Author interview with Jodie Wolfe

So excited to visit with Jodie Wolfe, as she is one of our own here at Stitches Thru Time. A huge congratulations on the recent release of her book, Taming Julia:
 

In 1875, Kansas bachelor Drew Montgomery's sole desire is to serve God, but his congregation's ultimatum that he marry or leave, forces him to advertise for a wife by proxy.

Jules Walker strides into Drew's life wearing breeches and toting a gun and saddle--more cowboy than bride. After years on the trail, she's not exactly wife material, but she longs for home and family, and will do anything to ensure Drew never discovers what she really is.

What made you decide to become a writer?

I fell in love with writing when I was in grade school. In 2nd grade we had an assignment to write a poem. I wrote about my favorite thing in the world at the time - Snoopy. Soon after, I started creating little stories. I was hooked. I knew when I grew up I wanted to be a writer.

Where did the inspiration for your latest book come from? 

I've always been intrigued by the whole mail-order bride possibility. How could a woman answer an advertisement, choosing to leave all she'd known in order to take a chance on love and find a new path in life? How did she choose to leave the familiar and step into the unknown with someone she'd never met?

The more I studied stories and clippings from the past, the more my mind kept spinning with ideas. What would happen if a pastor was dictated by his congregation that if he wanted to keep his job, he had to find a wife by a certain time? What if the wife he advertised for was completely different than what he expected? How would he handle it? That nugget of an idea is what spurred the inspiration for Taming Julia.

How does your faith and spirituality work in with your writing? 

My faith in God is just part of my everyday life, so it naturally comes out in my writing as well. My characters struggle like I struggle. You'll find them often praying or calling out to God for answers to their problems.

What do you want readers to come away with after reading your books?

That true hope can only be found in Christ. He is the greatest encouragement in my life, along with my husband.

What is one of your favorite scenes in Taming Julia?

One of my favorite scenes takes place later in the book. I can't share a lot about it so I don't spoil it for you, but it takes place in Texas. My husband's aunt and uncle live next door to the area I wrote about, so they were a tremendous help with being accurate in my description. Then a couple years ago while visiting them, we got special permission so I could see it first-hand. It's in the hill country of Texas where an unexpected gorge has been carved out because of a waterway.

What is your favorite thing about where you live?

 I live between two sets of mountains. From our house we can see both of them. We have a state college in our town, along with Amish farmers, and rural countryside. It's a nice mix and very little traffic. I can make it across town in about ten minutes, depending on traffic lights and school buses. :)

What are you working on next? 

I'm working on two books - a sequel to Taming Julia (part of the Burrton Springs Brides series), as well as a book set in the town where I live dealing with belonging entitled, Hannah's Quest.

Bio

Jodie Wolfe creates novels where hope and quirky meet. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), Romance Writers of America (RWA), and COMPEL Training. She's been a semi-finalist and finalist in various writing contests. A former columnist for Home School Enrichment magazine, her articles can be found online at: Crosswalk, Christian Devotions, and Heirloom Audio. She's a contributor and co-founder of Stitches Thru Time blog. When not writing she enjoys spending time with her husband in Pennsylvania, reading, walking, and being a Grammie. Learn more at www.jodiewolfe.com.

Purchase Links for Taming Julia:

https://www.amazon.com/Taming-Julia-Jodie-Wolfe-ebook/dp/B083L8MDD5/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=taming+julia&qid=1578503989&sr=8-1

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/taming-julia-jodie-wolfe/1136004491?ean=9781522302711

https://pelicanbookgroup.com/ec/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=37_46&sort=&filter_id=671&alpha_filter_id=0

https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Jodie_Wolfe_Taming_Julia?id=FH7IDwAAQBAJ

Website: https://www.jodiewolfe.com

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/jodie-wolfe

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Jodie-Wolfe-553400191384913

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JodieAWolfe

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/JodieAWolfe

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15220520.Jodie_Wolfe

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Jodie-Wolfe/e/B01EAWOHXO/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1

A huge thanks to all of you for joining Jodie and me today!

