THE AMISH MENORAH, from The Men who write Amish Fiction

A busy year for Patrick E. Craig… and much more to come!

Plus . . . a Giveaway, to boot!

Patrick E. Craig

It’s been a busy year for me. Since September of 2019 I have released three books and contracted for three more. I have completed another book slated for Indie release and started a second series with my writing friend Murray Pura. Here’s what my year has been like.

In September 2019, Elk Lake Publishing released the second book in my YA Mystery/Adventure series, The Adventures of Punkin and Boo. The book is titled The Lost Coast and is the continuation of a series I first started writing in 2007 but put on hold until I connected with Deb Ogle Haggerty, owner at Elk Lake . With her help I released book one, The Mystery of Ghost Dancer Ranch, in April of last year and then we followed that with The Lost Coast. Book three, The Hidden Gate is on its way and should be done for release in early 2021.

Then I got involved in some projects with my friend, Murray Pura, who has written more than 28 books of his own. We decided we wanted to do a World War II story and the Islands Series was born. Far on the Ringing Plains is the first book. It’s the story of three young men who are raised as pacifists but through different circumstances end up in the Marines fighting on Guadalcanal, two as soldiers and one as a medic. The book has a lot of the same spirit as Flags of Our Fathers, Hacksaw Ridge and Pearl Harbor. We Indie published it in April 2020. We just finished writing book two, The Scepter and The Isle. In it the same three young men have gone on to the battles of Tarawa and Saipan. It’s in the editing process now and we hope to have it released early next year. Our grand plan is a nine book series going through WWII, Vietnam/Cambodia and the current desert wars. Murray and I are also writing a western series, The Storm Riders, also contracted to Elk Lake, and we are part way through Book one.

But my most current project is the one I want to feature today. In the summer of 2019 I met Thomas Nye at an Amish Writers Event in Shipshewana, Indiana. Over coffee and apple pie at an incredible Amish family dinner we attended, we bemoaned the lack of recognition of the men who write Amish fiction. There are about eight of us compared to the hundreds of women who write Amish Fiction. We decided that an anthology of stories would be a great idea. When I got back to Idaho I contacted Murray, who has written several Amish books for Harvest House, Harlequin and other traditional publishers and broached the idea. He jumped on board and we contacted Amos Wyse, Willard Carpenter and Jerry Eicher. They all agreed to join the project, Deb Haggerty signed it and at the end of April we published The Amish Menorah and Other Stories. Here is a short blurb:

The Amish Menorah and Other Stories

Six short stories by the men of Amish fiction to entertain and educate you. You’ll journey with an Amish man and the Jewish woman whose life he saves (The Amish Menorah by Patrick E. Craig), agonize with an Amish girl in love with an Englische man (A Cloudy Day by Willard Carpenter), fret with two sisters both in love with the same man (When Hearts Break by Jerry Eicher), pray with the family whose child is injured in a fall (The Silo by Thomas Nye), work with the Amish sheriff in a western town (Lone Star by Murray Pura), and laugh at the girl forced to be Amish for the summer (Amish For The Summer by Amos Wyse.)

The six of us had so much fun with The Amish Menorah project that we are doing another anthology for Christmas. We don’t have a title yet, but we will let you all know as soon as we do.

And that’s what the last year has been like for me. I am looking forward to 2021, and all the writing I will be doing then. **I will be giving away a signed copy of The Amish Menorah with this post so comment below and enter the contest. Stay well this next year and keep reading.

Thanks, Peg, for having me.

About Patrick E. Craig:

Amazon Best-Selling author Patrick E. Craig, is a lifelong writer and musician who left a successful music career to become a pastor in 1986. In 2007 he retired to concentrate on writing and publishing fiction books. In 2011, Patrick signed a three-book deal with Harvest House Publishers to publish his Apple Creek Dreams series. His self-published books, The Amish Heiress, The Amish Princess, and The Mennonite Queen, as well as the reprinted Apple Creek Dreams are now published by Patrick’s imprint, P&J Publishing. In 2017, Harlequin Publishing purchased The Amish Heiress for their Walmart Amish series and released it in April 2019.

