It Takes a Village

           For me, writing this book has been a balancing act.  On the one hand it is a dynamic, creative process that flows through my life like a river.  Ideas come to me in the shower, while I’m driving my car, cooking supper, doing dishes, playing with my kids, or on a walk.  Sometimes I dash to the computer and type them in if I’m close to the house.  Other times I’m scribbling on whatever I can find—a grocery receipt, a Kleenex, the palm of my hand.  I understand why ancient Greeks included the concept of Muses in their mythology, because I am assailed—or blessed—quite often by wild creative energy that seems to have a will of its own.  I have come to understand this as a gift from God, and my job as a writer to bend myself to His will as He provides the ideas as well as the power to express them.

            On the other hand is a much less mystical side of writing.  Right-brained folks like me don’t like this side near as much.  It involves the practical logistics of getting a story told in an acceptable way in a certain amount of time.  In terms of  this book, Love Finds You in Romeo, Colorado, that means eighty-thousand words in four months, give or take a few words, while maintaining a family of five, a few other part-time jobs, and some semblance of personal sanity.  For me, that takes an incredible amount of discipline, and support from my “tribe,” or extended family.

            When I got this contract, after a brief celebration, my sister-in-law set me down at her dining room table.  She made a chart of how many weeks it was till the deadline and how many pages I had to write each week in order to reach it (Did I mention she’s a left-brainer?).  Then she wrote the names of herself, my mother, and my husband on the calendar, alternating every other day for childcare beginning that week and lasting till the deadline (they had all already committed to this arrangement in the event my proposal was selected).  With their help, I write about three days a week, for eight to ten hours a day.  If I don’t get the amount of pages I need, I make it up at night when my kids are in bed.

            In addition to this, I have three readers who read every word I write and give me feedback on my days “off.”  The list of people who have helped me with setting, plot, characters–and details I’d never be able to assemble on my own in this amount of time–is already long, and keeps growing.  By the time this is over, I’m sure I’ll have enough names on it to populate a small town.  I’m learning if you’re a mother of little children on a limited budget—and probably even if you’re not–it takes a village to write a book.

New Findings For Last Chance

I’m very excited that the Lord is putting together some wonderful contacts for me down in the Last Chance area. My husband and I fly out in a little over two weeks, and can hardly wait to explore the area and dig into the local history.

We’ll be staying at a small lodge just 4 miles (as the crow flies) from the old ghost town, but 24 miles by road (there’s a deep canyon between that has to be driven around). Thankfully, I’ve been corresponding with the owner of the lodge who is supplying me with maps of the area and ideas of what to visit. She’s also contacted a local Archaeologist who works for the Forest Service and knows the area well. He’s offered to ride with us to the old town site and give us as much information as possible. We’ll be visiting local museums and checking into newspaper archives, if any date back far enough.

Then, we’ll be driving to the Nevada line and covering the old historical route that my hero Justin would have transversed. We’ll stay three days in that area, then return to Sacramento and home. I’ll be taking pictures and posting updates while there, if we’re able (to post pics here).

I’m so excited about this new book and the opportunity to explore the area where it takes place!

Do You Believe In Miracles?

While writing my novel “Love Finds You In Miracle, Kentucky” I experienced a very personal miracle.

A year ago, doctors suspected I had MS (multiple sclerosis). The diagnosis caused me a lot of anxiety. I didn’t want to babysit for my grand kids, thinking I could lose the use of my arms or legs and be unable to care for them. I didn’t want to drive long distances, fearing I might lose my sight. I also found myself fretting that I’d be unable to write.

I prayed about it and gave it over to the Lord so many times, but always seemed to take it back again. Then one day my friend, Holly, a nurse in a busy emergency room, suggested that I see a different neurologist. Holly offered to come with me.

I made an appointment and having a RN along was great because Holly knew the right questions to ask the neurologist. Meanwhile I could tell this doctor was caring and competent. He ran more tests on me, including blood work and an MRI, and finally concluded the lesions in my brain were NOT MS lesions. They’re not even “lesions,” they are “spots.” The neurologist said that anyone of us could have spots on our brains from any number of things. It’s a mystery. But those spots were not causing my symptoms.

Then he informed me of the real problem: Osteomalacia, or low vitamin D levels. My family doctor had told me my level was low a year ago, but just told me I needed to take over-the-counter supplements, so I did. But they didn’t help. What I needed was prescription-strength vitamin D supplement–which is what I’m taking now. I still have fibromyalgia, but I’m praying for complete healing. With God anything is possible. 

