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Step Into The Light Blog Talk Radio

Is where we introduce listeners to people who have found their way out of the dark shadows of life and back to light and those who lead others on their journey from darkness to light.

STEP INTO THE LIGHT

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To find “more information” about current podcast guests, go to https://pattishene.com/stepintothelightradioshow

Patti’s Blogs; Patti’s Porch & The Over Fifty Writer; Podcast Step Into the Light

Meet seasoned authors, learn about new books and find inspiration to help you along your journey. No matter how far you’ve come or where you are going, I’d be honored to travel with you. If you like what you see, please subscribe to avoid missing updates.

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Step Into the Light Blog Talk Radio Show

Latest Show

2021-05-04
Episode #146 - Featuring Carol McClain

Author Carol McClain writes about redemption of the unredeemable, but no matter how intense the message, she slides a good slice of humor into her stories. Her creative talent goes well beyond the penning and publishing of four novels. She works with stained glass and pottery as well as words. Carol talks about creativity, redemption, God, and goats. That's right - goats!

Recent Shows

2021-04-27
Episode #145 - Featuring TUESDAY TREASURE Zarinah Lomax

2021-04-20
Episode #144 - Featuring Lindsay Moore & Gina Abbey

2021-04-13
Episode #143 - Featuring Terry Whalin

2021-04-06
Episode #142 - Featuring Ellen Fannon

Recent Posts

PERSEVERE, REPEAT by Ronda Wells
4/28/2021 11:30:00 AM BY Patti Shene

IT IS MY PLEASURE TO WELCOME AUTHOR RONDA WELLS TO THE OVER 50 WRITER. RONDA SHARES HOW TIME, A PROFESSIONAL CAREER, AND FAMILY HISTORY HAVE FUELED HER DETERMINATION TO PURSUE WRITING SUCCESS.

PERSEVERE, REPEAT

Ronda Wells

Everyone says time slips by faster as you age, and it’s true. When my daughter was in preschool, I eagerly sat down and wrote an inspirational romance novel. She turns thirty next week. Gulp. And I remain unpublished.

I actually got “The Call” first time out for my second novel, but then the Big Pause arrived. (LOL not menopause). The rewrite of my medical thriller was rejected. I then had six major surgeries in the next seven years. Followed by a fifteen-year hiatus to care for elderly family members, sometimes three at once. My record was one in the hospital, one recovering in acute rehab and one in the ER.

Hubby and I both worked as physicians, him at a clinic and me from home. (God does see decades ahead – who knew hubby would have to retire, and I would become the pandemic breadwinner?) We had two talented kids in a ton of school activities, and I barely had time to breathe, much less teach Bible school and pray.

But I could not stop writing. Fits and spurts, whatever took my fancy, including taking extensive notes about my mom’s lost childhood growing up an orphan in Appalachia. I didn’t pressure myself to get published. I couldn’t meet a deadline if I wanted to. I attended conferences, met with friends new & old, and tucked those manuscripts away. And helped other ACFW writers with their medical scenes when I could.

Fast forward to age sixty-three, still unpublished but now, I’ve simply nothing to lose! I got real and set up a website (hint: start sooner) and began a medical info for writers blog, Rx For Writers. I rewrote and updated that western contemporary inspy romance, submitted to Hallmark, got rejected, submitted again, got a slow-rejection (still a positive story) and tried a third time. I am now one stroke away. The editor loves it, asked for revisions, and I just sent it back on a wing and definite prayer. The memoir has been entered in a Christian writers’ contest.

My advice? Persevere. Don’t hold back. If you have a memoir/NF in you, do the research even if you can’t write it just yet. That might take twenty years, but when you finally tear into it, your quest to find the truth about your family may turn into a shocking but good memoir.

So now it’s a race to the finish between Harvest of Hope and Troublesome Creek: Deliverance from Darkness. I can’t wait to see if one wins, although secretly, I’m hoping for a photo-finish.

