2015: A Year of Firsts

What a year! 2015 will go down in (my) history as the year dreams came true. It was a year of many first-time experiences in my writing career.

In March, I joined Coffee Cups & Camisoles, a group blog with fellow historical authors Jaime Jo Wright, Anne Love, and Erica Vetsch.

In May, my first published story, Four Brides and a Bachelor in The Most Eligible Bachelor Collection released, and I happened to be with a group of Minnesota authors on release day! It was so much fun to celebrate with Erica Vetsch, Michelle Griep, Julie Klassen, and many other lovely ladies.

Erica and I are both in The Most Eligible Collection!

That's author Julie Klassen buying my book! :)

I also had my first book signing event in May!

Over the summer, I wrote my first story for Love Inspired Historical (an imprint of Harlequin Books) in their Blurb2Book Contest. I was one of seven people contracted during the contest and I signed my first contract with them. My story, A Mother in the Making, releases in September 2016.

In July, I became a "multi-published" author, when my second story released with Barbour. My novella, A Groom for Josette, released in The Convenient Bride Collection.

The moment my second book arrived on my doorstep!

In 2015, I wrote three complete novels. One has been contracted and the other two are sitting on editors desks under consideration. It was the first time I have written more than one novel over the course of a year.

On the home front, this was the year I took my daughters on their first airplane ride. We went to Washington, D.C. in May and saw so many wonderful things. In September, my twin boys went off to Kindergarten, and for the first time in eleven years, I didn't have preschoolers in my home. My oldest daughter had her tonsils removed and then a couple months later she got braces, my second daughter started homeschooling, and my husband took the girls on their first hunting trip.

My beautiful family!

2015 has been an exceptional year. I thank God that all of us are healthy and happy, and we've made some incredible memories. In 2016 we look forward to many more adventures to come.

Thank you so much for coming on this journey with me. In 2012, I started this blog as a way to document my journey to publication and it's been such a blessing to see my dream come true. My prayer is that my journey would encourage you to take one of your own. If God has placed a dream on your heart, go after it! You never know what blessings He has in store.

Your Turn: What are the highlights of your year? What are your hopes and dreams for 2016?

Release Day for A Groom for Josette!

It's an exciting day in my little corner of the world! It's release day for my second published story, A Groom for Josette in The Convenient Bride Collection from Barbour Publishers!! (Insert hand-clapping, cheering, and foot-stomping!) 

 

The real celebration will begin next Monday, July 6th as all the authors in this collection kick off a week-long blog hop. I'll be sharing more about A Groom for Josette next week, with a look at the characters, the setting, and my inspiration for the story.

But best of all, at the end of the week, we're giving away an incredible gift to one lucky winner! A loaded 7" Kindle Fire.

But why wait to give something away??

In honor of Release Day, I'm giving away two books this week!! One lucky winner will receive a copy of both of my summer releases: The Convenient Bride Collection as well as The Most Eligible Bachelor Collection!! I'll pick a winner on Sunday, July 5th and announce the winner on Monday's blog post.

All you need to do is enter the Rafflecopter below!! Thanks for stopping by to celebrate!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Most Eligible Bachelor Collection Blog Hop

Today I have the privilege of kicking off a fun blog hop! The authors of The Most Eligible Bachelor Collection are talking all about our bachelors this week (could it get any better than that?!?!), and giving away a fabulous gift basket to celebrate the release of our novella collection. Read to the bottom to see how you can enter!

To get the party started, here's a little about my story, Four Brides and a Bachelor, and my very eligible bachelor, Luke Longley.



Luke Longley is dedicated and passionate
about his work with the Chippewa Indians
in Northern Minnesota--but he's also a
rule-follower and bends to the will of the
Mission Board, who demand he find a wife

Luke is a missionary working on the Red Lake Mission in northern Minnesota in 1852. The missionary board has told Luke he must be married by the end of August, or return east, forfeiting over two years of work with the Chippewa Indians. Luke has heard a single female missionary is living a hundred and fifty miles down the Mississippi River at the Belle Prairie Mission. With nothing to lose, he takes a canoe downriver and when he arrives at Belle Prairie, he discovers there is not one single female, but four, and all are eager to marry!
Here are the four young ladies he encounters. Forgive their unsmiling faces. They were actually quite excited to meet the handsome missionary. :)

Genevieve Pinet is beautiful, hard-working, and
intelligent. But she's also very aloof and distant,
and Luke wonders if she'll open her heart to love.

Hazel Smith has the most mission
experience, but her practical personality
leaves Luke wondering if she'll find time
for the little pleasures in life.