The miracle: God used my friend Holly to convince me to see another neurologist who made the correct diagnosis for me. God now has me on the road to reclaiming good health.

Comparitively, In my story “Love Finds You In Miracle, Kentucky,” my character Cammy always believes she’ll walk again after a tragic accident rendered her legs useless. Her father never thought it could really happen. But God uses the town’s newest resident, Meg, to convince him to see a surgeon who can possibly help his young daughter. Will he be open to the miracle of healing and the miracle of love?

The book will be released in October.

Are you open to miracles in your life? Sometimes they’re not the magic wand miracles we think of–presto-chango, now you’re healed. Sometimes miracles are just opening the door of our hearts to Jesus and allowing Him to come in and take His place in our lives.

What a miracle when it happens!

I’d love to hear about your miracles! Leave me some comments.

Snowball, Arkansas

What a great time I’ve had writing this book! It’s been a while since I’ve been to Arkansas, but I remember my time there fondly. I was a publicist for actors in Hollywood at the time, and one of my biggest clients had a few personal appearances in the area … so my business partner and I took the opportunity to get to know a state neither of us had ever visited before.  Since I came away with dreams of retiring there, I guess you can figure out how much it impacted me.

In the course of writing Love Finds You in Snowball, Arkansas, I’ve been in touch with some of the coolest Arkansinians. Arkansans. Arkanites? I’ve asked a park ranger questions about bass fishing in the Buffalo National River, and I’ve spoken at length to a tour guide at Blanchard Springs underground caverns. I’ve even e-mailed the owner of a little cafe I remember from an afternoon in Mountain View, Arkansas. What I’ve found is that the people of Arkansas are just as warm and hospitable as I remember them, and new retirement dreams are percolating. If you’ve never been there, I highly recommend it.

In fact … if you wait a few years, you can come and sit on my retirement porch and sip some tea and chat with me about God’s grace and blessings while we look over miles and miles of green hills and wildflower fields. See? Percolating. 

All the best!

Sandie Bricker <– currently a resident of sunny, hot, humid  and brown Tampa, Florida

Valentine, Nebraska

My book for Summerside is a contemporary romance (with an element of suspense), which takes place in Valentine, Nebraska.  My husband is a native of Nebraska, and we’ve averaged making yearly visits to the state to visit his relatives since he moved to West Virginia several years ago. The setting is Cherry County in the Sandhills area of the state.  My heroine is the wealthy owner of a ranch in the region and the hero the ranch manager without any funds.  Now don’t yawn and say “ho-hum,” because you’ve read many similar plots. You’ll learn that Love Finds you in Valentine, Nebraska, is not the usual run-of-the-mill western.

 

My husband and I had previously traveled in the Valentine area when I’d researched for another book in the Sandhills, published, 2003. When writing this current book, I contacted the Valentine Chamber of Commerce for some up-to-date information, but I hadn’t intended to do any onsite research for the book. I was in the final stages of editing the manuscript when, unfortunately, our sister-in-law in central Nebraska died in early April. 

 

We went to the funeral and allowed for two extra days between flights to go to Valentine. We stayed in the Holiday Inn where a wedding scene takes place in my book. We walked along the sidewalks of Valentine, which had many, many red hearts painted on the pavement. We shopped in the stores and ate in memorable restaurants. On Wednesday night, we went to mid-week Bible study at the Baptist Church, where we met some lovely people and were fed on the Word. I got a better “feel” for the character of Valentine and added several scenes to the manuscript before I submitted it recently.

 

Our departure from Valentine was delayed for a day when a blizzard struck the Sandhills.  In order to catch our plane, we had a 250 mile drive to the airport in Lincoln, Nebraska.  It took eight hours for us to make the journey, and during the first fifty miles or so, there were periods of white-out when we couldn’t even see the road. It was a tense journey, but I claimed a promise from Psalm 91, “If you make the Most High your dwelling—even the Lord, who is my refuge—then no harm will fall you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.”

 

And I want to witness to how God cares for us. We always rent a compact car when we’re traveling, but the agency didn’t have one like we wanted. We upgraded to a new Dodge Nitro. This vehicle had 4-wheel drive, without which we could never have made the return trip safely. So five days before the blizzard struck Nebraska, God knew that we would need a sturdy car to make that trip safely, and he provided one for us.

