Writer’s Window: Martha Rogers
Joining us today for Writer’s Window is historical-romance author Martha Rogers.
One lucky commenter* will win a signed copy of Martha’s latest release, Summer Dream. Deadline for leaving a comment to enter the drawing is Friday. To enter the drawing, you must answer the question posed by Martha at the end of the interview. Only one comment per person will count toward the drawing. Please do not include your e-mail address in the body of your comment—just make sure it’s correct when you sign in to leave your comment. The winning name will be drawn next weekend and the winner will be notified via e-mail.
- *U.S. residents only, void where prohibited. If you win the drawing, you will be ineligible for the next three drawings, though hopefully you will still come back and join in the discussion.
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As the daughter of a small town minister in Connecticut, Rachel Winston fears that the only way she’ll ever find a husband is to visit her aunt in Boston for the social season. When Nathan Reed arrives in town, she can’t help but wonder if he could be the one. Although attracted to Rachel, Nathan has no desire to be involved with a Christian after a painful experience with his own family. What’s more, he knows he has no hope of courting her.
When Nathan is caught in a devastating blizzard and lies near death in the Winston home, Rachel and her mother give him a lesson in love and forgiveness that leads him back to his home in the South. Will he make peace with his family and return before Rachel chooses a path that will take her away from him?
Welcome, Martha!
What do you like best about being a writer?
- Creating the stories in my head before I ever put them into the computer.
What do you like least about being a writer?
- Trying to market and sell myself and my books. I can talk about my books at length, but hesitate to ask people to buy them. I don’t enjoy going into bookstores to promote myself and ask for book signings. I can do it for others, but not myself.
Pop, Soda, or Coke? What do you call it, and what’s your favorite variety?
- I always say “Coke” for everything, and my favorite is Diet Coke with Splenda with Diet Dr. Pepper running a close second.
What’s your favorite dessert?
- Any kind of pie but especially chocolate. Of course if it’s chocolate, I’ll take any kind of dessert. I’ve been known to hide desserts from my children when they were small so I’d have some for myself later. You might call me a “chocoholic.”
What’s the most fun/interesting/crazy/scary/unique hands-on research you’ve done for a book?
- The most interesting was the tour of Boston and the Freedom Trail for my first series and for the first book in the second one. I used a lot of those places and the history of them in two of the books. The most fun one was doing the research on my family and learning so much about them. That research became the basis for a novel.
What’s your favorite movie from childhood?
- Little Women with June Allyson, Janet Leigh, Elizabeth Taylor, and Margaret O’Brien and I think Peter Lawford played Laurie in that one. I vaguely remember the one with Katherine Hepburn as Jo. However, I didn’t see them as many times as I did Gone with the Wind. Would you believe 3 times in one day? Went one morning at 10 AM for the first showing and stayed through all three showings with my best friend in 1952, our junior year in high school.
If you were to write a novel about what your life would have been like if you’d become what you wanted to be at eight years old, what kind of character would the story be about?
- It would be about a young woman in the WACS or WAVES as a nurse treating our young men in WWII. I wanted to be one so badly that I cried because I was too young, so I used my paper dolls and wrote stories about them for my paper dolls to play out. I even entered college as a nursing student, still writing stories. So, I guess I was destined to be a writer.
What makes you happy?
- Being with our ten grandchildren and especially with our two great-grandsons. I can’t be anything but happy around their smiling faces and listening to their tales. They range in age from eight to twenty-six with one two year old and one two-month-old great-grandson.
What makes you nervous?
- Talking to editors at appointments. I become an absolute blithering idiot who can’t put two words together coherently when trying to tell about the book I want to pitch. I can speak before a roomful of men and women and have blast, but put me one on one with an editor and my tongue is thick as a slab of bacon straight off the hog.
What’s your biggest dream for the future?
- Professional: To win an award for one of my books
Personal: To watch our great-grandchildren grow older and to celebrate our 60th wedding anniversary together (8 years from now).
Tell us about your newest release and what you’re working on now.
- My newest release in Summer Dream, Book 1 in Seasons of the Heart series. It’s about a faithful Christian young woman in Connecticut in 1888 who meets a young man from North Carolina who believes God has abandoned him because of what happened in his past.
Where can people find out more about you/connect with you online?
- Website: www.marthawrogers.com
Blogs: marthasbooks.blogspot.com
. . . . . .justthewritecharisma.blogspot.com
. . . . . .writersonthestorm.blogspot.com
Now it’s your turn to ask the question. What question do you want to ask the commenters to answer?
- What is the one thing you would really, really like to do before you become too old, too weak, too ill or whatever to enjoy it?
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Martha Rogers’s book credits include the novellas Sugar and Grits and A River Walk Christmas, as well as the historical romance series Winds Across the Prairie. She had also written seven Bible studies, contributed to compilations by Wayne Holmes, Karen O’Conner, and Debbie White Smith. Martha has also written devotionals in several anthologies including recently released Blissfully Blended, Devotionals for Stepmoms from Barbour. Martha is currently working on another series, Seasons of the Heart. Book one, Summer Dream, will released in the summer of 2011. Martha sings in the choir at her church and is a co-leader for a First Place 4 Health group. She loves to scrapbook when she has the time. She is a retired teacher and lives in Houston with her husband, Rex, where they enjoy spending time with their grandchildren and attending football and baseball games when one of them is playing.
