Getting to know you Thursday (posted on Wednesday this week) With Marilyn Turk with giveaway

Please welcome Marilyn Turk to my blog today. I have been delayed getting this interview up but it is timely as Marilyn has her story in a Guidepost Christmas book of short stories.

1. Can you tell us a little about yourself?

Originally from Louisiana, I moved to Atlanta, GA after college, married and had my three sons and lived there until after my divorce when I was laid off. I moved to Florida in 2004 and started my new life. I married the love of my life, my second husband, five years ago. Together we have four sons and one daughter, two daughters-in-law, and three grandsons ages 3, 4, 6. Although I graduated with a degree in journalism, it was advertising I wanted to do which was in the college of journalism. However, I learned a lot about journalism, meeting deadlines and editing during that time, things which any writer needs to know.

2. When you were a child did you have a favorite book or books? I loved Nancy Drew books.

3. Do you have a favorite Genre to both read and right write? My favorite genre is historical with romance, so I read and write it.

4. Did you have favorite authors growing up who have influenced you? Besides Carolyn Keene who wrote Nancy Drew, I really didn’t have a favorite author.

5. When did you know you wanted to be an author? Writing was always easy for me, so I didn’t consider it a career until much later in life. But I loved Guideposts magazine and read it from cover to cover, so I wanted to be published in it, however my career in sales and my family prevented me from even thinking about writing. 

6. How did you go about becoming an author? When I moved to Florida as an empty-nester, I felt God telling me I now had time to write. I took an online writing course to refresh my memory having  been out of school a long time. I then began attending writers conferences and learning about the craft and business of writing. I thought I’d only write articles and devotions, so that’s what I did and was published in Focus on the Family’s Clubhouse Jr. magazine, and The Upper Room. In 2010 I won the Guideposts Writers Workshop and was subsequently published in Guideposts. I hadn’t considered writing a book until I went to conferences and heard people talking about their books. While doing historical research on the area I live in, which is a hobby of mine, the threads of a story formed and my first book was birthed.  I am currently writing my third book while my editor looks for the right publisher for the others.

7. If you were not a writer what would you like to be? I’ve been blessed to achieve most of what I wanted to be. At this point in my life, I wouldn’t want another career.

8. Outside reading and writing what do you like to do? I love tennis and play twice a week. I would play more except that I’m trying to focus on writing and not tennis. I also enjoy taking walks and boating and fishing with my husband. I attempt to garden, but sometimes the Florida heat is brutal on plants. Fortunately, we got a lot of rain this year.

9. Do you have a place you love to visit or would love to visit? I love lighthouses and would love to visit them all over the world. I still have a lot to see in the US though. My husband and I would love to take a trip to Australia and stay a couple of months doing volunteer work. (Jenny here I think you would Love Australia there is so much to see and do)

10. If you could have a meal with 3 living people who would you choose and why? I just met Frank Peretti at the American Christian Fiction Writers Conference, and he is really cool. I’d love to talk more with him. Also, I love Lynn Austin’s writing and would love to spend some time with her. Of course, I’d love to get close to Hugh Jackman, but I doubt I could eat if I were. (I know what you mean about Hugh Jackman I would be the same but at least I could talk cricket with him as he is a big fan)

Finally can you tell us about your current books and/or any that will
be coming out soon.

I’ve been published in four Chicken Soup for the Soul books – Devotional Stories for Tough Times, Say Hello to a Better Body, Say Goodbye to Stress, and the most recent, Devotional Stories for Wives, which came out in September.

I also have a short story in a Guideposts book that will be coming out in November called A Cup of Christmas Cheer. There are two books in the collection and my story is in the one called Stories of Joy and Wonder. These will be available through Guideposts.

 Also where we can find you on the web. http://www.shopguideposts.org/new-releases-1/a-cup-of-christmas-cheer.html

My website is www.pathwayheart.com or www.marilynturk.com. I post a weekly blog about lighthouses there. I also have a blog on The Writer’s Path on the same website. I’m always looking for lighthouse stories, so if you know any, please contact me. My email is marilynturkwriter@yahoo.com.