 

We serve a great God, and I appreciate another opportunity to proclaim that truth through the written word.

 

 

Postcard From Heaven

            I am the only writer out of the first four in the series who has never before published a novel.  This is a great honor, as well as a source of extreme terror, depending on the day.

            One day early in the manuscript I was researching the setting around Romeo, Colorado.  I wanted my female protagonist to be an English professor, and so I was looking for the nearest college in the area so I could give her a place to teach.  Being an English teacher myself, I was also looking for a possible victim in academia who might collaborate with me about the setting.

            Mind you, it was a day when I was plagued with the question of whether or not I have what it takes to be a writer of novels.  My prayers went something like this:  Lord, I believe You have given me this opportunity, and I trust You know what You are doing.  Please help me tell this story.

I found a place called Adams State College that would be an easy commute from Romeo for my heroine.  I even found a friend in the English Department there who lives near Romeo and writes about the area—a virtual treasure chest of cool information!  But, as if all of that weren’t enough, I believe I got a postcard of encouragement, sent direct to me from heaven.

            If you go to the website for Adams State College, there’s a beautiful set of photos of the campus and surrounding mountains. Then there’s the school’s official slogan in bright, bold letters.  This is no lie; you can check it for yourself.  The slogan reads, Adams State College: Great Stories Begin Here.

Last Chance, California

My book is centered around the ghost town of Last Chance, Ca. It was once a booming mining town, situated high up in the Sierra Nevada mountains, about 2 hours NE of Sacramento, in what at the time was the southern part of the Oregon Territory.

My story takes place in the late 1800’s and will encompass the town as well as the surrounding high mountain valley, where Alexia, our heroine lives and raises horses.

My husband and I are taking a trip to the old town site of Last Chance in early June to research the area and see how much history we can unearth. We’ll be staying at a nearby lodge and walking the final 2-3 miles to the town site, as we understand it can only be accessed with a 4×4. We’re flying in to Sacramento and renting a car, and may not be able to acquire something that will straddle the deep ruts in the road. We’re hoping the snow will be melted off the trails by then, as Last Chance sits at the 5,000′ elevation. Most winters the town would get so much snow that the miners weren’t able to obtain supplies. They either had to move to lower elevations, or pack them from Deadwood, seven miles away through the heavy snows.

I’ll be posting a report of what I find in the area while we’re visiting there, and hopefully a picture or two, as well.

Miralee Ferrell, author of Love Finds You In Last Chance, CA.

Joy Found Me at Summerside Press

Even though Love is going to Find You in Snowball, Arkansas (and leave you laughing!) this fall … complete writer JOY has found me at Summerside Press.

The experience of working with Rachel and Jason has been the best, and most creative, of my career.  They have constructed a collaborative effort, from the pitch to the writing to the art to the marketing, and I’m thrilled to be a part of their team.

Welcome!

I’m so happy you’re interested in learning more about LOVE FINDS YOU™ inspirational romance fiction, a series published by Summerside Press™. Haven’t heard of us? Summerside Press™ is a new publisher of both fiction and non-fiction. We offer fresh, irresistible books that uplift the heart and delight the mind. (Read more about us by clicking the “About Summerside Press” link at the top of this blog.)

LOVE FINDS YOU™ offers readers the best of inspirational romance and travel in one great package. You can tour the country just by reading the books in this series, as each story is set in an actual small town or vacation hotspot in America. It was Emily Dickinson who wrote, “There is no frigate like a book / To take us lands away…”. She was writing about literature in general, but she might have been writing about LOVE FINDS YOU™ in particular! (Read more about the series by clicking the “About Love Finds You” link.)

We’re excited to announce that we’ve signed five talented authors to write our first books in the LOVE FINDS YOU™ series:

October 2008
Andrea Boeshaar – Love Finds You in Miracle, Kentucky
Sandra D. Bricker – Love Finds You in Snowball, Arkansas

December 2008
Gwen Ford Faulkenberry – Love Finds You in Romeo, Colorado
Irene Brand – Love Finds You in Valentine, Nebraska

February 2009
Miralee Ferrell – Love Finds You in Last Chance, California

I’m happy to be working as Fiction Editor for Summerside Press™, which means I get to read these wonderful books for a living. It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it!

Stay tuned to this blog for individual posts by these authors as they chronicle their experiences writing for LOVE FINDS YOU™. And this fall, look for the first two LOVE FIND YOU™ books at your local book store!