I’m so excited to host an Iowa writer today – Patti Stockdale, an Iowan hard at work on a manuscript that has yet to find a publisher. 

Patti, tell us about your writing history, please. 
In high school, I wrote a short story, an English class assignment. My classmates submitted five or six pages. I handed in a whopping 28. Still, I didn’t know I was meant to write.

I returned to college in my thirties and enrolled in a creative writing class, the only nighttime class that fit my schedule and credit needs. That’s when I experienced my aha moment. In front of the class and on a chalkboard, a professor picked away at a portion of my first writing assignment. After that experience, I sharpened my pencil and had something to prove.

And here you are, writing away! Can you describe the significance of the novel you’re creating?

My novel is important to me because it’s personal, drawn from letters my maternal grandparents exchanged during World War I. I started the book 16 years ago in college. After I graduated, I shelved the manuscript to focus on my career. After my husband’s recent job transfer back to Iowa, I dusted off the manuscript and rewrote every page.

Last winter I joined a critique group – four retired businessmen and me. The first time my submission was reviewed, one participant said he hated romance.

Wait, what? I write historical fiction! It took time for the news to sink in because I didn’t see myself as a romance writer. Once I accepted the genre, I researched the fundamentals and guidelines and made the appropriate edits.

I can resonate to that. It took me years to figure out my genre, and knowing it certainly simplifies things! Do you infuse your work with aspects of your own life? 

When a person writes from a deep POV, the writer’s own personality, viewpoint, values, and interests end up on the pages of the manuscript. It’s nearly inevitable. It’s how my life colors my writing.

When I’m not writing fiction, I write for a local magazine and complete reading assessments for educational publishers. My other love is volunteering, a habit that started when my father forced me to babysit for a needy neighborhood family. Yep, without payment. I was 13, in need of spending cash, and failed to appreciate the valuable lesson at the time. Today, it makes a heap of sense.

How do you see your writing future?

My goal is to honor God with my writing, follow where He leads me. I don’t write every day. Some days I research or read. Before long, I hope to submit my revised manuscript to agents and find a publisher. I guess I’m still trying to prove something.

The second in my Women of The Heartland series has been released into the cold, cruel world. Actually, those adjectives describe a big swatch of the heroine’s  WWII experience. She endures great personal loss, plus Luftwaffe bombing in London, and then …  Well, I should let you discover the rest for yourself.

So why is this silly smile  still on my face? I’m smiling because Kate, a born risk-taker, still finds friendship and deepened faith in the very shadow of evil.

Don’t we all discover this truth in some of our most difficult experiences? At the time, we think all is lost, that we might not make it, but in retrospect, we see that we’ve grown like crazy. Wouldn’t want to repeat the experience, of course.

This morning, a friend from St. Ansgar texted me a photo of her newly-arrived copy of this book – wow, how fun to see it in someone’s hands!

This month I’m busy blogging to celebrate With Each New Dawn’s release, so if you’d like to learn more and perhaps win a copy of the novel, hop on over to one of these blogs:

Lighthouse Academy February 26, 2017

Jo Huddleston February 23, 2017

Where Faith And Fiction Collide February 21, 2017

Mary L. Ball February 15

Word Sharpeners February 8, 2017

Linda Brooks Davis February 1, 2017

Suzanne Bratcher February 2, 2017

Thank you all for your encouragement along the way.

More bird pictures… The wonderful thing about these creatures is they really don’t have to do a thing, and they still bring people pleasure.

My husband and I rarely paid much attention to them in years past, and had always heard that you know you’re old when you start bird watching.

These things slip on a person, you know? You focus on rearing a family and making a living and then, ta da … you suddenly find time to fill your camera with the likes of these.

Some folks take time sooner, and  circumstances can hurry this transformation along. Kate Isaacs, the heroine of my new release, would agree to that. Her World War II involvement produced changes in her perceptions of the world , her “take” on situations and people.

We might recognize alterations in our parents or grandparents due to that same war.

I hope  Kate’s dangerous wartime adventures will intrigue readers, and take them into a deeper understanding of how World War II affected their loved ones. If you cheered Addie on during the beginning of the war, don’t worry, she’s now in London, with a much brighter future. One way or the other, war has a way of turning things around.

FEBRUARY 24: release day.  Preorder at http://tinyurl.com/jmvc36a

Our author guest today, Kimberly Rose Johnson, married her college sweetheart and lives in the Pacific Northwest. From a young child Kimberly has been an avid reader. That love of reading fostered a creative mind and led to her passion for writing.

She writes contemporary romance that warms the heart and feeds the soul. Kimberly holds a degree in Behavioral Science from Northwest University in Kirkland, Washington and  is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers.

Kimberly, please tell us the story behind A Love Song for Kayla

I haven’t been a fan of Valentine’s Day since I was a young child when it was fun to decorate a shoebox for my classmates to slip cards into. As an adult, in my opinion, the day doesn’t live up to the hype. One year on Valentine’s I decided to express my frustration with the special day for sweethearts by writing.

