Today Novel Journey posted a short interview with me (talk about a surreal experience!). They asked several questions about my experience getting my first contract and writing Canteen Dreams. Be sure to check it out (and leave a comment, too!). Novel Journey is a great resource for author interviews. You can find all your favorites and some you may not have discovered yet there. And the sister site Novel Reviews has a host of reviews for Christian fiction. Gina and Ane have become friends over the last year, and Gina also writes for Scenes & Beans.

If you’re interested in a little background on the North Platte Canteen, check out this great page.
The photo to the left is from the Union Pacific Railroad.

Each day between December 25, 1941 and April 1946, numerous troop trains stopped in North Platte. Because North Platte is a UP hub, these trains refueled, changed wheels (different wheels are needed to get over the Rockies), and gave the servicemen a chance to stretch their legs and fill their stomachs with homemade delicacies. Most stops were less than twenty minutes. Occasionally, they’d slip to almost 40 minutes.

During that brief stop, the people of North Platte, western Nebraska, and nearby communities in Kansas and Colorado adopted those boys. One woman launched this massive volunteer effort when she stepped to the front of the platform on December 17, 1941, and shared the gifts she had brought for her brother’s national guard unit with Kansas troops instead.