Story Behind the Story: Michelle Griep

There’s an old family story my mom told me about my gramma, Clara Brekke. Sometime back in the early 1900’s, Clara’s father took her two-year-old sister and walked out the front door. Just like that. No bags packed. Not a word about where they were going or when...

Story Behind the Story: Linda Rondeau

I am currently rewriting my first novel. Though still unpublished, the novel concept grabbed the attention of an agent, and ultimately a contract. After ten years, I could readily see the flaws. Yet, if the story grabbed an agent, there had to have been something...

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: 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...