Research: Cashton Amish I visited Wisconsin this week in order to meet some of the local Amish folk for my upcoming Pebble Creek series (Harvest House, 2012). I’m so glad I did. Not only are the Wisconsin Amish lovely people, but they’re very different from the Amish communities I visited in Indiana. And isn’t that to be expected? Afterall, if you …
Research: Wisconsin Amish With the beginning of summer, I start work on my Amish romance series. Book 1 is tentatively titled, Plain School at Pebble Creek and it’s set in Wisconsin. The only problem is that I haven’tseen much of Wisconsin. So Monday morning I’ll head to Ft. Hood regional airport and hop a plane. I strongly believe in traipsing …
Shipshewana: Extended Flea Market, May 30 As a child, I groaned every time my dad stopped at a flea market. Igroaned often. My dad LOVED flea markets. As an adult, my attitude has shifted a bit, about many things. When I learned my new Amish cozy series would be set in Shipshewana, I quickly became aware of their market. It’s quite famous! …
Shipshewana: Yoder’s Red Barn Anniversary My Amish murder mysteries series debuts in the fall, and you all know that I am excited about that! I had the good fortune of being able to take a trip to the lovely town of Shipshewana, Indiana last summer. It’s a great place, filled with warm, friendly people. I thought it might be fun to highlight …
Wednesday’s Spotlight: Falling to Pieces Today I’m so very excited to spotlight my first novel with Zondervan Press– Falling to Pieces: A Quilt Shop Murder. This book doesn’t release until September, but I’m highlighting it because it popped up on Amazon earlier this week, and is now available for pre-order. Yes, that’s a little crazy, but it’s the way of publishing …
The Amish View: Baseball When I first began researching Amish people and Amish communities I was surprised to find how much they enjoyed games. For instance, baseball–I had never imagined Amish kids playing baseball. Now why is that? Maybe I hadn’t seen it in the paper or on the news. Maybe I hadn’t read enough. But in fact, Amish families do …
The Amish View: Gotte’s wille Readers frequently comment on how peaceful the Amish seem, how they appear to have mastered this thing that stumps many of us–fighting against or submitting to Gotte’s wille. Is God’s will a set of orders that have been handed down from our commanding officer? And if the Amish SEEM to have an easier time accepting what comes …
The Amish View: First Christmas I’VE RECEIVED many letters responding to A Simple Amish Christmas, my debut book. Most readers appreciated the Amish way of life. How do they manage to keep things so simple? Wouldn’t it be nice to not have all the rush and stress around Christmas.? When I began my research for this book, I wasn’t aware …
Wednesday’s Spotlight: Amish Grace I would not have picked this book to read; however, my 72-year-old mother saw the movie on tv last week — said she cried through the entire thing. Of course I remember the Nickel Mines tragedy. It occurred before I began writing Amish fiction, but even then I was aware of the Amish presence within our country. …
Happy Labor Day weekend. I’ve been looking forward to this one–the school year started back up two weeks ago here in Texas. The first few weeks are usually the toughest. Labor Day comes at a perfect time for teachers (and probably students as well). Which started me wondering if the Amish take Labor Day off. So I consulted my notes (nothing …