First Lines of Famous Books Quiz + Giveaway

By Meghan Carver

The first lines of books have an incredibly important role – to pull the reader in and make her want to read more.

If you’ve read a lot (and you probably have since you’re here, reading this), you’ve read a lot of good first lines. Want to test your knowledge?

Better yet, want to win a signed copy of a new 2-in-1 that includes my Love Inspired Suspense novel Amish Country Amnesia and Leigh Bale’s Runaway Amish Bride?

Buy Now on Amazon

The following are the first lines of well-known books. All you need to do is leave a comment with the titles, and the one with the most right wins a book. It’s the honor system, so no peeking at someone else’s answers! 😊 Alternatively, if several have the right answers, I’ll randomly choose a name. (U.S. winners only. Post will be updated at 8:00 tonight with the answers and the winner.)

1. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.
2. Once upon a time, sixty years ago, a little girl lived in the Big Woods of Wisconsin, in a little gray house made of logs.
3. Marley was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that.
4. “Where's Papa going with that axe?” said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast.
5. Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. This story is about something that happened to them when they were sent away from London during the war because of the air-raids.
6. “Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents,” grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.
7. Mrs. Rachel Lynde lived just where the Avonlea main road dipped down into a little hollow, fringed with alders and ladies' eardrops and traversed by a brook that had its source away back in the woods of the old Cuthbert place; it was reputed to be an intricate, headlong brook in its earlier course through those woods, with dark secrets of pool and cascade; but by the time it reached Lynde's Hollow it was a quiet, well-conducted little stream, for not even a brook could run past Mrs. Rachel Lynde's door without due regard for decency and decorum; it probably was conscious that Mrs. Rachel was sitting at her window, keeping a sharp eye on everything that passed, from brooks and children up, and that if she noticed anything odd or out of place she would never rest until she had ferreted out the whys and wherefores thereof.
8. "Tom!" No answer. "Tom!" No answer. "What's gone with that boy, I wonder? You Tom!" No answer.
9. Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona, where we lay out scene, from ancient grudge break to new mutiny, where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
10. As I walk’d through the wilderness of this world, I lighted on a certain place where was a Den, and I laid me down in that place to sleep; and as I slept, I dreamed a Dream. I dreamed, and behold I saw a Man cloathed with Rags, standing in a certain place, with his face from his own house, a Book in his hand, and a great Burden upon his back.

This is the honor system. No google! 😊

Have fun, and I'll post a winner at 8:00 tonight!


***UPDATED WITH ANSWERS***
Are you ready for answers?

1. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
2. Little House in the Big Woods, Laura Ingalls Wilder
3. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
4. Charlotte's Web, E.B. White
5. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis
6. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
7. Anne of Green Gables, Lucy Maude Montgomery
8. Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain (aka Samuel Clemens)
9. Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare
10. Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan

{An interesting side note: E.B. White was an English professor who wrote what writers just call “Strunk & White,” a brilliant little book actually titled The Elements of Style.}

And the winner is….

~~ Debbi ~~

Congratulations! Send an email to MeghanCCarver@gmail.com with your mailing address, and I’ll get the book out to you. 😊

Thanks for taking part!

~ Meghan

Sign up for Meghan’s author newsletter HERE.

MeghanCarver.com

Five Things I’ve Learned about the Amish through Reading Fiction

by Meghan Carver

When I pick up a book to read for pleasure, my first goal is usually escape, to be immersed in another world, on a different journey, with other people, to forget where I am and what my current problems are for a time.

I think that’s why most people pick up fiction.

But when I inventory what I’ve been reading recently, I realize I’ve been learning as well. Lurking in between those carefully crafted sentences, the toe-curling scenes of drama and suspense, the creation of other peoples and their worlds, I receive an education.

Here are five things I’ve learned about the Amish through reading fiction ~

(Disclaimer: I have researched for myself all the Amish details in my books. 😊)

The Amish travel and even move sometimes. Because their typical mode of transportation is horse-and-buggy, I always thought the Amish never went far from home. Sure, I knew they would pay a driver sometimes (The Amish Taxi) if they needed a hospital or something a little further away. But travel from state-to-state? And yet, they do. They might pay a driver or, more likely, take a bus or a train, but they visit family and friends in other states. In fact, plenty of Amish have moved, whether it be to find larger areas of land or new job opportunities or to begin a new settlement.

