booksbylyncote.com

My guest today is a longtime friend, Anna Schmidt who writes for Love Inspired, both contemporary and historical. Today she has something great to tell us about! Here’s Anna:

Hi all! I’m delighted to be guesting on Lyn’s blog. Two things come to mind as we approach the holidays: Number 1- For several years I’ve supported women struggling to survive through an organization called Women for Women International (www.womenforwomen.org). My current sisters include a woman in Kosovo and another in Iraq. Through my sponsorship they receive education and training in skills ranging from making a living to raising a family. In return I receive these fabulous letters telling me of the progress they have made and introducing me to their families. Let me know if you want more info!

Like Miss Nola (the heroine of AN UNEXPECTED SUITOR) these women have often taken on sole responsibility for making sure their family members are cared for and like Miss Nola they sometimes have to learn that caring for themselves may be the first step to achieving that goal! Number 2 is a far less noble holiday note — I hope you’ll stop by my website and check out my ‘cranberry recipe/memory contest!!! Off to make a deadline that’s looming. Will check back later! Anna

My guest today is Author Amber Stockton, a real live wire. Here’s Amber:

My guest today is Author Erin Rainwater, who tells us a story that is very close to something that just happened in my family too. Here’s Erin:

“I always thought of my mom as a strong woman. Widowed at 42, she was left with five children ages two to ten. I was the two year old. Mom took a streetcar to work every day in a time when single-parenting was uncommon. She saw to it that all five of us kids got college degrees. But it wasn’t until nine months before she died—at the age of 93—that I realized just how strong a woman she had been long before the tragedy of losing her husband. In fact, I’m now sure it was that strength that carried her through.

I was visiting back home in PA, doing my usual snooping sweep of her basement (she lived in the same house since her marriage to my dad in 1939—the house where I grew up). In a very dark and very dusty corner, I found boxes of letters my parents had written to each other during WW II. It was the most precious treasure anyone could ever find! I read, in my father’s own handwriting, how my mom had given her consent for him to join the Army Air Corps. He was a successful attorney, and was not drafted, but felt a calling to go. He referred to it as a “tic,” something inside telling him HE was the one meant to do this job.

Problem was, mom was pregnant with their first child, and he’d be leaving them behind. He wrote of how torn he’d been in “that heart-rending period preceding the acceptance of my commission, the mental confusion that harassed me when the time arrived to decide between home and country.” In another letter, Daddy wrote: “Sure, I could say ‘let the other fellow do the fighting. I’ll slip out of it some way.’ But I am not constitutionally constructed that way. The hypocrisy of it would make me uneasy and unhappy.” He loved my mom all the more for making it easy for him to do what she knew he wanted to do. “You indeed have been my inspiration and I know shall always be. Many, many times I have wondered what my position and mental attitude would be if I didn’t have you. But I do, and for that I shall be eternally grateful to the Almighty.” Was there ever a more passionate love letter?

Having already completed my novel, True Colors, when I found these letters, I knew I had to go back and rewrite one particular scene. My protagonists, Michael and Cassie, face this exact same situation (except for the issue of expecting a child). My father’s written words became part of Michael’s dialogue. Cassie, like my mother, faces subjecting her heart to her man’s

destiny. She, too, shows incredible strength of inner character while war rages around her. That scene is my tribute to my parents’ situation back then, and their love for each other. What a blessed child I am to have been born of that love.” — Erin

Erin, my daughter found the WWII letters between her grandparents recently when we were cleaning out their home after my mother in law’s passing. And everyone, Erin tells me that her novel has been awarded the Gold Medal for Historical Fiction by the Military Writers Society of America! Bravo, Erin. To learn more, visit her website. Thanks for being my guest, Erin.–Lyn

My guest today is a Heartsong Presents Author Birdie Etchison and she has a story we can all identify with. Here’s Birdie:

“My mother was a heroine in many ways, but I tended to forget that as we fought like crazy during my growing up years. Determined to be right, we clashed visibly and often.

My little sister, always the peacemaker, disliked conflict and suggested ways to solve our differences. As I grew older, I realized I thrived on conflict. It was a way of getting attention.

So, even as I railed at my mother, I think back now to advice she gave me, which helped me to grow, to learn, to function in the role women find themselves. With me it was being a wife and the mother of six. And later a freelance writer.

