Will She Play Her Part?

Ann H. Gabhart

If all the world's a stage, Jacci will play her part.

She only hopes her story does not turn out to be a tragedy.

In 1881, Jacci Reed is only five years old when a man attempts to kidnap her from the steamboat her mother, Irena, works on. Badly wounded during the confrontation, Irena takes Jacci aboard the Kingston Floating Palace, a showboat tied up beside them. There, Jacci's actor grandfather tends to her mother and Jacci gets a first taste of the life she will come to lead.

Fifteen years later, Jacci is an actress aboard the Kingston Floating Palace, and largely contented with her adopted family of actors, singers, and dancers. Especially Gabe, who has always supported her, and the gruff grandfather she has come to know and love. Jacci's mother has been gone for years, but the memory of the altercation that ultimately took her life--and the cryptic things Jacci has overheard about her past--is always there, lurking in the back of her mind.

When someone on the showboat tries to kill Jacci, it's clear her questions demand answers. But secrets have a way of staying in the shadows, and the answers she craves will not come easily. Gabe only hopes they come in time for him and Jacci to have a future together.

Ann H. Gabhart caught the writing bug at the age of ten and has been writing ever since. An award winning author, she's published many books for both adults and young adults. Her books cover several genres from historical to small town family stories to cozy mysteries (mysteries published with author name A.H. Gabhart). Her ideas are sparked by events in Kentucky history and by experiences in her own family. Her first Shaker novel, The Outsider, was a finalist for the ECPA Christian Fiction Book of the Year. Love Comes Home won the Selah Book of the Year award, and These Healing Hills was the Faith, Hope & Love Readers' Choice Women's Fiction Book of the Year.

Ann lives on a Kentucky farm not far from where she was born. She and her husband have three children and nine grandchildren. Ann enjoys hiking on her farm with her grandkids and her dogs, Frankie and Marley. See more about her books at www.annhgabhart.com or join the conversation on her Facebook page, www.facebook.com/anngabhart https://www.facebook.com/AnnGabhart.

We've All Experienced Sadness and Tragedy

Ann H. Gabhart

Bestselling author Ann H. Gabhart explores the tender places within the human heart in this character-driven story of trusting God to turn our burdens into something beautiful.

If any place on God's earth was designed to help one heal, it is Meadowland. Surely here, at her brother-in-law's Kentucky farm, Rose and her daughters can recover from the events of the recent past--the loss of her husband during the 1918 influenza epidemic, her struggle with tuberculosis that required a stay at a sanatorium, and her girls' experience in an orphanage during her illness. At Meadowland, hope blooms as their past troubles become rich soil in which their faith can grow.

Dirk Meadows may have opened his home to his late brother's widow and her girls, but he keeps his heart tightly closed. The roots of his pain run deep, and the evidence of it is written across his face. Badly scarred by a fire and abandoned by the woman he loved, Dirk fiercely guards his heart from being hurt again. But it may be that his visitors will bring light back into his world and unlock the secret to true healing.

Reviews

"Her best historical inspirational yet."--Publishers Weekly, starred review of Along a Storied Trail

"Absorbing."--Booklist on Along a Storied Trail

"Compellingly crafted."--Midwest Book Reviews on An Appalachian Summer --This text refers to the paperback edition.

Ann H. Gabhart caught the writing bug at the age of ten and has been writing ever since. An award winning author, she's published many books for both adults and young adults. Her books cover several genres from historical to small town family stories to cozy mysteries (mysteries published with author name A.H. Gabhart). Her ideas are sparked by events in Kentucky history and by experiences in her own family. Her first Shaker novel, The Outsider, was a finalist for the ECPA Christian Fiction Book of the Year. Love Comes Home won the Selah Book of the Year award, and These Healing Hills was the Faith, Hope & Love Readers' Choice Women's Fiction Book of the Year.

Ann lives on a Kentucky farm not far from where she was born. She and her husband have three children and nine grandchildren. Ann enjoys hiking on her farm with her grandkids and her dogs, Frankie and Marley. 

See more about her books at www.annhgabhart.com or join the conversation on her Facebook page, www.facebook.com/anngabhart.

What Sparks a Story?

Ann H. Gabhart

Inspiration for story ideas can come in many ways. When the Meadow Blooms is my thirty-seventh published book. That is a garden full of ideas and a river flowing full of words. Sometimes I find it hard to go back to the initial idea that sets me off down a story road. It might be a historical event I’ve stumbled across or a special setting or a memory. But whatever that first story spark is, characters are what stir the creative fires.



