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After her mother’s death and her father’s abandonment, tiny infant Sarah Graham was left to be raised by her emotionally distant grandmother. As a child she turned to music for solace and even gained entrance to Juilliard. But her potentially brilliant music career ended with an unplanned pregnancy and the stillborn birth of her child.

In an attempt to escape the past, Sarah, now twenty-seven, is living life hard and fast–and she is flat broke. When her estranged father dies, she travels to the tiny mountain hamlet of Jonah, New York to claim her inheritance. Once there, she learns her father’s will stipulates a six-month stay before she can recieve the money. Fueled by hate and desperation, Sarah settles in for the bitter mountain winter, and as the weeks pass, she finds her life intertwining with the lives of the simple, gracious townsfolk. Can these strangers teach Sarah how to forgive and find peace?

A story of grace, of God’s never-ceasing love and the sometimes flawed, faithful people He uses to bring His purpose to pass.

HOME ANOTHER WAY Book Trailer, produced by Trailer to the Stars:

EXCERPT: Chapter One

I had twenty-three borrowed dollars in my pocket, and the deed to a house in a town I couldn’t find on any map. How long ago did I stop at that gas station to ask for directions? It seemed like hours. The attendant had pointed to the top of the mountain and said, “Keep going up.”

So I drove until the sun wilted into the horizon, dropping behind rows of shaggy, towering evergreens. Brown leaves skittered across the road; I swerved around them more than once, mistaking them for toads, or chickadees. Deer crossing signs blazed yellow in my headlights around each turn. Snow appeared, as if growing from the ground. The windows began to fog.

I should have turned around days ago, given up this absurd quest for – what? Revenge? Retribution? Whatever it was, a certain romanticism had crept into the ordeal, being on the road, alone, with just my thoughts and a cooler of diet Coke. I always imagined myself the tragic heroine. That, and I had absolutely nowhere else to go. Squinting, I saw a light ahead, attached to a worn, whale-shaped sign.

THE JONAH INN.

“Cute,” I mumbled, turning into the driveway.

There was a story in the Bible about Jonah. My grandmother, a bit of a religious fanatic, had taken particular delight in giant fish and prophets and the complete stupidity of some guy living three days up to his knees in gastric juices. I must have heard it fifty times. “You see, you must always do what God tells you to do,” she’d say. As a small child, I would nod and agree, and then ask for a cookie. Finally, when I was twelve, I demanded, “What about adultery? What about murder? What does God say about that?”

Grandmother’s eyes had bulged. “Who told you?”

“Aunt Ruth,” I said. “Don’t you think God wanted me to know the truth about my parents?”

Grandmother didn’t talk to me about the Bible anymore after that. She stopped talking to Ruth completely.

Lucky Aunt Ruth.

The Dreaded Dedication

I didn’t realize how much of a struggle it would be to include a dedication in my book.  My editor emailed me about a month ago, telling me I should think about a dedication and acknowledgements.

I haven’t written either.

Now, my galleys are on the way, and I need to decide what I’m doing.  I think I pretty well scrapped the idea of acknowledgments this novel, but who knows?  I may change my mind.  As for the dedication, I know I should write one, but, my goodness.  I have no idea who I should dedicate this book to.

My son is a logical – and easy – choice, but I’ve already penciled him in for book two, because of the subject (more on that another day).  So, who?  I suppose, my biggest issue is not wanting to offend someone.  Yeah, I’m an all-inclusive sort of gal.  I keep telling myself, “This is not the last book you’re going to write; you can piece out your dedications over time…”  Which is all well and good, but that doesn’t help for *this* time!

I’m honestly considering drawing a name, or maybe two or three, from a hat.   

I Know I’m In Writing Mode When…

…My characters are carrying on conversations with each other in my head, and I’m not invited.

…I’m reading books for research I’d never normally pick up, like The Blog of War and Chasing Ghosts.

…I drive past my exit because I’m too busy composing paragraphs in my mind to notice.

…Everything interesting I see gets scribbled in the Moleskine cahier I keep crammed in my back pocket.

…I’m trying to fit things I see and feel – the cracked skin on a elderly woman’s heel, the pulse in my stomach when I’m laying flat against the sun-warmed deck, gum and pen caps stuffed into the “modern” architectural bricks in a public bathroom – into my novel.

…The skin on my wrists is irritated from rubbing against the edge of my iBook, and I’ve taken to wearing socks (with the toes cut off and holes in the heel for my thumb – okay, odd, I know, but they had holes in them already, so I’m recycling) on my hands to cut down of the chafing.

…Bedtime is close to 3 a.m.

…I have a developing idea for my third novel buzzing around my ear.

Poem in Your Pocket Day

Thursday is National Poem in Your Pocket Day.

The idea is simple: select a poem you love during National Poetry Month then carry it with you to share with co-workers, family, and friends on April 17.

I think all fiction writers should read poetry, and lots of it. It helps form connections in the mind, linking words in new, unusual ways. When I write, I think of my novel as one, long poem – to me, that means using as few words as possible to create my story, using vivid word pictures, and paying attention to the cadence of each sentence alone, and paragraphs together. And, when I’m stuck, I sometimes write a scene in (non-rhyming) verse; it helps focus my attention on the “guts” of what I’m trying to say.

So, what poem will you carry in your pocket Thursday?

I’m thinking William Carlos Williams:

This Is Just To Say
by William Carlos Williams

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

Now Available for Pre-order…

Christian Book.com is selling my novel for $9.99, and Amazon has it priced at $11.19 (with free shipping if you spend $25 or more).

It’s really real now.

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