Dear Readers, Darlene
is a long-time, dear writing friend of mine. We’ve been on a writing retreat
together as well as connecting at ACFW national conferences and when I have
spoken at the Tulsa
Welcome back,
Darlene. How did this book come about?
Last year, before the ACFW Conference in September, I was
part of a group of authors who wrote Christmas
Traditions. The group clicked quickly, and we proposed two additional
series to Barbour Publishing.
Barbour contracted with us for Blue Ribbon Brides, and Cindy Hickey decided to publish the Love’s Sporting Chance series with
Forget Me Not Publishing.
I originally expected my novella to be set in Vermont , and that
brought to mind winter sports. I settled on tobogganing: Tobogganing for Two. At
one point, my hero thinks that tobogganing is the most romantic of the winter
sports. And anyone who knows Edith Wharton’s classic Ethan Frome will recognize some similarities. I couldn’t mention it
in the book, unfortunately. The book wasn’t published until nearly forty years
later.
Tell us about the
book’s cover and what makes it unique.
Cindy Hickey designs all the covers for Forget Me Not, and
she’s amazing at it.
My cover features two toboggans, standing upright in the
snow and facing each other, with two intertwining hearts on the snow. I used
that scene in the book, when the toboggans reminds my heroine of a traumatic
experience.
I agree that her
cover designs are wonderful. I love having a really good cover for each of my
books. Please explain and differentiate between what’s fact and fiction in the
book.
Of course my hero, Dr. Jay Andrews, is fictional, as are the
ramps and boardwalks he put up around town.
I made sure that there would be places to toboggan in that
part of Nebraska
by asking my ACFW friends and checking the weather patterns. An October snowstorm
would be rare, but it could happen.
How much research did
you have to do for this book?
Finding the right town took the most work. I am going to add
Tobogganing
for Two to my Holidays of the Heart collection as a Thanksgiving story.
For that, I needed a very special town:
A town with a name that reminds me of Thanksgiving
A town in the west
A town far enough north to have snow in October/November
A town with enough rolling hills or prairie to allow for
tobogganing.
I ended up finding two towns, Plymouth ,
Kansas , and Plymouth , Nebraska Nebraska ,
but I kept confusing the history of one town with the other.
What are some of the
most interesting things you found about this subject that you weren’t able to
use in the story?
I would have loved to include to include the social
gatherings that took place at the Carter’s home. One of the issues that my
heroine faces, however, is that her sister is paralyzed and can’t go up and
down stairs. So they remain homebodies.
What inspired and
surprised you while you were writing the book?
Hmm. Perhaps it was imagining how a Civil War veteran dealt
with a 19th-century version of PTSD. I’ve read about the horrible operating
conditions and almost casual amputations. What was that like for the doctors? How
would it affect them when they returned home? That’s what my hero is dealing
with.
I see so many ads asking us to help returning vets. I
confess I am as clueless to the extent of their suffering as the people of Plymouth .
What do you hope the
reader takes away from the story?
That God can heal painful memories and free us from fear.
What is the next
project you’re working on?
I plan to spend November doing Nano. I’ve spent the last
year writing novella after novella. Writing a 50-60 K book with everything else
I’m doing has become difficult. So I have planned out a new mystery series, and
I hope to complete a rough draft by the end of the month. My heroine is a home
health aide—the murder victim is a healthy elderly woman with a broken hip who
dies the night after her 80th birthday party. I’m going to have a blast writing
it!
I think I’ll try
Nano, too. I need to write book two of my Love’s Road Home series, because two
editors have requested the full manuscript of the first novel in the series. What
do you do when you have to get away from the story for a while?
I have a long list writing-related “to dos”: interviews,
Facebook, planning, writing devotionals ... and I also do a lot of reading, word
search puzzles, scripture memorization, and more time in prayer. As I get
older, the more I want to know the Lord who has given me eternal life!
And Lena, let me just say, this is interview #10 between
us—when we first worked on Snowbound
Colorado Christmas together, I never expected to come so far, or to be so
lucky as to count you as a friend. Thank you very much!
Yes, our friendship
is precious to me, too. And I loved writing that Christmas collection with you,
as well as the other two authors. Please give us the first page of this new
novella.
