Fascinating Friday Feature – How Fascination Fuels Sarah Hamaker’s Writing

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I’m often asked where my ideas for my romantic suspense books come from, and the answer isinevitably “everywhere and anywhere.” I’m always collecting ideas on what-if questions basedon current events or something I read or heard. I never know what will spark an idea or plotline.Sometimes, those ideas never go anywhere because once I start thinking through the situation, Irealize it’s not enough for a book or it’s too flimsy. Since I write realistic fiction, I also want the storylines to be believable. I’m more of panster (one who writes without outlining the entire book), so I try to spend…

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The Fascinating (Condensed) History of Alaska

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By Donna Schlachter In keeping with celebrating my second Switchboard Sisterhood book, Morgana, I thought I’d sharesome history of Alaska this month. While the area was likely settled thousands of years ago by emigrants from Asia and Eastern Europewho perhaps crossed a land passage, few details are available about these early settlers. They eventuallyestablished themselves and spread out over the area, becoming unique in their language and culture.In 1728. Vitus Bering from Denmark traveled into the area and discovered the strait now namedafter him. He returned in 1741 and explored the North American coastline. In 1776, the year the United…

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Fascinating Friday Feature – The Mafia in America

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Pre 1890s While researching my recent release, Claire, I uncovered several interesting facts about the mafia in America. In my book, Claire boards a train to flee New York after her mafia father is murdered and a contract is placed on her head. Toby, an undercover Pinkerton operative, heads for Denver, finding himself on a train with a woman who is vaguely familiar to him. Toby, to add to his cover story, has placed an ad for a mail-order bride. Claire replies to the ad, neither realizing their connection. Can they solve the mystery of who is trying to kill…

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Fascinating Friday Feature –

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A behind-the-scenes peek at writing. I begin each new book with…get ready for it… “Now, how do I do this?” Every single book. One would think after sixteen novels, I wouldn’t have to ask this question. So, why would I? That’s another question I ask at the start of each book. Why is this so hard? Well, if it were easy, everyone would write a book, right? Still…even when I follow the brief synopsis I submit to my publisher for the book, I struggle with getting started, mostly because the actual story rarely follows what I submitted. Take Counter Attack,…

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Who said I wanted to be an author?

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I was in fifth grade when my teacher interrupted my daydream, “Linda, I don’t care if you do grow upto be a famous author, I’m going to teach you math so you can balance your royalty statements.” My classmates turned to stare at me, while I stared back at my teacher in shock, thinking, An author? Who ever said I wanted to be an author? Even though Mrs. Davis’ words foretold my future, I didn’t get it, dream about it, or add ‘writing abook’ to my life’s goals. Instead, when I graduated from college, I got a job in the…

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How Can God Be Jealous?

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by Ava Pennington In the process of writing Reflections on the Names of God, I enjoyed exploring so many familiar names and attributes of our awesome God. But as I continued to dig deeper into His names and attributes, I came across several that were difficult to understand. For example, Exodus 34:14 tells us one of God’s names is Jealous because He is a jealous God. Saying God is jealous sounds strange, doesn’t it? Jealousy is a powerful emotion. It can devastate relationships and destroy lives. So why would the eternal, sovereign, almighty God name Himself jealous? When God says He is a jealous…

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Fan Fun

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by Susan Mathis I grew up just twenty minutes from the Thousand Islands—the setting for all my stories—in upstate New York. Actually, half of the 1,864 islands are in NY and the other half in Ontario, Canada. I spent every summer and more exploring the beautiful region. I’ve stayed on several of the islands and camped and rented cottages there. So, after I wrote my debut novel about the largest island, Wolfe Island, I was hooked. There are so many fascinating stories to tell. All my novels are based on a specific place in the Thousand Islands and are the…

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A Missing Persons Primer

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by Sarah Hamaker As a writer of romantic suspense, I’ve always been fascinated by missing persons, especially adults who simply disappear into thin air, leaving behind more questions than answers. According to Statista Research Department, more males than females go missing in the 21 and older category, while the opposite is true in the younger than 21 category. According to the FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC) Missing Person and Unidentified Person Statistics as of December 31, 2021, the NCIC registered 93,718 active missing person records. Juveniles under 18 years of age account for 30,400 (32 percent) of the records…

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New Release — Messy Hope by Lori Wildenberg

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“I’m such a failure.” “No one cares about me.” “I don’t want to live anymore.”  If you’ve heard your child utter these words, your fear for their well-being has skyrocketed. But what can you do to help them? Suicide is the second leading cause of death in young people. Our kids must be equipped with more than resilience and positivity. They need hope. Parent and family educator Lori Wildenberg encourages you to foster necessary hope growth in your children’s hearts. More than a self-help book, this is your lifeline to help them overcome depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation to experience a hope-filled life.
Author: Lori Wildenberg
Publisher: New Hope Publishers
Release: August 23, 2021
ISBN-13: 987-1563094781
Genre: Christian Living/ Parenting/ Mental Health

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