Doctor by day, writer by night—Dr. Ronda Wells is an award-winning author who has written inspirational fiction for over twenty-five years. A lifelong Hoosier, she seeks to write stories that illustrate extraordinary faith among the conflicts of ordinary life, and her favorite place as a child was her grandfather’s farm. When not writing, she loves to travel, scrapbook, research genealogy, and devise methods to chase deer away from her back yard hostas. Contact her at:

email: [email protected]

Website: www.rondawellsbooks.com

Twitter: @rondawellsbooks

Linked In: www.linkedin.com/in/rondawellsbooks

MeWe: www.mewe.com/i/rondawells4

Instagram: @rondawellsbooks

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ronda.wells2

SUBSCRIBE TO PATTI’S BLOGS HERE.

GIVING THE WOMAN AT THE WELL A STORY by Allison Wells
4/24/2021 1:05:00 AM BY Patti Shene

FEATURED BOOK: Living Water

AUTHOR: Allison Wells

PUBLISHER: Monster Ivy Publishing

GENRE: Christian Fiction

SERIES OR STAND ALONE: Stand Alone

TARGET AGE: 18+

IT IS MY PLEASURE TO WELCOME AUTHOR ALLISON WELLS TO PATTI’S PORCH. ALLISON SHARES HOW A WELL-KNOWN BIBLE STORY INSPIRED HER LATEST NOVEL.

ALLISON IS OFFERING A GIVEAWAY! SIMPLY LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW TO ENTER THE DRAWING FOR AN EBOOK COPY OF LIVING WATER.

GIVING THE WOMAN AT THE WELL A STORY

Allison Wells

I have been intrigued by the Woman at the Well from John 4 for years. Who was she? We never learn her name (as a name nerd, this is truly a travesty). Why had she married five times? Was she widowed several times? Had she been a harlot? Did she ever have children? Whatever it was - she was shunned from polite society.

In Christ’s time, going to the well was a social time for the women of town. They would walk together, discuss recipes, swap gossip, enjoy fellowship. They went early in the day to avoid the heat. But we have our dear outcast coming to the well at noon, in the heat of the day. And she’s alone. She was not welcome by the other women of the village or she was avoiding them.

But God had a purpose here. Our mystery woman meets Jesus at that well, all alone. In their exchange she realizes He is the true Messiah. This woman - a social pariah - leaves her water jug and runs back to the town to tell the people that she has met the Messiah. I love this vision of her. She doesn’t walk, or meander. She RUNS.

The woman left her water jar and ran back into town. She said to the people, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! Could he be the Messiah?” Everyone in town went out to see Jesus. - John 4: 28-30 CEV

I decided to write her story, a modern version. Roxie is the daughter of a public figure in a family who loves the limelight. Everyone, that is, except for her. She just wants to be seen and loved for who she is. When her family doesn’t offer that and a young musician does, she marries him.

Puppy love doesn’t last, sadly, and Roxie learns that the hard way. After an annulment, she marries again. And again, and again. And again. Five husbands slip through her arms and Roxie is left wondering where she went so wrong.

It’s only when she discovers a relationship with God that she can turn her life around. She had been introduced to him many times throughout her life, but Roxie never put her trust in Him until after she lost everything. And just like the Woman at the Well, Roxie finds her voice in sharing about how she found Christ to those who had once laughed in her face.

No life is easy. We all have struggles. We all face demons at some point or another. And just because we go to church or believe in God doesn’t mean we are exempt from the pain that life can often inflict. I strive to portray this in my writing, letting readers know that while life and the people in it aren’t perfect, we serve a mighty God who surely is.

Back Cover Blurb for Living Water:

As the lackluster youngest daughter of a U.S. Senator, Roxie DePrive spends her life thirsting for one thing: to be loved unconditionally.

So, when her first boyfriend turns into her first marriage, Roxie’s life undergoes a drastic change. And when that first marriage doesn’t work out, she marries again.

And again.

Until Roxie marries five times.

The first marriage is puppy love, then dangerous love, convenient love, wishful love, and one that might possibly be the real deal.

And yet, none of the men she marries can quench the thirst she feels in her heart. It’s only when she meets a man who knows her entire life and all her mistakes that Roxie learns the power of something else—the deep and abiding peace of Living Water.

