Looking Out the Window: Welcome Mildred Colvin, Award Winning Author of Sweet Inspirational Romance

Mildred talks about three new E-Books.
She's giving away one. Winner picks!
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Hi Mildred, First, tell us a little about yourself.
Gail, thank you for inviting me here today. I’ve been writing for about ten years for Heartsong Presents, which is the romance line at Barbour Publishing. I have eleven novels published with them as well as two collections and one audio book. Learning to Lean is a new venture for me as I launch into ebook publishing and promotion. It’s exciting to reach into a new area of readers with my work. While I fully intend to continue writing for my Heartsong readers, I hope to reach many ebook readers with the stories I am now working on for Amazon. In fact, as my backlist becomes available, my goal is to rewrite some of those and publish them as ebooks as well as new, unpublished stories.
It sounds as though we readers have lots to look forward to. Were you an avid reader as a child?
One of my earliest memories is of my father reading to my brother, sisters, and me when we were children. I remember getting my first library card in first grade. After that, the library became one of my favorite places to browse and pick out the best stories to read.
What did you read?
The Bobbsey Twins were the most memorable since they were a series. As a teen-ager I loved Grace Livingston Hill’s books.
I'd forgotten about the Bobbsey Twins until you mentioned them. I have fond memories of them too. Why do you write?
I started writing because my children asked for stories. I continued writing because I’ve always loved to write, yes, even the essay assignments in English classes. I sold a few children’s stories to magazines and a few more devotionals to Key’s for Kids at Children’s Bible Hour. That was fun, but then the stories left and were replaced in my mind by book-length ideas. Ten years later, these ideas continue to bump each other for attention until I get them down on paper. Writing has become my ministry.
Tell us about your latest book.
Learning to Lean is my first ebook, a Christian romance, and can be found on Amazon.com for only $.99. It is full-length with about 60,000 words and is set in present-day Iowa. Heather Conway is the heroine. Matt Sanders is the hero.
Heather Conway is a mother who wants better than she can provide for her children. She wants a home almost as nice as the one she had when her husband lived. She’s been saving for that purpose but knows it isn’t enough, so she begins dating a nice, and obviously well-to-do man.
Matt Sanders is trying to get his business as jack-of-all trades off the ground. He enrolls his children in Heather’s day care and accepts the job of building a room for her so she can expand her business. His three kids and Heather’s all hit it off and gradually begin blurring into one family as they work together on the room and participate in church activities. Matt and Heather have a few problems when they fall in love and then there’s still this other man who is rich and wants to marry Heather.
She’d be irresponsible if she followed her heart toward a man who is as poor as she is, when everything she’s been working toward is within her grasp, right? I hope you’ll have a chance to read Learning to Lean to see how everything works out.
Where do you get ideas for your books?
Ideas for my books come from many sources. The idea for Learning to Lean came from another book I read, which had a totally different story line. It was of an unmarried lady preacher who fell in love with a widowed father of two young children. I still wonder how that led to Learning to Lean. I’m in the process of writing an historical for each of my granddaughters. My idea for those is coming from their personalities and a lot of imagination. LOL!
What themes do you write about?
I seem to do a lot of writing on forgiveness. I’m not sure why? Maybe because I feel to forgive or to be forgiven is so important. Trust is another favorite of mine. I try to write whatever God has laid on my heart as it fits the story.
What are you working on right now?
I am working on another contemporary romance, only this one is set in central Missouri. Love Returned is the story of Megan McGinnis and Scott Landis who meet while each are camping in a state park. Scott’s nine-year-old son and Megan’s nephew become fast friends and find they will have the same teacher in the coming school year. Megan talks Scott into enrolling his son in Webelos Scouts, as she is the Webelos leader. Scott eventually becomes her assistant, but even while they grow close to each other, Megan has a problem. She begins to notice coincidences about Scott and his son that lead her to believe his son is the baby she gave up for adoption nine years ago. I served as a Cub Scout and Webelos Scout leader for several years and even researched for this book while attending Cub Scout camp. It’s always fun to write something you have first-hand knowledge of.
I hope to have Love Returned published as an ebook for Kindle sometime this summer.
Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?
My advice for aspiring writers is to give up if you can. If you find that you can’t stop writing, then don’t let anything discourage you. Learn everything you can about the craft of writing. Study the how-to books or find helpful articles on-line. And above all, write. Everyday if you can. Pray over your work and for God’s will to be accomplished in what you write even if you only have a readership of one or two. My sister wrote a book that has never been published and probably never will be. She let a woman she worked with read the manuscript and was thrilled when her story touched the woman’s heart so that she began going to church. Before long, this woman gave her heart to the Lord, and last I heard, she’s still living for Him.
Is there anything else you’d like to tell us?
Gail, again I thank you for having me here. You have a wonderful ministry of introducing readers to authors. If you don’t mind, I’d like to leave with just a short teaser from my book, Learning to Lean. This takes place after Heather and Matt have gone out to dinner without the children, and while they are clinging desperately to being only friends.
It was my pleasure to have you, Mildred.
Excerpt from Learning to Lean
Their easy conversation carried them to Heather’s front door. Matt stopped her with a hand on her shoulder when they reached the porch. She turned toward him. He searched her face, causing her heart to race.
“A kiss would be traditional at this point, but since we’re only friends, maybe we should shake hands instead.”
His words were as a brake placed on her heart, bringing it to a slow, painfully heavy drumbeat. He was right. Heather knew he was, and she hated it. With a tight rein on her emotions, she held out her hand and felt it swallowed by Matt’s warm grasp.
She lowered her lashes to hide the hurt and confusion in her eyes. A gentle tug pulled her forward, and Matt’s lips brushed her forehead in a quick, sweet kiss. She lifted her eyes to his, and he slowly moved closer while her heart resumed a quick staccato.
Headlights swept across the yard and tires crunched on the gravel beside the street. Matt and Heather jumped apart as if they’d been caught in an illicit act. Matt released her hand.
Car doors slammed. Becka’s and Brad’s voices blended as they called their thanks and good-byes to the youth minister who had brought them home.
The front door of the house opened, spilling the four younger children with Jan close behind. Heather picked up one of the little girls as Matt lifted the other into his arms. Gary and Ricky competed for attention while Becka ran up the walk, “Dad, guess what?”
At the same time, Gary stepped in front of Heather. “Mom, can I go to Ricky’s house?”
“Not now.” Heather thought Becka said something about a campout. She looked for her oldest son.
Brad stood back watching everyone else. During a short lull in the racket, he called out, a smirk on his face, “I’ll bet you don’t even know you’re holding the wrong kids.”
In the resulting silence, Heather looked at Kristi in her arms and at Candace with Matt. She knew she’d picked up Kristi, but until that moment she hadn’t thought of the significance or how natural it felt. The line separating her kids from his kids seemed to be disappearing and that thought scared her. Matt said they were friends, but he’d almost kissed her. Were they kidding themselves? Did she really want to be just friends with Matt?
She met his gaze and read the same confusion in his eyes that swirled in her heart.
MORE ABOUT MILDRED'S BOOKS