Patrick and co-author Murray Pura have just released Far On The Ringing Plains, Book 1 in a nine book series that will take in the whole sweep of men and women at war from WW II to the current Desert Campaigns. They have also collaborated on an anthology of realistic Amish stories written with the four other men who write Amish fiction: Willard Carpenter, Jerry Eicher, Thomas Nye and Amos Wyse. The Amish Menorah and Other Stories was published by Elk Lake Publishing in May of 2020. He has also recently released two books in his YA mystery series, The Adventures of Punkin and Boo, with Elk Lake Publishers. They are The Mystery of Ghost Dancer Ranch and The Lost Coast. Patrick and his wife Judy live in Idaho. They have two daughters and five grandchildren. 

Where can readers find Patrick online?

www.patrickecraig.com  Webpage
https://www.facebook.com/PatrickECraig  Facebook

https://twitter.com/PatrickECraig  Twitter

Where can readers purchase his books? http://tinyurl.com/n6sfagg Amazon

Also on any of the other online stores.

**About Patrick's Giveaway:

As he said above, Patrick is offering one of this post's readers a free autographed copy of The Amish Menorah. To enter, all you need to do is leave a comment below with your NAME and CONTACT info so we can notify you in case you're our winner. As easy as that.

This giveaway will run for one week from today ending on Wednesday, August 5 at Midnight O'Clock, Central time.

Thanks for being my guest again, Patrick. I think it's neat that you're part of a group of men who've dipped their toes into the world of Amish fiction, a genre usually populated by women writers. Sounds like this book needs to be added to my Kindle TBR list.

Bringing Back a Beloved Series ~ Patrick E. Craig ~ Giveaway

Bringing Back a Beloved Series

by Patrick E. Craig

In 2011 I sent an idea for an Amish quilting story to Nick Harrison, who was Senior Editor at Harvest House at that time. Much to my delight, Harvest House bought the book and asked for two more to follow it. And thus was born the Apple Creek Dreams series. For a debut author, the books did very well, selling over 35,000 copies between them. But in 2014, Harvest House began phasing out their fiction department, and they dropped all but their most sellable authors from the roster.  Soon the only copies of The Apple Creek Dreams books available were in online used bookstores and there were no eBooks available at all.

 The problem was that I kept getting emails and messages asking me where readers could get the books, especially Kindle and Nook versions. So early in 2018, I purchased the print copy files back for my own publishing company, P&J Publishing. I hired Cora Bignardi of Cora Graphics to redesign the covers and set about reformatting the books for a 2^nd edition release. After months of work, I released the books on December 15^th to a great response. All three books have been on the Hot New Releases Charts and are selling very well.  The books are:

A Quilt For Jenna - Jerusha finds her God, her missing husband, and a lost little girl in the heart of the "Storm of the Century"—a story of redemption and grace.

The Road Home - Adopted into an Amish family as a child, Jenny is looking for the parents she never knew. As she searches, she finds more than she hoped for—truth and love and the knowledge that you can go home again.

Jenny's Choice - After her husband goes missing, Jenny turns to writing as a means to resolve her grief. A handsome young publisher discovers her books and romance and success might be in the making. But the elders of her Amish church are not happy and Jenny must make a choice—a choice that will set the course for her faith, her love, and her family.

I’m delighted to be able to make these books available to new readers. Here’s a review I love:

I have over 500 books on my Kindle, but only nine books are listed under "Favorite Christian Books." Three of those nine are the Apple Creek Dreams Series. The characters are believable, lovable, flawed human beings. The plots grab your attention right from the start and keep it through all three books.

Right now you can get the books in all the available digital and print formats on my website at this link.

https://www.patrickecraig.com/book-table/

About the Author:

Patrick E. Craig is a traditionally published/independent author. After a successful recording and performance career in the music industry, he became a pastor and conference speaker in 1984. In 2007 he retired to focus on a full-time writing career. In 2013, Harvest House Publishers published his Apple Creek Dreams series. His current series is The Paradise Chronicles and the first book, The Amish Heiress was published in 2015. It remained on the Amazon Top 100 best sellers list for seven months. The Amish Princess was released in 2016 and will be followed by The Mennonite Queen in 2019. In 2017 Harlequin purchased the print rights for the Amish Heiress for their Walmart Amish series. Patrick and his wife, Judy, make their home in Idaho. Patrick is represented by the Steve Laube Agency.

