My novel Silver Bells was first published by Summerside Press and was a finalist for the ACFW Carol Award. I recently got the rights back to that book and my husband designed a beautiful new cover for it with our Raney Day Press. It’s now available in e-book and print (just in time for Christmas giving!) And today the e-book version is on sale for only 99 cents.
If you’d like to order Silver Bells, the 99-cent e-book is HERE, and the print edition is HERE.”
Silver Bells 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).
Ken and I, shortly after we started dating, riding horses (with my little dog Barney) on the farm where I grew up.
Like Michelle Penn (my heroine in Silver Bells), 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 Silver Bells, 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 set in the newspaper office!
The “newfangled microwave” incident in Silver Bells 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.)
The original version (left), and the hardcover, large-print version (right).
As I wrote the novel, it was sometimes sobering to explore how much we’ve changed as a society in only forty 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. All my life, my parents have been such an inspiration to me, and the place I’ve gone 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 source of wisdom and faith they were in my life—and an example to me now that seven 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. I admit I love technology. Yet, as much as we’d sometimes like to harken back to simpler times, thankfully, we serve an ever unchanging, ever dependable and steady God, and His goodness and care for us is as certain and strong in these uncertain twenty-first century times 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 my story serves as a reminder that Jesus Christ is the same…yesterday and today and forever.
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Deborah I enjoyed reading your blog. I love the way you share parts of your life with us the readers. If I were to meet you in person I would be excited, like meeting up with a friend.
God bless you always
Thank you so much, Maureen! I feel the same! The readers of this blog really have become friends over the years! Thanks so much for your sweet words. And God bless you, too!
We grew up in the same era, Deb. It will be fun to read your book and reminisce.
Thanks, Lynn! It was amazing how much research I still had to do! You forget WHEN certain things (like microwave ovens and no party lines) came into being. 😉
I ,too ,love how you share with us and your Thursday dates . It makes my day day .and to share God’s word and love . Thank you
Thank you, dear Bonnie! You just made MY day!
Silver Bells is on my to be read list, and I’m very anxious to read it. It sounds like a lovely story ( especially this time of year ).
Like you, I also grew up on a Kansas Farm. My Dad had wheat fields and also raised milo and corn. He also ran a Dairy Farm and I remember helping him with the milking a few times. =) I have memories of when the wheat was harvested. It was in the air…
I’m sorry to hear about your asthma.
Thanks for sharing your photos with us!
We have a lot in common, Melissa! My dad also raised wheat, milo, and soybeans (no corn) and for a few years he milked cows (the BEST ice cream from thick, thick REAL cream!) He also raised champion hogs for a while. (Talk about “in the air…” the stink was awful! Although Daddy said it smelled like money. 😉 )
Silver Bells sounds like an enjoyable book. I was struck by similarities in my own story. I left college after two years to marry my husband – he was a Marine 2nd Lt. and it was during Vietnam. Also, I worked on my high school newspaper.
Looking forward to your book!
How fun, Betty! Lots in common!
Ken is a brilliant artist! Your new cover is just gorgeous! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks so much, Lynne! Ken is awesome! I just love the designs of all the book covers he’s done…for me, and for many other authors. And he’s enjoying the work so much!
I loved reading the newspaper scenes! (And the rest of the book!) I remember a mid-1970s field trip to the small-town newspaper where my dad worked. He showed our class how to wax an article and lay it on the lay-out board… The novel brought back fond memories of the way the schedule of a weekly newspaper affected the rhythm of my family’s life. Now, to take advantage of that 99-cent offer!
How cool that you remember that field trip! And yes, that weekly schedule—and having to put the paper to bed in time for it to be delivered on Thursday—did dictate many lives! I enjoyed working with your dad at the Hesston Record! I also worked at the Ellsworth Reporter for several years before moving to Hesston. Good memories!
Thanks for sharing your growing up years and family history and pictures with us.I really enjoyed it.God Bless you
God bless you, too, Diana!
Very sweet memories! A joy of living through those forty years of change is that we can say with first hand knowledge that Jesus Christ has not changed, he loves us, and he will continue to love us. Joyous advent to you and your family.
So true, Abbie! And for that I am eternally grateful (literally!) Have a wonderful Christmas!