for Sara Mills

Today is Tuesday, which means I'm posting at Exemplify Online's Blog.
Sometimes failure and fishing go together...



But today, here at Patterings, is for Sara Mills.
Sara Mills lost her husband a week ago today. He was only 40 and he had a massive heart attack. I cannot imagine it. To be honest, losing my husband is one of my worst nightmares. I've been praying often for Sara and her three young children--and running this interview that Cara Putman did with Sara is something small that I can do. Sara is an author with two books that sound absolutely fabulous and I'm looking forward to reading them. There are links below to buy one or both books to help support her.

Here's Cara's interview with Sara...
Miss Fortune and Miss Match are delightful books set in New York City in 1947. Tell us how you got the idea for Allie and these books...

I got the idea for Miss Fortune in the middle of the night, when all good ideas come to me.

One sleepless night I was watching The Maltese Falcon and I started to wonder how different the story would be if Sam Spade had been a woman. She'd never have fallen for Miss Wunderly's charms and lies. She'd have been smart and tough and she would have solved the case in half the time it took Sam because she wouldn't spend all of her time smoking cigarettes and calling her secretary Precious.

The thought of a hard-boiled female detective got my mind whirling.

I paused the movie and sat in my darkened living room thinking about how much fun a female Sam Spade could be. Intrigued but not yet ready to dash to my computer, I changed disks and put on Casablanca (my all time favorite movie ever). The sweeping love story, a tale full of hard choices and sacrifice was what finally made the whole idea click in my mind. If I could just combine the P.I. detective story of the Maltese Falcon with the love story from Casablanca, and make Sam Spade more of a Samantha, I could have the best of all worlds.

These books are so good, I wish I'd written them. How did you set the stage to capture that gritty PI feel without being dark?

I find that a lot of PI stories are gritty and dark, focusing on the worst of the humanity, and while I wanted the Allie Fortune mysteries to be exciting and tension-filled I didn’t want them to be stark and hopeless.

One of the things I tried to do to counteract the darkness was to give Allie a multi-layered life. She has cases, relationships, friends and family, all of which I hope combine to make the stories textured, rich and full of life.

Allie is a character I'd love to have coffee with. What did she teach you while you wrote these books?

Allie was a great character to write. One of the things I learned from her was that human relationships (man/woman, mother/daughter, friends) are complicated and full of unspoken rules and expectations. Allie is a rule-breaker at heart and it complicates her life on a regular basis. One of the storylines I loved most is Allie’s relationship with her mother and how it grows and changes and how it’s shaped her.

Another dimension of Allie’s character that really taught me a lot was her willingness to do whatever was needed to help those she loves. There is no price on that kind of friendship and it’s a characteristic I’d like to see more of in myself. Okay I admit it, I’ve got a bit of a friend-crush on Allie. LOL.

One last question: If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would that be and who would you take with you?

If I could go anywhere right now I’d head to Monterey, California (I’m writing a book set there right now) and I’d plant myself on the beach with a notebook, writing my story as the waves crashed. Sounds like my idea of heaven on earth. There’s something about the wind-shaped Cypress trees and the crash of the surf in Monterey that calls to me. I don’t know why, it just is.


Miss Fortune
Allie Fortune Mystery Series #1

By Sara Mills / Moody Publishers


In 1947 Allie Fortune is the only female private investigator in New York City, but she's kept awake at night by a mystery of her own: her fianci disappeared in the war and no one knows if he's still alive. Until Allie finds out, she will have no peace. When there's a knock on her office door at four in the morning, Allie suspects trouble as usual, and Mary Gordon is no exception. Mary claims someone is following her, that her apartment has been ransacked, and that she's been shot at, but she has no idea why any of this is happening. Allie takes the case, and in the process discovers an international mystery that puts her own life in danger.

Meanwhile, the FBI is working the case as well, and she is partnered up with an attractive, single agent who would be perfect for her under other circumstances-if only she knew whether her fianci was still alive.

Miss Match, Allie Fortune Mystery Series #2

By Sara Mills / Moody Publishers


FBI agent Jack O'Connor receives a letter from Maggie, a woman he used to love, saying she's in trouble in Berlin. The FBI refuses to get involved, so Jack asks Allie Fortune to help him investigate. Allie and Jack pose as a missionary couple who want to bring orphans back to the United States.

A child finds important documents that everyone in the city - Soviets and allies alike - want for themselves. Maggie refuses to tell Jack what the documents are, saying if things go wrong, they are better off not knowing. Through the course of the search, Allie's past is brought back to her, half a world away from home.

