BIO:
Writing as Shelley Bates, she was the winner of RWA’s RITA Award for Best Inspirational Novel in 2005, a finalist for that award in 2006, and, writing as Shelley Adina, was a Christy Award finalist in 2009. Three of her books have shortlisted for the American Christian Fiction Writers’ Carol Award for book of the year. Of her fiction, publisher and industry blogger W. Terry Whalin has said, “Readers will be lost in the vivid world that [she] paints with incredible detail and masterful storytelling.”
A transplanted Canadian, Adina returns there annually to have her accent calibrated. Between books, she enjoys traveling with her husband, playing the piano and Celtic harp, and spoiling her flock of rescued chickens. These days, she makes period costumes and only puts up her hair for historical events and fun.
Tell us how much of yourself you write into your characters.
LOL! This is a difficult thing to detect—sometimes friends have to tell me, and sometimes I can recognize it myself. In The Wounded Heart, I share Amelia’s independence of mind, and I also share her struggle in submitting those unruly thoughts to God. In The Hidden Life (June 2012), Emma, the heroine, is a writer. When she needed a typewriter to work on, I wrote my manual Smith-Corona into her story … and FaithWords subsequently put it on the cover!
What is the quirkiest thing you have ever done?
Most of the quirks my husband has to put up with come about during research. I learned to ride a motorcycle and have a Class M license. I play the Celtic harp. I rescue chickens (you’d be surprised how many need rescuing here in Silicon Valley). But I suppose the oddest is that I have to be able to wear the clothes of a character in order to write her properly. When I was researching a Regency romance, I made a couple of Regency gowns. When I wrote steampunk, I made a Victorian gown, complete with petticoats, bustle … and goggles. And now that I’m writing Amish women’s fiction … well, let’s just say it’s amazing what you can buy on eBay!
When did you first discover that you were a writer?
I was eight. I wrote a school composition at Halloween about a ghost in a graveyard, and my teacher wrote on it that I’d scared her. She was probably just being kind, but I realized for the first time that I could change how people felt through writing. That was the beginning.
Tell us the range of the kinds of books you enjoy reading.
I’m a very eclectic reader. And I can’t read in the same genre that I’m currently writing in, either. So when I write YA, I read Amish fiction and romance. When I write Amish fiction, I read science fiction and mystery. My current favorites are historical mysteries, which I love. I’m so glad I have no inclination to write them, because then I wouldn’t be able to read them!
How do you keep your sanity in our run, run, run world?
The chickens. I have twelve rescue hens at the moment, and there’s nothing like mucking out a chicken coop to ground you. They’re sweet, affectionate companions, and the whole world just has to go on hold for a moment when one of them tugs on my pant leg with her beak and asks for a cuddle.
How do you choose your characters’ names?
It depends. Amelia came to me already named in The Wounded Heart. Sometimes I want a name to have a specific meaning. I go to baby name books and websites to look up names that reflect a facet of my character’s personality. Now that I’m writing about the Amish, the pool of names is somewhat limited (you will not find an Amish teen named Madison or Courtney, for instance). On my last trip to Lancaster County, I dropped into a tiny, out-of-the-way Amish bookstore and picked up a copy of the Old Order Amish Directory 2010, which has tons of names currently in use for all generations.
What is the accomplishment that you are most proud of?
Winning the RITA Award for Best Inspirational in 2005 for Grounds to Believe, the book of my heart, which was written as Shelley Bates.
If you were an animal, which one would you be, and why?
Ha! I would be one of my own chickens J They have all the food and water they want, and the run of the yard, plus the neighbors bring them watermelon and corn in exchange for eggs. La dolce vita!
What is your favorite food?
You would ask me that an hour before supper. I like food, all kinds of it. But on a stormy night in November, you just can’t beat a pot of pierogies, slathered in sour cream and sprinkled with bacon and onions.
And I don’t even know what pierogies are, but I looked them up. They do sound delicious. What is the problem with writing that was your greatest roadblock, and how did you overcome it?
The first 100 pages are the most difficult for me. It takes a while to get deep into the characters and get some traction with their emotions and desires. Once I pass page 100, a switch seems to click in my head and it’s smooth sailing from there.
The Wounded Heart was inspired by a couple of my friends who struggle with chronic disease. One of them nearly died, until she found out that what she thought was fibromyalgia and/or MS was actually something completely different—something curable. That triggered the idea, and setting it in the Amish culture, which has a different system of health care from ours, was a way to increase the conflict. The trilogy as a whole centers around three Amish women who are best friends, and throughout the three novels, they’re working on a quilt. My editor suggested that we include instructions to make the quilt in the back of each book, so that readers could make it along with the characters. So needless to say, I’m making it as I write! I really hope that people will post pictures of their quilts in the “Post Customer Images” section of the book’s listing on amazon.com. Wouldn’t that be fun?
Please give us the first page of the book.
Every piece of fabric held a memory.
Amelia Beiler paused in her sorting of scraps to finger a piece of purple cotton. Sometime last spring in a moment of resolution, she’d cut it up into squares, but she knew every mark. This piece had lain under Enoch’s suspenders—the cotton was worn down to the weft threads and half the dye had rubbed away. It had been his favorite shirt—the one she’d made for him in the weeks before their wedding ten years ago. The collar had never sat properly around his neck, so he couldn’t wear it to church, and the side seams had a maddening way of twisting to his left. But every time he put it on he’d kissed her and said, “You’ve wrapped me in love, Liewi,” and worn it to work in the pallet shop.
She’d learned a thing or two about sewing since then. And about love.
Her lips wobbled and, swallowing hard, she set the scrap aside. It was really only good for the rag bag. But maybe she’d make a quilt just for herself out of such pieces. After all, the things in the rag bag tended to be what you loved the most and wore out, didn’t they? Then she could be wrapped in love, too.
How can readers find you on the Internet?
Come and see me at www.adinasenft.com, or stop by my blog, “A City Girl’s Guide to Plain Living,” at www.adinasenft.com/blog .
My pleasure. We need to have you back with the other two books.
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Readers, here's a link to the book. By using it when you order, you help support this blog.
The Wounded Heart: An Amish Quilt Novel
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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 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
