Kim Griffin Spills the Tea on her Favorite Things and her New Novel

Hi readers! It's me again, and I'm peppering this week's featured author for a list of her favs. Kim Griffin, a huge Jane Austen fan, joins us to talk about what's going on in her life and her new book Not Quite Mr. Knightly. (PS. Her next novel, Not Quite Miss Austen drops on Jan. 31st.)

PT:  Hi, Kim! So let’s start on page one. What genre do you write in and why?

KG: I write Christian women’s fiction with romance. Most of my books are contemporary, but there is a 1970s book and a 1955 book. I love to craft stories that point Christian women to Christ and encourage them to read His Word.

I also love a good romance story, but always want readers to understand that though a godly romance is very satisfying, it will never completely fulfill our desire to be loved and will never be perfect. Only God can love us perfectly and fill those empty places. When we go into a relationship and ultimately marriage understanding this, we learn to gain our significance from Christ and not our spouse. This frees us up to love them better and strengthens us when our spouse fails us (because they are not perfect).

I also write devotionals, and I’m working on a Bible study. This is a natural outpouring of my years of studying scripture and leading Bible studies. I’ve been leading Bible studies since my freshman year in college, so I’m in my 37th year! I advocate for inductive Bible studies, which teach people to study deeply using God’s word as the primary source and uncover God’s truths for themselves.

 PT: Is there any genre you secretly would like to write in?

KG: Christian Regency romance. I love Regency romance but it is intimidating because there are so many who have gone before me in that genre, including those, like Jane Austen, who lived through it. I worry I will get the details wrong. Eventually, I will try it.

PT: What drew you to become a writer, and what’s the best thing about the writing process for you?

KG: I’ve been making up stories for as long as I can remember. I was almost five by the time my twin brother and sister were born, and at that time I had a whole cast of imaginary friends and family that I made up stories about. I was just too young to write them down. I wrote a number of short stories throughout my younger years and even wrote a couple of plays for my siblings and neighbor friends to perform.

In sixth grade,  I convinced my best friends to help me put together a “newspaper” for our grade, and we wrote stories and articles for it. In middle school, my creative passion moved to interior design.

I was always a reader, though, and as an adult, it wasn’t until my oldest two children had graduated from homeschool and my third was taking dual enrollment classes that I had time to read for myself and not just books for their schooling. In 2019 I discovered an online writing platform, and it had a lot of non-Christian garbage, but there were a few Christians there. I decided I could put some of the ideas that were always bouncing around in my head into story form and use it as a platform to share Christ.

At the time, I had no aspirations of publishing my books, though people suggested I should publish. Eventually, I realized that my reach there was limited as the platform became less popular, and God kept placing people in my path through social media who were independent authors. I did some research, prayed, and felt like God was laying everything before me to begin publishing my books. Not Quite Mr. Darcy was my first published book, and I just celebrated it’s two-year anniversary on October 18.

PT:  Do you have a genre do you enjoy reading the most?

KG: Most any Christian fiction with romance. I read a little of almost every type of book except horror, and I’m picky about fantasy. I love historical, mystery, and books with unexpected twists and turns in stories.

PT: I love music so let me ask what your favorite song is right now?

KG: I have a couple that are very different. The first is Andrew Peterson’s “Is He Worthy.” I love that it puts me before the throne, worshipping and longing to be face to face with my Savior. The second is “Dusty Bibles” by Josiah Queen. It is a reminder that we are constantly distracted by electronics and should pick up our Bibles and spend time with God.

PT: I’m stuck on a favorite list now, LOL. Favorite verse?

KG: I have so many, but I’ll share a section in Hebrews and my writing verse from Romans 15.

Hebrews 12:1-3 ESV - 1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.

I love the way Hebrews beautifully ties together the Old and New Testaments. In fact, I have a lot of verses from Hebrews in my Starry Night: Christmas Advent Devotional. But these particular verses remind me to keep my eyes on Jesus and lay aside and ignore the things that distract me from what He has called me to do in my time here on earth. I’m reminded of the faith of those who have gone before me (those listed in the chapter before). And most meaningfully, I’m reminded that Jesus endured the cross for me and each believer—we were the joy before Him that spurred Him to go on.

I’d also like to share my writing verse. Romans 15:13 ESV - 13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

This is the verse I use as my theme verse for writing—both my fiction and nonfiction. In my nonfiction, I strive to lay out important truths in scripture that will strengthen your relationship with God and help you understand those truths so you will have joy and peace in Him! My fiction takes characters through hard things and brings them to a place where they see God is the only one to place their hope in, and they also have glimpses of His mercy (not getting what they deserve) and grace (getting what they don’t deserve or God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense).

