Will there be a Sequel to Seasons

One of the photos taken
when working on the cover.

The most frequent question I have gotten in the last 2 months is...is a sequel to Seasons in the works. My dear readers appropriately call it "Summer".

I am going to answer that question here.

The short answer is: No, there is no book 2 in the works.

The longer answer is No and here's why...

The story of Seasons has a lot of tension, conflict, tragedy, and everything a story is built around. But, Liddy is very young, this is her Spring season, and at the conclusion is when she's a young wife, heading into her own season of summer.

This tension & conflict at her age is mostly coming because of external reasons. Poverty. The Great Depression. Tragic family loss. We learn about her internal struggles throughout this and the faith that keeps her going. It truly is a beautiful story of God's faithfulness in her life.

My Amazing Grandma Lydia Lee Coblentz

You can probably consider your own "spring" and see how that works. There are things that happen to children...makes for very good fiction & nonfiction.

But now, move ahead to your summer and autumn seasons of your life. Often times the conflict and struggles that we find are from within. Deep. Intimate. Personal.

You can't just take out all the struggle, conflict, and tension in a story and then just keep the thread of happy-go-lucky stories...that's just not really how it works.

I am not saying this because my grandma had this awful life after her spring...but that to respect her privacy and the privacy of the Amish church...this is a story that I will forgo. Grandma agrees.

That is not to say that there may be some place for her "chronicles" with lovable stories or even a few tense situations that would be interesting to write for a different type of venue...but likely not in a published book in the style of Seasons.

I hope that answers the question. ;-)

YOUR TURN: What would your platform be if you or someone wrote a story about your childhood? Would it be about God's goodness or safety? Would it be more topical like overcoming a disease or a relationship with a parent? I'd love to hear from you!


Cheers,
Elizabeth

Amish Takeaways

From the photoshoot for the cover
of Seasons. My niece Celine here is
wearing one of my grandma's
dresses from her childhood. 

Soooo, I had another question about my Amish background. The question was about what I've taken from the Amish & incorporated in my day-to-day life as a woman, wife, mom in this modern age.

The first & probably most obvious thing is the language. I grew up speaking Pennsylvania Dutch, which is a slang dialect of German. It is unwritten and it's the first language Amish children learn. We still speak it when we're together whether on the phone or visits. The in-laws who have married into our family each have come to understand it a great deal.

I don't speak it with my 2 girls as much as I should, but I'm working on that habit. I love that it's part of my heritage & I really want to pass it on to my girls.

Another thing I'd like to mention is that I like how the Amish still are people of their word. I wish more of the world would govern their actions by their words. Nowadays you need contracts and agreements in writing...NO. MATTER. WHAT. Of course, I know the value of that but I still appreciate the value of saying something and meaning it.

While the old rule of how a handshake could make a deal is gone for the most part when it comes to legal or business transactions...we can still incorporate this into our lives. When we say "I'll be praying for you," then we must. If we say to our children that we'd read them a book when the dishes are done or before we start them...then we must. I'm learning as a mom it is soooo important to say what I mean and mean what I say.

I guess those 2 things are what stand out to me when I consider what I try to incorporate into my life from my Amish heritage.

I'd love to hear from you...more questions or maybe just a comment about what you like about the Amish lifestyle that you wish you could incorporate or do incorporate into your life.

Cheers,
Elizabeth

Up next: Another VLOG book review on Siri Mitchell's Love's Pursuit.

Question: Baptism & Shunning

So, since the release of SEASONS: THE REAL STORY OF AN AMISH GIRL I've been getting a few questions...good ones. I thought it would be fun to share one since there might be others out there curious about the same thing.

One of my readers, Jennifer, said this:

Elizabeth, I LOVED the book. Yes, I finished it. =) The first half reminded me of Francine Rivers' book Her Mother's Hope. I would say more, but I don't want to spoil it for others. I'll say it was a great book that left me with questions. I think any good book should leave you wanting more. I do have one random question for you... Was it your parents who didn't get baptized?

My parents were baptized into the Amish church when they were teens, which is typical in the church. When someone is baptized into the church and then leaves the church...they will be shunned. So, my parents were shunned when they left back in the early 80s. My sister, myself, and my brother, however, are NOT shunned. We were not baptized into the church so we were not shunned when we left the church. 

There, of course, are rules with being shunned. The basic ones...can't eat a shunned person's food, can't eat from the same table, shunned person can't drive a church member in their vehicle nor can they accept gifts from a shunned person. My parents families, after some time of healing, really were amazing with embracing us and we have had a wonderful closeness with them. The family would often eat potluck style and we were not required to bring food (since many of them couldn't eat from it anyway) and eat buffet style so eating from the same table/dish wasn't truly an issue. Instead of my parents driving them around, let's say for a doctor's appointment or something, my siblings & I would do it...the same with giving gifts. 

Keep in mind, every church has their own set of standards with these things. This is just what was acceptable with our families and the church they were a part of. We were very blessed. There have been some issues off and on over the years (but, let's be honest, what family doesn't), but the majority of the time, things have gone smoothly. 

I think that answers that question mostly. 

If anyone else has a question that is related to something you read in the book or something you're just plain curious about, I will do my best to answer....based on MY experiences with the Amish. 

Cheers!

Elizabeth