A modern retelling of the Woman at the Well in the New Testament, Living Water shows us that no matter our past, it’s God’s love that truly quenches the thirst of our souls.

DON’T FORGET TO LEAVE A COMMENT TO BE PLACED IN THE DRAWING TO WIN AN EBOOK COPY OF LIVING WATER BETWEEN NOW AND TUESDAY, MAY 4^TH AT MIDNIGHT MDT.

BY LEAVING A COMMENT, YOU GRANT PERMISSION FOR YOUR EMAIL TO BE REVEALED TO THE AUTHOR IF YOU ARE THE WINNER TO FACILITATE RECEIPT OF YOUR BOOK.

Allison Wells is a graduate of Clemson University. She is a wife, mother of four blessings, and loyal friend. She became a believer at the age of sixteen and never looked back. Allison s motto is Life is short, eat the Oreos. Connect with Allison:

Website www.allisonwellswrites.com

Facebook facebook.com/allisonwellswrites

Instagram instagram.com/whatallisonsaid

“WRITING” THE WIND OF GOD’S CALL by Patrick E. Craig
4/14/2021 1:10:00 AM BY Patti Shene

FEATURED BOOK: The Gettysburg Letter

AUTHOR: Patrick E. Craig

PUBLISHER: P&J Publishing

GENRE: Historical Romance / Ghost Story

STAND ALONE OR SERIES: Stand Alone

TARGET AGE: General Trade

IT IS MY PLEASURE TO WELCOME AUTHOR PATRICK E. CRAIG TO THE OVER 50 WRITER.PATRICK SHARES HOW HE LEARNED THAT GOD HAS A PLAN FOR EVERYONE, EVEN IF IT TAKES A LIFETIME TO DISCOVER WHAT IT IS.

PATRICK IS OFFERING A GIVEAWAY! SIMPLY LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW TO ENTER THE DRAWING FOR A PRINT COPY OF THE GETTYSBURG LETTER. PATRICK IS AWARDING TWO WINNERS!

“WRITING” THE WIND OF GOD’S CALL

Patrick E. Craig

When I was seven years old, I published my first story. It was a small piece titled, “What I did this summer,” and my second grade teacher liked it so much she gave it to the school newspaper to publish. When my family and friends read it, I got such great feedback that I decided that writing might be something I could do. So from then on I got involved in every opportunity to write that my schools offered. I ended up being the editor of the school paper in grade school, middle school and high school. I won several literary contests and even published a column in my local paper.

But my interests also included music and I loved playing in bands. By the time I graduated high school I had shifted my interest from journalism to becoming a professional musician and for the next twenty years, I pursued that career. Then in 1984 I ran head-on into the Creator God of the Universe and discovered that being a Rock and Roll band guy was not exactly what God had in mind for me. I went to Bible College and a few years later I was in ministry, leading worship and pastoring in several churches. That lasted another twenty years.

I loved ministry, I loved music, but deep in my heart I had a dream—I wanted to write novels. I always loved Zane Grey and other action writers when I was a kid and I had every hardy Boys book that was ever written. So in 2007, at the age of 60, I attended my first writer’s conference. I was lucky because I lived a two-hour drive from Santa Cruz and I was able to drive down to Mt. Hermon. I walked in there totally unencumbered by any information about what it took to write a book, get an agent, get a publisher or any other facts about the publishing industry.

That first year I took an idea for a YA mystery series somewhat like the Hardy Boys, but with some Frank Peretti mixed in. I got some smiles and some encouragement but no bites. I did however meet a lot of great people, many of whom are still my friends. I went back for a couple of years, still kind of wondering what I wanted to write. Then, in 2010, I discovered that Amish books were the best-selling genre in Christian literature. At the same time I got a request for a one-sheet, a story idea, from an editor who loved Amish and quilting stories. I submitted an idea titled “A Quilt For Jenna” about a little girl lost in a terrible snowstorm that is rescued by an Amish woman who has lost her own little girl to sickness. Much to my surprise, the editor loved the idea and asked me to for sample chapters. At the same time, an agent who I had given the sample to for critique told me he loved the story and could I make it into a novel.