Book Review: Three Little Things by Patti Stockdale

Angela here. I was given the opportunity and privilege of reading this book before it's release, and must admit to being captivated. WWI, love notes, and a cover like that...what else is there to say? ;)

One forbidden love. Two broken hearts. Three little things.
Hattie Waltz should forget the troubled neighbor leaving for boot camp in 1917. He forgot about her ages ago. It had always been the Waltzs verses the Kregers, his family pitted against hers. When she hands him a farewell gift, a chemistry lesson unfolds. The good kind.
Arno Kreger can't leave Iowa or his old man fast enough. He's eager to prove his worth on the battlefield and stop blaming himself for his brother's death. Before entering the train, he bumps into Hattie. He's loved her forever, always from the sidelines, because nobody crosses Hattie's pa.
One innocent letter soon morphs into many. Arno and Hattie share three little secrets in each letter and grow closer together. But he's on his way to a war across the ocean, and she's still in her father's house. Their newfound love will need to survive dangers on both fronts.
 

I'm afraid I am quite short worded when it comes to reviews, but I will say, I quite enjoyed this story and look forward to more from this author. :) She has an easy flow to her writing that makes it easy to get into and she writes characters that you can easily imagine as living, breathing people with hopes that pull at the heart strings.  Definitely one to watch for!

You can find out more about this author and book at:

Website: www.pattistockdale.com

Amazon: http://bit.ly/ThreeLittleThings

Barnes and Noble: http://bit.ly/37H7YWB

Walmart: http://bit.ly/2ObdMzC

Lighthouse Publishing: https://shoplpc.com/three-little-things/

A Chat with Author Linda Shenton Matchett

Linda Shenton Matchett writes about ordinary people who did extraordinary things in days gone by. She is a volunteer docent and archivist at the Wright Museum of WWII and a trustee for her local public library. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, a stone’s throw from Fort McHenry, she has lived in historical places most of her life. Now located in central New Hampshire, Linda’s favorite activities include exploring historic sites and immersing herself in the imaginary worlds created by other authors.

A Doctor in the House (part of The Hope of Christmas collection):
Emma O’Sullivan is one of the first female doctors to enlist after President Franklin Roosevelt signs the order allowing women in the Army and Navy medical corps. Within weeks, Emma is assigned to England to set up a convalescent hospital, and she leaves behind everything that is familiar. When the handsome widower of the requisitioned property claims she’s incompetent and tries to get her transferred, she must prove to her superiors she’s more than capable. But she’s soon drawn to the good-looking, grieving owner. Will she have to choose between her job and her heart?

Archibald “Archie” Heron is the last survivor of the Heron dynasty, his two older brothers having been lost at Dunkirk and Trondheim and his parents in the Blitz. After his wife is killed in a bombing raid while visiting Brighton, he begins to feel like a modern-day Job. To add insult to injury, the British government requisitions his country estate, Heron Hall, for the U.S. Army to use as a hospital. The last straw is when the hospital administrator turns out to be a fiery, ginger-haired American woman. She’s got to go. Or does she?

STT: A Doctor in the House is an intriguing story. Where did you get your inspiration?

Linda: My background is in corporate Human Resources, and I am fascinated by the history of women in the workplace. Wives, sisters, daughters, and grandmothers went to work during WWI, but not at the record levels experienced during the second World War. Society was turned upside down when women successfully stepped into jobs previously held by men. When researching another story, I stumbled on a reference to Margaret Craighill, the first female doctor in the U.S. Army Medical Corps. At the same time I saw a documentary about the thousands of country homes requisitioned by the British government for use as orphanages, troop housing, and hospitals. The British people had mixed feelings about U.S. service people. A common expression in England was "overfed, overpaid, oversexed, and over here."

