by Roseanna White | May 28, 2010 | Uncategorized
Today we’re welcoming the fabulous president of ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) to talk about her debut novel, They Almost Always Come Home. Cynthia gives so much of herself to this amazing organization–I’m really excited to give a little back to her!
As usual, leave your comments with an email address for a chance to win a copy of the book!
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About Cynthia
Cynthia Ruchti is the current president of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), which she’s served in various volunteer capacities since shortly after she became a member in 2002. In her role as president of ACFW, Cynthia writes a monthly “From the President” column for ACFW’s Afictionado ezine. For two years she was one of four humor columnists for Afictionado’s“Let There Be Lite.” In 2007, she was the recipient of the ACFW Member Service Award. In 2008, Cynthia won second place for Women’s Fiction in ACFW’s prestigious Genesis Contest.
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About They Almost Always Come Home
When Libby’s husband Greg fails to return from a two-week canoe trip to the Canadian wilderness, the authorities soon write off his disappearance as an unhappy husband’s escape from an empty marriage and unrewarding career. Their marriage might have survived if their daughter Lacey hadn’t died…and if Greg hadn’t been responsible. Libby enlists the aid of her wilderness savvy father-in-law and her faith-walking best friend to help her search for clues to her husband’s disappearance…if for no other reason than to free her to move on. What the trio discovers in the search upends Libby’s presumptions about her husband and rearranges her faith.
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What’s your latest book?
They Almost Always Come Home is my debut novel which released May 1, 2010, with Abingdon Press.
What a compelling cover! What’s your favorite part of the story?
I enjoy the interaction between Libby and her friend Jenika, a friendship that could either drown under or surf on waves of adversity. Picking a favorite scene is like picking a favorite child. When I relive the process of creating Libby’s fictional world and her story, each scene tugs at me as a lapful of grandbabies each tug at me. My favorite part of Libby’s story is the one I’m thinking about at the time.
Yeah, let’s not make the grandbabies push each other out of your lap. 😉 What was the hardest part to write?
Endings are always challenging to write because of my longing to offer my readers a satisfying, sigh-producing ending but still leave room for pondering. Few of life’s “plots” arrive at neat and tidy conclusions. The resolution of one dilemma often opens the door to new challenges. Finding a balance where readers say, “I want to know more” rather than “Is that all there is?” drove me to invest in both the ending and the possibilities for the characters of They Almost Always Come Home.
That’s a really great point, and a challenge for every writer to consider. What do you hope your readers will get out of the story?
Inexhaustible hope for indescribable pain. Hope that glows in the dark.
They’re taglines, but they’re also promises—not from my words, but from God’s.
They’re GREAT taglines! What’s one of the oddest or most interesting things someone has ever said about you?
One of the most affirming was, “You wrote what I felt but didn’t know how to say.” That line keeps my fingers on the keyboard.
That was my reaction when I first read A Separate Peace in high school, almost word for word. So yeah, that’s fabulous encouragement. What would your dream office look like—and what does your REAL writing environment look like?
A cluttered desk. Too few file drawers. Piles of projects needing attention. Mismatched furniture. Threadbare carpeting. Oh, wait. That’s reality…although I do sneak away to a small antique desk and rocking chair in a quiet corner of my family room when I’m in all-out-creative mode. You asked about my dream office. Ahh. A clear cherry desk, hand-rubbed finish, with matching lateral files, bookcases, and hardwood floor (kept clean by a hard-working and devoted maid). Bose speakers in every corner. An excess of storage. A view of the lake through one window and the mountains through another. And a cozy loveseat or chair-and-a-half in which to create more dreams.
Can you send that hard-working maid my way?? =) Is there any one thing or reference you keep handy when writing? Anything you kept around for this particular book?
On my desk (an old hollow-core door, not hand-rubbed cherry) is a treasured photo of my husband in his element—the Canadian wilderness. He’s sitting on a granite outcropping that splits the river in two and forms dual rapids. Tan and weathered, his slouchy hat low over his eyes, he’s looking into the camera…and into my heart. Several years ago, my husband almost didn’t come home from his canoe trip to the Canadian wilderness. When I look at that photo, all the emotions of his trauma (and my own) return in a rush of rock-strewn memories. Although our story and the one told through Libby’s and Greg’s voices are different in many key ways, the picture served as a resource for maintaining emotional authenticity throughout They Almost Always Come Home.
