The Release!

Today the print edition of Valley of the Shadow officially releases! I’m delighted to finally get this installment of the story out to the readers I left hanging on a pretty steep precipice at the end of Crucible of War. The story is complex, the pace is tight, and there are a number of twists and turns that I suspect will keep you guessing. For those who have been following the adventures of Elizabeth Howard and Jonathan Carleton, I believe you’re going to gain a few deep new insights into these two compelling characters—and also into Charles Andrews’s story. Many clouds rise on the horizon for the Shawnee as well, portending a troubling future for the native peoples and for the new nation.

I couldn’t have completed this book if it hadn’t been for the encouraging feedback I received from many of my fans and the truly helpful advice of several people who took time out of their busy schedules to read the first draft of this volume. My deepest thanks go to Linda Allen, who corrected my faulty French translations; Lori Benton, whose critiques are always on target; Rachel Leigh Smith, who offered an astute assessment of the original ending and prodded me to find the right one; Louise Gouge, Jocelyn Green, Susan Craft, and Patricia Riddle Gaddis, who gave me lovely endorsements; Regina Fugitani and Amber Goos, whose comments and corrections helped me to root out a number of errors; and Beverly Duell-Moore, who is the bane of typos and other mistakes. I have an equal obligation to too many others to list, but you all know who you are, and I thank each of you with all my heart.

Most of all, I thank the Lord who continues to renew these characters in my imagination, add new chapters to their story, and enable me to capture on paper a shadow of the vision he provides. May he use this series to bless many readers for his glory!

At Last—Book 5 Cover Image!

I’m ecstatic to announce that we’re going to be able to use Theodore Gudin’s gorgeous painting La Bataille d’Ouessant en 1778 for the cover of Valley of the Shadow, which releases in September! This is the one I really wanted, but I hadn’t been able to find a licensable print-quality image anywhere and was about to give up and settle for another painting I wasn’t really happy with.

Enter my totally amazing designer, Marisa Jackson, who found an image of the painting that’s suitable for print. And better yet . . . not only is the painting in public domain, the digital image she found isn’t copyrighted! We can use it for free!!!

But the best thing about this painting is that not only does it work well to illustrate Carleton’s raid on British-held New York Harbor that opens this volume, but also, since the battle depicted occurred less than a year after the naval battle described in Valley, it’s completely period correct.

Marisa’s schedule is totally slammed right now, but she promised to get to work on it in April. As soon as we have the full front, we’ll post it here, so be sure to check back. And if you haven’t caught up with the series yet, now’s the time to do it! On the sidebar you’ll find hot links to the series that go directly to the listed retailers.

Storyweaving

When creating a piece of fabric on a loom, the weaver interlaces threads to create a pattern, whether simple or complex. The threads that run longitudinally are called the warp, while those running laterally are called the weft. I’ve often thought that a story is very much like weaving. The warp is the structure, or plot, of the story. On it hangs the weft, which includes things like theme, characterization, and details of the time period and the characters’ lives that flesh out the plot and cause readers to care about what’s happening. Just as a weaver works back and forth across the loom, the storyteller works back and forth across the breadth and length of the story, weaving in the details that create a coherent and beautiful pattern.

Right now as I’m working back and forth at my story loom while writing Valley of the Shadow, I’m struggling with structural elements that are more complex than any I’ve written before, and I’m wondering how well they’re going to integrate. This installment of the series starts off with a perilous rescue, progresses through a wrenching aftermath, and transitions to the winter at Valley Forge, which includes a brief return to the Shawnee community. A desultory summer campaign follows, and the story concludes with the beginning of a new journey.

How to weave these disparate elements together without ending up with jarring transitions? I worry about that, but then I also wonder whether that’s necessarily a major problem. After all, aren’t unsettling changes a natural part of life? I’ve had them in mine, and I suspect you’ve had them in yours too. Life can turn on a dime, and the occasional jarring transition might add a dose of reality to the story world, just as Elizabeth’s capture in Crucible of War did. In that case there were numerous warnings of increasing danger, but she ignored them and suffered the consequences. How altogether human! Robert Fulghum illustrated that humorously in his book It Was on Fire When I Lay Down on It.

Overall, of course, a story needs to hang together and transitions need to make sense in the context of what’s gone before. Too many abrupt changes are likely to give readers a sense that the story—and maybe the author—is out of control. We all want control, don’t we—if not in our own lives, then in the lives of fictional characters in a story? So I continue to wrestle with how to weave all the elements together in such a way that will keep readers flipping those pages and reading long into the night.

What unsettling transition have you had in your life that seemed jarring and out of control at the time? How well did you handle it? Are you still dealing with it, or are you able to look back on it now and see how God was weaving your life on His great loom?

Head Banging

Okay, so I’ve been procrastinating. Writing a tight script for this video has turned out to be considerably more of a challenge than I anticipated. For some reason I’m having a really hard time getting it pared down to where it’ll move quickly and carry viewers right along. I’ve trimmed and tweaked and deleted and put back what I deleted, and I’m still not entirely satisfied.

Here’s what I have so far, numbered by sequence.

1. Eastertide 1775

2. British warships blockade Boston’s once-thriving port

3. while the Regulars occupy the city.

4. As conflict builds to a deadly confrontation

5. Elizabeth Howard plays a dangerous game

6. By day she flirts boldly with British officers

7. and by night, as the elusive courier Oriole,

8. she smuggles intelligence and weapons to the patriots

9. But with the arrival of Jonathan Carleton

10. an officer in the Seventeenth Light Dragoons

11. she must fight a war of wits and words

12. as he quickly becomes her most dangerous foe.

13. As the first blood is spilled at Lexington and Concord

14. and Elizabeth is drawn ever closer to the carnage of Bunker Hill

15. Carleton sacrifices his life to save hers

16. Now can she rescue him from the hangman’s noose

17. and her heart from his keeping?

18. The nation’s epic war for independence begins . . .

19. Book cover

20. Credits

I’m fairly happy with the beginning, but segments 9 through 15 are driving me crazy. Obviously I need to convey that information, but it has to be concise and flow naturally. Right now it feels awkward and clunky, and I’ve played with it to the point that I’m no longer objective.

Of course, a huge obstacle to writing this is knowing that I have to find images to illustrate each sequence. I’ve accumulated a number that work fine, including a couple of video clips. But for several of these lines, finding anything that’s even an approximation of what I need is going to be a major task. How do you illustrate fighting a war of wits and words, for pity’s sake? But I love that line. It captures the interaction between Jonathan and Elizabeth in this book perfectly in just a few words, so I don’t want to give it up.

Well, crumbs. I guess I’ll just have to set this project aside for the time being, mull it over, and pray the muse eventually comes up with a stroke of genius.

The good news is that I’ve made good progress on Crucible of War. I’ve gotten my characters across the Delaware with considerable travail, and now I’m adding research notes about the Battle of Trenton directly into the file. Once I have a moment-by-moment narrative of a battle in front of me, scenes develop vividly in my head and spill out on the page. So I’m eager to finish entering the dry narrative so I can use them as a springboard to create some exciting action.

By a fortuitous stroke, the latest issue of the DAR’s magazine, American Spirit, included an article about American prisoners of war during the Revolution that I found quite helpful for the development of my plotline at the end of Crucible and beginning of Valley of the Shadow. Lots of great detail there that will make its way into my story! When the stars all come into alignment like that, it keeps me forging onward.