by Roseanna White | Oct 12, 2010 | Uncategorized
Today I’m excited to welcome Penny Zeller to my blog to talk about her novel, McKenzie. Penny and I started emailing a while back while she was still in the seeking-endorsement stage of publication, and I was thrilled to get to help her out with out. And now all of you get a taste of her historical romance!
Penny’s generously offered a copy of McKenzie to one lucky reader, so as usual, leave your comments below with an email address. And be sure to follow if you don’t already!
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About Penny
Penny Zeller is the author of several books and numerous magazine articles. She writes the humor blog “A Day in the Life of a Wife, Mom, and Author” (www.pennyzeller.wordpress.com), is an active volunteer in her community, serving as a women’s Bible study small-group leader and co-organizing a women’s prayer group. Her passion is to use the gift of the written word to glorify God and to benefit His Kingdom. She devotes her time to assisting, encouraging, and nurturing women and children into a closer relationship with Christ. When she’s not dreaming up new characters for books, she enjoys spending time with her family and friends and camping, hiking, canoeing, gardening, and playing volleyball.
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About McKenzie
Desperate times call for desperate measures is the reasoning that prompts McKenzie Worthington, a young lady of Boston’s high society, to respond to an ad for a mail-order bride for a man in the Montana Territory. McKenzie is desperate, after all, to save her beloved younger sister, Kaydie, from her evil, abusive husband, who robs banks for a living. And so, it is with reckless determination that McKenzie runs away from the comforts of home and hearth to head West and meet her new husband-whom she’ll divorce, of course, after she rescues her sister.
Desperate times call for desperate measures is the reasoning that also prompts Zachary Sawyer, a rugged rancher after God’s own heart, to post an ad for a mail-order bride in various newspapers across the country. Managing a ranch and caring for his adoptive son, Davey, has become more than one man can handle alone, and Zach prays for God to send him a wife with whom to build a life and share his dreams.
When McKenzie arrives at Zach’s ranch, she immediately puts her plan in motion, searching for her sister and doing all she can to keep her new husband from forming an attachment. But his persistent kindness and significant self-sacrifices begin to change her heart-and ruin her plans. God has a way of working things out to the good of those who love Him, though, as McKenzie and Kaydie will soon see.
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Welcome, Penny! What’s your latest book?
My latest book is titled McKenzie and is the first in my Montana Skies Series. It is a Christian historical romance and was released September 1, 2010 by Whitaker House.
I actually got my copy in the mail not long ago. =) It’s sitting on my READ THESE! shelf, just waiting for me to have time to finish it, LOL. What do you hope your readers will get out of the story?
Writing is my ministry and I hope my readers will get from McKenzie the power of God’s love, redemption, hope, and forgiveness. Readers will get a glimpse inside McKenzie’s life and see that God can and does change hearts.
What’s your favorite genre to write? To read?
Historical fiction is my favorite genre to write, followed by contemporary fiction. In third place would be nonfiction, which I also enjoy writing as well. As for reading, I would have to say my favorite is historical fiction. There’s something neat about being able to pick up this genre and escape into a simpler time.
Ah, blissful sigh. I just love historicals. What lessons have you learned through the publication process that you wouldn’t have guessed as a pre-published writer?
That the hardest work comes after the book is published!
Yeah, what’s up with that?? Shouldn’t we just be able to move into our mansions where our mad genius can terrorize the help? 😉 Okay, back to reality. Are there any people (family, writing group, editors) who you rely on when writing?
I rely heavily on my family, both immediate and extended. My husband, Lon, and my two young daughters are very supportive. I also rely on my friend, Barb, who reads through everything I write and offers comments before I send it to my publisher. Then of course, I rely on my editor, Courtney, at Whitaker House. She always has wonderful suggestions and is awesome to work with.
Here’s one of my favorite questions: if someone were to give you $5,000 to spend on anything you wanted, what would you buy? (No saving or gifts to charities allowed!)
No charities, saving, or gifts? What about paying bills? *grins* Actually, I would take my family on a vacation or buy my husband flying lessons, since it’s always been a dream of his to learn how to fly. And if there’s any money leftover, I’d probably buy a cute new outfit since I love clothes!
