Meet author Anne Greene
Anne Greene loves writing about alpha heroes who aren’t afraid to fall on their knees in prayer and about gutsy heroines. Her Women of Courage series spotlights heroic women of World War II. Blast off with her Holly Garden, Private Investigator series. Enjoy her award winning Scottish historical romances. Anne hopes her stories transport you to awesome new worlds and touch your heart.
Tell us about your newest book.
Shadow of the Dagger is about a secret map to priceless treasure. Three people are murdered and one kidnapped to find the solution to the map. As Nicole Phillips seeks to find her kidnapped brother, she doesn’t know whom to trust. No one is who they appear to be. All is deception.
A CIA analyst turns detective. To bring his brother’s murderer to justice, CIA Intel Analyst, Josh Baruch puts his life on the line. Can he walk the tightrope between obeying the killers’ instructions and bringing them to justice?
What inspired you to write Shadow of the Dagger?
I spent six months in Turkey and learned much about the history, culture, and life in Turkey and fell in love with the place. Shadow of the Dagger is set in Turkey.
How would you describe this book to someone in a 30-second blurb?
A woman in jeopardy turns detective while used as bait to capture a killer/kidnapper.
What genre do you focus on and why?
I love writing Suspense novels because the tension and action hold my interest. I love foreign settings because I learn and write about things people are unfamiliar with. I love historical books because I find that an excellent way to share history with readers who might otherwise not care about what shaped our world. So, I write Suspense and Historical Romance. I like Mystery books because I enjoy figuring out who done it. So, I write Contemporary Mystery.
Who is your main character, and how did you choose that name?
Nicole Phillips is a recently minted Archeologist. After a series of mysteries deaths, she travels to Turkey to assist her brother. She shares the limelight with Josh Baruch, a risk-taking CIA Analyst out to avenge the murder of his brother. Ian McKenzie, Nicole’s deaf brother who knows the secret of the map and is kidnapped by the murderer, completes the trilogy of main characters.
What is your work schedule like when you’re writing a book?
I’m by nature, very disciplined. I spend the morning with enjoying coffee on my patio, exercise, errands, and whatever needs to be done. After a relaxed lunch, I spend the next five to six hours on the computer either writing or promoting my books.
What is the hardest part of being an author? Why?
The necessity to promote my books. I am an introvert and making TV and radio appearances, as well as speaking to local clubs, etc. is always outside my comfort zone.
What’s the best part of your author’s life? Why?
I don’t plot my books in advance. I have a vague idea where I want the book to go. The fun part, after creating the characters, is watching what they will do. Writing the first draft is like watching an internal movie as the characters play out the book. I also enjoy polishing a book which means writing sentences in a fresh way and painting pictures for the reader. So, the entire process of writing a book is the best part of my author life.
What’s one thing your readers should know about you?
I think I’m pretty ordinary. I do enjoy creating oil paintings and singing in our church choir. I have loved two magnificent husbands. My first husband died quite young.
How have you changed or grown as a writer?
I certainly hope so.
What is your favorite pastime?
I love to walk in the woods and enjoy nature. I love to spend time with friends. I love to play games. So many, many things I love to do, you don’t want me to mention all of them. I simply love to enjoy life.
Do you have other books? We’d love to know.
As of October this year, I will have 25 books published. Readers can find my books on my website, www.annegreeneauthor.com/home.html.
What are you working on now?
I’m finishing a Christmas Novella, Hatteras Island Mystery. The book should release in September. A photographer discovers a body washed up on shore near her studio. She rescues the man. When he regains consciousness, he has no memory. Feeling responsible for the man she aids him in recovering his memory only to find he’s being stalked by paid assassins.
Website: www.AnneGreeneAuthor.com
Link to book: https://www.amazon.com/Anne-Greene/e/B004ECUWMG
Social media links:
http://www.facebook.com/AnneWGreeneAuthor
http://www.AnneGreeneAuthor.com
https://twitter.com/TheAnneGreene
Denise Weimer on Moravian marriage
Denise Weimer writes historical and contemporary romance and romantic suspense set in her home state of Georgia. She’s authored over nine novels and a number of novellas. As a managing editor at Smitten Historical Romance and Heritage Beacon Historical Fiction, Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas, she also helps others reach their publishing dreams. A wife and mother of two daughters, Denise always pauses for coffee, chocolate, and old houses.
