Author interview: Judith Rolfs

This week we have a special treat! Author Judith Rolfs has been published in every genre. As an author and professional marriage and family counselor, Judith focuses on motivating people to live their best lives - emotionally, physically and spiritually. In her thirties, she researched the complexity of the natural world and moved from agnosticism to faith in God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Today, she talks about her latest novel, Never Tomorrow.

Tell our readers about your new mystery novel Never Tomorrow.

Thanks for asking. It’s like having a new baby - I welcome a chance to talk about Never Tomorrow after literally years in the writing. This is a powerful murder mystery, plus more - a psychological thriller that probes the marriage relationship, infidelity and forgiveness. I use my insights and experiences as a psychotherapist for three decades to instill deep emotions in my characters– the grieving, the loves, and the deep joys, that we all experience in real life. These are integrated with a compelling murder mystery.

This is your seventeenth book but only your third mystery novel. Tell us about your switch to fiction from non-fiction.

My previous books were how-to books about marriage and parenting and family issues, also a devotional and a teen book. Mysteries are a huge change. They are much more difficult to write, but seem to have a greater impact on readers.

Which leads to my next question. I understand your slogan is Mysteries With A Message. Explain please.

My mysteries center on real life family issues while keeping the suspense steaming. Directive 99, my first self- suspense novel is about conflict between a woman’s career vs. family priorities. She makes major life changes when her husband is kidnapped. My next mystery novel Bullet in the Night with Prism Books is about genuine rehabilitation leading to life change and the value of nurturing friendships. I want readers to have a takeaway to ponder that can help them face situations in their own lives with more wisdom and confidence.

Tell us about where you like to write and a bit about your process.

My favorite writing places are my cottage in the woods in Fontana-on-Geneva Lake and a winter beach condo we rent in Venice, FL. I need solitude to create the story and develop my characters, but then I love to edit in coffee shops where I’m immersed in the energy of people. Relationships have always been fascinating to me, which is why I became a psychotherapist. Of course it’s helpful as an author to develop well-rounded characters. I also love to travel. In fact, Never Tomorrow starts out in Ballybunion, Ireland which I researched during a three-week trip there.

How and when did your writing career begin?

My writing career began at age ten creating stories for neighborhood children. I wrote newspaper editorials in high school, and was part of the Superior Student program at Marquette University, which published me in their literary journal. I love everything about writing especially contact with readers and other authors who are so gracious! I recently met Pat Gussin, New York Times Best Selling Author of After the Fall and she offered to read Never Tomorrow prior to publication. She blessed me with an amazing review: “Layer upon layer of intrigue—laced with murder–propels this novel to the pinnacle of suspense. An ingenious plot, dynamic and complex characters, and an insight into the troubled avenues of human behavior rarely exposed make NEVER TOMORROW a stand-out for readers of mysteries, thrillers, and suspense.”

In closing, where can we find your new book baby?

Never Tomorrow is available through Prism Book Group, on Amazon and Barnes & Noble and through local libraries. If it’s not at the local library I hope readers will request it. Thank you for featuring me on your blog. It’s been a pleasure.

Visit Judith at http://judithrolfs.com/Dr._Judith_Rolfs/Home.html

 

A compelling mystery with a powerful theme of forgiveness and healing...

Journalist Whitney Barnes investigates the mysterious death of her mother and three women from Cortland City seeking the thread that links them to an enigmatic killer. Why are women being murdered with no apparent motives for their death? Police are mystified at the lack of clues and a growing sense of fear surrounds the community. Who will be the next victim?

Determined to find the killer, Whitney discovers these women were dealing with wounds from their troubling pasts, but what was their connection? She

teams up with Dr. Sarah Stevens, an expert on women's issues, to ferret out information while TV talk show host Rich and real estate broker Jordan vie for Whitney's affection.

Whitney discovers new strength within her, but is it powerful enough to cope with this dark force of evil? Suspense escalates as Whitney becomes the killer's next target.

