Buggy Talk

Amy’s Amish series includes the Kauffman Amish Bakery Series and the Hearts of the Lancaster Grand Hotel Series. Her books have achieved the Christian Fiction bestseller lists, including the CBA (Christian Book Association) bestseller list and the ECPA (Evangelical Christian Publishers Association) bestseller list. Amy signed with the Seymour Agency in 2006 and states her dreams came true in 2007 when she sold her first book, A Gift of Grace.

Tracy:   Hey there. Welcome to another episode of Buggy Talk. I'm your host, Tracy Fredrychowski. And this is podcast Episode 19.

Each week, I bring you the story behind the stories, along with the storytellers. For this week's episode, we have Amy Clipston onboard.

Amy’s Amish series includes the Kauffman Amish Bakery Series and the Hearts of the Lancaster Grand Hotel Series. Her books have achieved the Christian Fiction bestseller lists, including the CBA (Christian Book Association) bestseller list and the ECPA (Evangelical Christian Publishers Association) bestseller list. Amy signed with the Seymour Agency in 2006 and states her dreams came true in 2007 when she sold her first book, A Gift of Grace.

Hello, Amy. And thank you for joining us. How are you today?

Amy: Doing great. Thank you for having me. Oh, you're very welcome. You know, you have an incredible lineup of Amish books and I for one have enjoyed many of them over the years. 

And I have to tell you, I've been looking forward to our interview all week. You have a new book out entitled An Amish Singing, but before we talk about that new release, I like to take our listeners for an inside look at some of their favorite authors writing career. So can I pick your brain for a few minutes?

Amy: Absolutely.

Questions asked to Amy:

What are the essential elements of good writing?Tell us what comes first for you, the plot, or the characters? When did you first consider yourself a writer? Tell us what your writing space looks like. 

Tracy: That moves us right into your latest release, which is An Amish Singing. I love how you broke it down into four parts that match up with four of my favorite hymns. I love that. So would you please tell us how you went about picking those particular four songs and please go ahead and share them with our listeners and just tell us a little bit about this new book.

Amy: It is a novella collection with four stories that intertwine about four young couples. The first story is called Hymn of Praise. The first story is about a young woman named Sharon and her friend, Jay. And she decides that she wants her friends to get together, to sing for people in the community who are either down on their luck, having hard time, maybe a family member is ill or they're dealing with grief. And then she and her mother hosts meals in their home for tourists. 

Listen to the whole podcast for Amy’s in-depth description of An Amish Singing.

What is the key theme or the message in the book that you want your readers to get from it? 

Tracy: We have something really special for our listeners today. They are going to hear your whole first chapter.

Reading from An Amish Singing.

So I have to ask what's next for Amy. Are you working on anything at the present you'd like to share with your readers about?

Tracy: Amy, I want to thank you so much for spending time with us this wee

Serena is best known for her novel made for movie Love Finds You In Sugarcreek and Uncommon Grace. Since then, she has published many more books and won numerous awards, including Romance Writer’s of America RITA award for The Measure of Katie Calloway, American Christian Fiction Writer’s CAROL award for A Promise To Love, and her Under A Blackberry Moon was a finalist in the CHRISTY awards.

Tracy: Hey there. Welcome to another episode of Buggy Talk. I'm your host, Tracy Fredrychowski. This is podcast Episode 18.

Each week. I bring you the story behind the stories, along with the storytellers. For this week's episode, we have Serena Miller. Serena is best known for her novel made for movie Love Finds You In Sugarcreek and Uncommon Grace. Since then, she has published many more books and won numerous awards, including Romance Writer’s of America RITA award for The Measure of Katie Calloway, American Christian Fiction Writer’s CAROL award for A Promise To Love, and her Under A Blackberry Moon was a finalist in the CHRISTY awards.

That's quite a bio, Serena. Thank you so much for joining us. How are you today?

Serena: Oh, I'm great. I'm looking forward to this. Thank you.

Tracy: I know that we have a lot of things to talk about today.  The main thing is your contribution to the Amish Christmas Miracles Collection. But before we dig into that, I really like to take our listeners behind the scenes of their favorite authors, but you are pretty special because you're the first author I've interviewed that had one of her books made into them into a movie. I can only imagine that our listeners want to hear more about that.