Giveaway:
Marilyn is happy to do a giveaway to one American who leaves a comment. To enter just leave a comment saying what you favourite Christmas Carol is and a way to contact you. Entries close Dec 5th. 

Getting to know you Thursday with Lizabeth Klein

Please welcome Lizabeth Klein
to my blog today. Lizabeth's debut book was released the beginning of October and looks really good. For any one with teens who love fantasy this looks like a good read. 

1. Can you tell us a little about yourself?



Well, I’m a daughter of refugees who fled the Russian invasion of Hungary in the fifties. I grew up in a small village with three brothers. We were quite poor. One day, someone brought us a box of comics. I wanted to read them so badly, I taught myself to read. I loved writing from an early age and spent all my time at the local library. I became a teacher and taught for 19 years, then left and became a tutor and writer of fantasy books. I live with my husband in Sydney.

2. When you were a child did you have a favourite book or books?

As a child, I was drawn to classical adventures such as Coral Island by R.M Ballantyne, Kidnapped by R. L. Stevenson. I also grew to love science fiction novels back then, but I can’t recall any that I read apart from those written by Ursula le Guin. There were also aspects of fantasy that I loved as a child, too.

3. Do you have a favourite Genre to both read and right write?

It has to be the genre of fantasy.

4. Did you have favourite authors growing up who have influenced you?



Definitely the classical authors whose writings are beautifully crafted. Lucy Maud Montgomery, Robert Louis Stevenson, Ballantyne and Daphne Du Maurier were just a few.

5. When did you know you wanted to be an author?



Early in life. I loved writing stories in Primary and I wrote my first book back then. It was quite a good science fiction story about a boy who discovers that he’s not human. Anyway, I thought it was good.

6. How did you go about becoming an author?



Lots of hard work, persistence and prayers. I joined my local FAW and also a small writers’ group where the veterans put my writing in its place. I learnt about show, not tell and many other aspects of writing about which I had no idea. I admired these old time writers and wanted my writing to shine like theirs did. I started to enter competitions and wrote for Viatouch, an educational online site that accepted lots of my articles and lessons. Then I had the wonderful Annie Hamilton mentor me for a week and I learnt so much from her. When I felt my ms was finally ready for publication, I sent it to Rochelle at Wombat Books, who accepted the first two books in my series.

7. If you were not a writer what would you like to be?

I have no idea. I’ve never contemplated a life not writing. To me, writing is the best vocation. Perhaps a movie director might be something I’d consider as I love directing plays.

8. Outside reading and writing what do you like to do?



This is probably a bit boring, but since I have hardly any time to sit and watch anything, I really love seeing a good movie such as Oblivion or After Earth or Narnia. I also love grabbing some take-away and going and sitting beside the sea with my neglected husband. We watch the waves, the dolphins and occasionally whales spouting in the blue. And no computers.

9. Do you have a place you love to visit or would love to visit?



One of the places I’d love to visit is Middle Earth, New Zealand and Britain.

10. If you could have a meal with 3 living people who would you choose and why?

Just having dinner with my three best friends and having a normal conversation (not about writing).

Finally can you tell us about your current books and/or any that will
 be coming out soon.

My debut book, Firelight of Heaven, will be out on October 1^st 2013, about two weeks away. It’s a fantasy adventure involving two brothers and an elf girl seeking the lost crystals of the Morning Star and the boys’ missing parents. Their journey leads them into one of the perilous lost lands which is guarded by Queen Shara and her countless children. Very scary. Book two, Green Heart of the Forest, will be out early next year and involves a mysterious elemental woman seeking her home tree in a dangerous community of cutthroats and pickpockets. Book Three, Ice Breath of the Earth, hasn’t been offered yet to my publisher. I’m just finishing book four, Crown of Shadows. When it’s completed, I might work up courage and offer them both.  

Also where we can find you on the web.