Friendship Month: A Friend Who Refreshes

by Kolleen Lucariello

As we flip our calendars from August, ushering in September, we say farewell to our summer vacations and hello to the season of back-to-school, cooler temperatures of fall and one of the highlights of our home: football. Here’s another bonus of September: it’s also Women’s Friendship Month and I love the gift of friendship!

Recently I was reading in Acts about Paul and how difficult life had become for him. He was beaten, bound with chains, accused by the Jews, imprisoned, taken before councils and Rulers, and then eventually sent to Rome. I imagine by the time Paul boarded the ship to begin his journey to Rome he was a tired man; he’d endured a great deal. As I’m feeling bad for him, this verse jumps out at me: “The next day we landed at Sidon; and Julius, treating Paul with [thoughtful] consideration, allowed him to go to his friends there and be cared for and refreshed” (Acts 27:3 AMP).

I simply adore the fact Julius, the guard in charge, thought enough of Paul to recognize he needed the care and refreshment of his friends. That part of the story just blesses my heart because I’m so grateful for those who recognized when I needed the care and refreshment only a faithful friend could bring. While my journey, or your journey, may never look like Paul’s, it’s still possible for imprisonment to find us.

We might endure a prison of darkness when depression covers us like a thick heavy blanket. Or chained to a past we can’t seem to move away from. We may find ourselves standing before accusers—relentless in voicing their opinions while refusing to hear ours. Life is full of moments when the waters can become a turbulent sea.

That’s when we need our own Julius, the guard in our lives, to recognize our need for care and refreshment. Who is traveling your journey with you? Who is your guard in life that notices when you’re about to break? Who reaches out when you begin drifting away? We all need a guard like Julius, someone willing to stand by us, giving thoughtful consideration to our needs. And we all crave friends who bring care and refreshment to our lives. Proverbs 11:25b promises, “Whoever refreshes others will be refreshed” (NIV).

Guarding and Caring always brings:

R-Refreshing.

~+~

Kolleen Lucariello is the author of The ABC’s of Who God Says I Am. Read her heart at www.speakkolleen.com. She has been married to her high school sweetheart, Pat, for 34 years. Together they have three grown children, and four beautiful grandchildren. They make their home in Upstate New York.




Leave a comment on every Chirp 'N Chatter Friendship post in September for a chance to win the fantastic virtual gift basket! (See the 09/01/2016 Gift Basket post.)

Friendship Month: Forever Friends

by Gail Kittleson

Those friendships that last and last, unstained and unstrained by the decades, mean so much to us. A woman I know in her nineties cherishes two of these relationships from far in the past. She and four or five other girls grew up together in a tiny Iowa town and remained forever friends. One by one, these women pass from this world, but their memory lives on in the friends they leave behind.

What has held them together in spite of long absences, illness, marriage (and broken marriages)? I think it’s that oft-used phrase coined by Anne of Green Gables. They’re kindred spirits. Most of us recognize that unique bond, and long for it to be repeated often throughout our lives as we meet people. Because kindred spirits are very difficult to tear asunder.

Come what may, we stick together. So many types of relating have opened up to us, with the world becoming smaller and smaller. Possibilities to make acquaintances, almost-friends and true comrades abound. Sometimes, though, circumstances and attitudes stand in the way. After six decades of relating with people, I believe that true friendship qualifies as a modern-day miracle. Willa Cather wrote, Where there is great love there are always miracles.

Ah, yes. Thinking about lasting friendships brings two of my characters to mind. Addie Bledsoe and Kate Isaacs, friends from elementary school on, lived in the World War II era, a time when many lost dear friends and loved ones to the war.

Perhaps that fact heightened their commitment to one another, but Addie, a young Iowa farm wife whose husband didn’t like Kate at all, stuck to their friendship when Kate boarded a Red Cross ship to search for her husband in England. An RAF pilot, he was downed in a crash and taken to an undisclosed location in London, so Kate determined to find him.

She made a pact to correspond with Addie, who had her own battles to fight with her cantankerous husband Harold on their Iowa farm. These two fast friends’ letters back and forth across the Atlantic bound them together even more powerfully, testifying to the incredible efficacy of the written word.

