Life with Shannon McNear (Giveaway!)

Shannon McNear's on the Diamond Mine!

Transplanted to North Dakota after more than two decades in Charleston, South Carolina, Shannon McNear loves losing herself in local history. She’s a military wife, mom of eight, mother-in-law of three, grammie of two, and a member of ACFW and RWA. Her first novella, Defending Truth in A Pioneer Christmas Collection, was a 2014 RITA® finalist. When not sewing, researching, or leaking story from her fingertips, she enjoys being outdoors, basking in the beauty of the northern prairies.

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💖 Featuring an AWESOME Giveaway! 💖

(details after the interview)

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Hello folks, it's another great week on the Diamond Mine! This week, I have the honor to introduce Shannon McNear. I love this lady and I'm sure you will too. Not only is she a talented author, she's an amazing woman. So, without further ado, let's get started with the interview.

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👩Renee: Hey, Shannon, welcome to the Diamond Mine.. I'm happy you could join us.

💖Shannon: Thank you, and I’m so glad to be here! I love connecting with readers! 

👩Renee: Why don't we start with you telling us a little bit about yourself?

💖Shannon: Well, let's see... I go by Shannon. 😃 Unless you want to call me Shenandoah (an old nickname, drawn from what my mom says she’d have named me if she'd had the nerve), or the Barbarian Queen (for years I’ve affectionately referred to my children as the barbarian horde), but otherwise … Four years ago we moved to southeastern North Dakota from the Charleston, South Carolina, area—which was my husband’s first duty station with the Air Force, and we just put down roots. We were married 30 years ago last summer, and have 8 kids plus 1 in heaven … are basically a couple of country kids always longing to get back to the country, and finally achieved it with our move to ND. Plus it was a way for us to be back together as a family after his spending most of a couple of years in Afghanistan as a civilian with the Navy. Except that we left our 4 oldest behind in the move. But it’s taught us to appreciate family all the more! And what a blessing that we’re tightly knit enough to really miss each other … :’-) 

👩Renee: LOL From Charleston to North Dakota? Wow! Culture...climate shock! Sounds like you're having a blast though. I won't touch the 8 children part. I could barely handle one boy. You are awesome in my "book." Speaking of books, I hear you have a new one coming out, can you tell me about it? Is there anything unique or special I should know?

💖Shannon: For The Backcountry Brides Collection as a whole, it’s the time period—I believe this is Barbour’s first-ever all-colonial novella collection. All the authors are contributors to the historical blog Colonial Quills. My novella, The Counterfeit Tory, deals with an obscure sliver of Revolutionary War history which takes place in the backcountry (what’s now called “upstate”) of South Carolina. I also tend to like mixing a bit of action with my romance, and this one was no exception.

For The Highwayman—which I mention because not only is it the prequel to The Counterfeit Tory, but is a brand-spankin’-new re-release, originally part of The Most Eligible Bachelor Collection but now a standalone ebook with Forget Me Not—again, it’s a colonial era story, and probably the most frivolous thing I’ve ever written. I borrow heavily from the dash and daring of stories like Zorro, the Lone Ranger, and even The Man From Snowy River—and of course the Alfred Noyes poem “The Highwayman.” The combination works for some readers, not so much with others. But you could say that about any story.

👩Renee: So true. Both stories sound fascinating. I'm sorry, but for some reason, I keep thinking of 8 kids. When on earth do you find time to write?

💖Shannon: When my oldest children were all little, I wrote late at night, but eventually gave up writing fiction for a few years, because small children and focused time on other pursuits do not mix. After feeling the nudge to pick up the writing again, I went back to the late-night sessions, because if I tried getting up early to write, my babies and toddlers always seemed to wake up earlier as well, like they had radar: Mom is up! She must need COMPANY!! Then as my older kids began to reach their teen years, they suddenly chose those later hours to come sit at my knee and unburden their hearts. Precious times, yes? I did my best to listen in the moment, to give them a decent amount of attention before gently saying, "Look, I have to work for a while now." So you’d think, with half of them gone, and only 3 teens left at home, that it would be easier to make time to write? Noooo … 

👩Renee: You are so right about the RADAR. Kids (and husbands) have it built into their DNA. Do you have a favorite book of your own? If so, where do you like to read?

💖Shannon: I have to pick just one?? And if it’s okay to admit this, my favorite place for reading these days is … soaking in a nice, hot bath.

👩Renee: Oh, I love soaking in a hot bathtub and reading. I can leave the world behind! The only comparison I have that's close is when I'm painting. Do you have any hobbies or anything in particular you like to do when you aren't working?

💖Shannon: As a mom of many, it feels like I’m always working.  That said, I do love to read (see above), sew (in the past I served as costume seamstress for our ballet and drama companies), and here in North Dakota, I’ve found I actually enjoy tending my flower beds and helping my husband with the garden. The heat isn’t so unrelenting, and there are far fewer bugs! I also like to cook, bake, and can—mostly, that is, because the cooking aspect has been limited somewhat, at least rendered less fun, by my being diabetic (and trying to stay diet-controlled). But my husband and I have been doing a Whole 30/Paleo diet recently, and I’m discovering I enjoy cooking again when it’s something I can eat without guilt. I love experimenting with new flavors. Oh, and I’m very much a geek about alternate medicine and natural health.  😊

👩Renee: It's cool when you actually like the food you eat (prepare) and the results it offers. We know you have a large family, but what about critters...and I'm not talking about bugs? Do you have any pets running around your busy home? I mean, you have even more to make your life fun, right?

