Meet Author Anna Urquhart

Anna's inspiring debut novella A Silent Night is featured in A Pioneer Christmas Collection. She answers questions about her unconventional love story below. Find out more about her on her website at http://www.annaurquhart.com/.

What made you write about your period in time?

In light of the fact that we were looking at westward expansion, I wanted to find a focus of heading west that is often overlooked--travel by water. The Erie Canal opened in the 1830s which brought a flood of people into Michigan Territory and beyond. So that time period sparked my initial interest.

 

How is Christmas celebrated in your family and what effect did it have on your writing this story?

Christmas is always about family gathering, coming home from wherever they are. However, most of those traveling west didn't have that luxury. They had only each other and those they've met along the way, those who essentially have become family. So that is what I tried to capture in the Christmas story--the gathering and celebration of new-found family.

 

What research did you do to authenticate Christmas celebrations in your story?

Loads of research, specifically about Michigan Territory, went into this. As previously mentioned, families were forged on the frontier from more than just blood-ties, and it's curious to me how that seems to happen in times of struggle. Michigan Territory was quite wild at the time, with constant threat of weather, Indians, wild animals, and even trivial accidents that could change a person's life. I tried to capture that wildness throughout the story.

 When you dreamed up your story idea, what came first, the time period, the story, the location?

Time period, followed by location. I had a vague idea of the story, but it grew out of the setting.

 

What was the "germ" of your story idea and how did you flesh it out?

The germ was putting a woman in the kind of situation most women fear: helplessness. It's an abstract fear, but on the frontier becomes tangible quite quickly.

 

Would you like to have been there?

A part of me itches to see what it would be like on the frontier struggling for survival--something I know absolutely nothing about. Yet I think within each of us is a desire to know what it is that we're made of, to see the exact boundaries of our strength and fortitude. However, my husband has assured me that I've not the makings of a frontierswoman, and I do believe he is right. I am quite handy with duct tape, though.

 

What aspects of your characters are reflected in yours?

I think I have my protagonist's propensity to second-guess herself. Additionally, I think that, as a result, she continues to drive toward self-reliance, posing an unwillingness to surrender to the guidance and strength of the Lord. I also gave my protagonist a daughter--whom I named after my own daughter--and my character's struggles, as you can imagine, quickly became personal.

 

Have you been to the locations in which your story is set?

The story begins in Edinburgh, Scotland, where my husband lived for many years and of which I have plenty of knowledge. Michigan, however, I visited only long ago--long before I knew I'd be setting a story there. And at my visit it completely lacked the wildness that Michigan once had.

 

What surprised you the most about your story?

The ending. It turned into a completely different kind of love story than even I had anticipated.

 

Would you have made a good pioneer?

Uh, no. Though I'd like to imagine I'd put on a good show while I lasted.

 

Were any of your ancestors pioneers? If so, where and when?

At one time my ancestors pioneered across the Atlantic from Germany and Switzerland, but never made it beyond Pennsylvania.

 

What spiritual themes did you deliberately incorporate into your story? Which ones did you discover later?
 
I had no clear spiritual theme as I began the story because I find that often the story itself has it's own message it wants to forge. As I dug deeper into the story the theme of surrender seemed continually to appear, and it became clear that the direction the story wanted to take was too look at the age old decision faced by every one of us: to hope that our own strength is enough to sustain us or to surrender to the One who loves us, pursues us, and calls us by name.

 

*   *   *

Say Hello to Vickie McDonough

Seasoned author Vickie McDonough weighs in on her delightful entry in A Pioneer Christmas Collection. Vickie has written 28 novels and novellas including Buckskin Bride, her featured novella. To learn more about Vickie and her wide selection of titles, visit her website at www.vickiemcdonough.com. 

Vickie, what made you write about your period in time?

 

I love historical novels, and that’s mostly what I write. I chose 1889 because it was the year of the first Oklahoma land run, and I wanted my story to take place during the winter after that. My hero won land in the land run, and that’s the setting for my story, Buckskin Bride.



Oklahoma Land Rush



 

How is Christmas celebrated in your family and what effect did it have on your writing this story?

 

Even though our boys are all grown now, we still put up a tree and have lights and decorations all over the living room. I hang stockings on the mantel but we no longer fill them since our sons are grown. We eat cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Christmas morning, then open presents, and later, have a big dinner mid-afternoon with the whole family. Christmas has been even more fun the past seven years since my granddaughter was born. I don’t know that my personal Christmas celebrations had any bearing on my story, except that the families in my novella gather together for Christmas dinner.