“Hurry up, ladies. I’ve got a schedule to keep.” The
stagecoach driver was eager to get back on schedule. He’d lost time when a dead
bull blocked the road on the way from Lincoln .
In spite of his complaint, he fell into conversation with the storekeeper where
he had parked the carriage.
Laura Evans gritted her teeth but dismounted without saying
a word. By now he should know her sister, Eliza, needed extra time getting up
and down. He had panicked the first time he’d seen her bath chair. The shotgun
rider lifted down their trunks while Laura faced Eliza. She forced a brave
smile on her face. “We’re here at last, sister.”
When the shotgun rider grabbed Eliza’s chair, he stumbled a
step, and Laura feared it would fall. “Be careful with that!”
He recovered in time and maneuvered it to the ground. “What
in the dickens is this thing?” he grumbled.
Laura checked the chair over. Sixteen hundred miles by train
and stagecoach had only caused a few scratches. “It’s my sister’s bath chair.”
She rolled the wheels, which enabled the chair to move to the carriage. After
she scooped her sister’s light form in her arms, she placed her in the adjacent
chair.
“We’re in Plymouth .”
Eliza spoke when she regained her breath from the transition into the chair. A
light wind lifted her brown hair, drawing attention to her sparkling hazel eyes.
“And Aunt Minnie is waiting for us. Her home shouldn’t be
very far from here.”
It felt so good to be free of the stagecoach. Laura’d hated
being squished between Eliza and a large man. Every time they hit a bump, Eliza
quivered. Not surprisingly, none of the men offered to help. She peered up and
down the street, but the doctor Aunt Minnie had promised would meet them was
nowhere to be seen.
Eliza breathed deeply and sighed as Laura tucked a blanket
over her lap. “It even smells wonderful.”
Laura wasn’t so sure. So far the dust and other odors of a
western town appealed to her less than the salty, fishy air of her home in Maine . The stagecoach
driver had finished his discussion with the storekeeper and headed out of town
on his route.
The storekeeper saw Laura and Eliza in the middle of the
street and smiled. “Welcome to Plymouth ,
ladies. I’m John Carter, the owner of this fine establishment. How may I assist
you?” He tugged at his chin. “Let get you and your things onto the boardwalk
and then we’ll figure out what to do next.”
He reached for the bath chair handles but Laura grabbed them
first. “I’d appreciate your help with our trunks.”
She’d known that two trunks and a bath chair were a lot to
manage during their journey, but they couldn’t do with less, not with the
equipment Eliza needed. By the time Laura had tugged Eliza onto the boardwalk,
the storekeeper had moved the two trunks. “Thank you, Mr. Carter.”
“My pleasure.” He climbed the steps into the store before he
looked back. “You must be Miss Bell’s nieces. I’ll have one of my clerks help
you.”
Laura looked up and down the street. Aunt Minnie had
promised that Dr. Andrews would pick them at the stage stop. Where was he? In
such a small town, Aunt Minnie’s house couldn’t be far away. But Laura couldn’t
manage the trunks as well as the chair, and she had no idea where to find the
house. She probably should accept Mr. Carter’s offer.
Before she spoke, a long shadow fell across the boardwalk.
“Miss Evans? Miss Laura Evans?”
As she was turning around, the man said, “And Miss Eliza
Evans?” The shadow bent over the bath chair.
“Dr. . .” Laura completed her turn. The tallest, handsomest
man she had ever seen towered over her, even though she was standing a step
higher than he. “—Dr. Andrews?”
Her voice wobbled. She moved her foot to regain her balance,
but instead stumbled forward. Into his arms.
I love it so far,
Darlene. How can readers find you on the Internet?
Website/blog: http://darlenefranklinwrites.com/
(2 books will be given away every month, so stop by for further information!)
Twitter: @darlenefranklin
Amazon author page: http://www.amazon.com/Darlene-Franklin/e/B001K8993A/
Thank you, Darlene, for sharing this new book with us. I know my readers as eager as I am to read it.
Readers, here’s a link to the book.
http://www.amazon.com/Toboganning-Two-Christian-Historical-Romantic-ebook/dp/B0173X2RFC/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.)
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