Sharon Srock and Terri: Women of Valley View

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

SHARON SROCK lives with her husband, Larry, and two dogs in Rural Oklahoma. She is a mother, grandmother, and Sunday School teacher. Sharon has one and three-quarters jobs and writes in her spare time. Her favorite hobby is traveling with her grandchildren. She is a member of the ACFW and currently serves as treasurer for her local chapter. Sharon’s debut novel, The Women of Valley View: Callie released in October 2012. The second in the series, The Women of Valley View: Terri releases in April 2013.

Connect with her here:
Blog - http://womenofvalleyview.blogspot.com/
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/SharonSrock
Twitter - http://twitter.com/SharonSrock
Goodreads - http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6448789.Sharon_Srock

TERRI: WOMEN OF VALLEY VIEW
by Sharon Srock
Published by HarbourLight Books

ABOUT THE BOOK

Despite a bustling day care center and a new foster child, Terri Hayes hungers for a family of her own. Then a plumbing mishap leaves her homeless and questioning God’s plan. Steve Evans’s gracious offer of his basement apartment as a temporary solution is an answered prayer.

Steve is a successful writer and a good father, but Terri is horrified when Steve’s book research leads him to a harsh confrontation with the parents of her foster child. She needs to distance herself from Steve, but her efforts fall short as his two scheming daughters plot to make Terri their new stepmother.

Will harsh words and sneaky plans drive Kelsey’s family further apart and put a wedge between Terri and Steve? Or does God have another plan in store?

Readers, buy your copy of Terri: Women of Valley View today!

Download a PDF file for an introduction to the women in Sharon's novels.

AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR FEATURE AUTHOR

ARE YOU WITH US?

I won’t share the name my favorite fiction author, I’ll only say that I’ve read everything she’s ever published and lived in awe of her ability to crank out story after story, on average 3-4 a year.

About five years ago--before God shoved me, kicking and screaming, into my own fiction writing abyss—I saw a video interview with this writer. The camera never left her face as the questions were asked and answered. I remember watching and thinking…what is she doing?

She was talking, she was answering questions, but her words were almost hesitant and her eyes seemed focused someplace else. Every once in a while her head would tilt or jerk as if she heard something from a distance. If you’ve ever watched Star Trek, The Next Generation, picture Data. Worst case…I thought she was high on some really good drugs…best case…incredibly insecure and camera shy.

But now I know it wasn’t either of those two extremes. It was the voices.

She wasn’t high or shy, she was carrying on two conversations, maybe three, at the same time. One with the person doing the interview, the others with the people living inside her head.

Before you call the men in the little white jackets with the really good drugs in their pockets, let me explain.

Writing fiction will take you to a whole, new level of crazy. Think about it in the terms of your own life. Imagine living with a group of people for two or three years straight, without a vacation. Eat with them, sleep with them, worry about them, pray for them, kill them, bring them back to life, argue with them, loose arguments with them…Are you getting the picture?

Welcome to my world. Sometimes I think romance writers must have the best of this craziness. Their stories generally revolve around two characters, so maybe they’re only living with two extra voices in their head. I have a whole community. And they NEVER shut up. They lay in wait for my eyes pop open in the morning. They whisper around my prayer time. They go to work with me. I worry about their problems. I find myself praying for the situations I put them in. They go to bed with me at night. If I could blame the twenty pounds I've gained since I started writing on them, I would. How does the excuse, I’m eating for thirty, sound?

Now I understand the distracted look in the eyes of my favorite author. I’ve seen it staring at me from my own mirror. She wasn’t high or shy, she was listening to the voices and plotting the next story, for which I must thank her. So, if I seem a little distracted or zoned out at times, please forgive me. It seems to be part of the process.

Reader Questions: Do you have an imaginary friend?

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Thank you, Sharon, for sharing with us today.

ENTRY RULES Readers, leave your email address (name [at] domainname [dot] com) along with your answer to the question for your chance to win a free autographed copy of the book featured above. If you do not answer the question, and your email address isn't provided, you will not be entered.

This week, the drawing is open to contiguous US residents for a print copy and international or Alaska/Hawaii residents for an eBook copy.

Guest Blogger H.L. Wegley and Hide and Seek

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

H. L. WEGLEY served in the USAF as an Intelligence Analyst and a Weather Officer. He is a Meteorologist who worked as a Research Scientist in Atmospheric Physics at Pacific Northwest Laboratories. After earning an MS in Computer Science, he worked more than two decades as a Systems Programmer at Boeing before retiring in the Seattle area, where he and his wife of 46 years enjoy small-group ministry, their seven grandchildren, and where he pursues his love of writing.