My website is: Bethloria.com.au

Getting to Know you Thursdays with Melissa Jagears

Please welcome debut Melissa Jagears to my blog today. Melissa also has a free download for the prequel of her debut book. Links included. 

1. Can you tell us a little about yourself?

I’m a stay-at-home mom who used to teach English as a Second Language. I’m a hermit. I could stay in my house and not go outside for maybe a handful of months and be totally happy—as long as I had hubby and kiddos for a bit of human interaction . . . and books! But my two children are extreme extroverts, sigh, so I have to leave the house. I’m hoping the third child turns out to be an introvert so I can have an ally. J (Melissa has a new son)

2. When you were a child did you have a favourite book or books?

Nancy Drew was the best books and the only thing worth reading. I devoured them until I was having to wait for the next one to come out. Frustrated at the agonizing month wait or so between books, I gave up reading all together for several years! Nothing could be better than Nancy Drew! Thankfully someone forced a Lori Wick book on me for my 8^th grade birthday and I begrudgingly read it and decided maybe I should read books again!

3. Do you have a favourite Genre to both read and write?

Christian Historical Romances

4. Did you have favourite authors growing up who have influenced you?

Lori Wick, since she’s the one that got me to fall in love with reading again—I pretty much stick with my favorite genre (see my Nancy Drew tenacity) so, since I read a Historical Romance Wick book first, I’m a historical romance girl!

5. When did you know you wanted to be an author?

When I started writing, it took me 10 months to write 10 chapters (had to have a new chapter ready for my small local writing group to hear each month). At the group, I heard about a nearby, inexpensive little writing conference, so I went with my 10 chapters. The main thing I got out of that conference was how very hard it was to get published. And when someone says I can’t do something, that makes me want to do it all the more. I came home and finished the rest of that book in two months and have been writing away ever since.

6. How did you go about becoming an author?

When I first wanted to write a book I had no idea how to start, it seemed too daunting. So I googled all kinds of plotting methods until I came across the Snowflake Method by Randy Ingermanson which made sense to me and started working with that until I got too antsy to not start writing. Then when I went to that conference mentioned above, an author said, “My writing career took off when I joined ACFW,” so that was my next step. I joined a critique group through that group (the best thing I’ve ever done for my writing) and then wrote and wrote and wrote.

7. If you were not a writer what would you like to be?

An editor! Or a Wycliffe Bible Translator.

8. Outside reading and writing what do you like to do?

Goodness, that’s my whole life! I like to um . . . . . I used to crochet!

9. Do you have a place you love to visit or would love to visit?

I wish I could go on a castle/famous places tour of Europe, and stay in a new historical monument every week.

10. If you could have a meal with 3 living people who would you choose and why?

Um, planning a dinner party? Did you catch I’m a hermit? Without TV, I don’t even know who most of the celebrities people talk about on social media or who stare at me from the grocery checkout aisles. So let’s see…..Ravi Zacharias, Greg Koukl, and John Piper. I wouldn’t do any talking, I’d just listen and be in deep theology discussion heaven.

Finally can you tell us about your current books and/or any that will
be coming out soon. Also where we can find you on the web.

My enovella, Love by the Letter, is the prequel to A Bride for Keeps and is available for free download!

Here’s the blurb for A Bride for Keeps:

Although Everett Cline can hardly keep up with the demands of his homestead, he won't humiliate himself by looking for a helpmate ever again--not after being jilted by three mail-order brides. When a well-meaning neighbor goes behind his back to bring yet another mail-order bride to town, he has good reason to doubt it will work, especially after getting a glimpse at the woman in question. She's the prettiest woman he's ever seen, and it's just not possible she's there to marry a simple homesteader like him.

Julia Lockwood has never been anything more than a pretty pawn for her father or a business acquisition for her former fiance. Having finally worked up the courage to leave her life in Massachusetts, she's determined to find a place where people will value her for more than her looks. Having run out of all other options, Julia resorts to a mail-order marriage in far-away Kansas.

