northern icecaps so the plane wouldn’t detonate on US soil) to their cool toys (I know way too much about Iron Man’s Hulk Buster suit from my nine-year old and his Lego set).

In Age of Ultron, I learned about a couple of new characters. New to me, at least.

(This is probably the place where I should warn you that I’m about to share one of the movie’s major plot threads, meaning **Spoiler Alert**.)

Wanda Maximoff and her twin, Pietro Maximoff (Quicksilver), pose a new kind of threat to the Avengers team. Wanda—the Scarlet Witch, a young woman with round eyes, long dark hair, and darker intentions—and her brother are in cahoots with the bad guys for reasons we find out about later.

In a quiet, pivotal moment onscreen, the wily Witch sneaks up behind a suit-less Tony Stark. One bony finger infuses Iron Man’s mind with an eerie red smoke that creates false visions and frightening realities-come-to-life.

The Scarlet Witch is telekinetic–she distorts reality and mines a person’s worst fears, filling them with a sense of doom and dread that leaves them immobile.

Simply put? She plays awful mind games with her enemies. And in Age of Ultron, her antics set off a series of events that wreaks havoc on the Avengers team, turning them against each other (and in the case of the big green guy, against the world).

What power she wields.

On the drive home we talked about the Scarlet Witch and her quietly dangerous superpower. Her life-changing ability to mess with minds and lives reminded me of the one who fell “from Heaven like lightning” (Luke 10:18).

Satan. The thief.

Scripture came to mind, words spoken by Jesus to the Pharisees.

“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy…” (John 10:10)

Lately I’ve been struggling with drowning doubt in a couple of areas of my life. For writers it’s especially difficult, putting our hearts and imaginations and words on display for (what feels like) the whole world to see, read, and critique.

I know the slithering doubts snaking through my mind aren’t of God. But it’s a daily battle to quiet them and trust the path He’s asking me to follow. Like Jesus did in the wilderness, we have God’s Word for combatting those terrible mind games the thief will try to play.

And play them he will.

“You call yourself a writer?”

“You’re too busy for this.”

“Just give up.”

“No one will like this story.”

John 10:10 finishes with this reminder: “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

In Age of Ultron, the Avengers believed the witch’s words and the terrible visions with which she filled their minds. But God’s Word offers truth in its words, life across its pages.

All because of its Author.

If you’re struggling with devilish doubt like I’ve been, get in the Word and trust God’s still, small voice.

“Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (James 4:7 & 8).

Filed under: Musings

Interview & Giveaway: Author Lori Benton ~ The Wood’s Edge

I���m thrilled to welcome author Lori Benton to my blog. Lori���s name appeared on my reader radar about a year ago when I caught wind of her much-lauded historical debut, Burning Sky.

���You have to read this story,��� a respected author��commented on social media. Then another said the same. Then another, and another, until the ���I-must-get-this-book��� urge sent me straight to Amazon.

Burning Sky was everything I���d heard of it, and then some. Lori’s debut earned the 2014 Christy Award for First Novel, Historical, and Book of the Year. Lori���s second novel, The Pursuit of Tamsen Littlejohn, was just as powerful, super-gluing her name to my must-read author list.

Lori���s third novel, The Wood���s Edge, was another exquisite novel rich with historical detail, lyrical prose, and the deep and wide weaving of story and spiritual truth.

About Lori:

Lori Benton was raised east of the Appalachian Mountains, surrounded by early American history going back three hundred years. Her novels transport readers to the eighteenth century, where she brings to life the Colonial and early Federal periods of American history. When she isn���t writing, reading, or researching, Lori enjoys exploring the Oregon wilderness with her husband. She is the author of Burning Sky, recipient of three Christy Awards, The Pursuit of Tamsen Littlejohn, and The Wood’s Edge.

My Review of The Wood���s Edge:

“At the wood’s edge cultures collide. Can two families survive the impact?”

These powerful words adorn the back of Lori Benton’s third historical, The Wood’s Edge, foreshadowing a historically detailed,��emotionally-rich family saga that swept me up and wouldn’t let go.

Sigh. Such depth, such pain, such beauty, all in one book.

The Wood’s Edge is a tender love story on multiple relationship levels: Mother and son. Husband and wife. Father and daughter. Father and son. Friend and foe. Indian and British colonist. The author mines the depths of the human experience, twining it perfectly with the spiritual themes of faith, forgiveness, and mercy.

Lori’s tale of two families bound together by one man’s desperate, haunting choice is rich with well-drawn characters and heart-wrenching events, all tied carefully together. She’s truly masterful at weaving scenes both emotion-packed and bursting with plot-pushing storytelling.

Her prose is simply lovely. You must read it to understand.

And the characters!

Two-Hawks, Anna, Reginald, Lydia, William, Good Voice, Stone Thrower…they’re fictional, right? They’re not real…or are they? Having finished the book late last night/early this morning, I’m just not sure now.

Lori Benton has written another unforgettable book. I can’t recommend it highly enough, unless I climbed up on a really tall ladder and shouted with a megaphone. Read and savor this story, and together we’ll bide our time until 2016 and A Flight of Arrows is released (sequel to this story).

***

K: Lori, welcome to my blog home. I���m honored to have you here. Let���s start this interview off write, I mean, right: what���s your favorite dessert? Any go-to writing snacks to fuel that poetic prose?

L: Thank you so much, and for that wonderful review of The Wood���s Edge! And��� oh my. Dessert! I���m such a baker, always in search of the perfect chocolate cake recipe. Since I���m trying to eat gluten free these days (or gluten light) I can no longer indulge in the results of my baking like I used to. I do have a signature cake���huckleberry lemon pound cake, made with huckleberries we pick here in the Oregon mountains every August (when the bears don���t get them first!). I have a group of friends who each get a cake for their birthday and since we all meet together and devour that cake, I allow myself a slice then. The rest of the cake goes home with the birthday girl. During the writing day I try to snack on healthy things like roasted almonds and dried fruit. How boring!

K: Do you have a book, or books, from childhood that inspired your love of words and story?

