MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE - Deborah Heal - One Free Book

Welcome back, Deborah. How did you come up with the idea for this story?

In More Than Meets the Eye, my characters visit the Anderson Mansion Museum in the town of Carlinville, which is not far from where they live. While there, they learn about many things, including the fact that just across town is the largest collection of Sears catalog houses in the world. Intrigued, they go to visit them, and decide that it would be a perfect place to “time-surf” back to when the houses were constructed in 1918. All this is exactly what happened to me, and how I decided to write about them.

If you were planning a party with Christian authors of contemporary fiction, what six people would you invite and why?

I’m something of an introvert, but a party like this would be fun, even for me! It would be great to be able to pick everyone’s brains, because my number one goal as an author is to write fiction that glorifies God, edifies the saints, and touches the hearts of seekers. And how can I do that if my writing is poorly done?

Of course right off I’d invite you, Lena. I’m sure you’d have lots to share about your success with both historical and contemporary novels. (How many now?) I just read your delightful novella Oh, No, You Didn’t!, included in the April Fool’s Love anthology, and your historical novels are on my reading list, too. (Now that I’m between writing projects I can finally read for pleasure—and edification.)

Next, I’d invite Douglas Tanner to the party because I’m currently reading his intriguing time travel book Beyond the Void, Darkly. Readers say my method of “surfing” through time via a computer program is unique, but I really like Tanner’s, too. It’s similar in that the time traveler can only see but not impact the past.

Speaking of which, I’d also invite Karen Kingsbury. Her Brush of Wings is not a time-travel book, but it is similar to my books in that it deals with a behind-the scenes look at God’s plans for his people. Her novel is about how angels work to protect humans. I’m excited to have it on my reading list, even though I disagree with her theology. (God doesn’t have to hope things work out right on earth. There’s no question that His plans will be accomplished.)

All my books to date have a romantic plot line, but now that my Rewinding Time Series is completed, I plan to write stand-alone contemporary Christian romances. So I’d invite Rachel Hauck to the party. I was intrigued by her sample of How to Catch a Prince and plan to read the book soon. Likewise, I also invited Grace Greene after reading a preview of her novel Beach Rental.

If Dan Walsh won’t mind being the only man at the party, I’ll invite him, too. I really enjoyed his novel The Discovery and plan to read more of his books.

How much fun interaction there’d be if such great authors came to my party! I’d love to congratulate them all, and hopefully, I’d have something of value to contribute to the discussion too.

I’m sure you would. I’d really enjoy being at that party. I’ve not heard of  Douglas Tanner or Grace Greene, but I’d like to meet them. Karen Kingsbury was the speaker at the first ACRW (later became ACFW) national conference, so I met her there, and I love Rachel Hauck and Dan Walsh. I’d love to spend time with them again. Now let’s do that for a party for Christian authors of historical fiction, what six people would you invite and why?

First off, I’d invite Sarah E. Ladd to the party. Why? I hate to sound crass, but since she’s currently #1 in Christian fiction with several books showing up on Amazon’s first search page, I’m hoping she’ll give me insights for that kind of financial success. And her books are worthy, too. I previewed Headmistress of Rosemere and will be reading it soon to see how she handles Christian historical fiction. I plan to write in that genre in the future, so studying her work will be instructive—which is why you get to come to this party, too, Lena!

Several of Ginny Dye’s novels also show up on Amazon’s bestseller list, and she looks really friendly in her author photo, so I hope she’ll come to the party, too. Her Bregdan Chronicles series looks interesting and gets rave reviews, so I’m putting those on my reading list.

I’d invite Dan Walsh to this party, too, because I’m assuming his historical novels are as well written and compelling as his contemporary ones are. I hope to read his The Deepest Waters soon.

I’d love it if Tosca Lee accepted an invitation. (I’ll let you know if she does.) I loved her Havah: the story of Eve. It is a creative extrapolation of the Genesis account of Adam and Eve. Ted Dekker is another world-renowned author with much to contribute to our party discussion, I’m sure.

But I’d also invite newcomer Kristi Ann Hunter. Her debut novel A Noble Masquerade is doing quite well and is on my reading list because I enjoyed the quality of Kristi’s prequel novella, which I got free (isn’t she clever?).

There, that should be a nice mix of authors. I’d probably be over in the corner chowing down on the artichoke canapes, but you may be sure I’d be listening to every word, eager to soak up everyone’s advice and pleased to hear of how God is blessing these authors with success.

And I could tell you my funny story of what happened when James took me to a Tosca Lee/Ted Dekker book signing. Many times, people (and other authors) think you have it made with so many books published. What is your most difficult problem with writing at this time in your career?

I love everything about my writing career—the actual writing itself, but also the pre-writing/research that goes into each book. And I actually enjoy the promotional/marketing tasks that go along with being an independent author. The problem comes in juggling it all at the same time. If I concentrate on marketing, which is essential if I’m going to gain new readers, then my writing goes by the wayside. If I keep my nose to the grindstone writing and forget to come out of my cave, then my online presence fades and sales drop. And that’s not good, because then I’d have to get a boring (real) job, instead of doing what I love to do.

Tell us about the featured book.

More Than Meets the Eye is the finale of my Rewinding Time Series. It’s Christian time travel with a unique twist—computer software that “time-surfs” through the history of old houses. They’re also squeaky clean romance, guaranteed to be flinch-free, and the kind of historical fiction I like to read—believable.

The stories are about the adventures of Merrideth Randall, a history professor at a small college who uses the software for her research. I thought of subtitling the series “The Redemption of Merrideth Randall,” because it traces her search for God and her growing understanding of God’s sovereignty over time and events. My dear young Merri (she seems like a real daughter to me) finally accepted Christ in the book previous to this one.

And now in More Than Meets the Eye the romantic plot thread also gets neatly tied up in a bow. Merrideth has been in love with her colleague, physics professor Brett Garrison, since the first book, Once Again. He loves her desperately, too, but broke things off when he realized she wasn’t actually a Christian but only someone going through the motions. They’ve remained friends throughout the series, but it’s been so difficult to pretend not to love each other.

But when Merrideth gets the courage to present the Gospel to her father and the other inmates of Joliet Correctional Center, Brett realizes she is a true-blue believer at last. He kneels on the beige tile floor of the visitor’s room and proposes to her on the spot. Won’t that be something to tell their children one day?

The story goes on to chronicle their misadventures remodeling their dream house in time for the wedding. The situation gets complicated because they are also “grandma-sitting” with a dear old lady named Josephine so she can stay in her beloved Roseberry, one of the Sears houses in Carlinville. And while they’re at her house, they take the time to “time-surf” back to when the 156-house collection was being constructed under the supervision of Elizabeth Spaulding, an astonishing thing considering it was 1918 and women didn’t even have the right to vote yet.

