My June book, The Heart’s Song, has a rather long history. I first started work on it about four and a half years ago, at least that’s when the seeds of the story were first planted. Like many other writers, I keep an idea file. For me, this is a folder on my computer. Whenever I see or imagine something about a situation, setting, bit of dialog or character that sparks my imagination or makes me think “I’m gonna use that in a book someday”, I jot some notes about it and store it in this idea folder. Then, when I feel blocked or I’m getting ready to start up a new project, I’ll pull this folder up and read through some of my notes to see if any of them resonate with a ‘use this now’ vibe.
I actually used three different notes from this file, notes that had been stored at different times and that had seemeingly no relation to each other, to develop the story that was to become The Heart’s Song.
The first was a note I’d written to myself after sitting through my first live handbell choir performance. I really fell in love with the sound and with the joy on the faces of the performers and knew I wanted to someday put that in a book.
The second was an idea I had jotted down about wanting to someday write a story about two people who had both faced the loss of a spouse but who had handled it very differently. One turned to God for comfort and strength, the other turned away from God, feeling betrayed and bitter.
The third note was one on setting. It came from a conversation I had with a friend about my home state of Louisiana and how very different the two sides of it were. Both regions are wonderful places to live, both have wonderfully warm and friendly people but they are like two different countries.
I was born and raised in the Southeast corner of the state, near New Orleans. The culture there is very flamboyant and boisterous, and infused with a spirit of joi de vivre. The food, music and accents are totally unique. The land is flat and swampy, and the landscape is lush with sweeping live oaks, cypress trees and Spanish moss. When I got married, though, I moved to the northwest corner of the state. The culture here is more grounded, more like the farming and ranching culture of neighboring East Texas and Arkansas. The food is more of the hearty meat and potatoes variety, the land hilly and covered with pine, dogwood and pecan.
Anyway, that conversation got me to thinking that it might be fun to set a book in the central part of the state, sort of where these two cultures come together. So I dutifully jotted my notes and added it to my idea folder.
Then one day I realized that these three pieces - the handbell choir, the opposing ways grief affects faith and the unique regional flavor of central Louisiana - really seemed to fit well together and a story started percolating in my brain. Problem was, the story called for a contemporary setting and I’d only ever tackled historicals before. Still, the idea wouldn’t go away, so I went so far as to work up three chapters in between other projects and passed them on to my agent. That was four years ago.
It was shortly after I’d finished my initial work on The Heart’s Song (titled Joyful Noise at the time) that I received my first contract with Love Inspired Historicals and my agent and I decided to set the contemporary aside for the time being and focus on the historicals. But I always felt a little tug to get back to Graham and Reeny, to take them all the way through their story journey to their happily-ever-after reward. So when my editor asked last year if I would consider writing a contemporary I jumped at the chance to talk to her about this book.
To my delight she was very interested in seeing more. And the rest, as they say, is history....
Tales of Small Towns, Big Hearts, Amazing Grace The Christmas Journey, LIH Oct 2009 The Heart's Song, LI June 2010 www.winniegriggs.com
I actually used three different notes from this file, notes that had been stored at different times and that had seemeingly no relation to each other, to develop the story that was to become The Heart’s Song.
The first was a note I’d written to myself after sitting through my first live handbell choir performance. I really fell in love with the sound and with the joy on the faces of the performers and knew I wanted to someday put that in a book.
The second was an idea I had jotted down about wanting to someday write a story about two people who had both faced the loss of a spouse but who had handled it very differently. One turned to God for comfort and strength, the other turned away from God, feeling betrayed and bitter.
The third note was one on setting. It came from a conversation I had with a friend about my home state of Louisiana and how very different the two sides of it were. Both regions are wonderful places to live, both have wonderfully warm and friendly people but they are like two different countries.
I was born and raised in the Southeast corner of the state, near New Orleans. The culture there is very flamboyant and boisterous, and infused with a spirit of joi de vivre. The food, music and accents are totally unique. The land is flat and swampy, and the landscape is lush with sweeping live oaks, cypress trees and Spanish moss. When I got married, though, I moved to the northwest corner of the state. The culture here is more grounded, more like the farming and ranching culture of neighboring East Texas and Arkansas. The food is more of the hearty meat and potatoes variety, the land hilly and covered with pine, dogwood and pecan.
Anyway, that conversation got me to thinking that it might be fun to set a book in the central part of the state, sort of where these two cultures come together. So I dutifully jotted my notes and added it to my idea folder.
Then one day I realized that these three pieces - the handbell choir, the opposing ways grief affects faith and the unique regional flavor of central Louisiana - really seemed to fit well together and a story started percolating in my brain. Problem was, the story called for a contemporary setting and I’d only ever tackled historicals before. Still, the idea wouldn’t go away, so I went so far as to work up three chapters in between other projects and passed them on to my agent. That was four years ago.
It was shortly after I’d finished my initial work on The Heart’s Song (titled Joyful Noise at the time) that I received my first contract with Love Inspired Historicals and my agent and I decided to set the contemporary aside for the time being and focus on the historicals. But I always felt a little tug to get back to Graham and Reeny, to take them all the way through their story journey to their happily-ever-after reward. So when my editor asked last year if I would consider writing a contemporary I jumped at the chance to talk to her about this book.
To my delight she was very interested in seeing more. And the rest, as they say, is history....
Tales of Small Towns, Big Hearts, Amazing Grace
The Christmas Journey, LIH Oct 2009
The Heart's Song, LI June 2010
www.winniegriggs.com