Behind Gwenda: Research, Roots, and Storytelling

Writing a novel rooted in a real place takes more than vivid description. It requires close attention to lived experience and a willingness to inhabit a landscape long enough to understand its people. For Gwenda, the Smoky Mountains were chosen out of a deep respect. The research drew from growing up in the Appalachians, local histories, oral traditions, and time spent walking the ridges and hollows that have always felt like home.

Much of the book’s strength comes from its focus on the intimate rather than the sweeping. Instead of centering large historical events, the story lingers on porch conversations, a shared culture, community suppers, and the quiet ways neighbors care for one another. Even the technical research, such as surveying practices, land negotiations, and early national park planning, is woven in with restraint, offering authenticity without overshadowing what is at stake at the heart of the story. The reader gets a clear view of the setting as they experience the novel.

Language, culture, and daily ritual also shape the world of Gwenda. Mountain speech is rendered with care, avoiding caricature while honoring rhythm and idiom. Music, food, and craft serve as signposts of identity, revealing what is truly at risk when land and heritage come under pressure. Through all of this runs a commitment to nuance: characters change slowly, make mistakes, and navigate loss without easy answers. The result is a story grounded in compassion — one that invites readers to consider stewardship, belonging, and the tender, often challenging, work of facing change.

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Safe Landing

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me (Psalm 51:10). 

I recently read a short Facebook post from a former student, and I was so proud of the wisdom packed into just a few sentences. She compared God's blessings to an airplane waiting to land. A pilot cannot safely bring a plane to the ground if the runway is cluttered, damaged, or blocked. In much the same way, we sometimes wonder why we feel distant from God's peace, direction, or provision when the problem may not be that God has stopped working. Instead, we may have allowed too much clutter to accumulate in our lives. The Lord desires fellowship with His children, but if our hearts are filled with bitterness, unforgiveness, worldly distractions, or willful disobedience, we are creating obstacles that hinder our spiritual growth. The runway needs to be cleared before the blessing can safely arrive.

Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life Proverbs 4:23).

There are many places where clutter can gather. Sometimes it is found in our homes through discord and neglected responsibilities. Sometimes it settles into our minds through worry, fear, and negative thinking. Other times it takes root in our hearts through resentment, pride, jealousy, or a critical spirit. It can even show itself in our actions and reactions when we respond to life's challenges in ways that do not honor Christ. None of us is perfect, but God continually calls us to examine ourselves and remove whatever does not belong. When we surrender those things to Him, we make room for His presence to work more freely in our lives. A clean heart and a willing spirit create a welcoming place for God's peace, guidance, and blessing.

Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us (Hebrews 12:1).

An airplane also needs enough fuel to complete its journey. Spiritually speaking, many believers try to keep going on empty. They are exhausted, discouraged, and running on fumes because they have neglected prayer, Bible reading, worship, and time with the Lord. Eventually, a plane without fuel will crash, and a Christian who continually neglects spiritual nourishment will struggle to stay up as well. Today is a good day to clear the runway and refill the tank. Remove whatever God has been dealing with you about. Let go of the weights that are slowing you down. Then trust Him with the landing. His arms are a safe place to rest, and when the runway is clear, you'll be ready to receive the blessings He has been preparing all along.

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The People of the Valley: Character, Community, and Setting

In Gwenda, character grows directly out of place, and the Smoky Mountains shape every aspect of the people who call them home. Gwenda herself is inseparable from the land that raised her. Her habits, speech, and loyalties come from years of living by mountain rhythms and knowing which hollers flood in spring, which stones mark familiar paths, and which neighbors have flour for the church bake sale. Her resistance to the proposed park isn’t abstract or political; it’s personal, rooted in memory and lived experience. She stands her ground because the land is part of her identity.

Adam Wagoner enters the valley as an outsider with a surveying transit, but he refuses to remain a simple foil. Instead, Adam becomes a study in humility and curiosity. His repeated visits, his willingness to listen to elders, and his efforts to learn local ways reveal a man searching for belonging rather than imposing authority. The slow thaw between him and Gwenda feels earned because it grows through ordinary acts: helping, respecting, and showing up when it matters. Their developing trust is built on steady, believable interactions that reflect how real relationships shift over time.

Around them, the community forms the novel’s emotional backbone. Neighbors are not background scenery; they are active participants in the valley’s life. Church suppers, shared labor, gossip, and mutual aid show how people survive in a landscape that demands cooperation. The author captures both the tenderness and the stubbornness of mountain communities, illustrating how resistance to outside plans is as much about protecting one another’s futures as it is about preserving acreage. The Smokies themselves deepen this portrait: mists settling in hollers, storms guided by ridgelines, seasons mirroring the characters’ inner lives. In the end, Gwenda invites readers to witness how ordinary people respond under pressure, offering a story where land and identity are inseparable and where compassion and caring shape even the hardest choices.

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Settling

Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you (James 4:8).

Too many Christians settle for an ordinary life when God offers so much more. When we draw close to Him, cultivate an intimate and personal walk, and make His will our top priority, life cannot remain ordinary. The closer we move toward His presence, the more clearly we see that true fulfillment is found only in Him.

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world (1 John 2:15).