Not all Amish are saved. It’s easy to think that because of the way they look and behave that they are all super-spiritual and close to God. And many are, in fact, wonderful Christians! But just like all churches and denominations, there are many who have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof. (2 Timothy 3:5)

Church ministers (“preachers”) are chosen by lot. This, in particular, fascinates me, because there are no resumes, no interviews, no checking of references, no degrees from seminary. There is great reliance on God’s leading and the trust that the men in the church are all prepared through their own personal study to be spiritual leaders if the Lord should will it.

The women’s dress bodices (the top part) fasten to the skirt with straight pins…all the time. Every morning, they pin their dresses together. It sounds uncomfortable to me, and I think I’d be nervous all the time that it would come undone, but apparently they have a method that makes them secure and comfy. This means they don’t have to resize or let the waistband out as needed.

Weddings typically take place in November and involve a lot of celery. The bride and groom don’t get to choose a wedding date for the season they prefer or a sentimental reason. Most Amish weddings occur in November, after the harvest. They also eat a lot of celery and use it in decorations such as table centerpieces, at least in the Lancaster County area in Pennsylvania.

Of course, it’s still fiction and authors insert their own details if needed to help the story.

But many facts and tidbits I’ve picked up between the pages of those novels have been the inspiration for my own Amish inspirational romantic suspense novels.

Amish Covert Operation is available online and at your favorite retailer in this month of July.

You can find information about my books as well as buy links on my website. 

Also, if you'd like to keep up on my author news and be automatically entered in a giveaway with each issue, you can sign up for my newsletter HERE.

Q4U: What have you learned in your novel reading?

Sometimes the Suspense is Real

By Meghan Carver

For the past couple of years, I have had the honor of working with a missionary from our connection of churches to write his story of surviving an attack by a Mexican gang.

As you know, I write inspirational suspense, and I often scare myself or become worried over my characters as I plot how to make their story more difficult. {Read to the end to see my new Amish Love Inspired Suspense releasing next month!}

This missionary story, though, just now released, is no suspense novel. This is real. This book will give you goosebumps as you read of God's protection over this family who sacrificed to bring the gospel to Mexico.

In Angels’ Charge is the incredible true survival story of a missionary attacked by a Mexican gang and God’s amazing protection over him as his family journeyed into another culture, suffered spiritual attack, and came within breaths of seeing Heaven.

Here’s a sneak peek from the prologue:

Somewhere in Mexico, October 23, 2009, before sunrise

Blood pulsed out of the large wound in my head. I had a white dress shirt on that morning, and it was so completely saturated with my red blood that you could not tell it had been a white shirt. My pants were covered with blood. The car seat between my legs was pooling with my blood. The steering wheel, the dash, the window, and the console of my Toyota Sequoia were all completely covered with blood. Blood had exploded from my forehead, and even John was sprinkled with droplets of my blood.

The first thing I remember after returning to consciousness was John’s voice tinged with panic, “Oh God, please don’t let Marc die!” In a haze of semi-consciousness, I asked, “What happened?” Even as I write this, John’s next words echo in my memory transporting me back to that terrifying moment: “Marc, you’ve been hit in the head with a rock, and I don’t think you’re going to make it.” There was a trembling tone of fear and resignation in the way he spoke those words to me that morning that I can never dislodge from my memory.

In that moment, in the midst of those dire and surreal circumstances, John grasped the steering wheel from the passenger seat, and I remained incapacitated in the driver’s seat. I had been instantly blinded by the attack, so he was telling me when to brake and when to accelerate –all the time hoping and praying I wouldn’t lose consciousness or worse as he attempted to find someplace where we could get help.

For indeed, in that moment, I was dying.


It was a true blessing to work with Marc, to have the honor of asking him probing questions about his experiences and his faith. I pray you will be blessed by this story!