HIDE AND SEEK
by H. L. Wegley
Published by HarbourLight Books

ABOUT THE BOOK

He expected security breaches, but the conspiracy she uncovers sends them running for their lives.

A computer security breach within a US defense contractor’s firewalls leads investigators, Lee Brandt and beautiful, brilliant Jennifer Akihara, onto the cyber-turf of terrorists, where they are detected and targeted for elimination. Lee leads them on a desperate flight for survival into the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. Will Jennifer’s pursuit of truth about the conspiracy, and the deepest issues of life, lead her into the clutches of terrorists, into the arms of Lee Brandt, or into the arms of the God she deems untrustworthy?

Readers, buy your copy of Hide and Seek today!

AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR FEATURE AUTHOR

Researching the Setting of a Novel: The Good, the Bad, and the Boring

Bet you thought the title would end with the word “ugly.” Well, it didn’t because there is seldom anything ugly about researching the setting of a novel. Plot is another story (no pun intended).

Let’s dispense with the boring part of setting research first. Have you ever tried to scale distances from Google maps, trying to see how far it is from point A to point B? Yes, boring.

This past year I wrote 4 manuscripts in 6 months and took another 6 weeks to complete the research, which included researching the settings. This author has learned that some readers get a little bent out of shape when I mess up the description of their favorite vacation spot. My solution was to visit each location, take some video, a lot of pictures, collect a few maps -- Google maps can’t do everything -- and learn about the local culture from the restaurants, stores, and people. Boring you say? Not if the locations are the outer Olympic Peninsula, Lake Chelan in Washington State, and Maui. I’ll bet you’re beginning to see the good.

I selected these settings because they played well with my plots, and because I thought I knew all of them pretty well. But I soon found that when I’m describing a chase scene where my heroine is running down an Olympic Park trail, or when she sprints a beach trail in Maui, ending up in the lobby of a resort hotel, I needed to walk those settings, take photos, and take notes. I needed to see it, feel it, hear it, smell it, and get it right.

Fortunately, the IRS allows legitimate, documented travel to be claimed as a business expense. Now before you all start planning to become novelists and write about some exotic location, keep in mind that the travel must be needed to write your story and that you have to log your time. Only that fraction of the trip actually spent writing/researching can be claimed. If you researched and wrote a fourth of the time, you claim a fourth of your expenses. If you drive to the destination, your allowance in 2012 was 55.5 cents per mile.

The “good” is that there are what you might call fringe benefits to writing, but with the cost of travel these days, you had better be taking an enjoyable vacation at the same time you travel for research, otherwise, you’ll be taking a big hit in the pocketbook, all on a gamble that your book will be contracted and that it will sell. The “bad” is that if you don’t document things properly, your life turns into a horror story, an IRS audit. But I’ve never heard of an author being audited if they properly documented their travel expenses.

We’ve talked about the good, the bad, and the boring. But there is another aspect to traveling for setting research. It’s the beautiful. If you want to see the beauty, take a look at the banner on my facebook profile: http://www.facebook.com/harry.wegley.1). Yes, I shot that picture on my Maui trip, and it is beautiful.

Reader Question:  Hide and Seek, the 1st book in the Pure Genius Series, is set in the Pacific Northwest, near Seattle. The 3rd book in this series, Moon over Maalaea Bay, is set entirely in Maui. Both books are thrillers with romance, having the same main characters. Other things being equal, how much influence does the setting have when you are selecting a book to read? Would the setting of Maui win out over the Pacific Northwest?

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Thank you, Harry, for sharing with us today.

ENTRY RULES Readers, leave your email address (name [at] domainname [dot] com) along with your answer to the question for your chance to win a free eBook copy of the book featured above. If you do not answer the question, and your email address isn't provided, you will not be entered.

This week, the drawing is open to anyone worldwide.

Guest Blogger Marianne Evans and Devotion

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

MARIANNE EVANS is an award-winning author of Christian romance and fiction. Her hope is to spread the faith-affirming message of God’s love through the stories He prompts her to create.

