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Showing posts with label Adina Senft. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Adina Senft. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Q&A Interview with Adina Senft, Author of The Wounded Heart: An Amish Quilt Novel

Please help me welcome Adina Senft author of  The Wounded Heart: An Amish Quilt Novel
 
I am looking forward to reading what looks like a beautiful story.
Adina:  I really hope you like it. And thank you for inviting me over to join you on the blog. Here, I’ve got an apple crumble pie that my heroine Amelia made this morning. Would you like ice cream on the side, or fresh cream overtop?
Oh yummy - I love ice cream with warm pie!
1Q.  When you started The Wounded Heart, did you plan to do a series and if so, did you have each book plotted out before you started or did the subsequent books flow from the first book?
Adina:  The Amish Quilt trilogy has always been three books. When I came up with the series idea, I knew the issues I wanted to explore with each central character’s struggle: The Wounded Heart would be chronic disease. The Hidden Life would be the perpetual spinster. The Tempted Soul would be emotional infidelity. But that was all I knew!

So for a month before I begin writing each book, I read everything I can get my hands on about those topics and about my Amish setting. Then I begin to do character work, and the plot grows out of that.  The fun part is weaving in hints about what will happen in the next books into the current one. It’s like planning a treasure hunt J
Ha- I never thought about it quite like that! I love treasure hunts and maybe that is why I really like series books. J
2Q.  What inspired you to write this genre?
Adina:  It was one of those things where the universe closes a door in your face, but you feel a breeze on the back of your neck from the window that opened behind you. I grew up in a plain house church (I wasn’t Amish, but was often asked if I was), but it never occurred to me to write from that viewpoint until my editor gave me an elbow in the ribs and suggested it. It was a real “aha!” moment mixed with a whole lot of “duh!”
I love when you get that nice breeze on the back of your neck. Your editor sounds like she encouraged you to look at writing from “what you know” even if it wasn’t exactly.
3Q.  Where did you get the idea for this story/series?
Adina:  I have a friend who suffered for nearly a decade, wasting away and losing control of various bodily parts. She almost died before she went to the dentist and he realized that she was suffering from mercury poisoning from the fillings in her teeth, not fibromyalgia or M.S. After he got all those out of her mouth, she entered a chelation program to cleanse her blood of heavy metals. Her story triggered the idea for The Wounded Heart … and the way the Amish care for each other’s health without help from government formed a nice avenue of conflict that I could use as my heroine pursued treatment.
 Oh my goodness. I am so glad your friend got a proper diagnosis before it was too late. That makes for a good plotline.
4Q.  Could you please share one surprising thing about your research or experience writing this book?
Adina:  There is so much to learn and enjoy about the Amish and the research curve is so steep that nearly everything was surprising to me, LOL! But the biggest thing I learned is how mistaken were my own preconceptions about their culture. There is a reason why they do the things they do and look the way they look. For instance, each piece of a woman’s clothes means something historically and says something about her service to God. The white organdy prayer covering (called a Kapp in Pennsylvania Dutch) is pinned to the hair with three straight pins. But where you pin it says something about how willing you are to submit to the Ordnung. If you wear it far back on your head so that your ears are exposed, maybe you’re having a hard time submitting to the community’s expectations. And if you leave your strings free and not tied, you’re really walking the edge J because the Amish feel the next step after that is to remove the Kapp altogether, and then your principle indicator of submission is gone. You’ll notice in the other Amish communities outside the Old Order, the Kapp is smaller, covers less, and some have no strings at all.

So the art department and I worked together closely when it came to the portrayal of my heroine, Amelia Beiler, on the cover of The Wounded Heart. In the first versions her Kapp was pushed back on her hair, and the strings hung loose in front. But we worked together, and through the marvels of Photoshop, she now looks exactly as she should.
 Thanks for sharing this tidbit - something I never knew.
5Q.  Did your family support you in becoming a writer?
Adina:  Oh, yes. My husband is my biggest fan. He doesn’t go anywhere without a bunch of postcards in the side pocket of the door of the truck, and there are always bookmarks for my latest release in his pocket. He talks to the people in the doctor’s office, in the checkout line, and recently, on his annual hunting trip, he gave one of my excerpt booklets to a fellow hunter miles from anywhere out in the bush!
How great to have supportive family.
6Q.  What kind of books do you enjoy?
Adina:  I’m an eclectic reader. I have healthy collections of women’s fiction by Kristin Hannah, as many of Donna Leon’s Venice-set mysteries and C.S. Harris’s historical mysteries as I can get my hands on, science fiction by Connie Willis, urban fantasy by Jim Butcher, romance by Jennifer Skully and Bella Andre, children’s books by Troon Harrison . . . you name it. At the moment I’m immersed in George R.R. Martin’s “Song of Ice and Fire” books. Thank you, HBO. I read lots of Amish fiction, too, but not usually during the actual writing. I have a huge fear of being derivative and echoing someone’s book without being aware of it.
Now I have to go check the Martin books. Good thinking to keep your own voice and not echo someone even accidentally.
7Q.  What are some of the best tips you’ve received on writing?
Adina:  Jenny Cruise was the guest speaker when I was in the M.F.A. in Writing Popular Fiction program at Seton Hill University, and she said something about plotting I’ve never forgotten. Besides “Start where the trouble starts,” she said, “Two people are arguing about a coffee table. Remember that the table isn’t what they’re fighting about. It’s what’s under the table.” In other words, in important scenes, dialogue should have two levels of meaning—what’s on the surface and what is really bugging the characters down deep that they’re unwilling to come right out and say. I’ve never forgotten it. Of course, it took me the rest of my time in graduate school to figure out how to actually do that on the page.
Very good tip…that depth could make a big difference in how the dialogue and characters.
8Q.  What do you hope your readers get out of your books?
Adina:  If they can spend a couple of hours in my imaginary town of Whinburg, Pennsylvania, becoming friends with my characters and getting so involved in their lives that they forget the troubles and cares of their own, then I’m happy. That’s all I want. Company in my world. The coffee is on!
Oh yes… Sometimes I miss the quiet country of Pennsylvania where I grew up.  Next time maybe we could have Shoo Fly Pie.
Thank you for sharing with me and my blog readers.
Martha
Adina:  And thank you so much for the opportunity to visit. Have another slice of pie. I know I want one!
Adina

