THE MEASURE OF KATIE CALLOWAY - Serena Miller - Free Book

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

I write historicals because I love the research and challenge of putting myself into the mindset of a heroine from a different era.  I also write some Amish fiction because I live near the largest Amish settlement in the world, and have many friends there. I write Christian fiction because that is who I am. I add a suspense element to each book because I love a good mystery. And I always make certain my book has a happy ending because I don’t even want to read a book that doesn’t have a happy ending—let alone write one!       

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

The Sunday my husband was able, after a very long illness, to once again go back to the job he loves--ministering to our beloved church.      

I totally understand that. I almost lost my husband two and a half years ago, and his recovery was long. How has being published changed your life?

I’ve discovered that I have more discipline than I ever dreamed. Real, honest-to-goodness deadlines with real, honest-to-goodness publishers, scares the pants off me. I’m extremely focused on getting that daily word count finished before I allow myself to go outside and play.

And I’ve discovered that I just love, love, love housework these days! I always pretty much despised it before. Now I find that there’s nothing like staring at a blank computer screen for a couple of hours with a deadline looming, to make scrubbing the toilet seem like a terrific idea. 

What are you reading right now?

A one-thousand page, two-volume set about the five-hundred year history of the Amish. It was written by an 82 year man who spent the past 40 years researching it. It’s hard sledding, but I’m determined to get through it.

What is your current work in progress?

Another historical that is also post Civil War and will have a tie-in with The Measure of Katie Calloway.  This one is about an impoverished immigrant girl who marries a Michigan dirt farmer and helps raise his young family in spite of the fact that he is still grieving his recently deceased wife. The working title is The Endurance of Ingrid Larsen and I will follow this “marriage of convenience” as she helps her husband and his five children survive all the hardships that defined the early settlers of the north woods. He finally realizes the value of this young woman who is quietly holding his life and family together. It will be set in 1871, the year of the great fire that swept Michigan. The main thread of the story is loosely based upon my grandmother’s life, and I have some handwritten history that I intend to weave throughout. 

What would be your dream vacation?

I have two: Taking a train ride across America in one of those expensive private rooms on Amtrak, with only my laptop and a really good idea for a book as my companion. The other one is floating down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers on the Delta Queen paddle-wheeler with my family and friends.  

They both sound like fun to me. How do you choose your settings for each book?

So far, I’ve chosen geographical locations that I’m intimately familiar with. However, the third book I’ll be writing in this north woods series will be set in Copper Harbor, which is in upper Michigan. I’m looking forward to traveling there and exploring the rich copper mining history of the area.

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

Hands down, it would be Allan Eckert, author of the Frontiersman and many other amazing historical works. I would love to sit at his feet and ask questions about how he finds and keeps track of his incredibly intricate historical research.

What are your hobbies, besides writing and reading?

You just had to ask that question, didn’t you? Did my sister put you up to this, Lena?

I have a track record with hobbies that is legendary in my family.

I used to sew—but my neck hurt, and my back hurt, and I would get a headache, and frankly, I just wasn’t any good at it. I finally came to the conclusion that life was too short to be that miserable. Then I discovered thrift stores and never looked back.

I tried to crochet an afghan for my little granddaughter, until I came to the end of my yarn supply and realized that my afghan was three feet across at one end and only a foot wide across at the other end.

I took a crack at playing the hammered dulcimer and stopped when my family started leaving the house every time I sat down to practice.

I used to get all excited about planting a garden and would put one in every spring and feel all good about myself until I would forget I even had a garden. Then my sister, the professional organic gardener, would drop by and have a good belly laugh over my lovely garden of weeds. This scenario repeated itself for several years.

I do still weave a rag rug on an old floor loom from time to time, but these days my main hobby appears to be sitting on the front porch, staring into space, hoping an idea will hit me for a good book…and trying to come up with something quick to make for dinner.    

  

What is your most difficult writing obstacle, and how do you overcome it?

Self doubt. I sort of have this little red devil with a pitchfork sitting on my shoulder, whispering into my ear that whatever I’m writing at the moment is possibly the worst thing ever written by any writer since the beginning of time. He also reads over my shoulder, and makes wise-cracks about how my editor will hate the manuscript so much, she’ll throw it in the trash and tell me never to contact her again.

     

So far, that has not happened. Instead, this year I’ve been contracted to write five more books over the next two years. The devil is a big, fat, liar.

How have I overcome it? I write even harder--just to spite him.       