In Angels’ Charge is available now for kindle. You can find it on Amazon HERE.

~~~~~

My next Amish Love Inspired Suspense releases next month!

After Amish widow Katie Schwartz’s search for her reclusive brother results in a shooting and her finding a cryptic message, she must rely on federal agent Adam Troyer to shield her. But, undercover as a Plain man, can Adam save her brother’s life and protect Katie? Trusting the handsome Englisch agent is already dangerous…but falling for him could risk everything Katie holds dear.

You can pre-order Amish Covert Operation HERE.

Meghan Carver is a homeschooling mother of six, writer of faith-filled romantic suspense, unabashed bibliophile, and law school graduate. She has four books published with Love Inspired Suspense (Under Duress, Deadly Disclosure, Amish Country Amnesia, and Amish Covert Operation). You can connect with her on her author Facebook page or sign up for her author newsletter and find links to buy her books at meghancarver.com.

Spring Has Finally Sprung! by Tracey J Lyons

It has been a record breaking rainy and cold spring here in the part of upstate New York that I live in and no amount of social media cheer seemed to help me!  I would see all the pictures my friends from the southern part of the country were posting and try not to be green with envy. Where they had daffodils and lilacs, I had puddles where the flowers should be.

There were days when I thought we were going to be in this weather pattern of dark, dreary, dampness forever. And then one day the clouds lifted and don't you know the thermometer actually went above 55 degrees Fahrenheit.

I swear on that first sunny day walking outside was like stepping out of a dark cave.

This past weekend my husband and I worked double time to get caught up on our yard work. We built a brand new raised bed vegetable garden. We planted potatoes, tomatoes, Brussel sprouts, green beans, peas, and cucumbers, then we ran out of space! Out in the front of the house, under my guidance, my husband planted over one hundred summer flower bulbs.

Our youngest son gave me a beautiful rose bush for mother's day to add to our front yard flower garden.

If I learned one thing this long, wet spring, it's that the weather patterns like our lives, can be ever changing. You have to be patient, something that's really hard for me and remember that in order to appreciate the warm, sunny days, you have endure some rain along the way.

I hope your spring is filled with an abundance of sunshine!

I'd love to hear about your spring gardens!

Tracey

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A Love For Lizzie

Print June 18, 2019
Digital July 1, 2019

Saying Good-Bye to the Old and Saying Hello To the New by Jo Ann Brown

Life is a woven tapestry of having to say good-bye to one aspect of it and saying hello to another. I always thought that a graduation ceremony,

instead of being called “commencement,” should be more of “Hail and Farewell” as we had in the military when a high-ranking officer cycles out and another takes her or his place. A celebration of both the leaving and the arrival. Throughout our lives, we have periods of time when we are settled and times when we’re packing up and moving on.
Sometimes, this is literal. We find we have to move from our home to another place. It might be a job change or retirement or even going to college or simply buying that RV and seeing the world. Right now, we’re helping my father with that good-bye. He’s getting ready to sell the house, the only one my parents ever owned, that he’s lived in since the early 1970's. It was part of our family even before they bought it, because my mother’s parents rented the downstairs apartment before it was converted to a single family. Nearly fifty years later, he’s realized that taking care of that big house is more than he wants to deal with,

so my sisters and I are helping him sort through years of possessions and deciding what he wants to keep, what he wants to sell and what he wants to give away. For all of us, it’s a farewell moment, a reopening of the past as we look at photos and through items we’d once been familiar with but had forgotten or simply put out of our minds. His “hello” moment will be when he moves into his new apartment at my sister’s house and no longer has the responsibility for a big house...though he still intends to keep busy by doing things like mowing the grass and puttering in the garden.
Life is made up of these moments of change. Change caused by outside circumstances, change caused by others, change caused by ourselves. After all, isn’t that what our romance stories are about...how someone is changed by someone who comes into their life at a pivotal moment? It’s always so comforting to me, as a reader, to see how the hero and heroine (and their families and friends) step up to confront change and make it work in a positive direction for them.
Though there’s always that moment when a reader is hoping that everything doesn’t crash down in disaster!
Right now, I’m facing a few endings and beginnings of my own. In life and in my writing.

My upcoming book The Amish Widower’s Twins will be final book in my Amish Spinster Club series. Releasing in mid-June in print, it’s a book that I felt really sorry to finish because I have enjoyed writing about a new Amish community set near my home town. On the other hand, I’m now working a new Amish series, Green Mountain Blessings, that will begin in December 2019. I’m getting to meet a whole new collection of characters and work with them as they go through their own endings and new beginnings. Just like when we read a book by a favorite author, it’s sad to have one series come to an end, but, oh, how delicious it is to begin something brand new! Who knows what waits us in the days to come?