A New Life: She’s city. He’s Country. She just found out they have something in common. Her son!
Kimberly allowed her family to pull her from Travis seven years ago before she knew she was pregnant. Now widowed, she takes the job of housekeeper on Travis’s ranch with one goal in mind. To tell Travis he’s the father of her six-year-old son.
Travis fears for Kim’s city-bred son on his ranch. So he tells Kim her boy had better stay out of the way, or they’ll have to leave.
Kimberly has to decide what’s best—keeping her secret from Travis and her son or taking the chance that Travis will become the father their son desperately needs.

A New Life is a full-length, contemporary, sweet romance.

Learning to Lean: Learning to Lean is a full-length contemporary sweet romance.
Heather needs to provide for her kids. Matt wants a simpler life than the one he left behind in the city. They have six kids who want Heather and Matt to bring them together into one family.
Heather Conway, daycare owner and widowed mother of three, wonders where God was when her husband died, leaving her penniless. Her fourteen-year-old son is out of control, they need a house, and she’s just bumped into a man who has her heart beating overtime. If she were sensible she’d latch onto a childless, wealthy man who can give her the security she craves.
Matt Sanders places his three kids in Heather’s daycare while he gets his Jack-of-all-trades construction/repair business off the ground. His admiration for Heather turns to love as their families intertwine through church activities and work on her daycare.
Maybe Matt and Heather should only be friends. They soon find it’s hard to let go of the security they see and blindly trust God to take care of their tomorrows. Learning to lean on God can take a lifetime or maybe only a lesson in trust.

Lesson of the Poinsettia: Abigail Stevens is part owner of Kingson Steel, but she lets her older sister take care of business while she hides in the darkness. Nine years ago Abigail lost her sight when fever struck, and she’s given up on leading a normal life. Then her nine-year-old neighbor sneaks across the street to see Abigail’s flowers and her father soon follows. Because of the lesson in Abigail’s Poinsettias, Abigail and Seth learn to see beyond the darkness of their lives and in the process find love to last a lifetime.
Lesson of the Poinsettia is a historical romance of about 25,000 words.

Buy Mildred's books at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/Boo5BTO3YE A New Life
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005D1LIG6 Lesson of the Poinsettia
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004WKUUIQ Learning to Lean
Barnes & Noble: all three books at:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/
Just put in the name of the book and Mildred's name

Mildred's Bio

Mildred Colvin is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Christian Authors Network, and is active in two very special critique groups. She is also active in her church and enjoys special times with her husband, three children, and three grandchildren. Her hobbies, when she has time, include quilting, photography, and gardening. Of course, reading is more than a hobby. It’s a way of life.
Mildred has been writing sweet inspirational romance since 2001, and is an award-winning author of fifteen novels in both historical and contemporary themes, including two compilations, three e-books, and one audio book.
Mildred blogs at :

http://www.mildredcolvin.blogspot.com/ and http://infinitecharacters.com/