Love at First Thought with Casey Herringshaw

by | Mar 1, 2011 | Fiction Book Reviews | 6 comments

OH My Goodness!

I am so pleased to have my sweet friend, fellow Alley Cat, and TREMENDOUS encourager, Casey Herringshaw as my guest today. Many of you may already know Casey from her beautiful blog, Writing for Christ, or her wonderful author blog, Operation: Encourage An Author.

If you’ve been blessed by the lovely personality of this young lady, let me introduce you to something else about her.

Her writing.

Yes, we get tastes of her writing on her blogs, but today I want to give you a hint behind her story-making.

Case, what was your Love at First Thought?

It was ever so simple.

I wanted to write a contemporary novel. After dabbling in historical fiction I wanted a change of pace. And I had the perfect story rattling in the noggin for such a story.
(one of those EUREKA! moments)

What would happen if a young woman became pregnant. What if it wasn’t by her husband? And what if it happened just days before the wedding?

Just what kind of emotional turmoil and external conflict would such an event cause?
Hmm. “What if” seems to be a theme here. Such a question is a writer’s best friend. At least, it’s mine.

And thus, Releasing Yesterday was born.

Ideas (for me) come from watching life. A pink rocking horse abandoned outside a church daycare. A couple that fell out of love even before they married.  Or my latest story- of a young woman who finds her now deceased husband has a child. A child she never knew about and now has to care for.

I’m inspired by the mundane or the normal that can be made extraordinary in fiction.

Wow! What a premise. I cant’ wait to learn more as Case continues her writing journey…and her navigation of the world wide web in search of sending someone encouragement.

Inspirational Moment:

Phillipians 1:4-6

 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Before I close up my laptop for the night, I think it’s important to reread this memorable verse. If our lives are a story, we know two things for sure:

1. There’s a beginning

2. There’s an ending

All of our stories started somewhere. It’s just the nature of it. All stories have beginnings.

And

Because our stories are penned by a loving and devoted Author, we don’t have to fear the ending of our story either. If you like HEA, Christianity is the place for you. Nobody can write an HEA like Jesus!

Read the Bible to get a good taste of a few stories. Raising people from the dead. Making broken people whole. Saving the world from the wrath of God…to name a few.

Ultimately, we get to be united with our Father God in some glorious ‘otherworld’ called Heaven.

So if you’re looking for a reality check, here ya go:

Life is hard.

God is good.

And you are part of a HEA.

End of story 😉

6 Comments

  1. Audra

    Casey, great hook! Pregnant before the wedding and the baby isn’t her soon to be husband’s. Of course with the story being a romance, I know there’ll be a HEA, but wow, what a ride inbetween!

    Pepper, great verse to think about all day, too. The greatest story ever told is our legacy. May all our beginnings, middles and endings put a smile on His face : )

    Have a great day, ladies!

    Reply
    • Casey

      Thanks Audra! No, this isn’t a romance, but Women’s fiction. I had told Julie the reason I write WF is because I don’t have the experience for romance…ahem, I think I might learn to eat those words.

      🙂

      But I love my genre and exploring it is such a blast!

      Reply
    • Pepper

      Audra,
      I love to think about God writing my story – it makes life have so much more purpose.
      Like you said – the whole story. Beginning, middle, and end (good, bad, and beautiful)

      Reply
  2. Julie Lessman

    CASE!!! “Releasing Yesterday” sounds absolutely WONDERFUL!! What a premise, kiddo. Who knew that in that sweet, encouraging brain of yours, shocking and possibly sinister plots are winding and weaving their way through your subconscious??? Is the pregnancy from an affair, a prior boyfriend or a rape?? Only the author knows, but you can bet your bottom dollar the reader will want to find out!! I know I do …

    PEP … Love the devotional today, especially ” Nobody can write an HEA like Jesus!” Amen to that, girlfriend!!

    Hugs,
    Julie

    Reply
    • Casey

      I have been told that actually!! 😉 I know, you don’t want to crawl into this twisted mind. LOL! Something in fiction about making things worse…:)

      Thanks for stoping by! It’s exciting to think of what God gives us in the idea department, challenging too! I hope your ideas are coming easier than last week for ya. 🙂

      Reply
    • Pepper

      Thanks, Jules.
      Always great to have you stop by 🙂

      Reply

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