Monday Milestones

By Iola Goulton @iolagoulton

In Monday Milestones, members of the Beyond the Borders zone of American Christian Fiction Writers share their latest achievements.

Click here for more information on joining American Christian Fiction Writers. In case you were wondering, Beyond the Borders covers all members outside the USA—there are almost 100 of us, from over a dozen different countries.

Onto our Monday Milestones!

Awards

Kara Isaac won the 2018 RITA Award from Romance Writers of America for Romance with Religious or Spiritual Elements. Congratulations, Kara!

Click here to read the full list of winners, or click here to watch the replay and Kara's awesome acceptance speech!

New Releases

Grace in the Shadows by Christine Dillon

Christine Dillon (Taiwan) has released Grace in the Shadows, the sequel to Grace in Strange Disguise.

Physiotherapist Esther has survived cancer, but wounds within her family remain unhealed. Is her revived faith the reason for the rift or could a simmering secret be the root cause?

Cosmetics consultant Rachel buried her past - and her father’s God - but the past refuses to stay buried. Will she continue to run or is confronting her pain the way to freedom?

Two women. Two different lives.

One collision course with truth.

Can God’s grace shine even in the darkest of shadows?

Return to Baragula by Mary Hawkins

Return to Baragula by Mary Hawkins (Australia) has been re-released by ForgetMeNot Publishing.

When overcome by being alone with the man she loved on the romantic beach setting, teenager Emily Parker failed to keep her promise to God never to make love until married. She never dreamed how it would impact her own life and the lives of many others. Six years later, despite the hateful way she’d been treated there, she has to return to her home town, but discovers that Matthew Davidson, the man she’d yielded to, is now the local doctor.

While Emily’s faith is now weak, even believing God can no longer love her, Matthew’s life has changed since he committed his life to Christ. However, now he has to deal with all the consequences of his actions with Emily. When he becomes ill and is still weak when disease attacks the community, Emily, a registered nurse, has to help him. But danger from her life in the city has followed her, and now also threatens her family. Through it all, will Matthew and Emily’s faith and love be strong enough to forgive each other, and deal with all the consequences of their behaviour?

All Made Up by Kara Isaac

Kara Isaac (New Zealand) has released All Made Up, a standalone contemporary romance that features some characters from her previous novels.

Everyone thinks Katriona McLeod is living the dream. Her professional career as a make up artist sees her traveling the world working with the stars and she's got no shortage of men wanting her affection. Only problem is she's never gotten over Caleb Murphy, the one guy she's ever loved. When she accepts a job on the latest looking-for-love reality TV show, Falling for the Farmer, she discovers to her horror that Caleb is the leading man and she's cast as one of his harem. But she hides a secret that means that even if she wanted a second chance with the guy who broke her heart she could never have it.

Caleb Murphy couldn't care less about C-Class celebrity fame or reality TV and he certainly doesn't believe it could lead him to love. The one thing he does care about is fulfilling his mother's last wish. Kat's presence on the show seems to offer up a solution that will make both the network and his mother happy. It might have been almost ten years since they split but he knows he can trust her with his plan. Just as long as he doesn't fall in love all over again with the woman who will never stay.

Unknown Enemy by Janet Sketchley

Janet Sketchley (Canada) has released Unknown Enemy, the first in her new Green Dory Inn Mystery series.


Landon Smith vowed never to return to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. Despite her faith, the memories might undo her.

But a shadowy figure has been skulking around the Green Dory Inn—seen only by her friend Anna.

Loyalty demands she stand by this woman who’s been a second mother to her. No matter the cost.

With the police unable to find solid clues, and the incidents escalating, Landon must help Anna discover the truth about the prowler and stop him. Before he turns violent.

Works in Progress

The Making of Mrs Hale by Carolyn Miller will release in November 2018.

Rita Stella Galieh is working on a proposal for a new series.

Jessica Kate is working on the edits for Love and Other Mistakes, which will release from Thomas Nelson in 2019. Click here to read the first chapter on her website.

Kara Isaac is working on the edits for One Thing I Know, which will release from Howard Books in February 2019.

Janet Sketchley is working to release Hidden Secrets (next in the Green Dory Inn Mystery series) in early 2019.

New Agent

Tara Ross has completed her first YA novel, and signed with Cyle Young and Hope Bolinger at Hartline Literary Agency. She is currently querying and hoping her manuscript finds a home.

Cover Reveals

The Baggage Handler by David Rawlings (Thomas Nelson, March 2019) 

When three people take the wrong suitcase from baggage claim, their lives change forever.

A hothead businessman coming to the city for a showdown meeting to save his job.