How would you describe your newest novel, The Witness Tree, to someone in a 30-second blurb?
I have to do that a lot when I’m at a festival or book event! I tell them it’s about a Moravian marriage of convenience that leads to a dangerous mission in 1805 Cherokee Territory.
Tell us about your newest book.
Past betrayal has turned John Kliest’s passion to his work as a builder and surveyor in the Moravian town of Salem, North Carolina. Now, to satisfy the elders’ edict and fulfill his mission in Cherokee Territory, he needs a bride. But the one woman qualified to record the Cherokee language longs for a future with his younger brother.
Clarissa Vogler’s dream of a life with Daniel Kliest is shattered when she is chosen by lot to marry his older brother and venture into the uncharted frontier. Can she learn to love this stoic man who is now her husband? Her survival hinges on being able to trust him—but they both harbor secrets.
What inspired you to write The Witness Tree?
I’m always on the hunt for story ideas based on legend, lore, and unique facts from different eras and areas in my home state of Georgia. As a child, I’d visited the plantation of Chief James Vann in the northwest portion of the state. I’d also heard about the Moravians, a lesser-known sect of plain people who spread across America in the 1700s and 1800s, bringing the Gospel to the American Indians. The town of Old Salem in North Carolina looks like a little Williamsburg. When I found out that the Moravians had established a mission school on Vann’s plantation, I was immediately intrigued. Even more so when I learned that a couple of the male missionaries were required to marry before going there. The Moravians were intent on understanding—and possibly recording—the Cherokee language. Do you know what happened to Sequoyah (George Guess/Gist) when he tried to do that? It sounded like a perfect formula for an exciting period romance to me.
Who is your main character, and how did you choose that name?
Clarissa Vogler’s name was chosen by looking at Moravian names of the time period, especially those from Salem, North Carolina, where The Witness Tree begins. She is a teacher at the girls’ boarding school who dreams of furthering her art. But it’s her skill with languages that extends an unexpected calling.
What genre do you focus on and why?
My primary passion is historical romance, but I also enjoy writing contemporary romance and romantic suspense and time slip stories where modern-day characters uncover mysteries and learn life lessons from the past.
Between now and March, I actually have three contemporaries releasing with different imprints of Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas: Fall Flip, an HGTV/Hallmark-style romance centered on the renovation of a 1920s bungalow (Fall Flip on Amazon); Spring Splash, in which an injured college swimmer falls for a special needs swim team and their coach during her practicum; and Traces, a techno-suspense about a reality TV show gone bad. But I do have several other historicals up my sleeve!
What is your work schedule like when you’re writing a book?
Because I work from my kitchen island, I wait until my husband goes to the office and my girls go to school. After coffee and devotions, I check emails and social media, then devote the rest of the morning and the early afternoon to writing. I try to wrap up by mid-afternoon so I can start dinner before my daughter goes to swim practice.
What is the hardest part of being an author? Why?
Probably the marketing. Few authors anticipate how much time and effort is involved in getting the word out about their books, and most of us are more than a little shy about it. But in today’s flooded, highly competitive market, our publishers expect us to shoulder the publicity load. Thus, we divide our time between writing and promoting, whether it’s doing giveaways, Facebook parties, advertising, or engaging on social media or in person.
What’s the best part of your author’s life? Why?
Not all stories flow easily. Sometimes getting inspired can be a monumental struggle. But there’s always that rare tale that just seems to flow from idea to the page. That heart-warming sensation that God’s given you that story, and you’re doing what He’s called you to do, is so satisfying.
What’s one unusual fact about you?
For a number of years, I led a mid-1800s dance group. We performed beautiful waltzes, reels, and polkas at historic sites and events across Northeast Georgia and Atlanta. You might notice special attention to detail in the ball scenes of my historical novels.
How have you changed or grown as a writer?
The two areas I’ve grown the most have been socially and editing ability.
When I first started out, I tended to view writing as more of a solitary endeavor. Now, we’re able to connect with readers and other authors online. Other authors are my support team, and vice-versa. The most important open doors along my career path have come through the graciousness of others.
I’ve also been on an editing journey, learning from editors, publishers, and agents, and finally taking an in-depth class through the Pen Institute. After working as a general editor for LPC, I became a managing editor for its historical imprints. Now I get to help others reach their publishing dreams! And I’ve definitely learned how to self-edit better. In the twenty years I’ve been writing, I’ve witnessed a revolution in stylistic and editing trends. Because of that, my earlier writing style is different from my current style.