I sat down at my computer and created a character who felt exactly the same way I did about Valentine’s, but I made it even harder for her. She owns a florist shop where she can’t escape her least favorite day of the year.

As writers it’s our job to make our character’s lives challenging. That way they have something to overcome. Because this is a romance story, I needed a bigger than life hero. Enter Derek—a man hiding in the small Oregon town from his life as a music superstar.

I wanted to create strong, successful characters who still had things to overcome-that’s what makes them come to life.

That was how A Love Song for Kayla came to be. I’m happy to say, writing Kayla’s story was cathartic. I no longer have such strong feelings about Valentine’s Day. Kayla’s tune also changed when she met Derek.

Here is a little bit about the story.

Ever since she was sixteen, Kayla Russell has dreamed of her perfect man. She even went so far as to make a list of desired qualities. The list has proven to be a bust since no man is that perfect, at least until she meets Derek. But will his secrets come between them and destroy what could have been something wonderful?

When music superstar Derek Parker comes to small town Oregon to escape the paparazzi he goes incognito as a deliveryman. He wants to leave his old life behind, but it proves to be harder than he realized when his past finds him. Now the woman he has come to care for feels deceived and no longer wants anything to do with him.

For all of you who don’t enjoy the day, take heart, it’s only one day. For the rest of you, I hope you have a wonderful day with your sweetheart.

What an intriguing look in this heroine’s eyes … so go for it, readers. Kimberley’s giving away an e-book  of this lovely novel to one fortunate commenter.

Sign up for Kimberly’s newsletter at her website:  http://kimberlyrjohnson.com/index.html

Links: http://amzn.to/2kl4Urd

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kimberlyrosejoh

Painting, re-arranging furniture, taking some things to the thrift store, and finding a couple of small items to fit better into our new decor – all everyday activities, but we’ve been enjoying them. Maybe because no deadline looms, this re-doing has been a fun project.

I’m reminded that I’ve never known a more conscientious worker than my husband, and am so grateful for his steady personality.

A neighbor took this picture of us the other day, with our house in the background.

It’s good to rest, to restore, to refurbish … together.

I’ve also been working on another book in the Women of The Heartland series while awaiting my first peek at With Each New Dawn – should arrive any day now! If you’d like a glimpse, click here: http://tinyurl.com/jmvc36a

A big welcome to Janice L. Dick, an indie author from the Canadian prairies. She’s has been writing since 1989. Her work includes an historical fiction trilogy (now out-of-print but due for re-release), a contemporary cozy mystery as yet unpublished, short stories, dozens of book reviews, blogs, and a new historical series begun in 2016.

The first book in this series, Other Side of the River, is the story of a group of Mennonites in northern Siberia who flee across the Amur River into China to escape Stalin’s regime.

The soon-to-be-released sequel, In a Foreign Land, fictionalizes the account of a survivor who lived with his family in northern China from 1930 to 1951, through civil war, advancing Soviets, and the Korean War. Release date is estimated end of January.

Janice says, “I love being able to share the feel of a certain time period, the economic and political background, the values and beliefs of my characters, the settings that go with it. But my main aim is to share hope. No matter how difficult the conflict facing the characters, I want the story to showcase God’s faithfulness and goodness.

“I first became interested in history by listening to my parents, aunts and uncles visit at my paternal grandparents’ home. Their memories and experiences fascinated me, as did the treacherous times they recalled from South Russia during the Russian Revolution and their consequent emigration. Pair that with my growing interest in Russian history—aided by Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and Pasternak—and you have a girl with dreams.

“However, in spite of my dreams, I didn’t know I could be an author. I was just an ordinary farm girl who loved reading and all the English, literature and composition classes in school. My time came once my children were all in school, and I became a founding member of a local writing group. From there, God led me to writing courses, conferences, presentations and organizations that helped me realize my dream of writing a novel…six novels now.

“A small publisher encouraged to write a short story set in contemporary mode instead of historical. I decided to go all out and write in first person as well, something I’d never done before. The result is a 10K “short” story called The Christmas Sweater. For a free digital copy, go to Smashwords, click the buy button beside my title, and add the code WZ65T.

“Thank you, Gail, for featuring me and my writing on your site. Sharing promotion is a great way to help a fellow author.”

It’s been my pleasure, Janice. I hope my followers enjoy your story and go on to read all of your novels.

With my husband’s amazing photography here in the Arizona Ponderosa forest, I’ll share a few thoughts under the Mogollon Rim. (Notice how this little kinglet hovers before landing? This year’s the first Lance discovered her family living in our oak tree.)

I wish everyone could see this area’s beauty. Beauty plays a big role in relaxing us. In the past, we rarely took time to enjoy something like this together–so glad we can now.

The word vacation’s Latin roots mean to “vacate” or cease working, to  enjoy leisure. Another aspect relates to emptying ourselves and then refilling. I think the emptying used to be the difficult part–everything seemed so important, so vital.

But really, what’s more vital than time together?

On another note, I visited a Payson book club that chose to read In Times Like These next month – that’s exciting! And its sequel, With Each New Dawn, will release in February. Click on the new book cover to your right for more information.

And of course,  I’m working on the sequel.