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I am constantly amazed at the prevalence of canned soup in Amish recipes. Not sure why – I use it regularly in my own culinary creations. It just seems the Amish would have a natural alternative, or something. But when I give it a second thought, the Amish lifestyle is all about simplicity. What could be simpler than making use of a can of soup?

WIGGLES

1 ½ pounds hamburger
5 slices bacon
2 small onions
1 ½ cups diced potatoes
1 ½ cups diced carrots
1 ½ cups diced celery
1 can mushroom soup
1 cup peas
1 quart tomato soup
2 pounds Velveeta cheese
1 pound spaghetti (or noodle of your choice)

Cook vegetables separately. Fry bacon, take out of skillet. Fry hamburger and onions in grease. Put in a roaster, add potatoes, celery, carrots, and peas. Add mushroom soup and cooked spaghetti. Arrange bacon slices on top. Add grated cheese. Pour tomato soup over top. Bake 1 to 1 ½ hours at 350 degrees.

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World weary and down to a threadbare faith, police officer Ashley Walters seeks refuge in Montezuma, Georgia, a quiet town with a thriving Mennonite community. Yet even in the peaceful surroundings, she can’t escape the haunting memories of crime-ridden Atlanta.

Then marriage-and-family counselor Patrick James partners with a teenaged Mennonite runaway to offer Ashley a second chance at redemption…and romance. But when violence erupts over revitalization plans that pit the Montezuma and Mennonite communities against each other, Ashley is forced to stop the person responsible—even if he is someone she’s come to love.

As God unlocks the secrets darkening Ashley’s heart, she must answer two crucial questions: Who is in control? And can she trust Him?

(Place of Refuge Series, Book 1)

Watch the book trailer HERE

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Passed along through an oral tradition, the Ordnung by necessity changes and evolves with every new issue that arises and every new technology that presents itself for consideration.  When deciding whether something should be allowed, church leaders focus on key questions like these:

• Will this force us to be more connected to the outside world?
• Will this create division in our families?
• Will this take us too far from home?

For example, members of some Old Order communities do not have bicycles.  After all, if one has a bicycle, he or she may take too much time away from home and family or venture into the outside world too fully.  Thus, with an eye toward the what-ifs of the situation, a decision is made for the district and becomes a part of its Ordnung.

(Taken from “A Pocket Guide to Amish Life” by Mindy Starns Clark)

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When my editor and I discussed the idea of the putting the chapter in a few months ago, I kind of panicked. The thought of having the chapter done and ready in any time frame was too much to think of after working so hard to bring Jayne to completion.

But when it came up again a few weeks ago, I bravely promised to have it churned out in a few days. When I started working on it, though, I realized I had a problem – the first chapter of a book isn’t the sort of thing you want to rush through!

Not only do you have to set up the premise of the entire book, but you want to make it fun and interesting and preferably well-written. After an additional couple days (I have a gracious editor), I was very pleased with the results.

I have to admit that a part of me sees clever writing as an un-renewable resource. Whenever I start a new project, I fear that this is the one where I realize I’ve used all the good words, the best jokes, the vivid characters, and there’s nothing left…

…until I come up with a really good idea, followed by another idea, and oh, wasn’t that a funny line? And I’m back to normal. The best part is, writers like Anne Lamott feel the same way (I found her Bird By Bird to be very reassuring). We’re all a little odd, a little fearful. I suppose that’s what happens when your job is to write down the voices in your head.

In other, less philosophical news, I made really yummy scones yesterday. We’re surrounded by blackberry bushes in our neck of the Pacific Northwest woods, so this is the time of the year when you see people wandering around filling various containers with free berries.

My husband and I went blackberry picking last weekend. Danny’s the best person to pick with because he’s even taller than I am, has very long arms, and doesn’t like blackberries, so he’s not eating and picking at the same time. We gathered about 10 cups of berries.

After two batches of cobbler, I decided to get a little creative.   I used this recipe and altered it for my purposes. I omitted about 1/4 c. sugar and the raisins (blech!) and added the zest of 2 1/2 lemons (basically, the amount of lemons I had on hand), 1 c. blackberries. When they cooled, I gave them a thin coat of lemony icing, using fresh lemon juice and powdered sugar (no particular amounts here, just start with the sugar and add lemon juice until it’s where you want it).

I worried about the dough because you’re not supposed to over-handle it, but it was so loosey-goosey I kind of had to manhandle it into submission, and getting the blackberries in took some work. I worried I’d made them too tough, but they came out perfectly. One note – I froze my blackberries so they’d keep their shape when I worked with them. Realize you’ll have to bake scones longer if you insert frozen berries into them (I didn’t, and had to keep putting them back in the oven).

