Thursday Sisterhood with Sandra Orchard

Family Status: I’ve been married for almost 27 years to my very own real-life romance hero and I mean that literally. Only in a romance would the hero catch the heroine tossed off her bucking horse. Yes, he really did. And I never rode bareback again! We have three fabulous grown children and a son-in-love, of which my youngest daughter is also an accomplished freelance writer and an aspiring fantasy novelist and a much-appreciated sounding board when my characters give me grief. We also have 2 adorable grandchildren who bring such joy and laughter to our days. A cat and an Alaskan husky and a coop full of chickens and a miniature goat and a thirty-year-old horse round out our brood. That and the wily mouse I keep spotting running along the edge of my kitchen cupboards that keeps managing to elude eviction!

What Is Your Favorite Beverage: water. I know, boring, right?

What Is Your Favorite Food: Hmm, it always used to be pizza, but pizza just doesn’t seem to taste as good as it used to. Must be that elimination of trans-fat thing, or switching to whole wheat crust. LOL. My favorite treat is chocolate cream cheese cupcakes. Totally decadent!

          What Is Your Favorite Thing to do During Free Time: Play with my grandchildren. :-)

Who Has Been the Most Influential Person in Your Life: These are hard questions! At different times of my life, different people would come to mind. But overall, I’d have to say my mother, not in words, but in the life and character she modeled every day.

First Book You Fell in Love With: The Wind in the Willows. I still vividly remember returning it to the school librarian and going on and on about the characters etc.

A Book You Wish You’d Written: The next book in my contract…I’m always wishing it was already written! ;)

First Book Published: Deep Cover (Sept 2011, Love Inspired Suspense)

Most Recent Book: Perilous Waters (April 2014, Love Inspired Suspense) I loved writing this book, because it’s set on an Alaskan cruise modeled after the one my husband and I took to celebrate our 25th anniversary.

Out Next: Book 2 in my Port Aster Secrets mystery series: Blind Trust (June 2014, Revell) The romance and suspense arcs over the three books in this series, while each book also has a standalone mystery. The first book in the series, Deadly Devotion, is actually on sale at Kobo right now (other Ebook sellers may match) for $1.99 until the 20th.

How Many Have You Written: I have a few manuscripts in my drawer that were never contracted, but by the end of 2014, I will have 8 novels published and 2 more written and in the pipeline for 2015.

What Do You Know Now That You Wish You'd Known Then: I’ve actually really enjoyed the journey of learning the craft and building friendships with writers prior to being contracted. There are a lot of things I could’ve learned sooner that would have sped up the “learning” part, but God’s timing has been perfect.

What is Your Favorite Bible Story: The story of Ruth—so many great truths in that story

What is Your Favorite Bible Verse: ”The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter until the full light of day.” Proverbs 4:18 It’s such a beautiful word picture of what our lives should look like and a good reminder that we’re on a journey, not “arrived”.

What is Your Favorite Hymn: O Sacred Head, Now Wounded, for both the words and haunting music. I love Amy Grant’s version from the 80s with a storm in the background. My favorite line: O make me Thine forever, and should I fainting be, Lord, let me never, never outlive my love to Thee.

What is an Ongoing Prayer Request You Have: My back is a continuing source of pain for me, especially when I can’t resist picking up my grandkids or sit too long at the computer, so healing/strengthening of my back and God’s ongoing guidance in my writing are my two ongoing request.

FEATURED BOOK:Perilous Waters by Sandra Orchard

Under Suspicion

For FBI agent Sam Steele, there's no room for error or emotions on his latest undercover assignment. Getting close to gallery owner Jennifer Robbins while on an Alaskan cruise is the only way to catch her dealing stolen art. Out on the icy seas, Jen suddenly goes from suspect to victim when she's targeted by a deadly enemy. And Sam's mission goes from investigating an art crime to protecting the woman who's begun to melt his heart. As danger looms closer, he'll do anything to save her life—even if it costs him his own.

A Fool for Love Inspired Suspense Any Day of the Year

Hi Everyone! Sandra Orchard here. Happy April Fool's Day!

I'm super-excited that my long-awaited (at least by me :) ) cruise ship story, Perilous Waters, will finally hit store shelves later this week.

I loooooved everything about writing this book, from revisiting--in my imagination--the breathtaking sights and sounds, tastes and scents of an Alaskan cruise to researching the fascinating world of Art Crime investigations to creating a cast of characters I would enjoy writing about for two more books.

I've also had great fun creating tons of bonus features for YOU, including a blog each Monday of this past month on its evolution, in which I shared such things as the art crime news story that sparked the idea for the novel, location pics and more.

You can check them out on my Bonus Features Page by clicking here. And...my to-swoon-for-hero will be interviewed right here on Sunday!

Perilous Waters was my first novel not set in the Niagara Region, where I've lived all my life. Yet, ironically, it was also my first novel set in REAL places instead of fictional towns created to suit my story.

So...as I wrote, my mind walked the halls of the Island Princess cruise ship on which I'd traveled, and the streets of Skagway and Ketchikan and Juneau.

I rode the same bus my heroine and her twin sister rode and when I looked across at the train in the pic below, I knew the bad guy had to be on it. (not saying it ended up that way in the story, mind you ;) )

If you read the book and then visit my 'On Location on an Alaskan Cruise' page, you'll recognize several scenes from the story.

Perhaps it was the novelty of an utterly new experience and setting that made writing this book such a labor of love. The energy has definitely carried over into the connected books as I dig deeper into the lives of characters I've grown to love.

It makes me want to explore another unique setting for my next book. It's a good excuse for a summer vacation. Right? :)

Any suggestions?! 

Sandra Orchard is a multi-award-winning Canadian author of inspirational romantic suspense/mysteries with Love Inspired Suspense and Revell. An active member in American Christian Fiction Writers, The Word Guild, and Romance Writers of America, she enjoys helping writers hone their skills. To find out more about her novels, and to read interesting bonus features, please visit www.sandraorchard.com or connect at www.Facebook.com/SandraOrchard 

The Greatest Romance

I recently received a request from a reader for story recommendations that would inspire hope in a Christian friend who’d given up hope of ever finding a life’s partner and was really depressed about that.

I know lots of great stories that I could’ve shared, yet, the first thought—the line of a song, actually—that popped into my head was that “sometimes blessings come through raindrops, healing comes through tears, and sometimes a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know He’s near.” (Blessings by Laura Story)

Romance novels tend to portray finding the perfect partner as the ultimate goal and blessing, something that will give us that elusive happiness we crave. What I appreciate about Christian romance is that we can show that our relationship with God should bring us our greatest fulfillment.

In my upcoming LIS, Perilous Waters (April 2014), I use the heroine’s unbelieving sister to remind the heroine that “there isn’t a man alive who can bring you happiness if you don’t know how to be happy on your own.”

My prayer for my fellow writers and our readers in 2014 is that the greatest desire of each one of us will be for a closer walk with the author and perfector of our faith that the world may see His love shine through us and know true joy in Him.

Sandra Orchard is an award-winning author of inspirational romantic suspense with Harlequin’s Love Inspired Suspense imprint, and Revell Publishing. A mother of three grown children, she lives in Niagara, Canada with her real-life-hero husband and writes full time…when not doting on her young grandchildren.  You can learn more about Sandra’s books and bonus features at www.SandraOrchard.com or connect at www.Facebook.com/SandraOrchard

Woman with umbrella photo courtesy of of stockimages / FreeDigitalPhotos.net