Can’t believe it’s December and Thanksgiving has passed! Despite the rush of the last few days I’ve had some blessed quiet time to read and write and am finishing the most emotionally volatile book I’ve written yet. I’m always so conflicted when I write THE END but still have months of polishing and rewriting ahead as I shine the story for you. I hope you fall into those pages and don’t want to come out, much as I’ve felt the past 7 months writing the first draft. This new story is set in Virginia just after the Revolutionary War and will release fall of 2015.
I have some very exciting book buzz to share soon, thanks to Revell and Brandon Hill, the photographer/designer for the Ballantyne covers. Recently I saw the model and gown that has been selected for this next cover. Rowena “Wren” Ballantyne is everything I hoped for ~ as is her 1850 dress! More on that next week…
Till then I need to share what’s happening in my neck of the woods this week. Our little church is celebrating THE GREATEST GIFT, a festival with music, food, baked goods, wreaths and swags, handmade gifts, and decorated Christmas trees for auction. I’ll be decorating a live tree and all proceeds go to missions. I’d love to see you there!
The Greatest Gift
Joyce Bible Church
Friday, December 6th ~ 2:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, December 7th ~ 10:00 – 4:00
Till next week…!
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Looking forward to the final Ballantyne and the newest book coming in 2014.
Carissa, So glad you are! You’re so faithful and I treasure you :). Thanks so much.
Dear Laura,
Oh how I wish I could attend the festival and book signing at your church! But you are just too far away I’m afraid! I hope some day you will have a book signing in KY or OH, and I will be the first in line, haha.
I was getting SO excited reading about the newest book and trying to imagine how much more emotionally charged the story could be from all the others, especially The Colonel’s Lady and Love’s Reckoning as both almost gave me a heart attack! 🙂 It sounds very exciting, but I just wish we didn’t have to wait until 2015…
And…. lastly, also trying to wait patiently to see the pics for Love’s Fortune photo shoot to get a peek at the lovely Wren! Thank you for the update on what we can expect both in the near and far future.
Have a blessed day, Laura. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family!!
Georgianne, I so wish all this was happening in your neck of the woods! I’m so homesick for KY about now and would love to see the new Cinci Underground Railroad museum, etc. Thanks for being with me in spirit at our little event. It’s my favorite festival of the year and those decorated trees are works of art and smell so fresh!
Glad you liked a bit of book news. So much happening that way lately. I’m smiling about LR and TCL – they did raise the blood pressure a bit and this book will, too. I think it has the biggest twist of them all. I’m still not sure how the last chapter will work out and anticipate some rewriting – and recovering ;).
Can’t wait to show you Wren and the shoots. I hope you’ll be as pleased as I am!
Have a blessed week. So good to start Monday with you!
If you ever get to Kentucky for a book signing I will be in line right behind Georgianne.
I’d sure love to meet you, Carissa. Louisville is one of my favorite places in the whole world. And you are one of my favorite people! I do plan, Lord willing and praying about it, to get back to KY next fall and then on to Virginia for research. I will certainly let you know if that happens – fun to think that Georgianne is right across the river :).
Yay! The new book sounds wonderful. Love Virginia. We just came through there on our way back from Pennsylvania where we had been for Thanksgiving. Here in North Carolina we have been decorating for Christmas now. Almost done.
Please tell me you are going to Williamsburg on this next research trip. Sigh. Wonderful place. Be certain to watch the film in the visitor’s center if you’re there.:)
Cannot wait for the Brandon Hill photo shoot post. Those are always interesting. Speaking of Love’s Fortune, I just had a thought. Wren’s from Kentucky. Our friends from your first three books are from there also. Ahem…Any possible descendant appearances I wonder?:) Probably wishful thinking on my part.:)
Oh, Sylvia, You would make a GREAT crit partner or brainstormer! You always leave me wishing I’d done something more or taken a different tact 🙂 – like those descendent appearances. Wouldn’t that be interesting! Wren Ballantyne is certainly the type female that Ezekial Click and even Colonel McLinn would admire though I’m not sure what Red Shirt would make of her. She’s a bit more spirited than ghost-ridden Morrow, so to speak. As for that next cover, I am thrilled to be going to the photo shoot, etc. Am sure being there will bring a whole different perspective. Have always wanted to meet one of my models. In this case it’s lovely Taylor.