Of course, Merrideth and Brett get their happily ever after. Readers have been telling me how much they’re going to miss Merrideth, Brett, and all the other characters now that the series is done. But no one’s going to miss them more than I will!

Please give us the first page of the book.

 Merrideth stood on the sagging front porch of her very own house watching in satisfaction as the stuffed moose head she and Brett had carried from the hall sailed out of their hands and into the dumpster at the curb. Wiping her hands on her jeans, she grinned triumphantly at him. “There. I said that would be the first thing to go.”

“Rest in peace, Mr. Moose.” Despite the demise of the moose, Brett’s voice was cheery and his breath came out in a puffy little cloud of white steam.

Merrideth hadn’t yet decided which side of Brett Garrison she loved more, the brainy physics professor in the well-cut suits or the brawny handyman in frayed sweatshirts and carpenter pants. Today he had shown up as the latter persona, ready to work, even though she had insisted that he didn’t have to.

He opened the door for her, and she hurried into the front hall to conserve all the deliciously warm air her furnace was pumping out. She owned a furnace—what a thought! It was an ancient thing that according to Brett would need to be replaced in the near future. But today her excitement for her new house far overshadowed any worries about furnaces.

“I still can’t believe I said yes,” Merrideth said, trying to ratchet her enthusiasm down to a level more suitable to a grownup woman—a college history professor at that. “I fully intended to say no, and I would have—probably—if you and your aunt Nelda hadn’t ganged up on me yesterday. How could I say no to a dying woman?”

“We just wanted you to have your dream house.”

“It’s not so dreamy at present, is it?”

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And it does have good bones.”

Through the framed doorway on their left was the living room, which connected to a separate sitting room via tall oak pocket doors. The dining room and kitchen lay in the same configuration to the right. Straight ahead at the end of the hall a staircase with broken and missing balusters led to four large bedrooms and an antiquated bathroom.

The house had started out in 1829 as a dry-goods store owned by a man named James Riggins. Later it had been enlarged and converted into a graciously appointed residence. With all that history and soul, she had decided it was the perfect house for her, even though it was currently in desperate need of restoration.

I’m eager for my book to arrive. How can readers find you on the Internet?

Please visit my website to download my free eBook “The List.” That qualifies you to receive more free eBooks in the future along with other goodies. My website also has a wealth of historical background for each book of the series. [http://www.deborahheal.com]

I’m on Goodreads, [https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5371999.Deborah_Heal]

I love to interact with book lovers on my Facebook page. And you can follow me on Twitter as well. [https://www.facebook.com/DeborahHeal/]

All my books are available on Amazon in both Kindle and paperback. Some have been turned into Audio books as well. [https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00760M3OS] 

Thank you, Deborah, for sharing this new book with us. 

Comments Starter Questions: Have you read any Christian time-travel books you? If so, which is your favorite? Why would you like to read this one by Deborah?

Readers, leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book. You must follow these instructions to be in the drawing. Please tell us where you live, at least the state or territory or country if outside North America. (Comments containing links may be subject to removal by blog owner.)

Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.

The only notification you’ll receive is the winner post on this blog. So be sure to check back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You will have 4 weeks from the posting of the winners to claim your book.

If you’re reading this on Goodreads, Google+, Feedblitz, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, or Amazon, please come to the blog to leave your comment if you want to be included in the drawing. Here’s a link:

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ONLY ONE WAY HOME - Deborah Heal - One Free Book

Welcome back, Deborah. Tell us about your salvation experience.

The Palm Sunday I was eleven, I sat as usual in the pew next to my mom and four siblings at Calvary Baptist Church. In Sunday School earlier, I had recited my memory verse correctly and put a portion of my allowance in the offering basket, as usual. Pastor Moore finished his sermon and invited the lost to come forward, as usual. I was eager for the service to end so we could go home and have fried chicken, as usual. It was an all around usual Sunday.

Until my big brother rose from the pew next to me and went forward to stand next to Pastor Moore at the front. My eyes nearly popped out of my head, and my heart raced while my brain made the startling paradigm shift. I do not think I had been paying all that much attention to the sermon that morning, but all the Sunday School lessons and Bible verses I had heard finally sank in, and I suddenly realized that if my big brother needed to get saved, then I did, too. After all, he had been right there beside me doing all those same good things as usual his whole life, and if they were not good enough to assure him a place in Heaven, then they were not good enough for me either. Now I had a new and fresh understanding that it was not what I did, but what Christ did that mattered.

I do not remember walking the aisle, but there I was at the front, and Pastor Moore was asking us if we desired to accept Jesus as our Savior. I was puzzled about the word “desired” but I got the gist of what he was saying and shook my head a definite yes.

Thinking back, I wonder if Pastor Moore thought my actions were a monkey-see, monkey-do sort of a thing. But that was not the case at all. Because although I was not old enough to understand all the words he was saying, I was old enough to understand the simple Gospel message that I was a sinner and Jesus wanted to save me. I thank God for the people in my life who planted the seed, modeled Christ, and did all the usual good things.

 I had a somewhat similar experience. We had a revival when I was seven years old. My brother, who was eight years old, went forward early in the revival. I told my mother and daddy that I wanted to, and they thought it was just because my brother did. By the end of the week, we had talked enough that they knew I was doing this for myself, so I went forward the last night. Do you have a speaking ministry? If so, tell us about that.

I have had the honor of speaking at book clubs, historical societies, and women’s church luncheons. The focus varies according to the venue, but I enjoy each type of presentation. Who wouldn’t love the opportunity of talking about one’s novel to book club members who have read it and are eager to give their opinions? It still amazes me to hear people discuss—and “get”—the characters and themes that I worked so hard to create.

And talking about the history behind my books to other history buffs is always fun. On one occasion after I had waxed eloquent about Lincoln at an Alton, Illinois, history museum gathering, I was embarrassed to find that a woman in the audience was a published expert on the subject. She graciously assured me not to be embarrassed at all, that she and the other society members enjoyed hearing anyone talking enthusiastically about history. Then she told me that the spot where I stood was just about where Abraham Lincoln would have stood to deliver a speech he gave about local political issues back in 1840. I got shivers.

And I really count it a privilege to be asked to speak encouragement to other Christian women. I’ve discussed topics such as seeing God’s sovereign working in each stage of my life, and how I continue to learn little by little how to wait patiently on Him, and that our finite limitations mean we cannot understand His thoughts and ways, but we can trust Him to bless us.

This is the thread that runs through my books, and when I write about it I’m speaking encouragement to myself, too.

What is the most embarrassing thing that has happened to you and how did you handle it?