Do you have other books? We’d love to know.
Across Three Autumns of The Backcountry Brides Collection – Barbour Publishing – May 2018
A Holiday Intruder of Holly, Ivy, & Intrigue – Celebrate Lit Publishing – November 2017
The Restoration Trilogy (White, Widow, and Witch) – Canterbury House Publishing – 2016-17
The Georgia Gold Series (Sautee Shadows, The Gray Divide, The Crimson Bloom, and Bright asGold) – Canterbury House Publishing – 2013-14
Redeeming Grace (novella) – PublishAmerica, now self-published on KDP – 2006
Link to book: The Witness Tree on Amazon
Web site and social media links:
Janet W. Ferguson on addictions
Janet W. Ferguson grew up in Mississippi and received a degree in Banking and Finance from the University of Mississippi. She has served as a children’s minister and a church youth volunteer. An avid reader, she worked as a librarian at a large public high school. She writes humorous inspirational fiction for people with real lives and real problems. Janet and her husband have two grown children, one really smart dog, and a cat that allows them to share the space.
Tell us about your newest book.
Set in St. Simons, Georgia, the novel delves into the various sides of addiction: from those ravaged by the agony of addiction, to those heartbroken over a loved one lost in addiction, to those who have been brutally scarred because of an addicted person’s actions, to those who have been healed from its clutches. Addiction was a tough issue to write about, but I believe the story offers healing through God’s grace. And I always add a fun pet along with a bit of humor where possible.
What inspired you to write The Art of Rivers?
In 2017, the year I started this novel, drug overdoses killed over 70,000 people in the United States. Drug addiction and alcoholism are devastating families and communities. I felt called to shine God’s hope into the dark places of pain and shame.
What genre do you focus on and why?
I write contemporary Christian romance because I feel led to write about issues that people are dealing with in a current setting. I write to offer the hope of Christ. And historical fiction would require way too much research, ha!
Why do you write? What drives you?
I wrote my first story Leaving Oxford to encourage other who suffer from anxiety and panic attacks like I’ve dealt with it for many years. It continued from there. I feel like God places an issue or a story in my mind.
Who is your main character, and how did you choose that name?
Funny you should ask. The heroine is named Rivers, as in The Art of Rivers. I haven’t told anyone else because I was wondering if someone would figure it out. But there are several other characters with names that are actual names of rivers: Cooper, Jordan, Savannah, Brooklyn, Pearl, James.
What is your work schedule like when you’re writing a book?
I’m so unscheduled, and it’s not funny. I wish I had one. Maybe someday.
What is the hardest part of being an author? Why?
Discipline and creativity, especially after writing several novels.
What’s the best part of your author’s life? Why?
Wearing a ponytail and yoga pants!
What’s one unusual fact about you?
I’m deaf in one ear, and I circle people trying to get them on my good ear!
What is your favorite pastime?
Just one? I have a few! I eat out as often as possible or have my son cook (I generally avoid cooking), walk outdoors and take pictures of God’s beautiful creation, Bible study with my small group, travel as much as my husband lets me, provide constant compulsory petting to my cats and dog, and hang out with my family and friends. Oh, and I love music!
Do you have other books? We’d love to know.
I do! My first book is Leaving Oxford which is currently free! There are three other books in that series, and two other novels in the Coastal Hearts series.
Kathleen E. Kovach on western romance
Kathleen E. Kovach is a Christian romance author published traditionally as well as indie. Kathleen and her husband raised two sons while living the nomadic lifestyle for over twenty years in the Air Force. Now planted in Colorado she’s a grandmother, though much too young for that. Kathleen is a longstanding member of American Christian Fiction Writers. An award-winning author, she presents spiritual truths with a giggle, proving herself as one of God’s peculiar people.
Tell us about your newest book.
Miss Adventure Brides is a 7-author romance collection from Barbour Publishing, Inc. Seven daring damsels don’t let the norms of their eras hold them back. Along the way these women attract the attention of men who admire their bravery and determination, but will they let love grow out of the adventures? My story is “Riders of the Painted Star,” a nod to Zane Grey and the singing cowboys of the 1930s. It takes place in 1936 Arizona where New York artist, Zadie Fitzpatrick, is commissioned to go on location to paint illustrations for an author of western novels and while there, she falls for the male model.