Oh wow, that would be an intense reminder! Do you remember where you were when you got your first or most important call about a book contract?
I missed the call. How can that happen? My flight back to Wisconsin from the West Coast was rerouted due to mechanical trouble. We made an emergency landing in Kansas City. The equipment was repaired while the passengers sat in the plane on the tarmac, waiting to take off again for our original destination—St. Louis—where I would have caught a connecting flight. I’d hoped to hear the yes or no from Abingdon Press that day but couldn’t get home and couldn’t leave the airplane. So before the repair was complete and the flight attendant asked us to “turn off and stow all electronic devices,” I called my daughter and asked her to tap into my email account to see if I had a message from the editor.
“Yes,” she said. “Do you want me to read it to you?”
It was an unconventional way to hear I’d sold my debut novel, but so precious to share the moment with my daughter.
When I arrived home—two days later than expected due to even more flight delays—I found The Call on my answering machine. And accidentally deleted it!
LOL on the delete. And “awwwww” on getting to share it with your daughter! Any upcoming releases we should keep our eye out for?
In fall 2010, Barbour Publishing releases a Christmas novella collection titled A Door County Christmas. The Heart’s Harbor—is one of four romantic comedies included in the collection. Different from They Almost Always Come Home tone and subject matter, The Heart’s Harbor takes a more lighthearted look at love and loss, and how faith makes both survivable.
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Thanks for visiting, Cynthia! Readers, you can order her book at Amazon or CrossPurposes. And check out her website at www.CynthiaRuchti.com.
Void where prohibited. Entry into the contest in considered verification of eligibility based on local laws. Contest ends 6/3/10. Winner will have two weeks to claim the book.
by Roseanna White | May 27, 2010 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
I’m sitting on my back porch. The clock just flipped to 7 a.m., and the air’s still cool and scented with honeysuckle. I’m in exercise gear, though I have no intention of exercising–but my aunt passed along a too-cute tank with built in shelf, and it seemed a good alternative to my flimsy nightgown when I decided to come outside.
My son’s playing in a big yellow wagon we use to cart beach toys at the park. Not “with,” mind you–in. The boy’s a monkey. My daughter’s playing with their little toddler bikes in the driveway and peering down to examine ants as they scurry by (as opposed to those days when she runs screaming from any bug, LOL).
I was trying to figure out what to write about this morning and drawing a blank. I’m reach Critical Mass when it comes to parenthood and am hoping for some Me Time soon. Right at this moment I’m feeling just fine, but give me a few hours, and the whining’ll get to me, I’m sure, LOL.
So, not sure I have any great insights today, but here are a couple things I’ve been thinking about this week.
The first comes from Glenn Beck. Whether you agree with his philosophies or not (some I do, some I don’t) he made me sit up and take notice the other day when he called–on national television–for revival. He said, for his millions of viewers to hear, that before the nation could get back on track, the people had to get back to God. I honestly didn’t think I’d see the day when someone had the guts to say that on any TV station that wasn’t strictly religious in nature. So go, Glenn!
The second is from Xoe. Now, she can get an attitude to make a mama want to pull out her hair, but she’s also got one of the sweetest hearts I’ve ever seen. Perfect example: when we were praying last night, she said, “I hope you have a good day tomorrow, God.”
Not sure what might make a day good vs. bad for God, but I think it might have to do with the praises of His people.
I hope He has a great one, too. I’m going to be making a concerted effort to do my part and keep a praise on my tongue.
by Roseanna White | May 26, 2010 | Remember When Wednesdays, Uncategorized
I remember my first few weeks at college (okay, some of it–it’s been a while, LOL). We were reading
The Iliad for our seminar class. The first 6 books were assigned over the summer, so we all leisurely flipped our way through it over the course of two months, thinking, “Wow, this is gonna be great.” Then we opened our mailboxes the first day at St. John’s, got our assignments from our tutors (professors) and went, “Wait–what? You expect us to read the next 6 books in two
days? While I’m memorizing the Greek alphabet? And learning all the axioms and three propositions from Euclid? And reading this Theophrastis dude for lab?” Hence began the total immersion into the Johnny life and, that first year, all things Ancient Greek.
