skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Janice Hanna (also published as Janice Thompson) has published more than seventy novels and non-fiction books. She has also published more than fifty magazine articles and several musical comedies for the stage. Janice makes her home in the Houston area near her children and grandchildren.
Hi Janice. It's great to welcome you back to Patti's Porch!
Hi Patti. It's good to be here.
Please tell us a bit about the plot of Love Finds You in Groom, Texas.
Always the groomsman, never the groom… It’s 1914, and Jake O’Farrell has gained an unusual reputation among the locals: He’s played the roles of groomsman and best man in all four of his older brothers’ weddings, but he’s never been able to find the woman to capture his heart. And now with the upcoming wedding of his best friend, Jake will become the last single man in the town of Groom.
Anne Denning has made the difficult decision to move with her sisters to Texas, but a train derailment forces them to seek shelter in Groom, near Amarillo. Mrs. O’Farrell, hopeful that Anne will catch her youngest son’s eye, invites the girls to stay at her home until the train is repaired and ready to pull out. Anne has no idea of the blissful chaos that lies ahead!
Why did you decide to write this story?
My editor at Summerside approached me with the name of the town because she knows I write a lot of wedding-themed stories. She wanted something lightweight/fun, and she knew me well enough to know I would enjoy a fun story. The only real question we had in the beginning stage was: “Should this be a historical or a contemporary?” We went with historical because I felt sure the story idea was better suited to the turn of the century.
Tell us something interesting about the town of Groom:
Groom boasts a nineteen-story high cross. More than 100 welders worked together to erect it in 1995. Now you can see why I toyed with the idea of writing a contemporary novel! I wanted to include the cross. Because I went with historical, I decided to give the heroine a small cross necklace to wear, one that symbolizes her faith (and alludes to the “bigger” cross to come).
Groom is a wedding-themed book. Why do you write so many stories with a strong wedding theme?
I have four grown daughters—Randi, Megan, Courtney Rae and Courtney Elizabeth. Yes, I really have two daughters named Courtney. (Long story!) All four of my girls got married within four years of each other. We’re told to write what we know. I know weddings, trust me! I helped coordinate all four weddings and even worked as a wedding coordinator at my church for a season. I was also tickled to be the “Wedding Planner Examiner” for the city of Houston for a spell. What fun! You’ll see me writing about weddings for years to come, so hang on for the ride!
What is it about your lead character that will make your readers care about her?
Readers will care about Anne because she’s been through so much and still chooses to move forward. They will also love her relationship with her younger sisters. She’s the only remaining parental figure and takes that position very seriously.
Why will readers enjoy your novel?
In spite of the lead character’s tough situation, the story is filled with comedic elements. Anne’s two younger sisters are a hoot. So is Maggie (the hero’s mother). She’s an Irish spitfire! I think readers will appreciate the romance between Anne and Jake. It’s filled with all sorts of sweet and comic moments.
Why do you like writing comedies with strong take-aways?
Comedy is a great outlet. We comedians can get away with a lot more than authors who play it straight. Want the reader to walk away with a little nugget of truth? Couch it in something humorous. I’ve found that light-hearted writing not only suits my personality, it’s the perfect vehicle for sharing the gospel. Tell us a little about your hero? Is he true hero material?
Jake is a hunka-hunka Texas man! He’s a railroad man who loves his job, loves his family and loves the heroine. He’s got a great sense of humor, which is perfect for this story, because the heroine’s little sisters are loaded with antics! Jake has a lot to deal with: he’s the town’s last single man, which has made him the brunt of many a joke. His older brothers (all married with children) taunt and tease. Jake can never catch a break. Unless he’s with Anne, of course. Then he catches far more than a break. . .he catches the woman of his dreams!
What sorts of transformations take place in this book?
How much time do you have? (Ha!) Seriously, there are so many! The heroine, Anne, has been through tremendous losses and struggles with her faith from the get-go. By the end of the story, she is a woman transformed. Likewise, the hero has been through far too much taunting and teasing. He, too, has faced losses. With Anne’s hand in his, transformation comes. Even precocious Emily, Anne’s younger sister, goes through a bit of a metamorphosis as the story progresses. The biggest change of all, however, is in Uncle Bertrand. I don’t want to give away too much. You’ll have to read the story to see for yourself!
