Blog Archives
Redemption
14 Hours of Saturn follows a 24-year-old woman who has just moved into her new apartment and spends a rainy Saturday revisiting her memories of growing up, her regrets, and her hopes for the future. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
When I wrote Afternoon Rebecca, it was on a dare that I couldn’t write a whole book about a couple out to dinner with each other. Once I succeeded at that, I was challenged once again, this time to write a book about a lady who is stuck at home all day in her apartment. While I took liberties with both challenges, they were both successful in meeting the said challenges.
Saturn’s memories are wonderful slices of life that readers can often see themselves in. Are there any emotions or memories from your own life that you put into your character’s life?
Of course. The Venus character, at least through high school, was highly influenced by my own sister. The parts about schools closing down and having to move because of trains being built were also part of my real-life experiences. I also still work with craft sticks, which is something I started when I was about six years old. Oh, and I also have broken an egg yolk while cooking them, just like Saturn did. (You were the second reviewer to mention that happening, and when I wrote that part, I figured it to be just a simple detail that would get tucked away with Teddy Behr’s superhero t-shirts and that Thanksgiving meal side dishes.)
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
Redemption. You could make mistakes, know they are mistakes while doing them, and you could also redeem yourself and be forgiven in God’s eyes.
Will there be a follow-up novel to this story?
If so, what aspects of the story will the next book cover? Yes, 5 Weeks of Saturn is already completed and is being edited right now. It picks up a week after 14 Hours of Saturn ended. We follow Saturn as she navigates her new job, learns more about her new town, and has entered into a budding relationship with furniture restoration man Janus Rings. This takes you through July 4th. More may follow, as much could be written about this character.
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Spend the day with Saturn as she reminisces about growing up in Northwest Indiana with loving, supportive, and sometimes too lenient parents, along with an overbearing big sister named Venus. Her youth was filled with craft sticks, magazine ads, a creative mind, and enough bad decisions to last her a lifetime. She reflects on this while discovering new and wonderful things about the city she now calls home. Will it be the dream she kept having, or another dead-end road for her?
This was written by the same author who wrote the Afternoon Rebecca series. It is not a part of that series, but it is in the same universe.
Faith, Family, Friendship
Being Afternoon Rebecca follows Rebecca as she balances faith, friendships, and online dating, capturing the beauty of everyday moments and the struggles of self-discovery in a small-town setting. How much of Rebecca’s character is drawn from personal experience?
Not a whole lot, if I’m honest. I served as Children’s Ministry Director at a couple of churches, but her experiences differed widely from mine. She is a fictional character, and most of her experiences in this book are fictional accounts. This goes for book one, Afternoon Rebecca, and the many sequels to follow, two more available now.
The dialogue feels so natural. How do you approach writing conversations that feel real and engaging?
I created these characters and their personalities, so I pretend I’m standing close to them, listening to what they’re saying to each other and what they’re doing as they talk. A lot of voices go through my head as I’m writing these tales.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
The importance of faith, family, friendship, and fair play.
What’s one message or feeling you hope readers take away from Being Afternoon Rebecca?
That one can be a devout Christian and still live a full life. Rebecca lives life according to her beliefs, never wavering (or trying not to). She is still a coach for a minor league softball team, trying their best and playing their hardest to win every game and eventually the Corn League Championship. They, the St. Sister Sister Saints, play hard and always according to the rules, having fun as they do so.
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Set in a fictional county in Central Indiana, Being Afternoon Rebecca is part romance, part friendship, part adventure, part sports, and all entertaining.
Real-Life Experiences
Afternoon Rebecca is a charming romance novel about two small-town Christians navigating online dating, faith, and vulnerability, set against the quirky and heartfelt backdrop of Indiana life. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
It came to me many years ago when I was a dishwasher for a local Italian restaurant. Originally, it was going to be called Fine Dining, and the ending was to be revealed: they were on a Love Connection-type show and the previous chapters were them recounting their stories on the show and agree to another date when done.
How did you go about crafting Jeff’s internal monologues to feel so authentic and relatable?
I thought back to when I was in the dating world and tried to remember how I’d think about the possibility of her having a male roommate or avoiding simple questions like how she got her nickname.
Did any of the quirky details, like the parrot’s Biblical recitations, come from personal experiences or observations?
Most of the conversation between Jeff and Rebecca was based, however loosely, on my real-life experiences, up to and including how she got the nickname, Afternoon Rebecca, and the song. “Can of Peas” is an actual song I wrote in 2020, and I accompany it by playing my ukulele.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
Being Afternoon Rebecca. It picks up the day after the date and goes through most of the summer. It’s her, her job, playing on the softball team, and her budding relationship, among other things. It should be out by the end of January. At least five books are expected in the series. The sequels are longer, all expected to come in well over 700 pages each, unlike the 140 or so of the first.
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Get to know the couple as they learn about each other and enjoy a Tuesday afternoon dinner together. As they dine, Rebecca’s best friend and roommate, Maxine “Max Little, anxiously awaits updates from Afternoon Rebecca as she scopes out the potential love of her life.
Set in a fictional county in Central Indiana, Jeff and Rebecca’s tale is more than just a love story. Hear the narratives of the restaurant’s staff as their many short stories are woven together in an effort for Jeff67 and Afternoon Rebecca to have their happily ever after.
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