The Blog

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... read more

Wednesday’s Spotlight: Falling to Pieces Since I spotlight Christian fiction on Wednesdays, I suppose it’s okay to spotlight my own! Falling to Pieces is now available and in-stock at both Amazon and BarnesandNoble, and it should be appearing at your local bookstore any day as well. Great! Book’s written. People can read it. Reviews are good (see the REVIEWS tab at the... read more

It’s Saturday, and time for another Amish Myth Buster. Myth Buster #4: Knitting This week’s question is from one of our blog readers, Karen. What I would like to know is do Amish women knit? I never see knitted items for sale or read about their knitting skills – just quilting. But everyone needs mittens and hats, so I have to... read more

Amish View: Interview on Shipshewana Series I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed for my upcoming release, Falling to Pieces: A Shipshewana Amish Mystery. What was the inspiration for Falling to Pieces?   So many different bits of inspiration go into a book for me. You’ll notice on the cover is a quilt shop–Daisy’s Quilt Shop. It’s named after... 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

  The more I learn about the Amish, the more I learn I don’t know. I suppose that’s true with any new friend–and I do consider the Amish my friends. Recently I learned that there is an Amish community in Stephenville, TX. How cool is that? Stephenville is only 86 miles from me! I don’t think I’ll be ordering a... 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 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

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... read more