Where can readers find Patrick online?

www.patrickecraig.com  Webpage
https://www.facebook.com/PatrickECraig  Facebook

https://twitter.com/PatrickECraig  Twitter

Where can readers purchase my books?

http://tinyurl.com/n6sfagg Amazon

https://www.patrickecraig.com/book-table/  My Website

About the Giveaway:

Patrick will be doing a giveaway of one copy of A Quilt For Jenna, Book 1 in the series, to one reader who leaves a comment below. Winner’s choice: eBook or print copy (US only) Please leave your name and contact information so we can let you know if you are the winner. Giveaway ends one week from today on January 16^th at Midnight MST. Winner will be drawn on Friday and notified via email. Thanks for entering.

Plain Everyday Heroes ~ Laura Hilton ~ Amish Fiction

 It's been quite a while since I've featured any Amish fiction on Whispers in Purple so I'm especialy pleased to bring you author Laura Hilton to remedy that. And she has included what looks like a delicious chili recipe! (Below)

 Welcome, Laura!  

Plain Everyday Heroes

by Laura Hilton 

Release date: July 4, 2018
Genre: Christian Amish
Publisher: Celebrate Lit Publishing Group

• Playing with Fire:

Arie Zimmerman has been in love with Noah Behr from almost the moment they met, but after a devastating wildfire destroys the community, everything changes. Noah questions how a loving Gott could allow such things to happen. As Arie and her family struggle to rebuild their home and lives, Noah escapes to California to fight another son wildfire—and maybe find Gott in the process.

When Noah returns, he promises Arie the prize money if she will help him with a chili cook-off to fund the fire department. Of course, in order to spend more time with the girl he loves, he’s also willing to pitch in unloading the new furniture and animals her daed bought at an auction. He’ll even help Arie slice and dice vegetables if he can taste test the recipes.

More than just the kitchen heats up as they spend time together. But will Noah find a still missing Gott in the process and discover there’s more to life than what he initially believed?

• Hometown Hero

Mysteries intrigue secondhand shop owner Benuel Miller. Although strangers may think a blind man would be easy to cheat, those who know Benuel realize he’s honed his other senses to pick up clues his eyes don’t see, making him a savvy business owner. When a stranger enters Benuel’s secondhand shop, the man is shocked by Benuel’s accurate assessment and unsolicited advice. Wary, he hopes Benuel won’t find out his true intentions, but the shopkeeper is already on the case.

Later, Mari and her twin sister, Frannie, stop in Benuel’s shop with Frannie’s three-year-old son, and Benuel senses trouble. His hunches have never led him astray, but is he misreading something here? He can’t help being drawn to Mari, yet is she as sweet and loving as she seems? Or is she hiding a deep, dark secret?

One explosive night when tragedy strikes, Benuel risks his life to find out the truth. Can he unmask the stranger from his shop to foil a sinister plot? And will what he discovers destroy his only chance for love?

• Racing the Slow Girls:

Racing the Slow Girls— a recipe for fast-paced, comical, Amish adventure— Ingredients: Three fun-loving teenage boys on bicycles. An adorable little girl on a pony, a few spunky teenage girls, and a hint of romance. Directions: Place the characters in a beautiful setting, such as Holmes Co. Ohio. Roll in the boys on bikes. Stir up a few harsh words spoken carelessly. Add plenty of retaliation by the girls. Place in the heat of a family emergency until everyone is completely undone. Sit back and enjoy an Amish adventure with a cup of coffee.

About Laura:

Laura V. Hilton is an award-winning, sought-after author with almost twenty Amish, contemporary, and historical romances. When she’s not writing, she reviews books for her blogs, and writes devotionals for blog posts for Seriously Write and Putting on the New.

Laura and her pastor-husband have five children and a hyper dog named Skye. They currently live in Arkansas. One son is in the U.S. Coast Guard. She is a pastor’s wife and homeschools her two youngest children.

When she’s not writing, Laura enjoys reading, and visiting lighthouses and waterfalls. Her favorite season is winter, her favorite holiday is Christmas.