Evans’s novel, Hearts Communion, earned Christian Small Publisher Book of the Year honors in the Romance category and readers have lauded her work as: ‘Riveting.’ ‘Realistic and true to heart.’ ‘Compelling.’ Evans has also won acclaim in such RWA contests as The Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence, where she has been a finalist twice, the Ancient City Romance Writers Heart of Excellence contest, where two of her novels earned distinction as finalists, and the Colorado Romance Writers Award of Excellence contest.

A lifelong resident of Michigan, Evans is active in a number of a number of Romance Writers of America chapters, most notably the Greater Detroit Chapter where she served two terms as President. She’s also active in American Christian Fiction Writers and the Michigan Literary Network.

Connect with Marianne:
Website: www.marianneevans.com
Blog: marianneevans.blogspot.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Marianne-Evans/308711716744
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Marmo212

DEVOTION
by Marianne Evans
Published by HarbourLight (Pelican Book Group)

ABOUT THE BOOK

From This Day Forward
Christian Music agent Kellen Rossiter has everything he ever wanted: A-list clients from coast to coast, a loving wife who honors and respects him, and a faith life that’s never wavered—until now.

Juliet Rossiter has the perfect life: a rewarding schedule serving the underprivileged, a husband who loves her as Christ loved the church, and a blessed future as a mother—at least that's what she thinks.

For Better or Worse
But what happens when their rock-solid marriage begins to crumble under the weight of an unexpected and powerful temptation? How does love survive when its foundation is shaken?

'Til Death Do Us Part
When human frailty and the allure of sin deal a harsh blow to their relationship, it will take more than love to mend the shattered trust and heartbreak. It will take a lifetime of devotion.

Watch the Video Trailer.

Readers, buy your copy of Devotion today!

AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR FEATURE AUTHOR


Less…is MORE!

I hope you all don’t mind, but there’s a topic I’d like to talk about that may start out seeming quite risqué, but that’s not my intent—at all. It’s simply a subject worth looking at…no matter what you read, no matter what you write.

Here we go.

There are only so many ways to describe the act of making love. After a while, really, doesn’t the idea of reading about sex—for the sake of sex—become a bit boring? I think that’s part of why certain genres of writing are pushing the envelope into darker and darker territory. The titillation factor diminishes after a while, so new avenues are explored.

Now, let’s look at the other side of the issue. Consider the idea of engaging yourself in a love story. A plot rich with romance, strife, hope, battles, tears, fears and triumph. Storytelling. How could that ever become stale, or boring? The canvas for that kind of entertainment is endless. Writing about sex isn’t storytelling. Writing about the characters, their motivational core, their risks, beliefs, fears…that’s storytelling.

Faith-affirming fiction, as some of you may know, is my mantra. I hope and pray it expresses everything you need to know about me as a writer, and what you can expect from the stories I write. As an author of Christian romance and fiction, as well as someone who used to write secular romance, I’d love to share some insights I’ve gained during my journey as an author.

First of all, less is more. Yep. Anticipate. Build. Let a verbal exchange, a touch, a gesture of love, speak as eloquently as any scene that plays out in a bedroom. Whatever happened to imagination? Whatever happened to the slow but sure closing of a door as the senses unfold to the promise of that which isn’t just experienced physically, but as a flow of the spirit, and the heart?

Just a little something to think about as you claim the next installment from your TBR pile! After all, truly, what sounds better to you? Fifty shades of gray or the overriding arc of a dazzling, multi-colored rainbow?


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Thank you, Marianne, for sharing with us today.

Reader Question: How do you feel about romantic tension and interplay in Christian romance and fiction? What appeals to you? What turns you off?

ENTRY RULES Readers, leave your email address (name at domainname dot com/net) along with your answer to the question for your chance to win a free autographed copy of the book featured above. If you do not answer the question, and your email address isn't provided, you will not be entered.

This week, the contest is open to residents of the US only. If you live outside the US, a PDF copy will be provided to you.

Guest Blogger Donn Taylor and Deadly Additive

Donn and I met a few years ago, and we've managed to connect a few times at the annual ACFW conference. Not only does he write poetry along with his fiction novels, but he has a notable past career as one of our amazing military veterans who has sacrificed his time and safety to keep us safe here in America. Thank you, Donn!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

DONN TAYLOR led an Infantry rifle platoon in the Korean War, served with Army aviation in Vietnam, and worked with air reconnaissance in Europe and Asia. Afterwards, he completed a PhD degree at The University of Texas and taught English literature (especially Renaissance) at two liberal arts colleges. His novels The Lazarus File and Rhapsody in Red have received excellent reviews, and he has also authored Dust and Diamond: Poems of Earth and Beyond. His new book is another suspense novel, Deadly Additive. He is a frequent speaker at writers’ conferences such as Glorieta and Blue Ridge. He and his wife live near Houston, Texas, where he continues to write fiction, poetry, and articles on current topics.