This is how green I was. I didn’t know how many words were in a novel. When he told me 80,000 to 90,00 I swallowed hard and said, “Yes, I can do that.” Then he asked me if I could write two more books after that to make a series. I swallowed hard again and said, “Yes, I can do that.” I went home from the conference and wrote the book. I knew nothing about the Amish, so Pastor Google was a huge help. I also connected with some Amish writers who were a great help. I submitted it to the editor and the agent in August and by October I had a contract with Harvest House for three Amish books.

Since then I have published three more Amish books and been part of two Amish anthologies. Harlequin bought one of my Amish books and sold it in Walmart for two years.

I discovered Indie Publishing and have been putting out more books. I started writing novels in 2010 at the age of 63 and since then have published 15 books, including two of my YA supernatural mysteries. I sell books every day on Amazon and Draft2Digital and have five of six books in the works. One of my anthologies is a finalist for the Selah Awards and my Amish book, The Mennonite Queen, is a semi-finalist for the CIBA award in historical fiction. My latest book, The Gettysburg Letter, was just published a week ago and I have another, The Scepter And The Isle, co-written with Murray Pura, coming out in two weeks.

So, I guess the point of all this is, God does have a plan for you. Sometimes it takes your whole life to figure it out and sometimes you fall right into it as a kid. What I know is this: if God comes knocking on your door don’t answer the phone, open the door.

Blurb for The Gettysburg Letters

It is July of 1863 and the terrible Battle of Gettysburg is raging in the little Pennsylvania town. John Wesley Culp has come back to his childhood home, but he is fighting in the Army of Northern Virginia and his friends and family look upon him as a traitor. In his pocket he carries a letter from his best friend, Jack Skelly, a wounded Union soldier who is a prisoner in Virginia. The letter is for Jack's sweetheart, Ginnie Wade, but Culp and Ginnie both die in the battle and the letter never gets delivered. 150 years later, Randy Culpepper, the great-great grandson of Wesley's best friend returns to Gettysburg for the anniversary of the great battle, and through a strange twist of fate he becomes a player in the unresolved story of Wesley Culp, Jack Skelly, Ginnie Wade and the long-missing letter. A Gettysburg ghost story.

DON’T FORGET TO LEAVE A COMMENT TO BE PLACED IN THE DRAWING TO WIN A PRINT COPY OF THE GETTYSBURG LETTER BETWEEN NOW AND SATURDAY, APRIL 24^TH AT MIDNIGHT MDT. PATRICK WILL AWARD TWO WINNERS!

BY LEAVING A COMMENT, YOU GRANT PERMISSION FOR YOUR EMAIL TO BE REVEALED TO THE AUTHOR IF YOU ARE THE WINNER TO FACILITATE RECEIPT OF YOUR BOOK.

Amazon Best-Selling author Patrick E. Craig, is a lifelong writer and musician who left a successful music career to concentrate on writing and publishing fiction books. In 2011, Harvest House Publishers published his Apple Creek Dreams series. In 2015-17 he published The Amish Heiress, The Amish Princess, and The Mennonite Queen, as well as the reprinted Apple Creek Dreams through his own imprint, P&J Publishing. In 2017, Harlequin Publishing purchased The Amish Heiress for their Walmart Amish series.

Patrick and co-author Murray Pura released a World War II novel, Far On The Ringing Plains, Book 1 in The Islands Series in 2020. Book Two, The Scepter And The Isle, will be released April 16, 2021.

They also collaborated on two anthologies of Amish stories written with Willard Carpenter, Jerry Eicher, Thomas Nye and Amos Wyse. The Amish Menorah and Other Stories and A Christmas Collection, are published by Elk Lake Publishing.

Patrick has also published two books in his YA mystery series, The Mystery of Ghost Dancer Ranch and The Lost Coast.

He recently released a creative non-fiction memoir about coming of age in the high mountains titled Say Goodbye To The River and his latest, The Gettysburg letter, was released April 1.

Patrick and his wife Judy live in Idaho. They have two daughters and five grandchildren.

Where can readers find Patrick online?

Webpage www.patrickecraig.com

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/PatrickECraig

Where can readers purchase my books?

http://tinyurl.com/n6sfagg Amazon