Available June 27, 2017
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Blog
No More Mr. Nice Guy!
I’m getting ready to speak to the local chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers, on the topic of how to write and sell a series. As I was skimming the Series Overview I wrote as part of my original proposal for the
Their bishop, Hiram Knepp, focuses them on God’s will for their lives in Willow Ridge and in the outside world they separate themselves from. As he offers thanks for the meals served up in the Sweet Seasons Cafe, his mellow voice . . . and his patience will bless you as you enjoy these stories of his Plain flock, the sheep of his pasture.
My mouth dropped open. This is so not the Hiram Knepp we now love to hate! And it’s a perfect example of how characters can change dramatically between the time a writer first conceives of them and when they take on their own lives as the story actually gets written. Indeed, the man you might picture from the above quote would seem to have angel-white hair and wings with a halo, when in fact, in this fourth book of the series, BREATH OF SPRING, Hiram Knepp has gotten himself excommunicated from Willow Ridge for owning and hiding a car—among other things. And at one point in this story, he shows up with a short English-style haircut and a close-clipped goatee, both of which have been dyed coal black!
As I think back over Hiram’s slip-slide from grace, I realize it started in SUMMER OF SECRETS, the first book of the series, when Hiram was pestering Miriam Lantz to marry him and she refused . . . and with each refusal, he thought of the next nasty way to get even, to get revenge, and to try to get everything from her
Enter the two Hooley sisters, Jerusalem and Nazarath, in AUTUMN WINDS to distract him from his pursuit of Miriam—but Hiram still kept finding ways to come down on the Lantz family. In WINTER OF WISHES, he was intent on shaming Rhoda Lantz for riding in a car and kissing English nurse Andy Leitner—but by the end of that drama, when Hiram had finagled a large plot of land to start a new colony, claiming God Himself had told him to do this, the good folks of Willow Ridge sent him packing. (Well, actually, Hiram refused to confess his sins or do penance, so he cooked his own goose . . . and then left it on the Christmas dinner table to rot.)
In BREATH OF SPRING, which is Annie Mae Knepp’s story, Hiram of course will be in full fettle once again—and even I was aghast at the way he chose to disgrace her. I’m grateful to my astute editor for once saying that Annie Mae would make an interesting heroine, because if I’d followed the pattern, the next Lantz girl to marry off would’ve been Rebecca. While readers love Rebecca, because she has made Willow Ridge her home despite saying plain-out that she won’t become Amish, therein lies the problem: I would be writing a non-Amish story if she were a heroine. So for now she remains a reliable, tech-savvy character whose website design business is bringing a lot of new folks to visit her mother’s Sweet Seasons cafe as well as the Hooley brothers’ new Mill at Willow Ridge—which is so beautifully illustrated on the cover of BREATH OF SPRING.
I think you’ll agree that Annie Mae must rise above many challenges the average seventeen-year-old couldn’t hope to face. At the end of WINTER, we saw her and her sister Nellie walk away from their father Hiram, absolutely refusing to go to his new colony—knowing they were inviting his wrath for defying him. In BREATH OF SPRING we see the return of her former beau, Yonnie Stoltzfus, in a sleek blue sportscar . . . with trouble on his mind. And then when Annie Mae sees that her four younger sibs are being mistreated by Hiram’s new um, live-in, Annie Mae gathers them in and takes them home to Willow Ridge and safety. But always in this story, she’s looking over her shoulder, living in the shadow of her relentless father’s arrogance and love of power.
Our hero, by comparison, is a rather quiet, unassuming fellow you’ve met at many a breakfast in the Sweet Seasons. Adam Wagler is busy with his home remodeling business, living with his widowed brother Matthias in a man-cave of a house that’s anything but clean or homey. While most of the local guys are warning him not to take up with Annie Mae because he’ll be supporting her entire family, Adam is wondering what such a strong young woman could possibly see in him. He has an illegal surprise from his past parked in his barn, however, and it enables him to save the day and Annie Mae in true heroic fashion.
I hope you’ll find a lot to enjoy in BREATH OF SPRING! And I think you’ll agree that the
Sounds a lot like real life, doesn’t it?
A Good Man!
You know that passage from Proverbs 31:10, “A good woman who can find? For her price is far above rubies?” Well, the same can be said for finding a good man! I know, because I married one more than 38 years ago—and without his support during my 20+ years as a writer I simply would not be writing these Amish stories today. Emotionally and financially, I have made it through some years when the soup would have been mighty thin (or nonexistent), had Neal not been willing to pay the bills so I could write. These days, writing two series for two different publishers—when Amish books are such a hit—are the frosting on the cake for me. AMANDA WEDS A GOOD MAN comes out on Neal’s birthday, and I would be remiss if I didn’t give him a little plug here, and a big birthday kiss!
As for my new book, AMANDA WEDS A GOOD MAN, it has an interesting story! Do you remember the TV series, The Brady Bunch?? It was a story about a gal with kids who married a guy with kids, back in the day when blended families were more the exception than the norm they are today. Of course, the episodes were funny and highly idealized, and the Brady Bunch solved their problems by the end of each weekly episode.