What advice would you give to a beginning author?

a)  No matter how many A’s you might have made in high school or college English, assume that when it comes to writing commercial fiction, you are as dumb as dirt.

b)  Go to writers’ conferences and soak up everything you can about craft and the business from professionals who are presently in the trenches.

c)  Decide from the beginning that you are in this for the long haul and that you won’t shrivel up and die if a publisher rejects a manuscript.

d)  And—here’s something I really, really wish someone had told me—do NOT tell everybody you know, and the postman, that you are writing a book.  (Yes, I even told the postman.) Ten years down the road, when you are still struggling to get published, some of those people will be saying snarky things like: “So-- when is that book of yours going to get published?”  Or even worse, your great-aunt Tilda will decide that you are the perfect person to write her life story. Unless great-aunt Tilda was an assassin for the CIA, you’ll want to avoid that.

Tell us about the featured book.

Ah, my little Katie Calloway. Oh, how I love that girl! Okay. It’s 1867. The Civil War has ended, but Katie’s husband, a plantation-owner/soldier whose mansion was burned to the ground during General Sherman’s march to the sea, is taking his fury out on her—his “northern” wife. Afraid for her life, Katie escapes north and ends up working as a cook for a rough-and-tumble Michigan lumber camp.  Of course, the owner of the lumber camp falls in love with her, but Katie has a secret—a violent, murderous husband back in Georgia who she is afraid will someday come looking for her.

By the way, I don’t know how in the world the cover artist did it, but she so utterly captured the image of Katie on the front cover of the book—I burst into tears when I first saw it.   

I love your cover. Please give us the first page of the book.

Chapter One

A drop of rain seeped through the sodden roof of the Georgia cabin where Katie Calloway lay. The raindrop fell on her bare foot—a small, welcome kiss on her bruised and battered body.

            She had survived another night.

Maybe there was a God in heaven after all.

 

            Katie eased her head to one side, hoping not to awaken her husband, but her caution was unnecessary. Harlan was gone. Thank God.

And yet, this struck her as odd. It was rare for him to leave without first demanding breakfast, but she didn’t dwell on the fact. She was too grateful that he was no longer lying next to her. Limp with relief, she inched her body off the ancient feather tick mattress, grimacing from the pain. Harlan had been roaring drunk when he staggered home last night. With all her heart, she hoped that her orphaned eight-year-old brother, Ned, had not heard the blows she had silently endured.

            A note lay on the rickety bedside table. She reached for it, stifling a groan at the pain. Her eyes squinted as she tried to read the note in the dark cabin. There had been a time in her life when she would have lit a candle without a second thought, but candles were scarce these days. She seldom used one unless Harlan demanded it. In semi-darkness, she carried the scrap of paper outside the cabin into the faint, early morning light.

How can readers find you on the Internet?

www.serenabmiller.com

Thank you, Serena, for dropping by today.


Readers, here's a link to the book. By using it when you order, you help support this blog.
Measure of Katie Calloway, The: A Novel


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LOVE FINDS YOU IN SUGAR CREEK, OHIO - Serena B Milller - Free Book

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

A lot. For instance, if I didn’t MAKE my heroines march right back up to their rooms and dress nicer--they’d permanently live in jeans, tees, and flannel shirts. That’s an ongoing internal struggle for me, too. Every time I dress up, my inner ten-year-old whines and complains.


What is the quirkiest thing you have ever done?

I won a limbo contest in Trinidad. That was DURING a mission campaign. May I just say that I was very young, very limber, and that steel drum music was amazing.

I remember trying to do the limbo when I was younger. I would have never won a contest. When did you first discover that you were a writer?

Seriously? Last weekend, when I held my first ever book-signing. There were people lining up, complete strangers, who had actually read my book and LIKED it. Until that moment, I wasn’t so sure.

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

Classics, histories, biographies, who-dunnits, women’s fiction, cozy mysteries, inspirationals, suspense, prairie romances, cook books, WWII novels, comics… and the bottoms of tissue boxes in other people’s bathrooms if no other reading material is available.

I know. All that, and the cereal box at breakfast. What other books have you written, whether published or not?

Love Finds You In Sugarcreek, Ohio is my first published novel, but I DO just happen to have a few unpublished manuscripts in my closet. Moriah’s Lighthouse took two years to research and write. It’s about a woman trying to restore the Great Lakes lighthouse where her ancestors were lightkeeper. Of course there is a hunky stone mason who complicates her world. A Way of Escape is a story about the widow of a rural county prosecutor, who is being hunted down by the drug cartel her husband tried to destroy. An innocent man she inadvertently helped put behind bars ends up helping her escape. Finding Mayberry is about a burned-out Detroit cop, secretly addicted to Mayberry re-runs, who tries to find peace by becoming a sheriff in a small Ohio town. His life is greatly complicated by the wife of a man killed by a drunk driver the sheriff was chasing. And then there is The Secret Of Katie Calloway. It is contracted by Revell Publishing for an October 2011 release date and is a historical about a woman who escapes an abusive husband by running to the north wood of Michigan, and becoming a cook in a 1867 lumber camp. I’m polishing that one right now.

