How Sarah Sundin inspires me

By Kelly Bridgewater

What draws readers to the World War II historical fiction genre? Maybe it is learning about the past in a fun way. Maybe it is reading about different parts of the world. For me, it was learning about a part of history that always fascinated me, but the way the history books at school teaches it bored me to death. The Nazi’s Holocaust tugs at my heart. How could anyone be so cruel to someone else just because they believed in a certain God or looked a certain way?

From Amazon

I am a blogger for Revell Books, and when they gave me a chance to read Sarah Sundin’s In Perfect Time. I picked it. At the time, I did not know anything about Sarah Sundin’s writing. Usually I ignore historical fiction. Still do for the most part. If there is a picture of a woman in a bonnet, on a prairie, cowboys, or an old western setting, I ignore the books. Nothing grabs my attention there.

But for some reason, World War II historical fiction is genre that I have come to love. After reading and reviewing Sundin’s In Perfect Time, I found the first two books in the series, With Every Letter and On Distant Shores.  I loved those books too. Doing an Amazon search, I found she wrote another three books series called the Wings of Glory. I checked them out at the library and lost myself in the World War II era. I have always been fascinated with the music and the lifestyles of the forties and fifties, so it makes since that I’m drawn to these books.

Sundin has taught me that reading historical fiction can teach me about a time period by giving an inside look into the brave women and men who populated our world during that era. I love learning about the horrors of the Holocaust from the eyes of survivors or nurses who bravely went across the front line to help our soldiers. I am extremely grateful for Sarah Sundin’s ability to bring history to life in an engaging format.

I truly am a fan of Sarah Sundin’s writing and am looking forward to any other story that God has laid on her heart to write.

What books in the World War II historical genre have you read? Have you discovered any new treasures that you can recommend for me?

Why Julie Lessman Inspires Me

By Kelly Bridgewater

Here I am with my eleventh post about authors who inspire my writing. If you have missed any of them, go ahead and look back at my previous posts. I have written about C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, J. R. Tolkien, Arthur Conan Doyle, Alexandre Dumas, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Steven James, Robin Jones Gunn, Dee Henderson, and Susan May Warren.

Today, I’m going to talk about Julie Lessman.

From Amazon

Lessman writes romance, which is not what I typically read, but I read her book A Passion Most Pure because I downloaded it for Free for my Kindle. But I was surprised how much I loved Lessman’s writing.

She does not write a simple romance story with obstacles in their way. Lessman really understands the internal, physical, and emotion behind the love. The hero and the heroine have to fight against the demands of love.

The characters are written so well with great obstacles to overcome. Plus, the stories are historical romances, so the reader can learn something about the 1930 in Boston and San Francisco.

I’m glad that Lessman has written ten books to date. I have read almost all of them and loved reading about the O’Connors, which were featured in seven books. As a reader who enjoys returning to familiar characters as they are the heroine or hero in the book, then returning to them as they grow and make an appearance in a future book, I was glad to see Lessman created seven book, which start with the story of how the parents fell in love, then moves on to tell the trials and tribulations of their six children as they handle the waves of romance in their personal lives.

Lessman has taught me how to construct a romance that is realistic and grabs the reader’s attention. I have spend time reading her book that she wrote on writing romance titled Romance-ology 101: Writing Romantic Tension for the Inspirational and Sweet Markets. I have spent time studying and losing myself in the romance she sparks between her hero and heroines.  The Love is realistic and grips my heart with every story. Lessman has also shown me the love between a man and woman should also parallel the love that we have for God. It is passionate and demanding of our time, but the more time we invest in our significant other and God, the better return on our investment. What a great lesson from a great writer!

How many of Julie Lessman’s books have you read? What is your favorite aspect about her writing?

What Susan May Warren Means to Me

By Kelly Bridgewater

I hope that this past couple of months you have joined this journey with me on sharing the twelve authors who have influenced my writing. This will be the tenth post. I have discussed C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, J. K. Rowling, Arthur Conan Doyle, Alexandre Dumas, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Steven James, Robin Jones Gunn, and Dee Henderson.