My editor and one of the reps who sells for my publisher, NAL approached me with this idea: you know Amish widows and widowers with kids remarry and combine their families, yet they hadn’t seen any books with this premise—would I want to write one? When someone hands you a fun idea like this, the answer is always yes. My challenge was that I was already two books into my At Home in Cedar Creek series, and I had readers clamoring for the day when Abby Lambright and James Graber finally get married! I could not let that story go untold.
So I had to figure out a way to work Amanda and Wyman’s story into the world I’d already created. Don’t be confused about the new series name One Big Happy Family, which is on the cover! The marketing department is calling this a “sub-series,” thinking it’s a new way to improve sales. I’m not so sure about that, as I’ve gotten lots of notes from readers who think I’ve abandoned my original Cedar Creek characters. Not so! But in order to write the “Brady Bunch” idea, I had to go along with the “sub series” idea.
I believe I’ve created a wonderful new family—Amanda is Sam Lambright’s cousin, so she’s related and lives in Bloomingdale—that adds more drama and interest to the folks you’ve come to know and love in this Cedar Creek series. Wyman Brubaker is indeed a Good Man, but it’s up to Amanda (and Abby!) to show him how he must change to create the big, happy family he and Amanda envision when they marry. It’s much more than just taking Amanda, her mother-in-law, and her three daughters into his home with his five kids—which becomes very crowded, and only has one bathroom! It takes a lot of adjusting and loving and seeing things from other family members’ perspectives—and a devastating storm, and a really cranky bishop—to bring the newly blended Brubaker family to a better place.
And I must admit that Wyman makes these changes more willingly than a lot of real-life Amish husbands might. He gives up a lot to make Amanda happy because, in the end, he believes that loving his wife well is akin to loving the Lord—no matter what his bishop tells him!
The Brubakers do live happily ever after—and they will appear again in EMMA BLOOMS AT LAST, which comes out in the fall of 2014! I’m writing this book right now, and I’m delighted that because Amanda’s family has come into this series, James’s sister Emma has found someone to love. So stay tuned!
And in the meantime, I wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas season with those you love. I’m truly thankful for readers who are willing to keep buying my books, trusting me to tell them stories that lift them up and warm their hearts.
WINTER OF WISHES Is Now Available!
At long last, a year after we read Miriam’s story in AUTUMN WINDS, it’s time to learn about Rhoda Lantz’s turn at romance! Her story is totally different from her sister Rachel’s, as Rhoda finds the man of her dreams while looking at ads posted on the bulletin board in Zook’s Market—and is in immediate trouble.
Before she’s even hung up from talking with Andy Leitner, asking about the job caring for his two kids after school, along with his aging mom, just the timbre of his voice whispers to her lonely heart, calling up forbidden longings. Word gets out about her English employer . . . a secret kiss in the moonlight . . . and Rhoda may well be shunned. Rest assured that Bishop Hiram Knepp finds ways to make Rhoda’s life miserable—and a few of HIS secrets, after the sleighing accident of his two 5-year-old twins, will get the folks of Willow Ridge up in arms, as well.
And, oh yes! Miriam and Ben will get married on New Year’s Day, but their ceremony will be interrupted by even more surprises. If you think Willow Ridge goes into hibernation during the cold winter months, think again!
I’d love to hear what you think of this story–feel free to post on my Charlotte Hubbard Facebook page, or to post a review on BN.com, Amazon and other online bookstores. Thank you so much for your interest in my Seasons of the Heart series!
Rhubarb Bread!
It’s a beautiful, cool morning so I baked a new recipe for Rhubarb Bread, and I also toasted a batch of Peanut Butter Granola. I won’t get away with just telling you how wonderful my kitchen smells now, and how eager I am to try this bread, so here are the two recipes. If you’re gluten free, the granola can be made without any wheat ingredients–and the mixture of peanut butter and coconut oil make this a real treat for breakfast, or as a topper for ice cream or fresh fruit. Enjoy!
RHUBARB BREAD
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 C. white sugar
1/2 C. brown sugar
2 eggs
2 T. milk
2 C. flour
1/2 C. old fashioned oats
1 tsp. baking soda
Dash of salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 C. hot cooked rhubarb
Preheat oven to 375º. Grease/spray a 9×5″ bread pan. Cream the butter and sugars, then add the eggs and milk and mix well. Add the dry ingredients, vanilla, and mix until smooth. Then blend in the cooked rhubarb. Bake about 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then finish cooling the loaf on a wire rack.
PEANUT BUTTER GRANOLA
2 1/2 C. old fashioned oats
1/2 C. wheat germ, corn meal, or other granular grain/cereal
1/2 C. sunflower seeds or other chopped nuts
2 T. ground flaxseed meal
1 T. cinnamon
Dash of salt
1/4 C. coconut oil
1/3 C. peanut butter
2 T. maple syrup
Preheat oven to 300º. Place dry ingredients in a large bowl. Measure the coconut oil, peanut butter and maple syrup into a glass measuring cup and then microwave it for about 40 seconds. Stir to blend, and then stir the liquid into the dry ingredients. Mix well to coat all the grains–using the back of a large spoon to rub the liquid into the grains helps. Cover an edged cookie sheet with foil. Pour the granola onto the pan and spread evenly, then toast in the oven for about 30 minutes, stirring about every 10 minutes. Cool. Add dried cranberries, raisins, etc if desired.