The Blog

Amish View: Shipshewana’s Pace I look at my calendar, and I can’t believe that July is ending this weekend. Where has the summer gone? One part of me is celebrating, as Texas is in the worst recorded drought of all time. Another part of me remembers that summer is supposed to be the time of rest, lazy days and nights... read more

Monday Inspiration: Amish Grace How often does inspiration rise out of tragedy? Often enough, I suppose. At times we can see the hand of God in someone else’s life … even during the moment of their grief. My wonderful editor sent me an article from USA Today —For Amish, No Grudge, Blame in Tragedy. It’s a piece regarding the Amish community suffering from... read more

Amish View: Shipshewana Antique Festival For our Saturday topic, I thought I’d give you a heads up on Shipshewana’s Antique Festival, coming up on August 6th.   The Antique Market emphasizes top quality antiques, requiring all antiques to be pre-1960, and reproductions are not allowed … Fun, right? The first time I visited Shipshewana, I thought I had an idea... read more

Amish View: Lolly’s Fabrics and Quilts One of my favorite places in Shipshewana is Lolly’s. No surprise, right? Falling to Pieces is set in a quilt shop! When I first visited Shipshe in the summer of 2010, I was fascinated with Lolly’s because it reminded me of when I was a child and I’d go to fabric stores with my mother.... read more

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... read more

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... read more

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!... read more

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... read more

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... read more

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... read more