PT: Favorite drink?

KG: Hot tea. I love both herbal and caffeinated teas with no sugar or cream. Right now I’m loving Lady Grey tea. I’ve never been a coffee drinker, though I love the smell, and it reminds me of growing up since my parents drank it.

PT: Favorite season?

KG: Summer. I love to run around in shorts and flip-flops, and I get cold easily. I thrive when it’s above 70. In the winter I have to wear so many layers and I want to hibernate.

PT: Favorite holiday?

KG: As an adult, Easter because it’s easier to focus on Jesus. I love Christmas, but there’s so much commercialism around it, and so much is always scheduled that time of year that it is real work to carve out quiet times with God. That’s how I ended up writing my Starry Night: Christmas Advent Devotional. It was a way to slow my mind down and focus on Jesus in the midst of the Christmas chaos.

PT: Favorite Fictional character?

KG: Elizabeth Bennet—I love her introspection and dry wit.

PT: Now MY favorite prompt. Tell 5 things about Kim Griffin that have nothing to do with writing.

KG: My degree is in Interior Design / Interior Architecture.

I was a homeschool mom, but all of my children have now graduated. My youngest just did in May!

I have 4 children; the youngest is adopted from Haiti, and two grandchildren.

I’m a city girl living in a rural community in middle Tennessee, and we have a few beef cows (I leave that up to my husband. LOL).

I love to cook healthy food, but I will eat a delicious dessert now and then, especially if it’s chocolate.

PT: Tell us how you started the Not Quite Series.

KG: I’ve loved Jane Austen’s books for years and had read Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Sense and Sensibility many times. But I always wished Jane had put a faith message in them. As much as I enjoy a good love story, I know that our culture often builds up romance and romantic love as the ultimate goal in life—as if we will be fully satisfied once we find our person. That creates an unrealistic burden on marriages and relationships because our spouses are not perfect. 

I had written several books that I hadn’t published before I decided to publish, and in my first published book I wanted to marry the idea of the perfect Mr. Darcy, who generations of women have swooned over, with the realism that no man except Jesus can love us perfectly. That was my idea behind Not Quite Mr. Darcy. I didn’t intend for it to be a series at first, but when I was partway through, the idea for Not Quite Colonel Brandon formed. The stories kept coming.

PT: How do Jane Austen’s books connect with yours?

KG: None of the series books are anywhere near retellings, but they each have nods to the books that correspond with the name. Each of the main characters also enjoys the books that correspond with the name. In the back of each book, I have a QR code for an extras/trivia page on my website that tells its connections with the corresponding Jane Austen book. It also gives fun details about how I came up with ideas, other Easter eggs, and details I found when researching the book.

PT: Tell the readers more about Not Quite Mr.Knightly.

KG: Here’s the tagline and blurb:

A runaway bride

A marriage of convenience

A love worth fighting for

While interning at the U.S. Embassy in London, Nancy Wilson, a spirited Southerner from Greenville, South Carolina, thought she’d found her very own Mr. Knightley—straight from the pages of Emma.

Yet on the eve of her wedding day, a devastating letter from her future father-in-law shatters her dreams, leaving her with a heart-wrenching decision. Opting to leave London, Nancy returns to the familiarity of Greenville, only to be haunted by regret and a longing to reclaim her lost love. After attempting reconciliation and facing an unexpected rejection, she questions everything she once believed.

Back home, Nancy must grapple with newfound challenges, testing her resilience and faith. Amidst her broken heart, she encounters a surprising proposal that could change her life forever—a marriage of convenience that may hold the key to finding her true Mr. Knightley. This tale of love, loss, and self-discovery will resonate with anyone who has ever yearned for a love story worth fighting for.

Set in 1970, Not Quite Mr. Knightley is the third book of the Not Quite Series and can be read as a standalone, though it’s best enjoyed after reading Not Quite Colonel Brandon. While not a retelling of Emma, this story contains elements Austen fans will appreciate.*

PT: Ahhh, the tea tastes great! And that cover is sweeter than sugar. You can get your copy of Not Quite Mr. Knightly today by following the links or visiting your favorite bookstore, or you can stay around for the free book given to one lucky person who leaves a comment. 

Thanks, Kim for visiting the Diamond Mine of Christian Fiction and spilling the tea about your new novels!