What inspired you to write Riders of the Painted Star?
I inherited a love of movies from my mother who once worked in a theater, and western movies in particular from my dad. He also had a set of hardback Zane Grey novels that I wish I had kept. Once I knew I’d be writing a story set in Arizona in the ‘30s, it wasn’t hard to imagine an art-deco heroine meeting a dusty ranch hand and falling in love.
How would you describe this book to someone in a 30-second blurb?
Artist Zadie Fitzpatrick is infatuated with western movies and longs to meet a real cowboy, but she lives in New York. When she’s offered the opportunity to paint the book cover and illustrations for her favorite western novelist, she jumps at the chance to stay on his dude ranch in Arizona. While there, she meets Royce Rutger, one of the hands on the ranch. A real cowboy! He agrees to model the book cover, but something seems off. Royce is less than thrilled to become a model—again. New Jersey born and raised, he’s only at the dude ranch to learn how to become a cowboy in order to land a choice roll in a movie. Forced by the studio to keep up the façade, even with Zadie, he is guilt-ridden. Will Zadie forgive when she learns the truth? Will Royce cowboy-up and release his chance at stardom to be with the spunky lady he loves?
What genre do you focus on and why?
I cut my teeth on Harlequin romances, back when they were sweet and clean. I guess I’m a romantic at heart. I’ve written both contemporary and historical romances. Love is the same whether via text message or carrier pigeon.
Why do you write? What drives you?
It’s always hard to answer that question. I’m one of those who always knew what I wanted to do. I was born with a pen clutched in my tiny fist and told stories before I could talk. Growing up, I would try to relate something that happened to my mom and she would have to ask if it was a true story or one I made up. I still have problems not embellishing. I don’t lie, I just make the tale more interesting. lol
Who is your main character, and how did you choose that name?
I have two main characters as this is 50/50 romance. The heroine is Zadie Fitzpatrick. I usually try to find names with certain meanings, but this time I simply scrolled down the list of baby names on the social security website of popular names per decade, and Zadie popped out at me, maybe because it sounds like Zany. I did the same with a surname site and quickly found one that rolled off the tongue. Zadie Fitzpatrick sounds like a spitfire, a go-getter, someone who knows what she wants. Royce Rutger needed to have a cowboy name but a good one for an actor, too. I see RR and think Roy Rogers.
What is your work schedule like when you’re writing a book?
I try to dedicate at least four hours of writing a day, more if I’m on a deadline. I’ll usually start around ten in the morning, stop for lunch (or eat while I’m working,) and go until 2:30 when I have to pick the grandkids up at school.
What is the hardest part of being an author? Why?
Probably the marketing. As with other writers, I’m an introvert and prefer to write my little stories and let someone else get them out to the public. But it doesn’t work that way anymore.
What’s the best part of your author’s life? Why?
I can set my own schedule. Be my own boss. I play in my pajamas all day with my imaginary friends. What could be better than that? However, the downside is that I’m not a very good employee and I sometimes have to hold staff meetings with myself to get me back on track.
What’s one unusual fact about you?
I’m a ventriloquist. Bet you didn’t see that coming. Lol I haven’t done it in a while, but I’ve always had a fascination with puppets. The good kind. Not the ones named Chucky.
How have you changed or grown as a writer?
I’ve studied the craft intensely for the last two decades. When I first started, I wrote seat-of-the-pants style, not knowing where the story was going to take me. I’ve now learned plotting and feel I know a little more about structure and flow.
What is your favorite pastime?
I love movies. As an AMC Stubs member, I can see them for $5 on Tuesdays. Reading is also a favorite. I guess anything involving story. I’ve created a blog called Craft Cinema (www.craftcinema.blogspot.com) I discuss the writing craft as it relates to movies I’ve seen.
Do you have other books? We’d love to know.
Miss Adventure Brides is my ninth book. The same year it was published, I was in another romance collection, A Bouquet of Brides. My story is “Periwinkle in the Park.” I also self-published a book with my bestie Paula Moldenhauer, Titanic: Legacy of Betrayal. A 100-year-old secret could either sink or save a woman’s life. And I wrote a series based in Oregon. All can be found at my website or directly on Amazon.
What are you working on now?
