Cara C. Putman's Blog, page 99

3 Signs Research is Your New Best Friend

If you’ve been a writer long, you may have discovered something…something that is causing your rooms to feel smaller. Your checkbook to feel lighter. Your desk to feel like a leaning tower.

You’ve discovered that to write an exceptional book, you must conduct mounds of research. I can’t tell you how many times my husband has asked if I’m really writing or simply lost in Google world. Often it depends.

You’re addicted to getting the details right. While I was writing Stars in the Night , I had to research multiple locations…places I couldn’t visit while writing. Because the Hollywood stars were on a train making stops across the United States on their war bond tour, I scrambled to find valid locations for their performances and hotels. It would have been very easy to keep looking and looking and looking. But I realized time was short, and I just needed one location in each city. Since the tour started in D.C., I decided to use a well-known location: Ford’s Theatre. The only problem was that my research showed that during WWII, Ford’s Theatre was used for storage. Instead, I had them stop at the National Theatre which just happened to have a gap in its schedule on the day I had them performing. My stars didn’t even have to perform on stage with a real act!
The pile of research books surrounding your desk overflows from your bookshelves. You don’t have to have a history minor to be intrigued by history or another area. As writers we can be artists, soldiers, photographers, doctors, etc. Our characters have jobs we’ve never held. To accurately portray them, I have to read books, talk to people in the job, and anything else I can imagine to bring it to life. In Shadowed by Grace, Rachel Justice is an only child of a single mother who is dying. Desperate to save her mother, she talks her editor into sending her to Italy. During WWII. To photograph the war. There were so many details to research from the kind of camera she would have an how it worked to what her uniform was.
You think about ways to get that tidbit you need even as your falling asleep. You call people and explain that yes, you really are an author and that’s why you need to know how the police on Mackinac Island would handle a murder investigation. It’s why you rejoice when they don’t throw you in jail for asking pointed questions about who would have jurisdiction and what would happen — something I really did while writing A Wedding Transpires on Mackinac Island .

And don’t forget you can read the first chapter of Shadowed by Grace and watch the videos on why I wrote about the Monuments Men here.

What research nuggets have you discovered? What’s the craziest piece of information you’ve researched?

5 Steps to Creating Your Writing Ritual

As I peel the veil separating the writing process from the finished book, people often ask what my writing ritual is. I have to laugh, because I think it often looks like this photo depicts. “Five more minutes. Mommy needs five more minutes.”

Any work at home mommies relate?

I’d like to say that my desk always look like it does at the bottom of the collage. Unfortunately, when I’m in the middle of writing, it looks like the top version. So do I have a writing ritual? Not really.

Here’s what I do have:

Find a place to write. Most of my writing occurs at my desk in my bedroom. I have a hutch on the desk (and the floor around my desk) to hold my research materials. If I’m writing a historical, I’ll often have 5 or 6 go-to books that provide the rich details I like to incorporate in my books. Contemporaries don’t always require that level of information, but if the suspense thread is strong, I’ll still have source materials.
Be flexible about that location. When I really need to grind out words, I have a favorite Panera that I escape to. The staff are wonderful, the tea flows freely, and I can focus without the every five minute distractions. I have also been known to hide at the law office — scaring the cleaning service more than once with my late night entries.
Identify signals that tell you it’s time to write. If I’m writing a historical and contemporary at the same time, I will use music to signal to my brain which era I’m in at the moment. Swing tells my mind we’re in the WWII era. Country identifies more contemporary times.
Identify how to beat writer’s block. If I get stuck, I’ll change the location I’m writing at. I may also pick up a good novel, watch a movie I adore, or get out a legal pad. It rarely takes many paragraphs before I’m back into the story and ready to write.
Have fuel readily available. My go-to snack food is almonds and in the right season peppermint Hershey’s kisses. I don’t know why, but I love those two things. When I’m at Panera, it’s an asiago cheese bagel and ice tea. Little things that help me stay in the chair and focus.

If you’re a writer, do you have writing rituals? What are they?

And don’t forget you can read the first chapter of Shadowed by Grace and watch the videos on why I wrote about the Monuments Men here.