About the other authors:

• Rachel J. Good is the author of several Amish series in print or forthcoming—Sisters & Friends, Love & Promises, and two books in theHearts of Amish Country series—as well as the Amish Quilts Coloring Books and the contemporary novella, Angels Unaware, part of the Hope Chapel series. Visit Rachel at her website: www.racheljgood.com.

• Thomas Nye writes novels about horses and Amish life, with a touch of romance, and a foundation of faith in Christ. He and his wife, Shari, live on her family farm where they raised five children. Their six grandchildren love to visit Karma and Karla, a team of draft horses which Thomas purchased from an Amish friend. To find out more, visit: amishhorses.blogspot.com

Where to find Laura:

http://www.amazon.com/Laura-V.-Hilton/e/B004IRSM5Q 

visit my blogs: http://lighthouse-academy.blogspot.com/   

twitter: @Laura_V_Hilton

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Laura-V-Hilton/161478847242512

Pinterest:  http://www.pinterest.com/vernetlh/

Purchase Laura'sbooks:

• Amazon   http://www.amazon.com/Laura-V.-Hilton/e/B004IRSM5Q 
• CBD: http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/easy_find?Ntt=laura+hilton&N=0&Ntk=keywords&action=Search&Ne=0&event=ESRCG&nav_search=1&cms=1
• Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/laura-hilton?store=allproducts&keyword=laura+hilton
• Deeper Shopping http://www.deepershopping.com/index.php?query=laura+hilton&x=0&y=0&module=productsearch&_logmode=Y&querymodule=SPX

Arie’s habanero chili

1 lb stew meat: venison, or beef

1/4 cup bacon bits

1/2 Onion, diced

Green pepper, diced

2 cans of habanero Rotel

1 can tomato sauce

1 can kidney beans

1 can pinto beans

1/2 cup sliced jalapenos

1 TSP cayenne pepper

3 TB chili powder

2 TB beef bouillon

1 TSP paprika

1 TSP pepper

2 TB garlic

salt to taste

Saute onion and pepper, set aside. Sear stew meat in hot pan until brown. Do not over cook. Add meat and other ingredients to pot and simmer until done. Add water if necessary. Serve with cornbread. Approximately 7 servings

Recipe compliments of Michael Hilton (Laura’s son)

A Peek Into the Writing of Amish Fiction ♦ Laura V. Hilton

Amish Country

Hi, dear reader. Please welcome author Laura V. Hilton to Whispers in Purple. Laura was willing to share the "story behind the story" about her latest release The Amish Wanderer. Thanks, Laura, for being my guest today.

♦ ♦ ♦

I didn’t intentionally set out to write an Amish story loosely based on a true story. If fact, when people asked me if I would write my maternal grandparents’ story, I told them no.

 

But when time came to write Bethany’s story, all I knew was a short paragraph blurb about it. Bethany and her once-upon-a-time boyfriend Silas who left that particular Amish district and her before their relationship became serious. I didn’t know their backstories, really, and had no idea how the story would proceed. And since I don’t plot, I spend a lot of time praying about the story, because really, I want to write what He says to write. He knows who He wants it to reach.

 

So I sat down to pray about it. And God gave me a verse. Which is unusual at the beginning of the story. Usually, for me, it’s at the middle when God reveals His theme for the book. But this time, it was at the beginning. The verse is:

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39 (KJV)

And the verses caused more prayer. What am I supposed to do with it?

I was driving to Melbourne (Arkansas, not Australia) to pay property taxes and get my vehicle tags renewed, listening to the radio as we (my three daughters and I) drove down Larkin Road (that’s not the real name, just what everyone calls it—we have a lot of those around here: Day Road, Moko Road, etc—because there are ghost towns on these roads so they are called by the name of the ghost town). A song came on the radio and I don’t remember the name of it, or even who the singer was, but when I arrived in Melbourne, I had the opening line to my story.

The sky is falling and I’m searching for somewhere to hide.

I’m sure the people at the county clerk’s office might have been a little concerned about the state of my mental health when they saw the words scribbled at the top of my bill. I did get a strange look. I didn’t offer an explanation. And they didn’t ask.

When I got home, I started writing and paying close attention to Bethany’s mental clues (and Silas’s) to figure out what their stories were. And how they tied into the verse God had given me.

And then, without even realizing it until it hit, I knew who’s story I was writing.

