I don't want to jinx anything, but I have never met a rude person in Stratford. Ever. People are happy and polite and helpful. I take an hour-long constitutional each morning which brings me face to face with all sorts of folks as we watch swans, geese, and ducks preen, float, and count their young. There are shops to explore, restaurants to enjoy, and some of the best literature in the world to be acted out on glorious stages for our pleasure. It's like once upon a time time.
Over the last couple of years I've been told by a few people that my books remind them of Jan Karon's Mitford Series. It is an amazing compliment. Someone also told me they once read the Mitford Series, and that honestly, it was like reading a whole lot of nothing. Good to know. Humbling comments like that hurt a little, but I remember them and try to learn from them.
I love to write about small town life because it's fun and creative. I love to write about what I know and what I have lived as a pastor, wife, mother, daughter and friend. So I write about a sleepy little town called Cherish (based on Chelsea, Michigan), and an amazing church I was called to serve in 2004, The First Congregational Church. It was, and is, a lovely town full of good people, and few naughty ones. Being a pastor ultimately revolves around relationships. I've been invited in to the sacred and profane moments of parishioners lives. I am a keeper of secrets and a sharer of good news. I've baptized and buried babies. I've presided over holy matrimony, and then watched as divorce tore the bond asunder. I've also eaten cake at fiftieth wedding anniversary celebrations. I've held hands with those who made the final step from this life into the next. Ministry is a profound calling. Most of all, I've tried to bring the sacred and profane together in a holy, hopeful dance week after week. Being a pastor informs every word I write in my books. For me, it's a whole lot of something.
The characters in my books don't swear a lot. I think that's okay. There isn't gratuitous violence. You would want to read another author for that. Maybe my characters have sex, but I don't write about it. My mother reads these books!
For me, to go to Cherish every day is like going to once upon a time time. Everything is not perfect and not everyone is on their best behavior. But somehow goodness keeps getting the upper hand. That's because I believe that to be true in real life. I believe in dark, dank tunnels with a pinprick of light at the far end. I believe we can give one another encouragement to love as easily as a license to hate. I believe that through all the bumps and scrapes and dangers of life, there is an eternal happy ending.
To be honest, I suspect there may be one or two rude people in Stratford. I imagine there have been more than a few people who have chased the swans, geese, and ducks from time to time. There's a good chance that other kinds of debauchery exist in this fairy-tale city. But I'll take my chances and keep showing up. I'll believe in the goodness I have witnessed.
And I'll keep on writing, even if some think I write a whole lot of nothing. Even if hopeful, happy endings seem boring and predictable. I like once upon a time time. And I like happily ever after.
The Pastor Maggie Series - published by Pen-L Publishing (Pen-L.com)
To Love and To Cherish (to be re-released December of 2017 by Pen-L Publishing)
To Have and To Hold (available now at Pen-L Publishing and Amazon.com)
For Richer, For Poorer (to be released November 2017 by Pen-L Publishing and Amazon.com))
For Better, For Worse (to be released in 2018 by Pen-L Publishing and Amazon.com)
In Sickness and In Health (TBD by Pen-L Publishing and Amazon.com)
For as Long as We Both Shall Live (TBD by Pen-L Publishing and Amazon.com)
I've read some of the Mitford series. Your books are most decidedly NOT "a whole lot of nothing". You really do get the rhythm and reality of the Pastoral life right. (I do, however, dare you to let Pastor Maggie swear out loud from time to time. lol.)
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