That is certainly true for When the Meadow Blooms. After I finish one book, then I start thinking about what I might want to write next. I look for that special something to beckon me down a new writing trail. That was when two young girls began walking around in my imagination and sharing the troubles that had caused them to end up in an orphanage in the early 1900’s. I loved these two sisters even before I knew their names. I did know they were not happy at the orphanage. From my research, I discovered that many orphanages at that time were very structured and quick to punish those children who struggled to learn and abide by the rules.



Calla, at fourteen, does all right, but nine-year-old Sienna is different. Sienna loves anything in the natural world and has a way of forgetting to listen to those in charge while she admires some gift of nature. That might be something as common as a spider weaving a web, a bug crawling up a wall, or the sound of a bird singing outside a window. Nature is food and drink for her. Her inattention and daydreaming cause her to be in continual trouble. The first line in the chapter that introduces Calla and Sienna to readers is “Sienna was in trouble again.”



Of course, if my sisters are in an orphanage, something has gone wrong in their lives to make that so. That’s when I began to explore their family background. Their father died in the 1918 flu epidemic and their mother, Rose, is being treated for tuberculosis at a sanatorium. Tuberculosis is a disease that has been around forever, but in the 19th century tuberculosis went on a rampage, a tide of death known at the time as The White Plague. Many children did lose their parents to tuberculosis and other diseases and were taken to orphanages.



Now I had my sisters at the orphanage and the mother at the sanatorium. They needed someone to rescue them. So, another character came to life for this story. Dirk Meadows, the brother of the girls’ father, turns out to be their only hope of escaping the orphanage. Dirk has his own problems, both physical scars from almost dying in a barn fire and emotional scars from losing the love of his life. Much is unknown about the disappearance of that young woman, Anneliese, but her memory still haunts Dirk, especially in the spring since they had made promises to one another for when the meadows bloomed.



Due to the dreadful scars on Dirk’s face and his bitterness about life in general, he lives a reclusive life and rarely goes away from his farm called Meadowland, both for the name of its owner and for the beautiful meadows. He is the last man anyone would expect to invite three females into his life. Since he and his brother were estranged due to a disagreement over the farm, he has never met Calla and Sienna. He does know his brother died, but assumes his widow would have remarried.



Other characters step in and out of the story pages, but Rose, Calla, Sienna and Dirk are the four the story is built around.



Once I had my characters alive in my imagination, I began to think about the lovely Meadowland Farm setting as being a place where they all might find healing. I grew up on a farm and love country life. That made it a pleasure to imagine Meadowland with its river bottom fields and the sweet little river that borders it on one side. That river turned out to be a focal place for many of the scenes in the story.



I also love flowers and butterflies and like Sienna, making discoveries in the beautiful world around us. I had a great time stepping into Sienna’s character to see what we both could discover. While Sienna is ready to pet any animal from mice to snakes to crows, in real life I am more like Calla and happy chasing after butterflies and leaving those spiders and snakes alone.



But even in the most beautiful places, troubles can come along to derail dreams and hopes. My young characters do so want a forever home, but secrets from the past threaten to spoil the promise of their future. Will all my characters learn to trust the Lord to turn their burdens into something beautiful?

Ann H. Gabhart, bestselling author of more than thirty-five novels, writes stories using Kentucky history and locations. She writes about family life, love, and mystery (as A.H. Gabhart) in small towns like the little Kentucky town where she grew up. Her popular Shaker novels are set in her fictional Harmony Hill Shaker village and recently she has shared stories set in the Appalachian region of Kentucky such as her recent Selah Award finalist, Along a Storied Trail. Her new release, When the Meadow Blooms, is set on a farm along the Salt River. Ann and her husband enjoy country life in rural Kentucky where Ann enjoys discovering the everyday wonders of nature while hiking in her farm’s fields and woods with her grandchildren and her dogs, Frankie and Marley. Learn more about Ann and her books at www.annhgabhart.com.

Waves, Air Hugs and Hidden Smiles

Ann Gabhart

Over a year ago, when Covid19 hit and officials shut down all non-essential activities to try to slow the spread, most of us were thinking things coming to a halt for a couple of weeks wouldn’t be so bad. But then it wasn’t only a couple of weeks or even a couple of months. Normal activities came to a screeching halt. Grandparents were afraid to let their grandchildren visit. Birthdays and graduations were celebrated with drive-by waves. We shared air hugs from a distance and smiles were hidden behind masks. Toilet paper became the most sought after item at the store and grocery clerks looked exhausted from ringing up all the panic buying.  