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Thanks for joining me for Cara's interview with Sara Mills!
Next Tuesday I'm interviewing author Cheryl Wyatt and she'll be stopping by to visit with us. You don't want to miss getting to know Cheryl! There will also be a book drawing of her latest release which is a wonderful book.

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Faithfully Following

Last night was our first 'performance' of this year's Easter presentation—and as I fully expected, it was wonderful. All the details that took so many hours to arrange flowed seamlessly, allowing the message to shine through with beauty and power.

This year, as I've been studying, I've been impressed with Mary—not just one Mary, but the trio of Marys that we read about in the Gospels: Mary--the mother of Jesus, Mary--Martha's sister, and Mary Magdalene. I cannot imagine the anguish those women experienced so many years ago! To see the Man they loved so much suffer as Jesus did...and yet they never left Him. They were there when He was on the cross, they followed when Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus carried His body to the tomb so they would know where He was buried, and they were the first ones to know that He had risen.

Last night I found myself wondering how it was for them on that Sabbath before He rose from the grave. Even though Nicodemus had helped wrap His body with burial spices and linen, the women hadn't been able to prepare Jesus' body for burial. Everything they would've done, and wanted to do, for Jesus in His death, they'd had to put on hold for the Passover Sabbath.

What was going through their hearts and minds on that day as they waited? Grief! Discouragement? Disillusionment? The Bible doesn't say, but I wonder.

The Gospels record for us that the women were at the tomb before first light on that first Easter Sunday and that they had spices for Jesus' body. They didn't know how they would move the stone away from the entrance of the tomb, but they went.

Their faithfulness in the midst of tremendous grief is such a testimony to me! It's been convicting. Am I faithful when I don't understand why things have happened as they have?
Am I faithful when I'm so discouraged I can hardly lift my head?
Am I faithful when I can't stop the tears from flowing?

Those women were not only faithful, they were active in their faith. They were still serving Jesus through their confusion, through their discouragement and through their deep grief.

Oh, Lord Jesus, please help me to follow in these women's footsteps and be faithful in all circumstances.

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Safety Harness

Today is Friday! Joanne is hosting Fiction Friday at An Open Book, be sure to join us there for links to more fun fiction!

Not only is today Fiction Friday, but today is Good Friday. If I don't make it back up here, have a wonderful, blessed Easter.

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Saftety Harness
“You want me to do what?!” Suze could hardly believe what she’d heard.

“Do that ride with me.” Sean, her husband, was grinning from ear to ear.

“That’s a roller coaster! Were you hoping I wouldn’t notice?”

Sean laughed. “You loved Space Mountain and that’s a roller coaster, too.”

“Yeah, but there’s no loop-de-loops on Space Mountain and this one not only has a loop, but look at that drop! I can’t do that!” Suze gripped the handrail in front of her as she watched a car of screaming people fly past on their sides.

“Sure you can! You can do more than you think. You’ve tried so many other things these last few years and ended up liking them, you need to try this one, too.” Sean said.

She looked back at the roller coaster and thought, indecision churning in her stomach, fear yapping around her ankles like a tiny attack dog. She didn’t budge as she watched another car top out of the initial climb and begin its descent. Her stomach churned as she thought about that drop and what Sean had said.

She took a deep breath and said, “Ok. Let’s do it.”

Twenty minutes later she climbed into a car and pulled the safety harness down over her shoulders. ‘What am I doing here, Lord?’ she silently cried, panic creeping close.

As she clutched the hand-grips she felt God’s reply. “You’re in My safety harness, Suze, the palm of My hand. Hold onto Me and you’ll be just fine. A roller coaster is like life: it’ll scare the bejeebers out of you one minute and give you thrills the next, then send you through loops and rolls and leave you wondering if you’re upside down or right side up. As long as you focus on Me, and hold onto Me, you’ll stay on My track. Yes, you’ll loose your stomach and be scared at times, but I’ll be right there with you, holding you tight.”

The car lurched forward and Suze drew a deep breath. “I can do this! God is with me, He’s holding me close. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

As they ground their way up to the summit the panic clawed at her. She knew what was coming next: the big plummet to the bottom and she had to choose between the panicking voice inside her that was screaming, ‘get me outta here!’ and the soothing voice saying, ‘you can do this, it’s all right.’

Just as they topped out and hung there for a split second she made her choice. “I can do this!” Then the bottom dropped out from beneath her and she went flying down, screaming as she went. The fear was there, but so was the confidence that she was safe within her safety harness. God’s safety harness.

They whizzed around sharp corners, were tossed on their sides and before she knew it the loop was coming at her. ‘Ok, here it comes…” she thought as they hurtled toward it. Up. Around. Down.