STT: You have written and published ten books with more on the way in 2020. How do you balance your writing career with your other commitments?

Linda: Sometimes not so well-ha! I tend to be organized in all areas of my life, and that trait has served me well in juggling two careers. My full-time job is as the dining services and catering manager at a boarding school, and I invest about twenty-five hours a week to my writing. On most days I get an hour's worth of writing done before work, and one day a week I work at night, so I have almost an entire day to put words on paper. Saturdays are geared for marketing and social media, and Sundays before church are when I write my blog posts. Before I say yes to anything, I check my schedule so I don't double book myself!

STT: With the exception of one of your books, you write historical fiction. What draws you to history and what is your favorite era?

Linda: Despite being married to a software engineer, I am not a very technology-driven person. Having said that, I appreciate modern conveniences such as washers, telephones, and computers. What fascinates me about history is what people accomplished with their own two hands (clearing the land, building homesteads, and raising families). Many of our "modern" inventions got their start decades, even centuries ago. My favorite era is World War II, a time when people pulled together to "do their bit" for the war effort. Whether they wanted to or not, women entered the workforce, often working ten-twelve hours days, sometimes six days a week. In addition, they fed their families under the duress of rationing, they created victory gardens, preserved food, and "made do and mended" their clothes all while wondering if their husbands would return safe and sound.

STT: What is your favorite part of the writing process?

Linda: I love coming up with the story ideas. I'm a planner, so I outline my entire book before beginning to write. I enjoy brainstorming what I can do to and with my characters.

STT: What are your upcoming projects?

Linda: I have lots of irons in the fire. January and February will see the release of books two and three in my Ruth Brown Mystery series, and during March A Love Not Forgotten will be re-released on its own (It was part of a collection). Then in April, May, and June, a trilogy about three sisters will be coming out. I'm very excited to be part of a multi-author project featuring mail-order brides, and my story Dinah's Dilemma will be coming out in August.

STT: Where can people find you on the web?

Linda:

Website/Blog: http://www.LindaShentonMatchett.com

Facebook: http://facebook.com/LindaShentonMatchettAuthor

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/lindasmatchett

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/lindasmatchett

Amazon Author Page: http://amazon.com/linda-shenton-matchett/e/B01DNB54S0

BookBub: http://bookbub.com/authors/linda-shenton-matchett

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author­_linda_matchett

Newsletter Signup (receive a free short story when you sign up):  https://mailchi.mp/74bb7b34c9c2/lindashentonmatchettnewsletter

STT: Thank you for stopping by!

LM: Thank you for having me. Merry Christmas, everyone!

Author Chat with Denise Weimer

Welcome to Stitches Thru Time, Denise.

Thank you for the invitation to join you today, Pegg! 

We’re excited about your new release, The Witness Tree. It’s set in the early 1800s in the southeastern states. What intrigues you about that time and place? 

Well, my past published novels have all been set in Georgia. I love to use my stories to highlight little-known lore about my home state. While I was poking about the Internet for inspiration for a new historical, I came across mention of the Moravian mission at Springplace, the school for children of Cherokee chiefs on the property of Chief James Vann. I had visited the Vann plantation as a child and even blogged about Moravian Christmas traditions, but I’d never realized the connection between the Moravians from Salem, North Carolina—a favorite weekend vacay spot of my parents, like a mini-Williamsburg—and the Vann house in Northwest Georgia.

Writing something set in the Federalist period was also new to me. My previous historicals have focused on either the Revolutionary War or Civil War/Reconstruction periods. Yet the fact that Northwest Georgia was Cherokee Territory in 1805 gives The Witness Tree more of an earlier frontier feel.

Not surprisingly for that setting, you have many Native American characters. That must have taken a lot of research to be both historically and culturally accurate. What resources did you use?

