Two posts in one day!

I think I have only done this once before, but today's second post is due to my having company the past two days and forgetting I was supposed to post a winner until today. And the winner of a copy of Ann Gabhart's Words Spoken True is...Chris Newcomb!

Congrats to Chris! As soon as she sends me her mailing address, I will forward the info on to Ann.

And remember, everyone who leaves a comment anytime this month will have another chance to win this wonderful book. Drawing for that one on April 1st, and I'm not fooling!

Today's guest blog and book giveaway of Words Spoken True by Ann Gabhart

I am so happy to welcome my friend Ann Gabhart back to my blog. And she has a special treat for all commenters. Besides the copy of Words Spoken True that I will give away to one commenter during the month of March, Ann is also giving a copy away to anyone who leaves a comment on her post here this weekend, so be sure to read and comment by Sunday night at midnight, and I will announce the winner on Monday, March 5.

Romance – the Spice in Storytelling

By Ann H. Gabhart

“I believe in the compelling power of love. I do not understand it. I believe it to be the most fragrant blossom of all this thorny existence.” ~Theodore Dreiser

Don’t you just love springtime when the earth is awakening from its winter sleep? The time when seeds and bulbs dormant under the snow or cold ground are touched by the warming sun and begin the cycle of life all over again. It’s also the time when thoughts of romance awaken in many hearts.

Writers can’t wait for spring to reach for romance. They have to make spring awaken in the hearts of their characters and get them in romantic moods any time of the year since most fiction readers love romance in the stories they read. It doesn’t matter whether those stories are solely focused on romance or if they have more to do with mystery, suspense, fantasy or history. Romance has a way of making any story more enticing. That’s because romance can make life more enticing and that’s what we writers want our stories to be – a slice of life. When we read about characters falling in love, we sigh along with them. Our hearts get lifted by the vicarious thrill of falling in love ourselves. But generally in most stories, as Shakespeare said, the course of true love never runs smooth. That’s because writers don’t let it, and they don’t let it because if it’s all smooth sailing, you don’t have the conflict that keeps readers reading. So we make the waters murky. We head our characters toward a rocky shore or get them stuck on sand bars. We do our best to make the voyage to happiness challenging.

I certainly did that to my characters in my new release, Words Spoken True. It’s the most romantic story I’ve written since I began writing for the inspirational market. It might be the most romantic story I’ve ever written. What makes it romantic? The interaction between the two main characters along with those obstacles that pop up to keep them apart.

At a conference once, I sat in on a class taught by Michael Hauge, who’s considered a story master in many writing circles. One of his rules about writing romances was to be sure the readers get to see the couple meet. To see the beginning. To watch the sparks begin to fly. For sure, you get to see the sparks fly when Adriane and Blake meet in Words Spoken True. Blake is the editor of a competing newspaper that is threatening the dominance of the paper Adriane’s father publishes. Since the two newspapers are warring for readers, Blake is considered the enemy and someone Adriane shouldn’t even like. A romantic attraction is out of the question. On top of that, she is engaged to the son of one of the more socially prominent families in Louisville. Yet, the attraction between Adriane and Blake is immediate. But the obstacles keep mounting one after another until the dramatic scene on a night that goes down in Louisville history as “Bloody Monday” because of the election riots. Even then, the obstacles don’t stop rising up in front of my couple to try to spoil their romantic happiness.

It was fun letting the romance have center stage in this book. In my Shaker books, while they are definitely historical romances, I often have to sneak any romantic scenes in a back door since the Shakers believed in celibate living. The Shakers not only had no use for romance, they considered such feelings sinful. In my Hollyhill books, a sweet thread of romance runs through all three books, but the main storyline is about the family and small town. Angel Sister definitely has romance. I think of that book as a parallel story. On one level is the story of the Merritt family while on another level running along beside it is the romantic love story of Victor and Nadine, the mother and father in the family. But in Words Spoken True, the romance demands the camera and lights, and even though the history is dramatic, the newspaper background compelling, and the idea of a serial killer on the loose suspenseful, I think it’s the romance that keeps the reader turning the pages to find out if Blake and Adriane will overcome those obstacles and have a chance to find love.

If you’d like to know more about Words Spoken True or any of my books, you can go to my website http://www.annhgabhart.com/. I enjoy meeting reading friends there and on my other social sites, my Facebook author’s page, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ann-H-Gabhart/132862247566 or Twitter with a user name, annhgabhart. I also post a couple of times a week on my blog, One Writer’s Journal, http://www.annhgabhart.blogspot/.com about what going on in my writing or down here on the farm.

Thanks, Rose, for inviting me over to share a little time with you and your friends. I appreciate each of you reading my post and invite your comments. How important is romance in a story when you’re picking the books you want to read?

Good luck in the drawing for a copy of Words Spoken True

March 1st bookdrawing...and the winner of Board to Death is...Peg Phifer! And read on for a review of the book you can win if you leave a comment during the month of March--Words Spoken True by Ann Gabhart.

Suspense with Lots of Sizzle!