A mother of three hoping to survive the days at her sister's house before her niece’s wedding.

And a young artist pursuing his father’s dream so he can keep his own alive.

When David, Gillian, and Michael each take the wrong suitcases from baggage claim, the airline directs them to retrieve their bags at a mysterious facility in a deserted part of the city. There they meet the enigmatic Baggage Handler, who shows them there is more in their baggage than what they have packed, and carrying it with them is slowing them down in ways they can’t imagine. And they must deal with it before they can leave.

In this modern-day parable about the burdens that weigh us down, David Rawlings issues an inspiring invitation to lighten the load.

Congratulations, everyone!

Wandering Wednesday: Wandering in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia with Janet Sketchley

By Janet Sketchley @JanetSketchley

The South Shore of Nova Scotia anchors my childhood roots, thanks to vacations and weekends that often took us “down home”. My grandparents, and the cabin retreat Dad built, were inland from the ocean shore, but I grew up absorbing the region’s rural atmosphere and appreciating its beauty.

It seemed the perfect place to set my new Green Dory Inn mystery series. 

Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, is a real town—a UNESCO World Heritage site with thousands of visitors each year. A prime location for my inn, which is actually a bed and breakfast. And (she rubs her hands gleefully) somewhere ripe for a mystery writer to wreak havoc on locals and tourists alike.

The Green Dory Inn lies outside of town, on a winding coastal road, and so far I’ve only seen the spot on Google Maps (I got lost when I tried to find it in person).

Although I needed to adjust the landscape around the inn to suit the story—it’s a fictional building, after all—I’ve enjoyed wandering Old Town Lunenburg itself to cultivate a sense of the place.

A walk along the harbourfront on a summer day meets a sharp hint of tar from the wide, sun-baked boards of the pier. Whale watching and harbour tour boats offer excursions, and depending on the day, Nova Scotia’s signature schooner, the Bluenose II, may be in port.

Who says research can’t be fun? This is an oversized version of a traditional lobster trap

The bright red Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic at the end of the boardwalk provides a look back in time at the lives of fishermen and their families, privateers, and rum-runners.

At the street edge of the harbour walk, horse-drawn open carriages stand waiting for fares. I assume it’s a short ride, since much of the town is uphill—steeply uphill—from the water.

Inns and restaurants line the street across from the boardwalk. Up from there (my legs protested the climb) are more streets paralleling the harbour, crammed with a delightful array of gift shops, inns, and more places to eat. Seafood is a popular choice, and many of the inns and restaurants bear nautical names.

Dressed stone is reserved for old, elegant churches and at least one bank. Most buildings are wooden, in vibrant blues, yellows, and reds, often bearing a variation of the extended dormer window known locally as a “Lunenburg bump.”

Intriguing window displays line the sidewalks, and it’s worth raising your eyes to see the metal cut-outs of fish attached to the utility poles.

Something I didn’t know until my most recent trip was that during WWII there were Norwegian soldiers training in the town after the invasion of their homeland. Hmm… how will this work into my present-day stories?

I’d like to finagle one more trip to Lunenburg, because I’m told that the Knot Pub makes a fantastic peanut butter pie. Since none of the real-life businesses are used in the Green Dory Inn series, I can’t exactly call that research—although it would give me another chance to listen to local residents and steep in the atmosphere.

Writers, if you set your stories in a real location, do you include a favourite café or other spot, or do you invent establishments for your imaginary friends to visit?

Readers, which do you prefer?

About Janet Sketchley

Janet Sketchley is an Atlantic Canadian writer who likes her fiction with a splash of mystery or adventure and a dash of Christianity. Why leave faith out of our stories if it’s part of our lives? Her Green Dory Inn series is set near the picturesque town of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. Janet’s other books include the Redemption’s Edge Christian suspense series and the devotional collection, A Year of Tenacity.

You can find her online at janetsketchley.cahttps://janetsketchley.ca/.

Unknown Enemy page (includes purchase links): https://janetsketchley.ca/books/unknown-enemy-a-green-dory-inn-mystery/

Facebook: fb.me/JanetSketchley.author
Goodreads: goodreads.com/janetsketchley
Twitter: www.twitter.com/JanetSketchley
Amazon Author Central: https://www.amazon.com/author/janetsketchley
Newsletter signup: bit.ly/JanetSketchleyNews

About Unknown Enemy

Landon Smith vowed never to return to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. Despite her faith, the memories might undo her.

But a shadowy figure has been skulking around the Green Dory Inn—seen only by her friend Anna.