For many people the pandemic did majorly change the routine of their lives over this last year. People worked from home. Children went to virtual school. People in nursing homes and hospitals had to go it alone. We waited in cars for our turns to see doctors or while our family members were having medical procedures done. We couldn’t be with our loved ones even in emergencies. Instead of family members, nurses were the ones to hold the hands of those breathing their last. That had to be the saddest part of this pandemic year.

With all that said, my writing life didn’t see much of a change. To write a story I have to sit at my desk, shut out the world around me, put my fingers on the keyboard and let my characters take me off into a world I’m imagining. I don’t see that changing for the stories I’ll be writing post pandemic, especially since I generally write historical novels. In fact, my novel, River to Redemption, was set during a cholera pandemic in 1833. I was very glad I didn’t actually have to live through that dreadful time when deadly cholera swept through our country.   

While my daily writing routine didn’t change, other things I enjoyed as a writer did. In person book events were canceled. I didn’t get to meet readers and talk books. I do hope those kinds of events will start happening again as we go forward. I also hope the new or perhaps I should say renewed appreciation for books as a great source of entertainment doesn’t change. I have always loved books and reading has been a favorite way to enjoy some leisure time ever since I first learned to read as a kid.

As we take steps to defeat this pandemic and have things return to something nearer the normal we once took for granted, I hope to keep coming up with stories. At the same time, I don’t think I will ever again take family visits and in person church attendance for granted. I hope to take full advantage of good times with family and friends in the days ahead even though things do have to be juggled a bit when I face a writing deadline. However, somehow I always find time for my kids and grandkids no matter what the deadline calendar says. Mothers and grandmothers do have to have priorities, after all.  

I’ve been writing many years. My first book was published way back in 1978 when I still had young children at home. So I’ve had plenty of practice squeezing everything in as I’ve written and published over thirty-five books since then.

The actual writing I did during the last year was the same as I have done with all my books. I came up with my idea, spent time researching and considering some “what if” questions to develop the idea, and then worked to bring my characters to life through letting them talk to one another and by their actions in Along a Storied Trail.

I liked getting to know my mountain characters and going along with my packhorse librarian, Tansy Calhoun, as she rode her horse up the mountain trails to the people along her book routes. I am relieved I only had to imagine the cold snowy weather and the shock of that icy water when Tansy had to ford those mountain streams that caused her boots to freeze to her stirrups.

I’m sure if I had lived during that time in those hills, I would have been one of those eager readers running out to meet Tansy, the book woman, to see what book she might have brought me.

Tansy was an appealing mountain character in Along a Storied Trail, but I had a whole book full of people I liked bringing to life. I especially had a great time getting into the skin of Perdita Sweet who had a contrary side to her personality. I’m not sure what enjoying giving voice to a contrary old woman says about me, but perhaps some things shouldn’t be examined too closely!

Along a Storied Trail is a book about stories, where storytelling is front and center. So it’s perfect for me since I love storytelling. I had fun in this book making up a Jack story. Mountain people sometimes told Jack stories around their fireplaces or out on their porches to add a little entertainment to their lives. When books are rare, people do still find a way to have stories. So I decided to make up a Jack story for Aunt Perdie to tell.

I liked returning to the Eastern Kentucky Appalachian Mountains for a new story after the two I’d written about the Frontier Nurse midwives, These Healing Hills, and An Appalachian Summer.  I especially hope readers will be glad to head out along my story trail to meet my characters and enjoy some mountain storytelling in Along a Storied Trail.

 

Ann H. Gabhart is the bestselling author of several Shaker novels—The Refuge, The Outsider, The Believer, The Seeker, The Blessed, and The Gifted—as well as other historical novels, including Angel Sister, These Healing Hills, River to Redemption, and An Appalachian Summer. She and her husband live on a farm a mile from where she was born in rural Kentucky. Ann enjoys discovering the everyday wonders of nature while hiking in her farm’s fields and woods with her grandchildren and her dogs, Frankie and Marley.

Learn more at www.annhgabhart.com.