Everett is skeptical a cultured woman like Julia could be happy in a life on the plains, while Julia, deeply wounded by a past relationship, is skittish at the idea of marriage at all. When, despite their hesitations, they agree to a marriage in name only, neither one is prepared for the feelings that soon arise to complicate their arrangement. Can two people accustomed to keeping their distance let the barricades around their hearts down long enough to fall in love?

You can find me here:

Website: www.melissajagears.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melissajagearsauthor

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6929011.Melissa_Jagears

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/melissajagears/

Inspirational Historical Fiction Index: http://inspirationalhistoricalfiction.blogspot.com/

Index’s Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/InspirationalHistoricalFictionIndex

Thanks again for your time and agreeing to be on my blog.

Thank you, Jenny!

Getting to know you Thursdays with Paul Clark

Please join me in welcoming Australian Children's Author Paul Clark to my blog today. ACRBA is now touring What Would Jesus Drive. The blog post I posted yesterday. 

1. Can you tell us a little about yourself? 
I'm a happy husband and father of two becoming teenagers! I'm hitting middle age where you start giving up sport [which I love] and start finding other hobbies that don't make your knees ache!

2. When you were a child did you have a favourite book or books? 
I used to 'hate' books as a kid!  But it was really just big novels!  I loved reading my 'How to Play Cricket', and 'How to Play Football' books, and learn all I could, and go out the backyard, and try it out!

3. Do you have a favourite Genre to both read and right write?
 I like short stories that can be used for any age! Generally we call these children's books, but everyone knows adults love them too!  I love to read non-fiction books that are about getting heaps out of life. Lite Philosophy!

4. Did you have favourite authors growing up who have influenced you? 
I was an eclectic reader. Went on subject and titles, not on authors!  But perhaps the greatest story teller of all, Jesus! 

5. When did you know you wanted to be an author? 
It's more like I discovered I was an author after the event!  I love to tell stories and to communicate with people. Generally that involves writing! So one day I woke up and realised, 'I'm an author!'

6. How did you go about becoming an author?
 My first books were a collection of puppet plays and short skits to enliven worship services.  As I said above, I wanted to communicate with people in humorous and compelling ways!  I had to write stuff down to do this. After a while someone I respected said, 'I hope you're collecting these drama, they are excellent and worth sharing.'  Fortunately I hadn't thrown the scripts away. So I decided to have a go at publishing, and those books did really well in a small market.

7. If you were not a writer what would you like to be? 
Well, if only I was ONLY a writer!  You have to be a very fortunate writer to earn an income from this. My day job is as the Pastor of a great church. I love this job as firstly, I'm passionate about the message of the church. Two I get to work with people. Three I have a great variety in my weeks! Four, I get to be creative and write and perform as part of my job!  So it all works well with being an 'author.'

8. Outside reading and writing what do you like to do? 
PLaying sport - while my knees keep bending! And doing puppets!

9. Do you have a place you love to visit or would love to visit? 
I'm a real 'home' body!  I like being at home!  Why would you want to go anywhere else. Fortunately my wife get's me away for holidays. I've enjoyed seeing Tassie, the NT and other parts of Aussie. 

 10. If you could have a meal with 3 living people who would you choose and why? 
Wow, big question! Diana my sponsor child from Haiti. I think she would open my eyes more than many famous people! Nelson Mandela, I hope he's still alive - I think his story is remarkable in today's world.  My wife - so I didn't have the experience alone!

Finally can you tell us about your current books and/or any that will
be coming out soon. Also where we can find you on the web. I have two new books released earlier this year. Firstly 'Old Mr T' the eighth book to be released in the Car Park Parable series - but the first story in the series!  Secondly,"Living Life at the Top - 100 reflections on abundant life."  This is a collection of my first 100 radio spots that are heard on the air across Australia!  Both are available in Koorong or Word, or trywww.carparkparables.com

Getting to Know You Thursdays with Donna Fletcher Crow

1. Can you tell us a little about yourself?

I am the author of 40-some books, most of them novels of British Christian history. The award-winning Glastonbury, A Novel of Christian England, an epic covering 15 centuries of English history, is my best-known work.  I am also the author of The Monastery Murders: A Very Private Grave, A Darkly Hidden Truth and An Unholy Communion as well as the Lord Danvers series of Victorian true-crime novels and the literary suspense series The Elizabeth & Richard Mysteries. I am also the mother of 4 and grandmother of 12. This year my husband Stan and I will celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary. I am an enthusiastic gardener when life allows time to pull the weeds.

