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Ohio Author Festival; a Great Opportunity to Meet Fellow Authors and Try Out my Author Table Set-up!
Last weekend I was privileged to be invited to participate in an Ohio Author’s Festival at my local library branch. Here I am, pictured with my author table and my stuffed Ginger Snap kitty! I honestly did not realize the photo was mimicking the cover painting! I’ll bet my good friend, who took the picture, did that on purpose! Most of the other authors at the event came from a couple hours away, and were much better known than I am.
Of course, being better-known-than-I-am is not hard to do; my first book doesn’t come out until December 1! So I was quite happy to be included in this illustrious group, even though I had no actual, physical books to sell that day.
The event also gave me a chance to set up my table display, which I will use for future author signing events, for the first time.
This was a good thing, as I found out my banner is way too big to hang from a standard table! I guess I should have asked other authors how big their banners are before ordering mine! I’ll look at this as a humorous learning opportunity.
I think my stuffed orange kitty was a big hit, though, and people seemed to like the cat stickers I was giving away.
I’m not as certain about my original painting of Ginger Snap. You can see it in the bottom left corner of the attached photo. It’s a bit cartoonish, but I like it. I am giving it as a gift to one of the people who attended the event and signed their name and email in my pretty, little notebook. I need to pull a winner’s name and mail it off! I’ll do that later this weekend.
Two of the authors attending spoke to the group, and both were amazing. One woman was a fellow Amish romance author; although she had us all in stitches explaining how she writes Amish murder mysteries, and apologizing for “killing off Amish folks right and left”.
The other spoke about how some of her books have been banned, and why. She really got me thinking about this disturbing topic.
There was a wide range of genres represented at the event, and I looked over all the work of my fellow authors, and made some notes about books I wish to purchase.
Several of my friends attended the event and come over to wish me well after hearing the speakers. That made me feel great!
Next time, I’ll be prepared with a banner that fits my table, and I’ll actually have books available for purchase!
This little shake-down was good for me, and fun. I hope to see you at a future event! Maybe you’ll win an original, Anne Blackburne, painting! I plan to do them for all the kitties in my books.
My next event will be at the Christmas Open House at Kerns Christian book store in Akron, from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Saturday, December 2. That’s the day after my book releases! It’s really getting close! Drop in and say hi if you are from the Akron/Canton area. I’d love to meet you!
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Publishers Weekly Review of Ruth’s Ginger Snap Surprise!
I’m a happy author today, as yesterday something unexpected happened; something I didn’t even know was a thing until I received an email telling me it was!
One of the amazing folks at Barbour Publishing emailed me yesterday to tell me my debut novel, “Ruth’s Ginger Snap Surprise“, which comes out December 1 from Barbour (have I told you this before – maybe 10 times??) had received a very good review from Publishers Weekly.
I was thrilled to learn I’d received a good review, but I didn’t understand the significance of this particular review. Of course, I’ve heard of Publishers Weekly. But I wasn’t certain how important their good review of my novel was.
So I Googled them!
Here is the result: “A Publishers Weekly review is the most highly regarded review in the publishing industry. It is a capsule book review of about 200 words. PW reviews are primarily geared toward helping booksellers and librarians decide which books to purchase.”
Hold the phone: I received a very good review from the most highly regarded source in the publishing industry? May I just say, wowsers!
I’ll copy the link to the review at the end of this blog post. It made me feel very good, saying things like,
“Blackburne debuts with a stirring second-chance Amish romance featuring a 33-year-old widow who struggles to start over with the help of a mischievous pet kitten—and possibly a new beau.”
And . . .
“Blackburne delicately weaves Ruth’s and Jonas’s tenuous hopes for happiness with their conflicted feelings about moving on from their first marriages, lending the narrative depth and resonance. Readers will look forward to the next outing from this promising new voice.”
Oh boy, oh boy!
It’s as if I hadn’t realized yesterday was Christmas, and woke up to a lovely gift I didn’t expect.
Whomever the anonymous review at Publishers Weekly is, God bless you! You’ve made me very, very happy!
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New Amish Romance, “Ruth’s Gingersnap Surprise”, Releases December 1 from Barbour Publishing!
Ruth’s Ginger Snap Surprise, book two in the new Heart of the Amish series from Barbour Publishing, Releases Digitally Nov. 15; and in Print December 1! Countdown to Book Release Day Has Begun!