I used journal articles online and a stack of books, including some I picked up on my research trips to Olde Salem, the Vann House, and the Cherokee capital of New Echota. One was even a reprint of a late-1700s moral instruction manual for leaders in the Moravian church. But my main sources were History of the Moravian Missions Among Southern Indian Tribes of the United States (Rev. Edmund Schwarze, Ph.D., UNC) and the actual diaries written by the missionaries at Springplace, The Moravian Springplace Mission to the Cherokees: Volume 1, 1805-1813.

Many of the things that happen in The WitnessTree, such as the unusual earthquakes and the miraculous recovery of one of the Cherokee girls, were actual historical events. But it’s important to note that I consolidated these from about a ten-year timeframe into a single year. I did have to keep it under 90,000 words, after all. :)

What was the most surprising historical tidbit you found and incorporated into your book?

The progressive Cherokee chiefs sought education and advancement, but others feared that the ways of the white settlers would bring destruction. I think the thing that might surprise most people was how violently many Cherokees opposed the work of Sequoyah (or George Guess/Gist) on the first Cherokee alphabet. A troop of Georgia Cherokee Lighthorse had to rush to North Carolina to rescue him from a slow death by torture for witchcraft … for writing down the language. An 1811 Cherokee law mandated a civil trial before execution, allowing Sequoyah to prove the legitimacy of the syllabary.

The Moravians struggled to master the Cherokee language and expressed the desire to see it written down. This gave me the story idea: “What if one of the Moravians tried to do that? What would the backlash have been?”

Your hero and heroine are both Moravian. In a nutshell, tell our readers who the Moravians were.

I will try, although they were a complex group! We might burst out of the nutshell. :) 

The Moravians were a lesser-known sect of “plain people.” Originally known as Unity of the Brethren, the church had been in existence since a Bohemian priest, John Huss, was burned at stake in 1415 for challenging the authority and ethics of the Catholic Church. The Hussite churches were scattered, persecuted, and influenced by Pietism. Eventually, these people found refuge on the Saxon estate of Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf, where they practiced communal living. In 1727, revival broke out and led to the biggest thrust to date in Protestant missions.

The Moravians established trade and farming settlements in America intended to support mission work around the world and to the American Indians. At first, the men and women lived separately in “choirs,” but by the late 1700s, married people raised their families in individual households. However, they still brought major church and life decisions before the elders and “the lot.” After prayer, they would draw a slip of paper out a bowl or tube that read yes, no, or wait. They based this practice on biblical references in Numbers 33:54 and Acts 1:26. The outcome indicated the will of the God and was not to be challenged.

Rumor has it that you’ve also released a contemporary book recently. Tell us a little bit about that one.

Yes, Fall Flip released with Candlelight Romance earlier this month. It’s a great contemporary read with historical undertones for anyone who is a fan of Hallmark, HGTV, and second chance romances.

The tragic death of Shelby Dodson’s husband—her partner in a successful Home Network house flipping business—stole love, status, and career. Now a bungalow redesign thrusts Shelby into the company of a new contractor. Scott Matthews remembers high-and-mighty Shelby from high school, and her prissy, contemporary style goes against his down-to-earth grain. When the house reveals a mystery, will its dark secrets—and their own mistakes—cost a second chance at love?

How on earth are you juggling TWO releases this close together? Are you Superwoman? Do you have a matching cape and tights?

LOL. I agree, it’s kinda crazy! But when we found out both books would be releasing within a few months of each other, anyway, we (my managing editors at LPC and I) decided to tag team the releases. This way, readers have a choice—historical or contemporary. Or both!

Thank you for stopping by Stitches Thru Time, is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?

Only that I’m doing the crazy again in March. I have a heart-warming athletic romance, Spring Splash, and a nail-nibbling romantic suspense novel, Traces, releasing together. Check out my web site for more info.

Thank you, readers, for stopping by today. I’d love to answer your questions below and connect with you on social media. There’s also one more day to hop over to Singing Librarian Books for a chance to win a massive Fall Flip or Witness Tree gift basket! (link)

Connect with Denise here:

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