2. When you were a child did you have a favourite book or books?

Books, period. I was an only child and my mother wasn’t well, so I was required to entertain myself quietly for hours on end. The Bobbsey Twins, Heidi, Hans Brinker, Bambi and stories of King Arthur were my best friends as a child, then I graduated to Jane Austen and the Brontes. (Jenny here I loved Heidi also as child)

3. Do you have a favourite Genre to both read and write?

English mysteries! Especially the classics: Dorothy L. Sayers, Margery Allingham, Josephine Tey; and more modern: P. D. James, Martha Grimes, Reginald Hill, to name just a few. Well-developed backgrounds and lively characters are most important to me and that’s what I find in these writers. I also enjoy the slightly slower pace of English writers. (Jenny again I loved Agatha Christie and loved reading her mysteries)

4. Did you have favourite authors growing up who have influenced you?

Jane Austen has always been my great literary love and had a lot of influence on my becoming an English teacher and later a writer. This autumn A Jane Austen Encounter, book 3 in my Elizabeth & Richard Literary Suspense series will be released. My literature professor sleuths visit all the homes where Jane Austen lived— and, of course, encounter a few dead bodies along the way.

5. When did you know you wanted to be an author?

Mostly I wanted to be a reader. Then a minor character in a novel I was reading got hold of my imagination and insisted that I tell his story. It was like being pregnant. Brandley’s Search, which eventually became book 3 in my Cambridge Chronicles and was later republished as Where Love Begins, was that story. Everything else followed on from writing that book.

6. How did you go about becoming an author?

Writing the story came first. Then I discovered Christian writers’ conferences. Meeting other writers, taking classes from top editors and learning tips from publishers taught me the business and professional end of the writers’ world.

7. If you were not a writer what would you like to be?

I honestly can’t imagine doing anything else. I love to travel, but most of my travels are related to research for my writing— so there I am, coming full circle again.

8. Outside reading and writing what do you like to do?

Spending time with my grandchildren, gardening and drinking tea with friends.

9. Do you have a place you love to visit or would love to visit?

Since all my travel is either for family or research and I am rather compulsively task oriented, I occasionally fantasize about being on a warm, white beach somewhere with absolutely nothing to do but lay around and read. I recently read about Australia’s Cottesloe Beach and the white sands at Hymans Beach. Those would fit my fantasy to a tea. And, yes, it would have to be someplace where I could get good tea! (Jenny again I have been to Cottesloe Beach I love Perth)

10. If you could have a meal with 3 living people who would you choose and why?

My first thought was, “Here’s my chance— I’ll ask to have dinner with Queen Elizabeth!” As amazing as that would be and much as I admire her, however, I think when it came right down to it, I would most love to have dinner with my daughter and 3 daughters-in-law. (I know, you said 3— but I can’t leave anyone out.) Unfortunately, I think I have about as much chance of having dinner with the Queen as I do getting my far-flung family together from Los Angeles, Boston and Calgary.

Thanks again for your time and agreeing to be on my blog.

Thank you, Jenny. It’s been delightful visiting with you and your readers. Now that you know that one of my fantasies is to visit Australia I can at least say I’ve had a virtual visit. And I would love to have your readers visit me at www.DonnaFletcherCrow.com. You can see the trailers for my Monastery Murders books, photos from my research trips, and see my garden before it got quite so weedy.