DEADLY ADDITIVE
by Donn Taylor
Published by HarbourLight (Pelican Book Group)

ABOUT THE BOOK

To soldier-of-fortune Jeb Sledge, the assignment seemed simple: Rescue an heiress and her journalist friend from Colombian guerrillas and collect a sizable paycheck for his troubles. But things rarely go as planned. After stumbling upon a mass of dead bodies, Kristin Halvorsen isn't about to leave Colombia without the proof she needs for the story of a lifetime, and Sledge soon finds himself ensnared in a chemical weapons conspiracy that involves civilians, guerillas and high-ranking government officials. But neutralizing the factory isn’t enough. Where are the weapons that have already been fabricated? Who are the intended targets? How potent and far-reaching are the effects? A pursuit through South America, the U.S. and Caribbean embroils Sledge and Kristin in a mission to prevent a catastrophic attack—and leaves Sledge fighting to save both their lives.

Readers, buy your copy of Deadly Additive today!

AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR FEATURE AUTHOR

Pleasures of Research, Often Unexpected

One of the joys of fiction writing is the research one does to make sure that the writing is accurate. Some of this comes through to the reader through settings that have the ring of truth and through avoidance of anachronisms and other errors. But for the writer—or for any other researcher—much of the pleasure comes from things that may not make their way into the completed manuscript. This pleasure comes from discovery of some odd truth one would never have suspected when he began his research. Once in a while, though, such a discovery leads to an entirely new project.

Such was the case with the journalist Ronald Downing back in the mid-1950s. His London newspaper had him researching the yeti, the Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas. His research led him to an obscure Polish refugee, living in England, who was said to have actually seen those strange creatures. The first interview revealed a story more remarkable than the yeti, and other interviews over the next year produced an equally remarkable book.

When the Germans and Soviets invaded Poland in 1939, the Soviets arrested Slavomir Rawicz, a young lieutenant of Polish cavalry. He was one of the lucky ones. Instead of being summarily executed, he was tried, sentenced, and eventually sent to a Soviet labor camp some 200 miles southwest of Yakutsk, in Siberia. He and six other prisoners escaped from there and walked—yes, walked—south past Lake Baikal, through the Gobi Desert and China, through Tibet into Nepal and eventually into English hands. Several died along the way. And in the Himalayas the survivors did see, in passing, creatures resembling the fabled yeti.

Thus what had begun for Ronald Downing as one project became an entirely different one, and he told Slovomir Ravicz’ story in a book titled The Long Walk (The Lyons Press, 1956, 1997). It is one of the most fascinating books I have ever read, and I revisit it every few years.

My own adventures in research have been less dramatic, but also filled with unexpected discoveries. For The Lazarus File, a novel of spies and airplanes in Colombia and the Caribbean, I spent hours researching the Colombian terrain and weather. Somewhere in there I stumbled onto the photograph of a lone house on top of a barren hill. The image stayed with me and eventually grew into one of the chief features of my fictional landscape, one that recurred throughout the novel.

In researching my latest novel, Deadly Additive, I was surprised to learn that during the 1980s, then-communist Nicaragua’s airline was largely owned by the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), and that Peru’s Shining Path guerrillas were tutored by the Abu Nidal terrorist organization.

There is also satisfaction in research that prevents embarrassing errors. Some years ago, my critique group had a good laugh over a novel whose protagonist drove west out of Houston, Texas, and found himself immediately in the desert. (Five hundred miles of prairie and Texas Hill Country had apparently disappeared from the earth.) A quick glance at any atlas or encyclopedia would have saved the author that error.

I came close to making the same kind of error in The Lazarus File. The story told of several detailed flights in the Douglas DC-3 aircraft, one of the most common aircraft used by drug smugglers. I remembered an old movie in which James Stewart looked out the pilot’s window of a DC-3 to see if his gear was down, and I thought that might be a good detail to add. But caution prevailed. I managed to track down a flyable DC-3, talk with the pilot, photograph the instrument panel, and sit in the pilot’s seat. Lo and behold! The landing gear was not visible from the pilot’s seat. That incident also taught me never to use a movie as a research source.