If you live in a part of the country that’s lousy with raspberries, they would certainly work well too. Blueberries would be fine, but blackberries and raspberries are a bit juicier for this sort of thing.

If you try the recipe, let me know what you think!

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Next, I’ll be editing the manuscript.  I had a friend ask me why I was editing – isn’t that my editor’s job?  The answer is that a draft is just that.  I like to go through myself and get the book the way I want it before passing it on.  Even before I finished, there were several things I knew I needed to tweak before handing it in – it’s just part of the process.   My mom also checks for grammatical and continuity errors, so that a fresh pair of eyes (with an English degree) can point out things I would have missed.

In other news, we have an official title for the next book – Simply Sara!  

Looking forward to doing the research for Simply Sara. After researching Plain Jayne, I made the decision as a writer that I wanted to learn something new for every book.  For Plain Jayne, that meant learning to ride a motorcycle.  For Simply Sara, I want to learn to sew.  I tried last spring, with mixed results.  Mixed, largely because I tend to get ambitious when it comes to textiles.  When I knit, I can rip things out when they don’t work.  Sewing – it’s a bit more complicated.

So – for the rest of the month, I have a LOT of editing to do!  So far I’m on Chapter 4 of 38.  I thought I might try to get out of the house to edit today, but it’s Monday, and Monday means laundry.  Speaking of, I need to do a load of darks before getting back to the draft.  Will update more later!

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And I’m one of lucky ones, because the answer is yes.  Most writers need a day job to stay fed.  I am blessed to have a patron of the arts, which means I get to write full-time.  My hat goes off to anyone pulling double duty, because writing fiction can be very mentally taxing!

A lot of people ask if Plain Jayne is my first book; it’s not, but it is my first book to be released.  I wrote a novel about artists and musicians and hippies in Eugene.  While it’s not published, it did open doors for me to do Plain Jayne and its follow-up novel (of indeterminate title) for Harvest House.

Here are some other things people ask –

So, did you go to Pennsylvania to research the Amish?

No, because I had a $20 budget at the time.  But I have a journalism degree, which taught me (among other things) how to research.  I spent a month learning everything I could about the Amish.  I checked out a ton of books and films from the library.  For the first month, I panicked over getting every detail correct in the community I’d created.  That’s tricky, because there are a lot of different ways to be Amish, just as Christians have multiple denominations.  By the time I learned that there are 1,400 different ways to be Amish…I relaxed.

A couple months later, I did have the opportunity to visit an Amish store and an Amish woodshop in North Carolina.  You can read that trip here. 

Do you have a laptop you can take to coffee shops?

I do have a laptop, but I don’t do the coffee shop things very often.  I’m easily distracted, and it’s easier to stay home, where I know where all the power outlets are.  Some days I don’t leave the house at all.

Are you afraid to read other people’s books when you’re writing?

Not at all!  I read constantly, all sorts of fiction.  Reading other people’s words helps me to launch my own.  Not that I’m stealing passages or concepts, but sometimes I’ll read a word and think, “that’s a great word, I should use that,” or contrast how the character in the book is feeling/responding versus how my character is responding.  It can be a springboard, or just a nudge to remind me to do my own work.  Consider that journalists read magazines and newspapers, doctors read medical journals, and businessmen read the Wall Street Journal and Business Week.  Fiction writers get to read fiction.  I think we get the best end of the deal.

Do you work normal business hours?

Ha ha.  No.  I work 6-7 days a week, generally in the afternoons and evenings.  If I take more than two days off, it’s much harder to get going again.

Speaking of getting going, I need to get back to my chapter.  The very last chapter – which means I need to figure out how we’re going to celebrate!

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I can tell you a bit about it, though.  Jayne Tate is the fearless main character, a motorcycle-riding reporter who’s running as fast as she can from her past.  She has a good life in Portland, Oregon – a job at the paper, great friends, and a nice boyfriend.  What she wants most is a chance to go to Florida for the story of the year, but her boss gives the job to a coworker.  Jayne goes a little nutters, and uses her vacation time to go to an Amish community outside of Albany.  Sure she’ll find a story there, she interviews the owner of an Amish carpentry shop, Levi Burkholder.  Levi helps Jayne find a family to stay with while working on the story. 

2,485 words to go.

Anyway, all sorts of things happen on the Amish farm, and Jayne starts to think Levi’s an upright fellow, but you can only run so far from your past until it starts to catch up with you.

2,445 words to go.

(to put that in perspective, 2,445 words is a nice-sized chapter, at least it is for me)

Well, the hubby is hungry, so I’m going to sign off for now so I can finish this chapter and eat some real food (we haven’t eaten that well lately on account of me being busy finishing the book, but I’m feeling generous).  Tune in next time for some of the questions I’m asked most often….

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