Blog
Story Behind the Story: Marlo Schalesky
Shades of Morning was a gift from Andy on one ordinary Sunday morning at church. I went not expecting to see anything different, or special, or extraordinary. But God had other plans. And so did Andy. In the middle of the third song, a noise came from the far...
Story Behind the Story: Shannon Taylor Vannatter
Years ago, my dad started sending me and my mom Valentine’s gifts, either flowers, balloons, or candy. When my dad hit 60, it hit me that my parents were aging and I wouldn’t have them forever. Feeling melancholy, one Valentine’s Day, my flowers came and I...
From Olympic heights to battlefields
I stumbled upon this story through a simple email to the United States Equestrian Foundation for some background about horse jumping in the 1940s. One woman mentioned they had a member from the last Army team who competed in the 1948 Olympics who might be willing to...
Story Behind the Story: Kat Heckenbach
My writing journey has been less of a path and more of a circle, so starting at the beginning is hard to do. But there is a point on the circle that ties it all together. In August of 2007, I was talking with my husband, Jeff. I’d been feeling a bit out of...
Story Behind the Story: Cathy West
My debut novel, Yesterday's Tomorrow, is one of those 'this is the book of my heart' stories. I'm not exactly sure how I came up with the plot, but all of a sudden I had a desperate need to write about a female journalist who traveled to Vietnam to cover the...
Story Behind the Story: Jennifer Slattery
My Operation First Novel finalist, Impossible Choices, initially started after a heart-wrenching story told to me from a dear friend. A woman who had in many ways mentored me when my daughter was young was now in need of support. After almost two decades of marriage,...
Story Behind the Story: Paul Baines
My story is Alpha Redemption, published by Splashdown Books on September 1st, 2010. It follows Brett Denton as he takes part in a prototype speed-of-light mission to Alpha Centauri. Having lost his family in a tragic accident (for which he blames himself), he...
The heart of research
I've spent hours and hours researching World War II history and it's hard to find much about the Pacific Northwest during World War II, even though there is a TON of history there! That's when I discovered the Portland Oregonian's online archives. They have...
Story Behind the Story: Victoria Burks
One night I dreamed the basic plot to this book. It was as though I was watching a live performance of a play, the main characters' images clear in the dream. Not one to dream often, I asked God when I awoke the next morning, "Why did I dream a dream like that?" In my...
Book Review: Letters from Home
Special Sunday Post Letters from Home Chicago, 1944. Liz Stephens has little interest in attending a USO club dance with her friends Betty and Julia. She doesn't need a flirtation with a lonely serviceman when she's set to marry her childhood sweetheart. Yet something...