Inspired by Life ... and Fiction

Novelists bound by the pen, sisterhood, & more

Texas Time (and a book deal)

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Ken and I have been traveling in Texas for the past week and will be exploring much of this huge state over the next month-plus. We have been blown away by the beauty of Texas, especially the Hill Country, which is a new area for us. I’m thinking I may just have to set a future book in this place and this season when the bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush and baby blue eyes are gorgeously in bloom and the weather is almost perfect! My book will have to end before July though because I’ve been in Texas in July and it’s not quite so lovely then…at least not for this gal who is not a fan of hot summer days.

This meadow of wildflowers (mostly bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush) was in McKinney Falls State Park. We walked here at sunrise yesterday morning and it was just breath-taking.

We especially enjoy camping in state parks, and Texas parks have not disappointed! Here are just a few of the scenes that have taken our breaths away!

Inks Lake State Park
We saw the most incredible sunset over the bluebonnets at Inks Lake State Park.
Inks Lake State Park
This was the sunset view just behind our campsite at Inks Lake State Park.
Perdanales Falls State Park.
I confess I didn’t actually see this pretty sunrise. I was happily sleeping in inside the camper while Ken captured the sunrise for me. No regrets! 🙂
Another gorgeous sunrise at McKinney Falls State Park near Austin. Just look at God’s glory on display!
Cypress trees at the Upper Falls at McKinney Falls State Park.
And because I just can’t get enough of them, more bluebonnets at McKinney Falls State Park, these stairstep beauties captured by my talented husband, Ken Raney.

Have you ever explored the Texas Hill Country? I can’t recommend spring here highly enough!

Before I go, I want to let you know about a super deal for today only (March 27). The e-book for the second book in the series, After the Rains, is free over on amazon.com via BookBub. The Camfield Legacy series begins with Beneath a Southern Sky and concludes with my newest novel, Breath of Heaven.

If you love ebooks, I hope you’ll click on the book cover to download After the Rains free today! It can be read as a stand-alone novel, but Beneath a Southern Sky and Breath of Heaven are both very reasonably priced so I hope you’ll grab them while you’re there, too.

And just a reminder that you can find an follow all the Inspired by Life…and Fiction gals on BookBub. It’s a great way to see an author’s entire collection of books, get news of new releases, and find out about sales and giveaways. And it’s free! Here are the links for the whole gang:

Tamera Alexander

Robin Lee Hatcher

Angela Hunt

Jody Hedlund

Julie Klassen

D’Ann Mateer

Dani Pettrey

Cara Putman

Deborah Raney

Becky Wade

Karen Witemeyer

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Deborah Raney

DEBORAH RANEY's first novel, A Vow to Cherish, inspired the World Wide Pictures film of the same title and launched Deb’s writing career. Forty books later, she's still creating stories that touch hearts and lives. Her novels have won RWA's RITA Award, the ACFW Carol Award, the National Readers Choice Award, and the HOLT Medallion. She is also a three-time Christy Award finalist. Deb is on faculty for several national writers’ conferences and served on the executive board of the 2,500-member American Christian Fiction Writers organization for 18 years before retiring in 2022. She is a recent transplant to Missouri, having moved with her husband, Ken Raney, from their native Kansas to be closer to kids and grandkids. They love road trips, e-biking, Friday garage sale dates, and breakfast on the screened porch overlooking their wooded backyard.
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Comments

  1. Check out the Davis mountain state park, and in the panhandle area, check out Caprock Canyon State Park you will love seeing the Bison and not far from there Palo Duro Canyon …all have beautiful hiking trails….and spring is the very best time to see these as it gets too hot in the summer, especially in Palo Duro where they sometimes have to shutdown trails due to the heat! Gotta love that Texas heat! Eeekkk!

    • Palo Duro is on our list, Julie! We were there about 3 or 4 years ago and absolutely loved it! The night sky there is just incredible! Thanks for all the good tips!

