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Hey, come out and visit me at the Ohioana Book Festival! There will be over forty authors with Ohio connections. We will sign books and do readings, and some authors will be featured in panel discussions. I can't think of a better way to spend a spring day in Ohio--with books and good friends. See you there!
3rd annual Ohioana Book Festival
Saturday, May 9, 2009
10:00 AM to 4:30 PM
State Library of Ohio
274 E First Ave
Columbus, Ohio 43201
Here's more information.
The Old Schoolhouse Magazine posted a wonderful review of The Light Across the River.
Here's an excerpt (bless you, Kathy Gelzer):
"This is a suspenseful page-turner with believable main characters that have palpable struggles. The adventure, history, and even some humor with a bit of old fashioned romance thrown in for good measure make for an enjoyable read for middle schoolers on up. Because of the superb writing comprised of well-chosen words and precise descriptions in keeping with the time period, this book is a pleasure to read."
Cindy Thomson (Brigid of Ireland) at the Favorite PASTimes historical fiction blog asked me some great questions recently.
Merry Christmas, everyone!
Armchair Interviews' Harold N. Walters reviewed The Light Across the River. Thank you, Harold!
I have two new reviews to share. The first one is from Laura V. Hilton:
The second is from Karin Litchfield:
Thanks to you both! I'm glad you enjoyed Johnny's and Eliza's story.
I am so honored to share a link to a review from BreakPoint. First, here's more about BreakPoint:
Here's the link to the review of my first book, Across the Wide River:
I want to thank BreakPoint and Devin Wieland for this opportunity to share with their audience.
...so I am feeling the love! Thank you to Carolyn Scheidies for this review:
I am so grateful for some very nice reviews for my second book, The Light Across the River.
The first is from Reviews by Heidi's blog, who made time in her hectic schedule to read my book and write this great review:
The second review is from the blog Book Reviews, from Virginia "Ginny" Smith, a gracious author who was named Mount Hermon's Christian Writer of the Year in March. I just finished her cozy mystery Murder by Mushroom, and I'm currently reading Sincerely, Mayla. I love Ginny's writing! She certainly earned the honor. Anyway, I was humbled to see what she thought about my book:
Thanks so much, Heidi and Ginny!
I have my author copies! How exhilarating to hold my new book in my hands. I've posted a "birth announcement" in several places.
I just found out something that moved me to tears. The Light Across the River continues the story of the Rankin family and how they aided the real Eliza of Uncle Tom's Cabin, twice. The Rankin family knew Harriet Beecher Stowe and told her about Eliza's dangerous escape over the icy Ohio River; she agreed to keep their role in the rescue a secret. There was more to Eliza's story than even Stowe knew, and that's what you'll read in The Light Across the River.
What made me cry? Well, I was reading another blog (I won a book!). The guest author told how you could enter your birth month and date in Wikipedia's search feature and get a list of important events that occurred on your birthday. She then entered that day's date, March 20 (my book baby's birthday). Can you believe this is what it said?
March 20, 1852 - Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin is published.
Here's a preview of my latest book, The Light Across the River:
You can pre-order now and you will receive your copy this April. Thanks for watching!
Stef
Well, it's official--the title for the sequel to ACROSS THE WIDE RIVER is THE LIGHT ACROSS THE RIVER (Kregel Publications, spring '08). As some of you know, I've been working on finding endorsers--readers who will read a galley (a largely unedited paperbound copy) and provide a sentence or two to tell what they think about my new book.
At long last, THE LIGHT ACROSS THE RIVER will reach eight or so first readers (who don't know me!) and those readers in turn will meet Johnny Rankin, one main character, and Eliza, the other. Johnny and Eliza were real-life Christians. If I did my job right, you will grow to love Johnny, a white preacher's son, and Eliza, a fugitive slave who crossed the icy Ohio River with her baby in her arms. You may have read about Eliza in Uncle Tom's Cabin. Harriet Beecher Stowe knew the Rankin family and promised to keep their Underground Railroad involvement a secret. But the night that Eliza and her baby escaped slavery was only the beginning of their story...
Read the rest of this post
I worked for several years in the Dayton, Ohio library system. People in Dayton love their library; in fact, we often had many more items checked out per capita than larger systems. I hope you don't feel, authors, that if libraries buy your books, you're missing out on sales. Far from it! Libraries can generate word-of-mouth, and that's what sells books. And get this: libraries often buy MULTIPLE COPIES.
But how do you persuade libraries to purchase *your* book? I can answer that question. The first resource librarians check to see if they should buy a book: print reviews. The second? Believe it or not, patron requests! Libraries are *public* libraries. They serve the reading public, and that's you, your friends, and your families. I have friends and family all over the US. Without fail, when they asked their local public library to stock my book, that library complied.