My grandmother’s. My grandfather’s.

Except they are different. My grandmother wasn’t date raped. It was a member of her own family. And she wasn’t in love with my grandfather. She just discovered he was leaving the Amish and she wanted—needed—to escape.

Neither were Christians at the time. My grandfather was saved on his death bed. My grandmother’s youngest child was a teenager when she was saved. My mother, her sister, and all their girlfriends went to a tent meeting for a United Brethren Church and my grandmother attended one of the meetings with her daughters and was saved as a result. And their testimonies ultimately led to the salvation of my uncle and my grandfather. 

Both of my grandparents had a lot of issues to work through as to why God allowed the bad things in their lives to happen. That they eventually came to Christ is a miracle but I’m glad they did, as I was raised in a Christian home.

Why does God allow bad things to happen to people? The short, pat answer is: because sin entered the world. Yes, God could stop them. But what if He uses the bad thing to refine a person’s faith, to draw them closer to Him as a result?

How a person reacts to the bad things directly ties in to how they affect them. In my story, Silas chose to trust God even though he feared for his life. No, he didn’t like what had happened, but even though he didn’t see how, he trusted God was working behind the scenes to bring Silas to where he needed to be, spiritually and physically. On the other hand, Bethany believed God had rejected her. Pushed her away and didn’t care about her. If He didn’t care for her, why should she care about Him? So she went into a stand-off with God.

The lessons ultimately learned, for both my grandparents and my characters, brought them to their knees before the living and holy God who was, and is, and is to come. And I trust God will use this story to help a reader out there who might be questioning something terrible that happened in their life.

You might not see how now and may not know why until eternity, but God has this. Keep praying. Keep trusting. Keep believing. 

"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39 (KJV)

The Amish Wanderer

Bethany Weiss has been fascinated by Silas Beiler since he spent a couple of years in Jamesport, Missouri, before he and his family moved to another Amish community. They hadn’t kept in touch, but she hasn’t forgotten the friendly young man who brought her lemonade and took her home once from a Singing years ago. When she finds a man sleeping in her family’s barn, like Jesus sleeping in the hay, she is stunned to recognize Silas. He’s left the Amish and is backpacking across the country. She talks him into staying, at least until after Christmas.

Silas’ family has never been happy living in one area for long, and their vagabond ways are wearing on him. He’s lived in Amish communities all over the nation, moving whenever his daed became disgruntled with the leaders, and he’s looking for some sense of stability. His intentions are to make it back to Pennsylvania and stay with his Englisch onkle and his family—and pursue an education. Will Bethany be the one to bring Silas in from the cold? Or will he continue on his way to his extended family and become Englisch? 

♦ ♦ ♦

About Laura:

Laura V. Hilton is an award-winning, sought-after author with almost twenty Amish, contemporary, and historical romances. When she’s not writing, she reviews books for her blogs, and writes devotionals for blog posts for Seriously Write and Putting on the New.

Laura and her pastor-husband have five children and a hyper dog named Skye and currently live in Arkansas. One son is in the U.S. Coast Guard. She is a pastor’s wife, and homeschools her two youngest children.

When she’s not writing, Laura enjoys reading, and visiting lighthouses and waterfalls. Her favorite season is winter, her favorite holiday is Christmas. 

You can find Laura's books here:

• Amazon   http://www.amazon.com/Laura-V.-Hilton/e/B004IRSM5Q 
• CBD: http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/easy_find?Ntt=laura+hilton&N=0&Ntk=keywords&action=Search&Ne=0&event=ESRCG&nav_search=1&cms=1
• Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/laura-hilton?store=allproducts&keyword=laura+hilton
• Deeper Shopping http://www.deepershopping.com/index.php?query=laura+hilton&x=0&y=0&module=productsearch&_logmode=Y&querymodule=SPX

And you can find Laura here:

• http://www.amazon.com/Laura-V.-Hilton/e/B004IRSM5Q 
• visit my blogs: http://lighthouse-academy.blogspot.com/  & http://lauravhilton.blogspot.com/ 
• twitter: @Laura_V_Hilton
• Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Laura-V-Hilton/161478847242512
• Pinterest:  http://www.pinterest.com/vernetlh/

Q & A with Author Kelly Irvin ♦ Giveaway, too!