Questions asked to Serena. To hear her answers, I invite you to listen to this excellent interview. She takes us for a walk onto the movie set of Love Finds You in Sugarcreek.

Tell me when your books were made into a movie, did you get to go and visit the movie set?Would you do it again if you were presented with the opportunity?  

Amish Christmas Miracles Collection

What inspired you to contribute to this project?Tell us a little bit about your story.Can you read as your first page?If this book was made into a movie, who would be the star?What’s next for Serena?Is there anything you'd like to tell your readers? 

Tracy: That wraps up this week's episode, you can find all the episodes of Buggy Talk Podcast on your favorite podcasting channel, or you can find the links at my website at tracyfredrychowski.com. Next week, we'll have Amy Clipston onboard to tell us about her latest projects. We'll see you next week on the buggy talk podcast.

Sara Harris, Sara has written novels for publication since 2011 and has won awards in the genres of Historical Romance, Amish Romance, Medieval Historical, Children's Fiction, and Children's Nonfiction. She holds her Bachelor of Arts degree in Medieval History, is a member of Romance Writers of America.

Tracy:  Hey there. Welcome to another episode of Buggy Talk. I'm your host, Tracy Fredrychowski. Each week I bring you the story behind the stories, along with the storytellers. For this week's episode, we have Sarah Harris on board. Sarah has written novels for publication since 2011. She has won awards in historical romance, Amish romance, medieval historical children's fiction, and children's nonfiction. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in medieval history and is a member of the Romance Writers of America.

Sarah, that's quite a bio and quite a diverse writing genre that I'm very impressed with. I can't wait to hear more about it.

Sara: Well, thank you so much, Tracy. I really appreciate it. And thank you for having me here. A lot of people ask why so many different genres, and my answer is really quite easy. That's really the only way I've been able to combat writer's block. 

Tracy: Perfect. I could see how that happens because you know when you're right in the same genre all the time your, your mind gets a little stale. So yes, this is a great way to keep the creative juices flowing, as you would say it. Well, I appreciate you so much for joining us today.

We're going to talk about a few things, especially your newest release, Rebekah’s Quilt. But before we dig into that project, I do like to give our listeners a little inside, look at their favorite authors' writing career. Do you mind if I ask you some personal questions?   

Questions asked to Sara:

How many books you've written so far?Out of, out of all of the books you've written, what would you say is your favorite?What is the most surprising thing you discovered while you were writing?Out of all of those books, what one character stood out for you that maybe is your favorite character?Does your husband ever read your books and say, Hey, I think I said that?Where do you get your inspiration from?Let’s talk about Rebekah’s Quilt. Tell us a little bit about that main character and why she holds a special place in your heart.How did you go about researching that book? Can you read us the first page?

Sara reading Rebekah’s Quilt.

Tracy: You painted a beautiful picture. Thank you so much. Do you, have you have a website?

Sara: Yes, I sure do. And that is SaraHarrisBooks.com.

Tracy: I want to thank you again for spending time with us. And I look forward to reading Rebekah’s Quilt and the other three books that are going to go along with that story. So that wraps up this week's episode. Next week, we'll have Serena Miller as our guests to talk about her latest release. So we'll see you next week on the Buggy Talk Podcast.

Lenora is a USA Today and Publishers Weekly bestselling writer and a 2019 Rita Finalist. With eighty-plus books and novellas published and millions in print, she enjoys adventures with her retired husband, Don and loves to read, bake and shop.

Tracy:  Hey there. Welcome to another episode of Bucky Talk. I'm your host, Tracy Fredrychowski, and each week, I bring you the story behind the stories, along with the storytellers. For this week's episode, we have Lenora Worth on board. Lenora is a USA Today and Publisher's Weekly Best-Selling writer, with 80 plus books and novellas published and millions in print. She enjoys adventures with her retired husband, Don, and loves to read, bake, and shop.

Thank you so much for joining us. I know we have a few things to talk about today. The main thing is your newest release Seeking Refuge, along with your part in the Amish Christmas Miracles Collection.