“Wahooooo!” Suze screamed as they were thrown into the next turn and rolled onto their sides.

After a few more heart-stopping moments they rolled back into the loading area. “You did it, Suze!” Sean hauled her out of the car and steadied her as she stood there on rubbery legs. “I knew you could do it!” He laughed as he hugged her close. “Did you like you it?”

Suze looked back at the roller coaster. “A roller coaster is a lot like life. With God as my safety harness I’ll be ok. Scared, shaken, tossed around, out of my comfort zone, but safe within the palm of His hand.”
***
“You want me to what?!” Suze could hardly believe what she’d heard.

Mike, the youth pastor was serious. “Teach the sophomore girl’s Sunday School class.”

“I’ve never taught Sunday School before and I don’t know anything about high school girls.”

Sean snickered. “Remember the roller coaster.”

Suze looked at him, flabbergasted. “What does a roller coaster have to do with teaching sophomore girls?”

“You can do more than you think, you just have to get out of your comfort zone and try. Besides, you were looking for a place to serve here in the church.”

She took a deep breath and muttered, “Safety harness,” then looked at Mike and said, “Ok, I’ll teach them.”

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
~Philippians 4:13

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This is a piece I wrote for Faithwriters shortly after going on my very first roller coaster, well, other than Space Mountain. (LoL)

Don't forget to join us at Joanne's for links to more fun fiction!
Happy Easter!

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A Double Day

Have you ever done any baking and found yourself looking at something like this? Today At the Well I'm posting about baking with one of my girls in Flying Flour.









AND
I'm also at Exemplify today posting about an what someone did Out of Love.

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Preparing

Originally uploaded by freefotouk

This week is such a special week for those of us who are Christians. Many of our churches put on Easter Cantatas or some kind of Easter presentation, and my church is one of them. I've spent hours sitting through choir rehearsals as they get prepare.

As I've been studying this weekend, quickly tracing the steps Jesus took on His journey to Golgotha, I've been convicted. As a church body, we have spent hours preparing and rehearsing for our Easter celebration. As a family, we have spent hours building and setting up the staging needed for that presentation at church and preparing costumes to be worn during the presentation.

But how much time have I personally taken to prepare my heart for this season of remembering what Jesus did for me by dying on the cross for my sins? Am I content with just pulling on my costume and acting out my tiny role as an extra, or am living a real life as one who has been touched by the Savior's hand?

Oh Father God, please let me not be content with just mindlessly pulling on my Christian costume but let me truly live this life You have called me to. The life Your Son died to give me. Help me to remember the sacrifice Jesus made this week and celebrate by giving You my all. Not my leftover crumbs, but my all. I love You, Lord Jesus and it's in Your Holy Name I pray, amen.

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Even Evie

Welcome to Fiction Friday! It's always fun having Fiction Friday here at home, and I'm really, REALLY looking forward to it this week. I've missed being involved this last month and I'm looking forward to reconnecting. Everyone is invited to join us and participate in Fiction Friday--the more the merrier! If you're new to Fiction Friday and would like to join us posting fiction, simply post a short story on your blog and leave your link below in Mr. Linky. Be sure to check out the other's stories--there's always a great variety.

This week's story is a back-story piece to the historical novel that's been running around inside my head. It picks up where we left Cyrus and Lucy in Cyrus the Magnificent.

Even Evie
Evie, her deep brown eyes glowing, pulled the door open for Cyrus and Lucy when they climbed the porch steps. “Gideon and I were about to come out there. Everything all right? What happened? Did he leave? You didn't tell that snake he could court Emmie did you?”

“Just how many questions do you think we can answer at a time?” Cyrus closed the door and looked at his oldest daughter as he shrugged out of his jacket. She was so much like her mother.

Evie flashed him a cheeky smile. “Why, all of them of course. One at a time until they're all done. Same as picking apples and berries and corn and beans and...”

Cyrus held his hands in surrender and Lucy rose on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. “She learned from the best, you know.”

“Thank goodness!” He walked near the window and looked outside although he didn't expect any further trouble that afternoon. Come evening things could liven up, but that was still hours away. He ambled to his rocker and waved Gideon and Evie away from the windows. He didn't want them distracted.

Lucy settled in her rocker and drew one of the little ones onto her lap, snuggling her close. Her eyes circled the room checking each of her eight children. Gideon, her oldest, sat in a straight backed chair leaning back on two legs, positioned so he could easily see out the back window. Near him Evie arranged her skirt, tucking her feet below the edge of the seat and a little to the side, like she'd seen the new school mistress doing at a social. Evie might be a fireball, but she had set out to be a lady. She lacked the natural grace Emmie, her twin sister possessed. Identical twins who were opposites. Before looking back to Cyrus, Lucy smiled.