L: Do I ever. It���s called The Wolf, by Michael Fox. It came into my life via my school library the year after I���d written my first story, so this would have been fourth grade. It���s a fictionalized account, beautifully illustrated by Charles Frace, about a year in the life of a wolf pack. That book launched two lifelong loves for me and cemented a third. 1. A fascination (bordering on obsession during childhood) with wolves. 2. A passion for wildlife art. 3. My second childhood writing project attempting my own version of a ���year in the life of a wolf pack��� story. While writing that story I devoured every book I could find about wolves, which I guess is a fourth lifelong love The Wolf inspired���research!

K: How do stories spark in your imagination? From reading history, or does a particular character appear and refuse to go away until his/her story is told?

L: I���ve had it happen both of those ways. After years of researching 18th century North American history, ideas for stories are constantly leaping off the pages, so when a character or an interesting situation does pop up out of nowhere, I don���t usually have to go looking far to find the corner of 18th century history where he, she, or it will best fit. Every novel I���ve written has come to me in a slightly different way and it���s often hard to trace the steps of its forming back to the original seed. Sometimes I don���t know it is a story seed until so much time has passed I���ve forgotten where that original idea came from. But with The Wood���s Edge I do remember that it started with an article I read about twins born to a multi-racial couple. One twin was brown-skinned, the other fair and blue-eyed. And I started to wonder��� what if��� and here we are.

K: You write historicals based in a specific time frame���Colonial and early Federal periods in American history. Reading your stories, I enjoy learning the vivid details of our country���s birth pains and the dangerous dance between British and American colonists and Native Americans. Has the research you���ve done through the years changed the way you view our country���s past?

L: The research has certainly broadened my vision and corrected many assumptions, if not outright misperceptions. It has stirred my admiration on the deepest levels and it has filled me with regret and sadness. It has surprised me and intrigued me and even brought me to tears a time or two, when I���ve discovered a sister or brother in Christ and learned of their great love of God and devotion to those to whom they ministered. Sometimes those who ministered were European colonists. Sometimes they were Native Americans. The longer I research and write these novels, the larger grow the cloud of witnesses I���m eager to meet one day after this race is run.

K: Your favorite part of the writing process? Least favorite?

L: The hardest part for me is writing the first draft. Especially the first half of the first draft. I���m feeling my way, trying to figure out these characters (I find no matter how much I plan and plot I only truly know them by putting them on the page and letting them talk and act), their desires and what���s driving them, and what they are going to do to pursue those things. Once that groundwork is laid I can proceed with more speed and confidence, but until then this is the part of the writing process most fraught with insecurity and angst. I talk myself off the cliff almost daily, sure that I���ve lost it as a writer and should give it up and go find something else to fill my days. All this is punctuated by moments of brief euphoria when I finish a scene or a chapter and I know (or strongly suspect!) I���m still on the right track. But the longing to be through this part of the process is intense.

My favorite part is when that first draft is done and I pour over it and over it and over it again, finding nuance of character and theme, polishing dialogue, exploring things that hadn���t occurred to me during the first draft when I was laboring just to get it out of my head. My soul sings over this part of the process.

K: I read that you love solitude. I so get that because I���m similar. Which of your characters would you say you���re most like? How about least like?

L: I love solitude because I am revived and refreshed there, and it���s in solitude I write and find inspiration usually. One of my characters, Willa Obenchain in Burning Sky, sought solitude out of unhealthy motives���the risks and vulnerability loving others carries with it. Neil MacGregor, on the other hand, sought the solitude of the wilderness in order to pursue his calling as a naturalist. Yet Neil wasn���t afraid to connect with those God placed in his path. I see myself in both of these characters. On my best days I���m like Neil, seeking solitude not out of fear, but for refreshment and productivity.

As for least like, it���s a coin toss between Lydia and Good Voice in The Wood���s Edge. Lydia���s calling as a healer/midwife is one that requires constant contact with people. That���s where she thrives, where her strengths lie. Good Voice is formed of a village culture. Her wellbeing and identity are linked to the presence of an extended clan to whom she is intimately connected, different from the more solitary 21st century life I lead. While I admire aspects of that culture and even wish ours could be more like it, I don���t believe I could be a writer without the solitude I presently enjoy.

K: Speaking of characters! The Wood���s Edge contains a fascinating cast of characters: Good Voice, Two Hawks, Reginald, Heledd, Lydia, Anna, and Stone Thrower. They all became so real to me. I didn���t want to say goodbye (and was very glad to learn this story is first in a series). When you finish a story and send it to your editor, does it feel like you���re saying goodbye? Do you miss characters from the stories you���ve written?

L: I know I���m going to see them again in a few months��� time, so it���s not too difficult to put them out of mind for a little while. Especially because there are a new set of characters that I have to turn my attention to, a new book to write. But it���s also fun to see them again, to become re-immersed in their world for another 4-6 weeks as I work on content edits. Then they���ll come back to me again a few weeks later for line edits. Then again for copy edits, and a final time for�� proofreading. Then a few months later it���s time to promote the book and I get to talk about them yet again. So good-bye (like finished) is a relative term with a book.

K: Your pre-published writing story is a saga in and of itself. You battled cancer (and won, praise God), dealt with mind-numbing chemo, and spent long years learning and perfecting your craft. Your strong faith shows in the words you put to page. I���d love to hear how God brought you through those valleys and how it���s affected your writing.

L: After my year of chemo and radiation (1999) was over, it took nearly five more years for the chemo fog to lift. I wasn���t able to write the type of books I wanted to write during that time, which led to seasons of disappointment and even despair, when I quite trying altogether. I finally had to leave it in God���s hands, whether or not I would ever write again, much less see a book of mine published, as had been my dream during the early-mid 1990s.

Then in 2004 I had this idea for a story set in the late 18th century, and felt the first stirrings of what would become a passion for that era. I decided to try one more time. It took me four years to write that story (one that���s still not contracted) because I���d learned my lesson during those foggy years about pushing myself to the point of frustration. Instead, I did whatever it took to experience joy in the writing process, so that I���d want to come back to it the next day. Not dread it. After that book I wrote another one that ended up being called Burning Sky. I���ve been writing steadily ever since.

What did I learn through that long season of not writing? That God has a plan for every aspect of my life and his own timing for the unfolding of that plan. If a dream or desire is from God (I prayed many times that if my writing again was not part of his best for me that he would take the desire away, but he never did), I have to do my part as he enables me, one day at a time, knock on the doors as they come and let him worry about which one opens. To trust that a door is closed for a reason. My season of waiting gave me time to experience the reality of Christ���s love and peace, and for my faith to grow in ways it never would have had I sailed right through my early thirties and into a publishing career.