Setting: Making the Ordinary Extraordinary by Jo Ann Brown

Throughout my writing career, I’ve enjoyed writing about distant times and places. That requires a lot of research, because what did I know when I first started about Regency manners

or the hills and valleys of the Middle East or the gold fields of the Yukon? Not that I’m complaining. I love doing research, finding all the ways people and their lives in other times and places are different from ours...and how they’re the same. Sometimes I found facts I hadn’t expected and which made me change my story to fit the reality. I was astonished—and more than a bit pleased—to discover during the Yukon gold rush, Canadian saloons were closed on Sunday in honor of the Sabbath. A tidbit I could share with readers to make them feel the same aha moment I’d had when I found the information.
Finding a fact that makes my story real is a reward for me after hours of research and trying not to be sidetracked by other information that doesn’t have anything to do with my story, but would be oh, so delicious to track down to its origins.
Being able to learn more about other eras of history and faraway places was what brought me to writing in the first place. I’d been working on the Mayflower Puritans and suddenly, instead of facts and figures, I found myself wondering what it must have been like for those people traveling from their homes to the New World. The words flowed for what would become my first completed short story, one that I wrote wholly for myself. But that story set the path for my writing for years to come. I’d write about, as the song says, “those faraway places with the strange sounding names.”
Then I happened upon the tidbit during research that inspired the Amish Spinster Club series. I needed to figure out where I should set the quartet of books. I knew the Amish had begun buying farms in the Whitehall, New York, area. That’s about thirty miles north of the small town where I’d grown up. Common sense suggested I put the series in my home town, but a part of me balked. Wasn’t I supposed to write about exciting places instead of an ordinary little town?

I began to think about other books I’d enjoyed and how the authors had placed their stories in their hometowns. Those towns weren’t familiar to me, so it was fun to walk the streets along with their characters.
I realized it could be the same for readers if I introduced them to the small town of Salem, New York.

All I needed to do was find a way to make the ordinary a moment of extraordinary discovery for readers. I recalled what I’d liked about growing up in that town and what I hadn’t. I thought about the stories I knew of those who’d lived there before me and after me.
With that, Harmony Creek Hollow was born in Salem, and my characters soon were settling in and walking along the streets as they did their errands and lived their lives. What startled me was how much research I still needed to do. I realized I didn’t know the mileage from Salem to many other places around the area which I’d driven many times. I hadn’t paid attention then, but I had to for my characters and the time line in my books.

So I guess it’s not true that you can’t go home again. I’ve been going home again while writing the series...and I hope the readers I’ve taken along with me have enjoyed getting to know my hometown just as I have all over again. The Amish Bachelor's Baby, the third book of The Amish Spinster Club, is available now in print and will be available on March 1 as an ebook. C'mon along and visit my hometown!

Four Non-Traditional Valentine’s Day Gifts for Husbands

By Meghan Carver

After twenty-six years of marriage, it can be a little difficult to figure out something interesting and appropriate to give my husband for Valentine’s Day. I know we have many authors on this blog who have been married many more years than I have, so you can either chuckle at my youth, commiserate with my plight, or share your advice in the comments. 😊 

I figure a lot of us who read Love Inspired and Love Inspired Suspense have this same predicament.

With Valentine’s Day later this week, I thought I would share with you all some gift ideas for the man in your life.

The problem is, to be perfectly honest, that for many years we haven’t even given gifts, not in the traditional sense.

So, I went to Google, the source of all answers. {I don’t recommend this….}

That didn’t help.

I’ve been decluttering like crazy, so I know that my husband does NOT need –

•          another power tool
•          a kitchen appliance
•          a red-and-white-striped dish for his popcorn
•          a tee-shirt that labels him as “Hot Stuff”
•          a piece of tree bark with our initials cut into it to sit as a keepsake on our side table in the living room.

I was back at the beginning.

I love words {obviously 😊}, so I went to the dictionary. Here are a few intangible {and free!} items we could give our husbands on Valentine’s Day…and every other day of the year.

•          Love: an intense feeling of deep affection; a great interest and pleasure in something.
•          Respect: a feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities, or achievements; due regard for the feelings, wishes, rights, or traditions of others.
•          Encouragement: the action of giving someone support, confidence, or hope.
•          Fun: enjoyment, amusement, or lighthearted pleasure.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

