Join our Author Chat with Gail Kittleson

Today I’m delighted to welcome to our circle Gail Kittleson, author of memoir and women’s fiction. Gail hosts the delightful website, Dare to Bloom.

Gather ’round as we get to know a bit about Gail’s pre-author life, some influences along the way, her journey thus far, and maybe a tip or two.

Welcome, Gail

Thank you, Gail, for carving out a spot in your busy schedule for a visit. We’re excited to get to know you. Thank you also for offering a give-away of an autographed copy of your novel In Times Like These to someone who joins our chat.

**Congratulations to Mary L. Ball, winner of Gail’s novel, In Times Like These!**

~ ~ ~

Gail’s Pre-Author Life

I’m an Iowa farm girl, born and bred. I still dip my forefinger into the eggshell when I’m baking, to be certain no speck goes to waste. My grandparents lost a farm in the Depression and earned it back through sheer determination and hard work. They affected me greatly—especially Grandma.

She raised 1,000 chickens and worked from dawn to dusk. She loved to fish, but rarely took the time. I’m told she played the violin, but never heard her. Her mother died when she was eleven, so she started “working out” at other homes, doing those nasty turn-of-the-century necessary daily tasks. You can imagine.

She reared five children, and in later life, made do with her $62 monthly Social Security check. Working in the garden with her stands out in my memory—not one dry lima bean went unused for seed the next year. I’d have to say this contributed to my “crazies.” One can be ridiculously frugal—a kind of crazy I’ve struggled with most of my adult life.

Grandma died when I was a college freshman. I don’t remember her funeral, but certainly recall her advice: If you can’t say something good, don’t say anything at all—things like that. 

(Tweet That!) 

I taught college expository writing and English as a Second Language. Now I write memoir and women’s fiction and facilitate writing workshops and women’s retreats. My husband and I make our home in northern Iowa, where we enjoy our grandchildren and gardening. In winter, the Arizona mountains provide new novel fodder.

Gail Kittleson’s Author Debut 

Catching Up with Daylight was my first publication. This book inspires through memoir, contemporary women’s stories, ancient meditation practices, and encouragement to live in the present moment.

In This Together

This was my first novel. I met the editor at a small writing conference, and she gave me an open-ended invitation to submit. A couple of years later, I did, and my experience with this company taught me a lot.

First, it’s great working with an editor who cares about your work’s quality. I also learned that you give up control when you sign a contract.

The first box of books arrived during my little writing class, and one member took pictures of me hugging the Fed Ex man. (:

Second chances are the farthest thing from widow Dottie Kyle’s mind as she cooks and cleans at a local boarding house.

But every morning and evening as she treks to work, her lonely next-door widower neighbor observes her, hoping somehow to win her heart.

Dottie grieves her son, lost in WWII, and longs to meet her two little grandchildren in California, but the long train ride from Iowa calls up her worst fears. Readers will resonate to Dottie’s down-home integrity and cheer her on as she faces her fears.

 

How Gail’s Journey Has Continued



In Times Like These, Book 1 of Women of the Heartland series, taught me even more. A professional in the field of verbal abuse, Patricia Evans, read the manuscript and gave her endorsement. She’s sharing my work on her website: www.verbalabuse.com which displays her own non-fiction books.

In Times Like These

In this story Pearl Harbor has been attacked, and the United States is at war.

But Addie fights her own battles on the Iowa home front. Her controlling husband Harold vents his rage when his father’s stroke prevents him from joining the military. He degrades Addie, ridicules her productive victory garden, and even labels her childlessness as God’s punishment.

When he manipulates his way into a military unit bound for Normandy, Addie learns that her best friend Kate’s pilot husband has died on a mission, leaving her stranded in London in desperate straits.

Will Addie be able to help Kate, and find courage to trust God with her future?

Coming Up for Gail Kittleson

The sequel, With Each New Dawn, releases on February 24. The research for this book transported me to London (in my imagination) and Southern France—pure joy.

In this story American RAF widow Kate Isaacs leaves war-torn London to parachute into southern France and aid the French Resistance. Her alliance with grieving Basque shepherd-turned-Resistance fighter Domingo Ibarra brings both sorrow and relief as she discovers her familial roots, along with second chances.

Preorder at http://tinyurl.com/jmvc36a.

More About Gail Kittleson

Reader responses are the very best perk—people thank me for not making things easy for my characters, for allowing them to ask honest questions, even of God. One fan says, “I’ve earmarked Addie’s story so often it looks like my Bible. She’s helping me with a difficult relationship.”

Doesn’t get any better than that, imho.

~ ~ ~

Thank you again, Gail. I’m preordering With Each New Dawn along with In Times Like These. Can’t wait!

To learn more about Gail’s books, please visit her website at www.gailkittleson.com. 

Purchase links:

Amazon.com – http://amzn.to/1HXdTCV

All Romance – ebook – http://tinyurl.com/p8y7u4e

BookStrand.com – ebook – http://tinyurl.com/pj7sowz

Kobo Books – ebook – http://tinyurl.com/nvbasf3

Barnes & Noble – ebook – http://tinyurl.com/ob3szbq

~ ~ ~

Father, You are the Lord of Angel Armies, the God of Second Chances, and Author of The Greatest Story Ever Told. We bow before You in awe and thanksgiving. Bless Gail with far-reaching influence for good through her stories and make our lives testimonies to Your goodness. For Jesus’ sake

 

SaveSave