The tagline for this blog is: Where Writers and Readers Connect. It's also a place where writers can connect with other writers. And that's what we're doing today. Author Kelly Irvin is–to me–a new writer, and I'm eager to get to know her and learn about her writing journey.

Kelly Irvin is the author of The Saddle Maker’s Son, the third novel in the Amish of Bee County series from Zondervan/HarperCollins. It follows The Beekeeper’s Son, which received a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly, calling it “a delicately woven masterpiece.” She is also the author of the Bliss Creek Amish series and the New Hope Amish series, both from Harvest Housing. She has also penned two romantic suspense novels, A Deadly Wilderness and No Child of Mine.

A former newspaper reporter and public relations professional, Kelly is married to photographer Tim Irvin. They have two children, two grandchildren, and two cats. In her spare time, she likes to read books by her favorite authors.

Hi, Kelly, welcome to Whispers in Purple. So happy to have you drop in for a visit. Let’s chat a while.

Peg: How long have you been writing?

Kelly: All my life, it seems. But I didn’t get serious about writing fiction until I turned forty-five and realized if I didn’t write that novel soon it would be too late. I have a degree in journalism and worked as a newspaper reporter before going into public relations. I got married and had kids and suddenly I was middle-aged. I started writing in grade school and wrote plays, poems, and short stories. In high school I decide to pursue a career in journalism so I could get paid to write. I wrote nonfiction for thirty years before I did what I really wanted to do, which was write fiction.

Peg: Has your writing journey been as you envisioned it? If so, tell us a bit about it. If not, how is it different?

Kelly: It’s been far more rewarding than I could’ve imaged. I didn’t know how hard it would be to get published or I might never have tried in the first place. A little ignorance in this instance might be a good thing! I never imagined I would have success writing Amish romances. I started out writing romantic suspense but couldn’t break into the CBA. My agent challenged me to write an Amish romance and so I gave it a try. She sold the first one before I finished writing it. The rest, as they say, is history. It’s so rewarding to have readers share their love for a particular story or character. It’s amazing to be involved in the process from that first spark of a story idea all the way to seeing that book on the shelf and then hearing readers’ reactions. It’s a job like no other.

Peg: That's for sure! What sparks your creativity when feeling drained?

Kelly: A good night’s sleep usually does the trick. I wake up and the characters are chattering away. Sometimes a shower helps. Doing my exercises. Anything that gives me time to disengage my brain and let my thoughts wander and daydream. A writer needs time to think about nothing at all. Sometimes I sit in my office chair and stare out the windows to the street in front of our house. My husband will walk by and ask what I’m doing. I answer, “Writing.”

Ha! I do that, too!

Peg: What have you learned recently about yourself, and how has it affected your writing?

Kelly: I learned in January that I have ovarian cancer. I was previously diagnosed in November with primary lateral sclerosis (PLS), which is on the spectrum of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease), but not generally considered fatal. Having both a chronic degenerative disease and a life-threatening disease really cause a person to realize that the time to accomplish goals and reach for dreams isn’t infinite. We might know that intellectually, but we seem to drift along as if we have all the time in the world. I want to make each day count. Make my writing count. Write as much as I can and as often as I can. And as well as I can.

Oh Lord, have mercy! How devastating for you. I have immediately added to my prayer list, Kelly.

Peg: How much of yourself do you put into your books?

Kelly: I believe everything we experience goes into who we are as writers. Our childhoods, our relationships with our parents, our tragedies, our triumphs, our faith, our fears. Those huge life events shape us. A good example is Love Redeemed, a finalist in the 2015 ACFW Carol Awards contest in the romance category. It’s about the loss of a child in a tragedy and the impact it had on her family members. I lost a brother in a boating accident many years ago so I know how devastating it is. I could write from that place. It can be a painful process, but one that reaches readers. You can pour all those feelings into the characters and it feels very real to the readers who see the world through the characters’ eyes. Every page has a piece of me in it. Every word, really. My voice and my world view are represented in each book.

Peg: Do you write in one place or switch off to different locations? Describe your favorite writing place.

