Author Spotlight - Excerpt from "Nutured in Purple"

Thank you so much for supporting Jude during her Spotlight week. Leave a comment on today's post today, tomorrow and Sunday and I'll pull a random name out of the hat to receive their choice of either book one, "Joy Restored" or book 2, "Nutured in Purple" from Jude. Enjoy the Excerpt!

Moderator Steph

*****

Elizabeth had come to this planning meeting simply because her mother harped she never did anything at church. She didn’t want to be here at all. Planning a boxed supper auction wasn’t her idea of fun even if the proceeds did go to an orphanage mission project. Orphanage. No doubt the brainchild of one of the elder Orbins.

There sits Kate with her adorable new son. Her adorable son. Not mine.

Besides Kate, Winnie Orbin, Margie Craig, Myrt Rich, Nan Holden, Ermon Upchurch and a few other ladies Elizabeth didn't know at all clustered around the table in the church basement. Of course, Mama was there. She had insisted Elizabeth come.

These ladies were the doers of Chanute Community Church. Most had attended all their lives, as their parents before them.Well, maybe not Kate. She hadn't been here all her life. She was a foreigner. A foreigner melded to the most aristocratic of families. How had that happened? How? It shouldn't have happened.

Elizabeth took in the women, all well dressed, but she couldn’t help notice how her own Mama’s dress surpassed them all and how her rings glittered on her fingers. Mama still looked pretty good for her age.

Elizabeth absently twisted the large diamond on her own ring finger. The date was creeping closer and soon she’d be Mrs. Willard Wittenberg. Not what she had wanted, but she guessed it would do. Willard wasn’t all bad.

"Oh, Elizabeth, we’re glad Adeline brought you. We can sure use your help," Winnie Orbin said. "We’ll need several cakes and pies to auction and I wonder if you and your mother would bring your famous lemon pound cake for the auction?" She looked toward Adeline.

Adeline answered, "Winnie, we’d be glad to bring a lemon pound cake, won’t we, Elizabeth?" Her hand strayed to her silver hair, tucking in what didn’t need tucking. "It’ll be practice for us. We’re having lemon pound cake at Elizabeth’s wedding shower next week." She smiled.

Elizabeth did not feel the need to say anything. Mama, why do you always tell everything you know?

"That’s exciting. When is the wedding, Elizabeth?" Ermon Upchurch sat beside her.

"It’s in five weeks, during Fall Break at school. I have nearly everything done, just last minute things left, you know."

"Good for you, Elizabeth," Margie said, "I’ll soon be the only unmarried one in Chanute Crossing!" She laughed.

"Margie Craig, you’re single by choice, so let’s not hear any more about it, okay? Remember Bob was single a long time before I came from St. Louis to marry him."

"Nan, we all remember your arrival and how happy it made Bob," Winnie said, "but, ladies, right now, we’d best get back to planning. Our event is less than two weeks away."

Elizabeth watched Winnie quietly, yet efficiently organize and delegate until every detail was completed. Though she hadn’t wanted to, Elizabeth said yes to working behind the boxed supper booth.at the social.

Willard wouldn’t be too happy. He was hanging in there with the Men’s Bible Study, but she felt his frustration and sometimes anger with the group. Especially toward Seth, whose kindness Willard found hard to understand or accept. It made him suspicious. He wasn’t used to kindness. Never had been.

****

FIND JUDE AT:

http://www.judeurbanski.com
http://judeurbanski.blogspot.com
The Chronicles of Chanute Crossing
Joy Restored, November 2011
Nurtured in Purple, June 2012
Desert Breeze Publishing
http://about.me/judeurbanski

Author Spotlight - Jude Urbanski talks about attitude

What was my reason for writing these two books? What was my passion for doing so? Two good questions to ask before you dive into a novel, give up family time, sleep and a host of other things.

Francine Rivers, a favorite of mine, always asks a question as she ponders her beginning material for a book. Usually she says, it’s a ‘what if?’ query. She uses ‘what if’ to get creative juices going.