From Amazon

Today, I will be discussing an author who writes fabulous books while using her God-given talent to teach others through her My Book Therapy. Of course, I’m talking about Susan May Warren. I have met her twice at the 2013 and 2014 ACFW conference. She is always smiling and giving away free hugs.

I was introduced to Susan May Warren after my family moved to Terre Haute, Indiana, and I was checking out about 15-20 books a month at the library. The library was only a fifteen minute walk from my house, so I would load up the boys and head there practically every other day. It was a great way to get my toddler boys out of the house. Plus, they loved to explore the neighborhood.

I was perusing the books and came across Happily Ever After, one of the first Deep Haven books written by Susan May Warren. In the upper right hand corner is a yellow promotion bubble with the words, “I enjoyed every minute. Dee Henderson.” Being an avid reader of Dee Henderson (if you read last month’s entry, you’ll know why!), I took her advice and checked out my first Susan May Warren book. I agreed with Dee Henderson. The book was great.

Then I found out she wrote a three-book series called “Team Hope,” which was romantic suspense. They had those at the library. I checked them out and devoured them within two days. Just in time for me to return to the library and check out more.

Susan May Warren creates stories that grab at your heart and doesn’t let go. I still buy her books and review them the moment they are offered by the publishing company. I couldn’t ask for someone who writes so well and uses the talent God has given her to teach and encourage others to write better.

Me with Susan May Warren at the ACFW Conference in 2014

During 2015, I have taken a number of her books and studied how she uses the senses to captivate her audience. That is one of the strongest things about Susan’s writing. I can always feel the wind on my neck as the characters stand in three feet of snow. I love feeling like I’m the character, struggling and feeling overjoyed with them. I know other writers do it well too, but for some reason, Susan May Warren just tugs at my writer’s part of the brain when I read her books.

I thank Susan May Warren, personally, for all her time she spends helping unpublished writers, like me, who are working and studying the craft, hoping to earn her first publishing contract.

What author do you study for inspiration to improve an aspect of your writing? What is that aspect of writing you hope to improve?

What Dee Henderson Means to Me

By Kelly Bridgewater

This is the ninth post of me writing about the authors who have influenced me as a writer. If you missed any previous posts, please return to them and read up on how these certain authors influenced me. There were C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, J. K. Rowling, Arthur Conan Doyle, Alexandre Dumas, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Steven James, and Robin Jones Gunn.

This post, I will be discussing Dee Henderson.

From Amazon

During high school, I worked at the Meijer grocery store in Avon, Indiana, which was right around the corner. It was fine for a high school student who needed to earn money, but when I graduated high school, I wanted a better job with higher pay. I wanted a job with more value for what I could see myself doing for a long time. I attended IUPUI downtown Indianapolis and earned the job at Light and Life Christian Bookstore. Unfortunately, the bookstore doesn’t exist anymore, but I worked there for two years.  I still think of it as my favorite job. What was better than being surrounded by Christian employees who had a prayer time every morning before we opened and could talk about God to the customers?

Another perk I loved was being able to borrow books. As soon as a book came out, the employees were allowed to check them out and read them, then return them to the shelf for customers to buy. I read a lot of Christian fiction at the time. Still do, but that’s beside the point. When I quit and moved to Terre Haute, Indiana with my husband and six month old son, who is thirteen now, my husband joked that he would be broke from all the books I would now have to go buy. Luck for him, I visited the local library, so no loss of income there.

But as a child, I gravitated toward Nancy Drew books and the mystery collections of The Baby-sitter Club and Sweet Valley High and University. When I was reading books at the bookstore, I was introduced to Karen Kingsbury, a contemporary romance writer. I loved her books. Not her recent ones, but her first one we’re great. I was a true mystery and adventure girl, but the Christian genre didn’t have a lot of suspense authors at the time (it was only 2001), so it wasn’t that long ago. Yes, there was Frank Peretti, and I read all his books, but there really wasn’t much else.