Oh, where to begin? There have been so many and I cannot decide which was worst. When I was a teen a curse word slipped out of my mouth at church just as the pastor walked past. Once I was yammering on to my friend about the highlights I just got in my hair, ending with a disparaging comment about fake looking monotone color jobs, just as I realized that was exactly what her hair looked like. Recently on Facebook, I ranted about some political topic, only realizing later that it had not been, as I supposed, in a private chat after all, but quite public. And it has been my solemn pledge never to get political on Facebook.

Do you see a trend here? I open my mouth, and stupid, sinful stuff comes out. In my Time and Again trilogy and Rewinding Time Series, Merrideth sits at her computer watching the lives of people unfolding on her screen. If she wants to, she can observe everything they ever did and listen in on everything they ever said. Furthermore, she is in their heads, knowing at least some of their thoughts. Writing about this is a constant reminder that one day I will stand before God, and my whole life will be revealed for all to see—and not just those public gaffes but also the deeper secret sins that only God knows. What a relief to know that Jesus died for all that! When God looks at me, He sees His Son’s holiness instead of my imperfection.

I’m familiar with the feeling of wishing I had waited and considered the words before I spoke them. People are always telling me that they’d like to write a book someday. I’m sure they do to you, too. What would you tell someone who came up to you and said that?

I get that from time to time. Once at a book signing when a woman picked up my latest novel, I got excited, thinking that a sale was imminent. Then she set it aside and explained to everyone there that anyone can write a book nowadays, and that she was going to when she got around to it. I had to work to keep my smile in place, but I did, and then I told her that I hoped she did write that book one day. I have to admit my attitude wasn’t exactly Christian, because I was hoping that the superior smirk she wore would get wiped clean off her face when she got into the project and began to realize the complexity of the whole “writing a book someday” endeavor.

Others, too, have sounded quite confident in expressing that intention. But some people say it with a wistfulness that touches my heart. I wonder if they feel the same way I do when I see a beautiful scene in nature and have the urge to paint it, knowing sadly that I don’t have the skill to do so. Or maybe they have plenty of skill but just lack the courage to try. Several have told me story concepts that sounded really good, but then expressed their concern about a weakness in grammar.

So whether they say it confidently or wistfully, in all cases, I tell people that they should write their story. Get it down on paper or the computer screen while they still can. Let the ideas flow unrestricted without a single care about the mechanics. The story is the main thing, the important thing. The grammar and punctuation can be fixed. That’s what friends are for.

Who knows what my encouraging words might do for one of these strangers passing through my life? My own courage to write was born in eighth grade when my English teacher wrote these simple words at the top of my short story: “Be sure to give me a copy of your first book.”

Tell us about the featured book.

Only One Way Home is book 2 in my Rewinding Time Series. Here’s what the back cover says about it.

From Professor Randall’s Notebook…

FIELD RESEARCH SITE: Golconda, Illinois. 

GOAL: Trace client’s Frailey ancestors—back to Scotland if possible—and get home in time for dinner.

NOTE to SELF: Do NOT fall in love with Matthias Frailey—even though he is was quite wonderful. Remember, idiot, he’s been dead for over 175 years.

Professor Merrideth Randall’s latest after-hours genealogy consulting gig takes her and friends Abby and John to the small southern Illinois town of Golconda on the Ohio River. She expects to have to research the old-fashioned way at the courthouse. But thankfully, her client’s ancestor Matthias Frailey once hung out in Golconda’s ancient Ferry House Inn, and that means Beautiful Houses, Merrideth’s time-rewinding software, will work after all. 

It doesn’t take Merrideth and her friends long to time-surf back to find out what they need to know about Matthias Frailey and his family. But when they become eyewitnesses to the arrival of the Cherokee on the Golconda Ferry on December 3, 1838, they cannot tear their eyes away from the tragedy that unfolds—nor from Matthias Frailey’s heroic response to it. The people are herded down Main Street on their Trail of Tears, bound for the Oklahoma Country, while the townsfolk only watch, or even cheer. But not Matthias Frailey. He does what he can to help them, especially a very spirited—and very pregnant—woman named White Dove who insists on walking so others may ride in the wagons.

Spending so much time inside Matthias’ head, Merrideth has no doubt that he is the kind, selfless man he appears to be. It’s impossible not to fall a little in love with him—despite the fact that he is from another century. Meanwhile, in the here and now, handsome Golconda historian Aaron Landis is doggedly pursuing her. And back home her McKendree College colleague Brett Garrison keeps calling while he waits for her return. But are they—or any man—worthy of her trust? Too bad there isn’t a way to time-surf in their heads. Now that would be a dating tool she could really put to good use.

Please give us the first page of the book.

Merrideth Randall ran a strand of blond hair through her flatiron. She took the time to do it every morning, because she figured if she had to have flat hair it might as well be shiny flat hair. But it was a tiresome process, made worse by her inadequate bathroom. For one thing, the mirrored medicine cabinet had been installed at a height suitable for her apartment’s ten-foot ceilings—if the person trying to use it was also of gigantic proportions—but since she was only five foot two inches, she had to stand on tippy-toes if she wanted to see what she was doing. She reminded herself that at least her calves got a good workout.

Besides, it was impossible to be annoyed on such a glorious day. The window behind her claw-foot tub was filled with golden sunlight, and if the weatherman hadn’t lied, temperatures would be more typical of April than January. More importantly, it was the Friday morning of a four-day weekend, her grading was caught up, and she would not have to be back at McKendree College until her Tuesday afternoon freshman history class. Furthermore, she would be spending the day antique-hunting, one of her favorite pastimes, with her best friends Abby and John Roberts.

Rising on tiptoes once again, she examined her hair. It actually looked pretty good, and so she added “good hair day” to the weatherman’s propitious forecast. Setting the flatiron on the ledge of the pedestal sink, she bent to get her little zippered cosmetic case from the cardboard box on the floor. She took out her bottle of honey-beige foundation and wedged the case behind the faucet. Although she’d lived there for over five months, her grooming paraphernalia and towels were still in boxes. Although the bathroom was large, it had little actual storage space. But today, if all went well, she would bring home a small antique dresser in which to put all her stuff.

Since her apartment was part of a historic old house—one of the many that graced Lebanon, Illinois—something antique was the only rational choice. She figured the price for a solid wood dresser would probably be only a little more than the plastic (horrors!) shelving units at Walmart. Something in cherry or mahogany would be nice, although pine would be acceptable—and probably less expensive. She felt confident she would find something that would work. Antique dealers from several states would be at the Marion Cultural Center for the annual two-day event called the Egyptian Caravan of Antiques.

She smoothed on a bit more foundation and then put the bottle back in the case and took out her mascara. In the process, her elbow bumped the flatiron. It skittered over the porcelain surface, but she caught it right before it would have landed in the basin under the dripping faucet. She was grateful to have good reflexes, because getting electrocuted would have really put a damper on the nice day. Grinning at her thought, she unplugged the flatiron and set it back down. The cord snagged on the cosmetic case, sending it to the floor. The bottle of foundation shattered on the black and white checkerboard tile, splattering honey-beige makeup to the four corners of the room.