I find I use ‘I want readers to…’ as a starting point. I may not know what this want is, however, until I’m into the book. I confess to being not a pantster, nor a plotter, but probably lean toward the plotter side, as I do character sketches, think about biographies, and a quasi-outline before I start. Sounds plotter doesn’t it? Maybe.

In my current series, I wanted the reader to come away with hope. It’s no secret life has dry patches and my characters experience them. I wanted readers to gain understanding that the desert or the dry patches can birth abundant growth. Literally and figuratively, if one only looks.

Gail Delalney and Desert Breeze gave me a chance to put my passion out there. I had written a fair amount of nonfiction, but answering DBs call for submissions made a dream of mine come true. I am appreciative and thankful.

Before you dive off into your next book, consider your passion, your attitude and why you are writing it.


Find Jude at:
http://www.judeurbanski.com
http://judeurbanski.blogspot.com

Author Spotlight - Character Interview with Willard from Nutured in Purple

Great stories are driven by great characters. These great characters drive the plot of any great story; plot and characters are finely interwoven.

Get to know your characters intimately with character sketches, biographies or interviews. Take all the time needed to do this. Today, I’m interviewing handsome Willard Wittenberg, main character from Nurtured in Purple. I’d done sketches of Willard for book one, but couldn’t bring myself to like the man, much less love him. Book two changed my mind. Willard’s heart opened and I saw him as a good man needing grace.


JUDE: Willard, what are your fears?

WILLARD: I am afraid of losing Elizabeth. I am afraid, no I feel guilty, about what I did to Seth Orbin and his business.

JUDE: How do you handle frustration?

WILLARD: I flare up and say hateful things. Things have always gone my way and I don’t handle frustration well because of that.

JUDE: Is trust hard for you?

WILLARD: Very hard. Most people are out to get you. The only person I trust is Elizabeth and sometimes I’m not sure about her.

JUDE: What secrets do you have?



WILLARD: Not sure I want to say, but I’ve always felt insecure in my life and haven’t wanted people to know. I had an overpowering father, a successful brother and a needy mother and sister. My biggest secret is I was responsible for the fire in Seth Orbin’s sawmill.

JUDE: What bothers you right now?

WILLARD: This thing in the Men’s Bible Study I’m attending. They say God loves me completely. I can’t understand this, knowing myself as I do. I’m trying to figure this out, but it seems impossible God could love me.

JUDE: Do you wish anything was different?

WILARD: I wish my marriage was better. I wish Elizabeth truly loved me, wanted my child.


***
After this imaginary conversation with Willard, I understood him in fresh ways. Try an interview with your characters.

Find Jude at:
http://www.judeurbanski.com
http://judeurbanski.blogspot.com

Author Spotlight - Jude Urbanski talks about "setting"

Chanute Crossing, my fictional town in Nurtured in Purple, is based on the long-ago town of Chanute in Pickett County, Tennessee. That Chanute today is called a populated place, not really a town at all. To me, the Chanute of present day is more like a small, small village. There is a church, turned community center, a cemetery and several houses along the Highway 127, heading northeast out of Static, Tennessee, which is nearly as small as Chanute.

I chose this as my setting because I have a very soft spot in my heart for this place. My ancestors came west to settle in Chanute or its surrounding areas and lived there for generations. I was whisked away at a very early age, but know my roots began there. Also, I chose the setting because long ago, my now-deceased mother, wrote sweet, nostalgic love stories with the same setting. She had a fictional name for her town, which was Snow Mountain, but I know it was Chanute, in her mind.


Photo Credit: Wolf River Bridge by: Chad Laytham

Many people, especially sportsmen, are familiar with Dale Hollow Lake. This man-made lake is a ‘sportsman’s paradise’ says the advertising. Mainly for fishermen or those who love boating. I can say the lake, the hills and valleys of Pickett County are truly beautiful. Very serene.

Indians roamed the hills as their great hunting ground before white settlers came to this wilderness in 1760. The area later became home to a couple noted individuals—Sargent Alvin C. York of World War I fame and Cordell Hull, political statesman. Mark Twain passed through the area for a while, but less savory men, like bootleggers and Confederate gorilla-fighter, Champ Ferguson, made up a goodly number of inhabitants of long ago. Sad to say, my great grandfather ran with the Ferguson group.