 

What research did you do to authenticate Christmas celebrations in your story? 

 

I didn’t do anything research since the Christmas celebration in my story focused mainly around the dinner and it’s set in Oklahoma, a place I’m very familiar with.

 

When you dreamed up your story idea, what came first, the time period, the story, or the location?

I’d have to say the location because I wanted to set my story in the Oklahoma Territory.

 

What was the "germ" of your story idea and how did you flesh it out?

 

Actually, it was a tipi (teepee). One of the criteria for this novella collection was that your hero or heroine needed to live in an unusual type of home. I decided on a tipi and made up a story to fit with that.

 

Would you like to have been there?

 

I think it would have been exciting to have ridden in one of the land runs, just like Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman did in the movie, Far and Away. There was so much anticipation and expectations for the families hoping to win free land. Many did but thousands of people did not get land. I have friends who have family still living on the land their ancestors won in the land rush.

 

What aspects of your characters are reflected in yours?

 

My heroine, Maddie, has dressed in buckskin most of her life. She’s comfortable in them, and it makes riding horses, hunting, and doing chores easier. She has no desire to wear dresses—and neither do I, although I don’t wear buckskins. J I don’t care for dresses, and I only own two. One of them is the one I wore in my son’s wedding, thirteen years ago.

 

Have you been to the locations in which your story is set?

 

I was born and raised in Oklahoma, and have traveled to much of the state. I don’t know that I’ve been to the exact spot where my story takes place, though, because I was rather vague about where it is located exactly.

 

What surprised you the most about your story?

 

That my heroine finally dons a dress. I had my doubts that she actually would.

 

Would you have made a good pioneer?

 

In some ways. I love horses and have always been a tomboy and even dreamed of growing up and marrying a rancher. But, I love my modern conveniences like my laptop, air conditioning, kitchen appliances, and indoor plumbing and would hate to leave them all behind.

 

Were any of your ancestors pioneers? If so, where and when?

 

My dad’s parents were born in 1874 & 1876. I know that’s hard to believe but it’s true.

I’ve never been able to verify it, but my dad told me that my grandma rode in one of the Oklahoma land rushes with her parents. I do know that my grandparents left the Pennsylvania Dutch country and traveled to El Dorado, Kansas, where my dad—the youngest of their ten children—was born. Then my grandpa got a job with an oil company, and they moved the family to Oklahoma. I still have family in Pennsylvania.

 

What spiritual themes did you deliberately incorporate into your story?

 

Trusting God when times are hard is a common theme I write about and one I used for Buckskin Bride.  Which ones did you discover later?  I pretty much stuck to that theme and can’t think of anything that popped up later in the book.

I'm excited today to be hosting Lauraine Snelling, the author of The Cowboy's Angel in A Pioneer Christmas!

 

 

 

Good morning, Lauraine. What made you write about your period in time?

The guidelines said pioneer and I love writing pioneer stories, 1880-1900 is my favorite but I moved  A Cowboy’s Angel a bit earlier due to where I wanted to put the story.

How is Christmas celebrated in your family and what effect did it have on your writing this story?

I have loved angel stories forever and have wanted to do one for some time. Christmas is an ideal time since the entire Christ story is one miracle after another. God uses so many ways to take care of us and get through to us. We also incorporated some Norwegian traditions, especially in the baking, because that is the way I was reared.

Placing the angel on top of the tree always makes me pause, both because our angel has been in our family for many years and because of the significance. Angels came to announce not only Christ’s birth but deliver many messages. Since God is the same today as forever, why would He stop sending angels in our time?

 
What research did you do to authenticate Christmas celebrations in your story?

I have read many family histories and talked with people around the country asking what they remembered of their family stories. So often God uses an unlikely person to be blessed by His emissaries---angels. Voices soften when the one I’m talking with decides to share an angel story from their family. The wonder of it makes my heart leap.

When you dreamed up your story idea, what came first, the time period, the story, the location?

The time period and my dream to write about an angel. Setting it in Dakota Territory was natural since I’ve written so many stories set in that area.

 

What was the "germ" of your story idea and how did you flesh it out?

 A baby born, father missing, out on the prairie.  I set that in the thinking hopper and started the “what if” game, my first line of defense in creating a new story. What if a young, pregnant woman with a little boy, is keeping the homestead while her husband drove off to get winter supplies in their only wagon drawn by their only mule? What if he has not returned? Hmm.  So who is the hero? A cowboy traveling from a spread in Texas to save his boss’s ranch in western Dakota Territory? How does he find the family in distress? The rest flowed after I understood the skeleton.

