Fabulous Friday Feature-Kathleen Rouser

Today I welcome 

author, Kathleen Rouser

a sweet and friendly lady, 
with a desire to help others 

Enter to win Kathleen's 2013 novella release,

The Pocket Watch

Scroll to the end of the post to see how to enter.

I met Kathleen at the Great Lakes ACFW meeting this year. This sweet lady worked to link new people together. What a fun time we had. With such a tremendous gift, I immediately asked her to join us here on Let's Talk. Boy, was I happy when she said yes. I asked Kathleen to tell us how God led her on her writing journey. Here is what she said:

God's Hand Is Leading My Journey

Since I was four years old, I wanted to be a writer. I couldn’t read then, but I listened when my mom read to me. I was so happy when I learned to read and books became safe places to visit as I identified with the characters. How I wanted to give that gift to others.

My mother encouraged my imagination when we played games like “Let’s go see Brownie.” The couch was the airplane that we pretended to fly to Florida to see her friend. Mom let me tell her endless stories about princesses’ in castles, which I inevitably began at bedtime.

In the sixth grade I wrote a Nancy Drew like story. Sister Giovanni wrote “Exciting to the very end!” in her comments. I majored in communications in collegeand loved studying English literature.

Then I met my husband, Jack. It turned out we were polar opposites and needed to call on a greater power than ourselves to make things work, specifically, God.

I had grown up in a religious home in the Detroit area, but then I went my own way as a teenager until I found myself in this difficult situation with a baby on the way. A few weeks before my oldest son was born, I finally understood the depths of God’s grace and what salvation truly meant while listening to the Christian radio broadcast, “Grace to You.”

I had thought I needed to earn salvation through good works. I then heard this teaching:  Jesus is the Son of God, that He died on the cross and rose from the dead, and that Jesus’ work on the cross is complete. My job is to trust in Him to take away my sins.

There is nothing we can do to save ourselves. I further learned that nothing can take the believer out of the Father’s hand (John 10:29). When I understood that it was all the work of God, depending on His grace alone, I received Jesus as my Savior. My life has been different ever since.

As our family grew, my writing dreams were put on hold, but I had hoped to someday use my writing to testify of the wonderful things He’s done for us.

I took a correspondence course to learn how to write for children. But I never submitted anything to magazines, even though my instructor encouraged me to do so. I was frozen in place by fear and perfectionism. I wanted to write for the Lord, but wasn’t sure how to go about it.

Still, I dreamed and played around with ideas, starting a new novel on the life of the Woman at the Well.

In the late 1990s, I met another aspiring author, who was writing about King David. She introduced me to the Christian writing market. We met with a local group to critique and discussed writing. She told me about American Fiction Christian Writers. Through that organization I learned more about the CBA market, about the craft, and found fellowship with other Christian authors.

I loved reading the original Regency romances, by Jane Austen, which led me to consider writing historical romance. It’s been a long haul, but I am blessed to have an agent representing one of my full-length novels, As Rumor Would Have It.

About a year and a half ago, Lisa Lickel sent an email requesting authors who wanted to write romances set in urban areas around the year 1900 to put together an anthology. Since I had researched Detroit’s history around that time for another story, I responded to Lisa's email and was accepted.

In November, Prism Book Group published this historical romance anthology, Brave New Century, which includes my debut novella, The Pocket Watch. My wonderful co-authors are Lisa Lickel, Paula Mowery and Teena Stewart. I am so thankful and blessed to finally see one of my stories in print! I thank God for His hand in my journey and pray for His continued guidance in my writing.

Author bio:  The Pocket Watch is Kathleen’s debut novella. She has been published in Homeschool Digest and An Encouraging Word. She currently enjoys interviewing authors for the Novel PASTimes historical fiction blog. Her desire is to bring to life endearing characters who resonate with readers and realize the need for a transforming Savior in their everyday lives. A part time mild mannered Registered Dental Assistant by day, she lives in southeast Michigan with her hero and husband of 32 years, Jack, who not only listens to her stories, but also cooks for her.

Brave New Century

This Inspirational Historical Romance collection from Prism Book Group contains stories of four young women who each brave challenges in the big city at the dawn of the 20^th century. Will they overcome their hardships and find love?

Three Rings for Alice by Lisa Lickel   Love and respect in 1899 Milwaukee is as close as a phone call.

Forgiven by Paula Mowery   When Henry and Jessie meet it seems to be classic love at first sight until a shocking revelation tears them apart.

The Pocket Watch by Kathleen Rouser   Searching for the past an orphan and a young doctor find love for the future.

Flames of Hope by Teena Stewart   Love ignites in the midst of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire.

More about The Pocket Watch: Isabel Jones, an orphan, receives a ruby ring left by the mother she never knew and wants more than ever to find her roots. When a young physician, Daniel Harper, rescues her from an oncoming automobile and she finds his pocket watch in a puddle, her circumstances take a turn. She begins to consider what life outside the orphanage could be like. Daniel’s heart has been broken before and the attractive young lady who finds his treasured timepiece wouldn’t be deemed suitable by his social climbing parents.

When Isabel and Daniel work side by side, caring for the orphanage children during an influenza epidemic, she becomes gravely ill. Compelled to redeem the time by helping her find the past, Daniel finds a buried truth that creates an unbridgeable chasm between them. Where will they find hope in a hopeless situation?

Website: www.kathleenrouser.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kathleenrouser

Twitter handle: @kathleenrouser
E-mail addy: kerouser@gmail.com

To enter the contest for an autographed copy of 

the anthology with Kathleen's novella: A Pocket Watch":

leave a comment (and email addy)

AND become a follower of this site, if you aren't already.

Sorry  US  only

Winner announced on my facebook page.

Thank you, Kathleen, for Joining us This Weekend!

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Kathleen shares the importance of a solid relationship with Jesus in order to fulfill her calling to write. How has Jesus helped you walk the road God has called you?