  2. Thank you for these beautiful pictures! I haven’t been to the Texas hill country. Spent a few days in San Antonio. Texas is a BIG state.

    • It IS a huge state!! We are in awe of it! (And San Antonio is the city of my birth! My dad was stationed in the Air Force so I was born at Lackland AFB. But only lived there until I was 5 months old.)

  3. Hi Deborah,

    Welcome to the Texas Hill Country. We love it here. I hope you make it to Fredericksburg and Kerrville. We retired from Randolph AFB in San Antonio and moved to Kerrville. We love our wild flowers. Enjoy your time here. God bless you!

    Caroline 😊

    • Fredericksburg is on our list, Caroline! We’ve never been there so it’ll be fun to explore! Thanks for the tips! We love your wild flowers too! What a legacy of Lady Bird Johnson!

  4. You picked the very best time of year to visit the Hill Country, Deb! I’m a little envious of your views. Up here in Abilene, we don’t get many bluebonnets, and when they do come, it is later in the spring. I’m hoping to see some start to pop up in the next few weeks. They always make me smile.

  5. The hill country is wonderful! So glad you got to experience it in spring with the bluebonnets!

  6. I love my home state of Texas at this time of year! We drove to San Antonio and back recently and the wildflowers were on full display. 🙂

    • I kept a close eye on your travels, Becky! Your photos inspired us to add Natural Bridge Caverns to our list of things to see! I love your beautiful state!

  7. As you said, the Hill Country area is absolutely beautiful this time of year. And Fredericksburg has so much natural beauty plus history – the lovely and sometimes quaint old buildings, several museums including the Nimitz Museum and National War of the Pacific, plus nice cafes and shopping. Have you previously visited, or do you plan to visit, Big Bend National Park? It is quite worthwhile, with both a desert area plus mountainous terrain. Flora and fauna are interesting. Now would be the time to visit there before it is too warm. The Chisos Basin mountain area and the western part of the park are particularly nice. Palo Duro and Caprock State Parks are very scenic, and some of the old frontier forts are certainly an interesting stop, including Fort Davis near Big Bend and, closer to Caprock or Abilene, Fort Griffin and Fort Richardson. Just some comments from a 5th generation Texan!

  8. Beautiful photos, Deb, as always. My daughter’s home is in Corpus Christi (although she is currently working in California). One week in March, I was freezing and in need of a warm coat and then by week’s end sweating and needing air conditioning to survive. My last time visiting was in June, and it was brutally hot and humid. Glad the weather has been great for you.

    • We’re headed in that direction next, Robin. And yes, I wouldn’t have wanted to come ANY later in the year. But right now it is just beautiful!

  9. I think I’ve been camping in all of those state parks, although it was in 1997-98. We had moved to Austin and joined a family camping group, our kids were 7 and 9 and we had not camped before. It was a fun time and many memories were made, and spring in the hill country is beautiful!Thank you for sharing the lovely photos!

    • We are kind of regretting that we didn’t camp when our kids were that age. We did take a few vacations and make some memories, but I can’t think of a better way to travel for kids!

  10. Thank you for sharing the Beautiful photos of the Parks that you recently visited.
    I especially loved the one your husband took of the sunset while you were sleeping.

  11. Wow, such lovely photos!! Thanks for sharing! My husband and I are leaving on Thursday morning for a long weekend in the Hill country, just south of Fredericksburg, around Kerrville. It’s a 3 hour drive for us from Abilene. So far we have had a wonderful spring with it not getting too warm yet, unlike last year! I hope you enjoy your entire time here in Texas!!

  12. Beautiful photos! I love the Texas Hill Country and lived there (Austin) for 30 years. My tip…try Amy’s Ice Cream and Matt’s El Rancho in Austin.

    • Ooooh, thanks for the tips, Staci. We ate at El Ranchero in Burnet and it was delicious. We love Tex-Mex and hope to eat a lot of it while we’re in Texas!

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