Welcome to Gina’s World of Good! This week it is an absolute delight to welcome the talented and successful author Diane Craver, who will share an excerpt from her newest novel, JUDITH'S PLACE, with us. JUDITH'S PLACE is Book 2 in her Dreams of Plain Daughters Series. A mother of six, Diane is a prolific author specializing in romance novels. JUDITH'S PLACE is an Amish romance, filled with heartwarming relationships, realistic details and fascinating cultural references. I know you will fine it a very gut book!
Welcome, Diane, it is wonderful to have you visiting. Tell us a little about what you are working on.
I recently started writing
Fleeting Hope, Book 3 for my Dreams of Plain Daughters Series. Jacob Weaver is in a buggy accident and in a coma. This
reminds schoolteacher Ruth Yoder of her fiancé’s death from a buggy accident.
She wants to be supportive for Judith as she waits for Jacob to come out of his
coma, but it’s not easy for Ruth. After years of being single, Ruth wonders if
it’s time for her to have a second love.
Let’s talk about the book
you’d like to promote today. How
did you come up with the title and where can we find it?
The funny thing is I used to
have difficulty in choosing titles, but I haven’t with my Amish series. Judith’s
Place came to me quickly when I
decided to write the second book about Rachel’s younger sister.
Judith’s Place is available
in ebook and soon will be available in print.
Links:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FVYVCWA
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/367298
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/judiths-place-diane-craver/1117136516?ean=2940148814672
Please give us a blurb and
excerpt of JUDITH'S PLACE.
Blurb:
Judith Hershberger wonders what her life would have been
like had she been born into an English family instead of an Amish one. Would
she be happier with the freedom to
obtain more schooling as an English young woman instead of being limited to
only an eighth grade Amish education?
In Judith’s Place,
the second book in the Dreams of Plain Daughters Series, schoolteacher Judith Hershberger yearns to learn
more despite the educational restriction imposed on her because of her Amish
upbringing. Wanting more than an eighth grade education, she puts off joining
the Amish faith. During her rumspringa, she’ll be able to obtain her high
school diploma without being shunned. Her father is afraid Judith will leave
their Amish community if she passes the GED test. He knows she’s unhappy that
Amish women are expected to follow a certain path in life.
When a non-Amish college student, Eliza Dunbar, observes
Judith in her classroom, a friendship between the two young women develops.
Eliza gives Judith the nudge she needs to study for her GED test. Eliza wonders
what it would be like to switch places with Judith to live a simple life
without electricity and other modern conveniences. Judith envies Eliza because
she is free to attend college.
Jacob Weaver finally gets the encourage to ask Judith to go
with him to a Sunday singing. Like Judith, he wants to do something that isn’t
allowed in their Plain community. Jacob wants to get his driver’s license so he
can drive a truck to make the deliveries for the lumberyard. He needs to earn
enough money to buy his own small farm. But even
though it sounds plausible, Jacob feels stress with trying to learn to drive a
truck instead of a buggy. Once he accomplishes this, Jacob plans to
become baptized and join the Amish church.
Will Judith decide to stay in her Amish community or will
she decide leave in order to attend college? Will Judith’s friendship with
Jacob influence her as she finds her place?
Excerpt
As soon as
Jacob returned to the lumberyard, his boss Mike asked, “How’d it go? Do you
have a date?”
“Yep,” Jacob
answered.
“Give me five.”
Mike put his hand up in the air.
After slapping
Mike’s hand, Jacob moved away quickly to start loading a truck for a shipment
that was going to Milford, about a fifty-minute drive from Fields Corner. Mike
was a talkative guy, and he didn’t want to be questioned about Judith. No need
to tell his boss how Judith hesitated before saying yes to going sledding with
him. It took him a long time to get courage to ask her. Now he wondered if he’d
made a mistake. Did she think I’m not bright enough for her? She’s a scribe for the The Budget. Samuel said she hadn’t been courted so I
thought she might be a little eager to go sledding with me. Maybe Judith
doesn’t like sledding. No, that’s not it. She wasn’t sure about going with me. Although his confidence took a hit from her
hesitation in saying yes, it couldn’t be all him. Judith wasn’t the first girl
he’d asked out for the Sunday get-togethers. A year ago he’d courted Leah Hostetler a few times, but
she’d moved away before they could get serious about each other.
“Hey, Jacob,” Mike yelled. “Have you
ever thought of getting your driver’s license? It’d be a big help for me if you
could drive some of the shipments.”
“Don’t you
remember I’m Amish? I don’t think driving one of your big trucks would be the
same as my buggy.” Mike appeared by his side so he stopped loading and wiped
his sweaty forehead with his sleeve. You can’t miss Mike when he stands by
you, Jacob thought. He’s a huge
guy, even his neck is thick. But Mike
blamed his large neck on wrestling. He’d wrestled while in high school and
college in the heavyweight class.