 

*Content Warning: This book contains characters who consider abortion and who have an abortion in their past. Abortion is discussed several times from a Christian perspective, emphasizing forgiveness and healing in Christ. If you have an abortion in your past, please read the resources section at the end of the book and visit DeeperStill.org for free Christ centered retreats.

A New Member Joins the Mine...and a Few Sad Goodbyes...

It's already February and I haven't updated you on The Diamond Mine of Christian Fiction's changes for 2025! As usual, we have a few that are leaving us, but we have a newcomer, and we want to send her a hearty welcome! We are so glad to have Christina!

Christina Sinisi

 

A member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Christina Sinisi writes stories about families, both the broken and blessed. Her works include a semi-finalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest and the American Title IV Contest where she appeared in the top ten in the Romantic Times magazine. Her published books include Christmas Confusion, Sweet Summer, and Christmas on Ocracoke. By day, she is a psychology professor and lives in the Lowcountry of South Carolina with her husband, two children and her crazy kitten Zeta Belle.

Books:

A Holy City Christmas, October 2024

Another Outer Banks Christmas, November 2023

Charleston Light, An Anthology, April 2023

Why They Call It Falling, Anaiah Press, June 2022

Sweet Summer, Anaiah Press, July 2021

Christmas on Ocracoke, Anaiah Press, November 2020

The Christmas Confusion, Anaiah Press, November 2019

www.ChristinaSinisi.com  Go here and click on Contact to sign up for Christina's newsletter!

Facebook

Twitter: @ChristinaSinisi

https://amzn.to/3pP4xXd

Please look forward to Christina's upcoming interviews.

Now, for a few sad goodbyes...

Lisa M. James and Michelle Massaro have left the Mine for 2025. We wish them the best in their writing/publishing careers and will miss them and their insights. I hope the readers will continue to support them.

One of our interviewers made the ultimate journey and is now face to face with her Savior. Laura V. Hilton passed away on January 9, 2025. Our prayers go out to her family. Although her reward is great, those left behind are sad at her passing. Please hold her husband and family in your prayers. All for the Glory of God.

Author Staci Stallings's New Book Hits the Shelves

Drop that phone, abandon that tablet, toss that brush on your dresser, hide that bag of fireworks, and set that caffeinated drink aside my friendly reading multi-taskers! Author Staci Stallings has got you covered for the next few minutes. She's a multi-tasker extraordinaire, and she's pumping out book after book while keeping all those other plates spinning. (So jealous as my plates crash and burn!)  And in a few weeks, her newest release Chasing Hearts will hit the shelves. Let's find out more!

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PT: Welcome back Staci! We love to see what you’ve been up to. Remind us of your background and how you landed as an author of Christian Fiction. 

SS: When I first started writing fiction around 1996 after I had my first child, I was told, “Write what you know” and “Read what you want to write.” So, I set out to read contemporary Christian romance, and people in the bookstores laughed at me saying, “You mean historical, right? There’s no such thing as CONTEMPORARY Christian romance. That’s not even a thing.” I realized pretty quickly that what I wanted to write (what I knew in life) wasn’t even a thing in the real world. 

Shortly after that, I had decided to write but maybe not write Christian; however, in my first novel, my character was in freezing water after a plane crash with a wrecked leg and nowhere near the shore. What would I do in that situation? I would PRAY! So, even though there was no evidence that anything I wrote from that point forward would ever sell or even be marketable, I found that ultimately, I had to write what I knew, and what I knew was I don’t want to walk this journey without God. 

PT: I so understand! A person’s faith journey is just ingrained in your life. Inseparable. So, you write in several different genres. Tell us why and what your favorite is. 

SS: Part of me wants to say, “My favorite is whatever I’m writing at the moment.” Part of me says that’s a lie. 😀 I think I don’t really write genres or ages so much as I write the characters that show up. I don’t really have hard and fast parameters of what I think a particular character “should be.” I’ve had characters that were 15 and barely in high school and some that were in their 40’s and trying to find life again after a divorce or death. I learn and I’ve learned from every single one. I think that might be the answer... it’s not my favorite genre... it’s that I get to learn about life from many different perspectives and from each perspective that I write. I’ve never been in an abusive relationship, but I had to learn to navigate one in my book Always. I’ve never been a big city cop, but I had to learn what that was like for I Know What I Love You Means. Each character, each situation teaches me something I couldn’t have learned any other way. That’s what I love about what I write. 

PT: I love how you put that! We readers become that person and live their experiences. Ground us and tell us what region do you live in and do you like to set books in the areas you lived or visited or somewhere totally new? 