I want to feature the Revell book when it comes out. Email me. We'll put it on the schedule right away to save it a place when it first releases. How do you keep your sanity in our run, run, run world?

I walk. And I pray. I try to prioritize. And I don’t shop much.

How do you choose your characters’ names?

I close my eyes and wait for inspiration. If that doesn’t work, I follow my husband around for an hour or two saying things like, “Okay, she has red hair and blue eyes and she’s allergic to persimmons—what do you think I oughta name her?” I’ve tried using those nifty baby name books, but I’m easily distracted and start picking out names for future grandchildren.

Don't bother. The kids probably won't like any you choose. What is the accomplishment that you are most proud of?

Three grown sons who love the Lord, love the church, and seek out Christian fellowship wherever they are.

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

 Every time I watch Ice Age with my grandchildren, I found myself identifying closely with Sid, the clumsy sloth with really good intentions.

He's my favorite character from that movie, too. What is your favorite food?

Watermelon. It’s embarrassing how much I love watermelon.

I love Black Diamonds. I grew up in Arkansas and that's the only kind we had. Then I moved to Texas and for years we only had Charlston Greys, but I love Black Diamonds. What is the problem with writing that was your greatest roadblock, and how did you overcome it?

Problem: Talking myself into believing that I wasn’t lazy just because I preferred writing to nearly anything, except for enjoying my family. Seriously. The guilt over sitting there day after day, year after year, putting words on the computer screen that never sees the light of day is tremendous. Overcoming: A husband who prayed for my writing every day for ten years, while reassuring me that I was following God’s will.

We really need those supportive husbands, don't we? What advice would you give to an author just starting out?

Discipline yourself to write 1000 words per day. If you disengage the internal editor yapping in your ear and just WRITE, 1000 words will take anywhere from a half-hour to an hour. The words don’t have to be any good. They don’t even have to make sense. Just do it. That’s 350,000 words per year. A nice-sized book is 90,000 words. If you do the math, that equals at least two books a year with a whole lot of days left over for research and editing and going to writing workshops to learn how to write even better.

Tell us about the featured book.

Love Finds You In Sugarcreek, Ohio, is an inspirational romantic suspense set in Amish country. The heroine, Rachel, is a Sugarcreek police woman who is suspicious of a mysterious stranger who takes shelter with her three Amish aunts who run a farmhouse inn. Researching this book was one of the great adventures of my life. Because they wanted the book to be accurate, I was accepted into a large Old Order Amish family and given permission to ask all the questions I wanted. As the barriers between us came down, we laughed and talked and shared our hearts and discovered there was a great commonality between us.

I know I'm going to love reading it. Please give us the first page of the book.

The leather on Rachel Troyer’s gun holster creaked as she shifted her weight on the kitchen chair. Her three elderly Amish aunts shot wary glances toward the offending weapon.

“My niece.” Bertha clucked her tongue with disapproval. “Carrying a gun!”

This was an old subject—thoroughly discussed and dissected over the years. Her aunts had made it abundantly clear that they disapproved of her profession as a police officer. Bertha, the old fox, was trying to distract her from the subject at hand, but Rachel was determined to not get sidetracked.

“That’s not what we were talking about, Bertha, and you know it,” she said. “It’s time for the three of you to make a decision. You can’t put it off much longer.”

Square-faced and stolid, Bertha lifted her chin. “This old inn has been welcoming guests ever since your grandfather built it a hundred years—”

“I know the story,” Rachel interrupted. “You’ve told it to me many times. He came from Pennsylvania to Sugarcreek, Ohio, with only a new wife, a mule, and carpenter’s tools. He bought a farm, built a six-bedroom house, filled it with four kids, rented out three of the bedrooms, built two cabins for extra travelers, and tapped the sugar maples he found growing on the place. He was also a bishop in the Amish church. I get it. Grandfather Troyer was a great man. The place has history.”

“Which you do not value.”

“I do. But I value the three of you more.”

Frustrated, Rachel pulled her hair into a tighter ponytail. As their closest relative, it was her sad task to convince her aunts that they were too old and fragile to continue doing the heavy work necessary to keep the small inn running.

Unfortunately, they were of an entirely different opinion.

I can't wait until my book gets here. How can readers find you on the Internet?

http://www.serenabmiller.com/

Thank you, Serena, for spending this time with us.
 
Readers, here's a link to the book. By using it when you order, you help support this blog.














Leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book. (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 6 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. Here’s a link.

http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com/