Mary Cooper is filled with joy and merriment,
but Luke questions if she'll hold
up under the realities of frontier life.

Sarah Ellis has a gentle, kind spirit, and all the
mission workers love her, but she tends to
break rules set in place to keep her safe.
Luke is a rule-followers, and fears he cannot
marry a woman who doesn't do the same.

The story is set on Belle Prairie in central Minnesota, along the banks of the Mississippi River. The setting is a real place, where a real mission existed over a hundred and fifty years ago, and the premise of the story is real, as well. One of the actual women involved was named Harriet Nichols and she wrote a letter home to her brother about the incident. She said: "There was romance enough acted here to write as good a story as you will find in any novel."

The Mississippi near Belle Prairie

Belle Prairie today

In the fictionalized story, all four ladies have been given the same instructions by the mission board: marry, or return east. But none of them are eager to go back to their old lives. Luke not only represents a way for them to stay in Minnesota, but he's also handsome, hard-working, dedicated to his calling, and passionate about his faith.

Luke spends the week getting to know each woman, and over the course of several outings, his heart begins to fall for one of them...but will he overcome the obstacles that stand in the way of his happily-ever-after?

Now for some fun giveaways!

Hop over to the Coffee Cups & Camisoles blog (here), to enter the grand prize drawing pictured below, and don't forget to leave a comment on this post to be entered to win a signed copy of The Most Eligible Bachelor Collection from me! I'll draw a winner on Friday after 7:00 p.m. CST.

Stop by Author Shannon McNear's blog today to learn more about her eligible bachelor, too. You can find that here.

 

Here's a list of everything in the basket:

1. Collapsible storage cube.
2. A box of Ghirardelli chocolates
3. A book of MN stories called Bring Warm Clothes
4. A DVD (Nim's Island, Night at the Museum, & Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium)
5. A Gifts in a Jar recipe book
6. A whimsical little book of Dr. Seuss quotes.
7. A CD of Victorian Love Songs
8. A vintage-dressed lady Christmas ornament
9. A jar of preserves
10. A packet of lovely note cards
11. A little treasure box
12. A stuffed cow.
13. Dangly, sparkly earrings
14. A Starbucks gift card
15. A cotton tea-towel with a vintage typewriter on it
16. A turquoise cotton tea-towel
17. An apron
18. A miniature post office counter
19. In infinity scarf and fingerless gloves (In colors inspired by Egypt.)
20. A sweet little notebook with a penny-farthing bicycle on the front.
21. A copy of The Most Eligible Bachelor Collection -- AUTOGRAPHED BY ALL NINE AUTHORS!

 

Also, stop back here on Wednesday to meet one of the other authors from the collection, Kathleen Y'Barbo.

Galley Edits for Four Brides and a Bachelor

I took one more step towards the publication of Four Brides and a Bachelor. The galley edits arrived!

A collage of the images I used while writing my story.
Starting from left: Hazel, Mary (who is much more subdued
in this photo than she is in the story!), Genevieve & Sarah.
Which one will capture Luke's heart?

After the book is laid out and formatted, a copy is sent to the author and this is called the galley edit stage. According to Wikipedia, "Galley proofs [or edits] are so named because in the days of hand-set letter-press printing, the printer would set the page into galleys—the metal trays into which type was laid and tightened into place—which would then be used to print limited copies for proofreading. The printer would then receive the edits, re-arrange the type, and print the final copy."

Some galleys are printed on paper and sent to the author for final proof, and some are sent electronically, as mine were.

This is the very last time I'll have a chance to change anything in my story. I'm able to make small changes, here and there, but nothing major. The time for the major edits has come and gone.

It's so much fun seeing my story formatted for a book! I thought I'd share the first and last page of the galleys for you. :)

I was especially excited to see the galleys, because it's the first time all nine novellas are in the same place. I was able to take a sneak peek at the other stories in the book! You guys are in for a treat!!

Your Turn: Have you ever heard of galleys before? For writers, what is your favorite stage of the publishing process? For readers, what stage do you think you'd enjoy most?

My First Book Cover!

I can hardly believe I'm writing this blog post today! Do you see that cover?!?! It has my name on it! And tucked inside the book, right in the midst of some incredible novellas, my first story will be printed. My story!

That's amazing to me, and a testimony to the faithfulness of God. He planted the dream, He watered it with His word, He sent sunshine upon the fertile soil of my heart, and He has made it grow.

Dreams really do come true, and this book is proof.

I began to dream of being a published author when I was nine years old, and twenty-five years later, I'm looking at my very first book cover.