The character that stands as a testament of much of what I learned during those years is Neil MacGregor in Burning Sky. Any reader can discover much of what I learned through his story.

~ Quick Questions ~

Any pets? ��We have a dog (an Aussie/Rott cross, we think) called Dargo. We rescued him when he was two.

Favorite holiday? I���m that weird one who likes regular days better than holidays. Maybe because I feel anxious when I���m not writing.

A color we���ll never see you wear? I used to say pink, but I have a few pink shirts now. But in general pink is my least favorite color. Too girlie for this tomboy.

Night owl or mourning dove? I tend to head for bed between 8-8:30pm. Up at 4:30am. You can imagine how well this works with most evening out activities!

A book you���ll never part with? To Say Nothing of the Dog, or How We Found the Bishop���s Bird Stump at Last, by Connie Willis (the audio version read by Steven Crossley). I love this story/performance and usually listen to it once a year. It���s guaranteed to make me laugh.

Favorite way to spend a lazy day? Reading of course!

***

Lori, thank you so much for answering my questions and sharing about yourself, writing, and your stories. God has blessed you with a beautiful gift of storytelling, and I look forward to reading A Flight of Arrows in 2016.

To learn more about Lori, click HERE.

Lori has graciously offered��a copy of The Wood’s Edge to one commenter on my blog or on the Facebook post of this interview. The giveaway is open to U.S. residents from May 1-8th. I’ll draw��a name Friday,��May 8th, announce it on the blog, and email the winner. Please be sure to leave your name and email address in your comment so I can contact you if your name is drawn.

**Thank you��for stopping by and reading!**

Filed under: Musings Tagged: Author interview, Author Lori Benton, Historical fiction, Inspirational Historical Fiction, Lori Benton, The Wood's Edge, writing

Interview & Giveaway: Author Nancy Kimball ~ Chasing the Lion

I���m thrilled to welcome author Nancy Kimball to my blog today. Nancy���s debut novel, Chasing the Lion, was recommended by a trusted writer/reader friend and spoken of highly by numerous others in the writing world.

When I finally read Chasing the Lion I was immediately engulfed by the story and the characters. Not to mention the historical detail���Ancient Rome comes alive on the pages of this powerful story about a young man���s journey to find true freedom.

It���s a pulse-pounding, emotional saga of honor, love, political intrigue, and rediscovering faith amidst the brutal life of gladiators, slaves, and those who try to own them.

 

 

A bout the Book:

From the blood-soaked sand of the Roman arena, a divine destiny will rise.

For as long as Jonathan Tarquinius can remember, everyone has wanted something from him. His half-brother wants him dead. His master���s wife wants his innocence. The gladiator dealers want him to fight���and die���for their greed. Rome���s most famous prostitute wants his love. And the gentle slave girl who tends the wounds on his body and the hidden ones on his soul longs for him to return to his faith.

What Jonathan wants is simple. Freedom. But God wants something from Jonathan too���something more than anyone would ever imagine. The young warrior���s journey will push him to the limits of human endurance and teach him that true freedom is found within. The greatest battle Jonathan must ever fight will not come in the arena, but deep within himself as he is forced to choose between vengeance and mercy���with the fate of an empire and the life of the woman he loves hanging in the balance.

 

A bout the Author:

Author, avid reader, and shameless hero addict, Nancy Kimball loves books, Ancient Rome and all things gladiator. She makes her home in Houston, Texas with one very spoiled pitbull mix named Eric T. and still doesn’t understand the point of white crayons.

Her industry accolades include a two-time ACFW Genesis finalist (Chasing the Lion ��� 2012 / Unseen Love ��� 2013), and a Romance Writers of America Lonestar finalist in the Inspirational Category (Adrift No More ��� 2013).

 

 

You can read my review of Chasing the Lion��HERE.

***

K: Nancy, I���m so excited to have you on my blog! Per your bio, I pondered the white crayon deal. Here���s what I came up: white crayons are for Florida natives who���ve never seen/played in/shoveled snow, but want to draw pictures of it. Perhaps I���m reaching?

N: LOL! Could be, could be. Or for colored construction paper. But that whole joke goes back to when I was a small child and I came up to my mom crying. She asked what was wrong and I held up my white crayon and the coloring page I was working on and informed her that this crayon was ���broken��� and didn���t work. It followed me into adulthood. On the day of my release party, my mother had flown in to Texas from New York. One of the gifts she gave me in addition to her presence was a white crayon with a very special note I will treasure forever.

K: What a��sweet gift, and a��fun story! Now I���d like to discuss your book. Oooh boy. Chasing the Lion was pulse-pounding excitement threaded with tender and tough, character-driven scenes. Here���s a chicken-and-egg question. Which came first: the idea for the story, or the character Jonathan?

N: Jonathan. I knew that first day after I���d named him that he would be a gladiator (against his will) and unlike biblical Joseph, when things began going from bad to worse for him, he would lose his faith. The rest of the story would be him getting it back. He was, and is, still a character that I feel very inadequate to steward his story. He is very much the heart and soul of the Sword of Redemption series.

K: One of your major strengths as an author is a plot shot like an arrow across an arena. The story took off from page one and kept going and going; there was never a slow moment to stop reading. Great job! Did you work specifically on that aspect of the story while writing/editing?

N: Thank you, Kerry. Yes, I did. In the editing phase which took nearly three years as I was learning my fiction craft and beginning to train this new recruit of a manuscript into a reader ready finished champion gladiator. I do not ever remember which craft book it was or who to attribute the best piece of writing advice I ever received, but it was this���never resolve the conflict until you���ve introduced another one.

K: You pursued traditional publishing for a time; ultimately you decided to go the ���Indie��� route, becoming an Independently Published Author. More and more authors are going this route with their stories. How was the path to publication as an Indie author? Any bumps in the road?

N:�� If I could quote the Sela song ���God blessed the broken road��� here, I would. Making the choice to go Indie was something I struggled with for nearly a year. Agents and editors loved my voice and writing style, but they didn���t want this book. They wanted a different time period or something more mass-market friendly. I wanted to share this book with readers, the story of my heart that redefined me as an author and a Christ-follower, and there was no way to do it but to go Indie. I took the funds I would have spent in contests and conferences for 2014 and reallocated them into producing my debut novel for the market.