Now that you have a glimpse of the rate at which a Freshman at St. John’s becomes a Greek-know-it-all, I’ll get to my point. =) Or closer to it anyway. See, at St. John’s one of the boo-hiss evils are outside authorities. In our classes, all the students are supposed to be on a shared level, so you’re not allowed to reference in the conversation (all classes are conversation-based) anything that hasn’t been covered at St. John’s. So that documentary you watched? Hush up about it. That thing you learned in high school? No one cares. The only facts of import are the ones in that book in front of you, and that ain’t no textbook. It’s the original (translated, usually. Not always, but usually.)
But still we whisper. Like, when reading The Iliad, a conversation out of class may have gone like this:
“Let’s all go to Troy. You can be Agamemnon, and then I’ll steal your god-stick and go get people excited so we can kick some Paris-butt.”
“Yeah, not possible. Oh wait–they finally discovered it again, right?”
“Discovered . . . again?”
“Yeah, didn’t you read about that or see it on the History Channel, back when we had TV [snickers all around–there’s no cable at St. John’s]? For the longest time they thought the whole Trojan War story was nothing but myth because they couldn’t locate any ruins of Troy. But a while back they found it, right where Homer said it should be.”
Now, I always laugh and roll my eyes when scientists and historians discover something right where it should be. Like a recent satellite study that said, “Hey, Eden probably was right here . . . look at that!” For me, it goes toward this really weird modern mindset that says, “We know all. No one before us knew anything.”
Um . . . why? It’s especially funny because 2500 years ago, the Trojan War was still ancient history, but it was known ancient history. When Xerxes was marching to Greece, they stopped at Troy, where “he listened to the story of the war there, then decided he wanted to see where Priam ruled, so the whole troop went up to the site of Ilium . . .”
But a century ago–a century ago it was fiction. Fable. Until, oh wait . . . look at that! Troy showed up!
Sorry, I just find it both baffling and amusing that we doubt so much about what people before us recorded simply because we can’t see it with our own eyes. I recognize that we sometimes need independent validation, evidence–but instead of dismissing stories we can’t totally validate, can’t we just teach our kids we haven’t found evidence of it yet rather than telling them something doesn’t exist at all?
Seriously. I hate it when facts change. Then you end up with a new generation shaking their heads at their parents going, “Come on, Mom, Pluto isn’t a planet. What are you talking about?”
by Roseanna White | May 25, 2010 | Uncategorized
A special Story Time Tuesday treat for y’all today—an interview with multi-pubbed author Robert Elmer about his newly released historical novel, Wildflower of Terezin, which looks absolutely amazing.
Robert has graciously offered a giveaway, so as usual, leave your comments below along with how we can reach you if you win. Enjoy!
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About Wildflowers of Terezin
Wildflowers of Terezin is a sweeping historical nove
l set against a backdrop of danger. A Danish Lutheran pastor’s complacent faith is stretched to the breaking point during World War II when he meets a young Jewish nurse Hanne Abrahamsen and becomes deeply involved in Resistance efforts to save Denmark’s Jews from the Nazi prison camp at Terezin, Czechoslovakia—also known as Theresienstadt.
Challenged by his activist brother and swayed by his own attraction to Hanne, Pastor Steffen abandons his formerly quiet, uninvolved life and hesitantly volunteers to help smuggle Denmark’s Jews out of the country before a Nazi roundup. Steffen finds that helping his Jewish neighbors is the most decent, spiritual thing he has ever done. As he actually does God’s work, rather than just talking about it, Steffen’s faith deepens and he takes greater risks in his sermons.
When things go terribly wrong and Hanne is sent to Terezin, Steffen finds his heart fully engaged. He undertakes protests and rescues that are more and more dangerous, never imagining where it will lead him, or the ultimate cost of his decision to get directly involved.
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About Robert
Robert Elmer (www.RobertElmerBooks.com) has written more than 50 books for youth and adults, building on his experience as a news editor and reporter, advertising copywriter, teacher, and assistant pastor. When he’s not writing (or sailing) he’s a mentor and editorial board member for the Jerry B. Jenkins Christian Writers Guild, and has spoken to young audiences across North America. Robert and his wife Ronda live in the Pacific Northwest.
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What’s your latest book?
Wildflowers of Terezin came out from Abingdon Press in May 2010.
What’s your favorite part of the story?