Drat! It was almost seven o’clock, and like her, John was habitually prompt. She would have to hurry in order to get downstairs before he and Abby arrived. She got paper towels from the kitchen and wiped up the broken glass and the worst of the gloppy mess. The doorbell rang. The floor was still smeary, but there was no time to mop it. John hated to be late. The doorbell rang again.

“All right. All right. Hang on, would you?” She washed the makeup from her hands and hurried to the living room where she got her keys from the faux mantel of her faux fireplace and her coat and oversized leather shoulder bag from her lumpy couch.

She opened the door, expecting to see John. Instead, Brett Garrison stood there, hand raised in mid-air. Grinning, he pretended to knock on her forehead. As usual, his smile made her stomach do flips. As usual, she forced it to stop its gymnastics.

How can readers find you on the Internet?

I hope readers will visit my website to get more about the real people and events that inspired my books.

WEBSITE: www.deborahheal.com

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE

Thank you, Deborah, for sharing this new book with us. I can hardly wait for my copy to arrive, so I can dive into it. I know my readers will love it, too.

Readers, here are links to the book. By using one when you order, you help support this blog.

Only One Way Home: An inspirational novel of history, mystery & romance (The Rewinding Time Series) (Volume 2) - paperback
Only One Way Home: an inspirational novel of history, mystery & romance (The Rewinding Time Series Book 2) - Kindle

Leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book. Please tell us where you live, at least the state or territory. (Comments containing links may be subject to removal by blog owner.)

Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.

The only notification you’ll receive is the winner post on this blog. So be sure to check back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You will have 4 weeks from the posting of the winners to claim your book.

If you’re reading this on Goodreads, Google+, Feedblitz, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, or Amazon, please come to the blog to leave your comment if you want to be included in the drawing. Here’s a link:
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ONCE AGAIN - Deborah Heal - One Free Book

Dear Readers, Deborah Heal is an author with an entirely different time travel novel. She uses current technology in a unique way to facilitate the time travel aspect. I found it fascinating. And since it interweaves a complete contemporary story with a complete historical story, this adds even more uniqueness to the whole book. I loved her settings and her characters. I think you will, too.

Welcome back, Deborah. What are some of the spiritual themes you like to write about?

The overarching theme of my Rewinding Time Series is that our sovereign God works his good and perfect plans in our lives, and that if we could experience time from His perspective we would see that more clearly. Merrideth, the main character, is a Christian in name only, and throughout the series readers will see how God works in her life to bring her to true saving faith in Christ.

In Once Again, Merrideth sees Christ’s parable about forgiving seven times seventy times lived out in the life of a young pioneer preacher who takes the Gospel to the very Indian tribe that scalped his brother. Merrideth can’t decide whether he’s a hero or a fool to risk his life, but she is definitely impressed. She wonders how she would ever be able to forgive those who have injured her.

In book 2, Only One Way Home, Merrideth learns another piece of the Gospel message when Matthias Frailey tells White Dove that it is not her Cherokee rituals or his own white religious customs that bring salvation. It is only Christ’s redeeming sacrifice on the cross.

How Sweet the Sound will showcase the truth of Romans 3:23. “For ALL of sinned and fallen short…” Merrideth begins to understand that there’s no sense comparing one’s own sins to another person’s because neither of you measure up.

And so it will go until she finally accepts Christ.

What other books of yours are coming out soon?

I hope to have How Sweet the Sound, book 3 in the Rewinding Time Series, out by May of this year. This time Merrideth will take her amazing software to Cave-in-Rock, a tiny southern Illinois town on the banks of the Ohio River. The actual cave from which the town gets its name has a long history of human habitation. Indians and French trappers found it a convenient place to stop while traveling the Ohio. Then when land-hungry easterners began coming down the river on their flatboats, bound for the frontier with everything they owned, river pirates found the cave an exceedingly convenient place for a hideout from which to relieve the pioneers of their earthly goods and many times their lives. Truly truth is stranger than fiction!

I really want to feature this next book on my blog. If you could spend an evening with one contemporary person (not a family member of yours), who would it be and why?

I’d love to have a leisurely chat with presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin so she could tell me lots of interesting tidbits  and help me put our history into perspective.

What historical person would you like to meet (besides Jesus) and why?

I’d like to get to know President Thomas Jefferson so I could find out what he actually believed and felt about slavery.

How can you encourage authors who have been receiving only rejections from publishers?

I tried off and on for eighteen years to sell my first book, and it was soundly rejected everywhere I turned. But then I began to hear about the self-publishing option and decided to try that. And it’s working! I am very happy to not have to depend on a publisher seeing the merit of my work. Instead, my books rise or fall on the basis of reader response. It is so rewarding to find that many readers do enjoy what I write. So don’t wait on publishers as long as I did. Go forth and publish. Just study what you need to in order to turn out a good product.

Tell us about the featured book.

Once Again: an inspirational novel of history, mystery, and romance is about a young woman named Merrideth Randall whose day job is teaching history at a small college. But after hours she turns to her first love, historical research. And she has a tool other historians can only dream of—a computer program that rewinds time!

Merrideth makes a virtual visit to the 1780s, hoping to be the first to locate an ancient pioneer fort. Along the way, she gets a first-hand look at the lives of the courageous pioneers of the Illinois Country, who withstood Indian attacks, hardship, and loneliness to settle the rich land.

One of the settlers is James Garretson, who risks his life to take the Gospel to the very tribe that wreaked havoc on his family. Merrideth is amazed that he could forgive a crime so huge. Hero or fool, James Garretson is the ancestor of her colleague Brett, a physics professor at McKendree College.

With her findings, Merrideth is able to help Brett with his genealogy, but she can’t tell him everything she learned—like that he inherited his black hair and green eyes from James Garretson, or that his aunt’s poetry is eerily similar to the verse Garretson’s wife Isabelle used to compose at her spinning wheel.

Brett has rock-star status on campus, but amazingly enough, he seems to be pursuing Merrideth—in spite of her firm policy against dating co-workers. She would love to tell him about her amazing program, but discretion is not his strong suit. She has secrets about herself that she’d just as soon he didn’t find out either. One virtue Brett does have is patience, and he’s quite willing to wait for Merrideth to figure things out.

Please give us the first few pages of the book for my readers.

“We have to remember that in 1811, the Illinois Territory was the wild, wild West.” Merrideth Randall realized she was leaning on her podium and straightened her spine. At five-foot-two it was difficult enough to look like a mature professional without slouching. At twenty-six, she was the youngest professor at McKendree College and only a few years older than her students, which was why she always dressed in suits and high heels. At times, she had a feeling it only made her look like a child playing dress-up.

