If you love to read historical fiction, you're going to want to learn more about the author I'm interviewing today. She's got all sorts of historical stories out, and they all sounds good! So, stick around and get to know Linda Shenton Matchett with me.

Linda, what first made you want to be a writer?

​I’ve been writing since I was very young. My parents gave me a tablet (with a bouquet of pencils on the front!) and a package of pens and encouraged me to fill the notebook. I was an active, imaginative kid, and I think it was their way to keep me in one place (and out of trouble) for periods of time. I scribbled lots of stories, but the incident that lit the desire of being an author was when I read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn as a young teen. The book made a deep impression on me, and I wanted to write stories that affected others the same way. I continued to write stories but was not able to get serious about publication until about fifteen years ago.

You call yourself a history geek. What is it about history that makes you love it so much and want to weave it into your books?  

I actually hated history throughout my school years. Unfortunately, it was taught as a collection of dates, places, and names. It wasn’t until my early adult years that I experienced museums with docents and re-enactors who brought history alive with people’s stories and what it was like to live during the time period. The personal aspect is what intrigues me. How was life different during the particular era and how was it the same? How would it have felt to be there? Live through the various  events? 

Today, I'm chatting with a new-to-me author, Carol Underhill. But her stories sound so good, and her answers are fun. So, stick with me and we'll get to know her together!

Carol, I love your tagline, "Smalltown girl with big faith." Tell me, as I'm a small town girl who has learned to live in a suburb of a big city, do you ever like to get out in the big cities or do you prefer to stay in small towns? Do a lot of your stories feature small towns, too?

I lived in the city in my early twenties and loved it but settled in a small town when I got married. I like where I live but one of my favorite places to visit is Chicago. I’ve been there a few times and want to go back. I place my novellas in Chicago, but most of my stories are about small communities.
 
I notice you write both contemporary and historical romance. Do you have a preference? Why?

I like writing both. I’ve enjoyed the research for my historical series more than the contemporaries. The characters are what drive my stories. Some of them only fit in the historical timeline.
 
You mention having a playlist for every mood. Can you give us an example? What are a couple of your go-to songs for when you're happy? How about sad? And do you make playlists for writing, too?

I start almost every morning with “This is Amazing Grace” by Phil Wickham and “Blessings” by Laura Story.
In the moments when I am feeling sad, “Oh My Soul” by Casting Crowns and the Hymn “He Giveth More Grace” give me strength and peace.
When I am writing my contemporary stories, I have a playlist of romantic ballads from the 1980s that I listen to.

Today, I'm delighted to help you get to know one of my favorite people I've never met in real life. Beth Westcott is a fellow Scrivenings author and one of the best encouragers I've ever known. She lives way up in New York, but I've enjoyed chatting with her online and always feel well-supported by her as my own books release. She's about to have a new book come out, too, and I'm thrilled to find out more about it (I just finished reading the first one in the series and am eager to know what happens next). So, settle in and read on to find out about Beth and her books.​


Congratulations on your third book being published next month! I'm excited to read it. Do you feel you learn something new with each one?
 
Thank you, Amy. Yes, I learn much more about writing well with each book, more about character and plot development. We have some great editors at Scrivenings Press, and I’m thankful for their help.
 
This is the second book in your Three Sisters series. How hard did you find it to make sure everything tied together smoothly between the books (I'm learning with my own series that it's not always the easiest)?
 
A Heart’s Journey was the first book I wrote, although it’s the second book in the series. Once I wrote Heart’s Desire, I had to make sure the second book lined up with the first. I’ve written the third book, Her Heart’s Longing, but because of changes I made in A Heart’s Journey, I must make changes in the third book. It’s certainly a challenge to keep the details straight. I began writing the series many years ago. Developing character biographies and flexible outlines has helped.

So many of the authors I interview on my blog are people I have never met but know a bit through social media or their newsletters and books. The author I am thrilled to introduce you to today is actually someone who became my friend first and then an author. Elena Hill has her first story coming out later this month, a romantic suspense included in a novella collection, all set on Sharktooth Island. I think you're going to enjoy getting to know Elena and reading these stories. Be sure to scroll at the way to the bottom for more information.

Elena, congrats on your first published work. What led you to decide to write your first story for publication?

I’ve always been a fan of story. My mother is an author and now publisher. I’ve always pushed her saying ‘it’s not hard. You just gotta put it on the page’. So she essentially told me to give it a try and she’d publish it. I was wrong. The writing process takes much more effort than just throwing words on a page lol. But I enjoyed it and feel it better helps me understand Mom’s plight with words.

I know this is a collection with three other authors, all set on the same island, but 50-75 years apart. How hard was it to make sure your story fit with the other three?

I lucked out and got to be the black sheep. Each time we had planning sessions (zoom calls) nothing was required from me to “fit into the story”. All I had to do was leave a plane carcass in the shoals. ;)

One of your characters is a pilot. Have you ever had any experience behind the cockpit of a plane? What made you decide to give your heroine that job?

I personally have never flown a plane but I spent several months living in the bush of Alaska. Common travel from villages to the “city” was a small 4-seater plane. It was not uncommon for a passenger to sit upfront with the pilot.
When we decided we wanted to do this collection, we agreed we needed a pirate book, a gilded age, a plane crash and a modern day. I volunteered to crash a plane.

Over the last few years, Scrivenings Press has become a family to me. Needless to say, when a fellow Scrivenings author has a book release, we all cheer and celebrate with her/him. And today, I'm introducing you to Jenny Carlisle, whose first fiction book released last month. And y'all, it's so sweet and fun. I highly recommend it. So, read on to get to know Jenny and then keep reading to find out about her sweet story, Hope Takes the Reins.