I don't know about you, but I'm really excited about that collection too. And we'll talk a little bit about that in a minute, but before we dig into your projects, our listeners love to find out just a little bit about their favorite author's writing career. To start with, out of those 80 books, which one do you think is your favorite?

Lenora: Well, I have a lot of favorites, but, as far as my Amish books, my very first Amish book is my favorite. 

Tracy: Below are just a few of the questions we asked Lenora. Her answers were insightful and interesting. Be sure to listen to the complete podcast to get an inside look at Lenora Worth and her writing career.

Who is your favorite character then? 

Where to you get your inspiration from?

What book did you most enjoy writing?

Tell us about your publishing journey when you publish your very first book?

Tracy: Let’s talk about Seeking Refuge

Can you tell us if the main character holds a special place in your heart? And if so, tell us why. 

What was the main inspiration for that story? 

Where's the setting for this book?

Did you go there quite often to do your research? 

Tracy: That takes us right into your contribution to the Amish Christmas Miracles Collection. Tell us, what is your title? 

Lorena:  My title is The Christmas Prayer

Tracy: What is the overall message of your story? 

Can you read your first page?   

Lenora reading the first page of The Christmas Prayer

Tracy: You painted a beautiful picture. I love it when you can just envision every aspect of what's going on in this scene, and you did a great job. Tell us what's next for, for Lenora.

Tracy: Thank you so much for joining us. I do like to finish up on a fun note, and we're going to play a speed round.

Are you a cake or an ice cream girl?

If you could be a tree, what would you be and why?

What was the very last thing you read?

And the last question, what's for supper?

Well, Lenora, I want to thank you so much for spending time with us this week. And I look forward to reading your latest release as well as your upcoming projects. And that wraps up this week's episode next week. We'll have Kathleen Fuller on as our guest to talk about

Amazon Best-selling author, Patrick E. Craig, is a lifelong writer and musician who left a successful performance career in 1986 to become a pastor. After pastoring, teaching and speaking at seminars in churches on the west coast for many years, he retired in 2007 to concentrate on writing and publishing fiction books.

Tracy: Hey there. Welcome to another episode of Buggy Talk. I'm your host, Tracy Fredrychowski, and each week, I bring you the story behind the stories, along with the storytellers. For this week's episode, we have Amish author, Patrick E. Craig with us. Good morning, Patrick. How are you? 

Patrick: I'm great, Tracy, how are you? 

Tracy:   I am wonderful. Thank you so much for joining us. We have a lot of things to talk about today. One being your new book Islands: Far on Ringing Plains that you're writing with Murray Pura. But before we talk about that, a lot of our listeners like to get an inside peek at some of their favorite authors. So, I want to ask almost little personal questions about your writing career. Is that okay? 

Patrick:   That's absolutely fine. 

These are just a few of the questions Patrick answered for us. If you would like to hear his answers, I encourage you to listen to the complete podcast. As a special bonus, Patrick read us a snippet from his new book Islands: Far on Ringing Plains.

We want to know what inspired you to start writing in the first place because you have a diverse background, you have a musical background, which I found amazing. Tell us what actually got you into writing. What do you think is the most challenging part about writing for you? Tell us a little bit about your publishing journey.

Tracy: Thank you so much for sharing that with us. Patrick, I have to tell you that when I, when I started to set up this interview, I really thought we were going to talk about The Amish Menorah and Other Stories that you wrote with the Men of Amish Fiction. But since I started researching, I read a couple of things about your new book, and I was blown away, so we are going to talk about it.  

These are just a few of the questions I asked Patrick about his latest book, Islands: Far on Ringing Plains.

If you could describe the main character in three words, what would they be?Will there be a sequel?Can you read us the first page? 

Tracy:  Oh, my goodness. Patrick, that was, that was beautiful. That was just beautiful. I'm typically not someone who reads that type of story, but I am very intrigued by that.

This is an interview you want to miss!

Tracy:  Well, Patrick, I want to thank you for spending time with us this week. And I look forward to reading Far on Ringing Plains, along with all of your projects, and that wraps up this week's episode. Next week we'll have award-winning Amish Author Lenora Worth on board. So, we'll see you next week on the Buggy Talk Podcast.