She had started the day feeling confident in her new black gabardine suit. The label had bragged about the comfortableness of the three-season fabric. But even though it was a cool October afternoon, she was already sweating like a pig.

Furthermore, the fabric was a magnet for her hair. She picked two long blond strands from her sleeve and turned her eyes back to her students.

 “And as amusing as it seems today, the governor’s job description then included riding into battle, leading the soldiers at his command.”

Apparently, they didn’t find that historical tidbit as amusing as she did. The class continued to look apathetic. She mentally sighed. At least they were awake, to a degree. And most were even taking notes, in a desultory fashion. But the gleam of curiosity she had hoped to see in their eyes was absent. As usual.

McKendree College was small, the current enrollment only about 2,000. But it didn’t aspire to be a large institution. Class sizes were intentionally kept small and intimate, and the professors and instructors were encouraged to get to know their students, to interact with them outside of class. All that had weighed heavily when Merrideth was deciding which of the three job offers she would accept. But sometimes she wondered if she should have chosen the large school in Chicago where she could remain anonymous and not be expected to remember the students’ names, at which she was an epic failure. In the end she decided that a big school would be too intimidating. No, it was much better to be in a small pond where there was a better chance of becoming a big fish one day.

She had thought, naively it turned out, that after a couple of weeks at McKendree she would be nicely settled in, and her history classes would be well on the way to becoming campus favorites. Instead, after over a month, her students remained aloof and only mildly interested in what she had to say. She found their nonverbal feedback incredibly dampening, to say the least. It was a vicious cycle, of course. The more she worried about being boring, the more difficult it was not to be.

Marla White, a seasoned pro from the French Department had advised her to act confident even if she didn’t feel so. “And whatever you do, don’t ever let ’em see you bleed, or they’ll be on you like wolves.”

But that was easier said than done, wasn’t it? Taking a deep breath, she shuffled her notes and soldiered on.

“Tecumseh was off trying to organize a coordinated Indian resistance that November day in 1811. If he had been successful…”

A student in the third row—Allison? Alyssa?—raised her hand. She was a beautiful girl and always looked cool and collected, as if she weren’t familiar with the human phenomenon of perspiration. And as far as Merrideth could tell her  blond highlights had not come out of a bottle. She was one of the few students who ever asked a question or offered a comment. Unfortunately, they were usually so tinged with sarcasm that Merrideth had begun to dread calling on her. But now as always, hope rose that at last she was about to experience a lively interaction with a student.

Merrideth pointed to the raised hand. “Yes?”

 “The proper term is Native American. Besides, they aren’t really Indian anyway.”

Merrideth was sure the smile she had drummed up looked fake, but it was the best she could do when her teaching competence was under direct attack. “I’m glad you brought that up. I recently learned that most Native Americans actually prefer to be called Indians.”

The girl looked decidedly skeptical.

“I was surprised myself.” Merrideth glanced down and shuffled her notes again. “Anyway, if Tecumseh had been successful, who knows what the map of America would look like today? While he was gone, Harrison and a force of 1,000 soldiers defeated the Shawnee at Prophetstown.

“At the time it was considered a huge victory for Harrison. He picked up the nickname Tippecanoe from the river of that name near the battlefield. Twenty-nine years later in 1840, a Whig campaign song called Tippecanoe and Tyler Too helped Harrison win the presidency.”

The girl raised her hand again. “Yes?” Merrideth said as pleasantly as she could.

“Will that be on the final exam? The nicknames and songs, things like that?”

“Maybe. Probably.”

A disdainful expression flittered over the student’s face, and then she lowered her eyes and resumed writing. Just as Merrideth looked back at her own notes, the girl muttered, “I registered for Illinois History, not Trivial Pursuit.” It was said loudly enough that it was clearly intended for Merrideth to hear.

She stifled the urge to smack her. To reward herself for her restraint, she decided to wrap up class three minutes early. “But historians know,” she said tersely, “that the victory at Prophetstown only ratcheted up the violence between the whites and Indians. Six months later when the War of 1812 began, the Indians naturally sided with the British. We’ll talk more about that next time. Be sure to keep up with your readings.”

The students began gathering their things with an eagerness that was a further insult to Merrideth’s confidence. Then she remembered her announcement and called out, “Don’t forget, if you want to be a volunteer at the Fort Piggot archaeological dig Saturday, there’s still time, but you’ll have to be a member of History Club. Just let me know if you need a sign-up form.”

No one responded. No one even looked interested, much less stayed behind to get the details. She felt her face heating and turned away to gather her own things. Her embarrassment grew ten-fold when she realized Dr. Garrison was watching her from the door. With a mind of its own, her hand started to rise, intent on checking her hair. But she forced it back down to her side. She would not allow Brett Garrison to trigger any fluttery female instincts she might have.

 

The thought that the most popular professor on campus had witnessed her debacle just added icing to the cake. She had heard that gushing groupies congregated outside his classroom like he was Indiana Jones, and they were there to catch him before he cast off the trappings of academia and went off on an action-packed adventure.

But Brett dressed more stylishly than Indy had—never in tweed jackets with leather patches on the elbows, for sure. And he was much better looking than Harrison Ford. His black hair was thick, and his eyes were so green that Merrideth once asked Marla White if she thought he wore colored contacts. Marla had smiled knowingly and said, “No, ma’am! They’re the real deal. It’s the Irish in him.”

The moment she was introduced to him at the faculty icebreaker at President Peterson’s residence, he had set her nerves on edge. Sure, he was pretty to look at, but his vanity ruined it. Twice she had caught him admiring himself in Peterson’s hall mirror. She had avoided him ever since.

But now she smiled and said, “Hi. Don’t you math types do your thing in Voigt Hall?” It hadn’t come out in the friendly manner she’d intended, and she mentally kicked herself for letting her rattled nerves show. He sure didn’t need anything more to stoke his ego.

How can readers find you on the Internet?

I hope readers will visit my website to find out more about the actual people, places, and events that my books are based on.

Website: http://www.deborahheal.com

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00760M3OS

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DeborahHeal

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/DeborahHeal

Thank you, Deborah, for introducing my readers to your new series.

Readers, here are links to the book. By using one when you order, you help support this blog.
Once Again: An inspirational novel of history, mystery & romance (The Rewinding Time Series) (Volume 1) - paperback
Once Again: An inspirational novel of history, mystery, & romance (The Rewinding Time Series Book 1) - Kindle

Leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book. Please tell us where you live, at least the state or territory. (Comments containing links may be subject to removal by blog owner.)

Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.

The only notification you’ll receive is the winner post on this blog. So be sure to check back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You will have 4 weeks from the posting of the winners to claim your book.

If you’re reading this on Goodreads, Google+, Feedblitz, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, or Amazon, please come to the blog to leave your comment if you want to be included in the drawing. Here’s a link:
Http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com

EVERY HILL AND MOUNTAIN - Deborah Heal - One Free Book

Welcome, Deborah. God has really been moving in your writing life. What do you see on the horizon?