Sharing Kentucky Stories

Ann H.Gabhart                      @AnnHGabhart

After writing forty books, give or take one or two, I sometimes worry I’ll exhaust my idea bank. Usually the deposits in that bank all come from Kentucky sources. I am a lifelong Kentucky resident and so I’ve used Kentucky settings and/or history in all my books.

Years ago, when I was a young writer and only beginning to wrestle with the task of finding new ideas for stories, I read in a writing advice article that there were only ten basic storylines. Ten. That boggled my mind when I thought about all the books that have been written and that would be written. Some of them by me.

While I never exactly figured out what those ten basic storylines were, since I don’t think that was included in the article, it did take the pressure off about being totally original. It wasn’t going to happen. I was very sure those ten things had shown up in many books. What is it the preacher writes in Ecclesiastes? “And there is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9b NKJ)

People are people and while our culture is much changed, we as people continue to do the same basic things. We’re born and make our way through childhood and school. We fall in love. We struggle and overcome. Or sometimes don’t overcome but have to find new ways to live. We have dreams and desires. We work and we play. Throughout time until our time is done.

Stories are about people and while each basic idea for a story may have been used a zillion times, the characters I choose to bring to life in my stories will be unlike any characters in other stories. They will be unique just as we as individuals are unique even while we share those same basic needs and wants.

So, when I was searching for a new idea for a book, I reviewed my Kentucky history and decided I could find another story in the Appalachian Mountains with Frontier Nursing Service history. I had written about the Frontier Nurse Service midwives in my book, These Healing Hills, but I wasn’t able to work in all the Frontier Nursing Service history I found so interesting. I wanted to tell more of Mary Breckinridge’s story and her vision of helping mothers and children by bringing better healthcare into the poverty-stricken mountains.

Sometimes we hear of needs and think I am only one. How can I make a difference? But Mary Breckinridge was only one. Yet, with determination and perseverance, she convinced others to join in with her vision. She talked midwives into coming from England to work in the mountains since when she started her nurse midwife service, America had no midwifery schools. She later established a midwifery school right in Hyden, Kentucky in order to train midwives for the Frontier Nursing Service since many of the English midwives returned to England to serve their country during World War II.

She also came up with the idea of bringing in volunteers to take care of the nurses’ horses and do various other menial chores in order to free up the nurse midwives to have more time for their patients. These volunteer couriers were generally young women from well to do families who perhaps were more accustomed to being served rather than serving others. They hadn’t experienced rough living without electricity and other conveniences. I decided to bring one of those couriers to life and let her have the summer of a lifetime as she discovered the joy of helping others while also realizing her own strengths and talents.

Piper has a summer never to forget in An Appalachian Summer. But while Piper is a product of my imagination, she is based on the many courier volunteers I read about as I researched the Frontier Nursing Service. These volunteer positions with the midwifery service became so sought after that prospective volunteers had to add their names to a waiting list.

Women who had served as couriers often added their infant daughters’ names to the list so that their daughters would have the same opportunity they had of being part of the Frontier Nursing Service.

So, once again I had walked across the Kentucky map to imagine a new story set in my home state. Even when my books aren’t centered on historical events, I’m still in Kentucky with my setting. The farm where I grew up was near a small Kentucky town that I used as the model for Hollyhill in the Heart of Hollyhill stories and also for my Hidden Spring mysteries. The setting for my Rosey Corner stories came to life from all the stories my mother told me about growing up in a small community during the Great Depression.

I’ve got a few more ideas for stories where I can drop down my characters into a Kentucky setting and see what happens next. I can’t wait to let my imagination introduce me to some new fictional people anxious to share their stories.

ANN H. GABHART has been called a storyteller, She’s lived up to the title with forty books published (give or take a few) and more stories on the way. Ann likes wrapping her stories around interesting historical times and events in her home state of Kentucky. She’s written about the Shakers in The Refuge, The Outsider and more, gone to the Appalachian Mountains for These Healing Hills and An Appalachian Summer, mined her family history for Angel Sister and Scent of Lilacs, found a feel good story during the 1833 cholera epidemic in Springfield, Kentucky, and more. Even her cozy mysteries under the author name A.H. Gabhart take place in the little town of Hidden Springs, Kentucky. Ann keeps her keyboard warm out on her farm where she likes walking with her dogs or discovering the wonders of nature with her nine grandchildren. To find out more about Ann and her books. www.annhgabhart.com.