~~~~~

Speaking of Valentine’s Day, do you need a new romance to read…with a little bit of danger thrown in?

Amish Country Amnesia is still available online.

His past is a mystery to everyone…except for the men trying to kill him

When a snowmobile accident leaves a man injured and with no memory, Amish widow Sarah Burkholder and her young daughter rescue him. Even as Sarah’s feelings for him grow, they discover unknown assailants are after him—and Sarah and her little girl for helping him. But if he can remember who he is, he might just save all their lives.

You can order HERE.

And…Sarah’s friend Katie has her own story coming this July, Amish Covert Operation.

She witnessed a crime. Can an agent in disguise keep her safe?

After Amish widow Katie Schwartz’s search for her reclusive brother results in a shooting and her finding a cryptic message, she must rely on federal agent Adam Troyer to shield her. But, undercover as a Plain man, can Adam save her brother’s life and protect Katie? Trusting the handsome Englisch agent is already dangerous…but falling for him could risk everything Katie holds dear.

I can’t reveal the final cover yet, but if you’d like to be the first to know, I’d be honored if you sign up for my author newsletter. I give away books and prizes with every issue!

Sign up for my author newsletter HERE.

You can pre-order Amish Covert Operation HERE.

Thank you for reading! 😊

Trying to Make Up My Mind – Which is Better? by Jo Ann Brown

Usually I’m very sure of my opinions, but I’m been debating an issue with myself for the last couple of weeks.
What is better: beginnings or endings?
I love beginnings. It’s fun to step off into an adventure in both real life and when reading. Emerging into a place (or a time) I’ve never been before is always a thrill. It doesn’t matter if I’m walking through ruins of a supply depot in northern England left by the Romans over a millennia and a half ago

or taking a virtual reality ride on a banshee in the Avatar section of Disney World for the first time. The chance to experience something new is exciting, the anticipation exquisite. Anything and everything is possible in that moment before everything begins.
But I love endings, too. The feeling I get when I’ve spent a wonderful day with my family or enjoyed a great visit with friends or seen a great movie or finished a book by a favorite author that ended up being even better than I’d imagined. Or such a book by a new-to-me author!
This time of year is all about endings and beginnings. Last month, I finished work on the fourth—and final—book in my Amish Spinster Club series. Immediately after it was done, I started work on the first book in a new Amish series set in lush valleys of the Green Mountains of Vermont. It’s been tough to say good-bye to the Amish Spinster Club characters I’ve spent over a year with as I watched them make homes and lives and find love in northern New York, and now I’m having to get acquainted with a new “cast” in a new location.
Starting a new book is like standing in that long line, inching forward a person at a time, for a ride.