SS: I live in the Texas Panhandle, the flattest, driest (other than the actual desert) area on earth. I don’t actually have many books set here although I do have a few that look a lot like Lubbock which is an hour and a half south of here. For settings, they usually just happen naturally. I “see” mountains, or I “see” ocean. Then I pick out an area that’s close to what I’m seeing, give it a name, and go for it. I have written settings of places I’ve visited. For example, I went to a family party in Kansas once, and I wrote that area into the story The Long Way Home.

My dad called when he was reading that book and said he thought he recognized the area, but he’d gone to look at a map and couldn’t find the town I mentioned. I was like, “That’s because I made it up!” I find it much easier to have a general setting—say North Carolina. Then make up a town so that I don’t have to worry about if I named a street the wrong thing. I can make it look like whatever I need it too. I have learned to let my imagination override practically everything else, and I don’t really want to beholden myself to whatever is actually there. 

PT: Since we are so near Independence Day, are you an all-in fireworks planner, a few-sparklers-here- and-there, or do you hover in your house, covering the dogs ears (or somewhere in between?). 

SS: Well, my area LOVES fireworks. For a while, I was allergic to the smoke, so I was a stay-inside-and-try-not-to-die kind of person. Then my son and daughter, who do Christmas light shows started doing a 4th of July show at my house to test out whatever crazy thing they were planning to do for Christmas. So, I’ve had pixel sticks, a screen on my roof, and even a mega-tree in my yard one year for 4th of July. That meant I could go out and sit in a car and watch the show every night for like ten days. I don’t know why that cleared up the breathing thing (or what happened in there to help it), but now I can go out and watch all the fireworks again. Strange how life works like that. 

PT: Let’s get bookish. How many books do you have out now, and what are you working on now? 

SS: Right now I have 71 books on Amazon. Some are nonfiction, but most are fiction. I finished up a 12-book series last year and decided to put out a book I wrote in the early 2000’s. The problem was that with that book when I wrote it, I had truncated the story to get it to end “all nice and neat and tied with a bow.” Unfortunately, I’ve grown so much as a writer and author that it really felt wrong because the characters had found love but not healing. So, I went back and revised the ending of that one and added a second book that is more about the characters healing through their trauma. Those two books were The Love Series , I Know What I Love You Means and Moving Mountains.

Then, last year like a bolt of lightning, the idea for a spin-off series from that one where Pete and Abby the main characters in The Love Series are kind of mentors for Pete’s niece and three nephews as they start to go off to college and have to navigate life showed up. There was a LOT of trauma that was dealt with by Pete and his brother in the first two, and it’s been really interesting to see how the parent’s trauma affected the kids without us probably really realizing it when we were reading The Love Series. So, the new series is called The Perspectives Series as each child comes at life and healing from a vastly different perspective. The first book in that series is Chasing Hearts, and the book I’m working on now is the next book in that series called Picking Wildflowers. 

PT: Tell us a little about Chasing Hearts and where the idea for this book began.

SS: In The Love Series, I really enjoyed the character of Justin, the oldest son. He was very much like my own nephew—very steady and wanting to do things right. Last year as I was finishing up The Love Series, I happened upon a picture of an actor (don’t remember which one now), and I thought, “That guy really looks like Nick (the second brother).” I was a little bored so I wondered if I could find a picture of Justin, which I did, and then of course, I had to find one of Bailey. Once I had those three, I couldn’t leave Noah out. I started thinking about what a book about the siblings might look like, and all of a sudden I knew the story of Chasing Hearts and the title which I didn’t even understand until ¾ through the book. 

When I first started, my biggest challenge was getting the other three siblings—especially Bailey to BE QUIET and let me write Justin’s story. Bailey was the most excited character I’ve ever experienced in my head. She kept showing me pictures and pieces of her story. “Ugh! Bailey, STOP! I have to write this story first!” Now that I’m on her story, she’s so funny because she’s so shut down as a character because of things that have happened to her. However, I know her secret. That is NOT the REAL Bailey. She’s in there somewhere. I’ve just got to find her! 

PT: Oh, know all about bossy characters—Rhapsody—in my head too! And it is SO hard to write someone else’s story while they are yelling to you in your head, LOL. Does Chasing Hearts have a Bible theme or verse that accompanies the storyline? 

SS: Although not Biblical per se, the theme is how we so often try to live our lives to make others “happy,” and how that just does not work. It is finding God and letting Him be your center, your rock, the One Who gives you love so you can give love to the world—rather than trying to get love from other people and the world. It’s a huge rethink that has made so much difference in my life and in many lives around me.

