Welcome to the Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt! If you’ve just discovered the hunt, be sure to start at Stop #1, and collect the clues through all the stops, in order, so you can enter to win one of our top 5 grand prizes!
The hunt BEGINS on 3/18 at noon MST with Stop #1 at LisaTawnBergren.com.
Hunt through our loop using Chrome or Firefox as your browser (not Explorer).
There is NO RUSH to complete the hunt—you have all weekend (until Sunday, 3/21 at midnight MST)! So take your time, reading the unique posts along the way; our hope is that you discover new authors/new books and learn new things about them.
Submit your entry for the grand prizes by collecting the CLUE on each author’s scavenger hunt post and submitting your answer in the Rafflecopter form at the final stop, back on Lisa’s site. Many authors are offering additional prizes along the way!
If you're already making your way through the hunt, I'm happy to report you are halfway through!
I'm Deborah Raney at Stop #15! I've participated in many of Lisa's great scavenger hunts and they are always so much fun, plus they introduce me to authors I've never discovered before! My newest novel is called
Bridges.
Bridges. They seem made for metaphors, don't they? My novel, Bridges, isn’t the first to use the theme of building bridges, and it won’t be the last, because it’s such a lovely theme—and one that contains the very essence of the Christian faith.
Bridges is the first original novel from Raney Day Press. This means that my publisher, my art director, my graphic designer, my public relations person, and accountability partner are all one and the same—my (truly amazing) husband, Ken Raney. Here he is in his office the day we put the finishing touches on the book and hit "publish." I couldn't be more proud of the work he's done getting this novel to press!
Bridges was almost ten years in the making! Of course, I wasn’t actively working on the manuscript the entire time, but these characters first found their way into my heart on a trip to visit our youngest son in college near Des Moines. (Trey is now married with four children, so that tells you how long ago it was!) We took a little side trip to the charming historic town of Winterset, Iowa to see the famous bridges of Madison County and the castle-like Clark Tower in the Winterset City Park. Winterset is built on a town square with the county courthouse at the center just like in my hometown of Lyons, Kansas, so it immediately felt familiar and charming to me.
I began writing J.W. and Tess’s story shortly after that first visit. I subscribed to the town’s weekly newspaper, The Winterset Madisonian, and we stopped in Winterset on research trips several more times before our son graduated. But soon, other contract obligations took precedence and my story languished. Still, I thought of J.W. McRae and Tess Everett often over the years, and when I finally sat down to finish their story this past year, it was like revisiting old and dear friends. I also discovered that my adopted home state of Missouri also has dozens of old covered bridges and I was able to write one of them into the story.
Do you like to see the author’s inspiration for characters in a novel? Or would you rather imagine what the characters look like for yourself? I’m a very visual writer and find images of the way I envision my characters very helpful. Here’s a link to my Pinterest board of images that inspired the setting and characters as I wrote Bridges. Spoiler alert: Those hearts are gone on the Pinterest board and you’ll be able to see how I pictured my characters!
Of course, writing about the famed covered bridges in Iowa, I couldn’t help but think of the Robert Waller novel (and the film of the same title), The Bridges of Madison County. Frankly, I wasn’t a fan of either, given the theme of infidelity, so it was fun to draw some parallels to that well-known book in my own novel, while filling my story with contrasting, redemptive themes.
Bridges is quintessential Deborah Raney: small town charm, a gentle, compelling love story, and enchanting secondary characters.
~Tamera Alexander, bestselling author of Colors of Truth
Bridges is now out in print and e-book and will be available as an audiobook soon, narrated by the lovely Julie Lancelot!
Here are the Stop #15 Basics:
If you’re interested, you can order Bridges on Amazon or ask your local bookstore!
Clue to Write Down: new
Link to Stop #16, the Next Stop on the Loop: Heidi Chiavaroli's site!
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But wait! Before you go, I’m offering a bonus prize here!
All you have to do to enter is sign up to receive my free quarterly e-newsletter (scroll down to the form on my home page at www.deborahraney.com) and your name will go in the drawing to win a copy of my newest Chandler Sisters Novel, Finding Wings! (If you’
re already subscribed, then you’re already entered.)