There’s the breathless possibility of something amazing that’s about to begin. I’m not sure where it’ll end up other than my hero and heroine must have their happy ever after ending. Will this be the book that “writes itself” or the one where I have to labor over every word? What surprises are waiting for me in spite of outlining the book in a synopsis? No matter how much time I spend with characters before I put fingers to keyboard, they always hold back something about themselves or their story that they won’t reveal until I’m in the midst of writing the book. Looking forward to those discoveries is part of the excitement that fires me up at the beginning of a project. I love it!
However, I admit that I also love being able to type the words “The End” when I reach the last page of a manuscript. Not that I’m actually done with the manuscript because it’s time then for a red pen and revising. I go through a LOT of red ink during this part of the process. However, I really enjoy revising because I can look at my characters with a different eye than when I’m going through their story with them the first time. No matter how much work awaits, there’s the satisfaction that weeks of work have led to something being completed...and that’s a wonderful feeling!
So now you can see my quandary. What is better: beginnings or endings? Post your opinions...and I’m going to guess nobody is going to say middles, though now that I think about it, being in the middle of something can be great fun, too, can’t it?

Inspire me! by Tracey J Lyons

I am on a daily search for inspiration, in my work and in my life.  I love to read inspirational quotes. All those little memes on social media bring light to my day. My new favorite one is on a little wooden sign I found at a local shop. I have this posted on the shelf right below my bathroom mirror so every day it's the first thing I see.

I also find inspiration in things in my own backyard. Like my pond. One of the reasons we purchased this house was because of the pond. The only problem; I can't see the pond from anywhere in the house. I keep telling my husband we need to find a spot to put in a window so I can take in the view from inside the house. Here's a recent picture of the morning fog over our pond. 

With my writing I often draw inspiration from places I visit for my research. On my latest research trip for my soon to be released LI Amish romance, A Love For Lizzie, I came upon this lovely church. I actually have this as the wallpaper shot on my laptop screen, so it's the first thing I see every time I open my laptop. 

And of course I find inspiration in my family. Our sons with their wives and that passel of grandkids bring me not only inspiration, but keep me smiling. 

I'd love to hear what or who inspires you! I welcome you to share your thoughts in the comments section. 

Where do you get those ideas for your books? by Jo Ann Brown

When people find out I’m a writer, and I’m celebrating the 30th anniversary of my first book this year and I’ve published over 100 books with a variety of pseudonyms since that initial book, the first question they ask is: “Where do you get your ideas?” Maybe they’ve seen the small bank I saw this spring in a bookstore window in England and thought that I just keep them in a box on my desk.

I hope the question about where I find my ideas isn’t quickly followed (not even giving me a chance to answer) with “I’ve got a great idea for a book, but I don’t have the time to write it. Do you want it? You write the book, and we’ll split the profits.” I’ve learned to smile sincerely and say that I’m grateful for their offer, but I’ve already got more ideas than I’ll have time to write. The response is either a knowing nod or disbelief.
And you know what? Both responses are correct.
I’ve always got ideas for future books whirling about in my head. Most writers do. The amazing thing is the future ideas always feel much more enticing than the current one in the work-in-progress, especially if I’m in the midst of the middle muddles section of the writing process. That part when all those story threads that looked so straightforward when I began the project now seem like a ball of yarn that’s been on the losing end of a kitten’s attention. Many of those ideas will eventually find their way into another book, but some just drift away and are best forgotten. Some writers keep an idea notebook, but I don’t. If an idea doesn’t have the power to stay and grow – it can’t remain just an idea; it has to become a more in-depth concept—then it never was, in my opinion, more than a whim. You know how I define a whim? Just something that seems like fun in passing, but doesn’t have enough depth to become anything real.
But, every once in a while, an idea comes to me as a gift from someone else. Usually it’s from a family member (especially my husband who’s my first reader and catches all the words I leave in or leave out in my rush to tell the story). My children grew up listening to a discussion of plot points around the supper table as my part of “How was your day today?” sharing that we did each night.
The second book of my Amish Spinster Club series is one of those books where the central idea for the book (and the title) was given to me during a dinner discussion with my husband. We still do the “How was your day today?” sharing even though the kids are grown and out on their own. I was excited about the heroine I had planned for the book—an Amish nanny in an Englisch home—

but I was still pondering the rest of the details. We actually were talking about the most recent releases from Love Inspired, and I mentioned how two were Amish romances and three were western settings and the last was a small town setting in the Midwest. With a laugh, my husband told me I should try to combine them all into one book. The Midwest book wouldn’t work because the series is set in northern New York. Therefore, he said my next book should be called The Amish Cowboy. He laughed, thinking it was a joke...but I thought, “Hmm....”
I’m sure every writer (or artist of any type) understands what that “Hmm....” means. It’s the sound of the wheels of the brain kicking into motion. Ideas soon were ricocheting through my head, and the story for book which eventually became The Amish Christmas Cowboy quickly gelled in my head.
It’s not the first time my family has given me ideas for books, and I hope it won’t be the last, because no matter how many ideas I have on my own...good ideas for books are always welcome here. I guess I need to look for a small box that says that. Hmm....