A mystery. True to form, there’s a romance in it. It’s a series, tentatively titled Sisters Grimm RV Mysteries. Two sisters, believed to be descendants of the Brothers Grimm, use their unique knowledge of fairytales to solve mysteries. The first is Big Bad Wolfe. A girl in a red hoodie goes missing and the sisters believe a chef named Wolfe is responsible.
Website:
www.kathleenekovach.com
Link to book: https://www.amazon.com/MISSadventure-Brides-Collection-Daring-Damsels-ebook/dp/B07D8D27HD/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Kathleen+E.+Kovach&qid=1565628484&s=books&sr=1-1
Social media links:
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/kathleenekovach
Twitter – @KathleenEKovach
Pinterest – https://www.pinterest.com/kathykovach
Melanie Dobson on WWII
Writing fiction is Melanie Dobson’s excuse to explore abandoned houses, travel to unusual places, and spend hours reading old books and journals. The award-winning author of twenty books, Melanie enjoys stitching together both time-slip and historical fiction including Catching the Wind, Hidden Among the Stars, and Chateau of Secrets. Melanie’s novels have won four Carol Awards, the 2018 Audie Award, and the ForeWord Book of the Year.
Tell us about your newest book.
Memories of Glass is a time-slip novel inspired by the Dutch men and women who rescued more than six hundred Jewish children from a deportation center in Amsterdam during World War II. Almost eighty years later, Ava Drake, the director of the Kingston Foundation, begins to uncover the devastating story about her family’s role in financing Hitler. As she and a child advocate named Landon West dig into the past, Ava discovers that her story is intertwined with the West family and an elderly Dutch woman who has spent a lifetime remembering a boy who was lost during the war. A boy she never expected to find.
What genre do you focus on and why?
I love to research and learn stories from the past, especially stories about ordinary people who did extraordinary things to fight against evil. In time-slip fiction, I can write a past story alongside a contemporary one to show the repercussions of something that happened long ago. I like peeling back the layers of a family secret to discover the reality of what really happened and how it continues to impact people today.
Why do you write? What drives you?
When I was a girl, I would peddle my bike to the bookmobile that visited the farmlands of Ohio each week. When I finished reading the stack that I’d crammed into my basket, I began creating adventures of my own and soon discovered that not only could I travel around the world on paper, I could process my own emotions and struggles through a story. Forty years later, I still process my own world through story, and I enjoy weaving together a number of different ideas into a plot. Also writing is a form of worship for me, a humbling and awe-inspiring partnership with the ultimate storyteller.
Who is your main character, and how did you choose that name?
My main historical character is Josie van Rees, a Dutch name that I thought fit her personality. Facebook readers helped me brainstorm the name for Ava Drake, my contemporary protagonist.
What does a day in your writing world look like?
It all depends where I am in the editorial/marketing process. An ideal writing day is heading to my favorite coffee shop after our girls head to school, ordering a green tea, and editing my words from the prior day so I’m instantly back into the story. Then my goal is to write two thousand new words. In the midst of writing, I’m also researching, creating new characters, working on marketing, and then helping my girls with homework and activities after school.
What is the hardest part of being an author? Why?
Probably getting lost in my story and then trying to return my brain to real life. My characters often start talking to me at the most inopportune times or I get caught up thinking strange things like: “How can I creatively kill off my bad guy?” or “What am I going to cook on the hearth tonight?” Or I’m struck with a great twist right in the middle of an important conversation and have to scribble it down. Writing fiction is an impossible job to keep between the hours of nine to five.
What’s the best part of your author’s life? Why?
I really enjoy learning new things so writing historical fiction is pure joy for me. Before I begin a new novel, I spend about a month researching by reading old books and oral histories and often traveling to the location where my story is set so I can experience what my characters see, taste, smell and hear.
What is your favorite pastime?
Dancing is my happy place along with exploring new places and family game nights where we make pizza and play Settlers of Catan.
Do you have other books? We’d love to know.
I’ve published twenty books and a handful of novellas. My latest novels are Hidden Among the Stars, Catching the Wind, and Enchanted Isle.
What are you working on now?
I’m in the midst of writing a biblical fiction story for Guideposts called An Eternal Love, based on the life of Tabitha. Then I’ll be diving into another time-slip novel—this one set in Nuremberg during World War II.
Website: www.melaniedobson.com
Link to book:
Social media links:
https://www.facebook.com/MelanieDobsonFiction/
https://twitter.com/melbdobson
https://www.pinterest.com/melaniebdobson/
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/melanie-dobson