Meet and Greet: Mary Ellis

Book Giveaway Drawing!
Read the details later in this post.

Mary Ellis

Mary Ellis grew up close to the eastern Ohio Amish community, Geauga County, where her parents often took her to farmer’s markets and woodworking fairs. She loved their peaceful, agrarian lifestyle, their respect for the land, and their strong sense of Christian community. She met her husband in college and they married six days after graduation.

She, her husband, dog and cat now live in Medina County, close to the largest population of Amish in the country—a four-county area in central Ohio. They often take weekend trips to purchase produce, research for her best-selling books, and enjoy a simpler way of life.

Mary enjoys reading, traveling, gardening, bicycling and swimming. Before “retiring” to write full-time, Mary taught Middle School in Sheffield Lake, Ohio and worked as a sales rep for Hershey Chocolate for twenty years—a job with amazingly sweet fringe benefits. All three of her Miller Family series, A Widow’s Hope, Never Far from Home, and The Way to a Man’s Heart have made the CBA and CBD bestseller lists. A Widow’s Hope was a finalist in the ACFW Carol Awards for 2010 in the long contemporary category, and a runner-up in the 2010 Holt Medallion Awards.

BRC: What brings you to Book Readers Central? 

I am pleased to announce my latest release from Harvest House Publishers, Abigail’s New Hope, the first in the Wayne County series.

BRC: What type of books do you write? 

I write Amish inspirational romances.

BRC: Why do you write? 

I couldn’t keep from writing. Writing is my passion, my creative outlet, and my personal ministry. I love creating stories about faith-based people that, hopefully, will inspire others.

BRC: How would you describe your newest release? 

My latest release, Abigail’s New Hope, deals with growth within a marriage, grief after a suffering a loss, and reaching beyond your comfort zone to bring a “handicapped” person into the Christian fold. I use the italics because we are all “handicapped” in some fashion—some personal challenges are more easily recognized than others.

BRC: What do you hope the reader takes away after reading it? 

My heroine relies on her Christian faith to carry her through an unbelievably difficult period in her life. We all face challenges in our lives. Hopefully, my readers will be inspired by Abigail’s level of commitment to her personal code of ethics.

BRC: Which is your favorite character from your book?

Without a doubt, it is Abigail, my midwife.

She deals with her husband’s initial lack of support marvelously—far better than I probably would have. She is an inspiration to me to be more patient as a wife when things don’t always go my way.

BRC: Do you have a funny or touching story that relates to your book? 

When my innkeeper and I visited the Amish & Mennonite birthing center, the midwife in charge looked at us and scratched her head—neither of us was Amish and neither of us was pregnant. They don’t get many walk-in visitors.

BRC: Tell us about your writing process. 

I just love this question! It forces me to formulate a “process” and stick to it. All joking aside, I am a morning person. So after 2 cups of coffee I sit down to write. I usually write out scenes longhand on a yellow tablet. Yes, that’s right…longhand.

When the chapter is done, I type it and edit it and proofread it before moving on to the next chapter. The longhand stage allows me to create a closer-to-finished book by the time it’s done. (Did I mention I’m a dinosaur?) It takes me approx. 5 months to create a 95,000-word book in this fashion.

BRC: What will you write next? 

I am about to finish the second in the Wayne County series, called A Marriage for Meghan. It deals with a former problem student who’s trying to live down her past reputation and become the permanent head teacher. As a former problem-child and a former middle school teacher, I am writing on themes near-and-dear to my heart.

BRC: Which books do you recommend to readers? 

There are so many great works of Christian fiction out there that I couldn’t possibly narrow the field to one or two suggestions. Everyone’s personal taste in books is different. But I will say this: Don’t discount the “classics.” They are classics for a very good reason. When I want something special, I re-read something by Louise May Alcott.

BRC: Where can readers find you online? 

My readers can find me at my blog site: www.maryeellis.wordpress.com And I’d love to hear from them!

©2011 Janalyn Voigt, author of novel books

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**Janalyn Voigt is an Amazon Associate and benefits when products are purchased on Amazon through links from Book Readers Central.

Book Giveaway Drawing: Mary Ellis will give away a free copy of Abigail's New Hope to a reader of this blog. To enter, leave a comment to this post. If you are a follower of Book Readers Central and tell me so in a separate comment, I'll give you an extra chance to win. 

Please include a valid email address in an anti-spam format (example: youremailhandle[at]gmail[dot]com]) or your entry will become invalid. Entries will be accepted until this Thursday at midnight (Pacific Time/US).

I'll announce the winner on Book Readers Central on Friday. The winner must respond within two weeks of notification. Detailed rules of giveaways on Book Reader's Central are located in the footer of this blog.