You’ve written other Love Finds You books in the past. Do you enjoy writing for this series? Why or why not?
I can’t say enough about this line of books. From the moment the first book released, I fell in love—with the authors, the covers, the stories, the settings. Most of all, I love the concept. Through these stories, the reader can travel all over the country, bouncing from town to town, city to city. Want a serious historical? You’ll find it in the Love Finds You series. Want a humorous contemporary? You’ll find that, too. Want a book set in a quirky, fun town? Yep. You’ll find it in the Love Finds You series. Want a story set in a remote, faraway place, filled with intrigue? You’ll find that, too.
What are you working on now?
I just turned in Love Finds You in Daisy, Oklahoma, a fun historical about a single woman in her late 30’s who moves from the Gulf Coast to the landlocked state of Oklahoma to become the director at an orphanage. It’s a love story, of course! She falls in love with the town sheriff, who has adopted two of the unruliest boys from the orphanage. I’m currently writing Wedding Belles, the first book in the Belles and Whistles series for Summerside/Guideposts.
I notice you write under two names (Janice Hanna and Janice Thompson). Why?
Those who’ve been reading my romances over the past several years know me as Janice A. Thompson. My joy is mixed with a smidgeon of sorrow as I explain the change in my last name for some of my current releases. In 2006 I lost my father to bone marrow cancer. His last name (Hanna) is my maiden name—and it’s a name that means even more to me now that he is gone. In memory of my father, I use the Hanna name in my historicals. My Revell books will still release under Janice Thompson. I hope you my readers will stick with me, no matter which name I use!
Any suggestions for writers who are trying to get published?
Learn the craft. Take courses. Go to conferences. Do the work. But don’t ever let what you’ve learned rob you of your natural, God-given voice. There’s only one you, after all.
Where else can readers find you online?
I love to connect with my readers at the following places:
Where can I get the book?
Love Finds You in Groom, Texas can be purchased at any number of online stores, as well as my website: www.janicehannathompson.com (front page). Readers can always join my VIP bookclub and get the locked in price of $11 (no shipping) by contacting me directly at booksbyjanice@aol.com.
Thanks for spending time with me! I had a blast!
Leave a comment to win an opportunity to choose any available item from Janice's web site!
Thanks for reading my blog!
Bright lights glittered in the hot, dusty air. Blaring music blended with the shouts of scared and excited children as the rides dipped, hurled, swirled, bounced, jounced, and tilted them in all directions. Parents snapped pictures and guarded half-eaten snacks when the kiddos abandoned the food for yet another run down the big slide. The carnival had arrived!
As I surveyed the scene and accompanied my granddaughter on some of the gentler rides (thank goodness a friend came along and offered to take her on the scarier ones), an analogy came to my mind about how we live our lives. Okay, I guess that's the writer in me!
Those who simply exist on a daily basis are Ferris wheel folk. They sit safe and secure in a chair that gently escorts them to the top of the ride where they can gaze down on all that is going on around them. They watch everyone else having a good time on the midway, but there is no risk and no danger.
Then there are those people who like to fly a little. Enter the flying swings. Their surroundings pass by in a blur of color, sound, and motion as they embrace the wind on their cheeks and give in to the giddy uncertainty of dizziness.. The sensation of flying, almost a sense of weightlessness, takes over. They believe they can do almost anything and attack life like it is true!
Move on to one of the more daring rides, which I'm sure is identified by different names. Lovers of this one find themselves locked inside a cage, then rocketed away, not only in a giant circle, but as centrifugal force takes over, spun upside down. This one is for the people who let things happen to them, pleasant or unpleasant (sometimes the effect of this ride on the stomach is most unpleasant), and allow themselves to be swept into circumstances beyond their control with no way out.