I had no bumps in the process at any point. I was fortunate to have Indie friends ready to answer my questions, and spent lots of time researching cover designers, interior formatters, and worked with a freelance editor who had been with both Zondervan and Revell. I surrounded myself with a great team who understood the goal and everything flowed accordingly. Even the production of the audiobook went very smoothly from start to finish, though it had the biggest learning curve for me of every step of becoming a publisher as well as an author.

K: Chasing the Lion���s hero, Jonathan Tarquinius, is one of the most unforgettable characters I���ve read on the page. Flawed, strong, honorable, angry, determined, hurt, searching. (Sigh) What was it like creating this complicated, boy-turned-young man-turned-gladiator-turned-crowd-commanding-man? And do you have a favorite character from the story?

N: Thank you, Kerry. It was a slow process and very early on, before I���d even finished my first draft, I realized something. I wasn���t so much creating him as I was discovering him.

Unlike the other characters in the story that I cobbled together with personality traits and physical attributes to shape them like Mr. Potato Heads���Jonathan emerged as I began to write his story. And much of what I intended for him he completely undid as we went through the writing and editing process.

I had a picture of him on my corkboard and beneath it these words: You did not create him. He is telling you who he is. Honestly, once Jonathan matured as a character and even to this day, I essentially can put him in any situation or story premise and more or less know exactly what he���s going to say or do. Though sometimes we get to a scene together and I realize I���d had it wrong and he surprises me so I just go with it, feeling more like a scribe than an author. That���s Jonathan.

Jonathan is my favorite character, of course, which is also true for most readers. But my second favorite actually will surprise a lot of people. It isn���t Nessa. It isn���t Caelina or Clovis, who are all reader favorites. My favorite character outside of Jonathan is Torren Gallego. He is the antithesis of the biggest villain, Caius Pullus. Torren is a man driven to accumulate wealth and does it on the backs and blades of his gladiators as Caius does, but never at the expense of his principles and a strong moral compass. Of all the characters who are returning to book 2, Torren Gallego is the one that breaks my heart the most in Charging the Darkness. That���s all I can say without giving too much away, but like with Jonathan, I had to allow him to be who he really is and not who I wanted him to be.

K: Your favorite part of the writing process? Least favorite?

N: Edits. I absolutely love editing. Least favorite? First draft. Getting the first draft down for me is the pits. Getting the first draft down for me is an agonizing process but I put myself through it because without that part, there can be nothing else.

K: I was so glad to learn Chasing the Lion is the first in a trilogy. Readers get more Jonathan and Nessa (yay!). Charging the Darkness (love the title) is the second book. How���s the writing process the second time around? Were you eager to get back into the story world of Ancient Rome and revisit these familiar characters?

N: There are things that are more efficient this time around, since most of my characterization is already set for the majority of the cast. I was surprised by how many plot tear downs and rebuilds Darkness has undergone. It is nearly as many as Lion was, but the difference is this time I���ve adjusted to the plot evolutions and changes to see them as part of the process. That���s made a big difference for the better. I was eager to get back to the writing but the truth is I never actually leave the characters or the story world. They���re always in my head whether or not I���m actively writing them.

K: Your life verse is Ezekiel 36:33-36. That portion of scripture speaks of the Lord rebuilding what was a barren wasteland, with all those around knowing and seeing the Lord���s work in that formerly desolate place. Powerful���God rebuilding ruined places until they flourish. Please share how these verses memorialize what the Lord has seen you through, and how those experiences affected your writing and stories.

N: In 2009, my perfect American dream life was ripped completely apart. I call that season my ���advanced tutorial��� in faith. I thought I���d hit rock bottom and that things couldn���t possibly get worse and then they did, again and again until I was so deep in depression and hopelessness I became suicidal. A life doesn���t get more barren wasteland than that.

In a moment of brokenness in what should have been my final moments, as for Jonathan in the arena with Hulderic, the Lord was there where He���d been all along, waiting for me. And the months that followed were the beginning of healing. Part of my journey back to wholeness and knowing the Lord in a real and personal way was the writing of Chasing the Lion. The pain and brokenness of my past became the deep places that would pour into Jonathan���s story, and as I found hope, healing, and redemption in my faith so did my hero. The Lord used Jonathan���s story to begin rewriting my own and my brand, Fiction from the Ashes, became real. Stories of characters who rise from brokenness to victory just as I did through Christ.

Today my life is no longer a barren wasteland. It had been made like the Garden of Eden in ways undeniably of the Lord���s hand. God did not just restore to me what was taken. He replaced it in abundance and favor so far beyond anything I could have ever dreamed of. I have a joy now, and a peace that I can draw on. I learned to take the stones of my suffering and build an altar with them. Chasing the Lion is that altar, and it is a privilege beyond words to see that become an altar for others, shared with me in letters from readers.

~ Quick Questions ~

Any pets? ��Eric T. ��� a three year old fifty pound pitbull mix that is the love of my life.

Favorite holiday? Christmas

A color we���ll never see you wear? Yellow

Night owl or mourning dove? Night owl

A book you���ll never part with? Shane by Jack Schaeffer

Favorite way to spend a lazy day? Reading!

***

Nancy, thank you so much for stopping by and answering my questions. It���s only��April but Chasing the Lion is already on my top five reads for 2015. It���s a superb story; this eager reader can���t wait to get her hands on Charging the Darkness.

To find out more about Nancy, click HERE.��

To follow her on Facebook, click HERE.

To purchase Chasing the Lion on Amazon, click HERE.

**Nancy��is��offering one signed copy of Chasing the Lion to a reader who comments here, on my blog, or on Facebook!**

Q for readers: What’s one book that was so exciting you couldn’t put it down?

The drawing will be open from Friday, April 17th through��Thursday, April 23rd. I’ll randomly draw a name on April 23rd, post the winner’s name here, on the blog, and contact the winner by email. PLEASE LEAVE YOUR NAME AND EMAIL in your comment! Thank you.

(U.S. Residents only, please.)

Filed under: Musings Tagged: Author interview, Author Nancy Kimball, Chasing the Lion, Christian fiction, Historical fiction, Nancy Kimball

The Cross

���You forgot your cross.���

Mom���s voice through the cell phone was apologetic. My face scrunched up with disappointment.

