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.

Influential Teachers. by Christine Johnson

Teachers make a huge impact on their students. Today I’m reminiscing about the teachers who played a role in guiding me toward my dream of writing books. It begins with my second grade teacher who instilled a love of language in my heart and gifted me a tin filled with words printed on pieces of cardboard. I loved to grab a handful of words and try to make fun sentences.

Middle school saw three years of grammar instruction, some of which remained with me. During those years, whenever I got bored, I wrote snippets of a “novel” on any scrap of paper on hand. Those scraps are long gone and never ended up compiled into one coherent story, but the dream remained. In high school I was blessed with an amazing literature instructor and a creative writing teacher who fed my love of story. Great teachers continued into my college years, playing a part in honing both the love of language and the love of writing.

After a brief stint student teaching, I gained a much, much greater appreciation for the dedication and work that teachers put in each day. Teachers make a huge difference in the lives of their students.

Which teacher(s) made a big impact on your life?

In my upcoming April release, Mail Order Mix-Up, Pearl Lawson travels to her first teaching position in a Michigan lumber town. She brings along her best friend who was recently jilted by her fiancé and an advertisement for a mail order bride for a Mr. Decker, who is located in the very same town. Pearl hopes a new relationship will revive her friend’s spirits. She doesn’t count on competition in the form of two other ladies responding to the same ad, and she certainly doesn’t anticipate falling for Mr. Decker herself.

Christine Johnson

Mail Order Mix-Up (#1, Boom Town Brides, LIH, April 2016)

Honor Redeemed (#2, Keys of Promise, Revell, July 2016)

Mail Order Mommy (#2, Boom Town Brides, LIH, Nov 2016)

http://christineelizabethjohnson.com

https://www.facebook.com/ChristineJohnsonAuthor

Writing a Novel Backwards

Have you ever had one of those inside out days? You know, the kind where you walk out of the house with one black sock and one blue sock on? The kind where everything seems to go backwards or in the entirely wrong direction?

When I wrote The Wyoming Heir, I intentionally wrote my story backwards. No, that doesn't mean I began with chapter twenty something and worked my way down to chapter one. It means that when I planned the story, I went about reversing some of the usual norms for a novel.

You see, after writing my first novel, which is set during the French Revolution, I wanted to try something set in the United States. And what better way to set a novel in the US but by writing a story about a cowboy? After all, cowboys are about as American as you can get, right? But therein lay my problem. It seemed like everyone was writing a story about a cowboy. Numerous cowboys stared back at me whenever I walked down a book aisle or browsed various book lists on the web. So if I was going to write a story about a cowboy, how was I going to make it different enough to stand out?

That's when I decided to reverse my novel. Instead of having the fancy eastern woman go West where she falls in love with a rugged cowboy and gets an education as to how much fun rustic living can be, I decided to have my cowboy come East, where he gets an education about the importance of women's education (along with a few other things) and learns how much fun citified folk can be.

The Wyoming Heir turned out to be a fun story to write as I could take some elements of the classic western-era novel and completely flip them around. (For more information, I've got a book description and excerpt up on my website.)

As for the ending of the story, I won't comment one way or another about whether my cowboy and school teacher end up in Wyoming or New York. You'll have to read the book for that. ;-)

What about you? Have you ever taken a trend and intentionally bucked the norm? Did you feel a bit out of place doing so? How did your experience end up? I'd love to hear your stories in the comments below.

Allie Pleiter on using a details...

As writers, we try to capture the little things, the details that make our character come alive.  Sometimes they come to us out of the depths of our imagination, sometime from keen observation, or sometimes from something we know well.

I needed a great teacher skill for Holly Sanders in Family Lessons.  I needed some essential trick to catch Mason Wright’s eye, to wake him up to Holly’s talents as a teacher.  I didn’t have to look far--I went to the best teachers around me.  My children are far out of elementary school, so I went through my world to see what Sunday school teachers--many of whom are friends of mine--did that I found impressive.

Holly’s “clap once if you can hear me,” trick to focus the children’s attention in a crisis is a ploy used by my friend Angie.  She’s an awesome teacher--devoted and creative--and kids love her.  Her personality is nothing like Holly’s, but that doesn’t matter.  This is a detail, not a broad stroke.

Mason’s mouth-wide-open reaction to how well her strategy works is a favorite moment of the book for me.  I remember being astonished the first time I saw my friend Angie use the “clap once if you can hear me.”  I couldn’t believe it worked so well in a room full of rowdy second graders!  It was great fun to get to give her talents a literary nod.

What about you?  What great teachers do you remember from your early school days as either a student or a parent?

Back To School: Back to the Books

It's September and time for Back to School and Back to the Books. To celebrate, we Craftie Ladies want to know which books with teacher hero or heroines made into your hands and into your hearts.

Maybe your favorite teacher came from a Harlequin Love Inspired Contemporary.

Dedicated teacher assistant Whitney Maxwell gave up her dream of a family years ago. But she’s about to get a lesson in faith and family from an unexpected source—a brave little boy named Jason. Jason and his dad are dealing with his autism the best they can, but Dr. Shane McCoy can’t put his tragic past behind him. As Whitney and Shane work together to help his son, could these two lost souls open their hearts to love again and become a lasting family?

Or, maybe your favorite teacher came from a Harlequin Love Inspired Suspense

Six months ago, Alexander Cooke’s life was wrecked. His wife was killed, his workplace was robbed...and the evidence pointed to him. He saw one way out—he grabbed his daughter and ran. Now he’s got a new life. Yet even with his new identity as Greg Bond, he’s still lookingover his shoulder. Still waiting for danger to reappear. Then he meets charming schoolteacher Lisa Jacoby, and forgets to keep his distance or protect his heart. When the killer returns, Alex won’t run again. He’s found a love—a family—he’ll face anything to protect.

Or, last but not least, maybe your favorite schoolmarm came from a Love Inspired Historical.

Nothing is impossible—as far as idealistic schoolteacher Verity Hardy is concerned. The lovely widow is certain teaching freed slaves in a Virginia town torn apart by the Civil War will help heal bitterness and old wounds. But she's finding that the school's cynical builder, Matthew Ritter, has little reason to have faith in her—or anything else.
An ex-Union captain, Matt has seen more than his share of destruction. And the threats he's getting about the school are almost enough to make him give up. But Verity's spirit and courage inspire him to fight once again for what he believes in—and to show her they can reach their dreams together….

Go ahead, think about it and share. What book, with a school setting, made you want to turn to the beginning and read it again.