It’s always exciting to send out a new edition of my Plain News newsletter. The June issue went out on Saturday, chocked full of interesting things shared only in the newsletter, including the first chapter in When the Soul Mends, the second half of the article about connecting to the Old Order Amish, a contest with a chance to win all three books autographed, and some humor from an Old Order Amish friend.

Since Saturday, I’ve received positive feedback about Plain News from hundreds of you. Thank you!

Some e-mailed me with questions that I’ll address here. I won’t be able to respond individually for weeks, so my daughter-in-law will try to respond to as many as possible later on today. When she returns to full-classes at UGA in the fall, I’m going to miss her help!! How I wish computers were as intuitive as she is on what needs to be done and how. Anyway, if you hear from her, be sure to say hello.

Erin and I at work in my office.

As a mom of all sons, I can’t tell you how fun it is having a daughter-in-law, a really great one! I also have a terrific future daughter-in-law. More on that later!

If you signed up to receive the newsletter and didn’t receive it on Saturday, please enter your e-mail address again at Plain News. Although the newsletter can’t be sent out to individuals, you will receive a welcome letter with a link to the latest newsletter. At the bottom of that newsletter is a link to the previous newsletter and so on.

I went into my e-zine account last night (i.e. newsletter server) and saw that 78 people were inactive. When I began reading the e-mail addresses, I realized why. Some had simply changed e-mail accounts, so they are in good shape. But most of those 78 people had entered their e-mail address in wrong. For example, someone had put @homtail.com which should have been entered as @hotmail.com. With one glance at each e-mail address, I could tell what simple slip of a key had happened, but fixing it will take take days of work . . . days I can’t give right now.

If my daughter-in-law has time, she’ll begin addressing that issue too. Did I mention how great it is to have a daughter-in-law? — although I’ll be honest, letting go of my son wasn’t easy. I fell in love with Erin long before the engagment took place, and I was excited for her and my son to have found each other, but I wasn’t braced for all the emotions that led up to the wedding day and letting him go.

On my wedding day, my mother told me, if you want my opinion from here on out, you’ll have to ask. I’ll not offer an opinion on any decisions you’re making. I’m opinionless . . . unless you ask.

She stuck to that too. She helped me move and decorate half a dozen homes, stayed with us for at least a week for the birth of each child, asked lots of questions of how I wanted things done, and never gave an unsolicited opinion. To say I miss her doesn’t begin to cover it. We had a fantastic relationship, and I did ask her opinion regularly. I try to live by that same wisdom.

What is it with me today? On to your questions . . .

Several asked, “In the newsletter you said the book you’re currently writing on is possibly titled Hope of Refuge. Will it be Amish too?”

Yes, the novel I’m writing on has an Amish setting with Amish characters. I’m very excited about this new novel. It has two storylines, both of which are based on true stories and issues that have faced at least one Old Order Amish community. It’s book one in a three-book series, but the main story will begin and conclude in the first book. Hopefully there won’t be any cliffhangers this time;-)

I say hopefully because sometimes a story, as in Sisters of the Quilt, comes to an author in a certain way, and there’s nothing the author can do but write it. But Hope of Refuge is now plotted, so if it continues to behave, you’ll read a wonderful based-on-true-life story in a single book.

Several asked: “You were in Pennsylvania without doing a book signing?!”

I send my deepest apologies on that one. I hope it never happens again! But this trip was planned to coincide with a particular Amish community’s school-sale auction. It took months of planning and every minute was accounted for. We had to take our son out of school for three days to meet our agenda. We drove our van to Pennsylvania. Five days later my husband and son returned with a van load of items bought at the auction. I stayed and worked on writing projects with an Amish friend, but I can’t really share about that yet; I will say I was so far away from the main flow of traffic my Blackberry couldn’t receive e-mails nor half the cell calls that came in. When my phone did work, I only heard part of what was being said and then the call dropped. Days later I hired a driver (like the Amish do) to take me to BWI so I could catch a plane to Georgia. Once I was halfway to the airport, my Blackberry started buzzing nonstop as it sent and received e-mails. My agent called me, saying he’d received an e-mail from me that I’d written to him seven days earlier. LOL. I could have sent it U.S Postal service and it arrived much sooner than that.

The next question I received several of after the newsletter went out asked if I could give permission to use and/or send you the first chapter of When the Soul Mends.