Kelly: I’m fortunate to have a dedicated writing space in my home. My office is filled with books and family photos and office supplies and everything I need to make me feel like I’m in my element. But the truth is I can write pretty much anywhere. I retired from my job as a public relations manager for the City of San Antonio at the end of January. Prior to that I had a full time job for twenty-two years. For years I took care of my children and my husband as well. I took my laptop to work early and spent an hour writing in that office before my day started. Then I wrote for an hour at lunch. If I could I might write in the evening as well. I learned to put my fingers on the keys and go, no matter what else might be happening or where I might be. I didn’t have time to be finicky about it!

Peg: Let’s pretend: An anonymous donor has gifted you with a 5-day stay at a place of your choice, and you can bring four other contemporary friends (not family) with you.

               A: Where would you go, and why?

Kelly: A writers’ retreat in Amish country, specific location to be determined by the writers as a group. I would love to have the gift of time spent with other writers who are researching and writing in the same genre. We could discuss the challenges, learn from each other, lift each other up, and have fun with each other.

B: Who would you take with you, and why?

Kelly: There’s a group of writers who were all clients at one time or another of my agent, Mary Sue Seymour, who passed away earlier this year. They all got their start with her. Some moved on, but that connection always remains. I respect each one of them and how they have progressed in their writing, working hard to do justice to the Amish way of life and faith. I would invite my fellow Texans Vannetta Chapman and Beth Wiseman as well as Mary Ellis and Amy Clipston. None of us started out writing Amish fiction, but Mary Sue is the common thread in our career. Everyone has written other kinds of fiction, but never abandoning this genre that has been so kind to us. We each bring something a little different to the table and we could learn so much from each other. It would be so much fun!

Peg: Tell us something about your book.

Kelly: The Saddle Maker’s Son is a departure from what you will see in most Amish fiction for a couple of reasons. It takes place in South Texas where the only Amish community exists in the state. Bee County is not far from the Gulf Coast or the Texas-Mexico border, which lends itself to some very different story lines. In this case, I asked the question, what if an Amish woman discovers hiding near the school two young children from El Salvador who’ve entered the country illegally with the wave of unaccompanied minor illegal immigrants who have flooded the border in recent years? How would they handle it? 

Publisher: Zondervan/HarperCollins Christian

Release date: June 14, 2016

Genre: Amish romance

Buy links:

https://www.amazon.com/Saddle-Makers-Son-Amish-County/dp/0310339863?ie=UTF8&tag=ammbt-20

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-saddle-makers-son-kelly-irvin/1122965051?ean=9780310339861

http://www.christianbook.com/saddle-makers-son-kelly-irvin/9780310339861/pd/339861?event=ESRCG

Here’s the back cover blurb:

Rebekah Lantz feels betrayed and abandoned. Tobias Byler is bound by regret. Can two young runaways from a world away teach them the healing power of a true family?

Rebekah isn’t like her sister Leila, but no one seems to believe that. Ever since Leila made a decision that has haunted her family and their small Amish community, Rebekah has been held to a higher standard under her mother’s watchful eye. Boys avoid her. She simply longs for the chance to be a wife and mother like the other girls.

Tobias Byler only wants to escape feelings for a woman he knows he should never have allowed to get close to him. Moving with his family to isolated Bee County, Texas, seemed the best way to leave his mistakes behind. But even a move across the country can’t stop the past from accompanying his every thought.

A surprise encounter with two half-starved runaway children forces both Rebekah and Tobias to turn their focus on others far more desperate.

In doing so, they discover the key to forgetting the past may open the door to the love and the future they both seek.

Peg: Finally, where can readers find you? 

• Website: http://www.kellyirvincom
• Twitter: @Kelly_S_Irvin
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Kelly.Irvin.Author/
• Instagram: Kelly_Irvin
• Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/irvin0739/

 ♦ About the Giveaway: Kelly is giving away a signed print copy of The Saddle Maker's Son to one reader of this blog post. Entering is easy . . . just leave a comment below, including your contact information . . . so we know how to reach you should you be the winner.

Giveaway ends Tuesday, July 19, at Midnight, cDT. Winner's name will be drawn and notified sometime during the day on Wednesday, the 20th. GOOD LUCK!

Kelly, thank you so much for being my guest today. It’s been a pleasure getting to know you.