Mona Hodgson: Keeper of My Heart

Mona Hodgson is the author of nearly 40 books,

historical novels and novellas for adults and 

children’s books, including her popular Sinclair 

Sisters of Cripple Creek Series, The Quilted 

Heart novellas, and Prairie Song. Her children’s 

books include bestseller, Bedtime in the 

Southwest, Real Girls of the Bible: A 31-

Day Devotional, six desert and princess Zonderkidz I Can Read
books, six I Wonder books, and more. 


Keeper of My Heart: Novella in The Convenient Bride Collection

Neelie "Shott" is fighting to live down her deceased husband’s bad 

deeds. Fleeing Fort Kearney, she comes across a wagon train company, where she is reunited with the brother she thought had died in the Civil War. The caravan seems a good way to disappear and keep moving toward her future performing in a Wild West Show. That was before she unwittingly endeared herself to the Kamden youngsters. Ian Kamden's wife died on the operating table at Fort Kearney, leaving him to travel on with five children and his aging mother. Ian needs a wife, and Neelie decides having a husband could be convenient. The two wed, but the marriage starts out exceedingly inconvenient. What will it take for them to overcome past experiences and become a loving family?

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Erica Vetsch: A Bride for Bear

EVERYTHING WRITERLY welcomes author Erica Vetsch! 

Erica Vetsch is a transplanted Kansan now residing in Minnesota. She loves history and reading, and is blessed to be able to combine the two by writing historical fiction set in the American West. Whenever she’s not following flights of fancy in her fictional world, she’s the company bookkeeper for the family lumber business, mother of two terrific teens, wife to a man who is her total opposite and soul-mate, and avid museum patron.

Here is a short summary of Erica's novella A Bride for Bear which is featured in The Convenient Bride Collection.

Bear McCall is a Colorado mountain man who'd rather poke a grizzly in the eye than find a wife, but then a distant relative saddles him with three young girls he can't seem to rid himself of. Could Emmylou Paxton be the mother the girls need--and the one to soften Bear's craggy heart?

For more about Erica and a listing of all her books, see her blog site:

Erica Vetsch - Faith, Love, & History-Ever-After

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Christina Linstrot Miller: Character Identification

God wastes nothing—even our hard time.

My husband, Jan, and I have been in the ministry for twenty-eight years. When Andrea included a ministry couple in our story, I wanted to bring the pastor’s wife, Estelle, to life. I painted her as a childless woman, like myself, who dedicated her life to helping her husband succeed in ministry. 

But as I got to know Estelle’s quirkiness and gentle heart, I suddenly realized that she had a painful past.

In an instant, I traveled back in time to the day the Lord called Jan and me to a tiny, struggling church. One that had been hurt badly by a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.” 

Like Estelle and Robert, my husband and I worked, prayed, loved, visited, served. But the church simply would not grow. 

Jan and I wondered if maybe we were out of God’s will. Maybe we were doing something wrong. Or, worse, maybe we harbored some secret sin and didn’t realize it. But I eventually realized that wounds take time to heal. We began to see slow progress.

Our character Estelle fought the same battle. So I wrote a few paragraphs based on our experience, crying the same tears Estelle and Leah cried in the novella Andrea and I wrote together.

Christina Linstrot Miller,
coauthor of
"One Way to the Altar"

Pouring my heart into those lines was hard but healing. Maybe another pastor’s wife would read them and discover she wasn’t alone. Some church member might begin to understand how much pain comes with ministry and would begin to love her pastor’s wife, be a friend to her.

Thank You, God, for redeeming my difficult time.

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Hot Off the Press: One Way to the Altar

The Convenient Bride Collection, featuring One Way to the Altar, a novella written with debut author Christina Linstrot Miller, was released yesterday by Barbour Publishing. The book is now available for purchase!

So why Montana?

Years ago, when I wrote my novel Threads of Love, I became interested in the southeastern part of Montana. The Badlands intrigued me and the Yellowstone River added a measure of romance to the area. This was the land of Little Big Horn and General Custer’s Last Stand. I spent many hours researching the towns on the old Northern Pacific Railroad line, and used a book titled, Photographing Montana 1894-1928: The Life and Work of Evelyn Cameron. So when the call came out for novellas featuring marriages of convenience, I chose to create a fictitious town near Fallon and Terry. The pretend town in my story is called “One Way” because there’s just one way in and one way out…unless a person has a mind to swim.

Other authors in The Convenient Bride Collection are: Erica Vetsch, Amanda Barratt, Mona Hodgson, Melissa Jagears, Maureen Lang, Gabrielle Meyer, Jennifer Uhlarik, and Renee Yancy.

Co-authoring Experience

Co-authoring always has its challenges. Writing One Way to the Altar was no exception. As a pastor's wife, editor and writer, Christy has a full plate...and, as a wife, mom, author with other contracts and attending college, so do I! Whew! We live in a busy, busy world. However, with God's help, Christy and I overcame the obstacles. A unique voice developed, a combination of both our writing styles, and a beautiful story emerged. I'd like to think my friendship with Christy is stronger today because of our co-authoring experience.

Beginning soon!

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