Welcome to the Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt! If you’ve just discovered the hunt, be sure to start at Stop #1, and collect the clues through all the stops, in order, so you can enter to win one of our top 5 grand prizes!
- The hunt BEGINS on 6/15 at noon MST with Stop #1 at LisaTawnBergren.com.
- Hunt through our loop using Chrome or Firefox as your browser (not Explorer).
- There is NO RUSH to complete the hunt—you have all weekend (until Sunday, 6/18 at midnight MST)! So take your time, reading the unique posts along the way; our hope is that you discover new authors/new books and learn new things about them.
- Submit your entry for the grand prizes by collecting the CLUE on each author’s scavenger hunt post and submitting your answer in the Rafflecopter form at the final stop, back on Lisa’s site. Many authors are offering additional prizes along the way
Hi, I’m Ann H. Gabhart and I love being called a storyteller. I’ve gone down plenty of story trails in my home state of Kentucky. I’m sort of a nut for nature and dogs and my grandkids. Oh, and books too! Most of my books are historical fiction but I have some cozy mysteries as well. You can find out more about me and my books here on my website and on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and BookBub. I like dropping my characters down into some interesting historical times or settings, but for my newest novel, In the Shadow of the River, I told my characters “All Aboard” and set my story on a river showboat. Here’s a little more about the story.
When Jacci Reed was five, someone tried to steal her from her mother who was badly wounded in the confrontation. Jacci and her mother find refuge on the Kingston Floating Palace, a river showboat. Fifteen years later, Jacci loves being an actress and singer on the showboat, but the memory of her mother’s death and the events leading up to it has shadowed Jacci through the years. When her life is threatened, she knows she must search for the answers she needs. But secrets have a way of staying in the shadows . . . and the answers she craves will not come easily.
Have You Ever Had Stage Fright?
Acting? On Stage? Not me! I loved getting into character with Jacci but I want to stay backstage doing the directing. Not on stage in the lights.
An actress, I’m not, but that’s the fun of writing fiction. My characters can be way different from me. I could say different than I can imagine being, but that doesn’t work for a writer. My characters do things I can’t do all the time.
Me at the first stage fright ageBut what about that stage fright? When I was five, I had a part in a church play. A speaking part. I practiced my lines until my sisters were ready to throttle me, but I had it down pat. Then, when my big moment came, I looked out at the congregation, opened my mouth, and nothing came out. My vocal cords froze. I knew then acting wasn’t for me.
That dread of being on stage stayed with me all through school. Glossophobia, the fear of public speaking, is a common phobia shared by three out of four people. Maybe you are one of the three. I used to be, but after my first book was published years ago, I agreed to speak to a group of librarians and discovered stage fright wasn’t fatal. At least not for me. Now I even enjoy speaking about my books. However, I’m not about to try acting!
In my book, In the Shadow of the River, I could have let my character, Jacci, have stage fright, but that wasn’t Jacci. From the time she first went on stage at age five, she loved the spotlight. She is a true showboat actress who likes nothing better than rolling downriver to a new landing each day to put on a show. When the music starts and the curtain goes up, an actress like Jacci is ready to take the stage to say those first lines and entice the audience into the magic of story.
How about you? Ever have stage fright or do you love performing?
Here’s Your Critical Stop #21 Info:
If you’re interested, you can order In the Shadow of the River on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Christianbook.com, Baker Book House, or your local bookstore!
Clue to Write Down: hammock,
Link to Stop #22, the next Stop on the Loop: Leslie Gould’s site!
But wait! Before you go, I’m offering some prizes here on my site. One entrant will win an actress make-up bag and a choice of one of my books. Two other winners will get their choice of one of my books. All you have to do is leave a comment here that you signed up for my e-newsletter on the form in the margin here on my website or note you’re already a subscriber. For fun, you can say if you suffer from glossophobia or if you love performing the way Jacci does.
