My guest today is Author Tracey Bateman. I got to know Tracey in the summer of 2006 when we were on a book tour together. She is one fun, lady! I was happy she agreed to an interview AND she is offering ONE FREE COPY of her latest book, Love Finds You in Wildrose, North Dakota. So be sure to leave a comment to be entered into the drawing.

Here’s Tracey:

LYN: Tell us a little about your writing and your real life.

TRACEY: My writing is my real life, part of it anyway. I’ve written 40 books for the Christian market, with genres spanning historical, chick-lit, suspense, vampire and paranormal. My agent just informed me I’ve reached the one-million books in print mark! I’ve recently chosen to stick with strictly historicals as I realized I enjoy writing those the best and most of my readers prefer them as well. It’s a win-win.

My husband and I just celebrated 23 years of marriage. We’ve raised two kids to adulthood and have two teenagers. I live in the Beauuutiful Missouri Ozarks and have for most of my life. I love it here. We attend a super church where my kids have grown up knowing God and now serve in various positions, which has always been a prayer of mine.

LYN: Was there a time in your life when you think God challenged you to become stronger? Please share.

TRACEY: Oh yeah. The past year my husband has been unemployed. We thought the year before was a challenge because he was deployed and I was holding down the fort in his absence. But a mix-up in the office messed up his job situation coming home. Every week we’d say, “He’ll get a job this week for sure.” Slowly our savings were eaten up, and my income was small and spotty. After ten months of leaning heavily on God for grace and to meet our needs, I finally settled myself and had a heart to heart with God. I realized how much I had grown to rely on our income in the years prior to the “tough times”. Instead of looking to God as my source, I looked to the next book contract or my husband to meet my needs, and while God does use our jobs, He truly showed me He wants to be my source. It’s been rough and I’ve had to cut back on a lot of expenses that I never even considered before. I’ve seen a strength in myself as I go through this trial and my kids are getting more independent of coming to us for every little thing they want or need. God has taught me a lot. We’re still not completely through the storm. But we definitely can say “peace” to the storms that sometimes blow up inside of us.

God’s got this.

LYN: In what ways does your heroine show strength? And where does she draw this strength?

TRACEY: Rosemary moved to North Dakota from Kansas expecting to live with her twin sister and her husband. Her father died and as a single woman in the late 1800s, she naturally thought she was going to be cared for by relatives. Instead, she arrives to find her expectations are not met and she’s forced to face her future on her own. She files a claim and moves to her own homestead. In the meantime, she’s struggling with her brother-in-law’s stubbornness as well as an evil man who tries everything he can to force her off the land. As she leans heavily on God’s wisdom, she grows in grace, in strength and truly discovers she’s much more valuable than she ever believed.

LYN: Share one fun fact about your life or books.

TRACEY: My life is pretty ordinary, to be honest. But we do have hilarious dogs. We live in the country and our dogs and the other dogs in the area are all buddies. They go back and forth between houses just to hang out and play. We know their names and have fun watching them play just like kids. Willie, a little wiener dog from a couple of country roads over, is our favorite. It’s really funny. Hey, dogs are people too.”–Tracey

I agree, Tracey. And cats too!

I wrote an endorsement for this book. Here it is:

“Tracey Bateman’s Love Finds You in Wildrose, ND takes the tried and true marriage of convenience plot and infuses it with new life. Rosemary is the spunky heroine who is definitely not going to marry her twin sister’s widowed husband. And is up to the challenges of frontier life and a scheming neighbor. If you enjoy a good romance of a generous heroine and a stubborn hero, this story doesn’t disappoint.”

Love Finds You in Wildrose, North Dakota

Thanks for sharing the challenges you have faced over the past year, Tracey. Unfortunately this is too common right now. But you’re right God’s got this.

Don’t forget to leave a comment to be entered into the drawing!

Questions: Have you or a loved one ever struggled with joblessness? Or how does one deal with a trying time that just doesn’t budge? Please share.–Lyn