PT: That is a great concept to center on. What Bible verse speaks to you currently? 

SS: I have a verse from The Message Bible on my wall that is 2 Corinthians 13:10: “The authority the Master has given me is for putting people together, not taking them apart.” Recently I’ve really been on a quest to help people learn to heal trauma and set them on a good path where they aren’t fighting their past so much that they can’t face the future or even live in the present. So, right now, that one’s speaking pretty loudly. 

PT: Tell 5 things about Staci Stallings that have nothing to do with writing. 

SS: 

1. I started teaching middle school and high school a few years ago after about 28 years of only teaching Sunday school. I teach some English writing, Life Skills, Creative Writing, Personal Finance, Quantum Growth (how to gain and use personal growth tools and couple them with Christian living), and this coming year, I’m scheduled to teach a Classic Film class. In the Quantum class, I get to help juniors plan their college journeys and get them set up for that. It’s awesome to be there as they learn to “adult” in a way that empowers them rather than stifles them. 

2. I have a YouTube Channel @StaciStallingsAuthor where I share stories on audio. Okay, technically that is about writing too, but if you had any idea all of the stuff I’ve had to learn to be able to do that, and NONE of it has to do with writing! Right now, I have three full books on there for people to listen to for free. I’m in the process of putting a fourth book with plans for the fifth to start in a couple of months. 

3. I love to read. Nonfiction is by far my favorite, and I’m reading three different books right now. Two on the toxic achievement culture monster we’ve created in high schools and the other about How We Heal. 

4. I have three wonderful young adult kids and one wonderful husband, and we just celebrated 33 years of marriage in June. My kids are out there making the world a much better place. My oldest daughter is a campus minister at our local college. My middle daughter is a Cranial-Sacral therapist, and she also helps my son who owns his own Christmas light show park and now a drone company. They are my inspirations! 

5. Somewhere in the middle of all of that, I own two businesses and do all of the bookkeeping for each one. As the guidance counselor at my school said one day, “Do you ever sleep?!” To which I replied that I feel like all I do is sleep. If I didn’t have to sleep, I could get so much more done. 😀 (Probably God put that whole sleeping thing in place to force us to slow down at least once a day. At least that’s my theory!) 

PT: Whew! That's an amazing list. And, you have an amazing list of books. Thanks so much for stopping by, Staci.

SS: Thanks so much for the opportunity to visit! God bless everyone!

Staci is graciously offering one blessed reader (who leaves an email or leaves your email on our contact form) a copy of I know What I Love You means. Please don't miss this opportunity! Leave a comment and your email or enter on our contact form.

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Interview with Debut Fiction Co-authors Denae Jones and Jennifer Thomas

Meet Denae Jones and Jennifer Thomas co-authors of But, Even Now, a split-time biblical and modern-day story. They are kind enough to offer a free copy of their book. If you'd like to win a the book, leave a comment with your name and email address by July 14. We must have your email address to be eligible.

I'm excited to interview both ladies and introduce them to you. 

Jennifer:

What genre do you enjoy reading most?

Historical fiction for sure! I love the feeling of going back in time and experiencing what life may have been like through the different characters' points of view.

Jennifer:
What is your favorite childhood book? 

Definitely King Bidgood's In The Bathtub by Audrey Wood... Check it out if you haven't read it! I guess you could say it would be historical fiction for a picture book. The last page will NEVER not make me laugh!!

Denae:
When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

Funny, I thought writing was a more recent dream of mine, but I found books with my writing in it from
all the way back to about third grade. Poetry, short stories, etc. Then in college, one of my professors asked us to make a list of our top 5 long-term dreams. Having a published book was on that list, but I had totally forgotten about it! I guess this is just what God wanted me to do. I started with having a couple of stories published in Chicken Soup books, then I created a line of greeting cards for people who had lost a child. About six years ago, I wrote for newspapers, which eventually developed into my devotion books. The latest is our novel, But, Even Now.  

Denae:

Do you have any upcoming projects, releases, or sales?

But, Even Now is our latest published book. The story goes between biblical times and modern day, and it's the first in this series. At the end of But, Even Now you can read the first two chapters of the sequel, titled The Two Martha’s. We are currently working on completing that and can’t wait to see how it ends!

Thanks for sharing a bit about you.

Denea:

Please share the book we are featuring here: 

But, Even Now  

Meet Trista, a woman whose present-day world has been falling apart for years. How can she stay close to God when insurmountable obstacles meet her time and time again? As advised by her counselor, she starts journaling, which inadvertently tells a heart-gripping story about an unexpected path to motherhood, love and loss, addiction, betrayal, and faith that will change future generations.