I feel so blessed to be able to do something I only dreamed of as a girl. I think my skills (and certainly my confidence) have improved with each book I’ve written. And the ideas for stories are flowing—ideas for lots and lots of stories. I see myself writing for many years to come.

Tell us a little about your family.

I married my high school sweetheart Bob Heal, and we’ll be celebrating our 40th anniversary in July. Our daughter lives with her family in North Carolina. One son and his family lives in Dallas, and another lives in St. Louis, just across the Mississippi from where we live. We have three sweeeeet granddaughters and a grandson on the way. And then there are our furry boys Digger and Scout.

Let me know when you come to the Dallas area. Maybe we can get together. Has your writing changed your reading habits? If so, how?

Writing has forever changed my reading experience because now I notice the structure and conventions of a novel. This makes reading a good book even more enjoyable and reading a mediocre or poor book less tolerable. The biggest change, however, is now I have a lot less time to read because I’m so busy writing my own stories. 

What are you working on right now?

I’m in the research and brainstorming stage for a retelling of the story of Ruth and Boaz from the Old Testament. I’ve always thought it was such a great romantic story. The challenge will be making it work in a modern setting with modern characters.

What outside interests do you have?

I love to garden and have extensive perennial and vegetable beds and landscaping to maintain. It’s good I love it so much or I’d never pry myself away from my computer to get fresh air and exercise.

How do you choose your settings for each book?

The southern Illinois settings for my trilogy are ones I’ve long been intrigued by. I grew up down the road from Miles Station, the lost town featured in Time and Again. Unclaimed Legacy is set where my heroes Lewis and Clark camped for the winter of 1803 before taking off on their great exploration. I was born in Eldorado, the neighboring town to Equality, the setting of Every Hill and Mountain. I wrote about my personal connection to the setting.

If you could spend an evening with one historical person, who would it be and why?

Like many people, I’d probably choose Abraham Lincoln. He’s always been a hero because of his connection to my town. At the risk of being disillusioned, I’d like to know what his true beliefs were, including his complex faith.

What is the one thing you wish you had known before you started writing novels?

I wish I’d known that I actually could write. My 8th grade English teacher’s encouragement kept my dream of being a writer flickering in a secret place in my heart. But it was years before I overcame my low self-confidence and dared to try.

What new lessons is the Lord teaching you right now?

The Lord keeps teaching me of his love and acceptance in spite of my sinfulness and brokenness. Hallelujah for Romans 8:1: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…”

What are the three best things you can tell other authors to do to be successful?

I’ve got four things. To be a writer, first be a reader. I think what skill I have comes from soaking up the syntax, style, and conventions of a million books I’ve read.

Second, do begin to write. Get the story on the page. It won’t be perfect, but you can’t make it better if you don’t write it.

Third, keep writing. I’ve noticed that with each book the process becomes easier, faster, more natural.

Fourth (but really first), pray.

Tell us about the featured book.

Those who have read the first two books in my trilogy know that Abby and her friends have a computer program that enables them to travel virtually back in time. The program works in conjunction with old houses that have “soul.” And I thought there could be no better house to feature in the third book than the Old Slave House, located (ironically) in Equality, Illinois. Since my family was from there, I had grown up hearing stories about it. I wanted to explore what it would be like to be a descendent of the people associated with the house. Which would be worse, I wondered, to be a child of John Crenshaw the slave master, or a child of the breeding slave he kept there? Readers can find out about the historical characters the novel is based upon on my website.

The major theme in Every Hill and Mountain is racism, and writing it was cathartic. I like to think of the novel as an assignment I turned in for the lifelong sanctification class I’m in. Read my article “One White Woman’s Education.”

Please give us the first page of the book.

Every Hill and Mountain begins only an hour or so after the end of Unclaimed Legacy. The opening pages connect readers to the previous two books and set the scene for the new story:

“Did Doug say how long this is going to take?” Abby said, blowing her bangs out of her eyes.

“And remind me. Why exactly are we using this antique instead of an electric one?”

“He said using an electric ice cream maker meant it didn’t count as homemade,” John said, wiping his forehead with first his left T-shirt sleeve and then his right.

“Really?”

 

“Really. And I’m supposed to crank until I can’t turn it anymore.”

The day was typical for southern Illinois in late August: hot and humid. At least she was sitting on an icy, albeit uncomfortable, seat in the shady pavilion. Doug Buchanan had to be sweltering out in the sun where he manned the deep-fat fryer along with three of his cousins. Wearing a Cardinals cap to keep the sun off his balding head and an apron that said, “Kiss the Cook,” Doug looked so friendly and benign that Abby wondered again how she had ever thought of him as The Hulk.

One of Doug’s cousins gestured their way and said something that she couldn’t make out. Whatever it was made the other men laugh.

A short distance away, under the shade of a maple tree, Jason and Jackson, Doug’s twin teenage sons were practicing their washer-throwing skills in preparation for the tournament to be held tomorrow. The washers clinked and clacked, depending upon how, or whether, they hit the sand-filled wooden boxes. Those sounds along with the rhythm of the turning crank and the hot afternoon made Abby drowsy, and she surveyed the activities going on around her through a sleepy haze.

Next to them, Doug’s wife Dora and a dozen other Buchanan women began unpacking coolers and setting out dish after dish onto the groaning picnic tables under Alton City Park Pavilion #1. Abby turned and smiled at the look on John’s face as cakes, pies, bowls of watermelon chunks, and dozens of other goodies made their appearance.

 “Hey, Dora, is that potato salad?” he asked.

“Yep,” she said with a wide smile. “And I brought macaroni salad and deviled eggs.”

John sighed blissfully.

“This is nothing. Wait’ll tomorrow,” Doug called to them. “That’s when the ladies go all out. I heard Aunt Hil’s making her chocolate chip cake.”

Under the second pavilion reserved for the event, Eulah and Beulah played dominoes with several of the other elderly relatives. Fanning themselves with paper plates, they chattered happily while they waited their turns.

Abby smiled and a wave of contentment washed over her, knowing that she had been instrumental in getting the Old Dears in touch with their Buchanan relatives. And now the 85-year-old twins were at their first-ever family reunion.

Eleven-year-old Merri came over, panting and red-faced, but smiling. On each arm clung—as they had from the first half hour there—an adoring little girl. One little blonde looked about four, the other about six.

How can readers find you on the Internet?

I hope readers will check out my website for more information about the history behind my books. http://www.deborahheal.com If they sign up for what I call V.I.P. Perks they will be alerted when my next books will be released and when they will be free or reduced. I also connect with readers through my Facebook author page http://www.facebook.com/DeborahHeal and Twitter: https://twitter.com/DeborahHeal

Thank you, Deborah, for sharing this book with us.