I’ve been talking about research from a writer’s viewpoint, but anyone can enjoy the pleasures of research, and it doesn’t have to be writing-related. There is a certain satisfaction in just finding facts like, for instance, that Texarkana, Texas, is closer to Chicago than it is to El Paso, or that President John Kennedy’s 1961 use of the term West Berlin with Premier Khrushchev (instead of simply “Berlin”) convinced the Soviet leader he could do as he pleased in East Berlin. And there is satisfaction in learning, while the Soviet archives were actually open, the truth about questions Cold War historians had argued over for years. (See, for example, John Lewis Gaddis’s We Now Know.)

Research does provide deep pleasure, but superficial research contains a danger voiced long ago by the poet Alexander Pope:

A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.

In our researches, either for writing or for pleasure, let us all drink deeply and avoid the embarrassment caused by shallow draughts.

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Thank you, Donn, for sharing with us today.

Reader Question: Most of us have done research in school or business, or just to satisfy our curiosity. What is your most pleasurable find in research?

ENTRY RULES Readers, leave your email address (name at domainname dot com/net) along with your answer to the question for your chance to win a free autographed copy of the book featured above. If you do not answer the question, and your email address isn't provided, you will not be entered.

This week, the contest is open to anyone worldwide.

Guest Blogger Lillian Duncan and Deception

Today's guest is facing some recent challenges, as her husband just underwent triple-bypass surgery. I'm honored Lillian took the time to be with us here today!


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

LILLIAN DUNCAN writes stories of faith mingled with murder and mayhem. To learn more about her writing and her books, visit her at www.lillianduncan.net or www.lillianduncan.wordpress.com. DECEPTION (published by HarbourLight Books) is her latest release.

DECEPTION
by Lillian Duncan
Published by Harbour Light Books

ABOUT THE BOOK

As identical twins, they played the game of DECEPTION. Now, it’s not a game. It’s a matter of life and death.

Twins are supposed to have an unbreakable bond, but Patti and Jamie have serious “relationship issues.” When a niece she knows nothing about calls, Patti must unravel the yarn of Jamie’s life and her disappearance. Patti is determined to find her sister. Each step brings her closer to the truth, but pulls her further into a web of danger and deception.

Readers, buy your copy of Deception today!

AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR FEATURE AUTHOR

QUIET PLEASE. Writer at work.

I like quiet when I write. It allows me to stay focused on my writing. The tranquility soothes my soul and allows my creativity to flow. HaHaHa!! Sounds good, but not in my house.

I have two dogs and four parrots so if you think it’s quiet in my house, think again.

It’s 5:03 AM as I write this and my Jack Russell terrier is in her cage, complaining and whining that I have the audacity to ignore her. She’s about ten months old and she is all Jack Russell, meaning she wants to play all the time. It works out all right when my husband is around to distract her but when he’s not all her wonderful, loving exuberance is focused on me. Lucky me!

My other dog isn’t too demanding, he’s content to lay near me and sleep. Only problem-he snores and loudly.

Then there’s the birds. We have four of them, two of them are relatively quiet but not Rocky and Jasper.

Rocky is a yellow-fronted Amazon—loving and adorable and likes to sing! Unfortunately, he sings the way I do—loud and off-key. So, while I’m trying to write, he serenades me with his versions of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and Happy Birthday. Believe me, not conducive to my creativity.

Then, we come to Jasper. He’s an African Grey who lives up to his reputation of being a talker. And even though he’s downstairs when I write and I’m up, it makes no difference. When I’m home he spends much of his time calling my name, so as I write he calls out my name again and again and again. If I ignore him, he gets louder and louder.

So, as much as I love the quiet it doesn’t happen in my house very often—no matter what time of the day I write. Oh, and did I mention my husband? Believe me he’s not the quietest husband around either—but he’s one of the best!

But noisy are not, I wouldn’t trade my sweet little pets for all the quiet in the world. They bring fun, love and laughter into our home. And who doesn’t want that?

Life can be ironic. I like quiet but my house is noisy than most. I hate to drive, but managed to arrange it so I had to drive more than 90 minutes each way to work and back for at least fifteen years before I retired from that job. I consider myself shy, but now find myself searching out speaking engagements to promote my writing. Go figure.

Oops, gotta go—I hear the puppy!

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Thank you, Lillian, for sharing with us today.

Guest Question: What are some of the ironies in your life?

No giveaway this week, but please interact with the author.