 

 

 

Regensburg: A German city in its Medieval Splendor

One town we visited while we were in Germany was Regensburg. Down in Bavaria, it is a medieval city that was largely left untouched by World War II. Some believe this is because the royal family in that town has connections with the British royal family. All I know is that this town along the Danube is beautiful with an amazing cathedral. We enjoyed our day there so much, that we returned toward the end of our trip rather than go somewhere else. (The friends we were seeing again had something to do with that!)

It was a rare place in Germany when you consider the absolute devastation so many cities and towns experienced. There wasn’t much for the Monuments Men to do with the cathedral because it was left in tact and beautiful in all its Gothic glory.

D all tuckered out

 

Susi’s “tiny home” — a wonderful place to stay

 

J and Eric enjoying the view

 

The kids in a church graveyard









Entrance to the Princess’ castle

 

Outside of the cathedral

 

Roses at the castle…

 

Living a Life Shadowed by God’s Grace

When was the last time God surprised you?

I mean really surprised you?

Sometimes life starts moving so fast that I forget to stop and remember what God is doing. Here are a couple examples.

Last May I started wondering if I would need to get a MBA at some point. Because I teach business law in graduate business programs and my classes were expanding, it seemed to make sense. However, MBAs are expensive and I don’t plan to use it in the normal way. Our lives as a family is high-paced and full. In other words, it just didn’t make sense, so I tabled it without much thought. A month later my boss and mentor approached me and asked if I’d considered getting a MBA. I told him I’d consider it, fully expecting the answer to be I couldn’t do it. Then God began opening doors. As I write this I’m in a marketing class in my second semester of classes in a 20 month program. There are a series of miracles or ways that God has shown up all along this journey. He’s surprised me with His grace in this area. I don’t want to forget.

With Shadowed by Grace, He has shown how His timing is so much better than mine. I first talked to editors about this book in fall of 2010. I didn’t land a contract for the book until late summer 2012. Then the book releases in January 2014. In 2010, we didn’t know that in February 2014 George Clooney would release a movie talking about the same group of Monuments Men. It’s been fun to talk to people who are just now hearing about these important soldiers thanks to marketing for the movie.

God also gave me a team that caught the vision for telling this story. Their passion for the book has driven all kinds of creativity I wouldn’t have had if left to my own experience and thoughts. God’s grace extended in ways I couldn’t begin to anticipate.

How has God shadowed your life with grace?

Anne Frank Died Here: Bergen-Belsen

While our summer in Germany was an amazing opportunity and experience, one of the things I wanted to experience was the reality of a concentration camp. Because we were traveling with very young children, my husband was cautious about viewing a site like Dachau. However, one of our new German friends told us of a smaller camp located only 25 or so kilometers from Hannover.

Bergen-Belsen was a camp that primarily held Russian prisoners of war. Later in the war it also held Jews that Hitler believed could be ransomed for needed funds. One of the families held there was the Frank family from the Netherlands. Anne and her sister died in the camp.

It was a sobering experience to visit the center along with walk the grounds of the camp. Here’s more from my husband:

 Bergen – Belsen was a challenging place. Cara and Abigail made a tour through the archives indoor while I (Eric) took the other three kids for a walk through the grounds. The exceptionally nice weather did not square with the pain and suffering which took place here just over seventy years ago. We paid our respects and remembered those who lived and died.

One of several mass graves at Bergen Belsen.

 

Symbolic tombstone in the field at Bergen-Belsen.

 

A peaceful place today but haunted by a terrible past. It is a place to remember. Always remember.

 

Upon liberating the camp, the British soldiers posted signs declaring what they found at Bergen-Belsen.

The Dancing Master Review

Julie Klassen is a fantastic writer who creates characters and plots that I love. This book was no exception. I was quickly pulled into Regency England and the lives of two characters with lives shadowed by pain. A delightful read for those who love historicals filled with great characters, a strong faith thread, and a hint of mystery.

Finding himself the man of the family, London dancing master Alec Valcourt moves his mother and sister to remote Devonshire, hoping to start over. But he is stunned to learn the village matriarch has prohibited all dancing, for reasons buried deep in her past.

Alec finds an unlikely ally in the matriarch’s daughter. Though he’s initially wary of Julia Midwinter’s reckless flirtation, he comes to realize her bold exterior disguises a vulnerable soul–and hidden sorrows of her own.