Loyalty demands she stand by this woman who’s been a second mother to her. No matter the cost.

With the police unable to find solid clues, and the incidents escalating, Landon must help Anna discover the truth about the prowler and stop him. Before he turns violent.

You can read the introduction to Unknown Enemy below:

Familiar and Unfamiliar Settings, by Janet Sketchley

One of the things I appreciate about International Christian Fiction Writers blog is the variety of settings and time periods, on earth and in speculative realms, from writers worldwide.

Paula Vince has introduced me to present­ day Australia, Christine Lindsay to India at the close of the British Raj, and Heather Day Gilbert to Viking settlements. Plus I've had plenty of exposure to parts of the US and to the UK. There are so many more books to explore, as time and money allow.

As a reader, I think these are exotic settings. Truth told, I don't enjoy reading novels set in places I know well. My internal fact­-checker kicks in, and I lose my connection to the story because I'm asking questions, like, "would she really drive that route?" or "why would they choose that shopping area when this one's closer?" Even if the writer created a fictional location, if I know the turf, I'm trying to figure out where it is.

As a writer, I have trouble evoking a strong sense of place if the setting isn't one I've experienced. There are universal elements of small towns, big cities, and seaports, to be sure, but I'd be lost on things like weather patterns and local attitudes.

Because I wrote my first novel, Heaven's Prey, hoping for a US publisher, it does have American scenes as well as Canadian. I did research, and I also focused more on the people than the surroundings. The only geography integral to the story was local to me, and I knew it well. The second novel, Secrets and Lies, is set in Toronto, a city I've visited but don't know well. The only scene set in a specific, real location didn't come fully to life until I spent an afternoon there with my camera.

Book three, Without Proof, released last month, and it's set in my home province of Nova Scotia, Canada. I found it easier to immerse myself in the story world because I'd experienced it. Now, the challenge was to not turn the novel into a tourist brochure. I've read books like that, and they're not fun.

I'm planning to set my next series locally as well, and this has been part of finding what works best for me as a writer. Perhaps it's one aspect of my voice. Familiarity makes me discount the appeal of Atlantic Canada to readers, but most of the world isn't from here. This is your chance to visit.

My stories are still people­ and ­plot first, but settings do influence those things. For a fine example of how setting can be integral to the story, see Sara Goff's post from September.

What about you? Do you prefer to "write what you know" geographically, or to discover new settings, real or imagined? When you read, what do you look for (or avoid) in a setting? Or does it matter?

Janet Sketchley lives in Atlantic Canada, where she writes Christian suspense novels and blogs about faith and books. She loves Jesus and her family, and enjoys reading, worship music, and tea.

You can find Janet online at janetsketchley.ca, and fans of Christian suspense are invited to join her writing journey through her monthly newsletter: bit.ly/JanetSketchleyNews.

Without Proof page (includes purchase links): bit.ly/WithoutProof

Sample Chapter: janetsketchley.ca/wp­content/uploads/2015/10/Without­Proof­Excerpt.pdf

Facebook: www.facebook.com/JanetSketchley

Twitter: twitter.com/JanetSketchley

Amazon Author Central: www.amazon.com/author/janetsketchley

Pinterest: pinterest.com/janetsketchley/

Goodreads: goodreads.com/janetsketchley

Caring for Fictional Characters by Janet Sketchley

As readers, the characters we love best are those we can relate to, but we need a connection with each one of them. Not that we'll love the characters we're supposed to fear or find irritating, but if something in them resonates with us, we'll accept them as real.

If writers don't bond with their created people, readers definitely won't. I struggled with this in my first novel, Heaven's Prey. How to find a point of contact with a serial killer, so readers would want to see him redeemed – and not throw the book across the room in anger when it happened?

In that case the answer came in exploring the man's past, meeting him when he was a regular Tom, Dick or Harry (bad joke: his name's Harry). Seeing the hurts that led to such horrible choices. Seeing his good side. That didn't make him good, but it made him redeemable.

It's just as important to invest in our ordinary characters, the ones who aren't in-your-face offensive or worse. I had to get into the heroine Ruth's head and live with her through her experiences. Let her react in ways true to herself, not in ways I wanted for purposes of the plot. It made for lots of rewrites before she felt real to me.

When I started work on the next novel, Secrets and Lies, I was more intentional about creating emotional links with the heroine Carol. She had begun as a peripheral character from Heaven's Prey: mom died young, dad abusive, raised by repressive aunt, teen pregnancy, loser husband, miscarriage, husband died, preteen son died of overdose... oh, and her only brother's a dangerous offender.

