My blog has a new look. My theme will remain much the same — posts about everything writerly!

I love my readers so I’ll blog about my progress as I finish my latest novel, Threads of Faith. I’ll share historical tidbits I’m learning as I research my selected time periods. I’ll also tell you what it took to write Threads of Hope, which will be released in January 2012.

For writers,  I’ll share tips of the trade and tell you about my journey to publication. Each path is different for each book I write. Regardless, I hope reading about my struggles and blessings will provide you with encouragement

So welcome back to Everything Writerly!

Yours,

~Andrea

Do you know a man who isn’t willing to committ to a relationship? Join us for the live chat tomorrow night at 9 pm (CST). There’s a toll free, call-in number on the site and it would be great to hear from all of you!

Meanwhile, I’m posting an article Kim wrote on the subject of dating.
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The Dating Game

When should a girl throw up her hands and walk away from a relationship? How long is too long to wait for that proposal on one knee? My suggestion is simple.

Never keep time in the traditional sense; this can be both torturous and irrelevant. When dating, it is best to judge all things off emotion, not time lines. When the time is right in your mind, it might not be right in his. Do not set a deadline that only benefits your feelings. If it is marriage you seek, then follow this easy advice.

Take a trip away. Sometimes men need to see what they are missing, to understand how bad they want it. Go to Florida, Seattle, or any place at least six hours from your home base. Stay as long as you like, but for the record, most men can come to terms with missing a woman in only two days.

So, pack those bags and head to the beach.

Upon arriving home, you are sure to find a man that will have a new appreciation for you. Time alone will give your man a snap shot of life without you. The fear of that could bring him to his knees within a few months.

If that does not happen, I suggest proposing, to him. If he says yes, then a trip to the altar is all you will need. If he says no, pack your bags, but this time; get a one-way ticket with no return flight.

But, please be realistic. If you count how long you have been dating, using weeks instead of years, a trip to China will not help you. Things take time, but remember, the ride should always be as fun as the destination. So, don’t rush!!

Find Kim online at:
http://www.chickgab.com/

Also at:
http://www.chattininmanhattan.com/

Author, Pamela Meyers selected the winning number. Carmen7351 has won my 4-book series, Season of Redemption. Congrats! Carmen, please email me privately at: andrea@andreaboeshaar.com so I can collect your snail-mail address.

AKB

The first shots of America’s Civil War were fired in April of 1861 at Fort Sumter. To commemorate this war’s 150th anniversary, the History Channel announced its “Civil War Week.” The cable TV channel is airing shows like Lee vs. Grant, Gettysburg, and Civil War Technology. Check your local listing for dates and times.

Coinciding with this special event, (but not affiliated with it in any way) my publisher, Realms/Charisma House, and I are announcing a give-away of my 4-book, historical romance series, Seasons of Redemption. That’s right. You could win ALL FOUR BOOKS.

My first novel, Unwilling Warrior, takes place during the Civil War and my main character, Ben McCabe, is a photographer, searching for his younger brother who went missing at First Manassas (or First Bull Run) – July 21, 1861.

This year, 2011, is a special time in America’s history when we can look back and learn about the Civil War. By educating ourselves we can ensure nothing ever divides our great country again.

Leave a comment and you will be entered into a drawing that will take place on Monday, June 6, 2011. Again, the winner will receive my entire 4-book, Seasons of Redemption series from Realms/Charisma House.

The blog tour for my novel, Undaunted Faith, begins today. I’m excited about it. A blog tour is where bloggers from all around post an author interview or book review during the same time frame. My tour runs from now through Friday. Watch for contests and book give-aways.

Below is an interview that my friend, Lena Nelson Dooley, posted on her blog earlier this month. Have I revealed something here you never knew about me?

1. God has really been moving in your writing life. What do you see on the horizon?

I just handed in the manuscript to my editors for a book called Threads of Hope. It’s book 1 in my new series called Fabric of Time.

2. Tell us a little about your family.

I’m married and have 3 grown sons, 1 daughter-in-law, and 4 grandchildren. I also have a fine church family.