Do you have a dream? I know you do. Is it dormant, or is it at the very forefront of all you say and do? Does your dream scare you, or empower you? Do you feel as if you'll never achieve what you've dreamed? Or are you certain it will one day be yours?

No matter where you're at on your dream journey, have hope. God placed the dream there like a tender little seed, and He wants to see it grow and flourish, until it produces fruit.

This book is the fruit of my dream--the first fruit. My dream is still in the process of maturing. But someday, with God's grace, I hope to bear an abundance of fruit from this dream.

Your Turn: I'd love to hear about your dream.

~ ~ ~ ~

The Most Eligible Bachelor Collection releases on May 1, 2015, but is available for pre-order here.

I'd love if you stopped by my Amazon Author Page and liked it! You'll find the page here.

And if you'd like to learn more about my story, Four Brides and a Bachelor, which will be a part of this novella collection, please go here.

First Novella

Two weeks ago I shared some big news here on my blog. I will have two novellas release with Barbour Publishers in 2015. The first, tentatively titled Four Brides and a Bachelor, will release in May.

 

I thought it would be fun to give you a sneak peek into the story. 



Belle Prairie, Minnesota

Four Brides and a Bachelor is set on Belle Prairie, about four miles north of my hometown in central Minnesota. The prairies around here are not like the prairies in southwestern Minnesota or the Dakotas. Our prairies are much smaller, with trees rimming the edges. The photo above is actually taken at Belle Prairie just a few weeks ago. It's now a county park, but in 1852 it was a Manual Labor Mission School operated by Frederick and Elizabeth Ayer.

 

Belle Prairie Cemetery

None of the buildings exist any longer, but there is a cemetery still at the park. We know the mission consisted of a large house (similar to the one below), a New England style barn, and a "commodious" school, which also served as a church on Sundays. About twenty students attended the school in 1852. Some were Indian children, and others were children of fur traders. About half of the students boarded at the mission, helping with farm chores, while the other half lived close enough to walk.

 

1850's House

Along with Mr. and Mrs. Ayer, and their teenage son Lyman, a few married couples lived at the mission. Some were only wintering there in 1852, or stopping over for a short visit on their way further north to other missions.

 

The Ayers employed a young female teacher from Cincinnati to help establish the school. But in early 1852, Mrs. Ayer went east to secure more funding, and to find more teachers willing to come to Minnesota Territory. Three young ladies returned with her.

 

These ladies were a rarity in Minnesota Territory! At a time when immigration into the territory (which didn't become a state until 1858) had just begun, there were very few single ladies to speak of.

 

Thus, the stage is set for a great story.

 

Four Brides and a Bachelor is inspired by a real event that took place on Belle Prairie in 1852. Miss Harriet Nichols, one of the teachers who had just arrived with Mrs. Ayer, wrote a letter to her brother soon after her arrival and said: "There was romance enough acted here to write as good a story as you will find in any novel."

 

The Mississippi near Belle Prairie, MN

She was referring to the week a missionary named Mr. Lafferty arrived at Belle Prairie. He had heard a single lady had come from Cincinnati the year before, so he traveled one hundred and fifty miles down the Mississippi River with the intent to propose to her. He was desirous to find a wife for his mission work at Red Lake. If she was willing, he would marry her and take her back to Red Lake within the week.

 

Little did he know that Mrs. Ayer had just arrived back at the mission with the three other teachers! When he stepped off the canoe, there were four single ladies--and all of them were desirous to go back with him as his wife!

 

I've taken this fun story and created four brides and a bachelor from my own imagination. Little is known about that eventful week, so I had fun filling in the gaps. Can you imagine the tension between these Mission Sisters as they tried to catch the bachelor's attention? And can you imagine the bachelor's delight?

 

Pins from my Pinterest Board Four Brides and a Bachelor

My story is a work of fiction, though I tried to stay true to the history of the mission, with a few minor exceptions where needed. 1852 in Minnesota Territory was an exciting, dangerous time. It was fun to recreate the location and place the players on the "stage" of my story.

 

As a historian, I love to share facts about real people, places, and events...but as a writer, I love to share a good fictional story, with all the drama and tension needed to turn the page.

 

My novella is finished and I've received wonderful feedback from some of my early readers. I have a few tweaks to make, but then it will be off to the publisher for the October 1st deadline. I'm excited for May when everyone will have a chance to read it.

 

Your Turn: Would you have been brave enough to travel 1,500 miles to teach at a mission school on the frontier? Could you have married a stranger, after only knowing him or her for a week?