Julia is quickly attracted to the handsome dancing master–a man her mother would never approve of–but she cannot imagine why Mr. Valcourt would leave London, or why he evades questions about his past. With Alec’s help, can Julia uncover old secrets and restore life to her somber village…and to her mother’s tattered heart?

Filled with mystery and romance, The Dancing Masterbrings to life the intriguing profession of those who taught essential social graces for ladies and gentlemen hoping to make a “good match” in Regency England.

Purchase a copy and learn more at Julie’s website

Carol Shields once said, “Write the book you want to read, the one you cannot find.” When does a writer’s story begin forming? How long does it take to write? What were the finishing touches? We’ve asked Julie Klassen, author ofThe Dancing Master, to tell us the story behind the story. You won’t want to miss Julie’s “All Things Jane” (from Austen to Eyre) Live Webcast Event and enter to win a Kindle HDX! Learn more here.

TELL US A BIT ABOUT THE STORY BEHIND YOUR LATEST NOVEL. WHERE DID YOUR INSPIRATION SPARK FROM?

I learned to dance the box-step standing atop my father’s size 15, triple E shoes. I then went on to take every ballroom dance class I could sign up for at the University of Illinois from legendary instructor, Aurora Villacorta. Later, I even taught a few dance classes of my own through community ed. So, perhaps it’s little wonder I wrote about a dance teacher, or “dancing master” as they were called in Jane Austen’s time, when the mere touch of hands at a ball sparked romance. I enjoyed drawing on all of these experiences to write the book.

HOW LONG DID YOUR BOOK TAKE YOU TO WRITE?

Approximately six or seven months of writing, adding, cutting, layering, reading, revising, and revising some more to create a draft solid enough to submit to my publisher.

An interview with Robin Lee Hatcher

Great minds think alike! Robin Lee Hatcher’s latest book shares a title with one of my WWII stories. I’m delighted to introduce you to her and her book today.

When Robin Lee Hatcher’s marriage ended in divorce, she was devastated. “ I’d been so convinced God had promised me that He would save our marriage,” the author says, but she quickly learned that sometimes God answers prayer in the most unexpected ways. In the following years, God used the pain of what appeared to be a failed marriage to draw her closer to Him. In A Promise Kept   Hatcher draws on that personal pain to craft a story about a woman married to an alcoholic, a woman who has to learn the value and importance of surrendering everything to the Lord.

  Q: Can you tell us a little bit about A Promise Kept and specifically how your own life inspired this story?

A Promise Kept opens as Allison Kavanagh arrives at the house her aunt Emma bequeathed to her — a log home in the mountains. Her marriage of more than twenty years has ended in divorce because of her husband’s alcoholism. She was so certain God had promised to save her marriage, but obviously she was wrong. Now she is moving from Boise to Kings Meadow to start life afresh and find a way to heal from her heartbreak.

Like Allison, my marriage ended in divorce because of my husband’s alcoholism. I was devastated because I’d been so convinced God had promised me He would save our marriage. I had believed His promise through many difficult times, but it hadn’t come to pass. I knew God didn’t lie. Therefore, I must have misunderstood.

But God had many things to teach me in the following years, including that He answers prayers in totally unexpected ways and in His own time, not mine. One of those unexpected ways was realized when my husband and I were remarried more than five years later. God used the divorce to save our marriage!

Q: How does your husband feel about you using aspects of your lives in a novel and speaking openly about it in interviews?

Thanks so much for asking this question. In order to honor my husband, I made certain from the very beginning that he was on-board for me to write about and talk about our marriage — which would mean talking about him and his battles with addiction. His response was, “If my story can help someone else, use it.”

Q: How much of your main character’s situation is based on your own and will readers see a portrait of the author in your heroine?

While my characters are never me — I allow them to be individuals and allow their lives to unfold in their own way — there are always pieces of me in them. Allison’s life is not the same as mine. I didn’t retreat to a mountain cabin nor have an aunt whose journals helped me discover truths I needed to know, nor did I withdraw from God during the depths of my grief as Allison does. But every lesson God teaches me eventually makes its way into one of my stories. That was certainly true of A Promise Kept.

Q: What would you say to someone who feels like God has abandoned him or her or forgotten His promise?