The super slide is not for the faint of heart. Usually towering at a formidable height, it nevertheless affords some level of control. Those who ride can choose when to push off from the top. Once they launch themselves down the slippery groove, though, they are challenged by bumps that threaten to unseat them as they sail through the air on their magic burlap carpet and coast to a gradual stop.
Sea Dragon riders start out with a continuous sway back and forth that rapidly increases in speed and lifts them to ever loftier heights. This one is for people who are look for ways to move up the ladder and enjoy the challenges when they get there. Yet, their feet stay rooted to the firmly on the floor.
How about the house of mirrors. This non-threatening attraction is comparable to those who travel the mazes of life never quite sure where they are going. In their attempt to seek a way out, they encounter the one thing that inhibits their progress - themselves!
Whether you spend your time on the rides or sitting on a bench stuffing your face with nachos and funnel cake, there is something for everyone at the carnival.
Which ride represents the way you lead your life?
Thanks for reading my blog!
It was a little over two years ago that I entered a post on this blog expressing my excitement over the news that I had won a prize in James Arness' birthday poetry contest. He sent me a beautiful autographed photo from his web site which I still treasure along with the others I have accumulated over the years.
Today, I heard the sad news that, a few short days after his 88th birthday, Jim passed away in his sleep at his home in California.
I won't bore my readers with a history of Jim's life because you can go online and find it. Rather, I will share with you my thoughts about Jim Arness and Gunsmoke as told in a speech I delivered at Toastmasters about seven years ago:
WILL THE REAL SURVIVOR PLEASE TAKE A BOW
Survivor – a weekly 60 min TV show, classified as a reality show, in which contestants use every ounce of energy to demoralize, undermine, and thwart other competitors in order to win a million dollar prize.
The show attracts hundreds of thousands of fans who eagerly anticipate the events that occur from week to week as the competition becomes more brutal, the tension overwhelming, and the process of elimination winds down to that final winner.
In all the years of TV viewing I have enjoyed: the dramas, the sitcoms, the mystery movies, the mini-series, the nighttime soap operas like “Dallas”, one show stands out as a survivor, in my mind, above and beyond all others.
This show is the legendary “Gunsmoke”. An adult TV western that made its debut on Sept 10, 1955 with an impressive introduction by western super star John Wayne, it was the first of its kind. The success of “Gunsmoke” sparked the airing of 30 westerns simultaneously on prime time and outlasted all these others with its epic 20 yr. run. It holds the record as the longest running drama in the history of television with continuing characters.
Unlike today’s popular reality show, the story lines on Gunsmoke promoted respect for our fellow man, downplayed the value of material wealth, esteemed human life, and portrayed a world where justice prevails and evil loses its destructive power.
The main character, played by 6’7” James Arness, portrayed US Marshal Matt Dillon, a lawman who maintained justice at all costs in the frontier cowtown of 1873 Dodge City, Kansas. Amanda Blake played the alluring Kitty Russell, a saloon owner by trade, yet respected as a shrewd but honest businesswoman. Milburn Stone appeared as Doc Adams, a feisty, often grumpy, yet compassionate sawbones who spent long hours caring for the sick, the wounded, and the ailing throughout an area that encompassed not only the town of Dodge, but all of Ford County and beyond.
Matt Dillon, of course, as in any good western, had his sidekicks. First to fill that role was Dennis Weaver, who played the lovable Chester Goode, a docile yet loyal man who sported a limp during the nine years he remained with the show. Next came hillbilly Festus Haggan, who, despite his lack of education, was much smarter than he appeared. This part was played by Bent County’s own Ken Curtis. Those in Las Animas who were close to Ken claim that if you had met Ken Curtis, you had met Festus Haggan. Buck Taylor joined the cast in 1967 as the versatile Newly O’Brien, a gunsmith by trade who also had a smattering of law and medical education in his background. He fit in nicely as an extra deputy when the need arose in Dodge City.
These characters blended to form a series of scenarios that gave the TV viewer his fill of drama, humor, suspense, adventure, violence, romance, and always, a warm feeling that all is right with the world.