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Five Fast and Easy Ways to Help an Author

with Meghan Carver

I came across this meme quite a while ago, and quite frankly, I can’t remember where. (I’m glad it has the url on the bottom. At least amarketingexpert.com can get the credit. 😊 )

It summarizes perfectly several fast and super-easy ways a reader can help an author. In this day of social media and online shopping, it isn’t just a matter of writing anymore.

As the image says, reviews really do matter. This past Sunday, a woman at church told me how much she had enjoyed Amish Country Amnesia and that she had stayed up way too late to finish it. (By the way, that’s one of the best compliments you can give an author. We love keeping you up late! 😊 ) But then we talked about reviews, and she stated quite emphatically that she always reads the reviews for anything that she is thinking of purchasing.

That started me thinking about all the reviews I read as I browse online. If I’m looking at a jacket online and reviewers say that the zipper doesn’t work well, I’m much less likely to follow through with the purchase. On the other hand, if several buyers rave about the soft fabric of a knit top I’m considering, then that will, most likely, seal the deal. Truly, though, I find reviews as simple as "I love it!" helpful.

On behalf of all the authors on this blog, thank you for reading our books! We appreciate you!

Q4U: How much do reviews influence your purchases?


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~ Meghan

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Lessons to Be Learned and Thanks to Be Given by Jo Ann Brown

When inspiration struck while doing some research for another story, the Amish Spinster Club books were born. Deciding on the location was simple. I would set it in my hometown, not far from where an actual Amish settlement has recently set down roots. I decided to let the last book in my Amish Hearts series serve as a transition by moving one of the Stoltzfus siblings to a farm along a creek not far from Salem, New York.

But now it was time to start creating the characters for the new series, especially the four members of the Harmony Creek Spinsters’ Club. These young women, who were past the usual marrying age, didn’t want to hang out with teens any longer, but wanted to have get-togethers and frolics and outings. I knew the heroes they deserved would come along as the stories developed.
But who were my heroines? I chose Miriam Hartz as the heroine of the first book because she was already intriguing to me. She’d come to the new settlement with her brother whose idea it was to create it in the first place. What sort of person was she?
In this case, the answer came quickly. Miriam was someone who brought out the best in others by being there for them, supporting her friends and community, stepping up when there was a task to be done, inspiring others to doing better than they’d thought they could. She had a heart-deep reason not to want to be around children, so of course, her brother asks her to be the temporary teacher for the settlement. To me it seemed obvious, because I see teachers as those who support and inspire.