3. Has your writing changed your reading habits? If so, how?

I’m afraid I don’t read as often as I’d like. With researching my historical novels and all the time spent writing them, I barely have time to clean my house and see the grandkids, let alone read. Still, I try to read a book every couple of months and I love to read my friends’ books. Right now I’m reading Louise Gouge’s At the Captain’s Command. Then I’ll begin Karen Witemeyer’s To Win Her Heart.


4. What are you working on right now?

I’m writing a short contemporary Christian romance novel and I’m hoping to get a proposal for it to my agent Steve Laube soon so he can shop it around.


5. What outside interests do you have?

I love to take walks. I recently underwent a total knee replacement and I’m healing up just great. I can’t wait to take regular walks outside come springtime. My husband and I also enjoy seeing our grandchildren. We make that a regular practice.


6. How do you choose your settings for each book?

Somehow certain areas just grab me, like the Arizona Territory in 1867. You’ll read about it in Undaunted Faith, Book 4 in my Seasons of Redemption series.


But I’m also interested in local history. Book 2 in my series takes place here in Milwaukee. Book 3 is set in Chicago and then in Milwaukee again. I love to research my hometown and my State. My next series, Fabric of Time, will take place in Wisconsin.

7. What is the one thing you wish you had known before you started writing novels?

I wish I would have learned more about self-editing. Sometimes I’m embarrassed to read my older works, even if they’re published. I suppose that means I’m growing as a writer – and that’s good!


8. What new lessons is the Lord teaching you right now?

God has shown Himself faithful in so many ways. He takes good care of me. One of the lessons I’m learning is that because my Heavenly Father is the King of kings and I am His child, then that makes me…a princess! So I ought to act like royalty, not in a snooty manner, but a manner in which I treat myself with respect and take care of myself. The Bible says that we should love others as ourselves. But if we don’t love and respect ourselves, we cannot love our neighbors.

So all you princesses out there – listen up! Do something wonderful for yourselves today – and then show some kindness to someone else.

9. What are the three best things you can tell other authors to do to be successful?

1) Don’t give up.
2) Learn all you can about writing and hone your skills
3) Trust God to open the doors to your success. Then don’t be afraid to walk through them.

(Note: I have to remind myself of these nuggets of wisdom every so often too!)


10. Tell us about the featured book?

Sure. Here is the back cover copy.

The McCabe brothers have their hands full. Trouble on the range and trouble in town. But they never expected their sweet schoolteacher, Bethany Stafford, to join in the mix of woe. When her reputation is unfairly tarnished, Pastor Luke McCabe is quick to propose marriage. But Bethany wants better than just a marriage of necessity to save her good name. Could Luke ever come to love a plain “little field mouse” like her?


Dr. Annetta Cavanaugh has her own questions about men and their intentions. While Pastor Jake McCabe seems sincere, she still has her doubts about him. But after he accompanies her on a medical call, she sees a whole new side of him and can’t help but admit her attraction to the handsome pastor.


However, there’s evil brewing in town—a lawlessness that even the sheriff cannot tamp down. Finally, it comes face-to-face with both Luke and Jake and it threatens the lives of the women they love. Are the McCabe brothers ready for the fight of their lives?

Writing a novel, article, blog post, devotional or even penning a journal entry isn’t always easy under the best of circumstances. But when a chronic illness is present, writing an be an excruciating activity.

Chronic illnesses like Lupus, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, MS (Multiple Sclerosis), RA (Rheumatoid Arthritis), and many others, can sap an individual’s physical strength and also affect one’s mental and spiritual wellbeing. So how do authors cope? Do they push through these times when their debilitating conditions flare or take to their beds – which might be what their bodies are screaming for them to do?!

For myself, with Fibromyalgia and Small Fiber Neuropathy, I write in the mornings. I get up early and get right to work. About mid-morning, I take a break, eat breakfast, shower, dress, spend some time with the Lord, and then I try to get back into my project. In the afternoons, I try to accomplish some marketing things and answer email. However, by two o’clock, I’m shot for the rest of the day, except for minor things like unloading the dishwasher or running the vacuum around. I will admit that there are days when I can’t even accomplish that much. It gets depressing sometimes.