Plenty to work with story ­wise, but I match exactly zero of those descriptions. How would I relate? It turns out we both have control issues, and we both spend too much time living in our own heads.

I didn't know that in the beginning, so I gave Carol a few things I like: she's fond of tea, chocolate and baking, and music helps her de-­stress. I picked a favourite singer for her: Billy Joel. It was a fairly random choice; I liked some of his songs, and knew he had a large body of work. If she's listening to music all the time, it better not be the same three songs.

I also gave her something I'd like to acquire. She's a very good housekeeper. It comes back to control: if she can't keep order in the rest of her life, she can at least run her home.

These minor details helped me get close enough to discover our shared emotions and attitudes. What did I add to her life? As well as those conscious choices about tea, food and music, I helped her find her way into a relationship with the God whose heart we can trust to pick us up when we're broken.

What did she add to mine? Sadly, not the housekeeping. But I find myself drinking more peppermint tea (her favourite), and I listen to a lot more Billy Joel now.

What about you? Can you point to fictional characters who've taught you a life lesson, given an insight, or from whom you've picked up a trait or an attitude?

Janet Sketchley is the author of Heaven's Prey and Secrets and Lies, two novels of suspense and redemption. She also blogs about faith and books. Like Carol in Secrets and Lies, Janet loves music and tea. Unlike Carol, she isn't related to a dangerous offender, has a happy home life, and has never been threatened by a drug lord. May those tidbits continue to hold true!






You can find Janet online at janetsketchley.ca. Fans of Christian suspense are invited to join Janet's writing journey through her monthly newsletter: bit.ly/JanetSketchleyNews.

Website: http://janetsketchley.ca/

Join Janet's author journey – sign up for her monthly newsletter: http://bit.ly/JanetSketchleyNews

Secrets and Lies page (includes purchase links): http://janetsketchley.ca/books/secrets­and­lies/

Sample Chapter: http://janetsketchley.ca/wp­content/uploads/2014/10/Secrets­and­Lies­Chapter­ 1.pdf

Facebook: www.facebook.com/JanetSketchley

Twitter: twitter.com/JanetSketchley

Amazon Author Central: www.amazon.com/author/janetsketchley

Pinterest: pinterest.com/janetsketchley/

Heaven's Prey Blog Chase

Heaven's Prey is a novel of suspense and redemption, so let's have some fun with a "blog chase." Follow the trail between Oct. 31 and Nov. 7, 2013 for a chance to win a print copy of Heaven's Prey.

You're at the first stop in the chase. Welcome! At the end of this post you'll find a link to the next stop. You'll need to visit each stop so you'll know the answers for the quiz at the end ... that's how you enter the prize draw.

Let's peek into the story world:

A chill wind moaned around the corner of Ruth and Tony Warner's suburban bungalow, etching frost ferns on the window. In the kitchen, Ruth stirred chocolate sauce at the stove.

Bubbles multiplied, tumbling over one another until the whole mass seethed up the sides of the pan. Like Ruth's fears for her missing niece—they'd grown until she thought they'd swallow her whole. She cut back the heat and kept stirring.

Susan had been gone for a month now, with no clue, no contact. Could Ruth trust this new hope that lit her spirit? She glanced at her husband's broad back as he washed the cherries and strawberries. His shoulders drooped these days. "Tony, I have something to tell you, and I don't want you to laugh."

"You're going to get a rosebud tattoo. Somewhere personal." His sandy eyebrows wiggled.

Ruth flipped a pot holder at him. "No, I mean it."

Tony leaned against the counter. The overhead light showed lines that hadn't creased his face a month ago. New strands of grey glistened in his beard.

Ruth pushed the fringe of hair off her forehead. "I had this dream last night. About Susan."

His smile fled. "Why didn't you wake me?"

"No, it was a good dream. I saw her—Susan—in a beautiful garden. In a long, white gown. She looked so happy. Maybe—maybe it's God saying she's okay."

The lines deepened around Tony's eyes. "It's time to face reality. She's not coming back. When a young woman disappears, especially in a big city like Toronto ..." He clamped his lips together.

Stepping out of the story ...

This is a glimpse of Ruth and Tony's lives before the novel opens. I hope you'll follow along and learn a bit more.

Since Ruth and Tony live in Nova Scotia, on Canada's east coast, each of our blog chase posts will include a piece of Nova Scotia trivia.

Did you know? Nova Scotia is the Latin name for "New Scotland."



Heaven's Prey releases November 1, 2013. Visit Choose NOW Publishing to read a sample chapter ... just don't forget to come back to the chase! Preorder links are on the Choose NOW site as well.

Next stop on the blog chase