Melissa Jagears ~ A Bride For Keeps

It's a pleasure to welcome Melissa Jagears to Ink Dots. Melissa's an ESL teacher by trade, and a stay-at-home mother on a tiny Kansas farm with a fixer-upper house. She's a member of ACFW and CROWN fiction marketing, and her passion is to help Christian believers mature in their faith and judge rightly. Her debut novel A Bride for Keeps released last month to rave reviews. Congratulations, Melissa!

A Bride For Keeps ~ Everett Cline can hardly keep up with the demands of his homestead, but he won’t humiliate himself by looking for a wife again—not after being jilted by three mail-order brides. So when a well-meaning neighbor takes matters into her own hands, Everett is less than pleased . . . especially when a beautiful, cultured woman from the east responds. One glimpse at Julia Lockwood is enough to convince him that she is not cut out for the harshness of prairie life. 

Despite Everett’s misgivings, can he and his unexpected bride let down their defenses long enough to discover that the truest love can be the one that’s unlooked-for?

*****

Melissa says....

If I could go anywhere in the world tomorrow, it would be... A deserted island with a nice beach that happens to be having beautiful weather tomorrow with absolutely nothing to do. 

One thing I enjoyed today is... The extra bit of sleep I got because the kiddos slept in.

A secret pleasure of mine is... Napping…. for hours. I'm detecting a sleeping thread. Perhaps a new-born in the mix has tilted the household more to sleep than ever before. Congratulations on baby Nathan's arrival. 

A moment that changed my life is... Being given my first child by the nurse at the hospital and told we could leave….as if we knew what to do!

When I was a child I wanted to... Grow up to be an editor…. no teacher, marine biologist, or astronaut dreams for me!

I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but... I’m the most unromantic woman in the world. A romance author who can’t stand Valentine’s day, doesn’t want surprise gifts of any kind, can’t stand jewelry, live flowers, planted flowers, candles, or fancy chocolate, barely remembers her own anniversary, can rarely bring herself to say anything sappy, and whose hubby has to grab her before she walks away because he wanted to kiss her and she didn’t even realize it has to be a fraud, right? I'd say wrong... If you're delivering romance in story form, there's romance in you somewhere. But you're probably too sleep-deprived to see it, just now. 

*****

How about you? Are you a romantic? Who takes the title in your relationship of most romantic? I like to think it's me, but my Beloved is fluent in the language of romantic gesture. And I'm not complaining.

Comment below with your favourite romantic gesture, (yours or someone you know) and you'll be in the running to win a copy of Melissa's A Bride For Keeps. 

I'll announce the winner in the comment thread on Friday. But don't despair if you don't win. Today, I have a gift... for everyone. Melissa's offering the link to her novella, Love By The Letter.

Ink Dots friends Click Here for your free copy. 

Thanks for visiting, Melissa. Congratulations on your debut novel and growing family.

Happy reading everyone, 

2013 ACFW Conferennce ~ Indianpolis

"Howdy."

At the awards gala with my fellow Aussie author, Narelle Atkins

That's the welcome I received when I landed on American soil, last month. The man behind the desk with the stamp and authority and face with no smile, did not shirk his responsibility. He had questions to ask. And he kept his head down while he scanned my passport.

Him: What brings you to the US?
Me: I'm here for a conference.
Him: What kind of conference?
Me: A writing conference. 
Him: Ah ha. And what do you write?
Me: Historical Romance. 

He finally lifted his head. 

Him: Historical Romance, hey? 

He mashed my passport with his stamp and slid it back.

Him: You... (he pointed a finger at my nose) stay out of my wife's head. 

And that's how they let me into the Good Ole USA. 

I smiled, and he returned a quarter smile but I didn't promise to stay out of his wife's head. After all, I came to do just the opposite. To further my book into the hands of readers who will escape whatever their world offers, and slip into some of what I've created. 

And the ACFW Conference of 2013 was just the place to chase that dream. I chatted with agents and editors, and all manner of authors, who gathered me in with advice and affirmation and the punch of promise I've worked toward for years. 

Here's a snapshot of my weekend in Indianapolis, including the special moment Kelly Riley snuck my winner's certificate for the Touched By Love contest, onto my empty breakfast plate. 

What an incredible time of bonding with writer friends, new and already-much-loved, on my quest to capture the head and heart of my reader. 

Thanks for praying for me, dear friends. God was listening and He answered in lavishness I could not have anticipated. 

Hanging, and playing Instagram with Brandilyn Collins. 

Early morning catch up with my dear Jeane Wynn. 

With my Beyond the Borders sister, Canadian, Cherie Tarcia Gagnon 

The one and only Rel Mollet ~ the neigbour I had to meet all the way across the world. 

So excited to meet sweet Joanne Bischof

Smilin' it up with the amazing Sarah Sundin

Stealing a smile with the generous Mary Connealy

Genre night, with darling Suzie Johnson and my Aussie sister,  Narelle Atkins

With my ruby slipper shopping buddy ~ Megan Sayer, all the way from Tasmania

And receiving my winner's certificates from the 2013 Touched by Love contest co-ordinator....

...the beautiful Kelly Riley. 

From the Letter Box

Have you ever had a piece of mail change your life? I'm sure it happens to many. Love letters, exam results, university offers often come to the letter box and set people on a new course.

On Monday I chatted with Penny Zeller, whose book idea came from something she received in the mail. That got me thinking about the goodies that have made their way to my letter box over the years.

My dear friend Jalana from Tennessee once sent me a parcel with two postcards she found in a thrift store. She knows how much I love all things old. Even better if they hint at a story idea.

See that viola postcard? A young girl named Nellie Miller scribbled on the back. I hope you will keep well is all she wrote. I've wondered if the recipients were the Wisconsin family in mourning, who received the second postcard underneath the violas.

We read a card from the folks yesterday telling us of the sad death of your son, Dear Boy, and your friend Eli. We feel so sorry for you and you have our heartfelt sympathy. Oct 4, 1910


Whoever they were, these people and their circle of friends had their world turned upside down with the arrival of bad news in the form of a letter or card.

So what does an inquisitive soul like me, do with something like that?

Google Oct 1910, for starters. A quick scan of worldwide events shows me there was a terrorist bombing at the Los Angeles Times which killed twenty one people on October 1.


Also on that sad day, twenty three American sailors from the battleship USS New Hampshire drowned when their launch capsized.

Enough bones for a story idea? More than enough. I have a location, an incident or two, and a community of people. Plenty of threads to pull together a full blown romance. I wonder if there were any sweethearts who grieved the loss of these boys. If Nellie Miller's card was for one of these girls and if they discovered the sad news through a letter or telegram themselves.

I may leave this one for my writing buddy Jalana to pick up. I have my own shelf of threads and bones, most of them Colonial Australian. They all need flesh, breath and a few fancy ribbons but when the time is right, I may send a copy of my own book to dear Penny, and she can pull one more story from the mail box. While it may not change her life, I'm guessing she will enjoy a few hours of historical romance, Aussie style.

How about you? Has your life been impacted by a piece of mail?