One of the nicest things about writing for the inspirational market is making friends with other writers who are ready to cheer you on and tell their reading friends about your books. While some writers are very prolific and can put out several books a year, most of us are more like one or two books a year writers. Thanks goodness you readers are ready for many more books than that. So it takes several of us to keep you in stories to entertain you through a year like we’ve just had.
This year has been a strange one for most of us with events canceled or turned into virtual events. That included all the book events I hoped to be part of this year to meet readers and talk about my books. Since those things couldn’t go on as scheduled, Zoom entered into the picture. Businesses are zooming with their employees. Kids are zooming with teachers. And writers are zooming with readers.
Have you done any Zoom meetings yet? It’s not hard. You sign in and then you can either show up on the video or stay hidden behind your picture. You can turn on your microphone and say something or stay silent and listen. I’ve done a few Zoom meetings with readers and writers. So, I was excited when Sarah Loudin Thomas suggested I join her and Cindy Sproles for An Appalachian Christmas Zoom event with readers. I know you’ll love meeting Sarah and Cindy if you aren’t already big fans of their stories.
Let’s meet them now. Clink on their names to link to their websites to see all their books.
Sarah Loudin Thomas grew up on a 100-acre farm in French Creek, WV, the seventh generation to live there. Her Christian fiction is set in West Virginia and celebrates the people, the land, and the heritage of Appalachia.
Sarah is a fund-raiser for a children’s ministry who has time to write because she doesn’t have children of her own. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Coastal Carolina University and is the author of the acclaimed novels The Sound of Rain and Miracle in a Dry Season–winner of the 2015 Inspy Award. Sarah has also been a finalist for the Christy Award, ACFW Carol Award and the Christian Book of the Year Award. She and her husband live near Asheville, NC.
Cindy K. Sproles is an author and a speaker, whose dream is to do nothing more than craft words that speak from the heart. God’s plan seems to be for her to write and teach the craft. With God’s guidance, Cindy is expanding her horizons. We’ll see how He uses her.
Cindy is a mountain gal. Proud of her heritage, she was born and raised in the Appalachian Mountains where life is simple, words have a deep southern drawl, and colloquialisms like, “well slap my knee and call me corn pone” seem to take precedence over proper speech. Apple Butter, coal mining, the river, pink sunrises, and golden sunsets help you settle into a porch swing and relax. Family, the love of God, and strong morals are embedded into her life in the mountains. Teaching writers, spinning fiction tales about life in the mountains, history, and down-home ideas find their way into all she does. “I love to write devotions, to seek after the deeper side of Christ, and to share the lessons He teaches me from life in the hills of East Tennessee. I am a writer. A speaker. A lover of God’s Word and friend to all.” This is Cindy Sproles. Welcome home to the mountains.
And of course, you already know me. I’ll be there too talking about my Appalachian books. Even though, unlike Sarah and Cindy, I didn’t grow up in the Appalachian Mountains, I did grow up a Kentucky country girl with the same kind of tie to the land that most of the mountain families have. I’m looking forward to their mountain stories and I’ll have some Christmas stories to share too. We’ll have time to answer your questions. To top off the fun, we are doing some book giveaways to those who come to our Zoom meeting. There are still plenty of “seats” available, but you do need to register to attend. Can’t wait to see you there.
Whether you can make the Zoom meeting or not, what would be a question you might like to ask Sarah, Cindy or me about writing mountain stories? Or any story?
P.S. Sunday I’ll have another special writing friend guesting here. Hope you’ll stop by to get to know Shelia Stovall and hear about her Christmas story you can download for free.
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Ann, thanks so much for “sharing” a few of your fellow Christian fiction authors with us. I love the fact that both of these ladies are Appalachian residents/WV natives. Although I will not be able to join in your Zoom meeting, I will be checking out (literally) their books from the library. These are names I have not seen in the Christian fiction market since they have been publishing since my retirement from the public library, where I saw almost everything that was ordered while I worked there.
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Great, Maria. I hope you’ll enjoy their stories. Sarah has a link with the video of the Zoom meeting that I’ll post on my Facebook page and here on my blog once I get it downloaded. Probably on Wednesday since I don’t want to interrupt my guest on the blog tonight, Shelia Stovall.
Thursday has been my husband’s and my “date night” for several years. A movie and popcorn which we both look forward to. Otherwise I would love to Zoom with you. I have done a zoom Bible Study and my P.E.O. Chapter Zooms. Ann, I finished Appalachian Summer tonight-another five star read! Again I am amazed at your ability at storytelling!
I didn’t want the book to end. Thank you, again! 🎄😊🎄
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Love that you have a date night that you keep every week, Karen. I know you don’t want to miss that. Hope you have a fun movie.
So glad you enjoyed An Appalachian Summer and liked the characters enough to wish you could read a little more about them. That’s encouraging to read as I set out on a new story trail.
I wish I could attend, but I’ll be working while you’re holding the Zoom meeting. I’m always curious to know where the ideas come from for an author’s books. Are they family stories applied to fictitious characters, do they just occur to the author as he/she does research, or are they stories the editors have requested?
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Sorry you can’t come to our Christmas event, Suzanne. That’s a great question and one I’m sure someone will ask tonight. So I’ll pay attention to what the others say and share it with you later. Actually, the question of where do writers get their ideas is one that I’m nearly always asked when I do a book talk. And for me, it’s a hard question to answer because that spark of an idea can come in so many different ways. It can start with a character or a setting or an event in history. It might be lit by something I read or something I just dreamed up out of who knows where. Inspiration is sometimes hard to corner. Maybe after I hear what Sarah and Cindy say tonight, I’ll do a blog post with your question in mind. Oh, and sometimes the editors do suggest an idea to a writer. My editor urged me to write more Shaker stories after they published The Outsider. Usually, though, for me, I’m suggesting ideas to them to see if they think the story I’m considering will be one that readers will like.