How do writers go about creating fictional families? I suppose there are a lot of ways, but I start by looking at MY family, and I go from there. (Yes, this is a picture of me and my siblings. I’m the youngest. The cutest, right?) When I submitted a 6 book series to Love Inspired, I knew that I wanted …
I see a lot of writers talking about deadlines and stress. In fact, I see and hear a lot of people admitting to feeling stressed in general, so I thought we’d talk about that for a minute. I don’t mind deadlines personally. They give me a date to finish something, which is good. Otherwise I might take forever. One way …
I recently wrote a guest blog for my friend Joshua Becker. You can read the blog here. Joshua is a big minimalism proponent. I’ve taken his classes and read his books. He’s awesome. I like his perspective on things. I like that he says “minimalism looks different for everyone.” Most of Joshua’s readers are not familiar with the Amish, but …
Just so you know that being an author isn’t all about book releases and eating chocolate bars, I thought that I’d give you a peek into the world of writing a proposal. Generally, when you write a proposal you write the first 3 chapters (about 50 pages) and a rather detailed synopsis. I want you to picture a ROOT CANAL …
I’m thrilled to share the my newest release, The Amish Twins Next Door, has been on the Publishers Weekly Mass Market bestseller list for 3 weeks in a row. That is fabulous! Thank you so much for every copy ordered, downloaded or won. You all are awesome. And you make my job as an author super fun. Here’s what people …
How I write a book—there are probably a lot of ways to write a book. This is what works for me, but results will vary.
Today I thought I’d share with you about writing retreats. They come in all shapes and forms. More formal retreats are at hotels or retreat centers. For the retreat I went to earlier this month, we rented an AirBnB and split the cost (which ended up being about $80 for two nights–a real deal). So what do you do at …
Today I thought I’d share with you what books I have releasing in 2022. I’ve also noted below whether they are new releases or reprints. The Amish Twins Next Door releases on 4-26-22 and should be available everywhere Harlequin/Love Inspired books are sold. This is a new release and is the last title in my Indiana Amish Brides series. All …
What a year 2021 has been. I like to look back over the previous year. I enjoy making new year lists and resolutions. It helps me to gain perspective. It helps me to remember to be grateful. 2021 was certainly a year for the record books. We had snow-mageddon–not once but twice which was a true record for central Texas. …
We have been experiencing a stunning fall here in Texas—sunny days in the 80s interrupted by an occasional “cold front” in the low 60s. Yup. My kind of weather. While I was enjoying just such a beautiful day in my back yard, I saw something clinging to our chain link fence—it looked like a bug, caterpillar thing. Then I saw …