“You said during you rumspringa you could get your license. I didn’t know that you
had joined your church.”
“I haven’t
joined.” Leaning against the wagon of the truck, Jacob continued, “A few of my
friends have gone together and bought a car so that’s why I mentioned getting
my license. I’m not sure what my parents would do. They might ask me to move
out.” He didn’t think his parents would tell him to leave home and might look
the other way, but he wasn’t so sure about Judith’s daed. He’d been interested in Judith Hershberger for a
long time. Baptized or not, he wanted to see what happened when he took Judith
sledding. He hoped she’d want to see him again and if she did, he didn’t want
to upset her daed by doing
something English like driving a truck.
“I don’t want to cause any problems for
you with your folks but if you decide to get your license, let me know.”
Jacob grinned
at Mike. “You’ll be the first to know. If I drive one of your trucks, you
better have good insurance.”
Mike laughed.
“No problem on the insurance.”
After the truck
was filled with the lumber order, Jacob opened a Coke to drink. He needed the
caffeine before cutting trestles. He hadn’t slept much last night, thinking
about seeing Judith. He didn’t remember feeling this naerfich when he’d first asked Leah out. Maybe it was because
Leah had attended the youth gatherings, so he’d talked to her a few times first
before asking her for a date.
He fingered the
cold Coke can while he couldn’t stop thinking about Judith. Sure, he knew her
from their families being close, but she’d always been quiet when the Weavers
and Hershbergers used to get together. Many times she’d go off with Katie when
Samuel and Rachel were busy talking. And they hadn’t gotten together as much
since Irene Hershberger passed on. Irene had been his mamm’s best friend. Now that Samuel and Rachel had married
in November, they enjoyed visiting with Rachel’s brother, Peter and his wife,
Ella.
Judith looked
pretty in her blue dress with her bright blue eyes in a delicate face. She was
the prettiest teacher Fields Corner Amish School ever had...probably not only
the prettiest, but the smartest one too. Samuel told him that Judith had changed
her mind about joining the church with Katie and Rachel because she wanted to
study and get her her high school diploma. Why would she want to do that when
she was Amish? She didn’t need more education to teach in their Amish school.
Was she thinking about going elsewhere to teach? He hoped not. One thing for
sure, I better think of interesting things to discuss with Judith on Sunday. I enjoy reading her letters in The Budget. That will be a good topic for us. I can
also ask her about her scholars. She likes to read, but I haven’t read any
books lately so that’s out.
With both of
them not being baptized, he hoped Mr. Hershberger wouldn’t object if they
started dating. They shouldn’t officially date until both were baptized, but
Rachel wasn’t baptized when she dated Samuel. And they were just going sledding
as friends, not as boyfriend and girlfriend. I’m getting way ahead of myself
here. I just need to get through
Sunday evening. I hope that Judith will want to spend more time with me, even
though I don’t like to read. Hey, they say opposites attract.
If someone hasn't read any of
your work, what book would you recommend they start with and why?
I’d probably recommend A
Gift Forever because I have never
received a bad review for it, and everyone seems to really love the characters
and the storyline. It was previously published as A Christmas Gift so I’m
hoping with the new title and cover, sales will continue year round instead of
just during the holiday season. Readers have said it’s a great story for year
round reading and several suggested I change the title. Because it’s based on a
true childhood incident and a few other real experiences, it’s one of my
favorites stories I have ever written.
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Tell us about your summer
vacation – this year, 2013 or perhaps in the past.
We decided to build a smaller
house so we didn’t want to spend too much money on vacations. We’re trying to
sell our old house so hopefully the right buyer will come along soon. We raised
our six children in this house so we have some special memories from living
here. This past summer we went to Amish country in Berlin, Ohio, for a couple
of days and it was wonderful. But we had a longer vacation in August of 2011
for our 36th wedding anniversary. I finally convinced my husband to go on a
cruise to the Bahamas. It was fantastic getting away and just enjoying
ourselves for several days without any responsibilities.
Do you belong to a writer’s
group? Why or why not?
I belong to a group of
talented authors. I was honored when Karen Wiesner invited me to join her
Jewels of the Quill group. Here is the link for their amazing website:
http://www.jewelsofthequill.com
Thanks for spending a bit of
time with Gina’s World of Good!
Best wishes for your continued success. Where can readers find you on the Web?
My website is
http://www.dianecraver.com. I have excerpts for my books on my site so I hope
everyone will visit. When I did my new website, I didn’t keep my old blog so I
also have a new blog, http://www.dianecraver.com/blog. Thank you so much, Gina,
for having me on your lovely blog.
Leave a comment and you will be eligible to win a $10 Amazon Gift Card.
Thank
you for visiting, Diane ! Good luck with your new release, JUDITH'S PLACE, and please visit with me again soon. :-)