As a brand new author looking forward to the release of my debut novel, “Ruth’s Ginger Snap Surprise”, everything is new to me! I keep hearing other authors, my agent, my editors and the wonderful folks I’ve met on various reading sites talk about terms that are unfamiliar to me.
Getting a book published involves a steep learning curve.
One of the things I recently learned about was the author’s street team.
Don’t know what that is? Neither did I until recently! An author’s street team is a group of lovely people willing to take the risk of reading a book by an author – in this case, a totally unknown author, me! – and then going online to various sites and reviewing the book.
It’s one thing if you’re reviewing the latest from your favorite author; but in this case, for all these folks know, it could be terrible! (I promise, it’s NOT!)
Exciting developments! The wonderful Connie Spradling Lynch from the Keeping Up With The Amish group on Facebook, has helped me put together my very first “street team”.
To these brave, selfless souls, I say THANK YOU! Because getting reviews (hopefully positive) out into the world as a book releases is essential to the success of that book.
It motivates Amazon and other such sites to keep that book in front of the public eye. It may influence readers who have never, ever heard of an author to take a risk on their book.
The Street Team doesn’t pay for the book; and when they review it, they say so clearly – that they’ve been given a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
That being said, if you are someone who, despite never having read anything I’ve ever written before, decides to purchase my book, and you love it? Please go leave a nice review at Amazon.com, and maybe a few other places.
If you hate it – say nothing! (Hee hee!)
Hopefully the fact that my agent and editors liked my book means most of you will, too. But you never know! Right?
Do you think I may have a case of first-time-author jitters? I really think I do!
Only nine more weeks until my book releases online, and 11 until it releases in print!
Oh boy oh boy! The Countdown has BEGUN!
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I Loved Mindy Steele’s new Amish Romance!
“The Flower Quilter” is just wonderful; and it releases in just a few days!
Mindy Steele’s new book, “The Flower Quilter“, the first book in Barbour Publishing’s new series, “The Heart of the Amish”, releases in a few days! I just finished reading it last night. And I loved it! Here’s why: Barbara Schwartz is an Amish woman who hates to sew. She always seems to have tape on her fingers, to keep the blood from needle sticks from staining the fabric she’s trying to turn into a quilt. Why does she keep sewing? Because everyone expects an Amish woman to sew and quilt, especially her family of gifted quilters!
What would Barbara rather be doing? Gardening! Her gift is with flowers and plants of all kinds.
It takes Melvin Bontrager, a grumpy Amish man worried about supporting his sister and niece with his landscaping business, to point out the obvious to Barbara; she is a quilter, but not with fabric – with flowers!
That’s the Moment of Realization, when Barbara starts to believe maybe she has an important place in the world, and that her gift and work can make a difference, just as much as if she were creating her art with fabric and thread.
Now all she has to do is convince her parents!
Meanwhile, she and Melvin are falling in love. But can there be a future for the couple, when Barbara’s home is back in Kentucky with her large, beloved family, and Melvin has to stay in Indiana and support his sister and niece?
Meanwhile, Melvin is secretly harboring grief and guilt over the death of his parents. Until he allows his faith to bloom and grow like the flowers he loves, he can’t offer his whole heart to Barbara.
Of course, love will find a way. To see how, read Mindy Steele’s wonderful new book about overcoming obstacles, “The Flower Quilter”.This book is the first in the series in which my own very first book, “Ruth’s Ginger Snap Surprise”, releases in December. I’m so thrilled to be part of a series including such wonderful authors as Mindy Steele and Lisa Jones Baker. Lisa’s book comes out this winter/spring. Then we each have a second book in the series! In fact, I see that Mindy is revealing her second cover very soon! Oh, boy, this is such fun.
Take my word for it, “The Flower Quilter” needs to be on your reading list!
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Amish Country Adventure Meet & Greet
Warm Welcome from Admins, Authors and Readers!
Recently I was fortunate to be invited to join a wonderful group of people in a group called Keeping up with the Amish. They are made up of authors and readers of Amish romance, and people who are simply interested in the Amish way of life.
What a happy bit of luck or serendipity it was that I joined the group right before their annual Amish Country Adventure Week! This year’s adventure happened to take place in Berlin, Ohio – less than an hour from where I live!
I don’t have any books out yet (my very first Amish romance releases from Barbour on December 1!), and it was too late to take three days off work. So I shrugged and thought, oh, well, too bad I can’t go this year; I’ll plan to attend next year.
