Riding the Wave

I just got another great endorsement in!

“The passion and intrigue of the American Revolution comes to life in J. M. Hochstetler’s wonderfully entertaining read Wind of the Spirit. Beautifully written and completely engaging, Wind of the Spirit will appeal to fans not just of Christian fiction, but of historical fiction as well. Not to be missed!”

—Michelle Moran, national bestselling author of The Heretic Queen

I’m totally flattered that Michelle agreed to take time out of her busy schedule to read and endorse one of my books! I’ll tell you, that feels pretty good, especially at those times when I feel like I have to be the worst writer in the whole world. LOL! From talking to other authors, I know this isn’t unusual, so whenever those dark thoughts weigh me down, I can look at these very kind words and remind myself that I’m not doing so badly after all.

Endorsements

Here are the first two endorsements I’ve received for Wind of the Spirit! I wanted to share these, and there are more on the way.

With rich, vivid descriptions that draw you back in time, characters that become your best friends, eloquent language that will leave you breathless, and a romance that warms you from head to toe, Wind of the Spirit is a stunningly beautiful story about the fight for freedom, survival, and love in a savage land.

—MaryLu Tyndall, author of The Falcon and the Sparrow

A captivating tale of love and courage skillfully woven into the Revolutionary War, revealing all the human passions and valor that made America great.

—Louise M. Gouge, author of Then Came Hope

Wow—that’s pretty encouraging! I really appreciate their kind words, and I hope the rest of my endorsers are as enthusiastic! LOL!

Of course, there’s still lots of work to do before WOTS is ready for the printer. I’m waiting for my editor to return the manuscript with her corrections. At that point, I’ll enter the edits in the file and make sure nothing was missed. I’m also going to have my daughters proofread it. They’re very detail oriented, and if there’s anything wrong, they’ll spot it. I want to have the text as near perfect as we can get.

I also need to have the maps made so readers can follow the action. Since I don’t know anyone who does this kind of thing, I’m going to try a query on elance.com and see if I come up with anybody. It’s kind of scary to do that, but I ended up with a terrific designer to do Alice Arenz’s cover for The Case of the Bouncing Grandma, so my fingers are crossed that lightning strikes twice!