My parents live almost two hours south, and my hubby and I had just arrived home after a 24-hour visit with them and out-of-state family for a birthday get-together. The final moments leaving my parents��� house are always chaotic: lugging clothes, stuffed animal comforts, books, reluctant kids, favorite pillows, and toiletry bags to our truck.

My beloved crystal cross lay where I left it the night before, on my parents��� guest bedroom dresser, clear and unobtrusive.

“I’ll bring it when we come up next,” she promised.

The cross is my one-and-only from Tiffany & Co. Around the time my hubby and I were seriously talking babies twelve years ago, he surprised me for our third anniversary with the simple, supple cross.

The��jewelry piece��caught my eye during a daydreaming jaunt through a local mall���s Tiffany & Co, and was a last-hurrah splurge gift before we narrowed down to one income from two and our family expanded from two to three.

Do you have jewelry you wear every day?

I���m not a big jewelry person, but it���s a rare occasion you���ll find me without my engagement ring and ten-year anniversary band on my left and right ring fingers, along with the crystal cross around my neck.

At work, customers have commented on��the cross’s��unique beauty. My fingers often grasp its rounded edges, sometimes when I���m daydreaming and other times when I���m praying.

This Sunday our assistant pastor taught from 1 Corinthians 1, in an Easter��series about the Cross.

Not my pretty crystal neck adornment.

The real thing.

(This might get ugly.)

The wooden cross Romans used to crucify murderers and thieves.

Criminals. Bad people we would never choose to be around, people looked down upon as the scourge of society. People tortured then nailed upon two trees hewn together in the shape of a ���T���.

In ancient times, death by crucifixion was the worst possible way to die. Typically slow and painful, it was also humiliating, as they often stripped the criminal of his clothing. The guards had free reign with criminals, doing whatever they wanted to inflict pain on them in order to deter others from committing the same crimes.

It���s pretty ugly to think about,��to��dwell on.

Pastor Mark made the valid point that you���d never, ever see anyone wearing a tiny guillotine or a little gold electric chair on a chain around their neck.

It just wouldn���t happen.

So why the Cross? Why is a symbol of torture worn by believers the world over?

���And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center��� (John 19:17 & 18).

When I prayed about this post the word engraved on my heart was peace.

���Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him��� (Isaiah 53:4 & 5).

I wear my cross because it reminds me God���s sustaining peace is ONLY because of and through Jesus���s sacrifice on that awful, horrible, humiliating Cross. I don���t want to forget what Jesus paid for my sin, for your sin.

There was a price to pay for believers��� peace���for the gift of having a made-right relationship with our Creator and the promise of eternal life with God���and Jesus paid it on the Cross with His wounds, afflictions, and overwhelming chastisement.

With His��humble acquiescence for God’s saving plan.

Lord, please don’t let me��forget this, ever. It’s all about Jesus and the Cross.

I love my crystal cross. It���s pretty and unique, and I���ve missed wearing it while it���s at my parents���.

But it���s an ephemeral symbol.

Your soul is not.

Have you put your faith in Jesus��� finished work on the Cross?

���If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved��� (Romans 10:9).

Filed under: Musings Tagged: candidkerry, cross necklaces, death on a cross, Easter, Faith, God's love, Jesus, Necklaces, The Cross

Faithful

Do you have a word you want others to use to describe you? An adjective describing the essence of who you are?

When I was an emotion-tossed teen, I would’ve considered ‘intelligent’, ‘friendly’, ���talented���, ‘witty’, or even ‘strong-willed’ to be acceptable descriptors of who I was.

But as I���ve gotten older and walked the bumpy, beautiful covenant of marriage, as well as skipped through the fun, twisting halls of life-long friendship, I���ve realized being talented, friendly, and intelligent are not really who I want to be.

Because Who I belong to sets the course for my life.

I���m a saved and sanctified child of God (I hope you are, too!), and my heart longs for��God to find me��faithful above all else.

Faithful?�� I don’t mean the spray-shooting geyser found in Yellowstone National Park.

I mean���full of faith; steadfast in affection or allegiance; constant, devoted, steady, and true.���

Christ-followers serve a faithful God, and I���m blessed to��see��swipes of bright, faith-filled��color across��the landscape of this earthly life, reminding me to look up instead of inward for who (Whose) I am.

���Your mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.��� (Ps. 36:5)

Every Saturday a faithful sister in Christ can be found at a��busy intersection in my city. She parks her��car nearby and��sets out a chair in which��she sits, holding up��a simple sign. ���Jesus Cares,��� it��promises in large, plain black print. Her warm smile and friendly wave elicit a cacophony of hello honks from passing cars.

Every. Single. Saturday. A few times people have stopped��to talk with her or pray with her. I always honk and wave, grateful for her quiet faithfulness to share Christ���s love.

One of the qualities that attracted me to��my husband��was his faithfulness. He’s not perfect,��but his steady, faithful nature��roots our family deep��and shows God’s faithfulness to our boys.

Last week my hubby��lived out his faithfulness��by driving an hour and 45 minutes��at night��to��pick up our very sick 8-year old. My two boys and I��were going on a big school field trip Friday, so Thursday night I was staying at a dear friend’s house in order to be closer to the field trip destination (Kennedy Space Center).

My younger son had been feeling well enough during the day, but that night about 9pm his coughing took a turn for the worse, until it sounded and seemed like��Chase couldn’t breathe. Croup was taking his breath and��stealing my peace. How could I attend��the field trip with Cole when Chase was so sick?

Experiencing this frightening, rare��croup episode away from home magnified the situation even more.

My concerned��hubby offered to drive across the state of Florida to pick him up.

On I-4, through Orlando and Disney territory, in the dead of night. No complaining, no griping, just steadfast action that alleviated��a difficult situation (I didn’t want Cole to have to miss his field trip).

I��rushed Chase to a��local��urgent care clinic, where he��was given a dose of steroids to help him breathe. Trevor arrived as we were checking out. Fifteen minutes from midnight,��after playing racquetball for an hour and a half��after work and working out, he was still sticky��with sweat, dressed in workout clothes.

Faithful.

I was beyond grateful for my hubby’s faithfulness to��come so far to get Chase and bring him back to the comfort of our house to rest, allowing Cole and I to enjoy the field trip the next day.

Do you have faithful friends, family members, or co-workers?

