One of my favorite fictional settings is the one I created for Creighton’s Hideaway. The Nebraska area that I love most is around Verdigre, Verdel, and the Niobrara River.
Thus, I used basically the same place when I wrote Without A Song. Rather than a ranch with rental cabins, I chose a big house with a wraparound porch for a B&B. As with all my series, I had no idea the first story would go on and turn into three for the Ivy’s Inn Series. Without a Home was born after 2019 floods, and third came Without a Dream.
I’m sensing that the third in Ivy’s Inn series didn’t get enough notice, I wanted to go deeper and tell the story behind the story.
My dear Aunt Violet began journaling in the 1970s. She filled lined spiral notebooks. In 1979, I gave her a blank book. (A few years later, I began journaling in blank books also.) She wrote a variety of things. Among them were everyday occurrences, poetry, and stories of her childhood. She composed personal poems for siblings and other family members. Into her eighties she wrote, and shared a lot of her writings with me.
A young woman with a scarred and loveless background entered her life, there but a short time. Aunt Violet wrote a beautiful letter to her, assuring her that despite her upbringing and abuse, she was worthy of love. Our Lord Jesus is the Lover of souls. And no matter where we begin life on this earth, each of us should dream of betterment.
The poignancy of that letter stayed with me for a long time and I often wondered what it would be like as either daughter or mother in the position of my aunt’s young friend.
Five years ago, I blogged that I found myself pregnant at age nineteen. Had my circumstances been different, without love and support, what could I have thought it best to give up my child?
I chose a rough backstory for the heroine of Without a Dream. “Josey Dale had a tragic childhood, and gave birth at age thirteen. She believes the truth is too true to tell. Since her daughter recently married, there’s no reason to watch from afar, and Josey is now left without dreams of her own.”
The story is dedicated to anyone who has ever had a dream. God puts His desires within our hearts. Our job is to listen and follow through. Sometimes we need to take detours and zigzag our way along the journey, but if what we want aligns with God’s will for us, those dreams will come to fruition.
And to any mother who has given up her infant. Bless you for loving that child so much.
I wrote a fictitious letter to a “lost” daughter in 1990, for which I won best fiction in the adult category. “A Letter to Amy” will be my September blog.
Thus, I used basically the same place when I wrote Without A Song. Rather than a ranch with rental cabins, I chose a big house with a wraparound porch for a B&B. As with all my series, I had no idea the first story would go on and turn into three for the Ivy’s Inn Series. Without a Home was born after 2019 floods, and third came Without a Dream.
I’m sensing that the third in Ivy’s Inn series didn’t get enough notice, I wanted to go deeper and tell the story behind the story.
My dear Aunt Violet began journaling in the 1970s. She filled lined spiral notebooks. In 1979, I gave her a blank book. (A few years later, I began journaling in blank books also.) She wrote a variety of things. Among them were everyday occurrences, poetry, and stories of her childhood. She composed personal poems for siblings and other family members. Into her eighties she wrote, and shared a lot of her writings with me.
A young woman with a scarred and loveless background entered her life, there but a short time. Aunt Violet wrote a beautiful letter to her, assuring her that despite her upbringing and abuse, she was worthy of love. Our Lord Jesus is the Lover of souls. And no matter where we begin life on this earth, each of us should dream of betterment.
The poignancy of that letter stayed with me for a long time and I often wondered what it would be like as either daughter or mother in the position of my aunt’s young friend.
Five years ago, I blogged that I found myself pregnant at age nineteen. Had my circumstances been different, without love and support, what could I have thought it best to give up my child?
I chose a rough backstory for the heroine of Without a Dream. “Josey Dale had a tragic childhood, and gave birth at age thirteen. She believes the truth is too true to tell. Since her daughter recently married, there’s no reason to watch from afar, and Josey is now left without dreams of her own.”
The story is dedicated to anyone who has ever had a dream. God puts His desires within our hearts. Our job is to listen and follow through. Sometimes we need to take detours and zigzag our way along the journey, but if what we want aligns with God’s will for us, those dreams will come to fruition.
And to any mother who has given up her infant. Bless you for loving that child so much.
I wrote a fictitious letter to a “lost” daughter in 1990, for which I won best fiction in the adult category. “A Letter to Amy” will be my September blog.
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