by Olivia | Aug 24, 2015 | Books in Process, Uncategorized
I may have forgotten to mention something. First, an exercise in logic. 1. Many fiction series are trilogies. 2. Amish Turns of Times was proposed as three books. 3. Book 3, Brightest and Best, recently released. So you might conclude: therefore, Amish Turns of Time...
by Olivia | Aug 17, 2015 | Lens on Life, Uncategorized
For reasons that are not important to explain here, I’ve had a stressful couple of weeks. I’ve found myself thinking … well, not exactly straight a few times. You know the feeling. You have things on your mind and you don’t exactly think about...
by Olivia | Aug 3, 2015 | Books in Process, Uncategorized
I used to do word search puzzles all the time. Lately not so much. But last week my husband gave me one he found in a book our daughter had given him: Rivers of Brazil. This reflects the fact that my father was from Brazil. (It’s my mother’s line that traces back to...
by Olivia | Jul 27, 2015 | Books in Process, Uncategorized
Five days until release day for Brightest and Best! Here’s the skinny on what it’s about. The collapse of a schoolhouse puts pressure on Amish families and their long-held educational values. Ella Hilty anticipates marrying Gideon Wittmer and becoming a mother to his...
by Olivia | Jul 20, 2015 | Lens on Life, Uncategorized
I’ve been working on a new manuscript this summer that will release in the spring. I haven’t had a go-lie-on-the-beach kind of vacation, but I try to take time to appreciate the beauty of the moments around me. Here are a few I’ve enjoyed, some in my...
by Olivia | Jul 13, 2015 | Books in Process, Uncategorized
Congratulations to Linda Chudej, who won my first author copy of Brightest and Best. Linda, it’s on the way to you—while I’m still waiting for copies to keep. Release day is August 1. It won’t be long...
by Olivia | Jun 29, 2015 | Books in Process, Uncategorized
A few weeks before a new book releases, I get my hands on my first just-off-the-press copy. The awesomeness that is Annie Tipton, my editor at Barbour/Shiloh Press, grabs a copy as soon as they arrive from the printer and sends it my way with a sweet note. Later I get...
by Olivia | Jun 22, 2015 | Uncategorized
We’re six weeks out from the release of Brightest and Best! Here’s a sneak peek from the middle of the book that highlights one of the essential questions of the plot. *** In the eleven months since Rachel and her boys entered the Hilty household, Ella had...
by Olivia | Jun 15, 2015 | Lens on Life, Uncategorized
“I’ve had a good life.” Would you say that—and mean it? Whatever your age, can you look back and reflect and feel satisfaction, even blessing? Most of us spend a lot of time looking ahead and wanting something more, something different, something other than what life...
by Olivia | Jun 8, 2015 | Lens on Life, Uncategorized
My mother has a quirky sense of humor. I live a thousand miles away from the assistant living community where she lives, but most days we have a brief conversation. Of sorts. She still cracks me up. Even as her dementia takes her farther from the people who love her,...
