Ann Gabhart

I'm so excited to have Ann visiting with us today. Please leave a comment for a chance to win a book from Ann.


Ann, thanks for joining us on Backporch!

Thank you so much for inviting me over to your back porch, Jackie, to visit with you and your friends for a while. Porches often make an appearance in my books. Even in my new book, Words Spoken True, set in the middle of Louisville, I make use of the back stoop for my character, Adriane, to go out and gather in some sunshine and make friends with an old alley dog.

But since I’m new to your back porch, maybe I ought to take a minute to introduce myself. I’m a Kentucky girl who grew up on a farm over in Anderson County. I’m just a country girl who has been trying to write down stories ever since I was about ten years old. When I began to seriously work toward publication, I took a writer’s course by correspondence, and the last assignment was to write an outline for a novel. I hate writing outlines and so I wrote the book instead. I’ve never looked back. I like making up book length stories. Now I’ve had over twenty books published, some for adults and some for young people. My last ten books have been for the inspirational market with the first one, The Scent of Lilacs, published in 2005. I really enjoy writing these stories. I like being able to include the faith journey of my characters. What a person believes can make such a difference in his or her life, don’t you think?

Even in the inspirational market, I’ve written a lot of different types of stories. My Hollyhill books are about a preacher and his family in small town America. That background was pulled straight from my own. Lawrenceburg, where I’ve lived all my life, is definitely a small town although it’s growing these days. But the Hollyhill books are set in the Sixties, a time when things were changing but at the same time we were still leaning on a lot of old-fashioned values. Then I have my Shaker books, all set in my fictional Shaker village of Harmony Hill, but the physical setting and a lot of the history in the books comes from my research of the Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill in Mercer County, Kentucky. The Shakers were interesting people, but writing romances in a Shaker setting is not the easiest thing to do since Shakers believed romantic love was a sin to be avoided. My fifth Shaker novel, The Gifted, will be out in July, and I did sneak that romance in there. One of my favorite books that I’ve written is Angel Sister, a family story set during the Great Depression. I based a lot of the background for that novel on the stories my mother and her sisters told me about growing up in those years. The storyline is completely fictional, but the echo of my mother’s childhood sounds in many of the scenes.

My new book, Words Spoken True, is the most romantic book I’ve written since coming over to the inspirational market. The story is set in 1855 Louisville and has some dramatic history and a thread of suspense, but it’s the love story that takes center stage in this book. Adriane Darcy lives in 1855 Louisville, a time when women didn’t have as many choices as they do in the modern days. Her father wants her to marry Stanley, the only son of a socially prominent man, but Adriane can’t bear the thought of what life will be like with Stanley. He’ll expect her to confine her writing to flowery bits of poetry or letters to friends. No more news stories for her father’s newspaper. No rush to find the stories and get out the news. On top of that, she knows she will never really love Stanley. Not the way she has always hoped for love.

Then she meets Blake Garrett. While the attraction is immediate and mutual, Adriane knows her father would forbid her to even so much as speak to him. Blake is the enemy, the editor of a competing paper that is threatening to woo readers away from her father’s paper and take over the position as top newspaper in Louisville. In one tragic, riot filled night, Adriane’s life is turned upside down, but love gives her the strength and courage to make the decisions she must.

Thanks for sitting and visiting with me on Jackie’s back porch. You know, a porch is a great place to settle down with a good book when the spring sunshine begins blessing us with beautiful warmth. I hope you’ll consider choosing one of my books. You can check out more about those books at my website, www.annhgabhart.com. I also post about my writing and what’s going on down here on the farm on One Writer’s Journal, www.annhgabhart.blogspot.com. I have a Facebook author’s page and you can follow me on Twitter with a user name of AnnHGabhart. Words Spoken True is available at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Words-Spoken-True-Ann-Gabhart/dp/0800720458, or Christianbook.com, http://www.christianbook.com/words-spoken-true-ann-gabhart/9780800720452/pd/720452, or at your favorite book store.

Happy reading!

The Vow

The Vow is a romantic movie out now starring Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum. The movie is about a young couple, Paige and Leo. After a car accident, Paige loses her memory. Leo is in love with her and committed to doing whatever it takes to help Paige.
This is not a religious movie, but you can't help think of the scripture, "and the greatest of these is love."
Leo makes many sacrifices throughout the movie to help his wife. I don't want to spoil this for you, but he is love in action. He puts Paige first time after time.
The Vow is a great movie to show true love.
And the thing that makes it even more special it that it's based on a real life couple.
It makes you stop and think how far would you go for the one you truly love?

One of my good friends has spent the last two years helping her husband recover from two back surgeries and double knee replacement. Would you be willing to do this?

If your loved one lost their memory, would you pull out scrap books and try to fill them in on what they missed?

Would you stick through the tough times if your spouse couldn't remember you?

Do you have something you do every day to show your spouse you love him/her?

Do you remember your first date?

If your child lost his/her memory would you be just as committed to helping them through the ordeal?

If you have a couple of hours to be truly touched, go see The Vow.

The Voice

During Tim's recuperation from hip replacement surgery, we've discovered a show called The Voice.
We've never seen it before. A singer takes the stage and performs while the judges have their backs turned. The judges listen to them sing without actually seeing the performers.
It made me stop and wonder how often I judge others based on appearance. The Bible warns us about this very thing.
So the next time I see a blue haired, tattoo covered person, I'm going to try to be completely open minded.
I'm not sure how this TV show will end up, but right now it seems to be a fun and encouraging show.

Hope continued

I liked this so much, I wanted to share it with you today.

Hope

The last two mornings I've heard birds chirping when I've taken the dog out. It seems like it's been a long time since I've heard the birds, but in Kentucky it's been a short mild winter, so far.
I've also got some flowers trying to come up. At first I was worried. It's too soon, what will happen when the cold weather does hit?
I finally decided to enjoy the hope I get from seeing the flowers pop up and hearing the birds sing. I'm not going to allow myself to worry about a possible cold snap. I'm going to hope for an early spring and enjoy every sign of spring I come across.


Romans 8:25
But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

Happy February!

I love February. I know it's usually cold and snowy, but I still love it.
They say every snowflake is different and unique. When I see snow fall, I'm amazed at how God must love us. It can be peaceful and beautiful when it floats down to earth. It slows me down, and I pause to enjoy the beautiful sight.
My birthday is also in February, so it's the start to a new year for me. I survived turning the big 5-0 last year, so this year should be a piece of cake.
In honor of February being American Heart Month I fixed fish for dinner to get my Omega 3's.
I'm going to try to exercise more this month and eat heart healthy meals. I'm also going to try to love others more. Hopefully this month will be good for my physical heart as well as my spiritual heart.
Happy February!