But the lovely Connie Lynch, an admin of the group, invited me to attend their Thursday evening Author/Reader Meet & Greet. I was able to go! So my buddy Linda and I hopped in the car and headed for Ohio’s beautiful Amish Country! About an hour later, we arrived at the well-appointed Berlin Grand Hotel, and parked in a lot filled with colorful three-wheeled motorcycles.
Chit-chatting at the Meet & Greet! We sat with lovely ladies from around the country. Photo by Connie Lynch Inside, we found the gathering of authors and readers of Amish romance, and they immediately made us feel welcome, giving us swag bags filled with fun items donated by participants in the event.
There were beautiful items for sale and auction, and I bought a chance on a lovely wall-hanging and table runner made by an Amish woman from the western part of the U.S.
Linda and I checked out the auction and sale tables, and then found a place to sit with some really nice people, all avid readers of Amish romance!
We got cold iced tea, and settled down to enjoy an evening making new friends, playing games and feeling most welcome.
I brought along some very pretty bookmarks made for me by the folks I work with in our print shop, and people seemed genuinely happy to get them. Some even said they’d pre-ordered my book! What a thrill!
This lovely, Amish-made wall hanging was won by a lucky woman this week! At the end of the evening, Linda and I hated to go. Now we’re making plans to attend next year’s Amish Adventure in Shipshewana, Indiana – the third largest Amish community in the U.S. I’ve never been there, and I can’t wait to go!
I’m booking my AirBnb so I’ll have all year to look forward to the fun. If you’re an author or reader of Amish romance, I highly recommend that you join the group Keeping Up With The Amish on Facebook, and that you consider attending next year’s adventure week in Shipshewana in June. If you do, I’ll look forward to meeting you in person!
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Heart of the Amish Book One Releases Sept. 1!
Mindy Steel’s “The Flower Quilter” Available now for Pre-order!
I know I’ve mentioned – a few times, lol! – that my very first published book, “Ruth’s Ginger Snap Surprise”, is part of a brand new Amish romance series soon to release from Barbour Publishing – right?
Well, if you’ve missed that fact, tune in! I’m one of three lucky authors of Amish romance to be chosen to write two books each (so far – we’re all hoping for more!) in this series, which is called “Heart of the Amish”.
My sister authors are both well-known Amish romance writers, with a number of published books to their credit. They are Mindy Steele and Lisa Jones Baker.
Mindy has the first book in the series, which will be released in paperback on September 1. Here is the link to her book, “The Flower Quilter“.
I’m reading the book now, and will soon do a review of it here, and in other useful places!
Here is a synopsis of Mindy’s book:
“Barbara Schwartz was born into a family of quilters, but she would rather eat dirt than partake in another quilting frolic or sew on another binding. When her parents send her to Indiana to help her grandmother in her quilting shop, she finds herself amongst a very different community. It’s only one summer and then she will be back in Kentucky where she belongs.
Melvin Bontrager’s world stopped six years ago when his parents died. Now when his only means of providing for his widowed sister and niece is threatened, Melvin finds his landscaping business disappearing too. When spring delivers a newcomer who is immune to his salty moods, Melvin does something he has never done before, accepts help.
What blooms is the last thing Barbara ever expected, and everything Melvin could ever want.”
Go pre-order your copy today so you won’t miss out on the first book in this fun new Amish series! Then you’ll be all ready to read mine in November!
My own book releases in paperback on Dec. 1, but I see it is coming out on Kindle in mid-November! You can find it on Amazon.com, too.
The third book in the series, “The Quilt Room Secret”, by Lisa Jones Baker, releases in the spring. More on that soon! And then we each get to do a second book! Blessings on blessings.
To see images of the real Quilt Gardens in Indiana, part of the inspiration for Mindy’s book, check out https://visitshipshewana.org/quilt-garden-trail/. This image is from that site.
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Complete: First Round of Edits on my Amish Romance!
Each Step in the Publishing Process is a Revelation!
This is me as Sister Robert Anne in Nunsense! What a month!
