GUEST POST & GIVEAWAY: Author Hannah R. Conway

Welcome, friends! I have a special treat for you today. I have author Hannah R. Conway on my blog today. She is a bestselling author, for one. Beyond that, she is a writing mentor (mine, in fact) and is very knowledgable in the craft of writing. She is also a phenomenal speaker. I can’t say enough good things about her! But I’ll let you meet her yourselves:

History Doesn’t Have to Repeat Itself

I’m so excited to be Sara’s blog & give away an eCopy of my latest novel, Up in Smoke! Enter to win at the end of this blog post!

Again, I’m super excited to be here. Sara is a dear friend, and talented historical fiction author.

I must say, though I write contemporary romance with elements of suspense and with military themes, I truly have a love for historical fiction. History in general brings a smile to my face, so much that I hold a degree in History, and even teach World History. So, anytime I get a chance to plot and shoot ideas back and forth with Sara, I’m all ears. The way she weaves history and fiction—beautiful!

Somewhere not so deep within me, lives a historical fiction story. One day y’all I will write it!

One of the things I love, and hate, about history is how it repeats itself. Historically speaking, we as a society forgo the lessons of our ancestors and doom ourselves to repeat their mistakes. Teaching history allows me to see those patterns, explore them, and discuss with my students ways we can prevent similar outcomes today, or in the future.

While it’s easy for me to cast a stone at our ancestors, and even present day folks for ridiculous repetitive destructive behavior while waving a pointed finger shouting “haven’t you learned anything?” I’m not innocent.

Countless times I’ve made the same mistake…sometimes knowingly. Ugh. Sad truth.

While writing my latest novel, “Up in Smoke”, my main character, Leanna Wilson, has a history of repeating her past mistakes too. Guess she and I have something in common. At a tender age, Leanna’s heart was broken by her first love, and the betrayal of her best friend. When Leanna’s life gets tough, she runs and puts her hope in people and things that do not fulfill, nor satisfy. This becomes a cycle in her life—history repeating itself.

As I continued to write Leanna’s story, I found myself identifying with her more. She and I both had a problem of letting the wrong history in our lives repeat.

How do we solve this problem?

Huff. Sigh. Groan.

And then it hit me. Wisdom. Wisdom only from God. He has to teach us the way, show us what needs to change in our lives, and create the change in us.

Isaiah 1:17 tells us to learn to do what is right.

How do we learn? By reading what God has to say in the Bible, and doing what it says. Eventually, the history repeating in our lives will be the right kind, the kind that lead to life, peace, and joy.

It seems Leanna and I have had to endure many self-repeating history mistakes, but it also seems like she and I at least now know how to get out of that cycle.

Let’s pray that we all will allow God to teach us the way, and the right kind of history to repeat.

Thank you for those words, Hannah. And for being here. Let me snag you for a few questions.

First, what motivated you to start writing novels?

This deep, deep desire; like, if I didn’t write, I would explode! Truly, I’ve enjoyed creating stories from a very young age, I simply needed to live a little before putting anything permanent down.

What a neat thought on that “live a little before putting anything permanent down”. I like that.

What author would you most like to meet?

Just one? I’d have to say Tosca Lee. Her stories pull me in, keep my up way past my bedtime, and leave me salivating for the next novel. Fan-girling a bit over here!

I know what you mean. I have a couple of those authors on my list