Hooking Your Reader

By Ann H. Gabhart, Author of The Refuge

“I read one of your books and now I’m hooked!!” (Amazon reviewer) I don’t like to fish. I went fishing once on a school trip when I was twelve. Didn’t catch anything. More telling is that I didn’t want to catch anything. So, I didn’t bother baiting my hook. Fast forward a few years and I’m writing novels. Now I want to catch some readers. I need to bait my hook.

Recently I asked my Facebook reading friends why they picked up a new book to read. Some said the author’s name, but what if you had never read that author before? What then? The cover made some of them grab a book off a shelf or click on a link to find out about the story. Back cover copy was a big key too. My new Shaker story, The Refuge, has an appealing cover and a snappy tag line. “Can love live again for this widow in a community that doesn’t believe in marriage?”

While a novel’s window dressing is important, the words inside are what reels in readers and makes them want to stay in the story. Some readers said they look at the first page to decide what to read. So, a dynamite first line can be perfect bait to catch a reader.

Try noticing first lines to see if the author grabbed your interest right away. You can find famous first lines online such as this one from George Orwell for 1984. It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. The weather update might not grab you but the clocks striking thirteen pulls you into the story to find out why.

But what makes a great first line? You need something that not only gives a hint of the story but stirs the reader’s curiosity about what’s to come. I try my best to come up with a good beginning. Sometimes my first lines are edited time and time again, perhaps not being set in stone, or rather print, until after the story goes through many edits. Other times, the first line is in my mind even before I put my fingers on the keyboard to start that first chapter.

That was how it was with The Refuge. This line echoed in my head and drew me into the story. You can’t cheat death. I hope that line will make my readers curious enough to keep them reading the second line. We thought we could. And on and on until they are firmly hooked on my story. 

Bait the hook for your readers with every enticement you can imagine. That great cover. Fabulous back cover copy. A hard-hitting tag line. A compelling first sentence, but most important of all, tell such a good story that after they’ve read it to the end, you’ll have them saying, “I’m hooked!!”

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Ann H. Gabhart is the bestselling and award-winning author of several Shaker novels—The Outsider, The Believer, The Seeker, The Blessed, The Gifted, and The Innocent—as well as historical novels—River to Redemption, These Healing Hills, Angel Sister, Love Comes Home, and more. Writing as A. H. Gabhart, she is also the author of the popular Hidden Springs Mysteries series. She has been a finalist for the ECPA Book of the Year and the Carol Awards, has won two Selah Awards for Love Comes Home, and won RWA’s Faith, Hope, and Love Award for These Healing Hills. Ann and her husband enjoy country life on a farm a mile from where she was born in rural Kentucky. Learn more at www.annhgabhart.com.

Filling in the Blanks

By Ann H. Gabhart, Author of River to Redemption

When you’re writing fiction, you have to fill in many blanks to make a story come to life. Sometimes all those answers must come from your imagination. Other times, if you write historical fiction the way I do, some of those blanks are filled in by actual happenings that inspired you to write about that era.

Usually, when I come across history that lights up my imagination, I research the time period, read all I can about the background I’m using and then drop in my fictional characters to take part in those historical events to see what happens next to them. But when I stumbled across the idea for my new release, River to Redemption, I had to do things a bit differently.The story is based on the actions of a slave named Louis who heroically buried fifty-five victims of a cholera epidemic in the small town of Springfield, Kentucky in 1833 and then the subsequent actions of the citizens of that town in 1845. While all the other characters in the story are fictional people I did drop down into the town, the actions of this man, Louis, who actually walked Springfield’s streets at one time, inspired my story. 

Therefore, I had to find a way to bring Louis to life in my story.

I couldn’t locate much information about the man except for what he did during the cholera epidemics and how the town eventually came together to reward him for that. However, by dwelling on those events, I began to see this man, Louis. He had to be strong to dig so many graves single-handedly. He surely had a close relationship with the Lord to be willing to serve his fellow citizens in a town where he had no individual freedom. He must have been kind and humble. As I filled in the blanks of what kind of man he must have been, I began to have a vision of this man, Louis. He is not a main character, but his actions set everything else in the story in motion. So he had to be right.

Whether you are writing a story with all fictional characters or if you are dropping actual historical figures into your story-line, you have to fill in plenty of blanks about those people. You need to know more than the color of their eyes and hair. Blanks do need to be filled in about how characters look, but you also need to fill in the blanks about what makes your people tick and how they might react in various circumstances.