 

Would you like to have been there?

 I felt like I was. God has given me a powerful imagination. We have an authentic sod house built in Drayton, ND for my emigrant stories set in Blessing, ND. The thought of living in that confined space makes me shudder. Also, I really do not like to be cold. I admit I am a wuss. But living my stories is part and parcel of what I do to write them.

 

What aspects of your characters are reflected in yours?

Dogged determination to finish something one has started, especially when a new life dream is to own free land that cost lives, blood, tears and faith. My cowboy’s quandary to help someone in distress when already on a mission for his boss. He is a problem solver and a true hero, willing to sacrifice for others. Besides that baby wrapped her little fingers around his heart and would not let go.

Have you been to the locations in which your story is set?

Not the exact location but the general area west of I 29 and south of Fargo, out of the Red River valley. Farmers and ranchers had to work incredibly hard to make a life there.

 

What surprised you the most about your story?

My cowboy’s solution to the dilemma. I had planned a different ending. I love it when stories take on a life of their own and go on their own way in spit of the author’s supposed plans.

Would you have made a good pioneer?

Yes, because I come from a line of hard working, adventuresome people. And I love living close to the land, just not as close as they were forced to do. But I am extremely grateful to live today. I love hot running water, electricity and I have a love/hate relationship with my computer. I’ve never been a really good typist and the idea of hand writing novels? Hmm, rather not.

 

Were any of your ancestors pioneers? If so, where and when?

Both sides of my family are of Norwegian heritage and my mother’s immediate family came to help on a relative’s farm in 1910, near Park River, ND. Sons of the Pioneers is a title to fit them, and that included the daughters. Uncle’s farm was on the western edge of the Red River Valley. The Pleasant Valley Lutheran Church honored those settlers every year until the last ones passed away. My Uncle Gilbert died at 99 and a half, I think the last of that generation in that area. Farming is indeed in my blood and so I write about farmers every chance I get.

What spiritual themes did you deliberately incorporate into your story? Which ones did you discover later?

Two spiritual themes seem to be present in many of the novels I write; trusting God in spite of what is happening and forgiveness, the latter of forgiving both oneself and those around you. The theme I did not intentionally put in The Cowboy’s Angel was our inherent questioning of “why did God do what He did” but that is also part of trust because if you believe there is no God, how can you blame Him for what happens? But we try to do both when times are the hardest. Fear is another symptom of lack of trust, but how can one not be fearful out on the prairie when left alone, pregnant and with a small son who depends on his ma alone now that his pa is gone? Only God can heal that kind of fear.

 

* * * * *

 

Lauraine is the author of more than 80 inspirational titles. Find out more about this amazing lady here. Catch up on her appearance schedule here. Or explore her website here.

12 DAYS OF A PIONEER CHRISTMAS CONTINUES. . .

Does it get any better than this?

Look what appeared on my doorstep today! These beauties are extra special. Much bigger than I expected with a very cool cover, complete with a gorgeous book-jacketed flap (I think I made that up) with the authors' pretty faces tucked inside.  Well done, Barbour Publishing!

 

Best part are the stories though.These books will make wonderful Christmas presents and stocking stuffers--but you'll need a super-sized stocking to hold them.



Super-sized!

Due to an unavoidable absence from my computer last night and most of today (there must be a universal law that states air conditioners only go out in Texas on blistering hot August weekends), I'm going to slip in a quick introduction to the book here today and continue with my author interviews first thing tomorrow. However, this post counts in the 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway, so be sure and leave a comment below. Remember, you may comment as many times as you wish throughout the contest, but only one comment per person per day will count as an entry.

 Enjoy the following introduction courtesy of co-author Michelle Ule:

 

Introducing A Pioneer Christmas Collection!

When Barbour Publishing announced they were looking for novellas for A Pioneer Christmas Collection, they had just a few parameters: the story needed to take place between the 1700s to the late 1800s, have a pioneer experience, and celebrate Christmas in a unique dwelling.

            The stories that appear in A Pioneer Christmas Collection certainly met that criterion.

            Ranging in time slots from Shannon McNear’s lead-off Revolutionary War story, to Michelle Ule’s final tale of the 1897 Alaskan gold rush, the novellas sweep across North American locales both familiar and little known.