Meet Adinah, who lives in a world dominated by Roman oppression just as Jesus is being revealed as the Messiah. Being a barren wife in a culture where family lineage is everything, she questions God when she feels all but forgotten by Him. Ready to give up, she beholds firsthand how life-and faith-can change in an instant.

1,985 years ago, Adinah was there to witness a miracle. Today, that same miracle changes Trista's life. This historical/fiction novel will have you laughing and crying as it weaves together the intriguing stories of these two women who have one very important thing in common: Jesus.

(Available online most places books are sold.) Amazon

Denae, I know you delve into the Jewish religion in the historical fiction. What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book?

But, Even Now is a time leap book that is historical/fiction. It was important to us that the historical part and the present-day part not only aligned with one another, but that they were as historically accurate as possible. We did quite a bit of research and conducted interviews to make sure the cultures described in the book were represented well.  

Jennifer:

Do you find yourself returning to a similar theme in your novels or do you have a new message with each release?

Honestly, we haven't had to choose a theme yet because God has clearly instructed us in our writing journey so far. It was clear to us that pornography addiction would be a part of our beloved Trista's journey in some way. This epidemic is stealing the innocence of children and harming marriages at an alarming rate in our world today. It was also clear that our two main characters would both be encouraged through their trials by words right out of Martha's mouth in the Bible. As for the theme of our sequel, The Two Marthas, we already knew what it was to be about before we finished the first. God is really in the lead with this series, and we are just hoping we get it right.

Jennifer:

Is there a certain Bible passage or verse that goes along with the theme of your book? 

Yes! So glad you asked! John 11:22...  Check it out and then read But, Even Now. :)

To finish our time together, each of you tell us a fun thing about you.

Denae:
What are the top three things on your bucket list?

One thing on my bucket list would be to travel to the Holy Land and then to parts of Europe. Another would be to go Sky Camping, where you camp in a hammock that is suspended over the side of a mountain. My top bucket list actually came true last year, and that was to see every member of my family baptized!

Jennifer:
If you could be any animal, which would it be?

I would probably pick to be one of my dogs, chickens, or ducks because of how much we spoil them!

If you'd like to win a copy of the book, leave a comment with your name and email address by July 14. We must have your email address to be eligible, and we need five comments from five readers.

Thanks for checking out The Diamond Mine of Christian Fiction.

A Little Sugar Plum Magic from Carrie Fancett Pagels!

 

Vera~You are the winner of Carrie's book, The Sugar Plum Fairy! Expect an email soon about the details. Thanks everyone!

Oooh, it's that Christmas magic time! Trees twinkling, wrapping paper crinkling, silver bells ringing and carols singing! All to give out the good tidings of Christ's birth on earth! And I can't resist bringing in another Christmas novel to celebrate this holy time of year. The Sugar Plum Ladies by our spotlight author Carrie Fancett Pagels is just the heartwarming story you readers need for your happy holiday sigh meter! Let's unwrap this interview with Carrie, because I can't stand the anticipation. Let's meet Carrie Fancett Pagels.

PT: Hi, Carrie! Welcome to my sleigh, LOL. Give us a rundown of how you started writing and the genre you write in and why.

CFP: I was a psychologist for 25 years, working with young people and kids and I loved it. I’d planned to write CF when I retired at about 70. Unfortunately, I developed severe Rheumatoid Arthritis and some other medical problems and became physically disabled, including about 5 years where I could barely walk. I’d started writing as a child, as I believe most authors do and was a born storyteller, making up stuff and changing the ends of stories I wanted more from. I had been published in nonfiction as a psychologist. However, my first Christian fiction publications, and about 20 more, have been in historical romance. I’ve recently switched over to Contemporary Women’s Fiction in CF. I do have a love of history, and enjoy romance, but at this point in my life I’m really wanting to write stories about women’s relationships and some romance thrown in there, too! I will get rights back to my historical CF stories, too, and will enjoy sprucing those up!

PT: Tell a little about your newest release, The SugarplumLadies and how you came up with the idea, the setting choice, and the names of your hero/heroine.

CFP: The Sugarplum Ladies was part of The Victorian Christmas Brides collection, which I headed up about 5 years ago for Barbour and invited a bunch of my fave CF authors to join in on. We all have our rights back now. I expanded my story by about 40%, mostly smoothing out the transitions. Wow, it really needed that! People are loving the new version! PTL!