Readers, here are links to the book. By using one when you order, you help support this blog.
Every Hill and Mountain (Time and Again) (Volume 3) - paperback
Every Hill and Mountain (Time and Again) - Kindle


Leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book. Please tell us where you live, at least the state or territory. (Comments containing links may be subject to removal by blog owner.)

Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.

The only notification you’ll receive is the winner post on this blog. So be sure to check back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You will have 4 weeks from the posting of the winners to claim your book.

If you’re reading this on Google +, Feedblitz, Facebook, Linkedin, or Amazon, please come to the blog to leave your comment if you want to be included in the drawing. Here’s a link.
Http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com

TIME AND AGAIN - Deborah Heal - One Free Book

Welcome back, Deborah. Why do you write the kind of books you do?

I combined two of my favorite genres—historical fiction and mysteries—to write my Time and Again series. The first purpose of my writing is to proclaim God’s grace through the vehicle of storytelling. I came close to getting Time and Again published many years before it actually was when an agent, who liked the premise of using a computer program for virtual time travel, told me that if I got the Christian stuff out of it she could sell the book to a publisher. I thought about it for about a second and then came to my senses.

Besides when you came to know the Lord, what is the happiest day in your life?

Our first child, born Christmas Eve 1975, was my very own living doll for Christmas. I was filled with the same joy when our second and third children came along.

How has being published changed your life?

Getting that first book contract gave me the courage to really begin writing in earnest. Now I spend much less time on other pursuits and a lot more time writing. The Lord has been so gracious to give me what I consider the perfect job at just the right time in my life.

What are you reading right now?

I just finished reading a whole slew of books as research for the third book in my trilogy. Some of them are: Black Like Me, Growing Up Black, Escape Betwixt Two Suns; Slaves, Salt, Sex & Mr. Crenshaw, and The Emancipation of Robert Sadler. (Read my review of this awesome book here.) Does this give you a clue of my topic? Of course non-fiction is work, not fun, and so I’m taking a break to read Ken Follett’s Fall of Giants. Next up is Tracy L. Higley’s Isle of Shadows. Both are historical fiction.

What is your current work in progress?

I’m working on book three in the trilogy. The working title, Up from Egypt, is one that has been used many times before, so I guess I’ll have to come up with something else eventually. But it is so apt because the story is set in the deep south of Illinois, which is nicknamed Egypt or Little Egypt, and the historical plot is about slavery. (Yes, Virginia, slavery actually existed in the free state of Illinois.) I hope to have the book ready for publication in the spring of 2013.

What would be your dream vacation?

I’ve always wanted to explore Great Britain’s mysterious Stonehenge and its museums, cathedrals, castles, and pubs. I’d want to visit London, of course, but I’d spend most of my time walking about the green countryside in sensible shoes and a tweed skirt.

How do you choose your settings for each book?

So far, each has been set in southern Illinois because, as they say, write what you know. The region is rich in history with unlimited topics to explore. However, if I ever get the chance to take that vacation to Great Britain, I’d do the first-hand research and then write about one of my Scottish ancestors. After the Battle of Dunbar, Duncan Buchanan, along with many other political prisoners, was transported by Cromwell to Barbados, where he was a slave in the sugar plantations before making it to Virginia Colony.

If you could spend an evening with one person who is currently alive, who would it be and why?

Hmmm. This might sound strange to some of your readers, but I can’t think of a single movie star, singer, or politician I’d like to hang out with. But I hear Dean Koontz is a nice guy. I’d love it if he invited me to bring my manuscript and come on over for dinner with him and his wife. After a nice time chatting about the California weather, he would be anxious to tell me all the things he loved about my manuscript and offer concrete suggestions to improve it. Of course, I’d take copious notes. On the way out the door, he’d say, “Keep in touch,” and hand me a card with his agent’s name and number.”

Actually, very few of the people I interview want to meet a movie star or singer. What are your hobbies, besides writing and reading?

My other great love is gardening. For a while, I even had my own backyard nursery and propagated many of the shrubs, trees, and perennials I planted in the landscape around our ten acres. I never tire of finding new places to tuck in the perfect plant. Over the last several years, my back began suffer from all the bending, digging, hauling, and lifting. Isn’t the Lord good to give me a new career now as a writer?

What advice would you give to a beginning author?

I am sold on the idea of keeping the two sides of my brain happy throughout the writing process. I would advise beginning authors to start with an outline. But then let the right brain free rein to be creative during the brainstorming and composing phases. Worrying about the details, the grammar and punctuation for example, will shut creativity down cold. Let the left brain handle all that after the ideas are on the page.

An interesting perspective that will help many authors. However, I’m one of those who must edit as I go. I just can’t leave a chapter with errors in it and move on. Now tell us about your featured book.

Time and Again is the first book of the trilogy. (Unclaimed Legacy is the second. I’m working on the third now.) Abby’s “time-surfing” adventures begin during her summer-long college service project.

Abby expected to spend the summer in the dilapidated old house in Nowhereville getting to know her student Merrideth.

She didn't expect to get to know Charlotte Miles, the girl who had lived there 160 years before.

She planned to tutor Merrideth in math and English—not history. But that's before the freaky program on her new computer started waking her with its invitation to “take a virtual tour.”

It turns out a lot of stuff happened in that old house … and most of it never made it into the history books.

Time and Again is a story told in the past and in the future. A story of three girls and their journey of self-discovery and faith. 

Sounds interesting. Please give us the first page of the book.

Abby had at first considered volunteering at St. Louis Children’s Hospital for her required Ambassador College service project, so that she could “contribute to the community while also enlarging her horizons.” But her roommate, Kate, had reminded her of her tendency to faint at the sight of blood. Several of her classmates had cho­sen to build homes for disadvantaged families with Habitat for Humanity. But since she had never actually used a hammer before, much less a power saw, being a “companion and tutor to an eco­nomically disadvantaged adolescent” had seemed like a much better choice. After all, it would be good practice for when she became a teacher after graduation.

After packing up her dorm room for the sum­mer and saying good-bye to Kate, Abby had left Chicago and driven south six and half hours, fol­lowing the directions her client’s mom had given, through terrain foreign to her city-girl eyes. Just after the sign that said Brighton, Illinois—pop­ulation 1,750—she turned onto Miles Station Road, which got narrower and bumpier with each mile until there were no more houses, only corn­fields and trees. Then, in the last bit of daylight, she finally crossed the railroad tracks she had been told to watch for and pulled up to the house where she would be spending the summer.

