Still Life in Shadows

My next novel, due out in the fall of 2012, is completed! I am so excited to have finished Still Life in Shadows, although I continue to pick at it. It's due at my new publisher's, Moody, on January 9th. So, yes, in just a short amount of time, I will have to abandon it and send it along.

Here's a bit about Still Life in Shadows so that you can be sure to want to read it as soon as you can.

Sixteen years ago Gideon Miller left the confines of his Amish hometown of Carlisle, PA and now has made a life in Twin Branches, NC. Known as the Getaway Savior, he assists other dissatisfied Amish men and women making the transition from Amish to English living. Employed as a car mechanic, Gideon believes in a hard work ethic. When his younger brother asks for help and ends up in jail, Gideon realizes just how inadequate he is. A story of belonging, finding God’s grace and forgiveness, Still Life in Shadows, is about a community in need of accepting all of God’s children.

Name that Character Contest Winners for my Next Novel!

Connected with my Author Page on Facebook, I hosted a contest. Name that Character Contest was specifically for two names I needed for my current novel----a work in progress, which will be my fifth book. I asked for the name of a waitress who calls everyone Sugar and one for the local mountain town sheriff's daughter. I told Facebook friends to LIKE my page and then play the game! From then on the names came in! What fun to read them all.

On December 4th, the contest ended. For the next two days, I decided which of the eighty-plus names to chose for my two characters. Now, some I couldn't choose because either I'd already used similar names for other characters of the names suggested are actual names of people I know. For example, our pet beagle is Dixie, so I stayed away from that one for a person.

Well, I'm happy to announce that the waiting is over.

Della is the name of the waitress, and thanks goes to Sallie Knott Deaton for that name

AND

Ashlyn is the name for the sheriff's daughter and thanks goes to Charlotte Stevenson for that name.

Both Sallie and Charlotte will receive an autographed copy of A Wedding Invitation, my fourth novel. They will also both be acknowledged in my new novel.

Thanks to everyone for playing!

By the way, this fifth novel I just received a contract for will be completed by January 9th, 2012, and published by Moody Publishers in the fall of 2012. The novel is tentatively titled Still Life In Shadows. The story is set in the mountains of North Carolina and is about an ex-Amish man who assists young Amish escape the Old Order lifestyle.

Where did I get the idea for Still Life in Shadows? Carl and I watch programs about an ex-Amish man in Columbia, Missouri who does help dissatisfied Amish leave their communities. Based on these programs, I set out to create.

Stay tuned for more!

Christmas Letter from a Needy Author

Hi, Readers,

As we draw closer to Christmas, I wanted to share with you my letter to Santa.


Christmas Letter from a Needy Author

Dear Santa,
I've baked you extra sugar cookies and put them on a tray
hoping you'll deliver sacks of my novels Christmas day
I really want my books purchased by folks far and wide
my readership to grow, that many will have at their side
copies of Rain Song, How Sweet It Is, Hatteras Girl, too
A Wedding Invitation includes a recipe for beef stew.

So Santa, fill those empty places underneath the tree
with fun, quirky, southern fiction created all by me!
Faces dazzled, gratitude wide, such a joyful sight
when folks receive gifts they'll read long into the night!
This is my Christmas wish, this is my shameless prayer,
Get busy, Santa, help this author from pulling out her hair.

~ by Alice J. Wisler