That’s easier for me to do with a character I invent, but sometimes you find an actual person who did something so noteworthy that you want to fill in the blanks time has erased and bring that person back to life to tell his story. That was how I felt about Louis in River to Redemption as I wrote this story.   

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Ann H. Gabhart is the bestselling and award-winning author of several Shaker novels—The Outsider, The Believer, The Seeker, The Blessed, The Gifted, and The Innocent—as well as These Healing Hills, Angel Sister, Small Town Girl, Love Comes Home, Words Spoken True, and The Heart of Hollyhill series. She is also the author of the popular Hidden Springs Mysteries series, as A. H. Gabhart. She has been a finalist for the ECPA Book of the Year and the Carol Awards, and has won two Selah Awards for Love Comes Home. Ann and her husband enjoy country life on a farm a mile from where she was born in rural Kentucky. Learn more at www.annhgabhart.com.

Story Glimmers

By Ann H. Gabhart

A writer needs time to gather a story. Time to let the glimmers spark out of that mysterious dark center where stories can be born. But sometimes even when the glimmers sparkle they can still be as elusive as fireflies rising out of the grass at dusk. Here one second, there the next. Story ideas can slip away in much the same way. You want to come up with something fantastic, something new and exciting for your story, something readers will love, and so you hope for the ideas that spark more ideas. One thing for sure, a writer can rarely just sit back and wait for the glimmers to settle in her head to light the way to a story.

Whenever I’m at the glimmer stage with a new story, I know I better grab my story catching net and go hunting for ideas to get that story going. With my work in progress, the glimmers were there, but they weren’t very bright when I sat down to begin Chapter One. I saw a woman in my fictional Shaker village of Harmony Hill. She never planned to live a Shaker life, but circumstances give her few options of leaving the village. I have a man with a willful young daughter who has a way of getting into trouble. I still have many story questions to answer, many twists and turns to navigate.

A writer needs more than time to imagine. She needs discipline and concentrated effort to write a novel while other things clamor to get done. I have an editing deadline on my summer release, River to Redemption. I have blog posts to publicize that book. I need to update my website and keep my social media sites up to date. I need to do this blog entry. All these things are writing related. If I’m doing them, I’m surely working. Surely writing.

But the truth is I’m not. Those things are important and need doing. The same as the clothes must be washed and meals cooked. I want to make time for the grandkids to visit. My dog needs to be walked. I must do all those things and more, but I want to be writing. I want to chase down that story. And yet even when I’m sure I want to write, even when the story glimmers beckon, I sometimes hesitate to put my fingers on the keyboard to begin.

It can be a fearsome thing to step out onto a story path and start writing with a final scene thousands of words away. Will the story work? Will my story glimmers glow brightly enough? I’ve done it many times. I’m confident the words will come if I stick to the task and let my characters come to life. So here I go, heading down the story trail again with hope that ideas will glimmer on every side like fireflies at dusk to light my way.

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ANN H. GABHART, the bestselling author of over thirty novels, has been called a storyteller, not a bad thing for somebody who grew up dreaming of being a writer. In addition to her popular Harmony Hill Shaker novels, Ann writes about family life in novels like Angel Sister and Love Come Home as well as cozy mysteries (as A.H. Gabhart) set in small towns like the Kentucky town where she grew up. These Healing Hills is her first novel with an Appalachian Mountain setting. She and her husband have three children and nine grandchildren and enjoy country life in Kentucky. Find out more about Ann and her books at her website, www.annhgabhart.com.

 Contact Information and Social Media links:Facebook Author Page – www.facebook.com/anngabhart Twitter - https://twitter.com/AnnHGabhart Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/annhgabhart/ Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/311723.Ann_H_Gabhart

Courage to Begin

By Ann H. Gabhart

Those first steps in any endeavor can be the hardest. You have to wonder can I do it. Should I even attempt doing it? Am I good enough, strong enough, smart enough, and brave enough? You might not think it takes courage to write the first words of a story. After all, it’s not exactly mountain climbing. You’re not jumping out of an airplane. Not that I’d ever have courage enough to actually jump out of an airplane.

But writing that first sentence can be a leap of faith with the hope a parachute of words will take you from that first jump into story to a landing that will satisfy both you and readers. At least that’s true for a writer like me who doesn’t plot out the whole novel before I begin. Instead I have my characters and the story background with a distant target many words away. Then I put my fingers on my keyboard and hope those characters come so to life for me that I will be able to share their stories.

