Michelle Sutton's "First Love"

We're happy to have Michelle Sutton with us today talking about her book, First Love. To learn more about Michelle and her book, read on!

1) How did this story come to you?
The inspiration behind First Love came from a novella project I was working on with three other Barbour authors and I had to draft a first chapter and synopsis for it. Come to find out Barbour didn't think Tombstone would be very romantic so the project went nowhere even with best-selling authors also in on the project. So I just used what I had prepared. I wanted to show how hard it might be to date someone you used to sleep with on a daily basis and who broke your heart when they found God and left. So what happens if you are both Christians in the future and you find out you still have feelings for the other person and decide to give it another try? How do you keep from falling back into bed? How hard would that be? Of course, anyone who knows me knows that my characters usually mess up more than once before they get it together. That's the part I like best. I like writing emotional conflict when it clashes with spiritual values.

2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.
It wasn't hard at all because it was the second book in a series I sold so it was part of the proposal that I sent. The contracts all came around the same time for the series.

3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
My mother was a nun before she met my dad.
I have a life outside of writing books
I'm allergic to cats, but I have one at home.

4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?
I'm working on the third book in the Tombstone Treasures series, First Response.

5) Parting comments?
I really enjoy writing for Desert Breeze Publishing.

6) Where can fans find you on the internet?
http://www.michellesutton.net/

A.K. Arenz' "Mirrored Image"

We're happy to have A.K. Arenz with us today talking about her book, Mirrored Image. To learn more about A.K. and her book, read on!

The teaser for this book is: Their faces were the same. Will their fates be as well?

1) How did this story come to you?
Like most of my stories, it just suddenly appeared in my brain – it wasn’t long before the characters were knocking around in there waiting to be let out. 

2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.
It actually started in 1986. That’s when the story of Cassandra Chase and Jeff McMichaels was first written. It’s been re-written almost every year since then. The current version is the best – better than I could ever have imagined all those years ago.

3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
Um, let’s see . . . first would be that when I start a book, I NEVER know how it’s going to turn out. I’m an introverted introvert. And third . . . I’m a writer who has trouble using her hands because I’ve a neuropathy in my fingers. Sometimes I have to use pencils situated between my knuckles to type.

4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?
I’m currently working on my next novel, An American Gothic. It’s due out October 2011.

5) Parting comments?
I want to thank you for inviting me to visit with you and your readers, and invite you to check out all my books. I have two cozy mysteries, The Case of the Bouncing Grandma, which was a finalist in ACFW’s 2009 Book of the Year contest, and the second in the Bouncing Grandma Mystery Series, The Case of the Mystified M.D., which won ACFW’s 2010 Carol Awards (formerly Book of the Year).

6) Where can fans find you on the internet?
For more information you can find me at www.akawriter.com and www.sheafhouse.com

Vannetta Chapman's "A Simple Amish Christmas"

We're happy to have Vannetta Chapman with us today talking about her book, A Simple Amish Christmas. To learn more about Vannetta and her book, read on!

1) How did this story come to you?
I wanted an original storyline (doesn't every one), and it seemed to me that Amish women must struggle with some of the same problems that women everywhere do. I live in a small town now, but even when I lived in the Dallas area, I would see people move away, pursue their dreams, and then move back and try to find ways to fit in, to find their place in the community. That's Annie's story, but in the process she finds God's plan for her life.

2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.
I was writing contemporary romances, and my agent was shopping them around, but the market was very tight. My agent had had quite a bit of luck with Amish romances (she represents Amy Clipston, Beth Wiseman and Mary Ellis among others--all excellent writers). She suggested I try my hand at an Amish romance. I didn't know anything about the Amish, but I'm a great researcher! Once I started researching a little bell went off in my mind, and I went in search of an old box of family photos from the late 1800s. They were of my father's family, who lived in northern Pennsylvania. My father passed away 13 years ago, and there's no one I can ask about those photos, so I'm still running down that thread, but it's exciting to know I might have Amish relatives in my background.

3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
I play the piano fairly well. I work a full time job plus some--I teach high school English and I teach as an adjunct professor at the local university. And my husband and I have four children between us and just finished paying fourteen years of college tuition, to which I always shout, "Praise the Lord" and dance a little jig.

4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?
I'm working on book 2 of my Shipshewana Amish Mystery series for Zondervan--book one is due out next fall. This is a cozy series set in Indiana and it is fun, fun, fun. The great Sue Brower is my editor (ACFW's editor of the year - go, Sue!). I'll also hear in the next few weeks about the future of Annie's family, as Abingdon will be making a decision on a follow-up for A Simple Amish Christmas. Watch my website and blog for announcements.
http://www.vannettachapman.com/
http://vannettachapman.wordpress.com/

5) Parting comments?
As a brand new author I've been completely blown away by the reception A Simple Amish Christmas has received. It's consistently had excellent rankings on Amazon, even before it released - so I'd like to thank readers of Amish fiction, who can't possibly know me. Readers who don't traditionally read Amish fiction, who were willing to give this book a try. Bloggers like yourself, who helped to introduce a newbie such as me to readers. And then of course the fine people at Abingdon who put together such a lovely book, including my editor, Barbara Scott.

6) Where can fans find you on the internet?
See above links, and I'm on FB and MySpace.

Melanie Dickerson's "The Healer's Apprentice"

We're happy to have Melanie Dickerson with us today talking about her book, The Healer's Apprentice.To learn more about Melanie and her book, read on!

1) How did this story come to you?
Dawn, this book came to me bit by bit over a period of several months. I knew the ending before I knew some of the middle parts, and I used to wake up in the middle of the night and plot the next scene or two, then go back to sleep.

2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.
Do you want the long version or the short version? Short? Okay … I was totally sold out for this book and believed with all my heart that it was going to be published. I pitched it at a conference, entered it in a lot of contests, queried a lot of agents, and sent the partial to a few publishers, but no one was interested in a Christian medieval story, and getting a Young Adult romance published by a Christian YA publisher seemed even less likely. After two years I found an agent brave enough to take it on. And after another year of rejections—although the book came close to getting published as an adult Christian romance a couple of times—even my agent was seeming to lose heart. Our one last shot was to send it to the YA editor at Zonderkidz. And praise God, she bought it!

3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
I never watch TV and don’t even know what’s on anymore. I love writing historical romance but history was never a favorite subject of mine. I graduated from a tiny public high school in a class of 33 students.

4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?
I have a Beauty and the Beast story that my editor at Zondervan is looking at possibly publishing. I hope to write more medieval fairy tale retellings. I also have an adult romance series set in Alabama in the 1880’s that I’m hoping to find a publisher for very soon.

5) Parting comments?
Hold on to your dream, if you feel it is what God wants you to do, and never, ever, ever give up! Unless God tells you to. Be fully committed to listening to God and submitting yourself to His direction, because He loves you and knows what’s best for you.

6) Where can fans find you on the internet?
My website is www.melaniedickerson.com and I have a YA blog that I do jointly with several other YA authors, www.novelteen.com, and I am on Facebook and Goodreads.