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| JoAnn Durgin |
Happy Veteran's Day, everyone! Sincere thanks for everyone who has served our country. You are all heroes! Today, I'm excited to continue our Christmas Release 2013 series here on Seriously Write. Join us for an interview with author JoAnn Durgin, who visited last Christmas with her previous Christmas novella release. Sounds like a new tradition! Enjoy! ~ Annette
An Interview with JoAnn Durgin
Welcome, JoAnn!
How did this project take shape?
How did this project take shape?
I had
such fun writing Meet Me Under the Mistletoe last year that I decided I wanted
to try writing another Christmas novella. When I began this one, I wasn’t
thinking about writing a sequel, but to my surprise and great delight, many of
my readers asked if I was going to write about Starlight, Iowa and its fun,
quirky residents again. So, the idea was conceived—and the title, Starlight,
Star Bright, came to me rather effortlessly. Truly, this novella was a
joy to write and I hope the blessing of the Christmas spirit shows in these
characters and their story.
Please
share some themes of your story.
Trusting in the Lord’s plan for our lives is one of the main
themes of Starlight, Star Bright. It’s about being true to yourself but
also how the things of this earth are temporal as opposed to the things of the
Lord being eternal. It’s based on scripture from James 4:13-15: 13 Now
listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend
a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not
even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that
appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought
to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”(NIV)
What
makes your project stand out from other Christmas titles?
The
fact that it’s a sequel makes this novella unique, which isn’t something I see
often with Christmas-themed books (although there are some). Also, Starlight,
Star Bright features an ending that’s a little different (don’t worry,
I’m a queen of happy endings!), but it’s completely fitting, endearing, and
perfect for my hero and heroine, Dante Moretti and Amanda Marston. Also, this
novella features a very special holiday wedding…but that’s all I’m saying.
Tell
us one interesting fact about your novella.
Meet
Me Under the Mistletoe
featured a hero who’s the Fire Captain in tiny Starlight, Iowa. In that book,
Jake Marston didn’t fight any fires apart from a small kitchen fire at Barney’s
Diner. However, in Starlight, Star Bright, Jake and his team do fight a fire, and it’s wonderful to see how the town residents
pull together to help the family who has lost their home.
What’s
next for you as an author?
I’ve
just released a standalone novel called Catching Serenity, set in the
fictional town of Croisette Shores, South Carolina. It’s about a woman who lost
almost everyone she held dear five years ago. After living in Atlanta for five
years, she receives a mysterious note urging her to come home to find her
answers. Child psychologist, Jackson Ross, hires Serenity to decorate his new
office in Croisette Shores and begins to suspect one of his patients may hold
the key to unlocking her secrets. But how can he tell the woman he’s grown to
love what he knows without compromising his personal and professional ethics?
And when Serenity eventually discovers the truth, will he lose her forever?
I’m
currently working on Moonbeams, Book #5 in The Lewis Legacy Series. It will most
likely release in the early spring 2014 (I’m aiming for Valentine’s Day, but
we’ll see).
What
else would you like to share about this project?
This will probably be my last visit to Starlight,
Iowa (never say never, right?). I’ve started pondering ideas for yet another
Christmas novella. As an author, I’d personally love to make this an annual
tradition and introduce readers to many more fun small (but fictional) towns
across our great nation.
It was great having you here today, JoAnn! We wish you the best!
It was great having you here today, JoAnn! We wish you the best!
~~~~~
Texas-born goalie and World Cup champion,
Dante Moretti, only expected tiny Starlight,
Iowa to be a blip on the radar of
his life. Stopping at Barney’s Diner for a meal two weeks before Christmas,
Dante meets two women who quickly capture his heart in very different ways.
Then his rental car won’t start, stranding him overnight. Could the Lord have a
plan for bringing him to Starlight?
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| Starlight, Star Bright |
Amanda Marston is excited to be home in
Starlight for her big brother Jake’s wedding. When she drops in for a cup of Caroline
Picasso’s coffee at Barney’s, who is
that handsome, Italian-spouting cowboy? Before she knows it, Dante’s staying
with Ben and Caroline and helping out with projects all over Starlight. Does
God have a plan for Dante in Starlight, one that might include Amanda?
~~~~~
Starlight, Star Bright is
the sequel to the popular Meet Me Under the Mistletoe, part
of Pelican Book Group's 2012 Holiday Extravaganza. The author of seven books,
JoAnn Durgin is an estate administration paralegal in a Louisville,
Kentucky law firm and lives in southern Indiana. Visit her at www.joanndurgin.com
or via her Author JoAnn Durgin page on Facebook.