Book Review: The Wounded Heart by Adina Senft

Delightful read - I was captured and engaged from the beginning to the end by this book.
by Adina Senft
  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: FaithWords (September 27, 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0892968540
  • ISBN-13: 978-0892968541
     Genre: Inspirational
     My Rating: 5.0 of 5.0

Product Description
When a business offer turns into something more personal, Amelia is torn between what logic tells her is right, and the desire of her heart.

A widow with two small children, Amelia Beiler is struggling to make ends meet. She is running her late husband's business, but it's not what she was raised to do, which is run a home. When she gets an offer for the business from Eli Fischer, she's only too relieved to consider it-especially when it looks like Eli's interest might include more than just the shop. But when she begins to experience strange physical symptoms and is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, it's difficult not to question God's will. If she pursues the treatment she believes in, she risks going under the bann. But how can she allow Eli to court her when she can't promise him a future?

Review: This story is absolutely wonderful with charming writing, characters to love and a real to life story.

Amelia is an Amish widow with two small sons and her late husband’s business to manage.  She knows it is awkward in her community to have a woman running a business but the circumstances placed her in that capacity, not her own wishes or actions.  Yes, she may have learned to be a bit more independent having to make decisions as the head of her household and business.

She is surprised when an Englisch man offers to buy the pallet business. Then another Amish man, Eli, shows interest not only in the business but in her personally. However Amelia has just been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. She faces being on medicine, which may only delay the deterioration of her muscle control, for the rest of her life, or she could raise the significant amount necessary to try some experimental treatment in Mexico. But it appears that the church elders do not approve of the experimental treatment nor do they approve of her selling her business to an outsider.

Amelia shares a quilting group with two wonderful friends, Emma and Carrie, who have their own issues. They try to give her sound advise while she also receives advise from her mother and father.  Amelia struggles with finding God’s Will and balancing her choices within the dictates of the elders of her church family.

The phrasing and writing is charming and smoothly reflects the Amish community. There are all the elements one might expect in an Amish story including a dedicated faith, community order, simple - if hard - living, close families and real friendships. There are also the struggles of balancing the worldly input and practices with the Amish life-style. Amelia’s thought dilemmas are so natural. The story is not in any way preachy as it is instead portrays a daily, living faith.

I will be eagerly looking forward to reading the stories for Emma and Carrie as the trilogy continues! The book includes the instructions for the quilt the ladies are working on. There is also a group discussion guide.

Here are two short quotes of many that I liked:
(Amelia responded to the laughter of her sons)
She needed to follow their innocent example and find joy in the little things. P 206

(Eli approaching Amelia again after learning the updated status of her illness.)
But the driver had turned sideways in his seat and was gazing at her with all the hope of harvest in his face. P282

I will be recommending this to my book club as I know everyone would enjoy it. Also I am going to let my daughter read it before I add my copy to the giveaway box. :-)

###
Thank you to Hachette Center Street for this book to review and for offering a copy for Giveaway!

TO ENTER THIS GIVEAWAY for the book copy:
1. Visit the author's website and tell me something of interest you found there. This is required for entry.

2.  For two extra entries comment on the Author interview.

3.  For an extra entry, become a follower or tell me if you are already a follower.

4. For two entries, blog, facebook, tweet (any of those networks!) about this giveaway and tell me where you did.

It isn't necessary to use separate entries unless you want them in different chronological order.
(Six total entries possible.)

* Open to the US & Canada only.
* No PO boxes, please.
* This contest will close 10 PM (Central) on October 14, 2011. (This month's book giveaways will all end on the 30th except for Friday Picks, SBB or other special posts.)
The winner will be randomly selected from all entries.
The WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED on October 15. 
Winners will have 72 hours to respond by email or the winners form linked in the announcement.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Blog Tour: The Wounded Heart: An Amish Quilt Novel by Adina Senft

Hachette Center Street Blog Tour for The Wounded Heart: An Amish Quilt Novel by Adina Senft


September 26
http://www.bibliophilesretreat.com
http://uselesscrafts.blogspot.com
http://rannthisthat.blogspot.com
http://overweight-bookshelf.blogspot.com/
http://www.kittycrochettwo.blogspot.com


September 27
http://www.moms-pace.com
http://ashleysbookshelf.blogspot.com
http://reviewsfromtheheart.blogspot.com
http://a-long-the-way.blogspot.com


September 28
http://bookinwithbingo.blogspot.com/
http://shoopettesbookreviews.blogspot.com/
http://libslibrary.blogspot.com
http://sugarpeach.wordpress.com/
http://www.frommipov.blogspot.com
http://southernsassythings.blogspot.com
http://detweilermom.blogspot.com
http://camys-loft.blogspot.com

Be sure to visit  on September 28 for a visit with the author, my review and a chance to win a copy of this lovely book!

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