Gunsmoke episodes were dramatized, of course, yet, the writers worked hard to make the scripts, the scenes, the events as authentic as possible. They dealt with situations pertinent to the time period: land and water rights, cattle barons versus squatters, pestilence, Indian hostility, compulsory education, vigilante law. Yet, among the 635 aired episodes of Gunsmoke were issues that still concern us today: prejudice, violence, robbery, rape, murder, child abuse, government corruption.
Although not all Gunsmoke episodes closed with a happy ending, they conveyed the message that in the end, the law prevails - man’s law and God’s law.
Almost thirty years after the last show was filmed and aired, reruns of Gunsmoke are available on TV stations in every part of the United States and in other countries as well. The Internet boasts at least one message board containing over five thousand messages that address virtually every aspect of the show, from a complete discussion of every single episode, every character, every actor who ever made a guest appearance, to the writers, the directors, and the producers. Known as the “The Delphi Gunsmoke Gang”, several of us fans have been to LA, most of us twice, to meet and spend time with Jim Arness in person. Many of us have had the opportunity to visit with Buck Taylor at western events across the country on numerous occasions.
Gunsmoke fans will be celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the show’s inception in Sept of next year. From the Festival of the West in Scotsdale, Arizona to the Western Legends Roundup in Kanab, Utah, and at several other events throughout the country, Gunsmoke will be the focus of attention.
A survivor? I’d say so. I can’t help but wonder, as I listen to people discuss the television show “Survivor”, just how many people, fifty years from now, will recall even one of the characters who starred in it.
I first saw Jim on our black and white TV at the age of four when he appeared for the first time in the role of Marshal Matt Dillon. I saw him for the first time in person as he filmed "How The West Was Won" at Bent's Old Fort in the 1970's. In 2001, I went to LA and attended his the booksigning of his autobiography. 2003 found me in LA again as I celebrated his 80th birthday. I got pictures with him and even got to give him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek! Just yesterday, my husband and I watched one of the post-Gunsmoke movies on TV. All my life, this man has been a hero to be admired, respected, and loved.
A dear friend of mine was one of the most avid Gunsmoke fans I ever knew. She had a whole room filled with memorabilia dedicated to the show. We called her "Brooklyn" because she was from Brooklyn, and the moment she opened her mouth, everyone knew it. She developed cancer a few years back.
I will always remember the story she related to me about Jim Arness. She was downstairs giving piano lessons when her daughter told her she had a phone call. When she asked who it was, her daughter told her it was James Arness on the phone. She said negotiating the stairs had become quite a chore for her due to her illness, but when she heard who was on the end of the line, she bounded up those stairs in about two leaps. Jim had called to tell her he was sorry to hear about her cancer and he hoped the treatments would prove effective. She said she was so excited that all she could of to say was, "I love you, Jim!" over and over. He told her he loved her too.
When I heard the sad news of Jim's death today, I pictured "Brooklyn" giving Jim a huge welcome hug as he entered Heaven's gates. Jim was the last member of the original cast, so I pray he is now celebrating with his close friends and those fans who have left this world. RIP James Arness!
Thanks for reading my blog.
I went to my local Dairy Queen a couple of evenings ago to enjoy time with friends and eat a shrimp basket dinner. I'd worked hard all day and felt I deserved something that was easy (no food prep), and tasted good (love shrimp!).
Anyway, while there, the subject of the recent end of the world prediction came up in conversation. It led me to repeat the question in my head that has plagued me since the prediction came to light.
Am I ready for the end of the world?
First of all, let me clarify that I hold no belief in these predictions that totally contradict the word of God. The Bible tells us that even Jesus does not know when God plans for the Son to return. I have no doubt the end of the world will occur someday, maybe even in my lifetime, but I am quite the skeptic about any human being who claims to know the date and time.
Anyway, back to my original question. Suppose the end of the world did happen next week, next month, or next year. Would I be ready?
Yes and no.
Yes because I feel I am right with God and saved by the sacrifice Jesus made for me.
Yes because suffering, pain, and poverty would end for so many.
Yes because evil is devouring the entire earth and the darkness is becoming more and more dense.