In a world tossed by the waves of pleasing others, popularity, majority rule, and do-what-feels-best,��steady faithfulness is a trait – a heavenly characteristic – that I pray��believers long for.

“God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.”��(1 Cor. 1:9) ��

Filed under: Musings Tagged: candidkerry, faithful, faithfulness, God, God's faithfulness, Jesus, writing

Author Interview: Kathrese McKee ~ Mardan’s Mark

I���m excited to welcome author Kathrese McKee to my blog today. Kathrese popped on my reader radar in 2014 when she won the Young Adult category for Novel Rocket���s Launch Pad Contest. When I read her winning entry I was hooked and curious to read the rest of her debut, Mardan���s Mark.

Well, Kathrese gave me an early Christmas present when the epic adventure fantasy story released on December 25th. I flew through Mardan���s Mark on Christmas Day and the day after, when we visited family and my hubby was driving and I could just read!

It was a lovely treat and the story, quite thrilling. If you’re a fan of fantasy adventure with a side of romance and political intrigue, Mardan’s Mark is for you!

 

What���s the story about?

In this coming of age fantasy, seventeen-year-old Princess Srilani is prepared to die for her country, but she has to live long enough to make sure the heir survives.

After pirates abduct Srilani and her brother and sisters, they are stranded across the Great Gulf and far behind enemy lines. She convinces Aldan, the pirate captain���s slave, and his two brother slaves to share their perilous journey home.

These unlikely allies set out on a quest of heroes ��� against cutthroat pirates, merciless priests, and countless soldiers ��� to return the heir to his kingdom, but will coming home mean the end of happiness for Srilani?

Meet the author:

Kathrese McKee writes epic adventures for young adults and anyone else who enjoys pirates and princesses combined with life’s difficult questions.����She is committed to exciting stories, appropriate content, and quality craftsmanship.

Mardan’s Mark, the first book in the Mardan’s Mark series, has won a couple of awards: 2014 Novel Rocket Launch Pad Contest, MG/YA Category; and Finalist in the 2014 Phoenix Rattler writing contest, Christian Writers of��the West (CWOW) – Arizona’s ACFW (American Christian Fictions Writers) affiliate.

The sequel, Mardan’s Anointed, is in process along with a��related novella.

My Review of Mardan���s Mark:

One of the reasons I love the holidays is for the lazy time to read; once presents are opened and meals are finished, I love digging into a good book.

This year was no exception, and the focus of my mental attention was Kathrese McKee’s debut novel, Mardan’s Mark. Talk about an absorbing, exciting book! I’m not a big Kindle reader (very much prefer real books), but I tapped away at those electronic pages until my pointer finger was calloused and my eyes blurry (around 2 am).

Mardan’s Mark features a multitude of quirky, memorable characters, page-turning action, and political intrigue — there are pirates, princesses, slaves, kings and queens, royal guards and even a surprise hurricane. Add to that an air of mystery that unfolds as the story does, and Mardan’s Mark provides the makings of a book you’ll want to devour in one sitting.

Even my romantic sap needs were met. The relationship between main characters Aldan and Srilani twisted together in a believable, sweet way that strengthened the plot even more.

Kathrese’s strengths as an author are multi-fold, but the two that stood out to me are her ability to build and sustain an exciting, non-stop plot and her meticulous detail creating multi-faceted, maturing characters. Aldan and Srilani were life-like on the page as they struggled with danger, their surroundings, their friends and family, and feelings for each other.

Secondary characters were just as strong; Sam, Linus, and Srilani���s siblings each brought unique personalities to the story, adding depth and often, humor.

Mardan’s Mark is a tough book to peg into one category, and that’s another strength. Its appeal crosses genre, with all the ingredients of a great read. I highly recommend this debut and look impatiently forward to the second installment of the series, Mardan’s Anointed (write fast, Kathrese!).

***

Kerry: Welcome to my blog, Kathrese! I���m so glad to have you here. How���s life as a published author?

Kathrese: The days are completely stuffed with things that must be done, like answering interview questions. *laughs nervously* Now that the ebook is on Amazon, my next goal is to get the print version out. And that requires coordinating several professionals to make sure the book is the best it can be.

I���ve really had to prioritize my time so that writing the next book comes first, before all the other activities that seem so important.

Kerry: Do you have a favorite story? Maybe a book that���s stayed with you for a long time, or inspired you to want to write?

Kathrese: So many books! As far as fairy tales go, I loved Beauty and the Beast when I was a girl, and I still love it. To Kill a Mockingbird took hold and never let go. I think A Wrinkle in Time may have sparked my interest in speculative fiction. There was never a time that I didn���t love to write, but I didn���t dare to dream of writing novels until I became a Reading teacher.

I became acutely aware of the books that were available to my students (and my children) on the school library shelves.�� I was disappointed, not in the quality of the writing, but in the content. Parents really need to take an interest in what their children read, especially in middle school, when a student’s comprehension levels often outrun his or her maturity level.

Just because a student has a college reading level in seventh grade doesn���t mean she has the life experience to question or make mature judgments about the topics and values presented in many of the books labeled Young Adult. Frankly, many of these books seem to have an agenda that is troubling, sensationalizing sexuality and minimizing natural consequences of high risk behavior in the name of entertainment.

One night, I was reading a really great adventure novel with my son, my youngest child, when this idea crossed my mind. I bet I could write something like this. Let me tell you, writing is a lot harder than most people would expect! Boy, did I have a lot to learn.

Kerry: I���d love to know some background on Mardan���s Mark. Did the idea for Marst, the Land of the Twin Kingdoms, come first, or was it a particular character who popped into your imagination and wouldn���t take no for an answer?

Kathrese: So when I started writing, I chose to honor my children with one character apiece, not people just like them, but characters created in their honor. Definitely, the characters came first. And once the story began, more characters walked on stage. At the beginning, I was a ���pantser.��� I just wrote whatever occurred to me. But that didn���t last long because I had to keep the story straight, and it had to make sense.

Kerry: Mardan���s Mark has quite a large cast of characters. Yet you wrote it in such a way that each character was very distinct, their personalities and quirks unique. Was it easy for you to keep track of characters as you wrote, or did you need a list?