I sometimes dream about walking into “my” closet and seeing rack after rack of adorable clothes. Somehow, they’re never there when I wake up. LOL. What writing goal have you set for yourself that would be the most rewarding to achieve?
That a reader’s life would be impacted for Christ through one of my books. That is my ultimate goal.
Beautifully noble. So what are you writing right now?
I am working on Book Three in my Montana Skies Series, which will take fans of the series into the lives of more Pine Haven characters and a glimpse at the main character’s chance for love in an unexpected place! I am also starting a new series that takes place in the Civil War era.
Fun! Any upcoming releases we should keep our eye out for?
Book Two in my Montana Skies Series, Kaydie, will be released in April 2011. Here is a short blurb:
For the first time in years, Kaydie Worthington Kraemer can breathe easily. Although she is still haunted by memories of her abusive husband, Darius, she takes comfort in knowing the man is dead. Staying with her sister McKenzie and brother-in-law, Zach Sawyer, at their ranch, Kaydie is still wary of men, especially now that she has another life inside of her to protect. As she looks forward to her baby’s birth, she builds a protective wall around herself that won’t be easy to tear down.
Ranch hand Jonah Dickenson views his boss, Zach, like a brother. He does not, however, envy Zach’s new role as a husband. Deserted by his mother at a young age and forever despised and rejected by his own father, Jonah has few close relationships. But there’s something about Kaydie that draws him to her and makes him question his decision to remain a bachelor.
When Cedric Van Aulst, an old friend of Kaydie’s, comes to town, an unforeseen prospect of marriage arises. Cedric is someone Kaydie trusts. Will she settle for a safe union with him, or can she trust God to guard her heart and her life in the arms of Jonah?
(A side note: readers can read the first two chapters of Kaydie in the back of McKenzie).
Sounds great! Is there another author who has greatly influenced your writing?
Sharlene MacLaren has influenced me in that I have “adopted” her as my mentor. She is a gifted writer with a wonderful and encouraging personality. Plus, I love to read her books! Another author who has influenced my writing is Janette Oke. I love that her books touch the heart and are wholesome and God-honoring.
Oh, Shar’s such a sweetie! It’s impossible not to be her friend, isn’t it? =)
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Thanks for visiting, Penny! Readers, you can check out her website at www.pennyzeller.com and her blog at www.pennyzeller.wordpress.com and find her books at Amazon, ChristianBook or CrossPurposes.
Void where prohibited. Entry into the contest is considered verification of eligibility based on your local laws. Chance of winning depends on number of entries. Contest ends 10/18/10. Winner will have two weeks to claim prize.
by Roseanna White | Oct 11, 2010 | Uncategorized
So after sending out proposals for approximately everything I’ve ever written (okay, not everything, but a lot!) I obviously have these crazy thoughts. Like, “What if, rather than the historicals I’ve been writing, it’s my contemporaries they want? If that’s the case, then they’d expect me have more of them . . . so what would I give them?”
If Yesterday’s Tides clicks with a pub team, then cool–I’ve got that series planned out, and even an idea for a follow-up series. But if by some strange chance someone wanted my romantic suspense . . . do I have any more ideas for those? Hmm.
I probably have a few ideas in my Documents folder that could redone for the cause. But considering that option isn’t nearly so interesting as coming up with a new one, right? So my brain goes to the random, not at all fleshed out idea I had on vacation. My hubby had just bought me an absolutely gorgeous larmiar necklace, and I was reading the brochure about larimar on the way home.
For all of you who are like I was two months ago, you have no clue what larimar even is, let alone why there’s a whole brochure about it. Well, crash course. It looks like this picture. Back in the 70s, some dude who was visiting the Domincan Republic came across a stone like this while washing in a river, and he had never seen anything like it–for good reason. This particular gem exists in only one square kilometer in the world, in the midst of the Dominican rain forest. He named it larimar after his daughter Larissa and mar, the Spanish word for “sea,” since the stone calls the ocean to mind.
Larimar is the rarest gemstone on the planet, and last year they began mining the last layer of it. So naturally, my little brain thinks, “Something that rare, and just about gone . . . there has to be a story in there somewhere!”