Tracy’s spent the last ten years as a ghostwriter for many popular blogs and websites across the Internet and is best known for her simple living articles in the Simple Living Magazine. Growing up in Northwestern Pennsylvania’s Amish Country, Tracy takes her childhood experience with her Amish neighbors to heart as she takes her readers to the fictitious town of Willow Springs.

Hey there. And welcome to another episode of Buggy Talk.

I'm your host, Tracy Fredrychowski. Each week I bring you the story behind the stories, along with the storytellers for this week's episode, I promised you Sarah Harris, but we needed to reschedule Sarah's interview. And we'll have her back on this fall talking about Rebecca's Quilt. I decided to treat you all to something special today.

As many of you know, I am writing a series called the Secrets of Willow Springs and there's book one, book two and book three and book one and book two are out there and waiting for you to enjoy book three will release in the spring of 2021. And while I am busy, fine-tuning and polishing that book three, I thought I'd give you a little treat today by reading you a couple of chapters of secrets of Willow Springs, book one.

Tracy’s spent the last ten years as a ghostwriter for many popular blogs and websites across the Internet and is best known for her simple living articles in the Simple Living Magazine. Growing up in Northwestern Pennsylvania’s Amish Country, Tracy takes her childhood experience with her Amish neighbors to heart as she takes her readers to the fictitious town of Willow Springs.

The following transcript is a shortened version of the original recording.

Laura: Welcome to another episode of Buggy Talk. I’m your host for the week. Laura Bradford. This week we have Amish fiction author Tracy Fredrychowski as our guests, Tracy spent the last 10 years as a ghostwriter for many popular blogs and websites across the internet, and as best known for her simple living articles in the simple living magazine, growing up in Northwestern, Pennsylvania, Amish country, Tracy takes a childhood experience with her Amish neighbors to heart as she takes her readers to the fictitious town of Willow Springs.

Hi Tracy, thank you for joining us today. How are you doing?

Tracy: I am doing wonderful. And thank you so much for switching chairs with me this morning. 

Laura: Before we dig into some of your projects. I thought our listeners would love to hear about their favorite authors' writing career. What inspired you to start writing?

Tracy: My husband and I lived on a little hobby farm, and for six or seven years, I ran a very popular homesteading blog called Our Simple Homestead and our readers we're very interested in living a simple life, and I have such a diverse background by growing up in Amish country. I took a lot of the experiences that I had growing up as a child and a young woman and took that to my blog posts.   

Laura: How do you come up with the titles for your books?

Tracy: Well, I may do things a little different I have to come up with the title first. And then the story wraps its way around the title where some authors it's the complete opposite.

Laura: What's the most challenging part about writing for you?

Tracy: I would say, finding quiet time.

Laura: Let's talk about Love Blooms at the Apple blossom Inn. What was the inspiration for this story?

Tracy: The inspiration for this particular story came from a visit to one of my favorite Amish bakeries in Wisconsin.

Laura: Now tell us about the process of coming up with the cover for Love Blooms at the Apple Blossom Inn.

Tracy: I had mentioned that my husband and I own a digital marketing company, and I have a background as a graphic artist. I spent probably 70 hours working on that cover. I love being creative like that.

Laura: If you had to describe your main character in three words, what would those three words be? Okay.

Tracy: The main character in the book is Maggie Fisher, and she is a 24-year-old girl from Wisconsin. And she gets sent to Willow Springs, Pennsylvania.

Laura: Great. Can you read us a snippet from the book?

Tracy: Reading from Love Blooms at the Apple Blossom Inn.  

Laura: Alright, now let's move on to the Amish Christmas Miracle Collection that we're doing. What is the title of your story for this collection?

Tracy: So, the title of my story is “A Gift Worth Waiting For.”  

Laura: What do you hope your readers take away from your story?

Laura Bradford, a National Bestselling Author of more than 35 books. Her latest titles include; the women’s fiction novel, Piece by Piece, and the cozy mystery, A Killer Carol. Her first women’s fiction novel, Portrait of a Sister, was a July 2018 Book Club Pick for Delilah of Delilah Radio and a Summer Book Club pick for Southern Lady Magazine. 