I’d read about real-life social reformers in Detroit who, after the Civil War, headed up training and also catering agencies to help widows support themselves and their families. Eugenie Mott was inspired by the article I’d read. Barrister Percy, needed to be of British background and living somewhere that Victorian traditions were celebrated, so I put him in Windsor, Ontario, Canada—a place I enjoyed visiting as a child!

PT: Do you have any special Family Traditions for Christmas? And is your tree up yet? LOL

CFP: We enjoy going to Christmas service. The children, both grown now but one in college and still living at home when not at UVA, make a birthday cake for baby Jesus with me. Our tree goes up after Thanksgiving and we leave it up until after Epiphany (I celebrate until then just like my hero does!) We had a family, multi-generational British tradition (my great-grandparents immigrated from Maidstone, Kent, in England) of having an orange in the stocking—but for my generation I made the new twist of it being a chocolate orange! Those were available only online last year during pandemic but available now in stores again! I enjoy reading the Christmas story in the Bible, too, during this time of year, with my family.

PT: Give us a little peek of what your own Christmas celebration is like.

CFP: There’s a turkey in the oven. Our son used to refer to these holiday dinners as “The Feast” and it was his fave thing to have everyone gathered together. The china is set out. The silver is shined. The crystal is on the table (although the crystal is getting passed on to my daughter this year). The candles are lit on the dining table. After that amazing Christmas luncheon of turkey, dressing, gravy, potatoes, green bean casserole, homemade dinner rolls, some sides that my SIL likes such as turnip casserole (don’t snicker it’s good!), sparkling cider or juice, the Baby Jesus birthday cake, and more we have a cup of coffee or tea and start opening gifts in the living room.

PT: Favorite Christmas gift?

CFP: My closest girlfriends usually send me personal and special gifts that are unique and often homemade—those are my faves because my mom would make us so many wonderful things and I know the love and time that goes into every handmade item. It’s one reason I really try to make at least one jewelry item, e.g., earrings, for my friends and family members each year. One of my dear friends and critique partner, author Kathleen L. Maher, is an artist, and I love what she makes especially treasure the homemade Christmas ornaments and the other dear friend also critique partner, author Debbie Lynne Costello, makes amazing crafts but also picks out really cool things she finds. This year I did a ton of baking and candy making and sent those boxes out early to special friends and family members who asked for those treats!

PT: Tell us a little about what readers can expect from a “British Christmas.”

CFP: Crackers for one! And I don’t mean saltines! We actually did these in my family one year and they were fun (if a bit underwhelming the way I did them lol!) These are like a two-part cardboard cylinder  that has a special gift inside and they are wrapped lightly and ribbon on the ends. You pull them apart to open them! The British tradition, within the Anglican church, is to celebrate through Epiphany. When I was in England one Christmas the other thing modern day Brits did was to celebrate Boxing Day, which we don’t do in my novella! Plum pudding is a British treat and one Christmas my Great Uncle Fred made us plum pudding! I have a funny story about that but I won’t share it here!

PT: Favorite recipes/Christmas recipes?

CFP: Usually we’ll have gingerbread cake with cream cheese frosting and I also make sugar cookies and unique twists on eggnog such as coffee eggnog but this year I went a little crazy making fudge variations like my newest creation a Straits of Mackinac mint vanilla turquoise fudge!! I also made my husband’s fave, a huge sheet pan of peanut butter bars from his mom’s recipe. A new fave is also a dried cherry, white chocolate chip, oatmeal cookie. My chia seed brownies were a failure so I’m returning to regular ones! I like a pound cake made with dried Christmas fruit in it and I also like certain fruitcakes through the mail—I’m the author of The Fruitcake Challenge, which was recommended by Woman’s World Magazine last year as a Michigan Christmas read and was a Selah Award finalist and a #1 Amazon bestseller in Christian historical romance.

PT: How many books do you have published?  Do you have a favorite book out of all you’ve written, and how do you keep your writing “fresh?”

CFP: I believe it is twenty-five. My Heart Belongs on Mackinac Island is my top seller and I believe The Fruitcake Challenge is right behind and these are two of my own favorites. My fave Christmas story is a short story in Guideposts Books Christmas collection called Snowed In because it is inspired by my real life parents’ and family’s stories which I fictionalized. It’s set right after my father came back from WWII, at Christmastime, and it is a fiction but it is inspired by a bunch of true things. But I also am very proud of The Substitute Bride and I love the Sonja Hoeke character who is probably the one character, in all of my books, who is most like me. As far as other non-Christmas stories, my first Contemporary Women’s Fiction, Butterfly Cottage, which won second place in the Selah Awards, is my current favorite because I had a whole bunch of friends and family members who had died during a short period of time, and I had stopped writing. Then Covid hit. This story was my first with a family cast of three generations of women and they became very near and dear to my heart and almost real! Right now I’m spending lots of time with Dragonfly Cottage, which releases in June 2023! I think almost all my books are my favorites!