One evening, when I had to work the evening shift with a high school student, he sat behind the register and read The Protector by Dee Henderson. I asked him what the book was about. He handed me the book and allowed me to read the back. I couldn’t believe it. A suspense book. For the next couple of days, I couldn’t wait to borrow those books, which I did and loved.

I read everything Dee Henderson had written up to that point. By reading Henderson, I started to find more suspense authors, Terri Blackstock, Kathy Herman, DiAnn Mills, Brandilyn Collins, Colleen Coble. I still read and love this genre a lot.

Dee Henderson taught me the love of Christian suspense, mysteries, and thrillers. Without her, I would not have been introduced to the genre, and I thank her for that.

What author defines the genre you read and/or write in? How did you become introduced to the book?

What Robin Jones Gunn means to Me

By Kelly Bridgewater

From Amazon

This is the eighth post from me writing about the authors who have influenced me as a writer. If you missed any previous posts, please return to them and read up on how these certain authors influenced me. There were C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, J. K. Rowling, Arthur Conan Doyle, Alexandre Dumas, Frances Hodgson Burnett, and Steven James.

This post, I want to focus on the author who introduced me to the Christian fiction genre. She was the first Christian author to write for the Young Adult readers. Know who I’m talking about. At the 2013 ACFW conference, she was the Keynote speaker, and I had her autograph one of my classic copies of her book.

Have you figured out who I’m talking about yet?

If you guessed Robin Jones Gunn, then you would be right. As a fifteen year old, I was immersed in reading, but I filled my days and evenings with The Baby-sitter Club, Sweet Valley High and University, Nancy Drew,  and other books for young adults. My father had a subscription to the Focus on the Family  magazine. There was an advertisement for the next book in the Christy Miller Series called True Friends, which was the seventh book in the series. My father knew how much I loved to read, but he wanted to introduce me to Christian books, so he purchased the book.

I loved it and wanted the previous six books in the series. The book affected me as a young teenage girl who grew up in the church but had gotten made fun of because of my strong belief in Christ. Joining Christy Miller as she struggles with the issues I faced as a teenager made her realistic for me. Gunn did a good job at allowing me to understand that being a Christian as a teenager is not a bad thing; it is actually a good thing. We have values and guidelines to help us set our lives upon.

It might be funny for the secular community that the public school preaches, but in the end, I’m the one that didn’t have to deal with unplanned pregnancies, STD’s, hang-over, and failing grades.

Me with Robin Jones Gunn at the 2014 ACFW conference

Robin Jones Gunn introduced me to the Christian Fiction genre and helped me stand strong as a Christian in a world where being a Christian was frowned on. Her stories comforted me and allowed me to stand strong as I took a stand on sex before marriage and drugs.

What author helped you to stand stronger in your faith? What book did they right that inspired you to keep your faith?

What Steven James Means to Me

By Kelly Bridgewater

This is the seventh session of me writing about the authors who have influenced me as a writer. If you missed any previous posts, please return to them and read up on how these certain authors influenced me. There were C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, J. K. Rowling, Arthur Conan Doyle, Alexandre Dumas, and Frances Hodgson Burnett.

Today I will be talking about a contemporary author who I personally met in February 2014. He was the keynote speaker of the Advanced Writer’s Boot Camp Conference in Asheville, North Carolina. I attended with my husband and loved listening to Steven James talk about his rejection letters. He read snippets of them, having the audience rolling in laughter. It made us feel better about the rejection letters we receive.

I was first introduced to Steven James when I was roaming the bookshelves at my local library. If I don’t have a certain author whose book I want to read usually I scan the spine for books by the Christian publisher. I found the Revell Publishing symbol on a book spine, which read The Rook  James. I had never heard of Steven James, but the book was published by a Christian company and the book was thick, so I withdrew it from the shelf and took it home.

I was hooked.

Luckily, for me, The Rook was the second book in the Patrick Bower’s series. The Pawn and The Knight were already published and The Bishop was just about to come out. I loved how Patrick Bower used a unique system to hunt for the serial killers. The killer surprised me in practically every book. When I met James in February, 2014, he was impressed by my copy of The Knight because I had scribbled all over the margins and highlighted key phrases with post-it notes sticking out of the top. I was studying how James crafted a story where the killer was a total shock.