First light, Ascension morning. From the top of the tower at the College of Transfiguration, voices rise in song.
Felicity's delight turns to horror when a black-robed body hurtles over the precipice and lands at her feet.
Her fiancé Father Antony recognizes the corpse as Hwyl Pendry, a former student, who has been serving as Deliverance Minister in a Welsh diocese. The police ignore the strange emblem of a double-headed snake clutched in the dead man's hand, labelling the death a suicide. But Hwyl's widow is convinced otherwise, and pleads for Felicity and Antony to help her uncover the truth.
Matters grow murkier as Felicity and Antony, leading a youth pilgrimage through rural Wales, encounter the same sinister symbol as they travel. Lurking figures follow them. Then a body is found face-down in a well …
"Donna Fletcher Crow gives us, in three extremely persuasive dimensions, the world that Dan Brown merely sketches." - Timothy Hallinan, author of The Queen of Patpong

Getting to know you Thursdays with Carrie Fancett Pagels with giveaway

Please join me in welcoming Carrie Fancett Pagels to my blog today. I meet Carrie in Williamsburg in May and we had a fun afternoon. There is also a giveaway thanks to Carrie.

1.    Can you tell us a little about yourself?



I was a psychologist for 25 years.  Married 25 years with a 24 year old daughter and and 11 year old son. I love God, history, and romance!

2. When you were a child did you have a favourite book or books?

Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, Tales of the Arabian Nights were a few.

3. Do you have a favourite Genre to both read and right write?



Yes, I prefer to read and write Christian historical romance.

4. Did you have favourite authors growing up who have influenced you?

Lucy Maude Montgomery, Louisa May Alcott, and Daphne DuMaurier.

5. When did you know you wanted to be an author?

When I was a child but I decided to become a psychologist.

6. How did you go about becoming an author?



Well, this is a tricky question because I wrote some nonfiction psychology stuff before I began learning the craft of Christian fiction. So I’ll address the Christian fiction author part. I joined a group called American Christian Fiction Writers after I’d gotten a few rejections from submitting my story ideas. I can’t even tell you the amount of classes I have taken, etc., but I felt that I needed to know more about the craft of writing.  But I’ll tell you there are some published authors out there who have never taken a writing class.  There is so much to it, I couldn’t possibly cover it all here, Jenny, but the big thing is doing the work—and writing manuscript after manuscript. 

7. If you were not a writer what would you like to be?



I was a psychologist and I am a mom. Being a mom is a job and a very rewarding one.

8. Outside reading and writing what do you like to do?



Snuggle with my son and tell stories, visit historical sites and do research, travel, go out to eat with my family, do bead work. I like baking, too! Visiting with friends—like Jenny who recently came to Williamsburg and I got to meet with her there and enjoy a lovely day together!

9. Do you have a place you love to visit or would love to visit?



I love Mackinac Island in Michigan, where I worked as a teenager and which is only about 70 miles from my hometown but feels like a world away.  There are no cars allowed there. It is a beautiful and magical place. The sky and water are SO blue and clean!

10. If you could have a meal with 3 living people who would you choose and why?



I am not one of those people who longs to meet famous individuals.  I’m much more interested in getting together with people I believe God wants to put me together with. One person I probably shouldn’t say but she is an editor at a CBA publishing house who has been looking at my proposals but hasn’t offered me a contract (yet!), another person would be another editor who I’d like to encourage and again I won’t name her, and the third person would be Jon Woodhams, our editor for the Guidepost Books “A Cup of Christmas Cheer” that will release in October. I’ve never met any of those three. I should get the opportunity to speak with all these folks at the ACFW conference but I’d love a private supper with all three of them and I’d love her hear what they had to say.

Finally can you tell us about your current books and/or any that will
 be coming out soon. As mentioned, I’ll have a story, “Snowed In: A Northwoods Christmas” that will be published in the Guidepost Books release “A Cup of Christmas Cheer.”  I am very excited about that one because it wouldn’t have been published had it now been for my agent, Joyce Hart, who called me while I was sick to see if I still wanted to submit my story.  I thought the deadline was the day before and I’d decided not to send it in. This story is dear to my heart because it is inspired by a real story about my parents and includes my great-grandmother and great-uncle (okay, not them but a fictionalized account of my imaginings…) But I had such a wonderful time writing this short story!