I asked some friends with chronic illnesses to tell me how they manage.

April Gardner states: I have RA. Doing good now, but a couple of years ago, I could barely care for myself. Still, I wrote. How? I look back and can only attribute it to God–and the sheer love writing. Poking away at the keyboard while my joints swelled and my tendons curled, I learned a lot about what I’m capable of. Pain is nothing in the face of almighty God and a little determination. RA will always be with me, but bless His name, so will God.

Thanks for the opportunity to share what He’s done for me!


~April W Gardner
Sr. Editor, Clash of the Titles
http://www.aprilgardner.com/

Patty Hall states this: I live with chronic back pain from an attack I sustained when I was a nurse over 25 years ago. There are many times that I have to write lying flat on my back—I do this longhanded–sometimes with a regular pen, sometimes with a digital pen that can transcribe my writing into the Word program of my computer. I’ve written three books like this, the first to be released by Love Inspired Historical this summer.

Patty Smith Hall
www.pattysmithhall.com

Finally, Dr. Carrie Pagels states: First of all, thank you for writing about this Andrea, and again, I love reading your books and especially enjoy your voice, which is beautiful. As I write this, I am listening to CBN to Creflo Dollar and he is quoting scripture from Isiah. One day, God will free all of us from all pain and sickness. God makes healing available to us whether it is permanently in heaven or if for a short time on a particular day. In my faith walk, I have found that when God calls me to do something, He makes a way for me to do it.

While working as a psychologist, my rheumatoid (and other forms of) arthritis worsened and I was given every form of biologic treatment available (save one) to treat my severe symptoms. The last one, Rituxan, put me in the bed for twelve weeks last year with reactions to the biologic and with illnesses from my weakened immune system (Rituxan is a powerful immunosuppressant). But God enabled me to write during that time. Sometimes in the middle of the night for one hour. Sometimes for an hour and half in the day. An hour here and hour there to do writing related things when I could do nothing else, not shop, cook, nor do activities with my son. That was extreme. I no longer work as a psychologist and stopped with biologic treatment. It makes the pain, stiffness, and difficulties I still have seem minuscule by comparison.

So my bottom line is: Stay right with God, do what you need to do to get in line with His will for you, if He intends for you to write He will enable you to do so for however and whatever He needs you to do. Managing stress is important, but much stress comes from not doing His will to begin with!


Carrie Fancett Pagels, Ph.D.
Voices columnist, My Book Therapy e-zine http://voices.mybooktherapy.com/
http://shoutlife.com/cfpagels
http://cfpagels.blogspot.com

In her book The God of all Comfort, Judy Gann writes, “There are times when we loathe our portraits-in-progress. The dark tones of illness seem like blemishes on the canvas. We earn for the day when our portraits will be completed. Yet…God’s portraits will take our lifetimes to finish. Meanwhile we can trust in his promise to complete the spiritual masterpieces he is creating of our lives.”

Judy goes on to cite Philippians 1:6. Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. (KJV)

As with anything in life, particularly with chronic illnesses, God’s promises are the only ones worth clinging to. No doctor can offer what The Great Physician can — healing from the inside out. He has the miraculous ability to write His will upon our hearts, which is enough to sustain us in even the worst of times.

My latest novel, Undaunted Faith, releases today.

To purchase a copy, click here!
To watch the exciting video trailer, click here!

This is the 4th and final book in my Seasons of Redemption series. Other titles include:

It’s feels a bit sad to leave my characters behind and move on to a brand new historical series. I think that in the last year I spent more time with the McCabe family than I did my own, real-life family. While these titles had been previously published more than a decade ago, these latest books are expanded and revised with new plotlines and secondary characters.

I enjoyed researching my hometown of Milwaukee, WI and Chicago, IL in the year 1866 for books 2 and 3. This time period predates the Peshtigo & Great Chicago Fires and is Post-Civil War.