Seeing the house, she began to wonder if she had made the right choice after all. Kate had teased her about being a “governess” and warned her to watch out for dark, brooding men skulking about. Now, getting slowly out of her little blue car, she thought maybe Kate was more right about the Jane Eyre bit than she knew. She stretched and then started up the cracked sidewalk that led to a very old house that stood in the gloomy shade of several huge oak trees, probably as old as the house itself. The two-story house had, no doubt, once been white but had obviously not seen a paintbrush in about a million years. One faded blue shutter hung at a drunken angle, squeaking as it shifted in the wind. There were no shrubs to soften the foundation, just some scrubby grass struggling to survive in the shade.

Service Project, she reminded herself firmly and knocked on the door.

Sounds really interesting. How can readers find you on the Internet?

Please visit my website: www.deborahheal.com and my author page on Facebook: www.facebook.com/DeborahHeal.

My books can be purchased on Amazon. com

Thank you, Deborah, for visiting with us today. Please email me about booking the third book in the trilogy. I'm sure my blog readers would love that.

Readers, l

eave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book. Please tell us where you live, at least the state or territory. (Comments containing links may be subject to removal by blog owner.)

Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.

The only notification you’ll receive is the winner post on this blog. So be sure to check back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You will have 4 weeks from the posting of the winners to claim your book.

If you’re reading this on Feedblitz, Facebook, or Amazon, please come to the blog to leave your comment if you want to be included in the drawing. Here’s a link.

Http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com

UNCLAIMED LEGACY - Deborah Heal - One Free YA Book

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

We become the people we are by the experiences we have and the people we meet, and I freely allow those things to show up in my writing. I can’t imagine not doing so. Of course those bits of myself are rearranged and intermixed with the various characters in new ways.

What is the quirkiest thing you have ever done?

I am an ordinary sort of person, not given to quirkiness. Oh, wait there was that time I… Oops! I can’t tell you about that.

When did you first discover that you were a writer?

I remember being very frustrated as a four-year-old that I couldn’t make my scribbling become words no matter how hard I tried. I first discovered I had a knack for writing stories in 8^th grade. I wrote a scary story about being unjustly confined to a mental hospital. My teacher’s encouraging words on the top of my story sparked my dream to become an author.

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

In elementary school I became A Voracious Reader, beginning with Nancy Drew mysteries and then moving on to those by Agatha Christie and Victoria Holt. I did eventually branch out. I love everything from classics like The Odyssey and Dicken’s Great Expectations to modern popular fiction by Dean Koontz, whose writing I admire for his great characterization.

How do you keep your sanity in our run, run, run world?

I used to be a Wonder Woman, able to multi-task and leap tall buildings. But I couldn’t sustain that. I’ve simplified my life, learning to say no to many of the demands I and others have put on me. I pray. I take walks. I breathe deeply. And I read a good book. Of course.

How do you choose your characters’ names?

Sometimes a name will just pop into my head during the early writing stages and feel just right. In Unclaimed Legacy I gave the bad guy the name of an awful person who once hurt me. I have to admit it was quite satisfying. For other names I thumb through my book of baby names or my local telephone directory.

What is the accomplishment that you are most proud of?

I find great satisfaction in becoming an author after so many years of waiting to get a book contract. I never gave up on my dream (completely) although I have to admit that my confidence took a beating. I wrote Time and Again in 1994 and it was finally published in January of this year!

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

I would be a chocolate lab. They’re beautiful, friendly, trainable, trustworthy, and calm. Everyone loves them. They’re the most popular dog in the U.S.

What is your favorite food?

Chocolate, but that’s so obvious, so I’m going to say pecan pie. I don’t know why we have to wait for Thanksgiving to have it.

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

I wrote Time and Again while under the influence. Fortunately, I got sober before beginning Unclaimed Legacy. Just kidding. What I mean is that having just graduated from college where I studied literature, I tried to emulate the spare style of literary greats like Hemingway and Camus. But then I realized I didn’t even like that style, no matter how revered it is in some circles, so I stopped trying to write LITERATURE (pronounced with a snooty accent). I found it a lot more enjoyable to allow my characters to show their thoughts and feelings.

Tell us about the featured book.

Unclaimed Legacy is the second book in my young adult trilogy. (Each may be read alone, but you may wish to read Time and Again first.) I plan to have the third one ready for publication by spring.

“I call it time-surfing,” Abby said. “It’s like being there,

 except no one can see or hear us.”

“Whatever you call it,” John said, “that was crazy—what we just did.

 Beyond realistic. I mean, I was in that guy’s head

and knew everything he was thinking.”

Abby’s weird computer program is working again. And it comes in handy when they agree to help the Old Dears next door with their family tree. Except Abby and John learn more about one of the ladies’ ancestors than they ever wanted to know. Convicted in 1871 of murder and arson, Reuben Buchanan is a blight on the family’s reputation. But was he really guilty? Abby and John must get inside the mind of a murderer to find out. But while they’re rummaging around in the Old Dears’ family history, they discover the truth of God’s promise to bless a thousand generations … and a legacy waiting to be reclaimed.

Please give us the first page of the book.

Abby managed to get her mascara on without smudging it. It was not an easy task, knowing that if she glanced at the other reflection in the mirror she’d see Merri’s sorrowful eyes staring back at her. At least she wouldn’t have to spend any time on her hair. Whatever she did, it dried in a mass of brown curls.

She smoothed on a bit of lipgloss and then, trying not to feel guilty, smiled encouragingly at the pudgy eleven-year-old beside her. “Come on, Merri, it’s just a lunch date. I’ll be home before you know it. And while I’m gone you’ll get to spend some time with your mom.”

Merri sat on the edge of the tub and morosely petted Kit Kat, her chocolate-colored cat. “But this is just the beginning. I’ll never see you again now that you’re going out with John.”

Abby was glad Merri wanted her around. It was a big improvement from her first two weeks at the old house in Miles Station. Thankfully, the troubled girl had finally begun to accept her help and her friendship.

“I don’t know if I’ll keep ‘going out’ with John. It depends. Besides, I’m your tutor; I can’t go away. You’ll be seeing me all summer.”

“What do you mean, ‘it depends’?”

“Depends on if he turns out like the last guy I dated.”

“The one who wasn’t interested in your personality?”

“Yeah, that one. But as for John… well, so far so good. He’s already earned a star in that department.”

“A star?”

Abby blushed. “Well…see, whenever I meet a guy I’m interested in going out with, I imagine a chart for him labeled Possible Marriage Material. Then I give him imaginary stars for things I like about him.”

“Like being tall and handsome?”

“He is that. But, I’m looking for character qualities.” Abby gathered the last of her things and zipped her toiletry case. “Like I always say, beauty is more than skin deep.”

How can readers find you on the Internet?

Please visit my website: www.deborahheal.com and my author page on Facebook: www.facebook.com/DeborahHeal.

My books can be purchased on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Deborah-Heal/e/B00760M3OS/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1345552656&sr=1-2-ent

Thank you, Deborah, for sharing this YA book with us.

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