I am also SO excited that my debut fiction novella “Return to Shirley Plantation” has continued to stay in the top ten highest rated Amazon Civil War books!  This story is about OBEDIENCE—radical obedience and I am so glad people are enjoying this story! 

I also contributed a true story to God’s Provision in Tough Times, A nonfiction book by Cynthia Howerter and LaTan Murphy that just released.  I believe this book, with 25 true stories of God’s provision, will really encourage people.

Also where we can find you on the web.



Bio – Carrie Fancett Pagels, Ph.D.

Carrie Fancett Pagels’ (www.carriefancettpagels.com) Return to Shirley Plantation: A Civil War Romance, is an Amazon Civil War best seller. A contributor to God’s Provision in Tough Times, (July, 2013). Her short story, Snowed In: A Northwoods Christmas, will appear in Guidepost Books “A Christmas Cup of Cheer” (October, 2013).

Contact info

Carrie Fancett Pagels

Facebook Author Page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Carrie-Fancett-Pagels/317053071710640?fref=ts

Facebook Personal Page http://www.facebook.com/carriefancettpagels

Twitter https://twitter.com/cfpagels

Pinterest http://pinterest.com/carriefpagels/

GoodReads http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7043690.Carrie_Fancett_Pagels

LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=131454255&trk=tab_pro

Links to purchase Return to Shirley Plantation: A Civil War Romance 

Amazon  http://www.amazon.com/Murray-Puras-American-Series-ebook/dp/B00C2EZ5L6/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1370264197&sr=1-1&keywords=carrie+fancett+pagels

Barnes and Noble http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/murray-puras-cry-of-freedom-volume-1-return-to-shirley-plantation-murray-pura/1114941171?ean=2940016542836

God’s Provision in Tough Times, releasing in July 2013

Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Provision-Cynthia-Howerter-La-Tan-Murphy/dp/1938499441/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358266747&sr=8-1&keywords=cynthia+howerter

GIVEAWAY

Carrie is giving one commenter a free ebook of Return to Shirley Plantation: A Civil War Romance. To enter you need to leave a comment with a way to contact you and answer the question Do you have a favourite era you like to read? Please note comments just saying enter me will not be accepted. You have til 15 August 6 pm Australian time to enter. 

Getting to Know you Thursdays with Jennifer Delamere.

Please join me in welcoming Jennifer Delamere to my blog today. Her first book An Heiress at Heart is being toured by the ACRBA (Australian Christian Readers Blog Alliance) this week. Her second book is coming out in September and the cover is amazing.

1. Can you tell us a little about yourself?

I’ve lived all over the United States for both work and study, plus I spent three wonderful years in Canada (Montreal and Ottawa). I am now happily settled in Raleigh, North Carolina. Although the wandering bug hasn’t left me, I now prefer to travel with a suitcase rather than a moving van! I currently have a “day” job editing educational materials for schools. About five years ago I decided to try my hand at writing fiction. I can be a lot more creative than at my day job, that’s for sure! An Heiress at Heart is my first novel.

2. When you were a child did you have a favourite book or books?

As a child I was a voracious reader. I probably read nearly everything in my school library. As for favorites, I was a big fan of the Black Stallion series by Walter Farley. I also read all of the Nancy Drew mystery series.

3. Do you have a favourite Genre to both read and write?

I love to read historical fiction of all types, plus nonfiction history books. I also enjoy classic writers like Charles Dickens. At the moment I’m writing historical romance, but in the future I may branch out into other genres. I love reading time travel books, and I may try to write one someday.

4. Did you have favourite authors growing up who have influenced you?

When I was in high school I discovered the romantic suspense novels of Mary Stewart. I have read and reread them numerous times over the years. Most of her books are set in France, Greece, or Great Britain. Each one gives such a captivating sense of place that I’m sure they are responsible for my desire to travel to those countries. Her descriptions are so vivid, and I love her heroes, who are usually dark, tortured, and initially mistaken by the heroine for the villain! I love that her writing is detailed, intelligent, absorbing, and keeps me turning the pages.