YES, I am heading to CW next year and will keep in mind the visitor’s center film. Thanks so much for that. If you have any other tidbits of places to stay or eat, I’d love them. I’ll be by myself this time (research always goes better when hubby and kids aren’t interested in going). Just me and lots of pens and notebooks and camera, etc. The trouble will be prying me out of there at week’s end. My other dream in life was to be a CW reenactor.
Your Thanksgiving travels sound wonderful as you’ve hit all the high points of places I love, especially PA. But NC is hard to beat. I have relatives in Mooresville and we were back your way a few years ago. Amazing state and you are so blessed to be there.
Anyway, lest I write a novella here, I’ll sign off by wishing you a blessed December.
SO excited for Love’s Fortune! Wow! If writing it has had the kind of impact on you that it has, I know we’re in for a fantastic ride.
I wish I could come to your church’s Festival. It sounds like so much fun! The trees and baked goods and crafts and music sound splendid. And I want to meet one of my favorite authors. 😉 So neat that you get to do a book signing while there. Praying for great success for your church in raising finances for missions. What a worthy cause and a tremendous blessing to the missionaries who will be on the receiving end. Would love to see some pictures of the festivities!
Have a wonderful day, my friend! 🙂
Love your gracious spirit, Angi. I’d give anything to see you this week, too! We live so far in the woods I’ll be amazed if many come though the beautiful trees and auction are surely a draw. I am so glad you have a heart for missions, too. I always think of my brother and wish he could attend. I will try and take pics of the trees! I’m doing a Christmas cupcake tree, lol, with a cupcake stand on the top and cupcake ornaments, etc. The trees are brought in from the woods a bit further south of us and smell heavenly.
Glad you like the book buzz – cannot wait to tell you more soon! Have a blessed week :)!
I wished I lived closer to you, Laura! I would be there with bells on if I did!
I am so excited to learn more about the cover for the next Ballantyne book! I am sure it will end up being gorgeous. Brandon is very talented and has done lovely work for your other books. I am sure I will not be disappointed. I am also excited to hear about your newest book. The fact that it is your most emotionally volatile book you have written make me giddy. I know that there is a huge market for books that are light, breezy, and happy, but I prefer my fiction to be more real, gritty, and emotional (but not sappy or soap opera dramatic). Life is full of emotional ups and downs, and I love fiction that goes there! Not just one simple problem or misunderstanding, and then, poof, all is fixed and everyone is happy. If only life worked like that! I can see how people who read to escape would want everything super sweet and always happy. However, I read for enjoyment, of course, but also as a reminder that this world is broken. Fiction can be a tool to use to teach about forgiveness, mercy, loss and hurt. And the great thing about Christian fiction is that it should always point to Christ and how He came to tend to and suffer for us sinners. I think too many Christian authors fall into the trap of making it seem like Christ came to give us a life void of sadness and suffering. So bring it on, Laura, I am ready!
Okay, when I started writing this, I had only meant it to be a short message about how I wish I could attended your church festival, and gush about how your next cover will be gorgeous. Haha! I hope you have a lovely week, Laura! Blessings to you and yours!
Wow! Emma, What wonderfully rich thoughts! You nailed exactly why I write the kind of fiction I do – it is for readers like you have the heart for “real, gritty, emotional” stories. I was thinking last week as I set things up to write this final chapter that I seem to gravitate toward hot, hands off topics! This book is extremely so, dealing with a very tricky issue that I’m not quite sure how my hero should handle. I foresee lots of rewriting on my end till I turn it in next fall to get it just right and yet stay real. So thankful you have a heart for my books and the angst within. Love your words above. We are of the same mind regarding this. It seems blessed confirmation to continue writing those kind of stories. I write out of that brokenness because I’ve been there. Sadly, for half of my adult life I lived under the misconception that Jesus had come to make my life easier and more comfortable. Sort of a pie-in-the-sky, happy-ever-after existence like a light, breezy book. It wasn’t until I became pressed and broken did I realize what it meant to take up your cross. I’m still learning and look back on that naïve girl with wonder!
