Sleepy Stress Syndrome

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...

Brightest and Best Released!

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...

Brightest and Best Is Almost Here

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...

Lazy Days of Summer

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...

Drawing Winner

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...

You Can Have My First Copy

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...