So what I need at the beginning is simply the courage to take the first steps–to type that first sentence and have faith that the next sentence will slide along in place behind it. In my recent release, These Healing Hills, set in the Appalachian Mountains, one of the characters worries over what his future holds and remembers his father’s advice. What was it his pa used to say when Ben started worrying a problem like a dog licking a sore? You don't have to know the last step. Just the first one. You and the Lord can figure out the rest of it on the way.

That’s how I need to be with my stories. Take the first step with courage and then trust that, with the Lord’s help, I’ll figure out the rest of it on the way to the end.

You would think I wouldn’t lack courage or perhaps a better word might be confidence after writing and publishing over thirty books, but each book is a new beginning. Each book requires a new first sentence, a new set of characters and a new story. So every time I type Chapter 1, I have to gather my courage to begin while I cling to the hope my characters will spring to life and inspire me with the necessary creative energy to get to the end.

Do you think it takes a certain kind of courage to write? 

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ANN H. GABHART, the bestselling author of over thirty novels, has been called a storyteller, not a bad thing for somebody who grew up dreaming of being a writer. In addition to her popular Harmony Hill Shaker novels, Ann writes about family life in novels like Angel Sister and Love Come Home as well as cozy mysteries (as A.H. Gabhart) set in small towns like the Kentucky town where she grew up. These Healing Hills is her first novel with an Appalachian Mountain setting. She and her husband have three children and nine grandchildren and enjoy country life in Kentucky. Contact Information and Social Media links:

Website – www.annhgabhart.com

Facebook Author Page – www.facebook.com/anngabhart 

Twitter - https://twitter.com/AnnHGabhart 

Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/annhgabhart/ 

Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/311723.Ann_H_Gabhart

Knowing Your Brand

By Ann H. Gabhart

Did you know that even fiction writers have brands these days? Our brand is the type of stories we write. Amish, romance, historical, mysteries, to name a few. Then those brands break down into more categories. A historical writer might be known for World War II stories, Western novels, or Biblical settings, for example. Mysteries can be thrillers, detective stories, or cozies like my Hidden Spring mysteries.

Some writers prefer to stay in the same genre or brand for all their stories and do that very successfully. Other writers branch out a bit. I’m a branch-out writer. My first published books were historical romances. I might have stayed in that genre forever, but a flurry of rejections convinced me to try something new. Rejections can be great motivators for change. So, I switched genres and wrote eleven coming of age stories for younger readers. My writing direction changed again when those young adult stories stopped finding a publisher. I began writing for adults again, but this time for the inspirational fiction market. I definitely haven’t stayed with one type of stories.

But even if you, like me, write stories that fit into different genres, you can still have things that brand your stories. Many of my stories are set in small towns. Even my fictional Shaker village of Harmony Hill can be considered a small town. Also, most of my stories have a Kentucky setting. Perhaps some of my books could be labeled Small Town Kentucky stories.

So, think about some common elements in your stories. What sets them apart from the stories others write? Do you focus on character? Or does plot drive your stories? What themes keep popping up while you’re brainstorming ideas?

Consider what you do well. Is it making people smile through the actions of your characters? Can you make history come to life on the pages of your book? Do you melt when you hear a touching love story? What settings inspire you? Have you always loved mysteries? Your answers to these questions and more might help you decide on the type of story you most want to write.

Or you might come up with your story and then think about how it could fit in today’s market. But market is such a fickle thing. The genre selling like hotcakes now might be on the decline by the time you get your book written, edited and ready for a reader’s eyes.

During one of those rejection motivating times when market needs were changing, I determined to write a story I loved and not worry where it would fit in the market. That was a turning point in my writing career.

Now I would most like to be known for a good story brand. Tell the story you want to tell and be your own first excited reader. Other readers will surely follow no matter the genre.

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Ann H. Gabhart, a bestselling author of over thirty novels, has been called a storyteller. That’s not a bad thing for somebody who grew up dreaming of being a writer. Also writing as A.H. Gabhart, Ann recently tried a new genre and published three Hidden Springs mysteries. Ann and her husband have three children and nine grandchildren and enjoy country life in Kentucky. To find out more about Ann’s books and to check out her blog, One Writer’s Journal, visit www.annhgabhart.com. You can also join in the conversation on her Facebook page, www.facebook.com/anngabhart or Twitter @AnnHGabhart.