I've been invited to participate in the Writer's World Blog Tour by friend and fellow author Karen Whiting! Karen was my co-author for the book Stories of Faith and Courage from the Home Front (which inspired my Heroines Behind the Lines Civil War series of novels.) Her blog post went up last week at: http://karenwhiting.blogspot.com/2014/07/world-wide-blog-tour.html  Before I answer just four questions, allow me to share a little more about Karen. (Then stay tuned after my brief interview to meet two more dear friends and fabulous writers you simply must check out!)

Karen Whiting is an international speaker and award-winning author of seventeen books. She’s the former television host of Puppets On Parade. Her newest books are Nature Girl: a guide to caring for God’s creation and The One Year My Princess Devotions. Her upcoming releases are The One Year Devotions for Active Boys and Hope From His Heart (a devotional for women). Karen loves to let creativity splash across the pages of her writing as she encourages families to thrive, treasure one another, and connect to God. Connect with Karen! Blog  http://karenwhiting.blogspot.com/ Facebook www.facebook.com/KarenHWhiting Website www.karenwhiting.com Twitter  www.twitter.com/KarenHWhiting Pinterest www.twitter.com/KarenHWhiting

Interview with Jocelyn

For this blog post, I was given the following questions to answer.

What are you working on? At the moment, I am basking in the glow of having recently turned in to the publisher Spy of Richmond, which is the fourth and final novel in the Heroines Behind the Lines series. You can read more about it here. Now I'm devouring my stack of books that have been waiting so patiently in my to-be-read pile, and filtering through a bunch of ideas that are percolating for future book ideas. How does your work differ from others in its genre? I write both nonfiction and fiction, but I'll answer this question from the fiction angle. My historical fiction novels really are born from history itself. By that I mean, rather than coming up with a plot and characters and then checking to make sure the history matches, I scour through all kinds of historical sources first, and the story emerges from there. Historical integrity is very important to me, so I include a bibliography in the back of each novel, along with a section which explains The History behind the Story so readers know what is fact and what I made up. One observation I keep hearing from readers about my work is that I don't gloss over the ugliness of war, but that they still feel infused with hope from the stories. That's exactly what I want. Why do you write what you do? I write about some of the darkest pieces of our nation's history--namely, wars--for a couple of different reasons. First, my husband was in the military, so as a former military wife, I have a heart for military families of every generation, and it's important for me to understand the causes and sacrifices required by war. Second, by shedding some light on these segments of our history, we see that even in this darkness, Jesus has proven to be greater. Over and over I have read diaries and heard testimonies from people who have been through enormous strain, and they point to their faith in God as the source of their strength and courage. My hope and prayer is that readers will also be inspired to faith and courage by these stories. How does your writing process work? I need to read about thirty history books and have a three-ring binder full of notes before I feel comfortable even plotting an outline. Normally, the seed of an idea begins with the true story of an inspiring woman. Then I research everything about what she experienced, or could have gone through. The research portion, which also involves site visits to the historical setting, takes about 9 months. Then I outline, which could take three weeks. The actual writing process then takes about three months. Then of course there are edits with the publisher, but that's a breeze comparatively! Next week, award-winning authors Carrie Turansky and Laura Frantz will answer these same four questions on their own blogs. I hope you'll check them out! In the meantime, here's just a glimpse of who these wonderful women and writers are:

Laura Frantz

Award-winning author Laura Frantz is passionate about all things historical, particularly the 18th-century, and writes her manuscripts in longhand first. Her stories often incorporate Scottish themes that reflect her family heritage. She is a direct descendant of George Hume, Wedderburn Castle, Berwickshire, Scotland, who was exiled to the American colonies for his role in the Jacobite Rebellion of 1715, settled in Virginia, and is credited with teaching George Washington surveying in the years 1748-1750. Her family resides in Kentucky and Virginia. According to Publishers Weekly, "Frantz has done her historical homework." With her signature attention to historical detail and emotional depth, she is represented by Janet Kobobel Grant, Literary Agent & Founder, Books & Such Literary Agency of Santa Rosa, California. Readers can find Laura Frantz at www.laurafrantz.net. Read her interview for this tour here: http://laurafrantz.net/writers-world-blog-tour/.

Carrie Turansky

Carrie Turansky has loved reading since she first visited the library as a young child and checked out a tall stack of picture books. Her love for writing began when she penned her first novel at age twelve. She is now the award-winning author of thirteen inspirational romance novels and novellas, and she's working on number fourteen. Carrie has been married to Scott form more than thirty-five years, and they make their home in New Jersey. They often together for her writing research, ministry trips, and to visit their five children and four grandchildren. When Carrie's not writing she enjoys working in her flower gardens and cooking healthy meals for friends and family. She loves to connect with friends through her website www.carrieturansky.com, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Read her interview for this tour here: http://carrieturansky.com/index.php/writers-world-blog-tour/