Thank you to everyone at Destination Amish for the invitation to visit!
I thought y’all might be interested how the days of redemption series came to be, especially since most of my inspiration came from a visit to Holmes County.
Basically, it all started when I was visiting the area in November, 2011, as part of the Amish Country Tour I did with my author buddies Amy Clipston and Vannetta Chapman. While we were in Berlin, I had two conversations that stuck with me, and consequently became the basis for this series.
The first took place over at the Farmstead Restaurant. The folks at the Gospel Shop were kind enough to set up a dinner with several Amish couples in the area. We enjoyed a great meal (of course!), but even better than the coconut pie I couldn’t resist eating was the conversation I had with the gentleman sitting across from me. He was an older man and New Order Amish. He had such a fresh perspective about his faith and the way others view the Amish that I was immediately transfixed. But when he started telling me about his mission work in Mexico,
I knew I had to include a missionary in my new series, as well as feature characters who were New Order Amish.
Soon after that, I was speaking with a reader about some of the beautiful Amish farms in the area when she smiled said, a little tongue-in-cheek, that she’d always wanted to be Amish because then her life would be perfect, too. That conversation inspired me to write about a family who looked perfect on the outside but was falling apart on the inside.
My last bit of inspiration came from an issue of The Budget. I happened to be glancing through the pages, looking for scribes discussing missionary work in foreign countries, when I came across two ads-one advertising a treatment center for folks struggling with alcohol and drug addiction, another was for a Mennonite retirement home.
So, there I had it-almost all the components of a new series: New Order Amish, a picture-perfect farm filled with imperfect people, missionary work in foreign countries, an alcohol treatment center, and a retirement home. When I sat down with all my ideas and notes and a blank notebook, I wondered how I was ever going to make all of these things into a cohesive story…and how I was ever going to be able to interweave the three romances into the mix!
Then, the last, important element came into the mix. While skimming through a book our Bible study group was using, I came across the following scripture verse:
And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the EVENTIDE was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve. ( Mark 11:11 )
I liked the word ‘eventide’ and it made me think about how so much of life is like a really eventful day~days sometimes starting with unexpected things, filled with chores and business and highs and lows, and then finally settling into yet another evening of rest. And that was how I named the books, daybreak, ray of light, and eventide.
After that, all the books came together! (eventually! <g>)
So, as you can see, I owe a lot to my visit to Berlin and Holmes County! So much so that I’m anxious to visit again this fall and talk to as many people as I can~I have a feeling more inspiration is just around the corner!
I sincerely hope you have enjoyed the days of redemption series, and especially eventide. I have to admit that eventide is my favorite of the series..maybe because when I finished it, I truly felt I had given all those characters a day of rest…after an especially busy trilogy of books!
Blessings,
Shelley
Thank you so much for stopping by Shelley! Readers love to know about an author’s inspiration for their books. I have never been able to resist coconut cream pie either:) I am happy to announce that HarperCollins Publishers is giving away a copy of Eventide to one lucky reader…how about that?
To enter leave a comment below. If you would like an Extra chance share this link on Facebook or Twitter. Remember to leave another comment if you did.
**Contest starts today Tuesday, September 3rd and ends on Tuesday, September 10th. Winner will be announced on Wednesday.Good Luck!**