The following transcript is a shortened version of the original recording.

Tracy:  Hey there. Welcome to another episode of Buggy Talk. I'm your host, Tracy Fredrychowski, and each week I bring you the story behind the stories, along with the storytellers. For this week's episode, we have Laura Bradford and National Bestselling Author of more than 35 books. Her latest title includes the women's fiction novel Piece by Piece and the cozy mystery A Killer Carol. Her first women's fiction novel Portrait of a Sister was a July 2018 Book Club Pick for Delilah of Delilah Radio and a Summer Book Club Pick for Southern Lady Magazine.

Wow. What a lineup, Laura? How are you this morning? And thank you for joining us.

Laura:  Well, thanks for having me, and I'm doing wonderfully. Thank you.

Tracy:  Good. I know we're going to talk about Piece by Piece today, and we're going to talk about your contribution to the Amish Christmas Miracles Collection. But before we dig into some of your projects, I love to talk to my authors about their writing career. 

You know, our readers are so interested in our personal life, they get a big kick to learn just a little bit about you personally. So, let's start with, how do you research your books?

Laura: Well, for my books. I like to spend upwards of about three or four days in Amish country and Lancaster Amish country. I travel the countryside, and I do the back roads, and I slow down and look at people out in their fields, or I take a tourist that allows me to get inside their homes. And it's usually during that process, that's something I see. It might be just a little nugget, gives me an idea that I then springboard into a story that happens a lot with my Amish mysteries, but it also happens with my, my women's fiction novels as well.

Tracy: Oh, I know research is one of my favorite things to do, gives me an excuse to be in the areas of the country that I love the most. 

So, tell us what success means to you?

Laura: Success to me, being happy is a big one. And those moments where I get a message in an inbox on my website that says that a book I wrote touched a reader or help the reader through a difficult time, or they felt some comfort in the pages of something that I've written to me. That's a success even more so than the number of books sold while that's wonderful. I just like to know that something I touched the reader or help the reader through a difficult time or made a reader smile.

Tracy: Oh, that's wonderful. You know, because it's really not about the number of books you sell. It's, it's God's story that we're telling through, you know, our little brain or whatever. So, I believe, just like you believe, it's more about how our stories impact the lives of our readers. 

On a typical day, tell us about how much time you spend writing actively working on a book.

Laura: I do everything in the morning. That's when I'm freshest by about two or three o'clock in the afternoon, I'm kind of done, and I'll switch to marketing, but for the actual writing, I like to write, my goal is always about 2000 words a d

USA Today best-selling author Loree Lough has more than 120 books in print now (and more than 10 million copies in circulation), including fiction and non-fiction for kids and adults. Seven of her novels have been optioned for movies, and additional releases will hit the shelves between now and 2021.

The following transcript is a shortened version of the original recording.

Tracy:   Hey there. Welcome to another episode of Buggy Talk. I'm your host, Tracy Fredrychowski, and each week I bring you the story behind the stories, along with the storytellers. For this week's episode, we have USA Today's Bestselling Author, Loree Lough, and she has more than 120 books in print and more than 10 million copies in circulation, including fiction and nonfiction for kids and adults. Seven of her novels have been optioned for movies and additional releases.

Loree, you've been busy, how are you today?

Loree: I'm doing great. How are you doing? I am doing wonderful.

Tracy: Thank you so much for joining us today. I have spent some time this past week doing my research, and I see you have two Christmas collections. You're working on Mistletoe and Murder and the Amish Christmas Miracles Collection. Plus, you have a third book in your Amish series, A Little Child Shall Lead Them.  Plus, you're doing a novella anthology with Shelly Shepard Gray and Rachel. Good. I'd say you are a super busy woman. 

Loree:  I don't like to let any grass grow under my feet, you know, but first, I want to thank you a lot for inviting me.

Tracy: First, I'm going to ask you a few questions that have to do with your writing career. The first being, when did you first consider yourself a writer?

Loree: Well, it was a dark and stormy night, you know, no, seriously. It was the mid-eighties. And I had been writing these fun little essays for free for the Sun section of the Baltimore Sun Paper when the editor asked me to write one. I don't even remember the topic, but she asked me to write one, and it wasn't a literal assignment. So she paid me. And after that one came out, I got some letters to the editor's response. She assigned another and another. And I think cashing the checks is made me feel like a real writer.