Although you can forward the newsletter to whomever you wish and they can open the link to that chapter, I’m not allowed to send out individual chapters. I had to get permission from Random House to post that chapter in my newsletter, which means I can’t give you permission to use that chapter on your blog. Only the publisher can do that.

On that same note, I can’t answer questions about the plot and outcome of When the Soul Mends. I’m sure you understand. But once it’s out, let’s discuss it!

I received such wonderful feedback on that first chapter of When the Soul Mends, as well as encouraging congrats on being a Rita finalist for When the Morning Comes.

Denki! Denki! Denki! (Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! )

If you have a question, feel free to send me a note or post it in the comments. I’ll get back with you on it as soon as possible . . . which can be a while sometimes

Gott segen eich ~ God bless you!

Cindy

The winner of last week’s blog contest is Carol Graves. Carol won an autographed copy of When the Soul Mends, to be sent when its available.

Congratulations, Carol!

I’m adding the last touches to latest edition of Plain News. If you enjoy insights into the Amish life, I encourage you to join the newsletter. It only goes out four times per year, so you won’t get tired of it;-)

This next edition has: 
    Sneak peek ~ chapter one of When the Soul Mends
    Part two of Connecting to the Old Order Amish Community
    Chance to win an autographed copy of all three books in Sisters of the Quilt series
    A tidbit on using a reel mower from an Old Order Amish friend
    A few words from guest author Tamera Alexander
    And some good reads shared by my editor Shannon [Hill] Marchese

To sign up, click here: Plain News Newsletter (After you sign up, you’ll receive a welcome letter with a link to the previous newsletter. After you’ve read that one, at the bottom of it is a link for another previous newsletter.)

A night of changing roles ~

My husband and I are house project people. We’ve had decades of taking on at least one large project each year. Even when money is really tight there are tons of projects that can be done, from deep cleaning storage rooms to buying a couple gallons of paint and painting as many rooms as possible.

Project time rolled around again this past week, only this time someone else has been doing a large part of the labor. We had new flooring laid in the kitchen, laundry room, and bathroom and also new kitchen countertops.

We were without access to the restrooms for days, no water to the kitchen for even longer, and the stove as well as the washer and dryer can’t be moved onto the flooring until Friday.  

Now it’s pretty easy to do without a kitchen for a few days in the summer, especially since we only have one child to feed these days. . . if he were at home, which he isn’t. Not very often since school let out.

Our second son and his wife took him back to thier place, which is an hour away.

Hubby and I slept at home, but last night we loaded laundry into our van and crashed our oldest son’s place. He only lives a couple of miles away. So we made a wreck of his laundry room, took over the remote control to his television, and propped our feet up while he broke out the snacks;-) Hmmmm. Maybe we should do two projects next year. LOL! 

Anyone who waded through all of my meanderings deserves something.

For a chance to win an autographed copy of When the Soul Mends, just leave a comment below. I’ll draw a winner next week and it’ll be sent close to its release date.

We have a winner of the Amish-made washboard with the quilt patch, and an autographed book of When the Morning Comes.

Our winner: Diana of Hanover, Pennsylvania

Thank you to everyone who participated!

Congratulations, Diana! The items will be placed in the mail later this week. The first part of this week I’ll write my third newsletter so it can be sent to Gayle Desalles, my e-zine virtual assistant. If you aren’t signed up for the newsletter, I encourage you to do so. It’s free, only goes out four times a year, and shares a lot of things I think you’ll enjoy ~ from how I connected with the Old Order Amish, a few tidbits about life inside an Amish home, Amish recipes, and special contests.

To sign up, click here: Plain News Newsletter (After you sign up, you’ll receive a welcome letter with a link to the previous newsletters.)

In the upcoming June newsletter:
    Sneak peek ~ chapter one of When the Soul Mends
    Part two of Connecting to the Old Order Amish Community
    Chance to win an autographed copy of all three books in Sisters of the Quilt series
    A tidbit on using a reel mower from an Old Order Amish friend
    A few words from guest author Tamera Alexander
    And some good reads shared by my editor Shannon [Hill] Marchese

Now on to other fun stuff: how about a week long contest with a chance to win a novel that’s not yet in print: WHEN THE SOUL MENDS

Leave a comment and you’re entered. I’ll send the winner an autographed copy of When the Soul Mends close to its release date.