Summer Author Chat with Robin

I’m delighted to join in with my Inspired by Life and Fiction sisters in giving quick (semi-quick?) answers to these seven questions. So here goes:

• Favorite coffee order

In the last 15 years, I may have been in/at a coffee shop three or four times. Not my thing. I just can’t justify paying $6 or more for a beverage. So my “favorite order” is to my Keurig K-Supreme using refillable/reusable K-cups. I spoil myself with Italian Sweet Cream creamer in my decaf coffee (no caffeine for moi). I have several mug warmers (in my office, by my recliner, and on the table where I do my Bible study) so that my coffee is always nice and hot, no matter where I’m sitting.

• Favorite hymn or worship song

Oh, what a difficult question. So many favorites. Dozens and dozens going all the way back to the 1970s. But I’ll have to echo Tammy’s answer. “I Know a Name” (the Elevation Worship version). The first time we sang it at church, I was transported. Now I walk around the house repeating the words, “Something comes out of the grave every time I call Your name!!” and “Dead things come alive, dead things come alive, dead things come alive in the name of Jesus!” The song stirs my soul every time I sing it. I even use the lyrics in my prayers.

Close second: “I Speak Jesus.”

• Writing soundtrack — or do you prefer silence?

I used to write to movie soundtracks (no lyrics). Did that for at least two decades. But somewhere along the way (during the past ten years), I began writing in silence, and that works for me now. But I still have my Writing Soundtracks Playlist in my Apple Music so I’m ready should I change my mind.

• Where we write best

I have a lovely office where I wrote for years and years. But I had some trouble with my back, and I moved out to my recliner. My back issues are gone, but I have remained in the living room recliner. Habit? Preference? I don’t know. But that’s where I am for now. Oh, and with a new puppy, the recliner is close to her playpen but just out of her view. So that works well for now too.

• Favorite summer dessert

Key lime pie. I love the tangy sweetness and the graham cracker crust. Just right together. But liking it is dangerous. I live alone, and a whole pie is a lot of calories, even stretched over several days. Yikes!

• The opening paragraphs from an upcoming book

From To Fall in Love at Christmas, releasing July 8, 2026, available for Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, paperback, and audio.

Gibeon, Idaho
November 1897

A blast of frigid air greeted Truman Blankenship as he left the parsonage and walked west along Main Street. Patches of snow clung to the shadowed sides of buildings, reminders of the sudden squall that had blown across the range on the last day of October. If this year’s Old Farmer’s Almanac was correct, they were in for plenty more such storms in the coming months.

“Good morning, Reverend.” Harry Hathaway greeted him outside the mercantile. “Wonderful sermon last Sunday.”

“Thank you, Harry.” He touched the brim of his fur-lined fedora with a gloved finger. “Much obliged.” Hunching his shoulders against the cold, he kept moving.

• What’s currently on the nightstand

I think the question means books, but most of my reading is done via audiobooks or ebooks. Therefore, they take up no space on a nightstand. What is actually there is a digital clock, the ESR charger for my phone and watch, a box of Kleenex, a mug full of pens, a small lamp, and a tube of Carmex for my dry lips.

However, nightstand or no, I am reading To Win a Crown by Rachel Hauck; How to Hear God: A Simple Guide for Normal People by Pete Greig (second time to read it); and the Armor of God Bible Study by Priscilla Shirer (2nd time to go through it, this time with my church’s Women’s Bible study group). I have about 20 books preloaded on my phone as a reminder that one of them is up next.

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Well, that was fun. Now to plan my giveaway for next time.

Care to share any of your favorites (from the above questions or just any old favorites)? I’d love to read them.