So when you get a good review for your book, e-mail a copy of the review to everyone you know. Give them your ordering information, especially the ISBN #. Ask them to take the information to their local library and request your book for purchase (check first to see if the library already owns the book, or ask the librarian to check). If your connections are computer-savvy, they can look up the request-for-purchase page at their library's Web site and do the simple process online. Have the book's Amazon.com page open, too, so you can easily access publisher, year published, etc. My own library allows four requests per 30 days. Think how many friends you can help! And more to the point, your work will reach thousands more people hungry to hear what your book reveals about the Lord.
If the book you request is put out by a smaller press, you may have to persevere, but my library bought my good friend Donna J Shepherd's book after I showed them a great review she got. It took three tries to persuade them to purchase her wonderful Pb, TOPSY-TURVY LAND, but it's on order as we speak. Hurrah for perseverance!
When I started out, NO library owned ACROSS THE WIDE RIVER. Now over fifty have purchased it, some as many as twenty copies! As a former library employee and life-long library user, I can't tell you how thrilled I am to know that everyone near those libraries has free access to my book. And people *are* checking it out and reading it--AtWR just went to a second printing.
So what are you waiting for? Get started today!
I worked for several years in the Dayton, Ohio library system. People in Dayton love their library; in fact, we often had many more items checked out per capita than larger systems. I hope you don't feel, authors, that if libraries buy your books, you're missing out on sales. Far from it! Libraries can generate word-of-mouth, and that's what sells books. And get this: libraries often buy MULTIPLE COPIES.
But how do you persuade libraries to purchase *your* book? I can answer that question. The first resource librarians check to see if they should buy a book: print reviews. The second? Believe it or not, patron requests! Libraries are *public* libraries. They serve the reading public, and that's you, your friends, and your families. I have friends and family all over the US. Without fail, when they asked their local public library to stock my book, that library complied.
So when you get a good review for your book, e-mail a copy of the review to everyone you know. Give them your ordering information, especially the ISBN #. Ask them to take the information to their local library and request your book for purchase (check first to see if the library already owns the book, or ask the librarian to check). If your connections are computer-savvy, they can look up the request-for-purchase page at their library's Web site and do the simple process online. Have the book's Amazon.com page open, too, so you can easily access publisher, year published, etc. My own library allows four requests per 30 days. Think how many friends you can help! And more to the point, your work will reach thousands more people hungry to hear what your book reveals about the Lord.
If the book you request is put out by a smaller press, you may have to persevere, but my library bought my good friend Donna J Shepherd's book after I showed them a great review she got. It took three tries to persuade them to purchase her wonderful Pb, TOPSY-TURVY LAND, but it's on order as we speak. Hurrah for perseverance!
When I started out, NO library owned ACROSS THE WIDE RIVER. Now over fifty have purchased it, some as many as twenty copies! As a former library employee and life-long library user, I can't tell you how thrilled I am to know that everyone near those libraries has free access to my book. And people *are* checking it out and reading it--AtWR just went to a second printing.
So what are you waiting for? Get started today!
In 2003, we were in Ripley for the launch of an adult non-fiction book about the Rankin family, written by another author. My own book was under contract then but a year and a half from hitting the shelves. The other lady's launch took place in Ripley's First Presbyterian Church, the one Rankin started in 1822. There were several distinguished speakers, and one of them mentioned that many Rankin family descendants were in the audience. Wow! Did I ever want to meet 'a Rankin' in person! I had e-mail and snail mail friendships with several other relatives, but none of them attended this event.
All I had to do was memorize the faces and make a beeline after the ceremony. I waited for the speaker to ask the Rankin descendants to stand. And waited. And waited. I'm a bit slow to take a hint, but at last I realized that the acknowledgment was not going to happen.
Talk about crestfallen! I dragged around at the book-signing in the Ripley library, where the line was really long. I asked my husband if we could go up to visit Rankin House while everyone was down here in town. We wanted to take some photos (two of the ones we took that day are on the cover of Wide River). He said sure, but we took the photos we wanted from town first.
Eventually we ended up at Rankin House, a truly beautiful and serene spot. As we got out of our car, another car pulled up in the parking lot, and that's all the cars there were: two. I saw the lady buzz out of the car and cross the lawn to Rankin House. We took the path. Then I noticed a white-haired gentleman getting out of the other car. He had a cane and he was hobbling pretty slow, so I waited until he caught up with me on the path.
The first thing he said to me was, "I haven't been here since 1948." To me it meant one thing--the year Rankin House was designated a state memorial, and I said so. He was surprised, but then he nodded yes, and he had been there for the dedication. He went on to mention some family names (not Rankin), but I already had him pegged from a newspaper article I'd read about the event. He was descended from the second Rankin son, David.