One thing mom did was not let me give up the typing class. I would need these skills later – how ever did she know? When you find yourself at the bottom of a class of 40 students, it’s disarming. Because I stuck it out – had no alternative – I ended up being the fastest typist at the end of the first semester. “Stick to what you start,” was her motto.

Another thing – while still in high school, I complained that the popular girls didn’t like me. She asked, “Do you ever initiate a conversation?”

“Well, no,” I replied.

“Then do so – walk up to someone, smile and say ‘hello’.”

That’s what it took. I heard later that the girls not realizing I was shy, thought I was stuck up. Imagine.

Another habit she taught me was to be frugal. “Waste not, want not,” was one of her favorite sayings. I find myself saving scraps of paper, good sturdy boxes in various sizes. Oh, there’s more, but we’ll stop there.

Mom was not a practicing Christian, though I heard she gave her life to Jesus when she was a young girl. One of her most important decisions was to say “yes” when a friend asked to take me to Sunday school when I was eight. That one move altered my whole life.

Though gone now, my mother’s rules, her standards live on through me. Her negative ways created a positive spirit in me. Her lessons also taught me to instill love and independence in my four daughters. Yet the stick-to-itiveness is what caused me to continue writing after two years of rejection. And to date I have sold 21 books and countless short pieces. God is good!”–Birdie

I love this story, Birdie, and I love your name. Drop by http://www.heartsongpresents.com/ to learn more about Birdie’s books.–Lyn

My guest today is Best-Selling Author Terri Blackstock and her latest title-Intevention.

“It was her last hope—and the beginning of a new nightmare.Barbara Covington has one more chance to save her daughter from a devastating addiction, by staging an intervention. But when eighteen-year-old Emily disappears on the way to drug treatment—and her interventionist is found dead at the airport—Barbara enters her darkest nightmare of all.Barbara and her son set out to find Emily before Detective Kent Harlan arrests her for a crime he is sure she committed.

Fearing for Emily’s life, Barbara maintains her daughter’s innocence. But does she really know her anymore? Meanwhile, Kent has questions of his own. His gut tells him that this is a case of an addict killing for drugs, but as he gets to know Barbara, he begins to hope he’s wrong about Emily.The mysteries intensify as everyone’s panic grows: Did Emily’s obsession with drugs lead her to commit murder—or is she another victim of a cold-blooded killer?

In this gripping novel of intrigue and suspense, bestselling author Terri Blackstock delivers the page-turning drama that readers around the world have come to expect from her.”

“Terri Blackstock’s new book Intervention was inspired by her personal experiences with her daughter’s addictions. Six years ago she became aware that her daughter (then in her early twenties) had a severe prescription pill addiction that was killing her, and she hired an interventionist to convince her daughter to go to treatment. After a grueling few hours, her daughter agreed to go. As Terri put her on the plane with the interventionist, she was hit with the crushing feeling that her daughter was in the hands of a stranger, and anything could happen. That’s when this book was born.

Over the past few years, Terri’s family has been in a tornado of relapses and rehabs, with one emergency after another, and grace upon grace. But through all this, God has taught her to pray as never before, and he’s shown her how many other families are experiencing the same thing. He’s also shown her that many blessings can come from crises such as this. Terri has tried to fold all of those experiences into this suspense novel of desperation and hope. She’s also added a page to her web site: “Hope for Families of Addicts,” which has tips on dealing with a loved one who has addictions.

Though the book is fiction, Terri poured much of herself into Barbara, the mother who’s desperate to save her daughter. And Terri’s own daughter has given her blessings for Terri to talk about this, in hopes of helping other hurting families and raise awareness about the perils of addiction. To see/hear Terri share her personal story about Intervention, don’t miss her interviews on American Family Radio’s “Today’s Issues” on September 24, Moody Radio’s “Chris Fabry Live on September 25, and “The 700 Club” on September 29.
In Stores Everywhere September 22nd–tomorrow!”

I recall praying for Terri’s daughter and she at the same time was praying for my daughter who was in a deep depression. Being a writer doesn’t keep the harshness of life away. On the other hand, whatever happens to a writer can be used to help others through the same struggles. I’ve never read a Terri Blackstock novel I haven’t loved.–Lyn