Tracy: Tell us what your rate, your writing space looks like.

Loree: Well, that's a little tricky because I write all over the place. This sounds like a Dr. Seuss story, right? In the family room. I write in the car right in the kitchen, right in the dining room, right. At our cabin, which is where I am right now. Long story short. I don't have an office anymore. So any place I lay my laptop down is my writing space.

Tracy:  Tell our listeners what a typical writing day looks like for you.

Loree: Well, I'm an early riser five, six o’clock. My body says, get up out of bed, lazy hog, and I make coffee. Of course. And then I checked my email, and I fool around on Facebook and Twitter, Pinterest. And then I pull up the outline for my work in progress and read what I wrote yesterday and edit it and make some notes about, you know, maybe I need to jazz this up or tone that down. Normally I'll work about four or five hours straight before taking a break

Tracy: What famous author do you wish you could, could mentor you? 

Loree: Wow. That, you know, I thought about this a lot. Um, and if I had to pick just one, because there are lots of, lots of good authors out there, and all of them have their unique talents that I would love to import into my stuff. I'd have to say; it'd be Dean Ko

Inspirational author, Rachel J. Good grew up near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the setting for her Amish romances, and she frequently visits Amish friends, who help to ensure the accuracy of her novels. She is the author of more than 2300 articles and 50 books in print.

The following transcript is a shortened version of the original recording.

Tracy:    Hey there. Welcome to another episode of Buggy Talk. I'm your host, Tracy Fredrychowski, and each week I bring you the story behind the stories, along with the storytellers. For this week's episode, we have USA Today's Best Selling Author. Rachel J. Good and she grew up in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the setting for many of her Amish novels.

Good morning, Rachel, how are you this morning?

Rachel: I'm fine. Thanks, Tracy. Nice to be with you.

Tracy: We are so happy to have you here. I've been talking you up a little bit on Facebook, and people are very excited about this interview. You know, I probably have read more of your books than I've probably read almost any other Amish author. And that was before I really started writing myself. So, I actually sort of look up to you. I don't know if that embarrasses you at all, but I really enjoy your style of writing. 

I'm very tickled that you've joined us today. Before we get started chatting about the Amish Christmas Miracles Collection. I like to take our listeners behind the scenes a little bit so that they can get to know you.

So, can you tell us what your work schedules like when you write?

Rachel: Well, I have a lot of book contracts, so there's really rarely a time when I'm not writing. I guess you could say most of my life just revolves around writing.

Tracy: What do you, what do you think your most interesting quirk is when it comes to writing? You know, some people can only write in their PJs. You know, some people don't sit at a desk, they sit on their sofa, I know, Laura Bradford, she doesn't like to sit at a desk.  She sits in her comfy chair. And that's where, where she's the most creative. Where do you think you're the most creative?

Rachel: I prefer PJ's, I'm sitting on my bed actually with a laptop easiest. I generally do my best writing from 10 o'clock at night to like two or three in the morning.

Tracy:  I like to write outside. I'm the most creative when I'm sitting on my back porch. So we all have our little zones that we go off into and, you know, we escape into our, into our stories. Rachel, you grew up in Lancaster County. So you have a lot of background in the Amish community. Is that where you do most of your research? 

Rachel: Most of my books are set in Lancaster County. I love the research part. I find whenever I'm visiting my Amish friends; I always get lots of story ideas. And then I drive around Amish country and see settings. And that gives me an idea for a story. So I go back many times to, you know, to visit the places and, you know, talk to the people there and meet the Amish people who are there. 

Tracy: Your latest release, His Pretend Amish Bride from your Unexpected Amish Blessing Series. Can you tell us a little bit about that, and what is the main inspiration for it?

Rachel: This book is set on an Amish camel farm, and the way I came up with the story idea, we were traveling in Lancaster County. And we went around a bend, and we spotted camels in a field. Actually, they had camels and water Buffalo, and it was so surprising. You know, I had to stop and take pictures. And once I saw those mama camels and th