One of my favorite parts is… uh-oh, if I described it to you I would be giving away one of the most important plot twists. Sorry! It has to do with… oh wow, I really can’t say anything about it. You’ll just have to read the book all the way to the end to find out what my favorite part was. J (Sorry, I really wasn’t trying to be coy. But it’s true. That scene at the end where… oh, never mind.)
LOL. We’ll just say “the end,” then. What was the hardest part to write?
The hardest part was one of the scenes in the prison camp, when Hanne is taking care of a sick little girl she met. It reminded me of the quote from Robert Frost, “No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.” Well, I think there were tears with the writer in those scenes, and others.
Take note of this reader—a man, admitting to tears! Okay, so I admit it, I don’t think I’ve ever cried when writing . . . I’m weird. Anyway. What do you hope your readers will get out of the story?
I want my readers to lose themselves momentarily in the real world where faith matters and God is in control. Outside of my books, faith of course still matters and God is still in control. Problem is, sometimes it can get so foggy out here, it’s tough to really see. In my stories I pull away the fog and show let readers experience the world the way it’s supposed to be, whether that’s in the past, present, or future.
Beautifully put. Is there a theme to this book?
The story is about faith in the face of deadly opposition, about choosing the right thing and making love work when it’s hard. It’s a challenge to complacent faith, and a contrast between those who seek safety and those who just do the right thing, period. Where is the safest place, really? I think we can all relate to that kind of challenge, even if we’re not living in a war zone or a prison camp.
Very true. I’m currently exploring that in a WIP too. It really stretches your own faith to explore that through your characters, doesn’t it? But let’s keep going—is there any one thing or reference you keep handy when writing? Anything you kept around for this particular book?
All the months of preparation and writing that went into “The Young Underground” also went into this book. I’ve poured through stacks of old Danish books, looking for the best information from original sources. Good thing I read Danish!
I’ll say! I had a professor in college who learned to read Danish solely so he could read Soren Keirkegard’s original Fear and Trembling. That earned a big “Wow!”
from me. What lessons have you learned through the publication process that you wouldn’t have guessed as a pre-published writer?
I think there are a lot of challenges common to most authors. Dealing with schedules and the business aspect of writing is one of the largest challenges, actually. Keeping our stories fresh. That’s why I’m so excited about Wildflowers of Terezin. This is a story I’ve been dying to tell for a long time. Many writers call it the story “I had to write.”
And those are so rewarding for both writer and reader, once they finally come to reality. Do you remember where you were when you got your first or most important call about a book contract?
I was in the shower when my wife Ronda came running to me that Bethany House wanted to contract my first children’s book, A Way Through the Sea. (The editor had telephoned us.) That was in the early 1990s, and it had the same setting as my newest book! Anyway, everybody started screaming.
I bet!
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Well, thank you so much for visiting with us, Robert! Readers, you’ll want to check out Robert’s website at www.robertelmerbooks.com.
You can purchase Wildflower of Terezin at Amazon or CrossPurposes.
Void where prohibited. Entry into the contest is considered confirmation of your eligibility based on your local laws. Contest ends 5/31/10. Winner will be given two weeks to respond before a new one is selected.
by Roseanna White | May 24, 2010 | Uncategorized
I totally spaced putting a blog together yesterday, and I’m not gonna take a ton of time right now–instead I’ll tell you about why I’m not. 😉
One of my writing groups occasionally does a BIAW challenge. That would be “Book in a Week.” Traditionally, the idea is to put down as many words to screen as you possibly can in the course of the week, and you’re competing with the other authors participating. She who writes the most words wins. At HisWriters, we modify the rules and make it a goal-challenge. We each set our own goals for each day and strive to meet or surpass them. Some of us will be editing, some will be striving to get back into a story and so setting modest goals, some are nearing a deadline and need a lot of words written.
In the past, BIAW challenges have helped me finish rewriting A Stray Drop of Blood, type “The End” on one manuscript, put down nearly half a book I’d just started, etc. So for the next two weeks, I’m going to use it to get as close to done Jewel of Persia as I possibly can. It would take a miracle for me to actually finish the book in the next fortnight (this historical group I’m in is running it for two weeks . . . and yes, we’re all dorky enough to then call it “Book in a Fortnight” with a stuffy British accent, LOL), but I can get pretty darn close, I think.
So, off to work I go. And if you’ve read Stray Drop and wanna chat, don’t forget it’s being discussed this week at the ACFW Book Club! It’s a public group–all you gotta do is join up and start talking. =)
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.