Mining Life for Story Ideas — Plus a Book Giveaway

Where do you get your story ideas from is a question authors are often asked. My short answer is "from life." Take my August Love Inspired release Reuniting His Family, for example.

Background: I grew up in a village in Upstate New York that has a maximum security correctional facility. My mother and my father (at the end of his work career) were employed there. Mom was administrative assistant to the director of the school program and Dad lead a maintenance crew. Both of them said, more than once, that most of the inmates they had contact with in their jobs said they were innocent of the crime that had gotten them there.

Fast forward a few — okay, a lot — of years. I was gearing up to write a new proposal for Love Inspired and got thinking about the claims of innocence my parents had heard. What if an inmate was falsely convicted of the crime he was incarcerated for and released when that came to light five years later? What if he had found Jesus in prison? What would his reentry into society be like? What prejudice might he encounter? What if he had motherless kids? My story idea was born.

A FATHER'S PROMISE 
Rhys Maddox wants nothing more than custody of his two sons. Released from prison after a wrongful charge, the widowed dad will do anything to bring his boys home where they belong. But that doesn't include falling for their former social worker. Now leading an outreach program for families in transition, Renee Delacroix can't escape the tall, dark and intriguing single dad — or his adorable little boys. But Rhys is determined to go it alone. Until one incident that may cost him what he wants the most. Now it's up to Renee to save him — if she can make him see she's just what he needs to complete their forever family.

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READ AN EXCERPT

Now for that giveaway. Again, some background, small-world category. I no longer live in my hometown. But a church friend where we do live does prison ministry. Another worked for the  NYS Department of  Corrections in Albany and visited various facilities throughout the state. A third worked as a nurse at a maximum security facility a little south of where we currently live. So, here's your question to enter to win a copy of Reuniting His Family (print or ebook; winner's choice): Does anyone here do prison ministry or have a connection to a facility? Or not?

I'll come back Thursday morning and post the randomly chosen winner in the comments.

A Tribute to the Libraries of My Life

I know National Library Week isn’t until next month. But I recently received my author copies of my May Love Inspired, Winning the Teacher’s Heart, and that made me think of libraries. I generally donate a large print copy of my books to my local library.

Libraries have played a large part in my lifelong love of reading.  I struggled with reading in first and grades. Since I had a September birthday, I was one of the youngest kids in my class, and I had trouble sounding out the words. The summer after second grade, when my next youngest brother was big enough to make the walk, my mom put my youngest brother in the stroller and took my three brothers and me to the LaSalle Public Library in Niagara Falls every week to get our own books. That fall, a couple of weeks into third grade, I moved from the lowest reading group, not to the middle group, but right to the top one.

My next library was the Stephens Memorial Library in Attica, NY, where we moved the summer before I started sixth grade. At first, it seemed like a come down from the Niagara Falls library. The library was in a house on Main Street. But, it was here that I discovered wonderful books like The Secret Garden, still one of my favorite books. And I did research for my high school papers, with another discovery, inter-library loan. The library “house” was painted white when I used it. The addition with the more library look was added when I was in high school.

The Nassau Free Library in the Village of Nassau, NY, was our first family library. It, too, was in a renovated house. Don’t you love the rendering from the library’s Facebook page? Like, my mother, I took my kids there from the time they were toddlers. And the year my husband went back to college to pick up a drafting certificate and had time home during the day, he gained the distinction of being the only father who regularly attended the daytime weekly story hour.

My current library is the RCS (Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk) Community Library. It recently moved to more spacious quarters in the old American Legion building in town. My big discovery at the RCS library is borrowing eBooks, which sadly means I don’t visit the actual library building as often as I did with my other libraries.

What are the libraries of your life?

Celebrating Memorial Day

Let's celebrate our veterans and the men and women currently serving in the armed forces.

We have our flag out. But my family and I (Jean C. Gordon) aren't up to much else. While I'm having lunch with a writer friend, my husband is going to drop in at our son's for a swim in the pool at his condo complex. Then, maybe our son-in-law (the free-range-pig farmer) might have some pulled pork for us for sandwiches for supper.

Nothing like the way my dad, a World War II vet, celebrated. He did Memorial Day in a big way. He'd put out the flag, and we'd walk down to Main Street to watch the parade. Then, he'd have a big barbecue with our relatives from both sides of the family. More than 30 people. They'd come from the city -- Niagara Falls/Buffalo -- to Attica for a day in "the country."

Dad would grill hamburgers and hot dogs and German sausages and make Beef on Wick. People would bring all kinds of salads and deserts. I really miss the potato salads. It's my favorite and neither my husband nor the kids like it. Mom would make jello with fruit salad, and someone would always bring jello with vegetables in it, which none of us "kids" would eat.

We'd take our cousins across the street to the creek and show them how to lift flat rocks and find crayfish. Sometimes, if it was hot enough, we'd walk further down the creek to the fishing hole and "accidentally" fall in. One year when I was in my early teens, a significantly older cousin (the banker) had traded in his well-used VW beetle for a Porsche. All of us older cousins wanted a ride in it. What could be cooler than riding through town in a Porsche with an attractive older guy? Hey, no one needed to know he was my cousin. I can't remember that I ever got that ride.

As the song goes, "Those were the days, my friend." So, what are you doing today?

Summoned as temporary guardian for her teenage niece, while her brother is deployed to the Middle East with his Reserve unit, Emily Hazard returns to Paradox Lake. On one condition—she won't let herself think about staying. Emily always felt like a misfit in her tiny hometown.

But she doesn't count on falling for handsome Drew Stacey, a former Wall Streeter who's getting the town church camp ready.

Now available as an eBook