#ThursdayThoughts with Linda Maran

Good Morning!

Today's guest is brand new to our blog and a new Pelican Book Group author so please give Linda Maran a great big WELCOME and let's hear what she has to say.

Take it away Linda....

Ironically, I’d never even heard of Amish Inspirational Romance until the late literary agent, Mary Sue Seymour, suggested I write one!

I’ve been writing since I was a young teen, mostly poetry back then.

In my late twenties I became ill and was unable to work at my current job as a secretary for a large firm, so I turned idle time into writing time.

I love to cook and wrote many food articles and even put together a regional cookbook back then. Unfortunately, two such books had already been published, but I had a lot of fun doing it, and learned quite a bit about discipline and organization.

In 2004, I wrote and self-published: Confronting The Bully of OCD. There was a need for such a book and so I put myself out there and outlined the techniques taught to me by a New York City OCD specialist, who graciously allowed me to do that.

I’ve always loved to read good stories with a twist and about ten years ago, tried my hand at fiction and submitted it to literary agent, Mary Sue Seymour. It was she who encouraged me to keep writing (despite the fact that my submission was not up to par.) God rest her soul.

She suggested I join RWA and a Christian critique group and finally, asked me to try to write an Amish romance.

I’d never even heard of Amish Inspirational Romance. But I remembered how I enjoyed and was fascinated by my trip to Lancaster, PA earlier, and so embarked on setting my goals in that direction. I then read my first Amish book called, The Shunning, by Beverly Lewis and was hooked.

Since I don’t believe in coincidences, it happens that there is an Amish community an hour and thirty minutes from our vacation place in upstate, NY. I made several trips there as part of my research on that particular sect of the Amish, gathering as much information as I could. That, plus reading a lot more Amish novels and books, and befriending some ex-Amish on Facebook, all contributed to the culmination of this novel, The Stranger.

I am very grateful for my first published novel and all the people who helped it become a reality, especially my critique group, Scribes 202, who literally taught me the rules for writing fiction and my wonderful agent, Linda S. Glaz.

Find out more by visiting my Facebook Page and get your copy of The Stranger directly from Pelican Book Group or Amazon.

How wonderful for you, Linda, Congratulations!! 

Hope you enjoyed today's post friends and that you'll join me each week for Tuesday Treasures, Thursday Thoughts and Saturday Spotlight.

Until next time take care and God Bless.
PamT