My husband whispered to our kids, "Rankin!" and they slunk away, war-tattered veterans of my Rankin research. Jim and I exchanged e-mail addresses and then I let him catch up with his wife. We stayed outside and took our photos. When we went in, they were gone.
Believe it or not, it took me a few stunned minutes to realize that God had answered the fondest desire of my heart. There was no other way that I would have met a Rankin family member that day. No other time that our paths would have crossed. God managed that meeting for me, and Jim and his wife Kate came to my own book launch. Later that month, we all visited the new National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati. The Center features a twenty-minute, Oprah-narrated movie about the Rankin family. You sit on benches in a theater made up to look like a bank of the Ohio River, complete with cricket chirps. But what I couldn't get over was that *I was sitting with a member of the Rankin family.*
When God helps you write your book, expect great things.
It covers 2,058 miles from Mobile, AL to Owen Sound, Ontario. You don't have to ride the whole route. I'm pleased to say that the route includes Ripley, OH, the setting of my book, Across the Wide River.
I believe the way it works is you can buy a detailed route map of any section you may wish to ride. You can learn a lot more about the route at this link:
http://www.adventurecycling.org/news/ugrrroute.cfm
Happy cycling! And it's a great way to pay tribute to the brave souls who journeyed to freedom.
I'm back to working almost exclusively on the sequel to Across the Wide River. The posts here will be few and far between.
I'm so thankful for the extensive research I completed before I started writing the first book. Yesterday I wanted a Ripley map from 1838 that showed where townspeople lived. Today I found it in my files. In fact, every bit of info that I longed for this week, I already have. God is good!
I read the most amazing quote yesterday in my daily devotional. I use Dr. Charles Stanley's Daily Light from In Touch magazine. Maybe you've heard of Augustine of Hippo, but I hadn't. Here's some info: "Augustine was born in Tagaste (modern Souk Ahras, Algeria) in 354 and died almost seventy-six years later in Hippo Regius (modern Annaba) on the Mediterranean coast sixty miles away."
Here is Augustine's quote describing the Christ child, Jesus:
"He was created of a mother whom He created. He was created by hands that He formed. He cried in the manger in wordless infancy, He the Word, without whom all human eloquence is mute."
It takes my breath away. The manger was our subject yesterday, and I promised a modern song today. When I read Augustine's revelation, I was reminded of "Mary Did You Know?" It was written by Mark Lowry (fun to wonder if he's descended from Lowry Rankin's mother's family), and Buddy Greene. You can read the story behind the song here:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/tc/2002/006/16.18.htmlHere's the second verse:
Mary did you know that your baby boy would give sight to a blind man?
Mary did you know that your baby boy would calm a storm with his hand?
Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
And when your kiss your little baby, you have kissed the face of God.
I'm crying. What a heart-shaking thought! You can listen to the song here:
I read the most amazing quote yesterday in my daily devotional. I use Dr. Charles Stanley's Daily Light from In Touch magazine. Maybe you've heard of Augustine of Hippo, but I hadn't. Here's some info: "Augustine was born in Tagaste (modern Souk Ahras, Algeria) in 354 and died almost seventy-six years later in Hippo Regius (modern Annaba) on the Mediterranean coast sixty miles away."
Here is Augustine's quote describing the Christ child, Jesus:
"He was created of a mother whom He created. He was created by hands that He formed. He cried in the manger in wordless infancy, He the Word, without whom all human eloquence is mute."
It takes my breath away. The manger was our subject yesterday, and I promised a modern song today. When I read Augustine's revelation, I was reminded of "Mary Did You Know?" It was written by Mark Lowry (fun to wonder if he's descended from Lowry Rankin's mother's family), and Buddy Greene. You can read the story behind the song here:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/tc/2002/006/16.18.htmlHere's the second verse:
Mary did you know that your baby boy would give sight to a blind man?
Mary did you know that your baby boy would calm a storm with his hand?
Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
And when your kiss your little baby, you have kissed the face of God.
I'm crying. What a heart-shaking thought! You can listen to the song here:
"Away in a Manger" is the children's Christmas song. If you went to Sunday school around Christmas time, this is the song you'd learn for the Christmas program. You probably know it:
Away in a manger, no crib for a bed,
The little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head.
The stars in the sky looked down where He lay,
The little Lord Jesus, asleep on the hay.
The cattle are lowing, the Baby awakes,
But little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes;
I love Thee, Lord Jesus, look down from the sky
And stay by my cradle till morning is nigh.
Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay
Close by me forever, and love me, I pray;
Bless all the dear children in Thy tender care,
And fit us for Heaven to live with Thee there.
