Welcome to the WWII 75the Anniversary Blog Tour! Eight authors of Christian World War II novels are remembering the beginning of the war–Hitler’s invasion of Poland, September 1, 1939. Thank you for joining us as we remember the war that changed the world. Our novels illuminate different aspects of the war—from the Holocaust to the Pacific to the US Home Front. …
Writer’s World Blog Tour
Dear friend and author, Carrie Turansky, invited me to join her on a Writers World Blog Tour—perfect, since Carrie and I recently traveled together touring faraway England and Scotland to research new books! Carrie writes moving historical and contemporary Christian romances, rich in faith and character development. She’s currently immersed in a compelling Edwardian Brides Series similar in setting and …
Who Knows What When–A Writer’s Challenge
Information affects the motivations and actions of every character writers create. But, not every character is in the know at all times, nor do they have access to the same knowledge. The exact moment (when) and way (how) they discover or receive information determines motivation and action. This is true in any novel, but the consequences heighten in historical fiction …
Saving Amelie
While writing Saving Amelie, my mother-in-law lay dying. I learned what it means to care, day and night, for another human being in the most intimate ways. And despite my love for her, I grasped how the ideologies of the me-first eugenics movement—which was not confined to Nazi Germany—had insidiously infiltrated our world. But I also learned the truth beyond …
D-Day 70th Anniversary Blog Tour–The Passion of Christ and the Third Reich
Welcome to the D-Day 70th Anniversary Blog Tour! Ten authors of Christian World War II novels are commemorating the brave men who stormed the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944. Thank you for joining us as we remember their heroism and sacrifice. Our novels illuminate different aspects of the war—from the Holocaust to the Pacific to the US …
SAVING AMELIE — RELEASE
In the life of a writer there are books . . . and then there are books. Saving Amelie was, for me, a rite of passage and certainly my most challenging book to write to date. Multiple points of view written from multiple walks of life and set during the early days of Germany’s WWII sweep of Europe—a time and …
U.K.–Here We Come!
I’m going adventuring tomorrow. Rarely do I go “researching” without knowing precisely what I’m looking for—surprises along the way, notwithstanding. But, tomorrow I fly to England and Scotland, in search of a story. Not just any story, mind you, but the story for my next book—the one after Into the Valley of Secrets (working title for the novel I’m knee deep …
History’s Haunting Refrain
It reads like something from a Nazi nightmare . . . USA Today reported that Jews, emerging from a synagogue in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, were handed leaflets ordering all Jews over sixteen years of age to report to the Commissioner for Nationalities in the Donetsk Regional Administration building and “register”—pay a registration fee of fifty dollars, show …
Novels That Challenge–Modern Day Parables Without Preaching
We all crave stories that raise our moral bar, lift us higher, that show us clearly how we, too, can live cleaner, purer lives with hearts on fire. But no one wants to be preached to in a novel. And yet that’s just the challenge Christian writers face. We’re desperate to share the love, the very breath of God in …
A Norman Rockwell Moment
I lower the window in the pale light of dawn this spring morning and watch the sun climb through trees bordering the banks of the Laurel Run. My husband and I sit on the edge of the last mattress in our empty house, the last morning we’ll live here before a new family comes to rent our dream home. Our …