Hold onto Him no matter what. We only see such a tiny scrap of reality. God sees the whole picture. He knows you intimately, and He loves you extravagantly. He hasn’t abandoned you.

Faith isn’t about feelings. We cannot trust our feelings. The Bible warns us that the heart is deceptive. If you are feeling abandoned, get into God’s word and do a study on His character. When you know His character, you will cease to fear that He might leave you alone in your trials.

Q: What is the most important thing God taught you during your own period of refinement?

Not the most important but certainly the most surprising was when I realized I had reached the place where I could thank God for my marriage to an alcoholic and mean it. Because of what happened in my marriage, my faith was deepened and strengthened. I learned to hold onto the foot of the cross so tightly that I could feel the splinters in the palms of my hands. No matter what comes, I’m holding onto the Lord, from where my help comes.

I consider my life lesson to be this: Nothing, absolutely nothing, enters my life that isn’t caused or allowed by God, filtered through His loving hands, for the purpose of making me more like Jesus.

Salvation happens in an instant when we trust in Christ. But sanctification is a lifelong journey. We travel it one day at a time, and the refining process is always part of it. None of us wants to step into that fire so the dross can be burned away. We don’t want to be pruned with those spiritual clippers. But it is for our eternal good that we submit to it.

In the end, I want to be like Jesus more than I want to avoid the discomfort of the refinement process.

Robin Lee Hatcher will be hosting a Facebook party on Thursday, February 6, 2014 at 8:00 PM EST to chat with readers about A Promise Kept, give away copies of the book and reveal the grand prize winner of a social media giveaway. More details will be available on her Facebook page .

For more information about Hatcher and her books, visit her online home at www.robinleehatcher.com, become a fan on Facebook (robinleehatcher) or follow her on Twitter (@robinleehatcher).  

Shadowed by Grace Interview

Shadowed by Grace, your latest novel, involves a unique group of soldiers dedicated to saving art and architecture during WWII. What got you interested in the Monuments Men?

It was one of those God moments. I have deep respect and admiration for the men and women of the Greatest Generation, and I love telling their stories. Because of that, I’m always on the lookout for new ideas that will spark into a book. In the summer of 2010, I stumbled across a nonfiction book, Monuments Men, and was introduced to this small band of soldiers. Their stories captured me…and the art added a unique twist to the story. It became a story that burned in my heart to tell.

Shadowed by Grace focuses on some of the endeavors the Monuments Men undertook in Italy. I knew little of the Italian front and discovered a diary that gave voice to the Italian experience. That added with what I was learning about the efforts of the Monuments Men to save priceless monuments and paintings convinced me this was a story I wanted to write. Then I discovered the heroine and her search, and it became part of me. I love this story and am thrilled by the early reactions I’m hearing.

Are you an art buff or was that something you had to become more knowledgeable in to write the story?

I wasn’t an art buff until two things happened. 1) I took a tour at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. It was the tour where they take you to four paintings. Only four! But those four were amazing. Then 2) I took art history in college because I knew I would fail music appreciation. Even then I knew myself well enough to know I was a visual learner rather than audio. So when I discovered the Monuments Men it tied into the appreciation I already had for the great masters whose works were scattered all over Europe. Add in the grand buildings and cathedrals, and I could see how important it was to make an effort to preserve them in the first war of widespread aerial bombardment.

Introduce us briefly to the main characters in Shadowed by Grace.

Rachel Justice is a photojournalist on her way to Italy to cover the war. But she’s really there to search for the father she never knew. She’s surprised that her journey includes a search for love and a search for her heavenly Father.

Scott Lindstrom is a museum curator assigned to the Monuments Men. He’s one of the elite group of men assigned the task of saving western civilization. In Italy the army didn’t know what to do with the Monuments Men, so his job was compounded and made even more difficult.

Part of what makes this story so unique is the fact that the heroine is a photojournalist. Not only was photojournalism a new discipline at the time, but few women were allowed to see the front lines. What kind of challenges did that pose for you while writing the book?

I wanted to create a unique job that a woman could have on or near the front lines. If she could be an artist in her own right, all the better. That made war photojournalist the perfect role for Rachel. I found it fascinating to research the women who filled those jobs. Everything from their dress to how they worked in the field had to be explored. Once I found a couple key books, it made it easier. But I didn’t know much about war correspondents until I started writing this book. It’s a good thing I love history and getting the details right.