No because I have so much yet to do.
No because I don't feel I have fulfilled many of the plans God has for me.
No because there are so many who would perish because they have been consumed by the darkness and they can't find their way out.
The theme of this web site is "bringing light to the world....one word at a time." I feel I am just beginning to take steps toward accomplishing that goal.
Now that I work with a publishing company whose entire staff are dedicated to spreading the word of God, sometimes in unusual ways, I feel I am on the way to fulfilling that mission.
Recently, I attended the Colorado Christian Writer's Conference. I have been attending almost every year since 2003, but this is the first year I had the honor to attend as a faculty member. It was rewarding to meet young people who are dedicated to learning the craft of writing. Not only are they learning, they are writing poems, stories, even full-length novels! They are enthusiastic, excited, and open to constructive criticism.
There was a time when I wanted more time to finish my own book and get my message out there through the novel I am writing. I have not given up that dream, Still, though, I wonder how many people will be impacted by the writing of the young authors who I publish in Starsongs magazine. One of them may grow up to be the next Max Lucado or Francine Rivers. Many of them may see devotionals or articles published in the near future that will touch the lives of one key person who may turn the tide of history.
So, I guess when all is said and done, I'm asking the Lord to give me, and so many others, a little more time to reach others for His kingdom. Predictions may dominate the media, but I think God is listening to those of us who need just a little more time.
Thanks for reading my blog!
That question crosses my mind every Mother's Day. Did I do all for my kids that I could have as they were growing up? Did I teach them all the lessons they need to sustain themselves in adulthood? Was I always there for them?
The answer to all three of those questions, I'm afraid, is NO! The reason for that answer is because it is impossible to fulfill the "all" and "always" requirement.
This morning during our adult Sunday school class, we touched on the subject of guilt as moms. The discussion started with the fact that we judge ourselves. Do I judge my abilities as a parent? All the time.
I wish my daughter and granddaughter had been in church with me this morning, but they weren't. I feel that is my fault because I didn't impress upon my daughter the importance of honoring the sabbath when she was a child. Church is important when it's convenient, but not a priority.
It would have been nice to have had a Mother's Day card or even a Facebook greeting from my son, kind of a reminder that he is thinking of me on this day that honors mothers, even though he now lives in a different country and thousands of miles separate us.
Okay, so I'm having a pity party. It's not really all that bad. This evening, my daughter and granddaughter and I will attend our church youth group fundraiser together, which entails a delicious dinner and a play that I'm sure will be wonderful entertainment.
We don't hear from our son as often as I'd like, but I'm also proud that he possesses the independence and the initiative to make his own life. Accepting the fact that we are no longer an integral part of it is difficult, but also cause for pride. He's making a substantial living, supporting a wife, and pursuing career goals.
Our daughter is a wonderful mom. She's a great cook, and she sure didn't get that from me! I like to think that I have been s a positive influence in her life. She shows initiative and works hard, She is well respected in the community, at her job, and by her friends. She's raising our granddaughter to love God and believe in herself and always be kind to others.
I'm fortunate in that she is close by, for the time being, anyway. Still, she has her own life and that is a good thing. I'm proud that she, like our son, is independent and self-reliant. I'm excited for what the future holds for her and glad that she has the courage to face whatever challenges lie in store.
When I connect with our son, usually on line, I know he is genuinely glad to be in touch. I have very little idea of what his life is like overseas. No, he's not in the service, but I'm sure things are different in the UK than they are here in the states. He, too, has faced new opportunities and hard times with a strong spirit and a desire for adventure.
I wish I could say I have always been there for my kids in the ways that they have needed me to be. Sometimes I have and sometimes I haven't. There were times when I let my own opinions, my own dreams for them, and my own pride get in the way.
As a parent, I have regrets about my shortcomings as a mom. At the same time, I am grateful for every joyful moment, every term of endearment, every hug, every "I love you" my kids have ever shared with me. They are many, and I treasure each one in my heart.
Of all the gifts God has given me, motherhood is the best! I just hope I have proved worthy of the honor.
Thanks for reading my blog.
|
