Welcome! Today I’m tickled to bring back my good friend Shannon Taylor Vannatter! There is a giveaway – and that’s no April Fool’s joke!
Greetings from semi-self-isolation!
I’ve counted. Except for about 3 trips to the grocery store and the pharmacy (where everyone was very careful to keep their distance from everyone else!), I’ve been around a total of about 12 people since this started. I’ve face-timed with my daughter and son-in-law in Brooklyn, NY, Zoomed with my sister in Indiana, and texted a lot!
The husband and youngest are working from home, and I’m doing what I normally do – but I don’t have as much planned outside of the house! It’s a little strange, isn’t it?
The upside is, there’s more time than ever to read that book you’ve been meaning to read, or in my case, WRITE the one for which I have a deadline!
If you’d like to pick up a great book at Walmart when you go to pick up the necessities of life, my good friend, Shannon Taylor Vannatter, has one that will only be on the shelves for a couple more weeks (until mid-April!)!!
Comment on this post, and you may WIN one!!
Interview with Shannon
Welcome, Shannon!!
Do you look upon writing as a “calling?”
Yes. My mantra is: Love doesn’t make the world go around, Jesus does. I try to show in my books that love isn’t enough, that marriage needs to have God in the center of it. Every time I’ve tried to quit or thought I needed to get a normal job, God opened doors to new opportunities. So I’ll write as long as He wants me to.
I know what you mean. I never set out to be an author, but each time I think I’m not good enough, or that it’s too hard, another opportunity comes my way!
Salad or Sandwich?
Either one. Especially in the summer. I hate being hot and in the summer, to me, it gets too hot to eat. That’s when I love cold sandwiches or salads. But if I’m making a meal out of salad, I like some time of meat in it, even if it’s just deli-sliced ham torn up in strips.
Definitely! I’m a sandwich girl, but I make myself eat salads for the health-factor as much as possible!
What is your favorite movie and why?
“While You Were Sleeping.” It’s funny and sweet and I fell for the hero right along with the heroine, even though I usually go for the dark-haired guys. I also love “Seven Year Hitch,” a Hallmark movie. For the same reason, it’s funny and sweet. The hero doesn’t do very well at adulting, but they still made me fall for him. And I love the whole friends-to-romance genre.
Me, too!! I looked at one of those “five movies you watch over and over again” facebook things, and I think all five of mine were that kind of movie!
A lot of interviewers ask for your favorite book. That’s just not fair! What has been the most recent book you’ve read that excited you or moved you in some way? Why?
I have two and it’s been a while since I read them. “My Stubborn Heart” by Becky Wade. I loved the way she prayed about the guy she was in love with. “Can I have him, God?” “No.”
The other one, I can’t remember which one it was, but it was by Denise Hunter. Her character realized that all she needed was God and that love was just the icing on the cake God had already given her.
I’ve only recently discovered Becky Wade’s books, and I love her writing! When you think of the Denise Hunter one, let me know! 😉
Is there someone, alive or dead, who had a major influence on your writing life, or on your life in general?
Peggy Sterling. I used to work with her, but she moved. I’d been writing and submitting for two years. I’d gotten a very badly written print on demand book published and thought I was going places. It sold seventy-eight copies. Peggy’s sister-in-law was Catherine Palmer, who writes Christian Romance. Peggy was unpublished like me, but she told me I should join a writer’s group and attend conferences. I’d heard of such things but always thought, why learn about writing when I can just write? But after the dismal success of my sad little book, I decided there was something to it. Peggy went with me to my first group meeting at my first conference. I realized I knew nothing and started attending everything I could find hoping to learn something.
We all need a “Peggy” in our lives! I have so many of those people that I know God put in place just when I needed them!
Last question: If you were on a deserted island with a laptop and no wifi, what are two programs or apps you would have to have on your computer?
Just give me Word and I’d be happy. But not the newest version, I don’t like learning new techie things.
Haha!!! I agree, although I think I enjoy tech a little more than you do! 😉 I’m using the 2013 version of Word, and when I was at the library had to learn the newest version. I thought I’d never find the PRINT button! LOL! But if you can write stories, you can entertain yourself by writing AND by reading your own stories!
If you’d like to read last year’s interview with Shannon Taylor Vannatter, you may find it HERE!