            Shannon McNear portrays a surprising romance between a militiaman loyal to the Crown hiding after a battle in which his side lost, and a young woman patriot in charge of her siblings when her father goes to fight in Defending Truth. "People were all just struggling to live their lives, and the politics were as upsetting and confusing as today."

 Celebrating Christmas in the cave where her hero was hiding, seemed a terrific idea, and certainly a unique one.

            Kathleen Fuller has often driven past her setting for The Calling: the Unionville Tavern in northeast Ohio. “Once I found out the tavern was a stagecoach shop [in the early 19^th century], I immediately came up with the idea of a traveler stopping at the tavern on a regular basis.”  In The Calling, the traveler is a young man convinced he’s called to preach to those heading west, rather than the settled east. It’s the tavern keeper’s daughter who catches a vision of who he really is.

            How many of you have spent Christmas in a tavern?

            Several writers deliberately sought often over-looked times and places.  Anna Urquhart had seldom heard of pioneers traveling by water and examined the opening of the Erie Canal in 1830’s which led to settlements in Michigan Territory. A Silent Night actually begins in Edinburgh, Scotland and follows the challenges of making a life in the big woods of the upper Midwest.

The drama of a marriage lost and found is played out over Christmas in a barn beside a smoldering cabin.

            A Pony Express Christmas by Margaret Brownley takes readers to a spot most of us think we know—or do we? When a vigorous young woman goes in search of her long-lost express-riding brother, she saves a man from outlaws and drives him to help her search. Set during the Civil War era, A Pony Express Christmas leads us eventually to Chimney Rock where she finds the answers she seeks—and so much more.

            What happened to those Pony Express stopping stations and could they make an abandoned spot a holiday site?

            A Christmas Castle by Cynthia Hickey features a mail order bride who arrives in post-Civil War Arizona to discover her intended dead and a small child needing a mother. With outlaws trying to run her off her “inheritance,” she struggles with the help of a handsome neighbor to keep her land. Somehow she’s able to fashion a Christmas celebration in a virtual hole in the ground.

            Who knew it could snow in Arizona in the winter? Have you ever had to cram a too-big Christmas tree into a too-small room?

            Lauraine Snelling returns to an area familiar to her readers in The Cowboy’s Angel, set in 1875 Dakota Territory. With her long-overdue husband miles away seeking supplies, a pregnant woman is forced to give birth with a stranger in attendance. Snow socked them into a half-built claim with the farm animals a thin wall away.

            Using meager resources in a rough home, a woman finds cause to be thankful. How often have you had to “make do” for Christmas?

            Marcia Gruver takes us to sophisticated 1885 New York City in A Badlands Christmas, though we don’t stay there long. Inspired by the adventures of Theodore Roosevelt in the town of Medora, A Badlands Christmas shows the contrasts between festive scenes in the city and a Christmas spent in a dilapidated sod house in the middle of a brutal Dakota Territory winter.

            While you may have dealt with the weather outside being frightful on December 25, did you ever live half under the ground?

            Buckskin Bride by Vickie McDonough introduces us to a capable but desperate young woman who is more comfortable in buckskin than calico. She and her sisters are squatters on land the hero won in the 1889 Oklahoma land run. The handsome Irish landowner is kind but dare she trust him when her father warned her to avoid all men? With Christmas approaching, her father missing, and young sister injured, will she and her sisters spend Christmas alone in their tipi?

            Have you ever spent Christmas in a tent?

            In The Gold Rush Christmas, Michelle Ule takes brother-sister twins and the boy-next-door to 1897 Skagway, Alaska where they meant to enjoy the season in the newly-constructed Union Church. Searching for a missionary father, however, lands them in a Tlingit cedar long house for a lesson in how to present the gospel in a way anyone could understand.

            Who can beat salmon for Christmas dinner, even if eaten off a plank?

            Interested in Christmas spent in novel ways, surprising settings, heroes and heroines filled with love and pluck? Why not try the nine stories found in A Pioneer Christmas Collection?

 

A Pioneer Christmas Collection Giveaway!

 

Comment below to enter. Every day that you leave a comment is a new entry. At the end of our 12 Days of Christmas Promotion, two winners will be chosen at random. First prize is a $50 gift certificate from Amazon.com. The second prize (but best in my opinion) is an autographed copy of A Pioneer Christmas Collection signed by all 9 Authors!  

 

Each day you have a new opportunity to enter! You may comment all you like, but only one entry per day will be counted.