So wish you could join in the festival with me :). Today Wyatt and I go down to help set up. They’ve been working night and day like gnomes getting everything ready, lol. Time to join them! Have a blessed week!
“Emotionally volatile”?
Ohhhh, methinks poor Morrow, Roxie and Eden have a new friend in the “Wow, my life is rather hard” category?!
Oh. And Lael.
And Ellie…
Umm, fair warning… but I’m going to break into your house and steal your laptop.
😉 Jennifer, I have a feeling your stories are so full of angst they may make mine seem quite tame! I didn’t mean for this one to turn out quite so explosive but there you have it. The trouble is handling all the angst from a godly angle. When the situation is anything but godly, just plain messy and more. Sigh. I sometimes wonder why I paint myself into painful corners. I do long for light, breezy writing but just can’t do it.
If my laptop is missing I’ll look to your neck of the woods first, my friend!
If you define a Colt in between the heroine’s teeth, mixed in with despair beyond words, or as the hero says “hurt so deep it’s part of your soul”, as ‘angst’ then yeahhhh, I guess mine are a bit full of angst and suffering.
Muahahaha!
I KNEW yours was full of angst per your savvy definition ;). I CANNOT WAIT to hold it in my hot little hand – and see the cover!!
I CANNOT do bright and breezy!! I can do comic relief, but not 100K words of perky.
lol about “100k words of perky”. I cannot do 1k worth of perky! But I so admire those who can!
Hi Laura!
I hope you had a lovely thanksgiving! I just wanted to say that after the turkey and cranberries, I had given a silent thanks for you and your spectacular books and kind heart! You had given me a ARC of Love’s Reckoning that I had read back in September, and then I decided to read it again over Thanksgiving break, and I enjoyed it just as much as the first time I read it, perhaps even more! It is such a lovely story, and it warmed my heart, just the sort of feeling one wants from a book, especially during holiday reading! So thank you again!
I also CANNOT WAIT for Ballantyne #3 and your new book set after the Revolutionary War (one of my favorite time periods that is totally underwritten about!) It sounds fabulous, and I am already drooling 🙂
Tiffany! So thrilled to see you here :). Talk about warming my heart – your gracious words do me so much good this very chilly day in the woods. Such a blessing that you gave thanks for me and my humble books! I can feel your prayers as I finish yet another one. Love that you read this one twice! And that it was just as enjoyable if not moreso the second time round. I’m really honored. And I’m inspired to put my all into the post Revolutionary War novel I’m finishing. Am in the middle of a scene where the heroine is telling the hero some very sweet news and it’s a joy to write (amidst the angst of their circumstances!).
Can’t wait to share the Ballantyne cover with you. The model is so different this time – and I like the dress even more than Eden and Ellie’s. Some lovely lace on this final one and the dress is the most unusual color!
Anyway, you’ve made my day with your presence here. I pray you and your loved ones have a very blessed Christmas and New Year ~ and hope we meet up again soon :)!
Is the Virginia book a standalone or part of the Ballantyne series? I thought it was a standalone, but for some reason I thought you were planning on four books in the Ballantyne saga. We’re there originally going to be four?
Hi Sylvia, Yes, there were originally 4 books planned for the Ballantynes but that last book would have been without Eden and Silas (they would have been about 125 respectively) so my agent and editor agreed to let me do a standalone instead and move back to the 18th-century that I so love. I was so relieved as a book without them would have been kind of tricky, though I do miss those Ballantynes! Generally 3 book series are the norm for historicals and 4 books pushes the envelope a bit. Other genres sometimes go beyond 3 but it’s not always a good idea with historicals. You probably know all this already… :).