The musical I directed and acted in, “Sister Amnesia’s Country Western Nunsense Jamboree,” closed a week ago after two full weekend’s and six shows. It was so much fun playing Sister Robert Anne again! But I can’t say I’m sorry to have my evenings back so I can focus on my writing.Just as the show was closing, my editor from Barbour Publishing sent me the first round edits for my first book, “Ruth’s Ginger Snap Surprise,” which will release from Barbour on December 1! I had a week to complete those, and I made the deadline. It was a challenge at first, because I’m such a rookie. I had no idea how to use Track Changes in Word, for example.
Now I know a little bit more about this publishing journey. Each step is a new revelation. I’m waiting now to hear back from the editor to see if she needs me to make any more changes.
She made me feel great though, by telling me she loved my book and my characters! It was her first Amish romance, and I was pleased that she found herself caught up in Ruth and Jonas’s story.
I’ll be honest: I was secretly afraid she would send me a manuscript full of red ink indicating it was a hot mess! Okay, okay, I knew it wasn’t, but my brain wasn’t being logical. New writer’s terror, I guess!
I’m finishing up another project currently, an original Sherlock Holmes murder mystery I write every other year as part of a murder mystery weekend sponsored by my area VCB. I’ll direct it this fall, (and play Dr. Joan Watson!) and it will finish up right before “Ruth’s Ginger Snap Surprise” is released.
After I finish writing the play, I’ll have time to go through the second book in the “Heart of the Amish” series. I’m one of three authors writing for this series. We each have two books contracted so far. If the series is a success, we could be asked to write more! Fingers crossed on that.
The first draft of my second book in the series, “Mary’s Calico Hope,” is finished. I completed it at the end of February, and it’s been “cooking” on a back burner since then.
I’m about ready to dive in for a second look at the manuscript, to find all the things that made sense the first time through, but need to be tweaked now!
I’ll let you know when “Ruth’s Ginger Snap Surprise” is available for preorder in the Kindle edition.
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Introducing my Fellow “Heart of the Amish” author, Mindy Steele.
The Heart of the Amish is a new series coming out soon from Barbour Publishing. The initial six books will be written by three authors, although one of them is still a mystery to me! Hint hint: I’m one of the remaining two!
My book, “Ruth’s Ginger Snap Surprise“, will be published second in the series, releasing on December 1, 2023. I’m also fifth, with my second book, tentatively titled “Mary’s Calico Hope”, releasing in the late summer of 2024. I just signed the contract with Barbour for that one!
The first author whose book will be released in this series is Mindy Steele, who is already the author of a number of sweet Amish romances. You can find her on Amazon.com.
Mindy’s first book in this series, titled “The Flower Quilter”, promises to be a fun read! It’s about a young woman who is just sick of quilting – and finds herself heading off to – you guessed it! – do more quilting! It will release in September, so be sure to look for it. It promises to be the first book in what I believe will become a popular new Amish series.
Happy reading!
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It’s Cover Reveal Day for “Ruth’s Ginger Snap Surprise”, my new Amish Romance from Barbour Publishing!
Here it is! My brand new cover for my very first published book, “Ruth’s Ginger Snap Surprise,” available soon from Barbour Publishing.
As a first time author, I wasn’t sure what to expect in a book cover. We’ve all seen covers we love . . . and some that aren’t so great. My editors at Barbour Publishing chose the artist for my cover, and a few months ago I sent them all the information I could about my characters and their situations to help the artist design something that would work with my vision. Since I had no further input, I resigned myself to accepting with grace whatever I might get in the great cover lottery.
So imagine how thrilled I was to open my email and find this beautiful cover waiting for me! I couldn’t have imagined anything more perfect. The artist has perfectly captured Ruth’s joy and the comfort she gains from her fluffy pal, Ginger Snap.
I can’t wait to hold my book in my hands! It will release widely on December 1, and will be available in Christian book stores and mainstream book stores such as Books-A-Million and Barnes & Noble, as well as through online outlets such as Amazon.com.
“Ruth’s Ginger Snap Surprise” is already available for pre-order in paperback from Amazon.com. Soon I’ll have a link for the Kindle version. Here is the Amazon.com link for the paperback, should anyone wish to own it.
I can’t wait for you to meet Ruth and Jonas in person, and find out how they overcome the roadblocks standing in the way of finding a second chance at romance! You’ll love them, and Jonas’s sweet daughter, Abigail, along with a cast of relatable characters including their elderly friend Lydia and Ruth’s fluffy pal, Ginger Snap!
PURCHASE ONLINE
Official release date: December 1, 2023
Amish Stories