Both girls maintained a Christian worldview, although life’s trials and the war certainly caused them to question things. But having a trusted pal with whom to share their questions made all the difference in the world.

One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24, New Living Translation

  Addie and Kate’s friendship certainly proved this scripture. Their story is told in In Times Like These and released in April of 2016. Their mutual commitment stood the test of time, so much so that it required a couple of sequels, one of which releases next February with Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas.

  Here’s to faithful alliances that endure!

About Gail Kittleson:

Late blooming women's fiction author Gail Kittleson writes mostly WWII stories of overcoming fear and finding one's voice. She and her husband enjoy family in northern Iowa and the Arizona Ponderosa pine forest in winter. Gail taught college expository writing and facilitates memoir writing and fiction workshops.


Leave a comment on every Chirp 'N Chatter Friendship post in September for a chance to win the fantastic virtual gift basket! (See the 09/01/2016 Gift Basket post.)

Self-Imposed Deadlines (Leeann Betts)

(A Writing Tips Post)

There is something intimidating about deadlines. When you first sign that contract or make that agreement to have your book in your publisher’s hands six months from now, that seems like a long time. Sure, you can take a week off and celebrate. And another week to do some research. Then one of the kids gets the mumps. And another.

And before you know it, it’s April 2nd and your book is due April 25th.
 
What do you do? Panic!

But what about if you’re not under an official contract? You don’t have a publisher breathing down your neck, waiting for your book. You have all the time in the world, right?

No. You don’t.

If you are a writer, then you must write. And if you’re a writer, you must be writing for someone other than yourself. At the very least, as a Christian writer, you are writing for God. And even if He is the only One who ever sees what you’re writing, He has an expectation that at some point, you’ll be ready to move on to the next project.

Failing to set a finish date sets you up to fail.

So even if you’re not under someone else’s deadline, you should be under one of your own.
How can you stick to that date?

• Make up some business cards with the cover on it and the release date.
• Tell other people.
• Spread the news on social media.
• Write it on a calendar in ink.
• Keep a picture of the cover in front of you with the release date written on it.
• Schedule time to accomplish the work by the date you say.

 
What happens when life gets in the way?

You might need to put aside something else in your life so you can meet your personal deadline. That’s right.

• Get up 30 minutes earlier.
• Go to bed 30 minutes later.
• Skip your lunch hour and write.
• Skip television one or two or three nights a week.
• Take your laptop when you go to an appointment and work while you’re waiting.
• Tell your family what your goal is, and ask them to help you meet that goal

 
Self-Imposed deadlines might not be about finishing a book. Maybe you’ve spent way too much time on research but you can’t tear yourself away. So set a deadline. Two more days and then you’re done. You might be pleasantly surprised at how much you get done in the next two days.

Maybe you’re spending too much time re-writing. Face it—ten years is too long. One year is probably too long. Repeat after me: It will never be perfect.

And that’s because you are learning as you go. You will continue to learn. You want to put out the best product possible, but not getting the book done isn’t going to help anybody. Let it go. Or pay someone else to re-write for you.

What kinds of deadlines do you give yourself?
 

Leeann Betts writes contemporary suspense, while her real-life persona, Donna Schlachter, pens historical suspense. No Accounting for Murder and There Was a Crooked Man, books 1 and 2 in her By the Numbers series, released in the fall of 2015 Book 3,Unbalanced, released in January. Book 4, Five and Twenty Blackbirds, is due in April, with more planned for later dates. If you like accountants or are an accountant, check out Counting the Days: a 31-day devotional for accountants, bookkeepers, and financial folk. Leeann and Donna have penned a book on writing,Nuggets of Writing Gold, and Donna has published a book of short stories, Second Chances and Second Cups. You can follow Leeann atwww.AllBettsAreOff.wordpress.com and Donna atwww.HiStoryThruTheAges.wordpress.com. All books are available at Amazon.com in digital and print, and at Smashwords.com in digital.