Jenny, congratulations on your first fiction publication! What first made you want to be an author?
Thanks so much, Amy. If you had asked five year old Jenny McLeod what she wanted to be when she grew up, she would have probably said, “I want to write books”, I loved reading at a very early age, and wrote stories at every opportunity. I think the first I remember was some sort of treasure hunt story. I also won an award for a poem I wrote in elementary school, and seeing my work hanging in the school hallway was the gratification I needed to really get me hooked.

Your book is set in a sweet little town in Arkansas and as soon as I started reading it, I felt I'd been there before. What made you pick that area to write about?
Crossroads is an entirely fictional town located somewhere between Little Rock and Fort Smith along the Arkansas River. The terrain is beautiful, with the timber-covered Ouachita and Ozark mountains surrounding green pastures perfect for cattle ranches.  Since moving to Arkansas as a senior in high school, this particular part of the state keeps drawing me, and I always enjoy visiting or driving through. I have always lived in a small town, and the feeling of kinship and cooperation is strong. Crossroads combines memories from so many small towns, so I hope it feels familiar to many of my readers.

I first discovered Carolyn Miller through her regency romance novels. You all know I love me some regency romance! And I can vouch for the fact that every one of hers I've read is good. Recently, though, I've gotten to know her a little better through Inspy Romance, since we've both joined in the last year. She's definitely a lot of fun, lives in Australia, and her recently released book, The Breakup Project, has a Jane Austen lover in it! So you know I'm in. I can't wait to introduce her and her books more to you, too, so read on.

Carolyn, what first inspired you to be an author?

Ooh, what great timing to ask this question! As I’m writing this I’m watching the Winter Olympics, which is actually where my writing journey began. Back in 2010 I was watching the closing ceremony of the Vancouver Winter Olympics when I saw an Aussie female athlete holding hands with a US male athlete as they entered the stadium. I was struck by how two people from different countries and (presumably) different sports could meet, let alone sustain a relationship, especially given the gruelling nature of their elite athlete training schedules, and all those time zone differences. Despite my best efforts, I never found out who they were, so I made up 'their' story, which became Love on Ice, about an Aussie short track speed skater (because that’s such an awesome sport!), and an ice hockey player. I had SO much fun writing their story that I wrote another one (which also just so happened to feature an ice hockey player!), and realised that writing was what I wanted to do. And now, 12 years after having written that story, I’m thrilled to finally have (a much rewritten and edited) Love on Ice out in the world!

Every now and then, you "meet" someone online and then have the blessing of getting to meet her in person, too. Kathy Cretsinger and I "met" through a Christian Writers' email group almost eighteen years ago. And back in 2018, we got to meet in person at KenTen Writers' Retreat. She's a blessing to many, and has helped quite a few authors see their dreams come true. I hope you enjoy getting to know her a bit more, too. Keep reading.


Kathy, I know macular degeneration has taken a lot of your eyesight over the last few years. What keeps you from getting discouraged and giving up on writing?
 
KC: Oh, I do get discouraged, but I have friends who have the same condition, and we talk. My father had Dry Macular Degeneration also, and I am encouraged that he didn’t stop. If I stopped doing any of the things I like to do, I’d die. You must keep going and going. I also have a device that helps me see. It’s IrisVision, and it enlarges things for me to read, watch tv, and a lot of other things. I’ve even taken it to football games to watch my grandson. Finding the IrisVision has made a big difference.
 
In the last couple of years, you've started a cozy mystery series. What made you switch from writing mostly romance to mysteries?
 
KC: I’ve read cozy mysteries for years. I love the shortness of the books and the quirky characters. I also like to write in first person. Most cozy mysteries are in first person. You don’t have to keep up with three other points of view.
 
When people "visit" Shady Valley in your books, what can they expect to find?
 
KC: First you will find mountains. The Appalachian Trail runs through the top of Holston Mountain, and it is beautiful in each season of the year. The people are friendly, and we’re related to most of them. The quiet of the mountains and the gurgling of the streams makes Shady Valley a peaceful place to spend some time listening. You will also find bears. There is only one restaurant, one country store, and a new Dollar General Store. At the restaurant and the country store, you pay with cash or check. I’m sure Dollar General Store uses credit cards, but nothing else does. I love it! 

Sometimes, you discover an author and read every one of her books you can get your hands on. Because they're that good. Janet Ferguson is one of those authors for me. I found her through a freebie on one of her stories, won another one in a giveaway, and then I was hooked. Her tales are sweet and fun, with characters to root for and settings you want to visit. And today, I get the pleasure of introducing Janet to you. Make sure you read all the way to the bottom to find out more about her newest book set to release later this month.

​Hi Janet, most of your recent books have been set near the coast in Georgia and the gulf (including my favorite--St Simons Island, GA). Do you have a favorite beach you've visited? Why? 

It’s so hard to choose just one! I’ve loved all of them. The beach I end up going to most often is Fort Morgan, Alabama. It’s fairly close—four hours or so—and it’s a little less crowded and less commercialized on the peninsula. I usually go in the fall, and the temperatures are mild, but the Gulf is still warm. The butterflies migrate through the area sometime in October. Sometimes, I’m blessed to be there to see them.
 
Ooh! I need to check that beach out. It sounds amazing, and I love butterflies. What is it about the beach that makes you long to set stories there?
 
I love the beach. It’s like God opens a treasure chest and sprinkles prizes around for us to find. Shells, porpoise, heron, sand dollars, starfish, sunsets, the ocean breeze, sea turtles, glowing jellyfish, the stars, and the waves as constant as His love, and so much more.