A Trip is Never Wasted, by Colleen Coble

My creative juices get going when I think about where I want to set my books. Recently I attended an author conference aboard a ship bound for . . . Alaska! I’d set one book in that gorgeous state, but it was the ONE state I’d never seen with my own eyes. Though we had meetings every day, I was able to see the glaciers (they’re blue!) and take a gander at mountains that made my jaw drop. I saw eagles and their nests—and I even saw a black bear foraging along the road.

You can bet I have a new book idea. We saw a remote dormitory (no running water or inside bathroom by the way) where rangers stay when they’re on their round into the deep woods. It could only be accessed by boat or float plane. So of course I started thinking about a female ranger and how alone she could be out there. I’m noodling on a great idea for that, so don’t take it, okay? I’m going to write it.

Another place I’ve come up with to write about is Washington. I could sit and stare at Mt. Rainier for hours. And there are cranberry farms there as well as digging for clams. The eastern side of Washington is wilder with its own rugged beauty. I can just see a body floating in the cranberry bog in the first FINNS settled the area. That goes right along with my interest in my “sister’s” country of Finland.

scene. And

We went to Cambodia in February on a missions trip. We saw the awe-inspiring Siem Reap temples, and I had a great idea for a book involving an archeologist who’s kidnapped because of something she found in a previously undiscovered temple. And wouldn’t you know, just a few days ago, a brand new temple was found! That discovery has only added flame to the fire to write that one.

The detail that launched my idea for Rosemary Cottage was when we went to Corolla in the Outer Banks. You can only get along a stretch of wild beach by four-wheel drive directly on the sand. I “saw” Amy and Curtis riding along the dunes in a desperate effort to save someone. That inspiration formed the fast paced finale of the book.

A trip is never wasted. Everything I see and learn finds its way into a story. 

Best-selling author Colleen Coble's novels have won or finaled in awards ranging from the Best Books of Indiana, the ACFW Carol Award, the Romance Writers of America RITA, the Holt Medallion, the Daphne du Maurier, National Readers' Choice, and the Booksellers Best. She has over 2 million books in print and writes romantic mysteries because

she loves to see justice prevail. Colleen is CEO of American Christian Fiction Writers. She lives with her husband Dave in Indiana.

Visit her website at www.colleencoble.com and connect at Facebook at www.facebook.com/colleencoblebooks.



Be sure to stop by tomorrow for a chance to win a copy of Colleen's new release, Rosemary Cottage!

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Home-bound Traveler by Lisa T. Bergren

There was a time when I wanted, more than anything, to yank my three kids out of school and move to Europe for a year, stopping for two weeks at a time to settle in, absorb the unique nuances of the town or city, and then move on to the next. We’d been bitten by the travel bug a couple of years earlier, when we went to Italy for the first time with friends, and then returned with our kids, and then returned again just the two of us for a romantic escape. (Errr, I mean…RESEARCH.) We treasured the opportunity to rent a villa or apartment, market every day, and walk everywhere, soaking up the sights, smells, sounds of each spot, getting to know her history, her people, her texture. We got so excited about this means of travel, we created a family travel web site, TheWorldisCalling.com, dreaming of advertising sponsors who might finance said-dream-trip.

As I began to research for my Grand Tour Series a couple years ago, I took my girls to England and France, and the idea of our year away grew bigger in our minds. Unfortunately, the more we prayed about it, and the more we stared at our bank account, the farther away it seemed. Then the Lord brought in a new ministry aspect to our life that we got really jazzed about, and we were absolutely positive that He wasn’t sending us to Europe. He wanted us to stay right here at home.

So, last fall, I put that dream to bed (and our travel blog on hiatus) at the same time I was completing the first book in the Grand Tour Series. My story was about a Montana girl, swept up into a vastly different life, and eventually traveling throughout Europe. I found it ironic and yet sweet, that I’d had the chance to taste some of what my heroine would experience, and see some of where she was going, but not the whole-nine-yards kind of trip that she takes.

And yet, that’s the beauty of fiction, isn’t it? Through my research and outlining and writing, I have “visited.” As a reader, I love that in the pages of a book I might learn about a unique locale, and finish it feeling like I’d almost been there. Books like Liz Higgs’s lovely Scottish vistas, rich Southern fiction, the isles off Britain in The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, or Texas in The Help are some examples that come to mind. I adore that added bonus as a reader, and hope to provide something of the sort in my books for my readers too. Just as we experience the highs and lows, challenges and victories, tragedies and triumphs of the main character, we also get to “tour” with him or her too.

For now, that’s just enough for me. Although I wouldn’t mind a return trip to the Southern coast of Italy, or Tahiti, or Croatia, or…Well, let’s face it. I’d like to go everywhere. But I can wait. I have a stack of good books that will give me a sweet little glimpse of far-away, fabulous places.

COME BACK FRIDAY for a chance to win a copy of Grave Consequences!

Lisa T. Bergren is the author of over forty books in many genres, from children’s picture books to adult nonfiction. Her most recent release is Grave Consequences, the second in her Grand Tour Series, following Glamorous Illusions. She lives in Colorado Springs with her husband and three children. You can find out more about her at LisaBergren.com, Facebook.com/LisaTawnBergren, and @LisaTBergren.

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