I’ve got an inkling of an idea, but I’d love some brainstorming, just for fun. Anybody have any fun suggestions for how to use this information in a suspenseful story?
by Roseanna White | Oct 11, 2010 | Uncategorized
And the winner of Margaret Brownley’s A Suitor for Jenny is . . .
Debbie! (Dreilly316@ . . .)
Congrats, Debbie! I just sent you an email.
by Roseanna White | Oct 8, 2010 | Uncategorized
Today I’m happy to welcome Vickie McDonough back to my blog. A few months ago she gave away one of her Heartsong series and now I’m tickled to talk with her about Second Chance Brides, book two in the Texas Boardinghouse Brides series from Barbour.
Vickie is offering a copy to one lucky reader, so please leave a comment below with your email address for a chance to win. And be sure to click “Follow” if you haven’t already!
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About Vickie
Vickie McDonough is an award-winning author of 20 books and novellas. Vickie’s books have won the Inspirational Reader’s Choice Contest, Texas Gold, and the ACFW Noble Theme contest, and she has been a multi-year finalist in ACFW’s BOTY contest. The Anonymous Bride, book one in her debut trade fiction series the Texas Boardinghouse Brides, released this spring, and the sequel, Second Chance Brides, is now available. Vickie’s books promise An Adventure into Romance.
Vickie and her husband live in Oklahoma. She is a wife of thirty-five years, mother of four grown sons and grandma to a feisty four-year-old girl. When she’s not writing, Vickie enjoys reading, gardening, watching movies, and traveling. To learn more about Vickie’s books, visit her website: www.vickiemcdonough.com
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What’s your latest book?
Second Chance Brides, book 2 in the Texas Boardinghouse Brides series
Barbour, April 2010
Here’s a blurb:
Rejected mail-order brides, Shannon O’Neil and Leah Bennett, are stranded in Lookout, Texas, without husbands or future plans. Thankfully, the marshal has ordered the rascally Corbett brothers to pay for the women’s lodging at the boardinghouse, since they were the ones who brought the women to town in the first place. But the brothers are searching for a way to marry off the women and be free of their financial burden. Getting into the matchmaking business doesn’t sound as far-fetched as it once did. Will the Corbett brothers’ idea of hosting Saturday socials really bring these women the kind of loves they long for? Or will their plans backfire?
Okay, that sounds like flat-out FUN. What’s your favorite part of the story?
I loved making Mark squirm as he wrestled with falling in love and at the same time not wanting to and feeling worthy of a woman’s love. Also, I enjoyed seeing more of Jack, the daughter of the boardinghouse owner. In book 2, she is still causing trouble and battling her nemesis, the town bully.
Make ’em squirm! =) What was the hardest part to write?
There is a scene where one bride walks away from her fiancée when he’s in a big bind and needs her deeply. That was hard to write. I wanted to help him, but that wasn’t something my female character could do at the time.
Always tough on us, though, isn’t it? What do you hope your readers will get out of the story?
It’s my hope that readers are entertained and taken away from their own worries and struggles while they’re enjoying Second Chance Brides. But more importantly, is that I hope they will see that God is always several steps ahead of them. Even though they may be going through hard times, like Shannon and Leah in my book, there is always a way out. If we turn to God, He can bring us through the difficult times and help us learn something in the process.
So true! Is there a theme to this book?
Trusting God during hard times.
What’s your favorite genre to write? To read?
That’s an easy question. Historical Christian romance—and if the book has a cowboy, lawman, or rancher, that’s even better. I watched all the westerns of the 1960s and early ‘70s with my dad and fell in love with them way back then.
Is there any one thing or reference you keep handy when writing? Anything you kept around for this particular book?
I love using the book Heroes and Heroines: Sixteen Master Archetypes when I’m first creating my characters. It lists the 8 archetypes for heroes and 8 for heroines and tells their strong and weak points. It also explains how the different male and female archetypes mesh and clash, which I find very helpful when developing the conflict of my books.
Sounds like a good one! Aside from writing, what takes up most of your time?
I’m primary caregiver to my partially handicapped mom. She can’t leave her home without assistance, and I do all her errands, things at her home that she isn’t able to, and fix some of her meals. I also pick up my four-year-old granddaughter from school two days a week and watch her until her mom gets off work.