However, my first book, Unwilling Warrior, is set in New Orleans in 1862 (Actually, the story opens on New Year’s Eve 1861). The Civil War had begun 5 months prior and the fighting was just really getting under way.

Undaunted Faith, book 4, is set in the Arizona Territory in 1867. Readers meet both Jake and Luke McCabe in books 1 and 2. As for the setting of Undaunted Faith, I’ve always had a fondness for the Southwest — perhaps because Wisconsin winters are so cold and long!

I hope you enjoy this series and I’m looking forward to researching and writing my next series for Realms/Charisma Media. It’s called Fabric of Time and the first book will release in 2012. (But I’ll post more about that later!)

And keep checking back here on my blog because I plan to do some fabulous and far-out book give-aways!

My newest Christian historical romance novel, Undaunted Faith, will be released next week. It’s Book 4, and the last one, in my Seasons of Redemption series. Here’s what some of my friends are saying about my book and me.

Endorsements:

Andrea Boeshaar has a heart for God that shows up on the pages of every book she writes.
—Tracie Peterson, bestselling author of the Song of Alaska series

Once again, Andrea Boeshaar has given us a heartwarming adventure filled with colorful characters and true-to-life faith.
—Louise M. Gouge, author of The Wedding Season

I could feel the sun beating down, smell the dust storm, taste the native food. And in front of that tapestry of setting, Andrea Boeshaar played out an amazing story of self-discovery and spiritual growth.
—Lena Nelson Dooley, author of Love Finds You in Golden, New Mexico

Andrea Boeshaar’s novels always thrill and inspire, and Undaunted Faith is no exception!
—Loree Lough, Best-selling author of 78 award-winning novels, including From Ashes to Honor

About Undaunted Faith:

The McCabe brothers have their hands full. Trouble on the range and trouble in town. But they never expected their sweet schoolteacher, Bethany Stafford, to join in the mix of woe. When her reputation is unfairly tarnished, Pastor Luke McCabe is quick to propose marriage. But Bethany wants better than just a marriage of necessity to save her good name. Could Luke ever come to love a plain “little field mouse” like her?

Dr. Annetta Cavanaugh has her own questions about men and their intentions. While Pastor Jake McCabe seems sincere, she still has her doubts about him. But after he accompanies her on a medical call, she sees a whole new side of him and can’t help but admit her attraction to the handsome pastor.

However, there’s evil brewing in town—a lawlessness that even the sheriff cannot tamp down. Finally, it comes face-to-face with both Luke and Jake and it threatens the lives of the women they love. Are the McCabe brothers ready for the fight of their lives?

Watch the trailer on YouTube:
Click here!

Be sure to tell me know what you think of it!

One of the benefits of going on Tracie Peterson’s Winter Writers’ Retreat was that she invited her editors, Dave and Sarah Long to spend a day and a half with us. We submitted ahead of time and then either Dave or Sarah offered to have appointments with us at the retreat.

My writing pal, Jeri Odell, and I had one of the earlier appointments with Sarah, so we didn’t have time to get nervous. Sometimes meeting editors has that effect on me. Typically I come to the table with a stomach ache. But Sarah Long made it easy to chat with her. She’s smiley, bubbly, and she finds something positive in every manuscript she reads.

While Sarah spoke with us about our submission, she laughed a little (another good sign, since we have comedic scenes in the manuscript). But at the end of the day, she just didn’t feel it was a good fit for Bethany House. (Bummer!) You see, ours isn’t a romance, it’s not historical, and it’s not really a mystery and those are the categories, which Bethany House is seeking.

Jeri asked Sarah about contemporary romance – where the romance drives the story, and Sarah agreed to look at it. After all these years of fighting romance and only turning out plot-driven romance, Bethany House has jumped on the band wagon. They are seeking contemporary romance. Hallelujah! Now there’s something I know how to write!

So what’s the scariest editorial appointment you ever had a writer’s conference or retreat?