Ann Gabhart said this book has more romance than most of her books, and I agree. And the romance sizzles from the moment Adriane Darcy meets Blake Garrett. But there are two problems--she is engaged to someone else and Blake runs a newspaper that rivals the one her dad (and Adriane) put out in Louisville, KY. Since this is the town where I was born and grew up the first eighteen years of my life, I enjoyed learning much about the early history during the newspaper wars and the political life of the mid-nineteenth century. But Ann weaves the facts into the story in such an interesting way that you'll want to stay up past midnight to finish it like I did!

And for suspense lovers, the newspapers covers several murders of young women in the city that builds to a very nail-biting scene near the end. I guarantee if you love romance and suspense you will love this book! And isn't the cover beautiful?!

I hope you will come back tomorrow to hear Ann's own words about writing romance. And you can leave another comment on that post for an additional chance to win this must-read book on April 1st! Please leave an email so I can contact you if you win. All those with US mailing addresses are eligible.

Fridays with Friends guestblog by Ann Gabhart

Today I am pleased to welcome a good friend and fellow Kentucky writer, Ann Gabhart. I read her new book Angel Sister and blogged about it last month. Check out the blog for February 7th to read my review and see a copy of the cover. Ann has graciously consented to tell "the rest of the story" about how this book came to be. Read and enjoy and hurry on out to buy your copy of this book and any of Ann's great stories. Plus Ann has offered to mail a copy of Angel Sister to one reader who leaves a comment on this post sometime this month.

And I want to share a special honor Ann just received from Romantic Times magazine. Angel Sister was awarded a February Inspirational Fiction Top Picks by this widely-read magazine for all fiction lovers. Kudos to Ann for this well-deserved award.

Angel Sister – An Echo of My Mother’s Story
by Ann H. Gabhart

A few years ago I had a dry spell as an author. I was writing, but what I was writing wasn’t finding any appreciative editors. So I decided I should take that time honored writing advice – write what you know. What I knew was farm life, small town living and little country churches. I combined all that into a setting for my book, The Scent of Lilacs, and the Lord blessed me with a loving editor at an inspirational publisher and gave me a new direction for my writing. I wrote a couple more books about my little fictional town, Hollyhill, and enjoyed delving into my memories to make the background of the book as authentic as possible. So when I began to cast around for a new idea, I remembered the fun of using a familiar hometown setting for those books and thought maybe I could move back a little farther in time to my mom’s childhood days for a new story background. My Harmony Hill setting in my Shaker books comes from history books as I do my best to reconstruct a 19th century Shaker Village. Rosey Corner in Angel Sister comes from history too – family history.

Mom was born in 1920 and grew up during the years of the Great Depression. She was one of four sisters – no brothers. Her father was the community’s blacksmith at a time when automobiles were taking over the roads and there was less and less need for a blacksmith’s skills. Times were hard but you would have never guessed that from the way my mother and her sisters talked about their childhood years. They loved sharing stories about when they were kids and often ended up laughing until tears ran down their cheeks as they recalled some of the odd characters from their old neighborhood. I enjoyed their stories, but as I got older, I realized I was only getting the shine on top of the story. So I began to probe at my mother’s stories. I asked about the odd folks. I asked about my grandparents. I asked what they liked, what they did, how they lived. And I wrote it all down.

At that time I wasn’t thinking about a background for a story. I just wanted to keep a record of hers and my aunts’ memories. To know how they felt as kids. To somehow share their life journeys. They never tired of telling the stories about Phoebe cutting cedars for her cedar palaces or Brigham showing them his dead mother’s hats. They’d frown, still a little angry, when they told about the man who took pleasure in scaring their mother by letting little snakes peek up out of his shirt pocket when he stopped by to pass the time of day. But they always laughed as if it didn’t bother them a bit when they told how their primer teacher meted out extra punishments to them because their father married their mother instead of her. So many memories.

Deborah Moggach once said “You keep your past by having sisters. As you get older, they’re the only ones who don’t get bored if you talk about your memories.” I didn’t get bored either. I listened and then when I was trolling around for a new idea I decided to try writing my mom’s story. It wasn’t as easy as I’d hoped. Writing never is. The first thing I had to do was forget Mom and her sisters. I had to turn the sisters in the book into my own characters with their own fictional story.

I did take my mother’s can-do and deal-with-it spirit and poured that into my character, Kate. Then I dropped in an abandoned little girl named Lorena Birdsong who needed an “angel sister.” That child became a sister of the heart to Kate and a catalyst of change for the Merritt family and the whole community.

“A sister is a gift of the heart, a friend to the spirit, a golden thread to the meaning of life.” (Isadora James)

Angel Sister is a story not just from my heart but from my mother’s heart. And that of her sisters. Their memories were the seed of my idea. While I did completely make up the story – after all, I do write fiction – there is the occasional echo of their memories throughout the story. I think they would have enjoyed hearing that echo. And I’m hoping readers will hear it too and love my characters as much as I did.

To read an excerpt of Angel Sister or to find discussion questions, visit my website, www.annhgabhart.com. I enjoy hearing from reading friends. Thanks so much, Rose, for inviting me over for a chat on your Fridays with Friends.