The words are by J C File, and the music was composed by James R. Murray. I learn something new every day--Murray studied with George Root, composer of many Civil War songs. Root was good friends with Lowry Rankin's daughter. Lowry is the main character in Across the Wide River.
James R Murray died in Cincinnati, where I was born.
I usually like the old traditional carols, but tomorrow I'll choose a newer one with ties to the manger.
"Away in a Manger" is the children's Christmas song. If you went to Sunday school around Christmas time, this is the song you'd learn for the Christmas program. You probably know it:
Away in a manger, no crib for a bed,
The little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head.
The stars in the sky looked down where He lay,
The little Lord Jesus, asleep on the hay.
The cattle are lowing, the Baby awakes,
But little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes;
I love Thee, Lord Jesus, look down from the sky
And stay by my cradle till morning is nigh.
Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay
Close by me forever, and love me, I pray;
Bless all the dear children in Thy tender care,
And fit us for Heaven to live with Thee there.
The words are by J C File, and the music was composed by James R. Murray. I learn something new every day--Murray studied with George Root, composer of many Civil War songs. Root was good friends with Lowry Rankin's daughter. Lowry is the main character in Across the Wide River.
James R Murray died in Cincinnati, where I was born.
I usually like the old traditional carols, but tomorrow I'll choose a newer one with ties to the manger.
I just wrapped presents for two and a half hours. It's not that there were that many presents. I'm not a gifted wrapper, and I'm s-l-o-w.
I believe I'm right in thinking that the Rankins treated Christmas as a holy day, but without the trappings that we've added. I do know that not one of them mentioned Christmas in all the writings that they left behind.
Anyway, here's my Christmas w-RAP:
Pick up a box and roll out the paper
Wrappin's no fun when the gift has a taper
Scotch tape smell and price tag fragments
Gotta get me some nice gift bag-ments
Eh.
I just wrapped presents for two and a half hours. It's not that there were that many presents. I'm not a gifted wrapper, and I'm s-l-o-w.
I believe I'm right in thinking that the Rankins treated Christmas as a holy day, but without the trappings that we've added. I do know that not one of them mentioned Christmas in all the writings that they left behind.
Anyway, here's my Christmas w-RAP:
Pick up a box and roll out the paper
Wrappin's no fun when the gift has a taper
Scotch tape smell and price tag fragments
Gotta get me some nice gift bag-ments
Eh.
This morning I dusted off the old record player and played a favorite record. That's right, not an 8-track, not a cassette tape, not a CD, not an iPod, but a record. I think it's called A Very Merry Christmas. Anyway, Bing Crosby sings "What Child is This?", which leads right into "The Holly and the Ivy". Today is for the first song.
I love it when melodies are used for more than one song. Of course, WCIT is set to the tune of "Greensleeves", which is an ancient (16th century) melody. I love songs in the minor key, and when the chord is resolved at the end, as I've heard in some covers of the song, I get chills. Der Bingle's cover has a back-up choir and a harp--positively haunting.
Here is the link to the music (wish you could hear what I heard this morning, though):
And here's the first verse:
What Child is this who, laid to rest
On Mary’s lap is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet,
While shepherds watch are keeping?
This, this is Christ the King,
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing;
Haste, haste, to bring Him laud,
The Babe, the Son of Mary.
This morning I dusted off the old record player and played a favorite record. That's right, not an 8-track, not a cassette tape, not a CD, not an iPod, but a record. I think it's called A Very Merry Christmas. Anyway, Bing Crosby sings "What Child is This?", which leads right into "The Holly and the Ivy". Today is for the first song.
I love it when melodies are used for more than one song. Of course, WCIT is set to the tune of "Greensleeves", which is an ancient (16th century) melody. I love songs in the minor key, and when the chord is resolved at the end, as I've heard in some covers of the song, I get chills. Der Bingle's cover has a back-up choir and a harp--positively haunting.
Here is the link to the music (wish you could hear what I heard this morning, though):
And here's the first verse:
What Child is this who, laid to rest
On Mary’s lap is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet,
While shepherds watch are keeping?
This, this is Christ the King,
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing;
Haste, haste, to bring Him laud,
The Babe, the Son of Mary.
Today I'm getting everything ready for a houseguest. When I think of the thousands of times that the Rankins sheltered fugitive slaves, the task somehow doesn't seem as daunting. Back to carols soon. Meanwhile, if you've missed any, click the 'Older' link to see more.
Today I'm getting everything ready for a houseguest. When I think of the thousands of times that the Rankins sheltered fugitive slaves, the task somehow doesn't seem as daunting. Back to carols soon. Meanwhile, if you've missed any, click the 'Older' link to see more.
View Next 13 Posts
By: Stephanie Reed,
on 3/8/2009