Steven James taught me to push the limits when it comes to writing Christian suspense. Not all Christian suspense books have to be completely planned out and PG for the “saved” audience. We are like the secular audience in that we like a story that grips us and tightens more and more as the story progresses. Likewise, he encouraged me to not choose the first bad thing that happened to our characters. Make a list and allow them to squirm. As a writer, you don’t want the reader to guess the ending before they arrive there.

Have you experienced any of Steven James’ Patrick Bower’s series? If so, what is your favorite book of the series? Have you ever studied a book so much that you have marked up your copy of their book in order to improve your own personal writing?

*This first appeared on the Indiana Chapter of the ACFW, Hoosier Ink. *

What Frances Hodgson Burnett Means to Me

By Kelly Bridgewater

Continuing with my theme of authors that have helped shape who I am today as a writer and an avid reader, today I’m going to discuss Frances Hodgson Burnett. If you missed any of the other five entries that encompass 2015, please visit my past posts. I have talked about C.S. Lewis, J.R. R. Tolkien, J. K. Rowling, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Alexandre Dumas.

Frances Hodgson Burnett is an English writer who wrote books for young adults. The Lost Prince, The Secret Garden, and The Little Princess are among the three most popular ones, and the ones I loved as a little child.

The stories appeared simple on the surface, but as you delve deeper, they were masterfully written with lessons for the young readers to unbury.

While reading The Secret Garden, I love traveling around the Misselthwaite Manor with Mary as she uncovered a hidden key in an abandoned part of the huge house. She used the key to open and bring life back to a hidden garden. Along the way, she learned to love and be loved by her cousin, Colin, and her uncle, Mr. Craven.

The Little Princess showed the hardship of the lower class among the wealthy. Poor Sarah believed in stories such much that even when her father was announced dead, she still captivated the servant girl, Becky, with stories to pass the horrible, cold nights while they were both trapped in the attic as a curiosity from Ms. Minchin.

I loved these stories as a child and still read them to my boys and my niece. My father also purchased the leather bound editions from Barnes and Nobles for me. They sit next to my edition of Sherlock Holmes and The Count of Monte Cristo.

Frances Hodgson Burnett taught me that if a child’s story is written well then it can be read by any age. Like C. S. Lewis states, “A children’s story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children’s story in the slightest.” This is proven by J. K. Rowling with her Harry Potter masterpieces that have been enjoyed by young adults and adults alike. I completely agree with C.S. Lewis, if an adult can’t return to the books they enjoyed as a child, then the story wasn’t well-written to begin with. Being a parent of three small boys, I want my children to return to the stories that have captured their heart when they were innocent and young. A simple written story can capture the imagination and steal the hearts of the readers, which any great story should do.

Have you ever read any of the books mentioned by Frances Hodgson Burnett? What books do you return to that you read as a child?

What Alexandre Dumas Means to Me

By Kelly Bridgewater

Taken from Wikipedia

Have you heard of the name Alexandre Dumas? He’s a French writer. I couldn’t name a lot of French writers, but this one affected me when I was sixteen years old. He wrote a famous novel that most people have heard of, but they probably don’t associate the name with the title. Any ideas?

Give up?

Don’t worry. Most people don’t know the author of The Three Musketeers. I, personally, did not like this book as much as the one I’m going to talk about.

Have you ever read the 1,065 page book called The Count of Monte Cristo? I don’t’ mean the movie. It is horrible by the way. Take a 1000 plus page novel and make it into an hour and half movie and what do you get? So many parts left out to fill the time constraints. Sad!

During my sophomore year in high school, I loved to write creatively, so I signed up for the only creative writing course offered, but little did I know that the class was designed for seniors. Because I was an A/B student and received straight A’s in English, the administration allowed me to take the course. The first day in class, the teacher, Mr. Weller, handed out these thick books to everyone. Most of the students groaned because they thought it was a writing class not a reading class. They go hand-in-hand guys.