Rose here again: Thank you for visiting and sharing with us such a special story, Ann.

Bio: Ann H. Gabhart has published over twenty novels for adults and children including her bestselling Shaker novels. Her first Shaker novel, The Outsider, was a finalist for the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association Fiction Book of 2009. Ann lives on a farm in Central Kentucky with her husband, Darrell who sings bass in a Southern Gospel group, the Patriot Quartet. They have three children and nine grandchildren. Ann’s a member of ACFW and her books, Summer of Joy and The Believer were finalists for a Carol Award.
You can keep up with Ann on her website, www.annhgabhart.com; her blog, One Writer’s Journal, www.annhgabhart.blogspot.com; Facebook author page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ann-H-Gabhart/132862247566, or follow Ann on Twitter.

And the winners are...
Ane Mulligan wins a copy of I Shall Not Want by Debbie Viguie, and Mary L. my 7th grade English teacher wins the Valentine Candy for her lovely acrostic. These gifts will be in the mail as soon as I receive their mailing addresses.

Our drawing for this month will be for Long Time Coming by Vanessa Miller. Since I haven't had time to read this book due to writing deadlines (a very nice problem to have!), I will copy some of the back cover blurb so we both will know something about it.

"Faithful Christian Deidre Clark-Morris is a professional, career-minded woman with a loving husband, but no children. Kenisha Smalls has lived in poverty all her life. She has three children by three different men and has just been diagnosed with inoperable cancer. Although the meeting between these two women appears accidental, it becomes their catalyst of hope. Neither woman expects the blessing that God has in store for her..."

That makes me want to read it, and I hope you do, too. Leave a post anytime this month to be entered in the drawing to win it on April 1st. In fact, this month you will have a chance to win two books. Ann Gabhart will be my guest blogger this Friday, and she has graciously offered to give away one of her Angel Sister books that I blogged about on February 7, 2011. So, check that post out and come back on Friday and leave a post on her guest blog for that special drawing which will also take place on April 1st.

Book Review--Angel Sister by Ann Gabhart

I have read several of Ann Gabhart's novels, and I must say this is my favorite so far! As Lauraine Snelling opines on the back cover, this is "a jewel of a story."

From the opening scene, we are swept away to the dark and not-so-dark days of the depression shown in the daily lives of three sisters by blood and one sister of the heart. This book is written in several points of view, including the parents', but the main one is Kate Merritt, the middle daughter. Kate's quick actions and tart tongue sometimes get her into trouble, but she has a heart as soft as the freshly creamed butter her mother churns and a mind as sharp as a nail fashioned by her father on his blacksmith's anvil.

I don't want to reveal much detail of the story because I want you to get the enjoyment of reading it for yourself, but I will advise you to hold onto your bonnet as the story ramps up to an electrifying ending. A must read! 5 stars! And I am not just saying that because the author and publisher sent me this book to review!

And do check out Ann's blog at http://www.annhgabhart.blogspot.com for more of the backstory behind this book and a chance to win autographed copies of Angel Sister and also some gift cards to buy other books.

Contest Winner, New contest and Excuses, excuses...

The winner of Ann Gabhart's The Outsider is Diana. I know she will enjoy it muchly. I saw Ann a couple of weeks ago at her booksigning in Lexington, KY, and she said a sequel is in the works, so I am eagerly awaiting it! Ann is on the left in the red jacket and Virginia Smith who also signed books that evening is in the red jacket on the right. I'll post more about Virginia later on this month, so check back to read about her and one of her new books. The other two ladies are members of our Unity Christian Church book club, Ellen Whitaker and Thelma Taylor, who also attended the signing at Joseph-Beth with me.

This month's book contest is for Rhapsody in Red by Donn Taylor. Don is another ACFW member whom I have met at conferences, along with his lovely wife, Mildred. Although I am only about 1/4 way thru this book (see excuses below!), I can already tell you that I am very impressed. Not only has Donn hatched a plot that has me wanting to stay up past my bedtime to see what happens, he has also done it with the cadence and lyrical writing one would expect from the poet that he is! Here's a blurb from the back cover copy to whet your appetite and make you want to leave a post so you have a chance to win this book:

"Preston Barclay is a self-made recluse (and he likes it that way). Teaching college history allows him time to grieve the loss of his pianist wife and find relief from the musical hallucinations that have been playing in his head since her death. But when he and a headstrong colleague, Mara Thorn, discover the body of another instructor on campus, Press's monotonous solitude is destroyed. When the preliminary evidence singles out Press and Mara, they must take some chances (including trusting each other) to build their own defense--by bending the rules just a bit...Otherwise they both might end up unemployed, behind bars, or worse..." Sound exciting? Leave a post!

Now for the excuses part. I really hate to make excuses for not finishing this book sooner and for not blogging more this past month, but...I was taking two online classes, plus working on getting my final rewrites done before sending my two requested proposals off, plus had friends visit for nine days... So, although November looks to be a busy month also, I pledge to write at least one more time this month--once I get said proposals sent off and read Virginia's book so I can post a review of it. Hope you will check back and keep me accountable!