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KayeDacus.com 
What’s the one thing I’d like to do?
I’d love to visit one of the Disney theme parks and take the technical tour. I’ve always been interested in how all that stuff works. 😀
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What’s the one thing …
I’d love to visit New York and see the Christmas tree in the Rockefeller Center. I want to witness first hand the look of awe on everyone’s face as they stare along side me at the beauty of the tree. I want to eavesdrop on their comments and choose a character from among them then rush back to the hotel and write it all down – the beauty, the people, the majesty, but mostly the words that God will place in my heart. That’s my one thing.
Great interview. Such a blessing. Thanks, Kaye and Martha.
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The one thing I would love to do before I get too old, weak, or whatever is to see the Northern Lights in their full glory.
Gail
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I have to say I would love to see the Aurora Borealis also.
But I was thinking today what I would add to my bucket list and I think I would like to learn to drive a car before I get to old. I dont know how to drive and it would be useful.
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Hi, Martha! One thing I’d love to do is visit England and Ireland and see where some of my ancestors came from.
I’m excited to read your new book. My grandmother grew up in Wallingford, Connecticut and got stranded at school during the Blizzard of ’88 along with her sisters. Eventually they got to a farmhouse where they stayed for a few days until they were able to go home. That blizzard was a major weather event in Connecticut and those people who lived through it were still talking about it when I was growing up in the 1950s and 1960s.!
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I saw a program on Discovery Channel about great storms in history and saw the pictures of that one. I thought that “what if” question, looked the storm up on the internet and a novel was born. I have ancestors from England and Ireland and would love to go there. I did go to Germany and visited Munich and several other places and even sang in Martin Luther’s church in Augsburg. A paternal great-grandfather and my maternal great-grandfather were from Germany. I hope you get to visit England and Ireland.
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One thing? ONE THING? How can I limit it to only one when I have a long “bucket list” of things? Okay, I’ll try this.
After seeing all of my family following Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; and after having visited Scotland, Ireland, and Wales (during which time I would tell stories to audiences in at least one castle in each country), I would like to see my 25th novel published. There. I did it. That is one thing. Right?
What? How many novels have I had pubbed to date, you ask? Well. Okay. None. Yet. But I’m beginning my third, and I’m in the agent-seeking stage for the first two.
Write on!
Because of Christ
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I really want to visit Australia and New Zealand. My niece is heading to PNG as a missionary. I would really like to take a few weeks and visit her and stop in Australia.
wsmarple/at/gmail/dot/com
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Wendy, I have some friends whose son and his family are with New Tribes Missions in PNG. They love it there and four of their children have been born there. I’d like to visit there too.
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I really want to trek to Macchu Picchu. Martha and her VOTW has ministered to me so often. She and her writing are such a blessing to so many.
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The ultimate thing I want to do is visit the UK (No, not the University of Kentucky. Been there. 😀 ) It seems that all my ancestors come from England, Ireland, and Scotland. Not sure about Wales, but I want to see that, too!
Martha, I was blessed to sit next to you at the first lunch or dinner at ACFW last year. I was so excited that the lady that had blessed me so much with her VOTW was sitting next to ME! Thank you for bringing us a great interview, Kaye!!
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I remember you. Thanks for the kind words about VOTW. Hope to see you again in St. Louis.
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All this time I had the two older movie versions of Little Women smashed together in my head. I remembered Katharine Hepburn but I also remember Peter Lawford and Elizabeth Taylor. Two different movies! As much as I love June Allyson, I can believe I got this wrong. Time to find some DVDs.
There are so many amazing countries to visit but I would like to visit all the major national parks and historical sites in America — the Grand Canyon, Yosemite Park, Mt. Rushmore, etc. I’d like to see some redwood trees, visit Seattle, go to a ranch, swim in the Pacific…pretty much everything I can’t do on the East Coast. But there are also cities I’d like to visit like Savannah, Albuquerque, Portland, Dallas, Minneapolis…a bunch of places.
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I enjoyed this interview with Martha. It’s always good to get to know authors better and Kaye, you provide great questions. I grew up near Boston so the setting is very interesting to me!
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Wow, good Question. I’d like to travel to Europe. I’d love to go to Italy and Greece maybe Switzerland too! Thanks for the interview. Glad to know you better. THANKS for having this give away opportunity!
Blessings
Nora @ TBCN
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So many choices to choose from. I’d love to go back to DisneyWorld with my husband for an anniversary trip. We went there on our honeymoon. Also would love to travel to Alaska again. My husband and I were there when our boys were little…on a mission trip. So I guess it looks like I’d love to do some traveling before I’m too old! 🙂
The book sounds intriguing Martha. Blessings and happy birthday.
Blessings,
Jodie Wolfe
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Wow. You all have some interesting things you want to do. I’ve always wanted to go para-sailing and would like to do that before I’m really too old. At 75 there are still so many things I can do. Nora, I’ve been to Switzerland and the Alps, and it was gorgeous there and I’d love to go back. Patricia, I’d like to visit more of our National Parks, too. Our country is one beautiful place. Thanks for dropping in.
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