THE AMISH HEIRESS - Patrick E Craig - One Free Book

Bio: Best-selling author Patrick E. Craig is a lifelong writer and musician who left a successful songwriting and performance career in the music industry to follow Christ in 1984. He spent the next 26 years as a worship leader, seminar speaker, and pastor in churches, and at retreats, seminars and conferences all across the western United States. In 2011 he signed a three-book deal with Harvest House Publishers to publish his Apple Creek Dreams series. The books are historical Amish fiction and include A Quilt for Jenna, The Road Home, and Jenny’s Choice. A Quilt For Jenna is currently the #1 best seller in Amish Fiction on Amazon. His current series is The Paradise Chronicles and the first book in the series, The Amish Heiress, is published by P&J Publishing. Patrick is represented by the Steve Laube Agency. Patrick and his wife Judy make their home in Idaho and are the parents of two adult children and have five grandchildren.

Welcome, Patrick. Tell us how much of yourself you write into your characters.

The characters in my books are a real amalgam of many parts of my own personality. Writer, musician, farmer, outdoorsman, searcher… Each of my characters does show something of my own personality.

What is the quirkiest thing you have ever done?

Hmmmm. Well, that is a very interesting question. Since I lived in San Francisco in the 60s, I was involved in quite a few quirky things, maybe too many to relate here. I once met Janis Joplin in the middle of a concert in the Panhandle in Golden Gate Park.

When did you first discover that you were a writer?

I published my first article in the school paper when I was seven years old. I got such positive feedback from my teacher, my parents and my friends that I realized this was something I could do well. I’ve been writing ever since.

Tell us the range of the kinds of books you enjoy reading.

I like romance, adventure, westerns, mysteries, sci-fi, classic, paranormal…the whole gamut of books. I’ve read hundreds maybe thousands of books in my life.

I’m sure I’ve read several thousand. I’m a voracious reader, too. How do you keep your sanity in our run, run, run world?

I moved from California to Idaho a year ago. My wife and I live on a small acreage outside of Boise in the country. We go on trips to the mountains, read a lot, spend time in our garden and visit our family.

Sounds wonderful. How do you choose your characters’ names?

By chance. I have to be really careful. In my third book I realized that I had three characters whose name began with a “J.” In The Amish Heiress, my editor pointed out that I had three minor characters named Jonas.

So you’re hooked on J’s. I was at one time. What is the accomplishment that you are most proud of?

Getting my first series, Apple Creek Dreams, published with Harvest House.

If you were an animal, which one would you be, and why?

A horse I guess. I suppose I read too much Zane Grey when I was a boy.

I read a lot of Zane Grey when I was a teen. What is your favorite food?

Steak and eggs.

What is the problem with writing that was your greatest roadblock, and how did you overcome it?

Dialogue tags, I hate them. “He said, she said,” used to drive me crazy when I wrote. It broke up the flow of the story completely. Now I almost exclusively use action beats. I think there are two or three dialogue tags in The Amish Heiress, but that’s all.

I so agree with you. I use action tags, internal thought tags, and descriptive beats with almost no tags. This help make every word add to the story. Tell us about the featured book.

When I was writing the Apple Creek Dreams series, I was going to tell the stories of Jerusha Springer, her adopted daughter, Jenny, and then Jenny's daughter, Rachel. But I fell in love with the character of Jenny, and then there were two books about Jenny where I had only planned on one. Now I finally get to tell Rachel's story. It's a different kind of story, but then I'm not exactly known in Amish circles as someone who writes a typical Amish novel. I think that's because I read too many Zane Grey books when I was a kid.

Please give us the first page of the book.
Rachel, my darling girl, how can I tell of the joy you give me. In the dark days when we thought we had lost your papa, I was adrift in my grief but you were my ray of sunlight, and precious memories were bound into your very being. In all those years when Jonathan was gone, you were my rock, the one person I could turn to that always had an uplifting word or a loving gesture. I know your heart ached as mine did, but somehow you held yourself above the pain and were always there for me. And for such a long time, you were the one who believed your papa would come home someday.

That is why it surprised me when it was so hard for you when your papa did come home. You were fourteen, you were becoming a woman, and Jonathan had missed such a big part of your life. You and your papa were at odds for a long time. I think that you had finally reconciled yourself to Jonathan being dead – you had moved on. And then when he came home, you had to learn that relationship all over again. We were so close, the two of us and then there was another person in the house, a man who in many ways was a stranger to us both, especially on his “bad” days. I think you felt like he came between us. So when the opportunity came for you to go, you were ready, too ready…

                                                                        Rachel – From The Journals of Jenny Hershberger

I like Amish books that are outside the norm. I can hardly wait until your book arrives. How can readers find you on the Internet?

www.patrickecraig.com My Website

https://www.facebook.com/PatrickECraig Facebook

Where can readers purchase my books?

http://tinyurl.com/n6sfagg (Amazon)

http://www.patrickecraig.com/my-book-store/ My website
The Amish Heiress is available at my website and on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and GoodReads. 

Thank you, Craig, for sharing this new book with us. I know my blog readers are glad to have found out about your books.

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