My novel All the Promises (originally titled Silver Bells) is free for Kindle today via BookBub, and I thought you might enjoy hearing a bit about how it came to be. Grab your free ebook HERE, then grab a cup of coffee or tea and enjoy this story behind the story.
This was such a fun book to write, especially since it was set in the 1970s—the years when I was falling in love with my husband, Ken. While my story is completely fictional, many aspects of the novel were inspired by my own life (and Ken’s). My talented husband also designed the beautiful cover for the Out of Their Element collection, which became the current cover for All the Promises.
Like Michelle Penn (my heroine in All the Promises), I grew up the daughter of a Kansas farmer. The oldest of five children, I had the happiest childhood imaginable. Much of that joy came from the fact that I had a mother who read to me—especially after I developed asthma and was unable to play outside during much of the year because the wheat and hay our farm produced were the two things that triggered my asthma attacks. But my mom opened up the whole world to me when she taught me the joy of a wonderful story! I knew the summer I read all of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books that someday I wanted to write a book.
Like my heroine Michelle from All the Promises, I attended Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas. In fact, my dad and all my siblings attended or graduated from K-State. And like Michelle, I really wasn’t too torn up when I dropped out of college to marry my husband, because the real dream of my life was to have babies—lots and lots of babies.
As Michelle did, I worked as a typesetter and proofreader for several small-town newspapers. I started my first newspaper job back when page layout was done with an X-Acto knife and a waxer, and just before computers revolutionized the process of getting a weekly newspaper put to bed. What fun it was to write the scenes in the newspaper office!
The “newfangled microwave” incident in All the Promises was inspired by the fact that my husband’s family owned one of the first microwave ovens in their county. They won the oven as a prize in their small town’s Holiday Lane drawing. This amazing contraption that could boil water in a matter of seconds, and pop popcorn in under two minutes, was quite the attraction! Ken’s friends would often follow him home from school to watch his demonstrations of exploding marshmallows or melted plastic (and some other fiascos I’m not sure his mother knows about to this day, so to protect the innocent I’ll save those stories for another day.)
As I wrote the novel, it was sometimes sobering to explore how much we’ve changed as a society in less than fifty years. Technology has revolutionized every aspect of our lives—some for the good, but others in truly frightening ways. Still, one thing I realized as I wrote the novel is that families have remained the backbone of our culture, and the place where God grows us into the people He wants us to be. My parents have been such an inspiration to me, and my dad is still a place I go for wisdom and advice about life. I was also blessed to have all my grandparents in my life well into my forties. What a wonderful blessing and source of wisdom and faith they were in my life. And an example to me now that nine (soon to be ten!) precious little ones call me “Mimi.”
Many readers have commented that they enjoyed turning back the calendar a few decades to a simpler time before technology got such a grip on our world. Yet, as much as we’d sometimes like to harken back to simpler times, thankfully, our God is ever unchanging, ever-dependable and steady, and His goodness and care for us is as certain and strong in this twenty-first century as it ever was in the past. It was such fun writing a story set in a recent past that many of my readers remember fondly. But most of all, I hope the story serves as a reminder that Jesus Christ is the same…yesterday and today and forever.
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Oh, the simple days! Way back when…my honey and I got to know each other with me clutching to him (intentional for both of us) while we rode ditch banks on a dirt bike! LOL. Thanks for the Kindle book! I look forward to reading it, especially after hearing about the similarities between your life and the characters. 🙂 Blessings!
Yes, the good ol’ days! Love that image of you hanging on tight! 🙂
Like you, I had the happiest childhood imaginable. Also, I left college after two years to marry my husband, but I am quite a bit older than you. Now, it will be 55 years in August.
Sometimes I think technology has made things worse, but life has become a lot easier. Love your posts, and Ken’s art work is beautiful. Take care!
I couldn’t agree more, Betty. I’d miss technology, but it has made things worse in some ways. However, during the Covid-19 sheltering in, I was VERY thankful for technology to see our kids, “attend” church, and stay in touch with what was going on in the world!
Absolutely, a wonderful thing during the lockdown. Also, we do a Facebook call every Sunday evening with our daughter and grandson who live in California and we’re on the east coast!
Oh, that’s wonderful!
I read it as Silver Bells and loved it! How fun to go back and get to revisit your past through story. What a lovely new cover, too!
Thanks, Anne. I just love the cover.
I thoroughly enjoyed the 1970s setting of this novel, Deb! I’m currently watching Endeavor on Prime and it’s 1960s Oxford, England setting is charming. The 1980s setting of Stranger Things added a lot of appeal to that series.
I think a lot of us find these lesser-done time periods fascinating!
We haven’t heard of Endeavor! We’ll have to add that to our watch list! Thanks, Becky!
I am looking forward to reading All the Promises. You rang some bells in my memory with some of your comments.
My allergies kept me out of the hayfields (mostly) of our Arkansas farm. I, too, spent most of my time indoors reading during those hot summer days.
We also had one of the first microwaves in our small town. My dad, who was a heating and cooling contractor earned an Amana Radar Range through his sales of Amana heating and cooling units. I still remember him coming home from an earlier convention and sharing with us the “magic” of a device he had seen that could heat a slice of pie without melting the ice cream on top.
Like you, I remember doing layout in the newspaper office pre computers. I was editor of our school paper my senior year (78-79). One afternoon we were doing layout when a young, very charismatic up and coming politician made a stop at the newspaper office during his campaign for governor. Probably the first politician I had ever met.
Wow! We do have a lot in common, Ruby! So fun to hear your memories.