The people of today are friendly, hospitable and maintain many, charming southern customs.



From the map it’s seen Pickett county lies in what used to be called Middle Tennessee, just on the north side of the state and slightly east. I’ve included some photos, some of which are directly related to my books.

Enjoy your tour through Chanute Crossing! Think of Willard and Elizabeth.

Find Jude at:
http://judeurbanski.blogspot.com/
http://www.judeurbanski.com/

Author Spotlight - Q&A with Jude Urbanski

STEPH: I don't know much about "Nurtured in Purple." What's it about?

JUDE: Nurtured in Purple is Book Two in The Chronicles of Chanute Crossing Series and the final book in the series. We follow the continued love story of now-married Kate and Seth, of Book One, as they struggle with the turmoil of Kate’s life-threatening pregnancy. But Willard and Elizabeth, who were the troublemakers in Joy Restored, are really the stars of Nurtured. It takes a long time though for these stars to shine bright, because they are still bent of seeking revenge against Kate and Seth. The book covers their ragged journey to faith.

STEPH: How long did it take you to write?

JUDE: Well, let’s see. I would say about six months of serious writing, which is a record maker for me. I’m usually more pokey, but a certain DB editor knows how to light those sparks! I couldn’t believe I did it.

STEPH: Did you have to do a lot of research for the novel?

JUDE: The setting is very familiar to me since I’ve been returning there for years to do genealogy research. My ancestors had lived there for generations. I continued making visits, interviewing local people, learning all I could about the flavor of the small towns in the area. I read about the famous Dale Hollow Lake there in Pickett County, Tennessee. I subscribed to the newspaper. Learned about sawmills. Sometimes it is easy to get lost in the fun of research and put off writing. LOL!

STEPH: How does the cover reflect the story within?



JUDE: When I look at the pink and purple colors of the cover, I feel enclosed in a peace and with a feeling of being comforted. My characters experience much that isn’t peace, but my aim was to bring them to a place of feeling ‘nurtured in purple’ because they are royalty to God. Interestingly, both covers are photos I’ve taken at Dale Hollow and I love them, but cover artist Gwen Pfifer really pulled it all together in a beautiful way.

STEPH: Elizabeth is the heroine. What are strengths? Weaknesses?

JUDE: In this second book, Elizabeth is the heroine. Kate becomes the secondary supporting character. Elizabeth’s strength of independence becomes her weakness, almost to the point of narcissism. Sad to say. Her world had always been self-centered.

STEPH: What does does Willard find appealing about the heroine?

JUDE: Willard, our hero, had always loved Elizabeth. Always. He said they were alike and he understood her. Perhaps Willard also loved himself a little too much, making it easy to understand Elizabeth. She broke his heart once, but he married her anyway. Elizabeth almost broke his heart again as her flame for Seth still flickered.

STEPH: What is the theme of the novel?



JUDE: I’d say the theme or goal of the series encourages us to know that with God, tragedies can be spun into triumphs. We all know life has dry patches, but God is always there to turn us into a well-watered garden, if we let Him.

STEPH: Where do you draw inspiration from?

JUDE: I draw a lot of inspiration from plain everyday life, which is so rich. Like many writers, I see my hero at Wal-Mart, build a story from one unexpected simple gesture I experience or witness. Movies and books provide inspiration for me, but times of quiet and solitude yield the most inspiration. All that aside, I also draw inspirations from writings groups and friends. We support and sustain one another.

STEPH: Do you have an ebook reader? If so, which one?

JUDE: I do have an eBook reader ( a gift from the kids) and I love my Kindle. I didn’t know I would enjoy it as much. It is just SO easy.

STEPH: Fun Question: Any summer vacation plans?

JUDE: Summer vacation? My best summer vacation is the one coming up and you’ll like this, Steph, being from New England. We’ve planned a week with our kids in Old Orchard Beach, Maine. Getting kids together is a feat as they live all over the country. So I’m looking forward to this time.

STEPH: Jude, I've been to Kennebunkport, Maine when I was young, but not to Old Orchard. I'd love a chance to go. Take pictures and share with us!