Anyway, the book was titled The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. We had all semester to read the book, but we had to read the first couple of chapters by the end of the week and write a one page essay about ourselves. No problem.

I went home and finished all my other homework before finding a comfortable place to curl up with the new given treasure. I was hooked instantly. Time flew by, but I didn’t notice. I was in Marseilles aboard a ship, coming home after a long stint on the ocean. Taken prisoner to Chateau d’if, thrown in the ocean in a body bag, captured by pirates and threaten to fight for my life. I ventured to an abandoned island where mountains of gold and treasure awaited for me to uncover and use for my own revenge. I slowly watched my enemies die and collapsed in on themselves. I learned the hard lesson of forgiveness and love.

Taken from Barnes and Nobles Website

We only had to read a couple of chapters by the end of the week, but I had the book completed in one week. I loved it so much that I read it through two more times before the semester ended.

Alexandre Dumas opened my eyes up to the world of classic literature. Before then, I had to read boring books like Animal Farm by George Orwell, which stifled my curiosity toward older books. But Dumas showed me that classic literature could be fun. You just have to find the right one to spark your interest.

I love how The Count of Monte Cristo laid the ground work for what I consider a great book even today. A story must have adventure, mystery, romance, sometimes revenge, forgiveness, justice, and suspense all wrap up in a nicely bound package.

Every year, I return to the hallow pages of my version of The Count of Monte Cristo and lose myself along the wonderful crafted story. A couple of years ago, my father bought me the Barnes and Nobles classic leather bound edition with the Sherlock Holmes edition. Both of them sit in places of honor on my book shelf.

What book do you return to every year to read for fun? Do you have a special edition of that book? What have you learned from that author?

What Arthur Conan Doyle Means to Me

By Kelly Bridgewater

This is my fourth month talking about certain writers and what they have meant to me as a writer. First, C.S. Lewis, in January, J. R. R. Tolkien in February, and J. K. Rowling in March. Now for April, I plan to talk about the most popular father of the detective novel. No, he didn’t write the first detective novel. That was Edgar Allan Poe. Yes, the man who wrote “The Raven” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” penned the first detective novel with the creation of “The Murders of the Rue Morgue.”

But Arthur Conan Doyle introduced the most popular detective to the world. Every classic cartoon has done an episode where someone is Sherlock Holmes and Watson. It is funny to think about how popular Sherlock Holmes is today while Arthur Conan Doyle did not want to be famous for writing the detective. He wanted his other work to be more widely read and known. I bet you didn’t know he wrote a couple others works of writing, did you? He did. They weren’t as well-written, I promise you that.

Sherlock Holmes.

Everyone in England swears by him and loves him, even though Arthur Conan Doyle is from Scotland, not England.  I was introduced to Sherlock Holmes when I was in college. To escape the boring story of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald during a literary theory class to complete my undergraduate studies in English, I devoured The Complete Sherlock Holmes. It was more my taste. Adventure. Mystery. Non-stop action.

I still return to Sherlock Holmes once a year when I read my favorite books. I watched and loved the latest Sherlock Holmes movies featuring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. I’m fascinated by the great storytelling of the BBC Sherlock produced by Mark Gatiss. He has done a great job capturing the essence of Sherlock in the twenty-first century with text messages and similar technology like Watson keeping a blog to record his adventures.

Arthur Conan Doyle taught me that adventure is important to a great story that captures the readers’ attention for generations to come. A great story can surpass the changing time and move into the classics if the story is well-written. Doyle gave the world a gift of a classic detective named Sherlock Holmes who helped cement my love of Adventure, mystery, thrillers, and suspense in books and movies. Because of this, I’m not the type of girl who likes sappy, romance books or movies. Give me an action packed movie or book, and I’m there.

Any though most people have heard of Sherlock Holmes, have you, personally, sat down and read his books? What was your idea of a great book? Romance. Adventure. Fantasy. Mystery. Classics. Why?