Straight Talk from the Library - Naomi King

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What is your greatest strength as a writer?

I would have to say resilience and adaptability are two qualities that have seen me through so many years as a published writer. Had I tucked my tail when my first editor stopped buying my Western historical romances, and allowed myself to become discouraged those six years I spent wandering in a literary wilderness trying to find my next contract, I would be doing something totally different today. Perseverance pays off.

That dry spell taught me, however, that it’s OK not to be a writer—that there are other lives to live, and I would be good at them! After all, I taught and was a school librarian for ten years before I ever sold a book, and when the time was right, I entered my writing career without a backward glance. With that in mind, I intend to keep writing as long as I have stories to tell and an audience who wants to read them. Who knows what comes next? I guess we all watch and wait for that, don’t we?

If you could leave readers with one bit of wisdom, what would you want it to be?

Love your life. Each week as I read “Cookin’ with Maudie,” the recipe column in The Budget, the national Plain newspaper, I love her sign-off line: Make it a good day. So many people are so busy blaming others, or circumstances—whatever—for the way things have turned out in their lives, but in reality we each choose how we spend our moments, our hours, our days . . . our lives. Or, when we don’t choose the circumstances that come at us, we choose how we react to them and feel about them. We decide whether to be the victim or the victor in any given situation. It’s like Abraham Lincoln said: “Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”

I wish each of you a life as wonderful as you can make it! Thanks so much for spending part of your day with me, reading this interview and maybe my books!

READ THE BLURB

 

Romance is in the air during the fall wedding season in the Amish community of Cedar Creek. But while one loving couple prepares to tie the knot, Amanda and Wyman Brubaker’s large family faces a threat from outside their happy circle...and must learn to pull together. Recently wed Amanda and Wyman Brubaker are thrilled that their children from previous marriages have blended together to form a strong family. But when the construction of Wyman’s new grain elevator is delayed, making the project more expensive than anticipated, Amanda’s determination to rally the kids into taking on work to improve the family’s finances comes into conflict with Wyman’s sense of responsibility as head of the household....

Meanwhile, as James Graber and Abby Lambright prepare for their long-awaited nuptials, folks gather from far and wide. Amanda’s nephew Jerome has long been smitten with James’s sister Emma and wants to seize this chance to woo her. But Emma’s been burned once and is twice shy of trusting the fun-loving, never-serious Jerome. As Emma and Jerome struggle to understand each other, and find the courage to make a leap of faith, the Brubakers face a bigger challenge than they first anticipated and begin to discover just what it means to fight...the Amish way.

READ AN EXCERPT

Emma slipped into her coat and bonnet and crossed the snow-packed road. The mercantile’s parking lot was jammed with cars and buggies, and when she stepped inside the store she was amazed at the number of folks who’d come to Cedar Creek to shop. As she made her way toward the yard goods section, Emma paid close attention to what the kids and teenagers were wearing on their heads. To her surprise, even a few young men sported the kind of knit hats with earflaps and pigtails that Abby had mentioned—and none of the caps were in the dark, dull colors that filled her yarn bin.

Emma found an instruction booklet for earflap caps that included a couple of other styles, as well. What a treat it was to shop for yarn in such fresh colors! The basket on her arm was soon stuffed with variegated and solid skeins in neon pink, lime green, aqua, lavender, and bright white. She hoped Abby was right about people wanting her homemade hats, because she’d have to make several of them to earn back what she’d be spending.

“You’ve got quite a collection of colors here!” Gail remarked as she rang up Emma’s order. “I bet I know what you’ll be doing this weekend.”

“Jah, you guessed it,” Emma replied. She didn’t want to reveal her plans for these flashy colors, because everyone who crocheted had met up with patterns that didn’t turn out the way they looked in the pictures. Even so, just imagining the different styles of hats she wanted to try made her itch to start one right now, instead of eating supper. And wasn’t that something?

MEET THE AUTHOR

Drawing upon her experiences in Jamesport, the largest Old Order Amish community west of the Mississippi, longtime Missourian Naomi King writes of simpler times and a faith-based lifestyle in her Home at Cedar Creek/One Big Happy Family series. Like her series heroine, Abby Lambright, Naomi considers it her personal mission to be a listener—to heal broken hearts and wounded souls—and to share her hearth and home. Faith and family, farming and frugality are hallmarks of her lifestyle: like Abby, she made her wedding dress and the one her mom wore, too! She’s a deacon, a dedicated church musician and choir member, and when she’s not writing, Naomi loves to travel, try new recipes, crochet, and sew. Naomi, whose real name is Charlotte Hubbard, now lives in Minnesota with her husband and their border collie, Ramona.

www.NaomiKingAuthor.com
https://www.facebook.com/NaomiC.King

One Big Happy Family, Book 2 NAL Trade (November 4, 2014)

ISBN-13: 9780451417886 •• ISBN-10: 0451417887

Buy Links:
The Book Depository •• http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/book/9780451417886
Amazon •• http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0451417887/
Barnes & Noble •• http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp? ean=9780451417886
B-A-M •• http://www.booksamillion.com/product/9780451417886
Chapters •• http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/a/9780451417886-item.html
IndieBound •• http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780451417886
Powell’s •• http://www.powells.com/biblio?isbn=9780451417886


Ebook
Kindle •• http://www.amazon.com/Emma-Blooms-At-Last-Family-ebook/dp/B00INIJJA8/
Nook •• http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/emma-blooms-at-last-naomi-king/1118739023? ean=9781101608432
\Kobo ••http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/emma-blooms-at-last
iBooks •• https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/emma-blooms-at-last/id828761041?mt=11
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