Shannon’s newest release!
Hill Country Redemption
This cowboy has one more chance to make it right…
He already lost her once…
Now he’s fighting for her—and their daughter.
When Rance Shepherd takes a job stocking cattle for a local rodeo, he’s shocked that his new client is his ex-sweetheart, Larae Collins. Now he’s determined to prove to the single mother that he isn’t the restless cowboy she remembers. But when he discovers her little girl is his, they both must forgive past mistakes for a second shot at a future together.
You can find Hill Country Redemption at Walmart until mid-April, or order from these links!
Hill Country Redemption – Amazon
Hill Country Redemption – BarnesandNoble
About Shannon Taylor Vannatter
Award-winning author, Shannon Taylor Vannatter writes contemporary Christian cowboy romance and has over a dozen published titles. A romance reader since her teens, she hopes to entertain Christian women and plant seeds in the non-believer’s heart as she demonstrates that love doesn’t conquer all—Jesus does.
She gleans fodder for her fiction in rural Arkansas where she spent her teenage summers working the concession stand with her rodeo announcing dad and married a Texan who morphed into a pastor. In her spare time, she loves hanging out with her husband and son, flea marketing, and doing craft projects.
Here’s a pic of the 2010 ACFW conference in Indianapolis, IN. I had never met either Shannon and Linda Fulkerson (in the pink jacket) in person, but we were on a blog together at the time. We met at my sister’s house in Louisville (they were coming from Arkansas) and I rode with them the rest of the way to Indy. They turned out to be two wonderful friends – and not ax-murderers! LOL!
Pictured: Top row: Brenda Anderson, Shannon Vannatter, Lorna Seilstad, Linda Fulkerson. Bottom row: Dawn Ford, Kimberly Payne, and me!
Connect with Shannon!
Shannon’s Website, Shannon’s Blog, Shannon’s Facebook, Shannon’s Goodreads, Shannon’s Pinterest, Shannon’s Twitter, and Shannon’s Amazon Author Page.
Sign up for her Newsletter to get a free e-book, recipes, behind the scenes info, & enter exclusive giveaways: Shannon’s Newsletter
I’ve loved having Shannon Vannatter for my guest this week! Don’t forget – comment on this post for a chance to win a copy of Hill Country Redemption!! Don’t miss this opportunity!
Tell me ONE POSITIVE THING that you can think of from these days of isolation!
Happy Wednesday,
get closer with God and my daughter(keeping our social distance)
Amen! It’s been nice to slow down, somewhat! Thanks for commenting, Shelia!
Hey Shelia, I think everyone’s definitely have family time. Our son was supposed to graduate May 3rd. Now he’s been out of school since March 16th. He has one more algebra paper to turn in and they’ll mail his diploma. They’ve tentatively schedule the graduation ceremony for August.
Thanks for having me Regina.
It’s always a pleasure!!
I got to see the tiny buds on my rosebush 🌹 and had 3 purple Iris bloomed! A walk around my back yard was great.
My mom has lots of flowers in her yard, Regina. I lived in a house once where there were flowerbeds everywhere. I tended them one year. The next I mowed them down. I don’t have the patience or time for pulling weeds. I have flowering trees and bushes in my yard – a redbud and an althea bush. If you can’t mow around it, it can’t stay is my motto.
More reading time 🙂 And like Shelia said, more opportunities to get closer to God. For me, more focused prayer too for my family, church family & friends. It’s a trying time, I can’t do this without the Lord’s strength!
Isn’t it great to know we don’t have to? Thanks, Trixi!
Hey Trixi, we had a lawn chair service last week. Everyone brought their lawn chairs and each household stayed six feet apart. It was weird, since we’re a hugging congregation. But at least we got to hear a sermon together and visit from a distance.
Feeling closer to God.
That’s true Linda. I’ve been praying more.
My husband is working from home, so I get to see him a lot more!
We have Zoom church prayer every day! One in Spirit <3
My husband is home too, Lisa. He’s a pastor so he’s not doing his usual visiting and checking on people, except by phone. The only problem is I have a book deadline, so I’m still trying to work and he’s at loose ends. So far, he cleaned out the junk room and the shed though.
That’s cool, Natalya. We got several prayer loops going by phone and social media.