If someone were to give you $5,000 to spend on anything you wanted, what would you buy? (No saving or gifts to charities allowed!)
I’d buy an Ipad and then probably use the rest to get the outside of my house painted. That’s our next big project.
Those things look sooooo cool! Any funny family stories about living with a writer?
I have three grown sons still living at home, although one is currently at college and another just deployed this past weekend to Egypt. They got in the habit of calling before coming home from work and asking, “Did you cook tonight?” They learned that when I’m on deadline, dinner is usually pizza, carryout Chinese, leftovers—or whatever they choose to but on their way home.
Reminds me of a Facebook status my hubby saw a while back: “How am I supposed to make dinner when the Pizza Hut website isn’t working?” LOL. Any upcoming releases we should keep our eye out for?
I’m in a Christmas novella collection that just released. Christmas Mail Order Brides tells the tale of four brave—and sometimes desperate—young women who travel the transcontinental railroad to marry men they’ve never met.
Heartsong Presents is releasing the first book in a South Carolina trilogy in December. It’s called Mutiny of the Heart. The other two books, Indigo Dreams and Dueling Hearts will release in 2011.
Also, Finally A Bride, the third book in my Texas Boardinghouse Brides releases next April. It’s set ten years later than the first two books. Jack is the heroine, and she’s now a young woman, but she still finds herself in odd predicaments. Garrett, one of the Corbett brothers, also gets lassoed by a most-unexpected woman.
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Thanks for visiting again, Vickie! Readers, you can check out her website at www.vickiemcdonough.com and find her books at Amazon, ChristianBook or CrossPurposes.
Void where prohibited. Entry into the contest is considered verification of eligibility based on your local laws. Chance of winning depends on number of entries. Contest ends 10/14/10. Winner will have two weeks to claim prize.
by Roseanna White | Oct 7, 2010 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
I’m a by-the-books person. Can you tell that about me from blog posts? I mean, I can’t help it. I just love books so, so much. 😉 Okay, so I imagine it’s more that following rules is ingrained so deeply within me . . . other than a few minor rebellions when the rules went against something even deeper ingrained (like, say, logic), I was the one who listened.
In some strange and perhaps useless way, I approach the publishing industry according to rules too. For instance, once I signed with an agent I left all communication with editors to her, except for at writers conferences, of course. In my mind, this is just the way it was done. This was the way to be professional. And, well, leaving the business end to her meant I only worried about writing. Right?
But given that I didn’t make it to the ACFW conference this year, and given that my agent has a little more to worry with than just me, and given that I still hadn’t heard back on anything sent out upon request after last year’s conference, I gave it some prayer and had the feeling it was time to break this “rule” I had in my mind. I emailed my agent to get her okay (I am such a goody-goody, LOL) and then dropped a few “Hi, remember me? Just checking in” notes to a few different editors.
I must pause to say that God is so stinkin’ cool. No, no one immediately replied with, “What, didn’t you get the contract we sent you??” (ha!), but I did get a couple “Of course I remember you!”s and, when I asked these editors what they might be looking for now and proceeded to pitch pretty much everything I have in my Documents folder, I got requests, between them, for pretty much everything I have in my Documents folder. (Did you all hear me squealing in surprised glee last Thursday evening??) Also got the news that one of my projects in penciled into a publisher’s 2012 schedule.
Does this guarantee a contract with a major publisher? Um, no. But what it does do is remind me that (a) God knows what’s he’s talking about (duh, right?) (b) boost my confidence and (c) establish connections.
So back to work I go. FYI, my blog today was either going to be about this or the dream I had right before waking that involved a very poor rewrite of the Twilight saga, which I then apparently recognized was a poor rewrite, and which was then about how the characters put the story back the way it should go. (I’m such a dork, LOL.) It also involved an alligator under my couch. Don’t ask me why. I really, really don’t know. 😉
Today I’m excited to welcome Penny Zeller to my blog to talk about her novel, McKenzie. Penny and I started emailing a while back while she was still in the seeking-endorsement stage of publication, and I was thrilled to get to help her out with out. And now all of you get a taste of her historical romance!
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. Having successfully launched two homeschool grads, she now spends her time writing fiction, 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, as well as a fantasy series and contemporary mysteries and romances. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.