Kathrese: I forgot what���s-his-name on page forty-three and so-and-so got a new name on page one hundred thirteen. That got so frustrating that I was forced to make lists. Then I found Pinterest and started pinning pictures. Some of those characters have morphed, but pictures definitely help. Once I have ���lived��� with a character for a while, they are very real to me, and it gets easier to keep them straight. Oh, and they start doing things on their own and making up their own lines. That���s how it feels. I���m sure other authors will back me up on this.

Kerry: While I enjoyed Aldan and Srilani, I think Sam and Linus tie as my favorite character. They were each unique, frustrating at times, and yet loveable in their own way. So real. Is creating characters one of your favorite parts about storytelling?

Kathrese: Yes, characters are my favorite part of storytelling. The plot is just as important, but often, it springs from the question: What would a person like ______ do if _________ happened?

Kerry: I read in another interview that you wrote this story for your own children, who are teenagers. Did you share a little at a time, or wait until you were finished to let them read it. How���d it go? Kids can be so brutally honest.

Kathrese: I was very shy about sharing my story with anyone. Many times, I felt like Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, hiding in the barn while he worked on his invention in secret. My kids knew I was writing a story ��� a very, very long story ��� but they had little idea what it was about until I was done with the first book.

Kerry: I was ecstatic to learn Mardan���s Mark is first in a series, and can���t wait to get my hands on Mardan���s Anointed. No pressure, but do you have an ETP? Estimated time for Publication? Please? And how is the writing going, second time around?

Kathrese: I hope and pray to publish Mardan���s Anointed by the end of 2015 at the latest, but I���m committed to quality first. I won���t publish until it���s been through all the steps to make it the best it can be. My first draft is at about fifty percent of full length. For reference, Mardan���s Mark is right at 120,000 words, give or take a thousand, and I expect the second book to about the same length.

The hardest part of writing a second book is keeping the details straight, weaving the sub-plots in and out, and keeping the tension ���on.��� In the first book, I found my voice, but I want the second book to be even better. The other difficult thing about writing the second book is that my characters are in separate settings ��� for a time ��� while they fight related, but distinctly different, battles.

Kerry: The publishing world is a crazy, upside down place right now. Certain books are getting published that contain pretty awful writing and stories (and are made into movies), while quality fiction (like Mardan���s Mark) quietly gain five-star reviews and garner loyal followings from readers. It���s a tough world to maneuver. What have you learned about writing and publishing?

Kathrese: I think my expectations of what it means to be an indie author were pretty realistic going in:

A debut author needs to expect a slow, organic build of readership. Word-of-mouth, the most effective form of marketing, is earned. You can���t buy it.
A soft launch, for an indie author with an ebook and print on demand (POD), is all that is necessary. There���s no mad rush to ���make it big��� in the first thirty, sixty, or ninety days because the indie author has time on her side. I���m in this for the long haul. So I expect my readership to grow with each new book, if I���ve earned a reader���s loyalty with a wonderful reading experience.
Relationships are the richest part of the author experience. I���ve already met so many wonderful people through writing and publishing Mardan���s Mark.
If you commit to being an author and you ever expect to earn a living, you have to discipline yourself to write, especially when you don���t feel like writing. I���ve had more ah-hah moments when I just showed up to write, regardless of how I felt, than I���ve had when I was ���in the mood.��� It���s sort of like going to church when you���d rather stay in bed; that���s the morning when you hear the sermon that speaks to your soul and changes your life.

~ Quick Questions ~ ��

Any pets? A Plott Hound (google it). I didn���t misspell the breed. I joke around that he���s the perfect dog for an author.

Favorite Holiday? Cinco de Mayo. Any excuse to eat Tex-Mex food will do.

A color we���ll never see you wear? Puce. With a name like that, no wonder.

Night owl or mourning dove? Mourning dove for sure. I���m the first one out of bed nearly every morning.

A book you���ll never part with? The impossible question! There are a few books I���ve read many times over: The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin, Time Enough for Drums by Ann Rinaldi, Master and Commander by Patrick O���Brian, and Mr. Midshipman Hornblower by C.S. Forester.

In the first three, I particularly admire the strong female protagonists. In the last two, I love the naval hero. Hmm. Well, I guess we can see where I got the inspiration for Mardan���s Mark.

Favorite way to spend a lazy day? Reclining in a hammock on the upper balcony of a bed and breakfast in Roatan that overlooks the water, eating popcorn and sipping soda, while reading a book. (I���ve done this once, but it���s my favorite.)

Favorite Bible verse? Again, so many choices. However, this is the one I chose for my devotions blog at christsreflections.wordpress.com:

“As water reflects the face, so one���s life reflects the heart.” –Proverbs 27:19 (NIV)

***

Kathrese, thank you so much for stopping by my blog! I truly enjoyed Mardan���s Mark, the characters, and the vivid story world of Marst. Readers can order your book HERE��and learn more about you HERE.

Thanks, Kerry, for allowing me to be here and letting me talk about writing, life, and my books.

Filed under: Musings Tagged: Author interview, candidkerry, fantasy adventure, Kathrese McKee, Mardan's Mark, Young Adult fiction

The Wrong Cup

One of my favorite��ways to spend sixty minutes is browsing a store with my sister. Target works well.

Mindy and I leave our boys��to play board games galore with��Grandma and Grandpa. We grab a hot drink at Starbucks and peruse aisles we normally steer clear of when kids��trail behind��or we’re in a hurry — candles, clothes, jewelry, makeup.

This��particular��evening we grabbed��a hot peppermint tea (for me) and a decaf coffee (for her).��Our shopping excursion was pure��leisure; sunglasses for my younger son and black��flip-flops for my older were��the only items on��my blissfully short list.

While we meandered purses, jewelry, and sunglasses, my sister reached into the cart for a sip of her decaf Americano sweetened with sugar-free syrup of some-kind-or-another. Instead she grabbed my identical cup, a steaming peppermint tea sweetened with a-little-too-much agave.

I whipped around��to��my sister leaned over the cart, her lean cheeks rounded with peppermint tea. A smile broke my face, then a giggle.

“Grabbed the wrong drink?” I asked the obvious.

She��answered with��a wild-eyed look, her cheeks still puffed with hot liquid, and it hit me like a shopping cart against my Achilles.

She can’t drink it. My tea was sweetened with sugar.

“You can’t just swallow it?” I tried. “Just one quick gulp?”