Which of your books is your favorite?

Stars in the Night would tie with Shadowed by Grace. Stars in the Night was the first time I got to tell a fuller WWII story and it incorporate the glitz and glamour of classic Hollywood with a unique piece of WWII homefront history and a body count. Shadowed by Grace contains a piece of WWII history with the Monuments Men that fascinated me and it’s the first time I got to tell an international story, which has its own set of challenges.

What made you decide to start creating characters and story world?

I’ve always had a love for good books and stories. When I was a teen, my favorite authors didn’t write new books fast enough – now I understand why! But at the time I thought they should be able to write more books in a year, so I decided to try my hand at it. Life intervened after I’d started two books, but the desire to write never died. In God’s perfect timing, He resurrected the dream and gave me the green light to chase the dream again.

What can we expect from you next?

My next project is a Christmas WWII novella collection with Tricia Goyer and Sarah Sundin entitled Treetops Glisten. I love Tricia and Sarah and their WWII novels, so it was a joy to work with them on this collection. We got on the phone and started brainstorming a collection of stories that would fit with the type of WWII novels we each write. “Should be near a big city but have a small town feel.” “Probably located in the Midwest.” “Needs war industry and a university.” I started laughing as I listened, because they were describing Lafayette, Indiana, where I live.

It was fun to work in collaboration on everything from where they would live, to family timelines, to sibling order, etc. Writing is so often solitary, but writing this collection allowed us to step outside of that. Sarah came out in September to do some on-site research. Tricia will be here in February, so it will be fun to take her to the candy shop my heroine works at, drive her by the Turner home, and more.

Cara C. Putman graduated high school at 16, college at 20, and completed her law degree at 27. An award-winning author of seventeen books with more on the way, she is active in women’s ministry at her church and is a lecturer on business and employment law to graduate students at Purdue University’s Krannert School of Management. Putman also practices law and is a second-generation homeschooling mom. Putman is currently pursuing her Master’s in Business Administration at Krannert. She serves on the executive board of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), an organization she has served in various roles since 2007. She lives with her husband and four children in Indiana. You can connect with her online at: her website, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Goodreads.

You can purchase Shadowed by Grace, at Christianbook.com, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Lifeway, and anywhere else books are sold.

About the book:

Rachel Justice is desperate to save her dying mother. She doesn’t want to leave her, but she accepts her newspaper’s assignment to travel to Italy and photograph war images. No one knows her photography is a cover and that Rachel is really seeking to find the father she never knew, hopeful to get some help with her failing mother. Dedicated to her mission, Rachel is focused on completing it. Soon, though, she finds her priorities and plans changing when she is assigned to Lt. Scott Lindstrom, on mission as a Monument Man. Their meeting will have far-reaching consequences. Will this derail her plans? Will she ever find her father? Is her faith enough to carry her through?

Read the first chapter here.

What are Your Goals for 2014?

So I’m trying something new. Enjoy the video greeting And if you like it, let me know. I may do more of these in 2014.

Shadowed by Grace: Fact or Fiction?

I love history. I always have. That’s one reason I minored in history at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. It’s also why I love writing historical fiction set during World War II. I also have a great respect for the men and women of the Greatest Generation. I want to tell their stories well and honor what they did.

That leads me to do an abundance of research as I write. I want to incorporate as many true-to-events details as I can – even as I write fiction.

For Shadowed by Grace, I relied on numerous nonfiction resources. But the best resource I found was Florentine Art Under Fire written by Frederick Hartt, one of the Monument’s Men stationed in Italy. He published it in 1949, and I relied on it heavily to get the timeline for the last third of the book as accurate as possible. I also learned how the Monuments Men responded to the devastation in Florence.

But many other books added color to the novel. For example, from Assignment to Hell, I learned how the newsroom in Rome responded to the word that Normandy had been invaded. That’s in a scene with Rachel, who is a war photo-journalist. Because more people will read fiction than non-fiction, I strive to make my novels as true to what happened as possible.

When you read Shadowed by Grace, I hope you’ll see the scope of history contained in the pages of a novel.

You can read the first chapter here and learn more about the book here.