Heimdall

💖Shannon: We have 4 outdoor cats and 2 indoor German Shepherds. I’m honestly not much of a pet person these days but the cats help (mostly) with the mouse population, and the GSD’s pretty well stole my heart as puppies. It was always my husband’s dream to have a GSD, so while we were in the process of moving here, we also researched breeders and got on a waiting list for one on the other side of the state. Long story short, we wound up getting first pick on a long-coated female, who we named Freya (her sire’s name is Odin, and we decided to go with the whole Nordic thing common to North Dakota), and she’s been nothing short of amazing. This past March we added a male puppy, dubbed Heimdall (from the impressive guardian of the gate in the movie Thor), and he’s been pretty cool as well. Very different in temperament from Freya—thankfully much more chill where people are concerned—but a nice match for her.

👩Renee: What a cool name! Heimdall. Just so you know, I'm a Thor nut. I even have his hammer as a keychain! Okay, redirect... Is there a special quote or verse that helps you through your journey, in times of need or adversity?

💖Shannon: A couple of different verses … “Do not be weary in doing good [literally “being excellent”] for in due season we shall reap, if we do not lose heart” … and “for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” Both a reminder that our hard work will have an expected end, and that nothing we go through is so terrible that it overshadows what God has for us.

👩Renee: Sometimes it's hard to see the good through the adversity, isn't it? I thank you so much for your time for this interview, Shannon. You are truly an inspiration to all authors. But before I open the floor for questions and comments, I do have one final "question" As you know God uses life to teach us lessons. Can you tell us or share one lesson He has taught you?

💖Shannon: The biggest one for me has been on practicing gratitude. Where is my focus? Not to minimize hardships or grief—or maybe it is 😊 because I’ve experienced plenty of both in my life—but it makes all the difference in my ability to cope when I can look at all the ways God has blessed me, or how abundant His mercy and grace has been on me personally and my family, or just at the Cross itself and what Jesus went through to buy our salvation.

👩Renee: It's an honor to have you on the Diamond Mine. Thank you for sharing your heart, family, and writing with us.

💖Shannon: I so appreciate you giving me the chance to share myself and get to know a few more of my readers! Because Backcountry Brides doesn’t release until May 1, I don’t have copies in hand, but I’d like to offer one as hot off the presses as I can get it! (Probably late April.) If you’d rather not wait, and would prefer a copy of my first novella from The Pioneer Christmas Collection, I’m offering that as an alternative.

👩Renee: NOW IT'S YOUR TURN, FOLKS! ASK AND COMMENT AWAY. SHANNON IS WAITING FOR YOU. REMEMBER ALL WE'VE LEARNED TODAY? 8 KIDS, AUTHOR, GSD'S, NUTTY CATS, 8 KIDS...MMM....WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT TO KNOW? ASK AWAY!

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AMAZING GIVEAWAY

Comment below for your chance

to win a copy of The Backcountry Brides Collection.

Valid entries must include email and name.

Winner will be selected from comments (valid entries)

via random draw on 3/28/18 and notified via email.

Prize: One copy of Backcountry Brides Collection (May 2018, Barbour), OR The Pioneer Christmas Collection (2015, Barbour)

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About the Book:

Love on Colonial America's Frontier

Eight 18th Century Women Seek Love on Colonial America's Frontier.

Travel into Colonial America where eight women seek love, but they each know a future husband requires the necessary skills to survive in the backcountry. Living in areas exposed to nature’s ferocity, prone to Indian attack, and cut off from regular supplies, can hearts overcome the dangers to find lasting love?

www.barbourbooks.com

by Angela K Couch, Debra E Marvin, Shannon McNear, Gabrielle Meyer, Carrie Fancett Pagels, Jennifer Hudson Taylor, Pegg Thomas, Denise Weimer

The Counterfeit Tory by Shannon McNear

1781 – (South Carolina)

Tasked with infiltrating an infamous Tory gang, Jed Wheeler has no wish to endanger the leader’s cousin, Lizzy Cunningham. He risks not only his life. . .but his heart.

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2p8pkHB

Christianbook.com: https://www.christianbook.com/the-backcountry-brides-collection/carrie-pagels/9781683226222/pd/226224?event=ESRCN|M

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-backcountry-brides-collection-debra-e-marvin/1127754095?ean=9781683226222

Barbour Books: http://www.barbourbooks.com/product/Backcountry-Brides-Collection,14955.aspx?Tab=Books

About the Author:

Transplanted to North Dakota after more than two decades in Charleston, South Carolina, Shannon McNear loves losing herself in local history. She’s a military wife, mom of eight, mother-in-law of three, grammie of two, and a member of ACFW and RWA. Her first novella, Defending Truth in A Pioneer Christmas Collection, was a 2014 RITA® finalist. When not sewing, researching, or leaking story from her fingertips, she enjoys being outdoors, basking in the beauty of the northern prairies.

Website: shannonmcnear.com

www.facebook.com/Shannon-McNear-462336880012/

twitter.com/ShannonMcNear

www.pinterest.com/shenandoahdawn/ (I use this for my own visual reference while I’m writing, so some of my boards have more pins than others)

www.goodreads.com/author/show/6880909.Shannon_McNear

Meet the Miner:

A pharmacist by day, but any time she can spare, Renee Blare writes Christian fiction amidst the foothills of the Wyoming Black Hills. She loves to fish, hunt, and pick away on her old guitar. Renee finds joy in God’s Country and writing about Christians and their exciting journeys. She invites you to ride along. Discover what it means for the Wild to meet the Forgiven.

Wyoming Walkabouts