The Blog

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

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... read more

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.... read more

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... read more

  Usually on Wednesday’s we talk about ANOTHER author’s writing, but this week I wanted to share a little of my writing. This week I had the opportunity to blog with Shannon Vannatter. MONDAY she had me relate some of my husband’s most romantic moments. That was fun (love you, honey). We’re a bit unconventional when it comes to romance.... read more

I thought since it’s so blazing HOT across the states, I’d do a blog that amuses me — Amish BUGGIES. When I first started reading Amish books, I had a hard time envisioning what these looked like. I suppose I pictured something like a prairie wagon. Of course I’d seen a few on book covers, and one or two in... read more

I’ve enjoyed sharing what I learned on my trip to Shipshewana, Indiana. When my editor, the wonderful Sue Brower, picked Shipshe for the setting of our cozy Amish series, I had never heard of it. I went on-line and did my research. I googled. I even posted to my writing groups and asked questions. That was when I received my... read more

I’ll wrap up this series next weekend. It’s been a pleasure to share photos with you from my trip to Shipshewana, Indiana. Today we’re going to focus on FARMING, and I’m sure I will get much of the terminology wrong. Although I now live in the country, I was born in LA. It will, no doubt, show. So let’s get to... read more

I wanted to recap a little more of my visit to Shipshewana, Indiana where I was researching my upcoming series, Shipshewana Amish Mystery (Zondervan 2011). It’s possible that Amish clothing is part of what draws us into the story. We are a bit fascinated with this simpler style of dress. It would be nice to not have to worry about... read more