“Well now. Your Ma and I have come to a decision.”

Gideon let the front legs of the chair he was sitting in hit the floor with a thud, his brown hair sliding over his broad forehead. He propped his elbows on his knees, gaze fixed on Cyrus. “Are we going?”

Emmie's eyes flew to her twin, her arms tightening around 6 year-old Linnette. Evie tensed while the others leaned forward in anticipation.

“Yup. We're going.” Cyrus clapped his hands together and rubbed them.

Lissie twisted her head around and looked at Lucy. “Where we going, Ma? To visit Uncle Lenard again?”

Lucy squeezed her youngest, dropping a kiss on her corn silk hair. “Oregon. We're going to Oregon.”

Evie sprang from the chair, her hands fisted. “We can't!”

“What do you mean we can't? Pa just said we're going. Ain't no can't to it.” Micah squared off with his oldest sister, chin high in the air even though he was eye to eye with her.

Cyrus leaned forward. He had anticipated Evie's displeasure, but not to this degree. “What makes you say we can't go, Evie?” He waved Micah back to where he had been leaning against the corner.

Emmie dropped her eyes to the knot in the floor board and rested her cheek on Linnette's head.

Evie drew a choppy breath. “Ralph and I are getting married.”

Cyrus' eyes narrowed like he was in the bright noon-day sun. “Says who?”

Evie's gaze slid to the fireplace where a log crackled and shifted.

“You aren't marrying someone that's too lazy to even come and ask for permission to court you, let alone marry you.” He kept his voice reigned in, but it was hard as the oak planks beneath his feet.

Evie's gaze flew back to her father's. “He's not lazy!”

Gideon snorted. “Lazy compared to what? Ol' Mack who's out lived every other dog in the county?”

Micah and Ben jabbed each other with their elbows and the littlest twins laughed. Mattie hid her smile behind her hand, taking great care so Evie wouldn't see her.

Evie glared at Gideon, her gaze raking the younger boys. “He's not lazy.”

Ten year old Ben spread his hands on his chest and gave Evie a puppy-dog look. “Evie,” he mimicked, “would you straighten out the storeroom for me? I need to mind the store front and--”

“That's enough, Ben.” Cyrus gave the boys a fast hard look before cornering Evie. “Like I said, you aren't marrying someone too lazy to ask permission to court you.”

“It's not that he's too lazy, he just believes girls can make their own choices.” Evie spoke fast, her gaze darting to her father before skittering to her twin sister.

“And you agree with him?”

“Pa, I'm 17 and--”

“And we leave for Oregon in a month.”

Evie dropped back into her chair and crossed her arms defiantly. Cyrus glanced at Lucy. Her eyes confirmed what he was thinking. Together they turned and looked at Emmie. She chewed her bottom lip, her fingers nervously picking at Linnette's dress. Cyrus's shoulders sank. They would have to watch Evie closer than they had ever had to in the past.

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To be continued as soon as it's written...hopefully next Friday. ; )

Evie was the first Maddox to reach out and capture my attention, and she did it with a bang. I'm looking forward to getting to know her over the next few months.
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Interruptions or 'But God's?

Plans have a way of changing. Have you ever noticed that?

I've been looking forward to this week for awhile. I had great plans of getting caught up on life—yanno, the important things: writing, blogging, visiting my blog friends, writing, getting caught up in the class I took (now that it's done, LoL). But God had other plans.

Why is it that when I see that phrase 'But God' in the Bible I love it, but when I experience it played out in my everyday life it's not quite so thrilling?

What's a 'But God' happening? This week it's been tackling a cleaning job with my girls instead of my plans of school and writing day. And spending an afternoon and evening with my family setting up the staging they built for our church Easter program. Family time working together. Time spent creating memories and having fun while working together. Days of barely touching my computer, let alone doing any writing. Days when 'But God' was allowed to play out in my life.

My attitude is key. If I throw even a silent, internal temper tantrum over these change in plans (interruptions), I lose out on part of the blessing of seeing a 'But God' at work in my life because my bad attitude will squelch the blessing and infect those around me with my ick. Those blessings are priceless, and I would've missed them this week if I had let my bad attitude pop up over the change to my plans.

It's in the everyday events where we have to chose to accept and thrill in the 'But God' happenings.

How has 'But God' played out for you? Do you see His hand in the little things?

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