5. When did you know you wanted to be an author?

It was a gradual process. There are writers in my family tree: my mother was a journalist, and her grandfather kept a detailed diary for many years. I also kept a diary, although that faded out a year or two after college. Initially I wanted to be a screenwriter. At university I studied screenwriting as well as English. I’ve written several romantic comedy screenplays. It was through a series of somewhat unusual circumstances that my interest in screenwriting led me to meet authors who were members of Romance Writers of America. I decided to join RWA myself, and it was then that I began to seriously consider novel writing.

6. How did you go about becoming an author?

When I decided to write a book, I began with what I had learned about story structure and dialogue from my screenwriting studies. Then I took many workshops and classes offered by RWA and applied what I learned there. Through my involvement with RWA I got excellent critiques and advice from other published authors. As for choosing my story, I wanted to write a romance that included inspirational elements but didn’t short-change the excitement and sizzle of falling in love. I was aware it might be too “sexy” for traditional Christian publishers and yet too “PG” for mainstream publishers. I had no way of knowing that a mainstream publisher was in fact currently searching for just such a book. I basically wrote the kind of story that I would want to read, and you can see why I believe that’s the best piece of writing advice I can give to other new authors.

7. If you were not a writer what would you like to be?

Happily I have a “day” job that I enjoy very much. If I was not doing that, I’d love to be involved in filmmaking somehow.

8. Outside reading and writing what do you like to do?

My husband and I enjoy hiking in the summer and downhill skiing in winter. I love being out in nature where I can enjoy God’s handiwork firsthand, and a good physical challenge is a welcome change of pace from writing and desk work.

9. Do you have a place you love to visit or would love to visit?

I have been to both England and France, and would love to return to either of those places. I would also love to visit Australia and New Zealand! Reading The Fatal Shore years ago piqued my interest in Australia, and I’ve read many books about it since. I’d love to actually visit some of the places I’ve read about! (Jenny here I hope you get to visit her at some stage.)

10. If you could have a meal with 3 living people who would you choose and why?

Mary Stewart – I understand she’s still alive, although she is in her 90s. I would love to ask her more about her approach to writing and her travels in France and Greece in the 1950s and 60s. Since that may not happen, I’ve settled for a marvelous interview she did in the early 1990s that can be found on YouTube.

Micheal Wood, English historian and filmmaker – His exciting four-part series In Search of Shakespeare totally renewed my fascination with Shakespeare’s plays as well as the life and times of the man himself. He relates what he knows with such energy and enthusiasm that I think he’d be marvelous to talk to.

Bill Bryson, because he adores travel and history as much as I do, and because his books and interviews are so humorous I think he would be a fun dinner companion.

Finally can you tell us about your current books and/or any that will be coming out soon. Also where we can find you on the web.

My next book, A Lady Most Lovely, will be released on September 24. The book takes place in London, but there is a strong Australian connection. Before the hero arrives in England, he has survived a shipwreck off Melbourne, the bushfires in Victoria in 1851 known as Black Thursday, and made a fortune in the gold fields. Here is the cover blurb:

Socialite Margaret Vaughn is the wealthiest heiress in London—or so everybody thinks. Saddled with debts left by her father, she agrees to marry a rich man who can save her family’s estate. But when her fiancé turns out to be just another poor social climber, Margaret faces financial ruin—and social humiliation. Just when she thinks all is lost, she finds an unlikely savior in Tom Poole . . .

After amassing a fortune in the gold fields of Australia and surviving a harrowing shipwreck, Tom Poole is the toast of London society. Yet despite his newfound fame, he’s never forgotten his own humble beginnings. When he learns of Margaret’s plight, he offers her financial assistance—but his interest is not strictly business. This rugged adventurer now seeks a different kind of gold. Although many men pursue Margaret’s hand because of her beauty and lands, can Tom convince her it’s her heart he’s after?

My website is www.jenniferdelamere.com. I’m also on Facebook at www.facebook.com/jennifer.delamere, and on Twitter: @JenDelamere.