One of the greatest dangers we face is how easily worldly values slip into our thinking. They promise satisfaction but leave us empty, pulling our hearts toward temporary pleasures that never last. When we allow these influences to take root, they steal our joy and turn our attention toward all the wrong places, distracting us from the richness God intends for our lives.

In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths (Proverbs 3:6).

God calls us to something far better than settling. As we intentionally seek Him, surrender our plans, and follow His leading, He shapes our days into something extraordinary. A life centered on His will is marked by purpose, peace, and a depth of joy the world cannot imitate. When we choose Him above all else, we discover the life we were meant to live.

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A Deadline to Marry

In One Crazy Christmas, my novelette in the anthology A Vintage Christmas to Remember, Marianne Kincaid’s urgent fight to save her freight business sets the stage for an unexpected engagement and an even more unexpected partnership. What begins as a desperate attempt to secure her future quickly becomes a journey that touches on faith, courage, trust, and the surprising ways love can take root when life veers off its expected path.

Marianne’s story does not open with a gentle courtship or a lingering glance across a crowded room. It begins with a bold claim, an accidental lie, and a marriage deadline she never imagined facing. She has only ten days to preserve the freight business her uncle built, and she refuses to surrender it. She drives a freight team, carries a pistol, and stands firm against anyone who doubts her ability. Yet her strength exists alongside vulnerability and a quiet longing to be valued for who she is rather than what she can provide.

Jonah Benton brings his own tension to the tale. He never intended to remain in Sundale, much less become the fiancé of a woman he just met. Still, he finds himself drawn to Marianne’s independence rather than threatened by it. His challenge is not to rescue her from her life, but to discover whether he can stand beside her in it. Their partnership is tested almost immediately when rifle shots ring out on their first freight run, revealing dangers that reach far beyond a business deadline and forcing them to rely on one another in ways neither expected.

Faith threads through their story as both characters learn to act with courage, extend grace, and release the illusion of control. Trust grows slowly between Marianne and Jonah but stands stronger between each of them and God. Ultimately, One Crazy Christmas is about more than whether a rushed engagement becomes a real marriage. It is about being cherished without being diminished, choosing love without abandoning wisdom, and discovering that the most unexpected beginnings can lead to the most meaningful futures.

A Vintage Christmas is available now for a few months during the Christmas season, and then you will no longer be able to purchase it. Don't miss this wonderful opportunity.

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The Harvest Will Pass

The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved (Jeremiah 8:20).

In Jeremiah's day, God had extended mercy, sent warnings, and offered His presence to Judah, yet the people refused to turn back to Him. Today, we see the same pattern repeating itself. Many choose to ignore God altogether, living as if He doesn't exist, is distant, or has become irrelevant. They silence the tug of conviction, brush aside His call, and fill their days with pursuits that never satisfy. The seasons pass, the years slip by, and the invitation to salvation remains unanswered.

Others acknowledge God but insist on walking their own path. They believe, but only on their terms. They want the comfort of faith without the surrender it requires. Like ancient Israel, they hold tightly to their own plans, their own desires, their own timing. Yet Scripture reminds us that partial obedience is still disobedience. God longs not only to be believed in but to be followed. When we cling to our own way, we miss the fullness of His blessing, His guidance, and His transforming power.

Then there are those who hear His voice and respond with open hearts. They surrender—not out of fear, but out of love. They want to belong fully to Him, to walk closely with their Lord, and to obey Him with a willing spirit. These believers understand that God’s will is not a burden but a gift. They seek His presence, His direction, and His purpose for their lives. And while none of us follow perfectly, those who yield to Him find what Jeremiah’s generation missed: the joy of salvation, the peace of obedience, and the steady assurance that they are held by the One who never fails.

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Holding Ground

The Themes of Home, Trust, and Change

The novel, Gwenda, is set in the Great Smoky Mountains during the land acquisition for the national park.

Gwenda explores how land shapes identity and how trust evolves. One of the central ideas woven through the novel is the notion of home as inheritance. Gwenda’s attachment to her valley isn’t romantic nostalgia; it’s lived knowledge, the kind passed down through chores, songs, seasons, and stories. So when surveyors arrive to map the proposed national park, the conflict is less about property lines and more about cultural survival. The tension between tidy maps and lived familiarity reveals two very different ways of knowing a place.

Trust, how fragile it can be and how it grows, threads through the story as well. Adam Wagoner enters the valley as the face of unwanted change, and Gwenda’s mistrust is understandable. He may be an outsider, yet he's no villain. He keeps returning, listening, helping, and learning mountain ways. Trust doesn’t arrive in dramatic moments; it builds through small, practical acts, like gathering eggs, chopping firewood, showing up when needed, and paying attention. Those quiet gestures form the groundwork for reconciliation.

The novel also asks what grace looks like when loss feels inevitable. The novel refuses tidy resolutions. Grace becomes something practiced in the hard places — negotiating with institutions, facing reality, and wrestling with one’s own heart. Some of the story’s most meaningful moments are the quiet ones: a shared meal, a porch conversation, the slow realization that survival sometimes means adapting, and sometimes means holding the line. These moments invite readers to slow down, take a seat, and ponder the choices the characters face. In a time when questions about land, stewardship, and heritage are urgent, Gwenda asks how we honor the past without freezing it, how we build trust across divides, and what choices we make when everything we love might be at risk.

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