Christmas is coming and I want to share some Christmas cheer with you. We Three Kings, the Christmas novella collection I’m part of is out, and I want to continue the celebration with you. First, you can learn all about my why for writing Beauty Bright, my novella in the collection by watching this short episode of Book Talk. And …
Book Talk: BTS: Across the Shores
Book Talk: BTS: Across the Shores Listen to the Behind the Scenes episode for Across the Shores Do you ever wonder where authors get their ideas? Today I share the story behind the story for my novella Love Along the Shores in the Across the Shores collection that was released in April 2023. The authors for this collection were on …
The Story Behind Love Along the Shores
In April I have a novella Love Along the Shores releasing in a new collection Across the Shores. But the germ of this story came to me years ago. I was trying to find the original proposal idea and I’m going to guess it was about 2011 or 2012. I’d written two series of WWII novels for Barbour — Cornhusker …
The Story Behind the Story: Flight Risk
What’s the first part of the book you read? Is it the back cover? The first chapter? Maybe it’s the back of the book so you can learn why the author chose to write a book that involved whatever issue they did? Finding truth in a fake news world? That’s the ? in Flight Risk by @cara_putman + #giveaway Click …
The Story Behind the Story: Delayed Justice
If you’ve followed along with my writing for any length of time, you know I love writing. It’s also one of the hardest things I do. Writing is hard work plain and simple. To give reader’s an emotional experience I have to dig deep. I need to cry. I’ll want to chortle. For any emotion to resonate, I have to …
The Story Behind the Story: Imperfect Justice
When I envisioned the Hidden Justice series, I knew that each of the women in the cohort of four would get their own story, but I didn’t know exactly what those stories would be. Hayden’s Beyond Justice became based on juvenile immigration issues. Then I turned to Emilie, Hayden’s roommate and started thinking about issues I’m passionate about and would resonate …
When the What If Remains + Giveaway
One thing that I learned early in my writing process is that I have to find an idea I can fall in love with for two years. Yep, you read that right. Two years. It takes roughly two years to go from building the proposal to writing and editing the book then through marketing the book as it releases. I …
Fiction Friday: Canteen Dreams is Free
Every book baby is exciting for an author but there’s something special about that first one. The one that first made it’s way into the world and proved I had a story worth telling. And it’s appropriate I’m telling you about my first on Veteran’s Day. Canteen Dreams was my first. It one the Carol Award for Short Historical, which …
The Story Behind: Sandhill Dreams
With my World War II novels, my starting point is usually a historic fact. To find it for books two and three, I started asking people what they knew about Nebraska and WWII. I don’t remember exactly how, but I stumbled on the idea that something must have happened at Fort Robinson at the time.
Me? Write a Historical? The birth of Canteen Dreams
Imagine my surprise and delight when the first night of the 2006 ACFW conference, JoAnne Simmons called me to the front at the opening session to give me my first contract for Canteen Dreams. The prior year I had watched Mary Connealy receive her contract and thought, “it is possible. That could happen to me.” I had no idea it would happen so quickly, or that it would be such a magical moment.