I had some extraordinary teachers. We were a small school, covering five townships/villages, with 650 kids in K-12. We knew each other and everyone’s siblings and parents, and our teachers were part of that extended family. Some teachers had been there long enough to teach our parents. One of those was Miss Barkley, my third grade teacher. We were her 65th class (yep, you read that right – she’d been teaching for sixty-five years), and she believed in inspiring students by making learning fun. As a result of her skills, we were through our year’s syllabus before Thanksgiving. The rest of the year, we kept learning and were far ahead of where we were supposed to be in math and language arts by the end of the school year. She inspired me with a love for words and books and daring to do things I couldn’t have imagined until I met her.
On the other hand, Mrs. Musser, my freshman and sophomore English teacher, was fresh out of college, and she believed in inspiring students by challenging them. I’d been coasting along in school on my creative writing...doing enough to get by while I worked on my own stories at home. My first homework assignment came back with a C+ instead the usual A. I was shocked and heartbroken...and I realized I was going to have to learn more if I wanted to be an author as I dreamed. So, after wiping away the tears (the only time I ever cried over a grade), I promised myself right then and there, I was going to prove to her that I was a good writer. That was our last assignment for freshman year, but I was ready the year. The first creative writing project meant thinking about exactly which words I wanted to use to convey the mood of what I was trying to create in those three pages. It was returned to me with a grade of B+ and a note that said (and I remember it all these years later): What happened to you over the summer? I was walking on air, so happy that I’d dared to show her what I really wanted to do rather than hiding my dream in my heart. Years later, when I was a newly published author, I did a presentation for her freshman class...and told that story to the delight of every student there. I hope I inspired at least one as she’d inspired me. Though she didn’t remember the circumstances.
For almost thirty years, I’ve been teaching creative writing. Every time I get in front of a class, I think of those two teachers and how inspiration was their most important teaching tool.
That’s why I chose for Miriam to be a teacher, not just in the classroom, but in her life. I hope all of you have such teachers in your lives, too. They’re a true gift we’re blessed to have light our way. Thanks to each and every one of you.
Check out Miriam's story in The Amish Suitor, the first book in the Amish Spinster Club quartet. It's available in print today May 22, 2018. The ebook will be for sale on June 1, 2018.

Research as inspiration for the Amish author by Jo Ann Brown

I’ve always loved research. Probably that’s one of the reasons why I started out writing historicals. I want to surround myself with piles of books and read my way through all of them to learn the details of lives in a different time or place. Out of all that reading, both the “just the facts” and the anecdotal examples, I always find inspiration.

When I was asked to write my first Amish book, I realized how much I didn’t know, even though I’d lived for years not far from several Amish communities in southeastern Pennsylvania. My acquaintance with my Amish neighbors was during conversations at farm stands while I decided on whether to buy one shoofly pie or two...or maybe another package of the delicious molasses cookies as well. I’d also attended yard sales in the spring at plain homes and had a great time talking with neighbors about the weather and raising kids.
But writing plain characters required more than what little I’d learned through those polite conversations. So I dove into research as I always do – starting with the simplest books I could find, including children’s books. I found an excellent series of books from The People’s Place dealing with topics like schools and clothing and weddings. As I learned the basics, I went on to more complex research with more in-depth books published by plain authors and by college professors.
During the months—actually years, now that I look back at it—that I was writing the Amish Hearts miniseries for Love Inspired, I continued to block out time for research reading. I subscribed to The Budget, the weekly written for and by Amish and Mennonite readers, as well as finding other plain publications like The Blackboard Bulletin (a monthly aimed at plain schoolteachers) and Family Life (a monthly for families to share and read aloud).

By the way, if you missed Debby Giusti’s excellent blog post on The Budget earlier this month, go back and read it! I also found sources (see those aforementioned yard sales) for authentic Amish clothing for men, women and children. I went to the stores where plain folks shop and compared the farms where they live to the farm where I grew up.
So much fun!
But my miniseries was drawing to a close with my January 2018 release An Amish Arrangement, and I needed to come up with an idea for a new series that excited me enough to spend a year of more writing 3-4 books. Every idea I came up with seemed to be too tried and true.

In exasperation, I turned back to my own tried and true method—I went to the shelves of my research books and took down one I hadn’t read yet. I took it with me on a cross-country flight, and somewhere over the middle of the country, I came across a small paragraph about “older girls’ groups”—social groups for unmarried young women who have aged out of the usual youth groups.
A light bulb went off in my head. Here was an idea I hadn’t seen used before in an Amish series. That’s how the Amish Spinsters Club was born. The stories about four friends who really don’t fit in with either the young unmarrieds or the newlywed/married women kick off on May 22, 2018 with The Amish Suitor.As I’m writing this, I’m working on the third book in what will be a four book miniseries, and I’m just as excited as when I found that tidbit at 40,000 feet in the sky.

Of course, now I’ve got to start thinking about the next set of stories I want to write, and you’ll know right where to find me. Next to my bookshelves with my nose in a book, seeking that bit of information that will set my imagination on fire again.