Fresh? Every writer, IMHO, needs to take a break to refresh and renew. My writing ministry comes only from God. I have significant health issues. I can’t write without Him. But if I don’t remain in Him and get refreshment and renewal in the Vine, I’m lost. People burn out churning out stuff that was never from the Lord to begin with. I am working on only one book a year that is a new release, recently. I have gotten rights back to books that are getting re-released, such as The Sugarplum Ladies, but my upcoming new release, Dragonfly Cottage, in Spring 2023, is the only novel I’ll have written in the past year. That gives me time to get recharged and also to deal with life.

PT: What Bible verse is dear to your heart at this time?

CFP: I’m really into listening to Father Mike Schmitt on audio right now. The Word is a blessing every single day. I also read Joyce Meyer’s devotional every night which includes scripture. Divine Scripture is a blessing. I’ve always loved that super short verse, Jesus wept, and given these End Times we are in, that verse comforts me.

PT: Do you inject a Biblical message in your books? If so, does it “just happen” or do you plan it?

CFP: My tagline is Hearts Overcoming with God and for a long time I had a blog entitled Overcoming with God so that’s a theme in most of my stories. Yes, I always have a spiritual arc in the books. Christian fiction is “supposed” to include that. Sometimes, often in fact, Danny Gokey or another Christian musician seems to write a song “just for me” and my stories! God’s grace may be the message. God’s blessings. Having faith when there seems to be no way. I’ve been blessed with songs that match the spiritual theme of my stories. For upcoming Dragonfly Cottage, Build a Boat by Colton Dixon has my hero’s message, and the song, Just Getting Started, matches the heroine’s journey!

 

PT: Tell 5 things about Carrie Fancett Pagels that have nothing to do with writing.

CFP:

1. I was a psychologist for 25 years and grew up by a state mental hospital.

2. I am prayerfully considering getting my psychology license back again and will be taking CEUs in 2023 as my health permits.

3. We tease that I gave birth to my own grandchild because I had a son at age 44.

4. I nearly died 12 years ago, and I left my body, and God let me stay here for my son and husband.

5. My heart really does belong on Mackinac Island and my ashes will be scattered there if my family follows my wishes!

PT: What book/story line is on the horizon? Have you settled on a setting/release date?

CFP: Dogwood Plantation is a sequel to Butterfly Cottage, but is a stand-alone with some new characters. I got inspired by a sweet young lady who worked at a coffee shop on Mackinac Island and came to one of my book signings. I did the “What If” thing of asking what if she was actually camping out in one of the often-vacant mansions (called cottages!) on the West Bluff? Then I needed someone to clash with her. And I had the “What if” there was a truly annoying big brother of her former BFF who was rehabbing the cottage next door? But I had to weave this in with another character, Mrs. Parker, in her 70s, who was a difficult person in a couple of other stories but who has had her “Come to Jesus” moment (as has Rachel, the young heroine). So these two, have spiritual story arcs. Mrs. Parker has more secrets than a Virginia summer has degrees lol. Slight exaggeration. But her deceased husband had a secret that will upend everyone’s world in this book! So come to Mackinac Island with me, via this novel, in 2023! Pegg Thomas is the editor and I should have a cover soon, from Carpe Librum Book Design Group in Montreal.

PT: Thank you so much for sharing with us, Carrie. And as usual, Carrie is giving away one copy of The Sugar Plum Ladies! Please share this opportunity with everyone! We need at least 5 people to leave comments with their email or their email information on our contact form. CALLING ALL BOOK GIVAWAY READERS! Now is your chance. Leave a comment with email to enter!

Bio:

Carrie Fancett Pagels, Ph.D., is the award-winning author of over twenty-five Christian fiction books, including ECPA and Amazon bestsellers. Twenty-five years as a psychologist didn't "cure" her overactive imagination! A self-professed “history geek,” she resides with her family in the Historic Triangle of Virginia but grew up as a “Yooper.” Carrie loves to read, bake, bead, and travel – but not all at the same time! You can connect with her at www.CarrieFancettPagels.com.

 Website: www.carriefancettpagels.com

Blogs: Overcoming With God and Colonial Quills

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 Links to purchase:

 The Sugarplum Ladies

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