Giveaway starts June 15, 2023 at 12:00 p.m. Mountain Time (2:00 p.m. EST) and deadline for entries is June 19, 2023 12:00 a.m. Mountain Time (2:00 a.m. EST.) Winners will be picked by random and notified by email.
Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of the hunt!
Comments 333
I’m already signed up 🙂 I definitely fall in the middle of love performing and it also being terrifying.
Hi Ann,
I am already one of your email subscribers. I do get strong stage fright, but as long as I feel confident in what I’m doing publically (like practicing singing beforehand), I can sometimes power through it.
Author
Powering through it is great, Madie. You know, that’s what we have to do with so many of the challenges that come our way. Just practice and prepare and power throught it. Thanks for being one of my newsletter subscribers.
Already subscribe!
I signed up. Thanks for the giveaway!
I am a subscriber. I took piano for 11 years but had a hard time playing in front of people. I was asked to play for our youth choir while in high school and for some reason began the introduction with the right notes but totally changed the timing! I had to completely start over and I was mortified!! That was it for me. I do sing and for some reason singing is not as frightening.
Author
I’m guessing you are an excellent pianist, Phyllis, after so many years of lessons. However, I understand about those nerves while playing. When you hit a wrong note, your fingers seem to get too stiff or something and stop cooperating. My granddaughter just played in a recital and her fingers were trembling she was so nervous. Glad you can enjoy singing without so much stage fright.
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I signed up for your newsletter 😉
I’m so excited to add your books to my list of new stories to read. I always wanted to do music theater and being like Judy Garland or Debbie Reynolds. Choir and singing became my focus, but my daughters have been bit by the theater bug and have had the opportunity to recently perform as Repunzel and Jack in our Christian Theater’s productions of Into the Woods, Jr. They are hooked!!
Author
I’m excited for you to read some of my stories, Darbi. That would be great. Sounds as if you might have been able to do that music theater if you’d gotten the chance. But now you are having fun with your daughters loving theater. A couple of my granddaughters like being in school or community plays. So far they’ve had minor parts but are wishing for more. Hope our girls keep having fun, and you do too with their acting.
I subscribed. I don’t suffer from intense stage fright, take a deep breathe and continue. Playing the piano in public is another story! My husband has never heard me play!
Author
I think you should play a song for your husband, Jennifer. You know if you messed up, you could just start over and I feel like that would be okay with him. However, I totally understand. I don’t play well. I’m more of a clunker but I can play some hymns. But if my husband starts singing the hymns I’m playing, I immediately hit the wrong notes. I have played for our little church. I decided my church family loved me and would forgive me if I totally messed up. And they have! Thanks for subscribing.
Already a subscriber
I signed up. And I would say I’m somewhere in the middle between stage fright and loving performing. I certainly can and have performed, and there definitely can be a rush if you’re feeling pretty confident in what you are doing, but to this day, I also get very nervous in my gut right before I know I’m going to be speaking in front of people, even just a school presentation where I am in front my class gets me nervous.
Author
Somewhere in the middle is not a place to be, Abigail. That lets you know you can do whatever you want to do even though those nerves are poking you. Sometimes speaking or singing or whatever in front of people you know, even your friends and family, can make you more nervous that in front of strangers. Thanks for signing up for my newsletter. I hope you’ll enjoy reading it when I send one in a couple of weeks.
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Already signed up. I enjoyed performing in fifth grade. I was in the Melody Makers singing group at school. We sang at the mall (they had to turn off the fountain so people could hear us) and got a standing ovation at the Board of Education.
Author
What fun, Michelle. Sounds as if your group must have been really good. You stopped the fountain and got folks standing up to applaud. Thanks for getting my newsletter.
I subscribed to your newsletter. I always get really nervous before performing, but once the show begins, nerves disappear.
Author
I think many actors and actresses might feel that way, Virginia. In fact, I’ve read about some very famous actors who say they get nervous before a performance. It’s good that those nerves disappear for you when the show begins.