Over the next few blogs I wanted to share some of the people I met and things I learned while visiting/researching in the small Amish community of Shipshewana, Indiana last week (where my 3 book cozy series for Zondervan will be set). If you’re familiar with the Amish, you may know that the oldest members remain an active and important …
I had the pleasure of visiting Shipshewana, Indiana this past week. Shipshewana is the setting for my 3 book Amish cozy mystery series, and although the stories themselves will be fictional I thought it was important to walk the streets, meet the people, sit in the coffee shop – get a feel for the town. I was right! Shipshe was nothing …
This week I made plans for my first trip to Shipshewana, Indiana. I’m so excited that I’m doing little cartwheels around my desk (which is quite a sight). Shipshewana is the setting for my Zondervan books, Shipshewana Amish Mystery Series. I’ve done quite a lot of research on Shipshewana of course, and I’ve now written 1/3 of the first book. …
The more deeply I delve into Amish society, the more I find connections between “their” world and “ours.” One landed on my front lawn last week. I’ve never witnessed an Amish barn raising, but certainly it’s one of the most fascinating aspects of Amish life. The idea that all of your neighbors show up and literally RAISE your barn in …
It FEELS like a birth when you send a manuscript out into the world. Yesterday I was thankful and ecstatic to complete A SIMPLE AMISH CHRISTMAS, and yes I did a bit of a snoopy dance as I mailed it off to my lovely editor at Abingdon Press. I adore this book, and I hope you will too. [wpvideo a5taWPLi] …
We recently had a NEEDLEWORK FESTIVAL in my little town, and of course I had to stop by. Immediately it started me thinking of my Amish friends, of my manuscript, of how some things bind us together across the miles and generations. I believe quilting is one of them. Of course I have quilts made by my mother, my grandmother …
I received a study from my editor this week. I wish I could post the entire thing here! The main point of the study was the steady rise in readership of Amish fiction, and what draws readers to the genre as a whole. As a genre it’s been going strong for more than 15 years. So what gives? In a …