Fabulous Feature: Emma Miller-Growing Up On the Farm

Today we welcome author:

Emma Miller

FIVE commenters will win a special release of
Emma's Book:
Courting Ruth
combined with Debbi Giusti"s book:
The Agent's Secret Past

Scroll down to see how.

Mary here. I'm so happy Emma is here today. What a joy it is to welcome this down-home gal who loves family, growing food from the earth, caring for animals, and loves books  Yes. You simply must read her response to my question, how has God led you on your writing journey. It'll warm your heart. Here is what she said: 

God Led Me Here-Kicking and Screaming

"How has God led you on your writing journey?"

When I turned on my computer and read that question from Mary Vee in my email, I laughed aloud. I laughed because I'd been considering just that subject this morning. A funny coincidence? Maybe, but I don't think so. 

I write in my office, a converted bedroom of an old farmhouse in the country. If I look out my windows, as I do often when I'm at my desk, I see fields and trees and sometimes a glorious sunrise. Two night ago, it snowed. It snowed and snowed. The wind blew and the drifts piled around our barn and house. It snowed so much that the roads are closed and the only sounds I hear from outside my windows are the sighing of tree boughs. It's peaceful here, gazing out at the snow. It's a good day to think about the question.

"The only place to start," my grandfather said, "is at the beginning."

I was born into a family of storytellers. They had farmed the land in Maryland and Delaware, since long before this was a nation, with a strong faith in God and a powerful sense of family.

Life for me revolved around our home and community: grace before meals shared around a long table, chores, laughter, helping our neighbors, and church every Sunday. We had no computers, no television, and no telephone. But we had books and stories, always the stories.

My mother read Bible stories to me; my father read Zane Grey and Tarzan.  But my grandfather was an oral storyteller, he told tales of his grandfather, of Indians, and pirates, of storms and fast horses, brave children and foolish ones. And the stories fascinated me.

For many years, I was an only child. I roamed the fields and woods, climbed trees, fished in the ponds, and read favorite books in the hayloft. I didn't have other children to play with, but I could swing through the trees with Tarzan, hide from a monstrous snake like Mowgli, be swallowed alive by a whale, and cross the wilderness in a covered wagon. I haunted the school and town libraries with their floor to ceiling stacks of books. I read. I read with a passion, and I told anyone who would listen that someday I would write a book. I would come to the library and see a book on the shelf with my name on it.

"If you want to be a writer, you have to work at it," my grandfather said. "God helps those who help themselves."

"But what do I write about?" I asked. "I've never been to a jungle or have seen a whale."

"I guess that's part of it," he answered with a smile. "Deciding what you want to tell."

Write what you know best. That couldn't be the answer, could it? I knew how to drive a horse and wagon, how to milk a cow, how to make butter. Who would want to read about those things? I knew how it felt to sit between my mother and father in church and see the sunlight shining through the stained glass windows, and I knew how I loved Sunday dinners at my grandmother's table with all the family gathered around and my grandfather telling stories. I knew about the joy of rain when the crops needed it, and I knew our good Amish neighbors with their Deitsch talk and different style of dressing.

And here I am today, working on another Amish Christian romance. I'm right where I want to be. And I have no doubt that God led me here, kicking and screaming, wandering off the path at times, but finally doing just what I always wanted, telling stories. I'm here, sharing tales of the people I know best, because He intended that path for me all the time.  

Blessings,  

Emma

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Emma Miller is the author of eleven Amish romances and three Amish mysteries and is currently under contract for several more. She lives quietly with her husband and extended family in her old farmhouse in rural Kent County, Delaware amid fertile fields and lush woodlands where the sound of Amish buggy wheels and the horses' hooves on the road are familiar sounds.  Fortunate enough to be born into a family of strong faith, she grew up on a dairy farm surrounded by loving parents, siblings, grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  

Her childhood might have been similar to one in much earlier times, as the ring of telephones and the harsh glow of electric lights didn't mar the peace of her home.  Storytelling has always been a family tradition, and early on, Emma learned the joys of reading.  She was educated in local schools and once taught in an Amish schoolhouse much like the one in Seven Poplars.  Family is the center of her life and her kitchen is always full of laughter.  

Emma loves to connect with readers. You can find her at her:

  

Website

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A Husband for Mari-releases February, 2016!

When it becomes clear that popular psychiatrist and radio personality Wade Savage has a stalker, his father secretly hires Elite Guardians to protect his son. But when Wade's bodyguard is attacked and nearly killed, agency owner Olivia Edwards must step in and fill the gap. 

Olivia's skills are about to be tested to the limit as Wade's stalker moves from leaving innocent gifts at his door to threatening those closest to him--including Olivia. But in her mind, even more dangerous than the threats to her life is the hold her handsome client has on her heart.

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FIVE WINNERS!
Enter the contest to win a copy of 
a special release of
Emma Miller's Book:

Courting Ruth
combined with Debbi Giusti"s book:
The Agent's Secret Past

Sorry US only

Here is how:

1. Leave a comment (and email address)

2. AND sign up to receive my newsletter -in the right column

    (subscribers to Mary Vee's newsletter will receive a special gift)

    AND/OR sign up to receive posts by email if you aren't already

Thank you, Emma, for joining us this weekend!

We enjoy chatting with you, Reader, and look forward to reading your comments and questions. Or at least your hi, hello, or hey.

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