She shook her head decisively. We were fifty yards from the ladies’ room. How would she rid herself of that mouthful of unwanted liquid in a sea of scarves?

Let me��explain a��little about my older sister.

The past two and a half years brought about a��marked change in Mindy’s life — she joined a support group for food addiction and over a period of many months, lost an astounding 160 pounds.

Let me type that out and make it bold and all that font jazz.

One hundred and sixty pounds. (!!!!!)

To say I’m proud of her and grateful for her improved health and energy��is a vast understatement.

Part of��her strict weight loss regime��was eliminating all sugar from her diet.��The only sugar��Mindy consumes comes from��plain yogurt and fruit; nothing else is allowed in her daily food intake, and I’m in��awe of her dedication��and self-control.

But during that peaceful evening in Target, browsing chunky necklaces and clearance wallets,��Mindy reached for the wrong cup, almost swallowing a mouthful of sweetener that was a big No-No.

Just in time, she��located an empty garbage can, ridding herself of the sugared-up drink she couldn’t allow in her body. We giggled our way out of jewelry��into the clearance clothing aisle, but the moment stayed with me.

The wrong cup.

The cup��Jesus��grasped during the twilight of��His thirty-three years on Earth was boiling with rancid liquid. My sin swirled inside. In��the garden of Gethsemane Jesus asked His Father to take that cup from Him. But it��was a cup only He could take, for us, to eliminate toxic sin from mankind.

Only He could do this thing. This Cross.

And He did.

“And He took Peter, James,��and John with Him, and He began to be troubled and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, ‘My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch.’ He went a little farther, and fell on the ground, and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And He said, ‘Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.'” (Mark 14:33-36).

Charles Spurgeon said that, “the most important daily habit we can possess is to remind ourselves of the gospel.”

May we never forget that Jesus took a cup we couldn’t, in our place, handing back��instead a trenta-sized offering of grace and mercy filled with living water.

Filed under: Musings Tagged: candidkerry, Cup of Christ, grace, Jesus, Mark 14:36, Sisters, Tea

Valentine’s Book Review ~ Jody Hedlund: An Uncertain Choice

“Chivalry: the combination of qualities expected of an ideal knight, especially courage, honour, justice, and a readiness to help the weak.”

It’s Valentine’s Day, and amidst flying cupid bows,��paper hearts,��and piles of chocolates I thought it fitting to review a brand new young adult book about love and chivalry.

Chivalry. Not��only an odd��word to spell but sadly,��a mostly��out-of-date concept.

Though we no longer deal with knights, jousting, or moat-encircled castles, we do still live in a world where thoughtfulness should rule supreme. Where consideration for others��shows character. ��

Another definition of chivalry is: “courteous behavior, especially toward women.”

Have you seen chivalry up close? It’s a lovely sight to behold. Whether patiently��opening doors, protecting a stranger,��or letting��another person��go before you in line, chivalry consists of selflessness, honor, and��putting another’s needs first.

Just because.

Isn’t that lovely?

In honor of Valentine’s Day, I wanted to share a review of Jody Hedlund’s��wonderful new book, An Uncertain Choice, and a chivalrous story from when my husband and I were dating (circa 1993).

Trevor and��I went to the same high school but didn’t meet until he��began working��at the Burger King I worked in. We were all of sixteen and seventeen; I was more outgoing��and silly while he was��quiet and intense. But there was a definite something between us.

A couple months��after��he started��at Burger King,��I was��washing pans and trays in the kitchen, standing at the huge double sinks. It was steamy, greasy work. Not fun at all. Another employee, a guy a few years older than us whom I wasn’t very fond of,��snuck beneath one of the sinks and started spraying one of the long, hose-like faucets from a nearby sink.

Directly at me.

I squealed at the spray and backed up, ready to squeal even more to the manager about the unwanted hose-down. But before I could��blink��my future hubby reached under the sink, dragged the guy out by��his shirt, and��shoved him away from the sinks, toward the back drive-thru register.

Gulp.

Even in high school, Trevor was��built and strong; I��appreciate the wide expanse of��his back and shoulders��now as much as I did then.��A low-key scuffle ensued; neither wanted to get fired��so mutually��decided it was better to��leave it alone.��Thankfully the��guy never bothered me again since I was now under��Trev’s watchful eye.

I still occasionally tease my hubby about that sink incident. :)

Now onto my review of Jody’s book, An Uncertain Choice.

Jody’s latest story is a little different than her usual historical romance fare, but a lot enjoyable. She’s an author who never, ever disappoints; An Uncertain Choice is exciting, romantic, mysterious, and a tad gruesome.

Medieval torture was, well, torturous.

An Uncertain Choice combines all the expected elements of a Jody Hedlund story: strong, likeable characters; crackling romantic tension; fascinating historical detail; seemingly-insurmountable conflict; and a satisfying ending that elicits a sigh from the reader.

Maybe two. Or three.

About the story:

“Due to her parents’ promise at her birth, Lady Rosemarie has been prepared to become a nun on the day she turns eighteen. Then, a month before her birthday, a friend of her father’s enters the kingdom and proclaims her parents’ will left a second choice–if Rosemarie can marry before the eve of her eighteenth year, she will be exempt from the ancient vow.

Before long, Rosemarie is presented with the three most handsome and brave knights in the land. But when the competition for her heart seemingly results in a knight playing foul, she begins to wonder if the convent is the best place after all. If only one of the knights–the one who appears the most guilty–had not already captured her heart.”

Main character Lady Rosemarie is compassionate and strong-willed, and still learning how to lead her people at eighteen. The three knights she meets in the competition for her heart and hand are likeable and honorable, with one in particular standing out among them.

No spoilers, but sigh. Her heart’s choice is��a chivalrous keeper. And in light of the furor over a particular book (and now, movie) that’s out, I appreciate that Jody’s latest story is all shades of appropriate and God-honoring for teenagers up through adults.

Jody Hedlund is a superlative storyteller, and this young adult story proves Hedlund an author with no writing boundaries. Readers will be thrilled to know she has two more stories planned for the other two knights. I can’t wait to read them.

Once again, Jody’s written a heart-warming page-turner��in An Uncertain Choice.

To learn more about Jody, click here.

Filed under: Musings Tagged: An Uncertain Choice, Author Jody Hedlund, chivalry, Jody Hedlund, Valentine's Day