Ann H. Gabhart
https://www.annhgabhart.com/
Author of A Chance for Kallie Mae
T4JYM: Your book, A Chance for Kallie Mae, releases today. Can you tell our readers what they can expect from it?
AHG: I hope the story of Kallie Mae and her family will transport readers back to 1911 and up into the Appalachian Mountains in Eastern Kentucky. As readers, they will be able to understand Kallie Mae’s desire to learn to read after missing out on going to school as a child. They can follow Kallie Mae as she pursues that dream. They can cheer her on and hope along with her that she will have a chance for romance.
T4JYM: What about some of your other books? What can you tell our readers about your previously published works?
AHG: A Chance for Kallie Mae is my fortieth published book. I’ve been writing for a long time. I like setting my stories in Kentucky and dropping my characters down into different times in Kentucky history. Many of my stories center around family relationships as well as romantic ones. I like being able to include my characters’ faith journeys as a natural part of the story. Sometimes a little mystery might pop up in the story. I’ve written eight books about Shakers, a religious sect that had a prosperous village in the 1800s not far from where I live. I’ve used some of my own or my family’s life experiences in the backgrounds of some of my books.
I guess my best answer would be that I have written about a wide variety of characters, settings, and situations in my books with the hope that readers will enjoy going down all those different story roads.
T4JYM: You have some amazing books available! I see many books I would love to dig through myself. Which did you find to be the most enjoyable to write?
AHG: When I do book talks, one of the questions I’m often asked is which of my books is my favorite. Picking a favorite book is difficult for me. Sometimes it’s the one I’m working on or the most recently published story. But if I do pick one out, I usually say Angel Sister, since the story was inspired by stories my mother and her sisters told about growing up during the Great Depression in the 1930s. Their memories threaded into the background of that book make it a story of my heart. Dwelling on my mother’s memories while writing that book made the writing enjoyable and also difficult at times since I had to separate my fictional characters from the reality of her life. Plus, I got to follow that story up with two more books about my Rosey Corner characters, Small Town Girl and Love Comes Home. So, that was great.
T4JYM: What’s next? Do you have any new books in the works?
AHG: I am working on a new book, a follow-up story to The Song of Sourwood Mountain. No official title yet, but I am enjoying going back to Sourwood in the Appalachian Mountains again and getting reacquainted with my characters to find out what happens next for them.
T4JYM: What do you like to do in your down time?
AHG: Read, read, and read some more. I also like to walk out on my farm with my dog, Frankie. And of course, I enjoy times with my family.
T4JYM: What was the last book you read?
AHG: The last print book I read was The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny.
I also enjoy listening to audio books since I can “read” while doing household chores like cooking, cleaning or laundry. My current audio book is Where I Come From by Rick Bragg.
T4JYM: Let’s explore some favorites… What is your favorite: Food? Drink? Color? TV show? Book of the Bible? Bible Verse? Worship Song?
AHG: Let’s see.
- Favorite food – Angel Food Cake & Strawberries
- Favorite drink – Hot black tea – no flavors and no sugar
- Color – teal blue
- TV Show – I don’t watch much tv except for basketball games. Kentucky is my favorite team.
- Book of the Bible – 1 John
- Bible verse – ?
- Worship Song – I’m old fashioned. I love the old hymns. One of my favorites is “Let Others See Jesus in You.” The second verse starts by saying that your life is a book that others are reading each day and then asks the question of whether others see Jesus when they “read” the book of your life.
T4JYM: Please tell us how you came to be a Christian and how this has influenced your writing.
AHG: I’ve always felt a pull toward the Lord. I wasn’t raised in an every Sunday at church family, but when I was old enough to drive, I started going to church regularly. I felt the desire to make a public profession of faith, but I was very shy as a young person and that stepping out was too difficult for me until I was seventeen. I was a young mother then married to a man who was part of an every Sunday at church family. We have been faithful church members ever since and have loved being part of a family of believers at our little country church. I like being able to include a faith thread in my stories and to use Bible verses and stories as whatever is happening in the story inspires. I am forever thankful the Lord granted the desires of my heart to write books I could share with readers.
T4JYM: What advice would you give to someone interested in publishing?
AHG: First, I would say read and read some more. I think my wide reading as a young person planted words in my mind and how they could be put together to make stories that a reader could dive into and get lost.
Second, I would say write. And keep writing. No one expects to be great at sports or music or any activity without practice. Writing is the same. Everything you write is that practice. Whether that writing gets out to readers or not, it helps you get better as a writer.
Last, I would say perseverance is a word that all writers should remember. Believe in yourself as a writer and keep on keeping on. Rejections may come, but acceptances can’t follow those up if you don’t keep writing.
T4JYM: What advice would you give to the youth of this world?
AHG: Live your life. Believe in yourself. Know the Lord loves you. And when He opens up a door for you to give you a chance to achieve your dreams, take it the way Kallie Mae does in my book, A Chance for Kallie Mae.
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